When I was a very young boy, perhaps five or so, we lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut. My father was working as a metal technician in a Steel Factory, and going to night school to become a metallurgical engineer.
It was the early 1960’s. Cuba was a popular destination for vacation, and we had a black and white television and some very “modern” furniture. We had a very 1950’s dining table, and ate healthy home-cooked meals.
In fact, restaurant trips were very rare. Perhaps once a month.
My father would take myself and my sister to the local park; Beardsley Park for a nice walk and some exercise.
It has hills and a lake with a bridge to a small island. It was a wonderful place to stroll, walk and explore. I learned that sometime in the 1960’s or 1970’s the city sold off huge sections of the park to create low cost housing. And over the subsequent decades these areas became an urban blight. Sad.
Then there were some efforts to revitalize the areas. Now it is much better, but still not as nice as the wooded streams and trails that used to exist was.
But the park still exists. And back in those days, was a lovely place for us kids to walk with our father. Great memories.
We used to walk over this bridge to launch bottle rockets (those plastic water filled jets that fly to the sky). It still exists. And it is beautiful.
Oh and the bottle rockets. They looked like this…
And here is what another person has to say about them…
I certainly didn’t hurt for toys when I was a kid. However, I didn’t have EVERY toy. Witness the Texaco Fire Truck. Another cool toy that sadly never made it into my toybox was the water rocket. I saw hundreds of ads for water rockets in various comic book ads. One day at junior high school, for a science demonstration, I finally got to witness a water rocket in action. Pretty cool stuff! So cool, that nowadays there is a passionate online following of homegrown water rockets. Read on. The water rocket was allegedly created in 1930 by future professor Jean LeBot in Rennes, France. While still a student at school, he experimented with a champagne bottle (designed to hold high pressure) filled partially with water and pressurized by compressed air from a bicycle pump fed through a cork with an inner tube valve at its center. The rocket was launched from an inclined plank forming a ramp. It flew well, but the bottle would smash on impact. At some point after that (the details are very sketchy), toy manufacturers began marketing water rockets made from high-impact plastic. The rocket would sit on a plastic hand pump and launch with a trigger pull. I found photos of some rockets that were manufactured in Germany in the early 50’s and that looked just like the V-2 models that rained down on Great Britain. Later models included curved fins that would put a spin on the rocket, causing it to fly higher and straighter. Once you pumped the launcher enough times to achieve optimal pressure, you pulled the trigger and were rewarded by a rocket shooting skyward, accompanied by a satisfying hissing sound and a jet trail of water and water vapor. Then, the device would plummet to earth (the nicer models included a rubber padded nose cone to absorb the impact). The comic book ads we grew up with are long gone, but water rockets continue to exist today, looking very much like we remember them. However, there is a passionate following of home-built water rockets out there on the web. Most of the rockets are made out of plastic two-liter soda bottles. The lightweight cylinders can withstand high pressure, and are thus ideal for aeronautical flight. Not only that, they don’t shatter like glass champagne bottles when they land.
Here’s another comment from Peter…
And many roads are really great to walk upon and very safe. Well at least it used to be…
When we were young, and it was Winter, my father would take us to the hills in the park to sled ride.
And in the Spring, my mother would take us out to walk, frolic and run down those very same hills on blue sky cool early Spring days…
We, or course, would love to run around on the grass.
The core area of the park still exists, but the streams and the outer reaches were sold off and used for urban development. Sad. The Park system is necessary for a healthy and vibrant community to exist.
In the park, I believe off the beaten path was a crypt. I suspect that it belonged to the man James Beardsley (1899), who donated the park to the city of Bridgeport.
By 1881 James Beardsley, a wealthy cattle trader, had given 100 acres along the Pequonnock River in northeast Bridgeport to be designated a public park. Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., and John Charles Olmsted, assessing the distinctive scenic advantages of large trees, hilltop views, boulder outcroppings, and sloping meadows, suggested further land donations. John Charles Olmsted’s 1884 report laid out their suggested improvements—thinning woodlands into open glades for parklike character, while encouraging native shrub growth for decorative understory; enhancing hillside areas for distant views while utilizing the natural boulders to create a vine-covered, bastion-like carriage concourse. Cognizant of those without carriages, he suggested a railroad station on the west side of the river for public access. The park’s first building, the Queen Anne-style Casino, was built at this time. Other statuary and structures that survive today include a bronze figure of James Beardsley (1899), two gable-roofed brick barns (circa 1900), the Seltzer Memorial Bridge (1918), and the Island Bridge (1921). Oliver Bullard, who had implemented Olmsted plans for the U.S. Capitol Grounds, was hired in 1885 to supervise park work but died just five years later. His daughter, landscape architect Elizabeth Bullard, was recommended by the Olmsted firm as his replacement but ultimately passed over due to concerns about “political strife.” Continued shaping of the park according to the expanded 1904 Olmsted plan stalled or was poorly implemented, with connecting drives unimproved. Against advisement, a zoo was added in 1920, augmented by retired animals from the circuses of Bridgeport citizen P. T. Barnum. By the 1990s, the park, owned by the City of Bridgeport, included the 56-acre zoo and measured 181 acres overall. The city sold the zoo in 1993 and Beardsley Park and Beardsley Zoological Gardens became separate entities. In 1999 the two were listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Anyways, this small crypt had two lions on both sides of the center door.
With lion statues, maybe something like this…
We would hike up to the crypt, and my father would dutifully placed us on the two stone lions and take our pictures. All the memories. He must have taken hundreds of pictures in that pose. Sadly, I don’t have any of them, and my sister probably sold them off in some kind of estate sale.
Sad.
But that is life. Don’t you know.
Perhaps the only one else who remembers those times when we were growing up is my sister, and she is “off living her own life” and really doesn’t want to be “tied back to the past”.
So here, for all you out there in “MM Land” is my little glimpse into the life that MM what I am today.
Today…
How would you try to develop a poor African country in 10 years, as its president?
Very simple!
I will do what China did. China doesn’t care if I copy their model of development, so I will copy it. There is no need reinventing the wheel.
Of course to copy China’s development model, you need to understand what China did and is still doing to rapidly develop.
Now if you want to know how they did it, it is simply through urbanization.
China realize that agricultural villagers have low incomes, but the moment these same villagers migrate to urban centres, they work in different jobs, and their incomes go up substantially.
Chinese leaders sat down and said if we can replicate and speed up urbanization, but do it artificially, then we can mobilize the huge population into full employment and reap the benefits of urbanization.
See: Why China is moving millions to cities
So what China did was to start building up planned modern cities with infrastructure and amenities besides most of the towns and villages. Once a planned city/town was completed, every individual and family was given an apartment to occupy. Larger families with more members get larger apartments according to the size of the family, and individuals get single apartments.
You may be asking by now how do the villagers get jobs? Well, once the constitution begins, many of the working age population from the village work on construction and other projects, so they already have good paying jobs than their vegetable farms.
Please see before and after pictures below:
Now remember this is a process that normally occur in every country around the world because there is “Rural to Urban” migration going on every where in the world.
The problem with allowing this Rural to Urban migration to happen naturally is that although it still causes countries to develop and reap increased GDP’s, it is very slow and unplanned. This means the benefits are slow, and because it is unplanned, urban centres usually face severe hardships in the form of inadequate infrastructure.
What China did was to speed up the process and also plan the urban centres that villagers will be moving to, so once they arrive, they do not settle in city slums.
Now I know many people will be leaving me comments and pointing out that forced urbanization is tantamount to human right abuse yada yada yada.
To an extent it is, but do not forget that any economic policy that a government engages in anywhere in the world has both positive and negative impacts on people. What governments usually do is a cost benefit analysis, and if the benefits outweigh the costs, the policy goes into effect.
Now to give a little detail, the Chinese Government always pays market rate for the land that they have to build the new city or construction project on. Citizens can use the money to buy in the same area being developed or in another area. Sometimes a free apartment is included as part of that compensation. In almost all the cases, the government leaves you much wealthier than when you had your old house.
China is a master of this craft, and many citizens are often ready to sacrifice a little for a greater good of the whole society.
I personally like China’s model of development, because it is very simple, easy to follow, and easy to understand. Therefore if I were an African leader of any country, I would study the model very well and replicate it in the country that I lead.
It’s rough out there
Winning an experience
I just won an expensive dinner from rich friend A, which I am trying to exchange for tickets to a show the daughter has designs on.
