We are just a group of retired spooks that discuss things that you’ll not find anywhere else. It makes us unique. Take a look around. Learn a thing or two.
I once took a couple of anthropology and archeology courses at Gannon University to flush out my humanity requirements at Syracuse.
These were fun courses, and I pretty much spent all Summer digging up old relics and stuff from the past in and around Erie, PA. Lot’s and lots of “arrow heads”, “scrapers” and ancient hearths.
We would sometimes go on remote digs, perhaps an hour or two drive out of our way.
15e07fd562395bae3f37ca1f711bd6c5
In one such dig we encountered a few coins.
We carefully dug them up, and duly recorded them. Ah. It was a grand discovery!
48398b65d056533840445b982895d158
Because of their location, and the history, we suspected that a hoard must have been buried nearby. But it was getting late, so we all packed up and left.
The dig was an old 1700’s era trading center with one main house and a few low buildings. All were long gone, but we were digging there because a damming of the local stream would cause the entire location to be under water.
c96d4ada847659bb553a99b617291590
We came back the next day, and some dunder-head (maybe the dig supervisors) came with a metal detector and unearthed quite a hoard.
We didn’t actually know, but given the size of the hole, perhaps 200 to 300 old coins.
623f38f61b494a19ad23e188fd2bd6c9
*Sigh.*
I would have loved to be part of that discovery. Now, some leach that sat by on the sidelines took the swag that we so carefully researched and dug up.
It’s like Working for a corporation in America, eh?
You do the labor. Someone else gets the swag.
*sigh*
Still, I enjoyed the experiences, and they were really fun and interesting to me. I will never forget them. If you all have an opportunity to, take a course in this kind of stuff a the local community college. You might discover how much fun that you will have. I’ll tell you what.
About 5 years ago, I was delivering food, in the Dallas area. I knocked on the door of an apartment, and a bald headed, muscular man answered. He told me the food wasn’t supposed to come there, but he didn’t seem too upset. I gathered that he had ordered for someone else, but neglected to change the address. But anyhoo, he asked if I’d like a tip. Sure! I replied. He starts digging in his wallet, and I’m expecting a couple of bucks. He pulls out a nice, crisp Benjamin ($100 bill). Now that’s a pretty generous tip, for an order that wasn’t for him in the first place. Then he starts looking, with very penetrating blue eyes, at me, and says “ Remember me. I’m Steve”.
I don’t follow wrestling, but known people who have. I believe it was Stone Cold Austin. Why he was alone in an apartment (not a luxury apartment, but not a crappy one, somewhere in the middle) in Dallas I dunno. He is from Texas (I researched him afterwards), but Victoria, on the Gulf side of the state. Perhaps he had a girlfriend there, or one of his kids, or just a hideaway, when in Dallas. The bill was genuine. It spent at the self checkout at Kroger.
The Thing (1982) | *First Time Watching* | Movie Reaction | Asia and BJ
What blew your mind today?
This.
So I was reading a book called ‘The eyes of darkness’. And another called ‘end of days’.
This book was written in 1981. (Keep this info in mind). It talks about a virus coming in 2020, from China, wuhan and some of it (not all) seems all too familiar. I just found it interesting.
Now I’m not saying the book is all correct. Maybe it’s just probability or coincidence. I think everyone has different beliefs, the virus hasn’t suddenly disappeared yet, but we’re not at the stage where the end is near.
Everyone thinks differently, I’m into conspiracy theories and bipolar doesn’t help, maybe I’m delusional. Not sure, take from it, what you will 🙂
I just posted because I thought it was interesting, it is a fictional book after all.
main qimg 5c8e84d6d420fb165eade2500e373a41 lqmain qimg 8e1d075db865ddb670a51958f214ed91 lqmain qimg a7a8433c86be95b0fd5f3cfb938f6a57 lq
Here’s the book if you want to read it. It also predicts mental health issues being the worst and the most increased in the 21st century and a bunch of other stuff which has actually happened.
main qimg cb1c6229cceb3a06ec3568e2c329fccb lq
Edit: I think the comments are clearly missing my point, as usual (this is quora after all). Yes, there’s plenty of predictions and it’s probably just by chance. Yes not all of them are spot on. I never said this was fact, as it’s a fictional book. I just found it interesting ffs. Not saying you have to believe it. Maybe it’s my bipolar or too many punches I’ve had, like many rudely told me in the comments 😂
Some of these comments, which I’ve reported have been horrible and personally attacking. I didn’t know something I found interesting could offend someone that much😂😁.
I just found it interesting, calm yourself 😉
Putin SHOCKED The WORLD! Russia Dealt a Cold-Blooded BLOW on the U.S. in ARCTIC!
What are the best examples of people who have “gamed the system”?
Originally Answered: What are some of the best examples of people cheating “the system”?
This is from cracked.com, whose writers always seem to be able to find the strangest examples I could never even dream of
In the late 1960s, Leonard Casley grew way too much wheat, which could only ever be a serious problem if you live in Australia. You see, Australia had wheat quotas at the time and Hutt River (the province where Casley and other families grew) had inadvertently surpassed it, meaning they weren’t allowed to sell any of it. When they petitioned for the quota to be raised, the governor responded by saying, “No,” and filing a law to take their land away. THAT’S how serious Australians are about wheat.
In a desperate attempt to delay the legal process, the five families of Hutt River seceded from Australia under the Treason Act of 1495. This would have been as pointless as that time you were five and told your mom you were leaving home… if the government hadn’t accidentally referred to Casley as “Administrator of Hutt River Province” in official correspondence, which actually gave him legal recognition as a ruler under Australian law. Yes, in Australia, calling someone something magically turns them into that.
Taking full of advantage of the mistake, Casley declared himself His Majesty Prince Leonard I of Hutt, meaning it was now treason, under Australian law, to charge him with any crime or interfere with how he ran his new country.
Could Australia have stopped him? Sure. But by the time they got around to it, the statute of limitations had run out. So as of 1972, The Principality of Hutt River had officially seceded from Australia and stopped paying income taxes.
As of the modern day, Hutt River is still separate, while Australia treats it as a private business that doesn’t pay them taxes and just tries, really hard, to pretend it’s not there.
Jumpin’ Jack Chili
fd96fd27d2be75184253b6d5cf6ac891
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Chili
1 cup onion, diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 (15 ounce) cans great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped (rotisserie chicken can be used)
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Monterey Jack Cheese*, coarsely grated and divided
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Colby Cheese, coarsely grated and divided
Cook onion in hot oil in heavy stock pan (Dutch oven) over medium-high heat, stirring until tender.
Add green chiles, garlic and cumin; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add beans and chicken broth, stirring well. Bring to boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add chicken, 1/2 cup Monterey Jack and 1/2 cup Colby Cheese; simmer over low heat for 10 minutes more.
Ladle chili into bowls. Top each serving with remaining cheeses and desired toppings.
Notes
* Or use Pepper Jack or Jalapeño Jack
Why Eastern Europe Is Safer And Better To Raise A Family In Than The West
Who supported the military coup in Bangladesh? Did it also happen before?
Who is behind the coup? We as an outsider dont know yet.
I only notice 1 thing:
Bangladesh went to China & signed an infrastructure deal with China.
The moment she went home, she tore the deal with China & accepted a contract/agreement with India to build a bridge or something.
Case closed, we thought No, a riot/coup broke out.
Both USA & India are notorious to instigate riots/coups in other countries so as to make others bow down to them. USA, global. India, southern Asia. Both do assassination too.
History will tell us who is the culprit. Let us wait.
Sri Lanka experienced a riot too when it joined an infrastructure project with China. It took a few years before the truth surfaced, after American scholars did a research. In the case of Sri Lanka, it was India who instigated the riot. But it was USA who spread the fake news re Debt Trap. Now the Debt Trap has proven fake after 10 years. But riots/coups still can happen.
“You told me this would be a short trip. We’ve been on this wretched ship for twelve years!” Halo roared.”I know, but I broke the digital map and-“”I don’t care what happened! I paid you a good handful of money and I expected to be home long before now!”Halo had the perfect life back on Earth, but he just had to pay Mirabella almost threebillion to take him to Tariphor, the most beautiful paradise planet in the galaxy. The trip was only supposed to be nine years in total, but the journey to Tariphor had stretched out to twelve! Halo had spent most of the time in hypersleep, but they had recently hit some strange turbulence that woke him.”Sir, I told you before we left that I was only an amateur pilot. I just got out of flight school, too,” Mirabella tried to explain.”That was twelve years ago! You should be better by now, Mire,” Halo complained.
They had left Earth when Halo was only 23 years old. He had spent his golden years of life in hypersleep and he was just as close to Tariphor as he was when still on Earth’s surface.
Mirabella wasn’t that happy about it either. She was 19 when they left and, unlike Halo, had actually begun to age. She wished she could’ve been the one frozen in some fancy tank. She missed her family more than anything, wishing she could just turn around and head back to Earth, but she didn’t know which way home was anymore.
“Well, what would you like me to do about it?” Mirabella asked. She didn’t mean for it to sound as angry as it did, and was simply curious, as she had run out of things to try and was willing to do anything to get back home.
“Well, you’re the pilot. You should know what you’re doing!”
“If you don’t have anything to contribute, you can just go back to bed,” Mirabella stated flatly.
“You’re insane if you think you can tell me, the youngest self-made multi-billionaire, what to do,” Halo said, “Now, where can I get a bite to eat?”
“We ran out of food three days ago,” Mirabella admitted.
“Were you not rationing it properly?” Halo asked.
“I made food for nine years last for twelve, I think I did a fine job rationing,” Mirabella said defensively.
“What about that?” Halo asked. He pointed to a small blue cube placed on the chair next to Mirabella’s. He had never seen anything like it, but it looked a little like Jell-O. He hoped it was edible. After all, the backlash of waking up from hypersleep gave him quite the appetite.
“Don’t you dare try to eat him. he’s some sort of space creature, not food. I think he’s sleeping,” Mirabella said.
“It looks delicious.”
“You’ll probably flip your organs inside-out if you eat him. Then, I’ll have to find a way to revive you, and suddenly kill you again for your stupid decision… After that, I’ll revive you a second time since I really don’t want to be alone in the endless abyss of space.”
“Could you even do that?”
“Not at all. In reality, you’d just stay dead,” she shrugged.
“How did this thing even get on the ship?” Halo asked.
Just as Halo was finished speaking, the blue Jell-O like creature, opened its eyes. They were huge, covering half the creature’s boxy face. It hopped up onto Mirabella’s shoulder.
“I let him in,” Mirabella said.
“What if that creature tries to kill us?” Halo asked.
“He’s, like, five inches tall. How would he?” she asked.
Halo eyed the creature warily. He didn’t really trust the thing, but Mirabella was right; it was small and Halo knew he could easily overpower it if he needed to.
“At least tell me you didn’t name it,” Halo said.
Mirabella didn’t answer.
“Oh my God, why? Why in the world would you name it?” Halo asked.
“I call him Berry,” Mirabella admitted, fiddling with her hands.
The creature, Berry, looked up at Mirabella when he heard his name. Halo watched as the creature snuggled down and began to purr. He had to admit that Berry was cute, but that still didn’t mean he trusted the thing.
“You shared our food with it,” Halo said.
“I couldn’t just let him starve!” Mirabella replied.
“I mean, you could’ve. Then at least I would have something to eat,” Halo said. Halo was a little upset that Mirabella cared more about feeding a space creature than a human that paid her three billion dollars.
“Come on, just look at him, he’s so cute,” Mirabella said. Mirabella picked the creature up off of her shoulder and held it in her hands.
“I don’t see it,” Halo said.
Suddenly, a loud buzzer went off and the ship started to flash red.
“What in the world is happening!” Halo shouted over the buzzer.
“I don’t know, the ship hasn’t acted like this since the map broke!” Mirabella shouted back, “I need you to hold him.” She passed Berry over to Halo who took it slowly and held it as far away from his body as possible.
Mirabella rushed over to the control panel and began to fidget with the levers and buttons. Halo approached her slowly, still holding Berry at arm’s length, to watch.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I can’t tell, just give me a sec,” Mirabella replied.
At that point, Berry hopped out of Halo’s hands and landed on a small square button. Suddenly the sound stopped, though the lights of the ship were still flashing.
“I know what it is,” Mirabella said.
“What, what is it?” Halo asked, dying to know.
“We’re almost out of fuel, the ship is warning us that we need to find somewhere to land,” Mirabella explained.
Halo looked around the ship and through the large windows. Outside all he saw was blackness, stars, and the occasional comet, not of which were big enough for their ship.
“How can we do that, there is nothing but space out there!” Halo shouted.
“Duh there is nothing but space. We’re in space, Halo!” Mirabella shouted in response.
“We’re going to crash, we are going to crash and I am going to die. I still had my whole life ahead of me. Finding a partner, raising a family, adopting a hundred and one cats just because I can,” Halo complained. He began to pace back and forth, rushing his hands through his hair as he spoke.
“You’re probably right,” Mirabella said, “I don’t think there is any way for us to survive this.”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear!” Halo shouted. He paused from the pacing to face Mirabella, “Instead of living out my perfect life, I am going to die in space. With nothing but you and that creature to keep me company.”
“Well, what do you suggest we do instead?” Mirabella asked.
“I don’t know Mire, I’m not a pi- hold on what is that thing doing?”
Mirabella turned to see than Berry’s Jell-O like skin was changing from blue to red. He was also growing.
“He’s never done that before,” Mirabella admitted.
They stood back as Berry grew more and more until he went from 5 inches tall, to 5 feet. The thing was huge.
“What do we do, what do we do?” Halo asked, quickly hiding behind Mirabella.
Mirabella slowly walked up to Berry with her arm outstretched. The cube eyed her cautiously as she reached out and placed her hand on its head. That must have really ticked him off because his skin began to change quickly between colors, and it seemed to scream out in pain. Mirabella quickly backed up to the edge of the ship were Halo was cowering.
“What did you do?” Halo shouted.
“I just touched him,” Mirabella said.
“That’s it, we’re going to die,” Halo said.
“Yes, we already agreed on that.”
“Mire, we need to get outta here,” Halo said.
“We can’t leave Berry though, he’s my friend!” Mirabella said.
“Your friend is a space monster, now come on!” Halo announced.
He grabbed her hand and yanked her through the ship’s door to the hypersleep pods. He quickly locked the door behind him and only seconds later they heard a Jell-O like squish banging on the door over and over.
“Alright, what’s the plan?” Halo asked.
“Maybe we can just let Berry in and the three of us can talk it out,” Mirabella suggested.
“Mire, I’m not sure if you’ve realized this or not, but that thing is trying to murder us,” Halo said.
“He’s just scared,” Mirabella said.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time, that thing is trying to murder us!” Halo said, his voice rising until he was shouting at her.
“This is all your fault. If you had never woken up, Berry wouldn’t be so upset,” Mirabella stated.
“My fault, you think this is my fault? You were the one that woke me up when you hit turbulence, you have no one to blame but yourself,” Halo replied.
“Maybe you should have been nicer to Berry.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have brought on a weird space creature.”
“Maybe you should-” before she could finish, the door was knocked down and the giant, now green, Berry bounced into the room.
“What do we do, and don’t try and approach it again, that just made it angrier,” Halo said.
“Hey, Berry,” Mirabella said, “How are you buddy. I know that Halo can be kinda mean sometimes-”
“Hey!”
“Shut up,” she whispered harshly before continuing, “But just because he’s a little mean, it doesn’t mean you should kill him. We can talk through this, I just need you to shrink back down, okay buddy?”
The creature took a step closer to the two humans. Halo grabbed Mirabella’s hand and tried to pull her back to him, but she stayed standing in front of Berry.
“I don’t think this is working…” Halo said.
“What do you suggest we do instead, we are going to die anyway, either by this creature or by crashing!” Mirabella shouted.
“So we should just give up?” Halo asked.
“Why not? It’s not like we have anything left to fight for. Even if by some miracle we manage to get out of this, we still have no idea how to get home,” Mirabella said.
“We can figure that out,” Halo said. He couldn’t explain this sudden spark of hope came from, but he really didn’t want to die here, especially at the hands of a blue cube. He wished he would have thrown out the cube while it was still small, but it was too late now for ‘what if’s.’
“I’m gonna let him eat me,” Mirabella said. She yanked her hand away from Halo’s grasp and stood her ground.
“You’re gonna what?” Halo asked, shocked.
“I let him onto this ship, the least I can do for it is provide him with a final meal,” Mirabella said.
“What about your family?” Halo asked, trying to convince her to stay.
“It’s been twelve years! Halo, what’s even the point of going back, nothing will be how it was. People have probably forgotten all about us,” Mirabella said.
“How could anyone forget about me?” Halo asked.
“Halo, listen, we don’t have a plan to get back to Earth. We don’t have a plan to land the ship. We don’t have a plan to calm down Berry-”
“We could kill him,” Halo suggested.
“We are not killing him. My point is, in the last moments of our life, we might as well do something for this little creature.”
“I wouldn’t call him little anymore.”
“Are you with me or not?” Mirabella asked.
She held out her hand for Halo to take. This was insane! He couldn’t believe that he was actually thinking about joining her. Mirabella was crazy to even want to let Berry eat the two of them, and yet, Halo couldn’t stop himself from grabbing her hand.
Mirabella smiled before the two of them turned to face Berry. Halo closed his eyes as they walked towards the creature. He could feel himself being absorbed into it before he lost all control over his body and blacked out.
Halo awoke with a gasp, he was breathing heavy. Did he really just do that? Was he dead? Was this heaven? He was sitting in a bed, hospitalized. He looked around the see Mirabella was laying in the bed next to him. There were wires and tubes all around them, some of them going into his body.
Then Halo spotted it. Berry was sitting on the nightstand, once again five inches tall. He had taken back his original blue color and was staring up at Halo. Where was he? Had this all just a dream?
The door to the room opened and a doctor walked in holding a clipboard.
“Ah, Mr. Tharen, you’re up,” the doctor said.
“Please, call me Halo, and can you explain to me what happened?” Halo asked.
“Of course,” she began to walk around the room, checking the tubes and making small notes of her clipboard, “It’s been fourteen years since you left Earth, though, by the looks of it, you barely aged a day. Most people here thought that you were dead, died in a crash or something, but two weeks ago, this creature-” she nodded her head over to Berry- “brought you back. We’ve been reviving you and Miss Miller ever since.”
“You mean to tell me that creature… saved me?” Halo asked.
“Yes, it appears to have a soft spot for you. It never even left your side. Tell me, are you feeling alright? Do you need anything?” the doctor asked.
“Just some water,” Halo said.
The doctor left. Halo turned and stared at Berry who just stared back blankly. A small smile appeared on Halo’s face.
“Thanks,” he whispered, “Thanks for bringing us home.”
Neocons closer than ever to war with Iran
People say that there is more oil production under Biden and then there was under Trump. But if that’s the case why are our energy prices and gas prices so high?
There was once a time where doe-eyed Americans thought that capitalism was a just system that rewarded hard work and innovation. Supply was dictated by demand. Seemed simple, right?
Then Ronald Reagan came along and lowered corporate taxes from 70% to 28%. The theory was that companies would make more money and those profits would “trickle down” to the consumers.
What ACTUALLY happened was that corporations could now set whatever prices they wanted and the rich could store their wealth in offshore tax havens. The money would get to the top and be shipped overseas, only to be used by the wealthy to influence policy, and further exploit the worker in exchange for lavish lifestyles and ridiculous qualities of life.
The government continues to subsidize oil companies despite them posting record profits year after year. Why is the government doing this? Hmm….
Gas and oil prices can come down 30% and the suppliers would still make a profit, but the consumers would enjoy a better quality of life. That’s not what the rich want. They want more. It doesn’t matter if the poor suffer, they’re getting theirs.
The president has nothing to do with gas prices other than to propose policies to congress that would regulate those prices more… but then lobbyists come along and petition representatives to ignore regulations and increase tax cuts. trump cut taxes to companies from 35% to 21% and we lost 2–3 trillion dollars (depending on who you ask) from the budget. That money went straight to the top, but congress will tell you that adding 2 trillion to the federal budget in the form of healthcare and student loan forgiveness is unsustainable.
Bernie has only been perfectly correct for about 45 years now.
MM’s latest works
Still playing around. Lots of nudes, and trying to mess around a bit with historical themes.
Angels…
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(17)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(17)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(16)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(16)
Ancient Chinese rulers…
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(14)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(13)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(13)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(12)
Crete and cooking…
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(11)
Female Bacchus….
@@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(7)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(7)
Same theme, but at a pool taking orders from a cat.
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(6)
Now as a man, instead of a woman…
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(5)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(4)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(4)
Russia successfully tests ” Burevestnik ” global range cruise missile, US panics
Why is China so obsessed with conquering Taiwan when Taiwan is a peaceful country that just wants to be left alone and has never done anything bad to China?
Widely perceived as the pinnacle work of Chinese imperial garden and palace design, the Old Summer Palace was known for its extensive collection of gardens, its building architecture and numerous art and historical treasures. Constructed throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Old Summer Palace was the main imperial residence of Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty and his successors, and where they handled state affairs..
This was looted and destroyed by the joint Anglo-French expedition in 1860 in the opium wars of the British against the Chinese. If you visit a French or English museum, one can count how many of those museum items came from the Old summer Palace. It is difficult to grasp the implication of this by just looking into the ruins in the picture. This is almost an equivalent of destroying an area and significance almost as big as the National Mall in Washington with all its buildings including the White House.
Here is a reconstruction of what might the Old Summer Palace looks like today if it was not destroyed.
In 1890, 35 years after the destruction of the Yuanming Yuan (圆明园) (the Chinese name of the Old summer palace), Japan seized the opportunity of the weaken Qing China and seized Taiwan and repeatedly attacked China all the way to WW2.
2.) Do you know why the Chinese authorities did not attempt to rebuild this place even today with all the wealth by China? Nor did the authorities convert this valuable real estate into something profitable development area. This is to teach the Chinese and future Chinese descendants how much the country was humiliated and suffered by foreign powers when the country was very weak. See that green area here, all of those are part of the old summer palace. That is how valuable this real estate is relative to its surroundings.
The Chinese diaspora to all over the world in the late 1800s to early 1900s, is the testament of how much the Chinese people are suffering by foreign hands.
3.) In 1949, a glimmer of hope arose in China and unified once again this ancient culture. A peasant named Mao Zedong, against all odds was able to unify China after the bloody Civil war. It took almost a century from the Opium wars until in 1949 that there was a sense of unity and hope in this ancient land.
4.) In 1950, Mao tried very hard to recover Taiwan from the retreating Nationalist forces, but the Korean war erupted and US and UN forces pushes all the way to Yalu river and war was knocking in China doorsteps. The Chinese leadership was forced to respond to the Korean war. Thus the campaign to recover Taiwan was pushed back. The Korean war, and the loss of mainland China to the communist, lead to an isolation of China from the 1950s to 1970s.
5.) Fast forward today in 2021, Taiwan is still not reunited to China. Foreign forces are still colluding to make Taiwan separate from China. This collusion of foreign forces, the Anglos, the Japanese and now the US, is the same theme as it was when Qing China was attacked, bullied and humiliated in the Opium wars.
Sure some or most young Chinese within China or the descendants of the Chinese diaspora outside China do not care anymore with this historical event that happened 170 years ago. But if you talk to Chinese parents or grandparents how their parents and grandparents suffered because of this foreign humiliation, you will realize almost all Chinese two to four generations ago suffered so much and paid dearly to unite China. Personally, I will never forget how my grandfather told me his story that they have to remove the leather of the shoes, put some water to have something to eat during those Japanese invasions. He told me this story when I was 10 or 11 years old, and I also tell this to my children. They sacrificed so much for us Chinese descendants to have better lives than they had. These kind of stories are repeated in millions of Chinese.
The division of China and Taiwan is the reminder of the imperialism of foreign powers. The remaining symbol of suffering of the Chinese people. This is even visible with North and South Korea, which echo the same thing, division of people of same culture because of foreign imperialism.
So these are the historical, cultural and emotional reasons why Taiwan must be reunited to China. It is the remnant of the humiliation and suffering of the Chinese people from foreign powers. Uniting Taiwan back to China will provide a closure of this painful past.
Joe Rogan: “What They Just Found Hidden In Egypt SHOCKED U.S. Scientists”
Can’t the Chinese feel their lack of freedom?
I am a Chinese national. George Orwell’s novel *1984* paints a bleak picture of a totalitarian regime. My son first encountered this novel in the fifth grade. He gave up after reading only 15 pages. He told me that the book felt overwhelmingly gray, like the color of concrete, which left him feeling depressed and unable to continue.
If you’ve read this novel, you can always sense the oppressive nature of totalitarianism through its myriad details: the dilapidated living conditions, the meager food rations, the extreme control over language, the state-level lies, and the eradication of sexual desire.
This book is perhaps revered by anti-communists worldwide. During the Soviet era, it was lauded as a vivid portrayal of Stalin’s rule. After the Soviet Union’s collapse, it has occasionally been used by critics of China as a metaphorical critique.
Coincidentally, today marks the first sunny day in my city, Xuzhou, after several days of heavy rain. The blue sky and sunshine felt especially precious after the long spell of gloom. While driving to the supermarket at noon, I noticed several pedestrians taking photos of the Xuzhou sky with their phones. I joined them, taking pictures at every traffic light.
Interestingly, these photos inadvertently captured street scenes of Xuzhou. Let’s compare Orwell’s depiction with these freshly taken photos (just two hours ago) and see if you can find any hints of “China lacking freedom” in them（Since I took the photos through my car window, the UV-protective glass filtered some of the sunlight, making the colors in the images appear slightly darker）.
I was driving on Zhongshan Road in downtown Xuzhou, named in honor of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China. Yes, the same Dr. Sun Yat-sen whom the Taiwanese refer to as the “Father of the Nation.” You can see the Audi and Volkswagen cars in front of me, both with green license plates. In China, there are three colors for license plates: blue for gasoline-powered cars, yellow for trucks, and green for electric vehicles (EVs). In my city, EVs are rapidly replacing traditional gasoline cars. Ordinary Chinese people have dozens of car brands to choose from.In recent years, promoting environmental protection, ecological preservation, and love for the Earth has been one of the primary focuses of the Chinese government’s public campaigns through all forms of media:
The square building on the right is the largest bookstore in our city. The first to seventh floors are open to the public, while the upper floors are office spaces. The bookstore is called “Xinhua Bookstore,” which means “New China Bookstore.” It is currently the largest bookstore chain in China. This place holds the fondest memories of my childhood; I always asked my father to take me there every weekend to read, though we rarely bought any books because we were very poor. Nowadays, children don’t see buying books as a joyful experience. To attract more visitors, this bookstore has dedicated areas for foreign imports and textbooks, along with numerous seating areas, bakeries, and cafes where customers can sit on sofas, enjoy some cake, and read books:
This 52-story skyscraper is the tallest building in Xuzhou. It is designed as five skyscrapers of varying heights arranged in a specific pattern. The other four buildings, which are only 15-20 stories tall, are obscured by the taller structures. This design was inspired by the shape of Buddha’s hand in Buddhist tradition. The skyscraper is a commercial complex that includes a hotel, shopping mall, dining center, office spaces, an ice rink, a cinema, and more. It is the fashion hub of Xuzhou. Some film companies occasionally recruit fashionable girls there. The building is named “Suning Tower.” “Suning” means “sun” in English, and in Chinese, it signifies “peace in Jiangsu Province.” The investor, a large home appliance retail chain, is based in the capital of Jiangsu Province.
At night, the entire glass facade of Suning Tower transforms into a screen, displaying commercials and messages of love throughout the night. Yes, if you spend some money, you can have your girlfriend’s photo or name projected onto this giant screen, letting the whole city see your love for her:
The black skyscraper in the center of the image is currently under construction. This building is being funded by the famous Chinese food company “Yurun Group.” Unfortunately, shortly after completing the podium, the group experienced a financial crisis and filed for bankruptcy protection. This left the skyscraper’s fate uncertain. After a two-year halt in construction, a government-funded investment company took over the project and partnered with the renowned Chinese commercial enterprise “DeJi” for its development. As a result, the building was rapidly completed and is now set to open soon. With approximately 60 floors, it will surpass Suning Tower to become the tallest building in Xuzhou:
I checked the temperature, and it’s 37 ℃ outside the car. When I was a child, this would have been unimaginable. The many days of heavy rain haven’t cooled the weather. As soon as the sun comes out, the temperature quickly rises to an unbearable level:
The building on the left is the city’s “University Student Entrepreneurship Service Center.” Xuzhou is home to several universities, including China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou Medical University, Jiangsu University of Technology, and Xuzhou Institute of Technology. Each year, a large number of graduates are welcomed. The government encourages them to use the skills they acquired in university to start small businesses. Most students receive loans based on their business plans, with varying amounts of funding. These loans, provided by the government, come with low or zero interest rates, aiming to help young entrepreneurs develop competitive businesses. Key industries in Xuzhou include pharmaceuticals, construction machinery, and polysilicon:
The Current Status of the Deji Plaza Construction:
On the left side, you’ll find a hotel and an art school. The high-rise on the right is a continuing education college affiliated with a university. Since the main campus is located far from the city center, the university has rented this building in the city to make it more convenient for students to attend classes during their spare time:
One of the businesses is a travel agency called “International Travel Agency,” indicating that it handles outbound travel services. The other is a store that specializes in selling “wǔ liáng yè,（五粮液）” a renowned Chinese brand of liquor. This is a high-proof spirit:
Crossing this intersection leads to Jianguo Road, the financial district of Xuzhou. The street is lined with banks, numbering in the dozens. In China, banks are categorized into three types: state-owned banks, private banks, and foreign banks. The tiered building visible in the photo is a branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Xuzhou.
The pink high-rise behind it, along with the surrounding streets, is Xuzhou’s computer products district. During the PC boom, the pink building was a favorite spot for local youth. Many young people, obsessed with the internet, would play games at night and sleep during the day. Some restaurants capitalized on this trend by staying open late to cater to those working in the internet industry. Although PCs have been replaced by mobile internet and business in the computer district has declined, the nearby restaurants continue to thrive and have become one of Xuzhou’s popular food districts:
Xuzhou Metro Line 2’s “Xima Tai Station.” Xuzhou currently has six metro lines, with three already in operation and the other three under construction. Additionally, there are plans for four more lines that are currently under government review. In China, only the State Council has the authority to give final approval for metro projects. This is because metro construction requires a substantial investment, and once operational, it necessitates ongoing large expenditures. As a public transportation system, it may not be profitable. Therefore, only cities that meet stringent criteria in terms of size, population, economic output, and traffic volume are eligible to apply for metro projects.
The name of this metro station is “Xì Mǎ Tái,（戏马台）” which is a historical site. About 2,200 years ago,Xiàng Yǔ（项羽）, a renowned monarch and tragic hero of the Han Dynasty, trained his war horses on a nearby hill. Since then, the phrase “training war horses in the cold autumn wind” has become a well-known Chinese idiom. In Chinese, this story is written as “秋风戏马,（qiū fēng xì mǎ）” which evokes the image of a hero, aware of his inevitable failure, preparing diligently with his horses amidst the chilly autumn wind, ready to face the battle without fear of death:
This is the “Street Police Station” in Xuzhou. This small glass booth serves as a police station and is set up at several major intersections. There are three main purposes for these stations:(1)They enable quick dispatch to handle emergencies and sudden incidents.(2)Each station is equipped with multifunctional computer systems where citizens can manage various personal affairs, such as reporting or applying for an ID card, handling traffic accident reports, obtaining government documents, applying for passports, and dealing with driving-related matters.(3)They also provide amenities like hot water, common medications, air pumps, umbrellas, and reading glasses for the public’s use.
I am familiar with these police stations because they have a fourth function: traffic violation education. I once forgot to wear a helmet while riding my electric bike and was required by the police to attend a 40-minute traffic safety education session via online video at this station. Sometimes, people must also complete an online test on their phones before they are “released”:
After turning left at the intersection, I entered Liberation Road. The Yellow River crosses this road, and China’s first major east-west railway line, the “Longhai Railway,” also runs across it. Consequently, a bridge and a railway underpass have become major traffic congestion points. A few years ago, the Xuzhou city government constructed an overpass that spans above both the Yellow River Bridge and the Longhai Railway Bridge, effectively alleviating the traffic congestion in the area.
During the construction of the overpass, there was a small “protest.” Before the new overpass could be built, an old bridge over the Yellow River, known as the “Dike Bridge,” needed to be demolished. The name “Dike Bridge” carried historical significance. However, after the new bridge was completed, the government named it something new. Local residents disagreed and prevented the construction workers from installing the new nameplate. In the end, the government yielded to the protest and restored the name “Dike Bridge” out of respect for its historical importance:
I originally planned to capture images of drug users, robbers, people urinating in public, slums, and thieves in Xuzhou. Unfortunately, I can’t photograph things that don’t exist. So, I ended up taking random photos and sharing an overview of an ordinary city in China with you. I apologize!
p.s.
