Category: heaven

A Tsunami Threat Notice has been issued after a VERY STRONG Magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck in the Ocean just off the coast of the Philippines.

The quake struck minutes ago at 9:17 AM eastern US time at a shallow depth of only 32.8km

U.S. Navy Medical Corp Lieutenant Reveals 973% Increase in Heart Failure After COVID Vax – Navy Blocks His Computer Access

Should You Put Ice on a Burn (or Not)?

Lieutenant Ted Macie, an active-duty officer in the United States Navy Medical Service Corps, has been barred from accessing his work computer by the Department of Defense (DOD), after publicly revealing Heart Damage to Navy Pilots after the COVID Vaccine.

Macie’s exposed significant increase in heart-related issues among military pilots, post-COVID-19 vaccination.

The data presented by Lt. Macie reveals a dramatic spike in various heart-related ailments among fixed-wing and helicopter pilots. The statistics show increases in conditions like hypertensive disease (36%), ischemic heart disease (69%), pulmonary heart disease (62%), heart failure (973%), other forms of heart disease (63%), and cardiomyopathy (152%) compared to the five-year average prior to 2022.

After making public the horrifying, real-life, danger post-COVID-Vax, the U.S. Department of Defense has restricted Lt. Macie’s access to government computer data.

Hal Turner Personal Opinion

Apparently, the DoD has forgotten they work for the American people, and are trying to conceal the damage done to our military – and, by extension, to the American people — by the so-called COVID-19 “vaccine.” Especially galling is the 973% increase in Heart Failure; which DoD is apparently trying to cover up.

People in the DoD would do well to remember their entire organization was CREATED by . . . . us. The American people. We created the military to serve . . . us; to protect . . . . us. We train, equip, feed, clothe and house the military, to protect and serve . . . . us.

We PAY the military to do these things . . . for us.

If anyone in the armed forces of the United States is under the wrong impression that they work for anyone other than . . . . us . . . . they need to quit.

What common misconception needs to be dispelled immediately because it could potentially save a life?

Never cool down a burn by placing ice on it.

Many years back, my mother was frying chicken, not noticing that my baby brother, back then, managed to enter the kitchen and was crawling around.

He touched her leg, gave her a fright and before she knew it, the pot had flipped, and the boiling oil spilled on my brother’s face.

He got a huge burn on more than half his face. She thought she ruined his life forever.

My mother’s first instinct was to grab some ice and quickly place it on the burn. But she decided to call my father who’s a doctor first, thankfully. And he told her to never put ice or even very cold water on such a burn or it will only damage the tissue.

Instead, “the best thing to do for a minor burn is to cool it off by running the burned area under cool water for about 5 minutes. You can also apply a clean, cool, wet cloth.”[1]

And that’s exactly what she did before taking him to the hospital.

Thankfully, they gave him the proper care, and after a few months of using proper creams and honey to cover the wound, it was nowhere to be seen. It helped a lot that he was still a growing baby so his skin recovered fast.

But yeah, if she had acted on her instinct, and placed ice on it, who knows how that would’ve affected my brother’s face to this day?

Footnotes[1]

What psychological tricks work on most people?

My -ex used to be a nurse in a psychological care facility.
When they were dealing with someone who was going completely ballistic, out of their control mind, the wrong thing to do was be completely calm.

She said she’d often go in and act a level or two calmer, but agree with the patient about their anger, because that would get them on board to listen to her and connect. And from there, she’d be able to wind them down a bit and talk them into chilling.

When she’d go in and immediately tell them to calm down in her ASMR voice, they’d just get even angrier.

It’s a good insight into learning to manage someone’s emotions. Leaning into them a bit allows you to get some control of the situation in many cases.

The other trick, that works big time, is to smile and look happy to see people. You’d be amazed at how far this goes to score points right off the bat. It seems like such basic advice, but many people don’t do it. It’s page 1, line 1 from the charisma bible.

What is a sure sign that your life isn’t in a good place?

It’s 2009. You’re in your friend’s basement, laying on a couch that doubles as your bed.

Your alarm is going off, but you don’t see the point in getting up. All you can do is stare at the ceiling and wonder how you ended up in this situation.

Bills are accumulating at an alarming rate and your savings account is all but depleted.

You know you need to make a change. You know you need to get back out there, find a job, and work your way out of this slump you’re in.

A friend tells you they could put in a good word for you at their office, but you hate the idea of working for some corporate snake that’s only out for himself.

Mark’s Landscaping posts a help wanted ad. No experience necessary.

It’s exactly what you’re looking for. It’s honest work, no managers breathing down your neck, and you can start immediately.

You brush yourself, put on your best smile, and sell yourself as a hard worker.

3 days in and you already hate it. It’s too hot, the hours are too long, and Mark is the one reaping the benefits of all your hard work.

You finish up for the day, head back to your friend’s basement couch, and start coming up with a plan to start a rival landscaping business.

The alarm goes off the next morning, but the snooze button is all too easy to hit.

You’re not worried about making it to work on time. You’re about to start your own company that puts Mark out of business.

The phone rings. Mark’s name flashes on the caller ID, but you send him to voicemail.

Instead of going into work, you fall back asleep.

The alarm goes off the next morning, but you hit the snooze button.

Mark calls, but you send him to voicemail.

Instead of going into work, you head out to look at landscaping equipment.

Everything is way too expensive and way out of your price range. If only you had the money.

You pull out your phone and give Mark a call, but he sends you to voicemail.

Mary’s Pool Cleaning posts a help wanted ad. No experience necessary.

It’s exactly what you’re looking for.

3 days in and you already hate it. You go back home to your friend’s basement couch and start coming up with a plan to start a rival pool cleaning business.

The next morning, Mary’s name flashes on the caller ID, but you send her to voicemail.

Fast forward to 2019. You’re in your friend’s basement, laying on a couch that doubles as your bed.

Your alarm is going off, but you don’t see the point in getting up. All you can do is stare at the ceiling and wonder how you ended up in this situation.

Best video Ever

Men, Listen up. It doesn’t matter (to anyone) if you win or lose. What matters is how you take it.

Two things to learn. 1, be strong regardless 2, pick your women better

New Zealand ARRESTS Government Database Admin for Revealing 24% DEATH RATE for certain COVID Vaccine Batches

https://money.udn.com/money/story/5603/7591830

A New Zealand Covid-19 vaccination database Administrator turned whistleblower, and revealed how many people died after taking certain batches of the Pfizer vaccine. New Zealand has now ARRESTED that man for “accessing computers for deceptive purposes.”

According to the man, certain batches of the Pfizer vaccine had death rates over 24% within about a week of persons being given the jab:

ARRESTED!

Today, Sunday morning, we are told the database Administrator has been ARRESTED by New Zealand authorities for revealing this information!

According to New Zealand media outlets “A health worker has been arrested and charged after allegedly misusing and disclosing vaccination data, while spreading misinformation about Covid-19.

The 56-year-old man will appear in the Wellington District Court tomorrow charged with accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes, police said.”

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

I worked for a company that decided to block ALL internet websites except for sites that were approved by management, one by one. There was no warning, not even a memo that went out that Monday morning it occurred. The IT person was overwhelmed the first day with complaints that the internet was broken. The reason eventually given was that too many people were using the company network for social media time wasting.

One small example, and there were many, of the short sighted policy, was in booking travel reservations. Sites like Continental, United, Delta, American, Hilton, Marriott, and Holiday Inn all had to be approved to allow for access, one at a time. What happened is people got approvals for one or two sites and used them, without regard to cost. The travel expenses doubled. Doing research to find the lowest cost supplier for parts was gone. You simply bought from the last guy you bought from since his site was approved. Costs went up across the board.

Sure, people weren’t using the company internet to access Facebook and Twitter anymore on their phones, so they switched to using cellular data. Time wasting continued. Expenses went up.

What is the most inappropriate thing your child has done to you accidentally?

1: When my eldest son was about 2, I had a few friends come over for bridge once a week.

One time we were all standing in my kitchen and my stomach rumbled. He picked up my dress and went “Ewww! Sis! Stinky!”. I was so embarrassed and everyone burst out laughing.

It wasn’t a fart, just a growl of a hungry tummy.

2: This same son used to have timeout in the bathroom. This was more than 30 years ago, so please don’t judge me. Things were done differently then. He would open the door so I would lock it from the outside for the duration of his timeout.

One day I was using that bathroom and he decided to lock me in from the outside. Poetic justice, you may say, except…it wasn’t.

When I asked him to unlock the door again, he was unable to and he was becoming hysterical. Here I am, on a Friday evening, inside the bathroom and my little 2 1/2 year old on the outside. I wasn’t expecting anyone for the weekend and there were no cellphones yet. The situation was dire.

We tried everything. He tried to take the key out to pass it to me, but couldn’t manage. Tried to push a knife under the door, but I couldn’t use it successfully.

After about an hour and many hysterics from his side (and a little bit from mine), I leaned out the bathroom window to see if anyone was perhaps passing.

I live in a dangerous country. All windows have burglar bars and people stay off the street after dark. It is a city and we don’t really know our neighbours.

After a while, I saw someone arriving at their house about 30 meters from mine. I shouted and shouted for help. He first looked at this crazy woman and I could see he wanted to ignore me, so I shouted even louder.

Eventually he came to the window and I explained the situation to him. He was laughing a lot, I remember.

Thankfully he scaled a 6-foot high wall to get into my property and thankfully I hadn’t yet closed the sliding glass door which gave him access to the inside.

So a stranger had to come into my house to unlock the door my darling son thought prudent to lock.

Needless to say, that was the end of timeout in the bathroom.

Oh SH*T! This is why they’re INVADING America, it all makes sense now | Redacted w Clayton Morris

Do you believe there is any truth in the saying, “What goes around, comes around”?

When I was a kid, I asked my parents for a cat. They smiled and said that I can have a cat if I can catch one and tame it. Living in the country, they figured that put the matter to rest, since there’s no way I could pull that off. Imagine their shock two hours later when they saw me walking up the holler with a knapsack in tow, carrying a stray barn-cat eager to live the cushy indoor life. We kept her.

When I was eighteen, we argued over a boy. Really, it was about boundaries. I roared, “I’m leaving!” They said that’s fine, see what it’s like out there! You’ll be back! Though it probably would have been best for me, I did not come back.

”We’ll show you.” No, I’ll show you.

After peeling an orange for my toddler this morning, she peered into the garbage can, wanting more. I explained that we don’t put our hands in the garbage, and that the bitter peel is nasty. “It burns, honey.” I had just changed the bag and the peel was the only thing in there, so when she grabbed it anyway, I thought, “Okay, good. This is a teachable moment. She’ll eat the peel, see that it’s nasty, and I can say, ‘See? That’s one reason…’”

I studied her face as she munched on the bitter skin and started to say, “See? It’s oogy oogy – nasty. Ewww -“

Except she broke out into her full-toothed smile and reached for another piece.

To my delight, we are very much alike. To my concern, I’m beginning to suspect that means we have our work cut out for us. Oh, yes, what goes around comes around.

I am very unhappy with you right now

What is the best advice someone has given you that has stuck with you through life?

The best advice I ever received was from my father, which may seem simple and homespun, but it has proven invaluable throughout my life. He had a certain protocol during mealtime in our family, emphasizing the importance of not wasting food and finishing everything on our plate. While he often had to remind me to be mindful of my butter consumption, it is not his specific advice that stands out.

His advice was rather straightforward – to eat what I didn’t like first and save what I enjoyed for last. I have carried this advice with me ever since. It doesn’t mean I suddenly become a fan of Brussels sprouts when I devour them first, but it has translated into other areas of my life. When faced with unpleasant tasks, I make it a point to tackle them first, so I can then fully enjoy the more pleasant ones without any guilt or lingering responsibilities.

I am grateful to my father for his wise counsel, and I still adhere to his advice by being mindful of my butter consumption and savoring the best moments until the end.

Wow. Get off the show right now.

What is the most epic way you have seen a coworker resign or quit?

Not a co-worker but epic nonetheless.

My wife and I were at a movie decades ago. It was shortly after Ace Ventura came out, back when they had previews and an attendant would come on stage and say a few words.

The attendant came on, a young guy of 16–17. He said, to the crowd’s astonishment, that he was quitting because his boss was a prick. Then he turned around and talked out of his bum like Ace did in the movie and told a hilarious story about his boss. Then he took off his uniform shirt and walked. He got a standing ovation!

What was your grandmother’s go to meal when unexpected guests arrived?

I would say that one thing that has changed here in the U.K. over the past fifty years ago, or since the 1960s when I was a boy, is the etiquette of calling on or visiting friends and relatives. I remember in those days how instead of going to the coast or the countryside on a Sunday afternoon as many people do now, especially on a fine summer afternoon, my parents would instead drive to my grandmother or one of my great aunts, and this (or so it seemed to me at the time) was in the hope of being given a free tea when they arrived. Indeed it was the custom in those days, at least here in the U.K, to drive around and pay a surprise call on relatives and friends like that on a Sunday afternoon, who were then expected to welcome you and rustle up something for you to eat.

If my grandmother or elderly relatives did not do this, they were regarded as mean and inhospitable. They probably realised this too, and so they would make an effort to be generous hosts and feed their guests, and indeed would have some tinned food in their pantry that they could bring out. It was always tinned food rather than fresh food of course because the host did not know whether or not anyone would turn up, and if nobody turned up fresh food would go to waste whereas tinned food would keep for the next Sunday afternoon.

The meal would be tinned salmon, the brand usually being John West (popular in those days and pictured below). I should also mention that in those days smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, which are so popular now, probably even more so than tinned salmon and cucumber, were unheard of because smoked salmon was so expensive and regarded as the food of only the very rich.

The tinned salmon would often be followed by a tin of pineapple chunks, i.e. a tin of pineapple chunks (like the one shown below, except that in those days tins did not have ring pulls like this one shown, and would need to be opened with a tin opener).

Nowadays it is different, because people do not normally call on friends and relatives without making prior arrangements to do so, and people who do not do this but call unexpectedly without giving notice are regarded as selfish and inconsiderate for the way that they presume that the person they are visiting has the time or is available to see them, or indeed has food in the pantry for them. However when I was a boy it was different, and the onus was always on the person receiving unexpected guests to rustle up a meal for them, like my grandmother always did.

In my defense

Why would anyone want to retire?

My husband was Covid retired at 66, and we thank God every single day it happened. At the time he was hurt and a little bewildered but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

We realize now that, left to our own devices, we would have just keep going. His job had changed and the stress levels were ghastly but we needed the money because we had two houses. We weren’t thinking clearly, really. We didn’t want to get rid of the one house because we loved the location and owned it outright, so it was our “vacation house” but it needed a lot of work, was in a rural area and would require a 300 mile move away from friends and family. Meanwhile our primary residence had been remortgaged due to my divorce in 2003. The inertia was powerful.

After Covid lock downs ended and some other experiences (specifically the death of three of our four cats, three months in a row) we did something we’d never been able to do, spend a full month in our vacation home. We packed up our last cat and went to spend what we thought was our last time there. It was supposed to be to grab our stuff and meet with a realtor last hurrah.

Long story short, we changed our minds. We realized how much we hated where our primary residence was. Literally it’s only redeeming qualities were that it was convenient to our loved ones, doctors and shopping. Suddenly the major repairs and renovations the vacation house needed weren’t so insurmountable with my husband retired. We would be moving to New England and were looking at an increase in expenses, and now we were on a fixed income, but a different heating system and smaller house generally offset that. Also, vacations wouldn’t need to be factored in because we wouldn’t be escaping from our noisy, smelly, increasingly urbanized and progressively more scary neighborhood.

I now live on a dead end street with a total of three neighbors and don’t expect to ever have more. The biggest noise is my neighbor’s roosters, and I can’t even hear them with the windows closed. I’m planning the gifts I want to give my neighbor/friends (homemade food) when we never used to even know the names of the people who lived in the house attached to our twin. We are on a budget, will always be, but money literally cannot buy happiness. We are so utterly at peace and content, more than we ever imagined, and it is a pleasure we never would have experienced if my husband hadn’t retired.

Addressing things culturally

What is the quickest you’ve ever sold your home?

My husband took early retirement as a high school administrator a year before I did the same. The plan was for him to use that year when I was still teaching to fix up the house and get it ready to sell.

In November of my final school year, a stranger saw him working out in our front yard and asked if we wanted to sell our house. My husband said it would be for sale next June.

The man explained that he was the person who had just bought our next door neighbor’s house, and that he would like to buy our house as well for family members. My husband told him we’d think about it.

When I got home and heard the story, I was adamant that it wouldn’t work to move out before school ended in June. My husband had a plan, however. I didn’t have to lift a finger; he went on to arrange a short term duplex rental for us from a neighbor, arranged to have most of our furniture and “stuff” moved to a storage facility, and cleaned the empty house himself.

Our California house sold for our full asking price before it was listed for sale.

That’s quick!

How Chinese police arrest people

Yup. This is China.

What are some unbelievable psychological tricks you can use to manipulate?

I wouldn’t recommend manipulating anybody, as the act itself is unethical. But I would recommend learning these tricks to stay aware of what is going on inside other people and behind their image.

The Zeigarnik Effect (named after the psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik): This phenomenon suggests that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. To use this, if you want to ensure someone remembers something, start discussing it and then intentionally leave it incomplete.

The Benjamin Franklin Effect (Named after the eponym of effect: Benjamin Franklyn) : This effect suggests that people are more likely to like you after they’ve done a favor for you. So, asking someone for a small favor can actually make them feel more positive about you. (Maybe even trust you).

The Illusory Truth Effect: The more you hear something, the more likely you are to believe it’s true, even if it’s false. Be cautious about repeating false information, and fact-check before sharing because this is how gossip negatively influences our brains and functions.

The Pygmalion Effect (Named after a Greek Myth): This is the idea that higher expectations lead to an increase in performance. If you have high expectations for yourself or others, it can lead to better outcomes. Of course, there are exceptions, where people would feel pressured when high expectations are placed on them, like a stone on their shoulders. But it is a valuable tip for your professional teammates or family members.

The Power of Visualization: Visualizing success can boost your confidence and performance in various situations.

So That!

As you age, are you getting more or less materialistic than you were when you were young?

Contrary to what one might believe, as you age you get less materialistic. My wife and I always laugh when we realized that we spent most of our young lives gathering “stuff” and most of our older lives getting rid of “stuff”.

As you age, you realize what’s really important in your lives (relationships and doing things you enjoy to do are the two biggest things) and understand that all that materialistic stuff just weigh’s you down. You not only shed material things but also things that you realize are of no value.

The “cranky old man” is usually more true than not because you stop trying to be everybody’s friend and discard relationships that add quality and enjoyment to your life.

You stop trying to present aires on who you wan’t to be and are now happy (in most cases) with who you are. My belief is that all this comes about when you realize you have more than likely achieved whatever you’re going to achieve in your lifetime and you have only a short time to really “enjoy” what’s left of your life. In effect, you finally become comfortable with who you are because, at this stage, you’re not going to change AND you’re not going to change what others think of you.

Don’t take this as a negative because hitting this “milestone” in your life, to use a common saying is like “taking the monkey off your back. You finally become “you” and the hell with what the rest of the world thinks.

Fun fact

What’s the weirdest situation you’ve woken up to after a night out?

My old manager at a fast food restaurant went for a night out. He was having a great time. Bar hopping all around town.

His girlfriend started receiving weird calls from random numbers, then his mom and dad, then his brother and sister. Everybody was getting calls. “Give us $20k or we kill Jacob” (name changed for privacy)

He was drugged and tied up while the men made ransom calls to everyone on his phone. They ended up getting no money and dumped him in the street below the most famous sign in town. The “biggest little city in the world” sign in Reno NV. He woke up there in his underwear. Police were called but none of the men were ever found

Sonic Bloom

What is it like doing a 20-hour or more flight in a passenger plane?

Meh.

I did Houston to Dubai and I think that was 19 hours. Typically, once you get past about 9 hours, it’s all the same. You watch movies, read a book, chat with your travel buddy, sleep etc. It’s just really not a big deal.

Even if you’re a nervous flyer, like me, you can only be terrified for so long before you get over it and just get bored.

I have a few tricks that I use that I will share with you.

Every hour, on the hour, I like to get up an do a lap. That is, I will walk all the way to the back of the plane, use the restroom, Hit the galley for a water or a munchie, go all the way to the front, at then circle back around. Again, all of it where I need to use the bathroom or not. It just helps break up the monotony.
Any time they give you food, take it and eat. It breaks up the monotony.
Bring a laptop or tablet and put a BUNCH of movies on it. Some long flights don’t have good entertainment options and it can be difficult to find out before you are on the plane. I bring my Ipad with about 20 different movies and TV shows saved on it. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a bad movie, it’s just to pass the time.

Try not to get too wound up about it. Just relax and enjoy the ride. You’ll get there when you’ll get there.

Bridal Bingo

What triggers success?

Imagine that you are a child on a playground, 9 to 10 years old.

Imagine then, that a bully roams this playground.

And you guessed it – you are his favorite plaything.

He is the walking embodiment of every weakness and insecurity you have: laziness, fear of not being good enough, smart enough, strong enough.

He is not your stereotypical, punch him back and he runs away bully.

He’s the real deal. A big, bad dude who is looking for a fight.

He is looking for a fight. And he will gladly fight you without consequence.

Every day, he comes and rubs your face in the sand. He’s bigger than you. Stronger than you.

And he can certainly kick your ass.

Every day, in the same 15-minute window, he comes over and humiliates you in front of your classmates.

He calls you names. Punches you in the stomach. Slams you on the ground.

He says, “Fight me you pussy.” and slaps you across the head.

“Fight me you pussy.” Slaps you across the head.

He looks down at you and says, “yeah that’s what I thought – pussy”

And shoves you to the ground.

Your classmates just watch.

Each bullying session embodies a defeat you experience in your life. Every rejection. Every failure. Every missed goal, missed opportunity.

You remember each of these. You feel shame in them.

The bullying continues for weeks.

One day, it starts again as usual.

You see him approaching. The classmates turn around and look at you.

The bully gets in your face. He pushes you.

He pushes you again.

He says, “Pussy. A wimpy little pussy.”

He pushes you again.

Then, something in you is triggered.

You take a swing at him.

He blocks it.

A flurry of swinging arms and punches unfolds. A dirt cloud shoots up as you fight back against the bigger man.

It is a full-on brawl with everyone watching. Fists swinging, haymakers flying.

Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap.Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap.Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap. Whap.

Whap.

Suddenly.

Everything goes black.

You open your eyes. You are laying on your back in the dirt.

Stars are swimming in your vision. You see the sky above you.

You were knocked out.

Your friend is standing over you.

He is smiling.

“Good job man!”

But…

But how did you do a good job?

You just lost the fight. You got knocked out. Knocked out in front of everyone.

Well.

Yes you lost, technically. You got knocked out.

You won in the bigger picture.

Your tormenter also walked away with a black eye. A busted lip. A bloody nose.

Enough damage for him to not bother with you anymore.

You won huge respect from your classmates for standing up to the bigger man.

More importantly, you preserved your own self respect.

Whatever life throws at you, whatever the impossible situation, wherever the odds of achieving success seem remote:

Say to yourself, “I might lose at this. But I’m not going down without a fight.”

You’ll probably do a lot better than you’d imagined.

And even if it doesn’t work out, you’ll save yourself the pain of regret. You’ll know that you didn’t wimp out, roll over and die.

What was the most boneheaded mistake you saw someone make while in the military?

Two instances come to mind, more funny than serious though.

After Army basic, we were in AIT and the Drill Sgt was a little guy, smaller than many recruits. He called everyone into the barracks for some kind of pep talk or something. I don’t remember topic but we were all “at ease” and he was sitting on a top bunk facing us. Just then a recruit runs in late, jumps up top with him, slaps his arm and tells the drill to scoot over. He didn’t realize it was the Drill Sgt. A good smoking ensued while we all tried not to laugh.

A couple years later my unit at the time was in Korea on a field excercise. We had a tent with our cots set up inside and the command tent was right next door. We all had blanks for training excercise and those muzzle blocker things installed. I forget the name, but they were red and cube shaped. Anyhow, day was over and a guy whos cot was against the wall we share with the command tent was carrying an M249. He walked in all tired, went to his cot, and kinda just dropped his weapon on the ground next to it. He never unloaded it. 3 rounds (blanks thankfully) went off from burst mode. It was aimed into the command tent. They noticed.

Do men not pick up hints that women throw at them, such as subtle flirting or signs to show they’re interested?

I was/am REALLY bad on picking up signals.

Some years ago I worked in a large office and the pretty receptionist used to wave at me every time I came in.

I used to grab a bite – usually alone – at lunch in the canteen, and she asked if she could join me. This became regular for a couple of weeks and we’d chat about non-consequential stuff. Sometimes she appeared to try and steer the conversation towards sexual stuff, but (back then) I was uncomfortable and didn’t follow up.

She would flick and twist her hair, smile and tilt her head when I talked.

After a while, when I walked past reception and she started blowing kisses to me.

So I thought “OK those MUST be signals.” Right?

So I got up the courage to ask her out.

SHE REPORTED ME TO HR FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT!

What is the most bizarre way you’ve gotten an injury?

I hope nobody else has already said doing press-ups with a backpack filled with vodka bottles, because that woud be disappointing. (Also fairly unlikely.)

Because my most bizarre injury was probably sustained doing press-ups with a backpack filled with vodka bottles.

Having recently finished Uni, I was living alone in a lovely (cough) studio apartment. Not wanting to shell out on a gym membership, I used some impressive initiative that would probably have been better served on finding a half-decent job.

I combined two of my main passions at the time — working out, and drinking.

You have to make do with what you’ve got. What I had, was several empty bottles, both plastic and glass, and a backpack.

Being a smart cookie, I realised that, if I filled said bottles up with water, I could make them pretty heavy. I could then put several of them in my backpack, and make my bodyweight exercises (press-ups and pull-ups) considerably harder, so I could continue to make progress (or at least maintain a bit of muscle) sans gym membership.

Being a not-that-smart cookie, I didn’t really foresee that glass could be breakable. (Well, I did put some form of clothing in the backpack, to prevent the bottles all smashing against each other, but I don’t think it would have passed a safety inspection.)

Halfway through a set of press-ups, one of the vodka bottles cracked, and started leaking over me. It also caused some of the broken pieces of glass to dig into my back, so my blood started leaking over me as well.

OK, actually, it wasn’t a particularly bad cut. I do still have a faint scar on my back from it, though. So, while I’ve had several much worse injuries, I don’t think any of them were quite this stupid, or preventable.

(Actually, spraining/almost breaking my ankle jumping over some small shrubs by a kerb while yelling “parkour” might give it a run for its money.)

Widows and widowers: what are some things you weren’t prepared for after your spouse died?

I had never known true grief until my wife died four years ago. I did not know the cruel tricks my mind would play on me after her death.

Michelle was a diabetic. Her diabetes caused so many problems with her body. She had early onset osteoporosis. People would not believe that she needed a hip replacement in her early thirties. I lost count the number of times I woke up but couldn’t wake her up because her blood sugar had dropped. The day we closed on our house, she wasn’t there. I had to call 911 that morning. She was in the hospital when I signed the papers to buy the house.

Over the years, her health continued to worsen. She was shopping with her parents when she tripped and fell. She broke her leg starting a years long odyssey involving several surgeries and the doctors installing an external fixation device on her leg. The doctor had said at one point that the easiest thing would be to amputate her leg after her broken bone had become infected. She did not want to.take that option hence the external fixation device. For almost two years she had a heavy metal set of rings on her legs with pins that went directly into the bone. She was wheelchair bound as she couldn’t walk with the device on her leg. She required assistance from either me or her parents just to go to the bathroom. During this time she developed necrosis in some of her fingers. We spent one anniversary at home with her crying in pain because her fingers hurt so bad. She eventually had several fingers amputated. There was no choice. She also went into renal failure and required dialysis.

Hospital staff knew her by sight. Two week long hospital stays were a routine part of life. Then came the day that life ended. She couldn’t stay at home with me because she couldn’t take the stairs up. She stayed at her parents apartment. Her father woke up to go to work. He would assist her using the bathroom before going to work. That morning he couldn’t get her to wake up. He called 911. The paramedics performed CPR for over an hour but nothing more could be done. She was 40 years old when she died.

My wife was Jewish. Jewish funeral tradition states that a person must be buried very quickly after they die. She died on a Tuesday. Her funeral was held on Thursday. There was a rush to get her sister in from where she lived in a different state, but for the most part I spent the days between her death and her funeral in a state of shock. Feeling no emotion whatsoever.

During her wake, her coffin was in a separate room where only a few people could enter at a time. A couple of my cousins that Michelle had been good friends with over the years asked me to accompany them while they paid respects. They wanted me to be their rock. The funeral home had done Michelle’s hair and makeup. She had never looked more beautiful except for our wedding day. My cousins each cried a few tears but I was still in shock.

After her wake and the Rabbi giving his service, we went to the cemetery. There was a service held at the graveside. Another Jewish funeral tradition followed. Her coffin was lowered into the ground then each mourner would put a shovel full of dirt on top. I remember the Rabbi being very specific that you do not hand the shovel to the next person in line. You put the shovel down so that it is standing up in pile of dirt next to the grave. My turn came. I did as the Rabbi instructed. After placing the shovel back I took a few steps away then emotion hit me like a freight train. It was literally a surprise when the tears came. The tears flowed and I couldn’t stop them. I stood there for I don’t know how long. My best friend that I refer to as my brother came up and wrapped me in a hug. His wife also hugged me and tried to console me. She told me how there would be no more hospitals, no more pain, her suffering was over. Still I cried. I had known Matt since high school. It had been 20 years since we graduated. He had been married for six years by then. He told me how after the funeral his wife said she had never seen me cry. Matt realized at that point that in over 20 years of knowing me, he had never seen me cry either.

It took a long time for me to recover enough composure to drive away from the cemetery. Even then a had to wipe away tears as I drove.

The next week I went to a cell phone store to have her phone deactivated. I again lost control of my emotions inside the store. The act of turning off her phone was another finality that hit me. I had to leave the store and go cry in my car before I could finish that task

The worst cruel trick my mind played on me came a few days after her funeral. I had a dream about her. In that dream we went to a store to go shopping for coffins. She would lay in a coffin to test it out. She got into one coffin and the lid started to fall shut. In the dream she was saying “Don’t let that close on me, don’t let that close on me”. The lid fell shut and that’s when I woke up. The coffin lid had closed and would never open.

It’s been over four years. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of her. Often I will see something on the news that would interest her and my first instinct is to grab my phone and text her. She was a huge baseball fan. She loved the Detroit Tigers with a passion (I’m surprised our house was still standing after the umpire blew the perfect game call). When I learned that Tigers hall of famer Al Kaline had passed away, I had my phone in my hand hand before I realized what I was doing. There are emotional scars that will never go away. The pain doesn’t go away. You just learn to cope with it.

What’s the best excuse you’ve heard for calling in sick at work?

I’m going to try and shorten a long story. Many years ago we had one guy in the crew who seemed to have bad luck following him around. One morning he was hours late getting to work and the entire crew was wondering what new pitfall had occurred and when he finally arrived everyone ran over and asked him what had happened. He said a severe storm had hit during the night and lightning had struck his chimney and blew a hole in his roof and set it on fire. He climbed up on the roof with a garden hose and put the fire out. Got some plastic and covered the hole. Inside the house had gotten pretty damp from the rain and the water hose and about that time his neighbor came over and suggested he come over to his house to sleep where it was dry. Said he went to the neighbors for a couple of hours and couldn’t get to sleep so he returned home. There was a van in his driveway. Walking up to it he noticed while backing up it had dropped a wheel over his culvert and gotten stuck. He looked in the back of the van and could see many items from his home and no one around so he ended up calling the police. He inventoried all his stuff in the van and asked the police to sign it but the police refused. A few weeks later when he got his stuff back some of the electronics were missing. Just life as usual for the guy. On another occasion he said they built a new apartment complex behind his property and dug a huge drainage ditch and dead ended it up against the back of his property. He got out the tractor and started building a berm. Said he managed to get it three foot high before the apartment builder got an injunction to stop him from building it. At that time a heavy storm rolled in and the water came down the ditch and hit his wall backing the water up and flooding all the apartments instead of his home.

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

Because they were born, educated and grew up in China.

China has a completely different history and social record compared to the US; in China, the state is considered to be the parent and guardian of all Chinese citizens, and is trusted more than the private sector, who are often considered to be scoundrels who crave personal wealth at everyone else’s expense.

This is the opposite of what most Americans believe.

Get used to it.

How realistic is “Full Metal Jacket”?

Full Metal Jacket is probably the most accurate film ever made about the US involvement in the Vietnam War. It is absolutely the most accurate film ever made about the US Marine Corps’ service there.

While I’m only 44, and was never a Marine, and have never even been to Vietnam, those are not the uneducated opinions of a viewer. They’re simply facts.

Enormous care was put into making this film as historically accurate as was humanly possible, largely independently of Stanley Kubrick, himself an obsessive researcher always aiming for absolute historical accuracy, even at the cost of his own story telling.

Every major player except for Kubrick himself who was involved in its writing and technical advice was a personal witness or participant to the events leading up to, including and following Tet 1968, in Da Nang, Phu Bai and Hue, the locations the film is set in in its second act.

(Kubrick was the only major player involved in military and historical input into the film who had not actually been on the ground, at the locations described in the film, during the period of the Vietnam War shown in the film.)

Gustav Hasford, the novelist who wrote Short-Timers, the novel on which the film is based, and a member of the screenwriting team adapting the novel into Full Metal Jacket, actually served as a Marine Corps combat correspondent from 1967–1968 in South Vietnam (alongside his “frenemy,” future military advisor to Hollywood and actor, Dale Dye). He was actually present in Da Nang during the initial stages of the Tet Offensive, actually had to transit between Da Nang and Phu Bai during Tet and actually covered the Battle of Hue for Stars and Stripes. The character of Joker is based on him, personally.

(Gustav Hasford)

Michael Herr, a member of the screenwriting team adopting the novel Short-Timers into the movie Full Metal Jacket, was the pre-eminent journalist of the US involvement in Vietnam. Dispatches, his 1977 memoire of his time covering the Vietnam War for Esquire magazine from 1967–1969, was judged to be the best book “to have been written about the Vietnam War,” by the the New York Times Book Review. Espionage novelist, former military intelligence officer and former MI5 and MI6 agent David Cornwell, better known to the world by his famous pen-name John Le Carre, described Dispatches as “the best book I have ever read on men and war in our time;” high praise indeed from an author generally considered the best British writer of the second half of the 20th Century. Any incident not directly attributable to Hasford’s service in Full Metal Jacket was something Herr himself had personally witnessed – in fact, the door-gunner incident is a verbatim account of a real incident Herr was present for, in which he was the journalist talking to a door-gunner killing women and children and asking to be covered in a story. Michael Herr also personally covered the Tet Offensive in Phu Bai, Da Nang and Hue.

(Michael Herr)

R. Lee Ermey, the military advisor and eventually the actor playing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, was actually a Marine Corps Drill Instructor from 1966–1967, and served in South Vietnam as a helicopter ground crew chief from 1967–1968. He was personally allowed to ad-lib 50% of his dialogue for this film, an absolutely unheard of event on a Kubrick picture, where, typically, you had to be named either Peter Sellers or Jack Nicholson to be allowed ad-lib at all. Ermey himself also served in Da Nang during the Tet Offensive.

(R. Lee Ermey)

Street scenes were reconstructed from photographs belonging to Hasford, Herr and Ermey dating to late 1967 and early 1968 and taken in Da Nang, Phu Bai and Hue. Often the location and costumes reconstructed exactly matched the photographs, straight down to the clothing worn by civilians and the contents of the billboards and other advertising.

Some things in the film are notably SO accurate that those without intimate knowledge of the time and place sometimes call them into question – ie, the film enters the Uncanny Valley. For example, a Westland Wessex, a British-made, license-built clone of a Sikorsky H-34 Choctaw, is used as the helicopter transporting Joker and Rafterman. Most people assume only the far more famous UH-1 Iroquois, the Huey, was in use in South Vietnam by that point in the war. The USMC however operated the H-34 well into late 1968 and even preferred them to the newer Hueys. Its use, particularly in a second line role transporting journalists around, was absolutely period correct – as I said, it helps that Ermey, in addition to being a Drill Sergeant was also a helicopter ground crew chief, and that both Hasford and Herr personally recalled being transported by H-34’s at the time.

(Picture of an H-34 taken from inside another H-34 in use by the USMC in 1965 in South Vietnam. This image is from the extraordinarily famous and important photo essay, One Ride with Yankee Papa 13, published in Life magazine in 1965. While used in the assault and even gunship role by the Marines in 1965, by 1968, unless requested by name – HUS – they were used in support roles; things like hauling journalists around, and doing mail and supply runs, as seen in the film.)

So an obsessive Kubrick surrounded himself with actual participants to the events described in the film. It makes the film absolutely accurate, except for the limited license Gustav Hasford took while writing the novel itself (his real-life Drill Instructor was not murdered, and there was no real-life Private Leonard Lawrence aka Gomer Pyle, but that’s about it). And while some of the novel’s elements were changed for the film, none impacted historical accuracy so much as they changed the tone and became less like Hasford’s personal experiences and more an amalgam of his and Michael Herr’s.

What would be the consequences for the USA and Europe if China attained independence in the semiconductor industry (beyond 7 nm) and established autonomy in phone and computer operating systems (like Harmony OS)?

First China HAS DE-RISKED from the U.S. and the west in Chips, Software and Technology. Period.

China will never be dependent on the west ever again. It will make everything better, cheaper and faster than the west and make all the money themselves. It was happy to share a loaf of bread with the west but since the west wanted to cut China out. China do that as a favour for you. They cut you guys out. For good.

Forget 7nm. Think about Chinese 0.5 nm chips! For get google or IOS thinks Harmony that can do everything faster, more efficiently and cheaper. Forget blue tooth. Think a wider receivable less power consumption Chinese equivalent at half the price.

Too bad some players in these technologies sucked up to the west and threaten China. You harvest what you sow. China will cut out at least 70% of the world market. The west and make stuffs for your own small tiny market. You guys can cheat or coerce each other! Good bye Intel, Qualcomm, Nivdia, Apple, Microsoft, Google, blue tooth. China, the global south will cut you out. You asked for it. No tomorrow or in 5 years. Starting now!

What’s the quickest way you saw a co-worker get fired?

I worked at a newspaper that had a dark room for developing negatives. When you enter and turned off the main lights, a red light turned on just outside the door. No one would dare enter as they could ruin hundreds of dollars of film.

It was a good place to go if you wanted to be alone. Just as I started my shift I entered the dark room and found about ten empty beer cans. They were from an employee on the shift before me and he had got drunk and forgot to get rid of the cans

He was fired immediately.

Have you, while repairing a computer, ever found anything that made your jaw drop?

From my arrival in the country as the head of school, I was concerned that people didn’t seem to be getting my emails. Many said they eventually found them in SPAM, but I couldn’t understand why a school email would consistently be sent to people SPAM boxes. I made a new address and saw a moderate improvement – better than nothing.

One of my employees kept getting viruses on his computer. We had brand new computers and while this was a poor country in Africa, the internet service was pretty good when we had electricity. Mac computers were not as susceptible to viruses as Windows, so I was getting pretty annoyed. I had cleaned up his computer several times by running software for that purpose, but after the second or third time of this, I decided I needed to delve deeper. What I found totally floored me.

This employee was running one of those money scams where people are told they can get millions if they simply help get money out of a bank in ‘country-x’. I found over 800 documents of copies of a variety of passports – many with his picture on them, official letterhead from the US embassy, letters that looked like they were from the US Ambassador, pictures of piles of US currency, pictures of credit cards that appeared to be from people who had been scammed, ‘official-looking’ documents from the local government, all used to convince people the plea was legitimate . . . I was up most of the night, printing off everything that I found.

Now I understood why our email was going to SPAM and why he got so many viruses. He had been running all of this on school computers, often doing this instead of doing the work he was hired to do.

Needless to say, he lost his job.

These 07 things you must accept in life

If the people in your life aren’t happy for you after a big win, then you need to find new people. Full stop.
People say opposites fall in love but the truth is relationship having same music tastes, food vibes and night life lasts longer.
Choosing a romantic partner isn’t just about the romance-you’re also choosing a confidant, counselor, career advisor, therapist, investor, teacher, travel buddy, roommate, best friend, and business partner.
The reason why you can see through some people is that they have what you used to be.
Most people don’t care what you say, or do, most of the time.
No one is going to stand up at your funeral. Life is about loving people, not impressing them.
The longer you try to force what doesn’t feel right, the longer you delay finding what does.

Why do older people eat dinner so early like prior to 5pm? Aren’t they getting hungry again at 9pm?

My husband and I used to tease my dad and his “lady friend” when they would tell us what they ate on a regular basis—a small breakfast, a big lunch, and cereal for dinner.

But now the tables have turned as we’ve aged because my husband and I have become those people. In fact, I just had cereal for dinner about an hour ago.

With the exception of dinners with family or friends, we mostly eat a hot lunch as our main meal. Fruit and cheese, cottage cheese and fruit, or cereal and milk are our go-to dinner choices. I also like a spoonful of peanut butter for a quick snack if I start feeling hungry in the evening. And we both have a sweet tooth so some snacking does take place during the day.

When you age, your metabolism slows down and, for us at least, three full meals are just too much. We also feel better if our heaviest meal is midday rather than in the evening.

Again, we’re flexible and social occasions will find us eating a big dinner. But on those days, we just have a sandwich for lunch so we have room later to enjoy a big meal at night.

Norton’s Cafe Jambalaya

Whole30 Jambalaya Recipe Primavera Kitchen 1

Yield: 15 cups

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 ounces Norton’s Cajun Seasoning (about 1 cup)*
2 cups (4 sticks) margarine
1 pound raw chicken, cut into bite-size pieces (about 2 cups)
3 cups hot water
3 cups tomato sauce or canned diced tomatoes
10 ounces andouille sausage, cut into bite-size pieces (2 cups)
10 ounces ham, cut into bite-size pieces (2 cups)
1 1/2 tablespoons beef base
2 1/2 cups uncooked white rice

Instructions

In a large pot, combine onion, peppers, celery, sugar, seasoning and margarine. Cook over low heat until margarine is melted.
Add chicken; cook for about 3 minutes. Add hot water, tomato sauce, sausage, ham, beef base and rice. Stir well, cover with tight-fitting lid and simmer for about 30 minutes or until rice is cooked, stirring4 or 5 times to prevent sticking. Add water near end of cooking if extra liquid is needed.

Notes

* Substitute Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning Blend for Vegetables if you cannot locate Norton’s Cajun Seasoning.

Nutrition

Per 1 1/2 cups serving: 755 calories; 49g fat (58 percent calories from fat); 624g saturated fat; 54mg cholesterol; 24g protein; 55g carbohydrate; 14g sugar; 2.5g fiber; 3,621mg sodium; 55mg calcium; 624mg potassium

Attribution

Source: Norton’s Cafe, St. Louis, Missouri

What is the best way to respond to a rude dinner guest?

Once upon a chilly evening in late autumn, my friend hosted a dinner party. Among the guests was someone known for their rather abrupt demeanor. As the evening progressed, this guest, let’s call him Mr. R, made a particularly rude comment about the host’s choice of wine. The room fell silent, the air thick with discomfort.

My friend, the host, faced a moment of choice. She could either let the comment sour the evening or handle it with grace. Choosing the latter, she responded with a light-hearted yet firm tone, “Well, Mr. R, it seems this wine isn’t to your taste. I believe in embracing a variety of flavors at my table. Perhaps the next one will be more to your liking!”

The guests chuckled, appreciating her tactful handling of the situation. Mr. R, realizing his faux pas, nodded and even managed a small, albeit sheepish, smile.

This moment, while seemingly trivial, became a masterclass in handling rudeness with grace and humor. My friend’s response not only diffused the tension but also reminded everyone that kindness and a bit of wit can turn an awkward situation into a pleasant one. The rest of the evening continued with laughter and lively conversations, the earlier rudeness fading into a distant memory.

Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?

LOL. I opened an email in my in-box, sent out to our whole region. In the email my (less than intelligent) boss listed out why he wanted to fire me, and the next email – copied to everyone (from HR) said to “get rid of the worthless piece of s**t today”. I sent a copy home, made my rounds of my team, and started packing my office.

I sent a note to the region (not counting my boss and HR) thanking them for their help in my short tenure. Then I sat and waited for my boss to show up. He got there to find my office packed, my computer wiped and my paperwork in order. I made him count and sign for my petty cash and assume all liability on my corporate credit card, and I was gone.

I did send a copy of the emails to the head of HR and the Chief HR Officer, along with my intent to file a lawsuit for releasing confidential HR information to non-essential personnel. 60 days later, both the HR contact and my former boss were gone. So was I, but I shouldn’t ever worked for that company in the first place.

How should I tactfully tell a family who invited me for dinner that I’m still hungry?

My husband and I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) in 2000. Those who know of the experience know that most hikers cannot eat enough to for all the calories they burn. A friend’s in-laws lived just a little ways off the trail in NC and they offered to let us shower, eat with them, etc as we passed through.

First off we had to wait for another couple to arrive. Then, out came lunch: thin-sliced bread with low-cal cheese, one thin slice of sandwich meat, and lettuce, making it a sandwich. On the table there was a small dish of chips. A brownie for dessert. Steve and I looked at each other and sighed. These people were exceptionally kind and generous, but they also were very health conscious. They offered another sandwich, if we wanted, so Steve insisted that he could make his own, intending for it to be bigger. When we got back on the trail a couple of hours later, we hiked about two miles and then stopped for our usual lunch.

The people were so kind that we couldn’t let them know we were still hungry! It’s a story we still tell when giving highlights of our AT Thru-hike.

What is the sweetest memory you have as a parent?

Back when my son was about 5 years old he was invited to a friend’s birthday party at a waterpark. There was also a park area where they set up a bunch of games for the kids and one was a sack race. Well I started to video this as any crazy parent of a young child is going to do.

They started the race and all the kids took off towards the finish and my son was absolutely last falling way behind. The other kids were passing the finish and he was still struggling. I started feeling horrible for him because every one else had finished and he was still going. My heart was beginning to break for him and I was ready to stop videoing and thought I am going to run out and give him a hand to finish.

Well that would have been my mistake if I had have because all of a sudden I could hear him and he was saying “I’m doing it! I’m doing it!”. I started beaming and continued to video cheering him on! He didn’t care that he was last, he was proud of himself for doing as well as he was and I knew I had to let him finish. I still tell that story to this day and it chokes me up. He still has that “don’t quit” attitude and he keeps moving forward. I LOVE this memory!

Have you ever had a weird experience immediately following the death of a loved one that made you think there is an afterlife and that the deceased person was communicating with you?

I woke up one morning with my eight year old son hugging me and telling me that “everything will be fine.” Yet, he wasn’t actually physically there. He was staying at his father’s far away. I asked him how he got home and then he was gone… I jumped out of bed and began searching all over the house for him. My daughter woke up and I asked her if she saw her brother. She looked at me like I was losing my mind – uh, mom, he’s at dad’s… But, I felt I had actually felt and talked with him and it was as real as anything. Kinda dazed, I went about my day until hours later I received a phone call from my children’s father – our little son had just died from a terrible car accident. I still believe to this day that he came to me ‘before’ he passed and have been comforted by this. The next day I traveled to the scene of where he had died. All of a sudden I heard him say clear as anyone “mom, look at me, I can fly!” Then he said another thing I will never forget. He said “mom, there is no such thing as time… and everything will be fine, you will be fine…” A couple of other things have since happened but the most important was the pre-passing hug…

Have you ever caught a mechanic lying about a repair they claimed to have done to your car? What happened?

Many years ago, I brought my Cortina to the local Ford dealership for its annual MOT test. This was not a major issue as I had thoroughly inspected the car in my own lockup beforehand. Since my father had an account with the garage and I was working late, the service desk was closed when I picked up the car. As a result, I simply collected the keys from a salesman and drove home. The next day, I collected the paperwork and was informed that they would send me the bill through the mail.

About a week later, I received the bill, which stated that they had replaced all four sets of brake shoes. Immediately, I phoned the garage to question the bill’s accuracy and requested them to verify if it was meant for my car or if they had made a clerical error. In response, I received a letter with a threatening tone, implying legal action if I did not settle the bill immediately. Frustrated, I replied saying, “I will see you in court.”

In Scotland, we have a system called Small Debts Court, where local magistrates preside over minor cases. I received a letter stating the date and time for the hearing, and I was quite eager for my day in court.

During the proceedings, the magistrate inquired why I had chosen to represent myself without a lawyer present. I explained that I did not believe the case warranted the expense. The garage’s lawyer then provided a summary of the facts. When asked if I disputed any of the statements made by the garage, I replied no, accepting everything that their lawyer had said. I proceeded to present copies of the correspondence exchanged between the garage and myself. At this point, it seemed like an open-and-shut case, as I refused to pay for something that was clearly not done on my car.

It was then that I inquired if the magistrate was knowledgeable about the technicalities of motor car braking systems. He confirmed that he was, but also mentioned that if there were any technical points beyond his understanding, he would seek expert assistance and pause the proceedings. I subsequently presented the bag of worn-out brake shoes that had been left in my car as per the garage’s regular procedure. I explained that as a qualified mechanical engineer and a car enthusiast who frequently participated in car racing, I had upgraded my Cortina’s brakes to disk brakes all around several months prior and had a bag of brake parts that were incompatible with my car. It was clear that the mechanic had never even inspected the brakes. I firmly refused to pay for work that couldn’t have been performed on my car.

Although the magistrate didn’t laugh, a broad smile appeared on his face as he declared, “Case closed.”

Could the Battle of the Bulge have been successful for the Germans?

Yes.

What most people don’t realize is how close the Germans came to victory.

Forget Bastogne and the river crossings, the crucial battle was the Battle of the Elsenborn Ridge.

The 21st Army Group was planning on crossing the Rhine in early 1945 in the Netherlands, but the massive supply depots for this operation were located in Belgium as the stretch of land held by the Allies in the Netherlands was too narrow.

Beyond the Elsenborn Ridge was the largest supply area in Western Europe and without these supplies, the 21st Army Group could no longer operate.

But US troops in the North belonging to the 12th Army Group also got their supplies from this crucial area.

By now, the port of Antwerp with a capacity of 40,000 tonnes a day was open and US troops depended less and less on French ports.

If the Germans break through at Elsenborn, this massive supply area falls into enemy hands meaning the Germans have all the fuel, food, and medical supplies they need while the Allies run out of ammunition in a matter of days.

The intense V-weapon offensive against Antwerp (the small city of Antwerp got more hits than larger London) is disrupting resupply at the port … so those 40,000 never actually materialized until March 1945.

With the 21st Army Group out of the way, the Germans can rather easily take Antwerp.

Thanks to the heroic resistance of American troops at Elsenborn, this never happened, but it came close.

Lloyd’s Cajun Blues Cafe Cajun Riblets

Ingredients

1 slab ribs (split down the center)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
All-purpose seasoning
Garlic powder
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper

Instructions

Pull skin from back of ribs. Trim all excess fat.
Rub ribs with Worcestershire sauce.
Sprinkle ribs with all-purpose seasoning, cayenne pepper, black pepper and garlic powder.
Sprinkle brown sugar on ribs and pat, rubbing sugar into ribs.
Oil grill or spray with nonstick spray.
Place ribs on grill. Slowly cook until fork tender.

Notes

Ribs may also be baked in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

What is the best part of being honest?

Rick is having an affair on his wife.

He typically spends time with his mistress under the guise of working late or being on work trips.

He tells his wife he is working on Project 6A which requires much of his time.

Day 20

His wife casually picks up his phone, to see if he has his mother’s new phone number.

He panics internally. He forgot to delete the messages with his mistress.

He stays cool. His heart racing.

She doesn’t see. After that, Rick gets a new cell phone for his mistress.

Day 30

Wife is frustrated with his working late.

He says, “It shouldn’t be this way much longer. My coworker Steve just started helping me on this project. It should move along quickly now.”

Day 41

His wife asks, “Have you loaned our Netflix to anyone?”

“No?”

She says, “It’s weird, that show we were watching. Someone finished the last few episodes.”

His heart catches in his throat. He’d been using it at his Mistress’s. He forgot to mark the episodes as unwatched.

“Not sure,” he says.

Day 43

During a phone call. His wife says, “It’s the weirdest thing. Cindy said she saw you at the grocery store.”

Rick was ***out of town***

Rick says, “Hmm. Must have been my lookalike. Wasn’t me!”.

His wife buys it.

Day 50

He and his wife are at a work function. Rick steps out to use the bathroom.

His wife bumps into a worker.

She says, “Hey Steve!”

Steven comes by, hugs her, “Hey! How are you?”

She says, “So you’ve been working late on Project 6A right?”

Steve scrunches his eyes, “Project 6A? What is that?”

And Rick’s entire life comes crashing down.

No guilt. No pain. No remembering things. No covering up.

The benefits of honesty are many.

The path of honesty is the path of a happy life.

Have you ever caught your neighbor doing something that made you furious?

It wasn’t just one thing, but several.

Shortly after he and his wife moved in next door, he started nailing a squirrel trap to my side of the fence. I told him if he wanted a trap, he could put it on HIS side of the fence. He would regularly have workmen over and I kept catching them in my yard. When asked, they’d tell me he said he owned the property, so I’d set them straight and tell them to leave. He wasn’t big on asking my permission for anything, especially being in my yard.

But the satisfying one was when he parked in front of my driveway. I had some things delivered that were sitting in front of it, so he felt entitled, despite the fact that he had a long driveway, and I did not. And when I’d ask him to move, he’d yell at me. He liked yelling at women, and I lived alone. One day, after everything had been moved, he parked right across the driveway. There was nothing in front of the garage, lots of parking on the street, and his driveway was empty. So I called parking enforcement. When she showed up to give him a ticket, he came belting out of the house, screaming at both of us. Part of his rationale was that my garage was full of “shit”. Parking enforcement said she didn’t care WHAT was in the garage, and that it was MY driveway. After he got done screaming and stomped off, she typed ABUSIVE into her handheld computer, said, “No one yells at me,” got in her car and left. I looked it up later. He’d tried to go to court to fight it, and instead of a $47 fine, he got $250. And he never parked there again. I was thrilled when they moved.

What is the strangest reason someone else has seen you naked?

Ok, this is weird and sordid and I’ve never posted anything like this before.

I was married at sixteen to a man seven years older, a felony convict, and illiterate. And NO, I wasn’t pregnant and was in fact a virgin when we married. And YES, this travesty took place in the U.S.A.

A couple years after marriage, we drove to Louisiana with a an eight month old baby so he could (he thought) get a job. Instead he and his brother robbed a gas station and my mom and dad flew me home. I went back to visit him at his request (I lived in Chicago) and he made me aware that he managed to pay the guards (with MY money) so we could have sex in a visiting room. In retrospect, (the kind you’re graced with fifty years later) I realize PART of the agreement was so they could watch!

When I think of how fucking stupid I was at that age, it makes me want to vomit. Anyway, someone shot and killed him a year or so after he escaped. So I married again in 1979 to a wonderful man and we’re still together and happy.

Fogging the Sewers

When I lived in Tangxia; Danguan there was this twice-a-year event that is worthy of reporting. You see, I lived in a little city part of a bigger city next to Shenzhen. It is a small manufacturing city located North of Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta. And being a manufacturing city, dating back many centuries, there were a lot of old buildings and old roads, and old sewer lines.

Well, twice a year, the local government would “fog” the underground sewers. This was a release of insecticide in a mist fog that would be sprayed by huge trucks all over town. The idea was to kill off the insects and rodents, and the city had been doing this for centuries.

But…

Let me tell you all that when that happened, a virtual carpet of huge (mouse-sized) cockroaches swarmed out of the sewers and carpeted everything. Some flew, many just climbed all over, including on shoes and trousers and woman’s legs. It was darn crazy!

If you saw it, you would not believe it. Not a scrap of concrete could be seen; three layer deep of swarming cockroaches everywhere. Wholly shit!

Last time it happened, my wife was so freaked out that I had to carry her two blocks back to our apartment. She was hysterical and had goosebumps all over her arms and legs. Jeeze! So imagine the scene, they were crawling, racking, flying, swarming, on everything. On our feet, the trees, the sidewalks, the store windows, the cars. They were buzzing, hopping and leaping, and my wife was in goosebumps and hysterical.

An experience that I do not want to relive ever again. Let me tell you what!

Today…

What is the nastiest home you have been in?

I was about 13 and was asked by a family friend to help her step daughter out by babysitting her 3 kids while she worked at a pizza parlor in town. It would be from the time I got out of school till 10pm, but Summer vacation would start in a couple weeks so I figured I could manage it.

I agreed to try it and see how it went. The day I was to start, I rode my bike to the house. I could smell some horrible smell from the yard. Went to the door and it was wide open. I yelled “hello??” and 3 of the cutest kids I’d ever seen came running! They were full of questions. I asked where their Mom was and the eldest said she was already at work. I was surprised, but I figured something had changed with our plans and she had to go in early.

I walked into the living room and the air was thick with stench. It was a combination of animal waste, rotten garbage and food. The living room had a couch, a chair and was literally 3 feet deep in clothes, garbage bags and dirty diapers. I was a kid and wasnt sure where to start, but i found a roll of garbage bags and we began. I say we because those babies were such a help!

The oldest was Michael and he proudly told me he was 5 and would be staring Kindergarten the following year. He was short and stocky with a mop of curly blonde hair. What I first noticed was his serious expression. He had an excellent vocabulary and was a chatter box. Next was a little girl named Jessica. She was 3 and absolutely beautiful. She was quiet but didnt miss anything. She was petite and had hair to her waist that was full of tangles. The baby girl was Grace and she was 2. She was very frail looking, although she turned out to be anything but frail. She was in just a diaper which was soaked, so I asked Michael to show me where the diapers were. We all headed into the girls room. It was filthy. I find a clean washcloth and get Grace cleaned up. She smiled the whole time. They were all hungry, so we head to the kitchen. I found a can of soup and some stale crackers, which they devoured. While they ate, i started on the kitchen. The sinks and counters were i overflowing with dishes. I turn the faucet handle and no hot water! So i start heating water after digging to uncover the stove. Theyve devoured the soup and want more. There was nothing more, so i grab my backpack and find a yougurt to split, some cookies and an apple which was all split between the 3 of them. I noticed there was no bickering. These 3 were accustomed to looking out for each other.

We started with the garbage and those kids really worked hard…..even the baby! We started by getting the garbage bagged up, and I started laundry. We worked for hours, and those kids didnt want to stop! They wanted a clean house. We got the living room mucked out, we found clean sheets and got beds made. The kitchen had a good start. I went in and cleaned the bathroom while they found jammies. I looked up from scrubbing and those faces were beaming. Got Grace in the tub and started detangling Jess’s hair. I know it had to hurt……but she never made a peep. Grace was clean and ready to get out. Water change and Jessicas turn. When she was clean, we changed water and gave Michael his privacy. I took the girls and checked the magical backpack. I found some nice lotion and they smelled lovely! They both had beautiful hair and kept touching it. Michael gets out and wants some lotion too. We decided to move Michaels bed in with his sisters (his “bedroom” was tiny, i think it was a.closet) We found some books and read. They were all asleep in minutes. As I detangled myself feom the sleeping babies, Michael asked if I was going to come back. I gave him a hug and said Id see him tomorrow. He grinned and it made my day. I waited for Mom to get home. It was almost 11 PM by the time she got home and I could tell she had been drinking. She introduced herself and looked around the room. She was shocked. She asked who had cleaned and i told her we all did. I see a car pulling up and its my Dad coming to see why Im so late. She says she had a meeting and was kept late. He ssaid”Look, we need her done at 10. Not 1001! If you cant be home at 10, she cant do this “ He loaded my bike up. He asked how it went. I didn’t want to tell him how dirty it was because I was afraid he would say I couldnt go back, and I had promised Michael.

And so it went. Every day, the kids and I would clean up a bit more. The cleaner the house got, the more time we had to walk to the park or go to the community pool. We had a great time and those 3 kids were all amazing.

I babysat the kids all that summer and into the start of school. It was just too much and I had to quit after Christmas vacation. I still watched them occasionally and we always had so much fun. This was in the early 70s. I still see the 3 kids who are adults now with families of their own. Michael went on to become an executive chef and works at a very trendy restaurant in the San Francisco area. He has a couple of kiddos and a lovely wife. Jess is an RN and works in the Lake Tahoe area. Shes a single mom of 2 boys and Grace is still local and keeps me in the loop with updates. She married a local guy and they have a daughter. She teaches at the local elementary school.

Its weird because it was such a short period of time, but it left us all with a bonding of the heart. Their Mom passed away last year and I went to her services and got to see all the kids (lol at KIDS!!) They introduced me as the best babysitter ever.

Filthiest house produced some wonderful humans. I was happy to be a small part of that. Sorry this was so long. Was a lovely trip down memory lane. Thanks for reading.

A bad sign

What has been the roughest moment in life?

When my husband caught me cheating on him. There are no excuses, it was an incredibly stupid, selfish, and insane thing to do to someone who didn’t deserve it. The person I cheated on my husband with wasn’t worth it, that’s for sure.

After telling most of my friends and family what I did, my husband packed his bags and left. I spent a week on my couch contemplating suicide and hitting absolute rock bottom. My friends all took his side, understandably. Almost everyone I loved turned away. I fell physically sick with some sort of insane flue—the worst I’ve ever had in my life, probably from the stress.

I could’ve turned to the guy and tried to start fresh. New life, new boyfriend, new friends… Get that divorce and start over. Instead, I realized that what I had was worth fighting for, even if it took years to get it back. I ended the affair with that guy.

I wrote to each friend and family member who knew about this that I was going to do whatever it took to build my life back. I wrote to my husband. I begged him to come back. By some miracle… he did. We went to counselling, I went to therapy. I opened my life to my husband: no more privacy. He had access to everything, which I was completely fine with.

It took a long time, but eventually my friends came back. My husband’s trust slowly began to rebuild. Years and years later, our marriage is strong-full of incredible love, respect, and trust. I look back at what I did in complete disgust. I live everyday with that heartbreak, wishing I’d never put such an amazing person through that. Although that time was dark, it was the push I needed to wake up and stop living like a selfish idiot.

I wouldn’t trade the life I have now for the world. It took incredible pain and humiliation to get here, but it’s what led to my amazing life now. For those going through a dark time, take it day by day… one step at a time. I never thought I’d ever get here, but with hard work and patience, it will get better.

Send your soul to Jesus

As a police officer, has someone ever been so terrified when you pulled them over for something minor that it broke your heart?

Not sure of the exact date, but it would have been mid to late ’80s in Bristol city centre.

Late one evening I was in a crew of 6 in a transit van when we saw a knackered looking Fiat 127 (they were never brilliant when new, let alone one that was 15 years old!). Half of the lights were out, smoke from the exhaust (and lots of noise).

Pulled the car over, and found it contained 2 adults and 3 children (all under 6 or 7 at a guess). Occupants were of obvious Asian descent (not unusual for that area of Bristol), so I started to ask the usual questions whilst a colleague looked over the car (which was found to have 3 bald tyres, no window wipers and a lot of rusty holes in the bodywork).

The driver and adult passenger were almost in tears, and trying to speak in English, which wasn’t that great. I established that they were Mauritian, and had only arrived in the UK that day. Once I spoke to them in French they looked relieved (my French isn’t brilliant, but was better than their English). He produced a Mauritian Driving Licence, and when asked for insurance and registration for the car (which they had purchased upon arrival at the airport), they produced a hand-written receipt showing that they had paid £1000.00 cash for the car! (it was worth about 20 quid scrap value, and certainly shouldn’t have been on a road). Even worse, he proudly produced another hand-written “Insurance Certificate” for which he had paid the car seller another £300.

They had come here to attend a family funeral, and had been royally ripped off by some scumbag near Heathrow as they needed to get down to Bristol as soon as possible.

Obviously, we couldn’t let them continue driving as it was unlikely to get them very far anyway, and was a liability to everyone else on the road.

I had no intention of getting my pen anywhere near to an official ‘ticket’, and explained the game to my Sergeant – who fully agreed with me.

All the time, the family were getting more and more upset as they started to realise the situation they were in and the trouble they thought they were in.

We took them back to our station (and a colleague drove their car), fed and watered them, spoke to relatives by telephone, and sorted out as much as we could at that time.

They were taken to a hotel for the night and agreed to surrender the car for destruction.

As the story spread throughout the night (between other colleagues, paramedics, fire-fighters, hospital staff and taxi drivers…. that was the way things were in the City at that time) offers of help came in.

By the time we went off duty at 0700 hours, the hotel bill had been waived, a taxi was ready to take them down to Exeter (their intended destination), and a collection had raised just under a grand in cash. Toys had been donated for the children, and small ‘gifts’ for the adults.

By the time they arrived in Exeter, the local police had found and purchased a small run-around car which wasn’t great, but had a few months of MOT and tax left on it, and was roadworthy… enough for their use whilst they were in the country.

We got a lovely letter from them once they were back in Mauritius, thanking us for the help we gave (and arranged) – but we only did what we could to help someone who needed it, and had been badly treated by opportunistic scum.

Edit:-

Thanks for the gramatical corrections – I try my best, but often fail!

I’ve never had a higher-rated answer on Quora, or received so many comments – Thank you, everybody.

It is not often that I bother to answer many questions, being a ‘reserved’ British ex-cop many situations just don’t seem worthy of reply, or have already got a few good answers.

I fully appreciate that probably 95% of the questions (and thus, answers) are posted from the USA, and whilst i find them interesting to read, are often so alien to a British way of thinking that I see no advantage in adding to them.

Anyone who reads my other (very few!) answers on Quora will see that I have some views and oppinions on some things – mainly to counter the critics and troll posters when it gets a bit ‘personal’, or to defend those who I feel need it.

I have no desire to be a “super user” on here, despair at many of the “questions” asked, but still feel that (every so often) even the British have something useful to add to this world.

Men want…

Who are some of the nicest rock musicians? I’m aware of the rock jerks, but at the same time there’s gotta be some genuinely nice rockers.

I have to tell this story. I started writing song when l was about 15 years old. One of my biggest influences was Harry Chapin. I live in Los Angeles, and Harry played at the Greek Theatre every year. I went to see him four or five years in a row after getting my drivers license.

Harry played about 300 concerts a year. He gave about half the money he made to world hunger. After the concert, he sat and sold and signed T shirts for the cause and would stay until every person who wanted to buy a T-shirt was able to . His Security guys, always moved people quickly through, because they knew Harry would talk to everyone. After the first concert l stood in line to get a signed T-shirt, and when it was my turn l told him l was a songwriter. He smiled and said, “ Really ? I wish you the best of luck”. The following year l went to where he was signing T shirts, and to my surprise , he saw me and asked, “ How’s the songwriting going?” While he was signing T-shirts, I stood to the side and talked to him about songwriting. His security tried to make me leave, but he said, “. Leave the kid alone. He’s not hurting anyone.”

l did this every year, and the last time l saw him, l was 20 years old and had got my first job playing songs at a Shaky’s Pizza place. I told Harry that and that l played Taxi, but that there was a part l couldn’t figure out. He turned to one of his security guys, and said, “ Go get me one of the guitars out of the truck “. Pretty much all the people who were buying T shirts were done . The security guy said, “ Harry! It’s midnight man. We got to get out of here!” Harry said, “ Just do it.”

The irritated security guy did it and Harry showed me how to play the part. One thing l forgot to mention, was that l had brought me mom with me to see him. She was so happy for me and told that story to people that story unt the day she died. Harry Chapin was a very special man.

Galatoire’s Trout Meuniere Amandine

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 (6 to 8 ounce) trout fillets
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Oil
1 cup butter
1 cup sliced almonds
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tablespoon chopped parsley

Instructions

Sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper, dip into milk and roll in flour.
Fry in 3/4 inch of hot oil in a shallow skillet until golden on both sides.
Remove and keep warm.
In a separate pan, melt and whip butter until brown and frothy.
Add sliced almonds and lemon juice.
Place each fillet on a heated plate and pour sauce over it.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Why do so many countries in the West lie about China to their own countrymen?

Simple

China has a system of Governance that is radically different to that in Western Countries

Thus it is imperative, if the West has to keep it’s “We are the guardians of democracy” model, they have to portray China as evil and the system as collapsing

Otherwise won’t the people ask how if the Chinese system is so bad, is the nation prospering so much?

What is the strangest/best thing that happened to you at a restaurant?

My granddaughter and I were at a Denny’s. We ordered and ate lunch. The waitress came back and picked up the bill that she had left on the table. So we finished and waited for her to bring it back finally called to her as she went past.

We ask for the bill to be brought back and she said no it was paid for.

An elderly man sitting at the counter had paid for our lunch. When I asked her why she said he is a regular customer and told me that he always smiles at people and you and your little granddaughter were the only ones that ever smiled back at him.

What’s something that sucks about being a man?

My wife had a 6 month affair, when I found out I left her.

A number of people assumed I was the one who cheated on her. That bothered me. I corrected them.

Worse were all the people who assumed I must have done something wrong to deserve it and that I was still the bad guy. People told me I must have not paid enough attention to her, I must have some how drove her to it, etc. Some people refuse to believe that I somehow didn’t do something wrong to cause her to cheat.

All I can say is this – I loved her and treated her like a queen. When I’ve asked her why she did it, the response from her has always been that I was a terrific husband, that she loved me, and that she regrets it. The guy was nearly 20 years younger than her (he in his early 20s, she nearly 40), he was attractive and charming and started flirting with her and she found him irresistible.

So, that’s a double standard that I’ve lived through and find unfair; if I had cheated I would’ve been labelled a creep/jerk, when she has an affair I’m still somehow a jerks who is to blame??!

Have you ever met a celebrity who asked you, “Do you know who I am?” and you said no?

Back in 1997 in Canmore, Alberta, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin were in town filming The Edge. Mr. Baldwin decided one evening he wanted to eat at our local Chinese eatery.

I was an Eco-Tourism operator and frequented the establishment quite often. They had an orange chicken that I went bonkers for.

It was peak dining hour and the place was experiencing a 45-minute waiting period to get a table.

In strolls, cocky Baldwin and he demands a seat “NOW!”

The owner was this 5 ft tall fiesty Chinese woman and when she told Mr. Baldwin that he’d have to wait about 45 minutes he pulled the old, Do you know who I am?”

Man, if you could have seen this lady go into action it was an Academy Award for putting an arrogant prick into his place.

She yelled at him with her Mandarin accent, “I don’t care who you are, you get out of my restaurant and don’t come back!”

The rumours of his arrogance have always swirled in the tabloids and I got a front-row seat to see it in action.

And the winner is for putting the Douche BgAlec Baldwin in his place… The Owner of the Famous Chinese Restaurant, in Canmore Alberta.

10 Powerful lessons for the rest of your life

Risks are required for life’s greatest rewards.
Maintain privacy even with trusted people.
Prioritize mental health over any career.
Embrace independence to become unstoppable.
Accept that not everyone will like you.
Your mood is your choice.
Don’t stress over things out of your control.
Surround yourself with supportive people.
There’s always criticism when doing great things. Don’t let it deter you.
You have the power to create yourself, life is not about finding yourself.

What is something you want to “get off your chest”?

I need do this anonymously, because it’s a sensitive subject.

I’m a father of two wonderful children, and my oldest, my son, has special needs. Due to his premature birth (roughly 30 weeks), he developed a condition called Periventricular Leukomalacia, or PVL for short.

PVL is essentially an under development, often by necrosis, of white brain matter near the ventricles of the brain. Read up on it a bit on wikipedia for more info if you interested: Periventricular leukomalacia – Wikipedia

We discovered this was case shortly after his first birthday, when doctors started noticing some developmental delays and some muscle stiffness on his left side. Some evaluations and scans, and it was confirmed what he has, and that it also the cause of his cerebal palsy. It was quite a shock.

Anyways, we start doing therapies and early intervention and it’s such a wonder watching him overcome it all in small steps, in his own way. You feel blessed at times to see his hard work pay off, to truly value life and love and family.

So what do I want to get off my chest?

It’s all bullshit. You know those parents who “wouldn’t have their child any other way because it taught us so much about ourselves and….” well fuck that.

I absolutely hate it. Hate. With a capital H.

I have other parents talk to me and they word things like “well, he’ll get past all this and so forth…”. Ummmm, no dumbass. His condition is chronic – forever. We can adapt to it, and work really hard and he’ll cope and be better off for it.

But while Johnny Awesome-Dad and Super Son are learning how to play catch, I’m helping my son learn how to alternate feet when climbing stairs, how to be aware of his raised arm at the elbow and to lower and swing while he walks, while that guy got to teach his son how to swing for the fences.

His mannerisms are collectively a huge brain capillary-exploding annoyance. From the non-sensical sounds that he repeats 100 times to the way he is so damn slow at e v e r y t h i n g.

Yeh, I hate being a special needs parent. On top of being one, I also have to be his political advocate, constantly representing other parents to our federal and state politicians to ensure kids like him get proper educations.

I really really hate all of it. I only love him – I just wish I could heal him. That’s probably the worst. Of all the things I can do and fix, I can’t make him better.

Fuck me.

(January 9th, 2019)

Edit: Wow, a lot of upvotes. Most I have ever received by far, my next closest has about 115.

Ok, to a few comments: Thank you for the kind words from most people, the support, sympathy, and empathy. I truly did not write this to receive that as I quite literally was getting something off my chest.

To those who think less of my answer, even angry at me for being so: Your opinion is valued and appreciated. My response to it though is simply a shrug and a “It is what it is.” I know my son didn’t choose to be this way, but understand I am not choosing to feel this way either.

I wish I was a better person in this regard but I’m not. However remember this: I don’t let him see it. Fuck, I don’t even mention it anymore to family because they’ll either blanket me with guilt statements and be angry at me (Fuck You btw) or keep telling me lies like “It’ll all be fine” (no it won’t) or “He’ll be fine” (no, you obviously don’t understand it at all).

How do I cope?

Weed. Makes me feel better.
Heavy bag – I punch the crap outta it. Actually split the first one and I’m on my second. Looking to buy a speed bag.
Bottle it up and get back to my life.

And lastly yes I have considered leaving because he deserves a better Dad. The problem with that is it would take a lot of time for my wife to find another person who wants to take this on. Secondly my other child would suffer the loss of Dad when they did nothing, or have anything, wrong. It wouldn’t be fair and life is unfair enough as it is – I don’t want to add to it.

06 things a leader should never do

Don’t be indecisive. Ain’t nobody gonna follow someone who can’t make up their damn mind.
Don’t be a two-faced snake. People can smell that crap from a mile away.
Don’t be a damn pushover. You gotta have a backbone if you want to make it in this world.
Don’t be lazy. If you’re the one in charge, you gotta put in the work.
Don’t be a know-it-all. You ain’t that smart, trust me.
Don’t be too proud to ask for help. We all need it sometimes.

Level 5 – Impossible

House of Blues Bayou Voodoo Smothered Chicken

Yield: 4 servings; 1 pound Roux

Ingredients

Brown Roux

10 ounces all-purpose flour
1 cup vegetable oil

Chicken

1 pound butter, melted
2 pounds chopped onion
1 pound chopped celery
1 pound chopped red bell pepper
1 pound chopped green bell pepper
1 pound sliced mushrooms
2 ounces minced garlic
2 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
4 cups red wine (chef suggests Burgundy wine)
2 quarts dark beer
2 quarts water
2 tablespoons beef base
4 tablespoons chicken base
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
1 cup Louisiana Seasoning

Instructions

Brown Roux

Place oil in a heavy stock pot and heat until it smokes. Slowly whisk in flour, 2 cups at a time, mixing well. Cook in oven at 350 degrees F for about 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. Roux is done when chocolate brown color is achieved. Allow to cool.

Chicken

In a large skillet or sauté pan, add butter.
Put onion, celery, red bell pepper, green bell pepper and mushrooms into the pan and sauté.
Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
Add flour and stir; cook for 1 minute.
Add red wine and reduce until thick.
Add dark beer, water, beef base, chicken base and bring to a boil.
Add liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce and Louisiana seasoning.
Whip some roux into the sauce. Bring to a boil then remove from heat.
Put some pre-made rice on a plate, put cooked chicken breast on top of rice and ladle voodoo sauce over the chicken and rice.

None of that matters

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

Ages ago in the late ’70s I worked in an engineering department for a huge manufacturing company – one of the big three in Detroit. A co-worker had about 30 years with the company and a ton of vacation time. He and his wife had a daughter late in life. She was about 8 at the time and daddy took vacation days every Friday and Monday during her summer vacation.

Big boss comes in one Thursday afternoon looking for the doting dad. We say he’s off until Tuesday, and reminded him of daddy’s schedule.

Keep in mind that all vacation had to be submitted and approved, by boss man, in January.

But in this moment he can’t have what he wants when he wants it.

Boss man hits the ceiling. We can’t have that. Everyone has to take vacation in full week increments.

The guy had a pretty specialized skill set, and no one else was really up to speed in his area of expertise. We could fill in in a pinch. Daddy could complete final draft when he got back on Tuesday.

the following summer, I had transferred to another department, but that department struggled when dad took his six-plus weeks of vacation consecutively!

it was a whole lot easier to cover his job for four days than six weeks.

Served that jackass right.

What were some outcomes of committing adultery in your life?

It resulting in us trying for 6 months after ending the affair. To her cheating on me with another man to eventually leave me at the end of the 6 months. Tit for tat I guess. Lots of shame and heartbreak on my end but those are the consequences. Mostly life lessons though. Divorce was the anwser and we will both be happier in the long run.

So true

What’s the weirdest phone call you have ever received?

Many years ago a young woman called me up one evening to ask some questions about insurance regarding the car accident that had happened between her car and mine that afternoon. Slight problem, I hadn’t been in a car accident. She had my name and license plate from the police report so I went out and checked the number of the license plate on the back of my car, and it wasn’t the same number. After a little more discussion I got my auto registration and that did match the number on the report – the license plates on the front and back of my car weren’t the same! After thinking about it I realized what must have happened: I had returned from a business trip a couple days earlier and while my car was parked at the airport parking garage someone had swapped the license plate on the back of my car with a different one and then put my license plate on the car that got in an accident (it was almost the same make and model as my car – they must have been casing the airport). Not surprisingly this turned into quite a mess to untangle, requiring multiple calls to insurance as well as a visit by the police officer to verify my car had not in fact been in an accident. The weird part that still bothers me to this day – the woman driving the car who’d gotten in an accident had the same last name as me. My last name isn’t an unusual one, but it’s not extremely common either. She told the police she was my niece (not likely – I’m white and she was black). How did that happen?

Communication

What is the most interesting fact that you know and I don’t, but I should?

Have you noticed big brands dropping A, B & O from their signs and logos?

Most people who noticed the same, thought that it could be some malfunction but the real reason for the missing A, B, and O’s is something more serious and amazing.

NHS Blood and Transplant organization, along with PR agency Engine Group has launched the ‘Missing Type’ campaign. It has undertaken this campaign to make people aware the benefits of blood donation and its importance of saving lives.

Big brands and companies like Tesco, Mirror, McDonalds, Starbucks and Hardrock Cafe have agreed to be the part of the campaign to make people aware of blood donation.

As a part of this campaign, NHS has asked big brands to omit the letters that signify blood types from their logos and signs viz, blood types A, B, and O.

Truly Amazing !

What is the best moment you witnessed in which somebody proved they weren’t “all talk”?

I watched a 90 lb female put a 235 lb guy in the hospital. This was a fight between 2 neighbors in my neighborhood. This guy harassed her for weeks then for some reason he decided to walk up to her front porch and knock on her door. I was sitting on my front porch when it happened. I was thinking this is not going to be good, and had my cell phone within reach.

She open her door and in a clear loud voice, she requested he get off her property. He said, what are you going to do about it. She said, I’ll call the police. He laughed at her and reached for the screen door. Before I could move she kicked him in the head twice, swept his legs out from under him, and he was down and bleeding.

I started to call the police, but again before I could dial the number a patrol car pulled up and the officer put the guy in handcuffs. I just sat there, drank my coffee and waited for him to come over and ask what I saw. I told him and signed the bottom of the form.

As he walked away he said you know the woman? I replied yes, she’s a former Marine. He chuckled and said. I guess the guy didn’t know that, and I laughed.

When did someone’s culture shock concern you?

When I had an Amish girl come live in with me during the week to help take care of my three-year-old daughter and my brand new twin boys.My husband was in Vietnam.

The first night that I went out to play cards with friends I came home at 10:00 p.m. everybody was sitting in the dark. It was pitch Black and it had not occurred to me that she would not be allowed to turn on the lights or use the electric stove to heat formula.

From them and I would make sure everything was turned on before I left. I only played cards twice a month but they were never left in the dark again. I would heat formula and put it in the thermos bottle but I also showed her how to fill up pan with hot water from the tap to sit the bottles in.

EDIT due to the amount of people that think it was horrible to leave my newborn twins and 3-year-old daughter with a stranger I need to explain the Amish girl lived with me. I would take her home on Saturday morning and go pick her up on Monday morning. I even knew her family. She had helped raise 9 younger brothers and sisters.

Two types of men

What is the most interesting thing you have seen a blind or deaf person do that changed your assumptions about them and amazed you?

When I was in high school I would get terrible menstrual cramps. I would leave school and go to the cab stand down the block. The dispatcher was a man that I’ll call Joe. He was blind.

I would walk in on a wooden floor and Joe would say hi Linda you need to go home? I would take a taxi and come in after school the next day to pay for it. This was in a small town about 15,000.

I grew up, graduated high school, moved away, got married and got pregnant. My husband was going to Vietnam and I went back home to stay with my parents. This was about 6 years after I had left home.

I stopped at a bakery before I went to my parents house. I took one step on a cement floor and a man standing at the counter buying some donuts said “Hey Linda when did you get home?”

I never understood how Joe recognized my one step on the cement floor and I was very pregnant. You would think the sound would be different but he recognized that one step immediately.

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

A guy I went on a first date with (set up by a friend) told me how his ex wife was having a breakdown and had messaged him that day, to say that she couldn’t cope and was going to call social services and have their two children placed in care. Shocked, I looked at him and said “Couldn’t you take them for a couple of weeks and give her a break?” I kid you not, his genuine, honest response was “Not a chance, I have them every other weekend, that’s enough for me!”. I don’t think I hid my horror very well. Ugly, ugly man. My own son was 3 years old and the time, and if he wouldn’t step up for his own kids, he was going nowhere near mine!

15 Psychological facts everyone should know

It takes about 66 days for an average individual to make something a daily habit.
Eye pupil dilates to 45% when an individual looks at somebody they love.
Food prepared by someone else tastes much better than your own preparation, even when you use the same recipe.
Hearing a single negative thing could damage at least five positive memories.
Studies have shown that consuming food without preservatives will increase I.Q by up to 14%.
Men aren’t more entertaining than women: they only make more jokes, they don’t care whether others like their humor or not.
Shy people tell others very little about themselves, but they do it in quite a manner that makes other individuals believe they know them better than they actually think they do.
People in blue rooms are also much more productive.
Being alone is harder for your health than you really believe.
Any relationship born between 16 and 28 years of age is more likely to be robust and long-lasting.
If we have a plan B, our plan A is less likely to succeed.
Being happy around people makes you happier.
Convincing yourself that you slept well tricks your brain into believing you did.
The sort of music you listen to influences the way you view the world.
A hug longer than twenty seconds will produce hormones into your body that makes you trust the individual who is hugging yo

Moped related crimes

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

Not so much amazing, as being extremely useful to me. I was on a European Standards Committee for several years. Members came from many European countries and it was customary to conduct all meetings in English.

Often the French and German delegates would speak to each other in the meeting in French or German to try and exclude the UK delegate from what they were plotting. This was on the basis that they assumed that the British could not speak other languages. It was advantageous to me for them not to know that I understood at least the gist of what they were saying.

However, when meeting in Dusseldorf the German delegated took us all out for dinner after the meeting. This was in a very German restaurant and the waitress approached me asking, in German, what I would like to eat. Not thinking, I blew my cover by replying in German.

The German delegate’s jaw dropped and said “you speak German!”. Trying to save myself I admitted that I could speak enough basic german to get by, but I couldn’t resist adding “ but my understanding is better”.

The Swedish delegate sitting next to me actually laughed and gave me a pat on the back.

What is that one picture that describes the lowest point in your life?

Well, everything was going great in my life.

A 26 yrs old with a decent job(in Indian Silicon Valley), beautiful girlfriend, about to be promoted, in short, enjoying my life.

But now,

A road accident(to save a little girl), which confined me to home for 4–5 months, had a knee fracture, operated, implanted with a metal plate inside(permanently).

Promotion aborted(as i m on Medical Leave for quite a longer period).

Cheated by my girlfriend when we were planning to get married, our parents accepted us.

My situation after surgery,

I was full of life. Travelling, working out in gym used to make me feel energized, lively, confident. But my eyes in the above picture are full of unnecessary thoughts, wandering with all the lively moments I had before.

Permanent Implant,

I was planning to call my parents to bangalore so that i can arrange some vacation for them and let them know about me and my girlfriend. But this was not the way i wanted them to come.

Even after accepted by my parents, she cheated on me. This was the time when i needed her the most. I know that,

“We should Forgive people in our life, even those who are not sorry for their actions. Holding on to anger only hurts us, not them.”

Also after one-by-one misfortunes, my self-confidence is f**ked like a Gangbang. So i’m not in a place to keep grudges with her and trying to move on, to forgive her and forget her.

Now they want me to settle down in an arranged marriage with a girl of their choice. And neither I am in position to ask for getting married with a girl of my choice nor in a position of getting married with any girl due to hindrances in my promotion, beautifully f**ked self-confidence.

I’m just trying to recover as soon as possible from the physical and emotional injury so that i can go back to my self made track of life.

This is the way American Dating has devloved

And men are walking away and saying no.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/de0050RtkNo?feature=share

Can the USA easily destroy the Chinese economy by simply sanctioning and forcing the American transnational corporations to leave the Chinese market and close their factories?

No.

Go ask Russians, nearly all western countries did the same as you mentioned to Russia, including the so called “nuclear option”: kicked Russia out of SWIFT, did Russian economy collapse?

Oh, maybe you don’t know the real world, just living in the “information cocoons”, you’re fed with selected information, which made you believe China is easy to win, like our beloved president 45 said, trade war is easy to win.

This is his easy to win:

Now, it is America who’s relying on China, not China relying on America. Say you to buy a Toyota and wait for over a month, sometimes you need to pay extra money, and its price is rising year after year, while in China, Toyota is to buy at will and drive away upon you paid, and its price is lower and lower. For example, RAV 4 in America starts from $29K, while in China, it starts from RMB 175,800, which is about $24.5K.

The problem is not China, it hides in America, destory China can’t solve your own problem.

The big heads are more informed and clever than you average Americans do. They know they can’t win, sanctions, trade wars, are just to slow down China’s pace, not to stop it.

What are some psychological facts about attracting people?

Wear clean clothes. (perfumes are a gold plus)
Keep a smile on your face. (Brush your teeth)
Instead of trying hard to get attention, try to give attention. (People love those who listen to them)

Ask them for small favors which they will likely say yes to. (game changer)
Mimic their body language when talking/listening to them. (eye contact is a gold plus)
Straighten your posture. (Don’t lean forward or backward in a conversation)
When talking stop saying “I think, but…, I believe” instead use words like “and, because”. (assures that you are confident)

Funny

What screams “I’m upper class”?

Years ago, I was involved with a lawsuit against a tech company. Kind of “class action,” which meant a lot of people were there.

I noticed two levels of dress: casual and super-expensive suits.

As the process unfolded, I realized that those two levels of dress represented three levels of wealth.

The expensive suits were all worn by guys (and, yes, sorry, this was long ago, and everyone was a guy) who had high-paying jobs. Most would regard them as well off. They drove new, leased BMWs, etc. They were supercilious toward everyone because THEY were the only ones wearing expensive suits, shoes, and Rolexes.

The casual dressers represented two economic levels:

Those who could not afford expensive suits or Rolexes.
Those who had so much money they didn’t need to impress anyone.

At one point during the proceeding, I ended up in a room with four suits while I was dressed in jeans and wore a lightweight “Members Only” jacket. (You can tell this was long ago, right? Remember when those were cool?)

At first, they spoke only among themselves, treating the “obviously” poor guy like I couldn’t possibly matter. I let them go for a few minutes and then interrupted them for an important message on life. I told them how their expensive suits put them at a disadvantage because the only thing obvious in the room was that none of them were in the top tier financially.

They included me from then on.

To answer the question: The truly rich wear whatever they want. Only those who are still struggling to become truly rich are slaves to the “badges of honor” that they THINK demonstrate they are rich.

Listen up

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1mhpZlzSljk?feature=share

What is the rudest thing a person has ever done to you for being too kind?

I was at a Home Depot and saw this lady trying to lift a 90lb bag of cement from a flat cart into the trunk of her car. I said let me help you with that and grabbed the bag and put it in her trunk. She said I don’t need your damn help. I said sorry and grabbed the bag and put it back on the cart. As I was pulling out of the parking lot I saw that she had dropped the bag and it broke open all over the parking lot. I honked and waved.

What are some mind-blowing facts about the U.S. military?

During the Vietnam war President Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara came up with “Project 100,000,” and the idea was to kill two birds with one stone by drafting men who were developmentally disabled or just too stupide to be left into the army. It was to provide more men for the war effort and give the less fortunate a chance at being productive members of society.

There’s typically an IQ minimum of 80 points to serve in the US military, but the rule was loosened, and they started allowing in men with mental disabilities. These men became known a “McNamara’s Morons” and died at 5 times the rate of other Americans in the war.

You had men turning up to basic training that couldn’t even tie their own shoes and couldn’t even understand the basics like dressing the bed. Some of these soldiers didn’t even understand why they were utterly exhausted at the end of a run when they were full of energy at the start of the run.

When in combat training, none of the men could pass their physical training because they couldn’t grasp the idea of throwing a heavy training grenade in a high arc to reach the target that was 90 feet away.

A lot of the men were protected from battle and kept safe by sergeants who took pity on them, but a lot were sent into dangerous battles on the front line. Not only were some of these men a danger to themselves they also put their fellow soldiers in harms way by not being able to grasp the seriousness of what they were involved in.

For example, in one platoon a dozen men were injured when a live grenade was tossed at them by another soldier as a prank. The soldier in question didn’t have the brain function to understand how dangerous a grenade was.

The word McNamara Moron’s was a derogatory term used by many of the sergeants to describe many of the men that fell under their care. Although the experiment was a disaster, not all of the men drafted under this new legislation failed to learn and grasp the fundamentals of combat. Many went on to have distinguished careers, and many were awarded the “Medal of Honour.”

The story of Forrest Gump was inspired by McNamara’s soldiers and the bravery some of these men showed when faced with impossible odds.

What is the most intelligent one liner you have come across?

In my opinion…

A quiet little boy was putting up with the abuse of a foot taller, loud mouthed girl. The girl was berating him for being a Nerd.

The teacher heard what the girl was saying to the boy, and admonished her, “Karen! You should be nice to Billy! He is a straight A student, and someday he just might be your Boss.”

Billy looked at the teacher and quipped, “But I don’t want to be a Pimp!”

10 Habits of all successful people

They find a way to win, no matter the conditions or circumstances.
They manage their time well.
They are obsessed with self development.
They have self discipline.
They take responsibility for their actions and their results.
They set goals.
They read. A lot!
They take risks.
They keep going when they suffer setbacks.
They do what they love knowing that is the greatest reward.

street fashion china

What is the rudest thing you have ever told one of your parents?

When I had just turned 18, my mother came into my room with a birthday balloon. It was one of the nice fancy balloons. She was really happy to give it to me.

But I, being the selfish spoiled teenager reacted in anger.

“What! Is this it? I don’t get a cake or presents?!?!”

I will never forget the look of hurt and pain on my mother’s face. She turned around with tears in her eyes and quietly took the balloon from my room.

I knew instantly that I hurt her. I tried to run after her and apologize but the damage was already done.

I know she forgave me right away and gave me the balloon. But, you see, we were a low income family and balloons were rarely given. It was a gift I should have been proud of, but I turned it into something painful.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. You can’t take back words spoken in anger.

I will be 40 this year and my mother has been gone for 16 years and I can still see that look on her face as clear as if it had been yesterday.

I miss her.

I just do

Make America Go Away

The United States is like an abusive, narcissistic uncle that just knows that you will always need him; he is the indispensable uncle that just requires that you accept his authority by saying “uncle” otherwise he will sadly have to increase the level of abuse until you either “get the message” or die from the abuse. The vast majority of the world’s population understands this, whether it be the Latin Americans cheated out of democracy again and again, the Africans who had their post-independence dreams destroyed, the Middle Eastern modernizing and secular states that were eradicated, the Vietnamese that died in their millions to rid themselves of US occupation, the people of Gaza being murdered by US bombs and shells, or the Chinese, Russians and Iranians who face the wrath of the US for not understanding their place. The last thing they want is for the US to be “great” again, and they certainly do not see it as indispensable or a shining city on a hill, as the US political elite claim again and again in the form of religious-style mantras.

US politicians, policy makers and even international relations scholars accept this abusive, narcissistic narrative as they waffle on about a “Liberal International Order” where the US acts as the mafia-boss who makes the rules while not being subject to them, and bloviate about the decrepit “shining city” that must deliver its “gift” of liberal democratic capitalism to the world’s unwashed. Just as they did to the Amerindians in their three century war of extermination, ethnic cleansing and land theft, as they established the “new Jerusalem” of ethnic supremacy; personified by the racist bigot President Wilson who spun a good yarn about “freedom” while bringing the very opposite to not only many foreigners but also the US population. It was he who placed the velvet glove of sweet words about “Western culture” over the hard, racist fist.

So yes, the vast majority of humanity just want the US to go away and leave them to manage their own affairs. The problem with abusive narcissists is that they can turn into “family destroyers”, wiping out the rest of the family because they just know that the family (i.e. humanity) cannot survive without them. If they are to go away, then so must humanity. When those wanting a faster rate of change complain about the careful and patient diplomacy and actions of Russia, Iran and China, they must remember the dangerous lunatic that those nations are dealing with; one that can make humanity disappear with it if it so decides, in a global murder suicide. Anyone looking at the current psychopathic thrashings of the Israeli state must hold no flights of fancy about a US where a quarter of the population still believe in a heretical bible Armageddon fantasy, and its elite are wedded to their global dominance. Such lunatics have to be carefully managed and slowly subdued in order to reduce the possibilities of self-destructive and psychopathic rage-induced paroxysms.

Please Make America Go Away, as peacefully as possible.

The CORE FANTASY that drives women to ORGASM and WHY

What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?

I needed a “C” to pass my college communications course.

If I didn’t get a “C,” I would fail to meet my college major requirements setting me back an entire semester.

Here’s the problem: The semester was over, and I had a D+.

My only hope was to email the teacher asking for a bump in my grade.

I wrote an email to her explaining how my past school performance warranted a higher grade and that not passing me would only hurt an ambitious student.

When I hit send, I realized I made a HUGE mistake.

I addressed her using another teacher’s name.

I tried to calm down, but then I remembered we’d spent half the semester covering email etiquette.

Shoot!

What did I do?

Two days later, she emails back.

First, she addresses the glaring mistake then says she bumped my grade up to a “C” to never have me as a student again.

I went out for drinks that night.

This is by far the best mistake I’ve ever made.

US is Militarizing Itself to Death, While China Emphasizes Cooperation.

https://youtu.be/BJx7xoR70h4

What did someone do that made you think they were really smart?

When I was in high school our physics teacher gave us a challenge that involved making a paper air plane of any shape. The only objective was to get it to fly as far as possible. I had some paper air plane making skills so I made the best plane I could and it flew pretty far.

One guy made the greatest, yet simplest paper airplane of all time. He stood there at the starting line with a regular piece of paper. Some classmates scratched their head while silently chuckling to themselves. Moments later he took the flat piece of paper, crumpled it up, and threw it down the hall way.

He beat the class with ease.

Some of the students got mad and said that he cheated.

The physics teacher said, “How so? I said it could be any shape. A paper ball is indeed a shape.”

He won the contest with flying colors.

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

I still regard this classmate as a genius.

Cats and Snakes

What are some mistakes you’ve made with money?

When I graduated from nursing school 10 years ago, I was flush with cash for the first time in my life. Within the span of a month, I went from having an after tax income of $600/month to an after-tax income of $1200 every 2 weeks.

I felt rich. I was 21 years old. I didn’t want to just save. I would invest.

I read a couple of books, opened a brokerage account, and proceeded to buy and sell stocks and call options. I made a lot of money quickly.

I concluded that I was going to be a stock market genius.

So, when I started losing money, I of course knew that it was a temporary setback. So I played, er, invested some more, and some more, and some more.

After a while, I had to admit to myself that I had a problem. I stopped after a couple of years. I had maybe lost $30K by then.

I repeated the same experiment at the tail end of med school. I decided to borrow an extra $20K and invest. This time, I was going to be disciplined. I was going to focus on buying call options on companies that were going to spin-off part of their assets into standalone companies. The idea was that the market was mispricing the combined companies and that the sum of the parts would be greater than the whole, after a spinoff. It was not an entirely crazy idea. I’d made money that way before.

Anyway, my roommate started making a ton of money in penny stocks of companies involved in the marijuana business. I was jealous of how quickly he was making money. I joined in. I lost another $10–15K. I pulled out. He continued playing. He made money for a while. Eventually, he lost more than he had made.

I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d lost about $50K in the stock market over the past decade. That has been my worst financial decision. I see it as tuition money that I paid in order to learn that I am emphatically not a stock market genius.

I’m a physician. My mistakes are going to be relatively costless to me. Please don’t try this at home.

How has China been investing in its chip industry, and what does it mean for the US government?

The U.S. has 2 choices. And Americans need to wake up to this reality to face the new world. China will always be independent from the U.S. in technology. In many cases it will from now onwards be ahead and with far better technologicallyDon’t than the US and the west. It is happy to share its benefits but it will never allow the U.S. and the West to ever threatened them again. Ever. Never Ever.

Don’t blame China. China were happy to play second fiddle till the despicable US foolishly thought that it can easily contain and control China in Chip technology for a generation. It took less than 3 years for China to catch up. It won’t look back. Now all the trillion of dollars shit it cost to do this shit will ll be wasted. If the U.S. never learnt then they can always lose more trillions. China don’t mind.

What does it mean for the U.S. government? It needs to know that the US has 2 choices. Either it work and I am cooperate with China and profit from China’s humongous market and manufacturing prowess or it loses it all including the access to the global south market representing som 120–150 nations around the world. The U.S. needs to make this decision. Americans need to learn humility and accept that it no longer can dictate to the world.

China will design its own chips, it will manufacture its own chips and it will sell to whoever wants to buy it and use it. It will do so at a faster rate and take less time, and make it a a lower cost and make it cheaper than the US and the west. That is what China always do and and the Chip Ban, the GPS threat and the ISS ban will simply motivate China to dominate all technology. Thanks USA

What do you like to ban, sanction, blockade from now onwards? I think China should stop the U.S. from using paper to clean their backside since China invented paper. Let the use their hands.

Was Steve Jobs really such an asshole like it is shown in the movie (2015)?

I worked at Apple in the 80’s and think the movie grossly underplays how much of an asshole he was.

I’ve worked with many billionaires in my career, and Jobs was the biggest asshole I ever met.

He would destroy people just for the fun of it. He would make it personal.

There were a few who managed to survive and even thrive, like Andy Hertzfeld.

Even on the original Mac team, there was a small number that Steve treated with respect, and the rest he treated like shit. It’s one reason the Mac team fell apart after the Mac shipped. Steve glorified about 10 of them; they were on the cover of Business Week IIRC. The rest he made clear were shit. They had worked their asses off and built a magical product, but Steve didn’t recognize them. So the glorified rock stars got big heads, and the others were deeply slighted. So the team fell apart.

It’s also true that at NeXT and then his return to Apple, Steve grew up and learned to treat people better. Steve v2 wasn’t exactly Mother Theresa, but he learned a lot of lessons and was much improved.

Have you ever had such a close call it makes your skin shiver everytime you think about it? If so, what happened?

Yes, I still shiver 10 years later. My husband and I were thinking of buying a lot in a new intentional community in Belize (think semi-rainforest, not beach). We stayed at the guest house for several days to tour and explore the area. Activities included canoeing on the beautiful river, hiking, learning about the local culture, etc… Now, recall there’s a river, hence big rocky, sandy, soil-y hills that sloped down to it. Also, no paved roads yet. One day we decided to do a driving tour in our all-wheel drive rental (as opposed to a 4WD we had reserved). You can guess where this is going. We came to the top of a steep incline, and to continue, there was no choice but to proceed down the other side. Approximately 10 feet to our right was a cliff that dropped steeply into a gorge and the river. (I was driving because my husband isn’t crazy about manual transmissions.) Then, the brakes failed. As we gained speed, rocks began to bump us closer to the edge. Honestly, we were thinking that was it- the end of the road for us. But in a moment of something- not brilliance for sure- maybe instinct, I threw the car into first gear. It slowed, then came to rest about 4 feet from the edge. Finally I screamed, just to release the tension. Somehow I didn’t leave a puddle in my seat.

If that wasn’t enough, seconds after we got out of the car, we heard the screams of several women who were crashing through the dense forest to our left. When the three women reached us, they were completely out of breath but managed to yell, “Wild pigs! Wild pigs!”. Just as all of us squeezed into the car for (protection, not escape!), we heard the pigs retreating and running back where they came from.

We did not buy the lot.

In a Vietnam movie, an officer warns a fellow soldier of an incoming airstrike laying “snake and nape” (nape is obviously Napalm). What does the ” Snake” refer too?

“Snake” or sometimes “snakes”, Snakeye bombs. Mk-80 Series bombs of various weights fitted with a high-drag devise to provide rapid deceleration upon release.

The special fins were held tight to the bomb casing until release, at which time they popped open to insure maximum horizontal separation between bomb and aircraft at detonation. Without the high-drag unit added, bombs could strike the ground and detonate under the aircraft. In some cases the explosion would bring down the delivering aircraft. At one time, this was called a “Low Blow”. Snakeyes were generally dropped at low to very low altitudes to enhance accuracy. Mk-80 series bombs without the decelerating tail unit were generally described as “Slicks”.

What is a split-second decision you made that changed your life?

When I was 15 years old I made a decision that to this day still baffles me. I spent the weekend with my good buddy putting a hot motor into his car. We finished the work on Sunday afternoon and my friend told me he would come by my house and get me later so we could go celebrate the car and new motor.

When he got to my parents house that evening I walked out to the driveway and made that fateful decision by telling my buddy that I had “homework” to do and wouldn’t be going with him.

Later that night my friend and two others hit a tree going about a hundred miles an hour. It killed my friend and the other guy in the front seat and put the backseat passenger in the hospital for a month.

To this day I have no idea why I didn’t go with them. I really didn’t have any homework. It just came into my head that day and I said it and that was it.

I would have been the guy in the front passenger seat that night.

What do you want to get off your chest anoymously?

When I had a daycare I had a four year old who went through a terrible phase of pulling hair. He didn’t just yank; he’d get his fingers tangled in there and twist and pull with his entire body. It was extremely painful. He once got hold of my hair and pulled some out.

I tried everything to stop him. I watched him like a hawk. I stopped him when he got that look and lunged for someone’s hair. His mom acknowledged the problem she was having with him at home with his two older sisters. She tried everything; we both did, but nothing stopped him.

One day he got hold of this cute little two year old’s hair. She was screaming in pain as I tried to detach his fingers. And I finally had had it. I grabbed his hair and pulled just as hard as I could.

He let go immediately and started crying. And he never pulled hair again.

His mom thought he had finally grown out of his phase. I never told her what I did. I didn’t abuse the kids I watched; never spanked them or yelled at them. I still feel guilty for what I did. He probably would have stopped on his own.

Has a family member ever done something that was unforgivable? What was it, and could you ever forgive them?

My sister. It was the day of my mother’s funeral after a very fast illness and sudden, unexpected death. My husband had run an errand for Dad. He was gone about an hour. During that hour, one sister (older, middle one of three) cornered me as I sat at the dining table. She spent most of that time telling me what a horrible person I was, listing every perceived mistake I had ever made in my life, all the times I had disrespected her, etc. When my husband came home he found me sobbing, curled into a fetal ball behind the guest bed.

That afternoon and for the rest of that weekend I would not be in the same room with her. I spent my time composing a long email listing every claim she had thrown at me and why each was wrong (or blown out of proportion). It was all I could emotionally manage.

She never even acknowledged the email, let alone apologize for being such a bully. I waited two weeks and sent another email, asking if she got the first one. She acknowledged that she did. That’s all. Just a “yes I got it.”

I have not spoken to her since. And because my other older (oldest) sister just stood there, I have barely spoken to her. Their emails are automatically filtered to trash. They don’t even know my phone number in Spain, where I now live. I no longer have any sibling photos on the “photo wall” in the hallway. I consider myself an only child. I will not return to the US for either of their funerals when the time comes. They are not welcome to visit me in Spain and I don’t even want them notified when I die.

When was the last time someone else had to experience a walk in your shoes moment?

My daughter is a single mom, and once a week I help her out. I pick up her kids, aged 8 and 7, from school and watch them until their mother comes home around 8 PM.

The older one is a lot like me. Introverted, shy, a bookworm who goes through a couple of books a week. I never have a bit of problem with him. We understand each other. We’ll watch TV or play a game of chess together.

The younger one is the social butterfly of the family. She goes outside and plays with the other kids in her neighborhood.

She’s also stubborn to a fault. Just like her mother at that age.

And one evening about a week ago she started getting defiant. Refused to do anything I asked. I was losing patience.

Just then her mother came home and things escalated. I watched the two most stubborn human beings I’d ever met lock horns for about half an hour. I’d seen this behavior before — we got it from her mother, my daughter, when she was that age.

“Dad, I am so sorry for all the trouble I put you and mom through when I was her age,” she told me.

I laughed. “It’s OK. You grew up to be a pretty good kid and I’m sure she will too.”

But she was right. Everything she had put us through when she was young and stubborn was now coming back on her.

Such, I suppose, is the circle of life.

What would Western people think when the Chinese ask them whether they’ve had dinner or not?

Thanks for the a2a. I have Chinese friends living all over the world. Some of them without fail ask me nearly every day if I have eaten yet. I have never thought it was anything other than kindness.

You see, I am from the Deep South in America. We Southern women show love and hospitality through our cooking. When I visit family, we’re having a meal and I have brought a dish. Or if they visit me, I’m feeding them and they probably brought something. I know my mother loves me because every time I visit, she makes tea exactly the way I like it. My brother knows I care because I make his favorite foods or desserts. My father is proud when I compliment his ability to grill a steak, and my sister requests my old-fashioned strawberry cake for her birthday. My daughter, she wants to make birthday cakes for everyone—whether it’s their birthday or not!

Food is a language, and that language expresses love, hospitality, kindness, care, and friendship. I believe Chinese people (as well as other cultures) understand this. I have always taken my Chinese friends encouragement to eat dinner or breakfast as a sign of their care for me, and I express the same care toward them. If they ever came to visit me, I wouldn’t let them leave my home without feeding them first. They don’t have to be fluent in English and I do not have to speak perfect Mandarin when it comes to sharing a meal together.

Why can’t Americans get access to the Chinese electric car market?

Americans foolishly screamed and shout that they are the leader of the free world without ever questioning if it is even remotely true or not! Please don’t be angry or upset if I help you guys since I understand you can pretend to be free or even dare says you are ordained by god to spread democracy and freedom but you Americans are one of the least free country on earth.

Let me help you good American. So first I like to explain how unfree you guys are.

35% of you cannot get health care when you fall sick! The most basic of freedom is the freedom to see a doctor and get cure when you fall sick. At least 100 million Americans don’t have this basic of basics of freedom.

Next 1 million Americans are homeless and don’t have another basic of basics of freedom. The freedom to have a roof over their head.! They have to live in makeshift tents on the streets.

20% of Americans don’t have 500 dollars to their name and don’t know where their next meal is coming from! Surely everyone must have the freedom to have a hot meal to stay alive!

USA with about 4% of world population has 25% of the worlds prisoners population! Think about this my American friends, prisoners are certainly. Not free. Many of them coloured people thrown into jail for the slightest reason. How on earth can you keep a straight face to say U.S. is the leader of the free world. No one know!

In many cities in the U.S. one cannot go to certain parts of the inner city like the Queens in New York. As crimes are rampant. So normal innocent and good Americans like you have to avoid that part of America! Surely freedom means you can go to anywhere or any part of America.

Kids and parents suffers the mental turmoils daily for just going to school. Many got shot to death in schools, public places, cinemas and even in Capitol Hill! Is that freedom? Even your kids are not free to go to school without a random mass shooter lurking with military grade weapons to murder them! Is this freedom?

If you are not fortunate to have a white skin you could be necked to death in the bright daylight of even driving a good car may be be shot to death just for suspected of stealing the car! Everyday you live in fear of a white policeman! Is that freedom to live? Freedom to avoid death at the racist inclination of the white racist? Surely not.

Freedom means you can choose who you really want to be your leader. Only 30% choose Biden. Or 35% choose Trump! Why are they your president? Your system allowed 0.8% of the richest and most influential people to choose your candidates! Surely this is not political freedom. This is far from democracy. How on earth can you call yourself the “beacon of democracy” who in a sane mind can claim that?

Oh today you country stop the Americans from having access to best 5G technology, Smartphone, best EV’s, drones and others for some geopolitical nonsense! Is this freedom? Freedom to be deprived? Let me help you understand. You are deprived from buying a 10 thousand bucks EV that need to be charged once a week but you are not allowed to! You cannot buy your Tesla like for half the price! Just to support your too big to fail auto industry paying 100 million bonus doing shit for good Americans!

But to me EVs and Drones are just the top of the iceberg of your draconian and suicide policies that takes away the freedom of Americans like you. Think about Jullien Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden! Freedom? American is anything but free.

What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?

I wasn’t fired, I just quit a job with a window replacement contractor after finding full time premanant employment. I called to inform the man and give him two weeks notice. He cussed at me and slammed the phone down. I called him right back and asked him to send me payment for the previous weeks work and he ratteled on about how I installed those last windows wrong and that he would not be paying me what was owed and told me never to call again followed by a loud “click”. So, I tallied all my hours plus all the OT I’d worked but was never paid more than a flat hourly rate. I took this document to the owners of the business he had contracted with, explained the situation and said “I just want to give you the opportunity to resolve this before I take the matter to the labor department” (they had a local office). The owner said “Thank you” and said they’d take care of it. The man was in a back office supposedly waiting for a meet so I said “Great! We will just need to come to agreement on what he owes me” The man said “Nothing to worry about there, whatever you say”. I asked when I might expect payment from him and the man said, if this amount on your records is good, I’ll cut you a check right now and we’ll just deduct the funds from his contract payment. I never saw the man again but he was a hot head all the same and I could feel the burn of his rage as I drove away.

As for my ability to install windows… The man had previously took me aside, giving me a raise because, as he said “You’re the only one I have who can read a tape measure”.

What is the strangest item you’ve ever found when cleaning up after a party?

About 5 or 6 months ago, my girlfriend and I threw a little get together at our place for friends from work. I cooked dinner for everyone, and we just sort of made it buffet style. The whole affair was great fun and will make for great memories. After everyone had left Emily and I decided that we’d at least get the major stuff picked up, (the dishes and glasses into the dishwasher and the leftovers put into the fridge). While Em was finishing up in the kitchen I began moving things around in the front room, and there I found a pair of thong panties next to the couch. I picked them up and walk into the kitchen with them hanging on my finger. Em stood there looking at them and doing her best not to laugh. Because they were pink, I knew it wasn’t something that fell from the laundry basket by mistake. Neither of us likes pink.

To this day nobody has come forward to ask about them.

Best video Ever

Men, Listen up. It doesn’t matter (to anyone) if you win or lose. What matters is how you take it.

Two things to learn.

1, be strong regardless

2, pick your women better

Do you have a simple childhood memory that you could never forget?

Yes. It’s 1986, I’m 9 years old and I come downstairs to get ready for school. My dad is reading the paper and he says, “Hey Corey, what do you know about comets?”

I immediately spout off everything a space-addicted 9 year old kid can/should know about comets. My dad beams at me and tells me bedtime will be postponed.

Night falls and my dad comes home early. We get into his Ford Escort and drive to K-Bee toys where he buys me a pair of GI Joe binoculars just as it is closing.

I can still remember what they looked like in the packaging.

We drive to a subdivision that is under construction and park on a mound of dirt that is now someone’s home.

We both lay on the hood of that car and look at the stars. We talk about space. We talk about life. He tells me that the next time this comet passes by Earth he will be long gone, but he hopes I will watch it and remember what it is like to be a child staring at the night sky with his dad.

We never saw Halley’s comet that night. Our binoculars were too cheap, the light pollution was too strong, the comet was too far away. To be honest, I think I prefer it that way.

Because what I want to remember about that day has nothing at all to do with a comet.

There’s a great many things I wanted for my life. Some of them have come to pass, others never will. But above all I hope that, one day, I will sit on a mound of dirt as an old man. I will sit with the great love of my life and our children and our children’s children.

And we, all of us, will look at the stars. And maybe we’ll see a comet and maybe we won’t.

But we’ll look regardless and we will think of the ones we have loved.

Why is Apple manufactured in China? Would it be more expensive to manufacture in the United States?

Your U.S. workers demand 5 times Chinese workers income, and 10 times more benefits and are willing to world half as hard and are 75% as smart or well trained and your CEO expects and demand 100 times more income!

As such if you produce here Apple 15 must be marketed and sold USD5000 instead of less than USD1500! Ask your local customers, friends and colleagues will they buy Apple 15 or save USD4000 and buy a Chinese phone this is faster, better and cheaper.

You decide. Tim Cook knows the answer! China knows Tim Cook knows the Answer and the 7.999 billion people except you and your 6 racist friends need to ask!

What’s the fastest you’ve wiped a smirk off of someone’s face?

I had a coworker who disliked me the moment she saw me. Idk why, but it seems to occur to me a lot, “hate at 1st sight”, lol! I am a very friendly person who has found that if I treat an unfriendly coworker respectfully and don’t react to their nastiness, they will eventually grow to like me.

Well, after nearly 2 years of her passive-aggressive behavior and snide remarks, I finally grew weary of her abuse. FYI she was almost my doppelgänger in every way. Nearly identical facial features, hair color, style, figure and dress size Misses 0. Acquaintances usually couldn’t tell us apart.

So, one day she came to work wearing a very cute summer dress. I complimented her on it.

She smirked and said, “Thank you! I’d tell you where I bought it, but there are no extra large sizes left.”

I responded, “Oh, darn! You got the last one!”

What is the strangest feedback you have received after a job interview?

About a decade ago, I got an Interview for a network administrator position. The phone interview went really well. I had a panel interview with an HR rep, some VP, and the manager I would have reported to. It goes great, and I get a conditional offer later that same day. They even offered me more than I asked for, though I suspect the recruiting agency may have padded my range to get a bigger commission (and I loved them for it). I sign the background check paperwork.

Two days later, I get a call from the recruiter saying that the offer was rescinded and that the recruiting agency can’t work with me any more. Ok, that’s really weird. My credit score is shot due to having been unemployed for a bit with bills piling up, but that’s not usually the kind of thing that gets a recruiting agency to drop you. I ask for details, but the recruiter will only say that I will receive communication by mail.

A couple weeks later, after I had finally accepted a lower-paying offer elsewhere, a letter comes in the mail with a copy of my background check. I read over it and see convictions for armed robbery, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and a bunch of other stuff I don’t remember … except remembering I’ve never been arrested or charged for anything like that, let alone convicted. Well, I look at the paperwork l, and what do you know. The first and last name are correct, but the middle name and date of birth are wrong. It’s almost as if they Googled my first and last name and just read the results of whoever popped up first.

I kind of wish they had done a bit more reading, because it would have been hard for him to attend interviews seeing as he was literally in prison while I was in their office.

I did point out the error to the recruiting agency … and never heard back.

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

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

A woman called my newsroom crying. Nobody wanted to deal with her. So they sent her to me. She was crying and hard to understand, but the basic story went this way…

She had bought a used car. She needed it badly to get to the THREE jobs she held to support her children by herself. No husband. Less than two weeks after buying the car, it broke down. She called the dealer who had told her it had a 30-day warranty.

He told her he couldn’t help. But, she told him, you said it had a 30 day warranty. His response — too bad. When she complained, he told her — “lady, you’re dealing with the big boys now.”

She was crying as she told me this. I was — to put it mildly — angry. My response to her — let me call you back.

I called him. I explained the problem and when I did not get what I considered a good response, I “explained” things to him:

He needed to respond appropriately to her and solve the problem.
If he did not respond appropriately, I would have my entire investigative news team look into his operation.
He did not like that.
Cautionary note here: My response – YOU picked the wrong person to fight with, and no, NOW, you’re playing with the Big Boys, expletives to follow…

He took back her car. Gave her a slightly newer model without any problems. She called crying and thanked me. I may have cried a bit too.

PS – I didn’t do the story about him. I wonder if I should have?

Hey western news media…China is amazing!

https://youtu.be/kQdRUfErUpI

On Jan. 1, 1945, Hitler sent 1000 planes of the Luftwaffe to destroy airbases of the Allies to protect his troops fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. Why was it a failure?

Operation Bodenplatte, also known as the “New Year’s Offensive” or “Unternehmen Bodenplatte”, was a large-scale aerial offensive launched by the German Luftwaffe against Allied airfields in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on 1 January 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge. The operation was intended to cripple Allied airpower and support the German ground forces in the Ardennes region.

Despite achieving some initial surprise and causing some damage to Allied aircraft, Operation Bodenplatte was ultimately a failure. The Luftwaffe suffered heavy losses, losing over 250 aircraft compared to Allied losses of around 130. The operation also failed to achieve its main objective of crippling Allied airpower, as the Allies were able to quickly recover from the attacks.

There were several reasons for the failure of Operation Bodenplatte:

Poor planning and coordination: The operation was poorly planned and coordinated, with many of the Luftwaffe units involved not receiving their orders until the day of the attack. This led to confusion and delays, and the attacks were not as coordinated as they could have been.
Allied air superiority: The Allies had achieved air superiority over the skies of Western Europe by the end of 1944, and the Luftwaffe was no match for the combined strength of the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces.
Adverse weather conditions: The weather on the day of the attack was poor, with low clouds and fog, which made it difficult for the Luftwaffe bombers to find their targets and for the Luftwaffe fighters to intercept Allied aircraft.
Allied intelligence: The Allies had broken the German codes and were aware of the planned attack. This allowed them to take evasive action and scramble their fighters to intercept the Luftwaffe bombers.

As a result of its failure, Operation Bodenplatte marked the beginning of the end of the Luftwaffe as an effective fighting force. The operation resulted in the loss of irreplaceable experienced pilots and aircraft, and the Luftwaffe was never able to regain its strength.

Why is the top bunk considered disrespectful in jail/prison?

A top bunk is not “disrespectful”…. It is its own special fucking misery in a world of miseries…

Having to sleep in the top rack forces the occupant into constantly climbing over and disturbing the occupant of the lower bunk, denies the top bunk the use of “Privacy Curtains”, is fully exposed to the ventilation system which will always be too hot or too cold, is fully exposed to the lights, which can often be on 24 hours a day, prevents easy access to possessions stored under the bottom bunk, it forces the top bunk occupant into waking up the lower bunk every time he has to use the toilet or sink, and cuts down on the number of places the top bunk occupant can sit, since sitting on someones bunk without their permission is an act of disrespect…

I have seen more SERIOUS fights between cellies over “bunk territory” than any other issue… I’m talking about fights when one or both combattants require hospitalisation and a trip to The Hole…

Truth

Have you ever seen something in a restaurant that caused you to leave in disgust?

My wife and I were out to eat with some friends. We were having a good time and enjoying ourselves when all of a sudden this horrific smell wafted towards us. The unmistakable smell of baby shit.

Eww, but whatever. Babies shit. It happens.

However, what happened next left us speechless and without appetite. The man with the baby was at a large round table with several other people. When they smelled it too, there was the standard, “Ooops, someone made a poopy” comments towards the baby.

The man picked the baby up, pushed some plates and glasses out of the way, and proceeded to open the offending diaper right there in the middle of the dining room. The smell was bad to begin with, but once he opened that thing up, it was nauseatingly bad. We had just received our meals, but there was no way we were eating anymore.

People around the restaurant were staring at the table, but no one at that table seemed to think anything of it. They were going about their conversations as though there wasn’t a shit-covered child on the table. One of the tables next to us went up to the bar to complain; the bartender said “That’s Jane’s family, she’s the manager. I’ll go get her.”

Jane came out of the back with an irritated look on her face. When the customer complained, she loudly said, “Oh, it’s not that bad. He’ll be done in a minute.” and walked over to the infant and made baby noises at it while the dad finished changing the diaper.

We and a few other tables all got up and headed for the door. “Hey, you didn’t pay!” was shouted after us. One of our companions turned and said to the manager, “You call the cops, I’ll call the health department. I’m sure they’d love to hear about this.” and we left.

I used to really like that restaurant, now I can’t even drive past it without gagging a little.

Seriously, how can people be so fucking disgusting?

It’s true

Have you ever stood up to a bully at the workplace and they backed off?

Originally Answered: Have you ever stood up to a bully at the workplace and they back off?

Yes indeed. Two years ago, we had a hurricane. I had no food, no lights , no power. The next morning, I still went to work.

My manager raised his voice and was abusive. He wanted to push his work on to me, but I had no power, and didn’t see the email the night before. I spoke up to him and said he was totally unrealistic. He was stunned, like no one had ever spoken back to him.

The manager told the director, and the director texted me two hours later, getting harsh, saying “I know you have power supply issues, but the three of us need to meet“.

Ten minutes later, I sent a letter to HR complaining of harassment and abusive speech. I copied the email to an executive three levels above my director. The executive texted me back and said to keep him informed.

HR saw the executive’s email response, and the HR director called me within 40 mins of getting the email. I told her I wanted a management change. She switched me to a new set of directors an hour later. The new directors are professional and wonderful to work for.

The main point: Bully bosses don’t back down right away on their own. You must save yourself by contacting a boss two levels above your boss. Two levels, not one level. Use email letters to complain. Letters put everyone on notice, and they’re like a hand grenade.

Imagine if a guy said this…

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bcAUkaXUJw4?feature=share

What is the most awkward conversation you have had with your parents?

I am going to win.

When I was about 17 years old, my dad walked in on me and my then-boyfriend having sex.

The house I lived in at the time was located directly across from my high school. I was enrolled in a lot of sports, as was my boyfriend. Our practices often didn’t start until a half an hour or so after school ended, so most days we had a little bit of time to, um, kill. This particular day, I thought my dad would be at work. We raced to my house, went to my bedroom, and went at it. A few minutes later, without warning, my dad did the thing he always did – knock, then immediately open the door. Seriously? What was the point of knocking? I’ll never understand.

So there I was. His precious baby, naked with a boy. I did the only thing I could think of, which was to do a little *roll* off the bed, and then a second *roll* to hide myself underneath my bed. Leaving my bare-bummed boyfriend to the nightmare above me.

The only words my dad said was, “get dressed.”

I did not go to practice that day. Instead, I had to have dinner with my dad, alone. I couldn’t even look him in the eye. I was mortified.

We tried to have small talk???? “How was your day?” “Fine, yours?”

Worst. Day. Of. My. Life.

Bringing home the bacon

What is the craziest thing you heard while waiting in a line?

Two guys, college-age were yapping and I heard them say, it would be nice if the old f***er would let us go before him.

I looked up ahead of me in line and there were two young women, and then a man and wife and I didn’t see the advantage of them wanting to let these guys go before them, and they didn’t look all that old, then I realized that they were talking about me.

So I reached in my basket and took a shirt I was buying and pulled the tag off it, so when it was my turn and I didn’t let the sh**heads but in line, I left the shirt for last after taking my time unloading all the merchandise and striking up a nice conversation with the checker that always stalls a little and then she got to the shirt.

By this time the guys were really pissed. She said sir, your shirt doesn’t have a tag, let me call someone and get a price for you. I looked back with a grin. and said, you just got old f**kered.

An opening…

What is the biggest snub you received from a family member?

I got married in 2008, my sister in 2009. My wedding was lovely and small but I felt like it meant a lot. My sister got married a year later. My Aunts bestowed upon her a family necklace (something borrowed and old) that was blue, and a simple flower bracelet for her something new.

They had done none of that for me.

I cried for 3 days. Like my marriage didn’t matter at all.

The cat is fast

What is a split-second decision you made that changed your life?

I was nearly killed in a multi-vehicular accident when I was 25. The first police officer on the scene pronounced me dead, but, luckily for me, there was a nurse on hand to confirm that, while I was gravely injured and in shock (which means that you don’t have a pulse in your arms and legs because your blood pressure is so low), I was actually alive.

By the time the ambulance got there, I was conscious and screaming from the pain of my injuries. I had broken both my legs, my pelvis and three vertebrae (they were not displaced), but the source of my agony was a dislocated knee joint. My knee-cap was 6 to 8 inches north of where it should be and my upper and lower leg bones over-lapped by 3 or 4 inches.

It hurt. A LOT.

So, they cut me out of my car and got me into the ambulance and rushed me to the hospital. I was in bad enough shape that they called ahead so an Orthopedist was waiting for me. Unfortunately for me, he was a newly minted doctor fresh out of his residency.

When he came into the exam room he:

did not ask my name
did not introduce himself
did not examine me
did not look at my chart
did not attempt to take the pulse in the ankle of the mangled leg

What he DID do was say, “Oh, that leg has to come off.” Those were literally the first words out of his mouth.

Now, my sister is a nurse and my mother wanted me to be a doctor, so I knew that he should have at least looked at my chart and attempted an exam. I was so angry at his utter lack of bedside manner that my immediate response was, “If I lose my leg, you’ll lose your license.”

Honestly, I don’t know who was more surprised, him or me. Admittedly I was having a REALLY bad day, but normally I would never say anything like that to anyone.

Now, what I didn’t know at the time was that in 95% of the cases where a person has a dislocated knee joint the way I did, the femoral artery that supplies blood to the lower leg is crushed beyond repair. But I was extraordinarily flexible, and luckily, my femoral artery was NOT damaged.

So after a short but pointed argument and a bit of malpractice (on the doctor’s part), my injury was reduced and I got to keep my leg below the knee. It has taken a lot of surgery to fix the damage and more than a decade of physical therapy to relearn how to walk but I can walk and 99% of people won’t notice my limp.

So that is how a split-second decision changed my life. If I had let the doctor amputate, no one would have known that my artery hadn’t been crushed and I’d have a prosthesis and be buying my shoes one at a time. I thank goodness every day that I said what I did to that insufferable jerk.

Women and their tests…

Heaven on Seven Chicken Voodoo Rigatoni

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tablespoons plus 1/4 teaspoon Angel Dust Cajun Seasoning
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onion, white and green parts
2 tablespoons Roasted Garlic Puree
1/3 cup diced celery
1/2 cup seeded, diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup seeded, diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup seeded, yellow bell pepper
1/3 cup seeded, diced poblano chile
1/4 cup seeded, diced cubanella pepper
1/4 cup seeded, diced banana pepper
1 tablespoon seeded, minced Fresno chile
1 1/2 teaspoons seeded, minced habanero chile
1 teaspoon seeded, minced jalapeno
1/2 teaspoon minced serrano chile
1/2 teaspoon seeded, minced fingerhot chile
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
1/4 teaspoon Spanish paprika
1/4 teaspoon chile powder
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup peeled and diced ripe banana
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup mango juice
1/2 cup papaya juice
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon Key lime or regular lime juice
1 tablespoon Hot as a Mutha hot pepper sauce or habanero sauce
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
2 pounds dried rigatoni pasta, cooked according to package directions

Instructions

Season the chicken with 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning.
In a 5 quart Dutch oven, preferably enameled cast iron, heat the oil over high heat. When oil is hot but not smoking add the chicken and brown for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in the yellow, red and green onions and the garlic puree cook for 2 minutes.
Add the celery, peppers, and chiles cook until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
Add honey, sugars, paprikas, chile powder, allspice, coriander, turmeric, salt, black and white peppers, red pepper flakes, remaining 1/4 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, and stir for 2 to 3 minutes to coat meat and vegetables with the seasonings.
Mix in the banana, tomato sauce, water, coconut milk, juices and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil reduce the heat to medium low and simmer uncovered for 1 hour.
When ready to serve, stir in the butter until well blended and toss with rigatoni in a large bowl.

Attribution

Posted by Recipethyme at Recipe Goldmine 8/18/2001 5:26 pm.

Source: Chef Jimmy Bannos – Heaven on Seven Restaurant, Chicago

Humanity on the earth

What survival instincts does a battle hardened soldier have on the battlefield? I mean, what is “the smell” made of?

While we usually call it the “sixth sense”, the military term for this phenomenon is “premonition and intuition”.

Soldiers who fought for a long time on the battlefield have often developed sharper senses. Their bodies and minds are adapting to a survival situation:

After you have been away from any artificial light sources for a while, your night vision will improve. Being constantly exposed to enemy fire, your ability to see and recognize objects at a long distance increases.

You will be able to fine tune your hearing so that you’ll will be more perceptible to all “man made” sounds, for example tank engines or sounds of movement in the underbrush.

There are even soldiers who are capable to smell human feces from long distances away.

And some soldiers go even further: they develop an elevated state of mind, where their subconsciousness is able to connect the tiniest sensory inputs with the soldier’s vast experience. This way, soldiers can “foresee” future events on the battlefield, can “sniff out” ambushes and “know” where the enemy has put the mines.

This is not a new phenomenon, though there are many accounts from WWII and the Vietnam war where soldiers acquired extraordinary perception skills. Unfortunately, the military often dismissed them as “spooky stories”.

I was able to acquire a limited set of “extrasensory perception” skills myself. Interestingly, while I was fighting in the Bosnian war, I wasn’t really able to develop above average senses. As the war went on, I became better in anticipating enemy positions, or mined areas, but this was purely because of my ever growing experience and improved knowledge of our enemy’s tactics. When you’ve seen the enemy attacking a couple of times, always in the same way, it’s really not too difficult to figure out what their next steps will be.

During the war in Kosovo, however, I went one step further. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that we were nonstop in combat. There were no clear front lines (like in Bosnia) and everyday was a fight for survival that demanded from us to be 100% alert and sharp.

I remember one particular day: it was the third day of a massive enemy attack and I was manning a position together with a comrade. We were expecting that the enemy’s main assault would happen just in front of our position. We were in a small house and the moment I entered the building I felt that something was wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it, though, but an inner voice told me: “this place is no good!”

We waited, but nothing happened. The fighting had started on our right flank, but in front of us, everything was still calm. All of a sudden, I told my buddy: “Let’s go somewhere else!” He trusted my word and didn’t argue with me and so we moved to another house that was a couple of hundred meters up the road.

On our way, we passed two of our comrades who were waiting in another position. I took a short look at their spot and told them to move fifty meters up the road to another place. I didn’t know why I said it, but they obeyed my order and moved immediately.

My new position was in a big three story house, only hundred meters to their right side, and so I was able to keep an eye on them. After an hour, the enemy attacked us with tanks. I shot twice with an RPG, but the enemy was still advancing. Our house had a very safe place in the basement and more and more soldiers came from other places to find refuge there.

Our last position, the “big house”, seen from enemy side. Picture taken after the war.

Outside the house, bullets and shells were flying from every direction. Suddenly my alarms went off again. I stood up and said: “Let’s go! Now or never!” and we all exited through a small window at the back of the house.

When I got outside the house, the air was red from the dust of the houses’ red bricks. Trees were hit by artillery shells and one fell just one meter in front of my feet. I waved and screamed at the two comrades that I had left nearby and told them to join us. Somehow we all made it to a safe place.

What I found out later was that an artillery shell had hit the exact place where I had my first position, just minutes after we decided to leave the place. The shell went straight through the roof and would have killed us immediately.

The two soldiers that I had asked to change their position came to thank me. They told me that only one minute after they were in their new position, an artillery shell had hit the old one.

And the last man who had left the big house from the small window told us that the moment he was leaving the building, a tank round had hit the room in the basement where we had stayed the whole time.

Of course we had a lot of luck that day, but there was more to it. After having spent a long time in combat, I was able to trust my instincts, my gut feeling, although it didn’t make any logical sense. From a military point of view, the positions that we had been using that day were carefully chosen and the best possible choices. Still, some inner voice told me to abandon them.

There were more occasions where my extrasensory perception skills (or those of my comrades) were either saving our lives or made us better soldiers. Especially during night combat, we often “knew” where each of our soldiers was positioned and what they were doing, without being able to see them. We were able to move without wasting time figuring out where everyone was left and we could shoot without hitting one of our own people. This made us better and more lethal soldiers.

A very interesting article on this subject: The U.S. Military Believes People Have a Sixth Sense

Nice Guys are NOT men

Jerry’s Cajun Cafe & Market
Louisiana Seafood Gumbo

Yield: about 8 to 10 gallons of gumbo. Can cut recipe in half to reduce.

Ingredients

2 cups vegetable oil
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups diced onions
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced bell pepper
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 cups chopped green onions
3 gallons water
1 pound fresh or frozen okra
1 (28 ounce) can Ro*Tel diced tomatoes or 2 (10 ounce) cans
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 ounces crab boil
8 dashes Tabasco sauce
8 dashes Louisiana hot sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 ounce Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic seasonings
1 ounce Cajun seasoning
1 ounce dried basil
1 ounce dried thyme
3 pounds peeled and deveined shrimp (70 to 90 count)
1 pound claw crab meat
2 whole crabs, cleaned and halved
1 pint fresh oysters
1 ounce file or to taste

Instructions

First, you make a roux. In a large, heavy stock pot on medium heat, add 2 cups vegetable oil and bring to temperature.
Add flour gradually. It will sizzle when it is at the right temperature. Using a whisk, stir roux constantly. Stir until it reaches a peanut butter color. When it reaches the desired color, add the onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic and 1 cup of green onions (in that order) until all ingredients are cooked down or caramelized.
Add water, okra, Ro*Tel tomatoes, seasonings and bring to boil. After it reaches boiling, reduce heat to low and let simmer for at least an hour.
Add seafood and continue to cook on medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Taste for seasoning and texture.
Add file to thicken.
Stir in the remaining green onions and simmer for a few more minutes.
Serve as a soup with a little steamed rice.

Attribution

Source: Jerry’s Cajun Cafe & Market – Pensacola, Florida

Time Blindness

What’s a childhood secret you’ve never told your parents about?

Well… it took me 20 years before I revealed my secret. But here goes.

When I was 17, I had a 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger.

(Photo credit: Category Archives: Vintage Review).

It was older than I was. The biggest issue was, the floor pans were pretty rusted out (and the Flintstones jokes that came with it). I could see the road flow by if I looked down under my feet and pedals. Water would splashed up when it rained.

So I try to fix it. Some rolled stainless steel wouldn’t stay down right. Riveting just made more holes. And I gave it a break. Later that afternoon, I noticed my mom’s cookie sheet. It was almost the exact right size! And it wouldn’t roll up. A few clips with tin snips, and some epoxy, I had the floor of my car (on my side) waterproof!

Later that week, my mom wanted to make cookies. I, of course, had no idea where her cookie sheet was.

I think the worst part was me “helping” her look for 5 or 8 minutes.

A few summers ago, and 20 or so years later, I finally came clean about it. Time heals all wounds, and she wasn’t too upset.

Neocons Still Can’t Believe Russia Defeated Them

What did you do as a child that you hid from your parents?

I was quite a lonely boy, and longed for a relationship. On holiday, I met a girl who seemed interested in me, and we had fun: we walked, climbed, sailed together and did a lot of talking. At the end of the holiday, we exchanged addresses and corresponded for a year or so. I kept ALL her letters.

One day, she wrote to tell me about her new boyfriend. He was wonderful (apparently.) Being rather immature, I felt betrayed. I had no reason to feel this way, we were only friends and I should have felt glad for her, but hey. Teenage angst.

I took all her letters, threw them into my metal litter bin, and set fire to them.

IN MY BEDROOM.

I had the window open, and there was no-one else in the house, so that was cool. I remember the IMMENSE satisfaction watching those letters burn.

When the bin cooled, I decided to bury the ashes, and with them my heart. I lifted the bin – and there was a perfect bottom-of-the-bin shaped hole in the polyester carpet.

My father was fairly physical in terms of punishment, so my heart did not just sink: it scuttled itself. I knew that Armageddon would ensue were this to be discovered.

In panic, I looked around and realised that my room was a perfect oblong. The bin-shaped burn was in the left corner, my bed in the opposing right corner.

I have (up to this day!) never worked so hard or fast in my life. I removed the furniture from my room, managed to lift the carpet, desperately salvaging the carpet tacks, turned the carpet around, nailed it back down and replaced the furniture, with the bed covering the offending burn.

My parents wondered why I suddenly announced my decision to assist with the housework by taking responsibility for all upstairs vacuuming and cleaning. They were surprised but pleased: I was desperate to keep my crime concealed.

I am now 59. My father has passed away, but my mother still lives in the family home. And the burn is still under my old bed. 45 years later, my crime remains hidden.

DO NOT TELL MY MUM!

What are the most interesting facts about human behavior?

1. Pretty people are automatically more acceptable by people. Average looking people have to do something above average to get accepted and ugly people have to do something extraordinary!

It is because the human mind appreciates physical beauty and repels ugliness because of immaturity of mind. But in the end what matters is inner beauty or ugliness and that wiseness comes with experience and time.

2. Leaving your girlfriend/boyfriend seems much tougher than leaving your friends.

It is because romantic relations induces strong pheromones secretions in your body that cause you to develop strong bonding feeling with your partner. It is not the case you have with friends and hence breaking a strong bond seems tougher.

3. People who get goosebumps frequently while listening to music have a special connection with it. These people listen to music very frequently and their work capacities and capabilities are partly dependent on it. If they are barred from listening to music for 1 month, their productivity will fall.

It is because the hormone adrenaline increases in their body while listening to the music and that causes more activation, more awakening and better functioning of their body. Plus, it keeps the mind calm.

4. The more attention you give to a person, the more attitude he/she will show you and the less crap he/she will give about you.

It is because as the humans get more attention, their minds tend to think that they are very important and good looking and the person who is giving them attention needs their company desperately and is not equal to them at all.

5. Money instils confidence and happiness in majority of people. It increases their desire to work.

It is because anything (money) that is able to complete every single desire of people is very much acceptable to them as human desire are insatiable.

What do you do when you realize your teacher is wrong about something? Do you correct them or just let it go?

In 5th grade I had a 1st year teacher, Ms. Craig, who was amazing and one of the reasons I went into education, but I digress. One day we were studying the United States and where all of the states were. I noticed that she had switched Missouri and Minnesota. I remember thinking – that is not right. you see my dad is from Minnesota and my family lived there for a short spell when I was 4. I decided, to ask her if that is really where Minnesota located. I will never forget her reply – You know Denise, I am not totally confident that it is let’s check. So in front of the entire class, she lifted the map she had written on to look at the map that contained all of the States written on it. Well, look at that Denise is correct, I made a mistake and mixed up two states!

Miss Jana Craig if you are out there and can read this, you made a very strong impression on a 5th grader in the very first class you taught. You were the BEST teacher ever! Thank you for making me love school.

Why is it that some high-IQ individuals turn out to be failures in the end?

Because you need the required secondary powers to succeed.

The most important required secondary power is to be born in an upper class family. Most of those high IQ people who succeed, have born with silver spoon on hand.

The reason is trivial. Nobody makes it alone nor in a vacuum. To be successful, you need to get socialized with right people, to know the right people, to be encouraged, to have social support, you name it. The less you have those, the less likely you are to succeed.

Then there is the thrice-goddamned communication range. If you are a high-IQ person in a middle class environment, you are likely to be branded as a weird kid, a nerd, a geek, an egghead and bullied and ostracized. You learn very quickly to hide your intelligence to stay below the radar lest you are torn into pieces. And God help you if you are born in a working class family – you will be stampled as a weirdo, a misfit, an outcast, and eaten alive.

For a middle class and working class high IQ individuals, the best hopes are military and STEM branches. Military because militaries are meritocracies, and high IQ is an asset once you are past buck sergeant or lieutenant. STEM branches, because they are difficult and require brainpower, and you are likely to get networked with similar-minded youngsters.

Forget the rags-to-riches fairy tales. They are just that – fairy tales invented to deceive the gullible and to make the proles to blame themselves for their failures.

Oldest Son Blues

When I was in High School, I would often work until late at night in the mines, and then go home. But more often enough, no food was left for me. While my mother told my sister to make a plate for me, most of the time it was either [1] completely missing, or [2] starvation plate; one baby spoon of corn, one baby spoon of potatoes, and one half of a meatloaf.

Now, to keep up my energy, I would often buy my own food, and make it and eat around 10 at night.

One day, I was making a pizza for myself. I was alone at the house. But you know, suddenly I had to go to the bathroom. So I went upstairs while my pizza would finish cooking.

Unfortunately, while I was upstairs, my sister came home, with two of her friends. Took out my pizza and the three girls ate my dinner.

When I came down, I was livid, and they just laughed at me.

They taunted me. They told me how stupid I was, and all the rest of the silly kinds of games that adolescent girls play on the weak.

Meanwhile, my FUCKING father defended them saying “You are the oldest son and it is your responsibility to take the hits”.

…

He was always a BLUE PILL dweeb.

I’m much older now, and you know what, I should have beat their god-damn faces in. Let them cry and holler. Let them scream in pain.

But, you know, I didn’t. I was a “good boy”.

As far as my father is concerned… he passed on, and I forgave him. But I have to tell you all the real truth… he taught me to become the wimp nerdy blue-pill “kick me” beta simp that I had to endure with for decades.

DO NOT DO THAT TO YOUR KIDS.

You do not take abuse.

You PUNISH the abuser(s).

Swiftly. You rub their faces in the shit that they just laid down upon you. As they scream and hollar, let them. Soon enough they will shut the fuck up.

…

Today…

What was the best revenge you’ve ever gotten?

Mine was in the Air Force. I had a racist for an immediate supervisor who always gave me average ratings on my performance. I didn’t realize how bad I was getting screwed until one of my counterparts (who was a total screw up) was shocked that he higher ratings than myself. A “3” is considered average (which I was getting on my reviews). This “screwup” was getting 5’s which is the highest score. I was thinking “how the HECK did he get a 5??” This dude missed time, came to work drunk, was reprimanded for fights….been to jail….etc. my record was SPOTLESS. Always the first on the job and the last to leave. Kept my uniform super clean. So I realized that I’m working twice as hard as this other dude and getting a much lower score.

This was in the 1990’s. I overheard a conversation with my racist supervisor one day about what he wanted to be when he leave the military. He stated that he wanted to be a highway patrol officer “so that he can legally hit minorities”. He always made crude jokes about Mexicans and blacks. As an African American myself I hated this dude’s guts. His leadership skills were the worst. I hated every day of working with him.

One day it was his last day of work. The shop was going to throw a going away party for this racist pig. There was an option to donate $10.00 to the potluck to participate in the party or miss out and work. I chose to work. I’m not donating a DIME to this dude’s going away party.

After he gracefully disappeared from the job I thought that would be the last I’ve heard of him. NOPE! I was wrong. Found out later that he did apply for the state highway patrol position.

The timing on this particular day couldn’t have been more perfect. Two men from the highway patrol were visiting our unit and I happened to be the ONLY person there. They asked me “who’s in charge?” Well, I’m the only airman in the shop so I was actually in charge. I asked them what’s going on? They told me that they are doing a follow up on a gentleman who applied for highway patrol who used to work at this unit. I told them I have detailed files on this person. What made this even better was the fact that one highway patrol officer was black, the other was Hispanic. I was so nervous in hopes that our main supervisor didn’t show up because he would give this guy a decent feedback. I wanted them to hear the DARK side of this scumbag.

I told them that he was a decent worker at best but here are some documents I wanted to share. Luckily I kept my old floppy disk handy with all of the stuff I wrote to the higher chain of command about this racist pos. The statements had dates and times I written down of his racist comments over the years. Too many to write in this essay. But let’s just say it was two pages worth (front and back).

The look of disgust was very apparent on their faces. One of them asked me “people like him still exist in the military?” I replied “shockingly, yes”. They asked me, “did you ever want to knock this dude the F- -K out?” (Many Times I did).

To make a long story short, months went by and I didn’t hear anything. Then one day I overheard a conversation about my former supervisor being turned down for his highway patrol job and was working at a Wal-Mart as a warehouse worker. In all honesty, I take GREAT pleasure in feeling that my sneaky swift actions were the reason.

Dave and Buster’s Muffaletta Salad

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds Romanelli pasta
4 ounces sliced turkey
4 ounces sliced ham
2 ounces (24 slices) pepperoni
2 ounces sliced salami
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/2 cup chopped green salad olives
1 cup sliced celery
3 tablespoons Italian dressing
12 ounces prepared assorted lettuce
2 ounces julienned spinach leaves
1 cup diced Roma tomatoes
1 cup assorted pizza cheeses: fontina, mozzarella, asiago or parmesan
4 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 cup roasted red pepper
1/4 cup shredded aged asiago cheese

Instructions

Julienne (cut into strips) the pepperoni, salami, ham and turkey then place in salad bowl.
Cut celery, green onions and roast peppers, add to the bowl.
Chop and add both types of olives and add to bowl.
Add the Italian dressing and pesto and toss all together well to mix.
Cook pasta in boiling salted water until done, drain and place in salad bowl. Pour the Italian dressing on the pasta and toss all together gently.
Place assorted lettuce, spinach, pizza cheeses, diced ripe Roma tomatoes and onions on cold platter (leave a space in the middle for pasta).
Add tossed hot Romanelli salad mixture; pile high in the center of platter. Add shredded asiago or parmesan to garnish.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: America is declining RAPIDLY

https://youtu.be/0gjzpZMFVsE

When have you fired someone on the spot?

Yes.

As a triage nurse in an Emergency Room, there are duties that become mundane but are necessary. One rule we had was that if a pregnant woman approached the check in desk complaining of pregnancy symptoms, the nurse asked how far along they were.

Twenty weeks is the magic number. If they are 20 weeks pregnant the baby has a realistic chance of surviving if delivered. This meant the nurse had to get up and push the patient by wheelchair to Labor and Delivery. It was a big hospital and L&D was on the exact opposite side of the hospital.

If they checked in at the front entrance, security would push them to L&D and the staff there would determine how far along they are and just as the triage nurse in the ER take them by wheelchair to the proper care area.

A pretty good system that had worked for years without incident. Both areas had to push an equal number of patients across the hospital.

And then one day I get a call from the L&D Director.

“We had a patient come in today who says she was told rudely by the ER staff that she was in the wrong place and needed to drive around to the front entrance,” she said.

I neglected to mention that this was a huge hospital that took up 2 city blocks. Crossing the hospital required a 10 min walk through a maze of locked doors and corridors. Driving around required 2 red lights and avoiding a one way street.

“I’ll have to speak to the staff,” I told her, “They know what they’re supposed to do.”

“This girl was 32 weeks and complained of her water breaking,” she continued.

It seemed she was catastrophizing the situation. The staff broke protocol. I will remind them and reiterate the protocol.

“I’ll make sure they understand,” I said.

“Keith, the baby was dead,” she said.

Turns out she was minimizing the episode. The seriousness of the call was not lost on me.

“I am going now to take care of it,” I said, “I am sorry.”

“These people are livid,” she added.

I called the charge nurse and asked who was at triage. Of the two names given, I immediately surmised who the culprit was. Judy was an outspoken nurse who enjoyed sharing her opinion that most of the patients in the ER did not even have an emergency. I went to get her.

“Can you come with me?” I asked.

“Why?” she asked, “Am I in trouble?”

She followed me out into the hallway, and as we walked to my office I asked her, “Did you send a 32 week pregnant patient around to the front?”

“Is that what this is about?” she started, “We are busy and I don’t have time to be pushing people all over the hospital.”

“The baby was dead,” I said, “This is not trivial.”

“That baby was dead before she got here,” she argued, “That has nothing to do with me not pushing her to L&D.”

Stating things that were most likely true did not change facts. She probably was already fired, honestly, but without hesitation I said, “Collect all your stuff and go home.”

“Am I being put on administrative leave because of this crap?”

“Come by my office before you leave,” I said.

While she collected her things, I called Human Resources and made sure I had grounds to terminate. The HR representative agreed to come witness the termination.

“I don’t care what you do,” Judy started as she entered the room. “That baby was already dead.”

“Judy, because of your refusal to follow proper protocol and continued insistence that you have done nothing wrong, you are being terminated. Effective immediately.” Her mouth fell open, and she began to cry. “This is Allison from HR. She can answer any further questions you may have.”

That’s the moment, I think, she finally realized the seriousness of her actions.

That’s Twilight

As a doctor, what is the most shocking thing a patient has ever requested from you?

An Egyptian woman insisted that her husband’s sperm be checked, because something was obviously wrong. They were trying to get pregnant, but nothing happened at all. And she wanted that baby.

His semen sample turned out to be a bit of a surprise, because it was dead. There was not a single living sperm cell detectable, and it had always been like that, because the man was consequently diagnosed with a rare congenital condition in which patients are infertile from birth.

His sperm had always been dead. The suckers never swam.

You might wonder why the woman’s question was shocking in the first place.

Well, they had three children. And her husband was convinced that he was the biological father of all three of them. His wife, on the other hand, knew only too well that maybe — just maybe — that might not have been the entire naked truth. Because back in Egypt — where they lived when all their children were conceived — there must have been another kind sperm donor. With living sperm.

And yet she was the one who insisted that her husband’s semen be checked by their urologist, because something was wrong. Only to be unmasked as a serial cheater.

And a very stupid wife.

What did you find while snooping that you wish you had never found?

I was working as a computer programmer. I was given a task with an impossible deadline with the threat “if it’s not finished on time, you’re fired”.

I was working late, very late like past midnight late. For some reason, I had an urge to snoop in my bosses desk. I was shocked to find a hand-written report on everyone in the department. The boss was following everybody around, timing and recording our movements. For example “A” took 3 minutes in the rest room, “B” took 7 minutes getting coffee then went to the rest room 17 minutes later, “C” returned from lunch 3 minutes late.

I was appalled and quit soon after that without telling anyone what I found. The rest of the team quit before the summer was over. From what I heard later on, they were all given a project with the same threat; “if it’s not finished on time, your fired”. Upper management called the boss in to find out why 75% of the department quit in less than 6 months.

I learned a very important lesson; if a boss hands you a project and says “if it’s not completed in time, you’re fired”. Quit immediately because that project was deliberately chosen for you to fail.

Doing “nothing”

What is your best parking spot revenge?

Its not exactly revenge, its more getting paid back.

I lived in a condo, I parked right next to a main door.

I would drive to work every morning, and one morning when I pulled out of my parking spot I noticed pinkish red transmission fluid on the parking spot. We have an expensive waterproof coating in the parking garage. You are not allowed to get oil on it, as it degrades it. There are huge fines for dripping oil

So I drove to work, called a transmission repair place, and told them that I had a leak, and they said I could drop it off at lunch. Towards the end of the day, they called me back, and said that they couldn’t find a leak, and they were sorry, but they were going to have to charge me $20 for the time spent looking. I thought this was a screaming deal, and put them on my list of places to deal with. A couple of years later, I did use them.

I drove home, and there was more transmission fluid in my parking stall, and I hadn’t had the car parked there.

So I went shopping, and bought a trail camera, that I placed in my stall. I also put up a sign, saying Parking $200 an hour. Which by condo bylaws was illegal, but I hoped no one would catch me on the first day.

I went to work the next day, and when I came home I checked the trail cam, and a delivery truck parked in my stall 4 times during the day, and the guy ran in and delivered packages. If he didn’t have the leak, he wouldn’t have been a problem. But it was like a $1000 for an oil spill on the membrane, so I had to stop it.

I called the company the next day and told them they had a driver parking in my stall, and they owed me $200, in parking fees. This covered my $20 at the transmission shop, my time off work, and my trail cam. They argued, but eventually paid, because I had pictures of the van parked in front of the $200 an hour parking sign.

He never parked there again. As I said, I wouldn’t have been upset, except for the leak. He might have been doing it for years, before he had a leak.

But I couldn’t risk the fines .

White American Food

Have you ever made a mistake that has haunted you for the rest of your life?

Yes. I am one of six siblings, the youngest was my sister. At 20 she got married, to what turned out to be a physically abusive husband that raped her. She got divorced. He began tormenting her.

I was ten years older than her; and I had started a business that was doing well. I was aware my sister was having problems with her ex, but I wasn’t paying much attention. She called me, and said she wanted to talk to me about if I could help her.

I could help her, but I was busy dealing with something, and told her I’d call her back when I had more time. Then I forgot to call her back.

A week later, her ex broke into her apartment in the middle of the night, and stabbed her to death, stabbed her 22 times.

It was up to me to go through her apartment after the police turned it over to us, and collect her things. I found a diary. And in the diary, she had written she thought her ex was escalating, he had cut the brake lines on her car, and she was afraid he was going to kill her. So she called me, she wanted me to help her run away for a while, where he couldn’t find her. And I said I could help.

And I forgot to call her back, for a week.

I had plenty of money, I could have easily supported my sister anywhere she wanted to go, indefinitely.

And if I had remembered to call her back, she’d still be alive. But I was too busy to talk to her, and learn how bad it really was. And I was too busy to remember to call her back.

Instead, I spent about $50,000 getting her ex prosecuted and sent to prison. I was prepared to spend even more, but back then, that’s what it cost.

That was over 30 years ago. I put my business ahead of my family. I still know I am guilty, my sister cannot forgive me, and I cannot forgive myself. That will be true for the rest of my life.

Edit: Thanks for the upvotes and sympathy. To save some trouble, I will say I do not want any advice on getting over this, or what my sister would have wanted for me, or forgiving myself, or that her ex is guilty but not me. If I could do any of that, I would not have written this answer. I’ve dealt with this 30 years ago in the way I still think is best: I accepted my mistake, and I changed my priorities and thinking to never make the same mistake again. And at retirement age now, those changes have helped me with other losses; they were not due to my neglect or wrong-headed priorities.

Edit2: several have asked how this cost me money; it is the States job to prosecute and they pay for it. True. But the DA has a budget, and spends it all on cases based on which ones they believe they will most likely be able to get conviction on. Especially you don’t want to prosecute a murder case, fail to get a conviction, and then if new evidence comes to light you cannot prosecute again, due to double jeopardy. They thought our case was just circumstantial and hearsay from the family that hated her Ex. (I understood that.) So I went looking for a solution, and found a law partnership with two ex-Assistant DAs, still on good terms with the current DA. They were now defense attorneys, but I paid them to reprise their former role as prosecutors, they hired private investigators (by the book professionals) to develop the evidence needed to get her Ex prosecuted. I paid a retainer of $10K up front, and every time that ran low, I bumped it up $10K. It took several months, but eventually they brought their case to the DA (I was not present for that meeting, they thought it would be easier to talk if it was just them and no civilians). The DA decided to prosecute. So I didn’t pay for the prosecution, I paid to make it cheap and easy for the DA to prosecute, and that was the new evidence they needed. None of that was illegal or used any illegal means. Her Ex was convicted, and the Jury deliberated about 30 minutes before sentencing him to 30 to life.

Cheesecake Factory

Do people drop to the floor when shot? Or can they keep walking?

Shortly after graduating from the police academy, I learned of a three-day course for police officers called “Street Survival.” I paid my way and attended the event. I learned a tremendous amount from going to that course. One of the biggest things I learned is what happens to a person when they are shot. We reviewed a lot of actual videos of police officers being shot. Some fell while others remained standing.

The skill they were attempting to teach us, was that as a police officer you never stop fighting. Not if you’re shot, not if you’re stabbed, stay in the fight as long as you are alive. This was at that time, shown to be the officer’s best chance at survival.

They showed examples of officers severely wounded who continued to fight until help arrived and survived. Conversely, some officers that were hit and simply disengaged were more likely to either die of shock or subsequently be killed by more gunfire.

I have watched videos where police officers in a gunfight don’t even realize they have been shot. I have always been taught that in a gunfight you keep fighting as long as you are able. It will hurt, and there will be blood, but an officer’s best chance at survival is to fight.

Secret doc AND modern policy aims to slow development in China

This is damn good!

What is the craziest thing you have ever said or done at an interview and still gotten the job?

I got called for an interview two days after submitting an application. I cried after getting off the phone, because heck, I need this job and I have an interview tomorrow.

For context: I was out at the beach with my niece and nephew, and it was cold water and their first time at a beach so of course I follow them into the water because someone has to keep an eye on these trouble makers.

I failed to realize the consequence of having sniffles combined with taking care of kids and a cold beach. While were out to lunch, I get the aforementioned call.

I wake up the next morning and I am sick. Sick as in flu, runny nose, throwing up, coughing, barely speak sick.

I get my butt up and go to the interview. That alone is crazy.

And this interview goes incredibly well. I manage to get through it.

The manager extends his hand and says with a big smile, “Well, we’d like to extend an offer to work here to you.”

I’m about to shake his hand when, because my life is an actual joke, I throw up. Onto his shoes. All over the carpeted floor.

I look at him, and I’m scared. I thought I royally goofed. He hands me tissues and smiles like a dad does.

”Don’t worry. The offer still stands. I hope you take it too, because it’s obvious you are a determined young woman. I’ve never had anyone come to an interview sick before.”

And thank God, I got hired.

BFFR LOL!

What are some of the most awesome psychological facts?

1) 80% of people would write their name if asked to write something with a new pen.

2) If a person laughs at a low quality joke then he is suffering from loneliness.

3) The big toe indicates the nervous weakness hidden by the other fingers, indicating that the person wants to be unnoticed by many.

4) Psychology is the first 6 seconds of meeting with someone, the first impression about him is formed.

5) It is a proven fact that our response to any situation is capable of radically changing that situation.

6) Many times someone’s indifference indicates his utmost care which he does not want to express.

7) If you write down negative thoughts and throw them away like garbage, your mood will get better.

8) In 90% of cases, those whose handwriting is bad are more creative than usual.

9) It has been proven that orange helps reduce anxiety. That’s why doctors recommend eating an orange before going to work.

10) Never reveal your goals to anyone. It produces the equivalent effect of achieving goals in the brain.

11) When surrounded by plants, the brain releases certain chemicals which increase the thinking power of the brain. That’s why walking in the garden is part of some psychiatric procedures.

12) The conversation of the parents with the child becomes the language of his mind.

13) 8 positive statements disable a negative statement.

14) If someone’s foot is back towards you during the story-gossip with many people, then it should be understood that he is interested in you.

15. If a girl likes you, she will play with her hair while talking to you.

16) You will rarely die in your dreams, if you die in your dreams then you have started something new in life.

17) Dream is a conversation between you and your subconscious mind.

18) But before we go – a click on the upvote button will make both of us happy.

Hair washing Holiday

Can you please provide your insights on the recent meeting between Xi and Biden? There are gossips that Xi requested 900 Billion USD to bailout China, is it true?

It’s not just stupid but impossible

Even if Xi requested for a Loan of $ 900 Billion, the request would be made by the Bank of China to the US Treasury and would be an official request

The Loan would need Congressional Approval

Besides why would Xi need Biden for $ 900 Billion?

He has $ 3.1 Trillion in Forex reserves and even if China pays off all the debts it’s committed to, that leaves $ 1.2 Trillion in the clear for China

That’s more than the next 17 nations combined

Plus even if Xi needs money to bailout some aspect of China, his people have almost 80–100 Trillion RMB in Savings and Investments and all he needs to do is to offer 8% interest and tomorrow morning he gets his $ 900 Billion.

Plus where exactly does Biden have $ 900 Billion?

Plus why would Xi need $ 900 Billion in US currency?

Obviously this news is not just wrong but fundamentally stupid

Xi and Bidens meeting was done at Bidens request

Xi took the opportunity to meet the businessmen of USA and present to them his three new policies on Foreign companies

A. Reducing the time needed to withdraw capital from 36 months to 12 months

B. Extending IP protection from 1 year to 5 years (Many US Businessmen loved this)

C. Decriminalizing Espionage which didn’t have National Security Implications and changing 15 year imprisonment to 100 Million RMB fine

Biden and Xi met to mainly bide time

Biden has the US Elections next year and has his plate full of conflicts and simply can’t afford a third conflict

Xi said he would not invade Taiwan without red lines being violated including the declaration of Independence

That’s it

Everything else is just superficial

Hoflation

What do you do when someone has road rage and tries to follow you home to fight you?

My cousin once ordered some louts out of the store he was a manager at.

Later that day, as he drove home, he spotted them following him. He didn’t speed, he didn’t weave, he just drove carefully to a nearby suburb, turned down a side street and then turned into a driveway between two blocks of residential units, with them closing the distance and pulling in right behind him . . . right into the parking area behind the local police station.

The louts realised where they were, started to reverse out as a bunch of police looked up at what was going on, only to have a police car pull up behind the louts, blocking them in.

My cousin got out and explained what was going on to the officers on hand. The louts denied following him but it didn’t matter. They had outstanding warrants AND were already on the ‘Be On The Lookout’ list for some antics they had gotten up to earlier in the day.

My cousin gave a statement and went on his way, the louts didn’t get to do the same.

What is McDonald’s hamburger patty made out of?

My family has been involved in sourcing the cows for McDonald’s for decades. I use the word “cows” as opposed to “cattle” because almost all of the meat comes from dairy beef. Now dairy beef is not a bad thing if you make hamburgers out of it and it is very lean. Growing up on a beef farm I was raised on premium ground chuck. The texture is totally different. Our burgers would easily fall apart. However, you do not want that in the fast food industry. Dairy beef creates a “chewier” patty. Processed thin, it is perfect for McDonald’s and it is 100% lean beef.

As cattle buyers, our family has had their fair share of tricks pulled on them. Unscrupulous sellers make give a cow an injection right before she enters the sale barn and we would buy her thinking that she was just a cow that had quit given milk. Since there is a time period between the sale barn purchase and the cow’s arrival at the processing plant, the ailment would inevitably show up and she would be rejected by McDonald’s. We, of course, had to bear the cost of the reject. McDonald’s was strict!

Additionally, all the cattle are brought to a central source where they are butchered and processed to provide a more “generic” flavor as opposed to one particular breeds distinguishing taste (if that makes sense). In other words, all the patties taste the same.

Though I do not eat at McDonald’s very often, I am not afraid of their meat. I recently read an article on Pollock (the fish in Filet-O-Fish). McDonald’s only uses PREMIUM Pollock! And their tatar sauce is one of the top-rated in the world for flavor! Crazy. Try the Filet-O-Fish with added bacon – game changer!!

Rufus takes action

What is the most violent thing you have ever done?

I tore a guy’s arm apart at the wrist, elbow and shoulder. I dragged another guy’s face along a brick wall.

I was out walking late at night. I’d just had unexpected news that my daughter had died. I was sitting on a bridge near my home contemplating jumping. I was completely broken.

Three men approached me. I was called a Paki and threatened with violence, and rather than run or de-escalate (which is the standard/correct response and one I had consistently tried to use until now), in my emotional state, I threw the first punch.

I dragged one of their faces along a pebble dashed wall, cutting up most of one side of his face.

I grabbed one of them by the wrist, twisted and yanked using a nearby wall and my foot as fulcrums. Elbow popped. Shoulder popped. Wrist cracked. He screamed and it looked completely misshapen.

This is why this was the worst: I was not trying to save myself. I was trying to hurt them. The self defence was coincidental. I was angry beyond anything I could control and they made themselves a valid target for my rage. I did not need to do those things to those people to protect myself.

They ran away with their injured friend(s). I went home and called the police. They sent me to a psychiatrist who assured me that my response was not “abnormal” given the sudden exposure to several extremely stressful events back to back, but that I did need further counselling.

I was put in touch with a longer term psychiatrist to help me process both my grief and anger, who also helped me deal with my subsequent depression.

True violence is very rarely the result of a healthy mind.

My 22-year-old daughter wants me to babysit her 3-year-old without paying. How do I tell her I won’t babysit her child without getting paid?

Where we live daycare is $500 a week for an infant with almost a one year waiting list. My daughter and my son in law (SIL) were making hard financial decisions on who would give up their career to watch the newborn – trust me they make good money, but not enough in this economy.

I said “I am eligible to retire. I can watch her”. I watch her 7–5, five days a week and do not ask for a penny.

What do I get in return? A bonding with my amazing grandchild that I never had with my own children that went to daycare when I worked.

I see daily, the world through her eyes, and the pure joy only a child has. Days filled with laughter. Singing her to sleep. Reading books. Playing together. Taking walks in the park.

Also they buy or cook food for me so I have a free breakfast, lunch, and snacks everyday. My SIL also helps with our routine home maintenance and also provides the muscle for jobs our old bodies can no longer do.

I receive special gifts from my grandchild every holiday and birthday that I know my daughter and SIL bought – items my daughter knew I wanted, but never would purchase for myself.

Yes, I could have worked a few more years at a very nice salary but I put my own ambitions aside. Family is all you have in the end. Hold them close.

Just my view.

Boss Babes

How corrupt are the Chinese elected officials compared to Western democratic countries?

On a time line?

It’s a roller coaster

Before the 1990s super corrupt Deng Xiaoping’s son and Macau Gambling debt is testament to that.

Then the 2000s rolled along and there were anti corruption drives. Literally people with bricks of RMB in their homes.

By the mid 00s human flesh search came along. When a citizen saw a government official with stuff beyond his pay grade? Or Flaunting it. They reported it. The CPC went and investigated it.

Li Gang is the poster child for this – This son said I’m LiGang’s son showing his power/wealth influence. He lost everything.

By the end of the 00s corruption existed but it was good fellas

You see by the 2010s cashless payments were the norm. So yeah sure you COULD have bricks of RMB in your home… but you can’t get it out the country… you also can’t spend it as above people watch for things you have above your pay grade if you pay in cash.

BIG cash payments draw attention to you as everything else is paid electronically.

But there are still 420,000 prosecutions each year out of 80–90 million CPC members for corruption.

The big difference? Jon Corzine steals 1 billion dollars. He apologies pays a small fine (significantly less than he stole) and got no prison time, oh and he resigns… the ULTIMATE punishment and the ULTIMATE HIGHEST WORST PRICE IN THE UNIVERSE!

Meanwhile in China. Corrupt politician equals DEATH!

Most westerners laugh at how soft this punishment of death is! I mean if he resigned that would be a MUCH MUCH HARDER punishment!

No he only got a slap on the wrist death!

What is something your pet did that you couldn’t believe?

One day, while I was working upstairs in my office, my German Shepherd came upstairs, stood in my office doorway barking at me.

Then he walked over to the top of the staircase barking as he looked down the stairs. He lifted his head, looked towards me and continued barking.

He walked back and stood in the office doorway again looking at me, barking.

He did this repeatedly for a few minutes while I worked. It became obvious he wanted me to follow him downstairs. I got up and asked him, “What’s the matter?”

As soon as I asked this our house began to shake.

Everything on my walls and shelves were rattling.

I did not understand exactly what was happening, but we both ran down the stairs while I yelled, “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

We got outside and I felt the ground moving.

Then it stopped.

We had just experienced an earthquake. They are practically nonexistent in our region. Somehow, my boy knew it was coming and came upstairs to warn me.

He did many intelligent things in his lifetime, but that was the most amazing.

EU launched an anti-subsidies probe into electric vehicles manufactured in China. Could China’s EV industry become another Huawei, which be contained by US and EU?

Naah

Huawei had a problem. The Core technology was Western owned and the West had leverage

In case of EVs, China owns all the core technology and actually licenses it’s own Battery Technology to Western players

This is just an effort by EU to protect its players like Benz or BMW or Volkswagen or Renault and buy them time to catch up with China

Eventually they won’t because they don’t have the Ecosystem that China has

However newer players may crop up to compete with China

At that point EU would be helpless to stop the competition

How lucky are we?

My grandmother won’t throw out food. If the strawberries go gray, soft, and moldy, she’ll carefully cut out the bad parts and eat them anyway.

When I was a kid, a friend and I played frisbee with a pita bread in a public park. An old man sitting on a bench nearly had a heart attack yelling his lungs out at us.

Both my grandmother and the old man had survived the Holocaust. My grandma watched her own mother wither away, her ribcage protruding more and more every day, her face becoming skeletal until she died from malnourishment.

They lived on unsweetened tea, watery soup, and a fistful of rockhard black bread. You were lucky if you had a potato peel floating around in your bowl.

When the prisoners were liberated, many died because of taking in too many calories too soon. Their bodies couldn’t handle the sudden nutritional richness. Imagine how the Allied soldiers must have felt when they realized their generosity was lethal.

The vast majority of us can’t even imagine a life like that. We live surrounded by an abundance that is unfathomable for people who have gone through such heinous adversity.

We have access to the basic necessities of life.

We have the luxury to dream, create, and even help others.

We are immeasurably lucky.

America is batshit crazy

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sWiyHzdDWxk?feature=share

What are some harsh things you have accepted as an adult?

A long-term relationship not always ends up with a marriage.
Love exists but it is preferable for many to become a slave and cry in a BMW rather than laughing and enjoying every moment with another person sitting right behind his/her two-wheeler.
Money is not everything but it is everything.
Looks are not everything but it is everything.
Sex is a need and is a way to every enlightenment.
The unconventional form of the profession or acts like writing, blogging, taking a year gap, traveling seems tempting by self but not appreciable by society.
“I need some space” is the most hypocritical statement ever.
Change is the only constant thing which stays immortal.
No one stays with a struggler.

How do you handle that one relative who insists every time on ordering the most expensive item at the restaurant when you are paying?

This used to be me. I’m successful in tech & love being with family. I was a travel RN for many years & I have family all over America. Fifteen years ago I was assigned to San Diego for six months. My Uncle Trent lived there with his wife & three kids. I’d see them once weekly for dinner & always paid. The family always ordered the most expensive on the menu but never finished the food. This went on for months. A few times I suggested that they all order what they could eat to no avail. So after four months of this I stopped going out with them when I visited. When they suggested dinner out I took my leave.

Father’s Day my Uncle calls me to come celebrate with them at an Italian restaurant in the mall. Sure! I’d love to be treated for once! I even bring my daughter with me since she’s visiting the city for the first time. We arrive at the restaurant & it’s one of those buffet type places where you pay first then eat. As we are walking up my uncle & his family line up in front of us. My daughter is in front me & we are all laughing & talking.

As I get up to the cashier & order she tells me the total. At my shocked face she says ‘He said you’re paying for everyone.’

My daughter hears this, puts her tray over mine & we turn & leave.

Never saw or spoke to that family again!

What is the Made-in-China 2025 initiative? What are its goals? Do you think it will be successful?

China has succeeded way beyond its own lofty goal 2 full years ahead of time. The goals were to match or overtake the west in all key technology for today and tomorrow’s world to the point that the U.S. and the west can no longer control China technically.

Roughly 2 years ago a Neo funded, Australian think tank call ASPI or Australian Strategic Policy Institute researched and comprehensively concluded that China today lead in 37 out of the 44 key strategic technologies and know how and the U.S. only has a marginal lead against China in 7 out of the 44.

China calls this technology sovereignty and China has them right where they wanted to be at. Frankly the U.S. by being so obnoxious about preventing this actually speed China along. The more the U.S. tried to contain and control China the harder and faster the Chinese work to overcome them.

So don’t asked this bias and ignorant question China is ready and China has overtaken. The question is how can the west win it back!

Credentialism

What are the ways to become a high quality man?

Start by getting the highest paying job you can get . Be the hardest working man in the room, always.
Get more responsible. Pay your bills on time and reach your workplace on time . Remember, you are capable of so much more.
If you have got any skill, level up and make it earn money for you . Start any side hustle , women love it and men respect it.
Adopt the 5 hours rule . Spend the 1 hour a day , 5 days a week , leveling up your skills , be it reading , studying or painting.
Become dangerous. Start boxing or karate classes , learn how to hurt people , destroy things and take a beating.
Increase your self discipline. Remember pain of discipline is less than the pain of regret and disappointment.
Create your own set of beliefs and standard about what you expect and will tolerate in your life . Like , I will not hang out with people who drink , smoke or have no ethics.
Improve your lifestyle. Cultivate good habits like reading, meditation and cut on bad habits.
Start working out be it yoga, boxing or hiking.
At the end of the day, you have to answer yourself and your conscience,” Did I live today according to the values and beliefs ? Was today a day of peace for me?.

Missing the doggie

Is there an anti-government militia organization in Tibet, China?

Tibet has been a part of China for more than 700 years. Before 1950, Tibet was a brutal serfdom under Dalai Lama and had a cast system similar to that of India. The Monastery class were the slave masters and owned 99% of the land in Tibet. As a matter of fact, Dalai Lama was the biggest landlord and slave master and owned more than 6000 slaves. As a result of the brutal treatment of serfs, such as judicial bodily mutilation, Tibetans life expectancy under Dalai Lama was only 32.5 years. Now it has more than doubled.

I constantly am told how can I support China considering what they have done to Tibet? For one, the Dali Lama is not the “pope” of Buddhism, the man claims to be Buddha reincarnated, 99% of Buddhists world wide reject this claim, it would be like if someone said they were the second coming of Jesus. Tibet was a backwards feudal theocratic society that tortured people, burned out peoples eyes as legal punishment with heated metal balls. It was a barbaric backwards society that in no way represented the teachings of Buddhism. China has since developed and provided massive humanitarian aid, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and did away with the barbaric inhumane practices, if you know the truth about Tibet, how can you not support China?

Let’s not forget when Dalai Lama was in Tibet the top 5% own the remaining 95% as serfs. Dalai Lama was from a rich family that has 27 manor houses, 13 pastures and 6,000 serfs. He didn’t want reform and coerced with foreign powers to fight the PLA. He and his rich big land owners now live in India like kings from the huge wealth they moved out of Tibet. The foreign powers used to operate in Tibet as about 20 years I once saw a video pointing from a second floor to a ground front door where a group of rioters suddenly came and systematically set fire up to the property in a staged and well rehearsed manner. I was taken back by the clarify, perfect position of the camera and the exact timing that it captured the entire sequence from the beginning. The video was supposed to prove Tibetans were suppressed and rose up to protest. It appears China has since put an end to these foreign-backed rioters. The CIA also played a huge role in Hong Kong riots in 2019 as they were filmed personally took charge in directing the crowd. Many protesters were paid. Some judges were bribed, arrested protesters were provided with legal lawyers, families of the arrested were given financial helps and those wanting to escape the law were arranged paid transport to Taiwan. The US has infiltrated the the education system, the civil servants, control some media and own one major newspaper.

Dockside Grill Shrimp Remoulade

Ingredients

Remoulade Sauce

2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup horseradish
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons Creole mustard
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 head shredded lettuce
4 Roma tomatoes, cut into quarters

Shrimp

1 pound boiled shrimp

Instructions

Mix all sauce ingredients well and refrigerate two hours.
Place boiled shrimp on shredded lettuce.
Add the tomato, top with Remoulade Sauce and serve.

Cat play

What’s the craziest or weirdest thing a new hire at your job has ever done?

I went back to my office after lunch and sat down at my desk. There were crumbs on it.

I called out to my secretary, who had a desk just outside my office, asking,” What are these crumbs all over my desk?”

My secretary says, “I told her not to do that. I told her. But she wouldn’t listen.”

“What is going on,” I asked my secretary, my voice rising. “Who did you tell not to do WHAT?”

Turns out a new hire decided that she needed a change of scenery for lunch, so instead of eating at her desk or in the cafeteria that she’d eat at my desk.

To me, it was:

1. a violation of my personal space

2. rude to leave crumbs all over

3. a stupid thing for a new hire to do

I chewed her out, but then a couple of weeks later a contractor called to let me know that this same new hire had told him not to tell me about a big costly mistake she had made. As if he’d risk his relationship with me!

I fired her sorry ass on the spot.

But when I came back from lunch after I fired her she was still there!

I asked her why she hadn’t left and she said because I couldn’t fire her without a written warning first and then counseling. I informed this sorry excuse for an employee that she was still on probation. She said that couldn’t be because it was past her first 30 days. I told her that she had been causing so many problems (her colleagues were furious with her) that I had officially extended her probation with HR, so I could fire her without any warnings or counseling, and that if she didn’t pack up and leave immediately I’d have Security do it.

She finally left.

I don’t want my daughter to be used…

Boston loves the snow

Everyone in Boston loves the snow.

Who’d figure? Let me explain.

First of all, the great and grand snow squalls are called ”Northeasterner’s”( also called “nor’easter“). A weather cell hovers over the Atlantic ocean, and then migrates to Boston… then then unloads a shit-load of snow on everyone.

It is truly amazing. My last experience was in 1 April around 1997. Eight feet of snow in four hours.

Well, of course, the roads are impossible.

But…

If you have a snowplow on your truck… wait, because the local government will PAY YOU GOOD MONEY to clear out specific streets and roads. No shit.

It’s a great program, and works wonderfully.

Other states, such as Indiana and Pennsylvania should really give this system a try. Hint Hint.

Different places… with different laws and policies. Isn’t life grand? That’s why travel is important.

…

Today…

What are the most fascinating “weird but true” historical facts you know about?

I have an amusing anecdote involving Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy from 1943–1945.

The imposing naval figure above was a daring submarine commander in World War One. In the lattermost stage of his career he was responsible for fleets of warships, hundreds of thousands of personnel, and the mightiest war-fighting vessels of his nation. He reached the height of naval command and was covered in honors. He was even briefly Head of State.

But with a steep rise came an equally steep fall. After Germany’s surrender in 1945, he was in a Allied prison cell, awaiting trial at Nuremberg. To while away the time, one of Admiral Friedeburg’s adjutants taught him and his fellow prisoners how to play the game Battleship.

Of course, the game requires an opponent. Who else did he find to play against him but his fellow Commander-in-Chief, Hermann Göring. Those who once directed wars and decided the fates of nations, now directed fantasy fleets across pads of paper. Göring tried to sink Dönitz’s warships with as much gusto as if he was directing his Luftwaffe’s bombers against them personally, and he did not like to lose. Once the Admiral protested,

“Hermann’s cheating! If he doesn’t like where my shells are falling, he marks them in on different squares!”

You read that right: a Grand Admiral was reduced to playing Battleship, sparring against none other than Hermann Göring, who was a dirty cheater. If that’s not hilarious yet completely in character for both of them, I don’t know what is!

In the right way

CIA in China

The CIA I mean the NED is hiring and paying shot wages. No wonder we run circles around them.

But would you whore off your soul for such a pitiful amount?

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She fucked up

Creole Andouille and Shrimp Jambalaya

This jambalaya recipe will become an extremely popular dish with family and friends because it’s filled with tasty sausage, boneless chicken thighs, shrimp, fresh vegetables and rice…let’s be honest…it screams comfort food!

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 (13.5 ounce) package Johnsonville® Andouille Rope Sausage, cut into coin-slice pieces
1 pound boneless chicken thighs, cut into dice-size pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons Creole or Cajun seasoning
2 ounces tomato paste
2 cups crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups uncooked long grain converted rice
1 pound cooked shrimp, thawed
Parsley and green onion, to garnish

Instructions

In a skillet, cook and stir sausage and chicken in oil over a medium-high heat until browned; about 5 minutes.
Add vegetables and Creole seasoning, cook and stir for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
Add tomato paste, cook and stir for 2 minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, bay leaf, sugar and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes to let the flavors blend; stirring occasionally.
Add stock and bring to a boil. Adjust seasoning and make sure it is a little over seasoned because rice absorbs a lot of flavor.
Add rice, stirring well. Return to a boil, cover and simmer on low for 10 minutes.
Turn off heat, uncover and stir rice.
Fold in shrimp and cover for 20 to 25 minutes to let rice finish cooking and shrimp heat through.
Garnish with parsley and green onions.

To make in a multi-cooker

In the multi-cooker, add the oil, onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic.
Select sauté setting, cook and stir occasionally until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
Add seasoning, tomato paste, tomatoes, bay leaf, sugar, stock and rice.
Secure lid on pot and close pressure-release valve.
Select rice/porridge setting and pressure cook for 7 minutes; use quick release to depressurize.
Add shrimp.
Secure lid on pot and close pressure-release valve. Select egg setting and pressure cook for 2 minutes; use quick release to depressurize.

High Value

Why does Argentina, a prestigious defender of human rights, accept to belong to the BRIC, where Russia, China, and Iran are denounced by Amnesty as serial violators of Human Rights?

Why do you care what Amnesty International says?

BRICS is an economic organization, and if you care about human rights, you should be upset at many countries which are allies of the west.

Your thinking is very muddled, and it is apparent that you let just one criteria be the judge of your economic decisions, when economics and politics are completely separate issues. The world is changing and it is important to be flexible.

A Chinese mystery

What has an employee said that immediately caused you to fire them?

The Unspoken Line

At the prestigious “AAAA” firm, Mr. Stevens was known for his level-headed approach and patience. As the Head of Department, he’d mentored many and had rarely ever lost his temper. But there was one incident that everyone in the office remembered.

A young intern named Jake had recently joined the team. Ambitious and eager, he sometimes came across as overconfident. One day, during a team meeting, a colleague, Mrs. Ramirez, proposed an idea she’d been working on for months. Instead of providing constructive feedback, Jake laughed dismissively and said, “Do you really think that old-school idea would work? Maybe it’s time you retired and made way for the new generation.”

A hush fell over the room. Mrs. Ramirez, a veteran with 20 years at the company and revered for her innovations, looked hurt but stayed silent.

Mr. Stevens, usually so composed, turned to Jake, his face stern. “In this company, we value respect as much as we value innovation. If you cannot provide the former, you have no place here, regardless of your skills or ideas.” By the end of the day, Jake’s internship was terminated.

It became a tale that echoed in the corridors, not as a threat but as a reminder: talent without humility means nothing.

I would do anything…

How do I politely refuse a request from my boss to go make her coffee or any other job that is not my responsibility?

Before I moved to the U.S.; I worked for my boss for 5 years. He was a big-ish deal of my company and I worked under his direct supervision.

It was a very normal thing when I picked my boss up from one vendor’s office at 11.30am to another vendor’s office for another meeting at 1.00pm. He used to ask me to get him a sandwich and a coffee so he could eat in the car while listening to my briefing about what’s the next meeting about. He could just tell me, ‘My flight arrived at 5.30pm Thursday, and I want to fly back Friday evening. I want to meet Mr.X for dinner’ and I would contact Mr.X’s office, try to arrange the meeting, make the reservation for dinner, and jot down a list of things Mr.X might want to discuss and the status of all ongoing matters for him. I also always carried an extra box of my boss’s name card, just in case he ever forgot and needed a backup.

I was hired to manage a computerized lottery system nationwide (43 cities). None of the above was in my job description. Yet, I did them gladly, just because I could, and I felt like I did make his life a little bit easier.

When I told him I would move to the U.S shortly, he offered me three extra months of pay added into the last paycheck, so I could have a little ‘runway’ to settle things down in a new country. At my farewell party with the team, he told me, ‘You’re not just one employee to me, you’re my brother-in-arms’.

While I totally understand others’ reasons for not wanting to be bothered to ‘make me a coffee’; I still think it won’t hurt if I go a bit further in terms of doing things for others.

Maybe I’m just too naive.

A real woman

Did you ever see karma hit someone who deserved it so befittingly that it was eerie?

When me and my husband split up my landlady decided to evict me and my son because she wanted to be able to rent the house for more money. We’d lived there for 10 years and even spent money out of our own pocket for small repairs. Our rent was only $400 a month. Went back a year later. The house is falling apart and is sitting empty. There was a workers permit laying on the front porch. It was really faded and I could make out it was for electrical work. I tried the front door and it was unlocked. 2 of the rooms looked like they had been half painted. You could tell no one had been in there for quite some time. The back porch had completely fallen apart. I guess she realized it was going to cost her more than she was willing to spend to get this old farm house up to the standard to rent for $1200. And now she is bringing in no income for the house. Bet she’s regretting kicking us out now.

Not staged

Do you think it’s fair for Arkansas to order that the Chinese-owned Syngenta to sell farmland in the state on the grounds that China is subject to US arms export controls?

Fair doesn’t factor in the U.S. vocabulary list at all. A nation who is the only nuclear bomb user don’t know the word fairness. A nation that used Agent Orange and Nepalm fire bombs on Vietnamese civilians don’t know fair. A nation build on the backs of ten of millions of African slaves never knew fair. An nation that become a nation after genociding and carrying out biological weapons of western influenza on its natives certainly don’t know fair.

Stop mixing up US and fairness. It is like oil and water. It will never mix.

Has the body of Shani Louk, the Israeli-German woman thought to have been kidnapped by Hamas fighters at a music festival in Israel, been found?

Her skull has been found and identified by authorities.

Her body has not been found.

Reports are that she was brutally raped and beaten by Hamas soldiers after her kidnapping.

Which raises a huge question.

This is supposed to be a religious war.

A jihad against the infidel and usurper Israel. A war to restore control of the Middle East to Islam.

Islam has very rigid rules on sexual behavior, especially for women. In many societies they must be totally covered.

Yet the warriors or Allah are gang raping their victims and parading them around nude in the streets.

Why?

It is against their religion.

Did they receive special dispensation from Allah to rape and parade naked women around?

Or do they really not believe what the Koran says.

Or do they choose to disregard it?

Or do the rules only apply to women?

I realize here is a certain level of hypocrisy in all religions.

But the level here is deafening. To fight a religious war for Allah but violate all the tenets of the faith.

Shani Louk was one of the victims of Hamas disregarding their faith. Of being hypocritical.

I had to call the store…

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

A new gal started in my dept. at work and she seemed really nice. We both started early so began talking over coffee before the others straggled in. After a couple of weeks though, I saw that the humor I had admired so much at first was really a thinly disguised nastiness. She would make fun of her handicapped husband, and then laugh raucously. Everyone else was joining in, but I recognized that what she was putting forth were her true feelings disguised as humor.

Some of the things she joked about was hiding her spouse’s wheelchair before she left for work, and then watching him on the cameras she had placed around the house while she was at work. (The man was blind and unable to walk, yet she thought it was so hilarious.) The saddest part was that the supervisors and bosses, as well as the co-workers all thought it was hilarious, too. They laughed even more when she showed them the videos she had recorded of his struggles.

I transferred out of that department as quickly as I could after that. I couldn’t stand to work with people who thought being a bully was funny.

What strange law did you accidentally break when you were in a foreign country?

I play flute, and years ago I spent four months busking around Europe. I had three encounters with police:

The Netherlands. Playing in Amsterdam, a mounted cop pinned me up against the wall of a building with his horse. The horse stepped on my flute case (open on the ground, full of coins) and broke it. The cop told me this was illegal and scared me to death; though I wasn’t hurt. After he left, while I was picking coins and stuff off the ground, some older men came out of the pub across the street. They helped me get everything and invited me into the pub to play in there, where they asked if I could play some Frank Sinatra for them (on the flute?) I did my best, and they were very generous.

Switzerland. I was playing in a square in Geneva, making a ton of money. Suddenly some cops pull up to me in a van and tell me to get inside. My travel companion was having coffee nearby and she came running over. The cops explained that this wasn’t allowed in Geneva, drove us to the outskirts of the city, and dropped us off. Message received.

Sweden. Playing in a square in Stockholm, a uniformed cop came over and listened while I ran through a movement from a Bach sonata. (First played straight and then the Jethro Tull version, part of my act.) When I stopped, he told me that that was beautiful but that sadly, it wasn’t legal in Stockholm. Then he put some kronor in my (new) flute case and wandered off.

What is your best dating advice?

For years, I often heard women complaining about the dating scene, and men who didn’t “Do what they say they were going to do.”

It struck a chord with me as I went through my 20s, and grew increasingly impatient with flaky friends and people who were constantly, and egregiously late to things.

I realized that the people who were the flakiest, and least likely to honor their word, were also the people who had far more problems in their life. Their careers were stagnating. Their relationships were turbulent and problematic.

Their lack of commitment to their word correlated to a bunch of other character flaws, for which they were paying a steep price.

I have since kept a strong radar pinging for people who fail to follow through on even tiny commitments.

My advice to you — and one that I’ve painfully followed — take a knightly approach to your word. This means saying no to things you aren’t sure you can follow through on.

If you explain yourself and say, “I don’t want to make a commitment I am not sure I can honor.”

They’ll usually understand and appreciate it.

This is especially true in dating. Women hate, hate flakey dudes.

Someone was stealing my lunch at work

What is the rudest thing that a new neighbor has done to you immediately after you had moved in?

My home burned down in 2012, end of January. Lost everything, including all my pets. Lived in a motel for 8 days, 5 of which my aunt gave me money for. My boss and cousin helped me find housing in a highrise, primarily seniors. Snoopy seniors.

I was sitting on my floor on blankets since I had no furniture. But I did have a TV and free basic channels from the building’s antenna. I could hear whispering in the hallway, right by my door. “Why’s she sitting in the floor? Why doesn’t she have furniture. Maybe she got out of rehab.” Typical gossipy old ladies. The maintenance guy hadn’t replaced my peepholes in the door and they were looking through the holes. I yanked that door open so fast one almost toppled over her walker. Told them I was burned out, was a working woman who drove many of them to doctors and church. I was not putting up with their shit. They took off down the hall. I put duct tape over the holes, which I hadn’t thought anyone would be rude enough to look through. Notified the office the next day. Both ladies got a letter about respecting privacy. They were on camera, peeking into my place.

What are the most blatant examples of double standards and hypocrisy in America?

Here we see an image from in interview in which actress Amber Heard “fights back tears” after telling about the horrific domestic abuse she claims to have suffered at the hands of her former husband Johnny Depp. She’s sad. She’s pitiful. She’s a brave victim, telling her story… only she isn’t. She’s bullshitting.

The truth is, Amber Heard has a history of domestic abuse. As in, committing it. Before Depp she primarily dated women, and she has a tendency of flying off the handle with them physically. Domestic violence between women, like female partners beating up female partners, is historically massively underreported. So is violence against men, by women. There’s shame, and there’s stigma involved.

She was arrested for it, before. Got into a physical altercation with an ex-girlfriend. Hit her, in public, in an airport.

And the case was dropped. And she got away with it. Because she’s a woman. A pretty woman. Better yet, a pretty rich woman. All the nasty stories about Amber Heard were carefully buried for years. Until the moment her then-husband, Johnny Depp, had enough and defended himself physically.

He then became “the bad guy”. The man with many wild and rocky relationships, who in spite of his substance abuse had never, ever been accused of abusing any of his partners… was accused by the woman who had a history of abuse. And yet she was believed, by default. Why? Because she was a woman.

That’s the most blatant double standard I’ve witnessed in recent years — you can literally be a woman with a history of abuse and beat up your husband, slap him, call him names, cut off his finger and defecate on his bed (Heard did all these things to Depp!) and the MINUTE he defends himself physically? He’s labeled a ‘wife beater’ and all-but blacklisted from Hollywood.

Christians, do you think funding missions in China will weaken the tyranny of the Chinese government?

As a Christian and a lover of Chinese culture and history, I have to tell you that there is so much wrong with the premise of this question that it’s scary.

True Christianity (not the “new evangelical movement” we see in America) is strictly Bible based. Bible based Christianity is not political. Bible based Christianity isn’t interested in overthrowing governments. Bible based Christianity won’t send you on crusades to conquer nations and set up a state church.

Understand that I’m not just talking out of my butt like most US politicians and popular evangelists. I actually devoted years of my life earning a degree in theology. I have studied the history of the Christian missionary movement. I have studied the history of Christianity from the New Testament down to modern day. I have researched and written books on it. I’m not trying to brag but I give my credentials to explain that I know of what I speak.

The very attitude behind this question is why Christianity finds itself unwelcome in some countries; because the government fears that that in allowing Christianity that they are importing a Trojan horse of imperialism. This very line of thought is what got Christians killed in China’s Boxer Rebellion. Some of those killed did seek to claim parts of China for their country. Just like the political cartoon of the day, nations gathered around China as if China were a pie to be sliced up in pieces. Is it any wonder that China fought against it?

However, some true Christians suffered in China during that time. I want to tell you about one of them. His name was Hudson Taylor. Born in 1832, he was English and had studied medicine at The Royal College of Surgeons. He became a Christian at the age of 17 and committed to go to China as a missionary. But not just any missionary.

At this time in his life he began studying Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Mandarin. He earned a degree from the Royal College of Surgeons, and he studied the ways of Christian missions of that time period. He arrived in Shanghai in 1853.

He was not well received to start with. And had arrived during Civil War. He wondered what he could do to better fit into life in China. You see, he wasn’t there to convert Chinese people to English ways. He wasn’t interested in making them more like the West. He didn’t want to destroy Chinese culture.

In fact, he chose to embrace Chinese culture. He began dressing as a Chinese man. He shaved his head and grew a queue, as was the hairstyle of the Qing Dynasty. He began living among the Chinese people instead of at the Christian missions. He learned Mandarin, Cantonese, Chaozhou, Shanghaineese, and dialects of the Wu and Ningbo. He even learned them well enough to give them a New Testament in their language.

The established English missionaries were horrified. It was considered improper for him to live this way. They very nearly stopped his marriage because of this. They thought him a fool, but he didn’t care. He renounced the ways of the English and said that if he had a thousand lives he would give them all to China.

He traveled to remote villages and gave them free medical care and free schooling. And yes, he preached the gospel. But he genuinely loved China and the people of China. He and his wife adopted orphaned Chinese children and raised them with their own children. He buried many of his children and his first wife in China, but that didn’t stop him.

As time passed, the people that he ministered to came to love and respect him and his family, as well as those who came to work with him. He would only allow missionaries who were serious about giving their lives to China. To follow Hudson Taylor, you had to renounce English ways and live as the Chinese lived. In dress, language, and custom. He was turning the English Chinese, rather than making the Chinese English.

His living children grew up and his daughters married in China, living among the Chinese all their days. Hudson Taylor remarried, and continued there. He survived the Boxer Rebellion, probably in part because he genuinely loved China, but many of his followers were killed—58 missionaries and 21 children. He refused to accept money from the government as reparation, though other Englishmen criticized him for this, but he maintained he had not come to take from China but instead, to give.

His health caused him to leave China for a time, where his second wife died in Switzerland. He returned to China again, in 1905. He died in Changsha, Hunan Provence and was buried with his first wife.

Hudson Taylor was the right kind of Christian missionary. He had no use for politics, and no desire to please the English. He immersed himself in the culture and way of life of the Chinese people. He preached Christ, yes, but he lived as a Chinese. He gave them hospitals, schools, and churches, but he did it while living among the people that he loved.

I am convinced that Christians today would find themselves better received if they’d leave politics and government and American ways out of mission work, and focus on loving the people of their chosen mission field. God didn’t call Christians to make converts to Westernization. God could care less about Western ways.

God isn’t interested in overthrowing governments or turning China into a democracy. Show me in the Bible where God said to establish democratic governments. Chapter and verse, please. God doesn’t care about your democracy. He said to obey government as long as it didn’t command you to go against the Bible. In the event that government and Bible clashes, God was ok with civil disobedience in that area, but that didn’t mean topple the government. You want to win people to Christ? Then stop trying to make them like you.

American women with crazy expectations

Why do some people carry grudges for a lifetime?

My Dad and his brother started a feud when they were in their early 30’s and kept it going until they both died fifty years later. No, I tell a lie. My uncle forbade my Dad from coming to his funeral, so he carried the feud on even after his death.

The irony is that neither could explain what the feud was about, so I am convinced that it was a trivial matter that just grew, and neither of these two headstrong men could let it drop because that would be to admit that their years of feuding had been a silly waste. In a sense, the longer it went on, the stronger the feud became even as the memory of the cause became weaker.

It hasn’t been a total waste though. My cousin and I are very close. It’s united us. It has also acted as a lesson to the extended family, a kind of example of how not to behave.

The brothers were both child refugees from the Nazis and had very difficult childhoods. They were both angry young men, and perhaps that explains their decades of refusing to go to family events if the other was going, the forbidding of the other’s name to be mentioned, etc. I don’t want to get into amateur psychotherapy except to say they were both nuts.

What’s the best thing you’ve done for your employee? How did he react?

I have an employee that I assigned to a huge deal. He not only made it. He absolutely killed it. He did far better than my wildest expectations. I called him into my office and told him to contact our travel people and to book a ten day cruise (all expenses) to anywhere he and his wife wanted to go. He was speechless and then didn’t understand how he earned it. I explained to him that his contribution to the company was invaluable. Prior to the cruise he was a Departmental Manager. On the day he returned he was Named a Vice President. I always reward high performance and talent. The cruise didn’t cost me a thing. He’s repaid the cost many times over. Did I have to do that? No, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

What is the USA gonna do now?

China’s SMIC and Huawei have surged ahead in chip technology, defying the U.S. restrictions aimed at curbing their technological advancements, Burn J. Lin, a former TSMC vice president, told Bloomberg in a rare interview. He believes ASML lithography tools that SMIC already owns will allow the company to advance to a 5nm-class fabrication process.

“It is just not possible for the US to completely prevent China from improving its chip technology,” Lin told Bloomberg.

Despite the U.S. imposing technological constraints via sanctions, SMIC has showcased notable resilience and ingenuity by developing its 2nd generation 7nm-class fabrication process. It also achieved yields high enough for Huawei to make plans to supply 70 million smartphones. SMIC allegedly used ASML’s Twinscan NXT:2000i litho tool, which is a deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography scanner that can produce chips on 7nm and 5 nm class process technologies. Exports of this tool to China were curbedby the Dutch government earlier this year.

The resolution that the Twinscan NXT:2000i features (≤38nm) is good enough for 7nm-class single-patterning lithography mass production. However, when it comes to 5nm-class process technologies, a finer resolution is required. To produce it, chipmakers can use double, triple, or even quadruple patterning, a lithographic technique that involves splitting a complex pattern into several simpler patterns, which are printed sequentially to achieve higher precision and detail in semiconductor manufacturing. Usage of multi-patterning is a tricky process that affects yields, and the amount of chips per wafer that can be used, so typically its usage is limited due to economic reasons.

But being limited to tools that it already owns, SMIC has no other option but to use multi-patterning for finer resolutions. Apparently, it has managed to achieve yields acceptable to Huawei. As a result, one can ask whether the U.S. government’s curbs against China’s semiconductor sector work.

“What the US really should do is to focus on maintaining its chip design leadership instead of trying to limit China’s progress, which is futile as China is adopting a whole nation strategy to boost its chip industry, and hurting the global economy,” former-TSMC R&D VP Lin is reported to have said.

Interestingly, the U.S. sanctions seem to have inadvertently opened the doors of opportunity for SMIC. The restrictions imposed on TSMC, barring it from transacting with certain Chinese entities, have allowed SMIC to step in and capitalize on substantial orders. This shift has facilitated SMIC’s enhancement of its manufacturing techniques and technological capabilities.

The really harsh reality…

Looks what mothers actions (when she was single) did to her 13 year old boy years later.

What is the least intelligent thing you’ve ever seen a tourist do?

Visiting Banff National Park, touring motorists left their parked vehicles to take photos of the cute Black Bears and their cubs. One stopped and before long a dozen more. The bears were grazing on a meadow about 100 metres (300 feet) from the road. Some brave individuals without telephoto lenses tried to get up closer for a good picture. A mama bear sensing a threat to her cubs could reach those touring idiots in 6 seconds, not even enough time to open the car door and get in, let alone run the distance back to their car. It took Park Rangers about 5 minutes to notice the “bear jam”, and they were screaming at everyone to get back in their cars and disperse the traffic jam.

I discovered that driving down any infrequently used Canadian wilderness road, when descending a slope, if the engine was turned off to coast down, half a dozen heads popped up to see why the sound had ceased. It surprised me that so many bears were hiding in the growth on the sides of roads, and how close they were. I would not recommend hitch-hiking. Another time just as I was passing, a huge timber wolf appeared and just stood there looking at me as I drove past. The paws were bigger than my hand, and in the rear view mirror I could see he was still looking at me for some time.

What do you think of the opinion that Australia’s trade tensions with China are its own fault?

Of course.

Basically Australia deserves it. Not Aussies. Many are smart good people. They lose a meal a day because your racist PM Scott Morrison prefer to have alliance with Mike Pompeo and confirm that Australia is indeed a China hater and Chinese hater. You harvest what you sow! Aussies promptly kicked him out of office. But the damage is done.

Not only China. But Asian especially South East Asian lost trust and faith in Australia. It sees them as a U.S. stooge and a colonial minded nation thinking that it is ordained by god to be white man run roughshod over coloured people. We Asians has a jolt of awareness that Australia don’t want to be part of and partner to Asia. It wants to be a U.S. dog nation.

Asia don’t want and don’t need a U.S. assistant sheriff! So Australia need some soul searching if it wants to be a real partner or a colonial outpost. Asia is watching.

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

HiI was working as a security guard outside a 24:-hour McDonald’s in Australia around 2am. I was about 21 and a small-framed woman working alone and it was a bit of a rough area so I had to be careful.

A group of 5 or 6 teenager boys turned up and were standing around in the car park trying to pick fights with any guy who looked at them sideways. Mostly men were ignoring them but they were getting bolder and I was beginning to think I was going to have to call the police before things escalated.

Just at that moment a small thin guy exited the building. Everything about him said scared. He held the food bag in front of him like a shield, he was looking at his feet and walking fast trying to avoid any conflict with the boys.

Predictably one of the loudest lads zeroed in on him as an easy target to hassle and impress his friends. He runs over with the usual, “What are you looking at? Are you looking for trouble?” bullshit and the small man just sped up. I started to walk over to rescue him, thinking he was about to be beaten up by the group if they were allowed to proceed.

The guy ignored all provocation until the boy laid a hand on him. I have never seen anyone move so fast. The man dropped the bag grabbed the kid by the hair and pulled him backwards off his feet in a move he had clearly used before. He proceeded to punch the boy in the face 4 or 5 times til the kid was out on his feet.

There was a moment of shocked silence then the guy gently put the kid down and picked up his meal. He suddenly saw me standing there in uniform completely frozen in shock. The guy had yanked the kid’s head back so hard there were clumps of his hair on the ground.

As soon as he saw me the guy was like a lost kid. He said nearly in tears, “He started it. I just wanted to go home and have my dinner.” I just nodded and said, “OK off you go” because I sure as hell wasn’t going to stop him, and he drove away.

The kid suddenly came round, with a split lip, bloody nose, and a few loose teeth I would think. He was a bit dazed and I asked him if he needed an ambulance or the cops. He said no so I told him and his mates to piss off.

I have never seen a beat-down like that. From scared little guy to full psycho and back again in less than a minute. The guy must have been on parole or something because he wanted no piece of that fight before or after.

As for the kids, they learned an important lesson about picking fights with people you don’t know. Sometimes the little guy is not the easy bet. Sometimes people avoid fighting for your protection rather than theirs.

As my grandfather used to say, “Beware the wrath of the quiet man.”

Updated Response: thanks to everyone who up voted. When the incident occurred I was only 21 and very unsure of how to respond. Unfortunately the law in Australia is very clear. Security guards have no rights to remove people from anywhere and calling the police is often the worst response. While many people have criticised my actions that’s OK. The story illustrates as much as anything the lack of support guards have.

For those who could have done better, this reminds me of another of my Grandfathers sayings, “Everyone knows how to tame the mad bull, except the man who owns him.”

Road rage going too far…

Do you have 100% trust and faith in your government(US)? If no, why would you want to ban civilians from owning guns if it’s our only defense against a government you don’t trust?

Name a time when people with guns have ever stopped US government overreach. Want to know a secret? Most people prefer tyranny, as long as they aren’t the ones being tyrannized.

People with guns didn’t stop government racial segregation and Jim Crow. They cheered.

People with guns didn’t stop the mass interment of Japanese citizens in concentration camps. They cheered.

People with guns didn’t stop the police or government from lynching Black men. They cheered.

People with guns didn’t stop the police or government from persecuting gay men and lesbians. They cheered.

See, normal people know your felusional Rambo fantasies about “mY gUn WiLl StOp ThE gOvErNmEnT fRoM tYrRaNy AnD iNjUsTiCe” is a self-serving lie. No it won’t. You lot line up on the streets and celebrate government tyranny and injystice, as long as it hurts people you hate.

Gimme a break. You need guns to stop government oppression…ah HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Riiiiight. Sure you do.

What was the moment you cancelled the friendship with your best friend?

It’s been a couple of years now but this happened with a friendship that began in the early 90’s so that’s a long time. We had a slight falling out and it was over something I said, but her response to it changed me feelings of close friendship with her. I didn’t mind that it made her made or maybe offended her but she said friendship altering things that were beyond what the issue was. There was damage and issues that had evidently occurred that I just wasn’t aware of. I wish she had talked to me about whatever was going on with her towards me but, she didn’t. So when the opportunity arose she gave me more than I was ready for. It was a deal breaker for me and I think that, that is what she wanted. This may sound odd…….I miss her because we enjoyed a lot of things together but I’m okay with it at the same time.

Must South Koreans and Chinese pay their governments for living in the USA?

Hi, Joseph Mcmanus. Thanks for the very interesting question.

I’m Chinese and I spent a handful of years living in the States.

During my time stateside, I paid rent to my landlords.
I paid school tuition fees to the school I was attending.
I paid all living expenses out of my own pocket.

At no time during my handful of years in the States did I have to pay the Chinese government for living in the US.

Unless, as Frosty Shoat mentioned in their answer, you’re counting the cost of the passport as an expense for living in the US. But I don’t see how that is an expense exclusive to Chinese alone.

I hope that helps clear things up.

Hero Rufus

What is the best thing that has ever happened to you for being nice?

I saw a Facebook post from an acquaintance of the hysterical variety. “Can anyone help me move on Tuesday? I’m being kicked out of my place. “

Being the guy with a truck, and having that afternoon free, I said I would meet her at 3 and help move. So day of, I’m there at the appointed time and she’s nowhere to be found. The owner of the house is there and there’s a pile of stuff outside. I start hauling the stuff up to the Uhaul which fortunately is there and talking with the owner. Turns out my acquaintance is being kicked out because she hasn’t paid rent in 10 months and has left the landlord (her ex-sister in law) about $35,000 in the hole. They are going to have to sell the place to recover the money. She shows me around the place. It’s a bit of a mess but an absolutely lovely home. Quiet neighborhood but close to downtown Honolulu, views, parking. All the things.

I tell her that I love the place and before she talks to anybody else or lists it, to let us make an offer. My acquaintance shows up an hour and a half late, after the bulk of the work is already done. I finish helping her move, with a lot less sympathy now.

Six months later, after a lot of talking and negotiating and inspecting, we moved into the beautiful house! And because we negotiated directly we saved about $45,000 in realtors fees.

What real life legal events sound straight out of a movie?

A crime watch group in Homestead, Florida held a neighborhood crime watch.

This meeting took place outside on a back patio. The Chief of Police was meeting with all the participants and team members.

He was outlining all of the things to be on the look out for. He was going down the list of agenda items related to criminal activity.

As he was talking, they heard a loud engine sound. The BZZZZZZ of an airplane motor.

It got louder and louder.

Then.

vvvVVVVVVROOOOOOM

It streaks by.

And

<boom>

Something hits the ground.

Everyone is startled. Then they see a big box right next to them.

The officer goes to check it out.

What is in it?

Seventy-five pounds of cocaine.

The plane that had been flying overhead was on the run from Customs, and it was dumping its cocaine so as not to be caught when they landed.

Let me restate that – a box of cocaine fell on top of a crimewatch meeting.

The plane dumped its last box shortly after that before they landed and were arrested. (Source: What’s that falling from the Florida sky. It could be pork, poop — or worse. Miami Herald. Cohen, Howard)

Luckily that last box of cocaine only hit a church.

Just another day in Florida.

The argument from intimidation

What is the worst thing a woman can say to her husband?

The woman loved a man .

Both got married .

Both had children .

After few years of the marriage suddenly one day the woman announced her husband that she is in love with another man .

If he wants he can divorce her . But she won’t leave the other man .

The man had no choice but to agree her condition because of his children and social standing .

This is the worst thing in a man’s life to compromise with a cheating wife and spending entire life with that woman .

What is the fastest you wiped that smirk off your manager’s face?

I wrote a letter to my manager outlining his misbehaviours. I gave a copy to every one of his staff. In due course I was in the state managers office with the personnel manager there too.

The state manager told me he was going to take disciplinary action against me. I looked from one to the other and said:

I don’t often beg, but I am going to beg this time. I’m begging you. Please take disciplinary action against me.

They looked at each other and there was silence for about ten seconds.

Then I said:

You’re not going to do it are you?

And quietly the state manager said “No”.

I told them the meeting was over and went back to work.

That was not the end of the issue, but there were no consequences against me.

What is the most badass thing your parent has ever done?

My dad … brought us up to NEVER LIE so when he blatantly lied to the State Trooper standing in the family kitchen one early afternoon I was dumbfounded!

My aunt (dads younger and only sister) married an abusive drug addict/alcoholic child abuser (his own kids).

My aunt had a black eye and lots of other injuries, new and old but she told of her husband having an abusive fit and while beating her he grabbed their three year old son and threw him so hard he went through the plaster and lathe board leaving his whole body as a marker to how hard he was thrown. My aunt called the police eventually (this was mid 1970’s) but her husband threatened if she told them what happened he’d kill the children (1 boy 3, and a girl 1.). She didn’t press charges because she knew he had guns and knew how violent he was.

About three days later two State troopers were in our driveway. They asked my dad if he owned a handgun. They also knew what had happened to my aunt and her little boy (small community).

My dad wanted to kill her husband but knew he wasn’t worth it. So, my dad’s younger brother obtained a gun I think it was a .45 handgun. My dad climbed in the window of his sisters house after his brother dropped him off … and he waited. The abusive husband/father came home, unlocked the door and was going about his business. At some point my father came into view with that gun. He made that scum get on his knees and beg for his life.The end of the gun was put in his mouth. As my father was asking him how tough are you now? Beating up your wife and 3 year old son is easy. How tough are you now? The scumbag pissed his pants while begging for his life.

I’m sure there were a lot more things said and done.

The gun went back to its owner. My dad was having coffee and a cigarette when he invited the cops in. He was so calm, cool and collected as he told the cops he didn’t do anything. He was home all morning. He LIED! Then one cop left and the other one told him, “it’s just me and you, I’d have done the same thing if my sister and nephew got beat up. C’mon, you can tell me. My partner is outside and he can’t be witness to you telling me what really happened.”

My dad calmly lied again and told the cop he knew nothing about it.

After they finally left I asked my dad why he didn’t tell the one cop that he did it. There wasn’t a second cop to corroborate his confession. My dad told me, “Oh yes there was! They don’t carry two way radios for nothing!

My dad was a badass. Just a humble middle class auto shop rat. He died last summer. I learned a lot about life from him.

***edit: I thought that the abuser of my aunt was dead. I recently asked a family member of his. He’s alive but in bad health, still drinking and drugging. He did leave the state but it was after my aunt divorced him. He had a girlfriend. He beat her up so bad she died. I don’t know anymore details than that. I have no idea why he isn’t still in prison. I only know my dad changed his sister’s life for the better and probably saved her life. Her daughter was younger than her son (who was 3 years old when the abuser threw him through a plaster and lathe board wall) and she only recently found out that my dad also changed HER life for the better by scaring the sh;t out of her father and giving her mother the strength to divorce him. I’m sure the a$$hole knew he’d be severely beaten if he ever touched my dad’s little sister again.

Did you ever see karma hit someone who deserved it so befittingly that it was eerie?

Driving an ambulance in response to a “Man down” call on a Saturday morning; lights and siren activated. My travel route took me over a twisting two lane road that was frequented by bicyclists. I encountered a pack of cyclists – maybe 40 – who wouldn’t yield to me. The winding road prohibited me from swinging into the opposing traffic lane to pass.

Took me several extra minutes to work my way to the front of the pack whereupon the lead rider flipped me off and offered me some salient verbal advice. Got past them, delayed in responding to a serious call.

Returning to the station afterwards, made comment to one of my co-workers, a fellow volunteer and a full-time police officer in the local jurisdiction. On the next Saturday, he donned his police uniform, drove his cruiser to the bike-traveled road and waited for the particular bicycle club to cruise thru the stop-signed intersection, en masse….their usual disregard. He pulled the ENTIRE pack over and wrote reckless riding tickets for each and every cyclist. Took him more than two hours!!!!

I went to court with the officer, as did the rest of our ambulance crew….some riders showed; many defaulted. After the 4th or 5th defendant appeared, the judge called them all up together —— maybe a dozen —— spoke for a bit and found them ALL guilty. Good karma day.

EDIT: And before I receive another comment going to legal procedures, please know that in our community, organized bicycle groups make frequent use of a gent who is well-known as the “Bicycle Advocate”. He commonly appears at proceedings where/when bicyclists are cited. On the appearance day discussed above, The Advocate was on-hand, standing up to assert his interpretation of the motor vehicle statutes as they do/don’t pertain to cyclists. The rhetoric is without legal support, and the guy is neither an attorney, nor does he actually represent a defendant. He’s very good at deflection.

With serial defendants and the same fact-pattern, the judge soon tired of the Advocate’s repeated and time-consuming speeches. He cautioned the guy a couple of times and eventually fined him $200 for contempt. He then called up the remaining defendants, asked them to declare an exceptional circumstance or individualized defense(s) to their citations. Hearing none, he passed the collective judgment. The individual defendant due process rights were, indeed, preserved by the judge’s line of questions prior to rendering his decision.

And, yes, I am an attorney.

Un-bound

What is the most unfair advantage a person can have?

Being born to the right parents.

This single coincidence tends to make more of a difference to a persons’ life than any other factor, including whatever efforts the person himself makes to try to improve his lot.

Who your parents happen to be has a tremendous impact on a huge range of things that shape just about everything in your life to a huge degree.

It determines if you’re born in Sweden or in Somalia
The genes they gave you determines whether you’ll be tall, intelligent and handsome or short, stupid and ugly.
The genes also play a big role in whether or not you’ll be healthy, whether or not you’re likely to get a long list of diseases.
If your parents are kind, compassionate and nurturing your start in life will be very different from if they’re cold, inconsiderate or abusive.
The hobbies and interests they have in many cases have a lifelong influence on your own hobbies and interests.
Their wealth and their income determines what material standard of living you’ll have for the first 20 – 25 years of your life, and in fact often for your entire life. (in most cases lazy sons of multimillionaires end up better off than hardworking daughters of slum-dwellers)
They more or less entirely decide who is important in your life for your first 5 years. Such early formative relationships are very important for a child’s development.
They determine what quality education you’ll get, this depends on their wealth, where they happen to live, and their priorities. You as a young child have low influence on all of this.

I’m not at all saying that it’s hopeless to get ahead in life if you had a bad start. What I’m saying is that having the right parents means getting to play life on “easy” mode, while having the wrong parents makes everything a whole lot more difficult.

If someone came to your house late at night and asked to use your phone because they need a ride home would you open the door or would you call from a window or the door yourself?

When I was 16, I was driving home from my boyfriends house which was a good 15 miles away. My car suddenly stopped working. It was dark and it was 1996, so no cell phones. I was out in the middle of nowhere! I saw a house and decided to walk up and ask to call my dad. I was TERRIFIED!

A woman answered the door but barely opened it. I told her that my car broke down and asked to call my dad. She asked me to give her his number and she would call from inside. I agreed. It was cold outside and I was shivering (both from cold and fear). She called him and asked if he had a daughter etc. Then she gave him her address and she invited me inside. I was still scared, but went in because I heard my dad was on his way there.

She made me hot chocolate and I sat by the fireplace, petting their dogs and chatting until my dad showed up. My dad got there about 20 minutes later asked if he could come pick my car up the next day and they said, “of course!” Her husband put his coat on and helped push my car off the road and into their driveway. We both thanked them sincerely and they said “If You ever need anything again, you come straight here!” The lady gave me a warm hug and said goodnight.

My dad sent a tow truck to get my car to the shop the next day and it was back in order with a new timing belt. I made sure to always take that route home just in case I broke down again.

Date Night

What types of antiques have considerably dropped in value?

Roll Top Desks….

My Mom loved Roll Top desks. She always wanted on one. So in 1975, she went to a local Sotherby’s auction and she emerged victorious but financially wounded. In 1975, she paid $1500 for a desk almost identical to this one.

In 2023 dollars, that cost my Mom about $8,500 dollars.

When my Mom died in 2022, we had a professional estate sale guy come to the house. Now my parents lived in the heart of Silicon Valley. He said…………you know, around here this item is really difficult to sell. Nobody wants them because they aren’t super friendly to computers. Anyone young with money around here, won’t be interested. We’ll be lucky to get $2500-$3000, even if we can find a buyer.

That puts my Mom’s purchase around $500 in 1975 dollars.

I’m actually glad she never knew…it was her crown jewel among all her antiques.

ALERT: LARGEST NAVAL FORCE SINCE WW2, ATTACK ON TWO NUCLEAR PLANTS, HEZBOLLAH DECLARE WAR IN 5 DAYS

Looks like a war buildup against Iran.

What’s the most enjoyable thing you’ve ever said to a manager as you’ve quit your job?

Not me but my dad. He was a supervisor, and had a less than stellar employee. My dad was offered a job with the potential for a promotion on the other side of the country. He was retired military so we had moved a lot, so he didn’t take it as he didn’t want to move us again. The job was offered to the problem employee; my dad was happy to see him leave.

Two years later, the guy comes back, only now, he was my dad’s supervisor, and made his job a living hell. For example: this was back in the days of overhead projectors (a precursor to PowerPoint). My dad was to give a presentation to some high-level people. He starts, but the projector isn’t working, so he had to give the presentation with hastily copied handouts. His boss had removed the lightbulb from the projector, and then chastised him for not “checking his equipment”.

He pulled a lot of similar unprofessional stunts. My dad had already retired from the military, and had enough years in to retire again. His physician told him that based on his medical problems, he could retire any time he wanted to, so my dad had him draft an undated letter stating he was retirement-eligible based on years of service and medical issues.

We had an expensive vacation planned, and were to leave on a Friday night. My dad had put in for vacation, so the boss was well aware of it. Ten minutes before he’s about to leave, the boss shows up, drops a file on his desk, and tells him not only does he have to stay late to get started on the project, but he’s cancelling his vacation.

My dad got a box, and started filling it with his personal items. The boss goes ballistic, so my dad pulls out the physician’s note, dates it, and says “I just retired” and walked out. It was a tad petty, but it was epic.

Wife Has MELTDOWN After Husband Secretly Discovers Her Affair, Plans A Strategy & Then Divorces Her!

Do firefighters really eat the food people bring them?

Yes and No.

We had a very nice lady come by our fire station with an “ice chest” full of hot tamales (which we purchased). Everyone who ate the tamales got food poisoning (including myself). We were not incapacitated, but close.

The question is, by eating food that is given to us, will we be able to perform our job of protecting our community? Could we fight fires? Could we perform rescues or fulfill our duties as EMTs? The answer could be “no.”

For example, on another occasion a family was nice enough to deliver a big plate of cookies and other homemade treats. The family appeared dirty and reeked of bad hygiene. We thanked them profusely (as was the polite thing to do). After they left their treats (unfortunately) went in the trash.

We had a few regulars who brought us pies, which we ate. It took a bit of a size-up on the individual delivering them, at first.

On some holidays a major restaurant chain brought us an entire meal, which we ate (it was prepared in a professional kitchen).

All the food that was brought to us was appreciated and accepted. It was never looked at as a bribe (we had no involvement in enforcement issues).

Coffee or tea offered on fire scenes? Now that is something I’d like to see adopted in America! A lot of winter fires were in below freezing temperatures. We were wet and cold. A hot drink of just about anything would have been much appreciated those freezing nights.

We once had a terrible fire, with much loss of life (Deadly Reno Fire

). It was across the street from the rear door of the original Harrah’s casino, in Reno, Nevada. The investigation lasted for two weeks. The casino set up a room for us with 24/7 coffee, tea and snacks. They also provided many meals, which they did at no charge. They expected nothing in return. They were just being good neighbors. Kudos to Harrah’s!

The best policy is “Unless you know the history of the food, it’s unsafe to eat.”

The boats

Al Copeland’s Basic Cajun Jambalaya

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound pickled pork, diced
1 pound smoked ham, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
4 cups beef or chicken stock or hot water
2 cups rice
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste

Instructions

In large saucepan with lid, melt butter with oil.
Add onions and pork and sauté until onions are soft.
Add ham, garlic, thyme and parsley and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add sausage and cook until browned. Stir in stock and bring to boil.
Add rice, bay leaf and cayenne. Return to boil and cover. Simmer over very low heat for 30 to 45 minutes, checking after 30 minutes to see if all liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender. If necessary, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water if liquid boils away before rice is cooked.

He should have been patient

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_nyfUtpSlZQ?feature=share

Can you give an example of how smart cats are?

My cat is four and a half months old. He’s part of our family for a month now.

As I was playing with him with the laser pointer about a week ago, he happily chased the red dot over the floor as always. But when he sat down to look at me, he suddenly looked over to my hand where I held the pointer, than back to the red dot and my hand again. His enthusiasm for chasing the moving red dot was suddenly gone. As if he understood that it was I who made the dot move and that wasn’t as interesting for him as a red dot that’s kinda “magically” moving on its own.

He also found out how to open drawers after watching me doing it two times.

And he’s been exceptionally quick to understand that I keep his “special” toys in the black plastic box on top of the shelf in our living room. As soon as I touch the box, he jumps off the desk and runs over to sit at my feet, waiting for whatever toy I might pick this time.

He’s extremely vocal and complains loudly when I chastise him whenever he does something undesirable, like playing with the computer chords (cuz he chews on them), jumping onto the kitchen table, scratching the wall corners instead of his scratching post, etc.

American Psychosis Chris Hedges on the US empire of narcissism and psychopathy

This is DAMN good!

https://youtu.be/Zp3gCeAI0ds

Open relationships and big hands

Some content notes…

“Open marriage” appears to be an (American) acceptable way to turn a marriage into a fuck-fest. Sheech! I’m way too old for this bullshit.

I mention further down that there are races in China, where “open relationships” are the norm. But in the West, it turns out that an “Open Relationship” is but a code phrase to allow the female in a relationship to have multiple sexual partners, while the male sits at home watching the kids, the pets, and earns money.

Nine times out of ten, he never has an “outside relationship” even though officially he can.

…

The videos about “open relationships” are interesting and disturbing at the same time.

Sigh.

I find them very disturbing. After all, a “marriage” (prior to it being twisted into something different) meant a single monogamous family with shared emotions, shared sex, and shared responsibilities.

A core family unit.

Now, in the USA it is a freeway toward complete social discord and a breakdown at all levels of society.

Anyways…

As I get older my body changes.

I get shorter. No shit. My height gets smaller and smaller over time. Though, I will admit that my feet seem to get larger as a consequence of that.

Shorter in height, but bigger feet.

Not only that, but my hands seem to get slightly bigger, and my fingers are getting longer.

Big hands. Long fingers. Big feet.

Lordy!

…

Ugh. Why don’t women find big hands and long fingers attractive?

And a bald head… and a bot belly?

Not all of us can look like Adonis, don’t you know?

…

Balding, and fighting against a pot belly. Oh, the pain of aging!

But at least I have big hands and long fingers. LOL!

…

I don’t think that these body changes are attractive, but it is the price you pay to live to an old age. Perhaps, when I break 90, I’ll be a squat short man with big, big hand and feet and a bald head. Yucky!

Looking a little like Yoda.

I’d get a nice haircut, and some nice outfits if it mattered. But in my case, those are low on the priority scale right now. Smile.

Just smile. Accept yourself as it is, and as you change.

Today…

TuJia Crying

Why can’t Americans get access to the Chinese electric car market?

Let me help you good American. So first I like to explain how unfree you guys are.

Next 1 million Americans are homeless and don’t have another basic of basics of freedom. The freedom to have a roof over their head.! They have to live in makeshift tents on the streets.

20% of Americans don’t have 500 dollars to their name and don’t know where their next meal is coming from! Surely everyone must have the freedom to have a hot meal to stay alive!

Freedom means you can choose who you really want to be your leader. Only 30% choose Biden. Or 35% choose Trump! Why are they your president? Your system allowed 0.8% of the richest and most influential people to choose your candidates! Surely this U.S. not freedom. This is far from democracy. How on earth can you call yourself the “beacon of democracy” who in a sane mind can claim that?

Oh today you country stop the Americans from having access to best 5G technology, Smartphone, best EV’s, drones and others for some geopolitical nonsense! Is this freedom? Freedom to be deprived? Let me help you understand. You can buy a 10 thousand EV. And need to be charged once a week but you are not allowed to! You can but your Tesla like for half the price but you are not allowed.

But to me EVs and Drones are just the top of the iceberg of your draconian policies that takes away the freedom of Americans like you. Think about Jullien Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden! Freedom?

Chinese minority races

I love this short video.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p_zTDynSeJ8?feature=share

Look what China is doing

According to a scientific research paper by the mainland military, the People’s Liberation Army has established the world’s first “Close Air Combat Command Force” (Near Air Command) equipped with professional hypersonic weapons and directly taking orders from the highest level of the People’s Liberation Army. It is responsible for executing “precise and ruthless operations” during wartime. ” attack mission. In addition, solar-powered drones and spy balloons are also possible intelligence-gathering devices.

Why does the Mafia have a rule against killing cops?

Note: this answer only applies to the American Mafia as the Italian Mafias have repeatedly killed public officials of all persuasions and badges.

Because killing cops, judges or any form of law and order official invites heat and exposure.

A ‘secret society’

Despite the movies, the books, the podcasts, youtube channels and press stories, at its core, La Cosa Nostra (LCN) is supposed to be a secret society. A money-making secret society.

It is meant to operate in the shadows, a ‘brotherhood’ using codes of silence and modes of discretion to conduct legal and illegal activities that bring it great wealth.

It seeks to evade law and order and allow its members to not only profit from illicit means, but, more importantly, enjoy the fruits of their dishonest labour.

A whole load of pain

Law enforcement communities are also brotherhoods (and now sisterhoods too). Kill one of their own, and they want revenge. They go ‘all in’ to catch and make an example of the ‘cop killer’.

Killing law and order officials has even proven to be ‘game changer’ for some organized crime groups. For example:

In 1985, the Guadalajara drug cartel kidnapped, tortured and murdered US DEA agent Kiki Camarena. The DEA was enraged and flooded Mexico and the border regions; playing a major role in breaking said cartel apart (clearly others appeared to replace it)
In 1992, the Sicilian Mafia killed Judges Falcone and Borsellino in two separate car bombs. These attacks created a ‘sea change’ in the political and societal will to go after the Mafia, with the late ’90s being an era of significant prosecutorial success against the Sicilians

In short, killing a cop or any other law enforcement official places a target on your head – and indeed that of your organisation. The resulting attention inhibits your ability to earn, to operate, and even places your freedom or life at risk … far better to just not do it and keep on living your illicit life.

Forbidden Archaeology, Human Origins, and UFOs… Michael Cremo

https://youtu.be/bNiFEuMtGpY

Ever sit next to someone on an airplane who was freaking out? What did they do?

Just once, but that was enough for the rest of my life.

It was 1993 or 94. Things started off just fine. He smiled at me from the window seat as I took my place on the flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt, Germany.

Our ages must have been close. We shot the shit about sports and music and all those other harmless topics popular with early-30-something unmarried males.

He was impressed that Lufthansa (long ago) served him Johnny Walker red in his whiskey cola. He sure did like those whiskey colas…

Everything was amiable until just after the after-dinner drinks trolley finished serving.

He commented that he hated queers and he was pretty sure the male server was one.

I stared him in the eyes and said calmly and slowly, “nearly half of my best friends are gay … I think you need to rethink your attitude, the world is changing.”

Never have I seen someone transform so quickly from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. “You’re an effin’ homo lover! … I ain’t sittin’ next to no effin’ homo! Eff! Disgusting I even talked to you…”

Standing up he yelled at the stewardess, “This guy is queer. I don’t sit next to queers.”

The looks on the faces of the other passengers ranged from amused, to angry, to sympathetic. Most just pretended not to notice.

I got up and went to the back of the plane and waited for the crew to sort things out. They reseated me about 15 minutes later in a business class seat.

I have no idea what happened to him, but I think we can be sure he didn’t get any more whiskey colas…

Business class served Johnny Walker black.

The Male Loneliness Epidemic – Is It Women’s Fault?

This is a MUST watch.

Western society is DOOMED.

The Eviction Notice Is Being Written, and Will Come in Four Languages

Pepe Escobar

November 24, 2023

Orthodox Christianity, moderate Islam and several strands of Taoism/Confucianism may become the three main civilizations of a cleansed Mankind.

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

The Eviction Notice is being written. And it will come in four languages. Russian. Farsi. Mandarin. And last but not least, English.

A much-cherished pleasure of professional writing is to always be enriched by informed readers. This “eviction” insight – worth a thousand geopolitical treatises – was offered by one of my sharpest readers commenting on a column.

Concisely, what we have here expresses a deeply felt consensus across the spectrum not only in West Asia but also in most latitudes across the Global South/Global Majority.

The Unthinkable, in the form of a genocide conducted live, in real time on every smartphone in the third decade of the millennium – which I called the Raging Twenties in a previous book – has acted like a particle accelerator, concentrating hearts and minds.

Those that chose to set West Asia on fire are already confronting nasty blowback. And that goes way beyond diplomacy exercised by Global South leaders.

For the first time in ages, via President Xi Jinping, China has been more than explicit geopolitically (a true Sovereign cannot hedge when it comes to genocide). China’s unmistaken position on Palestine goes way beyond the geoeconomics routine of promoting BRI’s trade and transportation corridors.

All that while President Putin defined sending humanitarian aid to Gaza as a “sacred duty”, which in Russian code includes, crucially, the military spectrum.

For all the maneuvering and occasional posturing, for all practical purposes everyone knows the current UN arrangement is rotten beyond repair, totally impotent when it comes to imposing meaningful peace negotiations, sanctions or investigations of serial war crimes.

The new UN in the making is BRICS 11 – actually BRICS 10, considering new Trojan Horse Argentina in practice may be relegated to a marginal role, assuming it joins on January 1^st, 2024.

BRICS 10, led by Russia-China, both regulated by a strong moral compass, keep their ear on the ground and listen to the Arab street and the lands of Islam. Especially their people, much more than their elites. This will be an essential element in 2024 during the Russian presidency of BRICS.

Even with no check out, you will have to leave

The current order of business in the New Great Game is to organize the expulsion of the Hegemon from West Asia – as much a technical challenge as a civilizational challenge.

As it stands, the Washington-Tel Aviv continuum are already prisoners of their own device. This ain’t no Hotel California; you may not check out any time you like, but you will be forced to leave.

That may happen in a relatively gentle manner – think Kabul as a Saigon remix – or if push comes to shove may involve a naval Apocalypse Now, complete with expensive iron bathtubs turned into sub-ocean coral reefs and the demise of CENTCOM and its AFRICOM projection.

The crucial vector all along is how Iran – and Russia – have played, year after year, with infinite patience, the master strategy devised by Gen. Soleimani, whose assassination actually started the Raging Twenties.

A de-weaponized Hegemon cannot defeat the “new axis of evil”, Russia-Iran-China, not only in West Asia but also anywhere in Eurasia, Asia-Pacific, and pan-Africa. Direct participation/normalization of the genocide only worked to accelerate the progressive, inevitable exclusion of the Hegemon from most of the Global South.

All that while Russia meticulously crafts the integration of the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Baltic Sea (Finnish hysteria notwithstanding), the Arctic and the Northwestern Pacific Sea and China turbo-charges the integration of the South China Sea.

Xi and Putin are gifted players of chess and go – and profit from stellar advisers of the caliber of Patrushev and Wang Yi. China playing geopolitical go is an exercise in non-confrontation: all you need to do is to block your opponent’s ability to move.

Chess and go, in a diplomatic tandem, represent a game where you don’t interrupt your opponent when it is repeatedly shooting itself on the knees. As an extra bonus, you get your opponent antagonizing over 90% of the world’s population.

All that will lead to the Hegemon’s economy eventually collapsing. And then it can be beaten by default.

Western “values” buried under the rubble

As Russia, especially via Lavrov’s efforts, offers the Global South/Global Majority a civilizational project, focused on mutually respectful multipolarity, China via Xi Jinping offers the notion of “community with a shared future” and a set of initiatives, discussed in lengthy detail at the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) Forum in Beijing in October, where Russia, not by accident, was the guest of honor.

A group of Chinese scholars concisely frame the approach as China “creating/facilitating global nodes for relating/communicating and platforms for concrete collaboration/practical exchanges. The participants remains Sovereign, contribute to the common endeavor (or simply specific projects) and receive benefits making them willing to keep on.”

It’s as if Beijing was acting as a sort of shining star and guiding light.

In sharp contrast, what remains of Western civilization – certainly with not much to do with Montaigne,

Pico della Mirandola or Schopenhauer – increasingly plunges into a self-constructed Heart of Darkness (without Conrad’s literary greatness), confronting the true, irredeemably horrifying face of conformist, subservient individualism.

Welcome to the New Medievalism, precipitated by the “kill apps” of Western racism, as argued in a brilliant book, Chinese Cosmopolitanism, by scholar Shuchen Xiang, professor of Philosophy at Xidan University.

The “kill apps” of Western racism, writes Prof. Xiang, are fear of change; the ontology of bivalent dualism; the invention of the ‘barbarian’ as the racial Other; the metaphysics of colonialism; and the insatiable nature of this racist psychology. All these “apps” are now exploding, in real time, in West Asia. The key consequence is that the Western “values” construct has already perished, buried under the Gaza rubble.

Now to a ray of light: a case can be made – and we’ll be back to it – that orthodox Christianity, moderate Islam and several strands of Taoism/Confucianism may embrace the future as the three main civilizations of a cleansed Mankind.

Dilemma

Can soldiers actually see where the enemy is located while in combat? How do they make sure the enemy is dead?

Yes, they do. Forget the so-called “combat footage” you see on TV or YouTube.

It’s important to spot your enemies before they see you. This will give you a big advantage over them because you can better fight them or you can use this info to plan your next moves:

You already have a good hunch where your enemy is located before any fighting starts. Where and when you move will depend on the (often assumed) location of your enemy.

While you are moving, you are always on the lookout. It is usually the side that spots the enemy first that will have the upper hand in a firefight.

It’s one of the most important qualities in an infantry squad leader to have “a good eye”, meaning to anticipate the enemy’s whereabouts and to spot the exact location of enemy forces, especially under fire. You want to know from where you get shot at!

Sometimes, you will see the enemy, but they are still out of range of your weapons. You may want to relate their location to combat support troops that will then execute an artillery attack or an airstrike.

If you have no artillery or air support, as is often the case for guerrillas or special forces, you can approach the enemy until they come into range of your weapons or you set up an ambush.

In combat, you have to see your enemies to be able to kill them. Shooting around without anything in your sights is a waste of ammunition.

On the lookout: A Kosovo Liberation Army soldier observing enemy territory

There are exceptions:

Suppressive or covering fire where you shoot to hinder the enemy from exposing themselves to your fire keeps them out of sight. Still, even when shooting covering fire, you usually have a very good idea where your enemy is located.

In a combat situation, targets often disappear quickly after the first shots are fired. Your enemy will take cover. It’s not a mistake to send a few bursts of automatic fire to the place where you saw your enemy drop down, but after that, it’s time for indirect fire options, like hand grenades or Multiple Grenade Launchers (MGL). You won’t see your enemy, but as you use fragmentation weapons, there is a good chance to cause some damage as long as your grenades hit close enough.

It’s not always necessary (and possible) to see the enemy, but:

The sooner and the more precise you are able to pinpoint the enemy’s location, the better.

One word about “firefights” we see on TV: Most of the shootings on those clips is simply a waste of ammunition.

On the other hand, you won’t have a GoPro or any other camera switched on for twenty-four hours a day. When you spot the enemy (or they spot you), you’ll first shoot them (or jump for cover) before you start thinking about filming. As visible targets disappear quickly in the first moments of a firefight, the chances of getting an enemy live on camera are very slim.

Television crews rarely film on locations where the real action happens, but are often sent to less active parts of the frontline. The mere presence of a TV camera often prompts soldiers to start shooting. This is why our news shows are full of soldiers firing away at an empty landscape.

Women?

What is an insane coincidence that you’ve experienced?

I was headed in for a job interview several years back. As I’m walking in, two other men are approaching the door from different angles. One of them speeds up to cut off the other and get in the door first, and the other walks in, shaking his head in disbelief. As I walk in behind them, the first guy runs to the elevator and presses the button, not holding the elevator for the other guy and me. Again, the second guy just shakes his head and we wait for the next elevator. I say “Can you believe some people?” And we both chuckle a little bit.

As it turns out, we are headed to the same floor, so we get off the elevator together. As we walk into an office, there is guy #1 Mr Impatient, standing at the desk tapping his foot as the receptionist is finishing up a phone call. The receptionist asks him “can I help you?” And he says “I’m here to see Mr Smith for an interview at 3:30.” (it’s currently 2:50).

I think to myself “Great, this guy is interviewing for the same position I am and he will act like the sweetest guy during the interview.” I lean over and tell the receptionist “I am Mr Smith’s 3 o’clock interview.” Mr Impatient GLARES at me.

The other guy I walked in with (the one Mr Impatient cut off) then says “Hey gentlemen, I’m Mr Smith.” And turns to Mr Impatient and says “you don’t need to wait around. I’ve already determined you are not a good fit for our company. “

I got the job.

Donkey

What is the lamest “benefit” you’ve been offered by an employer?

I don’t know if you’d count this as a “benefit,” but my first job was at Wendy’s, when I was 16 in 1994. When they hired me, the manager said “minimum wage is $4.25, but we like to start people at $4.26 to give you a little extra and show we care.” He was dead serious, no irony. That has occupied part of my brain for 30 years now.

Street Fashion China

What does the election of a clinically insane ultracapitalist in Argentina mean for the world?

I knew something strange was going on when a candidate with X-men hair was elected president.

Buenos Aires has always had one of the world’s highest number of psychoanalysts. Now the psychological issues have made their way out of the bedroom into national politics.

Cheesecake Factory Louisiana Chicken Pasta

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

Cajun Sauce

1 tablespoon butter
1 small yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 small red onion, chopped
3 whole garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 1/4 pints whipping cream
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
4 tablespoons fresh basil, thinly sliced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Chicken

6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Pasta

1 package bow-tie pasta
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper

Instructions

Cajun Sauce

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add yellow and red bell peppers, mushrooms and onion to same skillet and saute until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.
Add minced garlic and crushed red pepper to skillet and sauté 2 or 3 minutes.
Add whipping cream and chicken stock. Simmer until sauce reheats and thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.
Add basil and 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese to sauce, stirring to incorporate. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, simmer. Sauce will reduce and thicken.

Chicken

Wash and drain chicken breasts. Pound until very thin, as thin or thinner then 1/4-inch thick (the thinner the chicken breasts the better).
Mix breadcrumbs, flour, and Parmesan cheese together. Place milk in dish for dipping.
Dip chicken into breadcrumb mixture and then into milk and then back into breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in skillet and fry at medium high temperature until golden, crisp, and cooked through. Add more oil as needed. Remove and drain chicken. Keep warm.

Pasta

Meanwhile, cook bow-tie pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain and return to pot. Add sauce and toss to coat.
Place pasta with sauce on plate, and top with chicken breast.
Serve, passing additional Parmesan separately.

This wife…

What was the scariest thing you witnessed or experienced while in prison?

Hello Allen, thank you for the question. Honestly, there were quite a few times I had the hell scared out of me. I’ve written at length about a few of them. I will provide a rerun of one of them now.

I was a in an FCI, a medium high prison with walls about 20’ high and rolls of razor wire 3 rolls deep at the base of the walls. There had been a lot of tension on the yard for weeks.

One morning as I was preparing for a Saturday, I noticed a group of 5–6 guys walk up to a bunk in a cell down a way. There seemed to be a bit of chatter and movement, sort of the thing a group might do if your team won a game. Talking, a bit of laughter, movement.

I walked by and went to breakfast, saw a couple guys I knew and we took a walk and discussed some important topic like that night’s dinner. A couple hours later I went back to my cell.

There were a couple CO’s and another guy in the cell where the group had been. They were standing over the bunk of the inmate.

there was something sticking out of his chest and the blood trails were in several areas.

It turned out this guy owed something to someone and wasn’t paying so the crew was sent to make an example.

The story was the weapon was a pencil, there were 9 wounds and the vic was rushed to medical and when he healed a bit was sent to a different prison.

The near murder right there was horrifying enough but the way the guys carried out the hit was nearly professional. It just seemed like a bunch of guys hanging out. All the while covering the scuffle, takedown and gigging.

In a flash you understand that if you cross an uncrossable line, even by mistake, it easily could be over before you realized what was happening.

It was a long time before I was comfortable in my cell, alone during open times or movements. Walking in a hall and coming across 4–5 guys of another race, you couldn’t show fear, but more than once I walked by waiting for a shank!

There is always a stress when you are inside. It is exponential when a high level yard is on edge.

See Tinh Dance Trend in China

What is the most dangerous thing you’ve found in your backyard?

A huge timber rattler

And it was my front yard.

On a summer’s day, as my wife Dorothy and I sat down to dinner, we thought we heard the sound of water being hosed onto a car. The front entrance was secured only by a screen door and we could readily hear neighborhood sounds.

Then Cocoa, our Seal Point Siamese, asked to be let in. When I opened the door, she fell over. And that noise was louder. I looked out; no car, no one hosing anything. And the noise was right below me, just off the porch. I looked down. A huge, very pissed off rattlesnake!

I called to Ralph, who had just stepped out of his kitchen, next door. “Rattlesnake!” I yelled. “Bring a rake!”

He did. And as Ralph pinned the snake with the rake, I tossed a large stone onto it, killing the serpent.

My wife took Cocoa to the vet, and while she was gone I decided to skin the snake, eviscerate it, and pan fry it. Rattlesnake meat was tasty, I heard, and the beast was as easily gutted as a bass.

But what do I do with the head? The fangs, the venom sacs?

Toilet.

I was unprepared for the surviving impulses of the snakes nervous system. Beheaded (and betailed, for the rattles) and completely stripped of the hide, I had in hand what appeared to be a section of a thick light grey garden hose, split down the middle. And when I ran this corpse under cold water, the spinal cord delivered one last discharge, causing the thing to writhe in my hands. It was alive! I threw the twisting monster into the freezer and slammed the door.

Dorothy and Cocoa came into the kitchen; the cat was recovering but Dorothy said I looked like I had just seen a ghost.

I explained. After a few minutes, I took the frozen snake from the freezer and let it thaw as I prepared a frying pan with melted butter and some salt and pepper. I cut the snake into sections as one might cut a sausage, and added the sections to the gently crackling pan.

In 5 minutes, the flesh had turned white and flaky. I removed all, divided onto 2 plates, and Dorothy and I sat down to eat.

And we tried. We chewed and chewed and chewed and chewed. But the meat had turned into some kind of weird plastic strands that refused to be swallowed.

I took all and tossed into a pressure cooker with some white wine, set all to max pressure and gave it a full 30 minutes. After decanting the vessel, there appeared the most perfect, delicate flakes, like carefully separated crab meat.

And we chewed and chewed and chewed and chewed. Next stop; snake to trash, hot dogs to grill.

Arousing the Animal in a man

Have you ever tried to eat at a restaurant, which happened to be a mafia front, but you didn’t know it was a mafia front, and everyone inside just stared at you when you walked in, because nobody actually eats there?

I had this experience once. There was a Shawarma/Pizza place on the same block as a place I had newly moved into. So I (single mom) went in with my young kids to order a pizza.

They didn’t have a menu, the ’employees’ were a bunch of guys in expensive tracksuits, jewelry, and all looked like buff gym rats, with the perfectly lined up and gel thick hair – they looked initially very confused that I was actually ordering food there, and there was a bunch of arguing in (I think) Arabic. They insisted that I order a pizza there, it would just be a bit of a wait. One guy left, and came back with a bag of groceries. It took over an hour. I offered a few times to go elsewhere “You’re busy, so sorry..” but they insisted I wait. I chatted with the guy who was at the front counter a bit- he was pleasant enough, but it seemed like he was deciding whether or not my entering of the restaurant was going to be a problem for them. While my kids and I waited on the pizza, a few times some tracksuit guys came in, went to the back, then left with stuffed brown paper bags. His whole demeanor changed when I mentioned that my kids and I had left an abusive situation, and that’s why we’d moved into the area. He wanted to see a picture of my ex, and insisted I show the other tracksuit guys too.

The pizza was ok I guess, a little undercooked. I don’t think the pizza oven had ever been used before- I could see the pizza oven from the front counter, and they had a huddle around it to figure out how it turned on.

The guy at the front didn’t know how to work the register, so he told me it was on the house.

Before I left, the front counter guy told me I was part of the neighborhood now, and to let him know if anyone bothered me or my kids, and he’d “take care of it”.

Anytime I walked past that store after that I was greeted warmly by the tracksuit guys, and they always asked if anyone was “giving me trouble”. Never tried to order food there ever again though!

Definitely was NOT a legit restaurant.

What’s something your husband did to you that you will never forget?

He surprised me. We were in our early 30’s and newly married. My husband said “ oh my , the freezer defrosted you better go look to see what can be saved”. I went to the kitchen and opened the freezer. Inside was a little box that said “ ice”. He had bought me a pair of diamond earrings. They weren’t the biggest and most expensive but they were beautiful. we are still married and I have worn them for the last 41 years.

Sympathy vs. Empathy

People who were late to work, what insane reaction have you received from your boss or manager?

I worked late one day so I talked to my boss and we agreed that I would come in late the following day. I had a funny feeling about this, as if she might try something. Thus, even though she agreed I should come in at 8:30 the next morning, I arrived on time and sat in the parking lot. She called me at 8:15 and asked me where I was. I reminded her that we agreed I could come in at 8:30, “but,” I said, “I’m parked right outside the office. Do you want me to come in earlier than we discussed yesterday?” She said no. That was in May.

In June, I got called in to her office and she wrote me up for being late that day a month prior as well as walking in 2 minutes late one morning. The write up skipped the initial verbal warning and first write up and stated it was a final warning.I was on notice that I could be fired for anything at any time.

One day in September she called me into her office and fired me for excessive tardiness. I filed for unemployment and won. The Judge laughed at her and told her “This lady was late by 2 minutes and you found that soooo agregious that you fired her for it, yet you waited 3 months to do it? You’re gonna pay on this one.” I ended up with 4k in back payments.

What do men want and need?

This is by far the BEST condensed answer ever.

Reciprocates effort
Is loyal
Is nice, polite, calm and cheerful
Shows respect.

And the absolute MOST IMPORTANT characteristic…

Must be THE only man in her life.

What is the most absurd thing you’ve been charged for on a bill?

Several months ago I went to a hospital fearing that I was having a heart attack. I wasn’t, as it turned out, but I was admitted for what was really wrong: pneumonia.

I was in the hospital three days before being discharged, and during that time I questioned every single medication they brought for me. An antibiotic IV about to be hooked up? I’d ask the nurse to confirm what specific one it was. A couple of pills they want me to take? “Which pill is which specific medication?”

I did this partly to be sure they weren’t giving me a wrong medication, and also to be aware of every medication they actually administered and could thus bill me for. Good thing, too.

When I was discharged they gave me a stack of paperwork. Some it was warnings about what I should or shouldn’t do going forward; some outlined the tests they had conducted and the results of them; and one page was supposed to be a pair of new medications one of the doctors had told me he was prescribing for me to fill after discharge. That page was missing, so I had to wait a few more hours while they got hold of that doctor and got him to enter the order.

Turns out one of the drugs he prescribed was atorvastatin for the high cholesterol that came up on one of the tests. The thing is, I am allergic to all statins, a fact that was all over the medical records they got from my primary care doctor, and which I had told them on at least three occasions as well when they asked me to confirm any and all allergies. Obviously I didn’t fill that prescription.

Then I got the bill, charging me $1145 for atorvastatin administered during my inpatient stay.

Now I of course knew full well they had never given me that drug, not only because I had been checking all the meds they did give me, but because I never had the severe reaction to it that would have resulted if they had. So I called their billing department, explained the matter, and requested they amend the bill. They refused.

I called my doctor, and she suggested I write the request out and send it to them via certified mail. That would have been a pain in my ass, as my big truck would not fit in the parking lot of the kinds of places one can do that, and I was over 1000 miles from home.

So I instead called hospital administration and told them I wanted to report a dangerous medication error by that doctor. That got their attention.

I again related the whole matter, which they verified from the notes right there in my records as I went along through the narrative. They clearly saw the multiple notes about the allergy, they clearly saw that no such medication was administered during my stay, and they clearly saw that the doctor had only prescribed it hours after I had been discharged.

They apologized profusely and promised that they would attend to the matter using the legally prescribed procedures, which they did not explain. I pleasantly accepted their apology, then asked if that process would include striking this billing item for administering that drug they had just admitted I never received.

They refused again.

I said that was fine, then asked how I should go about reporting them for malpractice for administering a drug my chart clearly said I was allergic to? Response: but we didn’t administer that drug!

My reply, as long as they insisted on billing me for it, I could only assume that meant they really had administered it. So it could only be one of two things: malpractice for giving me the drug, or fraud for charging me for it after not giving me the drug. I said I would leave it for them to sort out while I called my insurance company and briefed them on the matter… which I then did.

Two weeks later a new billing statement arrived with not only that charge removed, but charges for two tests they had charged me for but apparently not actually done. I called the insurance company again, and they informed me that those tests had been ordered but never actually done, and they themselves had been the ones to uncover that after my earlier call to them. They had requested an audit of my treatment, which had then exposed the other errors.

The most absurd thing to my mind was their insistence on billing me for a drug after they knew that doing so was documented evidence of malpractice.

Bonding with your kitty

If someone were setting you up for a practical joke, and you were already one step ahead of them, would you go along with it just for the laughs?

30 years ago a mate and I were heading off to the range to hit some golf balls.

It was his idea and he wanted to drive. I was saved by one thing and that was he didn’t have his wallet, so he went upstairs to get it and while he did that I thought I would take a quick look in the glove compartment in case it was in there.

It wasn’t but I found an exploding golf ball, still in it’s box, so I quickly swapped it with a real golf ball leaving the box exactly where I found it.

On the range we are smacking golf balls to oblivion trying to hit it further than the other can. After about 5 minutes my mate says, “Would you mind if we swap sides?”

Funny thing is, that was exactly what I was going to say in order to make him hit the exploding ball. Exploding golf balls don’t look or feel real so teeing it up for the victim is the only way for it to work.

So I said, “Sure. Just let me hit this one.” which I did and then while he watched it I quickly teed up the exploding one, which was loose in my pocket.

We then swapped sides where he then challenged me to a longest hit competition with our next shots. Of course I agreed and smacked mine as hard as I could and looked straight at him not where the ball went.

He was expecting my ball to explode but it didn’t and he looked quite confused about it. Then he had his turn. The whole thing just turned to dust in an instant. One huge dust cloud!

He spun around and looked guiltily at the range office like he had done something wrong and would get in trouble. If he was confused with my shot he was now flabbergasted with his own. His facial expression was priceless.

I’m laughing my head off as I can tell he can’t work out how any of this has happened. He told me later that in that moment he could not understand how it went wrong. He couldn’t figure out how the golf ball he took out the box and teed up for me got to the other tee.

I think there is nothing more satisfying in life than getting someone with their own practical joke.

My Wife Asked For An Open Marriage So I Hooked Up That Night And Dumped Her The Next Day

What 10 things have you stopped doing in your life?

Stopped caring or giving a Fck about people who doesn’t care for me.

Their benifit, opinions and even existence. Caring is mutual, if you can’t. Sorry. I won’t take a minute to forget you. My family and people who love me is everything for me.

Stopped taking stress and overthinking.

Because which I can control, I can control. What I can’t. I can’t. Me taking unnecessary stress not gonna give me control on things I can’t.

Stopped crying.

Most importantly, doesn’t gonna change the situation. If something happened, it happened. Crying will not change reality. Move on. Think calmly and search for a solution.

Stopped giving Explanation.

If you are asking proper explanation and proofs every time ( once or twice is okay ), he doesn’t believes you and he won’t, no matter how many times you prove yourself. Just don’t waste your time.

Stopped seeking for outer beauty.

When it comes to relationship, I am so deeply wounded by people who looked attractive only from outside, my preference changed. I now seeks for behavior and personality more than skin colour aur figure. But yeah, they matter too but isn’t a vital deal-breaker. But, if I get it, I won’t mind.

Stopped seeking for people’s company.

I don’t know, the day I took drop, my outside life is cut short, and all I have is my books, and my computer screen, and a small cozy bedroom-cum-studyroom. Now, it’s more than half a year, and now I prefer not to interact with outside world and stay in my cave.I can stay like that, alone whole day, even I want to live like this in hostel in single room.

Stopped being in people’s life, where no body want me too.

“When to leave” is most important thing. Not everyone who care for you really care for you, maybe one is just intrested in you, but when they lose interest, they won’t. It’s better to leave these people’s life, before they kick you out. If you feel things aren’t same like it was before, but you aren’t the reason, don’t stay there to heal, it will just reduce your self respect. Just leave it. Hurting yourself is better than hurting your self esteem.

Stopped reducing my respect for someone’s ego satisfaction.

You first feel that it’s just small stuff, it doesn’t matter. Let’s do this or that, to cheer up. Naah, my self respect isn’t worthed to become someone’s entertainment. You will ignore once or twice, but then it will become a habit, and will end when you completely become someone’s hand puppet.

I stopped keeping expectations.

Expectations are the reason of being hurt. Just remove expectations, you will be satisfied and happy. If you keep absolutely no expectations from people, even their most basic gesture will make you happy, because it was more than what you expected and you will feel blessed.

Just bring me your best

What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever had?

The fish census.

I’m not making this up.

As a youngster of 17, I worked for what was then (1965) known as the Maryland Department of Game and Inland Fish. (Today, the Department Natural Resources — DNR). My job was taking the census of the fish in Deep Creek Lake, located in Garrett County, the westernmost in Maryland, below Pittsburgh PA.

No, I did not knock on the surface of the water and then interview fish who answered the knock.

But what I DID do was interview anglers, fishing from docks or boats, asking them to pull up their stringers and show me their catch. And I asked what fish they had returned to the water and if those fish were dead or alive when returned. All of this went onto a data sheet. The data sheet itself was organized sectionally as to areas on the Lake, designated by name (such as Harvey’s Peninsula) and by a mark on a map.

Thus on any given day I would follow what appeared to be a a random walk from place to place, chatting up the fishermen, taking notes. I was the ideal employee because I lived on the lake during the summer and I knew every little inlet, peninsula, and tributary.

Now here are the parts that made the job especially interesting, occasionally hilarious, and sometimes mildly dangerous.

Illegal Anglers: The ones without a fishing license. My john-boat had state of Maryland Decals just aft of the bow, port and starboard, so as to identify me as “official.” And some of those who saw me approach assumed I was with “enforcement,” which I was NOT. Thus I heard all kinds of stories, ranging from the license being accidentally dropped overboard, to “I was just practicing fishing, I’ll buy the license tomorrow.” Some people actually untethered their stringer, to let the catch swim away. And one guy threw all his tackle overboard. Then there were those who had fish that measured less than legal for keeping; so full of apologies were they. I did my best to assure that I was with the State Biologist, NOT the enforcement division.

But one good thing…I learned where all the best fishing was and yes, I sure DID drop my line or trawl those areas.

Babe Watch: The Deep Creek Lake State Park has a sandy beach area.

When my lunch break had me near the park, I would beach the boat and sit on the grass munching my sandwich. And if I was lucky, I would make the acquaintance of some lovely lasses who might be receptive to a return visit from me when I was “off the clock.”

The Big Kill: In addition to the data I collected, the State biologist would stretch a net across an isolated inlet, and poison the water from the net to the shoreline. Hundreds; no THOUSANDS of fish floated to the surface, belly up. And some were trophy size walleye, pike and large mouth. I was in heaven. I was going to scarf up a basket or two, and have the ultimate fish-fry.

But no, said the biologist. Those fish would kill you.

Damn.

(You might wonder why all the fish outside the net weren’t killed. Some were. But the target inlet was NOT fed by a creek, so the water was fairly still —no current. Plus, the poison was short-acting.)

The Thermocline: There comes a point at which the water at the top half of the lake exchanges place with the water in the bottom half. Or, at least the temperature gradient does a flip-flop. I’m not sure why that mattered, but it was my job to transport the guy with the sample container to an area over the deepest place in the lake, where he would toss a brass container overboard, then jerk a cable to open the cylinder and let the bottom water flood the vessel. When he pulled on the cable again, that trapped the water inside, and he pulled the sample up to the boat.

There, we had various Erlenmeyer flasks arrayed in a wooden rack, into which flasks he drained enough bottom water to reach an index line on the flask. Then, he dropped in some power and watched the color. When he smiled, I knew it was time to take him and his chemistry set back to the dock.

Personal Use? You bet! The State’s boat had only an 18 HP outboard motor, so I wasn’t pulling any skiers. But yeah, when off duty I could use it as my personal ride, or to go fishing.

And to pick up a babe from the State Park.

Caught in the act

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

This happened to a good friend of mine.

He was a teacher and in his school the principal made the rule that all teachers must have their lesson plans for each week on the principal’s desk by 8am Monday morning, and he’d read them, sign them and have them back to the teachers by the time school started at 9am. This was. of course, a hassle for teachers and my friend worked out that there was no way that the principal could read every lesson plan in that time, let alone understand them. So he decided to run a horticulture unit with his class of about 9 year old children, the project being to plant trees up the middle of the school assembly hall. Now obviously this was a ridiculous project and was never going to happen, but the plans came back each week duly signed by the principal.

The teacher taught and had the children research what sort of trees would be suitable, measuring temperatures, light, heights and widths of trees, and researching the best species, all of which was clearly documented in the lesson plans and came back duly signed and approved by the principal. Finally the day came when the locations for the trees were to be marked on the hall floor in preparation for cutting the holes, importing the soil and planting the trees. The teacher carefully chose a day when he knew the school inspectors would be arriving. Sure enough, the inspectors had a meeting with the principal after morning assembly and part way through this meeting, as specified in the signed lesson plan, the teacher politely knocked on the principal’s door and asked where did he want them?

“Where do I want what?” the principal asked.

“The trees in the assembly hall,” replied the teacher.

“Trees? In the assembly hall? What do you mean?”

“Well,” replied the teacher, waving the sheaf of lesson plans, all carefully signed by the principal, “As you know, I have been running a unit on horticulture in preparation for planting trees up the middle of the assembly hall, and today’s the day we mark out where to put them. So we need you to show us where you want them, as I specified in the lesson plans which you read and signed.” He waved the sheaf of plans once again.

Needless to say, no trees were ever planted up the middle of the hall, and the principal never again wanted lesson plans submitted for approval.

Rufus is part of the community

There are things/moments in your life that feel like a warm hug. What makes you feel like a warm hug?

A few months ago, I noticed that my daughter smiled to herself a lot. I decided to “confront” her: “You have a crush. Haven’t you?”. She blushed and exclaimed: “How do you know that?!?!”. I played my cool poker face 😎 “Been there, done that. Tell me!”. Then she told me about the boy.

A couple days later, she asked me: “I noticed that during lunchtime, he finishes his lunch real fast then goes to the library to play chess. Should I go talk to him? I play chess too!”

I told her: “Why the rush? I think, you might want to practice playing chess a little bit better first, then ask him to play a match with you. You might win, or at the very least, not lose badly. And I tell you a secret: you can learn a lot about a person when they lose a game!”

For about 2 weeks, she played chess with me every evening.

One day, she came home and told me: “I un-crushed him. We played 2 games today. He won the first, I won the 2nd. But when he lost, he curse and stomped out. Not cool!”

That was the moment I felt like a warm hug. The feeling of being able to share with my daughter her stories, her feelings always warms me up.

My Fiancée Asked For An Open Relationship 3 MONTHS Before Our Wedding So I Kicked Her A** Out!

What questions do I ask in an interview to get a sense of company culture?

When I was being recruited by Nike in 1997 I was a little concerned about cultural issues, especially institutional sexism — I had heard that the place was something of a boys’ club.

I couldn’t travel for a few weeks so I was having a series of conversations with the general counsel in advance. We were arranging the logistics for my interview day. I’d basically see a different interviewer each hour from 9 am till 6 pm, including lunch with him and my predecessor in the job.

As we were discussing the plans I asked him if he could please include a woman who had been with the company for a long time.

I held my breath briefly for his reaction. Some male executives would have been offended. But he exclaimed, “What a good idea! I should have thought of it!” and immediately agreed to make it happen.

He was good for his word — my first interview that day was with Nike’s corporate treasurer, who was at least a 20 year veteran of the Swoosh.

I think it’s reasonable to state openly that you are eager to get a sense of the company culture, and ask the interviewer how they would describe it.

The Chinese YiChe race

China is home to many races, while Han is dominant, the other races are very interesting. This is a very interesting race. They have “open marriages”, wear miniskirts, and have a graduated system of Bride Prices.

Which incident did you consider to be an absurd hoax but later found out to be crazily true?

Many, many years ago I received a letter in the post. It was a recorded delivery and I had to sign for it to confirm delivery. I was intrigued and opened it immediately. It was a summons to appear in our local small claims court. I was being sued for £6,000. There were no details about the charges or any explanation of what the case was about other than the name and address of the complainant. I was mystified as I didn’t recognise the name. Lets call him Mr Smith.

In the three weeks before the stated date I convinced myself that one of my sons was playing an involved joke on me. I quizzed them all mercilessly but nobody would admit to knowing anything about it. As the date drew closer I determined to go to court just to find out which of my boys was the perpetrator of this rather involved joke.

Court day arrived and I went into the court building and presented my summons to an attendant, still expecting to be told it was a forgery. I was wrong. I was politely directed to a small waiting room and told my case would be called in 10 minutes. I was stunned.

When I was escorted into the courtroom the Sheriff (a lay judge in Scotland) asked me if I had a legal representative. I explained how I thought that the summons was a joke and I had no lawyer. He said that I could ask for a deferment to get legal advice if I choose but he didn’t think that was necessary. I sat down still stunned and confused but by now rather scared.

The Sheriff now asked the other side to outline their case. I listened in stunned amazement as the story unfolded.

Apparently some 6 months previously I had sold Mr Smith a tenpin bowling ball and drilled the ball to suit his hand. I had explained to him the need to keep the ball clean of lane oil on a regular basis. Mr Smith had taken me at my word and had left his bowling ball soaking in a bathtub of hot soapy water overnight. Feeling that the finger and thumb holes were wet when he fished the ball out of the bath in the morning he had decided to dry out the ball. Fifteen or twenty minutes in the microwave should dry it out nicely.

Some time later the ball had exploded. The force of the explosion was enough to destroy the microwave and send the door of the microwave flying upward with enough energy to punch through the ceiling and the floor of the room above his kitchen. Unfortunately the room above his kitchen was his neighbours bathroom. The microwave door not only punched through the floor but punched through the actual bath. Really unfortunately the poor woman was taking a bath at the time.

She was suing Mr Smith for the damage to her bathroom from the flying microwave door as well as the water damage to her carpets from the bath full of water. She wasn’t suing for the shock of a microwave door suddenly puncturing her bath although it must have been a terrific shock.

Mr Smith was suing me for the same amount on the basis that I had sold him a bowling ball without specifically telling him not to put it in the microwave.

By this stage several people in the gallery were laughing and the sheriff was definitely smiling. I was still worried but feeling considerably less scared. We all sat politely until Mr Smith’s lawyer had finished. The Sheriff then drew himself very straight and without a trace of a smile said that he was here to apply the law of the land and not to educate idiots. Case dismissed.

Two checks

What’s the most “chaotic good” thing that you have seen?

It’s early morning, the sun is just barely visible in the edges of the sky.

The date is August 5th, 2001 and Richard Ankrom and several friends are preparing to commit a crime that is several years in the making.

Twenty years prior, Ankrom was driving north on the 110 freeway. He got ready to merge onto Interstate 5 North, another freeway but missed the exit.

A few years later, he officially moved to LA and found himself driving on the same stretch of road as before.

He glanced up at the sign and realized the I-5 exit wasn’t marked at all.

That was why he had missed the turn ages ago.

And on that day, he swore to himself he would never let another person suffer the same fate.

He began studying freeway signs, their exact color, size and make up. He balanced on the edges of bridges to get precise measurements.

He copied the existing signs to a T, even consulting the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices to make sure he got the width and height perfect. He even sprayed the sign to make it look more worn down.

From there, he disguised himself, cutting his hair and buying a hard hat and vest.

And on August 5th, 2001 he positioned his ladder and climbed thirty feet to reach the sign.

He and his friends rushed away, afraid of getting caught in the act.

Nine months later, one of his friends confessed, leaking the crime to a local newspaper.

However, instead of being taken down, it passed inspection and remained there for another 8 years and even then, they put up a new sign in its place.

Richard Ankrom had achieved his goal.

Chaotic good?

What is the most accidentally slick thing you said to a girl?

I was 12 years old, and back then thought you teased girls you liked. I was infatuated with a girl in my neighborhood and would tease her on the school bus.

One day I meant to say “I’ve seen better, but I haven’t seen worse!”

It came out as “I’ve seen worse, but I haven’t seen better!”

I said this in front of all the kids on the bus. I stammered a minute, not believing what came out of my mouth! I never would have had the confidence to say something like that! She immediately smiled and hugged me. Suddenly I had my first girlfriend. I just went with it.

Advice for men

What is your idea of the present-day world?

An unusual opinion. -MM

The world is a black hole that can only swallow up those who cannot withstand pressure,
A man is only jealous when he loves a woman , otherwise he doesn’t care ,
Cost of living and groceries going up is a mental health issue ,
Money should be your number one priority because everything else is amplified by being rich ,
Don’t believe in “ Disappearing for 6 months “ to transform yourself. You’ll almost always grow faster with people around you,
Learning to communicate what you really mean and what you really need is a hallmark trait of becoming an adult ,
Strangers appreciate you but “ friends “ hold hidden resentment and secretly hope you slow down,
Entrepreneurship is not easy . It’ll test you at every moment . But if you persist and stay patient , it’ll change your fortune forever ,
Decency still wins ,
Just Chill.!!

What is the nastiest thing you’ve done for revenge?

I had suspected my wife was cheating, so put a tracker in her car. When she claimed she was going to a friend’s house to watch his dog, I watched on the tracker monitor as she in fact drove in the exact opposite direction to a hotel to meet one of what I would later find out were several lovers. So, I grabbed her spare keys, took a Lyft to the hotel she was actually at, got in her car and drove it to the friend’s house she was supposed to be at, then took a Lyft home. When she called the next day, claiming her car was stolen, I asked her to use the friend’s Ring camera to see the culprit. Cornered, she confessed, and found her own way home, then shortly thereafter, her own home.

What do you bring to the table?

What are the most widespread myths about the Roman military and tactics during the Republic and Empire?

1: The Testudo

You’ve all seen this formation right? It’s rather famous.

Well, would you be surprised to find out it was not that commonly used? We have some records of it from Dio and a few other historians but it was not that common.

Typically this formation would be used during a siege where the infantry needed to close in on some high walls under missile fire. Otherwise, it was never really used that often.

The problem is that this formation makes units less maneuverable and less flexible and it makes hand-to-hand combat almost impossible. So in every battle, the Romans would just be in normal lines ready to fight.

2: The Romans had poor cavalry

Now the Romans truly did not produce great cavalry from their own ranks. However, the Romans most certainly used talent wherever they found it.

When they conquered a people that were great on horseback they would employ them as Auxiliaries to assist the legions.

This means the Romans had

Numidian Cavalry (ranked among the best on earth at the time)
Macedonian Cavalry
Gallic Cavalry

These were without a doubt the best horsemen on planet earth and they all fought for the Romans.

In fact, during the late Imperial period, the Roman military became very calvary-centric and did end up boasting some of the best trained and equipped cavalry on earth.

One thing to remember is that cavalry at this time was not all that great. Stirrups were not yet invented and this meant that cavalry were basically expensive scouts minus a few exceptions. Infantry won wars in the ancient world far more often than cavalry.

3: The Romans were brutal conquerers

Now the Romans could be brutal and there were many times where they were brutal. However, in terms of being conquered, you could do worse than Rome.

If you snuggled up the Romans as an ally and played the role of submissive ally Rome would defend you to the death and be extremely hands-off. You’d keep your rulers and laws and merely pay a small tax to Rome. You also got the benefit of protection from the legions which meant total safety for centuries.

Rome viewed every relationship (diplomatic or otherwise) as having the dominant patron and the submissive client. The role of the patron was to support, elevate, and protect while the role of the client was to submit, admire, and support. If a tribe submitted itself as the client, Rome was often a great patron.

The Romans were also extremely tolerant of others. There was some racism and xenophobia as there is in all peoples but Rome accepted all religions and cultures as valuable. The Romans often adopted cultural elements or even gods from conquered peoples.

Now if you betrayed the Romans or worse yet attack them, they could be extremely brutal. Any slight paid to Rome would be returned ten-fold.

Being conquered by Rome was not the worse fate in the world, but being an enemy to Rome was certainly a death sentence.

Copeland’s of New Orleans
Stuffed Strawberry French Toast

Ingredients

1 cup milk
3 cups heavy cream, divided
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 French baguette, sliced diagonally
1 cup strawberries, freshly cut
Powdered sugar for dusting
1/2 pound cream cheese

Instructions

Combine milk, eggs, vanilla extract, sugar and 2 cups heavy cream; mix well, then set aside.
Whip remaining 1 cup heavy cream until peaks form. Beat in cream cheese until smooth.
Heat skillet over medium-high heat; add butter.
Dip bread slices into batter, making sure to leave them long enough to absorb some of the batter without making them soggy. Place bread in skillet; brown on both sides.
Remove bread from skillet and place on a plate.
Scoop cream cheese mixture on top of each piece.
Top with another piece of toast to form a sandwich.
Top with fresh strawberries, dust with powdered sugar, and serve immediately.

At this point in life, what excites you the most?

For context: I’m 37. Married since 2017. One kid. Flat broke. Heavily indebted. Diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disorder in 2016. Recently embarked upon a spiritually rewarding career as a helicopter pilot.

(Neither this nor what follows is an indictment of capitalism or Western society, as I hope you know. I’m flat broke because I have a toddler and am starting over from scratch career-wise, and I’m indebted because I borrowed heavily in order to attend flight school. It was my choices that got me here, nothing else.)

At this point in life, what excites me the most is:

1. Affording steak.

My wife and I usually have anywhere from $20 to $150 between paydays. My wife just got a job at a daycare center, so that’ll take some of the pressure off. But our debt is such that every spare penny should be spent paying it down. Frivolities like steak, good booze, fancy dinners out, and even trips to the zoo and aquarium with our daughter have gone out the window. My folks had to float us $1100 for snow tires earlier this month, and I’m having a hard time dealing with the shame of it. What excites me the most right now is making enough money to pay down debt and still have enough disposable income left over to treat myself and my family.

2. Supporting my girls on a single income.

In a year’s time, if I play my cards right, I could be the assistant chief flight instructor at my flight school. Or I’ll move on to a job in the helicopter tour or utility industries. Either way, I’ll be getting a fat raise. This has amazing ramifications for my little family. It could mean that my wife and I will be able to pay off a significant chunk of our debts, and we’ll have more disposable income. Far from merely being able to afford steak, I might be able to buy it regularly—and grill it on a grill I could then afford to purchase, while drinking beer I could afford to homebrew. It might also mean that my wife and I could afford to have a second child, accrue some savings and an emergency fund, and even scrape together a down payment for a goddamn house. (I’ve never bought or owned a home in my life, and I’m tired of renting.) But whatever the consequences of my pay raise, I’ll just be happy and proud to be providing for my family at long last. And not dependent on my folks.

3. Enjoying a proper autumn.

November up here in the Northland has been unseasonably warm, the locals tell me. Normally there’s a few inches of snow on the ground by now, and the temperature is below freezing every day. It was 50 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday. The leaves have already fallen, but the abundant sunlight and mild temperatures are making me feel like we’re getting an actual autumn instead of leaping straight from summer to winter. And I’ve been taking full advantage of it. I hiked to the top of Ely’s Peak in my shirtsleeves last Wednesday, and today I took my daughter to Hawk Ridge and Hartley Park.

4. Getting checked out in a turbine helicopter.

Speaking of shame, I have over 500 hours in rotorcraft and all of them are in Robinsons. Not that there’s anything wrong with Robinsons, but you can think of them as the tricycles of the helicopter world. Some people ride them for fun, and very few for work, but they mostly use them for training. Getting checked out in a different helicopter, especially a turbine-powered one, would be like learning to ride a motorcycle by comparison. I’d feel like a real helicopter pilot then. My school just happens to have an old Bell 206B that it uses to provide turbine transition training to students. I missed my chance to get checked out in it this fall—too low on the seniority list—but I’ll almost certainly get into it next summer. I’m stoked.

5. My daughter’s 2nd birthday.

I can scarcely believe that my girl is almost 18 months old, let alone that she’ll be two in June. Being able to say “she’s two” instead of “she’s XX months” excites me for some odd reason.

6. Reading, as usual.

Having a kid and becoming a flight instructor put a major crimp in my reading schedule. I’m currently 13 books behind, according to the tracker I use on Goodreads. Granted, I picked some doozies to read this year. It’s been a long, hard slog, reading Lewis and Clark’s journals and The Brothers Karamazov simultaneously. But I’m almost done, and I have a couple of new books waiting in the wings—a much-anticipated travelogue by Anton Chekhov (Sakhalin Island), and a horror novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (The Relic), which I’d intended to read in October. That, and the rest of the books on my reading list (sketched out until the year 2031), have me excited. As they always do.

7. Making soup every weekend.

Classic dad move, right? I enjoy soups and stews immensely. And winter, of course, is soup season. To take full advantage of it, I made out a list of soups that I want to make this season and have been checking them off one by one, starting the weekend of my birthday in late September. I’ve done beef stew, French onion soup, pumpkin soup, fish-head soup, and chicken stew with dumplings. Tonight it’s beer cheese soup. I am super pumped.

8. Date night with the wife.

Due to various factors—lack of funds, a dearth of trustworthy babysitters, scheduling issues, the realities of having children, and general stress levels—my wife and I haven’t been dating each other like we should. In fact, we’ve gone on exactly three dates this year: in January, June, and October respectively. We’re trying to fix that. I’m securing a sitter for the night of Friday the 24th. My wife and I have plans to slip across the river into Wisconsin for burgers and brews at a much-beloved taphouse. I am beyond excited about this. It’ll be nice to sit across a table from my spouse, sip local brews, and discuss something other than poop and money.

What’s a hilarious story that has happened to you?

Once upon a time I put in average speed cameras on a section of the A31 in UK. They were dropping the speed limit from 60 mph to 50 mph on this stretch. For those that don’t know these monitor your speed over a set distance and if you are 10% + 3 miles per hour over the speed limit you will get a fine, (or occasionally offered a Driver Awareness Course, based on the speed and if you have done one in the last 3 months).

Anyway, cameras go in, we do the testing phase and final commissioning.

2 weeks after they are commissioned, I went to a meeting to close the final account for putting these in, drove passed them on the way home at 62 mph, (as I had always done), and forgot they were now live and got a £60 fine and 3 points on my licence. All from safety cameras that I put in.

How might the Gettysburg Address have gone if it had been written and delivered by Donald Trump?

Four thousand and seven years ago, my father, who was a great man, one of the greatest men in history, he was born in Germany; he went into the real estate business. You have to be really, really smart to get into the real estate business. I inherited his smarts, and I got into the real estate business too. I have the best real estate. Everyone loves my real estate. But now we are engaged in a great civil war. The greatest civil war. Why are we engaged in it? Because my predecessor, President Bookananin, was a bad deal maker. If I had been President then, we wouldn’t have had a war because I would have made a deal, the best deal. I am the best deal maker ever. It’s true. If I had been President, I’d have made such a good deal that the North would be happy, the South would have been happy, the slaves would have been very happy; they would have been the happiest slaves you have ever seen. Just smiling and singing and picking cotton. Such happy slaves. But now we are here to bury the dead. But what we say here cannot honor them. Because they don’t deserve to be honored! I like soldiers who are so good that they don’t get shot. What good is a dead soldier? Dead soldiers can’t soldier any more because they are dead. All soldiers who die are just losers. If I had been a soldier, I would have survived, I guarantee it. Now let’s go play some golf!

What was the bravest thing you ever did in a job interview?

I arrived for an interview and was asked to wait a few minutes as the interviewer was held up. A few minutes later he came out, apologised said he’d been called to an urgent problem. He explained that some of the stuff I’d be working on would highly commercially sensitive and while he finished up could I read through the pre-interview contract and sign it.

I read through it and though I’m no lawyer it read like they could sue for everything I owned from my house down to my underwear if I so much as said I’d been within a mile of the building. The I interviewer came back a few minutes later and asked if I was happy and had signed the paperwork.

I replied that I hadn’t signed coz it looked a bit iffy on the conditions and he replied

‘congratulations, you’re the first person out of 8 people who passed the first stage test’.

Apparently everyone else had skimmed through and signed and not bothered really looking at what they were signing off on.

I got the job.

Finally someone gets this

Why do mines explode when you take your feet off, but not at the moment you step on them?

For the same reason it takes three minutes to trace a phone call, firewalls have a progress bar on them, and all handguns regardless of caliber and design always make the same sound (unless they’re silenced, in which case they go “thwip thwip”):

Because Hollywood isn’t real.

In the real world, a phone call can be traced the instant the phone rings; you don’t even need to pick it up. In the real world, firewalls either block some bit of traffic or they don’t. In the real world, different firearms all make different sounds, and they’re heckin’ loud, even if “silenced.” Like loud enough you won’t be exchanging witty quips with anyone during a shootout.

And in the real world, antipersonnel mines detonate instantly, except some old bouncing mines that detonate about a second after they’re activated.

What scary gut feeling did you have that turned out to be true?

I woke up one morning after having a bizarre nightmare. I dreamt that called my boss and told him my youngest son was going to die. My son was only 10 days old at the time. A perfectly healthy beautiful little baby boy. When I woke up I felt nauseous from the dream and experienced the worst anxiety I have ever had. I knew intuitively that something was wrong with my son. He didn’t show any rare signs or specific symptoms, the only thing that was odd was that he slept a bit heavier than usual that night. I couldn’t ignore my anxiety and checked his temperature and was shocked when it showed 35,1 degrees Celsius. I immediately took him to the ER and soon found out that an entero virus (a normal winter season virus that gives you a cold) had affected his heart and the room was soon filled with doctors and me and my husband were asked to leave. 12 hours later the doctors informed us that the virus had caused our healthy baby a serious heart failure (dilated cardiomyopathy and myocarditis ) and that he probably wouldn’t make it. They called a priest and the rest is black for me. Our baby was put into coma in a respirator and was going to be put on an ECMO machine. We were transferred to the ICU for infants. After 2 months at the ICU he suddenly improved. The doctors told us that almost no children survive this virus on the heart – because there are no obvious clear signs so the parents don’t understand that something is wrong. They also said that what he survived is in theory impossible to survive (considering how ill he was). They asked me what caused us to seek help and I told them about my dream. I will never forget the doctors answer “there are somethings between heaven and earth that medicine can’t explain – your boy is a living miracle”.

He turns 5 next year and has almost recovered 100% from the heart failure expect for 1/8 of his heart that is permanently damaged.

China’s trying to become the world’s biggest producer of EVs. By the time human-caused global warming becomes so bad that cons are forced to acknowledge it, will China’s economy catch our economy off-guard, and force our car industry out of business?

They are not trying. They are. You are out of business due to you guys looking down and under estimating China. And all the shit about intellectual property theft and copying while in truth China overtook the U.S. and the world in EV technology. Global warming is caused by the U.S. and the west China resolved it.

Yes you guys are caught off guard but it is your fault. Today there are still many especially white Caucasian westerners who thinks the Chinese as no technology, no can only do T-Shirts and Cheap plastic toys. To me it is racism and served you guys right. China will out compete you in every sector including jet planes, rockets, quantum computers and AI.