So far he hasn’t budged. He says I’m no sweet young thing and my pleas are falling on deaf ears.
How did I win the bet?
He insisted Iran will attack before the defenses are in place, in a marked departure from April.
I took the other view.
We set the deadline at 2359 Tuesday, local time.
My reasoning is it is more advantageous for Iran to wait, provided it can cocoon itself from preemptive attack, having promised punishment on Israel.
Russia’s entry secured that, with weapons that can hit the USN and the provision of advanced air defense systems. The grapevine chatter is su35 fighter squadrons will also be transfered.
Waiting for the inevitable Iranian response is not only expensive, but also disruptive for the Israeli economy. Putting units on high alert is also exhausting, and stressful.
Let the games begin.
Wife Has a MELTDOWN After Getting Caught Cheating…
How would you try to develop a poor African country in 10 years, as its president?
This is a very interesting question for me. I’m not an African president, but my company is working with one of the inner African countries to help develop their country.
This country is very poor and always engaged in internal war, better nowadays but not good enough. I think a safety and a peaceful environment is fundamental for development. So the first thing I have to do is to stop this recurring internal war. In order to stop a war, you need to be:
- Armed heavily enough so that they will have second thought before attacking us. Obviously, we cannot participate directly in this, but there are third party who can.
- Have a place that is easy to defend, Currently they are living in the forest village with no protective measures and easy to invade from all angles. High rise buildings with barbed wired concrete wall can be built for villagers to live in within a smaller protection zone. This will be much easier to defend.
- Negotiate via 3rd party country (Which is in collaboration with us already) with the rebel leaders to try reach a win-win-win situation for country, rebel and our company.
The next is fulfill their basic necessities. This country has ample natural resources for company, and we will in turn provide them with medicine, food, water and machinery.
The next step is to train the people up so that they can work for themselves rather than relying on the natural resources forever. Schools for fundamental education and training schools will be built. The first step target is to equip them with the basic skills to do basic work as per those in the developing countries, with the basic education of a primary school level.
A small town then will be built and this will attract all the workers. This town will be linked with the other more developed African countries and also the outside world.
10 years is short, it will be good if the above can be achieved.
What do you think is China’s relationship with Vietnam, given that Xi Jinping addressed To Lam as “comrade” in his congratulatory telegram?
The relationship between Vietnam and China is very special. It is difficult for me to describe the relationship between the two countries as “good” or “bad”.
Why did China’s President Xi Jinping call To Lam a comrade?
This is easy to understand, because Vietnam and China are both countries ruled by the Communist Party. In the communist era, the two countries themselves were comrades and brothers. Leaders of all communist countries call each other comrades, and anyone with a little historical knowledge should understand.
When Chinese people call the leaders of communist countries such as the President of North Korea and the President of Cuba, they call them “comrades” instead of “President” or “Mr.”
So Vietnam and China have a very good relationship at the official level. After all, there are not many communist countries left in the world. The Communist Party of Vietnam and the Communist Party of China have established a close cooperative relationship for a long time. In fact, since 2010, the Communist Party of Vietnam has sent senior officials and young party members to the Central Party School of China every year to participate in study and further education. The top leaders of the two countries maintain close contact, which is why we have found that Vietnam’s national policies in recent years, including economic policies and anti-corruption policies, are very similar to China’s practices. Because they themselves have a relationship of mutual cooperation and learning.
But if we think that the relationship between China and Vietnam is a complete alliance, it is not wrong for Vietnam to maintain a very complicated relationship and mentality with China.
On the one hand, as communist countries, the two countries and the two Communist parties have a natural cooperative relationship. After all, in the minds of many Western countries, communist countries and Communist parties are symbols of evil. There is a natural tendency and need for the two red countries to form a group.
At the social level, China and Vietnam have thousands of years of cultural ties. Chinese culture and popular elements are all popular in Vietnam. When foreigners travel to Vietnam, they will be surprised to find that Vietnamese society and historical culture are very similar to China. At the same time, China is also Vietnam’s largest trading partner and the largest source of investment. The proportion of intermarriage between the two peoples is much higher than that of other countries.
On the other hand, Vietnam and China have historical issues. Whether it is the Sino-Vietnamese War that broke out between the two countries during the Cold War. Or the maritime disputes that have always existed between the two countries in the South China Sea, these issues have long been affecting the relationship between the two countries.
At the social level, Vietnam pays a lot of attention to China. In the past few decades, in historical narratives and nationalist education, China has often been described as a “millennium invader.” Thereby enhancing people’s sense of national identity and national independence. Many Vietnamese I know think that China is a northern devil who “attempts to annex our territory at any time.” Therefore, many ordinary Vietnamese do not like China. In the opinion polls of the ten ASEAN countries, the favorability of ordinary Vietnamese people towards China ranked second from the bottom, only higher than the Philippines. It is far lower than ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Of course, from the perspective of China, Vietnam is a small country. The vast majority of Chinese people do not care much about Vietnam. Some young Chinese do not even know where Vietnam is, so they do not care much about “China-Vietnam relations”, which is a phenomenon I have found in many young Chinese. Therefore, the relationship between Vietnam and China has become a peculiar existence.
If I summarize it in one sentence: China-Vietnam relations are far better than the relations between most countries, and far worse than the relations between most countries.
Tropic Thunder Robert Downey Jr Funny – Best Reactor Reactions Rated
What are the implications of gender-neutral parenting?
In July 2024, an American father named Harrison Tinsley won sole custody of his four-year-old son, Sawyer Tinsley. Sawyer’s mother had been trying to raise their son as non-binary and “gender neutral”. She even made the little boy wear dresses some times, and would put makeup on his face. Whenever Harrison would pick the boy up, the little lad would cry, as he felt uncomfortable in his get-up…
At the same time, children have this inate sense of loyalty towards both their parents… so they tend to go along with things, nine out of ten times. Sawyer’s mother herself identifies as a “non-binary lesbian”. Anyway, Harrison Tinsley reported the case child protective services and noted the little boy was clearly unhappy with the lifestyle forced onto him by his mother, who appears to be some sort of weirdo ideaologue. Was it ever about the best interests of the child? I doubt it. As soon as neutral observers from government agencies got involved, it is very telling how soon the child was removed from his mother’s custody.
What are the implications of “gender neutral parenting”? It comes from an ideology that the parent(s) adhere to. One in which no things ought to be ‘gendered’ and a child ideally should go by gender-neutral they/them pronouns until the child “figures out what he or she is” later in life. It’s never about what is best for the child — it is about ‘progressive’ parents living vicariously through their children and showing off how ‘forward thinking’ they are.
Footnotes
Trust
It’s a flashing red warning sign.
Men’s fashion guide cards
Men, on a scale of 0 to 10, dressing WELL will add +4 points to your attractiveness scale.
The following are British style cards. Wearing any one of these coordinated outfits will set you way above all the rest. *wink*
(Not a paid endorsement. -MM)
NEVER Judge a Book By Its Cover! BIGGEST Surprises They Didn’t See Coming…
How has your appearance affected your life?
My appearance has always been a big topic, with stress of the word, BIG. I am 6′8″ tall and I weigh about 350 lbs. I have a sleeve of tattoos, and usually have a beard of some sort. I need to lose some weight, but having discussions with numerous people, they say I am not fat, per se…… I am just a huge individual.
the picture below, I am with three guys that I played football with in school. from left to right, a DB, a linebacker and a lineman. not really small guys
here I am with three guys. the guy to my left, in his own right, is considered a big guy too
And my personal favorite…… I was in a Halloween costume contest.
I always loved the last photo. Mainly cause the girl to my left looks kinda afraid of me. (I dress up as Leatherface every year) btw, I won the contest
Being my size affects all aspects of my life. Clothing, vehicles, hell, just sitting in a chair makes me nervous, since I am not sure it is going to hold me. Nothing better than waiting in line to get on an airplane, only to have people looking at you hoping you aren’t seated beside them, or actually hearing that phrase said out loud. Funny thing is, I can sit on an airplane seat, and buckle the seatbeat just fine. One of the problems is the fact that my shoulders are almost 3 feet wide. Clothing is more expensive. Finding a reasonable priced vehicle to drive. My wife and i, when we first started dating, we never took her car anywhere. I couldn’t fit. Nothing like jumping into a hotel shower, and the shower head is about to my chest. Almost all mirrors, cut me off at the neck. Certain door frames, if I don’t remember to duck, concussion time.