My city, Xuzhou, is a tragic city. Historically, over 400 battles took place here among all the wars in China. It has been a military stronghold and a core area contested by ancient emperors. A Yuan Dynasty poet once described Xuzhou in his poem:
古徐州形胜，消磨尽、几英雄！
想铁甲重瞳，乌骓汗血，玉帐连空，
楚歌八千兵散，料梦魂应不到江东。
空有黄河如带，乱山回合云龙。
汉家陵阙起秋风，禾黍满关中。
更戏马台荒，画眉人远，燕子楼空。
人生百年如寄，且开怀，一饮尽千锺。
回首荒城斜日，倚栏目送飞鸿。
This is the translated version:
From ancient times, Xuzhou’s location has meant it could never escape the ravages of war. Countless heroes have lost their lives here!
The general, clad in iron armor and riding a host of prized horses, had barracks so vast they seemed to stretch into the clouds. When his soldiers fell, his own spirit could not return home, leaving only the Yellow River and a mountain rising like a dragon in the clouds, here in Xuzhou.
The Han Dynasty emperors’ tombs were constructed in the chill of autumn winds, and no one can ultimately escape their fate.
The high platform where the hero once played with his war horses has been desolate for a thousand years. The passionate beauty has long passed away, and the grand tower where she waited for her lover now stands empty.
Life feels like staying at an inn. Why not drink joyfully and have a thousand cups? After becoming drunk, look back at the endless wilderness beyond the city walls, and as the sun sets, lean on the railing and watch the distant wild geese depart.
“You’re Being Slaughtered & You Don’t Realize It!” – US Dollar Collapse
This insight is gold. 2008 was when it all hit.
What if I think China is a genius for winning the Korean War by gaining territorial claims to Korea?
On November 25, 1950, the U.S.-ROK allied forces occupied half of the Korean Peninsula and were about to reach the Yalu River border between China and North Korea.
On July 27, 1953, the Chinese and North Korean allied forces again drove the U.S. and South Korean allied forces south of the 38th parallel.
The Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) started at the Yalu River and ended at the 38th parallel. This was a very successful victory.
The death data of 197,653 Chinese soldiers is indeed greater than the death data of 54,246 US military personnel. The death data of Chinese soldiers is 3 times that of the US soldiers.
But is the death figure of 197,653 Chinese soldiers smaller than the total US+UN (non-human) death figure of 683,079?
I’m not good at math and can’t tell the difference between the size of the numbers, so I invite netizens to compare. 😅
In addition to American soldiers, those who participated in the Korean War included soldiers from South Korea, the UK, Canada, Turkey, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, Ethiopia, Greece, France, Colombia, Belgium, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Soldiers other than the US military were not human beings. They were completely wiped out by the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) and were not worth mentioning at all. 🤣
All I know is that by the time the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) entered the Korean battlefield on November 25, 1950, the North Korean army had suffered most of its casualties.
most of the battles after November 25, 1950 were fought by the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) .
“Who would believe that I, the great Lish Ryn, would be brought to my knees by the little Nadyr?”Telen Fogg, the tall android sighed. “Lish. How many times have you said that exact same thing? Look. So what if Nadyr got the Zarkot first? My friend,” Telen smiled, “this can only be good. We can easily steal the Zarkot back from him. It’s most likely in his ship, the Angyl, and it probably isn’t even protected.”Lish spun her pilot’s chair away from the cockpit’s window and faced Telen. Her long, golden hair framed her face. With the combination of her hair and bright green eyes, she stood out against the white leather and silver computers behind her. “And how do you propose we do that?” Her voice was flat, angry. “I am completely tired of being humiliated and undermined by that Bos’ii snake! He took my Zarkot and left me stranded in a tree!”Telen chuckled. “He may be a Bos’ii snake, but he is not a wise one-““No, he is!” Lish thundered. “Every plan, every scheme I have, he somehow finds out about it… and every time, he brings it to ruins! I wonder how that happens?”“Lish, please don’t tell me you suspect me?”
“I-” Her gaze jerks up to glimpse a flash of color dart behind one of the navigational devices at the back of the room. “Vorrha?” She asked, incredulous. “I wouldn’t have imagined you to be the traitor in the midst.” This, of course, was rather likely, as the only crew members on the Aalya Meriet were herself, Telen, and the humanoid mechanic Vorrha. It was possible that Telen was the information leak, or Nadyr had planted a spy-droid on the ship, but Telen was very dedicated to Lish, and Nadyr rarely had access to the ship to plant a droid. It was doubtful that Nadyr even had that type of technology. The planet Jayjar was located in the farthest corners of space, hardly touched by the technological advances of the planets Mirima or Qud, and Nadyr never left Jayjar. The only suspect could be Vorrha, and she was hardly being sly about it either. She had no reason to sneak about the very ship that she repaired daily.
Vorrha slunk out from behind the computers, and the small hominid shriveled under Lish’s glare. “Nadyr offered Vorrha m-money, more than Captain Lish could. Vorrha needs the moneys, you see, b-because Vorrha’s mother needs the treatment for the sickness.” She stammered. “Vorrha is so sorry.”
Lish growled quietly. “A little meelvat in our midst, taking precious information and leaking info to Nadyr. I would throw you into space from the airlock, but I’m not that heartless. No, I think I’ll drop you off on Arboga, maybe in-”
“Lish.” Telen muttered.
“What do you need, Telen?”
“There’s an incoming ship on the radar. Big one.”
“Nadyr’s?”
“No, bigger. Could it be-”
Lish shoved him aside. “It could be the Narrtor, Kon Laari’s ship.”
Telen’s face paled. “The Kon? Here? He must be thousands of miles from the planet Okrak!”
Kon Laari Antrus, the cyborg crime lord, or The Kon as he was known by many, was the leader of the galaxy’s largest criminal organization. He was head of the Antrus Clan, a group of thieves, pirates, and smugglers. Okrak, a dry, mountainous planet, about three thousand miles from Arboga, was his home. It was rare that Laari left that area, generally sending off his minions to do his work.
But for some reason, it was his personal space cruiser, the Narrtor, that Telen saw.
The comm crackled to life and an authoritative voice could be heard faintly. “Aalya Meriet, this is the pilot of the Narrtor. Please prepare to be boarded.”
Vorrha dropped her head into her hands, muttering some type of prayer in her native language.
“What are we gonna do?” Telen asked. “Maybe we could light up the engines and fly out of here-”
The comm hissed again. “Any signs of resistance or attempts to escape will be taken as a threat and the Aalya Meriet will be annihilated.”
The large hatch of the landing dock opened, and the pilot of the Narrtor took over the auto-controls of the Aalya, steering her into the landing dock. The gate hissed shut behind them.
“Trapped like a fly in a Cath spider’s web,” Lish muttered. “Stuck… Our only hope of escaping is to play along with this. See what Laari Antrus wants, give him it, and get out of here.” With a short, decisive motion, she pressed the button to open the loading hatch below. “Compliant, that’s the look we’re going for.”
Vorrha whimpered quietly.
The sound of footsteps quickly grew loud, and in seconds, a group of five men, four carrying guns and the fifth a data pad, came into the cockpit. The man with the data pad glanced up. “Yes. Those are the ones. Seize them.” The armed men grabbed Telen and Lish by the arms. “Comply, or be shot,” the tall one, who seemed to be the leader, continued.
Lish’s face was red. “On what grounds can you arrest me? I am Lish Gir’ryn, best pilot in the galaxy, not some girl to by toyed with!”
The leader glanced down at his pad again. “Lish Gir’ryn? And, I assume, Telen Fogg. And whoever that little mouse is. You, Ryn and Fogg , are both under arrest,” he paused to clear his throat, “by order of the great Kon Laari Antrus. Do not speak again, unless you would like to be killed.”
Lish was bursting with fury, but she kept her angry words to herself.
The trio was marched not towards the top of the ship, where the ship’s cockpit was, but towards the back.
“Where are you taking us?” Lish asked, both frustrated and curious.
The head of the guards, or whoever the tall man that was leading them was, frowned. “Towards the prison deck. Where else would we be taking you?”
“But why?” Telen burst out. “Why are we being arrested? What have we done to anger Kon Laari?”
The tall man with the data pad sighed, and glanced down to read the arrest warrant. “The smugglers Lisk-” he paused, closely scrutinizing the pad. “Lish Ryn and Telen Fogg are under arrest for inhibiting and interfering with the business of Kon Laari Antrus. He personally came to oversee their capture.
“It is by Antrus’ law,” he continued, “that all smugglers, robbers, pirates, and any others involved in criminal dealings are under arrest by the Kon and are sentenced to three years of work in the planet Okrak’s mines. I, Timothy Halos, have been placed in charge of these dealings.”
“Why is he capturing all of the… hard workers?” Lish asked.
Timothy frowned. “I have not been given leave to reveal that information.”
“Oh, what a shame,” Lish spoke smoothly. “Second only to the Kon and yet, still rules being placed on what you can and cannot say?”
“I- I must obey Antrus.”
“Yes… but, well, I don’t see Antrus around.”
“I cannot speak of something the Kon has forbidden me to speak of.” But there was a slight hesitation in his voice, as if he really did want to speak.
“No one’s here to tell Antrus.”
The guards escorting the prisoners exchanged glances, but said nothing.
Timothy sighed. “Very well, but you must not tell anyone. Antrus’ plan is strictly confidential. He is searching for a type of stone, or mechanical device- none can say which -but he heard that a smuggler in the Outer Reaches had gotten hold of it. He began to capture and arrest any criminals he came across, hoping that one would have it. He did this under the pretense of ‘cleaning up our galaxy.’ Of course, he told me, his most trusted advisor, what was truly happening.”
Lish, of course was quite pleased, as her plan to get information was going quite smoothly. “A stone? Why a stone?”
“Not just any stone. It’s the Zarkot.”
Lish scrunched her face up, as if confused. “The Zarkot… I know I’ve heard the name somewhere. Tell me more!”
Timothy Halos was blind to the fact that Lish was easily dredging up information from him. “The Zarkot is a stone said to posses magical powers, or extremely advanced technology.”
Lish changed her expression to in awe. “Really? What can it do?” Of course, she already knew how it worked, she just wished to see how much he knew.
“Many things. It is said to be a translator, able to detect different alien languages and make them understandable to the superior humans. It can command other ships’ controls, many at once, even if the ship that is overriding them does not have the technology to countermand other ships, and it even-” he stopped. “Ah! We have arrived!” With a flourish, he opened the door. “Welcome to Cell Block B, your new temporary home.” He turned to the guards. “Escort them to the nearest empty cell. That should be B7 or B8. I will be taking my leave to go report back to Antrus.” The guards nodded their heads to Halos. They drug Telen, Lish, and Vorrha through the doorway and down the hall to cell B7. “Hope you enjoy your new home,” one of them grunted, shoving them into the room and slamming the heavy iron door behind them.
“Well. That was rather intersecting,” Lish said, in surprisingly high spirits.
Telen grunted in response.
Lish surveyed their surroundings, looking for a possible escape route. The door, which seemed to be the only entrance or exit, was a stout iron door. There was no handle, and the door opened outwardly, so the door screws couldn’t be taken off somehow. The door itself looked like a large slab of metal. The rest of the room seemed to be a smooth cube, with only two grated openings between each cell.
“Hello?” Lish called through the grates. “Anyone else in here?”
“Hello!” A young man, who looked to be around the age of seventeen or eighteen, popped up in front of one of the great. He had short, curly hair, bright blue eyes, and a contagious smile.
Lish yelped in surprise. “Nadyr?”
“The one and only.”
“What are you doing here?” She hissed.
“I could ask the same of you, but thing is, I already guessed why you’re here. And that’s the same reason why I’m here. Except I have no idea why I’m here.”
“Antrus is searching for the Zarkot.”
Nadyr’s jaw dropped, but his smile quickly returned to his face. “Is he really?”
“Yes. Which would be fine, if you hadn’t taken it from me. I would have it with me right now, and I would be able-”
Nadyr scoffed. “In your dreams. We all know you’re not competent enough for that. If you had it with you, Timothy would already have found it.”
“Like you could have done better!”
“Actually,” Nadyr held up his hand, curled into a fist around something, “I did do better.” He opened his hand to reveal a small blue stone, dangling from a silver chain. “Please, hold your applause. It was quite hard to smuggle it in, but I managed.”
Lish sighed. “Bested again.”
Telen chuckled. “Bested again indeed. Now, Nadyr, do you know how to use it?”
Nadyr shrugged. “To be frank, no, I don’t.”
“Alright. Then shall we make a deal? If you give it to me, Lish can use it to get us out of here. Then, we sneak back to the Aalya Meriet. We use the Zarkot to override the Narrtor’s security systems, fly out of here, and maybe head to the Center Planets. We can sell the Zarkot, split the money, and then stay out of each other’s paths from then on. Is that a deal?”
“But,” Nadyr asked, face twisted with indecision. “How can I trust you to let me out?”
Lish spoke up. “You can trust us, because if we don’t let you out, you can just yell for the guards. Deal?”
Nadyr shoved his hand through the bars, and they shook hands. “Deal.” He pushed the stone through. “You sure you know how to use that thing?”
“Very sure.” Lish pressed the stone to the center of the cell door, and spoke the command word for the Zarkot. She could hear the gears grinding as the locking mechanism was overridden. The door swung open, hanging loosely from its hinges.
“Ready?” Telen asked, and Vorrha, Lish, and Nadyr nodded silently. “My memory databases tracked the turns we took and the distances between them to get from the Aalya Meriet, so all I have to do is reverse it and I can get us out of here.”
“Being an android must be nice,” Nadyr commented.
The foursome ran through the hallways, ducking to the side when any of Antrus’ men came down the hallways.
Within minutes of their escape, alarms began to shriek.
Nadyr smiled. “Nice to know I’m worthy of alarms.”
Lish laughed. Her mood had become quite cheerful. It seemed that adventure had banished her irritable nature to the recesses of her conscious.
“There!” Telen said. “That’s the entrance to the docking bay. But it’s heavily guarded.”
Nadyr smiled. “Lish! Remember how Liz used to distract the kitchen guards?” He asked, referring to the days when him and Lish were in the orphanage on Arboga.
Lish nodded and smirked. “You distract. I’ll take them out.”
Nadyr strolled around the corner, directly in front of the guards. “Hello, gentlemen.”
Four barrels of four guns jerked up to point at him.
Nadyr put his hands up. “Whoa, no lets not be too hasty.”
And then chaos reigned.
Lish darted up behind the guards, grabbing two and smashing their heads together. Nadyr disarmed the other two, shooting them both with a blaster he stole from one.
“All done!”
Lish nodded, teeth gritted into a smile, hand gripping her shoulder.
“Lish, what happened?” Telen asked, worried.
“Stray blaster shot. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about me. Just get back to the ship.”
They filed through the door, and Telen jabbed the button to open the Aalya Meriet’s loading hatch.
“All aboard!”
Later, they sat in the cockpit. Lish’s shoulder was swathed in bandages, and Nadyr was reprogramming the ship’s computer system to accept the Zarkot.
Nadyr sighed. “If only we didn’t have to leave the Angyl.”
“All we have to do,” Lish said, ignoring him, “is hijack the computer system of the Narrtor long enough to open the landing hatch. Then we zip out of here. That’s all. Antrus didn’t ‘tie down’ the Aalya Meriet in any way.” She stood up and walked towards the controls. “Plug the Zarkot here,” she reached down and pointed, and Nadyr stuck the little stone into the slot made to fit it. “And now,” Lish pushed a few buttons and typed a destination into the navigation system. “And now, we’re free.”
The huge hatched opened, and the little Aalya Meriet darted free of the Narrtor’s clutches.
The flight to the Center Planets was not a long one, but the foursome’s adventures on the planet Qud were worthy of a second tale. But, alas, that tale must be saved for another day, because for now, the story of Lish Ryn and her friends must be given a rest.
How Joe Biden Passed the Most Sanctions in American History
What is the meaning of “如何51吃瓜北京朝阳群众热心吃 瓜”?
You might not have copied the sentence completely.
“如何51吃瓜北京朝阳群众热心吃 瓜”
Do not know what does that mean.
But I’d like to explain a bit.
“瓜” here represents “watermelon,”西瓜， literally meaning “western melon.” Clearly, this is not a native Chinese species; the character “西” (west) here signifies its Middle Eastern origin. For example, “胡” (barbarian) in terms like “二胡” (a traditional Chinese string instrument) also has this meaning, indicating it came from the Middle East.
There are many species introduced to China that are not native. For instance, “番茄” (tomato) and “番薯” (sweet potato), where “番” means foreign. So these are not indigenous Chinese crops.
Even chili peppers are not native. They were only widely cultivated in China during the Ming Dynasty.
However, Chinese people love chili peppers just as much as they love——
Watermelons!
The watermelon production in China is so high that… the yield is just immense.
Because of the high water content, they are not easy to transport. So, while watermelons can be relatively expensive in supermarkets—around $3 per 5 kilograms—if you go to the production areas, they are practically free.
Sometimes, they are even used to feed pigs.
I am an outlier among Chinese people,do not like eating fruit,eating watermelons, but my fellow countrymen love this fruit so much that Chinese people refer to themselves as “吃瓜群众” (melon-eating masses).
The phrase means: I’m just here to watch the fun, holding a melon and eating it, while watching the excitement.
“朝阳群众” (Chaoyang masses) refers to another concept.
Chaoyang is a district in Beijing. There are some middle-aged and elderly women there who have helped the police solve many drug cases, especially involving actors and celebrities, as there are many film and TV stars living in that area. This area became a hotspot for drug problems.
Later, “Chaoyang masses” evolved into a term for “enthusiastic informants who report drug use,” and eventually became known as “China’s most powerful intelligence agency”! People joke that the U.S. has the CIA, the Soviet Union had the KGB, and China has the “Chaoyang masses.”
That’s how it is.
Italian Chili
5ec0940ed40d6bdba4366ea34b807b51
Yield: 12 cups
Ingredients
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups onion, diced
1/2 pound pepperoni stick, cubed
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (26 ounce) jar tomato sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1 (15 ounce) can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons chili powder, or more to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Salt, to taste
Instructions
Sauté sausage in oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When brown, drain off fat and add onions, pepperoni and garlic; cook for 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and broth, bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.
Stir in beans and seasoning and simmer until heated through.
Ah. Here’s some more of MM’s artwork…
I just been working on the system. Still, not really “jumps out” as spectacular.
I played around with South East Asian history. With the bath and anointment rituals…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(15)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(19)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(18)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(18)
Then, I started to look into European Biblical traditions.
Here’s some work regarding angels…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(17)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(17)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(16)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(16)
Off to Ancient China.
Here’s some efforts regarding ancient kings and their palace court…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(15)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(15)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(15)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(14)@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(14)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(14)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(13)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(13)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(13)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(12)
“Wing And A Prayer” (1944) – Complete WW2 Naval Warfare Movie
One of the popular trends in China are “auto-lacing” shoes. This is a new kind of way to lace up your shoes. It’s all the rage with the kids. My daughter has about five pairs of auto-lacing shoes.
It’s sort of like those lacing shoes on the “back to the future 2” movie. Only it’s not a motor. You just twist a dial. But it’s there, and super easy and convenient. It’s been popular in China every since maybe May 2024.
Something like this…
Auto lacing shoes in China
You press the button and twist. A ratchet mechanism tightens the laces up. Pretty darn cool. Hit the button and twist.
Auto lacing shoes in China 2
All the Chinese kids are throwing away their Velcro sneakers and going auto-lace. Been this way all Spring, Summer and Fall. You’ll all see Western exported versions soon enough provided that they will be permitted to be imported to your country.
Today…
Why doesn’t China break off diplomatic relations with the US if the US is selling arms to Taiwan?
Sometimes I think that Americans and Soviets should try playing a Chinese board game called Go instead of always playing chess. China also has a game similar to chess called Elephant Chess, which I have played, but I find Go to be more interesting.
main qimg 7dd04f84d855699f573fe90ade9f153b
（China Chess,Elephant Chess）
The thinking in chess is too linear, and it’s almost a zero-sum game.
The following is an actual game between two top players. The 12 black stones at the top are in dangerous.
Most people might get anxious and try to save them. But in this game, Black 43 surprisingly ignored them and played in the bottom right corner. As expected, White 44 attacked Black’s stones… (The calculations of professional players are extremely complex. If Black 43 dared to ignore the group, they must have calculated it thoroughly.)
Go Game
This is just a metaphor. In Go, you don’t always have to follow your opponent’s moves. This kind of situation is very common.
The Taiwan issue is similar. Chairman Mao said, “You fight your way, and I fight mine.”
In 1949, just after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the US Seventh Fleet stationed in the Taiwan Strait. What could we do? We had to endure it. By 1972, during the Soviet attack and American defense, Nixon visited China. When he met Chairman Mao and was about to discuss Taiwan, Mao said, “We’re not talking about Taiwan; we’re talking about philosophy.” When I first saw this sentence in my youth, I didn’t understand what it meant. Of course, I still don’t fully understand it now, but perhaps I understand another of Chairman Mao’s statements: “Taiwan is small; the world is big.”
Many years have passed, and we are much stronger than we were in 1949. Grain production has increased 6.5 times, steel production has increased 32,500 times, electricity production has increased 2,000 times, and per capita GDP has increased 470 times…
In human history, it’s rare to see so many people make such great progress. Overall, the progress is significant. If we always focused solely on Taiwan, fighting to the death, instead of “playing elsewhere,” temporarily putting it aside and making efforts in other directions, wouldn’t that be foolish?
I personally like Trump, but as a politician, especially as the leader of a superpower like the United States, I have to say that his way of thinking is too linear, too chess-like, not Go.
For example, he repeatedly threatened NATO member states to increase military spending, and even threatened to dissolve NATO. It seems that this can indeed promote the US economy, but although Go is black and white, in fact, its greatest charm is precisely: there is nothing in the world that is absolutely black and white, and everything contains opposition.
He believes that NATO European member states have taken advantage of the United States, but in fact these member states have also been helping the United States; he requires member states to improve their armaments, but on the other hand, after these countries have all obtained strong weapons, is the US military presence in Europe still necessary?
I certainly don’t dare to say he is wrong, I have no ability to judge, but it seems that he does care too much about the $10 in front of him…
As for the US selling arms to Taiwan, of course, the Chinese are very unhappy, but breaking off relations with the US because of this is unlikely. It’s like in Go, where a beginner often makes the mistake of capturing a single stone or group of stones, losing the initiative.
Taiwan is small; the world is big.
The World’s Most Powerful EW System MURMANSK-BN Paralyzed F-35 Fighters Over The Black & Baltic Seas
What were the greatest last words in history?
In the Salem witch trials of 1692, 81-year-old farmer Giles Corey was falsely accused of witchcraft. They placed him on the ground, put wooden plates on him and covered these with large rocks. This would slowly break his body and make it harder for him to breathe. For two days they kept increasing the weight, as each torturer would ask him in between rounds of torture, whether he would like to confress…
main qimg bc4441fd69b0b5190fd41597929c47be
Each time, Corey said only two words:
“More weight!”
He kept it up. Even when the weight got so heavy that his ribs began breaking, blood coming out of his mouth. At one point, his tongue was pressed out of his mouth, an one of his tormenters pushed it back inside the old man’s mouth with the tip of his cane…
They asked him, one final time, to confess. Giles Corey smiled and screamed out: “More weight!” They obliged him, and finally the weight of the rocks crushed his chest entirely, killing Corey after two days of excruciating pain.
The UK Rejects Punishing China EVs, Canada Makes Surprise Visit To Beijing (Just In Case)
What did Timothy Treadwell do wrong after years of close contact with bears (to have been killed by one)?
For starters, he completely lost the plot. He began think he could be best friends with the bears. Or, as one expert put it, “He began to think these were people in bear costumes.
Namely, he made a few huge mistakes during his final year there:
main qimg f89cbe2907f22e6b8415971ea7ffb472
He stopped bringing bear spray with him, which is absolutely crazy to me. He had no defense outside of his arms and legs which are completely useless against such massive kodiak bears.
He didn’t pay attention to rising signs of aggression in a few of the bears, who had become normalized to his presence, and became more comfortable approaching him. There was one bear in particular, who is believed to be the one that killed him. It was being especially aggressive in footage during the documentary.
And then there are the endless warnings and violations he’d committed with the park service, with many rangers begging him to stop.
Treadwell was extremely unprofessional and put other people’s lives at risk in what he was doing.
All of that aside, I’d never wish what happened to Treadwell on my worst enemy. Bears are one of the last animals you want to kill you.
Why? Because they don’t kill you. They just start eating.
His final words to his girlfriend were, “Get out of here. I’m getting killed.”
Mozzarella Meat Balls and Spaghetti
34138e8ddf7174eaa336e10cf4198f73
Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper (optional)
1 egg, beaten
5 ounces mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can tomatoes, chopped
12 ounces spaghetti (or preferred pasta)
Instructions
Put the beef, breadcrumbs, garlic, half the parsley, salt and pepper into a bowl. Add the egg and mix well.
Cut the mozzarella cheese into 16 small cubes. Take a heaped teaspoonful of beef mixture and form it into a ball around each cube of cheese.
Heat the oil in a large covered pan, add the meat balls to the pan, cover and cook until brown on all sides.
Add the onion to the pan, cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes and juice. Bring up to a simmering point, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Uncover pan and cook for a further 10 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce and thicken slightly.
While the meatballs are cooking, cook the spaghetti in boiling water until done to your preference.
Drain well and divide among 4 warmed plates.
Divide the sauce among the plates of spaghetti, and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.
Shorpy
4a23593a.preview
4a16392a.preview
25776u1.preview
4a22789a.preview
4a07311a.preview
4a24562a.preview
4a20384a.preview
4a20382a.preview
4a24745a.preview
4a18153a.preview
4a20229a.preview
4a14398a.preview
4a19997a.preview
4a19978a.preview
4a19779a.preview
4a19981a.preview
4a19761a.preview
4a24970a.preview
29118u.preview
32314u.preview
4a19778a.preview
SHORPY Herald Square Panorama.preview
4a26773a.preview
4a26775a.preview
4a12942a.preview
SHORPY 4a55291a.preview
Can’t the Chinese feel their lack of freedom?
I’m (ethnically) Chinese, maybe not entirely culturally Chinese as I’m a risk taker, far more violent and many China born Chinese consider me an illiterate thug.
I was born in the UK.
I currently live in Hong Kong. I may be spending a couple weeks cycling around Meizhou.
So with direct experience… rather than the vicarious experience westerners have? I can compare directly.
I also owned (past tense) a home in Dongguan which I finally sold after being Covid blocked.
So freedom?
What can’t I do in Hong Kong that I could do in the UK?
In Hong Kong I cannot promote separatism or take money from outsiders to promote separatism. The same is true in the Mainland.
That’s it.
You think people online don’t call politicians nasty names?
Now you might be tempted to write things like:
Free internet – except the western internet has numerous blocks on it too, usually in the oh won’t anybody think of the children. The UK for instance had an extreme porn law. Franklin Veaux would likely violate many of the things in UK extreme porn law. Oddly enough the USA blocks my access to some of their websites too. I can’t access anything .mil for instance.
Free press don’t make me laugh, western press hasn’t been free for a long time now. The most notable incident was the 448 incident where just by complete coincidence almost all western news stated that 488 million paid comments existed on the Chinese internet. Funny how they all got that typo the same. 77th brigade and CIA literally has sock puppet accounts
Free elections There are elections in China and Hong Kong, westoids love to say if it doesn’t deliver the result WE DEMAND then the vote is illegitimate! Nicolás Maduro isn’t recognised despite contesting and winning elections. The 2021 HK election was observed by international monitors and opposition parties and people were allowed to stand but westoids say it’s not legitimate! Because they say so!
Gun ownership Funny enough I was once a member of the exclusive HK gun club. It’s invitation only and very expensive. Most Americans baulk at the cost of a box of .45. The HK gun club was even more expensive think $5USD a round.
PRC China Nopes no guns.
On the other hand what freedoms do I have here that western countries have?
It’s safe here, the crime rate is a tenth of what it was in the UK. After years of living here? I’ve finally started unclenching my fists. In the UK I was always expecting violence or a fight and walked around being alert to possible theft and violence. Check our this photo
Look at that goods on shelves OUTSIDE the shop. That would be UNTHINKABLE in the UK. There’s security tags on milk
Medicine
I experience what I experience in 1990s UK. 1990s UK I wasn’t scared of getting ill or hurt, maybe it was because I was younger, but over time NHS services seemed to be increasingly difficult to access. While here? Access has been widened and affordable for all.
I wrote a couple months ago about my dad and prostate cancer. He was seen, had surgery and treated within a week. He paid less than $5000USD out of pocket.
Another one of my friends. He was in HK and vanished for a week. Turns out he’d gone to Guangzhou he had a tumor on his spine. He went to a doctor, that night he was admitted to hospital. They operated in the morning removing several tumors and gave him some drugs of some kind and he has radiotherapy traveling 200miles to Guangzhou to get it. That cost him about $2500USD.
Judgement Day Arrives For Single Mum Wife Who Sabotaged Husband’s Chance At His Own Child
What is the most shameful thing you’ve seen someone do at a restaurant?
We were having a family get together at a new restaurant. When our salads arrived, one of my cousins said to the waitress, “I ordered my salad without dressing.” The waitress immediately took the salad back and replaced it without dressing. No problem. When the manager came by to ask how everything was, this cousin said, “Well we were having a lovely family get together, when MY salad came with dressing on it. It ruined my whole meal.” The manager said to the cousin, “We will not charge you for your meal.” This same cousin then noticed another cousin was not eating her meal. She asked if there was a problem. The cousin mentioned her chicken was a bit raw. (She was not complaining) First cousin yells, “Oh waiter.” Another meal came off the bill. When the bill arrived, which we were paying, there were three meals taken off the bill.
We protested to the manager and told him this was not necessary. We wanted to pay the whole bill. All the problems were easily corrected. He refused the extra money.
While we were walking out to the car, one of my young sons asked if this cousin brought her own rubber cockroaches? We were all embarrassed by this cousin’s behavior.
When I got home, I sent the restaurant a check for the three meals with a note telling the manager, he was a wonderful manager and although we appreciated the discount, it was not necessary. We wanted to reimburse the restaurant. They did cash the check.
Several years later, we were with this same cousin at a different restaurant. One of our party was complaining that her meat was tough. The cousin yelled out, “Oh waiter” I said to myself, “Oh crap. Here we go again” But in this case, the restaurant just replaced the meal with another choice.
How The Chinese See The U.S. In 2024 | Asmongold Reacts
This is an American reacting to the video presented earlier.
As a lawyer, when has a client completely ignored your advice and turned out to be right?
Originally Answered: As a lawyer, when has a client completely ignored your advice and they turned out to be right?
I was a freshly minted lawyer (the ink on my bar card hadn’t even dried) and had been assigned to represent a young man in juvenile court charged with possession of marijuana and transportation of same back in the days when such activity was a felony offense. Although tried as a juvenile he could face severe penalties, time in juvenile hall, placement in a group home, removal from his family.
He also had the near perfect grounds for a motion to suppress the evidence-the first such motion I’d come across in real life. It was a near certainty to win the case for us on a “technicality” – it was a bad detention and search and the evidence would have been barred from the case. Without it the case had no legal grounds upon which to proceed and the charges would have to be dismissed.
I took great pains to explain this to my client, Billy. He asked me what would happen if the motion were not run. I told him his conviction on the charge was an absolute certainty and all I had described above would probably happen. He was by all accounts, including his own mother’s, something of an incorrigible young man, an academic truant, with many close scrapes with law enforcement, etc. etc. and I knew it highly likely that he’d be removed from his mother’s custody and become a “dependent/ward of the court” and could remain on probation until he reached his majority. I also knew that were he to re-offend his future treatment would only get more harsh. Once in the system, he’d be ridden hard and I didn’t think he’d want or endure that well.
He asked me if he could prevent me from filing the motion to suppress.
Me: “Well, yes, but if we don’t there’s nothing to prevent your being found guilty and there’s not much I can do to prevent your removal from your mother’s custody. You’ll totally be at the mercy of the court and probation. We might as well waive trial and go straight to sentencing.”
Billy: “That’s what I want to do. I don’t want a trial. I’ll plead guilty.”
Me: “But Billy. We (I) can win this case and there’s nothing they can do to you if you get the dope suppressed!”
Billy: “You’re my PD, right? And you said I have the absolute right to go to trial or not right? I want to plead guilty. No trial.”
I did as he ordered and as expected the court did impose custody time in the hall and ordered that he serve additional time in a group home (sort of a parole home) for juveniles. At his sentencing he shook my hand and thanked me for my efforts on his behalf.