Even this question is a racist and underestimating China nonsense. Even the great Tesla used Chinese engines and batteries. China makes 9/10 EVs on earth. And they are catching up! What a foolish statement.

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

When i was about 9 years old we lived acoss the street from a little store that had a paper machine out front. My mother would send me over with a quarter each morning and 3 on sundays to get a newspaper. One day an old timer was walking up and said, watch this. He put 4 pennies in the machine and much to my surprise, it opened right up just as if he had put a quarter in it and sure enough on Sunday, 12 pennies did the same thing. Not sure if the machines worked by weight or what, but this went on for a few years until we eventually just got it delivered. This was a time when 20 cent would buy 4 fireballs or lots of other smaller candies. I truly believe karma caught up with me as i had more than my fair share of cavities growing up.

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

My sister died 5 weeks ago. We’ve just got back from her funeral in the UK. She’d been in poor health for several years so it was no great shock, but sad as she was only 69. This (slightly edited tale) was read out by the celebrant plus several of her other exploits over the years. She was a force of nature. Don’t rest in peace Lynn, create all the mayhem you did when you were here.

My sister is extremely feisty. She was in hospital giving birth to her first child, who was a large baby and my sister is tiny, she weighed about 35kg. Anyway she needed an episiotomy for her son to be born. Anyway after the birth the midwife said the cut was so long it would need stitching. The doctor came in, agreed and gave her a local anesthetic into the area. Then he disappeared for 3 hours, by which time the pain relief had totally worn off and he began to stitch. When she cried out in pain he told her not to be such a baby and to quit whining.

He had a tray of instruments by the bed so she picked up a scalpel and rammed it into the back of his hand. While he was screaming she told him not to be such a baby and quit whining. They administered more local to finish her procedure, and found another doctor.

The dark side

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done for payment?

I was a seat filler for the Mafia.

When I was in high school in New York, rumor was that my friend’s tough looking father was in the Mafia. One day, he hired a bunch of his son’s friends to attend an auction in the Bronx. He gave us an address and told us to be there at 8am.

The auction, selling off the assets of a bankrupt business, was going to begin an hour later. By the time the real bidders arrived, they were denied entrance by a bribed fire marshal because the room was already filled to its legal capacity by dozens of hired bodies like myself.

Clueless, we sat there and watched as my friend’s father and his buddies won every lot without competition.

United States (Florida) crazy-town

What’s the funniest joke you know? Please I need to laugh. No seriously I am on the verge of crying my soul out of my eyes.

A man and his wife are awakened at 3 o’clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door.

The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push.

“Not a chance” says the husband, “it is 3 o’clock in the morning!”

He slams the door and returns to bed.

“Who was that?” asked his wife.

“Just some drunk guy asking for a push,” he answers.

“Did you help him?” she asks.

“No, I did not, it is 3 o’clock in the morning and it is pouring rain out there!”

“Well, you have a short memory,” says his wife. “Don’t you remember about three months ago when our car broke down and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself !”

The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain.

He calls out into the dark, “Hello, are you still there?”

“Yes” comes back the answer.

“Do you still need a push?” calls out the husband.

“Yes, please!” comes the reply from the dark.

“Where are you?” asks the husband.

“Over here on the swing!” replies the drunk.

Pearl has an opinion

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tYh5xA5_wAs?feature=share

What gift did you give that made you speechless by the reaction you got from it?

My daughter had married a guy I really liked. One fall we were discussing hunting and he mentioned an unusual shotgun he learned to hunt with. He really liked it, but had never seen another like it. It was a bolt action 20-gauge shotgun.

As he described the finger grooves in the plastic trigger guard, I realized he was describing a Mossberg Model 185K. I collected Mossberg firearms and had a decent specimen sitting unused in the back of my safe.

Over the next couple of months I refurbished the gun, rubbed the stock down with tung oil and restored as much of its 1950 beauty as I could. Having found a box for it, I took it by on Christmas day.

When he unwrapped it, his mouth fell open. Literally.

“Oh migod. THAT’S THE ONE! That is EXACTLY the gun I grew up with! How did you find this???”

My 6′7″ son-in-law picked me up and hugged me – with tears in his eyes.

Think my daughter found a good one.

Americans are so hard to understand…

How can BRICS include both India and China, when India and China are so antagonistic with one another?

Yes, China and India have border disputes, and border conflicts broke out in the 1960s and 1970s. There have also been conflicts in the Galwan region in the past few years.

But the relationship between China and India is not as bad as Western media renders it, nor is it as terrible as some Indian media render it.

If we look at a world map, especially one with altitude. It can be seen that China and India are separated by the Himalayas. Although the two countries are neighboring countries, they are naturally separated.

Therefore, in the past thousands of years, the two countries developed independently without interfering with each other, and even little trade was carried out. The current China and India were only established after World War II. The contradiction between them originated from the division of territories by the British colonists, rather than the natural contradiction between the two nations. In the words of the Chinese, China and India “have no historical debt.” After all, the Chinese view history in terms of 100 years as the smallest unit.

If you ask a Chinese: Who do you think China’s enemy is?

The vast majority of Chinese people will answer: Japan. Maybe someone mentioned the United States, and maybe South Korea.

, some may even say Russia. But I have hardly ever heard the Chinese label India as their enemy. Even if I emphasize that “China and India had a war,” they will still think: “India is not an enemy” and regard the Sino-Indian conflict as “a quarrel between neighbors.”

In the eyes of Chinese people, couples also quarrel, let alone two neighboring countries. As long as the scope of cooperation is far greater than the scope of differences, then both parties are partners.

Of course, the results of this survey in India may be completely different, mainly due to the influence of Western and Indian media. After all, the media is very good at seizing on a certain local hot spot and then telling the audience that this is all.

The point I’m trying to make, though, is this. The two sides are not really hostile. The similarities between China and India outweigh the differences. They are all developing countries with huge populations and face problems such as poverty alleviation, public education and environmental pollution. Both countries are developing rapidly and are gradually coming into conflict with developed countries. The two sides have consistent interests on many issues, especially international trade, carbon emissions, human rights and other issues, and they jointly resist the squeeze of developed countries. On the issues of the Russia-Ukraine war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, China and India basically have the same attitude.

China and India do not have much competition in business. China is developing high-end manufacturing and competing with developed countries. India is developing mid- to low-end manufacturing industries and can take over the production capacity transferred from China. India is a major agricultural exporter, while China is a major agricultural importer. There is a lot of room for cooperation between the two parties.

When the Sino-Indian border conflict occurred, there were already serious deaths of soldiers. No shots were fired. This shows that the agreement between the two sides outweighs the differences. The border dispute is not the mainstay of Sino-Indian relations. This point has a clear consensus among the elites of both sides. So the soldiers were severely restricted. The foundation of the relationship between the two countries will not change because of the advocacy of the Western media. There will be no war as the West expects.

After all, neither Chinese leaders nor Indian leaders are fools.

Can-trapped-workers-be-rescued-by-the-Chinese

Absolutely

The Chinese build so much that they are used to such collapses and have extremely specialized rescue teams

Like in the Turkey earthquake recently

Their ability to use small drones to slip through the small holes, use positioning of living objects under vast structures and their ability to vertically drill and horizontally drill makes them the world’s best experts in rescue operations

This team rescued 319 people given up for dead in Turkey

They were HEROES

The victims were given up for dead

Plus the Chinese Tunnel building through Mountains makes Indian tunnels look like School Project work

This Tunnel in India is a straight cut

Chinese Guoliang Tunnel is at a 36 degree upward incline through mountain surface. They are masters at tunneling

The Chinese teams drilled 368 meters deep vertically against an EXPLODED SHAFT in a gold mine with fissure methane gas and still rescued 11 workers from certain death in 11 days

That was an explosion plus collapse plus methane pockets not just a collapse like in UK

Compared to that, this rescue is horizontal and can be done in their sleep

So why aren’t we calling the Chinese?

Simple

Ego and nothing else

Calling the Chinese would be a blow to our ego and would cause our politicians to lose face

I was patient for a few days but now it appears the NDRF team are morons and the Aussie in charge is a bigger moron

The Auger has been damaged four times now

The men have been stuck for 15 days with no hope as yet

Time to pick up the phone and call Beijing for help and rescue these men and send them home

Enough of this worthless ego

Enough of the learning curve

It’s clear the team members are dunderheads because the augers have been broken four times in four days

Today it was so likely that the men would be out and yet again the Auger broke

Dunderheads all of them !!!!!

Fucked Up Walmart Story

What is the greatest gift that your children gave to you?

Last night my kids flooded the whole living room with slimy water.

“BEEEEEEEEN!” my wife hollered. “COME SEE THIS!”

I knew this was trouble because my wife is one of those people who never raise their voice.

When I stepped onto the scene, I saw my three kids plus a friend of my oldest son’s all belly-sliding from wall to wall with nothing on but underwear.

The sight was so perplexing, surreal, and unexpected, that I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off.

It was like the first time I ever got stoned as a teenager and every time a friend threw an M&M on me I giggled uncontrollably.

Every kid scooting across the gooey floor, his arms flailing, letting out screams of glee, had me laughing until my belly hurt.

They were like cute gremlins swimming through space.

Never mind that I was terrified of slipping because I just had my ACL operated on. Or that my youngest one started bawling after two of the others crashed into him at the same time. Or that my wife and I had to use all the towels in the house to soak up the gunky liquid later.

I hadn’t had such a good laugh in ages.

I’ve been punched in the balls. I’ve cleaned neon-yellow runny poo from across the floors of multiple rooms—why would you crawl across the whole house while pooing?! I’ve made elaborate date plans with my wife just for two of us to realize we fell asleep while reading to the kids.

And somewhere along the way, instead of getting angry every time, I discovered the humor in all of it.

Something of the maddening nature of having kids taught me to stop taking myself so seriously. Showed me that sometimes, life is so damn absurd that all you can do is laugh. That every single plan and intention can come boomeranging back to you and whack you in the face.

And before you feel the pain—or clean the slimy floor or the runny poo or make a new plan—you can take a moment, laugh it off, and then get to it.

I’m in Ghana and was invited to a Thanksgiving party, what the H3LL?

What is the most absurd thing you’ve been charged for on a bill?

My neurologist asked me to wear an oximeter/heart rate monitor overnight. I told him it would be useless, as I was not sleeping much, but he had me do it. I got a call a few days later asking me how I coped on such little sleep. We never mentioned it again.

Then I got a bill for $14. For what?

I was being billed for the “use of the monitor.” Not by my neurologist’s office, by some 3rd party.

I called my neurologist’s office, they said that they don’t own the equipment, they rent it from the service that sends them the test results, which was not this company. They were like, fine, don’t pay, we don’t know who this company is. I called insurance – they said they had never heard of FBN Rental.

I called FlyByNight Rentals and told them to bill my insurance. They said they had. I said I had proof they never had. I told them I would not pay as they had no grounds to bill me.

I kept getting bills, which I ignored.

Finally I got a phone call from them. “You owe us $14.” “No. I don’t. Bill my insurance.” “We did.” No you didn’t. You’re a scam.” Rinse, repeat.

I had looked them up in the meantime. They apparently buy marketing lists of people who used pulse oximetry equipment and insert a minor charge. Something small and inconsequential that people will just pay to clear. But – and here is the key point – they don’t actually have any relationship to the test.

I kept getting calls threatening me with collections. Finally I picked one up. A lady confirmed that I was seconds away from going to collections. I had had it. I had already called and written to them to tell them to fuck off, multiple times.

I said, 1) that they were a scam, 2) I’d already reported them to my doctor, the insurance, the BBB and 3) if I ever heard from them again, they would hear from my lawyer with a bill for the time *I* had had to spend figuring out they were a scam and dealing with their bullshit.

I never heard from them again.

What a brilliantly awful idea. Make a teeny, inconsequential charge, something so small no one would care and collect on some or most of those charges. Multiply $14 by tens of thousands and presto, you have medical fraud that no one will ever notice.

A woman responds to “an open marriage”

A man suggests that instead of a open marriage, he gets a second wife.

Beowulf restaurants

In the late 1970’s / early 1980’s was a short-lived period of time where Beowulf restaurants made an appearance. They were briefly popular. And didn’t last long. But it was something that happened and then disappeared long before the invention of the Internet.

I never attended one of these venues, and so all that I know about this fad was second hand and from articles that I had read at that time. Apparently, what was popular was a rather crude communal table where everyone ate rather simple meals of meat, mead, and rough breads.

Time moves on… and the world revolves. The past is forgotten, and replaced with new things. We all need to deal with this reality.

Today…

Did you ever see karma hit someone who deserved it so befittingly that it was eerie?

Aged 13, just after school two pretty girls ask me to come to the bicycle lot to “show me something”. Wow – attention from two pretty girls – I’m in! (OK, I was also headed there anyhow to get my bike to cycle home, but still!) So off we go. They’re flirty and friendly, I’m wondering what the heck is going on but I’m too stoked to be suspicious.

As we come around a corner two boys jump me, each grabbing an arm and holding fast. Another approaches carrying a big plastic container, filled with some kind of lumpy slimy stuff – looks a bit like oat porridge. As he gets closer he is flanked by the two girls and gets ready to chuck the stuff on me. I am desperate. I kick at it, just hoping to prevent him achieving his goal. It spins out of his hands, flinging slime into his and both girls’ faces, as well as all over the boy on my left’s chest and stomach. They’re all screaming and scatter. Now I am angry. I turn and pick up the container, spin and throw it wildly away from me. It randomly hits the one boy that was not initially splattered square on the back of his head as he is running away and spills the last of its contents down his back. Five for five.

I go get my bike and head home, not a speck on me.

Bringing up the hard conversation

As a teacher, what was the best excuse a student gave for being late?

True story:
I had a student who was 15 minutes late to my 1st period class every day. After a week of this, I asked what the hell was going on. Turned out his single parent mom was an alcoholic and every morning was passed out on the couch. He took it upon himself to get his younger sister ready for school each morning, making sure she showered, had clean clothes, and ate breakfast, homework completed, etc. Then he drove her to middle school which was in the opposite direction of the high school to assure she arrived safely. Because of the different 1st bell times, he was always 15 minutes late. I told him to skip going to the office and just come directly to class, enter quietly, and we’d be good. I never questioned his story. Other students whined and asked why THEY had to be on time if he didn’t. “You want to trade places with him? Take his life for yours?” No takers. Everyone knew.

So it wasn’t really an excuse, it was a legit reason.

What is the most condescending advice you received from someone who assumed you were poorer or less educated than them?

I was walking my dog around the marina and I was going back to my dad’s boat. I saw a couple standing next to it. I walked down to the end of the dock and the guy told me only boat owners are allowed on the docks, and I have to get out. Then he turned to the woman and was telling her about the places he’s been on his boat, and how he has to find someone to clean it…all this time he was pointing at my dad’s boat.

I was just standing there wondering what’s going on. Then he told me that if I’m lucky enough I’ll find a rich guy like him, and told me to go away before he called security. The woman said I’ll have to find some other guy because he’s taken. She made a face at me and was hugging him. I tried going around them and he asked what I’m doing. I told him I was getting on my dad’s boat, and they both laughed at me.

Then Ed (one of the crew) came out from the back of the boat and told me dinner is ready. I told him I’ll be right up as soon as these idiots got out of my way. I stuck my tongue out at the woman and said he’s all yours. She got mad and walked away. The guy was following her and she kept yelling at him to stay away and how he’s a fake. Tom (another crew) opened the side door and asked me what’s going on….I said she didn’t like him as much as she thought she did.

What is the definition of “an alcoholic”?

I am an alcoholic. Warning, answer may contain triggers.

When I have one beer, although I will drink it slow, I will want another one directly afterwards. Because I will have opened something inside of me that is similar to a lock.

Once this lock has been opened I immediately relax. I feel good. That beer tasted great and made me feel great. I want to feel more of that.

So I have a second beer. This one I drink a little quicker because I now have the taste for it. After my fourth beer I start drinking rum. I don’t even remember drinking those last two pints, but I’m sure that they tasted great too. I feel fantastic.

I buy a bottle of rum to take home, and make sure that there is at least six beers chilling in the fridge for tomorrow. I drink through the night.

The next day I wake up and there’s only one beer left in the fridge and the rum is nearly empty. I polish off the beer directly after breakfast and pop to the shops to buy some more. I’ll buy 20 beers this time to last through the week, and another bottle of rum. But I’ll save the rum for the week, and buy a couple of bottles of Prosecco for today. It’s a nice and sunny day, and will be lighter than drinking beer.

By 3pm the Prosecco has gone and I am back on the beer and the rum. I run out of beer on Monday and the rum has gone by Tuesday, so I pop back to the shops to stock up mid week.

After fifteen years of living like this my kidneys start bleeding urate crystals into my blood stream which gives me gout. I lose the ability to walk, sleep or function as a normal human being for weeks at a time. Over the next few years my life becomes a living hell.

I decide to quit drinking and have now been sober for 26 months. I no longer suffer from gout.

I avoid going to the pub, because it is frankly boring if you are not eating or drinking. “Why don’t you just have one ?” my friends always ask.

Because I am an alcoholic. When I have one beer, although I will drink it slow, I will want another one afterwards.

Arousal

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QBFIn2EaWoI?feature=share

Have you ever had such a close call it makes your skin shiver everytime you think about it? If so, what happened?

Back in middle school, I would bike my way to school, about 1.7 miles each way. I rode a $40 10-speed bike as two days of work was all that my parents could afford at the time.

The route would take me through city streets and up and down an overpass that stopped at a red light with cross traffic. Every time I came down that overpass, I would hope the light is green so I didn’t need to push my bike’s crappy brakes to their limits.

During the winter months when rain added to my misery, that downslope stop got extra sketchy as wet bike tires won’t grip the pavement. I really tried to time for that green light on the way down.

One time, when the rains made the pavement extra slick, I worked my way down when the light was green. So, I didn’t bother slowing down as much. But, just as I was about the enter the intersection, about 30 feet away, the light turned yellow. At that point, I had no chance to stop. I had two choices. I could either wipe out and slide straight into traffic or take my chances shooting through it.

I went with what seemed to be the lower risk move and went for it. As I entered the intersection, the light turned red and the cross traffic light turned green. A big pick up truck, one of those from the 1980s with the chrome trimmed grill, came straight at me from the left. Apparently he had seen his light turn green and was trying to catch it.

Somehow, he caught sight of me flying across in front of him and slammed on his brakes. I heard his tires tear at the wet pavement as they brought the big truck to a stop inches from me. I felt the steamy heat from radiator pour right on my face.

Stunned, I didn’t stop. I crossed the intersection and continued on the other side without daring to look back. I heard the truck roar across the intersection as I kept going, still shaking from the close call.

Those days, I never wore a bike helmet as I was young and an idiot. Somehow, I lucked out instead of becoming a vegetable.

Why Are Japanese Women Blowing Loads On Men

This is super interesting. And it is NOT what you think.

What will always be cool?

My buddy Tyler and I were out at a pool hall shooting a few games of 8 Ball.

A couple of jerkoffs fueled by liquid courage sat down in our area, pulled out their fancy cue sticks, and asked “You guys want to play doubles against us?”

When we declined their offer, they assumed we were just scared of losing.

We were having fun and not taking our game too seriously, but after every missed shot, we heard their snide remarks.

“C’mon, man! A toddler could have made that.”
“If you guys played against us, you’d probably learn a thing or two.”

Tyler had enough and invited them in for a game. He is an excellent billiards player, but he kept quiet, didn’t hype himself up, and didn’t trash talk.

Those guys maybe sank 3 of their balls before Tyler cleared the table.

Even after he demolished them, he didn’t gloat or rub it in their face. He just said “Good game” and we went about our business.

Humbly putting people in their place will always be cool.

Alphas and Beta orbiters

Do you think a character can be too flawed to work as a character in a story?

No. There’s no such thing as “too flawed a character.” Just look at A Song of Ice and Fire. Everyone in the story is flawed, and about half of them are entirely irredeemable. Still, it captured the hearts and souls of a generation of readers.

You can even make your flawed, irredeemable character your protagonist, like Lolita. Humbert Humbert was a pathetic child rapist who lived in his own fantasy world. He took us (the readers) on a ride and forced us to think about our own preconceptions about “love and romance.”

However, there are some pitfalls you need to be mindful about.

First of all, be very clear about the flaws of your character. There are a lot of supposed good characters engaging in extremely questionable behaviors and were considered “acceptable” by the author, by the characters around the flawed characters, and the author wanted the readers to root for the flawed character, ignoring or sometimes because of their problematic behavior.

For example, Edward’s obsession with Bella in Twilight is deeply problematic and abusive. Bella constantly puts herself in danger so she can see Edward is deeply problematic and manipulative. And yet, the author obviously thought these behaviors were OMG so romantic, and we’re supported to root for a 100-year-old vampire taking advantage of a teenager’s vulnerability. That’s bad storytelling.

If you want to write a flawed character, you need to make sure other characters in your story react to your flawed character in realistic and reasonable ways. One good example is Elementary on CBS. Granted, it is a TV show, but the concept applies. Similar to other modern Sherlock retellings, Sherlock Holmes in Elementary is deeply flawed in your typical Sherlockian ways. But unlike other modern Sherlock retellings, people around Sherlock don’t take his bullshit. They aren’t unreasonable enablers of his abusive behavior. They call him out for it so Sherlock can grow to be a better person.

And that’s the KEY of having a flawed character. The point isn’t writing the flaws. The POINT of the story is for the flawed characters to GROW and become better (or become worse if you are writing a tragedy). A flawed character who remains the same from beginning to end is a boring character (unless they are a villain).

Secondly, there’s a difference between being flawed and being likable. Han Solo is a flawed character, but he’s also instantly likable and remains so throughout the series. On the other hand, Princess Leia was also a flawed character, and she started out entirely unlikable. Han Solo’s character growth is about him growing some conscience and doing the right thing, while Leia’s character arc is about her becoming more and more relatable and likable, which is a lot harder to write (Lucas absolutely doesn’t have the skill to write it). If the story was about Leia as the protagonist, Star Wars might not be as enjoyable as it is.

The reason I stopped reading Name of the Wind is because I found Kvothe to be entirely unlikable. Yes, yes, I understand the writer wants to pull a Humber Humbert and give us an unreliable narrator, but the point of an unreliable narrator is to show how unreliable the narrator was. In the case of Lolita, the author shows us the devastation of Humbert Humbert’s actions on Lolita and how it ruined her life. And if the “Lolita is 12” doesn’t make the point of Humber Humbert being an unreliable narrator and a despicable child predator from the beginning, I think you should be on some kind of list.

The problem with Name of the Wind is that the author was so wrapped up in the awesomeness of his own unreliable narrator and never bothered to show us just how stupid and arrogant the guy actually is. Sure, in later books, we get to see some failures of Kvothe, but the author went out of his way to make justifications for Kvothe so we, the readers, would still root for him.

I found Kvothe’s narrative to be juvenile. If a 15-year-old edge lord wants to write a self-insert wish-fulfilling fantasy where he’s the best of everything, the youngest of everything in the whole damn world, and save the day being the hero, get multiple girls to fall for him, you get Kvothe. I roll my eyes every other page until I have to give up before I get an aneurysm.

Of course, Name of the Wind is an award-winning book. And there are plenty of 15-year-old edge lords who see themselves in Kvothe and will defend the book to the death. So… to each their own.

That leads me to my third point: You can’t please everyone. There will always be people who don’t like your story, and that’s OK. As writers, the only thing we can do is to be authentic to ourselves and hope that authenticity will connect us to our readers through our works. So, if you want to write deeply flawed characters doing horrible things, go right ahead. There are plenty of writers who make a career writing extremely gory stories about horrible people torturing and killing each other (Yes, I’m looking at you, GRRM, where’s the Winds of Winter? Hum?).

Do what feels right for you.

Inflation

What is the weirdest life lesson you have learned in your life?

One of the worst feeling is letting someone go from your life but still keeping them in your heart, you miss them but you can’t tell them because situations aren’t the same anymore.
Sometimes, you end up losing yourself trying to hold on to someone who doesn’t care about losing you.
Strangers can become best friends just as easy as best friends can become strangers.
Spending a large amount of time with someone literally causes you to a pick up their habits. Choose your friends wisely.
No one ever discovers the depth of their own loneliness.
Most people have their own shit to worry about.
When in doubt, don’t act. Wait for that moment of inspiration to strike.
Denying the truth doesn’t change the facts.
It’s weird how we sometimes think we can’t live without them again then you blink and you don’t even miss them anymore.
We often pretend that everything is getting better, when it’s not.
Sometimes being all alone and enjoying our own company helps a lot.
It’s awesome when someone understands you more than you.

Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?

HR lady I was friendly with did me a solid. We were at the coffee maker and she was fuming about something, so I asked what was up. She looked at me, sighed and said “You might want to start looking for a new job. Your manager is not your friend”. That’s when I realised I wasn’t being paranoid and my manager really was trying to push me out. A week later, I was sacked.

Flawed logic

Does Xi Jinping’s family or relatives own land in the U.S.?

Sanctioning, confiscating, and robbing “enemy countries” is a Western specialty.

If Xi’s family or relatives owned land in the United States, it would have been confiscated by the US government in the Sino US confrontation. Confiscating the assets of Xi’s family is much more justified than robbing the assets of legitimate Chinese businessmen such as Huawei.

The West has not even let go of sanctions against Russian cats, Russian artist, let alone the land owned by the Xi’s family.

Meng Wanzhou was inexplicably detained by Canada for three years simply because Huawei received payment from Iran in its HSBC account.

Mao loves swimming, and when Americans learned this information, During the Mao era, even bikini swimsuits and trunks sold to China were subject to US sanctions. Lol!

What’s the cleverest cheating you’ve ever seen as a teacher or student?

I quite enjoyed the “cheat” I used in a mock A-level exam many years ago. We all had Casio FX-7000G programmable calculators that had room for ten custom programs. For our maths exams (and probably physics as well?) it was standard practice for the invigilators to wander up and down the line of desks before the exam, where you had to show the program home screen that displayed the list of ten slots and showed them all as being empty. I thought it would be funny simply to create a program that, when run, displayed a mock-up of the home screen, showing text that looked identical to the actual home screen with all ten slots being (apparently) empty. In one of my exams I had this set as the sole program on the calculator, just to prove (to myself) that the invigilators would not be able to notice the difference. I ran it just before entering the exam hall, and, yep, the invigilator took a look at the calculator and was satisfied that there were no programs entered on it. If I recall correctly, there WAS one visible difference, which was that the real screen had a flashing text caret at the bottom whereas my mocked-up screen did not. But the invigilator didn’t spot it. I suppose you’re just expecting everybody to comply and your brain sees what it wants to see when 99% of the screen is exactly as predicted.

I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to pull the same stunt in the real final exams, let alone actually use it to mask the presence of other hidden programs. But I did have fun testing out my little proto-cheating hypothesis that one time.

When you were a kid, what did you teach yourself to do without your parents knowing or approving?

Not me … but once I took a former student of mine and her eight year old daughter to breakfast when I was visiting her city. While we were catching up, the daughter was doing something quietly with her fingers. We asked what she was doing. “Oh, I’m counting in binary, see? One, two, three, … ,” as she raised and lowered successive fingers to represent the 1’s and 0’s of the binary system. “But I can only go to 32, holding all five fingers out. Oh, wait! 33, 34, 35 … “ as she used her other hand to coninue. Her mom asked where she learned that. She said, “I saw some older kids do it, so I taught myself.” I don’t think we should worry about that child.

Favorites…

What did someone say to you that instantly made you realize their life was in danger?

My dad said he should get his “cancer” looked at. I asked what he meant and he opened his shirt. There was a 2-inch long mole-like growth on his chest, brown and black and rough on the surface.

I’d had many skin cancers removed, and dermatologists have lots of pictures around showing both the benign and the dangerous kinds. This looked exactly like the photos of very dangerous Melanoma, the lethal version that had no cure.

I got him to go to the best doctor in Dallas. His diagnosis: Lie on the operating table – now! We have to remove the cancer today, without waiting for the biopsy. It was definitely the deadly kind.

He removed it all using the then-new Mohs technique of mapping the sample, flash freezing it and checking if there were any ‘edges’ that may still leave cancer cells.

My dad came home with 23 staples in his chest; my mom fainted at the sight. But he survived.

He’s 94 years old, living comfortably in Arizona, and still mentions how I saved his life sending him to the doctor 30 years ago.

Body counts of 19 year old girls

Damn! But, it’s a new world…

What screams “I’m upper class”?

In college, I made a pretty good living writing papers for trust-funders.

My background is dirt poor: single mother, trailer park, small town. I earned a scholarship to a Top 20 private university. It was my first exposure to True Wealth.

Where I grew up, the farmer who drove his Cadillac into town was “rich.” The doctor who built a Tudor monstrosity beside the lake was “rich.”

They weren’t, as I realized during freshman orientation.

A guy down the hall had the same last name as a Wall Street brokerage. His great-(or great-great) grandfather founded it.

A girl upstairs (coed dorm) was the daughter of a household-name media figure.

My roommate’s dad wasn’t famous, but he owned a company that manufactured parts for the Big 3 automakers. It was quite a conversation stopper when he asked, “So what does your dad do?”

I met many others. I became friends with some. Others, I noticed, were patronizingly polite toward me.

They took money for granted, to the extent that they were baffled, even resentful, when lack of it was an impediment. A friend and I discussed moving to an off-campus apartment the next year. I calculated that my scholarships (plus the side hustle) would cover half the rent and utilities for basic two-bedroom squalor.

He found us a condo that, for a mere $150,000 apiece (40 years ago), we could live in for three years and then resell for a handsome profit. He couldn’t understand how my single mother, still living in a trailer, didn’t have $150,000. “Well, can’t she just borrow it?” He found a future roomie with deeper parental pockets. We were never as friendly again.

He was the son of a lawyer and a Fortune 500 VP. Like so many others I met, he had attended prestigious prep schools, some of which even a hick like me had heard of.

And many of them didn’t give a fuck about the education an elite university could provide. They viewed their admission the same as their trust funds — as a present given at birth.

My roommate skipped far more classes than he attended, but he managed to pass. (Not only are the rich different from you and me, as Fitzgerald observed, but so are the rules that apply to them.)

His mom had even written his admissions essay. It was how things worked in their world. Other people did things for you, while you floated along in your cloud of privilege.

He was my first customer — an English 101 five-pager comparing-contrasting Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn. He wanted to go skiing instead.

I was careful not to write it too well. He got a B-minus and was satisfied.

Word got around. I charged exorbitantly — $100 (about $350 today) and sometimes more, depending on length and deadline imminence. The Fifth-Avenuers and Connecticut-estaters were happy to be overcharged and undereducated.

These were not stupid people. Their range of experiences had made them far more sophisticated than I. They just didn’t see the point of learning for learning’s sake. No classroom-derived fact or principle or perspective would make a material difference in their lives’ trajectories.

My roommate, for example, knew that once he shook the dean’s hand and accepted his fancy paper, he’d begin working in his dad’s company. The four years until then were Party Time. All he had to do was not get kicked out.

Years later, I realized that as an executive in the family business, he’d never dream of sorting out a complex problem by himself. If critical thinking or analysis were required, or research and a report to summarize it, he’d hire someone to do it — some jumped-up striver, some social-climbing grind educated on scholarships.

Someone like me. In a way, college actually was preparing him for the future.

Effort is for the little people. Nothing screams “upper class” louder.

EDIT: A few replies have criticized my answer for equating monetary wealth with social class. Fair point, although in my experience the noblesse oblige plummet rather swiftly without wealth to keep them aloft.

On the other side of the coin, even the nouveau-est of the nouveau-riches often establish their begrudged place among American aristocracy within a generation. Papa Joe Kennedy was a crass, rum-running thug, yet his kids were perceived to be shining knights of Camelot.

Upper class is longitudinal wealth and privilege. And power. Always power, even when wielded without malice or intent.

With that in mind, I’ve made a few tweaks to clarify that the old classmates I’ve mentioned grew up in an upper class cocoon, where they developed the patronizing obliviousness toward struggle/work/effort and an occasionally disdainful amusement toward social climbers.

Doing the right thing

What was the shortest interview you’ve had that led to a job offer?

I left message with a cruise line stating I was a dealer looking for work.

30 minutes later I got a call back.

Hi this is Ed from Dolphin cruise lines. Do you deal roulette?

Me: yes

Ed: you have a passport?

Me: yes

Ed: we have an opening but you need to make it to Miami in 3 days. Call me when you’re here.

So. I sold my car to get money for a flight. Told my girlfriend I was moving out and leaving for Miami. (It was a crappy relationship. Part of the reason I applied).

As soon as I got to Miami I called Ed and he told me to hurry and get to the port. I arrived and was amazed at how big the ships were and was trying to guess which one was mine when I met Ed. He gave me a plane ticket to Aruba and told me to hurry back to airport as the flight was leaving in a few hours.

Flew on the first and only smoking flight on Air Aruba. Got off and joined the M/S Oceanbreeze. Was the start of a 12 year journey that had me see over 100 countries, 27 ships, and 9 cruises lines until I met my wife on one and we returned to Canada to settle down.

In retrospect it was the most influential call of my life.

While driving a stick shift, how do you handle taking off at a traffic light when there’s a car extremely close behind you on a hill?

Fifty years ago, on my honeymoon in San Francisco, my new bride asked if she could drive my car. I said “Sure!” – without hesitation, knowing that was the only conceivable right answer. It was a Porsche 356 coupe I had while still in grad school and while we were dating. She had been with me on lots of drives, but had never driven the car.

But you don’t drive in San Francisco without, at some time, being stuck on a hill – the city is hilly! And sure enough, a car came right up behind us and stopped.

“What do I do?”, she cried out. I talked her through it: With your feet firmly on the clutch and brake, pull on the parking brake. Then with the car in first gear, move your foot to the accelerator pedal and rev the engine so it doesn’t lug. Now slowly let the clutch out until you feel the car try to move forward, then release the parking brake. Up the hill we went (whew!).

She never asked to drive my car again.

Only seeing the finished product

Have you ever done something nice for someone, and they returned the favor many years later?

I’m a physician and used to work in a small town. One evening a tree cutter knocked on my door. He had cut his thumb off. I made sure the bleeding was slowed and suggested he see a specialty hand surgeon but he insisted he had no insurance and could neither afford the emergency room or a specialist.

I agreed to do the surgery. I blocked his arm with anesthesia and I spent all night in my office re-implanting his thumb.

The next day, my office staff saw the blood in the exam/surgical room and asked what happened and asked how much to charge. I instructed them NOT to charge him as he had no insurance.

Although the first few days were rocky, my patient did well and now has a normal functioning thumb.

Years went by and Hurricane Hugo smashed the North and South Carolina coast directly hitting Charleston and began to move inward and upward. The storm hit my town and knocked trees over and many were in my yard including one that fell and hit my two-year-old daughter’s window!

The morning after the storm, I heard the noise of a chain saw. I looked out and there was the tree cutter cleaning up AND grinding the stumps of all my trees! He yelled and waved- “Doc, no worries – I’m just paying you back!” Quite a nice barter deal!

What women want

These video clips are just so precious.

I’m 63 years old and so lonely. Does it matter to anyone?

A couple of years ago, I noticed a hunchbacked figure standing in our front garden, but I had no idea what it was doing there. Instead of approaching the figure, I watched it patiently, and noticed that she seemed to be pulling weeds. And then she was gone.

Over the next few weeks and months, the woman reappeared on an irregular basis, and proceeded with pulling weeds on her own in our frontyard, slowly and decidedly, but also absently — as if she was meditating.

Sometimes, I also heard her singing.

One day, we walked up to her to have a chat. And so she told us she was a widow who had lived on her own for almost a decade now, only a couple of houses further down the road, and that in lack of any company (except for a son who only seemed to surface if he needed something), one day she had decided to pull some weeds — be cause she loved doing that.

And she had chosen our frontyard.

She asked us if that was alright, and we happily acknowledged. It was the start of a curious frontyard relationship which sublimated through (watching) pulling weeds, (listening to) old forgotten songs, waving hallo to each other with a smile, and the occasional short chat. It lasted for some years.

One day, the weeds kept on growing and the old songs started to fade, and in front of her old house, an ugly “TO SELL” sign appeared which symbolized her passing. In between the high grass and long thistles in our frontyard, you could still find some crumbled musical notes if you had some luck.

So to answer your question: it does matter to anyone.

It matters to us.

Creole Goulash

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

2 pounds beef round steak
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen soup vegetables
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen Brussels sprouts
1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes
1 can tomato juice
McCormick’s Creole Seasoning
Garlic powder or salt

Instructions

Cut meat into bite-size chunks and brown in olive oil.
Add frozen vegetables and a nice amount of the hash brown potatoes and dash liberally with Creole seasoning.
Dash slightly with garlic salt. Stir well.
Add enough tomatoes juice to make a nice thick sauce and dash more Creole seasoning/mix to taste.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are cooked and/or reduce heat for desired thickness of tomatoes sauce.

What conversations have you overheard in a language they assumed you don’t know?

I work at a reception in London. I’m Swedish, as are some of our guests.

Guest: “The light bulb in our room is out.”

Me: “I’m so sorry about that! The maintenance guy will be here later, are you OK until then?”

Guest: “Sure, thanks!”

Guests among each other in Swedish, right in front of me: “How fucking hard can it be to change a light bulb?”

Me: “Oh, you’re Swedish, cool! The problem is that I have no idea where he keeps the light bulbs.”

I will never forget the looks on their faces! I take customer service and my job very seriously, but I must admit I enjoyed that moment at the expense of the guest 🙂

Is it true that most young unmarried men in China don’t have girlfriends, because of the gender imbalance in China? If yes, then what are some solutions for this problem?

I have a solution to the gender imbalance problem. I also have a solution to the “I cant afford to marry a girl because I can’t afford a house, car, and bride price” problem. Are you ready for it?

Chinese men should actively pursue and seek to bring women from America, Australia, Europe (etc) to China. Western women don’t usually expect their partner to automatically have a house or even a car, and they certainly don’t expect any sort of dowry or bride price.

China has historically been very good at absorbing any invading people groups. This would be no different. Let the Western women “invade” and in a generation they will be absorbed into the culture. If China put effort into exporting soft power appeal in the same way that Japan and Korea do, then getting women to come over and marry would be easier. Would there be cultural differences as wide as the Grand Canyon and a big language barrier? Yes. But they could be overcame easily enough with time and patience.

My answer is a bit silly perhaps, but you must admit, it’s creative!

Why people like Tiktok

What will serve you well in life?

Just yesterday, I was on my way to work, a commute that involves driving across Tampa Bay on a 2 mile long bridge.

My bridge was stuffed with traffic.

A commute that usually took 30 minutes, took 2 hours.

This traffic jam literally shut down Tampa’s morning commute, causing everyone to be an hour late.

What I later found out, was that that morning around 5:00 AM, a highly intoxicated man drove down the wrong side of the bridge.

He made it almost 2/3 the way down across the bridge.

He was weaving between oncoming traffic, until he finally went head on into an oncoming commuter:

He was killed.

The innocent person he hit is in the hospital currently, in critical condition.

The driver had a history of drunk driving.

It does make one wonder what takes people down these roads in their life.

Perhaps it started with one drink with friends as a younger man, and later snowballed into a full blown addiction.

Maybe the addiction was just a substitute for unhappiness in his life.

Or maybe driving down that bridge was his way out, and he was willing to take someone with him.

In any event, we all have our demons, though typically they aren’t as powerful as this man’s was. But those demons represent our weaker selves.

Know your demons. Know their names. Know when they visit. Know how to keep them out.

Small demons can become big demons. Big demons can be many demons. And when that happens, it’s game over.

Keep an eye on your demons.

Demons hate being seen. When you see them, they tend to shrink. They tend not to multiply.

How do you interpret President Xi Jinping’s meeting with American executives in San Francisco?

US business men are normal successful people who knows right from wrong. And they know China is a humongous and unavoidable market that makes or break them. The average Joe here is QUORA who are hubris, naive and ignorant thinks the U.S. is a ten foot giant and it can do any shit it wants. That is why they are less read, less travelled, more conservative mainly white trash don’t get it.

But U.S. business men are articulate and mindful. The came in force here in San Francisco to greet and express support to China and Xi Xinping. Waves flow to the shores everywhere and businesses go where money can be made.

Your U.S. media can say or do shit it wants. It don’t work. Your despicable politicians can say or do anything it wants but it won’t work. Every firm get out of China 3 new firms move into China. These companies unlike the average Joe the racist are smart and knows how to grow.

Unfortunately in the U.S. is mainly made of average Joe, so it seems the entire U.S. are made of fools. But the U.S. business men are no fools.

Kenny Veach Vanishes on his Quest for the M Cave | Mojave Mysteries Vol. 1

The Why Files is just on another level compared to other Youtube channels. Everytime Why Files uploads a video, it makes you question reality, it makes you laugh (looking at you Hecklefish), and sometimes (like this time) it makes you feel. I’m so glad that I stumble on this channel.

What is the most embarrassing thing you heard over the mic while gaming?

Back in high-school, I regularly had game night with a couple of good friends, and being that we were a group of socially awkward nerds, we had plenty of hilarious experiences.

One night while we were playing Grand Theft Auto V, my friend’s mom suddenly came into his room, and she seemed incredibly concerned.

James: “Hi Mom. Do you need something?”

Her: “James. We need to talk.”

James: “Uh, okay. Let me turn off my mic real quick.”

Her: “No no, leave it on. I want your friends to hear this too.”

James: “Uhhhh, okay? So what’s going on?”

Her: “James, I want you to be honest with me. Are you gay?”

James: “What? No! Why are you asking me this?”

Her: “Are you sure? It’s okay. I don’t mind. It’s just that you’re almost 18 now, and you still haven’t had a girlfriend yet.”

James: “…”

Her: “I mean, I’ve never even seen you talk to a girl before. Are you afraid of women or something? It’s okay. You can be honest with me.”

James: “No Mom, it’s not like that. Can we please talk about this later?”

Her: “James, I’m just really concerned for you. Guys your age should be getting experience.”

James: “Oh my god. Mom, please…”

Her: “Is there anyone that you’re interested in? Maybe I can help you out. Or what if you ask some of your friends right now? I bet they know some good girls for you.”

James: “MOM. PLEASE. AHHHHH.”

The rest of us could barely hold in our laughter.

Now, I don’t know if his mom was just trolling us or not, but it was absolutely hilarious.

What is normal in China that is weird and sometimes rude in many countries?

Asking for something in the shop to the cashier.

If you are in an English speaking country, and you over hear a Chinese person say to the cashier in the general store, or waiter/waitress in restaurant some thing like:

“Give me a pack of Marlboro, and a lighter.”

“Give me a pack of gum, and a mint.”

“Give me a House Specialty Grilled Rib with mashed potatoes on the side.”

And it cringes you, because you find it rude and impolite.

It made you think of a robber in the dark alley saying:

“Give me your fucking wallet, or I’ll cut you!”

You are right to feel that way…

But mind you, it’s not that the Chinese people are rude.

It’s because this asking for something is extremely acceptable in the Chinese language.

If I were to go to buy stuff in China, I’d say:

“给我一个冰淇淋，谢谢。”

“给我们一个红糖冰粉，加西瓜；油爆鳝糊；莼菜银鱼羹；两客生煎；一份时令鲜蔬；两碗米饭。”

literally, it means “Give me an ice cream, thanks.”

In China, it doesn’t have strong command implications.

But the acceptable way of ordering and buying in English speaking cultures, it’s:

“I’ll have…”

“I’ll get…”

“I want…”

To sound less aggressively demanding and more “asking politely”.

What is a stand that you took with a customer that you will never apologize for?

I was working a seasonal second job as a cashier at Toys R Us to earn extra money for the holidays. I was working Thanksgiving evening. We opened the doors at 6:00 pm to give an early start to Black Friday customers. The man who was first in line went running back to the exact spot where the specific toy he wanted for his granddaughter SHOULD have been. Each store was guaranteed to have at least one Barbie Escalade that year, but it was strangely not the case at our large store.

I knew there were certain employees who would often buy the limited items before customers ever had the chance to buy them. Sooo….when the gentleman came to my checkout aisle, panicking over not being able to find the car he had been waiting for out in the cold since that morning, I apologized and took him straight to the manager.

Since I was seasonal, I didn’t really care if I lost my job or not. I explained to the manager, right in front of the customer, that the gentleman was here for the one guaranteed Barbie car, but it was not on the floor. When the manager said someone must have gotten to it first, I then said, “This gentleman has been waiting first in line outside all day, skipping Thanksgiving, and was the first person back to that department. The registers have not had anyone check anything out yet. Clearly, we owe this man a car.” The manager simply said, “I’m sorry, but there are no rainchecks and we probably won’t get anymore in before Christmas.” I told her, in front of him, that I suspected an employee had rung it out and taken it to their car before we opened. “While this gentleman is here, can you please track this inventory number to see who checked it out?” The manager said she didn’t have the time.

I gave the gentleman, after she walked away, the inventory number and the number to the district manager so he knew who to report it to and what to say.

I found out later it was a friend of the manager who worked in the back room who had grabbed it up. I guess that still happens at a lot of stores…..Grinches they are.

He’s just being friendly…

What is something you need to confront?

I stumbled upon a DVD of old home videos in my dad’s stuff. They were from ’96 so I wasn’t even a thought back then — all the footage was of my sister, age 2, doing nothing of importance but everything worth filming to first-time parents.

And you bet your ass I sobbed while watching it.

I have lost a lot in the past three years.

We lost our family house, built five generations ago.

One dog. One cat. One bird. A few fish.

My parents’ marriage.

My mom’s new apartment.

Friendships because of depression.

When I could no longer afford it, college.

And the small stuff. I think someone sold my guitar while I was away. I don’t know where my records went. Where are my keepsakes, my high school yearbooks I will never look through but what if I wanted to?

My solution is, was, and has always been, to simply not think about it.

Don’t ask Mom where your guitar is. Don’t ask Mom what happened to your cat. Don’t ask, don’t question, don’t wonder.

It’s gone. Just let it be.

For months now I haven’t grieved because grieving is what you do when someone dies. It’s how you process the loss of a physical person, and through all the turmoil all of my physical people — whether I liked it or not — had survived.

But just a few weeks ago, my dad passed away.

Suddenly I was faced with my own definition of what grief should be, and even so I rejected it because I simply didn’t need to grieve.

I hadn’t seen him in nearly two years by the time he passed. Never mind the fact I lived with him for 18, clearly we weren’t close and therefore I had no real reason to grieve.

Done. Problem solved. Grief averted.

A week after he passed my sister and I traveled back to Wyoming to sort through his stuff and in the mess we uncovered a DVD labeled “home videos.”

Out of curiosity I polished it up and popped it in a disk drive. I figured it’d be some nice nostalgia, something fun and lighthearted.

At first, it was. I laughed a lot. The first video was my sister’s 2nd birthday party, so I watched her open presents and play with toys and blow out the candles on her cake.

Then the camera panned around the room and I saw everyone in attendance — both my grandmas, all my uncles and aunts and cousins and great-aunts and everyone in one room, laughing and joking and telling stories.

It hit me like a freight train.

Over half of the people in that shot were either dead or estranged. Most of them hate each other now. Some I haven’t seen in years. Others I’ll never see again.

The footage cut and continued to a few days after her birthday party. My sister was on the couch watching TV while my dad chattered from behind the camera.

“Taylor, what are you doing?”

She grins.

“Look at that smile.” He laughs.

“Taylor, I love you. I love you Taylor. I love you.”

I had to pause to get tissues. My chest hurt. I felt lightheaded.

Look at everything we’ve lost.

I would never have that life again. No big family coming together happily for a birthday party. No dad cooing from behind the camera, just proud to be a father. No watching my parents be in love. It’s gone. It’s all gone.

And I can’t keep pretending it doesn’t bother me.

Is it any wonder why I don’t want to date because I know they’ll always leave? Why I don’t make new friends, because they’ll leave too? Why I hate leaving my apartment because I know my cat will die, or leaving my car because I know they’ll tow it away even though they have no reason to? Why I refuse to get a regular salaried job because I know they’ll fire me and I’ll lose everything — my home, my stuff, my life?

Is it any wonder I’m afraid?

I know that if I never grieve, I’ll always have that clinging onto me. I’ll always be scared to do anything, to gain anything, because I’ll always be afraid that I might lose it again.

So as much as I dislike it, I have to confront where I’ve been. I have to accept loss and find ways to move forward with it.

It hurts. It hurts so much.

But carrying it with me every single day is so, so much worse.

My Girlfriend Failed A Loyalty Test And Had A Complete MELTDOWN After I Told Her It Was Over

Human relationships and the turmoil that can occur. Ugh! I am so very glad that I past that stage in my life. It’s so difficult for so many people.

Have you ever discovered that you or your friend’s drink was drugged or tampered with?

It was 80’s Florida, a party at some college students’ apartment. My older sister, 18 and I, 16, went. My sis didn’t do drugs and wasn’t a big drinker. After a couple hours, we were standing outside talking, all was normal. The next second, my sis couldn’t stand up. She just slumped to the ground as if all her bones had suddenly disintegrated. Luckily her bf was there too – between the two of us we managed to get her in the back of the car and outta there. When we got home we put her in her bed and explained to mom what had happened. As she didn’t drink much or do drugs, somebody must have spiked her drink. Luckily she was with us when it took effect, or God knows what would have happened.

Gender aging

What was the shortest interview you’ve had that led to a job offer?

The department store personnel director lady slid the familiar-looking booklet across her desk. “It’s just a short test we give all our applicants,” she said. “You have five minutes.” I glanced down at the first page. “Uh … I really can’t take this test,” I told her. She looked puzzled. “And why not?” I smiled. “Because I know all the answers,” I replied. She smirked. “Well, I guess we’ll see about THAT, won’t we?”

It wasn’t an idle boast. During my sophomore year of college I did an internship at a local mental health clinic where I administered and scored various tests. In addition to personality profiles, many of our clients were given a timed, multiple choice IQ test that had been developed by the military. It was the same test the store personnel lady had just handed me. I’d scored hundreds of them. And, with lots of practice, I’d memorized the answer key.

It took less than a minute to color in all of the little circles on the answer sheet. “Did you even bother to read the questions?” she asked. “Sort of,” I replied. End of interview.

My mother was standing by the phone as I walked through the kitchen door. “The store just called,” she said. “They want to offer you a job.” I climbed back into my car and returned to the store where the flustered personnel lady spent the next few minutes gushing over my “highest ever” test score. I was quickly ushered into the store manager’s office. My test was on his desk. “How?” he asked. He cradled his head in his hand and tried hard not to laugh as I recounted my repeated attempts to explain my knowledge of and experience with the test I’d just aced.

“So you really did know all the answers,” he said with a smile. Yup.

The job was mine.

Why does everyone say China’s economy is doing so badly when they are growing at 5.4% according to the IMF?

It is doing badly

No point in being an Ostrich. After all we can’t be like our Indian brothers

Two of its largest earners – Exports and Real Estate have taken a hit plus due to the Global slowdown and Fed interest rates , Investments are in mild net outflow

The point is SO ARE OTHER ECONOMIES

They are doing way worse than China which is not being covered in any way by anyone

The Narrative is that China is the only economy that is doing badly, giving the illusion that every other economy is booming and thriving

That’s the problem and that is propaganda

Every Economy has good and bad points

China’s bad points are it’s Real Estate, it’s Exports , it’s Investment outflow and it’s Local Government Debt

Yet it’s good points are it’s surging domestic demand, domestic consumption, very strong fiscal stability and very low National Debt for a GDP of that size

It’s Resilience so to speak of

The Western Media continuously harp on the negative aspects of Chinas economy while ignoring the positive aspects completely

The Western Media almost always harp on the positive aspects of countries like USA while turning a blind eye to the negative aspects

The reason is over the last two years or so, the Western Media and the Western Nations have decided to go back to the DEMOCRACY IS THE BEST MODEL mode

Thus they target primarily China and Russia for all the flaws and illustrate that both nations are likely to collapse any minute

Putin doesn’t care too much

He has his Oil and Gas and his army and he simply has no dependence on the US. He knows at the end of the day, for thirty years at least, maybe forty, the world needs his Oil badly and as long as he sells Oil, he gets whatever imports he wants

Besides at 2 Trillion, Russia isn’t an Economic threat to the West

Their threat is Military and hence the barrage of so called Russian Military Collapses predicted since 2022 May by every Western Journalist

Xi meanwhile is dependent on the West today for a lot of business and so he can’t say f*** you like Putin can

Besides at $ 19 Trillion, China is an economic threat to the US directly rather than a Military one

So the narrative is one sided, badly one sided

The reality is US and Europe are doing worse than China

Its just a bad time for the Global Economy due to three years of Covid led economic fracture plus the Ukraine conflict plus now Gaza

People are in recession mode and aren’t jumping to buy stuff and build stuff, the way they were in 2016–2017

Democracies hide and sugar coat the issues they face due to election fears

China faces the problems head on

That’s the simple difference

In 1917…

China

Excerpts from some speeches:

Mr. President,

China is a socialist country, and a developing country as well. China belongs to the Third World. 

Consistently following Chairman Mao’s teachings, the Chinese Government and people firmly support all oppressed peoples and oppressed nations in their struggle to win or defend national independence, develop the national economy and oppose colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism. 

This is our bounden internationalist duty. China is not a superpower, nor will she ever seek to be one. What is a superpower? 

A superpower is an imperialist country which everywhere subjects other countries to its aggression, interference, control, subversion or plunder and strives for world hegemony. If capitalism is restored in a big socialist country, it will inevitably become a superpower. 

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which has been carried out in China in recent years, and the campaign of criticizing Lin Piao and Confucius now under way throughout China, are both aimed at preventing capitalist restoration and ensuring that socialist China will never change her colour and will always stand by the oppressed peoples and oppressed nations.

If one day China should change her colour and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social-imperialism, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.

Deng’s speech represents Mao’s attitude and is also a declaration from the PRC government to the world.

This speech actually represents China’s long-standing foreign policy and national positioning:

mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non- interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.

Wolf Formation

Were you aware that a Chinese fighter jet intercepted a Canadian surveillance plane taking part in a UN operation to enforce sanctions against North Korea?

FFS, it was not an intercept. No one got shot at or shot down.

The Canadian plane was there, far away from home. The Chinese plane was there, close to home. They flew together for a while, but the Canadian crew got anxious. Perhaps they know that they do no have a real excuse to be there.

If and when a Chinese military plane ever flies close to the Canadian coast, a Canadian flight might do the same.

The last time an errant Chinese balloon drifted over the North American continent, it was shot down. That is what you’d call an intercept.

Let’s stop with the hypocrisy and the hyperbole.

No action…

Biden Sends “War Powers” Notification to Congress over Gaza Situation

HitchBOT, hitchhiking robot, gets beheaded in Philly – CNN

Al Jazeera is reporting utterly massive and continuous bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip; unlike anything seen so far. They believe a ground offensive has begun. ALL COMMUNICATIONS CUT OFF. Phones, Fax, Internet, Cellular all off.

Russian Television (RT) reports complete loss of contact with their crew inside Gaza. Even TV satellite uplinks are not working; possibly being JAMMED.

Sources in and around Gaza are claiming that the Artillery, Tank, and Airstrikes on the Northern Gaza Strip tonight are the Heaviest they have seen since the start of the War.

Israeli naval vessels have begun shelling the northern tip of the Gaza Strip. This is in ADDITION to ongoing air strikes, and artillery shelling.

— Reports of General mobilization announced by Palestinian resistance in West Bank.

— IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military has ramped up airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in the last few hours: “The Air Force is striking underground targets very significantly. Ground forces are expanding the ground activity this evening.“

–Palestinian Red Crescent says it has lost contact with its operations headquarters in Gaza.

— IDF Spokesman Hagari announces: “The ground forces are expanding ground operations this evening”

— IDF set to expand ground operations in Gaza tonight; Israel considers giving up on hostage deal & fully invading Gaza.

— U.S. President Biden has just been Briefed by his National Security Team on Updates regarding the Situation in Israel and Gaza:

Iran Foreign Minister: “They pressed the button.” (HT remark: I take this to mean the Ground Offensive is a “Go.” )

— Israeli Channel 12: “Israel abandons the prisoner deal and prepares for ground entry.”

— Israeli Diplomatic Officials have stated tonight that they believe Hamas has been “Dragging their Feet” on Hostage Negotiations within Qatar in order to Delay or Halt an Israeli Invasion of the Gaza Strip, and that despite the claims made the last few days by U.S, Egyptian, and Qatari Officials there is No Breakthrough that has been seen; further stating that they are Finished with Waiting.

UPDATE 3:48 PM EDT —

Columns of Israeli tanks are on the move, approaching the Gaza Border north of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun:

— Hamas official tells the Financial Times the organization ‘did not expect this much of a response from America’ after the 7th of October attack, adding ‘what we are seeing now is the entrance of the US into the battle, and this we didn’t count on’.

3:50 PM EDT — Hamas: We hold Israel, Washington, and Western capitals responsible for the massacres in Gaza.

— Oil prices surge by 3% over Middle East tensions

— Hamas calls on Arab countries and the international community to help ‘stop the crimes and massacres against our people’

***** BULLETIN *****

3:54 PM EDT —

ISRAELI TANKS ARE NOW STORMING INTO GAZA

Israeli Tanks have crossed the Border Fence into the Northern Gaza Strip near the City of Beit Hanoun.

— Gold hits $2,000 an ounce for the first time in five months

— Oil just spiked 3% and rising.

UPDATE 4:02 PM EDT —

Israeli tanks have just now begun crossing the Northern Border into Gaza.

4:05 PM EDT — Hamas-Linked Accounts are claiming that Israeli Tank has been Struck by an Anti-Tank Guided Missile and Destroyed to the East of Beit Hanou in Northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, up at the West Bank . . . . There is a shootout between Hamas and the IDF at the Nitzani Oz checkpoint in the Tulkarm region. Three homemade bombs were thrown at Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint.

***** FLASH *****

Update from Israeli Defense Force: “The Expanded Activity into Gaza Is Not The Anticipated Larger Operation”

— The Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs states that the Israeli Invasion of the Gaza Strip has begun.

4:10 PM EDT — Large IDF infantry & armored forces operating in several towns; exchanges of fire and massive airstrikes reported

4:12 PM EDT — JUST IN: Rocket attacks have begun against U.S. facilities in both Syria and Iraq.

NOW ALSO IN THE WEST BANK — The city of Nablus is uprising against the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Thousands taking to the streets.

4:16 PM EDT — The map below shows where Israeli forces have entered the northern Gaza Strip:

— this may be a probing attack . . .

— Adviser to Israel’s PM says military operations are underway and ‘when this is over, Gaza will be very different’.

— Explosions reported in another US illegal base in Kharab al-Jir area in Hasakah Syria.

Entire West Bank Erupting:

4:21 PM EDT — Large Explosions have now also been reported at the Al-Omar Oil Fields in Northwestern Syria which houses a U.S. Operations Base.

4:24 PM EDT —

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM . . . . . . .

Reports of Egyptian Air Force and Israeli Air Force airborne over the EGYPT/ISRAELI border at Eilat and Taba.

Why did Egypt put fighter jets up, and why is Israel mirroring them?

MORE:

Just-in: Egypt deployed air defense systems to the Sinai Peninsula. Well, Egypt certainly isn’t doing that over the Palestinians . . . is Egypt going to war against Israel?

UPDATE 4:31 PM EDT —

Houthis in Yemen are launching ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel.

— IDF infantry and armored forces are now operating in Bureij, Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip, with gunfire and heavy airstrikes reported.

EGYPT . . . .

Grand Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb condemns what Israel is doing now in Gaza as ‘blind terrorism, clear violation of all conventions, norms’

FROM INSIDE GAZA VIA SOURCE WITH Turkish cellular SIM Card:

“The area of Beit Hanoun adjacent to the Erez crossing point is being annihilated into oblivion”

DUGIN IN RUSSIA: “Israel has just declared the beginning of ground operation in Gaza. The Judgment Day is announced. Now the most important events have to follow. All US efforts to prevent or at least to delay it were in vain. This is the war between islamic world and collective West.”

4:38 PM EDT — Initial Reports of Explosions over the City of Eilat in Southern Israel.

— Turkish President Erdogan is urging residents to come out tomorrow for a rally in support of Palestine.

— Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades says it is confronting Israeli ground incursion into Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip; violent clashes taking place on the ground

4:57 PM EDT — In the Update above showing 4:31 PM, I reported Yemen was launching Ballistic Missiles at Israel. At the Update above showing 4:38 PM, I reported “Explosions over the city of Eliat” Israel. Moments ago, Hezbollah’s official channel posted a message from a member of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement with a single word: ‘Eilat’ — following recent explosions in the southern Israeli city. Hezbollah had previously hinted at involvement if Israel pursued a ground invasion. With it’s posting saying “Eliat” Yemen becomes the first outside country to attack Israel over the Gaza situation.

USELESS . . .

UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution calling for an “immediate, permanent and sustained humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza and demanding a cessation of hostilities immediately. (HT Remark: Useless words, from Useless people in a Useless organization. The UN should be dissolved.)

Naval Assault By Israel

SPAIN . . .

Spain’s social rights minister says after communications cut off in Gaza, “The objective is clear; they want even more impunity to commit the worst atrocities’

UPDATE 5:08 PM EDT —

Claims now POURING IN saying a Yemen Missile struck Eliat,Israel and this photo is ALLEGEDLY the aftermath of that hit:

— Senior Pentagon official: CVN 69 aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower has passed through the Strait of Hormuz and will be in the waters of the Persian Gulf.

***** BULLETIN *****

UPDATE 5:12 PM EDT —

Syrian army artillery in Daraa has begun shelling Israeli army positions in the Golan Heights. Syria now becomes the SECOND outside country to begin attacking Israel over the Gaza situation. At this hour, Yemen and Syria are now, apparently, in this fight.

UPDATE 5:17 PM EDT —

Al Jazeera reporter Wael al-Dahduh: “We are not all right. Human body parts are everywhere. Missiles are aimed at everyone. The bombing (of Gaza) does not stop for a second.”

********** URGENT **********

5:19 PM EDT —

Coastal areas of Gaza report that American troops of the Delta Force unit are fighting on the ground. (I am attempting to verify or corroborate these CLAIMS. I __did__ call the Pentagon Press Office. It went like this: “Hello this is Hal Turner with radio stations WBCQ and WRMI. I am receiving reports that American troops from the Delta Force allegedly made entry into the Gaza Strip and are engaged in battle. Does the Pentagon have any comment to make? The reply: ‘Not at this time.” Sooooo, they didn’t confirm it, but they also didn’t DENY it.)

5:40 PM EDT —

Reports of Heavy LOSSES of Israeli armored vehicles (including tanks) destroyed, and Soldiers KILLED.

RELATED: The Dutch embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, urges all Dutch citizens to leave Iraq immediately.

UPDATE 5:44 PM EDT —

President of Belarus: “Any attack on Iran will lead to the third world war.”

— Two Senior U.S. Officials have told CBS News that the Israeli Strikes and Ground Operations tonight in the Gaza Strip appear to be the “Rolling Start” to the Full-Scale Invasion of Gaza.

UPDATE 7:00 PM EDT —

The U.S. State Dept. recommends that U.S. citizens in Lebanon leave now while commercial flights remain available due to the unpredictable security situation. Please see available flight options at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport

— Israeli Channel 14 says “Disappointment for our army tonight”

— MILITARY OBSERVERS: Israeli army has so far failed with a ground invasion and is practicing a scorched earth policy through indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.

***** FLASH *****

UPDATE 8:09 PM EDT —

North Korean leader Kim Jung Un in a Special Announcement to the people of North Korea, announced: “We are on the threshold of World War III and everyone must prepare.”

— “Moses Staff” an Iranian computer-hacker group warning Israel: “You will undergo irreparable damage in the field of cyber and infrastructure. From now on you should pay for each spilled blood. Wait for huge combined attacks. Our target is clear, specified and accurate”

— Military Analyst of Israeli Channel 14: The first land operation is a complete disappointment. The government is gambling with the lives of soldiers.

— Israeli Media is reporting that Thousands of Israeli Troops alongside Hundreds of Tanks and Armored Vehicles have entered the Northern Gaza Strip tonight near the City of Beit Hanoun with Heavy and Difficult Fighting against Terrorist Forces ongoing.

— Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said there are ‘no talks’ currently taking place between the group and Israel over a potential ceasefire and prisoner exchange.

— The Israeli army received a devastating blow on the outskirts of Bureij camp, and the tanks were burning as if they were toys and dolls — Walla News

UPDATE 8:19 PM EDT –

In New York City RIGHT NOW, thousands of people are engaging in a “sit-in” at Grand Central Station. The event, organized by Jews, DEMANDS an immediate cease fire and saying:

WE’RE TAKING OVER THE GRAND CONCOURSE. WE’RE REFUSING TO ALLOW A GENOCIDE BE CARRIED OUT IN OUR NAMES. CEASEFIRE NOW! NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE!

— A source in the Palestinian resistance to Al-Mayadeen: “Israeli army is in a state of hit and run and has not been able to stabilize any of its forces in the main effort areas northeast, northwest, and central in Al-Bureij, therefore it intensifies the shelling at the fronts where they intend to advance.”

UPDATE 10:25 PM EDT —

Palestinian sources report that Israeli forces have stormed the Jalazone camp in the West Bank.

— STATEMENT FROM HAMAS LEADER ALI BARAKA ON THE GAZA GENOCIDE

“Bleeding for the people of the Arab nation. The failure of the ground attack launched by the occupation forces on the Gaza Strip through three fronts, and there are heavy losses among the enemy’s ranks in terms of soldiers and equipment.

The enemy fell into ambushes prepared by the Palestinian resistance on a number of fronts, and since the beginning of the battle there have been defensive plans against any attempt.

Kornet missiles and Yassin missiles were used to repel the attack, and we expect the enemy to try again.

The Israeli occupation used helicopters to evacuate the wounded and dead from the battlefield.”

UPDATE 10:31 PM EDT —

Biden sends War Powers Notification to US Congress.

He will move on

Biden Forced To Call Off His Plans For Ethnic Cleansing Of Gaza

The U.S. government under Joe Biden had developed plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza by moving all of its 2.3 million people into Egypt:

Harry Sisson @harryjsisson – 2:44 UTC · Oct 11, 2023

Amazing: President Biden is working on a plan with other countries that would allow civilians to safely leave Gaza and cross the border into Egypt. This is great news. President Biden is making sure that innocent people don’t die due to the actions of Hamas. That’s leadership.

The NSC spokesperson had confirmed that plan:

US ‘actively working’ to establish safe corridor for Gaza civilians: White House – Yeni Safak – Oct 12, 2023

The US is in active talks with Israel and Egypt to establish “safe passage” corridors for civilians in Gaza to flee ongoing Israeli airstrikes, the White House said Wednesday amid an expected ground offensive in the besieged enclave.

“We’re actively discussing this with our Israeli and our Egyptian counterparts, we support safe passions for civilians. Civilians are not to blame for what Hamas has done. They didn’t do anything wrong,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House.

“We are actively working on this with Egyptian and our Israeli counterparts. Civilians are protected under the laws of armed conflict, and they should be given every opportunity to avoid the fighting,” he added.

This all was based on a plan originally developed by radical Zionist within the government of Israel:

Leaked: Israeli plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza – The Cradle – Oct 29, 2023

Israeli culture magazine Mekovit published on 28 October a leaked document issued by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence recommending the occupation of Gaza and total transfer of its 2.3 million inhabitants to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The document, issued on 13 October, identifies a plan to transfer all residents of the Gaza Strip to North Sinai as the preferred option among three alternatives regarding the future of the Palestinians in Gaza at the end of the current war between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance.

The document recommends that Israel evacuate the Gazan population to Sinai during the war, establish tent cities and new cities in northern Sinai to accommodate the deported population, and then create a closed security zone stretching several kilometers inside Egypt. The deported Palestinians would not be allowed to return to any areas near the Israeli border.

Egypt of course rejected any such plans. As I had explained:

Netanyahoo’s Strategic Dilemma – Moon of Alabama – Oct 21, 2023

Israel, with the help of the U.S., has tried to push the population of Gaza into Egypt. From Egypt’s standpoint that would be a humanitarian solution, at least as long as others pay for it. But it would cause a serious strategic problem. Resistance by Hamas and others against Israel would continue indefinitely, but Egypt would be held responsible for it.It can not and will not take on that burden.

Despite that logic the White House continued to proceed with its plan. Its request to Congress to finance the wars in the Ukraine and Gaza with up to $106 billion included these lines (pg 40):

Letter regarding critical national security funding needs for FY 2024 – White House – Oct 20, 2023

These resources would support displaced and conflict-affected civilians, including Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank, and to address potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries. This would include food and non- food items, healthcare, emergency shelter support, water and sanitation assistance, and emergency protection. This would also include potential critical humanitarian infrastructure costs needed for the refugee population to provide access to basic, life-sustaining support. This crisis could well result in displacement across border and higher regional humanitarian needs, and funding may be used to meet evolving programming requirements outside of Gaza.

Russia had called out the plan for the nonsense it is:

Middle East and Central Asia. Lavrov on the interests of the USA and the West, parallels with Ukraine – Belta – Oct 28, 2023

“It is clear that such an approach is disastrous, because if the Gaza Strip is destroyed, if two million residents are driven out, as some politicians in Israel and abroad are implying, this will create a catastrophe that will last for many decades, if not centuries,” Sergey Lavrov noted.

Backed by Russia the Egyptian resistance against the plan continued. A phone call held yesterday finally buried it:

Sisi, Biden probe developments of Gaza escalation, reject displacement of Palestinians – Ahram Online – Oct 29, 2023

During the call, El-Sisi reiterated Egypt’s firm rejection of policies that collectively punish and displace the Palestinian people.

Biden, for his part, affirmed to El-Sisi that the US likewise rejects the displacement of Palestinians outside their homeland, expressing his appreciation for the positive role played by Egypt in this crisis, said Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.

The call touched upon the importance of preventing the expansion of the conflict into the region, added Fahmy.

During the call, El-Sisi reiterated Egypt’s firm rejection of policies that collectively punish and displace the Palestinian people. Biden, for his part, affirmed to El-Sisi that the US likewise rejects the displacement of Palestinians outside their homeland, expressing his appreciation for the positive role played by Egypt in this crisis, said Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.

Biden was forced to publicly declare that his plans for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza were called off:

President Biden @POTUS – 21:23 UTC · Oct 29, 2023

I also spoke with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to share my appreciation for Egypt facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

We reaffirmed our commitment to work together and discussed the importance of protecting civilian lives, respect for international humanitarian law, and ensuring that Palestinians in Gaza are not displaced to Egypt or any other nation.

This is another failure of the dimwit policies cooked up by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and SecState Anthony Blinken as directed by their Zionist puppeteers.

I for one support all plans that would allow them to safely leave Washington DC. They can move to Antarctica or to wherever the climate is severe enough to cool their genocidal moods.

Posted by b on October 30, 2023 at 9:35 UTC | Permalink

Mommy issues

Do soldiers in war ever help the enemy?

Of course. There are many instances. One of the most conspicuous was the case of Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld. He not only died to help a wounded American soldier during the battle of Hürtgen Forest, but is one of the very few Germans honored by his American enemies who in the 50th anniversary of the battle set up a monument in his honor. Here is an excerpt of the story:

By November 10, Lengfeld’s company was exhausted. The group had been decimated, and those who survived hadn’t bathed in days. Everyone was suffering from a serious bout of lice, hunger, malnutrition, and severe cold, as well as damp because of the snow and rain.

They had been fighting over a forester’s lodge in the woods to the south of where the Hürtgen War Cemetery now stands. At the time, the lodge had been used as a shelter by both sides depending on who held it.

The structure was beside a minefield the Germans called “Wilde Sau” (wild sow) and despite its decrepit condition, it provided some shelter from the elements. The following day, Lengfeld lost two men from sniper fire, so they prepared for another attack.

Later that evening, the US 12th Infantry captured the lodge, causing Lengfeld to lose more men. Rallying around him, they launched a counterattack and managed to drive the Americans out the following morning. As the Americans retreated, one of them ran directly into the Wilde Sau with disastrous consequences.

Though severely injured, the American survived and began calling out for help. Beside the minefield was a safe path guarded by a German machine gun. Lengfeld ordered Hubert Gees (a rifleman and his communications runner) to go to the gunner and tell him not to fire at any Americans who came to rescue the man.

Hours passed and no one came for him, either believing he was dead or because the Americans had retreated in disarray. Unable to take the man’s cries any longer, Lengfeld decided to mount a rescue himself.

The lodge was located beside a road protected with antitank mines the company had placed and knew the locations of. At around 10:30 AM, Lengfeld led a team of medics beside the road till he got opposite the American soldier. He then went into the minefield, but as he got off the safety of the path, he stepped on a hidden anti-personnel mine which blasted him away.

They quickly carried Lengfeld back to the lodge, but it was too late. There were two deep holes in his back, and he was suffering from serious internal injuries. They managed to get him to the First Aid Station in Froitzheim where he died later that evening.

The identity of the American soldier remains unknown.

The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was one of the longest battles fought in WWII, lasting from September 1944 until February 1945 at a cost of some 33,000 American lives and about 28,000 German ones.

Despite this, Lieutenant Colonel John Ruggles, former Regimental Executive Officer of the 22nd Infantry felt compelled to honor Lengfeld’s heroism during the battle’s 50th anniversary. And that’s why veterans of the 22nd US Infantry Society set up a monument in his honor at the cemetery.

In part, it reads: No man hath greater love than he who layeth down his life for his enemy

Lt. Lengfeld was 23 years old.

All three mistakes

What are the first things you notice when you become homeless?

I think the very first thing you notice is people’s behavior towards you changing.

Even before you are on the streets, even before you notice how random strangers now treat you differently, call the cops on you for existing, or feel justified in harassing or persecuting you…

Before that, you learn that for so many of the people you considered to be friends, you dont exist anymore. You learn who your real friends and family are, who the people are that will actually stand by you, even in tough times. Often, there are not that many.

The other thing that you learn a lot about is how much people waste.

How much food, clothes, furniture, space, money, how so much of everything is being wasted.

When you live on other people’s scraps, you develop an eye for waste.

It is amazing how much stuff people throw away, most of it perfectly good.

It is also super interesting to see how incredibly protective people are of their garbage! They were throwing it out a second ago to be destroyed, but if you take it, that would be the end of the world. I think it might be because when you take it, it induces cognitive dissonance as people see that the stuff they are throwing out is actually useful.

You notice a lot of other things too. For example that poor people are a lot more tolerant, and willing to help than rich people. To poor people, you are human, but as socioeconomic level rises, things change.
One time one of my friends received some change from someone wearing a suit. We celebrated the event, it was too rare an occasion not to.

Also, you notice how little a roof actually matters, compared to other things.

Is sleeping in a shelter worth the loss of half your day, the loss of your safety, being treated like an animal, suffering withdrawal symptoms, and abandoning your dog? Yeah, no, I’ll find some cardboard somewhere instead, thank you very much.

Edit: and one more that I forgot to mention: Homeless invisibility!

As I sat on the streets, I often pondered what an incredible spy I would make.

Being homeless was sometimes kind of like looking at life from an alternate dimension, where I could see and hear others, but they could not see me, hear me, or notice me.

I could be waving, and speaking to them, but I might as well not have existed, no reaction at all.
Sometimes, I was almost able to get through to some people.
They didn’t quite seem to actually notice me, or ever look at me, but they would speed up a little, or make a detour around me. Perhaps some kind of 6th sense allowed them to feel my presence, even though they could not see or hear me? Maybe this is where the reports of ghosts and other such paranormal experiences come from?

Adaptation

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

This happened years ago, before I had kids. I was on a flight, sitting in the window seat, minding my own business as people boarded. A young woman with a child sat in the middle seat next to me. I figured the child had the aisle seat, but no, someone else had that seat.

Now the rules then were that a child could be a free lap-rider up until the age of 2 years, then were required to purchase a seat.

This was the biggest 2 year old I have ever seen or the mother was pulling one over on the airline. Now they require a birth certificate if there is any doubt the age of the child.

Everything was fine until the plane took off. At that point the child decided they needed to see out the window and walked onto my lap to see the view.

Mother didn’t even flinch.

Just kept encouraging the child to see the view. She then slipped on headphones and buried her nose in a magazine.

Over the next two hours the child stomped all over me, demanded my attention, and prevented me from eating or drinking anything.

The flight attendants repeatedly asked the mother to keep her child on her lap, and she would for as long as it took for the FA to walk away. The flight attendants kept mouthing ‘sorry’ to me the whole flight.

I decided to suck it up for the child and since it was a short flight to just deal with it. As I stood to disembark the plane, after the mother and child had already left, all of the flight attendants hugged me, shoved extra snacks into my hands and thanked me over and over.

I ended up leaving with a big smile on my face. People like that mother are the reason the rest of us have to deal with so many rules and regulations.

Creole Cabbage Rolls

Add a Creole twist to stuffed cabbage roll recipes. These Creole Cabbage Rolls are stuffed with ground beef, Italian sausage, onions and Zatarain’s Spanish Rice, covered in rich tomato sauce. A delicious dinner recipe, or enjoy as a cold weather meal any time of day.

Prep: 30 min | Bake: 45 min | Yield: 15 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1 1/2 cups water
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 package Zatarain’s® Spanish Rice
1 head cabbage, core removed
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

Instructions

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and sausage; cook and stir until no longer pink.
Stir in water, diced tomatoes and Rice Mix; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until rice is tender.
Remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts lightly salted water to boil in large sauce pot. Drop cabbage, stem-side down, into water. Reduce heat to low; simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove cabbage and carefully remove outer leaves. Return cabbage to simmering water; simmer until outer leaves have softened.
Repeat simmering and removal of cabbage leaves as necessary.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place about 1/3 cup of rice stuffing near core end of each cabbage leaf. Fold in sides of leaf over stuffing, then roll up. Place rolls, seam-side down, in 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Pour tomato sauce over top.
Bake for 45 minutes or until cabbage rolls are tender.

Notes

Variation: Top cabbage rolls with 1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

What could have been awesome if people hadn’t ruined it?

Hitchbot, the hitchhiking robot.

Hitchbot was created by two Canadian professors. According to his creators, he came to fruition in order to see if robots could trust human beings. Hitchbot could not walk, he was only able to speak. Still, he could relate facts and carry on basic conversations. Using just these abilities, the professors wanted to see if he could travel across countries only by hitchhiking.

For a while their plan worked!

Through the kindness of people, Hitchbot had traveled across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. Along the way, Hitchbot had cruised the canals of Amsterdam, spent a week with a heavy metal band, and been a part of a wave at a Red Sox game.

Unfortunately, his good fortune would not continue.

Starting on July 17, 2015, Hitchbot would start on his fourth and final journey: attempting to travel from Boston to San Francisco.

After about two weeks, Hitchbot met his sad demise in Philadelphia. The robot was found stripped and decapitated, broken beyond repair. Photos were tweeted of his body, but the head was never found.

Hitchbot could have been a testament to human kindness, and for a while he was. But, ultimately, people had to ruin what could have been an awesome thing.

Still, regardless of his destruction, there was a strong outpouring across the Internet mourning his demise. Despite the poor actions of a few individuals, Hitchbot was able to touch the lives of many.

He remained upbeat all the way up to his passing. His last words are below.

“My trip must come to an end for now, but my love for humans will never fade,” the bot said. “Thank you to all my friends.”

Sources:

Hitchhiking Robot, Safe in Several Countries, Meets Its End in Philadelphia

hitchBOT – Wikipedia

Power Dynamic

What office rule made you say “Really?”

We had a no alcohol in the office rule. But we were having a summer BBQ put on by the company, which featured a keg of beer. The BBQ was on the lawn in front of the office. One of my coworkers had to use the washroom, and didnt want to put down their red solo cup, with the 10 other identical red solo cups, that were sitting on top of the flower box, by the entrance to the office.

I doubt they even thought about it, they just walked into the washroom, and put their cup on the counter by the sink. One of the bosses walked into the washroom, and started giving him heck, saying that he was going to write him up, and that this was a serious offence. It was, the company had fired someone, for picking up a bottle of wine at lunch, and putting it in his desk, to take home for dinner.

Another coworker was leaving the washroom at the time, and came and got us, and asked us all to bring our beer cups with us to the washroom. We couldn’t even fit in the washroom, we were backed up down the hall.

The boss seeing how big a fuss this was going to be, backed down and said people would only get a verbal warning this time.

Its pretty ridiculous, that a company has a no alcohol in the office policy, but supplies alcohol on the property, where the only washroom is in the office.

What is something about human psychology that almost nobody knows?

By exercising daily, your risk of catching a cold, flu, or some serious form of infection is dramatically reduced;
Don’t punish people in your present for the actions of people in your past;
About 80% of human conversations are complaints;
People with low self-esteem are more likely to put others down;
If you want to do more than meet the expectations of society’s life plan, create your own definition of success;
Growth comes from doing what we don’t want or are afraid to do;
Your physical pain, as well as fear and stress, can be alleviated by holding the hand of someone you love;
Even the illusion of progress can be motivating;
The beginning and the end are always easier to remember;
All advice is guided by the experience of the person;
Mental health is just as important as physical health. Emotions are real. Get comfortable with them. Understand that what you feel is normal. You are not less because of how you feel. Find a good therapist before you need one;
Getting a good night’s sleep, eating healthy foods, and being physically active are essential to staying healthy throughout your life!

What a good man wants…

Do you think democracy is a failure? Why & why not?

Democracy isn’t a failure. When implemented correctly, democracy works very well.

The problem is the US isn’t a democracy.

Yes, yes, I hear you. Technically speaking, the US is a republic, and we use “representative democracy.” Yes, I took Political Science 101 in college, just like you. So shut up for once.

The US isn’t even a “representative democracy.”

The US system is a plutocracy or rule of wealth.

Thank Citizen United, our system is entirely dominated by money. People with great wealth have great influence over our policy. Our representatives in the House and Senate are bought and sold by interest groups. You want single-payer universal health care? LOL, the insurance interests group will kill whatever bill you bring to the floor with super PACs. Do you want to be reelected? Better not hurt the status quo. Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s start another war in the Middle East because weapon manufacturers and military-industrial complexes are paying for my next election.

We might not be able to do much as individual voters, but we can put in the effort to be informed voters. Vote in local elections. Read about policies. Do your research on the candidate you vote for and pay special attention to who’s paying for their campaigns. Donate to candidates who rely on individual donors instead of Super PACs.

And, more than anything, overturn Citizen United Vs. FEC. Money isn’t speech. Political donations should not be protected. Remove money from the election so we can actually have a democracy.

Pre Birth Plan: Woman Volunteers for INSANE HARDSHIPS to Help Earth SHIFT!

All at once

I watched a very interesting movie. It’s an American-Chinese joint venture. The movie is titled “Everything everywhere all at once“.

I watched it while taking the High Speed Train from Guangzhou to JiangXi.

It was fun.

everything everywhere all at once review fight scene

It, like much of the modern Chinese contemporaneous movies, a visual feast. Artsy and curious.

It was about world-line travel.

Fictional. Funny, Visually appealing.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American independent film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who produced it with Anthony and Joe Russo and Jonathan Wang; the film incorporates elements from a number of genres and film mediums, including absurdist fiction, comedy-drama, surreal comedy, science fiction, fantasy, martial arts films, immigrant narrative, and animation.

Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Quan Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant who, while audited by the IRS, discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse. 

The film also stars Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., and James Hong in supporting roles.

The multi-verse as described in the movie has no similarity to what I understand the MWI to be. However, I always enjoy world-line travel movies.

The film explores philosophical themes such as existentialism, nihilism, surrealism, and absurdism, as well as themes such as neurodivergence, depression, generational trauma, and Asian American identity.

The film itself is brilliant. Even if absurd.

The MWI is real, and it is valid. However, the idea in the movie that consciousness is equally shared between the world-lines is a tad distorted. Instead the centering of consciousness on a given world-line is the actual REALITY within this universe.

At a tense meeting with IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre, Waymond's body is taken over by Alpha-Waymond, a version of Waymond from the "Alphaverse."

Alpha-Waymond explains to Evelyn that many parallel universes exist because every life choice creates a new alternative universe.

In the Alphaverse, the late Alpha-Evelyn developed "verse-jumping" technology, which enables people to access the skills, memories, and bodies of their parallel selves by performing bizarre actions that are statistically unlikely.

The multiverse is threatened by Jobu Tupaki (Alpha-Joy), whose mind was splintered after Alpha-Evelyn pushed her to verse-jump beyond her endurance; Jobu experiences all universes at once and can verse-jump and manipulate matter at will.

She has created a black hole-like "Everything Bagel" topped with everything,^[18] which appears as a toroid singularity^[19] that could destroy the multiverse.

Evelyn is given verse-jumping technology to fight Jobu's minions, who converge on the IRS building.

She discovers other universes in which she made different choices and flourished, such as becoming a kung fu master and film star; she also learns of Waymond's plans with the divorce papers.

Alpha-Waymond believes that Evelyn, as the greatest "failure" of all Evelyns in the multiverse, has the untapped potential to defeat Jobu.

Gong Gong is taken over by Alpha-Gong Gong, who instructs Evelyn to kill Joy to stop Jobu from using her to enter Evelyn's universe.

Evelyn refuses and decides to face Jobu by gaining powers through repeated verse-jumping.

Alpha-Gong Gong, convinced that Evelyn's mind has been compromised like Jobu's, sends soldiers after Evelyn.

While they fight, Jobu locates and kills Alpha-Waymond in the Alphaverse.

As Jobu confronts Evelyn in her universe, Evelyn's mind splinters, and she collapses.

Evelyn uncontrollably verse-jumps alongside Jobu across bizarre and diverse universes.

Jobu reveals she does not want to fight at all, but that instead, she has been searching for an Evelyn who can see, as she does, that nothing matters, while killing the Evelyns that do not agree with her.

She brings Evelyn to the Everything Bagel, explaining that she wants to use it to allow herself and Evelyn to truly die.

Upon looking into the Bagel, Evelyn is initially persuaded, and behaves cruelly and nihilistically in her other universes, hurting those around her.

As Evelyn is about to enter the Bagel with Jobu, she pauses to listen to Waymond's pleas in her universe for everybody to stop fighting and to instead be kind, even when life does not make sense.

Evelyn has an existentialist epiphany and decides to follow Waymond's absurdist^[20] and humanist^[21] advice, using her multiverse powers to fight with empathy^[22] and bring happiness to those around her; in doing so, she repairs her damage in the other universes and neutralizes Alpha-Gong Gong and Jobu's fighters.

In her home universe, Evelyn reconciles with Waymond, accepts Joy and Becky's relationship and tells Gong Gong of it, and talks with Deirdre after Waymond convinces Deirdre to let them redo their taxes.

Jobu decides to enter the Bagel alone while, simultaneously in Evelyn's universe, Joy begs Evelyn to let her go.

Evelyn tells Joy that even when nothing makes sense and even though she could be anywhere else in the multiverse, she would always want to be with Joy.

Evelyn and the others save Jobu from the Bagel, and Evelyn and Joy embrace.

It is a fantasy. Which is still a fun illustration.

So that is OK, don’t you know.

But what does the audience get from this movie?

That there is a multi-verse; and MWI.
That you can travel between different world-lines.
That the traveling consciousness can absorb simultaneous experiences that color the actions in the reality.

I personally view this movie as an entry bridge towards enlightenment of the true and really pertinent reality that we all experience.

World-line slides… shown in the movie.

The three key points above are all in alignment with MM’s MWI narrative.

Today…

Who is the most evil person you have ever met?

Edward. We called him Crazy Ed. At 12 years of age during a family reunion he grabbed his dad’s shotgun and started shooting. He got mad at his parents over some little crap. Shot his ma, pa, aunt and was chasing his uncle but ran out of shells. In a juvenile prison, this was the 1960s, he tried to poison a few people. And beat another thug with a broom half to death before they hauled him off. He was a polite, fairly polished, soft spoken youth. Looked like a mousy little accountant, glasses and all. He told people when he got he wanted to be a hit man for the mob. He enjoyed killing. I have no doubt that’s what really became of him.

The big problem

When being terminated from a job, have you ever warned the company of something important that only you knew how to do, and your advice has gone unheeded?

I was an IT director for a company that had been acquired by a much larger company. When I declined to move to their IT location half a continent away, I was laid off. by phone. (my whole group was effectively laid off because they moved my group’s functions to the parent companies group much larger group and they all refused the move).

This was not unexpected, but the knowledge transfer had not taken place yet between the groups. (it was just beginning)

I accepted the severance package and told them we needed to call my counterpart in the corporate group to make sure the transfer was done securely.

When they asked why, I said that as an IT directory I have all the adminstrator passwords and could literally shut down the business if I was upset about the termination. I want to make sure that any issues that come up will not be pointed back at me or my team.

They agreed to conference call with my counterpart so he could take the necessary steps to secure the system.

The call went like this:

Me: Hey! You need to change all the administrator passwords on our unix servers and close out some accounts:

Him: Why?

Me: My group and I just got terminated and you need to secure these servers to make sure everything stays copacetic. You need to terminate my accounts, all access, and those of my team laid off effective immediately to protect corporate and customer assets.

Him: <explodes>What Assh*t did that? We haven’t got anyone to manage those systems, There has been no knowledge transfer on what the systems are used for, <folornly>I’m screwed!

Big Boss: That would be me. Just do it.

Him: OK, OK. I am logging on to the servers. What is the command? Oh Sh*t, I can’t ask you can I….

Big Boss (to me): This is a surprise. Would you be willing to stick around for a couple of weeks….

Me: Sorry- Even though I don’t particularly have an issue about being laid off, Corporate Security Rules identify me now as disgruntled employee and I am not allowed access to secure systems or even the building spaces.

Shock

What is the most awkward conversation you have had with your parents?

I am going to win.

When I was about 17 years old, my dad walked in on me and my then-boyfriend having sex.

The only words my dad said was, “get dressed.”

I did not go to practice that day. Instead, I had to have dinner with my dad, alone. I couldn’t even look him in the eye. I was mortified.

We tried to have small talk???? “How was your day?” “Fine, yours?”

Worst. Day. Of. My. Life.

Cajun Style Cube Steaks

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
4 (4 ounce) beef cube steaks
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 (15 ounce) can no salt added tomato sauce
1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning
2 cups hot cooked brown rice

Instructions

Place foil grilling bag on cookie sheet. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour in bag.
Arrange steaks in single layer on top of flour; top with pepper and onion.
In a small bowl stir together tomato sauce, Cajun seasonings, and remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Spread evenly over steaks and vegetables. Seal bag by double folding open end, leaving room for expansion.
Coat grill rack with nonstick cooking spray. Heat grill to medium indirect heat.
Slide bag from cookie sheet onto grill rack. Cover and grill for 35 minutes.
Remove bag from grill. Use kitchen shears to carefully cut open bag.
Fold back top for steam to escape.
Spoon steaks and vegetables over rice.

Credentialism

Do people who visit your house care if it’s straightened up or not?

We had a a couple of very dear and long- time friends coming over to watch a DVD a few evenings ago. I went into the living room to make sure the sofas were clear of books, newspapers, knitting etc, but there was still some clutter around. The odd grandkids’s toys sitting in a corner. A laptop my husband was fixing for someone In bits on the coffee table. I said to my husband “ Oh, it looks OK. It’s only Angela and Colin coming.” Then I thought that’s a horrible thing to say! But then it occurred to me – it was, in fact, a great compliment. They were like family. I don’t do a big tidy up, making it pristine, if my daughter is coming with her children. Like them, Angela and Colin are part of our lives. It’s clean and comfortable, but it doesn’t have to be “ visitor ready.” When they arrived I told them what has gone through my mind, and they agreed – they would feel the same about us.

Newlywed Has MELTDOWN After Husband Gathers Proof Of Her Cheating For Their “At Fault” Divorce State

All these stories are so sad. But this one seems to be really authentic. The human situation sucks. Ugh. I am sorry for all three people.

What is your opinion of the USA compared to other countries like Japan, China, and Australia? Why is this your opinion? What makes the USA different from these other countries in terms of culture, economy, government, etc.?

USA and Australia are clearly stolen nations or stolen continents after barbaric and phenomenally cruel slaughter of natives living in their land for centuries. These lands don’t belong to the present inhabitants and it must remind all humans in earth of what savagery and imperialism occurred during the 1600–1900 where rampant European colonialism and aggression happened throughout the world.

Australia and the Americas have to be seen as naked aggression and raped of land and destruction and real genocide whatever culture is a 200–300 years old remnants of these atrocities.

China and Japan has long history spanning thousands of years. It possesses history and philosophy of life and both nations were helped by Confucianism and its ethics of discipline, hardworking, respect for the elders and authorities and constant learning and meritocracy. Both are highly educated and very successful societies. For a while Japan was infatuated with western style colonialism. Not the Chinese as it sees that is wrong to steal other people land.

Nations that grew out of stealing land that belong to others naturally sees themselves entitled. Dominate its regions. The U.S. Latin America and Caribbean while Australia the Islanders and thinks they have a right to command South China Sea too. That to me is clearly wrong and high handed with a tinge of colonialism.

Both Australia and the U.S. benefits from the so called international rules based order that favours the west at the expense of the developing world. But that privilege is being stripped away bit by bit. And truly free competition is beyond them. Hence the huffs and puffs.

09 Things you should avoid at any cost

Never try to learn so many things at one time.
Never accept disrespect from anyone. No matter how close he/she is. Nothing is more important than self respect.
Never waste your time for anyone.If they really don’t care for you.
Never advice to people, who don’t value your advice or not interested in your advice.
Never fall in love before accomplishing the goal.
Never judge a person without knowing them.
Never demotivate anyone.
Never give to much importance to them who are not interested in you.
Never think you cannot do anything .

Men will choose the waitress that gives him peace

What steps should be taken by both the U.S. and China to ensure a stable and mutually beneficial relationship going forward?

Only one word RESPECT. Without respect US will always think their way is always the right way. China is not trying to change the U.S. liberal democracy. That is the U.S. way the U.S. sees fit for the U.S. it is the U.S. that insist China must not practice Socialism with Chinese characteristics! There lies the problem.

As long as one thinks and believed that they and only they knows best no relationship can work. The U.S. must know that to each it’s own. And one man’s meat is another man’s poison. I dare say the problem in the entire 100 years passed us that the U.S. wanted every nation on earth to be submissive and subservient to them!

China is very mature. China wants a rich and prosperous USA to sell to and to go for holidays. It doesn’t want to change a thing. The U.S. wants to weaken China. It wants China to be split into a 100 bite size nation for the U.S. to chew on it! It sees itself as the standard, the authority and the god ordained nation to rule the world.

That disrespect cannot go on. It gets no where. A 5000 years responsible civilisation cannot accept a 247 years old rogue stolen nation of cowboys telling them what to do.

This is HOW MUCH My Vending Machines Made in 365 Days!

Was attacking Gaza a wrong decision? Will Israel now be on the backfoot across the world? Will people forget the massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas after seeing the Gaza attack?

I have taken a while to collect my thoughts. Some things need to be said.

This will be a disturbing post. So let’s cling precariously to reason. Please.

Two things are obvious here. The first is that the actions by Hamas rip a new gash in the face of humanity. No thinking person can deny this. Generally reliable news agencies like Reuters [1] report:

“We’ve seen dismembered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people that were beheaded, a child that was beheaded,” a reserve warrant officer identified only by her first name of Avigayil told reporters.

She said multiple cases of rape were found by forensic examination of the bodies, which have been stored in refrigerated containers.

A large number of international journalists have viewed graphic footage [2] that documents these atrocities:

Other sequences showed a militant with an agricultural tool hacking at the head of a man lying on the ground, gunmen killing wounded female Israeli soldiers and a jubilant Hamas fighter calling his family: “I killed 10 Jews with my own hands. I’m using the dead Jewish woman’s phone to call you now.”

Only a really crazy conspiracy theorist with his underpants on his head would doubt that these terrible things are absolutely, shockingly real.∗

But there is one more thing …

The other obvious thing

Hamas planned this attack meticulously over months—almost certainly with Iranian support.

[3] Israeli intelligence failed comprehensively. But no, these are not that obvious, other thing. The second thing is the answer to the question “Why?”

One answer is “Because Hamas hate Israel, hate Jewish people, and want to erase Israel from the face of the Earth, as they have often declared”. This is almost certainly true, but it is too glib. It is not the answer. If you follow this reasoning, then Hamas are like a fox in a henhouse—ripping away until no living thing is left alive.

The problem with this glib answer is that it doesn’t make complete sense. Yes, of course those who killed 1400 Israelis and kidnapped many more did so with almost indescribable savagery. Yes, of course they went out of their way to document the bloodshed and atrocities. And yes, of course, this is a new low—by even the lowest imaginable standard.

But this is far less than half the story. Those who set up this atrocity surely knew how Israel would respond. They could predict that Israel would pummel Gaza. They invited a blockade, and an invasion by the Israeli army. So the correct answer to that “Why?” question is …

This is all going according to script

Hamas knew that this would result in a huge number of deaths of their own people in Gaza.

Hamas are hoping that thousands—or even tens of thousands—of their own people will die. They have planned for a bloody fight in Gaza, with civilians all around. They want this. They want large numbers of children to die in Gaza. This is part of the plan.

At least thirty Israeli children died. By 24 October 2023, two thousand three hundred and sixty children had died and over five thousand had been injured in Gaza. [4] This is precisely what Hamas want. It is part of their plan. It is surely what they predicted. They are malevolent—but they are not stupid. So then, why did they do this?

Why?

They knew that Benjamin Netanyahu would have no choice but to retaliate not just in kind, but on a vast scale. They knew that had he said something like:

We will not descend to their level. We will hunt down every single one of these terrorists, but we will do this in our own time. Not one will escape. We will move mountains to preserve international law, and protect innocent civilians …

… then he would have been labelled ‘weak’. He would have been out on his arse. The atrocities were so bad that people would have demanded an immediate military response from his successor. This is the main reason why the atrocities were quite deliberately so atrocious.

So thousands of children are dead, and thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians of all ages will still die. Quite according to the script that Hamas has laid out. They don’t care. In fact, it’s precisely part of the plan.

Now you asked:

Will people forget the massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas after seeing the Gaza attack?

No, of course not

That day will live in infamy. But it won’t matter.

Because the countries around Israel will also never, ever forget the vastly greater number of children who died. They will never forget Israel’s response. And here’s the truly terrible thing.

For every one who died, several more will spring up, their heart filled with hate for Israel. There are about two million people [5] packed into the Gaza strip. It’s like a vast kindergarten—and from this kindergarten, hundreds of thousands of people will emerge, and none of them will forget Israel’s actions.

Israel is running things entirely according to Hamas’ script. And when they deviate, they do so in the wrong direction …

A bonus for Hamas

Israel has even provided a few unanticipated bonuses that make things worse. For example, Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan has accused the Secretary General of the UN as follows:

[6] The UN Secretary-General, who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women, and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN. I call on him to resign immediately. There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people. There are simply no words.

This was in response to his speech on 24 October, [7] that went as follows:

I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel.

Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.

All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and without conditions. I respectfully note the presence among us of members of their families.

Excellencies,

It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.

The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.

They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.

But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Another perhaps unexpected bonus for Hamas is how Israel has cut off supplies…

Fuel

By far the most important supply Israel has cut off is fuel. No, not water. Not food. Fuel. [8]

This is because the hospitals with their thousands of bomb-injured and crushed people need fuel to run. And water cannot be pumped (or even desalinated) without fuel. Oh yes. The Israelis also supply one third of the water to Gaza. And this has been cut off, too.

They are allowing a few percent of the supplies needed. This will result in multiple deaths, particularly of vulnerable people—the elderly, and children, and the sick.

The most disturbing bit

In the video clip associated with this post, the Israeli defence minister describes Palestinians as ‘human animals’—and says that this justifies cutting off food, fuel and water.

Israeli defence minister orders ‘complete siege’ on Gaza “We are fighting against human animals”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2023/10/9/israeli-defence-minister-orders-complete-siege-on-gaza

This is from the international playbook [9] of dehumanisation:

During the Holocaust, Nazis referred to Jews as rats. Hutus involved in the Rwanda genocide called Tutsis cockroaches. Slave owners throughout history considered slaves subhuman animals.

In summary

So this is the way I see it. Israel has provided a knee-jerk response.

In consequence, their entire state may not survive. This will likely take a few decades to play out—but I think Israel has just signed its own death warrant in the blood of thousands upon thousands of the sick, the elderly, and children.

This is precisely what Hamas scripted. Israel has simply followed the script.

I find this all tragic beyond words.

My 2c, Dr Jo.

∗

It’s sad we even need to say this. But already the conspiracy nutters are out there in force.

Image was generated by Poe/StableDiffusion in response to the prompt “a fox in a henhouse with lots of feathers and blood”.

The 5 real reasons why guys are lonely today

This is really surprisingly good.

Are Singaporeans considered to be native English speakers?

Based on my observations after having lived in most of the Anglosphere and in West Europe, I feel that many of the people from said countries would not consider Singaporeans “Native English Speakers”.

Which is pure snobbery, in my opinion.
I guess they see themselves as the gatekeepers of who can or cannot be a native English speaker.

I have been to Singapore several times, and in the early part of my career, I was even seconded there.

While it’s true that there are many Singaporeans who grew up in a Chinese-speaking (or Malay-speaking, Tamil-speaking) household and might not have reached the level one would expect from a native English speaker, I also came across many Singaporeans (admittedly, I only worked with Chinese Singaporeans during my time there), the young ones, especially, who could only speak English.

Sure, they’re ethnically Chinese, but their Chinese is…. below even the rudimentary level.
Like, if you ask them something very simple and basic like “Can you state the four cardinal directions in Mandarin?”… they can’t.

If they can’t even do something as simple and basic as that in Chinese, and their main language, the one they’ve been using since birth, is English – then how are they not native English speakers?

If you don’t consider them native English speakers – then the question becomes: So, what is their native language?

They can’t, or, to be generous, barely, speak or read Chinese.
The only language they know is English.

Shouldn’t that, by definition, make them native English speakers?

Or is it really possible for someone to not be a native speaker of any language?

I would definitely consider this demographic of Singaporeans native English speakers, but, you know, I’m not one of the “gatekeepers” mentioned above, so my opinion might count for nothing.

What was your worst moment in the bathroom?

Taking my morning shower, I felt a twinge of stomach pain. “Man, I’m really hungry!” I thought. “I’ve got to hurry up this shower and get some breakfast.”

Then I started to feel a little light-headed. I put my hand out and braced myself against the shower wall. I felt even more faint. “I could pass out and fall in here,” I thought. “I’d better get out.”

So I did, and as I was toweling off, I started to feel nauseated. I went to the toilet and threw up—blood! Holy shit! I called to my wife, “I’m vomiting blood.” She came and took a look; “You sure are!” It wasn’t a whole lot, about 30 ml of bright red blood and mucus, but it was scary as hell. I was hoping it was only an ulcer or something, but I couldn’t help thinking cancer, especially since a friend of mine had recently died of stomach cancer. It was mid-January and my daughter’s wedding was coming up in April. “I’m not going to make it to Nicole’s wedding,” I said to my wife.

The nausea passed. I finished drying off, laid down in bed, and fell asleep for 2 hours. When I woke up, I threw up more blood.

It turned out that it was in fact cancer. I had a rare type called GIST—gastrointestinal stromal tumor. There was a tumor in my upper stomach exactly the size of a billiard ball. But I’m writing this 7 years later. I lost very little stomach to the surgeon—only an area a little larger than a (U.S.) silver dollar—and I was eating at a fine Italian restaurant in Houston five days after the surgery, everything from red wine to tiramisu. I danced with my daughter at her wedding and I’m a grandfather now. I’ve been fine and very healthy since that surgery. Scared the hell out of me in 2010, though.

I hope never to have another bathroom experience as bad as that one.

Baby Poo

Huawei and Meituan announce collaboration to develop HarmonyOS ecosystem

Huawei and Meituan announced a comprehensive partnership to innovate industries, apply technologies, and develop businesses using HarmonyOS. Huawei will fully back Meituan in launching the development of native applications for HarmonyOS.

The announcement comes on the heels of Huawei’s HarmonyOS Next is expected to ditch Android app support as early as 2024. Several of Huawei’s self-developed OS concept stocks rocketed and hit the daily limit after the news was released, according to ChinaDaily.

Huawei partners with Meituan for HarmonyOS ecosystem

Meituan is a Chinese tech giant that offers a wide range of services, including food delivery, online grocery shopping, and ride-hailing. It is one of the most popular apps in China, with over 600 million active users.

Huawei’s confidence in its alternative ecosystem strategy on the mainland received a boost in late August when the company launched its Mate 60 Pro smartphone, its first 5G handset since the Mate 40 series was released in October 2020.

The Mate 60 Pro was met with strong public support, and Huawei became mainland China’s fastest-growing smartphone vendor in the third quarter of 2023.

Recently, multiple job applications in China have announced the launch of HarmonyOS app development. For example, 同程旅行_旅游_旅游线路_旅行_出国旅游_自驾游_周边游_旅游网站 (formerly known as Tongcheng) announced the launch of HarmonyOS native version App development, with plans to complete core version development by the end of 2023.

In addition, a number of internet giants, including Meituan, have listed several job openings related to HarmonyOS. For instance, Meituan publicized a variety of HarmonyOS-centric roles, such as Senior HarmonyOS Engineer and HarmonyOS Infrastructure Engineer.

According to data, as of August 2023, the HarmonyOS ecosystem boasted over 700 million devices and was supported by more than 2.2 million developers actively contributing to its development. By October 30th, the number of devices upgraded to HarmonyOS 4 had surpassed the hundred million mark.

The connection between “body count” and “cheating while married to a man”

There is a correlation. And it is surprising.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ezzHKvQaluI?feature=share

What was your “I didn’t judge, but I did smile” experience?

I was at a 7–11 today. I was standing in line, waiting to go. It was 6:30 PM, I was on my way home from my after-work-workout.

I get a tap on my shoulder,

“Yes?”

Behind me, a middle aged, 45ish aged woman, attractive, curvy, in a tight fitting outfit, with makeup on, high heels, smelling of perfume says,

“Would you mind if I went ahead of you? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

I said, “Sure – np!” I had nowhere to be. And she asked nicely.

A moment later, a customer at one of the two working registers walks off and the cashier waves her forward.

She, with her hands full of items, walks forward dumps them on the counter.

I really wasn’t trying to spy, but I couldn’t help but notice.

It was a bar of soap. A bottle of wine. A candy bar.

And 4 sets of condom 3-packs. Someone had a big night planned.

I didn’t judge. But I did smile.

Who the fuck is this guy?

How was the cleaning up of the First World War battlefields done?

They are still slowly trying to clean it up. The areas that were too dangerous are called Red Zones. Restrictions within the Zone Rouge still exist today. After the war, the French government declared a 460-square-mile area unfit for human habitation or development. It stretches roughly from Nancy through Verdun and onto Lille, with various non-contiguous zones so riddled with unexploded shells (many of them gas shells), grenades, ammunition, and human and animal remains that it was simply too dangerous to enter.

In the 1920s and ’30s, the government oversaw the planting of 36 million trees, mostly pine and spruce, in part of the Zone Rouge. This the Verdun forest.

The Department du Deminage, was created after the war. Over the decades, it has helped to reduce the extent of the Zone Rouge, destroying hundreds of thousands of munitions and chemical shells, and has returned some land to civilian and agricultural use. They calculate that they have 300 years work ahead of them before they have cleared the whole battlefield. French farmers collect a huge amount of unexploded ordnance, barbed wire, shrapnel, and bullets every year. It is called the “Iron Harvest.”

Some areas remain entirely off-limits, the soil so full of arsenic that 99 percent of all plants die. There is still the ever-present threat of unexploded shells. There are many ghost villages that were left abandoned after the war, deemed beyond repair. The bodies of roughly 80,000 soldiers whose bodies were never recovered are still there. The bomb depressions are still there.

Damn good advice

Why do people choose receiving money over sticking to their moral principles?

Moral principles don’t help you eat. Money does.

I mean, that’s the simple, and charitable, way to put it.

The more complex answer is…less charitable.

Most people don’t have moral principles. They have a general set of guidelines they absorb from the society around them without really questioning too much. These guidelines are tribal in nature, and as often as not are more about marking in-groups and out-groups than about a coherent, consistent set of morals.

A great many people want to think of themselves as “good,” but aren’t particularly interested in thinking a lot about it, and particularly aren’t interested in sacrificing comfort or lifestyle for it.

And given that what passes for morality in many folks is actually a set of tribal signifiers, they most definitely aren’t willing to give up social standing for it.

In fact, I’ll wager you that more than a few people who truly consider themselves moral, scrupulous people willing to give up money for morals, will still toss their values aside the moment they involve loss of social standing.

We are social creatures. We need the support and approval of the people around us to survive. Not just in the sense of an income stream to keep ourselves fed and a roof overhead, but in the sense of a social group—without that, we suffer.

So yeah, confronted with social censure for not adopting the opinion of the people around them, most folks absolutely will surrender their values. Confronted with losing money for not adopting the opinion of the people around them, most folks absolutely will surrender their values. If you’re reading this, odds are pretty good you’re one social smear campaign or a few hungry days away from letting go of what you imagine to be your most cherished moral principles.

Men over the age of 30

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

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

Ooh yes this brings back the memories from the early 1980s.

A bunch of us went to the next town for a few drinks and a laugh. I seem to recall one of the lads (not me) was getting married so for reasons that won’t become apparent we trooped off to a bigger town 10 miles away instead of our own little town.

We walked into a quiet little pub, grabbed some drinks and sat down on a round table which perfectly suited our group of seven.

The pub was totally empty apart from us and the barman. It was very early in the evening.

A group of three guys walked in and one of them looked very angry. Big and mean he was too. They walked straight over to us and the angry guy looked directly at me.

Angry – You! You’re a big cunt. Let’s have a fight now. Outside!

Me – No thanks mate. We’re here on a lads’ night out and don’t want any aggro.

The lads – Nah come on mate. We just want a drink. Blah blah blah.

Angry – Come on you cunt. Let’s fucking fight now.

By now he’d walked around to my side of the round table. He was a big and very tough-looking guy and I really didn’t want a punch in the mouth off him. I was probably the biggest in our group at 1.90 metres and 110 kg but even so, I didn’t want to fight this big lummox.

Me – Listen mate…

Angry punched me in the side of the face so hard I thought my head had come off. Blood spurted out but no teeth. It hurt a lot and I just held my face thinking “what the hell do I do now?”

I didn’t have to do anything. Andy, who is a very slender and weedy and very sweet young friend of mine stood up.

Andy – No-one hits my mate. Big mistake.

Angry – Oh yeah. What you going to do about it you strip of piss?

Andy sent him sprawling across the next table with one perfect punch to the face. Angry got up and together with his two mates left the pub without another word being said.

The barman walked over and spoke to Andy.

Barman – Wow. That guy you just floored is the hardest guy in town!

Me – Not any more he isn’t. Cheers Andy.

My face hurt for ages but thankfully no serious damage. Andy was our new top mate of the group.

That is how a star is born

What is the lamest “benefit” you’ve been offered by an employer?

I was offered a $500/month truck allowance, by my employer, to use my own vehicle on service calls. I bought a used truck, for that purpose. I had to carry a $1 million liability insurance policy, due to some customer’s requirements, in order to drive on their property, too. Then, he changed the number to $250. I told him that wasn’t what he had originally told me. That Friday, he gave me a note, as I left to do service calls, and said to think about it. All it had on it was “$350”. Monday morning, I showed up early, and loaded EVERYTHING that belonged to me into my truck. When he showed up, I gave him my building keys. He wanted to know what was going on, and I said “I’m gone.” When he asked if that was how I negotiated, my reply was “I don’t negotiate with liars.”

I sent postcards to the customers I did work for, telling that I was no longer with that company, but was available to keep their equipment running. I was the ONLY one at that company who knew how the stuff worked, and all the repair business went to me. The company had to down-size, and then sold out to a competitor, so my old boss went from owning his own business, to being just another employee.

Too late! The U.S. allows South Korea to produce chips in China, and China is not doing it!

Too late for South Korea, the China ship has sailed.

https://youtu.be/9aoR1HzRTCA

What was the most obnoxious thing you’ve seen done?

On a regular basis? Taking a giant gas guzzling car and lifting it to make it even less fuel efficient.

The trucks you see here in America are so obnoxiously big and with callous disregard for global warming. It’s crazy when you drive around here in Florida: 70% or more of the cars are SUVs or Trucks. Literally, 70% or more.

It’s definitely a cultural thing but I wish it would go away. The guys in these lifted trucks are almost always the hyper aggressive drivers the push up behind you and lay on the horn and then flick you off as they go by.

But then, a few minutes later, I’ll see one of them pulled over by a cop. That’s always the most gratifying feeling.

US Supreme Court Tackles Game-Changing Social Media Censorship Case!

This is a huge issue.

Why did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor when they knew they couldn’t take on the United States?

Well that’s exactly the thing. The point of attacking the harbor was so they could take on America. There are two reasons that Japan carried out the attack.

The Paper tiger

The Japanese referred to America as a “paper tiger.” What they meant by this was that their military was all bark and no bite, and if the fleet was destroyed there was no way America could come back. What the Japanese underestimated was America’s production capabilities. America was at the time of 1941 one of the largest and most efficient producers of the world, and while FDR was of the intention to stay out of the war, the factories of the United States were churning out tanks, rifles, planes, and ammo to the Soviets fighting the Wehrmacht in the Europe, and Britain fighting the blitz, the Italians and Germans in North Africa, and the Japanese in Burma, China, and Australia. US Shipyards were just as impressive, with destroyers and merchant marine ships built by the hundreds, sold to Britain to protect against the u boats tearing up the Atlantic trade. Japan made the mistake of underestimating the capabilities of US industry. When the US declared war on Japan in retaliation, production went towards building their own military, including the navy. The US navy numbered in the thousands, from the dozens of capital ships to the hundreds of destroyers and submarines, and all of the auxiliary ships and escorts included. In addition, right after the attack the navy raised most of the sunken ships in the harbor. Of the eight battleships we lost, five were raised and went back into the fight, one of them sunk on refloating, and only two of them remain there, USS Arizona and USS Utah. Pearl Harbor remains one of the greatest tragedies in US history, but because of America’s industrial might, it was not the end.

2. The target

From a tactical perspective, another reason for Japan’s attack was what they believed they would destroy and how it would impact the fleet. The Japanese’ main target was not the many battleships and destroyers that were stationed in Pearl Harbor, not the oil tanks, command, or airfields- These were very significant, and their destruction was all devastating to our efforts in getting in the fight, but the most important targets were but one part of the navy:

The US Carriers

It is often said by historians that Pearl Harbor was the end of the days of mighty battleships and battlecruisers and the dawn of the carrier. The six Japanese carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Zuikaku, and Shokaku, were the most important part of the Japanese fleet, and carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese knew that the US would only have a chance against the Japanese carriers with the carriers of their own. Therefore, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor believing that the US carriers were there. Fortunately for the US, and the Allies as a whole, the carriers were at sea, safe from the carnage. As a matter of fact, the battleship USS Utah was painted to look like a carrier from the sky, to train US dive bombers, and because of this saw some of the heaviest bombardment of all of the ships, being one of the ships unable to be raised from the bottom. The assessment that the US carriers were essential to the US staying in the fight proved correct. The US launched the Doolittle raid the following year, striking Tokyo for the first of many times in the war from the carrier USS Hornet. The Shoho was destroyed in the following battle of Coral Sea at the cost of the carrier Lexington, but where we really see the tide turn in the Pacific is Midway. The carriers USS Hornet, USS Enterprise, and USS Yorktown crippled the Japanese fleet by destroying Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu. This would not have happened if it wasn’t for the stroke of luck we had with our carriers out at sea when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor.

Admiral Yamamoto, the brilliant Japanese commander who was behind the attack, which I should say despite its failure to knock out America was still a well planned and impressive attack, astutely believed that a drawn out war with the United States would end in defeat, and despite his best efforts to prevent a drawn out war, he was correct. In the film portrayal of Yamamoto in Tora! Tora! Tora! He is quoted for saying:

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve.”

Yamamoto was killed in April of 1943, and with the carrier might have Japan gone as well, the rising sun was doomed to set.

Men are GIVING UP on Women and their hypergamy

There is such a serious problem with RELATIONSHIPS in the West.

https://youtu.be/BeP7Ff1JXsA

In business, has your boss ever tried to fire you, only to be fired by their boss instead?

Not me, but my wife.

Her department acquired a new department head, a newly promoted V.P.

One of his first actions was to identify all of the highest paid (and most productive) managers and terminate them as a cost cutting measure. At that point managers at my wife’s level were considered “at will” employees and, as such, could be terminated at any time with or without cause.

In any case, the V.P. then proceeded to fill the vacant management positions with much lower paid and less qualified staff. All of this happened within a matter of hours on a Friday afternoon. My wife was understandably quite distressed when she got home that evening.

Over the weekend, though, my wife received a call from the executive V.P. who oversaw her department. He called from his home in Southern France late in the evening so he could speak to my wife in the mid afternoon here in SoCal. He asked her to please report to work as usual on Monday morning.

When she got to work on Monday everything was back to normal and the new department head was gone. Fired for incompetence.

My wife stayed with the company more than a dozen years after that. She was eventually terminated permanently after her department had been sold to a different company. This time, though, she received a rather generous golden handshake — 32 weeks severance pay — as she left for the last time.

This is why men are no longer approaching women; Top 10 reasons WHY

I never experienced unconditional love until I got a dog.

How likely is it that China and Russia will continue to strengthen their partnership in the future?

Very likely. Their recent MOU to develop semiconductor lithography, naval shipbuilding, marine nuclear reactors are just another episode in that relationship. The glue that binds them is energy and technology. China needs energy and Russia needs technology. Trade between both countries are growing exponentially, currently at about 40% per year. Russia recently announced it would allow China to build a container port in Vladivostok, another indication China is preparing to use the Arctic belt road via northern Russia.

My opinion: There could be a day when Russia buys warships from China. It has already begun with Russia buying a Chinese frigate. It could also be possible that Russia and China will jointly develop gen 6 and gen 7 fighters and bombers, reducing non-recurring costs. Russia needs ‘China speed.’ China needs Russia’s energy from oil/gas to uranium. It is also likely that Russia and China will standardize military calibers and weapons between them so interchangeability and user knowledge will be compatible between both countries. The SCO makes the case for this standardization to increase to SCO members.

Both are BRICS and SCO members and both organizations are growing which gives them more world influence.

Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?

It wasn’t exactly on accident. I worked in the office of a commercial laundry business and they asked me to come in on a Saturday to mail out the monthly bills. During the time I was there the assistant manager came in and started hitting on me. He kept urging me to “go in the back and make out”. I refused and soon one of the drivers came in and he had to go talk to the driver. I finished up with the bills and went home. I told my boyfriend “Well, I don’t think I will be working there very ling”. Sure enough the next Tuesday I was let go for some “bookkeeping errors” that weren’t errors and I had been doing them for months without any problems.

What men and women want

Creole Meatloaf and Macaroni

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 onion, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
1 1/4 cups elbow or broken macaroni
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 to 1 1/2 cups meat loaf, cubed*
Seasoned salt and pepper

Instructions

Cook onion and green bell pepper in butter for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add next four ingredients and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and simmer, covered, about 1/2 hour, stirring frequently.
Add meat loaf and seasoned salt and pepper to taste. Heat through.

Notes

* Use leftover meat loaf.

What will these snowflakes do when things get REALLY tough? We haven’t even started yet.

Welcome to MY LIFE. Ugh!

What were the benefits of the feudal system in Europe in the middle ages?

For a serf: It sure beats being a slave. You are treated as a human being, you have your law-encoded rights and responsibilities, your taxes usually were reasonable and your lord had the responsibility to protect you and provide a free access to the castle. He also had the responsibility to provide you work and livelihood, and if he abused you, you had the legal right to flee to a town.

For a freeman (franklin or yeoman): You had the right to your life, body and livelihood, you could freely carry weapons outside a town, you did not pay rent to a lord and you could choose your profession. And should things go sour, you could freely move to a town.

For a town dweller: Towns were semi-independent domains who often were subordinate to the king alone, and while working can give you living, trade will make you wealthy. Townspeople usually were richer than countrypeople, and towns were bastions of freedom.

For a clergyman: You are the subject of the Mother Church and Father Pope alone, and nobody else. You are no more a subject of the lord, the king or the emperor. You will learn how to read and write, and you are free to pursuit your intellectual tendencies. If you join the Cistercian order, there are good chances you become a great engineer.

For a civil servant: You are the subject of the King alone, and nobody else. Same as with the church on intellectual pursuits, but you also may marry and have kids.

For a nobleman: You are first and foremost a soldier. You practice martial arts and train for war, military skills, leadership skills, equestrian skills and anything needed to serve in arms. You are exempt of taxes because upkeeping a military lifestyle is expensive. Your life is likely to be violent, nasty, brutish and mercifully short, but you might become a knight and a lord one day if you avoid that.

For a lord: You are a semi-independent ruler of your domain, and you are the lord and the hidalgo. You owe allegiance to the King alone, and you either pay it in taxes or serve 30 days in his service. Your main profession is to be the supervisor of the peasants who work on your estate, and maintain the balance between overworking them and providing them decent livelihood. Sorry, no ius primae noctis – that is an Age of Enlightment myth.

For a King: Think positively. You do not have the same absolute power as the sultans and czars in despotism, but neither you will face the same chances of getting assassinated or ousted or mutilated as they experience, and you do not need to kill your little brothers to ensure the throne. It is a good idea to run the country as a family enterprise – give important tasks to your younger siblings – and use the most talented of the lords as civil servants. Just maintain the balance between Church, Lords and Commoners, and you will do just fine.

What sounds extremely wrong, but is actually correct?

Hard-work alone won’t guarantee success — some poor people work harder than all of us.
If you are an adult — your life situation is your responsibility. You made the choices, you face the consequences.
If you want love or approval from someone — you must be okay without it.
Your brain is evolved to keep you safe yet miserable — not happy and content.
Money is hard to earn — you are desperate and miserable because you won’t have patience.
People can be toxic even when they love you — you have to live for yourself.
Negative people don’t have any ill intent— they are just running on autopilot.
Pain is necessary for growth — there is no way around pain.

Female Comedian EXPOSES The Truth About Dating In Her 30’s After Riding The HOTDOG CAROUSEL in 20’s

“I haven’t even met this man, and I am mad at him” – Truer words have never been spoken about female nature.

What are the most common regrets that people have once they grow old?

If you are asking me personally, what is my biggest regret, I would have to say that I regret not taking more pictures of things I did when I was younger, and not documenting the adventures I had.

I find that after 50+ years on this earth, I remember bits and pieces of my life, but there are big chunks of my life that I cannot recall, so having more pictures of those events and having a documented record of those activities would be something that would truly bring me joy, being able to remember more of the life I lived.

What’s the most questionable cost-cutting move you’ve seen an employer make?

My international company failed to have routine office supplies at our US location. Entirely. No office supplies.

So one day I needed a new pen. There were, of course, none. But rather than going out and buying my own at a local store, I decided to order one just to be ornery.

So I filled out the formal requisition form for one pen. I justified it (I wrote stuff and my old pen was empty), then used the proper channels to submit the requisition. The form:

Traveled from my California office to the main US branch office in Boston.
Boston routed the form to their home branch office in London.
London sent the form to the main International headquarters in Paris.
Paris approved the req. then…
Cut out one layer of bureaucracy by sending the approved form direct to Boston (the Paris and London offices hated each other)
Boston sent the approved req. back to my office.
I was then able to go out and buy one pen at corporate expense from the local store.

I was tempted to ask for a sheet of paper next, but Boston eventually decided to fund a small office supply in our location.

Oh. The Internet was around, but I should add that the original requisition form was hard copy. A piece of paper. That form physically travelled from California to Boston to London to Paris back to Boston then back to my office before I bought my pen.

Can you suggest any reasons why the sources of the Nile remained unknown until late in the nineteenth century?

Absolutely!

This is what the Nile looks like when it goes through Sudan

This is The Sudd. It’s Arabic for “barrier”. It’s also part of the Nile. It’s also much bigger than what you see here. It’s not much better even when it floods. Imagine you’re an explorer in, well, any time really and you come across this. The Ancient Egyptians tried to navigate past it for centuries. They utterly failed. Then the Romans decided to have a go at it. They failed too. Europeans tried in the 19th century. They had no better luck.

And where there’s swamp, there’s malaria. Good luck with that.

Europeans only found the source because they decided to avoid it entirely and attack it from the other direction, exploring into Central Africa. That’s not much easier.

Richard Burton decided to make a go of it. He started in lovely civilized Zanzibar and worked his way overland until he found Lake Tanganyika. “Eureka” he exclaimed, “I have found the source of the Nile”.

However, the guy he brought along with him, John Speke, told him he was nuts. Tanganyika was too low and too small to account for the fact that the Nile never ran dry. Burton told him was an idiot and they returned to England triumph…. no, wait, the scientific community wasn’t convinced.

So Speke got to go on his own expedition. He turned north instead and found the much larger and much bigger Lake Victoria.

He returned to England well, not triumphant, but with enough good data to get funding for another expedition to try to make it to the Sudd and not only did he do that, he found another source of the river that met up in the Sudd, what we now call the “White Nile” as opposed to the larger source flowing out of Lake Victoria, the “Blue Nile”.

So, Speke gets the credit, literally for “connecting the dots”.

As a disabled person what is the cruelest thing said to you?

Image: Me sitting on my porch at my home in the Central Valley of California.

Well as a disabled person, I am legally blind the cruelest thing, in my opinion, was not said with words.

Deeds speak out loud and clear.

I took a class on a subject of interest to me.

The teacher with a happy smile in her voice told me she had a special place in class for people like me.

It was the back corner, furthest away from all of the others in the class.

Total isolation. I could hear the other members of the class, I could see the shadows o of the other members of the class.

When the class had a pot luck of snacks at the last week of class, somehow I didn’t get the e-mail to ask me to take in something. So I didn’t.

Then no-one actually told me directly that there were snacks available nor did they come over and tell me about the pot-uck offerings.

Though they did make quite a bit of a racket, going back and too to the snacks tables and telling each other who had brought which items.

Another classmate came to the class in about the second week and was sat close by in the same corner. She only attended one week and disappeared. She was profoundly deaf. We could chat okay as she could lip read. But as for interacting with the class it was difficult.

Me being bloody minded as I am, finished the class. I paid good money so I wasn’t going to surrender to unspoken insults.

Biden Angry, Calls Xi ‘Dictator’, US Business Applauds Xi; US Isolated UN SC; Sullivan Sleepless

Very good, and clearly explains the Geo-political situation today.

What are some of the funniest “got fired” stories?

I was fired on the day I was going to hand in my resignation.

I hated the company: boss played favorites, personnel feedback was nonexistent, and they were very stingy with vacation time, even if you earned the days.

The third point I found out too late. After earning 10 days of personal time, I requested for time off six months ahead. Not only was it declined, I also got a stern talking-to by the same boss who played favorites.

I was so pissed off that I started looking for a job that very same night.

Within two weeks, I got an offer from a company I interviewed the previous year who kept my résumé in the active bin.

I moved my vacation date to the next month, upped the number of days, and got a business class ticket. I printed a resignation letter once I signed the offer at the new job.

The next day, I cared not an iota at work. I was just waiting for 5:00 so that I can hand in my two weeks.

4:30pm came and I got an email from the boss. I was being let go. They didn’t really say why (not that I cared) but they were going to give me a full month’s pay to help me find a new job.

i cleared out my desk, gave a quick thanks to my boss (co-workers have left at this point), and screamed when I got to my car.

I got the final pay the week after, then collected unemployment for a few weeks, and had a bloody fantastic time on vacation.

What is the least intelligent thing you’ve ever seen a tourist do?

Growing up in Florida, we used to play at the beach almost every day. At least once or twice a week, we’d be building sandcastles, or kicking the surf when we’d watch a tourist with wide eyes knowing what’s to come…

I’m an empath, and often tried to warn them. As a pudgy six year old however; I wasn’t usually fast enough. By the time I’d be close enough to yell “don’t touch that!!”, the elderly tourist or drunk college kid was already screaming in agonizing pain! The Portuguese man o’ war looks like a shiny blue balloon, or plastic grocery bag. The venom is insanely painful. I watched about a dozen people pee on each other by the time I was 8.

What’s something a poor kid would understand, but would utterly confuse a rich kid?

Pretending you are not hungry when going to an expensive restaurant with friends, because you can’t actually afford to order food there.
Acting like you don’t like after-school sports, because you have to bolt to your after-school job, so you have lunch money and bus fares.
Pretending that family commitments prevent you from going on the school trip. You know there’s no way you can pay for it.
Declining invitations to weddings because you don’t have proper clothes to wear and because you have no way of getting there either.
Spending an extra hour in the supermarket so you can make the best choices with the $28 you have for food for a full week.
Listening with horror as co-workers trash the boss who only gave each a $20 gift Visa card. You, on the other hand, are silent and also excited beyond words – you plan to get much needed shoes, a winter coat, and a backpack at the Goodwill store.
Having teeth pulled, which should instead be filled and capped, because it costs one-tenth this way.
Talking to supervisors in chain food stores to find out what they do with damaged food. (Poor people know these stores often have a place where you can go to collect it.)
Adding water to the quart bottle of milk to stretch it.
Taking home unused sugar packets, tea bags and napkins from the fast food place and feeling grateful for them.

These are my memories of being poor. Although I am no longer poor, these memories keep me grateful, and, more importantly, I will always understand the behavior of those whose actions are continually checked by empty pockets.

During WW2, were there places where troops were stationed that never saw any action?

Quite a few places, including Iceland.

After Denmark surrendered to the Nazis in April 1940 the status of Iceland was ambiguous. Although Iceland was an independent state, it’s ‘personal union’ with Demark, and dependence on Denmark for its defence and foreign relations, potentially meant it could be occupied by Germany. Its strategic location astride Britain’s Atlantic supply route to the United States made it vital to the United Kingdom’s security.

Britain invited Iceland to join the war as any and, when they rejected this, plans were made to occupy the island. Four Royal Navy ships led by HMS Berwick (above) deposited 745 Royal Marines in Iceland who met no resistance from the Icelandic police force, who were the only permanent armed presence on the island.

Iceland was occupied first by a British Division, then by elements of two Canadian Divisions and then by a brigade of US Marines. The latter arrived in June 1941, a whole six months before the United States officially join the war. This was one of Roosevelt’s most partisan decisions and greatly helped the British war effort as the Canadians could be sent to Britain, where eventually they would take part in the Dieppe raid and the battle for Normandy. Roosevelt sent the Marines as, being part of the US Navy, they were under his direct control, whereas sending the US Army would have required the approval of Congress, which was uncertain. The occupation of Iceland was not always popular with the locals, but one benefit of it was the construction of Rejkjavik airport.

Although planes and ships based in Iceland saw action, the garrison itself saw no action. There were, however, casualties as a result of the Icelandic climate and terrain. A five man patrol of the Kings Own Yorkshire Infantry were lost to the elements, for example. Despite the cold though, there were definitely worse places to spend the Second World.

NOTE

A lot of people have asked why the US Army couldn’t be deployed before war broke out. The answer is complicated, but it’s due to a policy decision rather than an act of the Constitution. Here are the details:

“At the same time, the War Plans Division raised inquiry concerning the effect of the legal restrictions that prohibited the National Guard, members of the Reserve, and men drafted under the Selective Service Act from serving outside the Western Hemisphere and which limited their terms of military service to a period of twelve months. For purposes of naval defense the President had placed the Atlantic frontier of the western world, quite arbitrarily, along the 26th meridian, which excluded the whole of Iceland. [25] The question was one of policy, not geography; and if policy for the moment dictated a course of exclusion, circumstances at any future time might well prescribe a change in policy. Whatever concern was felt during these first days in June seems to have arisen over the time limit rather than the controversial geographical restriction. On this basis it was entirely rational for the Chief of Coast Artillery to observe that selectees would have to be used in constituting the harbor defense regiment proposed as part of the Iceland garrison. In any event the problems posed by the legal restrictions did not seem insuperable as long as the 1st Division was being considered for the nucleus of the force. Although 75 percent of the officers of that division had been drawn from the Reserve, it was presumed that most of them would volunteer for duty in Iceland. The problem, in this respect, was considered to be one of maintaining secrecy. As for enlisted men, only a “small percentage” of them were selectees, and only about 10 percent of the men of the two antiaircraft regiments-the 61st and 68th-were subject to the restrictions written into the Selective Service and National Defense Acts. “

What is the nastiest thing you’ve done for revenge?

We were once renting a house and saving money towards a down payment to buy, when the owner came and told us he had to sell and had already and we had to be out by the end of the week. We refused since our lease guaranteed us 30 days. The new owner said that lease was void and had our utilities turned off. So as a goodbye gift, we went to the store and bought some old fish and 10 cans of cat food. There was a fireplace in the basement built of brick and had come separated from the back wall. We dropped the fish behind that. The cans of cat food, we opened and placed in crawl spaces throughout both floors of the house.

What does it mean when women play with their hair while looking at you?

Well, according to my ex girlfriend of 40 years ago, I am blind, because I didn’t notice that the hostess, had sat down next to me, leaned in close to talk in a loud room, laughed at my jokes (hey, I’m funny) and played with her hair.

My girlfriend said it was so obvious she was about to throw up. Guys are oblivious.

Why was Steve Jobs so much richer than Steve Wozniak even though they founded Apple together?

Steve Jobs sold all but one of his stocks in Apple when he left in 1985, when Apple stock was at an all time low. He founded NeXT and was the majority owner when Apple bought the company, though at that point he was almost out of money, on the brink of bankruptcy. He also bought Pixar and it has been rolling out blockbusters every other year for 20 years. He also invested in other companies. Toy Story alone made Steve Jobs a billionaire because Pixar was publicly traded company.

Woz on the other hand gave away a lot of his stock. He financed more than a few huge rock concerts that lost a lot of money. He started a company making remote controls that failed and lost money. He got divorced more than a few times. He helps old Apple employees that are out of luck and deal with sickness. He gives away a lot of his money. But you don’t need to worry about him, he still has a lot and he is according to everyone who actually knows him, a super nice guy. He was never in it to have money, he just wanted a computer that he could fiddle with.

China Warns US “Don’t Try THIS” As Biden Prepares To Hug Xi

What kind of cooperation between the United States and China on nuclear disarmament is feasible?

Very simple.

Just develop the smart bombs to change the equation from MAD to MGD – i.e., from the “old-fashion-not-so-accurate assured” to the “IoT-satellite-guided guaranteed” way of mass destructure.

These are the AI-enabled hypersonic bombs that cannot be defended against and only a few hundred launched from a control center are needed to completely annihilate the entire country the size of Russia, China or the U.S. Then the 5,000-plus warheads in the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the U.S. would become redundant and useless.

Even the triad security concept of land, air and sea delivery system becomes redundant. No need for those expensive bombers and subsmarines to deliver nuclear warheads as backup when those smart ICBMs can do the job.

The calculus for disarmament becomes very straightforward and simple.

War can be so simple when you know its guaranteed and forever.

And isn’t it why Biden is trying to deny China our advanced chips?

Have you ever experienced karma in real life?

We were in a beautiful relationship for about 3 years. And then suddenly she over texts, broke up with me. No explanation given. Like every other guy, I cried, pleaded for just one reason, and all she said was it’s over, I don’t want to be with you. She has changed her college a month before the break up. And like I suspected she fell out of love with me because there is new guy who approached her. Quite similar to everyone’s love story. Lol

Anyway, I was literally shattered, and broken. I couldn’t believe the girl I thought to be my future left me in such a dire condition.

It’s been three years since she is gone. Yesterday, I got a phone call from her at 2am. Basic points from the calls were:

She was unhappy, crying profusely over the phone. She said she don’t have anyone to trust and talk to, except me. And yes, I talked to her because pretty much I loved her too much.
She said the guy cheated her, and when asked him for a breakup, he said he will going to kill her, he abused and hit her off. And she thought everybody will leave silently like me.
I asked her to do a police complain, she said, she doesn’t want her parents to know, she is stucked.
After few minutes on call, she was laughing, talking to me as if we were never separated, I was wondering how easy the things are for girls.
Then she told me even before her father and brother, I am the person she trust and respect the most. I was flattered but I knew, it’s no more important.
I was again at ground zero, I felt happy talking to her, but the wounds were yet fresh.
I tried not to make her feel bad and bid her bye.

Today I Changed my phone number, and email id!

I do love her a lot, still? Yes. But I cannot give her the power to destroy me again.

The lonely chapter

Have you ever caught on to someone trying to scam you before it was too late?

One day, I had a woman come into my checkout line and wanted to buy ALL the $1.00 Bic cigarette lighters at the checkout stand.

Between the two sets of lighters, she was purchasing about 35–40 lighters.

I was then ringing up all the rest of the completely full shopping cart of stuff she got in line with. At the end, she then handed me a bunch of coupons.

I was already on guard because buying so many lighters was very unusual. I looked at the coupons and there was a whole stack of them that were for $4.00 off of a $6.00 Lady’s Bic shaver.

She never purchased any shavers, and I told her these coupons could not be used, as she did not have the item.

She said they were for the lighters. I told her, “No, this is for 4 dollars off the shaver, not the lighters.”

She insisted that it would accept, and scan for, the lighters, too. I agreed. I told her I knew it would, but it was because of an error in the coupon codes, and it was not deliberate. We had been made aware of the error and did not accept it.
She persisted in telling me that if it scanned, we had to accept it.

“No, Ma’am,” I said. “The coupon has to be for the item the coupon is for, not something else.”

What she was attempting to do was get 4 dollars off a 1 dollar item, giving her a negative 3 dollar balance with every lighter purchased. With about 40 lighters, that would leave her total at -120.00 dollars, which then got balanced out with all the rest of the items in her cart. Had I not paid attention to the actual coupons and just blindly started scanning them, not only would she gotten 40 dollars’ worth of lighters free, she would have gotten over 120 dollars’ worth of other merchandise completely free without paying a single cent.

I told her that what she was attempting was theft. She got irate and claimed it was not theft because she was not trying to take the items out without purchasing them. I told her that was exactly what she was doing by running what she knew to be a scam.

She then did not want to buy any of it, and wanted me to void off all the items.

That is when I got rather devilish myself. I told her quietly that no, she was going to buy everything rung up, as-is, without the scam, or that I would be calling the police for her to be charged with theft of well over 180 dollars’ worth of merchandise.

Either she got charged with theft, or bought what she wanted to buy at the correct total.
But, it was not getting voided.

She bought it all.

I never saw her in the store again.
Before that, she had been a semi-regular customer, always holding up the checkout as she constantly scammed coupons for far more than what the coupons were supposed to allow.

Good riddance.

Why is it hard to make new friends?

can’t do the 15th,” John said. “Can we push it back two weeks?” I looked at my calendar, trying to align the dates with our friend Derrick. Then, after finding a great window, John came back with another complication. I rubbed my temples in frustration.

I’m 40 and most of my friends are married and buried in toddlers. They also live in other cities. I try to arrange a trip each year, but coordinating it feels like pushing a boulder up a mountain. Beyond the scheduling conflicts, I’m in competition for their PTO with grandparents and extended family.

As a kid, it was all so simple. The only prerequisite for new friends was the spirit of play. If the other person was down, and nice, they became friends. In college, it was all about who I partied with and saw the most frequently. Everyone was so social. Then, this blur of obligations pulled us all apart.

As social primates, friendships are central to our health and happiness. Yet so many of us are painfully lonely and it isn’t entirely our fault. Since the 1950s, sociologist have asserted that modern life makes it difficult to meet the three conditions for close friendships: proximity, repeated and unplanned interactions, and an environment that encourages people to confide in each other.

Which is why it feels so forced to be planning hangout trips months in advance. It feels like I’m scrambling to keep legacy friendships on life support. I can scarcely plan to meet for dinner with people without complications.

In school and college, it was so easy because there was endless time for socializing, and we were all on top of each other in dorms and classrooms. And, we didn’t have real bills and adult problems. So how can we make more friends as adults?

Converting new friends

Per one study, it takes 40–60 hours within the first six weeks of meeting someone to turn them from an acquaintance into a casual friend. It takes another 80 to 100 hours to elevate them to true friend status. Which feels like a ton of time as a career driven person. But these connections can be built up over longer stretches.

The obvious answer for me was work, back when I had an office job. But the people at my office weren’t necessarily the people I wanted to spend my time with. Sometimes, we just have to work with what is in front of us. It can even boost competency. Researchers found that doctor coworkers who became friends, performed better at their job. A personal connection and trust can boost performance in team environments.

In March of 2020, four teens were stuck on a boat in Cuba. They’d intended to fly back to the Netherlands. Then the pandemic struck and they decided to sail home. The intensity of spending weeks on the boat together, working to navigate as a team, turned them all from strangers into close friends. One friend said, “Being around someone 24 hours a day, you tell them everything. You don’t do that when you are home.”

My friend, who went to prison in his early 20s after being caught up with a bad crowd, said the same thing happened during his five year stint. Today, he is doing fine and in his late 40s, but is still friends with his former cellmates.

The challenge is that we apply more filtering mechanisms with age. We often filter people out by political views, social class, and do so without realizing it. It’s useful to be attuned to what you want in a friend, but beware of letting this turn into snobbish gatekeeping.

Getting a grip on potential friends

One study used Christmas cards in Western society to approximate social networks and estimated each of us have around 121 acquaintances. Other studies have found wide variances from this number. But it is exceedingly rare for anyone to have zero acquaintances.

These acquaintances are potential friends and not to be dismissed. Weak ties, as sociologists call it, are still great for mental wellbeing even if it is just a brief conversation. Today, I found out my beloved gym of seven years is closing. The owner, Joe, let me in for a final workout, even though the lights were off and they were cleaning up. We found time to chat about life and his decision to quit. I’ve always enjoyed talking to him so we exchanged phone numbers to potentially hang out. The other option is to reconnect with older friends you haven’t spoken to in years.

Accept that rekindling friendships is just more work in adulthood. Remember when your buddy got their first girlfriend or boyfriend and stopped hanging out? That’s everyone now. If you have a partner, it’s worth thinking through which potential friend has a partner who would vibe with them.

Also, practicing “self-disclosure”, or opening up about your life, is proven to boost connections with people. One study found three great insights about disclosing. One, people who give more intimate disclosures tend to be more liked than those who don’t. Two, people disclose more to those they like. And three, people like you more after you disclose. This comes with a caveat: don’t make it too personal, too soon. Avoid mud slinging from your divorce and giving play-by-plays from the bedroom.

The importance of maximizing time

My buddy has two kids and said he has one hour of total free time each weekday, and that when he finally gets that hour, he is desperate to decompress and have some time alone. Yet he also wishes we hung out more. This is a common theme around the country. People are lonely and crave more connection. Operate with this assumption, rather than starting from the assumption of someone judging or not liking you.

Remember to think about the places you frequent, and the potential friends you could make and maintain through those interactions. List out a few acquaintances and consider upgrading them. The key with any of these people is to also do things outside the place you regularly see them.

If you don’t see people on a regular basis, consider joining a club or taking up a hobby that involves other people. Then, get to work. Initiating doesn’t have to be heavy. Just something as simple as, “We should hang out some time.”

Lastly, be real and have conversations. Don’t spend 45 minutes talking about the weather. Vulnerability has a mutually boosting likability effect. You’ll both be happier in the end.

Planning for changes

What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?

“You look tired” is not a compliment.

Don’t say “I’m fine” if you’re not fine.

Don’t ask “how are you?” unless you want to know.

Don’t say “I am here if you need anything” when being more specific will truly help. “I am coming over tomorrow to drop off some soup” is way better.

Don’t glance over someone’s shoulder when they are in the middle of a story that matters to them.

Don’t look at your phone at all when you are spending time with someone.

On a plane if your seat is tight don’t recline it. Also, let the person squeezed in the middle seat use both arm rests.

Be extra nice if someone is serving you: giving you a manicure, bringing you food, preparing you a drink. Also please don’t hit on them. They are not charmed. They are serving you.

If anyone says “you hurt my feelings” the only correct response is “I am listening.” Not “I didn’t intend that” or “I was joking” or “wow you are sensitive.”

If you can make someone’s day a bit smoother, please do.

People want to feel heard more than they want advice.

People want to feel seen more than they want to be fixed.

People want to be sincerely complimented more than they want constructive criticism.

Say thank you a lot. Say it all the time. Add why you are saying it. “You always get my coffee just right. Thank you.” “You make my day sunnier. Thank you.” Thank you for reading, sharing and commenting on what I write. It encourages me. It makes my day.

American Couple React “America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better”

Gonzalo Lira Update

Simple post.

Let’s start here…

Gonzalo Lira Update

What is the best thing you saw someone do when they got fired from their job?

This happened to a friend of mine 10 years back and I was left astonished.

The company decided to focus on large deals and geared up all its sales team for the same. My friend (lets name him A) who was a salesperson of company X took this to heart and went after large deals for an entire year. Having said that, winning a 20m$ deal is different than 2m$ deals. The person had no result to show but lot of effort and background setting to do. After 3 quarters of no result, my friends Boss (lets name him B) calls up a review meeting at 10 pm to tell him that he has been fired.

My friend A had a call with a prospect at 11 pm. He attended the call, signed the biggest deal of the company for that year and left the company (as he was terminated at 10 pm) The Boss (B) took the most hefty sales commission of that year from the company as A was terminated.

I was an employee of the same company.

Its easier for companies to define strategy but lack of belief in people who can carry out that strategy and unwillingness to bear the cost of the strategy. Don’t know who lost more here, company (lost a great employee and believer and doer), A (lost the job and the biggest commission) or B (got the money but lost the respect of entire sales team)

BREAKING NEWS: China SANCTION Rare Earths Processing TECHNOLOGY To U.S

Have you ever had an encounter with an angel? Did it scare you?

Yes, I did. And if the Angel had not spoken to me, I may not have recovered from what I almost did. I was (and still am) a Christian believing in God as He is personified in Father, Son and Holy Spirit and I believe that there are Angels that perform whatever God wills.

I was a teenager living at home with my parents and wanted to run to K Mart to buy something. My next door neighbor’s two girls (probably 7 and 10) were there also and wanted to go with me. I tried to tell them it was not a “fun trip” as I was going for one thing only so if they went with me, they’d have to stay in the car. Their mother gave them permission so we left.

As I’d told them, they had to stay in the car. I bought my one item and came out. I could easily see my car but there were no children in it. At first, I was angry. Then I thought, they’re hiding so I’ll teach them a lesson. I’ll get into the car, zoom off across the parking lot, then when I stop and look back, they’ll be running after me and I’ll laugh at them!

So, I got in and started the car. As there was no car in front of me, I thought to put the car in drive and push down on the gas. But, just as I put the car in ‘drive,’ a voice from the back seat, a man’s voice, said, ‘Put it in reverse!’ The voice had such authority in it that I responded by immediately putting the car into reverse. As I turned to look behind the car as I backed up, I wondered, “Who was that?”

I was so surprised by the voice that I stopped the car and looked into the back seat. No one was there! When I turned around, I got the shock of my life- where the front of my car had been, were the two girls crouching down on the ground! If I had driven off at high speed as I’d planned, I would have run over – and possibly killed – the two girls! I immediately knew that an Angel had spoken to me in order to save the children and, most likely, me!

I remain to this day profoundly grateful for that voice.

Why won’t China let Google cars drive around so we can see the street view on maps throughout the country?

You can already see the streets around the country. Go to 百度地图

As for why not google. It will be related privacy and national security laws.

Things might have been different but at the time google was not working with local governments to censor content (it is now) since it had a single product. Now each country is localised and has censorship but politics prevent google from returning to China.

I don’t see that changing any time soon. Also, China will let Google street view go all over China the same year that the US allows Baidu street view go all over the US.

Any, enjoy Baidu Street View you can see most of China using it.

It is worth being aware that Baidu Street View doesn’t show everything. They avoid going near most military locations and often only go to major towns. That being said you can see lots of locations that are in the news. About half of the detention facilities in Xinjiang can be found but not the ones outside of smaller towns.

Hoisin Spareribs (Cantonese)

Ingredients

4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons peanut oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 pounds pork ribs, cut crosswise

Instructions

Rub the meat with the sauce to coat well. Cover and allow the ribs to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Grill over a medium fire, turning once or twice until the ribs are slightly charred and cooked through. Let them cool slightly. At this point, they will be easy to cut. Cut them into bite-size pieces.
Serve with additional hoisin sauce.

When did you realize your child was no longer a child?

He was 12 at the time. I had given him a 6pm curfew. He needed to be home to eat dinner and do his homework. I understood that he biked home after school and hung out at his friend’s house, which is about a half block away. So one day he was late. It’s 6:15 and no son. I’m upset and worried.

He comes home and tells me that their friend, Jenny * had come over to play Mario Kart with them, and he wanted to walk her back to her house because it was getting late. So he walked his bike next to her and walked her to her door before he came home.

I admit, I was a bit skeptical. I let it go with a “be home on time tomorrow”. As excuses go, that was a damn good one, so a little pass was given. I half believed him, but didn’t really think that was the reason. I was wrong.

Her mom called me the next day and thanked me. She was nervous about letting her daughter hang out with BOYS. She thanked me for my son walking her daughter home. That is when I realized that he had become a young man. Who can weigh decisions. Worried mom, or walk a younger, smaller person home safe.

He’s almost 14 now, and has earned my trust. When Jenny hangs out, he makes sure he walks her home. She lives about 3 blocks away. Her mom and I have become friends. Unknown to him, she texts me when he drops her off. She’s his friend. Even when he was “dating” someone else, he would still make sure she got home safe.

I’m not saying it right. She’s one of the guys. A friend. She just lives a few blocks over. As a woman who was once the girl who was one of the guys, I get it. I like her. She’s a good friend to him.

My son, as the one who looks out for her? That’s not a kid’s decision. That’s a young man that I am proud of. I got him a cell phone so it’s not the same now, but I remember that night when he told me that he was just making sure his friend got home safe. Then getting the phone call thanking me. That’s when I knew, I had a young man, not a little boy.

*her name has been changed.

A crying mother cat brought her dying kitten to a man. Just unbelievable!

What is the most jaw-dropping method for shoplifting that you have seen?

Let me preface this answer by saying I’m a law-abiding, productive member of society. In particular, I don’t condone shoplifting.

However…

In my youth my social circle was… shall we say… pretty diverse. When I was a freshman in college, a guy named Mark was part of that social circle. He was clean cut, well read, well spoken, impeccably dressed, and homeless. This was pre-9/11, back when sleeping at the airport wouldn’t raise any red flags (especially in Vegas, where I grew up).

He stole stuff for a living. Most anything he needed for personal use (clothes, bikes, personal electronics, books, etc.) was stolen. He would also sell stolen stuff to get money — because unfortunately, not everything can be stolen.

One day he stole a set of tools and got himself a union job. And shortly after that, he got himself an apartment. So he enlisted my help (… as a friend with a car…) to gather all the stuff he had stashed at gym lockers around town and move it to his new apartment. Lockers and lockers and lockers full of stuff.

It didn’t stop there. Now that he had an apartment, he needed home stuff. Sheets, pillows, blankets, pots, pans, etc. Stuff he never had a use for. I asked him how the hell he’s going to steal something as bulky as pillows. He said, “The same way I steal anything. I just walk right out with them.”

I couldn’t believe it, and he invited me to observe.

So we took a trip down to the outlet mall. I wasn’t going to be an accomplice, but I had to see this for myself. I’d loiter around by the front of the store just to see him make his smooth exit.

And sure enough, he went and got himself a giant empty bag, put pillows (or pots and pans, or blankets, or whatever), put the stuff in the bag, and walked right out.

In one case, he put some stuff (I think plates?) right down the front of his pants. Evidently, he was spotted by someone. On his way out, the manager of the store got in his way and said in his best manager voice: “Stop right there sir. Were you planning on paying for those?”

Mark pulled the plates out of his pants, handed them to the manager, and cheerfully said, “I wasn’t planning on it, here you go!” and walked right out. The manager stood there, holding the plates, dumbfounded. Getting back to the exact question, I’m pretty sure my jaw literally dropped.

What is the fastest anyone has been fired from a job?

I once fired a new employee the same day that I hired him.

I advertised an opening that I had for a security guard position and a young guy came in and filled out an application. He was a clean cut kid and had actually dressed like he was going on an interview — sport coat, slacks, tie, white shirt and shined shoes — so once he completed the app, I had him come into my office to chat while my secretary checked his references.

She was able to reach all but his last employer — she got an answering machine — and all of his personal references, and they all gave him a glowing approval. So I decided to roll the dice and offer him a job. He came in on a Tuesday and the positioned opened on Friday, so I gave him a couple of uniforms and directions to the post, and told him to show up on Thursday for training.

I was congratulating myself for filling the position so quickly, and easily, when the business owner from that last employer returned my secretary’s call. The man said that he normally didn’t give out derogatory references because it opened him up to trouble, but he didn’t see anything wrong with telling me that the young man had been fired for stealing copper wiring from his supply yard, and selling it for scrap, because he had filed charges on the kid.

I called the agency that had made the arrest and they confirmed that the kid had been arrested, and that he was charged with a felony. If the kid was found guilty he would not be able to work as a security guard so I decided to nip a potential problem in the bud. I called the kid and asked him to return to the office with his uniform. He knew what had happened and apologized for not telling me about his arrest and impending court date. He seemed, to me, to be a good kid who made a bad choice but I still terminated his employment.

What is a fun psychological trick to try on someone?

Ten psychological knowledge of love you must know right now!

1.Most women are attracted to men with a strong sense of humor.

Generally speaking, a strong sense of humor is associated with intelligence.

2. When the relationship lasts for three to five months, it is most likely to break up.

According to Fisher, a psychologist, the divorce rate is the highest after four years of marriage. So love needs to be tested by time.

3. Compared with those who regard love as a fairy tale, people who look at love rationally are more likely to obtain love, and love is longer.

4. Men are more likely to be attracted to women with similar bone structure to his mother.

5. What kind of person you are, you can attract what kind of person you are.

If you expect to meet a great person, you have to be equally good first

6. Have you ever had the experience that you suddenly feel like someone in a moment, but then you feel like nothing the next day.

This is known as the “suspension bridge effect.”. When a person is anxious to cross the suspension bridge, his heart will not help but quicken his heart. If you happen to meet another person at this time, he will mistakenly understand the acceleration of heart rate caused by fear as that the other party makes his heart beat, so that he likes this person. Love needs time, but the heartbeats needs reason.

7. A good first impression is more about body language, tone and speed than what you actually say.

8.Love is a natural painkiller.

When you have a disease, the person you love is around, which can significantly relieve the pain. Even looking at a picture of a loved one can relieve pain. Meanwhile, psychologists have found that when couples hug, their brains release oxytocin. Oxytocin helps reduce headaches for up to 4 hours. So if you feel tired, stressed or in pain, hugging your partner is a great alternative to any painkiller.

9. Express gratitude to your lover and feel happiness immediately.

10. Heartbreak is real.

Studies have shown that violent or traumatic events can cause real pain in a person’s heart, which is known as broken heart syndrome. When deep emotions cause excessive anxiety, chest pain or shortness of breath and other symptoms, it is easy to have broken heart syndrome. This is often more likely to occur in women and can easily be misdiagnosed as a heart attack.

Can a hospital in the United States make someone leave who cannot get a hold of anyone to pick them up and they have no money?

Yes.

This happens in some parts of the US more than others. This photograph was taken in Louisville, Kentucky, where it’s so common a single hospital may do this half a dozen times a week.

Generally the patient is discharged, escorted off hospital property by security, and left at the closest street corner to the hospital. Patients who can’t walk are placed in a wheelchair, wheeled off hospital property, then physically dumped out of the wheelchair into the street.

It’s so common it has a name: patient-dumping.

This happens all the time in American hospitals.

The Time Tunnel | 1920 Universe

What is the one in a million coincidence you have ever had?

The year was 1978: I was applying for a job as a dishwasher on the late night shift at a local restaurant. I was told to return at 11PM (when the shift started) for an interview.

What I didn’t know upon my arrival (at 11PM) was that someone else had already been hired.

But that other guy (whose name was “Luke”) didn’t show up.

And everybody thought I was Luke.

It took a few weeks for the paperwork to clear up (because I was punching in as Luke Somebody for two weeks). And it was a good thing that I got paid in cash every week.

And “Yes” I thought it was odd that I would be shown to the locker room upon my arrival (at 11PM) and told to change into a uniform and then go to the dishroom without even being asked my name. But it was a job (and I worked there about 9 months).

What is the most embarrassing thing you have seen your sister do?

The summer before I left for college, Yale hosted a formal reception for the families of the incoming freshmen in my area. It was the kind of gathering where people come in button-down shirts and lacy dresses, and where sliced fruit and fancy cheeses are served on silver platters.

While everyone else was focusing on mingling, Claire Yang – ten years old at the time – immediately zeroed in on the food. I let her make a beeline for the refreshment line, and for a while afterwards, I didn’t notice anything amiss.

Then she returned with an anxious look on her face, pulled me to the side, and said, “Hannah? Can you help me eat this?”

I looked down at her plate and found myself face-to-face with a colossal slice of brie – at least a quarter the size of the enormous wheel it came from. Claire had managed to consume an admirable fraction of her slice, but even so, she was still holding enough brie to spread on a month’s worth of crackers.

“I thought it was cake,” she whispered.

I just stared at her, trying not to laugh.

In an even smaller voice, she said, “It’s not cake.”

We hadn’t really attended events with wheels of brie before, so it was an understandable mistake. Still, though, I wish I could’ve seen the faces of everyone else in line when she cut it.

My dad has bees.

Today, I went to his house and he showed me all the honey he had gotten from the hives. He took the lid off a 5-gallon bucket full of honey and on top of the honey there were 3 little bees, struggling. They were covered in sticky honey and drowning. I asked him if we could help them and he said he was sure they wouldn’t survive. Casualties of honey collection I suppose.

I asked him again if we could at least get them out and kill them quickly, after all he was the one who taught me to put a suffering animal (or bug) out of its misery. He finally conceded and scooped the bees out of the bucket. He put them in an empty Chobani yogurt container and put the plastic container outside.

Because he had disrupted the hive with the earlier honey collection, there were bees flying all over outside.

We put the 3 little bees in the container on a bench and left them to their fate. My dad called me out a little while later to show me what was happening. These three little bees were surrounded by all their sisters (all of the bees are females) and they were cleaning the sticky nearly dead bees, helping them to get all of the honey off of their bodies. We came back a short time later and there was only one little bee left in the container. She was still being tended to by her sisters.

When it was time for me to leave, we checked one last time and all three of the bees had been cleaned off enough to fly away and the container was empty.

Those three little bees lived because they were surrounded by family and friends who would not give up on them, family and friends who refused to let them drown in their own stickiness and resolved to help until the last little bee could be set free.

Bee Sisters. Bee Peers. Bee Teammates.

We could all learn a thing or two from these bees.

Bee kind always.

What’s the quickest way you saw a co-worker get fired?

During my brief stint as a McDonald’s fry cook in summer 1982, the crew at my store got along pretty well.

Then came the day when a “transfer” worker with a couple of years’ experience came aboard. I met him when he was walked around the store a day or two before his first shift. He was about my age, 20, and seemed really full of himself.

There was talk among the crew that this fellow was going to position himself as some kind of de facto crew chief, and nobody was looking forward to it.

Turned out, that never happened.

I wasn’t working on the day New Guy had his downfall, but I sure heard about it. It was on his first shift.

New Guy had experience running a cash register, so he was put on one, right out of the gate.

This was during the early days of the Chicken McNugget, which came with your choice of dipping sauce. One of these was barbecue sauce, an unremarkable tomato-based variety.

So, a small group of well-dressed older men get into the line at New Guy’s register. One of them says he’d like an order of McNuggets but he’s not sure what dipping sauce to get and could the cashier (New Guy) please recommend one?

New Guy starts into an opinionated description that includes the phrase “the barbecue sauce sucks.”

Those well-dressed older gents? They are McDonald’s executives on their way to or from some important McBusiness and have stopped off for a quick bite and to see how the crew is promoting Chicken McNuggets.

In their minds, telling customers that “the barbecue sauce sucks” is not good McMarketing. It’s more Jeff Spicoli than Mayor McCheese, I think you’d agree.

They did not keep their displeasure a secret.

New Guy was terminated on the spot, more or less, though the store management probably had to do some paperwork to make it official.

He didn’t even finish his first shift.

But just to make sure New Guy isn’t forgotten, I still use the phrase “the barbecue sauce sucks” whenever possible.

A husband

How did you react when you learned that a coworker who you believed to be your trusted ally was instead working diligently to undermine and defame you?

I had known and worked with *Ernest* for perhaps ten years.

I had helped him with professional and personal situations, and he often confided in me, so I knew ‘where the bodies were buried’ (nothing illegal).

I never confided in him nor asked him for help because I am a very private person, but that was OK since he was very focused on himself.

I guessed that he sometimes bad-mouthed me to other male teachers because he wanted them to include him. Another reason to not confide in him.

Several times when I couldn’t take on an outside class, I would suggest him for the course. He was someone I could trust to do a good job. He thanked me each time.

We were both teaching at an international company where I had taught before and was respected. He was, to them, the ‘new guy.’

I saw him in the training manager’s office, and he was ‘ernestly’ (pun?) speaking to her; she looked concerned.

Ernest said he had been talking to her about a student.

I asked her later if there was a problem and could I help. That’s when she told me that Ernest had tried to convince her to use only him for future classes by spewing several untruths about my teaching methods. She told him she would consider what he had said.

And she did, and that’s why she would not give him additional courses.

He had hanged himself.

The training manager and I had worked together several times, and she had taken two of my classes.

That incident opened my eyes to his deceit; I wondered if he had done the same at other places where I had helped him find work.

He had.

Some relationships were saved; some were lost.

I did not confront him: it would have accomplished nothing constructive. Ernest never admitted to wrongdoing. He blew up and argued, never hearing anyone else. It would have been a waste of my time.

I stopped suggesting him to clients.

Fast forward about six months.

I was hunched over a stack of students’ papers in the teachers’ work area. I was not interested in conversation, but Ernest asked if I had heard from the international company.

Without looking up, I said I was currently teaching a course there. He asked angrily why he hadn’t been called, as if I had had something to do with it.

Continuing to work on my students’ papers, not looking up, I said, “She and I have worked together several times. She didn’t like what you said about me.”

Ernest began to sputter and deny. Still not looking at him, I just waved him away.

China’s consumer market is so huge, attractive, and growing rapidly in size. Isn’t it foolish of the US government to decouple or derisk from China?

Of course it is!

Just think about this close to 1 billion out of China’s 1.4 billion people in China are middle class and are buying stuffs that the U.S. can sell or benefit from. That is more 3 times the U.S. consumer. But it is bigger than the next 10 biggest consumer on earth put together! And what is worst it is still growing and growing fast!

And you want to “decouple” or “de-risk” from this market? If I were you, I will go all out courting the Chinese to be your life long customer!

But that is not all. 2/3 of the rest of earths need is made in China and they may replace your parts and product too while making them? Did it sink into your head that you are being decouple or de-risk from the world?

It has been a full 5 years since Donald Trump declared a trade war with China. Do you want to know the result? China has out grown the U.S. five times! Your deficits and debts actually shot up! You had a crippling inflation and treating it cause you a banking crisis! China is having 0.2% inflation rate!

If you care to open your eyes, it is a mosquito bite for China while it is a cancerous growth for the U.S. economy. This coming election chose wisely, dump every China hawks and China haters! They are destroying your livelihood and putting you in debts. Get a guy in the White House that fly straight to China to patch thing up the first day in office.

China is your only hope to stay away from bankruptcy! Tell Taiwan don’t be another Ukraine. We the U.S. cannot afford Ukraine let alone Taiwan which will cost us a 100 times more! You island is not going to float near Florida coast! Be real. Join China today!

Tell China no need to innovate we will sell everything damn things to you any day any time!

How do you deal with a friend who, when going out to a restaurant, ends up constantly complaining in a rather petulant or whining manner?

I used to have a friend who treated service workers poorly. At restaurants, he would make a point to complain about the service, the table location, the ambience, and, of course, the food. He sent his orders back to the kitchen more than a few times when we dined together. His manners toward the wait staff were mean and condescending.

The first few times I witnessed the behavior, I let it go. Maybe his tantrum was legitimate. Maybe it was his youth. (He was in his 20s.)Then it became a pattern. The next time it happened, I said to him, “That’s enough,” as he was berating the waitress about the temperature of the food. I apologized to the waitress before we left the restaurant.

I asked him why he had to be so rude to the service staff. He didn’t think his behaviors were out of line at all. He rationalized falsely that if he had paid for the service, it would have to hold up to his liking. I then reminded him that it was I who footed the bill for almost all the meals we had had, and even if he had contributed his share, his treatment of the staff still wouldn’t have been justifiable.

He was working as a receptionist at a community clinic at the time. I asked him how he’d feel if the customers were rude to him for things beyond his control. He said that would never happen because everyone loved him. He then quickly dismissed my teaching moment.

I stopped inviting him to dinners and weaned myself from him socially. He reached out a few times, and I eventually had to tell him the reason we could not be friends – his kindness deficiency.

Kindness to people you care about is easy, but it shines the brightest when you dispense it to strangers and those who are vulnerable to your criticism.

Experience China’s Futuristic Spaceship Train Station: A $10 Billion Masterpiece

https://youtu.be/oUV1l_zRLlc

What was the craziest thing a mechanic said about your car?

I drove my girlfriend’s new Honda Civic and noticed a rough 2-1 downshift and told her it would be good to bring it in and have it checked as it was under warranty.

She called me when the dealership told her that it needed new front pads and rotors at 3000 miles, and the warped rotors were the problem I had felt.

I happened to be a master certified Mercedes-Benz technician at the time, so naturally I had already ruled that out. We went to the dealer and I met with the service advisor, while I was still in my work uniform, and asked him to review the recommendations on the car.

He, rather dismissively, said it needed pads and rotors because my girlfriend had warped them. I asked him for the run-out measurement and threshold for the car, and he looked at me like I was speaking in an alien language. Then he said that they don’t do measurements, just a road test. I replied that if the vehicle was out of the specifications for run-out, (the warpage of the rotor surface) that it must be measured against a manufacturer’s standard to claim that a new car needed $600 in brakes that wasn’t caused by a warrantable defect.

Given that he still gave me a “deer in headlights” look with a hint of “go F yourself”, I asked for him to bring the car out for a road test. When it arrived I took the work order from his hand and read the “mileage in” out loud, then I read off the exact same mileage from the odometer. I asked him how a determination for warped brakes was done in less than a mile, when the brakes should go through their full range of temperature to diagnose system specific issues on a road test. He replied that they can get hot in under a mile. I asked him if that kind of driving was policy for his technicians to be doing in a residential neighborhood, and he just stared blankly.

So we went on the road test and I duplicated the issue. He said that it was warped rotors. So I did it again and let go of the steering wheel, as warped fronts cause the wheel to tip back and forth when slowing to a stop, and when it remained stationary I asked him if it was still warped brakes. He stated he didn’t feel anything. So I did it again, and he stated that that was normal. After another few times demonstrating a 2-1 downshift clunk, with no vibration in the steering wheel, and getting a number of other BS replies from the advisor, it was time to call in someone else. Mind you, my girlfriend was in the back seat watching this whole thing.

At that point I asked for the service manager.

Of course we sat around for another 45 minutes before we were told he had just gone home, and the foreman would see us.

Round 2 with the foreman. I drove the car and duplicated the issue. He said, that’s odd, let me drive it. He drove it and duplicated the issue multiple times. He stated that he would check it out and let me know what he found, and that it definitely wasn’t brakes and a recommendation for brakes should have never been made without a proper road test no matter how common warped rotors were on these cars. The next morning he called up and stated that all the shifts were within specification, he had also driven a number of other vehicles and it appeared to have been a difference in programming between the 06 and 07 models where the 07 had a harsher downshift at low speeds. He said to bring it back if the shift ever got worse and even out of warranty, there was a verified complaint on record and it would be fixed within reason.

Even experienced technicians can get the runaround just like everyone else. The only advantage I had was I understand the vehicle systems, and how to diagnose them, enabling me to call them out as a professional. But when someone shows up after disassembling a $60k engine from a $150k car, while still in their Mercedes-Benz shop uniform, you’d think the jig would be up without needing to shove their face in it. What hope does the average person have?!

BTW, the transmission is still fine at 160k miles. The control unit adapted out the harsh shift eventually.

Do you think that “sapiosexuality” is a real thing, or is it just that people tend to like people with whom they have shared interests?

Yes, it’s definitely a real thing.

In my early 30s, a friend invited me over to her house for dinner. She was around my age, and single. When I arrived with my obligatory bottle of wine, there was another single woman that I was slightly acquainted with, and a man I’d never met before. We had the usual conversations: personal news, politics, literature, theatre/film, funny stories, and so on. The man didn’t seem to get our references or know anything about the topics we were discussing, and most of his interjections were a little surprising. But we did our best to be polite and welcoming and include him.

Anyway, he ended up being the first person to leave, which gave us a chance to ask the hostess how she’d met him and so on. Obviously myself and the mutual acquaintance had the same opinion of him, as she asked the hostess “But why did you invite him?”

“Because he’s SOOO good looking!” she replied.

Myself and the other woman looked at each other. Neither of us had found him good looking, and if he had been, that physical attractiveness had vanished early in the evening, given his lack of intellect. He wasn’t entirely unintelligent, he was a teacher, but he had just no interests or curiosity.

What family secret was finally spilled in your family?

Oof. Where to start. I have a couple to choose from. Most involve my mother in some shape or form. Let’s see.

There was the time she went away for a “visit home”, she immigrated at 18 from the UK. And then about 30 years later I got a call from one of my sisters asking me to sit down as she told me about my “other sister”.

Or there is the time my 63yr old sister (I’m 56) told me that someone has contacted her and introduced me to my 40yr old nephew I had no idea I had.

But I think the one that really hurt came out after my fathers death, which was a year after my mother passed.

They divorced when I was about 4–5yrs old. I believed my mothers account from 1973 till 2018 when my father passed that she was an abused wife who left in the middle of the night with nothing but the clothes on her back.

I didn’t see or hear from her for 2yrs which was explained to me that she had taken that time to get her life together.

She was actually now living with her new husband, David. Ironically in the same town as me for the past year. But I stood by her account.

I fought tooth and nail with my father from the age of 5 to 50. Around 50 my second wife talked me into letting things go for the sake of my daughter. So she could have a relationship with her PopPop.

After he passed away, my brother and I discovered multiple documents, lawyers notes, divorce decree and Private Investigator reports.

She was taking money and cheating on him THE WHOLE TIME.

He NEVER STRUCK HER. And she left ON HER OWN WITH BAGS IN HAND, INCLUDING ALL THE JEWELRY SHE BOUGHT WITH THE STOLEN MONEY.

Both had passed and I couldn’t confront my mother or apologize to my father.

My mother brainwashed me, my brother and my 3 sisters (not the 4th who wasn’t around of course) into believing it was all his doing.

I lived on the streets, spent time in JV, and joined the Army at 17 basically to get away from this man and cause I had nowhere to live etc.

She robbed me of a relationship with my father. And that I can NEVER get back or make up for now.

Did you ever see karma hit someone who deserved it so befittingly that it was eerie?

I was driving to work on the Dulles Toll Road one winter morning when the road was covered in snow and ice. I was in my little Chevy making a steady 40 mph, when an SUV came up riding my bumper and honking at me before pulling into the next lane and roaring past me. 10 minutes later I passed the same SUV on its side in the median.

Another one I didn’t see, but heard about from a friend who did was on another snowy day in northern VA. We had had an unusually strong snowstorm for the area (about 2 feet IIRC), and there was a line-up of traffic trying to get onto the ramp from the Beltway to I-95. A guy in one of those big SUV’s (the kind they show blasting through snowdrifts in the commercials) decided he was going to cut across the triangle of ground between the highway and the ramp – only to get caught up on the guard rail that was buried in the snow! According to my friend, his front end made it over before the weight of the vehicle broke through the snow and stranded him!

Life in Africa

I’ve heard of many waiters who make a killing on tips. Would ending the tipping system actually be worse for waiters?

US Answer

By a happy coincidence I recently had lunch in a new and no tipping restaurant. These are currently very rare in this country.

I sat at the bar. There were tent cards everywhere mentioning this and noted that no tipping was the reason for the increased prices. They also mentioned that if you somehow didn’t understand this, any tips you did leave would be donated to a local charity. Finally, when you received the check, there was no tip line available.

So my bartender had been in the business for many years in other tipping restaurants. She was a single Mom with two young children. She was delighted to have employer sponsored health insurance that she could afford and a 401K plan. She was an hourly employee not much different than anywhere else in corporate America.

She mentioned that the non-fluctuating income was a huge advantage for her. If she worked a shift where the bar was dead, she still made a living wage! If she worked a shift that was hugely busy, she did not see the increase in her income but the benefit of a consistent cash flow more than offset this for her.

The restaurant had only been open a few weeks. She mentioned that with the addition of affordable health insurance and a 401K plan, she was easily seeing an increase in her standard of living.

It seems to me it’s clearly a win for her lifestyle but I can easily imagine other situations where the employee might not see the same advantages.

What’s something a doctor did to you that you won’t ever forget?

As an infant, I was born with a lump behind my left knee. This was in 1957. I cried and pulled at my leg incessantly, so my mother took me to the small town doctor. By this time the lump was swollen and red. The doctor lanced it and pus and blood went everywhere, according to my mother’s account.

As a result of improper dressing and care, I developed gangrene in the leg. I received so much penicillin that I became allergic to it. I had multiple surgeries to try and remove the infected tissue.

Finally, it was determined that the only option to save my life was to remove my leg.

The bishop of our church called for the church members to join in a special fast and prayer for me. That night before my scheduled surgery, the doctor awoke with an idea to try and save my leg.

He called my parents and explained that he was moving my surgery from the first one to the last one. He put a tube in the thigh and and another in the calf and flushed it with a concoction of medications. He told my mother to watch my toes and if they turned any more purple to have the nurse call him and he would take me into surgery immediately.

The toes did not turn darker and over time, I was able to keep my leg. They did not expect it to be fully functional, however. I actually learned to walk with a cast on my leg. I was, of course, too young to know what this doctor did for me. My parents were not well off and I am pretty sure that the doctor did not receive much if any compensation.

Fast forward 15 years later and I’m a healthy young man, getting good grades and working in a restaurant, with my eye on college and a church mission. I was also racing motorcycles.

I sought out the doctor and made an appointment with him. He was older and nearing retirement. I introduced myself and asked if he remembered my case. He absolutely did. I thanked him for saving my leg and changing the course of my life. He was amazed at how fully functional my leg was.

When I told him that I even raced motorcycles as a hobby, he grinned and said, “Don’t go messing up my good work.”

I have always felt a bit of a responsibility to use my legs to work hard and serve others. I am now in my sixties, raised a good family, (all of whom ride dirt bikes, including some of the grandchildren) lived a wonderful, productive life. To this day, I think of this kind, caring doctor and do my best to not mess up his, and God’s, good work.

“I Just Came To The Realization Why I’m Single” | “That’s WHY Guys Don’t Want To Wife Me Up”

Have you ever had a client/patient who you knew was beyond helping? A patient old enough, who’d tried everything, to no avail? Have you ever known there was no hope for someone?

It is very rare when a patient enters an ER with generic complaints such as stomach pain, without ever realizing that something really bad is going on inside. This patient was such a case, in one of the worst peek-and-shriek disasters his surgeons had ever seen.

He entered the ER with severe abdominal pains, and he could not stop vomiting.

The first thing a doctor thinks in such a case is that this patient might be suffering from an intestinal infection such as gastroenteritis, or food poisoning, but this patient was having so much pain that he needed to be opened up as soon as possible

My girlfriend was still a trainee, and assisted the surgeon who would perform the operation which would not nearly last as long as they had expected.

Because what they found inside was a sentence — a classic “peek-and-shriek.”

The patient’s bowel was black and gangrenous (in other words: dead), and he was having a bowel infarction so severe, that he was beyond saving. So they closed him up again.

He died not much later, without ever waking up.

Why is change so hard?

My maternal grandfather was cheap.

So. So. Cheap.

He’s softened with age (95) but back then it was bad, really bad.

(And before I launch into this tirade, let me preface by saying he’s an amazing grandfather, who has done a long list of great things for us.)

But here we go:

In the brutal Florida summers, he barely let the air conditioning run, it was cool enough to suffice a desert scorpion.

As a kid, I remember opening my eyes in the middle of the night covered in sweat, sneaking quietly down the hallway, slowly turning the temperature down just a couple of degrees.

And as soon as that house changed temperature so much as a half a degree, it was like an internal alarm went off in grandpas mind, an inner voice that screamed, “Your money is all going away! Hurry!” and within 30 minutes the AC would be right back to 5000 degrees.

We’d take road trips and everyone would have to pile into one hotel room.

He designed a water heater outside that was a long weaving row of pipes that were painted black and heated up in the Florida sun naturally. (Clever, right?)

He kept the ovens outside to cook with to help keep the air conditioning bill down.

He hated it when my mom/grandma ran the hair dryers in the house because it used electricity and heated the house up.

We won’t even talk about what happened if you left the lights on or, god forbid, left a door open.

Go out to eat at a restaurant? Are you crazy?

It was a habit that frustrated family members over the years.

The obvious question was, why is this man so cheap?

It wasn’t like he didn’t have money. He was a PhD, working at NASA. Was it necessary to torture himself (and others)?

The thing that took me a long time to fully appreciate, was that it all stemmed from his childhood.

He grew up in abject poverty in the 1920’s/30’s, as many Americans did following the great depression.

He had 7 brothers and sisters, his father died at a young age, they had one lightbulb that hung from the living room. Luxuries were non-existent. They lived meal-to-meal, paycheck-to-paycheck.

They were known as the poor family. They were dirt, freaking, poor.

Growing up in that world set ‘Survival Mode’ to a permanent on-position. He spent much of his life with a subconscious fear, that a moments lapse in vigilance could bring the onset of poverty again.

But to his credit, he paid for the things in our life that truly mattered, like education.

And he was one of the only siblings in his family who sent money back to his poor mother, from his very first paycheck to the last day of her life.

My grandfather may remind you of someone in your life who frustrates you.

Just remember, changing these behaviors is easier said than done. They often originate from somewhere much deeper in that person’s life.

Have you ever stopped going to a restaurant because a waiter or waitress was rude to you?

There is a small family restaurant that I have been going to on and off for 10 years. After I moved I rarely went. Then when I moved back close by I tried to start going more.
The owner’s daughter is always working there and I have known her for 10 years. She used to hug me whenever I went there. There have been many complaints about her rudeness including online. I never really had a problem with her because there was always someone else working to keep her balanced. I have seen her have her moments with other people. The last time I went she was rude to me and acted like she didn’t know me. I haven’t and won’t go back because of it. I used to recommend the restaurant to others. Not anymore.

There is a real grease spoon in Orlando, Florida on West Colonial called Mr. Quick. That place has been around since the 1970’s and looks like it hasn’t been updated or cleaned since then. They are like Waffle House except cheaper and not as classy. When me and my husband first got together I took him there because Waffle House was too busy. The waitress approached our table and goes, “Watcha yall want.” like we were bothering her by waiting on us. She never refilled my husband’s coffee. Finally, he asked if he could have a refill. The waitress goes, “I guess” and sighs while getting the coffee. When he wanted another refill he waited and after not wanting to wait and deal with her again he went behind the counter and got his own refill. The waitress tells him you can’t go back there sir!
Obviously, we never went back. We still talk about it though.

What is the most jaw-dropping method for shoplifting that you have seen?

It wasn’t exactly shoplifting, but very similar. A guy was working for the Canadian mint. His job was to melt down gold from jewelry, coins and ore that the mint bought, and refine it, so it could be used to make gold coins.

When he had purified it to 99.9 percent, or so he used a ladle to scoop a load of gold out, about the size of a golf ball, and assay it , they called it a puck of gold. He was supposed to dump the puck back into the vat.

Instead they found Vaseline and rubber gloves in his locker. There were no cameras in the locker room or the refining room. He never admitted any wrong doing, so it’s all circumstancial evidence.

The scanners at the mint, were notorious for going off, for no reason, and then the guards would do a scan with hand wands, that weren’t powerful enough to detect something in a body cavity.

He sold 17 pucks, and had 4 more in his house when he was investigated. For a total of 21, but he set off the scanner 28 times. Which is why he thought he could get away with it.

He sold each puck to a gold buyer for between $7000–8000 and then took the check to the bank and transferred the money to Jamaica, to build a house. This way he stayed below the $10,000 limit, that would trigger an investigation.

The gold buyer never questioned where he got solid gold pucks from.

For the first 16 times the bank never questioned why he was sending so much money out of the country.

Then to make sure he wasn’t being scammed into sending money to someone fraudulently, the teller asked him about it. He had presented his government picture ID from the mint, as his ID, and then told her he was cashing checks from selling gold, and sending money to his parents to rebuild a house.

The teller wasn’t a dummy, a guy who works for the mint, is selling gold, and transferring the money out of the country.

She called the cops.

So he took molten gold, shaped it into a smooth puck, inserted it with Vaseline up his rectum, and conned his way past security.

Thats a jaw dropping form of sneaking something out of a business.

Man Of Steel | 1920 Universe | COLORIZED

What is an insane coincidence that you’ve experienced?

We went on a long driving trip this summer, starting in Vancouver and then through the US. As we went north, the first possible Alaska entry is Hyder, which is a bit off the normal route to Alcan and Alaska proper. While in this (VERY small) town, we stopped at a little wildlife viewing area and saw some beavers building a dam.

As we got back in the car, a large gray industrial-looking truck pulled up next to us, and a young man and woman got out. It had German license plates and two bikes on the back. I thought it was strange to see a truck with German plates in southern Alaska, especially what looked like a construction truck. I didn’t think much more about it. (Map is for context.)

About a week later, having driven through Skagway, Yukon, and then south to Wrangell-St Elias, to Denali, and Fairbanks (the point being that we drove a LONG way over about a week), we started driving the Dalton Highway up to Deadhorse. This is a route that rental companies won’t let you drive; you have to have your own car. The drive was 2 days north. After seeing the Arctic Ocean (this requires a tour and 24 hours notice, in case you ever think about going), we started back south through the Atigun Pass in the Brooks Range. Again, this is for context about how far we drove and how remote we were.

Pulling into a parking lot at the top of the pass we see… a large gray industrial-looking truck with German plates and two bikes on the back. Wow, we thought, that’s a coincidence. But it made sense that if you’re really going to make a trip and have the time to do it, the Dalton is a great journey. Still, seeing the truck again after such a distance was pretty cool. *Note: this is a very dangerous road that requires a solid vehicle and 1000 miles round trip of careful attention to the road. Worth the trip, but be warned.

We went south to Vancouver and stayed there for a week while we went to a wedding. Then we headed south to San Diego through all of the National Parks in California, then back north to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, through Utah, Colorado, back across Utah to Idaho and finally to Wyoming. (This was several thousand miles and several weeks. You might see where this is going.)

Driving through Yellowstone, now at least 5 weeks after leaving Deadhorse, I’m driving (slowly, there was a herd of bison) along the eastern part of the loop in Yellowstone…

…and we passed a large gray industrial-looking truck with German plates and two bikes on the back. What are the odds?

(I noted the distances not to brag or anything, but to show that we went on a very long drive across thousands of miles over many, many weeks, and saw the same unique truck three different times.)

You never know where life will take you. If you ever have the opportunity to really travel, don’t wait. We slept in the car to save on hotels, ate sandwiches that we made ourselves and did what we could to save money, but it was the trip of a lifetime.

And if you ever see a gray industrial-looking truck with German plates and two bikes on the back, wave hi to them for us!

What is the funniest joke you’ve been told that you still think about to this day?

I was working for a company called Alteon, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing, which provided training on Boeing’s commercial aircraft — flight, maintenance, and cabin crew (a.k.a., flight attendants). One day the ‘device manager’ (the person in charge of the full-flight simulators) offered several of us time in one of the simulators. Of course, we all hopped on it!

During her stint as ‘pilot’, one of our group had a bit of difficulty with the ‘landing’; on the first pass, she came in too hot and fast, so the device manager aborted the landing, and had me (I was sitting in the ‘instructor’s’ seat, and had access to the simulator’s controls) reset the simulation.

On the second attempt, she came in hard; the simulater bounced twice, knocked the phone off its hook, and even threw me out of my seat! (I had neglected to fasten my seatbelt; hey, it was only a simulator, right?)

After the session, as we were heading back to our respective jobs, I asked the device manager, “On that one hard landing, in a real-world scenario, would we have walked away from it?”

He told me, “Oh, yeah. The device has a way of indicating a crash, and no crash was indicated. It may have blown a few tires, but that’s about all.” And then he told me this story:

“There was a pilot, for an airline I would rather not name, who once made just one of those strut-bottoming landings that could jar your tooth-fillings loose.

“He pulled up to the gate, and as per company policy, left the cockpit to bid the passengers goodbye.

“One passenger, a little old lady, walking with the aid of a a cane, shuffled up the aisle to the exit. When she got to the front of the plane, she fixed the pilot with a steely glare and asked him, ‘Young man, did you land this airplane…, or were we shot down?’”

It’s been nearly fifteen years, and I still laugh!

If an intruder was in your house, would you try to kill the intruder, or run the hell away out of your house?

You would most probably hide like this girl.

So, back in 2014, there was this crazy incident in Venice, California. Melora Rivera found herself face-to-face with a total intruder trying to break into her house. Talk about terrifying! But she didn’t panic. Nope, she jumped into action and made a daring escape by climbing onto her roof. And that’s when the infamous photo was taken.

Melora Rivera

Imagine this: the front door gets kicked in, and Rivera’s instincts kick into overdrive. She jumps out of bed, throws on a flannel shirt, and dials the cops on her cell phone. But get this, the intruder follows her onto the roof!

So here she is, on the roof, weighing her options. She quickly realizes that climbing down directly is not the smartest move because, well, it’s a long way down. With her safety at stake, she decides to wait anxiously for the police to come to the rescue.

And boy, did they. The police showed up in just two minutes, but when they arrived, they only saw Rivera on the roof. They were worried about who she really was. And Rivera, she was terrified that the intruder might accidentally end up where she was hiding.

AP Photo/Venice311.org, Alex Thompson

Thankfully, the Los Angeles Fire Department stepped in and saved the day. They used a ladder to safely get Rivera off the roof. Meanwhile, the police were able to convince the intruder, later identified as Christian Hicks, to surrender. He got slapped with burglary charges real quick.

But the craziest part? Rivera’s neighbors were there witnessing the whole thing go down. They whipped out their cell phones and snapped photos and videos from every angle. You’ve got Rivera huddling under an eave, phone to her ear, while the intruder lurks just above. And then there are the cops with guns drawn, ready to protect Rivera from any harm.

Talk about a wild day in Venice!

Scott Ritter: “Houthi’s have us beat.. We have played ourselves and will FAIL due to INCOMPETENCE!”

https://youtu.be/VIyu2-zCnFU

What is the worst thing a woman can say to her husband?

Once upon a time, in the quaint little town that could be any town, there lived a woman named Jane and her husband, Tom. Jane was known for her quick wit and a tongue that could be as sharp as a razor blade, especially when her patience was tested.

One day, after a particularly long and stressful week, Jane and Tom found themselves embroiled in one of those arguments that couples often have, about something so trivial neither could later remember what sparked it. The air in their cozy living room was thick with unspoken frustrations and the remnants of past disagreements.

As the argument escalated, Tom, red-faced and exasperated, blurted out, “Why can’t you just let this go?”

In that moment, Jane, with a cool and steady voice that belied the storm of emotions inside her, replied, “Because sometimes, dear, I wonder if I made a mistake marrying you.”

The room fell silent. The weight of those words hung in the air like a thick fog, and Jane immediately regretted them. It was as if time had stopped, and she could see the hurt in Tom’s eyes, a hurt that echoed a fear buried deep in his heart.

Though they made up later, and Jane apologized profusely, those words became like a tiny crack in the vase of their marriage. Invisible most days, but a reminder that some words, once spoken, can never be fully taken back. They both learned that in the tapestry of marriage, woven with threads of love, trust, and respect, it’s often the words left unsaid that hold the most power.

Has another parent ever gotten mad at you for saying ‘no’ to their child?

My police officer husband (he’s since retired) and his partner met me, our son and his partner’s wife and children at McDonald’s one night for dinner. Our kids were playing in the playland. My son was about 5 or 6 at the time. We heard my son crying and looked up to see another child had pinned my son in a chokehold as he was coming out of the slide and was punching him in the face.

I stood up and said “Excuse me. We do not play like that.” and sat back down and we continued to eat. Suddenly “BIG MAMA” came storming into the play area and started screaming at me for being a racist bitch. We are white; she and her children black. I simply explained what had happened and that I hadn’t said anything about race.

She continued to scream and cuss at me. My husband stood up and said “Ma’am, your son was belting our kid in the face.”. She started screaming at him then claiming he was a “racist pig” and that she wanted to see his supervisor. He had done nothing as a police officer.

We wound up leaving because she wouldn’t shut up. About 2 weeks later, we tried the play date/dinner again, but, walked in to find them there. She immediately stood up and we just left.

Police officers, what are some of the most interesting conversations you’ve had with the people you’ve arrested?

Many years ago we had a couple adult brothers who lived in a house in our town. We’ll call them Donald and Ronald. They liked to drink and they liked to play with guns. They had the combined IQ of a house plant, but Ronald was just a little brighter than Donald.

On TWO occasions (about a year apart) we had to evacuate the adjacent neighborhood because these two decided it would be fun to start shooting in the air from their open windows.

We had to treat these situations as barricaded subject calls. We could not assume they wouldn’t shoot at us.

So we established inner and outer perimeters and tried to make telephone contact with them.

On both occasions (after several hours of negotiations) we were able to get them to surrender without anybody getting hurt, but the second time was a little hairier than the first one. They had friends involved as guests and they added an extra unknown factor we had to deal with. It was also rumored that a child was in the house, but this turned out to be false.

The first time they were charged with various misdemeanors. Since we could not prove they caused any damage to homes or other property we were unable to secure more serious charges. The second time we could. Both times their guns were confiscated.

I was the negotiator who spent several hours on each occasion trying to get them to come outside so we could peacefully resolve the situation. By the second time, they were on a first name basis with me.

The second incident was treated a little less patiently than the first one. About 90 minutes after the shots from inside the house stopped, we did something we chose not to do on the first occasion: we cut off the electricity inside the house. Within a half hour of cutting the electricity they surrendered and were taken into custody.

I was in the station about an hour after they were taken into custody. One of the officers who was working on booking and charging the brothers came into my office and told me they wanted to speak to me in person, so I went back to the holding cell area.

Donald said, “Bruno, what the f***, man. You shut off our electricity?? You didn’t do that last time.”

I said, “You’re right, Donald. We didn’t do it last time. But this time you guys brought it to a new level, and so we brought it to a new level. Don’t do this again.”

“Well, what if we do??”

“Then we will turn off your oxygen.”

“You can do that???”

I just walked away.

Soon after this incident the brothers sold the house and moved out of town.

Can you explain the process of a U.S. company going public in China? Can you provide some examples of U.S. companies that have done this successfully?

Don’t worry you will soon know. But by bit China will take down the Wall Street. It has taken down GM and Ford, AIA and Apple, China has the most capital. China in time will have the most investor. China is far more responsible fiscally and monetarily than the U.S. what make you think U.S. start ups and giants don’t want to cash in there?

It is a matter of time. Now China starts the first salvo to answer to Donald Trump. He don’t want Chinese companies to be listed in NYSE, China says don’t worry. We won’t. China wants all Chinese companies to delist within a decade! Let us see who lose more!

What was the best way you’ve taken revenge on an awful parent?

It wasn’t me, but a very good friend of mine. Her mother was very abusive to her and her brothers throughout their childhoods. They all left home in their teens as soon as they were able to get their first jobs. After many years of no contact, the mother died and was cremated. Two years later, no one had come to collect the remains. The crematorium contacted all the children. The brothers refused to have any involvement. The crematorium staff made my friend feel so guilty, her and her husband drove 7 hours to the city where her mother had died to collect the ashes. On the drive home my friend started crying and said she didn’t want the ashes. She said they would just be a painful reminder of all the years of abuse. Without a word, the husband pulled the car over, grabbed the urn, walked down an embankment and threw the ashes into a river. My friend laughed and said she had never felt as loved as she did at that moment. The mother couldn’t swim and was terrified of water.

What is something almost no one says, but you’re sure everyone thinks?

“Please, dear God, don’t let it come down to another Biden/Trump face-off in the next election.”

Some of my liberal friends and family members, and liberal Quorans whom I follow and respect, have expressed how they think Biden is too old and wish that he would just bow out gracefully. I suspect that those who haven’t said as much have been thinking it.

Similarly, while I know that Trump seems to have good polling numbers amongst likely Republican primary voters, I don’t know any Republicans in real life who really like him. I know some who like his policies, particularly on border security, but those same people have expressed disdain for the man himself.

I’m hoping that, once people actually get a chance to vote in the primaries, the polls will be proven wrong about how much support Trump really has. Perhaps people are lying to the pollsters out of spite for the mainstream media. Or, maybe one of Trump’s competitors in the primary will gain momentum in the early primaries, and the “please, not Trump” Republican support will all go towards that one candidate, and it will be enough to make Trump not the nominee.

Most of my liberal friends and relatives didn’t support Biden in the last election, but they voted for him out of hatred for Trump. It doesn’t really matter how they vote, here in Illinois, since the Democrat always wins here, but I wonder if that hatred of Trump will be enough to get Biden elected again in states where there is a real competition.

I predict that, should it come down to Trump/Biden again, most people won’t be voting for either of them, so much as voting against the other person (by voting for the only other person on the ballot who can actually beat them). They will dutifully vote for Trump or Biden, while wishing they didn’t have to, then spend the next four years complaining about the exact things they were warned would happen should that person get elected.

Illinois primaries too late, and is too solidly blue, for my presidential vote to matter, so I’m off the hook as far as stressing over it too much. I’m just along for the ride.

But I think that almost anyone who isn’t Trump or Biden, who ends up as the nominee for the Republicans or Democrats, could easily win the election. Their presence on the ballot would be welcome news to voters from both parties.

I think that Nikki Haley, in particular, would have the easiest pathway to victory, should she end up the Republican nominee, particularly if she were running against Biden. The liberals in my life who go through life with demographic lenses clouding their views on everything would quietly support Haley, just because of her gender and race, and not for any party or policies she supported. That, plus the core Republican support the nominee will get anyway, would win Haley most of the swing states, I suspect.

Why is the Chinese government so much more effective in its policy making while Western countries take forever to make moves?

Decision making & Accountability

That’s it

Chinas policies are CRISP and their origin and implementation route is flawless

Everyone knows who proposed the policies and who implemented them

If a policy succeeds, the persons who implemented them get promotions and responsibility and the persons who proposed them get more traction within the CPC

If a policy fails, the persons who implemented them are if not punished, at least put in a doghouse and forgotten with their careers stagnating until a few of them are lucky enough to get a second chance

The persons who proposed the policies will also remain where they are and silently in the next Congress retire or go into insignificance

It’s a beautiful system running on RESULTS, RESULTS and always RESULTS

Take the floods of 2023

41 City officials faced the wrath for the City being flooded for 36 hours (Flooded means water reaching above 3 inches on Public Roads and 1 1/2 inches in Airports)

That is Accountability

They will be replaced and their careers will taper off.

Meanwhile this man, who planned ahead and saved at least 6% of Chinas crops from being destroyed and rather was responsible for a bumper crop

He will be rewarded suitably

Xi Jingping almost never makes policies

Those days for him are done

So are other members of the standing Committee

He now listens to his people, his advisors and asks them to handle things

If things go well, they get promotion and traction

Wang Yi handled his job beautifully and got rewarded with a Politburo appointment

Now he is the Top dog controlling all foreign policy within the Party

Zhao Lijian was perceived as not doing his job well enough

He was promoted but his new job has maybe 25% of the power he once held

It’s always results

If China gets over 5% GDP growth this year, that’s good for everyone and they did ok

If China manages more than that, that’s better than expected and there will be promotions

If China does worse, those officials will soon be forgotten and stagnate and deputed to insignificant errands

The Western Countries & other democracies like India don’t have such a flawless system

Here everyone rushes to take credit for success and everyone tries to blame others for failure

As a result a lot of mediocre people occupy exalted positions of power merely because of political maneuvering or influence rather than ability and talent

In China, 11 people in the Politburo & Central Committee are people who supported Li Keiqang over Xi Jingping in 2012

No issues

In US, would Biden hire Joseph D Kernan or Trey Gowdy or Brent Mcintosh?

Nopes

They are highly able Individuals but they will be ignored because of politics and because they were Trump appointments

Thus as usual every decision is laced with more than ability and merit and accountability

It’s essentially ONE PARTY MERITOCRACY VS DEMOCRACY.

China’s MILITARY PLAN To Bring US To Knees With A Click Of Button

What advice did another parent give your child that made you furious?

Oh. my. god.

So my six-year-olds father and I went to a dance competition that she was competing in. And there was obviously that one “dance mom” who has all the t-shirts and tote bags with the studio’s name on it and thinks their child is the best.

Anyway, my daughter finished her amazing solo and finished the group dance too. Let’s call this “dance mom” figure “Entitled Mom.”

So after all the dances came awards and my daughter won first place for solos in her division (yay!). EM’s daughter won eighth and she was NOT having it. She started screaming in the halls like: “THE JUDGES ARE SO BLIND!”, “MY DAUGHTER SHOULD BE IN FIRST NOT THAT KID (my kid)”, “I DIDNT KNOW THIS WAS A COMPETITION FOR JUDGES TO SHOW OFF HOW IDIOTIC THEY ARE!” etc.

And of course, some staff told her to calm down, blah blah blah.

Then the EM came up to my kid and put her finger in this tiny six-year-old’s face and said “You did not deserve this trophy. Go home and quit because I bet this was your first win only because the judges can’t see real talent.” And this *female dog* had the audacity to grab the trophy out of my kid’s hand and throw it across the room.

I went OFF. I took this lady bag and threw that across the room. Not my proudest moment but yeah I was pissed.

In the end, she literally told my daughter to quit and my kid went home instead of happy and proud of herself, crying her eyes out because of that lady. The studio that EM’s kid was representing sent me an email the next day apologizing and that EM was not allowed to attend any competitions that her kid was going to representing that studio. We also got a new trophy because when EM thew it the top broke into pieces.

So yep that’s my story, now my daughter is 11

What’s something you can’t believe you had to explain to another adult?

This happened to me about 20 years ago when I still lived in Alabama. I needed a little cash so I drove to the my bank to pick some up during business hours. This was quite a few years before any of our local banks had automated tellers.

I used the drive-thru where I wrote a personal check to “cash” for 50 dollars, if I remember correctly. I then gave the check and my identification, my passport as I had lost my drivers license a couple days before, to the teller.

The teller, let’s call her Charlotte, takes my passport looks at it and, over the intercom, says to me, as though very probably dealing with an idiot, “Sir, I’m gonna need a valid photo identification. I don’t even know what this here is.” (Imagine Dolly Parton doing a parody of her own southern accent).

I tried my best not to seem a condescending prick and replied “ That’s my passport issued by the United States Department of State. I can assure you that it is a valid form of photo identification. Just look at it. There’s a U.S. Flag and a picture of an bald eagle and everything.”

“Well, be that as it may I’m gonna need a drivers license or somethin’ otherwise I can’t give you no cash.” she insists.

“What you have there is most definitely SOMETHING. Perhaps you should confer with one of your colleagues or even a manager.” I suggest.

“Betty, can you come over here and look at this?” she asks of one of her colleagues. “This gentleman claims that this is A VALID PHOTO IDENTIFICATION. Do you even know what this is?”.

Betty looks at me and says “Sir, we’re gonna need a valid form of photo identification like a drivers license or somethin’.”

I give the classic 2 handed facepalm and, after a long suffering sigh, I say “It’s a passport. It’s issued by the United States Government to U.S. Citizens who generally use them to travel abroad and it is definitely a valid government issued photo ID.”

By this time a third teller, let’s call him Carl, is involved “I think it’s one of those things you use to go to foreign country or somethin’.” he says to Charlotte and Betty. He looks at me “Sir this is a bank. It ain’t no airport. We’re going to need a valid photo identification like a drivers license or somethin’.”

At this point I’m no longer trying to avoid being a condescending prick when I ask “Can one of you ignorant savages fetch a manager? Preferably one that’s traveled beyond the borders of the great state of Alabama.”

After a round of “Well I never’s!” Betty takes of in a huff to retrieve the bank manager. When he arrives Charlotte looks at me smugly and says “Bill, this gentleman wants withdraw cash but, he doesn’t have valid photo identification, he only has THIS!” and with this she presents Bill, the bank manager, with my passport.

Bill looks at me sheepishly and there is an audible click as the intercom shuts off. Because of this I didn’t here exactly what bill said to Charlotte, Betty, and Carl but judging from their body language and the way their eyes all drifted downward I would guess it was none to kind. Then a click as the intercom springs back to life and Bill says “Please allow me to apologize Mr. Estes I promise you that nothing like this will ever happen again. Would 2 twenty’s and a ten be o.k.?”.

Men do not want this

What is something you can’t have?

Fucking closure.

The last things we said were “Love you, man. Goodnight” before he had to go away for a month.

He came back and blocked my number, blocked me on social media, and effectively erased me from his life.

No warning.

No explanation.

No goodbye.

10+ years of friendship thrown in the trash.

It’s been 7 months, and I still don’t know why.

And I feel the loss in my chest and my body and deep in my bones.
Every fucking day of my life.

Not giving someone any sense of closure is one of the cruelest things you could do to another person.

I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

Edit to add:

It’s been 2 years now, and it still fucking hurts an unimaginable amount.

Highly irritated at everyone who has ever said “Time heals all wounds.”

No. It fucking. Does not.

Edit to add:

Coming in on 3 years soon, and the pain has dulled into what can best be described as a painful annoyance.

Perfect analogy?

Have you ever burned the ever-living-shit out of your arm or hand?
It hurts for so long.

Taking a hot shower is agony.
Putting on a shirt is a bitch.
Honestly, just touching it is awful.

Then it starts to scab over. It’s very sore still, but less excruciatingly so.
If you bump it on something, it’s rough. You’ll probably let out a loud yelp.
But it’s healing.

And then the scab begins to flake off. The pain is mild, but the itching is constant. If you poke it hard, it’s certainly not going to feel good, so you try not to poke it.

It’s a different kind of problem, and you really just wish you hadn’t burned yourself in the first place.

This is where I’m at now, three years later.

It’s mild pain, paired with utter annoyance.

And it’s leaving a hell of a scar.

Edit to Add:

It’s been 5 years now.

To my former Self: The wound is healed, my darling! And the scar is so very important. Thank you for honoring our pain with the attention it deserved.
To think! We could have become bitter and cold, but instead we are blossoming and warm and eager to learn again.

And to my original edit: No, you are right, time does not heal all wounds. It rebuilds YOU around them.

Closure isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Growth, however? Utterly priceless.

She got wet

What are the implications of Moody’s downgrade of China’s debt outlook?

Moody is a western and U.S. rating agency. It works for the US government and owned by the neocons. What is says is bird poo. Looking or listening to Moody’s is no different from checking Jews status from a Nazi perspective!

This is the same agency that gives AAA rating to the U.S. economy! The one that could not increase the real standard of living since 1960. That is 60 years ago. Moody’s depend on their mood ! Or when their pay master tell them what to grade!

These are the agencies thss as t has to go in the new world order. One don’t get your cronies to rate you!

People who’ve built and slept in igloos, what’s it actually like?

Hat tip to Scott Welch – amazing answer.

As a recreational igloo builder, I can add:

It’s a lot of work – I’ve built maybe a dozen, and it always takes 3–4 hours. I’ve built them in Sierra and Cascades snow, and it’s a huge amount of work to tramp down the snow, churning the layers of snowfall so there aren’t weak spots in your bricks…

Cutting the bricks with an ice saw is neat – but the blocks (2′ x 1.5′ x 1′) are really heavy – that’s about 20 gallons of packed snow/ice, perhaps 30–50 pounds heavy.

You build up in a spiral – so each block leans in a little more than the previous one, and each is supported by touching the corner of the previous block. You don’t try to build a solid structure – just a skeletal framework of blocks touching each other with triangular holes between.

The last pieces are hard to place, since you have to lean over a somewhat unstable structure without tipping it in. If you aren’t diligent, it tends to be taller than a half-sphere, and then it’s nearly impossible to place the keystone block.
When the frame is done, you fill the holes with packed snow, which makes the structure really solid and robust enough to climb up and stand atop.

When the dome is done, then you can dig down and create an entrance tunnel. It’s important that the tunnel is lower than the sleeping platform, because otherwise the warm air trapped in the dome all just blows away.

The entrance tunnel is going to be tight – the smaller the hole, the warmer the structure, and it’s a lot of work to make the tunnel big anyway. This is not a structure for the claustrophobic!

From inside, you can really see the structure – the gaps between the blocks that you packed with snow are much less dense than the blocks.

And at night, a flashlight really shines through the structure.

You can build a lot of supplementary structures with ice-blocks to make comfortable camp. Be sure to plant skis and packs upright – the night after I took this picture, we had 3–4 feet of new snow, and only the tips of the skis were showing. This time, we didn’t have to go digging…. By the way, you keep your water bottles and boots inside your sleeping bag, otherwise they will likely freeze. Frozen boots are a serious problem if you are in the wilderness.

Inside, you want to ventilate so the temperature stays a little below freezing – you don’t want it dripping on you. But it’s still much warmer than outside overnight. It’s also utterly silent. I’ve slept through some amazing storms without hearing a thing.
And you need some really good sleeping pads – most of the cold comes up from the sleeping platform, not from the cold air. It’s worth spending some time to make sure the sleeping platform is totally flat and level, because ice is slippery, and if it’s not flat, you’ll spend all night sliding towards the tunnel and trying to scoot back, which isn’t very restful.

Enjoy yourself!

Hoe math

Why did Kentucky Fried Chicken get so bad?

My blood type is KFC positive and even I am finding it hard to eat it these days.

On top of the product changing, most likely to make more money, the service has deteriorated terribly, at least the one closest to me.

Every time I would order they would get it wrong. It was so bad it was almost like they did it deliberately.

One day, about three years ago now, after having enough of being given the wrong food, I decided to go in to the store in person and complain.

Surprisingly, but not really given how bad this store is, there was a lady at the counter complaining about exactly the same things I was going to complain about. She even said, like me, she came down especially to make the complaint in person.

I could tell from the body language that the 12 year old store manager couldn’t care less.

Another time I went there at lunch time to buy chicken (Kentucky Fried Chicken – that is apparently what they sell!) but they had none! None! Literally no chicken but I could get a burger if I wanted. I guess you let a store be run by children and this is bound to happen.

As I walked out empty-handed, two police officers were walking in. I said to them, “Good! You’re here to arrest them for running out of chicken!?”

They asked me if the store was indeed out and so they turned around and left too but did say something along the lines of, “Yes we should be able to arrest them. How could KFC run out of chicken at lunchtime?”

My thoughts exactly! The Colonel would be turning in his bucket in disgust!

Ma Po Tofu (Ma Po Dofu)

A famous Szechuan recipe – the name Ma Po Tofu is roughly translated as “pockmarked grandmother bean curd,” named for the old woman who supposedly invented the dish.

Ingredients

Tofu

3 cakes regular tofu (medium firmness)
1/4 pound ground pork
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon salted black beans
1 tablespoon chili paste
3 tablespoons stock (chicken broth)
1 leek or 3 green onions
Freshly ground Szechuan pepper

Marinade

1 1/2 tablespoons tapioca starch
2 tablespoon soy sauce

Mixture

1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Oil for stir-frying

Instructions

Mix marinade ingredients . Marinate pork for about 20 minutes.
Cut the bean curd into 1/2 inch (1 cm) square cubes, and blanch (drop into boiling water) for 2 – 3 minutes. Remove from boiling water and drain.
Chop leeks or green onions into short lengths.
Heat wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add the marinated pork. Stir-fry pork until the color darkens. Add salt and stir. Add the salted black beans. Mash the beans with a cooking ladle until they blend in well with the meat. Add the chili paste, then the stock, bean curd, and leek or green onions.
Turn down the heat. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes.
While cooking, mix cornstarch, water and soy sauce together. Add to wok and stir gently.
Serve with freshly ground Szechuan pepper.

What is the pettiest notice you’ve received from your Homeowners Association?

I left my trash can out 5 hours past when I was supposed to bring it in. I hadn’t brought it in because my arms were full of groceries and I had just returned from a full day of working. I was so burned out from work and shopping I didn’t even make it to my bedroom; I fell asleep on the couch. Next morning I get a call from the hoa saying that someone complained about the garbage cans being outside longer than allowed. I had literally brought the can in at 5 am so that it wouldn’t inconvenience people. Apparently that wasn’t good enough, and it had to have been in the night before. Even though it was the first time that I had left it out, they still fined me $200. I asked 1. How did they know the can was mine? 2. When was the complaint filed, since I had brought my can in at the crack of dawn. They refused to answer either of those questions.

Another incident with the SAME HOA really made my blood boil. They claimed my sweet wheaten terrier was terrorizing the neighborhood because he would like to look out of a second story window and occasionally bark at another dog passing by. Please note that this dog is 40 pounds and in no way shape or form, able to get out of the building with out human assistance. The hoa said that he was a threat to the neighborhood and well over 40 pounds, the weight limit that they imposed for dogs. I told them that he was exactly 40 pounds, and showed vet records to prove it, and that even if he barks at a dog passing by, humans can’t hear it from the street because the windows are closed! Hoa didn’t care. Fined me $400 and said for every new complaint they would double it. They’ve doubled it 3 times. No proof of my dog harassing anyone. Just their word versus mine. The hoa literally gave me the choice of debarking my dog or putting a bark collar on him; both of which are cruel. My immediate neighbors have no problem with him barking if they ring a doorbell or knock on the door because that’s what watch dogs do, so I’m honestly not sure who is filing complaints against me. Once I save up enough for a new place, I will never be in a hoa again.

As a Realtor what is the messiest thing you ever saw in a home?

Not a Realtor but a home inspector for mortgage companies. Went to inspect a mobile home that was in process of being repossessed. House was supposed to be empty. my job was to take pics, insure elec and water was off, house was vacant and there was a clear path for the truck to remove the house the following week. When i got here, the home was not vacant. Living in the home was a woman and her 4 hogs. yes, hogs, giant filthy hogs. The walls were literally black about 3 feet up the walls. the floors were inches thick in hog poop. The bathtub was FULL of dog/hog poop. The house was only 2 years old! this woman was sleeping in a recliner chair in the middle of her living room. There was also a multitude of dogs. She started crying and said she had to move to the hog pen in her back yard if we took the house. She dragged her chair outside and called her hogs and dogs and went into the back yard. When i stepped back there to take pics of the back of the house i could see her in a 3 sided shack, in her recliner. I had to take many pics and after every room i would run outside and take breaths of fresh air. The stench was overpowering. When I was done and went back to my car, where my husband was waiting, as he had “rode along” , I took off my shoes and threw them in the trash and then got in the car. We got about 1/4 mile and husband make me pull over and take off my clothes. he gave me his shirt to drive in and we threw away my clothes too. I reported to the company that the house was unrenewable and they should just write it off and let her keep it. I dont know what they actually did.

Can you tell me about a time that you sued someone in civil court and won?

I got a letter in the post from a private parking company telling me I had overstayed by 10 minutes. They wanted £60, or £100 if I didn’t pay immediately.

Where I live, only the driver is liable for private parking charges, and I was at the dentist elsewhere at the time, so I appealed to the parking company telling them I was not the driver and could not have been because I had an appointment somewhere else at the time.

I heard nothing for a while so thought that was it, but then suddenly I got a demand for £100. I wrote saying that I had appealed already, restating my case. They told me they had no record of my appeal, and that now I was too late to appeal, so I owed £100.

I wrote to them following their complaints procedure, stating they had lost my appeal, and restating my case. They replied, “tough luck”. I wrote asking if that was the end of their complaints procedure. They replied I was out of time to appeal.

Letters now started coming thick and fast from them. The charge somehow escalated to £180, and the letters got quite aggressive, talking about court action, credit ratings and supreme court verdicts about parking. To be honest, they were quite stressful.

I put them on notice that the letters were causing me stress, and that under the data protection act I had the right for my personal data to be stored correctly. The particular item I wished to be stored correctly was that I was not the driver. Additionally, my data could only be used for appropriate purposes, and as I was not the driver, pursuing me for a parking charge was no longer an appropriate purpose now I had appraised them of the facts.

Letters continued.

The statute of limitations for parking charges is six years, and I had no desire to keep getting stressful letters for this time. Only one course of action seemed appropriate, so I filed a claim against them for data protection violations.

I asked for £200.

They paid up in full before the court hearing.

What kind of people make you ashamed to be a human being?

My distant cousin was marrying this girl. The girl’s family were investing a huge sum. But days before final confirmation, the girl calls him and reveals what her parents were hiding.

She fearlessly discloses, she was having neurological problems since she met with a car accident as there was a bleeding in her brain at that time.

That really hurt my cousin(Deepak, name changed). But as much as he wanted to get away, her honesty only polarised him in the direction his mind definitely didn’t.

It was a conundrum that the girl, though through arrange-marriage only, but he had started loving, should he leave her because she told the truth. If she wouldn’t have, then he would have surely married her.

He thought what kind of justice it would be. Marry the untrue but ditch the true. He consulted doctors and got a positive reply that her condition could be well tackled.

He calls her and says, whatever happens, we face it together. I’ll marry you and always be by your side. He got the reply which distorted him from within into the fragments he could never reassemble.

The girl said, “Don’t you get it idiot, I have a boyfriend, my parents are irritating me. I don’t want to be a disobedient girl in their world. Just say No and let me marry my lover.”

How long should China’s lockdown last? What are the consequences if not enough time is given?

China did it just right.

First China locked down very strictly as China like all nation do not enough is known about Covid -19 yet and no known cure or prevention is yet to be available.I believed the Chinese authorities saves at least 10 million deaths if not for their timely and strong actions.

Next while the U.S. and many western nations were bickering and could not lock down like China after condemning China on the so call “draconian” measures. And as a result the infections extrapolate hundreds of fold compared to China. So while China opened up strategically to use the time to overtook the west in many technological fields while the west were finally forced into lock down due to huge deaths!

So while the Chinese work and progress the western nation were paralyse. Chinese vaccines were more effective than the western ones. And it has less side effect. The rapid and effective vaccination of 1.4 billion probably save a hundred million infections and millions of life.

China being responsible and careful watch, study and understand that the latest strains of Covid had become a weak strain that it is time for China to eased up. That they did after being sure that opening up fully will mean full infections. And indeed that happened but without deaths and long infections.

To me and to the world China handled the Covid pandemic the most effectively and most successfully of all nations. To me the western so call liberal democracy failed phenomenally. And while the west were selfishly profiteering from the vaccine, China spread their goodwill and share its vaccine throughout the world.

Now that the dust has by and large settled, on the Covid-19 pandemic. China passed the severe test admirably and extremely successful proving that Chinese political system of socialism with Chinese characteristics won the day. All in all it lost 0.5% of what the U.S. lost in life due to Covid-19 the U.S. based on per million citizens.

Final result U.S. with only 330 million population lose 1,190,000 life while Chin with 1.4 billion population lose less than 6000 life! During the 3 years of Covid-19 ravage from 2020–2022 China grew close to 4 times the U.S. growth! Meanwhile the U.S. life expectancy felled below China for the first time in 2021 and by end of the 2022 Chinese people on average out live the US by 2 full years!

For me the Chinese did just right. Compared to the U.S. that handled it worst that many 3rd world nation.

If you’re fired, do you have to return your company car immediately?

Interesting. I had a good friend who had a good sales job. He was a good earner for the company and a stellar employer. He had two children, and of course needed the job to support his family. He worked hard and was a nice guy. He had a company car due to the fact that he drove a lot.

One day he got called into the office and was fired. I can’t remember why, but it was a stupid reason. Somehow the new company CEO just didn’t like him and found some bogus reason to get rid of him. I spoke to a few of his company friends later, and they all agreed, he was a great employer and in no way did he deserve to be fired. They told him to clear out his desk and leave, and turn in the keys for his company car. He cleaned out his desk, and politely told them, his car was parked on the street, so he would bring it directly to the front door for them.

He certainly did. He got the car from the street, drove it into the parking lot, and right through the front doors of the company. Completely destroyed the foyer, front entrance, and the car. Then he calmly got out of the car, and said, “Sorry about that everyone, I must have hit the gas by accident.”

Probably cost $200,000 damage. Police arrived and interviewed him. He was apologetic, and explained his shoe got caught on the brake pedal, holding the gas down.

The police didn’t charge him. He was on private property, so it wasn’t an accident on a public roadway.

Here’s the funny thing. The new CEO had decided to start saving money, and ignored calls from his building insurance company. There was no policy to cover the damage.

My friend got a new job rather quickly and got on with his life. He became a legend.

What is something the West always gets wrong about Chinese culture?

Hi!

My name is Clara and I have studied and lived in Ningbo for several months. I was an exchange student of University of Nottingham Ningbo and learned a lot of things about China and its people.

In my opinion, there are many things that we have gotten wrong about China. However, I am speaking in my position of spanish woman. I feel like maybe other countries who have a higher rate of ethnicities inside their country can have other points of view. At least, in my country there were many stereotypes among chinese minorities. This is because the only treatment most of them have with chinese people is getting a spring roll in a Chinese restaurant or buying a toy in a chinese owned store. So the only thing known about China is through media. And often media is full of stereotypes and mockery. While countries like Japan and Korea have been lately in the fancy spot, due to their pop culture in general. Chinese is not as keen on exporting its products, even though it’s getting more recognition lately. So people don’t tend to glamourize China and see it as a “developing country” packed with many people and a place to adopt children

After spending some time in China and learning more about its culture and experiencing things with my own eyes, coming back home and hearing those comments that I found even funny before, make me sick and now with the pandemic going on is even more disgusting. “Chinese people are poor” “Chinese Woman must be very unhappy” “They eat everything that moves” “C’mon pose like a chinese” “How was China? I can’t believe you traveled around it must be very dangerous” “Have you dated any chinese? They have small dick, haha” “I don’t have any problems with dating other races but I just don’t like chinese people” and the list goes on. Specially, they tend to considerate everything that is asian related as chinese. Geishas are chinese, K-pop is chinese singers, Anime is chinese cartoons and the list goes on

I have already given up in correcting people’s racism. I am still dealing with mine and some people are simply not willing to change. I have tried to explain to some people that China is far more advanced than Spain. People use things more smartly in all of the levels, from paying to even designing potatoes packages. I have tried to explain that chinese people are always willing to help and chinese younger generations are open to dialogue. I tried to tell them that even my chinese female friends stand in more or less the same social ideals as I have. I have meet straight people, bisexual people, gay people, religious people, atheist people, and so on in China. Each one has it’s own opinions and perspective on life. Nobody is brainwashed. I have also explained that I have never seen bats on a street market or anything similar and that holding back your eyes to mock asian eyes is very racist. I have also tried to explain that China is a very safe place and people are very peaceful and mind their business. And the other racist things such as “I just don’t like chinese people”, I just replied with “Well, I don’t like you either and here we are”.

Star Trek: The Silent Skies | COLORIZED & EXTENDED

Boudin and American Supremacy

There is a sausage that is popular in the deep South in the Unites. It’s called boudin. It’s a kind of very spicy sausage and super tasty. I used to get it at the local quickie mart, and along with meat pies and fried catfish are some of the best ‘eatin that I ever had.

One day, while living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, my wife made me some homemade boudin, and I ate it just prior to hopping on a plane to Chicago for a meeting.

But she didn’t make it quite right, and I suffered from the most amazing gas that I ever had. I thought that I was having a heart attack! I was freaking out and almost called the ambulance from the hotel. But once I got on the phone and talked to a nurse and explained what I ate, it was simply a matter of taking a stomach pill. Phew!

Anyways, if you are gonna eat this tremendously delicious dish, please make sure you cook it properly.

What’s Boudin & Why Louisiana Is The Best Place To Find It

68 Comments / By Matt Long

Like many of you, I didn’t know what boudin was before first arriving into Southwest Louisiana. I like to consider myself somewhat worldly and at least aware of many foods, but somehow boudin had escaped my culinary lexicon for 40 years. But if you are from Louisiana, and particularly the areas around Lake Charles, then boudin isn’t just familiar to you, it’s a big part of everyday life. As I discovered though, it’s a lot more than just a snack, it’s an important part of Louisiana’s culinary traditions.

What Is Boudin?

To say that boudin is a type of sausage is wrong, although when you first see it that’s exactly what it looks like. To really understand boudin, we have to go back to those Acadians who originally settled in Southwestern Louisiana. Who we now call Cajuns, these French-speaking settlers were forced out of Canada, but took with them their proud French culture and traditions, including boudin. Boudin in Louisiana is different though from versions you’ll find in other parts of the world.

At its simplest, boudin is a combination of cooked rice, pork, onions, green peppers and seasonings. The mixture is pulverized in a meat grinder before being stuffed into sausage casings. It is then steamed for on-the-spot eating. But those are just the basics, boudin changes in taste and flavor from cook to cook, no two are exactly the same and are based on recipes that have been handed down through the generations. That’s why it’s so much fun to drive around Southwest Louisiana sampling different versions, to experience new tastes and flavors in what is this area’s go-to food.

When And How Do You Eat It?

Asking around, I soon discovered that there is no perfect time to enjoy boudin. It’s very common for people to buy some in the morning to take to work for the office to enjoy, and no proper road trip in Southwest Louisiana would be complete without some boudin links to snack on. Pronounced “Boodan” (never say “Boodin”), this is as simple a snack as you can get, and slowly eating the link whole is very normal. But there are many variations, including the most common, fried boudin.

Cut into smaller pieces, breaded and then fried, you’ll find fried boudin balls in everything from breakfast sandwiches to serving as an entire meal in their own right. While you can certainly buy them in grocery stores in the area, homemade is best and there are any number of small meat shops and independent butchers and grocers in and around Lake Charles that specialize in their own versions of boudin. To best enjoy this regional delicacy, a culinary route was established to help locals and visitors alike discover different variations of boudin on what is now called the Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail.

The Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail

The sign read, “Napa Valley has wine. New York has pizza. Wisconsin has cheese. Southwest Louisiana has boudin.” To say that boudin is an important part of foodie life in Lake Charles would be a massive understatement. That’s where I started my culinary adventures in Louisiana and in addition to offering a lot to see and do for visitors, locals consider themselves to also be the home of boudin. It’s also from Lake Charles where you should start your trek along the Boudin Trail – just make sure you skipped breakfast.

Truly the best way to understand and certainly enjoy the importance of boudin is to actually taste it. In Southwest Louisiana that means traveling the Boudin Trail along US Interstate 10 and stopping off at the many independent businesses all verified to be serving up some of the best versions of boudin in the area. For my own boudin experience, I was invited into the kitchens of a local favorite – B&O Kitchen & Grocery.

Jeff Benoit is a third generation Benoit to own the B&O Kitchen and Grocery, which specializes in of course boudin, but also cracklins and other tasty meats. Walking into his kitchens, Jeff first took me back to the fryers where new batches of cracklins were being prepared. The aromas were heavy in what can only be called porky goodness. Pork fat with skin that’s fried to within an inch of its life and then salted, these treats are delicious and as I discovered, somewhat addictive. I was there though for my first lesson in boudin, which Jeff’s daughter had prepared for me.

True to form, Jeff wouldn’t tell me exactly what seasonings he uses, but just smiled and promised that they were delicious. I picked up the small sausage link, taking a peek at the rice and meat before enjoying that oh-so-important first bite. A gentle but not intense heat from the spices was the first thing I noticed, but then the combination of well seasoned meats and rice came into play, creating an overall bite that can only be called perfectly constructed. I then took my second, third and fourth bites, quickly understanding why boudin is so popular. Simple, easy to eat and not expensive, they really are the perfect go-to food for almost anything. Next to the “normal” boudin links, Jeff had also prepared some fried boudin balls and since nothing fried can be bad, I knew right away that I’d love this version even more.

Jeff and the B&O is just one of more than 25 small, independent businesses along the Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail, each offering their own unique takes on this Southwest Louisiana staple. It’s not just about the food though; it’s also about the culture. Many of us who don’t live in Lake Charles or surrounding towns don’t really know a lot about Cajun culture. But it’s more than what we see on TV, it has a long and proud history and it’s still very much alive. Food teaches us about new cultures when we travel; it emphasizes what is and is not important. In Lake Charles and other neighboring communities, that first step in better understanding what makes this part of the world tick starts first and foremost in the kitchens of the local boudin experts lining US 10.

Boudin sausage is worth the drive

KEVIN BEGOS

SCOTT, La. – Want a true taste of the real Louisiana? You’ll want to get behind the wheel and head out of New Orleans and off into the cypress swamps and rice paddies of Cajun country. Because that’s where you’ll find scores of mom-and-pop meat shops and convenience stores preserving a hundreds-year-old tradition of some very special sausages known as boudin. And you’ll be glad you did.

Welcome to Louisiana’s Boudin Trail, a loosely defined region west of New Orleans, both north and south of Interstate 10.

“Boudin is not a New Orleans thing. It is a Cajun country thing,” says Robert Carriker, a professor of history at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette and author of “Boudin: A Guide to Louisiana’s Extraordinary Link.” ‘’There are meat shops that make a handsome living for entire families selling almost nothing but boudin.”

Most boudin is boiled and served hot, but you also can buy it smoked, fried in balls, and made with crawfish, alligator or deer meat. There are boudin egg rolls, boudin grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza topped with boudin, even boudin stuffed king cakes. A handful of slaughterhouses still make old-fashioned red boudin, a blood sausage version.

Boudin (pronounced BOO-dan) is a tradition that dates back to the 1700s, when French Canadians came to Louisiana. Carriker says Cajuns started using local ingredients and spices to make sausages that are different from Old World recipes. They held communal livestock slaughterings, often in the fall, that combined food, family and music. Locals have loved the pork and rice sausages ever since.

Today, the region is littered with shops serving and selling boudin, almost all using special family recipes that date back generations. Where to begin on an eating tour of boudin country? An AP reporter ventured out, sampling boudin for breakfast, lunch and dinner at almost a dozen locations. Of course, there are countless more. But these are some of the delicious highlights:

Johnson’s Boucaniere (Cajun French for smokehouse) in Lafayette sells wonderfully flavorful boudin, and 87-year-old Wallace Johnson tells stories of boudin’s origins at communal country hog slaughterings, or boucheries.

“When they killed the hogs, they had to use everything, all the meat, because they had no refrigeration,” Johnson said. “It was rice, liver and meat, and the seasoning. In the old days they didn’t have a stuffer. They would take a cow horn” and use it to push the boudin mixture into casings.

Johnson’s father started making boudin in 1948 at the family grocer in Eunice. That store closed in 2005, but Johnson’s daughter Lori and his son-in-law Greg opened a new location a few years later, using the old family recipe. They sell a great breakfast biscuit with boudin, cheese or egg, along with po’boys, gumbo and other local specialties, such as barbecue potatoes and an outrageous bread pudding with praline sauce.

The Best Stop Supermarket on Route 93, just north of Scott, is a country store with a dizzying variety of specialty meats and sausage. Co-owner Dana Cormier said the family began selling boudin as a way to make ends meet in 1986, when oil field jobs went downhill.

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“When we first started, we’d make like 100 pounds, here and there,” Cormier said. Now “we make about 4,600 pounds of boudin a day, Monday through Friday,” along with 35,000 boudin balls a month. The Best Stop’s boudin is exceptionally moist and meaty, with pieces of scallion and a touch of old-fashioned liver flavor.

The state legislature gave Scott the title of “Boudin Capital of the World,” causing hard feelings in Broussard, which originally held the title, and some grumbling in Jennings, the “Boudin Capital of the Universe.”

Billy’s Boudin & Cracklin’ in Scott, just off I-10, sells an amazing smoked boudin, perfectly balancing the meat and rice with just a hint of smoky flavor. Their boudin egg roll is excellent, too. Crackling is deep-fried pig skin.

At the same I-10 exit, check out Don’s Specialty Meats, which sells a tasty, moderately spiced boudin with chunks of meat, as well as innovations such as Tater Tot boudin, which is a good choice for people looking to ease into the experience. They also have a large selection of Cajun specialty foods and spices, such as pickled quail eggs and jars of roux.

On the edges of Abbeville, about 30 minutes to the south, Herbert’s Slaughter House and Meat Market is one of the few places you can still buy red boudin, made with blood and an old-fashioned range of pig trimmings. They have fresh and frozen links, and the red boudin is moderately spiced with a slightly metallic taste, similar to English blood sausage.

Meanwhile, 30 miles away in Beaux Ridge, Cajun Works sells a wonderful, blisteringly spicy boudin ball in a small sit-down restaurant.

Ronnie’s Boudin & Cracklin’ in Hammond sells a version with a nice, full, creamy flavor, along with many specialties, such as crawfish boudin, deer boudin and andouille sausage.

Ready to hit the boudin trail? Start by heading to www.boudinlink.com , which has an interactive map showing more than 50 boudin stores, as well as a link to Carriker’s review of each one. Also check out Southern Foodways Alliance — www.southernfoodways.org — which works to preserve southern food cultures.

Carriker says you could start by visiting one city and sampling all the different boudin there, since each store makes it differently. Some areas, such as the Lake Charles region, have their own brochures with lists of boudin trails.

Or you could cruise along I-10 in either direction, stopping at the many stores near the highway. In general, old fashioned boudin often has more of a liver flavor, and boudin lovers look for a good balance between meat and rice, and a texture that isn’t too mushy or too dry.

Some people like their boudin spicy, others like it mild. And appearances can be deceptive; a small country gas station may have the most wonderful boudin, so stay open to serendipity.

What is the most romantic thing someone said or did to you?

This was few months after my daughter was born. My husband and I were trying to get back on track with our sex life. I had some difficulties. It didn’t feel the same as it used to be and I was worried.

He sensed it and he said, “ You know what? 50 years later when both of us are very old, do you think sex is going to be important? What I really want is to be able to grow old with you and I want you to be happy and comfortable to be with me till the end. We’ll consult a doctor and we’ll figure this out. I’m ready to wait until you are ready for this.”

That moment, I felt really lucky to be married to him.

Buster Crab, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich

Buster Crab, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich is a fried soft-shell crab served open-face over toasted brioche and dressed with fresh vegetables.

Ingredients

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

Instructions

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

Man talk

Are there any reasons that the United States should not fear China?

Sure. Here’s one – China is a very peaceful country.

In the past 40 years, while the USA was busy bombing cities and killing people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Grenada, Libya, Bosnia, Sudan, Somalia etc

China did not fight a single war with anyone.

Here’s another. It is untrue that China beats the USA in all areas of manufacturing and exports. There is one area where the USA is far, far ahead of China.

The USA is far, far ahead of China, in selling weapons to the world, for killing people. You know – bombs, missiles, artillery, tanks, fighter jets etc.

China ia no match for the USA in destroying people’s lives.

China only surpasses the USA in manufacturing peaceful, beneficial things such as solar panels; electric cara; antibiotics; laptops; furniture etc.

13 Things from the 1970s, Kids Today Will Never Understand!

There are some things that are unique to the decade that we grew up in. The 1970s was no different, having a distinct style that is easily recognizable, even to newer generations. But aside from the obvious disco and bell bottom trends, there were more minute details that people living during that time will easily recognize. So, here are 13 things from the 1970s that kids today would never understand.

What are some street smart tips that could potentially help me one day?

1. Always carry a few coins in your pocket….

2. Never use an ATM while wearing headphones and if wearing a coat/hoodie, never have the hood up, both will affect your awareness and makes you more likely to be robbed.

This was something explained to me by an ex-special forces guy I was chatting to at a conference (he was head of security). He was sat at the same table as me, one of those big round ones with 10–12 people on each. I noticed his eyes were never still and he was always glancing at each door, window etc, basically any entrance to that room. I got chatting to him after the conference and asked him about what I had observed. He said “imagine you are at a public event and an armed terrorist storms into the room and starts shooting, most people are going to freeze for the first couple of seconds and that can cost you your life, plan for it to happen and although incredibly unlikely it ever will, you’ll react instantly and it could save your life”

Would Western countries go to war to spread LGBTQ policies and environmental policies to restrictive socially right-wing conservative countries? Would it be a good casus belli that would rally massive domestic support for such a war?

Would Western countries go to war to spread LGBTQ policies and environmental policies to restrictive socially right-wing conservative countries?

Why?

Because united we stand, divided we fall.

Those policies above? They atomise societies, atomised societies are easier to drive wedges into.

China 200 years ago 1820. There was a commonality of Chinese language. But we were fighting each other. Hakka hated Cantonese, Fujians hated Cantonese etc.

Sun Yat Set’s vision of Chinese nationalism was that we are all Chinese one people instead of atomised.

By 2023 we’re on the way to achieving this. We still keep our unique cultural identity but we intermarry we talk shit about other groups but 2019 aside there’s very limited division that we’d fight each other over.

That’s why I’m super suspicious of things like this

In that I don’t care who you’re miserable with and who you marry, but those groups? They’re often used as trojan horses by western governments.

Jimmy Sham for instance. He was on the side of the RIOTERS in Hong Kong. He was promoting VIOLENCE.

He claimed to have been attacked by multiple men with hammers for over a minute (he wasn’t he was exposed when he appeared the next day with only a small cut and fliers advertising his attack printed the day before).

They use their sexuality as a shield, you can’t criticise me! I’m gay!

What is important

When was the moment you realized you had gone too far with something?

We’d hired a guy and he seemed to have a good sense of humor. One day, he made a minor mistake and so I (thinking that he’d catch the humor) said “Looks like we’re going to have to transfer you to the Arctic Circle Remote Payroll Station.”

He said nothing, I let it go. Next time he goofed up, I mentioned that again and he got very apologetic, promised to work hard to not make any further mistakes, etc.

At any rate, a few months later, I mentioned that one more time and found myself in my manager’s office. He said that this guy was in terror that I was going to transfer him somewhere awful for what he thought were small mistakes that he’d promised to fix.

I said he should know that firstly, I’m not his direct manager so I couldn’t transfer him anywhere if I wanted to. But his big clue should have been “Arctic Circle Remote Pay Station.” Surely he couldn’t think that a movie payroll company had some operation on the Arctic Circle.

Well I don’t know, said my boss … all I can tell you is that you terrorized him and now you’re going to have to fix it. Okay, so I did.

(Good thing too because in the 12 years since that, he was promoted to supervisor, manager and he’s now a director and my boss.)

What’s the cleverest cheating you’ve ever seen as a teacher or student?

I taught a young Latino boy who was also short for his age. In secondary school, height is an issue.

By the second week of class, I was sure that he was illiterate, yet he submitted assignments and tests that were above failing.

At that point, I read his permanent record. There were no indications of cheating and his grades were Cs with only a few Ds.

How should I confront a student who already feels marginalized?

With the confidence of a newly certified teacher, I kept him after class one day and confronted him. “Do you know that you are smarter than every teacher you’ve ever had?”

His dark eyes grew deep and large!

“No.”

I insisted, “You are. You cannot read, and writing gives you a great deal of difficulty. You’ve been cheating all these years, and no teacher has caught you until now!

I’m giving you choices. You can continue as you’ve been doing and I will record your grade as F for cheating, or you can work with me, learn to read, do honest work, and earn an honest grade.”

He chose tutoring. He had great eyesight, strong artistic skill and had been reproducing the work of a variety of smarter students around him. He was dyslexic. It took patience from both of us for him to learn phonics and for him to get his quick brain to slow down to a speed that worked better.

By midyear, his grade of C was honest. By end of year, he was at a C+ in all his courses, and he’d been honest with every teacher about his problem, my tutoring, and asking each of them for help as needed!

(Yes, I recall his name!)

What are the dumbest things people spend money on?

Luxury items that they can’t afford.

Everyone has the freedom to buy stuff that makes them happy, may it be expensive purses/shoes, sports cars, yachts and boats, gambling, religion, tools and materials for hobbies and crafts, night clubs and fine dining, sports events and memorabilia, action figures and figurines, pre-order video games, subscription for streaming services, legal escort services and porn, legal recreational drugs (marijuana), tattoos and piercings… etc. etc.

There’s no such thing as a “dumb” purchase if it brings you joy and you can afford it.

Over the years, I had made plenty of “dumb” purchases. I bought a bunch of expensive lego sets. I bought video game figurines and collectible items. I pre-order games I like. I bought tools and materials for various hobbies, such as knitting, embroidery, and crocheting. I bought cookware and ingredients I only used once.

All of that could be considered dumb things, a waste of money.

On the flip side, I don’t buy luxury clothing items or shoes. All my clothes are from Uniqlo or Muji or discounted stuff from T.J.Maxx or Norstrom Rack.

I don’t go around claiming, “Gucci purses are the dumbest thing people buy.” Do you know why? Because I understand people are different and there’s nothing wrong in finding a little happiness wherever you can. I don’t judge people for purchasing things I don’t find very interesting.

Of course, if you spend beyond your means, that’s not very wise. But that’s not about the kind of things you spend money on, but rather you’re spending money you don’t have and it will eventually come back to haunt you.

But if they have the money, and Gucci purses make them happy, what’s so “dumb” about buying happiness? Oh, because you disapprove? Because Gucci purses don’t bring you any joy? So? Who the fuck are you anyways?

Life is short and miserable, for most people, most of the time. So, shut the fuck up and let people enjoy things.

What are some psychological proven believes about maturity of men?

Men need to understand that there’s nothing special in the body of random women you meet on the street/ Internet.
On difficult days, being extra gentle with ourselves is maturity at its peak.
Setting boundaries is not a display of disrespect . It’s an act of self-respect.
Maturity is seeing someone’s lack of effort as their lack of interest in you no matter what they say.
You don’t get fit eating everything . You don’t get wealthy spending everything.
Resist the urge to regret . Regrets are like old textbooks , you’ve already learned the lessons.
Your urges are your biggest enemy . Learn not to argue for nothing.
Self-acceptance shouldn’t stand in the way of self-improvement. Recognizing that you’re good enough today doesn’t prevent you from getting better tomorrow.
We’ve to be grateful for things . It’s too easy to be ungrateful. It’s too easy to not appreciate the simple things in life.

Fiancée DEMANDS Hall Pass 1 Month Before Wedding, In Shock After I Demand We Break Up!

“If I didn’t have a 26 year old son, and a 27 year old daughter telling me this madness is actually real, I honestly don’t think I’d ever believe it.”

What was your first impression when you met your sibling’s future spouse?

I thought she was sweet and quite attractive but giggly and not very bright. I thought Dave could do a lot better. In fact some of his previous girlfriends had been intelligent and ambitious as well as great looking. One had even been an Olympic tennis player. I didn’t get this new one at all.

She is Jewish and Dave decided to convert. Our Dad was Jewish, our mother not. We had been brought up as agnostic. So Dave’s announcement was surprising and I’m sure I must have asked him if he was sure about this. I know our parents argued with him over his sudden conversion. However his new girlfriend and her family didn’t insist on him being Jewish, so I think this decision was about him wanting to join the culture of north London Jews rather than any sudden religious conversion. I never heard of him going to a synagogue or heard him utter a prayer.

They had a long and reasonably happy marriage. I was wrong about her.

Although it is true that she’s no intellectual and never achieved anything academically, she helped Dave be all he wanted to be and was content with that being her role. She was a great home-maker and possibly the kindest person I know. She is funny and light hearted. When my brother suddenly died, she was distraught but showed a strength I had never previously seen. She is a very supportive mother and grandmother. She was a big help to me when my wife died.

Could Dave have done better? I doubt it.

What did the teacher in your high school get fired for?

I had a terrible High School Algebra teacher. Coach Trout could not teach and had “favorites” who somehow received good grades. One day a group of kids were hanging out at Mellow Mushroom and saw him drive up to the nearby grocery store….he went in and a student walked up to his car to see who was inside. Guess what – one of his female students! He walked back out with a twelve pack of beer got into the car and left. Students told other students….a student told their mother….their mother called her mother….the mother called the school. Bye Bye Coach Trout.

Years later ran into him at a wedding….he was the DJ.

What form of entertainment is on its last legs or on its way out that we don’t realize?

My cable company is starting to sound like this creepy, desperate -ex.

Each month the mail they send me is basically saying,

“PLEAAASE TAKE CABLE TV BACK. We’ll give you all the stations we gave you before at an amazing, amazing deal!”

Deal = $1 cheaper with a 24 month commitment, $399 cancellation fee + 2 kicks in the crotch.

By any logic I cut it, it makes no sense.

I divided the hours I was watching TV by the monthly bill and it came out to $15 an hour for TV.

I’m paying money to be forced to watch commercials every few minutes.

My cable package is forcing me to pay for a bunch of expensive channels (ESPN) that I don’t watch.

I don’t see cable TV as going fully extinct but I see it having a life as an increasingly endangered animal.

When you compare it to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and the like, it isn’t even a close contest. The only value cable companies add to my life is internet.

I think cable companies have become boxed into a bit of a hole. As more people realize how much they are being ripped off, they will keep cutting.

I don’t envy the cable executives who are charged with solving this problem.

What was the moment you cancelled the friendship with your best friend?

One of my best friends of all time and I parted when we were eighteen, and heading for university. The next big leap of life. We had known each other since we were seven years old, and we promised to write (hand-written letters still existed, though the idea was certainly fading).

And I did write letters, many times, over many years.

But none of them ever got an answer. We had been very close, and shared some of our darkest moments in our young lives — I didn’t understand.

More than a decade later, I bumped into him in an everyday supermarket and bluntly asked him why he never answered any of my many letters. He looked at his wife and shrugged —

“I never found the time.”

Only one of my friends still drives a gas powered vehicle. How do we respectfully cut him out of our gatherings without it getting ugly? Is an ultimatum warranted before severing ties?

Congratulations! You need to cut this vermin out of your life entirely! And without warning of any kind! And don’t kid yourself- he’ll KNOW why!

You need to take it a step further, too!

No more ordering from Amazon, who deliver those things in a fossil-fueled vehicle!
Raise your own food because everything gets delivered to your local store in smelly diesel trucks!
Make your own clothes out of cotton you’ve grown yourself!
Refuse mail unless it’s brought to you in a clean, quiet electric vehicle!
Stop heating your house—even if it’s an electric heater— because chances are that electricity comes from a coal-fired or natural gas generator!
And for God’s sake stop posting on Quora, powered by the same earth-destroying mechanisms!

What is the best roast from a student or teacher you have heard so far?

I was teaching a class in math in 4th grade. Because I’m kind of demanding of kids, and show them that anything less than their very best, is not good enough, I end every school-year with an hour of “roasting the teacher,” so they can get back at me for all those times that I’ve stood before them and asked for more.

I warn them that whatever they throw at me, I’ll return it in even measure. So, if they feel fat and don’t like it, they shouldn’t call me fat, cause I will make a fat-joke on their expense. If they feel ugly, they should not call me ugly, because I will do an ugly-joke on them.

So, younger kids are a bit scared and don’t really say anything. Older kids can’t help themselves and try anything to roast me. They never ever get to me, because kids are really bad at roasting adults.

But there was this little girl in a 4th grade class I taught a few years ago. After the initial stupid roasting (like, “your mom is so fat that …”) this little girl raised her hand.

As roasting can be a bit hard, I ignored her at first. She seemed fragile and I didn’t want her to get hurt. Usually the boys will shout any profanity at me and I will return their profanity with an equal profanity. It’s fun and it’s not personal. It’s a roasting game and the boys and girls who can handle it, get a go.

She kept her hand raised so finally I told her “Go ahead – give me your best shot.”

When I said that, this little girl, stood up, walked slowly along the back wall, then along the wall to the left. She came all the way up to the chalkboard and stopped just in front of me.

She lifted her right arm and raised a finger, pointing at me, about to roast me. Everyone in the class were silent and we all waited for it. Then she said:”

“Naaaahhh, you’re not worth it.”

Then she turned around, walking the same way back, just as slowly, and sat down.

The class erupted with laughter. It was beautiful 🙂

I didn’t roast her back. What could I say? I just got burned.

10 American Cities That Are DEAD Forever

“Having grown up in suburban Hartford, I agree strongly with the inclusion in this list. I left the area as a student in 1977, and was shocked about its decline when I happened to pass theough on a business trip in 2011.”

Have you ever had a car crash where the other person was at fault but they acted like the victim?

About 25 years ago, when I was still young, I had a crash at a roundabout. It was the kind of roundabout where visibility of all exits was excellent from a distance away, and because the roundabout was offset from centre, I was in a lane going straight on whereby you don’t need to turn the car at all to cross the roundabout.

So, on approaching I saw no cars to my right or straight on, and just carried on. Everything was fine until a car to my left, who should have given way to me (at roundabouts in the U.K. you give way to the right) just pulled out.

I hit the brakes but it was too late, and I went into the side of him.

He was immediately on the offensive, I suspect thinking insurance companies would take the word of a middle aged experienced driver over a 22 year old.

He kept saying that I was going far too fast, which was curious because by the time we hit I’d managed to slow down enough such that my airbag didn’t deploy.

He was impervious to reason, still yelling at me about my speed when the police showed up.

The policeman heard the guy say, “he was going far too fast”, to which the policeman replied, “if you thought he was going too fast, why did you pull out in front of him?”

My insurance paid nothing.

What are your school funny stories? Share it

It was online school, and we were just fooling around in our advisory breakout rooms.

We were discussing where people lived.

My friend, ‘Agastya’, let’s call him, told me that he knew where I lived.

“So,” I said, “Tell me where I live then.”

He repeated my exact address.

Me: Shocked.

Him: Smug.

Him:Me = 1:0

I asked him how he knew, and he said he’d seen my Mom and I playing outside while he was riding a bike with his friend.

In order to protect the great secret of my address, I told him, “Bro! I don’t live there! You know the house next door? I live there. I actually babysit the toddler of a very kind couple.”

He asked me to give the name of the mother.

I somehow made up a name—purely fictional I tell you—and told him it.

Five seconds later, he was laughing like hell and I asked him, “What? Give up?”

“See for yourself,” He said, laughing. He proceeded to share his screen, and I sat there, quietly, shocked at the results.

The “Kind Mother” had been murdered in 2016.

Never again would I give a fake name without searching it up first.

(Also, please note that we, in no way, intended to make fun of the fact that someone died.)

What’s the funniest thing your toddler believes?

My little guy firmly believes that if he lifts something “high” above his head, we cannot reach it.

I wanted to make a demonstration of this, so when I found him playing with a toy, I pretended that I wanted to take it.

I chased him all over the place, and he screamed and laughed and ran away from me.

Each time I got him cornered though, he would lift his hands above his head, looking at me victoriously.

Because obviously, if he lifts the toy THAT HIGH, no one could possibly reach it.

He is so darn adorable in this belief that we don’t have the heart to take anything from him when he does this.

How could we?

How could anyone?

It’s simply too high.

What is China’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how does it align with international law?

China is a pragmatic and rationalistic nation. The Isreal Palestine issue is a very long divisive issue with high emotion in both sides. China’s position is simply that they must find a long term solution such as a two state solution. This is a prerequisite for long term peace. It doesn’t take sides and not is it interested to be drawn into the conflict.

The reason being. China believes in the sovereignty of nations and that it can only be solved between Isreal and Palestinians. Not China or the U.S. for that matter. China sees quite correctly that U.S. lob sided stance is fuelling the crisis not resolving anything.

For the Palestinians sees that the Isreal government is backed by the U.S. to drive a wedge in the middle of a Arab and Islamic world. Hence it is an interested party. To China an Isreal that do shit on Palestinian land and people everyday then when they got hit Uncle Sam will always backed them out. And protect their excesses cannot be sustainable. It is foolish to think that Palestinian will put it up. At best Isreal is kicking the can down the road. Isreal and the US need to recognise this. For the good of them, the Palestinians and the world.

Laws a made by man, we are mere mortals. If laws are written unequal. It won’t last. That is the reason colonialism failed, it is also the reason the so called US international rules based order is rejected, if one stole land or occupied land that belongs to some one else and wrote laws to legitimately protect the wrong. It is double wrong not right. Two wrong don’t make a right China knows that laws written by the west cannot stand. It must go.

In 1840’s the British forced its jungle laws on China that it has a right to bring opium to China and drug the Chinese people bring havoc to the Chinese families. When China objected. The west jointly and severally supported Britain. To invade China and forced China to surrender HONGKONG for 156 years. This barbaric law were written by the British government. Of course laws like these can never be moral nor can it stand.

Why can’t China be more like South Korea?

You tell me this, would you accept a place literally BUILT to serve foreign soldiers? There’s literally a place in Seoul called hooker hill. Where those soldiers are completely above the law? Why would anybody want that?

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

Way back in the day when I worked fast food, it was common for my fellow employees and me to clock in within a few minutes of when we were scheduled to start. If someone was scheduled to start at 8 AM, they might clock in at 7:57, or 8:03.

One day, the manager decided she wanted people to clock in at exactly their scheduled time on the dot. You were scheduled to start at 8:00? She would not allow you to clock in at 7:57. You had to stand there staring at the clock for three minutes. If you clocked in at 8:01, you got written up,

This backfired in a spectacular but predictable fashion.

People started clocking in at exactly the scheduled start time…

…and clocking out at exactly the scheduled end time.

Before the rule, people would often stay a few minutes late if they needed to. After the rule, if people were scheduled to leave at 5:00, and a tour bus full of hungry roadies pulled into the parking lot at 4:58 (something that happened a couple times a month), everyone would leave at 5:00 exactly.

The new shift is still getting organized and there’s nobody in the grill area? Sorry, boss, you made the rules. Remember how you wrote me up for punching in at 8:01 yesterday? Remember what you said about the schedule? Well, the schedule says I’m off now.

The rule lasted about a week before the manager did a humiliating climb-down.

The Most DANGEROUS Teens Reacting to Serving Life in Prison

Step into an emotionally charged moment in today’s video, where we capture unscripted reactions of teenagers as they receive their court sentences. Watch as their faces reflect a range of emotions – shock, disbelief, and introspection – as they process the weight of their legal judgments. This thought-provoking glimpse into a critical juncture of their lives offers a unique perspective on the impact of the justice system on young individuals.

What’s a hilarious story that has happened to you?

I was working at an upscale motel as the check in clerk. One night, around midnight, this nice looking couple came in and asked for a room. The man was slightly tipsy and dressed in a business suit. The lady was well dressed, sober, very nice. The guy signed the register, and it was time to pay for the room.

“Here is my check” he said.

“We don’t take checks here, it has to be cash or credit card.”

“You HAVE to take checks,” he replied. “I am in business. You have to take a check.”

“It’s the management’s rule, we don’t take checks”

He glared at me. “You will have to take a check. Everyone takes checks.”

“Sorry sir, we can’t take checks. That is our policy.”

He is getting angrier. “Every business takes checks….”

“Sorry sir…”

At this point the lady taps his arm. “It’s ok,” she says, “I’ll pay for the room. Here is cash”

The man looks over at her. He says, “Ok….I will write you a check. What’s your name?”

When have you said “That’s not my name”?

A couple times — once verbally and a few times non-verbally.

For the verbal time. Years ago when I lived in Minnesota, my ex asked me to go to the local farmer’s market to buy some things. I was wandering through the markets when this guy comes up to me and says: “Hey Steve!”

I kept walking; clearly he wasn’t talking to me.

“Steve? Dude?” he asked again.

“Um, my name’s not Steve,” I said. I got called this a few times until someone at a local restaurant asked me while I was buying takeout: “Are you Bonnie’s husband Steve?” “Nope,” I replied. Apparently I look pretty similar to someone named Steve in Minneapolis.

Now for the non-verbal.

One of the things you will not ever do to me if you want me to answer, or even respect, you is to shout out: “Hey, blind man!”

I am blind, and I am a man, but Blind Man is neither my first nor my last name. This has happened to me a few times when I lived in Manhattan. Sometimes when I’d be walking along a street, someone would shout this to me as I was minding my own business. I don’t care why you do it, but if you shout “Hay blind man” at me, I will not, under any circumstances, even acknowledge your existence. If you want to get my attention and you don’t know who I am, walk up to me, tap me on the shoulder or something and say: “Excuse me, sir?” Or something to that effect. “Hey blind man” will get you completely ignored.

First Step

From your school friends, who surprised you with their success in life?

I was friends with this guy in elementary school. He and I used to play together at recess and after school as we waited for our parents to pick us up. We even went to each other’s birthday parties during those years.

We didn’t talk much in middle school or high school, though. He was one of my many elementary-school friends who, once puberty and the popularity crunch hit, pretty much quit talking to me. I wasn’t one of the chosen “popular” kids… too ugly, and my parents were too poor.

Anyway, I have no hard feelings about it. Kids are stupid like that.

Over the years, a lot of my old classmates have either found drugs and ruined their lives, or found successful careers and are living happy adult lives now.

But this guy surprised me the most. That old elementary school friend of mine grew up to be a professional poker player:

He’s my Facebook friend now. We’ve never interacted, other than to send and accept friend invites, but he seems to be very happy. He’s married to a beautiful woman, and, judging from the pictures he posts, they do a lot of outdoorsy stuff, like hiking and camping. Good for them. I’m happy that he’s living his best life.

Do you agree with Donald Trump Jr. that we no longer have an equal justice system? The facts clearly support the statement.

I absolutely agree.

If you had a fair and equal justice system, Donald Trump (the father of the individual you mention) would presently be in jail awaiting trial – not only because of the stunning seriousness of the crimes of which he has been accused, but as a consequence of his own words, attacking both the criminal justice system, but also doing so in a way that actively threatens law enforcement and the judiciary.

Were it anybody else doing this, someone with less wealth or political influence, and they’d already have been in jail for weeks or even months, knowing that their trials would likely have additional charges tacked on for those threatening actions.

The United States isn’t a fair or impartial country, and the justice system sadly reflects that. It isn’t even a democracy anymore: whilst there are certainly democratic aspects, these are presently being undermined by Donald Trump and his cronies, as they push for a more authoritarian approach to governance. And, thanks in part to Citizen Utd v. FEC, and the nature of the US’ political elections, one thing is abundantly clear: the wealthy own the country, and live by different rules to the rest of you.

That Trump has committed such deeply serious offenses and yet remains free as a bird is evidence enough of that.

GALAXY QUEST is THE BEST!

Thanks so much for being here! OMGOSH! this movie is actually the best! I am so happy to have finally watched this! it is SO FUNNY and I can’t wait to keep re watching this!!

What is the strangest conversation you’ve ever had?

Fun story from my younger days. When telephones didn’t have caller ID.

I wanted to get together with a buddy, so I called him.

“Hey Mark! It’s Mel. Got any free time this weekend?”

Mark: “Hey Mel. Good to hear from you. No. I’m booked solid this weekend.”

Me: “Whatcha up to, buddy?”

Mark: “Got family issues to deal with.”

Me: “Family issues? What kind of family issues?”

Mark: “You know. The wife. She’s still pissed at me for taking that biking trip last month.”

Me: “Wife? When did you get a wife?”

Mark: “Dude, I’ve been married for four years.”

Me: “Um… Is this Mark?”

Mark: “Yeah. Is this Mel?”

Me: “Um… yeah. Is this Mark Chubett?”

Mark: “No, dude. You aren’t Mel Richter?”

Me: “Um… no. Wow. Ok. So you aren’t Mark and I’m not Mel.”

We had a good laugh. How I managed to dial a different Mark who knew a Mel (not the most common name) I’ll never know.

What’s the funniest thing your toddler believes?

I am responsible for putting dreams in her brain before she falls asleep.

It’s a part of our nighttime routine… I read a book, tuck in the kids, give them hugs and kisses…

…then I put my hand on the top of my youngest one’s head, murmur some nonsensical chant, ask her what she wants to dream about that night, chant a little more, and then tell her I put the dreams in there.

Sometimes, I tell her that I put in dreams about “Ice cream, puppies, and spiders.” Then she’ll say, “No! Not spiders! Take that one out!” So I put my hand back on her head and tell her I took it out.

Sometimes, if she’s having trouble sleeping, she’ll come into my room and request better dreams, because the ones I gave her aren’t working. It’s cute when she does it before 10 pm. It’s annoying when she does it after that.

Sometimes, I tell her it’s a “surprise dream.” In the morning, she tells me what she dreamed about, and I say, “Yep, that’s the one I put in there.”

How did Americans get so fat?

Back in college one or our profs made the blanket prediction that a new wave of obesity was about to sweep the nation.

The year was 1978 and the professor was Daniel Atkinson (who would later join the National Academy of Science as a biochemist).

His basic rationale was that the recent shift to high fructose corn syrup as a sweetening agent in American processed foods was a huge mistake that would have ramifications far beyond the the nominal amount of money saved by switching to a cheaper sugar.

The underlying biochemical premise was that, unlike glucose, fructose metabolism shunts one of the main regulatory steps/enzymes of glycolysis (phosphofructokinase-PFK).

Because of this, every bit of fructose consumed that was not needed for energy production would quickly be stored as fat.

History has proven him right (although there was more to it- noting that it was also around this point that America’s penchant for eating-out, and restaurant portion sizes were increasing in tandem along with the growing shift from food primarily being regarded as a source of sustenance as opposed to a source of pleasure).

Look at pre-1980’s films/TV programs that show Americans out on the streets and compare the sizes of the people in the background crowds to later post 1980’s films.

Similarly, look at pro athletes from the pre/post 1980’s and you’ll notice a similar pattern.

Anyhow, the point here is that the fairly abrupt American shift towards obesity can be linked to both to the biochemical properties of the food we consumed prior to the 1980’s as well as the gluttonous ways we increasingly adopted while on our way to the current “food porn” era.

If you found a Genie in the bottle, what would be your first, 2nd and 3rd wishes in that order?

If I found a mysterious bottle that promised a Djinn, I would put it back exactly where I found it and run in the opposite direction.

I’ve read enough folklore, myth, and fairytales to know that making deals with a supernatural entity never, ever ends well for the mortals. Even if the mortal doesn’t get screwed over by the Djinn or the devil or crossroad demon, they’ll soon realize either their wish didn’t resolve the problems they have or the wish created more, bigger problems.

“Faustian Bargain” is a cautionary tale to warn people not to take the shortcut because there isn’t any “easy” way. And the payment you give for the wealth and pleasure is always bigger than what you get.

So, put the bottle back, or sell it to some moron who thinks they can outsmart the devil.

China’s Groundbreaking 1nm Chip: Redefining Technology and Global Power

Wonderful China well done China keep it up.

https://youtu.be/4vEFXi_5INk

What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?

I asked the wrong woman on a date. I have a problem remembering names and faces. There was a girl at school I had been chatting with during lunch breaks, Vicki. There was another that I had met and spoken to exactly once during an outdoor cookout at the school (college) Marie.

I had an occasion where I was performing, the event included a dinner and dancing and I could bring a date.

I planned to ask Vicki as I had spent more time with her and felt I knew her better.

I am rushing between classes and I am stopped by a girl who says Hi. Vicki. I surprise her by asking her to accompany me to my event. She says yes and I get out my note pad to write down her number (prehistoric days before cell phones) and write the name Vicki. She says “That’s not my name.” I apologize for my memory glitch and ask her what her name is. Marie. Then it dawned on me, I had just asked out the wrong girl. But she had said yes and I was a gentleman so I would not back out.

We went on the date. We both fell in love that night. We were engaged three weeks later. That was 38 years and one son ago. We are still together. And yes, she knows the story.

Why does Amtrak have such poor service in comparison with other forms of transportation?

Imagine you’re at an airport. You’re on your plane and all of a sudden the pilot says “I’m sorry folks, but there are like 30 cargo planes waiting to take off and they all get to go first even though we were first in the passenger take off line. We’re going to be here another hour.”

Or you’re driving on the interstate and the right lane is marked “Tractor Trailers only, except for exiting”. so you have to use the left lane only, which of course is crowded with slower cars even though there’s lots of room in the right lane and trucks are moving very fast.

It’s even worse for Amtrak. In the deal that created them, the railways got to keep all the track. Amtrak has to pay to use it, but they have no say in its upkeep. Now, in theory, passenger trains are supposed to get priority over freight trains but, in practice, the three mile freight train running at 10 m.p.h. on rusty tracks gets to go first, so Amtrack trains wait.

If you go to Europe, the passenger and freight trains use separate systems, so passenger trains only get in the way of other passenger trains.

There’s also a feeling in the United States that rail doesn’t matter even though, particularly in densely populated areas, it carries more passengers than road and planes together. As such, the government doesn’t give Amtrak a lot of money. In Spain, on the other hand, the government went nuts laying out a new high speed rail network, buying trains, and upgrading stations. As such, there are like 16 trains a day between Madrid and Barcelona that cost $40 at peak times and like $8 at non-peak times.

Have you ever met someone from the Mafia?

When I was in high school, a divorced lady moved in across the street (quite scandalous, she was the first divorced person in the neighborhood). Her boyfriend was an older guy named Herbie. He was cool. He drove a bunch of cool cars, Lincoln, Jags, Caddies, etc.

Her kids were older than me and gone a lot.

Herbie asked me if I would mow her lawn. I usually got $5 for mowing a lawn, Herbie gave me a $20. My parents made me go give it back. Herbie gave me a 5, then took the 20 and stuck it in my shirt pocket. ““Now you can tell them I paid you a 5”.

A couple of times Herbie made spaghetti and meatballs and they had me over for dinner.

One day I was hanging out at the neighborhood gas station and Herbie drove up and started using the phone booth. My friend said “that guy always uses the phone to call his bookie, I think he’s a gangster” I told them no way, but when Herbie left and waved to me, they were impressed.

One day I go out to get the Newark News and there’s a headline “Mafia Lieutenants run things while Capos are in prison”. And there in the series of pictures is Herbie.

He was Jewish, made up for being Italian by supposedly being extra tough.

He was always really nice to me, me being friends with him made my parents nervous, but they never said anything, except for me overcharging for lawn mowing that first time.

Developing as a person

What was the strangest way a criminal was caught?

This happened in the 90s in Anchorage, Alaska, towards the end of summer. 2 geniuses decided to rob the Key Bank during daylight hours at a time in the afternoon when rush hour was almost at peak traffic. Key Bank was located at a corner where there was three major avenues with at least 3 lanes each, right in the middle of a 1 way grid. All lanes on all those streets were headed north, west and east, all one way streets. The apparent plan was 1 genius actually committed the armed robbery whilst his side kick drove the get-away car. Fine so far. Key Bank also is only a few blocks from Anchorage Police Department and jail. The hold up itself went off without a hitch. Now, mind you the streets were jammed with cars. Including an Anchorage PD officer sitting in his unit waiting for the light to turn green. This officer happened to be heading to the Police Department. The armed genius ran straight out the main door of the bank and (without checking if he was diving into the get-away car or not), threw open the police unit’s back door, threw the stolen money on the seat and threw himself onto that same seat. He slammed the door shut and screamed “Go! Go!”. The amused officer (who just heard about the heist on his radio) said “I will as soon as the light turns!” He arrested the genius right there and took him straight to booking along with the loot. He later claimed it was the easiest open and shut case he ever had!

A horse tale

I’ll never forget the day my mom called me in a panic: ‘Janna, you’ve got to convince your daddy to get rid of that horse, it’s gonna kill him!'”

Janna Grapperhaus shared the touching story of the bond that was built between her father and an abused horse.

Major was a young and vicious stallion when her father bought him. He “couldn’t be broke”.

“The men who owned him previously had used a technique to break horses that involved beatings and tying his head tightly between two posts where they left him standing without food or water for 4 weeks,” Janna said.

But Major stood strong.

When her father brought him home, Major barreled through five strands of fence within minutes of arriving. He’d bite and strike anyone that got too close.

“My dad never broke him… he earned his heart,” she explained. “Every single day, for hours and hours dad worked to earn that abused horse’s trust. Love won and after two full years, Major allowed my dad to ride him. When dad would go out, Major would kiss him on the head over and over. They had a bond that only horse people could ever understand.”

So when her father passed, it seemed fitting to let Major say goodbye.

“This is Major’s last kiss.”

Doing things right…

In 2018, 13-year-old Jaequan Faulkner started a small business selling $2 hot dogs with $1 sodas and chips from a stand in front of his house in Minnesota.

But his small business was in jeopardy after someone reported him to the Minneapolis Health Department.

Impressed by the young man’s drive, health inspectors decided to teach the young entrepreneur about proper food handling to assist him in getting his hot dog stand up to code.

The teen’s stand passed inspection, and it was the inspectors themselves who paid the $87 fee for his “short-term food permit.”

Kodak

What is the best thing that has ever happened to you for being nice?

I was flying on a milk run, from Houston to Dallas, to Denver to Calgary. Its May long weekend , and I have another flight from Calgary to Vancouver to catch, to meet some friends for the long weekend. I get to the airport in Houston and the lady behind the desk is having a bad day. There is a thunderstorm in Houston and my flight is cancelled. I explain that I am going to miss my.connecting flight to Vancouver, and ask if maybe there was an alternate route, maybe through Vegas. She did her best, and came up empty. I thanked her for her effort, and said I will lose the cost of my Vancouver flight, as it was with a different airline, and have to buy a new ticket.

She asked me why I was being so nice, when my vacation was ruined. I told her I was just being normal, and I appreciated them not risking my life flying into Dallas.

She told me that her afternoon had been hell. I was the only person not yelling at her. So she goes back to her desk, and says, she put me on the first flight in the morning. I come back in the morning, and not only did she put me in first class, she rebooked my Vancouver flight in first class with a different airline.

I don’t know how she did it, but I was only 16 hours late for my vacation, and didn’t miss much.

What’s the most obnoxious instance of America-centric behavior you’ve ever witnessed?

When I was in a bar in Vegas with my black, British-Born-with-Jamaican-roots dad, I entered into conversation with a group of strangers and pointed to my dad and referred to him as “the black guy in the blue shirt over there”. You would have thought I had slapped them in the face. I got screamed and shouted at for having the nerve to call him black and that I should call him African-American. I kept telling them he’s not American and not African either but they wouldn’t hear any of it and in the end informed me(!) that whilst in America I should call him British African-American.

Have you ever been mugged and had it end badly for the mugger?

Not me, but my husband.

He had landed in London and would be living there for about six months. He had gotten his iphone all set and was there with our 15 year old daughter.

He had his phone out at a bus stop and was checking the schedule. A little ways away a group of teenage boys were plotting mischief. Suddenly one of them breaks away, runs up to him, grabs his phone, and runs away.

Now, my husband, god love him, is a lovely man, a brilliant, overweight biostatistician. But he needed that phone! Badly! So he took off after the boy, who did NOT expect that at all.

He chased him down the street and around the corner, and then the boy disappeared. Furious, he said to some construction workers, “Did you see a boy run past here? He stole my phone!” Yes, he went right around the corner, and it’s a dead end, one of them said.

Mike went around the corner and there was a reedy looking, terrified 15 year old kid cowering in a pile of garbage, desperately trying to unlock his phone.

“Give me my phone, dammit!” he shouted. “Right! Now!”

It may help to know that all British people are firmly convinced that every American is insanely violent and probably carrying a gun…

He handed Mike the gun. Mike turned and walked away. The workers asked if he wanted them to call the cops. Mike said no, he’s just a kid.

The workers all laid into the kid, saying, “You are so lucky! You nearly ruined your life right there! for a phone! Are you crazy?” They were still yelling at him when he was out of earshot.

I would not want to be that kid for any amount of money.

What’s the rudest thing a doctor/healthcare provider ever said or did to you?

For nearly a year I had excruciating pain in my hands, wrists, neck, and shoulders. It would last anywhere from a few days to over a month. The doctor never really put much effort into finding out what was going on and would prescribe pain medications and muscle relaxers.

The second to last time I saw him, he informed me that I was an addict and he was putting that in my file. I had asked repeatedly for a referral to see a rheumatologist; he flat out refused, even with a family history of RA and other autoimmune diseases.

I made an appointment myself and paid for the visit and the labs out of pocket as, without a referral, my insurance company wouldn’t cover it. The rheumatologist’s office was in the hospital so he requested the blood test for RH factor be expedited (he was one of the hospital’s best and longest associates, so they did as he requested).

About an hour later he told me that I have RA and he had things pretty much under control in a few weeks. I went back to the first doctor and showed him the lab results and print outs of my x-rays. I chewed him out for letting me not only live with the pain and the permanent damage to my joints, but for accusing me of being a drug-seeking addict – particularly since I had never asked him for anything except an answer as to why that was happening. And yes, I did report him.

Zones: A map of relationship types to help relieve dating confusion

This is really good. LOL!

What is the creepiest thing you’ve ever experienced in your home?

I decided to stay up one night after my husband and kids went sleep reason because it’s usually the only time I had to myself. I cleaned house a little bit took a shower and made coffee . I sat down to watch TV and read a little bit , I didn’t last long before I fell asleep in the recliner. It was a very restless sleep and I had bad dreams like the kind that you know your dreaming but you can’t wake up and any attempts you make to fight or run in the dream were useless because it was like you were weighed down. When I did wake up I was sweating and very groggy. While I’m setting there trying to shake the groggy feeling my dog comes and sets at my feet and is staring at the bar between my kitchen and living room as I turn to see what he’s looking at a very thick large fruit bowl on the bar that had apples in it burst into hundreds of pieces and the apples went in different directions. It scared me so bad that for a few minutes I couldn’t get up to look around and when I did no one was awake and both doors were still locked, still to this day I can’t think of any logical reasons to how that thick bowl just burst like that. What ever it was my dog was aware of it.

What is the most outrageous outfit you have seen a client wear to court?

My years ago on a Monday morning trial docket a woman showed up in a lace red cocktail dress with a large flowing skirt, her hair piled high on her head with red pearls set in, red purse and red shoes. I can only assume the attorney told her to look nice. She looked GREAT for a Saturday night dinner at an expensive restaurant but for a Monday morning her outfit stood out. You could see her from across the room. It was years ago but I learned that day to specify to dress conservatively like you are going to church not a cocktail party.

What would be that one thing you would do for someone?

I have a good friend. We meet each year at a restaurant in Chicago. He always narrows his choice for a starter to one of two soups that he likes. No matter how often I remind him which is which, he always gets confused, can’t remember the difference, and can’t even remember which is the one he likes.

So the one thing I do for him is the obvious solution:

I order one of each, let him taste both, and I let him pick the one he likes that night. Maybe it’s the same as last year, maybe not; who cares? I like them both.

This has been happening for 15 years and it isn’t going to change. My solution works and it’s just our personal ritual.

JUST HAPPENED: China-Russia LATEST Military Pact in War Shocked US

Can you think of an example of something your teacher said in school that made everyone think they were crazy but was actually true later on in life?

In my junior year of boarding school (1982 to 1983), our history teacher, Mr. Steve Patterson, was a dyed-in-the wool 1960s hippie type. He was about 34 back then. Originally from Ohio, he was a calm, pacifistic sort who wore his unabashed liberalism on his sleeve. Since Mr. Patterson lived on campus with his wife and two young children, part of his job was to head a table in the dining hall twice daily, at breakfast and dinner.

However, neither he nor his family ever touched the school’s fare—which, though it was actually superb (really!), was also very traditional, i.e., full of meat and dairy products. The Pattersons were adamant vegetarians, back at a time when this issue was barely on the radar for most people. They used to bring along their own food, packed in Tupperware containers bulging with disgusting-smelling, homemade hippie-1970s-vegetarian concoctions. (Mr. Patterson would, though, deign to eat an ordinary peanut-butter sandwich now and then.)

At this school, we were all pretty close, so virtually no topic was not subject to vigorous discussion. We used to tease Mr. Patterson quite a bit, and he’d give it right back to us, with all the usual arguments you hear from vegetarians or vegans today, i.e., animal cruelty, fat, hormones in the meat, the environment, sustainability, etc. None of us heeded him (I certainly didn’t), but one thing he said back then does stick out in my mind to this very day:

“In the future, people are going to sue McDonald’s and Burger King for causing heart disease, what with all the fat and unhealthy ingredients, the same way that smokers are now suing the tobacco companies.”

At the time, I thought this notion ludicrous. Today, forty years later, I still haven’t converted to vegetarianism, let alone veganism, but I have to give Mr. Patterson his due. The food industry, the meat industry, and the fast-food industries have all come under increasing fire in recent years. Books, articles, and media productions focusing on portion sizes, obesity, and sustainability have proliferated.

Sad to say, Mr. Patterson didn’t live to see his prediction come true. He died of ALS at the age of 52, back in 2001.

When did getting older really start to bother you?

My friend, that is very easy to answer.

I was fortunate enough to be a patient of a wonderful General Practitioner Doctor for almost 20 years.

We had a great rapport, so any of my visits were very friendly and efficient and usually included a bit of friendly banter.

I’ve been playing some kind of sports all my life, and went to see him about a pain that would rise up in my left knee after about an hour of tennis.

After x-rays and a few tests I was back in his office for the results.

His back was to me, and he appeared to be studying my x-rays.

I saw the slight shaking of his head as I heard him take a deep breath and very slowly let it out (I found out this was all for dramatic effect after his performance).

Still with his back to me I heard him say in a serious sounding tone, “I know what is causing your knee problem, and it’s very sad to have to tell you that your condition is incurable It will without doubt become worse over time.”.

“There are things I can do to help slow down the damage and difficulty, but nothing to stop it..

He knew me well and I’m a rather stoic individual who wants to “cut to the chase”, and as he figured I said, “So Doc, how about just telling me what it is so I can assimilate and deal with it.”.

A slow rather dramatic turn to face showed me a Cheshire Cat’s grin as he said, “Welcome Michael to the ranks of us who are simply getting old and our aches and pains are caused by that incurable health issue called aging.”.

We both had a good laugh and I departed with his set of instructions and the realization that I was officially getting older physically.

I didn’t want to hear it, yet knew I would, so it came as no big deal. But I did appreciate my doctors touch of theatrics and dose of humor.

Indian scan center hacked

Why didn’t the Japanese try to decipher the famous “Navajo” code by capturing a Navajo native during WWII?

The Japanese did try to do that. And they did capture Navajo men. However, they were unsuccessful in using them to decipher the code. The reason was simple. The Navajo Code was a code that used Navajo. It was not normal spoken Navajo. To a Navajo speaker, who had not learned the code, a Navajo Code talker sending a message sounds like a string of unconnected Navajo words with no grammar. It was incomprehensible.

So, when the Japanese captured a Navajo man named Joe Kieyoomia in the Philippines, he could not really help them even though they tortured him. It was nonsense to him. He was in New Mexico’s 200th Coast Artillery unit when the Philippines fell. He had a horrible war as a POW on the Bataan Death March. Then he was later held at POW camps near Nagasaki and was there during the bombing. He survived the bomb and was released three days later. He returned to the Navajo Nation and lived a long life, dying in 1997 at age 77.

The reason capturing Navajo did not work was that it was a code, not spoken Navajo. The Navajo Code had to be learned and memorized by the Navajo Code Talkers. It was designed to transmit a word by word or letter by letter exact English message. They did not just chat in Navajo.

That could have been understood by a Navajo speaker, but more importantly translation is never, ever exact. It would not transmit precise messages. The US Marines only wanted to use such a code if it could send exact, word for word, and letter for letter transmissions. There were about 400 words in the Code.

The first 31 Navajo Marines created the Code in a Marine base in the San Diego area with the help of one non-Navajo speaker officer who knew cryptography. The idea of the Code was brought to the Marines by Philip Johnston. He was a WWI veteran, and engineer in L.A. and he spoke Navajo and had Navajo friends and contacts because he had grown up as a missionary kid on the Navajo Reservation.

The first part of the Code was made to transmit English letters. For each English letter there were assigned three (or sometimes just two) English words that started with that letter. Then those words were translated into Navajo words. In this way, English words could be spelled out with a substitution code. The alternate words were randomly switched around. So, for English B there were the Navajo words for Badger, Bear and Barrel.

In Navajo that is: nahashchʼidí, shash, and tóshjeeh. Or the letter A was Red Ant, Axe, or Apple. In Navajo that is: wóláchííʼ, tsénił , or bilasáana. The English letter D was: bįįh=deer, and łééchąąʼí =dog, and chʼįįdii= bad spiritual substance (devil).

For example, using the letter substitution part of the Code, the word “bad” could be spelled out a number of ways. To a regular Navajo speaker it would sound like: “Bear, Apple, Dog” on some days. Or on other times it could be “ Barrel, Red Ant, Bad Spirit (devil)”. Other times it could be “Badger, Axe, Deer”. As you can see, for just this short English word, “bad” there are many possibilities and to the combination of words used.

To a Navajo speaker, all versions are nonsense. It gets worse for a Navajo speaker because normal Navajo conjugates in complex ways (ways an English or Japanese speaker would never dream of). These lists of words have no indicators of how they are connected. It is utterly non-grammatical in Navajo.

Then to speed it up, and make it even harder to break, they substituted Navajo words for common military words that were often used in short military messages. Almost none were just translations. A few you could figure out. For example, a Lieutenant was “one silver bar” in Navajo.

A Major was “Gold Oak Leaf” in Navajo. Other things were less obvious like a Battleship was the word for Whale in Navajo. A Mine Sweeper was the Navajo word for Beaver. That would be pretty impossible to guess

A note here, as it seems hard for some people to get this. Navajo is a modern and living language. There are, and were, perfectly useful Navajo words for submarines (tsin naaʼeeł táłtłʼááh naagháhígíí –”boat, under the water, the one that goes”), and battleships and tanks. They did not “make up words because they had no words for modern things”.

This is an incorrect story that gets around in the media.

There had been Navajo in the US military before WWII. They had words for everything in the world that existed in 1940. And they have words for all the newer things today. The Navajo language is different and perhaps more flexible than English. It is easy to generate new words. Most nouns are made by conjugating verbs so they indicate what the object does. They borrow very few words and they have words for any modern thing you can imagine. The words for “telephone”, or “train”, or “nuclear power” are all made from Navajo stem roots.

Because the Navajo Marines had memorized the Code there was no code book to capture. There was no machine to capture either. They could transmit it over open radio waves. They could decode it in a few minutes as opposed to the 30 minutes to two hours that other code systems at the time took. And, no Navajo speaker who had not learned the Code could make any sense out of it.

The Japanese had no published texts on Navajo. There was no internationally available description of the language. The Germans had not studied it at the time. The US Marines were careful about that. The Japanese did suspect it was Navajo. Linguists thought it was in the Athabaskan language family. That would be pretty clear to a linguist. And Navajo had the biggest group of speakers of any Athabaskan language. That is why they tortured Joe Kieyoomia. But, he could not make sense of it. It was just a list of words with no grammar and no meaning.

For Japanese, even writing the language down from the radio broadcasts would be very hard. It has lots of sounds that are not in Japanese or in English. It is hard to tell where some words end or start because the glottal stop is a common consonant. Frequency analysis would have been hard because they did not use a single word for each letter. And some words stood for words instead of for a letter. The task of breaking it was very hard.

Here is an example of a coded message:

béésh łigai naaki joogii gini dibé tsénił áchį́į́h bee ąą ńdítį́hí joogi béésh łóó’ dóó łóóʼtsoh

When translated directly from Navajo into English it is:

“SILVER TWO BLUE JAY CHICKEN HAWK SHEEP AXE NOSE KEY BLUE JAY IRON FISH AND WHALE. “

You can see why a Navajo who did not know the Code would not be able to do much with that. The message above means: “CAPTAIN, THE DIVE BOMBER SANK THE SUBMARINE AND BATTLESHIP.”

“Two silver bars” =captain. Blue jay= the. Chicken hawk= dive bomber. Iron fish = sub. Whale= battleship. “Sheep, Axe Nose Key”=sank. The only normal use of a Navajo word is the word for “and” which is “dóó ”. For the same message the word “sank” would be spelled out another way on a different day. For example, it could be: “snake, apple, needle, kettle”.