When I first met my wife, and she was introducing me to her friends, she had warned me on the way to the party that some of the guys in the group were probably gonna mess with me. We show up, and everyone was super polite, and nothing was said or done to me. I later found out that the moment I walked in the door, all the guys looked at one another and decided to not mess with me.
In the Halloween picture above, after the contest, the bouncer at the bar came up to me, and demanded I remove my mask. When I asked why, he said, dude, I just gotta see what you look like. you are freaking me out.
My friends and family love going to festivals and crowded locations with me. Usually, they like how when I walk, usually people get out of my way. Also, they like to watch people watch me. The double takes, the staring. I used to have a problem with it, but I eventually just accepted that I am different physically. A lot of people think I am a big scary guy. A lot of people think I was a biker. In my youth, I also had a lot of problems at bars or clubs, cause there was always someone, drunk, with a little man complex. They wanted to fight the biggest guy in the bar, and guess who that usually was? I have come to embrace my size. I work a job where I speak with people on the phone. Every now and again, I have to go onsite to do trainings. I am very pleasant on the phone. Not to say I am not pleasant in person, but you don’t know how many times i have shown up to a location, and deal with weird looks, and usually throughout the training, it is usually mentioned that I do not look like I sound on the phone. or I wasn’t what they were expecting.
The funny thing is, I just think I am a little bigger than everyone. I don’t realize how much bigger I am until I see pictures. But I am actually a very caring, sensitive and sweet man. Or so my wife says…….
Putin – Xi interaction
What could be the potential consequences if the U.S. Navy blockaded all Chinese ports, including Hong Kong and Macau, at the same time?
LOL. Let the fools try The US military leadership already know the answer, and will in the most forceful terms possible tell the fools in the Biden/Harris or Trump administration that it is not possible.
The US military knows that a ship within a thousand miles of China if there is war will be in extensive danger.
So if the US wants to lose every ship it commits to such stupidity, I guess it can try. The Chinese have a massive air-force, of which fighters such as the J20 are specifically designed with stealth to attack US shipping, and there are anti-ship ballistic missiles and cruise missiles that will take out anything will within a thousand miles of China.
The Chinese defense budget is specifically oriented to destroy any attempt by the US to come anywhere close to China.
The reason the US is moving out of Okinawa is because it would be impossible to supply or defend in a war.
Really think the US would leave Okinawa if it was of value against the Chinese. Of course not. Keeping forces there would just be asking for them to be easily destroyed by the Chinese if there is a war.
If the US cannot defend Okinawa, then how are they going to be able to blockade China.
Just imagine the US bringing a super carrier force within range of China.
That would be immediately some 5000 men that would be dead on just the carriers, and the entire task force destroyed would be more men than was lost in 20 years of the war in the Middle East.
Duluth Bodycam is a Real Life “Fargo” Movie
What is the smartest thing you have ever done in an interview?
Showed up looking like a drowned rat. Summer between semesters . Would be my 1st job away from home on my own. My transportation was a 3 speed Schwinn from Western Auto. The day of the interview was the biggest rain storm ever. Walked in to the receptionist’s desk apologizing for the mess and if they would direct me to the janitor’s closet I would clean up behind myself. While she is bringing away from this over watered creature at the front of her desk, this older gentleman happened to be walking by and stopped. Asked me if I was there about the warehouse job. Yessir. He turned to her telling her to forget the application and interview. Just give him the new employer package W4 and whatever else he needs to sign. Turning back to me he puts out his hand to shake telling me there were 4 others that were supposed to come in and cLled off for the rain. And they had cats so I know you will be here when you’re supposed to be. Welcome aboard. Thus I met the founder and owner of Maddox Furniture Co. He and his 3 sons who had to work in every dept before getting an office. It was maybe 6 years later I was working a job A hundred miles away out in a parking lot when one of his sons walked up to me telling me I remember you. Had no idea who he was. My job with them he was in the office and I was hidden away in the warehouse but he remembered me. That was the kind of company that was. They always treated their employees decently. Of course I’m guessing his father took great pleasure telling all how he hired a drowned rat that just came swimming in.
Rap Fan FIRST time REACTION to PRINCE, Tom Petty – “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” No Way…
No way…!
Prince. The man is PRINCE!
What is China doing with respect to its own minorities?
I am a Muslim from China. My ethnic group in China is called “Hui”. I live in the eastern region of China where the Muslim population is very small. When I was in primary school, everyone had lunch provided by the school. But I couldn’t eat it because Muslims in China don’t eat pork. My classmates found this interesting, and my teacher specifically told everyone in class about Muslim dietary habits so they wouldn’t keep asking me questions.
Every year, my family (both my parents are Muslims) receives some “dietary subsidies” from the government, although it’s just a small amount today. The purpose is to allow Muslims to “buy some beef and mutton” because pork is cheaper compared to beef and mutton. So, it’s a goodwill policy.
When I finished junior high school at 15 and took the entrance exam for high school, my score was increased by 10 points by the government, also because I am a Muslim, which is a “special treatment” for ethnic minorities.
My maternal grandfather was an imam at the mosque. He didn’t go to school but studied Islamic knowledge and Quran recitation for a few years with a teacher from Henan Province (a province in central China with a relatively high Muslim population). He became an imam when I was about 5 years old. So, I have some impressions of him. I recorded these impressions on the Chinese social app Zhihu, which is China’s version of Quora. Please allow me to quote from my own article, which mainly describes how my grandfather, as a Muslim, interacted with the Han Chinese. Here is the quote:
My grandfather was an imam at the mosque in Xuzhou City from the age of 50 to 80. Before that, he worked at a glass shop on Fuxing Road in Xuzhou City. He passed away at the age of 96. He often said during his lifetime that he hoped to die on Friday, the Muslim “Jumu’ah day.” He passed away on a Friday. After breakfast, he suddenly felt unwell and passed away fifteen minutes later.
Here are some impressions he left on me during his time as an imam:
There were many Muslims in Xuzhou City in the 1980s, and many people came to him for help. In the area where I lived, it was customary to give a “tip” when asking for the imam’s help. However, if someone had no money at home, even if they offered compensation, he wouldn’t accept it.
The mosque in Xuzhou City was originally located near a street called “Tiehuo Street,” surrounded by many Han Chinese. My grandfather had a good relationship with all the Han Chinese neighbors. He often helped when there were weddings or funerals in Han Chinese households. Many Han Chinese would respectfully call him “Grandpa Imam.”
He always respected the Han Chinese way of life, so the Han Chinese also respected his ethnic customs. Once, a Han Chinese child about my age, around 5 or 6 years old, was walking and eating a piece of pork. When he met my grandfather, he politely asked, “Grandpa Imam, do you want some?” As soon as he finished speaking, the child’s grandmother slapped him from behind. My grandfather noticed the embarrassment and laughed heartily, saying to the child, “Sweetie, Grandpa will give you a piece of freshly cooked beef, which tastes better than your pork!”
In the 1990s, when the mosque was relocated, he donated half of his life savings. At the same time, if he knew that Han Chinese families were in trouble, he would also help with his meager income.
He may have had heart disease in middle age. In the 1980s, medical care in China was backward, and several doctors believed it was coronary heart disease. Before he passed away, several doctors who had treated him had also passed away, and my grandfather “defeated” the doctors. After the age of 80, one of his favorite pastimes was sitting in the small garden in front of his house, competing with some old men from the neighborhood to see who could spit farther.
I am his youngest grandson. But he had high hopes for me from a young age, hoping that I would attend an Islamic college and inherit his legacy. Although I didn’t follow his advice at all later, the understanding that “Hui and Han are one family” left a deep impression on me from a very young age.
From childhood, my grandfather taught me to recite the Shahada, tell stories from the Quran, teach me how to pray, and tell me about Islamic holidays. Although I am now 43 years old and live in an area with very few Muslims, I still adhere to Islamic customs. However, I have never promoted religious knowledge when going out. I only give specific answers when friends ask questions because it’s my private matter.
I have always expressed respect for missionaries of other religions I encounter. Because in this secular land of China, behind many missionaries are the ups and downs of personal destinies, and even tragic lives. Expressing respect and understanding is the most basic courtesy.
Quote ends.
Finally, if someone asks me what China has done for its Muslims, I would say that it has achieved harmony and peace.