About a year and a half later I was out and about when a young couple walked up to me. The young man called me by name. I’ve never been particularly comfortable with anyone calling me formally except in a professional venue. I looked at him but didn’t recognize him or the young lady affectionately draped across his arm.
“Mr. Lee, it’s me, Billy ———-!”
“Billy,” (now placing name and somewhat older face together), “How are you?”
“Doing great, sir! Just saw you and wanted to thank you for everything you did for me.”
“But Billy, you told me not to fight your case and you wound up on probation and everything else.”
“That’s true but it also got me away from my mother and older brother who were just fucking up my life. I never told you how much of my shit back then was a result of the way I was being treated at home and all the crap around me. I’m not saying what I did was right, but I needed to get away. After I got out on probation and into the group home, I got my shit together, graduated high school, and now I’ve got an apprenticeship as a union meat cutter, and I’m making good money, and I have a lovely girlfriend. And you helped make it all happen.”
“No Billy, I was just being a (know-it-all) lawyer and apparently not anywhere near as smart as you. Seems you’re the one who made the right call.”
Thanks for the A2A.
And thank you, Billy, wherever you are.
UPDATE, Feb. 2020
Wow! Over 11,000 upvotes and 150K+ views! My most popular posting and people are still reading about Billy. Thank you all, but the biggest thanks to Billy who taught a young lawyer the value of listening to the human being (however flawed s/he might appear) and though I possess greater knowledge it does not guarantee greater wisdom.
Billy, by my calculation, about 57 years old now. I trust, and pray, still possessing his innate common sense, wiser with years and experience, happily with spouse and progeny. He remains one of my most memorable and favorite clients. I still delight in telling his/our story and how he’s helped me keep my ego in check and a plentiful store of humility. The state made me a lawyer but God made me a human being. Billy reminds me of that almost every day of my life.
The REAL Difference Between Chinese, Korean & Japanese People
Fun.
Why were Nazi Germany’s Waffen-SS soldiers more likely to be shot even if they had surrendered to the Allied soldiers in WW2?
If you are asking why Waffen-SS solders were more likely to be shot, read this:
main qimg 1972c337b89446589eb987ec32fd98e5 lq
Photo of SS Standartenfuhrer Kurt Meyer and fellow officers before the massacre.
In the early days of the Normandy campaign 20 Canadian soldiers, members of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and 27th Armoured Regiment, were captured and executed by Waffen SS forces in a monastery near Caen, France. The incident was a direct violation of the Geneva Convention, which was signed by Germany before the war.
The executioner was the infamous SS Standartenfuhrer, Kurt Meyer. Meyer was in charge of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and under its wing, the fanatical 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The Hitlerjugend, were sent to Caen to participate in combat against the invading Canadians. Meyer was overheard to say to his fellow officer: “What should we do with these prisoners; they only eat up our rations?” They settled on the “no prisoners” policy afterwards.
Their senior officers were battle-hardened Waffen SS members. Among them was Kurt Meyer, nicknamed Panzermeyer. Meyer was found guilty of inciting his troops to commit murder and of being responsible as a commander for the killings that happened in Ardenne Abbey. He was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Kurt Meyer was set free on 7th September 1954, after serving nine years in prison in Canada.
The captured Canadians were all young men, barely out of school, with no combat experience. They were outmanoeuvred and captured in June 1944. The headquarters of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was located in the Ardenne Abbey, so the soldiers were taken there. The rest of the story is based on evidence gathered during an investigation of the massacre.
main qimg 9cb290524c9ff2ed0b6bf9f723962feb lq
Photo of Canadian troops on Juno Beach June 1944
Their bodies were discovered on July 8th, 1944, after the Abbey had finally been liberated by the Canadian Army. First, they found the body of Lieutenant Thomas Windsor. Some of the bodies were found by the villagers around the premises. Examinations of the remains revealed that the soldiers had either been shot or bludgeoned directly in the head. After the discovery, their bodies were properly buried. In addition to the 20 confirmed cases, two more Canadian soldiers are believed to have suffered the same fate on June 17th, also on the premises of the Abbey, but their bodies were never found. The soldiers were shot in the back of their heads, one by one, as they finished questioning them. When the Canadians realized what was happening, each prisoner shaking hands with his comrades before walking to the garden and being shot.
In 1984, a monument was erected for the victims of the Ardenne Abbey massacre. The inscription, followed by the names of those killed, reads:
“IN MEMORIAM. ON THE NIGHT OF 7-8 JUNE 1944, EIGHTEEN CANADIAN SOLDIERS WERE MURDERED IN THIS GARDEN WHILE BEING HELD HERE AS PRISONERS OF WAR. TWO MORE PRISONERS DIED HERE, OR NEARBY, ON 17 JUNE 1944. LEST WE FORGET.”
Today’s collection of MM art
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(18)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(18)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(17)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(17)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(17)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(17)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(16)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(16)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(16)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(16)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(15)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(14)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(13)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(13)
Is it possible for the US Navy to detect Russian or Chinese submarines?
Of course.
The US was the first to build a underwater hydrophone detection system. It was called the SONUS. The new detection system uses fiber optic cables that detect changes in the length of the fiber optic cable when sound passes through the fiber. They have different lengths to detect different frequencies.
Then there is satellite SAR that can detect wakes of underwater submarines. This can only detect submarines at a depth of 50 meters underwater. There are rumors that new SAR wake detectors can detect submarines at 100 meters but who knows if that is true or not.
Then there are magnetic anomaly detectors. However the US version requires the detect to fly as close to the surface as possible so the detector is on drones that the P-3 can release.
Then there are sonobuoys. They are released from aircraft or helicopters. They ping the water to look for subs. The new buoys open up and drop sensors deep into the water and then ping.
There are towed fiber optic cables that submarines and ships have to detect submarines.
And then there are sensors on the sub itself to detect submarines.
The problem isn’t whether the US can do these things or not. The problem for the US is that China also has these things too. And the ECS and SCS and Northern Chinese waters is the most sensor dense in the world. They also have everything the US has and they researched and built things that the US doesn’t have.
For instance the magnetic anomaly detector. They built a better version using superconducting quantum phenomenon. It is billion times more sensitive than the ones we use.
They have satellites that detect wakes. They have have satellites that use dual frequency lidar to “map” the ocean floor at 500m. This thing can also detect submarines as the resolution is much much lower than a submarine.
They have built who knows how many submarine drones with towed fiber optic cable and sonar pingers. They don’t care if the US sub detects the drone and takes action. Then they know exactly where the US sub is.
There are rumors that the Chinese have put underwater fiber optic sensors in the Marianas Trench. The Marianas Trench is a long thin deep trench. It is very quiet in there. And it filters out sound from the rest of the Ocean. So anything passing over the Trench can be easily heard and tracked.
Their underwater network is wired together back to a data center with supercomputers to process the data and look for sound anomalies. In other words sounds that don’t sound like the background noise.
I thought when I died, I would instantly know the answers to all the mysteries of the universe. Was Darwin, right? Does life exist on other planets? How did they build the pyramids? The reality is I didn’t learn a darn thing. The mysteries of life did not present themselves as I had expected. Once my soul left the body, and I passed through those pearly gates, I didn’t care if I knew those answers or not.Even though I’m poo-pooing solving the world’s greatest mysteries, the one mystery that kept gnawing at me was how the universe began. I never bought into the Big Bang Theory.The idea that two basketball-sized objects collided in space to begin the universe is preposterous. Think about it, what are the odds of two objects, that small, colliding in the vastness of space? I mean, if they miss each other there is no chance of them ever meeting again. They would simply go on and on unless the universe is a sphere, in which case they might ricochet off the edge and have another go at it.Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying heaven and all the perks that go along with being there, but I still couldn’t shake the Big Bang Theory. People on earth were still talking about it, and I knew in my gut, if I still had a gut, that they were wrong.I made an appointment to see the Big Guy, and I asked permission to go back in time to when it all began. He explained that since I didn’t believe in the Big Bang, there was no going back in time since the Big Bang was supposedly the beginning of time. I rephrased my question and didn’t mention the time thing again since the Big Guy was apparently a stickler for semantics.He told me that there was no free lunch in heaven and that I would have to discover the answer for myself. He called over another spirit and told him to join me. “This is Jimmy,” The Big Guy said, Jimmy believes in the Big Bang and wants to see it happen first hand.” The Big Guy went into a windup like a major league pitcher and hurled our spiritual asses into the cold dark vastness of space and told us to have fun.Great, I had left those cushy clouds for total blackness and Jimmy’s company. Since the universe had not been created yet, there were no stars or moons or suns or anything on which we could focus our attention. I looked down at my auric glow and felt like a ship on a moonless night. I looked over at Jimmy, who had a huge grin on his spiritual face. Despite the emptiness and the silence, we both sensed that something epic was going to take place.Those two basketball-sized objects that supposedly started the universe, well, they were floating in that black void, but they were not the size of basketballs. Instead, they were monstrous rocks. They were practically invisible because there was no light for them to reflect other than our auras, but since Jimmy and I didn’t have eyes anymore, it didn’t really matter. Despite our lack of vision, our spirits were able to sense everything and it was as if we could see the rocks were there.“Basketballs, huh?” I yelled at Jimmy. Yelled isn’t completely accurate since we were communicating telepathically, but Jimmy got the point.“It’s all relative,” Jimmy said. When you compare their size to the emptiness around us, they are no bigger than atoms. So, describing them as basketballs isn’t too far off.Dang, it. Jimmy had gone one up on me. I should have taken a debate class in high school.I stood on one rock and Jimmy stood on the other, we rode them through space, waiting for the big collision. I watched as Jimmy’s rock missed mine by a mile. Well, more than a mile.He transported himself over to my rock and stood with me. It turned out the massive rocks didn’t collide as I had surmised. Instead, they missed each other by a hundred million light-years. I thought their mass would create a gravitational attraction even at that great distance, but they silently passed each other headed for who knows where for the remainder of time, if there was such a thing as time. I was right; there had been no collision, no big bang.“What do you think now, Jimmy? No crash. No Big Bang.” Jimmy looked puzzled.Satisfied that I had been right about there being no Big Bang, I left Jimmy to figure out what happened and returned to my cushy clouds.
“So, did you learn how I created the universe?” The Big guy asked.
“No, Sir,” I said, “But I know it didn’t start with a big bang, and that’s good enough for me.”
“Well, that’s not good enough for me. Now get back out there and find the answer to your question.”
The Big Guy was tougher than my physics teacher. I found myself back in the dark vacuum with Jimmy.
“Why did you come back?” Jimmy asked.
“The big guy wants me to stick it out and see how he created the universe.”
“Maybe there are more than two rocks,” Jimmy said. “I still think a collision is imminent.”
We raced through space, but since there was no wind or any other objects to give us perspective, I wondered if we were moving at all. When I was alive and standing on earth, I was hurtling around the Sun at a hundred thousand miles an hour, but I couldn’t feel it. Standing on this rock felt the same.
Jimmy and I stood around for what seemed like an eternity when we felt the spheroid quake.
“Something’s happening,” Jimmy said.
“Do you really think there’s another rock that we’re going to crash into?” I asked.
“Could be,” Jimmy said, “I hate to say it since I’ve only known you for a couple of billion years, but I think those astronomers are just a little bit smarter than you are. If they say two rocks collided, I believe them.”
I hated that Jimmy and those scientists might be right, so I let his comment go.
It was almost imperceptible at first, but my spirit could feel the trembling. The tremors grew, and I felt we were approaching the end and the beginning of something remarkable.
I focused all of my attention on the rock that was now generating heat. I felt an increase in pressure. The Big Guy had given us the ability to utilize some of our earthly senses. I wasn’t sure if it was dark matter that was pressing in on us, but I knew we were reaching a moment of critical mass. The pressure was increasing exponentially. The ground shook harder and a minuscule crack appeared in the asteroid. “Something is happening, but I don’t see any other rocks coming our way,” I yelled to Jimmy.
“That’s because there’s no light,” he replied.
Dang, it. Jimmy had an answer for everything.
Gas spewed forth, and my excitement grew. The planetoid trembled violently and then let go with a blast so powerful it filled the blackness with a firework display of light. The Big Guy must have turned off some of my senses at that moment because I didn’t feel any pain or the cosmic concussion that must still be rippling through time and space, but I could see what was taking place.
Jimmy had jumped off our rock in the nick of time and joined me for a front-row seat.
Simultaneously, or so I sensed, the other rock underwent a similar fate. Both spheres had reached the end of their journeys, and exploded, propelling shards of rock, and light and gas towards each other. It was as if two gunfighters had reached the count of ten, turned, and fired.
Each piece of granite and iron grew to enormous proportions. The gasses coalesced and formed galaxies. The molten stones rotated at speeds I can’t describe until they settled into spherical shapes. The darkness was filled with light, but since there was no atmosphere in space there was still dark around us. Incredible.
The blasts represented the beginning of two timelines. Earth existed in one of the universes, but did it also exist in the other? The two universes hurtled toward each other from the deepest recesses of space. Was this the beginning of everything?
Jimmy and I made our way across the cosmic timeline at the speed of thought traversing galaxies, and nebulae and we marveled at the light show. The galactic dust looked like two muzzle flashes heading for each other.
“God must like westerns,” I said.
“Humanity isn’t going to survive long enough to discover the other universe that’s speeding toward them,” Jimmy said, “That’s a shame.”
“Just as well. Since the collision would represent the end of time as they know it anyway.”
“Well,” Jimmy said, “I have to admit that you were right and I was wrong. What are you going to dub this event?”
“I kind of like, The Gunfighter Theory.”
“Not much of a theory since we saw it happen.”
“I guess,”
Jimmy and I had our answers. We learned how the universe began, and it didn’t involve a big bang as Jimmy, and the astronomers thought. But unraveling one mystery only presented me with a couple of others. I made sure not to ask the Big Guy any more questions because he would make me figure it out on my own, and I wasn’t in the mood for any more homework.
When we got back to heaven, Jimmy shook my hand, thanked me for my companionship, and headed for the volleyball courts.
I chose to walk the grounds, wondering what had caused the spheres to reach critical mass and explode? I was deep in thought and hadn’t noticed the Big Guy was watching me. “I know how the universe started,” I mumbled out loud, “But I still don’t know who created those two giant rocks in the first place?” The Big Guy cleared his throat.
I looked up. “Oops, sorry, Big Guy.”
Reaction to Our Latest Street Interview in China
The backlash of bullshit to this video is epic!
Has a doctor ever made a mistake while treating you? What happened?
While having surgery for nasal polyps I was bleeding a lot so the surgery lasted 3 hrs so a catheter was started. Upon waking in recovery I felt uncomfortable and sore on my penis and asked if they ran a catheter which they confirmed. It took over 2 hours in recovery trying to wake up and I struggled horribly to get the energy to move. Someone mentioned I lost a lot of blood and that was the last I heard until the follow up a week later. During the week I couldn’t figure out why I was a grayish blue color and was incredibly weak. At the follow up the surgeon realized how much blood was actually lost (3 units of blood lost during surgery) and also realized she never ordered 3 units of blood to be transfused. She immediately arranged for blood transfusions the following day.
Fast forward 2 years when I had a bout of kidney stones and required a surgical procedure to have them removed. No problem with the surgery but the urologist discovered blockage in the urethra that needed to be cleared. The damage was from the catheter used for the nasal polyp surgery.
Fast forward another couple of years and the blockage is back and from what the urologist revealed is this will keep coming back unless they cut out the bad area and fuse it back together. Reluctantly I agreed to the procedure which worked ok but another catheter was inserted during surgery. This was kept in place for 2 weeks till it all healed up and the catheter was ready to be removed. The urologist was the person removing the catheter which seemed odd but what do I know. She grabbed the catheter and yanked it out like she was starting a lawn mower only she didn’t deflate the ball. This caused permanent damage internally so I now have Peyronie’s disease. After complaining to the department head I was given a written statement that I obviously was having rough sex with my wife!
The final left over from the nasal polyp surgery was almost 10 years later I found out through blood tests checking for arthritis issues that I have chronic Hepatitis B. I’m not 100% sure on this but with a blood transfusion there is a very good chance that’s where the hepatitis came from.
The US Literally Cannot Repay Its National Debt.
Which famous or infamous people in history should have never been underestimated?
When he was only a child, Alan Turing displayed signs of the genius that would later change the world.
main qimg c2724c20c237d47d63b9dd41afd21d4e
He taught himself to read in three weeks and his teachers complained of his “unconventional” methods, which often led to the correct answer but without showing his work.
He was a bit of a loner, preferring puzzles and science experiments to socializing, but perhaps it was this solitary nature that allowed him to delve so deeply into the complex world of mathematics and computation.
Turing’s eccentricities were often misinterpreted as arrogance or aloofness.
He had a habit of wearing his gas mask while cycling to avoid hay fever, a sight that no doubt amused his colleagues at Bletchley Park.
main qimg 06b42012136aeae2526d4bf3b1d447a2
His fingernails were perpetually stained with ink from the ticker tape he used for his calculations.
During World War II, while the world was focused on the battlefields, Turing was waging a different kind of war in the hidden corners of Bletchley Park.
He was the architect of the Bombe, a machine designed to crack the Enigma code used by the Nazis.
main qimg 943cec435e250e8c52257ce0b3112b68
It was a feat that many deemed impossible, yet Turing, with his unconventional thinking and unyielding determination, managed to pull it off.
His work on the Enigma is estimated to have shortened the war by two years and saved millions of lives.
Yet, despite his contributions, Turing was largely overlooked and underestimated.
His homosexuality, considered a crime at the time, led to his chemical castration and ultimately his tragic suicide.
It was a cruel irony that a man who had done so much to protect his country was persecuted by it.
Alan Turing was not your typical war hero. He wasn’t a soldier on the front lines, nor was he a charismatic leader rallying the troops.
He was a quiet, unassuming genius whose weapon of choice was not a gun, but his brilliant mind.
His legacy is not measured in medals or monuments, but in the very technology we use today.
main qimg 93a4121ddabe5fcd5a4c104a4dd6c676
Every time you type on your computer or use your smartphone, you are benefiting from the work of a man who was underestimated in his time, but whose impact on the world is undeniable.
Pasta with Garlic and Oil
ad7f8d206f20df0c13f0a056ab34212f
Ingredients
1 pound spaghetti, broken in half
Cooking oil
5 cloves fresh garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley
Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Cook spaghetti according to directions; drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.
In a small sauce an, sauté garlic in about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons oil, until just starting to brown.
Add butter, garlic and oil to cooked pasta and toss.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle with a little parsley, and top servings with grated Parmesan cheese.
Here’s some of today’s favorites on the MM art scene…
A bunch of figurative art; read “nudes”. It used to be quite common in the old days, but now is considered “perverted”. But, I don’t give a FUCK.
It was popular in the past. In those days, figurative art went into private homes; private collections…
And into men’s bars, Men’s clubs… Men’s organizations. Men’s gyms.
Of course, none of that exists any more.
So the market for figurative works is really low. But really, guys. I love the genre.
Here’s my latest “figurative” art. And I’m rather proud of it. I’m still tweaking the process, but I am seeing improvements.
Some of the male art seems to come off as “too gay”, but I like it anyways.
Lots of cats; worship, wine and gals. Many (since it is a figurative work) are nudes.
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(8)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(10)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(11)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(15)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(15)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(10)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(14)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(7)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(9)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(10)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(14)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(18)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(2)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(5)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(8)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(10)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(11)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(15)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(10)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(11)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(12)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(9)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(10)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(11)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(14)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(17)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(8)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(9)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(10)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(13)
As a wheelchair user, what is the rudest thing a person has said, done, or assumed about you?
Assuming that because someone is in a wheelchair or using a power scooter has no abilities to stand or walk whatsoever.
My mother is on oxygen, she walks into the store and uses a power-scooter to get around. She got out of the scooter to reach something up on a higher shelf and a guy went nuts! It was her fault there wasn’t a scooter for his wife who had to now wait in the car. My mother simply asked if he’d cracked a window for her.
It was raining one day, heavily, so instead of walking mom in, I let her off at the door. A man watched me walk her in, help her with the scooter and then proceeded to yell at me for blocking the front of the store. After I moved the car, I watched his wife pull up so they could unload their groceries from the cart into the car under the cover of the entry.
I’ve had people yell faker at my mom when she stands up from her wheel-chair at the back of the car and walk to get inside because the wheel-chair wouldn’t fit between our car and the badly/illegally parked car next to us. They’ve even asked if her oxygen is real or if we’re faking that too.
Just because you see a person stand or walk a few feet doesn’t mean they don’t need help or assistance of a wheel-chair or scooter.
Hungary Dumps G7 Banks For Record China Loan, Beijing Subsidy Tsunami To Crush EU Punishments
I typically pre-load (schedule) posts to go public on MM about four months late. This serves various needs, but essentially it allows the “filter of time” to let the reader to process events out of the context of the major news cycles of the MSM propaganda machines.
I find it useful for purposes of perspective.
For instance, when someone tries to warn me against China’s 6G technology I plop them in a time machine and tell them about all the warnings of 5G (makes your brain explode), 4G (steal your data), 3G (gas pumps explode), and 2G (planes fall out of the sky).
I think it adds perspective.
The 2024 election is gonna arrive any day now. Woo Woo! And everyone is expecting big changes. After all, Biden was nothing more than a sock-puppet under the control of a bunch of ivy-league schoolboys now fast-tracking to oligarch-hood.
I am of the opinion that yes, things will change. But the systemic issues that rest bend the curtains will not. The United States is still in a tail-spin, but still at least someone is trying to land the plane. For Pete’s sake.
As I write this, “president” Biden has “decided” to not run for reelection.22 JULY 2024. The sarcastic side of me has a lot to say about this, but I’ll give it a rest for you all. In any event 2024 has been one Hell of a Dragon year. Sheech!
OP-ED -- As reported on this website on July 18 (Story Here) Joe Biden has DROPPED-OUT of the Presidential race and will NOT seek re-election.The deceitful, lying, sleazebags that make up a majority of the Democrat Party, have been in chaos since the Biden-Trump Debate, because they could no longer hide Biden's deteriorating mental condition, which they intentionally hid from the public for the past two years.So craven are the Democrats to keep power, they were willing to engage in elder abuse; ganging-up on the poor old man, harassing him out the door of the campaign.It ought to be interesting to see who these power-hungry vermin try to promote as their candidate for President now that we're less than 100 days from the election. I suggest that washed-up, has-been, old hag, Hillary Clinton, with trans-gendered "Michelle" Obama. I think an old Witch and a trans-gendered freak would epitomize what the Democrat party stands for nowadays!Now, of course, Biden becomes more dangerous than ever. He can implement, via Executive Order, all the radical-left-wing (Romper-room-level) ideas because he doesn't have to care at all whether anyone likes it or not.
Don’t get too caught up.
Lots and lots of strange “puzzle pieces” show up and disappear in the night. Our worn out and tired brains let them wash over us. But many are too alarming to dismiss.
Cloud Strike complete failure all over the West after an “update”.
Zelenskyy is in Utah.
Democrat political party in a cash-fighting frenzy.
China’s slow steady observance of the entire fiasco
Trump selection of JD Vance
Biden disappearance, and then step-down / out
So what is really going on?
Forged signiture on stationary announcing Biden step down
Let me tell you.
The deck chairs on the Titanic are all being rearranged, but the ship still is slowing sinking into the dark, dark abyss.
Everything else is theater.
Today…
What’s a historical fact that would shock most people to find out?
In 1980, a family of four moved into an apartment in a newly built building in Ukraine. However, just within a year of moving into their new house, the elder child who was 18 years old became severely sick. She was taken to a hospital and was diagnosed with leukaemia, a type of cancer that targets the body’s blood-forming tissues and bone marrow. The girl soon passed away within a few months of being diagnosed with cancer.
In less than a year, the younger child of the house who was 16 years showed the same symptoms. He was taken to the hospital and was diagnosed with leukaemia. He passed away soon after. Very soon the mother also lost her life and she was also diagnosed with leukaemia. Leukaemia being hereditary is very rare and it is highly unlikely that it was passed on from the mother to the children but at that time, it was declared that the reason those three patients had blood cancer was due to family genetics.
Gradually, other residents of the building too started to fall sick. None had any life-threatening diseases but they weren’t fully fit either. The man, having lost his family sold his house and moved away from there. Locals started to call that apartment ‘cursed apartment’. A new family moved into that cursed apartment. In 1987, the eldest son of the family passed away and he was diagnosed with leukaemia. While he was being cremated, the younger child of the house was in hospital and he was being treated for leukaemia as well. The boy also passed away soon after.
Meanwhile, the father got to know about the history of leukaemia of the previous residents and it was evident that there was something wrong with the house. The city council started to investigate in 1989. Radiologists found air samples highly radioactive and just as they entered the building, they were recording ten times more radioactivity than normal. They found the source of the radioactivity to be a wall just beside the bed where the family members used to sleep.
The wall was covered with lead sheets and cut out of the house and inside the wall, a capsule of radioactive Caesium-137 inside the concrete was found and that was emitting this ridiculous amount of radiation over the years. The capsule had a serial number which was traced to a densometer that was used in a stone quarry to measure the density of stones. One time, the Caesium-137 capsule got misplaced from the densometer and it wasn’t found. Turns out, the Caesium capsule got mixed with stones which were used to make the concrete that was made into that wall of that “cursed apartment” which took the lives of 5 people and severely affected 17 other in that building.
What companies have gotten destroyed by their business competition?
How do you win a war?
Just ask Netflix
Reed Hastings (founder of Netflix) had a big fight ahead of him. He had just finished watching the movie he rented called “Apollo 13” and he returned it to Blockbuster six weeks late. They charged him for returning the movie late.
Hastings launched a new company called Netflix in complete anger. He did not believe people should have to pay for returning a movie late!!!
Hastings had a plan.
Netflix realised that people wanted as many movies as they could get delivered to them. Therefore, Netflix started as a DVD rentals-by-mail service. Netflix was smart and they made a huge discovery.
Perhaps DVDs don’t have to be delivered physically.
Netflix came up with a genius idea that would change the way they did business. They would start a streaming subscription service where someone could watch movies on their computer or another streaming device.
Netflix started to win the market. Hastings believed that he could make money from selling Netflix. Hastings took Netflix and made a pitch to Blockbuster.
Netflix has seen tremendous growth in previous months and we will offer you Netflix for $50 million.
Blockbuster laughed.
Nobody wants to go to Netflix! People like to physically go to a shop and pick out the DVD they want to buy.
Hastings walked away with nothing. Once again, he was angry. He started marketing Netflix and grossly undercutting Blockbuster on price.
Little by little, Netflix grew its customer base and started to outcompete Blockbuster. Blockbuster tried everything to stop Netflix. Hastings famously said that Blockbuster was throwing “everything but the kitchen sink” at Netflix.
A few days later, Blockbuster physically delivered a kitchen sink to Hastings’ house. The Blockbuster era was over.
In the summer of 2010, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy and Netflix became one of the most recognised brands globally with an annual gross profit of $5.8 billion in 2018 (59.21% increase from 2017 according to macrotrends)
If you are interested, I will leave a few Netflix tips in the comments. I hope you enjoyed the story!
As a landlord, what was the most bizarre thing you found after a tenant moved out of your rental?
There are so many bizarre things that I have found as a landlord….
One time we took over a house after an old widow passed on.
The 95-year-old woman died. Her home—the upstairs anyway—was pristine 1960s-1970s decor and appliances.
main qimg 9e6d9ecadbb654e0ae554206ae79948d lq
She still had the green shag carpet from 1972—well cared for and in good shape. The Avocado-colored stove and fridge were there and still worked. There was even a console stereo with record player, AM/FM and a reel-to-reel tape player.
main qimg e3cacd7874dd079d56ec68d06675a2a7 lq
In addition to this there was an overflowing library of Jehovah’s witness religious materials, tracts, Baptist literature, and MORMON Bibles. There was Catholic and Jewish materials. There was pagan literature. Maybe she couldn’t make up her mind?
It’s just, that—there was a lot of all of this — piles of all of it.
The cream of the crop was a King James Version Bible from 1801.
Inside of the record player pocket, I found LP (long play) albums by Beethoven, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash—AND—get this…RUSH 2112, A Farewell to Kings, Caress of Steel, and Fly by Night. The old woman was a Rush fan! Incredible!
Fairly clean house—but I kept wondering—-What is that smell?
Then I went to the basement level.
This home had a walk-out basement, with a garage door and garage bay on one end.
Here is where I had to go full haz-mat. Someone had tossed down a 100-pound sack of cat food and left the door open.
I found no fewer than 38 feral cats. All with mange, some with eyeballs missing or hanging out—dead opossum and mice and rats, birds, squirrels and other critters everywhere…Inside the garage.
All of these dead animals, including at least a dozen kitten skeletons, were in differing modes of decomposition. There was everything from recently dead to full skeleton.
SHIT was everywhere. Ankle deep shit—everywhere. Feral kittens, half starved, ribs showing—flea infested, covered in mange, open sores and cat shit.
I had to call animal control for help. They helped me to trap the worst of the lot, and hauled them off for euthanization. Some of the kittens were eventually adopted out.
The majority of the feral animals that couldn’t be caught were destroyed by shotgun.
It was the humane thing to do.
It took me three days, five gallons of concentrated industrial bleach, ten gallons of gas, a power washer, five gallons of liquid soap and a lot of elbow grease to clean up that mess.
It was 100 degrees out and I had to wear a haz-mat suit the entire time.
I even had to get a tetanus booster shot.
In the end, the smell had even permeated the sheet rock in the lower level, so we had to gut the entire place.
I think to this day that the old woman’s heart was in the right place, even if her head was in the clouds.
Chicken Club Sandwich One-Pot Pasta
c2cfb78adb37c3d8490358fb07828509
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup panko crispy bread crumbs
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (regular or low-fat)
8 ounces (3 cups) uncooked rotini pasta
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded jack cheese
12 ounces thickly sliced cooked chicken or turkey breast (1/4 inch thick), cut into bite-size strips
8 ounces fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 cup cooked, chopped bacon
1 cup chopped plum (Roma) tomatoes
Instructions
In 5 to 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat; add bread crumbs. Cook for 2 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until bread crumbs are toasted and light brown; remove to small bowl.
Add chicken broth and pasta to Dutch oven; heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 12 to 14 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente and most of liquid is absorbed.
Add shredded cheese and chicken or turkey, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.
Gradually add spinach, stirring constantly, until starting to wilt. Remove from heat; stir in mayonnaise, bacon and tomatoes. Top with toasted bread crumbs before serving.
PhD AI student explains how China already have won in AI
A significant event recently marked a breakthrough in the internationalization of the Chinese yuan (RMB). According to Bloomberg, the RMB now accounts for 99.6% of Russia’s foreign exchange settlements, making Russia the first major country in the world to conduct almost all its import and export trade in RMB.
This transformation didn’t happen overnight. In 2015, the RMB was included in the IMF’s “basket of currencies,” initiating its internationalization process. However, until the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, Russia’s use of the RMB remained limited. After the US and EU imposed financial sanctions on Russia, it was forced to seek alternatives, with the RMB emerging as the best option.
In June 2024, the US further tightened sanctions on Russia, closing all financial loopholes. In response, Russia announced the complete abandonment of the US dollar and euro, requiring all countries trading with it to settle in RMB. This decision rapidly increased the RMB’s share in Russia’s foreign exchange market to nearly 100%.
This development is significant for China’s efforts to promote RMB internationalization. Russia, as a major world power and primary resource exporter, fully adopting the RMB for settlements provides a powerful example for other countries. It demonstrates that international trade can be maintained and economic growth achieved without using the US dollar.
However, this shift also brings new challenges. Due to Russia’s severe shortage of RMB, China-Russia trade growth has already reached its limit. From January to May 2024, China-Russia trade volume increased by only 2.9% year-on-year, far lower than China’s growth rates with other major trading partners.
Meanwhile, China is actively promoting RMB internationalization. Although still receiving large amounts of US dollars in foreign trade, China chooses to quickly use these dollars to help other countries repay their dollar debts, while signing new agreements for repayment in RMB. This strategy not only promotes the use of RMB but also expands China’s trade with these countries.
In conclusion, Russia’s full adoption of the RMB is an important milestone in the process of RMB internationalization. While this was partly facilitated by special circumstances, it has laid the foundation for the RMB to play a more important role in the global financial system. As China continues to advance this strategy, the international influence of the RMB is expected to further increase.
Chinese University Dorms will SHOCK you!
Multiple bridges are collapsing not only in Bihar, but also in China. Do these collapsing of bridges happen due to the effect of global warming causing unusually heavy rains?