US Military has Overextended Itself – John Mearsheimer, Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen

Beef Muffuletta Burger

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 recipe Cajun-Style Beef Sausage
8 ounces salami, diced
6 slices provolone cheese
1/2 cup olive tapenade
1/2 cup chopped giardinera
1 large sheepherder loaf, about 8 inches in diameter
2 cups shredded lettuce
2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

Instructions

Prepare Cajun-Style Beef Sausage (crumbles); add salami, mixing thoroughly but gently. Form sausage mixture into 1 large burger patty, 8 to 9 inches in diameter and 3/4 inch thick. Place patty on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 10 to 11 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, 10 to 11 minutes) until instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into center registers 160 degrees F, turning once. Use 2 grill spatulas for easier flipping. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, top patty with cheese and allow to melt.
Meanwhile, combine tapenade and giardiniera in small bowl. Cut sheepherder loaf in half horizontally. Scoop out extra bread from middle of both halves, as desired. Toast loaf on grill for 2 to 3 minutes, if desired. Line bottom of bread with lettuce and tomato; top with burger. Top burger with tapenade mixture, close sandwich. Cut into 8 wedges.

Notes

Sliders: You may prepare 12 sliders instead of one large patty. Form twelve 2 1/2 inch diameter patties in step 1. Place patties on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 8 to 10 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill for the same time) until instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into center registers 160 degrees F, turning occasionally. During the last minute, top patties with cheese and allow to melt. Continue with step 2.

Nutrition

Per serving: 423 Calories; 20.6g Total Fat; 8.2g Saturated Fat; 0.7g Polyunsaturated Fat; 6.2g Monounsaturated Fat; 0.1g Trans Fat; 77mg Cholesterol; 1385mg Sodium; 413mg Potassium; 34g Total carbohydrate; 26g Protein; 4.3mg Iron; 4.4mg Niacin; 0.3mg Vitamin B6; 71mg Choline; 2.6mcg Vitamin B12; 4.5mg Zinc; 17.8mcg Selenium; 2g Fiber

How can Latin American countries lessen Chinese influence by increasing trade with the United States?

Why would the LATAM countries want to lessen Chinese influence and increase US influence when they have had a much worse experience with the US for more than 200 years?

The US had the Monroe Doctrine which turned Central and South America into a US political fiefdom where the US militarily intervened and toppled governments it didn’t like.

China never did that to the LATAM nations.

So why would the LATAM nations want to increase US influence unless the governments were directly US controlled?

The US influence on LATAM was never based on trade; it was based on the power of US multinational businesses such as United Fruit and US military power. Basically, the US government and its military acted as a protector for US business interests in the LATAM region.

Opting out is the real male response

Plastic convertible

When I was five I walked by a toy store with my mother.

I looked in the window, and I saw a plastic model of a car. It was a yellow convertible.

And I well remember myself looking up to my mother, and telling her that she should buy it for me so that I could gift it to my father. I thought, and was absolutely convinced that my father would love the car.

I’m sure that both my mother and father thought that it was so cute. And today, I look back at that moment with fond memories. And to this day, whenever I see a model of a convertible, I think of this particular moment.

Today…

What would be your best advice for a young person who just started their career?

You are paid by how expensive you are to replace.

I graduated college with this misguided idea that a good degree and hard work would make me invincible. Everyone would hire me and I’d get a raise every year.

All it takes is a company downsizing or a manager that doesn’t like you. Our pay and job security are directly tied to how many other people are willing to do our job. This isn’t an opinion. It’s economics.

You either make yourself indispensable to a company. Or pick up skills and qualifications that make other companies want you more. Otherwise, plan on getting yanked around and low-balled.

As an extreme example, my friend skipped college and worked his way up to senior-level tech support with a camera company.

He spent the best years of his life there. Now, he’s older, his company has gone bankrupt, and he’s out of the job with minimally transferrable skills.

Remember that a business cannot feel emotion or empathy. It is a system, designed to learn, evolve, and make money. Don’t drink the Kool-aid and corporate ra-ra.

You are paid by how expensive you are to replace.

Cajun Shrimp Burgers

Ingredients

1 pound steamed or boiled shrimp
1/4 cup finely diced onions
1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
2 tablespoons chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1 beaten egg
Flour
Extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

Peel and devein shrimp and remove tails. Chop shrimp.
Cook onions, bell pepper and celery in microwave until soft. Drain well.
Combine chopped shrimp, vegetables, garlic, seasoning, mayonnaise, bread crumbs and egg.
Form into patties, dredge in flour, and place on plate or tray. Freeze for about 20 minutes.
Remove from freezer and dredge in flour again.
Drizzle oil into a nonstick pan and fry shrimp burgers over medium-high heat until brown and crunchy on each side.
Serve on buns or French bread.

Singaporean Woman Flips On Modern Woman For Bashing Her PASSPORT BROS

This Singaporean Woman is sick and tired of Modern Women feeling entitled. She said look up a Singaporean passport before you open your mouth.

Can Russia, China, and the West ever be on good terms?

Yes they can and they should. It makes sense that if the three strongest and most powerful nations find a way to accommodate each others interest and red line. When and if they do the rest of the world are free to move on with their lives and grow their respective economy. I really believed that these 3 powerful nations simply cannot make each other submissive and subservient to the other.

The U.S. tried hard and desperately over the past decade or so without any success at all. Take the U.S. and China trade war. After 5 years straight of tariffs, sanctions and demonisation, if anything China gets stronger and more independent. And the Chinese counter actions. Is hurting the US. And to be fair China prefers to not have this dispute as it slows down Chinese growth too.

The U.S. tried to pinned down Russia militarily and geopolitically too since Biden take office culminating with the Ukraine war. A good 18 months has gone by and Russia is as strong as ever and at best the war is a stalemate with both the U.S. and Russia becomes slightly less strong. But the only thing the U.S. who goaded Russia into this war achieved is to bring world GDP down a notch. What good is it?

China do not mind if the U.S. grow healthily at 3% due to its mature economy and as a result China grow 6% healthily and both nations and the rest of the world pay attention of improving competitiveness and development. I am hopeful that a new U.S. president will see the benefits of collaborating with China and Russia.

The U.S. threw their kitchen sink at China and Russia for the last 2 full years! Has China and Russia been destroyed? Be honest! Nothing substantial happened. And what ever little Russia and China got hurt and harm so does the U.S. at least in the same proportion if not a little more. So what good is it? All the huff, puff and rant for nothing.

Now imagine. All three nations go positive. The world will be healthier, more stable, more peaceful and prosper. That cannot be bad for the world. The U.S. needs a new approach and a new leader that don’t think in hubris but in finding collaboration for mutual good.

Man SHOCKS The Panel With This Fact

https://youtu.be/Y_wj5vvjjj4

I have an employee that always clocks out 5 minutes early. They seem to have a good work ethic but I recently have been questioning it. What should I do as a manager?

Story time. My ex was an irreplaceable worker who needed to leave work 10 minutes early to catch a train that would get her home a good 45 minutes earlier compared to the train she’d get if she left exactly on time.
her manager insisted she stay until exactly 17:30. Note that she didn’t do anything worthwhile in that last 10 minutes. Her type of work meant that everything took longer. She also hated crowds, so she got the train to work an hour earlier than strictly necessary, meaning that most days she was 45 minutes early for work (she’d stop somewhere to buy a hot breakfast). Because of the type of conscientious worker she was, and also she was the head of a team of around 10–12 people, and she took pride in her work; she would start working more or less straight away. The boss knew all this, because she was always at work when he came in. He also knew that she was already working because of the dozen or so emails that she had already sent out (to clients, to coworkers with him CCdd, to him directly, etc). When she pointed all of this out to him, he said that “nobody is asking you to do that” and something about any colleague could walk up to her at 17:25 and ask a question or for a task to be done. If you ask me, it was all baloney and the dude was simply on a power trip! (Or maybe someone above him had archaic views and was being unreasonable)

so she gave in her notice and quit to start up on her own (basically to be a freelancer).
they couldn’t find anyone else to do the work, and for the first two years of her freelancing career she basically did her old job from home (no commute, working from home, and back in 2015, this was a massive perk, which was unheard of). Hell, the lack of commute alone saved her £3000 per year.

She got paid about 40% more to do the same work she always did, in about 1/2, maybe 2/3 of the time. It took them two years to train someone up to replace her (and stop needing her services as a freelancer).

Serves them right…

Welcome to America!

What is the greatest miracle you have personally witnessed in your life?

My Brother was in a car crash and went through the windscreen of the car he was a passenger in.. he managed to get his arms up to protect his face but didn’t manage to completely cover his eyes.. he was cut out of the car and flown by ambulance to Ninewells hospital in Dundee (Scotland) where he spent two years going through in total 35 operations on his eyes. Ninewells had the best Eye Specialists and Dept. in the Country.. After his final operation his Doctor sat down with us his family, and explained that they had tried everything to save his sight but that he would be 100% blind for the rest of his life and that he would need all our help to come to terms with it and to help him adjust to life as a blind man.. after 2 years they released him from Hospital into our care..

I had not prayed for many years. Had stopped going to Mass years before.. but that night I got on my knees and I prayed to God.. I begged him to restore my brothers eyesight and offered to lose mine in his place..

3 days later.. it was a beautiful sunny day and I took him for a walk.. guiding him with my arm.. someone he knew shouted hello from a distance and waved to us. My brother asked who it was and I said the guys name and said that he had waved. My Brother said “I know, I could make out the shadow of his arm in the grass”

I was gobsmacked but didn’t say anything to him about it.. When we got home I told Mum what had happened and She phoned his Doctor who brought my brother in for tests.. the Doctor confirmed his last prognosis.. that he was blind and there was no difference from the last time he was tested.. He sat Mum down and explained that it was his brain playing tricks on him and went into great detail on the damage that had been done and how it was impossible that it could be repaired either naturally or medically..

My brother now has 98% of his vision restored and wears contact lenses.. he actually has better sight than me..

God makes the impossible possible…!

Censorship

Did you ever see karma hit someone who deserved it so befittingly that it was eerie?

This happened to my best friend. She had left her abusive husband and was living in her own apartment, when he learned where she was, and went ballistic on her. He assaulted her and threatened their one year old. Her new neighbors heard the disturbance and called the police. When the police got there, they asked for his information and he gave a false name. Unfortunately, they believed him. because when they called that name in, they found no record on him. They were about to leave when my friend overheard and gave the police officers her husband’s correct name. Turns out there was an outstanding warrant that she hadn’t known about, and they hauled his ass off to jail.

It gets better. During that time, she got a lawyer and pressed charges, and her neighbors testified in court. His mother and father, who were quite elderly and in poor health died within weeks of each other. Then, when he got out of prison, the city decided to put in a new road and offered his landlord money for the house that my friend’s husband was living in, so he got evicted. He spent the rest of that year couch surfing because nobody would let him stay with them, due to his bad temper.

What was your “I am surrounded by idiots” moment?

I was flying out of LA bound for Newark. My flight was leaving at 6am on a Wednesday. My work was finished on Tuesday, around 8pm. I went to a restaurant, had a great meal, dropped off the car and went to check in at around 11pm that Tuesday evening. My plan was to find a comfortable seat, take a short nap, and be ready for my early Wednesday flight.

At the security check point the person checking told me I could not go through because I was a day early for my flight and I’d have to come back the next day to check in. I tried to explain to him that the next day was in one hour and my flight was leaving in six hours. He did not get it and was adamant that I could not enter until the next day.

At that point I asked to see his supervisor. He eventually got the supervisor. When the supervisor listened to me and checked my ticket he told his guy, “Let him in. You need to learn how to tell time. See me later.”

The flight was uneventful.

$22,000 dollars

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_kUaYkG9wF0?feature=share

What would you do if I park my car in front of yours to block your exit for a few minutes?

I use to fix street lamps for a living. Once I was about to pull up to a lamp that needed to be fixed when someone pulled into the spot ahead of me. I got out of the truck and explained I was about to pull up to the lamp to fix it and would he please move his car. His response was, “I’m only going to be a few minutes, you can wait “ He then walked onto a store that was right there.

So I pulled up the truck along side his car, and was up in the bucket and started to fix the light. I was still up in the bucket fixing the lamp when he came out of the store and was angry to find my truck was blocking his being able to pull out. He called up to me demanding I move my truck so he could pull out. I shouted down to him, “I’m only going to be a few minutes, you can wait “ and then went back to fixing the light.

Have you ever had a work colleague who was disliked by most of the other staff, but you knew just how much integrity, honesty, and honour they really had?

Bert was a part of the furniture for many years. He slid silently into his cubicle before most people arrived. The sound of flipping pages and keypad strokes were the only signs of life from his corner.

He evaded unnecessary contact with his colleagues. In meetings and during unavoidable greetings he mumbled and focused his eyes anywhere but on the person talking to him.

Bert drank no coffee and ate a packed lunch at his desk. He evaporated promptly at 4.55 every evening, leaving only an immaculately ordered workspace devoid of any clues as to who he was as a person.

It was impossible to like Bert. His own discomfort with everyone else was awkward and off putting.

At the same time, the only thing to dislike about him was that he didn’t fit in with the rest. Bert’s unseen presence was a low-level annoyance, like a squeaky chair or the smell of an overheated copy machine.

Only two people understood how valuable Bert was. Bert’s boss had known it for years. I learned about his talents when we worked as a team to create technical catalogues. I handled text copy and Bert handled tables, graphs and technical drawings.

We mostly collaborated by e-mail. His PDF markups were always detailed and clear.

When we met in person, I honored his unspoken preference to avoid eye contact. This seemed to comfort him.

For three years we redesigned dozens of catalogs with only rare and minor errors discovered after printing.

I learned to truly appreciate Bert’s talent for finding the needles (errors) in the haystack (multi-hundred-page catalogs). He was quiet, unassuming and provided the company excellent value for his salary.

I eventually moved on, but Bert and others kept producing error-free work. Bert’s methodical proofreading approach guides me still.

When Bert’s boss retired, a new boss found him uncomfortable (like everyone else). He was let go and his job was outsourced to an agency.

One of the agency’s first jobs was updating an existing 800-page catalog. 50,000 copies were printed and some were shipped to customers.

It was only then that the typo was discovered. A technical term had been typed as a sexual one. It was an expensive mistake (mostly covered by the insurance company).

I still have no idea who Bert is as a person. But I know his work reeked of integrity, his written communications were more honest than most people can swallow, and that working together with him was an honor.

Being able to depend on a colleague is more important than liking them. Thanks for the life lesson Bert!

Wealth in perception

Why does America force democracy upon people who don’t want it?

The U.S. used democracy in 2 ways. To elevate the U.S. as the beacon of democracy in the free world, a self declared superlative about themselves by themselves. That no one believes but themselves. Even that is only some white Caucasian, Anglo Saxon, conservative and less travelled and less educated ones.

And to tag countries that refused to be submissive and subservient to them to be “not” democratic. So authoritarian and dictatorial or a host of slurs such as. Communism, Socialism, Regime, Rogue States etc. Simple pea brain people buys that slur over the years to feel good about themselves while looking down and demonising others they did not like after being indoctrinated against for close to a century.

But these are optics or cosmetics. Forcing “U.S. liberal Democracy” is much more sinister. If you are having a political system like the U.S. they can easily manipulate that nation’s political process and place their puppet to do the U.S. bidding for them. Such as align with them and against China or Russia or selling resources to the Yanks at dirt cheap prices! That is what happened to many decades in the Philippines.

US political system is all about popularity and no meritocracy at all. All you need in a poorer developing nation is money to bribed voters. And the U.S. has plenty of printed Green back to throw about. That is the reason they forced nations to failure through the unworkable and inefficient political processes. For the U.S. sake. Not the nation in question sake.

After spending billions it almost always don’t work after a while. Hence Vietnam U.S. still a proud successful socialist nation, Iraq is still a Muslim fundamentalist nation and Taliban Afghanistan became Taliban Afghanistan after tens of trillions spent. Sure Zalensky the U.S. puppet did poke Russia in the eye and see what the U.S. and Ukrainians get for their effort!

Magic Music for Cats – UNBELIEVABLE Results (Tested 2022)

You won’t believe the results of this expert-made calming music for cats! Designed to relax your cat no matter their state of anxiety, aggression stress or depression! Try it now to see why we’re the number 1 natural remedy on youtube!

Why do guys never go for an “innocent” girl?

First of all, many guys do go for an “innocent girl.” I’m not one of them, but there are countless guys who totally look for “innocence,” however variously that may be defined, in women.

Why don’t some guys go for an “innocent” girl?

Speaking only for myself, not for any other man: I don’t go for “innocent” women because I like women who know exactly what they like and how to get it. I strongly prefer women who aren’t meek and aren’t the least bit frightened, women who live their lives out loud, uninhibited and unashamed.

Why?

They’re better partners.

They’re more fun. They’re less timid and more adventurous. They understand themselves better. They sample life with gusto. They embrace life in its joy, unworried about what other people have to say. They live on their own terms, which means they are more likely to explore and embrace new things. They are, not to put too fine a point on it, more courageous and more enjoyable to spend time, or life, with.

What is your best parking spot revenge?

Ages ago I used to work at a place that had formerly been a large outlet mall. The company I worked for owned one quadrant of the building but there was plenty of parking available. One guy, Crumb E. Parker, had a very nice car and did not want it damaged but rather than park it far away from the building he parked it close by and took up three spots, almost like so but even more perpendicular to the spot.

Now had he done this in the East Jesus end of the lot where nobody else parked nobody would have cared but he had an early shift and parked as close to the building as he could This happened every day for a month and people were sick of seeing it. A couple of us got together and decided this aggression could not stand, man!

Since he did this right by the handicapped spots we made friends with the person that would park in the handicapped spot closest to his car and got them to swap spots with someone who worked a shift until midnight. Then we did the same with an early bird who would park on the other side of him. We had both cars parked so close to him he’d have needed to make an 87,423-point turn to be able to get out. We waited.

Shortly after Mr. Parker’s shift ended there are announcements and emails going out. Mr. Parker is wandering the halls of the office looking for whomever owned the cars that had him blocked in to move them. Nobody is owning up to it. A threat comes out to have towed the cars blocking him which was followed by a near-immediate retraction when someone pointed out that doing so but not towing the guy who parked like crap all the time could be seen as retaliation against a disabled person which would open up lawsuits. The guy ended up having to take a taxi home and back to work the next day and after that he would still park like crap but way out in the furthest parking spots where nobody cared and all was right with the world again.

304 Woman Got REJECTED For Being Promiscuous

https://youtu.be/O1EV1mw5_Lc

What is the craziest thing you have seen a mechanic do at an auto mechanic shop?

Worked at Ford Dealership many years ago. I had 45 techs in seven different departments. Of all the people I had, only two were certified to work on the FORD GT’s.

I don’t recall the reason why the vehicle was in for service, but it was minor and didn’t require a test drive afterwards to verify that it was repaired.

I received the repair order and assigned the ticket/vehicle to one of my GT techs. As mentioned, it was simple repair and after the parts arrived, it only took him an hour so.

My GT tech finished the repair, closed out the ticket, sent me the paperwork (hard copy) then carefully backed the car out and drove it outside towards a special area that we kept all high dollar/high profile customer vehicles at.

I was inside my office at the time and watched the big garage doors open as he drove this wonderful-sounding, sexy vehicle outside.

I go to lunch and get back to my office an hour later.

I checked my email – “Come see me ASAP” it read. It was from my Boss.

This was highly unusual. I mean we sent emails back and forth all the time, but never with the subject matter “Come see me ASAP”.

Nonetheless I marched into my Boss’s office and he shut the door.

He looked at me and was pale as a ghost.

“Mike crashed the GT,” he said.

“He TOTALED it.”

…

I couldn’t believe it. Instead of parking this $250,000+ car like he was required to, Mike decided to take it for a spin around the block. Real quick.

He went around a corner too fast, lost control and took out a tree.

#dumbass

He was unhurt for the most part and walked away from it with just a bruise or two (he said).

“GET INTO THE SYSTEM AND MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T DRAW ANOTHER VEHICLE!” my Boss told me. (he wasn’t much of a systems admin guy and needed me to do it). So I did.

To make a long story short, Mike the GT tech finished out another vehicle (a big truck) that he’d been doing an engine on. It took him a couple of days, but when he finished the ticket, he was fired. I’m sure he saw it coming.

The Dealership paid back the GT Owner what he’d paid for it. He wasn’t happy, of course, but what else ya gonna do?

Unwanted attention

What is something people need to understand?

Grit is the engine of success.

Not ability.
Not talent.
Not IQ.

Grit.

This isn’t a matter of opinion. There’s research behind it. And what it concludes is unequivocal—

Innate aptitude just means you start out a few steps ahead.

Perseverance is where it’s at.

When I started out my writing was so crappy I wouldn’t share it here if you paid me.

My first gig paid $1.5/hour.

10,000 hours later, I support a family of 5 by working from home.

I got here because I showed up.

Every. Single. Day.

Ask my wife how many times I came to her on the verge of tears saying I wanted to quit because my writing was rejected.

But I stuck with it.

And with time, the rejections became approvals.

Never hearing from clients again became high-paying long-term retainers.

And the feelings of insecurity became a steadily growing sense of self-assurance.

Failure is staying down after you get knocked out.

Success is doing something as many times as it takes until you nail it.

What economic policies has China implemented that are successful?

I’m not a professional economist.

Judging from the economic events that will occur in 2023, I think one of China’s most successful economic policies is “foreign exchange control.”

…

China’s foreign exchange controls include the following measures:

1. Restrict foreign exchange circulation in China

Any enterprise or retailer in China is not allowed to accept foreign currency and must convert it into RMB before trading. I can’t buy anything in any store in China with US dollars or Singapore dollars.

2. Restrict foreign exchange from being freely convertible into RMB

Any foreigner who visits China needs to convert foreign currency into RMB. There are limits on the amount. For example, foreigners entering China can only exchange US$50,000 in cash each year. The foreign exchange received by Chinese companies operating abroad will also be subject to amount restrictions when they need to convert it into RMB.

Foreign companies also need approval to remit foreign currency into China for investment.

3. Restrict the conversion of RMB into foreign currencies

Any Chinese or foreigner leaving China must exchange RMB cash into foreign currency. Or if you want to remit RMB and convert it into foreign currency, you are also subject to the amount limit.

Not only that, if Chinese companies want to invest in other countries and want to convert RMB into foreign currencies, they also need approval.

Simply put, the conversion of RMB and foreign currencies is subject to limits and controls. This makes large sums of money not freely convertible at all.

China is the world’s largest trading country, and it is the largest trading partner of almost all countries in the world. Therefore, the foreign exchange control policy actually has many negative impacts on the Chinese economy, which brings troubles to cross-border transactions, troubles to Chinese companies operating abroad, and a lot of troubles to foreign companies investing in China.

Even so, China still insists on implementing foreign exchange control strategies.

As an employee of a Singapore investment company, perhaps because of my lack of knowledge, I have not been able to understand China’s approach in the past many years. Because this policy often gives me a headache at work and adds a lot of extra workload to our company. The Chinese want to expand trade so much, why do they impose artificial restrictions on currency flows?

I once believed that if China relaxed its foreign exchange controls, China’s imports and exports would see huge growth.

It wasn’t until 2023, after the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike, that I realized the reason why China did this: they took financial sovereignty into their own hands.

As we all know, in order to solve the country’s economic problems and curb inflation. In 2023, the Federal Reserve carried out continuous and substantial interest rate increases on the US dollar.

This operation has greatly increased the yield on U.S. dollar deposits, and funds all over the world want to transfer to the United States to obtain high interest rates. Many people even apply for loans in their own country and then transfer the loaned funds to the United States to enjoy the interest rate difference between the two places.

This caused funds from all over the world to begin to gather in the United States. Investors and wealthy people frantically converted their currencies into U.S. dollars and remitted them to the United States.

This resulted in a series of dire consequences for all other countries:

1. Due to the loss of large amounts of funds, investment in various fields in the country has been stopped.

2. The domestic currency was sold off in large quantities (converted into US dollars), causing the domestic currency to depreciate sharply, while the US dollar appreciated sharply.

3. Lack of investment and consumption (all the money is remitted to the United States) has caused the economy to decline, business is sluggish, and companies are gradually closing down.

4. As the U.S. dollar appreciates, American investors can purchase companies and minerals that are about to go bankrupt in their own countries at very low prices.

5. National wealth shrinks (the national currency depreciates), and people no longer trust the national currency and turn to buying U.S. dollars, causing the collapse of the national currency to intensify.

This consequence is like a domino, which is catastrophic for any country, meaning that the wealth created by this country for decades may be completely harvested by the United States.

In order to avoid this disastrous chain reaction, governments can only take one approach: follow the United States in raising interest rates. This can reduce the interest difference between the two countries and reduce capital outflows. You can take a look at the situation in your country in the past six months. Are banks already raising interest rates?

However, raising interest rates is not a panacea. It also has a serious negative impact, which reduces domestic investment willingness. After all, who wants to invest in business when you can earn a high income by depositing your money in the bank? At the same time, some companies that rely on loans, especially the financial industry and large-scale manufacturing industries, will see their capital costs continue to increase. When the chain breaks, businesses go bankrupt. For individuals, the interest pressure on student loans, credit cards, and mortgages will increase, and people’s lives will inevitably be affected.

Therefore, for most countries, not raising interest rates means allowing the United States to harvest their own wealth; raising interest rates means immediately harming the domestic economy and people;

No matter what you choose, you will get hurt. The rate hike is just the one that hurts less.

But in China, the situation is different.

Not only did the Chinese not follow the U.S. in raising interest rates like other countries, they actually kept cutting interest rates in the past few months.

Aren’t they afraid of massive capital outflows and sharp depreciation of the RMB, which will trigger an economic crisis?

Of course not, that’s why they implemented exchange controls.

Since the RMB and the U.S. dollar are not freely convertible, large-scale conversions are simply impossible.

Bank of China: What, you want to convert 50 million yuan into US dollars? what is your purpose? Transfer money to a U.S. bank? Sorry, this is not allowed.

Oh, you changed your story again and said you were going to the United States to do business. Well, please provide your business contract, investment agreement, and lawyer’s certificate!

Therefore, they are not worried about these problems at all, and the outflow of funds is limited to a controllable range. The United States simply cannot harvest China.

In the past few months, the yuan has indeed depreciated against the US dollar, but has appreciated against other major currencies around the world, which shows the effectiveness of China’s foreign exchange control capabilities.

With low interest rates, Chinese companies can obtain very cheap financial support from their banks, which makes them invincible in the global market. Taking the shipbuilding industry with the largest demand for funds as an example, the Chinese have taken 90% of the world’s shipbuilding orders in the third quarter. In the same period last year, their share was only 50%.

In the face of US dollar interest rate hikes and global currency depreciation, inflation has occurred in various countries, but China’s domestic inflation does not exist at all. They have even begun to worry about “deflation.” Many Chinese friends told me that domestic prices in China are actually lower than last year, and people can buy more goods with the same money.

What the world thinks of Americans…

As a police officer, what situation made it hard for you to keep a straight face?

I was assigned to Police Motorcycles for ten years. I was on a traffic stop one winter day writing a citation to a young man. While writing, the young man asked me if I knew Officer Stone. My heavy leather jacket covered my name plate, and as the only Officer Stone on the force, I found this an interesting question, since I had never seen him before. I responded, “Why yes, yes, I do.” I threw in “He’s really a great guy.” The young man agreed, telling me how they were good friends, and that Officer Stone was close with his family. “Officer Stone comes over to my house on most Sundays for dinner and my mama cooks for him”, the young man added. I said “Why that’s real nice of her.” As I handed the kid his citation to sign, I pulled back my jacket to reveal my name plate, and said “Tell your mama I’ll be over for dinner Sunday at 1:00”. The kid’s face froze, and after a few seconds, he simply responded “Yes Sir!”

How do you politely and respectfully keep women coworkers from hitting on you at work?

My career was spent as the Founder and CEO of a very large company. When a woman disrespected my marriage, politeness went out of the window. Ladies, trust me I’m not God’s gift to women, but I have been hit on! I was once told by a 22 year old (I was 40 something) that she could steal me away from my wife. My response was, “you’re fired”!

I’ve now been married to the most incredible woman in the world for 56 years. I still find reasons to fall in love with her each day.

What’s your recent happiest moment?

When I was 17 years old, I dropped out of high school to work full time. I never went in to get my GED (which is the equivalent of a high school diploma).

Since then, my parents (especially my mom) have been begging me to get my diploma.

I’ve put it off for years and years, much to their disappointment.

This fall, my friend finally coaxed me into taking the exams. He assured me that I could do it, he encouraged me, and he was a huge support.
I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t for him.

November 30th, I passed my final exam and got my GED!

I printed it out, framed it, and wrapped it up for my parents for Christmas.

Unfortunately, I have no chill, so I went to my parents’ house last night to give them their Christmas present early.
My mom unwrapped it, read the diploma and…

Oh. My. God.

That reaction was worth every single minute of studying and exam taking.

I have never seen someone cry out of happiness at a present, but my mom did. My dad got teary eyed! Shit, the boyfriend said he even got blurred vision watching my parents’ reaction!

It was amazing.

My dad was smiling and clapping and my mom hugged me so hard I thought she was going to break a rib.

The dogs started barking because they were freaked out at the sudden mayhem.

At one point my dad yelled, “A ROUND OF WHISKEY IS IN ORDER!” and ran off to the kitchen to pour a round of shots.

It was hilarious.

Hands down, being able to make my parents that excited has been one of my happiest moments.

There’s nothing like making your parents proud.

(Oh, and P.S.: I passed with flying colors. I made those exams my bitch.)

Iran Gets Access To Chinese Satellite To Use For Missile Attack on Israel!

“The US must be isolated or sidelined for the benefits of all free nations of the world.”

https://youtu.be/c311mOySUVE

What pushed you into retirement?

What pushed me —a United States Astronaut— into retirement? I’ll tell you exactly what pushed me.

I was summoned into the “corner office.” This is a hallowed place, reserved for the Chief of all astronauts. Seated in a chair in front of the boss’ desk, the discussion would eventually turn to me asking, “What are my chances of flying again?” The boss pulled out a long sheet of paper. A sheet known to wannabe fliers as the A/B line chart. It typically shows potential flight assignments well into the future and is used for NASA JSC management planning purposes. After fidgeting and mumbling for a few moments, I heard the words that would eventually push me into retirement. I heard the head of the astronaut office say —in part— “… I have better choices to fly in space than you,” and then, after a brief pause, the boss followed up by saying that I didn’t “… have the temperament for long-duration spaceflight.”

I was crushed beyond words. The career that I had worked so hard for, and had —after 15 application cycles— been selected to do, was being summarily ended. I left the office of the Chief Astronaut and cried … but not before I wrote down everything that was said.

I did not retire immediately. I hung on … performing as a lowly “management astronaut.” Stripped of most of the “fun” stuff (like flying in the T-38), I was expected to go to meetings. The only saving grace I had was that I was made an IA (instructor astronaut) for spacewalking. Something I was very good at, I apparently did have the temperament for teaching neophyte space walkers. Of course, I took that assignment very seriously.

In all honesty, I was hoping for a change. I tried to wait the boss out, hoping they would step down for a more promising assignment. They did exactly that, hoping —but failing— to be named as the first astronaut to spend a year in space. I would then enter the hallowed corner office once again, only this time I was sitting across from the new Chief… and the new deputy.

When I respectfully asked them for a chance to get back into the “active astronaut” and flight-eligible line, the boss gave me an emphatic “no.” Expecting exactly that response, I asked for a more responsible position in the office hierarchy, one that could challenge me more than meeting attendance and effectively utilize my 30 years of NASA experience (15 as an engineer, 15 as an astronaut). Again, the boss said “no.” The Deputy said nothing. I was being dressed down, by two people who would go on to fly again … just like the previous boss.

I was angry … very angry. So much so, that I was bringing that anger home and inflicting it upon my family. Obviously an unpalatable situation, it took the courage of my then 18-year old son to say, “… Dad, this has to stop.”

And stop it did … sort of. My family will tell you that I am still angry … and it’s something I must deal with every single day. I am working hard to lessen the anger, but it’s going to take some time.

I have now been retired for nearly 6 years. During that 6-year hiatus from government service, I have been writing. I write to share my stories with you and, more importantly, because it’s therapeutic. And it’s really a whole lot of fun! I also enjoy teaching part-time at Iowa State University, entertaining as a motivational speaker, and I consult with various organizations in a number of different capacities (listen for my voice sometime or take a Royal Caribbean cruise!).

Have you ever been in a situation where a vacation took a sudden turn for the worse?

My wife and I spent a month in Spain and were scheduled to fly home from Paris, France.

The day before we were to leave my wife tested positive for Covid.

I had to to make arrangements to stay longer at the Airbnb, the host was very kind and helpful.

I had to reschedule a number of appointments that were to take place after we were to return home.

All of this went smoothly but when I tried to get ahold of Air France, it took over six hours of trying before I was able to talk to a human. I was informed that they would not change our tickets because we had booked through America Express. It took about two minutes to get a human at American Express who was able to change our tickets for a flight four days later. We were issued new tickets, but when we were at the airport, Air France informed me that there was a $175 charge for the changed flight. I asked why as we already had new tickets and Air France did not do anything for the changed tickets. It was like I was talking to a brick wall. The Air France person could not (or would not) explain what the charge was for. He was rude and acted like I was being unreasonable, but all I wanted was an explanation as what the extra charge was for.

Rwanda

I finally paid the the fee but I will never fly on Air France again

Rwanda, a tiny country in the eastern central part of Africa Rwanda

When visiting Rwanda, don’t bring any plastic bags as they are prohibited in the country. When you try to bring them, they will be confiscated right at the airport. Same goes with throwing waste in the environment, our country is very clean, and throwing any waste would be a shame for you, and the authorities can punish you for that.
Don’t openly discuss ethnic issues. 22 years ago our country had seen one of the most atrocious tragedies in human history 1994 Genocide Rwandan genocide
you shouldn’t go around asking everyone what? where? how? who are you? The good way to learn this history is to try and visit some memorials which are rich in that history and it’s near the main city, Kigali and almost in every other city across the country.

Don’t try to take pictures of everything you see especially people even young kids in the street without first asking. Yes, our country is still under development, you might see poor neighborhood, young street kids or some funny things you can make out of those pictures – taking photos of those vulnerable people without their permission is a sensitive issue in our culture.
You shouldn’t be annoyed or irritated if someone didn’t make it on time. For many people being late “is just okay” one hour or 4 hours would still be okay 😉 so if you are meeting someone either for business or personal affairs just bear this in mind and be patient.

Restaurant and other service businesses. You will be treated really well, in fact a special treatment will be given to you if you are a foreigner (Rwandans are very welcoming and we are naturally good to our neighbours), but don’t take advantage of it or think that they want something from you (i.e. don’t shout or raise your voice when you are not satisfied with the service, there is a good manner to bring the issue at hand).
Rwanda is very safe and secure. Contrary to the popular belief or some perception of a country which has been in Genocide 22 years ago, you can move around anytime you want; even midnight. Don’t expect anyone to understand what you are talking about, even if you speak English or French, the majority of people only know one language; Kinyarwanda. Taxis, local traders, waiters, service providers, etc. they try hard to understand you but make sure when you are traveling to have a local guide with you (this will also help you pay less for everything, because you will not be overcharged cause you are a foreigner)
Don’t bring cats or dogs to public places or smoke in public. This doesn’t mean Rwandans hate animals, it means they respect other people’s views almost on anything. There are also special places reserved for smokers.
When you are a guest to someone’s home, don’t pay (or contribute) for the food or drinks offered unless asked to, this is rude or in some cases disrespectful.
Don’t get annoyed if you are being called ‘muzungu’ everywhere. Literally muzungu means ‘a traveler’ but it is widely known as ‘white people’, even Asians are called ‘muzungu’ 😉 😉 Don’t think they are being racists or are they trying to insult you.

Welcome to Rwanda! The land of thousand hills.

Man Expose His Girlfriend After DNA Test Proves He’s Not The Father Of Their Son.

Cute vs fun matrix is classic.

As a car mechanic, what is the craziest discovery you have found on an automobile?

Probably not the strangest, but the only one I could prove.

An elderly gentleman came into the shop complaining of a brake squeak. I wrote up the work order and my guys pulled it into the shop. After several minutes passed, I heard an explosion of laughter coming from the break room.

It was kind of obnoxious, so I went to see what was up. A mouse had gotten stuck between the brake pad and the caliper. Sadly the mouse had passed away.

I then approached the customer to come see what was causing the squeak. The customer began to hysterically laugh. To the point where he dropped to one knee. I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance.

A tech released the mouse and the squeak was gone. Rest in peace Mr. Mouse. Thanks for the laugh.

Has a store ever accidentally given you something for free?

Back in day 70s when I got married, I registered for a lovely ironstone place setting from Mikasa. I got 10 and a half place setting for wedding gifts. I went to Macy’s in Indianapolis to buy the rest to make 12 place settings. About 18 months later, I got a box from Macy’s that contained another place setting plus some serving dishes. Upon speaking to the manager of the department, it turned out they were discontinuing the pattern and as I was the last person to buy any pieces, they sent the display pieces to me. I thought that was very nice of them. 50 years later I still have all the pieces and use them when I have company.

What are your thoughts on Singapore’s role as a tech hub and regional gateway for funding and talent in South-east Asia?

I think it’s a great idea. Singaporeans are very intelligent, and have excellent educational backgrounds. They also have the distinction of being Asian in ethnic identity but having the Western influence that Singapore is known for. They have the best of both worlds, and a unique ability to unite Eastern and Western worldviews in brokering investments for the tech industry.

Singapore is also known to be a haven for those with considerable wealth. They may be willing to invest in tech startups that have potential. Especially if that company is close to home and able to benefit Singapore’s economy.

Singapore is also a major trade hub. Second to Shanghai, they are the largest port for transporting in the world. It’s a prime location for new ventures. It’s proximity to other Southeast Asian countries, India, and China make it a good hub with access to millions of people. All in all, I have a favorable opinion.

This is why men needs to have more sex than women…

Have you ever had a neighbor call the police on you?

Yes. And when they arrived for the “noise complaint” I answered the door in my boxers with my 3 year old slung over my shoulder on one side and a long handled fish net containing a bat (as in a nocturnal flying mammal) on the other.

“Can I help you officer?”

“Is that a bat?!”

“Yes, excuse me for a moment.”

Handed off my kid to the rather confused officer, went about the necessaries of releasing the terrified bat from the net, set it down, and retrieved my kid.

“What can I do for you sir?”

“We had a noise complaint (it was two or three in the morning) but I’m guessing I understand. Have a good night sir.”

And then he left. Chuckling all the way back to his car.

What’s your all-time favorite life hack that has made your daily routine significantly easier?

Micro-efficiency.

Someone on Quora pointed out that Ireland is good at micro-efficiency. If you need to fill out a form, there will be a pen beside it. The security guy at the door can tell you which desk you need to go to, stuff like that.

So I apply this to my life. My bicycle is in the hall, with the lock, lights and reflectors all attached to it. I can grab it and go out the door, knowing I have everything I need. My bike bag contains a can of instant puncture repair and rain gear.

My keyring has only the keys I actually use, plus a small mirror for problems with contact lenses.

I only buy trousers with pockets with zips that will actually hold my phone and keys.

Every coat has a pair of reading glasses in the pocket.

Beside my passport, I keep a small plastic bag with a toothbrush, contact lens case and mini deodorant. If I have to, I can hit the airport with just those and I’ll manage.

I wash the muddy dog in the road outside the house, not the bathroom. She likes it better, the local kids help, and I don’t have massive cleaning up to do.

There is no one hack that does it all, it’s more about finding the most efficient way to get things done.

In business, has your boss ever tried to fire you, only to be fired by their boss instead?

I worked for a company in Texas for a number of years. After my immediate supervisor retired, a new person from outside the company was hired to take his position. This guy was a complete sleeze bucket, he was really shady. I was given instructions that I was morally unwilling to do. I was given the choice to do it or pack up and leave.

I typed up a letter of resignation effective the Friday of that week and immediately left to visit my job sites in Louisiana and East Texas. On Friday as I was headed back home I stopped at one of my last job sites. The superintendent of the site informed me the President of my company was trying to get in touch with me and the owner of his company told him that if I showed up and did not contact my President, he would be fired.

I called him and he said when my resignation was delivered to the Senior VP in charge of my division two of my coworkers also turned in their resignations. Between the three of us, it represented 20+ years with his company. He and the SVP went to talk to my former supervisor. He was terminated on the spot and the three of us were asked to reconsider our resignations.

Making a man wait is like…

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

Well, this wasn’t actually a person. But it was the best case of ‘you just picked a fight with the wrong one’ I’ve ever seen.

I was at the park walking my dog with a friend and her dog.

Her dog was a rescue but from her brains, looks and behavior she was an Australian Shepherd. That particular day she was off in the distance chasing birds while my dog (also a rescue and at that point still quite timid) was hanging back with us.

Suddenly a pair of huge Great Danes appeared out of nowhere and decided to make a meal out of the Aussie. They started off far behind her but they were 5 times her size, so they closed on her quickly in a vee formation, with the Aussie at the point of the vee.

As my friend and I watched in horror, they gained on her until they were just inches from her, still closing in at an angle. We were sure she was a goner.

And then, just as they were about to grab her, she reversed on a dime and shot back through the narrow gap still left between them. The train wreck she left in her wake as the two clumsy oafs slammed into each other head first was awesome to behold.

We were still laughing when she reached us, trotting back with a grin just like the one in the picture on her face and her tail waving high.

How did you break out of the rat race?

Today, I got this tough email…

Dear Hector,

Today feels heavy. I got up when it was still dark, way before sunrise because I wanted to do some work before my main job. I’m super tired. Coffee is like the juice that keeps me going.

In a few more minutes, I’ll go to work. I’ll be there for a long time. It’s supposed to be from 9 to 5, but I always need to stay longer. My boss says that’s what I should do to be a good employee. But even though I work a lot, my piggy bank isn’t getting any fatter, and everything else, like food and rent, keeps costing more.

Did you have a similar experience when you were my age? To me, this makes no sense!

Very frequently, I feel scared because I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop working. It bothers me when people suggest we should save for retirement. They make me feel like I can’t manage my finances wisely. This is ridiculous. Savings? Lol, when will it happen?

Meanwhile, everyone seems to be so happy on the Internet. They post pictures with big smiles and seem to be having fun, but I think most are just pretending. Most of my friends are also running this “race” to success. Yet, most of them are also super tired, although nobody wants to say it out loud.

When I get home, I work my side hustle. Why? Because I went to a good college, and now I owe money, a lot of it. So, I work all day long, even when I should be taking a break or hanging out with friends. It feels like I’m on a bike pedaling super hard, but I’m not moving.

I need your help, Hector. How can I make this stop? How can I escape this miserable lifestyle and start making real progress?

Sorry if this was a long email. I hope you have some words of wisdom to open my eyes. I’m hungry for progress. To the best of my knowledge, I’ve done everything I was supposed to do, yet I don’t have the results I expected.

This is a tough one… but this is what I answered:

My friend, reading your email hit me right in the gut. I’ve been there, and let me tell you, it’s a tough spot. But you’re not alone, and you’re not the first to feel this way.

The first thing to understand is that this non-stop hustle culture we live in isn’t sustainable. It’s not healthy. Sure, working hard is important, but there’s a point where you’ve got to step back and look at the bigger picture. Are you working smart? Or just hard?

Here’s my answer thinking as an entrepreneur. I’m not saying this is right, so take this with a grain of salt. This is how I would focus my attention:

Health is the first step to wealth: Drop the caffeine and find a healthier way to stay sharp. If you burn out, you can’t make money. Period.
Forget the 9 to 5 myth: If your current job demands long hours with little reward, it’s time to rethink your career strategy. Maybe your skills are more valuable elsewhere. Ever thought about that?
Your net worth is not your self-worth: Stop comparing yourself to the fake TikTok life. Delete it! Focus on you.
Make time for what matters: You’ve got friends you don’t see because everybody’s “too busy”? Cut the BS. Schedule it as a meeting that you have to attend. Work will always be there. Relationships won’t.
Your side hustle: You’re working a lot and not moving forward? Maybe you’ve got a passion or skill you can monetize on the side. It could be anything. To me, your answer is found there.
Learn to say “NO”: This one’s tough but necessary. Set boundaries. Your time’s the most valuable asset you’ve got.
Get a game plan: Sit down and figure out where you want to be in 5, 10, 15 years. Then, work backward to make a roadmap on how to get there.
Take a break: Burnout is real. Sometimes, you’ve got to take a step back to leap forward.
Keep learning: You say you went to a nice college. Great. But learning never stops. There are a ton of free resources out there. Use them. Learn how to increase your expertise and generate extra income.

You don’t have it all figured out yet, and that’s okay. Most of us struggle with this.

Here’s the good news: It’s great that you’re asking questions. Stay open to change and find new opportunities. Keep searching for answers!

Most importantly, make sure you’re hustling in the right direction. The world has changed. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.

What am I missing?

Xi Jinping’s Global South Red Carpet: China’s WARNING to the Neocons

China has been rolling out the red carpet for Global South leaders maligned by the United States. This video explains why this is a stark warning to the neocons that they’re global order is FINISHED.

What are the reasons (historic or otherwise) that led to the belief that wealth is a zero sum game?

It’s the story of a mugger named Bob, who had a lot of money, but wasn’t incredibly happy.

Getting drunk and hiring prostitutes just wasn’t really hitting the spot anymore, he felt a little bit empty, he was having trouble sleeping at night, wondering if he was really doing the right thing, questioning the meaning of life itself.

When he spoke to people about it, many suggested changing his ways, no longer mugging people, and doing something else more productive instead.

Bob didn’t like that idea one bit!
It sounded like a lot of work, for one. And it implied he had been doing something wrong?!? How dare they suggest that he was anything less than perfect!?
Hearing that kind of stuff made him angry, not happy.

But then one day, Bob talked to one of the PR people working for the thieves’ guild, and it changed his life.

He sat there for hours, listening avidly. For the first time, he was hearing ideas that made sense to him, it was like music to his ears.

Bob the mugger learned that wealth is not a zero sum game.
His latent feelings of guilt evaporated as he learned that getting money from someone, was actually the same thing as providing that person with a service.
Wealth creation! Of course! That made sense!

He felt a bit like a courageous hero when all the risks he was taking were mentioned.

He had always suspected that if there were any issues caused by muggings, it was just because of over-regulation, and that it would all go much smoother if city guards would just stay out of it.

When he was told that he was an amazing person, superior to everyone else, and that people were just jealous of him, and that was why they didn’t like him… Oh boy! It stroked his ego in just the right way! It was exactly what he wanted to hear.

Bob the mugger walked away feeling GREAT!
No more doubts, no more guilt, and no need to change anything either!
He could go on mugging people, filled with confidence that he was making the world a better place, by caring only about himself.

And he went on to do great things!

He decided that it was time that he give back to the community, by providing some jobs for other muggers. And he didn’t stop there, he had a growth mindset, and built a huge mugging empire!

Bob the mugger became Bob the risk-taker, Bob the job provider, Bob the creator of wealth!

This unsung hero almost died asking himself that very same question:

Why does nobody understand me and my greatness? Why do they not understand that I’m creating jobs and wealth?!? Why do they keep talking about a zero sum game?!?

But then he remembered: They were probably all just jealous.
And he died at peace with himself, soothed by his comforting ideology.

What are some mental errors to avoid at all costs?

There’s a thing called the gambler’s fallacy that many of us fall for in so many situations.

The most simple example is if you are flipping a coin. You’ve landed on heads 10 times in a row. At that point, you might think that you have higher odds of landing on tails. Obviously, that’s not true — as it is always a 50/50 chance.

It happens during card games, sports betting, and all manner of games that we play. If you are playing cards and get five good hands in a row. It’s easy to start thinking, “You know, I’m actually kind of a good card player.”

Your ego gets involved and that’s when things get dangerous for your wallet.

Cajun Salmon Burgers with Lime Mayonnaise

On the table tonight: Cajun Salmon Burgers seasoned with McCormick® Perfect Pinch® Cajun Seasoning, panko, red bell pepper and onion. Top with Lime Mayonnaise for an extra-delicious Lenten (or any season) dinner.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Lime Mayonnaise

1/4 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel
1/2 teaspoon lime juice

Cajun Salmon Burgers

3 (5 ounce) pouches boneless skinless salmon, drained
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 teaspoons McCormick® Perfect Pinch® Cajun Seasoning
1 tablespoon oil
4 hamburger rolls

Instructions

Lime Mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients in small bowl until well blended. Cover.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cajun Salmon Burgers

Mix salmon, egg, panko, mayonnaise, green onions, bell pepper and Seasoning in large bowl until well blended. Shape into 4 patties.
Heat oil in large nonstick stick skillet on medium heat.
Add salmon patties; cook 5 minutes per side or until lightly browned and cooked through.
Serve salmon burgers on rolls with Lime Mayonnaise and desired toppings.

Notes

Serving Suggestion: Serve burgers with lettuce and tomato.

Should we be concerned that China’s probes into Foxconn’s facilities and land use could affect iPhone production capacity in China?

Quora Prompt Generator, who is the “we” you’re referring to?

Are you referring to the U.S. government? Why be concerned? Biden’s been bitching that Apple should do their manufacturing in the U.S. China is now telling Apple’s producers to stay home in Taiwan. This is a good time to remind Apple to come home.

Or are you referring to Apple stakeholders? You should be very worried. Foxconn and Wistron had to abandon India because they couldn’t transplant and replicate their China production to India and are trying to work their way back to China. Apple has no other country that can produce its premiun models and would be in deep kimchi if Foxconn can’t recoup to build back their capacity in China.

Or are you referring to Apple, the company? Yeah, they should be running scared because Tim Cook knows Apple has no Plan B to fall back on. Why do you think he’s been practically camping in in China these past months?

Or is this the “royal we”, the general public so to speak? This should be taken as a good sign. China is doing their due diligence – not allowing any “sacred cows”. Entities like Foxconn should be audited to ensure that they’re complying with all rules and regulations in order that there is a level playing field and market competition for all.

She Got UPSET After Knowing How Men Think!

Stalking for a bloody nose

When I lived in Milford, Massachusetts I worked at an appliance company as a Chief Project Manager in the R&D group. During that time, early on in the company, I was living with a model named CJ. She was extraordinarily beautiful, but a royal pain in the ass. Ugh! That’s a story for another time, I’ll tell you what.

Anyways, there was one of the guys in my company, way a youngish (in his late 20’s) man who worked in Marketing. I got along fine with him.

But my girlfriend, CJ (the chick that I was living with) told me that she had a “bad feeling about him”. But I shrugged it off.

About a month later, I noticed that he was driving around and waiting outside my apartment. I wondered why, but couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Later on, after that, CJ told me that he was following her.

…

Two weeks later, he came to work completely beaten up, and his face was a real mess. He worked for a day or two, and then quit. I never found out what happened to him, but I figure that he messed with the “wrong people”. Not me. But perhaps someone else…

What do you know.

…

Today…

What was the most legendary “I quit!” that you know about or witnessed?

I was asked, as a consultant, to handle a very delicate matter. It appears that the company president’s teenage daughter had taken a liking to one of the system assembly people who was building rack servers. He told her that he was busy and she was not authorized to be in the department. She complained to daddy, and the employee was subject to a screaming match in front of his co-workers and told by his boss that he needed to apologize by the close of business when the executive and his daughter left. And that some token of his contrition might be a nice gesture.

Near the end of the day, the technician located the daughter, said he was sorry, and gave her a handmade electronic sculpture as a token of his contrition. He then wrote a resignation note and left it with H.R.

I was called to resolve the issue and get the employee back to work because they had a backlog that was building on the workbenches. I could not find any reason why someone else could not build-out the server blades and none of the employee’s co-workers volunteered any information. That is, until I learned that he had fashioned the sculpture out of the all of the motherboard chips on hand.

There was no attempt to gain restitution for the ruined chips and the employee was paid in full — including two weeks severance. I later heard that the president reimbursed the company for the entire amount. I pocketed my fee — which only added insult to injury.

I Live Better in The Philippines Than I Did in The U.S For Cheaper – My Story

“It was reassuring to hear of JJ’s positive experience in BCG, and of his low monthly budget. I’ve been thinking a lot about my future retirement and moving somewhere that will provide a better quality of life for my budget. I’ll try to spend time in several countries, before picking a place to settle down. Thanks for another great video, Evan.”

Texas Iced Tea

Ingredients

6 tea bags or 2 large tea bags
Water
1 cup granulated sugar (optional)

Instructions

Heat 1 quart to boiling 1 quart water in saucepan.
Remove from heat; add tea bags, cover and let steep for 30 minutes.
Pour into 1 a gallon pitcher.
Add sugar, if using, then fill pitcher with cold water.
To make sun tea, fill a 1 gallon glass jar with cool water.
Add 6 tea bags and place in direct sunlight.
Leave in sunlight until desired color (strength) is obtained (reddish brown) – about 2 to 3 hours. Do not leave in the sun too long (over 4 hours) as mixture may become bitter.

What is the best revenge you ever had on your bully?

A very stupid woman in my social group was my bully. She hated me and did & said what she could to trash me.I was involved with someone that she had a crush on. She did everything she could to break us up, including making up stories about me sleeping around with other guys (I wasn’t), stealing $$$ from him (I earned 3x what he did), badmouthing him, etc. It did cause some tension in my relationship.

However, she thought it was funny and sent screenshots of what she had said & done to a friend of mine. She didn’t know he was an old friend of many years. He sent me copies which I gave my guy. He blocked her on the spot and cut off all contact with her.

At the time she was living with a guy in public housing and collecting disability. Again, Ms. Stupid sent to our mutual friend comments like she was only living with him so he would pay her bills. That she really didn’t have a disability but she had a corrupt Dr who would fill out “appropriate l” paperwork for a fee. And that she had a job off the books and making very good $$$.

He sent me everything. I filed a complaint on the doctor with the state medical board. I forwarded her comments to the Housing Authority and federal offices. But the best was, being crafty, I created a mini-book that listed all of her comments from her lies about me to using the boyfriend as a paycheck. I wrapped it up nicely and sent it to him at his place of employment. (I did put a note on it saying to open in private…he didn’t need to be embarrassed in front of co-workers)

So long story short, she lost her apartment but gained a new one at the local jail. She lost her boyfriend but gained a new corrections officer. She lost her social circle but gained new cellmates. She lost her lucrative income but got a job at the prison making cents on the hour.

Have IDF soldiers ever used Krav Maga in real life?

On March 7th, 2002, Gabi Altaraz, owner of the Cafe Caffit was walking around his crowded restaurant, full of families and young couples, full of the sounds of children. He noticed a young man sitting alone at the table. The man seemed nervous, agitated and odd.

Despite the day being quite chilly in the tail end of the Israeli winter, the strange man was sweating profusely.

Gabi walked over and asked to take the order, figuring the man was just a bit distracted by work.

The man seemed annoyed by the question. “Just water,” he snapped, clearly bothered. He then asked who Gabi was, giving him the most chilling smile that looked murderous.

As Gabi listened, he noticed a very large backpack by the man’s feet.

Gabi didn’t change his expression, but said he’d get it. Instead, he went and got twenty three year old Shlomi Harel, one of the waiters. “I think we have a problem,” he said.

Now, with spiked hair, tattoos and a pierced eyebrow. Shlomi may have looked like some bored college student currently fetching drinks and food, but he was also a recently released elite commando.

Shlomi walked up to the table and asked in Arabic for the man’s ID card (which all Israeli residents must carry) The man produced a blue one, indicating he was an Israeli citizen. However, Shlomi had already noticed the bag.

More importantly, he noticed the wire which protruded from it, and which ran through the man’s jacket and through the man’s right sleeve to a detonator in his hands.

The cafe was full, 50 innocent civilians, women and children and elderly, all of whom were defenseless. In seconds, they would be a red mist unless he was willing to risk his life.

With a fearlessness bordering on superhuman, Shlomi pounced on the terrorist and threw him out of the restaurant.

Once outside, before the terrorist knew what hit him, Shlomi had already jerked out the wire, separating the bomb from the detonator, as he was trained. He then ripped off the pack, threw aside and slammed the terrorist to the floor to restrain him.

As he wrestled the terrorist to a safe distance, he also yelled to clear the streets, take cover and call the bomb squad, while using the skills of Krav Maga to make sure the would-be murderer didn’t go anywhere until the authorities could take him away.

Shlomi’s excellent training, heroism and sacrifice prevented a massacre. 10 kilograms of explosives and shrapnel was packed inside the backpack, enough to kill all 50 people and wound and blind and maim and mangle 50 more.

If a soldier has to resort to Krav Maga, the goat droppings have really hit the fan. Ideally, you never want to be in a position where you need to be that close to the enemy, but there have been situations where it was required.

Remember, Krav Maga isn’t just about a form of self defense so you can go home at night safely.

In the army, it’s about making arrests. (And his knee isn’t on the detainee’s neck but shoulders, as can be clearly seen by anyone with training)

It’s about disarming suspects.

It’s about self defense for situations like knife attacks.

And as the story makes clear, it has other uses.

So yes, soldiers use it. Otherwise, why would they teach it?

And yes, the stuff related to arresting and neutralizing terrorists. Not the stuff I do.

No Status

Have you ever experienced something you can’t explain?

Me and a buddy were at his house watching TV and some person on the screen was eating a strawberry. I don’t really care for them, but it looked good and I asked if, by chance, he had any strawberries in the house. He almost laughed at me, we were two 20-year old’s with a higher chance of beer or mac & cheese or Fruit Loops than strawberries. About twenty minutes later, there’s a knock at the door and he goes to answer it. He yells out to me to come see something. His mom is standing at the door with one of those low-cut boxes with a bunch of strawberries. he said, “Tell Jeffy what you said!” She looks a little strange and says, “I was driving home and there was a guy selling strawberries out of the back of his truck and I thought, “I bet David and his friends would like some strawberries…” My buddy says, “Well, you blew it. We all have one wish and you wasted yours on strawberries.”

A year ago, I did a test for Mensa, also known as “The High IQ Society.” I was given an IQ of 162. Does this mean I’m special?

Yes, but…

As an example, there was a woman who worked for me at one point. She used to always brag that she has a 174 IQ. Everyone was tired of it and it really kept her from forming good relationships at work (the “I am better than you” complex). One day, I was just not wanting to put up with it so I said “wow, your IQ is higher than Albert Einstein!” When she agreed, I responded “he invented the theory of relativity, what have you done?” She never mentioned her IQ after that. You see, IQ matters less than what you do with what you have.

P.S. I am a member of Mensa, too, and realize that it is just the measure of potential, not an accomplishment.

Edit: thanks for everyone who up-voted my response. I think this is my highest. I went to my first Annual Gathering (AG) this year and it just reinforced my belief. It isn’t what you have, but what you do with it. Many wonderful people, but just like the rest of society in so many ways.

How is she surprised he responded like this? She deserves everything she gets

Lordy! This is everything that wrong with the United States today.

Who is the most evil person you have ever met?

Have you ever been accused of something very wrong ,and been totally innocent.

I have this mentally I’ll neighbor a block down the street ,he will say just about anything with no remorse whatsoever, he is so envious of me, from what other people have told me that it’s almost some type of fixation.I warned my new girlfriend about him and to keep her distance from him, quite frankly I don’t trust him at all.One day I see she was at the bottom of the driveway picking up the mail as usual only potty mouth is blabbering to her about something, he was out walking his dog. When she parks her car and heads for the house she usually stops to see what I’m doing. Today she goes straight up and into the house, I knew that idot had said something to upset her, unfortunately for me I was in the middle of spraying and couldn’t drop what I was doing.I head into the house an hour later and she seems very tense, but when I mentioned what did the ding dong down the load have to say, she said ahhh nothing really.

A couple hours later when we met at the doorway between the master bedroom and the bathroom, she actually ducted away from me. Now I knew something was wrong and I had to get to the bottom of it, but when I asked what was bothering her every time she had the same response, ahhh nothing really.

Finally I had enough, I said I want to know what is going on ,and we’re not closing our eyes until you tell me. Then she says, whatcha going to do hit me.I was totally floored, I have never in my life struck a woman and told this to her. She says that the guy down the street told her, he used to hear my ex wife screaming and that I had been arrested for abuse a couple of times.I started to chuckle a little and she says this is very serious ,and that if I layed a hand on her she’s going straight to the cops.

I pointed to a couple of shotguns leaning in the corner by my dresser. See those, well if I had any sort of domestic violence charges brought against me , there wouldn’t be any fire arms allowed in the house. She says you have several guns, that’s against, the law then. I warned you about listening to that asshole some time ago didn’t I ,she couldn’t believe someone would make up a story like this. So let’s just look up my criminal record and see how bad I am, in Wisconsin you can go to the clerk of courts on line and check out anyone’s history. Look here there nothing, nothing at all, squeaky clean. She seemed a little shocked. Now I said let’s check out your new friend, Oh Look two convictions for domestic abuse, spent two weeks in jail twice for failing to pay child support and a felony conviction for distribution of cocaine.Maybe now you will take what he says with a grain of salt. She still looked a little puzzled, but gradually got back to normal. One of these days he’s going to say something about the wrong guy and find himself in big trouble. I fail to see what he hopes to gain, except cause me grief. Maybe someone else has a clue, I just totally avoid him and have for several years now.

What is the origin of the expression “ducks in a row”?

The expression, “get your ducks in a row,” means to get prepared to do something. But where did this expression come from?

Many years ago, an old-time JPL engineer explained to me the origin of this expression. Sadly, I don’t remember who it was. There are a number of people I regarded highly who might have been the source of this. I certainly believed them because it made so much sense.

Consider an old drafting tool used to hold splines to make curves. It is called a drafting duck, also known as a lofting duck.

What the heck is a drafting duck, you might ask?

Before we get to that, let’s talking about lofting.

Back in the days of building large wooden sailing ships, they used to create full size drawings of the ship. The only place big enough for such a drawing was in loft above the shipbuilding building. The loft had a lot of space without posts in the way. Creating such drawing became known as lofting.

If you’ve ever done any computer-aided drafting, then you will have come across splines. These are smooth curves passing through a series of dots.

But how did they do that in the days before computers? Well, they used splines! A spine was a long flexible piece of wood that was held down on the drawing to make a curve passing through the points on the drawing.

or the very long splines they used in lofting, they had a bunch of weighted objects to hold the spline in place so they could run their pencil along it to make the smoothly curved line.

Lofting Ducks. The little bent nose sticking out was poked into the top of the spline to hold it in place. The body of these ducks was something like steel so they would be weighty and able to hold the spline in place.

So, before they could draw the line along the spline, they had to …

get their ducks in a row.

And that’s where the expression came from. At least according to the ancient engineer I knew a couple of decades ago.

Being in the friend zone

I promised my son a PS5 if he got straight A’s and he did, but I don’t want to give him a ps5. What should I do?

Huh. Tell me about it.

I promised the Screamy Blonde Thing £200 if she passed all her GCSEs except RE, which we don’t care about.

Yeah, my money’s safe because I’ve seen that kid’s Eng Lit essays. I’ve just spent two years shouting and cajoling just to get her Eng Lang up to scratch and the chances of her passing Eng Lit is the same as that of Kylie Minogue dragging me into Meadowhall Travel Lodge and giving me a damn good seeing-to.

Is what I thought.

Do you know what she bloody well did? Passed the bloody lot except RE. I swear she did it on purpose just to annoy me. Sigh. Bye-bye £200. I knew I shouldn’t have spent a week going through Romeo and bloody Juliet with her, still less another one going through The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde. Because of this, she now has a morning off from her computerses things at the Tech whilst the dim kids retake their Maths and English GCSEs. That kid has always been as jammy as a Co-Op doughnut, I tell you.

Anyway, the point. Stump up. You promised it, you bloody well deliver or you’ll be persona non grata in kidworld and they’ll never trust anything you say again for the rest of your life.

Back to the subject of the SBT, she’s spending her morning lying in bed playing with her Nintendo.

Or so she thinks.

I’m about to break the news that nobody could be arsed to do last night’s teapots and there’s a sinkful, and guess who’s drying? BWUHAHAHA! It’s not that I’m evil, it’s just……no it is. I’m evil. But not evil enough to renege on my promise for hard work. Get your wallet out.

What are your thoughts on China’s military growth? Do you think they will ever catch up to America? Or are there some aspects where we still hold an advantage?

In terms of absolute military power, they will never catch up with the USA. They simply do not have any intention to do this.

I think that Americans simply do not comprehend this. They live in a country that is accustomed to wars, The USA destroys countries and kills people in wars continuously. Afghanistan; Iraq; Syria; Bosnia; Somalia; Vietnam; Libya; Grenada etc etc. This has gone on for so long that Americans think it’s normal – as normal and ordinary and unremarkable as their regular school shootings.

China isn’t interested. They just want to build highways, sea ports, airports, railways etc; link up the world and do more trade and business.

Men Made a List of Women to NEVER DATE!

What has your toddler said that left you completely dumbfounded?

“I know who’s wetting the grass mummy!” My three year old daughter one day stated proudly.

We were eating breakfast at the time and my husband and I both looked at each other dumbfounded. She continued beaming at us. Clearly very proud of herself.

“Honey what do you mean?” My husband asked her trying to make sense of it.

“You know daddy…” She said shaking her head as if it what she was talking about was common knowledge. I was struggling to keep a straight face. “Explain it to daddy,” I said to her.

“Ok mummy.”

“Well,” she said. “In the mornings the grass is wet right?”

“Right, yes it’s a dew.”

“No…” She corrects him. “It’s a man dressed in black.”

“Are you sure honey?” My husband asks her.

“Yes I saw him last night…”

At first we were dumbfounded, then we were very worried. Turns out she had seen someone. The next night I stayed in my daughters room and someone actually tried to break in. Luckily some fly spray in the eyes and a quick call to the police soon put him out of action… Though my daughter said “mummy don’t do that to the grass wetter”

Turns out he was a child abuser, not the grass wetter. Luckily he won’t be doing that ever again now. And my daughter still can’t get over the fact that I sprayed him in the eyes with fly spray…

What did she say to me afterwards? “Who will wet the grass now mummy?”

And the next morning. “They found a new person, I haven’t seen him yet but the grass has been wetted again.”

Kids. They are so innocent and at times hilarious 🙂

What “unwritten rules of being a man” don’t you follow?

I was taking an advertising class. An ad agency executive was doing a guest lecture.

The theme of the class was, “Knowing your customer.” Learning about each demographic.

We had a small class of about 15 people.

He was seated off to the side of the class. He was having each of us individually go stand in front of the class for 2–3 minutes for a conversation.

From there, he’d have a friendly conversation with them, asking them questions about them and their life.

So my turn comes. I go to stand up in front of the class.

He looks me over and asks, “What’s your favorite sport to watch?”

My reply, “Well. I don’t really watch many sports hmmmm….”

He immediately changes to, “What’s your dream car?”

My reply, “Well, I am not really into cars either.”

“Fishing? Hunting?”

I defeatedly say, “Well….no…not so much.”

Apparently I didn’t check the box of following at least one major sport or being into fishing or hunting.

I was married at the time. He sees my wedding ring, and says,

“How’d you propose to your wife?”

I thought, “Oh man…really?…..guess we are out of man questions…”

And I painfully relayed a story of how I proposed.

And of course all the girls in the class all went “awwwwwwww”.

I felt like I’d suddenly grown a vagina.

But oh well. This is me. I’m not a typical dude. No apologies.

High Alert! China’s New EMP Weapon Is Going To Change The Industry Forever

What are some awesome psychological facts you know?

The happier you are the less sleep you require to function in every day life. Sadness increases the urge to sleep more.
Dreams reveal feelings that we’ve hidden or repressed because dreams, are a reflection of our unconscious mind, our emotional truth.
The unhappiest people in the world are the ones who care what everyone thinks about them.
By thinking one positive thought every morning, you can psychologically trick your brain into being a happier person.
Walking increases brain activity.
Intelligent people are more likely to avoid conflict, which explains why some people notice everything but choose to say nothing.

What do you do if you are homeless and alone?

I’m technically homeless for the second time in my life. Finances were at a real strain earlier in the year but I held on until my son went off to college. At 68, my career in print media ground to a halt and with an exploding real estate market where I saw my rent quadruple in a matter of months. My life was unsustainable.

Car payments, car insurance, prescription medicines and food, I’ll admit, I was drowning. When my son left I no longer had a reason to maintain a household or a car. I stopped fighting the inevitable. My social security payment was all I had. I sold my possessions and booked a one-way ticket to the far east. I can live on the pittance provided me for my years of work as an American. I just can’t live in America.

Since I left the states, I’ve lived in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal. Next week I’m heading to India for a month before returning and spending Christmas and New Years in Vietnam. I live in decent three star hotels typically with free breakfast.

My social life had already slowed considerably as I got old.

I stopped drinking nearly three years ago so I no longer have that monkey on my back. But life, in general is good. It’s adventurous. And I no longer have the burdens that come with life in the US. My son is happy and thriving. My older daughter and her family are doing very well. I’m a phone call away from them and we talk frequently. The difference is I’m alive and living with few worries.

Would you be nervous if FBI agents knocked on your door and asked to talk to you? Would you let them in?

My son had an FBI agent come to his apartment. He sold noncommercial DVDs on his web page of 80’s cartoons. Someone had bragged about not caring about copyright and given the FBI his name in order to get him in trouble.

When asked, he said, “Yes, I sell those DVDs on my web page. Oh, do you want copies of where I have the rights? What’s your fax number?”

And nobody ever bothered him again.

Powerful Truth!

What is the most inappropriate thing that you have ever witnessed at a funeral?

Many years ago my first wife’s father was died. He was married at the time. He also had a girlfriend. When my mother-in-law, my now ex-wife, her grandmother and I arrived at the funeral we were expecting, of course, to sit on the front row. It is typical for the spouse to sit there. Unfortunately, the girlfriend with her children showed up prior to the wife and had seated herself and her kids on the front row. The wife, who had more restraint than I would have, decided not to make a scene and sat behind the girlfriend and her kids. If my memory serves me correctly, she did fire the girlfriend, who worked at the store now solely owned by my mother-in-law.

I get that the girlfriend was also grieving. After all, her sugar daddy was now gone. If she had had more manners and civility at the funeral, she would probably have been given time to find a new job (my MIL was a nice person), but since the gf intentionally embarrassed the wife in public, she didn’t deserve to be treated nicely.

How do cancer patients know the end is near?

My father was the epitome of impeccable health well into his older years, the strongest, healthiest person I knew. Walking 25,000 steps per day, always energetic, near perfect vision, mentally sharp (he had a PhD in mathematics), my father had every quality in his 70s that I wish I had in my 50s! Best of all, he was a very humble man and wonderfully loving father.

My dad was a renowned scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he studied nucleology. Unfortunately, he and many of his fellow scientists developed sarcoma later in life, a rare form of cancer. Some of his cohorts had already died in their 30s and 40s. My father didn’t acquire sarcoma until the age of 73, striking with little warning and spreading quickly throughout his entire body. It remains unknown whether or not the fate of these scientists was connected to the decades of nuclear research projects they performed.

My father awoke in the middle of the night in pain, was driven to the hospital by my mother, and by the time he arrived 15 minutes later he had no feeling below his rib cage. A tumor had grown along the spine and rapidly shut off the nerves, blocking any feeling all the way to the tip of his toes. After some tests, the doctors gave him three to six months to live. He lasted three months.

The question

To answer your question, how did he know the end was near? After three months of being bedridden and paralyzed, with his spirits high and his faith strong, he was lying awake around 4:00 a.m. when he suddenly struggled to breathe. He summoned my mother who was asleep in the same room. He knew it was the end.

The finale

My parents had been together for 55 years, meeting when they were teens. My mother held his hand, and he whispered, “Will you be okay without me?” to which my mother replied, “I’ll be fine.” And within seconds after those words, he was gone. I was on a plane flying to come see him when he passed, so I didn’t make it in time to say goodbye. But we had spent plenty of time together, especially in the final months, so I was at total peace. The world lost one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century that day. But I lost the greatest father.

What is the dirtiest fine print you’ve seen in a contract?

A co-worker and I were given new employee contracts to sign and we saw that if we were to leave the company we could not work as software developers for three years. We refused to sign, so the company controller came to us and asked why.

After we explained why we wouldn’t sign, he said, “Oh, that’s not what that means. What it means is that you won’t start a new, competing contract firm and steal away employees.” So I told him to change the contract language to state exactly what he’d told me. He just kept saying, “But you know what it means!”

I finally told him that until the contract says what it really means, I wouldn’t sign it. He said he’d have it corrected, but we never received a corrected copy, so we never signed a new contract.

His explanation made more sense than the contract’s language, but I wasn’t going to sign away my right to work on blind faith.

A husband

“This man worked a 13-hour day in 90-degree weather and walked through the door and said, ‘I’m home. What can I do to help you?’

Yet, these are words I hear from him often.

He is not a ‘unicorn.’ Men like these exist.

The kind who wash the dishes after you cook. Who do the yard work because they know you hate it. Who work 60+ hour work weeks and still come home and play with their kids, give their wife a kiss, and ask, ‘What can I do to help?’

Who gets up some nights to change the baby’s diaper while you get ready for a night feeding. Who gives the kids baths and puts them down for bed. Who spends his weekends with his family. Who cracks a cold one once the kids are down, and plays Farkle and Rummy with his wife.

Leader of the home, equal partner with his wife, provider, protector, and hands-on father. I’m so glad I married this man, and that he also acknowledges my hard work at home with two kids, nursing, cooking, and cleaning.

We take care of each other. It’s 50/50, and we are raising our boys to be men, just like their fathers.

I see so many women cry and complain their partner doesn’t help with the kids, bills, housework, give them any attention, etc.

My heart breaks when I hear, ‘Oh, that’s men,’ or ‘I just deal with it and suffer.’

Ladies, that isn’t a man. Make him do better or find better! If you have a good one who treats you like a queen, then treat him like the king he is.

Marriage is a partnership, not a dictatorship. My husband and I both take care of each other and are very happy.

Many blessings and happiness to all you kings and queens.”

Shared with permission via Jessica Maddux

Cajun Orange Mopped Chops

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons chopped green onions with tops
4 boneless loin pork chops

Instructions

Combine first five ingredients and pour over pork chops in shallow glass dish. Marinate for 10 or 15 minutes while heating grill or broiler to high.
Reduce heat to medium. Place marinated pork chops on grill or under broiler for 7 to 10 minutes per side, brushing marinade on chops as they are turned. Be careful not to overcook.
Serve with rice or potatoes and a vegetable or salad.

Something Very Βizarre Is Starting To Ηappen At Walmart.. (This Seems Unbelievable!)

Captain MM

After I left the Navy, and before I got married to my first wife, I spent a period of time single… living alone, in Florida… and being a “beach bum”. I went out on a lot of dates. Met many girls, and had a lot of fun. Fun that was unfortunately short lived. I was just a “boy toy”.

At that time, as a “beach bum”, I had long blonde hair, a super tan, and a really laid back attitude. In short, I was “Captain Ron”. LOL

But seriously. I was “Captain Ron”.

Anyways, I was in love with a girl. She lived in another state, and I wanted to marry her. It was a long distance relationship. And so I went and packed up and bought an engagement ring and wanted to surprise her with a visit, a ring and then bring her back down from Pennsylvania to Florida.

Well… I walked in on her… with a “close friend” having sex.

…

The standard boiler plate of next steps occurred.

Denial
Confrontation
Emotional screaming and yelling
Decisions
And departure

I returned back to Florida alone.

And you know, I went into the store and returned the engagement ring to the very attractive girl behind the counter.

And she disappeared in the back, and I noticed that all the 20-something girls were peeking though the curtains and whispering amongst themselves.

There were so many “ahh sounds” and a lot of sad pity on my part.

The really noticeable thing about this event was that I really didn’t appreciate what I was (at that time), and how these young 20-something local chicks thought of me. I was that blue-eyed, beach blond, mellow fun dude… LOL!

An attractive subtype…

Sigh.

Not the grizzly old cuss that I am today, I guess.

Enjoy who you are in your various stages of life. You might be surprised on all the opportunities that you might miss out on. Be brave. Be aware, and for god sakes, have some fun!

Today…

What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?

I have only been fired once in my entire adult life. I was working as a Case Manager for a national company with remote digital presence, but no brick and mortar offices in our state. Another local nurse wanted my position and started planting weevils in ears up the chain of command. Long story short she was committing a bunch of tomfoolery and blaming it on me without my knowledge at the time.

She got my position, but was fired within 3 months because she was caught committing aforementioned tomfoolery. Her misdeeds were of such a nature as to make finding another job within the field very difficult. She was caught partially because her accusations caused a state level investigation and audit. Which cleared me and cost her, her job.

Brilliant planning on her part.

Fast forward 2 years and she applies for a job at another local facility. One that I happen to be the associate clinical director at. She has been on a suspended license with remediation and stipulations after reactivation, and basically unable to work for 2 years. She walked in to the interview, saw me sitting behind the desk, whispered “Oh, Shit!” and just ran out of the building. I didn’t have to say a word.

Texas-Style Egg and Potato Skillet

Scramble Mexican favorites, like potatoes and tortilla chips, for a fast and tasty breakfast skillet or simple supper.

Prep: 5 min | Cook: 15 min | Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

4 thick slices (4 ounces) turkey bacon, chopped
1 medium baking potato, diced 1/2 inch
8 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup pico de gallo or chunky salsa
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded smoked Cheddar cheese
6 flour or whole wheat tortillas (8 inch), warmed (optional)

Instructions

Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until edges begin to brown. Pour off drippings.
Add potato; cook and stir until potato is tender and browned and bacon is crisp, 6 to 8 minutes.
Pour eggs over mixture in skillet. As eggs begin to set, gently pull the eggs across the pan with an inverted turner, forming large soft curds. Continue cooking – pulling, lifting and folding eggs – until thickened and no visible liquid egg remains. Do not stir constantly.
Stir in pico de gallo; heat through.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Serve with tortillas, if desired.

Notes

Lighter Option: Recipe can be made with reduced-fat cheese, if desired.

Nutrition

Per serving: Calories: 379 Total Fat: 18g Saturated fat: 6g Polyunsaturated fat: 3g Monounsaturated fat: 6g Cholesterol: 277mg Sodium: 1046mg Carbohydrates: 32g Dietary Fiber: 2g Protein: 21g Vitamin A: 462.9 IU Vitamin D: 57.7 IU Folate: 91.8mcg Calcium: 167.9mg Iron: 3.3mg Choline: 188.7mg

What’s the most offensive thing you’ve heard when someone assumed you didn’t understand their language?

Bought some string in a nice little stationery store in Munich back in 1999. The clerk was counting out my change in German, marks and pfennigs, and stopped and said, auf Deutsch, “Why am I even counting out the change to you? You don’t understand anything.” I smiled. Though I understood well enough, my German wasn’t good enough to let him have it.

My ex was visiting Croatia with her Croatian friend about fifteen years ago. Guess both of them looked like Americans. While walking along the water somewhere together two local, uh… gents were walking toward them, discussing amongst themselves, and quite graphically, the sexual adventures/positions/at one time “crimes against nature” they would enjoy with the two gals. As they passed one another her friend shouted in Croatian “DO YOU TALK TO YOUR MOTHER WITH THAT MOUTH?!!” They nearly melted in embarrassment.

Tucker Carlson Has Us SCARED With This One!

At what point (if any) will China surpass the United States in economic and/or military power?

Simple 2014.

It’s done. It is almost a full decade since China is the real superpower and U.S. is a has been. I know if you are a westerner or especially if you are proud American it sounds ridiculous. But. Let me point out facts and not hubris or blind pride.

China’s growth today is 36.6% and the U.S. together with the entire G7 is a mere 24.6% of the worlds growth. China overtook the U.S. where it counts most the real purchasing power GDP or PPP. Today China is roughly 18.5% and the US is 15.2%. Of worlds economy. While the U.S. is one of the biggest spender China is the biggest savers.

In infrastructure the Chinese has the biggest ports, the biggest ports has the most ships and it has build 120 thousand miles of high speed railway criss crossing China the U.S. build 100 kilometres.

On influence. China gets support almost the entire Asia, Middle East, Latin America, Caribbean and Africa. The U.S. has support from roughly 15 nations. The Anglo nations, their vassal states Germany, Japan and South Korea. Some former colonial powers and some small Eastern European enemies of Russia. In most UN votes China always almost has support in excess of 150/195 nations.

In military, China has more arms, more ships more planes and more troops by a very long shot than the U.S. The Chinese close knit relationship with Russia will make the U.S. rather weak if pitted against both of these nation. The U.S. has lost 4 wars against smaller and weaker nations, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

On sustainability China has 175 out of 195 nations as its biggest trading partners and the U.S. has 29/195 nations as its biggest trading partner. The U.S. debts and deficits is simply unsustainable. China is growing at a rate of 3–4 times a year for the past 40 years against the US. And its standard of living has grown 30 times in the past 40 years and the US has stagnated since 1960!

On the present and future technology, in a recents Australian research from ASPI, China leads in 37/44 most crucial and strategic technologies while the US lead in only 7/37. China’s registrations of US patent office has doubled the US for the past decade.

For me China has absolutely and totally overtook the US by 2020 but it start overtaking the US in 2014. What we are seeing is a decade or more of US refusing to accept the status quo. I suspect by the 2028 election the US and America will move from disbelieving to accepting this status quo.

Oliver Anthony – Rich Man North of Richmond (REMIX) -Vapor Reggae/Dub-

Reggae Dub.

Worth the time to check out.

Are the rich really different from you and me? Why or why not?

[I’m answering anonymously because I don’t want this to come up in a google search — it would suck if my family found it — but I’m sure plenty of regulars will know who wrote this. Please don’t out me.]

I spent a few years of high school attending Brillantmont International School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

My classmates were 100 of the wealthiest kids in the world. I don’t mean hedge fund money — I mean Middle East royalty money. I mean kids whose entire addresses were: People’s Palace, Khartoum, Sudan.

Were they different from the kids I went to public school with in middle class suburban New Jersey? Not in any way that mattered at age 15. (Except they all smoked. I mean upwards of 80% of my classmates smoked. Just crazy.) At 15 it was about boys and sex and alcohol and dieting and who was going where on winter break. The clothes were nicer, the vacations more luxe, but the status games were all the same.

As an adult, here’s the biggest difference I notice, and this really only applies to people who grew up with money:

There is a sense of security that comes with growing up with wealth. A sense that no matter how bad things get, there is a safety net. Even if the net is actually gone — even if somehow you’ve lost all your wealth, your family has disowned you, whatever — it is hard to shake that sense that somehow, some way, things will work out.

Some of my rich friends think they can empathize with poverty. Maybe, but I don’t kid myself that I can. Even when I’d severed ties with my family and had been sleeping on a beach with my belongings for a few months because I couldn’t afford to eat *and* pay for a bed. Even after I’d been robbed a couple of times and put in worse danger a couple of times…

When I got sick — really stupid sick that would have cost me a limb if I hadn’t finally gone to a doctor when I did — I didn’t for a minute think I’d lose my leg. Somewhere deep down I knew that whatever was going to be required, the resources would be there. Whether it meant calling home or a family friend or an old classmate… the idea that the world would let me drown because I couldn’t pay a bill was just never on my radar. It was too far outside everything life had taught me up until then.

I’d have to be on the street for a very long time before I’d be convinced that no one was coming to save me. Of all the privilege that I enjoy, I think that one would be the hardest to shake.

What court case result made you smile?

Rustling. That’s what I called it.

A man, who had sold my client a herd of Texas Longhorn cattle, had returned months later, carted them off, and could not or would not account for their whereabouts.

I was in court. It was a trial to the judge (without a jury) for “conversion” and violations of the D.T.P.A. (Deceptive Trade Practices). I had the bad guy, the chief rustler, on the stand. He was squirming.

The key to the whole case was an award winning Longhorn bull named “Squanto.” We called him “Squanto the Wonder Bull” at the office.

Eventually, he admitted to taking the herd… Finally I asked the chief rustler, “Where exactly is Squanto?” In a flippant remark the defendant laughed and said, “Hell, I don’t know. Probably in a can of spam by now,” and laughed again. He thought he was pretty funny.

About an hour later the judge ruled for us but did not award triple (3x) damages as required by the law in Texas. My client, who was crazy angry about his lost herd, wanted to appeal. So we appealed.

Months later in the court of appeals my client, the other lawyer, and I appeared for argument. What surprised me was that the chief judge of that court was on the panel of three judges. He was old, very crippled, and brilliant. He assigned himself to the cases he was interested in and always made a difference.

I went first. I made an impassioned plea. I talked of the Texas Rangers, the Alamo, and the treatment of rustlers in early Texas history.

They wanted nothing to do with me.

The three judges were silent, dead silent the whole time. They said nothing. They just watched me and nodded. I did not know whether to sh#t or go-blind I was so unhorsed. I thought I was a dead man. They were supposed to ask questions, seek clarification, or ask me if I had a case on X, Y, or Z. Nothing. When I finished the chief judge thanked me without comment. I sat down silently and waited.

Now generally when a lawyer begins to speak in the court of appeals we say something to the effect of “May it please The Court … I am X and I represent the Appellant Disney, or GM, or Joe Blow.”

The lawyer for the rustlers did just that. He said, “May it please The Court, I am …” and that’s all he got out of his mouth.

The chief judge leaned forward in his chair, as far as his crippled body would allow him, and said, “We know who you are and who you represent. What we don’t know is where this herd of Longhorns is, Sir.”

There was silence. I mean the kind of silence you sense rather than hear, like when you know a predator is approaching in the woods. Then the chief judge looked at the transcript of the trial and read aloud, “Hell, I don’t know. (Squanto) is probably in a can of spam by now.”

Those judges weren’t in the trial court. They didn’t see the flippant attitude of the witness. They didn’t hear him laugh. They didn’t know he had been sarcastic. The Court Reporter had not noted “laughing” or “sarcastic” in her notes, which she was prohibited from doing. The Judges could only read the words on the paper, and the words were clear — Squanto had been rustled and made into spam.

”Sir, you and your client are here in our Court trying to justify stealing this man’s cattle and taking his prize bull, Squanto, to slaughter for ‘Spam.’ Is that right? IS THAT RIGHT?” The lawyer was dumbfounded. Speechless. So was I.

For the next 20 minutes those three old judges waged a holy war on that lawyer and his rustler clients and defended our Longhorn herd, Squanto the Wonder Bull, and “mom and apple pie” like they were the judges’ own children. I have never seen another reckoning like that one, not in a trial court and certainly not in the appellate courts.

I got the award. I got the Judgment. We collected the money.

The Rangers would have hung those rustlers. We could not.

But we never saw Squanto or his herd again …

I don’t know why Squanto’s demise set those old judges off, but it did.

As lawyers, we discuss the fact that Judges and Juries are forgiving at times, but never if you injure a baby, an old person, or a helpless animal. This was a great reminder.

I smiled that day. I smile now, and every time I see a can of spam I think of Squanto the Wonder Bull.

That’s not the only story that makes me smile, but it is a favorite.

Your friend in Texas,

Jim

Update: It’s still happening: $26K Reward Offered for Information on 489 Missing Steers

If Putin drops a nuke on Ukraine, will China stay friendly to Russia at the cost of parting ways with the West?

China has already parted ways with the west.

What hard lesson should you learn sooner than later about corporate life?

Long ago, a mentor warned me that, “Human Resources is there to protect the company — from you.”

A manager I supported could not have been a bigger HR nightmare. For example, I was sitting in a clear-glass meeting room with him and three other employees.

A female coworker walked by on the outside of the room. A coworker said, “Oh is Becca pregnant?”

This manager said, in a deep southern drawl, “If she was with me, she’d stay pregnant.”

On another occasion, I heard him say, “I hate the Japanese cuz’ they bombed Pearl Harbor. I hate the Jews cause they killed Jesus.”

Why was he still at the company? He made the company buckets of cash and was great at his job. He epitomized the predicament of the high-performing jerk.

Most HR departments aren’t worth their weight and everything they do is bound in red tape. Ignore any talk of “we are family” — they’ll still show you the door. Ignore any employee awards. I saw a woman win employee of the quarter (for the entire company) and get let go two months later.

I’m not trying to scare you or sound cynical. Just be hyper-realistic as you go into this world and you’ll position yourself to thrive.

And choose wisely when making an HR complaint. People that do often end up with a cleaned-out desk.

Is there any chance that China will dominate the Nobel Prize in 20 years?

Unlikely

China is a master at derivative research today. The world’s best in fact

It’s what morons mistakenly call REVERSE ENGINEERING which is actually dramatic process improvisation

Derivative research is building on existing research

The US were masters of derivative research from the 1950s to late 1970 before they started Pioneering Research

The US derived mainly from European Researchers until then and even today Europe is the master of Pioneering or Original Research

Germany, Netherlands, Scandinavia are the leading countries for original or pioneering research

Chinas research is very PRACTICAL

The Universities fund research based on the value of the research to China

Original Research Or Pioneering Research doesn’t have any viability for a minimum 15–30 years

They need astronomical budgets for very little real life improvement

China prefers to identify research and BUILD ON IT

Most of Chinas Hypersonics, Space Communication, Rocketry is a result of Phenomenal improvement of US Original Research done in the 1970s-1980s and abandoned then as UNVIABLE

Another reason is Chinese are world class ENGINEERS

They handle every problem as an ENGINEERING PROBLEM Or a DESIGN PROBLEM

They are masters at this. The Best in the world on large scale

The Huawei Mate 60 is the best example

Huawei and SMIC solved the problem like an ENGINEERING DESIGN PROBLEM than a Physics Problem at electron level

Thus Chinas focus on Physics and Maths is entirely to develop an ENGINEERING BASE

It would take a longer time, maybe 30–40 years for China to finally focus on Original Research and win a few Nobel Prizes

The World’s leading nations by Original Research are :-

Europe -50. 43%
USA – 31.40%
UK – 7.88%
China – 3.79%
Others -8%

The World’s leading nations by derivative research are :-

China -35. 56%
USA – 26%
Japan – 14.98%
Europe – 13.33%
Others – 11%

China’s Technology LEADS the World (Americans in Shock)

Yes. I forgot how unique and technological China has become. It is so commonplace. I forgot that the West doesn’t really have this…

In this video, we take a look at China’s amazing technology and how it’s far surpassing America’s in terms of innovation, convenience and creativity. China’s amazing tech is making America jealous, and many Americans are in shock. They won’t believe it!

What is the best thing you have done today?

I did something today that will make me smile for entire life.

I frequently visit a coffee shop near my flat in Delhi for coffee. I am visiting the shop for more than 1 year now.

A couple of months ago, a 13 year old boy started working there. It made me furious on the shop owner because he is promoting child labour without hesitation.

I asked him :“ Don’t you know it’s a cognizable criminal offence to employ a Child for any work?”

He said : “ Yes, I know but you’re seeing only one side story”.

He explained that the child is from Bihar and belong to a very poor family. Last year, his family which included his father, child and his sister came to Delhi to earn some money in order to put food in their bellies. His mother died when he was born. His father is doing a job of a security guard while his sister is working as a maid in a house.

The child is getting a salary of Rs 6000/month at the shop.

I went home but I was not able to stop thinking about it.

I wanted to do something for him but I don’t know how to tackle the situation.

In July, he was not on the shop for a couple of days, so I asked the owner and got to know his sister died due to some health issues. It made me feel worse.

After a few days, he joined the shop again. I started talking to him daily to know more about him and his aspiration. He studied till 3rd class but left study to help his family.

I asked him if he wants to study? He said nothing but his glittered eyes gave me the answer.

Slowly, he became my friend. He used to ask me about what do I do and how I learned these things. I used to answer him in the best understanding way.

I don’t know but it created a great bond between us. I was really desperate to help this kid.

A few days ago, I was drinking coffee with a few of my friends. I was asking them a logical question (Which I saw in a video

of Ted-ED)

No one gave the right answer but that kid was listening to all things and said : “Bhaiya, mein batau?” (Bhaiya, may I tell?)

I was shocked, how sharp he was to give the correct answer. I gave him 50 rupees as a reward and left the place.

I decided that I will give him a better life whatever it takes. I started telling his story to people in my network so that if someone will come forward to help me.

One of my friends came forward who is working in an MNC and his wife is doing some a Non-profit work.

Today, that kid got admission in a boarding school.

It will only cost us 40,000 Rs/year and I will pay his salary of Rs 6000/month to his father.

After a few days, he will be in school and I cannot express my happiness and satisfaction.

I want to work more for children if some people come forward and make it possible together.

Rajnish Prajapat

Which was the most tactless tourist you have ever seen?

I was at Notre Dame in Paris. My friend and I were eating lunch on a bench. There was a group of American young adults with 2 chaperones. They were eaching McDonalds (In France? go figure) And way, the finished before Peggy and I did. The got up and left their trash all over the place with a trashcan right there.

Now remember, this is in France at a gorgeous cathedral that is world famous with tourists from all over the world. Me, being me, I got upand loudly said, “Hold it. Stop right there. All of you.” They all turned to me as if I was a crazy lady. Any way, I let them have it about leaving their trash around like their mothers where here to pick up after them. I told them they needed to pick up every piece of trash they had left and put it in the trash can. This wasn’t their country and they needed to respect it.

I think the shock of me, an American loudly calling them downfor being pigs (and yes I did call them that) totally embarrassed them enough to have them clean up the area where they had been sitting.

I went back to my lunch, still ticked that they were so disrespectful of France and Notre Dame that I almost snapped at this lady that came over to us. She said that she appreciated what I’d done and handed us tickets for the underground and to be able to climb to the top of one of the towers. I tried to refuse, but a gentleman behind her said it wasn’t allowed since we had shown we weren’t the normal Americans.

Even to this day, I am still aghast at how the chaperones didn’t bother to have them clean up after themselves. I can only imagine what the entitled kids who didn’t even consider cleaning up their trash are like today.

Will the “Uyghur Genocide” Propaganda dies out in incoming years?

Incoming years? Nah it’s already on life support and flat lining.

Reddit yeah? It’s got a terrible reputation of being filled with ignorance and racists.

Yet on Reddit there have been frequent pushbacks. You can see the major turning point was Rushan Abbass.

As such the 10000+ post omg China bad started getting pushed back by people doubting.

For a while it was treading water as those 10000 post threads deleted anything that went against their narrative.

People then started noticing the massive deletions.

Their last omg genocide post has 600 posts of which the majority called bullshit. The op ended up deleting the thread.

If you can’t convince even the cesspit that is Reddit and Reddit is calling you out… then it’s over.

I mean shit. On Reddit hongkong (no space) there was a yellow (HK rioter faction) saying anybody in Hong Kong who went to Shenzhen or used Chinese products was a traitor.

He got downvoted into oblivion. The burning of a man in HK really had a huge change against many of them.

How heavily does Apple depend on China, and what would happen if China decided to seek revenge for the Huawei ban by kicking Apple out of their market and supply chain?

This is a highly improbable scenario, as China has shown restraint and rationality in dealing with the US-led tech war, which seeks to curb China’s rise as a global powerhouse in innovation and technology.

China’s strategy to cope with the US sanctions on Huawei and other Chinese companies is to pursue a dual path of self-reliance and openness. On one hand, China has stepped up its efforts to develop its own core technologies, such as chips, operating systems, cloud services, and 5G networks, to lessen its dependence on foreign suppliers and enhance its competitiveness. On the other hand, China has also reaffirmed its commitment to opening up its market and promoting trade and investment with other countries, especially those that share its vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity.

Apple is one of the beneficiaries of China’s openness and pragmatism. Apple depends heavily on China for both its production and sales. According to Apple’s latest financial report, China accounted for about 20% of its total revenue in the third quarter of 2023, making it the second-largest market for Apple after the Americas. Moreover, Apple relies on China’s vast and sophisticated supply chain to manufacture most of its products, such as iPhones, iPads, Macs, and AirPods. According to a recent study, about 90% of Apple’s suppliers are based in Asia, with China being the largest source country.

China has no interest in disrupting Apple’s operations in China, as it would harm both sides’ interests and undermine the global economy. Apple is an important contributor to China’s economic development, employment, innovation, and tax revenue. According to a report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Apple directly and indirectly supported 4.8 million jobs in China in 2019, including 1.8 million iOS app developers. Apple also invested $6 billion in research and development in China in 2019, making it one of the largest foreign investors in China’s high-tech sector. Furthermore, Apple paid about $13 billion in taxes to the Chinese government in 2019, making it one of the largest taxpayers among foreign companies in China.

China also appreciates that Apple is a valuable partner in promoting global cooperation and mutual understanding. Apple has been actively participating in various initiatives and projects that support China’s social and environmental goals, such as poverty alleviation, education, health care, renewable energy, and cultural preservation. For example, Apple has donated more than $50 million to support education programs in rural areas of China since 2013. Apple has also committed to powering all of its facilities in China with 100% renewable energy by 2025. Moreover, Apple has been showcasing China’s rich and diverse culture through its products and services, such as featuring Chinese artists on Apple Music, offering Chinese language courses on iTunes U, and celebrating Chinese festivals on App Store.

It is evident that China has no reason or incentive to kick Apple out of its market and supply chain. On the contrary, China welcomes Apple’s presence and contribution in China, as it benefits both countries and the world at large. China hopes that Apple will continue to uphold the spirit of openness and cooperation, respect China’s laws and regulations, protect users’ privacy and security, and play a positive role in enhancing bilateral relations and global governance

How does the communication between a person with a low or average IQ and a person with a high IQ look like?

During my two decades in sales, I observed many interactions between people with obviously large gaps in IQ scores. They were often very emotionally loaded, and the gaps may sometimes have far exceeded 3 SDs.

I could observe three things consistently happening there.

For those on the high end of the IQ continuum, the opposite party appeared as irritatingly slow-moving. It’s like they only understood every tenth of the words that were said, at best. The same thing had to be repeated over and over again just to be sure that even a fraction of it would stick.
Those on the lower end typically saw the opposite part as arrogant or neurotic jerks who couldn’t talk about one thing at a time and constantly jumped from one unrelated thing to another. Someone needed to keep them focused on the task and not waste everyone’s time on irrelevant asides.
After some to and fros in the discussion, a threshold happened where the innate human ability to find common ground and cooperate for a particular common task—we got to the top of the food chain as social animals, after all—broke apart, and these guys entered the zone of “anti-social” toward each other. Someone else was needed not simply to mediate but to use power to break up the clinch and show them to each his corner in the rink. The enmity, though, lingered, often forever.

Afterward, if forced into shared social settings, each of the two often pursued different coping strategies.

The underdog often veered toward violence. It was either physical—throwing objects, overturning tables, getting into fistfights when drunk, or grave verbal assaults in public. Insults typically were sexually tinged.

The “smart guy” most often tried to escape the company of the underdog, even to the point of not mentioning him when talking to others. When forced into a shared company (board meetings, sales sitdowns, training sessions), he often insulted his enemy in an indirect way. He made oblique jokes about him addressed to the rest of the crowd and fell back before the other guy had time to process and react.

Below, a painting from the sunset years of Soviet rule by painter Ilya Glazunov. He was covertly anti-Communist but managed to stay on the good foot with the censorship. The title is, “The Campfires of October.” In Soviet parlance, “October” was short for “The Great October Socialist Revolution” by Lenin and Co. in 1917.

You see a glamorized Lenin, his right hand at organizational matters inside the Party Yakov Sverdlovn, and the founder of the Communist secret police Cheká, Felix Dzerzhinsky. Behind them, a night of Communist rule envelops Russia for the next seven decades. In the darkness, you see the spire of Petropavlovsk Fortress like a syringe needle ready to inject the poison of progressivism into the mind of the nation.

A campfire casts an infernal light on Lenin’s face. During the first chaotic months of Communist rule, campfires in the streets were an everyday feature in our cities. They marked the checkpoints of the Red Guards on the lookout for counter-revolutionaries and bourgeois scum.

The trio sports the typical cold, calculating look of a “high-IQ” individual prepared for a fight, through the lens of their “low-IQ” opponents. It’s not entirely clear to me how both are distributed across the “progressive vs conservative” divide. But I see the pattern in ongoing propaganda, east and west.

“Law and order” has a strong appeal to the low IQ crowd. Pecking order doesn’t require you to be a rocket scientist. It’s all in your face. Entrenched frameworks and their well-armed guardians are easy on your processing power. You’ve got plenty of time and room to figure out what is what. And if things turn too complicated, you can always join the army and the police force and help make things plain and simple again. “Dirty Harry” works, folks!

“Equality and justice” is the grazing ground for the high-IQ bunch. Everyone has their own idea of what is true equality and high justice. Agreeing on common action needs tons of negotiations, painful compromises, quick decisions, and nimble footwork. That’s a high-IQ game.

What is certain is that the top guys in both camps are “high-IQ” individuals who use social dynamics for their own benefit. That’s how you get American billionaires leading the crusade against the “globalist elites.” On the other side, it’s the “conservative Communists” like Stalin and Mao who have no time for any wokeness and “culture wars”.

Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home (REACTION)!

The voice of the voiceless.

“I live in Washington state and watching our farmland get turned into amazon warehouses is heartbreaking. Another great reaction, God bless”

What did your boss do or say to you that made you quit your job?

Briefly: after the regional manager called the store manager “stupid,” over the phone, the store manager quit. But not just him—his wife, who was the shift manager, and his cousins, who basically made up the rest of the staff for our little cinnamon roll shop.

It was Christmas, 1995, and I found myself all alone at dinnertime in a mall. Rolls needed proofing, baking, dough needing making, dishes washing, and don’t forget the sales!

I was seventeen, nearly eighteen years old and had been working there for a year. I loved the product, I knew my way around the shop, and even at rush hour in a booth that should take at least three people to man, I was holding my own for an hour until the regional manager showed up to help me finish the shift. I knocked it out of the park that day, and I was always a good employee, getting along great with the rest of the workers, including the regional manager’s wife, who had been my manager at some previous point.

I didn’t bring up the rather loud phone conversation for the rest of the night. It was just professional working the whole time, and when the evening was done, I washed dishes while he counted money and didn’t bother him then.

Finally, it was time for me to go. He thanked me perfunctorily and asked if I could work extra shifts the next day. He was going to call some other stores he managed and fill in with other worker until he found a new manager and employees. That made sense.

“Given how well I performed today,” I offered, “and since we need a new experienced shift manager, might I get a promotion?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want you to be a manager.”

One more employee quit that day. Who wants to work under that kind of person?

What is the purpose of the US sending its senators to China regarding the micron ban, and do they intend to withdraw sanctions on Chinese entities before demanding the withdrawal of sanctions on Micron?

The upcoming senatorial meeting is unlikely to address any new issues. Longstanding problems like Cold War sanctions and the Taiwan red line have been extensively debated in previous meetings without finding resolutions. The same lack of progress is expected this time, including discussions on the Micron issue. These meetings, initiated by the US, appear to primarily aim at garnering attention from the American public in anticipation of the upcoming election, as they mark the first congressional visits in four years. Given the prevailing anti-China sentiment in the US, it seems improbable that this trip will result in significant outcomes. Mr. Xi, who is currently focused on addressing China’s domestic challenges, is unlikely to view this unproductive gathering favorably.

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

I was working as a Test Electrician for a small industrial place that did custom order emergency power generators. Think hospitals and grocery stores.

We were paid hourly and tracked our time on a hand written time sheet. X number of hours on PO YYY.

This chugged a long nicely. The Timesheets were hanging on the wall of the shop, the shop supervisor could see them at any time, errors were quickly seen and corrected and the work got done in a timely fashion. Guy running the shop was a retired E8 Marine who knew how to keep things organised.

He retired.

Company hired in a older gentleman who had an MBA and not a lot of sense.

He did not like keeping track of the hours worked every day so instead he implemented time cards and a punch clock. He also would walk the shop floor with a clipboard to keep track of who was working on what and when.

So, previous system all the data collection and collation is done in one place. New system the time worked and the place worked is being tracked in two very different processes.

We also have folks getting paid by the time card times, not the hours recorded on the Time Sheets.

This chugs along for a month and then we all get gathered together one morning and are told, explicitly, that over time is not paid if not authorised in writing and tardiness of more than 6 minutes at the start of shift or return from lunch will result in pay being docked an hour.

Could you be more stupid?

So instead of working that extra bit to get a job finished up before the end of the day, folks are cleaning up 30 minutes before quitting time so they can be ready to punch out at the hour. Instead of coming in 10 minutes late and taking a short lunch, they just show up an hour late. Instead of coming back from a lunch late, they don’t come back.

Unhappy workers, unhappy customers since the products are not getting out on time, unhappy accounting since the costs of various product lines are no longer the same as before because hours are not being counted accurately.

Doofus MBA was gone by the end of the second month and the E8 was back from retirement. He claimed he hated it but his wife said he was just moping around the house and jumped for joy when the owner called to beg him back to work.

China suspends European and American chip orders, US chip technology suffers heavy losses!

I told you all that this was going to happen. Duh!

If a drone is flying on my property and I have already notified that I do not want it to be flying on it, can I destroy it without legal repercussion?

Depends. In most places it’s not legal to invade a person’s privacy. So if the drone has a camera and it’s flying low over your property it would not be unreasonable to think it’s taking pictures, possibly seeing into windows or into a privacy fenced area where you reasonably have an expectation of privacy.

So I’d not attack the drone, but rather attempt to identify who owns it and have a photo of it flying in a manner than suggested it is being used to invade your privacy.

Flying low across a property line in an invasive manner would be a type of “tresspass” which is most countries is a 1st time warning second time arrested sort of thing.

LINK to USA Court Ruling

The character of the Trespass is critical.

Just flying over someone’s back yard isn’t a trespass. Lets say you have an outdoor shower under the cover of a back porch, inside the “property taxed living area of the home”. So the drone flies under the porch cover and takes video of your wife naked in the shower. Is that act a criminal trespass? Most likely.

Conversely, your wife is sunbathing naked in the back yard plainly visible from the perimeter of the property and anyone who looks over the top of the privacy fence. Oh, well, she really had no reasonable expectation of privacy. Now if you live on 20 acres in the country and have no privacy fence, she would be reasonably sure that in her own back yard a mile or more from any other persons lawful access she can sunbathe. And no its not reasonable to say what about a person selling magazines walking around to the rear of the home? That is a trespass I think, as there is no reasonable cause and claiming you heard a child crying out probably won’t get you out of it.

What’s the most ridiculous adult tantrum you’ve witnessed that you couldn’t believe?

We were on Legian Beach two nights ago watching the sunset…

We were also having some drinks while we were waiting for the fire dance to start. The sun goes down and at precisely 7.00 pm, the fire dance kicks off… and it’s awesome!

A very talented team came out and began a wonderful performance of a combination of Balinese dance combined with your classic fire handling.

I’m just getting into the show when the music starts going weird… it sounds like shrieking in between the beats. It’s really off-putting… even the dancers hesitate for a second – I look around wondering if anyone is confused only to see a big bunch of people milling around in the middle of the seating area and that’s the source of the shrieking.

It turns out that a woman has come down front to take a photo of the fire dance and she obscured some guy’s view for a moment and he LOST. His. F#(k!ng. MIND! He was shrieking at her so hard that his voice broke repeatedly… it was embarrassing to watch.

I was irritated as hell. He was so loud and outraged that you just couldn’t focus on the dance. There was a palpable aura of chagrin from the audience. The distraction and disturbance must have been even more frustrating for the dancers (and the woman who made the photo faux-pas).

The group of people milling around were there to (apparently) try to calm him down and make sure he didn’t physically attack the woman. She could be heard apologising profusely to him but he wasn’t having it. This screaming went on for 2 minutes? In the end, people were telling him to shut the hell up or F3ck off! and he wound up storming off STILL screaming at the top of his lungs…

Who does that?

Who turns a moment of thoughtlessness by a stranger into a drama that interrupts the evening of 100’s of people AND proffessional dancers?! Couldn’t he just tap her on the shoulder if he was angry that she obscured his view for a moment? The performance he put on was incredible for all the wrong reasons. It was a childish screaming tantrum for what?

What did he even achieve with it?

He irritates the crowd, interrupts and nearly ruins a performance for everyone, humiliates someone for a minor error and then misses out on the rest of the performance when he storms off and everyone thinks he’s an angry violent loud man-child who never learned self-control. I *swear* some of the crowd applauded when he finally stormed off…

How bad is living in China ?

It is really bad :

Because I have some grey hair I am treated in the same embarrassing way every time I get on a city bus or on the subway …… younger people get up and offer me a seat.

Recently I had problems with a tooth. One morning I went to one of the dental hospitals. They did xrays and preformed a root canal in a 2 hours. It cost me 1/6th of the price of a root canal I had done 30 years ago in North America. Just terrible prices.

I am invited out to eat or to go to some celebration a few times a month. I never have to pay for the meal, while I am offered beer and cigarettes. I do not smoke so I decline the cigarettes but accept free beer.

Oh how terrible to invited out by the locals constantly. I have been to at least 25 weddings, more then dozen birthdays and half a dozen 100-day celebrations for babies.

There are 100+ channels on the TV, with a few in English as some western movies. The nightly news reports on all the major news around the world. I have internet access 24/7 and spent way too much time browsing the internet from Europe to North America. It is a terrible way to waste time.

I often visit my daughter who works 300km away in another Province. Being so far away, I am forced to take the train which takes 1hr 30 minutes to make the trip with 2 or 3 stops along the route. I could drive my car but that would make for a much longer trip.

The really bad thing in China is access to food.

We have 2 farmers markets within 2 city blocks. These are markets where the farmers come into the city around 6-7 am every morning to sell that days fresh crop of fruit vegetables and meat.
This in addition to 2 grocery stores and a Walmart in the area.
Then on my small city block, we have 14 restaurants, open 7 days a week.
There are even the evil food chains – KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Starbucks, plus all the Chinese ones etc
We have the French Carrefour and Auchan super stores and the Germany’s Metro cash & carry stores.
Worst of all, we have these applications on our smartphones (80% of folks own a smartphone). Where we can see menus of hundreds of restaurants in our area, order food and they deliver it to your door usually within 30 minutes.

If we need to go to the bank, we can not go 365 days of the year. There are about a dozen days a year when the banks are closed.

Schools are much more demanding on students compared to North America, with homework every night.

However they do get a month off in summer.
My daughters students spend some of their summer travelling. The US and Europe for some, others within China or to nearby places like South Korea or Thailand.

So far no one has noticed any difference due to the Trump Tariffs, but according to western media China is under some sort tremendous pressure. Or maybe there were talking about the tropical storm? In either case it was a lot of wind.

That is how bad it is living in China.

Please have pity on our oppression, as we say in my group of expats who live in China as well, some for over 20 years.

Of course we live a large city. The situation differs in rural areas as it does in most countries.

The Canadian couple that were recently killed by a grizzly bear took all the proper precautions. Why didn’t they survive?

Because life isn’t fair. A spokesperson for the Alberta government said, that since they had banned grizzly hunting, the population has exploded. He said that going into the woods, isn’t like it was before, when Grizzlies had a fear of man. What we have always thought of, as being bear smart, might not be as safe as it once was.

We have grizzlies venturing back out onto the prairies and ripping open grain bins. Probably because there isn’t enough food to support all of the Grizzlies in the mountains.

The bear that killed the couple and their dog was emaciated, had bad teeth, and probably wouldn’t have survived the winter, if she didn’t get whatever food she could. She was desperate.

She was a small older bear, one that had never shown up on surveys, so probably wouldn’t have been included in any bear counts. She was likely forced out of her territory by a larger bear. This was a bear that had never caused any trouble until she was starving.

The couple did everything right. They had a satellite phone and checked in regularly, and used it to call for help. They each had a can of pepper spray, and used one. Their food was hung up, out of a bears reach.

They and their dog were in their tent, shortly after dark, when they were attacked, so they didn’t blunder into the bear.

There have been 7 people killed by Grizzlies within 100 km of me, in the last 16 years.

They ended grizzly hunting 17 years ago. In the 26 years before ending grizzly hunting, there were no fatalities, within 100 km of me, and only 3 in all of Alberta.

Many were mothers defending their cubs.

So as the spokesperson says, what we always considered best practices, might not be enough to keep you safe anymore.

The End Of US Dollar Hegemony | Jeffrey Sachs

“Yes, we have greatly abused the privilege of having the U$ Dollar being the main currency. And broken every Fiduciary rule with our unilateral sanction practices. We deserve whatever the blowback will be from having allowed our Leaders to carry on the way they have.”

Israeli Radar KNOCKED-OUT in the North. Americans Confirmed Killed, Wounded, Kidnapped/Captured in Israel. Nuclear Intentions

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.

No Way Out! Rafah Border Crossing into Egypt Closed after Israeli Air Strike

After Parents Are Killed, Family Had To Auction Dads Classic Car. Spontaneous Beauty Followed.

The only way out of the Gaza Strip in Israel was the Border crossing at Rafah into Egypt. That crossing is now (temporarily?) closed after an Israeli air strike; thereby trapping 2 million Palestinians.

Israel has given HAMAS until *today* to surrender and release all the hostages, or the Gaza Strip will be flattened. Yet Israel targeted a particular house in the town very near the Rafah Border Crossing to kill the leader of the Nasser brigades. It was after that air strike that the Rafah crossing was closed by Egypt out of fear of more strikes.

The Israelis believe Rafah will be re-opened. But believing it, and seeing it actually happen are two different things. Without Rafah being open, the 2.3 Million Palestinians in Gaza are trapped and being hit with ongoing air strikes.

With the exits closed, the Palestinians trapped, and air strikes ongoing against those same people, some folks are saying this looks like a Genocide fixing to take place.

Passions are running almost out of control. The Palestinians see this conflict as a way to liberate Palestinian lands grabbed by the Israelis for years, and to then force the creation of a Palestinian state. Other groups agree with that view, and as such, we are seeing Hezbollah in Lebanon calling-up fighters to the Lebanon Border with Israel’s north. We are also seeing Arabs in Iraq and Syria moving fighters toward the Israel border (West Bank and Golan Heights) in the east of Israel. Gaza is still fighting in the south of Israel.

So with fighters attacking in the south, massing in the east and in the north, this situation does not bode well for Israel at all.

The Israelis see this situation as an existential threat to their nation and the wholesale slaughter of their innocent people. That view is well-based in reality; we’ve all seen the brutal, indiscriminate slaughter of Israeli civilians and it’s horrifying.

The two sides, Israel and Palestine, seem intractable.

If it comes down to a simple, brutal fight, millions in Gaza may be killed. This week! THAT would compel Arab nations in the region to come full blast at Israel and try to wipe it out of existence. The numbers favor the Arabs.

Which leads us to Israel’s “Samson Option” to go down fighting, and take as many with them as they can, using nuclear bombs.

If Israel did that, certain other nations of the world would recoil in horror and erase Israel from the globe. And when THAT starts, other nations will hit those attacking nations with nukes and we’ll see World War 3 happen and be over in about eight hours, with the entire northern hemisphere radioactive for decades.

What we are all seeing right now could very well be dispositive of all these issues between Israel and Palestinians; but dispositive with gigantic booms and millions dead to finally decide the issues.

With the US southern border being left open by Traitorous Democrat politicians, “Sleeper Cells” of terrorists have been crossing into the US at-will, for two years of the Biden phony-presidency. This is what happens when election fraud steals a US Presidency, as happened in November 2020, and a dementia-addled man is installed as a puppet, while unknown, unseen, Bureaucrats actually run things.

Vast numbers of military-age young men crossed illegally into our country and are now pre-positioned here in the US to attack us from within. The bleeding-heart Democrats and their useful idiot Republicans who want cheap labor, are personally to blame for this taking place.

As things escalate in the Middle East, enemies from around the world could use that as a “go-signal” to attack us here, inside the US.

My fellow Americans are the most heavily-armed civilian population on this planet. We may need our fellow Americans to step up and defend our own land, as all hell breaks loose in the Middle East.

Americans should clean their weapons, zero their sights, increase their ammunition supplies, and be mentally prepared to do what needs doing if, God forbid, the need arises to defend ourselves, our families, and our land from those who would harm us.

Gas-up your vehicles, have spare gas cans for your electric generator, and have emergency food, water, medicines and other supplies just in case. Don’t wait. Do it now. Once the troubles start, there will be panic buying here, the same way there was panic buying in Israel which wiped-clean the store shelves.

This situation halfway around the world may not SEEM to be our problem, but there are many around the world ready to MAKE IT our problem; and they CAN. Worse, our politicians, ever eager to mind OTHER PEOPLE’S BUSINESS, are already sending our troops, planes, ships, men, and military supplies into Israel. So we are already being set-up by our own politicians to be “in”
the fight, which will make you and me targets in our own land.

We’re already seeing minor protest-skirmishes between Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israeli people here in the US and over in Europe. These expressions of support are mostly peaceful – for now. But there have been isolated incidents of actual fighting and it is clear that the POTENTIAL exists here and in Europe for the sides to start actually fighting.

If Civil unrest erupts as folks take sides here in the US and in Europe, that will only add to the danger for all of us.

Be ready with guns, ammunition, food, water, medicine, fuel and be vigilant.

No rational person wants to see any of this taking place. I certainly don’t want to see all this trouble taking place. But it __is__ taking place and we had all be ready for how bad this could actually get. If it happens, it will happen very fast.

RELATED

King Abdullah II of Jordan Orders Humanitarian Aid to Gaza; IDF Says “no”

REPORTS: GAZA GROUND INVASION TONIGHT; IDF FIRING ARTILLERY INTO LEBANON NOW

Five secrets of men

LOL. This is great.

Being a fine Rufus

“On a chilly California afternoon, Deputies Anderson and Arbuckle, with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, pulled into a Denny’s restaurant for lunch. They noticed a young woman sitting all by herself in the parking lot, and she seemed distraught. And it looked like she had a really bright-colored polka dot suitcase that apparently carried everything she owned.

Deputy Anderson knew something was wrong, so he approached her and politely asked her some questions. The young woman was all by herself… stranded, with no transportation. So the officers invited her into the restaurant with them and asked her to join them for a meal, which they paid for out of their own pocket.

But something kept nagging at Deputy Anderson. He wondered how she was gonna get back home. After the meal, the deputies had her follow them out to their squad car, and they drove her to the nearest Greyhound bus station. Deputy Anderson then bought her a bus ticket so she could get back home.

The officers’ story about the young woman touched everyone in the department, and it was posted on their website. In the story, it said their “actions demonstrate adherence to the Mission, Vision, and Values of our Department, most notably a concern for the community and treating the woman with empathy and respect when she was in a bad situation.”

Credit: FB: Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office

What is your opinion on the current state of trade relations between the US and China? What does each country stand to gain or lose?

The U.S. stands to lose the most if trade dispute or decoupling happens by a very long shot. It is simple China’s market is way way way bigger than the U.S. Chinas growth today is bigger than the entire G7 put together. China’s middle class is at least 2 times that of the U.S. plus the fact that China is the worlds factory. It influences the intermediate products hence its commands in excess of 50% of global demand when added together.

Try to imagine yourself as a businessman, you pick a fight with a customer who buys 50% of everything you sell. That is the ridiculousness of the U.S. trade war and decoupling. No wonder during the trade war period from 2017–2021 China grew by 26.5% while the U.S. grew by less than 5% in 4 full years! And now you understand why inflation shot up and why the U.S. is literally begging China to open up post Covid-19. And why Biden is sending overtures to cut tariffs on both sides.

Trump says trade war is easy and not only he destroyed the U.S. economy he lost his reelection bid and doubles US homelessness while hurting the Middle Class badly through inflation.

China’s exports to the U.S. though it is big it is a small portion of China’s world wide trade. Hence it barely affects China. For 2023 forecast GDP, China will grow by a minimum of 4.5% and U.S. is projected to grow by a mere 0.5%.

The last thing the US ought to do is to pick a fight with China over trade. China is not only the most humongous market and for nation like US that needs trade and business, it is suicidal to do just that. But short term political gains is the U.S. priority over longer term sustainability.

The media assisted the politicians to good wink the American people who are ignorant and naive about this fact and that is why here in QUORA there still Americans that thinks the trade war and decoupling is good for the U.S.

What was your first clue you were no longer as young as you thought you were?

I’m 61. My best friend, same age, was on a train station with his son – the platform was very busy, and someone backed into my friend, turned aggressively and pushed his face within a few inches of my friend, evidently looking for a confrontation.

My friend told me later that only one thought occurred to him: “Oh no, there could be trouble here, I must protect my son”.

In fact that son, who’s 6′2 and a very good amateur boxer, lifted the stranger off his feet, moved him calmly a yard away, put him down, looked him squarely in the eye, and just said, “No, mate.”

The stranger looked down, apologised, and shuffled off.

Later, on the train, my friend said a lady of perhaps 25 looked up (he was having to stand, a crowded train) – and said, “Would you like my seat?” My friend said he actually looked over his shoulder before realising that the offer was for him.

Sobering stuff.

12 Behaviors of a highly confident person

They don’t say yes to make someone happy if they really don’t want to.
Even when they fail in the initial stages, they believe in themselves and they only listen to themselves.
They do not pay attention to things without work, but when they listen then very carefully.
They know what needs to be done and what needs to be left out.
They gives priority to their health over any work.
They don’t do anything just to get attention.
They are not afraid to go wrong and take the steps that should be taken.
They know when to give up and how long to keep trying.
They don’t complain about having fewer resources.
They are not just involved, they are more productive in less time.
They do not prepare a list of much work, but in the work they pick, they give constant dedication.
They don’t just take risks, they take very calculative risks.

Brainwashing a Nation!

America spends 500 million tax dollars a year spreading negative news about China. They make up fake news, they pay foreign news channels to demonize china and their own people don’t know what is true and what is propaganda. Welcome to the world of the United States of Fake news on the world stage and you as a tax paying American are paying for it. How does it feel to pay for your own brainwashing?

China-Russia Arctic shipping route

HONG KONG—China’s goal of becoming a major player in the Arctic has long been frustrated by its neighbor Russia, which has closely protected its dominant rolein the region.

Now, along with the ice that encases the earth’s northern pole, Moscow’s resistance is beginning to thaw.

Faced with economic isolation over its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is turning to China for help developing the Arctic as Western energy companies are trying to pull outof Russian projects. The newfound cooperation is most evident in surging shipments of crude through the Northern Sea Route, which traverses the Arctic from northwestern Russia to the Bering Strait.

The volume, while still small compared with what is carried via southern routes, has shot up in recent weeks. Russia asserts the right to regulate transit on the route. It says the demand has driven it to permit larger tankers without so-called ice classification—stronger hulls and other reinforcements to sail the ice-filled waters—raising fears of spills in the remote region. The first of two larger tankers arrived at a Chinese port in recent days, each carrying more than one million barrels of oil.

Russia has joined with China in naval exercisesand maritime security arrangements in the far north, and looked to it for aid in technology such as satellite data to monitor ice conditions.

When it comes to the Arctic, China “doesn’t have to care so much about official Russian policy anymore,” said Marcus M. Keupp, an economics lecturer at the military academy of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich who studies the region.

For China, which declared itself a “near Arctic” nation in 2018 despite being more than 900 miles from the Arctic Circle, Russia’s new welcome provides a long-sought opportunity. Beijing has wanted to expand its role in the Arctic to increase access to shipping routes, natural resources, climate and other scientific research opportunities, and expand its military and strategic clout.

It has proposed a “Polar Silk Road” as a component of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s broader Belt and Road infrastructure initiative that would make use of the shorter distance to ship goods via the Arctic, avoiding chokepoints at the Suez Canal and Malacca Strait.

Except for Russia, Arctic nations are all Western democracies that have grown increasingly cautious toward Chinese investment. Security concerns led Denmark to thwart a Chinese plan to build three airports in Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory. Canada blocked a Chinese company from buying a gold mine in its Arctic region in 2020after military officials raised security concerns.

Russia hasn’t always welcomed China to the region. At one point, it opposed China’s application to become an observer on the Arctic Council, the body of eight Arctic nations that is the leading forum for addressing regional issues, and previously blocked Chinese ships from conducting Arctic research.

In 2020, even with ties between Beijing and Moscow at their warmest in decades, Russian authorities arrested an expert on the Arctic on suspicion of providing intelligence to China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ’s invasion of Ukraine has changed Moscow’s approach. Western sanctions have forced Russia to lean more heavily on China to prop up its economy, support its war effort and maintain its longstanding goals of developing the Arctic.

Putin signaled the shift during Xi’s visit to Moscow in March, describing “promising” cooperation with Chinese partners to develop the transit potential of the Northern Sea Route.

“Russia certainly has the manpower, and it certainly has regional knowledge, but it no longer has capital or technology,” said Keupp of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, who edited a 2015 book on the route. “It’s to China’s big advantage because it can now really exert influence and economic pressure on Russia and develop this route according to its own needs.”

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country “always adheres to the basic principles of respect, cooperation, mutual benefit and sustainability in its participation in Arctic affairs.” The Russian Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.

As Western companies are trying to pull out of their projects in Russia, Moscow has sought help from Chinese companies to develop ports, mines and other infrastructure in the Russian Arctic. Russia changed its Arctic policy document in February. Russia’s policy, which previously focused on “strengthening good-neighbor relations with Arctic states,” now emphasizes access to all foreign states—a move that further opens the door to China. …

Have you ever fired an employee who then retaliated against you or the company? What happened?

I reported an employee once who was subsequently fired. She filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company and me personally. What she didn’t know, and her attorney never asked, was if I had proof of what I’d reported for. And I did.

She was a clerk and had duties that were, for lack of a better term, timely. She had to get items off her desk before 10AM, 1PM and 2PM. Those items needed to go to another department, who would then pass them onto the warehouse. This wasn’t a difficult job and she’d been hired as an 8:30–4:30 employee with an hour for lunch.

One of the other employees in her department came to me (as office manager) and requested that I say something to her about taking half hour or longer breaks in the morning and afternoon, which were making her late in submitting her paperwork each day. Keep in mind, by paperwork, it wasn’t real paper, it was coding and analyzing from a computer program.

After that, I kept an eye out for two weeks. Every day at 10AM, she would disappear into the Lady’s Lounge (we had a wonderful ladies room there that had a sitting area with sofas, etc.) and would take a nap on the sofa. With no clock to wake her, she would sleep for anywhere between 20 minutes and 45 minutes. She would also repeat this at lunch, and at her afternoon break. I witnessed this numerous times and spoke to her about it three times before I decided this was too much of a burden on the other people in her department, who had to pick up her slack. I took it to the Secretary of the Corporation, who was also the head of our Human Resources department. He wrote her up, found out she was still doing it, and fired her, citing my verbal and written warnings, as well as his own. I have to add, I asked her about narcolepsy, asked her about her living arrangements, whether she was able to sleep at night…everything I could think of. This was about 20 years ago, but the laws on discrimination haven’t changed much in that time.

When I was deposed for her lawsuit, no one asked me if I had any proof, and I certainly wasn’t going to volunteer it. It was a civil case and she was asking for a LOT of money. I’m not a lawyer, but somewhere along the line, her attorney asked for something that prompted ours and mine into asking me if I would show my proof in court, in front of a judge. As I said, I have no idea what type of hearing this was, but here I was in court, with pictures of her sleeping on the sofa. My camera at the time was a 35mm Canon A1 and I had taken the pictures every day for 2 weeks. She never woke up, and my camera clearly had the date and time on every picture. I had 33 pictures I’d taken, and it deflated her legal team. I know the case against me was dismissed that day, and I believe the whole thing was dropped by the end of the week.

What is the most inappropriate experience you have had with a neighbor?

Many years ago I bought my first home in a small town called Oakley in California, back then I think they had a population of about 20,000 people not including the Lamas, and the Sheep, the Chickens, the Emus, that was another 100 inhabitants in the town of Oakley. Oakley was not yet a city and was unincorporated so a lot of things were allowed.

I had met my next door neighbors, an older lesbian couple, they were very friendly and helpful and offering any assistance that I may need, I thanked them for that because I was a city boy and unfamiliar with suburban lifestyles. We shared this old fence that was in fair condition but it was going to need attention soon. One day I was mowing the tall weeds down on my backyard lawn, it was in the middle of a hot summer day, temperatures in that town would get up to 100 or more and it definitely felt like a hundred this particular day.

As I was mowing I accidentally bumped one of the slats of our tattered wooden fence and the wood slat leaned over to one side exposing my next door neighbor in the nude laying in the sun. Oh my what a goddess she was, dark glistening skin, hoping that was sweat beading off her perky breast, it was a Kodak moment for sure, but she must’ve suddenly realized the lawn mower was no longer moving because she immediately sat up and looked at me for a quick second then realized its just the guy next door and laid back down as if it were nothing?

So I pushed the wooden slat back into place finished mowing the weeds in my lawn, then later drove a couple screws to hold the wooden slat temporarily in place, and life went on, we would wave at each other from a distance and never mentioned anything about it.

Texas-Style Beef Sausage Rolls with Jalapeño and Cheddar

Yield: 21 rolls

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1/3 cup bread crumbs
4 jalapeño peppers, de-seeded and diced
6 ounces sharp or medium cheddar, finely diced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
3 (10 inch) sheets puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Place olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add onions and brown for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Allow the onions to cool.
In a large bowl, combine beef, cooled onions, bread crumbs, jalapeños, cheese, salt and pepper. Mix gently but thoroughly as to not overwork the meat.
Lay one square of pastry on a board or work surface. Use a third of the beef mixture to form a log down the center. Fold the pastry over the beef mixture on one side, then brush along the edge with egg mixture to create a “glue”. Continue to fold the roll over so it’s fully encased in pastry, and the edges line up on the egg glue line, then press the pastry lightly to ensure a good seal. Repeat steps with each pastry square.
Flip each beef roll so it’s seam side down, then cut into 6 to 8 pieces. Place the pieces onto a sheet pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. You may need to rotate the tray during baking to ensure even browning.
Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Nutrition

Per serving (based on 90% lean ground beef): 250 Calories; 129 Calories from fat; 14.3g Total Fat (6.4g Saturated Fat; 2.7g Monounsaturated Fat); 35.4mg Cholesterol; 363.6mg Sodium; 15.4g Total Carbohydrate; 0.8g Dietary Fiber; 13.4g Protein; 2.04mg Iron; 117.2mg Potassium; 0.02mg Thiamin; 0.09mg Riboflavin; 3.1mg Niacin (NE); 0.1mg Vitamin B6; 0.9mcg Vitamin B12; 2.4mg Zinc; 9.2mcg Selenium; 28.5mg Choline

This recipe is an excellent source of Protein, Niacin (NE), Vitamin B12 and Zinc. It is a good source of Iron.

U.S. Senate Delegation to visit China while U.S. House of Representatives in disorder

So glad that US internal turmoil is the karma of her bringing the same to the world for too long. Writing on the wall.

What problems does the Chinese economy face in its technological catching-up of advanced economies?

Good News

The Problems that China faces are not Economic Or Market Driven in nature. They are Political.

It’s like trying to hold a massive dam with a 7*3 door

It will crack and collapse as Market forces and Economic Forces crush the Political forces into oblivion. May take a year, five years or maximum ten years.

Why is Chinas Technological surge so fast?

I mean what took US 30 years has taken China just 9 Years.

Sure you may say US already gave them the blueprint but you can’t give a blueprint to a random person and ask them to build the Empire State Building right?

The Answer is DEMAND

China had massive manufacturing requirements and thus evolved Industrial Robots

China had a massive demand for distribution of workers from Semi Rural and Semi Urban areas to big manufacturing centres and thus evolved the rapidly growing High Speed Trains Network

China needs more Robots and AI to integrate the Country having reached a basic level of development and this evolves the Chinese AI revolution.

China wages rise and Low grade manufacture may be affected, thus evolve Chinas surge in Logistical Robotics

Every Technological development is demand based.

Like how US developed in the 1920–2000 period or UK in the 1750–1920 period

Demand based Technological growth is the only real technological growth that drives a Nation forward.

It’s why Shanghai thrives as a Port whereas Hambantota crashes.

It’s why 21% of the BRI projects are unable to stand , because they are Political Ego driven projects not demand based.

Any other Country having demand based technological growth?

None.

You either have Saturated Nations like Western Countries where Pocket Forces cause technological growth (Latest Car, Latest Iphone, Latest Nikes) which is much slower than Demand based technological growth.

You have nations like India or Mexico or Bangladesh where Politics dictates a pesudo technological situation by hook or crook

It’s why GPay works so well but why Bullet train would be a fiasco and why our Airports are all heading to White Elephant Status while our Ports do much better.

It’s why we don’t develop Drone Technology or Robotics or AI at even 10% of Chinas speed. For us these are Gimmicks, there is no Demand.

Political Gimmicks!!!

What Problems does China face?

Stifling Core or Critical Technologies

Chinas growth in AI and Robotics is alarming the West

Yes US and Japan may be ahead of China bit Chinas rapid growth is worrisome in every way.

Huaweis Cloud Computing Architecture is as advanced as any US equivalent at 1/3 the cost.

So the West decide to stifle the Core Technologies that US or the West Develops that China uses.

Throttling the Free Market

It derails projects by a few years and causes problems

How does China handle this?

Economically!!!

Core Technology Companies need Chinese Markets badly. Not just the Profits or Revenue but also the Technological demand based advantage

Without it they will stagnate

And China will bridge the gap faster

So on one hand China invests in its own Core Technologies, brings in Overseas Chinese experts back home, creates more facilities for youngsters and has all technology firms pumping 30% profits into Research

On the other hand Intel, Qualcomm, Renesas and NVDIA actively bypass US Sanctions to keep doing business in China so that they can keep their edge for a longer time.

Boston Dynamics refused to sell Robots to China, and today Chinese Tech companies have replicated to near perfection, four of their best models at 1/2–1/4 the price.

Had they sold liberally, China may have taken 10 more years to do the same.

So how does Technological Growth actually get disrupted?

Internally.

Usually it’s Religion or Social Justice that destroys a rapidly growing Technological base.

This leads to Democratic Divide which leads to Stifling Tech development

So tomorrow if US can being a religious divide in China or pressure Paupers and Unworthy Rabble to demand equality in all areas – then China will be truly stifled

It’s this Human Rights nonsense

So Right now China has no fears whatsoever

It is following the perfect path

A Path the US cannot win under any circumstances

What is the craziest story of a criminal’s plan backfiring hard on him?

I’m not usually a fan of crime stories. Even when the criminal is caught, I end up feeling sad for the victims: Nobody is a winner in a murder case.

The shows are also super predictable. The husband is almost always the killer. He’s your standard self-serving sociopath with narcissism and vindictiveness running through his veins.

Money, or some new young sexual interest, becomes a convenient excuse to kill someone and ruin the lives of an entire extended family. I still don’t understand why people can’t just get a divorce.

Occasionally, I stumble across a crime story that’s plain delicious. It drips with karma and, in this case, an epic set of last words.

A long workday with an unfortunate end

Susan Kuhnhausen was a 51-year-old emergency room nurse in Portland, Oregon. Her job often entailed holding down out-of-control patients. She’d just ended a 13-hour shift and was getting a haircut at a local salon.

Around 6:37 PM, she arrived at her small house and disabled the security system at the entrance.

She walked into her house and dropped off her things in the kitchen. She’d recently thrown her husband of 17-years out of the house. He had a drinking problem and was abusive for years.

Still wearing her blue scrubs, she walked out front to get her mail.

Susan came back in and noticed something was off. Things had been moved. Curtains were now open and slightly fluttering as if they’d been touched. Things on her table weren’t where they’d been left beforehand. She lived alone. Nothing should have moved.

She walked through the house uneasily, looking down hallways, inching along quietly.

Susan walked past her bathroom. She turned into her bedroom and as soon as she walked in, she saw a bearded man holding a hammer. He charged her and swung his hammer, hitting her on the side of the temple. She fell with him jumping on her. She shook him off her back.

Susan was regularly trained in self-defense at her hospital. They taught her how to disarm and break the hold of unruly and mentally ill patients. She knew that if she stayed close to him he wouldn’t be able to swing his hammer properly.

They tumbled into her hallway wrestling. Susan was a larger woman and had the gift of natural strength. Susan locked both hands on his wrist that held the weapon and was able to shake it loose.

Then, they started wrestling and they fell to the ground and she got on top of him, locking her arms around his neck in a sleeper hold.

She held him tight. When she released him his throat had been crushed.

Not knowing if anyone else was in the house, Susan ran next door to see her neighbor Anne, asking her to call the police. Ann later said that Susan was remarkably stoic given the circumstances.

When Anne called the 911, they asked her what the neighbor’s injuries were and she said, “No, it’s for the burglar”

The transcripts from the 911:

Neighbor: She hit him in the head several times. That’s the hammer he had with him. She struck him, and she strangled him, and she thinks he’s dead.

Dispatcher: What did she use on him? She strangled him. What else did she do?

Neighbor: She put a chokehold on him.

Dispatcher: I’ve got help on the way. Stay on the line.

Neighbor: She has a hammer here.

Dispatcher: Don’t touch it. Don’t touch it. Just leave it there.

The would-be assassin was pronounced dead at the scene. He’d been sent by her husband. Their marriage was falling apart and he wanted her dead. He’d paid the assassin $50,000 to go to the house and kill her, giving him the security code to get inside.

She was later treated for injuries and made a full recovery:

Her husband was given a 10-year sentence but he died in prison a few years later. I don’t wish death on anyone but if you break into someone’s house with the intent of killing them, all bets are off.

And if I’m being completely honest, my favorite part of this story was the assassin’s final words, “Wow. You are strong.”

What happened in a courtroom that gave the judge a belly laugh you will never forget?

I was on a jury for a personal injury case. It was my first time at jury duty, and as an engineer, I was interested in the whole process, taking notes, watching the attorneys’ actions, and the judge’s reactions, and general control of the courtroom. I found the whole process fascinating.

When we got to the end of the testimony, they dismissed us into the jury room. It was Friday at 10:30am, and we’d been there since Monday. It only took us about 30 minutes to walk through the instructions, the testimony, and then a unanimous verdict. The foreman was about to knock on the door to tell the bailiff that we were ready when I called out, “Wait!” I explained that if we waited for 15 more minutes, the bailiff would be in with a menu, and they’d get us lunch (that day was a local sandwich shop that had excellent submarine sandwiches). We all agreed that would be worth it, so we waited 15 minutes, ordered lunch, ate, and then told the bailiff we were ready with a verdict.

We returned to the jury room after the verdict was read (to pick up our belongings), and then the bailiff came in to ask if anyone would like to meet with the judge and ask any questions about the process. I certainly did! No one else was even vaguely interested, so they all left the room. The bailiff brought in the judge, and when he saw me, he started laughing, “I knew you would be one of the people to stay and ask questions!” Evidently while I was watching the folks in the court, the judge was watching the jury! That was belly laugh #1.

Belly laugh #2 – the judge and bailiff had a bet that we would/would not be done with the verdict before lunch. IIRC, it was the judge who had lost, and had paid the bailiff $20. When they told me that, I told them we had decided on a verdict before lunch, but didn’t tell them until after we had our food – the judge gave a great guffaw, and told the bailiff to pay up!

REACTING TO OLIVER ANTHONY‼️- “I want to go home”

Amen honey! So good to see our young folks GET THIS AND DEEP!

https://youtu.be/a7YrDtDXm58

What is the lamest “benefit” you’ve been offered by an employer?

Years ago, I did a very brief stint as a departmental admin at a large urban university.

At the HR orientation, we were given a lot of the classic rundown about the history of the school, various policies to know, to do X if Y ever happened, etc. And then they got to talking about the overall compensation packages that this school provided. Essentially, and apologies that this won’t be word perfect after >10 years but it should be fairly close, these were the broad strokes:

“The pay here isn’t very good, but we make it up to you with our very generous benefits”

Now, what were those benefits that were so generous, you ask? The two most memorable were:

Partial tuition remission for most graduate programs
Large amounts of paid time off

Now, on the face of it, those two are pretty good, right? Well, yes and no. However…

Tuition remissions, even FULL tuition remission, is only in any way useful if you’re actually taking advantage of it. If you’re not looking to take courses, even if “someday” you might want to, for every year you’re not actually doing it, I’m pretty sure you’d rather have that salary $$…no?

As to the PTO, as it turns out, this was a very normal amount of vacation time and then large amounts of sick time. Now, as with many such institutions, if you leave your position you can only get cashed out for your vacation time. So as with the tuition remission, this is a “very generous benefit” that’s only of any use if you actually need large amounts of paid sick time.

At that point in my life, I didn’t have any need of tuition remission, nor any need of large amounts of medical leave.

I instead had a need of money.

[Thankfully I got out after just a few months, because the above was just the tip of the iceberg for why that was the worst freaking job I’ve ever had]

“What is the lamest “benefit” you’ve been offered by an employer?”

What does it say about he leadership of the US/Russia/China, that life expectancy in the US was 76 years in 2000, and is still 76 y (despite big technical progress), 67 y in Russia, 2000, and now is 73 y, and 69 y in China, 2000 and now 78 years?

Yes on average Chinese live 2 full years more than the American’s. Go figure!

And to think just a mere 73 years ago their average life expectancy is a mere 39 years ago!

Let me address the many in QUORA that slur China to no end! Tell us what us wrong with a civilisation that can do that! Oh yeah they also took out 1 billion from abject poverty during the same time. And yes the grew from an economy the size of one nation in Africa to. The largest real purchasing power economy on the planet!

Still think demonising China sounds clever? What about your own neocon funded ASPI concluded that China leads in 37 out of 44 most strategic technologies! Or what about having close to 800 million middle class consumers! What do you say? still parroting western narratives that China U.S. authoritarian, it is failing nation and its economy collapsed for the thousandth time since 1949!

At what point do a brain dead Caucasian Chinese hater and China hater quits? Do you prefer to be seen as a pathetic naïveté loser hanging to lies, half truths, fabrications that 95% of the world clearly sees as nonsensical hate wish? Or do you quit while your families still see you sane?

Is China’s goal to decimate the US economy, and in their weakness, allow the Russians to come through and steamroll the USA with nukes?

No, China’s goal has been to raise the standard of living and GDP of all of China’s 1.4B citizens and to be the leader in many industrial sectors through its Made in China 2025 development program. Since the Chinese government sets economic and development policy, it has encouraged Chinese industries to move up the value chain and let more labor-intensive industries relocate to other countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Thailand.

Since the Communist Party of China has control of society and major state-owned enterprises, it is able to channel China’s human and economic resources much more effectively than any G-7 country can. This means that China has an advantage in how quickly it can change, and in the scale of the change.

China is an elephant which can tap-dance.

But this feature was not introduced to decimate the US or to help the Russians steamroll the US with nukes.

This system developed because Chinese society is the most competitive in the world, and for this reason, Chinese believe that China needs to work hard to be competitive in a rapidly changing international economic environment.

Americans and Chinese have completely different attitudes to change. China’s economy and society have changed more in the past 50 years than they have at any other time in China’s long history. This means that Chinese are comfortable with new technologies, with working hard to stay competitive, and constantly adapting.

Americans, for the most part, do not like change. Instead of learning, embracing change and continuously adapting, most Americans reject change. Many implicitly believe that the rest of the world should embrace the American way, so that Americans don’t have to change. The division in US politics is all about rejecting change instead of embracing it. Many Americans view the future with fear and trepidation.

This includes many US government policymakers. This is also the reason behind questions such as this one on Quora.

It is fear based on laziness and ignorance.

The simple truth is that we are architects of the future, but many in the west are too lazy to do the work.

The only place they are not lazy is in finger-pointing.

What’s the most offensive thing you’ve heard when someone assumed you didn’t understand their language?

I worked for a few years in a Chinese restaurant while in my teens and twenties. All the guys from the restaurant lived and worked together.

We were out in an Asian restaurant in Chinatown one night and a very well dressed Chinese man comes to the table and approaches one of my friends speaking to him in Cantonese, of course. I’m the only non-Asian at the table.

The guy exchanges the usual pleasantries with my friend, then asks him why he’s eating with white people. They move on to another subject, but then he returns to dirty, barbarian white people line. He tells my friend he wants to pick up dinner but won’t pay for the “Lofahn”.

I can see my friend is pretty embarrassed as he knows I understand everything that was said. I was going to thank the guys for all his kind words and compliment him on his astute observations.

Unfortunately, this would have caused my friends at the table to lose face, so when he was leaving I wished him a good night in Cantonese leaving him to wonder if I knew…

Britain’s Plan To Disrupt Hong Kong Is Doomed To Fail, Experts Confirmed!

How stupid is the UK? Really!

https://youtu.be/ABYWz7r44MY

Serious dog chomp

When my wife and I were homeless and living in a van. We were in Corpus Christi, Texas. And on Christmas day, we left the van and went for a walk. And we walked a few blocks in and out of the various storefronts and nearby suburbs.

Then, out of the blue, this old gentleman was leaving one house with his small dog in his arms. He had obviously just finished visiting family. It was Christmas day, after all.

That little dog, for some God-damn reason, jumped out of the old man’s arms, and made a “bee line” straight for my wife, and then went CHOMP on her leg. And that little bastard just hung there. Clenched on her calve. Son of a bitch!

Anyways, my wife is crying, the old man came out and started yelling at us. Blood was everywhere, and he wanted to call the police.

I told him, “go ahead”. The police will impound his dog, and maybe put him to sleep, and we will need to get rabies shots (the dog did not have a rabies tag).

He left and grumbled the entire time, cursing us the whole time.

And that is how I spend my first Christmas day with my first wife. Now you know.

I have multiple stories from this most impressionable time in my life, but I just wanted to share this one with youse guys.

…

Lessons? Oh, I don’t know.

Perhaps, “random acts of violence can occur when you are least prepared for them.”

Today…

This just in

The IDF is in trouble. They’re just kids doing their national service. They refuse to move. The bad ones use Palestinians for target practice but there are some good ones, including officers, who want nothing to do with genocide. The high command says they would need two years of training and re-equipping before even considering a Stalingrad attack on well-prepared Hamas fighters in bombed-out Gaza.

Bibi hoped this war would distract people, but it just made them mad. Last night Jerusalem saw its biggest demonstration ever (amazing drone shots) demanding his resignation.

Hezbollah opened a new front last night by taking out a couple of IDF tanks. Considering that Hezbollah wiped them out in the last war, that’s got to be a morale-crusher.

And since those thousands of $600 Hamas missiles have exhausted Israel’s supply of $20,000 Iron Dome antimissiles, Iran is preparing a barrage of real missiles.

And the US is sending two carrier battle groups to the coast. But Iran needs only two Kinzhal missiles to destroy those carriers, which are defenseless against them, and which could force the carriers to stay outside the Kinzhal’s 1000km range. Which is outside their air wings’ range.

This is a heartbreaking, beautiful true story

Nicole and Brent Keryluke of Red Deer, in the Province of Alberta, decided to go for a motorcycle drive.

They had to be back within two hours, because both of their two young children had medical appointments, as they both suffer from hearing impairments and one needs speech therapy.

As they were turning a curve, a truck coming from the other direction veered into their lane and hit them head on.

They were killed immediately.

The driver of the car behind them said that Nicole had her arms wrapped around her husband, with her face in his back…and never saw it coming. And that Brent, before the moment of impact, instinctively put his arm behind him to hold his wife.

Brent’s parents, Ben and Marilyn, now had guardianship of three-year-old Liam and six-year-old Arielle, and especially because of the additional costs of the medical bills, they had to sell Brent’s classic 1973 Pontiac Parisienne, which he restored himself and hoped would one day be Liam’s on his eighteenth birthday.

They didn’t want to, but had to.

And they took it to EG Auctions to sell.

Watch the awesome video of what happened next: EG Auctions Charity Car

“They basically stopped the auction, let everybody know what was happening, where the money was going to go, and then we were shocked what happened after that,” said Ben.

First, Rod McWilliams from Red Deer Motors bought the car for $29,000…and immediately gave the car back to be auctioned again!
Then Danny Fayad, who had driven up from Edmonton, bought the car for $30,000….and immediately gave the car back to be auctioned again!

All the while, members of the community yelled out pledges to go over and beyond whatever it finally sold for.
One man yelled out, “2,000 over the price!”, another yelled out “$4,000 over”, and it happened again and again and again.
One woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, told a reporter that she came with $2,500 to see if she could “score a deal” on an older unrestored car that was coming up later in the auction, but pledged her money for the Keryluke family. “ I have two kids myself. I thought of them. What if? I have one car already.”

It was finally purchased for $20,000 to Bob Bevins from Bulldog Metals in the third and final round.

The reason he didn’t also give the car back to be sold again, was because after the auction was over, he went to the Keryluke family…and gave the car to them.

“Maybe someday that young man will drive his father’s car,” he said.

Said Lyndsay, “People were overwhelmed with just the generosity of people of central Alberta and the support that this family has. It was incredible. People were cheering, I was crying. Our auctioneer Rod had a hard time getting through it because he was crying. He was emotional.

When the last buyer stepped forward and said ‘I want your family to have that car, so I’m giving it back to you,’ the audience erupted.

When our auctioneer Rod announced that, the place just went wild. There was a standing ovation, people were cheering, whistling. It was wonderful.”

Putin and Elon Musk just changed EVERYTHING according to the EU

Do children of parents who were close to or over 40 when they were born wish they had younger parents?

My dad was 58 and my mom was 38 when I was born.

Growing up everyone thought my dad was my grandpa. My dad had spent most of his younger years wanting to live and experience life.

He later told me, “I have spent my life searching and wanting to find what I was missing in life, little did I know it was having a family”.

My dad was wise beyond his years and was truly the best father a child could ask for.

At very young age I began to watch my dad age before me and become very sick.

Most of my teenage years he was in the hospital and when I was 17 years old he passed away.

Do I wish my dad had been younger ….yes and no.

Yes, I wish he was younger in the hopes that he may have still been alive. He missed so much of my life (grandkids, graduations, marriage and family).

No, because had he been younger he would not have been the person who raised me to be who I am today.

What made you forbid someone from ever entering your home again?

Yes my step daughter’s birth mother (or birth giver as she called her). My (now ex) husband had custody of his daughter. And I spent years trying to be civil to this lousy person.

She was always petty and nasty to me and to her daughter.

Daughter got cancer and asked if she could come live with me and my fella for treatment. She said she knew she would get the best care from us and that I could handle dealing with the doctors (because I had always worked in the medical field).

I just didn’t feel like dealing with her “Mama” and told her if she wanted to see her we would either drive her to see her (the next state over) or they could come up to our area and we would bring her to a restaurant to meet up.

My daughter (as that is really how I referred to her) was fine with that because she had little patience with her too. I really did not want to deal with this woman at all but I knew trying relay the medical information through my ex husband would be difficult as he did not really understand everything I was telling him so he could not really explain it to her.

So I agreed to talk to her and explain what was happening with daughter.

She had surgery and it turned out what they thought was an ovarian tumor turned out to be a tumor in her liver that could not be removed. I explained this to Mama and she went off on me about how I picked sh*tty doctors and how little I really cared..

I got pissed and hung up.

Later on I went on Facebook and posted a picture of my dogs and she commented b*tch. Every single thing I said or did got a similar response. When she wrote c*nt I had enough and blocked her completely.

“Mama” called daughter screaming that I blocked her (you see I wasn’t telling daughter what was happening as I felt she had enough to deal with).

So daughter asked me what was going on. I gave her a brief rundown on what was said.

Daughter called Mama back and said you deserved that and since you are choosing to be a jerk I am blocking you too.

The wonderful part of this is darling Mama wrote to daughter’s boyfriend to tell daughter that she would never speak to her again as long as she lives and she hoped she died soon.

This apparently was at about midnight and daughter passed at 1am.

Boyfriend furiously wrote her back and said well she’s dead I hope you’re happy now!!

Then blocked her too. (We had no idea she was so close to dying at that point, it really devastated us all.)

Mama spent the next few days being as mean and spiteful as she could possibly be to everyone else she could get in touch with.

I kept her blocked and am eternally grateful that I never let her visit so she had no idea where I lived (still live).

THIS Is Unthinkable – America Considers Crossing The Economic Red Line

In a shocking twist of events, America’s special envoy is discussing the possibilities of using Russia’s frozen reserves to rebuild Ukraine. While this might be an immediate win for the West, it opens up Pandora’s box to more de-dollarization risks and a complete breakdown of financial trust. Here’s what you must know & why the big winner will be physical gold.

Is it really so bad in China or is it the American propaganda which shows China in such bad shape because the USA fears of being replaced by China as the main world power?

Try imagining the U.S. sets a budget of 1.5 billion over 5 years or 300 million a year to dig up as much dirt it can find about China! I think no one, no nation on earth are so obnoxious and despicable as the U.S. I think Nazi Germany at their height don’t set a budget of this size to demonised the Jews between 1935–1944!

The U.S. did this after 3 generations since 1949, badmouthing China, slurring China, spread misinformation about China, fabricate lies on China and casting doubts and basically demonising China. If I were an American who has been screaming freedom if information, speech and human rights I will be so shameful of the US, I will emigrate!

To the rest of the world we are clear as hell. A nation needing to do so much shit cannot be any good and cannot have any confidence. You can fool your ignorant millions of people in the U.S. and their US dogs nations like Canada, UK, Australia and their slave nations like Japan and Germany but 7.5 out of 8 billion people on earth aren’t fooled at all.

China is not perfect but it is way way way better than the U.S. in behaviour any day. Any where. China is doing extremely well in spite of the shit that you dumped on them. It does not have any bad intention towards anyone including the U.S. but it learned that it cannot rely and trust the U.S. at all. You cannot blame them.

It will overtake the U.S. completely and comprehensively because it has 4 times your population and everyone works harder, are more discipline and learn more everyday and are highly intelligent, very driven and industrious than Americans. There is nothing you can do to stop them without hurting yourself.

For me it is better that the U.S. take note of this and stop wasting your money and effort. It’s better to use the billions to help your own people instead. The million people who are homeless, the millions who have no medical insurance and the millions that has college debts and the millions suffering from chronic inflation.

China will overtake the U.S. and it will dwarf the US in a couple of generations. It is a humongous market even now. Don’t deprived your business and your people to enjoy a better standard of living. Everything you do China can do better, faster and cheaper. Stop dreaming you can deprived them of you technology. You better worry if China reciprocate and bankrupt you in the process.

Tai Lopez: Why I left America for More Freedom

BYD holds 15 times more patents than Tesla

In the fast-evolving world of electric vehicles, two names stand out: BYD and Tesla. While Tesla has been a front-runner in the EV market, recent data reveals that BYD has been quietly securing its position as the patent king of EVs, with a staggering 13,000 applications in comparison to Tesla’s 863 over the past two decades.

BYD, a Chinese automotive giant, has been diligently working behind the scenes, focusing on protecting its battery technology. A whopping 50% of BYD’s patents are dedicated to batteries, allowing the company to develop in-house battery packs, a feat not many car manufacturers can boast. This strategic move has positioned BYD as a leader in the development and manufacture of lithium-ion batteries with iron phosphate cathodes, which are notably more affordable than the ternary lithium batteries utilizing nickel and cobalt from their Korean counterparts.

On the other side of the spectrum, Tesla, the American EV behemoth, has taken a different approach. With a mere 863 patents filed, one might raise an eyebrow at the disparity. However, Tesla’s strategy leans heavily on software development, utilizing a plethora of publicly available information. A significant portion of Tesla’s patents revolve around charging infrastructure and communication between EVs and drivers, showcasing their focus on enhancing user experience and connectivity.

Patent lawyer Hideto Kono notes that a company of Tesla’s stature would typically file for at least ten times as many patents. The lower number of patents from Tesla raises questions about their reliance on software and the risk of imitation by competitors. Unlike BYD, Tesla mitigates this risk by implementing new production technology exclusively within its factories.

While patents offer a layer of protection, they also come with a caveat. The details of the patents are made public, leaving room for potential imitation. This is particularly crucial for BYD, as their proprietary battery technologies can be dissected by simply disassembling the battery packs. The company’s heavy reliance on patents underscores the importance of safeguarding its innovations in a competitive market.

I tried to tell you, but you CHOSE to IGNORE!

This is called currency devaluation.

Burger and Fries Pot Pie

Beef and potatoes come together in this cheesy pot pie that’s baked to perfection – a savory dinner.

Prep: 20 min | Total Time: 45 min | Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
2 cups frozen crispy French-fried potatoes (from 20-ounce bag)

Instructions

Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
In 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain well.*
Sprinkle flour over beef mixture. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Stir in tomatoes; heat to boiling. Remove from heat.
In ungreased 1 1/2-quart casserole, spread beef mixture.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Arrange frozen potatoes evenly in single layer on top.
Bake uncovered about 20 minutes or until potatoes are golden brown.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

* Be sure to drain the cooked ground beef really well. Any extra juices will make the pot pie too watery. When it’s too cold outside to grill those burgers, comfort food calls, and this pot pie will surely hit the spot! Serve this pot pie with ketchup, if desired.

What did a neighbor do to you that you will never forget?

My neighbour was a shell -shocked, disabled Vietnam Vet. He was on a plethora of medications. Hhe lived with his mother who had died about 2 weeks prior.

He had a old car body in front of a hill not far Huron the rural road. He regularly target practiced shooting at the car body. Sometimes he would “practice” for hours on end.

One day I’m driving past his house on the way to town. About a 1/2 mile down the road I see him sitting in a deep ditch beside the road. I had to drag him down the ditch until it was shallow enough to get him able to stand up. He was babbling word salad, obviously experiencing a psychotic break.

I drove him to the Veterans Hospital and helped this dear man up the elevator to the Psychiatric ward. The elevator opened and there was a a collective-inhale of the nurses at the station! The patient was in just his underwear and covered in mud shivering uncontrollably with a towel wrapped around his shoulders! Needless to say they were surprised!

He stayed hospitalised to 2 weeks and came home normal as anyone and apologised that he’d got his medication s mixed up, and thanked me for taking care of him.

He lived two more years and committed suicide.

He was a lovely person and I still think of him fondly.

Blessings on your journey.

Why I REALLY Left America

“We left a long time ago and have never regretted our decision. The key sentence in this video is that “ they are in decline “. This really echoes the current situation.”

What are the signs of maturity in a male?

If you back up to 2009, I went on a few dates with a lady and moved to Houston, shortly to find out she was pregnant. She told me it wasn’t a trap, and I did not have to be a father if I didn’t want to or wasn’t ready. I considered it, believe me. But then, I moved back to Dallas.

About 3 months from my daughter being born, I suddenly became crazy about the thought of holding my little girl. You would often find me looking at baby clothes, stock piling diapers, building a crib, or prepping her room. When she was born, I was hooked on that baby. Unfortunately, her mother wasn’t faithful, so we didn’t end up being together. I wasn’t sad about not being with her mom, I was sad I wouldn’t be in the same home with my daughter.

Emma, my daughter was so young and couldn’t speak intelligibly. We are nearing 1 and a half, and now, when I would go to pick her up from her mom’s house, she would reek of cigarette smoke, she was crazy dirty.. And always covered in scratches and the occasional bruises. Her mom would talk about how it was all just from playing outside, but seeing as Emma would go into a screaming rage on her way back to her mom’s and claw at the car seats to not get out, I knew there was something wrong. My mom did, too.

This behavior reminded me of, well, me… I was abused when I was a child. I exhibited extreme anxiety at such a young age and my first memories of anything were of my father beating me and being afraid to go home. Emma was being abused…so, I started building a case, and Emma started staying with me most of the time and occasionally going to her mom’s.

Now Emma is about 3… I go to pick her up from her mom’s one day and the driveway is covered in broken glass from a broken side patio door, and their minivan is sitting sideways in the driveway. Something is wrong. I feel it in my heart and no one has answered the phone all day. I call the house phone and hear the phone ringing through the door. When the answering machine came on, I said “if no one picks up, I am breaking the door down.”

Her step dad answered… “Hey buddy. They went to my mom’s down the street while I clean up this mess, we had an accident.”

I drove to his mom’s house, knocked, and Emma’s mom answered the door. I had never seen a person beat so bad. She was still covered in dry blood and her face and body were bruised. Emma came running out to me saying she didn’t want to go back to the “bloody house.”

I told her mom to get her shit and they were both coming with me. I had been building a case but I never took it to court because to me, it was all over. I got them out of the monster’s house.

Well, now we are months into her mom staying with Emma and me when I start noticing a lot of things. Emma’s mom is abusive. She would get drunk to the point of falling down every night. Literally unable to stand on her own feet, she would drag Emma out to the patio to smoke her cigarettes, and she argued incessantly with her husband through phone and text. She would cuss at me and try to provoke me into fighting. This, of course, is when I noticed her mom was an abuser too. I thought I was rescuing someone when in reality, I invited an abuser, another monster into my home. I don’t fight. I just observed. I later found out they were both beating each other up. Right in front of Emma. They were locking her outside to fight, and she was spending most of her time locked in her room and hiding under her bed.

For many reasons, I eventually kicked her out and my mom took her in. For disgusting reasons, my mom kicked her out and she disappeared. We took care of this lady for the better part of a year when she just abandoned Emma. She then called me out of the blue after months of no contact and said she wanted Emma to “come home.”

She moved back in with and remarried the same man. When I mentioned her months of promises to never letting Emma back into that home or environment, she said “Emma can get over it.”

I pulled out my case file and filed a restraining order. Over the next year, I fought and won custody of my daughter. Her mother abandoned all of her visitation, and has officially been completely gone for over half of Emma’s life. The only memories Emma has of her mom are abuse, but she has been gone so long that she is never spoken of.

I get tickled when Emma and I go out on the weekends, because people will literally make multiple derivatives of the same comment about me being a weekend father. Like — “Ooh, Saturday night date with daddy?”

No, it is just us. It always has been. I have her the other nights as well. All of the week days, all of the holidays, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Emma is a healthy, happy, ambitious, and extremely intelligent child. Because she didn’t have to endure a life of abuse. I didn’t become a man until she was born, and it took me until my mid twenties to finally get over my abusive childhood. If it weren’t for my mom saving us from my dad, I wouldn’t be the man I am today, and I doubt I would be a responsible father. If it were not for my dad abusing me, I would not have picked up early on the signs that I needed to save my daughter, so I thank them both. I am strong enough to have lived through being beaten… strong enough to never let my child live through it.

Some people have made some good comments about what makes a manly man. But I will stick to this one:

Everyone has a neighborhood grocery store where they often see the same customers… or maybe you have a job where you have regulars visit often. If you see a man holding the hands of his kids, and it isn’t the weekend – he is a real father. If you see a guy like me, with pink and glitter french-tipped painted finger nails, and bows and ribbons stuck in my hair and beard, it is because I am a masculine man… mature enough to show my child how she should be treated and respected on this little fucked up planet we live on.

Is there anything we can do to stop the Israel army with high tech weapons from obliterating Gaza which still has 1.6 million innocent unarmed civilians in their homes? How is the world allowing this barbaric ethnic cleansing?

Naah

Hamas delivered their greatest win and achieved something neither Egypt nor Syria could between 1948 to 2006

Israel made a fool of itself

First being attacked with full intelligence failure and then blindly bombing everything into oblivion and dictating lies like the beheading of 40 kids

Respect for Israel has crashed

Their vaunted Iron Dome lost to fifth grade rockets made from pipes

Their mossad, an organization I held huge respect for was so blind that Gaza imported enough materials under their nose citing that they needed to make BALL POINT PENS. Not once did anyone think why would the Palestinians need to make 500 Million Ball Pointpens?

What should Israel have done?

Quietly carried out Damage assessment

Reinforced their Army Positions

Made calls to Saudi and UAE and said “My New Friends. I must respond to this but I don’t want to kill Civilians. I am helpless. Use your influence to persuade the Civilians to move out of the Strip so that we can fight Hamas”

Made speeches saying “Hamas will be obliterated but Palestinians are victims, so I urge Palestinians to leave Gaza and abandon Hamas”

It would have been a master stroke

Then if the Hamas prevented Palestinians from leaving, THEY WOULD BE THE BAD GUYS and even Islamic nations would be forced to condem them

At the same time, Israel should have negotiated for their Hostages involving the Arab world

Forced Egypt, Saudi, UAE, China, Russia, India to demand that Hamas return the hostages unharmed

This way even if the hostages died – HAMAS WOULD BE THE VILLIANS , EVEN TO THE ENTIRE ARAB WORLD

Then maybe after 20 days, a sudden ground operation against Hamas after enough warnings citing the hostages

Then the bombings

Israel would say “Alas. I tried. Now we have no choice but war”

The whole of the Middle East would have no choice but to be neutral

It would be a glorious moment for Israel and the world would be forced to admit they had no choice

Instead, What did Israel do?

Shrieking and Screaming like Hysteric Kids who have never fought any war, Calling for Death of Palestinians, Threatening to flatten all of Gaza

It was like something Hrithik Taletiya Or Raju or some of our Quora heroes would say than leaders of a major nation

Immediately running to the US showing the entire Arab World how the equation worked between Master & Dog than Two Allies

Not consulting any Arab Nation

Blindly starting bombing operations without a care in the world for Civilians

Giving warnings to evacuate 1.1 Million Civilians in 24 hours, something that forced even old friends like Jaishankar to take a harsh line

As a result

The Entire Arab World is sympathetic to Hamas and Palestinians
The Entire Arab World trust the US less and Israel even lesser
The Israelis have little confidence in their Country anymore. The Old Israel under Shamir Or Rabin or even Sharon would have FIRST GOT THE HOSTAGES BACK
Nethanyahu is proving to be a brainless Idiot
Yov Gallant is proving to be a bloodthirsty fool with little brains for strategy or tactics

Support for the Two State Solution has massively intensified

The Hamas has won

Israel cannot recover from this blow

They may obliterate Gaza but they will never be able to repair the damage they have done

Plus the US as well

And the West

The Middle East will never trust them again

Turkey will be wondering about it’s own future in the EU or NATO

Egypt would be wondering when to call Putin and ask for 20,000 Soldiers just in case

So nothing is needed

Israel is hanging itself

Just watch and smile if you feel they deserve it

Like my friend Arrête Les Macroni

If you feel they don’t, then hope to God, some sanity prevails and they undo at least 30% of the damage they are doing to themselves and the US in the middle East

How France and U.S Failed Africa Leading to Coup in Africa!

In Today’s Video: We are critically examining the actions and policies of the French government in Africa, pointing out contentious actions detrimental to the stability of African nations. Comparatively, we highlight China’s beneficial involvement.

What’s the fastest you’ve wiped a smirk off of someone’s face?

I was on my way to trade in my old car for a new truck at the same place I’d already purchased several vehicles over the years. I stopped at the local 7–11 convenience store to use the ATM to get the last part of the cash I needed toward my new truck. I turned the car motor off, dug out my ATM card and began to exit my car. This teenage boy in a shiny little coupe zipped his car in so close beside mine; I couldn’t exit my car.

The kid quickly jumped out of his car and started heading into the 7-11. I yelled at him, “Hey, you blocked me in, I can’t get out of my car, move it!” I could not believe it, but he actually thumbed his nose at me with one hand, flipped me the bird with his other hand, and just kept walking. What a disrespectful little shit!

The kid left me no choice. He needed to learn a bit of respect, so I slammed open my driver’s side car door into his new shiny car and shimmied my way out of my car. I left a lovely revenge dent in his passenger door and the kid absolutely deserved it. He had his head so far in the clouds, he never even saw it when he hurried out of the store, smirking at me and laughing.

I arrived a few minutes later at the car dealership with cash in hand to trade-in my car and get my fancy new Dodge Dakota. I was a bit surprised to see that same little teenager’s zippy coupe parked right beside the front door, (blocking once again) at the car dealership.

The first thing I saw through the window was the car salesperson I had worked many deals with, Tony Carson. He was standing there, inside the car dealership with the coupe kid; both had their arms flailing in the air like the conversation between them was getting a bit heated.

I walked in the entrance and the kid, whose back was turned to me, said, “Dad, the old lady blocked me in. Dad I didn’t do anything. Dad it wasn’t my fault.” Tony responded, “How could you be so irresponsible? Did you call the cops? Did you get her license number?” I vaguely recall thinking that this family sure loved expressing themselves with their hands.

When Tony saw me, he stopped the conversation and said, “Son, I have to see this woman.” Fibbing little ‘Sonny’ turned around with that same sarcastic smirk on his face. I bet he thought he had put one over on the old man… until he saw me. I’ve never seen blood drain from a face so fast. I swear he turned white and swayed so fast he had to hold onto the display car beside him.

I asked, “Hello Tony, this must be your son?” Tony introduced his son, Trevor, to me. I told Tony that I had just met Trevor at the 7-11 and it all fell apart for Trevor from there. I think Trevor got a lesson in respect and humility that day. I walked away that day with an even better deal on my brand new Dodge Dakota, even got free tinted windows and floor covers. I paid no cash down, and, best of all, Trevor is now back on his bicycle!

Worried Mother Cat Brought Her Sick Kitten To The Hospital. Then The Nurses Did Next The Unexpected!

It was a relatively quiet day at a hospital emergency room in Istanbul, Turkey. Going to an emergency room is never a happy experience and waiting in line is never fun. But sadly many parents have felt the fear of needing to take their children to the emergency room. But this emergency room would have a very different family come in for some help. The worried mother cat brought her sick kitten to the hospital. In most cases, animals aren’t welcome in medical institutions But you won’t believe what the nurses did next. Come with us to see this mind-blowing story.

Many economists are predicting a hard landing for the Chinese economy- do you think this is accurate or overstated?

Does china have high inflation?

No.

How about record low lending rates?

No.

Tightening financial conditions to control inflation?

No.

Loss of market confidence, leading to a stampede in Chinese bonds a la UK gilts?

No.

Participating directly or indirectly in the economically draining Ukraine-Russia conflict?

No.

China has plenty of policy space to stimulate the economy, now that it is transiting from zero covid.

What is a “hard landing”? The worst year in the 4 decades since opening up has been 2020, as China reoriented the economy to fight covid.

Even then, it did not fall into recession, growing 2.2 percent for the year.

For 2021, it was 8.1 percent.

And based on President xi’s recent new year’s message, China grew 4.4 percent in 2022.

That’s 4.9 percent compounded growth over the past 3 years.

4.9 percent.

Are the Chinese expecting 2023 to be more challenging than 2022?

Externally, yes. The first world is heading into recession and the fallout from Ukraine will continue. American-led sanctions and anti-trade measures will only mushroom.

But domestically, things are looking up with the end of covid restrictions, especially services roaring back to life.

One particular bright spot: automobiles. China has quietly leapfrogged Japan in 2022 to become the no. 2 car exporter, behind only Germany. Domestically, the market share of both Japanese and German marques has shrunk from 25-30 percent to 15-20 percent each within a few short years.

2022 was a record year for the Chinese car market, with more than 27m vehicles sold, double the figure in 2010.

The catalyst?

The embrace of EVs.

Now you know what is driving the persistent chip shortage. Honda’s global production in particular has been decimated by almost 40 percent (1.9m cars) compared to 2019.

The Chinese will ask, what chip shortage?

The credit squeeze in the dollar denominated economy won’t stop China in 2023. Instead, the transition away from the dollar will continue, as China looks to domestic and Bri recirculation.

I expect China to comfortably beat 2022 in 2023.

She Abandons 35 Sick Kittens in the Woods, Then a Judge Gives Her a Taste of Her Own Medicine!

Michelle did the unthinkable when she abandoned thirty-five sick kittens in the woods, thinking it wouldn’t be traced back to her. She was wrong! She was subsequently charged to court, and what Judge Cocconetti sentenced her to will shock you! Watch: She Abandons 35 Sick Kittens in The Woods. Then a Judge Gives Her a Taste of Her Own Medicine!

If we keep aiding Ukraine, could Russia possibly use their nukes on us?

Indeed, they could, if our government controlled by MIC will not leave them alone.

Russia will use it only as the last resort if Russia’s existence is at stake. The problem is that we do not know when they will make such determination, because they see things very differently than US government.

Contrary to Narrative, Kremlin never expressed the desire to “annex Ukraine” or deprive it from its “independence” (lost in 2014 to USA). The Russians are merely returning their own lands gifted to then-brotherly Ukraine, together with their own people who asked them to do it many times, because they do not like to be murdered by the puppets of the vicious Russophobes in DC, with the ever-compliant Western press covering this up.

The most important principle of government is that, to rule, the rulers need the consent of the ruled. The consent of South and East Ukraine to be ruled by Kiev was withdrawn back in 2014. Since then, Kiev regime became a tyranny, and the people had the right to rebel against it and call Russia for help. Read American “Declaration of Independence”. It is a very useful document worth reading.

People who think that they have the right to draw borders in old Russian lands, subjugate their citizens, and carry out their ethnic cleansing, all these people, from the Russian point of view, are similar to dangerous animals that must be dealt with. They run the serious risk of being exterminated in a radiation wave. It takes 1–3 weeks to die from radiation sickness, constantly vomiting. Are you ready for that, just to satisfy your ambition?

Instead of lecturing the others in the countries you know nothing about, supporting one war after another and blaming the victims, how about looking in the mirror and realizing that the ugly mug is yours? Magpies can recognize themselves in the mirror. Can you? Are you self-aware? Or you are an automaton controlled by the government?

Keep in mind that many important figures in our government have completely lost their marbles and cannot be trusted with rational decisions. Joseph Biden is senile and can barely speak. The others call not to be afraid of a nuclear war (Tony Blinken), praise the great investment, as long as Russians are dying (Lindsey Graham), sworn to destroy any country they do not approve of, especially, Russia (V. Nuland and her hubby R. Kagan).

If you are self-aware, and you possess the gift of sentience, unlike these criminally-insane individuals, I propose to work for peace on your side and vote for Congressmen who promise to stop funding the slaughter of Ukrainians.

EDIT: For the bragging bullies who think they are safe. The 60 second flight of a “Zircon” from an Atlantic submarine to DC is very hard to stop. The decision-making centers, the orbital satellites and anti-missile defenses will be taken out first. So no, you are not safe, it is a delusion. Arrogance, aggression, and stupidity are poor replacement for rational thinking.

Supersonic age: China’s explosive engine drone capable for ‘unparalleled speeds’

China’s first drone to be powered by an engine that uses explosions to propel aircraft to unparalleled speeds has made a successful maiden flight at an undisclosed airfield in Gansu province… ‘It uses kerosene fuel and features rapid ignition, and could power an aircraft from zero-speed to several times the speed of sound’…

“The [Rotating Detonation Engine’s] explosion is much more efficient than turbojet and ramjet engines, giving RDEs the potential to revolutionize supersonic flight while consuming less fuel. And, unlike scramjet engines – which generally require speeds above Mach 4 to initiate – the RDE can start at zero and are easier to maintain.

Just When Υou Thought Things Couldn’t Get Wοrse.. This Starts Ηappening Everywhere

Scary what’s happening to the 🇺🇸 USA.

https://youtu.be/Xw0S5eI5Ykg

What is the most disturbing thing your ex did after you broke up with them?

Before we broke up, she insisted we move 1,000 miles away to be closer to her family.

I agreed, did all the packing and moving myself, paid for the truck, drove it there, unloaded all the boxes.

Then she wanted all new furniture, and made me apply for credit to buy it.

Shortly thereafter, things started to sour, and she stole my car and disappeared for a week, maxing out the credit cards and writing so many cheques the account was overdrawn.

When she came back, she claimed it was “self care” and threw a huge tantrum crying “I WANT TO BE ALONE!” stating she did not want me to live in the house anymore. So I moved out and we divorced amicably.

Several years later her mental health degraded to the point that she could no longer hold a job or even look after herself, so she moved into a room at her son’s house and his family feeds her and cleans up after her while she lies in bed watching videos on her iPad all day.

I’m not even angry. I actually feel bad for her. She was an awesome person once.

India’s Moon Mission FINALLY Found What NASA Was Hiding….

Have you fooled anyone? How did you fool him?

Many years ago, we are talking back in the 1980’s. I was in my early twenties. I was working as an office property manager in my hometown in North-West England. I have written about the same period elsewhere on Quora.

The office property was adjacent to some vacant land where twice a year, for a few days in May and a few days in November a traveling fair would arrive and set up camp. That fair brought hundreds of people and many cars. Our office car park was a prime position to park, go to the fair.

The problem was car thieves and people who stole things from cars got to know that too. So around 1983, maybe a year either side our office insurance premium went up massively because people parking on the land, having their cars broken into and stolen, sued the property owners.

My boss, was furious and had signs made that vehicles had no right to park without permission and offending vehicles would be clamped, with a removal fee added. The whole idea was unenforcable, it was a deterrent to stop parking and subsequent theft claims.

Well time came for the fair to come around again, and some people parked on the parking lot, and a couple of the cars were broken into.

My boss was pulling his hair out in frustration. People even parked right in front of the signs saying no parking. They just ignored them.

I promised on Friday afternoon to fix it on Saturday and Sunday. There would be no parking and no break-ins.

Being May, the Sun came up quite early, but I was pulling into the parking lot before 7am. I owned a nice red Opel Manta, a car that always got a second look. I went into the office and got the wheel clamp. Taking the wheel clamp down to the parking lot, I put it onto my own car. Which I had parked alongside the no parking notice.

Then I just sat.

Sitting in my car, reading, listening to the radio, just pottering about doing some paperwork. It was fun. Cars began to pull onto the parking lot.

Then the laughing drivers would do a quick U-turn and drive out.

Around 1pm a mini pulled onto the parking lot. I watched as the driver pulled into a parking bay and switched off his engine.

Something was clearly going to come of this!

I stepped out of my car. Scuttling over to the mini. The male driver looked at me.

“Have you come to help me?” I asked.

“What?” he asked.

“Oh so you don’t know? Well I wouldn’t park around here if I were you!”

At this point the man was extricating himself from his Mini. Bloody hell, he was big. Way over six foot six, built like a brick outhouse with a tiny bald head. A bloody pea on a mountain, I thought.

“What are you going to do to stop me?” He snarled.

I gulped. He’ll hit me for sure, was my instant thought. “I pointed to the sign, No Parking I”I thought it was a trick. “ Now pointing to the wheel clamp on my car. “I’ve been waiting three hours for them to come take that off. I hoped it was you!”

He looked at the car, the wheel clamp. His face broke into a broad grin.

“You’re f***ed” he laughed as he rolled himself up and closed his car door. Starting up his car backing out he gestured “Dick head” at me.

Yeah and you too pal I thought.

Then made my way over to my car again. I turned up the radio and got on with some more paperwork.

I repeated the same on Sunday with no other actual encounters.

The good news there were no cars stolen or broken into that week-end. Well not on our parking lot anyway.

Thanks for reading.

All the best.

Finnish Vocal Coach First Time Reaction: Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond

Pepe Escobar: Russia-China Partnership Defangs US Empire

China’s State Council has released a crucial white paper, titled A Global Community of Shared Future: China’s Proposals and Actions that should be read as a detailed, comprehensive road map for a peaceful, multipolar future.

2023-09-29T15:08+0000

That is if the hegemon – of course faithful to its configuration as War Inc. – does not drag the world into the abyss of a hybrid-turned-hot war with incandescent consequences.

In sync with the ever-evolving Russia-China strategic partnership, the white paper notes how “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.

”That was ten years ago, when the New Silk Roads – or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – was launched: that became the overarching foreign policy concept of the Xi era. The Belt and Road Forum next month in Beijing will celebrate the 10th anniversary of BRI, and relaunch a series of BRI projects.

“Community of Shared Future” is a concept virtually ignored across the collective West – and in several cases lost in translation across the East.

The white paper’s ambition is to introduce “the theoretical base, practice and development of a global community of shared future.”

The five key points include building partnerships “in which countries treat each other as equals”; a fair and just security environment; “inclusive development”; inter-civilization exchanges; and “an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first,” as Xi detailed at the 2015 UN General Assembly.

The white paper forcefully debunks the “Thucydides Trap” fallacy: “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.”

While criticizing the “zero-sum game” to which “certain countries” still cling to, China completely aligns with the Global South/global majority, as in “the common interests of all peoples around the world.

When the world thrives, China thrives, and vice versa.

”Well, that’s not exactly the “rules-based international order” in play.

It’s All About Harmony

When it comes to building a new system of international relations, China prioritizes “extensive consultation” among equals and “the principle of sovereign equality” that “runs through the UN Charter.”

History and realpolitik, though, dictate that some countries are more equal than others.

This white paper comes from the political leadership of a civilization-state.

Thus it naturally promotes the “increase of inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony” while elegantly remarking how a “fine traditional culture epitomizes the essence of the Chinese civilization.”

Here we see a delicate blend of Taoism and Confucianism, where harmony – praised as “the core concept of Chinese culture” – is extrapolated to the concept of “harmony within diversity”: and that is exactly the basis for embracing cultural diversity.

In terms of promoting a dialogue of civilizations, these paragraphs are particularly relevant:

“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.”

BRI Caravan Rolls On

Chinese diplomacy has been very vocal on the need to develop a “new type of economic globalization” and engage in “peaceful development” and true multilateralism.

And that brings us inevitably to the BRI, which the white paper defines as “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.”

Of course, for the hegemon and its collective West vassals, BRI is nothing but a massive debt trap mechanism unleashed by “autocrat China”.

The white paper notes, factually, how “more than three-quarters of countries in the world and over 30 international organizations” had joined the BRI, and refers to the sprawling, ever-expanding connectivity framework of six corridors, six routes, an array of ports, pipelines and cyberspace connectivity, among others via the New Eurasian Land Bridge, the China-Europe Railway Express (a “steel camel fleet”) and the New Land-Sea Trade Corridor crisscrossing Eurasia.

A serious problem may involve China’s Global Development Initiative, whose fundamental aim, according to Beijing, is “to accelerate the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Well, this agenda has been designed by the self-described Davos elites and conceptualized way back in 1992 by Rockefeller protégé Maurice Strong.

Its inbuilt wet dream is to enforce the Great Reset – complete with a nonsensical zero-carbon green agenda.

Better Listen to Medvedev’s WarningThe hegemon is already preparing the next stages of its hybrid war against China – even as it remains buried deep down into a de facto proxy hot war against Russia in Ukraine.Russian strategic policy, in essence, completely aligns with the Chinese white paper, proposing a Greater Eurasian Partnership, a concerted drive towards multipolarity, and the primacy of the Global South/global majority in forging a new system of international relations.

But the Straussian neocon psychos in charge of the hegemon’s foreign policy keep raising the stakes.

So it’s no wonder that after the recent attack on the HQ of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, a new National Security Council report leads to an ominous warning by Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev:“NATO has turned into an openly fascist bloc similar to Hitler’s Axis, only bigger (…)

It looks like Russia is being left with little choice other than a direct conflict with NATO (…)

The result would be much heavier losses for humanity than in 1945.

“The Russian Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, has revealed that Ukraine has suffered a staggering 83,000 battlefield deaths since the start of the – failed – counteroffensive four months ago.

And Defense Minister Shoigu all but gave away the game in terms of the long-term strategy, when he said, “the consistent implementation of measures and activity plans until 2025 will allow us to achieve our goals.”

So the SMO will not be rounded up before 2025 – incidentally, much later than the next US presidential election.

After all, Moscow’s ultimate aim is de-NATOization.

Faced with a cosmic NATO humiliation on the battlefield, the Biden combo has no way out: even if it declared a unilateral ceasefire to re-weaponize Kiev’s forces for a new counteroffensive in the spring/summer of 2024, the war would keep rumbling on all the way to the presidential election.

There’s absolutely no way some sharp intellect in the Beltway would read the Chinese white paper and be “infected” by the concept of harmony.

Under the yoke of Straussian neocon psychos, there are zero prospects for a détente with Russia – not to mention Russia-China.

Both the Chinese and Russian leaderships know quite well how the Ray McGovern-defined MICIMATT (military-industrial-congressional-intelligence-media-academia-think tank complex) works.

The kinetic aspect of MICIMATT is all about protection of the global interests of big US banks, investment/hedge funds and multinational corporations.

It’s not a coincidence that MICIMATT monster Lockheed-Martin is mostly owned by Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street. NATO is essentially a mafia protection racket controlled by the US and the UK that has nothing to do with “defending” Europe from the “Russian threat.”

The actual MICIMATT and its NATO extension’s wet dream is to weaken and dismember Russia to control its immense natural resources.

War Against the New ‘Axis of Evil’NATO’s incoming graphic humiliation in Ukraine is now compounded with the inexorable rise of BRICS 11 – which embodies a lethal threat to the hegemon’s geoeconomics.

There’s next to nothing the MICIMATT can do about that short of nuclear war – except turbo-charging multiple instances of Hybrid War, color revolutions and assorted divide-and-rule schemes.

What’s at stake is no less than a complete implosion of neoliberalism.

The Russia-China strategic partnership of true sovereigns has been coordinating full-time.

Strategic patience is the norm.

The white paper reveals the magnanimous facet of the number one economy in the world by PPP: that’s China’s response to the infantile notion of “de-risking”.

China is “de-risking” geopolitically when it comes to not falling for serial provocations by the Hegemon, while Russia exercises Taoist-style control to not risk a kinetic war.

Still, what Medvedev just said carries the implication that the hegemon on desperation row could even be tempted to launch WWIII against, in fact, a new “axis of evil” of three BRICS nations – Russia, China and Iran.

Secretary of the [Russian] National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev could not have been more crystal clear:“In its attempts to maintain its dominance, the West itself destroyed the tools that worked better for it than the military machine.

These are freedom of movement of goods and services, transport and logistics corridors, a unified system of payments, global division of labor and value chains.

As a result, Westerners are shutting themselves off from the rest of the world at a rapid pace.”

If only they could join the community of shared future – hopefully on a later, non-nuclear, date.

China has captured all Oil US is DOOMED

https://youtu.be/pxWh7wdGdv4

The West is just stupid

So, the Canadian husband of a Chinese lady who belongs to a Chan Buddhist (Zen) temple and is a friend of mine helped me out today shopping since I am recovering from surgery on my wrist.

During the course of our hour or so together, my Canadian friend informed me of many ‘interesting’ things.

I’m posting this since he is a well informed person. I asked what sources of information he has, and he says he gets it from more than one source. He did mention the Wall Street Journal and China Daily, which he takes with a grain of salt.

He lived in China for several years where he met my Chinese friend, now his wife.

Xi Jin Ping is going to be gone soon, since he is very unpopular
He has gotten rid of most of his opposition.
Most Chinese are not happy with how things are going in China
Chinese long for the most recent past leader, Deng Xiao Ping. (I reminded him that DXP was leader about 40 years ago, and was not the one who was escorted out of the recent Party Congress)
China’s economy is in terrible shape, due to overbuilding and way too much debt.
Lots of people are getting out of China for political and economic reasons
The Belt and Road Initiative is a failure financially as well as diplomatically
Either Russia or China will stab the other in the back, since they have never been allies, but instead adversaries during their long history
Same goes for North Korea and Russia, since their cultures are different and incompatible
Russia has only been able to hold together in the face of a threat.
Russia’s army is in a disastrous state due to the ‘senseless, vanity’ war initiated by Putin
Both Russia’s and China’s economies are in bad shape
The Chinese Yuan has not bottomed out yet, it will be a few more months before that happens
Because of the war Russia initiated, it has lost all soft power around the world.
China likewise has no soft power status
Russia will split apart due to its internal conflicts

Unfortunately, I forgot to ask him about some vague rumors (wink, wink) I had heard about Nazis in Ukraine, and in Canada.

My guess is that he knows such rumors are groundless.

Fortunately, he just started a new job teaching here in Thailand, where he stresses the importance of developing critical thinking skills in students.

This is not satire. Acual conversation.

Eric

Cheese Packets

These little salami and cheese pies are the perfect picnic food to tuck into your cooler.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon dried sage, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm water (115 degrees to 120 degrees F)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup (about 1 ounce) freshly grated parmesan cheese
6 ounces salami, chopped
1 small tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon water

Instructions

In a large mixer bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour with the yeast, sage, and salt. Add the warm water and the oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. Turn out onto a floured surface.
Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Place the dough in a greased bowl; turn once. Cover and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled (45 to 55 minutes).
Meanwhile, make the filling. In a small mixing bowl, combine the cheeses, salami and tomatoes. Toss until well-combined; set aside.
Punch the dough down; divide into 6 pieces. Cover and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Roll each piece of dough into a 7-inch circle. Spoon 1/2 cup of the filling onto half of each circle.
Combine the egg and water, and brush over the outer edges of the dough, to moisten. Fold the circle in half; use the tines of a fork to seal the edges. Place on a greased baking sheet. Prick the tops and brush with more of the egg mixture.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.
Remove from the baking sheet; cool on a wire rack.

Rebuttal

To me the information you got from your Canadian friend is as biased as most western media, if not more.

I grew up in China and have been doing research in China, and I can tell you that Xi Jinping has been the most popular leader in China after Mao passed away.

Deng Xiaoping and others were popular among former landlords and other elements suppressed by Masome, but they are no more than five percent of the population, but for the workers and farmers, Xi represents the best things for them.

I live in the U.S. and last fall I traveled to 13 countries in Europe, Middle east, and Asia as a professor on the Semester at Sea, and last summer, I was in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China for about two months, I would argue that the economic situation everywhere was very bad, which I think it was a good thing.

There had been too much meaningless consumption and development. The world needs to slow down a little bit to give mother earth an opportunity to recover.

Economically China is struggling as well. But compared with any other places, China is doing much better.

Its people have enough to eat, have a roof over their heads. What else do a normal person need to be happy?

Half of the Chinese people are farmers who can grow everything they need to survive. They do not pay taxes to the state and local government.

If they know what is going on in other parts of the world, they should be the happiest people in the world.

Dongping

Dog-Person Guy Begs His Wife To Adopt Shelter Cat | The Dodo Foster Diaries

Are Huawei phones now a real challenge to Apple’s iPhone?

Yes.

Competition is always a challenge, right? More than competition, Huawei is a Cinderella story. Remember, it was ranked #1 before Donald Trump torpedoed it.

Now, let’s use a little logic. If Huawei is able to manufacture enough chips to supply the global market, how long do you think it will take Huawei to rocket back to #1? It will have a reputation as the best smartphone on the planet, bar none. It will also have a reputation as the comeback kid.

Do you suppose some people might buy one just to spite Donald Trump or America? That’s precisely why I bought mine.

The Western media never stopped crowing about Huawei’s dependence on Google. In fact, more intelligent people might buy a Huawei phone to escape Google. That was part of my motivation. Unfortunately, my phone runs on Google’s Android program. No problem, I’m going to upgrade to a new Huawei, now that it’s running on Harmony OS.

The iPhone may remain #1 in the U.S., but I predict it will fall to 2nd place (or worse) just about everywhere else.

One thing helping the iPhone is the Apple ecosystem. If you own a Mac, as I do, an iPhone might seem a logical peripheral. Unfortunately, the U.S. tech sector is rotten to the core. I like Apple far more than Microsoft, but I still don’t completely trust it. It also seems like it has become just a little buggier in recent years.

My dream is to someday migrate to a Chinese system, leaving all that U.S. crapware behind once and for all. Unfortunately, I use Adobe software extensively, and I don’t know how long it will be before Adobe software will be compatible with Harmony OS or some other Chinese operating system. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if it happens in the next few years.

Oops, I almost forgot to mention 5G and 6G. China is clearly in the lead here. I don’t know how much that will affect the average person, but it’s certainly a good selling point.

After being wowed by Apple for two decades, I never thought I’d abandon ship, but the Chinese can outperform and undersell Apple at the same time. As a U.S. citizen who’s getting tired of being screwed by the tech sector and my own government, I appreciate bargains, don’t you?

Will China Collapse? (ft. David Goldman)

In Today’s episode of “Moment of Truth,” Saurabh and Nick sit down with David Goldman, Deputy Editor of Asia Times and Washington Fellow at the Claremont Institute’s DC Center for the American Way of Life, to discuss everything China, including trade, growth and innovation, Taiwan, minerals, AI, hypersonic missiles, the 2008 crisis, China’s plan for a ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution,’ the dollar as the reserve currency, and what the future holds for the geopolitical landscape.

Does the USA have any countermeasures against China rising up as an economic power in terms of politics, economics, etc.? Is there any plan to hold back their growth?

They thought they have!

4 times the US tried and each time it failed and each time they cost the US more and more. Will they try again. China just make sure every time it cost the U.S. exponentially more and guess what the U.S. are so full of it they will try again. So let them pay like a lord since the loved to behave as though the world will have to surrender to their will. It is fair.

So the first time they thought that the GPS or Global Positioning System could be shut down to whoever refuse to be submissive and subservient to them. It merely took a few years to have Russian and Chinese GPS which happen to be faster, higher resolution and better than that the U.S. GPS and in a decade 80% of the world has switch to the Chinese Beidou system! Many counties switch off the GPS and are now paying to the Chinese. Too bad.

Next the U.S. disgraceful Congress ban the Chinese on participating in their “international space center”. What did China do. In a few years China build an better, the faster and a more higher technology space Center and open it to the entire world! Today many countries are working with China to do human friendly experiments! The U.S. has decommissioned the U.S. space Center is due to it be expire it’s technology life span. And in just a few years. China’s space Center will be the only space Center for the next few decades.

You would think the Yanks learnt this lesson. But no! Next Donald Trump says let’s start a trade war on China. He actually say trade war with China is easy! But now 4 years after the war started China’s economy grew 26.5% and the U.S. grew 5.5%. Meanwhile the U.S. inflation grew to double digit while China grew 1.8%. Meanwhile the U.S. deficits and debts shot up the roof. The U.S. lost to the trade war terribly and it is still suffering very high inflation and a looming recession!

So losing three times straight for any one ought to teach them a lesson but not the U.S. The U.S. thought they can contained China on chip act. They banned China on high end Chips. This is by far the most costly and expensive if it failed. It will bankrupt all the U.S. chip companies and billion if not trillions will be lost. The U.S. thought China will need to take a generation before the U.S. could produce this high end chip. But China shocked and surprised the U.S. it took a mere 3 years.

At the moment the stock value of US chip firms deteriorated by the trillions and the loss of business to the U.S. firms are wiping off billions of profits. And the U.S. is learning the 4th very painful lesson. Will they learn, I very much doubt so. The US will need to learn more lesson before it give up. I suspect the US need to be totally bankrupt before it learn anything.

After all Korea did not teach The US, Vietnam did not teach the US. And Afghanistan and Iraq did not teach the US and Ukraine wont either.

Barack Obama Reveals Aliens Exist In Top-Secret Government Lab

For years, rumors have swirled, conspiracy theories have run rampant, and skeptics have dared to dream about the possibility of aliens existing in government labs. But now, in a mind-bending revelation that will send shockwaves through the very fabric of our reality. The forty fourth President of the United States, Barack Obama finally breaks his silence and unveils mind-boggling revelations about extraterrestrial involvement in the highest echelons of power.

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

My employer changed the formula for how sales staff commission was calculated. Previously the formula was a certain percentage of the profit on the sale. The new formula was a smaller percentage of the total price of the sale.

That quarter the factories were busy, and sales volume reports were looking terrific. Travel requests were getting approved, and statements were issued to investors about gains in market share. The stock price climbed.

Suddenly two months into the quarter the mood changed. Those of us on the R&D side who were planning to attend a major conference were told to cancel. The supply cabinets would not be restocked. What had happened?

It turns out that the new incentive plan had a side-effect that should have been obvious. Rather than spending hours or days negotiating with customers toward a price that gave us a good profit, our sales staff were going into negotiations with opening bids at or even below cost! Sure, that meant a little lower commission than if they made the sale at the typical profit, but it meant that they were almost guaranteed to win the bid rather than risking losing the bid to our competitors (as happened half the time), so their net commissions increased! Sales volume increased, factory output and shipments increased, but profits plummeted!

They went back to the previous commission formula immediately.

Chicken, Broccoli and Mushroom Pie

Chicken and mushroom pie with bacon square FS

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

Cheese Crust

1 cup lightly packed shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling

1 (6 ounce) boneless skinless chicken breast
Salt
Ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whipping cream
Pinch ground nutmeg
2 cups chopped, cooked broccoli
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
1 cup lightly packed shredded Swiss cheese (4 ounces)

Instructions

Cheese Crust: Using pastry blender, combine cheese, flour, salt, dry mustard and melted butter. Press dough evenly into bottom and up sides of a 10-inch pie plate.
Filling: Sprinkle chicken breast lightly with salt and pepper.
Bake in a 375 degrees oven for 25 minutes or until done.
Allow to cool.
Cut into cubes; set aside. (You should have about 1 1/4 cups cubed chicken.)
Melt butter in a skillet. Over medium heat, sauté onion and mushrooms in butter for 2 to 3 minutes, or until tender.
Stir in flour. Add cream, 1 teaspoon salt, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Simmer for 1 minute. (Mixture doesn’t thicken.)
Add broccoli, eggs and chicken cubes; blend well.
Stir in Romano cheese. Set aside.
Line crust with shredded Swiss cheese.
Pour broccoli-chicken mixture into cheese lined crust.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F; bake for 20 minutes or until set.

GAWNE – “Rich Men North of Richmond” Remix (One Take)

Nice remix.

Rude boy on a dirt bike

When I was working as an engineer during the 1990’s I spent most of my time living in mobile homes. These flimsy boxes were perfect for my lifestyle of hustle and layoff, and move to another city.

But, gosh, the mobile home complexes that we found ourselves in, were inhabited with some very ill-mannered people.

One time, when I lived in “West Elizabeth, PA” we had a mobile home at the edge of the mobile home community, and there at 9am every weekend, this little 13 year old boy would go around and around and around my home on his dirt bike. Only around my home. No other homes. Just mine.

Those things were noisy, and I couldn’t figure out why he chose my home to endlessly circle.

One day, I met his mother.

She said, “Oh, I thought no one lived there. Do you have a problem with him riding around your home?”

Well yeah.

DUH!

We had a few words and he stopped. But not until I was really upset and angry over the non-stop noise and the endless feeling of living in the God-damn middle of a freeway.

So many people are inconsiderate.

Partly because they are rude, and partly because they are stupid. Though drugs might play a role…

You cannot fix either. All you can do is move…

…on.

Todays…

Why is India NOT a global manufacturing hub like China? What is stopping India?

Couple of years back, I was having a conversation with an Indian origin entrepreneur in Silicon Valley who is making quite lot of innovative products. It is an early stage company. So, my conversation was about the possibility of starting his firm’s manufacturing units in India. He said something insightful

“I change my product designs quite often. And I would need rapid prototyping abilities to execute my business effectively as it is an evolving field. I make a circuit design, upload the specs to a firm in Shenzen, pay the money. Within four days the prototype is at my place in Palo Alto. All processes can be done online. Imagine doing this in India. Unless you are a Samsung or LG which has a massive team to handle all these customs, import export stuff with tons of paperwork, you will end up spending ages to do this in India. Shenzen is a one-stop ecosystem for anything electronic in the world. The supply chains and distribution mechanisms are super efficient. I don’t think India will ever reach there”

After this conversation, I’ve had multiple conversations with small and large players. Small players lament about the customs, import – export processes in India. Large firms crib about the absence of supply chain base of input for manufacturing. Our metrics of measuring ease of business is horribly skewed towards the efficiencies of business for a large player like Apple or Samsung or say a Honda. We don’t focus on making things easy for small firms like the one which I mentioned . Unless we crack that part, we’ll never be able to build a true ecosystem like Shenzen thats attractive for the large corporations

Steak in a Bag

Ingredients

1 cup egg bread crumbs
1 (2 to 3 pound) top sirloin steak, cut 2 1/2 inches thick
4 tablespoons butter, softened
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
2 1/2 teaspoons seasoned pepper
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Instructions

Prepare egg bread crumbs; set aside. Remove excess fat from steak.
In a small bowl, mix butter, oil, garlic, seasoned salt and seasoned pepper until blended. Spread on all sides of steak.
Mix bread crumbs and cheese. Press into butter mixture on steak, coating steak well.
Place steak in brown grocery bag. Fold end over and secure with paper clips. At this point steak may be refrigerated several hours.
Before cooking, bring steak to room temperature.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Place bag on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. For medium rare steak, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F and bake 15 minutes longer, a total of 45 minutes. For medium-well steak, reduce heat from 425 degrees F to 375 degrees F and bake 5 minutes longer before removing from oven, a total of 50 minutes.
Remove steak from bag. Let stand for 5 minutes before carving into thin slices.

NIGER COUP: JUBILATION IN NIGER AS 400 FRENCH SOLDIERS LEFT NIGER IN PEACE THIS WEEK. NOT BY WAR.

What’s the rudest customer service experience you have ever had?

I worked in Veterinary medicine for more than 36 years and we always dealt with some real doozies!

We had a lady come in with a chow for regular vaccines and after she signed in, she sat on the bench waiting to be seen. One of my techs walked over to her with a clipboard and pen in her hands to get some information. While she stood there speaking with the woman, her dog came over (he had been straining at the leash trying to get out the door) and with no warning (not even a growl) grabbed hold of her hand with his teeth and began to try and rip her arm off! He shook his head, bit harder and dragged her to the floor!

Instead of trying to get the dog off of her, the woman began screaming at us for abusing her dog as we tried to break the dog free of my tech’s hand and 3 of us were bit trying to get her loose!!

Instead of an apology for owning an aggressive dog and not restraining it when she came in, the woman screamed at us that ‘”You people had no right to attack my dog like that and it’s your own fault for walking up to my dog!”.

My tech ended up with 4 broken bones in her hand and a massive infection that put her in the hospital for 4 days, and in the end, the woman actually had the nerve to file a lawsuit claiming animal abuse against our hospital. She wanted more than $25,000 in emotional distress!

We shut the hospital down on the day of the trial (there was NO WAY we were going to settle) and every staff member who had been involved was there to testify.

In the end, the woman was forced to pay all court costs and lawyer fees, the cost of the medical treatment for every person who was injured, the cost of shutting down the hospital to come to court and was given a fine by Animal Control for having an aggressive dog. She was also told that should the dog ever bite someone again, not only would the dog be put down, but she could be arrested and jailed for having a known aggressive animal in her home and not properly containing it.

I Live Better In Thailand Than I Did In The U.S. – Here’s How Much It Costs | Relocated

To those who say he’s spending too much — not all digital nomads are poor. This guy’s a high earner, and by spending a few thousand he’s living a lifestyle that would typically be accessible to only multi-millionaires in the US or Europe.

‘Won’t sit idly…’: China claps back after Germany insinuates ban on Huawei, ZTE 5G parts

A day after reports claimed that Germany was considering a ban on parts made by Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE in its 5G networks, Beijing has responded. The Chinese embassy in Berlin said the country will not stand by idly if the German government goes ahead with the proposal.

“If the German government really decides to move in this direction without proving that Chinese products pose a security threat to Germany, we will not stand by idly,” the embassy was quoted as saying.

“Should Germany unjustifiably exclude Chinese companies, this would not only be a violation of the principle of fair competition but would also harm Chinese companies and Germany itself,” it added.

What has Germany proposed?

Germany’s interior ministry has chalked up a proposal under which the said Chinese companies will be eliminated from the country’s “core network” as part of a “de-risking” strategy. The ministry is expected to submit its proposal to the cabinet next week.

Apart from issuing a full ban on the new parts made by Chinese companies, the German government will also extend the ban on those parts that have already been installed. It wants to start by phasing out parts made by Huawei and ZTE in Germany’s “access and transport network”.

What’s a point in time when you realized nothing would ever be the same again?

My doctor noticed that I had lost weight. “Are you on a diet?” No. “Having any eating issues? “ Sometimes meat doesn’t go down. “We’d better look.” This was April-may, 2014. Gastroenterologist did an Endoscopy. No warning, “You have Esophagael Cancer, you have an Oncology appointment tomorrow.” Chemo and radiation started almost immediately. They told me not to look on the internet at the statistics, so I did. 95% don’t make it 5 years. The stories were pretty grim. I sold my milling machine, lathe, TIG welder and a couple of old Honda mini bikes, if I was going tits up, I didn’t need some scammers trying to rip off my wife when I was dead and gone. Chemo and radiation were pretty straight forward and I didn’t really have any issues, I continued to work while I was getting treated. CT Scans, PET Scans, Xrays, things improved inside. August 18, 2014, 6am, I went into surgery for a gastroesophagectomy, removal of most of my esophagus and part of my stomach. Up to this point, I had lost 70 lbs in about 5 months. The surgery was really rough, and I couldn’t eat for 3 days after I woke up, then it was cottage cheese and tomato soup for about 2 weeks. I was in the hospital for 15 days, 7 in ICU. I’ve had eating issues since then (coming on 4 years), and it was 3 years before I could eat a steak. I’m back up to about 190 lbs (from 158 at the low), it takes me about 3 hours to eat a meal, but my boss and the people at work, work with me, I’m usually eating all the time. But I can only eat about 1/4 or 1/3 of the amount of food I used to eat, and very little meat, food hangs up. I’m also susceptible to aspirating (inhaling) food into my lungs, which makes me really susceptible to bacterial pnuemonia, which I’ve had at least 1 each year since surgery. All CTScans and PETScans have been negative, my doc says, “Next time if (when) the scan is clear, we’ll call it done.”

But I ain’t dead.

Life has changed considerably. I very seldom eat in restaurants any more. Sometimes I have to eat standing up, something inside seems to get pinched off when I sit down and eat. I don’t sleep as well as I used to. My doctor seems to feel I’m one of the 5% that makes it (she said the actual number is about 15% now, the first numbers I read were old stats). As far as attitude goes, I don’t worry about things any more. I just roll with it and try to enjoy myself. I’ve gotten another lathe and welder, looking for a milling machine, hopefully I’ll be making parts for a good long time.

Chinese Tech Firm’s Groundbreaking Achievement 5nm Chips Made Without Lithography Machines

New manufacturing technology.

https://youtu.be/kEIelm-dbvw

What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

I recently was released from an Alabama prison. I spent two years in prison.
I was sent there when I was 17, I am 19 now. The Alabama prisons are a horrible place. I was a sheltered child growing up. When I was 17 my father forced me to steal from some people because we didn’t have any money. I did not want to do it, my father forced me to. I begged and pleaded with him.
I used to love to play video games. I haven’t now played games in years, since I was probably 15. That part inside of me sort of died.
I was and am still tall and kind of thin.

The first place I went, was one of the worst places, the juvenile wedge in the Mobile metro jail. A wedge holds eight cells, and is supposed to only hold 2 juveniles per cell/per two bunks. But there were sometimes up to 4 people per cell, forcing kids to sleep on the mats on floor and right near the toilet. The 16 and 17 year olds in Alabama jails are horrible and the most violent of all inmates. I can look back and understand the readers thoughts, they probably are curious to know how age 15-17 year olds could be so violent. But, Alabama, if you have actually visited, is a very rough place, especially the projects. I was in this jail with the teens who were the ones that committed the worst crimes, 1st degree robberies, murders, arson, theft, rape and molestation.

I was the only white boy. They always attempted to steal from me and rob me, and literally terrorize me, throwing piss on me, or spitting in my drinking cup.
They let the inmates fill up the other inmates drinking cups.
The first week there, I bought a $20 phone card, and when I came back to my cell the black kids were waiting for me in there, predators. They had put a towel over the cell’s only light, to darken the cell, so the guards couldn’t see what was about to happen. And they surrounded me once I had walked back into the cell. I told them I would not give them the phone card, I actually intimidated them.
I was grabbed from behind, and put into a choke hold, then I blacked out. I woke up from underneath the steel metal desk with blood dripping down the side of my face. The phone card was gone.

After that, I spent an entire year in a cell by myself, because I had to be separated from them. Throughout that amount of time, I saw over one hundred fights, and was sleep deprived quite a lot. The juveniles would scream and yell and cuss each other out ALL the time. They were animals. They would talk about the most hateful, vile things, and how ‘gangster’ they were, drug dealing, robbing and killing. It was utterly saddening. Especially at night, they would beat on the metal over and over and over, and rap, all of them together. (In no way am I racist. Nor prejudice towards a certain taste of music, I like rap myself sometimes.)

During the time I was in jail, I heard news about my father. Months later, a Correctional Officer actually was the one to give me news that my father had been arrested himself. He had stolen from more people, the same exact way he had made me do it. And was in jail. he would finally pay for what he had done to me. But, there are no laws protecting kids from what their parents force them to do, sadly, Quite a horrible thing for the legal system to do to kids.

The juvenile wedge was located right next to the suicide wedge.
The loudest wedge in the entire 2000+ jail. That is where they put the drunks, the crazy psychopaths who had just murdered their whole family, and even more nutjobs. One man gouged his father’s eyes out with a spoon.(I can reference that, as well.) They would beat constantly and scream and moan all night long.
I remember specifically the one’s who would never stop beating on the clear plexiglass walls of the suicide cells. They were in there naked, (all of them). At one time I saw my own father in there, after he had gotten jumped in another wedge and his nose broken and both eyes completely blackened. They put him in their for “protection”. I remember hearing the guards running in there and beating the hell out of those people, and hearing the inmates scream. I was right next to those cells. I lost lots of sleep over the constant noise,
BANG BANG BANG. BANGING over and over and over, for hours, all night. It was just like a lunatic asylum.

I did read a lot of the christian bible, when I actually believed in that kind of stuff. And other books as well, It was my only solace then. And learning, I yearned to read and learn.
I was constantly a target with the black people, because I was a white boy.

I was deeply miserable, and so I got the doctors to finally give me sleep medicine after many months, “Remerons”, which made me feel like I was slow when I took them, but sleepy. They took a very long time to wear off.
I started to slide them in the inside of my mouth when the nurse would give them to me, and I would spit them out when I got back to my cell, And hide them in a hole in my inch thick mat. I had no pillow, just a wool blanket.
Before I went to prison and was waiting in limbo in jail, I thought there was a chance that I might be sent to prison. So over a long amount of time, I started to collect those sleeping pills just in case. So I could protect myself, if I was given a long amount of time in prison or whatever.

Things got more miserable, I stopped a young black kid from committing suicide in my cell at one point. I turned 18 in jail.
After that, I mixed in with the adults. I finally received my time, It was two more years… and I would be going to prison.
I couldn’t do it anymore. I was utterly miserable and sad, And I lost the will to want to be alive. I wanted peace, just once in my life. If you call death peace.
One night I took all the remerons I had collected, I first waited for my cellmates to begin playing cards, and then I took around 100 of them, and heated up some hot water, and crushed up some of the pills and swallowed them all down.

It was the worst, bitter disgusting taste. I still have a hard time swallowing pills if I ever have to chew them. I wrote a note telling my mother I loved her and wished I could hug her. No one knows the truth or what really happened. No one cares to know.
I hadn’t seen her in 8 years. I got up on my top bunk and rolled over on my side on my mat. And laid there. I prayed to God, asking to be with him, I commend to you my spirit “Lord”. I was completely terrified of going to hell, but I still did it, I was in so much misery.
30 minutes later my body was almost paralyzed. And my body was pulsing and throbbing. I began to feel very sick. I tried as hard as I could to hold my stomach in. But I had to get up and go to the toilet to vomit, and my whole body was almost paralyzed, I could not jump off my rack. I couldn’t move.
And then I blacked out, into nothingness. Silence. Blackness.
There was no bright light.

Over the course of that period, while I was in jail, I had many inmates/criminals try to hurt me.

Later, I woke up in a hospital handcuffed to a stretcher, I was on life support.
My cellmates had gotten scared and told the guards, once they had seen me black out. I obviously did not want my cellmates to know what I had done. But I was forced to throw up, and black out.

After my ill recovery, I was thrown into the suicide wedge, right where I remembered all those people.

I soon was shackled and shipped to prison, where there was no A/C at all, there is none in the Alabama prisons. Prison is even worse. You are forced to work all day.
And the temperatures inside the dorms get to 100+ degrees. Everyday, all day long, during the hot long Alabama summers.
Misery. I remember pools of sweat collecting on my mat, while I tried to lay down. I would have to strip to my underwear to stay cooler.
The black men would look at me, and some would masturbate at me, while I would sleep, or do it right in front of me. They call it “gunning you down”.
It was a fact that the African american men were specifically like this.
A lot of the time when I would try to take a quick shower, they would all watch me, to see when I would go in. And then go in the shower with me and watch me, and ‘gun me down’, while I bathed myself quickly.
Quite a dehumanizing thing to have done to you.
I wish I could’ve knocked one of the those motherf*ckers heads off.
But I knew I had parole coming up, And I might make it, If I never get into any fights, or disciplinaries. Which was even worse. Because, I needed to stand up for myself. It was so crowded in prison, there was no privacy. Nowhere.
Showers were completely wide open, toilets were in rows of 30 lined up.
No stalls, Those did not exist.

I tried dearly to avoid the showers, and the sick people. I saw a lot of sick stuff in there. The white gay boys were the ones that almost always were on the “receiving” end of the action.
Homemade hypodermic needles, and one of the main drugs, called Suboxones, they were these thin sublingual films from a pharmacy that were smuggled in, they are a narcotic analgesic and they dissolve fast. The drug addicts broke up and disolved the film in a spoon and either snorted or injected it. I did none of that. I had never done drugs before.

I was in prison for a long time.
After two years of being in there, and finally making parole, I was released and transferred to another state. I was granted immediate release from parole at least three months before, but it took them a very long time to “find” the paperwork. They would not have done it or found it, if a trustee inmate had not given me a special phone number for the parole boards office, that was not “public”, and I got my family to call up there over 50 times over a course of months.

I realized my weaknesses while in prison, my puniness as well.
A lot of me died slowly inside, I do not think about girls as much. I was a young kid, I had only ever had one girlfriend in 8th grade. I had to drop out of school after that.

When I was in prison I longed to just touch a girl’s hand, just to have someone love me as friend. I yearned for a companion, I was so lonely.
Words could never express.
My heart felt like it was literally dying.
I also missed listening to music so much, I loved music a lot.
I don’t feel things anymore as much, I tried to feel love and compassion, but my heart has died slowly. I still do love people, I have tried to keep that alive,
I really try my best. And I love to give people gifts with the money I have now.

Things don’t mean as much at all to me anymore.
I am somewhat of a stronger guy now, I fear nothing.
I also lift weights and exercise everyday, that is one thing I will always do.
I am still trying to find what I am going to do with my life and career.
And find meaning in life. I do enjoy computers a lot, evidently.
If I had to go through those two years again, I don’t believe I could do it all over again.

-Luke

How will Huawei’s 7 nm breakthrough undermine confidence in Western sanctions?

Huawei breakthrough is more than the 7nm as widely perceived in the media since the annocement of Huawei mate 60 series.

Huawei had invented and patented a 3D Finfet transistor that enable it to be fabricated using a tweaked or modified DUV machine with mass production. The 7nm Kirin 9000s chip with 3D Finfet transistors consume less power and can achieved equivalent performance of 3nm chip. It can easily be refined and improved with 5 nm or 3nm designs which l believe will be used in Kirin 9100 chips and achieve better performance.

Hisilicon had utilized the Chips and design Kirin 9000, Kirin 9000s Soc using it’s Taishan architectures and system.

The Kirin 9000 series are 8–12 Taishan core CPU working together with GPU and Huawei Balong Modern. They are comparable to Qualcom snapdragon 8-2 chip set and Apple M16 and M17 chip set.

Beside the Kirin Soc the Huawei mate 60 series also used in house indigenous technologies like Ximage, Nearlink and Satellite connectivity technology.

Ximage is Huawei photo taking and processing technology, one of the best in the world.

Huawei breakthrough is far from just handphone technology, Huawei will be the top platforms for AllAI and All Cloud and All IoT. It will be the smart system inventors that empower human leveraging on technology to improve life and productivity.

What is the best thing you came across on the internet today?

This is Miss Nigeria Nyekachi Douglas in the Miss World beauty pageant. You must be thinking that she is so happy because she won. No, she didn’t win the Miss World title but rather her friend Miss Jamaica Toni-Ann Singh won Miss World title.

She is being praised for her heartwarming reaction despite losing Miss World After miss Jamaica, Toni-Ann Singh was named miss world, Douglas jumped up and down and did a happy dance as she congratulated and hugged her friend .

Be happy for other people, regardless of what it is for. It will cost you nothing.

I am blown away with her reaction. And she won my heart.

We should learn from her and be happy in the happiness of others.

How do you prevent a clingy relative constantly coming to your house and wasting time and annoying the children and you?

I’ve dealt with this. For YEARS. My salvation came one day when I was particularly under the gun to get a few real priority tasks around the house and yard done. I was about to leave town and this particular afternoon was my last chance to get things straight before leaving. When said relative showed up, unannounced as per the usual, I said “Great! You’re here” and immediately handed them a lawn bag, went out the door, then hollered back at them to hurry up!

I worked them into the ground…..and kept pressure on with family gossip about THEM as well as promised I’d never turn down their help again….. how I couldn’t wait to get back to town and have them help with winterizing, cleaning gutters, etc.

They never popped in again. That was 17 years ago.

Las Vegas teen expected ‘slap on the wrist’ for hitting, killing cyclist: ‘I’ll be out in 30 days

The teenager who police say intentionally struck and killed a retired police chief in Las Vegas said he would get a “slap on the wrist” after he was taken into custody, the 8 New Now Investigators have learned.

China to build up Huge IC chip factory using a particle accelerator!

Article link HERE

Scientists said this unprecedented technology can overstep US sanctions and make China a new leader in semiconductor chip industry
Plans are now in progress to construct a huge particle accelerator to help researchers put into practice the cutting-edge technology
China is exploring new avenues to bypass restrictions on lithography machines, which are used in the production of microchips. Using particle accelerators to create a novel laser source, researchers are laying the foundation for the future of semiconductor fabrication.

China sets out to develop EUV lithographic ‘cannon’

China is exploring the use of a new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source in making its own lithography facility

China to use EUV in making it’s own IC fab facilities

China is exploring the use of a new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source in making its own lithography facility but technology experts said such an ambitious goal may take many years to achieve.

Over the past few days articles and videos have gone viral on the Internet in China claiming that Tsinghua University has made breakthroughs in steady-state microbunching (SSMB) technology, which can create an EUV light source with a power several times higher than that of ASML’s EUV lithography.

They say the future launch of a SSMB accelerator, nicknamed “lithographic cannon ,” will help China bypass the export controls of the United States and the Netherlands.

These came after Huawei Technologies on August 29 commenced the sale of its flagship smartphone Mate60 Pro, which used a 7 nanometer chip produced with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) N+2 processing technology and ASML deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography.

“We understand that it’s difficult to have more breakthroughs in chip-processing if we follow the current technological path,” a Chongqing-based writer says in an article published by the Huxiao Business Review on September 16. “It will be more feasible to walk on a new path.”

He says Tsinghua’s suggestion to use the SSMB technology in lithography can help China break the technological blockage of ASML.

He adds that what Tsinghua proposes is not a lithography machine but a huge factory that involves a lot of land and workers – resources that China does not lack.

China beats US in top global scientific ‘hot papers’ — those that receive instant recognition — ranking

China has surpassed the US

with the number of papers published and cited in the world’s most influential journals, a new report has found.

China also ranked first on the international papers citation chart in six major disciplines

– agricultural sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, materials science and mathematics. The top spot in mathematics was a new achievement compared with the previous year.

According to the Statistical Data of Chinese S&T Papers released on Wednesday by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC), Chinese researchers

published 1,929 “hot papers” – papers that receive significant numbers of citations soon after publication, usually in a rapidly evolving field such as molecular biology and materials science – accounting for 46 percent of the global total by July.

What was the weirdest wedding you have ever attended?

My live-in nanny Jennifer moved from Oregon to Yuma, Arizona to attend college and take advantage being near her fiancé, Ryan, stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS). Jennifer was energetic and very Mormon, interviewed quite well and had impeccable references. If you are thinking this is all going to turn out bad; you would be 100% wrong. Jennifer was a dream nanny, excellent student, exceptional teacher, my confidant, unapologetically pretty, my foster children loved her and her voice… she could sing like an angel. Jennifer and I are still in touch on social media.

Jennifer moved in with me the fall of 1995 to begin as a nanny. She was so looking forward to caring for Brittney, attending a new semester at Arizona Western College (AWC) and finally spending some time with her fiancé. There was a two-day registration window for her to sign up in January 1996 for the spring semester classes.

On the first day at registration, when she was signing up for a choir class, the teacher informed Jennifer about a music scholarship that would cover all her expenses. Jennifer would have to audition for the scholarship. As I said, Jennifer had the voice of an angel and she easily passed the vocal audition for the scholarship. The kicker; the music scholarship was reserved for Arizona residents (2 years or more) or family members of military personnel only; so, she didn’t qualify. Worse yet, the deadline for qualifying for the scholarship and class registration was the very next day.

Jennifer has never been the type of person to sulk or quit; she was undaunted. She certainly couldn’t qualify for the Arizona resident part; she’d only lived in Arizona for six months. She told her counselor, “If I need to be a military family member, then I will be a military family member by tomorrow.” Jennifer called her fiancé Ryan, told him about the scholarship and announced that they were getting married NOW so she could qualify for the scholarship.

When I came home that day, Jennifer explained about the scholarship and she would need a few hours off to get married. I was absolutely impressed by her resourcefulness. Not once did she address this as a problem; and, she actually reveled in the opportunity the challenge represented.

Ryan, who was still working on converting to Mormonism, was fully on-board with the wedding plan. He and Jennifer could have that big religious wedding for their families later. They just wouldn’t tell them they had gotten married already. Since Ryan was in the Marines, he needed approval from his commanding officer first. Ryan managed to get it done right away and meet Jennifer at Yuma County Clerk’s Office to get their marriage license.

Thank goodness Arizona does not require blood tests; Jennifer is needle-phobic and jokes that a blood test might have been a deal-breaker. Jennifer couldn’t have picked a more perfect town for a quickie marriage. Yuma has quite the reputation for many movie stars flying in from California for a quick marriage; including, Loretta Young, Claudette Colbert, Alice Fay, Mary Astor, Jean Harlow, John Barrymore, Errol Flynn and even cowboy Tom Mix… and more.

The only wedding officiant they could find on such short notice was a judge at City Hall. His docket was full but Jennifer and Ryan somehow convinced that judge to perform the marriage ceremony at 9am the next morning; scholarship and college registration deadline day. I was impressed how quickly Jennifer got it all arranged in a single day. When Jennifer wants to get something done; there is no stopping her.

With no advanced planning for her wedding, Jennifer certainly hadn’t planned for a wedding dress. Ryan could get away with wearing his Marine Corps dress uniform. Jennifer began to go through her everyday-go-to-school outfits and she modeled in front of me, “Do you think this looks wedding-enough?” No matter how resourceful Jennifer had already been; she really had nothing that looked anything like a wedding dress. In my mind; a woman needs a wedding dress on her wedding day. So, I told her I’d buy her a dress as a wedding present. Although it was already late in the day, we immediately went shopping. We stopped near one wedding shop and she motioned for me to keep driving. She insisted, “This is a small event, no need for expensive.” Jennifer got so lucky; she ended up finding the cutest little white lacy wedding dress on a JC Penny’s discount rack for under $40.00. We couldn’t believe it; it was like it was waiting for her and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

On the morning of the 2nd day of college registration, at 9am, she and Ryan stood before the judge at Yuma City Hall and got married. One of Ryan’s friends and I were the witnesses. We took Polaroid insta-print pictures of the ceremony and also a posed-picture with the judge. They had no real wedding rings, but did exchange a couple of Cracker-Jack rings at the ceremony. Ah, such a tribute to young love at its finest.

Now most bright-eyed wedding couples would have a big celebration and then head out for an exciting honeymoon. Well, that’s what’s very different about Ryan and Jennifer. Ryan immediately reported back to duty at the MCAS. Jennifer, still wearing her wedding dress, with a copy of a marriage license in one hand, marriage certificate in the other and backup pictures of the marriage ceremony, drove with all her determination out to AWC to capture her scholarship.

Jennifer’s first stop at the college was the music teacher where she got her scholarship stamped qualified and approved; Victory! Then she stood in line at the registration office, still wearing her wedding dress, and finished registering for her college classes; Victory!

Whenever I hear the expression, “failure is not an option,” it always reminds me of Jennifer. You gotta love Jennifer.

Oh SH*T, NATO just crossed the line and Putin knows it

What is the smallest thing a person ever did for you that impacted your life?

The year is 1974 and I am the junk dealer’s daughter. My brother has become a teenager; my parents spend half their time watching my father slowly die and striving to save him; the rest struggling to survive.

Our TV is off limits, the days are long — especially for an introverted kid, but I am not alone, for the bookmobile comes every other Thursday at 3 pm.

Three years before my mom had walked me down the street and signed me up for the reading program. Read ten books and get a sticker. Get the stickers and you get a prize.

I had rapidly progressed from the small child’s, to the preteen books and last year the bookmobile lady had sent home a permission slip to allow me to read the adult books. This year she scours the county for good books for me.

Smiling, she hands me a stack of ten books, “there are some new westerns and a couple of scifi as well, if you want them.”

My book a day limit met I struggle home with my treasures. Another two weeks of adventures and stories. I don’t feel as alone and my belly doesn’t rumble as much when I’m reading.

Carefully I open the first page . . . the bookmobile lady has saved me once again.

The year is 1994 and now I have a family to support. Going back to college was a good decision. My hard work and bright mind has been recognized and I have risen from student worker to classified staff.

Painfully shy I stay to myself but then another worker stops by and tells me as a union member I should be attending union meetings.

“I just want to fit in,” I think. “I’ll slip into the back and hopefully no one will take much notice of me.”

“Hey Nancy? Is that you Nancy?”

The bookmobile lady is there, older now but just as nice.

“Sit by me and my friends. Hey everyone this is Nancy. When she was little she used to come down with a wagon full of books to exchange when I ran the bookmobile. She read a book a day. Isn’t that cool?”

And just like that I am no longer alone.

The bookmobile lady has saved me again.

What are some commonly accepted double standards?

One of my guy friends was sucker-punched in the face by a girl outside a club.

We both had left the club with a couple friends, and somehow the girl’s bf was talking shit to us because of some misunderstanding. She couldn’t handle getting shit talked back to her by my guy friend, which he was pretty good at.

Even though he wasn’t directly talking to her, she violently hits him. She was bigger than him, but still hit like a bitch. After she hit him she was still in his face, pulling him around with his t-shirt, yelling her voice out, assaulting with all sorts of shit and going completely ballistic on him.

He grabbed her arms to stop her from punching him, and violently swung her away, causing her to crash on the ground head-first.

That was our opening to escape, and him and I started walking away with our friends. But the security guard briskly chases after him, even though the guard wasn’t outside in time to see what had actually happened. Put his hand on his shoulder and told him to get down on the ground as he shrugged off and said don’t touch me. He later called the cops on him.

They arrested him for assaulting the security. A guy recording everything got arrested for obstruction of justice or something. They put him in an individual cell so they couldn’t talk. Never got his info. He went through an extremely long court battle. The woman who started it was never even mentioned, and he had to do some time in jail for aggravated assault.

It’s absolute bullshit that men are instantly vilified and crucified for assaulting a woman under the right circumstances. I’m sure you can see how differently this story would’ve played out had the roles been reversed.

Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home REACTION TEARS

People are tired. They are fed up. They want CHANGE.

In what ways will a 33 trillion national debt affect the United States and ultimately the whole world?

This is a serious figure; it’s a serious number. It bodes a very bleak fate for Americans, and for any nation that holds on to American stocks, treasuries, and assets.

I suppose I can confuse the reader with bafflegab. Speak thoughtfully and with authority using obscure and technical terms, and repeat the American government narrative that all is well.

But it is NOT well.

The United States has yet again had it’s credit rating downgraded to AA+.

And it sounds “great”, but the naming convention is a distraction. The term “AA+” actually means “Significant credit risk, and looming possibility of default”.

If you all were smart, you would be “bailing” out from the United States as fast as you can get your passport stamped.

…

Go to someplace better.

Like Bangladesh, or Laos, or Bolivia.

Somewhere that will accept you and enable you to live peacefully and calmly, with a roof over your head, has decent medical care, and healthy and cheap food. Oh, and one where criminals and the police won’t shoot at you.

I’d normally advise careful consideration be taken, but given the total collapse of American society, basically ANYWHERE on the face of the planet is an improvement over the United States today.

…

There are few options remaining for the United States movement to stop the rapidly approaching “train wreck”…

Raise taxes on Americans to around 80% of income.
Lift all tariffs, so that there would be some slowing of the rate of inflation.
Re-compensate Russia and re-approach with them to get the fuel / gas prices down.

Not much can be done…

Start charging Americans for the right to breathe air.
Sell off (wholesale) United States assets, property, gold, and land.
A massive war of distraction; perhaps a global thermonuclear war with both Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea simultaneously.

Like I said, all the viable options “on the table” will have catastrophic results.

…

All of this is far too gloomy.

It’s time that I set myself to the other side of the table, and have a shot of whiskey with you. Look into your eyes, and hold your hands. It’s time for straight talk.

American society HAS collapsed.
Like a headless chicken, it is still running around the barnyard, but it is accomplishing nothing.
The “government” is non-functional.
The American citizens are riding in the car, drunk on media lies, and the driver is driving the vehicle right over the cliff.

Freefall will be surreal.

And when you all hit the bottom, it will be really ugly.

…

Jump out of the car before it is too late.

Every minute counts.

How I view the US after 12 years living abroad

If the United States freezes China’s assets, how do you think China will react?

What do you think China would do?

They’ll be more than happy to accommodate.

And it would be the most stupid thing for our politicians to do because there’s a world of difference between what we have in China than what the Chinese have here.

How U.S. companies do business: It’s hard to accurately quantify how much business assets they have in China. However, considering that between 1982 and 2021, US direct investments abroad grew from $580 billion to more than $6.4 trillion dollars, it would not be too farfetched to assume that they have at least $2 trillion invested in China. China is their supply chain as well as their major market.

How Chinese compaies do business: They stay home to manufacture and profit on their trade with the world. China does have investments in the U.S. but they’re simply “investments” and not core to their operating businesses; they don’t have major companies operating out of the U.S. whose core business is in the U.S. It wiould be hard put to assume that China’s investment is more than $1 trillion in the U.S.

So who would hurt more if these two countries start freezing each other’s assets?

How about China starting off by just freezing Tesla’s and GM’s Chinese assets? Tesla’s mega factories are worth billions but the loss of sales revenue would be exponentially larger.

And how much would Chinese companies lose if the U.S. froze their investments in farmland in the Mid West?

Russia has Officially Deployed the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM

Russia has introduced a formidable weapon that has raised concerns among its rivals. Moscow has officially deployed the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM known as “Satan II,” for active military use.

This announcement was confirmed by Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, as reported by the Russian state news agency Tass.

According to experts, the RS-28 Sarmat missile has the capability to travel over both the North and South Poles and deliver a warhead weighing up to 10 tonnes to any location on Earth.

This development has amplified concerns about Russia’s nuclear capabilities, particularly in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Steak San Marco

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

1 (2 pound) chuck steak, cut into serving pieces
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
Pepper, to taste
2 tablespoon wine vinegar
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 (16 ounce) can peeled tomatoes
Garlic salt, to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instructions

Arrange meat in a large skillet, cover with onion soup mix and tomatoes.
Sprinkle with oregano, garlic salt, pepper, oil and vinegar.
Simmer covered for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

What is the strangest thing that drives women crazy?

Being too agreeable.

I’ve learned this over 17 years with my wife. I’ve learned to pretend to have opinions about decisions we need to make, even when I’ll be perfectly happy with any of the options, because it annoys her when I don’t care one way or the other.

From little things, like what we should have for dinner, to big things, like what we should name our children, the truth is I was perfectly happy with all of our choices. It wasn’t that I didn’t care, but rather that I saw the positive aspects in all of the possible decisions, and she did seem to care a lot, so I just let her make the decision.

I guess that drives women crazy: being with someone that’s just going to agree with their decisions 99% of the time, because that someone doesn’t really have an opinion.

So I’ve learned to fake it a lot. My wife knows I’m faking it, but she recognizes it as an improvement from the way I used to be.

Her: What should we have for dinner tonight?

Old Matt: Whatever you want. It’s all good to me.

New Matt: Let’s go with Mexican food tonight. Enchiladas? Yes. That’s what I want.

In reality, Old Matt and New Matt both had the same opinion, but New Matt has learned to just pick something and pretend he has a preference for it, to make his wife happy.

Vocal Coach reacts Dio – Last In The Line / Holy Diver Live 1986

A tiny man with the voice and charisma of a giant. Dio was truly one of a kind.

Why do the Chinese not care about the lack of freedom?

In my experience, the “freedoms” that they lack are access to Western (social) media (correction to remove freedoms that they actually have). What they get that westerners don’t, in exchange, is a very safe and modern country.

Safe: In ten years here, I have yet to witness violent crimes. My mother isn’t scared to walk alone at night, and there are no shady people lurking in public places.

Modern: the infrastructure is top notch, 5G is ubiquitous, cheap and really fast (I pay about 50 dollars a year for 40 Gb a month of data on my mobile and crazy download speeds). Cash is a thing of the past, everything related to money is digitized. With the sale app you can unlock a dockless bike (less than 2 rmb per ride), ride a bus, pay utility bills, book tickets, order food… even doing taxes is an easy app.

Many Americans like to quote Benjamin Franklin “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.

But actually, that’s the foundation of society.

Besides, if I compare with France, my home country, Chinese people are more free on their daily life. In France, there are norms and rules about everything, usually in the best interests of corporations. You can’t play music in public places, you need to pay royalties, you can’t change a lightbulb in your office because you need a certification for low level electric work and work in high places… things like street food or street vendors couldn’t exist. In France, you are free* (so long as you abide the 300000 rules). Rules prevent many things “for your own good” but really for big companies. I come from the countryside and many people had to stop butchering ducks at home like they had for generations because they need an official slaughterhouse, which is expensive to build at home. It’s not really that butchering at home is unsanitary, it’s that big slaughterhouse need their money.

In China, you enjoy actual freedom: you are free to sell street food, free to eat it even if it’s not always sanitary, and to go to the toilet because of that, etc. The government usually doesn’t care about people’s lives unless it’s very political. One perfect example is the one child policy. When I was a teacher in college, in a time when the policy was still effective, many students actually had siblings, especially in Guangdong. The government was very strict about that with officials, who were supposed to show a good example, but a lot more lenient with regular people, especially in the country.

So in short, Chinese people in general have a very free daily life, and enjoy a very safe, modern and cheap country. If they have to sacrifice Western media for that, it’s a fair price (besides, there are VPN to get around that limit and that’s another rule the government is lenient about). I enjoy Chinese freedom more than I enjoyed the French one!

Huawei cannot make advanced chip smartphones on a large scale: US

The US is saying that Huawei cannot make smartphones with advanced chip technology in large-scale production. This comment comes amid rising worries about Huawei’s return and harming iPhone sales in China.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday that the U.S. has found no evidence to prove that Huawei can manufacture seven-nanometer chips at scale. Her response draws the attention many of people in the global smartphone industry as everyone is surprised by the return of Huawei’s mysterious chip.

Last month, Huawei unveiled its latest Huawei Mate 60 series in China. The company has not organized any launch event or mega show to introduce this smartphone. Instead, it was sold directly via online and offline sales channels. Aside from its alluring design and camera features, the phone also packs a new Kirin chipset – the Kirin 9000s.

An evaluation from TechInsight shows that the chip is processed with advanced 7nm technology made by China’s SMIC. In some benchmark tests, the chip posts even higher marks than the 5nm Kirin 9000, which is very surprising.

Why all the Ruckus?

In 2019, the US Commerce Department sanctioned Huawei from buying US-made technologies. Therefore, the company can’t purchase or produce new chipsets for smartphones and any of its tech products.

In the early days of sanctions, Huawei stockpiled the chip from various sources. However, the situation became worse as the chip stock declined.

Thereafter, it had to rely on Qualcomm to provide 4G Snapdragon chips for its smartphones. For the past two years, Huawei has been launching phones based on Qualcomm chipsets.

Within the fourth year of sanctions, on August 29, 2023, the Huawei Mate 60 Pro came into play. However, the company does not even mention this chip in promos. But it carries a new Kirin chip, which became a topic of wide discussion.

The return of Kirin also reached the White House and it was previously confirmed that the US is searching for more ‘information’ about the return of the Kirin chip. It seems the US has finally come to the conclusion that Huawei can’t produce advanced chip smartphones and that might be it for the investigations, probably.

Fat TikTok Influencer just said the UNTHINKABLE, wants you to pay for it

Is China’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) a debt trap?

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s ambitious plan to connect Asia, Europe and Africa through a network of infrastructure projects, has been met with skepticism and criticism by some Western countries. They accuse China of using the BRI as a tool to trap developing countries into debt and expand its influence and interests. However, this accusation is based on a false premise and a misunderstanding of the BRI’s nature and purpose. In this essay, I will argue that the BRI is not a debt trap, but a platform for win-win cooperation that benefits both China and its partners.

First of all, the BRI is not motivated by China’s selfish agenda or geopolitical ambition, but by its vision to promote the development of participating countries through enhancing connectivity. The BRI is a public good that China offers to the world, and a platform for international cooperation that is open, transparent and inclusive. The BRI follows the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and respects the sovereignty, independence and diversity of each country.

Secondly, the BRI is not a debt trap, but a debt relief for many developing countries that face financing gaps and infrastructure deficits. The BRI could reduce the costs of trade and increase global real income by 2030. The BRI also helps create jobs, improve living standards and foster social development in participating countries. Moreover, China has always been a responsible lender and borrower, and has taken concrete measures to prevent and resolve debt risks. For example, China has signed debt service suspension agreements with 23 African countries under the G20 framework, and has provided debt relief or cancellation to 16 African countries. China has also established mechanisms for debt sustainability analysis, project evaluation and risk management with relevant international organizations and multilateral development banks.

Thirdly, the BRI is not a zero-sum game, but a positive-sum game that creates opportunities for cooperation and mutual benefit for all parties involved. The BRI is not exclusive or competitive, but complementary and synergistic with other regional and global initiatives. The BRI welcomes the participation of third parties, including developed countries and international organizations, to jointly contribute to global development and governance. The BRI also promotes dialogue and exchange among different civilizations and cultures, and fosters mutual understanding and trust among peoples.

In conclusion, the accusation that China’s BRI is a debt trap is based on a false premise and a misunderstanding. The BRI is not a debt trap, but a platform for win-win cooperation that benefits both China and its partners. The BRI is not motivated by China’s selfish agenda or geopolitical ambition, but by its vision to promote the development of participating countries through enhancing connectivity.

The BRI is not a zero-sum game, but a positive-sum game that creates opportunities for cooperation and mutual benefit for all parties involved. Therefore, instead of viewing the BRI with suspicion or hostility, it is more constructive and rational to view it with openness and confidence, and to join hands with China to build a community of shared future for mankind.

The Rise and Fall of America’s Middle Class

America is bleeding out. Slowly, steadily. And it’s a self-inflicted wound. When NAFTA was signed, it set in motion decades of decline that have crippled American industry, gutted American towns, and robbed American citizens of their birthright – the simple dignity of providing for themselves and their families. But there’s a road back. Starting with denim blue jeans.

A tusk-less mastodon

When I was a young boy, my father would semi-frequently take us all to local museums. I really appreciated that. It was, and still is, some of my most favorite memories.

On one such visit my father bought me a small bronze mastodon. It was magnificent, but tiny and I loved it a lot.

I loved it because of the great long tusks. It looked so cool, and I loved to hold it in my hand. It was one of my favorite nick-nacks, and I set it proudly on my brick-a-brack shelf in my bedroom.

One day, I came home from school and discovered that my little treasure was tusk-less.

You see, my father was afraid that I might hurt myself with the tusks, so he sawed them off.

I don’t know where he got that “hair up his ass” about me hurting myself. After all, he got me a cub-scout pocket knife two years earlier. What’s this shit about pointy tusks?

Anyways, someone influenced him. Bastard.

…

My little story for today. Take what you will from it. Be careful of the poison that seeps into the ears of others. Who knows what damage it would do…

Today…

Western powers are falling behind in technology, held back by systemic rot

The West’s terminal technology problem

Alex Krainer

Sep 24, 2023

Western powers are falling behind in the development of new technologies, particularly in the military domain. This is partly caused by the perverse system of incentives that suffocates research and development work, but also by a system of education that’s producing less and less technical, scientific and engineering talent. From the strategic point of view, this is a critical problem, as I elaborated in an earlier Substack, “Of Empires and Technology.”

Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Pie

Bacon Tomato Pie with Gluten Free Option

Ingredients

12 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Chopped onion to taste
4 eggs
1 cup Bisquick
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Butter a 9-inch pie pan.
Layer bacon crumbs on bottom and cheese on top.
Beat remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over top.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes.
Garnish with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and bacon.

Did Israel commit a war crime by turning off its supply of electricity and water to Gaza?

Yes

Absolutely

Article 33 of the Geneva Convention says so

Cutting of living essentials to Civilians is a violation of Article 33

However there are ways to spin this and claim this is NOT a collective punishment but a strategy for war

Israel may say, we are targeting the HAMAS but they hide among civilians and thus we have no choice

Israel may say “The 1949 Amendment was inserted when the world didn’t know about Terrorism of this type”

Israel may point out to the British inplementing the same violations in Belfast from 1963 to 1984 (Northern Ireland) or Malaya in 1955

They may point out US Violations in Vietnam between 1968–1972

So sadly today, the winners dictate the laws and their interpretation

At the 8th Eastern Economic Forum held earlier this month in Vladivostok, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about the development of a new generation of weapons: “If one looks into the security sphere, new physical principles weapons will ensure the security of any country in the near historic perspective. We understand this very well and are working on it.”

The kinds of weapons Putin was referring to include particle beams, laser, ultrasonic, radio-frequency and electromagnetic systems. That sounds quite futuristic – was Putin telling tall tales? When he announced that Russia had developed a variety of undetectable hypersonic weapons back in 2018, many in the West thought that he was bluffing and we heard much mocking and crowing: “the West outspends Russia 10 to 1, the Russians can’t possibly bla, bla, bla…” And like the Chinese, the Russians are inferior and incapable of innovating, they can’t think strategically, etc.

Fast forward to today: the Russian forces have successfully deployed hypersonic Kinzhal and Zircon missiles in Ukraine, delivering pinpoint strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and military facilities, the crowing and the gloating about all the ways in which the Russians are inferior to us westerners has died down a bit. Still, we can’t just admit that Russian weapons systems are superior to the western arsenal, so the western press, relying on Ukrainian sources, claimed that Ukraine’s air defenses manage to intercept and shoot down Russian hypersonic missiles.

That would actually quite spectacular since NATO officials themselves have corroborated what Putin had said: that the missiles are undetectable and were not picked up by western radar systems. Either the Ukrainians have managed to develop targeting solutions very fast, using binoculars, or they’re lying. Whatever the case, Putin’s latest announcement did not trigger much mocking and crowing this time around. In fact, some western analysts now concede that Russia’s military technology has eclipsed that of the west.

The significance of hypersonic weapons

But how can this even be possible if for decades now, western “defense” spending outstripped that of Russia by a factor of 10 or even more? In a recent article titled, “Hypersonic Missiles Are Game-Changers, and America Doesn’t Have Them,” the Wall Street Journal explored why the US and the West have fallen behind.

“For more than 60 years,” says WSJ, “the U.S. has invested billions of dollars in dozens of programs to develop its own version of the [hypersonic weapons] technology. Those efforts have either ended in failure or have been cancelled before having a chance to succeed. … This situation is raising alarms.”

Last March I explained why hypersonics are a radical game-changer in my Substack article titled, “Why hypersonic weapons change everything“. Indeed, hypersonic systems are regarded as so critical that in 2021, US National Defense Authorization Act explicitly made the development of these systems a priority in US defense spending.

Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal didn’t provide any convincing explanation for why western powers are falling behind in development of new technologies. It also didn’t explore the fact that they even fall behind in production and maintenance of legacy systems. As NATO’s Admiral Robert Bauer lamented this week,

“Today the chiefs of defense expressed their concern that across the alliance, production capacity is lagging behind. Delivery times are moving to the right [they’re getting longer] and prices for equipment and ammunition are shooting up. Right now we are paying more and more for exactly the same, and that means that we cannot make sure that the increased defense spending actually leads to more security.”

Bauer’s statement is a clear admission that defense spending does not translate into better defense. He also said that, “Our liberal economies are not apt at creating the prioritization that is so desperately needed right now.”

The problem with incentives

There is a great deal to ponder in all this, but it is perhaps Admiral Bauer’s last statement that provides the most food for thought. Western powers do spend massively on the military, but most of that money is squandered, lubricating the wheels of corruption in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). Spending the money (i.e. allocating it to defense contractors), is much more important than actually developing new systems and the upkeep of legacy systems.

In the United States, the MIC consists of publicly traded corporations whose market value is determined by how profitable they are. Today, about half of the Defense Department’s (DOD) $850+ billion budget is spent with the DOD’s top five “prime contractors” who, after decades of consolidation have all but eliminated all competition (in the 1990s the DOD had more than 50 such “prime contractors”).

Given that research and development (R&D) is a cost which cuts into profitability of these very powerful contractors, they’re incentivized to reduce it as much as possible to maximize the profiteering. The more profits, the higher the stock price and the higher the executives’ bonuses. On the other hand, cutting the R&D and skimping on the essential work of technology development means that a lot of real talent and promising projects get axed even as massive pork-barrel programs like Lockheed Martin’s F35 Joint Strike Fighter drain trillions of taxpayer funds. The F35 is now more than 15 years behind schedule and for its $1.7 trillion in expenditure, the program has delivered no meaningful military advantage.

Meanwhile, the lobbying arm of the MIC makes sure that such spending remains protected behind the flag and a veil of patriotism. Military generals who go along are rewarded and those who challenge the system get sidelined. That is how our wonderful “democratic system” sources top talent and delivers bestest solutions. The problem is that the top talent it draws are MBAs, lawyers and lobbyists, not scientists, engineers and systems developers. The actual military capabilities of the United States only receive lip service necessary to keep the American public distracted and unable to identify the root of the problem which is corroding the competitiveness of American industries in a very real way.

Losing talent

However, there may be deeper problems blunting the West’s technology edge, including education and cultivation of skills that are required for the challenge. Today, fewer than 20% of Americans choose STEM degrees in universities (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as more and more talent gravitates toward law and business degrees or humanities like gender studies.

According to the UNESCO, in countries like Tunisia and Malaysia as many as 37.9% and 43.5% of students (respectively), choose STEM degrees. In Germany, UAE, Belarus and India about 35% of students choose STEM degrees. While it’s true that western nations can overcome the shortage of human potential by attracting foreign talent, more and more nations today offer great career opportunities and compelling work to young professionals, so western nations face tougher competition for talent.

Ignorance is strength?

There’s also the problem of rigor in education, which has gone very loose in the West, and it is even affecting the prevailing cultural environment. Today for example, if you say that there are only two genders, your career could be finished that day. But if you insist that feelings matter more than facts and that 2+2 = 5, you could have a stellar career and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation might even fund your cause with tens of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, it is the Chinese youth that are sweeping the medals in one math competition after another. They may not know how to count genders, but they seem better prepared to solve practical problems.

Wife Self-Deletes After Husband Discovers All 4 Kids Aren’t His

I can feel the love in this gentleman’s heart. I had the same for the son I raised for over 2 years and found out he wasn’t mine. It takes a toll on your sanity. I was down for years afterwards and gave up on women for around 10 years, and still couldn’t ever trust another woman for the rest of my life. Which is a shame because I have a lot of love in my heart to give, but western women are just horrible. No accountability at all for anything. I will definitely be saying prayers for this guy and his kids

What was the strangest part of your divorce?

When I married my ex, he had an 18 month old boy. I loved him as my own. I raised him for 5 years before my ex and I divorced. It was an awful marriage and my ex was never around. The boy’s mother showed up to visit him maybe once every 2–3 months. I had to stay with my parents while I was getting the divorce. They hated my ex and were very controlling of me. It was a very small community and everyone knew everyone.

In the courtroom (ex didn’t show up), the judge asked where my son was. I responded that he was my step-child and I didn’t have any rights to him. The judge said “He IS your son. He loves you as his own mother. In fact, he loves you more than his own mother.”

I responded that I couldn’t have him. The judge said “Do you want him? I can make it to where you’ll never have to deal with his biological parents. He needs you!” I thought about it and knew that my parents would have a fit. I declined the offer and cried the rest of the day. My mother told me they would never let me stay with them with my boy.

This horrid story does have a happy ending! My mother called me one day out of the blue. She said “Someone knocked on our door and when I opened it, the handsomest young man was standing there. He said “Is my Mama here?”. She invited him in and they had a wonderful visit. She gave him my phone number and he called me! That was 30 years ago. My boy came to live with us at the age of 17. He stayed until he met and married a wonderful young lady. We have the best relationship ever! I have 5 grandchildren from him and 3 great grandchildren! I love my boy so much!

UPDATE: I am very surprised by the responses to this. Please understand. I was very young, had no job and no way to support myself and a child. My parents were very controlling and were afraid my ex would use the child to worm his way back into my life.

I Say: Let Them Kill Each Other

I am 61 years old and for much of my life, I have seen the Arab/Israeli hatred for each other manifest in tragedy after tragedy, fight after fight, war after war and frankly I’m sick of it. I say, let them fight it out to the death. Right now.

It’s not like we didn’t try. We did. We spent literally hundreds of billions of dollars trying to educate, placate, pacify, please, or even coerce, both sides into behaving like normal human beings. It has all failed.

You see, the mistake we’ve made for decades, is treating these Barbarians as if they are civilized people. They aren’t. Neither side!

Their never-ending fighting, bickering, and warring has been going on since before Jesus Christ walked the earth two thousand or so years ago. And these Barbarians — and that’s what they are – have hated each other, deceived each other, fought each other, and killed each other for that entire time.

As the world got smaller thanks to modern travel and innovation, both sides recruited others into their age-old hatred. The Jews with money, the Arabs with oil and the wealth it generates.

It’s NEVER going to stop, unless we in the rest of the world, step back, and tell them both: Go at it. Go ahead, slaughter each other. We don’t care anymore. We’re tired of your bullshit. We’re tired of paying you to be nice to each other. We’re tired of hearing how you’re both always being wronged by the other. We’re tired of you. We don’t want YOU or your bullshit in our lives anymore.

So go fight it out. Kill each other. Fight until you’re ALL dead for all we care. But if any of you survive, we will be ready to have good relations and do business with whoever wins.

You see, it’s simple: the world will know absolutely no peace unless and until the two sides are allowed to slaughter each other.

I don’t care if the entire Middle East runs knee-deep in blood. We in the United States, and the rest of the civilized world, should do absolutely nothing.

Both sides are big talkers. Both sides are tough guys. OK, let’s see how that works out when big brother America is no longer there to influence the outcome.

Let’s see how each side does when the checks written by their big mouths, arrogant posturing, and intransigent positions, have to actually be cashed by their bodies as they fight it out to the death.

Your mouths have been writing checks that your bodies can’t cash. It’s time to ante-up and fight it out once and for all.

Go ahead and slaughter each other. The rest of us just don’t give a shit anymore.

Oh, and if any Americans or Europeans are so incensed at the situation that THEY think WE should be involved, then THOSE PEOPLE in the US and in Europe should head on over to whichever side they support, and offer to fight along side them.

Let them get killed to. This way the rest of us can have peace.

Shelter cat uses sweetest meow to get adopted

He is so sweet.

What incident has traumatized you for good?

Sorry to go anonymous, but I never feel comfortable enough to reveal my name.

I was about 7 years old and my sister was 5, we just came home from Halloween and were sitting on our carpet in our room, dividing our candies in equal parts (but mostly eating all of them).

I remember my sister suddenly stopped talking, looked at me in the eyes without saying a word, with her eyes wide-open, pointing at her throat.

She was suffocating and I started panicking. I was taught in school what to do so I put myself behind her and started pushing above her stomach, but as you can imagine I didn’t have much strength as a 7 years old.

My mum, whom I had been desperately calling from the beginning, rushed in our bedroom and started taking my place in doing the “move” but nothing was working. I was sitting in our carpet, helpless and in full panic mode, watching my sister turn more and more blue as seconds went by. I really thought I would have seen her die in front of me and I couldn’t bear to look. I shouted “sorry, sorry, I will always love you” and closed myself in the toilet, crying and shouting as if the world was going to end.

After maybe 2 minutes, but it could as well have been much less (Time always seems stretched in situations like these) I hear the bedroom go silent. I hear my mom stopping to try. And I hear… breathing. Heavy breathing.

I’m scared that if I go in the bedroom I will see her dead, but I gather my courage and exit the bathroom.

Turns out my mum had grabbed her by the feet in hope to let gravity do its work, as a last hope move… and it worked. She had inhaled a whole hard candy and it was stuck in her throat, slowly suffocating her.

The candy was still on the carpet when I entered the room, and there was my sister, on the ground, slowly going back to a normal color.

I hugged her so tight that she almost lost her breath again, but I was the happiest person in the whole world. That time I really thought I would have lost her.

From that day on, I always check if she bites the candy as soon as she puts them in her mouth. When she lost her back childhood teeth, I would take her candy and break it into little pieces with my knife, and then give it to her. She sometimes got annoyed but she will never know the fear I felt that day.

15 years later and I’m still as attached to my sister as I was that day. I still secretly check if she bites her candies. It truly traumatized me for good. I never want to lose her.

WSJ Joins Neocons To Instigate War On Iran

Updated below.

The neo-conservatives want to blame Iran for the current war in Palestine/Gaza.

They have for years tried to instigate war against it. Now they again see a chance. But its not a big one – yet.

Yossi Melman is a very well connected Israeli author:

Yossi Melman @yossi_melman – 5:33 UTC · Oct 9, 2023

IDF spokeperson Brig-General Danny Hagari said that there is no indication of an Iranian involvement in the war in Gaza.

—

Biden administration scrambles to deter wider Mideast conflict – Washington Post – Oct 8 2023

Asked whether Hamas may have acted in partnership with Iran to disrupt the effort to broker a Saudi deal, Blinken said “that could have been part of the motivation. Look, who opposes normalization? Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran.”

But, he said, “we have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack.”

—

Fear not, say the neocons, we still have the Wall Street Journal to carry water for us:

Iran Helped Plot Attack on Israel Over Several Weeks (archived) – Wall Street Journal – Oct 8 2023

DUBAI—Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.

Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions—the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War—those people said.

Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said.

WSJ authors in Dubai(!) have access to “senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah”?

Both groups are notorious for their secrecy and their senior leadership is usually hidden away. Those facts alone are enough to debunk the report as nonsense. But the WSJ authors continue:

“We don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account,” said a U.S. official of the meetings.

A European official and an adviser to the Syrian government, however, gave the same account of Iran’s involvement in the lead-up to the attack as the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.

Asked about the meetings, Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, said the group planned the attacks on its own. “This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision,” he said.

A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the Islamic Republic stood in support of Gaza’s actions but didn’t direct them.

“The decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous and unwaveringly aligned with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people,” the spokesman said. “We are not involved in Palestine’s response, as it is taken solely by Palestine itself.”

Three direct rejections by official sources of the WSJ claims get countered with an anonymous ‘European official’ and a likewise anonymous ‘adviser to the Syrian government’.

It is like the authors don’t even try to sound believable:

A direct Iranian role would take Tehran’s long-running conflict with Israel out of the shadows, raising the risk of broader conflict in the Middle East. Senior Israeli security officials have pledged to strike at Iran’s leadership if Tehran is found responsible for killing Israelis.

The IRGC’s broader plan is to create a multi-front threat that can strangle Israel from all sides—Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the north and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members and an Iranian official.
…
Israel has blamed Iran, saying it is behind the attacks, if indirectly. “We know that there were meetings in Syria and in Lebanon with other leaders of the terror armies that surround Israel so obviously it’s easy to understand that they tried to coordinate. The proxies of Iran in our region, they tried to be coordinated as much as possible with Iran,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said Sunday.

There is however little evidence for the Israeli assertion:

Leading the effort to wrangle Iran’s foreign proxies under a unified command has been Ismail Qaani, the leader of the IRGC’s international military arm, the Quds Force.

Qaani launched coordination among several militias surrounding Israel in April during a meeting in Lebanon, The Wall Street Journal has reported, where Hamas began working more closely with other groups such as Hezbollah for the first time.

Hamas and Hezbollah have cooperated for decades. During the war on Syria some Hamas members took the side of the ‘moderate rebels’. They taught them how to dig large tunnels, a technique they themselves had once learned from Hizbullah:

Abu Musaab, a leader in Ahrar al-Sham, told the pro-uprising satellite television station Orient News that the Syrian militant group received tutorial videos from Gazans showing them how to repair collapsing tunnels.

“The ground here became damp and began to fall on us…and some of our youth were trapped inside. So we spoke to those with expertise, our brothers in Gaza, may God reward their good deeds,” Abu Musaab was quoted as saying.

“We consulted them regarding the problem and they advised us to bring in wood (plates), sending us video segment showing us how they do it and we replicated that,” Abu Musaab added.
…
And in June 2013, the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported that “sources close to Hezbollah and the Syrian regime claim that Hamas had a role to play in the battles of Qusayr, [where tunnels] … had been dug using small Iranian devices that Hezbollah had transferred to Hamas.”

“Some of the explosives, they added, were found to contain electronic chips that Hamas had acquired from Iran and Hezbollah,” the Lebanese paper said.

After the war in Syria was decided in the governments favor, Hamas slowly found its way back into the resistance camp. Consultations between Hezbullah and Hamas have been constant since. Back to the WSJ:

Representatives of these groups have met with Quds Force leaders at least biweekly in Lebanon since August to discuss this weekend’s attack on Israel and what happens next, they said. Qaani has attended some of those meetings along with Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, Islamic Jihad leader al-Nakhalah, and Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’s military chief, the militant-group members said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian attended at least two of the meetings, they said.

This, however, is clearly no believable. Amir-Abdollahian is a professional diplomat, not a security official. While he has been deeply involved in political issues regarding Palestine he is unlikely to have been involved in any top-secret operational planning.

Also biweekly meetings between Qaani, Nasrallah and other high ranking resistance leaders are unlikely to have ever happened. Each such meeting would be a security nightmare.

The planning for the recent Hamas operation must have taken years not just the few month since August. While the WSJ lets it seem that there is operational coordination between the various resistance groups their real cooperation is on a way more strategic level.

Each group in the resistance axis has its own plans and goals. That does not exclude strategic cooperation, but not on the detail level of fighting:

Egypt, which is trying to mediate in the conflict, has warned Israeli officials that a ground invasion into Gaza would trigger a military response from Hezbollah, opening up a second battlefront, people familiar with the matter said. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire briefly on Sunday.
…
The Iranian official said that if Iran were attacked, it would respond with missile strikes on Israel from Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, and send Iranian fighters into Israel from Syria to attack cities in the north and east of Israel.

While there is no denying that Iran, Hezbullah, Hamas and others consult with each other on a high level, any deeper cooperation, training or assistance is unlikely to still exist. It is each on their own, but with a common big goal in mind.

Update – 14:40 UTC

Of interest:

Andrew MacGregor Marshall @zenjournalist – 11:54 UTC · Oct 9, 2023

The main reporter on this story, @summer_said, has a history of dishonesty and inventing stories. I fired her from Reuters in 2008 for this reason. I’m surprised that the @WSJ has hired her and is publishing her stories that are clearly bogus.

Posted by b on October 9, 2023 at 11:20 UTC | Permalink

The problem with going fast…

Paradoxically, even technology itself may have contributed to the slowing of progress in the west through the ubiquity of software tools that make problem solving much easier than it used to be. I recently came across this little chart on social media. I must say, I felt the sting of its message personally.

When I was in high school in Croatia, our training in mathematics and science was very extensive: we had 9 hours of math per week and 6 hours of physics in addition to chemistry, biology, information technologies, software programming and more. It was a lot of work – so much so that when I came to the United States and enrolled in AP (advanced placement) math as a high school senior, I found the program very easy and aced it without even trying very hard.

By today however, I’m definitely at the “spreadsheet” stage of life: without Excel I think I’d be lost and I fear that my own conceptual thinking abilities and math problem solving skills have atrophied disconcertingly.

In the west, where fast and efficient problem solving is prized over conceptual thinking and inventiveness, more and more scientists and engineers work in that last, “spreadsheet” phase, quickly working out solutions to problems, perhaps at the expense of more creative, conceptual “out of the box” thinking.

The importance of pencil-and-paper work

In places like Russia and China, that broad-based thinking and working with pencil and paper is still very much prized and their educational institutions continue to insist on it (or at least have done so in the recent past). Of course, it would be difficult to assess how creative Russian or Chinese engineers or software developers are compared to their western counterparts, but beyond leapfrogging the west in development of hypersonic weapons, I came across an interesting case that speaks to this gap.

Namely, in 2009 Goldman Sachs pressed charges for theft of intellectual property against one of their software developers, a Russian man named Sergey Aleynikov. In 2013, Michael Lewis wrote a fascinating story about that case in Vanity Fair in which he revealed that more than half of Goldman Sachs’ software developers were Russian – an extremely interesting bit of information, especially in view of the notorious rigor which Goldmans is known to apply in recruiting their quants and software engineers.

Now, given that Russian software engineers don’t constitute half the population of the US, either Goldman Sachs liked to have a lot of Russians lurking around, or it could be that they found them better prepared to tackle tough problem solving. The latter possibility might also explain Russia’s ability to develop the Zircons, Kinzhals and Avantgard missiles as well as weapons based on new physical principles. Here’s how Aleynikov himself explained the difference between Russian and American education:

“In Russia, time on the computer was measured in minutes,” he says. “When you write a program, you are given a tiny time slot to make it work. Consequently we learned to write the code in a way that minimized the amount of debugging. And so you had to think about it a lot before you committed it to paper. . . . The ready availability of computer time creates this mode of working where you just have an idea and type it and maybe erase it 10 times. Good Russian programmers, they tend to have had that one experience at some time in the past: the experience of limited access to computer time.”

Indeed, clicking “run,” then deleting and retyping code is no substitute for doing a lot of thinking, which is absolutely indispensable to building high quality, reliable solutions and genuinely useful innovations.

My own experience with ‘pencil-and-paper’ R&D

My own experience in developing the I-System trading model confirmed its importance. In 1999, when my team and I built the model’s prototype, it turned out to be a maintenance nightmare and it was clear that I needed to hire serious software talent to turn the prototype into a reliable tool. For a few months in 1999 I worked with an American software engineer, David B., who had recently graduated from Stanford University. Although David was extremely bright, he was literally working in the debug mode almost nonstop.

He was able to maintain the software and fix bugs as they crept up, but the code itself was growing into a patchwork of fixes and workarounds. I began to worry that sooner or later it would become unmaintainable and in 2000 I decided to hire an older engineer from Croatia, Boris Brec. Boris was old school and he insisted on extensive pencil-and-paper foundation work. He pretty much told me that he wouldn’t lift a finger until I had drafted the full set of specifications explaining exactly how the model worked, including schematic process-flow drawings of all the routines under the model’s hood.

The process of upgrading the I-System from the prototype to its ‘industrial’ version was extraordinarily labor-intensive, costly, and it took four years to complete. That was the cost of quality, which included the tradeoff between diving headlong into trading and continuing with the fastidious development work, going over every algorithm with a fine tooth-comb and testing everything ad nauseum. I was only able to do this because I managed to wrest full control and ownership over the project from my superiors.

Had the costs of project’s development impacted someone’s bonus, the firm’s profitability or market cap, it would have been axed and never lived to see its upgraded version. Fighting to keep the project alive and adequatly funded was a struggle at every turn. For me it is easy to see how frequently great and promising projects must die over money, missed deadlines and organizational politics.

Quality solutions, breakthroughs require abundant time and resources

The difference between I-System’s prototype and the upgrade was the change from nonstop maintenance patchwork with David to the flawlessly functioning, zero-maintenance machine put together by Boris. It was worth the four years and every euro spent on it: quality is the gift that keeps on giving, not only in having the system that functions as intended, glitch free for 20 years, but also in having the peace of mind, never fearing whether all the patchwork maintenance introduced new hidden bugs into the edifice.

The experience has taught me that this kind of work MUST begin with pencil and paper, that it must be methodical, that it must be given adequate time and resources, and that if we want to achieve quality solutions we must be willing to bear the associated costs. Where the system of incentives generates pressures to cut corners, take shortcuts and rush out half-baked solutions, it will ultimately suffocate creative work and kill many quality solutions before they had the chance to prove their merit.

Programs like supersonic weapons are only symptoms of self-inflicted systemic headwinds that are now slowing the advancements of science and technology in the Western world. A reform – nay, an overhaul of the system – will have to look at those perverse incentives as well as our educational and governance systems. This won’t be easy, especially as the western nations have deliberately seeded their political and academic structures with ideologues and zealots who are far too busy policing social justice, hate speech and gender equality to worry about the real future challenges faced by our societies.

What is something weird you read or saw today?

Was looking at one of my wife’s old cookbooks, for some reason and found the old lore and wisdom in the book fascinating. It’s hard to imagine people believed these things back then.

Like these:

‘When frogs holler, rain will soon foller.’ That could help my weatherman who has no idea when it’s going to rain.

‘Anyone born when the mulberries are ripe have a good chance of being red-headed.’ That one has got to be true, right?

Here’s an old insult. ‘His family is like potatoes. All that is good of them is underground!’

‘Corn is not ready to grind into meal until it is dry as an old maid’s kiss’ ouch.

‘We huckleberry gatherers don’t like to admit it, but what we call huckleberries are actually mountain blueberries.’ “I’m your huckleberry,” Doc Holliday.

‘To take the last piece of bread on a plate foretells rain.’

If a piece of buttered bread drops on the floor butter side down, it will rain soon.’

“We’re eatin’ the long corn now,” meant one was finally financially well off. No wonder it’s raining so much in my area. Happens to me all the time.

‘Corn must be knee high by the fourth of July.’

‘Onion skin very thin, mild winters coming in. Onion skin thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.’

I love this one. ‘When you are tired of life and all its busy scenes; just run to the garden and hide behind the beans.’ God I wish I had a garden sometimes!

‘Always bake a cake when the sun is going up or it will fall.’ The cake or the sun?

‘A cow with its tail to the west, weather the best. A cow with it’s tail to the east, makes weather the least. ’THATS what my weatherman needs, a cow. He’s always wrong.’

‘If a bat flies into your head, you’ll soon become bald.’ Now we know what happened to The Rock and John Travolta to name a few.

Okay guys, here it is. A cure for baldness. ‘Consume the gall of a lizard, fresh mouse meat or mole’s blood.’

‘To prevent lockjaw, ‘If a needle is stuck in a foot, put fat meat next to the puncture then a penny over that.’ I’ll try that next time. The hell with a tetanus shot.

To cure a blister, ‘Kiss a red headed fellow.’ I’ll bet a lot of red headed guys were hanging around women sweeping the floor.

A good spring tonic? Anvil dust mixed with cream. Yum.

To cure asthma. ‘Stick the dried skin of a mole to the chest with honey.’ Did people really do that back then?

Mock cherry pie? Use cranberries and raisins.’ No one will tell the difference. Especially if they’ve never had cherry pie before. Then make them a sandwich of mock chicken.

To prevent mumps. ‘take a chip of wood from a log, and rub it on your jaw and throat every day.’ And see how many girls you’ll meet. None maybe? “Watch out for Ned, he’s off his rocker. Keeps rubbing a hunk of wood on his jaw and throat!” “Eeeeuuuw” “Here he comes! RUN!”

In the mid 1700s, women shaved their foreheads and eyebrows so they could press on mouse skin eyebrows. Girls, don’t you wish you lived back then. Save a lot of money on makeup.

That’s all folks!

Why do so many Chinese students study abroad? Are there schools colleges, science centers, institutes, and science universities in China? Does China have schools, colleges, and institutes?

Hi, Jain Patel. Thanks for the very interesting question.

No, China doesn’t have any school colleges, science centers, institutes, or science universities.

We get a couple of years of primary school, but after that, we all have to go and get tracker microchips implanted at the base of our skulls and start working in the Factories.

These Factories are run by our alien overlords.

Here are some pictures I took on my way to work.

These are the “Prime Sentinels” that guard the Factories.
If you are late for work, you will get stomped on.

The vast majority of us live in the mountains.

We have to bore holes into the mountains, and we live in those holes.

With a year’s salary, we get to buy a house/bedroom.
I say house/bedroom because the house is literally just one room – your bedroom.
That room is your house, and it’s also your bedroom.

Here’s a picture I took of my house/bedroom.

The view’s not too bad.
Especially in the morning.

Here’s a pic of my neighbors’ house/bedrooms.
These guys live just below me:

The pay for working in the factories isn’t that great.
I get paid USD 0.01 a day.
If I work overtime, I get paid USD 0.001 an hour.

Thankfully, the soil in the mountains is pretty good and we can grow a lot of vegetables in our allocated community gardens.

Here is the community garden allocated to the people who live on my side of the mountain.
Everyone gets to take home a small piece of broccoli for dinner.

Oh, and because we don’t have electricity in China, the three most common modes of travel are:

(1) Horse:

(2) Boat:

(3) Sword (powered by qi):

Some of the richer peeps own aero-cycles.
These are tiny little bike/seating platforms powered by qi:

Since there’s no electricity, we have to find creative ways to spend our weekends.

Going to the local monastery to hone our martial skills is one option:

As is hiking in the hinterlands:

In the evenings, some of us enjoy playing mahjong at the local park.

A long time ago, a race of giants used to live in the mountains.
For some reason, they enjoyed cutting down the many giant trees that dotted China’s many mountain ranges.
The tree stump you see below is just one of many giant tree stumps you’ll find up here in the mountains.

It makes for a great mahjong table.

Conclusion (a.k.a. TLDR):

No, Jain Patel , China doesn’t have any school colleges, science centers, institutes, or science universities.

Now you know the reason why!

Officer’s wife says words to this effect: “You shall address me by my husband’s rank.” Isn’t this impersonation of a military officer? And what legal consequences would there be? I would assume UCMJ can’t apply to non-mil.

As a United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, I went to work one fine morning, to discover a young lady laying down on the horn of her car at 0730 in the morning! Dressed like they were going to the beach?

She had some of her Girlfriends with her.

I approached her, and inquired what the problem was, and pointed out to her that she was blaring her car horn in front of an enlisted barracks FULL of people who worked 2nd Shift and the Graveyard Shift that needed their rest and sleep. Military Police, Watch Standards, Cooks, Bakers, Corpsmen (Medics) etc.

She responded with, do you know who my Daddy is? Pointing towards the Blue Base vehicle sticker on thr lefthand , lower windshield. Sticker with THE STAR!

(Meaning her Whoever Whatever was a Commissioned Officer) !

And laid down on the car horn again!!!!

I called the MP’s on her and reported her! And went to work (It was on a Sunday) Forgot, all about it.

Next morning? (A Monday) I had the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina walk into my office with his daughter apologizing to me!!! A Marine Staff Sergeant?

Disabled cat was about to be euthanized. This woman took her home.

Epic Games laid off over 800 of its employees on Thursday.

The official number is 830, but the actual number could be well into 900 because of various legal considerations outside the US and Canada.

And I’m one of those 16% unlucky bastards who got screwed over.

I already signed my severance package, so I can’t say much about this other than this is such a shitshow. Layoffs are, unfortunately, very common in the video game industry, to the point that it’s almost expected. But the way Epic did it, it’s just so … anyway, Like I said, if I want my severance, I better shut the fuck up about it.

I was in shock on Thursday when I got the news. It was so sudden. I got an email around 8 am in the morning (PST), and within half an hour, all my company access was shut down/removed. I get up early because I work East Coast hours. A lot of my West Coast colleagues don’t start their day until 10 a.m., and they arrive at the company with everything shut down and no longer have a job. I had to reach out to my co-workers via text because Slack is no longer accessible. I imagine, if I were working at the office, this would be the time when the security escort all of us out of the building.

I guess when you have to cut 900 people, you have to be quick and brutal about it.

900 people, that’s the size of a large company. Poof, gone.

Thinking back, this is actually the first time since I started working in video games that I got laid off. For over a decade, I dodged every layoff from every company I was with until my luck finally ran out. You play the game company layoff Russian roulette, there’s always a bullet waiting for you sooner or later.

All things considered, severance is generous. We have 60 days of pay from the WARN Act and then 4 months of severance. So, all together, I’m covered for 6 months until I need to dip into my savings.

After the initial shock, anger, and fear, and frustration, and anxiety, I actually started to feel better about it. I went to bed that evening, realizing I didn’t need to get up at the crack of dawn every day from now on. My brain suddenly has some extra processing power because I don’t need to think about work-related stuff anymore. It’s funny. I found myself habitually thinking about the stuff I was doing before I got laid off, the Tableau project I was working on, the AirTable updates I needed to do… And I realized, wait, none of that matters anymore. When I was working, there is a portion of my brain never stopped thinking about work. It’d be like a program running in the background, taking up memory and CPU. Even if I’m on vacation or holiday, that program is always running. I can’t shut it down.

Now, it’s gone. And I feel lighter with an odd sense of emptiness.

I realized this is my opportunity to take a step back and think about what I want with my life. Do I even want to go back to the video game industry? Or do I want to try something new? I’m already 43. If I want to make a pivotal change in my life, this is perhaps the last time I still have the energy to do it.

Maybe I could start a podcast! LOL.

On the bright side, Epic might screw us over, but the people who are laid off and people who are still working for the company are so supportive. I’ve already joined several slack/discord spaces organized by Ex-Epic folks. We vent about the layoff, and we pull our resources to help with job searching and networking. I have multiple people reaching out to me with tips and potential job leads. Recruiters are already sending me emails hours after I put on the “Open to Work” sticker on LinkedIn. The general consensus on social media is overwhelmingly supportive of employees who recently lost their jobs. So all of these is really nice, makes me feel less isolated and shitty about this whole thing.

And of course, there’s Baldur’s Gate 3. I just finished my first run as a Warlock. My Tav saved the World from the big bad. The game landed on a positive note, with Tav and Astarion going on their next adventure together, even though I couldn’t give every single companion their own happy ending.

I immediately started my second run as Dark Urge oathbreaker Paladin Tav. I’m thinking about doing a “good ending” run again, with Tav trying to resist the Dark Urge.

Maybe on my third run, I’ll do a total evil run with “Ascend” Astarion. Although I still want to try the Bard class. I heard so many good things about playing as Bard, with so many fun dialogue options.

That’s already another 2 runs, meaning an additional 200–300 hours. And there’s Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty and, of course, Starfield. My schedule is full! LOL.

Maybe 5 or 10 years from now, I’ll look at this period of time thinking, “While it sucked at the time, I’m glad I got laid off from Epic. Otherwise, I’ll never <insert awesome stuff here>.”

Lavrov’s answer to Blinken’s Ukraine conflict freeze

What made you forbid someone from ever entering your home again?

When my oldest daughter was about 2 years old, a longtime and very dear friend stopped by for a visit. The friend referred to me as his second mom. Danny was a good good guy who made a lot of mistakes. I always treated him with love; and, I gave him advice when he asked for it. Outside of his asking, I only gave advice when he was doing something that could hurt him or someone else. After his visit, I was sitting in the living room when my daughter picked up a plastic bag. It’s contents were a white powder. It was cocaine. I was livid. I flushed it. Later, Danny called frantically and asked if I had found anything that he may have left. I told him about the bag and he admitted that it was his; he had accidentally dropped it. I told him that he was no longer welcome in my home. He was upset that I flushed it. Oh well, I didn’t care if he was mad. He didn’t understand why I was mad. You brought something into my home and lost it. My child picked it up. If I hadn’t seen it immediately, I’m sure that it would have been in her mouth. That’s what little children do. I have no doubt that this would have killed her had she consumed it. Danny did apologize later. But, I couldn’t allow someone that reckless into my home.

I realize that flushing it might not have been a good solution. But it was the only way I could think of to get it out of my home ASAP.

Waffle Potatoes. Holy shit this is good!

So in case you didn’t know, hubby was a professional chef. He cooks for us M-F and I have started cooking on weekends (I do need to know how to care for myself). He teaches me things as we go. Tonight was a carb bomb that is so damn tasty! He said the only place you will ever see this in a restaurant is a staff meal because it’s used to teach technique (knife cuts). He remembered it last night and decided this was going to be dinner tonight.

Ignore the smudge of mayo on the plate. There were 3 of these and I only thought about posting here when I was down to one.

Basically, you take a potato, square it off and cut it into “steaks”. Then you use skewers to measure your cuts and make fine cuts on both sides to make it almost accordion-like. Boil them in an alkaline solution (water + baking soda), fry them until GBD (golden brown delicious), then top with stuff and put in oven to warm everything.

Ours were topped with caramelized onions with bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. When he took them out of the oven and put them on the plates, he drizzled them with a seasoned mayo.

I’m going into a happy, full food coma right now.

EDIT: Since so many people asked, I’m putting the recipe below. There aren’t too many measurements because he doesn’t really measure, so it may take a bit of tweaking. I’ll describe everything best as I can. I do not write recipes well.

3 large potatoes, like the kind you would use for a baked potato.
Skewers
Make your caramelized onions and any other toppings before even starting. We also used shredded cheddar cheese, so get that all done now. Here is how he did the mayo: 3parts mayo, 1 part sour cream, a dallop of dijon mustard, 2 garlic cloves smashed, salt, pepper, a dash of garlic and onion powder, and a spritz of lemon juice (not enough to squeeze a whole lemon half, just a few drops).
Start some water in a pot and add 2 TBSP of baking soda, NOT BAKING POWDER. Bring to a boil.
Square off your potatoes. Don’t worry about cutting the ends off. Cut the potatoes into “steaks”. I’d say they were about 1/2″ thick?
On your cutting board, place a potato steak and put a skewer on either side against the potato. DON’T SKEWER THE POTATO. The skewers are your cutting guides to make sure you don’t cut all the way through. (That was a super neat trick to me). Cut the potato diagonally along the entire length. Because I’m a visual learner, I did not understand this when he explained it to me, only when I saw it.

Flip the potato over and repeat on the other side cutting the opposite diagonal. Keep the potatoes in cold water while doing this so the ones you aren’t working on don’t dry out. When done, the potato should sort of be like an accordion. Don’t worry if you accidentally cut through a couple. If it’s just the end, take it off. If it’s through the middle, toss it.
Once all the potatoes are cut, put them in the now boiling water for about 8 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with foil and place a rack on top. We use a baking cooling rack.
Heat oven to 350F. Heat oil in a deep pan to 275F. We used a wok for the oil. You don’t need to fill the pan, but put enough in that it will cover the potato slices with a little more so they can move and not sit on the bottom.
When 8ish minutes have passed, pull you potatoes out of the boiling water and place them on the rack. It’s a convenient place to put them while you fry them in batches.
Fry the potatoes in batches in the oil once the oil is up to temp. Don’t over crowd the pan. You want to be able to flip them regularly. Fry until they look GBD (Golden Brown Delicious). Remove them back to the rack. Continue until all of them are fried.
Now put your toppings on, NOT THE MAYO. It doesn’t matter if the toppings are cold, that’s what the oven is for. He spread the caramelized onions pretty thick, like he was making a bruschetta. Sprinkle the cheese on top if you want cheese. (Who doesn’t want cheese?)
Put baking sheet in the oven and bake until the cheese is all melty and the toppings are warmed.
Place them on plates and drizzle with the mayo.
Make sure you have napkins and gobble that shit down.

China’s PC system announced to be permanently free, PC version of HarmonyOS system will come soon!

China has been building mass scale of manufacturing photonic chips factories now & will be ready to supply the world by year 2023. The photonic chips are 1,000 times better & faster than the 3-5nm chips manufactured by Taiwan & South Korea. Why?

Here is the Thing

YES:-

China is the only Nation on Earth who can manufacture Photonic Chips Cost Effectively

No other Nation on Earth Can

US gave it up nearly 20 years ago

You simply cannot run a sustainable Profit

The Scale for which Profit is required is simply unsustainable

The Demand would need to be So Tremendous to justify a scale which would involve ENTIRE CITIES dedicated to manufacture Photonic Chips.

Its not the Technology. The Technology is available openly and readily.

LIke Hypersonic Missiles

The Technology was available in 2000 itself and was nothing new. The Theory was available. However manufacturing efficiently was not possible and US decided it was not worth it.

China and Russia later managed to use their Manufacturing Dominance (China) and Raw Material Haven (Russia) to ensure they could make efficienct Hypersonics and ensure that they now have or plan to have a cost effective Arsenal.

Likewise Photonic Chips Manufacture can be done by China at Effective Cost and on a Scale large enough to achieve sustainability for its own Internal Domestic Market.

That is the Good News!!!!

So All Good?