When Package Thieves Get Instant Karma
Classical art
Man Left The U.S. For Thailand And Never Came Back
Captain Antonille
Submitted into Contest #24 in response to: Write a story set in the dark recesses of space where the two main characters are often at odds with each other in humorous and comedic ways.… view prompt
Andrew Grell
CAPTAIN ANTONILLE
By Andrew Paul Grell
“Because I’m three billion years old, you big oaf, that’s why. Your years. Oaf is the correct word? We haven’t had extra-large or overly-clumsy people in quite a long time. How would you describe that process? Darwined out? Is that two n’s or one? What kind of language have you got going on? On Kapteyn A we have seven billion years of language and by now we know how to spell.”
“Nice neologism, Yip. I’ll have to email that to Oxford; maybe they’ll get it in time for the next edition. And it doesn’t matter how old you are, Yip. You can’t fuse nothing, and that’s what we got in this stretch. We got plenty o’ nothin’. Anyone ever tell you that you look like an Elf on a Shelf?”
“Au contraire, mon ami. I predate the elves. What you call Homo habilis. I prefer Mensch on a Bench.”
“Either way. You’re not all that much bigger than that doll and you’re sitting, legs a-dangle, on the bar. And either way, we’re out of gas, my little living doll.”
“We’re the cultural attachés, it’s not up to us. Trust Captain Antonille, he’s even older than I am, and Captain Crunch, she’s older than him.”
“Oh, great. That’s right, diminish the human crew in favor of your tiny Kapteyn’s Star people from that diminutive planet you call home.
“It’s not like that, Dick. Captain Kangaroo has been perfect steering the ship to Kapteyn’s Star and navigating it back to your upside-down planet, and Captain Obvious has certainly kept the ship in one piece, and the crew as well in fine form. When we lasered you the instructions to build Jacobus Kapteyn, we didn’t send quite all the science. Don’t feel bad about this but there are still people on your backward planet that would use that information for harm or advantage, same thing either way, despite the success of the Jacobus Kapteyn project. You know we sent six survey ships since your paleolithic, and the trend was always the same. Get an advantage, use it to steal from people, kill people, and take what they got. Is that not correct? Maybe except for a few years in a run from time to time. It’s too bad your planet is upside down. you were broadcasting to the bottom of the galaxy. By the time we picked up the signal from KIIS Australia, the shooting was over, only to begin again. How does it feel to live on a planet that’s upside down, Dick?”
“I can ask you the same thing, how does it feel to live on a little tiny planet whizzing by, never finding a home? You know we discovered you by accident, right?”
“Just a nanosecond there, oaf. We discovered you first! Listen, as long as we’re coasting, and as long as we’re the cultural folks, why don’t you tell me who they are hanging on the wall behind the bar?”
“Bien sur, mon petite chou. The first one is Agamemnon. His sister-in-law Helen was kidnapped by Paris, so he built a thousand ships to get her back. Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, the face that launched a thousand ships. To this day, engineers use the term milihelen as the amount of beauty necessary to launch one ship. Do you have those, in-laws?”
“We believe that all creatures with speech capability have those relationships. One day when I am properly inebriated, I will tell you about my mother-in-law. She has been my mother-in-law for two billion years. Beat that, oaf!”
“Hey, no oafing while I’m teaching. Next is Chin Bao, known in our west as Sinbad the Sailor. Opened up sea trade between east and west Asia. Then Lief Ericson, part navigator, but more real estate speculator. First to sail from Europe to North America. Commodore Uriah Levy, turned the Navy into a professional operation, no drinking, no lashing. Commodore Grace Hopper, invented computer language programming. Laika the dog, first terrestrial being in space. Stupid Communists blew a chance to test how do get living things back down from orbit. They let that cute little dog die in space. Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on a heavenly body. Then there’s Pizzaro and Cooke. The locals thought they were gods. For a while. Cooke didn’t make it, but Pizzaro hit it big time.”
“Interesting mix of conquering and bridge building. That’s how we see you. Now tell me about this bar. We do it differently. Seven billion years ago, Halp was gardening, tending to the ju-ju berries. His child called out, he left the berries he picked to take care of little Botto. It rained before he could get back to the garden. The berries were mush. For some reason, Halp decided to taste the water with the mushed berries. It was terrible, but he loved it, the juice made him feel free. He showed it to his friends; they all hated the taste but loved the effect. Then Dr. Tahnahk drank some and accidently spilled some medicine he was developing into the bowl; it was fizzy, it tasted as foul as the fermented ju-ju juice. But together, the concoction was delicious. There can be no better libation, oaf, I tell you true. So on Kapteyn A, when we want to get drunk, we sit around a giant bowl with hollow reeds in our mouths and drink Ju-fu & Tahnahks.”
“Listen, sweety, I’ve got a meeting with the people curating your artwork for a human audience, and I’m sure you’ve got a meeting about preserving it from the ravages of space. My quarters, six bells?”
“I’ll be there with more than six bells on. Little elf shoe bells.”
# # #
“My dear Captain Kangaroo.”
“My dear friend, Captain Antonille. Thank you for receiving me in your in space cabin. We seem to be adrift. Nice collection you’ve got there. Is it a complete set?”
“Of course, my dear Captain Kangaroo. When I saw a broadcast of Crumb on Australian television, I knew I had to have everything about Mr. Natural. So I put it on the request list. You can see the similarities in the feet and in the facial hair. But I really would have loved to meet Crumb’s brother. Interesting character study. He’s what you call OCD?”
“Most likely, my dear Captain Antonille. But I believe our agenda involves hydrogen, specifically the lack thereof. And I have pilfered precious moments of our time on comic books.”
No need to apologize, my dear Captain Kangaroo. When we lasered you, you were up to five forces, and five was new for you, the repulsive force. Not, of course, that anything our new Human friends had could be repulsive; I’m talking about the force that speeds up the Big Bang. We gave you the sixth force to power the ship. Now we find ourselves in the doldrums. The seventh and a half force has a way of attracting hydrogen. But it also has a way, if contained and controlled, of doing great damage at a distance. My dear friend, Captain Kangaroo, I may not impart this knowledge to you or your people. Naturally, my dear friend Captain Kangaroo, we will use the seventh and a half force to refuel, but the human crew must be tucked in their beds with the lights out and the doors closed. No sign-stealing, as they say in your baseball. In our version, we slap the ball with our bare hands. Less to cheat with. Not that there are many Kapteynians who would cheat. My dear Captain Kangaroo, do we have an understanding?”
“Captain Antonille, I believe we do.”
# # #
“Why not go out instead of staying in your cabin? The didymium viewing bubble? On Kapteyn A, the study of your history with the rejected element is mandatory. Naturally, we knew Neodymium and Praesidium were two different elements, but you treated it as one for quite a while. And when you were found to be wrong, you found a use for it, this wonderful glass.”
“The dome it is, my sweet babou. Let’s take the Centrifugal River route, perhaps a canoe ride to the bubble.
“This is quite romantic, you big oaf. Tell me, Dick, when you get back home, will our relationship be a subject of male privilege?”
“Why so, my pet?”
“Ancephalic humans. Oy vey, as you say. This only works with human males and female Kapteynians. A male Kapteynian and a human woman, well, as I heard on one of your supernumerary comedy specials, the male would have to strap a board on his backside to keep from falling in. But this is quite romantic, Dick, thank you for taking me. A little to the left, buddy. You got it. That’s it. Hey, is that Captain Crunch? Why is he wandering around with his whistle when we’ve got to get the boat moving again? He should on the bridge!”
“ATTENTION, ATTENTION. ALL HANDS PREPARE FOR ACCELERATION COMMENICNG IN FIVE MINUTES. PROCEDE TO THE NEAREST GRAVITY COUCHES IMMEDIATELY. ATTENTION, ATTENTION.”
“Probably a drill, Dick.”
“Get on a viewing chair, I’ll get on top of you.”
“Big oaf, trying to get some action when we may be killed at any moment.”
“ATTENTION, ATTENTION. PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE MOMENT-ARM QUAKE.”
“Wow. If my grandparents could have something like that, they’d still be together. Whew. Hey, Dick, what is that?”
“Dunno. Wait. It looks like the thing that nobody knew what it does. Hold the phone. It’s starting to get longer. And longer. It’s got the checkerboard pattern we used to use to observe spin rates. See? now it’s spinning. Idiot. I know what that is.”
“Care to enlighten me, big boy?”