There is no comparison
I checked
The Rains in India averaged 247 mm
The Rains in China averaged 718 mm
main qimg efa1a5b7decd77ca256fb3293eb7c285
The Wind Speeds in China were almost thrice as high as India had ever seen
The Rise in River Levels were almost 250% higher
India has never faced any such adverse weather conditions because the intensity may be high but the torrential outpour stops much faster and the WIND SPEEDS are much slower compared to the deadly TAI FUN (Typhoon)
India in fact is primarily flooded due to pressure based phenomenon like Cyclonic Rain compared to Wind based phenomenon in China due to Typhoons
In China – the weather phenomenon has drastically changed
Precipitation has risen by 26% and flooding levels have risen much higher
So a lot of 1996–2015 built Infrastructure cannot withstand the flooding and torrential lash and collapse
Much of today’s projects are fine because they have been designed to withstand more torrential rains
In India it’s pure corruption and nothing else
The Bridges were all new and yet collapsed
Check out Newly designed buildings in India and see the cracks in Concrete within 3–4 years itself
It’s compromising Quality for price and speed of delivery of projects
Vintage Illustration
b9ecfc61f104338830e352366a4ffa1b
a75524bdd7cf0ca99c739ae53d93adec
10df873d95ceeafb5460b7f9757ae2b5
016d857e157082599b424a8eb392b334
270c30bde65997a88b79c7ae6152953a
ffeae4adb8f5016b80de7fe7f2e5baf8
8cfb91fc1524a9495206582a65ad5400
18d6f306f12b214ff02dfc76956bf949
b90ad28cbf59cc9dd688b846bda6a64b
c5571c92e93a730ee2835b3ed7b6e5d1
deccf2867cfc3905af734d5e8c5d2c79
80132d6b769bcdd92e38e43daeb7f5e3
b489a114b1e9e1015cfafdee93f9e9d3
f6ad68d3a659dbe352df83782d472159
5a07f97b108743f142c57a016d8a269c
f3c5f795c7ba46bec67afc36db06a1c4
f2ea5214d2a5e834b8ad3d5be0c9ca28
5fbc765b98d23713481679a1df1d77f9
ee7537928b6c19e2f2f26b93b98ff130
7c168a90a9f13a1fb574320bfbcf483c
5963d5909c3a8906b47577b9cad82f93
The Media Lied About Safety in China?
What are the most interesting facts about human behavior?
Originally Answered: What are the most interesting facts about human behavior ?
Wanna get some attention? Stop chasing that person and start ignoring him. He’ll shower you with attention.
2. Want someone to confess something? Stop talking and stare at them and they’ll do the needful.
3. Validate the words of someone by just looking into their eyes. Mostly while telling a lie, they tend to look away from you and smile more often than needed.
4. Intelligent people tend to have fewer friends.
5. Look at their feet while talking. If they’re not facing you, they aren’t probably interested in what you are telling them.
6. Are you sad? You can trick your mind by pretending to smile and in no time, you would be smiling for real.
7. Your body language changes with the person you are talking to. Your body language tends to be relaxed and flowy when you are talking to someone you like whereas it tends to be stiff if it’s someone you are not much fond of.
8. You can sustain that high level of concentration for not more than just 10 minutes.
9. Speak a line to yourself daily about what you wish to do or become. You would see it turning into reality.
10. Your brain has more potential than you realise. Never give up on your dreams.
How long will the CCP remain in charge in China?
I am an ordinary Chinese person.
The Chinese people are the least likely to be deceived by political slogans. With over 3,000 years of monarchy and more than 20 dynasties, the Chinese have experienced hundreds of emperors. This long history has endowed them with the ability to recognize the tricks of any ruler, whether they come in the form of words, policies, laws, or political movements. The Chinese can quickly see through the deceptive promises.
No individual or party can sustain a lie for long. To prove one lie as “truth,” ten new lies are needed, creating an astronomical system of deception. The objective reality about “rulers and lies” is clear: no one can govern through lies. Such an elaborate system will inevitably develop cracks and collapse. When these lies are exposed to the light of day, the ruler’s legitimacy vanishes, signaling the end of the regime.
The above paragraphs illustrate a key logic: sustained deception is bound to be exposed, and China’s long history makes its people particularly sensitive to such tactics. The Chinese are not easily fooled.
As of a few years ago, the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrated its 100th anniversary. In its first 20 years, it nearly faced extinction several times (1920s-1940s). Over the next 30 years, it made several grave mistakes that almost led to societal and economic collapse (1950s-1970s). The CPC then attempted to learn from these errors and reform itself. However, during the following decade, the world’s major communist states collapsed (1980s-1990s), and “socialism” became a relic of history. China emerged as one of the few remaining socialist countries. In 1990, the Chinese echoed Deng Xiaoping’s words, “We must cross the river by feeling the stones,” humorously adding, “If the stones are gone, how do we cross?” Realizing this issue, the CPC began to develop its own theories. China’s economic boom started around that time.
Imagine you are wealthy and have a poor neighbor who has been hungry and poorly clothed for generations. Their frail bodies are swarmed by flies, and they seem on the verge of collapse. The parents of this poor family are determined to improve their situation but don’t know how. Anger and frustration have led to strained family relations. After the chaos subsides, they sit down and ponder how to feed their family.
Initially, the father helps others move, works as a loader, and cleans floors. These jobs are exhausting and pay little, but he endures the physical strain and earns every penny with sweat. Eventually, the family can eat three meals of bread daily, although there’s no beef, jam, or fruit. To save money, they eat only two meals a day, using the savings for education to learn skills like textile work, shoemaking, and knitting. After some time, he acquires these skills and starts new jobs, which, though still demanding, offer indoor work free from harsh weather.
Years pass, and this once-poor family now works as skilled artisans. They continue to save money, thinking of future needs like weddings and births. The third generation grows up in a modest but not impoverished environment, aware of the wider world through trade. They begin to wonder, “Why can’t we have what others have?”
By the fourth generation, they’ve mastered advanced technology and use their ingenuity to propose better scientific solutions. Their ambitions reach for the stars, aiming to uncover the mysteries of the universe.
Over 100 years, from the first impoverished ancestor to the confident children of today, this family has never resorted to killing or invasion to gain even a penny, enduring hunger in silence.
As the family’s fortunes rise, they remain thrifty, never forgetting their past hunger. They save diligently and always question their expenses. However, outsiders with weapons surround them, demanding they return to poverty without reason.
Now, tell me, whose side would you choose? The one who has kept this family intact through it all is named the CPC.
Lylia, Malou, and the Intangible Impossibility of Imperceivable Physics
“Dr. Niwwel, if you summoned the thing, why can’t you just send it away?”Lylia held her tongue. It wasn’t that Malou was stupid, and most of the time it wouldn’t even bother her, but she was running out of ways to explain an unexplainable being. “I didn’t summon it. I just created a way for it to access our world.” She peaked out at the dark hallway—the problem was there was no precedent. Did it matter if there was light? Could the creature even see light? And would staying quiet even matter? Lylia stroked her long, blonde hair as she thought.“I’m sorry. You must be getting tired of all these questions.”It was so hard to be mad at someone who kept acknowledging their flaws. “It’s okay. I know it must be confusing.” Lylia couldn’t help but feel guilty. It was her fault Malou was still in the building to begin with. Not that it really mattered. The creature wasn’t particularly bound by the same matter-based confines that Earth creatures were. Maybe nowhere on the planet was safe.“Can we stay here? Are we safe here?” Malou popped her head out as well, peering down the hallway for signs of the plasma colored of burning light, the only visible material the creature left behind. “I don’t see anything.”“I don’t think we’re safe as long as we’re still here.”“Do you think it’ll leave the building?”Lylia didn’t know how to tell Malou that the creature didn’t even exist in the building as it was. “I hope not.” Cautiously, she crept out into the middle of the hallway. It felt silly to be sneaking around, but she couldn’t help it. It was so human to only feel safe when walls were around to support and protect. “I don’t think it’s coming. Hurry. We can go down this hallway. It’ll lead to the stairs.”Malou nodded and her dyed green hair bobbled in its pigtails. “After you, Dr. Niwwel.”“Really, Malou, you can call me Lylia.” Being called Doctor by someone her own age was weird, but being called Doctor by someone who’d been in every one of her elementary school classes was even weirder.Malou followed. “But you worked so hard for your doctorate. The least I can do is show you the respect you deserve.” Malou smiled and Lylia did her best not to melt. She’d promised herself when she started tutoring Malou in physics that she wouldn’t let that smile get to her anymore, but Malou was so earnest, so… so genuine, that Lylia almost couldn’t help it.She was so dazzled by Malou’s smile that she almost didn’t catch the blazing light splatter behind her. “Malou, look out!”A cabinet behind her suddenly became corrupted, spitting sparks and shuddering in and out of existence before half of it was suddenly away. Lylia felt the hair stand up on her arms. “Run!”The air stung of burned metal, rasping away at the back of Lylia’s throat. Malou was faster than her by far, but she kept pace. “Come on!”After a while, Lylia felt her heart start to pound more and more. If only she didn’t work on the top floor—they’d be out by now. They made it close to the stairs, and Lylia grabbed Malou’s arm right before she went down the stairs, dragging her into a broom closet.“What’d you do that for?”“Going down won’t help,” Lylia wheezed. She needed to work out more. “It’s not… I mean, it’s not confined by floors.”“It can go through floors?”Lylia bit her lip. They seemed safe enough now. Maybe she should try a third time to explain that the creature she’d released wasn’t going through the floor, it was completely apart from the floor.She hadn’t meant to become a doctor in the first place. It just seemed like the only way she could continue to study and to learn about what the emptiness in atoms really entailed. She’d always been fascinated by the way humans always seemed to accept nothing but truth, but didn’t question the truth they knew.
“But what’s in between the electron and the nucleus?”
“Nothing,” her professor had snapped. “Quit asking that. This is just where we are in science right now, okay? Sorry it’s not good enough for you. Finish your work.”
Her curiosity had developed from wondering what the emptiness really meant to wondering if there was a separate way to exist. When she argued for her dissertation, a hypothetical reconfiguration of matter that didn’t involve atoms or quarks or any subatomic particles humans could conceive of, the faculty had been confused and baffled. One professor had gone so far as to declare that it was more science fiction than true science. However, she’d gotten her doctorate anyway, and away she went.
The experiment wasn’t supposed to even work. Lylia had long given up on her own theory, but the premise behind it still stood, in her mind. Countless graduate students flocked to her, to hear her crazy lectures about worlds within our own atoms. The machine she’d fashioned wasn’t supposed to be capable of creating real atomic disturbances—the only other atomic disturbances the world had ever known were military based, so there was no way they’d ever give her something with real power. She’d had the grad students (and Malou, although Lylia still wasn’t sure why she was there) gather around her as she fiddled with it, answering their questions the best she could and firing back some of her own. The machine had never done anything before, no matter what she did, so there was no reason anyone would expect it to do much of anything other than look science-y.
So when the machine had malfunctioned and spewed black smoke and the… the thing (Lylia called it a creature for Malou’s sake, but it wasn’t like any creature or any being that had ever been noted in any way before) seeped into this world’s atomic formation, it had caught everyone by surprise.
At first Lylia, like any good scientist, was fascinated. She had proof! Proof that our physics weren’t the only physics out there—matter didn’t work in the same way, physicality didn’t work in the same way, and the universe wasn’t empty after all!
It was a glowing moment for science.
Until suddenly one of the grad students’ arms disappeared. The blood that splattered the ground flecked Lylia’s shoes as she should there, shocked, helpless as bits of the floor spluttered and vanished and the building’s infrastructure suddenly turned to nothing against the impossibility of a physics-less being. Chaos ensued, filling the hallways with shouts as the being engulfed everything it encountered, turning it into a form of matter imperceivable by humanity, intangible in the same regard. Later, hiding under her desk (not the smartest plan, she knew, but she panicked, okay?), Lylia figured out what she’d unleashed—a being able to interact with the physics and composition of this world, but unable to be interacted with by the physics and composition of this world. It was enough to make her head spin, so explaining it to Malou… Calling it a creature was just easier.
“I’m sorry,” she told Malou now, holed up next to the stairs. “I can’t… I can’t stop it. It defies all nature, it defies all… rational thought. It’s not of this world and it shouldn’t be here now. I’ve released it and I’m so… I’m so sorry.” If she hadn’t been so terrified, Lylia thought she would cry. Even now, with fear freezing her blood, Lylia felt tears well behind her eyes and in the catch in her throat.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.”
“It’s my machine. My lecture. My experiment. It’s literally my fault.”
“You didn’t know this would happen. Nobody knew. Nobody could know.”
“You should’ve gotten out when you had the chance.” Malou hadn’t evacuated with the others, she’d rushed to Lylia’s office instead.
“I couldn’t leave you.”
“You should have. You’ll die here. I can’t tell you anything about this… creature. I could have doomed the entire Earth.” Lylia began to cry, tears and snot dripping down her cheeks. It wasn’t the time or place, she knew, but she still felt bad for how ugly she must look. “You’re going to die, and everyone I know is going to die, and it’s all my fault.”
“The world was doomed anyway,” Malou said. “And you don’t know that you’re going to die. I mean, you said the creature wasn’t from our physics. Maybe it’ll… make us like it.”
That was highly illogical, but so was everything. “Maybe, but even then our entire lives, everything we know, will be taken away. I wish there was a way I could… I could distract it somehow, so you could escape but I…”
“I couldn’t leave you,” Malou repeated. “I couldn’t.”
“We’re going to die here.” Lylia’s sobs echoed down the hallway, and she no longer cared if the creature was able to perceive sound or not. “We’re going to die here and I never—”
“You never what?”
Lylia didn’t know. There were lots of things she’d never done. She’d never snowboarded, or owned a bird, or bought homeowner’s insurance. She hadn’t told her parents goodbye. She’d dated boys in high school and undergrad, but she’d never really felt in love with any of them. She’d never told Malou how beautiful she was.
The thought popped into Lylia’s head before she could stop it. She’d promised herself she’d never admit that to anyone—not even herself.
But if there was ever a time, now was it.
“You’re pretty,” she said, her voice squeaking like a grade schooler.
“Wait—what?”
“I just wanted you to know you’re really pretty.” This was so dumb. This was remarkably dumb. Lylia wanted to say more but she couldn’t.
“Oh.” Malou stared at Lylia. “I don’t know what to… I—oh. Thank you. You’re… you’re pretty too.”
Lylia felt the blood rush to her face and knew it must be a violent red by now. Violent red with puffy pink eyes—Malou was just being nice. “I’m sorry, I made things weird, it’s weird now, it’s our last hours on Earth probably and I’ve just made it so weird.”
“So?”
“So I’m sorry! We’re up against a unseen, intangible something and I just made everything weird.” Lylia hiccupped. She’d stopped crying, but her face was still a mess, she knew.
“Well, I’m glad you did, or I was going to.” Gently, Malou put her rough, calloused hand over Lylia’s.
“What?”
“I like you,” Malou said, the left corner of her mouth turning up into a grin. “I think I’ve liked you since we were in grade school together. That’s why I wanted you to tutor me, I wanted to get to know you better. That’s why I went to all your lectures. I like you.”
“Oh,” breathed Lylia. “Oh.”
“So I guess, if this really is our last couple hours on this planet”—Lylia didn’t bother correcting her—“then I guess I want you to know. I like you a lot. I think you’re funny and kind and so passionate about everything. So… yeah.”
“Oh,” repeated Lylia. “I don’t know what to—”
“You don’t have to say anything. I know this is probably a weird shock, but I didn’t want to disappear without you knowing, okay? I just needed you to know—”
“I like you too,” Lylia spat out. “I like you too.”
“Oh.”
For a second, the two sat in silence, listening to the sparking of a light that the being had absorbed half of earlier in the day. Then Lylia began to cry again.
“Oh! No! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you—”
“No, no, I’m happy,” Lylia said, frantically wiping her tears. “I mean, I am a little. I’m just sad that we’re not… we’re not going to see the future that would come from this.”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess that’s true.”
“I just wish we had more time.”
“Well, we have time right now. And who knows—maybe when the creature takes us, we’ll end up together in its dimension.”
Not a dimension, Lylia’s brain blathered, but it didn’t matter at all. Tentatively, she turned her hand up and laced her fingers though Malou’s. “There’ll be no tomorrow,” she warned.
“It sucks,” Malou said, nodding.
“But right now we’re together.”
“Makes it suck a little less.”
Lylia laughed. Yes. Every action they took should just be to make things suck a little less. “Of all the people to die with, you’re not a bad choice.”
“And at least we know that wherever we’re going, we’ll go together.”
“Together.”
Lylia wept as the creature’s plasmatic flickering came into view a little down the hallway and bits of air and floor disappeared, leaving behind blank nothingness of the physics that Lylia couldn’t perceive.
“Together,” Malou murmured into her ear, and they closed their eyes.
Very interesting clips
The “scary background music” is a minus, but the content is worth your time.
What kind of karma will happen to China for being so evil for so long? How can such evil exist?
Hello, I’m from China, and I am a paid promoter for the CCP.
As the Titanic was about to collide with the iceberg, the ship’s impending sinking was a tragic fate for the main characters. However, for the lobsters waiting to be cooked in the Titanic’s kitchen, it was a miraculous moment.
Similarly, the so-called “evil existence of China” is seen as a tragic threat by Western imperialists, Jewish fascists, and Japanese militarists. But for the countries of Southeast Asia, most African nations, Latin America, and other poor and chaotic Third World countries, it represents an opportunity to end internal conflicts and focus on development.
A strong China will allow us to witness the following in the future:
The decline of the US as a military and diplomatic superpower;
The awakening of the American people and the restructuring of their government;
The Five Eyes countries, excluding the US, gradually adopting independent foreign policies based on their national interests;
The EU possibly gaining autonomy in diplomacy and military matters, or becoming a regional power;
Several traditional Third World countries reaching the threshold of industrialization;
Rapid socio-economic development in Southeast and South Asian countries;
Green energy becoming the primary component of the world’s energy mix;
A fairer and more reasonable carbon emission scheme for Third World countries;
Urumqi, as the geographical center of Central Asia, playing an increasingly important role in international finance and trade;
Japan and South Korea, the two American colonies in East Asia, becoming mere dishes on the table;
Some African countries emerging as newly developed nations;
A united Asia and Latin America;
The elimination of global war hotspots;
Mao Zedong once said, “Before listening to someone, first see where they stand.” China is slowly trying to tell its own story. This process has been fraught with difficulties. However, today, through platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Quora, and through “China Travel,” rather than through official Chinese efforts, China’s story is beginning to spread among people worldwide. These stories and visions instill fear and anxiety in those in the West who are full of prejudice and hatred.
So, “my delicacy is your poison.” To those who wish for the disappearance of “evil China” from the earth, I hope you exercise well and maintain a balanced diet so you can live a long life. If you live as long as a tortoise, for 500 years, you can personally verify whether “evil China” has vanished.
Therefore, haters, I wish you longevity like a tortoise. In China, this is the most beautiful metaphor.
Is it true that martial arts are useless in a street fight?
As others have said, the first thing a martial arts instructor will tell you is ‘don’t get into a street fight’. My judo instructor took it further: get fit and outrun the threat.
At the age of 19, with 8 years of judo instruction, and some unarmed combat training, I spent a summer in Manchester. I didn’t know the city, and found myself in areas that were not safe. This was in the early 80s, around the time of the most violent riots the city has seen in modern times.
Every time a situation looked dodgy, the others scrambled to get out of my way. I’m average height, and while I was very fit at the time, I was not visibly muscular or aggressive-looking. I just looked like I could handle myself (I could). That’s the second lesson: if you can’t avoid a situation, look like you’d be a problem.
The third lesson: take charge of the situation and de-escalate.
I was in a ground-floor student flat in a less salubrious part of Birmingham. There was a crash from the kitchen. I rushed into the corridor, to find myself face-to-face with a guy who looked like a serious boxer, just coming out of the kitchen. I was between him and the front door. He took a swing at me. I deflected the punch into the wall, and he stopped, uncertain.
I asked him who he was, why he was in my flat, and what had happened in the kitchen.
A flatmate of mine had flirted with the guy’s girlfriend through the kitchen window. Our boxer suspected the girl was cheating, and thought he had found the culprit. He found the front door unlocked, walked into the kitchen, and knocked my flatmate off his feet, and over the table. By the time he’d explained all this, he had calmed down a great deal. We went back into the kitchen, established that my flatmate was not the sought-for Lothario. Everyone shook hands, apologised, and there was no more trouble.
None of this used specifically judo moves, but the training gave me both the confidence and the reflexes, so no, martial arts are not useless.
Have you ever taken the law into your own hands?
My neighbor is a big-shot lawyer. One night, his dog was outside my house. I didn’t know it was his dog and had to ask around. I was told it was “the lawyer’s dog.” I noticed that the dog was terribly skinny and, in general, just didn’t have the bounce in her step like most black labs do.
I left her at my house and knocked on the door. I told him I had his dog. He didn’t seem concerned. When it appeared he wasn’t going to come outside, I asked him if he expected me to deliver the dog to him. He got all huffy and said, “Fine!” His beautiful and very, very sweet wife and four little girls were thanking me but he was just pissed that I interrupted his “pizza and movie night with the family.” He begrudgingly followed me home.
I am a retired humane officer and still have a lot of influence at animal control. But I didn’t want to sound arrogant and threatening so I didn’t mention it. I just asked if the dog was okay as she seemed a little gaunt. He told me to mind my own business.
I asked him if the dog had been to see a vet lately and he said, “What’s with all the g-damn questions?” Since I had had this very same exchange many times in my career, I didn’t get mad. I just smiled and said I was concerned about the dog. He again told me to mind my own business. I said “Okay, well, if you’re not going to talk to me…” and trailed off.
The dog was less than enthusiastic to see him and he had to actually pick up the dog .
The next day, bright and early, two uniformed Animal Control officers knocked on his door, demanding to see the dog. He got a seven-day warning to get the dog to a vet or be fined. Seven days later they came back and were shown a letter from a vet that the lab had been seen and is now under treatment for a pancreatic disorder.
My neighbors asked me how I was so bold and stupid to make an enemy out of a big-shot lawyer.
Right makes might. I had right on my side.
I will never be afraid to speak out on behalf of a dog. In my career I had dealt with hardened criminal dog fighters and my anger gave me courage.
I gave him the chance to talk to me, and I would have offered to take the dog to the vet since I know he and his wife are busy, but he shot me down so fast.
My husband is a big-shot lawyer, too, but this guy doesn’t know that.
I called in a favor from my old colleagues and showed this guy that he didn’t intimidate me and that “Failure to render treatment to an animal in need” is a crime and not even a big-shot lawyer is above the law.
Do you think there is such a thing as the worst Hollywood celebrity decision ever?
A virtual unknown, Australian actor George Lazenby was cast as James Bond in 1969, taking over the role from Connery in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. Lazenby was young, inexperienced… and honestly not that great an actor. But when he played the part, he kind of killed it. And although initially panned by critics, in later years in fact his performance has been hailed as one of the finest. This role could have forever changed his life.
main qimg cdca58e4a164bae10e803e2d819576a6 lq
And yet, out of thin air… Lazenby called it quits. Told the studio he would NOT be apearing in another Bond movie ever again. This was positively unprecedented. The role had made his predecessor a millionaire, a household name around the globe. It would have been Lazenby’s claim to fame. He’d be set for a lifetime. And yet, he bucked. And quit his job, in style. He said the studio “made him feel mindless” and that whenever he made suggestions for the role, he was dismissed, which he disliked. The young Australian didn’t want to “just be a product”. It was all the more shocking because of all the effort he had put into getting cast in the first place, bluffing his way into getting the part.
main qimg 8a175aa7a4c64fcb284b6d02f7d9ced0
As filming came to an end, George Lazenby grew a beard. Grew out his hair, too. He looked more like a hippie than the famous suave secret agent he was portraying. By the time the premier came around, Lazenby was ordered by the studio to shave his beard, cut his hair, “look the part”. He flat-out refused, and not only kept the beard, he even put on a massive fur coat to further enhance his image as the enfant terrible of the Bond universe. Everyone gave Lazenby a hard time for his choice:
“I much prefer being a car salesman to a stereotyped James Bond. My parents think I’m insane, everybody thinks I’m insane passing up maybe millions of pounds. Nobody believed me. They thought it was a publicity stunt. But it’s just me doing my own thing”
He wouldn’t budge. George Lazenby became James Bond, played the role once, and never again. His film career failed to take off after this, and in later years the actor went into real estate, making a fortune for himself off-screen. He could have been one of the world’s most major movie stars… instead, he went from Bond, to hippie, to dude who flips houses for a living.
Do not forget about CloudStrike and it’s roll in the July 2024 shutdowns
The election is gonna be on line in a few days. Keep your eyes open.
What was the most blatant scam a customer has ever failed to get away with?
I used to work at a running store in a suburb of Denver, Colorado.
One day, a guy and his girlfriend/partner came into the store while I was working. They bought a few pairs of shoes and some running clothes and signed up for a local race. There was nothing unusual about any of this, and they were quite nice.
The only odd thing was they both clearly had lower-than-normal IQs. Just imagine the person you know who best fits the phrase “not the sharpest tool in the shed” and add in a little more dullness, and that’s them.
Anyway, the next day the store owner comes in and starts asking us about this couple (he hadn’t been there the day before). After we answered a few questions, he told us that their checks (one for the gear, one for the race) had bounced. We were now out several hundred dollars of product.
The owner, a New York City native, was not one to take things lying down, so he did a little digging.
My old boss: not a sucker
The first thing he discovered was that the guy had used checks with his actual name and address on them. The guy’s last name was unique—“Pfeffenschmecker” or something like that. Now as you can imagine, there were only about five Pfeffenschmeckers in the whole phone book (yes, this was back when we still had phone books), so my boss started calling them all.
He quickly found a relative who said, “Oh yes, they have done this before. They use checks from an old, closed-out account to steal from stores.”
Armed with that knowledge and their home address, here’s what my boss did next.
He went to their house late that night and took a steel pipe with him. He banged on their door with the pipe and started yelling at them with his strongest New York accent from outside the house, telling them in no uncertain terms that he wanted his stuff back…or else.
They never came to the door, so he eventually left. But the next morning, there were several bags in front of the store when he got there.
They had returned all the merchandise and, one hopes, learned a very valuable lesson: don’t steal from a New Yorker, but if you do, don’t use your real name and address as part of your scam!
What is one thing that I can learn from you today?
One day, me and my girlfriend went out for lunch. After finishing our lunch, we called the waiter to get the bill. The waiter kept the bill on our table and then he left.
My girlfriend took the bill and checked it. There was some mistake. We had ordered 6 Rotis (Indian Bread) and only 4 were mentioned in the bill. She told me about this and I checked the bill again. She was right.
Then she said that we need to ask them to add 2 more Rotis in the bill and I was like, “Dude, don’t try to be Raja Harishchandra”. She asked, what’s wrong with that? As there was a difference of only 30 rupees, I answered, “Chalta hai yaar kabhi kabhi” (it happens sometimes). But she said, “No. It’s wrong. We must not do this. It’s someone’s hard earned money. We have ordered it and we have to pay for it.” I was surprised to hear that (just because of her maturity) and then I said, “Okay, you win.”
She immediately called the waiter and told him that we have ordered 6 Rotis and only 4 are mentioned in the bill. And asked him to kindly add that in the bill and get an updated one. The waiter said thanks to her and then went to the bill counter. He got a new and correct bill this time. We both checked it and a random conversation started between us.
During the conversation, I pulled out my wallet and picked out 2 five hundred rupee notes and gave it to the waiter with the bill. I was so lost in the conversation that I forgot the bill amount was 474 Rupees only. And instead of giving him a single note, I gave him two. Neither I was aware of this, nor my girlfriend and suddenly the waiter came and said, “Sir the amount is only 474 Rupees and you gave me 2 five hundred rupee notes. Please take one note back (and then he returned me one note).
I immediately checked my wallet and I was shocked that yes he is right! I had 3 notes in my wallet and there was only 1. I thanked him for this and also praised his honesty. He also got a decent tip from us. Then we left the place with a smile and a lesson. The lesson is,
Do good to get good
If you do a good thing, then something good will happen to you.
Thanks for reading.
Chicken and Mushroom Pasta
This Chicken and Mushroom Pasta is flavor packed and loaded with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, veggie pasta and chicken. It’s a 30 minute meal that’s perfect for busy weeknights!
6a39169f337e03edb7337cc593dd0dfa
Ingredients
8 ounces spiral veggie pasta (rotini), cooked (reserve 1/2 cup starchy pasta water)
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup white onion, diced
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Pinch of red pepper chili flakes (optional)
1/2 cup Half-and-Half
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups cooked spinach, fresh
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Instructions
Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a sauté pan and add in mushrooms, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and seasonings. Stir and cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes.
Add in the Half-and-Half, chicken broth and pasta water, and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally (pasta water will help thicken the sauce).
Lastly, add in the cooked chicken, spinach and Parmesan. Stir until combined.
Serve warm.
19 HOUR Layover In China (Guangzhou visa-free transit)
Is President Trump the new Theodore Roosevelt?
Don’t be ridiculous. Theodore Roosevelt was a 250 pound mountain of self-made muscle who gave a speech, got shot into the chest and, spitting out blood with a smile, told the alarmed crowd: “It takes more than that to kill a bull moose!” He then proceeded to give his speech anyway as if nothing had happened. It’s the type of scene that would make people roll their eyes in an anime series and say: “Gee, those Japanese cartoons sure are over-the-top bombastic and unbelievable!”
When Theodore Roosevelt was born, he was weak and sickly. Doctors said he’d surely die. His father believed otherwise. As soon as his son was old enough to understand, he told him: “God gave you a strong mind, but not a strong body. So you must build that body yourself.” He nodded and internalized that message. Started a fitness regimen of insane intensity, including calisthenics and bodyweight exercises. He climbed mountains. Fought in multiple wars. Knocked down several men at a time in bar fights, and rode horses and trekked through the roughest of terrain. His band of men was called “the Rough Riders”. About as close as a 19th century politician could be to being in a biker gang…
When Theodore Roosevelt was nearly assassinated he survived with a bullet lodged in his chest for the rest of his life. It did not, in any way, shape or form, slow the man down. His very first concern, after telling the crowd he was fine, was for the would-be assassin — he told police not to rough him up too bad. If the shooter had merely nicked his ear, Roosevelt would probably have asked him to come up close and said: “Mediocre! Come, have another go!”
Pre-Historic Underground Megastructure Found in Russia – Khara-Hora Shaft
This is amazing.
What was the most bone-chilling sentence a loved one ever said to you?
When I was 24 years old, married with my first baby, my husband and I were driving my mother home after she had visited us. A bit of an argument broke out between mother and me, over something inconsequential, and she said, coldly and clearly:
“I adopted you to save my marriage, and when he loved you more than me, I got rid of you. I sent you to boarding school.”
I was adopted at 2 years of age and packed off to boarding school when I had just turned 7. I spent the rest of my childhood and teenage years at boarding school, only coming home for school holidays.
She would do humiliating things such as putting a notice in the local paper that I was coming home for the school holidays when everyone knew it was holiday time. She would force me to wear my school uniform to town (Father had a sheep property) so “that everyone can see what a good school I sent you to.” Running into my school “mates” dressed in my formal school uniform in the holidays ensured that I was totally humiliated and bullied.
I never forgave her for this and never forgot what she told me that evening when I was 24. Even though I am now 80, it still hurts.
One final thing. Two years ago I discovered that I have a sister who is 16 months younger than me. We were in the orphanage together, and there is NO WAY that Mother didn’t know about her. She never told me about my sister and it was only by chance that I found out she exists. Sadly, she is not keen on meeting me, saying she has “issues” that have to be resolved. I am so sad, because at 80 and her turning 79 in July, time is running out for us to know each other. I have prayed and prayed that she will contact me again, but I fear this will not happen.
NOTE:
Thank you all for your kindness and care. I am sure there are many of you who have upvoted this who can relate to cruelty by parents who, sadly, are damaged people either from their own childhood or as a result of their own actions. Only a parent can inflict this type of deep grief which stays with us for the rest of our lives.
Do you consider America or China a superpower? Can you give me a good answer, opinion or comments?
America and China are both superpowers. In fact, they are presently the ONLY superpowers.
Both countries have enormous economies, far surpassing third-place Germany and fourth-place Japan.
By purchasing power parity, both economies are also enormous, far surpassing third-place India.
China is indisputably the world’s only manufacturing/industrial superpower.
Both countries have enormous militaries. In fact, China has the largest army and the largest navy by number of ships. China has the second largest aircraft carrier fleet.
Both countries have large nuclear arsenals. Officially, China has 500 nuclear weapons, but unofficially this number is believed to be closer to a thousand.
Both countries are technological superpowers. In fact, according to the ASPI, China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technology fields (America leads in 7).
China is granted more technological patents than America and Japan combined!