2023 is simply impossible

Developing the Basic Infrastructure for Indigenous Implementation of the Technology may take 5 Years and another 3 Years for achieving Commercial Dominance

Thats 8 Years or 2030

In the meanwhile China still has to keep targeting the 3nm or 5 nm Wafer Fabrications Indigenously and keep spending the massive Scale of Production

So you see the Problem

China could abandon the 3nm/5nm Manufacture Aim and move completely to Photonic Chips but that would mean a 8 Year Gap and after that – the Results could be screwed up or the Photonic Chips may not work as China expects to

That means a Waste of 8 Years

The Cost of which would be a Delay in Chinas AI plans, Robotics Plans, Upgrading Technology plans

China could stay with the 5 nm/3 nm Manufacture Aim and achieve Indigenous Manufacture by say 2025–2027 and dominate AI and Robotics and move to the next phase of Technology

That would be easier than developing and taking a risk on Photonic Chips

Its the same as Abandoning the Option of Manufacturing of J-20s to make it as good as a F-22 Raptor , and instead seeking to manufacture the Avengers version of Aircraft

Better to persevere and make aircraft like the F-22 in 4–5 years than totally abandon everything to hope to make Captain Americas Helicarriers

Can China do Both?

That would be the thing

However it would need a Huge Load of Investment

HUAWEI

Huawei is in a perfect position to explore and work on Photonic Chips

Huawei has the Technological Edge and the Exponential Leap into cutting edge Research

SMIC

SMIC Meanwhile can continue to explore and keep targeting the Indigenous Supply Chain dominance of Chips within the Chinese Economy

Presently SMIC has achieved Commercial Production Capability of 14nm

And that was fast

So its a Lot of Hard Work and China shouldnt be like India

This “Ready to supply the World by 2023 and 1000 Times better”- this is Indian Language

Chinas language is always China Hopes to achieve indigenous control over its Chips and leave it there

Its Possible and if China can manage it – It would be incredible

Fingers Crossed!!!!

Time Travel Possible? Evidence Says Yes | 9 Time Travelers caught on film

Is time travel possible? According to physicists, yes. Time travel to the future is not only possible, it’s been scientifically proven.

But what about traveling to the past? Well, that’s a little trickier. BUT, there does seem to be evidence that travelers from the future have visited us in the past; and may be among us right now.

The human race has been fascinated with traveling through time ever since, well, ever since the human race understood what time was.

But has time travel been achieved by future humans?

And if so, did they leave us clues that they were here? We’ve scoured the internet for the best time travel stories we could find. You may know some of them. Some are hoaxes.

A few have been debunked. But there are a couple of stories that defy explanation. Why are we so obsessed with time travel?

Probably because we’re obsessed with time.

Time rules our lives.

Who doesn’t wish they could go back and talk to our younger selves, or meet our ancestors, or witness historical events.

Time creates possibilities; but time also ends possibilities. It’s finite. When a moment is over. It’s over. There are no second chances.

The expression “time is money” isn’t exactly true. Time is much more valuable than money.

Wealth can be made; lost and made again.

But time? Once we lose it, we can never get it back. Time is the most valuable thing you have.

Spend it wisely.

Beef Pies

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuits
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon oregano

Instructions

Separate biscuits; then pat each on floured surface to 5-inch circles.
Lightly brown ground beef, onion and bell pepper in a skillet. Pour off fat.
Add remaining ingredients to the skillet and stir.
Place heaping portion of meat mixture on each biscuit circle. Fold in half and seal edges with a fork.
Deep fry until golden brown in 2 inches of oil at 375 degrees F.
Drain on paper towels.

Yield: 10 pies

My Wife & F**inist Daughters Turned Against Me & Took EVERYTHING…Now I’m Thriving & They’re Toast!

Amazing story. Many mistakes. Modern America. (Sigh)

US is the true ‘empire of lies’: China

The US is the true “empire of lies”, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Saturday, lashing out at a US State Department report that accused China of ploughing billions of dollars annually into information manipulation efforts.

China is manipulating global media through censorship, data harvesting and covert purchases of foreign news outlets, the US State Department said.

Despite the unprecedented resources devoted to the campaign, Beijing had hit “major setbacks” when targeting democratic countries, due to local media and civil society push-back, according to the report, which was produced under a congressional mandate to detail state information manipulation.

The report has disregarded facts, and is itself false information, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

The agencies of the US State Department that produced the report “were the source of false information and the command post of ‘cognitive warfare’,” the Chinese ministry said.

“Facts have repeatedly proven that the United States is the true ‘empire of lies’,” it added.

The US report comes amid controversy over China’s attempts in recent years to increase the global footprint of its government-controlled media. Beijing is seeking to combat the negative images of China it feels are propagated by global media.

Huawei chip disassembly report,18-core chip far exceeds its peers.TSMC Intel are starting to panic

Huawei chip disassembly report, The 18-core chip far exceeds its peers. TSMC and Intel are starting to panic

Huawei introduced the new 5G phone with a 7 nm chip semiconductor made in China. Are Taiwan, South Korea, and the USA doomed?

Well, in the smartphone arena, there is really only one foreign brand left in China.

Yes, Apple.

LG is gone.

HTC is gone.

Samsung is irrelevant.

Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry, Pixel, Sony and a host of has-beens or bit-players are all irrelevant.

It’s Chinese brands, and Apple, with 3 ecosystems, Hongmeng, iOS and Android.

No prizes for guessing how the balance will evolve, given the clear and present risk of disruptive sanctions forcing Google to pull Android licensing from other Chinese vendors.

In Africa, Transsion outsells Samsung, and Chinese brands as a whole dominate market share. Transsion, based in Shenzhen, has a sizable global share of >10%. It is the hidden champion no one has heard of.

The Chinese EV makers recently made waves in the Munich car show, with several media outlets trumpeting them as the “star of the show”. The Chinese overtook Japan as the No. 1 car exporting nation this year, and next year promises more growth.

Fancy Toyota defending its position in a sunset industry? I thought it impossible but the speed of the Chinese transition and the scale plus depth of the EV supply chain they have built is putting lots of doubt in my mind. Not to mention the dearth in AI/ML/big data/UI and battery advances among Japanese automakers.

It isn’t all doom and gloom.

Let’s take a cursory look at Hyundai’s EV strategy. The Ioniq series is a clear step up from the typical Hyundai ICE offering, with premium materials, interiors, paintwork and fit and finish typically not found in the price segment. It is positioned as a bang for the buck premium series, almost luxury, but affordable.

Why?

Because the Chinese are making the mass market EV impossible to compete on cost alone. Besides, volume production necessary for economies of scale are impossible without Chinese partners. Hyundai wisely decided to cede market space and move up the segment instead. Fewer but better, or like my friend puts it, becoming “German”. Hyundai is quietly positioning itself as the Korean BMW or Audi EV.

The Japanese have been slower in response. I am increasingly pessimistic about their chances. What happened to Honda and Mazda’s mainland operations in the past few years portend seismic shifts ahead. EVs are not like ICE cars, because there are critical materials and technologies upstream that China controls.

This time, the patent walls and enabling tools/tech favor China, too.

What happens when the Koreans, Taiwanese, and Japanese can’t make a killing through export-driven demand for their mass market goods?

They will have to move upmarket, selling less for hopefully, more, much like Sony’s repositioning and reorganization. Those that cannot adjust to the speed of the Chinese transition will be crushed.

There we have it.

The days of Samsung and Toyota hitting home runs from economy to premium is coming to an end. They will have to specialize and move upmarket, or bleed red competing with the Chinese.

We’re in for interesting times.

Very interesting times.

This is the real trade war, with abiding consequences.

Mirror Spock mind-melding McCoy

The part of the 4th episode “Mirror Mirror” of TOS 2nd season.

Why isn’t all of Finland a part of Russia?

This oversight is easily fixable. Once NATO falls apart, and Finland faces the angry bear it poked and provoked for cheap thrills, its entire population will be shaken by the violent paroxysm of love to Russia and all things Russian.

Just kidding! Relax. Russia does not need Finland. Russia created this pesky nation from the ass of Sweden, like Eve from Adam’s rib, and let them go long time ago. It had many opportunities to re-annex them. If it did not, it means it just does not want to, because it is much better the way it is. That Finnish state and many Finns in Quora forgot all the good between the two countries and sold out their soul to the overseas Russophobes is too bad.

As an American of Russian background, I feel enraged that rabid Russophobes and neocolonialists possessing our government started the bloody conflict in Europe in 2014. When President Trump called Zelensky, in order to find out what is going on, he was impeached. Elections 2020 were rigged on an unprecedented scale, followed by the January 6th false-flag provocation timed to prevent Objections to be heard in Senate. The corrupt elite illegally holding power that belongs to We the People will not go without struggle.

USA Terminates Project! China Takes Over $25 Billion Saudi Military Projects | USA is Disappointed!

https://youtu.be/ifyr6GfpENU

Worthless scrap of paper

Prior to my “retirement” I had opened a number of bank accounts in China. I did this, at that time unknowing of my future, as a “good thing” to do, “just in case”.

Talk about foresight! Eh?

I had two bank accounts.

I opened up an account at BOC in Shanghai and placed $40,000 in it. I deposited a cashier’s check in it, and used a “passbook savings account”. I was told that it would take three months to clear, and that I had to keep the receipt in the book to “lock” the exchange rate of 9.5 RMB to USD. This brought me (the potential of) 380,000 RMB. Ah. Enough to buy property in China.

The other account was in Shenzhen and much smaller; being only $5000.

Well…

BOOM! I am “retired” and stuck in Arkansas.

My father needed to hire an attorney to get me out of the mess, and tried to extract the money from BOC. Good luck! No one could take it out except myself.

He needed my thumb print.

When he held the BOC passbook, he discarded the receipt. He thought it was a “worthless scrap of paper”.

…

So, even though I couldn’t hire an attorney, and my bank was frozen, no one else could seize the money.

Good going China!

So I still have money in China; a life in China…and hope in China.

Meanwhile, everything else was gone; stolen and discarded.

All of this while my properties, and belongings were systematically looted, stolen and acquired by all the “friends” and “family” surrounding me.

Jackals.

Seriously.

Now, eventually I get out of the USA. I am in China, and I use the $5000 to start a new! Fantastic, and I related this story to youse guys earlier.

But of the $40,000 in Shanghai?

Well, my well meaning father, discarded that little receipt in the passbook as unimportant. And when I opened up my bank account, I discovered that it only had 220,000 RMB in it. Not the 380,000 RMB I was expecting.

Why?

That little “junk” slip of paper was my proof of a 9.5 conversion rate. Not the 5.5 conversion rate at the time of retrieval.

I lost one FUCK of a lot of money in the process.

…

The point in this little story is that …

…”if you are handling other people’s affairs, keep everything. Do not discard even the most trivial item. You probably are understating its importance.”

Today…

Are Huawei phones now a real challenge to Apple’s iPhone?

Have you ever wondered why we don’t have too many commercial operating systems outside of Windows and MacOS?

I don’t include Linux which is by no means a commercial operating system despite its many advantages

Have you wondered why China and India are unable to make a PC Operating system despite so many skilled students and so much of a software base

Its because a commercial OS needs to be compatible with your processor

The Processor is INTEL Or AMD and they need to ensure your OS is compatible with their processor

This was a huge argument in an ANTITRUST case against Microsoft that the plaintiffs lost

Without that compatibility , you can never control an ecosystem or have an OS that controls the entire ecosystem

You can have secondary systems that can never replace MS Windows or MacOS

Tomorrow if India develops an OS on par with Windows, India will be throttled by Intel and AMD

They will cite security concerns, backdoor etc and simply prevent the Indian OS from freely competing

Thus India needs to develop a processor as well

This processor better be on par with the Intel or AMD or people simply won’t buy the processor and thus by association, the Indian made operating system

Say India develops a cutting edge web browser

The same has to be integrated & compatible with your search engine for maximum efficiency

Google and Bing both have maximum integrated compatibility with Chrome and IE, so your browser will not be able to host these search engines efficiently

That’s goodbye to a good technology right there

Thus you need a search engine of similar standard and a web browser of efficiency plus an Operating System plus your Hardware

THE WEST CONTROLS IT ALL

Rather US controls most of it

Let’s say India develops an App that can beat Facebook

Or an app that can beat Twitter

Android and iOS can simply refuse to give a bundling agreement for that App citing security reasons or other reasons

Tik Tok got a bundling deal with IoS and Android in 2014 for 25 years until 2039 along with WeChat and Alipay and other apps

Telegram got a similar deal until 2033 (15 year deal)

It’s why both Android and iOS cannot remove these apps from their playstores

Today both Android and iOS no longer do bundling deals for long term periods, but only for 12 month periods and renew them (Since 1/1/2020)

So Indian Twitter and Indian Facebook could be throttled simply by refusing to bundle them or integrate them into the Android or iOS ecosystem

If indeed these apps became a threat to the US equivalents, India would become a major security threat in 20 minutes

The Whole world accepted this dominance of the West and their complete control over the Information and Communications Ecosystems

Including many Chinese companies

Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo all happily kowtowed to the Western dominance and slogged hard to make 8% and hand over 92% to the west

Thousands of excellent apps and games are unable to leave China because they can’t get bundling deals with Android and iOS outside the mainland

Then ONE MAN CAME ALONG who said THIS IS RIDICULOUS

He dared to envision his own ecosystem

The Chip – the Kirin designed entirely by Mainland China
The OS – The Harmony
The 5G Modem – To deliver highest speeds
The Networks – To ensure the lowest latents

Once the Huawei ecosystem was in place, a flood of competition would be unleashed

Chinese Apps would roar into the global market where they had been throttled before

Baidu would finally compete with Google on a one on one platform and combat MSM propaganda in neutral nations

Chinese Digital Payment systems would soar across and surge through the Global South

They throttled Huawei

They simply cut off the source of chips

Huawei had the design but they couldn’t get the chips made because the world’s only makers TSMC and Samsung wouldnt due to sanctions

The excuse was Huawei had business with the Govt of China. So did Oppo but Oppo was a meek obedient boy

Then Huawei tried to get the chips made in SMIC

They retaliated by cutting off access to EUV machines

Yet Huawei managed to mass produce 5 nm Chips with the 7 nm process using very innovative stacking using DUVs

Now Huawei has the Chip and the OS

The US and the West couldn’t succeed in throttling Huawei

Now the next step is probably to stop DUVs

It’s why SMIC is stockpiling and also accelarating it’s own lithography progress

So it’s not the phones

It was never the phones

Tomorrow if Huawei dropped their Chip idea, signed a 20 year deal with Qualcomm and dropped their OS idea and modem idea – US would lift the sanctions in 10 seconds

It’s the ECOSYSTEM that Huawei brings with it that will finally break the US (Western) dominance and bring in a new player and country after virtually 30 years of control

If Huawei triumphs, the world as we know it changes

India could take inspiration and proceed on our own path to develop our own Ecosystem

So could other players

That TERRIFIES THEM

Is the Chinese government determined to have Chinese technology replacements available for all US technologies so China-made products can become completely technologically independent of the US?

In the industries of yesterday, there will eventually come a time when China isn’t affected by American sanctions. That will happen within the next 10-20 years, as Chinese manufacturing go from the current 30+ percent to over 50 percent of global output, and the Chinese patent portfolio matures.

Now, turn the coin on its head and ask yourself a simple question.

What happens in a world where the Chinese option is the cutting edge?

Tesla entered into partnership with panasonic just a decade or so ago to build its first gigafactory. Panasonic, a Japanese company, had the best and most mature battery tech then. Similarly, yuasa, another Japanese company, was chosen by Boeing for the 787.

Today, the best batteries using novel chemistries and materials are Chinese, promising unbeatable energy densities at great prices. Many ev makers have entered into partnership with a variety of Chinese battery makers, and that includes Tesla. China will become the go-to for batteries in the coming decade, driven by economy of scale.

Shocking change in just 10 years no?

In nuclear fission, China has leadership in gen 3 reactors, with the indigenous hualong in mass production and a steady stream of projects in the works. More importantly, China has the world’s first and only gen 4 gas cooled demonstrator online and plugged into the grid, promising even greater safety and reliability.

Expect commercial availability within the decade.

Same story in photovoltaics. China is already the biggest maker of solar panels and related modules, with leading edge options. My friend in the industry says it’s practically impossible to make a project viable without Chinese panels, not without massive subsidies or tariff walls. That’s how good the Chinese are.

The best hsr system is Chinese, despite China being 50 years late to the game. Better than the Germans and Japanese? Yes, because the installed length is already greater than the rest of the world combined, and serve a broader range of conditions and latitudes. The ride comfort and stability is second to none. Try it yourself if you don’t believe the claim.

Make a guess how many containers Chinese ports handled last year.

300m.

That’s 3, followed by 8 (eight) zeros.

America just about crumbled with a modest 5–10 percent increase above the 50m they usually deal with, as a direct result of covid induced changes in lifestyle.

Rates for China-US TEU went up more than 10x, an order of magnitude, at its peak. Ships were returned SANS empty containers, just to beat the logjam in American ports.

Imagine first world American ports and infrastructure being unable to handle domestic demand, while China happily fulfilled GLOBAL demand with a future-proof, scalable automated port system.

The Chinese are already leaders in digital payment, facial recognition, aspects of ai and big data, quantum computing, and many other technologies of the future. Some of the most exciting breakthroughs of tomorrow will happen in china, and revolutionize the world.

Is the world prepared for that, especially served by a media that’s reluctant to report China in the slightest factual, and positive light?

The first world may very well be caught unawares.

Huawei 6G is coming, 100Gb per second transfer speed

Good news that more and more Chinese researchers are leaving the States for China. It will help China.

Have you, while repairing a computer, ever found anything that made your jaw drop?

Back in 1996, I worked as a Field Technician for Lanier Business Systems in Houston, Texas. Specifically, I handled recording devices and systems, though on occasion I also handled copiers, printers, and fax machines. My territory was into the 610 loop and all overlapping zip codes. This included all the hospitals in the Houston Medical Center. Those that are technical people will figure out what is going on with this before I finish the explanation.

So, for one of the hospitals, they had one of our dictation systems and one day, I get a call from the hospital administrator complaining that they haven’t had backups running on their system for six months. So, I head to the hospital, walk into the admin office, and begin working on the system. I go through the settings, and confirm it is setup to backup changes to the 3.5 in floppy drive. I checked the logs and confirmed the backups ran with no errors, or where there were errors is was able to resolve them and move on.

I checked the disk, and it was blank. Completely blank, In fact, the disk wasn’t even formatted. Assuming that was the problem, I formatted the disk with Lanier’s proprietary encryption protocols, and confirmed I could copy data to the drive. I left the disk in the drive, and explained to the admin what I thought the problem was, and that I had fixed it.

The next morning, she registered the same problem so I head back to the hospital, with a new disk drive. I pull the old drive install a new one, then proceed to run a few tests on the old drive with my testing equipment. Everything checks out, no problems on the drive, but I leave the new drive in just in case. Again, I explain to her what did, and felt fairly certain the problem was resolved.

Next morning, I get another call. Same problem. At this point, I am scratching my head. I know the system is working, I was able to confirm the doctors are making recordings, i confirmed the backup are configured properly, so I talk to the admin and explain that I will come by this evening and confirm that the backups are running tonight.

That evening, I head to the hospital and sit down at the monitor. She pulls the disk off the side of the system hands it so me and I insert it into the drive. ten minutes later the backup runs, I watch it, and after about fifteen minutes it completes with no errors. I sit down go through the logs, check the data on the disk. I confirm the backups are there, verify the data integrity. I even make certain that I can restore the data to the system. Everything looks great, I think the problem is solved. I hand the backup disk back to the administrator, and we talk for a few minutes. As, I am leaving, she puts the disk in a clip and slaps it onto the side of the system.

I stop, and I stare at her for a moment, She looks at me, and asks what I’m waiting for. I look from her to the disk stuck to the side of the computer, back to her.

I had spent three days troubleshooting this problem. I had confirmed that the equipment was completely in working order, and I knew for a fact that backups were running properly. I literally just confirmed that the backup was run, and the data was right there on the disk.

Her actions had just made all those efforts pointless. She just erased everything off the disk and wasted all of my effort. Heck, she has been wasting her own efforts for six months and was getting frustrated because of what she just did.

That clip is a magnetic refrigerator magnet. That magnet wiped the data from the magnetic disc in the floppy disk. She was the cause of all these problems, and has been doing it for six months. I had walked over, removed the disk and put it back in the drive. She looks at me confused. I pull up the floppy disk and it needs to be formatted. She asks me where the data went. I looked at her and handed her the refrigerator magnet.

“Is it on here?”

“No.”

“Then where it is?”

“Gone, you erased the disk.”

She stares at me, dumbstruck, “What…what…what to you mean, I erased it. she mumbles curiously.

I then explain to her that floppy disks are magnetic and are very sensitive to magnetic fields. That refrigerator magnet was strong enough when attached to metal object to erase the disk. She felt horrible.

However, I spent the next several hours, backing up changes for six months of data onto a box of 3.5 inch floppy drives.

I then explained proper disk storage, and told her to keep magnets away from the backups.

After I was done, she was extremely appreciative, and apologetic.

Additionally, I got 3 hours of overtime pay, and because the problem wasn’t caused by our equipment, which meant it wasn’t covered under contract. I made the company a nice profit. The base charges for such failures was $300 per hour, which easily covered my overtime pay.

HE DID IT AGAIN! (OLIVER ANTHONY – I WANT TO GO HOME REACTION)

What is the likelihood Xi Jinping will never meet with President Biden during Biden’s term?

I watched a recent speech by Biden in Asia. It was a press conference in Vietnam. Biden was so bad that while he was still talking, his own US press secretary cut him off halfway by muting his microphone, declaring abruptly that the conference was over; and turning on jazz music in the room so that Biden’s voice could not be heard anymore. This was damage control. The US press secretary did it, to stop Biden from continuing to ramble on spouting nonsense in front of a roomful of journalists and media crews.

The poor man is senile. He is still President, of course. But surely he is no longer making the real decisions for the USA. He is just the front, the puppet on stage – the people in charge are the ones behind the curtains pulling on the strings.

It’s pointless for Xi to meet Biden. Xi probably knows it already. Any meeting with Biden would just be for ceremonial purposes and publicity reasons. Nothing will actually come out of such a meeting, because Biden doesn’t make decisions anymore.

Xi is a busy man and I wouldn’t be too surprised if he decides never to meet Biden again. There’s not much point in such a meeting.

I ADOPTED A CAT (because i’m lonely)

In Chinese tradition, the emperor is seen as a model for all citizens. Did Puyi ever become that model citizen?

Puyi has been seen in history as a villain of sorts. He was the last vestige of the Qing dynasty, a living testament to imperialism. He was called effeminate by many and impotent by some. He was selfish, shallow, and childish in his early years. He was also rumored to be cruel to others for his pleasure.

However, we must view him with nuance and remember the time period he was born into. He was groomed from birth to be ineffective by the women in his family who wanted to hold onto their power to rule through him as their proxy. He was born into a family where opulence and excess was considered normal and expected even. But it was also a time where the peasants were deeply unhappy with an ineffectual government and orchestrated a revolution that toppled his world as he knew it.

He united with the Japanese which made him a traitor in the eyes of the Chinese; but Japan had promised him the opportunity to return to a throne and that was the only life he knew. His early wives would tell you he was self centered and downright nasty when he wanted to be.

While he was not a good man in many ways, he was not irredeemable either. Mao allowed him to be the gardener of the Beijing Botanical Gardens. Puyi sought, with his last years, to redeem himself and to become a better man. He once said that the Puyi of his youth was the enemy to the Puyi of his latter years. He often wept when shown examples of his past damage to China. He was overwhelmed when shown the horrors of Unit 731 and cried that those atrocities had been done in his name. His transformation so complete that he became a man of humility. He was reported to have accidentally knocked an elderly woman over with his bicycle and visited her in the hospital every day until she was released.

In the end he found love with his last wife, Li Shuxian, being “all he had in the world,” and she reported in an interview that his love for her was such that when she was sick he would sit by her bedside all night, seeing to her every need.” He had come to be a man who took pleasure in simple things and in his love for his wife. He had indeed become the model citizen and died at the age of 61 of kidney cancer. His widow had his ashes placed with nine other emperors that had come before him. In death he had been returned to his family.

China shocks Europe by canceling ASML’s $580 billion lithography order!

https://youtu.be/s6gPPjQt4RE

What’s it like to be one of the 55 ethnic minorities living in China?

I am the Tujia nationality, and I belong to the eighth largest ethnic minority in China. We have 8 million people.

1. Add points in the most important exam in China-the college entrance examination;（It used to be 20 points, but now it has been reduced to 5 points due to the improvement of educational facilities and standards.）

2. To study for master’s and doctorate with a score lower than Han people, the tuition fee is exempt.

3. Before the “one-child policy” was abolished, ethnic minorities (the ethnic minorities who joined the Communist Party of China are only allowed to have one child) can have 2 or more children, and the Han can only have one;

4. Use and develop the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities. Most ethnic minorities only have languages without a writing system. The GOV has developed a writing system for us;

Orange-Chipotle Skirt Steaks

Marinate: 6 hr to overnight | Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

Marinade

Juice of 1 medium orange
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from chipotle peppers)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Steaks

1 1/2 pounds beef skirt steak, cut into 4 to 6 inch pieces

Tomatillo Salsa

2 medium oranges, divided
2 cups chopped tomatillos (4 to 5 small to medium)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 to 3 teaspoons minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Marinade

Combine ingredients in a small bowl.

Steaks

Place beef steaks in food-safe plastic bag; turn steaks to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator 6 hours or as long as overnight, turning occasionally.

Tomatillo Salsa

Grate 1/2 teaspoon peel from 1 orange. Cut this orange and half of remaining orange into segments. Chop segments into 1/2 inch pieces.
Combine orange peel and segments, tomatillos, onion, chipotle peppers, cumin and salt in medium bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Cut remaining 1/2 orange into wedges; reserve for garnish.
Remove steaks from marinade; discard marinade.
Place steaks on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, uncovered, 10 to 13 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, covered, 8 to 12 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally.
Carve steaks diagonally across the grain into thin slices; season with salt, as desired.
Serve with tomatillo salsa. Garnish with reserved orange wedges.

Oliver Anthony ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Intense Listening Sesh/Reaction – POWERFUL!

What is the most touching act of kindness you have ever witnessed or experienced?

I will try to make this brief. My husband and I are a “multicultural” pair; he was brought up in Scotland and I was brought up in Cleveland, Ohio. Some of the time during our marriage we have lived in Ohio, some of the time in Glasgow.

Somewhere in the mid ’90s we decided to move again from Ohio back to Glasgow. I had three little children at that time — three girls, 7, 3, and 1. We had practically all our worldly possessions with us in 13 metal trunks and the usual baby paraphernalia. We flew from Florida to Glasgow, after flying from Ohio to Florida. The leg from Florida to Glasgow was a direct flight but lasted 10 hours. Needless to say we were very tired, stiff and sleep deprived.

We saddled the family onto an airport bus to take us “home” after such an exhausting trip. After loading our 13 trunks into the hold of this huge bus our bus driver let everyone else off at the usual stop. Before letting our family deboard, he asked us, “Hey, where do you folks live?” We told him the exact location where our small house was located. He laughed and said, “Stay on the bus, I’ll take you to your door. No taxi I know of will fit all this stuff.”

So that’s what this hero did. He pulled his massive 88-seater bus right into our cul-de-sac, right up to our door, and also helped unload the 13 trunks and our very tired family.

It was an act of kindness I have never forgotten. Oh and I forgot to mention, it was 4am.

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

I was working as the assistant accountant at a company and had to leave early one day as I was sick. My boss insisted on a doctor certificate to cover that half day so I managed to see my gp the next morning who gave me a certificate for 3 days off plus the half day. I objected but the doc said if you’re feeling better in a few days just go back to work.

So 2 days later I’m feeling better and return to work. My boss was annoyed because instead of a few hours I’m now out 2 days so she says I need to go back to same dr to get a clearance to return to work.

By this time it’s midmorning of the last day of the certificate. I’m fine. It’s the last week of month and we’re super busy and she wants me to drive 40 minutes each way to the dr to get a certificate and the chances of an appointment with the same dr is unlikely. And it’s going to cost me $80 for appointment.

I had lots of sick leave accrued and it’s also November.

I explained that we’d lose 1/2 to 3/4 of the day and I’d be out of pocket but nope she wanted me to go back to the dr.

Previously no one had ever enforced a dr certificate if anyone came back early (unless it was workers comp). She told me that this was my “punishment” for leaving early when I was sick a few days before!

When she said that, I made a decision. I said I wasn’t prepared to spend the money for the dr to reassess me for 1/2 day work. She said in that case you can’t work today.

No problems I said. I’ll go do my Christmas shopping and I grabbed my handbag and sauntered out.

I’m told her face just dropped and she bitched to the GM after I’d left and he laughed and told her she was the one who forced the issue.

”What Do You Have To Offer A Man?”

I think this is THE fundamental question both men AND women should be asking… if you have a long list of demands, you better have a long list of qualities to offer.

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

Employees will pay for personal calls on the company’s cell phone.

This happened about 2003. The developer team took turns being “on-call” and carrying the company phone. Most of us had cell phones but we did not use them as much as we do now. My plan was expensive even though it was the minimum number of minutes, I think 60, per month. In any case, I rarely went over the number of minutes per month. The company phone, on the other hand, had an unlimited plan so there would be no overage charges. The business use of the phone required a lot of minutes.

When it was my turn to carry the phone, I did not carry my personal cell phone at the same time. If I needed to make a call, I would just use the company phone. Most of us did the same thing. Cell phones were bulky and it did not cost the company anything extra. Also, we only made a few short calls on the work phone.

Well our boss, the CTO, called a meeting and showed a new form for us to record our personal calls when we carried the company phone. He told us that it did not matter that the company’s unlimited plan made the calls free. It was the company’s phone and the company’s money. However, he appreciated that it was inconvenient to carry two phones so he was implementing a new policy that the person using the on-call phone for a personal call would log the call and reimburse the company the going rate. It was something like 20 cents per minute which was the normal per minute cost at the time. We were to use the form to pay the company for personal calls on the work phone.

Most of us thought it was a little petty because the company’s plan was unlimited and a few short calls did not cost the company anything. However, we acknowledged it was a reasonable policy and we would just have to pay a little for convenience or carry two phones. Not really a big deal. Then I thought of something.

I asked the boss, “Can we use the same form for the company to reimburse us for work calls on our personal phones?” He asked if we used our personal cells for work. “Of course, whoever is on-call often calls his colleagues for advice about a problem or how a system was configured. If we are not home, we take the call on our cell. As a matter of fact, twice this year I went over my monthly minutes and had to pay overage charges.” He replied that I would not pay extra if I was more careful to not go over my minutes. “Well, as you explained, it does not matter if I pay extra or not. It’s about keeping personal calls and work calls separate. So, can we use the same form or should we use a different form?” Without answering the question, he ended the meeting shortly thereafter.

He never said anything more about the form, and the policy never went into effect.

I admit that I did not like the guy because he viewed us as commodities instead of employees. The feeling was mutual and he fired me the next year. Oh well, I got a better job after that.

China Tests New Laser Weapon That Destroys Planes In Seconds!

Will China’s economic problems become a financial crisis for the rest of the world?

It won’t

The Debt crisis in China isn’t a shock to the global economy

Evergrande crisis happened in 2021 and it’s 2 years old and yet Evergrande hasn’t fallen

The Debt crisis is two years old, maybe three years old now

So even if the big names begin failing, the systemic shocks to Chinas Economy Or the Global Economy will be much milder than a sudden unexpected shock

The difference between US and China, is that in US, the Institutions which are privately owned and have very little regulations, lie and cheat and bury the information deep and keeps allowing more and more trouble to accumulate

Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008 is an example as is the 1929 depression or the recent Silicon Valley Bank failures

They pretend nothing is wrong, they pretend everything is hunky dory, they even manipulate the system like they did in 2008 with Moodys and S&P

Then THERE IS ALWAYS A SUDDEN COLLAPSE AND A MASSIVE SYSTEMIC SHOCK

https://www.khilafah.com/the-2008-financial-crisis-cost-every-american-70000/

Like in 2008 when there was a downward swing in investment indices by a whopping 60% across 2 years

People lost homes, savings everything and plunged into poverty

China is entirely different

China has lots of regulations and State has a huge control which means no pretension, no burying of information

The Chinese in fact start openly publishing info from Day 1 about such problems

Evergrande problems were published 30 days before their first default while the real estate debt crisis problems were openly revealed yuan for yuan almost 3 months before Evergrande (which is how the West knew about it in the first place)

As a result the system gets a DULL SHOCK rather than a SUDDEN SHOCK AND COLLAPSE

This Dull Shock is absorbed slowly into the economy of China and by the investors, then smaller shocks happen and they too get absorbed

Thus Indices will fall maybe 6–8% in China , maybe 10% over 5–6 years and then stabilize and recover

The Impact will probably be 10% of the 2008 Crisis at the most

Lehman collapsed in 14 days, Lehman Bros when it collapses will do so after almost 825 days to 900 days

Lot of time to absorb the shock

Experts gauge China will absorb it’s debt crisis at a cost of around 1.2% a year in it’s economic growth for around 5 years and 0.7% a year for the next five

That’s around 13.5 Trillion Yuan

Worst case, that’s more than double of the estimated value of impact of the debt crisis (6 Trillion Yuan)

Chinas past growth and surging development will keep China protected from the debt crisis and get China off safely and with a nice soft landing

Another 5 years if Xi had buried this and kept up illusions and kept seeing debt rollovers and price rise rapidly

China would have had 6–6.5% growth for the next 5 years or so but then the impact would have been maybe 30–35 Trillion after a decade or so

An example of the astute leadership of China which cares about long term prospects

Unlike a problem with democracies which bury all the problems hoping the next party will deal with them

How much of everything is made in China now? If so, how did this happen, and why do they make things there instead of here in the USA?

Ask you CEOs why they think they are entitled to earn 100 times more that Chinese CEOs? Ask your employees and your unions what the push their salary to 5 times that of China? Ask your employees why they expects 10 times their benefits compared to Chinese counterparts? Ask why they are willing to work 25% less hours compared to the Chinese workers? Ask why are your education system turning out lawyers and bull shit artiste instead of stem engineers?

Ask your government why your infrastructure is dilapidated and why are there no trainings and retraining of workers sufficient to meet today’s manufacturing needs? Those question get you real answers and make the U.S. face realities?

China did not put a gun on the heads on 330 million Americans to buy Chinese products! The 330 million Americans chosed value for money like everyone on earth. The U.S. government and the U.S. people made wrong choices. They choose wars and war mongering rather than helping their manufacturers and factories. The citizens chose those leaders! If the U.S. citizens were to turn around and kicked out any politicians that prioritise wars over work kick them out of office they can make the difference.

There are so many Americans here in QUORA who champion wars and worship power but ask why China makes everything? You need to choose wisely. You go around telling everyone you have a freedom to chose and are so proud of that freedom but you blow it every 4 years for 250 years long.

You chose leaders that don’t care about you and in fact destroy you!

Do Cats Miss Us When We Leave the House?

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

At my wife’s father’s wake, we told her uncle he wasn’t welcome.

We had texted him and asked him not to show up early , as he wasn’t welcome but said that we would be leaving early so he could come later, but he came early anyway with his two sons and his screaming Harpy of a wife.

We had rented the hall and paid for the food and bar.

I stopped them at the door, expecting trouble. I asked him to leave and come back in a few hours when we would be gone.

They tried to push past me and called my wife a c##t

I reacted without thinking.

I shattered his and his two sons noses with three strikes in about two seconds.

They know I am a Wing Chun Gung Fu stylist who is also a 6′ 200 lb pro renovation contractor.

They called the police.

The police called them white trash and suggested they didn’t want to go in front of a judge considering their conduct.

They backed down and left.

One of the cops was Irish , he said he would buy me a whiskey right in front of the jack ass’s if he wasn’t on duty while they were holding their noses.

P. S. I don’t advocate violence, but I have no regrets at this time.

Love some, trust few, and do no great harm.

Baby Wasn’t Able To Tell Parents About Cruel Sitter — But His Dog Could

This is Vesna Vulović.

She holds the Guinness World Record for the highest fall without a parachute and surviving. She is reported to have fallen 6.3 miles (33,330 ft; 10,160 m) from the sky when a briefcase bomb exploded onboard JAT Flight 367 and crashed into what was then Czechoslovakia in 1972.

So, how exactly did she survive the fall? When the bomb exploded during mid-flight, almost all the passengers were sucked out of the airplane into subfreezing temperatures and fell to their deaths. Vulović was trapped inside the fuselage and pinned down by a food cart. She landed in a heavily wooded area with snow, which helped cushion her fall. Interestingly enough, Vulović’s low blood pressure allowed her to pass out quickly when the cabin depressurized and prevented her heart from bursting on impact. When applying to become a flight attendant, Vulović had concealed her low blood pressure from the medical examiners by drinking several cups of coffee.

Vulović was the only survivor, and upon impact, had broken both her legs, parts of her vertebrae, and several ribs. She also fractured her skull and pelvis. After spending several days in a coma, Vulović awoke and asked for a cigarette. She had no recollection of the explosion or the crash. Her recuperation took a total of 16 months.

BREAKING! China and U.S. headed for all out war, and Putin knows it

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

“Any hotel expense over $XX must be approved by your Supervisor unless previously authorized (Daytona during Bike Week, going into hurricane devastated areas, or other known high cost areas, etc.)”.

Sure, I’m on the road for 3–6 weeks at a time and only after working the planned for 8–10 hours a day (yes 50+work hours a week were the norm) would I be on the road to the next job which was often 100 or more miles away. Needless to say, there were many, Many nights where I arrived at a hotel at around midnight.

Guess who went home at 5 PM back in the office? Yep, our supervisor. So, someone found his home phone number and we all began calling it when we arrived somewhere that wasn’t within the price range they expected.

So they changed the rule to say “Don’t call your Supervisor, but you are responsible for finding a hotel within per diem limits”.

Sure, but since it’s something you told me to do then I’m still at work. Do you Really think its worthwhile to pay me an extra hour’s pay just to save $10 for a night? Do you Really want me to add the two hours travel time to my pay-sheet because the only hotel in the price range was that far away?

I just remembered another prime example backfiring: the company had a policy that if we screwed up a job then it was our responsibility to go back and fix it on our own time. (If we didn’t want to then we’d mysteriously find our services weren’t in such high demand for the next week or three). So, one fine Saturday morning after I’d finished installing the computer system for a well-known coffee chain, I got a phone call that said I had to travel 400 miles to Memphis and fix a problem with a printer that didn’t work. Obviously it not working must have been my fault. It didn’t help much to say that part of my checkout procedure was to get a number from a document the help desk printed to their new POS system’s laser printer.

So, yeah, I’ll go back to Memphis on my own dime, BUT if it’s not my fault then I get paid. Traveled 6.5 hours to Memphis and walked into the coffee shop to hear the manager complain that his printer wasn’t working. I asked him what the help desk had him do. Turns out he didn’t call his help desk but just his contact at the company I worked for. I walked into the office, took a quick look and flipped the “ON” switch to the printer. Then I handed him the work order and told him he was going to be charged for 8 hours of travel to Memphis (400 miles at 50 MPH) 4 hours of overtime (our minimum charge and it was Saturday) and 8 hours of travel back to my house.

“B-But it didn’t work, you installed it wrong!” Nope, here’s the printout and the confirmation number from your help desk printed to that computer saying everything worked. Your help desk would have asked you what lights were on the printer, IF you had called them first.

A terrible day, so I spent the afternoon on Beale St. before heading home to pack up for the next Monday’s job in Charlotte or somewhere, who knows?

Tucker Carlson ‘ You’ve No Idea What is Coming, start Preparing Now

https://youtu.be/iiaU43WmfL8

What classic car has the most available parts?

When my daughter was 15 (2000) I asked her what kind of car she wanted. Her answer stunned me: an old VW Beetle. We decided rather than looking for a good one to buy we would buy a beat up old junker and restore it together. I acquired the catalogs from suppliers and was shocked at how cheap the parts were and could not find a single thing that was not available new. We stripped that old junker down, did the body work and painted it. Bought all new chrome and stainless steel trim, all new upholstery, head liner, carpet and replaced every piece of rubber on the car.

When it came time to rebuild the engine I took a list of the parts I thought I would need to a local shop that specialized in VWs. He looked at the list and ask if I was planning on rebuilding the engine. When I said “yes” he responded that I was not going to do it, I was going to pay them to do it. I ask why? He said because this list of part is going to cost you 800 dollars and we will rebuild it for 875 dollars. Thinking it was a scam, I asked what if the crank is bad? His response was we are not going to use anything but the block, everything else is new including the heads . We picked up the engine and, as he said, it was 875 dollars.

When she turned 16 I gave her driving lessons in her VW. She drove it through high school and well after college. she didn’t stop using it until she had her first child.

Rather than let it sit we gave it to a friend who, 20 years after our rebuild, is still using it.

Total cost of the junk car, parts, and materials, including the engine rebuild: $3,300. Never had a part that we couldn’t get within a couple of days (side note; for several years she claimed she could not drive an automatic [or any other car] because she only knew how to drive a VW.)

Digging Dollar’s Grave! ASEAN Nations To Use Yuan As Their New Single Currency!

https://youtu.be/lvsZlBlfvW8

Anti-China Rhetoric Is Off the Charts in Western Media

The mass hysteria reflects the biases inherent in the world’s most powerful media outlets.

By Chandran Nair

February 21, 2023

A key feature of mainstream Western media today is the relentless China-bashing. It is off the charts and tiring, often involving regurgitated trivia or fabricated stories with no evidence to support callous statements about the country, demonstrating a deep lack of understanding. But such stories continue to be churned out with no end in sight.

Countering this in international media by offering more balanced views for a global audience is near impossible as censorship is rife. There almost seems to be a global compact to control the narrative, a propaganda war powered by today’s digital technology.

Just try looking for a positive story on China any day of the week in any of the leading global media outlets. Apart from reports in January about the Lunar New Year, there will hardly be any, and these too are likely to have a negative spin. It would appear there is a confidential memo circulating within Western media groups that guides reporters and editors to ensure there cannot be any positive news arising from a country with 1.3 billion people.

Typically, the negative stories adhere to three core ideas, which inform the unspoken guidelines within these press rooms when it comes to reporting on China.

First is the belief that China is a threat to the world and that this belief must be relentlessly reinforced at every available opportunity. How and why China is a threat is never explored; such is the deep-rooted and almost religious nature of the belief. Sound arguments do not matter. The basic tenets of good journalism are ignored when it comes to a China story. There is no need to explain or give evidence of why China is a global threat.

Left ignored is the plentiful evidence that shows China is not a global threat – even if one can point to mistakes and overreach in certain areas. China has not invaded any country in decades, or imposed sanctions that have devasted the lives of millions in poor countries, unlike the West, led by the United States.

Second is that China must be linked to every possible global event that affects the West. This provides an opportunity for the West to bash China while simultaneously burnishing its own credentials as the supposed arbiters of what is right and wrong in international relations. From the pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine war to carbon emissions; from rising sea levels to the scramble for rare earths; from the building of infrastructure in Africa to the production of vaccines – there must be an angle to demonize the country and instill fear in Western nations (and beyond).

Indeed, media outlets are reverting to the “yellow peril” of the late 1800s. There is no subtle and nuanced approach to instilling fear like this. It is full-on and very often blatantly racist – but it is now acceptable for one to be racist about the Chinese in Western media, despite the fact that Black-White relations are very carefully described.

The third part of this phenomenon, which is surprisingly not challenged by liberal readers of mainstream media, is the sentiment that everything must be done – even illegal and unfair methods – to arrest the rise of China. Never mind the rights of hundreds of millions of Chinese to have a better life after a century of poverty and deprivation.

Headline after headline that capture this sentiment have normalized the view that there is a need to curb the rise of China, and that this is a legitimate geopolitical objective. There is no explanation about why or if it is even morally acceptable. It has become a feature of Western commentary on China to say that its rise is a concern and a threat. With this assumption unassailably in place, the West has the right to galvanize – and even bully – its allies and ask the absurd question, “what should be done about China’s rise?” – as if China does not have the right to carve its own place in the new world.

There is even a school of thought in the United States that it was America that magnanimously allowed China its first baby steps into the globalized economy, and that in hindsight the U.S. was too nice to China. This view betrays everything that is imperial about the West and why it is unable to come to terms with the legitimate rights of other nations to grow and become powers in their own right. The assumption is that the rise of others is a gift from the West, and accordingly they must never challenge its supremacy. The deeply entrenched view in the West from centuries of domination is that it will decide which nations will be permitted to be participants in the global economy according to its self-serving “rules-based order.”

Indeed, Western media seem wholly tied to the hegemonic competition view of geopolitics, constantly referencing the “Thucydides Trap” and being stuck in the Western canon as if there are no other ways of looking at geopolitics and world order. This view assumes conflict is inevitable and helps to demonize China while justifying the hegemonic position of the West – and the United States in particular – as a globally stabilizing force.

Needless to say, this is an extremely belligerent position to take, and not something media should be egging on. Whatever happened to promoting multilateralism? And why are people who speak to multilateralism side-lined as idealists or China apologists? This flies in the face of fair reporting.

So, how to fix this?

First, people in China and the non-Western world must realize that when it comes to the workings of the mainstream media we are in a new era – a propaganda war the likes of which the world has never seen before, powered by today’s digital technology. The media war is real, and tech-driven, and it is not a fight for eyeballs to deliver fair, honest, and educational news. It is almost everything else but that, especially when it comes to China or enemies of the West.

On one side is sheer propaganda aimed at the preservation of Western power. Participants include the most well-known brands in the Western media world, which are household names across the world.

The idea that Western media is run by fair-minded people who are independent, driven only by a desire to talk truth to power, is a mirage. It is a myth, and it is a bitter pill that needs to be swallowed. The idea that the Western journalist is a paragon of virtue also needs to be banished from the minds of consumers of media.

That is the first stage in enabling one to step out of the propaganda mist we are engulfed in on a daily basis, so that one can examine different viewpoints as news is consumed. This is not easy, given the current dominance of Western media outlets and their apparently collective mission.

The next step is to dismantle the dominance of Western media.

This too will be a long, hard fight. Mainstream Western media are the most powerful in the world and for close to a century, Western media have had a stranglehold on the dissemination of international news and viewpoints across the world. Many had their origins in colonialism, the preservation of empire and later the spread of Western ideas about how the world should be run. These outlets are a powerful economic force and dislodging them will require investments.

Across the world there is an opportunity to contribute to this effort, not necessarily by building large media companies but by investing in media companies that are committed to fair and objective analysis, so that local audiences in the first instance have choices and are not inundated by the propaganda of mainstream Western media. This too will not be an easy task and there are many hurdles to overcome, but this is not the space to dive into those details. Ultimately, it is all about readers becoming more aware of global issues by having more non-Western sources to rely on, so they are not victims of the current propaganda war. This is beginning to happen as more alternatives flourish.

It is an urgent need in the West too so that the mass hysteria generated by mainstream media is prevented from creating fear and pitting Western societies against the rest of the world. Today the target is China; tomorrow India and then maybe Africa.

Merkules – ”Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix (Reaction)

Young Boy Looks Out The Window And Sees Sister Bring Dragged Into The Woods

At some point or another in most of our lives, we will have an opportunity to be a hero. Some people will take that opportunity and run with it, and that includes Owen Burns.

Owen was coming home from school in the afternoon when he heard screaming. It was his sister, and at first, he didn’t feel that it was anything serious.

Eventually, he did turn and look out the window and what he saw on the outside was enough to make his blood run cold. It was a frightening issue but one that he decided to put out of his mind and do the right thing.

Owen was getting ready to play Call of Duty on his PlayStation when his sister started screaming from the backyard. As any 13-year-old brother would do, he got irritated because he thought she was overreacting and just being annoying.

When he looked out the bedroom window, however, he saw that his sister was being dragged away by a stranger. His sister was only eight years old and they were headed for the woods behind the house.

Immediately, the teenage boy grabbed a slingshot and anything he could use as ammunition, including a rock and a marble. He took aim and got off a shot, hitting his sister’s abductor right between the eyes.

He got off a second shot, hitting the man in the chest, and at that point, the man was swearing and cursing.

This wasn’t something that was hidden from view, it happened in broad daylight at their home in Michigan. The mother, Maggie Burns, said that it is not common for kidnappings to occur in the neighborhood.

Fortunately, the abductor was scared away and the 8-year-old girl was unharmed. They were able to capture the would-be kidnapper, a 17-year-old. They didn’t release his identity but they did say he would face charges as an adult.

According to John Grimshaw, a Lieut. with the police force, Owen saved his sister’s life, or from something seriously bad happening to her. They called his actions extraordinary.

He also said that the young man should be commended for what he did. He used a regular slingshot that was purchased for three dollars on sale. He did practice shooting on occasion at old orange juice cans, and that helped him to improve his aim.

Owen said that he only had one thing on his mind when he saw someone trying to kidnap his sister. He was afraid that the kidnapper would either kill her or use her as a sex slave.

He said that the abductor had come behind his sister and grabbed her just like you would see in the movies, putting his hand over her mouth and his arm around her waist. He was trying to get her into the woods.

That is when Owen grabbed his slingshot and started shooting at him. When the kidnapper finally let his grip on the little girl go, she ran into the house crying and said that she had almost been killed.

Owen was angry at that point and ran outside to curse at the kidnapper. He threw a baseball in his direction but it missed.

At that point, he tried to shoot him again with a slingshot but the rubber band broke.

They then called the mother who had been at a relative’s house to help as she was on her way from work. She ran home, called the police, and it all stems from hearing her kids on the phone. The only thing she heard was the word, kidnapper.

They found the 17-year-old kidnapper hiding at a gas station nearby. He was indicted in the County Court on charges of kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. They will also charge him with misdemeanor assault and battery.

The police said that: “He had obvious signs of an injury consistent with those that would have been sustained from the slingshot strikes to his head and chest.”

The mother was skeptical at first that Owen had hit the kidnapper in the face and chest from 200 feet away. When the police confirmed the injuries, they even said that the goose egg on his head continued to get bigger while they were speaking with him.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and I would say Owen and is as close to a superhero as you can get.

Office of Naval Intelligence Leak: China Building Naval Ships 232 Times faster than USA – “Lift to Invade North America”

Nation Hal Turner

The United States office of Naval Intelligence suffered a leak of an intel briefing slide, showing China now has naval ship building capacity 232 times greater than the USA. This capacity can be used to build enough ships to “lift” an army to invade North America – successfully.

This amazingly oversized capacity to build naval vessels has caused some analysts to raise the alarm that the United States cannot even hope to catch-up . . . for years.

Other analysts have a more dire view: China is building this enormous amount of “lift” to be able to field a 200 million man army to invade and conquer North America, which it needs for food production and for its gigantic and growing population.

The seeds for this dire analysis began under the Trudeau government in Canada, when it signed a Treaty with the China Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing to allow Chinese Troops into Canada – to “protect Chinese investments.” The Treaty made it explicitly clear that local governments in Canada would not be notified and could not do anything about the presence of such troops.

By using Canada as a beachhead, giving China a foothold on north American, China can now pre-position armor and troops along the US northern border until they reach such mass that an invasion of the US would be almost a fait accompli!

US Military in Recruiting Shambles

In the meantime, the armed forces of the United States are in a Recruiting shambles. EVERY branch of US Armed Forces have been missing their recruiting goals for the all-volunteer force, and have been missing those goals for years.

The troubles plaguing recruiting do not come from lack of available people but rather a whole host of issues with those people. For instance, a very large portion of American young people are “morbidly obese” to such a degree, that the physical strength and stamina simply cannot be restored to make them fit for military service.

Other potential recruits suffer from a host of disqualifying psychiatric issues: Men who think they’re actually women trapped in the wrong body . . . . women who think they’re men . . . . candidates with a history of suicidal ideation and/or actual suicide attempts and more.

Also plaguing the pool of potential recruits is the mental inability to think critically; to make judgements, and act on immediate information.

As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, a sizeable portion of the potential recruits are so physically weak and effeminate, they simply cannot be brought to military strength.

Drug use is also a major factor in disqualifying potential recruits. Psychiatric drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), addiction to Adderall, on top of others who are using illicit drugs like Cocaine, Heroin, or a

plethora of other, exotic “designer drugs,” has disqualified very many potential recruits because withdrawal from such drugs can lead to long-term violent outbursts and unstable mental states.

DEFENSE INDUSTRY IN SHAMBLES

Adding fuel to the fire is the Defense Industry itself. At present, the US Defense Industry is UNABLE to re-supply the most basic war-fighting products like Ammunition and artillery shells in sufficient quantities to re-stock what the US has already given away to Ukraine, never mind to fight an active war with a near-peer rival.

Instead of hiring new employees to increase defense production, many defense contractors are having to LAY OFF workers because they simply cannot get the parts necessary to assemble replacement weaponry like Javelin Missiles! American manufacturer’s “out-sourced” many jobs to overseas locations, and, in the case of China, that is now coming back to bit the US in its ass.

For instance, China recently imposed economic Sanctions on Lockheed Martin and other American Defense Contractors, for supplying weapons to Taiwan. This means that Chinese manufacturers can no longer sell certain electronics to those companies; electronics necessary to build and re-supply US military weapon systems!

Not only is this affecting the US ability to continue providing weaponry to Ukraine, it is also affecting our ability to make weapons to defend . . . OURSELVES. With the vast array and quantities of weaponry being “given” to Ukraine, it appears to some Defense Analysts that the US is being INTENTIONALLY DISARMED by its own federal government.

COMMERCIAL ENTITIES UNABLE TO SERVICE or CUTTING-OFF US MILITARY

Reverting back to the subject of ships for a moment, it became known this week that Danish shipping giant, MAERSK, is “backing away” from providing shipping services to the Department of Defense.

With most of US Ship-building gone from environmental regulations and Union Labor contract demands, the few shipbuilders the US still has, simply cannot meet the demand for new vessels or to timely repair existing vessels.

The US has to rely on foreign shipbuilders for Hulls and for shipping services.

MAERSK has not said why they are “backing away” from providing services to the Department of Defense, but they are, in fact, doing so.

Are these companies being pressured by China or other foreign governments to cripple the US? Are these companies being threatened with losing the ability to provide shipping services to foreign countries if they continue helping the US? The answer to those questions is not known, but it __may__ be a possibility.

Which brings up the issue of future US ship building and moving men and materiel.

With China having 232 times the US ship building capacity, and with commercial ventures in the US unable to re-supply or even timely service existing ships, and now commercial entitities “backing away” from providing services to the US, it is starting to look as though we are being set up to be invaded and conquered.

MILITARY-AGE MEN SOUTHERN BORDER INVASION

All of the above brings us to the US Southern Border. There has been an over Nine-hundred percent (900%+) increase in young, fit, military-age, Chinese men crossing illegally into the US via the southern border. This is confirmed by FOX NEWS.

Why the sudden surge of Chinese men? Some analysts think they are a fifth column; wolves in sheep’s clothing, entering our country at the behest of the China Communist Party to lay in wait for an order to attack the US from within.

And the US federal Government is making it EASIER for people to enter the country illegally! The Biden regime has ordered gates in former President Trump’s border wall . . . . to be welded open! YEs, you read that correctly, the gates are being welded open so even US citizens, concerned about illegals entering the country, can’t simply close and lock the gates.

STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE, DRAINED

The United States established the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) after the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970’s. The SPR can hold a little over seven-hundred-million barrels of oil in giant caverns in Louisiana and Texas. Yet the Biden regime has ordered the SPR to sell-off much of that reserve to artificially reduce gasoline prices in the USA.

As of today, more than two-thirds of that 700 million barrel SPR, have been sold off and are gone. There are presently no plans (and no money) to refill it.

If the US is invaded, and we cannot import foreign oil because we’re a war zone where ships cannot safely come and go, we won’t have more than a month or two of fuel with which to fight and defend our own land.

TREACHERY?

This appears to be deliberate treachery on the part of the federal government, some of whom may simply have been bribed by China, or other countries, to sell-out our nation and prime us for invasion.

This week, Congress beings Impeachment Hearings into President Joe Biden, who allegedly received potentially millions in bribes from China and elsewhere. Congress has already revealed that Bank Wire Transfers to Hunter Biden, showing Joe Biden’s home address in Wilmington, Delaware as the recipient’s address, have been confirmed as having taken place. At least $250,000 of such wire transfers are said to have come from Beijing.

Also this week, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was Indicted and Arraigned in federal court, after being caught with some $458,000 cash stuffed into envelopes hidden in clothing in a closet, and in a safe, in his Englewood Cliffs home, along with 81.5 ounces of gold bullion in bars, allegedly for making military deals with and for, Egypt.

Menendez is charged with Bribery.

If Menendez took Bribes from Egypt to sell out US weapons, one has to wonder if he also took money from China to sell us out? Or if he also took money from other countries?

One also has to wonder if any OTHER Senators or Congressmen took such Bribes?

It appears the United States of America is suffering a level of treachery from within, that may actually cause our nation to cease to exist.

China Exposes New G20 Summit Hypocrisy and lies

You won’t believe what Biden just said after all the sanctions the US imposed on China. Biden gave a statement thinking that he is trying to create good relations with China after the G20 meeting with China’s Premier League Biden said we don’t want to contain China instead we want to make sure we have a relationship that is on the up and up squared away but don’t be misled by this statement before you know the actual truth According to Forbes, the US has imposed a list of sanctions on China, and its motive is simply to contain China, so when it comes to words, the US has a lot to say to impress you, but when it comes to actions, you won’t find anyone more brutal in the world than the US, so the question is why is there such a big difference between the US’s actions and its words, let’s find out in this video we will discuss the reality behind the US’s claims to not contain China We will also analyze the impact of Biden and Lee’s G20 summit on US-China relations. Watch the video until the conclusion to find out if the US is being honest this time or if this is just another tactic to attain ulterior aims.

https://youtu.be/w0MMrKvJZLQ

COVERT INTEL: CLOSEST PUTIN ADVISOR SAYS “NUKE U.K. OFF THE MAP” TO STOP UKRAINE WAR AND WW3

https://youtu.be/s6b_fjfYPac

One of the closest and most trusted Advisors to Russian President Vladimir Putin has formally told his boss that a “massive” use of nuclear weapons is necessary to actually “prevent” World War 3 and save humanity. He urges the complete destruction of the United Kingdom as a warning to others to stop.

Mediterranean Steak and Pasta
with Tomato-Olive Sauce

Whole-wheat pasta is served with beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks and a tomato and olive sauce. This one will please the adults and the kids in your family.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked whole grain fettuccine
4 beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 4 ounces each)
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives*
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4 cup finely shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

Cook fettuccine according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place beef steaks in skillet; cook for 11 to 13 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. (Do not overcook.) Remove from skillet; keep warm.
Combine pasta sauce and oregano in same skillet; heat until hot. Return steaks to skillet; turn to coat with sauce.
Place steaks on fettuccine; spoon sauce over all.
Sprinkle steaks with cheese, allowing cheese to melt. Sprinkle with parsley.

Notes

* You may substitute 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives for 1 (26 ounce) pasta sauce plus 1/4 cup chopped olives.

What advice do you have for people who have been called weird?

I used to coach swimming in the early 2000’s. It probably won’t surprise you that my most challenging group was the middle school boys.

But where a few of them were difficult, others were in need of help. They were “different”. Consequently, they were bullied frequently at school. They would come in upset about how their day had gone.

I identified with them on so many levels as I’ve spent my entire life having people tell me, “You are one weird guy.”

I would reassure them that they were simply misunderstood and that they were in good company: some of the greatest people who ever lived were treated as weirdos.

Frederick Nietzsche, another mega genius, was in this camp at one point too. He was, by very definition, different than his peers. People tend to attack things they don’t understand.

Throughout his life, he proposed many wild and brilliant ideas, faced his own share of critics, and endured his own moments of social isolation.

One line he wrote, that I encourage any who feel misunderstood to remember:

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.

Humanity is filled with wild and shimmering variety. Those who see “different” and attack are afraid of their own authenticity.

Don’t shy away from living your own truth.

If you haven’t been told “You’re weird.” a few times along the way, you aren’t doing it right.

Headlights flashing

In the ADC is a prison called The East Arkansas Regional Unit. Known as “Brickies” because that is the town that it is next. It is an old cotton plantation that has been turned into a hard labor prison. And that is where I was first sent to when I was “retired“.

There, I noticed many, many “gang bangers” from West Memphis, which was only a spit away from the prison. And these urban youth were quite a lively bunch. They were really rambunctious, but kept in line by the older men.

Anyways, there were many wanna-be rappers that were serving time there. And yuppur, this is one of the albums that was produced by some felons from that facility… now out free.

I know these folk. Shared coffee with ’em.

HEADLIGHTS FLASHES – HXVRMXN

Small world, eh?

They would stand by the windows and just rap on the windows for hours while composing their lyrics. And with the proper connections can produce works like this.

Todays…

How did Americans get so fat?

I lived in Japan for two years, and lost a ton of weight. I drank a lot of alcohol, ate whatever food was convenient, and never consciously exercised. I lived upstairs from a Genkizushi sushi shop, and across the street from Chuuka Ton-Ton with excellent ramen and surprisingly large Jumbo Bikkuri Gyoza. I had a car, but walked and took public transportation because it was more convenient. After two years of Japanese life, my BMI was 19, just on the underweight side of healthy.

I now live in an American suburb. I track my diet and exercise on apps. I have a home gym with weights, a Peloton exercise bike, and VR boxing subscriptions. I have another gym at work. My BMI is 29, overweight bordering on obese.

I’ve thought about the reasons for this. Why did I get thin without trying in Japan, then get fat while trying to stay thin in the USA? If you were trying to design the perfect obesogenic society to make people fat, you would do two things:

Subsidize low-nutrient foods with a lot of calories, like corn syrup.
Use fear, zoning restrictions and tax laws to keep people away from sidewalks, parks, and “the gym of life.”

America does both of these things.

Due to the peculiar way Americans select presidents, Iowa has outsized political influence. Iowa also grows a lot of corn, so it’s not surprising that American agricultural policy favors corn.

Modern varieties of corn, and especially those varieties processed into corn syrup, have calories but not much else.

Our bodies didn’t evolve to directly sense the taste of nutrients, but they did involve to sense some tastes and aromas that are often seen alongside nutrients, sensations that are a reasonable heuristic for nutrition in wild and natural foods.

If your body tells you to eat until it senses that you have tasted enough, and you eat bland foods like corn, you’ll consume a lot of calories and still be hungry. If your tongue tells you to eat until it has tasted enough, you can consume a lot of calories of corn syrup.

On the other hand, traditional Japanese restaurants serve small amounts of carbs (rice or noodles) intensely flavored with small amounts of high quality protein and fat (fish in sushi or pork slices in ramen).

Japanese cuisine is quality over quantity, while common American food is the opposite. It’s easier to stop eating after a few bites of intensely flavored carb/fat/protein medley than a few bites of bland fat-free sweetened engineered food.

At the same time that Americans consume more calories than Japanese people, Americans move around less. American zoning laws encourage large residential areas with no commercial areas nearby.

Where there are commercial areas, there are huge parking lots which are unpleasant to walk through. Parking spaces occupy the area that a sensible construction would use for walking paths. Japan is the opposite. There are plenty of walking paths and pedestrian-only areas.

Mixed zoning with stores on the first floor and residential units above are common, and possible without requirements for a parking space per bedroom or restaurant table. Parking and highway tolls in Japan are expensive, so people are encouraged to walk and take public transportation.

Finally, American media encourages people to be afraid. Afraid of kids getting abducted while walking to school, so they are driven instead. Afraid of the neighbors calling the police because your kids are outside, so kids play inside instead. Afraid of crime on public transportation, so everyone drives instead.

Afraid of ticks and mosquitoes and sunburns and nature so everyone stays inside and watches screens instead. Japan has giant swallow hornets (so called because the hornets are as large as a small bird like a swallow) that kill dozens of hikers a year, but nobody stays out of the mountains because of them.

It’s possible to live a healthy lifestyle in America if you constantly invest time and effort, eat unlike most Americans and live unlike most Americans.

It’s easy to live a healthy lifestyle in Japan by just being lazy, eating common restaurant food and taking the easiest path from home to work to shopping. Being unhealthy in Japan requires as much extra work as being healthy in America.

Gorgonzola-Topped Tenderloin Steaks

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 (4 to 6 ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, cut 1 inch thick
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 cup ready-to-serve beef broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue-veined cheese

Instructions

Heat large nonstick skillet 5 minutes over medium heat until hot.
Combine garlic and pepper. Press evenly into both side of each beef steak.
Place steaks in skillet. Cook for 10 to 13 minutes for medium-rare to medium doneness; turn occasionally. Remove from skillet; keep warm.
In the same skillet, add broth and wine; increase heat to medium-high. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, or until sauce is reduced by half.
Spoon sauce over steaks; sprinkle with cheese.

How I see the US after living in Europe for 2 Years

Brutal honesty.

The Nevada Triangle | 2,000 Planes Mysteriously Crashed & Missing Near Area 51

Most of us have heard of the Bermuda Triangle, where planes and ships have mysteriously gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean for decades.

Did you know there is a similar place in Nevada?

The Nevada Triangle. In a region of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Nevada and California, 2,000 planes have been lost in the last 60 years.

In this remotely populated area of more than 25,000 miles of mountain desert, many of the crash sites have never been found.

The Nevada Triangle is typically defined as spanning from Las Vegas, Nevada in the southeast to Fresno, California in the west, and to Reno, Nevada at the top.

Within this wilderness is the mysterious, top-secret Area 51.

Along with the dozens of conspiracy theories which include UFOs and paranormal activity that surrounds the air force base, similar theories have long been considered regarding the Nevada Triangle.

One plane to go missing was that of a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer named Steve Fossett on September 3, 2007.

Fossett, flying a single-engine plane over Nevada’s Great Basin Desert, took off and never returned.

After hunting for a month for the plane, the search was called off and on February 15, 2008, Fossett was declared dead.

Later that year on September 29th, Fossett’s identification cards were discovered in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California by a hiker.

Throughout the years, many of the missing planes were flown by experienced pilots and have disappeared under mysterious circumstances: and their wreckage never found.

The biggest mystery is: nobody really talks about it.

Children who have had to clean out your parents’ house after they passed, did you find anything that completely changed how you viewed them?

My father was born in 1929. When he was living he kept an old trunk with trays that came out of it. In it he had saved crafts that we made, old report cards and a host of other things related to all of his nine children. The most curious to my family were little notebooks. They were too small to be journals. My father told me that since he was about 17 he kept a log of where he was and what he did weekly. I asked him why were these dates important.

My father was a young Black male who was tall for his age, traveling alone, beginning at age 13; traveled up and down the eastern coastal states. He said, just in case he got picked up for just being Black, he would have a record of where he had been and what he had done going back for months. During his travels he worked at a general store, he picked oranges, pears, apples and grapes as a migrant worker, he rode horses and herded cattle on a dairy farm in Connecticut. On all those travels he kept these logs to protect himself. That’s also when he told me that there were people in the world who thought “we” all looked alike and his notes were to show proof that we don’t.

In loving memory of Clifton W. McKnight, Sr.

City Walk. Downtown Vancouver BC, Canada. July 2023

My boss is always taking part of my food in a common fridge. I told him I didn’t like that and now I buy my food to avoid it. Am I a skinflint?

I had a similar problem. I bought one of those tiny cube refrigerators for a dorm and had it delivered to the office on a Saturday when I knew no one else would be in the office. It fit nicely under my desk and I put a large empty box in front of it to hide it, jic.. I then used that for my lunch and it paid for itself fairly fast since I didn’t have to run out and buy a replacement lunch any more.

However, since we were not allowed to eat at our desks, I made a pretense of getting my lunch out of the communal fridge. Drove my boss nuts since he could never find my lunch and he couldn’t say or ask about it without giving himself away. Lol

When I left that company, I sold it to a co-worker that would occasionally find her lunch missing.

The LAST HOURS of El Cholo’s LIFE after BETRAYING the CJNG

On March 18, 2021, some pedestrians who were walking calmly through a public square in the municipality of Tlaquepaque, came across a truly sinister scene. A lifeless body was sitting on a bench, wrapped in black garbage bags, but the worst thing was that he had a n4rco-message drawn with a knife on his torso. The authorities were notified immediately and, although the corpse was in a state that prevented it from being recognized, the forensic reports would conclude that it was indeed the body of one of the most wanted criminaIs in Mexico, Carlos Enrique Sánchez, better known as the Cholo.

https://youtu.be/oW7T2IP49d0

What was the most satisfying display of instant karma you have ever seen?

He was the head janitor at my school, a teddy bear of a man, under 5 feet tall with the sweetest little smile and laugh. He had worked at the school since he was a teen and was due to retire.

Da Tuk (not his real name) was gentle, kind and generous, a soft touch for a sob story. He and his family had just enough but always ended with too little because of his ‘kindness.’

A relative had begged him for a large sum, almost all that Da Tuk and his wife had saved for a deposit on a home. He signed over a land deed to Da Tuk and then disappeared into the gambling dens of Klong Tuey.

When Da Tuk took his family to see the land, they found a hilly, barren, nowhere-near-anywhere, unsellable plot. Da Tuk was inconsolable, realizing that he had been duped and had lost almost everything.

Fortunately, the chairman of the school found a way to help the family to buy a small house and deal with the costs of their children’s educations. They never really recovered from the loss.

As the school grew, so did Da Tuk’s staff, to the point where he was overwhelmed. An ‘assistant’ was hired but was, in fact, in charge. However, he always treated Da Tuk as the boss and saw to it that others did as well.

For Da Tuk’s retirement day, the Board had arranged for a huge luncheon, and we were all seated, waiting for Da Tuk.

When he arrived, he looked stunned, which surprised us because everyone had been talking about the party and teasing him for over a month.

Then an equally stunned member of the Board made a shocking announcement.

Da Tuk had just been paid forty million baht (approximately two million U.S. dollars) for that ‘worthless’ land because it was adjacent to the planned eastern seaboard industrial estate.

A New American and U.K. Perspective after living in China

In this China vlog, I am out in Beijing City exploring the city and as always, seeking to understand China and the relationship with the West. My opinions and thoughts have changed.

Federal Reserve losing $758 Million PER DAY- Now in the Hole for $100 Billion

Nation Hal Turner

The Federal Reserve Bank is losing $758 Million PER DAY paying Interest to commercial banks on Reverse Repos and Interest on Reserves. Those losses just reached $100 Billion — with a “B.”

Before all of these wild financial games began, the Federal Reserve would send its profits to the US Treasury each year; it was usually a few Billion Dollars each year.

Now, the Federal Reserve has massive paper losses on their Bond portfolio and masses daily losses on the money it has to pay to commercial banks to keep the system from falling apart.

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and company have managed to lose a whopping $100 Billion . . . and YOU are paying for it.

It is difficult to overstate the level of sheEr incompetence needed to have a money printer . . . and still lose money.

Next stop: -$200 Billion.

Woman Over 30 Realizes The Wall Is Unforgiving #19 – When Women Regret Feminism

When Women Regret Feminism is a thought-provoking video that explores the struggles women over 30 face when they haven’t found a husband and feel cheated by what feminism tells them.

Through real-life stories shared on TikTok, the video examines the complex issues surrounding marriage, motherhood, and career choices.

It looks at the ways in which women are redefining their roles and expectations for themselves and for the future. This video is a must-watch for anyone interested in gender roles, societal expectations, and the impact of the feminist movement on women’s lives.

With its honest and open dialogue, When Women Regret Feminism provides an insightful look into the lives of women and the challenges they face in today’s world.

AI boom sparks silicon photonics applications

As widely known, Si photonics technology has undergone over 20 years of development. It primarily leverages mature CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) processes to integrate key active and passive optical components, such as waveguides, modulators, gratings, couplers and even photodetectors, onto silicon substrates for processing optical signals. The only component that cannot be integrated directly onto such substrates is semiconductor laser, as it involves a different material system and can be addressed only through packaging methods. In the silicon photonics platform, a silicon substrate is responsible for converting optical signals into electrical signals, serving as the receiving end.

On the other hand, the transmitting end involves converting electrical signals into optical signals through lasers. Basically, utilizing mature semiconductor manufacturing processes boasts advantages in terms of miniaturization, integration, production yield and cost; and employing optical signals also offers advantages such as high bandwidth, low latency, and low power consumption when compared to electrical signals.

Since the introduction of optical fiber communication in the 1980s, it has played a crucial role in signal transmission. In its early days, when human data usage was relatively low, optical communication was mainly used for long-distance transmission, such as undersea cables and metropolitan networks. As data usage has increased, optical communication has also entered the realm of regional networks. With the recent rise of generative AI, the most substantial data generation and transmission occur between AI servers. This is because any large-scale model contains billions of parameters, and the computational power required for each training session is immense, all having to rely on parallel processing and data exchange between chips.

Thanks to semiconductor manufacturing technology advancements, it now takes only 1-2 nanoseconds to process or compute a single instruction. However, the increase in data transmission speed has never been able to keep up with the growth in computing power. Light traveling within an optical fiber incurs a delay of approximately five nanoseconds per meter. Consequently, AI servers often have to wait for data to be transmitted, leading to periods of inactivity; but if electrical signals were used, instead of optical signals, for transmission, the waiting time would be even longer. In this regard, the solution is, of course, to bring the devices responsible for converting optical signals closer to the CPU/GPU/ASIC chips to reduce signal latency, ideally avoiding the use of circuit boards in between. This is where co-package optics (CPO), including silicon photonics substrates, comes into play.

Currently, CPO is primarily being deployed inside switches. It involves stacking Si photonics substrates with ICs for processing electrical signals, which are then connected to optical fibers and put in close proximity to various IC processors, representing the closest and lowest-latency solution available.

In the mid-2000s, IBM, in its annual Technology Outlook, particularly highlighted optical interconnect as a key focus for future technology. At that time, no people could foresee the rapid development of AI computing, nor did they have a clear picture of semiconductor technology progressing to levels below 3nm. However, it’s clear that human reliance on data transmission would keep increasing, with Si photonics technology to play a role in optical interconnect.

At the time when optical interconnect was introduced, it was unclear whether they would be used for connecting signals between chips (chip-to-chip), between boards (board-to-board), or between racks of servers (rack-to-rack). Today, optical interconnect technology is widely adopted for signal connections between server racks and even between layers within a rack (unit-to-unit).

Meanwhile, signal connections between chips have been addressed by TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies like 3DIC, CoWoS (chip-on-wafer-on-substrate), chiplet integration, and fabric. These technologies utilize electrical signal exchanges to meet the interconnect needs between chips.

The next big challenge will likely be signal connections between boards. Currently, the primary approach still relies on electrical signal connections, and the adoption of optical interconnects for this purpose is something to be seen.

The combination of CPO with Si photonics technology provides the optimal solution to enhance data transmission speeds in the AI era, representing a significant change for the industry ecosystem.

The traditional ecosystem featuring the use of pluggable optical modules is not simply fading away. At the 2023 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC), linear-drive pluggable optics (LPO) garnered significant attention and is considered a major counterattack by traditional players.

The linear-drive concept involves removing the re-timer/DSP (digital signal processing) functions from pluggable optical modules and shifting the signal processing burden to ASICs (application-specific ICs), thus reducing signal latency and power consumption within the modules. Consequently, it allows the industry to advance product development by 1-2 generations without causing significant changes to the entire industry ecosystem.

This is similar to using immersion DUV (deep ultraviolet) lithography equipment to achieve several generations of progress in semiconductor fabrication processes without altering the DUV exposure ecosystem until EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography machines become available to take over the exposure process.

The generational shift in Si photonics CPO will eventually come, but if LPO gains traction, it may delay this transition. In fact, the linear-drive concept can also be applied to CPO, offering even better performance in terms of signal latency and power consumption.

Beverly Hills is a GHOST TOWN, California’s Wealthiest City in COLLAPSE

Huawei’s chip breakthrough poses new threat to Apple in China — and questions for Washington

Apple is facing a number of issues in China, with geopolitical risks mounting and the economy still not firing as many would have hoped.

But the biggest challenge of all, according to analysts, could be a resurgent Huawei after a purported major semiconductor breakthrough that flew in the face of U.S. sanctions.

The latest chip, made by China’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer SMIC has sparked concern in Washington and raised questions about how it was possible, without the company being able to access critical technologies.

But there is also scrutiny on whether the process being used to make these new chips is efficient enough on a large scale to sustain a Huawei comeback.

What’s the big deal about Huawei’s new chip?

Alongside Apple and Samsung, Huawei is one of only a few companies that has designed its own smartphone processor. This was done through the Chinese firm’s HiSilicon division.

The chip however was manufactured by TSMC.

U.S. export restrictions, which effectively barred Huawei from using American technology anywhere along the chipmaking process, meant the Chinese company could no longer source its chips from TSMC.

There is no Chinese company that can do what TSMC does. That’s why shockwaves were sent through the political and tech world when Huawei quietly released the Mate 60 Pro in China this month, with analysis showing a chip inside made by SMIC.

Along with Huawei, SMIC is on a U.S. trade blacklist called the Entity List. Companies on this list are restricted from buying American technology. Meanwhile, SMIC’s technology is seen as generations behinds the likes of TSMC.

So how could this have been done with the huge amount of sanctions on both Huawei and SMIC?

What we know about Huawei’s chip

Huawei’s smartphone chip is called the Kirin 9000S, which combines the processor and components for what appears to be 5G connectivity. 5G refers to next-generation mobile internet that promises super-fast speeds. Huawei has not confirmed the phone is 5G capable, but reviews have shown the device is capable of hitting download speeds associated with 5G.

The semiconductor has been manufactured using a 7 nanometer process by SMIC, China’s biggest contract chipmaker, according to an analysis of the Mate 60 Pro by software company TechInsights.

The nanometer figure refers to the size of each individual transistor on a chip. The smaller the transistor, the more of them can be packed onto a single semiconductor. Typically, a reduction in nanometer size can yield more powerful and efficient chips.

The 7nm process is seen as highly-advanced in the world of semiconductors, even though it is not the latest technology.

For years, SMIC struggled to make 7nm chips. That’s in part because it couldn’t get its hands on a very expensive piece of kit called an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine. These are made by Dutch firm ASML, but the company has been restricted by its government from sending these machines to China.

In a blogpost this month, Dan Hutcheson, vice chair of TechInsights, said the 7nm chip “demonstrates the technical progress China’s semiconductor industry has been able to make without EUV lithography tools.”

What will the U.S. do next?

There will be pressure on the U.S. to reconsider its export controls strategy, which was based on the assumption that controls would prevent Chinese companies from producing advanced-edge chips, while the business-as-usual approach would continue at the trailing-edge nodes. It is increasingly becoming clear that this distinction doesn’t work in reality. Washington may look at other areas of the chip design and manufacturing process to enact further restrictions.

Apple’s China headwinds grow with Huawei chip

As geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China continue to bubble under the surface, it is perhaps a potential Huawei resurgence that poses the biggest threat to Apple.

“It’s expected that Huawei will pose a bigger challenge to Apple in China than the geopolitical issue,” Will Wong, a senior research manager at IDC, told CNBC.

“This is because Huawei not only has the same premium brand image as Apple but also is a national pride in China.”

Apple is seen as a high-end smartphone maker and Huawei had directly competed with the U.S. firm in China for years. But Huawei’s sales fell off a cliff when it couldn’t equip its smartphones with 5G technology and the latest chips.

Any kind of resurgence in this area, as appears to be the case with the Mate 60 Pro, could make Huawei’s new phones an attractive option again for Chinese buyers.

“The biggest threat from Huawei is its continuous development in technology, not only in chips but also in new form factors like foldables,” Wong added.

What’s Like Living in China? – Can’t Believe This Is The Same Place …(Chengdu)

Another opinion on China.

Can you describe the creepiest person you have ever met?

Hands down, a woman in her 30’s that I met while staying in a homeless shelter. In my town, the Shelter also serves as a type of half-way house for women just getting out of jail or rehab.

I was “just homeless”, she was on the tail end of a 5 yr prison sentence after she sold her 3 yr old daughter to a sex trafficker to settle a drug debt. The state was in the process of helping her get her daughter back while she finished up her re-entry programs.

She constantly spoke of how beautiful her now 8 yr old was, and what a “fine specimen” she was coming to be. She was quite proud her daughter was “blooming”, and frequently sent her makeup, rather inappropriate clothing and articles from magazines about weight management, beauty techniques, etc. It was infuriating & disgusting. When I addressed the counselors with my concerns, I was told there were “conditions for her release, that hinged on her getting some parental rights in return”.

I left the facility before she did; but I pray all the time that her little girl is safe, sound and being treated well.

What Happened to the Middle-Class Prosperity of the 1950s?

This is very good.

What was the cleverest thing you said to someone walking away?

I lived in an apartment building. The upstairs neighbor seemed to think he was back in the dorm: parties all night, every night… people tromping around… music blasting with the bass turned all the way UP.

I tried a white-noise app. I got earplugs. I tried playing music next to the bed. My work was suffering.

Then I addressed him directly: I would go upstairs and politely ask him to please be a little quieter. No dice. I moved through the let-my-frustration-show stage… the angry stage… the I’ll-call-the-authorities stage…

When I couldn’t take the experiment in sleep deprivation any longer, I contacted our local city council to find out my options. Turns out there are regulations having to do with “health”: exceptionally loud noise is on a list of “stressors.”

They sent him a warning letter, saying if there were more complaints they might go so far as to serve eviction.

The following weekend a man turned up at my door. He was well-dressed, polite – older gent. He said he was Upstairs Neighbor’s father and could he talk to me?

Well, hey, I like to think I’m a reasonable person. “Sure, c’mon in…”

He pulled out the letter the Health Department had sent the UN and started waving it about, accusing me of intolerance, trying to cause problems for his son, on and on. He told me I should move out – “Nothing wrong with people having company and enjoying music. I’ve been in his apartment and the music is never loud.” As if the kid would give the old man full blast and prove I had cause for complaint.

I was taken aback, as much as anything because it never occurred to me a 30-year-old would have to send “Daddums” to confront a neighbor. Father wanted me to withdraw the complaint. I refused. He ranted some more, then got up to leave, crabbing the whole way about “How do you have the nerve” and so on. I saw him to the door, and as he stepped into the hallway he turned and said bitterly, “I am so disappointed.” “I understand, sir. If I had children who behaved as your son has, I’d be disappointed too.”

He was at a loss for words. It was so gratifying. 😉

Hal Turner Editorial Opinion

When a country’s Central Bank starts literally LOSING money each and every day . . . countries around the world will start to notice really fast. Especially when there is no sign at all that these losses will stop.

So how long do YOU think countries around the world will continue to accept “Federal Reserve Notes” (i.e. the cash in your wallet) as payment for goods and services, from an entity which is literally Bankrupt?

Sooner or later, those countries around the world will no longer want the paper with pretty pictures on it, masquerading as “money.”

I have no idea WHEN that refusal will start, but given what’s now taking place at the US central bank, I suspect it will not be long.

Now, that paper with pretty pictures on it will still be accepted as “money” here in the US, but . . . . we don’t manufacture very much of anything in this nation anymore. We import most of the things we consume because the Brainiacs of corporate America decided it would be better to outsource manufacturing to other countries.

Those corporate Brainiac Titans never stopped to consider the effect on the nation as a whole, they were only interested in how much extra money they could put in THEIR pockets by outsourcing manufacturing overseas.

So now, the Brainiacs are wealthier, and the country – and its currency – is going down the tubes.

So when you see those corporate Titans, and admire how much wealth they have, remember, they wrecked the entire country to get it.

Turns out, they weren’t nearly as smart as they thought they were; they were just greedy, dumb, fucks.

In case you’re not certain about whom I am speaking, it’s all those “FREE TRADE” dingbats.

So head back into search engines like Google, and start looking up “Free Trade” and watch whose names come up. Then you’ll know who needs straightening out on a personal level.

I just got a communication from someone WAAAAAAAAAY up in the financial sector. He told me this situation is causing almost panic in a LOT of financial firms. He then told me, verbatim, the following: “The parasites are looting the place on their way out the door. They know the jig is up.”

Golden Gate Swiss Steak

Ingredients

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1 (1 1/2 pound) round steak, 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3 large carrots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Instructions

Combine flour, mustard, salt and pepper. Dredge the meat with this mixture, then work the flour into the meat with a meat pounder.
Cut steak into 4 individual portions.
In a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, heat oil and brown meat on both sides.
Combine tomatoes, carrots, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar; pour over meat.
Cover and either bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven or simmer on top of stove for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.

Germany Loses Its Auto Industry To China | China’s Take Over Shakes The Entire Europe Market

The realization that the United States has lost

I watched the grilling of the Commerce Secretary by Congress about Huawei.

The anger was thick. And the compensate measures were astounding. There was an open hostility and a degree of frustration on the “representatives” faces.

The Commerce Secretary recovered herself and exclaimed… “well, maybe I was “bushwhacked” by Huawei while in China, but China cannot make to scale.”

Not true.

But it is a hope. They wish to be true.

Let that sink in.

The USA threw EVERYTHING at China, discovered that it is resilient, and decided to “take a step back” and try to “compete”.

That competition is OVER.

Huawei’s actions were an open alert. China, and it’s national companies are immune, inoculated, from the USA, and far more powerful than anyone in Washington is willing to consider.

You can see it on their faces.

It is the realization that you just drove your car into a tree because you drank too much, and your girlfriend is dead. Now you are going to jail.

That was the expression.

A feeling of utter hopelessness.

It’s all over. The only thing left is global thermonuclear war, and the Pentagon already briefed these “Senators” on what that means…

…

The “Commerce Secretary”.

I have some words about this person.

This is the person who implemented the switch from manufacturing to service industry.
This is the person who assisted in the “hollowing out” of the United States.
This is the person who permitted the demise of unions.
This is the person who permitted to demise of company sponsored health care.
This is the person who allowed unemployment benefits to atrophy.

No grilling on those things.

Not so important, eh?

…

The United States is FUCKED.

We all have realized this, but slowly the Senators in Congress have gotten the message. And they do not like it. It’s a grim day at the start of a very grim century.

Today…

Can you openly criticize President Xi in China? If so, can you name some people who openly criticized President Xi and what happened to them?

The only people who have anything to fear about in China include :-

Persons who have received funding from an organization perceived as favouring internal destabilization in China (WEF, NED for Instance)
Persons who are belonging to groups favouring Taiwanese Independence. Not everyone. Only members of specific Groups
Persons who are members of Falun Gong, offshoot groups of Falun Gong & specially funded groups of Falun Gong
Persons who encourage or organize protests without prior permission of authorities that call for counteractive measures instead of pro active measures
Persons who participate in above protests
Persons who spy on China or commit active treason against China

That’s it

That’s all

The above categories, these people will be dealt with brutally

Many of them will never be seen again and exiled to remote regions

However apart from that if you stand in the middle of the road in Beijing and scream “Xi Jingping is a Coward” in your loudest voice

A Cop will come, pull you to the side and ask you not to create a public ruckus and go on his way

If you continue, you will be fined 800 Yuan and spend 24 hours in detention for PUBLIC DISTURBANCE

At worse, there is an older law still in statutes where ridiculing the Supreme Leader carries 6 months to 2 years jail but it’s unlikely Xi will enforce it because according to Xi only Mao is the supreme leader

So insulting Mao in China is more serious than insulting Xi

If you keep talking nonsense, someone will investigate you to see if you belong to the above categories

If you dont, they will simply ignore you like they ignore a madman

If you do, you disappear

Li Keiqang is one man who criticized Xi in 2012

He was Xis premier for 10 years

Xi only cares about Corruption and how close you are to the West

He knows his power is very strong to fear criticism and challengers

Cracked Pepper Steak

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 (4 to 6 ounce) beef tenderloins, 1 inch thick
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brandy or dry red wine

Instructions

Combine pepper and rosemary in a large bowl. Coat both sides of the steaks with the mixture.
Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet until hot.
Add steaks and cook over medium to medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the center registers 160 degrees F (for medium). Remove the steaks from the skillet and cover to keep them warm.
Add brandy to skillet and bring to a boil over high heat, scraping particles from the bottom of the skillet. Boil for about 1 minute or until liquid is reduced by half. Spoon sauce over steaks.

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

I worked at a factory making furniture. Every night I would leave the gate with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust and every night the factory guard checked through the sawdust as I left, looking for what I might be stealing… but I was too cleaver, he never found anything!

After 20 years, the guard was retiring. He pulled me aside and said”Look, I know you’ve been stealing SOMETHING for the past 20 years and it’s driving me crazy not being able to catch you. I’m retiring and, I swear, I’ll not tell anyone – I just need to know… just what have you been stealing?“ “Wheelbarrows”, I said.

US pleads with China to re-purchase chips as chip supply chain collapses!

Welcome to VOC – Vision of China,In recent years,”In today’s episode, we delve into the United States’ supply chain crisis caused by the loss of chip orders to China. The China-US chip war, intensified by the launch of new Huawei smartphones, has raised concerns among American lawmakers.

Join us as we explore the implications of this conflict and its impact on the global semiconductor industry. Discover how U.S. sanctions against China’s semiconductor market may have unintended consequences, affecting not only the U.S. economy but also global stability. We discuss the challenges the United States faces as it strives to maintain its technological dominance and competitiveness.

https://youtu.be/0Ib45UnK_zk

Did the low demand for chips from TSMC in China contribute to the decision to delay chip equipment deliveries?

Donald the Orange upended the supply chain with the cluster bomb dropped on Huawei.

That was pre-covid.

It caused a scramble within the industry as players stockpiled on existing supply, especially mainland corporations.

When covid and lockdowns hit, the canceled chip orders were diverted to domestic mainland players, only too glad for the padded security. The rumor is mainland orders hijacked the queue and tied up production for months or even years. Honda’s million vehicle swing in recent years is one of the unfortunate fallout victims.

As mainland production ramped up to sidestep the stop-gap measures, there appears to be a chip glut developing ex-China, with the economic downturn due to monetary contraction and rising rates squeezing demand, exacerbating the fracture in the fragile and temporal equilibrium.

It is hard to forecast such a market, especially with the growing fog of war surrounding mainland players who are going dark and playing among themselves as a matter of survival.

I don’t think TSMC, Glofo, Samsung, AMD, Nvidia and Intel will be able to retain their market share in the coming years.

The Reason why Men are Walking Away from Dating (Ep. 411)

I am so happy I am not generation x,y or z.

What’s the one gift you’ve gotten that you never would have imagined you wanted, but it turned out to be the best?

When my husband and I got married, my cousin gave us what I perceived to be a very bizarre gift. He bought us a red toolbox filled with many tools. I have to admit that I just looked at it and thought to myself “What a weird gift for a wedding!”

Well, my husband and I have been married for over 34 years and I have to say that this turned out to be one of the best gifts that anybody ever gave us! We still use it regularly and if you think about it, it’s very expensive to buy a lot of tools. This ages well, it doesn’t go out of style, it doesn’t break and you don’t have to worry about if it matches your decor! How many wedding gifts can anyone say they still use regularly after 34 years?

The Terminator – all deleted Scenes

Confession of the Day

$300k in debt (no mortgage). $297,677.49 to be exact.

$215k law school debt, $40k graduate school debt, $25k credit cards, $11k car loan, and a personal loan.

After 5 years of deep denial- I think I’ve finally accepted how badly we fucked up. I feel like I’ve gone through the stages of grief multiple times this year.

We paid for very expensive degrees that didn’t need to be. We racked up a shit ton of credit card debt by spending money like entitled a**holes and not using a budget. I wish I could go back in time, slap 23 year old me (and my husband) and ask, repeatedly- what the hell are you doing??

We would go out to bars and dinners every weekend with friends. insert Discover card. We would regularly order takeout. insert Amex card. We went on yearly vacations. insert Jet Blue card. We financed furniture???? Not to mention we walked right into the “prestige” private school bullshit.

We ate that shit up.

And for what? To impress people? To prove that we’re worth something? All the above? It’s so normalized to be in debt as a millennial.

Everyone had credit cards, everyone was going out, everyone had student loans. We were super normal! You’re only young once- amiright?!

I found Dave last year, when I was hitting rock bottom. My debit card was getting declined at the gas station and the grocery store regularly.

After listening to The Ramsey Show for a couple weeks, I realized how screwed we were. I remember the first time he talked about the borrower being a slave to the lender.

That’s exactly how I felt.

I couldn’t breathe. I had a mental breakdown. I haven’t really been able to relax since. My husband and I spent all last year fighting about money and almost got divorced.

We’re on BS2 right now. We should bring in around $170k this year before side gigs. We have paid off $12k since June. We started FPU last week. We’re throwing everything at the debt. I’m working my ass off. Husband is working 65+ hrs a week and donating plasma.

We dropped more than half of our “friends.” It’s a humbling experience to say the least. My mother in law makes us dinners a couple days a week to help out.

Family and friends ask why we’re not having kids or buying a house yet. The whole situation is embarrassing, but we deserve it.

I don’t blame anyone but myself. I’m not expecting anyone to “forgive” or payoff our dumpster fire. We were extremely stupid and entitled, but we need to get out of this ourselves. I just need prayers that we can make it out of this. We will. Hopefully better than who we were before.

Just trying to “embrace the suck” and keep up the motivation.

Tony Soprano | A Conflicted Man

This is why the Sopranos is the best tv show ever.

What was your experience like moving from a large city to an even smaller town (or vice versa)?

I did the small-town-to-big-city move in 1998, for college. I lived in a dorm my first year here, and didn’t have a car. But, my second year, when I was just 19 year old, I got my first studio apartment and brought my car with me from my small hometown.

One of the biggest adjustments I remember was getting comfortable with parking my car on the street overnight. In my small hometown, everyone had driveways. Most people parked their cars in their back yard or garages. And all of the businesses had parking lots. There were only a few streets in my small hometown that had parallel parking spots on the sides of them, and those spots were huge, clearly marked, and largely optional. They were for people who didn’t want to walk about a block from the nearest parking lot, just in the downtown part of my hometown.

But here in Chicago, driveways for people’s houses are rare. Most people park on the street or, if they’re lucky, in a garage. Street parking doesn’t have marked spots. You just squeeze in where you can.

It took me a few weeks to get used to the idea of just leaving my car on the side of the street all of the time. I remember my first night with it here, waking up several times in the middle of the night to look out the window and confirm that it was still there. Sure, there were cars bumper-to-bumper on both sides of the street, and mine was a cheap car that no one would want to steal anyway. Still, it took me about two weeks to get completely comfortable with the concept of just leaving a car parallel parked on the street overnight.

It took a while to get used to driving down a street next to parked cars as well. In my small hometown, since most streets didn’t have parallel parking, you didn’t need to worry about clipping people’s mirrors when you drove past them, or them opening their doors as you drive past, or someone stepping out from between cars, in front of you while you’re driving. The sides of the streets in my small hometown were usually clear of everything.

But, here in Chicago, you can easily be driving 50+mph down a 4-lane street, inches away from parked cars on the side. It’s kind of weird if you’re not used to it.

Mandatory Paternity Test Law Passed – No More Paternity Fraud From Single Women

United States is undergoing massive change.

Huawei M60 Pro shocked the world. Why is it?

Just imagine, the strongest, toughest school bully, out of jealousy-turned-into-fury-then-to-desperation, mobilized all possible means, together with his allies, and wanted to kill his most challenging competitor.

At the high-time when he thought and believed he was to succeed and gonna to celebrate with champagne, and when some schoolmates are waiting to watch the tragedy of the competitor, while some other schoolmates are considering which side to take, and of course there are also others wishing for the competitor to survive, though inevitably with bruises and bumps……

All of the sudden, the competitor came back, with a beautiful, ace-trumping, and formidable hitback, standing even higher, better and firmer!

If you happened to be one in the school and witnessed all these, how would you feel?

Shocked, whoever you are, whichever side you are with, right?

And, if I were U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, I would never say something like this: She was “upset” by news of the launch of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro during her visit to China last month. (US says it has no evidence that Huawei can make advanced smartphones ‘at scale’ | CNN Business

)

It’s sort of admitting the school bully US is losing, or has lost, anyway, a real strongman would never be “upset” by a “nobody,” right?

MOVING TO PORTUGAL ALONE in my 50s!

European Union’s decision to launch an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric vehicles, will it make the Chinese EV industry become another Huawei?

The Claim is :-

China offers subsidies to their EVs in battery making and other areas, heavy subsidies in taxes and waivers to ensure that EVs are produced at a final cost that is 20% cheaper

This makes Chinese EVs deliver lower cost at better quality than many European EVs

Second complaint is that most of the world pays a premium for Chinese EV batteries but BYD and other players pay 45% lower costs for the same battery due to the fact that the batteries are made in China

This is alleged as unfair competition

They want either the batteries at lower costs or a 20% mark up on Chinese EVs that eliminates the subsidy effect

It’s Classic Protectionism 101

Soviet Style rather than Adam Smith

China didn’t do this

When Volkswagens and Citroens and Mercedes Benz and Toyota and Mitsubishi dominated the vehicle markets of China a decade or so ago:-

China didn’t impose extra tariffs on them nor make it unfair for them to import custom made parts by imposing 60–260% tariffs

China told BYD and SAIC and Great Wall to either make similar quality cars or go out of business because the customer needs the best

Thus these companies formed partnerships and purchased technology and leased technology and made a living with limited market share

Yet this competition helped them prepare a lead in EVs and dominate today

However the West isn’t prepared to do the same thing and ask Renault and Chevy and Volkswagen to COMPETE or go out of business

They want to protect their companies

Like US , Germany, France

They talked of free trade when their products were much superior and Asian nations imposed protectionism

Today when they are being left behind, they scream and yell and whine about tariffs and duties

China has many weapons here

China sells 61.5% of the EV Batteries in the world and 86% of EV Batteries today are made by Chinese players with only Tesla having it’s own supply chain and making it’s own battery for it’s own cars

If you want EVs – you need the Chinese Battery, Electric System and Motors and Chargers

The Chinese make the world’s best and most cost efficient products

Even Tesla battery technology is inferior to CATL and it’s latest batteries

It’s only in Autonomous driving that Tesla has an edge

So frankly China for the next 15 years at least can simply ban the export of batteries or impose a 80% tariff on EV exports and ensure European and US EVs simply can’t compete with ICEs

It throttles the EU green initiative

China loses the EU market but critically ensures Russia & Saudi gains a major leverage as EU and US become more dependent on Oil

That is one card

The Bigger card is

China can play it’s own protectionism

China has a huge market for European Cars with Eight Brands having their largest market in China

That’s 157,000 Jobs

China could simply ban the imports tomorrow and that would finish these companies revenue and share wise

Like the Iphone

Intel & Qualcomm openly said if China forced them to choose between the Chinese market and the Commerce Department restrictions, they would have to choose China for the sake of their US stockholders

If China banned Qualcomm entirely today and said “Okay. We will live with inferior phones but you B******* won’t sell or get a fifty cent piece from us”

Qualcomm would be brutally mauled

The Entire smartphone industry will be brutally mauled

The Entire Semiconductor industry will be brutally mauled

The Chinese are VERY PATIENT PEOPLE and they will play their cards very slowly

They thrive on competing

If China simply decides to close its markets to Foreigners except it’s Russian and Global South friends who will sell it all the Energy and Food it wants

Then most of the Tech firms will be brutally mauled

It was predicted that if Apple was banned entirely from China – $ 1.02 Trillion of it’s market share would never come back

The Total hit on the entire industry could touch $ 7–12 Trillion

Who will take up the slack?

India is expected to touch 40% of Chinas present market in 17–21 years (2040–2044)

Nobody else can take up even 3% of this slack

So China has a lot of Brahmastras to use

There will be no more Huaweis

Huawei was a blow

Nobody expected the West to be so brutally lawless and act like a mafia state , like a land with zero laws

Today China is ready

Every US attack has a party from China including the biggest Brahmastra

CUT OFF ACCESS TO PHARMA APIs & Cut off all components needed for Medical Equipment
Devalue US Debt by suddenly pegging an exchange rate of 2 Yuan to 1 USD. China will lose 17 Trillion Yuan and after the peg is removed the rate could reach 10–11 but US will lose 160 Trillion Yuan ($ 25 Trillion) , 8 times worse than the 2008 Crisis

Here’s Why They’re Coming For Russell Brand

Back when he was a hard-partying movie star, Russell Brand was the darling of the mainstream media.

But ever since the British comedian started turning hard against the establishment, exposing the mainstream narrative on COVID, the Ukraine War and empire, the knives have been out for him. And now we know how they plan to get him, with a series of questionable rape allegations emerging from anonymous sources in his distant past. Guest host Craig “Pasta” Jardula and Americans’

Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss why the establishment would have determined that Brand had to be disappeared from the discourse.

What did your parents say to you as a kid that still affects you today?

My dad is the best mechanic, I’ve seen him pull apart motors, transmissions, put them back together with no problem. Cars pull better, the knocking sound gone from the motor, take a test light and track down a short in a ticket making brake light system.

He can lay boards to a deck or floor and they fit perfectly everytime.

Make a brace for a wobbly door that hides from view, eyeball a fence line to be exactly lined up post to post. Watching my dad work is like watching an artist paint a masterpiece or craft a sculpture.

After school I would fly through my homework so I could start dinner and be ready when dad got home.

Some nights I would be doing my homework and trying to make dinner simultaneously and dad would come in. “Let’s have a look” or “let’s knock this out”.

But when I started junior high school, dad stopped helping with my homework, he started stirring the pot or watching the oven. He still watched me do my homework and was certainly right there but he didn’t offer to read or assist. Then I caught him.

One hot humid night I couldn’t sleep, my oxygen machine was drying my throat, but I’m sweating bad (I know not sexy for a girl but I have high metabolism) and I get up for some water.

Dad is sitting at the table with one of my school books. He jumped when he saw me, like he was stealing something or about to get in trouble.

He was saying sorry and mumbling about not having permission to go in my backpack.

I didn’t care it was just a school book and I have nothing to hide from my dad so being in my backpack was no big deal. But what he said next floored me; “I wanted to understand the lesson, I couldn’t understand what you were doing earlier and I hoped I could figure it out. I know I’m not very smart but I don’t want you to think less of me.”

I was shocked, me think less of the greatest person in my life, why would he, how could he ever think that?

This was when I started to learn of dad’s disability, he has severe dyslexia.

Now I know people will say that’s not a disability or several people have that but it’s the way it affects the individual.

My dad graduated high school on what is now considered a 9th grade level, and then just barely. He is a hands on learner, because he doesn’t trust himself to read and comprehend instructions, words plainly written on a page seem like a foreign language to him.

Numbers to a simple math equation would make him basically stop thinking and just have a blank mind. I was beginning to see why dad couldn’t balance the bank account, why he only had oral agreements with clients, and hated texting.

People had called him dumb, lazy and stupid until he believed it himself and he was afraid the person he admired most would think less of him.

Russell Brand – sinister demonetisation attempt by MP

Big major changes all over the collective West. Sheech!

Does being born into poverty affect your mindset later on in life?

Speaking for myself.

I grew up and was mostly raised in “the inner city.” So that’s my experience with being poor. I don’t know what it’s like to live rural poor.

I don’t live there anymore. Right now I’m pretty comfortably middle-class.

One way that I am marked out as “different” compared to many of my peers, is that I am very, VERY cynical when it comes to the treatment of the poor. It is one of the few big things I am not really partisan or ideological over.

Poverty is a burden, and it’s a burden that most people will hate, despise, and pity you for carrying. This is regardless of party, race, color, or creed. I am amazed and saddened to know just how much easier life gets when you are not poor, and how much more people will like you.

Life really is pay-to-win. And with that realization, I see that my poverty was really nothing more than a hinderance. My life would’ve been much easier, in virtually every way, had I not been poor growing up. I see no glory in coming out of it, no special mindset for having been in it — other than cynicism. I can’t find any narrative for myself to have made the sheer unfairness of being born into poverty mean something. It just happened. Like getting hit by a bus.

Although, one way I suppose it’s affected me, is that I don’t hate or blame the poor for their poverty. This isn’t to say that some poor people don’t make disastrous choices. But I went to an expensive college. I’ve been around rich people. They make plenty of disastrous choices; they just have the money to mitigate the fallout. Humans make bad choices. The poor are expected to be superhumans and are blamed for failing.

*sigh*

Another way it has affected me is that it’s made me much less sympathetic to the middle-class, and I am middle-class. The middle-class complains endlessly, about everything. They are constantly sucking all of the air out of the room. Politicians dote on them regularly. Middle-class this, middle-class that. The middle-class even has this theory where they are the defenders of democracy and without them everything would fall apart. And on and on and on.

Let me tell you, the middle class is spoiled. The gulf between the poor and the “middle class” is so enormous it would make you cry if you lived it — as I have lived it. But the middle-class get to complain constantly about their property taxes (imagine owning property!) and how college scholarships don’t help them because they’re “at the cutoff” and blah blah blah.

And the poor? They get a swift kick and are told to “work harder.”

Sometimes you have to laugh…

4 Airplane Outburst More Terrifying Than Tiffany Gomas

JP MORGAN CEO SOUNDS ALARM – Dark Winter for Banks

Hal Turner

Yesterday, speaking at an industry event organized by Barclays, CEO Jamie Dimon sounded the alarm on a slew of headwinds that will hit the U.S. economy hard in the next couple of months, and pointed to several risks that could deal heavy blows to consumers, investors, businesses and banks.

On Monday, he weighed in on how new regulation by the Fed will impact customers in the coming months. The changes will certainly not make them happy. Dimon explained how plans for new capital rules in the United States could damage the attractiveness of bank stocks, and make banking costs go even higher for consumers.

He argued that the Fed’s “’Basel III Endgame’ reforms” would make loans even more expensive, and would force banks to reduce the amount of money they lend, which could drive banking activities into less regulated sectors. Dimon stressed that more lenders could run into problems just like Silicon Valley Bank did this spring. “Any crisis that damages Americans’ trust in their banks damages all banks — a fact that was known even before this crisis,” he wrote. “Even when it is behind us, there will be repercussions from it for years to come,” he emphasized.

He also said that it is “a huge mistake” to think that the U.S. economy will boom “for years” given that there are so many risks out there. With interest rates still going up, conditions will become even more recessionary, and “you are going to see more people out there with problems”.

It is for that reason that JPMorgan has just reiterated its bearish stance on the stock market, urging its clients to stay defensively positioned. Analysts at the firm also adjusted the bank’s investment strategy in response to rising commodity prices and the potential spike in inflation. JPMorgan strategist Marko Kolanovic also noted that the increased potential for bank turbulence, an oil shock, and slowing growth is poised to send stocks back toward their 2022 lows, as reported by Bloomberg News.

We still have three more months to go before this year is done, and a lot more can happen in financial markets. One of the biggest concerns right now is the real estate sector. Warren Buffet’s investment partner and vice president of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger recently observed that hundreds of banks are exposed to commercial real estate loans that are at risk of going into default. He thinks there is trouble ahead for the U.S. commercial property market. “A lot of real estate isn’t so good anymore,” Munger said. “We have a lot of troubled office buildings, a lot of troubled shopping centers, a lot of troubled other properties. There’s a lot of agony out there.”

These are the very early chapters of this crisis. But when even the head of one of the biggest financial institutions on the planet is worried about growing risks, we should definitely brace for pain because much worse is yet to come. Although it may take a while for all the dominoes to fall, we won’t be able to avert a decline that is already in motion. The clock is ticking, and time is running out for the U.S. financial system.

From the Concrete Slab Came a Pitiful Meow

What are some ways that American companies can keep up with Chinese companies like Huawei that are becoming increasingly competitive and innovative?

Why did US win the space race?

Why did they edge out the USSR by 1970?

They promoted meritocracy and hired thousands of people of ability

Including hiring 3 Colored Women in Texas well before the Civil Rights Act

It’s because THEY DIDN’T SANCTION THE USSR

They COMPETED

They used their resources and advantages and competed aggressively and took advantage of the fact that USSR had the worst leadership from 1966 onwards

That’s all they need to do

Compete and allow Economic forces to decide markets rather than the Congress or Politicians

Take Alipay and Wechat

Amazing Apps

If we bring Alipay and Wechat to India today, they will compete one on one with Phone Pe and Google Pay

That will lead to fierce competition and lead to one superior product evolving or a market resolution

Instead if we keep protecting US Apps from competition, the Chinese will build their apps and compete ferociously in their own markets and evolve their apps on a far superior level than US Apps as is already happening today

Chinese Apps like JD or Meituan or Alipay or Wechat or SHEIN are far superior to US equivalents and of course Tik Tok which has launched ecommerce functions in US

Meanwhile because of Chinese protectionism, Google wasn’t allowed in China and due to no direct one on one competition, Baidu has never reached the level of penetration and functionality of Google

The US today have a sense of entitlement that is unbelievable

Anyone develops some product that could compete with their licensing of core technology, and they invent some trumped up security threat and sanction the product and threaten anyone who uses that product

It may work against small players

Against China, a Nation of tremendous talent and intelligence plus a superb merit based system – It is a huge axe blow on your own feet

US has abandoned free economic forces and fair competition

That signs their death warrant

China had decide to embrace both. That means they will win.

Ultimately Economics is always the same

RESPECT THE ECONOMIC FORCES

The US must abandon all sanctions and go for free trade and competition with China including full access to each others markets.

What’s the weirdest thing a guest has done at your house?

Oh my gosh. I’m still getting over this one. I travel a lot on business and, when I do, I usually try to find someone to come in and house sit for me. Well, I met a woman whom I thought would be great for house sitting. Because she was going to be taking care of 3 dogs, 5 cats, and 4 horses, I told her that I’d pay her $150/day, which she agreed to.

I told her that she could sleep in the guest room (which is decorated very nicely with a new bed, sheets, blankets, etc. I showed her how to use the big screen tv, etc — and I told her that she could eat any food in the house with the exception of a certain coffee and also to please not do anything illegal on my property.

When she came over, I was very specific and left written instructions so she wouldn’t be confused. The specific rules were for the protection of my animals.

Feed the horses in the feeders and don’t move the feeders.
Fill up the water trough daily so they have fresh water and, because it was winter and freezing, make sure that the water de-icer was left on.
Put the dogs in the house before going out the gate, then go back and let them out. If you open the gate, the dogs will run out and you’ll have a difficult time getting them back.
Do not allow the cats to go out. They’re indoor cats and 1 is a female that I just adopted — she’s not spayed yet so under no circumstances can she go out.

She agreed to everything and I was happy that I’d found someone who could take care of my house and animals.

During my business trip, I called several times to make sure things were going ok and she said they were so I was happy that I didn’t have to worry about things.

When I returned from my trip, I was absolutely shocked. I walked into my house and couldn’t breathe. The house was completely filled with pot smoke. (And I have a BIG house). I thought she’d spent the entire time getting stoned. But that wasn’t all. She had gone through ALL my cupboards and closets and taken everything out and rearranged things. NOTHING was where it had been. All the furniture was changed around. My bedroom had been completely changed, including my bed — which she’d been sleeping in and had stained the bed and sheets — not sure with what but it was disgusting.

She had also thrown all the cats outside — because “cats don’t belong in the house.” I’m not sure what she’d done to the dogs, but they were terrified of her. I do know that she had left the gate open and they got out and it took her hours to find and get them back in. (I live in a rural area where people shoot stray dogs so they were in danger.)

I also found out that she’d just dumped the feed for the horses in a completely different area than where they were supposed to be fed AND it was where there was a lot of sand — so essentially the horses were eating feed mixed with sand (which can be deadly.) She’d pulled the de-icer out of the watering trough and pulled the plug so the trough was empty and the horses had no water.

The back of the remote control for the tv had disappeared — and I found it a month or so later hidden in the back of my closet. She’d ripped out plugs from my desktop computer and taken all the ink out of my printer.

I had a brand new washer and dryer. She pulled them out and the hoses and plugs were disconnected. I had a beautiful handmade wooden bowl was on my fireplace mantel. She took it off the mantel, took it into the bathroom and poured liquid soap into it, then put it into the shower so the wood had warped beyond saving. It was ruined.

I collect art and she’d moved all my pictures around and turned them upside down.

My best friend had died a few years before, and he had given me a ceramic angel before he passed. It had a lot of meaning for me and I loved it — it was so precious to me. It had disappeared. I found out later that she’d thrown it away — I found it in the trash in a bag of dirty cat litter.

Oh, and my coffee that I’d specifically asked her not to use (there were at least 5 other kinds there) — what she didn’t use, she dumped out in the trash.

There were a lot of other things that she’d done, but you get the idea. I was freaked out and horrified, and honestly, she scared me.

I asked her why she’d done all this and she said got belligerent and told me that she had every right to do it because it was HER house and she could have it any way she wanted to. She told me that my dogs were too spoiled and they deserved to be “trained”. Part of that training was making them sleep outside. (Imagine a Basset Hound being made to sleep outside with no shelter, in the middle of February when the temperatures were down to 0 degrees F.) The same with the cats. (Oh? and that female cat? Let’s just say that there are now two more kittens here. ::::sigh:::::)

When I asked why she’d say that she’d house sit if she didn’t want to follow my instructions, she said that she came from a family with 6 sisters and she was the youngest. She hated it when they told her what to do and so she ALWAYS did the OPPOSITE of what anyone “ordered” her to do.

Then she said that NOBODY orders her around. She got more and more angry and upset and I was actually afraid that she would become violent. She started screaming at me and daring me to call her a “F’ing C*** B****”. (Sorry, I don’t use that kind of language.)

I did pay her, because I just wanted her gone. I did tell her that she was never to set foot on my property again or I’d have her arrested. After she left and had given me back my keys, I noticed that one of the door keys was new so she’d obviously had extras made. The next day all the locks were changed, including the locks on the gates.

The next day the texts from her started. She told me that she’d thrown away my angel but I didn’t need anything from a dead friend and SHE’D be my new best friend. The texts continued to get creepier and creepier.

I responded that if she ever texted, called or tried to contact me again, I’d have her arrested for stalking. Then I blocked her. She totally freaked me out.

I haven’t seen her since. But I did get a new mattress. :::::shivers::::::

Four-Onion Steak

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 (12 ounce) boneless beef top-loin steaks, cut 1 inch thick
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
1 medium leek, thinly sliced
2 shallots, chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup sliced scallions
Scallions, sliced into 3-inch pieces (optional)

Instructions

Cut steaks into 4 portions.
Combine garlic salt, chili powder, pepper and cinnamon. Use your fingers to press mixture onto both sides of each steak portion.
In a large skillet cook steaks in hot oil over medium heat to desired doneness, turning once. Allow 8 to 11 minutes for medium rare or 12 to 14 minutes for medium.
Transfer steaks to a serving platter, reserving drippings in the skillet. Keep warm.
For sauce, add white onion, leek and shallots to skillet. Cook and stir over low heat for 5 minutes or until onions are tender.
Add beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes more or until broth is slightly reduced.
Add scallions. Spoon onion mixture over steaks.
Garnish with scallion pieces, if desired.

Do Cats Think They’re The Boss?

Homeless in the land of plenty

For a while, right before I was “recovered” by MAJ at China Lake Naval Weapons Systems, I found myself in California and making ends meet. I knew that I had to be in California, but where? And how to contact my “up-line handlers”?

I hadn’t a clue.

So I parked myself in various cities, and waited for their actions.

Right before they “found me”, I was working as a breakfast cook at a restaurant called “Louse’s place” in the beautiful town of San Louis Obispo. This town, a college town, was nestled in a nice area, surrounded by mountains, and built upon a network of streams. It was, at that time, quite lovely.

I wore a short sleeved shirt, a white apron, and a chef’s hat, and performed my cooking rituals in front of the customers. Basic stuff, really. Bacon and eggs, gourmet omelettes, and specialty sandwiches.

I lived off the small salary, and the tips that I would get.

I worked a 5am to 3 pm shift. And it wasn’t bad at all. I got a free lunch, and could take home leftover “blue plate specials”. And I did just that, as I would walk the distance to our broken down van, that was parked at the edge of a obscure parking lot until we could get enough money to get an apartment and leave.

We would eat the food in the front seat. And just pretty much lived a transit lifestyle.

This was in the 1980’s. I can only imagine how bad it must be today. Back then, We were a rare sight. Today, we would be just a ripple in a massive wave of homeless. Gosh! Can you even imagine?

…

I have a lot of compassion of others (homeless in California) who suffer through this plight. It’s difficult, and hard. Housing, utilities and expenses are outrageous, and they do not have to be that way, it is just the super greedy that this created this impossible situation.

If you ever get a moment, give some food to the homeless. Maybe they will accept, maybe not. But show some compassion.

Won’t you?

Todays…

What were the results of Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia?

North Korea will participate in a number of Far Eastern Projects and establish a Russia DPRK Labor Commission to engage upto 200,000 workers who will live in Far East for 10 years and could be Prospective migrants
DPRK and Russia will jointly modernize the Air Force of North Korea, Drones in North Korea and Air Defence of North Korea
DPRK and Russia will sign a Trade Pact
Putin has committed around 1 Trillion Rubles investment in North Korea

China will play a key role but China will remain hidden behind the scenes because it’s not a Sanctioned state like DPRK and Russia

They can’t sign an official agreement due to existing UN sanctions that Russia can’t break or violate

Yet they can unofficially make a no limits friendship which they just did

In exchange

DPRK promises assistance to Russia against ROK (South Korea) and Japan as a strong piece on the Chessboard

A Nuclear power with 50 Nukes minimum is a strong powerful deterrent

Huawei issues denial

That the governments of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela have ordered their government officials to stop using Apple iPhones and switch to Mate 60 Pro for security reasons.

Chicken Fried Steak with Mashed
Potatoes and White Gravy

Ingredients

6 cube steaks
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons seasoned salt
3/4 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon oregano
4 to 5 eggs

Instructions

Add the seasonings to the flour. Stir it all together.
Crack the eggs in a separate dish and mix them together.
Lay the steak in the flour and then dip it into the egg. Place it back in the flour.
Repeat with the rest of the steaks.
Lay the steak in hot oil. Let it cook for a couple of minutes at 350 degrees F.
Repeat with the rest of the steaks.
Plate the steak and serve with garlic mashed potatoes and gravy.

If you were a super hero, what would your super powers be, and what would be your cause? Why?

If I were a superhero, I want my superpower to be “involuntary empathy.” I have the power to make people feel what others are feeling. The process is simple: I mark a person as a “target,” and choose a “recipient,” and link them together. The selection can not be random. The recipient’s action must directly impact the target; otherwise, the connection will not work. Both the target and recipient maintain their independent thought and free will. They can go about doing their own thing. However, the recipient will experience the target’s emotions that directly result from the recipient’s action (and nothing else). The recipient can go kill the target if they are willing to experience death. On top of the obvious murder change, the recipient will suffer a mental breakdown and never recover. And if a person has multiple victims, the effect will compound.

For example, if a man abuses his wife, he will experience the physical pain, fear, desperation, anxiety, and shame… that directly result from his abuse. But he doesn’t get to experience the love and joy his wife felt when she was with her family or playing with her children.

I want to be able to walk up to a youth pastor who abuses children and make him experience the anguish, desperation, sense of isolation, shame, guilt, and self-loathing his victims felt while they were being molested. I want him to feel the pain that drove these poor kids to self-harm or even commit suicide. I want to make murderers feel the pain of the families of the victims. I want to make the billionaires feel the pain of their workers.

I want those pearl-clutching “concerned moms” to feel the fear and anxiety and isolation of trans kids who just want to use the fucking bathroom.

I want the shitty parents to feel the pain of the children they abuse.

I want the racists to feel the fear and anger of minority people they bully and harass. I want the KKK members to feel the pain of their victims. I want them to feel every single minute when the victims are beaten and tortured.

I want this pain and suffering to stay with these people for the rest of their lives. And the only way they can reduce their suffering is through genuine remorse and making actual amends.

I want Jeff Bezos to feel the exhaustion of his delivery guys and distribution center workers, the discomfort that they had to hold their bladder, the shame of having to pee in a bottle, the fear of being sick and missing work, the anxiety of doing full-time work and not making a living wage. I want him to feel it every day, every night, every minute of his life on his fucking 500 million dollar yacht. He won’t be able to enjoy any luxuries in life until he changes his company policy.

Of course, the recipient would experience positive feelings from the target as well if that’s the direct result of their actions. So if Jeff Bezos decided to pay his workers fair wages, give them sick leave, and some bonus, he would experience immense joy no 500 million dollar yachts would bring. If the billionaires want to experience incredible joy, they can donate to disaster relief and build schools for underprivileged children. I would be happy to connect them to the children they helped. I mean, actually helped, instead of using their charity organization as a tax haven.

I feel that I could actually make the world a better place if I had this power.

Even MOBILE HOMES Are No Longer AFFORDABLE

Today I am finally showing you around a mobile home park here in California. However, there is a caveat…Its quite expensive to own a mobile home here. However, I was able to speak with one of the residents and get you the details on what its like to live and own in a mobile home park.

You cannot afford to live in the USA.

Have you ever been on a date that was going so badly you walked out and left?

I had ridden motorcycles, ATVs, dirt bikes, etc on & off since I was 5. I met a guy on line who was a biker and agreed to meet for a ride & lunch. At the time, I didn’t have a bike so I was to be his backseat “princess”.

Before the ride, I questioned him a lot about riding, how long he had been riding, where all he had ridden to, what bikes he had owned, etc to make sure he was legit. I’m not putting my life at risk with a poser. He came off as legit.

We meet, start the ride and I realize that I was in trouble….he was dangerous with his riding skills. Tailgating, splitting lanes when there was no need to, cursing out car drivers, braking too late, taking curves too fast…. basically he was dangerous. I admit to being scared shitless. He refused to stop to let me get off his bike until we got to the restaurant.

Inside the restaurant, I went from being an emotional wreck to being all out “Irish-Redhead” pissed but presented a calm and exterior. After ordering, I excused myself to go to the ladies room. While in there I called for an Uber to pick me up in 1/2 hour. I rejoined him, ate my meal, including a stiff drink to calm the nerves and thanked him. Then I just went outside and got in my Uber to go home. Be damned if I was getting back on the lunatic’s bike. And of course, I blocked him.

Why is Huawei’s new smartphone generating so much buzz?

Huawei was once the world’s top smartphone vendor, shipping over 200m phones in 2018.

Last year, under a de-facto embargo by the US, it shipped 28m, an eight-, almost nine-fold decrease from its peak.

The volume has been cannibalized by Apple, Samsung, and other Chinese brands.

Apple, in particular, now sell more iPhones in Greater China than stateside, all thanks to Huawei’s demise.

That’s “national security” and “clean networks” for all you Apple fans.

How bad were the curbs applied on Huawei? Phone assemblers froze assembly lines overnight and refused to fulfill their contractual obligations, components on order were canceled, Google withdrew Android licensing and design license agreements were ripped up.

Huawei had no OS, a completely disrupted hardware supply chain, a deficient set of highly specialized software design tools and its CFO under house arrest in Canada.

It would not have surprised anyone had Huawei announced its withdrawal from the consumer device space.

Amazingly, Huawei the 5G telecoms champion sold off Honor, its sub-brand, and issued 4G phones under the Huawei brand, weathering a gut-wrenching revenue drop off a cliff. It conducted an internal review of the entire supply chain, from its core telecoms equipment business to consumer devices, and began the painful and expensive task of de-Americanization. Any component that had even the hint of American IP was marked for domestic substitution. The process was completed for its telecoms equipment earlier, but the device side lacked two pieces—a capable GPU for AI-assisted gestures, payments and the camera, and a 5G modem, which was protected behind Qualcomm’s giant patent wall.

Huawei found hacks around EDA restrictions, and designed its own GPU. It also introduced novel transistor geometries to boost the performance of 7nm to the 5nm node. It rapidly upgraded its inhouse Hongmeng OS to 4.0, turning it into a polished platform with large language AI and IOT capability baked in. Its software ecosystem is coming along nicely, and the platform is well beyond the market share needed to ensure survival.

To add icing on the cake, the flagship Huawei phone of 2023 can make satellite calls, showcasing its space comms tech maturity and the bandwidth/coverage of the Chinese commercial satellite network.

In field tests conducted by a Hong Kong user, the Mate 60 Pro matched the iPhone 14’s 5G network speed, demonstrating Huawei’s 5G modem was a match for Qualcomm’s implementation. Not a bad milestone for a first effort, eh?

Huawei had no need for GPS, Qualcomm’s 5G, LG’s OLED, Samsung’s storage, Micron’s memory, or even upstream chip design tools that were vulnerable to US sanction. In fact, even if we took the best in class features from Apple, Google and Samsung and put them into a hypothetical hybrid champion, the Mate 60 Pro can still stand shoulder to shoulder, because it has a couple of industry-first or performance leading features. It is truly worthy of a 2023 flagship designation, earned fair and square.

Huawei did all these in less than 4 years, a remarkable turnaround despite becoming a corporation targeted for destruction by the US government, probably a historic first.

Huawei is finding its mojo again on way firmer footing, and it will sell every Mate 60 pro the production lines can churn out this year.

The NEW American Dream: GETTING OUT!

We grew up during the 1970s and 80s in the Midwest back when the American Dream was still the goal and attainable for most people in the middle class. If you worked hard for a loyal employer (they were still loyal back then) or at your own business, you could expect to have a shot at freedom, prosperity, a house, a car, a better life for your kids, etc. Sadly, that is no longer the case for several reasons we discuss in this video. Now, the NEW American Dream is about something most people never thought they would do: Leaving the United States.

Are economic sanctions really effective against countries like Russia and China?

There is a Golden Rule for Sanctions:-

(a) If you can produce your own food and supply your own food

(b) If you have a Product that has tremendous Global Demand and its deficit would lead to significant losses

Then You are immune from Most Sanctions on a Long term basis.

Its why Iran and Iraq have also survived Sanctions.

They have OIL.

Thats Why Afghanistan is likely to be roasted under Sanctions. Because they dont have the above merits.

How Will The Biden Administration Cope With Its Loss In Ukraine?

While this piece will touch on the war in Ukraine it is more about the U.S., and the Biden administration, and how they will cope with their defeat in their war on Russia. Please keep that in mind when commentating.

Washington’s moment of recognizing the defeat in Ukraine, and its consequences, has yet to arrive.

In his latest piece (archived) Seymour Hersh reports on the state of the war and of significant differences of opinion between the U.S. intelligence services:

There are significant elements in the American intelligence community, relying on field reports and technical intelligence, who believe that the demoralized Ukraine army has given up on the possibility of overcoming the heavily mined three-tier Russian defense lines and taking the war to Crimea and the four oblasts seized and annexed by Russia. The reality is that Volodymyr Zelensky’s battered army no longer has any chance of a victory.

The war continues, I have been told by an official with access to current intelligence, because Zelensky insists that it must. There is no discussion in his headquarters or in the Biden White House of a ceasefire and no interest in talks that could lead to an end to the slaughter. “It’s all lies,” the official said, speaking of the Ukrainian claims of incremental progress in the offensive that has suffered staggering losses, while gaining ground in a few scattered areas that the Ukrainian military measures in meters per week.
…
The American intelligence official I spoke with spent the early years of his career working against Soviet aggression and spying has respect for Putin’s intellect but contempt for his decision to go to war with Ukraine and to initiate the death and destruction that war brings. But, as he told me, “The war is over. Russia has won. There is no Ukrainian offensive anymore, but the White House and the American media have to keep the lie going.

“The truth is if the Ukrainian army is ordered to continue the offensive, the army would mutiny. The soldiers aren’t willing to die any more, but this doesn’t fit the B.S. that is being authored by the Biden White House.”

The differences between the current CIA and the more neoconned Defense Intelligence Agency extend to their view on China:

A byproduct of the Biden administration’s neocon hostility to Russia and China—exemplified by the remarks of Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who has repeatedly stated that he will not currently countenance a ceasefire in Ukraine—has been a significant split in the intelligence community. One casualty are the secret National Intelligence Estimates that have delineated the parameters of American foreign policy for decades. Some key offices in the CIA have refused, in many cases, to participate in the NIE process because of profound political disagreement with the administration’s aggressive foreign policy. One recent failure involved a planned NIE that dealt with the outcome of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

I have reported for many weeks on the longstanding disagreement between the CIA and other elements of the intelligence community on the prognosis of the current war in the Ukraine. CIA analysts have consistently been far more skeptical than their counterparts at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on the prospect for a Ukraine success. The American media has ignored the dispute, but the London-headquartered Economist, whose well-informed reporters do not get bylines, has not.
…

The DIA is still saying that the Ukrainian army has a chance, a small one though, to break through the Russian lines. The White House still seems to believe in that. The CIA knows that the Ukraine is done.

Alastair Crooke, in a talk (vid) with Judge Napolitano, says that the moment of truth will only arrive in November.

But what will happen when everyone recognizes and acknowledges, if silently, that the war on Russia has failed?

Michael Brenner argues that the US Can’t Deal With Defeat:

Ukraine, today, has suffered huge losses of even greater (proportional) magnitude [than the German Wehrmacht in the Battle of Kursk], without achieving any significant territorial gains, unable even to reach the first layer of the Surovikin Line. That will clear the road to the Dnieper and beyond for the 600,000 strong Russian army equipped with weaponry the equal of what the West has given Ukraine. Hence, Moscow is poised to exploit its decisive advantage to the point where it can dictate terms to Kiev, Washington, Brussels et al.

The Biden administration has made no plans for such an eventuality, nor have its obedient European governments. Their divorce from reality will make this state of affairs all the more stunning — and galling. Bereft of ideas, they will flounder. How they will react is unknowable. We can say with certainty one thing: the collective West, and especially the U.S., will have suffered a grave defeat. Coping with that truth will become the main order of business.

Here is a menu of options for handling it:

Redefine what is meant by defeat, victory, failure, success, loss, gain. There is a new narrative that is scripted to stress these talking points: …
…
This narrative already has been given an airing in speeches by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. Its target audience is the American public; nobody outside the Collective West buys it, though — whether Washington has registered that fact of diplomatic life or not.

Retroactively Scale Back the Goals & Stakes
…
Cultivate Amnesia
…
Next: China
…

It is likely that the administration will use all four options to make the pain and memory of defeat go away. Declare victory over Russia because Russia was stopped at the border with Poland. Then forget about all the details and consequences and move towards war on China.

That could end catastrophically.

The focal shift from Russia in Europe to China in Asia is less a mechanism for coping with defeat than the pathological reaction of a country that, feeling a gnawing sense of diminishing prowess, can manage to do nothing more than try one final fling at proving to itself that it still has the right stuff — since living without that exalted sense of self is intolerable.
…
The U.S. was fortunate, in the case of Vietnam, that the United States’ dominant position in the world outside of the Soviet Bloc and the PRC allowed it to maintain respect, status and influence.

Things have now changed, though. The U.S. relative strength in all domains is weaker, strong centrifugal forces around the globe are producing a dispersion of power, will and outlook among other states. The BRICs phenomenon is the concrete embodiment of that reality.

Hence, the prerogatives of the United States are narrowing, its ability to shape the global system in conformity with its ideas and interests are under mounting challenge, and premiums are being placed on diplomacy of an order that seems beyond its present aptitudes.

The U.S. is confounded.

Major offices in the CIA, according to Hersh, have recognized the danger of such plans. It may well be the reason why the CIA’s informal spokesmen, David Ignatius, and others wrote that Biden should step down.

If he doesn’t the neoconservatives around him will have a great incentive to move on China as fast as possible. As Biden will have difficulties in winning next year’s election he needs some objective that can unify the country. A war that he can claim the U.S. will win is one. Some hostile naval exchanges with China will follow.

(Please don’t use the comments of this thread for details from the war in Ukraine. The current thread for such is here.)

Posted by b on September 21, 2023 at 17:05 UTC | Permalink

Dangerous

On topic we are at a dangerous inflection point. Ironically it is the potential of war with China that is preventing WW3 from starting, in my view. Maerica doesn’t know how to accept loss and animals are at their most dangerous when cornered.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Sep 21 2023 18:22 utc | 29

What are the strengths and weaknesses of China’s foreign policy towards the United States?

China’s foreign policy towards the U.S. is very simple indeed Allow the U.S. to commit suicide and give them a long rope to hang themselves since they choose ignorance, naïveté and hubris over knowing the real China.

This policy is highly effective cost almost nothing and hurt the U.S. beyond recognition. And it is the US doing to themselves. Take the Chinese response to US thinking they could knee cap China on supposed technological superiority on semi conductor. Over China.

China don’t wish to start a fight now wants to hurt snd harmed China but the US insisted. Hence China chose the precise response that will totally destroy the U.S. that cost China nothing and cost trillions upon trillions of losses in the U.S. chips industry.

But this is not the first time nor will it be the last. The last nation to threaten is one that helped you enjoyed a 30 years inflation free economy. But the U.S. started a trade war against China for no reason except it is popular for politicians. Today the U.S. is paying for a high inflation and looming recession.

Their policy as usual is sustainable, practical and pragmatic while the U.S. policy towards China hurts and harm the U.S. to no end. It is neither sustainable nor effective against China.

China Slams And Issues A Massive Warning To Europe | Sparks Tensions Over EV Exports

“Just like their master, the E.U. resorts to tariffs to try to slow down the growth of Chinese EV’s in its market. In other words, when they can’t compete, they employ dirty tricks to get what they want. How can the E.U. go about the accusation of government subsidies when the same eletrict car costs nearly twice the one in the Chinese domestic market? The madness is beyond belief.”

China can make life really bad for European car manufacturers if it wanted to.

Who is probably the luckiest guy ever?

This man survived the unthinkable on 9/11.

Stanley Praimnath, was working on the 81st floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

He was a vice president at Fuji Bank, a prestigious Japanese financial institution. He had a nice office with a view of the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River.

He had a good life, a loving family, and a strong Christian faith.

But everything changed in an instant when he saw a plane flying straight toward his building.

He later recalled:

Depiction of the plane.

“I saw this giant airplane coming towards me eye level, eye contact. I’m looking at the cockpit of the plane and I see the red markings on it and I realize it’s an American Airlines plane.” He instinctively ducked under his desk and prayed: “Lord, I can’t do this! You take over!”

The plane crashed into the building between floors 77 and 85, just above Stanley’s office.

The impact was so powerful that it tore a hole in the wall behind him and sucked out everything in his office except his desk, which shielded him from the flames and debris. He was trapped in a small space with no way out.

Meanwhile, on the same floor, another man was looking for survivors. His name was Brian Clark,

a Canadian executive at Euro Brokers, another financial firm.

He had escaped from his office on the 84th floor, which was at the top of the impact zone, and was heading down Stairway A, the only one that wasn’t destroyed by the plane.

On his way down, he heard a faint voice crying for help from behind a wall of rubble.

He followed the sound and found Stanley’s hand waving through a hole. He shone his flashlight and saw Stanley’s eyes staring back at him.

He grabbed his hand and pulled him over the wall.

Stanley was overjoyed to see Brian. He kissed him and said:

“I’m Stanley! We’ll be brothers for life!” Brian agreed and said: “Let’s go home.”

The two men made their way down the stairs, dodging smoke and debris along the way. They reached the ground floor at 9:55 am, just five minutes before the South Tower collapsed.

They ran out of the building and hugged each other in relief. They had just become two of only four survivors from above the south tower impact zone.

Stanley later said that he owed his life to God and Brian. He said: “God sent an angel to save me.” Brian said:

“I don’t know why I survived when so many others didn’t. I guess God had other plans for me.”

After 9/11, Stanley became a Pentecostal pastor and a popular inspirational speaker with religious groups and churches. He also remained close friends with Brian, who he calls his brother for life.

Chopped Steak Special

Skillet Chopped Steak ExtraLarge1000 ID 1164090

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
3 tablespoons grated or minced onion
1 tablespoon minced chile pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon spicy steak or Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon green or red Tabasco sauce

Instructions

Combine all ingredients until well mixed.
Shape into four fat oval patties.
Pan broil in a heavy skillet.

What are some examples of countries which went rapidly from rich to poor?

Cambodia.

In short answer, Cambodia used to be a prosperous country. After the end of the Indochina War (1945–1954), under the leadership of King Norodom Sihanouk (1922–2012), the economy of Cambodia rapidly went up for the next twenty years, with remarkable achievements. In 1960, the GPD per capita of Cambodia was US$ 111,34 and it was even higher than both North and South Vietnam at that time (with US$ 51 and US$ 105, respectively).

During the 1960s, while Vietnam was stuck into a devastated war, the economy of Cambodia continued to develop rapidly. The capital of Phnom Penh was among the “pearls” of the oriental, where notable figures of the world such as French President Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970) and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994) had their visits.

However…

The fate of Cambodia was sealed on 18 March 1970, after the coup d’état against King Norodom Sihanouk, which was sponsored by the United States. Since then, Cambodia was stuck into a bloody civil war during the next five years (1970–1975), with hundred thousand deaths.

Unluckily, the end of the Cambodian Civil War in 1975 did not mark the beginning of the new peaceful era for Cambodian nation. On the contrary, it subsequently marked the beginning of the Maoist genocidal regime of Khmer Rouge, as one of the most brutal dictatorships in 20th century. “Comrade Pol Pot”, the supreme leader of Cambodia at that time once said:

“In the concrete revolutionary struggle of our country, we creatively and successfully applied Mao Tse-tung Thought.”

(Peking Review (北京周報), Vol. 20, No. 41, 07 October 1977, p. 25)

With Chinese Maoism in his mind together with strong military supports from People’s Republic of China, in just four years Pol Pot rapidly transformed his country into a massive “killing field”, where 2.0 to 3.0 millions of “counter-revolutionaries” or 1/3 of Cambodian population were exterminated! Historically, it was called the “Cambodian Genocide”, in which the whole country of Cambodia was returned to the “Year Zero” (Année Zéro). From a prosperous country during the 1960s, Cambodia became a constant famine-stricken and also one of the poorest countries in the world under the rule of Khmer Rouge regime.

The whole economic structure of Cambodia was totally bankrupt to the root when Pol Pot decided not to use the paper money anymore! The city of Phnom Penh subsequently became a “ghost city”. There were no more French-style coffee shops, no more luxury cars, no more beautiful lights of neon at night, but only the so-called “people’s communes” located around the country, where people were forced to work until their last breath. These below pictures were about the city of Phnom Penh under the rule of Khmer Rouge.

The “Cambodian Genocide” was finally ended on January 1979, when the Cambodian national uprising together with the Vietnamese offensive finally overthrown the rule of Pol Pot and his henchmen. During the next twenty years (1979–1999), together with the Vietnamese military assistance, the new government of Cambodia under the leadership of Hun Sen continued the fight against the remaining Khmer Rouge guerrillas until the death of Pol Pot in 1998 and the total disband of the Khmer Rouge faction in 1999.

Since 1993, Norodom Sihanouk officially returned as a King of Cambodia. Meanwhile, all of the former leaders of Khmer Rouge regime were charged with their crimes against the humanity.

Nowadays, although Cambodia is not a rich country, but the revival process is going on, the whole country of Cambodia is again going up rapidly from zero and obtains average GDP growth about 7.5% annually.

How to LEAVE AMERICA FOR GOOD and escape the rat race in the United States

If you’re thinking that America sucks and is going to hell recently, you’re not alone and lots of people are wondering how to set up an escape plan and get out of the USA permanently before it falls apart.

Or, you might simply be thinking that it would be better to live in another country, regardless of how well the United States is doing, because you’re trying to escape the rat race that we’ve built.

Whatever your motivations for wanting to leave the USA and travel the world full-time, this video will breakdown how to make money while traveling, different jobs available to foreigners, how to work online, how to find jobs in a foreign country, a few countries that I think are good first-time tryouts for anyone who is considering living the digital nomad life full-time, and much more.

“Digital Nomad” is a very highly hyped occupation, but in actuality, it doesn’t really work out that great.

How can we make peace between China and Taiwan?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already answered this question.

Taiwan is part of China.

Since 1956, Mao Zedong proposed the “third cooperation between the KMT and the CPC” to complete the mission of peacefully reunifying Taiwan, and proposed the policy of “One Program, Four projects”, the predecessor of “One Country, Two Systems”.

It is the hypocritical Yanks who have been blocking China’s efforts to unify Taiwan.

The United States has always been the main culprit in dividing China. Without the overt and covert support of Washington, the DPP would not be able to gain power in Taiwan.

We record everything the United States has done to China.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Why do service economies eventually become rent-seeking economies when growth slows down?

When service economies slow down; they resort to financialization.

This means that they create cash flow by creating debt instead of producing anything.

This is what has happened to the US economy. Most Americans are deeply in debt, and spend a significant portion of their monthly income paying interest on their debt.

It is NOT productivity.

Debt is a necessary part of life, but it should only be spent as an investment for future productivity, not for paying off daily expenses.

Frugal Living Is The Only Way To SURVIVE The Cost of Living Crisis

Fact.

Radioactive steaks

Three mile island is / was a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. They had a leak of radiation in the late 1970’s and served as the back-drop for the story that I am about to relate today.

At 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979, one of the worst accidents in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry begins when a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island fails to close. Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings, and the core began to dangerously overheat.

The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was built in 1974 on a sandbar on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, just 10 miles downstream from the state capitol in Harrisburg. In 1978, a second state-of-the-art reactor began operating on Three Mile Island, which was lauded for generating affordable and reliable energy in a time of energy crises.

After the cooling water began to drain out of the broken pressure valve on the morning of March 28, 1979, emergency cooling pumps automatically went into operation. Left alone, these safety devices would have prevented the development of a larger crisis. However, human operators in the control room misread confusing and contradictory readings and shut off the emergency water system. The reactor was also shut down, but residual heat from the fission process was still being released. By early morning, the core had heated to over 4,000 degrees, just 1,000 degrees short of meltdown. In the meltdown scenario, the core melts, and deadly radiation drifts across the countryside, fatally sickening a potentially great number of people.

As the plant operators struggled to understand what had happened, the contaminated water was releasing radioactive gases throughout the plant. The radiation levels, though not immediately life-threatening, were dangerous, and the core cooked further as the contaminated water was contained and precautions were taken to protect the operators. Shortly after 8 a.m., word of the accident leaked to the outside world. The plant’s parent company, Metropolitan Edison, downplayed the crisis and claimed that no radiation had been detected off plant grounds, but the same day inspectors detected slightly increased levels of radiation nearby as a result of the contaminated water leak. Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh considered calling an evacuation.

Finally, at about 8 p.m., plant operators realized they needed to get water moving through the core again and restarted the pumps. The temperature began to drop, and pressure in the reactor was reduced. The reactor had come within less than an hour of a complete meltdown. More than half the core was destroyed or molten, but it had not broken its protective shell, and no radiation was escaping. The crisis was apparently over.

Two days later, however, on March 30, a bubble of highly flammable hydrogen gas was discovered within the reactor building. The bubble of gas was created two days before when exposed core materials reacted with super-heated steam. On March 28, some of this gas had exploded, releasing a small amount of radiation into the atmosphere. At that time, plant operators had not registered the explosion, which sounded like a ventilation door closing. After the radiation leak was discovered on March 30, residents were advised to stay indoors. Experts were uncertain if the hydrogen bubble would create further meltdown or possibly a giant explosion, and as a precaution Governor Thornburgh advised “pregnant women and pre-school age children to leave the area within a five-mile radius of the Three Mile Island facility until further notice.” This led to the panic the governor had hoped to avoid; within days, more than 100,000 people had fled surrounding towns.

On April 1, President Jimmy Carter arrived at Three Mile Island to inspect the plant. Carter, a trained nuclear engineer, had helped dismantle a damaged Canadian nuclear reactor while serving in the U.S. Navy. His visit achieved its aim of calming local residents and the nation. That afternoon, experts agreed that the hydrogen bubble was not in danger of exploding. Slowly, the hydrogen was bled from the system as the reactor cooled.

At the height of the crisis, plant workers were exposed to unhealthy levels of radiation, but no one outside Three Mile Island had their health adversely affected by the accident and no one died as a result of the accident. Nonetheless, the incident greatly eroded the public’s faith in nuclear power. The unharmed Unit-1 reactor at Three Mile Island, which was shut down during the crisis, did not resume operation until 1985. Cleanup continued on Unit-2 until 1990, but it was too damaged to be rendered usable again.

At the time of the event / incident / accident, I was attending Syracuse University in upstate New York.

I, like most of my classmates, at meals at the school cafeteria, and drank a lot of beer in between our classes.

Now…

There was a scandal that occurred at that time.

You see, after the three mile island event, the local government ordered that all the cattle that was grazing on the grass near the plant be killed and no milk be produced, and no beef be sold.

But…

Yeah. You guessed it.

Not all the cattle was accounted for. Some couple of hundred of head couldn’t be found, accounted for or located. They just “disappeared”.

One week after the “scandal” our school announced a “all you can eat steak holiday” at all of our dorm cafeterias.

Yeah.

No shit.

And sure as shit, tons of beef, steaks and roasts galore.

…

In the four years that I attended the university, there was only ONE such event. And that was one week after the missing radioactive cattle couldn’t be accounted for.

…

Now, I (who read the local and state news) wouldn’t touch the meat at all. And my classmates relentlessly made fun of me.

Saying that I was the one losing out. I was truly the butt of jokes. I was considered “stupid”, an “idiot”, and just too caught up in “stuff that didn’t matter”.

While they, who lived on campus, and was isolated from ALL OUTSIDE NEWS, lived a very secluded and pampered existence. They had no idea what was going on “outside”.

Maybe I was the fool.

Maybe not.

Of the three classmates who made fun of me, and who ate that steaks, two of them got cancer and died. One in the 1990’s, and the other around 2004 or so. The last one Peter, was still kicking around on Linkedin about eight years ago.

No signs of cancer yet. Knock on wood.

…

Today…

Rustic Southern Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

Filling

2 large yams
2 large sweet potatoes
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter (melted)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter

Dough

3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk

Egg Wash

1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

Filling: In a large pot, boil yams and potatoes for about one hour or until tender.
Drain water and let potatoes cool.
When cool enough to handle, peel skins off and place yams and potatoes in a ricer or potato masher.
In a bowl, combine yams and potatoes, sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla extract. Mix well.
Dough: Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it turns golden brown. When done, it should have a nutty-like aroma.
Remove from heat and let cool.
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar, mixing well.
In another bowl, whisk together olive oil, vanilla extract, milk and melted butter.
Pour into the flour mixture and mix with a fork. Dough should hold together. If too crumbly, add ice water, a tablespoon at a time.
Cover and let sit for about a half an hour.
Assemble: On a floured surface, roll out dough to fit a 14-inch round or rectangular baking pan. Place dough on pan.
Spoon filling into the center of the dough, leaving about a 1 1/2-inch border. Gently fold the sides of the dough up and over some of the filling.
Egg Wash: Mix the egg and tablespoon of milk together with a fork.
Coat the bread with egg wash using a pasty brush.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Maduro displays Huawei phone at press conference

The latest cellphone of Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei not only caused quite a stir in the consumer market, but also became the gift presented by the Chinese side to visiting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros.

When addressing a press conference at the Latin American country’s embassy in Beijing on Thursday, Maduro took out a foldable Huawei mobile phone, attracting a flurry of flashlights.

“It’s Huawei’s newest cellphone that uses the latest technologies, and you can use this phone to directly communicate via satellite,” he said.

He unfolded the new device, and the large screen that emerged showed a photo of President Xi Jinping shaking hands with Maduro.

“Take a look at this cellphone. How does it look? Look at the screen. It’s a very big screen,” Maduro said with great pride. “Look at this moment when an ideal becomes a reality!”

The Venezuelan leader did not conceal his confidence in the quality of made-in-China electronic devices.

“I want all my young friends to buy a good Huawei cellphone,” he said. “I believe this is the most secure cellphone I’ve ever used and I believe it won’t be tapped by any country.”

Source: chinadaily

Chairman of Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley, “Retiring” End of Month . . . Ukraine?

World Hal Turner 14 September 2023

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is “retiring” at the end of this month. Quite a number of Pentagon staff seem to think this has to do with the utter failure of the Ukraine situation. One Pentagon Officer said “rats are fleeing the sinking ship.”

In a signal as to how unscheduled this “retirement” actually seems to be, Milley told reporters he “doesn’t even know yet where he is going to live, quipping that he has told his wife “we can go to Dicks and get a tent. I’m good with that. We lived a tent before.”

On their face, such words do not give the impression this was a long-planned retirement and gives credence to the notion that something unexpected is forcing the General out. In many people’s minds, Ukraine losing to Russia is the obvious catalyst for Milley’s rather sudden departure.

Hal Turner Editorial Opinion

I am not a fan of General Milley in any way. After the November, 2020 Presidential election, when Milley penned a letter – also signed by the rest of the Joint Chiefs – telling members of the armed forces they would serve Joe Biden, despite what I saw as clear and obvious election fraud which put Biden illegitimately into office, I thought Milley should have been gone right then and there. Instead of defending the actual vote which re-elected Trump, Milley embraced the illegitimate Biden “victory.” It made _me_ sick to my stomach.

Once Biden was in, the whole Ukraine thing flared back up. It had quieted down to nothing during the Administration of President Donald Trump, yet within weeks of Trump’s departure, war was back on the agenda in Ukraine.

That agenda reached its peak in February, 2022, when Russia, having tried every Diplomatic effort imaginable, had to send troops across the Ukraine Border to protect Russia from continued NATO expansion, and from the placing of American missiles on Ukraine soil.

So here we are, 19 months into the Russia Special Military Operation (SMO) to “de-militarize and de-Nazify” Ukraine, and Russia is winning big.

Even staunch NATO allies like Poland, see the writing on the wall. Just yesterday, the Poland President said “Ukraine entering NATO is out of the question now.”

The Ukraine fiasco is falling apart day-by-day and there is no saving it.

I suspect – but cannot prove – that Milley was among the Hawks pushing this Ukraine-Russia fiasco. Perhaps deluded by his own propaganda, Milley never seemed to realize that Ukraine never stood a chance against Russia.

Now that the Ukraine thing is falling apart, Milley is high-tailing it into retirement.

Good riddance.

What was the best thing you saw/heard today?

It was my neighbor. She shot a message to me, all capitalized: “DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THAT?!”

and then, she proceeded to tell me the story about our County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a delivery driver stated that he was unable to deliver a package due to a llama standing in the middle of the road and blocking the traffic.

A cop responded to the location and found said llama in the middle of the road, refusing to move. He finally found a way to sweet talk the llama into putting on a leash and to get it off the road way. If there wasn’t a picture, I’d refuse to believe it.

People! Keep your pets in the house!

Chinese Innovation Foils U.S. Tech War — Clifford A. Kiracofe

Washington calculated that it could restrain China’s technology advancement and thereby stay ahead of the China. However, it appears that this calculation was mistaken.

China’s rapid advances in technology will inevitably foil the United States-led Western technology war against China. Huawei unveiled its stunning new high tech Mate60 cell phone and timed the announcement with the visit of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Sending a message?

The Donald Trump administration launched an intensive trade war and a tech war against China. President Joe Biden continued Trump’s policies and ratcheted them up to a new level. Rather than engage in mutually beneficial trade relations and scientific and technological cooperation, Washington openly admits it seeks to contain and suppress China’s economic growth and development.

Playing this zero-sum game is a dead end for the United States. China is very well equipped in the pursuit of technological innovation. Fundamental to China’s tech progress is the human factor. For example, it is no secret that China every year produces far more STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math) students than does the U.S.

Tech war is economic war

Export controls and restrictions on technology development are nothing new in international commerce. During its colonial period, the North American colonies faced an array of trade restrictions and technology restrictions imposed by the British Empire. These were designed to prevent the colonies from becoming rivals to British manufactures. They also were a factor leading to the American Revolution and War of Independence.

In World War I, the United Kingdom enacted a “Trading with the Enemy Act” which created an export control regime deigned to deny Germany war related imports. After the U.S. entered the war, Congress passed its own Trading with the Enemy Act modeled on the British legislation. These wartime legislative measures were applied again during World War II.

After World War II, export controls on a multilateral basis were created by the West to restrict various exports to the Soviet Union and Communist bloc. The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) was created at the beginning of the Cold War. The U.S. thus coordinates, in turn, with NATO allies, Australia, and Japan to restrict the export of sensitive technologies to designated countries.

So the Western use of export controls for the purposes of economic warfare is nothing new. But the revival of this mechanism intensively directed specifically against China is a key feature of the U.S.-led New Cold War. The technological encirclement and blockade of China, however, is not sustainable.

Washington miscalculates

Washington calculates that it could restrain China’s technology advancement and thereby stay ahead of the China. However, it appears that this calculation was mistaken.

Logically, because China’s population is four times larger than that of the United States, there would at some point be a larger pool of STEM trained specialists in China than in the U.S. This is so because of the continuous upgrading of higher education in China and the massive commitment to research and development.

Several years ago, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. released a study on the STEM issue. The university’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology reported that in 2000 the U.S. issued twice as many doctorates in STEM field as did China. But in 2007, China began outpacing U.S. universities. The report assessed that by 2025 China would produce twice as many STEM Ph.D. graduates.

Because the U.S. cannot compete with its own population base, Washington seeks to import specialists in STEM fields from India as one stop gap measure.

But Chinese innovation is very dynamic and advanced with great future potential. Therefore, it should have been no surprise that China would develop the necessary technology for state-of-the-art semiconductors. This national objective combines the growing pool of high-tech specialists with a large pool of skilled labor together with billions of yuan for investment.

It was not difficult to foresee that China, through innovation and targeted investment, would be able over time to produce the machines and industrial processes to fabricate advanced state-of-the-art semiconductors. This applies to Chinese semiconductor design capability as well.

Why did the Washington miscalculate?

An inter-agency task force on the Chinese semiconductor issue would have concluded that the attempt to block and limit Chinese advances is not sustainable and thus would fail.

Some critics of the administration point to the lack of competence in President Biden’s foreign policy team. They say that Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan are just not up to their jobs.

Be that as it may, it is possible that racial prejudice affects Washington’s assessments. There was a time after World War II when it was common to look down on “cheap” Japanese goods. But Japanese success in electronics and auto manufacture by the 1980s showed another story.

Anyone from the U.S., a tourist or an official who visits China’s National Museum in Beijing will see exhibits displaying many centuries of Chinese skill and innovation not only in art, such as ceramics and bronze, but also in inventions and technology. China’s history of science and technology goes back millennia.

File photo shows technicians of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) inspect the company’s facilities in Beijing. (Photo/Xinhua)

What does the Huawei Mate60 portend?

Clearly, the advanced smartphone is a perception changer at a minimum. No doubt, it will be seen as a game changer as well. Other high-tech breakthroughs are in the news.

It is now reported that the Chinese firm SMIC has a 7 nanometer (nm) N+2 process semiconductor project that is produced entirely in China with no access to Western equipment and technologies. All of the core components in China’s EUV lithography machines are said to be ready and that the prototype is being tested.

On the day that the new Mate60 phone was announced it was sold out in one minute online. Huawei boosted production to 15-17 million units and beginning September 10 Chinese can purchase the smartphone in Huawei’s offline stores. The phone has a satellite capability.

As Chinese firms develop independent semiconductor design and fabrication capacity, U.S. firms inevitably will lose out on this vast export market. It seems logical that the more intense the anti-China trade and tech wars become the more Chinese consumers will turn to homegrown products other than those from the U.S.

The U.S. lifted a stone only to hit its own feet.

The U.S. politicians must come to their senses and adopt a China policy of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and mutual benefit. Washington’s belligerent and destabilizing foreign policy disrupts the international community, increases tensions, and can lead to a war which will harm the U.S. side in the end.

Why do many people (including the Americans who left the US) say that living in the US is hard and that leaving the country was the best choice they ever made?

As an American, I can answer this and feel no remorse for brutal honesty: because America sucks. There I said said it. The American Dream was a lie invented by Madison Avenue to sell Packards and cigarettes. Pick a developed (or hell, even a middle income) country and you’ll usually discover the US is usually worse at everything that matters. Healthcare, education, public transport, child mortality, infrastructure quality, violence, city layout, etc. Those are the most glaringly obvious. Here are some more that are more subtle, but you start to feel them the longer you’re away.

There is no community in the US. How many Americans can tell you they know the names of the neighbors? How many Americans would trust their kids walking to a mile to school or the grocery store? For Christ’s sake you can’t even send your kid to a public school without having to worry about a classmate shooting up the place.

Next, we’re even bad about about the thing we go on most about and claim the entire country was founded on…freedom itself. Want to build a house on a vacant lot? Your local NIMBYs will make sure the local government keeps that from happening. Want to walk down the street drinking a beer in any town or city (other than New Orleans or Austin)? Say hello to your arrest for public intoxication. As a general rule, free men choose and unfree men comply. And in the US today, you’re going to find yourself always complying.

And for the flag waving keyboard warriors who are currently furiously typing, “LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!” I’m already ahead of you and will be a citizen of Belize before the month is out.

What are the differences between Huawei’s version of 5G versus other companies? And why is Huawei ahead of everybody else in this technology? Did they steal it from the US’s DARPA?

Originally Answered: What is the differences between Huawei's version of 5G versus other companies? And why is Huawei ahead of everybody else in this technology? Did they steal it from US DARPA?

Three years old article , but still very good. Godfree Roberts always delivers -MM

…

It’s not Huawei’s version of 5G that is different: 5G standards are set by international agreement and Huawei and others must adhere to them.

It is Huawei’s implementation of 5G that sets it apart. It’s the lowest-cost provider and the only provider of end-to-end solutions for national telecoms: from servers to cell towers to handsets, all designed to perform perfectly with each other.

Unless it approves Huawei the US will be forced to integrate more costly, less functional, less compatible, less upgradeable components and pay twice as much, take twice as long and endure years of inferior service.

Huawei is literally unrivaled in enhanced mobile broadband. Only Huawei produces every element of a 5G system and assembles turnkey networks–from antennas to the power stations to chips–at scale and cost. It’s just what busy telcos want: one-stop shopping at a fraction of the cost of competitors. And Huawei manufactures its own stuff, too. Here’s one of their many production lines:

Much of the cost of implementing 5G (and much of its benefit) stems from the fact that it requires 5 times more cell sites than 4G. Cell sites are heavy and expensive to install because they need a crane operator to lift them into place and technicians in cherry-pickers to hook them up.

So Huawei shrunk cell sites’ dimensions by 50% and cut the weight of its 64T64R 5G base station to 70 pounds so two people can install them without expensive cranes.

Installation is expensive! The US needs to install 100,000 more cell sites, an investment that runs into billions. US corporations are reluctant to invest the necessary billions because they prefer to use their money for stock buybacks but China will spend $200 billion on 5G network construction by 2025.

Because electricity is expensive, Huawei also reduced the power requirements of their equipment, so it’s 30% more energy efficient than competitors and reduces connectivity cost-per-bit by 80-90% compared to 4G.

Huawei is also innovative: Apple, for example, uses 790 Huawei patents while Huawei uses 90 Apple patents. And Apple cannot ship 5G handsets until late 2020, a delay that postpones America’s full implementation to 2025–an eternity when competing with China, where 5G phones are working in Lhasa. (China is making trendy Monaco the first country on earth to be fully 5G operational).

The US and Apple are effectively out of the 5G race, but China, Russia and the EU are heavily committed to 5G. Germany’s Chancellor Merkel is a PhD scientist and her ministers and CEOs see 5G as a way to boost national productivity, a German obsession.

Even worse for the US is the fact that, by 2027, the first specs for 6G will be issued and 600 Huawei mathematicians and engineers have been working on them for almost a year.

In other words, except as a consumer of Chinese technology, America is becoming irrelevant in mobile telecommunications, an American invention, because it has no industrial policy and its CEOs are shortsighted, greedy and unpatriotic while China and Chinese CEOs are precisely the opposite.

2021 UPDATE: Tibet now has broader, faster 5G service than America’s leading technology cluster, the San Francisco Bay Area.

Why is Huawei’s new smartphone generating so much buzz?

Huawei released a mobile phone.

Yes, except for satellite calls, this phone is not much different from the latest iPhone or Galaxy.

It’s just a mobile phone. It’s not a hydrogen bomb, it’s not nuclear fusion, it’s not even a Mars landing.

Why a mobile phone can attract huge attention.

This is because the appearance of this mobile phone represents the end of an era and the beginning of an era.

The power of the United States is so strong that all countries/businesses in the world must obey it.
Americans say “Hey. You are not allowed to deal with this company, he is evil!” All companies can only obey. Because even if they are not American companies, their governments cannot protect them.

So before that, no country or company could withstand US sanctions.

In the past, a civilian enterprise that was comprehensively sanctioned by the United States could only go bankrupt, cease operations, be acquired, or shrink to a closed field to survive.

Originally everyone thought Huawei was the same. Without the support of American technology and global supply chain, this enterprise will suffocate to death.

However, the emergence of this mobile phone subverted everything.

It proves at least four key pieces of information

1. The Chinese government has become so powerful that it is not afraid of the United States and has enough power to protect its own companies.They even pranked Raimondo, saying she was the spokesperson of Huawei

2. American technology is not unique, and the Chinese can do it if they spend some time. Since the most complex semiconductor industry can do it, so can other industries.

3. China has built a complete semiconductor technology and industrial chain, and their country can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world.
They sent a clear signal: cooperation, welcome; confrontation, come and try.

4. China’s market is huge. In extreme cases, they don’t need global trade, and they are enough to maintain world-class enterprises.
If you don’t give me your market, you will lose mine too.

In short, the appearance of this mobile phone has sent a signal to all other countries in the world: when you feel that you don’t like the United States or are oppressed by the United States, we will give you a second choice.

Therefore, it is not just a mobile phone, but a historical milestone.

Why are you able to live a good life?

I believe I am living a good life. I have a fun job, and my own house, and cars I enjoy, in a great place. I also have a very nice family.

What makes it possible:

I live within my means;
my means are adequate;
they are adequate because I deliver something to be considered of value (I teach);
I am apparently not a monster, so people don’t run away from me;
I am surrounded by very nice people, in a very nice society.

And that may very well be the recipe for a good life.

So, be realistic, productive, and nice, in a nice place, and you should be ok. Not rich, perhaps, but a good life doesn’t need to mean you’re rich. In fact, a certain lack of ambition for riches may very well provide you with a more rewarding life than aggressive pursuit of riches, because people will still like you, and that’s a major part of having a nice life.

Here’s my not-rich-life, and it’s good enough for me.

This JUST Destroyed US Sanctions China’s Huawei Smile & America Shocked!

1,025 views Sep 5, 2023

Since 2019, the US government has imposed a series of sanctions on Huawei, alleging national security concerns and effectively cutting off the company from vital components and software. These sanctions have been a significant hurdle for Huawei, but the tech giant has proven its resilience and innovation time and again. The latest chapter in this saga brings us to the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, a flagship smartphone release that has garnered attention for potentially defying US sanctions. In today’s Video, we will delve deep into the intricate web of events, policies, and technological advancements that have allowed Huawei to seemingly outmaneuver US sanctions.

https://youtu.be/5YiSmtaQs8Q

How is Huawei going to beat Apple globally?

In 2018, The Trump administration demanded a business deal with Huawei

Ukraine's controversial cybersecurity deal with HuaweiGovernments across Europe are showing Huawei the door, but Ukraine is following a different path, entering into a new cybersecurity deal with the Chinese telecoms giant

https://www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/ukraines-cybersecurity-deal/

The Terms of this Business Deal was simple

Huawei grant the United States a BACK DOOR to Ukraines Security Network for Trump to be able to prove Biden was corrupt in Ukraine

Huawei promptly refused

Trump then demanded something even stronger :-

Huawei would transfer all their patents and all their 4G Equipment Licenses and all their Network Equipment in US & Europe to an American Entity for a flat sum. Lock Stock and Barrel sale.
Huawei would manage 5G Networks and get a Operations Fee but the entire network would be controlled by the Americans or their companies
Otherwise Trump threatened to Bankrupt Huawei and destroy them

Huawei again said NO

The US always had their way in these things and Trump was very angry

Huawei was hit with the worst sanctions for absolutely no reason whatsoever

The US refused to allow Huawei a chance to withdraw from Military contracts of the PLA in order to avoid the Sanctions

Huawei refused to sacrifice their Network and 5G patents in exchange to keep selling phones

It would have been the easier thing to do

Huawei was selling 216 Million Units a year of smartphones

These Restrictions took it to a mere 27 Million Units a year the following year

After Trump lost, Biden came to power and Huawei hoped for a peaceful return

Yet Apple lobbied ferociously to keep Huawei down as they saw their sales rising rapidly in Mainland China, their second largest market

Biden complied as he wanted China to follow his BIDEN DOCTRINE

So as you can see, Apple vs Huawei is not an Economic Or Technology War

It’s a Coercive Political War steeped in protectionism on behalf of Apple and on spurious and baseless charges made by Donald J Trump

Without an Economic issue or proper competition, how can Huawei and Apple ever compete?

Apple is protected so much it has forgotten to Innovate anymore

Huawei is being throttled and conspired against every second day

Unless 6000 US Politicians die and the Neo Cons and Insane Trumpers disappear – No American will allow Free Competition

American citizen living in Germany here.

I get asked often about how long I will stay in Germany and why Germany. I want to stay indefinitely and the reason why is precisely because the USA is not the best country in the world (there is no such thing). I am treated better and have more opportunities in Germany. Here are some things that I can do in Germany that I could not do in the USA.

I can go to the doctor without fear of bankruptcy, without having to argue with insurance companies, without receiving random medical bills at a later date.
I and my husband can have a child and get paid maternity and paternity leave.
I can go to university without taking on debt.
I get 30+ days of vacation each year that I am encouraged and expected to take.
I can feel secure in my job because they cannot fire me without cause. There is no such thing as so called “employment at will” laws.
I can raise kids who are bilingual in an environment that values bilingualism.
I can drink in public places. I can crack open a beer or wine on the sidewalk, in a park, on public transit, nearly everywhere.
I don’t have to worry about taking a bullet at my place of work (I’m a teacher). When I do have kids I won’t have to worry about them being shot in school either. In fact I don’t have to worry about guns at all because they just aren’t prolific here.
I don’t have to worry about CPS (Child Protective Services) being called or being arrested if I let my kids be independent and go do things by themselves. It’s considered normal for even a 6-year-old to walk to the bakery by themself, go to the park by themself, and to walk to school by themself… even in big cities.
I don’t have to leave a tip because I know that my servers are paid fair wages. My servers don’t push me out of a restaurant when I am finished eating. I can sit and enjoy a drink and conversation and I can let my server know when I am ready to leave.
I don’t have to worry so much about nudity. People here tend to have the perspective that it’s just a body and being nude is generally not illegal.
I don’t need to have a car to get just about anywhere. I can use public transit.
I have more freedom of movement. As a woman, I can walk around alone in a big city at 2 in the morning and feel safe. I experience far fewer (nearly zero) instances of street harassment.
I don’t have to tolerate religion being shoved in my face on a regular basis. Yes, people here can be religious too, but they nearly always keep it to themselves.

IS SHE A MAN?! | The Truth Of Barack & Michelle Obama… MUST WATCH

Have Intel, Qualcomm and nVidia lost the Chinese chip market because of US tech sanctions?

Yup.

The stupidest thing the US government did was to try to stop Chinese progress in technology.

It didn’t work 30 years ago when the US tried to stop Chinese launches of satellites. It didn’t work when the US tried to stop Chinese machine tools, and hey, it didn’t work this time either.

Every single time the idiots in D.C. did this, China ended up with the majority of the world market for that industry.

You would think that since it didn’t work several times before, they would have stopped doing it but no. lawyers only know one thing. Try to screw you over.

So this time, it didn’t stop China either. Instead Huawei alone has a GPU that is as fast as Nvidia’s A100. I thought it would take at least a couple of years for China to catch up to the latest generation GPUs but no. China has caught up.

The only thing is that China can’t make enough. But once those new Chinese fabs that are slated to come online in the next year and the year after that. China will not only be making chips for China but also to the rest of the world.

Micron has already fired over ten thousand people, same for Intel, and AMD. Nvidia will be doing the same once their market share drops due to Chinese chips coming into production.

This is just the start.

US chip companies are going to lose more revenue because of US government sanctions. This isn’t just the Chinese market. After all the US is sanctioning about 1/4 of humanity right now.

No one knows if the US government is going to come after you. So everyone, ironically, including the Europeans are designing out US made components. No one wants their business to be interrupted because a US senator or President woke up and decided to sanction you.

The US simply can not be trusted to carry out normal business.

Business contracts are meaningless as the US government will sanction you for saying the wrong thing or not saying what the US orders you to say.

So US companies have not only lost the Chinese market, they are also going to lose the world market.

…

With the exception of the White nations and US lapdogs.

Why is the 21st century more likely to be the Indian century than the Chinese century?

It won’t be the Indian century because Indian society does not meet the basic requirements for being a modern society.

A modern society does not discriminate against members of society simply on the basis of birth, because they believe human talent should be allowed to flourish regardless of anyone’s social background at birth.

Because of the Indian caste system, India does not do this, and caste discrimination continues. As Indian becomes more powerful and grows, more countries will become aware of the caste system, and this will form a glass ceiling for India’s growth.

The only way for India to deal with this problem is to meet it headfirst, and through a combination of social reform and legislation, make a clean break with the caste system.

China had a class system, and Mao challenged and broke the Chinese class system.

India needs its own Mao to shatter the caste system before it can become a modern state.

Niger Africa Has Beat The French Military – French Military Evacuating Niger

What is the cutest mistake you’ve ever seen someone make?

My 18 months old son was walking with me.

He stopped and froze, a bit concerned. He then points under the trees and says: “Tiger!”

I approach him and look. We were in the USA, what did he see there?

A big orange tabby cat!

His picture book at home doesn’t indicate scale, so tigers, ants or apples are all the same size. How could he have known what size a tiger really was?

Central American Parliament Votes In Favour Of China And Says This About Taiwan Being China’s Part

This is no different to Australia being a Commonwealth Country of UK. We function as a Republic, and we have our own Country … so to say the UK will invade Australia is absurd. The same applies to the Republic Of China (aka ROC Taiwan). ROC Taiwan is already a province of the People’s Republic of China (aka PRC Mainland China). Why would PRC China want to attack ROC Taiwan? It’s already a province of PRC China. The ROC Taiwan functions a Republic and has its own currency … just like Australia.

https://youtu.be/nJRuT88ApT4

Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas

Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas, a Tex-Mex favorite, features a delicious cheesecake filling wrapped in a flour tortilla, fried to perfection, then coated with cinnamon-sugar.

Yield: 6 chimichangas

Ingredients

Chimis

6 (8 inch) soft flour tortillas
8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sliced strawberries
Vegetable oil, for frying

Coating

1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/3 cup granulated sugar

For serving

1 cup sliced strawberries (optional)

Instructions

Beat cream cheese, sour cream, 1 tablespoon sugar and vanilla extract.
Fold in 3/4 cup sliced fresh strawberries.
Divide the mixture evenly between 6 tortillas. Slather the filling in the lower third of each tortilla, fold the two sides of each tortilla toward the center and then roll the tortilla up like a burrito. Secure it with wooden picks.
Combine 1/3 cup sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set aside.
Line a large plate with paper towels.
In a deep saucepan place about 2 to 2 1/2 inches vegetable oil for frying and heat it over medium-high heat until it reaches 360 degrees F.
Fry the chimichangas until golden brown and crispy, about 2 to 3 minutes, and flip them as needed.
Remove the wooden picks.
Transfer the chimichangas to the paper towel-covered plate to drain for a minute, then roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Serve with sliced strawberries on top, if desired.

Why is Huawei’s new smartphone generating so much buzz?

Huawei was once the world’s top smartphone vendor, shipping over 200m phones in 2018.

Last year, under a de-facto embargo by the US, it shipped 28m, an eight-, almost nine-fold decrease from its peak.

The volume has been cannibalized by Apple, Samsung, and other Chinese brands.

Apple, in particular, now sell more iPhones in Greater China than stateside, all thanks to Huawei’s demise.

That’s “national security” and “clean networks” for all you Apple fans.

Huawei had no OS, a completely disrupted hardware supply chain, a deficient set of highly specialized software design tools and its CFO under house arrest in Canada.

It would not have surprised anyone had Huawei announced its withdrawal from the consumer device space.

Amazingly, Huawei the 5G telecoms champion sold off Honor, its sub-brand, and issued 4G phones under the Huawei brand, weathering a gut-wrenching revenue drop off a cliff.

It conducted an internal review of the entire supply chain, from its core telecoms equipment business to consumer devices, and began the painful and expensive task of de-Americanization. Any component that had even the hint of American IP was marked for domestic substitution. The process was completed for its telecoms equipment earlier, but the device side lacked two pieces—a capable GPU for AI-assisted gestures, payments and the camera, and a 5G modem, which was protected behind Qualcomm’s giant patent wall.

Huawei found hacks around EDA restrictions, and designed its own GPU.

It also introduced novel transistor geometries to boost the performance of 7nm to the 5nm node. It rapidly upgraded its inhouse Hongmeng OS to 4.0, turning it into a polished platform with large language AI and IOT capability baked in. Its software ecosystem is coming along nicely, and the platform is well beyond the market share needed to ensure survival.

To add icing on the cake, the flagship Huawei phone of 2023 can make satellite calls, showcasing its space comms tech maturity and the bandwidth/coverage of the Chinese commercial satellite network.

Huawei did all these in less than 4 years, a remarkable turnaround despite becoming a corporation targeted for destruction by the US government, probably a historic first.

Huawei is finding its mojo again on way firmer footing, and it will sell every Mate 60 pro the production lines can churn out this year.

China Cancels $250 Billion Car Order from USA!

How good is China at propaganda? Is it possible for them to fake things such as their GDP, infrastructure strength, and technology advancement?

Chinese do not really believe in propaganda, otherwise known as marketing.

What you mention are statistics. Statistics are routinely interpreted differently by governments in ways to suit their needs, but this does not make them lies. Western governments do this about inflation.

For example, when talking about inflation, the US government usually does not include gasoline prices. How much do Americans use automobiles for transportation? Would you say then that the US government is lying about inflation?

You see, when it comes to statistics, there is no such thing as objective truth.

There are just different ways of counting.

Internet DESTROYS Oprah, The Rock For FRAUD Maui ‘Fundraiser’

The Rock and Oprah are facing backlash after they tried to save face by “raising money” for Maui. The people of Hawaii aren’t buying it..

What happens when someone is wrongly accused of something?

In 1986, a fire broke out in an apartment complex in Chicago. The fire was responsible for the death of two brothers and one of these brothers was believed to be a part of the Latin Kings gang. The police suspected a woman living in the building was responsible for the fire because he had a brother killed by a member of the Latin Kings.

The woman was brought in for questioning, but she denied being involved in the fire and instead pointed the finger at 18-year-old John Galvin, and two other boys.. The night of the fire, John had stayed at his grandmother’s house, and there was no evidence to say these boys had done it, but they were brought in for questioning anyway.

When they were brought in for questioning, the police used extreme tactics to get the boys to confess. After an intense interrogation, deceptive tactics and physical violence, John snapped and confessed to the fire.

He signed in a confession that himself, Arthur Almendarez and Francisco Nanez threw a bottle of gasoline at the building and then threw a lit cigarette into a pool of gasoline on the porch to light the fire. The Judge sentenced all three to life without parole.

After being in prison for 27 years, John was watching an episode of MythBusters where they attempted to light gasoline with a cigarette and they couldn’t get it to light, even after many attempts.

After waiting 8 years and many courtroom battles they were finally exonerated in 2022 after spending 35 years in prison.

Douglas Macgregor: UNITS GOT MASSACRED WHILE RETREATING.

Douglas Macgregor is a national treasure.

https://youtu.be/itG1yGPq6CA

What’s the best thing you have ever said in an interview?

I called the woman interviewing me “Tina”. Her name was not Tina. I did this on purpose.

I was being interviewed for an IT position with a very high end resort. From the moment I started interacting with this woman, I knew I wasn’t going to take the job even if it was offered. She was that unpleasant.

However, being the professional that I am, I figured I should at least complete the interview.

That was before she started talking down about her employees as if they were her personal servants. She was elitist beyond belief. She outright laughed in my face when I told her I had experience dealing with wealthy people. She generally made no effort to hide her disdain for “poor people” and told me that I would not be permitted to ever talk to the clients.

It was at some point during this conversation that I had Ron Swanson running through my head.

The woman in question was named Toni, but by the time she was done with my interview, I wanted to call her Satan.

So, at the end of my interview, I stood up, reached out my hand and said “Thank you for the interview, Tina. I’ll see myself out.”

I thought her face was going to explode. HOW DARE THIS PEASANT CALL ME BY THE WRONG NAME!!!!

Yeah, I nuked that bridge from orbit, but I have absolutely no desire to work for a person like that, nor anyone who would associate with her.

Living in CHINA: Culture Shock!

I briefly describe the experiences I’ve had and discuss the theme of convenience in Chinese culture.

https://youtu.be/lJxeuwa4L1o

What is the most condescending advice you received from someone who assumed you were poorer or less educated than them?

Well, I’m a woman who works in Engineering. To say I’m familiar with this would be an understatement.

The ones who walk into my office and give me a high school level explanation of something, and I gesture to the books on the shelf behind me (either as a co-author or technical reviewer) while complimenting them on their grasp of the basics and offer a lend if they’d like to learn more in-depth.

Or the ones whom I helped with some 1950’s HVAC equipment nobody else could, who later swung by my office to thank me, shake my hand, and try to palm me a TWO DOLLAR TIP. ~blink blink~ I laughed and handed it back, helpfully explaining that my tastes run to 20 year old scotch, not Natty Light.

And the constantly being hit on at technical conferences, and when I politely thank them and say I’m already seeing someone, they go off on how I should enjoy my middle class life and tell me how much money they make. With those… I don’t tell them that I make significantly more than they do, they’re already too fragile in ego anyway.

He cried and hugged my leg for help, he had been starving for a long time… I couldn’t pass by!

Thank you so much for helping this sweet innocent defenseless kitten. Poor baby was probably traumatized by some heartless souls who painted him and heaven knows what else they did. You are an angel with such a beautiful loving soul. Thank goodness you saved him, took him to the vet for vaccines and an exam to make sure he was healthy. We, in the USA, have many people who are also cruel to animals,, so it is no different here. You are “The Power of One” to help these sweet beautiful animals.

https://youtu.be/cj5H4iyvOqc

What did your mother say that made your jaw drop?

My first year of college, chemistry was kicking my butt. I came home for the weekend, pulling my hair out. Mom asked, “Can I help you?”

I said, “What do you know about chemistry?” Not in a snotty way, just a perplexed way.

Dad laughed and said, “She’s a nurse.”

For the next hour she taught me better than my professor.

She blew my mind by making me see her as a person and not just “mom.”

If you got married to someone who became chronically sick immediately after getting married, and there is no cure, how likely are you to leave your spouse?

About 18 months after marrying my husband who was a very fit manual worker, he collapsed in our field with what I thought was a heart attack. I gave him first aid until the ambulance arrived and he was blued and twoed to the main hospital. Turns out it wasn’t a heart attack but he had an aortic aneurysm and a leaking heart valve. He had emergency open heart surgery and was in hospital for quite a while. When he got home he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome (look it up, it interesting but too long to explain). As he was recovering I cared for him night and day. I never left his side. He slowly started to feel worse. After numerous trips to and from doctors and hospitals, he was diagnosed with leukaemia. I held his hand and wiped his brow as he had bone marrow extracted. He went through hell as you can imagine. Never once did it cross my mind to leave him let alone divorce him!

He started out on the road to recovery but I developed an almighty headache. The doctors treated me for migraine. Nothing touched the intense pain. I rubbed my head on the bedroom wall in absolute agony. I wore the paint and plaster from the wall down to the bare bricks. How much my poor husband did to try to help me. He rang an ambulance when I was at my worst but they refused to attend as “migraine wasn’t classed as an emergency”. He carried me to the car and drove me to hospital, worried out of his mind. I was given ct and mri scans and they discovered a giant aneurysm on my brain. I had emergency brain surgery. That man never left my side. I don’t think he thought of divorce either.

Twelve years later, we are still together, very much in love and we care for each other. Life is hard but we stick together through thick and thin!

China-U.S Clash: China DESTROY The Entire U.S Car Industry

In today’s video, we dive deep into the seismic shift in the global automotive and tech industries. China’s decision to restrict raw material exports has sent shockwaves across sectors, reshaping the landscape and posing significant challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Join us as we unravel the intricacies of this power play, its implications, and the potential paths forward. If you value staying updated on the latest geopolitical and economic trends, this is one discussion you won’t want to miss!

One of the “Big Four” banks in China, announces that it will immediately initiate interest rate cuts on existing mortgages. How is the situation in China different from Japan in the 1990s, which led to Japan’s economic crisis?

China doesn’t listen to what the US tells it to do; Japan does.
The Chinese currency, central bank, banking system and real estate market take their orders from one organization: the Party. When the Central Committee announces a policy decision, the decision is final. When the US told Japan to overvalue the yen to cut Japanese exports, Japan did. When the US complains about the yuan being valued lower than it should be, China ignores the US.
The US has military bases in Japan. It has no military bases in China.
China has 1.4B people; Japan had about 120M people.
China is dominant in all manufacturing sectors; in the 1990s Japan was dominant in automobiles and machine tools. China had not become significant yet.
China is one of the founding members of an increasingly important economic organization, BRICS. Japan did not have leadership in any international organizations.
China is the leading trading partner for 150+ countries.

What Happened to Millionaire’s Row in Pittsburgh?

US, Europe need China EV batteries to help own firms — Global Times

There have been calls in the US and Europe to reduce China’s advantage in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. But China’s supply-chain advantage in this area has become so important for the global EV industry that giving up that edge could put a country’s development of its own EV sector at an obvious disadvantage.

Maybe that’s why UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said that her country won’t impose import restrictions on those products from China.

When asked whether the UK was overly reliant on China for its EV supply chain, Badenoch said on Monday, “At the moment, China is leading on this technology, so we wouldn’t be able to get to where we want to get to on net zero by completely stopping or banning Chinese products … You can’t exclude Chinese-made products from the battery ecosystem.”

Despite what Badenoch said, it doesn’t mean that Chinese-made EV batteries will not face any trade barriers when entering the UK market, given the “rule of origin” requirements for electric cars in the EU-UK post-Brexit trade deal. Under the deal, starting from next year, carmakers could face tariffs of 10 percent on EV exports to the EU if at least 45 percent of the value of an electric car’s components and 60 percent of its battery don’t come from the UK or EU.

Badenoch’s response was more like an attempt to consolidate carmakers’ confidence in the supply chain. It is no secret that the UK government has been looking for ways to boost its domestic EV and battery industries, but the problem is that it is struggling to attract such investment, especially from foreign companies, as the UK has lagged behind China and the US in terms of EV-related industries.

Under such circumstances, any negative signal to Chinese battery suppliers would constitute another source of risks to the development of the UK’s domestic EV industry. This is because Chinese companies account for more than half of the EV battery market and satisfy as much as 90 percent of demand for some battery materials, according to Bloomberg NEF.

Such economies of scale have allowed Chinese manufacturers to outperform US and European rivals, which is probably why when the US and European EV industries are still dependent on increasing subsidies, while Chinese manufacturers, especially those on the battery supply chains, have already shifted from being entirely subsidy-driven to being market-driven.

In this case, if a country really shuts Chinese batteries out over geopolitical reasons or fear of competition, then its domestic EV companies will probably face higher costs and slower development due to insufficient domestic supplies. The logic applies not just to the UK, but also Europe as a whole.

There are many concerns in the EU about excessive reliance on Chinese electric cars and components like batteries, with some following the geopolitical thinking of the US.

As a result, concerns are rising when it comes to Chinese electric cars and batteries entering the European market. For instance, last month, the EU’s Batteries Regulation entered into force, which stipulates how batteries are collected, reused and recycled to a high degree in Europe. This is seen as one of the newest thresholds for Chinese carmakers and batteries in going overseas.

Of course, it is reasonable for the EU to safeguard its own supply chain stability and economic development, but it should be advised that to achieve the goal of promoting EV development, the EU needs to follow rational voices that are based on the judgment as to whether it is conducive to promoting green development, rather than being derailed by protectionism or geopolitics that will only backfire.

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

Well, me – 3 or 4 times. The first time was as a new boy, middle of freshman year in high school, moved to West god help us Texas. I was a late bloomer, prepubertal, 100 pounds (maybe) soaking wet, 5 foot nothing tall.

The school was not what you call big, and PE was all four ages from frosh to senior, your schedule with academic classes being considered more important.

A senior kid, obviously bigger, started in as class had ended, we were dressed and waiting for the bell for the next class. “Your old man’s a stupid pig!” “Yeah,” I said. “P-I-G. Pride, Integrity, Guts.” Turned my back and walked out. Axxhole grabbed my shoulder, spun me around for a sucker punch to give me a black eye.

That was the last he landed. Did it not occur to dumb-dumb that a cop’s kid just MIGHT grow up learning self-defense? He missed the next three days of school. I had a shiner.

Word got around. That was the last anyone tried to bully me in high school.

What is the rudest thing a beggar/homeless person did and said to you after you did them a favor?

I was going to school in Chicago, USA. I definitely didn’t have much money. At the time, I typically donated plasma weekly for my food allowance.

Walking to class and the train (tube) station weekly (this particular lecture was only once a week), I would pass a small eatery. Near the eatery, there was a homeless person with one leg sitting in a wheelchair with a collection cup. He would ask every time I’d pass by.

One week, the eatery was advertising a special: 1/4 chicken dinner, potatoes, green beans for $5. What a treat! I barely had $5 but decided to purchase on my way back to the train home.

I don’t remember exactly what the lecture was, but surely on gratitude or counting blessings. After, I bought the food. I passed the man in the wheelchair. While I didn’t have much, I did have a roof and some bread. I gave my food to the man. I explained I didn’t touch it yet and had planned it for my dinner. He thanked me and I started to walk away feeling like I maybe made a small difference in his day.

He called after me and I turned. He asked about a drink. I told him I didn’t purchase a drink. He told me it was $2. I told him I didn’t have $2 and I paid in change to purchase the meal. He stood up from his wheelchair on TWO legs. “Bullsh—”. He threw the food down on the ground next to my feet which spilled it. “Who buys a dinner without a drink?”

I walked away. I was embarrassed and hurt. I cried on the train ride home. I went home and ate the only food I had left for the week- some bread with peanut butter. I ignored him every week after that.

1930s USA – Fascinating Street Scenes of Vintage America [Colorized]

Why is the US trying to destroy Russia when its real enemy is China?

Nobody is your enemy. You are everyone’s enemy because you think you owned the world and that everyone must be submissive and subservient to you!

You who ask this question is your own enemy! China is not your enemy. China want to be strong and powerful so that you cannot threat them. That is simply a right thing to do. If you think China is only a friend if they lie down and let you walk all over them you are wrong. You are simply not clever.

China won’t and so is the rest of the world. Nobody likes a bully like the U.S. no one wants a self proclaimed world policeman that no one appoints. No want wants a trouble maker and a war monger.

Breaking Bad – TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT

Tuco was, BY FAR, the funniest dude on breaking bad, every time he takes a hit of meth, is pure entertainment.

Did knights have to be kind to peasants in medieval times?

Yes, especially if he wanted to get in your pants. (Although lower-class medieval women generally did not wear trousers.) So the Duke of Normandy was looking at his fortress. He saw a beautiful tanner’s daughter dipping animal skins into the water. She had lifted her skirt. The Duke liked what he saw. He sent a soldier to fetch her. She said she would go to the duke’s castle if she rode the soldier’s horse. The soldier agreed. She borrowed a pretty dress. Then she mounted the side saddle of the soldier’s horse. She and the Duke had sex and the future William the Conqueror, King of England was conceived.

What made you lose interest in someone?

I really liked this girl, she was funny, charismatic and helpful.

Until one day, I met a friend of hers and she was really pleased to meet her. Right after the other friend left, she said “look at her, if she gets a boyfriend before me, I’ll kill myself.”

I found this a rather odd thing to say but I shrugged it off, but it didn’t stop there.

Time and time again… she would smile in people’s faces and what she would say behind their backs was awful.

This had me feeling really sympathetic for people that called her a “friend”. It was also a wake up call like damn, what could she be saying behind my back.

We still talk but not much especially after I confronted her to tell her that what she was doing wasn’t cool. I’m in a place in my life where I’ve lost interest in her and honestly my respect for her too.

Don’t backbite your friends it’s not cool people, not cool at all.

Jeffrey Sachs Interview – BRICS and Allies Rise

What is your biggest cultural shock from visiting America?

Salma Medina

The states have been different from all countries I’ve been to so far. I visited NewYork state then went all the way to Oregon. And I had some general impressions on both:

1- People are so friendly. In fact, too friendly for someone like me, lol.

Everyone chats with you like they’ve known you for a while. They ask “how are you today?” and answer in length something like “oh not doing my best given the weather but other that it’s all good” with a bunch of giggles and smiles.

Not to mention, the waiters constantly check on us, asking if we need something.

Having been raised in Kuwait, the small chat is usually kept to the very bare minimum. And how are yous are replied to with 2 words no more.

Not only that, but Americans also apologize furiously and sincerely for things that look very normal to me. People would apologize deeply that they couldn’t help you find something or that they had to do something that caused you a minute inconvenience.

I found it sweet but way too deep for interaction between strangers. But that’s just a matter of what I’m used to.

2- Traffic light for every lane.

I had never seen or heard about this before I landed in the US. I would look up and there is 4-5 traffic lights for one street only ! My husband then explained to me that the right or left lanes can sometimes move when the others aren’t, hence each has their own traffic light.

In Kuwait there is usually one traffic light on each side of the street is all.

3- Diversity in products.

You can ask my husband how my first visit to target then Walmart went. I was basically like a child in an enormous candy store.

There is a huge number of products suitable for everything.

I found hair products in huge numbers for each hair type. I found makeup shades with huge ranges. Given that back home, accepting diversity isn’t that big of a trend yet, I had to get myself some supplies.

4- Doing everything yourself.

Call me spoiled, but back home I never fill up my gas tank myself, or carry my luggage into an hotel, or check myself out of a supermarket without interacting with a cashier worker. But in the US, I had to it all myself.

However, the most shocking thing I had to do myself is this:

We finished eating in a restaurant, so I informed the waitress the I wanted my food for takeaway. So she came, left this carton on the table then walked away:

If my husband hadn’t explained to me that this is normal there, I would’ve been pissed at the poor service and laziness. But it was just the norm as I had to do to pack my food into boxes in a couple of places after that.

5- Asking for a bag and a straw.

Being so environmentally conscious isn’t a big thing yet back home, so I was definitely taken by surprise that I have to go out of my way to ask for a bag or a straw for my drink. Most people didn’t get bags if they purchased few things and some had their own bags with them.

6- Interaction with the waiters.

When I went to restaurants with my husband in different countries, I never understood what he was doing. We’d want our cheque but he kept sitting there only to tell me that no one’s looking at us yet. So I would just raise a hand and shout “excuse me”.

Then I came to the US and I realized that service there is all about eye contact.

You close the menu, they see that and come pick it up and get your order. You need the cheque, you give them a look and they know that you need something and come right away.

Everyone in my family thought that’s hilarious. If I kept waiting for a waiter to look at me, I’d spend the night in a restaurant every week over here.

And of course, I was not used to tipping at all and forgot to do it all the time.

In fact, I had no clue how to tip when paying with a credit card until my husband showed me. You basically write the amount you want to tip on the receipt.

I still think that giving 20% of the receipt as a tip is way too much. But I guess I have to follow the norms because the system is very different over there.

7-Calories on the menu.

Everything on the menu has the calories written next to it. Thank you for ruining my chance to have a guilt-free dessert America ! Lol. I definitely see how it’s useful for others though.. just not to someone as obsessive as me.

8- Dogs everywhere.

I had a vague idea about this… but oh boy, I underestimated the size of it. There were dogs everywhere I went. The supermarkets, airports, houses, elevators and so on.

In the few hours I spent in the airport of San Francisco, I’ve seen more dogs than I see in Kuwait for weeks.

9- The bathrooms are shocking.

This has been mentioned by most people before for a reason. There is no squirter/ hose/ bidet. You only use toilet paper. I forgot that most of the time and therefore didn’t prepare for it so I had to keep wetting tissues before using the toilet.

Also, I had no clue how to shower without drains on the floor. Back home, we have a drain in the bathroom. So even if you spilled a ton of water on the floor, you simply push it into the hole with a squeegee in the ground and you’re good.

So my husband showed me that I have to shut the shower curtains tight- as I don’t have any at home. And that I should keep the towel very close to me to dry myself before leaving the shower and so on.

10- The houses are modest and not as fancy as I expected.

I had always thought that everyone in the US lived in a huge fancy house as shown in hollywood movies.

One time I even squabbled with my husband because he wanted to live in a house. I said “ I don’t want to have to clean all that much all the time !”. He explained to me again and again that it’s not that much bigger than an apartment but I wasn’t convinced.

And I wasn’t the only one. One of the things my family asked me is “does their house (my in-laws) look like the one from home alone?”.

But to my surprise, houses can be as small as you want them to be. From the inside, when it’s a one-storey house, it looks exactly like an appartment.

So basically, they were like apartments sliced up into units, instead of being gathered in a building.

It was quite the informative trip for sure.

What do you say to someone who insists on making very expensive improvements that will not add to the value of a house they intend to sell?

I am that person. I sunk money into a large deck, hot tub, atrium, in ground pool, 3 car detached garage, a third floor, 15kw solar array, an extra bath and a half, over size hot water system, built in BBQ, gardens, and all sorts of other amenities. All the stuff a realtor will tell you not to do because there would be little, if any, return on the money.

Some people don’t care about getting their investment back. I just wanted to live well with all the stuff I ever wanted. Been here 20 years now and I got my money’s worth. I’ve always known that eventually I’d be selling the place but I didn’t do it to make a profit. I’m getting too old (77) to take care of things and am going to have to downsize within the next few years, but the last two decades were worth the money. What good is money if you can’t enjoy it???

Are the third world countries preferring China to be the economic world power?

At the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2023, 40+ countries applied to join, and six nations were admitted.

China is already the leading economic power.

But these countries are not applying to join BRICS because China is the economic world power. They are applying to join because they are not satisfied with the current economic order as represented by the G7, and they want a system where they can be treated fairly as equals, instead of being dominated by a minority.

San Francisco Is So Bad That Construction Projects Are Being Cancelled

If China is indeed collapsing, why is every leader visiting China? Why is the US commerce secretary visiting China?

Reality vs Propaganda

The USA imports almost $ 560 Billion of Goods from China

Guess the retail value of these goods?

$ 1.567 Trillion or almost $ 1.6 Trillion

This means a US importer who pays $ 27.50 for a Jeans from China sells it for $ 69.99 retail

A Laptop imported for $ 700 from China sells retail for $ 1199

A Burnished Ebony Table Factory made. Imported with 6 Chairs for $ 121 from China sells retails for $ 249

Hence $ 564 Billion of Imports from China makes around $ 1.6 Trillion to the US Importers

1.6 Trillion Dollars Or around 6.5% of US GDP

Now let’s do the opposite

The US exports $ 165 Billion to China

Guess their retail value?

Around $ 255–260 Billion only

Why?

Because China exports low cost products manufactured with CONTINUOUS VALUE ENHANCEMENT from Market pricing and Brand pricing and Technology pricing

A $ 37 Purse of Calf Leather retails for $ 360 with a Gucci brand name

A $ 3.10 T Shirt retails for $ 43.99 with a Tommy Hilfiger Brand name

However US exports products with almost ZERO VALUE ENHANCEMENT POTENTIAL

Soybeans, Wheat, Corn, Semiconductors, Advanced Machinery etc

There is very little value enhancement due to market pricing or Brand pricing or Technology Pricing

Even a Boeing makes at the most a couple of million dollars commission to a Chinese Importer while earning nearly 100 Million Dollars to the US Economy

You see right?

No Nation on earth can export $ 564 Billion worth of goods to the USA

It’s estimated that at thrice the manufacturing potential today – India, Vietnam and Mexico combined can export $ 338 Billion worth of Goods by 2030

This that’s around $ 226 Billion of Exports but also around $ 700 Billion of final retail goods

That’s the amount that US players and entities will be deprived off if US entirely decouples from China EVEN IN 2030 with India, Vietnam and Mexico tripling their Industrial Output

Even then US Economy and it’s players will be deprived of $ 700 Billion Dollars which by 2030 could be around $ 1 Trillion with inflation

That’s a lot of jobs, lots of payments GONE

Meanwhile China?

China may lose around $ 564 Billion of Exports in decoupling

At 0.4% inflation

That’s $ 580 Billion vs $ 1 Trillion

So even in the worst case scenario of US entirely decoupling from China and India, Mexico and Vietnam tripling their Industrial output today – China would lose $ 580 Billion while US would lose a whopping $ 1 Trillion

At normal Industrial output for these three nations, US would lose $ 2.4 Trillion or nearly 4.5 times as much as China stands to lose as an economy

Same for EU

Same for ASEAN

Same for India

Its why Raimondo visits China

It’s why 27 Chinese entities were removed from a Blacklist recently

The Media has been spinning fiction and propaganda so far and China hasn’t cared

Now if China decides to take their revenge by drastically cutting off key exports of say $ 100 Billion, then US cannot source more than $ 30 Billion from other countries

China loses $ 100 Billion but US loses around $ 210 Billion of value to it’s economy

That’s 44% of the projected $ 470 Billion that the US Economy hopes to enhance itself this year at 1.8% growth

So Raimondo says

Please keep trading with us as usual. Ignore what we say in our media. Our contention with you is for the $ 10–15 Billion portion of our Trade, let’s keep the balance $ 685–690 Billion of Trade as normal

That’s why China doesn’t need to visit everybody and reassure anyone much

Everyone loses far far more by decoupling with China

So ultimately it creates a slow down globally where China albeit having very low growth still beats the rest of the world

What is the most unusual way to get rich?

This guy familiar to you?

His name is Sudhir

He has played small roles in many films

He was part of a huge family of film financiers but his father was among the poorest members of the same family

He roomed in the same area as Bachchan and Amjad Khan and Shatruguan Sinha in 1970–1972

He eked out a living as a small time writer and selling shirtings and acting in small parts for various studios

Then in one day his life changed

He was WILLED almost 4 Acres of Land in Bombay in the mid 1970s and 14 Luxury Cars

A Very Wealthy marwari financier who was pissed off with his family, willed his entire estate to Sudhir solely because Sudhir drove him on his last journey as a favor

A Clear will naming Sudhir as the sole beneficiary of the mans will witnessed by a reputed doctor and by a famous producer

Obviously the Will was contested ferociously

Meanwhile Sudhir received a monthly rent of ₹ 210/- for each Unit of the Chawl due to rent ceiling and had to pay almost ₹40, 000/- in Taxes

He was cited for illegal construction in 1986 and warned to hand over the property to someone else in exchange for a ₹7 Lakh compensation

He leased out those 14 Cars for film shootings. The Courts allowed him these lease amounts as earnings but any sales sum would have to be placed in a separate account

For 31 years, Sudhir and his family saw an avalanche of litigation during which Sudhir sold his cars but had to put the money in a separate account

He refused to settle with anyone

Meanwhile he survived on handouts for his treatment for Pulmonary Something and struggled financially

In 2007, the Courts decided in his favor

They acknowledged that the Financier had clearly said all the earned wealth would go to Sudhir and it was not the courts business to interfere in why certain people made certain decisions

Sudhir was entitled to ₹ 46 Lakhs earned from the sale of the cars plus interest in the bank

Then he sold one car for ₹3.3 Crore to Vijay Mallya – a Vintage car

His financial position improved dramatically by 2009

Still the legality of the Chawl was pending

Sudhir died in 2014 , willing the Chawl to his son and daughter and wife equally

In 2019, the Courts decided that the Chawl belonged to Sudhir legally as Lalwani had paid a sum of money and legally purchased the land on which the Chawl was built

The Value of the Land?

Roughly ₹ 240 Crore

The State protested and used the Land ceiling in Mumbai and said No Individual could own 4 Acres of Land in that area single handedly

In 2021, the courts valued Sudhirs estimated ownership at 0.96 Acres per the 1976 standards

Thus Sudhirs share was estimated at around ₹59 Crore

The family finally got ₹46 Crore after all taxes by the State Government Or Local Corporation

Sudhir had been gone for a decade but still HE EARNED ALMOST ₹50 Crore cumulatively just by a single will and a moment of anger and indecision by this Marwari financier

Tariffs on China Backfire as American Companies Are Leaving US, Eyeing to Set in China!

The American government ought to consider if it would not be wiser to have a more friendly attitude to China instead of making enemies all the time.

https://youtu.be/mwNtUr2XTmE

Is China going to invade Taiwan in January 2024?

You know something?

Only 2000 Taiwanese are allowed to travel to the mainland every day

Around 120,000 Taiwanese are restricted from visiting the mainland

Mainlanders who visit Taiwan are literally spied on to the last minute of their visit and cannot spend overnight in Taiwan without an express permit

Taiwanese Researchers are forbidden from visiting the mainland anytime

In fact it’s a GODDAMN CRIME in Taiwan

If a person restricted to travel to the Mainland, goes anyway – he could be jailed!!!

Why do you think they have such rules or restrictions?

Why not boldly say “Any Taiwanese can visit the mainland if he wants”

After all MAINLAND has no such laws

Anyone can leave and spend 10 days in Taiwan and 30 days in US and 30 days in UK and 30 days in Spain and return back

Taiwan is the East Germany of Asia

It’s people are developing a pull to go to Mainland China which is now developing and growing faster than Taiwan outside numbers

The Vast Spaces, the vast Tier Two and Three Cities, the emerging railways, the cleaner crisper air and the boundless opportunity for more research and a huge scope of expansion

Against

The congested island, the crowded cities, the overkill saturation of US influence that is having a reverse effect on the Taiwanese and the fewer opportunities to expand or handle research

The Mainland is their home too

There will come a day when Nature wins and when ultimately the Chinese on both sides decide to unite to maximize their growth and development

Just like East and West Germany and the Berlin Wall Moment

Taiwan is a slave satellite to USA just like GDR was to USSR

Not to mention the Anti China wave in US is also affecting the Taiwanese in US as they very much look the same

So Why would China rock the boat by Invading Taiwan?

That’s what US and the West want today

To divert attention from the Ukrainian horrors that they are facing plus finding a divide between the Mainland and Taiwan

No need to invade even if Lai Wins

Even if Taiwan under US influence make some demented declaration of Independence

By simple Natural Economics, China will succeed in reunification

Richard Wolff on How Europe DESTROYED Itself in America’s War on China

Dying for America must surely be a good cause. Well done, EU. Do it for America. </sarcasm>

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

Originally Answered: What is the best case of “you just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you've witnessed?

I was that kid!

Let’s set the scene. It’s 1975. I’d just started at a state Grammar School, a short, weedy 11-year-old first-former.

For some reason, some mop-haired blond idiot of a fourth-former bully decided I was going to be this year’s soft target. Think Draco Malfoy. Similar looks, similar attitude. He took every opportunity to threaten me: “I’m gonna get you after school! You’re going home in an ambulance!”

The threats continued, day after day. I was starting to think he was all wind.

One day, he proved me wrong. Waiting until I was just out of sight of the school—the only smart thing he did—he and his retinue of about eight or so other idiots surrounded me in a wide ring, and he advanced with all the swaggering menace a half-grown young man can show a little kid.

I wasn’t going to talk my way out of this one.

Now, a little flashback. Ripple, ripple.

When I started this school, a few weeks prior, my Dad gave me a new case. It was made of ABS plastic, a relatively new material, and this briefcase—hinges, handles, the lot—was one single moulded piece, folding in the middle, with added locks. It looked smart. Grown-up. I was proud of it.

Ripple, ripple. We’re back.

That day, it was full of textbooks and homework. It weighed (it seemed to me) a metric tonne. Turned out, that was quite handy.

I was terrified, but that fear inspired me to something I could never imagine any other time. Like an Olympic hammer thrower, I started a turn. Imagine this, but with a scrawny 11-year-old and a heavy plastic briefcase:

As I completed the 360, I took aim.

>CRACK!< The far corner of the briefcase, with all its accumulated speed and weight, and at the full extent of my reach, crashed into the right temple of the bully. Instantly smacked him flat on the road.

I didn’t even stop to see if I’d knocked him out. I ran through the circle of his stunned former admirers, straight back to school, and into the Headmaster’s study. I described him, his friends, and what happened. They showed me three-year-outdated photos of kids. I commented that even if I’d not picked the right picture, he’d be easy to spot next day.

He was. Apparently, he turned up to school with an angry-looking, brightly coloured lump the size of a swan’s egg on his forehead.

He never made it to his first class. I gather this wasn’t his first offence—but with perfect proof attached to his face, the school had a cast-iron case to expel him on the spot.

Oh, the briefcase? Not even marked.

North Korea’s ‘Visible Show of Support’: Key Takeaways From Putin-Kim Talks

© POOL

Russian President Vladimir Putin has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome near the town of Tsiolkovsky in the Russian Far East’s Amur region to discuss a number of pressing issues, including those related to bilateral cooperation, as well as regional and global security.

The two leaders conducted negotiations on Wednesday both as part of their countries’ delegations and in a face-to-face format, in a meeting that lasted a total of about six hours.

“Thank you for inviting us, despite your tight schedule,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin before the two started the tour of the Soyuz-2 space launch facility ahead of the negotiations.

During the tour, Kim was briefed on the characteristics of the Russian-made Soyuz-2

and the Angara rockets, among other things. He notably left a short entry in the book of honorary guests of the cosmodrome, writing, “The glory of Russia, which gave birth to the first space explorers, will be immortal.

Putin, for his part, noted that the Vostochny Cosmodrome was an unusual venue for his meeting with Kim.

“We are proud of the development of our space industry, and this facility is new for us. I hope that you and your colleagues are interested in it,” the Russian president said.

He also recalled several memorable dates for North Korea

as the two met at the cosmodrome, located near the town of Tsiolkovsky in the Russian Far East’s Amur region.

“I am very glad to see you. Especially after such events took place: 75 years since the [Democratic People’s] Republic’s [of Korea (DPRK)] formation, the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War, and 75 years since the establishment of [Russia-North Korea] diplomatic relations,” the Russian head of state said.

Kim on North Korea’s ‘First Priority’

The North Korean leader called Pyongyang’s ties with Moscow his country’s top priority.

“Our friendship has deep roots, and the very first priority for our country now is relations with Russia,” Kim underlined, stressing that his visit is taking place “at a very important period.”

He signaled Pyongyang’s readiness to “further develop ties [with Russia],” adding, “We have always supported and support all the decisions by President Putin and those by the Russian government.”

Kim also expressed confidence that his meeting with Putin will raise bilateral relations between Moscow and Pyongyang to a new level, pledging that North Korea would always stand together with Russia in the “fight against imperialism

.”

In this vein, the North Korean leader pointed out that Russia “has risen for a sacred fight to protect its national sovereignty and safety against hegemonic forces.”

Productive Parleys

Speaking to Russian media after the Wednesday talks, Putin said he, in particular, held an open exchange of views on the situation in the Far East region.

“It is a good start, [and] very productive [one]. A very frank exchange of views took place on the situation in the region and on bilateral relations,” Putin emphasized, adding that he and Kim also discussed the development of bilateral relations in the field of agriculture. The statement came after the Russian head of state noted that Kim’s visit “is taking place in a truly comradely and friendly atmosphere.”

The North Korean leader, in turn, said during a gala dinner after the talks that high on the agenda was the situation in Europe and the Korean Peninsula.

“Comrade Putin and I just discussed in depth the military and political situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Europe and [we] arrived at a satisfactory consensus on further strengthening strategic and tactical cooperation, supporting solidarity in the struggle for the protection of the sovereign right of security, for creating guarantees of lasting peace in the region,” Kim underlined.

He expressed hope that his visit will serve as a catalyst to further bolster bonds between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome on September 13, 2023.

© Sputnik / POOL

“In conclusion, I would like to express my confidence that our [delegation’s] current visit will serve as an important moment in the further development and transformation of traditional friendly Russian-DPRK ties into unbreakable relations of strategic cooperation,” the North Korean leader stressed.

He said that such strengthening is in line with the countries’ interests, signaling Pyongyang’s intent to build long-term relations with Moscow.

Sign to Washington

Konstantin Asmolov of the Moscow-based Institute for China and Modern Asia Studies with the Russian Academy of Sciences has, meanwhile, told Sputnik that what matters most from the Putin-Kim meeting

is “the visible show of support” of Russia by the North Korean leader.

Asmolov pointed to Russia becoming the first country where Kim arrived after three years of self-isolation, which he said is “a rather important fact in itself.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives at the Vostochny Cosmodrome for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 13, 2023.

© Sputnik / POOL

The expert suggested that the two most likely focused on changes in the geopolitical situation in the region during the closed-door talks, especially in light of emergence of regional alliances, such as the Washington-Tokyo-Seoul bloc, which was created amid “global turbulence.”

When asked if the US is alarmed about closer ties between Russia and the DPRK, Asmolov said that America just “pretends that they are terribly afraid of apocalyptic consequences from this relationship in order to justify the formation of an Asian NATO.”

Victor Teo, a Singapore-based political scientist who specializes in the international relations of the Indo-Pacific region, for his part suggested that the two discussed “strategic matters of common interest” during the face-to-face talks.

Asked about the signal Putin and Kim are sending to the West, the political scientist said that “one key message this meeting is sending is that despite the United States’ strength in the Asia-Pacific, Russia too has allies in the region.”

“I personally think that Russia and North Korea are already on good terms, and that while Western press reports have raised various concerns, the United States government understands that the DPRK has traditionally relied on the Soviet Union/Russia for help in various aspects. The US security establishment is therefore not all that concerned with Russia-DPRK interactions unless it involves sensitive military technology exchanges that the US does not wish for the DPRK to possess,” Teo pointed out.

Sea launch 1st by Chinese private entity!

China on Tuesday sent a sea-launched rocket into space from the waters surrounding Haiyang, a coastal city in the eastern province of Shandong, placing four satellites into planned orbit.

The commercial launch vehicle, CERES-1, blasted off at 5:34 p.m. (Beijing Time). The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted the offshore mission.

The rocket maker Galactic Energy said it was the 9th flight and the first sea-based mission of the CERES-1 series. The launch also makes it the first Chinese private company to complete a liftoff from the sea.

Compared with a land-based launch, the sea launch is a new mode, having more flexibility, better adaptability, and more cost-effective services. Furthermore, flexible positioning of the launching and landing areas can ensure spent rocket stages. Other debris falls into the sea rather than on land close to populated areas.

These advantages give the rocket company the confidence to increase the frequency of sea launches in the future.

Aboard the CERES-1 rocket were four satellites Tianqi 21-24, developed by Guodian Gaoke, a Beijing-based commercial sci-tech firm, which are part of the Tianqi low-Earth orbit Internet of Things constellation.

The 38-satellite constellation will go into operation in 2024. It will provide global data services for application scenarios such as emergency communications, ecological environment monitoring, and tower detection.

Who is the most dangerous person that you have ever met or encountered?

Luke Leary

He was a young man who ended up splattering his brains all over the side of the pavement in the UK. He was well known amongst the petrol head community in the UK for all the wrong reasons.

He was a young man who seemed hell bent on dying young and impressing other people and trolling others.

If I recall correctly (it;s been years) he crashes his car impaling himself in the face and losing an eye. He seemed unfazed by this and bought a high power motorbike and scared the shit out of people by riding recklessly. Within a year he crashes and ends up spreading his brain on the pavement.

I recall his GF’s mother said she was glad he was dead, she was glad because he kept taking her daughter for dangerous drives around various roads.

What scientific photos are hard to believe but are indeed real?

Originally Answered: What science photos are hard to believe but are indeed real?

The most amazing photo in science ever taken and the one so hard to believe, is this one:

This is a photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2012 of a tiny tiny section of night sky. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, it took 11 days of exposure to capture the light from these small dots. What is so mind-blowing about it is the fact that with the exception of four small objects, no dot of light in this photo is a star. They are all entire galaxies of stars, over 10,000 separate vast islands of stars spanning quadrillions of miles in size each. The dimmest dots actually represent galaxies that are over 12 billion light years from Earth. Because light travels at finite speed, it took over 12 BILLION YEARS for the light from those galaxies to arrive at Earth. Stare at the photo for a bit and realize the incredible vastness it represents! Look deep into the image to find those dim dots.

The Hubble team did something really cool. Using hard data of how far each galaxy in the above image was from Earth, they created an actual video simulation of what it would look like to fly INTO the galaxies in the Ultra Deep Field image above. Every dot in the video is an entire galaxy of stars passing you by. Here is that video. To really appreciate the Hubble Ultra Deep Field photo, click the video below to fly into that scene: (Note: At the speed of the video, it would take you trillions of years to fly at that speed through these galaxies in real time).

Scientists also looked deep into the blackness beyond the above galaxies and asked if there were even more galaxies to see, if the Hubble took an even longer exposure. A few years later, with upgraded camera software, Hubble took an even longer and closer view of the same above spot. Sure enough, called the “Extreme Ultra Deep Field”, it contained a slew of even fainter galaxies. Here is the result:

In all likelihood, there are even more fainter, more distant galaxies hiding in the above darkness, beyond Hubble’s ability to see.

OK, so the sky has lots of galaxies. Surely that is crazy to grasp but perhaps not so hard to believe. Well, to understand better what is so mind-blowing about the above photos, consider this image below:

So, just how much of the sky did the Hubble telescope photograph to capture those 10,000 galaxies in one shot? It is the answer that is impossible to believe. Look at the image above. See that tiny faint yellow square in the upper left center? THAT is the area of space the Hubble photographed. All of those 10,000 galaxies in the first image, stretching back in time almost to the beginning of the universe, came from inside that tiny yellow box. WHATTTTTT????? In fact, the space occupied by that image would fit into an area smaller than a grain of rice, held up to the night sky at arm’s length. Move it a millimeter to the right, left, up or down, and it will block 10,000 more galaxies, then another 10,000, then another and another and …. Imagine how many galaxies you can cover if you contemplate the entire night sky? WHOA!

Well, was this some kind of fluke? Perhaps Astronomers pointed the Hubble at a section of sky known to have lots of galaxies. In response, the Hubble took a dozen additional long-exposure photos of different parts of the sky over the years, also spanning no more distance than that tiny box above.

Here was the result of another such exposure:

This one, taken in 2018, is a time-exposure of another tiny part of the sky and found a whopping 15,000 galaxies in a single image. Called the Hubble Legacy Field, it used the upgraded cameras on Hubble. It reveals galaxies stretching almost to infinity. Again, look deep into it to understand its magnificence.

Here was another exposure from yet a third tiny part of the night sky, named simply the “Hubble Deep Field” (it was in fact, the first photo taken of them all):

As you can see, it is filled with over 3,000 galaxies (the black area at top right is a camera artifact).

For a final view, this one is a closeup of a cluster of galaxies, one of hundreds known to exist. Most of the objects in it are massive galaxies, clustered together by their mutual gravity. It is called MACS JO717 (objects with long cross-hatch lines are stars in our Milky Way).

In short, everywhere Hubble looked in its dozen+ photos, it saw galaxies of stars … thousands upon thousands of them. No one knew the night sky had that many islands of stars. Every Astronomer on Earth was blown away by the realization that when you look out at the night sky tonight, the darkness you see is not dark. It is FILLED with thousands upon millions upon billions of galaxies of stars, each containing hundreds of billions of suns and possibly trillions of planets of their own. In fact, latest surveys estimate that our visible universe contains over 2 TRILLION galaxies, stretching to distances that no one can even comprehend. That is an almost impossible number to contemplate and is so humbling to realize.

Modern computers can draw simulations of what 2 trillion galaxies might look like, if we could see just a tiny fraction of them from a distance. Here is one such simulation (called the Large Scale Structure of the Universe)

Each dot above would be a galaxy of billions of stars positioned by the computer in its correct spot in the night sky. WHOA!

To best understand this, choose just one tiny dot in the above image … anywhere. Do it now. Stare at it a bit. Then imagine that dot is our entire Milky Way galaxy. With our current technology, it would take humans 2 BILLION YEARS to cross just from one side of that tiny dot you picked out to the other side of that same dot. Really! Now, look around it in space. Imagine how vast is the universe when you contemplate traveling between these galaxies, between those tiny dots. We are just a tiny blob of protoplasm on a tiny planet orbiting one star out of septillions, in just one galaxy among trillions, in an impossibly immense space. That is why the Hubble photos of these galaxies have been voted by many scientists as the most amazing photos ever taken in science. I totally agree!

What is China doing to warrant US claims that they are “cheating” when it comes to economy growth?

China let them claim what they like.

It is like allowing the U.S. have a long rope to hang itself. Every time the U.S. media and politicians look down and pretend that China grow slowly or China don’t grow. And that the U.S. grows when in effect it is in a technical recession, it allows China to zoom past them.

So westerners who repeat such lies are in fact helping Chi a and not hurting China at all. This situation helps China. It wants to hide its strength. Not behave obnoxiously like the U.S. boaditing and showing off.

NEW White House Plan FAILS MISERABLY!

The United States is a fucking wreck.

What are some funny or interesting ancient millennia anecdotes?

In 350 B.C., there lived Diogenes the Cynic in Corinth, a philosopher considered by many to be somewhat foolish.

He was a true nonconformist, believing even then that humans were slaves to conventions and consumed by the obsession with appearances.

He abandoned all comforts and started living like a homeless person, even sleeping in a barrel.

One day, he showed up at the market and loudly called out to all the men present, who approached to hear what he had to say.

With them gathered around him, the philosopher began to spin his staff and violently struck them, saying:

“I called for men, not for sh*t.”

He also went down in history for the anecdote involving Alexander the Great.

One day, the Macedonian emperor approached him and asked what he could offer him, to which Diogenes replied: ‘Move, you’re blocking my sunlight.’

This is the essence of cynicism – a 360-degree disdain for authority: the most powerful person in the world is insignificant in the eyes of a cynic.

How competitive is Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro compared to the iPhone 15?

I expected a major difference and the Apple to be vastly superior due to the 3nm Chip

Yet the Huawei Mate 60 seems to hold its own against the Iphone 15

The point is very few people can really appreciate the 3nm Chip.

I have a Oneplus, my wife uses an Iphone (13)

Yet we feel no difference whatsoever between our functionality of our phones

Based on several reviewers, the ranking of the Iphone 15 was 7173 and the Mate 60 was 6985

Apple Iphone has a better GPU

Huawei Mate 60 has better battery storage and very fast charging

Apple Iphone averaged a 5G speed of 556 Mbps in Six designated regions of Shanghai and the Mate 60 delivered 627 Mbps

The Mate 60 has an additional 256 GB slot plus it has 16 GB memory , so you can configure it to 16/768

The released Iphone 15 so far is selling only 8/512

Sure the Iphone 15 takes the top place but Huawei is very close behind

In Mainland China, at least the Mate 60 should hold its own and take out at least 25% of the Iphone 15 and its share

How long did a typical tour of duty in Vietnam last for US soldiers?

One year. I arrived in Nov 1967 and worked Huey night maintenance at Bien Hoa airbase for the 118th Assault Helo Co. My first exposure to combat was when the VC attacked the base in the Tet offensive, Jan 1968.

In April 1968 I was assigned a crewchief slot with the 68th AHC, the TopTigers and by mid May, I’d lost three helicopters and 2 pilots to enemy action and a crash. By June I was flying with the Mustang gun platoon and by November, my year was over. But I still had a third year of total service obligation left and my unit was short experienced crewchiefs. So my CO asked if I would extend my tour six months and in return, at the end of the extension, the ARMY would grant me an “Early Out” thus forgiving my last half a year of service. And in a decision only a VN vet could understand, I decided my place was with my flying buddies and I signed up for the extra six months. I made three.

In March 1969 my gunship crashed and I was medevaced out of VN a 20 year old casualty of the war. Recovery took a year and the VA granted me 30% disability and a monthly check of $42 which today has increased to $560. The California VA also paid for my Engineering degree as well as college for my two daughters. These bennies were well worth the discomfort of my injuries.

Interestingly, extensions in VN was not unusual in my unit. Several of my fellow crewchiefs came home, realized how tedious stateside service was, and missed the camaraderie of their aircrew buddies. So in 1970 – 71, they returned to our old unit and to a man, regretted it. The buddies they’d known had been replaced and the unit espirit had changed as well. VN was winding down.

As for me, my service in VN is no doubt the most memorable time of my life. I’d accumulated approx. 1000 hrs in the air and managed to avoid doing anything that would haunt me later in life. As a result, I have no regrets and sleep very well at night. I guess I’m one of those boring VN vets that made a normal adjustment to civilian life.

Huawei Chips are no longer made in Taiwan!

After 1566 days, Huawei Kirin 9000s is back, and it’s now made in China.

The chip is released in HW Mate 60.

McConnell appears to freeze for more than 30 seconds during press conference

These guys are not fit to hold office.

How do you view the CIA’s continuous cyber attacks on other countries? Can other countries have no way to deal with it?

A few days ago, the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center of China and 360 Total Security Company jointly issued a report entitled “‘Empire of Hacking’: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency – Part I”.

The report details the CIA’s long history of leveraging its technological advantage to eavesdrop on or launch cyber-attacks against countries, businesses and institutions around the world.

As the initiator of cyber warfare, the largest supplier of advanced cyber weapons, and the world’s largest cyber spy, what has the United States targeted in its cyber attacks? The answers mainly include: Personal privacy, communications industry, critical infrastructure, and core network facilities.

According to the U.S. Army Times, the U.S. Army has requested $16.6 billion for the fiscal year 2023 to support its network and IT departments. Approximately $9.8 billion will be used for military network modernization, and about $2 billion for offensive and defensive network construction, and research and development in the field of cybersecurity.

Internet technology originated in the U.S., making it the first country to plan and deploy cybersecurity issues. However, this first-mover advantage did not lead the U.S. to a path of inclusiveness, fairness, balance, and cooperation when formulating cyberspace strategies; but, rather, maintaining and protecting its existing hegemonic advantage.

In 2013, American whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the secret and comprehensive monitoring of the leaders of France, Germany and other European allies by the United States.

As the evidence shows, the U.S. is clearly the biggest threat to global cybersecurity. The “Hacker Empire” U.S.’s eavesdropping and cyber-attacks on other countries are fundamentally aimed at using digital hegemony to maintain its military and financial hegemony in the real world.

As the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson pointed out, cyberspace is not a battlefield or wrestling ground, still less should it be used as a tool to split the international community or contain and bring down other countries. A secure, stable, and prosperous cyberspace is of great significance to world peace and development.

If a German pilot had to parachute out of his aeroplane over Britain during the ‘Battle of Britain’, what usually happened to him afterwards if he landed without injury?

They got made a prisoner. Usually interrogated, then sent to a POW camp.

True story. My mother lived in Kent during the Battle of Britain, she and her friends often watched the planes fighting.

One day, they saw a plane shot down. They knew it was a German Aircraft , and they saw the pilot bale out, and his parachute land in a field not far away. So they cycled over to the field. On the way, they met the local gamekeeper, on his bike, who had seen it too. He had his shotgun with him. They all went to the field. They saw the parachute laying in the field.

As they went across the field, the pilot stood up from behind some hay bales, with his hands up.

The gamekeeper pointed his shotgun at him.

The pilot shouted in English “ hallo! “ he pointed at his waist where he had a pistol “ I give you gun!”

And slowly pulled it out and threw it .

“ my leg hurts”

They went up to to him; and said “ sit down, it’s OK”

My mother was a nurse. she spoke some German, as she had an Austrian cousin. It turned out that he also spokequhite good English.

She had a look at his leg, it seemed his ankle was badly sprained.

The gamekeeper gave him a cigarette. They decided that they should take him to the farmhouse while they waited for the police. They helped him across the field and got him to the farm house .

Grandmother already had the kettle on so they had tea while the farmhand was sent to find the local policeman. About an hour later, he arrived, with two members of the local home guard in a car and the local doctor

Every one saluted each other; the doctor strapped up his ankle.

They all had some more tea , then the policeman said “” well sir, we have to take you to the police station, and wait for the Army to come and get you “

“Of course, thank you for the tea”.

And off they went.

Thé follow up is that in 1950, there was a knock on the door, and it was the pilot. He had spent the rest of the war as a POW in Scotland, then returned to Germany, and had got a job as a civil engineer, rebuilding Germany. He was visiting on business. He became a family friend.

Thousands of kids missing in Maui as walls go up to hide the truth | Redacted

The Chinese SMIC has been mass producing 7nm chips and exporting over 100m of 7nm chips to foreign companies outside China so far. The US banning chips’ sale to China has made China be independent of the US. Why?

China is committed to building its own semiconductor industry and has invested billions of dollars in chip manufacturing projects, which has also boosted the performance of chip equipment manufacturers.

The Chinese scientists and engineers have already made their own reflectors, lithography equipment and control methods in extreme ultraviolet lithography and core technologies. Through independent research and development and innovation, China has gradually reduced its dependence on external technology and equipment and achieved a series of breakthroughs by relying on the huge domestic market demand. Therefore, in the fields of lithography machines, chips, etc., the Chinese are increasingly emerging and becoming a leader in global technology development. At the same time, China will continue to be committed to increasing its efforts to further promote independent research and development and innovation in key areas. This not only provides impetus for the sustainable development in China, but also makes a positive contribution to global scientific and technological progress.

At Harbin Institute of Technology, there have been frequent breakthroughs in the field of lithography machines. In February, a self-developed ultra-precision high-speed laser interferometer won top awards such as the “Golden Sui Award” gold medal at the World Photonics Conference. In March, a new solution for the development of miniaturized short-wave lasers was made. In April, the realization of an “electric energy conversion plasma circuit” and the realization of a DPP-EUV light source were all set to go.

Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Specreation Company, headquartered in Hefei, Anhui, have all applied for patents on EUV light source technology in the past year.

The front-end lithography machine for chip manufacturing, mainly consists of four parts: extreme ultraviolet light source, reflective projection system, photolithography template (mask), and photolithography coating (photoresist) that can be used in extreme ultraviolet. The machine is simply called EUV for short.

In the technical fields of optical chips and 3D stacking, China has already begun to deploy and has achieved good results. These can bypass ASML’s EUV lithography machine.

Regarding the workpiece platform in the core technology of EUV lithography machines, the Chinese Huazhuo Precision Technology Co., Ltd.’s self-developed dual workpiece platform has completely broken ASML’s technology monopoly. Huazhuo Precision Technology Co., Ltd. (中国华卓精密科技有限公司) has become the second company in the world to master the core technology of dual workpiece platforms.

A small factory in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province broke Japan’s 20-year monopoly in one fell swoop, increased the purity of domestic photoresists by 10 times, and enabled mass production of high-end KrF and ArF photoresists, the 100% domestically produced upstream photoresist materials.

Shanghai Microelectronics is expected to deliver the first domestic SSA/800-10W lithography equipment by the end of 2023.

On the road to domestic substitution, a number of excellent suppliers have emerged in the upstream and downstream of the semiconductor fabrication industry, such as lithography machine light source system manufacturer Fujing Technology, objective lens system manufacturer Aopu Optoelectronics, and photomask manufacturer Feilihua, defect detection manufacturer Dongfang Jingyuan, photoresist manufacturers Nanda Optoelectronics and Rongda Photosensitive, photolithography gas manufacturers Jacques Technology, Walter Gas, etc.

Shanghai Microelectronics is already producing 28nm lithography machines and 14nm lithography machines are also under development. In terms of etching machines, China Microelectronics has developed an etching machine with a 5nm process and is making faster progress.

According to customs data, as of May 2023, China has successfully reduced the import of 45.5 billion chips. Based on this scale, it is expected that China will further reduce the import of more than 100 billion chips in 2023.

Generally speaking, the breakthroughs made by the Chinese companies in dual workpiece stages, objective lenses, light sources, masks, photoresists and other semiconductor core systems and materials prove that the Chinese are going further and further on the road of independent research and development of chip manufacturing. The Chinese are increasingly confident that under the environment of unity and cooperation between domestic enterprises and clear division of labor, and with the strong support of the state, the future of domestic chips is promising.

China has obviously understood that relying on the foreigners will not last long after all.

Independence can go further.

What are your thoughts about how the police handled the Uvalde school shooting?

Bluntly, it’s a total and complete catastrophe, a shocking combination of yellow-bellied cowardice and overwhelming incompetence. It’s offensive to the natural world, God, morality, ethics, and sentient life itself.

Dozens of highly armed and armored and well trained police stood outside in the hall while little kids bled out.

In the picture above, taken 46 minutes before the police did their fuckin’ jobs, at least five officers with rifles are visible. One has a ballistic helmet. Two have ballistic shields.

They did nothing.

Active shooter protocols vary. Some are simple: The first to arrive moves aggressively toward the subject and neutralizes them, or dies trying. Others suggest that a brief wait for a small ad-hoc team, between two and four, may be worth it, but as soon as such an element is formed, it should aggressively move and neutralize the subject.

None call for more than four.

There were four men within five minutes.

They did nothing.

Instead, they allowed themselves to be directed by a shockingly incompetent on scene commander to simply wait, while he waited for radios, shields, rifles, swat, a key, and a motherfucking invitation before he did his damned job.

While they did nothing.

The excuses from the chief are just ‘You know, this doesn’t make it better’. His radios didn’t work in the school? The schools are literally his only responsibility. If his radios don’t work, it’s his fault. If he can’t move with his radio, it’s his fault. The doors not being locked was his fault. That he didn’t know that the door didn’t lock is his fault. All of this makes it worse.

To add on to the basic fact that he did nothing.

Indeed, we have credible reports of individual parents, with no training or weapons who acted in a vastly superior tactical manner to the chief. A woman who was handcuffed, and managed to have the presence of mind to get herself uncuffed, sneak into the school, and rescue her children. Make that mom the chief of police!!!! She clearly has both the courage and problem solving skills to do the job, unlike the abject failure that is currently employed.

This incident has forced my to seriously recalibrate what role I think that police should play in society. If they can’t do this, then what’s the point? Shut it down and go home.

I’m not quite standing with the ACAB and defund people, but I can sure as hell hold a friendly conversation with them at this point, with no need to shout.

When seconds count, the police are 83 minutes away.

What’s the most poisonous plant in the world?

Gympie Gympie, also known as the suicide plant, is known to drive people insane. This notorious Australian plant is one of the worlds most poisonous plants, and those nettle like stingers pack a punch.

The pain is described as being burnt with acid and getting electrocuted at the same time. The tiny hairs that cover the leaves are described as being like little hypodermic needles, which embed themselves deep into your skin before injecting you with a neurotoxin.

The pain is said to last for weeks, even months and in some cases years. The little hypodermic stingers sink deep into the skin, and it’s really difficult to remove them. The plant was first discovered in 1886 when a road surveyor’s horse got stung by the plant, went mad and died two hours later.

The embedded hairs can stay in the skin for up to a year and release a toxin during triggering events like touching the affected area, pouring water on the area, or even a temperature change. Once it releases the neurotoxin, a severe burning sensation will increase in intensity for about 30 minutes, and it could last for weeks.

A British officer is said to have committed suicide after he mistakenly used a leaf as toilet paper causing him to go insane from the pain before shooting himself in the head.

The hairs are so small the skin will grow over them, making it almost impossible to remove them. The best treatment for it is to use acid to remove layers of skin to expose the needles and plucking them out.

Dear Americans

You all must check out this American advertisement. You must watch it. It’s super short.

What is the strangest failure you have ever seen on a car?

For years I worked on old cars, raced them, show cars, fixed them up for fun. I purchased a old 55 Chevy 4 door from a woman who was in her late 80’s. It was her husbands car and he only drove it to town (5 miles away) for groceries, PO, bank ,etc. I spent a few months getting the car back in shape, paint, engine, interior and finally insured it and tagged it. Proud of the old car I decided to drive it to work, about 10 miles away. I got about a mile away and the car quit running. So I walked the rest of the way to work. A co-worker gave me lift to the old Chevy and we decided to see if it would start, sure enough it fired right up, he would follow me home. As soon as I pulled into the driveway the Chevy coughed and stopped. The next week I rebuilt the carb, new fuel filter, checked the wiring, everything I could think of, even changed the fuel tank sending unit and replaced the fuel filter sock that went into the tank. Decided to drive it to work, one mile short of work it quit running again. Got the old car home again and decided to drain the gas tank, new filters, etc. Drove it again same thing. I finally figured it out (just to make the story short) it seems the old man who owned the car was a depression era guy, he never put more than a few gallons of gas at a time in the car. Over the years the tank starting rusting at the top of the tank due to condensation and water in the gas. Even though I drained the tank I could not see the rust in the corners and as I drove the car the rust started breaking off a little at a time and clogged the little fuel filter soak and cutting off gas flow. Seems like 9 miles was all she could go till the fuel filter sock was full, the funny thing was when I stopped the car and the fuel pump wasn’t working the rust and debris fell away and opened back up the fuel flow. Drove me crazy. A new gas

tank from YearOne Auto Parts and the old Chevy lasted many years of good service.

How To Rob A Poor Country’s Resources

So you’re a multi billion dollar transnational corporation, or working for one, and you want all those sweet natural resources located near people too poor and disconnected to sue you for hazardous mining operations, but you also don’t want to pay a cent to the country where you’re doing this? I got great news for you, we can manage that, in this easy step by step plan.

We find a country with proven resource reserves, but who are too poor to actually develop them without help.
We offer them to develop their resources under the deal that the facilities and actual resources extracted will be ours, but the labour will be locally employed, and the country’s government will get a percentage of the value of the resources in the form of tariffs which they control. If this deal doesn’t immediately sound appealing, then pay who ever is in charge of negotiating it 10–20 million dollars, which is an absurd sum for an individual especially in a poor country. Make sure the deal is verified by the World Trade Organization (WTO)
We construct the facilities with efficiency in mind, but it is vitally important that the machines used for extraction is reliant on parts and preferably on site engineers from out country. Call this a safety measure against countries who would have the idea they could take it over in the future.
Now we got the operation going. Let’s say copper for example. We have managed to mine copper and refine it on site (it’s pretty dangerous and pollutes a lot so best keep it there) and we now want to sell it on the world market, for an estimated price of 3 billion dollars. However, our deal earlier says the government takes 20% of the value on exported items. So what we do is that we shell the entire storage of copper to our own separate paper company for 1 dollar, the government takes 25 cent. This is a fair price.
Our company paper company in Switzerland now owns 3 billion dollars worth of copper, obviously Switzerland is a great place for copper imports, because their taxes are low and the questions are few. Things which are good for an effective company.
We don’t actually import the copper to Switzerland, we just pay the minimal tax there when we convert our 1 dollar copper to 3 billion, the copper is still in the original country. It is being shipped to various places in EU for electronics manufacture, loaded on ships with flags in Panama by minimum wage labour.
In summary, we built a facility worth half a billion, bribe an official about 20 million, and pay our workers probably less than 10 million per year in total. One time investment of 530 million dollars, annual 10 million in salaries, 25 cent in export tax, 8% in Swiss import tax (240 million), and a few costs for maintenance. Roughly 780 million in expenses, 2.22 billion in profits. Switzerland gets around 24 times more per year than the local government does of course, but this is good because it keeps pressure on them to keep wages low.

Just in case anyone ever wonders why Switzerland a land locked nation not part of the EU with no bilateral trade agreements with Zambia has an OEC page that looks like this.

Why don’t they just nationalize it?

Because it’s difficult to operate.

Don’t they realize the tax evasion scheme?

Sure they do, but their deal allows for it.

Why don’t they cancel their deal?

Because that would violate the principles of the WTO and constitute contract breaking and that would land them with economic sanctions they can’t afford.

Why don’t they get rid of the corrupt officials who make these deals?

They do actually when ever possible, the person making this deal is already in jail for corruption.

But if the deal was made with the use of bribes with a person who is convicted of corruption, it is clearly not valid.

A contract is a contract, does you country have corruption, that’s your problem. WTO isn’t here to fix corruption, it’s here to enforce trade agreements, no matter the circumstances they were written under.

Dallas Tacos

This is a Tex Mex-favorite in Dallas – mini soft corn tortillas topped with smoked brisket, chopped red onion, shredded red cabbage and pepper jack cheese.

Ingredients

Beef

3 pounds brisket or chuck roast
Salt
Black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or bacon grease
1 large yellow onion, cut into quarters
8 cloves garlic
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and stems removed, cut in half, lengthwise
2 leafy stems cilantro
1 bay leaf

Tacos

2 poblano chiles
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 large red onion, chopped
1 cup (4 ounces) pepper Jack cheese
Corn or flour tortillas
Flour tortillas
Salsa

Instructions

Heat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Sprinkle the brisket or chuck roast with salt and black pepper.
In a large ovenproof pot, such as a Dutch oven, heat up the oil on medium-low, and brown the beef on both sides, about 5 minutes per side.
Remove the beef from the pot and add the onions. While occasionally stirring, cook until they begin to brown.
Add the garlic cloves and cook for another 2 minutes.
Turn off the heat and pour the red wine vinegar into the pot, scraping along the bottom to loosen all of the particles.
Return the beef to the pot. If using brisket, place it fat side up. Pour in the beef broth and add the cumin, jalapeños, cilantro and bay leaf. Cover the pot and place in the oven. Cook the brisket for 6 hours or until it’s fork tender.
After removing beef from the oven, let it rest in the pot uncovered for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the taco toppings, roast the poblano chiles under the broiler until blackened, about 5 minutes per side.
Place chiles in a paper sack or plastic food-storage bag, close it tight and let the chile steam for 20 minutes.
Remove the chiles from the bag and rub off the skin. Remove stem and seeds and cut the chiles into strips.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium low, and add the chopped onion. While occasionally stirring, cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the cut poblano strips and cook for 1 more minute.
After the beef has rested, remove it from the pot, cut off the fat cap (if using the brisket) and shred the meat with two forks until it’s in long strands.
To make the gravy, strain the cooled broth, throwing out the vegetables. Remove the fat from the broth with a gravy separator. Or alternatively, you can take a quart-sized plastic storage bag and pour some broth into it. Snip a bottom corner of the bag and drain the broth, stopping when you get to the fat layer that is on top. Add 2 tablespoons of the gravy to the shredded brisket, reserving the rest for serving. Taste the beef and adjust seasonings.
To make the tacos, place on one side of each tortilla some pepper Jack and slide the tortillas under the broiler for 30 seconds or until the cheese is melted. Fill the tortillas with shredded beef and top with some of the onions and poblano strips.
Serve with the pot juices and salsa.
Serve with a side of salsa, mashed avocado and a jalapeño.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Nebraska: 4 Mile Evacuation Ordered; Rail car Explosion with Toxic Chemicals

Nation Hal Turner 14 September 2023

North Platte Nebraska Railcar Explosion large

Nebraska: 4 Mile Evacuation Ordered; Rail car Explosion with Toxic Chemicals

A rail car has exploded and is burning in North Platte, Nebraska and very unusual things are now taking place. 1) An evacuation area of four MILES is in effect around the rail car. 2) The US Air Force Deployed a WC-135 “Nuke Sniffer” plane to fly over the scene.

While an evacuation zone around a burning railcar is not unusual, there are very many questions about why the US Air Force sent a WC-135 “nuke sniffer” aircraft above the scene.

the WC-135 with flight ID AE048D flew repeated circles over the rail yard at North Platte, NE today, as well as over the rail lines due west of the railyard:

And west of the rail yard as well:

Word is already leaking out that the Union Pacific Rail Yard in North Platte is the world’s largest rail yard. Word is also leaking out that “more than 70% of the rail engines had safety defects, as did 20% of the rail cars!”

Three days ago, the Federal Rail Administration stated publicly “the nations largest rail carrier failed to fix and continued to use faulty equipment.”

Ukraine Scores Big Hits; Destroys Russian Submarine and Landing Ship

World Hal Turner 13 September 2023

Sub Landing Ship Destroyed 09 13 2023 large

Ukraine Scores Big Hits; Destroys Russian Submarine and Landing Ship

Ukraine has successfully attacked the Russian port of Sevastopol on Crimea, and destroyed the Russian Submarine “Rostov-on-Don” and the Landing Ship “Minsk” (pictured above). Both vessels were in dry dock for repairs.

We learned about the consequences of Ukraine’s attack on the Sevmorzavod (dry dock/shipyard) in Sevastopol last night. Sources in the Black Sea Fleet, in the General Staff and in the Sevastopol government told us the following:

As a result of the missile strike, 11 people were killed – factory workers and military. 31 people, according to the latest data, were injured.

The Ukraine missiles completely destroyed two vessels – the large landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-on-Don. Both vessels were in for repair but are now not salvageable. In addition, two more vessels were damaged at the Sevmorzavod Ship Yard, and it may be possible to restore them. Authorities refused to say the names of these ships, “so that the enemy would not receive valuable information about the result of his attack.”

According to updated data, eight Ukrainian missiles and two naval drones were fired at Sevastopol. The drones were destroyed, and only two of the missiles were shot down, so the damage from the impacts is serious.

Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev has already demanded to strengthen the city’s air defense.

During the missile strike last night, panic began in Sevastopol. The police received information that saboteurs were operating in the city, and sent several patrols to search for them. One of them mistook an armed military patrol for saboteurs and opened fire on his own. As a result of the shootout, four people were killed – three soldiers and one policeman.

The Submarine B-237 “Rostov-on-Don”, passed tests and entered the Russian Navy fleet in 2014. It cost about $300 million and was a Kalibr missile carrier.

Living in the Us is extremely hard in many ways.

Economically speaking is very very expensive. Even the places that are called affordable are still expensive and the truly affordable places are stagnant economically.
The rat race, socially speaking you are continuously pushed to want more, try to earn more, do more, it is never enough. You have to be VERY strong mentally to escape that and go against the flow.
Radicalized, dogmatic, borderline lunatic masses. Everything is an issue, the media loves to blow it out of proportion, politicians love the circus. As a result, a lot of hatred, divsion, anger, fringe lunatics compleely deranged, this translates into violence.
Violent society. Less than a month after Uvalde there were 33 mass shootings all over the US. So many the media does not even report it anymore.
A lot of poverty with almost no way out. Grow up poor in the US chances are you will die early and poor in the US.
LAck of health care, that is a BIG BIG issue.
Backwards and purtiannical…. thinking 18 year olds with assault riffles is fine, but that same 18 year old having a beer is terrible! The neverding gun debate, now women-s rights taken away by religious lunatics in power *Saudi arabia like*, today I read the same lunatics in power want to revisit gay rights.
Fading glory. The Us feels tired. You drive around the country and it feels like it was a wow place to be back in the 50s and 60s…. today, not much! At times is like a time capsule to the mid 20th century!
Infrasctructure surprisingly mediocre. Options for public transportation minimal and very mediocre.
Car dependancy…. you literally have to drive EVERYWHERE in 95% of the country.
Religion, scary kind of it with lunatics thinking it is a sin to not live like humans did in the dark ages!
Guns, there are four guns per person in the US.
Double standards, the US can bomb, dismantle, destroy governments left and right, wait for Russia or China to do it and it is an international outcry.

Peach Pudding Cake

Ingredients

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter or margarine
10 peach halves, fresh or canned
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup whipping cream

Instructions

Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.
Cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal; sprinkle over bottom and sides of greased 8 x 2-inch round ovenware cake dish.
Place peaches, cut side up, over crumb mixture.
Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over peaches.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 mintues.
Combine egg yolks and cream; pour over peaches.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Serve warm.

So Surprising!..| FIRST TIME HEARING Robin Trower – Bridge Of Sighs Reaction

Robin Trower is a genius, but vocalist James Dewar is on an equal footing with his own genius. In my opinion (and many, many others’) Jimmy Dewar was the finest blue-eyed soul/white blues singer in British history. Rest In Power Jimmy!

[Daegonmagus] Simplified LD technique

03/10/2023

Last night after trying to devise a simpler method wake induced lucid dreaming I managed to LD. I once again went to the underground world place lagging our physical reality by 3 months that seems to be a common location lately. I seemed to be doing a usual recon job, dropping into some base to gain intel on as part of some team. This was in a section that was outside despite the rest of the place having that familiar underground feeling to it. I remember having to go up and over the side of this building into whatever compound it was we were infiltrating. These sessions seem a lot easier: we don’t seem to give much of a shit if our presence is detected, and make ourselves known to flush out whatever is inside. This particular time was no exception. A bunch of non physical guards came out to try and apprehend us but we just swatted them off like flies. There was some kind of weird flying object thing: it looked like a bunch of cubes with square orange lights coming off it which is I think what we were there to investigate. I decided I wanted to fly it so I projected into its core. It was a very peculiar object as the cubes all sort of shot of in different directions but I could control them. It wasn’t anything like the UFO thing I flew – some sort of key like object one had to project into to use.

That saga soon ended and I was back in the middle of the underground city – square sort of dwellings made out of brown clay everywhere – just sort of exploring. I got the idea to reach out to the Domain (the guys who operated on my astral body during a sleep paralysis episode about a year). I pinged a very strong thought out of them suggesting I wished to make contact along with a visualisation. I did this 3 or 4 times, and all of a sudden I was sucked into a worm hole and started travelling down it. Upon coming out the other side, it was like a great deal of distortion prevented me from being able to see properly. I popped out in this circular shaped room that was populated by what appeared to be smoky entities. I knew these things were beings but that just looked like tall blobs of smoke that kept shooting back and forth across the room before forming back into a tall pillar all around me. All in all there probably about 5 or 6 of these pillars, though when they dissipated to fly around the room they all just became one “mass” of smoke.

Session very soon ended after that.

Watermelon

As a boy growing up we ate a lot of watermelon. It seemed that it was everywhere throughout my young boyhood. Get-together’s, cookouts, camp-outs, family parties, and long slow hot Summers… the watermelon was there for us to eat.

When I got married, and worked in the corporate world, the amount of watermelon in my life really dropped substantially. We might be exposed to it once a year; at a family gathering or on a holiday. Other than that; nope. The Watermelon was too big for us to eat, and we didn’t have kids… our cats didn’t like it, so any watermelon would be a waste.

So… I went around 30 years without having watermelon in my life.

Long time.

You know, I didn’t notice the loss. It just never occurred to me the role that this fruit played in my life. So I didn’t miss it.

Then I moved to China.

Watermelon everywhere. After every meal. Free on the streets. Low prices in the grocery store. Trucks selling it on the roads, the highways, in front of the plaza… it’s ubiquitous.

And so I eat it.

Again.

And I love it.

And you know what? Now, my bowel movements are more regular. My skin is clearer, and my attitude is better. All because of…

Watermelon access.

Do not deny yourself the joys of a good slice of watermelon.

Truth.

Todays…

What are some crazy accidents that were fatal?

In 1998, during a soccer match in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a bolt of lightning hit the pitch and killed 11 people.

The two opposing soccer teams from the eastern Kasai province of the Congo were drawing 1–1 when suddenly a bolt of lighting struck the pitch. The lightning strike killed 11 members of one team, leaving the home team unharmed.

The Congo is steeped in Voodoo and ritual magic practices, and soccer rivalry between local teams is brutal. It is known for teams to be blessed or cursed by opposing teams to give themselves an upper hand. The curious way only one team managed to walk away unharmed led many to believe the home team cursed the other team with voodoo.

These beliefs are embedded in their culture and go deep to the bone, but in this case, it came down to simple footwear. One of the teams had screw-in metal studs on their boots, while the other team had moulded studs.

Tex-Mex Fajitas

Fajitas are pure Tex-Mex food. They originated along the Rio Grande River on the Texas-Mexico border and were eaten by cattle wranglers. The skirt steak is the traditional cut used and was reserved primarily for the chief cowboy. Other cuts of beef can be substituted, such as flank steak or sirloin, but the skirt is by far the most tender, flavorful and authentic.

You’ll find no cast iron griddle with the sizzling bell peppers and onions in this recipe. This was developed mainly by chain restaurants and is in no way a part of true Tex-Mex fajitas. You can add them if you wish. This recipe is authentic.

Only use the soy sauce and Liquid Smoke if you are cooking on the stovetop with cast iron or under the broiler. The soy sauce helps brown the steak, and the Liquid Smoke gives the fajitas that grilled flavor.

Be sure to use chile powder, not chili powder. Chili powder is a mixture of spices, and chile powder is pure ground chile.

Ingredients

2 pounds beef skirt steak
1/2 onion, halved and sliced thin
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons powdered red chiles
3 pickled jalapenos, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons jalapeno pickling liquid *
1 tablespoon corn oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce (optional – if grilling on cast iron or under the broiler)
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke (optional – if grilling on cast iron or under the broiler)

* This is the liquid used to pickle and flavor the jalapenos. It is basically white vinegar with added spices, and there is always ample liquid in the jar or can to use in this, without leaving the remaining jalapenos dry.

Instructions

Place half of the onions in the bottom of a nonreactive dish.
Mix the cumin, powdered red chiles, chopped jalapenos and garlic together in a small bowl, then rub on all sides of the meat. Put the skirt steak into the dish on top of the onions. Pour the lime juice and the jalapeno liquid over all areas to coat. Sprinkle the remaining onions on top of the meat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight, turning once.
Heat the grill or broiler until hot. Fajitas need to cook close to a very high heat source, in order to sear the outside but still leave the interior medium rare.
Mix together the oil and, if you are using them, the soy sauce and Liquid Smoke. Brush or spoon the oil mixture onto the meat surfaces. Grill or broil about 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until the outside is brown and slightly charred, and the inside is still slightly pink.
Remove the meat to a cutting board. Let sit 5 minutes before slicing to rest.
Cut the meat into thin strips that can be easily rolled into tortillas.
Serve with warm, soft flour tortillas and fresh pico de gallo or salsa fresca.

Why doesn’t China demand the world to start calling it “Zhongguo” instead of “China”? The word “China” is obsolete, imperialistic, and doesn’t correspond to anything meaningful in Chinese after all.

Oh Dear Lord why on earth?

China doesn’t think like India

They don’t change names randomly

Their Airports are still called “Beijing International” and “Shanghai International” Airports

Their roads are NUMBERED or NAMED as Wukang, Nanjing, Luoshan etc

They don’t have a Deng Xiaoping Road or Mao Tse Tung Road

Even their Sports Stadiums are mostly named after the locations like Hangzhou Station

Even the renaming of PEKING to BEIJING had little to do with Purging Colonial History but to do with establishing the PINYIN MANDARIN system over the ANGLO CANTONESE system

Mao, the greatest leader according to 7 in 10 Chinese only has a Library named after him in China and a Memorial where he rests

It’s how the Chinese do things

It’s how they always have been doing

Even Singapore’s Airport is called SINGAPORE CHANGI

Most of the roads are not named after anyone

Things like Ayer Rajah (Not a name, a word), Pioneer Expressway, Jalan Bahar, Paya Lebar, Jurong are all old history

Same in HK

Names like Kai Tak, Kowloon, Aberdeen, Mong Kok etc are old history

They won’t change the names from Aberdeen to some Chinese name Or from the Peak to some Chinese name

If they name it Zhongguo, they may as well join the BJP and start talking about their greatness in the 6th Century BCE

Come on!!!!!!

This is China here

They like winning and finding real solutions

Not changing names

“They’re blocking you from seeing the truth in Maui”

It’s been 22 days since a massive fire destroyed the town of Lahaina on Maui… 2,000 homes incinerated, hundreds of people killed and all in an area largely owned and lived in by long time native islanders. What is really going on here? Why are drones being blocked, residents arrested when they try to return home? Why are 2,000 kids missing? If you want to donate to help the people of Maui you can do so by texting the word “mahalo” to 53-555 and 100% of the money will go to help the victims.

The Glowing wounds

In 1862, two Union forces came together to defeat the Confederate Mississippi Army, which was led by General Albert Sydney Johnston. Don Carlos Buell and Major General Ulysses S. Grant had joined their units to meet the 40,000-strong Confederate Army camped between the Shiloh Church and the Tennessee River.

What became known as the Battle for Shiloh or the Battle for Pittsburgh Landing was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, with over 23,000 casualties, and it was among these casualties that a strange occurrence took place.

A lot of the wounded men fared better during this battle than any other battle during the Civil War. Thousands of men lay wounded in a field after one of the battles had ended. They waited for hours in the blood-soaked mud to be picked up and brought to the field hospital to have their wounds looked after.

As night fell, the men started to notice their wounds glowing. The men’s wounds glowed a bright greenish, blue colour. It was described as a heavenly glow and something the men had never seen before.

When it was reported that the men who had experienced the glow healed faster and there was a lower infection rate amongst the men, it was given the name Angel Glow.

The reason for this strange phenomenon was finally figured out over 139 years later by a high school student. In 2001, High school student Bill Martin was visiting the battlefield in Shiloh and became fascinated by the story. Bill teamed up with his microbiologist mother and solved the riddle.

They discovered Nematodes in the soil that carry a bacterium called “Photorhabdus luminescence. When the Nematodes were feasting on the flesh of the wounded soldiers, they regurgitated the glowing bacteria into the wounds, which acted as an ani-septic, killing off all the bad germs.

Africa Shocks the World as it Breaks Free From Western Exploitation After China Did This!

https://youtu.be/6UJWuAB4rEY

Joke Time

A woman has an affair while her husband is at work. While she’s in bed with her lover, her 13-year-old son walks in, sees them both, and hides in the closet to watch. Then the man comes home and the woman puts her lover in the closet too without noticing that her son is already in there.

Son: “Dark in here.”
Man: “Yes.”
Son: “I have a baseball.”
Man: “Nice.”
Son: “Do you want to buy it?”
Man: “No thanks.”
Son: “My father is standing out there…”
Man: “Okay, alright, how much?”
Son: “$250”
Man: “Okay.”

Now the boy hides in the closet whenever the bell is ringing. After three weeks the same thing happens again, again the son and the lover are together in the closet.

Son: “Dark in here.”
Man: “Yes.”
Son: “I have a baseball glove.”
The man remembers the game from last time and annoyedly asks, “How much this time?”
Son: “$750”
Man: “Fine.”

A few days later, the father says to the son: “Let’s play baseball, get your ball and glove.”

Boy: “I can’t, I sold the stuff.”
Father: “For how much?”
Boy: “$1000.”
Father: “That’s outrageous, ripping off your friends like that! That’s a lot more than the things are worth. You’re coming to church now and confessing your sins.”

Both go to church and the father puts the boy in the confessional.

Boy: “Dark in here.”
Pastor: “Don’t start that shit again!”

No more USD use!

Non-BRICS nations are no longer using the USD.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand sign Memorandum of Understanding to use own currency to settle transactions. No more US$. Dedollarisation is here!

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

Suffering through bullies

“Our beautiful girl has been subjected to some awful bullying at school. It’s been a very private 7 months for us, dealing with this, immediate family only.

In this age of social media, children (because they are children) think it’s ok to send hateful messages (to me also along with their parents who won’t take responsibility) without consequences. I’ve had calls from these children calling me an old hag because I’ve defended our daughter, approached parents and pleaded with them to talk with their children and ask them to stop. I’ve even approached the children themselves, but been threatened by parents with harassment.

The WA department of education doesn’t expel children from schools for bullying, as they say: ‘Every child is entitled to an education.’

What about our child’s entitlement?

She’s been sent home numerous times after self harming at school. She’s not allowed a pencil sharpener as she takes the blade out and cuts herself.

The WA department of education also told me: ‘You should teach your child how to be resilient against bullies.’ Yes, they said that.

Our girl has had a video taken of her sitting at her desk at school, legs slightly open, with a lovely caption about the smell. It was posted to snapchat. I spent 90 mins with the police as they tried to determine if it was photographing and distribution of pornographic material. Yes, a 12 year old can be prosecuted if the content breaches certain criteria. Sadly our daughter’s didn’t, but she was subjected to weeks of ridicule. Repercussions? The girl who posted the video lost her playtime. The person who took the video? Nothing, because no one would tell who it was.

It’s ok to verbally attack at school because they can get away with it via a screen; so think the same will happen in the real world.

Last week, we spent over 5 hours in A&E with psychiatrists, doctors and nurses, because our girl ‘had a plan to commit suicide’. On Tuesday, I am in court applying for a VRO against a 12 year old to keep her (the bully) away from our beautiful girl—all because parents don’t accept responsibility for their children and schools can only do so much.

The school has a safety plan for the bullied child, our daughter. And the bully? She only loses recess and lunch privileges. This is infant school punishment!

Please, in this awful age of social media (or anti social media as we call it) check your children’s messages. Their devices are a privilege, nothing more, nothing less, so please make sure they are being polite and respectful in their messages. Teach the children to ‘talk’ not use text or social media to air their differences.

Bullying affects the whole family, not just the bullied. It needs to stop and it needs to stop now! Please feel free to share.”

China warns the Dutch’s ASML: Either buy back EUV for 500 billion or give up patent rights!

China is not bothered whether ASML wants to continue selling or not. But it is indeed obligated under th contract to service what she has sold or refund the money back. ASML cannot be expected to sell these bunch of scrap metal for USD150 million per piece without servicing them. Otherwise these companies will applied and seek a ruling in Chinese courts to make the IPR for all these components in these machines invalid. Once the court granted these requests, ASML might as well give up China’s market. A very GOOD strategy and it is legal and it works .

https://youtu.be/AapTz7KAvW0,

What’s the hardest thing about being a guy?

A few years ago, 22-year-old Nick Olivas discovered he was the father of an eight year old child, born when he was 14. The woman who gave birth to his child at the time, had been in her twenties. Olivas wasn’t aware the lady had gotten pregnant.

Technically speaking, since Olivas was 14 when the child was born, he was a victim of statutory rape by an adult. Olivas was shocked. And his shock increased when the state informed he owed around $15,000 in back child support and medical bills going back to the child’s birth, plus an additional 10 percent interest… legally speaking, this man was still a child when the child was conceived and therefore unable to consent to sexual intercourse, let alone capable of overseeing the enormous consequences of potential fatherhood…

Instead of being persecuted as a rapist, the woman who got pregnant by a 14-year-old boy was paid for what legally was a crime. If an adult man had sex with a 14-year-old girl and impregnated her, he wouldn’t have been paid a dime, and he’d be in jail before he could count to ten. People would be outraged, and the law would go after him without skipping a beat. When it’s a boy victim, however, he “just got lucky” and people make it into a joke.

The hardest thing about being a guy? You’re always seen as the responsible party. Even if you’re fourteen, below the age of consent and therefore legally incapable of being responsible… you’re still responsible.

China kicked this U.S. giant out! It once monopolized the Chinese market for 30 years.

Hahaha Oracle is hated by everyone including their own employees. Pretty much no one has any good words for Oracle.

Why did Russia stop the gas supply to Poland?

Poland and Russia have a 25 day Payment contract

Russia specified on 1st April 2022 that the next payment due would have to be made in Rubles. This Payment was due on 26th April 2022

Poland had to open a Gazprom Bank Account in Warsaw and credit Zlotys to the Account in question and subsequently open a Second Gazprom Bank Account in Moscow where based on this Zloty Credit – Gazprom would issue a corresponding credit in Rubles which would be paid to GAZPROM

Some Countries requested for more time

Some Countries began paying in Rubles like Hungary, Armenia, Slovakia

Two Countries simply said – We wont pay in Rubles

Putin called their Bluff and Cut off their Gas and Oil supply

They were Poland and Bulgaria

Another reason here is that – Putin had to show that he meant business

He could not keep threatening and have these minnow countries constantly defying him. So he decided to Cut off Gas and Oil to show that He meant Business.

EDIT:-

Austria has also paid Rubles today

The world’s first 3nm chip was born? Chinese chip giant officially announced!

Actually having better abilities in chip testing of cost-inefficient processes like the current immature 3nm can be exploited seriously by China.

So- if TSMC and Samsung want their 3nm chips successfully tested and not for an unreasonable price, they’ll have no other choice but to go to China, also meaning it ties the hands of Uncle Sam.

Washington may currently have monopoly on EUV technology and invoke sanctions on China, but China in response may limit the countries to which chips tested by Chinese companies can be exported – meaning that the puppet countries of South Korea and Taiwan won’t be able to produce 3nm chips, and the collective West won’t have access to such.

Thanks to the suppression tactics of the USA now the West is locked with China in the suppression room, and China is the one with the human potential to develop full chip industry, not the West even if you combine them all, with their youth pursuing careers in economics or as “influencers” nowadays (both “jobs” are quite literally modern read on slavery knowing the social model they force).

Not to mention the population of the West can be shrinked seriously during WW3, on top of that add the expensive and insufficient electricity, which will be needed for them to produce their own base materials for chip manufacturing…

China’s counter sanctions already spelled doom on the Western industry, and with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran and Egypt (oil exporting countries) joining BRICS in January things are going to get even worse in the previously beautiful Western garden.

Stories of intelligent cephalopods

When an octopus experiences an injury to one of its tentacles, whether through natural wear and tear or as a result of territorial disputes and fights, a fascinating phenomenon known as “over-regeneration” can occur during the healing process. Octopuses are renowned for their remarkable regenerative abilities, and this extends to their limbs.

Normally, when an octopus loses a tentacle, it will start the process of regenerating a new one. However, in some cases, especially when injuries occur frequently or in quick succession, the regrowth process can become quite robust. This means that instead of simply replacing the lost limb, an octopus might end up with more tentacles than it originally had.

One notable case of this intriguing phenomenon was documented in Matoya Bay, Japan, in 1998. Researchers discovered an octopus with an astounding 96 tentacles. This astonishing number was far more than the typical eight that octopuses are known for. It was a testament to the incredible regenerative capabilities of these intelligent cephalopods.

This over-regeneration showcases just how adaptable and resilient these creatures are. Octopuses are known for their remarkable problem-solving skills, camouflage abilities, and complex behaviors. The ability to not only regrow lost limbs but potentially even surpass their original number of appendages is another testament to their biological versatility.

It’s important to note that while octopuses are capable of over-regeneration, this is not a common occurrence. In most cases, when a tentacle is lost, the octopus will regenerate it to restore its usual eight-armed form. However, when circumstances push the limits of their regenerative abilities, we get to witness the awe-inspiring and rare phenomenon of an octopus with dozens of tentacles.

Africa Shocks the World as it Breaks Free From Western Exploitation After China Did This!

https://youtu.be/6UJWuAB4rEY

What is one remarkable thing you’ve witnessed at a funeral?

A few years ago I attended an accountant’s funeral. I was a bit worried it would be poorly attended, to be honest. He had never married, worked long hours, was overweight, and didn’t have much of a social life. It was midday, midweek, the week before Thanksgiving, on short notice.

First his brothers spoke, which was encouraging. They talked about their own families and what he meant to his teenaged nieces and nephews. He had a pet name which the children uttered with affection — “Dude.”

But there seemed to be many more teenagers than a couple of brothers could account for.

The music played. It was awkward. A pianist took care of the accompaniment, but no one knew the songs, and nobody was leading the singing. Finally Amazing Grace came along, and the group could sing.

I was feeling disappointed. This man may not have been rich or famous, but he was kind. He remembered my kids’ names. He smiled. “Dude” didn’t deserve a let-down.

Then something much better happened.

One of the kids trudged up to the mic. He was not happy. Tears. But he also couldn’t not smile.

This accountant did, indeed, love his nieces and nephews. So much that he attended their basketball games. All of them. And, being an accountant, what did he do with his time? Kept stats. Very detailed stats. For every player on the court.

“Dude” would tally up the totals and rank the performances. The most-coveted statistic was “heart,” his own gauge of how hard a player worked to win. As an accountant, he was notoriously tough in his grading. The boy spoke of the time he received an 8.5/10 in “heart” with wonder and awe.

At the end of each game, every player would crowd around the accountant’s notebook, eager to see those stats. “Dude” didn’t just show up to clock in for simple parental responsibilities. “Dude” was the most loved man on the court.

Sometimes people would stick around to ask him about this or that. The pudgy number-cruncher had an adult’s experience, but a friend’s heart. Apparently he had helped various children through parents’ divorces, the terminal illness of a sibling, and more.

At the end of his eulogy, the boy showed us a scorecard that he himself had written up, not for basketball but for a whole life, not the man’s judgment of the boy but the boy’s judgment of the man.

The other kids started to walk up. One after another. I couldn’t believe how many. On a Wednesday. At midday. During the school year. On short notice.

They wanted to see the final tally.

He was tough but fair, as would only be right. And in the final column, he gave the first ever perfect 10 for “heart.”

Rest in peace, “Dude.”

Tucker Carlson: US Troops WILL Be Deployed To Europe After Russia SLAUGHTERS Rest Of Ukraine Army

How does BRICS attract the “global south” countries to join?

BRICS doesn’t need to attract the Global South because the US with its economic sanctions have made governments look for alternative ways to protect the value of their foreign exchange earnings.

By weaponizing the US dollar through sanctions because of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, the US signaled to the rest of the world that they were not safe keeping their national reserves in US dollars. Through sanctions, the US could seize their foreign exchange earnings any time, just as it did with Russia.

This made BRICS an attractive alternative since it promoted trade using national currencies.

Why is the US doing such a bad job countering China’s rise?

Thanks for request.

If you are American, you may not agree with me.

Start with look at who the US has elected over the last 20 years :

GW Bush was over his head as a national leader leaving Cheney (and Bush senior) to focus even more on bombing Muslims and the Middle East. This lead to another decade of focusing on one thing the US enjoys, war with countries with small professional armies.
Obama was elected on the hope for change. But Obama had no experience in leadership of the scale required for the role. Obama fumbled through continuing the wars and trying to Pivot East, with a long term strategy.
Then we there was the election of the two least attractive presidential candidates, Clinton and Trump. Trump being Trump displayed how Dunning-Kruger worked with people in power. Trump blew-up anything Obama did and largely ended US wars. IMO, overall he his ideas were not bad, he just did not know who to achieve them. Unfortunately, he hired some bozo advisors and took their advise.
- However, overall Trump was on a good track with China. He did not do anything overly stupid and he kept the dialogue open which enables inroads to be made.
- Has Clinton been elected, we might be much closer to WW3.
Then the US elected Biden, an old cold war warrior who thinks it is still 1970, and whose administration seems to have ADHD. Which bring us to the old axiom – “if you always choose the hammer from the toolbox then everything looks like a nail”.
- Pounding nails does not require thinking, it is all about swinging the hammer.

In summary, since 1990, the US has been vary arrogant and self absorbed; while China has been thinking about the future.

Something Very EVIL Is Going on In Maui | We Have The Proof…

Very interesting. Damn! Strange. Odd.

How is a grass fire capable of the kind of damage that was being filmed?

Did the US do this on it’s own island, or perhaps a message from China. Hum?

How significant is the symbolic value of Bakhmut for Russian forces in the ongoing war?

Bakhmut was called a MEAT GRINDER

The reason was Ukraine had 30,000 men and could have preserved their men and equipment and could have contributed at least 7 full brigades to the Counter offensive

Instead just for appearances and illusion,Ukraine kept sending men against an artillery inferiority of 8:1 (8 Russian Shells to 1 Ukrainian Shell)

Bakhmut had to fall

Russians had too much air power and artillery

Yet Ukraine’s continued sending of people into Bakhmut showed how much their military was dominated by their stupid politicians

CNN estimated between 460 pieces of equipment and around 11000–14000 men killed or wounded in Bakhmut

That’s seasoned men, blooded fighters, trained men

That’s good reliable Soviet equipment that Ukrainians have trained on for two decades instead of new hotchpotch of Western equipment on which Ukrainians haven’t had more than 6 months hands on

Frankly Putin made it clear that this was a War of Attrition

For Russia, territory is not important

They know that any territory they take is under threat of being attacked by Ukraine through terror tactics & civilian attacks

Russia aimed to kill as many Ukrainians as possible and thin the rank and file before the counter offensive

Russia aimed to destroy as many Guns and Artillery pieces as possible to once again thin the offensive

It worked

Adding Bakhmut and the last 30 days, Ukraine has collectively lost around 33000 combat trained soldiers

It would take 30 months minimum for NATO to train and ready another 33000 to take their place

That’s the significance of Bakhmut or Ugledar

Ukraine stupidly ignored their military leaders and went deeper into the Quagmire

Zaluzhny to his credit was a good military man who repeatedly advised withdrawal from Bakhmut intact

That would have caused Russia to keep looking over it’s shoulders in Bakhmut

Why does Tucker Carlson warn that politicians are going to a hot war with Russia to maintain power and unite the population?

Because America is collapsing economically. It is de-dollarizing. BRICS is on the rise, challenging the Ghouls-Based Order. Civil unrest and crime are increasing. By starting a hot war with Russia, the cynical Biden and friends can call for “national unity” against the “threat” of Russia. It is using fear and manipulation to distract the public from what is actually going on.

It also enriches the US defense contractors further. Only by destroying Russia and China can the US maintain its hegemony. And even this would only be temporary. The goal is to balkanize Russia and plunder its vast natural resources. But this would only last so long. The US needs to make fundamental changes to its economic system, because its current rent-seeking, mafia-style tactics can only last so long before they fail.

If the public was smart it would recognize that fighting a war against Russia would be foolish. Why should the working classes go fight and die for the interests of Blackrock and US defense contractors? Or financial elites? Killing Russians would do them no good. The workers of America need to unite to fight against the bourgeoise who are plundering the planet, exploiting their labor, and ruining their lives. There is no useful war but class war. The only unity is class unity.

Tex-Mex Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

6 hardboiled eggs, peeled
1 tablespoon minced scallion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 small jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Chili powder

Instructions

Cut a small slice from the tips at both ends of the eggs to create a flat surface for them to stand upon. Slice each egg in half crosswise. Remove yolks; place in a small bowl and mash.
Add scallion, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, mayonnaise, and mustard; blend well.
Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the yolk mixture into each egg half. Top each with cheese; sprinkle with chili powder.
Cover; store in the refrigerator.

Yield: 12 appetizers

Here’s Why U.S. Wants To Invade Mexico – Yes MEXICO!

Republican lawmakers, as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have frequently mentioned a desire to invade Mexico, typically as an alleged means of taking on the drug cartels flooding the U.S. with fentanyl. But the real reason may be more mercenary and have to do with Mexico’s recent decision to nationalize the country’s lithium supply, as well as to refuse to allow certain genetically modified foods into the country.

It is a critical moment

During every “generational turning” certain things happen. For instance, we had the “black knight” in Donald Trump, and the regression of the ruling class. Here, this song and what is happening is one such event contributor. ..

…

Uh oh. I am worried.

Look at this…

Yes. I am obese, and it is so DISTURBING.

Whoa!

I absolutely must lose weight, and God Damn it! I am going to make it happen. Starting right now. All food portions are “jail standards”.

One spoon full of corn. Three pieces of lettuce, and a few slices of meat for a meal.

Stand by as I fill you all on my progress.

…

How far can a nation go saving and protecting its pride?

A group of guys (Italian) had a sumptuous meal in an Albanian restaurant.

After the meal the guys stepped out of the restaurant for a smoke. And in the blink of an eye, they disappeared in the dark of the night. They ran away without paying…..the tourists “dined and dashed.”

The restaurant manager came looking for them, but it was too late. Dismayed, the manager wrote an email to the Italian Embassy in Albania. He cited the details of the four men who ate at the restaurant and ran away without paying the bill. Adding that the four Italians even complimented the food.

Such a small incident of some 100 euros, it happens everywhere…big deal!

What Next?

The matter was escalated to the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Next, came the orders from the — PM of Italy. Meloni instructed the Italian ambassador to pay the bill for the tourists, stating, “Go and pay the bill for these idiots,

Italy’s embassy in Albania paid the bill on behalf of its citizens and wrote an apology note along with it. The amount totaled around €80 or Rs 7,245.

Francesco Lollobrigida, Italy’s agriculture minister:

“Paying the bill was a matter of pride.” “A few dishonest individuals cannot embarrass a nation of decent people.”

Black Americans React To Viral Off-The-Grid Farmer Oliver Anthony Protest Song | BREAKS INTERNET🔥

They want to divide us, but this country is uniting us. God bless Oliver Anthony

A must watch!

What is the most heartwarming television episode or a moment you’ve ever seen?

1988. BBC television show That’s Life arranged for a certain Nicholas Winton to attend a presentation about the Holocaust.

The host brought the attention to a woman beside him, who revealed that he had saved her life when she was a child.

The host asked the audience if there’s any more people Winton had saved, and practically everyone around him stood up.

Winton hadn’t known they were going to be there. Surprised, he stood up and took in the happy, grateful faces around him.

It brought tears to his eyes.

1938. Winton, a 29-year-old British stockbroker, used his vacation time to travel to Czechoslovakia. There he learned of Jews who were trying to get their children out because war was brewing.

He returned to London and with the help of others, organised Kindertransports – trains to carry the children to safety in Britain.

He negotiated with Nazi officials to allow the children to depart with just a single document.

He persuaded British officials to accept the children, found foster families, and arranged for Jewish humanitarian organizations to pay fees and support the operation.

Parents of the children assembled at train stations in Prague and Vienna to say emotional goodbyes, knowing they would never see their children again.

Over 10 months, Winton and his associates oversaw eight Kindertransports that carried 669 children to safety.

When WWII broke out, his office was closed down. Sadly, one last train of 250 children was trapped and unable to depart. None of those children left behind were reported to have survived.

He didn’t tell his family about what he had done, until his wife found his scrapbook in 1988 with all the children’s names and photos.

Winton with one of the children he saved

Winton with a grandchild of one of the people he had saved

He was knighted by the Queen in 2003

And passed away in 2015, at the age of 106.

Oliver Anthony Speaks Out and You’ll Love It

How do I not take life too seriously?

Have you ever thought about this?

In a hundred years, in 2123, there will be none of us, not even our relatives and friends.

Strangers will live in our homes that we built with a lot of effort and failure. They will have all the stuff we have or throw it in the dumpster. Even the car, for which we spent a fortune, will be lying somewhere in a dump, Our descendants will not remember us and only a few will know who we were. Who among us knows their great-grandfather?

After death, they will remember us for a few more years, then we will be just a portrait on someone’s bookshelf (if at all). A few years later our photos and actions will be forgotten. We will not live in the memories of anyone anymore. If you just stopped to think about it one day, you might understand how pointless it is to walk for more and more.

If we thought and understood that we are just a dot in the history of mankind, let alone the earth or the universe, we would certainly look at our lives and other people differently.

We always striving for more and more and no time for what really matters…. the moments and the relationships. If we thought about and spent more time HERE AND NOW, we would really enjoy life.

We would enjoy walks we never had time for. We would love a hug. We would enjoy kisses from our children. In the moments that really count, but we ran out of time. Those would certainly be the most beautiful and best moments to remember and imprinted deep within ourselves. This is how we would fill our lives with joy. And now we fill it with greed, intolerance and hate.

There is still time. Think about it.

Corrupt Politician Responds to Viral Song

What are some shocking facts about celebrities?

After Robins Williams’s death from suicide after years of battling depression was reported, it drove a 200% spike in the number of calls to the Suicide Prevention Hotline. The day after his death, 13,000 calls were made to the hotline, numbers never before seen. Due to the increase only 53% of those calls were able to be answered, which also drove up the number of suicides to an above-average rate.

In 2010, Ozzy Osborn had his genome sequenced to try and understand how it was possible to be still living after decades of abusing his body. He had abused his body beyond any measurable scale it was always a wonder to him how he managed it. Researchers found that he had mutations related to addiction, and metabolism, from his Neanderthal ancestors.

The researchers also discovered he had several hundred thousand genetic variants that have never been seen before. These mutations were also one of the reasons he never woke up hungover or sick after heavy weeks of drinking and taking drugs. If Ozzy wasn’t such a freak of nature he probably would have died years ago.

“It’s Not Natural” – Why Are 20% of Kids Suddenly LGBTQ?

What’s the most questionable cost-cutting move you’ve seen an employer make?

I worked for a tech company a few years ago that had the most questionable cost-cutting strategy I have ever seen. Their policy, was simply to remove all purchasing restrictions, and give employees whatever they wanted. Essentially any work related purchase we wanted under $10,000 was self-approved: no asking our supervisor or manager — no approval process at all!

If we wanted a new desk, or an executive chair; we called facilities and it appeared. If we wanted a fast computer with three monitors, we called IT, and it appeared. Software, supplies, whatever – we got it. We got exactly what we wanted, the model/brand we specifically requested.

This seemed like the most insane policy I ever heard of, and looking around the office one could find a few examples of people that appeared to take advantage of it.

The company also had an interesting coffee room policy: gourmet coffee, tea, and cappuccino free. Soda machine had all sodas and energy drinks for 5 cents, and there was a cup full of nickels at the side of the machine – so essentially everything was free.

So what was the effect of this? Well first of all the company had the happiest employees I have ever seen! Morale and loyalty was through the roof. People loved working there. People worked harder, and enjoyed coming to work.

One day during a company outing I cornered the CEO and asked him about the policies, he said this…

When we implemented the purchase policy, we instantly saved $500,000 a year in labor costs, since we no longer had to pay all the people to manage and maintain purchasing approvals. We saved even more in indirect man-hours, as individual department heads didn’t use any time on them either. Half a million a year buys a lot of extra equipment.

We tracked expenditures, and for the first three years we lost a little, but not much. The next five years, we actually spent less than we saved in reduced labor. Over all it saves the company money, and gives employees whatever they think they need to be most productive. Win/Win

Then I asked him about the cafeteria, and he smiled and said “the more caffeine people drink, the more productive they are. It pays for itself a hundred times over”

This was the most brilliant, and out of the box thinking I have ever seen in Management.

Years later the company had some hard times, like many tech companies, and they only needed to ask employees to help – not change the policy. People loved the company, and when belt-tightening was needed, they self-sacrificed.

I don’t work there anymore, but it’s still a brilliant business model.

HOLY MOLY!!! Country artist BREAKS THE INTERNET with powerful song!

Why did Microsoft go to compete with Java, instead of joining hands and improving an already established Java? Is this the horror of capitalism and ego?

It’s complicated, but I’ll try to make it brief:

Sun came out with Java, a language that was “compile once, run anywhere!”
Microsoft thought that sounded good, so they jumped on board and even came out with an IDE just for Java.
Microsoft made the Windows Java Virtual Machine (JVM), but it didn’t support remote method invocation (RMI) or Java Native Interface (JNI). They also made changes so Java programs would run faster on Windows and added platform-specific commands for Windows.
Sun cried “foul!” and said Microsoft was ruining the whole concept of Java—”compile once, run anywhere!”
Sun sued Microsoft.
Microsoft got mad, took its toys and went home (they stopped supporting Java out of the box).
Microsoft still liked the idea of “compile once, run anywhere!” so they got Anders Hejlsberg to create a new language to compete with it.
Hejlsberg gave birth to C#.
Curiously, though Microsoft like the idea of “compile once, run anywhere!”, they only wanted C# to work on Microsoft operating systems. So C# was a Windows-only technology.
Predictably, though C# was superior to Java in some ways, Java became the cross-platform King (Java still ran on Windows, but users to install the JRE themselves).
Satya Nadella, now head of Microsoft, isn’t a dummy and knew C# had to be available on all operating systems to be successful. He started a movement to create compatible Common Language Runtimes (the thing that makes C# programs work) for all major operating systems. You know, like Java did.
The CLR is available for nearly all operating systems now, though Windows generally gets new improvements first.
Java is still the cross-platform King. It’s unlikely that C# will ever catch up.

Clear?

First time hearing Oliver Anthony- “Rich Men North Of Richmond” REACTION

Why does China choose to lower interest rates when the US dollar raises interest rates?

All these hikes from the FED is to absorb USD from the market, in order to control the inflation and support US treasury.

10 year US treasury is now 4.7% interest rate, which is already higher than at least half of the ways to invest, and it’s much more safe.

By having less money freely in the market, the commodity prices will decline, and causing the products in terminal market to become lower.

main qimg 0440f304b9f4110b1bc91d6ef75d0d33

Because of the theory of impossible trinity, no country can achive free capital flows, independent monetary policy, and fixed exchange rate at the same time.

2 out of 3 is the best.

To most of the US allies, they have to at least choose free capital flows.

It means that when the FED decided to raise the interest rate, they have to raise it too. Otherwise, capitals within their territory would flee out to the US, because there is a higher return in the US.

Usually, capital exists in the form of properties, such as real estate. When the investors withdrawing their capital from a country, it means a mass selling of properties, which will cause:

property price to go down, which causes the market panic.
foreign reserves got drained.

FDI should always be exchanged into local currency first. When investors want to leave, they would have to exchange their local currency back into USD.

The government must have enough USD in reserve, or else the exchange rate of local currency would crush.

It’s also how the 97 Financial Crisis began and how the US usual harvest the world.

Hong Kong got away from sniping, because Beijing spread the words that it will back HK up with its USD reserve if necessary. Eventually Beijing didn’t do that, but the market got appeased when hearing Beijing said so.

Back to the trinity, China chooses to give up on free capital flows.

It may cause troubles for certain possible investors, because they may be worried to not getting their investment back, but it also limits the abilities of international bankers to harvest China.