“Einstein’s time machine. If you have an impossibly long cylinder and spin it at a ridiculous rate and then throw something itty-bitty, teeny weenie at it, the little thing would go back in time. Never got tested, of course. Do we think this is part of the tech you couldn’t reveal?”
“Could be. How should I know? I’m an art professor.
“Ow! Hey! Oooh. Ouch.”
“Yip, you OK?”
“I think the radius of my radius has been altered in a very painful way.”
“C’mon, I’m getting you out of here. There’s an exit. I know it’s undignified, but I’m carrying you.”
“Yutz? Putz? JonJon? What are you idiots doing here? There’s an acceleration warning.”
“We could ask you the same thing. And what are you doing here, praying to his imaginary god of his for hydrogen? And what are you doing with him?”
“We’re enjoying the show. Now get your toe bells down to where you’re needed if this isn’t a drill.”
“Dick, I don’t like this. They were perfectly normal engineers when we boarded. It looks like, well, I hate to see us acting like, well, you folks. Present company excepted, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Those three are too normal. I think someone is winding them up. We should probably strap down before they weigh anchor and get going. Last one to your cabin is a batch of rotten ju-ju berry mush.”
“Good thing the ship was designed to have g-couches for both species in each cabin. Whoa, there we go.”
“OMG; I would say that if I thought there were a G. Wow, that was even better than the moment-arm quake. By the way, you make a great comfy pillow for a great big oaf. Mmmm…”
# # #
“Now hear this. This is Captain Obvious. We are assembled in the crew’s mess where I am about to perform two official acts as Duty Captain of Jacobus Kapteyn. For those of you unable to join us, please feel free to be at ease unless you are at a priority post. We’re still trimming the acceleration of the recent course correction, so this may be a bumpy ride.
“Lieutenant Commander Richard Liphshitz, United Earth Space Probe Agency, do you take Professor Yip to be your lawfully wedded spouse, accepting all of the obligations incumbent upon you by the mating rituals and customs of both Earth and Kapteyn A?”
“I do.”
“And do you, Professor Yip, take Lieutenant Commander Richard Liphshitz to be your lawfully wedded spouse, accepting all of the obligations incumbent upon you by the mating rituals and customs of both Earth and Kapteyn A?”
“You bet I’ll take that big oaf, skipper!”
“I’m not religious man, but I once heard a bit of ancient Hebrew advice. If you have a short wife, bend down to whisper in he ear. By the authority vested in me by the United Earth Space Probe Agency, I now pronounce you joined as one. Dick, bend down in kiss your bride, then stomp on tht glass. I want to hear it tinkle, Sailor.”
“Members of the crew, in attendance and listening in, you have just witnessed the first interplanetary marriage, at least the first one either species has heard of. And now it is my sad duty to perform my second act as Duty Captain. Captain Crunch, front and center. Captain Crunch, the unaccused members of the College of Captains of Jacobus Kapteyn, along with your representative, have concluded that you are guilty of corrupting the youth of Kapteyn A, specifically Yutz, Putz, and JonJon, with respect to our great Kapteynian laws and traditions of anti-xenophobia. Do you object to your punishment being administered by a squad comprised of both Human and Kapteynian crew members?”
“I have no objection, alien.”
“Do you have anything to say before punishment is administered?”
“I have plenty to say. This mixing of species is not going to end well. They will infect us with their louche habits and their barbaric ways. Mark my words.”
“Punishment team, Attention. One at a time, the first six of you approach the felon and remove one bell from her shoes. Seventh squad member, cut off her beard. Commander of the squad, break her whistle.”
“Punishment squad, rejoin ranks.”
“Punishment squad, report.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir. Punishment has been duly and justly meted out.”
“Captain Crunch, you have been punished. Return to your post and continue to make sure this ship gets where it’s going safely.
“Dismissed!”
What are the best examples of people who have “gamed the system”?
In Seattle, there are a lot of people who live on the waterfront (in Lake Union). There are two types of floating life shelters: Floating Homes and Houseboats.
Houseboats are one of the most ingenious ways I’ve ever seen of gaming the system. It’s a pretty long, but very interesting story. Read on:
Back in the early 1900s, people who could not afford a house on land in Seattle started building simple house-like structures using some logs and put them on Lake Union and started living there. Since the lake was open to the public, anybody was allowed to build such a “floating home” free of cost and live there.
People who lived on such floating homes did not pay any property taxes. On realizing that, a lot of people who lived on land started moving to the lake and naturally it started getting crowded. Since these floating homes did not have proper sewage system, people started to dump all their waste on the lake and hence it started to become a mess.
The City of Seattle then decided enough is enough, and drew up some regulations on how many floating homes will be allowed on the lake and designated certain spots in the lake to be for the exclusive use of floating homes. Since the number of homes were limited and they were always docked, they also decided to hard wire them into the city’s sewer and electricity systems. Thereby, floating homes were started to be considered as regular homes and people needed to pay property taxes on them.
Here’s the floating home used in the movie “Sleepless in Seattle”:
When something becomes “limited edition”, obviously prices go up. So all of a sudden, what was once the home of people who could not afford a house became a limited edition floating home that started to go for millions of dollars. Also, sewage and electricity were no more an issue.
Now, there were this new class of people who couldn’t afford a home on the land, and obviously not the waterfront as well. So they just started to put a roof on their boats, and started living there. Since they were just regular boats, there was no restriction on how many such boats could be in the lake as long they are registered vessels. It gradually evolved and today’s “boats” look like this:
You see what they did there? It’s a lake and obviously the city cannot put a limit on the number of boats allowed on the lake. These “boats” are registered as vehicles to the DMV and are authorized to be in the lake wherever and whenever they want. The only restriction being, “they should be able to move on their own”. So all they need is to have a motor underneath that will help them achieve that criteria.
If you look closely at the above photo, you can see a Honda motor attached to it on the bottom left. It’s very impractical for the city to enforce that rule on a day-to-day basis. So most of these boats, even though they self-propel at the time they are registered to the DMV, they hardly remain so throughout the year.
So today, you can find a lot of such “Houseboats” on the waterfront of Lake Union in Seattle.
This was a story that was told to me when I took the Ride The Ducks of Seattle tours in Seattle. It’s really an awesome tour, and I highly recommend taking it if you are visiting Seattle.
Explained: ‘Western Conspiracy’ To Create A New Christian Nation In The Region That Sheikh Hasina Revealed Months Before Ouster….
With the recent removal of Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina from power, questions are swirling about whether global regime change actors played a role in her ouster.
Although the immediate catalyst for her downfall was widespread anger over the jobs quota system, the US and other Western powers had signalled their disapproval of Hasina openly ahead of the January elections, which she ultimately won.
As the US employed its usual “defence of democracy” rhetoric to criticise Hasina and pressured her to meet the demands of the Opposition, which is predominantly composed of Islamists and extremists hostile to democratic values, Hasina made an intriguing revelation.
She alleged that a Western power is conspiring to establish a Christian state in this region, similar to East Timor.
While Hasina did not elaborate any further, leaders of her party, the Awami League, later told Swarajya that what Hasina meant was that an independent ‘Zo’ state, comprising areas of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Mizoram, inhabited by the Kuki-Chin-Mizo people is being incubated by a Western power.
“Like East Timor, they will carve out a Christian country, taking parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar with a base in the Bay of Bengal,” Hasina had said.
She had not mentioned that the project — of creating a Christian country — also includes parts of North East India, but that would have been an “unintentional omission” on her part, Awami League leaders told Swarajya.
The Kuki-Chin-Mizo people have, in recent years, started calling themselves collectively as ‘Zo’ people.
They are also aspiring for ‘Zogam’, or a homeland for the Zo people, comprising large parts of the Chin state of Myanmar, the Indian state of Mizoram, and Kuki-inhabited areas of Manipur, and the Bandarban district and adjoining areas of Bangladesh’s Chittagong division.
All these areas are contiguous to each other and, except for Mizoram, are experiencing militancy by Kuki-Chin terror groups.
Cop Realizes the Dismembered Body is Alive
https://youtu.be/0RIA1zVKlvU
Have you ever seen someone ruin their life in just a few seconds? How did they do it?
I was living in a fraternity in 1978 when a blizzard shut down the city of Boston, and our university. The blizzard had dumped about 30 inches of snow in 24 hours.