According to the CWTS Leiden Ranking, China has about half of the world’s top universities.
China dominates the world in 5G. China dominates the world in EVs, batteries and solar panels.
America and China both exert enormous global influence economically, militarily, and technologically. This is why they are superpowers.
What are some short stories that discuss a moral dilemma?
The story of Stéphane Passet always rather haunted me. An amateur photographer, Passet was hired to photograph the world around him — in particular, the Orient, a mysterious place few in the West knew much of. He would go deep into the most remote corners of the world, and photograph what he would encounter. At some point on his travels, he encountered a woman in Mongolia.
main qimg fafb24851ce9742d3ea728f1d640beb7
She was trapped in a box, in a desert. There was a hole in the box, large enough for her to poke her head out, and an arm. But far too small for her to ever dream of escaping. Every once in a while, perhaps once every two days or so, a guard would appear. Give the woman some water, a little bit of food — she was meant to die in that box, and the nourishment given to her was only to further prolong her suffering. Passet looked on, in horror.
“What has she done to deserve this fate?” he asked his guide.
“Adultery…” was the answer.
To take a photograph of this moment in time felt almost… obscene, to Passet. Her slender arm, shaking. The sun mercilessly beating down on her. He was watching a woman die before his eyes. It could take days. Weeks, even. But she would die and there was nothing in the world he could do.
Stéphane Passet could not intervene. Could not save her, he was completely powerless to do anything for the poor soul. Still, he took his camera. And took her picture. After that, he went away, knowing she would die. And yet he did something for her — by taking her picture, he ensured she would be remembered. Most nameless people who shared her fate would never have been captured on camera. She died, but through Passet, she lives on.
Why does everybody like Thailand?
Many factors, they have all the 10 conditions qualified, most countries can’t even reach 5:
1)People are nice and kind, probably due to their religion and culture which believe in Karma, and the core and basic Buddhism knowledge is taught in schools and their boys and men stay in a Buddhist monastery as a novice or temporary monk for at least once in their lifetime. Many foreigners found love 💝 💝 in Thailand.
2)Attractions and sceneries: from natural to man-made, they have everything. Pattaya alone is enough for anyone to live for a lifetime.
3)Shopping: their malls and markets are the best and better than most countries. Even their 7/11s is better than their neighbors with either better facilities, better services or selling more things,
4)Food: Thai food from spicy to non-spicy are all good and international food is easily available too. Even better are their desserts and sauces that makes a perfect meal. There is one Thai sauce that have all 4 tastes in one: spicy, sweet, salty and sour, the only kind in the world.
5)Entertainment and nightlife: their cinemas are better than most countries and their nightlife needs no introduction: males, females, middle-sex and homosexuals are easily available.
6)Massage: Both Thai traditional massage and sensual or sex massage is available everywhere. I think no other countries have them, not even a proper basic massage.
7)Transportation: This is most important as transportation is similar to the blood circulation of a body. Bangkok have the most transportation systems in the world: buses, skytrains, underground trains, car taxis, motorcycle taxis, river ferry transport, canal boat transport, tuk-tuks, songtheaws and samlors. Even remote areas and islands are reachable with public transportation systems and you don’t need to hire a private car.
8)Restaurants and cafes of many international food and budget options are easily available everywhere. You can buy a 120 baht fresh coffee in a cafe to as cheap as a 25 baht coffee from a takeaway stall. Even sushi is available in most night markets.
9)Costs: still affordable now although it keeps increasing.
10)Fairness in treatment: all people are treated fairly. There is no racism treatment, all religions are allowed(even Pope is allowed into the country to hold events) although this is not a good idea long term, dual pricing is practiced for many attractions entrance.
I may have missed some factors but I think those above are enough.
As a realtor, what was the shadiest thing you saw a home seller do?
I was young and had wanted to break into the real estate industry since I was a baby. My dad had been an agent and my grandpa had been a house flipper. My grandpa had taught my dad everything about houses and how to fix them and flip them. Dad only had me, a girl.
Dad was undeterred and taught me everything grandpa had taught him and even brought me on showings. I had also studied woodworking, metal working, business administration, accounting, real estate, drafting and various other housing-related things while still in school. I was ready for my career in real estate.
However, I made one heck of a bad move right out of the gate. I signed on with a broker whom I didn’t know was shady. He seemed OK to me and he was Italian like me but I was naive and blinded by my dreams of working in the housing industry. Soon it was obvious that something was wrong. My broker refused to allow me to work the front desk where agents were able to take walk-in clients. He also refused other avenues that would help grow my career. I was completely frustrated to say the least. I was basically getting nowhere fast. It was as if he was deliberately trying to stop me from growing in the business.
What my broker didn’t count on was that I was persistent. So I finally, through my own avenues, got a potential buyer and two potential sellers. I was figuring out my career path, no thanks to my lousy broker. My broker was extremely upset that I was getting anywhere and I quite frankly couldn’t understand why he wanted to destroy me so bad when he hardly knew me. What kind of threat could I possibly be to him!?
So I’m getting ready to show my buyer a house and am getting the listing sheets etc together. Suddenly my broker says, “Oh, that house you’re showing, you need to know that the boiler is about to blow.” I thanked him for giving me the head’s up but was stunned when he added, “It is our secret! The seller and I know and the agents in the office know but no potential buyer is to know about this at all!!” Angry I responded, “Isn’t that illegal and immoral?” His response, “They will never know until after it is sold then the buyers can replace it at their own cost!”
I was beyond livid at that point! I outright refused to lie to my buyer and was asked to part ways with the company as a result of my “insubordination” to my broker. I was more than happy to do so even though it meant giving up my lifelong dreams. I was raised to be honest and forthright. I simple couldn’t bring myself down to that level no matter how much my dreams meant to me.
As I left the broker said, “By the way, I took you on because of your last name and then realized you couldn’t provide ‘favors’ for me afterwards. So basically it was a mistake having you here at all!!” I got what he meant, my uncle was Charles Luciano, AKA Lucky Luciano, the famous mobster. He thought I could get him some mob ties!!!!!
I looked him square in the eyes and said, “What are you, stupid? My uncle has been dead since before I was born! How the heck did you think I was going to pull any favors for you?” I stormed out. A few years later his business went belly up. I cannot decide if it was due to his shady dealings with his sellers or if he was simply a victim of the real estate market crash. I’m guessing it was his shady dealings to be honest.
So what happened to me? I found the man of my dreams and it turns out he builds chimneys for a living. Suddenly I found myself back in the housing industry that I love so much, running our own chimney company. And this company is not run on “favors” and shady dealings. This is one housing company that is run on honesty and integrity. And yes, I use all the education my dad handed down to me and all the schooling I took, on a daily basis, to run this company. The best part? I’m happy.
Norwegian Politician Reveal Shocking SECRET About China in 2024
What are the strangest or most eerie true crime cases you have read about?
From 1974 until 1986 a serial killer who became known as EARONS (East-Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker) terrorized a massive spree of terrible crimes. He committed at least twelve murders, fifty rapes and one hundred and twenty burglaries as well. In April 2018, the man was arrested… his name? Joseph James DeAngelo. A 72-year old retired cop.
main qimg adbe764d0058044ae446db38482ffce8 lq
When they arrested DeAngelo, he appeared to be a kindly old grandfather. He lived in a house he shared with one of his adult daughters and his oldest granddaughter. When officers tried to arrest him, DeAngelo said he “had to go inside for a bit because he had a pot roast in the oven”. The cops then took him down, suspecting he was plotting to reach for a gun and either kill himself or engage them in a shootout…
There was no pot roast. What there was, however, was a house full of evidence. A shocked family who, for a year, never broke their silence in utter disbelief. And a computer, open, up and running…
Now DeAngelo was a terrifying killer. The type of killer who would go into houses, brutally attack sleeping couples and tie up husbands in the hallway with plates and cutlery on their backs as he would rape their wives nearby… and stab, shoot or bludgeon to death the poor husband if he made an attempt to escape and save his wife, causing the cutlery to fall on the floor…
He was also a former cop who “kept tabs” on the case. He stopped in the late 1980s around the time when DNA became a more commonly used source to solve crimes. Aware of his crimes, he even followed online, made accounts on message boards that recorded the case and tracked it’s development.
main qimg cb6a0fdc69e58a810d88249f1d7ec374 lq
Joseph James DeAngelo also stalked his victims and their families for years after the attacks. A prowler, he would get a thrill out of repeatedly entering and leaving their homes on nights prior to his home invasions, getting to know every detail, nook and cranny of his future crime scenes. After raping and murdering family members he would find their phone numbers and call them, breathing down the line and uttering profanities. On one of his last such phone calls, somewhere around the 1990s, the victim heard children in the background. This caused law enforcement to look into the possibility that their suspect may be a family man — they had previously looked for a deranged bachelor without a family.
The fact that one of the most prolific serial killers and rapists went undetected for decades and was so… seemingly normal? Terrifying. You expect some sort of freak who talks to demons in the head and dogs possessed by Satan. Not a grandfather who takes his friends fishing by boat, who lives with his daughter, is happily retired and with-the-times enough to operate a computer and browse the internet successfully in his seventies, keeping up to date with the latest police techniques. Thank God for ancestry websites… it’s how she got a match with a distant relative of DeAngelo.
DNA took down the killer. On April 24, 2018, Joseph James DeAngelo was taken in at long last. But the most chilling detail, for me? Some accounts on the case message board for internet sleuths stopped posting altogether on the day of his arrests. And one never logged in again since. The monster lurked on the forum. Chatted the people obsessed with his case and even may have “thrown them hints” here and there. Chilling.
Italian Beef Pasta
fac2a63cca5b717df0def156a1848e6e
Ingredients
1 pound beef tenderloin, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 red bell peppers, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 pound rotini pasta
Instructions
In a large skillet over medium heat sauté beef strips in hot oil until no longer pink.
Add prepared vegetables and Italian seasoning to skillet. Cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until onion is softened.
Mix together broth and cornstarch until smooth. Add to meat mixture in pan; cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil and is thickened.
Meanwhile, cook pasta as directed on package.
Spoon beef mixture over prepared pasta; garnish with fresh basil if desired.
Why Asia doesn’t want warhawk Kamala in charge
What is something in the world that you feel the need to give attention to, something everyone needs to be aware of?
I want to highlight today the sad tale of Mr. Paco Larrañaga. He was convicted to die in the Philippines in 1997 for a murder and rape he not only didn’t commit… but couldn’t possibly have committed. Why? Because he was not there. Two girls were raped and murdered in Cebu in 1997, the Chiong sisters. They belonged to a rather influential and shady family. Larrañaga, on the other hand, was just a young culinary school student hoping to one day be a chef. Despite having nothing to do with the case whatsoever, he was accused, perhaps for political reasons.
main qimg 0fc6bf20b1d0bebf119203997f90849d lq
The murder took place on the island of Cebu. Larrañaga was nowhere near — he was in Manila, studying to be a chef. The night of the crime there are records of him leaving a club in Manila. Early the next day he sat for an exam. Over forty fellow students and teachers testified to this. There were no flight records of Larrañaga flying to or from Cebu at any time near the murder. And the man who claimed he was present, Rusia, a “state witness”, showed up only ten months after the event, having never even met Larrañaga. Physical evidence linking Larrañaga to the crime was never produced. No DNA, no fingerprints, flight records, nor witnesses except for this one state witness who the defense was only allowed to interview for a mere ten minutes(!) while Larrañaga was grilled for hours on end…
The judge said every single testimony from the teachers, the students, the bouncer of the club and even the airlines could not be used by Larrañaga because “they were his friends”. He was sentenced to death, later changed to life in prison when the death penalty was abolished in the Philippines. He was just nineteen years old when they arrested him and his life, for all intents and purposes, came to an end. Today, he is 45. He has been in jail for 25 years. It’s an injustice and it needs to be said. Only a presidential pardon could save this poor man’s already ruined life, but pleas seem to fall on death ears. I’ll link a petition you could sign, and would appreciate it if you did.
This is one of the most shocking cases ever to me. For some reason it gets to me, ever since I watched the documentary “Give Up Tomorrow” made about the subject. I have seen reviewed and researched the case extensively and I am appalled and astonished that a man who has been proven beyond reasonable doubt not to have been anywhere near a crime scene is still in jail wasting away for having committed that crime.
Why are U.S. entrepreneurs flying to China now?
Why do people have a problem with Ambanis and Adanis getting richer?
The China Real Estate Syndrome
Why do you think it happened?
Why a Property that cost 350K RMB in 2004 rose to cost 3.5 Million RMB in 15 years time?
At 17% per Annum
It wasn’t due to demand and supply
It was due to RAPIDLY RISING INCOME INEQUALITY between 2005 and 2017 in China
In 2005 – the Top 0.1% Chinese earned 182% of what the Median Chinese earned
By 2016 it had risen to a whopping 568%
The Richer Chinese didn’t earn their money through manufacturing or factory work
They earned their money by PAPER WEALTH
They made real estate killings, reinvested into the same real estate
They made speculative killings and invested it back in speculative markets
Luckily for the Chinese , they had a great leader like Xi Jinping who saw the situation and decided to curb it
And has brought down the number from 568% to 342% in the last 7 years
Has kept real estate prices constant so that the apartment now costs 3.28 Million RMB instead of 5.25 Million RMB that it could have risen to
It’s still not hunky dory
However China has dodged a Major Hypersonic Nuclear Weapon and managed to get hit with a dozen bullets instead
India is heading the same way
Except that in India – State does not even own the land
Our 0.1% in the last 3 years from 2021–2024 now have 1186% more rise in wealth than the Median group
In China it was 293%
In US it was 313%
In Japan it was 181%
In India it was 1200%
You catch my drift?
If this keeps up, resources will become all the more expensive and the ownership will become even more exclusive
In 20 years – we could virtually be slaves of the 0.1% unable to grow or develop even a fraction
We talk of Middle Income Trap with China
We could fall into a Low Income Trap
Solution?
In the next two decades – the 0.1% should see a wealth growth of 275% of the Median Group
That’s the only way to ensure INEQUALITY IS CONTAINED
If they keep getting richer like today, India is finished
China woke up in 2018 – luckily
We need to have woken up five years ago, given that we have a bureaucracy while they can change the rules in twenty minutes
Unless Ambani and Adani can create latest technology and earn from it
And they are too Moron to do that
A 10-year-old cat abandoned, stays at the owner’s door unwilling to leave
How effective are Taiwan’s Wan’an civil defense drills at simulating a Chinese missile attack?
Unless they’re simulating 12,000 MLRS guided rockets like a smaller version of the ATACMS in one hour. It’s completely useless.
It’s like practicing against 50 people when 10,000 will show up. What will that do? Will that really help?
You decide.
China brings a whole new dimension to modern warfare. Not only do they have advanced weapon system that is equal or better than the US, they have them in ridiculously large numbers.
They have been preparing for war with the US. So do you think Taiwan can do anything?
Right before I went into the US Army, the US invaded Panama. Operation Just Cause. Did Panama manage to fend off the US?
And Panama is over 1,800 miles. Taiwan is 100 miles off the coast of China. With no intervening nation. While Panama has the whole of Mexico between it and the US. Did that bother the US or stop the US?
Americans visiting CHINA for the first time!
As a nurse, what is the most disturbing story you can tell about a patient who was living in extreme poverty?
I was a patient in the hospital myself, which was an eye opening experience for me as an RN. I was there for a week with what turned out to be psitticosis from my new pet parakeet. (Not a fun experience.) During that time, I got to know my roommate very well.
My roommate was a widow in her mid thirties, and she was dying of cancer. She had three young children who had recently entered the foster care system. She had no friends or family to help her, and no one willing to take her kids in. She had done nothing wrong as a mother except to become so sick with cancer that she could no longer care for her children. To complicate matters, she had recently been evicted from her apartment due to the loss of her income as a result of her ongoing illness. She was now homeless.
She was also uninsured, which is why her breast cancer was left untreated until it was too late. The cancer had been detected by a routine mammogram paid for by a woman’s health clinic. She was then referred for a biopsy, then to an oncologist. The oncologist was willing to see her free of charge, yet he could not afford to pay for her chemotherapy. He informed her that she needed to try to get on Medicaid, so that the expensive chemotherapy could begin. At that time she was still working, and she made too much money to qualify for Medicaid. She made far too little money though, to purchase health insurance. (This was in 2004, before the ACA, or even Go-Fund-Me came about.) She kept working as long as she could to feed her kids while the cancer spread throughout her body.
Soon after being told that she was terminal, she received word that she had been accepted into a charity drug program paid for by the Disney corporation. They agreed to pay for her chemotherapy, except now it was too late.
While we were in the hospital, she told me over and over again that she desperately wanted to see her children. She was embarrassed by her appearance though, because as the cancer overtook her, she became so weak that she would occasionally faint. One of those falls had chipped two of her front teeth close to the gum line. This was very noticeable. When her mouth was closed, she looked normal. The minute she spoke, smiled or ate, the missing teeth were very, very apparent. Her children had never seen her without her front teeth, and she feared that she would frighten them. She longed for a partial plate or crowns to correct her appearance before her children saw her, yet she had no money for this. As a result, she planned to wear a mask over her mouth when they came instead. Sadly though, her young children were never brought to see her. Calls by her to the social worker in charge of her children’s foster care placement went unreturned. I tried to get our hospital’s social services department to help, yet nothing was ever accomplished.
My roommate had been a pre-school teacher. This isn’t a high paying job, yet it is an important one. The job, sadly, offered no benefits. Plus, due to her cancer, she had by this point not been able to work for several months.
By the time I was discharged, we had become the best of friends. I was still quite weak from my own illness, yet my hope was to have her live in my spare bedroom when she was discharged. As a nurse who only worked part time, I knew that I could care for her.
Whether she came to live with me or not, I also planned to help get her teeth fixed so that she could at least die with the dignity of a beautiful smile. I even had a dentist lined up who was willing to help. Most importantly, I planned to find some way to have her children visit regularly. I never got the chance to do any of those things though. I went to see her two days after my discharge, only to find out that she had passed away suddenly the night before, alone, homeless and toothless.
Keanu Reeves
While shooting the movie “The Lake House”, he overheard the conversation between two costume assistants, and a woman was crying because she would lose her house if she didn’t pay a sum of 20 thousand dollars. He deposited it into her account.
On his birthday in 2010, he went into a bakery alone and bought a cupcake with a single candle. While he ate it outside, he offered free coffee and bread to all customers. This was his luxury birthday.
With what he earned from the Matrix trilogy, he distributed 50 million dollars to the special effects personnel, because according to him, they were the real heroes of the films.
He almost never used stuntmen, except for very specific things like stunts, and for this reason he recognized the work of his stuntmen by giving each of them a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
To this day, he regularly uses the subway and other public transportation systems such as the bus when necessary because it is the most practical thing, and he is never ashamed.
A large number of hospitals say they have received tens of millions of dollars from him.
He donated 90% of his salary in some films so that the production could hire other stars.
In 1997, a paparazzo found him on the street sitting next to a homeless man, listening to the homeless man’s life and having breakfast with him.
All the good we know about Keanu Reeves was not told to us by him, but by those who benefited from him. He never declared anything.
For everything he has experienced, he could have had a sadder and more pessimistic view of life, but despite this he chose to be that something good among all the evil there is.
American greed…
What happened? Since when did money become EVERYTHING?
One of my little pleasures here in China is the massage.There are all types of massages. From a nice foot massage after soaking in a super hot herbal bath, to “happy ending” massages that are 100% legal inside of China.
0dc75067eab77e3192562cbb285be5a2
The prices are entirely reasonable, and really, it’s a four hours or so well spent.
56d0cd93eb12b9955df57084a335c702
8639e360c94eea77bcad927fd2790ebf
80625e35883d3ce5be1500ae00c7fa0e
In the ‘States, I never had or experienced a professional massage. The best that I could get was an amateur massage from a favored girl or two.
But really, as I get older, having a massage…
spa for men
one that involves drinking whiskey, a very hard touch, and soft relax afterwards. Followed by a fine smoke is truly special, and it is one that I really do appreciate.
I don’t know if you can ever get something like this in the USA unless you go to a private spa. Ah, many ladies use these services I know. But not so much foe the men.
If you all ever get an opportunity, take it.
Today….
We Haven’t Seen A “Historic Surge” Of Corporate Bankruptcies Like This Since The Great Recession
July 10, 2024 by Michael
We continue to get numbers that indicate that the U.S. economy is steamrolling in the wrong direction as we approach the most chaotic election season in our history. Needless to say, the performance of the economy is going to play a major role in the outcome of the election, because millions upon millions of Americans are really suffering right now. Homelessness has been growing at the fastest pace ever recorded, hunger and poverty are exploding, and we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis that doesn’t seem to have any end in sight. Unfortunately, there are signs that things will soon get even worse. For example, we experienced a “historic surge” of corporate bankruptcies during the first half of this year that was worse than anything we have witnessed since the first half of 2010…
There is a “historic surge” of corporate bankruptcies underway in the U.S., as debt-saddled companies struggle to adjust to the new era of high interest rates.
New figures published by S&P Global Intelligence show that 75 companies filed for bankruptcy in June, the highest number recorded in a single month since early 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That pushed this year’s total number of bankruptcies so far to 346, which is notably higher than comparable levels seen in the past 13 years.
Before this, the highest half-year figure recorded was in 2010, with 437 companies filing for bankruptcy from January through June.
During the first half of 2010, we were just coming out of the Great Recession.
Do you remember how painful things were in those days?
Sadly, I believe that what is ahead of us will be even more painful.
The unprecedented measures that our leaders took to prop up the economy worked for a while, but now cracks are starting to show all over the place.
And a lot more big businesses will go belly up during the months ahead.
Discount retail chain Big Lots said it will close up to 40 stores this year and may declare bankruptcy.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company wrote in a quarterly Securities and Exchange Commission filing it expected further operating losses and has “substantial doubt” it can continue as a functioning business.
Big Lots last month reported a net loss of $205 million in the quarter ending May 4, 2024.
When I lived in Virginia many years ago, I would shop at Big Lots quite a bit.
And it always seemed to be doing fairly well.
But now times have changed.
Today, most Americans have very little discretionary income. In fact, surveys have shown that the vast majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck at this point…
A 2023 survey conducted by Payroll.org highlighted that 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, a 6% increase from the previous year. In other words, more than three-quarters of Americans struggle to save or invest after paying for their monthly expenses.
Similarly, a 2023 Forbes Advisor survey revealed that nearly 70% of respondents either identified as living paycheck to paycheck (40%) or—even more concerning—reported that their income doesn’t even cover their standard expenses (29%).
There is no way to spin those numbers in a positive manner.
Any way that you look at them, they are absolutely horrible.
The middle class is being ripped to shreds, and those that are running the system seem to be all out of answers.
Young adults in particular are having a very difficult time in this environment.
A new survey by Bank of America finds that nearly half of adult members of Gen Z are relying on financial help from their parents and family members to get by.
The survey for Bank of America’s Better Money Habits team found that 46% of Gen Z are receiving financial assistance from their parents or other family members, a figure that declines to 30% for Gen Z non-students.
Have you noticed that so many young adults seem to be very bitter and very angry these days?
This is one of the big reasons why they are in such a foul mood.
Many of them were promised that life would be good if the studied hard, went to college, and did all the right things.
But now many of them are discovering that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was just an illusion.
Of course there is a small sliver of society that is still doing exceptionally well.
Flooding the system with trillions upon trillions of dollars has been very good for the financial markets, and those with lots of money in the financial markets have been living the high life.
Millionaires once accused of ruining a gorgeous town in Wyoming now complain they are being driven out of the area by billionaires.
Jackson Hole has long been a popular vacation spot for celebrities including Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and Matthew McConaughey.
An influx of wealthy people sent house prices sky-rocketing and forced ordinary workers to live on the other side of the mountain on the Idaho-Wyoming border.
There are more billionaires in America today than ever before.
That is the good news.
The bad news is that there are more homeless people in America today than ever before, the ranks of the poor are growing very rapidly, and more Americans are falling out of the middle class with each passing day.
The wealthy may think that all of the wealth that they have piled up will insulate them from the unprecedented chaos that is approaching, but the truth is that a day of reckoning is coming for them too.
In the end, the entire system is going to completely and utterly fail, and those that believed that the party would last forever will be bitterly, bitterly disappointed.
“It’s Getting WORSE And WORSE…” – Richard Wolff
He is absolutely correct. Worth the watch.
The world has changed.
Food Porn
f429b4ac57ac31ccb0114d3f9ba762ba
b972cc305ab56d5d170df7a5978d91ca
5adb8081add8c43a7bf05ae522e0e94b
17d0cb7e05aa831ccd3b35dd33ccbafa
11e894cb265a82337072ada580a1d9d7
5cf3ea34eaeb77091efade13fdb62629
5451baf5631b70a83fb445995f53589c
ba86074e66f53155584ffad02de87780
da3318202b4a09d53734e9db2f35caad
2b7bf4019c7aa73ce718cfe793b188c8
09b592f4a5226d7d02e0d8c9f473927a
47600bc66577105ab7038b9fab473f1b
76eff55c6be7fe11a4c0a1f112618c09
FOOD 4c44402de11a9b2a374663de98dd0ff8
Why Has The Chinese Military Suddenly Become So Aggressive? Is Something Up?
Does China sense weakness in the White House? In recent days Chinese troops have been sent to Belarus for military exercises, dozens of Chinese military aircraft have been threatening Taiwan, and four Chinese military vessels were even detected off the coast of Alaska. So why has China decided to become so aggressive all of a sudden? Right now, Joe Biden is facing endless questions about his competency, and those around him are focused on fighting for his political survival. So could foreign adversaries such as China use this window of opportunity to do things that they may not normally attempt to do?
According to authorities in Taiwan, 66 Chinese military aircraft and 7 Chinese military vessels were “operating around Taiwan” on Wednesday…
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) on Thursday said that it had detected 66 Chinese military aircraft and vessels around the island, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the Western Pacific.
The media outlet embedded a statement by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence on its X platform.
“66 PLA aircraft and seven PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 am (2200 GMT Wednesday) today,” the statement said.
When asked about the warplanes crossing the median line at a regular press briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian avoided directly responding. “The determination of China to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity remains unrelenting,” he said.
The CCP insists that Taiwan is Chinese territory, and the Biden administration has been warned that “reunification” will take place at some point.
Let us hope that the Chinese do not choose to use this current window of opportunity to “reunify” with Taiwan, because the moment that they invade we will be at war with China and everything will change.
Unfortunately, it appears that the Chinese have been aggressively probing Taiwan’s maritime defenses. During the first six months of 2024, the Taiwanese Coast Guard “drove away 567 Chinese boats”…
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday.
They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said.
Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese have been sniffing around our coastlines too.
Multiple Chinese military ships were spotted by the U.S. Coast Guard in the waters off Alaska, officials said in a news release on Wednesday.
Three vessels were detected about 124 miles north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands, and a fourth ship was spotted about 84 miles north of the state’s Amukta Pass. The ships were seen on Saturday and Sunday.
All four ships were in international waters, the Coast Guard said, but were inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the U.S. shoreline.
The reason that this incident is noteworthy is because it is very unusual.
Chinese military vessels don’t normally operate so far north.
Most people don’t realize this, but China now has the largest navy on the entire planet.
I don’t know how we allowed that to happen, but we did.
A large number of Chinese semiconductors are used in critical military platforms, accounting for around 40% of all U.S. Department of Defense weapons systems and infrastructure, and are further linked to military supply chains such as Patriot air-defense missiles and B-2 bombers.
For example, a Lockheed Martin missile factory situated in Alabama produces Javelin anti-tank weapons which use more than 200 semiconductors in each weapon. This equates to thousands of Chinese-made semiconductors within U.S. weaponry.
“U.S. companies at the bottom of the supply chain pyramid often source these parts from China in open market transactions. As a result, many essential components in sensitive U.S. military systems now come from China. Countless major weapons platforms are vulnerable,” the report states.
Our leaders aren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, but this is ridiculous.
Didn’t anyone consider the fact that one day we might actually end up in a war with China?
Before I end this article, I wanted to give a quick update on the conflict in Ukraine.
According to the BBC, at the big NATO conference this week the Ukrainians were told that they now have an “irreversible path” to membership in the alliance…
Nato members have pledged their support for an “irreversible path” to future membership for Ukraine, as well as more aid.
While a formal timeline for it to join the military alliance was not agreed at a summit in Washington DC, the military alliance’s 32 members said they had “unwavering” support for Ukraine’s war effort.
Nato has also announced further integration with Ukraine’s military and members have committed €40bn ($43.3bn, £33.7bn) in aid in the next year, including F-16 fighter jets and air defence support.
Needless to say, this is not going to sit well with the Russians at all.
One of the reasons this war started was because Russia was determined to keep Ukraine out of NATO.
Now F-16 fighter jets from a number of NATO countries are starting to be delivered to Ukraine, and the Russians have already warned that those fighter jets will be considered a nuclear threat…
This summer, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium will begin sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and Denmark and the Netherlands have said there will be no restrictions on the use of these planes to strike targets in Russia. F-16s are able to deliver nuclear weapons, and Russia has said the planes will be considered a nuclear threat.
We are rapidly approaching a point of no return.
I have been studying the Russians for a long time, and once they come to the conclusion that nuclear war is inevitable they will strike first.
They know that there are no winners in a nuclear war, but they also know that whoever strikes first will have the best chance of surviving.
The Russians are highly paranoid, and we should not be backing them into a corner because that will make them extremely dangerous.
A stray cat walked upon me, and when I patted it, it jumped up on my knees
Joe Biden’s escalating dementia and the long media-political conspiracy to hide his senility from the public are the least of the Democrats’ current problems.
Biden’s track record as president may be more concerning than his cognitive decline. He has literally destroyed the U.S. border, deliberately allowing the entry of more than 10 million illegal aliens. His callous handlers’ agenda was to import abjectly poor constituencies in need of vast government services without regard for the current struggles of a battered American middle class and poor.
The widespread poverty of a vast new cohort of illegal immigrants could serve as indictments of a “racist,” “unequal,” and “unfair” America—as if the residents of East Palestine, Ohio or inner-city Chicago had anything to do with the centuries-long corruption and oppression of Mexico and Latin America that daily drives thousands of their own poorest citizens northwards to a society founded on very different ideas than those of their homelands.
Note that the left, neither in Mexico nor in America, never asks why millions of these impoverished people prefer to break into a supposedly racist America. Much less do they even distinguish those principles and values that once made America prosperous, free, and secure from their antitheses that have sadly made much of Latin America mostly poor, without freedom, and insecure.
Biden inherited near-zero real interest rates and inflation at 1.4 percent. Almost immediately, in nihilistic fashion, Biden did to a sound economy what he had done to a secure border. So, he recklessly printed money at a time of spiraling, quarantine-ending demand and supply chain disruption. Middle-class wages never caught up with Biden’s inflation, as prices for key staples are nearly 30 percent higher than when he took office.
The cost of servicing the ballooning national debt at high interest is now nearly $1 trillion per year. The world abroad is aflame, lit by Biden’s inexplicable withdrawal from Kabul, his mixed signals to Vladimir Putin on the eve of his invasion of Ukraine, his deliberate alienation of Israel, his appeasement of Iran and China, and his cuts in the defense budget, coupled with his woke war on mythical “racists” in the military.
Energy prices soared, even as Biden’s green agenda proved unworkable and prompted draining the strategic petroleum reserve and begging foreign oil despots before key elections. The “unifier” Biden by design needlessly alienated nearly half the country, and in his debate, he reiterated why Trump supporters do not deserve his concern. And more ominously and recently, Biden grossly told hundreds of his donors that “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye”—just days before the attempt on Trump’s life.
The greatest absurdity of the Biden White House is the gaslighting talk of Biden’s “achievements.” Biden’s actions over the last four years are not offsets for his senility that warrant his continuance in office, but again, sadly, they serve as force multipliers, furthering claims of his dementia and for his removal.
Joe Biden is not just non compos mentis and in a sane world, he would be subject to 25th Amendment removal. He also increasingly seems unpleasant and obnoxious, if not sometimes simply weird. To achieve momentary clarity, Biden either shouts at his audience or stoops over and whispers in an eerie fashion.
He insults reporters and his own staff. Every few sentences, without warning, he begins screaming. His face is fixed in a permanent, angry contortion. As a result, the public sees their president as an off-putting, angry old man—and in his selfish dotage, an increasingly unsympathetic one. Even after more than 40 months of media hagiography, Joe Biden still cannot poll over a 40 percent approval rating, given that his rudeness is fueled further by the day due to escalating mental confusion.