Along the years, large corporations know that they can move in or out their money responsibly, which means with proper reasons. So they are not worried about their properties got confiscated by Chinese government.

Some investors choose HK as intermedia to invest in China, because it’s common law in HK and everything they care about remains the same as before 1997.

So Beijing has full control within China’s territory, and is not worried about capital fleeing out.

The top priority of Biden Administration is to get the inflation under control.

It doesn’t matter of peoples’ living standard got improved, but the inflation number directly effects voters stance next year. However, high interest rate suppresses market activities, since it drains money from the market, and companies wouldn’t be able to finance.

Meanwhile in China, the top priority is to stimulate the market.

Lower interest would encourage more people to invest, since there is cheap money in the market, which is good for entrepreneurs or cooperations to expand their production.

Still, this can be interpreted very differently, based on different political stance and/or financial/economical knowledge.

China may be showing the world about its confidence, or it could well be that China is bluffing.

Still, people lie, but capital doesn’t.

We will see which this is by monitoring the investors’ moves.

Eating turtle

I wasn’t until I was living in China for a spell that I tried turtle.

As a food.

Don’t you know.

It tends to be a tad expensive, but is rather tasty. So I tend to only eat it on business occasions. It is served in a large dish, and the turtle is cut up into chunks.

When you get an opportunity, I suggest you give it a try. It’s sort of like “gator”, but not so chicken-like, rather it has its own unique flavor. I like it.

Goes great with white wine…

Phoenix, we are a problem

The performance gap is massive

Godfree Roberts Aug 29

Taiwanese microchip manufacturer TSMC blames struggle to build the Phoenix plant on skilled labor shortage but workers cite disorganization and safety concerns.

A former Wafertech employee told the Guardian that Wafertech told American employees they were all lazy in July 2023.

“We were in shock – and angry. The man that told us we were lazy during the all-employee meeting was the president of Wafertech at the time, Steve Tso,” they said.

“Anyone in the hi-tech world understands how tightly these processes are run. Nothing is done without a procedure in place. To say that there are no Americans to do this part of the job is nonsense.”

“This was constantly the whole process. Everything was rushed. They weren’t giving us actual blueprints, just engineer drawings. It felt like a design-as-we-go type of deal. The information we were getting was really strange, never complete, and always changing. We would get updates constantly and these were big updates to the point where we would have to start pulling things down.”

The Guardian.

Gods of Waters, Railroads and DamsEngineers have been China’s most esteemed professionals since in 256 BC, when Governor Li Bing designed and built the mighty Dujiangyan Irrigation Scheme.

It works as well today as it did in 256 BC, and a grateful people deified him so that today, he is known as God of Waters. Xi Jinping is a chemical engineer.

President Hu was a hydrological engineer. Skilled work crews in China – on railroads, skyscrapers, canals, dams or UHV lines – have 3-5 more years of math than their Western counterparts, can read engineer drawings, and can adapt them to local conditions where necessary.

An email from a friend – a director-level employee with an engineering background who has worked with multinational companies primarily based in the US – suggests that TSMC’s Phoenix problems may be symptomatic of a widening gap.

Why American manufacturing really moved to China

Dear Godfree,

Thank for asking. American manufacturing moved to China not because of dumb labor, but because we could hire high IQ people for dirt cheap.

If your machine broke down, no problem; some Chinese guy (with basically a masters in EE) would pull out the circuit boards and using probes and other instrumentation determine what board needed replacing and he would work for a fraction of the annual salary of his equivalent in the US.

Manufacturing in the US is a nightmare: at our US facility our only requirement for an assemblers was a high school degree, US citizenship, passing a drug and criminal background check and then passing a simple assembly test: looking at an assembly engineering drawing and then putting the components together.

The vast majority of Americans were unable to complete the assembly test, while for our facility in China they completed it in half the time and 100% of the applicants passed. An assembler position in the US would average maybe 30 interviews a day and get 29 rejections, not to mention all the HR hassles of assemblers walking off shift, excessive lateness, stealing from work, slow work speed and poor attitudes.

Our products are highly specialized equipment, so it makes no sense to fully automate it, most of the components are assembled by hand and for certain steps we use custom engineered jigs. And for those saying that the position wasn’t paying enough, it paid $12 an hour starting in an area with an extremely low cost of living where property taxes for a 2000 sq ft house is $800-$1000 a year.

Assemblers don’t make $150K. An assembler takes parts and puts them together. The position starts at $12 an hour in flyover country which is pretty reasonable compared to other jobs that only require a GED and no prior work experience.

Offers medical, dental and annual raises with plenty of opportunity to move up in the company.

The national average salary for a Production Assembler is $33,029 in the United States, which is what you make if you stay 5+ years.

Finding an American worker capable of meeting these simple requirements and passing the assembly test is merely impossible, nevermind having them be competent, punctual and of good moral character (not stealing from the company or starting conflicts with coworkers).

And these are the main groups that apply for this position.

The same exact product line has the same equipment in China, and the same positions in China pay the same wages as other positions there with only a high school degree and no work experience.

Yet the applicant quality is much higher, and this applies as well to the white collar professions that support the manufacturing: schedulers, quality inspectors, equipment testers and calibrators, engineers, supply chain managers, account managers, sales etc….their labor quality is simply higher. \…

When did you first realize your child was different?

I used to play math games in the car with my kids, son four and daughter, two and a half. I would say, ‘What is 2+3? My son would yell, ‘Five!’ I’d ask, what is 1+1? My daughter would hold up two fingers.

As months passed, the math games became harder and harder as they learned. One day, before my son was in kindergarten I meant to ask, ‘Whats 5–3?’ But it came out backwards, ‘Whats 3–5?’…

My son sat quietly for a moment looking perplexed. Then he yells, ‘Two on the other side of zero!’.

I almost crashed the car. He didn’t know how to say it correctly, but he had the grasp of negative numbers! At five years old! I was shocked and then scared with the reality of raising a kid that bright. He passed me intellectually by age ten or so in mathematical skills.

That was twenty years ago. He now works as an engineer for Tesla in the battery division. I’m a proud mommy!

Driving is ruining our lives

Our dependence on cars is harming us. Why did we give up public transportation for individual cars?

Who do you think best embodies bad luck?

Dylan McWilliams.

At 20, this nature-loving American was attacked by a tiger shark while surfing in Hawaii. He got away with hitting the shark repeatedly and then swimming as fast as he could to the beach. Result: 7 stitches in the thigh.

Probability of being attacked by a shark in the USA: one in 11.5 million chance.

A year later, Dylan is wild camping and, while he is sleeping in his tent, he is attacked by a brown bear which takes his head between its jaws… He gets out of it by digging his fingers into the eyes of the bear. ‘bear. Result: 9 staples to close the wounds on the scalp.

Probability of being attacked by a bear in the USA: one in 2.1 million chance.

A year later, Dylan is hiking in Utah and steps on a rattlesnake that bites him. As he is far from any hospital and he does not suffer too much, he decides to continue his hike. He feels bad for two days, but eventually regains his form.

Probability of being bitten by a snake in the USA: one in 37,500 chance.

Lifetime probability of being attacked by a shark, bear and snake: one in 894,000 trillion chance…

What has your landlord said that left you completely dumbfounded?

I got a call that my landlord would be coming to the property to take down the tumbleweeds in an area that I didn’t have access to. No problem, it wasn’t going to bother me.

About 15 minutes before they were supposed to arrive, a strange car pulls into my driveway and a man gets out and starts walking around the outside of the house. I had no idea who he was and immediately went out like a bat out of hell demanding to know who he was and why he had the audacity to be going in my backyard without my permission.

To my utter shock, he said he was a real estate agent and he was there to meet my landlord to put the property up for sale! I told him I had JUST renewed my lease for a year and why in the world would the landlord do this if he was going to sell the house???

Well, the landlord comes slinking up the driveway to find me VERY pissed off and tries to tell me that he and his wife were “only seeing what the property was worth” and that since he wanted to retire soon, they wanted to see what the value of the house would be. I told him he could have checked Zillow, but he finally fessed up that he really was planning on selling the house. I asked why he had just signed a one year lease, and come to find out that the landlord had told the property management company to put me on a month to month lease and they had screwed up.

I told him that it wasn’t my problem and that I would not be moving and good luck selling a house with a tenant that had a full year lease!

His wife finally came over and calmed things down between the two of us, and asked if I thought I could get a loan and buy the house myself. I had never thought about buying a home and never thought I would qualify, but I told him that on Monday I would check into it, and come to find out, I COULD buy the house!

We ended up working together without a real estate agent for either of us, and I closed on the house 30 days later! This was just one year ago and I locked in a great rate. He took almost $30,000 off the price so I could afford to buy the house and I am so thankful! Yes, he could have gotten $30,000 more but he knew how much I loved the house (I had lived there for four years and treated it as my home, including adding a beautiful garden) and he and his wife wanted to know that whoever bought it would love it and knew the history too.

I now own my home and couldn’t be happier. Had my landlord not felt so guilty about trying to sneak around to sell the place, he probably would have sold the place for an additional $30,000 to someone else!

Guilt is a wonderful thing sometimes LOL

How US Presidents are selected…

Do Marine Corps drill instructors act like the character in Full Metal Jacket?

Yes. That was not a character.

R. Lee Ermey (1944–2018, RIP), was in the Marines from 1961 to 1972 and was a real drill instructor from 1965 to 1967 at the MCRD, San Diego, CA and his portrayal, most of which was improvised and spontaneous, was very accurate.

He was originally hired as a consultant, but, so impressed the movie’s director that he was given the part of the senior Drill Instructor represented by the black leather belt he wears in the movie.

The only inaccurate thing about the movie was that, as the drill instructor, he was a Gunnery Sgt., E-7.

This was very unusual and mostly unheard of for a GySgt. to be a drill instructor.

Also, we should have seen his two assistant drill instructors at certain point during the training.

The only time I ever saw a Gunnery Sgt., E-7 wearing a campaign cover was as a Series Gunnery Sgt. over a Series of four platoons.

In my 1028 Series, the Chief Drill Instructor was a Master Sgt. over 4 platoons (1028, 1029, 1030, 1031), but neither took any part in the everyday, hands-on training of the platoons under their command.

During Vietnam, the most common ranks for drill instructors were Corporal, E-4 and Sgt., E-5, with the not so common rank of Staff Sgt., E-6.

The second photo is of a young Corporal, E-4

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Ermey when he was a drill instructor at MCRD San Diego, circa 1965. While in the Marines, he was sent to Vietnam in 1968 where he served for 14 months. He was medically retired in 1972 due to several injuries he received while in the Marines. In the photo of the medals on his dress blues, I do not see a Purple Heart, so I must assume his injuries were not received in battle. In the below photo of Ermey in his dress blues, the rank on his left shoulder is Gunnery Sgt., E-7. There are 2 hash marks on his left forearm. Each one represents 4 years. If he had made it to 12 years, he would have been authorized to wear three hash marks.

Marine drill instructors only have 12 weeks to mold a sloppy, immature, undisciplined civilian into a disciplined, squared away Marine and in most cases, has to undo 20 years of spoiled, entitled behaviors instilled by the parents that have kept him in perpetual boyhood. This cannot be accomplished with the same coddling treatment that the parents used in raising their son from a little boy to a big boy. The Marine’s first order of the day is to quickly destroy the boy in order to build the man. Everyday of training is important and there is not a moment to lose. A strong impression must be made by the drill instructors and shock and awe is the best way to leave a lasting impression. Fear of being yelled at, insulted or being punished is a very good incentive to learn, learn quick, retain what they learn and do well so as not to suffer the wrath of the drill instructor which has become the center of his world and the authority figure he most wants to please. I can tell you that it works. Semper Fi.

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“DeDollarization Is IRREVERSIBLE” – Putin at BRICS Day One

https://youtu.be/RkAHInTEb7o

What is the biggest waste of electricity you’ve seen in a home you visited, were a guest in, or even in your own home?

A co-worker of mine figured out why her electric bill had tripled with the help of their neighbor’s cats. For three months one summer their electric bill suddenly went through the roof. They checked out all their appliances, air conditioning, etc. and couldn’t find the problem. Then one cool evening she looked out the window and noticed there were several neighbor cats lying on her driveway. This was an “Ah Ha!” moment. She had a driveway heater with a switch in the basement that was used very briefly when the driveway was icy in the winter. Turns out a workman who was doing a job in her basement was looking for a light switch and flipped on the driveway heater switch. When no light came on, the guy figured that light was broken and found a different light, The driveway switch wasn’t labeled (at least not then). So her driveway had been continuously drawing electricity all summer. Only the neighbor cats could detect the difference in temperature on the driveway and would “chill out” there on cool evenings. It took her 3 months to notice the abundance of cats lying on her driveway and connect that with the driveway heater and the high electric bill.

What should I do if I have almost no luck (different from bad luck)?

Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Prize near the end of his life as a public relations move. He’d invented dynamite for mining and construction. But people used it as a weapon, killing thousands, and earning him the label, “The Merchant of Death”.

There was Alfred Binet, who invented the IQ test, with the intention of classifying children who need assistance. His test unintentionally fueled the eugenics movement and was a key tool for discrimination.

There was Alfred Vanderbilt, who was one of the world’s wealthiest young men and most eligible bachelor. He narrowly avoided boarding the Titanic, canceling his trip at the last moment. Unfortunately, three years later, he boarded the Lusitania, which was sunk by German U-boats.

And then there is my friend, Al.

Al was a fellow swimmer. He was 6’3, easygoing, and per my female friend “handsome enough”. He had a good sense of humor and straw-like brown hair that was ravaged by chlorine. Al had squeaked through high school and landed an athletic scholarship at our university.

His father was a volatile alcoholic, the type who sings karaoke and is everyone’s best friend in the first hour of drinking, and a belligerent monster for the remaining six.

I saw it firsthand when he came to town for a swim meet, which he overslept and missed. Al invited me to dinner, which was a bit unusual for “parent’s weekend”. I suspect he didn’t want to endure it alone. Sure enough, his dad showed up at Applebees at 6 PM and was already blitzed, full of stupid ideas, and making inane, brutally awkward attempts to flirt with our waitress.

He was a walking meme, stopping just short of wearing a varsity jacket and bragging about his high school touchdowns.

It was a long two-hour dinner. I walked through the parking lot, exhausted, and immediately knew why Al had never touched alcohol. Then I winced, remembering the scene of me holding a cup of beer up to his face, playfully saying, “Just one sip … c’mon.”

As we walked to the car, I asked, with a bit of hesitation, “So is your mom…more…normal?”

“She was. Yes.”

“Was?” I instinctively asked, thinking she’d become an alcoholic too.

“She died when I was 9. Ovarian cancer.”

I nodded and got quiet, realizing this ridiculously nice guy had probably endured a terrible childhood. I knew his sister had left home at 12 to live with his grandmother for reasons unnamed.

Al noticed me looking bummed out and gave me a half smile, “Dude. It’s OK. I’m all good.” I suppose he didn’t want my pity. He’d probably gotten enough of that already.

One month later

Our college swim team was doing a mixer party with the women’s lacrosse team. It was fun — your typical party scene, with lots of laughing, talking, and loud music. It looked just like those American parties you’ve seen in movies.

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A few girls were walking around in lacrosse pads. One teammate was shamelessly walking around in a speedo and goggles, with a beer bong poised at the ready.

Eventually, the night turned south as it often does with so much drinking. A couple of the lacrosse girls’ boyfriends had become jealous of this mixer. They showed up to start trouble, trying to push through the front door. There was a bunch of shouting. No fists were thrown thankfully. But a few girls began crying and fighting with their partners. It was a total vibe kill.

We decided to get out of there before things got worse. Two of us left with Al around midnight, who was the DD as always. He dropped us both off that night and I thought nothing of it.

The next morning, I got an ominous text, “Did, you hear about Al?”

Al had been hit by a drunk driver on the way back to his house. He’d been T-boned at high speed on his driver-side door. He was in the hospital with a broken leg, collar bone, shoulder, and two broken ribs.

He was alive. He’d walk fine. But his shoulder was never right again and his swimming career was over. I stopped by to see him and he looked like a shell of himself on the hospital bed.

His eyes were sunken, hair disheveled, and hanging over his swollen face. We hung out and talked for a bit. He was out of it from the pain meds and fell asleep mid-conversation. I saw his dad at the hospital, sober for once.

The good news is that life went on as normal. He eventually returned to class and hung out with us. But not without great cost to him.

Al didn’t have the prestigious accolades of history’s famous Alfreds. In fact, his background was mostly the opposite: absent of wealth, stability, and the type of love a kid needs. He inherited and then endured great misfortune.

In fact, there was a time when I thought Al was the most unlucky guy I’d ever met. I was sure he’d break at any moment. How couldn’t he?

He’s gone on to be quite successful, have kids, and a loving wife. And despite all the hardship, he’s always had a great attitude. He has lived in defiance of the groundwork for so much sorrow.

I know many others, who are born into relative privilege and spared of major tragedies, myself included, who have struggled to appreciate their life at times.

My father-in-law is one of the happiest men I know, despite having a troubled and turbulent childhood. He is a big storyteller and relays everything interesting from his life. Yet he has a DMZ line drawn on his childhood. We know nothing. That’s how bad it was.

People forget that luck, good or bad, is all a construct. It isn’t actually a proven thing — in the sense of a mystical universe choosing favorites among us. Luck is just probability playing out in real time. For us, it’s more accurately defined as how humans choose to describe their lives.

It’s also a decent proxy for how people frame their problems. For example, those who believe in good or bad luck tend to be more cynical and less happy.

The name Alfred isn’t intrinsically unlucky. I just looked up a bunch of Alfreds from history and cherry-picked those who’d had the most bad luck. It was a whimsical way of framing a trajectory. Because each person has a narrative they tell themselves of their life story.

I’ve heard from many readers and people over the years, who had horrible childhoods and lives — on paper — yet have gone on to be quite happy.

I’ve tended to downgrade my definition of problems as life has improved (another pesky byproduct of hedonic adaptation). Yesterday, I caught myself cursing up a storm while setting up a new soundbar. You’d have thought I just caught someone cheating on me. I’d lost sight of how first-world, and truly spoiled I sounded.

It is in the quieter moments, when sleep is evasive, that the mind can wander and wallow in misery and egregious mistakes. I am reminded that happiness and contentment requires intent. Life is messy and complicated, and one cannot feel better simply by comparing themselves to those less fortunate. It takes more work.

It is a sense of presence in the moment, gratitude, perspective, lifestyle, community, and purpose that I have found the most happiness, as my unlucky friend Al did.

But he’ll be the first to tell you how lucky he is.

Saudi Arabia Joins BRICS (The New Global Order & Silver)

A Realistic View of BRICS and BRICISSTAN

Roger Boyd Aug 24

The true core of BRICS will consist of China, Russia and Iran, with elites that are nationalist and in the case of China and Iran also heavily socialist.

Russia still operates with much of the neoliberal inheritance of the 1990s, even within the minds of many of its ruling elite. The Ukraine conflict, and the resultant Western sanctions, has facilitated a significant decolonization of the Russian mind and a rebalancing of state-oligarch relations in favour of the latter. These three nations have the potential to dominate Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan), Belarus, Iraq, and Syria; with the aid of the overlapping Shanghai Cooperation Council (SCO) security alliance. Linking together a huge landmass that contains the greatest global manufacturing power, the second greatest global military power, and colossal natural resource deposits. This is the true core of the challenge to the West, perhaps we can call it BRICISSTAN. Mongolia represents an independent variable, but simple geography and trade flows will mean that it never becomes an enemy.

For this challenge to be successful it requires at the least the non-alignment of the rest of the non-West, and their usage of the new multi-polar world to rebalance they economic relations with the West to their advantage. Such non-alignment was shown with respect to the Western sanctions upon Russia, where the Rest of the World (ROW) refused to be part of the Western attempt to subjugate Russia. In ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations) plus Bangladesh and Pakistan, China has a grouping that will be at least non-aligned, with some nations such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia being much closer to China. The underlying dynamic of Chinese demand and respect for sovereignty will continue to pull ASEAN toward China, no matter what the West does. The latter is doing as much as possible to disrupt this process, with widespread interference in the elections in Malaysia and Thailand and support for Western-comprador forces in Myanmar (greatly aided by India), but its efforts will come to nought; with Chinese patience and restraint paying dividends.

India, the “I” in BRICS will never be a truly anti-imperial force as its ruling class are fully neoliberal, with many educated in the West. This elite treats China as a regional competitor that must be resisted, and with a mindset that protects its national rentier profit-making. This combination has repeatedly led India to cut off its nose to spite its face, with Chinese (and other foreign) companies treated in highly arbitrary ways that stifle the ability of India to utilize Chinese (and other nation’s) help for national development. India will remain as a developing nation, never to repeat the Chinese (and South Korean, and Taiwanese, and ongoing Vietnamese) growth and development miracle. India’s long-term alliance with Russia will mitigate its relationship with BRICISSTAN, but India will always be a prickly neighbour that will look to work with the US against China when it sees advantage. In many ways, India’s geopolitical role resembles that of Turkey under Erdogan.

South Africa, the “S” in BRICS is a neoliberal fun house run by an ANC traitorous elite that turned its back on the masses of the Black population to massively enrich itself in cahoots with the white national capitalists and Western capital. If any nation has truly implemented the story of Animal Farm it is South Africa. “All [black people] are equal, but some [black people] are more equal than others” and “[socialists] good, [capitalists even white ones] better” seems befitting of current South Africa. The Black elite may very well exercise a level of nationalism, but they will never be socialist brothers. This is where the RIC respect for national sovereignty and political non-interference becomes such a weapon to wield against the neo-colonial ever-interfering West. To stretch a saying of Deng, the RIC must make friends with socialist, capitalist, and even medieval theocratic monarchic cats to overcome the West; but it must also be wary of the non-socialist cats.

Brazil, the “B” in BRICS, is a nation dominated by the elites that it was bequeathed at the time of independence. A poisoned chalice that, as I have written here, here and here, provides a disabling legacy for Latin America. There are a few nations that have fully or partially escaped that legacy, mainly Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia, but for the vast majority the comprador landed, and financial domestic elites dominate. As I have covered here, the very best of Lula was “neoliberalism with crumbs” and the most recent reincarnation is certainly not the best version. He will tread very carefully with respect to the West, being seen more to hold the coat of the RIC than directly engage in the duel. The Latin American comprador elites are simply looking for improved prices for their exports, and a bit more leeway in their exploitation of their populations, by working with the RIC. Argentina, which is swaying back to the right from a mildly progressive government very much reflects that reality.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are medieval-style monarchies that claim their nation’s wealth for themselves, but they have smelt the wind and notice the new way that it is blowing. Together with the cooperation with Russia and Iran within OPEC+, they are more forcefully pivoting to the RIC (with Saudi Arabia and Qatar becoming an observer of the SCO); reflecting their interests with their fellow OPEC+ members and the biggest market for the fossil fuel exports, while turning away from Western divide and conquer tactics. Due to the Western inability to stop interfering in the domestic politics of its “allies”, Egypt has started to drift away from the Western sphere (including observer status at the SCO) ; but again, we must remember the nature of its leadership. Ethiopia does seem to be a state that under its new leadership is attempting to turn away from the West and gain the alternative financing and help that it needs to do so. Given its location in the Horn of Africa opposite Saudi Arabia, its geopolitical positioning will affect the whole region.

The West is utterly dependent on its ability to source raw materials from the Rest at knockdown prices, keep them underdeveloped so that they provide a good market for Western exports, and steal the value added produced by the Rest through unequal trading and legal relationships backed up by technology controls. This avenue has already been shut down in Russia and Iran (mostly be the West’s own self-harming sanctions), and China is increasingly moving up the technology curve and gaining a greater share of its own value added; the real reason for Western aggression. As especially China expands its increasingly sophisticated exports around the world, imports more and more from the Rest, and funds development projects, the flow of cheap resources and value-added to the West is reduced. In the Middle East, China and Russia are working with Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States to remove their dependence upon the US dollar and Western financial system. The capitalist centre is slowly strangled. In the Middle East and Africa, Russia also provides hired military muscle to facilitate the success of nations such as Niger in rebalancing their economic relations with the West.

RIC and BRICISSTAN do not need Brazil, India or South Africa as full allies against the West, they simply need them (as with the rest of the ROW) to not be enemies and to utilize multipolarity to rebalance their economic and financial relations with the West. Without the neo-colonial flows of plunder to the West, the capitalist centre will be strangled into a slow collapse with no need for war. The over-sized Western elite response to the coup in Niger shows that they are very cognizant of this possibility, but they may also be becoming more conscious of their inability to stop it happening. The failure of the Western comprador ECOWAS to mount a military campaign against Niger in the face of popular resistance in their own nations is a marker to which way the wind is blowing.

So, we do not need to be disappointed when Brazil, India and South Africa and others show their unwillingness to become true partners of BRICISSTAN. All we need of them is to stand aside from the duel and use it to rebalance their relations with the West to their advantage. This by itself will help bring the Western house down.

Pepe Escobar: The Prigozhin Era Is GONE | MOATS with George Galloway Ep 267

How rich do you have to be to not carry cash or a credit card?

Choosing to be debt free and being able to walk around without spending money isn’t a lifestyle reserved for the wealthy — it’s for people who make a conscious decision to live within their means.

Some friends of mine are a young couple in their early 30’s with a combined income of $65,000 per year, and own their home outright (no mortgage), have no car payments or credit cards, have money in their savings account, and are building up for retirement.

How? By being smart with their money and avoiding things like credit cards and walking around with cash. Almost half of their income goes straight to their savings every month.

Instead of buying new cars and having a car payment, they saved for a few months and bought used cars they could write a check for. Instead of getting a 30 year mortgage on the biggest house they could afford, they rented a small apartment for the first four years they were together so they could save up to buy some land. They paid cash for their land, set up a well, power, and septic, and then bought an RV trailer and parked it there to live in while they saved up to build their dream house.

By doing this, they eliminated the monthly cost of their apartment and were literally living for free in that RV on land they owned outright. And they were smart about the next step too – every month, whatever money was to go in their savings went toward a step in the build process of their home. One month it was a concrete foundation, a couple months later it was buying some of the timbers, framing, plumbing, electrical, etc. One step at a time, as they could afford to do it.

Eventually the house was ready to move into – still not “finished”, the interior walls and flooring weren’t done, but the roof was up, the windows and doors were in, and it was livable. So they sold the RV, almost for what they paid for it, and spent the cash from that to finish the interior and did most of the work themselves. I chipped in a little myself — woodworking is a hobby of mine and I helped them build their cabinets.

The whole build process took almost five years from start to finish. But in that five years of sacrifice, they built their dream home and will never have a monthly house payment. They’re in their early 30’s and are further ahead financially than most people making three times their income.

Imagine being their age and never having a house payment again, ever. Imagine being able to write a check when it’s time for a new car instead of having to finance it. Imagine having half or more of your paycheck going straight to your savings account instead of going out the door to monthly payments on debt.

You don’t have to be rich to live that way. You just have to plan for it, and be disciplined enough not to buy things you can’t afford with money you don’t have.

Scott Ritter: “The CIA is working directly with Ukraine” | Redacted News

Scott Ritter is a former UN Weapons Inspector who exposed the lies in Iraq. He told the world that Saddam Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. Powerful people in Washington didn’t want to hear it and he resigned in protest. The War in Iraq cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars. Now Ritter is revealing the truth about the latest U.S. military incursions in Ukraine, Syria, and beyond.

Biden Greeted With Extremely HOSTILE Response In Maui

President Joe Biden took a few hours away from his vacation in Lake Tahoe to visit the fire-devastated island of Maui, and the reception was, well, let’s say lukewarm. Chants of “Fuck you!” greeted the presidential motorcade before Biden attended a few events to acknowledge the suffering Hawaiians at which he made his typically tone-deaf or otherwise insensitive comments.

Every store is CLOSED in Oakland

440,000 people call Oakland home ,but their stores are rapidly closing We are walking downtown Oakland to witness the city through a camera’s lens Market street

What person became famous for an absurd reason?

It was the year 1931, Plennie L. Wingo was discussing with his friends ways to make money, his friends told him that everything had already been done, that the one who made money did and the one who didn’t should settle, to which he after thinking about it for a few seconds, he replied:

“Not everything is done, nobody has gone around the world…”

His friends interrupted him and laughed in unison, telling him that this was very hackneyed, that many people had tried it and to forget it.

To which he replied:

“I repeat, no one has gone around the world… walking backwards”

That idea, as silly as it was, for some reason stuck with him.

That is how in that same year, on April 15, he bought some glasses with mirrors to see in reverse and began his journey. While doing his feat, he lived off the generosity of the people he met along the way, getting paid to sign newspapers in which he appeared and occasionally stopping in a town to work for a few weeks and continue on his way.

Although he could not achieve his mission, since in Turkey they told him that he could not pass and would have to return to North America, he ended up traveling 13 thousand kilometers, became internationally famous, appearing in shows and even publishing his own book.

Plennie L. Wingo, the man who became famous for walking eight thousand miles on his back, which was completely absurd, but in the end it worked for him.

Rich Men North of Richmond (Oliver Anthony Cover)

What do the nonpoor not realize about being poor?

Being poor is not determined by education, mental health, some status of “deserving it” or what have you.

I am a top writer on Quora a couple years running now, and I live under the poverty line.

I was rear ended by a drunk driver some years back. The subsequent series of health crises drained my bank accounts, savings and 401K, because that’s how our health system is designed.

It was only after my assets were reduced under $2000 that I was eligible for public health benefits. I will never be allowed to have over $2000 in assets again, so it’s highly unlikely I will ever escape poverty. I was at one point the VP of Marketing and Business Development of the 3rd fastest growing private company in Oregon, listed on a couple Inc. indices. I was, at the time of the accident, the founding executive director of The Tor Project.

My then boyfriend — who was scrambling to keep me, my elderly mom with Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia, and my teenage son afloat, with me as primary breadwinner out of commission — didn’t know to look at Quicken to see how much of the bank account was sequestered to pay taxes when I got taken out on April Fool’s Day. So I will never be able to pay off my tax debt, and never be able to have a bank account again.

Living in this country without a bank account is hell.

I have all kinds of illness and mobility disabilities, and live in subsidized elder/disability housing. But these people don’t take the stored value card I get my social security on, as payment for rent.

So I have to physically get myself to the post office, and pay to have a money order cut and mailed to them. When I am too ill to get myself there by the 5th, I can pay an extra $50 in rent on my tiny studio apartment. That’s a 20% surcharge on my rent, because I’m ill. And I’m in this place, because I’m ill. I’ve asked my social worker if I can get assistance with this, and I’ve been told that I can not unless I sign all of my financial affairs over to a representative of the State. I frankly feel uncomfortable with that.

I can still write, but not consistently enough for people to pay me. I have a Patreon. Social Security makes it hard for people who don’t get a consistent paycheck, who work when they are on SSI, who don’t fit a cookie cutter “work in a bakery on night shift” disability job.

I spend about half my days in bed, immobile and in pain. I would love more than anything to be working again at a job that I loved. But my body won’t allow it. They even put me on opioids for a bit before the epidemic became a known thing, and I weaned myself off of them and live with the pain, because on the drugs, I could not read and write and my life was one continual useless meaningless fog.

Most of my neighbors here in subsidized housing are lovely people who have to deal with a small minority of terrible people who end up here and make things hard for all of us. Those people are the only ones that you probably think of when you think of poor people, just as when one might think of persons of a particular religion many people think only of religious extremists.

Similarly, the greatest harm done by the bad actors among the poor is done to other poor people, statistically. We have checks stolen, packages stolen, assaults, rapes in poor neighborhoods, but most often among people who know each other. In proportion, mugging of strangers and other things that people who are not poor fear are incredibly rare.

But what the priority that police provide is not enforcement, but containment, because they know who is paying their salaries, and their time is limited.

When I grew up poor and rural in central Vermont, there was no shame in being poor, and to a certain extent there is still far less stigma in rural areas. So long as you are neatly put together and clean, and respectful, there’s nothing to set you below any other American.

In the cities, however, being poor seems to be treated as though it were a contagion, and a shame, like leprosy in the Bible, like a venereal disease, like AIDS is, undeservedly, shunned.

This is a shame on our country as a whole, and makes us less able to create a resilient culture in hard times. And, in case you hadn’t noticed — not being poor — these are hard times.

Empathy is a virtue.

Saudi Accept China Bid for Nuclear Plant | U.S. Is Worried

Explore the intriguing dynamics between Saudi Arabia and China as they contemplate a joint venture in nuclear technology. This deep dive analyzes the geopolitical implications for the United States, India, and the broader West Asian region. Join us for a comprehensive breakdown of these unfolding events.

Children who have had to clean out your parents’ house after they passed, did you find anything that completely changed how you viewed them?

Yes, my father. He went into a nursing home after a fall and brain beed. I had to handle selling his house and cleaning it out.

I found a file labeled “dirt”. Inside was paperwork related to his response to my mom’s request in 1973 for an increase in child support. Now I found copies of his letter to a friend where he bragged about how his income had tripled since their divorce in ‘68, when his support was set at $150 total for 3 kids. So he was prosperous 5 years later.

Mom’s 2nd husband committed suicide Jan ’73 and times were tough. She lost her job 2 months after. Bad recession. She was wrecked. We were on food stamps and she was picking up temp work when she could get it. Food was rationed. AC wasn’t turned on until June, in Florida. No luxuries. Oldest sister married and moved out so support was cut to $100 for 2. Then it was 1974 and this support request was being dragged out.

Dad wrote Mom a letter saying how her situation was unfortunate but not his problem, and that he had a new wife, and she and her 4 kids from 1st marriage and deadbeat ex husband were his first priority now. And he added that I and my sister could help support ourselves. He made a lot of accusations against Mom and threatened to report her to the government for some kind of fraud, which I think was bogus. Mom had no money for a lawyer so the issue was dropped.

Sis and I were underage teenagers and the same ages as 2 of his step kids. He wasn’t confiscating their pay from any pt jobs they had, and later some of them got private college education at least partially funded by him.

Bless my mom, she didn’t ever tell us anything and never asked us to turn over our meager earnings. She found better work and we got off food stamps. We did have to fully fund our cars we eventually bought, and any luxuries. She was teaching us how to adult. She totally took the high road.

So now I have to dutifully take care of my father’s needs and handle his finances and paperwork and visit occasionally, knowing how little he cared about us. We had sensed the discard and how little he cared, but it sucked reading confirmation of it. My oldest sister wants nothing to do with him for other reasons.

Oh, and he’s on Medicaid because he blew through his retirement savings too soon and that now ex wife with the 4 kids went to court and got almost all the equity from his house to cover unpaid alimony. He actually tried to order me to move him from the nursing home into my home, but nfw. I’m not going to live with his alcoholic ass and disrupt my life when he didn’t give a shit about us when we were going through a terribly hard time.

Rich Men North of Richmond – Fiddle Version – Oliver Anthony and Philip Bowen

If I win 8 million at the casino and leave immediately, what will be the consequences?

As someone who’s been the duty manager in a casino where people have won a similar amount to that referred to by the question setter, I’ll tell you exactly what does happen.

This person won’t be a stranger to us. UK casinos don’t function like that. So we’ll know this person. Chances are they’ve lost several million with us over the years. So we won’t be surly. We’ll be professionally happy for the winning player. Handshakes all round. I’ll ask if they fancy having dinner with me in the casino restaurant, or perhaps share a bottle of something suitably lovely.

We want you to come back to us next time. That sentence is the most important factor in the whole process. If you win and there’s people around you being happy for you, then you’re more likely to return. The table staff also want you to tip, or continue tipping. They’ll be very happy for you too.

So after the handshakes and pleasant meal, I’ll sign the cheque made up by the cashier. More likely nowadays is the BACS transfer back to their account. But not all 8 million. Maybe only 5 or 6. The other 2 million they’ll leave on deposit with us. (Always their choice. Never suggested. Never needs to be suggested). I mean, after all, they’re in town for a few more days and may want to play again. We can always BACS that 2 million whenever they ask us to.

Once all the financials are done, I will personally escort Mr/Ms. Big Winner up to one of our waiting chauffeured cars, where they will be taken to wherever they so desire. They may even hold onto our car and driver, in case they fancy popping back our way in the next couple of hours. Of course sir, no problem at all.

And all this time, at every interaction I have with the player, we’ll be discussing how their particular business is doing – did their daughter’s recent wedding go well – how’s their son finding business school – we have some tickets to the sporting / cultural event they’re interested in. All this is in their file.

So that’s what happens. It may sound a little oily and rehearsed, but it’s just business.

Elon Musk: “Oumuamua Has Suddenly Returned and It’s Not Alone!”

Yeah. They have been talking about this is China too.

Why couldn’t Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions within China that resist CCP’s rule form a coalition with US, and Japan and other anti-China nations to fight against China and declare independence?

Let me share a perspective that might be controversial in China. Many of us, especially among the Han Chinese, feel that it was the people of Tibetans and Uyghurs who wanted to be with us more than we wanted to be with them. We contribute with our taxes to support those people, and some feel that we don’t receive equivalent benefits in return.

If you ever consider supporting them, please understand that it may involve significant financial commitments. Without it, Tibetans and Uyghurs might not be industrious or eager for independence. If you want to pour your money as much as we do, nobody will stop you, You are more than welcome. Remember saying something is always cheap, show them your wallet.

And Japan?

It is really funny. You know the US doesn’t want Japan to be strong, and neither does the whole world. You can ask the people of Hong Kong and Taiwan. They want to be a little bit far away from China, but it doesn’t mean that they want to be with you. Even if people in China, disagree with the CCP, they will communicate with the CCP, instead of standing with you.

You know your situation, don’t you?

You Japan is the enemy of the US, China, Russia, Korea… Almost all of the big and strong countries in the world.

You Japan did so many bad things during WWII, You don’t apologize for it, you don’t regret it. And now you are trying to isolate China? How could you be so stupid? And where does your confidence come from?

Ask the people to betray China to be with you Japan? A dirty country like Japan? Are you out of your mind?

This Is How Xi Jinping Is Kicking The US Out And Making China A Global Superpower And Peace-Make

https://youtu.be/go2ttilRU8k

How effective is a shield wall against a cavalry charge?

The shield wall isn’t that effective in and of itself. Shield walls are not very maneuverable, and smart riders can still get up close to them and try to find a weak point (or flank.)

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A man and his full war gear might weigh 200 pounds. You know what weighs a lot more? A horse. Horses will trample people. Even killing the horse in front of you doesn’t stop the momentum.

That sheer momentum is part of why cavalry charges can be so devastating.

No, the part about shield walls that does anything to cavalry is the pikes:

Horses are not machines; they have a brain in their head. They will not willingly skewer themselves on pikes. The reason pikes are so effective if they stay in formation is because the horses won’t charge into that. If you break formation, different story. Then you get a one way ticket to trample town.

It was extremely common for a line of Pikemen in the Middle Ages, upon facing charging knights, to soil themselves and run away, not necessarily in that order. Against fleeing or disorganized enemies, cavalry is lethal. That’s where all the casualties happen. (And it’s why they often come from the flanks.)

What stops the charge once they’ve made contact is the guys behind the front ranks. The men up front can’t go anywhere. The guys in the back can choose to push back or flee. A warhorse, for all its mass, can’t do much in a solid crowd of human bodies resisting them. It’s when they break and flee, and thus loosen up the center and then front of the formation, that everything goes down hill.

It sounds easy- just stand firm and the horses can’t rout you! But it wasn’t until professional armies, particularly professional infantry, became common that the hyper dominance of knights faded. Because I promise you, when faced with incoming knights – trained murder machines – you would start getting real freaking nervous. Shields themselves won’t stop cavalry: formation and discipline does.

(And then the professional infantry realized they could just charge each other with their pikes. Eventually, guns developed enough to put a stop to that insanity.)

Should Westerners adopt some Asian culture like addressing your husband or wife as father, mother, dad, and mom like in Chinese culture, Japanese culture, and other oriental culture, etc.?

I don’t think Westerners would EVER want to adopt the family tree naming convention based on “Chinese culture”.

Why?

Well the obvious reason is because it isn’t their culture 🙂

And secondly, nobody, NOBODY would want to add a galaxy’s worth of complexity into their lives.

The Chinese family tree doesn’t just take generation and biological sex into account.

It also takes into account:

Maternal and Paternal Lineage
Marriage
Relative Age
Consanguinity (the fact of being descended from the same ancestor)
etc.

See the “Complicated Chinese Family Tree” below.

So, how would you address your mother’s older brother?
He’s not just your “Uncle”.
He is your 舅舅 (Jiùjiu).

And his oldest son who’s older than you?
He’s not just your “Cousin”.
He is your 表哥 (Biǎo gē).

Okay, then how about your father’s younger brother?
He’s not just your “Uncle”.
He is your 叔叔 (Shūshu).

And his youngest daugher who is younger than you?
She’s not just your “Cousin”.
She is your 堂妹 (Táng Mèi).

If you look at all this and you think it is hard – well, yes, that is because it is hard.
As a kid, my dad would GRILL me before any extended family gathering.

If I got the appellation for any family member during this Grilling Session wrong, his face would be a mask of disappointment.
If I got it wrong when actually addressing family members – he would correct me on the spot, in front of EVERYONE, while shaking his head in disappointment.

As a kid, being corrected in front of ALL your extended family members, with your dad looking on at you in disappointment, while some of your extended family members perhaps laughing and chuckling at your mistake… it’s not a fun thing, I can assure you.

Mortifying. That’s the word.
Absolutely, completely, totally mortifying.

Who would want to willingly add this much complexity into their lives?

It must be so, so, so refreshing just to be able to say “Uncle” or “Aunt” or “Cousin” without having to worry about which side of the family they’re on, whether they’re your mom or dad’s older or younger sibling, whether this person is older or younger than you, who they’re married to, etc.

As a kid, I was like – “Why can’t I just call him Uncle?”

My dad – “Because you’re Chinese.”

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AMERICA IS WORRIED! China Will Build 8 Overseas Military Bases in The Future

https://youtu.be/ErLOXUdjcbc

Saving Momma

15 floors, in this case.

This guy

scaled a 19-storey building just to save his mother.

And he did that with an injured hip.

West Philadelphia. 2019.

His mother was at the hospital, unwell and bedridden. A fire breaks out on the lower floors. He gets a call from his sister telling him their Momma’s stuck in the hospital and it’s on fire.

He races to that building’s entrance, only to be told by police officers who were on the scene, barring the entrance, that it was too dangerous to let anybody in.

He didn’t let that stop him, he climbed up.

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On the 15th floor he found her safe on a balcony. She told him she was told by police over the phone not to move from there as the fire was being contained.

Appeased, at ease that she was okay, he climbed back down. The fire was taken care of and eventually his mother and others were able to leave the building.

“I took it upon myself because that’s my mother. There’s no limits. That’s my mother.”

Footnotes

The man who scaled a 19-story building like Spider-Man did it to save his bedridden mother | CNN

Do you realize if Trump goes to prison, America is truly not a free country anymore?

Oh! One guy might go to prison and all of a sudden you’re worried that America isn’t “free” anymore?

Well, I’ve got some news for you.

America currently incarcerates 664 of every 100,000 people living in the country. Millions more are on probation or are suffering some sort of civil disability because of having a criminal record. For example, in New York State, people with a felony conviction aren’t allowed to become barbers.

If you want to say “America sends too many people to jail” I would heartily agree with you. However, if you’re complaining that some idiot who tried a harebrained scheme to overturn an election he lost by a wide margin proves America isn’t “free”, you’re about 40 years too late.

John Dean spent more time in prison than any other person involved in Watergate, and he was the guy who first blew the whistle on the operation.

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What are some ways to live a stress-free life?

Personally, at age 66 , I’ve eliminated stress by making three major changes in my life. Firstly, eliminating all friends and family members who were unnecessarily stressed, and unfairly imposing that stress into my life. Secondly, I stopped earning money in a manner which was extremely stressful, and resulted in an unhealthy lifestyle. Thirdly, I started going to the gym, and began lowering my Resting Heart Rate, through a vigorous training program.

Ultimately, for myself, it was all about changing three major components of my lifestyle. My social life, my employment, and my health.

Can you think of something that needs to be fixed in our education system, but no one talks about it?

I can think of a lot of things, but I’ll just focus on one: a lopsided allocation of resources away from advanced/gifted, middle-or-upper income, able-bodied students with stable home lives.

That is, the more academic, mental, social, economic, or familial challenges a student has, the more resources school districts will allocate towards them. But, in a world of finite resources, that means that the students who don’t have those challenges have resources taken from them.

For example: In the early 2000s, a paraprofessional at a public high school in the Chicago suburbs. I was hired to help exactly one student. That student had cerebral palsy and was quadriplegic. He was of average intelligence, but he had no realistic chance of ever living alone. He had a very slight chance of finding some sort of job that would pay him enough to where he could be taxed on it. But, in all likelihood, he would spend his entire life relying on others to do everything for him.

It wasn’t his fault, of course. And yes, he still deserved an education. He was a cool guy. We got along great. I just checked, and I can’t find anything online about him from the last 13 years. His parents would be well into their 70s by now, so I’m guess that, if he’s still alive, he’s living in a group home somewhere.

Anyway, back then, I made $36k annually helping that one single student. That’s the equivalent of about $63k today.

And I was one of over a dozen paraprofessionals at that one school, each working with one student with similar struggles. I know for a fact that at least three of those students didn’t live past 25, due to their conditions.

Now imagine if schools spent equivalent resources on the students on the opposite end of the challenge spectrum. Imagine if, for every student who needed a 1:1 paraprofessional just to get through the day, the school hired a gifted education tutor to help challenge the academically advanced students. Imagine if, in addition to a special education resource room for students with challenges, each school also had a gifted education resource room, for students for whom the regular education options were too easy.

That could apply to areas outside of academics as well. Have a student who is an athletic or artistic or musical prodigy? Why shouldn’t the school hire someone to help them reach their full potential, the way they hire people to help students with challenges?

“Child prodigies” aren’t all that rare. They’re just advanced students whose parents had the resources to help them succeed. If schools started providing those resources to all advanced students, we’d see a lot more “child prodigies.” And, ultimately, a lot more adults whose contributions to society went beyond “making those around them feel better about themselves for being empathetic and inclusive.”

Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home (REACTION!!!)

How could soldiers live with themselves after invading another country and slaughtering their women and children?

Americans, Australian, Canadians and a few of the so called alliances were willing to slaughtering and being hypocritical and pretentious. But more than that for me it is a tinge of racism. They the soldiers are slaughtering coloured people that they don’t have affiliation or affinity to.

Let us call a spade a spade. The world knows the U.S. lead in slaughter of 2 million in Korea, 3 million in Vietnam, 1 million in Manila and 1 million Muslims in Mindanao Philippines, 2 million in Iraq and 1 million in Afghanistan and it is not over yet… the U.S. will kill and kill and kill. They will justify some shit like pretentious democracy or freedom.

But the culling will continue till one day they pick in the wrong nation like China and their world go up in nuclear dust!

What’s something your cat has done that you’re going to talk about forever?

Almost 20 years ago, my then husband (now ex-), who was verbally and emotionally quite abusive, was ripping my face off with an enraged tirade. I was sitting on the sofa, with my face leaning on the palms of my hand, waiting for the tirade to be over.

Then I heard a pitty-pat of paws and I looked up to see my Skittles came from the bedroom into the living room, where we were.

She sat down in front of me and my ex (who had not noticed her and kept screaming his rage). Skittles looked first at me, then at him, then at me, then at him again. And then she let out a VERY angry meow/hiss/growl AT MY EX, all without leaving her spot.

It was a very, very clear message: “Knock off being so verbally violent to mom!”

My ex jumped from the sofa completely startled, looked at the cat and said, “OK!”

He then resumed his tirade in much, much milder tones, finished off very soon after and then left.

That cat had defended me like a dog.

Then and there, in my mind, I promised her I would always take care of her. And I did. Skittles was with me for 13 years and she was my best friend. Could not have had a better cat.

Here is a picture of Skittles.

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A tale of a boob adventure

You know guys, I am just accepting of my appearance. I get older, wrinkles appear. Liver spots show up, and my hair goes from grey to white.

I’ve got a bunch of liver spots on my chest, and a massive one on my forearm. And a couple of emerging pinpricks on my hands and wrists.

Its called “getting old”.

If you aren’t there yet, well… you will be.

But my white hair….

I color my hair.

Otherwise, I’d have stunningly white hair. Not grey.

White.

But for now, I perform a nice twice-weekly hair dying exercise. It’s a pain in the ass, but you know, it’s now ingrained in my lifestyle and I accept that.

I use a Chinese black hair color, and then a color formula to lighten it out. The over all look is like my natural hair color.

Now, my wife, on the other hand, even being much younger than myself (25 years younger by the way), really wants to stay beautiful. And she does a great job at it. Don’t you know.

She’s done a lot of cosmetic procedures regarding her eyes, and lids, and so on and so forth. It’s an Asian thing, and most Westerners just wouldn’t understand.

She’s also had a few nose jobs over the decades. Right now, it’s stunning. The procedures for plastic surgery are quite advanced in China. It’s an awesome nose! Last job ran $86,000 so you had best have it done right.

I’ll tell you what.

The nose is the first thing you see when you look at a face. Not the eyes. The nose. It frames the face.

Back in the day, she wanted a European nose. High up like my mother had. I thought it looked good. But alas, it did not fit her face.

So she got it redone.

It looks AWESOME! It’s just amazing what a good nose job can do, Ill tell you what.

You know, most of the cosmetic surgeries that she has had revolved around the eyes. It’s a very Asian thing. I, as a Westerner, can’t tell the difference. But, sheech! everyone around me can.

And they all LOVE it.

(shrug)

What did you know?

She had a boob job around ten – fifteen years ago. Used a nice upper-grade set of implants. Silicone. 260ml. And they were fine.

She went from a C cup to a nice big D cup, and everyone was happy.

Something sort of like this…

Now that was the older boob technology.

We paid $_YUAN40,000 for that set, and it looked good. Back in 2013.

It was under the muscle. You could feel the boob as it was under the muscle as a hard piece that sat there. But overall the effect was what she was looking for and I, being a latent boob aficionado, appreciated it.

It was a textured squashed ball, that protruded her chest outwards.

Now…

When we had our child, we nursed her naturally with the implant, and my wife’s boobs went gargantuan. She was something like a triple F size or so. Damn!

I am not kidding. Sheech!

And then when she stopped nursing, her boobs deflated, and became soft and watery.

Her chest was a wreck.

Hard lump covered by bags of water. Not all that great of a look.

So, we have been wanting to have some nice corrective surgery on the chest, but life and the expensive price put it way on the back burner. At least for a while.

But, things happen.

(wink wink)

Then she went to the hospital (we are VIP don’t you know) and had the old ones taken out, and a set of new ones put in. She opted for the second best grade. The best cost $_YUAN550,000 and that was way out of our budget. But the slightly lesser grade was affordable at $_YUAN280,000. Ah. The price of a nice car.

It’s a Hermes-level brand and quality.

Boob technology has changed a lot over the years, and the medical procedures are new and quite modern. These new boobs (at least the better grades) look and feel like real boobs. You seriously cannot tell the difference.

The boob implant was really different as well.

She got a German brand: Freya and worked with a doctor to fix the mess her chest had become and get the biggest size that would fit her frame and look 100% realistic.

[1] Biggest that would look realistic. [2] Biggest that would feel good, and not be hard or detectable. [3] Very soft. Feels like a real boob.

No doctor wanted to implant implants that would end up looking like basketballs on a thin frame, and our surgery center was staffed with really GREAT experts.

He procured 390ml extra-soft silicone implants.

And she spent a week at the hospital after the surgery adjusting to them.

They look real. I mean absolutely real, and feel real, and they are awesome.

She is a large DD. Not some gigantic size like some girls might want, but a nice large but realistic size and they are fun. Large, but not obnoxiously so.

She looks good in clothes, but it isn’t obvious. She does not look like she has a boob-job or anything.

I stayed at the hospital with her, as did our daughter, and a few of her friends.

It’s a Chinese thing where you stay in the room with the hospital patients. And I noticed so many other gals were there getting their boobs done too. There must have been about thirty or so gals during the week we were there, and of course, girls being girls would gather and compare their boobs together.

A girl comes in, the top comes off and its all a lot of ohhhs and ahhhs, and then the squeezes and touching.

I saw so many post-surgery boobs that week in the hospital. I’ll tell you what.

They all looked great.

Being China, it’s not a taboo thing like in the USA. The gals would take off their tops and feel each others boobs, and I was there watching with amusement. I just smiled, shook my head, and went back to my computer work.

Silly.

My wife’s replacement boobs were the largest of all the gals with the typical boob implant size being somewhere between 250 and 320 ml.

Hers is 390ml.

A number of the gals wanted really small implants on the order of 100 to 120 ml, which confused everyone. That will take a flat chest to an A-cup. Maybe a B if the gal has a petite build.

One of our friends (who also had surgery that day, and was sticking around) said…

“I am as flat as a pancake, and 100 ml is nothing!”

One gal was in there and told us that she had eight (x8) surgeries all over. Eyes, lips, nose, boob, etc. They all were back to back, and done over a one month period. I thought it was way too radical, and she was complaining that her hair was starting to fall out.

Well, what do you expect? Stupid 20-year old chick doing crazy stuff all for her internet image. Becoming all plastic for what?

To get a lot of likes, or to get some “sexy projects” (hint hint). Maybe meet a very wealthy man?

Sheech!

Her first boobs were still quite nice with a 250 ml implants.

Not a gel. She got a cheaper grade.

Part of a “package deal”.

Most of the gals opted for the cheaper implants, and they didn’t look or feel as nice as ours. But they all looked ok, while ours looked and felt outstanding!

I mean it. You cannot tell the difference at ALL!

Under the armpit was the preferred insert location, and saline implants (so popular in the USA) are considered to be “backwards”, cheap and unappealing. So everyone were getting “gummy bear” style implants, and other soft gels of varying viscosity, and textures.

All in all, I like a nice set of boobs, and if you have the time and money, I urge you to consider them if you are worried about your appearance.

Remember, whether you are thin, or swat, or tall or chubby… enhancing your shape in slight ways can really make a significant difference in how your feel when you put on clothes.

I’ll tell you what.

Me?

For me, well my big issue is white hair and balding up at the top. So I have to keep my hair short, or I look really terrible. Maybe one day, I’ll get some kind of hair replacement surgery… who knows?

It is important to feel good about your body. Feel good in your clothes. To feel healthy and fit.

I will tell you all that I have been contemplating Botox… as my face is starting to show some wrinkles, but I don’t want to end up looking like Nancy Polaski. So I am a bit put off by it. But who knows, maybe one day I’ll make the leap.

It looks painful with all those needles in your face.

That’s how it is done, don’t you know. They inject this botox into your skin.

Now, in China there are other things, and other methods that are much more advanced than Botox. Different names, different means of operation. Different ways of smoothing out skin. I’ll tell you, I’m in the wrong line of business.

All these pretty gals… all ages… coming in to make their faces prettier.

But, for me… yikes!

And my wrinkles are near my eyes, I fear that it would be really, REALLY painful. Yikes!

Well, if I ever decide to try it, youse guys will be the first to know. I will report on it in great detail.

Right now… I am hesitant.

In the meantime, I am a big believer in facial care, and I use (religiously) the NIVEA brand scrubs, cremes, and facial lotions. I do so, except when it is unbearably hot out like this month.

And NO! This is not a paid endorsement.

Facial scrub and skin replenisher goes a long way to keep your skin looking youthful and clear.

Damn straight!

Todays…

Bioweapons

Suspicions have long been swirling surrounding the possibly nefarious activities going on at the Wuhan Viral Institute, as well as the Ukrainian “biolabs” the U.S. government was so concerned about falling into Russian hands. Now both the Russian and Chinese governments are accusing the United States of conducting research into biological weaponry in violation of a range of international treaties.

Edward Snowden today

What is the most unreasonable demand a parent made of you after you became an adult?

I moved out the day after high school graduation because I was tired of the beatings. My mother would hit me until she was so tired she could no longer lift her arm. She hit me when my sister disobeyed, when my father upset her or when the moon was full. I was the family scapegoat.

About six months after I moved out, got myself accepted to a college far, far from home and figured out how to pay for it without their help (3 jobs and financial aid), my father called me. He begged me to move home because my mother had started hitting my sister instead of me. He wanted me to come home and resume my place as the family scapegoat.

I didn’t.

Man shoots through door at would-be burglars posing as maintenance workers: video

Wow!

CHINA’S EVERGRANDE FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY

World Hal Turner 17 August 2023

BREAKING NEWS: CHINA'S EVERGRANDE FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY

China’s second largest Property Developer, EVERGRANDE, has filed for, get this, Chapter 15 Bankruptcy. Yes, you read that right, Chapter 15, which is ancillary to a primary proceeding brought in another country, typically the debtor’s home country.

Chapter 15 is a section in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that was added in 2005 to provide for cooperation between U.S. courts and foreign courts when foreign bankruptcy proceedings touch upon U.S. financial interests.

The section was added in response to a United Nations recommendation for cooperation among nations on what it calls “cross-border insolvency.”

The primary goal of Chapter 15 bankruptcy is to promote cooperation among U.S. courts, their appointed representatives, and foreign courts and to make legal proceedings of international bankruptcies more predictable and fair for debtors and creditors.

As such, Chapter 15 focuses on jurisdiction. It also tries to protect the value of the debtor’s assets and, when possible, financially rescue an insolvent business.1

United States Courts. “Chapter 15 – Bankruptcy Basics: Ancillary and Other Cross-Border Cases.”

Chapter 15 allows a representative in a corporate bankruptcy case that has been filed outside the United States (also known as a “cross-border insolvency”) to obtain access to the U.S. court system. This is intended to provide an efficient and common-sense mechanism for addressing insolvencies that involve debtors, creditors, and assets associated with more than one country. The purpose of Chapter 15 is outlined in the following objectives listed in Title 11, Chapter 15, Section 1501 of the U.S. Code:2

Promoting cooperation among U.S. courts and parties of interest and the courts of other countries involved in cross-border insolvencies
Establishing a better legal foundation for cross-border investment and trade
Providing for better administration of cross-border insolvencies that protects the interests of all parties
Protecting the value of the debtor’s assets
Assisting financially troubled companies

ANALYSIS

The fact that EVERGRANDE filed Bankruptcy in China, and is now doing the same in the US, is a staggering financial catastrophe. They are the second largest Property Developer in China.

U.S. Banks have severe exposure to loans to this company. This could turn into a “Black Swan Event” for US Banks.

Notice, too, the announcement of this Bankruptcy filing in New York City, was done AFTER markets closed for the day! Seemingly because they **know** the impact this is going to have . . .

UPDATE 6:08 PM EDT —

While EVERGRANDE is China’s #2 Property Developer, it’s bigger competitor, COUNTRY GARDEN, with annual revenues of more than $70 billion, is now also on the verge of collapse.

The company’s 8% bonds due in 2024 are trading at a paltry 9 cents, signaling massive losses for the bondholders. The yield is skyrocketing, meaning nobody expects it to be paid. China’s property meltdown continues.

Thus, with today’s EVERGRANDE Bankruptcy filing in the USA, and the clearly-coming similar fate of China’s largest Developer COUNTRY GARDEN, these two financial collapses could be a “one,two-punch” to the global financial system.

I have ZERO financial expertise or formal training. Yet, as a lowly financial laymen/neophyte, even I can see the writing on the wall over this.

If my analysis is correct, then I personally __SUSPECT__ we here in the U.S. could see tumult in financial sectors for, oh, I’d say about a month. Then, I’d put it between the dates of September 16 and September 22, that the full financial sector impact will be (ahem) “painfully” evident in US financial circles. I suspect BIG . . . . REALLY B I G impact.

Watch Europe over the next two weeks. Europe will go first. They’ve already seen about five-hundred thousand (500,000) German companies go Bankrupt THIS YEAR, mostly over Russia-related Sanctions. So economically, Europe is now hanging by just a few threads financially.

As European Banks go, so will US Banks. Watch Europe closely over the next two weeks.

What’s Happening in CHINA right now?

Should the USA surround China with its naval forces as a way to tell them not to be aggressive towards other countries?

Do you mean all those countries that China has attacked in the past 40 years?

Such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, Uganda, Kosovo, Bosnia and Niger?

Oh wait, those countries were attacked by the USA, not China. China hasn’t attacked any country in the world in the past 40 years.

So which countries do you mean? By any chance, are they countries whose No. 1 or 2 biggest trading partner in the world happen to be China? In other words, every day these countries are buying a lot of Chinese goods and China is making good profit out of them. And you think China wants to invade and attack them?

Or do you mean the countries where China is busy building or planning to build highways, railways, water treatment plants, solar energy plants, schools and hospitals? Which is about 150+ countries on earth?

If China planned to bomb a country to bits, do you think that China would invest billions of dollars in that country’s infrastructure? And then bomb the infrastructure to bits, causing its own investments to suffer grave losses?

Open your eyes. Use your brain. Free your mind from the lies that Western media propaganda has been feeding you.

And no, you CANNOT be the President of the USA when you grow up.

Best Tweet

What duel was craziest in history?

On May 30, 1832, a duel took place in Paris in which a young man barely twenty years old was mortally wounded. Much later he would become one of the greatest mathematical geniuses in history.

His name is Evariste Galois.

It’s pretty clear that in life he had some “gift” as a mathematician, but no one really understood all the “gibberish” Galois was writing about.

His essays and ideas were often rejected, he was denied entry into the prestigious École Normale Supérieure, and he was also a bit of a hothead, especially when, again, no one understood him.

He was simply too ahead of his time.

And to top it off, he was very involved in the French Revolution, and he used to spend a lot of time in jail if necessary.

Galois was a rebel both on the streets and in the math fog.

Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, he was drawn into a duel, but it is very likely that the direct cause of this duel was a breakup – some say it was with a prostitute, while others think the woman in question was married – and Unfortunately, his nemesis, whose identity remains unknown to this day, was a much better duelist than he was (Galois knows this all too well).

On the eve of the duel, Galois makes the most important decision of his life.

Instead of taking a much-needed break to give himself any chance of survival, he decides to put his mathematical ideas on paper[1] :

Galois was so convinced of his imminent death that he stayed up all night, writing letters to his republican friends and composing what would become his mathematical testament, the famous letter to Auguste Chevalier setting out his ideas, and three accompanying manuscripts. .

In his last letter[2] he laconically describes revolutionary ideas on analysis, continued fractions and group theory, a subject he had created on his own to solve one of the biggest mathematical problems of the time: how (not) to make polynomials by radicals. .

Galois group theory evolved over time to become one of the most important topics in contemporary mathematics, and also finds its place in many other scientific disciplines such as physics and chemistry, quantum theory and its applications, etc.

He was far ahead of his time.

Galois’ last written words, dedicated to his younger brother Alfred, are as follows:

Don’t cry Alfred! I need all my courage to die at twenty!

The famous mathematician Hermann Weyl later wrote:

This letter, if judged by the novelty and depth of the ideas it contains, is perhaps the most substantial writing in all the literature of humanity.

To honor Galois, I would like to say that this was indeed the case.

How To Leave Your California Residency Forever

Interesting.

But I am NEVER going back to the United States. No fucking way.

Deep Dish Hamburger Pie

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 can green beans
Salt and pepper to taste
Ketchup
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions

Brown the meat and add your seasonings.
Stir in enough ketchup to suit your taste.
Add green beans and stir in well.
Place this mixture in a casserole dish and top with the mashed taters and then top that with the cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F until heated through and cheese is browned.

Coming Back Home After 3 Years In Thailand, here are my thoughts

I really enjoyed this video.

What are you banned from? Why?

I am not banned from anything major, but my father got banned from the Maldives for life, due to a rather odd chain of events!

My father loves to sail, and before he got his own boat he used to sail across the seas at any chance he could find.

One day he found himself on a ship with a crew of about 8 other men that were doing a across-the-world-tour on their boat.

To his unfortunate surprise these were all rather young sailors.

The problem wasn’t in their skills, as they managed to all do their share of work without a problem, but rather that they were too poor to afford any variety in food.

After being on board for two weeks upon their vessel he had had enough of noodles for the next months to come.

He got off at the Maldives as soon as they arrived and the group only stopped to let my dad off the boat, then they sailed away towards their next destination.

My dad then proceeded to the customs office to announce his arrival, but more so he could get on a plane to depart again.

When he finally found the place they asked him with what plane he arrived.

He told them he came by boat, to which they stared at him with surprise.

After a bit of back and forth they finally found the documents for arrival by boat and asked my dad to give them the name of the vessel and where it was located.

At this point he said that he can give them the name but the vessel is not located here anymore and he had no way to contact them.

That is where the problems started for all the other sailors would have had to announce their arrival, as well as that of the vessel.

But since my dad was the only one that got off it was as though he had just appeared out of thin air… to which there were no real regulations.

All my dad wanted to do was to get out of the country, but for that he needed to be accepted in the country to begin with, as you cannot leave a country you never arrived in.

Of course no one had ever done this, so my dad was told to find a place to stay and not to leave the country (which was ironically what he wanted to do but couldn’t do).

For the next week my dad talked to the customs office every day, trying to reason with them that he didn’t care about his arrival approval, all he wanted to do was to leave!

But he needed their approval or he wouldn’t be allowed through the gates at the airport…

After about a week of going back and forth between the customs office they finally came to an agreement:

They were going to deport him.

The next day, early in the morning, two police cars and a taxi were waiting for him in front of his hotel.

With a police escort my dad traveled to the airport, at which point two armed men guided him through the gates and into the VIP lane at check-in and to the VIP lane to get on the plane.

At this point they wanted to make absolutely sure he would leave and was treated almost like a criminal.

To get out of the country he never wanted to stay in he had to be forcefully deported.

My dad now has a life-long entry ban from the Maldives and can never go there again, and only because they couldn’t lawfully prove that he even got into the country.

Yellen Stunned! China Dumps $481.3B in U.S. Bonds, Invests in 6,927 Tons of Gold

https://youtu.be/XDgCAvcNo-o

Book About Hawaii Wildfires Published BEFORE Fires Were Out!

Nation Hal Turner 17 August 2023

In an an almost inexplicable manner, a new book about the Maui, Hawaii “Wildfires” was published on August 10 – BEFORE the fires were even put out! Of course, the book pushes the “Climate Change” political agenda. But how did they write and publish a book BEFORE the fires were even out? Unless they knew in advance, the fires would happen?

More interestingly, look at the description of the book on its AMAZON sales site. The description says the book offers “the harrowing experiences of people who lived through the fire” and “the heroic efforts of fire fighters and Rescuers who battled the flames.” How did they do that while the fire was STILL BURNING?

Book on Hawaii FIres Publication Date 08 10

ot to put too fine a point on this, but the description of “people who lived through the fire” and the “heroic efforts of fire fighters . . . ” was published while the fire was STILL BURNING.

You’ll note in the book description it talks about “the events of August 8-11.” Look at the PUBLICATION DATE: August 10.

How did they cover the events of August 8-11 with a book published ONE DAY BEFORE the fire was even out?

Unless, of course, the book was written BEFORE the fire even started, by people who may have known the fire was going to happen?

Was the Maui, Hawaii “wildfire” a staged event? Or was it DELIBERATE, to burn-out land owners who had previously refused to sell to developers who wanted to build multi-million dollar residential complexes on some of the most beautiful – and expensive – real estate in the entire United States?

The fact that this book was published while the fires were still burning seems to some people to be prima fascia evidence the fire was actually planned. Arson.

Some wonder if the book was perhaps written to divert attention form the heinous crime, and then plug a Climate Change agenda to gloss it over.

It seems a criminal investigation is required of this fire – and of this book.

In order that YOU can verify the facts set forth in this story, here is a link to the actual AMAZON web page, selling this book: (Click HERE)

Solving Cicada 3301: Decoding the Internet’s Greatest Mystery

Phew!

Is Australia good for travelling?

Not really, no.

Not to bad mouth my fellow members of the Commonwealth, and I often talk about how tough it is to get around Canada, but Australia takes it to another level entirely.

It’s hard to get to. Australia is extremely isolated. It’s not hard to reach from eastern Asia, the Philippines or Indonesia, but it’s a long, long way from Europe and North America. It’s even far from Honolulu.
The best way to get around Australia – is by flying. The major cities and tourist areas on Australia are very distant from each other. Sydney (one of the major cities) and Canberra (the capital) are two of the closest, but they’re still about 300 km apart. Sydney to Melbourne is about 900 km. Yes, you can drive or take a bus, but that’s some long trip.
Roads are… problematic. The verdant strip running from Adelaide to Cooktown in the east of the country has roads as good as any you will find in the United States or Europe. However, the majority of the country (which has very little in the way of population) has roads that are dangerous and run through some of the nastiest desert in the world. It can be hundreds of kilometers between gas stations. Cell phone service isn’t available. Dying is a distinct possibility.
Trains are are scarce. One popular route is the Ghan, running from Adelaide to Darwin. It’s a five star trip on luxury coaches on a pristine set of tracks that runs through some of the most interesting scenery on the planet. However, the rest of Australia’s rail network is fair to middling. One of the problems is that each state set its own rail gauge. It is possible to cross Australia’s southern limit by train, but it’s not a luxury experience.

The Not So Polite Truth Behind Canada’s COLLAPSING Economy!

RUSSIA BEGINS PROCESS TO WITHDRAW FROM W.T.O. AND W.H.O

World Hal Turner 16 August 2023

RUSSIA BEGINS PROCESS TO WITHDRAW FROM W.T.O. AND W.H.O

The Russian government is starting the process of unilaterally withdrawing from a series of international bodies, including the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization, the Russian Duma’s Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy said on Tuesday.

“We have work to revise our international obligations, treaties that today bring no benefit, but instead directly harm our country. The Foreign Ministry sent a list of such agreements to the State Duma,” Tolstoy said. “Together with the Federation Council, we plan to analyze them and to propose to withdraw,” he added.

Tolstoy singled out the international trade and health organizations, saying that “the next step is to withdraw from the WTO and the WHO, which have neglected all obligations towards our country.”

I Never Thought I’d Go Back To China (#155)

US is urging Europe not to deal with China and Russia because of the human rights situation in those countries. Why then is the same US in bed with Saudi Arabia?

Originally Answered: US is urging Europe not to deal with China and Russia because of human rights in those countries. Why then is US in bed with Saudi Arabia?

President Roosevelt of the United States said his famous phrase:

– Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch.

Many people know who Somoza is. I’ll remind those who have forgotten history. Anastasio Somoza is Nicaragua’s cruelest dictator. He killed 150,000 Nicaraguans – a monstrous figure with a population of only 800,000 in 1940.

main qimg ee46a87c58e04e4759013fd34a006084 lq

In September 1956, the dictator’s enemies shot him. By helicopter the U.S. Navy took the dictator to the Panama Canal, where the best American surgeons, including personal physician of President Eisenhower, eight days fighting for the life of “our son of a bitch”. However, on September 29, 1956, Anastasio Somoza went to the next world. It’s a legitimate retaliation for a hereditary gangster.

Do you think the U.S. policy towards pathological killers and sadists has changed? You’re deeply mistaken. If you read George Orwell, you remember the phrase about equality: “All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.” So the Saudi authorities may have blatantly killed opposition journalist Jamal khashoggi in the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul. The US and the EU have called for a transparent investigation. And that’s it! No consequences, no sanctions and no expulsion of Saudi diplomats. It’s very simple: “Our business partner may be a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a…”

It turns out that being “untouchable” requires “friendship” with the United States and being a source of income for American business.

The U.S. calls on Europe not to contact China and Russia because of human rights violations in those countries. This is only a fictitious excuse. The reality is simple to the primitive. China and Russia have an independent policy and are competitors in international business. It is only natural to weaken a competitor, or better yet, to destroy it, and to appropriate assets…

“You Won’t Turn Niger Into Another Libya!” – African Leaders

WOW! This is a great video.

What little-known details are usually left out when talking about the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Photograph of a victims eyeball after the Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, with an “Atomic Cataract.” A snapshot of the devastating destruction of the Nuclear bomb, permanently burnt into the victims eyeball. Atomic Cataracts can develop 3 months to 10 years after exposure. The incidence of this happening is greater the shorter the distance from the explosion.

Russia Publicly Accuses U.S. “Deep State” and Big Pharma of Deliberate COVID Pandemic to takeover the world

World Hal Turner 17 August 2023

In video below from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russia just publicly accused Deep State actors and Big Pharma of manufacturing the COVID pandemic to take over the world.

They even listed Obama, Clinton, Biden, and Soros, of being the main “Ideologists” behind the plot.

Below, video from a Briefing by Chief of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops of Russian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov: “Pentagon conducts uncontrolled dual-use research in circumvention of international obligations under the BTWC (Biological and Toxin Weapons Control Treaty).”

Put sccinctly, the Russian Military officially and publicly accuses the US of releasing bioweapons to create “crisis situations”, and claims the US are planning to do it again.

This is the biggest story in human history, and yet it is somehow remaining largely unnoticed.

UPDATE 11:22 AM EDT —

Television stations all over Russia are carrying this bombshell accusation as major leading news stories.

In this Interview, Lt General Igor Kirillov goes even further in the accusation, saying the US is going to do it again:

MORE:

Russian biologist Igor Nikulin, who was presented as a former member of the U.N. Commission on Biological and Chemical Weapons, sounded the alarm in a February 27, 2020 interview on Russia Today’s Arabic-language channel where he said that he believes it is no coincidence that the coronavirus had the effect it did in China, Iran, and certain European countries.

He said that coronavirus was carefully selected to affect countries that rival the United States and that it is a conspiracy by the “global government,” which he said consists of 200 families that control over $400 trillion, that own the media outlets and Hollywood, that control the minds of humanity, and that want to decrease the world’s population by 90%.

He suggested that it may be possible that coronavirus is a targeted biological weapon, like he said Ebola and the bird flu were, that infects some people and not others, and he said that the U.S. government may be testing a pathogenic agent it began developing in 1999.

Nikulin also said that this is a warning to the non-English-speaking world that it must submit to the laws that are imposed upon it.

https://youtu.be/MY-RL6FMx84

Is China colonizing Africa?

China is interested in resources in Africa from Cobalt to Lithium to Gold to Aluminium to Manganese to Hydro power to Farmlands to Labor (Human resources)

In exchange China delivers growth and progress – Soft Loans, Machinery, Schools, Hospitals, Bridges, Trains, Factories, Jobs etc

Yet China stays out of two core areas in Africa – RELIGION AND POLITICS

The West doesnt. The West interferes in both. Conversion and Ruling over the Africans

China doesn’t

So China cannot be colonizing Africa at all

main qimg 9f8e6e824532a7c89b5841f762269759

Colonizing means treating the people as second class citizens under the rule of your own government

China certainly doesn’t do that

China simply makes trade deals which may be loaded in favor of the Chinese

China may even to a certain extent take advantage of the Africans

Yet China doesn’t Colonize Africa and Chinas Actions are maybe a 100th of what the West did

Media keeps deceiving us about China’s intentions – here’s how

Baked Spaghetti Pie

Spaghetti Pie Recipe 17 650x975 1 — Spaghetti Pie Recipe 17 650×975 1

Ingredients

2 pounds spaghetti
2 pounds ricotta cheese
1/2 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
1 pound ground beef
1 pound spicy Italian sausage
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
1 pound Provolone cheese, sliced thin
1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated

Instructions

Heat oven to 475 degrees F.
In a large pan, boil spaghetti for 20 minutes; drain and set aside.
Mix ricotta, milk and eggs together in a small bowl; add to spaghetti and stir together.
Press into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan until compact and even.
Cook ground beef and sausage in a large skillet.
Drain fat, removing as much as possible.
Stir in spaghetti sauce. Spread evenly over spaghetti base in pan.
Layer slices of Provolone over meat mixture, then add the grated Romano on top of that.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Polybius | The Most Deadly Video Game in History | More Truth than Legend

Burger-Bean Spaghetti Pie

Looking for a dinner pie? Then check out this ground beef spaghetti pie packed with spicy chili beans and three types of cheese – a hearty meal.

Prep: 40 min | Total: 1 hr 5 min | Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

Crust

7 ounces uncooked spaghetti or vermicelli
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chili powder

Filling

1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can spicy chili beans, undrained
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can zesty diced tomatoes seasoned with mild green chiles, undrained
4 ounces (1 cup) shredded hot pepper Monterey Jack cheese
4 ounces (1 cup) shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions

Cook spaghetti to desired doneness as directed on package. Drain.
Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 1/2 inch deep dish pie pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Beat egg in large bowl. Add butter, Parmesan cheese and chili powder; mix well. Add cooked spaghetti; toss to coat. Spoon mixture evenly into sprayed pie pan, pushing mixture slightly up sides of pan to form crust.
In large saucepan, cook ground beef and onion over medium heat until beef is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain.
Add chili beans and tomatoes; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Add hot pepper Monterey Jack cheese and 1/2 cup of the Cheddar cheese; mix well. Spoon evenly into spaghetti-lined pie pan. Top with remaining 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until filling is set and crust is light golden brown.
Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Cut into wedges to serve.

OLIVER ANTHONY DROPPED THE PEOPLE’S ANTHEM!

Hey! Guess what the “president” is up to…

The Last Man on Earth

1960s science fiction meets TODAY.

According to the readout from China’s MFA and other official sources, Yellen’s visit to China is described as the result “after the discussion by both sides (China and US)”, which means she was not officially invited by China . (Some Chinese observers pointed out there was no red carpet at the airport when Yellen arrived.)

Same wordings regarding Blinken’s visit to Beijing.

China did not hand out official invitation to them because China knew there wouldn’t be any constructive and meaningful diplomatic dialogues with the perfidious American politicians.

China accepted Blinken and Yellen’s visit just to show China’s good intention for talk to de-escalate the tension caused by US wonton behavior.

But the Americans take it as China showing weakness, feel they could force themselves upon China, lecture China and, at the same time, get favorable deals for US, such as, to force China buying more US debts, to give free license to WSJ banksters to rob of China.

Like the colonial masters, American politicians believe and act as if they own the world and everyone should obey American/Western orders…

…

Those days are LONG gone.

What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve ever had to explain to a third party?

“Can I have my gift card back?” I asked the cashier.

“Um. Ok. Sure.”, she replied.

“Dude why did you ask for that back? It’s not worth anything.” My friend said.

“Well. A guy gave it to me for saving his life.”

“What the hell?”

“So, I was driving back home from a party at about 3 AM in February and I see this guy sitting on the curb in the middle of nowhere in a t-shirt. It’s below freezing and he looks dazed so I roll down my window and ask him if he’s ok.”

He says to me, “have you seen my skateboard?” He sounded really mellow (read: stoned). Then he stares off into the distance again.

I wait for maybe ten fifteen seconds. Then I ask him to say that again. Just to make sure.

He says “he can’t find his skateboard.” “I don’t know where it went” he says.

This is probably bad. He’s rambling. So, It’s twenty five degrees degrees outside. “Do you want get in the car and I’ll help you look for it?” I ask.

“Oh. Ok. Yeah. That’s nice of you.” He says.

I stop the car next to him. Unlock the door.

“I can’t get up,” he says. “I think I broke my leg.” He continues.

I think for a moment. He’s got thirty pounds on me easy. Looks like he exercises. Thick neck. Well built. But I’m missing something.

That tone.[1] He’s harmless. I get out. Walk to his side. Open the door. Help him in. God he’s heavy. Smells like Vodka.

I get back to my side and wait for him to buckle himself in. It takes him quite a while.

“I’m sorry man, I’m so sorry,” he mumbles.

“It’s ok,” I reply, biting my lip gently and trying to not frown. “Oh. I’m Mike,” I say.

“Kevin,” he replies, taking my hand.

“Aren’t you worried I’ll attack you or something,” he asks me off handed.

“No,” I say. “If you were going to, you would have while I was picking you up. Or before you strapped yourself in.”

“Ah.” He nods.

“Besides, you carry yourself like a fighter.” I say. “Martial arts?” I ask.

“I box,” he says, “for the school team, and I swim.”

I nod. “See, you’re harmless,” I say. “Martial artists don’t abuse their power.”

“Generally.”

“Also you’re drunk, stoned and your leg is probably broken.”

He laughs. “And you,” he asks?

“MMA I suppose, black belt in Karate. Do some Brazilian Jujitsu. Some street fighting.”

He nods.

I ask him, “what’s the story?”

He replies, “I was partying with some friends. And then we left and I told them I wanted to go and skateboard by myself. I fell off. I don’t know where it is. “

Pausing for a minute, “I ask What color is it?”

“Black,” he replies.

I shake my head and smile, and say,” that’s not good. We can look I guess.”

I drive around for a bit. We can’t find it.

Suddenly he says, “I just realized I don’t know where my coat is.”

“Oh. I have an extra coat in the back. You should wear it,” I replied.

“You sure?” He eyes me.

“Yeah . . . “

“Do we want to get you to a hospital or something?” I ask. (Does it make us bad people that both of us were more concerned about the board than his leg/his possible hypothermia?)

“Nah. Can you drop me home?” He suggested. “You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, where’s that?”

I get him to his house. Fifteen minute drive. Lights are off. He can’t find his keys. He calls his room mates. No good.

“So what now?” I ask.

“I guess I call my parents.” He calls them. Explains this, sort of. They say they’ll be right here (in 30).

So we wait. He says he’s done this sort of thing before. A lot. I talk about my on and off battle with depression. Convince him to see a therapist.

“I don’t know,” he says. “Do you ever get the feeling that you’re alone when you’re in a crowd?” he says. “Or even with friends, you don’t care about the things they care about. You don’t want to do the things they do. But you want to be a part of it.”

“Very often so. Most people our age don’t think too much. Life is short. Life is serious business. Life is insane. Life is beautiful.”

His parting words to me. As his parents came to pick him up. “Thanks man. Anything I can do for you just say it. Do you like pizza? I make a mean pizza. Do you smoke pot? Do you want to come over and just hang out sometime?”

I smile. “Sure. We’ll see. Take care of yourself.”

Oh and a few weeks later we got lunch. He gave me my coat back. And a ten dollar gift card.

He said, and I quote, “Thanks for saving my life dude. Here’s a ten dollar gift card to Subway. Wow I sound like horrible person.”

And we laughed like idiots.

[1] Depressed/self destructive people have a very distinct way of speaking. They’re very resigned.

The French Riots Just Exposed a MASSIVE Problem for USA

The French Riots have been a disaster for France but if we zoom out these protests represent a real problem for the US and many Western countries around the world. What’s the biggest threat to the future of world security? Well Richard Haass, one of America’s most respected foreign policy experts reveals a bombshell in today’s video.

Home-made Amaretto

What Is Amaretto?

Amaretto is a sweet liquor that originated in Italy. Originally, Amaretto was flavored with butter almonds, but these days commercial brands can be made from apricot stones, peach stones or almonds.

Amaretto can be mixed with cocktails or sipped on its own. While we have many, many different cocktails to make with Amaretto, this delicious homemade version is so delicious as an after dinner drink or aperitif.

The History Of Amaretto

The name “Amaretto” comes from the Italian word amaro which means “bitter”. A funny little fact is that cyanide is found naturally in almonds and it has to be processed out of the almonds before its use in this liquor.

A old tale tells the story of a student of Leonardo da Vinci’s students was painting a church and needed a model to paint his Madonna. The women he found became his model and lover and in turn, because of how poor she was, she gifted him a liquor that was made from apricot kernels steeped in brandy.

Why Homemade Amaretto Is Best

Typically we find modern day Amaretto to be on the sweeter side, which is one of the reasons why making it from scratch is totally the way to go. You can balance out the level of sweetness that you like and how long you let the liquor steep. This homemade Amaretto isn’t very bitter at all, which is the way we like it.

Another reason that you should try making this recipe at home is because it is much more cost effective than buying a bottle at the store. Obviously stores mark up the prices of everything, so when you can save a few bucks and make a quality product at home you should!

Yield: 6 cups

How Do You Make Homemade Amaretto?

The process is easy, you start out with plain (good quality) vodka. Then you add in the flavoring – vanilla beans, almond extract and sugar. That’s basically it – and then you let it sit.

The longer you let it sit, the better it gets. But you definitely have to give it a few days or up to a week before trying it.

Once you’re ready to drink it though you can remove the vanilla bean if the flavor is right for you, or leave it in and let it flavor the amaretto some more. I took the vanilla bean out after a week since for me the flavor tasted right on target.

I’m telling you this tastes as good if not better than the expensive store bought brand – I like that it’s less sweet and also has more almond flavor.

Ingredients

1 lemon
3 cups granulated sugar
2 cups water
3 cups vodka
3 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon chocolate extract

Instructions

Peel lemon, leaving inner white skin on fruit; reserve lemon for another use. Cut lemon rind into 2 x 1/4 inch strips. Combine lemon rind strips, sugar and water in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.
Remove from heat; remove and discard lemon rind strips. Cover and chill thoroughly. Add vodka and remaining ingredients to chilled mixture; stir well.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature at least 1 week before serving.
Use in any recipe calling for amaretto.

Russia Confirms “BRICS” To Launch Gold-Backed Currency

World Hal Turner 07 July 2023

According to state-run Russian Television (RT), the Russian Government HAS CONFIRMED Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known as the “BRICS” nations, will introduce a new trading currency backed by Gold.

The official announcement is expected during the upcoming BRICS Summit in South Africa, this August.

If this takes place, it will likely mark the end of “fiat” currencies like the US Dollar, which is backed by nothing.

How fast nations around the world switch to using this new gold-backed currency for their foreign trade, is anyone’s guess.

The more countries that choose to use this new currency, the more foreign-held US Dollars will come rushing back to the USA from those countries, which no longer need to hold US Dollars for their foreign trade. As those Dollars come back to the USA, it will cause inflation to spike in ways never-before seen here in America.

The US manufactures almost nothing here anymore. Almost everything we buy and sell in the USA is made overseas. As US dollars come flooding back from overseas, the value of the US dollar will plummet versus other currencies, which means it will take many more US Dollars to buy goods from foreign countries.

Hence, sudden and dramatic inflation here at home.

It is worth pointing out that the US has, on more than one occasion, gone to actual WAR to stop this exact thing from taking place in the past. Two recent examples would be Libya and Iraq.

In Libya, Mohamar Qadaffi wanted to create a gold-back Pan-African currency. Within a month of his announcement, there were riots and uprisings in Libya that ultimately resulted in Qadaffi being mobbed and brutally killed in the streets.

Iraq made a similar effort under Saddam Hussein. He announced that Iraq would begin selling oil in currencies OTHER THAN the US Dollar, which sent the US to Iraq War 2, toppling Hussein from power. Ultimately, Hussein was found hiding in a hole in the ground, was arrested, tried, and HUNG BY HIS NECK until dead.

The US takes it ___ V E R Y ____ serious when anyone around the world tries to do anything that would unseat the US dollar as the world’s defacto Reserve Currency.

The US is already itching to go to war with Russia over the Ukraine conflict. With today’s announcement about a Gold-Backed BRICS trading currency, it seems logical that the US “gloves” will come off.

If Russia and the BRICS Nations do what they have announced, it would mean the total collapse of US world dominance. There are many people inside the US Government that would rather burn the entire world to the ground, rather than lose control of it. Put simply, they will stop at NOTHING to maintain their financial control power; and will actively, viciously, brutally, destroy anyone and anything threatening their power.

(HT REMARK: This is gonna get ugly.)

What are the implications of China’s poor track record on food safety?

During the 1990–2000s , it was true that China’s Food Safety record was quite poor

Greed dominated often and people would undercut and often sell low quality grain or immature crops to make quick profits

Pesticide quality was low

Fertilizer quality was low

However today things are drastically different

Today China knows every grain of Food must be preserved because today China imports on an average around 21% of their food

Had China followed the same careless way of the 1990s, China would be importing almost 40% of their food today

Food Security is crucial today and China has introduced an efficiency that is brutal

Today every grain is preserved

Wastage is at its lowest (0.42%) against nearly 4.36% in 2001, reflecting a 90% improvement

Likewise poor quality stuff is no longer acceptable

Sure one bad thing is China turns a blind eye to those exporters who export poor quality pesticides and fertilizers out of China

However within China, you only have top quality stuff and highest safety standards today

China has only 9.88% Arable land by Area left and so China cannot afford to compromise an inch today

Food Security is crucial and since reliance on imports must be kept to a minimum, it’s mandatory that safety has to be top notch

Bashing China Has Replaced The Diplomatic Dialogue

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is currently in China where she does her best to further piss off her host.

Yellen, in Beijing, Criticizes China’s Treatment of U.S. Companies – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023
The concerns of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reflect continuing tensions between the two countries.

Yellen Urges China to Step Up Climate Finance Investments – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023
Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, said China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, can have “greater impact” tackling climate change by working with other nations.

Washington Raises Pressure on China to Combat U.S.’s Fentanyl Crisis – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023

The general attitude of the U.S. is that it can harass China with whatever it likes under its ‘national security’ mantle while it has a right to expect China to cooperate in other fields. It is a ‘don’t look at what we do but at what we say’ policy.

This anecdote from the last link explains it well:

During the Blinken visit, the secretary told reporters that the two countries had agreed to “explore setting up a working group or joint effort” to combat fentanyl trafficking. But any prospects for cooperation faded just days later when U.S. federal prosecutors announced the indictment of four Chinese companies accused of trafficking chemicals used by Mexican drug cartels to manufacture vast quantities of fentanyl sold in the United States.

China can easily deflect these accusations. Citing the Cocaine find in the White House it underlines that the failure of U.S. internal drug policies has nothing to do with China:

‘White lines’ in the House: Can the US ever eliminate its drug epidemic? – Global Times, Jul 6 2023

The presence of drugs in the White House serves as a perfect example of the inability of the US, as a drug-infested nation, to manage illegal substances effectively. Apart from showing a sense of embarrassment, Biden’s mysterious smile probably also proved how resignedly Biden is in the face of the drug epidemic in the country. With illegal substances infiltrating the White House and US presidents setting an example as drug users, one wonders if the US can ever truly eradicate its drug crisis.

China is ready to cooperate but the way the U.S. behaves makes it impossible. If you sit in a glasshouse and throw stones don’t be surprised when other will point this out.

China urges US to create conditions for counter-narcotics cooperation – Global Times, Jul 7, 2023

Analysts said that public data shows that the US population accounts for only 5 percent of the global population, but consumes 80 percent of the world’s opioid, and the US has not permanently scheduled fentanyl-related substances as a class yet. In May 2019, China took the lead in the world by scheduling fentanyl-related substances as a class, effectively curbing the flow of these scheduled chemicals into illicit drug production channels through international trade and contributing to the prevention of trafficking and drug abuse.

At Naked Capitalism Richard Wolff is pointing to a major problem with accusing China of this or that.

It’s Hard for Americans to Engage in China-Bashing Without Tripping on Contradictions

The contradictions of China-bashing in the United States begin with how often it is flat-out untrue. The Wall Street Journal reports that the “Chinese spy” balloon that President Joe Biden shot down with immense patriotic fanfare in February 2023 did not in fact transmit pictures or anything else to China. White House economists have been trying to excuse persistent U.S. inflation saying it is a global problem and inflation is worse elsewhere in the world. China’s inflation rate is 0.7 percent year-on-year. Financial media outlets stress how China’s GDP growth rate is lower than it used to be. China now estimates that its 2023 GDP growth will be 5 to 5.5 percent. Estimates for the U.S. GDP growth rate in 2023, meanwhile, vacillate around 1 to 2 percent.

China-bashing has intensified into denial and self-delusion—it is akin to pretending that the United States did not lose wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and more. …

Stephen Roach fears correctly that the way the U.S. currently handles China will only make things worse:

In a three-hour meeting in Bali last November, Presidents Biden and Xi agreed on the broad parameters of what to do — namely, to put on a floor on this worrisome deterioration. The recent diplomatic flurry can be thought of in that light — restarting a dialogue with the sole intent of limiting any further damage. That took a while, but diplomatic reengagement is now under way.

But then what? The image of a floor speaks to the minimum that both leaders expect from each other as responsible stewards of a fragile world. Yet with the impacts of additional tough actions likely to come in the next few weeks and months — namely, further tech sanctions, widely telegraphed restrictions on outbound US foreign direct investment into China, and Chinese tit-for-tat actions on selected rare earth exports — there is no guarantee that the newly established floor will be strong enough to withstand additional blows.

Without reinforcement, this floor could turn out to be surprisingly shaky. …
…
The diplomats are emphasizing the thaw after a big freeze. I remain very wary of concluding that the worst is over. For the time being, conflict escalation is on a tenuous hold, at best. It remains to be seen if both security-focused superpowers are doing little more than running in place.

On hope is that large U.S. companies, which make good profits in China, will use the election campaign to press for a less hostile China policy.

Should that not work out the U.S.-China relation may well slip down a costly path towards a larger conflict.

Posted by b on July 8, 2023 at 14:54 UTC | Permalink

The Outer Limits (1990s TV Series) – Vanishing Act

This episode was made in 1996. It is episode 21 from season 2.

Government of Netherlands Collapses; Prime Minister and Cabinet Resign

World Hal Turner 07 July 2023

Government of Netherlands Collapses; Prime Minister and Cabinet Resign

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced his resignation and that of his Cabinet on Friday, citing irreconcilable differences within his four-party coalition about how to rein in migration.

The decision by the Netherlands’ longest-serving premier means the country will face a general election later this year for the 150-seat lower house of Parliament.

“It is no secret that the coalition partners have very different views on migration policy,” Rutte told reporters in The Hague. “And today, unfortunately, we have to draw the conclusion that those differences are irreconcilable. That is why I will immediately … offer the resignation of the entire Cabinet to the king in writing”
Opposition lawmakers wasted no time in calling for fresh elections.

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Party for Freedom, tweeted, “Quick elections now.” Jesse Klaver, leader of the Green Left party also called for elections and told Dutch broadcaster NOS: “This country needs a change of direction.”

Man Dies, Sees Future & Says Don’t Freak Out (Powerful NDE)

Gary Wimmer had an NDE (Near-Death Experience) and discovered what happens after death. He saw seven beings/angels, and after leaving his body was shown future events. Gary’s NDE (Near-Death Experience) showed him that there is life after death, and it was a life-altering experience that changed him forever.

Punishing Sanctions

Xi to Biden:

Do you really want to hamper our chip producing companies?

Really?

China curbs critical metal exports in retaliation for Western restrictions on chip industry

China on Monday ordered export restrictions on two technology-critical elements in retaliation for new Western sanctions on its semiconductor industry.

The restrictions, which take effect on August 1, will apply to gallium and germanium metals and several of their compounds, which are key materials for making semiconductors and other electronics.

The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that the export controls on gallium- and germanium-related items were necessary “to safeguard national security and interests”.

Exporters in China will need to apply for permission from the ministry, with information about the end users and how the materials will be used.

Gallium and germanium are used in lots of electronic components. AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars used on modern warships and fighter airplanes can not be made without those metals. China produces some 95% of those available on the global market.

It will take one or two years until the currently available stocks outside of China are diminished. But it takes much longer to open up new mining and processing facilities for replacement of the Chinese production. The processes used therein are quite dirty. A not-in-my-backyard attitude will make any setup of new facilities difficult to pursue.

The situation will soon become similar to the titanium market where Russia is the biggest global supplier but has restricted access for certain customers.

This is just one of many cards China (and Russia) can play in their anti-sanction games.

The U.S. is reaching the limits of its sanction power.

Posted by b on July 4, 2023 at 7:21 UTC | Permalink

Alien Bases On The Moon | The Amazing True Story of Ingo Swann

This is a fun video.

Ingo Swann claimed to be a psychic who was employed by the CIA to remote-view the dark side of the moon. Specifically to look for an alien presence. It sounded like science fiction. But in 2006, when the CIA started releasing documents on the Stargate Project, Swann’s participation in the program was confirmed. When Swann was asked about the existence of extraterrestrials, he said not only were they already here, but they are building something on the far side of the moon. And, according to Swann, these aliens — aren’t friendly.

The biggest thing China has done right in achieving development is to keep its sovereignty: French entrepreneur

By Global Times

Editor’s Note:

In today’s Western world, how likely is it to win a debate which argues that the Chinese system is better than the American one at providing stability, prosperity, and freedom?

Arnaud Bertrand (Bertrand), a French entrepreneur and commentator on economics and geopolitics, did so.

A debate held by US’ Intercollegiate Studies Institute and Abigail Adams Institute in April, themed “Is The Chinese System Better Than The American System,” between Bertrand and Adrian Zenz, an infamous anti-China scholar, has recently become the talk of the town. How did Bertrand win? And why has Bertrand been rooting for China’s development? Bertrand shared his views with Global Times (GT) reporter Li Aixin in an exclusive interview.

GT: What aspect of the debate left the deepest impression on you?

Bertrand: What surprised me the most was the openness to my arguments, given the audience. The debate took place right next to the campus of Harvard University. Most people in the audience were American. It was a debate about the Chinese system – which model is better, the Chinese or the American, to give prosperity, stability, and freedom to its people.

At the end of the debate, there was a vote on who won the debate. Quite incredibly, I won it as per the audience’s votes. So that was a huge surprise for me. I never expected that I would win the debate, by arguing that the Chinese system is better than the American system at providing people with freedom.

I guess it shows that when you have compelling arguments and explain things in a way that’s rational, you can go beyond ideology and make people realize that, actually, there are really some merits in the Chinese system.

GT: Have you received more feedback from the West, like Europe and the US to be more specific, after the debate?

Bertrand:I spoke with people in the audience after the debate, and there are many comments on YouTube. People are overwhelmingly positive about what I said. Even though there were some people, during the debate, raised some questions about social credit scores or things like that.

To me, that reflects more a lack of knowledge about what really happened, a form of – brainwashing maybe is a strong word – but a lack of exposure to alternative arguments and reflects some Western people are only being exposed to how the West sees China. From my discussions with people and from the YouTube comments that I read, I think people are more open than we commonly imagine in terms of seeing a different view, and realizing that what they have been told about China and Communism isn’t the whole picture; there is another side to this story.

GT: During the debate, Adrian Zenz tended to separate the Chinese government from the Chinese people by saying China’s achievement has been brought about not by the Chinese governance model, but by the people. You made a solid case by noting India also has a large population of hardworking people, the difference between China and India is due to the government. Why do you think some Western politicians and scholars often try to separate the Chinese government from the Chinese people?

Bertrand: The reason is quite obvious – the purpose is to ultimately try to have China adopt a different political system. If they say that China’s political system or the Chinese government is responsible for the development of China, then it really weakens the argument that China should change its system, since the system has given Chinese people a good life.

But if, on the contrary, they say that China developed, despite its system, and will do even better without it, their argument is “stronger.” That’s the key reason.

I think that them doing this is actually shortsighted, because they don’t realize that they actually undermine their own objectives by trying to set the Chinese people against their own government. By doing this, they actually strengthened the unity of China.

GT: You touched upon China’s achievements in poverty alleviation during the debate. Quite recently, a Chinese scholar said that US spending in the Afghanistan War could almost eliminate extreme poverty worldwide. What’s your take on the contrast?

Bertrand: The vision on poverty in the West is very different from the vision in China. The key value in the West is individual freedom. And poverty is largely an individual choice – Anyone, if they work hard, can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and extricate themselves out of poverty. They see some of the stuff that China does to alleviate poverty as running counter to their values.

The thing is, when you study poverty, a lot of the poverty is deeply entrenched and systemic. Individuals have only limited power to do anything about it. Take remote villages, which need hospitals, schools and so on… Only governments can do that.

When it comes to spending on the military, the US believes its way of life today is backed by its military power and its hegemony. Take the dollar, the world’s reserve currency, our former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing called it America’s “privilège exorbitant,” which enables the US to run extraordinary deficits at the expense of the rest of the world.

They wouldn’t have the privileges if the US lost its hegemony – they couldn’t do extraterritorial legislation, spy on the whole world, or not to apply international law itself – these are privileges they can have because of their military and their hegemony.

So they put themselves in the situation where their way of life, sadly, depends on their military and hegemony. And it’s not easy to see how they can get out of this. That’s why they’re also so afraid of the rise of China because it puts US hegemony into question.

The US is the beneficiary of its hegemony, but it’s also a prisoner of its hegemony, when it cannot make the choice to extricate itself from that huge, bloated military with 800 bases around the world, all those actions that are hostile against other countries, the extraterritorial law, all the sanctions, and so on.

That’s not freedom. It is constrained to stay that way. It is not obvious how it can begin its freedom and go for a different system. It won’t be easy.

GT: You mentioned the surveys by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, which show that Chinese citizens’ satisfaction with their government has been increasing. In the US and Europe, it’s a vastly different story. What do you think China has done right?

Bertrand: I think the biggest thing that China has done right is to keep its sovereignty. It’s absolutely for sure China could not have developed if it had not been ruthless in keeping its independence in its own way of thinking, free of foreign interference.

If you look at the Chinese way of development, it is very unique. If China just followed the methodology advised by the IMF or the World Bank or all those organizations that typically advise countries on their development, China would become all those other countries that have not developed. That was the key – to be able to think for itself, picking what makes sense, what was good for China, but also having the strength to refuse what wasn’t.

GT: What is the biggest misconception of the West when looking at China’s development?

Bertrand: I guess the key misconception is that the West thinks China is very centralized — central planning, the central government in Beijing deciding what all of China’s 1.4 billion people ought to do. But when you actually look at the way China is organized, it’s actually one of the most decentralized countries in the world.

I was looking at the budget difference between the central government and local governments of provinces, cities and so on. The difference is like 15 percent central government vs 85 percent local government, which is, I think, the highest budgets in the world for local governments versus the central government. If I’m not mistaken, in the US it is something like 55 percent federal (central) vs 45 local.

It shows that local governments have an extraordinary amount of leeway in deciding the way they spend the money. That was also a key to the success of Chinese development: Being able to have a lot of local initiatives competing with each other. Shanghai does something one way and then you have Chongqing doing something another way, which maybe works better in Chongqing. And it then becomes an inspiration for the rest of China.

That experimentation at the local level is something we don’t often speak about. That is a big misconception around the planning in China.

GT: You quoted Franklin Delano Roosevelt by mentioning “freedom from fear” and “freedom from want,” two of the fundamental freedoms, and noted that people do not really feel free to go out anywhere in the US at any time of the day or night. But in China, the freedom exists. What caused the contrast?

Bertrand: An anecdote. My wife’s bag was snatched in London and she went to the police. But they basically told her – we are not going to catch the guys, there are just too many thefts in London; We’re not even going to try because we don’t have the resources for it.

Out of curiosity, at one point we were in a Chinese police station. She asked a policeman what they would do in the same situation. They were like, that’s a serious crime, they will dispatch the whole team and the guy will get caught. That makes a huge difference.

Poverty is also an important aspect, because poverty is a common root cause of violence. China has done a lot of work to eradicate poverty, and the side effect of that is it decreases the need for violence and theft, because people don’t need to do that to survive.

GT: Do you think more Western politicians and observers will share your views on freedom?

Bertrand: I’d like to look at this in terms of different generations of politicians in the West. Francis Fukuyama said the end of the Cold War shows the end of history – liberal democracy is the final form of government for all nations, the best system of all possible systems in history, which will end with the world becoming a big liberal democracy.

That generation believed essentially in liberal hegemony, that the purpose of the West was to unite the world and be one big liberal democracy. We are seeing that this was a complete pipe dream, a complete illusion. Bit by bit, we will see a new multilateral order appear, and soon politicians in the West will realize the mistakes made by the previous generation.

They will realize the value of sovereignty and may be inspired by the strength of other systems. It will probably take time because the liberal hegemony generation is still in charge. But they will soon realize that this is going nowhere. And the more they realize that, the more new players will appear and get voted in, there will be a shift in mentality on freedom of sovereignty, collective freedom, and so on. Different types of mind-sets will appear, hopefully.

GT: Do you think the two systems can peacefully exist?

Bertrand: Like I said in my talk, the Chinese model applies uniquely and only to China. It’s the product of China’s long and unique history and it fits the context that China is in today, like the economic context, geopolitical context. No intention is ever expressed to spread the system. From China’s standpoint, there is no issue for the two systems to peacefully coexist, because it’s not trying to impose its system elsewhere.

The difficulty is with the other system, the American or Western system, no matter how you call it. It claims universality. It’s a system that tries to convince others to adopt it. It’s very deep in our religious roots in the West. And it’s not something that’s easy to change.

Whereas if you look at Chinese religious roots. China never went around the world trying to make everyone Taoist, for instance. It is just not in the culture.

So that’s the big question: Can the Western model accept different models that coexist alongside it? What we need at the end of the day is a democratic world order with different civilizations coexisting instead of a totalitarian world order where one civilization and one system wants to force itself on the others.

GT: How do you see future ties between China, the EU, and the US?

Bertrand: Europe likes to speak a big game, but at the end of the day, they rely on the US in absolutely essential ways. If you look in terms of defense, what the Ukraine war has made clear is that NATO is the US. Europe is totally dependent on the US for its defense. In terms of technology, which big technology firms exist in Europe? Now there is almost none. It’s crazy. Europe depends on the US for almost everything.

The amount of work needed to restore European sovereignty is absolutely huge. I think that French President Emmanuel Macron genuinely wants that. It’s very deep in French culture to have our own independent politics and way of thinking. But when you depend on the US so much, that’s not easy in the short to medium term.

In terms of the relationship between China and the US, at the meeting between Secretary of State Blinken and senior Chinese officials, based on the transcripts I read, some good things were said, but deeds need to follow words. The US knows it is under a lot of pressure from its allies and the whole world to cool things down with China. So we hear some nice statements, but it might only be performative.

Europeans are talking about “de-risking” instead of “de-coupling.” I think “de-risking” is actually the risk, because interdependence is not risky in and of itself.

When you are interdependent between two countries, you might actually reduce the risk of conflict, because there are more costs to the conflict. But when you’re completely independent from a country, a conflict is not that costly, so people may think less before triggering it. And of course, there are a lot of economic risks stemming from “de-risking.” China is Europe’s biggest trading partner. Reducing trade will come at a lot of economic cost to Europe.

Hopefully Europe will see the wisdom in what the Chinese premier said recently [during his European trip].

In geopolitics, if you’re just a follower, you don’t exist. You only exist if you have a different view from others; then you have some identity on the international stage. China gives Europe that opportunity to exist, not to be the voice of the US, not to be the voice of China, but to be the voice of Europe. I think Europe should take that opportunity.

The USA is over. Stick a fork in it.

Just In! Here’s How Europe Will Be The Battlefield Of The U.S China Cold WAR

https://youtu.be/0oqpwU4qVZ8

44 (Homemade Orange Liqueur)

Orange liqueur, or “44,” is one of the most traditional European homemade aperitifs. You’ll find versions in Spain, Italy and France – some made with cloves and cinnamon; some with a mix of oranges, bitter oranges and lemons; some flavored with coffee beans; and those sweetened with honey.

Yield: 1 quart

Ingredients

1 large orange
44 coffee beans
22 sugar cubes (or 6 tablespoons granulated sugar)
1 quart clear eau de vie or vodka

Instructions

Thoroughly scrub and dry the orange. With the end of a sharp knife, pierce the orange all over. Insert the 44 coffee beans into the skin, embedding each bean into the orange. Place the orange in a 1 1/2-quart canning jar. Add the sugar cubes and the eau de vie. Cover securely. Turn the jar upside down and shake to help dissolve the sugar. Place in a cool, dry, dark spot. Shake the jar daily until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside for 44 days. During this time, the liquid will turn from clear to a pale orange and will take on a lovely coffee-orange fragrance.
The 44 can be stored indefinitely as is, or the liquid can be filtered and transferred to an attractive liqueur bottle.
he orange and coffee beans are not consumed and should be discarded once they lose their vigor.
Serve 44 chilled or at room temperature, added to white wine, or in tiny liqueur glasses as an accompaniment to fruit desserts or as an after-dinner drink.

Notes

The original recipe given to me called for a single orange studded with 44 coffee beans, mixed with 44 sugar cubes and a bottle of clear eau de vie. The mixture is then set aside for 44 days. The result is a fragrant, fruity drink that can be mixed with a bit of white wine as an aperitif or served “as is” with dessert or as an after-meal liqueur. I found the original version too sweet for my taste, so have cut the amount of sugar in half.

In Provence, many cooks prepare their orange liqueur by piercing the orange with cloves, tying the fruit with string, then suspending it in a clear glass jar partially filled with clear eau de vie. (The orange should never touch the alcohol.) The jar is sealed, and the aromatic oils of the orange infuse the alcohol with their fruity essence, turning the eau de vie a pale, glistening orange. After about one month, the orange is discarded, and the aperitif is sweetened to taste and transferred to a sealed bottle.

The WEST Has COLLAPSED

https://youtu.be/EifrrRcyxoc

Church of England Collapsing: “Our Father” is called “Problematic” due to Patriarchy

World Hal Turner 07 July 2023

The archbishop of York has suggested that opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, recited by Christians all over the world for 2,000 years, may be “problematic” because of their patriarchal association.

In his opening address to a meeting of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, Stephen Cottrell dwelt on the words “Our Father”, the start of the prayer based on Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the New Testament.

“I know the word ‘father’ is problematic for those whose experience of earthly fathers has been destructive and abusive, and for all of us who have labored rather too much from an oppressively patriarchal grip on life,” he said.

After Cottrell’s speech, Canon Dr Chris Sugden, chair of the conservative Anglican Mainstream group, pointed out that in the Bible Jesus urged people to pray to “our father.”

He said: “Is the archbishop of York saying Jesus was wrong, or that Jesus was not pastorally aware? It seems to be emblematic of the approach of some church leaders to take their cues from culture rather than scripture.”

Rev Christina Rees, who campaigned for female bishops, said Cottrell had “put his finger on an issue that’s a really live issue for Christians and has been for many years”.

She added: “The big question is, do we really believe that God believes that male human beings bear his image more fully and accurately than women? The answer is absolutely not.”

(HT Remark: With people like this “leading” churches, is there any wonder no one pays much attention to them anymore? How dare they?)

‘Mr. X’ would not approve of China containment

George Kennan would find the current trajectory toward confrontation with Beijing dangerous and unnecessary.

June 27, 2023

Written by
Daniel Larison

Today, the United States finds itself on a crash course toward escalation with China. Washington often denies that it seeks to contain Beijing, but actions have spoken louder than words. Through export controls, increased military spending, and expanded base access, the U.S. aims to weaken China economically and keep it hemmed in, even at the risk of a great power conflict.

It is a dangerous and unnecessary policy.

America has pursued a militarized “containment” approach before, with results that can only be described as disastrous for millions across the world. Even George Kennan — the father of anti-Soviet containment — came to regret his support for this approach, and there’s reason to think that we will too.

In the latter half of his life, Kennan was a staunch critic of Cold War hawkishness and deplored the conventional and nuclear arms racing that made up such a large part of the U.S. rivalry with the USSR. He constantly warned against the perils of militarism and nuclear warfare and feared that the superpowers were blundering toward a world-ending reprise of the 1914 march of folly.

As Frank Costigliola noted in his recent biography, “While most people focus on the inflammatory manifestos he penned in 1946 and 1947 that helped ignite the Cold War, they underplay his pivot in the opposite direction soon thereafter.”

If Kennan could see the burgeoning U.S.-China rivalry today, he would be appalled that our country is once again on the track of the same dead-end policy of armed confrontation that it was on more than thirty years ago.

Kennan was one of the great American policy intellectuals and scholars of the twentieth century, and modern Americans have much to learn from his time in government and his later work as an academic. Much of what he said over the years was ignored, often to the detriment of U.S. interests and international security. When the government dismissed Kennan’s advice, it usually later regretted it. He is not here to advise us now, but we can still learn from him through his writings and his career.

George Kennan was not always right or consistent in his views, but he had a remarkable gift of understanding when vital U.S. interests were at stake and when they were not and then making policy recommendations accordingly.

He recognized the futility of the Vietnam War when the government and much of the foreign policy establishment were still wedded to fighting it.

He foresaw that the invasion of Iraq would be disastrous and spoke out against it.

He understood that NATO expansion would antagonize Russia and needlessly create instability and new divisions in Europe.

If he were with us today in 2023, he would no doubt view the pursuit of militarized rivalry with an increasingly powerful China with dismay. Having raised the alarm about the dangers of a new great war during the Cold War, he would likewise be warning against the reckless courting of great power conflict that Washington has been engaged in for the last several years.

While Kennan is best known for his understanding of Russian and Soviet foreign policy, he had a considerable impact on U.S. foreign policy in East Asia during his time in government. His views on U.S. interests in East Asia then and his later criticisms of U.S. policies provide important lessons for policymakers today.

Paul Heer’s important 2018 study of Kennan’s legacies in East Asia, Mr. X and the Pacific, details the role that the legendary policymaker played in shaping early Cold War policies in this part of the world and his later career as a dissident against an overly militarized form of containment. If Kennan rejected the over-militarization of the original containment doctrine against the Soviet Union, which posed a far greater threat to U.S. interests than China does today, it is hard to believe that he would approve of something similar against China.

In the years after he left government, Kennan insisted that he never intended containment to be applied everywhere, and he opposed the militarization of the doctrine he formulated. He subsequently rejected the abuse of containment when it served as a justification for unnecessary and destructive military interventions.

While Heer has argued that Kennan “would have approved” of an anti-China containment policy in the present, this fails to take into account Kennan’s intense hostility to the arms racing and militarism that our current policy involves. It is more than likely that he would have recoiled at the cost that such a containment policy will impose on the United States. China containment will inevitably involve the ongoing expansion of the military and an explosion in military spending beyond its already obscene levels. For his part, Kennan “opposed a bristling, overbuilt American military,” as Costigliola puts it, and so he would oppose a policy that requires the overbuilt military to be built up even more.

Kennan was also a sharp critic of jingoistic nationalism, and, if he were with us today, he would warn us that pursuit of a militarized rivalry with China would encourage the worst instincts in our government and our people. If Kennan was mystified by the sentimental attachment to China that many Americans had in the past; he would be similarly bewildered by the intense hostility towards China that has been cultivated over the last decade.

Shortly after the Soviet collapse, Kennan faulted the pursuit of hardline, militarized policies for having kept the Cold War going for as long as it did. “Thus the general effect of cold war extremism was to delay rather than hasten the great change that overtook the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s,” he wrote in an October 1992 op-ed for the New York Times.

Moreover, Kennan rejected the mythology that anyone “won” the Cold War, which he called a “a long and costly political rivalry, fueled on both sides by unreal and exaggerated estimates of the intentions and strength of the other party.” Considering how much he deplored the costs of the Cold War, there is little chance that he would have been in favor of another one.

In the end, Kennan would be opposed to China containment because of the dangerous, overreaching strategy to which it belongs.

As Costigliola reminds us, after the Cold War, “Kennan wanted the United States to pull back from trying to manage a global informal empire. He believed that such efforts were not only doomed, but also diverted attention and resources from America’s pressing domestic problems.”

Today the U.S. is even more overstretched by more commitments than it had when Kennan was still with us, and our domestic problems have become no less pressing. Kennan would not approve of a policy that will increase the burden on the United States and preoccupy our government for several decades to the detriment of the country’s welfare, and neither should we.

Man Shocked by What He Saw His Pets Doing in Heaven | Near Death Experience | NDE

John Davis died for 6 minutes and was taken on what seemed like a 2 hour tour of Heaven. This is his Amazing Near Death Experience (NDE) and testimony of heaven. A Near Death Experience (NDE) is something that someone never forgets and changes them forever.

This one is pretty good.

Apricot Brandy

Apricot Brandy is a sweet apricot flavored liqueur also known as Apricot Cordial.

Dried apricots are soaked in vodka for a month or more, to extract their flavor. Adding sugar to this recipe makes this easy homemade apricot brandy a sweet, syrupy drink – a sipping liqueur, or an ingredient for cocktails.

What is the difference between Brandy, Liqueur, Liquor, and Cordial?

Liquor is the term for alcoholic beverages that are made of grains or any other plants and fermented to a “hard alcohol”. Examples are rum, vodka, gin, whiskey, etc.

Brandy is a liquor distilled from fermented juice, flesh and kernels.

Liqueurs and Cordials are not only sweet, they carry pronounced flavors. An alcohol base is mixed with natural flavors, often from fruits or plants. The word liqueur is interchangeable with the word cordial, except in the U.K., where cordial is used to refer to any very sweet, non-alcoholic liquid.

So even though our family has always called this recipe Apricot Brandy – it is not a true brandy since it is not distilled from fruit, but a neutral liquor (vodka) sweetened and flavored with the fruit.

Yield: about 6 cups

Ingredients

4 cups granulated sugar
2 cups water
2 pounds dried apricots
2 fifths vodka

Instructions

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring often. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved.
Cool to room temperature.
Place the apricots in 1 or 2 large decorative glass jars.
Add the sugar syrup and vodka, stirring to blend. Cover tightly and store in a cool, dark place for at least 1 month, turning or shaking the jar every week.
Before serving, strain the liquid.

Notes

Apricot Brandy may be stored at room temperature for up to 3 months. Refrigerate it for longer storage.

What is something someone who has never been poor wouldn’t understand?

During the Depression my grandfather would use a knife to cut squares of linoleum from relatively unseen parts of the kitchen floor to put in his children’s shoes because the soles were worn and full of holes. When they couldn’t get linoleum they used folded cardboard. My mother said more than half the kids in the class had feet wrapped in cardboard tied on with twine.

Once, my grandmother sat at the table sobbing because there was no food for the family for dinner. The dog scratched at the door. It had brought home a large piece of meat it had taken from the Butcher. The dog knew. They ate it that night.

During the Depression the poor, including my mother, would walk the tracks with a bucket to find coal that fell off the trains as they sped by. Sometimes an understanding fireman would throw a shovelful off as they passed. This was the only way the family could cook food or make hot water – or even heat the house.

Even when I was little and slept in my grandmother’s house in winter, I (and they) would wake up to a coating of frost on the comforter. It was the result of water expelled from the body breathing during the night in a house with no heat. When you went to pee, there was a film of ice in the toilet bowl.

My mother’s family depended on finding wild grapes, blueberries and other fruits to survive. The kids would go into the woods and meadows and spend all day picking and their mother would can. The boys spent their free time picking up wood to start the coal stove. Nothing was wasted.

My uncles hunted for food in the meadows – if they could afford five rounds of .22 ammunition. They brought back any meat or fish they caught to be cooked and eaten. This was in the City of Boston, on the outskirts.

During the Depression my father and his brothers would collect scrap wire and burn off the insulation in the back yard to sell to the scrap man. Everyone did it. A haze of burning insulation smoke covered the neighborhood some days. It wasn’t just wire – it was any covered metal.

My uncles used to break into the freight yard to find discarded, bent nails which they would straighten and sell to tradesmen walking to work in the morning. They had to get up at 4:30 to sit on the curb with their bucket of nails as they passed.

When the water was turned off by the City, people took buckets of water from the nearby pond. They used it for everything.

In some places people boiled their old wallpaper to get the starch to make soup.

When my aunt died and we cleaned out her house we found mountains of elastic bands, balls of twine, tinfoil from gum wrappers and many things like that. When you are poor, you save everything because you never know when you will need it. In the old days, you could collect enough gum tinfoil to sell to the junkman for a penny or so. A penny was still valuable then. A silver quarter was a literal fortune.

My mother’s family never ate fresh anything. The bread was bought stale; the vegetables were the rotten things that fell off the wagon in Haymarket; the milk was curdled because it could be bought cheaply and disguised. Lots of people did things like that. People literally had nothing.

How do you know if someone truly cares for you or is just using you?

I’m a tiny person, just 5’ and 100 lbs. So, the sun shade on the passenger side of the car means nothing to me. The sun shines on my face, I pull down the sun shade, the sun still shines on my face because I’m too short.

I whined about it once. A couple days later, when I got into the car, I noticed this:

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My boyfriend made a sun shade extension – just for me.

I know that he loves me.

Love has its own language, you will hear it when it really speaks.

THEY ARE COMING – Bob Lazar FINALLY Breaks Silence On Recent UFO Sightings

A NATO Aircraft Enters Belarus Air Space!!!!!

World Hal Turner 10 July 2023

A Boeing E-3A “Sentry” Airborne Early Warning (AEW) and Control plane designated “NATO 11” entered the air space of Belarus today as seen on the FlightRadar24 map above.

This does ***not*** appear to be a Flight Radar error.

The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an American airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft developed by Boeing. E-3s are commonly known as AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System).

Derived from the Boeing 707 airliner, it provides all-weather surveillance, command, control, and communications, and is used by the United States Air Force, NATO, French Air and Space Force, Royal Saudi Air Force and Chilean Air Force.

The E-3 has a distinctive rotating radar dome (rotodome) above the fuselage. Production ended in 1992 after 68 aircraft had been built.

Awaiting more information or official confirmation.

UPDATE:

This has to be deliberate fuckery, it’s possible someone is using Electronic Warfare to make a plane appear somewhere it isn’t.

All record of this apparent incursion are no longer showing on FlightRadar24.

Whether by accident or design, for this to happen on the eve of the Vilnius summit seems very suspect indeed.

China Sanctions US Tech Giants Over Unpaid $10 Billion Fine, US Faces Consequence

Counter Sanctions by China.

A very good, and MUST WATCH video.

Since last year, the US has been imposing sanctions and pressure on China to an almost insane extent. They have limited the export of high-end GPUs from Nvidia to block China’s AI computing power, formed a three-country alliance with Japan and the Netherlands to cut off the supply of semiconductor equipment to China, and used billions of dollars in subsidies to lure TSMC to the US, attempting to turn Taiwan’s TSMC into “ASMC”

https://youtu.be/6bvCh_11DL4

What do you think about the Chinese spy balloon?

It was NOT a Chinese spy balloon

China is one of the most technologically advanced nations on Earth with orbital satellites that could read your tattoos from space, and has sophisticated electronic warfare platforms that can intercept comms for miles around.

It’s frankly insulting to suggest that China would essentially waft a balloon randomly over the US with a Kodak tied to it – China’s military tech is far more advanced

This was most likely either a weather balloon sent up by an amateur group of armchair scientists, or a spy balloon sent up by tinfoil conspiracy theorists looking for evidence of aliens

As usual America has to blame others for the crazy behaviour of its own people

Why are Americans mad at China counter-sanctioning Micron?

Because those Americans mad at China’s counter-sanctions are really mad.

They have lost their basic saneness to be normal people with healthy mentality.

LikeChina2021 on TikTok

In their insane world, they can do whatever they want to, they can hurt whoever they want to, they can bomb whichever country they want to. But never vice versa.

As a normal and mentally health people, do you think there really exists such a world?!

So, this group of Americans are living in their own Madhouse.

Yellen’s Visit To China Has Failed

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen visited China. There she tried to press the worlds biggest economy on several issues.

Yellen, in Beijing, Criticizes China’s Treatment of U.S. Companies – NY Times, July 7, 2023
Yellen Urges China to Step Up Climate Finance Investments – NY Times, July 7, 2023
U.S. Raises Pressure on China to Combat Global Fentanyl Crisis – NY Times, July 7, 2023

None of these points are in China’s interest. In the U.S. Chinese companies are treated badly. U.S. financed climate investments in foreign countries, which are small, usually come with additional extraordinary demands that benefit the donating country rather than the receiving one. China does this differently. Fentanyl is not a global problem rather a specific U.S. one the causes of which are general social problems China and other have avoided to have.

The last demand Yellen made was even more crazy. She called for a full turn of China towards neoliberal policies:

“I pressed them on our concerns about China’s unfair economic practices,” [Yellen] said, citing barriers to access for foreign firms and problems involving intellectual property. She added that a more market-oriented system in China “would not only be in the interests of the U.S. and other countries. It would be better for the Chinese economy, as well.”

Would China be where it is today if it had privatized its banking system and state owned companies? Would China be richer if it had let U.S. vulture funds buy up and bankrupt Chinese companies? Would it have managed to lift 800 million of its citizens from poverty if it had followed the economic advice of the U.S., the IMF or World Bank?

The answer to these questions is of course an emphatic “No”.

Why Yellen thinks she can impress China with advice for a ‘more market-oriented system’, even as the U.S. blocks Chinese investments, sanctions Chinese companies and limits sales of certain products to China, is beyond me.

Yellen’s visit failed to achieve anything. She had some talks with Chinese officials but achieved nothing. She lectured and made demands that no one in China will be willing to fulfill.

The Chinese side for one seems unimpressed by her performance:

Yellen mentioned multiple times the US is seeking a healthy competition with China rather than a “winner-take-all” approach. While this may sound good, the key lies in how we define “healthy competition.” Is it a US-style one in which the geopolitical appetite of the US is satisfied while China unconditionally cooperates? Or is it based on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation? The root cause of the challenges in the China-US relationship lies in Washington’s flawed perception of China. Unless the issue of the ‘first button’ is addressed, no matter how wonderful the ideas and wishes may be, they will remain nothing more than castles in the air.

Unless the U.S. accepts China as equal the relations between the countries will not turn around.

The U.S. can grow with China only when it accepts that China is different from itself and has its own path towards further development.

As neither is the today’s dominant viewpoint a further deterioration of the relations, largely to the disadvantage of the U.S., is the most likely prospect.

Posted by b at 9:28 UTC | Comments (174)

Former NASA Employee Tells ALL About What Transpired

For fun. Watch passively. FYI.

What is the strangest failure you have ever seen on a car?

For years I worked on old cars, raced them, show cars, fixed them up for fun.

I purchased a old 55 Chevy 4 door from a woman who was in her late 80’s. It was her husbands car and he only drove it to town (5 miles away) for groceries, PO, bank ,etc.

I spent a few months getting the car back in shape, paint, engine, interior and finally insured it and tagged it.

Proud of the old car I decided to drive it to work, about 10 miles away.

I got about a mile away and the car quit running.

So I walked the rest of the way to work. A co-worker gave me lift to the old Chevy and we decided to see if it would start, sure enough it fired right up, he would follow me home.

As soon as I pulled into the driveway the Chevy coughed and stopped.

The next week I rebuilt the carb, new fuel filter, checked the wiring, everything I could think of, even changed the fuel tank sending unit and replaced the fuel filter sock that went into the tank.

Decided to drive it to work, one mile short of work it quit running again.

Got the old car home again and decided to drain the gas tank, new filters, etc. Drove it again same thing.

I finally figured it out (just to make the story short) it seems the old man who owned the car was a depression era guy, he never put more than a few gallons of gas at a time in the car.

Over the years the tank starting rusting at the top of the tank due to condensation and water in the gas.

Even though I drained the tank I could not see the rust in the corners and as I drove the car the rust started breaking off a little at a time and clogged the little fuel filter soak and cutting off gas flow.

Seems like 9 miles was all she could go till the fuel filter sock was full, the funny thing was when I stopped the car and the fuel pump wasn’t working the rust and debris fell away and opened back up the fuel flow.

Drove me crazy. A new gas tank from Year One Auto Parts and the old Chevy lasted many years of good service.

main qimg c0f9d344ccb93c491bcfce247d6f3783 1

Part two of the NDE Above

Details: I met John several months ago when I invited him to appear at a Helping Parents Heal meeting. John told a fascinating tale of a Near-Death Experience that may be more detailed than any other I’ve ever heard.

He was taken on a guided tour of “heaven” while he was out of his body and reports some fascinating details. I asked John to share his experience for my Grief 2 Growth audience.

John “died” while having surgery on his hand and found himself going through many of the familiar aspects of the Near-Death Experience culminating with a mission given to him to come back and deliver a message.

Is the US celebrating the Chinese Ge and Ga export control so that the US can manufacture by the US? Will the US be able to catch up the Ge and GA, especially Ga resources and manufacturing technologies in 20 years?

Extremely difficult, extremely costly and takes 20 years, if and when US production comes on line after tens of billions spent in 20 years, China will release cheap and abundant supplies to totally destroy and dominate the market, again.

That is one of many reasons why it is not an outright ban on exports, but subjected to case by case approval, they have the opponents on a tight leash, yank or let lose depending on the master. “What have you done for me today?”

BTW, that is a 100% copy of American sanctions and embargoes methods.

Do you think America is falling apart?

Yes. However, this was not overnight or even the last four years. I have been observing the politics and social movement since the Carter years.

A deep nihilism was observable in the psyche of much of the Country back then and it has only grown. Underneath much of the political rhetoric, there was a meanness of spirit. It was always there but Nixon and Reagan actively played to it.

Nixon’s war on drugs for example, was aimed at imprisonment of specific portions of the population: Top Nixon adviser reveals the racist reason he started the ‘war on drugs’ decades ago.

Do you understand? The national government turned its full power against specific portions of its citizenry with NO upside for anyone. Which portion of the population benefited from this? It did not save money or uplift ANY portion of the population. The intent of this internal war was to hurt members of its citizenry.

This continued under Reagan. The insane were dumped on the street, taxes were cut while spending went up, cocaine flooded the USA, the government ignored the AIDS epidemic, laws were selectively enforced, etc. Madness and irrationality ruled as “conservatism.”

In other words, there is a sort of MALICE that thrives in the USA that has only grown over the years. A deep desire to hurt the OTHER, even if it does not serve them (in fact, even if it hurts them).

Here is an example:

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This is “rolling coal.” This guy modified his vehicle specifically to pollute. It cost thousands, it voids all warranties, decreases mileage, etc. It has NO upside for the owner or anyone. Why do it?

They say, we are sticking it to the environmentalists and libruls (sic.). So, these people are spending their own money, hurting their own interests, to hurt the feelings of others? Is this sane? That is like smoking because you dislike doctors.

Yet, this irrationality grows. More interestingly, it is seldom vocalized beyond “dog whistle” conversation. Once in a while, the double speech slips. This woman from the Florida Panhandle was such a case Trump supporter complains shutdown is ‘not hurting the people he needs to be hurting’:

“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”

So, much of the US has no real positive agenda of their own. They vote to hurt and exclude others, even as it does not serve them.

Here is another example. Lead pellets in shotguns cause poisoning in Bald Eagles:

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Obama wanted to phase out the use of lead pellets on federal land. Among Trump’s first actions was to rescind the rule. What possible upside was this for anyone? Just “stick it” to people trying to save eagles?New Interior head lifts lead ammunition ban in nod to hunters

How long can a culture exist when so much of it is intentionally destructive of itself?

As I said before, it only grows. I saw massive chunks of the country reject sane republicans and pick the dumbest guy in the room.

If this insanity does not stop, the USA will fall apart.

Why are there more than 600 billionaires in China who control most of the wealth of the country as compared with the majority of the Chinese population?

China doesn’t control the wealth of the country

They only control the LAND and RESOURCES

If you own a factory with a massive foundry,machinery etc in China — that’s regarded YOUR PROPERTY

Only the land is leased by the State

The Coal is owned by the State and sold to you for generating power

The Water is owned by the State

Thus there are Billionaires in China like all other nations

Theh became billionaires by industrial or trade or business profits, speculation and stockholdings like regular billionaires across the globe

They can stay billionaires provided they didn’t make their billions by breaking the law

If they did — THEY DIE OR SPEND ALL THEIR LIFE IN A 10*10 CELL

An Englishman, Scotsman, Welshman, and Irishman are captured by the Afghan Taliban

An Englishman, Scotsman, Welshman, and Irishman are captured by the Afghan Taliban and sentenced to death by firing squad.

Before being shot they are asked if they have any last requests:

The Welshman says “Before I die, I would like to hear 1000 Welsh voices singing ‘Land of my Fathers’”.

The Irishman says “Before I die, I would like to see 1000 Irish dancers performing ‘Riverdance’”.

The Scotsmen says “Before I die, I would like to hear 1000 bagpipes playing ‘Scotland the Brave’”.

“And you, English pig! What is your last request?”

“For fucks sake, please shoot me first!”

The Last Man on Earth (1964) | Vincent Price | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi | Full Length Movie

Today’s special gem…

The movie that inspired “I Am Legend” with Will Smith. When a disease turns all of humanity into the living dead, the last man on earth becomes a reluctant vampire /zombie hunter.

I can play dirty, but you can’t, it’s in the rule book

“I can play dirty, but you can't, it's in the rule book”

-From HERE. United States administrator when asked why China cannot adopt the same policies that the United States routinely uses.

You know, I like Ron Unz. His site “UNZ” often has stuff; opinion and news that you will not find anywhere else. But Lordy! Is it full of racism! It drives me insane, and it’s really bothersome. I get it, you know. I understand the why. But I really don’t want to read about Jews this, and blacks that! Please.

I HATE it!

When The Garden of the Saker was up, I enjoyed it as well. But the comments were so filled with racism and hate that I just stopped reading them. Then Andre quit. He left the stage, and the Saker is no longer.

Sigh.

Life moves on…

Call me a wimp, if you will. But I want to live a sheltered life. One free of racism, and harsh opinions about broad brush-strokes about someones culture, society, color of skin, or tattoos. I don’t want to read that junk.

It gives me a headache. Ugh!

Especially if it is a ‘Bot, a mindless 11-year old, or a government paid troll. The United States is too fucked up right now.

Ugh!

Now… on to bigger and better things. You all know that I have been trying to hunt down this mysterious movie about a girl who starts work at a software campus, only to discover that she is a computer program. I’m still looking. Haven’t found it yet.

Here’s my list so far.

THE LIST

1954 — Tobor the Great — This science fiction film tells the story of a young boy, his grandfather, and his best friend — who just so happens to be a robot — as they work together to stay safe from the group of communist agents on their tail. Starring Charles Drake and Karin Booth.

1956 — 1984 — In a dystopian world, society is closely monitored by Big Brother, an omnipotent force for government surveillance. One man breaks the rules by falling in love and must pay a heavy price. Based on the novel by George Orwell.

1965 — Alphaville — A secret agent goes to the futuristic city of Alphaville to find a missing person and eventually stop the ruling dictator, professor von Braun, and his sentient computer system, Alpha 60.

1967 — Billion Dollar Brain — In this espionage thriller, Michael Caine stars as Harry Palmer, a former secret agent who unexpectedly becomes involved with a frenzied Texas oil baron (Ed Begley) working to eradicate Communism with a supercomputer.

1968 — 2001: A Space Odyssey — A group of astronauts is sent on a mysterious mission alongside the AI supercomputer H.A.L. 9000. What follows is an intense battle between man and machine, resulting in a mystifying journey through space and time.

1968 — Hot Millions — Peter Ustinov plays an embezzler who bypasses a mainframe computer’s security system to pay invoices from his fictitious companies.

1969 — The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes — Dexter Reilly (Kurt Russell) fixes a computer during an electrical storm and gets shocked. The computer’s brain has fused with his, and he’s a genius.

1969 — The Italian Job — A robber (Michael Caine) recently released from prison gets help from a group of Britain’s most infamous computer hackers to steal gold bullion from underneath the noses of the Italian police and mafia. One of the film’s most famous scenes is a massive traffic jam caused by hacking the city’s traffic control computer.

1970 — Colossus: The Forbin Project — Massive computer systems from the U.S. — “Colossus” — and Russia — “Guardian” — connect to each other. Nuclear war is threatened.

1971 — Paper Man — Five bored college students take advantage of a computer glitch and create a fictitious person, but the prank backfires.

1971 — THX 1138 — Set in a futuristic, state-controlled environment, this film follows a man and a woman, named THX 1138 and LUH 3417, respectively, as they instill a revolution upon their strictly-governed and closely-watched society.

1973 — Westworld — For one thousand dollars a day, guests of a futuristic theme park can visit recreations of different time periods and experience their wildest fantasies with lifelike androids. Pals Blane (James Brolin) and Martin (Richard Benjamin) have chosen to visit Westworld and walk the lawless streets of the American frontier. Their fantasies turn to terror, however, when a duel with a robotic gunslinger (Yul Brynner) goes terribly wrong.

1974 — The Conversation — Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert using high-tech equipment (back in the day) to spy on a couple he fears may be in danger. Nominated for three Oscars.

1975 — Three Days of the Condor — CIA codebreaker Robert Redford tries to figure out why his own agency wants him dead.

1977 — Demon Seed — This science fiction horror film tells the story of Proteus IV, a sentient supercomputer made from artificial intelligence, who goes to incredible and dangerous lengths to attempt to become human.

1982 — Tron — One of the earliest hacking films. A computer engineer learns an executive at his company has been stealing his work and is launched into the world of virtual reality.

1983 — Brainstorm — Researchers Michael Brace (Christopher Walken) and Lillian Reynolds (Louise Fletcher) develop a system that allows the recording and playback of a person’s thoughts onto videotape. The project spins out of control when the technology is used to explore intense sexual and near-death experiences.

1983 — Superman III — Richard Pryor plays Gus Gorman, a hacker who is caught skimming from his company’s payroll through a program he developed and is then blackmailed to help turn Superman evil.

1983 — WarGames — High school student (Matthew Broderick) hacks into a military supercomputer in this classic and activates the U.S. nuclear arsenal, at a time when most people didn’t know what hacking was.

1984 — Cloak and Dagger — When 11-year-old Davey sees the murder of an FBI agent, the dying man hands him an Atari video game cartridge with military secrets. With Dabney Coleman.

1984 — Electric Dreams — Set in San Francisco, this science fiction romantic comedy is about a love triangle between an architect, a cellist, and a personal computer.

1984 — Hide and Seek — A young computer enthusiast develops a kind of artificial intelligence program named “Gregory P1.” To ensure its survival, the computer contacts other computers and begins to fight the humans. It also hooks into the mainframe computer of a nuclear power plant.

1985 — Brazil — When Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) gets involved in a case of mistaken identity, he’s labeled as an enemy of the state by the powerful, technology-dependent bureaucracy controlling his society. On a quest to rectify the wrong, Sam meets the woman of his dreams, but, unbeknownst to him, she may be a terrorist.

1985 — Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age — This documentary about the hacker community includes footage of interviews with some of the programmers that created the PC revolution, including Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. Filmed at a hacker conference held in Sausalito, Calif.

1985 — Max Headroom — This science fiction drama tells the origin story of its eponymous character, Max Headroom, an artificially intelligent, computer-generated television host. This film was later repurposed to serve as the pilot for a British series of the same name.

1985 — Prime Risk — Computer-savvy lovers scam Automated Teller Machines and plot to sink the Federal Reserve.

1985 — Real Genius — Two teenagers working on a laser project at a prestigious engineering college begin to question the true purpose of their work when the government steps in with intentions to use their project as a military-grade weapon. Starring Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret.

1985 — Weird Science — Teenagers Gary and Wyatt design their ideal woman on a computer, and a freak electrical accident brings her to life in the form of the lovely, superhuman Lisa.

1986 — Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — A high school student (Matthew Broderick) who wants the day off breaks into his school’s computer system and changes grades and attendance records.

1987 — Bellman and True — Computer expert Hiller (Bernard Hill) finds himself unemployed and is bribed into stealing confidential computer information for a group of bank robbers. He gets the job done but makes the mistake of thinking he’s seen the last of the criminals; little does Hiller know they’ve tracked him and his son to London.

1987 — Terminal Entry — Picking up where War Games left off, this film tells the story of a group of high school students who unknowingly hack into the network of a dangerous terrorist organization under the impression they’re simply playing a game — but the acts of terror caused by their actions are no joke.

1988 — Defense Play — After her father is mysteriously killed while working on a project for the U.S. Air Force, Karen (Susan Ursitti) joins forces with Scott (David Oliver), and together, the two computer-savvy students open their own investigation into the murder.

1990 — Circuitry Man — In a dystopian society, narcotics come in the form of a microchip, heavily sought after by Earth’s remaining inhabitants — two of whom are a bio-android and a female bodyguard who, after stealing said microchips, find themselves being tracked by a dangerous criminal.

1990 — Demolition Man — The year is 2032 in San Angeles, a utopian city created by the citizens of Southern California. When a violent criminal breaks out and threatens the societal peace, John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) is awoken from 36 years spent cryogenically frozen in ice to capture the fugitive, but he becomes distracted when forced to adapt to the future society made up of voice-controlled devices, autonomous connected cars, and more.

1990 — Hardware — Starring Dylan McDermott, this film — set in a post-apocalyptic America — follows a former soldier who unknowingly gifts his girlfriend spare parts from a self-rebuilding, murderous cyborg.

1990 — The KGB, The Computer and Me — In 1986, Clifford Stoll, an astronomer turned computer scientist, began working on a computer system at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. At the time, two accounting programs were responsible for charging people for machine use. When Stoll discovered a 75-cent discrepancy in the normally flawless programs, he began to investigate and eventually uncovered an undocumented user named “Hunter.” As he dug deeper, he realized that Hunter had hacked into the system and installed new programs. His investigation eventually led him and U.S. intelligence to the realization that Hunter was a computer programmer who worked for the KGB.

1991 — Terminator 2: Judgment Day — A cyborg protects Sarah Connor’s teenage son John from another cyborg intent on killing him.

1992 — The Lawnmower Man —Resembling “Frankenstein,” this science fiction horror film tells the story of a scientist (Pierce Brosnan) and his experiment: a once-simple man (Jeff Fahey) who, through the power of mind-enhancing medication and computer-simulated training sessions, becomes a genius. But it isn’t long before this experiment spirals out of control.

1992 — Single White Female — A woman (played by Bridget Fonda) advertises for a roommate. She soon discovers that her new roommate is a hacker (Jennifer Jason Leigh) intent on stealing her identity.

1992 — Sneakers — A Hacker (Robert Redford) leads a team of experts who test the security of San Francisco companies. They discover a black box that can crack any encryption, posing a huge threat if it lands in the wrong hands… including rogue NSA agents.

1993 — American Cyborg: Steel Warrior — When a fleet of murderous cyborgs threatens the remaining life on Earth after a nuclear war, two of the last humans join forces to save the future of their race. A nail-biting battle ensues.

1993 — Frauds — An insurance investigator (Phil Collins) uses games and gimmicks to manipulate the lives of others, including a couple who make an unusual insurance claim. He approves the claim but makes bizarre demands as ransom.

1993 — Ghost in the Machine — A computer-powered MRI machine extracts a serial murderer’s soul, and becomes a deadly technological weapon.

1993 — Jurassic Park — Seinfeld’s nemesis “Newman” (Dennis Nery) plays an IT guy who hacks his way into a coup that involves him stealing dinosaur DNA to sell to the highest bidder.

1993 — Knights — Set in a futuristic world devastated by war, this science fiction thriller tells the story of Gabriel (Kris Kristofferson), a cyborg, and Nea (Kathy Long), a young girl, who — despite being an unlikely duo — team up against their planet’s dominant, blood-thirsty army of cyborgs to save the human race.

1994 — Disclosure — Starring Demi Moore and Michael Douglas, this thriller balances both the virtual and physical worlds, telling the story of a senior executive at a technology company who’s on track for a big promotion — that is, until his fate falls into the hands of his ex-girlfriend, who is determined to revive their relationship … with or without consent.

1994 — Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II — The sequel to 1990’s Circuitry Man follows a female FBI agent and an android named Danner as they track down Plughead — a notorious criminal known for making and selling microchips that promise an extended life to those who take them.

1995 — Ghost in the Shell — In this animated Japanese sci-fi epic, a cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a cybercriminal called the Puppet Master, who hacks into the brains of cyborgs to get information and use it to commit crimes. (Scarlett Johansson stars in a 2017 live-action remake.)

1995 — GoldenEye — James Bond tries to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using a stolen space-based weapons program and falls into the clutches of an evil genius who plans to rule Earth from cyberspace.

1995 — Hackers —A teenage hacker is back on the scene seven years after being banned from computers for writing a virus that caused the biggest stock exchange crash in history. He and his friends must prove that a sinister superhacker is framing them for a plot to embezzle funds from a large oil company with a computer worm. With Angelina Jolie.

1995 — Johnny Mnemonic — A computer chip implanted in his brain allows a human data trafficker (Keanu Reeves) to securely store and transport data too sensitive for regular computer networks. When he gets a valuable package that exceeds the chip’s storage capacity, the mnemonic courier must deliver the data within 24 hours or die. Assassins are intent on helping him do just that.

1995 — Judge Dredd — Judge Dredd (Sylvester Stallone) is sent to a penal colony for a murder he didn’t commit. On his way there, he gets an unexpected sidekick when he reunites with Herman “Fergee” Ferguson (Rob Schneider), a hacker he previously busted for destruction of property.

1995 — The Net — A computer programmer (Sandra Bullock) who lives a reclusive life is looking forward to time off when she becomes aware of a conspiracy. Her vacation turns into a nightmare when someone tries to kill her and her identity is stolen. She must prove who she is while trying to figure out why someone wants her dead.

1995 — Under Siege 2: Dark Territory — Steven Seagal returns as ex-Navy SEAL Casey Ryback in this sequel to Under Siege, which finds Ryback and his niece Sarah (Katherine Heigl) on a train headed from Denver to Los Angeles. When the train is hijacked by a psychotic computer genius and his fellow terrorist, who need it for their plot to take control of a top-secret satellite, Ryback enlists the help of a train porter (Morris Chestnut) to foil their plan.

1996 — Independence Day — In an epic fight against an alien race, computer expert David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) achieves a crucial win when he hacks into the fleet of spaceships coming toward Earth, infecting them with a virus and putting a stop to the looming alien invasion.

1996 — Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace — On a mission for world domination, Jobe (Matt Frewer), a virtual reality-based consciousness, is determined to hack into all the world’s computers, but his plans are thwarted by Peter (Austin O’Brien) and Benjamin (Patrick Bergin), whose unfaltering passion to save the world — and cyberspace — inspires an all-out war.

1996 — Omega Doom — In a world dominated by violent cyborgs, there is little-to-no hope for what’s left of humanity … that is, until one such cyborg — Omega Doom — is struck in the head, causing his wires to short and recircut, leading to a newfound interest in defeating his own kind.

1997 — Masterminds — The new security chief at a prestigious private school plans to even a score by kidnapping several of the wealthy students and holding them for ransom. A teenage computer hacker, expelled from the school for pulling pranks, thwarts his plans.

1998 — 23 — After an orphan invests some of his inheritance in a home computer, he begins discussing conspiracy theories inspired by a novel on bulletin boards. He’s soon hacking military and government computers with a friend. Based on a true story.

1998 — Enemy of the State — A lawyer (Will Smith) isn’t aware that a videotape in his possession proves a congressman was murdered for opposing surveillance legislation. When he becomes the target of a corrupt NSA official and his life begins to fall apart, he enlists the help of an ex-intelligence operative (Gene Hackman).

1998 — Mercury Rising (Code Mercury) — A renegade FBI agent (Bruce Willis) must protect a 9-year-old autistic boy who has cracked encrypted government code that was supposed to be unbreakable.

1998 — Pi — Is there a mathematical key that can unlock the universal patterns in nature? If found, can that key predict anything — even the stock market? A brilliant, obsessed, and paranoid mathematician who barricades himself in a room filled with computer equipment intends to find that key, but might go mad while doing so.

1998 — Webmaster — In this Danish sci-fi thriller, a powerful crime leader hires a hacker to monitor the security of his computer operations. When someone else hacks into the database, the webmaster must go to extremes to find him, or die within 35 hours.

1999 — Entrapment — An undercover art investigator (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is intent on tracking down and capturing a renowned thief (Sean Connery). They end up attempting a heist together.

1999 — eXistenZ — Computer programmer Allegra Geller’s (Jennifer Jason Leigh) latest creation, the hyper-realistic virtual reality game eXistenZ, takes a dangerous turn when a crazed assassin becomes intent on destroying it. With help from Ted Pikul (Jude Law), Allegra sets out to save the game, and her life.

1999 — The Matrix — In a dystopian future, humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality created by intelligent machines to distract humans while they use their bodies as an energy source. A computer programmer / hacker known as Neo (Keanu Reeves) discovers the truth and joins forces with other rebels to free humankind.

1999 — Office Space —They’re supposed to be part of one big happy family, but three computer programmers hate their jobs and their boss. They concoct a scheme to embezzle small amounts of money from the high-tech company that employs them, but a mistake results in a bigger theft than planned. With Jennifer Anniston.

1999 — NetForce — In the year 2005, NetForce, a division of the FBI, is tasked with protecting the Net from terrorism. A loophole in a browser allows someone to gain control of the Internet and all the information it holds. Now the commander of NetForce must stop him, as he also tracks down a killer.

1999 — Pirates of Silicon Valley — This biographical drama about the development of the personal computer and the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft spans the years 1971 – 1997. Noah Wyle portrays Steve Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall stars as Bill Gates.

1999 — The Thirteenth Floor — This science-fiction neo-noir film begins in 1999 in Los Angeles when the inventor of a newly completed virtual reality simulation of the city in 1937 is murdered. A computer scientist he has mentored (played by Craig Bierko) becomes the primary suspect and begins to doubt his own innocence because of the evidence against him. He eventually enters the simulation to unravel the truth and realizes nothing is as it seems.

2000 — Takedown — Also known as “Track Down,” the controversial movie version of the manhunt for legendary hacker Kevin Mitnick is based on the book by Tsutomu Shimomura, “Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America’s Most Wanted Computer Outlaw – By The Man Who Did It.”

2001 — A.I. Artificial Intelligence — In this Pinocchio-esque tale, David (Haley Joel Osment) — a sentient, artificially-created robot — wishes to become a real boy, longing for a stronger connection with his human mother.

2001 — Antitrust — When a college graduate (Ryan Phillippe) gets a job writing software at a multi-billion dollar computer company, he has no idea that the founder (Tim Robbins) and new mentor is hiding dark secrets. Is there anyone he can trust?

2001 — The Code — This documentary covers the first decade of GNU/Linux and features some of the most influential people of the free software (FOSS) movement.

2001 — Freedom Downtime — This documentary covers the plight of convicted computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, from the standpoint that Miramax misrepresented him in the film “Takedown.” It includes the story of several computer enthusiasts who confront Miramax reps about their discontent with aspects of the script, including the film’s ending.

2001 — Revolution OS — The history of GNU, Linux, and the open source and free software movements is traced in this documentary. It features several interviews with prominent hackers and entrepreneurs.

2001 — The Score — An aging safecracker (Robert De Niro) plans to retire, but his fence (Marlon Brando) talks him into one final score, stealing one of Canada’s natural treasures hidden in the basement of a Customs House. He joins forces with another thief (Edward Norton) who hires someone to hack into the Custom House’s security system, but things go wrong.

2001 — Secret History of Hacking — The focus of this documentary is phreaking, computer hacking, and social engineering occurring from the 1970s through the 1990s. John Draper, Steve Wozniak, and Kevin Mitnick are prominently featured.

2001 — Swordfish — A spy named Gabriel (John Travolta) plots to steal a large fortune. He enlists Ginger (Halle Berry) to persuade Stanley (Hugh Jackman), who spent two years in prison for hacking an FBI program, to help. But what is Gabriel really up to, and who or what is really behind the plot?

2002 — Catch Me if You Can — Frank Abagnale is one of the world’s most respected authorities on forgery, embezzlement, and secure documents. His riveting story provided the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks as the FBI agent fast on his heels.

2002 — Cypher — Morgan Sullivan (Jeremy Northam) is an accountant turned corporate spy working for a global computer corporation. When a mysterious woman suggests his job isn’t what it seems, Morgan ascends into a complicated world of brainwashing, where he struggles to maintain his true identity.

2002 — Half the Rent — Otherwise known as Halbe Miete, this film follows a computer hacker (Stephan Kampwirth) who, after the sudden death of his girlfriend, breaks into — and camps out at — other people’s apartments when they’re not home. But when what started as a temporary solution to homelessness becomes a dangerous obsession, will the risk outweigh the reward?

2002 — Minority Report — It’s 2054 and a specialized Pre-Crime police department in D.C. stops crimes before they are committed based on information from Pre-Cogs, three psychic beings who channel their visions into a computer. When they accuse the unit chief (Tom Cruise) of a future murder, he becomes a fugitive, hunted by his own department.

2002 — Storm Watch — A champion player of virtual reality games must suddenly race against time to stop a criminal mastermind who has stolen his identify from destroying the world with a weather satellite. Also known as “Code Hunter.”

2002 — Terminal Error — A former employee of a major software company gets even with the president by planting a computer virus on an MP3 and giving it to his son. His plan is to crash the computer terminals, but the virus has a mind of its own and begins to take out large portions of the city. Father and son must create their own virus to stop the chaos.

2003 — Code 46 — In a dystopian world, citizens are forbidden to travel outside their cities without special permits from the totalitarian government. When forged permits start to circulate, William Gold (Tim Robbins) is tasked with investigating, finding, and taking down the individual responsible, though he never expects to fall in love with her.

2003 — The Core — After several bizarre incidents across the globe, a geophysicist and scientists determine that the planet’s molten core has stopped rotating and that the magnetic field will collapse within a year. They devise a plan to bore down to the core and set off nuclear explosions to restart the rotation and enlist a hacker to scour the internet and eliminate all traces of the pending disaster to prevent worldwide panic.

2003 — Foolproof — Kevin (Ryan Reynolds) is part of a friend group with an odd hobby: they plan heists, yet never carry them out despite being perfectly able to do so. But when their plans fall into the wrong hands, the friends are thrust into the criminal world as they’re forced to carry out a jewelry warehouse heist that was never supposed to see the light of day.

2003 — In the Realm of the Hackers — This documentary reveals how and why two Australian teenager computer hackers, Electron and Phoenix, stole a restructured computer security list in the late 1980s and used it to break into some of the world’s most classified and secure computer systems.

2003 — The Italian Job — After a thief (Edward Norton) turns on his partners and gets away with the gold they’ve stolen in a heist, his former team seeks revenge.

2003 — The Matrix Reloaded — With the help of Neo (Keanu Reeves), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and other freedom fighters, more and more humans have been freed from the Matrix and brought to Zion. But 250,000 machines are digging towards the stronghold and will reach them in 72 hours, so they must prepare for war.

2003 — Paycheck — Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) makes good money working on top-secret projects and then agreeing to have his memory erased, until a payment of $92 million for a three-year assignment is canceled. With his life in danger, he must get help from a scientist (Uma Thurman) he doesn’t remember dating to figure out the importance of seemingly random items.

2004 — One Point O — Simon (Jeremy Sisto), a young, paranoid computer programmer, finds himself on the receiving end of a series of mysteriously empty packages. Little does he know these deliveries are only the tip of a reality-bending iceberg that will change his life forever.

2004 — Paranoia 1.0 — A computer programmer receives mysterious empty packages inside his apartment and tries to find out who’s sending them, why, and who he can trust. Also known as “One Point O.”

2005 — V for Vendetta — In a dystopian future, a tyrannical British government imposes a strict curfew following the outbreak of a virus. An anarchist in a smiling Guy Fawkes mask seeks revenge with the help of a young woman and hacks into the television network to urge others to revolt against tyranny.

2006 — Deja Vu — Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is an ATF agent working to capture the terrorist responsible for a ferry bombing that killed hundreds. Using an advanced form of surveillance technology, Doug travels back in time, on a mission to prevent the crime, but his newfound obsession with one of the victims puts everything at risk.

2006 — The Departed — Boston police officer Billy (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes undercover to infiltrate — and take down — the dangerous Irish gang tearing up his city, led by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Becoming consumed by his secret life, Billy loses sight of his mission, though everything comes back into perspective when a career criminal infiltrates and begins threatening the police department.

2006 — Firewall — When his family is taken hostage, a security specialist (Harrison Ford) who designs theft-proof computer systems for financial institutions must break into his own system and steal millions of dollars to pay off their ransom.

2006 — Hacking Democracy — This documentary investigates allegations of election fraud during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. It follows Bev Harris, the founder of Black Box Voting, a nonprofit consumer-protection group, and other citizen activists who set out to uncover flaws in the voting system.

2006 — In Ascolto — Also known as The Listening, this film takes inspiration from the mass surveillance operations of the National Security Agency (NSA), chronicling the experience of a spy (Michael Parks) working undercover to get on the inside of a counter-listening station in the Italian Alps.

2006 — Man of the Year — A satirical political talk show host (Robin Williams) runs for president and gets elected with the help of fans who begin a grassroots campaign. It’s later revealed that his presidency was the result of a computerized voting machine malfunction.

2006 — The Net 2.0 — A young computer systems analyst arrives in Istanbul to start a new job, but finds out her identity has been stolen. She must catch who did it to get her life back.

2006 — Pulse — In this remake of a Japanese horror film, a student is shocked when her boyfriend, a computer hacker, commits suicide. Then she and her friends receive online messages from him, asking for help. Another computer hacker must help her stop a supernatural plague traveling through the network.

2006 — A Scanner Darkly — This computer-animated adaptation of Philip K Dick’s 1977 sci-fi novel is set in the near-future. The U.S.’s war on drugs, particularly a hyper-addictive substance called D (for Death), prompts the enforcement of a police state that uses numberless surveillance scanners.

2007 — Bourne Ultimatum — Operative Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) teams up with an investigative reporter to find the people who betrayed him, while a ruthless CIA official and his team continue to track him down in the hopes of assassinating him before he gets his memory back.

2007 — Breach – This docudrama is based on the events leading up to the capture of FBI Agent Robert Hanssen, convicted of selling secrets to the Soviet Union. A low-level surveillance expert gets promoted and assigned to work with Hanssen, unaware that he is to find proof that he is a traitor.

2007 — Every Step You Take — This documentary is an in-depth look at modern-day Britain and its Orwell-esque levels of government surveillance. It explores the pros and cons of CCTV, highlighted by commentary from notable experts in the field.

2007 — Live Free or Die Hard — As the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, a disgruntled government security agent launches an attack on America’s computer infrastructure. Veteran cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) and a young hacker must help the F.B.I.’s cyber division take him down.

2008 — 21 — Six Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students hack their way to success — and millions of dollars — in Las Vegas casinos by counting cards until casino enforcer Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) thwarts their plans. Based on a true story.

2008 — Download: The True Story of the Internet — Told through personal accounts from the founders of Yahoo, eBay, Google, Amazon, and many others, this documentary tells the story of how the internet became what it is today.

2008 — Eagle Eye — Two strangers, Jerry and Rachel, come together after receiving mysterious calls from a woman they never met. She threatens their lives and family to push them into a series of dangerous situations, controlling their actions using cellphones and other technology.

2008 — Hackers are People Too — Hackers created this documentary to portray their community and break down negative stereotypes. It describes what hacking is, how hackers think, and discusses women in the field.

2008 — Untraceable — Agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) of the Cyber Crimes Division of the FBI in Portland tries to track down a psychopathic hacker killing people online in live streaming video. As his site gets more hits, victims die faster.

2008 — WarGames: The Dead Code 2008 — Is an American teen hacker playing a terrorist-attack simulator game online a real terrorist intent on destroying the United States? That’s what Homeland Security believes and they set out to apprehend him.

2009 — Echelon Conspiracy — When tech whiz Max Peterson (Shane West) gets sent a mysterious cell phone in the mail, he’s unsure of where it came from or what it is — until it starts sending instructions on how to win at the local casino. But it isn’t long before Max’s newfound luck puts him at the center of a dangerous government conspiracy dealing with the world’s security cameras. Will he make it out alive?

2009 — Eyeborgs — In the aftermath of a major terrorist attack, government surveillance in the U.S. is taken to the next level via robotic cameras called “Eyeborgs,” which track and monitor all citizens for suspicious behavior. But when photographic evidence from the Eyeborgs doesn’t line up with the facts in an ongoing murder investigation, a federal agent starts to wonder, who’s really controlling these cameras and what do they want?

2009 — Gamer — Controlled by a teenage gamer’s remote device, death-row inmate Kable must battle fellow prisoners every week in a violent online game. Can he survive enough sessions to gain his freedom, free his wife from avatar slavery, and take down the game’s inventor?

2009 — The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — A journalist searches for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years, with the help of a young female hacker. When they unravel dark family secrets, they must protect themselves. This Swedish language film was remade in English in 2011.

2009 — Hackers Wanted — This unreleased American documentary originally named “Can You Hack It?” follows the adventures of Adrian Lamo, a famous hacker, and explores the origins of hacking and nature of hackers.

2009 — Shadow Government — What impact does the technological landscape have on our daily lives? This documentary, led by Grant Jeffrey, explores exactly how much of our lives are being digitized and observed in the modern era.

2009 — Transcendent Man — The subject of this documentary from filmmaker Robert Barry Ptolemy is Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist and author, and his predictions about the future of technology, presented in his 2005 book, The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Ptolemy follows Kurzweil on his world speaking tour, where he discusses his thoughts on the technological singularity, a proposed advancement that will occur sometime in the 21st century due to progress in artificial intelligence, genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics.

2009 — We Live in Public — Directed by Ondi Timoner, this documentary profiles Josh Harris, “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of.” An early dot.com entrepreneur, Harris founded Psuedo.com, an early streaming content service. In 1999, he began an experiment called “Quiet,” in which 100 men and women agreed to give up their privacy to live together under constant video surveillance, so their lives could be streamed online.

2010 — Inception — A thief (Leonardo DiCaprio) who can enter people’s dreams and steal their secrets begins using his gift for corporate espionage. Can he also plant an idea into someone’s mind? The film won four Oscars.

2010 — The Social Network — Jesse Eisenberg portrays Harvard student and computer genius Mark Zuckerberg in this drama about the creation of a social networking site that would become Facebook.

2010 — Tron Legacy — In this revamped Tron continuation, Sam (Garrett Hedlund) searches in and out of the computer world for his father, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a brilliant computer programmer.

2011 — Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol — When mega-spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is blamed for a terrorist attack on the Kremlin, he and others from his agency, the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), must prove their innocence.

2011 — StuxNet: Cyberwar — First discovered in 2010, the StuxNet computer worm marked the beginning of a new era in cybercrime, attacking — and causing substantial damage to — an Iranian nuclear program. This documentary explores the malware’s origins alongside its contributions to the advancement of cyber warfare technology.

2012 — Code 2600 — This documentary explores the rise of the Information Technology Age through the eyes of the people who helped build it and the events that shaped it.

2012 — Genius on Hold — The downfall of Walter L. Shaw, a telecommunications genius who became destitute, and his disillusioned son, who became a notorious jewel thief, are the subjects of this documentary.

2012 — Owned & Operated — Using the lens of the internet, this documentary proves just how much we matter … as consumers, that is. Society today practically lives for privileged individuals — celebrities and politicians, among others — unknowingly adhering to their wicked ways of gaining control, but there is an awakening on the horizon, and it’s going to change everything.

2012 – Panopticon – Living in the digital age, do we really have privacy? This documentary examines how much our daily lives are controlled and watched by omnipresent surveillance, which — as technology advances — has only become harder to avoid.

2012 — Reboot — A young female hacker can’t remember a traumatic event that leaves her with an iPhone glued to her hand. The phone’s timer is counting down to zero and fellow hackers must help her solve the puzzle.

2012 — Shadows of Liberty — Should we trust the media? This documentary examines the five big for-profit conglomerates that control 90 percent of U.S.-based media, raising questions of who to believe in today’s political, economical, and social world.

2012 — Skyfall — James Bond (Daniel Craig) must prove he still has what it takes as he tracks down the source of a cyber-terror attack at M16 headquarters and goes up against a genius hacker.

2012 — Tracked Down — Directed by Paul Moreira, this documentary explains how governments around the world monitor their citizens through advanced electronic warfare equipment — equipment that has fallen into the hands of repressive dictatorial regimes in Libya, Syria and Bahrain. Moreira reveals how the technology can be traded in stealth and traces these deals to their source.

2012 — Underground: The Julian Assange Story — This Australian film follows the early career of the WikiLeaks founder, from his start as a teenage computer hacker in Melbourne.

2012 — We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists — Filmmaker Brian Knappenberger documents the hacking group Anonymous, including interviews from group members.

2013 — The Assange Agenda: Surveillance, Democracy and You — At what point does government surveillance put democracy at risk? According to Julian Assange — founder of Wikileaks — we’re already there. This documentary explores what may lay ahead for today’s digital world if we don’t gain control over the various agencies spying on us.

2013 — Big Data: The Shell Investigation — In the digital age, a journalist’s sources are endless — when consulting big data, that is. This documentary showcases how a team of journalists used easily accessible channels, such as LinkedIn and Wikipedia, to piece together the truth about Royal Dutch Shell’s two-billion-dollar debt to the Iranian government.

2013 — The Bling Ring — Nicki (Emma Watson) and her fame-obsessed group of friends will do anything to make a name for themselves in Hollywood, including breaking into — and robbing — the homes of elite celebrities, which, if not for the internet, would never have been possible.

2013 — DEFCON: The Documentary — The world’s largest hacking conference, DEFCON, has long since had a strict no-camera policy … until now. This documentary follows the four days of DEFCON’s 20th-anniversary event, highlighted by commentary from attendees and staff.

2013 — Disconnect — Three intersecting stories center around the impact of the Internet on people’s lives. The characters include a victim of cyberbullying, a lawyer who communicates constantly through his cell phone but can’t find time to connect with his family, and a couple whose secrets are exposed online.

2013 — DSKNECTD — Do electronic devices bring people together or pull them apart? This documentary examines how human interaction has changed in light of the rise of technologies such as cell phones, social media, and the internet.

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2013 — The Fifth Estate — Based on real events, the film begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Daniel Domscheit-Berg join forces as underground watchdogs and create a platform for whistleblowers to leak covert data to expose government secrets and corporate crimes.

2013 — Goodbye World — More than one million cellphones simultaneously receive a two-word message, followed by the collapse of the power grid and widespread panic. A group of people who find shelter in a cabin soon find out what it’s like to live in a post-apocalyptic world.

2013 — Google and the World Brain — The Google Books Library Project is certainly ambitious, but is it feasible? This documentary examines Google’s plan to open the world’s largest virtual library, as well as the many issues that may stem from it, such as copyright infringement and lack of online privacy.

2013 — Her — In this futuristic story, a lonely writer ( Joaquin Phoenix ) develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.

2013 — Identity Thief — When a woman (Melissa McCarthy) steals the identity of Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman), a financial firm account executive, and wrecks his credit rating, he sets out to confront her.

2013 — In Google We Trust — Who’s keeping tabs on your data? This revealing documentary gives viewers an inside look into how — and why — our digital interactions are tracked and recorded. If you’re worried about the consequences, watch this now.

2013 — Mickey Virus — In this Bollywood hacker comedy, Delhi Police must seek the help of a lazy hacker to solve a case.

2013 — Terms and Conditions May Apply — This documentary exposes how much the Internet and cellphone usage allows corporations and governments to learn about people.

2013 — TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard —This Swedish documentary film, directed and produced by Simon Klose, focuses on the lives of the three founders of The Pirate Bay — Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm — and the Pirate Bay trial.

2013 — The Value of Your Personal Data — Produced by the acclaimed VPRO series, this documentary discusses the companies that collect your personal data, who buys it from them, how it is used, and who owns it. It also gives advice on how you can gain back control of it and stop being targeted and manipulated.

2013 — War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State — This documentary by Robert Greenwald highlights four cases — Michael DeKort, Thomas Drake, Franz Gayl and Thomas Tamm — where American government employees and contractors exposed fraud and abuse through the media at the risk of their personal and professional lives.

2014 — Algorithm — A computer hacker who specializes in breaking into secure systems, including the telephone company and people’s personal accounts, hacks a government contractor and discovers a mysterious computer program, thrusting him into a revolution.

2014 — The Bureau of Digital Sabotage — What is privacy? This documentary argues it is nonexistent in today’s digital age, delving into our new reality and its most crucial issues by asking citizens to stand up when mass surveillance crosses the line.

2014 — Citizenfour — This documentary by Laura Poitras about whistleblower Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal includes interviews of Snowden in Hong Kong in 2013 and features work by journalist Glenn Greenwald.

2014 — Digital Amnesia — An in-depth investigation into the shelf life of digital data and the vulnerable nature in which we store information today, featuring commentary from organizations such as Internet Archive and The Archive Team.

2014 — Ex Machina — A young programmer wins a competition that makes him the human component in a groundbreaking experiment where he must evaluate the capabilities and consciousness of Ava, a breathtaking A.I.

2014 — The Hackers Wars — This documentary discusses hacktivism in the United States, including the government’s surveillance and persecution of hackers and journalists.

2014 — The Human Face of Big Data — This documentary, directed by Sandy Smolan and narrated by Joel McHale, initially focuses on Big Data’s positive aspects, such as how the massive gathering and analyzing of data in real-time through a multitude of digital devices allows us to address some of humanity’s biggest challenges and improve lives globally. It also highlights how the accessibility of this data comes at a steep price.

2014 — The Imitation Game — M16, the newly created British intelligence agency, recruits mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his team to crack the Germany’s Enigma code during World War II. Nominated for 8 Oscars.

2014 — Inside The Dark Web — Internet surveillance takes center stage in this documentary that details the pros and cons of the World Wide Web. With all types of surveillance taking place globally — government, commercial, and more — what does the future look like for those living in the digital age?

2014 — The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz — Filmmaker Brian Knappenberger explores the life and work of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, a programming prodigy and information activist who committed suicide at the age of 26.

2014 — Killswitch — In a world where we rely so heavily on the internet, what happens if it comes under attack? This award-winning documentary centers on the threat of internet censorship and what we risk losing if we don’t fight back, such as free speech, democracy, and innovation.

2014 — Men, Women and Children — What does it mean to be a parent in the age of social media? This film follows multiple families, each with their own relationships to the internet, as they overcome various challenges, including eating disorders and video game culture.

2014 — Open Windows — A blogger finds out he’s won a dinner with an actress he devotes his website to and is disappointed when she cancels. When he gets a chance to spy on her every move with his laptop, his life gets crazy.

2014 — The Signal — Nic, who is a student at MIT, is on a road trip with two companions when an annoying computer hacker distracts them. They track him to an abandoned shack. After strange occurrences, Nik wakes up wounded and disoriented, wondering what has happened to his friends, and who are these people in space suits?

2014 — Transcendence — Dr. Will Caster, renowned artificial intelligence researcher, is on a controversial quest to create a fully sentient machine, but are the dangerous consequences that follow worth it? This science-fiction thriller stars Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, and Paul Bettany, among others.

2014 — Unfriended — a mysterious, supernatural force haunts a group of online chat room friends using the account of their dead friend.

2014 — Who Am I — A subversive hacker group intent on gaining global fame invites a young German computer whiz to join them.

2015 — Big Data: Unlocking Success — Experts from Berkeley Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Microsoft look into the use of data science and its allied fields in this documentary, noting several real-life examples, including events at Johns Hopkins University and MGM Resorts International.

2015 — Blackhat — Convicted hacker Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) joins a team of American and Chinese technical experts to track down a Balkan cyberterrorist operating in Southeast Asia.

2015 — Cyberbully — In this made-for-TV movie, A British teenage girl (Emily Osment) retreats from family and friends when a computer hacker forces her to do his bidding, threatening to leak compromising photos of her if she doesn’t do what he asks.

2015 — Cybertopia: Dreams of Silicon Valley — A technological revolution is looming in Silicon Valley. This documentary explores the future of digitized reality, as well as how daily life has already changed as a result of the dedicated individuals residing in California’s tech headquarters.

2015 — Debug — Six young hackers assigned to fix the computer system on a vessel drifting in deep space become prey to an artificial intelligence source intent on becoming human.

2015 — Deep Web — Filmmaker Alex Winter interviews the people behind the Deep Web and bitcoin and follows the arrest and trial of Ross Ulbricht (“Dread Pirate Roberts”), founder of online black market Silk Road.

2015 — Democracy: Im Rausch der Daten — From Swiss director David Bernet, this documentary tells the story of how politicians in the EU are working to protect society from the dangers of Big Data and mass surveillance.

2015 — Digitale Dissidenten — What price do whistleblowers pay? Interviews with David Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, William Binney, Thomas Drake, Annie Machon, and Julian Assange shed light on the cost of having a conscience in the dark world of government surveillance.

2015 — Furious 7 —Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell), a government operative, enlists Dominic Toretto to find a hacker who has created God’s Eye, a device that can hack any technology that uses a camera. In return, they can use the device to find and stop Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who is seeking revenge against Toretto and his crew for his comatose brother.

2015 — A Good American — This documentary film tells the story of Bill Binney, former technical director of the NSA, a group of exceptional code-breakers, and a program called ThinThread, which, if not dumped three weeks prior to 9/11, would’ve been able to stop the terrorist attacks that took almost 3,000 lives.

2015 — Hacker’s Game — A cyber-detective working for a human rights organization and a hacking expert with shady connections meet on a rooftop and bond over a game of virtual chess. Will their romance survive deception?

2015 — Jobs vs. Gates: The Hippie and The Nerd — This documentary tells the story of two of the biggest men in tech, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, and the spectacular rivalry between them. Despite landing on two different sides of the battle between Mac and PC, Jobs and Gates’ mutual respect for one another endured the test of time.

2015 — Mapping the Future — Are our lives predictable? If you take the internet’s overflowing amount of data into consideration, the answer is yes. This documentary explores how the abundance of data gathered on the internet in recent years led to a mathematical algorithm for human life.

2015 — Terminal F/Chasing Edward Snowden — This documentary discusses what motivated Edward Snowden, an NSA analyst-turned whistleblower, to leak classified information about global surveillance programs used by the American government, leading him to flee to Hong Kong and later to Russia to evade authorities.

2015 — The Throwaways — Drew (Sam Huntington) is an infamous hacker who is captured by the CIA for a slew of cybercrimes. However, his impending jail sentence is renounced after the CIA gives him an alternate option — work for them. Sam agrees, but on one condition: he gets to build his own team.

2015 — War for the Web — Directed by J. C. Cameron Brueckner, this documentary demystifies the physical infrastructure of the internet and explores the issues of ownership and competition in the broadband marketplace, privacy, and security.

2016 — Anonymous — A young Ukrainian immigrant turns to hacking and identity theft to support his parents, with help from a friend who is a black-market dealer. Petty crimes soon escalate. The film is also known as “Hacker.”

2016 — Backlight: Cyberjihad — Can social media become a weapon? This documentary examines jihadism and its online presence, which, without any hindrance, has only grown larger over the past fifteen years.

2016 — Cyber War — Hackers pose a universal threat; how can we defend ourselves? This documentary explores how governments are building up protection against the ever-growing number of digital threats, including by recruiting those with the brains to wage cyberwar and espionage when necessary.

2016 — Data Center: The True Cost of the Internet — Every day, 247 billion emails are sent through the web. Have you ever wondered what powers them? This eye-opening, high-tech documentary takes viewers inside the digital warehouses that run the internet, otherwise known as data centers.

2016 — Down the Deep, Dark Web — Venture down the internet’s rabbit hole into the secretive world of the dark web, guided by crypto-anarchists, cypherpunks, and hackers. This documentary will make you question everything you thought you knew about the darknet.

2016 — Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee — Complex antivirus pioneer John McAfee made millions before leaving the U.S. to live in a compound in the jungle in Belize. This Showtime documentary, which he calls fiction, portrays his life in Belize and 2012 departure after a neighbor was murdered.

2016 — The Haystack — Due to sophisticated hacking techniques and the terrorist organizations that often use them, the British Parliament began reviewing the Investigatory Powers Bill, legislation that would provide more leniency in the interception of private email and phone communications. Prior to the bill passing in 2016, this documentary examined how effective it would be, if it was necessary, and what citizens would have to give up once the bill was implemented.

2016 — I.T. — Aviation tycoon Mike Regan (Pierce Brosnan) hires an I.T. consultant on a temporary basis to do some work at his house and is so impressed he gives him a full-time job. He’s fired when he oversteps boundaries and seeks revenge against the businessman and his family.

2016 — Jason Bourne — Former CIA agent Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is drawn out of hiding to uncover more about his past while fighting cyberterrorism.

2016 — Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World — Filmmaker Werner Herzog examines the Internet and how it affects human interaction and modern society.

2016 — National Bird — A chilling documentary in which three military veterans blow the whistle on the secret U.S. drone war, highlighting America’s modern warfare program through the harrowing experiences of those involved.

2016 — Nerve — Friends pressure a high school senior to join the popular online game Nerve. She becomes caught up in the thrill of the adrenaline-fueled competition, partnered with a mysterious stranger, but the game takes a sinister turn.

2016 — Offline is the New Luxury — Since the dawn of the internet, humanity has slowly but surely become increasingly dependent on various smart devices — phones, tablets, and laptops alike. This documentary asks one poignant question: what would the world be without them?

2016 — Rise of the Trolls — Is being anonymous a blessing or a curse? In this documentary, filmmakers Jonathan Baltrusaitis and Paul Kemp explore the unnerving truths surrounding internet anonymity, dark instincts, and freedom in cyberspace.

2016 — Risk — Laura Poitras spent six years making this documentary about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who gave her the opportunity to closely film him but later tried to censor the film.

2016 — Silicon Cowboys — This documentary tells the true story of how three unsuspecting friends became computing pioneers by dreaming up the Compaq Computer — a portable PC that would directly impact the future of computing and consequently shape the world we live in today.

2016 — Snowden — Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Edward J. Snowden in Oliver Stone’s biopic of the former National Security Agency contractor who becomes disillusioned with the intelligence community and leaks classified information, becoming a fugitive from law and a hero to many.

2016 — State of Surveillance — In this documentary film, Edward Snowden — infamously known for leaking classified information from the National Security Agency — invites viewers into the disturbing world of government surveillance. A must-see for anyone who feels like they’re being watched.

2016 — Stingray — This documentary enlightens viewers to just how advanced surveillance technology has become, highlighting the Stingray, which, despite going by many different names, has certified itself as one of the most powerful surveillance devices of all time, though many see it as an invasion of privacy.

2016 — What Makes You Click — Described as both a fascinating psychological study and a gripping cautionary tale, this documentary from the VPRO Backlight series discusses how companies adapt their websites and apps to get consumers to stay on them longer and spend more money.

2016 — Zero Days — Alex Gibney’s documentary focuses on Stuxnet, or “Operation Olympic Games,” a malicious computer worm developed by the United States and Israel to sabotage a key part of Iran’s nuclear program.

2017 — AlphaGo — Can an AI challenger defeat a legendary master in the game of Go? The battle between man and machine takes center stage in this documentary film chronicling Lee Sedol’s nail-biting match against AlphaGo, a computer program devised by Deep Mind Technologies to master the 3,000-year-old game.

2017 — The Circle — Mae (Emma Watson) lands a dream job at a technology and social media company called the Circle. She is soon handpicked by the founder (Tom Hanks) to participate in an experiment that takes transparency to a new level.

2017 — The Crash — The government enlists a team of white-collar criminals to thwart a cyberattack that threatens to bankrupt the United States.

2017 — Facebook: Cracking the Code — What does Facebook know about you? This documentary digs deep into the security issues that social media giant Facebook doesn’t want you to know, including how they track browsing data, promote targeted ads, and spread false information.

2017 — The Fate of the Furious — A cyberterrorist known as Cipher (Charlize Theron) coerces Dom (Vin Diesel) into working for her, hacks and takes control of cars, and reaps havoc.

2017 — Ghost in the Shell — Major (Scarlett Johansson) is saved from a terrible crash and cyber-enhanced as a soldier to stop the world’s most dangerous criminals. She soon discovers that her life was actually stolen and determines to recover her past, find out who did this to her, and stop them before they do it to others.

2017 — Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web — This documentary tells the story of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, a super-hacker, entrepreneur and notorious Internet pirate accused of money laundering, racketeering, and copyright infringement.

2017 — Meeting Snowden — Edward Snowden, former CIA and NSA collaborator, has become infamous for initiating one of the most controversial mass surveillance scandals of all time. But who is he really? In this documentary, Lawrence Lassig and Birgitta Jónsdóttir sit down with the whistleblower to discuss the future of democracy, among other things.

2017 — Nothing to Hide — Do we really have nothing to hide? This documentary takes an in-depth look into government surveillance today and why the public seems to have unanimously accepted the loss of their right to online privacy.

2017 — Silk Road: Drugs, Death, and the Dark Web — In 2011, Ross Ulbricht launched the anonymous darknet website, Silk Road. This documentary explores everything the black market site had to offer, as well as the events leading up to — and following — Ulbricht’s inevitable arrest.

2017 — Stare Into The Lights My Pretties — Many of us live behind a screen, but at what cost? This documentary examines why so many people are addicted to their screens, all the while exploring the impact this collective mindset may have on our future.

2017 — Thoughtcrime — Directed by Bernd Riemann, this documentary compares the disturbing similarities between the disclosures made by former CIA employee Edward Snowden in 2013 and the world created by George Orwell in the dystopian science fiction film 1984, where independent thinking was censored and holding thoughts opposing those in power was considered a criminal act.

2017 — Weapons of Mass Surveillance — Directed by Elizabeth C. Jones, this documentary explores the dangerous alliance of Western surveillance technology and Middle Eastern governments who use that technology to monitor their citizens. It discusses how high-tech cyber-surveillance enables governments to record, archive, and analyze communications.

2018 — Anon — In a world where everyone’s lives are transparent, traceable, and recorded by the authorities, causing crime to almost cease, a detective (Clive Owen) tries to solve a series of murders that may involve a mysterious hacker (Amanda Seyfried).

2018 — Assassination Nation — After an anonymous hacker leaks the private information of the people of Salem, suspicion falls on four teenage girls who are targeted by the community.

2018 — Black Code — Told through accounts from exiled Brazilian activists, Syrian citizens, and Tibetan monks, this documentary explores how governments across the world are exploiting the internet to gain control over their people.

2018 — Cam — Alice (Madeline Brewer) is an exotic webcam performer whose life is turned upside down when her channel — and livelihood — are stolen by a scarily accurate look-alike. Determined to get her identity back, Alice sets out to unmask, and ultimately take down, the mysterious hacker.

2018 — The Cleaners — Nothing stays on the internet forever. The web’s self-cleaning nature dominates this documentary led by field experts, enlightening viewers to the process of content removal, alongside asking one poignant question: who decides what should, and should not, be seen?

2018 — The Creepy Line — Google and Facebook take center stage in this documentary that depicts how the social media platforms have perfected various manipulation tactics, all in the name of gaining access to the public’s personal and private information. Told through first-hand accounts, scientific experiments, and an in-depth analysis.

2018 — The Defenders — Produced by Cybereason, this documentary invites viewers inside the world of cybercrime, analyzing four of the most well-known cyberattacks throughout history — highlighted by commentary from those working to protect our institutions from the ever-changing cyber threat landscape.

2018 — Digital Addicts — How much do screens affect children’s brain development? This documentary follows a group of kids growing up in the digital age, highlighting the harmful, hyper-addictive nature of social media platforms, mobile phones, and more.

2018 — Do You Trust This Computer? — Is a smarter machine always a better machine? This documentary digs deep into the dangers of artificial intelligence, highlighted by commentary from some of the field’s most respected individuals, including Elon Musk.

2018 — Edward Snowden: Whistleblower or Spy? — In 2013, Edward Snowden infamously leaked highly classified information from the NSA. Five years later, this documentary looks back at the sensational time through interviews with participants and witnesses, including some who are speaking out for the first time.

2018 — The Feeling of Being Watched — This documentary is the result of journalist Assia Bendaoui’s investigation into rumors that the FBI has monitored her quiet, predominantly Arab-American neighborhood near Chicago since the 1990s. Her research exposed one of the FBI’s largest counter-terrorism investigations before 9/11.

2018 — General Magic — This is the story of one of tech’s most influential and least memorable companies. Featuring commentary from members of the original Macintosh team alongside the creators of eBay, iPod, iPhone, and Android, this documentary explores how General Magic created the first handheld personal communicator, aka smartphone, and what happened after.

2018 — The Girl in the Spider’s Web — Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (who is also an avenging angel for abused women) and journalist Mikael Blomkvist find themselves caught in a web of spies, cybercriminals and corrupt government officials.

2018 — Hacked — After losing his job to a state-of-the-art supercomputer, a disgruntled computer technician decides to test his replacement. In the meantime, a group of hackers infiltrates the building to steal the new technology.

2018 — Inside Facebook: Secrets of a Social Network — Which is more important: money or morality? This eye-opening documentary takes viewers inside Facebook’s moderating hub, demonstrating how the social media company regulates harmful content, such as child abuse and hate speech — although the results prove to be more concerning than comforting.

2018 — Inside the Russian Info War Machine — How does Russia undermine democratic governments, alter world events, and manipulate public opinion? In this documentary, acclaimed journalist Paul Moreira breaks down the Russian information war machine, including its hidden weapon: the trolls and hackers pushing Russia’s agenda across cyberspace.

2018 — Irumbu Thirai — A cat and mouse game for the digital age. After losing millions of dollars to a group of cybercriminals, a soldier sets out on a quest to get back everything he lost. Will his efforts be enough?

2018 — Johnny English Strikes Again — After a cyberattack reveals the identity of all of Britain’s active undercover agents, MI7 agent Johnny English must come out of retirement to find the mastermind hacker.

2018 — King of Crime — Marcus King (Mark Wingett) was a well-known crime lord on the streets … that is, until he brought his illegal empire to cyberspace. When Islamic extremists threaten everything he’s built, the newly cemented king of British cybercrime will do everything in his power to maintain his status.

2018 — Ocean’s 8 — On a mission to pull off an impossible heist at New York’s renowned Met Gala, hacker 9Ball (Rihanna) launches a spear-phishing campaign against an employee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gaining access to the museum’s security camera system and giving her all-female crew the insight they need to successfully steal one of the most valuable jewelry pieces in the world.

2018 — Peripheral — This horror film follows a successful young writer — Bobbi Johnson (Hannah Arterton) — who, after experiencing writer’s block while writing her second novel, employs an artificially intelligent software to finish her work. Little does Bobbi know, she’s about to uncover a dangerous conspiracy of social control.

2018 — Searching — A man becomes desperate when his 16-year-old daughter disappears and a police investigation is futile. Hoping to find clues, he searches her laptop, scours photos and videos, and begins contacting her friends.

2018 — Unfriended: Dark Web — After a teen finds a mysterious laptop, he invites several friends to play a game online. The night turns deadly when they become the target of cyber-terrorism.

2019 — BD2K: Big Data to Knowledge — Told through the stories of two patients battling disease in the information age, this documentary film explores how big data has changed the way medicine is practiced, as well as its effect on doctor-patient relationships.

2019 — Cyber Crime — In this documentary, 10 leading cybercrime experts discuss how billions of dollars a year are stolen or lost as a result of cybercrime, destroying businesses and lives.

2019 — Dataland — Living in a world that’s practically run by AI, it’s hard to think we’ve only just scratched the surface of what the technology is capable of — but it’s true. This documentary explores what the world’s top data scientists are working on behind closed doors.

2019 — The Great Hack — This documentary examines the Cambridge Analytica scandal through the roles of several people affected by it.

2019 — HAK_MTL — Tech companies claim to protect our privacy, but is it true? In this eye-opening documentary, a group of Canadian hackers launch an investigation into the internet and how it continues to track, store, and share users’ data, despite assurances that it doesn’t.

2019 — Hero or Villain? The Prosecution of Julian Assange — Depending on who you’re talking to, the name Julian Assange will provoke one of two feelings: fury or awe. This documentary, led by the ABC Four Corners Team, chronicles an investigation into the founder of Wikileaks, featuring commentary from some of the individuals who knew him best.

2019 — Kee — Siddharth (Jiiva) and Shivam (Govind Padmasoorya) share an affinity for hacking, but that’s all they have in common. When the two unexpectedly cross paths, a fight between hacking for good and evil breaks out — and the consequences are fatal.

2019 — Machine Learning: Living in the Age of AI — How do we interact with AI? The technology has cemented itself as one of the foundations of our digital age, but has yet to reach its full potential. This documentary examines what the future of artificial intelligence will look like and the many possibilities ahead of us.

2019 — Official Secrets — Katharine Gun made headlines in 2003 after blowing the whistle on an illegal NSA spy operation. This drama film, starring Kiera Knightly and Matt Smith, chronicles the scandal, as well as the ensuing legal battles that uncovered top-secret manipulation tactics used by the highest levels of government in both the U.S. and the UK.

2019 — Password — A police officer hunts for a cybercriminal who is destroying people’s lives by hacking their passwords.

2019 — The Secrets of Silicon Valley — Directed by James Corbett, this documentary looks at the long and detailed history of Silicon Valley, located in the San Francisco Bay area, including how it was founded in the aftermath of World War II, the technology companies located there that have shaped the world through innovation, the ties between different companies and the government, and according to Corbett, the shadowy underworld hiding beneath the surface and why Big Tech means big trouble.

2019 — Third Eye Spies — Directed by Lance Mungia, this documentary reveals how an experiment in psychic abilities at Stanford Research Institute led to the CIA’s study of psychic abilities for more than 20 years for use in their top-secret spy program. Parapsychologists Russell Targ and Dean Radin are interviewed, along with dozens of others, regarding recently declassified information.

2019 — Unfriends — In this Bollywood thriller, Veer, who has an idea for a startup, receives a Facebook friend request from Vijay, who becomes his investor. While on a long celebration drive, they meet a girl named Mauli. When Vijay rapes her and intends to kill her, Veer comes to her rescue and helps her escape. When she is later subjected to abuse on the internet, Veer seeks justice for her.

2019 — WannaCry: The Marcus Hutchins Story — Marcus Hutchins, a British computer researcher, became an “accidental hero” when he discovered a kill switch in May 2017 that stopped the spread of WannaCry, hours after the ransomware affected thousands of systems across the world. Three months later, the FBI arrested him because of his involvement in a banking trojan. This documentary, directed by Hugo Berkeley, is his firsthand story.

2019 — Who You Think I Am — A 50-year-old divorced teacher (Juliette Binoche) uses a photo of a young, pretty blonde to create a fake Facebook profile of a 24-year-old woman after being ghosted by her 20-something lover.

2019 — You Can’t Watch This — This independent documentary by George Llewelyn-John discusses freedom of speech and the online world. It highlights stories of five individuals who lose their access to social media and how that censorship affects them.

2020 — Archive — Roboticist George Almore (Theo James) is working to create a true human-equivalent AI, but when his focus turns to reuniting with his dead wife, Julie (Stacy Martin), he finds himself reaping Dr. Frankenstein-worthy consequences.

2020 — The Big Reset 2.0 — Every day, AI grows more functional, intelligent, and capable of completing even the most complicated tasks, but at what point does it become too much? In this documentary produced by Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), experts discuss the field’s ongoing battle between risk and reward.

2020 — Childhood 2.0 — What does it mean to be a child in the highly vulnerable digital age? Online predators, cyberbullying, and mental health take center stage in this documentary that delves into the real-life issues plaguing kids and parents today.

2020 — Cyberlante — After getting a job at an isolated hotel run by a cruel bully, Matt (Gavin Gordon) finds himself at the center of a battle between hacking for good and evil.

2020 — Enemies of the State — This American documentary film follows Matt DeHart, targeted by the U.S. government for having confidential documents alleging misconduct by the CIA.

2020 — Interference: Democracy at Risk — In 2016, many new threats against our democracy came to light, such as misinformation campaigns and voter fraud, all of which wouldn’t be possible if not for the advanced, digital age we live in. This documentary urges viewers to make sure it never happens again.

2020 — The Internet of Everything — This documentary discusses how the internet now invades every aspect of our lives, through things beyond computers and phones — such as garbage cans, refrigerators and city infrastructures. It also talks about the problems the Internet has created and asks the question: will the future be a surveillance nightmare or an eco-utopia. Who will determine the outcome?

2020 — Julian Assange: Revolution Now — Overnight, Julian Assange went from coder to convict. This documentary tells the story of the founder of Wikileaks and how his mission to entrust the public with some of the most private information made him an enemy of the United States government.

2020 — Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections — Produced by HBO, this documentary examines the rising number of tech vulnerabilities in the American electoral system, featuring an eye-opening demonstration of how secure electronic voting machines are by hackers at DEFCON, the world’s largest hacking conference.

2020 — KnowBe4: The Making Of A Unicorn — A Cybersecurity Story. How CEO Stu Sjouwerman built a culture of fun and a company worth $1 billion. With Chief Hacking Officer Kevin Mitnick. 23-minute documentary produced by Cybercrime Magazine.

2020 — No Safe Spaces — What does freedom of speech look like in the age of social media? In this documentary, comedian Adam Corrolla and talk show host Dennis Prager travel across America to explore what the future holds for the First Amendment.

2020 — Out Of Dark — Ever wondered what it’s like to be a spy? This eye-opening documentary invites cameras on a mission with a real-world intelligence operative, giving viewers an in-depth look into the top-secret world of foreign and domestic surveillance.

2020 — Password — A Saw-esque thriller in which an IT employee awakens to find himself tied to a chair, surrounded by a dead body and a laptop. Discovering he’s been kidnapped, the employee must find a way out, but will the financial imbalance of India post-globalization get in his way?

2020 — Screen Generation — Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z … and then what? Following the generation dubbed the “Digital Natives,” this documentary ponders what’s in store for the children that grew up behind a screen. Researchers in the U.S. and Europe were interviewed.

2020 — The Social Dilemma — This documentary explores the dangerous human impact of social networking.

2020 — Tenet — In this action thriller directed by Christopher Nolen, an organization called Tenet recruits an unnamed CIA operative known as The Protagonist (John David Washington) for a mission involving “time inversion” to counter a future threat and stop World War III.

2020 — We Need to Talk About A.I. — Director Leanne Pooley takes a close look at the future of artificial intelligence and the impact it will have on the world, including how computers will have the capacity to design and program themselves as they continue to evolve.

2021 — Chakra — Military officer Chandru (Vishal Krishna) is one of fifty people who are robbed on Independence Day. After he discovers his most prized possession was stolen, Chandru joins forces with a police officer to hunt down the dangerous cybercriminal responsible.

2021 — Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains, And The Future Of The Internet — Filmmaker Torsten Hoffmannn’s eye-opening look into the world of cryptocurrency and the controversy surrounding it, featuring commentary from some of the industry’s major players.

2021 — Dark Web: Cicada 3301 — After visiting the dark web, Connor (Jack Kesy), a gifted hacker, is invited to join the mysterious secret society Cicada 3301. He accepts and soon finds himself embroiled in an intense, high-stakes race against the NSA. Based on real-life events.

2021 —Dark Web: Fighting Cybercrime — The fight against cybercrime takes center stage in this documentary highlighting the security industry and its ceaseless determination to defend against the growing number of digital threats.

2021 — Dear Hacker — What happens when your webcam goes rogue? The directorial debut of French filmmaker Alice Lenay, this documentary is a must-watch for anyone who’s ever wondered about the inner workings of a webcam.

2021 — MY.DOOM: Earth’s Deadliest [Computer] Virus — First seen in 2004, MyDoom is universally acknowledged as the worst computer virus of all time, having caused over $38 billion in losses. This documentary explores MyDoom’s origins and chaotic run, all the while making an argument for just how essential white hat hackers really are.

2021 — Hacker Fairies — A short drama that follows two white hat hackers on a mission to retrieve stolen photos of several women. Not long into the search, one of the women asks to learn more about hacking. Can she be trusted?

2021 — Hacker: Trust No One — When Danny cofounds a new cryptocurrency, he thinks it will make him rich. When he gets caught hacking, though, he and his girlfriend end up on a hit list instead.

2021 — Love Hard — A columnist, who writes about her bad dating experiences, thinks she has met her perfect match on a dating app. When she flies across country to surprise him for Christmas, she learns she’s been catfished.

2021 — The Perfect Weapon — Based on a best-selling book by New York Times national security correspondent David E. Sanger, this documentary explores the rise of cyber conflict as the primary way nations now compete with and sabotage one another. ‌Directed by John Maggio, it features interviews with top military, intelligence, and political officials on the frontlines of cyberterrorism.

2021 — Silk Road — Directed by Tiller Russell, this is the story of the anonymous dark web market launched by Ross Ulbricht in early 2011. Ulbricht was jailed for life after an FBI operation shut down Silk Road.

2021 — The Mitchells vs The Machines — Starring Maya Rudolph, Danny McBride, Eric Andre, and more, this animated film follows the Mitchell family, who stumble into an unprecedented robot apocalypse and find themselves fighting to save the future of humanity.

2021 — The Spy in Your Phone — The positive side of smartphones is that they keep us connected, entertain us, store data, and so much more. This documentary highlights the dangers, including privacy issues, how messaging and social media sites store our data and use it, how individuals and organizations can target us through spyware, and the concern about government mass surveillance. It also discusses what you can do to protect your data.

2021 — Twenty Hacker — Hex is a hacker who runs Better World, a “white hacker” club. When he discovers that black hackers have ruined his father’s company, he enlists his club members to take them down, resulting in an inevitable showdown.

2021 — WANNACRY: Earth’s Deadliest [Computer] Virus — This documentary examines how a computer virus that began as a small crypto worm in 2017 ended up infecting thousands of computers as ransomware. It describes the complex process that allowed it to be distributed in several ways and delves into a parallel story.

2022 — Glimpse — This surveillance-footage thriller follows three individuals, who are up for the same job, as their lives slowly spiral out of control. Starring an ensemble cast including Michael Emerson, Raúl Esparza, and David Alan Basche.

2022 — Hacker: Trust No One — This drama film tells the story of a hacker who finds himself and his girlfriend on a hit list after getting mixed up in the shady world of cryptocurrency.

2022 — Hot Seat — Mel Gibson stars in this riveting tale about an IT expert and former hacker, Friar (Kevin Dillon), who finds himself in the middle of a potentially explosive cyber robbery. Forced to choose between stealing digital funds or having his daughter abducted, Friar is left to determine what matters most while simultaneously working to get out of the hot seat.

2022 — Keedam — Main character Radhika Balan is a cybersecurity expert who believes in using technology to benefit others, but after falling victim to a cyberstalking incident and losing any semblance of privacy, she’s left with no choice but to take matters into her own hands.

2022 — Kimi — Starring Zoe Kravitz and Rita Wilson, this thriller chronicles the events that take place after an agoraphobic tech worker discovers evidence of a violent crime, which ultimately leads to her greatest challenge yet — leaving the house.

2022 — Stalked Within — This thriller follows Gary, a home security operator, who begins to spy on a single mother using his company’s technology equipment. It’s only a matter of time before his obsession turns deadly.

2022 — The Takeover — When an ethical hacker is framed for murder, she must track down those who are blackmailing her, stop them, and clear her name. Starring Holly Mae Brood, Geza Weisz, and Frank Lammers.

2023 — @ — A techno-thriller starring Rachel David as an ethical hacker, this film revolves around the dark web and the horrors that lurk within it. Audiences will become acquainted with the many crimes that take place, such as drug peddling, and the cyberattacks that come to fruition in the deep net.

2023 — M3GAN — Artificially intelligent doll M3GAN is a technological wonder, designed to befriend children and support parents. However, it’s only a matter of time until M3GAN becomes sentient and decides to take on a life of her own, leaving those around her to reap the extraordinary consequences.

2023 — Reality — This drama tells the story of Reality Winner, the former American intelligence specialist who was given the longest prison sentence for the unauthorized release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email operation. Sydney Sweeney stars in the titular role.

So far no hits. I recon that the movie should be somewhere in the early 1990’s to 2005 time frame. Low budget, but a seriously important movie. Perhaps it was a spin off of movies of the Matrix genre… Which would place it around 1999. Or maybe right before it, 1995. And the movie Matrix completely overshadowed it.

Still looking.

Sigh.

12 Things Gone FOREVER…1960s

Ukraine Intelligence Chief Admits KILLING Civilians Who Say or Write the wrong thing!

World Hal Turner 22 May 2023

A senior Ukrainian official has admitted that his country has assassinated “quite a few” Russian civilians who support Putin and his war to assert control of the Donbas region. In interviews first reported by The Times of London, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s military intelligence service, also promised more attacks are to come.

Budanov isn’t merely an unapologetic terrorist, he’s a boastful one. “These cases have happened and will continue,” he said. “Such people will receive a well-deserved punishment, and the appropriate punishment can only be liquidation and I will implement it.”

In a separate interview with a Ukrainian YouTube channel, Budanov said that any country could be witness to his killing of civilians who say or write the wrong things.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov, admitted that several Kremlin propagandists have been assassinated since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Budanov also said that Ukraine wanted to establish a demilitarized border zone up to 60 miles inside Russia to reduce the chances of future attacks, The Times reports.

When asked whether Ukrainian security services had killed Russian propagandists, Budanov, 37, said: ‘We’ve already successfully targeted quite a few people. There have been well-publicised cases everyone knows about, thanks to the media coverage.’

Several prominent pro-war figures have been killed or wounded by explosives in Russia since the start of the invasion on February 24 last year.

On May 6, Pro-Kremlin ideologist Zakhar Prilepin, 47, was left with multiple injuries after a car bomb attack.

The Russian writer and pro-war blogger’s vehicle was blown up in a village in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. He suffered fractures but his driver was killed in the incident.

Russian investigators said that they were questioning Alexander Permyakov, whom they accused of working with Ukrainian intelligence.

Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, a military blogger with close ties to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed by explosives concealed within a statuette handed to him at a public talk that he was giving in a St. Petersburg cafe on April 2.

Later that month, a Russian court denied bail to 26-year-old Darya Trepova. She was charged with terrorism over the bomb attack that killed Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin.

Investigators said she was working on behalf of a pro-Ukrainian group with connections to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny – claims rejected by Navalny’s associates and Kyiv.

The Russian internal affairs ministry said yesterday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Yuriy Denisov, a Ukrainian citizen they claim kept watch over Tatarsky for two months from an apartment close to his home.

It alleged that he had made his way over from Latvia under instruction from the ‘Ukrainian special services’.

In August last year, Darya Dugina, 29, the daughter of a close ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, was killed by a car bomb on a road outside Moscow.

It is thought that her father, the Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is known as ‘Putin’s brain’, may have been the intended target.

Budanov claimed that the drone strikes that hit the Kremlin on May 3, apparently with the aim of killing Putin, were a result of ‘Russian aggression’.

On Different People, a Ukrainian YouTube channel, Budanov said that recent acts of sabotage inside Russian territory, including attacks on oil and gas infrastructure close to the Ukrainian border and the derailment of a cargo train, were perpetrated ‘almost 100 per cent by citizens of the Russian Federation’.

In another interview with a YouTube channel called Island, Budanov said he had ‘a minority of Russians’ co-operating with his Ukrainian military intelligence agency, the GUR.

He said they had ‘patriotic reasons’ for carrying out the acts and were ‘ready to change Russia’.

Budanov said that although Putin was a legitimate target, Ukraine was not trying to kill him.

He said that his agents would keep setting their sights on Russians who committed “war crimes” against Ukraine.

He said: ‘These cases have happened and will continue.

‘Such people will receive a well-deserved punishment, and the appropriate punishment can only be liquidation and I will implement it.’

Budanov blamed Moscow’s increasingly vicious tactics in Ukraine on Russian propagandists, arguing that Putin’s chances of survival had been put at risk.

He said: ‘[The Kremlin] have invested so much in this propaganda machine that it began to influence them in the end.’

Budanov added that Russia’s business elite was opposed to the invasion and was seeking ways to bring it to a close.

He argued that if the Russians managed to bring Putin’s reign to an end, Ukraine would still have to set up a demilitarised zone 60 miles inside Russian territory to avoid fighting in the future.

He added: ‘This should be our goal. If they are not going to attack and don’t decide they want revenge in a couple of years, this shouldn’t be an issue.’

HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION

Well, well, well, there it is, spoken in public, for all to see and hear: Ukraine is intentionally MURDERING civilian news people/bloggers who dare to write in opposition to Ukraine. This is flat-out terrorist murder.

And YOUR American tax dollars are facilitating it!

This admission by the Chief of Ukraine Military Intelligence makes clear, by funding Ukraine, the Congress of the United States – both houses – as well as the Biden Administration, are literally facilitating MURDER.

THIS IS WW3, NATO just F*cked Up Big Time

https://youtu.be/xhl2qMCDoqo

How do you think China will respond to the G7’s joint statement?

It’s just words

China will make its own statement

It’s the normal political brouhaha

The G7 is today looks like an outdated Colonial Club making imperialist statements about economic coercion of China while sanctioning half the planet

So frankly nobody takes the G7 very seriously

Just compare

China’s Xi met his Central Asian counterparts and signed over 40 MPUs and around CNY 230 Billion ($ 32 Billion) of business deals

G7 met and made speeches with zero impact

Shows their relevance today

This Old Lady Was Selling Her Painted Baby Dolls At The Flea Market And Nobody Had Bought Any, It Was $20 But I Couldn’t Find It In Me To Haggle Her Down. She Told Me She Made The Suit By Hand. My New Fav Office Decoration!

What is an insane coincidence that you’ve experienced?

Okay, maybe not “insane”, but still pretty cool, I think. In 1997 when I was 29, I went to work for Talbots, the clothing company. I worked in their call center for the next nine years, primarily as a trainer. For maybe half that time, we were housed in a relatively small three-story office building called The Weston.

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This in the largest city in our region in the state. We occupied the entire second and third floors and part of the first floor, so there were very few other tenants in the building. I’m sure I don’t remember them all, but I recall an interior design company, a law office, and a charitable foundation. So there were probably hundreds of us Talbots employees and temps, but I’d guess only a dozen or two employees of these other companies.

Fast forward to 2015. I’d been gone from Talbots for almost ten years, and from the Weston for almost fifteen. I started dating the woman who is now my wife. At some point during a discussion, we were talking about our past work lives. Turns out that my wife worked for the charitable foundation, so we worked in the same small building for five years, but over ten years before we “met”. How many times did I pass my future wife in the lobby, without a clue? (We were both married to other people at the time.) Neither of us have any memory of the other, but after further discussion, she did remember my car. I’d bought a brand-new black Mazda Miata, and I did not park in the “main” lot as I was one of the few employees who worked on the first floor. My wife remembers seeing my car, confirmed by describing where I usually parked!

You might be OLD…If You Remember These! PART 6

I remember a lot of this and now, I actually do miss, what one would consider, now, simpler times…our communities were safer and more neighborly and loving. I just love this channel!

In what ways does the United States engage in coercive diplomacy? What kind of harm does it cause to the international community?

US hegemony uses 800 military bases and 11 aircraft carriers to force the world to follow US economics, trade and finance rules for USA benefits. Anyone refusing is sanctioned, or if weak violently attacked using human rights excuses. That is coercive diplomacy.

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US hegemony in last 70yrs means endless wars, endless arms sales and endless Tbills and usd printing. It is not sustainable now USA printed usd31trillion and deficits are still adding Tbills. Does the world want to continue wars and deaths for US profits? Most of the world says no.

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The 1950s in SHOCKINGLY BEAUTIFUL Colorized Photos

Things Worth Experiencing At Least Once In Your Life, According To People Online

In the everyday rush and routine, we probably don’t find time to think about what we want to do in this life and what really would make us happy. It may be for our whole life or it can also be something that will make us the happiest people alive for a day. There are particular locations, feelings, purchases or activities that we dream about. I may be wrong but many of us probably have our bucket lists made. Some of us have written it down and are actually saving money for our dreams, some of us have written it in our notes and from time to time check it out to see if maybe we managed to complete some of the things. But some of us just have it in our head and create something on the spot if this topic comes up.

Reading a book so good you can’t fall asleep without reading a new chapter, and to feel slightly sad when you finish it.
Walking in the snowy woods at night.
What it’s like to work a busy shift at a restaurant – can be any role, waiting tables, bussing, cooking, hosting. Everyone should have one evening where you are trying to serve and cater to dozens of people at once. You should know how it feels to bring someone the wrong dish or spill a glass on someone. You should know how it feels to work hard af and get no tip, get told to take something back like it’s your fault, all the normal things that happen during a busy shift.
Seeing an ocean in person, from a beach.
Contentment and security. Not necessarily full happiness, but satisfaction in your own life, and safety within it.
I have two. One is seeing a starry night sky, no clouds, no light pollution, just a beautiful night sky. Or better yet, the northern lights. Second is seeing the view from a mountain peak. People always talk about how ugly the world is, but I think these two things really remind you of how beautiful earth is too.
A good nights sleep.
Being in love with someone who loves you back
The sound of it snowing. I laid on the ground, in the snow at night in the Alaskan wilderness, in December, it’s so peaceful.
Even if it’s only for a short period of time: full financial independence, while being single. You can pay your own bills, you have your own place, and you have full freedom over your free time. Whether it’s staying in and binge watching Netflix, or going out and sitting amongst strangers. Your time is your own. No kids. No spouse or significant other. I find this is when you really get to know and understand yourself.
A loving and supportive group of humans.
Having real friends
going on a forest and smelling rain
Everyone should experience the joys of traveling to a foreign land at least once in their lifetime, even if it’s just to realize how much they love their own toilet. Imagine discovering new cultures, cuisines, and the thrill of trying to communicate with locals using just charades and a phrasebook. Trust me, it’s a life-changing experience that’ll give you a new appreciation for your home and a killer accent to boot.
Moving away from your hometown, even if it is for a year
A hug, simple but important
The energy of a concert.
Being well and absolutely disconnected. No phones, no GPS. I last had that experience in the early 90s. Being somewhere with someone you trust and the two of you are the only people who know where you are and what you are doing.
Working a minimum or entry level job as a first job especially when young.
It really makes you appreciate money and interactions with people because it sucked and you got so little of anything even less some respect. Hell you even get to treat the people that work those jobs nicer because you were them once.
Another culture. And I don’t mean as a tourist where you have all the comforts of home. To fully absorb and immerse yourself in the lives of that culture. To eat their foods, drink their drinks, and do as they do.

1970s Things Found In Every Home

https://youtu.be/0g4zXepHASM

Claims that the Belt and Road initiative “could create a new epidemic” are a bizarre new line of attack on Beijing’s efforts in the country

From HERE

By Timur Fomenko, a political analyst

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A young man rides atop a load of cluster bomb casings and bomb scrap that his family is taking to a scrap market in town, Xieng Khouang, Laos, 2005. © Jerry Redfern/LightRocket via Getty Images

Laos – a landlocked communist state in Southeast Asia, wedged between China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar – has the potential to be a nexus of sorts for the entire region. However, its cooperation with Beijing has come under fire from the West.

The impoverished nation holds the unenviable distinction of “the most bombed country in history” after the US dropped over 2 million tons of bombs on it during the Vietnam War. Laos is still weathering the consequences, including deaths from unexploded munitions. Faced with numerous challenges, it has leaned on its giant northern neighbor for assistance.

In recent years, Laos has benefited considerably from China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In late 2021, the China-Laos railway was built, a high-speed system connecting the country’s capital to Beijing. This has been a gamechanger for its foreign trade and exports. Сurrently, a new superhighway is also being built across the country. Last week, however, an article from Reuters

attracted widespread disdain on social media as it sought to frame China’s development in the country as risking a “new pandemic.” It was titled ‘China, birthplace of the covid pandemic, is laying tracks for another global health crisis.’

The article argued that Laos is home to a bat population that carries “novel coronaviruses,” the same source which allegedly gave rise to Covid-19. By building a highway through the country’s tropical forests, the argument goes, humans will be brought into closer contact with bats, thus destroying their environment and risking a new pandemic. This textbook example of an over-the-top ‘China bad’ story exaggerates and fixates on the speculated negative consequences of Beijing’s activities, never providing the full picture. It is never touched on, for example, how up to 50 people a year in Laos continue to die from undetonated US bombs dropped on the country during the Vietnam war.

Western media at large have it in for China’s relationship with Laos, with outlets denouncing Chinese investments as a “debt trap ” and accusing Laos of being a “vassal state.” Why is it met with such backlash? First of all, Laos is arguably the single most pro-Chinese state in Southeast Asia, the region which the US is aggressively targeting as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy. Despite being communist, Washington sees Vietnam as a potential military and economic counterweight to Beijing due to its maritime periphery; however, Laos is a landlocked state which reduces US geopolitical leverage in countering China. Laos is also fearful of neighboring Vietnam and sees Beijing as a guarantor in securing its own independence.

This, combined with America’s bloody history in the country, and the fact it is a communist state, makes Laos a very comfortable neighbor for China, which also stands as its biggest economic guarantor. Chinese-backed infrastructure is helping the landlocked and impoverished country to gain easier access to ports and markets. Furthermore, by making it a nexus of the region, China is also integrating itself with Thailand and allowing its goods to flow to more Southeast Asian ports. This becomes an obstacle to the US vision of hegemony over the region, which involves completely dominating China’s maritime periphery in a way that checks its ability to project power and shape global commerce.

As a result, the Western corporate media are encouraged to vilify the BRI, including specifically its impact in Laos. Those doubting that there is a concerted effort to do this need only look at the America COMPETES Act of 2022, which allocates $500 million to media outlets to ostensibly “combat Chinese disinformation” for overseas audiences. Among other things, it specifically targets the BRI, effectively incentivizing negative coverage of the Chinese infrastructure project. The US hates the BRI, because it creates connections in Eurasia and therefore changes the strategic landscape away from the maritime routes dominated by America.

The Reuters story in particular draws upon the tried-and-trusted practice of scapegoating China for the Covid-19 pandemic to fearmonger about its road development in Laos. But one must question whether the US ever acknowledged what it did to Laos? Did it apologize for dropping 270 million

cluster bombs on it? An estimated 80 million of those did not explode, and while the US has invested in clean-up efforts, the 50,000 lives these bombs have claimed since the end of the war clearly show this is not enough.

Now, China is not only boosting the Laotian economy with its railroad construction, but also helping clear the deadly consequences of American militarism. Meanwhile, the West keeps promising alternatives to the BRI, with a new name cropping up virtually every year, but talk is cheap and these promises have yet to bear fruit. It’s easy to take the moral high ground on an issue when you aren’t the one who has to bear the consequences. It’s fair to say, if there is a new Cold War, Laos won’t be siding with the West.

Why does the USA attack China so much?

This one chart explains it all.

“Yes, the CIA and FBI WILL rig the 2024 election”

China’s first domestically designed aircraft carrier having EMALS gets launched

The Fujian, the largest aircraft carrier ever built by China, is a crucial part of the Chinese navy. China is making rapid progress in developing advanced aircraft carriers that are on par with those of the US.

It is worth noting that China has chosen to name its new aircraft carrier after Fujian, a province located just across a narrow strait from Taiwan.

The 80,000 metric ton CNS Fujian is 50% larger than China’s current in-service carriers, putting the People’s Liberation Army Navy in the same class as supercarriers like the US Nimitz-class ships, which weigh 100,000 tons.

Unlike China’s other two carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, which are based on outdated Soviet technology and utilize a ski-jump launching system, the Fujian is equipped with an advanced electromagnetic aircraft launch system, similar to that used on the US’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald Ford. This new system will enable China to launch a greater variety of aircraft more quickly and with more ammunition onboard.

After approximately 18 months of trials, China’s largest warship CNS Fujian is expected to become operational by October 2024.

The Fujian and a fourth carrier, which is also under construction, are larger and able to carry more aircraft than the two existing vessels. The South China Morning Post reported in March last year that the fourth carrier might be nuclear-powered.

G7 leaders in Japan declare, China number one enemy

$200 Was Too High For Me But My Mom Insisted On Buying This

Amarjeet Sada, The 8 YO Serial Killer…

https://youtu.be/kEIMLQ-vE8Q

Chicago-Style Sausage and Peppers

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons corn oil
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 large yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded and thinly sliced
2 large red bell peppers, cored, seeded and thinly sliced
1/4 cup Jack Daniels Sour Mash Whiskey
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
8 spicy Italian sausages (4 ounces each), not hot dogs!
8 good quality hot dog buns
2 tablespoons reserved sausage grease or soft butter

Instructions

Heat corn oil in large skillet and sauté the onions and peppers until tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes over medium heat.
Add the bourbon and stir quickly until absorbed.
Add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar melts.
Season with thyme, salt and pepper. (Can be refrigerated for one week. Let come to room temperature before serving.)
Char-grill the sausages until slightly blackened and cooked through.
Brush the hot dog buns with a little sausage grease or butter and toast on the grill or under the broiler.
Nestle a sausage in a bun and top with about 2 tablespoons of peppers and onions.

The West Sells Weapons, Sponsor Coups & Assassinate African Presidents For Natural Resources

We Found This Massive Print Secondhand. My BF Immediately Knew He Wanted It

Pan African TV Kwesi Pratt Says The West “Bombed” Democracy To Africa, China Brings Partnerships

Do you think Japan is still occupied by the Americans?

Yup. The test case was a couple weeks ago.

American soldier crashed a car. He was arrested by Japanese cops. The US government demanded he be released immediately and actual threats were made by the US government to the Japanese government.

The Japanese government rolled over.

That’s the big test of if your country is a US bitch or not.

Korea had THIS

Yangju highway incident - Wikipedia

Killing, 2 Korean girls, US army vehicle Coordinates : 37°51′28″N 126°56′56″E  /  37.857722°N 126.948972°E  / 37.857722; 126.948972  ( Location of the Yangju highway incident ) The Yangju highway incident , also known as the Yangju training accident or Highway 56 Accident , occurred on June 13, 2002, in Yangju , Gyeonggi-do, South Korea . 

A United States Army armored vehicle-launched bridge , returning to base in Uijeongbu on a public road after training maneuvers in the countryside, struck and killed two 14-year-old South Korean schoolgirls, Shin Hyo-sun ( Korean : 신효순) and Shim Mi-seon ( Korean : 심미선). 

The American soldiers involved were found not guilty of negligent homicide in the court martial , further inflaming anti-American sentiment in South Korea and sparking a series of candlelight vigil protests in protest of their deaths. 

The memory of the two schoolgirls is commemorated annually in South Korea

The UK had THIS

Death of Harry Dunn - Wikipedia

Fatal road traffic collision resulting in UK/US diplomatic controversy Coordinates : 51°59′49″N 1°11′45″W  /  51.9969593°N 1.1959241°W  / 51.9969593; -1.1959241 

Death of Harry Dunn Date 27 August 2019 Time 20:25 BST Location B4031 road near RAF Croughton Cause Road traffic collision Deaths Harry Dunn Burial 17 September 2019 

Inquiries Northamptonshire Police Convicted Anne Sacoolas Charges Causing death by careless driving (convicted) Causing death by dangerous driving (acquitted) 

Harry Dunn was a 19-year-old British man who died following a road traffic collision on 27 August 2019. 

He was riding his motorcycle near Croughton, Northamptonshire , United Kingdom, near the exit to RAF Croughton , when a car travelling in the opposite direction and on the wrong side of the road collided with him. 

The car was driven by Anne Sacoolas, who is a former US spy and wife of CIA employee Jonathan Sacoolas, stationed at the time at USAF listening station RAF Croughton. 

Sacoolas admitted that she had been driving the car on the wrong side of the road , and the police said that, based on CCTV footage, they believed that to be true. 

Dunn was pronounced dead at the Major Trauma Centre of John Radcliffe Hospital , Oxford. The collision caused diplomatic tension between UK and US officials. 

Sacoolas fled the UK soon after the incident and claimed diplomatic immunity with US support.

Italy had THIS

1998 Cavalese cable car crash - Wikipedia

US Navy aircraft struck ski lift, Italy The Cavalese cable car crash , also known as the Cermis massacre ( Italian : Strage del Cermis ), occurred on February 3, 1998, near the Italian town of Cavalese , a ski resort in the Dolomites some 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Trento . 

Twenty people were killed when a United States Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler aircraft, flying too low and against regulations, in order for the pilots to "have fun" and "take videos of the scenery", cut a cable supporting a cable car of an aerial lift . 

The pilot, Captain Richard J. Ashby, and his navigator , Captain Joseph Schweitzer, were put on trial in the United States and found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide .

If Americans can come and wantonly commit crimes and get almost no punishment then you’re essentially an occupied country.

For Japan. THIS.

The West Can’t Be Trusted, Nigeria VP Says China Is A Better Ally To Africa Than The West

Where I Am Going, There Are No Roads…

Thrift store find.

Why is China’s economy taking over the world?

Why is China’s economy continuing to grow to the point it is the largest or second largest economy in the world based on which method used to compare economies.

China has been able to harness a number of factors over several decades that has benefited its people economically. The Chinese government has taken great effort to improve the lives of its people. Its goal is to create a moderately prosperous society for its huge population. With a country of 1.4 billion people moderately prosperous equates to a large economy.

China has devoted a lot of effort to educate its people. In 1950 the literacy rate was 20%, but today it is over 97%. Eduction is highly important to the government. This has led China to produce the most STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) graduates yearly, which drives innovation.

Chinese culture is one of business and that means trade is an important part business activity. Now days China trades with almost every country globally. It is the primary trade partner with many.

With China’s huge manufacturing sector needed to produce goods for it huge population benefits from economies of scale. This in turn drives down manufacturing costs making goods cheaper in China and for export.

Developed economies for the most part are service economies not manufacturing ones, hence their need to import goods.

China’s ability to produce a wide variety of goods from simple utensils to automobiles and high speed trains means it can produce much of what other countries need but cannot produce.

All the above and more is why China’s economy continues to grow at a faster rate compared to the developed countries of the West.

1970’s Rmic Hand Chair

Thrift store find.

Kenyan President Ruto Says African Leaders Won’t Be Summoned Like Kids By The West No Longer

Ukrainian Artist Dinara Kasko Continues To Push The Boundaries Of Pastry Design

Here are the incredible edibles of pastry chef Dinara Kasko. The culinary artist from Ukraine has amassed a huge online following for her innovative cake designs and moulds. Although Dinara graduated from Kharkov University Architecture School, she found her true passion was pastry. However, she now uses her background in architectural design to create her incredible cakes as she uses the 3D-modelling program, 3DSMAX, to create silicone cake moulds.

More: Instagram, Shop h/t: twistedsifter

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Kenyan President Admits The Disrespect African Leaders Faced During The Queen’s Funeral In The UK

According to Ray Dalio, changing world power would mean conflict between the rising world power and the leading world power. Would this predict war between China and America?

No, because both have nukes. The US has been doing everything to stop China’s rise. Lying and accusing China on human rights, genocide, and whatever sins they can think of to discredit China. The US now summons her vassals to go to war with China to weaken China’s economy and military, similar to UR conflict.

Only BABY BOOMERS will REMEMBER these things

“Garden Decor” For Sale On Fb Marketplace

TWO BOEING E-4B COMMAND AND CONTROL AIRCRAFT AIRBORNE OVER CONTINENTAL USA

Things No Longer Found at Gas Stations

Did I Just Find A Serial Killer?

Chicago Hot Dogs

Never leave the celery salt off the Chicago Dogs! They won’t be the same. I guarantee it.

Ingredients

All-beef hot dogs
Green sweet bell pepper, diced
Yellow onions, diced
Mustard
Sweet pickle relish
Dill pickle chips
Cucumbers, sliced thin
Iceberg lettuce, shredded
Tomatoes, diced
Hot peppers (pepperoncini)
Celery salt

Instructions

Steam hot dogs and put condiments on table. NEVER USE KETCHUP! Celery salt is a MUST!
Serve on poppy seed buns, if they are available.

Kenya President Gets Standing Ovation in Pan-African Parliament for Epic Speech

No Eyedea What It Is, From Goodwill

Is Paypal a scam?

Scam may be overstating it, but they will seize your money without warning or explanation and you should avoid using them as much as possible, especially if you are a business.

I would strongly advise anyone, especially a seller, to avoid using Paypal. Like many, I was in the camp of “They’re the most established payment service on the web and I’ve never had a problem with them.” Until I did, and I’ve learned of the massive amount of unethical behavior they get away with.

In my case, the situation’s not too severe, but it’s still frustrating. I coached a client overseas in Europe. He wanted to pay with Paypal. Not having a better suggestion, I thought sure, why not? I coached, he sent the funds over, all set, right?

Paypal put a hold on the funds for a few days to make sure things were in good order. Shortly thereafter, they suspended my account. I got the following email:

Mind you, I have literally only done a single transaction on this account, the one I just did. I had no warning there was a problem with my account and my client is in good standing with Paypal. I did not receive any explanation.

On the site, my account now has a banner that looks like this:

I can no longer transfer money, unlink my bank account, remove my personal information, or anything. Paypal has indefinitely seized my money.

If I attempt to refund my client, they tell me the attempt fails due to technical reasons.

Paypal offered no explanation for the freeze. They claimed the funds would be released after a review that ended on May 15th, 2023, and I got this email:

I consequently reported them to the Better Business Bureau. Paypal actually responded on this, claiming that my account used an “anonymizing service” (I assume referring to the fact I use a VPN for all of my Internet activity) and that I share limited access with another account (I have no idea what this means). These were the only explanations given for why they seized my funds.

I will reiterate that I never received any warning or notification that my account had any issues prior to the transaction. It was only after the transaction, when Paypal had possession of my money, that they notified me they would be keeping it for themselves.

If they genuinely believed I was a security risk, they should have prevented my transaction in the first place, or immediately refunded my client’s payment. It’s like if I tried to ship a package with UPS, and UPS just said “we think you might be a drug dealer so we’re just going to keep your package for ourselves.”

As of now, I have requested only that they refund my client. Even if they have an issue with me, I don’t see how they can justify refusing a refund. At this time I have not received a response and my client has not been refunded.

So I know you might be thinking, because I was thinking – “Howie it clearly must be just something with you. You did something wrong to justify this treatment.” I am far from alone.

They faced a class action lawsuit for this behavior in 2022

. They seized $172,000 from one plaintiff, $42,000 from another, and $26,984 from a third. Very similar situation – frozen account, no explanation, get a subpoena if you want to find out why.

If you’d like a plethora of horror stories, just visit the ecommerce subreddit

Read any of the reviews on trustpilot

, consumeraffairs

, or wherever else. Obviously there is a tendency to leave negative reviews rather than positive to go in appreciating that, but you’ll find many, many users who’ll tell you this same story.

Whether you think I’m just a crazy one-off case or not, I strongly encourage you take measures to protect yourself so you do not become a victim as well. I’d offer the following suggestions.

If you can avoid using Paypal, do so.
If you must use Paypal, keep as little balance in your account as possible, as it can be seized at any time.
If you can associate Paypal with a deposit-only account, do so. They shouldn’t be able to withdraw from your linked bank account without your consent, but there are some user horror stories where that has happened.
Be aware that Paypal owns Venmo as well.

There are numerous alternatives to Paypal, several of which even charge lower fees, including Stripe, Wise, Square, Google, and more. All have better reputations and at the very least I can tell you none of them have taken my money for themselves.

Good luck. I hope this post helps you avoid being a victim.

Everything You Remember And Miss About…SEARS

41 Countries Ready To Accept BRICS Currency

The list of countries interested to join the BRICS alliance and accept the new currency for global trade is growing. 

China and Russia are lobbying other developing countries in joining the international efforts to dethrone the U.S. dollar. 

Developing countries in Asia and Africa are looking to replace the U.S. dollar with their native currencies or a new tender. 

The development is causing a roadblock to the dollar’s prospects and challenging its status as the world reserve currency...


Article HERE

Do you think the Indian economy will beat the Chinese economy in years to come? Why?

Not possible.

China is an outlier in most aspects of economy and it is impossible for India to catch up in foreseeable future because –

Current differential between the two countries is too large
Factors that enable future growth (education, innovation, industrialization) are not firing on all cylinders either

Listed below are the data points from few indicators to illustrate the situation –

Trade & Industrialization:

Total exports (2016): India – $260 billion, China – $2.1 trillion
- apparel: India – $18 billion, China – $175 billion
- footwear: India – $2.5 billion, China – $51 billion
- electrical and electronics – India – $8 billion, China – $782 billion
Number of large companies in Fortune 500 (2017): India has 7, China has 109

Infrastructure & Facilities:

High Speed Rails:
- India – first HSR project (Mumbai-Ahmedabad) started in 2017, to be functional by 2022 covering 500 km
- China – already has 25,000 km of HSR network, transporting double the volume of passengers than airlines
Metro Trains:
- India – 8 cities with total track length of 370 km
- China – 39 cities with total track length of 3,600 km (Beijing metro alone is 600 km)
Airports: India has 346, China has 507 (2013 data)
World’s Top 1000 hospitals: India has 9, China has 84

Tourism:

Foreign Tourist arrivals: India – 10 million,
China – 60 millionTourism revenue:
India – $27 billion,
China – $114 billion

Education & Innovation:

World’s Top 500 universities: India has 8, China has 21
Adult Literacy: India 74% (2011 data), expected to hit mid-80’s by next census (2021), China – 99% (2010)
Number of Patents and Trademarks: both India and China are in world’s Top 10 (2016 data)
Patents filed by India – 45k, China – 1.3 million
- Trademarks listed by India – 313k, China – 3.7 million

Rising Income levels:

75% of world’s new billionaires are coming from India and China:
- Since 2010, India is adding one new billionaire every 33 days
  China is adding one new billionaire every 5 days
- India has world’s third highest number of billionaires and China has world’s largest:
  
  Number of billionaires in India – 131, China – 819
Expanding Middle Class:
- India – 600 million people, based on the criteria of spending ($2 to $10 per day)
  Only 24 million people, if based on the criteria of wealth ($13k)
- China – 500 million by 2022, based on the criteria of earning ($9k to 34k)
- GDP Per Capita: India – $1.7k, China – $8.1k
Overall Economy:

Forex reserves: India – $400 billion, China – $3 trillion
GDP (nominal): India – $2.5 trillion, China – $11 trillion

Trend

Key Take-Aways and Summary:

China’s exports of only electricals and electronics ($782 billion) are three times of India’s total exports ($260 billion)
Length of metro in China’s one city (Beijing – 600 km) is more than total length of all metros in India (370 km)
China’s forex reserves ($3 trillion) are more than India’s total GDP ($2.5 trillion)
China’s middle class is not only larger, but also richer than India’s middle class – making it a more attractive investment destination
India’s growth story is real, but China’s growth story is much bigger. On most economic indicators, India has been performing good, but China has been performing a lot better
Before 2020, India is estimated to overtake UK and France to become world’s fifth largest economy

By 2030, India is expected to overtake Germany and Japan to become world’s third largest economy. But even then ($6 trillion +), it would be less than one-third the size of China’s economy ($20 trillion +)
[21]

If interested, please refer to my other write-ups on India – China topics:

Shashank Goyal’s answer to Why has China developed so much faster than India?

Shashank Goyal’s answer to Why did China invade India in 1962?

Sylvester Stallone Prop Found In A Thrift Store

United States puts its “cross hairs” on Africa

A country that is well known for best at controlling internet trolls and media is exaggerating a non-existent event in Africa, namely “China is launching a social movement to persecute black people”. In fact, from 2023 until May 24, 2023, I have not seen any hot topics or frontpage news related to black people in China on any social media platform.

By the way, in China, the vast majority of people have never seen murder in their lifetime. It is foolish to use the lie of ‘encouraging murder’ to describe China. Because even if this kind of encouragement exists, no one will respond. Chinese people do not know how to murder, unlike the country that creates this lie.

CLOSED Fast Food Restaurants from the past

Beijing summons Japanese envoy over ‘anti-China’ G7 summit

China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong has summoned the Japanese ambassador to register protests over “hype around China-related issues” at the Group of Seven (G7) summit over the weekend, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The heads of the world’s richest countries who met in the Japanese city of Hiroshima expressed serious concerns about rising tensions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea as well as voicing concerns about the human rights situations in China, including in Tibet and Xinjiang.

Article HERE

China is blessed with the likes of Huawei and TenCent type powerful companies

Huawei is preparing a number of new chipsets to launch later this year and Kirin A2 is one of them. The company is testing this chip for quite a time and it’s ready for production.

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Huawei will launch the Kirin A2 chipset by this year. If everything goes right, the company could choose Q3 or Q4 for the release.

Also, Kirin A2 is ready for the trial stage and it has mass production capacity.

This is due to the past decision that Huawei took at the very last moment before launch events. Yet, the exact details are unknown. On this matter, Huawei has not revealed any details about Kirin A2 or related returns. But we’ll have to wait, as there are several months left in the making.

Kirin A2 for smartphones?

Nope, Kirin A-series was officially announced for wearable devices such as earphones, smartwatches, and others. The current breakthrough in Huawei’s chipset production capability remains low-key.

Therefore, the company may take this route to start producing self-developed wearables semiconductors. These types of chips don’t require advanced process technology. Hence, it’s very likely that Kirin A2 will be used for wearable gadgets.

Kirin A1:

Kirin A1 was the world’s first Bluetooth 5.1 and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.1 wearable chip. The A1 is developed by Huawei’s chipset designing division, HiSilicon, and printed by Taiwan’s TSMC.

Kirin A1 is designed for wireless earphones, headbands, neckbands, smart speakers, smart eyewear, and smartwatches. Huawei Watch GT 2 series is the first smartwatch to equip this SoC and it’s still running wild in terms of performance and battery.

After the US sanctions in 2019, Huawei had to stop making new HiSilicon chips. And with the recent achievement in automation tech, Huawei could print its own chipset.

Stores We Loved That No Longer Exist!

https://youtu.be/XcewCyZkvWw

What is the purpose of the US-Papua New Guinea defense agreement pact?

Leaked draft of the US-Papua New Guinea defense pact exposes the granting of legal immunity to US personnel and contractors, allowing unrestricted movement of US aircraft, vehicles, and vessels, and exempting US staff from migration requirements.

It is evident that this pact serves the US’s geopolitical interests rather than offering genuine humanitarian aid. The motive aligns with the US’s broader Indo-Pacific strategy.

However, what PNG truly needs is effective action to address the climate crisis and achieve economic growth. Unfortunately, the US is unlikely to prioritize these crucial concerns. Instead, it treats PNG and other South Pacific nations as mere pawns in its larger geopolitical game.

This behavior reflects the US’s historical tendency to come and go in the region as it pleases, without consistent commitment or genuine regard for local priorities.

Pictures from the past

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chorley park was the fourth government house constructed in the early 20th century in toronto the bi tumb 660

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Can someone please explain to them how things in REAL LiFE works:

You manufacture lies about spying and launched wave after wave of sanctions on successful Chinese companies in order to destroy it because you are resentful of its successes
AND you expect the Chinese to do nothing about it?
NOT only is their domestic Chinese market 4x bigger than hours but their manufacturers dominate manufacturing in this world
they will now use that scale to destroy your companies. They have now

STOP buying Boeing jets where Chinese jet orders was expected to be in the MANY thousands;
REDIRECT corn orders to Brazil

NOW it is clear that they are now ready………and are now targeting your high tech companies. Micron is just the first. Which will be next? It will be the US company whose CEO have a big mouth and a strong anti-China streak.

THIS is called tit for tat followed by a severe beating. Whether Micron or other American companies have security risk is NOT relevant. They have learned from you and are using what they have learned to take your companies down.

ASML, Samsung, Nikon, etc, and other non-American companies, are now all in the process of de-Americanizing their product lines so that they can continue selling to China.

The future of high tech industries in the United States will go the way of dodo birds. The Chinese will now NOT meet you halfway.

You are reaping what you have sown.

What do you suggest for a first time tourist visiting China in regards to VPN, money, and apps needed?

First

Get a SIM

It’s a prepaid sim card. The Airports have many counters. Simply present your passport and visa and get a pre paid SIM card.

That gets you around 20GB Data that should be enough for a few days

Connection takes only seconds. The minute you insert the sim, the phone works and you can make the calls

Now most loaded apps won’t work

Next Money

You can easily download WeChat and Alipay but Alipay is better

However there is a problem for Indians

OTP

You can register Alipay for foreigners and enter your card details and load Rs. 25000/— per day (CNY 2000)

You get your OTP in some cases and that OTP cannot be read by your phone unless you have roaming

In my case, a friend from SBI Shanghai loaded money into my Alipay from his account

So best option is to preload Alipay from India itself except that it’s banned

So what to do?

Don’t worry

Enterprising Chinese at the Airport will gladly take your cash dollars (No Rupee) and load money into your Alipay

They even have counters for foreigners

Next VPN

Install Nord VPN and buy the Pro version

However be prepared for a few days to not have proper Twitter or Instagram or Facebook response

Unless you have WiFi router, Mobile Data usually doesn’t use VPN that efficiently

Finally get a prescription if you are carrying medicines please

Do Volunteer for the Face Scan. That way when you reach your hotel and they simply scan your face, and your details jump out and you don’t need a passport at all wherever you go within Shanghai (Only in Shanghai)

What would you do if your neighbor came to your front door in a barely controlled rage?

I had this happen to me.

My family and I were at home one evening, when all the sudden someone started frantically pounding on my front door. My wife opened the door to the neighbor lady who was crying hysterically. She invited her in, and she told us her husband was in a rage, and had put his hands on her.

About that time, the husband came charging through my front door, and began verbally assaulting his wife with profanity at the top of his lungs. In MY living room.

Before I had a chance to address the situation, my older daughter told him to tone it down, at which point he responded with “shut the F!#K up, B#!CH”.

The words barely left his lips before those lips were introduced to my fist.

Turns out he had no interest in fighting another man.

Once he found his feet, he was out my front door faster than he barged in. I’m sure most of the folks reading this will be disgusted with my actions. I Don’t care.

What does matter to me, is the opinion of that man’s wife.

Years later, she thanked me, saying he never put his hands on her again.

Not because he didn’t want to, but because he was afraid she would run to my house!

Fine by me.

Classic TV Commercials from the ’60s and ’70s

OMG!

[daegonmagus] – Part 31 – Adventures in the Occult: Thoughts on {Not} Being a Freemason

The following is the 31st part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benefit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you enjoy this article.

-MM

Adventures in the Occult: Thoughts on {Not} Being a Freemason

I came across this site, inscribed on believing on the mind (metallicman (inscribedonthebelievingmind.blog) in which I seem to feature in one of the articles along side Metallicman. Lucky me for being “famous”, I guess. Unfortunately the article makes some assumptions about me that are quite inaccurate, like the (very definitively written) idea I am a Freemason and another retired MAJestic agent. Guys, I don’t care if you want to write articles that feature me but at least fucking verify your information with me beforehand, else it makes your content look like its full of “badly researched” holes and shouldn’t be taken seriously. I wrote to the article’s publisher, Diana Barharona, requesting a polite change to its content, but never received a reply, so in response to it I’d figured I’d clarify a few points.

Firstly, I am not a MAJestic Agent, at least, not that I Know of – I came into contact with Metallicman after having experiences that paralleled with his during his time in MAJestic courtesy of my LDing – I offered to edit his books because I understand the true importance of his content. Secondly I am not, nor ever have been and never will be a Freemason, though I do have masonic blood in both sides of my family; my great uncle was a 33rd degree Mason from the Broome lodge of Western Australia, and on my mother’s side I only have a passing reference of who was actually involved in the organisation, as I never met them before their ultimate expiration from the earth. My connection to the organisation, is, therefore, now reduced to a silver ring that was kept and handed down after said expiration. In regards to my great uncle, I only met him a handful of times as a kid, and only found out about his masonic connection long after I’d started walking down my own metaphysical path.

I never liked the man particularly much; my first memory of him was him pulling his false teeth out and chasing me around the house with them. Which is probably a good thing, considering the unknown persona he carried with him over and through his deathbed; that he exhibited at one point paedophilic tendencies on certain members of the family – not really something anyone should be surprised by given the amount of similar stories arising about Freemasonic happenings.

Of course, his victims never spoke about any of it until they had 6 ft of dirt separating him from them. I only found out about it back in 2019, and was – to put it simply – QUITE FUCKING LIVID, as this is something that goes against the very essence of my being, and considering I still genuinely cared for the family member in question. My only solace is knowing that his dementia did a good job of obliterating his brains cells in the years before he finally kicked the bucket. That and the fact that his indiscretions could be considered at the more “minor” end of the spectrum when it comes to the question of psychological damage such individuals can cause upon their victims. I shudder to think there was more than what was brought forward. Maybe it is my own naievity, maybe it’s a defense mechanism to stop me digging too deep into it and setting me off on a path of grave defilement. Whatever, I guess it explains why I thought it necessary to clarify my position.

In addition to this, I was once approached to join the brotherhood by another old man at a spiritualist circle I used to attend with my mother and SD. As far as I am aware, him and my great uncle had no connection to one another. I politely declined the invitation because at that point I was not interested in submitting the celestial authority that came with the spark that animated my physical being over to a society built upon the idea of a spiritual hierarchy.

Quite frankly, I’d been astral projecting and lucid dreaming for a decade at that point, and had read all about Aleister Crowley and his Argentum Aurum, the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn, Ordo Templi Orientis etc. Call it arrogance – though I call it an unfaltering knowledge of self – the Freemasons seemed to me like just another group of novice Occultists that needed to be handed their divinity piece by piece by climbing through the ranks of the degrees. I preferred to bypass all that shit and reclaim my divinity myself, from the devil himself, if necessary; part of this involved never allowing any other individual or organisation to project false authority over my soul and its progression, as I truly believed that right belonged to my higher self, and my higher self alone.

Still, he sought the need to hand me some pamphlets on the Freemason’s apparent ideologies and how one cannot become a member unless they have an initiate vouch for them, which, I guess, is what he was planning on doing for me. You don’t get random’s making such an offer unless you have demonstrated you at least know a little bit about what it is you are talking about.

This does not mean I didn’t research what I could about them (much of which had already been done by the time I was propositioned to join). You may remember I was a steward of the Hell Fire Club which practiced spiritual alchemy. The only reason I had even bothered joining this Club was because it allowed for self initiation, as the club was not interested in using a similar hierarchal method of initiation to the Freemasons. Plus it had some really rare and hard to obtain books on magic, in a specially bound editions, which, like I have mentioned previously, is what really tickled my fancy.

This all sounds very mysterious, and diabolical, given the English chapter used to meet in the caves of West Wycombe in fancy masks and robes to carry out their rituals (based on Pagan festivities), but in reality my chapter never consisted of more than SD and myself, and all we ever did was sit on a carpet in our own house and throw a coin at a bottle; big fucking whoop. Nothing in comparison to the secret meetings and “architectural marvels” the Freemasons have been known to engage in and construct in the apparent quest to “become better men”. As I mentioned before, I revered knowledge above all personal gain and profit. The Hellfire Club was an interesting avenue into gaining more knowledge of the alchemical process of transmuting the lead of human consciousness into something much more profound and metaphorically “golden”.

But – and there is a but – being a club heavily inspired by Hermetic teachings, which crosses paths with some Freemasonic concepts and ideologies, it was inevitable that it was going to attract initiates of Freemasonry as well as other societies such as those aforementioned.

The Stewards for the other Australian (as well as international) Chapters, for example, are themselves occultists, which belong to such organisations as the Freemasons, the Hermetic Order of the Red Dragon etc etc. You have to also consider that this was in the early days of social media, before there were any real dedicated chat rooms where concepts such as the occult (which simply means “hidden” or “hidden knowledge”) could be freely talked about without ridicule from the spiritually inept who would brandish them as devil worshippers etc (wait until you see what the demonologists talk about, lol).

So you could say that as the international division of the Hellfire Club took off, us members began to realise we had a safe spot to bounce metaphysical concepts and ideas off each other, as each sought to incorporate their own occult knowledge and flavour into their own chapters. I became respected among these other members as I demonstrated knowledge I had picked up on the Kabbalah, Alchemy and the occult in general over many years of study, and likewise I respected them and the knowledge they offered me, a lot of which had to do with Freemasonic processes.

So yes, I had, and still do have access to a network of high ranking 33rd degree Freemasons, who have some influence over the operations of others in other jurisdictions. To give you an idea of this influence, when a potential recruit – also a low ranking Freemasonic initiate – into our HFC chapter tried to rape SD, I was told if I had brought the matter to one I am in contact with, himself a 33rd degree Freemason, immediately after it had happened, they could have ejected and banned this piece of shit from joining any of the Australian divisions – this is what I mean when I say my knowledge of the occult earnt me some “respect”. Am I involved in their evil diabolical scheme to take over the world?. Hence there are things that I know, some deduced from extension of my studies into the occult, and some communicated directly to me by these Freemasons, but at the end of the day I hold no oaths, or am held by no encumberances when it comes to the distribution of “what I know”. And Hence I have seen both the good and bad parts of the brotherhood, so I am loathe to jump on the bandwagon of vilifying them as a whole. The answer, unfortunately for those who’d have a mind to spin my content as being some form of Freemasonic propaganda, is a somewhat stale and rather definite “no”.

This does not mean I know all there is to know about the Freemasons and their goings on behind closed doors – honestly, to me, it’s a confusing mess of shit that varies from Rite to Rite and jurisdiction to jurisdiction, that I have no intention of delving too deeply into – but what I do know is that the Temple of Solomon, and the subsequent Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon, which deal with the summoning of “Djinn” or “demons” is a very integral part of the core concepts that are dealt with within {one aspect of} Freemasonry, as can be evidenced from HERE.

Unfortunately for the Freemasonic brotherhood, I also know, from another, exterior source, who was directly brought up under an operation involving Extra Terrestrials – a very big one, dating back before WW2 – that the ideologies around such “demons” or “goetic spirits” were originally distorted by the protectors of the very Temple the Freemasons worship (this goes back beyond Hiram Abif), to lead prying eyes down a false road. What was revealed to me by this source, was that the Freemasonic brotherhood was intentionally set up as a front to hide the true identity of what these goetic spirits actually were/are; interdimensional intelligences that could be communicated with and prepared for possession of a willing host through the Solomonic workings, ie the Greater and Lesser Keys. According to my source, Solomon himself, wasn’t exactly “human”; the original builders of his temple knew of this secret, because it was to be a chamber that provided the necessary atmosphere for that intelligence to acclimatise after it found a willing host. True Masons were those who allegedly knew this secret, and my source claims she was brought up by one of them. Of course, I have no way of verifying any of this, so its up to the reader how much salt they want to sprinkle o n that tasty morsel.

But I can attest to the assertion there is something otherworldly about these books, because I inadvertently summoned one of these entities early one morning and it scared the absolute shit out of me.

And I do not mean via an LD state either. Here, in this physical world, I accidentally brought one of these entities from its realm into ours, after simply reading from the versions of the Greater and Lesser Keys that I owned.

I was around about the age of 20, and I had just received my Hell Fire Club Bound Edition (extremely rare and worth $600 – $1200 respectively) copies of these works in the mail; A copy of Aleister Crowley’s own Goetia – the Lesser Key – , replete with his handwritten notes, and a copy of Sepher Maphtea Shalamoh, one of the oldest known surviving manuscripts of the Greater Key –

Here is a picture of the pages from an identical, non Hellfire Club edition I owned of the Sepher Maphtea Shalamoh. Good luck trying to read it if you don’t know Aramaic Hebrew (I sure as fuck don’t, though if you do I’d be very interested in a helpful translation of the entire thing).

You hear of people in the occult community who try and use these grimoires to obtain money and power and whatever other materialistic shit they can think of; this wasn’t part of my intention. I had them simply because I wanted the knowledge they contained. I was committed to reading them without ever actually trying the rituals contained within.

That very night, or more correctly morning as it was about 3am, I was in my caravan (trailer in American speak) playing xbox with my dog, Abby, sat on the couch next to me whilst SD slept in the bed just over from us. All of a sudden I heard a very deep, guttural roaring sound, deeper and louder than any human could ever manage, followed by a stomping from one end of the caravan to other. I was around 100kg at the time and these footsteps shook the caravan much more than I did even when I was in a pissed off mood. They were very, very heavy, and very dense steps – not the footsteps or noise of any Tom cat or animal one would expect to find in that part of Western Australia. Abby was a fearless dog, and this scared the shit even out of her. Make no mistake, this was a good, old fashioned demon summoning if ever there was one. As soon as it finished, the TV went nuts and just started flicking 666 over and over again despite the remote not being jammed under anything, as it was sitting on the table next to me. For anyone who has studied the occult, and certain people of historical fame, that number is an obvious reference to Master Therion, aka Aleister Crowley. How coincidental I’d been reading his copy of the Goetia only hours prior. Regardless, it was good lesson in taking care next time I read the thing.

So yes, these texts are powerful texts, but I do not recommend fucking with them unless you have balls of steel, and know absolutely what the fuck it is you are doing. And not unless you are intending to be a willing host for an interdimensional consciousness to take up residence in your body; regardless of whether or not this is your intention THIS WHAT THE KEYS INTENDED PURPOSE WAS. They are {allegedly} the original CE5 protocols, and I have a suspicion there are some Freemasons who know this and have incorporated it into the Lodges workings, though I do not think every single Lodge knows about it. Again, maybe that is my own naivety. New age demon worshippers (and yes there a lot of them, facebook now has groups dedicated to the subject – I have watched these spawn into communities from nothing) have no idea what they are fucking around with. Thinking it is a means for quick materialistic manifestations, many of these worshippers will willingly engrave, tattoo, embed the sigils of these interdimensional consciousnesses directly onto their bodies, using blood for ink, using the rituals to “command” these intelligences into doing their bidding etc.

Talk about fucking amateurs.

You see why I always had a thirst for knowledge of just what the fuck it was I was getting myself into before diving right into it? If you want to know how possession works, it is carried out via sleep paralysis; I have experienced this directly, and so has SD – the exact same experience. What happens is the dominant consciousness enters via the ear, in my case, the right one, and you feel your own consciousness distort as it gets squeezed to one small side of your head. You can then feel the invading thought form taking up residence in the greater portion of your head that you no longer occupy. It is not a pleasant experience, which I liken to “mind raping”.

To one who is not lucky enough to even get to sleep paralysis (that is a joke), you will simply wake up and have thoughts that will destroy you if you are unable dissociate yourself from them. In my case, it bent my perception to seeing suicide as a very tempting option, seemingly for no reason, then I remembered the mind worm invader the night previous, shook the thoughts off (repetitively) and they never bothered me again; you must be very savvy as to what constitutes your thoughts, and what are those thoughts from an invading parasite. This was some years after the incident in the caravan so I don’t think the two were related, but still if you see anyone engaging in this level of dumb shittery, high ranking Freemasonic members included, you can bet your bottom dollar they don’t have the faintest idea of what it is they are doing, and are, in all probability going along with something that has been taught at the highest levels, under the idea that a Goetic intelligence is a nefarious spirit to be “commanded to do one’s bidding”. Either that, or they are taking inspiration from Crowley when he deliberately stepped into the circle of the demon Choronzon and let it possess him. Not exactly sure what divine ending they would be expecting from that though.

The only proper way to communicate with such entities is via the hypnogogic/lucid dreaming state, when connected to the higher information stream of the higher self – this importance needs to be emphasized, because when connected to this information stream things cannot lie to you; you can literally trace their whole existence through MWI and analyse every thought and choice they have ever made; if they are deceiving you, it will show in this analysis. If you can muster the discipline to do away with the ritualistic commands of the Greater and Lesser Keys, the type of shit that apparent Masters of the Occult, like Crowley, suggested were necessary, and actually meet them face to face in their own domain with a level of respect, you might find they are willing to reveal to you “forbidden knowledge” of the earth and the greater cosmos; who do you think the “President” of the Unseen 5 that showed me “the fall” was? Wink wink. Of course, if you haven’t prepared your consciousness accordingly, the energetic signature of these spirits will likely be too intense for you to bear (another reason why you need the higher information processing capabilities of the higher self). It is just simply too much information for your consciousness to be able to handle. But it is sure a hell of a lot less intense than standing face to face with the Grand Architect of the universe, what the big G in the middle of the Masonic square and compass represents. Just trust me on that one

“The spirits of the Goetia are portions of the human brain. Their seals therefore represent methods of stimulating or regulating those particular spots (though the eye).” – Aleister Crowley, The Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magic in the Goetia.)

And I quote from the previous link:

“If we as masons want to look at this in a philosophical sense we are all seeking to be the wise King Solomon. We must unlock the brass vessel of our own unconscious mind releasing all the aspects of ourselves we care not to let out. Each demon can be seen as an aspect of our personality that we keep hidden from the world. It is the goal of the magician with the aid of angels and magickal weapons to face the dark aspects of him and symbolically slay and expel those forces from our own spiritual nature, thus purifying him. This medieval system of what some would consider “black magick” is simply a way to reflect upon the aspects of our own psyche. If we as individuals wish togain the wisdom of the archetypal king, we should face the shadow of ourselves and the demons that well in the void of our own nightmares.”

So the Freemasons, channeling their inner Carl Jung, believe that the texts allow an unlocking of deep aspects of the psyche which must be vanquished with the help of the “angels”….so what happens if the angels are really demons in disguise and are the very things responsible for those darker aspects of the self arising in the first place?

The Native Americans believed in such a concept they called the Wetiko, which they considered to be a sort of psychic virus that attached itself to the psyche of man and inflated his ego to the point he would put his own selfishness before empathy; Paul Levy does a good write up of this at https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/3472

Can you see where I am going with this? Through the illusion of duality of good and evil “spirits” – ie, angels vs demons – and the failure to understand that one’s own consciousness is originally of the highest attainable divine status, (ie, failure to adhere to a very basic and core concept of the occult) the Freemasons have allowed the submission of their own divine authority over to lesser divine parasitic entities, so that these same entities may “help” liberate them from a problem they {potentially} had a hand in causing in the first place.

To anyone who has read even a small amount of Carl Jung’s work in this area, it could be argued shadow work does not need to involve the help of supposed “angels” or “guides” to be carried out. In fact, repetitive self psychological evaluation was part of my “magickal undertakings”; I use to evaluate myself and my thoughts and try to understand where they had arisen, and what had caused them in my constant effort to “know myself” – again a basic edict of Alchemy. For us lucid dreamers, who can literally enter into the parts of our subconscious mind and “see” the thoughts as they arise, and what the shadow self is actually comprised of, and analyse these completely from an objective viewpoint, the last thing we need is “help”.

So where does this leave me? I already met the “Grand Architect”, who I called the All Being, back in 2016. What could any Freemasonic Lodge offer me if the whole goal of their brotherhood is to eventually bring one’s consciousness into contact with such a being? Seems I must have been quite learned in “High Magick” to achieve this feat without ever bothering to join their organisation.

The supposed “evil” nature of the Goetic spirits does not match to their temperament when met under LD – they can be considered very respectable intelligences in this domain – which suggests to me the Solomonic rituals are actually subverting the communication over to other entities who do not want us contacting these spirits because of the information they {the Goetic spirits} hold. If my source {and assumptions from my experiences and those in my inner circle} is correct and these are indeed inter dimensional intelligences, then the question must be asked: who is summoning what when using such ceremonial methods as the Freemasons and Crowley used?

Let’s continue from that link shall we?

“Before one sincerely attempts to evoke these demons, one should first spend some time invoking the 72 counterpart angels of the Almadel. The Almadel is a very enlightening experience and puts the magician in touch with the aspects of virtue within the psyche of the individual. This should be required for two reasons, one: one should be in touch with their inner strength before they face the demons, and two: the angels of the Almadel have direct control over the demons of the brass vessel. The Almadel is a system of scrying into a crystal ball over an altar made of wax upon which are engraved the Holy names of God. Remember that invocation is to call down a power within your spirit and mind, so you invoke angels to bring them closer. The Magician will evoke demons, to bring from within ones self into manifestation.

After one has made meaningful contact with his own inner angelic forces, he is now mentally and spiritually prepared to venture into the darkness of his own being. This system of High Magick should only be attempted by those who have magickal training, or are learned practitioners of ceremonial magick. This system to the unprepared is VERY DANGEROUS, and can be disastrous for those who approach the subject manner with a light heart or contempt in the mind. A short exert from the Lesser Key of Solomon will show the level of seriousness this system deserves.

Curse you and deprive you from all your offices and places of joy and place and do bind thee in the depths of the bottomless pit, there to remain until the day of judgment; I say into the lake of fire and brimstone… let all the company of heaven curse thee… let the hosts of heaven curse thee, I curse thee into fire unquenchable, and torments unspeakable as thy name and seal is contained in this box, chained and bound up and shall be choked in sulphurus and stinking substance and burnt in this material fire… which is prepared for thee damned and cursed spirits and there to remain until the day of doom and never more remembered of before the face of God which shall come to judge the dead and the world by fire.” (Lesser Key of Solomon, Book 1: Ars Goetia)

The Goetic demons require quite an elaborate array of magical implements such as a magic robe, wand, sword, circle, ring, brass vessel containing the 72 sigils of demons, black mirror within the magick triangle, and a very good memory. These evocations are quite lengthy and the magickal ritual can last quite awhile, especially when in a hypnotic trance which is required. “

What we have a case of is “the bible told us these {demons} were bad, and that these {angels} were good, so we will employ the service of the good guys and not question their motives”. That’s fine if you are of a religious inclination, but I never have been so the core concepts behind such a dualistic method of thinking in Freemasonry simply do not fit with my ideological makeup. The two are not compatible, therefore there is no reason for me to be a part of their Brotherhood.

My first novel, Dreaming Demons, as appalling as it was (first novels are always shit, especially when you are trying to offend as many people as possible with it), attempted to explain this difference in temperament between the Goetic spirits outside of the dualistic concepts of good and evil. It was a 120k word story which featured Astaroth as the main character (though “his” name was written backwards). As I was writing this book, I one day had an urge to switch on the TV, which was strange because I never watched TV in the day time. I specifically remember just randomly stopping typing and walking over to it and flicking it on. So what are the odds, that at that exact moment the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks was on, and the children were discussing “finding the Star of Astaroth? One in several million billion I bet. Astaroth is the 29th spirit of the Goetia and is said to “show people the fall”. His rank, as mentioned by Crowley, was Duke, though other spirits held the rank of President. So when I was shown “the Fall” by the leader of the Unseen 5, I was also shown that his rank is no longer Duke but now rather President – this is why he was taking the form of then president Obama. Does that clarify who this organisation really is? It should be obvious by now that it is the real Ashtar{oth}/ Command – not that fake ass bullshit one finds discussed in new age circles.

In case you weren’t aware, Astaroth was synonymous with The Phoenician goddess Astarte, the Babylonian Ishtar, and the Sumerian Inanna:

The name Astaroth was ultimately derived from that of 2nd millennium BC Phoenician goddess Astarte,[1] an equivalent of the Babylonian Ishtar, and the earlier Sumerian Inanna. She is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the forms Ashtoreth (singular) and Ashtaroth (plural, in reference to multiple statues of it). This latter form was directly transliterated in the early Greek and Latin versions of the Bible, where it was less apparent that it had been a plural feminine in Hebrew. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astaroth

This should give you an idea of just how old the Unseen 5 really is. They have been monitoring humanity from their vantage point in the astral planes since at least the time of Ancient Sumeria.

So, to summarise the question of whether or not I am a Freemason, the answer is no, and the reasons are:

Submission of one’s own celestial authority over to lesser intelligences is the first failing step to what many occult and Hermetic societies strived to achieve. The ranking system of the Freemasons (and many other secret societies for that matter) is a sure fire guaranteed way of diminishing this celestial authority even further, and submits to the idea man is a lesser intelligence that must evolve its way into divinity, rather than already possessing a ticket of entry.

Freemasons believe in the duality of angel vs demon arising from a core religious belief that centres around Christianity. The subjectivity and personal nature of religion provides a weakness for manipulative entities to exploit, in my opinion, hence why I believe all occult practices should be done with an objective mind free from emotion and religious doctrine.

Freemasonry can’t offer anything in the development and understanding of the psyche beyond what Lucid dreaming can offer. Ritual becomes redundant when you can enter into the very part of the mind the ritual seeks to exploit and directly push the buttons that exist therein.

Personal Experience tells me that the Goetic spirits are real interdimensional intelligences that very much differ from being simply deeply repressed aspects of the shadow self, and that they hold some every important information about humans and their {true} cosmological history. Those in my inner circle, through their own experiences, agree with this assessment. This does not fit in with the Freemasonic understanding of these spirits.

I’ve already met the Grand Architect, there is simply nothing the brotherhood can offer me in the form of spiritual liberation.

[daegonmagus] – Part 30 – A Report on the Operational Characteristics of the ET Craft I Piloted

The following is the 30th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benefit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you enjoy this article.

-MM

Up to date version

This article is in HTML. It is version 1.

A better version of this summary is on PDF, and it corrects some errors and adds some more detail.

I suggest that you read this PDF, downloadable HERE rather than reading this summary…

If it is more convenient to read here in HTML, go ahead…

A Report on the Operational Characteristics of the ET Craft I Piloted, (later TBD) Accompanied by a Video Simulation:

The following report is based on an experience I had on the 27^th June 2022 in which I believe I was successful in having my consciousness merged and attached to what most people would consider an extra terrestrial space craft. Whilst this falls under the category of a Lucid Dreaming/ Astral Projection experience, these forms of nomenclature are, in my opinion, not sufficient in describing the vividness of the experience, which was comparable to the vividness of waking, physical reality. It is for this reason I have decided to write this report including as much detail as possible, so it can hopefully be built upon by other explorers of consciousness. I am confident that there is valuable information here that will give insight into the potential operating parameters of ET spacecraft visiting our planet. I am currently working on an accompanying video simulating what it was like to fly this space craft. The original article I wrote can be found at [daegonmagus] – Part 26 – Lucid Astral Projection – The Consciousness Craft Launch Facility and Something Dwelling in the Red Planet: – Metallicman, albeit, much to my chagrin I had not found much time to properly scrutinize the experience and draft a proper report on my findings when I wrote it. This document is to make up for that, though bear in mind it has been written several months after the fact. I apologise, for not writing this sooner, as life got in the way.

To the layman, and those who have not had Out of Body experiences such as astral projection and lucid dreaming this report might come as a bit outlandish in its claims. It is therefore important to understand some back context derived through many years worth of experimentations in lucid dreaming I myself have conducted over several decades and note some passages from prior works in this field of Ufology that are relevant to what is being discussed here. Hopefully, I can then provide a logical process by which other consciousness explorers may adapt to their own voluntary OBE sessions to achieve similar results. I am confident in my assertions that further investigation into this material will yield results that will make the scientific community pay more attention to astral projection and lucid dreaming. In saying that though I am only one man who is limited to only a very narrow window of knowledge and skillsets which can be used for the purpose of scientifically investigating this matter (specifically electronics and radio propagation theory), therefore I welcome any input and advice from others whose own windows of knowledge and skills can further compliment this research. I have done my best to provide as much information as possible to give a starting point for further investigation, but at the end of the day, much of this model has been derived through my own interpretations of what I was experiencing that may prove to be inaccurate. However, I do not think these inaccuracies warrant this material to a swift shuffling into the dustbin, and am confident that they can be ironed out if enough manpower takes the subject herein seriously enough.

An integral part of the theory being discussed here is the idea that consciousness and the physical body are two completely separate things that interface with one another to provide a singularly functioning biological machine that is capable of perceiving and interacting with the physical world around it. It is important to cast aside Darwinian theory of evolution here, as it does nothing to assess the consciousness components that drive said machine, and assumes, rather incorrectly, that consciousness and body are one combined “thing”, inseparable until at least the expiration of the biological body through death. While the evolutionary model of the biological body through Darwinian theory is likely correct (I have no intention of setting out to prove or disprove it), it fails to provide any rationale to the consciousness component and somewhat considers it as an after thought in the question of human {intelligence} evolution. I therefore argue that if consciousness existed before the body (from the rationale that it is too complex to evolve to its current position through a single incarnation), then it deserves a much more thorough scrutinisation, and its own theory of evolution to be applied.

Based on my own experiments and experiences during my OBEs, consciousness, itself, is a superior technology, far in advance of what humans can consider our greatest technological achievements, of which only very advanced civilizations are able to fully realize (for the sake of the argument we will consider these advanced civilizations as being of extra terrestrial nature, or non human, as the human experience is a direct consequence of their manipulation strategies of this superior technology – something which has been directly communicated to me during OBEs, by representatives of such advanced civilisations). It is an extremely versatile component and energy source, of a quantum construction that is extremely adaptable to its own environment. What do I mean by this? To put it simply, through the voluntary act of initiating an OBE, or more specifically through initiating a conscious transition into the sleeping state (where consistent awareness is carried over and no break in understanding or memory is allowed to interfere before sleep is induced), one can deliberately change the dynamics of their own consciousness and manipulate it at a quantum level, to experience things of an indescribable nature to the layman who is yet to have an OBE.
To the investigators of quantum physics, this equates to a witnessing and understanding of the other side of the quantum domain, where Schrodinger’s cat is both alive and dead at once (metaphorically speaking). Where the particle becomes wave and the seemingly impossible becomes possible.

So now we understand that consciousness is a superior, quantum based technology, we can start to gain an understanding of the relationship between consciousness and body, and the irrelevance of Darwinian theory thus becomes apparent. Indeed, consciousness is an entirely separate thing to the body, and can actually be detached from it voluntarily through advanced lucid dreaming practices. Through years of practice, I became somewhat of an expert at regularly achieving this level of detachment, in which I took the opportunities to experiment with just what exactly is achievable by consciousness whilst in this state, pushing it beyond limits that can be explained through common rationality and logic. This detachment can be felt during the aforementioned conscious transition into the sleeping state, where the “interfaces” that allow movements of the limbs and data to be obtained and processed through the nervous system are felt to “fall away”, in which physical reality then becomes replaced by a quantum reality, and where the act of thought creates a seemingly physical environment to manifest around you (what we commonly equate to being dreamscapes).
It is here that consciousness can be tuned out of resonance with the body and made to adapt to other containers, of both physical and non physical (quantum) nature, simply by the use of tought.

How exactly is this achieved? I once had a lucid dreaming experience which I believe offers valuable insight into this question. In the dream, my physical reality was applied like a holographic overlay over my dream environment as I awoke. This physical picture of my room “grew” in definition the closer I got to waking up until I was completely awake, washing out the dreamscape as it did so. During this holographic overlaying of physical reality, I observed a back and forth “wave like” effect (of the holographic physical reality) that moved back and forth through its wave’s peaks at a rate somewhere around 0.5Hertz.Originally I stated this to be about 4Hz, but after reassessing these waves, I figured it closer to being 0.5Hz, based on my understanding of frequency. I immediately applied my (somewhat limited) expertise in radio modulation to my mode of thinking to try and conceptualise what was happening during this experience. After several years of studying that radio theory more in depth (and comparing it to an experience whereby I remembered my own reincarnation and my consciousness being placed within the fetus of my current incarnation, again courtesy of lucid dreaming), my arriving hypothesis is that the brain emits a carrier wave somewhere down this end of the ELF spectrum, (the exact frequency I suspect which can be determined through the application of standard antenna theory to the neurological/ nervous system pathways assuming they act as complex antenna arrays that are susceptible to drift tuning from the parasitic oscillations derived through the natural inductances, capacitances and resistances inherent within the body’s fats and salts) and that consciousness “rides” on the envelope of this carrier in a similar way to how an audio frequency can be modulated on to an AM carrier wave. It could also be closer to an FM or PM wave, though admittedly I have not bothered trying to conceptualize this operating potential beyond simple imaginings.

An important note is to be made here; the formulas associated with finding wavelengths and frequency are based on the idea of electromagnetic radiation being propagated at the speed of light (minus 5% on earth due to atmospheric influence). Whilst these formulas may provide an explanation of the physical, biological body’s energetic radiation (and thus may determine its carrier wave frequency), it would seem that mode of thought (the consciousness signal that rides upon the carrier) operates much fast than the speed of light, which means that an entirely new set of formulas would likely need to be devised before attempting to calculate these thought component wavelengths/ frequencies. I suspect that this modulation operation is actually achieved through a range of harmonic carriers, rather than one stand alone frequency, and would suggest dream researchers study more in depth, the envelopes between the brainwaves picked up through EEG equipment, rather than the actual waves themselves. In other words, try looking for information where at first glance there doesn’t appear to be any.

In another lucid dreaming experience I was in a hypnogogic state bordering a conscious transition into the sleeping state, and caught a signal from nearby non physical intelligence. This signal I heard coming through like a typical broken radio signal, interlaced with heavy static/ white noise, that almost completely drowned at the audible component of the signal out. Given that in these states of mind, thoughts produce tangible environments, I deliberately used my thoughts to manifest a radio dial in which I was then able to tune out this white noise interference and bring out the fidelity in the audible signal. I understood this immediately as being “not of human or earth origins”, as whatever was speaking spoke in a “clickity clack” dialect that had no familiarity to any language I had ever heard; I had no idea what they were saying.
Almost simultaneously as I tuned into this frequency, I was “teleported” to a sort of large ship (no longer in hypnogogia but on the otherside of transitioning into the sleeping state) filled with a strange liquid where telepathic images were transmitted to me about what these creatures looked like (not describable), as well as gesturing me to enter a strange cylinder device to my side. Upon entering the cylinder, I underwent a calibration process, whereby an understanding of this foreign language immediately happened. The details of that conversation are irrelevant to this report and have been discussed elsewhere in my literature. After having many experiences of contact with non physical “alien” intelligences within these states, I am very confident in my assertion that the operational characteristics of consciousness can be finely tuned whilst consciously aware one is in this state.

So, to summarize, the hypothesis is that the biological human body is simply a vessel that locks consciousness into it through the use of what essentially equates to signal modulation. Through deliberately induced lucid dreaming (or more specifically Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming) one can gain access to the mechanisms that allow them to control and tune their consciousness away from this “capturing” frequency of the human body, in which it can then be primed for habitation within other vessels both of biological and non biological substance.

We now take a look at the testimony of Lt Colonel Philip J Corso (which was relayed in his book The Day After Roswell) in which he states his assumption (from reports he read) that the craft that crashed at Roswell in 1947 seemingly had no operational controls that one would expect to find in conventional aircraft, and that this particular craft was possibly controlled by an extraterrestrial consciousness that was able to be tethered in with it. In the book, Corso mentions how the suits worn by the ETs also somehow allowed control of the craft by emitting an electromagnetic signature that matched in with the craft. Corso’s assumptions are heavily similar to my own determinations of using a carrier frequency to lock consciousness within a biological body; in fact if you substitute the space craft for the human body they are almost identical, and these were hypotheticals I was conceptualizing years before reading his book.

Further, in the Alien Interview (an alleged manuscript of an interview with the alien from the same Roswell Crash) Airl, the alien suggests a very similar mode of piloting their craft by moving their consciousness into it. Regardless of whether or not either of these works are legitimate or not, they present a very workable hypothesis that I believe warrants further investigation, which I used as a basis for experimentation during my own lucid dreams: deliberately using induced OBEs to target and hijack functional ET spacecraft.

Based on my experiences and experiments therein, I can state with 100% surety that Lt Col Corso was correct in his assessment, but that he failed to identify deliberately induced OBEs, such as Lucid Dreaming and Astral Projection as a very reliable means in achieving operational control of extra terrestrial vehicles (if you believe the military industrial complex hadn’t already worked this out). I remind the reader of this article that I am very well versed in what constitutes a sub conscious dream, a deliberately constructed (visualised) dream, an astral projection experience, hypnogogia, sleep paralysis and the difference between all of them. What my experience entailed was something completely different; it was a rerouting of my consciousness into an extra terrestrial space vehicle that I wore and experienced in the exact same way I experience the physical body I use to type these words. I was physically present in (physical) outer space whilst operating this vehicle, not simply buzzing around the astral plane (which I have done before and also managed to bump into some kind of flying UFO).. The following is based on notes I was able to take during that flight out of the solar system into incredibly “deep” space, which hoping will one day be taken as validation of the experience, when space exploration technology progresses to a point where a more thorough exploration to the region of space I was in can be carried out.

The Vanquish DM-22 Specifications:

Given my appreciation of the craft in question, and the achievement of the experience, I feel the need to refer to it in specific manner, so that no confusion can be made if this craft is ever witnessed in our local region of space. Thus I came up with the name Vanquish DM-22; Vanquish (because it seemed like the space fairing equivalent of an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, also fitting considering the safety of feeling being able to “vanquish” any offensive attack that came my way), and DM – 22 in reference to my initials and the year I first flew it. Flying this craft was a very big deal for me.

Size and shape were hard to determine, as a) it is hard to determine the outside of a body you are currently inside of (just like we cannot determine the shapes of our own bodies without a mirror, except for those parts we can see), and b) the distance between celestial bodies gave a distorted perception of size, particularly at the speeds I was travelling. In saying that though, I got the feeling of a sort of spinning top as a basic silhouette of shape (through my field of vision and based on what I could “feel”, just like one can “feel” their head is a certain shape without touching it). I am confident the above CAD model is a close representation of its shape, considering. The bottom point of the VDM-22 would be what I consider the standout feature, as I could feel this as being the main “limb” of the VDM-22. Most of the control points (the “nerves” of the craft) seemed to gather at this bottom point.

Based on the hangar length, and that the VDM-22’s width was almost touching each side of the launch “chimney”, then considering my perspective of the chimney whilst inside of it, then once again outside in space, I am guessing the diameter was somewhere around 20m. I consider this to be a less accurate assumption than estimating the shape as I had a limited frame of reference to work off. The movement of celestial bodies past the ship suggested the size was astronomically large, but again at those distances and speeds it becomes almost impossible to tell. Extrapolating from the idea I was able to eventually land on Mars, is suggestive the craft was much smaller than that particular planet. At the same time, using the atmospheric boundary of the same planet during landing also suggests it was bigger than conventional earth shuttles.

The “ears” of the VDM-22 body seemed to be some kind of telepathic transceiver that increased audible range to the point that atmospheric noise could be heard with crystal clear clarity from great distances. Noises very similar to those compiled by NASA on what planets “sound like” could be heard on approach to certain planets, which faded as one moved away from them. According to NASA these particular frequencies (before being manipulated by them so they could be heard by the human ear) sit somewhere within the 800MHz spectrum, suggesting this craft body allows the filtering of signals far beyond the 20kHz limit of the human ear. Through the use of the HUD, zooming in to a neighboring galaxy also allowed one to pin point the audio signals coming from that region of space. Interlaced throughout this white noise, in various star clusters, intelligent voices could be heard quite easily. It appeared that certain planets were also conscious (as if consciousness had taken up residence in them like I was taking up residence in this craft) and exhibited intelligence to the level they were able to seemingly communicate (which took the form of English, assumedly translated through the craft’s “ears”) with other nearby planets and me as I approached them. An apparent Martian intelligence was one such example that seemed quite dominant and “loud” and easily discernible even from deep space. Two way communication with these intelligences could be achieved through first zooming into their region of space and using thought as a transmission medium. This zooming feature allowed identification of planetary bodies to extremely high detail from vast distances over several hundred lightyears away.

It was also apparent that some of these planetary transmissions had been set up as beacons to provide navigational data to similar space craft that would be traversing the area.

I was also able to use a stellarium astronomy software that came with a telescope I bought, called Starry Night 8, to devise a very close simulated representation of some aspects of the experience, and derive from it interesting data in the form of star maps that allowed me to approximate in space I was, as well as speeds I was achieving with this craft. This simulation will be included in the aforementioned video along with animations to better show the process of how to merge ones consciousness with these type of craft.

The speeds of the VDM-22 can be broken down into 3 categories of operation: atmospheric, local space and outer galaxy speeds. Atmospheric was the initial speed upon launching from the facility tunnel perched on the top of an asteroid I tracked using Starry Night 8 to being somewhere near the Pawlowia Asteroid during the time of the experience. I have in my head (and I don’t know why) that the approximate length of the tunnel the VDM-22 was hangared in was between 32 and 36km in length (protruding directly into space). This length was covered in about 10 seconds, which equates to about a 13000km/hr initial “launch” speed and presented the hardest part to navigate, as I was very much aware there was limited clearance between the edges of my craft body and the tunnel walls (within a mere meter). Extreme focus must be given to propel the craft at this speed through such a confined space. I knew if I was out by even small degree, at that distance I would crash into these tunnel walls and the experience would end.

How to Achieve Flight Control of the Vanquish DM-22:

To understand how to gain operational control of the Vanquish DM-22, we must first delve a bit deeper into this idea that one experiences a detachment of the consciousness mechanisms from the interfaces of the human body that allow motor control over the limbs etc which can be directly ported over to a target space craft. I mentioned previously that consciousness whilst out of body (lucid dreaming, not astral projecting, as consciousness is still attached to an energetic body with the latter) is extremely versatile in its ability to adapt to its quantum environment. This should be taken as meaning that consciousness can exhibit an infinite range of movement and form whilst in this state, that does not conform to typical standards related to the physical plane. These mechanisms therefore can be considered as control points with an endless number of ways that they can be arranged. When locked within the body, these control points take the typical bipedal human form, which appears like a tree branch that extends out from the head, down both sides and branches off at the arms or the legs (I highly recommend vigourous study of the Kabbalistic tree of life, as it provides the template of consciousness whilst in human form, according to the students of it). If we consider a MO capped stick figured commonly used a basis for building CGI characters off the movements of real people, this acts as a good mock representation of these control points. We can then start to identify the crucial control points and designate them with specific alphanumeric characters:

What we now have is a rudimentary map of the “quantum body” (my own terminology). This body should in no way be compared to the astral or etheric bodies, as it is really just a ball of energy without any recognizable form – our consciousness in pure consciousness state. What our quantum body map allows us is a means to conceptualise how these control points are reshaped according to the interfaces of whatever vehicle it is being adapted to. In the case of the interstellar craft I was lucky enough to pilot, this shape takes a similar form to the typical sitting lotus position many people use to engage in meditation, if only differing from the position of the hand control points that would equate to resting in the middle of the lap. If one takes our stick figure, arranges it into this position, and then compares it to the typical flying saucer shape, the similarities between the two, should immediately become apparent. This will give an idea of where the consciousness control points will “sit” within the craft that is being piloted.

We can then equate specific gestures that are activated within our biological “meat suit” bodies courtesy of our consciousness stimulating these control points, with actual real time space craft controls. This is the key to controlling these craft. Effectively what you are doing is stimulating these same control points which are now tethered to different parts of the craft in question rather than your biological body. This is how I was able to propel this vehicle at incredible speeds into very deep space.

Through my experience piloting this craft I made the following observations mid flight on how control of the craft through these control points is realized. These determinations were made after going through a “calibration process” or “dance” by which I had to become acquainted with these gestures before I could properly fly the craft.

The shape of the saucer has nothing to do with aero dynamics (which always eluded me due to the idea in the vacuity of space velocity is not effected by drag ); it has to do with the turning motion of consciousness within the craft. In the craft I was in, it was as if there was an invisible central axis running from top to bottom that was the main housing for my consciousness. An action comparable to turning my head to look in a certain direction was achieved by spinning consciousness around this axis in either a clockwise or counter clockwise motion. This allowed a 360 pivot and scouting of one’s entire surroundings without any actual physical movement of the craft being carried out. When propelling forward, turning of the vehicle was achieved by rotating consciousness around this axis, which was almost instantaneous. This allowed tight 90 degree bends to be achieved rather effortlessly mid flight.

As consciousness was spun around this central axis, the control points, which were embedded into walls of the vehicle, also spun with it.
To move through the z axis, the control points of the head are used to what would equate to a looking up or looking down gesture, except that the craft never tilted as our head would do when making such a gesture. It always stayed in the same position relative to how consciousness was viewing (through the x/y axis) from within the central “cockpit”.

To strafe left and right on the x axis we take the triangular arrangement of control points at the top of the forearm, the elbow, and the top of the bicep and push them out to the side, we wish to strafe to, like we are elbowing someone in the ribs. An elbow “jab” would equate to a quick evasive “jump” in that direction, whilst a prolonged “shove” would propel the VDM-22 quite a distance.
A tilt of the craft (ie left or right) was achievable by using this same triangular arrangement of control points and bringing them down to our side (like we are making a chicken flying gesture). This would equate to a “barrel roll” around the y axis on whatever side the control points were on, allowing the ship’s relative plane to be changed.

A forward propelling motion through the y axis equated to taking all control points above the pelvis (from the middle of through the arms and fingers to the head) and pushing them forward, like they comprised a joystick.
Braking was achievable by pulling these same control points back to center.
Reverse was simply the opposite of forward propelling through the x axis using the same control points, or a “lean” back motion.
A detailed HUD map of current location was accessible through simple thought. This is hard to explain but it effectively allowed one to target areas of interest as well as zoom in incredible distances (into neighboring galaxies) in order to pin point travel destinations. It was effectively like switching from 1^st person to third person view, except the craft was not visible during the process. My assumption is that it was some sort of controlled method of projecting consciousness into these regions, not comparable to astral projection.
Targeting of areas of interest were achievable by using the control points equated with the fingers. Rapid, multiple target acquisition could be achieved similarly to playing a piano or typing on a computer keyboard when the HUD was activated (if you could fit it into the crammed space of your lap in the lotus position).

Close scrutiny of the above should allow one to conceptualize a near complete range of movement through all 3 axes and explain the evasion techniques seen by most UFO encounters by pilots. In addition to the above I also had an inkling that the control points of the toes (ie wriggling them) would activate the on board weapons arsenal, which I never bothered testing due to an inner knowing it would be quite devastating (beyond humankind’s worst weapons). This knowledge of having these weapons on board was comparable to the understanding one has male reproductive organs whilst sitting in this (lotus) position; one does not have to “take them out” or “play with them” to know they are there. I suspect it was some kind of laser system, but as I never used it, this is just a guess. I understood that I was a force to be reckoned with, that the composition of my space craft body was virtually indestructible and almost wished for another craft to engage me so I could so test out the defence capabilities of the VDM-22. I felt confidant that I was the biggest fish in the universe, and nothing was going to injure me.