Having no classes to go to, some of my frat brethren grew restless. Someone suggested we jump out the second story window onto the snow pack, which was, after all, 30 inches plus, and surely sufficient to break our fall.
Well, after a few jumps, the challenge wore off and people started jumping out the third floor window. Onto the same spot. That went on for a while; my memory fails me a bit but 15-ish people made that jump.
You can see it coming. The third floor was getting too easy. Let’s move on to the fourth floor. Never mind that the snow, in the mean time, had been compacted significantly. Many of us tried to discourage the jumpers. Some third floor jumpers said “no thanks”. But some moved to the fourth floor.
The first jumper landed hard. He got up and started gesturing that this was not such a good idea, and that we’d better stop. The second guy jumped. And sat there, in the snow. While I can’t remember all the details of that afternoon, I have a very vivid memory of him just sitting there, staring in front of himself, mumbling something about not being able to feel his legs.
The ambulance came. We saw him in the hospital, and he came out in a wheelchair. I’ve lost contact, but to the best of my knowledge he remained a paraplegic the rest of his life. Because of a bad decision to jump into a snow bank that had compacted into ice.
And in case you think I’m talking about a rowdy alcohol-consuming drug-using frat boy, this was a very intelligent, low-key, gentle, thoughtful individual, a grad student at one of the best universities in the US. With a thrill seek that put him in a wheelchair. I still can’t fully grasp it.
Scamming Women
Asian Fusion Breakthrough
It’s the supply chain, stupid
|
The first electricity generated by controlled nuclear fusion must come from our country, and we are working towards this goal. Lu Tiezhong, Chairman, China National Nuclear Power, September, 2023.
Amid growing concerns over a world energy crisis, controlled nuclear fusion¹ is viewed by experts and industry as the ultimate solution to humanity’s need for infinite, clean, cheap energy. Once science fiction, it’s now a ferociously competitive field, as teams worldwide compete to make it a reality. Yet our media are ignoring the most exciting scientific news of this century
The Technology
The most popular approach to fusion energy uses tokamaks, whose superconducting magnets generate powerful fields that confine hydrogen atoms so that they fuse into heavier atoms and give off excess energy in the process.
In 2007 a multinational consortium raised $20 billion to build ITER, a tokamak² fusion-containment reactor to demonstrate fusion plasma in 2026. ITER chose exotic, low-temperature superconductors to cool its magnets, their astronomical cost, complexity, bulk, and massive amounts of energy for cooling discouraged Chinese scientists at ITER, but their experience created a large talent pool of outstanding fusion engineers.
In 2001, Energy Singularity Corp³, a private Shanghai company, raised $1 billion to build HH7, a tokamak fusion-containment reactor. Energy Singularity chose cheap, high-temperature superconductors, HTS, to generate stronger magnetic fields in smaller, cheaper, faster machines than ITER’s and its first tokamak, HH7 achieved a plasma density⁴ high enough for commercial goals last month. Yasmin Andrew, a nuclear scientist at Imperial College London, said several private companies (Bill Gates funds one) are working on fusion, but HH70 is the first tokamak to achieve a plasma.
Energy Singularlity’s CEO Yang stressed that using high-temperature superconducting materials can reduce the volume of a device to 2% of that of traditional low-temperature superconducting devices, and shorten the construction period from the original 30 years to 3-4 years to build a tokamak device with a Q>10 (a ten-fold return on power, or 500 MW of fusion power from 50 MW of input power. COO Ye Yuming promised that their next reactor, HH170, will be the smallest, cheapest tokamak capable of achieving a 10-fold energy gain. Its field strength will be 110% of SPARC and its volume 70% of SPARC (the MIT tokamak above), enabling further cost reduction.
MIT’s Dennis Whyte says the domestic supply chain and technology development are critical as fusion technology advances, “It is no longer just studied for science’s sake but is pivoting towards implementation as a new energy source”.
The exotic HTS tapes in the HH70, for example, come from Shanghai Superconductor, a global supplier since 2011 and one of six that mass-produces HTS tapes. This year, Energy Point Corp, another member of the fusion supply chain, will deliver 25 Tesla, D-shaped high-temperature magnets – ten times stronger than HH70’s 2.5 Tesla magnetic field, and construction of HH170 will begin next year. Work on a tokamak fusion power plant, HH380, will begin around 2030.
New energy, new industry
Significantly, 93% of the high-temperature superconducting tokamak was sourced from China’s domestic fusion industrial chain and 100% of its IP is entirely indigenous.
China’s Secret Sauces
Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association, fears that the fusion industry will follow the pattern of the solar industry, where manufacturing came to be dominated by China. “It’s very clear that China has ambitions to do the same thing, both in the supply chain and in the developers,” he said. “It’s time for the US to respond to this challenge”.
But China’s consistent policy support, generous funding, domestic supply chain, large-scale manufacturing experience and vast, highly educated workforce give the country an immense, first-mover advantage in the engineering implementation of nuclear fusion technology and, potentially, creating a new era of sanity and joy.
1
Hydrogen Bombs are unconfined nuclear fusion events.
2
Russia created T-1, the first tokamak, in 1958.
3
Energy Singularity was established in Shanghai in 2021, focusing on commercially viable high-temperature superconducting tokamak devices and their operational control software systems. The company’s shareholders include miHoYo, developer of Genshin Impact, and EV maker, NIO.
4
The higher the density the more nuclei packed together, increases the chances of a fusion event. “Plasma density is the Goldilocks factor in nuclear fusion: too low, and the fusion reactions won’t happen, too high, and the plasma becomes unstable. Finding and staying in the sweet spot is essential for achieving the high-energy-density plasmas needed for sustainable fusion power”.
There is an old saying for what the US government is doing.
With friends like these, who needs enemies. The US is the worst enemy of US companies. US companies are being killed by the Neo-cons in their jihad against China.
I wonder what the Chinese are thinking. Is this real?!? Is this some sort of trick? Or are the people in the US government really that stupid? Nobody is that dumb for that long right? It’s been almost 8 years they’ve been doing this. How dumb do you have to be to continue even though it isn’t working?
Some of my MM art experiments
Theme is dinner prep.
Is it seriously true that “Han Chinese” and overseas Chinese are taught to believe Chinese toilets and restrooms in the public in China are cleaner than the ones in Japan and South Korea?
Is it true that we are taught to think that public toilets in mainland China are cleaner than those in Japan and Korea (South)?
There, that is the more precise question.
The simple answer is no, especially to those born before 2000s and has parents or elders who had visited their hometown back in the Mainland.
Going there involves off-roading, literally, since paved roads were non-existent outside cities like Fuzhou or Xiamen.
What we hear was:
- It is very cold, outdoorish, smelly, and dirty
- They re-use the crap for fertilizer and bio gas for cooking
- The toilet are mostly makeshift squat type and waterless
- The toilet blind is chest high, you can see everyone doing their business while squatting
Today though, if you use Google map and see the area, the remote village is now a proper small town with modern high rise apartment and highway access. Must be quite a miracle to see that transformation in just 20 years.
There are KFCs and sizeable shopping mall in the town centre. Back then, the village has eateries at all, only public communal cafeteria.
I have no experience at all with that part of China. I visited Japan much more often, and from what I can see, the decline is pretty much visible. From the cleanest robot toilet in public restroom, to floating crap inside shinkansen – left by a frail Japanese oba-san nonetheless. During busy and peak holiday season like the Golden Week – you can’t count on drunken and frustrated Japanese venting-off to keep things squeaky clean.
However, worry not. East Asia in general is generally far cleaner than the rest of the world. Rich countries like Australia and those western Europeans are generally far more awful at keeping public restrooms clean, even when compared to some Southeast Asian countries.
Cops Make the Worst Discovery of Their Lives
https://youtu.be/L6Igs5d-cbs
Why are so many Millennials dropping out of college?
I graduated but my six friends all dropped out and I’ll tell you why and it isn’t pretty. High school is a joke. The teachers, pushed by the school to have a 98% graduation rate gives you what to study. They tell you what to highlight, what areas to study, what is important and what isnt important. The classes are dumbed down so smart kids can practically pass without trying which then makes them think they dont need to study. Meanwhile the average learners are like this is easy and the struggling kids think they got it.
Then college hits and these kids struggle because they never got the chance to develop the proper study skills needed for college.