Biden is, to be candid, a serial prevaricator. It is not just his ad nauseam repetition of Trump’s supposed slurs—the Charlottesville “both sides” lie, the “suckers” lie, or the “bloodbath” lie. He continues to peddle absolute falsehoods like the mythical nine-percent inflation he inherited and Trump’s supposed intention to ban all abortions, or his whopper that after welcoming in 10 million illegal aliens, Biden would have had a closed, secure border if not for those selfish Republicans who, for some reason, did not trust his ridiculous eleventh-hour, election-timed immigration proposal.
When he hammers Trump as a “convicted felon,” Biden has no clue that a majority of Americans equate that charge with Biden’s own warped lawfare assault on ancient customs, as well as a reminder that his now closest advisor is likewise a “convicted felon.”
When Biden rants near daily about the rich “paying their fair share,” he reminds us that his son is also facing federal tax evasion charges for unreported foreign income in the millions of dollars and that as soon as Biden himself leaves office, as a recipient of the same foreign cash, he may find himself in the same legal jeopardy. So, to use a Bidenism, “how dare he” accuse affluent Americans of the very crimes that his own family is knee deep in?
Biden’s prefaces of “no lie,” “here’s the deal,” “no kidding,” and “no joke” are little more than tics that forewarn us of complete fabrications about to follow, from the ridiculous story of an uncle supposedly eaten by New Guinea cannibals to his supposed heroics during the Civil Rights movement and his near childhood adoption by various minority communities.
In this regard, senility served oddly as a crutch for Biden. In the past, he paid dearly for his plagiarism, cheating, racist rants, and prevarications, losing three presidential bids and earning a reputation as the empty-suit blowhard of the Senate. Now his press handlers conveniently chalk up his long-standing habitual untruth as momentary mental “confusion.”
Given all the above, remember that Biden was to be the “savior” of the Democratic Party. To this day, celebrities demanding his withdrawal from the race throw him the bone that “he saved the country by stopping Trump”—as if no wars, stability abroad, no inflation, low interest, and low energy costs were something to fear.
Yet Biden’s four years pale in comparison to what in 2016 might have been a Harris, Buttigieg, Warren, Booker, or Sanders candidacy or presidency. No wonder Democrats concluded that there were no viable alternatives to a cognitively challenged Biden, precisely because Biden was the only available fig leaf to the new Democratic Party and its neo-socialist agenda—that, if transparent, would have terrified the country that it was soon to nearly destroy.
Biden’s Democratic critics have it all wrong: removing Biden is wise and needed for the country’s sake, but it will not solve the growing public anger at the left. Without the veneer of even a tottering old Joe from Scranton, there will be no camouflage. And then, the true leftist agenda will be served raw to the American people—open borders, woke/DEI racial polarization, transgendered obsessions, inflation/stagflation, wars a plenty abroad, an inert Pentagon, unaffordable energy, partial-birth abortions, and crazy ideas like packing the court and making Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, states.
So, what is the Democratic strategy to win the 2024 election?
Certainly, an “open” convention would not produce a moderate Democratic nominee or even a suitable replacement façade. There are no moderates in contention. If there were any hale candidates to offer cover, the party would be in permanent war with its shrill and angry woke base. Joe is the last of his generation to offer a credible front. There are no more Diane Feinsteins or Bill Clintons to package the hard-left agenda. If Harris cannot serve as Biden’s replacement, someone like her or further to the left would appear on spec.
The Democrats have no plans to run on their record.
Their tripartite strategy is as simple as it is tired and worn.
First, expect a third chapter to follow the 2016 Russian collusion caper and the 2020 laptop disinformation ruse – likely some October revelation from the administrative state’s “experts” and “authorities” that Trump is a criminal, a traitor, or a spy or plans a coup, to destroy NATO or nuke something. Perhaps there is another Access Hollywood tape, a porn star on ice, anything to avoid discussing the damage done since 2017.
Second, there is still a last gasp to a dying lawfare. Never underestimate the last-gasp judicial effort to inactivate, gag, bankrupt, or jail Trump, however counterproductive such attempts so far have proved.
Third, when all else fails, remember that in many of the swing states, 70 percent of the electorate will not be voting on Election Day and will not be presenting IDs. Millions of their ballots will be harvested or cured by third-party activists. Last time around, the leftist journalist Molly Ball bragged about their “cabal” and “conspiracy” of big money and big tech that had “saved” Americans from Trump.
Those post-election confessions were not just high-fiving but also a confident forewarning of what is to come.
NATO Just Announced Its Next Victim…You Won’t Believe What Happens Next!
Idiots in Europe.
What is the weirdest news article you’ve seen today?
About a week ago, an elderly Japanese man called the police to come to the hospital room where he was staying. The man, a retired construction worker, was dying of cancer. He went by the name of Hiroshi Uchida and lived alone in a small shack.
Working in Fujisawa City, near Sagami Bay overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the old worker lived a pretty charmed life. He had made friends with his co-workers, often singing James Brown songs. Once a month he’d go to the city, sing karaoke, drink and have some fun. He was the old-fashioned sort, never had a cell phone and always insisted to be paid in cash because “he didn’t trust banks”. Folks saw him as eccentric, but a decent guy for the most part.
It was only now, aged seventy and on his deathbed, that the old worker revealed his big secret to police — his real name was Satoshi Kirishima and he was a wanted terrorist, part of a left-wing terror group that bombed, among other targets, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Tokyo, in 1974.
Satoshi Kirishima’s mugshot was plastered around Japan, on police stations throughout the nation. He was one of Japan’s top ten most wanted criminals. On January 24, 2024, he called police because he “wanted to die under his own name”. He died on January 28, four days after his confession. DNA results have just revealed he was who he claimed to be.
“I can’t believe you live here.”“I know,” Sylvia says. She smiles and steps aside for me to drag my suitcase through the entrance hall.“There’s ivy trellises for chrissakes. Ivy trellises.”“I’m glad you like it.”We sit on her loveseat in the foyer. It is afternoon, and the sun is starting to wane and drip shade on the room. I take a sip of the earl grey tea she delivers on a worn gold platter. Her tea set is pretty, scalloped and covered in tiny, blood-red flowers. I rub my sweating hands on the velvet fabric of the sofa, hoping it won’t leave a stain.“I’m very glad you were able to come for the weekend. I’d like to see you up here once a month to meet about your progress.”
“I can’t thank you enough for hiring me, and for entrusting me with your story.”
She nods, smiling again. Her home smells like slivered almonds. A grandfather clock beats in the corner. There’s a large bookcase against the wall and shelves filled with tchotchkes— porcelain dolls in fraying skirts and ribbons, spotted cats, an extensive collection of salt and pepper shakers, everything covered in a film of dust. The air inside her home is gauzy, small swirls of sparkles float and twirl around us.
“Shall we get started then?” she asks. I nod, setting my teacup down on its saucer. “Evie was found just up the street from here. There’s a body of water where they found her. It isn’t small enough to be a pond but it’s not quite a lake either. The water is very deep in the middle. She had stones tied to her ankles when they recovered her body. We used to spend lots of time there together. There was a dock in the middle you could swim out to. We’d lie out there for hours, reading, talking. It was heaven.”
I write everything down in a small leather journal. A creak whines through the beats of the ticking clock and I jump a little, which makes me laugh.
“Just an old staircase,” she says. “My parents died in a car crash when I was in college, a long time ago. I was an only child. They left me the house. I never understood why they moved in here. It’s creepy, isn’t it? I was homeschooled my whole life, and Evie was my only friend. We met because she lived up the street from here. When I was younger, sometimes I liked to imagine having conversations with her when she was at school. Sometimes I find myself still doing that, too. I was a very lonely child. I was just starting to make friends in college and I was enjoying myself when I got the call that my parents had died. I quit school and moved back here, something I’d said I’d never do, but something called me back here.”
“Did Evie used to come over?”
“Yes, she did. Here,” she says, standing and walking to a large desk across the room. She pulls out a drawer and shows me photos of her and Evie as children. “Wasn’t she gorgeous?” Evie has long, inky black hair and freckles spilled over the bridge of her nose and underneath her eyes the color of a milky cappuccino. “And there’s me, of course.” Sylvia is tall and skinny, her back hunched and curved like a comma, her arm thrown over Evie’s small shoulders. “God was I gawky.” Sylvia’s hair is the color of straw and her two front teeth are twisted in what looks like a painful way. They are standing in the woods, the water behind them to their right. “I don’t know why everyone just accepted it was her who had drowned herself. Evie wasn’t unhappy. In fact, she had all these plans for the future. We were going to move out west together, to Hollywood. She wouldn’t have done this, I just know it, but no one ever questioned it or looked into it.”
“Was she dating anyone at the time?”
“She was in love with this boy named Ryan from school, but he was on vacation at the time with his family out of the country.”
“Is there anyone you’re suspicious of?”
“You like to believe it was no one you knew, right? That someone you knew could be responsible for such a horrific act. But something like this with no real evidence of a struggle or a fight, no skin underneath her fingernails or evidence of blunt force means if it wasn’t self-induced, she knew the person. And she knew them well. She trusted them, and then they did this to her. I’m sorry, it’s still hard for me to talk about.”
“You seem much more affected by her death than your parents’.”
“Evie was so young. She didn’t deserve her ending. My parents were older; they were in their sixties. Their deaths were probably immediate. Do you know how long it takes to drown? It takes about thirty to sixty seconds to start breathing in water, and soon after you lose consciousness. That doesn’t seem like that long of a time, but just try counting to sixty right now.”
We listen to the grandfather clock’s ticks. One, I bite the inside of my cheek and taste metal. Thirteen, I take a sip of the tea; it’s grown cold and the bitterness rests uncomfortably in the back of my throat. Twenty-one I crack my neck. Thirty-seven I smile at Sylvia, but it’s more like a grimace. Forty-one I pick lint off my jeans. Forty-nine I crack my knuckles. Fifty-three I rub at my eye, crossing my legs. Sixty and the cuckoo bird from the clock in the kitchen bursts from its hutch and shrieks. My heart propels upward inside my chest, boing-ing against my ribcage. I feel as though I cannot breathe, as though someone has buried me alive.
“Sixty seconds is a very long time,” she says, beginning to clean up the tea set. I nod, swallowing, but my throat is dry.
“I want to help you, but I’m not a detective. I’m not even a journalist.”
“You are a poet, and poets have sensibility. They are able to uncover the unknowable, to hear and decipher the whispers of the immortal.”
“Do you hear Evie?” I ask her. “Do you still talk to her?”
“All the time.”
“What if I don’t discover anything new? Or what if on the off chance I do discover something new, you don’t like it.”
“I will give you all of my journals. You will have access to photo albums, newspaper clippings from the time, home videos, yearbooks, my observations, maps, everything. You will write an account of what you look at, what I tell you, and whatever you make of it. It can be fiction, it can be a collection of poems, whatever you like. But it will be set here during the year she died, and it must have some beauty in it.”
“Okay.”
“Let me show you your room.”
I follow her up the wooden staircase. My room has a view of the forest behind the house. I know the water is just beyond, further and deeper into the woods.
“Perhaps you’ll go on a walk tonight, yes? See the water. There are flashlights in the downstairs closet by the front door. I’ll let you rest for a bit. Dinner is whenever you want. I was planning on making a shepherd’s pie, but you’re more than welcome to help yourself to anything in the fridge.”
“Thank you.” She squeezes my hand then shuts the door behind her. I lie on the quilt on top of the bed. It’s completely silent here, even with the window cracked open. Fresh air flows through and I quickly fall asleep.
It’s half-past seven when I wake and already dark out. I grab a large, black leather photo album from the top of the stack Sylvia has placed on the bedside table. There are Sylvia’s parents, both in thick-rimmed glasses unsmiling on a beach in front of a rainbow-striped umbrella. There’s Sylvia with Evie in the backseat, their heads bent together, hair one indecipherable mass. They must be ten or so. Their wrists are adorned with matching, patterned friendship bracelets made of turquoise and orange and red string. They look like they’ve been whispering secrets. What were you saying?
I yawn and put on sneakers. I walk downstairs, but don’t see Sylvia as I walk out and down the graveled dirt path to the water. Buzzing erupts in the forest, whistling through the leaves of the trees, prickling the back of my neck. I swing the flashlight all around me as I continue to walk. Fireflies fling their bodies against my ankles, clawing their way up through the packed dirt and pushing me toward the water. I step over hundreds of little holes, the evacuated homes of the lightning bugs.
Once I reach the water’s edge I see what Sylvia was talking about — a round, hollowed hole not quite a lake, not quite a pond, filled with black water. A solo dock gently swings in the middle, the slight breeze making it move. I passed several other houses on my walk here, but the water feels entirely secluded and completely private; it is the ideal hideout for a set of friends to meet.
I know Evie’s body is no longer being held underwater, but there are screams, a pulsing from the middle rippling out to the small shore made of pebbles and grass. What happened to you? I slip off my shoes and my shorts. I hold the flashlight in my mouth as I take off my shirt. I dip a toe in the dark water and wade into it. The water is thick and painful to move through, but I make my way out to the dock where I stand. I shine the light into the trees from the dock, half-expecting to see a deer with glowing green eyes staring back at me, or a half-land, half-sea monster with rope in its mouth and stones in its claws ready to drown me too.
I’m sopping wet when I arrive back at Sylvia’s home. I walk across the front room, careful not to leave any droplets of water on the floor. I open the fridge in the kitchen and take out a rotisserie chicken. I pick at it, putting cold pieces in my mouth. Sylvia sits at the kitchen table in the corner. She stares at me as I place the chicken down on the counter and wash my hands at the sink, ringing out my wet hair over it.
“I went for a swim.”
“I can see that,” she says.
“But the floor isn’t wet. It didn’t get wet. Why isn’t it wet?”
“Come, have a seat.”
“Do you ever go swimming there now?”
“No, not since.” She lights a cigarette and opens a window, blowing out curls of smoke. “She was going to leave me, you know. First, it was Europe, then Los Angeles. She loved the palm trees. She said she wanted to drive on PCH in a convertible, live near the beach. She was going to go to college out there. And that? That was all fine. It was fine with me, it took some getting used to but I could go with her. She said I could go with her, so I’d follow her and we’d live together and we’d always be together and happy, and then she got pregnant. And babies get in the way of everything. I just couldn’t have that. I couldn’t have it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re not really here.”
“I’m not?” She shakes her head at me; her eyelids have grown longer, heavier; she pinches the extra skin and rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms until she sees hundreds of static-like white webs. She crosses her arms and leans back in her seat. She beckons the moon through the window and holds it in her hand like a stone.
“I wish you were. I don’t even know what’s real and what’s not anymore.”
Sylvia makes herself a fresh pot of coffee and starts to write the story again, one more time, for the forty-seventh time. She likes to write different endings each time, but every time Evie dies. She can’t find an ending where she doesn’t. I play with the ends of her wiry gray hair, running my fingers over the crown of her head. Sylvia feels this; it feels like she’s dunking her head under water, a cool rush spreading over her scalp. I kiss her on the cheek, ball a clump of her hair in my fist and let it fall, then I walk out the kitchen door. I feel the grass, sharp and prickly beneath my feet. The sky is a blank black tapestry I shoot up toward.
Evie runs away in Sylvia’s latest rendition. She is sixteen and staying in a motel. She is killed by a trucker who rapes her then strangles her. Her eyes are wet and black like marbles; they bounce out of her sockets and roll out the room. Sylvia likes to remind herself that she had been kind, kinder than the killers in her stories; she had made sure Evie hadn’t suffered before she sunk her body into the black folds of the water.
Before falling asleep, Sylvia likes to imagine her and Evie walking off into a line of sunlight, a runny orange yolk color that continues to fade, and never coming home. Every night she dreams the same dream of being held underwater, and unable to breathe, she wakes and stalks the house like a ghost.
Cajun Chicken Lasagna
best cajun chicken lasagna recipe how to 20200122184810625731zmlarv
Prep: 45 min | Total: 2 hr | Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
16 dried lasagna noodles
1 pound andouille sausage or smoked pork sausage, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
Cook noodles according to package Method. Drain; rinse.
Combine sausage, chicken, Cajun seasoning and sage.
In a large skillet cook meat mixture 8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
Remove from skillet using a slotted spoon, reserving drippings in skillet. Set meat mixture aside; keep warm.
In same skillet cook onion, celery, sweet pepper, and garlic in drippings until vegetables are tender.
Stir in meat mixture, one container of the Alfredo sauce, and Parmesan cheese.
Lightly coat a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish or 3 quart rectangular casserole with nonstick spray. Arrange 4 noodles in bottom of dish. Spread with 2 cups of the meat-vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the mozzarella.
Repeat layers, ending with noodles.
Carefully spread remaining Alfredo sauce over the top (if sauce is too thick, heat slightly). Cover; bake 1 hour or until heated through.
Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes before carefully cutting.
PUTIN, CHINA READY NUCLEAR WAR | SCOTT RITTER: IT’S NO BLUFF
Have you killed someone in self defense? What psychological burden came with this decision?
Yes. He pulled out a gun, demanded my and my friends wallets. Although I was armed (in a city where concealed carry was legal only with a permit, which I had), he seemed to be after money and had not aimed the gun at us, so I did not draw. When my friend was too slow, he yelled and fired a shot at his feet, injuring him with a fragment. I then drew my weapon and shot him 3 times in the chest. Once he was down I sent my friend to get help while I did cpr, but he was dead. The police were quite supportive and did not arrest me after consultation with their superiors. I had a carry permit and my friend corroborated my story. An “earwitness” had heard the shots and confirmed the number and order. I made a statement and picked up my gun a week later.
After the initial adrenaline and shock wore off, I never felt any negative emotions, other than sadness that he chose to waste his life the way he had. He had 4 robbery and 2 assault convictions and had spent half his life in jail already. If he hadn’t fired a shot he’d still be alive, but it seems like it was only a matter of time. I have never felt any regret.
What made you quit smoking weed?
I did smoke it as a teen. I grew up in So. California, my parents were aged hippies who smoked it. There were rules – like no smoking if it is a weekday, and you have school the next day. No smoking if you are going to drive a car. So yeah, it happened, but I was generally responsible about it.
Then I just grew up, had other responsibilities, like being a mother, and didn’t do it at all.
Much later, when my kids were older, I had some opportunities to do it again. A trip to Amsterdam, and a trip to Las Vegas, after it was made legal. I thought, hey, why not?
I had horrible experiences. I became paranoid, closed up and unable to interact socially. It turns out the weed has become much stronger than when I was young, and we’d just have some homegrown buds… now they’ve been carefully engineered to have a very high level of THC. Two hits would have me nervous and paranoid.
Edibles… OMG… what hell! My family is still talking about the time a family member visiting me in France brought me a little, thin, sucker. I had a sore throat, and decided it might help on the way to a touristy day out. Ended curled up in the fetal position in the back seat floor of the car while they went siteseeing. That shit just goes on FOREVER. A whole day wasted with me miserable.
I decided, perhaps I have less resistance through time, but also, the strains have developed to be so strong, it isn’t a matter of smoking a joint and feeling a little more giggly than usual. It can be a nightmare. Won’t touch it now. God speed to all those that find it enjoyable or useful in their lives, but I won’t be partaking.
The Amazing Digital Circus – 1950’s Super Panavision 70
What is the meaning of “Made in China”? Is it more costly to manufacture a product in another country and import it to the United States?
Ask Walmart they scouted the entire world and sell almost everything from China? Don’t ask China and Chinese haters these are often brain dead Americans who consumed your media and politicians narratives so much lies has become gospel truth to them now. If 155/195 nations on earth has China as their biggest trading nation can all of them be fools? If they could buy from other nations some nearer to their shores wouldn’t they?
United States should stop using Chinese goods if you hate China so much. China won’t mind and the rest of the world can enjoy your lunch. If you prefer 20% inflation and increase your poverty from 100–200 million, that is your choice, don’t whine about it here! Just do it! The US used to be rich and consumed a lot but these days you area small potato customer, go away! China Don sell to Walmart. Walmart buys from China willingly! I supposed the know a thing or two about US consumers!
Buy from a third country and change their made in China label to made in Mexico, Vietnam or Malaysia and you get your stuffs at a premium is what you want, do it! China don’t mind, Mexico, Vietnam and Malaysia won’t mind? If you wish to fool yourself it is your right! Who may mind? American consumers! Do you think of them?
What are the best examples that shows Life is Unpredictable?
In 2014, Clint Eastwood started a relationship with Christina Sandera. He was 84 at the time, and Christina was 51. Eastwood had been in many relationships before and fully expected this to be his last rodeo. He was quite done with it all.
main qimg 3f52a4964d97da324e859986b85091a0
Fast forward ten years, Eastwood is now 94. He and Sandera did, indeed, stay together. But now sad news was just made public by the Eastwood family — Christina Sandera died, aged 61.
[1] You don’t get into a relationship in your fifties, with a man in his eighties, with the expectation that he will be the one to bury you. You probably won’t like to think much about it, but that’s not exactly the most likely outcome that’ll be on your mind…
Life is incredibly unpredictable. We have expectations and we think we have a lot of certainties, but really? We don’t. We just trick ourselves for the sense of comfort into believeing we know the outcome of things ahead of times, but in actuality we never quite do.
Do Chinese people feel embarrassed when they see “Made in China” goods?
It depends.
Last time, when Obama gave a speech at the port about revitalizing American manufacturing, they used flags to cover the crane’s logo in the background.(As to whether the flag was made in China too, I have no idea, but it is possible.)
But a gust of wind revealed the brand name 振华（Make China Great Again）, which made me feel a bit embarrassed.
Later, when President Biden gave a speech at the same place about revitalizing American manufacturing, I kept my eyes on the flag covering the logo the entire time.
As a result, when President Biden praised the “New Panama” crane, you could still see that it was actually made in China…
Therefore, Biden’s nickname in China is 拜振华.
Very embarrassing.
China’s Radar Defeats US Growler in South China Sea
Damn! Holy shit!
When was the hardest you have cried?
The hardest I have ever cried is when my youngest daughter had her breaking point at the hands of her bully. That week of my life made me feel like the worst father in history.
My daughter is socially awkward, meek, shy, and has trouble making friends. Her only interests are Art and Tennis. She’s never had many friends and really didn’t seem to care. That’s what I thought.
In her freshman year in High school, she met the Bully that would change school policy on bullying. This incident happened when My child was in the school library. The library is supposed to be bully proof, like a sanctuary. But not on this day.
She’s quietly drawing with her friend. And out of nowhere she gets smacked from behind on her right ear with baby powder. And of course it was the bully. It was supposed to be a prank. A video prank called “SMACK CAM” to be exact.
Looks like this.
This time it went too far. My child got knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital with a serious concussion.
I get the call and race to the hospital with bitter rage. I’m met by the police, the principal, the school nurse, and the guidance counselor. They were all in her room. I walk in and see my child sleeping with tubes coming out of her nose and arms. I couldn’t talk. I was shaking with anger.
The principal and the police explain to me that they have video evidence, and the bully has been arrested.
Three days later my daughter came home from the hospital and all that I thought I knew about her was only the surface.
We’re sitting on the couch watching TV. I go into the kitchen for something. I come out of the kitchen to see her face wet with tears. She’s not wiping her face, there is no facial expression, no sound. Just a constant flow of big tears. Tears with no sound means deep emotional pain. Especially from a 14 year old girl.
I grab her off the couch and give her the biggest HUG I have ever given her and tell her that I love her and will always be there for her. But only this time, she felt different.
We sit down and I’m trying to tickle her side to get a smile. NOTHING! After some time She finally starts talking.
“I just want this to stop, I’m sick of it”
(OMG!) This has been going on all this time?!
She begins to detail the horrors ever since elementary school. I’ll list only a few.
She’s been called Ugly
They hide her books
They steal her material
They push and shove her
Cut her in line
Put buggers on her shirt
One boy that sits behind her cut her hair without her knowing.
Some things they did were disgusting so I won’t list them. At the end of it all I still wasn’t crying. Until she said this.
“How come no one likes me, what did I do?”
That’s when I lost it. I tried to hide it because I can’t cry in front of my children. I felt weak, my heart pounded and I waited to speak so she wouldn’t notice my voice cracking.
I tell her to go take a shower and we’ll go to the mall and walk around. That was just to get her to walk away so I could go to my room and try not to cry. As soon as I got in my room I felt a fear in me that I can’t explain.
I wanted to trade places with her. I wanted to absorb all her pain, I wanted to kill the bully, I wanted desperately to help her in any way. I blamed myself. Someway somehow it’s my fault.
Why didn’t I notice something? I should have never gotten divorced. Her mom should still be here. I need help!!! It’s too much for me.
I cried so much that my eyes got swollen and my throat got hoarse. Until that day and a few days after, I can’t remember ever crying like that.
After about an hour I open her room door to see my middle daughter holding my youngest while she slept.
Despite the bully’s family asking me not to press charges, I went ahead and pressed charges, and she got six months probation for assault.
My child never went back to school, never wanted to go to school, couldn’t go to sleep, couldn’t eat, and started to hate. Something that I never saw in her.
There wasn’t much I could do. My desperate attempts to get her to smile and liven up became silly. So I signed both of us for Art classes, and she began to show signs of joy.
I later found out that the guidance counselor was my daughter’s shoulder to lean on. Mrs. Sarver was very nice and always helped her in trying times during school.
Mrs. Sarver came over to visit one day with a bunch of letters, and art work from supporting students. I stood back thinking that my child does have friends! But I was wrong.
She sat down and went through every piece of paper, and threw out all but two envelopes. A large piece of very good Art work, and a letter.
They were from “PAIGE”, her only friend. That was the first time I saw her smile in a month.
I enrolled her in a private school the following year where she is doing very well. And despite her psychiatrist’s suggestion, we will not be using any pills.
The China The Media Never Shows! 🇨🇳 Our First Day in SHENZHEN
At what moment in your life did you witness true evil?
(Graphic/sickening content) To this day, I hate the person who did this. I never got a good look at this person and have never seen them or their care ever since.
I was doing my normal 30 minute run of the day and I would usually finish my run at a dead end street, where I would give myself a 5 minute break. Once reaching my stop, I would always go right under a tree to block the burning sun and rest. I was a bit hidden by the tree, so no one would be able to spot me unless they truly tried.
I was in the middle of having my drink, when I noticed a navy blue Ford Explorer with tinted windows make a stop right next to the empty road, almost right beside me. I continued drinking my water, but stopped when the driver slid their window fully down. I couldn’t see the driver well, because the driver seat was facing the opposite way from me. So I was only able to see the silhouette of the driver through the tinted windows.
I was able to hear a commotion going on in the car, but after the driver put down their window, all I heard then were two children, a boy and a girl, repeatedly crying out, “Please don’t do it mom! Please don’t do it!” I was a bit interested in what they were talking about, so I hid a bit more, so that I wouldn’t be seen snooping. The mother, who was the driver, kept telling them to shut up and in her exact words said “Shut up! Shut up, you crybabies! I have enough trouble caring for you two! I’ll be damned if I have to care for these stupid things!”
Through the tinted window, I was able to see her pick up what seemed to be an open cardboard box that was small enough to fit through the window, but big enough to put a variety of small objects in. The children kept screaming, “NO! NO!”. As a speeding car was coming down the road, she threw the box right in its path without giving it a chance to react. At that moment, I heard tiny meows coming from in the box as it flew through the air towards the ground. I froze in horror as the box hit the front tire of the speeding car and the box went right under. All heard as the box went under the tire was a disturbing wet crackling noise that still haunts me to this day.
By the time the car fully ran over the box, the mother with her children were long gone, speeding the opposite direction of the other car. I couldn’t believe what I just saw. I just stood still and watched as the man came out of his car to see what he ran over. I was hoping that it was anything other than what I thought it was. To my horror, the man pulled out the now almost fully flat box and it was oozing out this bright reddish liquid, which I believe was blood. The man took one look in the box and immediately threw up on his car. The man dropped the flat box, went in his car, and drove away.
I was so stunned that I stared at the box for a good ten seconds. I couldn’t believe I witnessed this. I knew what was in the box, but I refused to believe it. My sick curiosity wanted to see what was truly inside that box. I didn’t want to believe that there were kittens in there. I finally came out of my daze and went across the street towards the box. The closer I got, the faster my heart began to beat. Standing right over it, I saw the small opening the man left as he peeked inside. Looking inside the box was the biggest mistake of my life. What I saw was the most traumatizing image that still sticks to me to this day. I won’t describe it because just thinking about the image makes me sick.
After seeing what was inside, it was for a fact that inside the box was a group of disfigured, flat baby kittens that weren’t even given a chance to live another day. How could she? I said to myself. How could anyone be so disgusting? I knew there was nothing I could do, so instead of leaving the box on the ground exposed, I put it in a nearby garbage can. The box left a red stained road with a bit of the box left on it and all I did right after was walk straight home, leaving behind my bottle of water at the tree where this all started.
I wanted to share this story because I had it as a secret from my family at home and I don’t plan on ever telling them. Just writing this story was a huge struggle for me. As you can see on my profile picture, I own an orange male cat that I have taken care of since birth. I could not stand it if anything horrible were to happen to him.
Thank you for reading my experience.
Those poor poor children.
CHINA is NOT what we expected – FIRST 24 HOURS in Beijing
Shorpy
29810u.preview
28675u.preview
4a23388a.preview
01034u.preview
28586u.preview
4a20823a.preview
4a20847a.preview
26191u.preview
32904u.preview
26304u.preview
4a26707a.preview
4a12506a.preview
yosemite 1.preview
4a12578a.preview
4a20422a.preview
boycave 0.preview
4a20424a.preview
4a26690a.preview
4a12423a.preview
8e01427u.preview
4a11918a.preview
4a14810a.preview
4a08511a.preview
4a17946a.preview
4a17950a.preview
@@@4a21196a.preview
Alice in Wonderland – 1950’s Super Panavision 70
What are some things Chinese people dislike about other Chinese people?
Chinese parents judge success through their kids’ school performance.
They will never say that they are better; instead they will push their kids to win piano, music, math, science and other competitions. If you listen carefully to the conversations among mothers, they will talk about their son/daughter winning some competition. If the other mother’s fall silent because their child did not win, the jealousy in the room is almost palpable.
The idea is that the kid should provide the ammo so that the parents can play this one-upmanship game.
Generally, the mother’s supervise their child’s study schedule, and it is normal for the child to be busy for 14–16 hours per day.
In China, class school grades are public; everyone knows how each other student is doing. Sometimes, a good student will volunteer to help a student who is flagging, so this is not entirely a bad thing. The worst thing to be is to be so slow that one pulls the average for the whole class down when compared to other classes.
This intense competition is mostly absent in the west, which is why many Chinese parents want to send their children to school in the west. They think it is easier for their children, because they think that western children are slow and easy-going compared to Chinese children.
The great irony is that even when they move to the west, Chinese mothers push their children just as hard as when they were going to school in China. The Chinese bring that intensity and pressure with them wherever they go.
If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be Chinese anymore.
Would it be possible for Taiwan to declare independence from China? Kind of like how the USA declared independence from Great Britain?
It is not possible. Whether it is by UN law or by the constitution of both China & Taiwan.
In the US civil war, the then US president Abraham Lincoln told the rebellious South that:
I am elected president of USA. My duty is to protect the integrity of USA. You cannot say I invade you.
Back to China-Taiwan
There was a civil war in China (called ROChina at the time). The then ruling party KMT was defeated by CPC in 1949. KMT fled to Taiwan while CPC stayed on mainland. CPC renamed ROChina to PRChina, like Qing was renamed to ROC in 1911 (5000 years’ of Chinese tradition).
In theory, the civil war has not finished as of 2024 because China has not reunified yet.
Internationally, between 1949 & 1971, both ROChina & PRChina exist. In 1971, however, UN resolution 2758 announced …
1, There is only ONE China & PRChina is the only legitimate government that represents China.
That is, ROChina ceases to exist on world stage. Only a handful tiny tiny countries still recognised ROC.
Taiwan is part of China. Ref: US doc 203 & the 1978 USA-China joint communique by former US president J Carter.
2, To make it crystal clear, on 2024/5/23, UN told the world “Taiwan is a PROVINCE of China.”
By UN charter, China has a duty to protect the integrity of Chinese territory that incl Taiwan province.
Internally, both constitution of China & Taiwan say:
China territory = mainland + Taiwan + some islands & reefs around China.
Why Taiwan dares not call for referendum? Because referendum involves mainland too.
Militarily Taiwan cannot fight China.
That is, Taiwan can NEVER be independent. Though opportunistic politicians must shout independence so as to get tons of foreign funding (corruption), before Taiwan is discarded by USA like a used condom. Remember USA discarded ROChina in 1971.
conclusion
Whether it is UN resolution or Chinese-Taiwanese constitutions, China has a duty to protect the integrity of China. Like former US president A Lincoln protecting the integrity of USA in the US civil war.
China is NOT invading or attacking Taiwan. Just to suppress Taiwan rebellion, like Lincoln suppressing the South.
China will reunify with Taiwan one way or another. It is the duty of China for the sake of Chinese nation, culture & history.