Body Disconnection and Spacecraft Reattachment Process:

Importance must be given to the Hypngogic phase of the OBE, as there is a very small window of opportunity between properly disconnecting consciousness from the body, then attaching it to another usable vessel. Whilst hypnagogia can be considered as a cleavage point of consciousness, where it is “drifting” away from the physical body, but still attached to it, it does not equate to a full separation. Proper separation of consciousness from the body happens very quickly after consciousness inverts from its projected outward state which one experiences from hypnagogia (as well as from sleep paralysis) as a fast “sucking backwards” sensation in which it is pulled away from all hypnogogic imagery (what would happen if Han Solo slammed the millennium falcon in reverse whilst in hyperdrive). This inversion of consciousness is where the physical world becomes supplanted by the quantum one, where the attachment mechanisms of the body fall away and is the crucial point at which consciousness must be quickly tethered to its new container. In the case of my experience, this tethering was achieved by a sort of {non physical} hook that hung from the hallway roof that had the ability to pull my consciousness out of the body I was remote viewing from, and orient it in such a way that it aligned with the space craft cockpit (which was rotated 90 degrees in reference to the ground plane of the facility), and simultaneously merged me into it. It seemed it was by almost sheer luck the timing of this hook hitting me coincided with a conscious transition into the sleeping state, but it is more likely that the hook actually initiated the transition.
My suggestion here is that this hook is probably standard affair in many ET space craft docks, or at least those that exhibit an effortless ability to move their consciousness between different containers. An important take away from this is that hypnogogia can be used to target a specific craft through remote viewing practices.

Interestingly – and I am going to be bold with this statement – our models of neighboring galaxies seem to be somewhat inaccurate. According to this experience, I can say with 100% certainty that the Milky Way is not the largest galaxy in this region of space, and that we have a neighboring twin of roughly the same size that comes off perpendicularly to it.

The Experience:

The experience began as an involuntary remote viewing in hypnagogic trance. If I wanted to I could move my body and get up out of bed, but my consciousness was almost completely “away” and viewing from inside of a body that was walking around the launch facility, which took the form of a typical hospital insofar as layout and design was concerned. I was, evidently, on the very cusp of falling asleep. It is important in this stage of the veiwing, one intentionally refrains from exploring any random thoughts that present themselves, and just let the viewing unfold, as experience tells me that any focus away from the events unfolding in the viewing session has a tendancy to ruin it. I thus watched as this body walked about 50m down a hallway, past what appeared to be a cafeteria lounge, turn right through a door way and then walk down a neighboring hallway back from the direction I had just come. I passed what appeared to be two female reception staff to my left sitting at a table which appeared to have a doorway to outside behind it. The whole effort was quite casual, including the very brief conversation that was had with these reception staff; mine and my escort’s destination was through some blast doors that were located just up ahead. Upon reaching just in front of these blast doors the hook became evident. This was of non physical nature, but I could see it, not through the eyes of the body I was observing through, but through my own consciousness. It looked like a standard length of metal that protruded from the roof, and folded at a 90 angle towards the direction I was coming from – perfectly aligning with the centre of my forehead. The end of the hook seemed to taper into a sharp point.
I had barely had time to react before the head of body I was observing through walked was pierced this hook.
My consciousness immediately underwent the same transition into the sleeping state I have become accustomed to experiencing during my lucid dreams. I entered on into the same void space (written about elsewhere), only that this hook seemed to turn my consciousness 90 degrees upwards as it transitioned; if you picture Han Solo throwing his Millenium Falcon into a sideways back flip as he hits hyper drive in reverse, this is what it felt like; it takes much practice for one to find their bearings through such confusion, and is, in my opinion, the “fun” part of the whole affair. I immediately noticed a cluster of stars coming through what appeared to be a circular hole in this void space. My immediate realization was that this “void space” was some sort of non physical (quantum) hangar; I had just never bothered looking upwards in my other experiences with it. Ie, every time one enters into the sleeping state and into this void space, they are entering into one of these quantum hangars (even if they don’t remember it).

There was a slight period of distortion during the engagement period of my consciousness control points interfacing in within the craft body, similar to how when one first wakes up they are in a daze and their arms and legs are yet to work properly. After several seconds this haze wore off, and I was now completely attached and using this craft as if it was my own body, perceiving the physical, cylindrical, structure of the hanger. The interesting part of this haze period, was that the hangar seemingly went from being in non physical state to becoming solid as the haze wore off, and I could make out, with great vividness, tapered ridges running the entire length of the launch “chimney”. I can remember the roaring sound my thruster exhausts made as it echoed along these tapered ridges, as I propelled the craft forward, towards the opening with the stars, taking care not to move too close to the sides of the launch. This marked the hardest part of the flight; I was aware that any slight movement or twitching of the control interfaces would crash the craft into this chimney, so particular attention was paid to slowly accelerating forward until I was confident I wasn’t going to drift into it. At the same time, I had launch protocols being relayed to me via telepathic means by an unknown party, and I could feel their presence through telepathic means (not describable). A few seconds later I arrived at the opening and shot out of the chimney into space where I could see, in very vivid detail a ring of asteroids circling our sun. These asteroids looked like wet rocks glistening from the rays of light of the sun that were hitting them.

Once in open space, I underwent the calibration process to better get acquainted with the consciousness control points and how they would move the craft. This calibration process was a few minutes of me “dancing” around in space doing barrel rolls and amateur flips as if I was taking a car out to a parking lot to learn how to drive it properly. I am therefore quite sure in my assessment of the above control point manipulation to space craft operation criteria; I had to run myself through it before I could properly control the craft; it was like stretching ones limbs before playing a football game to make sure they work properly. The entire time I was aware of the base launch facility beneath me perched on a small asteroid. The facility appeared somewhat like it was made of brick work (something I found curious given its location in the middle of space) and was probably about fifty by one hundred meters in area, several stories high. The launch tunnel was several tens of kilometers in length.

After a quick tour of this asteroid ring, pin pointing earth, I decided I wanted to get away from these asteroids into a much more open area so I could test this craft’s speed capabilities. I had the inner knowing that this particular craft was the Bugatti Veyron of space (ie, engineered for speed); this understanding was akin to the intimate understanding one has of their own body and it’s capabilities and knowing that a lethargic, heavy weighted body is unlikely to perform as well in a 100m sprint than a more agile one. I just knew, this craft body was designed to be “fast”, and I was itching to see what it could do.

Using starry night software I was then able to simulate a very close representation of the time it took to fly past Jupiter and Saturn (note that in the simulation these planets appear further than I was to them because of lack of control I have over that particular program; in the experience these planets were much bigger, taking up almost all of my viewport, which I assume would mean the speeds to be somewhat faster, as I would have been covering greater distances at the same time). According to starry night 8, this would equate to an approximate acceleration of this craft from a standstill to about 4 Astronomical Units (roughly 598,000,000km) in 2 seconds; 4AU to 250ly/sec (23,652, 000, 000, 000, 000km) within 30 seconds. The region close to the location of the Magellanic clouds was reached within 1 minute of burning with barely any effort, in which I assume I was travelling somewhere near the 250ly/ sec mark. The simulation is a very close representation as to what I witnessed and how planets and stars “floated” past me during the experience. Stoppage from any of these speeds was instantaneous (no coasting or wind down), from the moment the braking control points were stimulated. As one can see, even at initial launch speeds, this craft is capable of flying pretty fast – faster than photonic based light, whilst out of atmosphere, that is for sure. The simulation from finishing the calibration process to entering into the nearby Sagittarius Galaxy can be considered 99% exact to how I experienced it, with a short period of total darkness coming out of the milky way before entering into the next galaxy., taking probably a few more seconds in actuality.

Coming out of the Milky Way, and entering into this darkness, I then turned around (spun my consciousness around the central axis of the craft), which is when I noticed two twin sized galaxies arranged perpendicular to each other. A period of disorientation occurred in which I did not know which exact one it was that I had come from.

In the bottom galaxy, I noticed a large anomalous black hole petrusion taking up about a third of the entire galaxy, spanning from one edge to other, so proceeded to fly over the top of the pancake to get a better view. This black hole I identified as being part of the anomaly I have written about elsewhere (consciousness disassembler I have experienced during prior OBEs). My suspicions are that from our vantage point on earth much of the light from this larger neighboring pancake’s stars is being swallowed by this anomaly which distorts our perception of this galaxy and makes it look much smaller than it really is. I am aware radio emissions are used by astrophysicists to map areas around black holes, but this particular area was somewhat silent around this anomaly (remember, my audible range was several hundred MHz wide, possibly even wider, as opposed to human hearing which peaks at 20kHz), suggesting this anomaly is also capable of swallowing radio frequencies. At the cracks of this anomalous protrusion were what looked like bits of sea foam being brightly illuminated by nearby stars, which I assumed to be left over remnants of other stars that this thing had swallowed after it had spat them out.

Using starry night, and trying to ascertain the relative location of this galaxy from the apparent sizes of galaxies neighboring the Milky Way at different angles, my conclusion is that this close twin is located in the very same region of space that houses the small and large Magellanic Clouds. My suggestion here is that the Magellanic Clouds are actually one larger galaxy which has been.

“cleaved” into two parts through this anomaly, which distorts our perception of them from earth, making them appear as two different clusters. I am hoping that future advances in space exploration will one day provide validation of my experience through the finding of evidence of this supermassive black hole anomaly.

Regardless, after pondering this anomaly for a few moments, and being somewhat concerned of its proximity to earth, I then penetrated out into very, very deep space, to the point I was left floating “in the middle of nowhere”. This would have equated to somewhere near the edge of the cosmic web (the real one, which covers a far greater distance than the known one, judging from what I was witnessing, and comparing to the starry night simulation software).

It was here I tried to establish telepathic communication with the Elder Guardians, who I knew existed very, very far beyond this cosmic web. This was the prime intention of what I wished to achieve with this experience. Up until that point I had been quite active in my exploration around the universe, but it was at this point that I simply just stopped and floated in the middle of no where and the realization hit me that I was an almost unfathomable distance from my physical body back on earth. A curious discovery was made out here; even at that vantage point, I was not able to receive more than a broken transmission that consisted of mainly white noise in between a few “Hello, can you hear me’s”, which suggests to me that there is a barrier that “absorbs” (or more correctly, introduces interference at) even the frequencies associated with telepathic thought transmission somewhere near the edge of the universe.

Shortly after this communication attempt was aborted, the Martian Intelligence spoke directly to me, the amplitude of its “voice” coming through extremely prominently and clear even from this deep region of space. It had evidentally “spotted” my presence flying inside and out of the milky way, and was curious about what I was up to. I had been aware of this intelligence from breaching the outer edges of the milky way, but had not paid much attention to it until it decided to specifically address me. How this was done was hard to explain, but it was like someone shouting at you from a distance, and saying “yes you” when attention was given to the voice. This attention was achieved through the aforementioned “zooming” in to the region of space this intelligence was coming from. The initial thought was that, to a human, this intelligence would have been quite sinister and dangerous, though from the comfort of my space vehicle I thought it’s attempts at coercion to be quite lame, like an adult trying to scare a child who has already called their bluff. I proceeded with extreme caution at its suggestion I come closer to it as it had “something I needed”. Through my targeting apparatus I was then able to run a scan of the planetary body this intelligence was inhabiting, which I identified from its red patterns as being Mars, or a very similar looking planet (galaxy and solar systems were still hard to determine even with this apparatus, unlike my simulation software I did not have the luxury of labels I could use for identification). I was basically operating as a police officer would, going through basic protocols to make sure I was not going to be ambushed.

Once the Mars like planet had been identified, I accelerated forward to it and came within its atmosphere within about 10-20 seconds. Note, that in the simulation, this is covered much quicker on account for the limited way I had to show the targeting of Mars from deep space. However, the part where I look around trying to pin point where this intelligence was coming from is fairly accurate, although actual movement was more robotic. Atmospheric penetration of the Martian like planet was different to that outlined in the simulation, and involved a forward acceleration into a region that was darkened by the lack of sunlight, close to where daylight would have been breaking. This forward acceleration eventually allowed me to get close enough to gently bring my craft body down to almost ground level, in a rocky outcrop with several cliffs surrounding me. There appeared to be a violent dust storm that made visibility of anything but the nearby cliff faces hard to make out. Even upon landing the intelligence still beckoned for me to follow it into this dust storm, which I was very convinced by this point was a trap.

I decided that the wisest move would be to report my findings of this alien intelligence back to the launch facility base on the asteroid near Pawlowia. Shortly after this, my consciousness was disconnected form this space craft body and I awoke in bed, suggesting that this craft may have been left on whatever planet this was I was on.

Determinations from the experience:

ET spacecraft can 100% be “hijacked” through using techniques commonly involved in initiating out of body experiences. Remote viewing practices can be used as an effective means to target these craft.
There is a launch facility for these craft set up in the asteroid belt, which seems to be close to where the asteroid Pawlowia was on the 27^th June 2022.
This facility exhibits human like construction methods (brickwork) and is populated by beings seemingly indistguishable from humans.
These spacecraft have the ability to up scale the bandwidth of frequencies that can be heard during their piloting. There seems to be a common “channel of communication” through this entire bandwidth.
Operation of frequency transmission is different to common methods used on earth; whereas we tend to use a single frequency to modulate the information onto, typical signal transmission from these craft seem to happen simultaneously over this entire frequency range, which has a bandwidth several MHz wide.
The instantaneous transmission speeds through vast distances of space suggest that these transmission are operating beyond those restricted to the speed of light. Instantaneous communication from two different points, many millions of light years apart also suggest a different means of signal propagation, as radio waves are limited to the speed of light (minus 5% under earth atmospheric conditions)
Planetary bodies can seemingly exhibit intelligence at a level that they can be communicated with by not only other planets over great distances, but also by intelligences passing by in some of these space vehicles. My assumption is that this intelligence really comes from an extremely high powered transceiver stationed on these planets by other ET races, in which the planet itself becomes part of the transmission component. I suspect ET races are actually using the planets in some way as an amplification medium of the signals on this telepathy channel.
The most dominant of these transmission stations comes from a planet that either is Mars or looks very similar to it. This transceiver, from whatever its location, can propagate signals out into the edge of the cosmic web instantaneously, with effectively 0 attennuation. Again, this alludes to the idea that these are not typical electromagnetic based radio signals we use on earth, given the obvious bypassing of the inverse square law. The intelligence behind these transmissions is extremely hostile and malicious as far as human standards go, but somewhat inferior when operating from one of these vehicles, suffering from an obvious cowardice.
Some planetary bodies are being used as navigational beacons for these type of space craft. These transmission beacons cover radiuses of several light years, or in the case of the Martian like planet transceiver, several million lightyears, but can be pin pointed from distances very far away from them through directional receiver (audio telescope) capabilities of these craft. This means that sounds from these beacons will not be heard until passing into their broadcasting range, unless these areas are specifically targeted by the craft’s audio telescope zooming capabilities.
Earth propagates a signal that is very noticeable throughout, at least, its own solar system. There is no way it can remain hidden to outside craft of similar capabilities given the loudness of this signal.
The regions inside and outside of the Milky Way are teaming with “intelligent chatter” on this telepathic line. This comes across like being in a crowd of people all speaking at once, until the audio telescope is used and zoomed into a particular sector, where signals in that sector get louder and drown out the crowded noise. In the case of the Martian transceiver, it was essentially like being shouted at by someone on the opposite end of the universe, the loudness of the shout being very obvious.
There is a boundary out past the cosmic web in which signals from this telepathic channel are broken and experience a high level of interference. Estimated distance from earth to this boundary is in the “trillions” of lightyears or more.
There is a neighboring pancake galaxy of similar size to the milky way that comes off perpendicular to it at an approximate distance similar to the Magellanic Clouds. A large part of this galaxy is taken up by a massive anomalous black hole that swallows light and radio frequencies around the site. An ocean of foamy white substance lines the edges of this “crack”. It is also possible this galaxy with the anomaly is the milky way itself. Past experience with this black hole anomaly suggest it exists outside of known time and space, originates from outside of the telepathic signal boundary, and can rip consciousness apart. From those experiences, it seemingly has a direct relationship with the amnesia introduced into our consciousness that prohibit us from retaining memory of past lives.
The universe is spherical, and does not feel a big enough a place to explore when using one of these craft.
Through directional audio telescoping capabilities and relevant speeds of the craft I piloted, exploration into useful areas and galaxies for resource gathering purposes could be carried out extremely easily and efficiently in a very small amount of time. I estimate, that if humans had consistent and unfettered access to this technology, they could accurately map the entire universe within a single year.

It is my belief that it is possible to move consciousness in a similar manner to what is done via lucid dreaming at the moment of death. It is my intention to try and move my consciousness into one of these space craft suits at the expiration of this physical body, in an attempt to provide some form of validation of my claim that techniques used to induce OBEs can be used to hijack and pilot these craft. If I am successful in my endeavors, then I will use this opportunity to provide not only evidence of the existence of these craft, but that my curriculum for piloting them is at least somewhat usable. Therefore, any sightings of a craft similar to the Vanquish DM-22, distinguishable by the pointed “spinning top” bottom, over areas or during events with direct significance to my life, such as properties I owned, burial site of my body, etc, can be taken as a visitation from the same consciousness that piloted the body used to write these very words. I am certain that direct telepathic communication, along the same channel used by this craft, can be made through broadcasted thoughts during hypnagogia or whilst in the void space after a conscious transition into the sleeping state. I recommend using this avenue for any parties interested in trying to contact my consciousness post humously.

A more thorough explanation of visiting schedule will be given to my Ordo Occultum Astrum once it has been worked out.

2023 is a year of the Water Rabbit let’s take glimpses of the past to see the future

Let’s have a nice and easy slide into the new year of the Rabbit.

2023 is a year of the Water Rabbit, starting from January 22nd, 2023 (Chinese New Year), and ending on February 9th, 2024 (Chinese New Year's Eve). The sign of Rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace, and prosperity in Chinese culture.

2023 is predicted to be a year of hope.

I’ll gather up some videos and put it up on you-tube when I get a chance.

Let’s check out today’s post…

Back in the day…

Most of us believe that Victorian era was a grim and serious era, full of hardworking people, so that they didn’t even have time to enjoy their lives and having some fun. While this isn’t true, because cameras were very expensive and for a single photograph one had to sit in static position with same facial expression from few seconds to 10 minutes. So it seems impossible for a person to smile or laugh for minutes, that’s why majority of the Victorians preferred to sit in static position with strict expressions.

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The All New Baby Safety Seat. Never Leave Your Kid Inside A Hot Car While You Shop Again. Late 1950s, Early 1960s

East Texas Buttermilk Pie

Ingredients

1 (9-inch) pie shell, baked
3 rounded tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Nutmeg, to taste (optional)
Cinnamon, to taste (optional)

Instructions

Mix flour, sugar and salt; add to butter.
Add eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix and pour into pie shell; sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon, if desired.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes. Test with knife. It should come out clean when pie is done.

Poor kitten was living his last moments on the roadside but no one came to help him!

https://youtu.be/6Aa-zF6-yGE

We Won’t Be Fooled Again – Inflation Is Most Definitely Not “Under Control”

January 12, 2023 by Michael

Inflation is going down! Let’s all celebrate! We all knew that when the Federal Reserve began aggressively hiking interest rates it would have an impact on inflation. Higher rates have caused a new housing crash, they have crushed the tech industry, and they have sparked the biggest wave of layoffs that we have seen since the Great Recession. We have entered a significant economic downturn, so it was inevitable that the annual rate of inflation would start to moderate. But as I will explain below, that doesn’t mean that inflation is now “under control”. The real rate of inflation is much higher than we are being told, and people all over the country are being absolutely crushed by the rising cost of living.

Let’s start with the good news first. According to the Labor Department, the annual rate of inflation is rising at the slowest pace since October 2021…

Consumer prices increased 6.5% from a year earlier, down from 7.1% in November and a 40-year high of 9.1% in June, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index, a measurement of what people pay for goods and services, which labor released on Thursday.

The rise last month marks the slowest annual gain since October 2021 and matches economists’ estimates.

Okay, but Fox Business has just reminded us that the annual rate of inflation “remains about three times higher than the pre-pandemic average”…

Still, inflation remains about three times higher than the pre-pandemic average, underscoring the persistent financial burden placed on millions of U.S. households by high prices.

So we are still definitely in a high inflation environment.

But let’s dig deeper.

Most Americans don’t realize that the way that the inflation rate is calculated has literally been changed more than two dozen times since 1980.

And every time it has been changed, the goal has been to make inflation appear to be lower than it actually is.

If the rate of inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the real rate of inflation would be close to 15 percent right now.

That would be comparable to the peak inflation that we witnessed during the Jimmy Carter era.

So don’t let anyone try to convince you that inflation is “low” or “under control” or anything like that.

The main reason why the rate of inflation moderated somewhat during the month of December is because energy prices have been falling…

Americans saw some real reprieve last month in the form of lower energy costs, which fell 6.1% in December. Gas prices dropped 12.5% over the month, the biggest contributor to the overall headline decline in inflation in December.

That is great news, but it is already being projected that gas prices will rise significantly later this year.

And once war in the Middle East erupts, gas prices will go to heights that most people never even dreamed was possible.

Meanwhile, services inflation has just spiked to a level that we haven’t seen in decades.

The cost of living has become extremely oppressive, and the American people are becoming increasingly frustrated by this.

I would like to share a video with you that illustrates what I am talking about.

The woman in this video doesn’t understand all of the numbers that I have just shared in this article. All she knows is that when she goes to the grocery store, prices are way higher than they once were. This video contains some graphic language, and I apologize for that in advance. But I want you to see her anger, because this is how millions upon millions of Americans are feeling about inflation right now.

Would you like to be the one that tries to convince her that inflation is “under control” now?

Sadly, the truth is that over the past few years the cost of living has been rising faster than our paychecks have, and so U.S. families have steadily been getting poorer…

The average American family has lost the equivalent of more than a month’s salary in annual income since President Biden took office as high inflation and rising interest rates eat away at their finances, according to research by the Heritage Foundation.

Experts at the conservative think tank analyzed consumer prices and interest rates and found in their latest report released Thursday that the average American household has lost the equivalent of $7,400 in annual income since Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20, 2021. The income loss represents an increase of $200 from September, when the think tank’s research found a $7,200 decline in annual income for the average American household dating back to the start of Biden’s term.

Prior to the pandemic, we were in a low inflation and low interest rate environment.

Now that the Federal Reserve has dramatically hiked interest rates, we now find ourselves in a high inflation and high interest rate environment.

And higher interest rates are also hammering our standard of living…

While their elected representatives in D.C. struggle to pay the nation’s bills, Americans are facing a similar challenge as their household budgets are stretched thin due to inflation and higher borrowing costs. Those financial challenges led more than one-third of households to rely on credit cards or loans to buy necessities in December. Average credit card interest rates reached a new record high of 19.14% APR compared to a Bankrate.com database.

“Americans are increasingly relying on credit cards to make it from paycheck to paycheck, resulting in higher levels of indebtedness. Rising credit card balances in an era of rising interest rates is a path to insolvency,” Antoni told FOX Business. “The average interest rate on credit cards is now around 20 percent while half of Americans cannot pay off their credit cards each month, and balances are growing at a 16 percent annual rate.”

We are getting hit from both ends.

We have to pay more to buy the things that we need, and we have to pay higher interest rates when we borrow money to pay for those things.

The Federal Reserve has lost control, and we are careening toward the sort of historic economic crisis that I have been warning about for years.

But those that are under the spell of the corporate media will continue to assume that everything is fine and that our leaders have a plan to get us out of this mess.

I truly wish that was true.

Unfortunately, the short-term economic outlook is extremely dismal, and prominent voices all over Wall Street are warning that 2023 will be a really rough year.

Remarkable Behind-The-Scenes Photos From ‘Back To The Future’ That Will Bring You Back To The ’80s

Some people have speculated for a while now that there will be a remake of the legendary movie series Back To The Future. But this mindset is not without criticism and skepticism since many fans feel that without Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd there simply is no way that a remake would be good enough to even be considered.

Here’s a great collection of rare behind the scenes photos for Robert Zemekis’ film Back to the Future. These images came from the incredibly well researched Back to the Future site Outatime, offer a candid behind the scenes look at this classic movie. Be sure to check out these 70 pics below, and let us know what your favorite Back to the Future scene is.

Secret revealed

Spooky strange

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“Retired Military Had Motorcycle Crash, Has Vision of Imminent Transformations in the World” [ NDE ]

Yikes!

Vision-Dieter glasses

There have been countless weight loss hoaxes over the years, from pills and elixirs to topical treatments, fad diets, and more. One product sold in the 1970s with glaringly false claims was Vision-Dieter glasses, which were said to decrease cravings and hunger by using “secret European color technology.”

The initial objective of the creator was to manufacture glasses that would distort the color of food packaging in hopes of making shoppers less likely to purchase products just because they were in colorful containers. But realizing how much money could be made in the dieting field, he decided to market the glasses as a tool for consumers who were trying to lose weight.

It should come as no surprise that the Food and Drug Administration took action. These color-tinted weight reduction glasses were seized due to misbranding. Most pairs were eventually destroyed by the FDA when the claimant refused to come forward.

Totally cool!

Recently discovered?

A Starfish Waking Back To The Water

Chef Eddie Jackson’s Smoky Texas Chili
with Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings

This chili is absolutely divine. It’s rather labor-intensive, but the result is well worth the effort.

Yield: 16 servings

Ingredients

Smoked Chuck Roast

4 pounds beef chuck roast, smoked, cut into 1 inch cubes
Salt and pepper

Chili

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup dark chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon fine black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 roasted poblanos, coarsely chopped
1 quart (4 cups) beef stock
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon beef base
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt to taste (optional)

Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup honey or 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 small jalapeño, finely diced

Instructions

Smoked Chuck Roast

Add wood chunks, chips, pellets or charcoal to smoker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Preheat to 250 degrees F.
Season trimmed chuck roast generously with salt and pepper.
Place chuck roast on rack in smoker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Set timer for 8 hours.
After 4 hours, or when the roast reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees F, wrap with unwaxed butcher paper and place back on smoker.
After 4 more hours, or when the roast reaches 208 to 210 degrees F internal temperature, remove roast from smoker.
Let rest in the butcher paper for at least 1 hour.
Slice the roast into cubes right before adding to the chili.

Chili

In a Dutch oven, heat vegetable oil over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. Add diced onion and sprinkle with salt, if desired. Saute until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the red peppers and saute for 2 minutes.
Add chili powder, paprika, cumin, black pepper, and garlic powder stirring frequently for about a minute allowing the spices to bloom, but not burn.
Add the cubed smoked chuck roast and poblano peppers. Once all ingredients are coated with spices, stir in beef stock and tomatoes to the pot, deglazing the bottom.
Add oregano, beef base, and Worcestershire sauce to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring chili to a boil then turn stove to LOW heat and simmer covered for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.Meanwhile, make Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings.

Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings

Mix together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar for Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings.
Add eggs folding gently to combine. Then stir buttermilk into the mixture until combined.
Fold in cheese and jalapeños, being sure not to over mix the batter.
Place 1 to 2 ounce dollops of dumpling batter into the chili. Continue to simmer chili, covered, for 20 minutes or until dumplings are firm, but fluffy.
Serve chili in bowls garnished with shredded cheese, sliced scallions, cilantro leaves and a dollop of sour cream, as desired.

You Guys Are Cute With Your Scary Spiders. I Found This Under My Couch A Month After I Fumigated

This is “Wow Cool”!

I imagine the plumage must have been impressive.

Cool Pics That Show How People Enjoyed Parties In The 1970s

Here below is a photo collection that shows how people enjoyed parties from the 1970s.

WFLD Channel 32 – Lost in Space – “Blast Off Into Space” (Complete Broadcast, 4/16/1980)

This Will Haunt My Dreams

We Are Witnessing An Enormous Wave Of Bankruptcies And Layoffs During The Early Stages Of 2023

January 18, 2023 by Michael

Is your job safe? Right now, we are witnessing so much turmoil is so many different sectors of our economy. The housing market is crashing, the cryptocurrency industry has imploded, the tech industry is laying off workers at an extremely frightening pace, and some of our most important retailers are heading into bankruptcy. The information that I am about to share with you is deeply troubling. It has become exceedingly clear that our economy is in huge trouble, and I fully expect that our problems will accelerate even more as the year rolls along.

Let me start by pointing out what is currently happening at Microsoft. It is one of the wealthiest companies in the entire world, but due to a shift in “macroeconomic conditions” executives have decided that it has become necessary to lay off 10,000 workers…

Microsoft announced thousands of job cuts this week, becoming the latest tech company to pluck its workforce as the global economy slows.

The software company confirmed Wednesday its reducing workforce by 10,000 people through the end of the third quarter of the 2023 fiscal year.

The cuts come “in response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities,” the company’s CEO Satya Nadella released in a statement to its employees Wednesday.

If even Microsoft is laying off thousands of workers, is any job in the private sector truly safe?

Meanwhile, some of the biggest names in the retail industry are plunging into bankruptcy now that the holiday season is over.

On Tuesday, it was Party City’s turn…

Party City filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, weighed down by competition and years of financial losses.

The largest party goods and Halloween specialty retail chain in the United States said in a regulatory filing that it reached an agreement with debtholders to cut its $1.7 billion debt load.

Even more alarming is the fact that it is being reported that a bankruptcy filing for Bed Bath & Beyond has become “likely”…

Bed Bath & Beyond has been in discussions with prospective buyers and lenders as it works to keep its business afloat during a likely bankruptcy filing, according to people familiar with the matter.

The retailer is in the midst a sale process in hopes of finding a buyer that would keep the doors open for both of its major chains, its namesake banner and Buybuy Baby, said the people, who weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

So many brick and mortar retailers are really struggling right now, and many of them are blaming competition from Internet retailers such as Amazon.

But if Amazon is doing so well, why did they start laying off approximately 18,000 workers on Wednesday?…

Earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees in a blog post that the company was laying off about 18,000 people as it seeks to cut costs and would begin contacting impacted employees on Jan. 18.

“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” Jassy said in the Jan. 4 post. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

The wave of layoffs that we have been witnessing in the tech industry is truly unprecedented.

Prior to this week, more than 25,000 tech industry workers had already been laid off this year, and this comes on the heels of the massive layoffs that we saw last year…

According to the data tracking website, more than 101 tech companies around the world have laid off 25,436 employees so far in 2023. Most of the layoffs have taken place in the United States, accounting for 22,400 employees fired.

The number of workers being laid off from tech companies is a trend that is continuing since 2022, when 154,336 workers were fired from over 1,000 tech companies around the world, according to the data.

But at least the tech industry is in far better shape than the cryptocurrency industry is.

Let me share four major announcements that have all happened within the past 10 days…

#1 It is being reported that Genesis Global Capital “is laying the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing”…

Genesis Global Capital is laying the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing as soon as this week, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

The cryptocurrency lending unit of Digital Currency Group has been in confidential negotiations with various creditor groups amid a liquidity crunch. It has warned that it may need to file for bankruptcy if it fails to raise cash, Bloomberg previously reported.

#2 Crypto.com announced that it will be laying off “20% of its workforce”…

Crypto.com announced plans to lay off 20% of its workforce Jan. 13. The company had 2,450 employees, according to PitchBook data, suggesting around 490 employees were laid off.

CEO Kris Marszalek said in a blog post that the crypto exchange grew “ambitiously” but was unable to weather the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire FTX without the further cuts.

#3 Coinbase has decided “to cut about a fifth of its workforce”…

On Jan. 10, Coinbase announced plans to cut about a fifth of its workforce as it looks to preserve cash during the crypto market downturn.

The exchange plans to cut 950 jobs, according to a blog post. Coinbase, which had roughly 4,700 employees as of the end of September, had already slashed 18% of its workforce in June saying it needed to manage costs after growing “too quickly” during the bull market.

#4 The founder of cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato has actually been arrested. Apparently he was laundering money on a scale of epic proportions…

The founder of the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato was arrested early Wednesday in Miami in connection with a vast money laundering operation, accused of transmitting more than $700 million in illicit funds in the past four years.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, a Russian national, oversaw a major “high-tech financial hub that catered to known crooks,” including cybercriminals and drug dealers seeking to process dirty money.

The cryptocurrency industry will never look the same again after all of this turmoil.

On top of everything else, the Saudis appear to be poised to make a major move that could literally change everything.

At the yearly gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Saudi finance minister decided to drop a bombshell…

Saudi Arabia is open to discussions about trade in currencies other than the US dollar, according to the kingdom’s finance minister.

Needless to say, this could potentially completely undermine the dominance of the petrodollar.

Of course we cannot afford to have that happen, because the dominance of the dollar is one of the only things that is keeping our system afloat.

At this point just about everything is moving in the wrong direction for the U.S. economy, but most people still do not understand the bigger picture.

A lot of the “experts” assume that we will just suffer through a temporary recession and then things will eventually return to normal.

I wish that was true.

Unfortunately, our entire system is starting to crack and crumble all around us, and those that are currently running things are not going to be able to put it back together again.

Very unique and interesting

My Dad Brought A Kitten Frozen Stiff Back To Life.

I'm a retired trauma nurse, and, you did EXACTLY what you should do. Cold truly does slow the dying process!! Im in love with that adorable little fur ball!!! You are a genuinely good and kind person!!!

On the back side…

Being a Rufus is a lifestyle decision

Today, this post will be one of my you-tube videos. I believe that it is critically important that everyone understand and appreciate what a Rufus is, and how it manifests. While I talk a lot about it, it means much more than heroic action. It means compassion and understanding, and to stand up for the little guy.

Many of the snippets are in Chinese, and the dialog is in Chinese, but you can guess what is going on and infer the dialog.

One is a daughter …
One is an employee…
One is a relative…

The dialog can get confusing in the translation. Translation is from the Wechat scan function, switched to translate into English.

A Rufus builds people up. They don’t tear them down.

A Rufus stands by the downtrodden and supports them.

A Rufus accepts people as they are.

The roles are not important.

What is important is whether these people are making the world a better place, or are they being selfish, demanding, uncaring and obstinate.

Watch for yourself.

Then, pay attention to the reactions of the innocent bystanders who overhear the discussion. Watch them leap into action as only a real Rufus would…

I hope you all can understand what is going on…

Fate Forecasting using a weather analogy

This is a Patreon video that I am releasing to the general pubic and MM readership. I hope that it finds you well and that you all obtain some good information from it. This post will interrupt the normal flow of MM postings of latest (cough, cough) “news”.

Please enjoy it.

The quantum construction of our non-physical bodies

This is an older patreon video that I am now making public. In case you all are not subscribers to my You-tube channel, here’s the video. Please enjoy.

[daegonmagus] – Part 29 – Who are the Unseen 5?

The following is the 29th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benefit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you enjoy this article.

-MM

Who are the Unseen 5?

It should be noted they are an entirely separate organisation to the Elder Guardians. Whereas the EG first contacted me in 2012, my experience with the Unseen 5 happened on the same night I met the all being/ god (supreme consciousness that connects all others in existence, in which the soul amnesia was discussed) in November 2016. To clear up some confusion, the Unseen 5 are not stationed in the same soul/ consciousness origin point as the EG; they remain inside of the traps in the astral/etheric planes in the orbital pathways of the {astral} earth, approximately half way between the earth and the moon, if it could be equated in astral terms (my interpretation), but have technology that keeps them completely concealed from any and all things traversing those planes

(this was directly told to me).

Whereas the EG are a bunch of old wisened sages that are charged with the up keep of the soul origin point, the Unseen 5 is a military-like intelligence gathering organisation, first and foremost. Their original purpose was to gain information on the non physical entities that have invaded the regions surrounding earth (both physically and non physically) and to act as a protectorate for the earth environment to stop further damage resulting from this invasion (again, directly told to me). They can be considered as the SAS or “special forces” equivalent of the astral plane, as they operate as a small cluster behind enemy lines for recon purposes, and are, as was specifically mentioned to me by their leader, directly responsible for preventing total and complete take over of earth and its surrounding space from this non physical invasion force, several times over. They exist above and separate to any military/ intelligence organisations currently deployed on earth.

Entry (into this inner office) is specifically only for elite lucid dreamers that have mastered control of the dream state, and have, through their own determinations reached a similar understanding of this non physical invasion and how it is being carried out – the idea that our consciousness’s have been dumbed down and placed in bodies with specifically engineered in restrictions, is a big part of such understanding. Astral projectors alone – as far as I am aware – are not approached for initiation, as the test for entry takes place within the dream state; they only present themselves to those who pass such a test.

This does not mean astral projectors are not valued, just that I do not think they will be granted entry into the actual operation “war room” on their astral projection abilities alone; my understanding is that that astral projectors are utilised more as the foot soldier “grunts” of the astral planes, whereas lucid dreamers are reserved for more specialised espionage like roles and tasks that involve “consciousness hacking” (it must be understood that consciousness is the predominant technology that all U5 operations revolve around – LDers are prime candidates to use this technology because the navigational skills required to properly LD directly translate over into the control interfaces of this consciousness technology. Consciousness is still greatly insulated from accessing this technology during a standard AP).

It is important to address the elephant in the room here, that the U5 are interested only in obtaining information objectively and respect that some of us have belief systems that directly contradict their collected intelligence and goals; they simply have no intention of imposing themselves on others and changing their beliefs, but it should be understood that this presents a level of discrimination in exactly who it is they vet for potential recruitment, similar to how the SAS and other special forces organisations only have a very specific criteria for the people they bring into their regiments. This may seem unfair, but we must realise our thoughts on the matter are insignificant, as the role the U5 plays, far transcends our concepts of fairness and any belief systems we may attach our attention to. My advice is a commitment to rigorous self psychological analysis into one’s own thought constructs and why they have taken up such belief systems, and analysis into whether this was something they truly believed in, or if it was something imposed on them by someone else.

Any and all entities that travel in the non physical planes are monitored and scrutinised at a level far, far above the capabilities of physical earth bound intelligence agencies by the U5. This is a fact, as it was, again, directly told to me and I was shown the actual process of how this monitoring is carried out. This scrutinisation includes a complete tracing of all non physical traffic’s points of origin before coming into the non physical planes, and to where it goes after leaving them. A dossier is then compiled on each piece of traffic’s entire (past and future) history which is taken directly from the “akashic records”, or, to be more specific, directly from the energy signature of the consciousness under question – hence the need for LDers to be able to merge their consciousness with and properly navigate into this akashic template.

If you have ever consciously APed/ LDed, or projected consciousness into the astral planes such as is done via remote viewing, you can safely bet your bottom dollar you are known to the U5 and that they have a dossier on your entire life at their fingertips which includes a holographic film reel of your entire time in the astral planes and all activities you were engaged in; seeing the way this archive is accessed and managed, I gotta tell you, is damned impressive. As you can imagine, this is a monumental and seemingly impossible logistical workload for 5 members to carry out, hence the ability to tap into and access higher order information via the higher self is crucial to becoming an operational member within their ranks, again something LDers will have more experience being able to do than typical astral projectors.

Of the 5 members the (non human non physical) leader remains stationed permanently in this orbital office. The remaining four (current incarnates at the time of my initiation) members are appointed a single task each which they are expected to focus on during their time spent within the organisation during their LDs. Together, these tasks comprise a larger operational parameter which directly relates to the waging of inter-dimensional (non physical ) warfare and coordination of “special assets” through unified assault and recon teams into non physical infrastructure that has been identified by the U5 as “high value” targets. While the U5 are not interested in “waking people” up like the EG, their overall goal of stopping the cogs of the reincarnation regime aligns. They are more concerned with unifying and training assets that are already awake to a much higher degree than normal and only bother with LDers who have shown a strong commitment to this end through their own initiative.

It is for this reason both organisations provide each other with valuable information. My task, as it was relayed to me by the U5 leader, involved the recruitment of other potential lucid dreaming candidates / astral projectors, as well as non physical (discarnate) consciousnesses located in different planes, and making the organisation known to the physical (and non physical) earth community, hence my Ordo Occultum Astrum (Order of the Hidden star) is to act as the physical division of this non physical based organisation. Recruitment into this physical division is now open to those with these particular skillsets, and other parties interested din putting a stop to these malicious systems in place within the non physical planes.

As a result of my tasks and responsibilities put to me by their leader, I am the only one currently incarnated on earth that is authorised to mention who they are specifically, what they are capable of, and provide an explanatory overview of their capabilities and the technologies they disclosed to me – this is my area of focus. I appreciate this sounds narcissistic, but it is what it is; to put it simply, I earned my position within their ranks through my own understanding of the advanced capabilities of consciousness during the LD state, picked up over years of pushing and proving myself, and they figured I was the best candidate to translate it into a language that is usable for other LD assets. They asked me to do this, and I obliged, as I understood the extreme importance of it.

Please understand that my curriculum of using LD to establish contact with such non physical intelligences is approved by the U5, the EG and the All Being respectfully, and is something I am extremely honoured to be able to provide. It is to act a handbook or guide to help other LD assets achieve their maximum potential, and all information pertaining to it is to be made available for free, of which this Ordo Occultum Astrum is to act as the only official channel of which to distribute such information. Again I am asking for a great deal of trust from other LD assets that the information I am providing on Lucid Dreaming is legitimate. I am hoping by spending countless hours writing about this so it can be presented to you all for free is a worthy enough feat for that trust.

It is also worth mentioning that until my initiation, the other 4 members were the only other 4 people incarnated on earth (current at 2012) that knew about this organisation- again, this was directly mentioned to me by the leader.

Member numbers were apparently higher in centuries past than they are now, due to some (unknown by me) event that dwindled them down to 5; it seems that the leader wishes to rebuild these numbers in order to ease the logistical workload for each of its members, though this is to come second to building an inter-dimensional strike force.

Quite frankly, he demonstrated to me his disappointment that not enough Lucid Dreamers/ Astral Projectors take their skills seriously, and use them as a means to go on “astral holidays” rather than put them to meaningful use.

If you are in my order, it is because I have identified certain traits and skills within you that I think would provide initiation potential if honed.

However, all initiations remain at the ultimate authority and discretion of the U5 leader – at the end of the day I am just the messenger and have no control over whether or not you will get in.

These are the prequisites for entry into the Unseen 5:

An understanding that dreams can be hijacked and manipulated by third parties external to the consciousness having the dream, and supplanted with holographic scenarios of the third party’s choosing that can take the form of normal or extremely vivid dreams.

The area of effect is the void space (which I have written about elsewhere, including in my auto biography), where thought imagery directly manifests as the dream environment.

This same void space acts as a hub for the routing of all psychic information through a network that connects all other consciousnesses in existence in a hive mind like arrangement.

The holographic imagery employed by the U5 and other non physical factions is injected as a false thought directly onto this communication line, with the intention of creating a “controlled dream”, while the consciousness remains in a docile and unconscious state.

This must be understood as fact and not just a theory. This technology is used to control people through “divine inspiration.” Thus, unless information has come from a direct connection to the akashic template, it is to remain suspect and seen as potentially compromised.

An understanding that all consciousnesses have access to very specific parts of the greater (physical and non physical) universe. These areas are those that each consciousness was supposed to govern at the expectation of source upon their creation.

Therefore, each consciousness acts like a key to a very specific location that cannot be accessed without the authorising energy signature embedded into the governing consciousness. Again, fact, not theory. Certain access points have been breached by unauthorised entities through the manipulation of astral bodies/ energetic bodies.

An understanding consciousness is at a severely reduced and handicapped state when in the body, and that the body is a mechanism engineered specifically to provide this handicap.

The life objective of the candidate must be to unlock this handicap and reach a higher state of awareness, ie the acquisition of all soul memory, aka connection with higher self (hermetic teachings are a wealth of information for this). The ability to see from a third person, objective perspective and view one’s current incarnation as “insignificant” when compared with their soul’s complete history, which spans many of such incarnations, is required, as it defines one of the core values of the Unseen 5.

Therefore emphasis must be placed on what one’s soul achieves through the accumulation of incarnations, and not just materialistically in a single one of them.

Think of it like a computer game; you may think that one cycle is important as you are engaging in it, but after you die, respawn, lose all your accumulations and then progress past where you were up to, that last cycle you played becomes furthest from your mind and seemingly “unimportant”.

A fearless attitude towards projecting into dangerous and unsettling territory during an OBE, with the expectation of torture/ consciousness doping/ consciousness imprisonment and other harsh repercussions if caught. This does not exclude the potentiality of complete disconnection of consciousness from the physical body (ie death) due to it being kept for too long in one of these consciousness prisons.

I am not going to lie, there is some incredibly dangerous shit out there you will be expected to navigate through, though I would suggest the U5 would not approach you if you weren’t ready to face it.

A strong understanding of your worth, and an unfaltering insistence on understanding absolute authority remains with you and you alone, and that such authority is determined by the energetic component that gives animation to your physical and energetic bodies (soul).

This commitment to the self as master authority of your operations will see you disregard any other such false authority that would impose itself upon you and try and claim it out ranks you.

All apparent guides you MUST remain suspect of and only follow their advice if you are 100% sure it aligns with your operations and values, and have an energetic (soul time memory) understanding of.

Nothing is permitted to claim authority over you and your soul’s evolutionary progress – this is not how source operates. Anything having you signing or giving away your authority during an OBE must be immediately refused. This will comprise the main aspect of the holographic dream scenario the U5 will test you with if they have been considering you for potential candidacy.

A high level of service to others sentience, and the commitment to helping others. This is not negotiable; anyone who would try to enter the organisation for their own materialistic gain will be vehemently denied access, as service to others sentience (like the Domain) is part of the core values of the U5.

All service to self entities will simply be ignored for candidacy, but will be scrutinised by the U5 at an even higher level thereafter. Recommended demonstration is sponsorship of another person that needs it for a period of at least 5 years.

This sponsorship will be to the point that you are “on call” to them and ready to drop everything you are doing at a moment’s notice to help them with their predicament.

This doesn’t necessarily mean just giving them money, but actual emotional and psychological support they need. This is based on my own personal values and commitment to SD (mentioned in my autobio) – if it worked for me, then it should work for others.

Just remember, the U5 will know if you fake your sincerity to this. This falls back on the idea holographic technology is used along with other manipulation tactics to trick certain consciousnesses into giving away consent.

I don’t want to know about it if you make it in. You’ll be made aware of your area of focus by the U5 leader. This will likely involve expected secrecy of that position. I am just here to make you aware of them, and that the fact they are very, very real. The exception to this will be if your tasks involve telling me about it or if my legitimacy is ever called into question, in which I am hoping you’ll come to my aid. If your tasks involve remaining quiet about it in such a scenario, well then shit happens, forme I guess.

There will be no need for the physical division, this Ordo Occultum Astrum (Order of the Hidden Star), to receive updates on U5 operations. This is not how they work.

Humans are not on a need to know basis, as much as they might crave the attention of being told how things are progressing. It is like a war general telling a baby about his plans to drop bombs on another country; humans are seen as spiritually infant by the U5’s standards so don’t expect updates like with the supposed Ashtar Command/ Arcturian Council.

Anyone suggesting such updates is to be treated with a high amount of suspicion.

They will only make their operations known to individual members if it is a requirement of their tasks. The only reason you know about them is because it was a requirement of my own.

It would be extremely unwise to try and fuck with the U5.

This is not the FBI and neither is it the CIA. These are the real bogeymen of the astral world in control of technologies that would make those organisations weak at the knees and piss themselves with envy.

Doing so would have dire consequences for your consciousness that is just not conceivable from your current limited state of awareness: remember, you are operating from the perspective of trying to gain something for a single physical existence – the U5 are operating from a much higher perspective that supersedes what you consider as being “important” and the bullshit justifications you would give yourself to feel better about such indiscretions – like, say, petty squabbles between nations. This cannot be overstated. Any moles that might have ideas of playing the typical spy and sabotage shit will eventually regret it.

My (physical) division of this organisation, is not to remain secret. All information relating to its operations is to be made available to anyone who is interested in it.

Members are encouraged to share it with whoever they feel appropriate, though discussions are to be kept strictly within the official channels and not deviate out of them.

All lucid dreamers, astral projectors and remote viewers who have had direct experience with the subjects contained in this article during their own OBEs are welcome.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.

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[daegonmagus] – Part 28 – Intel Obtained Through A Deliberate LD Recon Operation

The following is the 28th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benefit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you enjoy this article.

-MM

Daegonmagus Intel Obtained Through A Deliberate LD Recon Operation

11/09/2022

Looks like lucid dreaming is back on the menu, boys. So yeah, I have been putting it in my affirmations to basically regain my lucid dreaming abilities, as I have been going through a several year long dry patch.

I thought I was being a little too optimistic asking for at least one LD a week.

Now I should also mention, I have just finished up my 3 month period of my affirmation campaign, and am on about day 5 of the rest period – too optimistic my arse.

My LDs appear to be coming back, so far weekly and boy, they are a lot more vivid than they used to be.

I first noticed this clarity back at the end of June when I had my little flying fun with the consciousness craft.

Last week it involved stealing another craft out of some compound and using it to drop anti matter bombs on some mining operation setup in a forest.

Last night it was something a bit more important, which I will get to in a moment. I also need to make an amendment here to a past article where I mentioned there seems to be a 10 hour lag between having a thought and it manifesting in the dream state.

Scratch that; I have noticed lately it is more like 7 hours.

This comes from having dreams about multiple subjects I was thinking of that I could pin point back to thinking 7 hours before my usual bed time. So handy hint, try and find that 7 hour point before your sleeping time and use it to run your self through some “am I dreaming scenarios”.

You might surprise yourself.

Anyways, getting back to the LD. Our youngest had woken up around 4:15am, which, of course, woke me up a long with it. After spending some time thinking of the usual shit one thinks of that keeps them from falling asleep at that hour, I decided to try LDing.

After propping my right heel so it sat on top of my left foot and rolling my right ear into the oversized triangular pillow hugging my neck, I immediately I noticed I was somewhat tense (guys get into the habit of recognizing this if you want to master LDing ).

So, I made the effort to relax that tension away, and within moments I had a stream of hypnogogic imagery flowing through my head.

This imagery is the sweet point; you have got to get this to flow like a gentle stream past you without letting it turn into a torrent that takes you into unconscious sleeping.

The hard part is trying not to focus too intently on it. So, doing what I do, and relaxing into the gentle stream of hypnogogic imagery, I once again carried my conscious awareness into the dreaming state.

I was in a place I have been in before, sort of a seedy alleyway type deal.

I was 100% lucid and aware, so I asked a dream character if he realized he was dreaming (remembering a post from a lucid dreaming facebook group where someone did similar), and he sort of stopped and got aggressive threatening to wake me up.

Other dream characters started attacking me, but rather than annihilate them, I just smiled at them and made my abilities very obvious to them and they all stopped and left me to my business, figuring I wasn’t worth the trouble.

The dream started to become distorted and break apart, but I swiftly kept it together by focusing on background objects; I seem to be getting much better at this and can keep the dream stable completely automatically without even thinking about it; this was impressive even for my standards.

I used the broken environment opportunity to picture the consciousness craft facility with the intention to try and fly another consciousness craft.

I was successful in generating the same building, but it was broken from the distortions generated by the run in with the other dream characters.

I seem to be stuck in an area of this facility somewhat reminiscent of a reception waiting area.

I look out the windows, and it is pretty damned obvious I am off world.

The architecture of the buildings outside seems futuristic and many years evolved from our modern standards.

I walk down a small hallway and find a door to my right but it is locked by what appears to be key code entry.

I manifest a card and use it to gain entry.

Within seconds of walking through the door, I had a completely stable dream environment; I was here, in this place, not just dreaming it, there was no doubt about it.

This seemed to be a different part of the same consciousness craft facility, but more open, sort of like a small hangar.

Up in front of me is a curved wall, and behind that another hallway that branches off from the curved wall.

I take the curved hallway and find it takes me to similar doors that led to the consciousness craft hangar; big, thick metal doors that had some sort of red paint outline at their top.

The doors opened, and the similar hooking consciousness thing happens, then I find myself in what seems to be some kind of futuristic space mall.

Up ahead of me was what appeared to a small commercial spaceship rental company in the middle of the mall.

On a small circular stage they had two retro what looked like cars they were showcasing. These looked like standard convertible cadillacs or similar, but they did not have wheels (floated a foot off the ground) and had a single small compartment in the middle towards the front instead of seating.

Upon getting closer, I noticed a tall sign about 8 ft above me plonked right at the edge of the platform.

It was written in a retro 60s style cursive hand like you’d expect to find at old retro diners.

I looked at the sign and could read the name off it as clear as day (if the cursive allowed it);. It wasn’t just a name but a whole sentence alluding to the retroness of these cars being the gimmick that this company was selling; I noted the name Schweigler {something } Schwarz. Schweigler I am 90% sure of, Schwarz was 100%, specifically for RVing later. Middle initial was something like R.

I step onto the platform to get a better look at these convertibles.

Then it suddenly dawns on me. No fucking way; these are commercialized versions of the consciousness craft I flew a few months ago.

Someone, presumably Schweigler and Schwarz, had taken the technology that modulates your consciousness into them for powering.

I get the distinct impression I am in some sort of future world line.

In the compartment in the front is a cylinder sort of object with a spherical or dodecahedron shaped clear crystal in it.

A sales representative comes over, a young woman probably in her early 20s, maybe even her late teens, and goes through the usual sales pitch with me.

She seems human.

I pretend I am a dumb old man who has no idea what he is that I am looking at, but I have already figured out what these things are, and come to the realization I am on an espionage operation and need just a little bit more information from her.

She tells me you place your consciousness inside the crystal, then you are able to power the car.

She asks me if would like to take one for a test drive, to which I play coy telling I’d probably break it. She insists, and before she even gets a chance to tell me how to do it, I am projecting my consciousness into the crystal the same way I’d come accustomed to using the spherical portals.

I can feel all my quanta break apart as it all goes into the crystal, kind of like a very brief hyperdrive from starwars.

I am now consciously tethered to the convertible, so I hover it up off the ground and take off tpwards a space port, no longer paying any attention to the sales representative.

Somehow I wind up in a completely different place; I am now inside this strange building made entirely of centuries old wood that looks severely rotted.

There a people everywhere, just sort of sitting and existing and in a somber state of mind. What the fuck is this place?

I untether my consciousness from the convertible and am again moving around like I have a body.

I do a little exploring, trying to pick up on any conversation threads I can to figure out where this is.

This place is weird and new, and somewhat confusing; it is as if someone built several buildings and walk ways between them out of these same decrepit and rotten wood, then entirely enclosed those walkways with even more rotten wood.

There was no outside, everywhere you walked there was just this wooden roof above you making it quite disorientating as to where exactly you were.

I got the impression there wasn’t anything outside of the wood, not even ground. Thick dust and cobwebs lined every surface, and to get to each building you had to navigate through small flights of steps.

Recon gathered here told me this was a capturing outpost for discarnate consciousness that had died from physical earth bodies.

They were basically been housed here against their will, and had been for up to centuries.

There was no conceivable way to exit this place. I don’t even know how I got here, but It had something to do with that Cadillac convertible. Was this how Schweigler and Schwarz had built their empire?

I did not like this. These souls were desperate.

They had just been dumped here and left to rot along with the wood. I vowed to do something about it. Just then, a demonic voice began speaking to me, taunting me and telling me that he was the one who had put them here. I can’t remember what I told it, but it seemed to anger it to no end. It told me to wait until I expire from my physical body and see what it has in store for me then, to which I told it to go right ahead.

This angered it more, and without warning part of this weird cluster of buildings just got ripped into oblivion and I found myself standing on a verandah overlooking nothing but blue sky, as this voice boomed out at me from the space below.

I told it it had no authority over these people and that they deserved more than to be used as its slaves or pets.

It threw whatever insults and threats in regards to my own soul it could throw at me, to which I stood firmly and told it to fuck right off.

Others started to stand up and stand by my side, as my quashing of it words turned into a speech fit for rallying soldiers.

This demon did not like this one bit. It was if I was breaking its spell that gave it hold over the other souls; they were no longer in somber states, but now had purpose burning in their eyes.

Others were telling it to fuck off along with me.

The demon retreated back into the depths of the sky void, and after that I woke up. I have explicit memory of thousands of these discarnate consciousnesses agreeing to fighting for me against the amnesia/ reincarnation regime.

Questions for Domain Commander:

What is this space port mall place, and is it and the consciousness craft I flew several months back Domain owned and operated, or owned by a third party? Who are Schweigler {something} Schwarz? I suggest this name be paid particular attention to and traced as it is somehow strongly linked to this. Was I operating from a future worldline?

MM comments

When DM was LDing this event, my wife bought a new car. Just a Toyota sedan. It’s a good, simple, reliable hybrid car. Nothing special. But brand new, being a 2022 model.

I did not write or talk about this to anyone. It’s a personal MM moment, and something done out of necessity. Nothing to report on.

Yet…

You have to wonder.

It is entirely possible that DM was picking up on MM physical actions and activities. If so, then that would explain the car dealership, the new “retro” models, and the futuristic mall.

There is no doubt that PSI abilities and LD ability go “hand in hand”.

But don’t hold me to that.

It could be coincidence. But, you all know what I say about coincidence, don’t you?

In any event, it is a tricky world out there. So much going on and we interpret what we see with our experiences. DM is connected to others in his group, whether he realizes it or not, and is connected to MM as well. Again, is probably not realizing it at all.

The combined “chatter” on this PSI “party line” will absolutely influence his LD experiences. And thus what he experiences is colored by the “chatter” on the PSI party line.

This bit of extraneous data should not disparage or confuse his experiences.

Personally, I think that it enhances it.

Like special jet fuel that allows his LD experiences to go further, have better color, and depth and richness. Which is why I say “clean out your closets”, and “make new friends”, and experience more of the world. They supercharge your abilities.

The combination of affirmation campaigns, and MM associations are “turbo charging” DM’s LD experiences.

The only problem that remains is how to improve the sorting and filtering of the input “feed” during these events. What is actual intel, and what in influenced intel? Things need to be filtered better. Somehow. So that while they are turbocharged, they are not overwhelmed by distractions and confusions. Whether PSI or environmental.

All in all; a great LD session.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

Psychic Project On The Matrix. The Unveiling Of The Soul-Loosh Harvesting System (bitchute.com)

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Ghost People Video

This is my video on “Ghost People” (on the MWI). I unlocked it out of Patreon for the MM group to learn from, and (possibly) enjoy.

Take care.

Remote Viewing of the Tunnel of Light

Introduction

This is a video that I have referred to in a Patrion post that I made yesterday 30AUG22.

It involves the remote viewing of the “Tunnel of Light” that one observes upon death.

I advise that we use the KISS principle in everything; (Keep It Simple, Stupid), otherwise known as let’s just focus on full understanding of the core elements, and not get too sidetracked.

For instance…

A car.

It takes you from A to B.It can be cheap or expensive, based on HOW it transports you.It requires energy to operate.

Food

You need it to survive.It can taste good or bad depending on your culture and habits.Digestion of it is a human requirement.

So, here, the Remote Viewers were all over the place, and offer some good stuff. But it will need to be sorted (into “boxes”), parsed and put into context.

From DM

"This is very, very similar to my experiences. This is THE best video i have watched so far on the traps. This is legit. "

Very interesting. I am trying to process this video. I really don’t know what to think, but I will query the Domain Commander for some answers later on. -MM

Video Access

Alternative LINK HERE

You-Tube version…

Crappy ass attempt, but a faster and easier video to watch than from Bitchute.

I have Patreon videos on this subject…

I am generating a series of videos where I chat with the Domain Commander about this remote viewing exercise.

They are very interesting, I’ll tell you what.

I am currently posting them on my Patreon.

But do not worry. You all will get to check them out in time.

Do not fear the soul realignment event

This was a private video for Patreon. It is now free for everyone to view. Here, we discuss what you MUST go though if you want to stop the endless cycle of reincarnation.

Very important links.

The Metallicman webpage has daily articles of everything from geopolitics, to art, music, history, extraterrestrials, science and just stuff that defy description…

A1 Top Master Index

The Metallicman patrion page has daily videos and articles for the hard-core influencers and supporters. Here’s the really valuable stuff. Basic membership is only $5 a month. Great stuff here. It’s where I present the “secrets of the universe”…
https://www.patreon.com/Metallicman

[daegonmagus] – Part 27 – The Mantids Finally Showed Up….right before an uninstigated conversation about manifestation through intent.

The following is the 27th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benefit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you enjoy this article.

-MM

The Mantids Finally Showed Up….right before an uninstigated conversation about manifestation through intent.

Yep. They finally showed up….in our goddamned fucking house….in our goddamned fucking bedroom….after being a bunch of total fucking jackasses. We’d all just got our flu shots because there is a few flyers going around suggesting that “hey, guys, everyone got caught up in Covid and forgot all about the flu which has now mutated into some horrible chimera amalgamation of all the worst parts of Scott Morrsion, Boris Johnson and Joe Biden probably due to the use of gain of function research, so come and get a free vaccine for it before you turn into pile of useless shit”….and considering it spelt vaccine with a c, and that it wasn’t covid, I figured it would probably be ok. That and the fact our kids get royally sick when they get sick, to the point they are down and out for the count for weeks at a time. So, skipping that whole schpeel (I love all of you whether you are vaxed or not), coincidentally we all came down with blocked noses the day afterwards (I knew we should have got it earlier, just our luck).

Anyway, we have everyone in our room because it easier and cheaper to warm everyone with one heater than several sprawled out through several rooms, and because the chicken bird scared the absolute shit out of our daughter to the point she will not go back in her room at night time.

The problem is, my eldest son has autism, and having a blocked nose when he is trying to sleep might as well be the same as trying to saw ones own leg off with a teaspoon. Unfortunately he got quite bad, and was himself scaring his younger brother and sister, so I had to get him out of the house and take him for a drive at 1 in the morning to calm him down.

We were gone for about 20 minutes, during which he calmed down, we had a little talk about his interests etc, and eventually made our way home. He goes to bed, and everyone finally gets some sleep.

Storme tells me in the morning, when we were out, she saw a group of mantids around his bed, one of them very clearly, as solid as a physical object, the others just barely visible. They way she describes it was that it looked just like a tall praying mantis, but unusually thin (about 3 feet tall and body as thick as her arm, head the size of two fists put together), and when it walked it was really weirdly robotic. She said she saw it scuttle off and then it just faded away into nothing.

Strange right?

Well we all know there has been very bizarre happenings in and around this house; I have heard weird rushing noises like when a low flying aircraft pulls air through a bunch of nearby trees which sets the dog of in an act of investigation. SD has seen things wearing what appears to be the invisibility camouflage Predator uses when he is being hunted by Arnie (the amateurs stepped in a puddle of water and made a very obvious footprint when she caught it, then bailed snapping bunch of twigs in the process.), as well as ships halfway through their own cloaking operation. Then there is the case of the mysterious chicken bird my daughter has seen…

Speaking of which; now that SD has seen the mantids up close and their beaky like nose, snout whatverthefuck she thinks they very much could be the one and the same thing. The movement is very similar between the two.

So anyway, that particular day, we have some guy show up to check out some minor leaks in our roof. He is in the kitchen, and he sees my survival knife on the bench.

“Is that a military knife?” he asks me. It’s a Gerber LMF Infantry 2, so yeah, I guess I could see how he thinks that.

I tell him yeah and ask if he was in the army. “Yeah. I was involved in radiological and biological warfare”…

Well fuck me, this just got interesting.

Naturally I ask him his thoughts on COVID, if he thinks it is a biological weapon etc, and he says “Definitely. It’s the most perfect bioweapon ever made.” We get to talking and after a brief conversation about healthy dietary plans, the conversation veers back toward all this shit going on with COVID, and vaccines (I may have by this point mentioned a certain ex spook friend living in China who is quite adamant the US dropped it on them).

Somehow we get talking about CRISPR and gene splicing, and out of no where he says “you know, like, so what if I want to create a fucking Aryan kid with blonde hair and blue eyes and wings coming out of its back”….Ok, that was some weird shit to say, particularly to someone who just wrote an article on the occult connection of the Nazi’s and the Aryan race, and another one on his workings with four armed angels in the astral planes.

Very strange thing indeed.

Speaking of Nazi’s, we mention SD’s grandmother was born in A Nazi PoW camp (without a belly button, however the fuck that is possible), and had a bunch of experiments done on her where she had to have blood tests done every day….We’ve been talking an hour at this point, and suddenly I find this guy talking about the Nazi bell {alleged} time machine and some story about how they got it to levitate (I didn’t tell him I know someone whose actually seen it).

What in the fuck is going on here? This guy just pops in to fix my roof and is just opening with all this shit that is pretty much everything I have been writing about for the past year; I am not even leading him in this direction – just chucking in a few bits I know when he brings it up – it is all him. I forgot this seems to be something that happens with me when I write; things very definitely do seem to just randomly manifest (hence why I had some idea of affirmation campaigns before I came on across MM).

Write a fictional novel about the Goetic spirit Astaroth and he turns my TV on to a program with Astaroth’s Star in the middle of the day; write a book about a plane falling out of the sky due to the quantum thoughts that really gave them lift being exposed, and a week later flight MH370 goes missing (that one did actually freak me the fuck out).

Speaking of manifestation; after our conversation about Die Glocke, this guy then starts to tell me about how when he was doing radiological and biological warfare, the military brought in some Olympic Athletes. “Me and my colleagues were trying to understand what all the Athletes had in common” he told me. Turns out they had all won gold. Also turns out they had all won gold through rigorous manifestation campaigns, which they committed to quite more aggressively than even MM seems to when he does an Affirmation Campaign.

Apparently there was one woman who would think about gold wherever she went – whenever she’d walk into a room all she saw in her mind’s eye was gold on the wall; gold paintings, golden dinner table, golden dog shit on the carpet made out of gold. Whenever she took a shower… One morning she woke up the day of an Olympic swim, and felt so appalling she was almost ready to throw in the towel and call her swimming career quits. She called her coach who said “just focus on gold”. Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold. GOLD. She ended up competing and guess what she won (I’ll give you a hint, you can spell the first part of Australia with its chemical symbol.)

According to my guy here, the army knew very well about the powers of manifesting when it came to intent. The point he was making was that they sprinkled it in amongst their troops training regimes to make them collectively manifest certain goals.

“Yeah, right” I say, pretending I am one of those guys that thinks it is all bunch of new age hocus pocus bullshit. Little does he know I am 1 and a half months into my own affirmation campaign, which may involve connecting with these very fucking kinds of people (normies bore the shit out me).

He proceeds to tell me about how he has used this concept all his life since he was a little kid, to help manifest his business desires. He tells me a story about how he was doing fly in fly out work, and one day just quit his job as it was affecting his relationship with his new girlfriend, after being in the game for about 5 years. He’s thinking he needs to find a cheap $1000 utility truck and do it up as a means for starting his own business. He’s at the airport coming home, and sees this little old lady looking kind of lost. “Are you alright there , mam?” he asks, and she tells him “well, not really, I am new to Perth and I am bit confused about how to get where I am supposed to be going”.

“Do you need me to call you a taxi, or someone to come get you?” he asks her.
“Actually I would quite appreciate that if you could”. She replies.

He takes her to the waiting lounge where there is a pay phone, and they proceed to wait in the long line that has formed to use it. The old lady strikes up a conversation while they are waiting, asking him what he is doing with himself, that sort of thing.

“Well I have just come out of five year job from the mines, as it was affecting my relationship with my girlfriend, now I need to find something a bit more local”. He offers her some of his qualifications etc as part of the small talk.

Meanwhile a guy standing behind them has been listening to the whole conversation. He interjects.

“Excuse me, buddy, but I am the owner of this company that builds elevators for the commercial sector and a vacancy just came up.” He flicks him a business card and says ”Send me your resume, and we’ll see what we can do” A day later he got the job.

But it doesn’t stop there. The same day, he is talking to his friend who tells him “check out this ad for this utility truck I just came across.” This guy shows him the ad in a paper, or on his phone or whatever, and he looks at it:

“Not bad for $1000, eh? All it needs is a bit of doing up and it make a great work ute”

“Send me the number”he says, without batting an eyelid.…it was the same ute we had now both walked up to and whose trailer he was lying on top quite casually as we talked, which was now going on 2 hours.

I figured fuck it, might as well go all in.

I tell him how my spook guy living in China is an ex Majestic agent who was given the actual process of how this manifestation shit works by the ETs he was involved with, then proceed to tell him about said proper process, 3 months on, and 3 months off then 3 on again yada yada yada. He kind of looks at me, and nods, probably thinking I am a fucking nut job, but kindly suggests he isn’t thinking that.

The conversation about manifesting of desire thing comes full circle:
“So getting back to the vaccine thing. You wipe out the old and the weak, you are left with the young and strong. You then start seeding the concepts you want to see manifested into that generation, and……well, you get the idea.”
He then seems to realize the time and has to shoot off.

Well that was certainly interesting. Almost like a higher force was telling me EXACTLY what is up with the vaccines. Either that or it was just, like, his opinion, man.

Even more interesting is that that night SD and I had a fight and she sees another fucking mantid in the mirror (but not out of it) next to our bed.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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Extraction upon Translation

This is one of my early Patrion postings. I hope that you appreciate it and find it to be of use and interest to you. Patrion members get the “good, crunchy and delicious stuff” out of MM, daily. This one talks about what happens when we die and how to opt for “pick up” instead of going directly into the Heaven pocket universe.

Please enjoy.

[daegonmagus] – Part 26 – Lucid Astral Projection – The Consciousness Craft Launch Facility and Something Dwelling in the Red Planet:

The following is the 26th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benefit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you enjoy this article.

-MM

Lucid Astral Projection – The Consciousness Craft Launch Facility and Something Dwelling in the Red Planet:

I’m, fucking back baby. WOOOHOOO.

Last night I woke up around 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I figured I might as well try meditating with a goal to induce an LD. I was playing around with visualisations of a tunnel that would burrow me outside of the Astral Plane bubble surrounding earth. My goal was to try and contact the EG.

This was the first proper wake induced lucid dream I have had in years where I have been able to keep 100% of consciousness during the transition.

As I reached hypnogogia, my dream environment changed into a sort of hospital like facility with lots of corridors. Although it was dark, it had a warmness feeling to it that reminded me of whenever I went to my grandma’s place. As hypngogia set in properly, I found myself walking down this corridor. On the left was some sort of reception desk with a cafeteria behind it. Just up ahead from the reception desk was a door, and that was where I was heading.

There were two female staff at the reception desk, who I said a quick hi to as I walked past. They were the facilitators of whatever was on the other side of the door This all happens in less than a minute.

I approach the door and as I get right to its frame I step over the threshold. Some sort of invisible hook catches me in the middle of the head, and then I realize this is it. This is the transition I have been waiting a very long time to experience properly again.

My consciousness inverts, and I feel that all too familiar feeling of entering the void space, and my consciousness properly disengaging from my body.

But this time something different happens; when the hook hit me, it sort of turned my consciousness upwards as it was transitioning, I feel the hallway beyond the door sort of “capture” me as I do so.

As I plunge into the void space, I realize for the first time ever I am looking upwards into the shaft of the cylindrical like chamber, rather than at the side.

I realize this is a fucking tunnel into outer space; I can see stars from where I am obscured by its edges.

Some thing else is also different; this void space is a lot more clearer than I remember it being.

It is hard to explain, but movement in the void space used to create quite a level of disorientation. Although I could “feel” the depth of this space being quite huge and around me, I could never really “see” it.

Now I can see the stars and they are crystal clear; sparkling like diamonds in front of me, just begging for me to come and claim them.

I oblige, and propel myself forward, with only a small amount of velocity.

Something happens, and I find my momentum picking up until I am soaring through this tunnel hurtling towards the stars; I can even hear the reverberation of this velocity coming off the interior walls of whatever this tunnel thing is.

Suddenly I come out of the tunnel and plunge into outer space like a diver into water.

I realize it is some sort of station set up on an asteroid or something near earth.

I am 100% conscious and aware of my sleeping body. I seem to still be in the solar system, but still quite far from earth, probably a few light years away.

After a quick piloting test of control where I move my consciousness forward, back, left right, up and down I conclude that yes, something is very very different here this time.

It seems a fog has been lifted that usually makes such effortless control tiresome; like a polluted pond has now been cleaned and the water is perfect to swim in. Well, space is my water, and I am itching for a swim.

I propel myself forward and “open up the burners”, so to speak. I am like that guy taking a new mustang out to a straight stretch of road and just fucking gunning it to see how fast it can go before his nerves kick in and make him punch the brakes.

Seems I have a new ‘stang and I want to see what this baby can do.

Fuck me, this awesome.

I am burning fast, and I mean REALLY FUCKING FAST.

If this is what the upgrades entail, then holy shit they were worth it.

Something gives me the impression my consciousness might actually be merged with a space craft of some sort.

I have propelled fast before, but never anywhere even remotely close to this. This is impressive even for my standards.

I am actually using this craft like it is my own fucking body, zipping around like a majestic unicorn that has just popped a bag of Ecstasy before going on an episode of dancing with the stars.

Saturn and Jupiter fly past me in a manner of seconds.

Then come the stars.

This isn’t anything like hyper drive in star wars or star trek. The planets and stars appear as tiny dots that just sail effortlessly past you like bits of dust in a windstorm.

Within about 30 seconds I have journeyed so far out of the solar system that I don’t even know what galaxy I am in.

I am very, very, very far from my physical body at this point.

I remember my goal of trying to establish contact with the EG. As the thought pops into my mind, almost instantaneously I start hearing the voice of the Grand Elder coming through (I haven’t heard this since February 2019), but it is broken and patchy like the tuning is not quite right.

I realize the interference is caused by the distance between me and them.

Although I am far from the solar system I am still even much further from the edge of the universe/ astral bubble.

“Hello. Hello? Can you hear us”.

I hear them say, but it doesn’t seem as though can get anything intelligible from so I give up.

As I am hurtling through space I notice some activity in a certain sector of the galaxy I am in.

There seems to be a tentacle of the anomaly bleeding through, but it is no where near the concern it once was.

It is concerning to see it this close to earth, but at the same time it doesn’t seem as malicious as it once was.

An “Eh, I’ll get to that a different time” thought pops into my head.

As I sail over it, I hear a dark demonic voice trying to lure me in.

I turn to check it out and notice it is coming from a red planet that looks almost identical to Mars off in the local vicinity of where I am (I cannot recall at this point whether I had turned around and journeyed back to our solar system or not, but I think that is the case).

I feel kinda sorry for this voice.

It is trying really hard to put on a show to scare me, but the whole thing just comes off as really lame and like something out of a kids PG movie.

Sort of like a real bad James Earl Jones Darth Vader rendition.

It is my responsibility to check into any malicious forces I find – I guess this is why I was cleared for launch back at the facility, to come and investigate this area of space – so I project towards it.

The red planet suddenly becomes very big in front of me.

I swear this is Mars, judging from its colour and patterns. If not then it must have a twin that is a spitting image.

I enter its atmosphere and realize that there is indeed something malicious going on; the first thing I notice is that a shroud is being used on the surface to plunge it into an astral darkness.

Even from this state, it is impossible to see several feet in front of me.

The voice lingers and tries to lure me in with some cheap promise of finding something I need, but I just tell it to fuck off, figuring it easier to go back and report this to base command and have it taken out remotely.

The main difference was that there was no fear of this entity; I was just observing it from an emotionless state of being.

I wake up, then quickly ride that lucidity train back through the transition before my mind gets too awoken.

Once again, I wind up back at the same launch facility, this time with SD by my side.

We walk the hallways trying to find the launch room, but end up getting lost in the corridors.

We take a wrong turn and end up outside.

There is a nicely manicured garden outside and I notice the buildings themselves are made of bricks and seem quite old.

The dream starts to become broken, but I realize that if you just look up and focus on the bricks, its stops it from falling apart (try this when trying to create a solid dreamscape).

SD attends to other business and I end up going to check out one of the buildings. It seems to be a sort of dormitory for other astral travellers/ lucid dreamers.

I notice a person there who I have been speaking to in recent weeks about their heightened astral projection experiences.

We have a brief chat, and then I make my way over to another room that seems to be mine.

The projection soon ends.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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You can find out more about the author HERE.
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[daegonmagus] – Part 25 – Documenting the Other Worlds – Project Morpheus

The following is the 25th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benifit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you enjoy this article.

-MM

Project Morpheus

Earlier this month, I started a new project which will eventually comprise part of a larger project I have opened up on my site, www.daegonmagus.wix.com/author, for “Documenting the Other Worlds”.

This is actually an offshoot of another project I started a few years ago and never got around to finishing, which sort to put every frequency in the audible spectrum, between 20-20kHz on one track in what I called the “Pandora Chord”. Drawing on some sound engineering experience I picked up over the years, in my latest project, I decided to try and replicate some of the noises SD and I have experienced during some of our lucid dreams.

These vary from bizarre “UFO” type sounding noises, to the perceived change in sound of an aero plane going overhead as consciousness goes through the transition into the sleeping state and beyond into the void space.

I am hoping that these audio tracks will provide at least starting point for understanding what exactly happens to consciousness as it falls asleep, and give others an idea of the sorts of environments us LDers find ourselves having to navigate through. I am confident in my assertions that telepathy can be understood through using a similar model of radio propagation theory, and that the void space experienced during one of these conscious transitions into the sleep state acts as the main terminal by which telepathic information can be decoded and broadcast.

Thus my eventual goal will be to devise apparatus that will allow these sounds to be broadcast through open space in a similar manner, with an effort of contacting nearby entities. Guess I am officially “that” guy now huh?

This project soon evolved into the creation of a track specifically to try and induce a lucid dreaming session, based heavily on the Monroe Institute’s research into inducing OBE’s.

Whereas the Monroe Institute used a 4HZ offset frequency between those frequencies played in the left ear vs those played in the right, I opted to use a 2Hz offset frequency based primarily on the frequency of the physical world being “locking” onto to a dreamscape from a waking LD I once had. I also took some inspiration from Royal Rife and his assertions that lower sideband harmonics of certain frequencies can be used to destroy certain pathogens and viruses, and used a specific combination of frequencies that are spaced exactly an octave (a doubling of frequency) apart in the left ear, whilst introducing the 2 Hz variants of each of those frequencies in the right.

Originally I based these frequencies on the Binary number system of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 etc, but as my recording software’s signal generators only allow a minimum of 20Hz, I was forced with starting at 32Hz. I then applied phasers to these frequencies that adjust themselves through the peak ranges in timings of 2 to 4 Hz, again multiples of these frequencies.

I attempted to record this into a stereo track using an unbalanced mono line, which introduced some digital noise into the track which I realized sounded quite a lot like the tinnitus sound I usually hear during an OBE (which intensifies during an astral projection, right at the moment the astral body separates from the physical), so I left it in.

I then re-recorded the frequency tracks using a balanced line. The resultant track is a combination of what appears to be a Tibetan singing bowl mixed with both the tinnitus and UFO “Whoop Whoop” sounds, with a mechanical like noise overlaid, which I assume is caused by certain collision points of the frequencies during sampling, similar to aliasing. This Mechnical noise is very reminiscent of the type of chthonic noises heard during a sleep paralysis/ LD experience.

The listener is encouraged to try and focus on the other phantom noises that seemingly present themselves.

I then used the track for a total of 15 to 20 minutes each morning and evening before going to bed. After day 3 or 4, I noticed a very strong feeling of dissociation from my surroundings, very similar to that felt when under the influence of marijuana.

This feeling I noticed was more prominent when looking at areas with many patterns of shadow contrasted against light, an example being piles of leaves in a lightly shaded area. The effect I witnessed was that a diamond like wavy “ghost” pattern was perceivable between me and the leaves as a sort of visual noise.

This feeling kept all day and only began to subside after about 3 days after my last dosing of the audio track. In addition this, there was also a prolonged energetic feeling felt deep within the solar plexus, vaguely similar to morphine when it enters the vein.

When I showed this track to my daughter, the first thing she told me was that it was the sound that happens when the chicken bird shows up (see [daegonmagus] – Part 12 – Miscellaneous Experiences: The Curious case of the Mysterious Chicken Bird – Metallicman). This particular entity was once again spotted by SD about a week after stopping listening to the audio, though SD has not heard this track as of yet.

Upon review of the lengths associated with nervous system pathways, and the idea the body acts as a tuned antenna that emits a carrier wave that consciousness attaches to, based on these nervous system pathways, further experimentation will see the offset frequency between left and right ears changed to 3Hz.

For the aeroplane going overhead, I downloaded a sample of an aeroplane off the internet. One should note, this aeroplane sounds a little bit different to what I actually heard, but for demonstration purposes will do. I started by stretching majority of the track out to about twice its normal length (slowing the frequencies involved in the process). I then placed a phaser that polls through the entire range of frequencies every 0.07Hz. The track is thus a close representation, but not exact. My Plan is to simulate other typical noises in a similar fashion to see what they would sound like in the void space.

For the UFO noise I used a simple 128HZ signal, with a 4hz timed phaser. I am very interested in hearing from others who have heard this noise or something similar to it either during an “encounter” or an OBE experience.

I am also interested in hearing from others who experience similar feelings of association or the energy bursts I have felt.

I suspect this combination of phaser arrangement on a specific frequency might have something to do with disrupting consciousness to achieving a “cloaking” effect. I believe the key to unlocking consciousness from the body lies in the way these crafts use these frequencies, particularly during LDs/APs.

Edit, for some reason, this track is proving difficult to record and will be uploaded at another date. Refer to the above inducer test track to get an idea of the “Woo Woo” sound.

The lucid fizz sound is the tinnitus sounding noise mentioned above. I extracted it from the recording with the introduced mechanical noise using some 7 band EQs to filter out the lower frequency components. It is about 90% accurate to what I hear on a regular basis.

Sometime I get random bouts where one of my ears will be overloaded with a high pitched frequency (different to the tinnitus sound), which, more often than not becomes somewhat disorientating. This just so happened to happen about 2 days into using the lucid dreaming test audio.

I made a mental note of the sound and quickly rushed to my computer, which was on and had a signal generator setup. I then scrolled through the frequencies until I got withina close ballpark of this disorientating “Information Download Frequency”, which I found was at 2925 Hz. I believe further investigation of this frequency is warranted.

Any information supplemental to my experiments from the Commander is most welcome.

The audio files

For now, hosted on Google drive.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

[daegonmagus] – Part 24 – Cattle Mutilations, Missing Time, Broken and Misplaced Memories, Ghost and UFO sightings

The following is the 24th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benifit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you injoy this article.

-MM

Part 24 – Cattle Mutilations, Missing Time, Broken and Misplaced Memories, Ghost and UFO sightings; Wooroloo is the Place to be For Paranormal Activity. 5 star Recommend

I’ve been meaning to do an article on this for while. It entails a bizarre event I unwittingly found myself caught up in when I was about 16 years old, that my friend was {apparently} also involved in. Since it happened, this event has left me with some puzzling question. And guess what, SD was also involved with it. This was a good year or so before I had even met her. In fact, this event has had such an effect on me that I wrote a short story about it a few years ago, trying to make light of the weirdness of the situation through the use of dark humour, which can be found on my website at Daegon Magus | Author for anyone who is interested. In all seriousness though, there isn’t really anything humorous about it. Considering the circumstances surrounding the event from both our vantage points, SD and I believe there is a very real possibility this was an alien abduction scene with a level of memory suppression of what actually took place being employed on both of us. Thinking about that and what “may” have happened to me really gives me the heeby jeebies.

To start this story off, I need to explain the town I lived in as a kid. Wooroloo is a semi rural town situated about 55km East of the Perth CBD.

R C.1e81ff4f6417e269b468cb54a5501c68 — Map

It houses an abbatoirs, a cemetery and both a minimum and maximum security prison, and an old tuberculosis clinic-come-hospital all within a few short kilometers of each other. My house was situated on the edge of the thin strip of bushland that insulated these facilities from the town centre. I could quite literally grab my pushbike and tour close to these facilities (with the exception of the maximum security prison) within an hour. I’d heard rumours as a kid that this strip of bushland was haunted; that some guy from one of the prisons hung himself here and would sometimes appear as a ghost to those wandering about.

Speaking of ghosts, my grandmother, who lived on the same block of land as my father (she gifted him the top half for his 21^st birthday, while her house was situated on the bottom half on the otherside of a creek a few hundred metres away) saw the ghost of her late husband, Gordon, my father’s step father, one night; the ghost of Gordon appeared at the foot of her bed and sort of just sat there smiling at her for a little while. She described it as a somewhat pleasant experience.

School was about 3 quarters of kilometre away at the end of our road in the centre of town. It was a pretty small primary school with just over a hundred kids in total in the whole school. Note that I have written previously of having broken memories involving “something” happening with peers from my class that is directly related to my first contact experience with the Elder Guardians, and a recent dream that I suggested was a memory of an abduction involving a squid like looking race of beings with this same class.

The first thing I remembered upon coming into the presence of the Elder Guardians (as my memory was unlocking, but was yet to be fully unlocked) was that what I was experiencing was related to that something happening to myself and about 5 or 6 others that had been mind wiped from us. Although I couldn’t pin point it to more than some strange abduction event, I knew it was very very relevant. These peers of mine, who I no longer talk to have something to do with it, I am sure of it, even if they do not realise any of it.

Getting back to the event in question, unbeknownst to me at the time of this particular experience, SD was living with her boyfriend just down the road from this school, in what she described as being a very haunted house.

In this house, SD told me very weird things used to happen; loud music would randomly start playing from a room they could never quite find or put their finger on as to the tune even though it sounded very familiar. They’d think they found the room it was coming from, only for them to open the door and it would randomly change to coming from another room. Sometimes the rooms would suddenly drop several degrees in temperature for no apparent reason. There was an instance where her boyfriend, Roger, scared the shit out of his little brother because he came out of his room with red eyes after being asleep in there for three days straight (though he thought it was only a night’s worth).

Roger told her that he used to have strange {lucid} “dreams” where weird beings would take him away to scary dream places whenever he fell asleep with his head against a certain wall, though being religious, he never thought to dig deeper into them and experiment with them like I had been doing a lot of up until that point. Later they found out a teenager had hung himself in the back yard, which they figured accounted for all the spooky action at not very far distance.

A little further along down the road from Roger’s place is what is known colloquially by townsfolk as the gravel oval; a big patch of dirt that motor bike riders like my friend Zak like to take their bikes and bush banger cars out to thrash them into oblivion.

OIP C.4SZOopewGTc8UXU3fhJMggHaE8 — Rural terrain near Wooroloo.

One night Roger’s dad was outside having a smoke looking toward this gravel oval (Bailup Park, as it called on google maps) when he noticed about 13 little lights come out of the ground, ascend to a low point in the sky and just start dancing in front of him before all shooting off in different directions. As someone who was apparently fairly sceptical of UFOs and aliens, this was apparently a big game changer for him.

It is important to note here that the gravel oval is not really situated near any cattle grazing property. There is a horse stud up the road, and that is about it. Nothing that would involve any cows though, as most of the larger paddocks are situated on the outskirts of town. There is a small paddock next the gravel oval, but I don’t think the owners ever had cows in it. I could of course be be wrong. Regardless, the most likely place you’d find cattle would be outside of the town centre, like in the paddocks surrounding the abbatoirs, which is 3.8km south east, as the crow flies.

The Event:

This particular night, my friend Nick was having a party. Nick lived quite close to the abbatoirs, only a few hundred metres away on the same road. My other good friend, Matt, had caught the bus home with me, and after spending half an hour so at my house having some food and getting ready, we headed out on foot to Nick’s sometime in the afternoon, probably around 5pm, considering my school bus got back into town from high school at about 4:30. So it was still definitely day time.

Given the road to Nick’s headed back into town, and wrapped around it before heading back towards his house, it was quicker for us to cut through the {haunted} bush as it shaved off a couple of kilometers of walking. After the bush, you’d pop out at the fenceline of a farm owned by the minimum security prison – not exactly something they really approved of if they caught people wandering around it, but I knew a spot where the fence was broken enough to make easy access.

After 100m or so you come to another boundary fence line of the cemetery where my brother was buried. I had this ritual where I’d sit and talk to him for a little while, then kiss my two fingers and rub them on his cross, as a way to say “see you”. We then walked down the road, past his friend Phil’s house, to Nicks which was only a few house past Phil’s.

So anyways, the party kicked off and it got dark.

I had some alcohol that night but not enough to get anything beyond super talkative. It was during the period where I was starting to not find enjoyment in drinking too heavily, and had found what it meant to drink conservatively.

My memories of conversations with people at the party and other very specific details, even to this day, suggest that this was definitely the case. If not, I wouldn’t remember these details. Just trust me on that. I remember it was getting late and I decided to head home as I couldn’t be bothered staying at Nick’s with the inevitable lack of sleeping equipment.

It was a cold night, and I’d done my fair share of using piles of shoes and dog’s beds as matresses. Another testament to my sobriety – when you are drunk these things are not too much of a problem, but when sober they seem quite unappealing for bedding material for some strange reason. Actually, I was quite sober when I slept on a pile of shoes, but that is a story for another time.

So I was looking for Matt to tell him I was planning on heading home. It was somewhere on the other side of midnight, maybe even heading into the early hours of the morning – 1 or 2 am. Something like that. I wanted to try and get home and into bed before the 3am dip in temperature came about, because I wasn’t one for bringing jackets or long pants to these kinds of shindigs. I was kitted out in a standard T shirt and some shorts and my sensitive bits were in danger of inverting due to the cold. Eventually I found Matt and he told me to head off without him as he was having a good conversation with a girl he fancied. He planned on staying at Nicks. Cue MWI slide here.

This is where the memory distortion comes into play, that I don’t think can be completely contributed to my alcohol consumption (as my brother in law tried to suggest) given that I was very definitely sober when I left. I will tell you I was completely alone, on account of Matt wanting to chat up the girl he was talking to. In fact, I remember very specifically I was alone as I headed down the road and back toward the abbatoirs. It was pitch black and I couldn’t see five feet in front of me, which eventuated in me walking into one of the shoulders, slipping on the gravel and scraping my knee on the road.

So I was about half way along the paddock next to Phil’s house (still on the road). We don’t get snow here, so it probably wasn’t exactly life threatening, but being nothing but shorts and T shirt, the cold was really biting at me. It was dead silent too; that really eerily unnerving kind of silence. All of a sudden I heard this sound I figure was about 25 to 50m into that paddock that was RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO ME.

It was so odd, in that it sounded like a bunch of dangling chains hanging from a fair height, followed by a very mechanical conveyor belt starting up, followed by a cow mooing which melded into a horrible shriek as something cut its head off, followed what sounded like a gushing of A LOT OF FUCKING WATER. Like, more water (or blood) than a cow’s body could hold.

And then, just like that, it all stopped.

Back to nothing but total silence. Neither even the flicker of flame from a candle light to illuminate the area. It all happened in the middle of a field in total darkness. And make no mistake about it, this was quite definitely a cow being brutally murdered by a mechanical machine of some sort.

I am going to be honest, whatever it was, it scared the absolute fucking shit out of me.

I was a stone’s throw away from something out of a Stephen King novel.

After my trip in the ditch I had been walking quite carefully and slowly making sure I had a firm footing so I didn’t trip up again, but upon hearing this, I just fucking bolted into darkness without even thinking about it. There could have been a tree in front of me for all I knew and I would have hit it at full sprint it was that dark.

Holding my arm out, I couldn’t even see it.

There was no moon either, which made it even worse. The question of doubling back to Nick’s or even Phil’s didn’t was a no go, because it meant crossing back past the noise, something I was very definitely not going to do. The only other option was to head towards the cemetery and try and get home. Yeah I know, real horror story kind of shit.

So off I went, back through the cemetery and the prison farm until I eventually made it home unscathed (I think).

The whole way home I tried rationalising what the fuck it was I had just heard, telling myself it was just a late night butchering at the abbatoirs. Only problem with that though was that the abbatoirs had stopped butchering cows several years prior to focus on pigs; they were now called Linley Valley Pork to allude to this fact.

And 1 – 2 in the morning seemed a bit off their usual 9 – 5pm schedule. Not to mention it being an occupational health and safety violation doing it in total darkness. What got me was those damned chains. These sounded like they were hanging from a good height and were a good length. And the conveyor belt….this would have had to have been some big machinery to cart out into the middle of a field, then there is the question of the instant start up; there simply was no hint at a generator or diesel engine you’d expect would be needed for such a piece of machinery.

The whole thing took maybe 5 seconds, which obviously is a lot less than you’d need to start up and shut something with one of these engines down.

If this was some kind of late night cow heist, as my mother in law suggested, it was incredibly daring, dangerous and using some advanced equipment. It’s not like a cow is easy killing even in full day light with a taser to knock it out, let alone in the middle of a field in total darkness. And yeah my brother in law (not SD’s brother, my sister’s boyfriend) worked at this abbatoirs so I have a good idea of what killing a cow to slaughterhouse protocol involves; he went through the whole process with me a number of times.

So I had this strange thing happen, and, figuring I was alone, I didn’t mention it to anybody. Being so close to the abbatoirs (if you call over 600m away close), I just knew people would misconstrue it, say I was drunk (like my brother in law did) and that it was probably just them doing a late night kill. Plus I had no proof of my claims.

Added to that, I genuinely didn’t like talking about it. It was the creepiest shit that had ever happened to me. I kind of put it out of my mind for a few years, until Matt came over one day to catch up. This was long after I had met and married SD and we were living together in the house where I had my first Elder Guardians contact experience. I think this was a few months before that.

Matt was sitting on the couch and out of nowhere says “hey remember that fucked up noise that sounded like a cow getting slaughtered we heard that night coming home from Nick’s?”

It turns out Matt was very definitely with me when it happened, even though I have a very specific memory of him staying at Nick’s and me leaving without him. Apparently he changed his mind soon after and caught me just as I was leaving. Interesting considering I didn’t tell anyone because I knew I had no proof.

And just when you thought this story couldn’t get any more weird and creepy, SD, told us she had heard the exact same thing one night at the gravel oval where Roger’s dad had seen the UFO cluster. We had obviously talked about it a little bit between us, but to Matt this was new news.

SD’s story:

It was a full moon(suggesting it was a completely different night) and was late evening, on the cusp of getting dark, probably around 7pm. Her and Roger decided to go for a walk around town to have a look at the moon.

They thought they were gone for about half an hour, an hour at most, but when they got back, Roger’s dad, sitting out on his porch having his nightly puff, remarked that they had been gone a long time.

Confused, SD said “no, we have only been gone an hour”. Roger’s dad said, “nope, you’ve been gone hours. It’s almost midnight.”

Confused, SD stood there trying to figure out the where the missing time had gone while Roger talked to his dad. They were out there about 15 minutes, when they heard the same noise – according to SD it was the exact same dangling of chains, followed by a conveyor belt starting up, followed by a cow getting slaughtered and a rushing of a large body of water or liquid – coming from where she guessed was the gravel oval (less than 100m away from Roger’s house where his dad had seen those dancing lights).

Errgh this is getting messy, when you consider the obvious dream bond we have together.

What the fuck did we witness?

This is curious because not only is it over 2.5km, as the crow flies, from the gravel oval to where I was when I heard it, but, like I said, there are not many cows around this part of town.

Surely if something was poaching people’s stock, you would have heard about it in such a small town. This was the type of town where one’s dirty laundry was everyone else’s. But, I guess if it was a weird enough situation, it could have intentionally slipped mind when hitting up the local gossip network. I am curious though, if anyone in these areas did have any missing or butchered cattle to report, I’d definitely like to know about it.

Some notes:

The abbatoirs stopped killing cows for quite a number of years before this event even happened. I remember there was a big front page article about it all over the local newspaper.

Given rumours that the abbatoirs was trying to buy out people in the area, one could argue it was a ploy by them to freak the house owners into selling, but then, this doesn’t explain why SD heard it on the other side of town where the abbatoirs would have no claim.

My experience would have taken place somewhere between 400 to 500m away from the main butchering facility of said abbatoirs, in vacant land that was insulated from abbatoirs owned land by several houses. There is no reason for an abbatoirs to be carrying out killings this far away from its building where all the equipment to do a proper job is all set up, or 3km away if you go by SD’s account, or even at this time of night. If it was a cow heist, this was an incredibly stupid part of town to do it from, when you could go further out and nab one from a much larger field further away from houses.

My auntie (who lived in a granny flat next to my grandmother on the same block as my dad’s house) also held a supervisor position at these abbatoirs for a number of years including when I had this experience and sometime afterwards. Both her and my brother in law agree the time of night and way the killing I heard was carried out without light was very far out of the safety protocols of abbatoirs.

From what I know about killing an animal that size, doing it in total darkness through cutting it’s throat is practically suicide. You’d have to be pretty desperate, or on some serious drugs, to even try it. None of it makes any sense, and honestly I think the suggestion it was a heist is quite a lame one, for reasons mentioned above.

Either way you look at it, there is something very strange going on, in a town that seems to have a knack for paranormal shit happening in it. Admittedly I didn’t really come past all that much after Nick’s party. I ended up moving town a year or so later, and didn’t come back for a number of years. All I know is that I have memories of this event that deviate from those of Matt, and both SD and Roger had missing time when they heard their version of it

SD suggested that maybe what we heard was really a carry over hearing event from an abduction; that maybe we all got abducted, something happened on the ship, then we were mind wiped and what we heard was like an echo of when they swapped us into this timeline. I don’t know, but given I have broken memories of other abductions with my class mates, I can’t rule this out altogether. It certainly explains SD’s and Roger’s missing time. As for me, I don’t recall having any missing time, but considering the fact that I was out in the middle of nowhere in total darkness – which was somewhat disorientating as it was – and that when I finally got home, the last thing on my mind was to check the time, it is a possibility I can’t ignore.

There is also the fact I have no memory of Matt being with me, even though he proved he was (he mentioned it before I had brought it up, which is what surprised the shit out of me). I do have this memory of being sort of frozen in place for a few seconds after it happened, but I figured this was just out of the sudden startling nature of the whole thing. Maybe that was when “they” put me back? Who knows?

This town also has a knack for serial arsonists to light he bush surrounding it on fire. When I was 7 I had to evacuate to my other grandma’s place because a fire was raging through town.

During that fire, a firefighter went out and lit another fire down the road. Our neighbours house ended up burning down; I went over there the next day with my dad and my brother (my dad was in the fire brigade) and all that was left was a fridge in the middle of burnt out rubble.

Only this year another arsonist who was part of the same bush fire brigade went around lighting fires IN THE EXACT SAME AREA as the first guy.

And if that isn’t enough coincidence for you, yet another big fire happened last year in the same area I heard the cattle mutilation which burnt down something like 50 houses. This was caused by a guy using an angle grinder in in the middle of 40 degree C summer on dry, dead grass.

I always joke that the aliens must have a stupidity amplifier in operation in town, though SD has had lucid dreams which suggest there is in fact some kind of shrouding equipment connected to the amnesia devices that is located here.

Any information the Domain can provide on this town and what is going on there would be appreciated.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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[daegonmagus] – Part 23 – Briefing For the Domain Commander: Intel Gathered During LD Escape From Simulation Out of Two Pocket Universes to the Main Programming Hub

The following is the 23nd part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

Lately he has been conducting lucid dreaming (LD) to map out the subconscious / non-physical realms that surround us. His writings are very interesting, but describe things way beyond my understanding. Never the less, many MM readers find great value in his experiences, and writings, and one can easily see benifit in reading his writings. 

I hope that you injoy this article.

-MM

Part 23 – Briefing For the Domain Commander: Intel Gathered During LD Escape From Simulation Out of Two Pocket Universes to the Main Programming Hub

{daegonmagus}

26/03/2022

I was put into a dream simulation that seemed designed to completely break my spirit.

This scenario featured SD who seemed to very troubled by her own hallucinations.

It began some building we had been staying in on what I was led to believe was a holiday. This building was nothing special, just a bunch of dingy rooms with a sort of open hallway that ran next to them. I was “awoken” into the dream by SD, but not lucid.

This was the start of the simulation.

SD seemed deeply troubled by something. I asked her what was up and she replied that she had stayed with another couple while I was still asleep. Confused by what she meant, I got up and tried talking to her, but she came more erratic in her behaviour, and made less sense. It was like she was on drugs, talking non sensical bullshit, seemingly glitching and going off track every sentence. I started to really worry about her mental health, and suggested we go for a walk. During it became evident that SD was suffering from severe mental stigma and seemed to be hallucinating quite heavily. It seemed her every action was designed to cause me as much anguish and heartache as possible.

She took me to the edge of town where this couple she stayed with were living in a makeshift humpy in what appeared to be a children’s playground; it was literally just a few pieces of wood smacked together on a some sand to make a rather unstable frame that they draped a sheet over. Sd explained she had been sleeping with them, and wanted to join their family and live in this humpy of theirs. The situation had very cult like vibes and I realised that SD was very clearly not her usual self. She was arguing with me, accusing me of thins that were not true and attacking my character at the hands of these frauds.

I was now starting to feel deep sorrow at the depth of my core, but I knew SD wasn’t herself and was damned if I was going to let her stay with these people. I managed to convince her to come with me, and we walked back to our house which was located a few kilometres away in a set of units that had been tightly bunched together. The whole way SD abused me, but I bit my tongue and told myself she didn’t really mean it. But the abuse just got worse and worse. It was really starting to cut through my soul, wanting nothing but for her to be better, yet being told I was the cause of all such anguish.

Then all of a sudden something snapped, spurred on by my anguish. I realised it was a simulation and I began to reject it. A very strong voice that may or may not have been mine, came through telling me that this was definitely the case, and it started to all make sense. What happened next was like the AI in control of the simulation realised I had cottoned onto its game and began talking to me, trying to convince me that it was necessary for my development.

Again I refused to believe it. When that didn’t work, it manifested agents (pretty much agent smiths/MIB)to come and collect me, but again I refused to let them. Even though I was not lucid, I was starting to realise my power. I could wave my hand and they would simply just disappear. Not only that, I was starting to see the pocket universe outside of this simulation as an overlay on the top of my surroundings that would sort of glitch in and out.

The AI seemed to realise it had a big problem on its hands and sent down a space shuttle to meet me. I was now interacting with both the simulation and the outer pocket universe as I walked. In the simulation, the walk way was a cave, but in the outer pocket universe I was walking down a sort of walkway or bridge far up in the sky, where this space ship styled shuttle landed to try and collect me. Once again I told them I reject there simulation, brought my hand down and their ship exploded in front of me. I had properly awoken in the outer pocket universe and had full control over my lucid dreaming abilities, despite the consciousness doping blockages put in place.

I was still heavily doped, but I could cut through it with sheer willpower. I was aware of the simulation I’d just come from, and now also aware of my earth body back here.

So walked up the landing which seemed to be floating in mid air above the clouds. At higher level was an arrangement of very modern looking buildings stretching for several acres.

I entered a building closest to the bridge I had just come from. This building was not entirely enclosed and had several walls missing; it seemed to be some sort of building where newly arriving guests were entering. In this building, was set up a variety of Virtual Reality screens arranged around tables which had other doped up and comatose bodies on. Some of the screens had a real time image of the reality they were experiencing.

realised this was a fucking product display room; the guests were clientele that would walk around to these VR systems and express their awe at the technology. It reminded of a phone shop where you go in and browse from the various laid out models at your own leisure. They were the investors of this project, and there was from between 30 to 50 of them now gathering in the foyer of this building where a bunch of chairs were laid out. It seemed they were waiting for the project admins to give some sort of presentation.

I walked in, and upon realising what this place was, becoming sickened by it, started executing as many of these investors as I could. I was like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator; I’d simply just point from person to person with my hand and they would be instantaneously vapourised. It was kind of weird; if you have ever been very drunk and had to try and act sobre this is kind of what it felt like being under the consciousness doping agent. I’d have periods where I would just stop and sort of zone out, and I would have to use a tonne of conviction and sheer willpower to bring my awareness back to my surroundings. I would have looked like a malfunctioning robot to anyone watching me.

It took a few moments for them to realise that one of their projects had woken up and was quite fucking pissed at what they had going on here. Through my bouts of coherency, I’d unleash chaos. Once they did, everyone started running out of the building and evacuating the area to their nearby space craft or vehicles or whatever they had been arriving in just outside. Guards were sent in to try and subdue me, but I wouldn’t let them; there is a good reason they keep us all doped, because once we regain access to our proper LD power we become somewhat unstoppable. I think they were hitting me with doping agents like darts, which is what was making my consciousness flitter in and out, but the best they could manage was only a few seconds, then id snap out of the daze and hit them back.

After taking out the guards, I walked to over to the VR systems and was able to create a kinetic bomb explosion by clenching my fist and focusing. It was like I was drawing in unseen energy that I would go off like a stick of TNT (is this an ISBE technique the Commander is familiar with?) I destroyed as many of these systems as I could find, maybe ten of them, maybe more then walked back outside. I wanted to get an indicator of where this place was, or who was in charge of it.

In front of me was the descending bridge where I’d come from the simulation, to my left was just a drop off into the sky, with a small port for the investors shuttles right on the edge, and to my right was a large dirt clearing the size of a small football oval which appeared to have some sort of scaffolding setup smack bang in the middle of it. Beyond the clearing were some more R&D buildings that were much bigger than the small product display room I’d just come from. This cluster of buildings was of a higher elevation to the display/ presentation room probably 10 to 20m higher, and was about 250m away. At this point I had become probably about 80 percent lucid, so I was piloting this body with a good understanding of my earth body that existed somewhere below the dream simulation that I’d come from. Once the guards were gone and I was out of the building, I no longer had to worry about my consciousness trying to go back to the simulation world.

I walked over the ridgline to the clearing and noticed the scaffolding appeared to be some sort of a rocket launch facility, but instead of the typical straight up design of conventional rockets, the scaffolding setup seemed to take the form of a T shape shuttle/ craft, as if the shuttle had wings protruding out each side for a few metres. What was odd was that instead of being located near the middle, the wings protruded from quire near the front end of the shuttle, behind what looked like a cockpit of heavily tinted glass.

At the end of the wings, were what I assumed were thrusters taking the form of tear drops. I specifically remember a tail section mounted close to the ground that was very typical of a tail found on a glider; it reminded me of the one found on a US military Predator drone given its seemingly “upside down” arrangement (if you took a predator drone and move the wings so they were just behind the tip of the shuttle and fattened the body so it resembled more of a rocket/ missile, then added jet turbines to the tip of each wing, this would be very close to what it looked like; same white colour). My impression was that unlike the investor shuttles, which were for local travel within the atmosphere of this world, this craft was specifically for higher altitude penetration.

I navigated so I was directly under the scaffolding holding up the right wing and looked up. Right there I saw what was unmistakably the NASA logo. I could see this clear as day; the blue circular background with the word NASA outlined in white, the little stripe of red; it was 100 percent the same logo and I could see and interpret it clear as day. I am certain I did not randomly generate this image. I noted that I had achieved my objective, and as I did a launch alarm sounded from the building that had been arranged obviously to monitor any launches.
Very soon after this everything went white and I woke up. I assume they took the opportunity to use the shuttle thrusters to melt me while they had a chance.

End Notes:

The simulation layer seemed to act as a buffer between the outer pocket universe and this physical reality. The way in which the AI was trying to create a scenario that would elicit an specific emotional response is typical of what the leader of the Unseen 5 told me, as well as what the Grand Elder told me during my last encounter with him in a similar consciousness doping facility.

SD has had a dream with a similar AI trying to evoke similar emotions towards me in which the AI tried to spin a similar story of helping her evolution when she resisted it. We have had some synchronised dreams over the last few weeks which suggest similar emotion evoking simulations running.

There was several circumstances prior to my going to sleep which may have aided in having this experience. The first was that it was right after contacting my handler and asking for possible nuclear attack locations (this handler presented itself to me in adream a week or so ago)

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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The Third Expedition by Ray Bradbury (with thoughts on the tunnel of light)

Imagine that you died. And there, as you are leaving your body, you are welcomed with long dead friends, and relatives. They welcome you, and it is a joyous time. They take you by the hand and lead you towards the bright tunnel of light.

Would you go with them?

This is a story that ponders that question.

…

Without a doubt one of the Bradbury stories that has made the biggest impression on me. It’s about strategy.

And horror.

The story is taken from Bradbury’s amazing The Martian Chronicles, a collection of short stories strung together to tell the story of what happens when human beings try to colonize Mars.

In this particular tale, an expedition from Earth to Mars encounters a town that seems eerily, yet comfortingly, familiar to them. It’s even populated by long-lost relatives and family.

But, of course, it doesn’t have a happy ending.

The Third Expedition by Ray Bradbury

The ship came down from space. It came from the stars and

the black velocities, and the shining movements, and the silent

gulfs of space. It was a new ship; it had fire in its body and

men in its metal cells, and it moved with a clean silence,

fiery and warm. In it were seventeen men, induding a captain.

The crowd at the Ohio field had shouted and waved their hands

up into the sunlight, and the rocket had bloomed out great

flowers of heat and color and run away into space on the

_third_ voyage to Mars!

Now it was decelerating with metal efficiency in the

upper Martian atmospheres. It was still a thing of beauty

and strength. It had moved in the midnight waters of space like

a pale sea leviathan; it had passed the ancient moon and thrown

itself onward into one nothingness following another. The men

within it had been battered, thrown about, sickened, made well

again, each in his turn. One man had died, but now the

remaining sixteen, with their eyes clear in their heads and

their faces pressed to the thick glass ports, watched Mars

swing up under them.

“Mars!” cried Navigator Lustig.

“Good old Mars!” said Samuel Hinkston, archaeologist.

“Well,” said Captain John Black.

The rocket landed on a lawn of green grass. Outside, upon

this lawn, stood an iron deer. Further up on the green stood

a tall brown Victorian house, quiet in the sunlight, all

covered with scrolls and rococo, its windows made of blue and

pink and yellow and green colored glass. Upon the porch were

hairy geraniums and an old swing which was hooked into the

porch ceiling and which now swung back and forth, back and

forth, in a little breeze. At the summit of the house was a

cupola with diamond leaded-glass windows and a dunce-cap roof!

Through the front window you could see a piece of music

titled “Beautiful Ohio” sitting on the music rest.

Around the rocket in four directions spread the little

town, green and motionless in the Martian spring. There were

white houses and red brick ones, and tall elm trees blowing in

the wind, and tall maples and horse chestnuts. And church

steeples with golden bells silent in them.

The rocket men looked out and saw this. Then they looked

at one another and then they looked out again. They held to

each other’s elbows, suddenly unable to breathe, it seemed,

Their faces grew pale.

“I’ll be damned,” whispered Lustig, rubbing his face with

his numb fingers. “I’ll be damned.”

“It just can’t be,” said Samuel Hinkston.

“Lord,” said Captain John Black.

There was a call from the chemist. “Sir, the atmosphere

is thin for breathing. But there’s enough oxygen. It’s safe.”

“Then we’ll go out,” said Lustig.

“Hold on,” said Captain John Black. “How do we know what

this is?”

“It’s a small town with thin but breathable air in it,

sir.”

“And it’s a small town the like of Earth towns,” said

Hinkston, the archaeologist “Incredible. It can’t be, but it

_is_.”

Captain John Black looked at him idly. “Do you think that

the civilizations of two planets can progress at the same rate

and evolve in the same way, Hinkston?”

“I wouldn’t have thought so, sir.”

Captain Black stood by the port. “Look out there.

The geraniums. A specialized plant. That specific variety has

only been known on Earth for fifty years. Think of the

thousands of years it takes to evolve plants. Then tell me if

it is logical that the Martians should have: one, leaded-glass

windows; two, cupolas; three, porch swings; four, an instrument

that looks like a piano and probably is a piano; and five, if

you look closely through this telescopic lens here, is it

logical that a Martian composer would have published a piece

of music titled, strangely enough, ‘Beautiful Ohio’? All of

which means that we have an Ohio River on Mars!”

“Captain Williams, of course!” cried Hinkston,

“What?”

“Captain Williams and his crew of three men! Or Nathaniel

York and his partner. That would explain it!”

“That would explain absolutely nothing. As far as we’ve

been able to figure, the York expedition exploded the day

it reached Mars, killing York and his partner. As for Williams

and his three men, their ship exploded the second day after

their arrival. At least the pulsations from their radios ceased

at that time, so we figure that if the men were alive after

that they’d have contacted us. And anyway, the York expedition

was only a year ago, while Captain Williams and his men landed

here some time during last August. Theorizing that they are

still alive, could they, even with the help of a brilliant

Martian race, have built such a town as this and _aged_ it in

so short a time? Look at that town out there; why, it’s been

standing here for the last seventy years. Look at the wood on

the porch newel; look at the trees, a century old, all of them!

No, this isn’t York’s work or Williams’. It’s something else.

I don’t like it. And I’m not leaving the ship until I know what

it is.”

“For that matter,” said Lustig, nodding, “Williams and his

men, as well as York, landed on the _opposite_ side of Mars.

We were very careful to land on _this_ side.”

“An excellent point. Just in case a hostile local tribe

of Martians killed off York and Williams, we have instructions

to land in a further region, to forestall a recurrence of such

a disaster. So here we are, as far as we know, in a land

that Williams and York never saw.”

“Damn it,” said Hinkston, “I want to get out into this

town, sir, with your permission. It may be there are similar

thought patterns, civilization graphs on every planet in our

sun system. We may be on the threshold of the greatest

psychological and metaphysical discovery of our age!”

“I’m willing to wait a moment,” said Captain John Black.

“It may be, sir, that we’re looking upon a phenomenon

that, for the first time, would absolutely prove the existence

of God, sir.”

“There are many people who are of good faith without such

proof, Mr. Hinkston.”

“I’m one myself, sir. But certainly a town like this could

not occur without divine intervention. The _detail_. It fills

me with such feelings that I don’t know whether to laugh or

cry.”

“Do neither, then, until we know what we’re up against.”

“Up against?” Lustig broke in. “Against nothing, Captain.

It’s a good, quiet green town, a lot like the old-fashioned one

I was born in. I like the looks of it.”

“When were you born, Lustig?”

“Nineteen-fifty, sir.”

“And you, Hinkston?”

“Nineteen fifty-five, sir. Grinnell, Iowa. And this looks

like home to me.”

“Hinkston, Lustig, I could be either of your fathers. I’m

just eighty years old. Born in 1920 in Illinois, and through

the grace of God and a science that, in the last fifty years,

knows how to make _some_ old men young again, here I am on

Mars, not any more tired than the rest of you, but infinitely

more suspicious. This town out here looks very peaceful and

cool, and so much like Green Bluff, Illinois, that it frightens

me. It’s too _much_ like Green Bluff.” He turned to the

radioman. “Radio Earth. Tell them we’ve landed. That’s all.

Tell them we’ll radio a full report tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

Captain Black looked out the rocket port with his face

that should have been the face of a man eighty but seemed like

the face of a man in his fortieth year. “Tell you what we’ll

do, Lustig; you and I and Hinkston’ll look the town over. The

other men’ll stay aboard. If anything happens they can get the

hell out. A loss of three men’s better than a whole ship.

If something bad happens, our crew can warn the next rocket.

That’s Captain Wilder’s rocket, I think, due to be ready to

take off next Christmas. if there’s something hostile about

Mars we certainly want the next rocket to be well armed.”

“So are we. We’ve got a regular arsenal with us.”

“Tell the men to stand by the guns then. Come on,

Lustig, Hinkston.”

The three men walked together down through the levels of

the ship.

It was a beautiful spring day. A robin sat on a blossoming

apple tree and sang continuously. Showers of petal snow sifted

down when the wind touched the green branches, and the blossom

scent drifted upon the air. Somewhere in the town someone

was playing the piano and the music came and went, came and

went, softly, drowsily. The song was “Beautiful Dreamer.”

Somewhere else a phonograph, scratchy and faded, was hissing

out a record of “Roamin’ in the Gloamin’,” sung by Harry

Lauder.

The three men stood outside the ship. They sucked and

gasped at the thin, thin air and moved slowly so as not to

tire themselves.

Now the phonograph record being played was:

“_Oh, give me a June night

The moonlight and you_ . . .”

Lustig began to tremble. Samuel Hinkston did likewise.

The sky was serene and quiet, and somewhere a stream of

water ran through the cool caverns and tree shadings of a

ravine. Somewhere a horse and wagon trotted and rolled by,

bumping.

“Sir,” said Samuel Hinkston, “it must be, it _has_ to be,

that rocket travel to Mars began in the years before the first

World War!”

“No.”

“How else can you explain these houses, the iron deer,

the pianos, the music?” Hinkston took the captain’s elbow

persuasively and looked into the captain’s face. “Say that

there were people in the year 1905 who hated war and got

together with some scientists in secret and built a rocket and

came out here to Mars–”

“No, no, Hinkston.”

“Why not? The world was a different world in 1905; they

could have kept it a secret much more easily.”

“But a complex thing like a rocket, no, you couldn’t keep

it secret.”

“And they came up here to live, and naturally the houses

they built were similar to Earth houses because they brought

the culture with them.”

“And they’ve lived here all these years?” said the

captain.

“In peace and quiet, yes. Maybe they made a few trips,

enough to bring enough people here for one small town, and

then stopped for fear of being discovered. That’s why this town

seems so old-fashioned. I don’t see a thing, myself, older than

the year 1927, do you? Or maybe, sir, rocket travel is older

than we think. Perhaps it started in some part of the world

centuries ago and was kept secret by the small number of men

who came to Mars with only occasional visits to Earth over

the centuries.”

“You make it sound almost reasonable.”

“It has to be. We’ve the proof here before us; all we have

to do is find some people and verify it.”

Their boots were deadened of all sound in the thick green

grass. It smelled from a fresh mowing. In spite of himself,

Captain John Black felt a great peace come over him. It had

been thirty years since he had been in a small town, and the

buzzing of spring bees on the air lulled and quieted him, and

the fresh look of things was a balm to the soul.

They set foot upon the porch. Hollow echoes sounded from

under the boards as they walked to the screen door. Inside they

could see a bead curtain hung across the hall entry, and a

crystal chandelier and a Maxfield Parrish painting framed on

one wall over a comfortable Morris chair. The house smelled

old, and of the attic, and infinitely comfortable. You could

hear the tinkle of ice in a lemonade pitcher. In a distant

kitchen, because of the heat of the day, someone was preparing

a cold lunch. Someone was humming under her breath, high and

sweet.

Captain John Black rang the bell.

Footsteps, dainty and thin, came along the hall, and

a kind-faced lady of some forty years, dressed in a sort of

dress you might expect in the year 1909, peered out at them.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Beg your pardon,” said Captain Black uncertainly. “But

we’re looking for–that is, could you help us–” He stopped.

She looked out at him with dark, wondering eyes.

“If you’re selling something–” she began.

“No, wait!” he cried. “What town is this?”

She looked him up and down. “What do you mean, what town

is it? How could you be in a town and not know the name?”

The captain looked as if he wanted to go sit under a shady

apple tree. “We’re strangers here. We want to know how this

town got here and how you got here.”

“Are you census takers?”

“No.”

“Everyone knows,” she said, “this town was built in 1868.

Is this a game?”

“No, not a game!” cried the captain. “We’re from Earth.”

“Out of the _ground_, do you mean?” she wondered.

“No, we came from the third planet, Earth, in a ship. And

we’ve landed here on the fourth planet, Mars–”

“This,” explained the woman, as if she were addressing

a child, “is Green Bluff, Illinois, on the continent of

America, surrounded by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, on a

place called the world, or, sometimes, the Earth. Go away

now. Goodby.”

She trotted down the hall, running her fingers through

the beaded curtains.

The three men looked at one another.

“Let’s knock the screen door in,” said Lustig.

“We can’t do that. This is private property. Good God!”

They went to sit down on the porch step.

“Did it ever strike you, Hinkston, that perhaps we

got ourselves somehow, in some way, off track, and by accident

came back and landed on Earth?”

“How could we have done that?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. Oh God, let me think.”

Hinkston said, “But we checked every mile of the way.

Our chronometers said so many miles. We went past the Moon and

out into space, and here we are. I’m _positive_ we’re on Mars.”

Lustig said, “But suppose, by accident, in space, in time,

we got lost in the dimensions and landed on an Earth that is

thirty or forty years ago.”

“Oh, go away, Lustig!”

Lustig went to the door, rang the bell, and called into

the cool dim rooms: “What year is this?”

“Nineteen twenty-six, of course,” said the lady, sitting

in a rocking chair, taking a sip of her lemonade.

“Did you hear that?” Lustig turned wildly to the others.

“Nineteen twenty-six! We _have_ gone back in time! This _is_

Earth!”

Lustig sat down, and the three men let the wonder and

terror of the thought afflict them. Their hands stirred

fitfully on their knees. The captain said, “I didn’t ask for

a thing like this. It scares the hell out of me. How can a

thing like this happen? I wish we’d brought Einstein with us.”

“Will anyone in this town believe us?” said Hinkston. “Are

we playing with something dangerous? Time, I mean. Shouldn’t

we just take off and go home?”

“No. Not until we try another house.”

They walked three houses down to a little white cottage

under an oak tree. “I like to be as logical as I can be,” said

the captain. “And I don’t believe we’ve put our finger on it

yet. Suppose, Hinkston, as you originally suggested, that

rocket travel occurred years ago? And when the Earth people

lived here a number of years they began to get homesick for

Earth. First a mild neurosis about it, then a full-fledged

psychosis. Then threatened insanity. What would you do as

a psychiatrist if faced with such a problem?”

Hinkston thought “Well, I think I’d rearrange the

civilization on Mars so it resembled Earth more and more each

day. If there was any way of reproducing every plant, every

road, and every lake, and even an ocean, I’d do so. Then by

some vast crowd hypnosis I’d convince everyone in a town this

size that this really _was_ Earth, not Mars at all.”

“Good enough, Hinkston. I think we’re on the right track

now. That woman in that house back there just _thinks_ she’s

living on Earth. It protects her sanity. She and all the others

in this town are the patients of the greatest experiment

in migration and hypnosis you will ever lay eyes on in your

life.”

“That’s _it_, sir!” cried Lustig.

“Right!” said Hinkston.

“Well.” The captain sighed. “Now we’ve got somewhere. I

feel better. It’s all a bit more logical. That talk about time

and going back and forth and traveling through time turns

my stomach upside down. But _this_ way–” The captain smiled.

“Well, well, it looks as if we’ll be fairly popular here.”

“Or will we?” said Lustig. “After all, like the Pilgrims,

these people came here to escape Earth. Maybe they won’t be

too happy to see us. Maybe they’ll try to drive us out or kill

us.”

“We have superior weapons. This next house now. Up we go.”

But they had hardly crossed the lawn when Lustig stopped

and looked off across the town, down the quiet, dreaming

afternoon street. “Sir,” he said.

“What is it, Lustig?”

“Oh, sir, _sir_, what I _see_–” said Lustig, and he began

to cry. His fingers came up, twisting and shaking, and his face

was all wonder and joy and incredulity. He sounded as if at

any moment he might go quite insane with happiness. He looked

down the street and began to run, stumbling awkwardly, falling,

picking himself up, and running on. “Look, look!”

“Don’t let him get away!” The captain broke into a run.

Now Lustig was running swiftly, shouting. He turned into

a yard halfway down the shady street and leaped up upon the

porch of a large green house with an iron rooster on the roof.

He was beating at the door, hollering and crying, when

Hinkston and the captain ran up behind him. They were all

gasping and wheezing, exhausted from their run in the thin

air. “Grandma! Grandpa!” cried Lustig.

Two old people stood in the doorway.

“David!” their voices piped, and they rushed out to

embrace and pat him on the back and move around him. “David,

oh, David, it’s been so many years! How you’ve grown, boy; how

big you are, boy. Oh, David boy, how are you?”

“Grandma, Grandpa!” sobbed David Lustig. “You look fine,

fine!” He held them, turned them, kissed them, hugged them,

cried on them, held them out again, blinking at the little

old people. The sun was in the sky, the wind blew, the grass

was green, the screen door stood wide.

“Come in, boy, come in. There’s iced tea for you, fresh,

lots of it!”

“I’ve got friends here.” Lustig turned and waved at the

captain and Hinkston frantically, laughing. “Captain, come on

up.”

“Howdy,” said the old people. “Come in. Any friends of

David’s are our friends too. Don’t stand there!”

In the living room of the old house it was cool, and

a grandfather clock ticked high and long and bronzed in one

corner. There were soft pillows on large couches and walls

filled with books and a rug cut in a thick rose pattern, and

iced tea in the hand, sweating, and cool on the thirsty tongue.

“Here’s to our health.” Grandma tipped her glass to

her porcelain teeth.

“How long you been here, Grandma?” said Lustig.

“Ever since we died,” she said tartly.

“Ever since you what?” Captain John Black set down his

glass.

“Oh yes.” Lustig nodded. “They’ve been dead thirty years.”

“And you sit there calmly!” shouted the captain.

“Tush.” The old woman winked glitteringly. “Who are you

to question what happens? Here we are. What’s life, anyway? Who

does what for why and where? All we know is here we are, alive

again, and no questions asked. A second chance.” She toddled

over and held out her thin wrist. “Feel.” The captain felt.

“Solid, ain’t it?” she asked. He nodded. “Well, then,” she

said triumphantly, “why go around questioning?”

“Well,” said the captain, “it’s simply that we never

thought we’d find a thing like this on Mars.”

“And now you’ve found it. I dare say there’s lots on every

planet that’ll show you God’s infinite ways.”

“Is this Heaven?” asked Hinkston.

“Nonsense, no. It’s a world and we get a second chance.

Nobody told us why. But then nobody told us why we were on

Earth, either. That other Earth, I mean. The one you came from.

How do we know there wasn’t _another_ before _that_ one?”

“A good question,” said the captain.

Lustig kept smiling at his grandparents. “Gosh, it’s good

to see you. Gosh, it’s good.”

The captain stood up and slapped his hand on his leg in

a casual fashion. “We’ve got to be going. Thank you for the

drinks.”

“You’ll be back, of course,” said the old people. “For

supper tonight?”

“We’ll try to make it, thanks. There’s so much to be done.

My men are waiting for me back at the rocket and–”

He stopped. He looked toward the door, startled.

Far away in the sunlight there was a sound of voices,

a shouting and a great hello.

“What’s that?” asked Hinkston,

“We’ll soon find out.” And Captain John Black was out the

front door abruptly, running across the green lawn into the

street of the Martian town.

He stood looking at the rocket. The ports were open and

his crew was streaming out, waving their hands. A crowd of

people had gathered, and in and through and among these people

the members of the crew were hurrying, talking, laughing,

shaking hands. People did little dances. People swarmed. The

rocket lay empty and abandoned.

A brass band exploded in the sunlight, flinging off a gay

tune from upraised tubas and trumpets. There was a bang of

drums and a shrill of fifes. Little girls with golden hair

jumped up and down. Little boys shouted, “Hooray!” Fat men

passed around ten-cent cigars. The town mayor made a speech.

Then each member of the crew, with a mother on one arm, a

father or sister on the other, was spirited off down the street

into little cottages or big mansions.

“Stop!” cried Captain Black.

The doors slammed shut.

The heat rose in the clear spring sky, and all was silent.

The brass band banged off around a corner, leaving the rocket

to shine and dazzle alone in the sunlight

“Abandoned!” said the captain. “They abandoned the ship,

they did! I’ll have their skins, by God! They had orders!”

“Sir,” said Lustig, “don’t be too hard on them. Those were

all old relatives and friends.”

“That’s no exuse!”

“Think how they felt, Captain, seeing familiar faces

outside the ship!”

“They had their orders, damn it!”

“But how would you have felt, Captain?”

“I would have obeyed orders–” The captain’s mouth

remained open.

Striding along the sidewalk under the Martian sun, tall,

smiling, eyes amazingly clear and blue, came a young man of

some twenty-six years. “John!” the man called out, and broke

into a trot.

“What?” Captain John Black swayed.

“John, you old son of a bitch!”

The man ran up and gripped his hand and slapped him on

the back.

“It’s you,” said Captain Black.

“Of course, who’d you _think_ it was?”

“Edward!” The captain appealed now to Lustig and Hinkston,

holding the stranger’s hand. “This is my brother Edward. Ed,

meet my men, Lustig, Hinkston! My brother!”

They tugged at each other’s hands and arms and then

finally embraced.

“Ed!”

“John, you bum, you!”

“You’re looking fine, Ed, but, Ed, what _is_ this? You

haven’t changed over the years. You died, I remember, when you

were twenty-six and I was nineteen. Good God, so many years

ago, and here you are and, Lord, what goes on?”

“Mom’s waiting,” said Edward Black, grinning.

“Mom?”

“And Dad too.”

“Dad?” The captain almost fell as if he had been hit by

a mighty weapon. He walked stiffly and without co.ordination.

“Mom and Dad alive? Where?”

“At the old house on Oak Knoll Avenue.”

“The old house.” The captain stared in delighted amaze.

“Did you hear that, Lustig, Hinkston?”

Hinkston was gone. He had seen his own house down the

street and was running for it. Lustig was laughing. “You

see, Captain, what happened to everyone on the rocket? They

couldn’t help themselves.”

“Yes. Yes.” The captain shut his eyes. “When I open my

eyes you’ll be gone.” He blinked. “You’re still there. God, Ed,

but you look _fine!_”

“Come on, lunch’s waiting. I told Mom.”

Lustig said, “Sir, I’ll be with my grandfolks if you need

me.”

“What? Oh, fine, Lustig. Later, then.”

Edward seized his arm and marched him. “There’s the

house. Remember it?”

“Hell! Bet I can beat you to the front porch!”

They ran. The trees roared over Captain Black’s head; the

earth roared under his feet. He saw the golden figure of Edward

Black pull ahead of him in the amazing dream of reality. He saw

the house rush forward, the screen door swing wide. “Beat you!”

cried Edward. “I’m an old man,” panted the captain, “and you’re

still young. But then, you _always_ beat me, I remember!”

In the doorway, Mom, pink, plump, and bright. Behind

her, pepper-gray, Dad, his pipe in his hand.

“Mom, Dad!”

He ran up the steps like a child to meet them.

It was a fine long afternoon. They finished a late lunch

and they sat in the parlor and he told them all about his

rocket and they nodded and smiled upon him and Mother was just

the same and Dad bit the end off a cigar and lighted

it thoughtfully in his old fashion. There was a big turkey

dinner at night and time flowing on. When the drumsticks were

sucked clean and lay brittle upon the plates, the captain

leaned back and exhaled his deep satisfaction, Night was in all

the trees and coloring the sky, and the lamps were halos of

pink light in the gentle house. From all the other houses down

the street came sounds of music, pianos playing, doors slammng.

Mom put a record on the victrola, and she and Captain John

Black had a dance. She was wearing the same perfume he

remembered from the summer when she and Dad had been killed in

the train accident. She was very real in his arms as they

danced lightly to the music. “It’s not every day,” she said,

“you get a second chance to live.”

“I’ll wake in the morning,” said the captain. “And I’ll be

in my rocket, in space, and all this will be gone.”

“No, don’t think that,” she cried softly. “Don’t question.

God’s good to us. Let’s be happy.”

“Sorry, Mom.”

The record ended in a circular hissing.

“You’re tired, Son.” Dad pointed with his pipe. “Your

old bedroom’s waiting for you, brass bed and all.”

“But I should report my men in.”

“Why?”

“Why? Well, I don’t know. No reason, I guess. No, none at

all. They’re all eating or in bed. A good night’s sleep won’t

hurt them.”

“Good night, Son.” Mom kissed his cheek. “It’s good to

have you home.”

“It’s good to _be_ home.”

He left the land of cigar smoke and perfume and books

and gentle light and ascended the stairs, talking, talking

with Edward. Edward pushed a door open, and there was the

yellow brass bed and the old semaphore banners from college and

a very musty raccoon coat which he stroked with muted

affection. “It’s too much,” said the captain. “I’m numb and

I’m tired. Too much has happened today. I feel as if I’d been

out in a pounding rain for forty-eight hours without an

umbrella or a coat. I’m soaked to the skin with emotion.”

Edward slapped wide the snowy linens and flounced the

pillows. He slid the window up and let the night-blooming

jasmine float in. There was moonlight and the sound of distant

dancing and whispering.

“So this is Mars,” said the captain, undressing.

“This is it.” Edward undressed in idle, leisurely moves,

drawing his shirt off over his head, revealing golden shoulders

and the good muscular neck.

The lights were out; they were in bed, side by side, as in

the days how many decades ago? The captain lolled and was

flourished by the scent of jasmine pushing the lace curtains

out upon the dark air of the room. Among the trees, upon a

lawn, someone had cranked up a portable phonograph and now it

was playing softly, “Always.”

The thought of Marilyn came to his mind.

“Is Marilyn here?”

His brother, lying straight out in the moonlight from

the window, waited and then said, “Yes. She’s out of town.

But she’ll be here in the morning.”

The captain shut his eyes. “I want to see Marilyn very

much.”

The room was square and quiet except for their breathing.

“Good night, Ed.”

A pause. “Good night, John.”

He lay peacefully, letting his thoughts float. For the

first time the stress of the day was moved aside; he could

think logically now, It had all been emotion. The bands

playing, the familiar faces. But now . . .

How? he wondered. How was all this made? And why? For

what purpose? Out of the goodness of some divine intervention?

Was God, then, really that thoughtful of his children? How and

why and what for?

He considered the various theories advanced in the first

heat of the afternoon by Hinkston and Lustig. He let all kinds

of new theories drop in lazy pebbles down through his mind,

turning, throwing out dull flashes of light. Mom. Dad. Edward.

Mars. Earth. Mars. Martians.

Who had lived here a thousand years ago on Mars? Martians?

Or had this always been the way it was today?

Martians. He repeated the word idly, inwardly.

He laughed out loud almost. He had the most ridiculous

theory quite suddenly. It gave him a kind of chill. It was

really nothing to consider, of course. Highly improbable.

Silly. Forget it. Ridiculous.

But, he thought, just _suppose_ . . . Just suppose, now,

that there were Martians living on Mars and they saw our ship

coming and saw us inside our ship and hated us, Suppose, now,

just for the hell of it, that they wanted to destroy us,

as invaders, as unwanted ones, and they wanted to do it in a

very clever way, so that we would be taken off guard. Well,

what would the best weapon be that a Martian could use against

Earth Men with atomic weapons?

The answer was interesting. Telepathy, hypnosis, memory,

and imagination.

Suppose all of these houses aren’t real at all, this bed

not real, but only figments of my own imagination, given

substance by telepathy and hypnosis through the Martians,

thought Captain John Black. Suppose these houses are really

some _other_ shape, a Martian shape, but, by playing on my

desires and wants, these Martians have made this seem like my

old home town, my old house, to lull me out of my suspicions.

What better way to fool a man, using his own mother and father

as bait?

And this town, so old, from the year 1926, long before

_any_ of my men were born. From a year when I was six years old

and there _were_ records of Harry Lauder, and Maxfield Parrish

paintings _still_ hanging, and bead curtains, and “Beautiful

Ohio,” and turn-of-the-century architecture. What if the

Martians took the memories of a town _exclusively_ from _my_

mind? They say childhood memories are the clearest. And after

they built the town from my mind, they populated it with

the most-loved people from all the minds of the people on

the rocket!

And suppose those two people in the next room, asleep, are

not my mother and father at all, But two Martians, incredibly

brilliant, with the ability to keep me under this dreaming

hypnosis all of the time.

And that brass band today? What a startlingly wonderful

plan it would be. First, fool Lustig, then Hinkston, then

gather a crowd; and all the men in the rocket, seeing mothers,

aunts, uncles, sweethearts, dead ten, twenty wears ago,

naturally, disregarding orders, rush out and abandon ship. What

more natural? What more unsuspecting? What more simple? A

man doesn’t ask too many questions when his mother is soddenly

brought back to life; he’s much too happy. And here we all

are tonight, in various houses, in various beds, with no

weapons to protect us, and the rocket lies in the moonlight,

empty. And wouldn’t it be horrible and terrifying to discover

that all of this was part of some great clever plan by the

Martians to divide and conquer us, and kill us? Sometime during

the night, perhaps, my brother here on this bed will change

form, melt, shift, and become another thing, a terrible thing,

a Martian. It would be very simple for him just to turn over in

bed and put a knife into my heart. And in all those other

houses down the street, a dozen other brothers or fathers

suddenly melting away and taking knives and doing things to

the unsuspecting, sleeping men of Earth. . . .

His hands were shaking under the covers. His body was

cold. Suddenly it was not a theory. Suddenly he was very

afraid.

He lifted himself in bed and listened. The night was very

quiet The music had stopped. The wind had died. His brother

lay sleeping beside him.

Carefully he lifted the covers, rolled them back. He

slipped from bed and was walking softly across the room when

his brother’s voice said, “Where are you going?”

“What?”

His brother’s voice was quite cold. “I said, where do you

think you’re going?”

“For a drink of water.”

“But you’re not thirsty.”

“Yes, yes, I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

Captain John Black broke and ran across the room. He

screamed. He screamed twice.

He never reached the door.

In the morning the brass band played a mournful dirge.

From every house in the street came little solemn processions

bearing long boxes, and along the sun-filled street, weeping,

came the grandmas and mothers and sisters and brothers and

uncles and fathers, walking to the churchyard, where there were

new holes freshly dug and new tombstones installed. Sixteen

holes in all, and sixteen tombstones.

The mayor made a little sad speech, his face sometimes

looking like the mayor, sometimes looking like something else.

Mother and Father Black were there, with Brother Edward,

and they cried, their faces melting now from a familiar face

into something else.

Grandpa and Grandma Lustig were there, weeping, their

faces shifting like wax, shimmering as all things shimmer on a

hot day.

The coffins were lowered. Someone murmured about “the

unexpected and sudden deaths of sixteen fine men during the

night–”

Earth pounded down on the coffin lids.

The brass band, playing “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,”

marched and slammed back into town, and everyone took the day

off.

The End

Conclusion

And this is only the beginning.

Who knows what greatness, and strange mysteries lie in the future ahead of you?

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Ray Bradbury Index here…

Ray Bradbury

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[daegonmagus] – Part 22 – Operation Rainbird – A Contingency Plan for a Transcontinental Clandestine Communications Network in Case of Major SHTF & Grid Down

The following is the 22nd part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 22 – Operation Rainbird – A Contingency Plan for a Transcontinental Clandestine Communications Network in Case of Major SHTF & Grid Down

This is an idea I have had bouncing around for awhile now. Whilst I would have preferred to talk to other operators in the prepping/ survivalist communities beforehand to flatten out some of the problems, my concern with the Ukraine situation is that we are edging ever the more closer to a scenario where more conventional communications avenues may become knocked out.

Added to this is the rumours that America will be experiencing a blackout of this very nature in the next 36 hours (I know, usually these rumours turn out to be BS), so I figured I’d bite the bullet and write down the necessary protocols for dispersal to anyone who wants them. That way the kinks can be worked out a later date and broadcast of the Rainbird Network.

What is Rainbird?

Operation Rainbird is a contingency plan to provide a functional clandestine communications network in the event of a downed grid system that knocks out more conventional communication infrastructure, such as mobile phones and internet in more than one country. As the events unfolding in Ukraine steer us closer and closer toward global nuclear warfare, we cannot be sure that these conventional communications systems will continue to remain in place, particularly when taking out the internet for an entire nation is as easy as cutting a few undersea cables.

Even without nuclear warfare, such communications networks may still become targets for attack through malicious means such as cyberwarfare or EMP attacks (which can also occur through the detonation of nuclear weapons) rendering them useless for prolonged periods of time, particularly if supply chain issues make immediate repair of this infrastructure impossible.

The question we need to ask ourselves is “are we really ready to be cut off from the world in this manner, and have our network reduced to that of our immediate localities?” In the event of any war, whether nuclear or not, it makes sense to be able to stay as up to date as possible especially in regards to geopolitical situations unfolding in the rest of the world. Operation Rainbird is to provide coordination of this radio infrastructure so that at least key information can be relayed over as wide an area of the earth as possible were this downed grid scenario to take place.

The ultimate goal of Operation Rainbird is to have a member committed to its implementation in as many countries and states/provinces as possible who is not shy about utilising any foreign contacts (particularly those within the survival and prepping communities, as they will be more likely to appreciate the value of such a network) to disperse the protocols as far as possible.

While the main goal of Operation Rainbird is to provide a continuous bridge of international communication between its members, its concept is simple and requires no radio operation skill of those responsible for its implementation, as well as no commitment to purchase any expensive equipment; members will be given a simple set of instructions pertaining to calling frequency and scheduled operating times and modes they are expected to write down which can then be passed on to a more proficient radio operator when the opportunity presents itself.

Given that amateur radio is a hobby enjoyed by people all over the world, there is potential infrastructure on every continent, in many neighbourhood’s that could theoretically provide such a communications bridge if only its use could somehow be coordinated. On the other hand, if you are radio operator, often times trying to make contact with someone else even from a local area can be hit and miss, if you don’t know when they will likely be online.

This is where the members of operation Rainbird come into play; Operation Rainbird member’s tasks will be to convince these radio operators to operate their radios according to the Rainbird schedule to pass along any important information about local events etc that may have implications for the broad range of listeners.

These radio operators would then be in a better position to pass the message along a chain of other Rainbird operators, knowing that there will be great deal of them listening in different parts of the world at the specific times outlined in the schedule. The name Rainbird comes from the idea that Rainbirds “sing to their friends when it becomes too dark to see, so they know what the other is doing”.

All that would be required of non operator members of Operation Rainbird will be to keep an eye out for potential amateur radio equipment in their area, which is usually identifiable by the large antenna towers in an operator’s back yard. If the tower is big enough to be seen over several blocks, it will likely be functional for the frequencies Rainbird will use.

It is recommended Rainbird members briefly study some images of such setups whilst they still have access to the internet to get a general idea of what to look for, as well as study potential radio clubs in their area in case no other local operators can be found. It could be that they have driven past an amateur radio operator’s house a million times and never even realised it. For those who wish to get more in depth, I recommend purchasing the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) handbook and keeping it in a safe place, as it will provide a crash course lesson in radio theory from beginning concepts in electronics all the way up to advanced radio theory.

Each member should be aware that as Rainbird utilises open communication channels, there is no way to safeguard any of the information coming through. It should be regarded as an unsecure channel only to be initiated as a last resort for the purpose of urgent message passing to other nations/ states/provinces, as use of these frequencies is generally banned from all except those who have the appropriate licenses in place, and can be met with heavy fines. In other words, Rainbird members vow not to implement Operation Rainbird unless they are certain their conventional communications infrastructure will be down for a prolonged period as this may actually prove to be detrimental to Rainbird’s cause. There is, however, no punishment simply for listening, regardless of whether or not you have a license.

An example of a real world situation where radio helped in mitigate the confusion surrounding a disaster involving a whole community of people was during the 2019 bushfires of NSW, Australia. The fires, which were estimated to have burned 5.3 million hectares, wreaked havoc upon the NSW forests and covered much of the coast all the way to the State of Victoria.

As the Fires pushed their way south, residents near the town of Mallacoota fled to the beaches to escape where they became trapped for a period of several weeks.

With communications and power infrastructure down, those 1000 or so trapped in and around Mallacoota were no longer able to get information about their situation out to friends and family, and for five days they had no access to fuel or food unless they were smart enough to take out cash before hand.

Several satellite phones had to be airdropped into the area with instructions for anyone who found them to call a specific headquarters. Although amateur radio came into play during these bushfires, had a system like Rainbird been in place, the coordination of information from people within the disaster zone could have mitigated even more confusion to those viewing events from the outside. While a in a natural disaster resources such as satellite phones may be available, in a war time scenario this may not prove possible for various reasons, such as the area being too hot for air drops, or satellites that provide the back bone for such systems being taken out.

In addition to this, many emergency response groups would only be suited for catering to their local community. In such scenarios the affected victims would be left fending for themselves, unless they had a way to coordinate to their own communications effort.

The general protocols for Rainbird, which are hereto suggested to be written down and safe guarded by the reader are thus:

The determined frequency of Operation Rainbird will be on the HF band of 7Mhz/40 metres. This band has been chosen for its ability to provide intercontinental communications, or at the very least interstate communications, at the same time utilising an antenna length that is practical in case of its inclusion as a piece of wire in portable emergency communication kits.

More specifically, 7.2Mhz will be used as the optimal frequency as it sits roughly in the middle of the common amateur radio range of 7.000Mhz to 7.300MHz, and lies outside of the morse code portion. In the case of pile up (too many operators on the same frequency) is recommended to vary this frequency up or down the spectrum by 10Mhz increments.

The operation mode of Rainbird is to be Single Side Band (SSB) AM as it allows for a much lower power consumption vs other methods, to suit those operators with minimal powering resources for their radios.

The operational schedule is to coincide with specific phases of the moon. As the moon is a natural constant that can be easily seen by anyone no matter of their location on earth, it can be used as a medium of synchronisation regardless of if one is in possession of a watch or calendar, which may become displaced in a real crisis situation.

Furthermore, a moon’s phase can be broken down into easily identifiable portions that are roughly one week apart, that will allow further opportunity to make a communication if the first attempt is missed. Therefore, where power resources for communication is limited, the day and night of a full moon should be made first priority for contact, followed by the new moon, and then by the half moon’s between each.

This will give first a monthly, then fortnightly, then weekly opportunity for contact through operators who are synched to the same moon cycle. Where power is not a crucial factor for determination of how often an operator may be online, it is suggested to also include the day and nights immediately before and after these phases of the moon in case other Rainbird operators have slightly miscalculated them (ie thought it was a full moon when the actual full moon was a day later).

DOMAIN47 is to be used as the common callsign to put a call out for all potential Rainbird Operators that might be listening but not in a position to communicate back. A standard message guiding civilians to a safer location would include something along the lines of “Callout to all Rainbird Operators utilising DOMAIN47 callsign, this is {operator’s callsign}.

Message to be passed along to {targeted area/ people of communication}; location {town/suburb of state/ province and country} has been cut off from all supply and exit due to {reason}. Multiple civilians now fleeing area, as situation becomes dire. Please advise on closest known safe haven, to escape effects of {disaster}”.

Or perhaps medical expertise is required: “Callout to all Rainbird operators identifying under callsign DOMAIN47. This is {operator callsign}. Immediate assistance required for a casualty due to {disaster} which caused {injury}. Access to doctor is not currently possible. Requesting assistance from any medical experts in the vicinity of {location} or at the very least an on air guide to conduct {medical procedure}. ”

Whilst Rainbird is aimed at providing an intercontinental communications bridge, it is suggested Rainbird members have their own handheld CB/VHF/UHF radios for local communications. This way they would be able to rapidly share any information coming through their nominated operator with those in their immediate vicinity with minimal lag time.

While there is no requirement for those wish to come online as Rainbird participants during a crisis situation, by emailing me your intention to join at daegonmagus@protonmail.com of your general location, I will be able to compile a map of potential reach of the network and hopefully refine its protocols further before a major SHTF event.

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[daegonmagus] – Part 21 – How SD and I both dreamt Joe Biden is planning on assassinating someone close to the Ukrainian Conundrum

The following is the 21st part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

This particular read is truly enjoyable. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

-MM

Part 21 – How SD and I both dreamt Joe Biden is planning on assassinating someone close to the Ukrainian Conundrum

SD and I have been having our usual synch dreams again. In the past 2 weeks we have had 2 that both seem to have an alarming number of parallel elements. I won’t go into the details of the first one as they seem somewhat irrelevant at this point in time, but it seems we are a having the same dream in which certain elements are being distorted to create confusion. SD suggested that perhaps something is tampering with our memories, and I have to agree that it certainly seems this way. This is an ongoing (recurring) dream I will get to later when I have more on it.

As for the second dream; I originally posted this up on the dream share forum. At the same time I sent MM an email with a copy and pasted version of the synched dream, to which he asked me to write it up for publication, as he considered it extremely important.….so here we are.

Combined dream that SD and I both had the night before yesterday:

I was minding my own business, I guess on some kind of holiday in this really strange town I have been to before. Nothing special just buildings and dirt….not really any where I would choose to go if I was given a coherrent choice in the matter. I take note here that I seem to have had dreams of an old school friend I no longer see. Someone appears. I can’t remember who or what, but I don’t think it is completely human. It tells me I am needed on a special assignment – The President of the USA – the one and the same Joe Biden is having a meeting and I am to go to it at once. It is important I be there, but for what reason it is not yet given. I finish my drinks or whatever it is I am doing, and agree to it. I get up and stand near my handler, and the next thing I know I am being whisked away Harry Potter port key style to a completely different place (I suppose the equivalent of a different country in the dream world). I have a vivid memory of it being like swirling, spiralling sensation where my surroundings just turn into a blurr of light, before I go through an all too familiar void of burgundy/ brownish/ goldish colour.

I am now standing in front of what appears to be a hotel room plonked on a block of land that seems eerily similar to a house i rented a few years ago. It is by no means a flash hotel by any stretch, but not shabby either; just a bland plain inconspicuous thing where you would go to dodgy shit under the radar of scrutinization. I knock on the door, my handler standing next to me – I want to say he is wearing a hooded robe for some reason (this may be a confusion of another dream in this same house a few weeks back where a robed figure stabbed in the hand with a small needle like device which made me wake up)– and one of Joe’s representatives, a secretary or something opens the door and invites us in saying “oh good you are here. We have been expecting you. ” The interior of the appartment is a very similar layout to my old house, almost identical; a sort of kitchen to the right, some rooms to the left (which is where it is different as this veers off into onto a patio that seemingly leads to the other apartments) and a small dining room straight ahead overlooking the city where Joe and about 40 other people are engaged in what seems like friendly, but important banter. This house was weird in that it is sort of a circular arrangement in which you can get back to the kitchen from this same area – this is the familiarity that struck me.

Joe stands up and gives them a little speech, the content of which i can’t remember, but it is almost certainly to do with the Ukraine crisis and “those pesky Russian bastards, that seem to be throwing them at every turn”. I stand by the door as my handler disappears either somewhere into the crowd or back out the door – I am not sure if anyone else can see him/her/it, but get the feeling they can’t. As I am standing there i have a very faint understanding that SD is in the crowd, but for what reason I don’t know; I only figure it is related to why I am here. I spot her, but am unphazed by it, just simply figuring she is doing her thing, and trust her with it.

Joe finishes his speech and then walks around shaking everyone’s hand, he spots me standing there with my arms crossed, observing him. He makes eye contact with me, then quickly finishes up his conversation with his guest, not breaking the eye contact, so he can make his way over to me. He approaches me and, first thing I notice is that he is treating me with a measure of respect not given to his other guests. He offers his hand, but I don’t bother uncrossing my arms, to which Joe claps me on the shoulder and leans in so only I can hear him. There is no awkwardness to me refusing his hand, this is just the way I roll and Joe knows that. The offer was more of a subconscious formality more than anything. Straight off the bat he starts talking about a “hit squad”. I can’t remember if i am part of the squad or if Joe wants me to track one down, but again it centers on all the shit coming out of Ukraine; The word assassination/ assassin pops up numerous times, like, a -fucking – lot. I don’t speak, just stand there and listen to what Joe has to say. Essentially there is someone over there (Ukraine) causing America big problems, and they (the party present) are sick and fucking tired of it. Joe wants who ever this guy is assassinated, and he wants me to organise the whole thing at the same time giving him insulation from it all. I suddenly have an understanding that I am well connected within the criminal underworld – but not your average run of the mill Mafia type deal, but something much worse – and that such a task would be a piece of cake. I nod in silence, then leave the premises.

SD’s version: like me, hers begins with her on a sort of vacation, but it is a lot more fragmented. She is met by her handler, to which similar things about her being needed for an important assignment are spoken, before she is whisked off to a similar apartment/ hotel room. She is now standing in a crowd of people, and again Joe Biden is giving a speech in front of them. She looks over and sees me at some point and remembers that there was something do with assassin’s and a hit squad being spoken of. Again, she had some sort of involvement in it, like she needed to help go find them or something.

Man these synched dreams have become so common between us that it really isn’t even a shock to us anymore. We just start picking each other for details and offer each other suggestions of what we think is going on. Both SD I agreed it seemed like our consciousnesses were being used to RV a certain scenario. I had MM ask the Commander if this was could possibly be happening. I’ll leave it up to him whether to publish what he told me.

But wait, there’s more, and it ties in with MMs response to this dream. When Putin first went into Ukraine, I had yet another dream in which SD’s astral self was telling me the Ukraine thing was all connected with things that are going on in the non physical planes. It was suggested there was a faction vying for the totality of the non physical realm as well another vying for both the physical and non physical planes (of course, I am never told who these factions actually are). SD’s handlers wanted her to reveal this to me as they wanted me to join them but were apprehensive about whether I would freak out about it or not. Much to their surprise, my response was “well, what the fuck are we waiting for”. There was also something mentioned about potassium iodide and honey comb being extremely important.

A strange stargate like portal opened up in front of me which I jumped into. The next thing I know I am in the back of what appears to be a long truck being used as an operations control room in some street, which could have very easily been Ukraine (it was clearly very more “astral like” than the physical Ukraine though). I was standing next to this other guy and over to our left was – I kid you not – an angel with four arms typing away at a computer. This was a beautiful creature. It had greyish semi translucent skin, very similar to the texture of a dolphin and (I think) was bald with intensely blue eyes, and stood about 8 ft tall. It was very robotic the way it moved, similar to Arnold Schwarnegger in the terminator movies, expressionless face, never blinking.

Suddenly our soldiers outside of the truck bring in another downed angel on a stretcher, again with four arms. They bring the stretcher right up to us where all the medical equipment is located. Straight away we know this one had been corrupted and was in need of some intensive “cleaning” and purging of all the corruption our enemies had done to it. I tell this guy next to me “yeah we kind of accidentally found out potassium iodide and honey comb knocks them out cold, like chloroform on humans” (well this is getting weird). Grace – the angel at the computer; “her” name was Grace, can you fucking believe it – realises there is a potential threat behind her, abruptly gets up out of her chair – her wings are fucking enormous; she stretches them when asserting dominance – and stomps over to this other {darkened} angel. Without warning she cracks her in the face with all five arms, and with lightning speed draws a semi auto handgun from somewhere and starts offloading it into this angel’s face at point blank range. The other angel starts stirring from sleep; meanwhile me and the other guy are just sitting here laughing our arses off at this {apparently} very normal angel greeting. The last thing I remember is the darker angel getting up off the bed before returning the greeting to Grace and the whole truck becoming smashed to pieces. Bikie brawls got nothing on Angel fights, apparently.

So I tell SD about this dream, and her response is “ahh, so you’ve finally met the angel ones”. Apparently she has had quite a lot of lucid dreams with them (none with four arms though), even an strange abduction experience with some, and her description matches Grace’s character; expressionless robots, with wings that fold up in their back when not in use, almost like vinyl type feathers. According to SD they were made so certain consciousness from the completely} non physical realm have a vehicle by which to enter and view the {not completely} non physical realm for very short periods of time (those ones can’t just come here like others can).

Certainly was an interesting dream that one. As was the Joe Biden hit squad dream.

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[daegonmagus] – Part 20 – SD’s Premonition of an Imminent Nuclear Attack set for 28th February 2022

The following is the 19th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

This particular read is truly enjoyable. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

-MM

Part 20 – SD’s Premonition of an Imminent Nuclear Attack set for 28^th February 2022

Let’s get a few things straight, right off the bat; I am not here to fear monger people with this article. I ummed and arred about whether I should bother typing it, and after considering things I believe it warrants putting down on virtual paper, given the current situation unfolding in Ukraine. We all know how delicate this situation is. We all saw it coming. What concerns me is that SD and I have had our fair share of “dreams” – both lucid and not – that allude to the very real kicking off of WW3. These premonitions, as I guess you could call them have, quite readily shaped both of our ideals on survivalism. From nukes going off in out neighborhood, through the unleashing of the “black dragon” in China, to the Covid vaccine toilet paper shortage, we have had a myriad of premonition like dreams between us that upon reflection many years later seem to be at the very least metaphorically describing things unfolding around us. Other times they have been pinpoint accurate, like the closing off regional borders in our state, and placing of military personnel in the exact same places we had the border closure dreams (in both of our dreams beyond the borders were represented by a void of total nothingness.)

Here’s the concerning part, and I hope to fuck it is a complete miss on my part. I must apologize for not getting out sooner; the Ukraine shit has been unfolding so fast I have been trying to keep up with it all.

Back at the start of February SD tells me “the 22^nd is when shit is going to go down”. Ok, so to put this into context, like I said our dreams have shaped our survivalism ideals, and have solidified the idea that all out nuclear war is at this stage, more likely a “when” than it is an “if”.

So when she says the 22^nd is when shit is going to down, assume that automatically translates as some sort of SHTF event leading to WW3.

I press her on what it will be, but she tells me she doesn’t know, only that someone or something suggested to her the 22^nd or “possibly even the 23^rd for us when you take into account different time zones”. She just can’t get out of her head the 22^nd/23^rd February 22.

That day rolls around and what happens….well, we all know the answer to that question. Putin decides enough is enough and drives his army into Ukraine.

But that is not all.

The night of Putin’s grand entrance, SD has another dream. She is literally woken up by her own voice shouting at her “THE 28th”.

Then, whilst in the hypnogogic/ sleep paralysis state, she is suddenly in the middle of a city, with modern western style skyscrapers, and a big bomb is going off. And I mean BIG.

She specifically mentions this thing has a mushroom cloud, and the explosion seems to “cut the tops off the buildings” before the shockwave breaks all the windows and hits her.

It is so vivid she can smell and taste all the sulphur and metal.

The next day, again she is in hypnogogia and she has a follow up dream to the blast; a woman is standing at a podium either addressing the bomb or announcing her country’s intent to become involved.

This woman, SD says, her clothing makes her looks like she could be chubby, blonde hair put up in a bun behind her head, 40 to 50 years old, wearing a business suit style jacket.

SD end’s up looking up female women in power to try and see if she can find anyone resembling her. She comes across what she said was an “exact match” but the fucking phone loses the page before she can figure out who it is.

She looks up secretaries of defense of European countries and says the at both the Czechoslovakian and Belgian secretaries of defense look very similar to the woman she saw giving the address.

Something else that concerns me is a dream I had back on November 25^th which suggested a military was prepping for a major nuclear exchange. I went back through the dream share thread and found my write up on it:

“I was some kind of special forces military guy. Not sure what division, but I am fairly sure I wasn’t a SEAL. The people around me seem to be wearing American Military camos but they could have just as easily been Russian.

It was night time and I was on this long straight road that seemed to run for miles through fields of either dead yellow grass, wheat or some other type of crop.

There are multiple military bases every couple of kilometres along this road. I pass one in particular, and it has a big metal cylindrical missile thing sticking out of the ground in a clearing on the other side of the fence that hugged the road. it didn’t look like a typical missile – it was more like a giant tin can with a flat top and it’s protrusion from its silo wasn’t very high – only a little bit taller than me.

To begin with I was walking.

I receive a call from my superior officer. He tells me that I need to assemble all the military personnel from the nearby {standard} bases to the silos that are scattered around the area. My orders are to go to each silo and personally give the orders to their commanding officers to prime the nuclear warheads, and to their lower ranking personnel that we are preparing for a test launch.

The real reason he tells me is different; we are either preparing for a pre-emptive strike on our enemies, or preparing for a retaliation attack for some other shit “we” have planned, I can’t specifically remember.

IT could have even been that America was the enemy.

I hop in my jeep and drive down this road; there are ALOT of these silos surrounded by a whole farm’s worth of vacant land. I watch as hundreds upon hundreds of these silo doors open and out pop these giant tin cans, ready for me to give the launch signal. Satisified I make my way up the road to continue with the rest.

This didn’t feel like a standard dream looked similar to this but without the fins. Google image caption reads “US nukes stored in Netherlands”:

just checked my fb and get this – i have a fucking friend request from a woman named “{first name} Littleboy”…. holy shit that’s not good

The edges were sharper just like a tin can. They didn’t really look like a typical bomb/ missile shape – certainly not very aerodynamic. Though I do remember thinking of them as “littleboys” at some points in the dream and when I woke up.

Hence why I figured it was America – i am very much aware of the littleboy and fat man bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima/Nagasaki – fuck come to think of it a couple of them may have even been called Minutemans by some of the military staff. Whatever was going on, someone was arming practically their entire {ground based} nuclear arsenal for war.

Maybe the littleboy thing was for me to pay attention to the synchronicity.”

I sure as fuck hope me and SD are wrong on this one, but in case we aren’t, if you live in Europe, I suggest taking a spontaneous camping trip a few miles away from your house for a few days. Stay safe and let’s weather out whatever shit may unfold from here on out.

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Aleister Crowley – Wikipedia

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[daegonmagus] – Part 19 – Aleister Crowley and his Thelemic Order of NASA….or was it MI6?

The following is the 19th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

This particular read is truly enjoyable. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

-MM

Part 19 – Aleister Crowley and his Thelemic Order of NASA… or was it M16?

“NASA are the most authoritative organisation on space and would never lie to us or keep secrets when it comes to the discovery of ETs!” Right…..anybody in the crowd? ……Anybody? This is a paraphrasing of a recent conversation with my brother in law in regards to the idea of Simulation Theory, and that we are living in a holographic world. So yeah, ok, he didn’t specifically mention ETs, I may have exaggerated that part, but when I brought up the quantum physics double slit experiment etc (real basic stuff, for I am no quantum phycisist) and the idea of astral projectors/ lucid dreamers being the witnesses of the other side of the quantum coin – the guys that see the world in wave form rather than particle form – you’d be amazed at how quickly the conversation turned towards NASA, and their recent announcement of a fucking meteor that could “potentially” wipe out earth, which is what was apparently really concerning him (I would have thought being trapped in a simulation would be a more concerning affair, but you know, that’s just me). Or you know, that his grandmother was born in a Nazi PoW camp, and he just seemingly overlooked the whole Operation Paperclip thing.

But yeah I am used to it. It is the usual deflection tactic when I hit upon a subject that get’s too deep for him. Cut me off mid sentence and trail off onto some shit that doesn’t even relate to anything I am talking about. Try and make himself sound smart because he read a few articles on the old innernet. Never mind I know a guy who is a qualified astrophysicist that would suggest it is a load of bullshit not worth worrying about {wink wink}. My brother in law always seems to have that one friend in a similar field of expertise that he has conveniently broached this exact subject with before and rattles off some half arsed excuse as to why I should believe this friend’s word over the experts I have spoken to. The experts whose first hand experiences I use as a basis for formulating my opinions on such matters. Not that I get more than two fucking words out before I am scoffed at with condescension when I use the small breaks between his egotism to try and explain why NASA is the last organisation on earth I would bother believing.

Mind you, this is a guy who is 31 years old and still lives with his mother, has never bothered trying to find his own place, turned down an opportunity at a plumbing apprenticeship when he was fresh out school (and now wonders why his life sucks) and thinks it is perfectly acceptable to use people with down syndrome as a means to joke about Robert Downey Jr’s mental capacity simply because he works with them (this is where the conversation ultimately headed). He seems to have some ever evolving qualification that varies quite substantially in respect to its field whenever he brings it up. One moment it’s a diploma in warehousing, the next it’s a certificate in carer services when he realises I actually managed an electronics factory and have real world experience with warehousing that trumps his theoretical knowledge any day……Next he’ll be telling me he got a fucking PhD in astrophysics in the 3 months I didn’t see him. Yeah, a real armchair researcher if ever there was one. But hey, I have to admit, I found it pretty impressive that he could at least entertain the idea of a simulation. A year ago that conversation would have been completely off the table.

Remind you of anyone? Seems to be the entire fucking UFO community whenever someone mentions something remotely out of the mainstream approved narrative. Like the guys on reddit that got the reddit admins to send me a message saying they were concerned for my mental health when I tried telling them my research suggests non physical entities are contacting people in the occult community (research which I have presented here in past articles that proves I am not the only one having these strange experiences, and that they are in fact fairly common in the occult community). This one is for you guys, if you have attention spans to read beyond three words (I know a lot of you found four of them to be too much to handle). Oh and while we are on the subject of PhD’s and arm chair research I should point out I have do in fact have a PhD…..in googling shit, seeing as it seems to be the accepted form expertise these days. But unlike my contemporaries, the crux of my argument is freely available on Wikipedia for those who do actually know how to research, not that I am expecting any of the reddit experts to be in amongst that crowd. Shall I continue?

Let’s get back to that statement “NASA are the most authoritative organisation on space and would never lie to us or keep secrets when it comes to the discovery of ETs!” Ok, so, the least you could do is get to know the parent organisation that you are basing your whole argument around before arguing with me on why I should bother to listen to them. If not, you might find yourself embarrassed at the idea it is pretty much like saying “the Freemasons are the most transparent society on the planet”. Or at the idea that “you’re a fucking nutcase” is as equally applicable to the founder of NASA as it is to yours truly. We will delve into this, but before we do, let’s dig into some of my arm chair research on a well known figure, and how it relates to the idea that if people were being contacted by non physical entities through means such as astral projection and lucid dreaming, NASA would be THE LAST FUCKING ORGANISATION ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET THAT WOULD BOTHER TELLING YOU ABOUT IT. Are you ready to take the words of L Ron Hubbard and Scientology just as serious as NASA? Something tells me that no, you are not, which highlights the fact you are too mentally immature to be having this conversation, and that your arm chair research is just a façade for “I can’t be fucked actually researching anything, before offering my opinion on it”.

Allow me to shit all over that egotistical ignorance you think is real world knowledge:

Edward Alexander Crowley was born on the 12^th of October 1875, to pair of wealthy fundamentalist Christians of the Plymouth Brethren faith. His father, originally a Quaker, and also an Edward, was an engineer, and owned a family brewing business – Crowley’s Alton ales – which had allowed him an early retirement before his son’s birth. At the age of 11, Edward Alexander inherited a third of this wealth after his father died of tongue cancer. He soon began rejecting the religious views held by his parents, indulging in acts considered by them as morally indecent such as smoking, masturbating and having sex with prostitutes (in which he contracted gonorrhoea and syphilis – talk about a good time).

Such rebellion included a change of name from Edward to Aleister, when he attended the Trinity college in Cambridge to study Philosophy. This behaviour and rejection of the Christian faith would lead Edward’s mother, Emily, to eventually start calling him “the Beast”, which Crowley would later revel in and wear as a badge of honour. Later on in his life, Crowley would expound upon this title to include the number 666, which came from a derivation of the Hebrew alphabet known as Gematria – it had nothing to do with Satanism and the devil, as many people like to suggest. In Gematria, each Hebrew letter is assigned a numerical value and words are compared with other words of equal value. Crowley’s 666 came from the comparison of the word Therion – Greek for “wild beast” – with his own name, of which had an equal value. It was because of this that Crowley would eventually come to be known as Master Therion to his many students. Another name he was known by was Pedurabo.

Crowley believed he was the reincarnation of the well known magician and practitioner of alchemy, Eliphas Levi (amongst other notable figures from history) – who has been dubbed as the man who coined the term “the occult” – partly due to the magician dying in the same year he was born. I vaguely remember another self proclaimed occultist talking about their own reincarnation, [daegonmagus] – Part 2 – Contact with the Elder Guardians (metallicman.com), Not that that is relevant or anything….

Continuing on the down the Wikipedia entry on Crowley we come to learn a few interesting things some of which may or may not actually be true, and some which have a back trail of evidence to suggest they are legitimate claims. We learn about how Crowley joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn before seemingly tearing it apart, how he became friends with Theodore Ruess and was invited to join the Ordo Templi Orientis, or how he created his own Order of the Silver Star – the Argentum Astrum. Then there are the tales of him going out into the Egyptian desert with his wife Rose and engaging in conversation with a non physical intelligence he called Aiwass, whose message he wrote down and became the “Book of the Law” of what would go on to become his Thelemic religion. We read about the time him and his associate Neuberg went out into a desert and summoned the demon of the abyss, Choronzon, which Crowley allegedly deliberately let possess him. Some things about his later life drug addictions with coke and heroin. What we don’t read about is Crowley’s other exploits like providing commentary for the Goetia, aka the Lesser Key of Solomon the King:

Did you spot the NASA connection? If not, don’t worry; well get to it later. Just note, it is buried behind a link somewhere at the bottom of the page.

In that entry, we also learn about a “fictional” book Crowley wrote called Moonchild – the same book of Crowley’s I found in my grandmother’s library in her abandoned house. What isn’t mentioned is that Moonchild is a book about a bunch of occultists who are trying to incarnate the soul of a demon into the vessel of a new born human child. I started reading it at some point during the third decade of my life but gave up after a few pages as I found Crowley’s writing to be very poor and unimaginative. What can I say: I have standards.

“Moonchild is a novel written by the British occultist Aleister Crowley in 1917. Its plot involves a magical war between a group of white magicians, led by Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians, over an unborn child. It was first published by Mandrake Press in 1929 and its recent edition is published by Weiser.

In this work, numerous acquaintances of Crowley appear as thinly disguised fictional characters. Crowley portrays MacGregor Mathers as the primary villain, including him as a character named SRMD, using the abbreviation of Mathers' magical name. Arthur Edward Waite appears as a villain named Arthwaite, and the unseen head of the Inner Circle of which SRMD was a member. "A.B." is theosophist Annie Besant. Among Crowley's friends and allies Allen Bennett appears as Mahatera Phang, Leila Waddell as Sister Cybele, the dancer Isadora Duncan appears as Lavinia King, and her companion Mary D'Este (mother of Preston Sturges, and who helped Crowley write his magnum opus Magick: Book 4 under her magical name 'Soror Virakam') appears as Lisa la Giuffria. Cyril Grey is Crowley himself, while Simon Iff is either an idealized version of an older and wiser Crowley or his friend Allen Bennett.

Plot summary

A year or so before the beginning of World War I, a young woman named Lisa la Giuffria is seduced by a white magician, Cyril Grey, and persuaded into helping him in a magical battle with a black magician and his black lodge. Grey is attempting to save and improve the human race and condition by impregnating the girl with the soul of an ethereal being — the moonchild. To achieve this, she will have to be kept in a secluded environment, and many preparatory magical rituals will be carried out. The black magician Douglas is bent on destroying Grey's plan. However, Grey's ultimate motives may not be what they appear. The moonchild rituals are carried out in southern Italy, but the occult organizations are based in Paris and England. At the end of the book, the war breaks out, and the white magicians support the Allies, while the black magicians support the Central Powers.” - Moonchild (novel) - Wikipedia

For the MM audience who have a brain and can put two and two together here, read between the lines of what I am trying to tell you; Spencer also claimed the Alien Interview was a work of “fiction”. Comparing the two works brings a whole new level of meaning and contemplation to just what the fuck it was these secret societies were getting up to at the turning of the 20^th century.

Getting back to the Wikipedia entry on Crowley, one of the more “absurd” claims is that he was in fact working for the British Government’s MI6 department helping them spy on the Germans, who apparently got him to spy on the British Government, which was supposedly suspected by American Intelligence….or something. This particular claim, even just stopping at a connection to the British government, is hard to substantiate as there appears to be only one verifiable source for its origin; a professor of History from the university of Idaho:

“Dr. Richard B. Spence is a Professor of History at the University of Idaho where he has taught since 1986. His specialties include Russian, military, espionage and occult history. One of his most popular courses at UI deals with the role of conspiracies and secret societies in history.”

….as it apparently says on his linked in page.

This guy seems to make a valid argument against Spence’s research, suggesting it is a stretch at best, and is more circumstantial rather than being based on real facts: Was Aleister Crowley a Spy? ‘Secret Agent 666’ Review – John le Bon

Doesn’t matter though, the guy is a professor, and going by skeptic logic this means he must be telling the truth…..Ok yeah, I am not that facetious. But hey since we are talking about the ol innernet and mainstream sources of information that we should trust (like NASA), here is a link to a Guardian newspaper report suggesting Ian Fleming based the Blofeld character in his James Bond series off Crowley:

Beyond belief | Books | The Guardian

In case you didn’t bother reading it, that article suggests rather matter of factl-y that Crowley was Fleming’s go to guy when it came to interrogating Occultist Nazi Rudolph Hess. It even mentions – albeit very vaguely – the NASA connection Crowley had through Jack Parsons:

“Yet the hysterical press accounts of sex, drugs and sacrifice at his Abbey of Thelema, in Sicily in the early 1920s, remain the core of the myth of Crowley as evil incarnate. It was an image, along with his famously hypnotic stare, that led Bond author Ian Fleming to model Blofeld on Crowley. They met when Fleming worked in British intelligence during the war. That a man so publicly reviled could still penetrate the corridors of power is a prime example of his unlikely reach. Crowley was Fleming's first choice for interrogating Rudolf Hess when the occult-obsessed Nazi was captured in Scotland after a bizarre astrological sting.

It was also Crowley who gave Churchill his famous victory sign, a magickal gesture to counteract the Nazi's use of the swastika. Indeed, his hand appears in many unexpected places - there is even a story that he aligned Stamford Bridge and gave Chelsea its team colours - but his hidden influence was not restricted to the British war effort or the Premiere League. In the 1940s, one of his closest followers was a young Californian adept, Jack Parsons, one of the founding fathers of the American space programme. His work at the fledgling Jet Propulsion Laboratories lay the groundwork for the Apollo moon missions.”

Funny, Jack Parson is mentioned back in the Aleister Crowley Wikipedia link, in the same sentence as another well known figure, this time with a little more confidence of fact:

“L. Ron Hubbard, the American founder of Scientology, was involved in Thelema in the early 1940s (with Jack Parsons), and it has been argued that Crowley's ideas influenced some of Hubbard's work.” - Aleister Crowley - Wikipedia

Crowley’s entry also suggests he had an affinity for Nazism:

“Pasi described Crowley's affinity to the extreme ideologies of Nazism and Marxism–Leninism, which aimed to violently overturn society: "What Crowley liked about Nazism and communism, or at least what made him curious about them, was the anti-Christian position and the revolutionary and socially subversive implications of these two movements. In their subversive powers, he saw the possibility of an annihilation of old religious traditions, and the creation of a void that Thelema, subsequently, would be able to fill. Crowley described democracy as an "imbecile and nauseating cult of weakness",^[267] and commented that The Book of the Law proclaimed that "there is the master and there is the slave; the noble and the serf; the 'lone wolf' and the herd””

I guess one could take that last sentence either way. Regardless, we are starting to head into some very concerning territory in regards to the Nazi’s and Crowley/ Occultism. Let’s strengthen that connection:

“Crowley was now living largely off contributions supplied by the O.T.O.'s Agape Lodge in California, led by rocket scientist John Whiteside "Jack" Parsons.^[194] Crowley was intrigued by the rise of Nazism in Germany, and influenced by his friend Martha Küntzel believed that Adolf Hitler might convert to Thelema; when the Nazis abolished the German O.T.O. and imprisoned Germer, who fled to the US, Crowley then lambasted Hitler as a black magician.”

So uh Hitler was a prime candidate for Thelema huh…..and the guy who founded Nasa’s JPL was a fucking Thelemite as well?

“John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons;^{[nb 1]} October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant,^[1] and pioneered the advancement of both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets.

Or should I say a pin up boy for the OTO:

Smith wrote to Crowley saying that Parsons was "a really excellent man ... He has an excellent mind and much better intellect than myself ... JP is going to be very valuable".^[64] Wolfe wrote to German O.T.O. representative Karl Germer that Parsons was "an A1 man ... Crowleyesque in attainment as a matter of fact", and mooted Parsons as a potential successor to Crowley as Outer Head of the Order.^[65] Crowley concurred with such assessments, informing Smith that Parsons "is the most valued member of the whole Order, with no exception!"^[62]” - Jack Parsons (rocket engineer) - Wikipedia

And its not as if Thelema was just a passing hobby for Jack either; Wikipedia suggests he was devoting his entire pay checks into the organisation, and was wholeheartedly committed to its concepts. Not only that, Parsons was at one point palsy with the founder of Scientology who was also a Fellow Thelemite:

“Science fiction writer and U.S. Navy officer L. Ron Hubbard soon moved into the Parsonage; he and Parsons became close friends. Parsons wrote to Crowley that although Hubbard had "no formal training in Magick he has an extraordinary amount of experience and understanding in the field. From some of his experiences I deduce he is direct touch with some higher intelligence, possibly his Guardian Angel. ... He is the most Thelemic person I have ever met and is in complete accord with our own principles.”

And in case you weren’t aware of what Hubbard’s Dianetics/Scientology religion was about, allow me to fill that gap in knowledge. Bear in mind this was from a guy whose own son said his father believed himself to be the embodiment of “Satan”;

“Scientology followers believe that a human is an immortal, spiritual being (Thetan) that is resident in a physical body. The Thetan has had innumerable past lives and it is observed in advanced (and – within the movement – secret) Scientology texts that lives preceding the Thetan's arrival on Earth were lived in extraterrestrial cultures. Scientology doctrine states that any Scientologist undergoing "auditing" will eventually come across and recount a common series of events.^[26] Part of these events include reference to an extraterrestrial life-form called Xenu. The secret Scientology texts say this was a ruler of a confederation of planets 70 million years ago, who brought billions of alien beings to Earth and then killed them with thermonuclear weapons. Despite being kept secret from most followers, this forms the central mythological framework of Scientology's ostensible soteriology – attainment of a status referred to by Scientologists as "clear". These aspects have become the subject of popular ridicule.

I bet they have.

And while we are on the subject of Parson’s friends, MM would be interested to know the following:

“In New York he met with Karl Germer, the head of the O.T.O. in North America and in Washington, D.C. he met Poet Laureate Joseph Auslander, donating some of Crowley's poetry books to the Library of Congress.^[81] He also became a regular at the Mañana Literary Society, which met in Laurel Canyon at the home of Parsons' friend Robert A. Heinlein and included science fiction writers including Cleve Cartmill, Jack Williamson, and Anthony Boucher.”

Now to understand this Parson’s/ Hubbard connection properly, we need to go back to Crowley and his Thelemic Order. What in the actual fuck is Thelema anyway? Well, we mentioned that Crowley, whilst in Cairo with his wife Rose, went out into the desert and received a message from a non physical entity. Rose apparently wasn’t into occultism, and couldn’t give two shits about Crowley’s undertakings…..that was until she went into a trance and this non physical being, who Crowley called Aiwass, began speaking through her, laying down the {book of the} law. Crowley transcribed it and it became his Holy Books of Thelema that basically dictated what the whole order was about. For those who have not read the books, you are not missing out on much. A lot of it seems to be a mix of incoherent babble that Crowley himself even suggests he doesn’t know what the fuck it means. In amongst this collection of seemingly random gibberish is the infamous RPSTOVAL code, that Crowley suggests will be “expounded upon by someone in the distant future”, and who his followers like to try and decipher using Gematria:

4 6 3 8 a b k 2 4 a l g m o r 3 y x 24 89 r p s t o v a l

For anyone interested here is Crowley’s Book of the Law. The Book Of The Law : Aleister Crowley : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. Note there are some striking similarities with his philosophy and things that MM has said in regards to consciousness, or Airl’s view of the universe:

Now, to get to the UFO/ Thelema connection, we need to delve a bit deeper into some things that are not mentioned on Wikipedia, and are just as hard to confirm as Spence’s suggestion Crowley was an MI6 spy.

Fourteen years after his contact with Aiwass, Crowley supposedly was contacted by another entity during what is known as the Amalantrah working with his executor and somewhat heir to his magical prowess, Kenneth Grant. What actually took place must be left to speculation given that the surviving records of the working are fragmented at best, but what seems clear is that Crowley drew a picture which had something to do with this working, which he titled LAM. I briefly touched on this entity in my article https://metallicman.com/daegonmagus-part-18-a-look-at-non-physical-contact-through-participants-external-to-metallicman/ when I told you the Tool drummer had his own clothing line featuring the image.

While some, like this guy from LAM I AM | Aleister Crowley 2012 (ac2012.com), suggest it is an obscure self portrait of Crowley, others have suggested, quite assuredly that Crowley and Grant were trying to open a portal in space between two stars. The myth is that they were successful which led to Lam – an interdimensional entity – popping through to say hello. Apparently many occultists have had weird experiences with UFOs and similar contact after trying to recreate the ritual:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=vice+lam+crowley&cvid=9f44a886c91549659f1b81c4c4339ae9&aqs=edge..69i57j69i64.4653j0j1&pglt=43&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=ACTS

What can be agreed on, is that Lam appears on the front page of Voice of the Silence by Theosophical Society founder, Madam Helena Blavatsky. If you haven’t already read my article first mentioning Lam, I suggest you do so, as it alludes to the idea that Blavatsky was given a hybridisation schedule by the non physical entities she was in contact with (which seems to have very likely made its way into the hands of the Nazi’s, but more on that later.)

Getting back to Lam, The {modern day} OTO have even gone so far as to have their members document any experiences resulting from their workings with the Amalantrah ritual, so it seems to have some substance:

“Crowley gave the drawing to Kenneth Grant in May 1945, following an astral working in which they were both involved. Since then it has become apparent that Lam is in fact a trans-mundane or extra-terrestrial entity, with whom several groups of magicians have established contact, most notably Michael Bertiaux in the 1960s, and agroup of OTO initiates in the 1970s. Much remains unclear, however, hence the need for further investigation of this entity” – Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis — Kenneth Grant — LAM (parareligion.ch)

Remember how I told you my friend Severin, who was contacted by an elusive figure and given information on the merge of the astral and physical planes? To my knowledge, Severin never bothered with the Amalantrah ritual, but the coincidence is a bit hard to ignore, given he was in the OTO.

So for the skeptics, at the very least you have to admit this sounds fucking insane right? No matter what way you look at it. Who in their right mind would believe such a load of fucking tripe?

Well, your NASA JPL founder for one:

“The Babalon Working was a series of magic ceremonies or rituals performed from January to March 1946 by author, pioneer rocket-fuel scientist and occultist Jack Parsons and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.^[1] This ritual was essentially designed to manifest an individual incarnation of the archetypal divine feminine called Babalon. The project was based on the ideas of Aleister Crowley, and his description of a similar project in his 1917 novel Moonchild.” - Babalon Working - Wikipedia

And from Parson’s entry:

“Parsons and Sara were in an open relationship encouraged by the O.T.O.'s polyandrous sexual ethics, and she became enamored with Hubbard; Parsons, despite attempting to repress his passions, became intensely jealous.^[109] Motivated to find a new partner through occult means, Parsons began to devote his energies to conducting black magic, causing concern among fellow O.T.O. members who believed that it was invoking troublesome spirits into the Parsonage; Jane Wolfe wrote to Crowley that "our own Jack is enamored with Witchcraft, the houmfort, voodoo. From the start he always wanted to evoke something—no matter what, I am inclined to think, as long as he got a result." He told the residents that he was imbuing statues in the house with a magical energy in order to sell them to fellow occultists.^[110] Parsons reported paranormal events in the house resulting from the rituals; including poltergeist activity, sightings of orbs and ghostly apparitions, alchemical (sylphic) effect on the weather, and disembodied voices. Pendle suggested that Parsons was particularly susceptible to these interpretations and attributed the voices to a prank by Hubbard and Sara.^[110] One ritual allegedly brought screaming banshees to the windows of the Parsonage, an incident that disturbed Forman for the rest of his life.^[111] In December 1945 Parsons began a series of rituals based on Enochian magic during which he masturbated onto magical tablets, accompanied by Sergei Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto. Describing this magical operation as the Babalon Working, he hoped to bring about the incarnation of Thelemite goddess Babalon onto Earth. He allowed Hubbard to take part as his "scribe", believing that he was particularly sensitive to detecting magical phenomena.^[112] As described by Richard Metzger, "Parsons jerked off in the name of spiritual advancement" while Hubbard "scanned the astral plane for signs and visions."^[113]

Their final ritual took place in the Mojave Desert in late February 1946, during which Parsons abruptly decided that his undertaking was complete. On returning to the Parsonage he discovered that Marjorie Cameron—an unemployed illustrator and former Navy WAVE—had come to visit. Believing her to be the "elemental" woman and manifestation of Babalon that he had invoked, in early March Parsons began performing sex magic rituals with Cameron, who acted as his "Scarlet Woman", while Hubbard continued to participate as the amanuensis. Unlike the rest of the household, Cameron knew nothing at first of Parsons' magical intentions: "I didn't know anything about the O.T.O., I didn't know that they had invoked me, I didn't know anything, but the whole house knew it. Everybody was watching to see what was going on."^[114] Despite this ignorance and her skepticism about Parsons' magic, Cameron reported her sighting of a UFO to Parsons, who secretly recorded the sighting as a materialization of Babalon.

And some more on the Babalon working, and contact by non physical entities in general:

Inspired by Crowley's novel Moonchild (1917), Parsons and Hubbard aimed to magically fertilize a "magical child" through immaculate conception, which when born to a woman somewhere on Earth nine months following the working's completion would become the Thelemic messiah embodying Babalon.^[116][117] To quote Metzger, the purpose of the Babalon Working was "a daring attempt to shatter the boundaries of space and time" facilitating, according to Parsons, the emergence of Thelema's Æon of Horus.^[113] When Cameron departed for a trip to New York, Parsons retreated to the desert, where he believed that a preternatural entity psychographically provided him with Liber 49, which represented a fourth part of Crowley's The Book of the Law, the primary sacred text of Thelema, as well as part of a new sacred text he called the Book of Babalon.^[118] Crowley was bewildered and concerned by the endeavor, complaining to Germer of being "fairly frantic when I contemplate the idiocy of these louts!" Believing the Babalon Working was accomplished, Parsons sold the Parsonage to developers for $25,000 under the condition that he and Cameron could continue to live in the coach house, and he appointed Roy Leffingwell to head the Agape Lodge, which would now have to meet elsewhere for its rituals”

Unable to pursue his scientific career, without his wife and devoid of friendship, Parsons decided to return to occultism and embarked on sexually based magical operations with prostitutes. He was intent, informally following the ritualistic practice of Thelemite organization the A∴A∴, on performing "the Crossing of the Abyss", attaining union with the universal consciousness, or "All" as understood in the context of the Great Work, and becoming the "Master of the Temple".^[133] Following his apparent success in doing so, Parsons recounted having an out-of-body experience invoked by Babalon, who astrally transported him to the biblical City of Chorazin, an experience he referred to as a "Black Pilgrimage". Accompanying Parsons' "Oath of the Abyss" was his own "Oath of the AntiChrist", which was witnessed by Wilfred Talbot Smith. In this oath, Parsons professed to embody an entity named Belarion Armillus Al Dajjal, the Antichrist "who am come to fulfill the law of the Beast 666 [Aleister Crowley]".^[133] Viewing these oaths as the completion of the Babalon Working, Parsons wrote an illeist autobiography titled Analysis by a Master of the Temple and an occult text titled The Book of AntiChrist. In the latter work, Parsons (writing as Belarion) prophesied that within nine years Babalon would manifest on Earth and supersede the dominance of the Abrahamic religions.^[134]

I thought self proclaimed embodiment of Satan Hubbard was bad. I might be “crazy”, but I sure as fuck aren’t “trying to summon the whore of Babylon into a newborn child crazy”. This guy was a fucking nutjob (if you go by common society’s standards), yet still displayed more intelligence than those reddit skeptics and my own god damned brother in law. You know, he’s kinda got a lot of rocket research behind him to back that theory up. Did anyone make him undergo a psychological evaluation while he worked at NASA, I wonder?

I mean Jack wasn’t exactly stupid was he, nutjob or not? He was, after all the American version of Werner Von Braun, and it could be argued it was because of him we got to the moon (he was actually involved in developing rocket systems for that very purpose). His discoveries in rocket propulsion were the foundation by which the whole of NASA was built upon. So why the fuck was he messing around with a book written by Crowley if it was just a piece of fiction and incorporating its content into his rituals? You have to admit, it seems a little shady to trust in an organisation whose founder was engaging in such ludicrous practices with his bestie, Mr Hubbard. Let’s face the fact, NASA has got dodgy fucking cult written all over it. You can’t call me a nutcase for saying I was contacted by non physical entities, and then turn around and tell me Jack wasn’t one either. But hey, let’s not stop the logical thought train there. Let’s dig a bit deeper into this.

I mentioned Werner von Braun, and in case you didn’t get the memo, here was another rocket scientist that had some things to say when it came to aliens. And who Jack Parsons at one point spoke to on the phone for many hours. At least this guy didn’t seem to be running around California blowing shit up and having sex with anything that walked in an effort to create a demon child. But to really understand what the hell is going on here, you need to understand the suggestion that the Nazi’s were heavily invested in occult concepts:

In his book, Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies, John Michael Greer, a self proclaimed druid and Freemason (and not to be confused with Ufologist Dr Steven Greer) suggests that the Nazi party was born out of a secret society of occultists that believed in the racist ideologies of Ariosophy (an offshoot of Theosophy, surprise surprise); the Thule society. This society was named after Thule; a mythical island that first appeared in classical Greek and Roman writings somewhere North of Britain, which eventually became to be believed as the homeland of the Aryan master race in the proto-Nazi occult movement. In fact, Greer has some very interesting things to say on the transformation of Thule, and how its occult ideologies played an integral role in the formation of the Nazi party:

“THULE
Originally ultima Thule, “furthest Thule” in Latin, Thule first appeared in classical Greek and Roman writings as a name for a distant island somewhere north of Britain. The Greek voyager Pytheas of Massalia claimed that he sailed there, and his description of the northern seas has enough accurate details to make the claim plausible; it is likely Pytheas sailed as far as the Orkneys, or possibly even Iceland. In the nineteenth century the name Thule was recycled for a hypothetical lost continent somewhere in the far north. In this form it found its way into proto-Nazi occult movements in central Europe as the lost Arctic homeland of the Aryans, identical to Arktogäa and Hyperborea. See lost continents.

THULE SOCIETY
The National Socialist movement in early twentieth-century Germany emerged out of a complex underground of secret societies, occult traditions, and racist ideologies that historians have just begun to uncover. One crucial piece of the puzzle was an organization known as the Thule-Gesellschaft or Thule Society. Named after the legendary lost continent of Thule, believed by German racists of the time to be the original homeland of the Aryan peoples, the Thule Society posed as a private organization for the study of Germanic folklore. In reality, it was the Munich lodge of an occult secret society, the Germanenorden, whose distinctive blend of racist occultism and right-wing politics defined the central commitments of the Nazi party. See Germanenorden.

The Thule Society was the creation of Rudolf von Sebottendorf, a German-Turkish adventurer who joined the Germanenorden in 1917 and immediately set to work organizing a Munich lodge for the order. His efforts paid off handsomely, increasing membership in Bavaria from 200 to more than 1500 by the autumn of 1918. He rented rooms for the society in the posh Hotel des Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich, and succeeded in attracting members of the Bavarian aristocracy into the organization. He also encouraged two Thule members, Karl Harrer and Anton Drexler, to organize a political circlep for the Munich working class, in the hope of drawing them away from communism.

When the German imperial government collapsed in 1918, a socialist coalition seized power in Bavaria, but was then supplanted by a hardline communist faction headed by Russian exiles. Munich descended into open war, and pitched gun battles, assassinations, and summary executions by firing squad became frequent events. The Thule Society hurled itself into the struggle, networking with other conservative groups and raising a sizeable private army, the Kampfbund Thule, for the final struggle that ended the Bavarian Socialist Republic in May 1919. By that time the political circle headed by Drexler and Harrer had already transformed itself into a political party, the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers Party, DAP). Small and poorly organized, the DAP floundered for most of 1919 as most Thule members turned their attention elsewhere. In September of that year, however, the DAP gained a new recruit, an Austrian war veteran named Adolf Hitler. Not long after joining, Hitler convinced the other party members to change the organization’s name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP) – a name newspapers and the German public quickly shortened to “Nazi.” See Hitler, Adolf; National Socialism.

As the fledgling party grew explosively, driven by Hitler’s powerful oratory and impressive political skills, Thule Society members gave it vital support and direction. Thule initiate Ernst Röhm, a tough army veteran with a taste for brawling, brought many members of the Kampfbund Thule into the
Sturm-Abteilung (Storm Troop, SA) or Brownshirts, the Nazi party’s private army of street thugs. Another Thule member, Rudolf Hess, used his connections throughout the occult community in France and Germany to win support for Hitler, becoming the future Führer’s right-hand man in the process. Other members introduced Hitler to wealthy conservatives in Bavaria and elsewhere in Germany, and brought him into contact with the writer and occultist Dietrich Eckart, who became Hitler’s mentor. By 1925 or a little later, the Thule Society had been completely absorbed into the growing Nazi party, and nearly all its membership, activities, and plans became part of the Nazi system. The occult aspects it had inherited from the Germanenorden ended up becoming part of the SS onceHeinrich Himmler took over that organization in 1929. See SS (Schutzstaffel).

Further reading: Goodrick-Clarke 1992” - The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies The Ultimate A-Z - John Michael Greer.pdf | DocDroid

But let’s not stop there. Delving even deeper still into the Nazi’s and their occult connection in Greer’s book we find that Crowley wasn’t the only occultist who believed the “lunatic” prospect that he was the reincarnation of someone:

“Perhaps the most serious of Nazi occultists, Himmler believed himself to be the reincarnation of the medieval German king Heinrich I. Under his leadership the SS became an occult secret society with immense influence throughout German society, and the SS headquarters at the medieval castle of Wewelsburg became the center of the Third Reich’s occult dimension as Himmler implemented many of the old ONT programs on a colossal scale. See SS (Schutzstaffel).“

Interesting. Here’s some excerpts I picked up from Israel Regardie’s (Crowley’s Secretary) book, The Golden Dawn, which deals with the whole curriculum of that order. It certainly seems to strengthen the Nazi connection to the occult. From here The Complete Golden Dawn System Of Magic – Israel Regardie.pdf | DocDroid:

The fylfot cross shows us the swastika as being an astrological symbol that combines the forces of 12 months of the zodiac with the four elements, the sun at its centre. It is part of the third lecture of Golden Dawn Curriculum, the first two being preparations for the candidate for their Alchemical undertakings. In other words, this association of the swastika with the zodiac and elements was embedded into the curriculum and would have been taught to every single initiate of the Golden Dawn when Crowley was head of it, and likely the OTO and the Argentum Astrum, considering Crowley’s involvement with those organisations. Interesting when you consider a Greek Neo Nazi political party just pops up out of nowhere some 100ish years later calling themselves the Golden Dawn: Golden Dawn (Greece) – Wikipedia

From that same book, on page 460, in a chapter to do with Clairvoyance:
“The guide having made his appearance, he is to be tested by every means at the Seer's disposal. First of all, it is well to assume the Sign of the Grade to which that element is referred. In this instance, the Sign of the Zelator should be made, by physically as well as astrally raising the right arm to an angle of forty-five degrees. The guide should answer this with the same Sign or another which is unrnistakeable proof that he belongs to the element and has been sent to act as guide. If there is deception, these signs will cause him distress, or at once the vision will break up, or the false guide will disappear. He should also be asked clearly and deliberately whether he comes to act as guide in the name of the appropriate Deity Name. If all this strikes the Seer as satisfactory, and his doubts settled, let him follow the guide to wherever he is being led, carefully noting whither he goes, and asking questions about the element or whatever he sees”

I found a photo where a few of these elements seem to combine:

So yeah I guess it’s just more coincidences in a string of bizarre coincidences right?

At least they made good rocket propulsion systems, like that other occultist we have been talking about. Which brings me back to Nazi rocket scientist Werner Von Braun. Von Braun was one of the pioneers who worked on the V2 rocket system and was brought to America to work for NASA along with many other Nazi Scientists under Operation Paperclip:

“Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (23 March 1912 – 16 June 1977) was a German-American aerospace engineer^[3] and space architect. He was the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany and a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States.^[4]

While in his twenties and early thirties, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip.^[5] He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958.

In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift l,aunch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon.^[6][7] In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1975, he received the National Medal of Science. He advocated a human mission to Mars.” - Wernher von Braun - Wikipedia

Atleast we get the idea the Von Braun was quite a respectable man that only joined the Nazi’s so he could continue his life’s work in regards to rocket research. No mention of Carol Rosin of Fairchild Industries or Lt Colonel Philip J Corso though. Of course, those elements connect Von Braun to ETs, and we can’t have that to tarnish NASA’s image now can we? Allow me to elaborate:

Philip J Corso was a Lieutenant Colonel who worked for General Arthur Trudeau during Eisenhower’s presidency, and had an office at the Pentagon dealing with technological advancements that could be put to military use. In WW2 Corso fought Rommel in Africa, and was charged with rounding up the remnants of the Gestapo in Italy after the war ended. So you could say his resume was quite impressive, and he was quite respectable in regards to his military achievements. Certainly not someone who would feel the need to jump on the UFO bandwagon and bullshit us all with stories of ETs right? Uh, well that’s exactly what Corso did, if you consider his biography bullshit, which most arm chair researchers seem to do.

In his book The Day After Roswell Corso details how he was put in charge of distributing technology recovered FROM THE 1947 ROSWELL CRASH into already established R&D programs in an effort to conceal it and keep it out of the hands of those pesky Russians that had infiltrated the CIA. Things like night vision goggles, fibre optics, kevlar, lasers and integrated circuits, Corso claimed all came from the spacecraft that crashed in the New Mexico desert. He even mentions he saw one of the bodies of the crew. A few months after the books release, Corso died of a heart attack.

Corso suggests he went around to military contractors Fairchild (among others), where he dropped this retrieved tech into the hands of their supervisors with an intent to back engineer it. One of the men who he was in constant contact with to try and gain an understanding of how said tech would work was, you guessed it, Werner von Braun. Von Braun actually became the Vice President of that very same company Corso suggested he dropped some ET tech into the hands of:

“After leaving NASA, von Braun moved to the Washington, D.C. area and became Vice President for Engineering and Development at the aerospace company Fairchild Industries in Germantown, Maryland, on 1 July 1972.”^[124]  - Wernher von Braun - Wikipedia

But Corso is just bullshitting right? He was just a senile old man who was struggling to find purpose after his impressive military career, and so decided to spin us a story of fiction about aliens crashing into the desert. It isn’t like there is any other proof that backs up Corso’s claim or anything.

Well, the Wikipedia entry on the date surrounding the Bi Polar Junction Transistor seems to very much align with what Corso told us:

“The bipolar point-contact transistor was invented in December 1947^[10] at the Bell Telephone Laboratories by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain under the direction of William Shockley. The junction version known as the bipolar junction transistor (BJT), invented by Shockley in 1948,^[11] was for three decades the device of choice in the design of discrete and integrated circuits. Nowadays, the use of the BJT has declined in favor of CMOS technology in the design of digital integrated circuits. The incidental low performance BJTs inherent in CMOS ICs, however, are often utilized as bandgap voltage reference, silicon bandgap temperature sensor and to handle electrostatic discharge.” - Bipolar junction transistor - Wikipedia

For those who do not understand the history of technology, it took somewhere between 100 and 150 years to go from the discovery of electricity, to the amplification of analog signals using Thermionic valves. This was at the hands of a myriad of different scientists experimenting with the valve, some of which were Thomas Edison and Tesla. One could say quite a lot of development went into perfecting the valve, and it went through an evolution of change as more and more grids were added to suppress the inherent electrical noise. It found its use in everything from industrial control systems to guitar amplifiers. Then all of a sudden, in December 1947 up pops the transistor, seemingly because someone decided doping germanium with silicone would achieve the same result as what was effectively a light bulb with a few bits of metal inside of it. And this team of a handful of scientists just happened to pull it off a mere months after the Roswell Crash? Yeah uh ok, I guess this make sense……if you are apt at just ignoring anything that presents as an inconvenience to an argument you have no expertise in, like my brother in law does. Skeptics, find me the fucking article that tells me what prompted these guys to try doping germanium with silicone when the whole premise of the thermionic valve had been based on controlling grid electrons in a vacuum through a completely conductive element.

Now, Corso doesn’t actually mention he dropped a BJT into the hands of Fairchild. What he does mention is that he came into the possession of the alien tech something like a decade after the crash, after it was presented to him by Trudeau. It had been sitting in a cabinet in this office, which Corso took over when he moved into the Pentagon, for practically that whole time, simply because Trudeau didn’t know what to do with it. What is more, it didn’t originate with Trudeau. There was a hazy period of a few years immediately proceeding the crash where it is unknown what became of this technology, when it was in the hands of General Twinning (suggested as being an original MJ12 members). What Corso says is that he dropped an integrated circuit into Fairchild’s lap, and, as anyone with a little background in electronics knows, you can’t make an IC without a BJT. Well, at least you couldn’t back in the early 60s when IC’s were invented and supplied globally by that very same Fairchild company (the first to do so). Funny how no one ever thought to try and wire a few million thermionic valves together to achieve the same thing before the concept arrived at Fairchild.

According to Corso, it was Von Braun (very much aware it was ET tech) who suggested he take the IC to the guys over at Bell Labs who had been playing around with the concept of doping silicone with the BJT, suggesting that in that hazy period before the tech fell into his hands, someone had already undertaken an effort to reverse engineer part of it. Given our history of electronics development, it makes no sense that it would take us 100+ years to develop the thermionic valve, to have the concept of doping germanium with silicone pop up overnight and render that whole component almost completely useless. It certainly makes no sense, that in just over a decade later we figured out how to wire millions of these components together to create what would go onto to become the backbone of the computer, without any prior concept of mass manipulation of said valves. The only logical conclusion, in my opinion, is that which is presented to us by Corso. You know people are still allowed those things right? Opinions. Unlike my brother in law, mine is based on knowledge I spent 4 years sitting an apprenticeship for in my efforts to attain a trade level qualification in electronics. At least show me some evidence of a similar background if you want to bother arguing with me on this issue.

Corso also tells us that the who Strategic Defence Initiative was established under the pretence there was an extra terrestrial threat that America needed protection from, and that NASA even knew about ET interactions, which the organisation had actively engaged in covering up. Another reason why I don’t trust them.

So anyway, getting back to Von Braun and Fairchild; Carol Rosin was the first woman to become CEO of Fairchild Industries. Fairchild industries was an offshoot of the military contracted Fairchild Aircraft, and came about after Shockley, the supervisor who worked on the BJT, quit Bell Labs and tried opening his own company to continue to develop it. After some trouble with money, Sherman Fairchild picked it up and gave it a fresh make over, absorbing all the research on the BJT in the process. Now, Rosin ended up becoming a spokesperson for Von Braun after she became CEO. Here’s a little bit of background on her:

“Carol Rosin (born March 29, 1944) is the Founder of the Institute for Security and Cooperation in Outer Space, and also works as a speaker, author, educator, child psychologist^[^dubious^–^discuss^], futurist, and military strategist.^[1] She was also the first female executive of an aerospace company, working as a corporate manager of Fairchild Industries. She is executive director of the Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth, P.E.A.C.E. Inc. and the I.D.E.A Foundation, as well as a world peace ambassador for the International Association of Educators for World Peace.^[2]

Biography[edit]

Born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1944 and a graduate of the University of Delaware, Rosin was the first woman to work as an Aerospace executive at Fairchild Industries and is a leader and the original political architect in the movement to stop Anti-satellite weapons and the Strategic Defense Initiative.^[3] In her time at Fairchild, Rosin served as the spokesperson for Dr. Wernher Von Braun, with whom she created the film and educational program "It's Your Turn" to expand the diversity of people working in science fields.^[4] The program won many awards, including the Aviation Writers Award and the Science Teachers Gold Medal.^[5] Rosin helped create medical and educational training programs with ATS-6 satellites in the United States, including the first two-way audio and visual national and international satellite educational programs in over 20 countries.^[6]

Published works and media[edit]

Start of the Sirius Disclosure Project in 2001 at the National press Club, as witness.

Movies That Shook the World (Documentary) Herself, 2005^[7]

UFO: The Greatest Story Ever Denied II - Moon Rising (Video Documentary) Herself, 2009

```
Sirius (Documentary) Herself, 2013
```

For the Children (Book, I.D.E.A Foundation for the Benefit of Humanity) Co-Author, 2014 ISBN 9781530161393

The Carol Rosin Show (American Freedom Radio) Host, 2016-^[8]

Unacknowledged (Documentary) Herself, 2017

20th Anniversary of the Disclosure Project as herself, 2021”

Well well, well not another UFO connection to Von Braun and Fairchild. It gets even better when you consider what Rosin says in regards to what Von Braun allegedly told her on his death bed in the 70s:

DR Carol Rosin von Braun ‘The Extra-Terrestrial Threat’ ET UFO UAV – YouTube

In case you can’t watch youtube, here is a run down:

Von Braun suggested NASA was planning to weaponise space by using the idea of certain threats against the people to gain approval for such weaponization.

Von Braun believed communists would be the first threat identified by the United States, followed by terrorists, followed by third world radicals, followed by asteroids (maybe my brother in law was right to be concerned, lol) which would eventually culminate in a hoaxed alien invasion. Bear in mind this was in the 70s.

Rosin suggested Von Braun gave her the task of de-weaponising space to which she started her own organisation, the Institute for Security and Cooperation in Outer Space, which was in direct opposition to that very same initiative Corso mentioned was setup to “stop the malevolent ETs from invading earth”, and suggested NASA was covering up. Rosin came to the ultimate conclusion her mission was futile. In a separate video she suggests she walked in on a NASA meeting in the 70s that appeared to be the setup to the invasion of Iraq schpeel, in which people like Sudam Hussein had already been identified as the new enemy. When she asked what the fuck it was all about, the room went silent.

Here’s another article on her talking about what Von Braun told her.

THE HOAX ALIEN INVASION: HOW WERNHER VON BRAUN REVEALED NASA’S PLAN TO WEAPONIZE SPACE – UFO Digest

Consider where we are some 50 years later, and Von Braun’s predictions seem strikingly on point. We have the commie card with the cold war, the terrorist card with ….well fuck, just about anyone who seems to have a stash of oil America feels like it can profit off. We have a space force (team America fuck yeah song springs to mind)…

How Trump’s Space Force Would Help Protect Earth from Future Asteroid Threats | Space

And, from the actual official Space Force Strategic Overview:

“Although U.S. space systems have historically been technologically superior, China and Russia have embarked on major efforts to develop counter-space capabilities in order to destroy or disrupt U.S. and allied space capabilities in a crisis or conflict. They are also rapidly developing advanced space capabilities to enhance the lethality of their military operations, increasing the likelihood that U.S. and coalition forces will need to defeat the space capabilities of adversary forces in order to prevail in a potential conflict, to protect lives, and to secure the interests of the United States and its allies and partners. In short, space has become a warfighting domain.” - UNITED-STATES-SPACE-FORCE-STRATEGIC-OVERVIEW.PDF (defense.gov)

And since we are talking about Trump and his space force here to save us from doom from above can someone please explain this video to me?

Trump Trackdown – YouTube

The video is about a conman named Trump who convinces a small town that they are under threat from meteors about to fall on their heads. Trump’s suggestion is to build a wall around the town and purchase his magical umbrellas as the only means to keep them safe from the meteors. When one of the townspeople tries telling his community he is fraud, Trump decides to add a tax to his umbrellas which gets higher with every word that man speaks. He even puts on a little barrel explosion show, to make it look one of the meteors hit the ground right next to them. Note the white robes with the very basic astrological symbols. I’d be curious to know if his little ritual was taken straight out of a Golden Dawn or OTO book. From a series called Trackdown FROM FUCKING 1958. Yeah, yeah I know, just coincidence right?

How about Von Braun predicting “an Elon would take us to Mars” even further back in 1953? Didn’t you hear? It’s been the talk of the space community for the past week.

“Pioneering aerospace engineer and science-fiction writer Wernher von Braun may have predicted Elon Musk’s plan to colonize other worlds nearly 70 years ago when he described a man named “Elon” ruling over Mars.

Von Braun created the character “Elon” in his 1952 science fiction novel “Project Mars” — a space fantasy about a mission to Mars, according to a report.

The book’s predictions came to light a few years ago, but began trending on social media last week

Von Braun, one of the most important scientists in the development of rocket technology, describes a Martian government led by ten men, who worked under a leader “elected by universal suffrage for five years under the name or title of Elon.” -  German engineer predicted 'Elon' would conquer Mars in 1952 novel (nypost.com)

Seems Von Braun was well respected enough for NASA to post a bio of him on their webpage:

Biography of Wernher Von Braun | NASA

Yet Parsons wasn’t for some reason, even though Von Braun suggested Parsonshad more right to the title of “Ftaher of Rocketry” than he did:

jack parsons – NASA Search Results

…..even though people in the aerospace game nicknamed the JPL the “Jack Parsons Labratory” after his seemingly sketchy death (sketchy as in some believe it was assassination, and other friends of Parson’s an attempt to create a homunculous – WTF).

“The same month JPL held an open access event to mark the 32nd anniversary of its foundation—which featured a "nativity scene" of mannequins reconstructing the November 1936 photograph of the GALCIT Group—and erected a monument commemorating their first rocket test on Halloween 1936.^[25] Among the aerospace industry, JPL was nicknamed as standing for "Jack Parsons' Laboratory" or "Jack Parsons Lives".” - Jack Parsons (rocket engineer) - Wikipedia

But I suppose that is understandable when rumour has it one of your organisation’s founders was fucking about with astral projection and trying to summon the soul of an etherical being into an unborn fetus. It’s not like astral projection was considered a usable asset to the US government or anything. Oh wait a minute:

ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT OF GATEWAY PROCESS (cia.gov)

It’s almost like with all this rhetoric on Russia and China the US govt is going all out with the Commie bastard narrative once again huh? What is the bet the aliens will show up on the White House lawn in the next decade? My money is on the Nordics, which the Starseed agenda has seemingly been set up to be super accepting of.

Never mind that they are blonde haired and blue eyed; the same fucking eye and hair colours the Nazi’s were trying to make the dominant breed in their obsession with creating the Aryan Master race.

Do any of the followers of these channelers actually know where the Ashtar Command come from? I’ll give you a hint, all roads seem to lead back to the Theosophical society. The same society whose concepts on the Aryan race would go on to influence the Ariosophists that would in turn influence Hitler and the SS. Am I the only one concerned by this? Here’s an idea, what if the gameplan changed from Von Braun’s alien invasion, to strategic assimilation of the Nordics into general population. An already set up UFO religion would make a good pawn by which to carry out such assimilation, would it not?

But let’s do what skeptics like my brother in law do best and just ignore that for the time being as it doesn’t concern us right now. Don’t worry, I will definitely get to it in another article though.

Back to Parson’s and the idea he was trying to create a moonchild. Depending on what account of the story you read you might come across the one that suggests Crowley wasn’t particularly impressed with his and Hubbard’s efforts. {Allegedly} Crowley chastised them for opening the portal but lacking the magical skillset required to close it, which led to a tear in the fabric of space just sitting there waiting to let into our dimension whatever felt the need to come here….

….Like a black hole like anomaly perhaps?

“I was also told that I had been part of a “hive consciousness” that had tracked this amnesia to a black hole anomaly.

This black hole anomaly existed at the edge of this physical universe and was where the device causing the amnesia was being hidden.”

Except mine was at least 40 thousand years old.

So now you have myself, SD and Severin, playing around with occult concepts such as astral projection and lucid dreaming and we wound up claiming contact with non physical entities just like Parsons claimed. Lol, we are EXACTLY the type of people that NASA would employ to develop their rocket systems, as backed by history…….LOL

Connect……the……dots!!!

All evidence is suggestive Secret Societies such as The Golden Dawn, the Theosophical Society, the OTO etc were in possession of some very powerful secrets, and were conducting experiments specifically trying to contact non physical entities, which may have been met with some success. I have mentioned my suspicions that Blavatsky was given the Hybridisation schedule of the Aryans, which Hitler (whose salute seemed to be a check to make sure non physical entities were in fact friends) seemingly became the one to try and bring to fruition. Was rocket propulsion tech a gift from some of these non physical entities? If so, then what was exchanged for it. The opportunity to create a conduit by which to grant access to a physical body perhaps?

From Alien Interview:

“The recently despoiled German totalitarian state on Earth was similar to the "Old Empire", but not nearly as brutal, and about ten thousand times less powerful. Many of the ISBEs on Earth are here because they are violently opposed to totalitarian government, or because they were so psychotically vicious that they could not be controlled by "Old Empire" government.”

From the Commander:

There are numerous organizations that you refer to as "robed elders".

Each one has a niche role in this Prison Environment.

…
[4] Some were established by physical occult organizations from within the Prison population and has taken on a life of their own. These kinds of organizations are many. Some were created by accident. And some were created on purpose. One of the most famous (and prolific) occult leaders in your modern era was a man named Aleister Crowley and he was very active in creating some of these organizations in the non-physical worlds. Some spawned others, and some fractured and grew. 

- Answers from The Domain from questions generated 24SEP21 (metallicman.com)

.....these organizations in the non-physical worlds. Some spawned others, and some fractured and grew.                                    

- Answers from The Domain from questions generated 24SEP21 (metallicman.com)

Oh, and you know that Krishnamurti guy the Theosophists thought were their Matraya, and who we found out in one of my recent articles was brought in to interview Airl during the Roswell Crash (assuming it was Jiddu and not Uppaluri)? Turns out Parsons went along to some of his lectures:

“Parsons had also attended lectures on Theosophy by philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti with his first wife Helen, but disliked the belief system's sentiment of "the good and the true".^[178] During rocket tests, Parsons often recited Crowley's poem "Hymn to Pan" as a good luck charm.^[168] He took to addressing Crowley as his "Most Beloved Father" and signed off to him as "thy son, John"                      -           

Jack Parsons (rocket engineer) - Wikipedia

Taking what we now know through alien interview and MM, I would also suggest that there was more weight to Parson’s attempt at creating a moonchild than one would first think. Crowley alludes to the idea that a magical war was being fought between black and white magicians; was this really a prediction of WW2? At the very least, Hubbard seemed to know something; his concept of Thetan’s are too heavily coincidental with Airl’s concept of an IS-BE. One could argue that if Spencer was a Scientologist then he could have just been rehashing some of Hubbard’s concepts, but then this doesn’t explain why my experiences paralleled the Alien Interview so closely. I always thought Scientology was a load of bullshit to make money of rich celebrities. Maybe that wasn’t it’s original intention.

Could it be that another entity made its way into the moonchild, than what was actually intended by Parson’s or Hubbard? Like an Old Empire agent, and this agent propagated its agenda through the occult community until they eventually reached Hitler? What if Crowley and Blavatsky got it all wrong; what if the ones they were contacted by were not as benevolent as they made themselves out to be?

SD’s experiences suggest that she has past life memories of the Nazi’s carrying out similar operations to deliberately incarnate the Aryan’s/ Nordics into newly developing fetuses. I guess that is just another coincidence right?

So we know Parsons was at one point well regarded by the OTO. But who exactly were they? Well, they were an Order established by a suspected German police agent and Freemason Theodore Ruess, Freemasonry student Carl Kellner, and associate of Blavatsky’s and Chairman of the Theosophical Society Adya board of control Franz Hartmann (considered one of the most important Theosophical writers of his time). Does this really surprise you?

“Originally {the OTO }was intended to be modeled after and associated with European Freemasonry,^[2] such as Masonic Templar organizations, but under the leadership of Aleister Crowley, O.T.O. was reorganized around Crowley's Thelema as its central religious principle. One of the major features and core teachings of the organization is its practice of sex magic.^[1]” - Ordo Templi Orientis - Wikipedia

So you could say, in a some ways Freemason’s were sympathetic to all the shit Jack was getting up to whilst in the OTO and a follower of Crowley’s. I mean, they might not have approved of him trying to put the soul of an etheric being in a child, or even believed it, but they would have at least shared belief in the same alchemical aspects of the Kabbalah. This is, after all the main driving concept behind both groups. And if you think the Masons weren’t messing around with trying to summon spirits, think again:

From The Midnight Freemasons: The Magick of King Solomon, which claims the site as being for “Master Masons to talk about topics of Masonic Interest”.

“The spirits of the Goetia are portions of the human brain. Their seals therefore represent methods of stimulating or regulating those particular spots (though the eye)." (Aleister Crowley, The Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magic in the Goetia.)

If we as masons want to look at this in a philosophical sense we are all seeking to be the wise King Solomon. We must unlock the brass vessel of our own unconscious mind releasing all the aspects of ourselves we care not to let out. Each demon can be seen as an aspect of our personality that we keep hidden from the world. It is the goal of the magician with the aid of angels and magickal weapons to face the dark aspects of him and symbolically slay and expel those forces from our own spiritual nature, thus purifying him. This medieval system of what some would consider “black magick” is simply a way to reflect upon the aspects of our own psyche. If we as individuals wish to gain the wisdom of the archetypal king, we should face the shadow of ourselves and the demons that well in the void of our own nightmares.

Before one sincerely attempts to evoke these demons, one should first spend some time invoking the 72 counterpart angels of the Almadel. The Almadel is a very enlightening experience and puts the magician in touch with the aspects of virtue within the psyche of the individual. This should be required for two reasons, one: one should be in touch with their inner strength before they face the demons, and two: the angels of the Almadel have direct control over the demons of the brass vessel. The Almadel is a system of scrying into a crystal ball over a altar made of wax upon which are engraved the Holy names of God. Remember that invocation is to call down a power within your spirit and mind, so you invoke angels to bring them closer. The Magician will evoke demons, to to bring from within ones self into manifestation. “

Oh you mean like Jung’s Analytical Psychology?

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. - Carl Jung”

Masonic tradition was literally based on summoning the “demons” of Solomon, which were argued to really only be about unlocking hidden aspects of the mind. This presents an awkward conversation when you consider just how many astronauts, trained under NASA, are Freemasons:

Masonic Astronauts | Freemason Information

So now we know not only was NASA’s JPL founded by a guy who thought it possible and necessary to try and cram the soul of an etheric being into an unborn fetus, but that a large portion of NASA personnel are part of an organisation that studies summoning angels and demons as part of their craft. Not only that, they believe the Jewish system of “(Qabalah) . . . formed an important part of the Masonic traditions, and undoubtedly contains the nearest approach to a direct revelation of the ancient canonical secrets of the old world;’ (1) – Masonry and the Cabala (masoncode.com)

You sure these guys would tell you if they found something? Majority of them won’t even tell you half the shit I just laid down.

This connection to Solomon must be taken note of; not only did I have the Greater and Lesser Keys (the real versions) in my possession when I had my experiences, which also happened when I was intensively studying the Kabbalah, but my research is indicative that those who are being contacted within the occult community – people like Severin and SD etc–, and being told about the reincarnation traps have a better-than-average understanding of these texts. Consider them as the oldest methods of Steven Greer’s CE5. They are not just interpretations of some philosophical theories. My research suggests they are legitimate documents that detail the process by which to prepare a physical body for the inhabitation of an interdimensional consciousness, and this is backed by abductees I have spoken to. Let’s just say I am spilling a bit of a secret here. According to my own research, what is being revealed appears to be the genuine account of Earth’s history, just like is suggested by the Freemasons. You cannot tell me that is not worth investigation.

So there it is, the complete and unabridged version of why I think NASA are not worth taking seriously when it comes to, well, pretty much anything. If they really truly wanted to understand things about the cosmos, then it would have done them well to listen to the concepts of Parsons and how he thought quantum physics could describe Thelemic magic…..who is to say they didn’t?

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

video. My home in China. 11MB

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The parable of the three houses

Instead of splitting Russia from China, the U.S. has unintentionally done its best to push them into a deeper alliance. It was the most severe strategic error the U.S. could make.-b

I just received a comment from a reader that said that I was “butt hurt” and hated the United States. Well, maybe I am, but I don’t hate the USA.

Instead, I simply tried to explain that I just see the bigger picture and I don’t like what I am seeing.

What I am seeing is all the makings for World War III, and the American citizenry are all actively participating in it.

Like zombies. Just going ahead allowing the rot to get worse, letting the buildings fall down, and reelecting the psychopathic to boss them into submission.

So I am going to create a parable.

It’s the parable of the three houses.

The Three Houses

Once up a time there were three houses in a town. They were all well known throughout the town as they were the biggest and largest homes in the community.

Oh, certainly there were many homes in the town. Nearly 200. But most of the homes were much smaller and inconsequential. Some were opulent, like Frans. Some were poor like little Bang A Desh. Some were complex like the house of Mex, and some were trying to fix things up like Zimmy Bob’s.

The biggest of the three was owned by a big, burly, bearded man who went by the name “Big Russ”. He was a big lumberjack and had this enormous bear for a pet.

The other two homes were roughly the same size, but one had many more children. That home was always lively and active. The kids were always playing and talking, laughing and singing.

That home was owned by a very short, quiet man named “Mr. Lee”. He was a quiet, studious man, who always spoke soft and gently. His hobby was making things, and he was always welcoming others to trade with him. When he wasn’t making things, he was always practicing his martial arts in the peace of his backyard garden.

And the last of the homes was one that sat on top of the biggest hill in the town. It was perhaps the richest of all the homes. Everyone, for years, would look up at the home and want to live there. As it was a truly exceptional home; a mansion really.

That home was owned by a man whom everyone called “Uncle Sam”.

Some History

Now, Uncle Sam, being so tall, strong and incredibly handsome, usually got his way in everything that he did. For years, he has been able to strut around the town without confrontation.

He was so accustomed to getting a “free pass” in everything that he did that he started to brazenly offend the rest of the good townspeople.

He would go inside the other homes, raid their refrigerators, take things that he wanted and sleep with the daughters. No one liked that behavior (with a few exceptions), but no one was able to do anything about it.

And over the years, being so accustomed to being the biggest and baddest person in the town, “Uncle Sam” started to believe that it was the natural order of things. He started to believe that he was able to do this because “God favored him, his lifestyle, and his arrogance”.

He believed that he was the exception to all the rules.

He believed that he could define the rules for all the other houses in the community to obey, and that he would have his own rules; his own “exceptions”.

He started to tell this to everyone.

“I am exceptional” he said.

“I have a big shining house on the hill,” he said.

The other two big houses

Now, Uncle Sam had, from time to time, visited the homes of both Big Russ and Mr. Lee. But, he wasn’t ever welcomed, and over the years they have been getting rather antagonized, and infuriated with his actions and activities.

Realizing that, Uncle Sam pretty much stayed away from those two big homes.

Instead, he preferred to frequent the smaller homes in the less affluent section of the town. This included the homes on Mid-East Avenue, and South-Am Road.

As well as all the homes of the Stan Clan.Uncle Sam has really been active there.

Which included him having to be forcefully removed from both Aff Gan, and Kaz Is’s homes.

But, that doesn’t mean that he didn’t want to go visit Big Russ and Mr. Lee from time to time. But the thing is, that when he visited, his table manners were atrocious. His body odor was foul, and his behaviors were rude and distasteful.

What ever he once was, what he is today is something different. Today, he’s a wife beater, a child molester, an alcoholic drunkard, who has a passion for shoplifting, petty crimes, and rape. When he’s not practicing arson, getting into drunk brawls, or taking “a dump” in other’s yards, he’s out having sex with their dogs.

No one really wants to have much to do with him, because as everyone knows, once you let him in your life you won’t ever be able to get rid of him.

As of late…

The children of Uncle Sam has been busy raising all sorts of ruckus. And what’s more, they have been all over the town doing so.

Mr. Lee complained about it.

He told Uncle Sam to take his children, and get out of his backyard. He told him to get off his front porch. He told him to stop peeking into his windows. He told him to stop sabotaging his car, pouring salt in his garden, and pulling up his tulips. He told him to get his dogs and chain them up. He no longer wanted to hear them barking day and night, digging up his bushes, and having his children race around and around the home in loud muffler-less motorcycles.

Big Russ complained about it as well.

He told Uncle Sam to get off his porch, stay out of his backyard. He told him that he no longer wanted those children to set fires to the neighboring yards, stealing the lawn ornaments, and playing their rock-and-roll music at all hours of the day and night.

Uncle Sam heard both of their complaints.

He thought about them.

And said “no”.

The reactions…

Well, Big Russ told Uncle Sam that there would be repercussions. But, took no overt and obvious action.

He sent his children out (in secret) to the yard of Uncle Sam. Then, he sat back and smiled. No firecrackers. No noise-makers. No barking dogs. No loud motorcycles. No. Those children all silently, and sternly, went off to the house armed with dangerously lethal ten-gage shotguns.

No “fun and games”.

And Mr. Lee, always kind and quiet, smiled and sat on his porch with an 8-gage shotgun (which, is a very large gun, don’t you know).

His children, and were told to stay in the house and practice their martial arts, cleaning their long-guns, and reading up on the book “the art of war”.

But Uncle Sam, seemingly an idiot, doubled down.

“Do as I say” he roared!

“You WILL obey me! You will listen to me, and you will pay homage and tribute to me!”

And he sent his children, and his toadies over to the house of Mr. Lee. And, now, almost all of his children are going around and around the house of Mr. Lee. They are revving their engines and making as much noise as they can possibly create. Poor Mr. Lee is really getting “rattled up” with his windows shaking, and the dishes falling on the floor. His tulips all decimated, and his gates town and broken.

And, well Uncle Sam has also started to send his other remaining children to camp out on the porch of Big Russ. There they are lighting campfires on the “welcome mat” and tossing firecrackers at all hours of the day and night. Giggling, sticking out their tongues and making rude sounds and laughing.

It was noisy for years.

Really years.

And then Mr. Lee and Big Russ held a party.

It was a big party and it was held in the dead of Winter. Everyone was invited except Uncle Sam and his “toadies”.

And at the meeting, they announced that the entire town cannot grow and live in peace as long as there is a big bully in town, and that all of the townspeople must gather together and start committing to their promises, agreements, and rules. And that they would take the lead.

Everyone in the party agreed. The welcomed the inclusiveness of it, and their equal participation in it. And of course, they too hated the rude behaviors and the bullying behaviors of Uncle Sam.

The entire town rejoiced in a defined, sensible plan for dealing with the town bully and his toadies.

Now, let me ask the reader a question…

Looking at the big picture…

What action should Uncle Sam take to defuse a tense, potentially catastrophic event train?

I would suggest, sending his kids back home. Paddling them until their butts are red and sore, and selling off all those motorcycles, barking dogs, and firecrackers.

Then apologizing in public to the community.

If you were Big Russ, what action do you think you should take?

Would it be against the children on the porch; a continuous game of "whack a mole", or would it be against Uncle Sam himself?

If you were Mr. Lee, what action do you think you should take?

Would you wait until more children arrive and get louder and badder? Or would you lay down systems to disable those motorcycles? Or would you burn down the gas stations, so the motorcycles couldn't get any more gas?

Do you think that making an announcement at that party was a goo thing to do?

Words without action are meaningless. This is a solid framework that requires tasking. Is the rest of the town up to handle the challenge?

And that is how things are.

And MM here is just trying NOT to pick sides so much as I just want the entire town to live together in peace and harmony.

I live in the house with Mr. Lee. It’s a pleasant, peaceful, kind and calm place. I want to keep it that way. Don’t you?

MM Special Message

Life is fleeting.

Please, please make the best of what you have RIGHT NOW. Maybe there are evil psychopathic people, idiots and nasty malcontents. But you are in control of your bubble of reality. You can affect your own life.

You can make the world a better place. Please do so.

Video 7MB

Show care and concern to those around you.

Especially your family.

Really.

Do you really spend enough time with those that you love? Do you have a family that spends happy and sad times together? Is your life rich with pets, friends and savory food?

Video 7MB

Spend time with family, friends, or just have fun…

Likten to me.

I know it’s so easy to get caught up with work, needs, goals, objectives and all the rest. I, too, spend a lot of my time scrubbing dog shit off the floor, changing baby diapers, and fielding calls at midnight to Salesmen in Canada and the United States, but you all must start spending more “quality time” (such an overused expression)… more “fun time”.

Here are some ideas for your inspiration…

Dancing… video 5.6MB

Or maybe something like this. This is in Africa.

Video 10.4MB

Play a video game in full immersive simulation. video 6.3MB

You do know that the technology is really advanced in China these days. Like this. Video 2MB

We must be more than ourselves…

Yeah. Having fun is what relaxes us and adds the taste and spice to our lives. It’s really important, and terribly underutilized. Instead, it has been replaced by media, and social networking. I think that we should always look at the bigger picture.

Like what?

Food.

Tasty long cooking food (not the fast food). Delicious. Food. Like your grandmother used to make. Food. Like baked fish, city chicken, scalloped potatoes, corned beef and cabbage and Beef Stroganoff. Food. Stuff that are difficult to get in restaurants. Stuff that your wife and family members can experiment with and make signature dishes that feed and nurture.

And then relax.

Chat over the food. Talk about your day. About her day. About your friends. About what needs to be done. About hope. Dreams. Plans.

Conversation.

Not television.

Don’t wait for others to make it happen. It’s YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. Act in control of YOUR life. Stop waiting for others to do things… to agree on things… to endless debate things. Just do it.

You be the guiding light.

You.

YOU.

Start carving out a place in the table of life, and YOU start inviting others to share in your little piece of Heaven.

GOod friends. Good family. Good food and drink.

You start it. You make it happen.

It will happen.

So will a nice, safe, secure home. Cozy, warm. Dry. Tastefully decorated. Your wife is in charge of everything domestic.

She’s the boss.

Like on an aircraft carrier. There is a Captain, and then there is the XO. She’s the Executive Officer, and you are the Captain. Be the Captain; steer that ship to a fine safe harbor and prosper there.

I’m giving you all the keys, don’t you know.

You will get, also, because of your lower stress and improved organization, a group of friends where you BELONG. You will get participation in life. Pets. A cat or two. Maybe a dog.

You will be invited places. You will have good walks. Good times. Great conversation, and people who make special occasions becuse…

…well…

…because (insert lame excuse here).

You will get other things as well.

A hobby. A pleasure or two.

And care about our surroundings.

Watch out for the kids, and the pets that run in front of us from time to time.

video 3MB

And just kind of live life.

Why not live life?

Watch good movies, enjoy art. Touch sculptures.

Have a hot fudge sundae.

Visit historical places. Enjoy the day on the beach or a snowy mountain hike. Play with your pets, or friends. Just start getting engaged in discussions about all sorts of interesting and curious things.

Sit on the porch with an inviting porch light on. Invite neighbors over for a game of checkers, or cards. Have beer available, or iced tea.

Check out interesting things and discuss them.

video 2MB

Please know that you can make your life in a real paradise on the earth.

You really can. You just have to manufacture it.

You run your prayer affirmation campaigns and implement them in accordance to your fate forecasts. You follow the guidelines on being a Rufus, and participating in the community.

You get your home life in order. You divide responsibilities. Stop trying to run the whole world and carry it on your shoulders. Stop that egotistical nonsense.

Share the responsibilities.

The wife is in charge of all finances and all domestic, you (if you are a man) are in charge of earning money and fixing things. You earn it. She spends it. It’s the natural order of things.

You give her all the money you make, and she hands back a living allowance. Things are much calmer and better that way.

No worries.

I tell you (men) that once you do this, you will forever never have to worry about food, bills, or disputes EVER again. She will take care of everything. You won’t have those worries. Never again.

You will eat WELL. Really, really well. You will have a larder, and a freezer full of premade meals, and canned goods.

Your stress level will go WAY down. There is nothing like daily meals of good fine delicious food, good conversation and an evening of winding down in cool soft relaxation.

And you will be able to focus on your job.

And your life will really start to look like this…

video 8MB

And really, isn’t that what you want?

Do you want more?

You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.

New Beginnings 3

Articles & Links

Jiddu Krishnamurti – Wikipedia

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[daegonmagus] – Part 18 – A Look At Non Physical Contact Through Participants External to Metallicman

The following is the 18th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

This particular read is truly enjoyable. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

-MM

Part 18 – A Look At Non-Physical Contact Through Participants External to Metallicman

This article is a continuation on themes first presented in my last article, [daegonmagus] – Part 17 – SD’s Experience With More Consciousness Facilities Courtesy of A Shamanistic Recipe For Lucid Dreaming (metallicman.com).

In that article I gave a description of SD’s LD experience of a {yet another} consciousness facility, the beliefs of the Wandjina Wunggurr people of North Western Australia, and the idea that at some point in the long distant past the astral and physical planes were merged into one big reality soup.

I suggest reading it first if you haven’t already.

Now, getting to this article; there are some pretty interesting stories out there if you know where to look. More specifically, though, the occult community has some real gems if you are persistent enough and have a knack to filter through all the bullshit that has a tendency to come up.

For the past 10 years, I have been combing these groups searching for anything that could be remotely related to anything the Elder Guardians and the Unseen 5 told me.

More specifically the astral projection, lucid dreaming, demonology, remote viewing and just general spiritual communities were areas I started conducting my research.

When I get a hit, what I like to do is lay out the person’s experience – completely free of judgement – and tease out all the similar themes and, if there are enough of them, add the person and talk to them to get a more in depth understanding of their experience/s.

So when I come across something like the below message, you can betcha bottom dollar it draws my interest, and thus goes in my research basket.

This was something I stumbled upon the other day on a group for astral projection by a guy named Ophiuchus13:

“Hi. I just want to share with you all my Deep Meditation Experience. -January 6, 2022. There is a trap after life.

I encountered a white lizard beings. I saw an many small spaceship & was about to going inside the big mothership.

I see some soul light beings are fall in line & they going inside the mother ship too. When i scan the inside the lizard alien mothership i saw the soul light beings are imprisoned inside the electric prison cage.

Their divine self (consciousness) is inside the big looking glass jar.

That is why they being manipulated to go inside the alien ship.

I fight with the white lizard alien & crash all spaceship using the thunderbolts & lava. -January 2, 2022.

I saw a white spirit, he's/her body was tied while the flame is burning to him/her. she's/he's indeed eternal or immortal and yet he/she was suffering so i save him/her. After a few moments i saw a vision of a dark crystal ball and it was holding by the white ruler in his hand.

his head face is a lion.

i scan the crystal ball thru my inner eye. the dark crystal ball is the physical universe. where in so many spark of light was inside the black crystal ball.

i tried to destroy the ball but it was really hard but i made it to make it crack so while spark of lighmt will gradually get away.

i saw the companion of the lion head rulers most of them are white tnt obo. they tell me that im ranking #4 for being interloper.

their realms are light but i dont feel any divine feelings to them and their realms. -October 30, 2021.

(3 AM+) I entered the White Crystal Portal, which was super long and brilliant. At the end of it. I am outside the universe as in total darkness but there are stars that are very numerous.

I also see a lot of White Box/White Container.

I approached it, I saw so many souls in a White Box, they were standing and lined up.

I felt when I saw that they were in a deep state of hallucination.

The feeling that they thought they were in Heaven but they did not know that they were in a White Box that was crowded.

I decided to broke the box, by releasing some power on my weapon.

After i broke the white box with full of souls or light beings, the souls have been set freed in the white box and they are going in different directions like star dust in the universe.

Later on, an Angel of Light with 9 Wings appeared to me, but I didn't feel any holiness in him.

He said "why am I interfering", I said via telepathically that his/her doing wrong.

Because he gave hallucinations to light beings or souls and confined them in a white box.

He replied to me "Don't let me interfere".

Later I released massive thunder bolts or lightning in many white boxes. I can see that the boxes were broken and the souls were freed, estimated they were in 57K that i helped the souls that have disappeared in box & going different directions floated and flew.in

Then a white Angel with 9 wings got mad at me.

They tied my hands with a white chain but I broke the white chain. They were angry because I'm interfering there works. Until they did nothing to me, they also failed to stop me from freeing the souls trapped in the light portal box.”

Yeah I know, I know; MM is not particular fond of the Reptilian schpeel, but I have a rule when it comes to comparing these sorts of stories with others, and that is to ignore any labels or information identifying race, motivations and anything that could be the result of deliberately implanted distortion into the mind of the experiencer (given the manipulation tactics I have encountered through my experiences, I simply do not trust these images – I cannot rule out that these non physical beings project false images to mask their identities).

What I take note of is the core aspects of the experience, and what I am interested in here is the guy effectively conducted a remote viewing session through meditation and saw parts of the amnesia traps we encounter after death.
So I got to talking with him in a private chat, and he revealed some more information: These beings are cloning his astral bodies using the akashic records as a template to alter the code for the purpose of having him not interfere in their plans.

Hold up, I seem to remember someone else saying something similar about {zombie} clones and using the akashic records to change astral body make up – oh yeah, that someone was me back in my part 2 – [daegonmagus] – Part 2 – Contact with the Elder Guardians (metallicman.com).

Remember how I said the amnesia operated as a sort of code that manipulated a person’s higher energetic bodies so that they would blindly enter into the reincarnation/soul burning chamber after death (which I fucking remember as being what took place right before being thrown into this useless meatsuit)? Well this conversation certainly turned interesting. But I guess it’s just a coincidence and it was something our minds just conjured up after watching a few too many matrix movies right? {Insert laughing face skeptics like to use as a measure of the supposed intelligence they possess to talk about such subjects, rather than actually contribute any meaningful dialogue XD XD XD XD}.

But let’s not end it there.

This is just one of many other stories I have come across that when taken individually comes across as nothing more than the ravings of a mad man, but when combined with the experiences of others start to point at a higher truth slowly being revealed to us.

The Watchers Covid Message

Take for instance this little nugget that was given to an occultist, Severin Aequus, (now a contact that I engage in respectful banter with about occult subjects) just as the whole COVID thing was gaining traction back at the beginning of 2020 (and yeah I have known about it this whole time but refrained from mentioning it, because I like to get an idea of people’s viewpoints on subjects before something can bias it towards one end or another):

“The Watchers' COVID-19 Message:

Note: This essay is rather long because there is a need for it to be exhaustive and thorough with regard to the conditions and interpretation of the message. But in order to appease those of you without a lot of time to devote to this, I've included the word "Note:" before any paragraph which is not essential to understanding the message itself.

I've spent much of my time over the last few weeks puzzling over what caused the dramatic shift in consciousness that most people appear to have experienced within the last couple of months.

A few people, myself included, were unaffected by whatever this influence was. So from our perspective it appears that the world has gone insane. That's not to say that anyone is wrong in terms of their views and/or opinions on how the world should respond to pandemics. It's just that they are inconsistent with the way that we, as a society, have dealt with similar epidemics in the past. If you feel like an outsider watching the world conduct the largest cosplay event ever conceived, then you know which group you're in.

On the other hand, if you feel that the world is acting perfectly rationally and consistently, then you are among the majority in the former group. The only thing that seems to differentiate why a person went one way or the other seems to be related to how well-developed their sense of empathy is. Essentially, the capacity for empathy appears to be awakening within everyone. Thus, those who seem unaffected are actually the ones who already had a functioning sense of empathy.

Affected?

Affected by what?

I received a message on May 5, 2020 from a set of intelligences I call "The Watchers". They are also known by some as "The Secret Chiefs", "The Masters" and many other names according to spiritual and/or cultural tradition. I have been in contact with them intermittently for the last 20 years.

Over that time, I have received 3 communications from them, including this one. As a matter of convention, all text which comes directly from the message will appear in ALL CAPS. The rest can be assumed to be just my personal commentary, opinion, or conjecture.

Note: For those who do not know me, it may be worth pointing out that I am not the type to seek out these sorts of experiences. Quite the contrary. I'm a scientist who has a knack for making "paranormal" things suddenly stop happening just by being in the room. While I have had some success with developing certain types of telepathic and spiritual mediumship abilities, I simply find it to be more practical for daily life to leave those things turned off. So in order for any kind of spiritual intelligence to get my attention, it must be loud and bold.

In this particular case, one of the Watchers appeared to my girlfriend while in normal waking consciousness to express his frustration that I could not hear him/them. Hopefully, that provides some helpful background material about the character and practices of your messenger. Note: I cannot provide an exact transcript of the message because they do not speak in language. They are inherently telepathic and can turn on the latent telepathic abilities in humans in order to "hear" them.

The first time they "spoke" to me we had to go through a calibration process because they were trying to send information much more quickly than I was able to receive it, much less actually process or understand it. Even at the slowed rate, it's still much too fast to make any use of on the spot. So they leave me with it and I spend the next week sorting through it all and actually comprehending what is in there.

For this reason, I often refer to it as an information download. Regarding intent and provenance, I can attest that these beings are not malicious at all. However, I wouldn't exactly call them benevolent either. Their perspective is too far removed from our own for us to be able to fairly assess their integrity or motivations. But who else could have brought about such radical and sudden shift in consciousness?

No one in human history has even come close to effecting such radical change on a global scale before and there's no reason to assume that one person or a small cabal are capable of it now. THEY ARE CONDUCTING A MAGICAL OPERATION ON A GLOBAL SCALE TO AFFECT A CHANGE IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HUMANITY.

To set the proper context, I have received no knowledge of anything regarding the COVID-19 virus, it's origins, or anything else of a medical nature. That's not what any of this is about. I will say that I feel it's most likely that The Watchers took advantage of a convenient opportunity to piggy-back their operation onto a suitably scary event as opposed to them actually manifesting the virus. But I can't say for sure and the answer is probably irrelevant anyway. The point is that the virus is a means to an end. THIS EMOTIONAL EVENT IS NECESSARY IN ORDER TO TRIGGER THE INTENDED SHIFT IN CONSCIOUSNESS.

A shift in consciousness is evidenced by the outpouring of compassion that people are demonstrating for those most susceptible to dying as a result of being infected with COVID-19. When over 80,000 people died from the 2018 flu, it was barely a footnote in most news broadcasts. So, on one hand, our behavior is radically inconsistent. But on the other, we're demonstrating compassion and empathy on a level never before seen. It may even be that some of us have begun to conceive of humanity as one… a monad.

While the worst-case scenario for the virus, in terms of lethality, seems to have been avoided, humanity's reaction to it is unprecedented. In the short term - speaking from an American perspective - we are likely to see several social changes in the form of new government programs. Universal (aka. Single Payer) Healthcare and Basic Minimum Income seem like obvious pieces of legislation to pass in the very near future. The fact that I can write such a sentence is shocking considering that it was unfathomable to most Americans before this crisis.

That further goes to show that this is having precisely the kind of impact that The Watchers intended for us. While the implementation of various social welfare programs is a great thing, that is just incidental progress along the way to something much bigger. THE ACTUAL STATED GOAL OF THE OPERATION IS TO MERGE THE PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL PLANES OF EXISTENCE. In other words, the 'creatures' and other characters that can presently only be seen through normal waking eyes by the most gifted and practiced seers or mediums will eventually become plainly visible to everyone.

As I have begun to slowly promulgate this message, I have received messages from dozens of people from all over the world reporting that their ability to perceive "the other side" has become dramatically stronger in recent months. In an attempt to confirm the validity of the message I received, I contacted a couple of friends of mine who are particularly gifted seers to inquire about anything special going on that day or if they had received any messages. What they revealed confirmed my suspicions that what I received was a genuine communication intended for broadcast.

However, to be certain I waited a week before writing the first draft of this post in order to observe whether the message remained as crisp in my memory as it did the day of, as would be expected of a genuine communication. It has.

Note: I don't have their permission to reveal their names… or necessarily their support to reveal this message at all. So I'll have to make annoyingly frequent use of pronouns to keep this accounting of events anonymous. Before I get into the details of their experiences, it's worth noting that the appearance of such messages differs from one person to the next because we each perceive reality through the lenses of our knowledge and experience.

So it stands to reason that no two people will perceive the same thing in exactly the same way. This holds true for physical objects as well (e.g. "Isn't this painting beautiful?"). Their version of the message came across within the context of their own symbols and cosmology, which happens to be Wiccan. They described it as a "tearing down of the veil between this world and the next".

One of them said that they used to have a little old black and white TV with poor reception in their head that they could watch and sometimes glean information from. Starting about a month ago, their TV is now in 4K Theater Surround Mode! They've been having trouble getting overwhelmed with all of the information they're now receiving. They both mentioned that "soon everyone will have the second sight".

Note: I don't know what "soon" exactly means, however. I find it highly unlikely that any such shift in awareness in anything we might consider a "soon" time span would cause anything short of massive panic and destructive behavior. The only way that a change that dramatic can be accomplished without sending the word spiraling into madness must be very slow and methodical. So from The Watchers' perspective, this shift may be coming "soon". But on our time scale, think in terms of 2-3 generations (40-60 years) at least.

If you've been wondering WHEN THIS VIRUS STUFF WILL PASS AND THINGS RETURN TO "NORMAL", THE ANSWER IS NEVER. Sure, the virus will pass. But IT WAS JUST A CATALYST FOR A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT IN HUMAN AWARENESS. Even without some bigger goal in mind, just the psychological effect of us having to justify our behavior will result in long-term consequences for the rest of our natural lives. Fortunately for you, this message provides all you need to justify your sudden change in attitude and behavior, so that's one less thing to wrestle with later in life.

This leaves us with one big lingering question: Why? To put it quite simply, they expressed that THEY ARE TIRED OF WATCHING US GO THROUGH EXTINCTION EVENTS. THERE'S SIMPLY NOTHING LEFT FOR THE WATCHERS TO LEARN FROM THOSE EVENTS. Hold up… The clear implication of that statement is that without intervention, we were headed toward an imminent self-imposed mass extinction event and this shift in the collective consciousness was necessary to avoid that fate. They didn't specify the nature of this event. But we could certainly devise a short list of likely candidates.

But does it matter if it's been averted? Maybe. They weren't completely clear as to whether the event was conclusively diverted or if it was merely postponed or if they just suspect that this change will be enough to avert the crisis when it comes. Of course, this also begs the question of what these previous extinction events were. It's conceivable that this Earth has seen multiple humanoid experiments in its 4.5 billion-year history, especially since we've only been here for 100,00 or so. The only thing we can say about that is that they must not have reached our level of technological "advancement" because we aren't going around picking up pieces of ancient styrofoam everywhere. ( For more information, see this article from Popular Mechanics: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a32743456/rapid-mass-extinction/).

Another possibility is that they are referring to micro-extinctions on the level of civilizations, such as the Mayans. Other more "out there" possibilities include the idea that there could be many humanoid experiments being conducted right now on different planets. Or they could be referring to an abstract idea of timelines intersecting across n-dimensional space-time. But they didn't specify, so you're free to take your pick or add your own idea. This brings us to a close.

Please note that the message is what it is. I can provide very little other than what has been included here. Thus, each person must decide for themselves whether it is something they are willing and able to accept or not. Also, if you have received any related messages or have anything to add to this narrative, please share your experience in the comments”

Wow! I have to admit, I am impressed with Severin’s writing, and even more so with his ability to keep an objective perspective when dealing with his own {seemingly crazy, going by society’s standards} experiences.

Like me, Severin has his own experiments going when it comes to astral projection (he’s even got a you tube channel up at that talks about that subject a bit more in depth if anyone is interested: Scientific Illuminism Institute – YouTube) Seems to be a rarity in this day and age when dealing with messages communicated in the non physical domain.

Again, when we start peeling back some of the core aspects of Severin’s experience, we find some similarities with the “secret chiefs” and my Elder Guardians, the idea that both groups don’t want to see us go extinct on account of being a bunch of dumb apes (for the umpteenth time, according to Severin’s Watcher), and that there is room for improvement when it comes to our cognitive processing abilities.

Then there is the idea that these Watchers are slowly expanding people’s consciousness to effectively be able to see what astral projectors see when they are off galavanting around the astral planes…. Which reminds me (taken from my part 3):

“{The Unseen 5 Leader} mentioned that the organization’s numbers used to be quite significantly higher; the recent (past 1000 years) decline in its numbers meant that the 5 of them were under a substantial logistics workload, even when operating from this higher state of consciousness. {The Unseen 5 Leader} was the only full time operator, after all. Thus an additional task of mine included making their presence known to those with astral projection/ lucid dreaming abilities.

{The Unseen 5 Leader} was concerned people with these skills didn’t take them as seriously as I did. He made a point of telling me the astral planes weren’t there just for people to go buzzing around on a holiday away from physical reality. They were the frontlines of a very real non physical war where the weapon of choice was being targeted directly at human consciousness.”

Severin told me that since posting this on the on that particular astral projection group that he has had it confirmed by more than a dozen other people who have had similar contact experiences, and suggests “there’s definitely some meat on those bones”. He also suggested there is a definite ET element to this, but suggests “people don’t realise they are travelling astrally, not physically”.

So the “Watchers” (take note of this terminology; I have found it a common terminology used by other abductees who understand the ET/ Astral relationship, along with “the Others”) are planning on merging the non physical and physical planes eh?

And yeah, I could see how if you’d never astral projected before that this might come across as total bullshit and insanity. But if more than one person are saying the same thing, then it’s a good bet that argument goes out the window. In case you missed my last article, my wife, SD, was also given similar information.

That article also points to some more consistency in this narrative from the perspective of two ancient cultures. Here’s a piece I didn’t add that gives a bit of back story to her experiences.

“Again I was walking the dog behind the oval at the mud pits, and there was a man just standing at the top of this small ridgeline with a German shepherd. The most off putting thing was that wherever they looked, it was at the same time like both of them were synchronized robots or something; when the man would turn his head the dog would turn it as well like they were one entity.

Charlie was going about his business and then when we got to that bit where they were – you had to go up and over this little cliff and down into a gully – he just stopped, his heckles went up and he walked backwards out of the gulley when he saw them. I turned around and followed Charlie (the dog) because it was just strange and creepy.

That was the first time I physically saw that guy, and that is when the weird dreams started; they were of that person or dude, or whatever he was telling me weird things about different times and places; that was how I formerly met him.
He had a scar down one side of his face that he apparently got in some war. I ended up calling him Vince after a TV show with a similar looking guy. The things he would talk about seemed like they were in reference to astral worlds.

Vince would tell me things to do with a flood and the Fae race. He reminded me that my soul was not a typical person soul – this had been revealed to me by the creatures around my bed.

He explained there are four different types of human so to speak. Ones that have souls from the beings from before (when the astral and physical planes were one thing); some are the typical ape descendant, one is a hybrid race that comes from what I assumed at the time he meant as being dinosaurs, and the other one is similar to what I now know to be the Nordic type.

He said they were the four types of human that live on the planet currently, and there will come a time in my life where people will find out about it, and that it is important to remember which one I am, because there will be a lot of bullshit and people will try to tell me that I am something that I am not, and to remember that having a Witch’s power is very significant. It was because of him I found out about the astral war; he told me all about it.

What he told me was that the astral war has been going on for quite some time; pretty much there is the equivalent of what biblical orientated people would assume are angels and demons but they aren’t. They are the same race split in two, one half is fighting for the merge of the astral and physical worlds to come back, one is fighting against it to keep it separated.

My people/ race were originally very powerful because of their magical abilities but then another race came into it and decided that because of their science they were superior.

The human races are new because the science race is one of the ones who do all the manipulative things to everyone through technology. They have also used their tech to create certain types of people.

The problem is those types of beings don’t have the ability to create soul energy from nothing, whereas the people who were my people were able to create soul energy.

The gist I got, was that there are some beings who have souls and who can have children who have souls and then there are some who cannot: the ones who don’t have souls, want one because when their life ends they are gone. So they are trying to pretty much steal and take the magic part of the DNA that creates souls; there is apparently a section of DNA – a tiny piece – that dictates whether or not someone has a soul complex or not.

So that is what the war is literally over, the ones who don’t have the souls enslaved the people who do, and forced them into camps raped them , did experiments on them and tortured them for thousands of years. 

The factions in the astral that are now trying to fix the problem are trying to wake up the whole physical realm to this other thing that is going on, because at the moment they are the only realm that knows that there is more than just themselves; they are trying to wake up people in the physical plane to the fact that there is another 12 planes of existence (13 altogether). 

Half of the issue is that these four races on earth are all from different factions and the DNA from some of them has the ability to open the veils and join the astral with the physical – they are the keys. 

The problem is that the ones that have been pretty much making dummy people to try and figure out how to make a soul have very conveniently built into their people this weird obsession with energy so they can be manipulated by it; so they can and will hinder, hurt and kill those who are the keys trying to access that. 

Apparently the keys are given a guard so when they unlock the key part of themselves they are therefore guarded continuously from then on, because they become more vulnerable physically when they are spiritually awoken. Vince allegedly was my first guard before the physical one came (DM).

Rather than rehash the whole transcription that I did include in that article, lets just take some key paragraphs:

“Firstly the Fae (faery) beings were on earth. At the same time there were various types of humans (Neanderthal included) and at that time, the physical and astral realms were tethered to each other and you could walk through each easily like walking over a bridge or through a door; there was no need to fall asleep to detach the consciousness from the physical body because on earth they could manipulate the matter body to become light body and astral body at will. 

We will never get out if the merge doesn't happen. The amnesia will never go away if it doesn't happen. We will be stuck in an infinite reincarnation loop if it doesn’t happen.

But the ones who separated the matter from the astral and their allies are doing everything to try and not let that happen. Some human officials know about this and are trying to stop the re-opening. Abrahamic religion is the enemy of all who want to be free of this trap.”

Do I really need to spell out the very obvious connections for you? This is quickly turning into some sort of weird love triangle between seemingly random folk (consider SD and me as one person) except replace word “love” with “occult information downloads”.

These three people alone seem to have a better idea of what’s going when it comes to the ET agenda than do the entire fucking community that has been established to “investigate” UFOs over the past 3 quarters of a century.

Yet they won’t be taken seriously because of a wall of ignorance when it comes to what occultism actually is.

But yeah I know ….laughing smiley faces and all that from the skeptic community.

Oh yeah speaking of skeptics, SD and I have a friend who, until very recently was a skeptic to anything ET or UFO related. Thinking it was all a load of complete bullshit her whole life kind of skeptic.

That was, of course until she started committing herself to daily meditation practices and then started seeing random light beings hanging around her yard – literally standing in the back yard just casually going about their business.

Now she believes she is in communication with her real mother and her dead friend, seemingly overnight, a real double whammy. Sounds like she got a dose of that astral sight Severin Mentioned.

There are various other stories with striking similarities I have come across over the years that I either don’t have permission to reproduce here or was too short sighted to bother copying down.

Point is, they are there if your initiative extends beyond lifting a finger and clicking on a laughing face emoticon. What we can distill from these stories is that higher order information in regards to earth’s history is being given to these people who have a background in either astral projection, lucid dreaming, or transcendental meditation, in pretty much the exact same way myself and SD having being accessing similar information, or by similar non physical entities. The occult theme is a very strong connector of these stories.

We know from the Domain commander and my Grand Elder Guardian that lucid dreamers are considered extremely valuable assets because they can act as conduits for these non physicals to contact the physical world, as well as detach consciousness and move about through the greater universe:

“A person with the ability to conduct “lucid dreaming” has a special and unique skill set that enables them to be a mission critical asset. However, this kind of asset should not be meaninglessly squandered, but rather should be briefed on a specific target and then act in coordination with other unified forces to achieve a very specific outcome” Answers from The Domain from questions generated 18SEP21 (metallicman.com)

“Apparently, according to these Elders, anyone who demonstrated these abilities were held in high regard by them, as it allowed them the opportunity to communicate with those back on the physical plane without it being compromised by external forces.”
[daegonmagus] - Part 1 - Exploration of the Non-Physical Reality (metallicman.com)

Tool

And then there’s these lyrics from the band Tool, who just so happen to be a bunch of Occultists (the drummer’s dad was a Freemason) and Lucid dreamers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zRLakTHcX0) who me and SD have both met in numerous LDs (The singer Maynard, was actually getting annoyed at her for “not yet becoming lucid enough to talk to him in one of them”).

They are mentioned in a past brief article on MM. And let me just state I have also used LD to create a simulation of a Tool concert one night after going to a, you guessed it, Tool concert; it was fucking incredible I watched the whole thing from about a 25m above the crowd on top of a skyscraper. Anyways this song came out in the middle of 2019, several months before COVID was even a splinter in the minds of us all and is titled “Fear Innoculum”. It is off the album of the same name (not mentioned in that MM article):

Immunity, long Overdue. Contagion, I exhale you
Naïve, I opened up to you, venom and mania.
Now Contagion, I exhale you.

The Deceiver says, “You belong to me. You don’t wanna breathe the light of the others.
Fear the light. Fear the breath. Fear the others for eternity.”
But I hear them now. Inhale the clarity. I hear the venom in what you say.

Inoculated.
Bless this immunity.

Exhale. Expel. Recast my tale. Weave my allegorical elegy.

Enumerate all that I’m to do. Calculating steps away from you.
My own mitosis, growing through division from mania.

Exhale. Expel. Recast my tale. Weave my allegorical elegy.

Forfeit all control, you Poison, you Spectacle.
Exorcise the Spectacle. Exorcise the malady.
Exorcize the disparate poison for eternity.

Purge me and Evacuate the Venom & the Fear that binds me.
Your veil now, lift away.

I see you running.

Deceiver, chased away. A Long time coming.

It almost seems as though Tool {might have} been given some information about COVID prior to it happening through lucid dreaming and downloading some of that higher order information. Then there are their songs on that same album about a “Tempest” coming to fuck with the establishment, how we are spiritual “Pneuma”/ soul based entities bound to flesh that need to “wake up”, being too old to fight and laying down arms, stirring us from our slumber to call us to “arms and order”, culling the voices in our head that whisper us into psychopathy and having psychopathic tendencies against one another…..read the lyrics and tell me it’s not all one big fucking metaphor for this entire Metallicman site. The Tool Page: Fear Inoculum Lyrics (down.net)

But of course, Maynard (the singer/ lyricist) suggests he was just “very well informed” and not really predicting anything. And yeah I mean I get it. The last thing you want to do when you are a big rock star is go around admitting you believe in interdimensional entities contacting people through lucid dreaming, just in case people start thinking your fucking nuts and your fan base starts diminishing. Like the guy I talked to on a Tool fan group who couldn’t grasp the concept of the lyric “I sold my soul to make a record, dipshit” and the sigil of the Goetic spirit Astaroth that appears on that very disc (remember this it; will become relevant in a future articles).

Doesn’t mean you can’t imply it though.

Here’s the track Faaip de Oiad off their Lateralus Album. faip de oaid tool – Bing video

It is not actually a proper song, but a remix of a call to Coast to Coast radio station back in 1997 from an apparent ex Area 51 employee who began telling Art Bell that ETs were “extra dimensional entities” that had infiltrated various levels of the US government, military and space (NASA) sectors.

This government and this military apparently knew about “coming chaotic events” and could have been moving people to safer locations but were choosing not to in order to allow better control over the survivors.

The call apparently got cut off half way through, and the station went down, if I recall correctly.

The are those who suggest it was real, and those who suggested it was a hoax that touched on some shit the US government {at the time} didn’t want people knowing about, hence the reason for the apparent media blackout that happened half way through it.

Is it just another coincidence that Tool tacked this on to the end of an album about alchemy and spiritual evolution through concepts established by Carl Jung, who was also an apparent lucid dreamer?

Then there is their song Rosetta Stoned off their 10 000 days album which seems to be a piss take of a seemingly normal guy’s interaction with “almond shaped eyed ETs” that told him a bunch of important stuff he forgot to write down; it actually sounds a lot like what my experiences would have become, if you replace the almond eyes with long beards and took my dream journal away from next to my bed. It’s not like Myself and MM deal with our experiences through well placed humour or anything….

And Danny Carey, the drummer launching his Crowley inspired “Lam ET” clothing line. If you don’t know who or what the fuck a Lam is, don’t worry, we will get into it a bit further down. It’s a bit of a “grey” area, wink wink.

Faaip De Oad is apparently an Enochian word – remember that Angelic language I told you about that was transcribed by Edward Kelly as his associate John Dee sat in trance and allegedly communicated with the angel Enoch?

Occult societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn also dedicated much time and meditation to this language – Israel Regardie, Aleister Crowley’s secretary, includes a whole section about the Enochian calls and the “watchtowers” in his book, The Golden Dawn (let’s not get this confused with the Greek Neo Nazi Political party, which came long after) that Crowley and the order were using at the beginning of the 20^th century.

And this isn’t just a passing reference; this was part of the actual curriculum Golden Dawn initiates were expected to study once they reached the higher ranks of the order on their quest to become Magisters Templi (Masters of the Temple) which was only achievable upon death. There are {allegedly} entire planes one can access through astral projection by using these calls, in which one experiences a rush of energy and possible contact with other wordly beings.

Crowley allegedly got so good at using them that he was able to access almost all of these planes pretty much at will. I, personally, have never bothered with them. I have been doing similar since I was 8 years old; why over complicate something I already knew?

After the Golden Dawn disbanded, Crowley would then go on to run the Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of the Oriental Temple/ OTO), where again much of these occult philosophies would take root.

While a whole article can be written about Crowley and his antics and the secret societies he was part of (and yeah, it’s coming) the important thing to note here is that Severin is a former member of the OTO.

This strengthens what the leader of the Unseen 5 told me back in November 2016; that those with astral projection and lucid dreaming capabilities are being prepared for 1^st contact by these non physical organisations.

It seems to me that the astral based Unseen 5 organisation I was initiated into are the ones in control of this whole operation, and are {possibly} responsible for seeding the curriculums of these Hermetic Societies into the minds of their members back as far as they can be traced (Ancient Egypt and Thoth/ Hermes).

Damn, we are covering a lot of ground here.

Let’s cover some more:

Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society again strengthens this occult/ non physical based contact connection. Unbeknownst to me at the time, it was Blavatsky who actually suggested the idea of the Ascended Masters/ Great White Brotherhood that I was studying around the time I was contacted by the Elder Guardians. Blavatsky literally wrote the book on “secret initiatory knowledge” – The Secret Doctrine – and claimed these traditions were passed along to her by a group of highly enlightened yogi’s, which she called the Mahatmas, that were living in Tibet. This concept of Secret Masters (or chiefs as Severin calls them) was further expanded upon by CW Leadbeater, who continued on the society after Blavatsky’s death. If you have ever read up on Saint Germain or Jesus being an Ascended Master/ part of the GWB then you can take comfort in the fact that Blavatsky, an Occultist whose notoriety rivalled that of Crowley, was touting these ideas the same time Jack the Ripper was running around London killing prostitutes.

Speaking of Blavatsky and Jack of Whitechapel; Who did Aleister Crowley Say was Jack the Ripper? | Mysterium Academy…

That article raises some very good points, though I would have suggested Crowley was the killer based on some similarities I found with his hand writing and the letters left by old Jack, even if he was only a teenager at the time (I am actually writing a fictional book about this if I ever find the time to finish it).

Regardless of whether Crowley was correct in his assumptions or not, Blavatsky had something to say when it came to the 7 root races of earth that she obtained through “astral clairvoyance”. I find it interesting what she said about the 1^st and 6^th Root Race:

‘The first root race (Polarian)

The first root race was “ethereal”, i.e. they were composed of etheric matter. They reproduced by dividing like an amoeba. Earth was still cooling at that time. The first mountain to arise out of the stormy primeval ocean was Mount Meru.” – Root race – Wikipedia

Kind of like what the Wandjina Wunggurr peoples of North Western Australia said about the Wandjina spirits eh, before painting pictures of them all over the fucking desert, that looked a just little bit like the Greys. Similar to this non physical entity that apparently contacted Crowley, after he conducted a ritual to “create a portal between the stars to let it in”, I suppose. Crowley thought Lam to be the spirit of a dead Tibetan Monk:

It gets interesting when you read Blavatsky’s {somewhat racially bias} entry on the 5^th root race:

The fifth root race (Aryan)

Early beginnings of the Aryan root race

Blavatsky asserted humanity is now in the fifth or Aryan root race, which Theosophists believe to have emerged from the previous fourth root race (Atlantean root race) beginning about 100,000 years ago in Atlantis. (According to Powell, when Madame Blavatsky stated the Aryan root race was 1,000,000 years old, she meant that the souls of the people that later physically incarnated as the first Aryans about 100,000 years ago began to incarnate in the bodies of Atlanteans 1,000,000 years ago.^[13] However, another way of interpreting this is that Nature began to create the Aryan race before the final cataclysms.) Theosophists believe the Aryan root race was physically progenerated by the Vaivasvatu Manu, one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. The present-day ethnic group most closely related to the new race is the Kabyle. The small band of only 9,000 people constituting the then small Aryan root race migrated out of Atlantis in 79,797 BC. The bards of the new white root-race poetically referred to the new race as being moon-colored.^[19] A small group of these Aryan migrants from Atlantis split from the main body of migrants and went south to the shore of an inland sea in what was then a verdant and lush Sahara where they founded the “City of the Sun”. The main body of migrants continued onwards to an island called the “white island” in the middle of what was then an inland sea in what is now the Gobi desert, where they established the “City of the Bridge”.^[20] (The “City of the Bridge” was constructed directly below the etheric city called Shamballa where Theosophists believe the governing deity of Earth, Sanat Kumara, dwells; thus, the ongoing evolution of the Aryan root race has been divinely guided by the being Theosophists call “The Lord of the World”.)

The esoteric name of the whole of the present land surface of Earth, i.e. the World Island, the Americas, the Australian continent and Antarctica taken as a whole is Krauncha.^[8]

Blavatsky connects physical race with spiritual attributes constantly throughout her works:

The intellectual difference between the Aryan and other civilized nations and such savages as the South Sea Islanders, is inexplicable on any other grounds. No amount of culture, nor generations of training amid civilization, could raise such human specimens as the Bushmen, the Veddhas of Ceylon, and some African tribes, to the same intellectual level as the Aryans, the Semites, and the Turanians so called. The ‘sacred spark’ is missing in them and it is they who are the only inferior races on the globe, now happily – owing to the wise adjustment of nature which ever works in that direction – fast dying out. Verily mankind is ‘of one blood,’ but not of the same essence. We are the hot-house, artificially quickened plants in nature, having in us a spark, which in them is latent.”^[21] … Esoteric history teaches that idols and their worship died out with the Fourth Race, until the survivors of the hybrid races of the latter (Chinamen, African Negroes, &c.) gradually brought the worship back. The Vedas countenance no idols; all the modern Hindu writings do.^[22]

Generally speaking, a large percentage of the people who live in the time of the period of the fifth root race are part of the fifth root race. However Blavatsky also opines that some Semitic peoples have become “degenerate in spirituality”. She asserted that some peoples descended from the Lemurians are “semi-animal creatures”. These latter include “the Tasmanians, a portion of the Australians.” There are also “considerable numbers of the mixed Lemuro-Atlantean peoples produced by various crossings with such semi-human stocks — e.g., the wild men of Borneo, the Veddhas of Ceylon, most of the remaining Australians, Bushmen, Negritos, Andaman Islanders, etc.”^[23] All these aforementioned groups mentioned by Blavatsky, except the Borneians, are part of what in the late 19th and most of the 20th century was called the Australoid race (except for the Bushmen, part of the Capoid race), both of which races, as noted above, were believed by traditional Theosophists to have been descended from the Lemurians

In case you didn’t get it, those underlined parts are very synonymous with what Airl said and which I highlighted in the article about the Wandjina spirits:

“These IS-BEs are mixed together with earlier inhabitants of Earth who came from another star system more than 400,000 years ago to establish the civilizations of Atlanta [ii] (Footnote) and Lemuria [iii] (Footnote). Those civilizations vanished beneath the tidal waves caused by a planetary “polar shift”, [iv] (Footnote) many thousands of years before the current “prison” population started to arrive. Apparently, the IS-BEs from those star systems were the source of the original, oriental races of Earth, beginning in Australia (it’s ok I rarely bother with footnotes either).” – Alien Interview

Bet you didn’t realise the Theosophical society were also indirectly involved in Airl’s interrogation at Roswell, long after Blavatsky turned to bones and dust, huh?

“Over the next several days a psychic research scientist from back East was flown to the base to interview the alien. Her name was Gertrude something or other. I don’t recall the last name. On another occasion an Indian clairvoyant named Krishnamurti came to the base to try to communicate with the alien. Neither one was successful at getting the alien to communicate anything. I was personally not able to communicate telepathically with either of these people either, although I did think that Krishnamurti was a very kind and intelligent gentleman. ” – Alien Interview

Krishnamurti went on to become a Jesus like figure known as Matraya to the Theosophical society, which is even included in Spencer’s foot notes (#33) in Alien Interview. Krishnamurti ended up rejecting the Theosophist claim he was the “world teacher” much to their dissatisfaction, to which Leadbeater basically said the “Messiah came and it was a total fucking failure”:

Alien Interview – 02 (bibliotecapleyades.net)

What Spencer didn’t include in that footnote was that there was another Krishnamurti (unrelated) of Indian descent who was also associated with the Theosophical society during the same period and who fits the criteria of a clairvoyant much more than Jiddu.

This particular Krishnamurti even had experience training with yogi’s in Tibet over seven summers.

Seriously, read about his philosophy on thought and tell me it doesn’t sound similar to my meditation of the stillness of the mind found in my 1^st lucid dreaming lesson. He seems like a more likely candidate to try and get the ET to talk than someone who was a “dim-witted child with a cool aura”:

“I have no teaching. There is nothing to preserve. Teaching implies something that can be used to bring about change. Sorry, there is no teaching here, just disjointed, disconnected sentences. What is there is only your interpretation, nothing else. For this reason there is not now nor will there ever be any kind of copyright for whatever I am saying. I have no claims.^[23]

I am forced by the nature of your listening to always negate the first statement with another statement. Then the second statement is negated by a third and so on. My aim is not some comfy dialectical thesis but the total negation of everything that can be expressed.”

- U. G. Krishnamurti - Wikipedia

And…

”Once you start catching these thoughts, try experimenting with neutralising them with their polar opposites.

When there is a “gnawing feeling” that you should react a certain way, take a breath and just observe it passively.

The human mind has a myriad of triggers that professionals have learnt how to push and prod. Unfortunately for you, they don’t stop being pushed just when an advertisement has run its course through your head.

This is how you learn how to deactivate them. By doing so you will be teaching yourself to be less prone to manipulation whilst in the void space.
You will strengthen your psychological disposition towards dealing with whatever the dream state throws at you. This is a big part of what occult philosophy is about.”
-[daegonmagus] - Part 8 - Lucid Dreaming Lesson 1: The Lucid Void Space and The Three Meditations (metallicman.com)

If you think this rabbit hole is getting weird, then allow me to point you in the direction of the Aetherius society, headed by self proclaimed yoga master George King.

The Aetherius society was an offshoot based primarily on the Theosophical societies beliefs, established in the mid 1950s by King.

Whilst the Theosophical society didn’t come right out and say the non physical entities they were involved with were ETs, (until much later, any way) the Aetherius Society did.

In fact, the whole fucking premise behind it was that King came into contact with non physical extra terrestrial intelligences that he called the Cosmic Masters during his marathon yoga sessions.

It is, for all intents and purposes these days considered a UFO religion. I came across them after trying to figure out who the Unseen 5 were. Essentially King and another 4 Adepts were responsible for entering into the astral planes and evicting an alien presence that dwelt there that was fucking with humanity without their knowledge, what they equated to as being “Satan” (I wondered if the Aetherius Society and the Unseen 5 were the one and the same given they had a very similar modus operandi and a very similar headcount).

Now I have to admit, if it wasn’t for my own interactions with the Unseen 5, this story would have seemed somewhat ridiculous.

Where it gets even weirder is that there is a declassified FBI document about Nikola Tesla being originally from Venus, where King is featured. For some reason, the FBI never slapped a big red BOGUS sticker all over it like they did with every page of the Majestic 12 documents.

Nikola Tesla Part 03 of 03 (fbi.gov)

While the document seems to be the very real investigation into plans for Tesla’s death ray being stolen by his nephew after his death and dropped into the hands of the Soviets, it also briefly mentions George King in several paragraphs, who seems to have predicted with pin point accuracy where and when UFOs were going to land all over America.

This was included as a part of a magazine issue of the “Cosmic Voice”, which seemingly was important to the Tesla investigation because of reports A woman named Margaret Storme (lol), was using a radio type machine invented by Tesla in 1938 for “Interplanetery communication purposes”.

Also because the Magazine suggested King was told by the non physical intelligences he was in contact with that Tesla was from Venus.

I can’t find any subsequent information on any sightings happening on those dates King suggested America would be visited by UFOs, though the bit on Tesla reminds me of what Airl said:

“A few officers of The Domain Expeditionary Force have taken it upon themselves to provide technology to Earth during their off duty time.  These officers leave their “doll” at the space station and, as an IS-BE, assume or take over a biological body on Earth.  In some cases an officer can remain on duty while they inhabit and control other bodies at the same time.

This is a very dangerous and adventurous undertaking.

It requires a very able IS-BE to accomplish such a mission, and return to base successfully. One officer who did this recently, while continuing to attend to his official duties, was known on Earth as the electronics inventor, Nicola Tesla. “

and…

Here’s another paragraph of King suggesting the aliens had protocols in place to make sure we pay off our debts through diseases and epidemics. Can’t imagine that any of that is applicable in this day and age:

In fact George King seems to pop up quite a bit in this document. I specifically remember two agents mentioning him and the “good fight almost being won”. Whether or not it is bullshit and he was a fraud I’ll leave to the reader to judge.

Blavatsky at least has other people who have validated much of her information. Like Alice Bailey, Benjamin Crème and Rudolph Steiner to mention a few.

Speaking of Steiner this is a quote of something he said almost a hundred years ago. :

“ In the future, we will eliminate the soul with medicine. Under the pretext of a ‘healthy point of view’, there will be a vaccine by which the human body will be treated as soon as possible directly at birth, so that the human being cannot develop the thought of the existence of soul and Spirit.
To materialistic doctors, will be entrusted with the task of removing the soul of humanity. As today, people are vaccine against this disease or disease, so in the future, children will be vaccinated with a substance that can be produced precisely in such a way that people, thanks to this vaccination, will be immune to being subjected to the “madness” of spiritual life. He would be extremely smart, but he would not develop a conscience, and that is the true goal of some materialistic circles.
With such a vaccine, you can easily make the etheric body loose in the physical body. Once the etheric body is detached, the relationship between the universe and the etheric body would become extremely unstable, and man would become an automaton, for the physical body of man must be polished on this Earth by spiritual will. So, the vaccine becomes a kind of arymanique force; man can no longer get rid of a given materialistic feeling. He becomes materialistic of constitution and can no longer rise to the spiritual “.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925);”

Oh and by the way, in case you were wondering, that George Van Tassel guy in that Cosmic Voice paragraph of the FBI document is where that mysterious Ashtar Command group that has been {supposedly} contacting starseeds and pirating British radio stations originated from:

Ashtar (extraterrestrial being) – Wikipedi
Southern Television broadcast interruption – Wikipedia

The point I am trying to make here is that there is heavy evidence to suggest occultists practicing the arts of astral projection and/ or lucid dreaming have potentially been contacted by non physical entities and given information on an alternate history of our earth for at least the past 140ish years. Actually I can go one better than that.

To summarise:

My assumption is that any ancient culture that incorporated dreaming into its belief structure would have at some point made contact with non physical entities such as I did, assuming they likely developed advanced lucid dreaming practices.

I would suggest that the dreaming cultures are no longer the prime targets for the non physical entities, due to the invasions of white man into their territories and the assimilation of their beliefs into those of the invading parties (this has also happened with Theosophy in recent years –). Occultists with a background in astral projection and lucid dreaming seem like the next obvious choice for contact, due to them being “natural shamans.” And according to the Unseen 5, they are.

It seems logical that if an alternate history is being presented to modern day occultists, then a more complex version of that history was, in all probability, given to these cultures. It also seems logical that any secret societies that had astral projection/ lucid dreaming practices embedded into their curriculum, were likely contact hotspots. The question then becomes what is the agenda of the contacting entities?

The common underlying themes being presented to modern day occultists that is comparable with these ancient cultures is the idea of the astral and non physical worlds being “merged” together, and the idea of the matrix soul prison.

Blavatsky’s knowledge seems to present this history in the form of an agenda to create specific races of people and the expected schedule of evolution, ie one of these non physical race’s hybridisation/ breeding programs. When looked at in this context, SD’s and my experiences of the same programs, and the idea that astral bodies are being modified to either suppress or support this outcome becomes apparent.

There is also evidence to suggest knowledge of viruses being used by these non physicals to deliberately “steer” humanity one way or the other being handed down “for karmic neutralising purposes” in the words of King, or to “better enslave us” in the words of Steiner (my experiences suggest Steiner is more on point with this).

Much of this is corroborated by Airl, the Commander, and the operations of MAJestic.

The Unseen 5 seem to be the ones in control of this whole occultist contact operation, going by what was told to me by their leader, and the responsibilities given to me by “him”. Theosophy hints at who exactly this organisation could be, which I will start digging int in a later article.

From my conversation with the leader of the Unseen 5, my understanding is that there are certain consciousnesses being primed for reincarnation whose astral bodies have been manipulated specifically to allow them greater access to their past life memories that will begin to pop up in great numbers in the general population.

These people will be a collection of Nikola Tesla like consciousnesses that will be able to connect with and bring forth higher information more easily. I would package this in with what Severin termed as “astral sight”.

I predict there will be those, like mine and SD’s friend who will begin seeing into the astral realms on a regular basis, and there will be those that will establish new technologies on account of connecting with their Higher Selves/ beings that exist therein; the Tesla’s of the new world.

Even Crowley seemed to be aware of a similar operation in what he deemed as the New Aeon, or the “Coming of the Age of Aquarius”.

Severin and I have similar also timeframes for the effects of this project to start becoming noticeable within human population – 2 to 3 generations from now.

As I was never initiated into any of these physical based organisations – and achieved contact with my non physical handlers solely through my own private studies – I am not bound by any oaths of secrecy or allegiance to them, hence I can talk about my understanding of them and this agenda freely.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I am correct in my assumptions here either; making the Unseen 5 and their agenda known to “magicians”, and acting in a recruiting capacity for them was what I was ultimately tasked with – it didn’t actually involve anything to do these secret societies, such as the Theosophical Society or the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn even though the curriculum of said societies is what I was studying.

This is all research I have conducted after trying to understand who they are – I welcome any feedback from people who have a greater understanding of these subjects.

I am covering a lot of ground here so for now I think this will do.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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[daegonmagus] – Part 17 – SD’s Experience With More Consciousness Facilities Courtesy of A Shamanistic Recipe For Lucid Dreaming

The following is the 17th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

This particular read is truly enjoyable. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

-MM

Part 16 –SD’s Experience With More Consciousness Facilities Courtesy of A Shamanistic Recipe For Lucid Dreaming

Ok, it is late and I am tired, and this article was only supposed to be a brief couple of thousands words. Then all of a sudden I found it blowing out to much more than that, taking me several days, most of which I seemed possessed by this frustrative force that was itching to speak through me. So yeah, uh, apologies for the title.

So here’s basically what happened a few days ago. I was sitting there minding my own business, probably drinking a coffee or eating whatever left over remnants in the fridge could have remotely constituted food, when SD walks in putting on her best authoritative voice.

“I am making you something that you are going to drink that will help you talk to your ancestors through astral projection”.

Uh…um, ok.

Turns out she’d been reading this new book she bought herself for Christmas “The Poison Path Herbal” which she tells me is quite good read. It’s apparently got everything from healing poisons (because I guess all medicines are poisons in the right dosages) to poisons for initiating shamanic like visions.

And these aren’t recipes using everyday ingredients you can find around the house either; some of them call for using things like nightshades, and hembane etc as the active “hallucinogenic” ingredient. If you don’t know what these are I suggest steering right the way clear of them (and no I am not talking about tomatoes or fucking blueberries here either).

Handy hint; apparently foxglove can be used as a heart suppressant at 0.2mg. At 0.3mg, however it’ll caused your heart to stop working altogether. So yeah, small margin of error. Best not to fuck about with any of it.

Now back to me.

An opportunity to ingest some unknown poison to hopefully hallucinate myself into an LD; where do I sign up?

Ok no it wasn’t really like that; SD has a very good understanding and respect of trees and plants, to the point that she talks to them. So when she decides to use them for Shamanic purposes, it is a safe bet she has done her research thoroughly before getting me involved with her antics.

Turns out it was only some mild ingredients she had in mind; a tincture of wormwood and mugwort steeped in water for a good few hours – nothing as toxic as hembane or datura, or fox glove thank fuck.

The idea was to drink it half an hour before bed, go to sleep, in which it would hopefully do its mind expansion job and induce an out of body experience.

Woohay. Or in the words of Professor Frink from the Simpsons: you put the wormwood in the tea, mix it with the mugwort, carry the 2, and the DWIVEN.

I guess I must have built up a tolerance to wormwood in my absinthe drinking days, because – aside from the green fairy’s serenading me to sleep (I joke) – nothing really happened. I had some vague dream about passing an old friend, in my home town but that was about it.

Nothing spectacular.

SD on the other hand, after having only a small sip of the tincture (I sculled the whole lot) told me the next morning it very much seemed to have worked for her.

She had a vivid dream in which she eventually became lucid in that seemed to involve more of the consciousness brainwashing facilities. It was, essentially another dream where higher order information {eventually} came through.

SD and I have this thing going on that whenever one of us has one of these experiences with higher order information, we share it with the other as soon as we get a chance.

So when she comes and says, “I had some interesting shit going on last night” the first thing I do is grab my computer and transcribe her word for word as she goes through what happened.

Usually I can type at lightning speed when I need to, but alas sometimes I miss the tangents she goes off on as she remembers things during the recall.