However high schools did one more bad thing. They said they can do anything they want and never settle. A friend of mine wanted to be a doctor but didn’t have the study skills or skills needed. However even when I brought up EMT, medical technicians and stuff she was capable of she denied it because she only wanted to be a doctor. When she discovered she had no choice, she dropped out.
My other friend was gifted. He was smart but in high school, he never had to do homework or study to gets straight As. He failed journalism and realized college wasn’t for him. He is a UPS driver now and is happy. He got a fiancée. He is making pretty good money.
My other friend wanted to do women’s study. She was halfway through when she wised up and researched what a women studies degree will get her. She wasnt happy. She quit and instead became a vet technician. I trust her with my cats and it’s good to see a success story. But she didnt finish college, she went to certification instead.
My other friend wanted to be a doctor. She dropped out when she got pregnant. Too much studying whilst constantly sick.
My other two friends had no idea what they wanted to be. They just knew they had to go to college because it is expected and high school teachers said life without a degree is bad. One made it six months, another a year. Both went to trade schools instead to become plumbers. Both make more money than I do.
I graduated with my BA in psychology. I am a ABA technician. If I want to move up, I need to get my masters but I don’t want to add 30,000 in student loans. Definitely not when I’m finally down to eight grand in my current student loans.
Plus, if I do go back to school, I no longer want to do psychology. It’s too overcrowded so work isn’t easy to come by. I would want to go into the medical field but as a technician. I have no want to be a doctor and go back to eight more years of school.
The reasons why millennials are dropping out of college are because: too many people have degrees, which dilutes the work field; people aren’t realistic with their abilities; everybody wants to be a programmer or a doctor because they make great money but most people don’t have the skills to do it; the price is ridiculous; and our educational system failed to train them for college.
When a Welfare Check Turns Into a Murder Investigation
What’s something a doctor did to you that you won’t ever forget?
‘Calm down, kid. Scroll Instagram. And I’ll be back in 20 minutes, with a negative Corona report,’ the doctor said.
About a month back, I was going through high fever alongside irking cold.
My CRP was 42. I thought I had ‘that’ virus. And just when I was panicking overly, I met this super cool doctor.
It wasn’t a private hospital. Or his private clinic. I went to have my RAT in a government hospital.
When I reached the hospital, I asked many doctors for help. And guess what, they weren’t even replying to me.
One female doctor even halted me from coming into her cabin, when she got to know I was asking about the antigen test.
But when I met this doctor (the kind one)— my perspective about the government hospital changed. Totally.
He asked me to sit back and relax. Then he put a thin needle-tube into my nose, and collected the sample.
‘Calm down, kid. Scroll Instagram. And I’ll be back in 20 minutes, with a negative Corona report,’ he said.
‘Okay,’ I said, faking a smile.
Twenty minutes later, exactly, he came where I was sitting and asked me to come to his cabin.
‘Congratulations,’ he said. ‘You’re tested negative for Corona. It’s just a viral fever. Isn’t it a big news?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
I was so elated with my negative report, and with him, too, that I asked him—
‘Can I take a photo, please?’
‘Of the report, of course.’
‘No, no, no.’ I said. ‘I want to take a photo of you.’
‘What makes you take a photo of me?’
‘I’ve been circling this hospital from 9 AM, and no one was willing to help me.’ I expressed. ‘But you were different. You cared. It’s different from a private hospital. Here you’ll get paid no matter how wickedly you behave with your patients. But you chose not to. Instead, you were a little extra polite to me. I really appreciate that.’
I took a short delay, studies his face (he was smiling), and continued;
‘I’m sort of a writer. I write on a site where I fetch good views. I want to write about you there. If that’s okay with you, of course. And also, you’re wearing double-mask and all. So I don’t think a photo alongside my answer would hurt you.’
He had a hanger wide smile on his face after I said all this, to him.
‘That’s my duty,’ he said. ‘Patients are already wired when they come to the doctor. And being treated badly, is probably the last thing they want in that position.’
‘True.’ I said, and clicked his photo. ‘Okay, then. Have a nice day, doctor.’
‘You, too.’ he said. ‘Take a good care of yourself.’
He was an absolute gem, wasn’t he?
What was your first “What did I get myself into” moment in the military?
Marine boot camp is tougher and longer than the other branches. The scariest moment I experienced that the words “What the hell did I get myself into, this time?” whispered out of my lips as I got off the dang bus. Everything after that was cool. Well, maybe not cool but I wasn’t scared any more. My feet hit the yellow foot prints and figured, “I got this.” The gas chamber was a blast. Seriously. I smoked so when the Charlie Sierra gas got to me it didn’t phase me. I didn’t cough, my nose was dry, my eyes didn’t water but when I walked out of the chamber my Senior was standing with two other SDIs and called me over. I reported, he asked me if I liked it in there. I didn’t want to say yes but certainly wasn’t going to say no. “Sir, yes, sir!” He told me to go back in without my mask. Came back out still smiling. I heard him tell the others “That one can eat that shit for breakfast.” If you’d seen what everybody looks like coming out of the gas chamber you’d know my condition is rare. Everybody coughs, eyes watering, nasal passages fill with liquid snot, your eyes burn so you try to open them here and there not to bump into anything. Their head is down, some puke, and the whole time still coughing and blind. As you walk out you raise your arms and walk into the wind to blow it off. If you try to rub it off it burns your skin even longer. Anyway, once you realize, “I got this.” it’s all fun and games from then on.
TOP “Sixth Sense Ending” Reactions *Spoiler* | Movie Reaction
What are the best examples of people who have “gamed the system”?
J.D. McMahon, a forgotten yet fascinating confidence man of Wichita. He was the mastermind behind one of the most notorious scams in early 20th-century America: the construction of the world’s smallest skyscraper.
In 1919, during the peak of a petroleum boom in Wichita County, Texas, McMahon saw an opportunity to exploit the rapid growth and demand for office space in Wichita Falls, the booming hub of the region.
As businesses flocked to the area, the need for office space soared. McMahon, who owned an oil construction company, proposed an ambitious plan to build a skyscraper on an adjacent empty lot to accommodate this need. The idea was well-received, and investors quickly pooled $200,000 (equivalent to $2.7 million today) into the project.
However, McMahon had a clever trick up his sleeve. The investors, eager to profit from the boom, didn’t scrutinize the blueprints he provided. These plans detailed a building that was 480 inches tall—not 480 feet, as the investors assumed. When construction was completed, the so-called skyscraper was a mere four stories high, measuring just 40 feet in height, 12 feet in length, and nine feet in width.
To add insult to injury, McMahon’s building was not even equipped with an elevator, as the elevator company withdrew from the project. Instead, a ladder was initially used to access the upper floors, and later, a narrow staircase was installed, which occupied a significant portion of the building’s already limited interior space.
When the investors realized they had been duped, they attempted to sue McMahon. However, the lawsuit failed as the documents clearly stated the building’s dimensions, though in inches rather than feet. McMahon had stayed within the bounds of the contract, and the investors had no legal recourse.
After completing the building, McMahon vanished, taking most of the $200,000 with him. Today, the Newby-McMahon Building still stands as a quirky landmark, housing an antique store and artist’s studio, and is recognized as a Texas Historic Landmark and part of the National Register of Historic Places.
Controversial!! Indians REACT to The Simpsons: HOMER AND APU GO TO INDIA!
What aspects of Chinese culture could the world learn from?
When I lived in China, I saw many things that I wished the world would come to appreciate about China, and do them the Chinese way. Here my favourites:
- Two-hour lunch breaks. In China, university campuses are huge, so in order to reach the restaurant or cafeteria, you need time. There is something wonderful about these long walks at mid day, across a huge, park like campus, and a great, slow meal with many dishes.
- Public sleep. Nowhere else in the world are people so relaxed about taking a nap when they need it. It is good for your health, and it is nice to see people trusting their environment so much.
- The Path of the Middle. This is a huge concept that books have been written about, which we all should read. But it boils down to “avoid extremes.” It also means to prepare well, save up, keep yourself comfortable. I think we westerners have been glorifying extremes for too long.
- Parent-child-attachment. Chinese children maintain a life long relationship with their parents that is much stronger than what we westerners tend to have. You get so many lonely old people in Europe and North America who actually have children, but barely have contact with them. China does that better.
- Multi-dish-meals. A good meal is often measured by how many dishes were served. Whenever I sit down to my plate of Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, I am thinking “in Shanghai, there would have been at least four different choices now.” It makes for a much nicer meal.