China’s 1st option is peaceful unification. If necessary, China is not afraid to use military.
Illustrations
0ff9d454774507cd364f85fa33096c4c
1be2f6f60a519b47b68b6b085f0d4885
8dd37c1e641f61bbc8e8f8a59e36f2cb
5b16bdb1e55a342e0041152e20b9b60e
e13c035cc41af6e634739732bf398fff
218d852c39eaed78c6bcb74fb6ea640e
26bdad022b7a515969a72f1928e6478d
83c9012436a3c93ab2238ee1d48910f0
3e64f850d1e168d8b576d338c2b60807
42d56d0eb83d7e358208740a6220d50e
c70fc6d9c4473b263eed457f6e8c079b
f8d37cffd012958eff33ad3d87431cc9
c510172802ace257881559ddb139ad56
e7f6aca0b41bdc320b47ad5698a5a6a7
c59c60d6b3f9f252b2777cf10fea92cf
73b95d4099440293be29bff0c6f2f918
e76e6445d82a89bd4d377bceee25a8b8
7272c6470587a6cad50301dbe89c03d0
09e12e7e684e3d94dd954c0e68300886
d7c04df8b3e305961d5a3c931001913b
de2fa8562c7cbc7da653bea8435342bd
46fd6bfb52916357b4e94b2020960cf0
@@@@f8d66e45d4d837d635badee9794c64a3
ce00ac78c6838968efb3bef61878c69b
51ddef3a4d4c7dceebd8f4ce74a0edad
bd06c71e139598f2029965a88b934bcb
deeac1335fbd8fe09b8ce0ae6c7ff8bf
b9bfc067e809f6a95611041c9c77825c
4feb7363c030da359a87bd2cd78b5f7c
78a690b88ec34ed5cc2c5ee442a4ddd9
@@@46dc26e5cbdb2b7c5686beea493cc761
335048fc6454d1220ed29a5d691c3b6b
292944c42915e4b80de6b3b31ee3e3ce
6796ea6db3f4e59978f2d218bb63e6cd
43d4f84d26a60131539fc76ca9bf9479
76b82ad3ad38a9b992759c52e6b65a3e
47f03931351f0cdb8670c22f171455da
c2ab8d3a4e3e7743095cd8bf328ac345
4905c9380a5c520ff20a882425220869
2ffffbba7d0a710a67771fc6015d760e
e55053f44041d95b21015a85d05d55bb
85ae6ddd5d5dea809a6988fa0dd535d7
b2671de9599761c6fd63249c91743c91
5dc1b0615e86e0a4e3071198a557c6b4
15402c6fe47bde126d1b4336b8ee8869
24cb2e7bcc2d012e33f5f70f9c21ca1e
eea6fe50c01a0ad1cf15dc6c000d5639
4a1dd0af10d151b3dbce7ff6ba3a3c19
5d30b89ea05f823514eae56522a04f4a
4a125f87eb02eeebd2dc370ef92bef9f
Cheese Garden Lasagna
The fresh taste of summer laden with your favorite cheeses!
Garden Style Lasagna 1
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1/4 cup (2 ounces) butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup each asparagus, zucchini, green onions, yellow squash and red pepper, diced
6 ounces portobello mushrooms, chopped
2 cups Roma tomatoes, diced
2 cups baby spinach leaves, diced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups (15 ounces) Wisconsin Ricotta Cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Parmesan Cheese, grated, divided use
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper
12 no-cook lasagna noodles
2 cups (8 ounces) Wisconsin Mozzarella Cheese, shredded, divided use
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Smoked Provolone Cheese, shredded, divided use
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan.
Melt 1/4 cup butter in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add asparagus, zucchini, onions, squash, red pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach; sauté stirring frequently, 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir in basil, oregano and vinegar; set aside.
In bowl, stir together ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper; set aside.
Place layer of noodles (4 noodles) on bottom of prepared pan. Spread 1/2 ricotta mixture over noodles, top with 1/3 vegetable mixture, 3/4 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup provolone.
Repeat with noodles, remaining ricotta mixture, 1/3 vegetable mixture, 3/4 cup mozzarella and remaining provolone. Top with noodles, remaining vegetable mixture, mozzarella and Parmesan.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes.
Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes; serve.
Why do husbands leave after 20+ years of marriage?
After my first wife divorced me – 6 years – I did a lot of soul searching and reading – and realized I was looking for too much from her and giving too little – As well as not even thinking about things like children, lifestyle, etc – For example, she never wanted children – and I did.
I spent many years making sure I knew what I wanted, making sure I knew what my potential new wife wanted, and committing to support her no matter how things went.
I followed through – no matter what demands of my job and career, family was my first priority – when my new wife became pregnant, I went to every medical appointment with her, listened to thr doctors, made myself aware of the risks (she had a mental illness and physical issues), and took on all tasks – When my son was born with a cardiac defect, I took on the responsibility of helping him and my wife – but, despite my taking time for my family, my career still rocketed up beyond my highest expectations.
When my wife, after our second child, became incapable of working a regular job and incapable of taking care of our children, I hired people to take care of them – and took much time off work still to take her to specialists to treat her condition.
Later when a car accident resulted in 10 years of constant pain, I both took her to every single person she wanted for her back and got up ever 3 hours every night to get her an ice pack from thr freezer – As well as taking our children to places and friend’s houses.
Then I used an entire 401k to help her establish her own business. Which she failed because she did nothing after the first few months.
Yet she never heard one complaint from me – only support.
After 20 years of marriage, she “figured out” that I had held her back – since all of her fellow Kellogg Business School graduates were multi-millionaires while we frequently faced near bankruptcy.
She convinced her friend that I had been physically abisung her for years (after I stepped in to stop her from yelling at and hitting our straight A daughter), and forced me to move out or face arrest due to false testimony for her and her friend – who made clear to me that she was willing to lie to the police.
After trying and failing to negotiate an amicable Separation or Divorce – While she interferred with my legal access to my own children plus Vo third to Siena money at a rate that would lead to bankruptcy within 3 months, I finally filed for divorce – thus allowing me legal access to my children and legally limiting her access to my income.
After talking to other men and observing things in divorce court, I conclude that this occurs very frequently – Women deciding that they are “entitled” to certain things and blaming their lack of wealth, etc on their husbands – rather than simply working with him to get what they want.
As always happens – the lawyers got most of the money and the settlement was almost to the dollar what I had proposed months before the divorce filing – minus 3 years of legal fees.
Karma was that she was so bad with our children that her neighbors called the police a total of 16 times in 4 months – leading to her losing all legal access to our children.
My children went from the perception of 2 loving parents to the knowledge that their Mothet did not give a damn about them – only herself and her “needs”.
I met many divorced women whose husbands did this same sort of shit – putting their “needs” above everyone else – this is not a “men-women” thing – this is about people unwilling or unable to grow up and take on adult responsibility.
Compilation: The Moon is Weird – No, really. The Moon does not make sense
Today, I want to talk about a class action suite that I was involved in.
Back in the 1990’s, there was this interim storage method for computers. It lay somewhere between the early floppy discs and the record-able CD ROMS that became all the fad at the turn of the century.
This was a “ZIP disc”. Which was a high capacity (for the time) floppy disc storage system. And a bought a few systems to store content on my various computer system setups.
zip
Now, the thing was that the company was offering a rebate, and a discount. So everyone was buying the things.
They cost something like $100, but if you buy it, you can apply for the $50 rebate after three months of use. The numbers are approximate, but it was something like that.
Now, it was a big scam.
Oh, the system worked all right. It’s just that the company had no intention on giving anyone the rebates and the bonus prizes and rewards. And millions of people were upset. As was I.
I think they owed me around $250 all told for all my system components. This was big dollars back in the day.
We all gave up. After month after month of sending in the UPC codes off the boxes, xerox of the receipts, and credit card bills they were never enough. We were all just on this endless hamster wheel cage with no way off.
Anyways, imagine my surprise when a class-action suite was made against the company and all of us on the aggrieved listing were ordered to get our money due to us.
iomega
Boy. I was so happy about that!
$40 million dollars.
Certainly, I will finally get my money back.
But when my check came in… after all, I was expecting $250. The amount given to me was an entire $1.21. Yup. The award, minus the attorney fees, and divided by the number of aggrieved customers.
Sheech!
This is the American system in a nutshell.
Today…
What actually happens when an empire falls?
Usually madness. Utter, self-inflicted madness.
The kind that comes from getting too big for your britches, believing your own hype, and forgetting what made you great in the first place.
That’s the first symptom of an empire on the decline.
It’s like watching a star athlete lose their edge, thinking they don’t need to train as hard or that they’re above the rules.
The result?
A spectacular fall from grace.
Empires aren’t built on luck or divine right. They’re forged through grit, innovation, and a clear understanding of their purpose.
But as they grow, the rot sets in.
The elites become complacent, fattened on luxury and power, losing touch with the common folk who sustain them.
The bureaucracy swells into a monstrous, inefficient beast, choking on its own red tape.
Corruption becomes the norm, as officials line their pockets at the expense of the state.
The first cracks appear at the edges, where the empire’s reach exceeds its grasp. Rebellions flare up, fueled by resentment and neglect.
The military, once a lean, mean fighting machine, grows bloated and sluggish, more interested in protecting its own privileges than defending the realm.
The economy stagnates, strangled by overregulation and cronyism. The whole edifice starts to creak and groan under the weight of its own decadence.
And when the final blow comes, it’s often not from some mighty external foe, but from within.
A palace coup, a popular uprising, a cascade of defections – it doesn’t matter.
This is the nature of all Empires.
It's not a matter of if it will fall, but when, the seeds of its destruction are already sown within its own heart.
What is the best decision you ever made that made your life better?
Experience 1:
I was at my office desk and it was around 1 p.m. which means lunch time. I was already so hungry I could eat a human. But I didn’t want to eat alone. So I went to invite a co-worker to join me.
“Okay. Give me 20 minutes; I’m finishing up my work.” he said.
I can wait for 20 minutes. No big deal.
Twenty minutes later… He’s still typing on his computer.
“Hold on. Gimme another ten minutes. I’ll call Adam (his friend from other department) to join us.”
He called Adam who agreed to have lunch together, then continued his work.
Ten mins later (so that’s already half an hour)…
“I don’t think I can join you. I have to finish this work. Please go first. I think Adam is already waiting at the cafe. If I manage to finish my work in the next ten mins, I’ll join you guys,” he said.
Experience 2:
The weather was good. Blue sky, windy. I was in the mood for running. I wanted to go out and sweat. I skipped exercising for three weeks due to workload and when the weekends came, I was occupied with other stuff. Either that, or terrible weather. There were always excuses. But that day I had no excuse. I was thrilled to go out.
It was 4.30 p.m. I rang my neighbour who’s also a runner.
“Bro, the weather is so good today. Let’s run,” I said.
“It is. But can we go at 6 p.m.? I have something to do right now.”
One and a half hour is nothing. I can wait. No big deal.
6 p.m. The weather changed from good to bad. It was suddenly raining. So we cancelled our plan. If I just walked out of the house at 4.30 p.m., I would probably be sweating and came home at 6 p.m.
These two and dozens of similar experiences led me to a decision.
Don’t wait for others. You want to eat? Go. You want to run? Go. You want to watch movie? Just go. You want to travel? Go.
For all the things you can do alone, just go. Wait for nobody.
Pasta Neapolitan
k 2023 05 napolitan spaghetti napolitan spaghetti 023 1
Ingredients
1 pound dried angel hair pasta
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 cup grated parmesan cheese, preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano (divided)
5 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced, or to taste
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
2 cups fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, finely minced (about 1 cup chopped)
Sea salt or kosher salt
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a vigorous, rolling boil. Cook pasta until al dente.
Drain well and put into a warm serving dish with the soft butter in it; toss pasta until coated, then add most of the cheese and gently toss again. Keep warm in oven.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes and cook just until the garlic turns light brown; pull pan off the heat. (Do not rush by cooking at a higher heat; this will burn the garlic and cause it to taste bitter.)
Add the minced parsley and a generous pinch of salt and mix with a spoon until it resembles the texture of pesto.
Immediately pour over the warm pasta and toss well to distribute the sauce evenly.
Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and serve.
Do women really cheat more than men?
It is often said, and in my experience this is true, that women cheat out of desires of the heart and men cheat out of desires of the body. I have cheated on my ex-wife. I am not proud of it, nor will I make excuses for it. The reasons were strictly physical. She, herself, cheated on me as well — initially just having “emotional affairs” online. This changed when she fell in love with someone, and physically cheated on me as well. At which point, the marriage came to an end.
For me, cheating was strictly a physical thing… younger-me believed variety is the spice of life and just wanted to “get it on”. For her, it was a matter of love — she still loved me, but in some ways she found me lacking as a husband. My lack of ambition. My lack of “drive” to make something of myself. The ease with which I accepted life as it comes, and how little I needed to be fulfilled. Whereas to her, the sky was the limit and she wanted it all. She wanted wealth. She wanted a bigger house, more trips and travels, better food, more savings for the future. She wanted so much, and me, I was okay with what we had. So she sought out someone who she did feel compatible with. Who wanted the things she wanted, too. Someone ambitious. More wealthy.
And she left me, for that person. And this seems to be somewhat of a recurring theme, when it comes to men cheating versus women cheating. All I wanted was just to get laid with other girls… whereas my ex, she wanted a more suitable partner. I find that men are more likely to want to cheat as a one-off thing, a fling, an affair without love being involved. Lust over love. With women, love over lust. When she’s gone, she’s gone for good.
Biker Gets Into Terrible Accident, Loses Leg…And His Wife NEVER Leaves Him Or His Side
Is it true that most of Singaporean Chinese treat and consider the Singaporean Malay Muslims as inferior or second class citizens?
You are mistaken guys! Your question is rather unfair to Chinese Singaporeans.
I was in my father-in-law’s watch shop in a fashionable street in Malacca, Malaysia in 2006-2007. A couple of well-dressed Malay man in his 30 walked in with a gorgeous looking Malay girl.
My wife, a Malaysian , gestured to his father to serve them as they were vying on a Swiss watch for quite sometime.
Guess what? My father-in-law, after a glance for 3 seconds at them he continued doing his thing.
When they left, he mumbled in Hokkien to allow me to understand. “Malay people, won’t buy, dress nice-nice, got 2 Ringgit in the pocket”
My wife looked at me and smiled, then rolled her eyes.
Years have passed, I was again in Malacca in one evening, I was so thrilled to see a “Malay trade fair” when we drove by.
My niece-in-law was a chauffeur, she has grown to be a big girl now she knew what I was up to, so, she said “**Uncle, they will look at you as a freak —if you are not like a Malay, we Chinese, don’t usually go, they are kings here. Let them enjoy.”**
My wife looked at me she smiled, then rolled her eyes—reminded me of what she did 17 years ago.
What is your question, again?
It’s rather unfair for Malay people to be kings in both countries—Malaysia and Singapore…The Malay knows this pretty well, don’t they?
Why should the world unite with the United States to stop China, considering that the United states is worse than China?
The world shouldn’t, and doesn’t, unite with America against China.
America is a genuine global menace. Endless wars. Endless deaths. Endless destruction.
Endless sanctions.
Endless political interference and violation of national sovereignty.
America is an imperialist. It suppresses the Global South from developing. It exploits the Global South for their natural resources.
China is helping the Global South develop through the Belt and Road Initiative.
China is the largest trading partner to over 120 countries.
China has fought no wars since 1979.
The Global South represents 88% of humanity. It is behind China, not America. That’s what BRICS and SCO are about.
America and its allies represent a meager 12% of humanity. They don’t matter.
What is the worst thing you saw on the internet today?
I used to watch this much-memed about reality shaw called Pawn Stars. It’s about a family, father, grandfather and grandson who run a pawn shop together and buy rare items from people for a quick buck. It’s a funny show, a lot of jokes have been made about the whole “best I can do is [insert price]”.
main qimg 619c854a4c6366f75741afe03afd9b2b
Yesterday, Adam Harrison, son of Rick Harrison — the bald guy in all the Pawn Stars memes — passed away at age 39. He had a fatal overdose. TMZ reported on his death almost immediately, as they had heard it through some third party close to Harrison. They didn’t bother to check with the family first before posting. The family then reached out to TMZ and requested privacy in these dark times. They were upset because, get this… they didn’t KNOW their loved one had died, yet!
TMZ found out the troubled relative of a famous reality TV show died. They published his death immediately, and the family had to find out through the internet that their son, father, brother and uncle had passed away. How sick is that?
Didn’t Expect this in CHINA?! 🇨🇳 INSANE MALL TOUR in Chengdu Sichuan
“Biden has been jabbed at least four times. This is his third covid diagnosis. The shots are working great.”
– Jeff Childers, Coffee & Covid
There was a lot of talk about divine intervention at the Republican Convention this week. The country has witnessed a rush of seemingly providential events since the fateful night of June 27th when, to universal horror, “Joe Biden” was unmasked as The Phantom of the White House. The attempt on Donald Trump’s life Saturday, with its intimations of blob involvement, was only the latest of countless trips, hoaxes, capers, and ops that smacked of demonic inspiration laid on the public, so you can’t blame them for feeling that “God is among us now.”
A huge piece of this dynamic has been the Right’s amazing impotence in the eight-year-long march of insults to the republic – especially the failure to find relief for any of that in the courts of law, until last month when the SCOTUS finally kneecapped Democratic Party lawfare operations. A paramount example of that impotence was being unable to find one jurisdiction willing to adjudicate election fraud in 2020 on the merit of the arguments.
But there was much more, starting with collective helplessness in the drawn-out RussiaGate psychodrama, even when all the players and their many nefarious acts were exposed by the alt news media, and extending to the mendacious roguery of the two-year Mueller (Weissmann) Commission, followed by fifty-one former intel higher-ups labeling Hunter Biden’s laptop “Russian disinformation, followed by Rep. Adam Schiff’s Ukraine “whistleblower” prank featuring CIA/NSC/DOD/DOJ moles Eric Ciaramella, Colonel Vindman and IC Inspector General Michael Atkinson, and then the FBI-instigated J-6 riot with the ensuing faked-up House J-6 committee . . . plus you can throw in the stupid Ukraine war, the drag queens in the kindergartens, the bumbling Durham investigation, ten million unvetted illegal migrants flowing into the country and this year’s four show-trials put on to finally break Mr. Trump.
For many in this land, it has been like the classic nightmare of being paralyzed in the presence of evil. So, it’s no wonder that the Republicans came into their convention with a tremendous tailwind of relief when events suddenly broke their way in June. Now, everyone knows that the current president is a vindictive invalid who will be tossed overboard by his own terrified party in a matter of hours now. And the entire scaffold of lies supporting “Joe Biden” and his party is wobbling badly, too.
You could see it in the deranged terror of Rachel Maddow’s increasingly contorted face last night as she rehearsed all the hoaxes she has helped to perpetrate, along with her mentally-ill posse of Jenn Psaki, Joy Reid, Nicole Wallace, and the strangely mute white male Ari Melber. It seemed that any minute Rachel’s head would spin and start spewing pea soup at the camera. When will an exorcist finally pay a visit to MSNBC?
As the sun sets on “Joe Biden’s” career, what’s left of his campaign runs an ad in which he promises “to finish the job.”
Sounds kind of sinister now, doesn’t it, like something a crime boss might tell his caporegimes? And for sure the country is suffering from this three-year-plus reign-of-terror against common sense and common decency.
The wreckage is everywhere, all over this land. “Defending our Democracy,” my ass.
The party big dawgs have paid their terminal visit to the old grifter bringing the sad news that it’s over. Of course, this excites several new headaches for them. Foremost: how can “JB” bow out of the election on account of mental infirmity but still remain president? Even if they call it something else, make some other excuse, the whole world knows now that the president is gone in the head. There are six months remaining to the end of his term and a lot of urgent issues requiring a president’s attention. You can be sure that pressure will rise to shove him out of office altogether. And it may come before the Democratic Convention in late August — if we want to be taken seriously by the rest of the world.
Of course, that would elevate Kamala to the White House. Would getting to be the first female president of-color for six months be her consolation prize for graciously declining an automatic nomination to run in “JB’s” place, so that the party can stage an “open convention” free-for-all? Or would she better serve the party as a sacrificial goat to head the ticket and get buried in what’s shaping up to be an election landslide for the Republicans? Anyway, which of the various replacement politicians — Newsom, Whitmer, Pritzker, PA Gov. Shapiro —really wants to squander a political future in an election that’s as much a vote against the Democratic Party itself as any particular figure in it? Let the party go down so it can be purged of Green Woke Satanic mentally-ill communists and reorganized on a sane and decent basis.
But then there’s always HRC.
She’s been laying back alertly, waiting for an opening to swoop in on her leathery wings and cast a fresh spell over the batshit-crazy women who, in recent times, comprise the party’s base.
At one point, not many years ago, the party was broke and had to be bailed-out by the Clinton Foundation. To what extent does that entity still own the DNC, and especially its cargo of super-delegates? I guess we’re going to find out.
Joe Biden Delivers WORST 80 Seconds in Presidential History EVER…
Are inmates allowed to spend the entire day sleeping?
In the Iowa State Penitentiary they were one-man cells and I’m glad. I like my privacy and its many other conveniences.
We didn’t have to work but to choose that meant you left your cell only to shower, or to eat and you lose your library privilege too.
I also did time in the Federal penitentiary in Lompoc California and those were 1-man rooms … not true cells. The doors were solid with a 6×12 glass window in the door and the bathroom was completely private.
Their “hole” was a unique form of punishment, and I should know: I’ve done time in juvenile homes (8 times), reform school (where I spent 11 months of my two year experience in the hole): military stockades (2 different ones), several jails, and two penitentiaries.)
Lompoc’s hole was unique in that it was designed as an experiment. A psychological experiment in sensory deprivation. No sound. No light. No contact with another person. Just two weeks in complete and utter darkness and silence. It was a room in a room, which allowed the staff to come and go without letting any light in the cell area and not make any noise either. Food was brought once a day, (a half loaf of bread and half a head of lettuce) and the inmate had no way of knowing it was there or not except by going to the door and feeling around, for they slid it under the door through a swinging panel.
Many developed permanent psychological problems from their 2 week experience, for it becomes very difficult to hold your grasp on reality when there isn’t any frame of reference to ‘hang your hat on’.
I hallucinated a lot and even created two fellow cellmates to chat with! When they disappeared soon after I met them, I was devastated. This all took place between the years of 1956–1958 and I suffer now from claustrophobia as a result of that experience.
Ain’t life a blast!
Have you ever witnessed anyone throw away their life?
A rather friendly man talked to me at a party, back when I was a teenager. It was the birthday of his nephew, who was my younger brother’s friend. All the kids in attendance were rather young, and I was happy to talk to someone a bit older, someone who seemed interesting. He was a photographer, and he took photos of everyone in the garden, and around the house.
The man traveled the world. Experienced a lot of things. He seemed full of life, animated, energetic, moving around rapidly. Although he must have been in his forties at the time, he seemed to me the absolute picture of great health. Now this was in the summer, somewhere around 2006 or 2007, I believe. We had a little talk about a trip he was going on, to Russia. How excited he was about it. The party ended rather early, as children’s parties often do. And I went home with my family. But before we parted ways, the man did take a photo of me, and he gave it to me. It was with one of those instant-photo polaroid things… it’s a fond memory, now, because when you’re young, any adult who takes you seriously and talks to you as an equal is often a fond memory.
“Oh hey, Jean-Marie, do you remember the uncle of your brothers friend, the photographer?” my mother asked me a month later. I said I did. “He died yesterday,” she said, “terrible shame. Alcoholism.” Turns out the man I met was dying of a drinking problem. I had no clue. He never went on his big trip. I still have the polaroid, somewhere.
Beavis & Butt-Head Do America – 1950’s Super Panavision 70
China’s cutting-edge electronic warfare (EW) capabilities are transforming the balance of power in the South China Sea, as shown by a recent encounter between US and Chinese forces.
This month, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on China’s enhanced EW capabilities by shedding light on a December 2023 incident between a US EA-18 Growler carrier-based EW aircraft and China’s Type 055 cruiser Nanchang in the contested South China Sea.
SCMP says that in December 2023, the US Navy dismissed William Coulter, commander of US Electronic Attack Squadron 136 (VAQ-136), stationed on the USS Carl Vinson, citing a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
The report says that a month later, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recognized the Nanchang’s crew for their actions against a US carrier fleet. It also notes that Chinese media highlighted an encounter involving an EA-18G, believed to be from Coulter’s squadron, and the Nanchang cruiser.
The report mentions that PLA scientists recently disclosed in a Radar & ECM journal article that AI-enhanced radar gave the Nanchang an advantage over the EA-18G’s jamming capabilities.
It claims that the EA-18G, manufactured by Boeing, has been upgraded since 2021 for future warfare but faces new challenges from the PLA–Navy’s (PLA-N) integrated radar systems and communication strategies.
SCMP notes that these advancements allow PLA-N warships to form a “kill web” to counter the EA-18G’s attacks. It also says that the Nanchang’s reported proactive tactics and successful engagement with US forces illustrate a shift in the PLA-N’s EW approach.
Much-improved Chinese EW capabilities developed after then-US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s controversial August 2022 visit to Taiwan may have enabled a feat.
SCMP noted that the PLA failed to track and surveil the US Air Force transport plane carrying Pelosi during her visit despite deploying Type 055 cruisers and J-16D EW aircraft. The source says that almost all of the PLA’s EW equipment failed to function because of electronic interference from Pelosi’s escorting aircraft force.
On Pelosi’s aircraft escort, John Tkacik says in an August 2022 article for Taipei Times that it could have been a massive force of US F-15s that flew out of Kadena Air Force Base in Japan supported by the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group and the USS Tripoli with embarked F-35s stationed in the Philippine Sea.
From that experience, China may have improved its EW capabilities quickly by investing in new technologies and placing them in a more extensive kill web consisting of kinetic and non-kinetic elements.
SCMP reported in February 2024 that Chinese scientists have invented a new class of EW equipment that can reportedly rapidly detect, decode and suppress enemy signals.
The new system, SCMP says, allows the PLA to seamlessly monitor signals into the gigahertz zone, encompassing frequencies used by amateur radio and even Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites.
It notes that the equipment includes innovative signal processing chips and AI integration, enhancing China’s ability to counter enemy jamming and maintain communication flow.
Furthermore, SCMP claims that in encounters with US Navy ships with EW activity, China has used electromagnetic-emitting equipment, including high-power phased array radars, to lock on to multiple targets including US carrier-based aircraft.
Aside from developing new tech, China may already have elevated EW into a strategic capability, integrating it into its multi-domain operations alongside other kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities in a complex kill web.
In a May 2023 article for the Mitchell Institute, Heather Penney describes a kill web as multiple, interconnected nodes that offer redundant paths for executing military operations, increasing the quantity and resilience of potential kill chains. A kill chain is the process required to identify and eliminate specific targets.
Penney says that unlike linear kill chains, which are easier to target and disrupt, kill webs provide a more adaptable and less predictable system, making it harder for adversaries to defeat.
Asia Times noted in April 2024 that the rebranding of China’s PLA Strategic Support Force (PLA-SSF) into the PLA-Information Support Force (PLA-ISF) highlights China’s strategic shift towards technology-driven “intelligentized warfare.”
The PLA-ISF is designed to integrate emerging AI, quantum and other technologies into China’s multi-domain operational strategy against potential adversaries like the US and its allies. The rebranding reflects an evolution in Chinese military thought, transitioning from “informationized wars” to “intelligentized warfare” that includes EW, cyber operations and signals intelligence (SIGINT).
EW is also a key component of China’s Multi-Domain Precision Warfare (MDPW) concept, which leverages AI and big data to identify and exploit weaknesses in US operational systems.
China’s MDPW seeks to dismantle and destroy US kill chains by targeting critical information nodes such as aircraft and satellites through physical attacks and targeting information networks by using EW and cyberattacks.
While the US arguably still has the edge in EW, near-peer adversaries like China and Russia may be closing the gap.
A November 2022 US Congressional Research Service (CRS) defense primer says that the National Defense Strategy Commission mentioned that the US is losing its EW edge, hindering its capability to conduct operations against capable adversaries.
Army Technology reported in May 2024 that the US spent US$5 billion on EW capabilities in 2024, accounting for 45% of global EW spending from 2021-2023, compared to just 14% by Russia and 13% by China.
However, Army Technology says that the US’ dominant position in the EW market is being challenged, as Russia, China and India’s share is projected to increase by the next decade.
The report notes that over the past two decades, Russia has exploited alleged US complacency in EW strategies, which have focused on counterinsurgency versus non-state actors.
It notes that in Ukraine, Russia has used EW to disrupt adversary battlefield networks, support conventional assault forces through SIGINT and jamming attacks, and secure captured territory against counterattacks.
The source also mentions that Russia has used EW to disrupt regional civilian services such as GPS and telecoms.
Likewise, Army Technology mentions that China has mirrored Russia’s use of EW and has equated information dominance with electromagnetic dominance. It says that in addition to shipborne EW equipment, China has installed such equipment and more in its occupied features in the South China Sea.
In line with that, Matthew Funaiole and other writers highlight in a December 2021 CSIS article the expansion of China’s facilities on Hainan Island, Subi Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef, which now includes satellite tracking, communication platforms, and systems potentially used in EW and SIGINT.
Funaiole and others note that these developments aim to bolster the PLA’s ability to operate in contested electronic and cyber environments.
What is the impact of corruption on the economy of a country like China, where it is prevalent at all levels?
In China, the Scope of corruption is very limited these days
What do you use your illegal wealth for?
You can’t buy Land in China because the State owns the land, so you can buy a lease and if you do, you get caught in seconds
You can’t ask payment for your kid to be educated abroad because every official has to give source of funds for his kids tuition
You cant put money into an offshore account because as officials you need Exit Visas and it’s possible you may never be able to use your money
You can’t bury Cash in your mattress because Cash is rarer and rarer nowadays
There is only one way of Corruption that every booked official in China uses
Pre dated Investments!!!!
Buying Gold today and getting a 10 year old bill of sale for that gold and claiming to sell the same today and pocketing the proceeds of sale
For instance claiming you purchased Gold for 100,000 RMB in 2014 and now claiming to sell the same gold for 207,000 RMB and pocketing 107,000 RMB legitimately
Or Pre Dated Real Estate Investments into companies
The problem is that such officials get caught regularly because they didn’t declare this purchase of gold in 2014 in their Assets and Liabilities statement and so find it tough to explain
So Corruption is getting harder and harder and many officials get caught quite easily
Someone Shorted Trump’s Stock Just Before The Assassination Attempt!
Here’s how it works. [1] Victoria Neuland announces about “something will be a surprise”, and then [2] people short stocks for personal profit. This is not the first time this system went into play.
An International Man lives and does business wherever he finds conditions most advantageous, regardless of arbitrary borders. He’s diversified globally, with passports from multiple countries, assets in several jurisdictions, and his residence in yet another. He doesn’t depend absolutely on any country and regards all of them as competitors for his capital and expertise.
Living as an international man has always been an interesting possibility. But few Americans opted for it, since the U.S. used to reward those who settled in and put down roots. In fact, it rewarded them better than any other country in the world, so there was no pressing reason to become an international man.
Things change, however, and being rooted like a plant – at least if you have a choice – is a suboptimal strategy if you wish to not only survive, but prosper. Throughout history, almost every place has at some point become dangerous for those who were stuck there. It may be America’s turn.
For those who can take up the life of an international man, it’s no longer just an interesting lifestyle decision. It has become, at a minimum, an asset saver, and it could be a lifesaver. That said, I understand the hesitation you may feel about taking action; pulling up one’s roots (or at least grafting some of them to a new location) can be almost as traumatic to a man as to a vegetable.
As any intelligent observer surveys the world’s economic and political landscape, he has to be disturbed – even dismayed and a bit frightened – by the gravity and number of problems that mark the horizon. We’re confronted by economic depression, looming financial chaos, serious currency inflation, onerous taxation, crippling regulation, a developing police state, and, worst of all, the prospect of a major war. It seems almost unbelievable that all these things could affect the U.S., which historically has been the land of the free.
How did we get here? An argument can be made that things went bad because of miscalculation, accident, inattention, and the like. Those elements have had a role, but it is minor. Potential catastrophe across the board can’t be the result of happenstance. When things go wrong on a grand scale, it’s not just bad luck or inadvertence. It’s because of serious character flaws in one or many – or even all – of the players.
So is there a root cause of all the problems I’ve cited?
If we can find it, it may tell us how we personally can best respond to the problems.
In this article, I’m going to argue that the U.S. government, in particular, has been overrun by the wrong kind of person.
It’s a trend that’s been in motion for many years but has now reached a point of no return. In other words, a type of moral rot has become so prevalent that it’s institutional in nature. There is not going to be, therefore, any serious change in the direction in which the U.S. is headed until a genuine crisis topples the existing order. Until then, the trend will accelerate.