As a result, some things get missed out, some things get repeated, but generally speaking I am able to capture the body of her experience word for word.

Here’s a transcript of her “shamanic” experience. There is some interesting things in it.

The transcript

“It started off as a normal dream, not lucid, because I was under the influence of some drug.

To begin with, at the very very beginning of the dream, it was just like we were in this town. I was with some other women, (you weren’t there DM) .

And they (our captors), were women, the equivalent of nuns.

They told us the place we were at was a school, but it wasn’t.

The area was equivalent to a couple of fields with dry grass and trees, nothing beyond that – it was really obvious it was a “black void” – yet they told us there was more beyond it.

Some of the others couldn’t see there was nothing beyond, if they were told there was something there they would see it.

It is like everyone was travelling, but in reality it wasn’t more than a field’s worth of travel, the nuns just told everyone we’d been travelling for days and everyone went with it.

Something happened to one of the people, so that the women had to do something; we had to then go to “the airport terminal”.

I remember saying I was “homesick“.

And one of the others said she was homesick too. I am not sure if it was a man or woman; it was like it was either or and didn’t matter in that place.

I remember not being the same as them but they were trying to make me into one of them. So anyway we went through a portal that was in one of the houses at that field place.

A mirror.

And we ended up at the airport.

And it was exactly the same as an airport here – like the layout and everything – but instead of walking onto an aeroplane you walked into a portal in which you could see what was on the otherside.

The portals were just screens, like the movie theatre.

It was the same shit but an airport. The ones we were using were not being used to brain wash people, though there were screens playing stuff to brainwash like the theatre in different areas.

It all depended on the area you were in and who the person was, where they came from etc. There were different portals for different regions of the world, Australia, America etc.

All of the American ones you had to watch a little movie before you went through the screen and that was the brain washing thing.

While they were watching others would come in and give them a bunch of medicine to make them forget….that was the amnesia shit; the amnesia engine was not a machine but a collective of people who go around dosing people with an amnesiac like drug.

All of the checkpoints up until the Australia one you had to see this TV screen and have this medicine.

So, basically just getting to the Australian one you had to be dosed several times. But at the actual portals in the Australian region you didn’t have to be sat down and dosed; you just went in.

The whole Aussie section was pretty quiet and didn’t have guards.

It was like the race of beings that were controlling that section were afraid of the {non physical} beings that lived in the Australian area. They were the same ones dosing everyone and had blue eyes and pale blonde hair, not tall and tanned – not sure if they were Nordics.

I was walking to a portal and began speaking Noongar (Australian Aboriginal Language local to a region of WA) to another guy who was also captured.

I don’t remember who he was, but he also had blonde hair and blue eyes. I don’t think he was a bad one.

All the other captors did not know how to translate this language at all.

One of the guards was trying to explain that this was a language that cannot be translated, as it is too ancient.

When we got to the Australian section it was pretty much empty, no people busy doing shit like in a normal airport. It was pretty quiet, with only a couple of guards standing next to a couple of portals; no drugs or movie theatre things, barely any people.

The guards were taller than regular people, and all wore hooded masks and kit like from my (previous) covid premonition.

When I got to a portal that looked like a mirror that was looking into a mirror like at a local café, I said” oh yeah I gotta go in this one”.

The guy I was with was the only other person with me, because the others seemed to not follow into the Aussie section; they just wouldn’t come in.

One of the nuns said ”no no, there’s things in there we can’t go near it”.

And I remember one of the nuns saying “you are brave going back there” like they really desperately wanted me to stay with them.

So I got to the portal and the dude I was with who was talking Noongar, he said, “oh I am not going in that one, I am going in a different one”.

Where’s that take you, I said “Mundaring”, (local town) and he replied he didn’t know it.

He went in his which I am pretty sure was in the Pilbara (North Western Australia).

The gist I got was that Australian Aboriginals are an ancient race that have been here before anything else and cannot be manipulated by any of the races who came here afterwards.

We were captives, so it was unlikely any of the captives were Aboriginals, as they needed to manipulate us in order to capture us.

Then I remember turning back to say something to the other people…it’s like the guards and I knew each other and the guard kind of said they are gone you are safe to go through right one.

To begin with I went into area I was knowing led to a portal, but I didn’t specifically go to the right one while they were watching; I was intentionally keeping it a secret.

And because WA is huge there are plenty of portals for it.

There was another thing with WA, they had wings/ terminals for each state, and there was much less traffic in WA and a lot less other beings willing to go there.

So not only is it isolated globally but also non physically.

I got the gist of the spirit beings that live here, created the Aboriginals which is why it is such a big deal they are beyond the knowledge of the captors.

So basically I jumped in the mirror and woke up, it was probably of a couple of seconds of random dream.

I was aware that that is what happens when you jump through the portals.

I was lucid from the moment I stepped through into the Western Australian section where they could not follow me anymore.

In the WA section there wasn’t any of those brain washing screens.

The second the drugs wear off you get this trickle of information that comes through and if someone says even the slightest thing to jolt your memory the trickles becomes a large flow of memories.

The amnesia thing is not here, it is there where they are keeping everyone; here (physical reality/earth) is the place that people have either chosen to come or been put in by others in an attempt to remember something or regain a part of themselves.

And then this little addendum based on many of her other LD experiences;

Addendum

This [Australian ] realm has things in it that fucks them (our captors) up. There are ISBE things but not all of them have souls.

Only those that have souls can go into earth bodies, the rest have to make their physical bodies in a lab like a robot.

Only the earth body things, can come here into the physical earth realm.

Non souls are trying to wipe out those with souls; they are drugging all the ones with souls and info and ancient knowledge and real truth etc of what actually happened in the beginning with all of the dream time stuff (Aboriginal Creation Myth), when the physical and non physical planes were merged.

All of the ones with souls are captives because of the ones who don’t have souls that want the greater access to everything.

There (airport terminal) is the simulation, here (physical earth) is real, is seen as extremely volatile and dangerous as the general toxic air part that can degrade parts of a persons consciousness.

But it is also the safest place for us captives to go to get away from the captors as they won’t come here.”

A further elaboration…

Well this just got interesting.

Maybe it is the reason SD and I are able to lucid dream and astral project more successfully than people in other parts of the world.

Because we are protected by a bunch of non physical spirits that created our Native people.

This reminds me of something Airl said in the Alien Interview:

“IS-BEs have been dumped on Earth from all over the galaxy, adjoining galaxies, and from planetary systems all over the "Old Empire", like Sirius, Aldebaron, the Pleiades, Orion, Draconis, and countless others. 

There are ISBEs on Earth from unnamed races, civilizations, cultural backgrounds, and planetary environments. 

Each of the various IS-BE populations have their own languages, belief systems, moral values, religious beliefs, training and unknown and untold histories. 

These IS-BEs are mixed together with earlier inhabitants of Earth who came from another star system more than 400,000 years ago to establish the civilizations of Atlanta and Lemuria. 

Those civilizations vanished beneath the tidal waves caused by a planetary "polar shift", many thousands of years before the current "prison" population started to arrive. 

Apparently, the IS-BEs from those star systems were the source of the original, oriental races of Earth, beginning in Australia.”

Then there was this article I stumbled across: (which I subsequently couldn’t access due to it “not being available in my area” for the first couple of tries):

“New research has revealed fascinating details about Aboriginal Australians and Pacific Islanders, who according to experts, carry the genetic material of an unknown human species.

The new research suggests people from Papua New Guinea and northeast Australia have traces of DNA belonging to an unidentified, extinct human species.

Apparently, there is still much that geneticists and scientists do not understand about this crucial moment in human history, and it seems that research on the subject is raising more questions than answers.

In 2016, researchers at Harvard Medical School published the findings of a comprehensive study of the human genome of all areas of the world and discovered something astounding about the Australian aboriginal population.

They appear to have genetic markers that indicate they are descendants of a yet unidentified human species.

“We’re missing a population, or we’re misunderstanding something about the relationships,” Ryan Bohlender, a statistical geneticist at the University of Texas, told Tina Hesman Saey at Science News.

Bohlender and his colleagues have been researching the amount of extinct hominid DNA that modern humans still carry today. To the surprise of many, they say they’ve found discrepancies in previous studies that suggest our mingling with Neanderthals and Denisovans isn’t the entire evolutionary story.

“Who this unknown group is we don’t know.”

It’s believed that between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, our ancestors migrated out of Africa, making contact with other hominid species inhabiting the Eurasian landmass. Experts believe that this contact left a mark on our species that is still present today.

“Our main goal is to understand how our race got to the point where it is, but in order to do that, we must first study the DNA of the ancient tribes,” explained Mallick Swapan, leading scientist of the study, and an expert who has been studying the origins of the human genome for most of his career.

He explained that the new study gathered the genetic data of 142 different human populations scattered around the world that was underrepresented in large-scale studies so far.

According to Swapan, the most incredible revelation of this new study is that the genetic code of the Australian Aborigines shows that they carry the DNA markers that indicate the ancient crossbred with an unknown “human” species.

Although it was initially suspected that unusual DNA markers might indicate that Aboriginal ancestors interbred with the elusive ancient species known as Denisovans, this hypothesis turned out to be incorrect.

After the analysis, scientists discovered that DNA markers were distinct from Denisovan markers, leading them to the conclusion that they had found traces of an entirely new form of ancient human species.

It is known that the native peoples of Australia are descendants of the first people who came to the continent from Africa about 50,000 years ago.

It has been assumed that aborigines were isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years and therefore scientists thought that their genetic code would be relatively homogeneous.

Surprisingly, this turned out not to be the case.

“The genetic signatures of an Australian Aboriginal from eastern Australia and Western Australia are as different as those of a person from Europe and an Asian person,” Swapan said.

The incredible diversity in the genetic code of the native peoples of Australia, in addition to the peculiar genetic marker that indicates that they interbred with an unknown human species in the past, indicates that there is still much more to discover about the ancient history of humanity.” - Australian Aboriginal people carry the DNA of an unknown human relative - Ancient Code (ancient-code.com)

Interesting. Let’s dig into this a little bit deeper.

Now, I am in no ways an expert when it comes to Aboriginal culture, but what I do know is that their ideologies are based around what they call the “Dreamtime”.

From the little I have read, according to Aboriginal Creation Myth, the Dreamtime was a period before physical reality came into existence.

It was a sort of vacuous nothingness containing the past present and future all at once that never ended.

The Aboriginals believed that the [non physical] spirits that existed in the Dream Time were the ones that created practically everything in this physical plane; the Aboriginal peoples themselves, the lands, rivers, rocks, plants, and animals were all said to have been a product of these spirits.

I seem to remember Airl taking about the Domain in a very similar context;

Airl explained that IS-BEs have been around since before the beginning of the universe.

The reason they are called "immortal", is because a "spirit" is not born and cannot die, but exists in a personally postulated perception of "is - will be".

She was careful to explain that every spirit is not the same.

Each is completely unique in identity, power, awareness and ability.

The difference between an IS-BE like Airl and most of the IS-BEs inhabiting bodies on Earth, is that Airl can enter and depart from her "doll" at will.

She can perceive at selective depths through matter. Airl and other officers of The Domain can communicate telepathically. Since an IS-BE is not a physical universe entity it has no location in space or time. An IS-BE is literally, "immaterial".

They can span great distances of space instantly.

They can experience sensations, more intensely than a biological body, without the use of physical sensory mechanisms.

An IS-BE can exclude pain from their perception. Airl can also remember her "identity", so to speak, all the way back into the dim mists of time, for trillions of years!

Time is a difficult factor to measure as it depends on the subjective memory of IS-BEs and there has been no uniform record of events throughout the physical universe since it began.

As on Earth, there are many different time measurement systems, defined by various cultures, which use cycles of motion, and points of origin to establish age and duration.

The physical universe itself is formed from the convergence and amalgamation of many other individual universes, each one of which were created by an IS-BE or group of IS-BEs.

The collision of these illusory universes commingled and coalesced and were solidified to form a mutually created universe.

Because it is agreed that energy and forms can be created, but not destroyed, this creative process has continued to form an ever-expanding universe of nearly infinite physical proportions. Before the formation of the physical universe there was a vast period during which universes were not solid, but wholly illusionary.

You might say that the universe was a universe of magical illusions which were made to appear and vanish at the will of the magician. In every case, the "magician" was one or more IS-BEs.

Many IS-BEs on Earth can still recall vague images from that period. Tales of magic, sorcery and enchantment, fairy tales and mythology speak of such things, although in very crude terms.”

- Alien Interview

Furthermore, it was said that these spirits, or ancestors, played a big part in the selection of sacred sites and how the people were to behave to one another, how food was to be distributed and the rites and rituals of the various tribes etc.

It was also said that during the Dreamtime, certain spirits were able to shapeshift into different animals.

These particular stories seem to change from tribe to tribe, but a common reference can be found in the Myth of the Great Rainbow Serpent, which was said to be one of the Dreamtime Spirits that came from within the earth to create the rivers and gorges as it weaved its way through the featureless landscape.

One of my kid’s favourite bed time books is the version of the Rainbow Serpent named Goorialla, as narrated by Dick Roughsey.

While most stories dealing with the Rainbow Serpent have an element attributing it to water – (rainbows formed from water fall sprays and rituals around water where rainbow like shells and stones are used).

Some researchers have suggested that these myths allude to a possible comet or meteor that fell to the ground, the “rainbow serpent” part being the comets tail.

Interestingly, the tribe from the Great Sandy Desert region of North Western Australia suggests a similar thing with their story of the Rainbow Serpent; that a star fell to earth and created the Wolfe Creek Crater, which the Serpent then took up residence in.

Sometimes this particular rendition includes a story about a hunter who chased a dingo into the crater only to get lost in a tunnel created by the serpent never to be found again, though the remains of the dingo were eventually found “spat out” after being eaten by the Rainbow Serpent.

For the tribe local to our region – the Noongar people – it is suggested the Rainbow Serpent pushed rocks and boulders around to create the trails of Mount Matilda, and was responsible for carving out the channel of the Avon River.

As a side note, the Avon River runs through a beautiful stretch of land called the Avon Valley.

There is an annual competition that is held along this river usually at the end of winter called the Avon Descent, which sees various boating competitors – people in kayaks, canoes and different speed boats etc – race down the river over a period of 2 or 3 days.

Given the rolling green hills in the middle of farmland pastures, the Avon Valley has become a haven for hot air ballooning and sky diving.

It is quite a “dreamy” place to go for a leisurely Saturday drive.

Speaking of dreamy, and getting back to the point of the article, the Aboriginal’s description of the dreamtime sounds a lot like what one can experience whilst lucid dreaming; a timeless void of nothingness where non physical “spirits” seem to hang out.

What is more, when we look at the importance of the Dream Time within Aboriginal culture, and compare it with other tribal cultures such as those of the Native Americans, we can start to see a theme emerging in regards to how important dreaming still is within these cultures.

Both groups would have their appointed Elders and Shamans who would employ the use of various plants and substances to help aid in their dream visions in a similar manner to what SD did prior to hers.

The Wandjina Paintings of North Western Australia

Now, while we are on the subject of the dreamtime and ideas about interactions with the [non physical] progenitors to the Australian Aboriginals, let’s take a look at some art by the Wanjina Wunggurr tribe of the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Unfortunately, I haven’t yet explored this place myself, as it is a 32 hr drive (and that’s straight, with no rest stops) North East of where I currently am, and most of that is bland, boring desert that is usually hotter than Hell in the summer, or too busy being blasted by hurricanes and floods in the other seasons.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t on my to do list though, assuming the local Aboriginals would even allow me into such a sacred site in the first place.

Apparently the Gibb River Road is really a Gem to behold when doing the “Big Lap”.

The paintings themselves are located in the mountainous region of the Kimberley, scattered throughout various caves, in quite hard to reach country.

They were first discovered by white man in 1883, when a man named George Grey stumbled across them after searching for inland water at the behest of the British Crown.

After losing a flock of sheep and a few dogs, Grey and company took refuge in one of the caves, presumably to escape the harsh elements, where they found some very curious images that had been painted high up – some almost 6 metres – on the walls of one of the many caves in the area.

According to Wikipedia, these paintings are between 3800 to 4000 years old, based on the broad stroke way they have been painted.

The paintings themselves depict a group of white, seemingly bald, mouthless, and earless beings with what appeared to be semi circular halos arranged on their heads. Oh, did I mention they had big black eyes:

Next…

Firstly, I should point out that these paintings are scattered about an area expanding through 200,000 square kilometres of the Kimberley.

As a result, there are three tribes that have an intimate connection with them and the myths surrounding them; the Worrorra, Ngarinyin, and Wunumbal tribes.

These three tribes make up a cultural bloc referred to as the Wanjina Wunggurr, in which a fourth tribe – the Ngardi – are sometimes included.

According to the descendants of these tribes, the Wandjina were supernatural spirits that existed in the Dreamtime and created the physical world in a similar manner to the Rainbow Serpent.

In fact, some of the paintings include the Rainbow Serpent alongside the Wandjina spirits.

The depiction of the Wandjina without mouths is suggested to be either because the Wanjina were so powerful they didn’t need mouths to communicate, or because, due to their ability to make it rain, had they had mouths, the rains would never stop.

“The shared culture is based on the dreamtime mythology and law whose creators are the Wan[d]jina and Wunggurr “spirits”; the ancestors of these peoples.

The Wandjina paintings have common colours of black, red and yellow on a white background. The spirits are depicted alone or in groups, vertically or horizontally depending on the dimensions of the rock, and are sometimes depicted with figures and objects like the Rainbow Serpent or yams. Common composition is with large upper bodies and heads that may show eyes and nose, but typically no mouth. Two explanations have been given for this: they are so powerful they do not require speech and if they had mouths, the rain would never cease. Around the heads of Wandjina are lines or blocks of color, depicting lighting coming out of transparent helmets.[2]

Today, the paintings are still believed to possess these powers and therefore are to be approached and treated respectfully. Each site and painting has a name. Indigenous people of the Mowanjum community repaint the images to ensure the continuity of the Wandjina's presence.[8] Annual repainting in December or January also ensures the arrival of the monsoon rains, according to Mowanjum belief.”  - Wikipedia

Some of these paintings have been repainted so many times they are 40 layers deep. That’s atleast 400 years worth of tradition being kept up by the descendants of those who hold the original Wandjina story.

Well this is getting interesting now isn’t it?

An author named Erik Von Daniken certainly seemed to think so when he made the connection that the Wanjina spirits kinda looked a little bit those Greys everyone in the UFO community liked to talk about, and offered it as proof of the Ancient astronaut theory. I guess it didn’t help that the Wanjina Wunggurr people also suggested these beings as coming from the sky, causing the rains and floods, painting the pictures themselves before leaving via the same avenue. Or that the white guy that discovered them was also named Grey.

But of course, people with a degree in archaeology or anthropology, that took them only four years to get, know more than the descendants of the oldest known lineage on earth who have managed to pass down stories of their culture unchanged over thousands of years. 

Take for example these guys from the University of Michigan’s Pesuodarchaeology class, fakearchaeology.com. 

According to their site the project’s mission is to “explore how and why these [pseudo-archaeological] ideas emerged and took root in popular culture, public consciousness, and on the fringe of rational scholarly inquiry. 

More importantly, the Fake Archaeology Wiki explores the impact they have on our rational and scientific understanding of the past and human culture.” 

You can go on the Wikipedia styled page and read all their debunking of various things, one of which is the idea the Wandjina were anything other than a metaphor for weather, as depicted by a bunch of primitive savages that couldn’t tell the difference between some rain and a supernatural being:


“Deconstructing the Pseudoarchaeological Narrative

The Weather and the Wandjina

The pseudoarchaeological narrative of the origin of the Wandjina Petroglyphs revolves around one major theme: the scientific ignorance of early human civilizations. 

The proposition that the Wandjina were actually aliens visiting from a far away galaxy can be deconstructed by looking at documented archaeological evidence and cultural context. 

Supporters of the ancient alien belief have established that the mythical powers of the Wandjina, which included abilities such as calling forth torrential rains, flooding, lightning and cyclones, were actually extremely advanced scientific weapons possessed by the travelers. 

Research into the topic has revealed that the connection between Wandjina and the weather, specifically rain, developed after a period of intense drought that affected the region nearly 4,000 years ago. [8] 

Evidence from a study done by researchers at the University of Wollongong in Australia indicates that the mega-drought spanned at least 1200 years. 

“Records shows the Kimberley region of northwest Australia underwent rapid environmental change in the mid-Holocene starting around 6300 yrs. B.P. when it transitioned from a tropical humid climate with intense summer monsoon to a much drier climate. 

This new climate regime was associated with increased anticyclonic circulation over central and northern Australia allowing a significant increase in dust transport from central Australia to the Kimberley” [8] 

The study also indicates that this period of intense dryness was “enhanced through positive feedbacks triggered by change in land surface condition and increased aerosol loading of the atmosphere leading to a weakening or failure of monsoon rains”. [8] 

The end of the mega-drought was between 3,800 and 4,000 B.P. which also lines up with the emergence of the Wandjina style of petroglyphs. 

The Aboriginal peoples’ reverence for the divine power of rain is an understandable progression in belief after a period of such extreme weather. 

The concept that the elements were controlled by mythical beings is a common theme that can be seen in different belief systems across the globe (Norse, Greek, Mayan, etc.). 

Given the native people of Kimberley’s understanding of the natural phenomenon and the limited information available, it would make sense for a group of individuals, who had struggled to survive in such hard conditions, to see the increase in rainfall as a divine gift and in turn begin to worship or revere these spiritual beings as saviors. 

This logical leap is understandable given the human understanding of weather and climate at the time and does not indicate any intervention by extraterrestrial visitors.”

You know its funny though, I couldn’t find any entries on Noah or the flood, Moses parting the Red Sea, shroud of Turin, Ark of the Covenant, Jesus Christ, God, Angels, or anything else the bible (and its associated thumpers) like to tell us with unrelenting certainty was supposed to have taken place in the last few thousand years.

I guess we should just blindly trust the wisdom of a 2 thousand year old book written by various authors spanning over several periods of time, over the word of a {atleast} 50 000 year old tribe of people claiming they had a direct connection to creators of the physical plane through the dreamtime huh?

I am sorry, but if you are going to use your unfettered wisdom to “look into the things shape the beliefs of certain cultures”, then …

…I expect you to be looking into the religious beliefs that shape a society to the point our governments give their proponents big tax breaks to build temples of worship, for said beliefs, at the expense of people who don’t even believe in them.

But then again, I guess I can forgive the University of a state whose population is made up of 70% people who are orientated to believing in Christian Ideologies, majority of them being Roman Catholic.

This isn’t to suggest I don’t like people of these religions, moreso that there is an obvious perceptual bias when it comes to reading shit from debunking sites such as fakearchaelogy.com directed at ancient cultures and their belief systems.

It’s not like I am going to lose much sleep over a bunch of people who live on a different fucking continent to the people it apparently has an expert knowledge of. At least they got the name right, I suppose.

And while we are on the subject, I guess these “expert” anthropolgists didn’t see any value in extending their research into to what spurred these Christian Missionaries into contacting the “oldest continuing tribe on earth” and preaching to them that their traditional beliefs were “evil and akin to devil worship”:

God is a Wandjina - Compass - ABC Religion & Ethics (seriously watch the video and try not to throw up at how carelessly “well meaners” tried to eradicate the Wandjina beliefs, simply because “they knew better”)

Guess it had to do with that “age” thing huh? So now we have the oldest continuing tribe on earth – which according to Airl, extends back 400 000 years who had something to say about the creators, and even drew some fucking pictures of them all over the Kimberley now tainted by the seemingly infant (in comparison) ideologies of a few missionaries that only dates back a little over a two thousand years.

And no one has thought to bring the mentality and psychological disposition of these missionaries into question during their anthropological studies, though they are quite happy investing in researchers to debunk those traditional, work of the devil beliefs?

I’d certainly be interested in a study into the “human” behaviour of those missionaries. Anyone else?

I call bullshit. #fakeanthropology

After all, it’s not like white people have a history of stepping on Aboriginal culture for the sake of their own greed or anything……oh wait a minute: Mining firm Rio Tinto sorry for destroying Aboriginal caves - BBC News. 

Because I am sure Rio Tinto just “accidentally” walked into that site and “accidentally” packed it with a few tons of explosives before “accidentally” going through all Health and Safety checks, before “accidentally” pressing the detonator trigger right 😉? 

Fourty five thousand years of Aboriginal history gone quicker than you can say “cultural purging”.

The whole mentality that the Aboriginals were a bunch of dumb savages in need of some good old fashioned European cultur-ization (as is the narrative we are taught in school) in the form of raping, pillaging and plundering as evidenced by the Stolen Generation (watch The Rabbit Proof Fence) has since been challenged and smashed to pieces by Bruce Pascoe in his book Dark Emu. 

In it Pascoe quotes the journal entries of many Australian Settlers that alludes to a thriving civilisation that was in some ways even more advanced than them. 

Stories of intricate fish trapping networks, irrigation systems, the careful cultivation of yam crops, an intimate understanding of the land and its geological structure and the deliberate “engineering” of the soil over many generations to achieve an optimal fertility (which was subsequently destroyed by us dumb arse white men within the span of a few years due to the sheep and plant diseases we brought with us).

These are just a few examples mentioned by Pascoe that show the Australian Aboriginals were a lot more advanced than white man gave them credit for, and suggests an obvious bias put in place to justify the invasion; the “savages” needed a lesson in what constitutes society.

Such bigotry shows through in the writings of these settlers who, rather than dish out credit for one of the intricate fish traps which had the ability to throw a fish in the air when caught, suggests the tribes so mentioned were in need of useless artefacts that they had no need for (which the settlers had become dependant on and could not envision life without).

And what did Pascoe get for his efforts? Our Minister for Home Affairs investigating him for fraud, and “scientists” debunking his claims of course:

Peter Dutton’s office referred complaint accusing Bruce Pascoe of falsely claiming to be Indigenous to AFP | Peter Dutton | The Guardian

And…

Why Is ‘Dark Emu’ By Bruce Pascoe Being Debunked? (junkee.com)

And…

Forensic critique of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu presents a different view (smh.com.au)

You know it is a load of bullshit when the Sky News Murdoch media puppet Andrew Bolt is on board with the smear campaign. If you look close enough, you can almost see Murdoch’s arm protruding out the back of him.

Andrew Bolt exposes Bruce Pascoe’s bullshit! – News (morningmail.org)

Unfortunately for bolt and his {Gestapo} media and political connections, Pascoe didn’t take the bait and seek compensation. Instead he stood up in front of a bunch of people and offered Bolt this roasting:

https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/andrew-bolts-disappointment/

I get it though. Kind of hard to expand your pedophile cult’s foothold with Dark Emu’s shadow looming over you, and threatening to call bullshit on your whole parade:

Hillsong Church: Rape victim ‘shocked’ by PM’s friendship with his rapist’s son | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Not that the Australian Federal Police ever bothered to give that cult a “forensic critique“.

But I digress.

Now getting back to the Wandjina Wunggurr, we are missing one important thing when it comes to aliens, and that is hidden in its terminology.

If we dig a bit deeper into this Wandjina thing, we can find the idea that Grey (the white explorer who stumbled upon the paintings in 1838) sparked a bit of controversy by implying the paintings were perhaps depictions of alien peoples not coming from the stars, but from the lands abound over the ocean.

It is suggested that this may have been a result of Grey copying them and instilling his own bias through his European art style.

Take a look at this article by the ABC and tell me it is not a cleverly constructed piece of double speak targeting anyone making the Wandjina/ Alien connection.

“Aboriginal art depicting Wandjina figure that sparked aliens theory to be reclaimed by traditional owners

By Erin Parke

Posted Mon 5 Dec 2016 at 6:09amMonday 5 Dec 2016 at 6:09am, updated Mon 5 Dec 2016 at 6:17amMonday 5 Dec 2016 at 6:17am

George Grey’s 1838 drawings of the Wandjina cave caused speculation about the paintings’ origins.(Supplied)

Aboriginal families in Western Australia’s north are finding ways to reclaim a sacred image that sparked rumours of Arab voyages and aliens during the early days of British exploration.

The large, looming Wandjina are spirit figures drawn on thousands of cliffs and cave walls in the Western Kimberley, and came to national prominence when they featured in the Sydney Olympic opening ceremony.

Worrora woman Leah Umbagai said they were considered sacred by three tribes in the area.

“The Wandjina is a supreme being that created the country, gave us the laws of the land, and we have to obey and follow it,” she said.

“The Wandjina is not just a big picture on the wall, it’s the trees, it’s the rocks, it’s the water, it’s the seasons, it’s everything … it lets us Wandjina people know who we are, and how to live our life.”

But the history of white contact with the Wandjina is marred by misunderstanding and wild theories that remain deeply hurtful to the Worrora, Ngarinyin and Wununbul tribes to this day.

British explorer seeking ‘inland sea’ stumbles upon artwork

In 1837, explorer George Grey embarked on a bold but misguided mission to penetrate north-western Australia.

It was thought a large, inland sea might exist in central Australia, and the British government and the Royal Geographical Society sponsored Grey and his team to explore what is now the Kimberley region.

Author Mike Donaldson has written extensively on Kimberley rock art and its discovery by settlers.

“Grey and his men came straight from England and South Africa to the Kimberley, and to cut a long story short, they struggled to get inland, they had a mob of sheep that all died, their dogs died, and they were attacked by Aboriginal people at one point,” he said.

“But then somewhere along the line they just came across these Wandjina pictures on a cave.”

Grey sketched several of the Wandjina in his journal, complete with big rounds heads, halo-like head-pieces, large eyes, slim nose and no mouth.

The images caused quite a stir when they were published back in Great Britain.

“They were totally unlike anything that people had reported from Aboriginal rock art in Australia before,” Donaldson said.

“They thought they could not have been done by Aboriginal people.

“They thought they must have been done by shipwrecked sailors, or some other culture of people that visited here.”

He said one of the figures appeared to be wearing a full gown, and what Grey interpreted as writing on the headband, which people thought could be Arabic or Chinese.

“But it wasn’t anything of the sort, it was an older painting showing through, where the painting was wearing away a bit,” he said.

Pictures fuel Australian ‘alien’ landing theory

The misunderstanding fuelled theories Asiatic or Middle Eastern people at one time occupied the Australian continent, and set the scene for an even more offensive proposition — that the Wandjina were drawings of aliens that visited prior to white settlement.

The theory emerged in the 1968 book Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, which was written by Swiss author Erich von Daniken, and detailed examples of ancient civilisations that could be evidence of alien life form.

Donaldson said the theory never gained much traction.

“It was just ignorance on von Daniken’s part, the kind of ignorance that goes back to the people who initially, 100 years ago, thought that Aboriginal people were not so sophisticated enough to do those paintings,” he said.

“Of course we soon learnt that they were very sophisticated, and could paint all these wonderful things … so that’s just one guy’s crazy story, that thought they were space men or something.”

Traditional owners hope to educate public

It is a source of ongoing frustration for traditional owners like Ms Umbagai, who until recently managed the Mowanjum Art Centre.

“A lot of the people that come into the art centre, they ask so many questions, and yes I suppose there have been UFO sightings in America and all of that, but it just really saddens me that they say things about it,” she said.

“It’s like people are making fun, or think we’re making things up, and it’s hurtful for us.”

Efforts are underway to reclaim the image, including high-tech 3D imaging used to create a life-size Wandjina cave at the Mowanjum Art centre, so local Aboriginal children and tourists can learn about the importance of the rain-making spirit figure.

Families are finding ways to revisit the remote bush caves where the Wandjina live, to care for the sites and touch up the paintings.

It takes several days’ driving or an expensive helicopter charter to reach many of them, but native title agreements, marine parks and remote ranger programs are making the trips more possible.

Ms Umbagai has been able to visit the caves that featured in Grey’s journal more than 175 years ago.

“When I’m out there, I’m just so at home. Because I’m at artist, I love sketching everything I come across, so I’ll just sit there are draw them myself,” she said.

“But just looking at the paintings and knowing that our old people used to walk this area and sit here, and knowing this is what they left for us … it’s very special.”

…

Wow. If that constitutes journalism, then I am in the wrong business. It’s one thing to peel through page after page and present it as information in an effort to actually inform people of the point you are trying to make.

It’s another thing completely to omit that very point and twist all scrutiny in a different direction in an effort of deflection.

Let me ask a few questions and see if you can answer them: what was the narrative Ms Umbagai was upset with again?

Was it the suggestion that the paintings of the Wandjina were depictions of some white European settlers who came before those in recorded history, or was it more so at the idea that Danikan suggested the Wandjina were ancient astronauts?

One minute they are talking about Arabic and Asian visitors, the next they are talking about space aliens, wrapping it up with a vague explanation of some UFO visitors from America making fun of the paintings without providing any context to understand which it is Ms Umbagai is even talking about.

It’s even worse when you try to get an actual Aboriginal account of the myth from the internet; everything about the Wandjina seems to be written from the vicarious perspective of a {presumably} white person.

This is understandable, given many Aboriginal tribes exhibit a somewhat distrust for sharing such stories with those outside their clan.

In fact, SD has a friend who is an honorary member of a local clan.

It took her four years at university learning about their culture and several years worth of contact building, interacting with the tribe she is an honorary member of before she could even be considered.

As a result of her hard work, she is allowed to attend meetings held by the Elders.

Yet, even she is met with exclusion when it comes to the more “important” secrets of the clan. But yeah, I suppose those anthropologists over at fakearchaeology don’t give a shit about her opinion.

So when it comes to knowing the real story behind the Wandjina, it is likely it has remained as a true secret shared only among the Wanjina Wunggurr.

However, what we can take from Ms Umbagai’s brief statement is this: “It’s like people are making fun, or think we’re making things up, and it’s hurtful for us”.

This suggests to me that the story of the Wandjina, at least to the Wandjina Wunggurr descendants, is taken to be meant in a very literal sense, and if one distorts it from its literal meaning it becomes offensive to the tribe continuing on the story. In other words, it suggests that they firmly believe the Dreamtime was a real, non physical place that existed before the physical plane, and that their people “witnessed” when this physical plane was created. Of course, those with Wanjina Wunggurr blood are welcome to tell me if I am wrong in this assumption.

If I am not totally of the mark with the above statement, this suggests that the Wandjina Wunggurr people were at some point non physical based, for that is the only way they would be able to witness the physical world coming into existence.

I guess being someone who has astral projected and lucid dreamed many, many times, it is alot easier for me to conceptualising existence from a pure consciousness state sans a body, than most.

So what if it wasn’t space where the Wandjina originally came from, but from the astral/ dreaming realms; the same realms that I was told were important communication conduits for non physical entities to interact with physical ones by the Elder Guardians?

The same realms I understand as being important for the evolution of human consciousness.

The same realms that can be accessed for higher order information about the cosmos and our origins through the mastery of Lucid Dreaming?

Again I find it funny fakearchaelogy.com never bothered to debunk the Ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh while they were at it, given it seems to point to a very similar – albeit brief – creation narrative as that of the Wandjina, except with some names thrown in.

“The main source of information about the Sumerian creation myth is the prologue to the epic poem Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld (ETCSL 1.8.1.4),[53] which briefly describes the process of creation: originally, there was only Nammu, the primeval sea.[54] 

Then, Nammu gave birth to An, the sky, and Ki, the earth.[54] 

An and Ki mated with each other, causing Ki to give birth to Enlil.[54] 

Enlil separated An from Ki and carried off the earth as his domain, while An carried off the sky.[55] 

Enlil marries his mother, Ki, and from this union all the plant and animal life on earth is produced.

In the Sumerian version of the flood story (ETCSL 1.7.4), the causes of the flood are unclear because the portion of the tablet recording the beginning of the story has been destroyed.[66] Somehow, a mortal known as Ziusudra manages to survive the flood, likely through the help of the god Enki.[67] The tablet begins in the middle of the description of the flood.[67] The flood lasts for seven days and seven nights before it subsides.[68] 

Then, Utu, the god of the Sun, emerges.[68] Ziusudra opens a window in the side of the boat and falls down prostrate before the god.[68] Next, he sacrifices an ox and a sheep in honor of Utu.[68] At this point, the text breaks off again.[68] When it picks back up, Enlil and An are in the midst of declaring Ziusudra immortal as an honor for having managed to survive the flood. The remaining portion of the tablet after this point is destroyed.[68]

In the later Akkadian version of the flood story, recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enlil actually causes the flood,[69] seeking to annihilate every living thing on earth because the humans, who are vastly overpopulated, make too much noise and prevent him from sleeping.[70] In this version of the story, the hero is Utnapishtim,[71] who is warned ahead of time by Ea, the Babylonian equivalent of Enki, that the flood is coming.[72] 

The flood lasts for seven days; when it ends, Ishtar, who had mourned the destruction of humanity,[73] promises Utnapishtim that Enlil will never cause a flood again.[74] 

When Enlil sees that Utnapishtim and his family have survived, he is outraged,[75] but his son Ninurta speaks up in favor of humanity, arguing that, instead of causing floods, Enlil should simply ensure that humans never become overpopulated by reducing their numbers using wild animals and famines.[76] 

Enlil goes into the boat; Utnapishtim and his wife bow before him.[76] Enlil, now appeased, grants Utnapishtim immortality as a reward for his loyalty to the gods.” -Wikipedia. Epic Of Gilgamesh

SD’s experiences in connecting with her higher intelligence seems to tie both the Epic of Gilgamesh in with the Wandjina legend perfectly, and explain that whole flood thing most information of which was apparently lost.

This is a summary of information she gleaned from a lucid dream in which she was able to connect with her Higher Intelligence, which was included in my autobiography:

“Firstly the Fae (faery) beings were on earth. At the same time there were various types of humans (Neanderthal included) and at that time, the physical and astral realms were tethered to each other and you could walk through each easily like walking over a bridge or through a door; there was no need to fall asleep to detach the consciousness from the physical body because on earth they could manipulate the matter body to become light body and astral body at will.

Many alien races negotiated permission with the intelligent and powerful humanoid Fae beings, to be on earth to experiment with types of “human”.

Each alien race was appointed an ancient human to manipulate their DNA and try to create a being that could change from astral to light being and back to matter body without the need for technology or sleep, as was the norm for many beings on earth at the time.

An ascended race (the angel beings) covertly came to earth and experimented with all creatures including the other alien’s experiments.

They didn’t gain permission to be in the realm let alone do these experiments. What they did was basically like grabbing the united universal treaties and tearing them to pieces.

They are an ascended race so it was considered even more of even more a no no; they were supposed to remain as a neutral party to oversee these experiments, not partake in them.

So when they were done, they flooded the world to get rid of the evidence.

Some of the ascended race found out what these rebel factions did and went in to try and fix what they could.

They saved as many creatures and humans and Fae that were trapped and aliens as they could and put them on their ships until the flooding ceased.

While there were no active Fae on the matter plane to hold the magic at the sacred places, the gates/portals/bridges between realms collapsed.

The beings put the creatures and aliens back on earth but all were trapped as there was not a clear way back out to the other planes and worlds any more.

Some star seeds are incarnated “fallen angels” that fell to save Earth from the rebel faction and are now stuck incarnating in matter bodies until enough magic knowledge is accumulated through the build-up of DNA of the practically wiped out intelligent humanoid Fae race – the original people of this planet earth.

That knowledge and magic is needed to reopen the sacred points.

The witches are the Fae beings in question; the original witches are not just a religion but the original inhabitants of earth – but the world has been misused and misguided for centuries to hide and confuse the truth so that everyone believes they are evil and even culling witches has occurred through history to try to keep the numbers low to keep the re merge from occurring.

This is because the rebel faction are high ranking beings and the leaders know what they did and possibly condoned it. The information is being hushed so that particular race won’t suffer the consequence of them meddling in the experiments.

It will mean a much more severe war, as the mediators to all universal courts and rulings are the same race of rebels that messed around and flooded the place to try cover their tracks.

Can you imagine what will happen if all the races find out that the high court leaders and mediators are actually covertly stealing scientific research and trying to manipulate experiments to benefit them?!

Absolute chaos.

So now on earth, we are stuck in reincarnation cycling round and round and the “amnesia” is a result of the sudden severing of the two “world’s” matter and astral, on this base level/plane.

All of this has a butterfly effect consequence on the other base world’s causing chaos and war through the universe.

That’s the current astral war; everyone is blaming everyone else and trying to gain access to the next level/ plane too have the magic that’s been harvested from earth herself in an attempt to get things going again.

But it’s the witches that need to do it through their personal gate keeping magic.

If there’s not enough of them living how they need to live – not like society dictates but how they legit need to exist, properly connected to the earth – then it won’t happen.

Not to mention all that know what actually happened are trying to cover it up and poison as much of the population as possible in case the DNA of the old Fae – the witches …

… pops up in an incarnation of say – one of the fallen angel types-…

…thus allowing for the knowledge to be “read” and brought forward …

…- as these beings (fallen angel) were of the ascended race so they have the ability to keep a fair bit of knowledge.

Knowledge that the human mind is usually unequipped to handle (often resulting in the human body or mind becoming weak or confused or ill.. etc.. as too much over stimulation becomes a burden to the human vessel over time).

Hold up didn’t Airl mention the Domain were the Annunaki?…

“On land, The Domain Search Party members were referred to as "Annunaki" by the Sumerians, and "Nephilim", in the Bible. Of course, their true mission and activities were never disclosed to homo sapiens. Their activities have been purposefully disguised. Therefore, the human stories and legends about the Annunaki, and the other members of The Domain Search Party have not been understood and were badly misinterpreted.” 

- Alien Interview

….and the Annunaki are the very gods mentioned in the Ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, right?

So, could it be the Wandjina came into contact with the Domain or a civilization utilising similar doll bodies through lucid dreaming and were given similar information to Matilda McElroy when she interviewed Airl after the 1947 Roswell Crash?

Or could it be they just simply tapped into higher order information about the same flood that caused the separation of the astral and physical planes that both SD and the Ancient Sumerians seemed to be talking about. Who knows, maybe the three are all just coincidences right?

Let’s look a few points I have been trying to get across since the beginning of my articles, and I quote myself from said articles:

“The “Grand Elder” – as I called him – told me there was a sort of spiritual amnesia affecting mankind.”
“He said that the human brain had been deliberately engineered to cut them off from this state of [higher] awareness that I was now experiencing.”

“The reason, he said, that I had been summoned before them, was because of my abilities at lucid dreaming. Apparently what I had learned through years of experimentation was considered so advanced by them, that very few people on earth possessed these same abilities; the amount of others who apparently possessed these abilities could be counted on one hand. 

Apparently, according to these Elders, anyone who demonstrated these abilities were held in high regard by them, as it allowed them the opportunity to communicate with those back on the physical plane without it being compromised by external forces.” 

- Part 1: Contact with the Elder Guardians

“I cannot stress how important Lucid dreaming really is for the evolution of human consciousness.”

Part 15 – LD Lesson 4: Advanced LD Practices and Potentialities

And then there was this in regards to a Native American like tribe on a different planet (in case you didn’t get the subtleties, I was implying that they may have been the progenitors to the Native American culture):

“I had somehow found myself on another planet watching a tribal Elder of a humanoid race of people talking to his tribe. I was completely lucid, in that I could remember my body being asleep back in my bed on earth. These people, although completely alien to any human species on earth, had a very Native American vibe to them. All of a sudden the Elder realized I was there, observing them.” – Part 1: Contact with the Elder Guardians

And finally, we have a few clues as to who SD is directly from the Domain Commander himself:

“[SD] was / is an IS-BE of extraordinary (with a great emphasis on the word – MM) ability. Were she to be in our society, she would easily fit within powerful leadership roles.

[SD] was / is a past regarding trans-stable dimensional elder / tribal leader of a community of other trans-dimensional trans-universe IS-BE's that occupy communities that lie outside of the Domain, and the Master Universe. 

- Metallicman, EBP Q&A with the Commander from The Domain a November 2021 episode

Phew. I apologise for laying down so many quotes all at once, but I felt it necessary to highlight the obvious, consistent themes, so we can get a better idea of just what the fuck SD’s experiences mean.

From what I can determine, SD seems to be gaining, through lucid dreaming, information about a history of the earth that predates what even the Domain have on record. Like, a real ancient fucking history. Close to the creation of the physical world type ancient. And these experiences are directly related to stories interwoven in Aboriginal culture as well as being seemingly related to the myths of the Annunaki. Not only that, she is giving us a base line of what needs to happen to get out of the reincarnation cycle. The physical and non physical planes must be re merged, through the use of certain *keys* who have had their astral bodies tampered with.

Given my own experiences with LD, I posit that any ancient culture that invested time in dreaming to the point it became part of their main belief system, was likely in contact with non physical entities and had access to similar information. It seems logical to me that without the distractions of convenience that plague a modern society, a culture cultivating such an understanding of the dream world, would be far ahead in regards to cosmological knowledge and knowledge of our origins. Especially if left to their own devises and that understanding was allowed to thrive within their community unimpeded.

Given this deduction, I would similarly suggest that both the Native Australian and Native American tribes, amongst others would have been sought for contact by similar entities that sought me out due to my LD abilities. After all I was only playing around with consciousness via LD over a mere decade. Imagine the sort of intelligence that could have been revealed to a people that practically worshipped dreams for thousands of years before white man came and told them it was nothing but devil worship.

Now, whether or not the Wandjina were interdimensional entities that visited the Wanjina Wunggurr people can only really be left to speculation, but I find it curious their story is a mirror reflection of things Airl told us. And that their paintings depict a similar image to the doll bodies the Domain use (Skinny Bob). Regardless, I will take the word of an Elder, or even descendant of these tribes over that of a bunch of fake archaeology students any day. If the Wanjina Wunggurr people come and tell me I am wrong in my assumptions, then I will graciously accept it.

What I find interesting, and what should be taken away from all this is that SD’s experience allude to a similar sort of spirit presiding over the non physical planes in this same region that provides a degree of protection from other {non physical} entities that have a much more malevolent agenda. Note that her experiences suggest there are various dream portals littered about, that each continent is regulated, and that a tribe in close geographical proximity to the Wandjina are from such an ancient lineage and as a result that no meddling non physical entities are able to understand their original language. The idea that the astral and the physical planes must merge, is something that I find very interesting, because, as you will see in the next article, SD is not the only one I know of who has said this.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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Discussing Hycean worlds with the Domain Commander via EBP comm

In this article we explore the idea of Hycean worlds, and formulate a series of questions regarding them. Then we raise a comm to The Domain Commander and listen to his answers. It is my hope that we can find some illumination of this most interesting of subjects.

A Hycean world is an ocean world (or mostly ocean world). It is either covered in ice (a Dark Hycean), or surrounded by an atmosphere of hydrogen (not nitrogen / oxygen like the earth). They are very common throughout the universe.

We will start with the article that triggered this entire set of questioning…

Hycean worlds: a new class of habitable exoplanet

Researchers hypothesize that these exoplanets could support the development of alien life.

Key Takeaways

- A study from Cambridge proposes a new type of exoplanet that may support life.
- These oceanic planets, called Hycean worlds, are covered by thick hydrogen-rich atmospheres.
- Hycean worlds are relatively common, sparking hope in the detection of extraterrestrial life.

When planetary scientists started looking for places outside our solar system that could possibly support life, they kept an eye out for worlds that resembled Earth in density, temperature, and atmosphere.

Unfortunately, these worlds are hard to come by.

Of the 4,000 exoplanets we have discovered so far, only 24 could rival our own in terms of habitability.

Instead of scouring the edges of the known universe for mirror images of Earth, researchers have tried to figure out the conditions for life to develop on other types of exoplanets.

In recent years, studies found some likely candidates in “ocean worlds,” planets with terrestrial-like atmospheres covered in liquid water, as well as rocky exoplanets with atmospheres consisting mostly of hydrogen.

Motivated by the knowledge that some species of microorganisms have been known to survive — and even thrive — in hydrogen-rich environments on Earth, astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan drummed up a team of researchers from Cambridge University to explore a whole new type of potentially habitable exoplanet, one covered with water and enveloped by a thick layer of hydrogen.

The authors call these planets “Hycean” worlds, a portmanteau of their two most telling characteristics: oceans and an abundance of hydrogen in the atmosphere.

Contrary to Earth-like planets, Hycean worlds can be found throughout the galaxy, meaning Madhusudhan’s assumptions — if correct — would not only influence how we look for life in space but change the way we think of our own place in it.

Determining a planet’s habitability

Assessing an exoplanet’s habitability is difficult for a number of reasons.

Because virtually all of them are as of yet unreachable by spacecraft, their properties have to be inferred from spectroscopic studies and mathematical models. Aside from a lack of reliable data, our search for life is further complicated by the fact that we do not know how it developed here on Earth.

To qualify as habitable, exoplanets must meet a number of requirements.

First and foremost, they have to be located inside a habitable zone: a stretch of space where the distance between exoplanets and the stars they orbit is large enough to prevent water from evaporating but short enough to keep it from freezing, allowing for liquid water and potentially a primordial soup similar to that from which our ancestors emerged.

That said, just because a planet happens to be located inside a habitable zone does not mean it can actually support life.

To ascertain if it can, we look for biomarkers — that is, compounds associated with living things, like oxygen, ozone, methane, and nitrous oxide.

Determining a planet’s habitability will only become easier as new technologies are introduced.

In his article, Madhusudhan reminds us that both the James Webb Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope — which are, as of August 2021, still under construction — will have “the capability to detect potential atmospheric biosignatures with significant investment of observing time.”

Types of Hycean worlds

Characteristics of Hycean planets include [1] massive oceans, [2] unfathomably hot temperatures (440° F), and [3] atmospheric pressures up to a thousand times stronger than Earth’s.

The authors of the study, citing the laws of thermodynamics, claim that, in order for Hycean worlds to support life, average temperatures should not exceed roughly 250° F.

Because biomarkers like oxygen and ozone are tricky if not outright impossible to identify in atmospheres that are rich in hydrogen, the authors propose submitting their Hycean worlds to a new check list of life-related compounds, focusing on potential gases released by microbes during metabolic processes, such as chloromethane and dimethyl sulfide.

What makes Hycean worlds so exciting are not their properties but the many different ways in which these properties might be able to support life.

According to the authors, Hycean worlds should be “significantly larger compared to previous considerations for habitable planets.”

Similarly, their habitable zone may be “significantly wider” than those of terrestrial planets, broadening our options.

Hycean worlds seem so promising that the authors decided to create two sub-categories:

“Cold Hycean” worlds are located at the outer edges of their habitable zones and receive such little light that they grow cool (but not too cool);
“Dark Hycean” worlds are found slightly beyond the inner edges where the side of the planet facing away from the sun could be “habitable even if the dayside is too hot.”

Hope for life in the universe?

Most studies treat liquid water as the single most important requirement for habitability, but there are other, equally significant factors worth taking into account.

For example, a planet without geochemical cycles to regulate the chemical composition of its atmosphere — like the carbonate-silicate cycle does for our world — would quickly become inhospitable.

Then there are outside influences like sudden coronal mass ejections and powerful stellar winds, both of which represent a barrier for life on the surface of any exoplanet.

Additionally, Hycean worlds must maintain their enormous bodies of water over extended periods of time. The closer a planet is located to the inner edge of a star’s habitable zone, the harder this task becomes.

Despite these many obstacles, Madhusudhan insists that Hycean worlds are “optimal targets” for future habitability studies.

They are relatively abundant compared to Earth-like, terrestrial worlds, comprising a large portion of all known exoplanets.

On top of that, the atmospheres of Hycean worlds are comprised of lighter molecules which are easier to detect using the equipment at our disposal.

Even if we never actually find any living organisms, the optimism with which these researchers lay out the habitability models of Hycean worlds raises important questions about life in the universe.

Up until now, many thought it could only survive against impossibly small odds. Now, it seems as if those odds are about to get a little bit bigger.

…

Questioning the Domain Commander

These are the kinds of subjects that I am qualified to ask and who’s answers I am qualified to understand. Thus, this question bank allows us a great opportunity to increase our understanding of life, the universe, and our roles within it. To this end, I sat down and composed some questions for the Domain Commander to answer.

Hycean worlds consist of a broad spectrum of worlds. Is life more common on these worlds than on earth-similiar planets?

These worlds can be classified into many categories of different living environments. And some of them (containing life as you would understand it), as you have correctly surmised, are more populous than the earth biodiversity habitable zone is.

The commonality of life is proportional to the planetary dimensions (modified by the star class), and local attributes and regional longevity / stability. Obviously, these factors change over time and are greatly variable.

What you are asking about is a "snapshot" of what is available now for purposes of understanding, at which point we can advise that yes, the systems are far more populous, and contain a much greater biodiversity than anything that you are familiar with on the earth planetary sphere.

What kinds of life can be found on these worlds?

As always, these worlds vary in attributes in far more ways than the simplistic general classifications that your "scientists" have established. You might be surprised to discover that many of the lifeforms that you see on your earth planetary environment are also duplicated in these "so called" water-worlds.

You can well guess that they range in complexity from bacterial all the way up to giant (by your standards) mammals and aquatic creatures with intelligence and tool making abilities. There are no serious limitations on the biodiversity that lies outside that of the planetary environs.

How do these worlds relate to humans / mankind?

They do not. Humans, as you refer to them, are simply inmate skin suits that were derived from human archetypes found throughout the main universe. There are no associations with these kinds of worlds within the current time frame as established by the MWI as the earth environment (associated with the prison complex) is concerned.

These types of world do exist within the prison complex, and a number of them are in the same predictment as the earth sphere. They are prison environments where the life forms are trapped and living a treadmill of reincarnated events with the promise of eventual "heaven", or "evolution" to a better life-form.

Can you rank the feasibility of these kinds of worlds being the home for life?

The feasibility of life on these world are the same as on the earth physical sphere. Life forms easily and readily within the main primary universe.

As far as civilizations are concerned, how do these worlds rate as far as tool-making civilization crucibles?

The idea or concept of "tool making" is not well understood by inmate human skin-suits. All intelligent ambulatory creatures make tools and use them. Some are physical, but many are not.

Thus, with that understanding, these worlds are equals in tool making abilities as what the earth prison planet environment is.

Do you want more?

You can find many more videos in my “Domain index” over here…

The Domain

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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[daegonmagus] – Part 16 – Adventures in the Occult: Some Thoughts on The Hellfire Club

The following is the 16th part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

This particular read is truly enjoyable. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

-MM

Part 16 –Adventures in the Occult: Some Thoughts on The Hellfire Club

Ever thought about joining the Hellfire Club? Don’t have any clue about what the “hell” – pun intended – it actually is?

Allow me to explain:

The Hell Fire Club was the name of several clubs that were operating out of England in the 18^th century, exclusively for high society “debauchees” or persons of apparent “quality” who wished to take part in socially perceived immoral acts. In other words, it was a club for politicians and other well connected “gentlemen” that wanted to waste their {usually inherited} money on gambling, drinking and having sex. Other things said to be engaged in in the club were poetry, philosophy, and the ridicule of religion, as it was of a time when blasphemy of the church was catching on.

The clubs were rumoured to have distant ties to an elite society known only as The Order of the Second Circle. Don’t ask me who those guys were, because I honestly have no fucking clue. The actual activities and membership, though, have long been lost to time. The first official club was established by the Duke of Wharton in London in 1718, though the most notorious of the clubs was one established by a man named Sir Francis Dashwood who met irregularly from 1749 to 1766 in England. Originally, Dashwood’s club wasn’t actually known as a Hell Fire Club – this name came later on. His club seemed to have gone through change of name every time there was a change of location of the Club’s get togethers; Brotherhood of St. Francis of Wycombe, Order of Knights of West Wycombe, The Order of the Friars of St Francis of Wycombe, Monks or Friars of Medmenham, or, `more recently, The Priory of The Knights of St Francis were a few of the names the club as known as.

Dashwood’s club was aimed at partaking in Pagan rituals in salutation of Greek and Roman gods, particularly those of wine (Bacchus and Dionysus etc). In fact, Dashwood apparently had many statues of similar Greek and Roman gods adorning his gardens of Medmenham Abbey. In addition to the Pagan rituals, Dashwood’s club was said to hold mock rituals, distribute items of pornographic nature amongst its members and engage in much “drinking” and “wenching”.

Whereas Wharton’s club was apparently more of a satirical joke meant to shock the outside world, with claims that the president of the club was the Devil himself, though the worship of such deities was not undertaken with the club. The members, did however call themselves “devils” in allusion to their often frowned upon behaviour. An interesting fact of Wharton’s club was that both men and women were admitted as equals, which was practically unheard of for other clubs of the time. Dashwood allowed female members into his clubs which were called nuns. Of course, his club seems to be the one that attracted legends of Black mass and demon and Satan worship, though whether any of that took place is speculation at best. Here’s a fun fact, Aleister Crowley got his infamous “do what thou wilt” line for his Thelemic order from an inscription above one of Dashwood’s doors at Medmenham Abbey.

Also worthy of note is that Dashwood eventually moved his club out of Medmenham into some chalk caves in West Wycombe when the owners of the estate sought to have renovations carried out. These caves ended up being where the meetings were held until the club’s eventual demise, which basically came about due to one of the members becoming involved in a political scandal. This was never something I was told upon becoming involved with the club, but is all readily available on Wikipedia for the curious reader.

What you won’t come across, however is a written record of the rise and rapid fall of the Hell Fire Club as it pertains to the modern era. The bit that I had a {semi} active involvement in breaking out of England and into the international domain. I feel it is necessary to write about as a lot of members and non members alike got right royally screwed over, and still are being screwed. This is some recognition of their efforts out of my own well of respect.
So, consider this an offer of some unfettered wisdom from someone who was actively involved in expanding its chapters internationally, because there was and still is a very active effort on the founder’s part to bury the work us international Stewards put into that expansion.

The Hell Fire Club I am a Steward of is an evolution of Dashwood’s Club. Though when I joined it was very far from being a Club for getting together and having orgies. I was around 19 or 20 when I stumbled across it.

Let’s back up a bit to my high school years. We all know I was into some very “fringe” concepts with my lucid dreaming and astral projection practices while I was at school. I studied the occult in the library when I was supposed to be doing research for science which, to be honest, I found quite boring. I wasn’t that I wasn’t good at it, it is just that I absorbed information at quite rapid pace from only a few glances through the work, so the concept of doing homework or extended study was quite lost on me. I’d prefer to use the time to learn in other areas that I knew a public schooling system was never going to bother teaching me. So yeah, conspiracies regarding the illuminati, the deep state, the freemasons, and reptilian shapeshifters etc were all things I had racked up hours of study on even at the age of fifteen. Though I didn’t necessarily believe in most of them, I was however somewhat of a walking encyclopedia when it came to the occult, astral projection, lucid dreaming, psychic happenings and other metaphysical subjects. To me all this was far more interesting to talk about than how to work out the speed of an apple falling from a tree or whatever they taught in general physics classes. Yawn.

And this presented a bit of a problem, because I was one of the only people in the entire school that had such an understanding of the metaphysical. It’s all well and good for those that have no first hand experience in these arts, but when you have been spending a good chunk of your youth flying around in the astral planes or fighting demons in lucidity, it’s hard not to find every day life quite bland. I yearned for others to talk to about this “crazy” world I knew too much about, and sometimes even indulged my straight edged friends a little too liberally to be met with nothing but blank stares. There was one other guy I use to practice healing and psychic shielding with – a guy named Blake – but he ended up running off to join some cult almost as soon as school had finished in an effort to “stay spiritual”. He was even kind enough to {rather forcefully} invite me in to it and try to get me to stay {by not letting me fucking leave}. So there went my Hogwarts connection.

Regardless, my studies continued well past school. I started collecting the oldest manuscripts of any given occult subject I could find, figuring information would be more “pure” if it came directly from the source before its true meaning could be lost in translation and transliteration. If a book was a few hundred years old and had something to do with “magic” I simply had to have it, regardless of the cost. And it wasn’t that I wanted to specifically practice said magic either; I simply wanted to broaden my knowledge in those areas. Because, as any wise person should know, knowledge is power.

So I was looking for books. Old books, antique books, and books with evident occult connections, and this was how I stumbled upon the Hellfire Club. You see, the club’s Steward was a Master Book binder, and he somehow managed to secure rights to republish out of print occult works; some really fucking nice and old {and powerful} manuscripts. Things like photocopies of diaries from 15^th century alchemists, original workings of the Golden Dawn, some stuff on Freemasonry, other stuff on Crowley, Copies of Solomonic manuscripts dating back to the 1500s etc. These editions were bound “exclusively for the Hell Fire Club”, though that didn’t mean you had to be a member to purchase them. What can I say, I was instantly hooked. Some of these editions came bound in a standard cloth form, and others – the more exotic and rare – came leather bound with hand tooled emblems and insignia pressed and then gilded into the fronts. The collection would have made any practicing occultist weep, mainly due to the price tags. It wasn’t uncommon to find these books valued at over $500 a pop, some even in the thousands.

I admit, a few titles really caught my attention, and my curiosity was piqued as the web site stated they were taking on new members. Although no history was given as to the association with the Hell Fire Clubs of the past, a brief summary of the club and its values were given, which aligned with my studies into alchemy. Essentially, the whole point of the club was to better its members through applying alchemical concepts to one’s meditations as a basis to initiate a spiritual shift in consciousness. This is how it was pitched anyway, or something along those lines. One may recall I was never big on joining any occult organisation that had a ranking system in place, and this is where the HFC tickled my fancy over other organisations such as the Freemasons, the Ordo Templi Orientis and Crowley’s Argentum Astrum etc. Upon initiation into the HFC, all members were considered equal as everyone else. The Stewards, who were there solely to keep the various Chapter on course would be rotated on a yearly basis so as to keep up with this equality. Plus, because of the way the Club was structured, self initiation was not only possible but highly encouraged (I think this was really to help expand internationally more than anything).

So I sent the English Steward, Eamonn, an email stating I was interested in joining. We got to talking and he evidently became impressed with my thirst for occult knowledge, to compliment what little I already knew. He asked me if I wanted to help bring the Club to Australia and create my own Chapter, to which I was quite apprehensive at first, though he assured me he would give me any help I needed and that he could provide (it ended up being quite a dismal amount of help indeed). After some back and forth, he eventually convinced me to start my own Chapter in Western Australia, and with that I established my Chapter of Dragon Flame (an intentional anagram of “A Pagan force meld forth”), under his direct instruction, then he put me in contact with the Stewards of the other States.

Remember, this was before Facebook really took off, so to begin with the plan was to coordinate everything through a Yahoo group, but nothing ever eventuated from it. It wasn’t until the other Stewards finally joined facebook that I was able to communicate with them much more freely, and found solace I hadn’t found since my conversations with Blake (not including those discussions I had had with SD). These were occultists – real occultists – that had been involved in Hermetic societies for most of their life, some even being high ranking Mason’s. Others had even created their own Hermetic Orders that borrowed heavily from Godlen Dawn literature. Needless to say, I got along very well with them, and became rather respected given my understanding of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and how it pertained to alchemy, and my occult knowledge in general. If you ever wanted a lesson in occult matters – astral projection, magic, lucid dreaming etc then this was the group to be in. Some of them were even contacted by non physical “Masters” just as I was about to be. It was repository of information that you would never find in any school or public library.

Thus I was very much in the Hell Fire Club’s “inner circle”, and this was a direct evolution of Francis Dashwood’s Club; Eamon was in possession of some of the original paperwork used by Dashwood and his associates, and even went so far as to conduct the Clubs meetings in the same chalk caves of West Wycombe, which became known as the “Hellfire Caves”. Whatever the club once was in regards to its debauch behaviour, it had become reworked into something which legitimately focused on inner reflection and the development of the spiritual self, thanks to the work and vision Eamonn put into it. This was evident in the other members I have since become quite good friends with (one of the Stewards even sent me a bottle of pure Myrr oil when he heard my hand had been cut open – quite an expensive and sacred oil to gift out to someone you’ve never met).

I even had a few astral projection and lucid dreaming experiences that were directly related to the Club, and a somewhat mystical experience that hinted at the “overthrowing of the armour king to make way for the king of fire” (which I took to mean the rule of the military industrial complex to make way for the rule of the spirit). Though, I never had the opportunity to partake in any orgies. How unfortunate.

SD, being Pagan and into much of the same ideologies and concepts as me joined as a founding member of my own Chapter, though for a time we floundered as there was absolutely no interest by anyone in our State. We initiated another member only to find he was more interested in serving his own carnal pleasures than he was for spiritual development (turned out the guy was a fucking serial rapist and had deep connections within the OTO, Freemasons and was a part of pretty much every Pagan meetup group in our area, so there went the idea of expansion), and that put us off to the point that our Chapter became a somewhat private affair for our own spiritual development. We conducted a few rituals based off of the ideologies of the Club, but I found it more beneficial to rework these into my own concepts on Alchemy that I was now fully invested in, and contemplate them in silent meditation. I believe these concepts and meditations were what led to my eventual contact with the Elder Guardians in 2012 when coupled with my LD practices.

In regards to the activities of Eamon and the other members, they continued with their regular meetups, but for me and SD, it was a several year period of stagnation. Of course, I still remained in close contact with the other Stewards and Eamonn, and engaged in regular chats with them all both privately and publicly on the Club’s Facebook pages. By this stage I had invested a few thousand dollars in some of Eamonn’s books which constituted my “occult library” (there was some good, rare books in this library). Eamonn had also commissioned me to help on some of his upcoming works, knowing that I was rather handy when it came to using photoshop for touching up “noisy” images. It seemed his work on gaining an international foothold was paying off as he now had established connections (and thus Chapters) within the USA and throughout Europe as well as in almost every State of Australia. SD and I were added to the “Hellfire Star Chamber” along with the other Stewards to discuss drafting of the proper charters for each Chapter and other such necessities that would move it full steam ahead. I guess Eamonn envisioned it growing as big as Freemasonry or something.

With things seemingly moving along nicely, I was inspired to revisit my Chapter of Dragon Flame and begin structuring it into something more usable and in line with the Hell Fire Club’s Goals. I began drafting my own charter with an idea to properly promote it amongst the limited occult societies in my area. I wrote poems and verse that I posted amongst the Stewards in the Starfire Chamber that even Eamonn himself suggested were good enough to be used for all of the Chapter both, original and international. Whether those poems and verse arse still in use is a mystery to me, though if they are then technically they are being used out of copyright, not that I really give a shit.

The Charter

Here is a {somewhat incomplete} charter I wrote for my Chapter of Dragon Flame. As you can see, there is nothing inherently sinister within it, and it was based heavily on the chapter papers Eamonn wrote, bound and distributed to the Hell Fire Club’s Members: The whole purpose of my club was utilise HFC rituals as a form of unlocking the higher self within the candidate. I wanted people to experience that “god mode” form of consciousness that I had experienced during my times with Elder Guardians.

THE CLUB’S INTENTION: To bring one into a new perception of oneself by symbolic means.

Elements needed to effectively be in chapter:

Membership cards/coins must be made for the initiation of guests, and any spares used to decorate the decanter/bottle on the occasion of guest initiation plus an extra gold coin.
A blue and red coloured robe
A beaked mask (one per member)
A Bishop’s/ Wizard’s hat/ mitre reserved for the appointed Abbot’s duties
A floor/ table cloth printed/embroidered with a zodiac or stars. If none is available then the Major Arcana of a Tarot set arranged in three rings (12-7-3) or a set of 12v zodiacal cards from Uranias Mirror can be used.
Six Candlesticks (representing the four niches/ doves and two paths in the caves) to signify the Towers of the Abbey of Theleme in (Rabelais Book 2), named after the winds in the classical world: Arctice, Calaer, Anatole, Mesembrine, Hesperia, Cryere.
A lamp/ globe/ bowl suspended from the ceiling above the floor cloth, preferably one that may contain a lighted taper/ candle.
A bottle/ decanter of wine/ mead in which the coin is to be cast during the guests initiation ceremony as well as a chalice or goblet for drinking of said wine.
Pentagram and Hexagram Sketches as well as the Stewards Jewel and a set of Platonic Solid Models to signify the two keys. The letters T.R.I.N.C. must be available, preferably so that they can be rearranged as is done in the ceremony of the second key.
Any available object that can act as a tribute to Francis Dashwood, whether it be a portrait of him, an object from the club or an empty chair reserved for the presence of the founder.
A scroll bearing the poem called ‘The 108 Steps” to be laid at the bottom of the floor cloth

Membership Cards: Exist to aid all persons involved in the club and available only through properly appointed Stewards of each Chapter. To be completed and issued to successful applicants on an individual basis only. In early days coins or token were used in place of the cards, engraved or marked by/ for the individual. The coin/token/ card should be regarded as the sole guarantee that the lessons of the Chapter have been relayed by a Steward in an appropriate manner, and that the persons connection is a true one.

A record should be kept by the Stewards of the names of those in which a card is issued, and allow other chapters to request information regarding membership status in order that visiting members from other areas are properly received, though it should be noted that the right to a membership card does not necessarily guarantee admittance to another chapter. Politeness holds sway and all members wishing to visit another chapter should either wait to be invited or contact an appropriate Steward to arrange asocial meeting in advance.

PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS:

The floor cloth is to be aligned so that the doves point to the principle points of the compass; the main door of this room should open towards the first path of the inner temple.
The lamp is to be hung in the centre of the room above the floor cloth. The only light in the room should emanate from this lamp alone.
Around the internal space is to be a representation of a celestial zodiac, depicted through the Major Arcana (Trumps) of the Tarot deck, which are placed in exact alignment of the zodiac at the solstices in a series of 3 – 7 – 12.
At the extremities around the cloth behind the doves are placed four candlesticks to represent the four niches.
In the centre of the floor cloth is to be placed the bottle/decanter with the members coins strewn about next to it.
At the bottom of the floor cloth should be laid the poem ‘The 108 Steps” with a gold coin placed atop it.
On the opposite side of the scroll, where the rings of the Major Arcana align, is to be placed a pentagram with the Letters T.R.I.N.C. enclosed in its outer spaces along with a platonic solid at one edge and the Stewards Jewel at the other edge.

The four Doves or degrees: The object of the members of the Hell Fire Club is to better oneself spiritually by meditating and applying one’s mind to the occult symbology of alchemy guided on by an appointed Steward. Although there are no formal degrees in the sense of rank, one must first progress through a series of four non-linear states along the journey to their inner self.

Guests are invited to attend Chapter meetings by a member of the HFC whereby they can partake in the first of many rituals of casting a coin at the decanter and taking a drink of its contents. Once this first rite of passage has been completed the Guest may then apply for membership whereby they become a member if accepted by the club. Guests and preparations of what they may see or experience are the sole responsibilities of the inviting member. Watch Words for guests are Friendliness and Discretion.
Members are guests that have completed the first rite of passage and on applying for membership, have been approved by an appointed Steward. A successful applicant may then apply to the Steward of their Chapter for advice on the deeper interpretation of the symbols associated with the club. The privilege of inviting Guests to the chapter meetings is restricted to members alone, and for practical reasons is kept to one Guest per member per meeting. Watch words for members are Sincerity and Application.
A Steward is essentially any person whose membership has passed from the level of the inner desire for experience to the outward manifestation of that in literature, mathematics, public speaking, art, business or any other engagement. They guide the Club as one would a ship, relating from memory the legends, traditions and symbols and assist others in taking their first steps on the road to inner discovery. There is usually only one Steward in Chapter at once, the position being revoted upon by members every year. Watch words are Hospitality and Self Sacrifice.
A Prior/ Prioress is someone who has walked the inner road of themselves and has effectively returned to the beginning. It is the prior’s/ prioress’s duty to continue the seed of the club, and only they are able to begin a new chapter of their own. Watch Words for priors are Work and Silence.

The office of the abbot: The Abbot’s role lies outside of the four degrees and is not a level attained in the club by application of oneself. Instead it is an annually elected role, enabling all members of the club to exert an influence upon its development. The Abbot, whilst appearing to be of merriment and even disorder, is vital to the Harmony and well being of the club. It is in fact an evolutionary force.

The hell fire club greeting: The Steward welcomes all of those who have made it to Chapter using the LAQS motto and gives a brief explanation of any themes they have thought relevant for after ritual.

Layout of the 12 rituals of the hfc:

The Ritual Of Fire – to be completed in the sign of Gemini (ideally in the last 10 degrees of the sign, ie 11^th – 20^th of June )
Ritual Of Air – to be completed in the sign of Cancer during midwinter (ideally at the very start of the sign on the 21^st of June.
Ritual II

Possible Set Up:

A permanent pentagram (circle) set up with four “pillars” representing the niches of TARO (north, south, east and west), and another two representing the “gate” or “entrance” to the circle, with rocks filling the spaces to symbolise the cave.
An empty chair for the presence of Dashwood.
The candles representing the Guest to be lit from the candle of the T niche.

Ritual of Fire:

Aim:

To make the Guest subconsciously aware of the fact that they are element of fire, which is associated with the tetrahedron

- To be facilitated by the building and lighting of a fire by the Guest

To subconsciously open the path of Cancer for the Guest
- To be facilitated by the alignment of Cancer (Chariot) with the element of Fire (Judgement) on the floor cloth and the recitation of the passage explaining as such.
To connect the Guest with the archetypal energies of Francis Dashwood and the original Hell Fire Club both consciously and sub consciously
- To be facilitated by the empty chair, and recitation of a brief speech acknowledging Francis Dashwood
To connect the Guest with the archetypal energies of the Abbey Of Theleme
- To be facilitated by explaining the four niches of T.A.R.O. and the square that they comprise
To make the Guest subconsciously aware that by throwing the coin they are taking the first step in the transmutation of fire into air.
- To be facilitated by the recitation of the poem of the guest.
To symbolically cast aside the material constraints society has placed upon the Guest
- To be facilitated by the casting of a coin at the decanter
To make the Guest aware of the essential relationship of themselves
- To be facilitated by the drinking of the wine.

Papers to be given:

Introductory papers on the club, what it’s about, it’s goal etc.
An explanation of Archetypal energies
An introduction on Alchemy
An introduction The Kabalistic Tree of Life
An explanation of the Abbey of Theleme

Items needed for next meeting:

The symbology behind the ritual of the guest is to be the quintessential starting point of the HFC: CODF. I feel it important that this ritual be designed so that the initiate, after freeing themself of their materialistic constraints by throwing the coin at the decanter, be able to connect with the archetypes of Francis Dashwood himself and the rest of his members. I am still unsure how the latter can be acted out in ritual, perhaps more thorough research into his character will prove useful. It may also be worth looking making a rite that mimics certain aspects of the positioning of the original caves when laying out the elements of the club.

The location of this ritual should be carried out in a location bearing similar attributes to that of the river of Styx in the caves of West Wycombe, or another underground place used, perhaps a sacred well, burial ground or even a consecrated space in a room dedicated to the purpose. I propose to use the clearing behind our house in MH for the job as there is a nearby creek which resembles the aforementioned river, and a secret spot which may act as the inner temple “hidden” by undergrowth.

Originally I proposed to have the Guest build and light a fire, so that they are physically and mentally becoming the element of the tetrahedron, but Storme has suggested this may be in efficient as not everyone is competent at building fires, so we made the decision that a candle should be lit instead, for each Guests, which can then be blown out at the next Chapter meting during the ritual of Air (obviously the candle will have to be re lit, as it cannot burn between Chapters)

The ritual is started by other members taking up position around the floor cloth, and the HFC greeting cited. The member who invited the Guest shall then give a brief introduction of them and what attributes led them to give an invitation, to which an appointed Steward will quote the poem:

Recitation of the Gate of Cancer:

Behold thee

In the position of Gemini you dwell

Study its composition

For its passing is nigh

But with it comes the opening of Cancer’s gate,

And thus the Chariot you shall ride across Zodiac of yourself.

So mote it be

Poem of the Guest

O guest whoso dares to seek our secret keys,

For the benefit of no other

And no other shall thee seek to please

In order that you will discover

That you and you alone are the sun

Rising in Cancer

To traverse the ocean of the one

So that you may find the answer

That lies deep within our inner temple

Capricorn will show you the way

If only thought of our secret be made ample

When the Devil is yours to slay

And the Corinthian book be melted down

So that the seven alchemical metals are found

But first we ask that you seek our jewel

Lest thee should yourself become the fool

Casting aside want of wealth

Be received by us in benevolence and health

Throw now your coin at the bottle of TRINC

And in the name of Dashwood drink

Study the lines in this poem you ought

As you dare O Guest to set Wealth at naught.

A coin is thrown at the bottle/ decanter in the centre of the floor cloth by the Guest/s, as they envision their shackles being released, to signify their willingness to sacrifice the materialistic profanities which pose a hindrance to their own spiritual progression. Mention is given by the Steward to the ‘TRINC’ sound made as the coin hits the bottle and its’ similarity to the word ‘trokken’ meaning to drink. The Guest/s then drinks of the wine within the decanter, which is passed around to each member to signify the equality of the members of the club. Once the Guest/s has sipped upon the wine, the Steward tells them they have freed themselves of the limitations of materialism, and that for a new perspective to take place within the individuals mind, one must in time first come to the realisation of death as the next passage to wisdom. The ritual is finished by the Steward quoting:

“We have shown you whence the path to the inner self lies, it is now your decision whether or not to walk it. If you do, then may this club and its members, being both of flesh and of spirit, provide the necessary guidance, acting as a vessel for your journey across the ocean of the zodiac.”

Afterwards a relevant theme designed to expand the mind and open the psyche may be discussed between all in chapter including any Guests.

At the end of Chapter the Guest/s is asked to meditate upon everything revealed to them in chapter in their own time, and keep a record of any changes that may occur in their consciousness whether it be manifested physically around them or astrally in their dreams, and that when they feel ready they may apply for full membership. They are to be given a paper which highlights the goal of the club as well as explains what an archetype is and how it applies to the symbology behind the HFC.

Ritual Of AIR:

Aim:

To receive the Guest as a new Member of the HFC
- To be facilitated by the giving of a membership card and a gold coin (as opposed to the silver one thrown at the decanter.)
To make the new Member subconsciously aware that they have transmuted the first of the elements into the second

- To be facilitated by the extinguishing of the flame first created by the Guest with air from their breath and the alignment of the element Air (Fool) on the floor cloth to the planetary and zodiacal rings (120 degrees), and the recitation of the first transmutation.

To subconsciously establish the floor cloth as the universe
- To be facilitated by the movement of the outer ring of the 12 zodiacal cards by 30 degrees (one zodiacal card) anti-clockwise and the movement of the inner ring of 7 planetary cards by 51.42 degrees (one planetary card) anti-clockwise
To subconsciously establish that the 3 rings of the 22 cards Major Arcana as being the outward projections of the inner temple lamp.
- To be facilitated by the moving of the decanter from the top of the floor cloth (between the Pentagram and Stewards Jewel) to its centre (in the middle of the inner ring of the elemental cards) and the recitation of the lamps description from “The Oracle Of The Bottle”
To subconsciously establish the square of opposition
- To be facilitated by the recitation of the meaning of T.A.R.O. and how it represents the four niches of the Abbey of Theleme
To subconsciously establish the Steward’s Jewel as being an anchor in the ocean of universe
- To be facilitated by the action of rowing the new member around the floor cloth by the Steward whereby they stop at Cancer
To consciously establish the Tree of Life as being a map of the Tarot and a
- To be facilitated by reciting the symbolism of the double suns of the Stewards’ Jewel, and how they relate to the twin paths of Cancer and Capricorn, and how it is a hexagram.

The Temple Lamp – Oracle of the Bottle:

Behold the most admirable lamp of our Oracle

That dispenses so large a light over our temple

Though we lay underground

We can still see as clearly as day

It dangles from a ring of massy gold,

as thick as any clenched fist

Three chains most curiously wrought

Hung below it

And in a triangle supported a round plate of fine gold

Four holes, each of which an empty ball was fastened

Hollow within

And open at the top

One amethyst

Another carbuncle

The third opal

The last anthracites

All full of burning water

Five times distilled in a serpentine lymbeck

Inconsumptible nonetheless

In each was a flaming wick

The First Transmutation

We have received your pledge to enter our temple and discover the mysteries that lie therein. Extinguish, now the flame of the tetrahedron with the breath of your being, and take up your new place amongst the airs of the octahedron….

I now beseech unto you the honour of a being a full member of the Hell Fire Club [to which the coin and card are given], and reveal unto you the secret of the pillars of the Abbey of Theleme, signified by the four doves placed upon our floor cloth. T A R O, together these pillars signify the four cardinal directions, the 4 dimensions of the cube of space, as well as the four elements of our club, and together with secrets yet to be revealed unto thee, they shall serve as the basis of your self transformation.

Join us, now as we navigate the vessel of ourselves through the ocean of the zodiac, seeking to take up anchor at the secret pathway hidden behind the devil.

[The Steward rows around the room, stopping at the alignment of Cancer ]

To aid you in your voyage we give unto thee, willingly, the gift of our jewel. Do not tarry long in its mysteries, for like the pillars they are many. For now may it serve solely as your own anchor, which you will cast upon the Gate of Cancer.

[The Steward gives the jewel to the new member who throws it at the Chariot card.]

Rejoice, for I now declare the path of Cancer open, and inform ye that you are indeed on the right course.

A coin and membership card is to be presented to any new members.

Papers to be given:

- The Stewards Jewel
- The Hebrew Alphabet & Gematria

Ritual III: the four doves.

After membership has been granted to a guest they are then allowed to partake in the first ritual which is designed to explain the significance the four doves bear to the four elements, and the colour of each element described. Members should be made aware that these four doves comprise what is called the square of opposition.

The ritual must encompass each element being made known, lighting a candle for fire, incense for air etc. A common circle casting may suffice, whereby meditation is focused upon the physical appearance of the Caves at West Wycombe, followed by the meditation of the newly opened pathway of cancer. Perhaps a ritual encompassing the sailing or entering of a boat to signify the opening of the pathway.

FURTHER STUDY: The writings of Francois Rabelais (Gargantua & Pantagruel), designs and positions of the various caves, grottoes, monuments and the great Mausoleum atop the hill at West Wycombe – England, Kabalistic Tree of Life, Platonic Solids, Corinthian Brass, Egyptian Mythology, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (The Strife Of Love In A Dream) by Francesco Colonna, Cube of Space, Egyptian scheme of the Zodiac with decans, Square of opposition, Charles Johnstone’s “Crysal” aka “Adventures Of A Guinea”, Ars Combinatoria by Ramon Llull

…

And then the shit hit the proverbial fan. No sooner had the Starfire Chamber been assembled, than it was being torn apart by the very man who had spent over a decade bringing its international standing to fruition; Eamonn.

What started as a warning towards one of the members of his English chapter, for inappropriate behaviour towards other members, soon turned into a clash between his Chapter and the international ones. Regardless of whatever behaviour this individual displayed (which she has since shown remorse for), Eamonn used it as a pawn to get everyone involved and start taking sides. It was real petty schoolyard politics bullshit on his end, and quite frankly I was stunned he’d stooped so low.

I guess it was because this individual had made quite good friends with some of the international Stewards, so when they refused to depose her from the Club, Eamonn got annoyed. He gave everyone an ultimatum: side with him and continue on under his official establishment, or take the side of the person in question and lose any connection we once had with his chapter. Honestly, it was too much drama for my liking, and I preferred not to get involved, though I had noted similar drama in the past when it came to Eamonn.

There was one particular guy who had been affiliated with the club and helped establish it in America who began selling unofficial HFC branded insignia for big money against the wishes of Eamonn. In the same email he had dished out to members, it mentioned that not only was this guy a fraud but he was also a convicted pedophile and that Eamonn and the Club would have nothing else to do with him, which I thought at the time was fair enough. Though after this school yard politics tactic, I began to wonder just how much of that schpeel was actually true. It seemed to me Eamonn had a tendency to over exaggerate someone’s indiscretions if they pissed him off.

I was also aware that Eamon had been pushing the envelope when it came to the publishing rights he was given for some of the books he was making a high margin on; when it was mentioned by the owner of that copyright Eamonn was printing more than the agreed amount of copies, his reply was for them to “eat shit” – of course, I never told him I knew about that particular interview, and had given him the benefit of the doubt about it being a business misunderstanding. I guess I was being naïve.

There was also one other thing that was making me question Eamonn’s integrity, and that was the way I had caught him lying about sending me free copies of his latest work, which had been agreed by both of us as fair payment for my photoshopping work on them.

The son of a bitch fucking pressed me for weeks to give up my lunch breaks managing an electronics factory to get these out by the deadline. And a fair portion of what should have been my R&R time after work. In the end I couldn’t have given a shit about whether or not I received the works, but to be lied to about them and then to have Eamonn cease all communication with me because of it really stung me.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one he scammed; on a facebook group for rare occult works I found a community of disgruntled customers that had been waiting years – yes actual fucking years, like 2 or 3– for books from him they had spent a good deal of money on. After a brief read of their comments the total amount owed was easily over $20k. I like to believe that Eamonn just fell behind in his orders and that these guys eventually got their books, as I never pinned him for one who would intentionally deceive people for money, but regardless, there was talk of getting the police involved after he didn’t bother to reply to their emails. And talk from others who suggested it was common practice for Eamonn to go through stages of seeming professionalism only to finish it off with such fraudulent actions. Oh yeah, and he was on the fucking group.

So it was safe to say Eamonn, who seemed to be embodying the spirit of Aleister Crowley a little too literally, was fast burning the bridges he had established within the occult community, and getting quite a negative name for himself.

In the end the Stewards of the international Chapters decided he was too much of a liability and flipped him the metaphorical bird. We became our own separate entity completely disenfranchised from Eamonn and his chapter and whatever bullshit went with it, and Eamonn started refusing he ever had any involvement with any of us, even though it was his idea to expand internationally in the first place. Even though the whole club had been established on his ideologies. He said his fuck you’s and we said them right back.

How do I know he flat out refuses we had anything to do with his Club? Because a friend within the {American} OTO bought books from him and received a flyer asking him to join the HFC, to which Eamonn dismissed any connection to the international chapters, saying we had nothing whatsoever to do with his club and never had to begin with….Here’s the thing though, I still have the original emails proving otherwise. Whoopsie. In the words of the wise man who runs the site these words are posted on, don’t piss on someone’s leg and tell them it’s raining.

Consider it some recompense for the people still yet to receive their books:

…

…

So there you have it; the true modern day history of the HFC.

For what it is worth, despite all the drama, I’d be lying if I said the club did not have a profound impact on me. Despite Eamonn’s shortcomings, he did lead me down the road of Alchemy I otherwise never would have set foot on and inadvertently gave me some auxiliary tools to unlock my higher self.

If you are interested in such things, then I sincerely recommend seeking out a Steward of the International Chapters, that are no longer affiliated with him. Sure you might get there with his Chapter, but that all depends on whether or not he actually sends you the books you pay for.

Like I said, I hope he just fell behind with his orders and has since completed them, but I honestly stopped bothering reading into anything he was up to a few years ago, so that is research the reader will have to invest their own time in. It was sad to see a community with such potential succumb to such childish bickering.

In regards to Eamonn, I don’t hate him; I always looked up to him for spiritual guidance.

Who knows, maybe life caught up with him and he saw the need to make a quick buck to pay for a debt or two he’d gotten himself into. I just hope for his sake he hasn’t dug himself a hole he is unable to get out of.

I like to believe that spark that made him want to expand his Club internationally for the spiritual betterment of the people is still alive and smouldering somewhere deep inside him.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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[daegonmagus] – Part 15 – LD Lesson 4: Advanced LD Practices and Potentialities

The following is the fifteenth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 15 – LD Lesson 4: Advanced LD Practices and Potentialities

I hope you’ve been practicing because now we get into the good stuff. Comparing this article to my past ones will be like comparing aged scotch whiskey. It will be like shelving that 12 year old blended crap and cracking open a 21 year old single malt instead. Except rather than take a few savouring sips, we are going to devour the whole bottle.

Just don’t do what I did and leave it in an oak cask in the middle of 40+ degree Celsius summer only to find it had all evaporated before I’d even had my second sampling. For those who do not know, distillers take this evaporation into account when ageing their scotch and call it the “Angel’s Share”. Well the angels certainly got their fair share of that batch, $250 fucking dollars worth of it.

Speaking of angels, there is a very well known story in occult circles about Dr John Dee and his communication with the “angel” Enoch. As the story goes, Dee, an accomplished scryer, was able to communicate with Enoch through the use of a crystal ball and black mirror. Enoch purportedly relayed an Angelic alphabet to Dee who in turn relayed it to his associate Edward Kelly. Kelly transcribed the complete alphabet along with the proper method of contacting the angels through the use of a complex system of tablets. Israel Regardie (Aleister Crowley’s secretary) has an excellent write up of the correct use of the tablets in his book “Golden Dawn” which deals with the magical systems of that same Order.

Whilst this subject deserves its own separate article, be aware that my LD methodologies can be used to contact similar non physical entities (for the sake of brevity I lump all angels/demons/ghosts/inter-dimensional ETs in the same boat under this title). Though Dee never specifically used LD or AP for his scrying sessions (that I am aware of), these avenues certainly can be used for these purposes. In fact, I am so sure in my assertions that I will even go as far as to say that these avenues will produce results far better and far in excess than what is capable with conventional channeling processes whilst “awake”, going by mine and SDs experiences alone.

Remote viewing, telepathy, communication with non physical entities, projection into other worlds etc are all very real possibilities from this non physical vantage point. Men of common sciences will suggest they are just imbalances in brain chemistry or what have you, but once you experience them you will realise just how wrong these apparent “experts” are. Do yourself a favour and replace words such as “black mirror” and “crystal ball” with words such as “void space” and “sleep paralysis” whenever reading such occult recipes for communication with non physical entities.

So what makes LD so much better for these practices than channeling techniques carried out whilst conscious within the physical body? Trick question, and if you need to ask I suggest re-reading through my prior articles on the subject. LD is the practice of disengaging consciousness from the physical vessel. PERIOD. Non negotiable! Return all arguments to sender! We may call it a form of dreaming, or a type of OBE, but when you strip the technicalities away, this is what it really boils down to. It is the change of our conscious perception of reality, and for those who feel the need to argue this point, then all I can say is that you aren’t LDing properly. As MM would put it, it is your consciousness going from particle form to wave form. What you witness in LD is, quite bluntly, the other side of the Quantum physics coin. Read that, again.

How can one define reality when one is completely, irrevocably, 100% conscious, yet there is no longer a physical world in front of them? In LD you have a complete understanding on how it is your consciousness can create reality; there is no longer mystery in this regard. And these “expert” “dream scientists” are trying to measure it all with EEGs and other equipment that can only measure the particle domain? It is beyond laughable. As a qualified electronics technician with an advanced licence in radio I can tell you no breakthroughs are ever going to come through such dream research avenues which rely solely on such equipment.

It’s like using a wrench to measure voltage in an electronic circuit; the two are not compatible. But it is rather cute watching how much effort they put into it all. Kinda like watching a baby put a square block into a circular shaped hole. If only they would listen {sigh}. In case any of them are: If LD dream scientists are serious about their research then I suggest looking into experimenting with the concepts I am providing here. You will win a noble peace prize Laureate. Read up on MMs Our Universe material and play around with the range of extremely low frequencies he mentions. It all corroborates my experiences perfectly.

Hell, I’ll even draft your experiments up for you if you ask me nicely enough. Such scientists need to understand that once consciousness reaches the transition point, linear time becomes an irrelevant factor. The entire LD experience could take place within the time it takes the microcontroller in the EEG equipment clock to register a single digital step. That digital step is what draws all those nice little lines of data you guys like to rely on. Time is not the same in LD as it is in physical reality!!! LD/AP are not just fluctuations in brain chemicals/ speeds (though these do play a role); they are a conscious witnessing of quantum reality. Adapt your experiments accordingly, else you look like fucking amateurs to those of us who know what we are talking about.

So, anyways, in answering the above question:
By detaching consciousness and becoming lucid in this manner, you are disengaging from all the sensory inputs that shapes your physical world. Not just the 5 sensors, but all those sensors you don’t even realise you rely upon, such as subconscious “programs”, like breathing and heartbeat, that keep your body running. They are good for keeping your physical body alive, but one has to realise that these sensors, when tuned to the physical body, create a thick layer of M Band noise (what I previously called sub conscious distortion in past articles.) You will not realise just how encumbering this M Band Noise is until you consciously experience a transition into the sleeping state; at this juncture, the compression of consciousness state that you have been trapped in your whole life becomes immediately apparent.

Think of it like if you were born into a box that is much too small for your body in that it has to remain hunched over all the time. As the box is closed, the only reality you know of is that within the box. Hence you never realised you are encumbered. It is not until someone opens the box, and you can finally stretch out into the new reality outside of it that you realise just how limited you were in practically all of your abilities. This is a very crude rendition of a thought experiment called the “cave” by the well known philosopher Plato, I suggest everyone reads (it was what the story line of the Matrix movies was based on – and yeah I am the guy that exited the cave if you haven’t already figured it out). The point is, at the transition point you shed this M Band Noise baggage. It feels like someone just lifted a million tonne weight (or gravity itself) off of you, and you can – for want of a better word – “stretch” yourself in ways that you never could before. This is how you know you’ve reached the Void Space. In a general sense, the M Band noise begins to thin out the deeper one goes into sleep paralysis/ hypnogogia. Remember this, as it can be used to your advantage.

The reduction of this M Band noise layer is why LD is such an effective avenue for non physical entity communication. It is why it is so effective for “connecting” with other consciousness via telepathy. It is why it is so effective for remote viewing. Sure, there is still an inherent layer of M Band noise to cut through, but it is a lot thinner and a lot less troublesome from this vantage point. With enough practice it’s like cutting through butter. You learn to ignore what is irrelevant and focus on what is relevant. You learn to focus on what is new, what is different, what is out of place in this quantum world you are experiencing, and that is where you should be {carefully} probing for higher order information.

You’d be surprised of what is out there willing to “talk” or show you things. A point should be made though, that just because a non physical entity might say something, doesn’t always mean that it is the truth. Discernment is ultimately your own responsibility. And there is no reason you can’t be sending out “pings” for others to locate you. Ok yeah there is reason and we will say that reason is safety, but honestly, it isn’t something I really ever gave a shit about. (The movie “Baby’s Day Out” comes to mind, where this innocent baby wanders off from its parents to explore the fascinating world around it, seemingly ignorant of all the dangers unfolding right behind it and the predators that are trying to capture it to use it as a ransom. That pretty sums up my teenage LD years. )

But in these years I learnt some things; if you truly know yourself and what you are, there is nothing to be afraid of whilst in LD. I always operated on the mentality that no matter what evil presented itself to me to try and scare me, I was bigger and badder and meaner than it could ever be, and this is what I “projected” out with my pings. An unwavering sense of self is the crucial mentality one needs to be operating from in this state of consciousness. Never, ever, take notice of those words that were designed to break you from other, much weaker souls. If you allow them to carry on into the LD/AP domain, they will present as a weakened point of your being that may be exploited by other entities that are more sure of themselves. You simply cannot be weak minded when entering this place; wield your sense of self like a bright illuminating torch that makes others recoil in fear of being burnt and use that light to navigate.

Remember, you don’t actually have to accept that candy from the stranger at the park, just like you don’t have to accept their words as bearing anything on who you are. To put it simply, fuck their opinion. You are a god, you just don’t remember it yet. Hopefully you will soon.

Hidden Knowledge:

There is a wealth of information about who we are and our real histories that has been kept locked away from us in the non physical world; many occultists know this, yet very few are able to access such information. Consider this article the key to unlocking many of the mysteries that have been spoken about in occult circles for the past few centuries, when properly applied to them.

Understand my authority on this subject to make such bold claims does not come from an egotistical opinion generated on this plane of physical manifestation. Rather, it comes from the fact that I earnt my place to talk about them in such a manner as relayed to me by those who watch over this world in the non physical when they spoke to me of the importance of LD as the prime communication channel into the non physical planes. I don’t care if you have 10 million hits on youtube in reference to your LD clasess; if you haven’t clued onto this fact yet or experienced a flow of this information into your mind then either your LD abilities are no where near as good as you claim them to be or you are a disinfo agent paid to redirect knowledge from this profound truth; I will never ask a dime for any of it. I cannot stress how important Lucid dreaming really is for the evolution of human consciousness. This is something that is well overdue for reaching the mainstream. Don’t let the dream scientists wither it away to being nothing more than some fluctuations of dopamine. I have a feeling many Elders from indigenous tribes will agree with me, not that I am affiliated with any. The whole point of these articles is that I write them in the hope someone will pick them up and properly experiment with them further. Honestly, I’d rather be writing fantasy and sci fiction with the time I invest in them (seriously, I’ve got 5 half completed novels five times the size of this article sitting on my computer waiting for some TLC).

If properly applied, there is potential within these words to make the reader become more powerful than a god. Or, to put it simply, to remember yourself as an Immortal consciousness; your IS-BE heritage. Once you experience your consciousness operating from the seat of the Higher Self, you will never again consider the physical world as base line reality; I guarantee that much. What I am giving you here is real occult {hidden} power.

But first, let’s talk a little about potentiality of Lucid Dreaming.

The Higher Self:

I want you to do yourself a favour and take all that new age bullshit you’ve learnt on the Higher Self being some vague inner voice of yours that gives your physical self direction and throw it out the goddamned fucking window. Whilst this might be an auxiliary function, practically all of the shit you read about on this topic on the internet is NOT what I am talking about here. The exception to this rule is that Eastern based philosophy tends to show a greater understanding of this truth than anything Western based. However, if the poster of the article in question is not drilling home the point the Higher Self is both the origin and destination point for us, then relegate it to the trash.

The Higher Self, – the thing I experienced during my contact sessions with the EG and U5 – is quite literally an alien way of processing information. It is the mind that exists at the closest point of your soul’s/spirit’s/ non physical body’s creation, before it was manipulated, severely handicapped and thrown into a boring flesh suit, and told it must appease the profit prophets. No words will ever be sufficient to explain what it really is. It is an unfathomable function of the mind that every single person should be capable of connecting to if only they worshipped it more than they did money. Consider it like entering a god mode cheat for old DOS based computer games that give you “powers of the developers” to bend the rules of the game. The Higher Self is the god mode that allows you to exit this physical reality (Plato’s Cave) and explore everything from the outside. It allows you to view the entire created physical and non physical planes and their “light codes” as if you were the developer that worked on them. Does that sound like a more suitable end point for humanity than an endless cycle of work, die, reincarnate and repeat?

I have written in past articles that if you combined all the super geniuses of the Earth – all the Einsteins, Von Neumans, Schrodingers, Teslas – into a single being, their abilities would be only a very small fraction of what the Higher Self is capable of. I really am not exaggerating this. The reason is that while you are piloting your flesh suit, your mind has been limited in its operating functions (deliberately, if we go by what the EG told me, and what the Domain has told us). I like to think of it like comparing the processors of an old 1990s model computer to the modern equivalent. Your mind whilst locked in the physical body is like an old Pentium model operating in the MHz spectrum, whilst the Higher Self is equivalent to something running 4 or 5 Ghz. Well, actually it is more like something running in the ZettaHertz spectrum and beyond, but since we are a long way off from having that kind of processing power, I am stuck with equating it to only a 1000 times more. Humour me, will you, and just realise I am talking about a magnitude of operation trillions of times more powerful than the processing abilities you are using to read this very text.

I would have the readership remember back to those days when we thought a 500MHz processor was the pinnacle of our {computer} evolution, and that anything better was out of reach. Yeah, well that is the difference between your Earth mind processing capabilities versus something operating close their Higher Self, like, say, a non physical entity. We only think our Earth minds are the be all and end all to evolution because it is the only thing we know. How can I drill the point across more that it really isn’t? Hence the importance of connecting with this Higher Intelligence. Consider me the investor that is trying to build the research base to make those ZettaHertz processors a reality. It will take time, but we need to start somewhere and make gradual progress before we can expect results.

Allow me to explain this whole concept using another, more fitting analogy. In digital communications we have two choices when it comes to communicating data; that of serial or parallel programming practices. In serial data transfer each bit is placed on a single wire and processed one by one through each consecutive clock pulse from the processor. Parallel data transfer differs in that we have much more wires to place more bits on, thus more information can be processed for the same clock pulse.

This is the main functional difference between the higher mind and your limited Earth based one. Think of your Earth mind as having a single wire for information transfer; you must process thoughts in a serial like fashion before you can arrive at a conclusion to whatever it is you are thinking about, which more often than not is a choice that leads to some kind of action being taken, and thus more thoughts that add to the serial processing train.
Now consider the higher mind as being a parallel data bus with 100 more wires (we only need 64 to be ~18.5 quintillion times more powerful, as capability doubles with every bit added).

For every thought you have, you have a plethora of other thoughts that arise from it which must be processed by your brain one by one. For example, you might ask yourself “what should I eat for breakfast”, this would lead to a choice between bacon and eggs or toast with butter. Then you remember the bacon was tasting a bit funky last time you ate it so go with option 2. Only problem is you don’t have any bread left, so you decide to go the shop and buy some. On your way out the door you come across a neighbour and you engage in some friendly banter about your new car, which reminds you you need to fill up the gas tank etc etc, which leads to a million other thought trains about how much money is in your bank account, how you will allocate whatever funds you have to paying certain bills etc.

We don’t even realise it, but in the span of a few minutes we could have a hundred different thoughts that have arisen from other random thoughts in this manner; our mind just processes them automatically one by one without us even really realising it.

This is not at all how the higher mind functions. There are no “thought trains” as to how we have become accustomed to experiencing whilst in a physical body. This is because the moment a thought arises, all conclusions to that thought are simultaneously reached. Thus there is no “problem reaction solution”; whenever a problem is encountered, the solution to that problem is automatically calculated at the same time. So if you are a quantum physicist trying to understand a certain mystery regarding entanglement whilst in the physical body, if you were able to port this problem to a conscious interaction to the Higher Self (via lucid dreaming/ astral projection etc), it would automatically be solved the moment you thought it up. But, the more amazing thing is, is that it does not present as a problem but rather a memory that you already know the answer to. It is more like doing a quick revision of a subject you are already an expert in and saying to yourself “duh, I already knew this”. The only “problem”, is that the amount of information relating to your original thought you wanted solved would have so many variables attached to it that it would simply be impossible for you to retain it all coming back into the limited consciousness state of operation in the physical body. You cannot process these variables whilst confined to the human mind, as the human mind has been carefully engineered to filter them all out. The best you could do would be to remember a very small percentage of what is relayed to you. Believe me, it s incredibly frustrating and saddening to be able to operate from this state of awareness, and come back into the body only to know you will lose it all. You can actually feel the retardation effects of the M Band layer as you pass through it back into the body. Depressing is an understatement.

While I was operating from this higher state of awareness, my mind was on overdrive carrying out calculations that, had I retained the information when waking back up, could have led to the construction of my very own interstellar capable space craft. I am not joking – from this higher state such calculations were as easy as adding 1+1 together. On the other hand, the processing time for a human brain to make these same calculations I remember realising would equate to “billions of years” if it was the only thought it ever utilised. To someone who has never connected to it, the Higher Self is unfathomable.

Alien Psychology

Let’s try thinking of this at a different angle shall we. An alien space craft crashes somewhere on Earth; let’s just say Roswell for shits and giggles. One of the crew is taken out and contained in a room at some random military base. Let’s use a completely random, imagined name and call this base Fort Worth. We will apply further randomness to the name of the alien and call it Airl shall we?

So here is Airl, contained in a cell at Fort Worth, and in come a bunch of military brass to interview this entity about its weapons arsenal, where it is from in the universe etc. The military brass are really more of a “military lead” when it comes to their consciousness processing abilities; they think they are “hard” and structurally useful but in fact they are really quite soft and malleable. They don’t realise that Airl’s consciousness processes information in a completely different way to them. At best they might have an inkling it is superior, but, as they have never been exposed to this paralleling processing of information, they don’t really understand how it works. So they pitch the question “what are your weapons capabilities?”

Immediately Airl (who we will assume is operating from the same state of awareness I was able to connect to) would understand every possible outcome arising from every possible way that question would be answered. Airl would be able to conceive of every fork in the MWI from that moment on, all the way up into infinity and beyond. There is no need for the mind to process the question, observe body language etc as all future variables become instantaneously available. All that would be needed would be for Airl’s ultimate goal (it could 5000 years from that point in time for all we know) to be located within this web of possibility, and the necessary actions to take would automatically be carried out one by one. The entire butterfly effect from start to finish would be calculated before your mind could even formulate the word “what”. Take a moment to think about the implications this would present, because there is a shit tonne of them.

Thus an understanding of the proper functioning state of the physical and non physical universe is possible from this state of higher consciousness. This is what I was able to “see” and experience whilst I was connected to my higher self – I just cannot accurately describe it because my earth mind is too limited in its capabilities. Unfortunately, I lost all the {exceedingly complex} formulas and mathematics the moment I crossed the transition state/ M Band noise layer into the physical plane and waking reality.

What I can tell you is that the physical and non physical planes exist as a sort of mesh or fabric that binds one another together through intersecting junctions that are more non physical based than they are physical. This is hard to conceptualise considering we are accustomed to only seeing in 2 dimensions (despite living in a 3D world we can only see that world as a mixture of 2 dimensional surfaces; we do not actually see in 3 dimensions, for to do so would mean we see all angles of any given object at once, which is entirely possible from the Higher Self). The CIA Project Gateway paper (for the complete version go to Found: Page 25 of the CIA’s Gateway Report on Astral Projection (vice.com) ) description of the “holographic universe” is the closest I have seen any one else come to describing what I experienced, apart from ol’ MM here. It is sort of like looking at an xray of a solid object, except you can see the solidarity of the object as well as its transparency at the same time. It is strange because we can usually only conceptualise things as being physical or non physical, yet you exist in a third state beyond them. You can zoom in and out of this mesh fabric at will like a camera in a video game. It is different to just zooming out of and seeing a galaxy behind you, because you are seeing the actual fabric of how multiple instances of that same galaxy exist in their physical and non physical forms from a timeless state.

You can see that entire “photo reel” of that galaxy as it is drawn through what we know as time, and you can see how it all fits together with every other galaxy in every other plane. You can see the heartbeat of the true universe. Do you really think your tiny earth brain is capable of understanding such magnificence? Understand what I am telling you here; a connection with the higher self allows you to view the entire fucking MWI as if it is a map you can throw on a table. This should give you an idea of what you can look forward to when “assimilating” into a civilisation such as the Domain.

While I was connected I was able to comprehend the totality of the entire past, present and future at once; I was able to understand the consequence of every thought and action and each separate future that would be generated as a result from those thought and actions in every single physical and non physical plane. One thing I did remember was that this level of understanding is a necessary prerequisite for proper unaided consciousness time travel.

I needed to understand these things not because creating a fucking time travelling Delorean was necessary. I needed to access this information in order to rewrite the astral/soul templates of those in attendance. It was far more important than travelling to the edge of the physical universe. This was far more important than becoming the next Doc Brown; that come slater in our evolutionary cycle. The altar in the middle of the Elder Guardians courtyard allowed one to literally “jack in” to this fabric and become one with it.

Understand that this is what I mean when I say “accessing the akashic records”; it implies the actual merging of one’s consciousness with the fabric of all of creation specifically so information can be downloaded directly from source. It is not some vague thing one can just randomly tap into while their consciousness is engaged within the physical vessel to “better” their immediate lives. It can only be accessed from complete and proper disconnection of consciousness from the physical body, and through experience gained from navigating through the non physical planes. You don’t gain access to that altar unless you prove you know what the fuck you are doing when engaged in non physical navigation. You certainly don’t gain access to it if you consider your current incarnation more important than the sum totality of your soul’s entire existence. Only those able to extend their thinking of what matters beyond a single lifetime can access it.

Now I have down played my whole presence at this courtyard somewhat because quite frankly it feels too narcissistic to talk about, but if I am entirely honest, a lot of people were making a lot of fuss about me being there. This merging of the akashic with one’s consciousness was apparently not something everyone could achieve, and only those with accomplished LD skillsets really had the ability to do it effectively. You absolutely MUST have a proper understanding of how to navigate {the MWI} or you can very easily become lost within it – even the EG, who were of a non physical based nature lacked the other {physical understanding} half of the coin. Hence why I was summoned and practically put in charge of this whole operation. I was literally just left to “plug myself” in to the akashic records and left to my own devises by the Grand Elder to try and figure out a way to counter the amnesia mechanism embedded in astral/soul DNA so we don’t have to put up with this unneeded reincarnation schpeel any longer. His role was specifically to reawaken me to this task that I had been involved with the for the past 10 thousand to 40 thousand years.

So when I tell you the underlying function of what astral body/ soul DNA rewriting entails, this isn’t just hazarding a guess at wtf was going on; this is me giving you the actual process of what is involved as the only one out of over 20 000+ others in attendance that could do it. That included the entirety of the Elder Guardians; not even they had the ability to do what I was able to do due to my LD skillset. Not one of them dared going near that altar (aside from the Grand Elder who did only so he could talk to me), yet I was allowed to parade around it like it was my own little toy to play with. I cannot begin to explain how incredibly humbling that felt. I had access to the whole fabric of the “universe” at my fingertips. Hence when I tell you Lucid Dreaming is important for the “evolution” of human consciousness, you’d better be paying some attention. It literally gives you access to the assembly programming language of the fabric of reality and the collective (as well as individual) consciousness. Isaac CARET much?

And yet I am stuck going through the red tape put in place by psychological and scientific “experts” who have absolutely no idea wtf they are talking about when it comes to telling us what dreams actually are, or doing when it comes to experimenting with LD/AP. It is beyond maddening trying to get this message through that information vacuum. Anyways….

The Process I Used for Astral Body/ Soul Amnesia Recorrection:
Whilst plugged into the altar I was able to make a mini, replica version of the akashic records/ MWI accurate to about 90% of the original. I intentionally left out a few things for reasons described below. When I talk about the “scroll”, one needs to understand that the material this “scroll” was made out of was that very mesh fabric discussed above. If you were to zoom into this “paper”, you wouldn’t find pieces mashed tree pulp; you would find microcosmic representations of entire MWI realities linked via their non physical {quantum} pathways. Remember, I was operating from a vantage point outside of the entire MWI.

Because I had access to raw MWI source code, I then began tracing the akashic signature of everyone in attendance. These signatures equated to their presence as overlayed in the total MWI. In other words, I accessed data pertaining to their soul’s total existence from beginning to end. These signatures were then plugged into the “cloned” MWI by tethering parts of them to it. This meant that what I was effectively doing was creating a hub where I could gather the consciousnesses of those 20 000+ that were in attendance and “virtually” plug them in to the akashic records like I was plugged in – though all navigational control was ultimately at my discretion because of the bits I left out when I cloned it (I cannot overstate how incredibly fucking cool this was to do; mummy, when I grow up I want to be a consciousness programmer). I gave them a virtual MWI and cut off access to the bits that would fuck them up if used improperly.

Once attached, I located each and every part of these consciousness that had become corrupt through the amnesia codes embedded within their higher energetic bodies. I then wrote a sort of software patch and spliced it into the beginning of the amnesia code for each consciousness. What this patch would do would initiate an akashic/MWI reset every time the amnesia code was about to be activated, specifically so a route around the amnesia would eventuate. Essentially I was using the amnesia activators to activate a very specific “recovery of memory” pathway through each consciousness’s MWI instead of a pre-programmed pathway that led through amnesia territory. Does this sound familiar? It should, MM has described similar programming practices by the ETs he was associated with.

I pulled out all data relating to any other consciousness those in attendance had come into contact with (over their soul’s entire lifetime) and embedded similar activation strings within their own MWIs. The idea was to create a sort of anti virus that would actually function like a virus and “infect” as many consciousnesses as possible with the cure to their corrupted higher energetic bodies. Those in attendance would be set for immediate memory recovery within their current incarnation to help with their tasks, whilst their associations were looking at 2 or 3 reincarnation cycles before the effects would begin to kick in. It was estimated that the code I wrote would reach its peak potentiality of memory activation in somewhere between 3 to 5 generations from {then} present day (2012). This is an averaged taking into account the changing MWI variables and various outcomes.

I then instructed the entire assembly of Elder Guardians to protect this “scroll”, to which they obliged. Anyone seeking complete memory recovery would be allowed access to it provided they were of pure (STO) sentience. STS sentiences, or those who would use it to gain power over others would be vehemently denied access. In other words, don’t bother trying if you have a tendency to shit on others to get what you want; you will never be allowed access to this altar by MY personal authority and very bad things will happen to you if you try. Bad things, like you automatically volunteer to be an anomaly guinea pig so I can watch the process of how your consciousness is disassembled after I throw you into it. Go work for a bank or government if that is your mentality; what we are discussing here far transcends the single, physical life these people consider as being important over all else.

Thus, the only way to gain access to this scroll is to hold in very high regard the macrocosmic aspects of all souls/consciousnesses and their entire MWI trajectory as being more important than what any single physical life has to offer (those words in red I had no control over – word decided to do this automatically – maybe its trying to tell me something). Unless you are prepared to spend this life assisting other consciousnesses in being “unlocked” to their higher state, you will unfortunately have to wait another 2 or 3 incarnation cycles before being unlocked yourself. This should give you an idea as to the type of people those 20 000+ consciousnesses in attendance were. They were not simply people coming here to spread some vague bullshit about love and light or apparent channelings from Ashtar command (that is not to say those people don’t have their own thing going on, some of them probably quite legit); they were incredibly advanced consciousnesses that had a very good understanding of the higher (unseen) aspects of reality that deliberately chose to enter the Earth domain at risk of losing such understandings. And they did this in order to extract others who were part of OUR greater {non physical} community. Believe me, don’t believe me, it makes no difference. My writings will find their way to them in due course.

I know of one other that was involved in similar astral body/ soul DNA rewriting and their life story would blow you out of the fucking water. Hopefully they write a book on it, as it brings a new perspective of this entire operation and how truly far reaching it is.

Am I getting my point across yet? If we go by what Steven Greer tells us, put 2 and 2 together when it comes to the Gateway Project and Project Stargate, then the Military Industrial Complex has already cottoned on to this super information highway many, many years ago. And if you want to know the real reason I was initiated into the Unseen 5, it is because they {the U5} were well aware of the sequestering of this knowledge to the Deep Black libraries of the MIC, and wanted to circumvent it altogether. I was directed to make what I know about LD/AP public in an effort to take it off those MIC Deep Black Shelves, so more practitioners of these arts can better prepare themselves for contact. This was the main task I was given by their leader, apart from making their presence known to you and the pre requisites for initiation. Do you think that it is a mere coincidence those in control of MAJ felt the same way about having MM release his disclosure at the same point of time?

So now we have got that necessity of where LD can potentially take you out of the way, let’s go into some advanced techniques achievable via LD based on mine and SDs experiences.

Outward Projection Via the Portals:

In past articles I discussed how one can summon the spherical portals and use them as coordinate vectors into other planes and worlds. I also talked about how consciousness can be expanded outwardly. Combining the two together, the spherical portals can provide two way access into these other worlds. Whereas an inward projection will take you to a more “dense” world, an outward projection will take you a less dense one (further from matter based reality). The further you penetrate into these less denser layers/ worlds, the closer you get to being able to contact those outside the bubble, ie the Elder Guardians (the Unseen 5 are deliberately stationed within the bubble close to its edge in order to properly monitor everything). To achieve this outward projection the process begins the same as an inner projection; you summon the portal to just in front of your vision, but instead of visualising the world you want to go to, you visualise the world you are already in. In other words, you have to condense your surroundings into this ball, then project out of it. Think of it like a giant invisible hand picking you up and carrying you out into space at an incredibly fast speed. All of a sudden the environment you were engaged in has become condensed to the spherical shape of the earth. A similar visualisation can be structured to reach this outcome.

Communication With Non Local, Non Physical Entities via Sleep Paralysis:

Sleep paralysis/ the hypnogogic state can be used to interact with non physical entities. SD and I have found that at times you can hear their “chatter” and at other times you have to ping out an intention to interact with whatever may be hanging around to which they just kind of show up. The best times for doing this seem to be when you are in a sleep paralysis state, but not being consumed by the negative feeling illusions that are at times too overwhelming. When I talked to the clickity clacker ETs it was from the void space after I had just sort of became lucid whilst there (a DILD rather than A WILD). What happened was I became aware of a faint radio-like broadcast whilst floating around in this state that was very noticeably not human.

It was very much like when you have a radio that is just out of tune from a station so you get the broadcast through a wall of white noise. What you have to then do is focus into the {M band} noise, visualise that you are turning a radio dial which changes your own body’s resonance, to tune into the broadcast. I can’t really accurately describe how this was done, only that I did it quite automatically as if I had done it many times before. Once I locked onto the broadcast something weird happened; the clickity clack dialogue became vivid and understandably alien to any dialect we have on earth. It was as if I was just sort of sucked out of the M band layer into a very clear state of consciousness (very typical of what it was like whenever the EG or U5 were contacting me).

I went from floating in this indescribable confusing mess to free floating in a ship filled with a strange liquid I figured was some kind of intergalactic consciousness quarantine zone that doubled as a medical room. I was then telepathically directed over to a cylindrical cubicle via imagery which also showed the non physical “shape” of these beings, and once I stood inside of it, the clickity clack language was automatically translated into something I could understand (English). When I say shape, it was really more of a blob that these things took. Not describable within the confines of human language. You wanna know what we talked about? Human beings having the potential of being incredibly powerful creatures, but their dumb arsery mixing with such power being the primary concern of why creatures such as the clickity clackers steered very well clear of them. And hence why there was a room filled with non physical liquid and several light years worth of space between me and them. The clickity clackers had no problem telepathically implying that the human race were like a bunch of infants with one hand on a box of matches and the other on a stick of dynamite, and were quite happy to treat me with similar caution. Non physical entities being “scared to death of the human race” seems to be a common conversation point for a lot of the entities in these planes.

SD has also had experiences in this same state and from the sleep paralysis/ hypnogogic state where she has pinged out “if anything out there wants to talk, say hello” only to have something reply. The something ended up being a non physical entity that appeared before her twice in the span of a week. The second time, with her agreement, it pulled her astral body out of her physical and gave her a tour of some of the planes in close approximation to the physical world. At the same time she was able to connect to a similar higher consciousness information stream; the beings actually helped in that regard – their presence seems to initiate it. One of these was what appeared to be a sentience/ soul sorting facility which was carried out by a giant machine like device that had the face of a Balinese god.

For those working with angels (and demons ), both forms can be contacted via this same sleep paralysis avenue. A lot of these particular beings hold information on our world and our history that has never and will never make its way to our history books, though many occultists use them for temporary and materialistic gain, which is a real shame. The presence of one of these particular entities is undeniable; there is a massive rush of energy that vibrates through your whole being whenever one of them is around. It is a completely different feeling than when contacted by those who exist outside of the non physical bubble surrounding earth, such as the Elder Guardians and the Unseen 5. It is also hard to gauge what exactly their intentions are. For those who follow the myths surrounding King Solomon and the 72 “fallen angels”, the myths of John Dee and the Angel Enoch, the magic of Metatron etc, this state of sleep paralysis is the avenue by which you make contact with all of them (I suspect King Solomon was an Agent of the Old Empire, for reasons I won’t go into). But I really don’t recommend it if you don’t know what you are doing. They can be quite intimidating on even the best of days, not that I intentionally ever set about to contact them; all my dealings with them were purely by accident. The point I am trying to make with including them here is to suggest just how powerful this telephone line into the non physical planes can be. There is some incredibly powerful shit residing in here, I am just trying to make you aware that some of it can be beneficial to your escape. The question you need to ask is what price you are willing to pay for information seemingly beneficial to your plans.
If you want to ping the Domain, or any other non physical based entity, then I suggest doing it from this state of consciousness. Though I would not know how to tell them apart from other non physical entities that dwell here. Maybe get an official signature off them via MM’s EBP?

Dream Hijacking:

Now, I need to mention here that I was only able to achieve this feat once. It is not exactly something that can be done very easily. The reason for this is because it requires an intense amount of unwavering focus of a target. This not a task for a novice: you need to be exceptionally good at visualisation and focus. Out of all the things one can do whilst in LD, this seems to be the hardest to actually pull off. I suggest that beforehand, I one must plan accordingly as to what dreamscape they should use and any conversation points they wish to bring up whilst engaged in the shared dream, and the process “simulated” over and over again until the LDer is confident they can move from one transition to the next. Even stalling for a millisecond in LD can have drastic consequences on the success of the session. Your thoughts and actions must flow and operate like a well oiled machine.

To begin with, you go to bed or lay yourself down to rest to initiate an LD in standard manner, but from the moment you close your eyes, you visualise the target whose dream you wish to “hijack”. This person must be visualised in as explicit detail as possible. You need to try and picture what they look like, hear what they sound like and smell what they smell like if possible. You must not let any other thought intrude, including the idea of hijacking their dream. This whole point of the visualisation is to provide coordinates for your consciousness to lock onto within the M Band layer of noise. You must carry this visualisation of them through the hypnogogic/ sleep paralysis state and transition on into the void space, and must never allow it to become broken or polluted with other thoughts. Once in the void space you must immediately set about creating the dreamscape by which they will experience. At the same time, you must also hold the visualisation of their being right in front of you as you create the dreamscape around them. Once the dream scape has been created, and remains locked in place, you then focus on talking to them. At this point you should be both engaged in the same dream. I suggest using bland dreamscapes with a degree of familiarity for the both of you to begin with, as I would expect sudden and fantastic dreamscapes may potentially shock them awake.
As one can expect, this method can also be used for remote viewing practices. You Just target an object rather than a person.

Communicating With Dead Entities:

The {apparent} dead entities I was communicating with that led to my Project Edison article were also contacted via the sleep paralysis/ hypnogogic state. I have also used this same state to contact my deceased brother, though that particular experience was too fraught with distortions to accurately tell whether or not it was a proper contact session. With Project Edison, I am 95% sure it was a proper contact session (as opposed to the clickity clackers which were a 100% surety, and the EG/U5 which were a 10000% surety). Basically all I did was callout to any entities that we living considered dead that were hanging around and asked if anyone was interested trying to establish a stable communication line between each other (something that could be used by us physical living entities without having to resort to initiating lucid dreaming or sleep paralysis like I was doing). I was met by of about 4 or 5 of these entities, all who were at one point living on the same planet earth we inhabit, all of which had at least a passive interest in technology. One, possibly two of these entities were some sort of electrical engineer whilst incarnated here, from around the era of Edison and Tesla, though no names were ever given. As nothing really eventuated from this all I can really tell you is there are at least this group of dead entities that seem enthusiastic about creating this communication bridge and who have a fair understanding of how exactly it could be carried out. Tell them I said hi if you end up contacting them.

Predicting Lotto:

I want to start of with a disclaimer that if you win any substantial amount using this method then please donate a fair portion of it to those in need of it. And buy me a house….or maybe just a beer will do fine. Play around with it and see what you can get; at the very least it is a good way to practice your environment simulation skills.

This was essentially an experiment in trying to remote view lotto numbers. Using this method I was only able to ever get 4 out of 6 lotto numbers correctly. The problem I had was trying to remember all 6 numbers after going back through the M band noise layer into the physical world. Lucid dreaming is strange in that you can have perfect clarity of memory whilst engaged in the LD, then lose 90% of it after coming back through threshold into waking reality. Even the simplest of memories become incredibly hard to remember. Now I need to note here that the lotto ticket I was using was a multiple “game” ticket that allowed 18 different combinations of the 6 numbers. Majority of the combinations I used contained the base 4 numbers I could remember plus variants of the two I couldn’t but suspected were the right ones. The rest of the combinations had one or two of the numbers I remembered changed. I was able to win about $15 dollars over three consecutive months each time because of the base four numbers I had remembered; the winning tickets always had these base 4 numbers; if I could have retained memory of those last 2, I would be sitting on something like $30 million right now. I suggest the LDer experiment with these methods and see what they can get. If a group syndicate was able to carry out this same experiment simultaneously then I would imagine those last two numbers would be easier to obtain.

Now, there are two variants of the experiment I utilised, the first seemed to be the more promising.

The first objective was to create the target coordinates for the experiment. Remember, we are dealing with a time and place that needed to be pinpointed to extreme accuracy; we first need to single out the date and time in which the lotto draw is to take place, as well as the country and exact location etc. Prior to the experiment I’d go down to my local newsagent and take note of their advertisement for the next big lotto draw and it’s date and note the location of their newspaper stand, layout of the store, what the Asian guy behind the counter looked like etc. The idea was to commit as much detail of the place to memory.

Then I’d wait for the next chance of LDing to try out the experiment, which was usually a few days later. What I did was enter the void space as per the usual method (either tennis match scenario, or passing through sleep paralysis, likely the latter as it was always done early in the morning). Then at the dream creation stage I would purposefully recreate the environment I planned on buying my lotto ticket from. I’d manifest the entire street the newsagent was on and walk down it. I’d look at the advertisement with the same big lotto win and its date, then I’d make my way over to the newspaper stand out front. I’d make a point of looking down at the page and finding the exact date of its publication (which I made to be the day of the lotto draw); this was all to set up the proper coordinates for my remote viewing target. I’d then go in, weave through the layout of the magazine shelves, and buy a ticket from the Asian guy whose face I would recreate as close as I could to how I remembered it, making sure it was a single game (single combination of numbers). I’d then take a good few minutes just staring at the numbers and committing them to memory as best as I could. I would then exit the session, wake up and immediately write down what I could remember of the numbers.

Over the weeks before the lotto draw I’d play around varying the simulation. Sometimes I would make the dream reflect the newspapers showing it was the day after the lotto draw, and I would check my ticket at the machine only for it to tell me I’d won the jackpot, then look at the numbers on the winning ticket. Again, I’d wake up and record these numbers down. No matter what I did, I could only ever get 4 numbers with over 90% surety. On the day of the draw I’d go down and buy a ticket from the same store and put in all the numbers from the various sessions. Over the years I started varying the entire simulation to reflect the actual draw as to how I would see it on TV; I’d watch the barrel of numbers shoot out each number of the draw. Again, I could only ever get 4 numbers, so I eventually gave up and devoted my LD sessions to things I thought more necessary.

While we are on the subject of lotto prediction in the non physical planes though, I do know a guy whose friend was able to utilise what very much sounded like the void space to win multiple millions 3 separate times. This guy was my old electronics lecturer from my college years who I tracked down about a decade later to talk about where he thought technology was taking us. During our conversation, to my amazement, he brought up the idea of our reality being a simulation and the idea of a linked consciousness he called the human gestile concept that could be communicated with at bed time. Ron would go to bed, and sort of pray to this linked consciousness and ask it certain profound questions in which he swore it would give him answers. He passed this concept onto his friend who used it (it was never mentioned how) to win. Most of those winnings were donated to others that needed it more than him, and it was suggested to Ron that his friend thought had he not been so generous with the distribution of his winnings, he figured he never would have been “allowed” to win them.

I haven’t been able to get back there to verify Ron’s claims since talking to him. But….knowing what I know about the void space being a similar hub that links to other’s consciousnesses together I have a very good idea of how one would go about using it for this purpose. You commit to a conscious transition into its depths so that you are not overwhelmed with the subconscious distortions/ M band noise, then you’d send out the thought for obtaining the numbers for a certain lotto draw you know is coming up. From my conversation with Ron, he implied that you don’t even need to be “asleep” to probe this gestile consciousness “thing” for answers. I was under the impression he was basically doing it during theta state right before sleep paralysis whilst still being awake. Can’t hurt to try right?

Remote Viewing via the Void Space:

Animals make great Remote Viewing targets. Especially ones that roam. They don’t even need to be pets, but pets provide good ways to verify results. Sometimes when I am feeling adventurous, I will try and remote view from a bird, or other random wild animal, like a wolf – I have a thing for wolves. Cats are also good, because they are pretty much the parkour experts of the animal kingdom, and thus fun to view from. Usually these sessions are done whilst still conscious, from Theta state if possible. I will try and picture what the world looks like through eyes of the animal then within a few moments I become that animal and it is like watching a movie playout as I fly/ run across the landscape (which is often in a completely different country). If you have been building your visualisation skills enough, you can port this practice over to the Void Space. When I remote viewed from the off world intelligence back when I was around the age of 14/15, it was from using the void space to conduct one of these RV sessions. I was interested in projecting into various parts of the galaxy to see if I could find anything of relevance. After deliberately accessing the void space, I visualised just a general memory of what all the stars looked like, picked one and focused on it. Before I knew it I was hovering next to a being that seemed very much like it was an progenitor of Native American culture. I’ve explained how that session went in past articles. This is probably the easiest thing to use the Void Space for.

Hive Dreaming:

Vainenmoinen suggested the creation of an LD “pub” where {theoretically} each participant would enter the LD stage and meet up in a predetermined locale. Whilst I have achieved this with SD, I have not done it as a group. I would imagine there would be some difficulties to overcome, most notably the distortions/M Band noise of each participant preventing proper synchronisation occurring. I do know that SDs old music lecturer was doing this very thing with astral projection on a regular basis with a regular group of people. Apparently she stopped doing it when the group {of about 5 or 6} projected into a plane that was off limits and a member was killed by some entity that didn’t approve of them being there.

At that very moment in the physical plane their astral projection coordinator realised this member was in distress and tried to wake them all up, but not before this guy died of what the coroners suggested was a heart attack. Such a danger, however, need not be approached, in my opinion. If the dream environment creation is left to the main “hijacker” then (assuming they know what they are doing) I hypothesise that other participants could then synch into the dreamscape. By providing a 3D model of the dreamscape location before hand, I would imagine this would help with synchronisation efforts.

The key would be for the model and predetermined location to be rather bland in composition so that those not as proficient at visualisation are also able to better synch into it. In saying that though, the main hijacker would have to have a check at hand for the others to “find” within the dreamscape to better prove they were there. Maybe a simple image or something on the table that is the first thing they should look at when arriving at the location. There is also the option of seeking out the Island Beach, as this seems to be a pre-created destination that has been experienced by other lucid dreamers. It could be considered a safe haven, so long as you don’t venture to close to the fence (either stay on the far side of the island or go into the temples via the burrows in the forest.)

Methods of Projecting back and forth through the MWI (Consciousness Time Travel):

When I was about 19, I was having a few regular interactions with what appeared to be a Tibetan Monk of sorts during my LDs who was giving me some pointers on how to effectively use consciousness to go back and forward in time (what we’d call a back and forth MWI slide). This was a really strange period, because (according to SD) I would sit bolt upright in the middle of the night, say random shit like “the Monk says the key is that I must smoke the tree sap” then just go back into an incredibly deep sleep like nothing had happened. These sorts of episodes were a regular occurrence. I’d have them probably once a fortnight.

I remember during one LD the Monk emphasized that there were 12 or 13 “words” that could be chanted via mediation to prepare consciousness in this manner. I only ever remembered one of them – “Djock” with a stressed emphasis on the “ck” sound. I was also given certain symbols during these meditations, which were supposedly further aids. Admittedly I have used these aids during meditation and had LDs following them that are suggestive of some form of time travel. Like one where I was given an alternate history of how my father could have met my mother and the resultant future that would have stemmed from it. This involved being in a time chamber where a portal appeared and showed me this outcome like I was watching a movie. Apparently that outcome would have led to a much better life for me. Oh well, shit happens I guess.

There was also something to do with a book existing in 2 instances of time that had been edited to achieve the world line I am currently living out. I basically saw the before and after of the book. I believe this place was linked to other places I have visited in LD. My training at the time travel towers also started around this same time.

Simulations for Memory Recall:

LD can be used for accurate memory recall. When I was about 17, and fresh out of school, I ended up scoring a job working for a local tree lopping company. As it turned out, one of the guys I was working with regularly was the brother of a girl that I went to school with. I knew this girl by association only; I never really hung around her group of friends, but some of my friends were friends with hers. So when I was at school I had a passing knowledge of her. She was at a few of the same parties I went to, but I never so much as said more than hi to her during my whole time at school.

Anyway this brother of hers, he was talking about her in passive tense, and I realised he had the same last name, so there was enough there for me to make that very faint connection. Only problem was, I couldn’t for the life of me remember her first name. I could picture her face easily enough, but her name just completely evaded me. This annoyed the shit out of me, because it had only been a season since I had been at school, so there was no real reason for this memory blank. Yet it persisted all week. I’d see this guy and then think “what the fuck is his sister’s name?”, and I just couldn’t shake that thought all day.

Of course, I didn’t say anything to him; he’d made it seem like I should have known her, so I didn’t bring it up in fear of the awkwardness of the situation. So I figured I try my hand at using LD to remember it. One night, after becoming lucid half way through a dream, I thought of this girl, and how I didn’t remember her name. I simulated one of the parties we would have been at during school, then I let it play out, hoping I’d trick my sub consciousness into giving it away. And it actually did. The weird thing was though, it did so by attaching a completely random name to her face. So in the LD, I introduced myself to her, and likewise she introduced herself back. “Hi I’m Elise”, she said. I immediately woke up and my mind screamed at me “HER FUCKING NAME IS MEGAN, IDIOT”.

Maybe it needed that incorrect bit of data to compute the real value, I honestly don’t know. The funny thing is, now something like 16 years later, I can recall her name as easily as my own, despite not seeing her since high school. So yeah, the void space can definitely be used for suppressed memory recall. What you do is enter it and create a dream simulation centred around the thing you wish to remember, and use what every snippets of information about the scenario you can rember to create the simulation. You can also “feed in” certain thoughts to make certain lifestyle choices as a sort of sub conscious mind hack. It’s pretty much self hypnotism.

Using the Void Space for Healing:

When I had my fingers cut open (the gruesome details of which can be found in my autobio), I again used lucid dreaming to heal them with a decent measure of success. These weren’t your average wounds either. All four fingers on my left hand, discounting my thumb, were cut at or near the joint where they meet the hand, through to the bone. This included 4 four tendons, an artery, and a few nerves here and there on the palm side. In fact, the cuts were so bad, if it hadn’t been for my bones keeping them attached, my fingers would have come off almost completely. The surgeons even contemplated amputating my ring finger because the damage was so extensive (thankfully they didn’t).
This amount of damage was apparently unheard of for my Occupational Therapists. Usually the people they saw had one or two fingers damaged at most. Not 4 fifths of a whole hand. After my operation, I had stitches zig zagging up my fingers all the way to their tips. I counted about 62 of them of the outside, and the surgeons claimed I had another 10 or so holding my tendons together. They said it was like stitching 2 pieces of spaghetti together. The whole thing was classed as a catastrophic injury with a slim chance of me being able to gain much function back in them by the OTs.

Regardless, I had a voice in the back of my head telling me I needed to try lucid dreaming ASAP. So the night after I got home from hospital I set to work entering the void space and doing some healing visualisations. I’d go into my hand at a cellular level and pictures all the tendons and everything fusing back together, send little electrical bursts around them to make sure the information was going through etc.

The next night, I was lying in bed and I could feel everything – and I mean everything – fusing back together. I could actually feel the tendons and nerves repairing themselves. It was a very strange but comforting feeling. I ended up making a remarkable recovery. Six months after the incident, I walked into the OTs office and she told me I had regained about 98% function in my fingers. I was able to straighten them almost completely. Apart from a few tiny things like not being able to bend the last knuckle of my ring finger, I had a perfect functioning hand. My OT (who had the same name as my wife) couldn’t believe it. I just shrugged and told her I knew the secrets to healing. She laughed and said “oh, you do not” thinking I was joking.

Unfortunately, a few months later my hand took a blow that was too much for it and undid all that hard work. At least now I know if I suffer another bad injury how to aid in the healing process. The main thing is that you need to be quick. Don’t put off the LD healing simulation if you can help it. And don’t expect to just be able to do one session and the rest will work itself out. Keep up with whatever strict regime your OT suggests, and use LD to nudge your body in the right direction.

A Theoretical Process of Using Consciousness to Hijack An ET Space Craft
Again, I haven’t tested this out. But let’s quickly run through some past revelations I have dropped in this article and expand upon them a little shall we? My experience with the clickity clackers and hijacking SD’s dreamscape suggests that one can alter their consciousness operating frequency to “tune” into the consciousness frequency of others. My experiences using remote viewing via the Void Space suggests that some form of navigational control can be obtained whilst in this state. Airl (as well as Colonel Philip Corso in his The Day After Roswell book) suggests that the type of craft they utilise are tuned to the frequency of their pilot’s thought signatures. Airl also suggests that somewhere on earth are the consciousnesses of 3000 Domain personnel. I think it is safe to assume that at least some of those Domain operatives were possible space craft pilots, don’t you? So hypothetically, speaking, if one of these Domain pilots was able to enter the void space through the LD state, and “tune” into their ship like I tuned into the clickity clackers, then operate it using Remote Viewing practices…..You get the point. It might be nothing – the thought of a guy with an overly active imagination – but I sure as hell would prefer to experiment down this avenue rather than develop an ever repeating new Iphone model, wouldn’t you? This is the sort of shit astral projectors lucid dreamers should be focusing their attention on, again in my humble opinion.

The process I would use would be: Focus on the space craft in question upon going to sleep as is done for dream hijacking, carry this visualisation over and into Sleep Paralysis/ hypnogogia state and poll for frequency pings, tune into those pings until locked on, then enter the Void Space, create a simulated “dream environment” for the craft and go from there (I am assuming your piloting skills might be a bit rusty after just waking up from a couple of thousand year slumber). You could even use remote viewing via the Void Space to try and target a ship for hijacking prior to the experiment. Just a suggestion. Now, if I was to bump into such a craft when astral projecting, what does this tell you? The astral planes can be utilised as an inter dimensional space craft highway! So, what if instead of focusing on a physical craft, you focus on a non physical one instead? How do you know half of the lights people see in the sky aren’t just someone incredibly well accomplished at astral projection (ie the Project Stargate operatives that went Deep Black) and are piloting one of these very vehicles? “Excuse me sir, we have a problem…..the pilot of the alien space craft we just shot down is the Dalai Lama”. Perhaps I’ll expand on this and break it out into another one of my psionics projects.

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MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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[daegonmagus] – Part 14 – Domain HQ and Amnesia Mechanism Remote Viewing Session 17th Dec 2021

The following is the fourteenth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 14 – Domain HQ and Amnesia Mechanism Remote Viewing Session 17^th Dec 2021

I have been doing some remote viewing every now and then when I get some spare time.

Today was one of the rarer opportunities I got to give it a go.

The last time I tried was several weeks ago. In that particular session I was trying to find the Domain base of operations stationed in the asteroid belt that Airl mentioned in Alien Interview.

I ended viewing a chunk of rock – an asteroid – with a very specific shape.

When I went to zoom into it I saw the silhouette of two Grey faces appeared as a sort of yellowish hue in front of the rock, and wave.

The hand that waved was very different to ours with four extremely long fingers.

A few days later I stumbled across MMs article regarding the greys he has worked with and the handprint of one of them.

That particular hand print exactly matched the hand that waved to me.

I also viewed some sort of room on what appeared to be a ship.

There was a flight of about 6 or 7 triangular shaped stairs that led to a platform with some sort of machinery on it.

Emanating from the tops of these stairs was a soft blue light.

I got the impression it was some sort of “engine” room or something.

Today’s Session:

I deliberately set about targeting physical locations that had something to do with the amnesia mechanisms.

The thought was inspired by an in5D article I read a few days ago that stated that the force screens can be turned off if someone was able to locate their physical “switch” and just flick it off .

I was immediately taken to a building, possibly in a section of America’s tech zone (Silicone Valley etc).

This building wasn’t anything huge; just a few stories high with the usual glass windows, very square – typical 80s architecture.

In front of the door was a logo; an upturned crescent moon with the name Andrew S. Lipia.

I have no doubt about Andrew and Lipia, the S standed for something like Sipil or Sibil.

It faded as I stopped to have SD write it down.

There was also possibly Dr before it, suggesting the building was made out to be psychologist practice.

The strange thing was, as this building came across my vision, I felt something – a hand – clap me on the back as if to say “well done”.

It was such a hard clap, that it actually jolted me as if I was right there in front of the building and got pushed forward from it.

Something told me this building had “secret” underground access to what I was looking for.

After this I tried locating the same asteroid I viewed in last weeks session.

I managed to get hone into a disc shaped building on the underside of the rock.

This disc had a square shaped cavity inside of it that “attached” to a similar shaped hole that had been bored into the asteroid to make efficient exit and entry to the disc.

The disc itself was a conventional saucer shape with a sharp “seam” where the top and bottom halves met similar to a clam shell.

After this I decided to try viewing the moon.

I Had been spotting it through my telescope the past few nights and had a few craters I wished to check out.

So, using the birds eye viewing landscape I had seen through my scope I was able to visualise going onto the moons surface and viewing it from there.

My attention turned towards the sky.

There was some kind of round object that was moving towards me at a rather fast speed.

It would have been about half the size of what we see the moon as when looking at it from earth.

Whatever it was had a trail of lightning blue streaks coming off from behind it; this is what had caught my attention.

The round shape of this thing was set as a shadow the blocked out the centre part of this blue light.

I then tried viewing this object. I managed to get up close and view it from behind where the blue light trail was emanating from a distance of maybe a kilometre.

The object seemed to be another asteroid that was being propelled forward by a hexagonal array of thrusters.

These thrusters were what was causing the blue light.

MM Comments

Well done. For certain.

There’s a lot here. But there are connections that seem to point at certain directions.

I did ask the Domain Commander about this.

SAT 18DEC21 9:48am

His response…

*null*

We do not discuss operational activities publicly. 

*end*

And that, is that.

We can individually report what we ourselves can experience, however in regards to The Domain and their thoughts and comments regarding missions or activities, it is off-limits.

Sorry that I cannot provide more information.-MM

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
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Affirmation templates to assist in the development of ESP capability

This article provides a series of general affirmation templates that are useful to help increase your extra-sensory-perception (ESP) abilities. There are many such ESP abilities.

I have found sources on the internet that describe hundreds of these abilities.

What we will do here is just comer some of the more critical or popular abilities that one might wish to learn or acquire.

In all cases, if you want to increase your psychic abilities you must accept the fact that this is a learned skill. No one is actually gifted with these skills. They have to practice and work on their studies to master them. However, by adding specific affirmations to a affirmation prayer campaign, one is able to really speed up the process that one would use to obtain these abilities.

I urge those who wish to learn of these abilities to select one and only one ability, and then work on it to the exclusion of any other ESP ability. Go step by step, and take slow methodical actions toward your end objectives. You can always add other ESP abilities later on. To accomplish this goal you will need to add statements 1 and 2 to your present (or future) affirmation campaign, and then add the specific ESP target statements as described below.

Basic Statement 1

No matter what ESP skill set you wish to acquire, you should add the following base line statements to your prayer campaigns. These statements are a fundamental necessity regarding the learning and acquisition process.

I am improving, learning, and expanding upon my ability to perform XXXXXX .

Where XXXXXX is the name of the ESP skill that you are trying to acquire.

Basic Statement 2

This second statement specifies the techniques that you wish to use to acquire this skill. And you can include all the techniques, or just utilize one technique cautiously.

The methodology that is used to improve my XXXXXX ablity is via YYYYYY.

Where YYYYYY can be any of the following items, either collectively (and listed as such) or a single specific technique.

1. Visual Learning

Visual learners prefer to see things drawn out or in graphs to understand concepts. If you like to doodle, draw, or create mind maps, it’s likely that you’re a visual learner. Visual learners use images and symbols to connect concepts and be able to see relationships between ideas. It’s common for people who become architects, designers, engineers, and project managers to prefer this style of learning. By specifying “visual learning” of your preferred ESP skill, you are asking for videos, movies, pictures, drawings, and other forms of written, or media representation to teach you and instruct you. In so doing, you will be directed towards books, movies, or art that will help you obtain the education that you are looking for.

2. Auditory Learning

This style is also known as aural or auditory-musical. Such learners like to listen and hear information in order to process it optimally. Those who lean towards aural learning are able to notice the nuances between pitch and tone. Some professions that bode well for auditory learners include: musicians, speech pathologists, sound engineers, and language teachers. By specifying “Auditory Learning” of your preferred ESP skill, you are asking or requesting to be directed to speeches, classes, audio tapes, or teachers who will speak to you and that would help you obtain the education that you are looking for.

3. Verbal Learning

If you love words and writing, you’re likely a verbal learner. Linguistic learners enjoy reading and writing and enjoy word play. Some techniques that verbal learners employ to soak up information could include role playing and using mnemonic devices. Verbal learners are likely to become writers or journalists or work in politics and administration roles. If you specify this type of learning, you will be directed to books, teachers, situations, and mentors.

4. Physical Learning

Kinesthetic or physical learners are hands-on. Rather than watching a demo or listening to directions, physical learners like to perform the task. Some careers that are well-suited for kinesthetic learners include: EMTs, physical education, or working in the entertainment industry as singers or actors. If you specify this kind of learning route, then you will be provided with situations that will actually teach you the skills. This will be physical, as well as non-physical where you would learn from your dream adventures.

5. Logical Learning

Logical learners have a mathematical brain. They can recognize patterns easily and connect concepts. To understand ideas, they prefer to group them into categories. Logical learners are most often found in math-related professions, like accounting, bookkeeping, computer science, or research. If you specify this kind of learning methodology, you will find yourself in situations where you would have to solve, which would then develop your targeted ESP skill.

6. Social Learning

Social learners are known as interpersonal learners. They can communicate well both verbally and non-verbally. Social learners have a distinctive sensitivity and an empathetic nature. This is why they often work in social fields that help others, like counseling, coaching, or teaching. Social learners tend to also thrive in a sales environment because it relies on interpersonal connections. If you specify this type of learning, then you would find yourself in situations where you interact with others, and through that interaction, you would obtain knowledge, and training related to your ESP skill set.

7. Solitary Learning

Intrapersonal learners like their solitude. When you think of this type of learner, you can imagine an author or researcher who spends a lot of time with their own thoughts and works best with the least distractions. If this is your preferred method of learning then you would rely very much on your “gut instincts”, and interpretation of the situations that you find yourself in. As a result, you would, over time, learn the necessary ESP skill set that you are searching for.

Replacements for Basic Statement 2

I have found that it might be more acceptable for you not to predefine the learning mechanism that you would learn to use the skill. But rather, that you would simply specify that the best, and most easy method to learn be provided to you.

The methodology that is used to improve my XXXXXX ablity is via the most effective available to me, and that I utilize it to it’s fullest potential.

The different types of ESP skills

The following are various ESP skills. You select the singular skill that you want to learn or improve and then incorporate the affirmations associated with that skill in your affirmation campaign.

Astral Projection

Astral projection is the ability to will your conscious out of your body. This type of psychic experience is similar to an out of body experience (OBE), except astral projection is voluntary, while OBE is typically involuntary. Astral projection is achieved through meditation and allows your astral body (also called a “soul”) to travel places your physical body cannot; for example, through walls and doors.

Automatic Writing

Automatic writing is a psychic ability that requires one to channel spirits in order to write messages from the beyond. This type of psychic power does not involve the conscious mind, but rather requires the individual to be in a trance-like state, with their hands moving unconsciously across a page to convey supernatural messages. The key is to be able to “turn off” the “noise” from your brain.

Clairaudience

Clairaudience is the ability to hear beyond the normal human perception. This could mean anything from hearing voices, noises, and music from the supernatural world, or being able to hear messages from inanimate objects like minerals, crystals, and special artifacts.

Claircognizance

Also called ‘clear knowing’, claircognizance is a psychic power in which a person is able to know things without any previous knowledge on the subject. It is conventionally believed that this knowledge is bestowed upon the psychic by a spirit guide or by their higher self. I consider it an access point to their (suppressed) memories.

Clairgustance

Clairgustance is the supernatural ability to taste a substance without making contact. It tends to happen and occur when you have a strong association or relationship with a person eating or around such an item.

Clairsentience

Clairsentience is the psychic ability to sense or feel something supernatural. Psychics with this ability are able to acquire knowledge through feeling spirits and energies in the enteral world. According to Psychic Library, clairsentience is the ability to sense the past, present, or future emotional and physical state of a person. For example, psychics with clairsentience could meet a person and instantly know their name, birthday, emotional state, and other important details about their life. This often works based on the energies that surround a person, but it can also a result of channeling someone’s emotion after physically touching them.

Bruce Willis in the movie “Unbreakable”.

Clairvoyance

One of the most known forms of psychic power, clairvoyance is the ability to see things beyond the physical sphere, like auras, spirits, and visions, and it also includes being able to see into the past and future. Unlike other psychics, clairvoyants have the unique ability to see spirits or ghosts and communicate with them. They can also tell someone’s fortune by looking into the future.

Bruce Willis in the movie “The Sixth Sense”.

Divination

The noble art of divination is the practice of gathering evidence from the spiritual world to interpret the physical world. There are many different ways to practice divination in order to predict the future, reveal things from the past, or better understand the present. For example, some of the most common types of divination practices involve tarot cards, tea leaves, crystal balls, Ouija boards, pendulums, dowsing, scrying, bibliomancy, and the use of many other tools to translate messages from the ethereal world. Those who practice divinations believe that the ethereal world and the physical world are closely linked, and that the tokens or objects they are using to create a prophecy have either been marked by a supernatural energy as a type of clue, or are a type of medium communication tools between the two spheres.

Mediumship

Also referred to as ‘channeling’, mediumship is the ability to communicate directly with spirits. Psychics with this ability essentially act as a “medium” to relay messages from the spiritual world. There are different types of mediumship, but the most commonly known, perhaps, involves a spirit taking over the medium’s body and using their voice to communicate. Other mediums, however, can only speak to and hear messages from spirits, and then pass along the message themselves.

Precognition

One of the MM followers is a “Precog”. Who would figure? Precognition is the ability to predict the future and future events. Psychics may experience precognition in different ways, but the most common, perhaps, is through detailed dreams. Others may experience precognition as a by-product of other psychic powers, like clairvoyance or ESP (extrasensory perception).

Psychic Channeling

Psychic channeling is another word for mediumship. This type of ability involves channeling spirits from the ethereal world, in order to communicate with the dead, ask questions about the future, or better understand the present. While channeling a spirit, the spirit can in some cases take over the psychic’s physical body, similar to a possession. However, in other cases, the psychic can only pick up on the emotion of a spirit and use other clues to try to piece together a message. Some even suggest that when you use a Ouija board you are performing a low level of channeling to move your hands across the board and create a message.

Psychic Empathy

In general, psychic empathy is the ability to feel or sense another person’s emotions. This skill is something that most people have in varying degrees, but psychic empathy gives you the power to sense another’s emotions without any physical cues. Often psychic empathy works by detecting the energy of one’s aura or energy field. This is something that all business managers and leaders learn to do over time. It comes with the territory if you grow to your position through effort and hard work.

Psychometry

Psychometry is a type of psychic power where an individual can experience visions or emotions related to a place or object just by touching it. Also called token-object reading, the psychic will usually hold an object in their hands, such as a photograph or piece of clothing, in order to summon information about the object. In addition, this types of power is sometimes used to communicate with animals, by detecting certain images or emotions.

Remote Viewing

Remote viewing is the ability to receive visions or impressions related to a distant object or place. This practice is a type of extrasensory perception (ESP). I can tell you that I have done this and over time, I have become pretty good at it. But I have allowed this skill to fall into disuse by the stresses of life and family.

Retrocognition

Also referred to as post-cognition, retrocognition is the ability to see into the past. This is the opposite of precognition, which is the ability to see into the future. Retrocognition can occur in many ways, but most commonly it occurs while the psychic is dreaming.

Scrying

Scrying is a type of psychic power that is related in many ways to divinations. Scrying is a technique in which a psychic looks into an appropriate medium to receive a message or vision. In popular culture, the most popular type of scrying is crystal gazing, often depicting mediums gazing into a crystal ball in order to read the future. However, scrying doesn’t always have to deal with a crystal or glass object.

Telekinesis

One of the most fictionalized forms of psychic power, telekinesis is the ability to move objects in the physical world with your mind. Think “the force” from Star Wars or some of the superheroes from X-Men. This type of psychic power is extremely rare.

Scene from the movie “Push” where the character uses his mind to move the dice to win a bet.

Telepathy

Have you ever wanted to plant a thought is someone’s mind? Well, that’s exactly what can happen with telepathy. Telepathy is a type of psychic power that allows mind-to-mind communication. There are varying degrees of telepathy, but in powerful cases, the psychic can communicate clear and complete thoughts in just a blink of an eye. In addition, telepathy isn’t only limited to human to human interactions. Animal telepathy is also a popular sect of psychic practice. I can tell you that I have done this on multiple occasions. That I believe that it is a common human skill, but it needs to be trained to work properly.

Conclusion

There is nothing strange or unusual about having ESP abilities. It is simply a way to utilize your non-physical body to solve physical problems. It’s a true shame that we were not taught how to do this at an early age, and as a result, many people live stunted, frail, and shadow existences wholly manipulated by others and suffer the folly pitfalls of greed, lust and vice. Follow the guidelines above, and learn to enhance and use the skill sets that you have long neglected throughout your life. I believe in you.

Do you want more?

I have more posts related to this in my Affirmation Campaign index here… Intention Campaigns

What happened after Alien Interview that helped to set up MAJestic

I have been asked to “fill in the details” regarding what happened in the space of time from when “Alien Interview” was transcribed, and when I entered MAJestic. It’s a rather simplistic narrative, but I will include it here.

For the record.

1945

World War II ended.

The United States launched two nuclear explosions on Japan. The first was an atomic bomb. The second was a hydrogen bomb.

The USA began operation paperclip where research and technology in the ruins of Germany were plundered and shipped to the United States for testing. Most of this equipment went to the South West states for testing and evaluation, as well as many of the Nazi German scientists involved in their development.

1947

The Domain started to investigate the nuclear detonations. That brought their vehicles into the air space around Japan, and South Western United States.

Meanwhile, the testing of the (Operation paperclip) procured German radar systems occurred in New Mexico. Simultaneously these systems uncovered cloaked extraterrestrial vehicles and systems. It caused them to behave erratically and eventually crash.

There was a crash of a Domain vehicle in Roswell New Mexico in 1947. The nurse that interviewed the type-1 grey extraterrestrial transcribed the interrogation.

Majestic 12, also known as MJ-12 was established immediately afterwards.

This organization is the code name of a secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, formed in 1947 by an executive order by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to facilitate recovery and investigation of alien spacecraft. Evidence suggests that all the 12 participants were in Roswell, NM during the interrogation.

The leaked secret government documents surfaced upon the death of the last living member of the initial committee. This occurred in 1984.

1948 through 1953 / 1954

The commander of the downed Domain vehicle stopped moving and “died”.

MAJestic began to use the radar systems to down all extraterrestrial vehicles. This action resulted in downing and capture of numerous extraterrestrial vehicles and species.

At that time, four separate and unique extraterrestrial species were identified. This resulted in a greatly expanded role for MAJestic, and all sort of programs and structures were put in place.

This action continued in earnest, but got the Domain’s attention when yet another Domain vehicle was disabled and crashed.

This forced The Domain to make an appearance to the ranking American leadership. They knew who to contact, when and how as they were “keyed” to these consciousnesses from the interview in 1947. They made an appearance at the individuals bedroom, and startled him completely.

It is not known what was spoken.

What is known is that afterwards, there was a series of formal meetings. The first was established by the Domain. As was the second one.

The third meeting was by mutual arrangement and established the basic relationship between MAJestic and The Domain.

1955

By 1955/6 the agreement between the Domain and MAJestic was in place.

A program and plan was developed jointly by The Domain and MAJestic in which certain “special” individuals would be chosen as “representatives / interfaces / Liaison officers / Ambassadors” between The Domain and MAJestic.

Various programs were set in motion.

My program came into being around 1955 -1957. I was selected by the Domain and agreed to participation in the non-physical realm. Whether this was inside of “Heaven” or outside of it is unknown. My memories were erased as I entered the confusing static field that surrounds the earth physical environment.

I was groomed for my role after that. And was physically born in 1958.

Thoughts and Conclusions

My experiences are suggestive of there being an amnesia field that surround the Prison Complex, especially around the physical earth. However, the idea of me going “into” a tunnel “towards the light” is not something that I recall. Though, this could very well be something that was erased from my memories.

Putting together what I know we can suggest some ideas and concepts worth musing about.

Amnesia Field

There is absolutely a static filled, cloudy, foggy field that surround the earth. I well remember this field and how my memories gradually disappeared as I entered it.

Tunnel of Light

Whether or not there is a “tunnel of light” is unknown to me personally. Everyone talks and discusses the tunnel of light, but to me it just seems to manifest as a “parting of the fog” rather than a clear and direct tunnel. You can peer towards a target, or an objective to head towards, and older consciousness that have gone through many such reincarnations know exactly what to do upon death.

MM Prebirth experience

My knowledge and prior histories suggest a life in and about “Heaven”. To include meeting “elders”, “guardian angels”, and other important beings. I have a distinct memory of a prior reincarnation that I have written about before.

However, my memories of what this life would be is cloudy and sparse.

I know that I had a large meeting of some type, and that this life was all completely mapped out to the point that I was excited to enter into it. If you can believe that! And that I specifically told myself not to forget that this life was going to be an exciting roller coaster adventure. So obviously, I knew what I was getting into, and why as well as what to expect.

Thus, I had to have joined or agreed to work with The Domain long before I was born.

I will tell everyone that while The Domain Commander says that I was Mades Escapleon, I have no memories of that life. What memories that I have acquired through my Past Life Regression hypnosis concerned growth as an assemblage of other life forms contributing to the consciousness that exists today.

This does not in any way suggest a dwarf-like funny little administrator man running a Prison Complex for the “Old Empire”. Nor does it mean that the Domain Commander was lying. It means nothing.

Except…

…that I was not ready for the full scope of my involvement with all which has been going on.

At that time, when I did my Past Life Regression my targets were a search for answers about my relationships with others; my piss-poor luck at working at a stable company, and why I ended up being married to a mentally ill woman. I had no knowledge of anything that would inspire me to ask questions related to MAJestic issues.

At that time I did not recall that I was in MAJestic. Instead, this (past life regression incident) occurred ten years prior to my retirement.

All of which means absolutely nothing.

All that matters is what is going on right now. I can only hope that I am “living up to my end of the bargain”, and making a difference, a positive one, in the world.

What’s Next

Yah. I’m gonna die.

It’s going to happen. We all die.

Usually it comes quickly without warning, though both of my parents realized that their time was drawing near and tried to ready us kids for the shock of their departure. Good thing that. Though it still came as a shock.

When my time comes, my family will grieve. MM followers will wonder about the silence. But it should be obvious.

Death is a natural process.

As I figure it, were I to stay in the United States, in that "lifestyle" I would probably die around 80 years old. Thus giving me some 15 years or so left to keep clunking about on this ball of mud.
.
But I live in China, and my lifestyle is healthier, with far less stress, and better in every way. I figure that I could probably make it to my high 80's maybe even 90. And that gives me another 25 years or so.
.
Of course, world war III, coronavirus, and cigarettes and alcohol might shorten that calculus substantially.
.
I figure that the USA stole 5 years of my life. So I DESERVE 80 years plus the 5 stolen years = 85 years. Minimum.

In any event, let’s hope to have a nice calm peaceful death, and when I die, and when that happens…

… I will summon the Domain Commander and await for retrieval. I will not go through anything or expect anything or follow the defaults. This is my last time on this fucking Prison Shit Hole, and I am NEVER going to return to it. Well, at least, that is what I think, anyways.

How do I know?

Consider the following statement(s)…

..from my past life regression session in the late 1990’s. This was long before I was “woken up” from my MAJestic induced amnesia of my operational segment(s). Thus at that time, I had no idea of my actual life or role. Not until I was “retired ” in the ADC Pine Bluff facility did I recall my role. And in this memory erased role…

I told the hypnotist regression expert that…

This was [1] my absolute last reincarnation on the earth.
My life has been one of [2] wrapping up karma and [3] performing good “works”.
Though at the time, I had no idea what those “good works” were.
That [4] I was moving on to bigger and better things.
That what ever form that I would take on in the future, [5] it would not be human.
And [6] that I was a “trans dimensional” being.

Combined with what I know now, and what I was exposed to then, we can see how puzzle pieces are fitting and falling into place. This expands upon the entire MM adventure saga.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Past Life Regression Index here…

Past Life

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE .
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

[daegonmagus] – Part 13 – PROJECT: EDISON

The following is the thirteenth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 13 – Project Edison

This article is by no means finalized.

On the 29th of November 2017 , whilst under lucidity, I petitioned several unknown inter dimensional entities to establish a means of communication between both the physical world and the world of the dead.

An assembly was held in the astral realm (Sleep Paralysis/ hypnogogia) which consisted of myself, and at least three other entities, one of who was a spirit who had lived in this world before passing on to that one.

The object of this meeting was discuss what could be used as possible interfacing devices between these two worlds that would provide an effective and efficient means of communication.

Several ideas were discussed involving the use of biological material taken from a living host, whose cells could die off and decay possibly providing a link between the worlds if they could be located via the other entities.

Another solution was to find a willing living being whose death was inevitable and prepare them with talismans, so that memory of the talisman could also be taken with them upon their departure of this plane.

During this meeting there were several abrupt interruptions and as such, much of the content was lost to my memory, though I specifically remember telling one of the entities that “if their idea worked, then it would lead to an incineration of the boundaries between realms”.

It was also suggested that different vibrating frequencies be investigated by both parties so that a coinciding frequency can be used to “tap into” each other’s communications.

What I got from this is that these beings seem to be as enthusiastic as I am in making inter dimensional contact possible.

Further discussion has been agreed by all parties involved.

HYPOTHESIS:

It has been suggested that a single frequency could be chosen by which communication exchange from both the physical world and the world of the dead could take place.

The reason a standard frequency must be chosen is due to the fact that the dead entities, are (allegedly) composed of pure frequency, unlike living people whose composition is made from atoms.

The problem with current channelling techniques used to communicate with dead entities is that there is no specific way to measure the frequency by which the medium is tuning into to make this contact.

If a single frequency could be decided by occupants of both worlds as a standard form of communication, then hypothetically that frequency could be tuned into by the living entity using standard radio apparatus whilst at the same time manipulated by the dead entity in such a way that it can be detected via the apparatus.

I suggest future meetings with such enthusiastic non physical entities via lucid dreaming to further discuss how this could be implemented.

MM comment

So many interesting aspects here. I so wish that we all can collaborate together to flush all of this out.

The use of defining frequencies to stop the segmentation of memory partitioning is a hopeful hypothesis, and needs to be “flushed out”. What are all of your thoughts on this?

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

MM story about his Past Life Regression adventure

Many people want to know about their previous lives. They search for answers and insight into why they are living their current life now, and they believe that their past must contain clues to their present. So they embark on a technique or avenue known as “Past Life Regression”.

This article came into being when I posted a comment on the MM Forum…

I can tell you about my previous life prior to being MM.

I was a rather slow, boorish, lonely man who wore a bowler hat, a thick wool coat and performed maintenance and janitorial work on Coney Island in the 1920's and 1930's. I died in 1933/1934 . I was alone. I lived a single life and I drank and played with dice and did my job. I did not think too much about my social position. There was nothing great about that life.

I had a girlfriend. She died. We were close but never really did anything more than kissing. She was killed when a carriage ran into her. She was my one and only love in that life.

I well remember that funny strange and disgusting face at the gate at the Coney Island entrance. I well remember the big enormous seat cars that were on the Ferris wheel. I also remember the senses and feelings of excitement as the pretty girls in lace and white dresses with their galoshes flapping as they walked charmed about on the boardwalk.

I died while performing maintenance work on a pier, and a rather large wave knocked me off the boat and I fell under the pier. I was banged around a bit and died by impact / drowning.

They recovered my body and buried me quickly. Few people attended the "funeral". I was forgotten and then moved on.

Now you know the rest of the story.

And “Memory Loss” commented…

MM that post of yours really touched me on multiple levels. And that is saying something., because most of your articles really are thought provoking.

Can you please expand somewhat on it. On the fundamental aspects of how, when etc. You made me sense the hope and futility of being a human being. And the importance of being a Rufus. Because nothing else really matters. Because we brutalise ourselves when we are not able to remember. And I thought not being able to remember stuff for a few years was bad lol.

There must be a reason to do this to human and other sentient beings in the prison complexes. Cui Bono?

So here, I am going to discuss a little bit about Past Life Regression and various aspects regarding it.

What is Past Life Regression

Past life regression is a therapeutic technique that uses hypnosis to recover memories of past lives or incarnations.

The technique used during past-life regression involves the subject answering a series of questions while hypnotized. These are used to reveal identity and events of past lives. It is a method similar to that used in recovered memory therapy.

There are those that believe that you can conduct a past life regression session through self-hypnosis, but I disagree with that. The person needs to be walked through the experience and ask intelligent questions to the events as they unfold. You simply cannot do that with self-hypnosis.

Questions and Answers regarding this therapy

Will I remember the regression? Yes, you will remember everything as you undergo the therapy. Most hypnotists use a tape recorder to record the session. Past Life Regression is not like stage hypnosis – you won’t be doing anything you don’t remember. You will be aware throughout and in a deeply relaxed state. You’ll be answering the questions posted by the hypnotist.

Do I need anything special for the session? You will need to ensure that you can be completely undisturbed for the duration of the session (2 to 4 hours typically) and also wear comfortable clothes so you can relax fully.

What will I encounter during the sessions? Generally, most sessions involve visits to multiple past lives. The number and duration of the past lives is up to the person being questioned. Many discover lives that they have shared with people that they have a close bond with in their present life – their soulmate family in a previous life and in a different incarnations. Others are drawn to certain places or countries that they immediately feel comfortable and familiar with. Each life explored is a journey and an adventure. Most clients have ‘Ahha!’ moments for many days afterwards as pieces of their picture begin falling into place.

Will I receive a record of my session? Yes. Some therapists use written notes, while others record the session with a tape recorder.

Am I guaranteed to go back in time? Not everyone is guaranteed to, though it’s fairly rare that someone doesn’t go backward in time. Sometimes when an individual has a firm belief that past lives don’t exist, or try to critique everything that they are seeing from their subconscious, then it can create a block which doesn’t allow their mind to surrender to the experience. You can also go forward in time as well. This is a unique aspect of this process.

Can I choose what past life to remember? No. Your subconscious mind will make that decision for you. You will only remember various past life memories when you are ready to receive that information. I believe we have all had many past lives, but it’s your subconscious mind that will choose which ones to visit during your regression.

Can I be told who I was in a past life? No definitely not. Only you have access to your subconscious.

Will I go to the time I passed away during a regression? Yes, but will only do so with your consent. Most therapists take clients to the time of, and the time immediately after, their passing. They are not harmed or traumatized by this. Instead it opens up a new understanding of self and certain behaviors brought into this lifetime. This tends to also take clients to the time between lives, again only with their consent.

Is the process safe? Yes, you will be safe throughout the process.

The backstory

Here is the “backstory” on how MM ended up knowing about some of his past lives and what they were like.

Conducting a past life regression is not something that you can do yourself. It is a paired effort. You need to be in a state of relaxation, and while in that state, you listed to questions that you yourself ask, and you then answer them yourself.

After the divorce from my first wife, a layoff on Christmas eve, and the death of my beloved cat, I was in emotional shambles. And while reading Dr Newtons books I came up with the idea to see if he had trained anyone to continue his work. And to my great surprise he did. In fact, one lived outside of Boston, and was relatively nearby being only a three hour drive away.

I made an appointment, paid $300 in cash (today it would probably be ten times that amount), and had my Past Life Regression Therapy.

What happened

After some brief chit-chat, and a drink of water, I went into her study / den and got on a “Lazy Boy” recliner chair. She attached a microphone to the collar of my tee shirt. She put a light blanket over me as the body temperature tends to drop during these sessions.

She made sure that it was quiet and that there were no distractions. She closed the blinds, and turned on a single lamp. And played some light relaxing music for me to listen to.

Then we began the calming exercises, much like the self hypnosis techniques that I have discussed elsewhere.

During this entire procedure, she measured how “deep” I was in trance by me telling her to read off a gauge that I visualized in my hand (in my mind).

When the gauge was pretty low (100 was fully awake, and 0 is dead, I guess), it read around 30. And she started the regression.

She regressed me back to my childhood…

First at 22 years old.

Then, at 13 years old.

At 7 years old.

At 4 years old…

Each time, she had me describe in great detail my bedroom at that age during my birthday.

At 2 years old…

Then at birth. I relived my birth.

And then right before I was born.

And then, in that deep trance, she commanded me to go to the point of death of my last life leading up to being born.

*Snap.*

I was on a boat. I could see my ugly black clodhopper boots, and the little dinghy was really moving about pretty crazily. It smelled like a fishy ocean. It was a cool day. Overcast. I felt the wind on my rough hands, and I was doing something on the boardwalk. Scrubbing off barnacles, hammering something, I’m not quite sure, and then…

…splash!

I’m in the greenish brown water and I am getting thrown about wildly. I am banging against the encrusted pier moorings, and hitting the boards. I can see the nails jutting out from the bottom of the walkway about, and then a wave throws me up.

Then down into the green water.

Then up.

Then down.

Then up again and I hit something. Ouch.

Then down again, I’m gasping for air. Up again, and all is black…

I walk through the death sequence and all that.

Apparently I am pretty experienced with all this death and dying stuff, so no one came to get me. I knew exactly what to do and where to go. So I went to a sort of flat space like a terminal of some type and there were all these transport tubes to go here and there, and I picked out a specific one and took it.

I did not enter a tunnel of light. Instead I went though a thick fog and found myself at that flat and level place. Whether I actually went through a light and did not recall it, or whether I bypassed it completely is unknown.

Now before I chat about what happened after that “station”, I would like to talk about this last life. As during this event, the Regressionist intelligently asked me questions about my life and the situation, and I dutifully answered.

About my last incarnation

My name was XXXXX Klingsmith. (I forgot the first name over the last few decades and my audio tape of the session is long gone). I died at 34 years of age.

I wasn’t smart, or that was my impression anyways. Nor was I well educated. I get the impression of a person of very little education, no up bringing, and no family or relatives. I was a thick, lonely, worker of little intelligence, and no ambition.

I was a crude man. I was a hard worker who had a job and didn’t have any ambitions towards anything else. I lived a lonely life.

I once had a girl friend. We were young and in love. But she died in a carriage / bicycle / horse accident (I forgot the details.) She was my love and I had no other interests in any other women afterwards, that I know of. My image of her was of a thin pale girl in light colors with these funny thick heel, black high heels. She had embroidered flowers on her dress. Her hair was blonde or light tan and cut (or made up) short. It was the fashion in those days.

I lived in a flophouse, or singular room. There was a wash basin in my room, and a pan to go to the bathroom in. I think it is called a bed pan, and it was enameled porcelain over steel. It was chunky and you could hurt someone if you hit them over the head with it. One of two small old dusty pictures hung on the wall with the string holding them arching up high above the picture making a triangle shape.But I had pinned up a few other pictures from magazines on the wall. They looked like boxing illustrations, or advertisements / promotions.

I had one window in my room. I had Venetian blinds.

As you walk into the small room, my bed was to the left as was the window. I had a small bed side table. There was no phone, but there was an ashtray on the bedside table with a packet of matches, and a clear plain glass (for water).

Across from the baseboard of the bed was my chest of drawers. It was tall and there was a basin on it to wash my face with and some other things that resembled a big ceramic pitcher.

I hung my heavy wool black coat on a hook. It was getting a bit thread bare and frayed in areas, and it had grease spots on it, dust and some wear and tear. I get the impression that I wore it all the time. I had rough, rough thick workers hands.

I think that I looked a little like the Captain Haddock from Tintin.

I drank beer. I get the impression that there was a bar that I would “hang out” at. But I did not visit that place in my session. My impression was that it was a long room where people would stand at the counter, and some small tables on the other side and everyone was a local there.

I played cards.

I “played with dice”, but I really don’t know what that means. I get the impression that I would play with it on the streets and then gamble money with it.

I lived a basic life of reacting, no hope, no dreams, no relationships. And then I died.

Conclusions

This story is a narrative of my Past Life Regression that I had back in the late 1990’s / 2000. During that regression many issues, secrets and events were uncovered in my past lives. Many answers were found as well. All these things that come up during the regression were of a personal nature. However, I will have other posts and articles to cover the various questions that I asked, and the information that I obtained.

I hope that this little narrative helps you all in one way or the other.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Past Life Regression Index here…

Past Life

Articles & Links

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Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

[daegonmagus] – Part 12 – Miscellaneous Experiences: The Curious case of the Mysterious Chicken Bird

The following is the twelfth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 12 – Miscellaneous Experiences: The Curious case of the Mysterious Chicken Bird

Yeah, yeah I know….I am supposed to be teaching you guys about LD so we can all meet in the non physical planes and kick some Old Empire ass before sitting down to smoke a fat Cuban, or whatever the equivalent is over there. But, I’ve got get this thing off my chest, because, well, it has been weird even for me. Plus it involves my family, so….

A week or so ago I posted on one of the forum threads about a strange little chicken bird that decided to visit my daughter in her room at 2am and scare the living shit out of her and my wife, before seemingly disappearing into “fat” air. And yes, that is a Simpsons reference.

Well, allow me to give you an update, the chicken bird came back, and it has been here before that visit with my daughter…apparently.

I tried talking about this on a site apparently all for paranormal stories and got labelled batshit crazy, an attention seeker yada yada yada. So I figured I’d do an article about it and put it up on here, my safe zone.

Like MM, I’ve got better shit to do than write about my experiences and have douschebags call me crazy.

Like MM, its that incessant voice in the back of my head that tells me it is necessary so people know there most definitely is a connection with lucid dreaming and ETs.

Maybe afterwards I’ll curl up into the fetal position and spoon the computer with MM open whilst eating directly out of a Milo tin with a soup ladle as I try to suppress all the psychological damage those people’s opinions did to me. I haven’t decided yet. That’s sarcasm by the way. But just in case she is reading, fuck you Maria. I can handle being called nuts, I can handle being called a liar, I can handle being called an attention seeker but if you are going to bring my family into it, then, seriously, fuck you. You government approved robotic troll.

The least you can do is read my autobiography before jumping to such conclusions.

For those who don’t know, Milo is a chocolate malt drink we get here in Oz.

As a kid, the common rule is that you fill up a tumbler glass with the chocolatey maltey goodness and pour about an inch worth of milk at the top, then high tail it the fuck out of the kitchen before a parent walks in and catches you in the middle of your diabolical scheme.

The punishment for being caught is usually pretty serious; your mum doesn’t buy Milo next time she gets the groceries.

Don’t even get me started on what happens when you steal dad’s salami that has been sitting in the back of the fridge untouched for 2 weeks.

Anyway back to the weirdness, and I want to back up a bit, because strange things have been happening here since even before this Chicken bird showed up.

For anyone familiar with my story, you may have noted such strange happenings have been following me and my wife, SD, our whole lives. Usually these are seemingly random events dispersed over many months. These last few weeks have been an exception. The year itself has been particularly interesting for me. Scratch that; for us.

You may recall back in Jan I had what appeared to be a doppelganger banging on my door and calling out to my wife and daughter when I was out with my son.

What happened was that my wife went to open the door and let this thing in, then noticed that despite it wearing my exact usual clothing, it was sporting a different haircut to what I went out the door with about 10 minutes prior.

She said “fuck that”, locked the door and then watched it walk behind the curtain and seemingly disappear. We have a dog fence surrounding that side of the house that would have slowed its departure somewhat, but nope, this thing was gone as soon as she pulled the curtain back. This was soon after something had been calling out to my daughter in my voice; my daughter said “dad’s home” and went to go find me before my wife stopped her, thankfully. I suspect this thing, whatever the fuck it was, had a hand – pun intended – in almost getting me killed some 8 years ago.

This caused me to finally pull my finger out of my butt, risk hearing a noise that sounded very much like Maria’s opinion, and write about all the things I experienced in LD before this thing got me killed.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride ever since.

Oh and in case I forgot to mention, our house has weird things happening in it all the time. Like shadow people walking around that you catch out of the corner of your eye, or – like what happened to me last night – random heavy weights weighing more than my 100kg body mass just randomly deciding “jump on me” and wake me up. Waking up after strange LD sessions with helicopters directly over our house.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks before MM’s comms channel opened up with the Domain Commander. My wife had a lucid dream/ astral projection experience she and a bunch of others were working in a lab section of a ship with several tall, extremely muscly blue eye blonde beings who were making some kind of medicine to cure some sort of sickness. Don’t be fooled though, these guys weren’t Nordics – they had short hair. The next day she caught a glimpse of their ship hovering high above our house.

A week later she caught yet another glimpse of something parked in our driveway before a bunch of honeycombed shaped mirrors appeared around it and cloaked it into oblivion. Unlike the shadow people, she assured me this was a proper physical sighting and not just one born from channeling into the non physical.

She saw this thing in our goddamned fucking driveway.

So I decided to set up a hunting camera facing not 2m away from where she said it was. Not that I caught much apart from some random digital noise.

Then, a few days later came Mr chicken bird.

Our 2 year old son was incredibly sick with diarrhoea and power spewing all night. Our 4 year old daughter had been worried about him so we let her sleep in our room. We put her in his cot and had him in our bed, where he usually sleeps anyway.

Our 2 year old woke everyone up at 2am screaming from his sickness.

My daughter, after being woken up started getting silly and wouldn’t go back to sleep, so I took her into her own room and gave her some cuddles while my wife nursed our son. I couldn’t stay too long because our boy was just too sick, so after a couple minutes I went back to our room, whilst my daughter was still wide awake.

Not 2 minutes later, we hear her saying “get out of here you naughty little thing”. She says something similar to our eldest boy when he harasses her when they play, so we thought he had woken up and gone in her room and was annoying her.

My wife gave our sick son to me and went to investigate.

Our daughter’s room is right next to ours to the right as you come out our door. As soon as she reached the door to my daughter’s room, I heard her say “what the fuck”. The next thing I know she is pulling my daughter into our room and trying to get our eldest son (still asleep) out of his bed and into our room in a mad panic.

As she got to the door she noticed our daughter with tears streaming her face, standing on her bed trying to get away from something that was standing next to the bed using it to balance, and walking very slowly towards her – both my wife and daughter saw this.

My wife said it was hard to make out in the dim lighting of the room, but it was very definitely a physical “thing” with wings about 3ft tall. Our daughter said it looked like a black and white chicken bird. She said she saw a “plane” drop it off outside her window before it came in the house. It took us quite awhile to calm her down (she ended up sleeping in our bed).

As if this wasn’t enough the son of a bitch showed up again a few nights ago around the same time of night; my wife got up to go to the toilet and said this same thing just appeared in the doorway walking towards her like it had done to my daughter, using its wings to try and balance.

She stared at it for a good while as she sat on the toilet before getting up and walking straight through it, to which it just dissipated.

She didn’t feel anything as she did so. She said it’s beak reminded her of those medieval plague doctors that used to wear those bird masks back in the renaissance period.

Plague doctor from Renaissance period.

So now, several weeks have passed and our girl won’t sleep back in her room. She is that terrified of the chicken bird, she won’t even go in there to play. What the fuck is this thing?

Note the correlation to medicine on the ship SD was on, and the plague doctor who used to put herbs in the mask to rid themselves of the smell of the dead they worked near.

The medicine SD was working on with the short haired blonde guys was also herbal/ natural based. Are the things visiting my family responsible for the depictions of the Plague doctors?

Then some more weird shit happened.

I set up a portable stretcher in our room so my daughter wouldn’t have to sleep in the cot that is much too small for her. She woke up in the middle of the night, again absolutely terrified and comes and crawls into our bed. The thing that scared her?

She saw a bunch of monster “people” appear before her and start talking to her in a strange language.

The description she gave of these people was exactly the same as a bunch of beings that used to harass my wife when she was about the same age. Bald, red eyes etc etc. This was a repetitive experience. They are apparently extremely loud when they talk.

And again, just last night she told us more about them. There are children ones and a “daddy” one. The daddy one usually isn’t there because he has to go to work “stealing other children”. She has seen these loud beings get dropped off along with the chicken bird and “snake looking people” from the same plane.

It gets even better.

So we are sitting in the loungeroom the other night, and out of no where my eldest son says that he has seen the chicken bird before in his sleep. He says that he saw a plane come into the loungeroom, drop it off and then leave through the back door (same one my doppelganger tried to get in through.).

I remember quite awhile ago he had a dream that some beings had taken him out of bed into a waiting spaceship in the driveway, then took him to the moon where they made him touch something silver that turned him silver (hello again Matrix Movie) and made him extremely cold at the same time.

They turned him into a literal fucking Metallicboy, and this was before I had even made the acquaintance of the Metallicman.

It is hard to tell if his were lucid dreams or standard ones, given that kids can’t properly externalise what the fuck is happening to them whilst in these states, though I assume it was an LD judging from his ability to recall it so vividly. My daughter’s seem like a bunch of Lucid Dreams interwoven with physical contact of the chicken bird, backed up by my wife seeing it.

Somewhere in all this cacophony of weirdness I myself had a lucid dream about standing out in the driveway and watching a ship come in to collect me.

The place I was standing would have been right next to where my wife saw her ship and my daughter said the chicken bird ship landed.

In fact it would have been the corner of a right angle if you dotted them out on a map. It was right in the exact spot my son said they took him to the moon. The entirety of our experiences would have been within a 15m radius of each other. That’s four different people from one family who have seen ships, either physical or non physical, in pretty much the exact same spot.

I can’t help but think about my abduction dream – refer to my Part 5 – from my mother in law’s house a few years back which is literally less than 5km away as the crow flies from us.

I was there the other day and took a video of how I remembered that dream experience unfolding (except I came out the door and not from around the side of the house).

When I point to the sky, just imagine a very angular shaped ship coming out of a cloud to the right and sucking me up into a circular arrangement at the bottom followed by a very confusing and disorientated wake up session.

The thing that gets me is that that experience felt like a future occurrence; it was too vivid to be just a standard dream.

I initially wrote it off because in the dream my car (which I no longer own) was very vividly parked in my mother in law’s spot under the garage.

Then I remembered my mother in law was the one I sold that particular car to. So if I randomly go missing it’s a good bet I woke up back in 2016 lol.

Joking aside, SD is under instruction to inform MM if I do indeed go missing one day whilst at my mother in law’s house; that is just a precaution I feel is necessary to take considering the Domain Commanders recent confirmation on our LD experiences. Maybe it will never happen – I honestly have no clue what to expect.

What I do know is that something weird is going on in our household, and it amplified the moment

MM’s comms channel opened up (this is in no way me laying blame on MM for it). Is it the Domain, is it someone else? I have no fucking idea, but it is definitely related if you want my honest opinion.

I showed this to my daughter who said the eyes and beaked looked fairly similar. My wife said if you take away the hat body, pickaxe etc, it looked similar. My son said the one he saw was different, more like a chicken that made a high pitched squeaking noise.

MM comment

Jeeze! Louise!

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[daegonmagus] – Part 11 – Lucid Dreaming Lesson 3; Techniques for Inducing Effective LDs

The following is the eleventh part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 11 – Lucid Dreaming Lesson 3 Techniques for Inducing Effective LDs

In this lesson we are going to get into some techniques myself and SD have used numerous times to induce LD with a great measure of success. These techniques are entirely my own; I am yet to see them being used anywhere else.

The methodologies came about entirely by accident and through observations of my environment {both mental and physical} either immediately from waking up from an LD or taking note of certain things before one was initiated that I would remember afterwards.

Some of these techniques are particularly effective at inducing a WILD even from a heavily fatigued state of mind. In fact, they seem to work better from this state.

Before I begin though, a quick word on the “cheats”:

Drugs and Alcohol

Many people suggest explicit substances such as drugs and alcohol can have a

negative effect on ones ability to LD. While I was never big on anything harsher than marijuana, I cannot specifically remember ever having an LD experience whilst under the influence of such a substance.

I am generally skeptical when it comes to using drugs to initiate an LD.

This is mainly because I believe they distort the mind too much to make becoming lucid whilst in the dream state feasible. I have had friends who have used LSD and DMT to try and initiate an astral projection.

I sincerely advise against it.

All it seems to have done for these people is given them a fast tracked ticket to the mental health ward of their local hospital. Though, I suspect the LD/AP thing was really more of an excuse to justify their addiction to these substances.

If one has not taken the psychological preparation necessary, then they are leaving themselves open to all sorts of trouble.

This is of course, my own opinion.

Alcohol, is different for me. Whilst I have never had an LD under its immediate influence I have had many LDs during the hangover recovery phase the day after a major bender.

I have actually used alcohol to deliberately try to induce an LD in this manner.

Though it seems to work better when I haven’t had LD as an intention. Be warned though, the level of alcohol needed to put you in a state of such dissociation from the body could be considered lethal by many people’s standards. It is also for this reason, I really don’t recommend it as a feasible avenue to LD.

However, if you are planning on indulging in it quite liberally, I see no reason why you can’t give LD a try when you are lying half comatose in bed with a blanket of regret over you to keep you warm, as you tell yourself “never again”.

You might as well try and get something out of the annihilation of brain cells.

I have noticed it is particularly easy to tune into non physical chatter whilst in bed and still reeling from a particularly bad hangover. I am not trained in psychology, so I will skip going into my opinions on why this would be.

Non Physical Chatter:

Whilst we are on the subject, I feel the need to mention some things I have noticed in regards to non physical chatter.

Whilst not necessarily LD related I believe they are worth experimenting with.

The most noticeable is the way pressure is applied to the head when one is about to fall asleep.

I have found that there is a correlation with me lying in such a position that most pressure from my pillow presses on the top, middle right part of my head, and having strange “visions”.

A common theme is what appears to be a very vivid movie real of an unfamiliar cartoon.

It is in a similar style to the old Felix the cat cartoons. A similar cartoon has been mentioned by members of the occult/LD community, and by SD.

I have also noticed that if I fall asleep lying down with my head on my propped up elbow, then there is potential for audible chatter that is clearly not related to my own thought train.

There seems to be a grey area of conscious awareness where this chatter is at its most extreme.

An effective method to “catching it” is to count up to 5 minutes; when the mind is preoccupied with focusing on the counting, it is incredibly easy to notice when the chatter appears because it completely derails the counting.

“The Emerther are scared to death for many reasons that lead back to the human race”, “Japan has nothing at the edge of their chasm”, “Please be careful” are examples of the things I have heard whilst in this grey area. It seems to correspond to the M Band noise mentioned by Bruce Moen.

Diet and Exercise.

I have been asked if there is a correlation with diet and LD, and honestly I can’t say I have really noticed anything to be that beneficial.

This is not to say there isn’t an eating plan you should try, more so that I just never bothered looking too deep into this aspect.

By all means if you find someone who suggests something an eating regime specifically to induce LD, then give it a try and get back to me on how it went for you.

In saying this though, my most intense period of lucid dreaming was when I was working out on a regular basis with a goal of getting fit enough to join the Defense Force.

At the same time I was also eating quite healthily, so it is hard for me to tell if my heightened level of lucid awareness of the dream state was because of the exercise, the diet, or both.

It could have been a result of the location for all I know.

I can’t give a definite in this regard. What I do know is that my diet and exercise regime is no where near as healthy as it was, and my lucid dreaming ventures have taken a nose dive.

Hopefully I’ll start getting back into it when my youngest is a little bit older. I am curious to see if my forays into lucidity start to come back a bit stronger under a healthier lifestyle.

What I did noticed with two rather potent LD experiences that happened only a few nights apart is that I had some sort of spicy chicken dish followed by a dose of sugar.

There appeared to be no correlation in “healthiness” with these foods; one was a lean Thai curry with a portion of cake for dessert, the other was standard hot and spicy KFC followed by a typical sugary drink from that food chain.

I suspect it has to do with the chemical change from the chili/ sugar content that is registered via the subconscious mind whilst in the dream state. I suggest exploring this avenue further and experimenting with it if you are game enough.

Thought Placement:

Many DILD techniques involve the use of “reality checks” to help stimulate the sub consciousness mind into becoming lucid.

These basically consist of a series of checks you do each day whilst awake which hopefully carry over to the dreaming domain and allow you to come to the realisation you are lucid. “Am I awake, am I asleep?” that sort of thing. Similar to me throwing my bass guitar in the pool.

In the movie Inception, Leornado DiCaprio employs the use of a spinning top as a reality check. He spins the top and if he is awake it eventually slows down and falls over due to the lack of centrifugal force.

The tell that he is still dreaming is that it continues to keep spinning unencumbered by the lack of physics.

I recommend watching this movie.

It not only is a good representation of LD in general, but also highlights the importance of being psychologically ready before undertaking extensive voyages into the Lucid planes.

In the movie, DiCaprio’s wife ends up killing herself because she believes she is still dreaming and needs to wake up, despite DiCaprio insisting she is already awake and back in the physical reality.

Another thing Inception portrays really well is the layering depths of dreams one may delve into and how time becomes distorted in these other “dream worlds”.

When you get good at LD, it is easy to get carried away and start going deeper and deeper into a dream within a dream within a dream.

You must learn and employ your safeguards so you know how to properly get back from such a maze.

This may sound somewhat silly, but believe me, I have been trapped in lucidity for “years” only to wake up to find a single night has passed; it can really fuck you up if you are not prepared for it.

Another thing to be aware of is that it can be quite depressing visiting an LD Utopia only to have to wake back up into this physical plane.

Expect a readjustment period of at least a few days.

Thought Placement for DILDs

Through my observations I have found that there is a correlating timeframe that thoughts can be used to stimulate the sub consciousness in the dream state.

This came about by having dreams with elements that I could pin point back to a very specific time of having that thought element during the day time.

It appears that around 10 to 10 and a half hours, and half an hour before going to sleep (not just going to bed) are prime times for instilling thoughts about doing reality checks and lucid dreaming.

Of course, this means having a strict bed time schedule and understanding how long it actually takes you to get to sleep once in bed.

The Dream Blanket

I have a book written by a guy with Native American blood that talks about the shamanic practice of “shapeshifting”. The Art of Shapeshifting by Ted Andrews.

It is essentially about using dances that mimic certain animals and special talismans for remote viewing and lucid dreaming purposes.

While I never got into the dances, one of the talismans I found curious was a blanket that you drape across you every time you are consciously trying to LD.

The theory by the author is that every time you have a LD you subconsciously imbue this blanket with dream energy, which eventually makes it easier to lucid dream, as you connect with this energy when fall asleep.

The dream blanket is considered so sacred by him that he suggests locking it up within a special chest and not letting it come into contact with other artifacts lest it becomes tainted by their energy.

It must only ever be used for Lucid Dreaming.

I tried using a piece of expensive silk fabric for this purpose but it was not clear if it had any profound effect.

In saying that, I have noticed it takes awhile to build up “LD momentum” if the blankets are changed from ones I have been using during periods with many LDs. Purple and blue colored linen seems to work the best.

The Pillows:

Did you end up buying a triangular {right angle} shaped pillow? If not, don’t worry too much about it.

Some regular pillows that are quite “puffy” with a good puff to density ratio will do just fine.

Try to avoid ones that are so puffy that your head falls right through them though.

The reason triangular pillows are good is that they wrap around the entirety of your neck and give you’re the head the support it is going to need when undertaking the main LD inducing technique, the hanged man pose.

You can get by without it, but I have found one side of my neck quickly gets quite fatigued without this support base from the pillows.

If you are using standard rectangular pillows, their arrangement will be crucial to whether or not the technique works, and it may take quite a few adjustments to get them “right”.

I hope you have been practicing the stillness of the body meditation, because you are going to need it for the next part:

Onto the techniques

The Hanged Man Pose:

Over the many years I was engaging in LD, I started noticing “commonalities” between when I would have an LD and the arrangement of my body when waking up.

The most notable of such commonalities was a particular pose I usually {not always} found myself in immediately upon waking from my LDs.

Curious, I began experimenting with this pose.

I would take a few minutes after awaking into to it to study it in depth without moving, then try to recreate it whenever I’d go to bed to try and initiate an LD.

More often than not it would work for both DILDs and WILDs.

In fact some of the most vivid LDs I have had have been from using this very pose. I explained it to SD and she began using it, and reported that it works quite well for her.

As far as I am concerned, this is the secret to initiating an LD.

The pose itself is quite easy to get into.

The difficulty, however, comes when trying to remain in it without moving. Hence why the practice of the stillness of the body is crucial to mastering it. And hence why pillow arrangement is crucial to its correct use.

Five minutes after getting into this pose I guarantee every ounce of your being will be telling you to move into a more comfortable position; It is an incredibly uncomfortable position to be in.

It is not as if you are going to be doing yoga or anything.

It is more that you will be stretching certain muscles and placing weight on your body in a way that you are not used to.

You need to just suck it up and lie there if you want it to work properly.

Hopefully, after a few weeks you will automatically start taking up this position as you sleep.

So how do we get into the pose?

Well, there is a reason I call it the Hanged Man pose, and this is because it is similar to the Hanged Man in the Tarot deck.

Traditionally, this card depicts a man hanging upside down with his arms at his side and his leg bent at such an angle so that it touches the knee of the opposing leg.

While I have used this exact pose, for LD, I prefer to alter it slightly.

Rather than have the leg bent at a 90 degree angle, simply place the heel of your right foot on top of your left when you are laying down.

If you find this too uncomfortable you can alter it so that your feet are to the side of each other.

The crucial thing, though is that the two must be touching.

The arms can either relax at your side or be placed upon your sternum; that latter seems to work better.

Keeping your back flat to the plane of your mattress, you then need to bend your head to the right so that your right ear is completely covered by your pillow.

Aim to create a “seal” around your whole ear so that no air can escape.

Again, I have found the triangular pillow makes this easier to achieve.

I am not sure why this works so well. I suspect it has something to do with unbalancing the inner ear or something to do with redirecting the flow of energy through the body, which are picked up in dreamtime.

One thing I know for certain though, is that it gets results. Provided you can keep it up.

The Tennis Match Scenario:

This will consciously carry you from an awakened state through the transition into the dream state and on into the Void Space if done correctly, regardless of your fatigue level.

In fact, most of the WILDs I have had have been from utilizing this technique, or a slight variant of it.

Consider it a cheat code to getting into the void space.

To understand why it works you need to understand the way consciousness “collapses” back in towards the pineal gland as you enter the dream state.

This is a complete inversion of the consciousness you use whilst engaging in physical reality whilst awake.

If you are successful with this technique, you will experience this inversion.

It works particularly well when you are fatigued to the point of being in danger of falling asleep within minutes of your head touching the pillow, which is why I like it.

I used it quite a lot when I was working a full time job as an assembler in an electronics factory.

I was getting up at 4:30am and getting home at 6pm, completely exhausted, and yet it still worked.

So if this sounds like your sort of lifestyle, I recommend trying it.

You start by visualising a tennis match between you and an opponent.

It has to be a first person view on your part. You need to visualize this as if you are actually there, playing tennis, with the net in front of you and the racket being held in your hand.

It can’t be from a third person viewpoint.

Pretend it is your opponent’s turn to serve.

I find it easier to visualize slow serves that gradually build in pace, but if you are too fatigued just go right on to the fast serves. You need about 5 seconds worth of unbroken, vivid visualization of your opponent smashing the ball as hard as they possibly can.

Repeat the visualization with the ball flying past your head.

After every 4^th or fifth hit, make the ball hit square in the middle of your nose.

Hopefully, in your fatigued state, your mind will automatically keep replaying the scenario, and eventually start believing it is real.

The goal is to have it react with a surge of adrenaline as the ball hits your nose, thinking there is a very real possibility of your nose being broken.

This surge of adrenaline, I have found, is just enough to awaken you back into a conscious understanding that you are almost asleep.

At the same time, your consciousness “locks” onto the ball, and is projected back in towards the pineal gland the same way it collapses into the dream state.

Because the adrenaline has made you lucid, you consciously witness that transition before the adrenaline disappears.

The speed of which consciousness enters into this transition is what I term as “the velocity of consciousness”.

From my experiences, this velocity can be anywhere between the speed of a properly served tennis ball to that of a bullet.

I suggest experimenting with different scenarios that involve different speeds, to see if you can find something that works better for you.

A variant of this technique I found also works well is by imagining a fast orbiting satellite near a planet that you “spin” off its trajectory and have it hit you.

In my case, it was a dodecahedron spinning about a tetrahedron; both are heavily related to occult philosophy. They are platonic solids.

The Velocity of Consciousness and the Void Space.

The speed at which your consciousness inverts and falls back through pineal gland will dictate how deep one falls into the void space.

I mentioned in the previous lesson that distortions will come into play and that these distortions will dictate how successful your lucid dream will be.

With a high velocity of consciousness, one risks penetrating too “deep” into the void space where the distortions are at their most extreme.

The tennis match/ orbiting satellite visualization seems to instill consciousness with a velocity so that It can reach a shallower level of the void space.

Coming from sleep paralysis on the other hand, the distortions can be anywhere from mild to extreme.

These distortions will last only whilst in the void space, but they have the potential of completely destroying the lucid dream.

The reason for this is because it takes an incredible amount of visualization willpower to be able to create a dream; all focus must be put towards this end.

If the mind is busy dealing with using it’s visualization resources trying to neutralize these distortions, then proper dreamscape visualization cannot take place.

Unfortunately I have no remedy for when these distortions are at their maximum.

I have rarely been able to make it past this stage when they are, and the times I have, my dreamscapes have been a random mess of corrupted data.

Even the most basic of dreamscapes become impossible to visualize, and movement within them becomes even harder.

Don’t feel disheartened if these distortions ruin your LD. This happened to me more times than I can count. Perseverance is the only way through

Dream Creation From the Void Space:

Dreams created from the void space are not standard dreams, and neither are they typical LDs.

When done properly, one can exhibit almost total control over what appears in the dreamscape, and can use this for exploration of the non physical worlds.

Many experts will suggest this is astral projection, other experts will claim that LD cannot be used for such traveling or that it is really just a trick of the mind and you are not really “traveling”. My personal experiences suggest differently on both accounts.

To create a dreamscape to this extent you MUST take control of the distortions before the intent to create a dream even comes up whilst you are in the void space.

The reason for this is that to create a proper dreamscape takes an immense amount of will power and conscious focus.

If majority of that focus is spent dealing with the distortions after the dream has been created, your dream will not be stable and will “fall apart,” waking you up in the process.

Strong visualization practices to counter the distortions are the only thing I know that works, hence why you don’t want the distortions to be anything other than weak.

Once confidence of dominations over the distortions has been gained, there is a certain trick to being able to create a stable dreamscape.

Remember, you need to be able to think of all of this on the fly – you won’t have time to try and process and remember it all from scratch, so I suggest running through the process multiple times so it becomes automatic.

Rather than start surrounding yourself with items you wish to be present in the immediate environment, I have found it more beneficial to visualize the extremities of the particular scenario – if your eyes were functioning in this state, it would be equivalent of creating the objects you can see at the horizon.

The next trick is to switch your attention from this horizon onto the area encompassing a few meters around you without letting it collapse.

This is where the level of the void space you are in comes in to play; if you are too deep into it, close to the depths of the basement, you will be met with distortions in your visualisations which will “attack” them and ultimately collapse the environment around you, resulting in you waking up back in the physical world.

It takes great practice to be able to create a dream environment like this, then switch to populating it with whatever objects or people, smells etc, you desire without it collapsing, but it can be done to the point one can experience the same sensations they feel utilizing a physical body, such as smell, touch, taste etc.

This is something I was doing consistently in my youth, almost 3 times a week.

The number one rule is that once created, no conscious thought can be allowed to be given to the structure of this environment, as this will also cause it to collapse; you have to just create it, and “know” it is around you and move straight into and interact from within it; if you find yourself focusing on one particular thing during the creation stage, you need to quickly find something else and use that to anchor your dreamscape, and you keep doing this until it becomes stable.

You can then manifest a dream body if you wish, or continue to operate without one.

Once stable, the dreamscape can be interacted with just like any physical environment (but more profoundly).

This is the art of applying velocity to consciousness; once a dreamscape has been created, consciousness can move about in it simply by picking a point and focusing on it, much like with astral projection.

Time and space become irrelevant factors, as one is immediately “teleported” to the point of imagination, hence why the control of one’s imagination is such an important factor.

Just as the infant must learn to use its legs to walk through its physical environment, so too must one learn to use the points around them to move within their lucid environment.

By having an idea beforehand of what sort of dream environment one wants to build, and an object that can be summoned and moved away from the area closest to you after your horizon has been established, one can smooth out the whole process and evade the distortions before they begin to present themselves.

I have been known to “free fall” in the void for long periods of time – hours in fact – whilst I decided what dream I wanted to create, or simply for relaxation/meditation purposes.

I have also been known to switch dreamscapes as easily as one walks through a door, jumping from world to world as if I was walking into different rooms.

All this can be done via the portals when one becomes skilled at visualization practices.

Summoning the Portals:

Once you are certain your dream is stable – ie you can move about it within it fairly easily without having to think too hard to keep it in place – the portals can summoned to allow for travel to other non physical locations.

I really do not know how I learnt this; it was just something I “knew” how to do quite effortlessly whilst in an LD. A memory of sorts.

The portals themselves are quite small, and spherical shaped, about the size of a tennis ball.

They are, on first summoning of them, a pearlescent white color.

If you consider your vision straight ahead as being a flat plane at 0 degrees, the portals are off set above your vision at about a 6 degree angle from your eyes, and several feet away.

They exist in your close range top peripheral in other words, right on the edge of your focusing range.

The means for using them is this; you summon them in their pearlescent white form, then you “attach” an environment to them so they become a mini “world” display of the environment you wish to travel to.

They act as a means to contain very specific visual coordinates of a non physical location that will not be subject to the distortions in your immediate environment.

Once they have been summoned, and your visual coordinates have appeared on their surface, you then project or “jump” into them by contracting your consciousness (remember I said consciousness in a non physical state can contract and expand?).

You then come out at the location in question.

Though the portals can be used as a means to travel to one’s own self designed dreamscapes, there are other locations that I have accessed multiple times without any need to create them using the same portals; when accessed, it is as if they automatically materialize in one’s own void space without any visualisation input.

The amount of time I have spent in these particular places equates to a great deal more than someone who goes on regular holidays.

Many of them have their own portals in certain places that access other parts of the other “worlds”, so that, ultra dimensionally, they are all, in some way, linked together.

The portals can allow two way access by using the expansion of consciousness method rather than the contraction method, but I will cover this in the next lesson.

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[daegonmagus] – Part 10 – Combined LD Asset Penetration Into Amnesia Infrastructure

The following is the tenth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Below is a briefing document which equates to about 7 years worth of LD espionage into amnesia compounds by both myself and my wife, SD.

While it rehashes a few things I have already talked about, I think it contains some info the Commander will consider as being quite valuable.

I am very interested to hear yours and his opinions of it, particularly the first impression you get from him “absorbing” it.

Be warned, it is about 12k worth of words, so might take you a good amount of time to go through. There will be further documentation in the coming weeks in regards to my opinions on how LD assets can be effectively used to tackle this amnesia problem.

I also have a few questions for the Commander, but as there is already a couple of question in the document I will hold off asking them for your sake.

Part 10 – Combined LD Asset Penetration Into Amnesia Infrastructure

This is a briefing document to be relayed to the Domain Commander via Metallic Man outlining about 7 years worth of recon work into various locations by two very accomplished LD Assets – DM and SD – carried out between the years 2008 to 2015 to aid in the identification of potential abusers of the amnesia prison system infrastructure as well as the possibility of hijacked consciousness templates.

This is not a singular experience; majority of the locations mentioned in this document have been repetitively observed and experienced numerous times during Lucid Dreaming by both DM and SD over this 7 year period as well as other LD assets.

This is a unique opportunity for the Domain and MM readers to gain an understanding of these non physical locations from 2 separate sources that have been able to openly discuss these experiences on a regular basis free from the constraints of societal bias and vilification to verify them.

This document is to function as an addendum to a personal request by the Domain Commander for me, DM, to undertake lucid espionage into such compounds, as relayed to me via ex-MAJestic Agent MM in a personal email.

Given that a fair understanding of my background in LD has been given to the MM readership, I must point out that SD is at a very similar level of experience in LD to me – if not better – and has experimented with it almost as much as me.

Note that SD has been able to view a similar consciousness sorting mechanism as described by MM through utilizing her LD skillset. Also note that while I have agreed to help the Domain in their effort of identifying the amnesia machinery, my loyalty is ultimately to the Elder Guardians and their approved alliances first and foremost.

This is understood. -MM

My willingness to help the Domain comes from the idea that the goals of these two organizations are aligned; to put a stop to the amnesia machinery which will ultimately allow the extraction of members of each organization who have become trapped in the “earth prison”.

Anyone involved in such an effort is to be considered a friend by me for at least the duration of this project.

Just as the Domain are responsible for the 3000 members of their lost battalion, I am responsible for the 20k+ consciousnesses that came here at the direction of the Elder Guardians for a similar retrieval operation.

Therefore the Domain have my permission to alter my non-physical body to whatever extent they deem necessary provided it is to benefit this same goal and provided I am allowed to retain 100% awareness of the process, regardless of how painful or uncomfortable it may prove to be.

However, the Domain must not in any shape or form alter any aspect of my body {physical or non physical} that has already been altered by The Elder Guardians or their alliances without prior consent from that same organization.

This is understood and agreed to. -MM

This is to ensure that I am still able to carry out my lucid obligations to the Elder Guardians and the aforementioned consciousnesses I am responsible for. Ultimately the Elder Guardians have right of authority when it comes to any aspect of my physical/ non physical self.

I am optimistic in my belief that such a disagreement of circumstance will be extremely unlikely, given that our goals are so aligned.

However if I am wrong, in this assumption the Domain are of course welcome to approach me directly should they feel the need to persuade me otherwise.

There is an understanding that shared alliances can be mutually beneficial to all involved as long as we all agree to work within the agreed to frameworks. For instance, I agreed to a life-line involvement in MAJestic, not realizing that I would be working with The Domain. Then, I needed to reaffirm my agreements with them in order to proceed with them. -MM

I am putting in a formal request to the Commander that the Domain keep me updated on any missions carried out into these non-physical locations by either them or their associates, via MM if he so allows it, or personally if that is a more appropriate course of action for them.

This is understood and agreed to. -MM

I am also requesting any aid the Domain may be able to provide to either myself or SD that would prevent both physical and non physical forces impeding us in our operations to further gather intelligence via lucid dreaming and astral projection based avenues.

I believe this a fair compensation for the information contained in this report, though I will let MM have the final decision in whether it is or not. If he disagrees I won’t argue.

From what I understand, they will remain neutral for the most part, but will assist (if they are able to do so) if asked by one of the irregular assets directly (though the means I have provided.) -MM

If, however, the Domain are able to provide such assistance I will be able to more effectively devise an offensive stratagem into these targets.

It is my intention to penetrate deeper into these facilities when opportunity allows for it regardless of the dangers present therein. Understand this is a lifelong goal of mine that I have held since long before even stumbling across MM.

It is not my intention to disrespect the Domain or offend them in any way shape or form. Like MM, I take these assignments seriously and the terms I have laid out are solely to protect aspects of this operation I know to be on track to dismantling the amnesia mechanisms.

In saying that, I am committed to combining resources and using my LD skillset to tackle the amnesia problem whenever possible.

This is understood and agreed to. They will provide "reasonable" assistance provided the request is "reasonable". They will NOT make a judgement on the need or utility. Instead, in this venue "reasonable" refers to their ability to do so, given the specific circumstances involved. If that makes sense. 

To put it in my own words, they will help if they are able to, and will not judge if whether or not you need it or not. They have limitations. -MM

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The Experiences:

Reality brainwashing is a very heavy theme present within many of these combined LD experiences, and is suggestive that the amnesia prison system has indeed been taken over or is still in operation and in some parts functional at the very least.

The Amnesia operation is either still in operation, or has been taken over by other interests. -MM

Over the years both myself and SD have been able to gain a detailed understanding of how these non physical locations are linked via a substantial network of egress portals and consciousness mazes, which are seemingly buried in layer upon layer of non physical “realities”, or planes exhibiting a different density to our physical one.

The conclusion we have both come to is that this system is designed to disorientate many consciousnesses during sleep/ death and control them to a very, very high degree through an MK Ultra type arrangement.

We have also gained an understanding of how consciousness doping agents are seemingly being used to keep a consciousness docile, submissive and under control whilst in these non physical facilities.

My experiences with the Elder Guardians suggest this is done en masse to the population of earth whenever they go to sleep, and again highlights this consciousness brainwashing theme that suggests the prison system is still in operation.

Given what we have experienced first hand, it is unlikely any consciousness would be able to resist this domination without some form of assistance, as the doping agents appear to be administered immediately upon entering the non physical environment.

"...it is unlikely any consciousness would be able to resist this domination without some form of assistance..."

Any efforts at “evading the light”, in my opinion, would have to include some kind of therapy to be administered during physical life to help break through that consciousness doping I assume is also undertaken upon death. I will submit a plan to MM later on I have to help rectify this particular problem.

"...Any efforts at “evading the light”, in my opinion, would have to include some kind of therapy to be administered during physical life..."

The volcano island I infiltrated which was recently mentioned in the LD task callout by MM was only one of what appear to be many places where such reality brainwashing/ false memory implantation, breeding programs, consciousness doping, and torture is taking place, according to mine and SD’s many recon assignments.

Many of these facilities take the form of “schools” – and are called this by their administrators – that are heavily guarded by armed soldiers that exhibit a very Nazi SS Officer/ authoritarian like behavior.

They call the act of undergoing brainwashing to “go and study”.

These schools exist within multiple different planes; it is exceedingly difficult trying to pin point them to a specific one.

The general theme is that if you get caught conducting lucid espionage into any of these locations, with complete memory of the physical world, you get targeted for either…

a) ejection from these locations by these guards or
b) capture whereby a specialized form of torture tailored specifically to make you forget them is administered.

This torture involves the use of electrocution and being probed with sharp objects, sometimes the former being administered through the latter.

It is strictly forbidden to talk about any of the other non physical worlds whilst in these reality brainwashing schools, and anyone doing so is immediately reprimanded and hushed by these guards.

This includes those in which past life memories begin to surface.

Those who are not part of the administration are treated like typical prison inmates and segregated into small groups based on gender and age.

Given that myself and SD were able to relate our LD experiences to each other on an almost day to day basis, we have been successful in retrieving memory of such scenarios that otherwise would have been left erased.

One of us will begin with a description of the experience, which will trigger a flood of memories for the other, who will then finish the scenario with an exact description of what took place.

Hence it is unlikely, in my opinion, that we are just implanting false memories within one another. It is my assumption that we are recalling parts of each other’s lucid dreams that we have both been active in.

It has been very evident to the both of us that the administrators of these locations do not want us aware of them or bringing such information back to the physical world.

We have experienced many failsafe mechanisms to make sure this doesn’t happen, including [1] amnesia “street lights” (designed to keep certain sections and blocked from access), [2] swarms of entities that “scrub” particular locations to keep out non authorized “visitors”, as well as [3] being chased through multiple worlds by entities resembling “suits” or “MIB” (specifically to stop one of us helping the other regain our memories).

I have yet another LD Asset {#3} part of my contacts who has also been chased by the MIB during LD.

SD and I have been fortunate in that we were able to evade and escape most of these efforts to some degree due to our LD skillsets.

Unfortunately for the administrators of these locations we also both started building up a tolerance to the consciousness doping agents being used on us, which I believe was in part due to help from our handlers.

We started regaining a level of control of our consciousness whilst doped, which allowed us both to view the processes of what takes place under the “care” of the prison administration.

It should be noted that the assignments undertaken by us and mentioned in these documents were extremely psychologically demanding; these were extremely distressing situations we found ourselves in that tested us to the very limits of our mental resolve, even with an awareness of our physical bodies and a higher awareness of the non physical planes.

At no point should anyone ever try to replicate any of these experiences whilst in LD without proper psychological preparation.

(In our case) We had help!

It should also be noted that SD has undergone the same astral body tampering the night after the Domain Commander first opened up a comms channel with MM (the same night I underwent mine – it was the exact same procedure; it felt like something was being “welded” into our astral bodies).

She also has a history of interaction with other non physical entities whilst in LD, and has been able to operate from a similar state of higher consciousness as I have previously mentioned.

Her forays give a bigger picture of the block put in place to control consciousness at death.

Given the nature of our assignments, it seems that some of these locations are home to non physical refugees trying to escape capture of some sort, presumably by the earth prison administration.

They inhabit worlds that could be considered less than third world by today’s standards.

According to what has been told to SD by some of these refugees, the displacement of them is due to a large scale non physical war that happened many thousands of {earth} years ago.

The premise of this war centers around the idea that those in charge of these facilities are trying to create “astral super soldiers” by taking the best attributes of certain “races” and splicing them into a single being.

This astral splicing is what I refer to as the “breeding programs”, as it corresponds with SDs experiences in the rape camps, again of which there appear to be many of these camps in active operation ruled by guards that exhibit a very similar behavior to that of the Nazi’s.

My own experiences suggest something similar and that there are special assets who can operate outside of temporal tracing apparatus; ie chrononauts that can slip through the non physical planes without being monitored by even the most technological advanced species.

I suspect these are what I call “suits” or MIB and specifically target anyone who exhibits high navigational control of the non physical planes via LD? AP. If they catch you, you instantly wake up back in the physical world.

In the context of MM terminology this would equate to those who can initiate an MWI slide at will without having to worry about sticking to certain pre birth/ master templates; they are ghosts that leave no footprint of their non physical travels behind.

I suspect whoever made them is the same faction who has taken control of the earth prison.

I also suspect these “suits” have something to do with the Psaigreen. Any information the Domain can supply on that particular group (the Psaigreen) would be much appreciated.

It is on the list -MM

The methods of astral body tampering used to create these super soldiers SD and I have witnessed so far are:
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Similar non physical body splicing techniques employed by the Domain but without the intent to escape the prison
Forced sexual interactions between heavily doped male and female captives. Males are injected with a secondary drug that amplifies their primal instincts to the point that they become incredibly violent and aggressive.
The removal and implantation of foetuses within the womb of pregnant and non pregnant women.

The idea in all cases is to create hybridized offspring with DNA containing the best non physical traits so that access to certain non physical areas may be obtained.

It appears astral body DNA acts as a key to certain non physical areas.

The Main Facilities:

While the locations mentioned in this document are numerous, there are several facilities that stand out to me as being important to keeping up with the consciousness brainwashing agenda that I suggest the Domain pay particular close attention to.

The most notable for me is the facility I was able to gain an understanding of during my last experience with the Elder Guardians.

This was a facility run by a military faction at the ultimate direction of an ET Commander (possible Mantid or Mantid Prime – 10% surety) with human operators, specifically for programming and preparing consciousnesses for the Earth prison experience after they go to sleep in the physical plane.

Facility operated by (possible) Mantid Primes with human operator staff. -MM

According to the information given to me by the Grand Elder and what I experienced:

The physical eyes are used by the operators of the facility to gain real time data of what consciousness is experiencing whilst engaging in the physical “reality.” This data is then used to smooth out any bugs in the program they expect the consciousness to follow.
When a consciousness memory cache approaches full, the programmers issue a command to “send it to sleep” in the physical plane. Eventually the consciousness gives in and goes to sleep.
At the same time it is heavily doped with the doping agent to keep it in a very zombie like state.
Whilst under the influence of this anesthetic, the consciousness will be transported into another non physical body that is kept within, I assume, a holding room in some kind of clear gel like substance, completely naked.
This body will then wake up, still completely under the influence of the anesthetic, and still in a zombie like daze with two guards at the ready.
These two guards escort this body containing the doped consciousness through a thick, sideways opening steel door and lead it down a metallic hallway about 30m in length.
As they are walking, a 3D holographic environment is broadcast around the consciousness. Spatially, the room is no longer two walls separated by a distance of a few meters, but an entire landscape dependent upon what the programmers desire the consciousness to experience. The doped body is then led through several extremely traumatic scenarios designed to keep it from recognizing where it is and to keep it holding onto the idea that the Earth based physical reality is the only one. The trauma part of the simulation is completely erased from memory. I am unsure if this simulation takes place entirely in the mind of the subject, or if the hallway itself aids in this holographic environment. I assume at the very least that the hallway communicates directly with the consciousness in question via wireless means.
The doped body is led back out of the simulation. After it is switched off, the two guards then lead it to an alcove next to the door at the other end of the hallway that acts as a decontamination chamber. The naked body is then showered and scrubbed free of the gel substance before being led through the second door, still naked.
A team of consciousness programmers – between 10 to 20 – analyses the reality dataset of the consciousness in question using a room full of computers. This is a monumental task with several days worth of downtime while new programming is coded to allow for consistent integration back within the physical reality. I suggest watching the series Westworld as it is an extremely accurate portrayal of what I experienced (I had an LD of the first episode a few years before it came out).
8.a) During this downtime period the doped body is kept under the influence of the anesthetic and is very closely monitored by the two guards who become its personal handlers. It is allowed out of the facility to be used for slave labor until the coding for the fresh programming is complete, whereby it is brought back in.
8.b) Special cases where the dataset reveals inconsistencies detrimental to the consciousness containment operation are examined on a case by case basis, by the 2IC Human Commander. In my case I wasn’t allowed out of the facility, but was instead led straight to another room containing a chair with an egress portal into a physical reality that was in its very first stages of design. This physical reality construct was called the “Test Rig” by the Human Commander, and I was brought here because the Commander noticed I had been talking to someone (the Grand Elder) “off record”, ie without it being logged in my dataset.
The doped body is usually then led back through the metal hallway and made to undergo another trauma simulation before being led directly back to the holding cell where it is put to sleep and consciousness is then transported back into the physical plane body in preparation for “waking up”. I was directly told/shown this by the Grand Elder.

Very similar to what I witnessed in the consciousness programming facility. Instead of a map the large screen showed raw consciousness programming code data as well as real time video of what my eyes were seeing, and body vitals etc. All the shit you’d expect to find in a hospital room was somehow implemented into this main screen. Bear in mind I was mainly looking straight on towards the other wall after being decontaminated; everything to the left of me was sighted in my peripheral, so the angles may not have been so sharp. I have a vague recollection of the screen being curved.

Original image provided by DM was unable to be extracted, so I substituted this image instead. They are both very similar. I do not know why I was having such a difficult time extracting the original image. -MM

Notes:

The programmers of this facility hold information on how non physical bodies can be programmed to interact with multiple physical reality constructs. I suspect the human Commander also has access to other similar facilities.

There are about 10 computer terminals in this facility that are used specifically for these programming purposes. These computers are able to directly interface with consciousness and hold extremely valuable data.

The ET Commander is kept insulated by the human operators by a viewing window that separates the main programming room from the ET’s own personal space.

I do not know if other ET’s were present in this room as it was a very quick glimpse gained in my peripheral vision whilst under heavy doping.

It could also be a bullshit memory.

I would assume that this ET Commander is in charge of programming the physical realities whereas the humans focus solely on consciousnesses coming in and out of the constructs, but do not quote me on this.

My conscious awareness kicked in after coming through the door that led to what I assume was the body holding room, in the middle of a trauma simulation so my recollection of the hallway is foggy and confusing.

I have no actual recollection of the holding room.

I assume the doors I came through were connected to an elevator, but I cannot be sure.

There is also the question of entrance to the facility; I do not remember seeing any possible access ways in the main control room, which is why I suspect that an elevator system was at the opposite end of the simulation hallway.

If that were the case I would assume up would lead to ground level and down would lead to the holding room.

Otherwise perhaps the entrance to the facility was underneath where I was walking, which explains why I never saw it.

The facility itself was located in a world that seemed to be a direct quote of Airl’s description of an Old Empire establishment with allusions to Ancient Egypt throughout the city:

“Anyone who is not willing or able to submit to mindless economic, political and religious servitude as a tax-paying worker in the class system of the "Old Empire" are "untouchable" and sentenced to receive memory wipe-out and permanent imprisonment on Earth.”

These are the exact sorts of people who were being subjected to the Earth construct via this facility.

Others included those who were openly opposed to the Totalitarian regime of those politicians who were in power.

Question for the Domain Commander: Are they absolutely sure that the Old Empire has been eradicated in this sector of the physical/ non physical universe? Because intelligence gained from this experience alone suggests they are still very, very active. Going by Airl’s description of the Old Empire and everything the Grand Elder told me as well as what I experienced, I am apt to believe this was the Old Empire and not just a wannabe mimicking faction.

I will inquire. Initial response is that it appears that there is something going on that differs from the initial intent. This needs to be investigated further. 

It is easy to jump to conclusions, and assume that it is "Old Empire" operations still under the control of Mantid Prime, or that some (pro Domain) Mantids are working with "free" humans in constructing escape bodies for general population egress. Many questions remain unanswered.-MM

A very big effort on the human Commander and his programmer’s part was put into making sure I did not remember any of what took place in this facility.

The only reason I remember any of it was because the Grand Elder kicked me awake when the drugs started taking me.

He was telling me to take notice of the things I have mentioned in this document. You owe this section of this report to his insistence on making me pay attention.

Please tell him thank you from me. -MM

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The Test Rig:

The server containing the Earth based physical reality appears to be contained within the Test Rig which is itself a VR construct within the consciousness programming facility .

This is in the form of a large “brain” that is made of Ethernet like cables.

These cables are able to extract consciousness data through what I equated at the time as being inductive coupling ( I am a qualified electronics tech, trust me on this assertion); they are wound as tight coils that pick up the magnetism coming off conscious thoughts contained within the server and direct this energy back to the military controller’s mainframe in the form of real time {analogue} data.

Think of this like joining an online gaming server; each player must log on to the main server through their various consoles.

The AI brain in this case is responsible for the load out environment the players all synch into; their consciousness require their own consoles in order to “play” and are thus kept off site, somewhere else.

My guess is in the holding rooms or back in the programming facility with the Human and ET Commanders.

This server brain is housed within a building surrounded by large glass windows on its ground floor on the cusp of what appears to be a university campus.

There are freshly manicured lawns and gardens in the center of various multi story brick buildings.

Through awareness of self, I was able to destroy majority of this campus.

The tell tale sign of this building is the logical fallacy of the platform one has to furs reach via the stairs to use the lift, instead of just having it pop out on the ground floor.

The brain itself was large enough to need an entire room and 1^st story platform built around it.

Below this building is a compound that holds the bodies in the Test Rig that are still asleep and engaged in the Earth construct; I watched as two of them came out of the lift still in a dazed state, one of which was SD.

Unlike others who have to be plugged back into the construct to get back to their Earth bodies, I came back of my volition by summoning my own portals via LD – this meant I bypassed the programming/ trauma simulation stage altogether and is why I remember it so well.

I can walk the Domain through the whole process from the programming facility, into the Test rig portal, out the front gates of the accommodation section, through the university campus and into the Brain server building easier than I can get up to take a leak in the middle of the night; My memory of it is photographic.

The Test Rig reality construct is where the human Commander plans on migrating all consciousnesses from the physical Earth construct when it is complete.

Although no ETA was given, this was the entire reason for the development of the Test Rig.

I overheard the Commander talking to his programmers about it.

Not only overheard; he was standing right in front of me when he said it, and assumed that I was too doped to remember any of it.

I wasn’t.

I was 100% aware of everything going on around me courtesy of the Grand Elder.

This is probably the most solid intel you will get off me.

Domain Commander take notice; there is another prison construct specifically being prepared for when the Earth prison goes offline which already has some value asset’s consciousnesses uploaded to it.

They are aware that the Earth Prison is part of a much larger Prison Complex that involves multiple solar systems. Though this intel about a backup facility being constructed is new intel. -MM

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SD’s Experiences of the Non Physical body holding facilities:

Although this was not a shared experience with SD, she has awoken to very similar experiences of manipulation whilst doped, and has described similar egress portal setups like the Test Rig.

Her experiences of these facilities are much more persistent than mine.

The main difference is that in her experiences these egress portals are coupled to standard “hospital” like beds, whereas with mine they are coupled to something more akin to an upright dentistry chair.

SD has had many experiences of these facilities of which she is of the belief that there are at least 3 separate ones in operation.

One of these facilities is found within the Medieval Village world which can be accessed via the portal network found in the burrow tombs of the Island World.

SD’s recon assignments suggest that one of the main operating facilities can be accessed via astral projection from a lucid dreaming state, after moving through a substance/ plane that feels like “thick honey”.

On the other side of this thick honey bubble is one of these brainwashing facilities set out similar to a hospital rather than a military war room.

Immediately upon entering this area, guards will hunt down any unauthorized entity and eject them back into in the Earth construct.

I have also been taken to a similar hospital by black ops soldiers in a helicopter during a combined lucid dream with SD.

This particular hospital backs onto an ocean.

About a kilometer up the beach are various café’s and restaurants and an old style town nearby Brainwashing School I retrieved SD from moments prior to my initiation into the Unseen 5 (Combined LD Experience).

The retrieval of Nina Bejowski, as mentioned in my part 3 was also experienced by SD in one of her LDs (she was Nina).

In the experience I had to retrieve her from one of the brain washing schools whilst being hunted by “suits” who exhibited abilities that again suggested world line tampering in an effort to keep our consciousnesses contained.

Whilst I do not remember the layout of that particular facility, SD does.

Note her apparent “father” appears to be in control of at least one of these facilities (the one beyond the honey substance), and was present in this particular school telling her she needed to study.

Portal Theatre:

The most substantial location visited by both myself and SD is the portal theater.

The reason this location stands out is because it appears to be an egress portal hub that connects most of the non physical locations mentioned in this document.

I have personally undertaken many, many infiltration assignments into this complex, as has SD.

There are at least 7 – but potentially more – different egress portals; one in each of the theater rooms that come off the main hall, each leading to a very specific non physical location.

These locations do not change, despite coming here at different times of the year; room number 7 (or 8?) on the right side of the hallway will always take you the “Ancient Marketplace”, for example. I know this because this is the room I always took, and was the place I always came out after traveling through the portal in this theater room.

My assignments never bothered with any of the other rooms, as far as I can remember.

The rooms themselves look like standard movie theaters, though instead of a large projector screen they have spherical portals – about the size of a weather balloon – that float about 6 or so meters from the floor, roughly halfway to the roof.

The portals seemed to be contained in some sort of liquid substance and protected by an invisible “maze like” barrier; you cannot directly access them (well, the one in room 7 any way) without first navigating through this maze.

You “swim” up into the maze until you get to a point where your consciousness is sucked into it, and you come out into an alternate world on the other side, in my case, the Ancient Marketplace.

The band Primus has a live gig DVD called Hallucinogenetics with spherical TV screens on its cover that are very similar to what the spherical portals in the theater room look like.

Please refer to the picture at the top of this article. -MM

SD is confident in her assertions that these portals are used for reality brainwashing; she has witnessed consciousnesses being forced to “watch” things on the portals (which can function like spherical TVs) equating to false memories before being pushed through them, and has memories of it being done to her.

This is essentially the exact same process carried out in the other facilities.

I have broken memories of similar things being undertaken, though they are no where near as vivid as SDs memories of this place.

My most vivid memories are that I come to the Portal Theater from another place, usually the Island, am escorted down the hallway to room 7, in which I project into the portal and come out in the Ancient Marketplace.

I then have to find another portal in the Ancient Marketplace which brings me out into “The Village”, which can also be accessed via the Island Burrow Tombs.

For me, entry into the Ancient Marketplace portal always felt “necessary”; whether this is a result of being forced to think that or whether it was an intention placed there by my handlers using me as an infiltration asset, I am not sure.

Travel into this place always brought me out into the foyer in front of the hallway, in which I have a hazy memory of being led down the hallway.

My memories of utilizing portal room 7 are quite vivid, however. I know a lot of other things went on here which I cannot remember; unfortunately the only recording of these experiences I had was on a laptop that got stolen.

There is no such thing as coincidences. MM

This laptop had crucial information about intelligence I gathered here. If the Domain are serious about dismantling the amnesia/ hypnosis machinery, I would suggest directing a large portion of whatever resources they have allocated for this operation into finding this theater as it will give them not only direct access to many of the other locations, but also a very good idea of the different hypnosis regimes used.

The Island:

This island is similar to the Volcano Island in my last Domain assignment.

I am not sure if it is the same one.

I have no recollection of there ever being a volcano/ slave set up.

I believe it is a different place entirely, going by the memories of it that I have. It seems to be quite neutral ground.

For the most part, whenever I am here it is rather benign and doesn’t seem to hold any negative operations of any sort.

It has not only been confirmed by SD but also by a third LD asset {#3}.

LD egress always brings me out into a dense forest, or at its edge on the shoreline.

This forest has a myriad of pathways that twist and turn through it.

The sky is always purplish maroon, like it is stuck in evening twilight. In the middle of the forest are certain trees reminiscent of Morton Bay Fig trees with huge roots at their base, but more palm tree like at the top.

Underneath these roots are what appear to be animal burrows leading further underground.

They are barely wide enough to fit me in them.

Upon going into these burrows one soon comes out into a tomb lined with precision cut bricks.

This appears to be a sort of small chamber coming off the main room.

As you go out into that main room, to the right is a ramp leading to a much higher level (suggesting temporal displacement from the outside of the island, as it should surely break through its surface, but doesn’t).

To the left is a sunken level by a few feet containing a sarcophagus, and in that sarcophagus is a portal that leads to the Portal Theater or the Medieval Village depending on how it is used.

There is a stairway or ramp to the right of the sarcophagus (when viewed front on ) that I believe leads to another portal.

It is likely this portal is the one that leads to the Village.

I am recalling things from over 10 years ago, so correct memory of it all is hazy.

To one side of the island is a fenced off beach, and on the other side of this fence is a military like naval shipyard.

This shipyard consists of what appears to be a very large shipping container like building.

The shipping container is slightly back from the shoreline and has a concrete path the width of a road next to it that leads out into the water just in front of it, in the form of a jetty.

Back at the shipping container is a crane like device that is used for working on the {aquatic/space} ships here.

Further left there is something hidden in the water next to the concrete jetty; it is either a squid like monster or a similar looking space ship.

This same monster ship/ thing has been corroborated by LD asset #4, who is in “agreement with the consciousness evolution plan“ based on his own experiences in LD.

This is a VERY important ship; New tech that could do some cool {non physical} shit that very few people {both physical and non physical} know about.

SD suggests just back from the shipyard, on the other side of the fence we have a house, and that she has memories of me working in the shipyard at the very point where the ship is docked.

This explains why I remember it with no actual memory of stumbling upon it; it is just something I “know” whenever I come here, like knowing you own a certain type of car.

According to her, there is another section of forest on this side of the island with more burrow portals she has also undertaken.

The fence line itself protrudes from the shoreline close to the shipping container on its right hand side (when facing the ocean) several hundred meters back into sand dunes.

The sand here is quite a deep yellow color, and very coarse.

The fence itself is very high, probably about 10 or even more meters, made of typical chain link.

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Notes:

Given the Island is a somewhat neutral place with seemingly minimum life activity and that it has egress portals that lead directly to some of the consciousness programming facilities, I suggest it be used as a “safe” insertion zone for any offensive efforts targeting these facilities.

Although there may some intermittent activity on the coastline the closer one comes to the shipping container, the forest from the middle towards the other end of the beach can be considered quite safe (at least it could be the last time I was there.)

This place is my second home; I frequented it a lot in my youth; it is probably the most tame place out of everything I experienced.

Gentle request by me to the Domain: PLEASE DO NOT FUCK IT UP.

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Ancient Marketplace:

The main identifier for us is a road the width of the great wall of China, maybe even wider that curves up toward the sky in font of you.

As you move along this road, gravity changes so that you always feel like you are just walking through one axis, not two; it feels like you are walking on a flat surface.

There is always a festival here of some sort; my assignment thus entailed coming out of the portal, then walking the curve to its peak, through the crowd of festival goers whereby something strange would change their mood and see them running out of sheer terror.

This was a constant, repetitive scenario that I experienced for over a year, almost every week directly coming out of some very heavy “work” in the portal theater.

Something very weird was going here; whatever it was has been blocked from my memory.

It involved “timeline resetting”.

Very curious. -MM

Many of my assignments here involved an underground tomb (much smaller and cramped than the one at the island) set back from where one “appears” here a good way, which had yet another portal in it.

There was always some very strange things going on in this particular tomb as well, and I never really liked being here.

It was always very cramped, the passages being only 3 or so feet square.

Whilst lucid, I don’t like being confined to spaces where I cannot turn around easily; this tomb was very much like that.

Going into these confined places, you are just asking to be captured by something.

It feel likes you are a rabbit purposely walking headlong into a trap designed specifically for that creature.

You have to fight every ounce of your being screaming at you to turn around and get out.

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The Village:

The portal in the Ancient Marketplace tombs brings one out into an old medieval type village SD and I have {again} both been to.

"Instead of thinking that this is a "Medieval village", perhaps you should consider it to be a typical community located on one of the planets of the "Old Empire". The descriptions seem to match with what is currently presently found there. The only difference is that most of the current "Old Empire" communities have a far wider variety of creatures that inhabit the area, not just humans." (Note from the Commander.) -MM

It has also been corroborated by LD Asset #5 who has also been here.

There is a cluster of old derelict buildings where people dwell.

This is a place that is constantly undergoing a “timeline reset”.

It is a nice old town which is ruined by the trash these inhabitants leave everywhere.

This cluster is where the “mind mazes” start.

There is a building complex several stories high that has a bituminous road next to it that somehow slants from the bottom to its very roof.

A pink watery like substance covers the ground everywhere that seems to reset ones consciousness if it is touched, in which they then exhibit a high dose of amnesia.

The main townsite is set a level above this water, by several feet.

It feels like a nearby river has flooded the area and has covered everything surrounding the village at this low point with knee high water.

There is a sort of circuit through town one is led to taking upon arriving here.

In my assignments I knew an invisible “something” was resetting the timelines, but I couldn’t catch it.

It wasn’t until I did the circuit in reverse (reversal of time), back through the building that I was able to “see it” and finally put a stop to the resets.

It was not something I can describe with earth language. I believe this thing, whatever it was, was tampering with the MWI in this location as well as the Ancient Marketplace.

Over the watery substance, joining the buildings, are these glass like tunnel walkways.

Littered about are several shipping containers in the pink water that lead to different locations; the only way out of this area is to project consciousness onto the shipping containers and use them in a sort of leap frog manner.

None of the inhabitants here possess such abilities.

SD has recollections of the watery substance and the idea the village in general is linked to the consciousness mazes.

She has met her dead cousin here several times, who has told her that the watery substance disallows the dead to interact with the physical world; the physical world exists somewhere far beyond it, and SD’s cousin has very specifically mentioned the inhabitants of that world “know about us“ who are still alive here in the physical world.

The inhabitants of this world seem to hold a certain level of disgust for anyone who can project here from the physical world; several times they have mentioned such disapproval to SD’s cousin, who simply told them she was “special”.

Think of this like a rich man turning his nose down towards a homeless man: the discarnate consciousnesses of this world fucking hate us LDers like we risk bringing a plague unto them.

Again, the notion that this community is part of the existing "Old Empire" that is desirous of shunning felons from their community. -MM

One of the buildings near the road that slants to the top of the building complex is set out in the form of an old hospital building.

This is where SD has awoken several times under the influence of the consciousness doping agent.

In these cases she has been lucid enough to remember her body back on earth, and to realize that something is not quite right.

Unable to gain control of her lucid body, she is then walked through the complex by several guards who do not realize that the consciousness doping agent hasn’t completely knocked her out.

She has accidentally acted too “coherent” and lucid to which a guard has then poked with a sort of cattle prod to keep her dazed, though she has still been able to retain memory of the event.

There is an elevator they take her to which leads to a higher floor of the building, and upon coming out of this elevator one enters a room with many beds crammed into it.

Attached to each bed is a sort of screen used for reality brainwashing and to instil false memories.

The process is that the hospital patients are lined up, single file, in which they are administered with a heavy dose of more of the consciousness doping agent then “strapped” into these beds to undergo “study”.

SD’s description of the brainwashing process is very similar to what I experienced with the Human Commander.

So this facility is at the "old medieval village"? -MM

In other instances, SD has appeared in the town, met her cousin and walked with her to the hospital building where she has intended to go into it to “retrieve” someone {possibly me}.

In these particular experiences, several other people, including SD’s cousin, have been aghast at the idea of going “back” into this hospital as everyone here knows what it is used for, including her dead cousin.

As a sidenote SD has also met her cousin {the same one} in a waiting place that seemed to function as a sort of astral quarantine for the newly deceased to wait whilst being processed before they are allowed to pass through to such worlds.

SD mentioned this as being a sort of field free floating in the middle of nothingness or space.

SD’s cousin was met by another long deceased family member that acted as a mentor reminding her of participation in past lives (possible mantid).

Again, SD was met with great disgust by the other deceased who were awaiting processing, as they (current earth incarnations) are apparently not supposed to venture into such places.

This makes sense. If the "old medieval village" is a facility on an existing "Old Empire" planet, then The Domain should be able to identify it, find it, and render it inert. I would suggest some questions to ask to the commander about this subject to flush out the details. -MM

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A Glimpse into Death:

SD and I have a combined experience in which we were both killed at gunpoint, along with many of our friends in one location (a house in what appeared to be a European place) and both “awoke” in a completely different reality where we were incarcerated in a sort of prison.

I can remember quite vividly that this was an instantaneous “switching” of realities.

After the bullet entered my head, my consciousness detached from that body, dropped through the earth and entered a portal before coming out quite a distance above the already established (middle aged) body in the prison compound.

My consciousness then “fell” from the sky into this body at great speed in which I gained complete control of it.

I retained complete memory of the world I had just died in and everything that had happened with us all being killed.

SD didn’t undergo this complete transition; as she was shot, she blacked out before awakening in a room full of our friends from the house who no longer seemed to recognize her, with complete memory of the previous world.

One minute she was there in the house, then everything went black as she was shot, before waking up.

This is where the guards became hostile when she tried telling these people they had all just been killed.

She was reprimanded then taken to a separate torture room for being too “rowdy”.

I was in a different part of the compound to SD, but again I was surrounded by friends from the world I’d just come from who no longer recognized me.

When I proceeded to remind them of their deaths, they were quite shocked and terrified as the memories started coming back.

After asking where SD was, they told me she had been reprimanded by the guards for not abiding by their rules.

The part of this compound I was in was an outside area very close to bushland. It reminded me of where I went to high school.

This outside area had been divided into certain sections by invisible walls or barriers that seemed to be arranged in circles and squares.

The entrances to these areas were blocked by guards. One would have to walk up several steps over something that reminded me of a nearby pipeline.

You could, at times, be standing right next to someone and they would be in a completely different section.

When I got here, SD was in one of these other areas that I had to navigate through.

Her experience started in a separate small room similar to one of our old classrooms.

After being reprimanded by the guards, she was then led down a hallway next to a grassy section to another room where she was electrocuted and tortured via sharp apparatus in which she would then black out and wake up back in the physical world.

She has multiple memories of being in this torture room, suggesting she has been here more than once.

We have identified a possible insertion point in SD’s childhood where we believe her consciousness may have been migrated “here” similar to how mine fell into my body, after she woke up with no memory around the age of 4.

She remembers waking up at her grandma’s house with no memory of any of her family.

SD suggested that the only family member she even vaguely recognized in the slightest was her brother.

These memories didn’t return for some time; she had to live with an “unknown” family for almost a year, and pretend she knew them.

To me, this is proof that pre-birth templates are being bypassed in certain cases.

I would suggest these cases relate to the level of lucid control one is able to exhibit whilst in the dream state.

It is my opinion that if you get good at LD, you no longer get a template but are just flicked into another already established body upon death anywhere in the MWI.

Good theory and makes sense. This should also be investigated further. -MM

Question for the Domain Commander: do they know of any correlation between Lucid Dreamer’s an bypassing of the prebirth template arrangement upon death?

I will ask. -MM

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Singular Assignments:

These assignments were only experienced by myself, but are relevant to this document.

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The Consciousness Doping Facility:

The assignment task was to gather intelligence on a consciousness doping agent and what it was being used for.

It was carried out around 2005.

The infiltration team consisted of myself and two other males.

We were all in our late 30s/early 40s.

I am not sure if this was entirely a non physical event or not.

It is a possible memory of a past life lived during 1970s era based on the appearance of the other two team mates and weapons/ technology carried by us.

This was a “special forces” military operation and one of my first lucid assignments when I was still in high school around the age of 15/16.

The consciousness doping facility was located deep in the middle of a harsh desert reminiscent of Southern USA.

It was a military compound that was heavily guarded by armed soldiers.

It very well could have been Nevada, from what I have seen of it on the internet etc.

I remember I could feel the intense heat radiating from the sun.

The only way in was via a supply train track that cut through the desert for many, many miles.

The memory begins several kilometers away from the compound, far enough out to keep a low profile.

We had evidently followed the train track from the opposite direction, now we were stopping to discuss “the plan”.

Intelligence suggested a doping agent was being used here, but that is all we knew.

The plan was that one of us would fake a capture while the other two used the commotion caused by the capture to gain entry covertly.

We knew there was a high probability anyone being captured would be taken into the compound and administered with the drug we were trying to gain information on.

The idea was to get doped and try to keep tabs on what one could expect to experience whilst under the influence of it, as the other two figured out a way to exfiltrate out of the compound.

I volunteered for the doping.

The train came and all three of us were able to board it as it had to slow down for a security check or something; my memory of this part is hazy as very soon after that I was captured and everything went black.

I came to in a small concrete room in the compound, strapped to a chair but yet still almost completely out of it courtesy of the drug.

In front of me was a large standard projector screen and next to me was a trolley full of metallic surgical looking tools; you get the idea. I don’t know if there was anyone in the room with me or not.

I think there was.

The next thing I know my team mates had busted through the locked door. One of them rummaged through all the cupboards and the tray of tools while the other unstrapped me.

They helped me to my feet and I think they must have put me on a gurney and wheeled me out.

Somehow we were able to escape.

My memory is hazy but I think they pretended I was dead and that they were part of the clean up crew.

I have a vague recollection of being debriefed afterwards by my handlers.

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The Super Soldier Program:

The assignment task was to gather intelligence on why an “enemy” faction was altering characteristics of non physical bodies. It was carried out around 2008 – 2009 by myself with my handlers monitoring the entire event using my eyes as “cameras”.

It took the form of a double layered lucid dream. In other words, a lucid dream within a lucid dream.

Luckily, I had thought to email myself a copy of my dream journal since losing my laptop. Note, that this was several months before my encounter with the All Being and the Unseen 5 and hints at my thoughts on all this at the point in time:

15/05/2016

This morning had a dream where I appeared to be sleeping (dream within a dream). I awoke (in the dream) to my body under going immense torture as something was electrocuting me. It was as if whoever it was that was doing the torture had stuck metal probes deep into my {pectoral} muscles and were administering the electricity directly into my blood stream. I remember the pain was so bad that it seemed so real, and I thought I had indeed awoken, as SD was lying next to me asleep in bed.

The electricity was coming in bouts of several minutes, and each time they stopped I remember falling back asleep (dream within a dream). When I was in this dream within a dream I remember talking to somebody about these apparent Super Soldiers that had been made, or were currently in development. I was told that what makes these soldiers so important is their ability to travel through time and that they had a very specific activation sequence that required several sequences of events to occur in a precise order {ie a sequence of MWI slides}.

The person telling me this likened these super soldiers to a send and receive email program (I think he was talking about the overall way these soldiers are activated) whereby a packet of information contains within it a sort of code specifically aimed at activating these beings, which they embed their activation status into the reply message. Once the original program receives this reply message, it scans it then activates a global code that sends all these soldiers to certain points in time simultaneously.

The most important part of these soldiers that makes them different to other time travelers/ chrononaughts is that they have been engineered so that when sent through time, no residual energy signature is erased from the timeline, making them untraceable.
I was told this has a lot to do with DNA and DNA memory, but somehow the engineers were able embed an external memory feature which makes the soldiers remember their tasks despite it no longer existing in the timeline (this is a major contradiction to time travel theory as it has been relayed to me, and as such what it means is that technically these super soldiers are not actually time travelers as they are not traveling through time, but more so circumnavigating it altogether.)

The person telling me this referred to these super soldiers as T1000s, Terminator reference. But I got the feeling they were a type of cyborg or trans-human.

I’m not entirely sure if this was “bad side” tech or “good side tech” and neither am I sure of the side the side that was electrocuting me, but I think the good guys were in the dream and the bad were doing the electrocuting, which would seem it’s possible the bad side were trying to pry this info from me.

If this is the case then it is possible such a mission has been compromised, but I don’t think this is the case as the torturing beings seemed to be getting angry that I wasn’t giving them desirable information.

What I think is that part of the activation sequence for these super soldiers is embedded in being tortured by the enemy, so that in order to keep secrecy from their own enemies they do not “know” anything until the faction in control of them triggers them, which is precisely when they are needed to time travel back to the beginning (like in my zombie dream).

It is even possible the good side, or whoever was telling me about the super soldiers, was purposefully electrocuting me because they knew it would activate me.

This dream reminded me of another one I had years ago here I was asleep (dream within a dream) on my parents bed and then had a wire wrapped around my neck which electrocuted me. I can recall having similar dreams over the years but I can’t recall much from them.

Is sleeping nothing more than a means of uploading information to 4^th dimensional beings? That would make our fleshy bodies nothing more than a 3d reality monitoring program. If so, what are we monitoring? Sleeping should be a meditation point. Also these super soldier beings seemed to not be some sort of cybernetic hybrid, but the 4^th dimensional equivalent. They essentially have parts of the time space fabric written into their DNA, but are a separate entity to it. This means they can always change their creation programming at will. Does this mean they are above the 4^th dimensional (5D) or not? Also needs meditating on.

I have also been “given” keys and phrases by my handlers specifically to initiate consciousness time travel whilst in an LD. Note the date, again this was a few months before my All Being/ Unseen 5 interaction:

21/05/2016

This morning I meditated (about 8:30 am) to open my chakras using the usual method of ROYGBIVW for Base, Naval, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat, Third Eye then Crown. After opening them I was given a very strong image of the Rune Othila at 12:30pm. I meditated on this Rune with A asleep next to me so that I would have projecting the Rune into the space that he was occupying. I remember feeling as though this Rune needed to be traced from the bottom left ending in the bottom right corner, and also realized that it is actually a 2D representation of the 3D way code is generated, ascending about 45 degrees at each angle. After keeping a consistent trace of about 2-3Hz I remember several numbers appearing below it that seemed like a code to unlock a safe. I am not sure exactly how many numbers there were, but I can remember the most vivid ones being 609, in red, within a square for each digit.

I started tracing Othila with these numbers at the bottom then the next thing I knew I was remote viewing from a DNA memory of long ago of a tribal woman in the midst of the forest with an orb dangling above and in front of her. She seemed to be somehow channeling power from this orb which appeared as lightning entering her hand, which she was holding up.

The next image I got was a flight of stone steps that appeared to be in the same forest. I remember thinking that the Othila rune must be used to stimulate memory or DNA memory in general, so on realizing this I asked if it could make me remember my time traveling key I was given years ago by a Tibetan monk {during meditation}, but threw out by accident. I was suddenly aware of another being I was talking to who was asking if my wife knew about this, to which I replied she didn’t. Randomly I was given another symbol which seemed to activate some portal/ stargate and then when I was not expecting it I was shown my time traveling key with a brief flash. At that moment SD came in to take photos of Aiden, and we could see a blob of energy on my side of the bed.

Consciousness Mazes:

Both SD and I have experienced the consciousness mazes multiple times, though hers have been from an outside perspective of it whilst mine were from within it.

I surmise they are solely for “entertainment purposes”.

They take the form of strange games or mini worlds one has to progress through to find a portal which takes them to the next level.

They are extremely confusing and often times have “cheat areas” that allow access to the next levels in other levels; you can progress through several levels only to run into a block whereby you have to revert to the lower levels and probe them for the hidden areas which allow access pass blocks at the higher levels.

Access to these hidden areas is gained by going against the commonly laid out “pathway”.

The catch is, every time you change a level, you lose all memory of what you are doing, and the crux of the game seems centered around trying to continuously regain this consciousness awareness that you are in this game and remembering the levels you have progressed through in order to find the hidden areas.

It seems that other “players” are collected as you progress through the levels.

I will start off alone in Level 1 and run into these players throughout the levels, then by level 4 there is a group of about 5-8 of us.

Of this group I know that they are all presently incarnated on earth and we have history in different “worlds” together; we all know each other in the non-physical planes and have been meeting in these games quite frequently.

I suspect these mazes are around 12 to 13 levels deep, but I have only ever made it to level 8.

According to SD there is no end to them.

The first couple of levels up to probably level 3 I have experienced numerous times in the exact same way.

There is an epiphany moment when you realize the correct way of navigating them.

After level 3, memory of the game becomes exceedingly difficult to regain to the point where the only way to progress is to work as a team and extract “clues” of the previous environments from each of the players.

In almost all instances, I am the one who initiates the first memory of prior levels which kick starts off others memories and from this we can develop a plan of how to tackle the current level.

The game itself is psychologically taxing; by level 4 cracks start to develop in the psychological disposition of the other players, and by level 6 people are proclaiming their inability to deal with it any longer and their willingness to just give up and go back to living in physical reality free from the memory of the games (think Cipher in the Matrix).

Another problem is that the players and their decisions affect progression through each level; it is as if a code is written into the way the scenario unfolds and only allowing it to unfold in the correct manner will unlock the portals.

The progression through each level for me is always the same.

I operate from a completely lucid perspective the whole time (upon regaining memory anyway).

The highest level I have reached is Level 8, whereby I have been convinced I am breaking my way out of a coma and that my real body is actually strapped to a chair somewhere in some kind of MK Ultra like torture chamber; I can almost see the room the chair is in – it appears to be the same room where I volunteered to be captured and doped.

Much of the training I underwent at the “Time Travel Towers” was specifically in preparation for these mind mazes; I have memory of completing that training and coming to this exact realization.

It is connected to the Portal Theater and my assignments in the other worlds, I am sure of it, though I cannot remember the specifics of this connection beyond level 1 starting at the Village.

I suspect what I am doing in these games is unraveling the brainwashing put in place at the Portal Theater.

The order of the levels, according to my memory of them, are as follows.

Level 1: Village Walkways

You start at the bottom of the building with the bituminous road next to it that goes to its roof.

There is a time limit.

I get the feeling something is chasing me and I have to be continuously on my toes. One has to try and figure out what is going on whilst constantly remaining vigilant about the environment and how to avoid the many traps and tricks lying about to ensnare them.

From my fragmented memory of the Ancient Marketplace, a similar thing is happening there.

If you get “caught” it is all over and you end up back in physical reality {possibly in a MWI slide}.

The goal of this game is hard to explain; it is like you have to progress through the glass walkways by projecting your consciousness into them, complete a circuit around the circumference of the village using these tunnels, before returning to the bottom start point.

This “opens up” a location that can be seen from one of the glass walkways that projects you into level 2.

Depending on where you move within the level, it completely changes the environment around you. If you consider the peak point of the bituminous road as pointing North, its valley pointing South, one must head off through the walkways heading East, then back around, in which they come back out at the roof of the building.

One must then follow the stairs down through the 3 or so building levels to reach the level above ground.

There is then a platform at the South East section of the building several meters away on a sort of embankment.

The only way to reach this platform is through projecting over it as it is not connected by a walkway.

This projection mechanism is one of the secrets to playing this whole game. It takes much training in learning how to use it properly, otherwise you just fall into the pink water that surrounds the area.

.

Level 2: Castle Room Pit

This is one of the smaller environments.

You come out in what appears to be a very grand hallway in a castle of some sort.

There are the typical stone bricks that line the walls and floor and other banners etc suggesting it is indeed a castle.

The room is quite large probably 100x1000m squared, maybe even more.

Behind you is a solid wall and the portal leading back to the Village.

In front of you is a chasm 10 or so meters deep, and filling this chasm is molten lava.

This chasm stretches from side wall to side wall and extends for more than half the room; the only method of crossing it is via consciousness projection.

From memory the key has something to do with the walls; there is a set of invisible platforms you have to project over and use as stepping stones to get to the other side.

On the other side of the pit is a door and through this door is a portal leading to level 3.

.

Level 3:

I cannot remember this level.

Level 4: River Embankment with Pods

We come out at a river mouth, at the waters edge.

Behind us the bank rises to a high wall that blocks any access back in that direction.

There is a small mud flap piece of ground that we are able to take shelter on.

The river extends out around us in every direction. On the bank in front of us there are several pod like things that are necessary to get to the other side of the river banks.

These pods must contain two people to operate.

The operational parameters are also linked via a hive mind arrangement; all players must be present in these pods in two man teams or they simply will not move.

By this stage, one of the men in the group is starting to lose it.

After being dragged through 3 levels of these consciousness mazes, being mind wiped and regaining his memory each time he decides it is simply too much for him.

He expresses his wishes to just give up and go back to physical reality.

This presents a problem to everyone else; we need his consciousness in one of the pods for them all to operate properly and get us across the river to the portal on the other side.

Some of the group try and tell him to calm down and help comfort him, telling him we just need to get to the other side of the river then we can think about his decision a little more.

It is evident they are all motivated by the need to cross the river, and that his psychological well being is the last thing they are concerned about.

Reluctantly he agrees and gets in one of the pods with one of the other group members.

The pods become operational and carry us to the other side, then we enter the portal to the Time Chamber.

.
Level 5: Time Chamber

This is a strange room.

It is like a metallic platform you stand on that is surrounded by some sort of water, possibly from the river.

It sort of feel likes it is an enclosed room more than an open area like the river embankment though.

Three beings materialize in front of us, several feet in the air and in front hovering above the water.

They are extremely malevolent entities and start engaging us, but we have no where to run.

From memory, the guy who started losing it in the previous level gets hit and wiped out from the game.

Something happens, my memory of which is vague, but I believe it involves us meeting these entities attacks with full force, and a portal opens up right where they had been after they dematerialise.

.

Level 6: Metallic Donut Room

This room is a circular hallway that has a single door leading into the middle of the donut, which is an outside area covered in grass probably 5m in diameter.

It is extremely small – if you ran around this hallway it would take you less than a minute to get back to the beginning.

It is cramped and can fit probably two people abreast rather uncomfortably.

There are guards clad fully in some kind of armor that reminds me of star wars storm troopers, but of a different color possibly grey or brown or something.

They have photon guns and they are chasing us around this hallway.

We are all unarmed and somehow have to stop these guards from shooting us.

Given the shape of the room and its size, it is practically impossible to strategize against these guards that outnumber us about 5 to one.

We try weaving in and out of the door into the center of the donut, not really with any plan in mind all to no avail.

One by one these guards shoot us with their photon guns, and one by one each of the group members disappear.

I make it to the donut center before being zapped. A portal appears and I pop out back at level 3

Everyone is mind wiped. I have the vaguest recollection of the various levels.

I begin comparing these broken memories with memories of the levels before.

Suddenly I remember we had just made it to level 8 and everything in between comes flooding back to me.

I relay this to the group and restore their memories, now they are just psychologically cut up as the first guy.

But now we are able to start taking notice of various things we weren’t able to the first time.

We find a cheat area which gains us access to level 4 once again, though I cannot remember anything about it.

Another mind wipe, another remembering process.

Another chance for the guy to start losing his shit and want to go back to the physical world.

The others try to stop him, again motivated by needing to get across the river.

This time I stop.

I show compassion for him.

I listen to his plea and just tell him to do what he needs to do and not to worry about us.

He heads back, feeling better that he doesn’t need to feel shamed about not making it or guilty he let the team down.

This is the second cheat access point – this time a portal opens up on our side of the river and we enter it, no longer needing the pods.

The portal brings us into a hidden room in one of the donut shaped hallway’s walls.

Lying at our feet are what appear to be a bunch of hand grenades and a button.

The button opens a temporal one way fissure in the wall and we can see the armored guards in the center courtyard on the grass through first the fissure and then the opened door, waiting for us to appear.

A portal appears, in the hallway and the past instance of ourselves appear.

Without thinking, I pick up a grenade and lob it at the guards who are now moving into tactical positions to take out our past selves.

As the grenade explodes time freezes all around the donut shaped room, except for the one we are hiding in.

We step through the fissure and are able to move around in the donut shaped room whilst everything remains frozen in place.

We take the guards guns and shoot them all.

This opens up yet another portal in this hidden room which gives us a vantage point into the time chamber of the previous level.

From this vantage point we are able to see the wraiths or entities or whatever they are waiting for us.

We are behind them.

We lob another time grenade through the portal which renders them inert, and makes another portal appear in the middle of the time chamber.

.

Level 7: Cavern Scaffolding

This is a very small cave with some sort of walkway that takes you from chamber to chamber via these steel doors.

Whenever you go through the steel doors something happens to disorientate your consciousness.

This is a fairly straight forward level.

You basically just walk the walk way through a few different chambers over some rocks to a waiting portal to level 8.

The problem is though, that heavy amnesia distortions begin hitting you every couple of minutes which detract most of the group from remembering what it is that they are doing.

I am barely coherent when I make it through the portal.

.

Level 8: Sex world

I don’t remember any of the group making it here.

The amnesiac drugs are in full effect and it is practically impossible to hang on to any kind sense of lucid awareness.

It’s like being dosed with a heavy general anesthetic after just downing a bottle of vodka.

I am not really with it, very impressionable, and this problem is compounded by the fact none of the group are around me to bounce the memories of the other levels off of.

This is not a pleasant place.

Sex acts are committed openly and on display for the public to see by people of all ages.

It is as normal as going to the shop to buy some milk.

It is practically all anyone does here.

It is incredibly seedy and fills one with a very nauseating feeling.

A post apocalyptic nightmare if ever there was one The portal brings you out on what should be a busy city street, but there is no traffic.

You have to walk down this street and into a building on the left hand side of the road. It reminds me of a derelict sort of broadway.

This building has a stairwell that you take to a high floor.

As you come out on this floor there are “things” going on in the background next to a door involving various people who inhabit this world.

The door is the goal, but as soon as you come off the stairs someone approaches you and propositions you.

I never made it past this point given my doped state.

Whoever it is does whatever they do to me and then I wake back up in physical reality, feeling like a piece of discarded trash – At least they seemed like they were my age.

They take the appearance of a female, but honestly I am not entirely sure that is really what they are.

I don’t even think they classify as being human.

These sorts of doped up run ins are common for me when on assignment. Ergh.

I’d prefer to be tortured any day. If the Domain have the ability to trace my astral seed, undoubtedly it would lead them to some key places.

I am sure that they can, but that might require a EBP and some further work on you. Your value is without a EBP. -MM

.

Auxiliary Projects.

In addition to the above I am aware of two separate projects that are tied in with both mine and SDs lucid assignments.

As I only have a vicarious understanding of them I am not at liberty to go into them in depth.

I am leaving this as a footnote as I am aware these auxiliary projects are directly tied to astral body manipulation for escaping the earth prison in case I am given permission to talk about them in the future.

What I will say is that one of the projects is related to Antarctica and the other to 13 gates or “keys”.

Any information the Domain can supply on these projects I will happily pass on to their respective operators.

I will submit another document to MM outlining what I believe to be an effective utilization of LD assets at a later date.

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 11 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Full reprint of the book titled “Domain Expeditionary Force Rescue Mission”

This is the full reprint of the book titled “Domain Expeditionary Force Rescue Mission”. There is an interesting story behind this book. It is considered a science fiction story, while the first book “Alien Interview” is not. I do not know what to think. However, it is really easy to discount the idea that there is a follow up book whenever the first book became popular. There is that “for profit motive” don’t you know.

Thus we have this write up;

A Science Fiction story based on the best selling book ALIEN INTERVIEW. 

"There are several obvious reasons that The Domain, and other space civilizations do not land on Earth or make their presence known. It takes a very brave IS-BE to come down through the atmosphere and land on Earth, because it is a prison planet, with a very uncontrolled, psychotic population. And, no IS-BE is entirely proof against the risk of entrapment, as with the members of The Domain Expeditionary Force who were captured in the Himalayas 8,200 years ago." 

-- excerpt from the book ALIEN INTERVIEW, edited by Lawrence R. Spencer

MM comments

I parsed the book “Alien Interview” and found it valid, real and actual. I then parsed it in great detail, and in so doing, found many answers that “clicked” or aligned with prior events, knowledge, and experiences that I have had. There is no question that the first book “Alien Interview” is valid.

I do not know about the second book.

When I read the opinions of others, I find myself questioning everything. Such as this book review here…

Fiction or Valid Disclosure?

This is true. The first book; "Alien Interview" is the narrative of the transcribing nurse that was involved in the interview of the acquired Commander of a downed extraterrestrial spacecraft. It includes her narrative, and the full transcript of the interview. According tot he first book, she is dead. So, what is the source information for the second book?

-MM

In this book, Spencer puts his name on the cover as “by Lawrence R. Spencer” which leaves it open to suspect. There is an email address inside the book that Mr. Spencer claims the documents have come from. I wrote to this email address in the book on several occasions and received no reply. I did not receive an undelivered email notification so I assume someone got it. I am sure I am not the only person to write to the mysterious email address shown in the book.
.
This opens the book up to great controversy and it has been put down by various reviewers on the internet, claiming that the author, Lawrence Spencer, wrote this book and its prequel “Alien Interview” as a kind of religious agenda, or rather, “anti-religious” agenda.

However, instead of the transcription style of the first book, this book comes together as a take-a-long manual for someone in the process of trying to get their pre-earth memory back.
.
I was met with some very violent reactions from certain people when I tried to talk about this book and the original book, “Alien Interview”. It appears that the material appears so far fetched that it strikes anything from fear to ridicule in others who do not have any courage to stretch beyond their own belief system and self imposed science or religious paradigms.
.
For anyone who wants to stretch their consciousness outside the limited box-thinking paradigm of our present reality, and for anyone who has had some kind of ET experience, whether it be abduction, observation, or for anyone who is wanting to learn something amazing of a possible pre-earth existence, this is a great eye opening book.
.
I suggest the “Alien Interview” book be read first in order to keep this book in its rightful context.

The files

A MM contributor took the time to photograph the entire contents of the book and send it for me to read. These photos are below for your enjoyment.

I have read the total book in this format, and here are my impressions…

MM Comments after reading the book

Let me repeat what the book says…

This book is in no way factual.  Nor is it intended to represent any factual information. This book is a contrivance of the imagination of the author.  This book is a work of fiction only. It is not to be interpreted otherwise by the reader.

MM readership take note. This is a fiction. Nothing more.

Do you want more?

I have more articles in my Index titled “The Domain” here…

The Domain

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

[daegonmagus] – Part 9 – Lucid Dreaming Lesson 2: Explanation of the Various Stages of Sleep

The following is the ninth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

This particular article is not part of the direct set of articles that are autobiographical in scope and content.

Instead, this article concerns a lesson on how to conduct “Lucid Dreaming” (as a prelude to “Astral Travel”).

Part 9 – Lucid Dreaming Lesson 2: Explanation of the Various Stages of Sleep

In the first lesson we learnt about the three meditations necessary in order to prepare one mentally for entering the dreaming domain. These meditations focused on negating thought, stilling the mind, and the categorisation of thought upon the reception of higher order information that may come through during a lucid dreaming session. This next lesson will build upon those meditations and deal with some strange concepts but it is necessary for the student to grasp as solid an understanding as possible of them.

Consider this like reading a map before going on a journey. If you don’t read the map before hand, you are likely to become lost along the way. But just like you can never really comprehend the totality of terrain layout on the map, you can never really comprehend the terrain of the lucid world, despite how much preparation you put into it. You can prepare for your journey all you want, but you will never know when that tyre is suddenly going to catch a flat. Would you rather have had the forethought to include a wrench or find yourself stuck up shit creek without a paddle? It could go smoothly, or it could go badly depending on how much practicing of the three meditations you have undertaken.

So, by now, you should be getting good with your visualisation practices. You should be able to go into your mind and get “lost” in the movie you find yourself playing of the oranges and bananas. You should be able to “daydream” this movie out for a good few seconds and have perfect definition of it in your mind’s eye. And you should be able to have this amount of clarity with whatever scenario you wish. If not, then keep practicing.

Now, consciousness follows a fairly standard pathway as it enters the dreaming state. This pathway, according to my experiences, is generally as follows:

1. The body shuts down and goes into a stasis state
2. Consciousness “inverts” and travels back in towards the pineal gland
3. The frequency of one’s consciousness reduces by about an octave (1 half), as it undergoes
the transition into the sleeping state and completely disengages form the physical body.
4. One now exists as a pure conscious thought form; perception switches from 3D
based physical objects to 4D based energy signatures and images. You literally “see” what is in your sub consciousness.
5. Images stored within the subconsciousness are “attached” to consciousness and a new
holographic 3.5D environment forms around it
6. The dream ends. Physical reality is overlaid on top of the holographic dream at a rate of
around 0.5Hz, until consciousness locks back into the body, in which physical reality
solidifies.

Most Lucid dreaming techniques – well those I have come across, anyway – are geared toward becoming consciously aware during the dream state after sub conscious imagery has already had some say in how the dream will be formed. This is known as Dream Induced Lucid Dreaming (DILD), and is considered the best method for beginners to practice lucid dreaming. With the DILD method, you are unconscious until number 5, where you regain limited control of the dream upon becoming lucid. As the subconscious distortions have been the dominant means for the holographic dream environment to materialise by, this environment will become “anchored” in and quite hard to change through visualisation. You can usually only change certain things within the environment, but never the environment itself.

My goal, however, is to keep you conscious through the whole transition period into the void space so you can “clear” out these sub conscious distortions and replace them with your own visualisations. This is more along the lines of what is known as Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming (WILD). This is recommended for those who are more skilled at LD, as it takes a degree of dedication to be able to carry out a WILD session effectively. Though I have come across many speaking of this method of inducing lucid dreams, I am yet to come across anyone talking on the importance of regaining control of the void space and clearing out the distractions present within it to create a stable dreamscape. Thus one may consider my techniques an extremely advanced version of the WILD technique. There is a degree of mental discipline that must first be reached before one can expect results. We will build upon these concepts in later lessons.

Given this mud map of what we can expect consciousness to do, we can break it further down into the phases it passes through as it makes its way into the dream state. In doing this we can start to gain an idea of what to expect so we can better prepare ourselves as we move through each phase. One should be aware though, that these phases vary quite significantly from one to another, and there will be some adjustment of comfortability as one progresses through each one.

This is where I tell you to hold on to your hats, because the things experienced in this domain are unlike anything you will ever experience in waking reality. Also, it should be born in mind that astral projection can be achieved from more than one of these phases, though the success of the projection will also vary depending on which phase. The phases, in order one can expect to experience them , are:

Relaxation Level 3/ Theta State
Sleep Paralysis/ Hypnagogic Phase
Consciousness Inversion/ Transition Phase
Detachment phase
Void space phase
Dream creation Phase
Non physical travel phase (if desired)
Auric projection (extremely advanced practice, aided by non physical entities when one is ready; this is where your 4D lucid train ride terminates in 5D reality)

When you close your eyes at bed time you have two potential pathways you can take into never never land. You can either succumb to fatigue and go through the phases unconsciously, in which case your best bet would be a DILD, or you can remain conscious and enter into either Theta State, Sleep Paralysis or straight into the Void Space. Astral projection can take place in all three of these phases, though I have found personally that it is best achieved whilst in Theta State.

Theta State and Astral Projection:

Theta state is not always necessary for lucid dreaming. You can actually bypass it all together quite easily and still have a WILD. If astral projection is a goal, however, then entering Theta state is probably the best place to initiate such and OBE. When working with the Monroe Institute’s techniques for inducing Astral Projection, they mention that one must first enter this state of what they call level 3 relaxation.

So what is it? I want you to think of diving into the comfiest bed you have ever been in. You’ve got fluffy pillows all around you, a big brand new duck down doona covering you and best of all it is a King Size bed that you’ve got all to yourself. You can lie here naked completely by yourself and just spread out as much as you want without an annoying spouse taking up half of your chilling room. Or even worse – kids. Imagine just being absorbed into the bed and its linen. That feeling of pure bliss that makes you feel all warm inside just knowing you are going to get a good nights sleep. Well, that is relaxation level 2. To get to relaxation level 3, you need to go deeper than that.

How do you do this if you are completely relaxed? Well, you aren’t really as relaxed as you think you are. All the muscles you are lying on currently hold some amount of tension in them as they hold your body up. When you get comfy you don’t really notice this tension, but it is there, I guarantee you. To get to Theta State, you have to relieve this tension, but at the same time keep yourself awake whilst doing so. The trick is to take slow, deep breaths and “feel” that tension leave you on your long exhales. Personally for me it takes about half an hour to an hour to properly get into this state, sometimes even longer. Sometimes I will enter this state briefly then go straight into sleep paralysis or the void space without even getting a chance to astral project. It all depends on your fatigue levels.

Once you get to this state, your body will begin to feel light. There might be a high pitched tinnitus like sound in your head. For me it sounds like when you open a soda bottle and hold your ear right up to it and can hear all those small bubbles popping and “grinding” together. If you want to properly astral project, you have to focus on this sound and nothing else. You cannot allow your mind to get distracted following the wandering thoughts that will appear; these will carry you into an unconscious sleep state. They will appear as strong thoughts which catch your attention and then quickly diminish into incoherent unconsciousness as the trail of thought becomes harder to remember. Again slow, deep breathing helps. You focus on the sound and try to “listen” to your breaths whenever your mind starts wandering.

Your fingers act like antennas that can pick up subtle energies around you. Try to listen to them if you can. Try and pull these energies from the atmosphere and push them from your head to your toes and back again. There is also the possibility of seeing pulsating waves of energy through your vision, or of feeling a vast space out in front of you. I have had a lot of moments where it feels like gravity is distorting around me, like I am spinning on a giant wheel and the centrifugal force pinning to me to the bed keeps changing directions. Personally I have found it too be quite therapeutic just lying in it and taking it in. These may lead to some excited emotions, but it is important to keep that excitement at bay, or it will ruin the projection.

If all goes well the soda bubble noise should get more and more intense until you feel something happen. This something is hard to describe but it is a very prominent feeling that you are “coming” out of your body. The process can be aided by visualising standing at the end of your bed or rolling out of your body, but personally I have found it easier to just keep focusing on the soda bubble noise. Eventually you should hear a loud pop and your astral body will just float out of the physical.

The experience will be surreal. It will be extraordinary, and exhilarating, and it will feel absolutely definitely 100% real – until you wake up, in which it will feel like it was just a dream. But there will be time to take it all in later. The first thing that one should worry about is putting some distance between their astral body and their physical one. The reason is that the physical body acts like a magnet and will snap the astral body back into it if it stays too close for too long. Aim for a couple of rooms distance, and remember that just thinking of a place will take you to it; to get back to the physical body one just thinks about it and they automatically appear back there. Surprisingly, navigation seems to come quite naturally and easily during astral projection. Well, it did for me anyway.

Now that we have got astral projection out of the way, we can get into effective Lucid Dreaming concepts and practices, where navigation is much, much more difficult to control. In future articles we will go into techniques I use to control the dreamscape, but for now let’s start with your awareness of the physical plane:

Projection of Consciousness During the Transition.

Your consciousness projects out from your eyes in a sort of hemispherical fashion until it hits the horizon. This is the only way you can consciously perceive anything whilst you are awake. Thus this projection is uni directional; it cannot go any other way (not with your eyes open any way). What happens is that you project your consciousness out through the eyes and then the light entering into your eyes from the boundaries of this projection your brain picks up and processes as reality. My experiences suggest that consciousness projection during astral projection follows a similar pathway; out in front of you to an object separated by “astral space”. You perceive the non physical environment around you like you perceive the physical world whilst you are awake.

Conscious perception in the dream state, however, is completely different to conscious perception in both the physical and astral planes. It is omni directional; it has more than one way to go than just out the eyes towards a horizon. It can go both inwardly and outwardly, but for arguments sake we will say it can both contract and expand. When you are awake, and consciously observing something, your consciousness is effectively “locked” into a state of infinite, inward projection/ contraction and is never allowed a chance to expand. It is like squeezing a stress ball then freezing it so the fibres never have a chance to return back to their spherical state. They remain locked to the curvature impression of your fingers. Consciousness is not really going “outward” – sure its going out of the eyes – but more so “inward” to a more dense state. This is a confusing concept and may seem counterintuitive, so I suggest meditating on it to get your head around it. Think of it like the science experiment where you suck all the air out of a soda can and the tin crinkles into a ball. You just don’t realise this because of the block put in place by your physical brain.

When you enter the sleep state, your consciousness expands back “outwardly” to its original, spherical state. It inverts and goes back through the eyes in towards the pineal gland; you can actually feel this during a conscious transition into the sleeping state. You can feel the moment consciousness stops trying to condense and changes direction to expansion. It is a fucking incredible experience and better than any sex or drug that you will ever come across.

Consciousness can therefore be thought of as a sphere that has two extremes of possibility; maximum compression and maximum expansion. If we consider the edges of the universe to be maximum expansion, and an atom to be maximum compression, this becomes our 4^th dimensional range of travel potential for our consciousness when disconnected from our body. It is a bit more complicated than that, but for now this concept will do. What happens during the transition into the sleep state is that your consciousness “inverts” right at the transition point. It goes from a locked inward projection to a moving outward projection.
This is important to learn because it becomes the fundamental aspect behind how you travel in and out of different planes of different densities.

From what I have experienced, physical universes are sort of “stacked” inside one another separated by a 4^th dimensional distance of consciousness “space”. Picture the atom existing in the middle of an entire universe; the atom is solid, yet it exists in a sphere of empty space. If you expand your consciousness outwardly to the edges of that space, you become yet another atom existing in yet another vast, spherical space and on ad infinitum.

This is what is meant by “as above, as below”, or “micro and macrocosm”. Consciousness is mercurial in the sense that it can slip through this 4^th dimensional space between physical and non physical worlds like water through a crack simply by compressing and expanding. No matter which way you go, you eventually arrive back at the same point, just like if you head in one direction on the earth. To properly master lucid dreaming, you have to learn to become “slippery” when the time calls for it, and “solid” when it doesn’t. Astral travel is thus simply just your consciousness slipping back into the plane of your astral body. It is merely a station along the many that can be taken by the train that is lucid dreaming.

Lucid dreaming is therefore a completely different thing and should not be confused with astral projection. It is an existence of pure consciousness detached from any type of body, but it allows the potential to “jump” into those bodies like you are putting on a suit. It allows the potential of astral projection as well as many other things. Visualisation allows one to choose the suit they wish to put on. The void space is akin to your wardrobe space, and each plane of “reality” is like a suit hanging up within that wardrobe. Most people believe this physical reality is the only suit they can wear. They never get the option of choice.

However if you learn how to control the mercurial state of consciousness whilst in the void space – ie, solidify yourself as you slide through the 4D consciousness space – you can wear whichever suit you damn well please. Well, within reason. It is entirely possible to move out of the physical body, slip into another physical/nonphysical one and live out that experience just like you would in this physical world, before slipping out of it and back into your physical body. I have done this many times before, often times for weeks on end in the span of single earth nights. Some of these other worlds I have visited have also been corroborated by other lucid dreamers. This poses the question of what these bodies are really doing when you are in them utilising an unconscious state of awareness. So where do we draw the line when it comes to reality if you can be aware of all these places but not actively engaged in them?

Therefore, there is a degree of “psychological hardening” one must come into before undertaking these sorts of journeys. You have to be able to adapt to the many different environments you may find yourself in. And boy there are many, with many weird, indescribable things going on. My advice is that you always remember to focus on the ”absolute now” and not try and dwell too much on other places. By all means record them and think of them objectively, but try not to get too hung up on what is going on “over there”. If you think our world is depressing and hard to deal with, there are many that are much worse in the non physical planes. You need to learn to cope with what you experience without dwelling on it, or it’ll drive you insane.

But none of this can be consciously witnessed if one does not first learn to control their void space. And to control the void space one must enter into it through a conscious transition into the dream state – ie a WILD. This can be done in one of two ways; by direct access, or via Sleep Paralysis. Sleep Paralysis seems to be the easiest way to get into the void space. Unfortunately, it is also the most unpleasant.

The Sleep Paralysis Phase:

Let’s pick up where we left off from in the first lesson in regards to lying still where the arms and legs start to become numb. I mentioned this is the stage immediately preceding sleep paralysis. If you continue through this numbness without moving or initiating an OBE, eventually your whole body will become completely paralysed and you will not be able to move. What this feels like is that gravity has been turned up by about a few billion and you just can’t move anything no matter how hard you try. Except for the eyes. You might notice they move too easily about and that it takes some effort to get them to stay in a particular place.

Contrary to most belief, you can actually be completely aware of your surroundings as if you were completely awake when in Sleep Paralysis. I have had many instances where I have woken up, looked around and thought I was good enough to get out of bed, only to accidentally pull my astral body out due to me still being in sleep paralysis. This is the key to astral projection whilst in this state; you have to try and roll or pull yourself out, but the paralysis makes it extremely difficult to do. Awareness of one’s surroundings is, therefore, not a good indicator of whether or not one is in SP. It should also be understood that there is a very fine, and often times blurry, line regarding when one actually enters Sleep Paralysis. Often that blur can cross over from the Theta State; one minute you are relaxed and the next something very strange seems to be going on. Generally, Sleep Paralysis induced in the morning after a night full of sleep will be easier to deal with than one induced upon going to sleep

Now I need to mention here that the sleep paralysis stage is not particularly pleasant. To be brutally honest, it’s probably one of the most terrifying things you will ever experience, and this is coming from someone who was almost executed at knife point. It will feel like your soul is being pulled in every direction at once. Your voice will be choked to a faint cry no matter how hard you try to yell. You will hear the most chthonic noises imaginable – unlike anything you have ever heard before – and get the most unsettling feelings that make the hairs stand on the back of your neck. It is also not uncommon to see strange beings of various sorts ranging from “demons” to “aliens” standing at the bed. Random scenarios will play out in your head suggesting your impending doom, and voices will whisper things to you that will make you think you are crazy. I have had instances where I was absolutely sure someone had broken into the house and was seconds away from killing me and my family in my sleep. I have had another instance where death materialised around me and hit me with its scythe. Aliens, demons, the whole shebang there to come and eat my soul for breakfast. If you are lucky you will hear the most perfect music you have ever heard, but this only ever seems to be after you have become well acquainted with the Sleep Paralysis stage.

All I can tell you is that if you are big on horror movies and haven’t been putting in your visualisation hours, you are going to have a really fucking wild ride. Visualising unicorns farting rainbows is going to do absolutely nothing for you at this point. But despite this, you must always remember IT IS ALL A LOAD OF BULLSHIT. A wall of illusions put in place to make you really not want to go through with detaching your consciousness from your physical body. It’s like seeing one of those horror movies for the first time as a kid – it is important you take a step back and realise none of it is going to hurt you. It isn’t real. You have to learn to just “relax” and let it play the fuck out around you. This is easier said than done, and I get that not everyone will be able to do it. Hell, it even still gets the best of me at times and I have to exit the session, and I have been doing this for 23 years. So don’t feel bad if you can’t bring yourself to go through with it.

The way to exit a session in this manner is that you shake your head from side to side, like you are saying no. It will be hard because of the paralysis, but you only need 2 shakes and you’ll be fully awake. This is your get out of hell card, use it if you need to.

If you do learn to relax, however, you will gain access to the most powerful part of the human mind that is directly connected to all other consciousnesses in existence; the void space. This is where the fun and magic really begins. This is where you really earn your “wings”.

The Transition Into Void Space:

If you are successful in relaxing properly whilst under sleep paralysis, then the illusion should just all of a sudden fall away from around you. All the chaos around, including those terrifying thoughts just completely leave you. It will be then that you will feel your consciousness invert as it makes the transition into the sleep state. It’s like Han Solo hitting that hyperdrive button on the millennium falcon; you go through a tunnel of….well, I can’t really describe it – blurry 4^th dimensional “shit”. This will be very brief and over in a couple of seconds, and on the other side of it you will feel your consciousness completely detach from the physical body in a completely different way to when it does via astral projection.

You then enter into the void space. It sort of feels like diving into an ocean of pure “bliss”. If you thought astral projection was exciting, this is the most exhilarating feeling you will ever experience, hands down, period, full stop. It is like this weight that you never knew was there has suddenly been lifted and you can finally “stretch out” in ways you never could have even imagined before. You are uncaged. Godlike. It feels like you are left falling into an infinite hole, which is where I assume one really is when having a classic “falling dream”. Although it can be unsettling at first, when you get good, it can provide an effective means of relaxation. I used to enter here and just “kick back” and wallow in the falling sensation for hours. It is the ultimate sensory deprivation tank.

If you made it this far then congratulations, as you are now existing as a pure conscious thought form where the hassle of mundanities such as money and debt are going to be the furthest from your mind. Physical reality is no where to be seen, though you still have 100% awareness of it down to every minute detail.

After making a conscious transition into the void space, you no longer see 3D objects out to a physical horizon. You see pure archetypal energy forms that combine with whatever is in your subconsciousness from a 4^th dimensional perspective. These images take the form of distortions that differ in intensity depending on how “deep” you enter it. Think of it like a bubble. At the edge of this bubble the distortions are at their most extreme, but towards the middle you are insulated by a level of consciousness space.