- Constant negotiation. You notice this after a while in China. Nobody ever goes straight for something, but everything requires input from both sides. “When shall we meet?””How about 13:00?””Hmm… 14:00?” “13:30.””Ok.” This is also how they walk, how they drive, how they do business… you always feel accommodated.
- Acknowledgement through imitation. This aspect is perhaps the most misunderstood about China, and it explains the knock-off culture to a certain extent. In China, there is nothing wrong with imitating someone or something. It merely states that you respect someone or something as “the best.” And even we westerners know that imitation can be a shortcut to mastery. But we are so obsessed with our stupid old “every man for himself” and “gotta be original or die” that we totally miss this very useful tool completely.
- Saving face. Diplomacy in China goes a bit further than ours. It is perhaps comparable to what the British often do; they will generally ensure nobody ever looks bad in any situation, so they will go to great lengths in planning things to make sure of it.
What would I face if I fell into a grain silo, what would my chance of survival be in the silo?
Ooh, pretty slim I’m afraid. It’s not a good environment. I used to build grain dryers, which are silos that heat up sweetcorn, for animal consumption, until it is dry enough, and then drops it down into the base. From there a screw will ‘pump’ it out into a storage silo.
One day, the screw ‘bunged’ up. So I, the newbie, had to go in and clear it. I was all keen in those days and was ready to leap in with my pole and start stabbing around at the hole in the bottom of the silo.
The ‘old-un’ grabbed me by the collar just as I was climbing through the hatch to drop down into the dune.
He said;- “if you do that, we’ll have to send in a team to dig your body out” more or less, (in French).
They tied me into a harness and kept a good tension on the rope. I was amazed — corn will let you ‘down’ but not up. You have nothing to push against. You just keep sinking, slowly, but surely, as you move. If you stay utterly immobile you stick. But if you move you just descend. You could lie on your back, but not much more.
Many years later I was at a party where in the next field there was a waste grain pit that some of the party-goers were betting each other about getting over it. Two of the party-goers were seriously traumatised, even though the pit was only six feet deep.
If you are on your own in a grain or corn/sweetcorn silo, for whatever reason — do not move. Not even a finger, you just stay still. When you hear someone, whistle loudly, scream, but do not move.
However, if they start up the transfer screw, (Archimedes screw) you are screwed. They make a lot of noise and you’ll not be heard as the centre of the grain starts descending. If you are in the top of a silo with many meters of grain below you, you’ll be sucked down. The trap where the screw entry is won’t kill you straight away — it might rip your foot off though, and should stall the motor, unless it’s a big one, in which case it could pull your entire leg off.
If your head goes under the grain/corn/whatever, you’re dead by asphyxiation/suffocation.
If you meet the screw, you’re dead — loss of blood/trauma/shock.
Be wise, don’t get in a silo unless the access hatch is open, the fuses are out of the screw, and there is no grain/whatever present.
Even when empty, don’t go in there with a cigarette… I saw a flash fire in a flour silo once. Amazing!
For interesting and pretty scary reading here is a link that I found to give you a better idea of what I am talking about.
Life threatening grain bin encounters
Fun reading…
to use drones to transport and disperse substances are particularly interesting."
— Pipers Creek (@piperscreekway) 
Of course.
Is the United States still the world’s greatest power, in control of the entire planet, or has that moment in history already come and gone? We are constantly hearing how the situation is becoming dire: relations between the US and NATO countries and Russia are going from bad to worse; there is a trade war going on with China; North Korea remains an intractable problem and an embarrassment.
Many people maintain that we are very close to a world war. But does “very close” actually mean anything? It is quite possible to stand for hours with your toes hanging over the edge of a cliff and never jump. Suicide is a big decision: big even for a person, much bigger for a large country.
On March 1, 2018 president Putin unveiled Russia’s new weapons systems against which the United States is defenseless and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Previously, the plan was to surround Russia with military bases and missile batteries, then launch a preemptive first strike, destroying its ability to retaliate and forcing it to capitulate.
This plan has now conclusively failed, and a US/NATO attack on Russia is once again assured to be an act of suicide. Worse than that, even limited military confrontations are now mostly unthinkable, because Russia can now inflict unacceptable damage on US/NATO forces from a safe distance and without putting any of its own assets at risk. If Russia won’t attack and the US/NATO can’t attack, then how likely is a war?
The new weapons systems have made it possible to start ignoring the US. It is still important to maintain a credible military posture, but politically the US is no longer in control, and neither are the global institutions on which it has relied. Instead, what we are seeing is the reemergence of nation states, and even of empires.
The political future of Syria is being decided by Russia, Turkey and Iran, with no useful input from the United States at all.
Significantly, whereas Russia and Iran are in categories of their own as far as the US is concerned, Turkey has been a US ally and the second-largest armed force in NATO. The fact that Turkey is no longer eager to please the Americans is quite telling.
Except during the strange and tumultuous twentieth century during which the US briefly flashed across the world stage, these three countries went by different names, which all ended in “empire”: the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire. Of these three, the Russian and the Ottoman empires were heirs to the Holy Roman Empire, whose eastern half, with its capital Constantinople, went on for centuries after Rome had turned into a depopulated ruin and a dark age had descended on Europe.
After Constantinople fell to the Turks and Islam took over the region, the center of Orthodox Christianity migrated north to Moscow. Now add China, or the Chinese Empire if you like, which is now aligned with Russia, and complete the picture: all of the greatest and most ancient Eurasian empires have come back and are talking and cooperating, while the has-been upstart on the other side of the planet isn’t even invited.
Given this situation, what is the US to do?
It has three choices.
The first is to start a major war, thus committing national suicide (while taking other countries with it). It lacks the political will to make this decision, although it could blunder into a major war by accident.
The second choice is to basically just fold: give up trying to project power around the world, retreat into its own borders and lick its wounds. It lacks the political will to do this as well; all that remains in the realm of possibility is to pretend that everything is still fine for as long as possible.
But how is it possible to pretend that everything is still fine even as everything is falling apart? The answer is to start faking it.
If the US manages to convince enough people, at home and around the world, that it is still dangerous, then it will be able to hide its increasing enfeeblement for a while longer. It may no longer be capable of achieving any of its aims, but it is still very much capable of mass murder, as was recently demonstrated by the US “coalition” bombings of Mosul and Raqqa, which now lay in ruins. Similar wanton acts of mass murder have been committed America’s Saudi-Arabian proxy in Yemen, and by their Ukrainian proxies in the Donbass.
But even the opportunities to commit mindless mass murder with impunity are now becoming fewer and farther between, forcing the US to resort to more boutique acts of violence. To justify these acts, the US (and much of Europe) curtains itself off from the rest of the world using an elaborately constructed wall of complete nonsense.
A favorite trope has to do with dreamed-up chemical weapons as the main frightener. Take a look at the recent Israeli rocket attack on Syria. It was justified using obviously fake video footage produced by the White Helmets—a group known for staging fake terror events. At this point, they don’t even care how fake their product looks: this time around, they didn’t bother editing out the clapper (used to sync up video with sound). The setting was obviously a movie set, but production values were rather missing. Instead, we had actors, some wearing white helmets, but no protective gear whatsoever, dumping buckets of water over shivering children. How is that even supposed to make any sense?
And then note that the rockets (five which got shot down by the Syrians, with only three making it through) came from Israel. Why Israel? Because the Russians had warned the US that they knew the fake chemical weapons provocation was being organized as a pretext to launch a rocket attack, and that they were going to shoot not just at the rockets but also at those who launch them. Therefore, Americans decided that it would be too risky to launch the attack from navy ships, and instead asked the Israelis to do the honor of lobbing a few missiles at a remote airbase in Syria, correctly thinking that the Russians wouldn’t immediately retaliate against Israel if no Russians would hurt, and knowing that there would be no Russians at that airbase during their attack. This is, on the one hand, quite pathetic, but on the other it shows that the Americans are still capable of a modicum of rational thought.
This, then is the strange period of history we are going through. The US is lying nonstop (since truth is not on its side) while pretending to still be dangerous by committing wanton acts of mass murder (small-scale ones, which it can be sure to carry out with impunity).
Meanwhile, both national suicide (via large-scale war) and the decision to shut down the whole imperial project both remain politically impossible. How long this strange, unstable period of murderous nonsense can persist isn’t known—your guess is as good as mine—but it obviously can’t go on for ages.
Give it a few years, or less. 