This consciousness space I have somewhat mapped to being 12 layers deep, based on my difficulty in vanquishing the distortions using my own visualization practices. Though, this should be thought of as an analogue gauge rather than actual physically separated layers. The depth you penetrate into this void space seems to be determined by the velocity of your consciousness at the transition point into the sleeping state. This velocity is a product of fatigue of the mind during this transition. If you are too fatigued, your velocity penetrates too deeply into the bubble and you hit the edge. You become swarmed by these distortions which more often than not, leads to a random dream. This is why most people do not realise they are dreaming, in my opinion.

Without conscious awareness and strong visualisation, these distortions become very hard to vanquish, even when one is aware of them. If you penetrate at a lower velocity, you are more likely to reach the centre of the bubble. This is where the distortions are at their lowest. So you could say level 0 = waking reality, whilst level 12 = complete distortion/ unconscious dream. If you can remain conscious and make it into this part of the void space, you can create your own reality suit through the use of visualisation, which you then just hop into. The reality then just appears around you. It is equivalent to the white room in the matrix where a rack of guns appear out of nowhere before Neo. The void space is thus the “load out” screen your consciousness enters into before you load out this physical reality. It is the very first point one enters into in the dreaming state, but most people are too fatigued to realise, and pass through to it’s distortion maxima – level 12 or what I call the “basement”. Thus they become engulfed in their own subconsciousness hypnotism.

If you do manage to a) consciously enter the void space, and b) vanquish the sub conscious distortions, however, you then have an opportunity to witness this dream creation as it takes place.

Dream Creation Phase:

After accessing the void space, you then have the ability to imagine up your own dream environments. We will go into an effective process for doing so later on, but for now one should understand that this is where the idea of being a “slippery” or “solidified” consciousness comes into play. When in the void space you are formless and slippery – 4^th dimensional in nature, or as MM would say in wave form – but after you create a dreamscape and move into it you become more “solidified”, or particle like. You create the 3.5D holographic dream environment and become a 3.5D entity within it. I say 3.5D because it is somewhere where between like our physical 3D reality and the 4D of consciousness space. When the dream has been created via conscious implantation of thought rather than sub conscious implantation, it becomes much easier to control. Travel is undertaken when dream creation has been mastered.

The Waking up Phase:

Provided your lucid dream goes all well, you might be lucky enough to witness the transition back into the physical plane. What seems to happen – well, what I have witnessed anyway – is that the physical reality is sort of overlayed as a very faint image over the holographic dream in a wavy like manner. This wave is about 0.5Hz; very, very slow and noticeable. With each back and forth movement of the wave, the physical reality overlay gets more vivid whilst the dream starts to become faint. After 10 – 20 seconds, physical reality has completely replaced the dream and becomes “locked” into place. Words cannot express how depressed one feels upon the realisation they are once again trapped in such a sate. It should be cautioned here, that lucid dreaming is extremely addictive.

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 10 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

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[daegonmagus] – Part 8 – Lucid Dreaming Lesson 1: The Lucid Void Space and The Three Meditations

The following is the eighth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

This particular article is not part of the direct set of articles that are autobiographical in scope and content.

Instead, this article concerns a lesson on how to conduct “Lucid Dreaming” (as a prelude to “Astral Travel”).

Part 8 – Lucid Dreaming Lesson 1: The Lucid Void Space and The Three Meditations

This is part of series of articles in lucid dreaming based off my own experiences and experiments in that area.

What I am attempting to externalise here is something that cannot be described accurately with words, as they need to be experienced to properly understand them.

So others involved in lucid dreaming might have different interpretations. These articles will eventually become the curriculum for my Ordo Occultum Astrum.

It is my goal to provide a proper curriculum for not just lucid dreaming, but strengthening the psyche to better deal with everything one may be exposed to in the dream state.

These articles where part of the task given to me by the leader of the Unseen 5 in which I was to provide the framework to allow others to tap into the power that lucid dreaming can offer.

I don’t want anything in return except for them to be studied from an objective perspective and developed further as I believe humanity can greatly benefit from them.

I would be grateful if you document your experiences and tell me about them, but it is in no way an obligation.

So what is lucid dreaming anyway?

If you are part of any lucid dreaming/ astral projection communities, the “experts” may tell you it is simply the ability to become conscious when you are dreaming.

And that’s about it.

They might tell you can do some cool things like fly around, but in a general sense they don’t seem to offer anything that would seem appealing to those who are not into the subject of the metaphysical.

Depending on which groups you are part of you might be lucky enough to get some tips and tricks on how to trick your mind into realising it is sleeping.

These techniques consist of reality checks and other thought disciplines that will apparently embed your sub consciousness with certain things to make it become conscious during a dream.

While I am not saying that these techniques are complete bullshit, I am going to tell you I am yet to come across anyone on any of these groups speaking of lucid dreaming at a level anywhere near what I know about and have been experimenting with for the past 2 decades.

What I know about lucid dreaming should make the whole world sit up straight, turn their heads and PAY SOME FUCKING ATTENTION.

Anyone who has been following this blog so far knows that I have made some pretty far out claims in regards to what can be achieved whilst lucid. You will inevitably stumble across experts with a lot to tell you on the subject for some sort of recompense.

I am not saying these people are wrong in their assertions or fraudsters out to make a quick buck.

After all, everyone needs to earn a living right? Some of them may actually be beneficial aids to supplement what I have to say.

I honestly don’t have the time or resources to go through them all and tell you what is bullshit and what isn’t.

All I can offer is my own two cents, and my two cents is that lucid dreaming is much, much, MUCH more than just realizing you are dreaming.

Sure this is one aspect of it, but I would relegate such a skill down towards the novice end of the spectrum.

Even if you could consistently “wake yourself up” in the dream state into this knowing, if that is all you could do you would still be missing out on A LOT of what lucid dreaming has to offer.

It is my firm belief that lucid dreaming is the very solution to humanity’s existential crisis.

It is my belief that it is our very evolution point, but unfortunately that this evolution will also take a collective effort. So consider this my part in that effort.

It is far more exciting, in my opinion, to remain conscious whilst undergoing the transition into the sleeping state.

This way you have much better control of dream creation and have access to one of the most important aspects of the mind; what Carl Jung (also a lucid dreamer) called the collective unconscious and what I call the “void space”.

I will state this plainly; all lucid dreaming activities should be carried out with the goal to access and control this void space as much as possible. I cannot over emphasize this.

Why?

Well, according to my experiments, experiences and what was told to me by the leader of the Unseen 5 this void space is directly connected to every consciousness in existence {presided over by the “god consciousness” of the divine creator} and it is being hijacked by non physical entities to keep you “dumb”. I am not meaning to be derogative here.

What I mean is that the average person cannot effectively access their void space and control it because the power it would afford them is too great in the eyes of these non physical hijackers.

This power is a reconnection to what is known as the higher self. And no I am not throwing that term out loosely to woo you with new age speak.

Neither am I implying some sort of epiphany one comes to after spending a few hours meditating on a beach somewhere after doing a bit of yoga.

It is an actual state of awareness far, far, FAR above what you use on a regular basis that can be reached through the art of lucid dreaming. It also takes years of discipline to get there.

Just how powerful is this higher state of awareness I hear you ask?

Well, if you could combine the processing power of every single entity on earth and have them focus on one goal, you would be getting close…..to about 0.000000001 percent of what the higher self is capable of.

For the sake of simplicity, consider it the normal mode of operation for the mind of an advanced ET species.

The same type that know how to build intergalactic space craft capable of bending space time type of advanced.

Excited yet? Good, lets get back to the void space.

I mentioned that the void space is an important part of the consciousness makeup. You can use it to not only create your own dreams, but also to hijack others dreams and tune into telepathic thought processes with seemingly no limit to distance, if my experiences are anything to by.

It is the communication highway of all physical and non physical entities that extend into the 5^th dimension.

Think of it like a google translator app that can automatically translate the dialect of non Earth language speaking ETs.

This and much, much more.

It is my intention to supply you with everything I know on accessing and controlling this void space to allow for the communication of “higher” information to trickle down into this dense physical plane.

This was what my task within the Unseen 5 ultimately boils down to, and is what I believe will result in a proper “evolution of human consciousness”.

So you can say I am taking these articles quite seriously. And you get it all for the super low price of absolutely free.

My authority in this subject comes from the fact that I was ordained as master of lucid dreaming by the Elder Guardians – who I assume were the Ascended Masters.

Take it or leave it, I really don’t care.

But understand that I am apparently one of less than a dozen others currently alive on earth that hold such a level of understanding of what is really achievable whilst in this void space. I developed my abilities to the point that two separate non physical “factions” were able to communicate to me because of it. And they both want me to tell you about it.

I can tell you I have communicated with other non-physical and “dead” entities using it.

I have also used it to remote view through the eyes of an ET entity in a completely different star system to ours. I have used it to “tune” into a conversation with non physical entities and to heal a catastrophic injury to my hand.

You get the picture yet?

All the things you read on psychics, clairvoyants, remote viewers and scryers and the things they are able to do can be traced back to this void space and its ability to act as an ultra dimensional information receiver.

They just figured out how to “bleed” that information into the physical world, even though most of them probably won’t be able to tell you how. I can describe the whole process to you.

If you will allow me.

Undoubtedly most will call it all bullshit, but how many I wonder will commit themselves to my meditation regime before doing so?

But tapping into all this is further along the spectrum toward the more advanced end. Just like you cannot expect to be able to play a full concerto at your very first piano lesson, one cannot expect to control their void space upon its first access.

Make no doubt about it, this is some very advanced stuff; you need to be intent in the idea it will take you a long time before you get to this level of control. If you think this way, it will actually take a lot less time.

This is something I figured out when learning how to play bass back when I was 13 years old.

A lot of it is trial and error. So I am going to take this in baby steps. I am going to build you up bit by bit so your efforts in lucid dreaming may not be wasted when you finally get there.

I am going to teach you how to master the dream state through the awakened one.

Before we begin I feel we must go through the usual disclaimer. There are obviously dangers inherent in lucid dreaming.

My experiences are suggestive of this, as are the words of the Domain Commander on the subject.

I am not going to tell you it is perfectly safe.

What I am going to say is that I wasn’t in a particular good frame of mind when I met these dangers. This is important because your thoughts and emotions during lucidity have a direct bearing on what you will experience.

You will need to learn to control both if you want penetrate through the dream barrier into other non physical realms.

As you will come to learn, your thoughts and emotions will be the very controller by which you navigate the dream world. If you are too focused on all the shit Hollywood pumps out in the form of “entertainment” you will have a very difficult and likely bad time.

I am not telling you not to watch your favourite movies, just try not to cling on their content too much. Neither am I going to guarantee this will work for everyone. Remember, this is knowledge I gained through years of experiments.

When I first started out, I never had so much as a book to guide me on my ways. I had to fly blind, so to speak, the whole damned way.

If you come across a more efficient way in your own experiments, by all means use it. Just let me know so I can include it in my documentation on this subject. I want this to be an enjoyable experience for everyone , and the easier something is the more enjoyable it is.

The bad shit won’t come until you are able to vanquish it, if you follow everything I lay out before you.

If I do my job properly, it should be like swatting an annoying fly out of your way.

It will be like that startled reaction you get from seeing a poisonous spider, then realising you can just empty a can of Raid on it. No big deal.

Now, for those who are not familiar with either, lucid dreaming crosses the boundary of astral projection.

This boundary is often blurry, so is something I will discuss further along.

Just note that astral projection can be achieved through various states along the lucid dreaming line. In both instances you detach your consciousness from your body and can use it to explore the non-physical planes.

To simplify things, consider lucid dreaming as being a 4^th dimensional hub in which astral projection is but a single branch of possibility coming off that hub {I just got a low pitched ringing in my left ear when writing that}.

Other possibilities include auric projections, which are about a million times more fantastic than astral projections and exist in the 5^th dimensional domain. Looking at it this way, you can think of lucid dreaming as a sort of 4^th dimensional bridge into the 5^th dimension.

An Auric projection is one where you break through the barrier put in place by non physical entities that contains you in a “sleeping state”.

Let that sink in for a while; your entire unconscious dream experience is nothing but a cleverly crafted containment zone to disorientate your consciousness so it doesn’t leave a predetermined 4^th dimensional boundary.

The haze of a standard dream state is {seemingly} due to a consciousness doping agent put in place to stop you from waking up into a higher order of reality.

This is all to stop you from realising your soul’s true potential; that you existed in your state of higher awareness before you did incarnated in a physical body. According to mine and my wife’s experiences anyway.

The more you learn to control your dreams the more you develop a resistance to the effects of this containment zone.

You may start remembering things that are uncomfortable.

You may start remembering things that are painful.

But I guarantee that on the other side of that barrier you will come into contact with your higher self and proper “soul memory”.

You will remember yourself as an IS-BE all the way back into the dim mists of time.

You will then realise that all those painful and uncomfortable memories are nothing but illusions. It’s like waking up from a dream and realising it has no actual bearing on who you are now in this present moment. Only the dream is this physical reality you are engaged in.

Before we can get here though, we need to start off with some basics, and that is what this article will be about.

It might be boring.

It might be tedious.

It might be something you relegate to being complete bullshit.

You might think it all has nothing to do with lucid dreaming, but all I am asking is that you trust me. It is my goal to build you back into the strong consciousness that you are, so that you are impervious to these non physical manipulations of your void space.

So, first thing is first.

Go out and buy yourself a blank journal, a working pen, and a triangular pillow. The journal will be used for you to start recording your dreams.

Not just lucid dreams either. Everything you experience whilst in the dream state, you are going to write down in as much detail as you can remember.

Those bits that dangle just out of reach of your memory, you are going to try and force yourself to remember. You are going to keep this journal beside your bed, within arms reach.

If a dream experience is so intense it wakes you up in the middle of the night, you are going to reach for your journal and record all it all down right then and there.

You are NOT going to wait for the morning to do it, because much of the information in your dreams will be lost by the time you properly wake up. You can use a digital journal if you want, but I suggest also having a backup physical copy as well just in case.

There is nothing worse than having a detailed write up of your experiences disappear when the computer it is written on gets stolen or breaks.

Believe me.

This act of dream recording will train your subconsciousness to pay attention to your dreams. Hopefully, after a month or so, you will start to come to the sudden realisation you are dreaming.

One example I remember vividly had to do with my bass guitar. This was a beautiful 5 string bass my father bought me for my 14^th birthday.

The body had a nice red coloured wood that was separated by a “rainbow” of different laminates for the neck that ran through all the way to the bridge.

It was a neck through rather than the common bolt on variety. This thing was my pride and joy and I used to “slap” {a funk technique} it into oblivion every time I picked it up.

It’s sound was a perfect mix of tininess for slap and low end hum for the more progressive grooves I’d play. One night I was dreaming I was walking past a swimming pool, and this thing was just lying on the ground next to it.

Without thinking I just randomly picked it upand threw it into the middle of the swimming pool. It was just so spontaneous it made me stop and pay attention.

As it sunk to the bottom of the pool, I thought to myself, “Hang on a minute, I would never do this to my bass. This must be a dream”. It was enough to snap me out of the hypnosis that I was dreaming.

I cannot remember exactly what I did after that, but I know it involved creating a much better and more exciting dream of my own choosing. Aim for this same spontaneity to snap you “awake” in the dream state, but control your excitement or it will completely wake you up.

Try experimenting with things that have a sentimental value and spontaneous thoughts that equate to something you would never do to such an artefact.

Throw that wedding ring into Mount Doom, shave your head completely bald. Think of doing something outrageous that will make you stop and think WTF.

Triangular pillows are pillows that form a not quite 90 degree corner. Apparently a lot of old people use them. I scored mine off my grandfather after he passed away from lung cancer when I was 9.

I get that everyone has their own sleeping comforts. Certain mattress preferences. One pillow, two pillow preferences etc. You might not like triangular pillows.

They might be something you consider as being uncomfortable.

I am sorry to tell you that there is a certain degree of uncomfortable you will need to get used to if you want to properly lucid dream. This is one of them. Ok so maybe they are not essential, but I believe they will help significantly.

The reason for this is based on my own observations and positions I would wake up in immediately after a lucid dream.

These positions I would then experiment with to induce lucidity and they actually worked.

The triangular pillow, I have found, allows your head to rest in the exact “right” position which would be a space gap if you tried putting two standard pillows together.

Did I mention it is going to be uncomfortable? It will take some time to build up getting used to this lucid dreaming pose. But more on that later.

Also have a sheet or blanket that you only use for lucid dreaming. Use it every time you are going to consciously try, and put it away when you are not.

This tip comes from a Native American who suggests you will be imbuing such a blanket with specific “dream energy” that will build up and ultimately help induce it.

So now you’ve got your pillow and journal, you are all set to go to sleep and try and wake up in the dream right?

Wrong.

Whilst other self proclaimed experts will tell you to go right ahead, I am going to bore you with some other things first. Remember I have a responsibility to build your skills slowly. This includes preparing you mentally for what you might experience.

Allow me to take a bit of a detour and tell you about what I call my Leverian Theology.

The Leverian Theology is a system of thought I developed back when I was studying both electronics and occult subjects side by side.

I began noticing certain similarities in both curriculums which led me to believe that “no thoughts are entirely belonging to the mind that thought them”.

It was my belief that all thoughts were derivations of higher celestial mechanics that had in parts been “remembered” by the consciousness developing them.

All inventions, I supposed came about by the inventor sub consciously accessing a non physical energy matrix {the void space/ collective unconscious} and tapping into cosmological mechanics that were already there to begin with.

Thus I assumed that by taking current technological models, and following them from finish to start, one could develop a functional model by which to unravel and understand complex cosmological concepts.

While the actual model is not important, what is important is that one has a way to categorise their thoughts, especially when it comes to lucid dreaming and meditation.

The reason is that when you receive higher information, it doesn’t always come in the form you would expect.

It doesn’t tend to come through all at once either. If you wish to master lucid dreaming, you need to have a system by which to sort your thoughts.

You can then figure out the overall function of one piece of information in relation to the rest.

When more information starts coming in, you can bring up this overall function rather than trying to go back and remember the whole other experiences in totality.

In my case, my Leverian Theology acted as a sort of filing system to deal with the information I was receiving. This is the true secret to being able to properly develop advanced lucid dreaming and meditation abilities.

Again I am yet to come across anyone bothering to mention such a significant aspect. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist, only that I specifically haven’t found them.

The categorisation of thought is one of the most crucial aspects to meditation and lucid dreaming, in my opinion. Later, we are going to delve into a very well known system of thought categorisation called the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

This will deal with the alchemical aspects of mental preparation on reconnecting with the higher self.

But while we are on the subject of meditation, let’s talk about the meditative practices needed to achieve proper lucid awareness of the dream state.

I am going to give you three meditations I suggest practicing.

You might have your own meditations that work for you. By all means, continue to use them. The three meditations I am going to give, however, are specifically for lucid dreaming purposes.

They are designed to build specific disciplines required to properly induce lucidity, based on my own observations. Essentially what you are going to be doing is learning how to remain “still”, both physically and mentally. This is not a lightweight task.

What you effectively need to be doing is becoming your own psychoanalyst. You need to learn how to “catch” your thoughts as they arise, observe them objectively and trace their origins.

If you are one who meditates regularly, then there is no need to dedicate even more time to these.

Just include them as part of your already established regime. For those who are not big on meditating much, try doing them at night when you are in bed with your eyes closed.

The First Meditation, Visualisation:

The first step to gaining control of your void space is to practice visualisation. When I was a kid I had this weird scenario that would pop up from time to time.

It ended up becoming somewhat of a visualisation practice because it drove me fucking crazy. I’d just randomly have this thought of someone running on a roof and jumping off onto a car bonnet {what you guys in America call the hood}. It wasn’t even a very big height either.

Like a couple of metres at most. The thing was though, my brain would distort the physics of the scenario. Every time this person would land on the bonnet, they would crush it and the car would pivot like they were jumping on a see saw.

It was reminiscent of how the Hulk would crush something by jumping on it from a low height.

The reason it drove me crazy was because I knew it was an impossibility. And it totally fucked with the movie in my head of this guy doing cool parkour tricks.

I don’t know why this thought would appear – maybe it was something I saw on a cartoon or something – but it was consistent enough for me to remember it more than a decade later.

Now, the problem I was having is that I could not visualise this person not crushing the car and following a more proper path as defined by physics.

It took me quite a long time before I was able to counter this silly little scenario that would often pop up as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep. I actually felt a great sense of relief when I could watch that guy run along the roof, jump on the car and continue in his act of parkour.

It is silly I know, but I am sure everyone can relate to similar scenarios that consume their thoughts at the best of times. It also gives us a good idea of what to expect whilst in the dream state. It gives us a very real glimpse into how hard the void space can be to control.

When you are lucid and operating in the void space, you do not see the things the same as you see in physical reality.

There is no physical horizon for you to set your sights upon.

Instead you are swarmed by imagery that lays dormant in your sub consciousness.

If you focus on any of this imagery it has a tendency to become more vivid and solidify in the form of a dream or a disruption.

Hence why if you cannot learn to control this imagery, you will not be able to regain proper control of your void space. Period.

So what I want you to do is to include this visualisation practice in your meditations: picture a single orange resting in a bowl on your kitchen counter. Now imagine you can see the orange in explicit detail.

I want to you mentally zoom up close to it and really see the texture of the skin. Now try moving to the opposite side and picture some sort of blemish.

As you get good at holding a vivid, high definition picture of the orange in your mind, try adding more fruit to the bowl. Start scanning through all of them like you are watching a movie. Once you get good, experiment with different scenarios taking place.

If you are sore, mentally try to zoom in to where your ailment is, going through biological layer after layer and shining white light on a single atom.

Imagine this light reflects off every other atom in a chain reaction until you are bathed in a cloud of light.

This is a healing technique supposedly used by St Germaine by the way – I can tell you it works if your visualisation practices are strong enough.

The idea is to train your mind to be able to conjure up its own images, and not rely on whatever media left an impression on your sub consciousness.

You can’t let that scenario equivalent to mine with the guy doing Hulk parkour with its altered physics win.

The Meditation of Silence of Thought:

The next meditation is designed to “un-hypnotise” you.

What’s that you say?

You aren’t hypnotised? Sorry to tell you but you live in a world full of advertising. Turn on the TV or go for a quick drive and tell me you are not being blasted by an advertisement every 5 seconds.

If you live in a rural community I might believe you.

How long before you make your way past one though? Let’s cut the bullshit and tell it for what it is. All advertising is brainwashing, and all brainwashing is forced hypnotism.

Still don’t believe me?

Do me a favour and next time you get an urge for a Big Mac and cheese or a Bud light ask yourself why you got it.

Don’t just ask yourself, trace the thought and pin point exactly what it was that made you think you wanted one. Not just the easy answer of “I was hungry”.

I want you to trace the whole pathway of your thought and why it was you chose a Big Mac and cheese over a Subway 6 inch. Was choice even involved in the equation?

You’ll probably find that you can’t pin point the exact moment that thought took hold. It was just sort of there in the back of your mind, then when your hunger instinct kicked in the thought took charge of “you”.

Now start doing it with all of your thoughts. I want you to catch every single thought you have, remove yourself to a third person perspective and start analysing them objectively.

I want you to ask yourself why it is you like that certain brand of car over all others.

Why you like that certain football team out of all the rest.

Why you find people that wear body piercings and tattoos distasteful. All those thoughts that are heavily ingrained into you and have the potential to make you choose one thing over another.

All those things that have the potential to make you make serious life choices.

Anything which will lead you to have a heavy emotive reaction to a situation. Everything. You are no longer allowed to just react to situations on autopilot.

Though when you inevitably do, I want you to ask yourself why you reacted that way. Do these thoughts belong to you, or are they a part of a family or social “tradition” that has been handed down to you through cultural biasing. You will be surprised how many thoughts are not actually “yours”.

Once you start catching these thoughts, try experimenting with neutralising them with their polar opposites.

When there is a “gnawing feeling” that you should react a certain way, take a breath and just observe it passively.

The human mind has a myriad of triggers that professionals have learnt how to push and prod. Unfortunately for you, they don’t stop being pushed just when an advertisement has run its course through your head.

This is how you learn how to deactivate them. By doing so you will be teaching yourself to be less prone to manipulation whilst in the void space.

You will strengthen your psychological disposition towards dealing with whatever the dream state throws at you. This is a big part of what occult philosophy is about.

This meditation will then extend into vanquishing the inner monologue in your head. That voice and imagery inside your head at bed time that tends to trail off and lead you down a road of sheer randomness.

Effective lucid dreaming and astral projection comes from finding a way to completely vanquish those thoughts.

When you lie there in bed try focusing on the sound of your breathing and nothing else. It takes some practice but eventually you should be able to notice those distracting thoughts as they arise and refocus on your breathing.

To strengthen this thought vanquishing practice, do yourself a favour and next time you attend a speaking session with someone at a podium in front of a crowd, just sit and observe.

Try to remain in one position and take in your whole surroundings without moving your eyes or your head. Watch how people react to the speaker and try and pin point those reactions that are subconscious ones. Keep your eyes open for as long as possible without blinking.

If done properly this should put you in a trance like state, and your surroundings will become extremely vivid.

Pay attention to your thoughts and take note of any that seem to “scream” at you from seemingly nowhere. What you are doing is tuning into the void space whilst in an awakened state, and preparing yourself for the next meditation.

The Meditation of Stillness of the Body:

This is where things begin to get uncomfortable. And I mean that literally. This meditation builds upon the still position used to induce a trance like state. It is, in my opinion, the most important practice one must master if they want to be able to remain conscious through the transition into the sleeping state. One should try going to bed before they reach a noticeable state of fatigue.

To begin with you are going to take up a comfortable position, and you are going to lie there for as long as possible unmoving. The idea is to build up the length of time you can remain unmoving.

Keep trying for just a little bit longer every time you practice it.

The key is not move even through every annoying itch and twitch your body goes through. Your goal should be to build up to being able to lie unmoving for at least an hour or more.

The annoyingness at the situation should actually benefit you by keeping you awake. If you can keep yourself awake, you will begin to notice that after awhile, everything starts to become “numb”.

For me, my arms are usually the first the go. This is the preliminary stage to sleep paralysis, or what is known as the hypnagogic state in astral projection circles (the line between the two is very blurry).

The numbness is your consciousness preparing to disengage from the body. It is from here you can either induce an astral projection or conscious transition into the void space. but not before going through sleep paralysis.

Alas these are subjects which require a whole article themselves, so for now just keep practicing these meditations as they will prepare you for the next phase where the fun really starts to begin. After a month you should start being better prepared for these next stages of lucid dreaming.

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 9 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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[daegonmagus] – Part 7 – PROJECT ALPHA

The following is the seventh part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

This particular article is not part of the direct set of articles that are autobiographical in scope and content.

Instead, this article concerns a project, or an idea that needs to be worked on and “flushed out”. I present it here in it’s rough state for others to consider and ponder.

Part 7 – PROJECT: ALPHA

As explained by daegonmagus…

This is an experimental project I wrote up a few years back which explains telepathy using basic radio engineering principles. 

Not sure if you want to put it up as an article, it is somewhat incomplete, but it resonates strongly with what the Domain Commander told you about tech that can be used to unlock the non physical body. 

I am certain the void space of lucidity can be used to properly tune the body to pick up these telepathic frequencies. I will go into another article on that when I've got the time.

This article is by no means finalized. This is just a rough draft for MM readership to consider and absorb.

HYPOTHESIS:

There potentially exists an invisible energy field that surrounds the human aura in the region of the head which seems to be susceptible to fluctuations in electromagnetic/ magnetic fields.

It is presumed that if a strong enough field enters this energy’s boundaries at a specific frequency of resonance, then the subject may be able to achieve astral projection and/ or lucid dreaming more easily than if they did not experience this auric distortion.

Such propositions are based on alleged unorthodox happenings from numerous sources such as the Philadelphia Experiment, the Gibb’s device – more commonly known as the Hyper Dimensional Resonator or HDR -, radionics devices and the authors own experience involving a method by which to render people and objects light insofar as their mass weight is concerned, as well as other documentation concerned with the Schuman resonance.

The goal of the project is to use electronic engineering and radio communication methodologies, as well as components, such as the bifilar and caduceus coils, to develop devices that will specifically target a range of frequencies to try and induce such states of mind.

OVERVIEW:

General radio theory dictates that all that is needed for the wireless transmission of electromagnetic energy is for a conductor of a required length to be electrified by an energy source at a frequency dictated by that very length.

Without delving to deeply into the complexities of this science, extensive studies into this phenomena have proven that another frequency can be attached to the frequency by which this conductor’s energy propagates, thus allowing for the transference of analogue or digital information to be sent from one location to another via the space between them, to be received by a similar apparatus.

Two important understandings must be made from this general theory – that all conductors are potential transmitters, and that all conductors are potential receivers.

All that is left for this “communication” to be intelligible is the filtering out of parasitic frequencies, known as noise, and the derivation of circuits that will allow control over which frequencies are to be used in transmission and how they shall be deciphered – which is the art of radio engineering. As a result, oscillators are used as a means to “tune” transmission and reception to a desired frequency, and many different methods have been established to create these components including the use of Resistor/Capacitor or Inductor/ Capacitor networks, and applying electrical signals to various crystal substrates such as quartz which in turn allows for them to resonate.

Keeping these things in mind it is also important to understand the implications this field of science poses to the human body (or any biological body for that matter), for the human body is really nothing more than a complex electrical circuit itself, consisting of a maze of nervous pathways that are constantly pulsating with energy, as well as conductive fluids, mass resistances and salts that together when combined could potentially establish perfect environments for these oscillations to take place thus allowing for the transmission or reception of some uncontrolled energy, especially in a being whose stature mimics that of a Marconi antenna (upright) when awake, and that of a Yagi antenna (parallel to the ground) when they are asleep.

There have been multiple accounts of people reporting they have heard radio broadcasts in their head after dental procedures, a similar set of experiences of which the author can attest to, though they were caused by an unfortunate susceptibility to perforated eardrums as a child and nothing to do with the former.

It is by reason and logic then I theorise that the subjects in these cases were somehow modifying the electrical characteristics of their bodies in such a way as to provide a direct deciphering of certain radio signals at their ears or the nerves close to them.

If unrecognized or unintentional oscillation of the body’s chemical composition is what is really occurring in these cases, then it is not altogether unreasonable to assume that the body could also be emitting a set of frequencies of its own, given its remarkable ability to act as if it has a constant battery feeding it energy. The above scrutinization offers the following possibilities, depending on where the areas of the most prominent oscillations are occurring;

If oscillation is localized to circulatory system pathways, by using electromagnetic wave propagation theory where frequency = 3×10⁸/ wavelength, (assuming the wavelength of a circulatory system to be 60000 miles in length) the potential frequency of oscillations would most likely sit somewhere around 3Hz.
If oscillation is localized to nervous system pathways, by using EM wave propagation theory and assuming the wavelength of a nervous system is 40 miles in length the frequency would be 4.66kHz.
If oscillation localized to grey matter nerve lengths, by using EM wave propagation theory and assuming the wavelength of a myelinated nerve fibre is 150 – 180000km long, the frequency would be between 1.6 and 2Hz.

I note these finding as extremely interesting, as one experience I had involved the stable awakening from a lucid dream whereby the physical world was transposed over the dream one in a wavy like manner at a rate somewhere near these extremely low frequencies (ELFs), which was to provide a basis for further investigation.

Also to be noted is another incidence where I fell into a lucid dream just as a plane went overhead, and witnessed the transition of the frequency of the plane being slowed to less than half of its original value, whereby some sort of up-scaling phasing effect was introduced.

If one were to study methods of astral projection on the other hand, majority of the techniques seem to involve the lowering or raising of the subjects energy frequency to a level that will initiate this projection.

Devices have even reportedly been used whereby they have brought about such projections almost effortlessly, by using insulated electric currents to alter the energy field near the head.

Some documentations of astral projection also point to a type of magnetism that will pull the astral body back into its physical if care is not taken to rid oneself of its effect immediately upon projection.

My own experiences in this area have led me to believe one hears a high pitched frequency shortly before projection, which sounds extremely similar to the immediate fizzing sound of when a bottle of soft drink is opened.

If I were to take a wild guess I would say this noise sits in the kHz range possibly between 4kHz and 10kHz.

All this is suggestive that there are frequencies at work which together create some sort of complex sinusoidal wave form (ie two or more sinusoidal waves multiplied or “mixed” together) that provides a locking mechanism for the astral consciousness within the physical.

The chemical change one’s body undergoes when falling asleep further strengthens my assumptions as to this being the case, as it would bring about a substantial change in systems of oscillation.

I have also noted many dietary coincidences in a lot of my lucid dreams that seem to point to sugar and the nutrients in chilli chicken dishes having a profound effect. It is therefore my intent to try to manipulate these frequencies to see if the astral body, or lucid consciousness can be unlocked from the physical counterpart resulting in a more effortless experience..

Another important consideration is the technique used to make the mass of people and objects much lighter than usual, whereby hands are placed over the head / top by a group of people each positioned so they are not touching. For those who have not experienced this technique first hand, I can attest to the strange feeling that occurs when more and more hands are placed.

It is as if some form of dense energy is being sucked away and you start to become lighter. This suggests to me that the head is best place to start energetic manipulation experiments. I would assume the radiation pattern to be like that of a toroid, the head being the centre of the parabola.

APPARATUS:

Purpose built frequency generators that can be tuned in increments of 10s of Hertz. Given these frequencies are likely to be extremely low, RC oscillators seem like the only choice available, which is unfortunate as these devices are not considered stable. 555 timers provide an easy way to implement this type oscillator and only require a few external components, whose values can be varied to alter the frequency. Where higher frequencies are being controlled, I suggest using a crystal type oscillator and tuning via an inductor/capacitor network.

Bifilar pancake coils seem to be a good candidate for the vertical transmission of energy that will penetrate a few centimetres. It is likely that a more complex circuit will need to be developed in order to transmit energy around the whole head.

The human body is thought to generate around 100 watts of power, and if my suppositions of it being a transmitter are correct, this would mean that a telepathic thought could quite easily be broadcast over the world if the body can be tuned to efficiently propagate it, considering that this can be done using only a few milliwatts with morse code modulation techniques .

My supposition is that the void space entered after one remains conscious through the sleep paralysis stage during the transition into the sleeping state, can be used as the medium by which to “tune” the body to a more efficient propagation frequency.

This basis for my assumption on this is that I was able to use it to tune into the dialect of a non physical species and then communicate with them whilst in this state. I believe they were located very far from Earth.

They spoke in a clickity clack language that was completely alien to anything we have on earth. After going through the tuning process, we were then able to share a commonality of understanding and they spoke directly to me.

AREAS FOR FURTHER STUDY:
Modulating thought frequencies on bodily produced carrier waves (Telepathy)

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 8 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

[daegonmagus] – Part 6 – Astral Assignment 1 – The Consciousness Prison

The following is the sixth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 6 – Astral Assignment 1 – The Consciousness Prison

Daegonmagus Astral Assignment 1 – The Consciousness Prison.

This article relates to what I call my “astral assignments”. These differ from my mystical experiences with the Elder Guardians and the Unseen 5. Although I was not connected to a higher state of conscious awareness, I was still completely lucid in these assignments. I know that they were simply not just fabrications of my mind whilst in the dream state. Usually I would be “abducted” out of my dreamscapes of my own devising and just wind up carrying out one of these assignments.

This assignment marks the first time I realised my astral body was being utilised as an infiltration agent into “strange bases”. It is the first real memory I have that something incredibly weird was going on in the non physical planes. This was the experience that led me to believe there was some sort of Astral War being carried out in these planes that I was directly involved in. It happened around the time I was able to remote view from an off world intelligence and inhabit its body. I would have been about 14 or 15, so by then I had developed some quite advanced consciousness projection techniques. I believe it was those very techniques which marked my candidacy for this assignment.

I am actually relieved I have a comfortable place to talk about this. Anywhere else and I would surely be labelled as insane. I have been holding on to this memory for the about 15 years, probably a bit more.

Now, if you’ve been a part of any UFO or remote viewing related communities you may have come across people claiming places like area 51 containing “5^th dimensional security setups”. These security setups allegedly can stop you from astral projecting or remote viewing these bases. One of the accounts I have read of this happening to someone during a remote viewing session is that they “had to have an intense battle with their mind before they could get back to their physical body”. While I cannot vouch for the particular “areas” in question, I can tell you with 100% surety that these systems DO exist. This is not something I will budge in my beliefs over; I experienced one (technically two- read Part 5) of these things. I have first hand experience of how they operate and how to escape from them. When you read Airl’s statement about the electronic screens that trap consciousness, this is what I am talking about. Airl describes them almost exactly how I experienced them. In fact the one she speaks about being on Mars that her Domain officer found could very well be the same one I speak about in this article. I always thought it was the moon, but then again I never saw the surface.

The intention of this article is not scare anyone, but provide a briefing into this particular facility I was in; what it looks like, the layout, where the consciousness prison is located etc. It is my plan to provide a framework of the techniques I used to escape in case anyone ever finds themselves unfortunate enough to be caught in one in my future articles on lucid dreaming.

The assignment:

I had consciously entered into the dream state and was halfway engaged in a dream construct of my own devising. Whatever the construct was, I cannot remember it. There was a sudden blankness, and all of a sudden my surroundings changed (this is a frequent occurrence with me in and LD – the precluding circumstances to my assignments were always wiped from me).

I was now in the middle of a large, underground cavernous area which I just knew was off world {in relation to earth}. There was this strange sort of bluish hue like some sort of artificial light was illuminating the whole cavern. It wasn’t like how we know illumination works from light sources. This was like there was like a blue wash over everything; if you can imagine looking through a pair of sun glasses with a blue tint to them, this is what it was like. Everything was being filtered through this blue hue. Even though it seemed to be night time, the blue hue made everything visible.

I was smack bang in the middle of this cavern. Underneath my feet the rocks were very jagged and littered everywhere. I was in amongst a crowd of bipedal type humanoids, though they were not human.

This crowd I estimate to be 10 to 20 thousand in number. They were all out tending to the rocks as if they were crops.

I was blending in with them which makes me believe that I had “taken over” one of their bodies. This would explain the blue hue; I suspect it was a sort of natural night vision their eyes had. I specifically remember standing back and observing them with my arms crossed, suggesting I was in fact in a physical body.

At one end of this cavern was a “mouth” the size of an aircraft hangar that led to a darker cave tunnel. To the back was the dwellings of these people which looked like square houses made of rock similar to Middle Eastern design. The whole cavern area was fairly flat, considering, and was a few acres in diameter wall to wall. Towards the tunnel mouth end was a large boulder.

At the other end of the cavern clearing was a cluster of square shaped buildings laid out in a similar manner to a city, but much smaller. They were similar in design to buildings of the Middle East. They were piled on top of each other in a sort of Favela type arrangement. In front of them was a wall of rock that had been left untouched that blocked the city off from the rocky outcrops that lay between them and the cavern tunnel on the far wall. This wall did not reach the roof – the buildings were higher than it – and had a single break in it that led into the maze of buildings.

Even 16 years later I have a vivid image of this cavern base. I can mentally zoom up and above the dwellings as if I am flying a drone with a camera on it. I have a photographic memory of the whole place and the layout of it. My insertion point was to a “raised” sort of area to the right of the front gate (the break in the rock wall) so I could sort of see into the complex. I was there, there is no question in my mind about this; it was no hallucination, or just “a dream”. Neither was it terrestrial. I am sure of this.

Each cluster was separated by a thin road or path, 2 or 3 meters wide that was made out of typical whitish grey concrete, which was intersected at right angles by other roads every 50 or so meters. As you go through the break in the rock wall, there are the dwellings to your immediate left hugging the wall back that way, and to the right it is if the wall just extends backwards. In other words you can turn left(after going past a block of dwellings), but not right. The pathway through the buildings from the break in the wall would thus be straight, left, straight before the intersections come into play. This proceeds in this manner all the way to the wall behind the dwellings.

There were elements that were surprisingly human such as the concrete pathway and roller doors embedded into some of the buildings. There were approximately 5 times the amount of people to dwellings. The consciousness prison was located in what appeared to be a standard sized garage or carport underneath one of the buildings right near the break in the rock wall. If you were to head straight through the rock wall and turn left, the consciousness prison would be on your right, right on the corner.

This cubic dwelling network was about an acre or 2 at most in area, and extended all the way to the back wall of the cavern, as if the dwellings had been “carved” out of existing rock. If you think of magma that has been laser carved to precision into a cube, this is what the dwellings sort of looked like, except yellowish; the rock they had come from had first been melted/liquefied then “precision cut”. Each dwelling had square shaped holes which I took for windows, though no glass was present in them, and were about 5 meters squared in size, on average, maybe a bit bigger, with multiple stories. They were of a very modern design. It was like a mini city.

All of a sudden a being appeared at the mouth of the cavern and stood on the boulder that was in front of it. I am not sure if “he” appeared out of thin air or if “he” came from the tunnel behind , but everyone began flocking to this being curious as to what he had to say. They appeared to know who he was.

I remember realizing I was here on a reconnaissance mission specifically to gain information on this being and what was going on in this place. I approached him, confident that I could camouflage and conceal myself as one of the other “people”.

The “Clone God” (this was my name for him), from memory, at first looked like he had white hair but the closer I got I realized it was actually made of a rice like substance that gave him a short haired appearance, like a number 3 crew cut. He grinned a very disconcerting smile that was extremely fake and just felt plain wrong, like he was suffering from a very bad case of Botox poisoning in his face. I remember it reminded me of a typical celebrity smile, but laced with psychopathic substance unlike anything you could ever imagine. Behind his stare there was a blankness to him that was just wrong; you could feel the lack of empathy emanating from within him.

He was wearing some kind of robes, like he was a cult leader or something. Very Charlie Manson-esc.

I watched as the “people” flocked to him in awe, then he opened his mouth, but instead of talking something happened whereby the townspeople turned into exact replicas of him. There would have been enough people to fill up a Metallica concert. I am pretty sure at one point he took off his robe, and I noticed he had no signs of genitalia, as he was naked, with very pale white skin.

I realized – in one of the few times I felt fear during these assignments – that my cover was blown, and this thing was toying with me. The mass conversion of townspeople to clones was specifically for my “entertainment”. I could sense this as he just stood smiling and looking around with eyes wide open like he was a robot. I think at one point I could feel myself being “cloned”, and may have even possibly undergone a timeline reset to the moment before he cloned me.

The smile remained exactly the same the whole time on not only him, but every one of his clones, it never wavered for a second. If you think of a massive crowd of people with this same smile, all turning their heads in perfect unison , eyes wide open without ever blinking, this is what I was smack bang in the middle of, and why I remember it so intensely. It was one of the weirdest and most uncomfortable positions I have ever been in (Storme relayed a similar account of synchronous head turning with a mysterious being Vince and his dog).

This was very reminiscent of the scene in the Matrix where Agent Smith continually replicated himself, then tried doing it to Neo. I hadn’t watched this movie in quite a number of years and I am quite certain I wasn’t being influenced by it, which makes me question the similarities.

After the reset I ran to the cluster of buildings, down an alley and eventually took refuge in what appeared to be a garage with a roller door. I was planning on aborting the mission and exfiltrating out. I did not realize the part of the concrete floor was a hologram, and I fell straight through it. Usually in lucid dreams when something like this would happen I would just manifest myself an exit, or “fly out”, but I soon realized there was a sort of an invisible force field that wouldn’t let me do it. Both the Domain Commander and Airl describe this force field in the exact way to how I experienced it. It is like an electronic net that you can’t get past no matter how skilled at consciousness projection you are.

It prevented me from summoning the portals (what I used to travel the non physical planes), in which I had to manually try and project inwardly and outwardly. Every time I did it was just bounce me back into the center of the room which was about 3 meters squared in area.

I was also still 100% lucid, and realized that this room was preventing me from getting back into my body back on earth. I couldn’t manifest any of the weaponry I’d usually be able to in practically all of my other LDs, or anything that I could use. My consciousness was completely bound to this room and its altered quantum rules. To make matters worse I had an army of “beings” converging on me to try and “collect my consciousness”. I had to evade them by bouncing around this 3×3 room and at the same time try and think up a way to get out.

I realized this place was a sort of lab or asylum as it had the typical layout of many rooms and hallways (these rooms didn’t have doors) with the same sort of white tiles on the walls.

The alarms went off and then I was captured and thrown into one of these rooms (the room I fell into was sort of like the “pre-containment” area. I could see through the floor hologram as if it only appeared as a floor on one side and on the other was not there). It’s hard to explain but basically these rooms lacked almost any means to navigate correctly.

When you are acting as purely conscious thought form there are certain techniques you use to project your consciousness to a specific place, which pulls you to that point. A very basic outline is that you think of something and then it appears, but this is what was wrong with this asylum; it didn’t allow for such things to happen, at least not very easily.

It disallowed me the ability to recreate my dreamscape at will, something I had become very, very good at. It was a room that interfered with visualization and imagination techniques and was purposefully built to contain a consciousness by distorting them in a similar, but more intense, manner to the sub conscious distortions in the void space I’d learnt how to overcome. I could see how a wandering consciousness untrained in such projection techniques could quite easily get caught here and never be able to return to its body. It was quite horrible and terrifying.

I remember the only thing in the room was a picture or map or something hanging on the wall, and I realized I could somehow use this as a portal to phase in and out of that particular dimension by accessing the energy signature attached to it. The phasing allowed me just enough quantum relocation to progress to another room with a one way window (a wall to the being on the inside and an examination window to the people on the outside).

Again I had to figure out a way to get through it, which involved some sort of bouncing of my consciousness back and forth between rooms. It’s like you scan the room and try and find a quantum entangled particle to relocate through. A fourth dimensional point in the past that you can use to “tunnel” through the force field before it was created. That’s the best way I can describe it. It is extremely hard to do and tested me to the very limits of my lucid abilities.

This maze of rooms went on for some time before I eventually found the exit. I was evading many guards as they chased me through the complex trying to contain me: they did not want me to leave. I had ALOT of beings chasing me around this place. Me getting out of the containment room was evidently a very big deal for them. The alarms are something I can remember quite vividly as well.

I finally made it to what seemed to be a sort of elevator shaft that I was able to exfiltrate out of via consciousness projection techniques I had taught myself.

This whole experience was a test to the very limits of my escape and evade techniques I had been using on various other world entities for a number of years since I first began Lucid Dreaming. It was a test to my ability to be able to keep my conscious at a level needed to survive. Basically, if you get captured and an entity messes with this ability to stay “conscious” in the dream world, it can become very, very difficult to actually wake back up in the physical body. The most important thing is that you cannot allow yourself to freak out. All attention and effort must go to remaining conscious despite the heavy distortions that are trying to knock you out. I knew if I got knocked out, it would be game over.

It’s weird. It’s like when something grabs you, you feel your energy being sucked away by it, and with it your consciousness as well. The dreamscape becomes hazy and you dwindle mentally into an uncomfortable sort of insanity. The more powerful the entity the quicker you become depleted. The further you move away from them, the more you regain consciousness and your sanity. Had I not had even a few years’ worth of lucid dreaming experience behind me I am absolutely certain I would not have been able to get back to my body. Through my experience in advanced visualization practices I was able to break through this haziness just long enough to escape. I suspect this sort of capturing accounts for a lot of deaths with unexplainable causes, after going to sleep and never waking up. This was a real experience. I am damned sure of it.

Conclusion

So I can relate to everything the Commander said in regards to how dangerous these sorts of complexes are. You don’t want to ever find yourself caught in one.

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 7 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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[daegonmagus] – Part 5 – Miscellaneous Experiences – Alien Abduction Dreams

The following is the fifth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 5 – Miscellaneous Experiences – Alien Abduction Dreams

Daegonmagus Miscellaneous Experiences – Alien Abduction Dreams

A digression from my mystical experiences.

Around the time of my Initiation into the Unseen 5 I started having abduction dreams. In some of these I was lucid, in others I wasn’t. Some of them dealt with hybridisation breeding programs, and others dealt with just general abduction scenarios. One{lucid one} in particular dealt with a consciousness prison exactly as Airl had described them in Alien Interview. This wasn’t the first time I had been contained in one of these prisons – I will go into that in another article. In both incidents I had been fairly (90+%) lucid.

Of these dreams, three in particular stood out. I have a very vivid memory of these three “dreams”.

The first was a standard {non lucid} dream. Our bed had just broken so we were temporarily sleeping on just a mattress on the floor. I remember going to sleep just before sunset. It was still light outside.

I dreamt I was walking out the front door of Storme’s mother’s place one evening after dinner to get something out of my car. The car was situated about 50 metres away under a car port that ran perpendicular to the house. To get there you had to walk down the veranda and up a few steps, before going through a gate and stepping over a piece of grass that lay between the gate and fence. I can still remember the vividness of the dream, and how I was preoccupied with the random thoughts I would usually have whenever I would go and get something – usually my phone or thongs (sandals) – from the car.

I got to the fence, opened it, but as I was closing the latch in place a large, unmoving object drew my attention to the sky. There right above and in front of me, half hidden by clouds was a spaceship that I remembered thinking looked a lot like the one out of the Halo games I used to play as a kid.

The ship itself was covered in strange symbols. It was that big and close that I could see them as clear as day. It appeared to have a large hole underneath it that protruded back into the ship.

As I stood and watched, a ring of blue light like the flame of a butane torch illuminated the circular shaped hole. My last thought was “oh shit” as I realized it was about to “pull me in”. I blacked out and woke up in my bed. Storme’s mother’s house was 50km away.

I woke up completely dazed and confused about where the hell I was; I actually woke up screaming “where am I and what the fuck just happened” as it took me a good few minutes to remember that we were in our house.

The last time I woke up like this was when I was 7 and I had to stay at my grandmother’s place as a large bushfire ravaged our town and burnt down our neighbors house. Despite all the shit I had experienced through lucid dreaming, this was just not something I did – ever. Even when remembering the electrocution and soul torture I never woke up in this state of panic and disorientation. It was if I had forgotten a whole years’ worth of time spent at this house.
Something about it felt really off. It felt as though I had just been plucked from one timeline and placed back in the past. It was like that dream was actually a future event that I had been “reset” from. MMs articles on the MWI are the first I have come across that provide an explanation for that feeling.

The second one happened about a year after my initiation into the Unseen 5.

I need to digress here to give an understanding of my mind set during this abduction where I was much more lucid than the first. It is relevant, particularly when talking about manipulating our “souls.”

I had been reading up on the free man movement; the idea that people are sovereign entities that have been tricked into working for a corporation that poses as a government. While I won’t say I completely believed in it, I was curious about testing out some of the theories. And crazy enough to actually go through with it.

To cut a long story short, let’s just say I pissed off the bank who I had a loan out on my car with and a few cops. Although the bank gave me a $250 credit on my account for my efforts, the cops played a little more hard ball. I was fined for not paying my car registration – which was actually because I couldn’t afford it. Rather than pay the fine within the 30 day limit, I decided to take it to court because, well, I wanted to know what the court system process was like.

After the incident with my hand, I witnessed first hand how cops failed in their duties to protect their citizens. I witnessed first hand how the justice system was more interested in upholding its laws than getting justice for victims of crime. So when the opportunity came to sit on the other side of the judge and be made out to be a terrible person simply for being poor, I obliged. It was a lesson worth learning and it ended up costing me about $350 (which I paid off in $10 instalments).

The logic of fining someone even more money for not being able to afford to pay for their car registration in the first place told me everything I needed to know about the moral code of these “judges”. These guys worked for the same slave gods the Grand Elder warned me about, I was sure of it. I mean, nothing spells slavery more than being fined for being too poor. It’s not like anyone ever bothered to check my vehicle to make sure it was still roadworthy after paying the registration. That was, according to the policy on the form, the whole point of the registration. Apparently.

So there I sat there in court, watching the judge dish out punishments for the many people who were called up before me. A lot of them had similar offenses related to poverty. Some were just plain idiots.

Suddenly something dawned on me; I was in what seemed to be a re-enactment of a ceremony I had read about in my books on Ancient Egypt.

The ceremony I am speaking about is the weighing of the heart ceremony. For those who are not familiar with it, this ceremony is said to take place after death, and is undertaken by each soul trying to make passage into the after life. It was considered one of the most important beliefs in Ancient Egyptian culture.

What happens is that the heart of the soul is weighed against the feather of Maat. If the soul is pure, the feather outweighs the heart and Maat grants passage into the after life. If the soul has committed “sins” during its physical life, it becomes weighted down and causes an imbalance in the scales of Maat. The soul of the impure are then said to be cast down into the underworld where they are eaten by the deity Ammit; a cross between a crocodile and human (cue the Reptilian conspiracies). During the ceremony, it is said that Thoth transcribes the whole process, whilst Anubis stands guard at the entrance to the ceremony to stop souls from escaping the trial.

There I sat in court watching as the judge re-enacted the role of Maat and handed out punishment after punishment. I watched as the man next to him re-enacted the role of Thoth as he typed the proceedings of the court out on his computer. And I watched how the Bailiff re enacted the role of Anubis as he stood guard at the door. Though they were not present in the less “important” courts like I was in, I was aware the Supreme Courts liked to show off their scales {of Maat}. And didn’t judges like to write their sentences down using a quill pen {feather of Maat}? It was all so obvious to me what was going on. Were these guys even conscious to the fact they were engaging in an Ancient Egyptian Ritual? Or did they just go along with because that was the way the proceedings were taught to them in law school?

Either I was bat shit crazy or I had stumbled upon a secret which the free man movement had been trying to convey but failed to point out properly; all court systems were re-enactments of the weighing of the heart ceremony and the “guilty” were being tried as “dead entities”. Suddenly the whole “fictitious” title on your birth certificate thing thing made a whole lot more sense. Apparently a “person” is defined in the bible as a “non living entity”, according to those in the free man movement. I found that rather interesting.

The point of whether the concept was real or just a machination of my own delusions is irrelevant. The relevant part is that it got me thinking; how many people in the world actually bother to declare that their soul is not for sale?

How many people in the world actually thought about their soul as much as they thought about something they did on a regular basis like brushing their teeth?

There was, after all, some sort of animating principle behind every person’s existence. Some sort of invisible spark that gave life to them and filled them with enough energy to power their heartbeat for an entire lifetime. How many people recognized this undeniable characteristic about themselves and actually made the mental thought that it wasn’t for sale or was not allowed to be used for any other purpose other than what its divine creator intended?

Conversely, how many people unwillingly gave their energy away through the allowance of unseen parasites. If they were unaware they had an astral body existing in a plane filled with all sorts of traveling entities, then it was only logical to assume they were sitting ducks just waiting for something to come along and “harvest from them”.

Moreover, if an astral parasite was attached to an individual and you signed a contract written by that individual to allow him and his “associates” any sort of power over you, could the parasite not technically be an associate of his, allowing your power to be given in not just the physical plane, but the non-physical as well?

Like I said, my thoughts and operations were not just those bound to this physical domain. As an Electronics Technician I had been trained to look at a complete system, not just one small part of it. This was the same train of thought I applied to the universe and its unseen aspects. You could say I was eager to understand how the non-physical planes affected the physical.

So I created a prayer or a spell or whatever you want to call it, specifically aimed at reclaiming my soul and nullifying any celestial contracts I had unwillingly entered it into through my own ignorance. If I had given away my power unconsciously through contracts, I wanted to consciously regain it. All of it.

I wrote this in the body of a professional like contract email and sent it off to my father. I figured as he was the one who entered me into such a contract whilst being my legal guardian when he signed my birth certificate, he was the best person to send it to. He was very straight edged and one of the biggest sceptics you’ll ever meet, who thinks astral projection/ lucid dreaming is a load of nonsense. He told me later he thought I’d definitely fallen off the sanity boat. Not that I really gave a shit. Our had been pretty rocky any way. I couldn’t say that his opinion on anything I did was something I held in high regard.

I sent the email, ate dinner, had a shower and then went to bed. As I sat there and closed my eyes, something felt different. I felt liberated. I felt some kind of invisible weight had been lifted. I could “perceive a spherical “space” in front of my eyelids whenever I would close them. I hadn’t been able to perceive this space for quite a few years; it was something I used to be able to see when I was deep into my meditation regime. After having kids, it slowly disappeared and was replaced by a boring veil that had no depth to it.

So there I lay, playing around with this space and the feeling of distorted gravity it brought with it. It felt like I was strapped to the bed and was being spun gently through the Z axis. It was something I always enjoyed whenever it would happen. Call me weird, I know. I ended up falling sleep in what was a non conscious transition into the sleeping state.

Interestingly, that very night I “appeared” {in the dream} half lying in the water and shore of a swamp covered in reeds. Some of these reeds had been arranged over the top of me in what appeared to be an effort to conceal me.

To begin with I was in a daze. I was flittering in and out of consciousness like I had been drugged with the same substance that had been used on me many years ago during the experiences in my youth before becoming completely lucid. I realized someone had draped a tarp or something across me as there was something really bad and strange going on up ahead. It was as if they had tried to hide me in amongst the reeds of this swamp as best they could.

There were these lights or something high up in the sky. They were scanning the area exactly like how prison lights scanned for an escaped convict.

Mistakenly, I ripped this tarp off me in my confusion, drawing the attention of whatever was up ahead. Suddenly I was surrounded by a blue or green light and the next thing I knew I was being pulled upwards along with all the water from the swamp and others who had been hiding.

This swamp was the equivalent to a few football fields in size and the whole thing was being sucked upwards towards the sky. I only remember a handful of other people being sucked up. The lights were too bright to make out any kind of ship, but it seemed like a very obvious thing that is what this was. Judging from the size of the lake that was being sucked up, the ship would have been HUGE.

I blacked out and came to in a metallic looking room on a bed where a medical procedure was taking place. Then I found myself being aggressively pushed into another room by the same beings that operated on me – their faces becoming a blur in the haze what was my drugged consciousness.

I remember seeing a smooth metallic door slide open to my right before I was pushed into a room that was totally dark and devoid of any light whatsoever. This is where I started to become lucid. It is then that something strange happened; I began to glitch in and out of the dimension I was in into another one.

This happened repeatedly every couple of hundred milliseconds, and every new dimension was completely different to any of the ones before it. It is hard to describe but if you have a slide show of different environments and quickly flick through it, this is what was happening to my reality around me. I was being “dimension spun” in an effort to torture and disorientate my consciousness.

There was an overlay reality placed in front of me that I could not interact with. It was a reality where my wife – now pregnant with our second child – and my boy were going to get ice cream. It was like that reality was put there to remind me where I’d come from while I got spun through a myriad of different ones. At this point I was pretty much completely lucid.

In the overlay reality my boy asked where I was and when I would be coming home, with a saddened look on his face, to which my wife – assuming I had abandoned them – told him I would not be coming back. It was like I was slightly out of phase with them; I could see them, but they could not see me. I was supposed to be meeting them here at the ice creamery. I tried yelling and screaming at them as loud as I could and reaching out to them, but my hand would just sink right through theirs, even though I was standing right next to them.

It was excruciatingly obvious what this was; this was a direct threat telling me to be “good” or I would be taken away from my family, though at the time I honestly thought that I wouldn’t be seeing them again. A deep depression welled inside of me despite this never once ever happening any other times I had been lucid. Lucidity was my place of happiness and freedom; it had never been used against me in this manner before, except for the prior incident in the consciousness prison and the torture scenarios. This dimension spinning was a new experience (it happened before the cult of Psaigreen experience).

The dimension spinning went on for a very long time, and I was at one point locked in the basement of an old derelict house. There wasn’t anything in here except a few dusty cobwebs and a rotten frame of a bed. The bed didn’t even have a mattress on it.

The spinning eventually stopped, and I tried projecting my consciousness out of the basement using every lucid dreaming and astral projection trick I had in me, but nothing would work. It appeared they had learnt from their mistakes when they tried to contain my consciousness in the off world facility when I was 15 or 16. You may have heard stories of remote viewers trying to view restricted areas and having to “battle with their own mind” to get back into their body. This is an incredibly accurate analogy of what I had to go through. Once you get trapped in them, it is very difficult to get back to your body.

My consciousness would come to be trapped in this new prison for what equated to at least an entire “year” worth of earth time.

There is a scene in the movie “Inception” where an Asian man is trapped in the dream for years. Leornado Di Caprio finds him in the lucid world, wakes him up and it turns out he has only been a sleep for a single night. This is a very accurate portrayal of how things work in the lucid dreaming world. This was the longest my consciousness had ever been in a state of lucidity without coming back to the physical world for a breather. It was beyond fucking maddening. I say that a lot, I know.

From memory I believe I was let out of that basement and flicked over to an alternate world. This world was some sort of recreation of a nearby town (in this physical plane) with a completely different layout. It was below even third world poor; houses were in shit state and there was rubbish absolutely everywhere. This was where I “lived” for a year or so outside the timeline of our current physical reality. I have a whole reel of memories of having to walk past this seedy apartment every day to escape the gangs that were parading around town.

For all I knew, my consciousness had been thrown in here and left to rot, meanwhile my body back in my bed on earth would have been lucky to have been seeing the first rays from the next day’s sun coming through the window. It was just like the Asian man in Inception.

I eventually did something, and was able to peel my consciousness away from this prison world and found myself in the back of what appeared to be a transport truck or train carriage with other people in it. I can’t actually remember how I got out. It may have even been that they put me in that world and mind wiped me, then I eventually remembered my body back here and projected back to it.

I started talking to an old woman who sat next to me, and mentioned the swamp, and the dimension spinning. She told me “they” – being our captors – called it the “Wet Room”, and it was where “they” sent the ones who did not play ball with their agenda. In other words the Wet Room was the experience of ultra-dimensional shifting I had undergone. It was the other world I had been left in for a year. It was a torture device reserved specifically for those who did not agree to have their souls guided by the astral parasites they were in control of.

Apparently if you intentionally declared your soul’s sovereignty and nullified all astral contracts it had unwittingly been tricked into partaking in, then you could expect the Extra Terrestrial Gestapo to pay you a visit in your dreams for your troubles. Apparently the free man movement had metaphysical aspects to it that not even they realized.

Good luck with thinking nothing but happy thoughts during your stay in the Wet Room. Maybe my mind was just too damned good at creating hallucinations through dopamine fluctuations. Whatever it was, it lined up perfectly with why Obama V2.0 had me undergo a test to see whether I would hypnotically give consent away in this matter.

It actually took me a good day or two to get my head around the fact I’d been gone a whole year in the span of a night’s sleep. I had to sort of readjust to the idea I was back “here”.

The third abduction dream happened just before Christmas 2020.

It was more a standard dream than it was a lucid experience, so take it with a grain of salt. In saying that though, it did bring with it a feeling suggestive that it was in fact a memory. It contained elements going back to my first mystical lucid experience where I remembered myself and my class had been involved in some sort of traumatic event that none of us could actually remember the details of:

Myself and my classmates were standing in a in a weird circular room, sort of like a massive warehouse. We were all just standing there a dozen or so of us, not knowing what to do and all looking completely terrified. There was a man with us, and another adult, possibly another man who I believe were our teacher and bus driver as one of the orange buses we used to go on excursions with was parked in the room with us. I would have been about 12; I recognized my classmates.

The walls of the room were metallic, and surrounding us were these guard things that I think were wearing typical human clothing, but somehow their faces were concealed.

There was something in front of us that had our attention so most of us were too focused on that to even notice them. Some sort of smaller craft or something had just landed in the circular room. I remember all of us were hysterical, crying and shaking but not wanting to move too much in case the things attacked us.

We were all sort of looking at each other for some kind of comfort, hoping one of us was going to be brave enough to tell us that everything was going to be ok, but we all knew it wasn’t. There was just something so wrong about the atmosphere and the way we had been dragged here off the bus. It was reminiscent of all the old war videos of Nazi’s rounding up Jewish prisoners I had seen. There was no telepathic communication with us by these beings whatsoever. Everything about it was just so terrifying.

The teacher and the bus driver were as white as ghosts and just stood there to the side of us kids. We were just so cut up that they weren’t even trying to protect us. It was like they were trying to back away and distance themselves from us kids who all been lined up in the middle of this warehouse. They were at the point of fainting.

All the attention was specifically on us kids; lights were focused on us, the guards were surrounding us, as if a group of 11/12 year olds were really a threat to the many of entities in that room or the weapons they carried. The adults were just sort of left at the back and side where the bus was with a single guard. It was obvious they (the adults) were not the centre of attention, and that suited them fine. Neither of them were going to bring such attention to themselves by talking or moving.

Suddenly, I think a door opened on the craft in front of us, and out came these beings wearing the same sort of clothing. It was like a robe but there was no conceivable humanoid body underneath it. It was like it was floating in mid-air, and the robe would float with it, the draft of the air blowing it upwards, like the Dementor’s out of Harry Potter.

All of us stood transfixed at these beings in terror, as they shed their clothing. These were unlike any stereotypical bipedal type alien I have ever seen. They had these smooth tentacle like things on their face where their mouth should have been and large beady eyes; they looked more like cephalopods or like a cuttle fish or octopus or something, but with a mass of tentacles where their body should have been. Like a human nervous system. They reminded me of interpretations I’ve seen on the internet of HP Lovecraft’s Cthulu; but there was no body; just masses of tentacles all bunched and knotted together.

It was like watching a horror movie; as soon as these things shed their robes they came at us with much speed and made a sort of hissing sound. All we could do was recoil as they jumped on us and their face tentacles wrapped around our faces. It was then that I woke up.

My friend, who would have been part of this same class, whose birthday was also the same day I had my first contact with the Elder Guardians, also became incredibly paranoid about reptilians a few years after that {EG} experience. I got the impression he had experienced or remembered something, but he would not tell me what.

Was this just a dream or a memory of an actual event? It certainly felt real. Out of all of them, the Wet Room experience was the one I am most sure about. Because I was lucid through the dimension spinning, I am apt to believe it more than the other two. Being “away” for a year certainly left its impression on me.

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 5 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Sexy images and things that make life worth living

I hope that you all are having a nice day. Today I wanted to do something a little bit different. Today I want to post some sexy images. Of course, I don’t mean sexy as in pornographic, but rather sexy as “appeals to the senses”. And to this end, I do hope that you will all agree that this is a nice way to start the day.

Start the day right

What ever you do, never, ever, ever, give up. Video.

Sensory Overload

There are numerous people on MM that are suddenly having experiences. My guess is that you have verbalized participation with The Domain or volunteered to be a Rufus. These experiences are very personal ones, and if you try to describe them, you will sound like a “mad man / woman”.

Can I respectfully suggest that everyone put their experiences here, but ALWAYS preference it with “things are happening” after I did XXXXXX, and this is what the craziness appears to be like.

From DM… 19SEP21.

This is a weird one, even for me. Last night I had fallen asleep without realising it. It was a false dream in that I thought I was still awake thinking about certain topics.

I suddenly remembered something to do with a particular thought I was having about certain experiences in lucidity. This thought equated to there being heavy time travel element in one of them. It was so startling I went to sit up in bed and turned to face Storme to tell her to remind me about it in the morning. But as I did, something caught me. i was instantly aware I was in sleep paralysis.

There was this weird vibration thing going on. It felt like when you have a guitar amplifier turned on but the jack not connected to the guitar. If you try and plug it in, miss and hit the metal part of the connector on the guitar, this is what it felt like. it was this very low and loud vibration sound that permeated through me.

It was like every time you hit the metal, my body would “click or switch in or out”. It felt like someone was welding something into my astral body. I could feel it coming from the wall right next to the bed on my side, like I was connected to it.

Like someone was scraping something along the wall. It felt like something was trying to tune my body for a broadcast; I am absolutely sure this is what it was. Although it was a very strange feeling, it wasn’t completely uncomfortable.

I am pretty sure whatever it was deleted the thought about my experiences being related to time travel. I have the time travel element but nothing else. it was a fucking intense experience. Something was definitely fucking with me whilst in sleep paralysis

I suppose that this short mini-video is sort of what last week was like with all the comm channels opened up with The Domain. Try to explain this video and you will see how difficult it is trying to explain your experiences.

Kitty love.

Not everyone will appreciate this picture. But PL will…

It does make someone like me - who never felt “complete” until my cat adopted me - feel like there is a piece we cannot obtain. But that cat - which grew into a marriage to the love of my life and a ton of farm animals - they give me a purpose. Maybe not anywhere near the cosmic connection as a child, but there is always a yin to a yang.

Found in a back yard.

Bruce Lee stands up to racism.

This is from the 1970’s. Video.

Now, this is what I call a sandwich.

Pole dancing kitty style.

Breakfast

Be the Rufus

Be the Rufus. Video.

Dilbert Comic

Support your local animal shelter.

No money. No problem. Volunteer to empty out some litter boxes, and help groom them and sing to them.

Trailer park boys

Overpaid.

There are dog people, and there are cat people…

What kind of a person are you? Somehow I picture XXXX in this picture. Such a cantankerous, but lovable, old coot.

Not that simple.

No it’s not. Video.

Kitty

And my favorite desk picture

Breakfast biscuit.

Meanwhile in Cambodia

I posted this short mini video over a year ago, but it’s time for a nice refresher. Remember everyone, the rest of the world is doing just fine. Just fine. It’s all going well. Do not get too caught up.

Enough.

Kitty Love.

Best picture on the internet.

Pizza (close up).

Beautiful.

Cheeseburger, American style.

The power of the paw.

You all know what this is, right?

Sexy Pizza.

Ohhh baby!

Dogs and cats

Sexiest picture of them all!

Be the Rufus

Video here.

This is America

Sexy ride.

Very sexy food.

Delicious Pizza

Asking for directions.

Apparently from the same litter…

Camp fire.

Good son.

Delicious gooey cheese pizza

How a cheeseburger should be made

Make a difference. Be the Rufus.

Make a difference. Be the Rufus. Video.

Delicious NY style Pizza slices

The way I love it with lots of gooey cheese…

The same goes for my cheeseburgers…

Peek a boo kitty

Another peek a boo kitty.

.

Be the Rufus

What’s going on here? A guy passed out while eating lunch? Video.

It’s a kitty thing.

Did I say that twice?

Cute.

It’s a man thing.

A sexy cat.

A nicely painted dress.

Be the Rufus.

A baby has collapsed inside a taxi. It is dying and not breathing. What to do? Watch the video.

It’s from a different time.

Buddies.

Be the Rufus!

Click on the picture for the video.

Sexy campfire.

Funny cat gifs

Dancing her little heart out.

Everyone has a dream. Sometimes you get the opportunity to live that dream, and when it happens, you give it all you’ve got. You go girrrl! Check out this short video clip.

Kitty playtime

Hello there.

Low and behold!

His coming was foretold in the ancient scripts.

Kitty hugs

Taking the dog out for a walk

Boxing Champ

Snow patrol

Inspiration

Big Jumper

Little kitten, big appetite…

Conclusion

I hope that this article finds you all well. It’s a good day to start it off on a good frame of mind and in a good way. Be the Rufus… as in this video…

Be the Rufus, and leave the rest of the world smiling and glad that you are there.

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my Heaven Index;

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[daegonmagus] – Part 4 – The Cult of Psaigreen and the Simulation Revelations

The following is the fourth part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 4 – The Cult of Psaigreen and the Simulation Revelations

Complete Awareness

In the Auric Projections/ Mystical Experiences I have talked about so far, lucid awareness of my surroundings had been carried on into the dreamscape from waking reality. In other words, I had been completely conscious from the moment I laid my head down on my pillow, through the transition into the sleeping state, through the connection to my higher self and on to the end of each experience, back through the transition into the waking world.

When I mention I was 100% lucid, this is what I mean.

There was simply no confusion as to me being “asleep”. Comparing this to the “normal sleeping person” – or even common lucid dreamer – there was no “break” in my conscious awareness as I fell asleep. I progressed through each stage the same way you progress from and experience one minute to the next. Although given time is not linear in the dream state, it was a little bit different to this.

I had total comprehension of my body back in its bed on earth, and the usual memories of everything I had done that particular day. If you can imagine having the awareness you have of your physical surroundings right now as you sleep, this is what I had of my 4D environment.

Dreaming for me – majority of the time – was this extension of conscious awareness into the non physical “dream world”. It was something I had trained myself to do over a period of many years. It is something I believe that anyone can learn to do if they practice enough.

My Initiation into the “unseen 5”

My initiation into the Unseen 5 was the last mystical experience where this continuity of consciousness was present. In the next two experiences, my awareness of self came after I had been unconsciously engaged in the dream for some time. I had basically fallen asleep without realizing it, then became coherent at some point later on.

This is what most people refer to as lucid dreaming, according to the communities dealing with that subject I am part of. From what I’ve read on those groups, the continuation of consciousness seems to be rarely discussed.

This is important in the context of what had been told to me regarding holographic projections into the dreamscape and how consciousness was being manipulated at this level.

I was always suspect of any information being given to me when I had had this break in consciousness.

While my higher awareness eventually kicked in, I always considered these experiences as being “less accurate” to the ones where I was able to retain 100% lucid awareness through the progression of the experience. I could not completely rule out that I was being manipulated, simply because I had no recollection between falling asleep and becoming conscious in the dream. This was despite that “holy shit” moment you get when you remember deeply repressed memories. Conversely I could not rule out that I wasn’t being manipulated either.

Regardless, I am including these experiences because I did eventually get to a higher state of conscious awareness compared to majority of my other lucid dreams.

Training

Now, I mentioned with past lucid dreams I had undergone what appeared to be some sort of training at the “time travel towers”. We were essentially being taught how to recognise when our timelines had undergone a reset. We were also being taught how to remember certain things from a future timeline after it had been reset; ie remember things from a future that was no longer a possibility. All in all there were about 30 of us divided into 2 teams.

What I did not mention is that this “training” bled over into many other lucid dreams and was a very big part of the astral assignments I was involved in in the years prior to my first contact with the EG.

In many of the worlds I was travelling to, this time line reset theme was a key component. Majority of these assignments involved investigating the cause of these resets.

The recent Loki series was a very accurate – and somewhat eerie – portrayal of my assignments in these worlds whilst being near 100% lucid. I was like the TVA, but instead of chasing murderers I was chasing an unknown entity that was “hiding beyond the resets”.

It was weird. It was confusing. It was something I never bothered talking about with anyone – with the exception of Storme – for obvious reasons.

A training assignment

This drove me fucking crazy for a good few years, because I honestly didn’t know what it was I was looking for. All I knew was that it had taken up residence in the Ancient Market Village and had an affinity for resetting it back to the same point, over and over again.

On a lot of these assignments I’d be accompanied by my colleague Lyra. She had black hair and was incredibly thin. She’d come and collect me from whatever lucid dream I was engaged in, we’d summon our portals, and I’d end up in the Ancient Market Village or some other random world doing some sort of “mission” with her.

I’d wake up not knowing if I was in reality A or reality B.

Imagine trying to tell this all to a psychologist and not come off as a complete fucking nutjob. There wasn’t some hidden meaning to these dreams; I was completely lucid in every damned one of them.

So you could say I had a very good understanding of how consciousness interacts with the MWI even back around 2010, though I didn’t specifically call it this. Even if I didn’t really understand the same way, I understood that consciousness could “travel through time” whilst in lucidity. Whilst detached from the physical body.

Personal Experiments

Some of my experiments began to focus on this concept, whereby I’d induce lucidity specifically to try and pick winning lotto numbers. I’d go through the conscious transition into the dream state, create a “virtual construct” of the newsagency where I planned to buy my lotto ticket from. I’d make sure to visualize a newspaper or other advertisement with the specific date of an upcoming draw.

I’d then concentrate on the numbers that would be printed on the ticket the cashier would hand me, and repeat them over and over in my head before deliberately waking myself up.

Other times I’d focus on the draw itself, and memorize the numbers as they popped out of the lotto barrel. Upon waking I’d record them down immediately. Despite conducting this experiment numerous times, I was never able to pick more than 4 out of the 6 numbers needed.

This was mainly due to me not being able to memorize all of them sufficiently. The barrier between being lucid and being awake always messed with this ability to remember things in the lucid domain.

Then these experiences {with the time line resets} just sort of died down whilst everything with the Elder Guardians was going on. I’d still have them on the odd occasion, but no where near as frequently.

The time reset theme brought up again.

In February 2019, 3 years after my initiation into the Unseen 5 and 5 years after my last contact experience with the Grand Elder, the time reset theme was brought up once again.

I was engaged in a dream. This time non lucid.

I was in a cave. My “team” consisted of myself, another man and a woman. We were tracking some kind of Artificially Intelligent computer system that had the ability to “reset” out of the timeline.

Our team operated from a hive consciousness that connected all of us; you could literally feel the thoughts and emotions of the other members as they had them.

It was a very strange and confusing operating parameter in which one of us would remember snippets {thanks to our training} which the others would use to “kick-start” their own memories; exactly the same way the Grand Elder had opened me up to the higher consciousness, but on a smaller scale.

So here we were, in this cave, about to open the door to what we knew was a server room housing the “brains” of this rogue AI.

But as we did, the timeline was reset and all of a sudden the server infrastructure had completely vanished.

My understanding was that through quantum entanglement, the AI had somehow figured out how to plot out past entangled particles in such a way that it could manipulate the past into redirecting the present. That was my interpretation; I could be entirely wrong.

This thing, data wise, was huge; it was capable of processing data in orders of magnitude higher than any computer system we knew of; it had been developed specifically to monitor consciousness from the higher planes.

The main concern our team had with this AI engine, was that it understood how to create entire physical “worlds” from the ground up.

It could literally program the growing of a seed into a flower and the blowing of wind over water to make waves crash on open shores.

But it was out of control…

It was out of control, creating physical reality after physical reality wherever it chose fit (this is the exact concept behind the Gnostic belief of the Demiurge controlled by the false god Yaldabaoth. Again I did not come into this concept until after this experience.

So after the AI initiated this timeline reset, we found ourselves in the same cavern. But instead of it housing the server, this time there was some sort of a laboratory in front of us with rows of vials containing either some kind of poisonous gas or a virus. Glass like screens lined this lab’s walls, giving a view of a subterranean place I have visited, many, many times during my adventures in lucid dreaming (the Subterranean Cavern).

On a desk next to the vial was this remote controlled alien tech that looked like a dragon fly with a head like the Nemesis guy out of the resident evil movies. It was actually memory of this dragon fly that led me back to Isaac CARET and eventually on to MM.

The woman in our team reached out and picked up one of the dragonfly objects. I was holding one of the vials and observing it. All of a sudden there was a massive explosion and we were all thrown backwards into the wall that I had previously smashed open. The wall was now completely filled in.

I picked up the broken vial lying on the ground next to me, and put my mouth around it. I was trying stop whatever was in it from leaking into the atmosphere; it was a highly toxic substance. Like a poisonous gas, or – say – an extremely contagious virus.

Strangeness

Something really weird was going on; it was like I was now flashing in and out of two separate timelines. I could see the subterranean river system I had visited on numerous occasions through the glass; in one reality flash there were the barracks and other strange buildings built with a metallic like alloy over the water on futuristic styled bridges. In the other flash, these metallic buildings had been replaced with primitive looking mud brick huts that looked like giant termite mounds. People were coming out of the buildings in both versions of reality and were running around in absolute terror; it was chaos.

This flashing in and out of 2 separate realities was something I had experienced about a year after my Unseen 5 initiation in an abduction dream in my “Wet Room” experience. I will go into that in another article.

I watched the woman as she acted in a strange robotic manner whilst she flew these remote controlled dragonfly things around. She would hover them above the people’s heads in which little claws would come down and grab at their hair which resulted in them being “purged” into a similar robot (reminiscent of my reincarnation dream).

I remember thinking the dragonflies were responsible for giving people amnesia.

I stumbled around in a sense of confusion, whilst in one timeline (the one in which the woman was remotely piloting the dragonflies with the metallic buildings) there was some sort of war going on. In the other timeline with the mud brick houses (the timeline that was more on par with what I had experienced in other lucid dreams of the subterranean cavern) there were drills being carried out that were leading up to some kind of similar war.

The flashes between realities got faster and more intense. Then everything and everyone just “disappeared”. I found myself standing on what appeared to be a frozen lake in this same cavern which had a massive crack in it suggesting it had been hit by something heavy.

I was all alone.

The team shows up

That is when the rest of the “team” showed up from a small tunnel behind me and I heard the leader say “see, I told you he was Thor.” Pretty funny considering the whole Thor being Loki’s brother thing. Strangely, I never was a fan of the Marvel franchise dealing with those characters. I never bothered watching it. I had a basic understanding of Norse mythology, but that was about it. The Thor thing was completely left field for me.

This is where I started to regain some sort of control of the dream and start becoming lucid, though there was never the same connection to the higher state of awareness. Only a very faint one.

At this the timeline switching began to even out and I was locked into the one with the barracks made of out the strange metallic substance. I turned, saw the crew standing before me and tried to attack them with whatever weapon was next to me.

I was fucked up. Like really fucked up.

The reality flashing (what I call dimension spinning) had really done a number on me. I remembered my two other team members, but also realized they were now from a timeline that no longer existed. I felt like I’d just been MK Ultra-ed to the extreme.

I have never done LSD, but I imagined this was what the come down of doing it must feel like. The leader said some kind of hypnotic suggestion and I found myself being “deactivated”.

I ended up just dropping my weapon on the floor mid swing and stood there looking at them. It was like shutting down a robot. After a moment I sort of snapped out of the MK Ultra style daze and I was back to my normal self.

Sort of.

I had the sudden realization that the leader – whose name was either Mat or Mac – had been put in the team specifically to provide mentoring and remembrance purposes to the rest of my team who were nowhere to be found. He was the go to guy when we couldn’t remember parts of our mission due to the timeline resets. Sort of like an army psychologist that would make sure consciousnesses wouldn’t go too crazy from all the resetting.

Mentally exhausting

I want to point out here that this whole resetting thing really was very mentally taxing. Even being completely lucid at the training towers, these scenarios we were being put in would test us to our very limits. Having to experience this for the second time in an uncontrolled setting was unbelievably brutal, second only to the soul electrocution torture.

It takes a day or so to readjust from it.

Apparently – according to Mac – the AI had gotten wind of the operation to reawaken divine consciousness and had devised a means to sabotage its efforts by abducting those from the barracks and instilling them with “sleeper cell programming”. This programming could be remotely activated when needed. The cells were then sent back into the ranks of our soldiers and remained dormant until activation.

Each member of my team had at some point been taken, programmed and made to administer the soul shock torture upon others before their reincarnation. What I had just come out the other side of was that sleeper cell programming being activated in all three of us which resulted in us fucking up the timelines and my team mates being permanently erased from “Akashic history”. Again this is my interpretation based on what Mac was telling me, not a direct quote.

A member of the “other side”

I had apparently been a very highly ranking member of this sleeper cell operation for the other side. I had become a double agent through the corruption regime of those in control of the AI, who I assumed were the same Slave Gods.

At some point I defected over to Mac’s side and they used me to gain intelligence on this sleeper cell operation. Much of the torture via electrocution and dimension spinning was what this was about.

I was being bounced back and forth between these two factions like a ping pong ball. Mac’s team would administer electrocution to embed certain codes into me which would then be activated by – you guessed it – even more electrocution from the AI side.

It was really delightful. Not.

Cue the Milabs investigators. I got fun when I’d be 3 layers deep in several dreams simultaneously and be tortured in each one.

Thor, and the names of other gods and deities were supposedly activation words for the sleeper cell programming. Mac told me I had, in more than one life, killed him because of this programming. He just joked about it rather casually like it was no big deal, showing me precisely where I had stabbed him in the back in other past life’s.

Deactivation

After being “deactivated”, I was left to wander around the barracks to try and stimulate my memories of what was going on and who I was in this place. It was a rehabilitation effort to get me back to proper form so I could continue to carry out my obligations under the amnesia correction operation.

I walked around for a little while watching other “soldiers” carry out their astral training. There was a woman I remember talking to, but what she looked like or what it was about, is hazy.

All I can remember is that the conversation turned into a heated argument (this is where Storme’s dream crossed with mine; she was the woman I was having the argument with, though it had been “blanked” from me). There is a whole other section here which features the wonderful Miss Lyra in Storme’s crossover point.

I got up and stormed off, making my way back towards the barracks.

This woman began chasing me in which some more strangeness happened. I found reality flashing between this subterranean cavern barracks and what appeared to be a large empty warehouse with bovine pelvises and thigh bones lining the floor. There were so many of them that you could not see the ground under the meat. I felt the urge to jump from each and snap them into small pieces with my legs and feet. I was conditioned to feel as though I was not allowed to leave this warehouse “reality” until every single one had been broken. There were millions upon millions of them.

I was really starting to hate this goddamned fucking dimension spinning. It was unbelievably brutal and disconcerting. It left me completely astrally and lucidly disorientated. In my last experience with it, I had been left in it a little too long for my own good. More on that at a later date.

I needed assistance

The meat flipping got so bad that I could barely walk. That’s when I decided to hit up Mac to tell me what the hell was going on. I somehow stumbled my way to his quarters through the flickering of the different realities. Mac’s quarters were a cylindrical sort of tower that was smack bang in the middle of the bridge and at the edge of the other shorter mud hut “dwellings”.

Behind his quarters was a sort of pipe like network that went up to another level high in the sky. I had used these pipes in other lucid expeditions to project my consciousness into. They acted as a means to deliver consciousness to a very specific point within the whole barracks. They reminded me of an air pipe you send messages in canisters through.

My urge to “flip meat” was so bad that I felt like I was going insane from it.

I called out to Mac from the bottom of the tower. He came down a flight of metal framed steps to meet me. I asked what the hell was going on with this meat flipping business.

Mac replied by saying “Oh, you mean the military training dreams?” then proceeded to casually tell me about a knife I used to carry with me called the “Psaicut”. I would hold it up to my eye and shout its’ name to “petrify” – paralyse – my enemies.

Real Clockwork Orange sort of shit.

He mentioned this had something to do with Psaigreen – like this was the name of my group – which were the ones responsible for the meat flipping brainwashing programs.

According to him, what was actually going on was that we were being trained the art of snapping peoples’ necks with our legs, but the Psaigreen had brainwashed us into believing it was bovine pelvises so we wouldn’t realize what we were doing. It was like a failsafe to confuse the shit out of us if we ever started remembering any of this.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT” I said as some very deeply repressed past life memories started flooding back to me. And I mean DEEEEEP. There was just that knowing that these were legitimate memories of something I had long forgotten. At the mention of the Psaigreen, I realised these were all things I knew. This was a memory from a very, very long time ago.

Many, many lifetimes ago.

Yet another controlled awakening

At this same time I went through another controlled awakening. The dream just started slowly washing away like waves on a calm ocean. I was awake in bed feeling sick to my stomach like I was going to throw up (I had never had this feeling before from a dream). The memory of my time in the Psaigreen really kicked the shit out me. Even more so than the dimension spinning.

I remember thinking “I am in a goddamned Dr Who episode”. I was so conflicted by it all I didn’t even want to tell Storme because it was so crazy. Why did I keep having these bizarre experiences? Well, obviously it was because I was doing things inside my own head that most people considered were not possible. The ironic part was that I wouldn’t find out she had the same {part of} dream until a couple of years later.

In Storme’s account she recalls a cavern in identical detail to the one I was in. The large river. The weird mud huts on its banks. The barracks built over the water with a tall tower in the middle. The consciousness pipe maze. The mess hall. Our accounts of this place are literally identical.

Her dream started with her meeting with a Major – ie Mac – in one of the mud houses and being told to wait for me. When I eventually arrived she had to brief me on the fact that the one I called Lyra (again an identical description of my Lyra) was an AI that had been corrupted. As a result they were planning to reboot her, which meant she would lose all her memory of our operations together.

Apparently I wouldn’t listen. I hated AIs – I was apparently very rAIcist (one had just wiped my friends out of existence) – but at the same time had some weird lust for this Lyra woman (who Storme and her crew called Aimee’s). I ended up walking off in anger. Storme decided to follow me and found me acting really bizarre. This would have been exactly when I started having the weird impulses to flip meat.

In her version of the dream, it was her who walked me back to Mac’s quarters in the middle of the barracks. The assumption we both got from it all was that my sleeper programming was activated when she tried telling me Lyra was an AI. They were a common model of AI used on these sorts of assignments, but were human in every way conceivable.

Take what you want of this. It certainly is a really bizarre combined experience to have with somebody.

About a week later – during the super moon – I had my final contact experience with the Elder Guardians. This contact came in the form of either the Grand Elder himself or another from his group that looked very similar.

The “real world”?

I was in the “real world” which was a place similar to The Capital in the hunger games. There were stone, Egyptian like houses with television type screens hovering in the air. In the distance could be seen a great pyramid and a large river in front of it. This river separated the upper and middle class from the lower slaves. The slaves were situated on the opposite side of the river further downstream. The upper and middle class “dwellings” had been built into the river to keep water on that side fresh. Waste water would go into the lower class side upstream. The lower class then had a purifying plant setup right on their side of the river bank.

Crossing the river was a slightly arched cobblestone bridge that terminated in a triangular courtyard on the water. Off this courtyard came a smaller bridge that connected to the other bank.

I was in a spherical shaped building on the upper class side.

It seemed to be a political chamber, and had an a joining library. I was a middle class man; some sort of cleric working for the library administration. Only the upper class were allowed to be politicians. It was all to do with status. You were either a politician, a politician’s pet, or a slave tasked with the upkeep of the city. There was no other job positions.

At the top of the political sphere building there were stone walkways coming out and crossing over to where the upper class dwelt. The middle class men were expected to use the walkways on the ground.

It was as if someone had taken Ancient Egypt and used it as base of inspiration for a city set 1000 or so years in the future; it was both Ancient and futuristic at once. Weirdly, the most far out tech was the hovering screens which seemed to utilise some form of anti gravity.

There was some kind of massive election going on.

The cabal (the malevolent faction responsible for cutting off humanity’s connection with their higher minds) were very clearly the ones who were currently in power. This election was a big deal, as it affected every race in the universe, and only happened very rarely – thousands of years apart. It was evident that the Cabal had manipulated their reign of power so as to gain an unfair advantage in this election. This would see them retain their seat of power over the Earth and its affairs.

It was all about the control of Earth.

“The Governments of Earth were a direct mimicry of Cabal social orders, and were a key component in how they had maintained their control. The whole concept of government {on Earth} had come from the most dominant alien race in the Cabal. Allegedly.”

This is a direct passage from my dream journal entry recorded the day after this experience, 2 years before I even heard of Alien Interview. Note the similarity to Airl’s assertions.

Much of this information I picked up on due to having to send memos back and forth between politicians.

Voting to get and retain power

Everyone in the “The Capital” were very well aware that the Cabal were using deceptive tactics to make people on earth “vote” them back into power, but very few people understood exactly how this was being carried out. The influence of the Cabal was so great that it had spread into the “real world” (that Egyptian like world), where information of this nature was also being suppressed by the people living there. Sound familiar?

It was a very similar situation like our mainstream media, where the Cabal controlled everything we read and watched. However, there were times when information would slip through the cracks and trickle down to the common folk. It was a totalitarian dictatorship taken to the extreme.

What was known amongst us was that there was an active force of Elders from other races that were opposed to the Cabal’s way of dealing with things, and were actively trying to break the hold that they had gained upon everyone on earth and in the real world.

At this point I was not 100% lucid but had flittering moments of lucidity coming through.

A prominent guerrilla (like) group

There was a prominent guerrilla like group that the Elders belonged to, and every so often they were able to broadcast a message on the television screens. This was clearly an effort of tremendous hacking capabilities. Whenever one of these broadcasts appeared, every single person stopped what they were doing to listen to them (the TV’s were set out so that not a single person could escape the constant propaganda being delivered to them on an hourly basis courtesy of the Cabal). The word of the Elders was considered of paramount importance over everything else by the slaves and middle class men and women.

I was in the political chambers when the broadcast came on. It started with the usual address to the people from the Elders.

It stated bluntly that they were actively deconstructing the Cabal network in and around Earth, and that great progress had been made.

As it went on, I made my way out into the triangle courtyard where the nearest TV was.

Some specifics of these operations were mentioned. This was surprising to everyone as it was normal for the Elders to keep such things secret. It was the greatest announcement these people had ever witnessed, because it was the first time they had acknowledgment of being in the Elders’ thoughts. It was a broadcast that confirmed many things that until then had only been rumored to have occurred.

As I watched the broadcast the Elder mentioned that there were people that had been sent to Earth – or the false world – to act as representatives for their group. These people had been tasked with delivering information on the main device the Cabal had in operation that was keeping them in power. They then proceeded to run a very long scrolling list of who those representatives were.

It was evident that they had embedded some sort of code in that list. My eyes scrolled with the names and I began to target out my name and mentally zoom into it. I could read it as clearly as day. This is something that has never been easy in my dreams, even the lucid ones, and I realized it said Daegon Magus.

The thought went through my head that it was my author pseudonym but it was missing my middle nickname; it was very specifically a target to activate me, or – more correctly – deprogram me. I had been thinking of changing it to a different name (in the physical world), but this experience dissuaded me.

The name sort of popped out of the screen and hovered in mid-air, and the letters rearranged themselves. As they did my surroundings dissolved into atoms, then the name along with it. I was now somewhere between the fabric of that reality speaking directly with the Grand Elder. Or a similar Elder. At this point I was once again functioning from the level of my higher mind and was completely lucid and consciously aware of what was going on; this had been the first time the Elder had pulled me out of a “standard dream” to communicate with me, rather than a lucid one.

These guys had some really neat tricks up their sleeves.

The Elder spoke of a word which was like a conjunction of Uranus, Saturn and Mercury or some other planets in our solar system, which when said sounded like 3 people were speaking it at once. Each version, however, would be slightly different. When read, it looked as though some of the letters had been doubled – something like Urraanniiuusatecry or Urraanniiuussaatteeccrryy. I don’t know if this was the name of my people, of the Elder’s people or if it was the name of the Elder himself, but it was a very, very important word that I was made to remember.

I was also shown a very vivid image of another elitist name and how they had embedded some kind of programming formula by rearranging its letters. Exactly the same as what had been done with mine. Essentially these were cyphers, that, if meditating on, rearranging them in the proper sequence could apparently lead to dissolution of the illusion in one’s own consciousness. What you do is pull the letters out and move them to a different place in the name, like you are making an anagram. It has to be a very specific order, and the vowels are the letters that are removed while the consonants remain in place. That is if my memory serves me correctly. The occult magical system of deconstructing “abracadabra” is similar to how these ciphers were meant to work. Again, that is my interpretation.

Half way through this encounter I was disturbed by Storme who I knew had spoken to me back in the Egyptian like “real world”. I was able to shift my consciousness from the atomic plane to the real world plane without effort.

I realised I was now in some kind of study room reading a book.

Storme had come in, and noticed the blank look on my face as I stared at a page without movement. She asked what I was doing in a very confused tone. I snapped out of my daze to tell her “its ok, I am receiving some very important information from an Elder regarding the election”. I then looked back at the page in my book and the letters began rearranging themselves in the same way as the ciphers. Again, everything disintegrated and I was back in the atomic plane where the Elder was waiting for me.

Are Earth Humans in a Consciousness Simulation?

I asked very specifically if we {back on Earth} were in a consciousness simulation.

The Elder confirmed to me that yes, every single person on Earth was trapped in a false reality that had been constructed by the Alien factions present within the Cabal. It had been designed so that consent of these people was unwillingly being given as to mark their votes for the Cabal remaining in office.

All contracts signed within the physical reality apparently equated to a vote for the Cabal to remain in office. The third parties mentioned in such contracts were in reference to non physical entities that were in control of the higher energetic bodies. Contracts were literally binding us to the physical reality, through quantum loopholes according to the Elder.

The Elder explained that when Earth bodies come out of physical reality during their sleep, they are hijacked as they do so. They are then taken to special facilities in the “real world”. They are processed and implemented with fresh programming to keep their physical life story consistent.

After that they are either thrown back into the VR machine or let free in a restricted part of the “real world” where their labor is used for the upkeep of the city. This is under the heavily brainwashed idea that the city would crumble if they didn’t volunteer to help. This keeps them obliged to depend on the Cabal and offer them consent in exchange for security. This was the blueprint upon which the entire VR machine was written.

The Elder told me the guerrilla force openly opposing the Cabal were successfully deconstructing parts of this virtual reality machine and the sleep trapping mechanisms being deployed by the Cabal. He told me they were preparing the people of Earth for a transition to another “buffer” reality which appears similar to this false one, but is not under the control of the Cabal.

They apparently could not come here openly and do this because there were “things preventing them from doing so”. He explained these things as a sort of invisible force field around earth. Again hitting on some strong coincidences with Airl. So basically all operations supporting this agenda had to be carried out in planes external to the physical one.

The way he described it was that it was essentially a rehab for Earthians to detox them from all the VR dependencies they had come to rely on due to the Cabal’s manipulation of their free will.

Once properly detoxed the plan was to switch the VR engine off altogether, in which the Earthians would be allowed to return to the real world. It would no longer be restricted or under the control of the Cabal.

Any factions associated with the Cabal would never again be allowed to sit for the election. A new purpose for Earth would then come into motion where the newly elected council would take office.

I was then taken to a scenario that was apparently used immediately after sleep hijacking takes place and immediately before insertion of a subject back into the VR world. Again this was related to what the Obama V2.0 had told me about the holographic tech. Like in my other experiences, I could still hear the Elder’s voice telepathically in my head, telling me to take notes of certain things.

Mentally, I was completely coherent and lucid by this stage.

Entangled in a false reality

It was explained to me by the Elder that usually the subject is not allowed to view this scenario taking place. It is designed to trigger the sub consciousness in a very specific way to keep them entangled in the false reality and think it was real.

I was in this really seedy city type place walking down a sort of road or a back alley at night time. To begin with a dog in a nearby yard came running up to a fence that bordered the road barking at me quite aggressively. As I walked by it more and more dogs would come out, each a little bit more vicious than the last, and the group getting bigger each time. I was content in the fact that the fence was there protecting me from them. I turned a corner and found that once again more dogs were waiting for me, but this time there was no fence and they were in the middle of the road. They would run up to me, go to bite me then something would happen and I would be missing time. I would be in a completely different part of the city facing an even bigger threat. I got to the end of the scenario which took place in some sort of abandoned abattoirs where something horrible (that I can’t remember but I am sure had to do with dismembering my body) happened.

At this point the scenario froze and the Elder’s voice pierced my thoughts.

It was explained to me that this scenario was designed to gradually build up a subjects fear response by subtly ramping up the threat factor being posed to them. This is then used to condition them toward a certain reaction when they start to become aware of the illusion of the VR world.

I was told this scenario could go on for a long time depending on their personality and how hard it was to kick in their fear instinct. It was shown to me that by kicking in the fight or flight reflex, the subject immediately forgets all ideas of the illusion and commits to locking themselves back in to the virtual reality while they deal with taking care of the threat.

They keep you busy dealing with “scary” illusions so you don’t cotton on to them being exactly that. Illusions. I had grown accustomed to using my mind without its body, so these illusions didn’t phase me quite as much. What were they going to do? Dimension spin me again? I was that annoying dog that kept getting out of whatever fence you kept putting up around it regardless of how many different worlds you made me experience in the span of a whole second.

The Elder made me walk back through the scenario from finish to start, as this was how it was done by the Cabal. I suddenly realized I was watching myself in third person. I came across a group of thugs, and although not feeling scared, I decided to fight them, knowing that I could beat them easily. As I did, the Elder Guardian’s voice in my head said “No. That’s how they want you to react”. So I stopped what I was doing and calmly walked back to the end of the road, then came back around and went straight past, ignoring them.

I eventually got to the groups of rabid dogs. Instead of running from them I just barked and snarled back at them. The results were instantaneous. The dogs went from being massive vicious Rottweilers and Doberman’s to shrinking to very scared little Chihuahua’s that went hightailing it down the road not understanding what was going on. It exposed to me a flaw in the programming design, that if you fight it without physical aggression, and it instead challenge its dominance it does not know how to respond. If you believe you are much scarier than the illusion, the illusion no longer works.

I got back to the start of the scenario and something happened.

I blacked out.

I blacked out and came to in a sort of decontamination chamber belonging to the Cabal’s military. This was a very long hallway which I assumed was where the holographic scenario was being broadcast. I was totally butt naked.

It was creepy how similar this was to the Matrix. Only I wasn’t waking up in a pod like Neo. And the things greeting me weren’t machines. Or aliens. They were real, human people, dressed in military uniforms.

Physically, I could not move my body the way I wanted to. Something else was in control of it and was piloting it remotely. It felt similar to sleep paralysis. I couldn’t talk. All I could do was watch through my eyes as two guards escorted me through the decontamination chamber.

They quickly washed me down, and pressed a button and the door next to the shower section opened. This thing was like what you see in military bunkers; it was almost square shaped, several feet thick and made of solid steel. It slid open from both sides.

I was walked out of the decontamination chamber into a room that looked like a standard operations control room, with people typing things on computers that had been arranged around a big screen.

To my immediate right was a wall, and to my left was a rail the otherside of which dropped down to a sunken level. This is where the computers were set up. 5 meters in front of me were steps that led down to that level. The opposite wall was about 10 or so meters away, which had another massive steel door embedded into the wall to my immediate right. I still have a photographic memory of this place.

They notice an anomaly

One of the programmers collected my data (everything I had perceived in this physical reality) and upon noticing an anomaly with it showed the Commander, asking him if they should refresh my programming and send me back in or not. Sometime during all of this the Grand Elder’s voice kept coming through telling me to take note of certain things and of the Alien beings that were in control of the facility; I caught a glimpse of one of them through a viewing window that had another room on the other side. The viewing window was to my immediate left in the back wall of the sunken level; the same side of the door I’d just come through.

This was the only time I ever saw an alien during my mystical experiences, but I cannot remember what it looked like. If I had to hazard guess, I would say mantid, solely because the only thing I remember about it was that it had some sort of dark armour like skin. An exoskeleton. It’s like the rest of its image has been blocked.

All I can remember of it was that its hand was interacting with some sort of control panel in the other room. That other room appeared to be completely insulated from this one, like they were trying to keep that being and the humans separate. I think the Commander was the only one who was allowed to go near it.

It became apparent that the Commander – who was human – was the one piloting me.

He took one look at the dataset and replied

“No, something is wrong. He has been doing something or talking to someone off record and I want to find out who or what it is”.

He ordered me to walk over to what looked like a rack full of movies and video games to which my arm automatically began pulling out “The Lord of the Rings”.

I had no idea what this meant but, the Commander smiled and said

“Ahh is that what he has been doing? In that case we’ll drop this one into the test rig”.

The Elder’s voice reassured me everything was ok. He told me this was expected and that something had been hidden in the dataset to bring that outcome to fruition. He was speaking directly to me, right in front of these guys and they couldn’t register it. This was despite them monitoring every aspect of my mind. It was like the Elder had the ability to put me into a bubble where mine and his thoughts couldn’t be read by the programmers.

I was whisked into yet another room where some sort of device lay set up, hanging from the roof, with lots of tubes and wires coming out of it. I was made to stand in the middle right underneath this thing on a sort of platform.

A similar spherical portal to the ones I had summoned during lucid dreaming appeared in front of me.

And now another world.

Once again everything went dark, and then I “awoke” in another world that was a very close replica of the real world, but with a sort of village in its center. It was being contained by heavily armed Cabal guards that roamed its borders. I remember looking out of a deck of some sort of apartment or pub at the sky and poles and thinking

“Fucking hell this is so obviously fake. How did I ever think this was real?”

Immediately two things became obvious; the guards were “asleep” and the people they were keeping contained were awake; i.e. the people knew it was a VR world, but the guards didn’t. I remember seeing some old man who looked like a local celebrity – Scotty – and I couldn’t work out why with all these awakened people no one was doing anything.

“I said, you know this is a false reality don’t you?”

Scotty looked at me very hesitantly and said “yeah so?”

I suddenly remembered that everyone was imbued with a power associated with one of the four elements, and that if awakened they could summon that element to aid them. Apparently when combined properly with those of other elements they are quite powerful. This was knowledge the Cabal had successfully suppressed, but I don’t know how I knew it. It was just something my higher mind knew. I only remembered it once I was thrown into the test rig.

I summoned wind – my element – and turned to Scotty…

“So why don’t you help me so we can get out?”

Scotty looked at me with a very worrying look and said “no”, then huddled off.

So escape…

I figured at that point that people here were too oppressed to be of any help, so I started summoning tornadoes and cyclones to tear apart the buildings. This was just the standard sort of things I always did in Lucid Dreams; I’d just summon whatever I needed whenever I needed it.

The exception to this was when I was stuck in a consciousness prison, as they disallowed me this ability. Alarms went off and guards came running. I just casually walked past them, and they stopped in confusion as it seemed they couldn’t see me. This was despite me being right in front of them.

I ended up walking to a place that would have been out of bounds, if it weren’t for my destructive efforts. Somewhere along the lines I got the gist that this VR was a new “model” the military were working on implementing and was in its testing phase. Hopefully I caused them a bit of a headache with my antics. You could sort of see the boundaries of blankness where they hadn’t uploaded any environment data.

I think the making of this place was in direct retaliation to the Elder attacks on their system.

Well… I am at a university….

I ended up at what appeared to be a university building. This was the impression I got anyway. It had nicely manicured gardens and big glass windows that reached the roof which was only a couple of stories high.

Inside the foyer there was what appeared to be a sculpture of a brain made out of Ethernet cables instead of grey matter. Upon looking at the cables I realized they were coiled like old telephone cords and each terminated somewhere on the sculpture in a typical network hub.

There were thousands upon thousands of connections (this thing took up an entire room and was 2 storeys high) which all had blinking yellow and red lights at their ends. Something told me this was the VR server where every ones consciousness is downloaded while they are in the physical reality. I had this understanding that it was through the coiling of the wires that they were able to control consciousness similar to what we know as inductive coupling. The coils read the magnetism carried off via our thoughts.

I was about to destroy the whole thing when I came to the understanding it would be detrimental to those consciousness’s still attached to it. I decided to leave it and walk for the stairs.

As I reached the top a glass door slid open and out stumbled two people, dazed like zombies, one of which I knew to be Storme and the other of who I knew in the “real world”. I asked them “are you awake” – my code phrase for “are you lucidly aware” – and they both shook their heads robotically. I said to myself “looks like I am going back in”. I summoned an inward projection portal and projected into it. At this point I woke up in this physical reality back in bed.

This concluded my mystical experiences, but certainly not the paranormal ones.

Am I crazy?

At this point, I would have checked myself into the nearest mental asylum if it hadn’t been for Elon Musk and the other Silicone Valley giants jumping on board the whole simulation theory idea.

Nick Bostrom’s philosophical paper on that whole concept is something I seriously recommend reading to help expand ones consciousness. It can be found here; The Simulation Argument (simulation-argument.com)

Then there was this I ended up stumbling upon:

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/erin-valenti-death-family-searches-for-answers-2019-12?r=US&IR=T

In the video version I watched, it was reported Erin was actually the CEO of a company who were developing brain implant chips similar to Musk’s.

None of this compared to any of the confirmation I would ultimately get.

Then collapse!

My lucid dreaming capabilities ended up taking a nose dive, shortly after the Unseen 5 experience. I chalked this down to having a kid and no longer being in the well rested state of mind that I know is crucial for it. I was actually quite surprised with these last two experiences.

They were the first proper lucid dreams I had had in quite some time.

As you can imagine, the mystical experiences drove me crazy. I ended up trolling around the internet trying to find someone – anyone – with anything even remotely similar to talk to. I was lucky that I at least had Storme to talk to about it all. Who knows where I’d be if I didn’t.

I dropped a compressed version of this story on a few UFO and Starseed groups and others for occult subjects such as astral projection and lucid dreaming.

I was met with either “I call bullshit, astral projection is not relevant to ETs” from the UFO/ occult crowds, or “I am an alien from Pleiades because a psychic told me so” from the Starseed groups.

Although the Starseed groups seemed promising, I noticed a lot of information on there that was downright false that people were lapping up.

Two years later (this year), it all started coming to a head.

I was phoned by a very prominent ET researcher in America who linked my experiences to the Majestic 12. The information she gave me in that interview apparently came directly from her source within the CIA. This source had been told things by an MAJ Agent himself. I will include a report of that interview in another article. I wanted to include her in my autobiography, but she was apprehensive about it and asked me specifically not to mention her. Hence I have omitted her name.

I was contacted by another who was part of a similar consciousness operation and grew up under the ice in Antartica. She only reached out to me because she could relate to my experience where I “wrote the scroll.” This person I have been in constant contact with since making her acquaintance. I was talking to her on almost a daily basis for a good few months about everything she has experienced.

She has some very interesting things to say which parallel a lot of what MM has written in some of his articles. I hope one day she is able to share her experiences as I have done with mine.

In the same week I met this person I was put on to the Alien Interview document by someone else and my jaw hit the floor. The amount of things I experienced that Airl described was insane.

This was before Isaac CARET had even put me on the path of MM. If you find that {Isaac CARET} article of MM’s, I even mentioned the Alien Interview in one of my comments (I incorrectly misnamed Lawrence Spencer as Paul Spencer) before it was on MM’s radar.

So you can say I was pretty damned excited when MM did an 8 part breakdown of it and confirmed it as being what spawned MAJ.

I had been thinking of doing my own breakdown of it in regards to how it ties in with my lucid dreaming experiences since January before MM did his in June. Mine will be up once I have written more articles to provide some back context to it.

And of course there is MM himself. He was honestly the first person I had seen who was explaining things I already knew about in very similar ways to how I knew them. Reading his accounts it was uncanny how similar our thoughts were on many subjects. You may have noticed me subtly implying these parallels throughout my articles.

What MM calls “prayer affirmation campaigns” I had a very similar concept going on which I called “manifestation”.

Occultism was all about the idea one could elicit change in their environment through will power alone, after all; this was something I had an unfaltering belief in since I was a kid. I never once thought it was a load of bullshit. Back in 2019 I was conducting experiments in determining the timespan between intention and manifestation.

I had a success one day in which I was able to pin point the manifestation as being exactly 10 hours after the intention. I can tell you that custom number plates on cars are a good way to manifest “messages” because of the subconscious energy people all put into driving.

When MM says “combined focus of a goal amplifies the affirmation campaign”, you won’t find a better place where everyone’s attention is focused on the same thing than on the road.

In my experiments I was trying to use the information in random custom numberplates to “tell me” when my manifestation worked.

It also works by sending emails to yourself.

What do you think I was doing going nuts trying to find these 20 000 other souls I was supposed to be in charge of? Sending the Elder Guardians messages via my own email address specifically to reconnect with people that were part of it, of course. I didn’t have as clear a focus, but somewhere deep inside me, something just knew it would work. Part of my affirmation/ manifestation campaign was to be put into more specific information in regards to how it all worked. MM was the literal jackpot of my manifestation efforts (thankyou MM).

The Rufus thing I totally dig as well.

I’m the type of guy who doesn’t fling homeless people whatever spare change is in my wallet; I go and buy them a proper meal and sit down and talk with them for as long as they will allow me. I don’t do this for any reason other than because I know how much it sucks to be lonely.

Given my wife was homeless, I also have a vicarious understanding of how much it sucks to have nowhere to go. It’s easy to fling change and pass them by.

Everyone wants to be heard, but not everyone wants to listen. Be the one that wants to.

Always look for an opportunity to help someone. If the opportunity jumps out at you and catches you off guard, take it at once. The ones watching in the outer planes – like the EG and U5 – will notice, even if nobody in the physical does.

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 5 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

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[PissedLizard] Some clues as to who the Mantids are and why they are involved with humans on earth

We all have experiences, and once we step outside the realm of what is "normal", or experiences take on a surreal aspect. Others, sometimes well-meaning, don't understand what you are trying to relate. And thus, you learn. You keep quiet and you don't share your experiences with anyone. But that really isn't healthy.

The following is a personal narrative regarding PissedLizard's (Lovingly referred to as PL here on MM) personal experiences. 

In this article he describes his experiences with the Mantids. I will tell you that his experiences are quite different from mine. It does not mean that I am right and he is wrong, it is just different. Read and take what you desire from this smorgasbord and cornucopia of information.

-MM

I would like to explain the “light/void” concept as I experienced it and can communicate it.

I just want to say this and be as honest as I possibly can – and discerning it all – it’s hard to wrap my head around. I was never “selected” to join anything, nor was I ever at the top of my classes. I am as a regular guy as you can get. In fact my life looks more like a walking disaster story than anything else.

I am no stranger to hallucinogenics. At all. The closest this experience I can get to was a 5 day ayahuasca purge. Not a straight DMT run but the same kind of peaks and valleys as ayahuasca.

I have no substances in me nor did I take any before or after. No alcohol, cannabis, nothing.

I was medically stable and am around psychiatrists almost daily (they are my peers) – and they know my views and how adamant I am about letting me know and taking appropriate action should they see psychosis. I was with 1 of them the day of this all transpiring.

I don’t want to go into the where’s and how’s of me getting there. You already know that.

When that switch “flipped” I was taken by my Mantid to my life. We went through it all, as you and others have described elsewhere. It was very similar – but as a person would describe a movie versus being in the theatre, so much is lost.

We went through my life – from my first conscious decision all the way up to the day all this went down.

We had come to that day in my life when this incident or flight happened.

I was brought back to the middle of that day. There were others there – I could not see them as they were behind me – but there were 3 or 4 humans behind me.

I was given to another Mantid. A different one. I could tell it was angry, but not at me.

We went to its area of the multiverse and to a facility where the following happened. I do not know if it was a ship, planet, asteroid or what, but it was a physical place. Again, being no stranger to hallucinogenic trips – I touched the walls and stuff. I could feel the heat on the substance it was made of – like a metallic glass but not really. Everything had this unearthly appearance.

As we were traveling we used ley lines to move. We used the earths ley lines at first – it was like a was being shown how they move around the multiverses – the ley lines are for movement from point A to B. The device it showed me was how to “fine tune” OFF of the ley lines set out through out the multiverse.

We went all the way to the 4th of 7 “rings” of the multiverse. That is the “ring” or domain of Mantids and Insectoids as well as other non-humanoid races.

For context, “souls” or “soul connections” on earth do not go further than that ring. Some do – people whose “frequency” has been raised high enough, but most never go past the 4th “ring”.

Satan, the “Devil”, that CONCEPT – is FIRST ring. Those souls that fear Satan never leave the first ring, this is by design as outlined in Alien Interview.

I was told that all species go through a phase of the “Judeo-Christian tale” to keep souls on earth. Eventually souls end up figuring it out and they leave their planets.

When we left the earths “ring” I actually saw the manifestation of all human evil as what they believe to be “Satan”. We passed it and went back. The Mantid said – CLEARLY – you no longer ever have to worry about that. Look ahead – and we hauled – and I mean MOVED – to its home. It was like a roller coaster ride being flung around.

When we got to its area (planet or ship) he told me to relax and not to be scared. I was. I was scared shitless. I am not going to lie. I was.

He explained that the Mantids interest in earth really has nothing to do with humans per se. He said that their interest was more in the plant life of earth, not so much humans. He said we were basically just genetic “jars” that are being grown for different traits. He said that about every 150-175 HUMAN years (ADJUSTED for the way they count our years and the way they wanted me and those that know how to use the thing I sent you-is by the moon. 13 lunar months) they have mass extinction events to “cull the herd” so to speak. It’s more to get rid of these skin suits than anything else.

Their interest began with plant life here. They intentionally made some plants that can communicate with them as “beacons” to give planetary health reports.

Some of these plants we have discovered and use to communicate with them or “the spirit world”. This has always been intentional. Souls that are “young” on this planet do not have the communication skills that older souls do. This is why some people have very different experiences with cannabis or mushrooms or even alcohol.

Taking a step back – the frequencies of plants were explained this way.

A carrot doesn’t have a set frequency.

A GROUP of carrots – and this is important – a GROUP of carrots connected by our fungi mycelium do. What does THIS mean?

It means that all plantlife is literally connected to each other under ground by millions of connections of fungi.

Again, this is by design – and has nothing to do with humans.

If you were to picture a meadow – each individual grass plant has a fungal connection to its neighbors and so on and so on.

This fungal “mat” is what is the generator of that particular biomes frequency.

When plant life that they are interested in starts to send out distress signals – the Mantids come.

They began getting involved with the human species long ago, I do not know why at this point, but their MAIN concern is not us – but certain plantlife on earth.

This plant life acts to draw or repel craft or entities to or from a planet.

Planet earth is one of billions with plant life. On each interstellar ley line you can always find a planet with plants and fungi. As you can find planets that are barren. All are mapped and are used in interstellar navigation.

I was shown actual strains of a particular plant – each strain had different qualities about it – exactly the same way people today breed cannabis plants for certain qualities – same exact thing. This plant had a lot of qualities I didn’t even think of as I look at it as a weed in my garden.

As well there are insects here in earth that are under “the care of” Mantids. Those who are being woken up will know what they are.

I was then brought to a Mantid that was wearing all orange with a grey stripe going down where the forearms are.

This one seemed important. The last thing the Mantid I was with communicated was “be on your best behavior while you are with him”. And make no mistake-I was.

This Mantid stood directly in front of me face to face about 2 arms lengths away. It had the cube in its hand – and I immediately knew what it was – but not really. It’s like it was a familiar face. You know the name but just can’t place it…

He then showed me the start up sequence and it came to life. We went through a passageway and was in what looked exactly like my property and house – but it was the negative image of it if that makes sense. Like old school camera negative.

The then took his helmet off – it looked exactly like his head – but when he took it off his head was still there! He said I was going to be shown how to use the device as an individual to manipulate world lines. When it’s used on a craft it’s different.

He put his helmet on me and I could see how “time and space” fit.

It looks like you are inside of a kalidescope, except instead of us wing your hands to manipulate a tube – you move your head.

One of the things it was able to do was slow time down so I could see a bullet coming out of a gun and what should have been my head during a death sequence.

We then went through training with 4 other Mantids to be certain that I could use it the way they wanted me to. I had this knowledge but it was long “forgotten”.

It was as mind blowing as the first time you ever kissed the love of your life. THAT kind of feeling.

When they were satisfied I could bring time/distance down to its lowest workable component – I was brought back to the first Mantid that brought me there.

He said I was going to have my DNA reconfigured. A large stretch of one strand was being removed and replaced with some other DNA.

And let me just digress.

Those who are unfamiliar with me, I am quite aware of how we are “taught” genetics everywhere on earth, and like everywhere on earth we are still in the egg, not even the infancy of discovery.

How humans think DNA works and how it REALLY works are 2 different things. Newtonian DNA is not QUANTUM DNA.

When I was given to the other Mantid, the Orange suit one stayed with – but always behind and to my left.

He then went through a whole school of information about its war philosophies as well as its peace philosophies. It was what I envision a military academy would be. Lots of book fighting instructions. That stuff. There are a lot of entities on Earth we all need to be aware of and how to neutralize them.

Everyone who needs to learn this stuff WILL learn it. Not through me or ANYONE SELLING ANYTHING.

That is the big reason the Mantids are now here.

Think of it this way: humans are another experiment in the same lab that the Mantids are working in. They are not the Mantids experiment – but now HUMANS have come to a point where they are DISRUPTING their experiment.

They do not want us destroying what they created.

When the planets population skyrocketed after WW2, things got dicey. We were destroying what they created at a records pace and the beings that are supposed to keep the planet “balanced”, aren’t.

So here they came.

They put “global warming” ideas in people’s heads to slow things down.

THEN the same species that was supposed to be keeping an eye on us got distracted by gold and precious metals, as THEY NEED those metals to live. Along with other crazy elements and compounds.

That species basically taught a bunch of humans to PROFIT off of the whole “global warming/climate change” project – a project that was only intended to slow down the destruction of earth.

This INCENSED a lot of species in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rings along with 7 “gatekeepers” who are female.

The reason they are so angry is that because humans are “saving the climate” in exchange for gold – they are not doing what they are SUPPOSED to be doing – which is ACTUALLY MAKING CHANGES.

The Mantids donor care what the changes are – only that changes happen.

The fact that people are PROFITING off of it has gotten them angry beyond belief right now.

PROFITING and the hunt for gold and other precious metals is for those in the first ring only.

And that’s where we come to religion and Heaven and the light.

The more souls mining for it or ANY other metal on earth is the REASON for religion. To keep us enslaved. And that’s fine if they are happy. Some souls NEED to be in this cycle. Others are ready to move on. We know if we should go or stay – and that is why going to the light is so popular. Not everyone is READY for the void and what comes with it. At all.

I was then turned to the Orange suit Mantid and he then brought me to the “Seven Sisters”. That was a trip in and of itself. I’ll write about THAT another time.

Orange Mantid gave me a final test with the cube and I had to “wrestle” him for the cube – but it was clearly like an old man letting a child win. He then gave me an image to think of and a method to call them back should the need arise – but ONLY in war time and ONLY when needed. I was given a cloth with several scents including theirs, so combined with their new knowledge on how to think and communicate – I was still – the human side – was and is still a bit freaked out.

They don’t play games. Period. End of story.

He handed me to the Mantid that brought me there and this one made me “navigate” back.

I then went to the room where you, MM were with 2 others. Humans.

This is where I felt the soul anchoring do a hairpin turn.

There WAS a major anchoring event and I have a feeling it has to do with the 150 year mass extinction event – whatever and whenever it happens.

I saw the lines – then 4 or 5 anchor “points” and the hairpin turn.

I was then given back to MY Mantid and we went from there.

There were a LOT of conversations and I was shown A LOT of POSSIBLE outcomes of the future. Some good, some not. All I can get into now is what I wrote.

One of the things about training – at one point I was told I had to count every blade of grass on a 25 acre meadow. I was shown how to use the device to slow time and stretch space that although it felt like it took 10 “human years”, it was actually 0.00000000000000000001 second. (18 places past the decimal point-whatever individual square would be on the device)

All of what I have written I know to be true.

Conclusion

Phew! As I have said, these other contributors have a world of experiences so unlike mine, but in some ways so vary familiar. I think that we can all take what is important to us and learn from PL experiences. Don’t you?

Do you want more?

The master Index of PissedLizard articles can be found here…

PissedLizard

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
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[daegonmagus] – Part 3 – Conversation with the All Being and Initiation Into the Unseen 5

The following is the third part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 3 – Conversation with the All Being and Initiation Into the Unseen 5

In Part 2 I explained how I had yet another contact experience with the Grand Elder where I remembered my reincarnation. This was in a house that seemed to have a lot of paranormal activity going on. I also mentioned I had a rather traumatic experience where I was left crippled in my left hand, though I intentionally left out specific details.

As I was in hospital that very night, I heard some chaotic chatter in my head. My wife heard the same chatter about 50 kilometres away. These voices were telling her that “this was not supposed to happen”. I don’t know if this meant I was supposed to die that night, or not be put in that situation altogether. As you will see, it had a repercussive effect on the path my life was going to take.

We remained in this house a few more months after my hand was cut open, whilst we looked for somewhere else to rent. The neighbours had moved out and skipped town – according to the police. The thought of them knowing where we were was not exactly something we were enthusiastic about.

About a month before we moved, I was going to bed one night when I saw a random portal open up in front of my eyes. I was in bed with my eyes closed. Ever since I was little, I would see golden energy pulses whenever I’d close them. These energy pulses were particularly strong this night after a meditation I had done a few hours previous. They were so strong that I couldn’t sleep.

All of a sudden my eyes automatically opened. They were drawn to a point on the roof, which I couldn’t even make out due to the darkness of the room. Out of no where the portal appeared as a purple double lined spiral. It slowly started spinning. It lasted for a few seconds before disappearing. I had seen an image of the exact same spiral a few years prior on the news. It was identical to the one that appeared over Trøndelag, Norway in 2009, except it had no blue light coming off it to the side.

Just another paranormal experience in the string of them that made up my life.

Somehow I thought the Australian Defense Force would have a hard time telling me this was just a failed missile launch. This was the official narrative the military in Norway gave for their spiral. This is the only time I have ever “seen” something whilst being completely present in this physical reality. My wife was building up a much better catalogue.

We ended up moving out just before New Years Eve 2014 . We scored a house on the other side of the hills not far from where my wife’s mother lived. Her (my mother in law’s ) friend was moving to Melbourne, so we got the house, along with her cat to look after. It was only supposed to be a temporary affair until she could fly the cat over on it’s separate plane. It ended up living with us the entire 6 months we lived here, and somehow got along with our male cat the whole time.

The owner – Nickie – was heavily into conspiracies about Reptilians. She turned lesbian after seeing her boyfriend shapeshift into one, one night. I am not sure who sounded more crazy; her and her conspiracies, or me talking about my experiences with the Elder Guardians and everything they told me.

Regardless, life at this house was good for awhile. We were able to get even more involved in astral projection and lucid dreaming. I had one astral projection experience where I was flying around a dark void. I crashed into something else that was buzzing around. I ended up exiting the session thinking I’d pissed off whatever it was. This place was devoid of all light, so I couldn’t see what exactly it was. It certainly felt heavy and bounced me back with enough force to make me feel like I’d hit a tree in my car.

When it came to astral projection, I wasn’t very good at it. Whereas with lucid dreaming I had much experience behind me, with astral projection I’d only managed to do it a handful of times. So when I found myself in this void, the idea that I’d have to adhere to a set of flying rules was lost on me. I thought I was alone traveling through it to a destination several light years away. Call it a lesson in astral travel etiquette.

After I exited the session, I managed to re-project into it shortly after. This time I had a very strong feeling that something – or several somethings – was watching me. It seemed I had caused a ruckus by crashing into whatever it was and failing to leave my insurance details (I joke). So rather than proceed, again I exited the session.

It was around this time I decided I needed to join the air force. No, like, I really needed to.

Reading MMs account of how he was drawn back to China Lake, this was exactly what it was like. I just all of a sudden got this random urge to join the military. An itch I couldn’t scratch. I had made a promise to myself in the past that if my life went to shit then I would try and join the defense force but this was different. This was like, I was ready to just up and leave Storme (my wife) – the only family I really had – for a family that didn’t even exist yet.

I was delusional. I told myself she would be ok with all the trauma behind her, while I went off and did 6 weeks training in Kapooka, NSW. I actually tried convincing myself I could juggle a military career and life as a full time carer at the same time.

I saw a friend from high school one day when I was at a doctor’s appointment. He had just finished a tour of Afghanistan and gave me the low down on the fitness levels required to get into the ADF. I was setting my sights on this idea, and I wouldn’t take my eyes off the prize. Not to mention I now had a severe medical handicap in my left hand. I told myself I could some how fake the medical examination; I was just that keen on getting in. It was sheer madness on my end.

I got into shape, and booked myself in for the performance fitness assessment. A few months passed, I got a job managing an electronics factory, then the big day came of the PFA.

Being only 24, I was still one of the oldest guys there by a good few years. Most of the recruits looked like they were fresh out of senior year of high school. One guy hadn’t even finished with his war on acne before he decided to fight one against a foreign enemy. He sat waiting for the interview that would see him become a junior officer in the army, shaking uncontrollably from nerves like he had a bad case of Parkinson’s. I just wanted to tell him to lighten up and relax.

Whilst everyone sat chatting with each as if it was some kind of friendly get together, I sat in silence, with my back straight observing the whole place. From the moment I walked in the door, I knew we were being monitored and judged on our character – I don’t even know how I knew this.

I did the PFA on the allocated computer – it reminded me of the IQ tests I had taken at school – then went and sat back in the foyer and waited to be called in. I had opted for roles that were either to do with electronics warfare or signals intelligence gathering. I already had a qualification in electrotechnology and computer systems so something in that domain seemed like an obvious choice. I just simply wasn’t interested in entering as a standard foot soldier – what we call grunts.

I wanted to do something exciting. Maybe it was all those James Bond and other spy movies I watched as a kid. Maybe it was all that shit on Majestic I’d read about in my brief moments away from watching Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan fight those pesky Russians. All whilst working for the same government department that Aleister Crowley apparently worked for. Whatever, there was something about a top secret badge that really did it for me. Not that I ever expected to get in on the ET agenda loop.

Speaking of, which, a woman called me in wearing naval camos with the words “ Spec Ops” and “Top Secret” written above the breast pockets. She handed me a print out of all the roles I would be suited for based on my results. She congratulated me, telling me I had aced the PFA and done the best anyone could do. As a result, I could take a pick out of pretty much any role I wanted. I looked at the list and noticed it not only had the four signals intelligence and electronics warfare operator positions I had ticked but a plethora of other positions as well.

My eyes rolled over the word “Commando” and widened. She must have noticed and told me I would be well suited to that role. She told me her husband was Special Forces and that he thought it was a good role.

I had found a standard exercise regime of the SASR on the internet and figured I’d probably die if I had to do that amount of exercise so I passed up the offer.

Entering straight into a Sergeant role in Signals Intelligence in the Airforce was more than enough for me.

Still, I found it somewhat comical that a guy who claimed he was a 40 000 year old space elf helping fight some astral boogey men with the help of the Ascended Masters was considered mentally fit enough to be a Commando. I found it even funnier I had done so well on the PFA; maybe I wasn’t as batshit crazy as I first thought (sorry Nickie.)

She bid me farewell, I went and sat the medical and then was told I would receive a letter in the mail telling me if I made the cut or not. Somewhere in the three week period of waiting for this letter to arrive, my interest in joining the military just sort of fizzled out. I think the reality hit that my hand was just too badly damaged to get in. Sure enough, this is exactly what the letter mentioned. Good thing “this wasn’t supposed to happen” I suppose. I was a lover, not a fighter. I didn’t really want to go and kill people. The world had enough of those types as it was without the militaries.

I was upset – all for about 5 minutes – then I just got over it and got on with managing my boss’s factory. I chalked it down to needing to know I had at least some form of intellect still bouncing around upstairs.

Again, my wife was having her own experiences in the metaphysical domain at Nickie’s house. When it came to astral projection, she was getting really good at it. She started being able to remote view on a daily basis, and lucid dream almost as much as me.

There was one instance where a 17 year old boy came to her in a dream. When she asked who it was, the boy said “I am your son”. When she replied “I don’t have a son” he said “you will.” Apparently I taught him how to {consciousness} time travel, and he used that ability to come and say hi to her. That same week I had a dream I was cuddling a non existent son on the couch. A month or so later we found out she was pregnant, and lo and behold, it ended up being a boy. More of that crazy paranormal stuff.

The next year ended up being an opportunity for the universe to kick us in the metaphorical balls every chance it got. This was a really difficult time for both of us. The things we were being faced with on a regular basis were psychologically demanding to the extreme. It was one big test of both mine and Storme’s character and sense of self worth. Even up until then we had been through ALOT.

We got burgled – for the second time – one day whilst we were out. The thieves took off with our TV, a few clothes, my gaming console, and an old laptop that had a few years worth of music production on it, as well as a half written novel. This laptop I was using as a dream journal and had many of my experiences in lucidity recorded on it. There went all the detailed information I’d written down about my mystical experiences.

As a result I have been forced to remember most of this off the top of my head. Readers may notice some slight inconsistencies as a result, and for this I apologize.

Somehow, these thieves missed a room containing a few thousand dollars worth of musical equipment and opted for things that would have netted them a few hundred dollars at most. And this was the lesser of the evils that was following us everywhere we went. I remember thinking that particular day – just before we got home to find our house ransacked – about forgiving the guys who cut my hand open. The PTSD from that incident wasn’t doing me any favors, so I told myself just to let it all go. This was my reward for thinking such things.

It seemed the universe was tempting me into embracing a hatred mentality for all these people that were messing with us. It wanted me to retaliate. It wanted me to seek revenge, but I wasn’t like that. I understood that it was all part of this amnesia thing. I understood these people were being driven by a dark occult force that was in control of their souls. This is how I saw it anyway. Sure I may have used social media to warn others about all these people – I may have even cursed them and sent my fair share of “fuck you’s” off in the direction – but I never sought them out to get them back for everything they put us through; I only wanted my laptop back. Hell, I would have even paid them for it. The documentation on my mystical experiences was worth more than gold to me. The other people messing with us were a lot harder to forgive. Still I never retaliated, despite finding out where they lived. This was a real lesson in “letting it all go”.

Added to all this was the court case with the assailants that crippled me. It was going nowhere. I found out the hard way the justice system is one big joke. I found out the hard way it cared more about people breaking its laws than it did about getting justice for its victims. This added an immense amount of stress that wasn’t needed.

Storme was starting to suffer from a myriad of health conditions that meant she needed help with our new born son.

I was getting royally screwed at work doing the roles of several people and barely getting paid for one. So in the end I just threw in the towel and stayed home full time to look after the both of them. The big joke was that I got paid just as much on social security payments as I did managing an entire electronics factory and the staff that worked in it. I got kind and sick of my boss coming back from his bimonthly trip to America, and going on about his expensive “toys”, whilst I barely made enough to cover rent.

We had long since left Nickie’s and were onto something like our 8^th {rental} house in 6 years. Did I mention Storme had Polish Gypsy blood in her veins? Stalkers, anonymous people leaving us strange phone calls, people trying to kill me, people trying to assault Storme; these were all reasons we uprooted our lives every 6 months. It was unbelievably brutal, and it followed us no matter how much we just wanted to live normal lives and escape the negativity.

Somewhere in all this I came across the Starseed agenda. This was a community of people who believed they were aliens inhabiting human bodies and were here to help with the evolution of human consciousness. They were essentially new age Indigo children. I found this interesting; up until then I hadn’t associated any of my mystical experiences as being related to aliens. Even my experience remote viewing from an off world intelligence I’d sort of conveniently “forgotten” for the sake of trying to be “normal”.

Although most of the things I was reading of this Starseed thing were completely inaccurate as to what I had been told by the Grand Elder, I won’t deny it made me question whether it was all related. Cutting people’s consciousness off from a higher state of awareness and trapping them in a body sure did sound a lot like a tactic from an alien race’s war book, I supposed. Not that I was well versed in alien warfare strategies or anything.

So I started meditating on what I knew and came up with hypothetical thought experiments about this whole thing being related to aliens. Admittedly, I had tried burying everything with the Elder Guardians, but there was always this gnawing feeling deep down that it seemed important. Something about being responsible for 20 000 souls was an enormous weight. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn’t take it lightly.

After my brief period of work, this gnawing feeling got the better of me. I started really thinking about it all on a regular basis. I started researching a bit more into it. It drove me fucking crazy.

So yeah, by the time I had my next experience, I was pretty damn sure this had something to do with aliens. I had done a complete 180 on things I had told myself were a complete load of bullshit back in my youth when I was flicking through conspiracy theories to compliment my occult studies. I can’t remember my exact thoughts, but the amnesia thing was a big part of it.

I need to emphasize this point; my mystical experiences completely changed my life. And not necessarily for the better. Every ounce of my being wanted to remain skeptical and to evaluate them objectively. Spiritual amnesia affecting mankind? Surely this was some kind of MK Ultra mind control thing to make me think I’d experienced something holy? Something divine? I was in a catch 22; I could either believe it was all real or begin chasing a trail of ever the more conspiracies to try and convince myself it wasn’t. It was easier to just give in and go with the first. I was fast becoming that crazy UFO guy you steer well away from at the supermarket. Not that I ever bothered voicing these experiences to anyone but Storme.

Then it got even more real.

The night of November 16, 2016, I was once again engaged in a lucid dream. Once again I was abducted out of it, and once again I was operating from a higher state of awareness. But this time, the Grand Elder wasn’t there. This particular night I had three separate experiences one after the other; I’d wake up from one, then straight away fall back into another one.

I mentioned in Part 2 that Storme and myself had many instances of synchronised dreams and experiences. The first two were synchronised in the manner.

I was inside what appeared to be a pyramid chamber. This pyramid was made of a yellow stone – like that of the celestial courtyard where I met the EG – and was quite large. It was between 50 to 100m to the opposite wall. The wall to my left had a part of it missing, and I seem to remember thinking this connected to some sort of rail system from one of the other worlds I had frequently visited whilst lucid.

The top part of the pyramid was closed off, like there was a capstone in the way; you could not see the apex as the walls stopped at this square section of roof. I believe it was from the higher information coming in, that I knew that this capstone was an office. I knew that there was “someone” or “something” in this office waiting for me. I proceeded to project my consciousness in such a way as to try and reach it. The problem was, that this pyramid, because of its slanted angles, would reflect my consciousness back towards its base.

I cannot really explain this adequately enough to someone who is not familiar with operating as a pure conscious thoughtform whilst lucid. There are certain tricks you learn to move about whilst in this state. It is not the same as moving a physical body through vacant physical space; it is a whole other ball game. You are moving through a plane dictated by 4 dimensions, instead of only 3. “Climbing” the pyramid from the inside was just extremely hard to do because of this slanting/ rebounding effect.

I eventually managed to reach the top. There was a platform that led from one side of the pyramid right into its center into the capstone office where a door stood. I went along this platform and as I got to the door, it opened and I found myself engulfed by a brilliant white/ yellow light. It was so bright that it was almost even too intense for the higher state of awareness I was operating from.

I realized the light was coming from a being, who stood with its back turned to me. I slowly made my way through the door towards this entity. It turned around smiling at me and I realized I was standing in the presence of the divine creator. I understood immediately that this being was the start of creation of all life and consciousness in the entire cosmos. I could feel this connection as I approached it; it was like I became one with everything in existence the closer I got to it. It was fucking incredible.

Although I am not religious, the being that was standing in front of me was what could be considered “God”. As I feel that word has become too polluted with ill intent over the years by the charlatans that use it for profit. It is not a name I would ever call this omnipotent being simply out of respect for it; I referred to it as the All Being.

As I approached it, my higher mind was going off the charts. So much information was coming through it was almost completely overwhelming me, as the direct telepathic connection to this being strengthened. The benevolence it radiated was beyond anything imaginable on earth.

The reader must be aware that I was 100% lucid and again able to recollect all of my earth memories as well as many of those of celestial heritage. I was constantly pondering thoughts of ET involvement and the idea the Hermetic and Ascended Masters were all part of the same thing, which revolved around this spiritual amnesia. The astral war was the thing I wanted to know more about above anything else.

So you could say my intention upon coming into the office of the All Being was to flatten out as much of the information I had been given on the spiritual amnesia as possible; that is the sole reason I was here. I simply wasn’t interested in asking God to gift me a house (as much as I needed one) or a pony or the usual other things kids are taught to bother a divine being with. There was simply no thoughts pertaining to the mundanity of the physical plane like we as humans find ourselves caught up in on a regular basis. It was all about my celestial operations; ie my role within the cosmos and who I – or rather my soul – really was.

The All being welcomed me and said that it was glad I had finally arrived. It said it had been expecting me for quite some time. My arrival had been delayed by forces outside of my control.

I asked who I was, and the All Being told me. Then I asked specifically to be given more information on the astral war. The All Being replied by telling me that I would have the answers to that question soon enough, but that there was more important things to deal with first.

I was then teleported to a chamber below the pyramid. I remember realizing it was a direct mirror copy of the inside of the pyramid; It was an inverted pyramid and I was at it’s bottom. The All Being took on a “lesser form”; I can’t really explain this. It was like a younger, less intense and more material form. A higher version of Storme was there and she was teaching me this guttural roar. It was sort of like a word spoken from the very depths of your throat rather than rolled off the tongue. Every time I mispronounced this word, my throat burned with an intense pain.

Usually whilst lucid I would be impervious to such pain unless I was being tortured, but this pain was very real. With each mispronunciation the pain amplified by an order of magnitude in the millions. I mispronounced the word 3 times before it became too excruciating and I woke up from it. This whole scene was the crossover point of my wife’s experience; she remembers teaching “someone” this word in a similar pyramid with the inverted chamber whilst under a similar higher state of awareness. The lesser All Being was apparently her “father”.

After waking up, I immediately went back into lucidity and was met with the same potency of higher awareness. This had never happened before. Usually when I’d wake up, this would be the end of the experience.

I was now reliving a memory of a past life with Storme. In this particular dream her name was Nina Bejowski, or Bejewski – something of either Polish or Russian heritage. She had no recollection of being anyone but this particular version of herself. We were in what appeared to be some sort of European type place, with cobblestone roads and small apartment buildings. It reminded me of Italy.

Nina was in what appeared to be a school classroom.

I tried reminding her of past lives we’d experienced together, but she wouldn’t believe me and kept telling me to go away. What made it all the more frustrating was that I was being chased by these suits – what I figured were the Men In Black. It was always a game of me reaching Nina before they did. They would catch me just as I’d reach her, then all of a sudden I’d find I’d be reset back to an earlier point in time. I’d remember the reset (which I wasn’t supposed to) and just keep coming back like some sort of annoying puppy.

This happened over and over again so many times that I lost count. It was weird; it was like in my mission, it was imperative I got to Nina and extracted her from the school, and in the MIB’s mission it was imperative that they stopped me.

I finally got her to see reason. She agreed to follow me on the basis that the place she was in wasn’t doing her any favors, but she was still incredibly weary of me.

The last memory I have of the school was walking down a hallway with Nina/ Storme trying to keep a low profile so the MIB didn’t see us. This whole event was yet another synchronized lucid dream of Storme’s. From her perspective, the school she was in was being used for consciousness brainwashing. We have had many synchronized experiences that are very similar to this one.

I woke up, said my “holy shit’s”, at the revelation of this memory, then went straight back into lucidity where this higher state of consciousness once again washed over me.

Nina and I were now on either a train or a bus heading over a bridge that went to a small Island. There was about 20-30 people on this bus. Somehow I just knew that they were all people who had something to do with extra terrestrials; there were military generals with stars lining their green coats. Lab scientists and physicists etc. Ordinary people that most people would think were batshit crazy such as abductees. They all had either first hand knowledge working with ETs/ ET tech or had first hand experience with ETs through things like abduction/ visitation.

This was evidently a collection of all the “top brass” people in the world that were considered authorities on the subject of ET involvement. We were heading to a conference on ETs specifically to try and piece together everyone’s experiences to get to the bottom of the ET agenda unfolding on Earth. No one person in this group had a complete understanding of the bigger picture, hence the reason for the conference. It was as if this was a realized point, even by the higher up military generals. This was just all things I knew thanks to my higher self.

The bus arrived at the island and we all got off. We were lined up (by more military men and women) against a brick wall to our right. I am 90% sure that this was the base of the Statue of Liberty. From the photos and movies I have seen, this wall looked exactly like the base part of the Statue, though I never saw anymore of it, as I was too busy looking at the {already established} military presence to look up. I was too busy taking mental notes of what was going on to admire the scenery. Note the metaphorical reference to freedom.

These military officials that were already on the island started handing out documents for all of us to sign. These were apparently a list of all the past indiscretions we had engaged in whilst on Earth. Mine seemed to be the biggest of the bunch and took on a form of an A4 stack of paper several inches thick. The emphasis was on making us feel guilty for all the things we had done.

I watched as the military generals and scientists signed it all without question, many of them didn’t even bother to check it was all legitimate. They just signed off their papers like a bunch of robots who were used to such bureaucratic procedures without giving it any thought.

I took one look at the apparent misnomer’s I was guilty of; majority of them revolved around illegally downloading music- not exactly something I thought aliens really gave two shits about. I threw it back at the one who tried to hand it to me. She told me the only way to make it into the conference was to take responsibility for these indiscretions and sign the papers.

I understood that this was an attempt to coerce me into signing a contract for something whilst in this higher state of awareness. It was an attempt to get me to agree to something in a state of coherency far above that used by my mammalian brain. Compare it to someone trying to get you to sign something when you are drunk vs when you are sober; it is far more likely to be taken as a binding contract if you were consciously coherent when signing than if you were drunk. I stood firm in my unwillingness to sign, despite whatever excuses where thrown my way. The military generals and scientists just looked at me like I was a complete fool.

Suddenly, my surroundings dissolved and I was standing in what appeared to be the White House. I was being greeted by someone who appeared to be {then} President Obama. I need to point out here that I had an instant understanding that this was not Obama himself. It was a form this being was taking to show me his rank within this “place”. He wanted me to know that rank was President. He was the top dog in charge; there was no doubt about it. This was something that was being telepathically transmitted to me in the form of a knowing thought. At the same time I also knew this “entity” was of extra terrestrial/ inter dimensional origin; like the Grand Elder, it didn’t originate on earth. I am sure of that.

Obama v2.0 congratulated me and told me I had come to the “complete and total understanding of the alien agenda unfolding on Earth”. I appreciate how narcissistic this sounds, but these were his exact words and are the very reason I kept a lot of this to myself for almost a decade; it just sounds so goddamned crazy even despite everything I’ve already spoken about.

Obama told me the scenario back at the Statue of Liberty was a test, and I had just passed it with flying colors. Just like I thought, it was to see if I was willing enough to sign away my consent whilst operating from a higher state of awareness closer to the originating point of my “soul”. My refusal to do so is what ultimately granted me access to this office of his.

What followed was a discussion with Obama V2.0 that I think is, in some ways, even more important than what the Grand Elder told me regarding the amnesia. He told me that this office of his was tasked with monitoring the interdimensional traffic coming into and out of Earth and it’s surrounding non physical planes. Well, this was getting interesting.

According to him, this organization monitored every single thing that passing through the Earth domain – which extended out into space either to the moon or beyond it, and into several non physical planes that were “stacked” on top of it. Whether it could be considered an angel, demon, alien, or ghost, this organization monitored every aspect of it, including where it came from, where it was going and what it was doing whilst it was here.

He told me this organization of his existed solely within the astral planes; there was simply no physical counterpart to it. You cannot access it from the physical plane. Access was restricted to those who could navigate these non physical planes. It was a truly secret organization.

The alien agenda unfolding on earth, was apparently very concerning and posed a real threat to “human kind’s existence”. This organization was keeping that presence in check. These were things that were very specifically told to me. It operated above and away from any governmental agency back on Earth.

I was also told that every single person – or rather consciousness – is monitored whilst traveling in the non physical planes – this included lucid dreaming as well – and are vetted for potential recruitment into this organization. They apparently had their eye on me for quite some time because of the responsibilities given to me by the Elder Guardians and because of everything I had been doing in lucidity since I was 8. My whole life had been a recruitment test for entering into their ranks. All the shit I went through – and boy was there a lot – and my unwillingness to retaliate for it, earnt me this {apparently} prestigious position. All the times I told the apparent higher celestial authorities “fuck you” and reclaimed my soul’s sovereignty had set me up for entry. You simply don’t get here by shitting all over your fellow brother and sisters. Compassion, empathy and a true understanding of who you are and unfaltering loyalty to that were some of the very admission criteria (take note of what MM has been telling you in regards to this).

I was told that the Statue of Liberty scenario was a holographic projection that they induce into the dreamscapes of these potential candidates whilst they sleep; if the candidate passes the test, they end up there, in that office (which I suspect may have actually been a form of ship which in itself was taking on yet another holographic projection). However, if the candidate fails, they wake up and think they just had a bizarre, albeit very vivid dream. The subtleness is so in genius that no one never even realizes how close they were to entering into this organization. Obama V2.0 only presents himself to those who pass. Needless to say, I felt rather honored to have made it in and to be speaking to him.

This holographic projection technology apparently operated on the exact same principles as my experiment in hijacking my wife’s consciousness; I had inadvertently taught myself these exact principles through experimentation, 7 years prior, by the time I had reached 19 years of age, even though I had only successfully carried it out once. This had been the other half of my ticket into this organization; they didn’t have to explain these concepts to me, because I already understood them first hand.

This was all being explained to me in the context of the amnesia; Obama V2.0 knew I knew all about it and had meditated quite a lot on what it meant. I was being briefed directly in relation to how it all pertained to this amnesia. Take a moment to let that sink in. Things that had been revealed to me in completely separate experiences I had over 4 years prior were the main aspect behind this briefing. It was extremely important.

Obama V2.0 then told me he was going to introduce me to the rest of the organization and led me down a hall way which terminated at a large double wooden door. This was going to be everyone on earth that knew what was going on in regards to the ET agenda. Not just people who had a passing knowledge of some of their tech, or those who had been abducted and relayed a little bit of info; this was going to be all those that were currently incarnated on earth that were in the proper “know”.

As I was led down the hallway, I started to get excited. I started fantasizing about knocking heads with people like the Majestic 12 and all those with Cosmic clearances; all those sorts of people you read about who apparently “know things”. I made a mental note to grab as much info off these people as possible and bring it back here to the physical plane when I woke up.
I was expecting to walk into a room full of people engaged in banter about everything ET related free from patriotic obligations. I was expecting it to be quite chaotic.

We got to the door, and Obama V2.0 pushed one of the sides open, beckoning for me to go first. I obliged. I was now in what appeared to be a very large conference room. Again it reminded me of the rooms they used to depict the White House in shows about that building. It was just so completely different to any of the architecture I’ve come across here in Australia. I’ve never been to America, but it definitely felt American, or like it was a really old building (our buildings here are relatively modern compared to those of America and most other countries).

As I walked through the door, my jaw dropped wide open. There in front of me were the entire administration staff of this organization; 4 other people standing, staring at me with neutral looks on their faces, not saying a word.

Are you fucking kidding me? The people who all understood the ET agenda in its entirety and were stopping it from wiping out humanity could be counted on one hand. What was rather comical was that not one of them were wearing a military uniform. Not one of them was wearing a scientist lab coat either. The four people that comprised this entire astral organization were dressed as everyday average Joes. .

So when MM speaks of being the Rufus, and helping out your fellow brother and sisters, just know I can relate to this 100%. You never what beans they have to spill. You never know what they are really part of.

I was told, by Obama all 4 of these people were currently incarnated on earth. Of these four, 3 were women, 2 of whom I recognized from many prior lifetimes and from the Elder Gathering in 2012, and one was a male that I did not recognize.

A quick digression. Now before you ask, I am aware that being in a state of pure consciousness as I was, physical things like clothing are not able to be taken here. So how do I know that is what these guys actually looked like? It is hard to explain but when lucid like this, you are operating from a 4^th dimensional perspective rather than a 3D one.

You don’t see objects like you do in the physical plane, you sense energy signatures. You pick up on these energy signatures, and you can sort of trace them to a commonly used “image” that their consciousness associates with as being “them”. It takes a great deal of practice in learning how to perceive in this fashion. Think of it like teaching a child language through the use of basic symbols like a tree. Now replace the word “TREE” with a photo of a tree, and the basic image of the tree with an energy signature. If I wanted to “read” one of these energy signatures I’d interact with it and the image of a tree would be conjured up in my higher memory.

People unknowingly carry with them a wealth of subconsciousness information that can be accessed in this fashion; this is what the consciousness manipulation strategies I was being briefed on was all about and is something I became very proficient at “reading” during my youth. It is also how I “knew” the Elder Guardians and Obama V2.0 were not of terrestrial origin.

When one is operating from this higher state of awareness, one is able to read this “raw” form of energy signature. Nothing can pretend to be something else, because the entire information, including its intent to change form is accessed by the higher mind all at once. Hence why the meeting with the All Being was so intense; these same energy signatures were emanating from it like it was strong smelling perfume. Rather than have one image attached to them, they were images of everything – and I really do mean everything – in existence. These are important concepts to consider when I tell you who I think Obama V2.0 really was. But that is for a whole other article.

I was allowed a very brief opportunity to get to know these people – literally like a minute. I shook hands with the guy, and the woman I hadn’t yet met, and hugged the other two who I recognized. They seemed pretty happy I’d finally made it here. I called this collective the Unseen 5.

Then Obama V2.0 called me back over.

We spoke of my role within the organization. Given I had such a good understanding of how dreamscapes can be hijacked in this manner, I was to provide detailed instruction to Earth time incarnates on how it is carried out. I was effectively tasked with documenting everything I know about lucid dreaming and dispersing it free of charge to anyone who wanted to read it. The idea would be to strengthen the communication conduit it allowed between physical and non physical entities such as Obama V2.0 and the Elder Guardians.

What was more, Obama V2.0 mentioned that the organizations numbers used to be quite significantly higher; the recent (past 1000 years) decline in its numbers meant that the 5 of them were under a substantial logistics workload, even when operating from this higher state of consciousness. Obama V2.0 was the only full time operator, after all. Thus an additional task of mine included making their presence known to those with astral projection/ lucid dreaming abilities.

Obama V2.0 was concerned people with these skills didn’t take them as seriously as I did. He made a point of telling me the astral planes weren’t there just for people to go buzzing around on a holiday away from physical reality. They were the frontlines of a very real non physical war where the weapon of choice was being targeted directly at human consciousness.

I was to act as a sort of recruiter for them.

Sigh. This was getting to be a monumental responsibility. As if my obligations to the Elder Guardians weren’t enough. All because I thought it was a good idea to experiment with lucid dreaming.

After this Obama V2.0 once again beckoned for me to follow him into another room coming off the side of the chamber we were in. This room was quite a measure smaller, and had what looked like a ring of bricks in the middle of it. It looked sort of like an outdoor fire pit.

We walked over to these bricks and stood in front of them. Once again he briefed me on what was about to happen; this was a holographic projector and I was about to be shown something with it. I was about to be shown what {apparently} really happened at “the Fall of Man from the Garden of Eden” spoken about in biblical circles.

If I was being entirely honest, this was not something I was expecting, nor really cared about. I just wasn’t interested in biblical stories. They were things I’d thrown in that basket where I threw all the other things I thought were bullshit and utter nonsense. Like I said, I wasn’t religious.

I read the new testament once when I was a kid (13) after it being forced upon me by my school and that was about it. I ended up throwing it in the fire after having weird {non lucid} dreams about it. That would be the beginning of my rebellion against organized religion. I was about as far from being a soldier of God as one could possibly be, and yet I’d just had a conversation with what I liken to being the “Divine Creator”. I was the type of guy who shaved off my long hair when a boss at work said I looked like Jesus. I was a real enigma, that was for sure.

That is not to say I couldn’t respect people who believed in it all. I am definitely all for people believing in whatever they want to believe in. I just wasn’t big on people trying to “convert” me.

It seemed important that I experienced this projection though, so I listened to my briefing without complaint.

Obama V2.0 told me it was – again – very heavily linked with the spiritual amnesia, and told me to take notes of certain things that were going on in it. It was, according to him, where the amnesia first started. Those who are devoutly devoted to believing in the story of Adam and Eve may wish to skip the next part; this deviates from that tale quite considerably.

Obama V.20 got me to stand in the middle of this ring of bricks. They came about halfway up my shins.

What followed was the same dissolving of my surroundings like when I first entered the office of the Unseen 5. I was now standing completely in the middle of a flat landing on top of a mountain in a plane that was a mixture of physical and non physical substance. In front of me there were these bipedal ape like humans. They stood up like humans, and walked and acted like humans, but they were covered in fur from head to toe. Protruding from their teeth were very large fangs. They were the same things I had seen manning the light canons in my last experience with the Grand Elder.

Similar to the Indian god Hanuman.

I wasn’t just watching this thing play out; I was 100% completely there. I was experiencing the fall as if I was actually there living it. I could move around and interact with the environment, yet these beings could not see me. It was like how I’d manifested my own dreams in lucidity but much more surreal and vivid. This was a device that could create holographic virtual reality constructs like the one Obama V2.0 used for my test, only that the vividness contrast setting had been set on high. It was evidently a demonstration in the sort of tech these guys had at there disposal. If it hadn’t been for my awareness of my sleeping body back on earth, I could have very easily mistaken this for being “reality”.

I could hear Obama V2.0’s voice telepathically coming through into my head. He was explaining that these entities were symbolic of an entire race of beings; where I was seeing only 3 beings, this was really a representation of 3 entire separate races. Again, the complexity was deliberately being reduced so I could bring the information of it back here into the physical plane. Like the light canon circuit track, I was supposed to share it. If it wasn’t reduced in this manner, I wouldn’t be able to interpret it with my extremely limited earth mind once I “came back”. Obama V2.0 wanted this known on Earth.

These beings were standing around an altar in the middle of the landing. The landing itself was surrounded by a circular wall of rock. Behind me there was an opening in this wall at the edge of the mountain. This opening led to a staircase that wrapped back down behind the wall into green pasture fields below. It was an incredibly beautiful sight and reminded me of a photo I’d seen of a mountain village in Switzerland, except without the village. It truly was a utopian “garden paradise”. It was strange in that it was like these mountain ranges and the valley below them had just been cut away from the planet and left to free float in space.

Far below this vantage point, down in the fields below were even more of these similar beast races going about their business.

I got the impression – either from my higher self or from Obama V2.0 – that these races were responsible for the creation of what we know as the physical universe. Or at the very least, the part of it where Earth is located. They coexisted in complete harmony and peace.

My attention turned back towards the 3 races in front of me. One of them was extremely excited and hopping around. It pulled a cloth bag seemingly out of no where. Then it beckoned for the others to join it. It tipped the bag upside down over the altar. Out fell3 perfectly cut rectangular pieces of emerald about the size of dominos. These emerald stones each had strange glyphs carved within them. I did not recognize the glyphs as belonging to any civilization on Earth.

The excited race had one of the others pick up the stones. As soon as its hand touched it, a sudden blank look came across its face. It lost all cognitive ability and was just staring blankly straight ahead.

The excited race started laughing. The whole affair reminded me of school children playing a practical joke on their friend. After a moment, the one who brought the stones said some sort of incantation, and the feeble minded race snapped out of its daze. It shook its head in confusion and sort of looked around wondering what hell had just happened.

The third race looked on with curiosity. The presenter of the stones suggested they gather up the rest of the races in the valley below. It wanted to play a trick on them. The two others agreed.

The holographic scene changed. I was now looking at these races as they lined up on the steps behind the wall. One of the three trickster races stood at the gap in the wall that would allow them entry into the landing space of the altar. It was as if it was the door man guarding the entry into a nightclub. It was done in such a way so that no one behind the wall could see what was going on at the altar. They had been told there was something exciting they should see, but not told what it was.

The line was enormous. It wrapped down the steps of the mountain all the way into the valley below. This was how many races there were in this place; many thousands of them.

One by one, a race was called from the front of the line into the clearing. One by one they were led to the altar and told to pick up the stones. I watched as every single one of these races was turned into a feeble minded creature that could do no more than stare into the distance and drool incessantly. The angels/ demons/ beasts – whatever you wanted to call them – responsible for “building” our “domain” had just all been turned into what was essentially infants. What I was watching was the erasure of their higher consciousness. They just sort of bumbled around with no purpose, bumping into each other. They were completely oblivious towards anything, including the rock wall they were walking into. They had been turned into total idiots.

After all the races – with the exception of the three tricksters – had lost their higher memories and the tricksters had had their laugh, the one who presented the stones decided it was enough of the game. It said its incantation to try and wake them all up, but nothing happened. This trickster race panicked and ended up tripping over a rock near the altar. Its hand landed on the emerald stones, rendering it feeble minded as well.

I was watching the race who had watched on in curiosity; the only one who hadn’t been subjected to the amnesia stones. You could see its eyes light up as it realized the power that lie in front of it. It grabbed the hand of the last the race – the one the presenter had first demonstrated on – and forced its hand upon the stones. What remained was a single dominant race with its higher, celestial memories in tact. It could command the others like puppets and they wouldn’t even noticed. They wouldn’t even realize they were higher beings.

What happened next was incredibly strange.

As I stood staring at this last race, it suddenly started sniffing the air around it. I could see its nostrils flare as it did so. Even though this was a holographic scenario, it could smell me. I am absolutely certain of it. It turned around and stared directly into my eyes. It was the most evil look I have ever witnessed. It seemed possessed by something. Unlike the other races that still retained there divine spark, this thing didn’t have one. It was soulless.

Shortly thereafter, I began what I call a “controlled wake up”. These wake ups are not like when you are just asleep and then are suddenly awake. It is as if the physical reality becomes super imposed over the dreamscape. The physical reality slowly starts getting more “solid” as the dreamscape “thins” out. After about 20 seconds physical reality completely consumes the field of vision and the dreamscape is completely gone. I have had these sorts of controlled awakenings many times after coming out of a lucid dream. There is always this sort of waviness to the whole thing. It feels like you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean.

As I went through this controlled awakening, the voice of the All Being came through telepathically to me. It said that as I wake up, the downfall of humanity would begin. I took this to mean the futile practices of humanity which would allow for consciousness to wake up from the amnesia en masse.

As if this all wasn’t enough, the abduction dreams would begin to happen, before my final contact with the Grand elder.

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 4 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

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[PissedLizard] Into the light and what it is like first hand

We all have experiences, and once we step outside the realm of what is "normal", or experiences take on a surreal aspect. Others, sometimes well-meaning, don't understand what you are trying to relate. And thus, you learn. You keep quiet and you don't share your experiences with anyone. But that really isn't healthy.

The following is a personal narrative regarding PissedLizard's (Lovingly referred to as PL here on MM) personal experiences. He died, left his body, and entered the non-physical realms.  If you read with an open mind, and then consider his experiences to be "puzzle pieces", you can use them to construct a fuller picture of where you are at in your own life and society. It's good stuff you all.

-MM

I would like to explain the “light/void” concept as I experienced it and can communicate it.

I did not go anywhere.

First, I PHYSICALLY did not go anywhere.

I wasn’t “abducted” by a UFO.

I was here on this planet at my house. My consciousness left my physical body.

My physical body was here (in my house) annoying the crap out of my wife.

I wasn’t acting right. I wasn’t behaving right. Things were “off” about me.

For instance, I did not take care of my animals the way I normally do, I did not eat at all. And I was terribly thirsty. In fact, I drank 2 bottles of water.

Something was really “off”.

The Physical world around me was in turmoil

I became convinced that something was up.

Somehow, and in some way.

There was this hurricane barreling straight at us, it was more than just a physical hurricane. There was something different in the air. Something substantive. Something thick. Something that was “shaking everyone up”.

There is so much to say about the oppressive heat, the unbearable anxiety, and the huge buildup on all levels. I felt like I was a balloon inside a pressure cooker and I was about to *pop*.

The Build-up

At this point I will put in that for the last six months there have been waves of uncontrollable anxiety and heat.

The anxiety felt like waiting for the results of a very, very important and critical test.

All day.

Every day. It dragged on.

The heat. Lordy! The heat!

You can even see condensation coming off of me (if I was against a black background.)

It is feverish heat followed by chills. I would take my temperature and it would actually be below normal.

The Experience

Here is how I experienced the light and void.

Going into the light is a repeat of this planet but in a different timeline.

I have used this analogy before – you are put in a totally random human body. You can end up as Hunter Biden’s love child, born into a world where “everything is taken care of” or you can end up as a poor kid making sweaters for 20 cents each. Most, including myself would jump at the rich baby, but that human is given the same kind of “issues” the other kid has only presented differently.

So it all evens out.

As I said I spoke with and was allowed to experience what the Christian messiah went through because EVERYONE has to. That is what salvation actually means.

The Christ did say that this planet was sacred to him and his followers. This is why he has them stay.

This is where my personal confusion as to who is keeping us here, because to me it’s a prison.

Is it that God/Jesus or is it – a big lie the way “Alien Interview” described it.

It shouldn’t matter to me but it does.

He asked “Well, did you understand the experience?”

After I experienced that event, my Mantid asked me if I understood what just transpired.

Mantid = Angel. 
My Mantid = My Guardian Angel

Different terms for the same thing. -MM

I explained what I thought transpired.

He then said that the one aspect of human life that I did not and will not experience is being a father.

And this is correct. I do not have kids.

I was then shown how to be a father and a dad.

And it was amazing, but not me.

I travel light. I hate to say it but I saw having children as being a hindrance to my life. I was very selfish that way.

No worries. In MAJestic I was forbidden to have children as well, and my first and second wives were both unable to conceive. It wasn't until I was "retired" from MAJestic that I was able to have children. I had my first daughter when I was 62. -MM

Upon Death and the light

Upon death when you are shown the light, if you don’t stop to look around you go to what is comfortable, which is the light.

I saw many people I know and met the Christian Jesus.

He showed me fatherly like love, and he let me be him.

Then, after all was finished he asked if I still wished to NOT go to the light or if I wanted to go somewhere else.

So I went into the light…

At this point I was scared to death. My Mantid took me into the light.

Once a person goes into the light THEY HAVE TO EXPERIENCE a “something” which I call “THE VOID”.

In other words there is no getting around it.

When you go into the light you go into the void first.

But, yah, there is another flash of light that gets much bigger.

Hell

Those who go to “hell” stay here in THE VOID for a bit.

But everyone WILL eventually get out of the void and be able to go into the “true” light afterwards.

And with that comes the mandatory amnesia…

…followed by placement in a unformed embryo.

The Alien interview said the amnesia was by a heavy voltage.

My interpretation was how you acted on this planet determines the voltage, but everyone experiences it as a static shock.

There is no punitive “Hitler gets a million volts while you get a few”.

The idea isn’t to punish but to grow.

My Mantid then showed me how to get out of the void and how to contact them if I get stuck.

A Second Chance

The Christ then even gave me a second chance to go with him.

I could go with him, into the light again keeping everything I have.

He said he only wanted me to be a better person.

I found this to be an extraordinarily nice gesture on his part.

But…

Before I go on to the void I have to say that those faithful Christians will be raptured. Of this I am certain. Just as it says in the Bible. Others in other religions WILL GO to where you believe heaven to be.

Heaven, or the idea of it, depends on the person.

My Mantid took me back into the void and this is where things really took off.

He showed me the light.

In it was the entire knowledge of the universe.

It was the most thrilling thing imaginable.

Every good feeling you have is there. It didn’t get boring.

No. Not at all. That’s for certain.

I was then shown that the light (if you take the PARTICLE form of light, not the waveform, but a photon) you would see it as light, but you can’t really “touch” a photon.

But a photon is how I was shown it all.

So I will explain it as best I can without being “all over the place”…

A Photon

Imagine a photon. Divide it in half and you get a pair or 1 “level”. If you divide that in half you will go all the way down to “strings” of energy – MM really explains it well in his articles.

When you get down to the last string to the quantum level you have a “hole”. It would look like a wall at your house with a big string hanging out of one side.

You see the wall and you see the string of energy going into that wall. It looks like a physical string into a hole.

If you go alllllll the way up to the hole and look through it – you would see that the string “disappears”.

This is where the particle and wave meet – at that hole.

That HOLE IS THE VOID!

Once your physical has been cut down to it’s wave form (0.000000000000000000000000000000000001 nm) you can tap into everything.

Everything.

Changes

This is where I know these two things to be true:

[1] My DNA was altered. How we think of DNA and what it really is are 2 different things.

I am a human male with no kids. My Y chromosome was “terminated” at this time and new DNA was inserted.

My DNA was cut not at my first human on the chain but past it to a primitive form, but it’s still a “relative”.

The Human species is a hybrid construction that has many evolutionary components and contributors. The DNA from one of the contributors was cut and an earlier progenitor was spliced into the space there. Thus a certain section of the DNA regressed to an earlier form. Ugh! -MM

I needed to feel this anger as when I was a kid in high school I got caught with my girlfriend by her father during an “intimate moment”. He lost his shit. Like went NUTS.

Because I have no daughters I could never feel that kind of anger but I needed to as my void in THIS life was being a father. He showed me how to control the anger.

I was then shown that each 0 in the quantum number of 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000001 Is a different “level” of our DNA and as the number gets smaller – you go back in “time” on your DNA.

For example 0.0000 is my great-great grandfather. The zero on the left side of the decimal point is me (or you) so writing this looks like:

At each “level” you have a quantum “hole” to tap into.

These are actual real people you are related to. It’s their “spirit” but they are still connected to you.

I had one LONG portion of my DNA removed and another put in.

However, my guess is if I was to do a DNA test it would look identical to an old one because that is the particle form not waveform.

If I was abducted by a UFO that would be particle form. Because I physically stayed here it’s waveform.

Some “UFO”s are actually biological entities (yes, the whole craft) and these can travel by wave or particle form.

I was then brought to the Gods and Goddesses and was shown why I had to study Islam.

Islam a quick study

In a quick QUICK nutshell -this is about Islam and can be looked up further- the Both Sunni and Shia believe in the end times. Their “messiah” is a child Imam who is in a vegetative state in a well in Qom, Iran. He is going to lead the MUSLIMS. His name is Imam al Mahdi.

The Mahdi has an enemy – his name is al Dajjal – it means “the deceiver” and will lead the Christians and Jews against the Mahdi. Like Jesus the Christ will.

The Dajjal (Christian Jesus) can be identified by having ONE EYE. He also survives a head shot.

So in MY mind – for years and years and years I thought the Mahdi was the Antichrist BUT thought the One eyed God, the ones the Muslims call the Dajjal – was “the good guy” and the Mahdi as “the bad guy”.

I thought that If the person or entity that the Muslims called “the antichrist” – it MUST be Jesus. So, the one eyed God – to me – had to be Jesus.

I worship the AllFather Odin. He is one of many Gods and Goddesses but he is the FATHER of the Gods and Goddesses. I am personally VERY religious when it comes to my Gods and Goddesses.

I take this stuff VERY seriously.

Then ZOOM…

Next, I am with all of the Gods and Goddesses and it’s just freaking awesome.

Odin literally came to me (not the other way around) and looked at me with that one eye of his…

… and two things happened…

… I went back INTO the void hole while staring at Odins eye, realizing that in order to know what God was I really had to know good versus evil.

He showed me (something otherwise obvious) but I did not understand then, that I needed to study something I hated (which at the time was, in fact, Islam) in order to come out the other end and be worthy of the Valhalla of my choosing.

The God with one eye was, in fact, a distraction to get me to learn what I needed to learn.

And I passed his test.

DNA comparability

NOW he said I had to be able to show that our DNA and Christian DNA is compatible.

I have to be able to translate the Eddas into Bible words so that everyone is on the same page and that I can HELP these people without the fear of them thinking I am satanic or something.

As MM said – yeah, the fundamentalism of the South and Baptism is on par with any other kind of fundamentalism- and that’s fine but I am to help not harm.

The problem is the way things are going elsewhere – how much human time do we have?

Anyone watching this fiasco and doesn’t see the writing on the wall – whether it’s all real or all a show – it’s just looking like things are moving faster than I can do everything and do THAT as well.

It’s all good though.

DNA reconfiguration

The DNA reconfigure was like this.

I was at a facility described by MM, I am not comfortable sharing where at this point but I was with my Mantid.

I was put on a table and he talked to others.

They then went through every feeling I ever had – like waking up Christmas morning – all the way to the feeling of defeat when I failed a big exam. Those feelings were removed and given – all of this WILLINGLY- to other humans that haven’t been born, this way they can “jump ahead” in life with my “books”.

I did this willingly as I have no children nor intend to.

My Y chromosome ends with this body and all my relatives agreed.

In that DNA space I was given knowledge.

I can access somethings but not others.

Seven Women

I was then brought to Seven women.

These are REALLY REALLY REALLY Important women according to my Mantid and I was to control my thoughts – in other words if I thought one was attractive – to keep that thought to myself.

My Mantid knows me.

These women took me into a circle and causally asked questions about my interactions with all kinds of things on earth.

Being honest to these women was difficult because it’s honesty – and it’s difficult, but I was absolutely brutally honest.

They asked – and all attention was on these answers – how or what I would do different given the knowledge I have.

When I my answer could have been better they showed me – by being the people at the moment I affected them – stopping time – the showing me the right way.

An APP and a Telephone

I am uncomfortable writing the rest of this interaction, but one of them showed me an app – YES – an APP to use to meditate to contact them.

I am learning how to use it.

Then my Mantid got me and he showed me how to call them if I ever need them.

He then showed me how the consciousness around me works.

He brought me back to the void and said [1] the amnesia given by the “old players” was lifted but [2] the access to the info is controlled.

We went into the void – I clicked out of it and was home – with a “Viking” and his son who were making a camp.

I was shown this so I could see distance in my bubble.

Science

Before “modern science” our ancestors saw things this way. Reality was in the bubble only. In quantum physics – reality is in the bubble only – that’s how they thought and maneuvered through the world. We lost that when we put our faith in “science”.

This lasted a while.

I learned a lot.

The Mantid gave me a cloth with XXXXX on it. He showed me how to distinguish it from the other smells in the cloth.

When he was satisfied – we moved on.

I hope this helps, especially Christians.

The whole light thing is a concept that is very important to them and I do not want this to scare them.

The entire time “Satan” was the enemy.

The manifestation of Satan was a reason to call the Mantids.

But it’s a manifestation of EVIL waves that cause the physical to appear.

My Mantid was clear – indication of evil was a clear cause to call more than My Mantid.

Anger!

And I am telling you – straight up – You feel the Mantids anger.

You live it.

I would never ever ever fuck with one of these things for anything, so although the concept of “Satan” creeps me out – even today – I know what happens when the Mantids are called and am leaving that there.

Coming out of the void…

Finally, coming out of the void and into this realm was like this:

Look at this character zero below:

The void is inside the zero. The outside of the zero – the line itself – is “reality” or A light (single)

When you are inside the zero all you have to do is say “I” and you become a person who can only say “I” – then the rest of the words come-but they have to be chosen carefully.

When I write “I think I am going to go to then store” has to be corrected to “I will go to the store” otherwise I am communicating that I am thinking about the store only.

This is driving my wife nuts, but it’s getting better.

Learning to speak takes a couple of full days.

Conclusion

Do you want more?

The master Index of PissedLizard articles can be found here…

PissedLizard

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You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
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[daegonmagus] – Part 2 – Contact with the Elder Guardians

The following is the second part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 2 – Contact with the Elder Guardians

In the last part I talked about my first contact experience with a group of Elders resembling the Ascended Masters whilst lucid dreaming back in 2012.

I mentioned (in this last article) how these Elders told me [1] about a “spiritual amnesia” that was affecting mankind and cutting them off from a higher state of conscious awareness.

I also mentioned (in the article) how the [2] physical human brain had apparently been deliberately engineered to help with this dumbing down of consciousness.

It was during this experience that I was able to tap into this higher state of conscious awareness – what I refer to as the higher self or higher intellect.

The higher self (or higher intellect)

This higher self equates to a processing power orders of magnitude far above what we (normally) use whilst contained within the physical body.

It lets you see through physical and non physical realities like they are glass.

Different States of being

It is important to note here, that I use the connection with this higher state of mind to differentiate between [A] a lucid dream/ astral projection and [B] a mystical experience.

When I mention a mystical experience – or what I call an Auric projection – it means that I have been under this superior state of conscious awareness whilst lucid.

It is a completely different experience to what both astral projection and lucid dreaming entail.

Whilst in this state, there is a constant flux of information coming in and being perceived of higher reality aspects; only a very small percentage of it can ever be remembered upon waking up.

This information also contains soul-time memories, and is not limited to a single physical incarnation.

There is always a catch 22 dilemma when functioning from this state; you know the information coming in is important, but you are also aware you will forget most of it when awakening back into your physical body.

Thus one is forced to try and focus on specific elements to try and remember them when waking up.

It is beyond frustrating.

My mystical experiences

All in all I had 5 or so “mystical experiences” in which I was connected to this higher state of awareness. It was over a 7 year period, many of which the Grand Elder appeared in.

This is not including my “second contact” experience.

This “second contact experience” occurred as a recurring lucid dream.

In this recurring lucid dream, I was also connected to this state of awareness and being bombarded by information.

So (all told), including these recurring dreams, the amount of mystical experiences I had whilst connected to the higher self would easily be over 20 events.

Hijacking of dreamscape

In part one I briefly touched upon the idea that I was playing around with consciousness and conducting experiments with it whilst lucid dreaming.

It was apparently because I had developed advanced abilities in this area that the Ascended Masters were able to contact me; at least that is what they told me.

One of these experiments related to “hijacking” my wife’s dreamscape and implanting a dream scenario of my devising.

What I didn’t talk about, is that around this same time, my wife was also having her own contact experiences with both physical and non physical entities.

Wife’s Contact Experiences

These entities took on a myriad of different forms from [1] “angels” and [2] “demons” to [3] ETs wearing strange space suits.

I did not realize it at the time but they had been “visiting” my wife since she was a little kid.

She had only vaguely mentioned very few of these experiences in fear of me thinking she was crazy.

In actual fact she had had enough experiences to fill a whole volume. I did not get much of the specifics of these experiences until very recently (this year).

What I find curious is that when she was little, one of the angelic types suggested to her the same thing about the human brain; it had been deliberately created to hold consciousness at a lesser level.

In many of these visitations, she was also under the influence of a similar higher state of conscious awareness. Her description of this state of awareness matches my experience of it.

Having “synchronized” dreams and experiences.

I am not sure if it was because of my hijacking experiment or not, but thereafter my wife and I also began having “synchronized” dreams and experiences.

These related to visiting the same places whilst lucid (she was just as proficient at lucid dreaming and astral projecting as me, if not better).

Often times we would describe to each other a place we’d been to or a lucid dream we’d just had only to have the other finish the sentence with an exact description of the scenario.

Many of these synchronised dreams related to “waking up” and trying to retrieve each other from “sleep facilities”.

Consciousness brainwashing facilities

These “sleep facilities” were unique. In them, it appeared consciousness brainwashing was being undertaken, or (a cleansing of) memories of things we did in past lives or other worlds.

One of these synchronicities was a scenario where we were both killed in one world, and “woke up” in another. Other memories included being trained in remembering “timeline resets”.

Out of all of my mystical experiences, a great deal of them were synchronised in this manner.

One of the “worlds” we were both visiting prior to my first contact experience with the Elder Guardians, was this place that was very reminiscent of a movie theater.

We’d always pop out in a hallway that had various ‘theater” rooms coming off it. These rooms would be lined with chairs, in typical theater fashion, except that instead of a screen there was a spherical shaped portal floating in mid air.

Though I have no specific recollection of them being used for consciousness brainwashing, my wife remembers this place as being used for exactly that.

Whenever I would enter the portal in the theater room, it would take me to a completely different world.

My wife was also able to describe this same world in exact detail.

In this other world there is this weird road that sort of curves upwards into the sky. It sort of looks like what the great Wall Of China would look like if you bent it upwards; the gravity changes as you move along the road so you are always on it.

There appears to be some sort of ancient market festival going on and something to do with timeline resets.

I was having lucid dreams about both the portal theater and the market festival place almost weekly for a whole year; they were, evidently, astral assignments my handlers were sending me to.

There were also instances of being “attacked” whilst lucid that, fortunately for us, we were able to corroborate as both of us had experienced similar things happening.

Such things included weird entities entering our heads and pushing our consciousness to one side, distorting it in the process.

Others included typical succubus expeditions, timeline slips and things that aren’t even describable with human words.

At one point I had something extremely heavy – about 100kg – sit on me and crush my chest to the point I couldn’t breathe.

Majority of these strange occurrences would happen whilst in the sleep paralysis/ hypnogogic state.

Strange occurrences

My wife spoke of one astral projection experience where she went into our roof and found a strange creature living there guarding an ancient dusty box.

This creature was humanoid, had no face and pounced around like a cat. It would not let her anywhere near the box. It wanted to play with her, like a kitten would.

We had “ghosts” moving stuff in many of the houses we moved into.

Our life was one big paranormal experience that for us just became normality.

The weirdest example is a doppelganger version of myself that both my wife and daughter saw and heard that appeared when I was out with my son.

I believe such a doppelganger almost got me executed, but for the sake of brevity I will skip over that whole ordeal.

What I will mention was that this particular incident happened only a few short months after my recurring mystical dreams.

These eventually culminated in me remembering my own reincarnation at the guidance of the voice of the Grand Elder and the torture my soul had undergone moments prior to becoming incarnated in this current body – what I call “soul burning”.

Strange Lucid Dreams

The lucid dreams themselves were strange; they started as me appearing in an apocalyptic purgatorial like place.

There were broken decrepit houses every where one looked.

A single path that led seemingly into nowhere was the only thing besides the houses. There as what appeared to be another version of myself waiting for me along this road.

As I approached it I realized it was a zombie; it was me but it was devoid of all emotion, and as it noticed me it began to give chase.

The information that was coming in from my higher consciousness and through the voice of the Grand Elder told me how this was a part of my higher energetic body.

That body had been damaged by the spiritual amnesia;

It was effectively, a corrupted part of my soul from a higher, non physical plane;
It was an unseen baggage that I would always carry with me.

For about a year this dream would start from the exact same point and slowly progress.

It was like watching the same movie from the start over and over, but each time watching a little bit more before turning it off.

My zombie would chase me and eventually catch me and I would wake up as soon as it touched me.

Eventually my time line resetting memories would start kicking in, and I would be back at the start of the dream with 2 zombies chasing me instead of one upon a zombie touching me.

It would progress in this fashion, with the number of zombies doubling every time I got reset.

It got to the point where I had thousands upon thousands of zombified versions of my energetic body chasing me.

After about a year of having these dreams on a monthly, sometime fortnightly basis, I started to realize it was the period between a zombie touching me and “resetting” that the Grand Elder was trying to get me to remember; whenever I had one of these dreams, my focus would go entirely on trying to figure out what was happening in between the resets.

The amount of information coming through each and every time I had one of these experiences was intense.

I was constantly comparing everything that was happening with the physical world my body was asleep in…

…whilst listening to the Grand Elder’s voice telling me to pay attention to certain details.

They were simply not normal dreams or even normal lucid dreams.

He was guiding me through this experience each and every time I had it like I was back at college opening a textbook and continuing study of a subject from a previous week.

Each experience thus was a continuation of the “lessons” from the previous one.

The Grand Elder would not let up in what he was trying to show/ teach me.

A force controlling the zombified energetic bodies

Because of my connection to my higher mind, I could feel that some kind of external force was controlling these zombified energetic bodies. It was an incredibly strong telepathic connection.

I could sense the raw hatred of this external force coming through; I simply knew it was not part of the zombie’s make up.

It was pure evil and I knew whatever it was, was the same Slave God the Grand Elder had told me was responsible for the Ancient Egyptian slave trade and the spiritual amnesia.

This purgatorial domain I was in it evidently owned and controlled.

In the last experience I was being chased by thousands of these zombies when all of a sudden I realized this hatred emotion I could use to my advantage.

I started taunting these zombies as they gave chase which angered the controller immensely.

Like it’s hatred, I could feel this anger surging through.

I went out of my way to bring this anger to a level where the Slave God would lose control of the situation.

Then I just stopped running and turned around, deliberately allowing the zombies to catch me.

My plan had worked.

The next thing I knew I was being taken to a sort of operating room and was being strapped to a bed.

The zombified versions of my energetic bodies all stood around me, as I was hooked up to a strange piece of apparatus.

Torture!

What followed was the most excruciating torture I have ever experienced in either lucid dreaming or physical reality.

It was unbelievably intense that it literally felt like my very soul was on fire.

It felt like I was being electrocuted with incredibly high current as well as being cut to pieces and set on fire all at once.

I called it Soul Burning.

At the same time this was all carried out there was things being done that I can only describe as a brainwashing regime courtesy of the same apparatus that was torturing me.

It was like it had the ability to instill my very being with false memories.

I could feel things being spliced into my soul that I knew should not have been there.

The controller was so angered by my insolence, that he made the zombies increase the savageness of their “purging” me into one of them.

They ripped and tore at my soul so brutally that I could feel it coming to pieces.

It was a similar feeling to what projecting into the anomaly had done to my consciousness, except that it wouldn’t disintegrate my higher mind.

What was worse was that I suddenly remembered every other time this had happened to me.

Fourty thousand years worth of lifetimes that ended with this same torture all came flooding back to me.

Each one amplified the pain by a million.

Because I was operating from my higher mind I could feel every single one of these tortures as if they were all happening at the same time.

The Grand Elder had warned me it was going to be an uncomfortable memory, but I did not care.

The knowledge of my soul’s history was more important to me than comfort.

My commitment had been to remember whatever was necessary and bring it back here into the physical plane at all costs.

After the soul burning session finished, the zombies all left, courtesy of the controller and I found myself lying alone on the bed in this hellish operating room.

Finished and exhausted

I was completely, 100% lucid and could remember everything that had just happened as well as that somewhere back on Earth my body was asleep in its bed.

My consciousness was completely detached from it.

Whatever it was that had carried out this torture on me had failed to properly administer the amnesia, and I realized this was exactly what the Grand Elder wanted me to see.

I was, however, mentally and emotionally spent from everything that had just transpired.

With my last ounce of energy I deliberately projected my consciousness away from that purgatorial realm into space – I didn’t even have enough energy to get back to my body I was that exhausted.

So I just floated in space for what seemed like a minute, looking at some nearby stars.

There was a suddenly change in my environment as my perceptive field went from that of the universe to a wall of skin that clung to me and enclosed me within it.

That is when I realized I was free floating in a placenta as a fetus.

I even kicked out and could feel the resistance of the skin in my foot as I did so.

This placenta provided a great soothing comfort for me after the whole soul burning ordeal; it was incredibly inviting and felt as though it was healing me as I floated within it.

Shortly after this I awoke back in my bed.

I was certain this was a memory of the moments prior to me being incarnated into this current body.

The Grand Elder plucks me out…

Several months later I was again abducted out of another lucid dream by the Grand Elder.

This time he showed himself to me like he did at the 2012 gathering in the celestial courtyard; it was the very same being, I am 100% sure of this.

He told me that the ordeal in the purgatorial realm was necessary for me to remember before this second meeting with him could be undertaken.

He was teaching me a higher knowledge about consciousness and how it was being affected by the amnesia.

Like the reincarnation dreams this was yet another Auric experience and the information coming through was with a potency that the Earth mind is just not capable of processing.

Again I was taken to a point on the outskirts of a universe in a different, non physical plane.

There was this sort of racing circuit laid out; it was similar to a formula one track just floating randomly in space.

There were these canon like things blotted about around the track randomly that were shooting light far out into the universe. Guarding these canons were these hairy, bipedal, monkey like beasts.

The Grand Elder told me my mind had been deliberately sped up so that I could comprehend this light, which I was perceiving as if it was being slowed down.

The beasts could apparently not see me because their minds were operating at a lower frequency; I was moving faster than the light, they weren’t.

I was also told by the Grand Elder I was seeing these canons in this manner so I could more easily remember them back here in the physical plane.

The actual devices cannot be comprehended by the limited human mind.

This light was not the same as light that we know of on earth.

It was of a much higher frequency and, according to the Grand Elder was responsible for the creation of physical and non physical universes.

We watched as the beasts pointed the canons upwards and fired light pulses out into the vast empty space that surrounded us.

The pulses would fly through space until they collided with the pulses from other canons, whereby whole galaxies would just appear out of no where from the collision.

Suddenly I could see a myriad of stars that had formed because of these collisions. This was happening in every direction we looked. These whole galaxies were extremely small from our vantage point.

There was probably about 20 or so canons placed strategically on this circuit track.

Whenever one of the beasts would fire their canon, you could see the light pulse move around the track before coming out of it.

It was strange in that it looked like a racing track but functioned more like an electronic circuit. You could see the light enter various components before reaching the canons.

Another lesson

What followed was the Grand Elder giving me yet another lesson in consciousness and how it was being affected by the amnesia.

Apparently the Slave Gods had somehow hijacked this light here, right as it came from the source before it could even create the first non physical universes.

The way it was explained to me was that they had embedded “codes” that would affect consciousness in a similar manner to how we vary digital pulses using Pulse Width Modulation.

This effectively meant a consciousness – any consciousness – could be used as a carrier of information that was not part of the “divine” creator’s purpose.

Consciousness could be controlled remotely in this “place” by changing the PWM codes.

This was the whole point of the circuit track we were watching.

The beasts were there to ensure consciousness was being kept in a dumbed down state, and creating the “realities” where those consciousnesses could be trapped.

After this, the Grand Elder took me below the circuit track. We were now in the middle of what appeared to be an electronics manufacturing factory.

The divine light would drop out of the track above us and on to a conveyor belt that was lined with cell phones and similar technology.

It would go into the phones, the phones would be picked up by even more of these beasts, packaged and sent off for shipment.

It was an extremely bizarre affair and, to begin with, I didn’t quite understand what I was looking at.

The Grand Elder told me that the consciousness manipulation technology I had just witnessed was directly connected (at a quantum level) to technologies currently being used around the world.

The actual connection was never explained to me. I was just made to take note that there was a connection.

Shortly after this the dream ended.

Back to the physical world

About 3 months later is when I was very nearly killed by my own neighbors.

My hand was cut open and I was left permanently disabled in my left hand as a result.

As I lay in a hospital bed that very night waiting for surgery, I could hear a crowd of voices in my head all speaking incredibly fast.

The languages they spoke in were not any languages native to Earth.

This was new to me.

These voices were so loud and fast that I thought I was going crazy.

I thought my mind had been broken by the whole ordeal, and that this was going to be my life from then on out.

Unbeknownst to me, about 50kms away at her mother’s house, my wife was also hearing similar voices that same night.

Whereas I could not make out anything mine were saying, hers were screaming “THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!” over and over again.

This was apparently directly in relation to me being almost being killed and having my hand cut open. The idea it could have all been instigated by my doppelganger didn’t enter my mind until this year.

And yet, the crazy train didn’t stop there…

Ah. this is enough for now. There's a lot of "meat" to absorb here. Soak it in. Enjoy it, and soon enough part 3 will be posted. Best Regards. -MM

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[PissedLizard] A crash, then death, then rebirth and then to MM

We all have experiences, and once we step outside the realm of what is "normal", or experiences take on a surreal aspect. Others, sometimes well-meaning, don't understand what you are trying to relate. And thus, you learn. You keep quiet and you don't share your experiences with anyone. But that really isn't healthy.

The following is an introductory statement / story regarding PissedLizard's personal experiences. (Lovingly referred to as PL here on MM) If you read with an open mind, and then consider his experiences to be "puzzle pieces", you can use them to construct a fuller picture of where you are at in your own life and society. It's good stuff you all.

-MM

A crash, then death, then rebirth and then to MM

I am going to start to write what happened to me. MM can verify as soon as something happened on whoever’s end – things just got crazy…

First, I remember the crash and remembered it happened 2 years ago.

I wrote about this before. Where a person would have an accident and "die", only to find out that there was a world-line slide and they really didn't actually die. 

Though they will remember dying and the entire death sequence. Most people who encounter this tend to be quite shaken up by it.

After the “Alien Interview” things started to clear up.

I posted a series of articles, parsing and the full text of "Alien Interview" on MM. This was the transcript (and narrative by the translating nurse) of the interview with a type-1 extraterrestrial commander by the United States military in 1947.

When I say I remember the crash, it was in this body…

… but the crash and impact was elsewhere…

…even though it looked like it was in my house. There were others with me I just do not know what happened to them.

Second, the going to the light thing has a lot of Christian meaning and if they choose to believe that they go to God, then I am not to interfere only to say where I stand with them. Other than that I can only speak for me.

PL is relating his experiences. He is trying to do so free of religious overtones.

When the cycle of not going into the light is broken you remember everything. EVERYTHING.

The problem I am having is relearning how to read, speak, write and overall communicate. This is what’s freaking out my wife. Because now I am a better “listener”. Go figure.

As out of place as this sounds – I have to put it here.

When it happened to me I was shown everything that happened to Jesus Christ. The whole nine (yards).

The "whole nine yards" is an American idiomatic expression. 
.
"The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way", as in, "The Army came out and gave us the whole nine yards on how they use space systems." Its origin is unknown and has been described by Yale University librarian Fred R. Shapiro as "the most prominent etymological riddle of our time".

From asking for a cup of water to the resurrection. I lived it.

I had to live it because I am a pagan and always will be.

My ancestors are showing me how to communicate what has to be communicated to an area of Southern Baptist’s who believe everything else is satanic.

I have to translate (THAT – that right there – I know this and I have to know that – this shit is driving me nuts but in a great way).

In the area where PL lives is a fundamentalist Christian hard-line, hard-Right, Hard-belief religious extremist area. It's sort of the American equivalent of Taliban-controlled, or ISIS controlled Syria. It is known as the "Bible Belt", and is peopled with some rather unique people with very strong and strange belief systems.

To exist within that society, you need to fit in and understand others. You need to be able to "speak their language" and work with them so that they accept you. Otherwise, you can be ostracized and hurt in the process.

I was sent thru all this biblical stuff in order to understand it.

For example – “Jesus died for your sins” I never understood.

Now I do. And that’s real cool of him to do so.

(But) I created my sins. I will die for them.

I made a blood oath to MY Gods and Goddesses to protect my land with my life years ago. I did not understand what the word “sacred” REALLY meant, and now I do. And I will never break that oath.

One of the most important aspects of clarity of mind, is clarity of soul and consciousness. When you stand for what you believe in and you walk the walk and talk the talk.

I was at a facility where my soul was worked on and my DNA reconfigured at the exact facility that MM describes and he was there. Slightly behind and to the right and he was helping. The whole “soul anchor thing” I understand.

Nothing to be afraid of here. There is a non-physical reality and there are others that exist there and they help us repair, recover, change and alter ourselves.

The Mantids are very, VERY real.

I am honored to be allowed to use them as a symbol.

I am going to explain how I interpret their race for you and it’s easy – it is a quote from Sonny Barger.

“Treat me good and I will treat you better. Treat me bad and I will treat you worse”.

A Mantid is what guided me and protected me when I went through the light.

And it feels like a static shock – but it depends on who you are and what is attached to you.

They have this unbelievable loving quality to them. Like a love I have never felt before. BUT – you do not want to mess with them.

Like at all.

They are showing me – along with a real Viking how to live. What signs to see and how to read them.

They explained a very important concept that those who need to know will understand COMPLETELY.

This has to do with reading and writing.

Light reflected off of something is processed very different than generated light – like from a phone or computer.

Reflected light directs the flow of information 2 ways. If you were to print this up and read it on paper – the information is accessed differently.

When you come out the other side it’s a feeling I cannot describe other than Christmas morning at the age of 5, followed by seeing all of the negativity YOU carry with you.

The way the Mantid did it – it was just AWESOME.

He was like a father showing me what I did wrong, who I did it to and how it affected everyone else.

That is all I can say about that.

But it’s really cool.

I was shown this body’s death through both murder and suicide and was given the choice on both and lived through both. I watched someone put a bullet in my head then watched it in slow motion and reverse. My Mantid was showing me what to look for.

That’s all I can write about this right now.

I am sure that PL will go on in greater detail about the death event and what transpired, but it will take time, and it will take away from what is presented herein.

I was shown the beginnings of how to live from my Mantid and “Viking” I guess I could call him, but he is showing me literally how to communicate 2 ways with animals and it’s a frigging crazy crazy way.

He showed me how to smell the difference between smoke from an enemy area versus friendly.

He is showing me how to do a ton of stuff – even what not to write here.

And that's the way it works, don't you know.

I asked what a Mantid smelled like on this board out of curiosity not to be a wise-ass. I don’t know how to put this as I still don’t know their sense of humor at this point (they have one) and I saw what they can do – so maybe another time.

They do have an easygoing sense of humor. Much more personable than say the type-1 greys. (Not bad mouthing them, mind you.) Just telling you like it is.

That’s all I can say right now.

Whoever was there – because I am CLEARLY not steering the proverbial boat and you all know that – just know that I KNOW that and genuinely appreciate it.

Once that switch was flipped – and I remember it, I just can’t remember which one of you did it – but I do remember it and can’t wait to buy you (all) a beer.

Do you want more?

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PissedLizard

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Glossary related to world-line templates and the true nature of the MWI

This article describes a visualization method that is very helpful in understanding how our universe (reality) actually works. This is not the only method to describe how things work, but I like to think that it is the best one for me personally, and so I have been using it for some time now. Most people tend to pick-up on it’s idea and concept rather readily, and thus it’s really very useful. In this article we will go into more detail on how this visualization method works.

I also get into a glossary of terms that I have been using over these years.

Introduction

The MWI is this big universe of possibilities. And each possibility is a frozen moment (in time) that our consciousness visits momentarily.

So, in reality, our consciousness is constantly moving in and out of different realities. And since each reality is it’s own singular world-line, we can say that we are moving in and out of different world-lines.

Step by step

When a consciousness is injected into our (personal) reality, it enters a (some what) fated life. We do have the illusion of freedom of movement and thought, but in reality there are actually limitations all around us.

The baby enters the world. It cannot walk, speak, crawl or do much of anything. It lies there in it’s crib. Certainly, it might be able to crawl to the edge of the crib, crawl up the side, and get out of the crib.

Let’s look at what this would look like.

The baby obtains consciousness

At some point, the infant will obtain consciousness. For some it is inside the mother. For others it is after being physically birthed. And for many, the consciousness comes and goes in and out of the physical body until it settles in place.

And on the world-line template map, it will look something a little like this…

The first few minutes

In the first few minutes, days, months, the freedom of movement is very limited. The consciousness is just learning how to get around. It is just learning how to use it’s body. So there are actual physical limitations that it can do. This is it’s fate.

However, if it pushed itself, and it strove to overcome, it could roll, crawl, move and do other things that are very difficult to do.

Now these things that are very difficult to do are shown on the template map as hills and mountains.

Using the Z-axis we can say that the higher the “mountain”, the harder the effort. While the shallower the depression, the easier the effort.

From the baby point of view it might look like this…

And that is the way it is

As time moves on, the consciousness moves around on this template map. Depending on the personality of the consciousness, it will either take the easy route (which is a fated, go along with the herd mentality), or will become a “hard driver”, pushing and striving to “climb those hills”.

There are many aspects to this. But for now, let’s consider the idea that when you are born, the selection of the pre-birth world-line template will pretty much define your future. You will enter a fated future, and if you did absolutely nothing your future will be as predictable as anything.

But, if you decide to climb “those hills and mountains”, what then?

And this is the point of this article

The height of the “mountains” is a measure of effort and deviance from the comfortable normalcy of your pre-birth world-line template. As you move away from the “flat, safe” median, you will (by definition) change.

And, as we all know, change is a good thing.

And change will alter the geography of your pre-birth world-line template.

But…

For most people the changes will not be significant. That is to say that the pre-birth world-line template will still stay pretty much the same. You will “climb that mountain” and then discover other areas that would otherwise be forbidden for you to go to otherwise. However, you would still be on that pre-birth world-line template.

Movement up those mountains tends not to alter the pre-birth world-line template.

But it does build up “something”

In the quantum world, everything is connected, and all efforts are significant, no matter how tiny or seemingly insignificant. And yes, the movement upwards up the mountains will tend to change the topography of the template somewhat. It will end up making is “softer”, more “gradual”, and “easier”. But none of this is of real significance to the observer.

In other words, the more “mountains” you climb, the “softer” the terrain becomes.

So what is the point?

If you try to push and strive to do the more or less uncomfortable things in your life, you will actually, in the long term, make your life run smoother.

Instead of always going to and from work in your car, how about taking a little detour one day, and pulling into a diner and getting their blue plate special. It’s not a real mountain, but it’s a sizable hill. And it will make a difference.

If you always go and get McDonald’s coffee and then come home, how about next time bringing a creamer and a stirrer for your little kitties at home.

When you have a coffee, how about bringing some home for your kitty.

If you always eat at that restaurant down the street and order the food that you have become comfortable with, how about trying a different restaurant elsewhere. Maybe you will not like the food. So what? The mere fact that you step outside of the limitations of comfort means that you are climbing those hills.

And it doesn’t have to be hard, difficult, or distasteful either. It just should be different…

If you want change, then get out of your comfort zone…

Which pretty much is a central theme in all of this.

It doesn’t need to be much. But any change is good because it means that you are moving away from the common, and towards more interesting objectives.

I would suggest small steps…

If you are wearing a corporate uniform of a white shirt and a red tie, then replace one of the white buttons on the shirt with a green one. (Oh, boy! Will that make a difference!)
.
Go to a animal shelter and adopt another furry friend to your household.
.
Go one week soda free (if your habit is to drink soda).
.
If you always use the regular gas, next time put high-test in the car. Go with the "good stuff".
.
Buy a cup of coffee for a co-worker.
.
Put a thank-you note in your mailbox for the mailman. (Mail-person?)
.
Add some "whimsy" to your front lawn, or change the paint on your front door. Make it bright Red, or Pista.chio, or Robin's egg blue.
.
Plant a tree in your yard.
.
Visit a place that you haven't been to "in ages".

You see, it’s not that difficult to make changes. You just need to try something new and different.

OK. So now the glossary

I have come to bantering these terms so often that new-comers are often very confused. I think that glossary would be in order.

Time

Time does not really exist. Instead, what we refer to as “time” is actually the events that a consciousness experiences. It wakes up, brushes it’s teeth, eats breakfast, gets in the car… and so on and so forth.

That is what the consciousness experiences.

It is a straight “arrow of time” starting with getting up, and all the subsequent events. It is unique to the consciousness experiencing it.

Every consciousness experiences their very own versions of “time”. And there is no real unified time. Rather just the unified (apparently) measurement of it. With clocks, watches, etc.

Life-Line

A “life-line” is a collection of experiences that a consciousness has. As the consciousness moves in and out of individual moments of time, it creates a path. This path looks like a vector. It starts at the moment of birth and ends at the moment of death.

Time-Line

A “Time-Line” is ALMOST the same thing as a “Life-Line”.

Except that the Life-Line encompasses the entire realm of experiences from birth to death, whereas a “Time-Line” is a much shorter period and may or may not include birth or death events.

World-Line

A “world-line” is a frozen moment. Nothing moves. Nothing goes on. It’s just like a photograph. Only it is a 3D photograph of the entire universe.

The term “world-line” comes from Science Fiction novels and movies. These fictions depict another reality that differs from the one that the person was just in. As example, in “Back to the future II”, a pair of time-traveling explorers alter history, with horrible consequences.

As far as using the world-line map template, each intersection point, dot or globe represents one such world-line. As in this here…

World-Line Cluster

As the consciousness travels on the MWI it does so based upon it’s thoughts. If others share the same thoughts, they travel the MWI in a similar manner.

If you map out the Time-Lines of people who are sharing similar thoughts, you will find that they seem to travel together, and they seem to experience the same World-lines.

This is known as clustering.

Echo Chamber

If you only listen to a certain type of “news”, and only receive your input from others that agree with you, the thoughts that you have will be reinforced into one set staid narrative. You will be unable to think other thoughts. And as such, your thoughts will be controlled by whomever, or whatever controls the narrative that you are immersed in.

This environment; a closed environment where your thoughts are set to a “conformist setting” within that environment is dangerous. It locks your path and travel in the MWI to a set route.

In discussions of news media, an echo chamber refers to situations in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal. By participating in an echo chamber, people are able to seek out information that reinforces their existing views without encountering opposing views, potentially resulting in an unintended exercise in confirmation bias. Echo chambers may increase social and political polarization and extremism. 

-Wikipedia

MWI

The many-worlds interpretation (MWI) is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that asserts that the universal wavefunction is objectively real, and that there is no wavefunction collapse. 

This implies that all possible outcomes of quantum measurements are physically realized in some "world" or universe. 

In contrast to some other interpretations, such as the Copenhagen interpretation, the evolution of reality as a whole in MWI is rigidly deterministic. 

Many-worlds is also called the relative state formulation or the Everett interpretation, after physicist Hugh Everett, who first proposed it in 1957. Bryce DeWitt popularized the formulation and named it many-worlds in the 1960s and 1970s. 

-Wikipedia

In short, it is the universe where everything is possible. And every single possibility exists somewhere in some form. And I refer to these variations as “World-lines”.

Template Map

A template map is a method to visualize movement in the MWI.

A topographical map of a mesh is created. Each intersection of that mesh is a “world-line”.

The surface of this map is the HIGHEST LIKELIHOOD of movement of a given consciousness within a physical body.

The height of the topography is a measure of the difficulty in likely movement. This a flat surface is easy with no difficulty and effort. And a “mountainous” feature depicts enormous difficulty and strife.

Which now brings us to…

Pre-Birth World-Line Template Map

This is the very first template map that is established when a baby is birthed, and a consciousness is injected into the body.

It is called a “pre-birth” World-line template map because the template was painstakingly set up in place carefully for the consciousness to obtain experiences on it.

It is a carefully constructed fated life.

The easiest map paths are laid out for the consciousness to explicitly experience and enjoy certain events. And that is both good and bad events.

The only way off this map is to “slide” off of it, on to a different template map.

Slide

A slide is an intentional change of the template map.

You “slide” off the map that you are on, and land on a completely different map.

While this is possible with artificial contrivances, equipment, electronics, vehicles and the like, the most effective way to do so (on a personal basis) is to do it by thought.

You specifically control your thoughts in a concise and directed manner to slide off your template map.

You can use a slide to get off your current world-line template and to get on another one.

Shadow People

We (as consciousness) travel the world-lines alone. It is extremely rare for another consciousness to share a world-line with us.

Thus all those “people” that we see are actually not like us. They don’t have a consciousness like we have. They are real to us, and they have feelings that we react to, but their consciousness is elsewhere on their own world-line somewhere else, and what we see is a “shadow” of them.

A “mountain”

On the topography of a world-line template are “highs” and “lows”. These features define the difficulty of effort to move in those directions. A “mountain” is a particularly difficult are to traverse. And on the 3D map it will appear as a mountain.

A “hill”

A hill is similar to a mountain. It’s level of difficulty to traverse is proportionally smaller.

Comfort Zone

By all practical purposes, the flat and level area is always your comfort zone. You can always find a comfort zone on your pre-birth world-line template map, no matter how mountainous the terrain before you appears. This is the “fated” path that you established for your self when your soul first established the pre-birth world-line template.

This is good and bad. But in general, it means that there is always a default action that will lie ahead of you. Good or bad. You might end up saying “There’s a kind of calmness knowing that you are 100% fucked no matter what you do.” Or, you might say, “You know, if I just keep on doing what I am doing, everything will work out”. It all depends on your individual situation.

Affirmation Campaign

An affirmation campaign is a specific technique that you use to navigate on the world-line template. It is a way to direct your thoughts when moving from world-line to world-line on your MWI template map. It’s a powerful skill set. You can go visit my entire index of articles here…

Intention

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Heaven Index here…

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
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[daegonmagus] – Part 1 – Exploration of the Non-Physical Reality

The following is the first part from a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "daegonmagus" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

-MM

Part 1 – With the Elder Guardians

Daegonmagus Contact With the Elder Guardians Part One:

This is a preliminary background on who I am and how I came to know about the “spiritual amnesia”. Although I have provided a more complete and in depth description of these circumstances in my autobiography, this will provide some context to future articles that will be dealing with these issues. I have deliberately left out much information as it is too cumbersome to include in an article of this nature.

I had my first sleep paralysis experience when I was 8 years old, and it terrified me.

These became a regular occurrence to the point I would be having them every couple of days. I’d be paralyzed, unable to move anything but my eyes, and I would be this way for what seemed like an eternity.

I’d try calling out for my dad, but all that I could ever muster was a faint squeak.

When the paralysis did eventually stop, I’d throw my blankets off and run out of the room to him; he’d tell me they were just nightmares and to go back to sleep. It was beyond frustrating. I simply knew there was much more to them.

I became curious.

I wanted to know what the hell was going on with these paralysis episodes; I wanted to know why everything was so chthonic whilst in them; the noises, the feeling like my soul was being sucked away. The strange entities that would always stand at the end of my bed.

Grandmother and family

My grand mother used to live only a few short kilometers away.

Every Friday we would go there and eat curry lunch. If I was at school that day, I‘d walk there afterwards instead of venturing home, knowing my mother would still be there. It was a nice little tradition we had going on.

But chicken curry wasn’t the only thing I was treated to.

My mother and grandmother were self proclaimed psychics who had a few stories to tell. These were nothing really that special, but they did offer intriguing conversation that couldn’t be found at school.

So in my quest for understanding my sleep paralysis, I listened probably a little too enthusiastically for my own good. Not that I learnt anything valuable in regards to that subject. It did, however, eventually get me interested in Rene Descartes and his philosophies on consciousness.

René Descartes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Down the back of my grandmother’s property was an old abandoned house that she and her family used to live in many years prior to my mother being born.

It was derelict and falling to pieces. The inside walls had massive holes smashed through them. The concrete padding had turned to dust in places. Electrical wiring hung from the exposed roof rafters. The front door had become so overgrown with grass that it wouldn’t open. The only way in was to scale the small chimney that poked out the side of the wall and climb down it. One would come out through the open fireplace facing what used to be a living room, and it was here that I found my treasure.

Boxes and boxes full of books had been left to rot in the middle of the living room, some of them left untouched on a small book shelf.

After sitting here exposed to the elements for the better part of 30 years, a lot of them had decayed beyond readability.

But in amongst the mulch pile, I did find a few gems that had somehow survived the ravages of time. Aleister Crowley’s Moonchid, The predictions of Nostradamus, Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain and Atlantis were just a few of the ones that were still in a decent, readable condition.

However, the true treasure came in the form of a complete four volume encyclopaedia set that explored the idea of magic through different world cultures.

It was a real magical library one would expect to find in some sort of fantasy novel about sorcerers, and I had access to it every Friday.

Naturally, I took these books home with me, saving them from becoming mulch like all the rest. I read through the encyclopaedia front to back.

I was trying to find any scrap of information I could on sleep paralysis.

Once again I was met with much frustration, as there didn’t seem to be much beyond a few vague mentions of tribal shamans using “dreaming” to obtain mystical visions.

Adaptation

Time slipped by, and my sleep paralysis became such a regular occurrence, that I ultimately became bored of it.

I realized that it wasn’t harming me, and it became somewhat annoying. I learnt to relax through it all, and that is when I truly began to learn the power of lucid dreaming and how to control one’s dreams. I suddenly had a new found appreciation for the tribal shamans I’d read about and why they were so into it.

I began unlocking parts of my mind that I otherwise would have been denied access to.

By the time I turned 12 my proficiency in lucid dreaming had reached its peak. I was able to remain conscious during the transition of being awake and asleep, and bypass the sleep paralysis stage altogether.

This became a regular occurrence.

School became a somewhat secondary necessity . I’d play the game and get good grades, but deep down I was more interested in the metaphysical than what the physical had to offer me.

I was too involved in my dream worlds that I would visit on such a regular basis that the physical world became dull by comparison.

I was using study time in the library meant for science and maths tests on researching occult concepts and ideologies such as astral projection. I started wondering why everyone was so content in the idea they must work themselves to death, rather than study consciousness via the avenue of lucid dreaming. To me, the latter was much more exciting and pointed to a much better sense of purpose than the former.

By the time I reached high school, I had become extremely proficient at creating my own dreams.

I became so good, that I was able to simulate sensations within my dream environments including touch, taste and smell, and generate entire environments just by thinking of them.

It was because of these “simulations” that I was also able to explore my own sexuality and solve problems that I was having in the “real world”. It was then that I started really experimenting with consciousness whilst in this dreaming state, using Descartes’ philosophies as a starting point.

Exploration

I began to frequent several places in the lucid domain that appeared to be completely separate to my mind’s fabrication.

One of these places was a tropical island that I used to go on regular “lucid holidays” to.

It was here that I discovered the existence of these portals that could be used to traverse the “other worlds”. Thus I started learning how ones consciousness could be projected through these portals to access other realms/ dimensions.

Projection of consciousness

It was around about the age of 14, I had my first real breakthrough in regards to the projection of my consciousness outside of my body.

I had somehow found myself on another planet watching a tribal Elder of a humanoid race of people talking to his tribe.

I was completely lucid, in that I could remember my body being asleep back in my bed on earth. These people, although completely alien to any human species on earth, had a very Native American vibe to them.

All of a sudden the Elder realized I was there, observing them.

I heard his voice within my mind, telling me not to be afraid and to come closer – to move within him.

He knew I was a curious consciousness, and took the opportunity to give me a lesson in how multiple consciousness can inhabit one body.

I obliged, and immediately felt myself go within him. It was an incredible feeling; an entire lifetime’s worth of his memories came flooding into my mind, and yet I still remembered my physical, sleeping body.

I knew he could have kicked me out from within him any time he chose, but he allowed me to stay for several minutes as an apprentice to the mysteries of consciousness.

It was one of the most humbling moments of my life.

He then spoke to his tribe, and announced that they had a guest. They looked around, somewhat confused, and he explained that my consciousness was residing within him.

When they asked where I was from, he pointed to a very specific star in the sky without hesitation and said “from there”. Soon after this I thanked him for his hospitality and departed, waking back up in my body on earth.

Second Breakthrough

My next breakthrough came about a year later when I first astral projected. I had been curious about the subject for several years after seeing a story about it on a show called The Extraordinary.

My purpose was to try and contact my grandfather who had passed away from lung cancer when I was nine.

My meditations, as a result got to the point where I could sit for hours on end in one pose, completely un-moving, whilst I tried to project.

I had been utilizing the Monroe Institute technique for several months and then one night it finally happened.

I was lying in bed meditating, and heard this loud popping noise. Suddenly, I felt as light as a feather, and I watched as I floated out of my body. I turned around and saw my physical body lying on the bed. I was so bewildered by the experience all I did was go outside and sit on the couch to just take it all in.

Death in the family

Shortly after that I was hit with grief as my brother was killed in a car accident right near our house, on the main drag going out of town. I had been suffering from severe depression and this was a kick in the guts I could have done without.

I started becoming uncaring in regards to my attitude towards life, and this bled over into the lucid realm.

The part of my mind that would sense danger became deactivated. I started going to dangerous places and messing with dangerous things not really caring if it resulted in my becoming permanently detached from my physical body.

Bad behaviors

I summoned all the “malevolent entities” that had taunted me during sleep paralysis into my dreamscapes and taunted them back, in an effort to take out my grievances on something that I considered deserved it.

Often times I was being chased by things that any rational person would have been terrified of, and I knew if they caught me it was game over.

What can I say; my depression and adventures in lucid dreaming had numbed me to the idea the physical body was important. I was at that point almost entirely disassociated from my body.

War!

It was around this time I became aware of my involvement in an “astral war”. I would become lucid in dream scenarios that I knew were not of my own devising.

In many of these scenarios it was like I had been drugged with a substance that was able to affect consciousness, and consciousness alone.

My “assignments” revolved around voluntarily going into compounds where this drug and other tortures were being administered to try and figure out why.

It seemed very much like my astral body was being utilized as an infiltration agent for inter dimensional warfare. I would write little poems mentioning this war and vaguely mentioning my role within it.

I knew I was not like other kids my age, and I knew it was because I had embraced the lucid and astral worlds as being as real, if not more, as the physical world.

Assignments

At first these appeared as standard dreams – fragmented memories even– but as the years wore on, I would become more and more lucid in them.

I would “appear” at my assignment location, get doped or tortured, return to my handlers for debriefing, then wake up and go to school the next day as if nothing ever happened.

This was what about a third of my youth entailed from the age of 15 all the way up to adulthood.

The more I lucid dreamed, the more I would remember my roles in these scenarios that thing were to trying to “drug me” out of remembering.

I became the weird kid that would talk about lucid dreaming and the worlds I’d visited like it was a normal part of existence.

My peers just didn’t know how to handle it and would often shy away from after giving each other a weird look. The funny thing was, my brother was part of the popular crowd, which meant by default I ended up in the social circle of kids. The whole thing was laughable.

Leaving School

I left school at the age of 16, a whole year before graduation. My close friends were starting to dabble a little too liberally in hard substances like methamphetamine, and I had – due to my severe depression, and genetic tendacies – had picked up an unhealthy addiction to alcohol even by that age.

I decided this sort of lifestyle wasn’t getting me anywhere.

If I stayed around these people I was going to end up dead, or worse, addicted to the same drugs they were taking (I’d never dabbled in anything stronger than marijuana).

I enrolled to do a music course at college, and that is where I met Storme.

Meeting the Girl of your dreams

When I first saw her I had the whole “I am going to marry that girl” thought pop into my head. I found out that she too was into the metaphysical and believed in things like astral projection and lucid dreaming. Plus, she was into the exact same music I was into – this was a very big deal for me.

The last thing I wanted to do was end up with someone who listened to Justin Bieber in their spare time. Nope; my ideal woman needed to have at least some sort of idea of what constituted musical talent. She also lived the next town over from me, which was a bonus.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, Storme had just escaped a period of homeless and what appeared to be a very real sex trafficking operation.

She had experienced things very few people would believe.

Things like communications from both physical and non physical entities about our world and its “true” history. She was the only other person I had ever come across who knew about the astral war, and the reason she knew about it was because it had been directly told to her by one of these entities.

I decided to do a lucid dreaming experiment on Storme to see if I could “hack” into her dreamscape, replacing it with my own, and to both of our astonishment, it actually worked.

I pressed her on her dreams the next day and she told me the exact scenario I had dreamed up; a meeting at college.

I had made sure to include very specific points in the conversation, and she hit these with accuracy.

This marked my next breakthrough in my experiments with consciousness whilst in the dream state.

Dating

We ended up dating. I would help drive her band around to gigs and semi manage them.

These guys were into taking things like LSD to “expand their minds”, but Storme and I never obliged.

Like her, they also were curious about astral projection, but had never experienced it.

Their drummer, Damien, was big on conspiracy theories, and would always talk about people like Icke, mind invading reptilians and the NWO that I thought was a complete load of bullshit.

This is where I first came across the Isaac CARET program; the other guitarist, Sean, sent me a link to the original website. I ended up writing it off as some sort university experiment in psychology.

Occult Studies

My occult studies had continued on and off through these years. Somewhere along the lines I had come across a secret society called the Hell Fire Club based out of West Wycombe, England.

I had only really joined the club to gain access to their catalogue of rare esoteric books.

I was big on trying to find the most original documents I could find when conducting my research.

It was through this club that I scored a copy of both the Greater and Lesser keys of Solomon; these books were rumored to be very powerful books on spirit conjuration, though I only wanted them for study purposes. I had no intention of ever summoning anything.

The Steward of its English chapter seemed impressed with my knowledge of occult ideologies and asked me to open my own Chapter here in Western Australia.

Though I didn’t really know what I was doing, I obliged.

He sent me books on his interpretations of the club and its link to alchemical concepts. That is how I got into spiritual alchemy.

I was put in contact with the other Australian Stewards, and these turned out to be an even bigger source of occult information for me; they were very well respected in regards to their ideologies and were a treat away from the many charlatans I had come across on the internet.

Marriage

Storme and I moved in with each other and, after a rocky few years at the hands of other people , we eventually got married in a little grove out in the middle of the state forest with a small gathering of our families.

We both weren’t big on traditional weddings and opted for a more pagan hand fastening ceremony instead.

After a fall out with my family, we dropped off the radar and became hermits moving from one rental to the next until we found a house that seemed to be haunted by a ghost that was actually quite pleasant to be around. This thing would open and close doors at night , but there was never a feeling a malice from it.

It was in this house that I began reworking the concepts of Alchemy I picked up in the HFC into my own meditations. Though the Steward’s ideologies were profound, I felt they were lacking in some areas and left much to be desired.

I began spending hours researching many allegories and writings of alchemy with the idea that the philosopher’s stone was the higher self.

I noticed from old alchemist texts I had in my possession that those particular Alchemists were using alchemy as a model for understanding the soul.

Thus my attention at that point was wholly devoted towards reconnecting with my higher self and hopefully making contact with the ascended masters.

Pay Off

On May 11^th 2012 my meditations in alchemy paid off, and I was granted an audience with the very “people” I was seeking.

I was engaged in a lucid dream when I was “abducted” out of it into what I can only describe was a more “complete and real reality”. In fact it was so real, that I was forced to the conclusion that the physical world was the lesser of two “reals”.

I was standing in what appeared to be a courtyard a few acres in size, amidst a very large gathering of other people.

Based on the many music festivals I had been to in my youth, I estimated this group to be at least 20 000. We were all crammed into this courtyard that appeared to just be floating on its own out in the middle of space; you could actually see a nearby moon that was circling it, and this was pretty damned large; probably 10 to 20 times the size of our moon.

There was this gnawing sense of confusion going through me, and I noticed that same confusion present on the faces of the 20 000 others. It was a confusion born from knowing that I knew this place, but also knowing that I had forgotten it, and couldn’t work out why.

Over at the edge of the courtyard was a stone altar, and on the other side of this alter was what looked alike a small, curved amphitheater of an Ancient Greek like architecture where a bunch of beings in hooded robes sat, watching us 20 000.

I got the immediate impression that these beings were extremely old “Elders” and extremely powerful, unlike anything we know on earth.

Between us 20 000 and the amphitheater stood one of these Elders watching us in our confusion.

There were other people in this crowd that appeared to be our celestial families and they were hugging us, in tears, saying how they had missed us all and we’d been away for too long.

Remembrance

The Elder who stood between us and the other Elders, slowly approached me waiting for me to remember where I was.

Once he was satisfied my memory of this place was sufficient he began to speak to me, and that is when my mind began opening up and processing information at an incredible speed. I started operating from a state of awareness far above that of what is used whilst in a physical body.

The “Grand Elder” – as I called him – told me there was a sort of spiritual amnesia affecting mankind.

He said that the human brain had been deliberately engineered to cut them off from this state of awareness that I was now experiencing.

He told me that this amnesia had been created by a race of beings that did not want humans reconnecting with this power, and that they were the same ones responsible for the Ancient Egyptian Slave trade.

He referred to them as the “slave gods”.

This Grand Elder expressed concern that this amnesia would see the end of human life if it was left to continue unimpeded.

He told me my soul was over 40 000 years old and that I had been an active participant in trying to eradicate the amnesia for much of that time.

The reason, he said, that I had been summoned before them, was because of my abilities at lucid dreaming.

Apparently what I had learned through years of experimentation was considered so advanced by them, that very few people on earth possessed these same abilities; the amount of other who apparently possessed these abilities could be counted on one hand.

Nick-name

I was told that they (the Elders) had nick-named me “trick and trip” in salutation of these abilities; trick because of my abilities at evading the unseen enemy presence responsible for the amnesia, and trip for my abilities to “travel” to other worlds.

Apparently, according to these Elders, anyone who demonstrated these abilities were held in high regard by them, as it allowed them the opportunity to communicate with those back on the physical plane without it being compromised by external forces.

I was also told that I had been part of a “hive consciousness” that had tracked this amnesia to a black hole anomaly.

This black hole anomaly existed at the edge of this physical universe and was where the device causing the amnesia was being hidden.

The Grand Elder took me to its edge to help boost my memory, then brought me back before the gathering.

Put in Charge

It was here I was put in charge of the 20 000 other souls by the same grand Elder.

He gave me the task of rewriting their “soul code” to provide an unlocking mechanism so they could more easily wake up from the amnesia once they came back here to earth.

My assignment upon returning here was to regather them as one fighting force against the amnesia and its operators from within the earth plane.

I was to spread the message of everything he told me to anyone who would listen in an effort to reawaken these 20 000 consciousnesses to their own tasks.

After this I projected to the anomaly to try and get an understanding of it, much to the advice of the Grand Elder.

Somehow it was able to completely disintegrate my consciousness even though it was functioning from this higher state.

Within minutes I was reduced to an insane, incoherent mess.

I struggled to comprehend even the simplest of words as I tried crying out for my wife and telling her I was sorry I would not “be coming back to earth”. Shortly after this, everything went black and I woke up in my bed.

This was the first time out of several that the Grand Elder would contact me in relation to this amnesia.

To Be Continued…

MM Thoughts

This is obviously fascinating and an easy read. It touches and broaches a number of related MAJestic subject areas and approaches it from a different angle and view point. I must admit that while I am aware of much of what DM discusses, my actual exposure to the occult teachings, and methodology is of a different nature entirely.

That is neither good, nor bad.

It is neutral.

To be open and willing to take this information in, absorb it and learn from it is a valid and important step for us to understand our true natures and role on this planet. I cannot vouch whether it is true or not, but I can vouch that it is sincere and that it is an accurate description of something that is obviously personal and private.

I, for one, look forward to many more contributions.

As well as looking forward to your thoughts in this matter.

You can visit the daegonmagus Index here…

MM Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
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[ANONYMOUS] – Part 1 – MM unlocked an Adventure

The following is a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "ANONYMOUS" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here. 

A quick note. When I first posted this article I confused two contributors. This caused me some headaches and all should be resolved by now.

-MM

Preamble

MM,

Seeing you suffer under DOS and database attack and the drop in visitations has really effected me as well, so I wanted to send you a big, heartfelt intention-bump. Without any exaggeration, your website has completely and irrevocably changed my entire life. My general way of living, mentality, and many other aspects have changed forever.

The tale here is odd to say the least.

Your blog basically “unlocked” me in January of this year, and prompted a very bizarre, incredibly frightening, but ultimately useful transformation including the unlocking of a number of new “abilities” which still has me totally stunned.

I was waiting for this moment…..

How it all started

I am a middle aged man in Canada.

During some unrelated web surfing in September of 2020, I was directed to one of your SHTF articles which was referred to on Reddit.

As someone very prep-oriented, nothing you wrote there shocked me at all, but I enjoyed your style, grit and honesty.

I had no idea at the time you had other experiences elsewhere, but upon return (to the MM site) I discovered your MAJ and all over documents, not to mention other hosted works in Bibliotech etc.

As a quick backgrounder on me, I am a Spectrum-learner, with virtually no subject that I do not enjoy knowing more about, but with a huge focus on Science, ExoBiology, Planetary Sciences, Astronomy, Physics, Botany, and many more.

But I am also a musician, artist, and I’ve worked as a professional Sous Chef before, so food is a huge thing for me.

For what its worth, I brew my own beer, grow my own food, and so on. Where I live, I am very unusual.

My professional background includes banking, high tech security and surveillance, and other technology related elements. I have also run my own business twice, and taken a company to the stock market here publicly. I understand computers, networks, and so on.

The Change

Before discovering you I was agnostic. One of those extremely skeptical types who values everything based on return on investment….. a “show me” kind of guy.

This doesn’t mean I was closed. Dear Lord, no, I am voracious in learning and understanding in anything I can, and ET/UFOLOGY etc was all part of my general interest.

For the record, I never believed we were “alone” and since I was 9 years old I took it for granted we would discover countless worlds and meet/interact with countless entities. Much of my childhood was spiritual, but that can be saved for another time.

Sept 2020 I began reading your material, alongside my reading at the time which included Roger Penrose / Hawking but as well as a number of UFO related channeling websites and other such material.

Nonetheless I kept coming back to MM over and over again.

Something in the back of my mind started what I can only describe as a “rising agitation” as I consumed your material.

I got the distinct impression I was being watched, and I hope that doesn’t sound too nuts, but it grew over time.

As I continued reading the material, I became very very focused upon it, studying the Base 8 Number system, Functional Diagrams, Comments on Brown Dwarfs etc. It was like I had imagined a website built just for me, by you! Every article was incredible!

But what started my experience was the growing realization that multidimensionally we were indeed being watched, every single moment of every day.

I had a very frightening “oh shit!” moment when I finally accepted what I was learning.

Studying Quantum Physics and other related topics for 20 years brought me to this one moment.

I can tell you it was personally very shocking to realize everything I had ever done, every thought, every action, every Sin, every Rufus moment, was known. Also, I felt pretty stupid for not coming to this knowing earlier.

Then something very dramatic happened, and I hope you can both understand and possibly shed light.

The Event

During a five-day period in January of 2021 I was really pushing hard to continue to read as much as possible from your site while maintaining my busy corporate life.

Each day, I felt a rising wave of energy in me, like waves of “chills” beginning from the bottom of my feet and rising up my spine, spreading like energetic wings left and right, and then culminating in my head/crown.

Keep in mind, I had very limited esoteric/spiritual background. I had no idea this was leading somewhere…..

Each day the sensation grew, but it got weirder.

Suddenly, and without any prompting or training, I had a very serious interest suddenly in sitting down on the ground, and breathing by inhaling through my nose (tongue on roof of mouth) and then exhaling as I digested your materials and revelations.

I would pray in place (keep in mind I had prayed ZERO times for my entire life prior), and consider my own errors and successes as well as the nature of consciousness, the soul, etc.

During this breathing, the energy would increase.

Whilst my eyes were closed, I started to see what seemed to be a “field” of dimensionality I hadn’t seen, which was lit up. Then, shimmering light from the top of my field of view (with eyes closed).

By the third day, I was sleeping less and less and less and reading more and more and more.

Also, during my circular breathing moments, I started to notice all of my hair would stand on end, and massive goosebumps would show up along the entire length of my body.

I felt pressure at the top of my head in the shape of a torus, and then soon, the sensation of a DOT roaming around on my forehead, then “fixing” in place between my eyes.

Another sensation was at the exact center of the top of my skull, like a “pulling” upwards from my body to somewhere above me, so to speak.

On the fifth day, I had slept less than 3 hours, and was meditating, breathing and praying a LOT. Yet, for whatever reason, even though this was totally bizarre and unprecedented behavior, I felt bliss.

On that day, I mentally said the words “God I know believe in you, and I want to Serve Others”.

I knew personally, that being a mixed Sentience was NOT what I was, and not the man I knew I could be.

MM, this was nuts. I was pulled to the tips of my toes and what felt like lightning ripped through my body. The feeling was akin to a bizarre ecstasy and I knew I was a different person.

I said “thank you” out loud.

Follow though…

During my intense meditations afterwards I began projecting block letters in my mind, and i didn’t know why, but they had themes like “Unity” “Peace” “Co-Operate” “UNITY MIND to MIND” and other ideas.

But it got even crazier.

I started seeing visions in my mind of our civilization in the future, and I knew it was 500 years from now approx, but I didn’t know how I knew.

In it I saw thousands and thousands of people gathering, as I hovered over the landscape watching them assemble. These people assembled first in one triangle, and then another overlapping triangle. The Double-Tetrahedron Star of David.

In the middle of the grouping there were elders or seers with hands outstretched. Then the entire crowd (tens of thousands of people) began to sing in a way I’ve never heard.

Now please don’t think I am certifiable but for some reason I could sense why this was being done.

It was a massive prayer and intention ritual used to bring Earth to a Zero-Point in a different pocket universe to allow for planetary healing and a reset as humanity began to graduate into STO Sentience and Sovereignty.

We were growing up…..finally.

There is so much more insane detail here I can barely begin, but it included Psychic Colleges, Parent-Child classes from birth and all kinds of incredible outcomes from this new Way. It was very detailed and incredibly inspirational….

…and alien.

End of part 1

Pretty exciting? Right? Well this is one man's experience. And everyone will have their own personal experience that will be just as profound and just as amazing. From seeing faeries to breathless communication with cherished pets, to mind-boggling breakthroughs in understandings and realizations. It's all the same thing. - MM

What to expect in future articles…

…an encounter with an Entity and a terrifying “debate” where I was mentally crushed by this entity. Afterwards, and to this very moment, I have the ability to pull “source/prana/energy/whatever” at will, and this seems to have a massive impact on my prayers and intentions.

In other words, I am starting to see very noticeable manifestations.

I have also seen many many different shapes, diagrams (which I can interact with sort of), and other images in my meditative mind.

The synchronicities in my life are off the chart, sometimes 8 to 10 jaw dropping events in a single day. Its like living in my own Movie now, and its a trip.

My entire life has changed. I mediate often and pray often. I am single for the first time in decades and without a solid footing.

The MM website is a touchstone for sanity. I am becoming the Rufus……slowly. I will say, that changing ones Sentience from Mixed (which I absolutely was) to STO is the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Ever.

You can visit the ANONYMOUS Index here…

ANONYMOUS

MM Articles & Links

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How to meet our beloved pets (dogs, cats, horses) after we die and go to Heaven

This article is about something that is very close and dear to me. It is about meeting our pals; our little buddies after we die and go to Heaven… or wherever we go. It’s a very neglected subject, yet I consider it to be a very important one.

Now, it’s going to get a bit obtuse, but hold on. I know all you who visit here are hurting. Don’t worry. I have some answers.

Where do I get this information?

Recognize that I relate from my background in MAJestic, and my readings of “Alien Interview”. If you do not know what I am referring to, then you will have to go to the About Me to discover what I mean about MAJestic. And to understand what I am talking about regarding “Alien Interview” you can go HERE. Additionally, I can confirm that much of what I relate is in accordance with the Geography of Heaven as described by Dr. Newton.

Recognize that [1] I was part of an organization, and that I had tasks and operations that had tangential associations with this subject. So, to put it another way, I’m the closest thing you are going to have to an “expert” on these matters.

And that [2] the discovery, reading, parsing of Alien Interview helped me to clarify some experiences that I was exposed to. It will be the elements from “Alien Interview” in this narrative that will help clarify some issues. As I think that it might clean up some issues.

Let’s begin with some basics…

There are different kinds of heavens.

A "Heaven" is a "Universe". There are many of them.

Our normal, day to day lives, is within a universe. We, not knowing any better, think that this universe is all that there is. It's not.

When we, or our pets, die we (as consciousness in wave form) float around. We can stay in this (physical) universe in the spirit form, or we can leave it. And if we leave it, we will go to a completely different universe.

Cats tend to go to a "Cat Universe". Also known as a "Cat Heaven".

Dogs tend to go to a "Dog Universe". Also known as a "Dog Heaven".

Horses tend to go to a "Horse Universe". Also known as a "Horse Heaven".

Humans tend to go to a "Human Universe". Also known as a "Human Heaven".

There is one thing that is in mutual agreement with my MAJestic “training” and the “Alien Interview” dialog is that there are many Heavens.

And Heavens are the same thing as Universes.We as humans have inherited these general words and phrases without understanding what they represent.

So when we talk about Heaven we must be specific. We cannot be general.

There is a “Human Heaven”. And there are Heavens for other species.

So…

There is a cat heaven. There is a dog heaven. There is a horse heaven. There is an eagle heaven. There is a parakeet heaven. And so on and so forth.

All this has to do with the idea that (way back, early on when the very first mega-universe was created), the other universes sublimated naturally by specific quanta associated with the species that developed and came into being.

Or, in other words, there is one Heaven for each species, and this is a natural consequence of the nature of the overall “mega-universe”.

If you do not want to believe this you can leave.

There is NOT one singular Heaven where every single life exists in once you die. That is a fantasy based on ignorance of quantum physics.

Summary:

Within "all that exists" (which I refer to as a the mega-universe) are bubbles. These bubbles are universes.

Every life that exists is attuned, by it's quantum makeup, to one specific universe. This association is called "soul". 

Thus, we are on this "physical-universe", and when we die our consciousness travels back to "soul" which exists within our species universe. We call this "going to Heaven".

But the Earth is unique…

Further, apparently, and I am now pretty convinced of it, is that there is a specific “Earth Human Heaven”.

Sounds OK, really.

Doesn’t it?

Or better stated, a Human Heaven that is geographically located that services the “Sentience Nurseries” (Prison planets) in this geographic section of the galaxy.

What this means is that there is an overall “Heaven” for all humans all over the universe. But also that there is a very “special” Heaven for humans that reside in the earth or in associated other “sentience nurseries”.

And you can refer to them as being “Prison Planet” if you like.

But I like to think of it as a “sentience nursery” for the purposes of reforming the “inmates” forced to live and exist int his environment.

Now, to be honest, I was unaware of this during the entire time that I was active in MAJestic. However, the narrative in Alien Interview has clarified so many points, and then when this issue came up, I achieved an “Ah ha” moment. And then so many other things feel into place.

Now, this idea that there is an “Earth Human Heaven” that is separate from a “General Human Heaven” is very profound. But we won’t get too bogged down in it here.

General Human Heaven
Specific “special” Earth Heaven.

Summary:

Humans have two "Human Universes". One is the "General Human Heaven", and the other is a special area. This other one is just for our physical geographic area only. So I refer to it as "Earth Human Heaven".

Most Earth Humans have a "soul" that is part of the "Earth Human Heaven".

OK.

Let’s stick to the issue at hand…

Humans need a guide to visit those other Heavens

According to everything that I have experienced and what I have read, we all need a guide or a person to help us to enter into different Heavens.

I refer to this guide as a “Mantid”, but other might known them as “guardian angels” or “angels”.

Basically, it is a non-human entity that helps you meet with your friends who might belong to a different species as you do.

Now, from what I understand from Alien Interview, this entity is utilized to assist in the meeting of two different species in a neutral environment. While it might appear that it is is in one heaven or the next the reality is that is is something else.

You see, different universes operate differently from a Human Universe, and the Physical Universe. And we need to be “configured” to visit there. It isn’t automatically easy. If you wanted to visit a “Cat Heaven” you would need to temporarily conform your consciousness to fit in a Cat Heaven.

Think of it like a key.

If you want to open a door, you have to have a key of the right shape.

But earth humans, we don’t even know how to do that, let alone what it is. So we get help from someone who does know. And we can refer to these entities as “guides”, “angels”, “assistants”, or what ever you want to refer to them as. In my experience they tend to be other humans in the spirit form. And / or Mantids (Angels).

However, knowing what I do know, most earth Humans do not have the memories, the skills or the abilities to perform these things. Maybe we once did. But now, today, the vast numbers of humans no longer can do this, and thus needs a “guide” or a person to help them.

Summary:

When a creature dies, is floats around in spirit form (wave form), and then migrates up to it's Heaven. This is natural.

Your pet will be in it's Heaven. And you will be elsewhere. Typically, you will be in your Heaven.

To visit each other, you will need a "guide", an "assistant" to help you two meet. This person will be able to "key you" to the kind of configuration that will allow you two to meet.

But according to Alien Interview you should not need a guide at all

The thing is that you should not need a guide to accompany you to visit your friends. Being consciousness that is all knowing and all capable, that you should (theoretically) be able to see and visit these other Heavens (universes) as you will.

Unfortunately, for a host of reasons, the ideal no longer exists.

Somehow, along the way, humans on the earth ended up getting their very own “special” Heaven. This Heaven is different from the normal Human Heaven that the rest of the universe has.

Alien Interview calls this area a “Prison Planet”.

MAJestic refers to this portion of space (and five other solar systems) as a “Sentience Nursery”.

What ever it is, and why it is, is a vast and huge subject. It’s covered elsewhere, and we will not dwell in it too much here. Instead we will just simplify things and say that if you are on the earth, then chances are that your Heaven is the “special” Heaven constructed for this region.

And those of us associated with this Heaven have erased skills, memories and abilities. And that is the way it is.

Summary:

Ideally, we should not need assistance to visit other universes. But most humans here in this geographical region of space is associated with a "special" Earth Human Heaven. This association is one with erased memories, skills and abilities. And thus we need help to perform most tasks.

This suggests that the “guide” is actually something else

Since we are associated with a soul with this “Earth Human Heaven”, and we need a “guide” or “expert” to accompany us when we exit our Heaven to go to another one, what does this tell you?

What is the closest analog in our physical reality universe?

Corrections officers escorting a prisoner outside of Jail.

Summary:

The easiest way to understand how Earth Human Heaven works is to imagine it as a big prison. This may or may not be true. However, the aspects of it that requires...

[1] Memory wipe to enter a physical body. (Parole)
[2] Escorts when you leave the Earth Human Heaven. (Jail transport) 

...is strongly indicative, and most easily imagined, as a minimum security prison.

As far as I know, and from all of my experiences, only humans have these limitations. Other species do not have these limitations.

But, you know, it can’t be really bad…

The idea that we can get help to visit other Heavens, and the idea that we are supported to return back to Earth (abet with our memories erased), does indicate that there seems to be a freedom of movement in the non-physical Heavens. Though this freedom is monitored, and supervised, it does appear that there is a great degree of latitude of where you can go.

Certainly a Cat Heaven or a Dog Heaven is so unlike a Earth Human Heaven, and that we as consciousness can visit it, certainly says that there are some freedoms that we are permitted.

I wonder if we can visit the General Human Heaven?

Why are we earth (and the other local solar systems) segregated from this General Human Heaven? What is the problem? Do we have some kind on non-physical virus, sickness, bad behavior or anything like that?

For, and the reason why I mention this, is that (by all accounts) the General Human Heaven is substantially older, larger, involves far more souls than the Earth Human Heaven.

With this in mind, it must also have resources, places, abilities and functionality that our Earth Human Heaven does not have.

Summary:

There are two Heavens (two universes) for Humans. Maybe there are more. But in general there is a local, regional to this section of the galaxy that services the earth solar system, and five others that service other solar systems. This Heaven, known as the Earth Human Heaven, is much smaller (though quite enormous) and younger (while still old) compared to the General Human Heaven.

Were the consciousness, you for example, wanted to have unrestricted access to do anything, you would need to go to the General Human Heaven to do so. Otherwise, you would suffer through the realities and restrictions of the Earth Human Heaven.

Tunnel of Light

Everyone knows what the “tunnel of light” is. Right?

When you die, you are compelled or instructed to “follow the light” and enter in this nice long tunnel,

My experiences strongly supports the notion that this “Tunnel of Light” actually exists in the non-physical realms. And that it is not some kind of biological event that occurs when your body starts to shut down when you die.

Dr. Lakhmir Chawla, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at George Washington University, asserts that near-death experiences are simply caused by a surge of electrical activity as the brain runs out of oxygen before death. However, the oxygen-depletion theory is only one of many classical neurophysiological theories challenged by people who have undergone near-death experiences.

I argue that it is a real event that you may or may not experience.

This “Tunnel of Light” has nothing to do with your consciousness leaving your (now deceased) body, but rather that it is a secondary “step” that many human consciousnesses experience upon death.

First you leave the body.
Your consciousness remains in close proximity to the physical world, but being in wave form is unable to interact with it.
You can move about by thought.
You may encounter things, creatures and events that are not apparently present in the physical reality.
The world-line travel, as part of the MWI stops.
Your consciousness resides as part of your final egress world-line.

At some point in time, you might encounter “old family”, “former friends”, “guides”, or “Angels” that introduce you to this “Tunnel of Light”.

And 99.999% of Earth Humans enter this tunnel. They go to Earth Human Heaven, and exist in that place.

This does NOT happen to other animals that I know of. It only happens to Earth Humans.

…

What is the closest analog to a “Tunnel of Light” in the physical realms?

In prison is a very special room called a “Sally Port”. It is essentially a long hallway with a door at each end. You enter in the hallway, and line up. Then the door behind you is closed. The corrections officers then make sure that everything is in order, and the inmates are all secure. When everything is fine, you then proceed to the end of the hallway. There, that door will open up and you will be inside the prison proper.

A sally port is protected point of entry into a secure location, such as a prison or a military fortification. Often, a sally port consists of an enclosed area with a solitary gate on either side, only one of which can be opened at any given time.

-My Law

Here is a photo of a prison sally port…

Summary:

Cats, Dogs, Horses and other species do not appear to have a "Tunnel of Light" for them to enter their respective Heavens. Only earth Humans have one.

The closest earth analog to a Tunnel of Light is a Prison Sally Port.

Following the models laid out by the other species, it appears that it is a very natural and easy thing to move towards your species Heaven (Universe). Your quantum make up attracts you to it naturally.

You do not have to be "guided", "directed", "led" or "taught" to enter this tunnel. If left to our own designs, our consciousnesses would naturally move towards the General Human Heaven instead. 

Thus, no matter how much love, beauty and attractiveness that you feel emulating from this "Tunnel of Light", if you allow yourself to migrate to the true nature of your species you would naturally move towards the General Human Heaven.

Hard Labor

There are many kinds of prisons. In the ADC they had…

Diagnostic Prisons.
Maximum security prisons.
Minimum security prisons.
Prisons for behavioral modification.
Prisons for Hard Labor Punishment.
Prisons for Boot Camp Punishment.
Work / Factory Prisons.

I spent time in both the behavioral modification prisons and in the Hard Labor Prisons.

In the Hard Labor Prison (East Arkansas Regional Unit at Brickeys) we would transit the Sally port four times a day. We would go to and from the prison to the fields where we would work on the “chain gang”. Better known as “Hoe Squad”. In Arkansas, prison is the “punishment” portion of the criminal sentence. While parole is the “rehabilitation” portion of the criminal sentence.

In a like way, Earth Human Heaven appears to work the same way.

You enter and leave the “Tunnel of Light” to transit between the locked-down security of Earth Human Heaven, and the Physical Earth MWI. In this analogy, the Physical Earth MWI appears to be the “Hard Labor Punishment” aspect of a prison sentence.

However…

The physical reality MWI is much larger than the Earth Human Heaven. And it has a great diversity of life, and species. There are plants, animals, creatures, and all manner of interactions. While the Earth Human Heaven is a specific Heaven that contains only two (as far as I can discern) species.

These are;

Human consciousnesses that comes from the Earth.
Mantids (Angels).

I can positively state, unequivocally, that I have never seen or encountered any other species in the Earth Human Heaven. That includes the Type-1 greys, dogs, cats or horses.

Summary:

Earth Human Heaven access of all species other than Earth Humans, and Mantids is prevented. The only way in and out of the Earth Human Heaven is via the "Tunnel of Light". It acts as a secure gateway to and from the MWI.

Earth Humans are issued a Pre-Birth World-Line Template upon birth. This is a set of instructions (like like those on parole have) that prevents them for straying too far off from their assigned pre-planned experiences.

Since the MWI and all the world-lines are jointly shared with all species, physical and non-physical, it serves as a great staging area for meeting up with our non-physical pets, and to move away from any "parole restrictions". The key is in Affirmation Prayer Campaigns that slides you off this pre-birth world-line template onto one that you can control.

So there are multiple ways to visit our friends

So you all need not despair. You will certainly be able to meet up with long lost friends, family and pals. And what’s more, there are different ways to do so. Now that you have a butter understanding of what Earth Human Heaven is, we can look at some of these methods.

Method [1] in the non-physical realms associated with the MWI

Once you die, your consciousness naturally stays in wave form. It’s impossible to return to particle form as your physical body no longer functions. And being in wave form, you are initially trapped on the final egress world-line that your body was on in the MWI.

You can move about, explore, and check out everything. It’s just that you are in spirit. You are in the wave form.

By using the power of thought, you can “will yourself” to a beloved pet. And you will appear next to it in what ever form or shape, or condition that it is in.

Dogs will know that you are there, but are unlikely to join you in wave form. They will try to interact with you in their physical form.

Cats, well they can enter and leave the physical body at will. They can join you in the non-physical form. And you and your bud can have many fun times and adventures together.

Depending on the consciousness components of the species, you ability to interact with them will vary. Dogs will differ from cats. And horses are a completely different “ball game”.

In any case, I can confirm that upon your death, it will be profoundly easy for you to visit your lost beloved pets.

Method [2] in their specific pet Heaven

Once you have migrated into wave form, you are free to go anywhere. For most casts, they tend to want to hang out on the MWI, while Dogs prefer to spend some periods of time in Dog Heaven. Depending on your time of death there may or may not be your beloved pet in the MWI with you. Instead their consciousness might reside in their particular Heaven.

The technique is a simple one. You must “will” yourself to that beloved friend. And you will go as far as you can. If you are unable to enter their particular Heaven due to your quantum alignments, then you must vocalize a request for help. Alternatively, you can wait them out, until they return back to the MWI.

Asking for help is a very effective mechanism to help you during this period while you are in wave form. However, you must be especially cautious on who is offering it.

In my opinion, I would suggest a Type-1 grey as a valid source of help. While a Mantid (Angel) would project love, care and concern to and would arrange to have your help and assistance realized. Only, you would have to Enter The Earth Human Heaven first.

Method [3] Via a guide from the Earth Human Heaven

What is well understood is that you will be able to meet your beloved pets while you go to the Earth Human Heaven. The local Mantid will arrange help and generate parole that will take you to the pet Heaven for your visit.

This is what you do if you want to visit your loved ones in Heaven

In all cases, to the best things to prepare for this kind of activity once you die is right now. I would add some specific affirmation prayers in your campaigns. Not much. Just one or two, that would manifest upon your death. Even if your death takes place fifty years from now, they will have actual potency upon your final death.

Might I suggest;

Upon my death, I will be able to meet with my beloved XXXXXXX.
My beloved XXXXXX will meet me and be near me when I die.

Another Opinion

Here’s another opinion.

We are deeply concerned about the growing information circulating on Internet about avoiding at all costs the tunnel of light that many go into when their incarnation on Earth ends.

As we have explained, when that moment arrives, a number of events that leads a person to Heaven can occur.

Quite often, a loved one, a friend or a member of the family arrives to escort the newly liberated person to the Heavenly spheres.

Equally, the person may find himself, seconds before his demise, in this beautiful tunnel of light that will conduct him to the light.
This light is heaven and when he steps into this bright area he is met by a noble soul that is there to greet him and explain his change of status.

Now, for various reasons, people are spreading a message on social media that this is a trap and the person will be captured and sent back for another incarnation.

Equally, they say that if the person, who is coming to the end of his incarnation, is visited by loved ones, this also is a trap and those loved ones are in fact demons pretending to be loved ones and the object is, once again, to entrap the person dying and push him into incarnation again.

These are dangerous lies and one should not listen to them and, certainly, one should not try to avoid going to Heaven whether it be by the tunnel of light or by friends or family guiding them.

We cannot express too strongly that one should, at all costs, reject this dangerous mis-information.

The origin of the message is Archonic.

Some people promote this false information quite innocently, as they just quote “collective wisdom”, but others are under the influence of negative entities and promote these lies because of that influence controlling their speech and actions.

If a person avoids taking the path to Heaven he has to go somewhere when he is liberated from his physical body. So, he goes to a place called Limbo.

This is an area full of lost souls and, generally, the people there are deeply unhappy.
This unhappiness is food for the evil ones who thrive on unhappiness.

Therefore, we have this conflict going on that must be stopped as soon as possible.

On one hand we have evil or misguided people promoting this false idea of avoiding going to heaven and on the other hand we have the workers for salvation trying to educate the public to act in a loving, peaceful fashion to help the Ascension process.

So, people must choose.

Either to follow this evil, Archon based concept of avoiding the tunnel of light, or avoiding being taken to Heaven by loved ones in which case the person will end up in limbo, or to reject that Archon based information and accept our advice which is to go into the tunnel with the assurance that you will end up in Heaven or go with your loved ones who, also, will guide you to Heaven.

We repeat, you have a choice.
Either to reject the tunnel of light and reject the loved ones who come to assist, or to enter the tunnel, accept to be guided by loved ones, and be taken to your home in Heaven.

You have free will. What you decide to do will happen.

So, choose to be guided by our Archon information or choose to be guided by God’s angels.

Conclusion

I am sorry to spend so much time getting involved in some of the geographic aspects of the nature of Heaven and the mega-universe. But that understanding is necessary to flush out the true and real options available to us when we wish to meet up with our beloved pets.

I can positively and absolutely confirm that it will be absolutely possible for you and your beloved pets to be together upon your death. I sincerely tell you this. In any event, the bond between you and your beloved pet is a strong one and that bond will never disappear. It will still exist. Even when you die. So have hope. Good things will occur.

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The origin of consciousness and how we got “here”

Now how about that for a title. Maybe if I’m lucky, it might end up on page 500 in a Google search ranking. LOL.

…

The other day, I had to go to the doctor.

You see I have been taking blood pressure medicine. Somehow, probably due to my age, and most people my age do take this medicine, I had to join the ranks. And it was a good thing too. Mine was pretty high. On a number of occasions I was just about ready to pop.

Systolic blood pressure readings at least 140 or diastolic blood pressure readings at least 90 usually indicate Stage 2 Hypertension , which puts you at high risk for life-threatening problems such as heart attack and stroke. Once you become 60+ in age, the normal range is 134/87.

Mine was 165/ 96 most of the time. Yikes!

So he prescribed some blood pressure medicine for me. It was a little white pill. Dirt cheap. He said that I would have to take it for the rest of my life. I told him “okey dokey”, and he just looked at me. Being Chinese, I don’t think that he knew what that meant.

So then I said “thank you” in Chinese, and he smiled and all was good.

And I started taking it, every morning when I got up. First thing. pop that little white pill and start the day. And you know, after a while my body adjusted and my blood pressure lowered and stabilized and all was good.

But then, I started to have some side effects.

Nothing too radical, don’t you know.

For one, I started to get “elephant ankles”. My ankles both swelled up and looked like tree trunks.I was embarrassed to show my legs. They looked awful.

And my heart seemed to act strangely. I began to be “aware of it”. Like I knew that it was there, when before I didn’t care. If any of that makes sense.

Then, one night, I woke up clutching my heart. It felt like someone was tickling it.

So the next day we went to the local clinic and went to the doctor there. He looked at my mouth. He looked at my ears. He felt my chest. He checked my spine, and the under-soles of my feet. Then he nodded, and said that “yes, of course I was having some issues.”

So I went and had some further tests done. And then brought the results to him.

Mind you, this was all in the local clinic here. In China, the government treats local medical care as a very important aspect of life. And so not only is it efficient and quick, but it is pretty inexpensive. All told, the total cost was around 600 RMB, or maybe $85 USD.

Anyways, he told me that my heart was perfectly fine. Not to worry. My heart was good. And then prescribed me a bunch of heart medicine. Maybe five different types of pills, and a big garbage bag full of the boxes.

Ah. China.

Anyways, I went and ate a delicious fish afterwards and pondered my life. You do this from time to time, you know. You look at your life and you wonder and compare. You look at what it was like when you were young, and what your life is now. Not in sadness. Just in contemplation.

So I drank some wine.

It’s good for the heart, don’t you know.

And I ate some fish. Tasty, delicious, Chinese fish.

And I thought about things.

Why the Hell was I living this life?

Which brought me to this point, and to this article.

Today it is the origin of consciousness is what we are going to talk about. We are going to discuss how YOU… that is your consciousness… came into being. And what is going on right now as YOU (as consciousness) are reading this here.

To begin with let’s start with something that both the Alien Interview and MAJestic agrees with.

In the beginning…

There was nothing, and then there was an explosion of quanta / particles that started to group together. They formed clumps. And over many, many, MANY trillions of trillions of years consciousness developed.

Over time…

IS-BEs are not physical universe entities.  

They are a source of energy and illusion.  

IS- BEs are not located in space or time, but can create space, place particles in space, create energy, and shape particles into various forms, cause the motion of forms, and animate forms. 

Any form that is animated by an IS-BE is called life.

In Alien Interview, the extraterrestrial referred to these consciousnesses as IS-BE. In MAJestic, we just refer to it as consciousness. Which is pretty much the reason why I stick with referring to consciousness rather than IS-BE. I guess that I am just an old guy, with old habits that die hard.

Anyways, over many trillions of years, these individual consciousnesses started to interact with each other.

They started to communicate with each other.

They started to organize and they started to create a non-physical reality from which they would dwell, work and live within.

Before the formation of the physical universe there was a vast period during which universes were not solid, but wholly illusionary.   

You might say that the universe was a universe of magical illusions which were made to appear and vanish at the will of the magician.

Then, after many, many more trillions of years, they decided to create a physical universe. And so they thought, organized, planned and then created a physical universe. Separate universes were brought together and unified to form one singular universe.

Each IS-BE entered into the physical universe when they lost their own, "home" universe. That is, when an IS-BE's "home" universe was overwhelmed by the physical universe, or when the IS-BE joined with other IS-BEs to create or conquer the physical universe.

We call that “the big bang”. And our “experts” have dated it to around 14 billion years ago.

The Creation of the Physical Reality

And of course, with the creation of the universe, we had the creation of all the planets, stars, galaxies and all of that.

And it took time.

And over many billions of years, these consciousnesses started to populate this physical universe with life.

Eventually creating archetypes that populated the universe. Each archetype had regional variations to live in certain environments. And the consciousness placed regional variants of these archetypes all over the universe.

The notion that human biological organisms evolved naturally from earlier ape-like forms is incorrect.     

No physical evidence will ever be uncovered to substantiate the notion that modern humanoid bodies evolved on this planet. 

The reason is simple: the idea that human bodies evolved spontaneously from the primordial ooze of chemical interactivity in the dim mists of time is nothing more than a hypnotic lie.

(It was) instilled by the amnesia operation to prevent your recollection of the true origins of Mankind.   

Factually, humanoid bodies have existed in various forms throughout the universe for trillions of years.

So life abounded all over the universe. First with microbial life, then with plants, fishes, and so on and so forth.

Multiple Universes

Ah.

There are more than one universe. There are many, many universes. The physical universe (along with it’s non-physical universe components) is but one universe.

Or in other words,

[1] Physical universe + [2] non-physical universe = [3] “our” universe.

And yet there are many, many others. And we tend to refer to them as “Heaven”. Which tends to be confusing as many people confuse “Heaven for humans” with the non-physical reality that surround our MWI (in our universe).

In this fashion, all of the space, galaxies, suns, planets, and physical phenomena of this universe, including life forms, places, and events have been created by IS-BEs and sustained by mutual agreement that these things exist. 

There are as many universes as there are IS-BEs to imagine, build and perceive them, each existing concurrently within its own continuum. 

Each universe is created using its own unique set of rules, as imagined, altered, preserved or destroyed by one or more IS-BEs who created it. 

Time, energy, objects and space, as defined in terms of the physical universe, may or may not exist in other universes. 

The Domain exists in such a universe, as well as in the physical universe.

Now, both the “Alien Interview” and the MAJestic discourses agree about all this, for the most part. As far as I can tell the general overview is identical. MAJestic agrees with Alien Interview and, vice versa.

But now we come to a “fork in the road”. For there is a difference in belief or understanding between the two “camps”. Well sort-of. Maybe the understanding is looking at the same thing from different angles.

A difference in belief – Alien Interview

I am going to simplify my thoughts on this matter, and I might be in error…

According to “Alien Interview”, all consciousness was created a long, long, long time ago.

Airl explained that IS-BEs have been around since before the beginning of the universe. The reason they are called "immortal", is because a "spirit" is not born and cannot die, but exists in a personally postulated perception of "is - will be".

And, the various consciousnesses entered “our” universe at different times.

IS-BEs arrival or invasion into the physical universe took place at different times, some 60 trillion years ago, and others only 3 trillion.

So to summarize, according to Alien Interview, consciousness comes from somewhere outside of time and space and it creates a universe to live in. Eventually, the universes merge with other universes, and the consciousness exists within this growing and expanding universe.

Now, let’s look at what I was instructed during my time in MAJestic…

A difference in belief – MAJestic

This is a compilation of <redacted> (not that it's secret, but the background is way too involved to get involved with at this time.) from a combination of sources that <redacted>.  EBP and ELF sourced.

Consciousness is constructed in “human Heaven”. It originates from Soul. It is built up through the collection of quanta obtained through experiences. And becomes more and more advanced over time.

Thus the purpose of reincarnation, over and over again, is to improve the soul, that consciousness derives from.

Thus, for the humans to learn, grow, mover forward to the “next big thing” they need to experience life, after life, after life, over and over again. Each time getting bigger, and better.

And eventually…

…some day, they will evolve into something else.

I made a graphic of this on one of my articles. How you start off as a microbe, obtain experiences, then are an insect. You obtain more experiences, then become a humans, etc.. etc.

The fundamental difference

The fundamental differences between what Alien Interview said, and MAJestic said can be classified as following…

Alien Interview – Consciousness came before the universe, and is perfect as is.
MAJestic – Consciousness is created in Heaven, and needs to experience reincarnation to evolve.

Both could be true simultaneously, or one could be true alone.

I suppose it is up to the reader to determine which one is most accurate.

MM thoughts

I suppose that the earliest consciousnesses from the start of everything could be considered part of “The Domain”. And other consciousnesses that formed piecemeal, and have formed in other universes, can also be existent.

And in a universe where anything is possible, the ability to create a consciousness must also be possible.

And if you are going to create a consciousness, wouldn’t it make sense to cultivate and “grow” it? And growth through the accumulation of quanta obtained by experiences does make sense.

But…

[1] Omniscient. According to Alien Interview, once you obtain consciousness, you automatically know everything. You are omniscient. Thus you don’t need to “learn anything”. You don’t need to grow and advance, and evolve.

So why do this?

[2] Reincarnation. There are many ways of obtaining knowledge, and experience. Yet, WHY do you need to reincarnate, back to earth, with your memories erased? Why not build upon what you learned from your previous life? Wouldn’t that be more efficient, and better for the consciousness? You do not NEED to forget things.

Cats don’t.

Dogs don’t.

Horses don’t.

What purpose does amnesia have? And what does it have with building quanta associations? It doesn’t make sense, as far as I can see.

These two points [1 and 2] seem to invalidate the MAJestic belief system. Now, maybe I am being wrong in all this…

But, to me, it seems that the idea that you MUST reincarnate over and over in the hope of some eventual reward smacks of fraud.

It’s like the USA election process. Every four years you have an election, and over and over and over, but nothing changes. You are given the illusion that you have some ability to change things, but in truth you don’t have any ability at all.

Let’s elaborate on this some…

For most of humanity, we are taught that there is one God, and that we must live our lives and fulfill certain requirements and then when we die will be rewarded with Heaven. Different religions have different terms, and different processes, and different laws, but the basic idea stays the same.

Then there are “secret” organizations. Some like MAJestic, and occult studies teach (in their various ways) that the truth is something different.

You learn that when you die, you meet guides who will take you to a “tunnel of light”. When you pass through that tunnel you will arrive in Heaven. And there in Heaven, you will be judged. Then for one reason or the other, you must “return to Earth” as part of some “mission”.

But Alien Interview says something quite different…

As consciousness…

No human being ever assumes personal responsibility for the fact that they, themselves -- individually and collectively -- are gods.   This fact alone is the source of entrapment for every IS-BE.

Thus there is no need for “secret missions”, “growth through suffering”, “reincarnation”, “learning or training” in regards to this belief system.

While the extraterrestrial stated that it did go through some specific training to operate various physical objects and roles, they pertained to interaction with the physical universe in one way or the other. While these other “secret societies” and geography of Heaven refer to training to improve one’s being or improve one’s consciousness.

Yet, in Alien Interview we learn that once you are consciousness, you know everything. You transcend the universe.

So to me, it appears that this belief that you go through the “tunnel of light” will take you to Heaven is a trap. Instead it appears to be an elaborate system of reprogramming, memory erasure, and extraction of your experiences.

I wrote about this before.

How other species can farm your soul for experiences. Where you have to relive a Hellish life, over and over again, and then extract the quantum associations, and then re-inject you back into the environment.

In fact, it is just like this Bruce Willis movie… Vice (2015).

Bruce Willis stars in this Sci-Fi thriller about ultimate resort: VICE, where customers can play out their wildest fantasies with artificial inhabitants who look like humans.

It is about an artificial human-being (an android) that escapes from a place where people can play out their wildest fantasies. The android (say a woman) would go into this environment with no memories and live out her life, then she encounters a “customer” to the environment who she thinks is a normal guy. The guy brutally rapes her, tortures her, and then kills her. He leaves, a squad a people come into the facility, extract her. Download her memories. Erase her memories, clean her up and send her back in for the next “customer”.

Then, she would go into this environment with no memories and live out her life, then she encounters a “customer” to the environment who she thinks is a normal guy. The guy brutally rapes her, tortures her, and then kills her. He leaves, a squad a people come into the facility, extract her. Download her memories. Erase her memories, clean her up and send her back in for the next “customer”.

The movie is about one android who regains her memories and does not want to return back to that world.

That is what the Earth sounds like to me. It’s relive Hell over and over again, and never retain any memories so that you can learn from the experiences.

Conclusion

The more that I look at it, the clearer it becomes. The Alien Interview is everything that the extraterrestrial said it was. And as elaborate as the idea of Heaven is, I simply cannot reconcile the need for amnesia as part of a reincarnation process to “improve” consciousness and soul.

It seems to me that the best thing to do is upon death not to go into the “tunnel of light” no matter how much that you are drawn towards it. Instead, you just say put where you are in the incorporeal state.

I will cover, in later articles, how to establish “beacons” to alert others to retrieve you. And some other tools that might be helpful

In the meantime, relax. Make sure you are good and healthy. Eat some fine delicious food, drink some fine beverages (of your choice), and spend time with loved ones. Maybe sit on the porch. Have some lemonade. Watch the sun set. Or perhaps sit in your truck alone on a dirt road near some corn fields. Or, maybe ride to a cemetery. Park there, and eat a sandwich.

It’s the little things in life that matter most.

Do you want more?

I have more posts / articles like this in my Heaven Index…

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MAJestic

Articles & Links

To go to the MAIN Index;

Master Index

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Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

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How the Mantids map out a pre-birth world-line template for a reincarnated entity

This article describes the mechanism of how the Mantids help establish a pre-birth world-line template for discarnate humans. Now, there is a whole lot that is too detailed than needs to be discussed at this time, and much that is too odd, or advanced. So you all can consider this to be an introductory article. One that describes how angels (guardian angels), also known as Mantids, work with other discarnate humans to establish their life path as a human on earth.

And while we are at it, please also note that there are many ways that we can illustrate this activity, but in this case we will continue with the notion of a flat topographical template that the soul deposits a consciousness upon when the entity is born.

Introduction

People; humans are born, and then they die. Upon their death, they review their life “lessons” and then are injected back to the earth. This is referred to as reincarnation.

This article discusses the review of the lessons of life.

But rather than concentrate on the event (you stand in front of a group of elders, etc. etc.) we will discuss the mechanism of what is going on and why.

As in all cases, let it be understood that Mantids = Angels. And Angels = Mantids. These are just terms we use to describe a species that we interact with. Nothing more.

Alien Interview

A document, tangential to MAJestic (as it pre-dates it) is known as the “Alien Interview”. As a retired MAJestic operator, I can vouch that it is authentic.

In the document, the extraterrestrial stated that elements of the “Old Empire” was responsible for setting up the system that erased memory and injected consciousness back to the earth to start all over again. At this point in time, I cannot confirm or deny that the Mantids are members of the “Old Empire”.

All that I know is they do seem to be able to coexist. So we will refrain from discussing this issue in this article.

Procedure

The procedure of life review is universally understood in just about every religion and culture. Essentially, when you die, your spirit is “judged” and the lessons you have learned or failed to learn “set the table” for your next reincarnation.

Dr. Newton goes into this procedure quite extensively in his books. The books are freely available on my Heaven Index HERE.

There are numerous aspects to this event, and they do differ and vary from situation to situation. However, the common thread and the most stable unity between all the experiences is that [1] a person must experience events and situations during their life. And [2] they are judged on how they handle those events. The judgement then [3] will “map out” the structure of their next life on the earth.

But, how can you establish which life to inject into?

This is a complicated issue.

And that is the role of the Mantids. As I understand it, our souls, or consciousness can decide NOT to be re-injected into the Earth physical sphere. As such we can go elsewhere, and off doing our own things. However, for reasons that I am not able to vocalize, most humans tend to “follow the program” and listen to the advice of the Mantids, and other teachers and discarnate entities that direct them. And that means learn the lessons. Correct mistakes, obtain experiences, and then keep on growing and moving “forward”.

According to the type-1 greys, this entire system is a trap (of sorts). And I have not been able to sort out the details (at this time) personally.

In general, the basic idea is that the soul (which creates the consciousness) has specific needs or requirements that must be obtained. The obtainment of these items requires the entanglement of quanta. And the best way to entangle quanta is through life experiences on the earth.

As I understand it, the items that an individual soul needs to have entangled are mapped out on the pre-birth world-line template.

And the person, the consciousness, obtains experiences (set specific events) upon the pre-mapped out template.

Once the life is completed, the person dies, and the “quality” of the entanglements (obtained though living though the events) are measured.

Then, it is determined [1] if the events need to be replicated and done over, [2] new events can be added, and / or [3] subsequent events can be added to the template to counteract the bad entanglements that has developed.

Being a Rufus can compensate for shitty decisions

Aside from being the pinnacle of human spirit, a Rufus can compensate for the mistakes done in the past.

By showing compassion, help, support, and aid to others (whether in need or not) you create positive associations. And if you have a past that has some very bad decisions and bad entanglement, the good works will create enough positive entanglements to offset the negative.

The consciousness travels though hundreds of thousands, if not millions of world-lines. What the conscious has experienced cannot be undone. But the consciousness can alter the overall life “performance” by injecting good actions, compassion, understanding and positive quanta into the environment. Indeed this is a major subject area that I have yet to cover. However, everyone has the power to unravel the influence of the bad mistakes and errors that they have made in the past.

So…

Be the Rufus in everything you do. Maybe you might mess up your objectives as determined on your pre-birth world-line template, but you will be “well ahead of the game” and will exist this life with great advantage. A kind of power and understanding that you had no previous awareness of.

Figuring out the exact world-line cluster to inject to

The Mantids will look at the objectives of the soul, and will present an array of “situations” to the consciousness to experience.

Some will be to undo mistakes in previous incarnations.
Some will be to obtain new associations and new entanglements.
Some will be to build upon other previous, or half-completed associations or entanglements.

Then the consciousness with work with the Mantids, along with other discarnate human associates, to “map out” an array of “life experiences” that the human being must experience. This will be a “fated life” that the consciousness will live. It will be the pre-birth world-line template which is is the default map template that the conscious will follow when it is re-injected into the earth sphere.

There are many world-line clusters, and thus the first key point is to determine which cluster might offer the best mix of these kind of experiences for the consciousness to experience.

Clusters of similar world-lines differ from each other substantially. One might have the United States run by President Biden, while another cluster might have the Republic of America run by Banana McDuff.

And thus, once, a cluster is determined, then the next step is to determine which is the most likely world-line injection point within the cluster.

Figuring out the exactly entry point for injection

Once the cluster is determined, there is a near infinite number of world-lines within it. And they will all be quite similar. Yet, this task will pick a fated-life-path for the consciousness to experience. Sure, you can deviate from it, but it will be set up so that it is difficult and uncomfortable to do so.

At this point in time, there is a great deal of interaction between the consciousness that will experience the fated-life and the Mantids / discarnate entities that help map out this pre-birth world-line template. And I am sure that the path that will be mapped out will be to the mutual agreement of all involved.

And upon this map will be the good and the bad events. The entire future life for that consciousness will be mapped out.

But, you know, all the other “actors” or people / things will be “shadow people” that the consciousness interacts with. Most of the time, on a given world-line the consciousness might be the most active and vibrant quanta in the particular world-line.

However…

It gets “tricky”…

Many times we aren’t alone…

We build up associations with other consciousnesses that (for good or for bad) want to associate with us. Like previous lovers, family and beloved pets. They will purposely inject themselves into their pre-birth world-line templates in such a way that you all share world-lines on numerous occasions.

This can be wonderful.

Like a beloved cat that just wants to overlay it’s world-line template over sections of yours.

This can be comforting.

Like a member of your “consciousness community” or other discarnate humans that you “hang out with” as friends. That wish to spend part of their lives with you in close association with your world-lines.

This can be jarring and uncomfortable.

When an evil person, or a selfish person wants to invade your pre-birth world-line template to “latch on” to your “energy” and events for their personal gain. So that they suck the “life force” away from you, and make it very difficult for you while you are on the life-path while you are living.

Ah. You see. Not every person on your world-line is a “shadow person”.

How to tell the difference…

The way that you can tell the difference is the generated emotions that you experience. A “shadow person” might steal your car. And you will get really angry, and it will disrupt your life. An “consciousness overlay” into your world-line template might have that same person stealing your car, but no matter what, your emotions do not respond to any type of suppressive calming techniques. No matter how hard you try.

The measurement of this is the WAY that the emotions that are present, good or bad, and how easy they are to dissipate. Most people cannot discern the difference, though most women have the ability to gauge them, much better than men do.

Anyways, this is a subject for another time.

For now, just realize that while your consciousness follows a pre-mapped out fated life, other consciousness might share your path as you proceed down it. This is both good and bad, but the control or allowance of this is monitored and permitted or denied by the Mantids, and your spirit at this step in the planning.

Programming the Pre-Birth World-line template

Here the injection point is established in such a way that the “route” for the life-line is encoded. What remains to to have / or create those “mountains” on the topographical pre-birth world-line template map. These “mountains” or areas of flat, clear sailing” will corral you to follow the already mapped out template that you chose.

Have you ever wondered why everyone in power in the United States today seems to be a psychopath that seemingly had an “easy” way to the top? They never were laid off, fired, or experienced loss. Their life was one success after the other, and here they are in great positions of power without the prerequisite pain and suffering that normal people would experience.

How does this happen?

Answer: They created their own pre-birth world-line template geared towards immense power, obtained easily without strife. If your consciousness does this, lifetime after lifetime, you become unique, different, and dangerous. You develop strange and unusual ways of thinking about things.

What does this mean?

A discarnate entity; a consciousness has the ability to mold his next life. He is “guided” into doing this by both [1] other discarnate entities, and [2] Mantids.

He can follow their advice or not.

If he follows their advice he will go in and out of lives as he is reincarnated over and over again. Eventually reaching some “distant” state where he can “evolve” to the next level of existence.

If he doesn’t follow their advice, he / she / it can make up a series of lifetime experiences where they do things “their way”. They can become cruel, powerful, and lusty. Or they can be kind, helpful, gentle and make a difference in the lives of others.

Or, he can take the “exit”. One of the key points of the alien Interview” document, is that humans do not need to continue to reincarnate. They can do other things. The problem is that humans are told that this cycle of death and rebirth is “the way it is done” to better their lives, their soul, and their society. The Type-1 greys say that this is not true.

The Exit

What this “exit” is, is not stated. However, it MUST be an association and a rebuilding of the consciousness to match and fit within another species. Otherwise, you stay as a human consciousness. And in the universe, then, you place lies within the “human Heaven”.

The document “Alien Interview” hinted at the “out”. It said that humans were a primary archetype. But that the sentience was discordant around the earth sphere (due primarily to the “Old Empire”.) The implication is that the consciousness can move anywhere else within the universe around other human consciousnesses. Just avoid the earth region, as it is a trap and a snare.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Heaven Index here…

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
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Defending your Life

There’s a great movie from the 1990’s titled “Defending your life”. It’s a fantasy movie about what it is like when you die, and you have to justify the kind of life that you had when you were alive. It’s a fun movie, a lite comedy romance. It’s fun. But I want to look at it from are more serious angle. And that is what we are going to do here.

Advertising executive Daniel Miller dies in an auto accident and finds himself in Judgment City. He is taken to a hotel to rest, and the next day he takes a tram downtown to meet his lawyer, Bob Diamond (Rip Torn). Diamond informs him that there is to be a five-day examination of his life to decide whether he has overcome fear. At a comedy club he meets Julia and they fall in love. But as their trials progress, it becomes clear Julia has overcome fear and is moving on, while Daniel seems doomed to go back to Earth.

—Diana Barahona

Roger Elbert writes…

It is Albert Brooks‘ notion in this film that after death we pass on to a sort of heavenly way station where we are given the opportunity to defend our actions during our most recent lifetime.

The process is like an American courtroom, with a prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, but the charges against us are never quite spelled out. The basic question seems to be, are we sure we did our best, given our opportunities?

In the movie, Brooks plays Dan Miller, a successful exec who takes delivery on a new BMW and plows it into a bus while trying to adjust the CD player. He awakens in a place named Judgment City, which resembles those blandly modern office and hotel complexes around big airports. He’s given a room in a clean but spartan place that looks franchised by Motel 6.

At first Dan is understandably dazed at finding himself dead, but the staff takes good care of him. He’s dressed in a flowing gown, whisked around the property on a bus, and told he can eat all he wants in the cafeteria (where the food is delicious but contains no calories).

Then he meets his genial, avuncular defense attorney (Rip Torn), and his hard-edged prosecutor (Lee Grant). It’s time for the courtroom, in which we see flashbacks to Dan’s life as he tries to explain himself.

… (and) he falls in love with another sojourner in Judgment City.

She is a sweet, open-faced, serene young woman named Julia and played, of course, by Meryl Streep, who is the only actress capable of providing the character’s Streepian qualities. They fall into like with one another.

Dan visits her hotel and is dismayed to discover that she has much better facilities than he does – Four Seasons instead of Motel 6 – and he wonders if maybe your hotel assignment is a clue about how well you lived your past life. But nobody in Judgment City will give him a straight answer to a question like that.

The best thing about the movie, I think, is the notion of Judgment City itself. Doesn’t it make sense that heaven, for each society, would be a place much like the Earth that it knows? We’re still stuck with images of angels playing harps, which worked fine for Renaissance painters. But isn’t our modern world ready for images in which the angels look like Rotarians and CEOs?

The movie is funny in a warm, fuzzy way, and it has a splendidly satisfactory ending.

MM Thoughts

The movie is a fiction.

But it does get a number of things right.

Review Process. There is always a review process once you exit the physical reality and return to the non-physical reality.
Judgement of your Actions. Yes, you are judged by your actions. There is no escape from that.
No Golden Harps. Forget the notions of golden harps, big diamonds and all those other images that are so conventional regarding the non-physical reality. There are other “things” in the non-physical reality, and you might be surprised how “futuristic”, and yet “conventional” they actually are. As well as the enormous scale of them.
Not immediately returned via reincarnation. Certainly the narrative from “Alien Interview” cautions that consciousness is immediately processed and thrown back to the physical Earth reality, without memories, but that is not my experience. Nor is that the experience of Dr. Newton.
Planning is required. A return back to the earth physical reality requires work, planning, and coordination. The only way that consciousness can return back and enter a new born body quickly is if the consciousness is being “punished” in some way. Like for attempting suicide or something like that.

How do I know all this? Well, as I have stated that there are channels, and to continue my ELF interactions it is (was) with another entity and that provided me insight. Not to mention that the EBP provides <redacted>.

I strongly urge people to watch this movie.

Because there are so many things in the non-physical world that resemble what we have in the physical world that you would be astounded.

Also you all need to recognize that the overall sequence is obtain experiences, die, review, map out more experiences, and repeat.

The general human on Earth sequence

Birth in a body
Obtain experiences.
Die.
Life review.
Map out what is next.
If Earth as a human, then…
Repeat.

Alien Interview

I have discussed the book “Alien Interview” elsewhere. I personally believe that it is exactly what it says it is.

I believe [1] the back-story that the documents were actual transcripts of an interrogation with a type-1 grey extraterrestrial in 1947. I also [2] believe that everything that was recorded and written down are what the extraterrestrial said, and further, [3]I believe that it was mostly truthful and [4] saying things truthfully based on it’s understanding in 1947. All in a way or manner that [5] would be understood by the post world-war II generals and leaders gathered at the Roswell military base.

However, as I parsed the book in great detail, I came to realize the there were some elements within the statements that could easily be misunderstood.

…

Earth as a “Prison Planet” and us convicts and felons within it, are immediately recycled back to Earth upon death, over and over and there is no escape…

…however, it listed numerous people who have actually managed to escape this environment. One has total recall and made great contributions to this region and was reassigned elsewhere in the universe.

So, obviously there ARE avenues of egress.

…

Further, this “Alien Interview” event spawned the creation of MAJestic shortly afterwards, and it enlisted folk like myself (MM) and we were tasked with “participating in events that were bigger than any government, and that mattered to the entire human species”.

For the period from the creation of MAJestic to today, the type-1 greys (and a number of other species) have been working with MAJestic towards certain objectives, goals, and directives.

I cannot help but believe that there has been some substantial changes in the situation of 1947 to today in 2021. And these changes have manifested in many ways. Such as [1] the ability to map out the topography of Heaven like Dr. Newton has (HERE), and [2] the recovery of memories of reincarnation that we see from time to time, and [3] the growth of the “new age” movements.

…

Whether the “constructions”, “arrangements” and the extensive geography of the non-physical reality is a [1] fabrication designed to entrap us earth-bound prisoners, or actually [2] the non-physical reality that surrounds the earth is unknown.

My personal belief is that the non-physical reality is exactly that. And the systems that force earth humans to immediately return to earth is broken. It no longer exists. However, what does exist is a massive non-physical infrastructure that is dedicated to humans experiencing and obtaining physical experiences. These experiences are all recorded in memories and still exist and are not erased. At least I can access them, and I very convinced that others can as well.

…

My constant entanglement with the EBP, as well as how my ELF probes worked before I was “retired” clearly indicate that there is a vibrant and active non-physical world all around us. Older and more advanced species enter and leave this reality at will.

It is complex, active, vibrant, and substantive. You not need to fear it, or to remember one time when you were “put under anesthesia” before an operation and blanked out with no memories. That was not death. That was something different. You should never believe that being put under by drugs is the same experience that you would have upon death.

…

This is a fun movie, but it reminds us that our actions as we live all have consequences. You can believe that it is “karma”. You can call it cycling through “reincarnations”. You can believe that it is “quantum associations”, or that “like thoughts attract like actions”. You can believe what ever seems most comfortable with you.

But I will definitively tell you that there is a community that exists outside of our reality, and it is populated with humans (and a lot of other “stuff”). And if you want to (as they say in the movie “move on to bigger and better things”) make this life a good one.

Make this life a great one.

Make a difference in this world. Help others. Do great things. Perform great works. Smile. Be the sunshine that helps others. Do not be the dark pit of blackness that takes and takes from others. Don’t do that.

Be kind and be helpful.

In the non-physical reality you will glow like a big beacon or torch. And others of similar beliefs will be attracted to you. Be great. You will be wonderful.

Watch the movie, and tell me what you all think.

USA Streaming Access to the movie…

If you are in the United States, these are your best streaming options. All are with a price. Nothing is free in the USA.

Other Access Alternatives

Torrents

If you don’t mind waiting for the download, you can download a torrent for the movie…

Do you want more?

I have more movies in my Movie Index here…

MOVIES

I have more articles about Heaven in my Heaven Index here…

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