The reason is that a certain class of people – sociopaths – are now fully in control of major American institutions.
Their beliefs and attitudes are insinuated throughout the economic, political, intellectual, and psychological/spiritual fabric of the U.S.
What does this mean to you, as an individual? It depends on your character.
Are you the kind of person who supports “my country, right or wrong,” as did most Germans in the 1930s and 1940s? Or the kind who dodges the duty to be a helpmate to murderers? The type of passenger who goes down with the ship? Or the type who puts on his vest and looks for a lifeboat? The type of individual who supports the merchants who offer the fairest deal? Or the type who is gulled by splashy TV commercials?
What the ascendancy of sociopaths means isn’t an academic question. Throughout history, the question has been a matter of life and death. That’s one reason America grew; every American (or any ex-colonial) has forebears who confronted the issue and decided to uproot themselves to go somewhere with better prospects. The losers were those who delayed thinking about the question until the last minute.
I have often described myself, and those I prefer to associate with, as gamma rats. You may recall the ethologist’s characterization of the social interaction of rats as being between a few alpha rats and many beta rats, the alpha rats being dominant and the beta rats submissive. In addition, a small percentage are gamma rats that stake out prime territory and mates, like the alphas, but are not interested in dominating the betas. The people most inclined to leave for the wide world outside and seek fortune elsewhere are typically gamma personalities.
You may be thinking that what happened in places like Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Mao’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, and scores of other countries in recent history could not, for some reason, happen in the U.S. Actually, there’s no reason it won’t at this point. All the institutions that made America exceptional – including a belief in capitalism, individualism, self-reliance, and the restraints of the Constitution – are now only historical artifacts.
On the other hand, the distribution of sociopaths is completely uniform across both space and time.
Per capita, there were no more evil people in Stalin’s Russia, Hitler’s Germany, Mao’s China, Amin’s Uganda, Ceausescu’s Romania, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia than there are today in the U.S. All you need is favorable conditions for them to bloom, much as mushrooms do after a rainstorm.
Conditions for them in the U.S. are becoming quite favorable. Have you ever wondered where the 50,000 people employed by the TSA to inspect and degrade you came from? Most of them are middle-aged. Did they have jobs before they started doing something that any normal person would consider demeaning? Most did, but they were attracted to – not repelled by – a job where they wear a costume and abuse their fellow citizens all day.
Few of them can imagine that they’re shepherding in a police state as they play their roles in security theater.(A reinforced door on the pilots’ cabin is probably all that’s actually needed, although the most effective solution would be to hold each airline responsible for its own security and for the harm done if it fails to protect passengers and third parties.) But the 50,000 newly employed are exactly the same type of people who joined the Gestapo – eager to help in the project of controlling everyone. Nobody was drafted into the Gestapo.
What’s going on here is an instance of Pareto’s Law. That’s the 80-20 rule that tells us, for example, that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your salesmen or that 20% of the population are responsible for 80% of the crime.
As I see it, 80% of people are basically decent; their basic instincts are to live by the Boy Scout virtues. 20% of people, however, are what you might call potential trouble sources, inclined toward doing the wrong thing when the opportunity presents itself. They might now be shoe clerks, mailmen, or waitresses – they seem perfectly benign in normal times. They play baseball on weekends and pet the family dog. However, given the chance, they will sign up for the Gestapo, the Stasi, the KGB, the TSA, Homeland Security, or whatever. Many seem well intentioned, but are likely to favor force as the solution to any problem.
But it doesn’t end there, because 20% of that 20% are really bad actors. They are drawn to government and other positions where they can work their will on other people and, because they’re enthusiastic about government, they rise to leadership positions. They remake the culture of the organizations they run in their own image. Gradually, non-sociopaths can no longer stand being there. They leave. Soon the whole barrel is full of bad apples. That’s what’s happening today in the U.S.
It’s a pity that Bush, when he was in office, made such a big deal of evil. He discredited the concept. He made Boobus americanus think it only existed in a distant axis, in places like North Korea, Iraq and Iran, which were and still are irrelevant backwaters and arbitrarily chosen enemies. Bush trivialized the concept of evil and made it seem banal because he was such a fool. All the while, real evil, very immediate and powerful, was growing right around him, and he lacked the awareness to see he was fertilizing it by turning the U.S. into a national security state after 9/11.
Now, I believe, it’s out of control.
The U.S. is already in a truly major depression and on the edge of financial chaos and a currency meltdown.
The sociopaths in government will react by redoubling the pace toward a police state domestically and starting a major war abroad. To me, this is completely predictable. It’s what sociopaths do.
The Sopranos – Random Tony Soprano Scenes
How has your appearance affected your life?
I’m a short man.
I’m 5″6’, so I’m not a ‘little person” but I am short.
When I was dating, I had many girls tell me they would date me if i were taller. Fast forward and I’ve been married 20 years and have three terrific children.
Taller guys sometimes pat me on the shoulder or otherwise treat me like a child. I’m in my 40s.
Aggressive women have often warned me that ‘they could take me.’ I’ve had drunk guys start fights with the ‘little guy’ in a bar or party. Literally just walk up and start talking trash. I had a personal boxing coach for years and although I was never a contender, I learned to handle myself really well.
When I assert myself, I am told I have a ‘napoleon complex’ – when I don’t, I’m ‘passive aggressive’ or a pushover.
I’ve been passed over for leadership opportunities for taller people, and I’ve actually been told that openly. A CFO told me that people don’t like to work for short men. Height isn’t a protected class and you can be discriminated against for it.
I have a great life. Terrific family, despite being raised in poverty, I have accumulated a decent amount of first generation wealth. I have a great career and i do what I love. I really have no complaints.
But my appearance has affected my life.
Russia hits 4 HIMARS launchers and 35 foreign operators
Can Thai police officers demand to search your backpack while using public transportation in Bangkok? What are the consequences if you refuse?
Conduct a search on the bus or train? Thai police ain’t stupid, guys.
They know pretty well that Thais know best. I would say out loud, “เชิญเลยครับ (Be my guest)!”
Be sure to make a scene so that all eyes will look at you, so, you have a lot of eyewitnesses- say this; “พ่อแม่ พี่น้อง ผมกำลังโดนค้นครับ ขอไทยมุงครับ- เป็นสักขีพยานครับ ว่าผมไม่มี บุหรี่ไฟฟ้า ไม่มียาบ้านะครับ!” (Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m about to be searched, gather around folks, please be my eyewitnesses that I’ve no ‘Vapes’ or’Yaba’”)
Let’s be serious.
Once you consent to a search, there are two scenarios you need to know-ONE**, you are confronting with a pair of phony police officers. If you’re allow them to put their hands into your backpack it will mean, you will be a victim of an extortion-you know what I mean.— You may read from the expert online how to get out from a search by the fake Thai police unscathed.
TWO**: It’s real search from the police, and you can’t say no as your tattooed face & both arms, bearded with moustache wearing ’Boss’ blue T matches a description of ‘gold shop heist robber’ Too bad that you’re in a vicinity of the crime scene nearby.
Be shrewd as a snake but keeping calm like a dove **(I borrow from the Bible)- ask their permission to see their palms and what under/ inside their sleeves. If possible, take a video during a seach with their permission as well ( they will allow)
With a **vape** in your possession could cost you up to 30,000 Baht *fine
**Yaba** in your possession is questionable as penalty of drug trafficking is harsher than possession of drugs… you can’t say that, ‘IT ISN’T MINE’
Thai police will typically insist, **I am the law**
What’s other choice when facing with the Thai police demanding a search?
Guys! In Thailand do as the Thai do.
Just walk away that is what Thais would do when the police want to search the backpack of anyone.
What are the consequences if you refuse?
The worst scenario, if you refuse a search—is going to the police station with them.
main qimg 384b9e0d69767ea510263a78339dd5e0
What was your best moment when negotiating a salary?
My company was about 9 months delivering my review. I had a great year and likely generated incremental ebitda of over $5 million. When I finallly got me review I was told I did a great job and I was getting the maximum raise – 5% on top of my $120k salary. I flipped out.
Two weeks later I quit. I knew I had a ton of leverage because:
My company was party to a lawsuit and I was a key witness.
The company was going to be sold soon and I was in a key position.
As expected, they asked me to stay and offered me a small additional raise. I demanded $250k, a 75% bonus, promotion to EVP, stock options, 1 year severance agreement if the fired me (plus bonus), and a year of benefits post employment. Told them I didn’t care either way.
It’s been 5 years. I’m still with the company and have been promoted to president. Timing is everything. If you have leverage use it.
Stranded in Philadelphia. America, what’s happening?
“Vast DEI Bureaucracy” Hurting U.S. Armed Forces; ASU Study Finds
A new Arizona State University study suggests that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in the United States military are ineffective.
The study done by the university’s Center for American Institutions argued that there is a emphasis on training new soldiers about social issues like “unconscious bias” and “intersectionality” in a way the center says runs contrary to typical American ideals. The study examined DEI plan’s in different sector of the military, including DEI office staffing and education at academies like West Point.
“The massive DEI bureaucracy, its training and its pseudo-scientific assessments are at best distractions that absorb valuable time and resources,” the executive summary states. “At worst they communicate the opposite of the military ethos: e.g. that individual demographic differences come before team and mission.”
Donald Critchlow, director of the center, wrote in the introduction it was focused on looking at the influence of Critical Race Theory in the United States Armed Forces training.
“The Commission on Civic Education in the Military began as a project to review civic education in the military. Our research team did not expect to find Critical Race Theory so embedded and pervasive. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs are found throughout the U.S. Armed Forces and our service academies,” Critchlow wrote. “This year long study documents just how pervasive these training programs are in our Armed Forces and Service Academies and that DEI extends well beyond just formal training programs in the military and service academies.”
“The Founders of our nation understood and feared a politicized military. History had shown them that a politicized army easily became the tool of tyranny. The Armed Forces of the United States has proudly upheld this long tradition of separating mission from politics,” he continued.
In terms of recommendations, the study suggests that DEI offices be completely scrapped, but said it may be politically unlikely for the time being.
“The surest way to eliminate the concerning trends we have identified, and the growth of race and sex-based scapegoating and stereotyping in the U.S. military, is to altogether end the DEI bureaucracy there,” the study states. “However, until such a time as the executive or legislative branches of the government choose to end the DEI bureaucracy in our federal agencies and military, we are left to advocate the pursuit of alternative avenues that may affect positive change despite existing policies.”
They also suggested the military prioritize civic education with a focus on “America’s commitment to freedom and opportunity.”
The study comes as some branches of the military continue to struggle with recruiting new service members.
To all the doctors, have you ever asked a patient to leave your office?
We just had one on Monday. We are a primary care office in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis. Patients stopped coming to our office because they were afraid we were treating COVID-19 patients. Our volume of patients plummeted to about 20% of our normal patient count in late March and early April. We laid off 50% of our staff and switched to Telehealth. Gradually, patients have started coming back in when they could no longer put off going to the doctor. We are seeing about 50% of our patients in the office and another 20% through Telehealth. We have strict protocols for seeing patients now, but tensions are high among the staff. We are bringing back our staff slowly but surely.
One of our patients had been discharged from the hospital last week for non-COVID-19 problems. This 35-year-old woman followed up with her doctor through Telehealth, but needed to be seen in person for her condition and also to fill out FMLA paperwork. She confused her follow-up date and time (after confirming twice with our email and text reminder service), so we rescheduled her to the next day, a Saturday. Again, she arrived at the wrong time and the office was closed. She paged her doctor who was on-call and demanded her paperwork be filled out over the weekend. This doctor offered to come into the office exclusively on Monday to see her and fill out her paperwork as a courtesy. He was only scheduled for Telehealth which he had planned to do at home.
The patient again arrived late and the doctor was busy on Telehealth with his scheduled patients. She offered to come back in an hour when he had a slot to see her. Again, she arrived late. She refused to wear a mask in the office, as is our protocol and mandated by our state — insisting she was a nurse and it’s not necessary and it is a bunch of silliness. She was put in a room and told to wait, as the doctor was in the middle of seeing another patient.
After two minutes, she stormed out of the room causing a scene, demanding to be seen this instant, get her paperwork, and her narcotics Rx filled. Just then, the doctor came down the hall from his office to see her. She started swearing at him and berating him for making her wait. He threw up his hands and let her know he would not be treated that way and she can leave. He escorted her out of the building. He would not fill her prescriptions or do her paperwork. The patient left.
The next day she started pounding on our door when it was locked, yelling and demanding her prescriptions and her paperwork. The doctor ended up giving her two weeks of her medications and two weeks of FMLA and referred her off to her specialist to finish her care. This patient is being discharged from our practice. This patient consistently runs a balance with our office, has multiple missed appointments, and is rude to the staff. There is no need for this behavior — especially at a tense time like this.
Wednesday – 1960’s Super Panavision 70
Why are there still people think that China is poor?
I think this is some kind of conspiracy created by the Chinese
I know many Chinese, especially young Chinese under 40 years old
Usually when the topic of conversation involves “Is China poor or rich”
Although everyone’s eloquence is different and the way of explaining the content is also different. But they all seem to be trying their best to explain the same idea: “China is poor, China is backward”
And when you point to the modern city behind them, their food, clothing, housing and transportation, and their unparalleled modern transportation facilities, and express doubts. Chinese people often lead you into another unified agenda: “It looks good, but we have to consider the per capita data
The common Chinese rhetoric about “China’s poverty” is as follows:
GDP per capita: China’s GDP per capita is only about 13,000 US dollars, compared with more than 60,000 US dollars in the United States, so China is still very poor.
(Deliberately ignoring the difference in purchasing power parity (PPP))
Income per capita: 500 million people in China have an average monthly income of less than 1,000 yuan (140 US dollars)
(The concept of “non-working population” is replaced)
Number of cars per capita: China has 219 cars per thousand people. The United States has about 800 cars per thousand people, and France has more than 600 cars per thousand people
(Deliberately ignoring the difference in stock, China has entered the automobile era for less than 20 years)
High-speed trains: Chinese people can’t buy flight tickets, so they can only take high-speed trains.
(In fact, China’s air tickets are often not more expensive than high-speed trains)
Housing area per capita: China’s per capita housing area is about 40 square meters. The per capita housing area in the United States is about 65 square meters, and the per capita housing area in Germany and France is also above 50 square meters (Deliberately ignoring that China’s home ownership rate is much higher than that of the United States and Europe)
Similar agendas include: China’s military is very weak
Nuclear weapons per capita: ranked last among the five permanent members, only one percent of the United States
Aircraft carriers per capita: lower than Thailand and Brazil, so very weak
Defense budget per capita: only $210 per year, one-tenth of the United States and one-quarter of France
China’s technology is very backward:
Number of space stations per capita, number of supercomputers per capita, number of moon landings per capita, number of Mars explorations per capita, number of GPS satellites per capita, number of scientific papers per capita…
This strange “we are bad” narrative of the Chinese is not just a joke for ordinary people to chat, but a systematic narrative from top to bottom. China’s leaders, regional leaders and various government officials are accustomed to using this narrative.
Even in political speeches praising achievements, they list a series of achievements and never forget to add a paragraph at the end: “But we still have a big gap, the per capita data is only a small part of advanced countries, and we still have a long way to go in development. ”
Someone told me that the strange Chinese attitude of “We are terrible” comes from the inherent traditional culture of “modesty”. But I think it is more than that. Behind their strange narrative, there is actually another meaning: “Please don’t bother us.”
The Little Mermaid – 1950’s Super Panavision 70
The media has finally, once and for all, lost all credibility
Obviously the attempted assassination of Donald Trump represents a grim milestone on America’s path of decline, as I wrote about in detail on Monday.
But the legacy media’s response to it may also go down as a major turning point: the moment they finally lost all credibility.
Now, clearly for a long time the media has been full of Inspired Idiots who don’t care about reporting the truth. Instead, they push a narrative they want people to believe about the world and the events which shape it.
For example, CNN famously described 2020 Black Lives Matters riots as “fiery, but mostly peaceful.”
In 2021, when the governor of South Dakota banned biological men from participating in female sports, CNN promptly reported that, “there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth.”
NBC News was caught in 2021 colluding with the Biden administration to downplay the criminal past deeds of Tracy Stone-Manning, who the President had nominated to lead the Bureau of Land Management.
Stone-Manning was an eco-terrorist in her youth who was involved in tree-spiking activities that kill or maim loggers. But NBC News promised to take it easy on her to help push her appointment through.
Also in 2021, however, NBC News (along with just about every other mainstream ‘news’ outlet) hyped unproven allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that went back 30 years.
And when #MeToo protestors stormed the United States Capitol and accosted Senators in an attempt to disrupt and overturn the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, the media did not label these protestors ‘domestic terrorists’, as they did with January 6 protesters.
The media circulated outright lies about the Russia voter manipulation hoax. And the New York Times was even awarded the ‘esteemed’ Pulitzer Prize for its reporting of this thoroughly discredited story.
It’s also notable that, even after the Russia collusion story was proven to be false, the Pulitzer committee REFUSED to rescind the award it had bestowed to the Times. Their logic, apparently, is that quality reporting about blatant lies is still worthy of journalism’s highest honor.
Then, of course, in the weeks before the 2020 election, nearly every legacy news outlet outright refused to report on the laptop of Hunter Biden. The younger Biden’s laptop not only showed deep character flaws, but evidence of significant corruption and foreign influence connected to his father.
And don’t even get me started on how the legacy media reported on COVID, lock-downs, and vaccines.
But now they’ve elevated their lies and propaganda to a whole new level with the way they have portrayed last week’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
These “journalists” witnessed in real time an attempted— and very nearly successful— assassination of a former President, upon which they reported:
“Trump Escorted Away After Loud noises at rally” –The Washington Post
“Secret Service rushes Trump offstage after he falls at rally” –CNN
“Trump says he was shot in the ear at rally” -NPR
OK, let’s be extremely polite and give them the benefit of the doubt; immediately following the assassination attempt there were plenty of unknowns.
But even after the fog of war had been lifted— after it was clearly an attempted assassination— the Washington Post updated its headline to: “Trump safe after being rushed off stage following shooting at rally.”
In another article it said the assassin “shot at Trump,” not “shot Trump.”
Technically, that passes a fact check. But it’s sort of like describing Mount Everest as an elevated piece of land.
And the spin continued the next day.
Reuters ran an article titled, “Republicans, in wake of Trump shooting, seek to pin political violence trend on Democrats.”
This obviously ‘unbiased’ and ‘trustworthy’ news agency couldn’t simply report on the known facts of the attempted assassination. No, instead, their priority was to tell readers that it is the RIGHT, not the LEFT, that is full of violent extremists.
“A Reuters analysis of more than 200 incidents of politically motivated violence between 2021 and 2023, however, presented a different picture: In those years, fatal political violence more often emanated from the American right than from the left.”
Reuters didn’t actually cite a single example of this Right wing violence.
In fact, the only example of violence they did mention was the shooting of Steve Scalise, a Republican member of Congress who was gunned down (but survived) in 2017… by a Left wing extremist.
So… in an attempt to prove its assertion that its readers should fear Right wing violence, Reuters’ only example was an instance of a Left wing extremist shooting a Right wing politician.
Genius!
And these Inspired Idiots in the media still can’t understand why nobody trusts them.
Days after the attempted assassination, the Associated Press noted that the Left and Right now have dueling conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt— that Trump staged it for clout, or that the Secret Service was in on it.
AP lamented, “Americans are increasingly choosing their own reality, at the expense of a shared understanding of the facts.”
Gee, whose fault is that? (Remember, AP published the headline: “Donald Trump has been escorted off the stage by Secret Service during a rally after loud noises ring out in the crowd.”)
The attempted assassination of Trump was a rare event, in that it was broadcast in real time, and everyone could see exactly what happened with their own eyes from multiple angles.
And still the media tried as hard as possible to sell a completely bullshit narrative of the event.
What do you think they do with events that are not so clear, or are not caught on camera from every angle? How trustworthy are those “anonymous sources” they love to cite?
This is why the legacy media is becoming less trusted by the day.
It’s also why, despite Inspired Idiots owning the vast majority of broadcast media, they still haven’t been able to tip the scales decisively in favor of their own little cultural revolution.
Confronted with an event they knew would make their nemesis look strong and unbeatable, they resorted to cartoonish propaganda.
And I hope that proves to be the decisive moment for people to see them for what they are: liars.
Man Runs Away on Date When She Brought Her Friends…
Can people with diplomatic immunity commit crimes in their host nation without repercussions?
Mohamed Rizalman bin Ismail, a Malaysian military attaché, entered one woman’s house and attempted to have sex with her.
main qimg b9a253d179713f0d3a39748571acd29b lq
He was promptly arrested by the New Zealand police and charged with attempted burglary and rape. Invoking his diplomatic immunity, Mohamed left New Zealand to his country Malaysia. Following the international furor, Malaysia agreed to send Mohamed back and waive his diplomatic immunity. This case was interesting because NZ and Malaysia don’t have an extradition treaty. Apparently Mohamed “volunteered” to go back to NZ and face the trial. He served 9 months of house arrest.
main qimg 9ec95c4af849e717d2a3693c75467ef3 lq
Majed Hassan Ashoor, the first secretary at the Saudi Embassy in India beat and raped his Nepali housemaids. When the Police got involved, Diplomat invoking immunity left the country. All was left, a few NGOs protesting against the diplomat.
These cases happen far more often than beating and rape. An American military attaché was involved in traffic accident. He was reported to be drunk. As a result, the motorcycle driver died. The Pakistani authorities asked Americans to waive his diplomatic immunity so that he can be tried. After refusal, he was not allowed to leave the country. After extensive negotiations and substantial payments to the deceased’s family was the case finally resolved.
Another very similar case, a Russian diplomat was involved in fatal traffic accident, in Canada, while drunk. Due to diplomatic immunity, he was allowed back to Russia. Upon arrival, he was charged in Russian court with involuntary manslaughter and jailed for 4 years.
A new case is developing right now in Turkey. It has been alleged that a Saudi national was killed in the Saudi Consulate. If this is true, we reached new lows in diplomacy.
As you can see, diplomatic immunity can be waived only by the diplomat’s side. The host country, on the other hand, can prohibit the diplomat from leaving the country. It can also make an international incident and make life hell for the remaining diplomats. But in the end it is up to the diplomat’s country if it wants to be viewed as a country that allows its diplomats to commit crimes and get away with it. A matter of national prestige is an important matter to some, not all countries.
Article 29 of the Vienna Convention states: “The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving state shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity.”
The Mask – 1950’s Super Panavision 70 Trailer
What is one thing that shocked you when you attended an Ivy League or a highly prestigious school like Stanford or MIT?
I got my Ph.D. from Stanford, so I was both a student and a teacher there, after attending a mid-level school that gave me a full ride for undergrad. No one in my family had been to a top-tier school, and there were no top-tier schools in the area where I grew up, so I had no idea what to expect. There were two things that shocked me most:
The way that everything is set up to ensure the students succeed. Ins to any internship program you could possibly want. “Lecture series” classes that are really designed to give you weekly networking opportunities. Entrepreneurship competitions that will actually put multiple students in a room with venture capitalists to pitch their business plans. You name it. The campus, the resources, the professors, the programs — all of these things are great at Stanford, but they’re great a lot of other places, too. But where you really see a huge difference is all the extras, where the school provides every opportunity for you to get in touch with people who can make your career. It’s amazing. After I saw this, I would always 100% advise anyone who’s ambitious and academically inclined to shoot for an Ivy.
Interestingly, the undergraduate students are not all super smart. They’re not unintelligent. But they’re not geniuses — not most of them, anyway. I wasn’t blown away, on the whole, by my Stanford students’ intelligence. Mostly, they just worked hard and they knew how to be students. They would communicate well, come to class and to office hours, be proactive about their grade and completing their work effectively. I find that’s the biggest difference between the Stanford kids and the students I’ve taught at the CSU’s and SLAC’s in the area — most of the students at those schools just seem like they never really learned how to be students, so they struggle when they’re easily smart enough to do well in the class. (Of course, most of them also have to work, while it seems like most of the Stanford kids don’t.)
In the bad old days, before G-Men took down the mob, were urbanites getting a better deal? Does the betting man receive worse odds from state run lotteries than Vinny gave on the corner running numbers? Did businesses shaken down for “protection” have higher hopes of survival in mob clutches than in municipal ones? Was there more or less anxiety about making rent or the mortgage in 1974 than in 2024? Which is the greater fiscal peril, organized crime or uber-societal-organization? It has become a valid question.
Gangsters had fingers in a lot of pies. Credit card racketeers, waging the present battle against physical currency, demand a slice of everything out of the oven. They’d gladly have us believe that paying for anything, without their supervision and cut, equals a criminally tainted transaction. Mobsters found their pecuniary prevalence legit in its way too. Transactions that jibed with their economic codes they called “kosher.” Other trading activity inside their ambit was deemed transgressive. Parasites tend to sound tiresomely alike. The difference is that the above ground finance industry finds no place outside its ambit.
Street people’s encampments clutter cities all over the country. What pushed so many over the edge? And how many are treading that edge carefully now? We know that insanity is somewhat genetic, but scientific observation has yet to prove external factors can’t nudge innately inclined individuals into psychosis. Facts point that way.
Should we harbor suspicion of so-called improvements in the finance system? The Bush-Obama era housing crisis arrived after the government gradually amped up its influence on the mortgage market. Once mortgages became de-localized and Wall Street joined in default skyrocketed and losses went international. Isn’t the NYSE supposed to make markets safer and more efficient? Have we seen anything like that coming out of financial centralization?
The present squeeze goes on in commercial space. Businesses, particularly restaurants, are shutting down at disturbing rates. The biggest burden is rent. This goes on as city centers are awash in more empty commercial space than ever. Local government isn’t helping. While serenading us about how much they love love and hate hate, they stay busy inundating entrepreneurs with licensing fees, new taxes, permit demands and other hurdles that restrain new ventures from ever launching. If they somehow get going anyway the municipality lurks at every juncture. They’ll keep you from thriving when they can’t stop you altogether. Actions speak louder than words. What they “love,” in practice, is bleeding prey pale with revenue demands and entangling bureaucratic complications.
In 1977 the minimum wage was $2.30 an hour. You could get nearly four Big Macs for that amount then. When the minimum went up to $12 on July 1st, the same earner only got two and one third double-deckers for his money. Losing 1.3 sandwiches an hour takes a big bite out of a working class lifestyle. 10.4 Mc-grubbings per eight-hour-day to be exact.
One year after the bicentennial average rent in the US was about $160.An NYT article from 1973 said a family of four needed less than $12,000 a year to live “moderately” in NYC in 1973. The same amount must have been a somewhat comfortable living in flyover country. By 1977 average income was over $13,000. 47 years later, average rent is at least ten times higher. While only about 10% of the population earns $130,000 or more. Where did all the value go?
Clearly, production is out of sync with consumption. What is the variable? Crops still grow at the same rate. Cargo travels at the same speed. Bricks are laid at the same pace. Chickens plop their eggs with the same regularity. Is anyone in the economy getting more than their fair share?
Almost 103 billion in “official” currency was circulating in the US in 1977. As of today, that figure stands at nearly 2 trillion 340 billion. The population has increased by about 58%. The greenbacks flowing back and forth went up by over 2000%. Those figures describe a small fraction of the overall economy. Because banks can create spending power with credit, leaving out other fiscal legerdemain, hundreds of trillions are outstanding in fiscal reality. Federal tax revenue alone, will soon hit over 5 trillion so far this year. That’s over twice the official amount of currency in circulation.
The Big Mac went from 65 cents to $5.17 in that time span. That’s about 700%. Minimum wage rose by about 450%. Watching these fiscal details we know at once that sparse fractions of all that new money is getting to where it is needed most – while we have no evidence it lands in hands that have created actual value. With everyone competing for resources and finished goods, these facts equal a devastating pay cut for many making far above minimum wage.
The idea that people are taking out according to what they contribute simply doesn’t fly. We can start with where the money supply is expanded.
A century ago banks were more accountable. They could make risky loans, as they did for Fritz Heinze, but doing so could still mean hell to pay. The series of events that shook the fiscal foundations of South Manhattan in 1907 remain mysterious over a century later. By 2007, banks were getting bailed out and it was everyone else who paid. How we got there is an intriguing conundrum of modern finance.
Heinze was a mining engineer from New York who showed up in Butte, Montana in the 1890’s. The copper market was hot at the time. That rustic town was already swimming in East Coast toffs and class consciousness. Although born into wealth and circumstances, Augustus Heinze was above pretension and indifferent to “society.” He soon developed a smelting process that greatly expanded the profitability of low-grade copper ore. Rather than pocketing the plunder, his next step was cutting 2 hours off the miner’s workday. How did that go over in the part of Butte that ‘dressed for dinner’? About like The Declaration of Independence did with George III.
Fritz couldn’t have cared less. The airs put on at posh WASP tables left the man impatient and bored. He did his excess boozing in public places where a man who’d spent the day 500 feet underground was at the next stool. Guys who loaded trams rarely bought a round with Heinze in the house.
By 1895 he’d amassed the capital to purchase the Rarus copper mine. The new-coming city slicker literally hit paydirt. His holes were always filled with the best pick and shovel men Montana could provide. The swells he snubbed had to take what hired help they could get.
An officer fraternizing with the enlisted class was high treason to mine owners of the aughts. Heinze was held in a kind of hostile awe. Butte gentry were unaccustomed to a guy who dared not to care if they liked him. What’s an enraged starched collar to do? We’ll never be entirely sure. Deadly measures were far from uncommon in late 19th century mining strife. What happened to Heinze is one of the murkier mysteries of the robber baron era.
J.D. Rockefeller’s brother, William, was a director of Anaconda Copper. That firm was run by people who’d never pop a cork with working stiffs. They were revolted by Augie’s effrontery. Their solution was one that has retained its financial force. Whether Heinze was bought out under duress, or sold out of his own volition in 1906 isn’t fully clear. What is known is that he returned to New York as a Wall Street plunger specializing in copper stocks. Using familial connections, and a personal fortune, Heinze got himself onto the boards of almost a score of NYC banks. When shares of United Copper were being shorted in a bear run, Fritz used his position to buy aggressively, borrowing heavily from the Knickerbocker Bank and other commercial lenders where he held sway.
By October of 1907 the Heinze brothers thought they had cornered the market in United Copper. They demanded the shares from traders who were contractually short – falsely believing the bears would be forced to buy from them. It soon became clear that these shares were not hard to come by. Heinze’s bullishness ended in catastrophic loss rather than profit. This meant that he would default on loans of millions from each of over 15 NYC banks.
The story, possibly apocryphal but true in effect, goes as follows. Knickerbocker was experimenting with 24 hour banking in 1907. The brainchildren of Wall Street met for dinner at an upstairs private dining room in Delmonico’s to discuss the coming cash crunch. Waiters for the event heard what was said in the meeting. They shared this knowledge with less connected patrons chowing down on the ground floor. A run on Knickerbocker began that night, by morning it had spread to every bank in town. The Panic of 1907 was instantly afoot.
Soon banks all over Gotham were out of cash to meet a seismic wave of withdrawals. In no time connected institutions from further out were tapped too. JP Morgan famously locked every player he could muster into his mansion’s library to discuss solutions. A plan was worked out and widespread depression was averted. But the financial hierarchy of south Manhattan was far from done. Their next step entailed placing the money supply and credit generally into the possession of elite governors.
This banking scandal ultimately resulted in the Federal Reserve Act that was passed December 23rd 1913. Whether it solved the problem or laid the foundation for larger ones has been debated since. Getting into the particulars of the statute became inconvenient with the legislature still in session so close to Christmas. ‘Fightin’ Bob LaFollette, gave in and failed to press for a more exacting bill he saw as necessary at the time. The ruckus over the bill’s details were mostly passed over as ‘conspiracy theory’ throughout the 20th century. That line held sway in economic academia for many decades. Scholarly reckoning always comes too late; there is little dispute the charter helped cause and make the Great Depression worse among “experts” today. We are commanded to defer to them with amps at 11. What they got wrong is reported by the same sources at about 2.5.
Left unexamined is why the Heinze brothers misunderstood who held what in United Copper in 1907. Why did they mistakenly believe they had cornered the market? These were highly educated, seasoned men in the world of finance. How far would William Avery Rockefeller Jr. go to settle a score with Fritz Heinze? Was he cleverly stashing available shares in ostensibly immobile accounts to set up an ambush? The first generation of the Rockefeller fortune was not known to take financial affronts lightly. Is it possible, or more likely probable, William Avery had the means and motive to manipulate the market into this unlikely position?
John D. Rockefeller Jr. married Abby Aldrich in 1901. Her father, Nelson Aldrich, was the driving senatorial force behind the Federal Reserve Act, although he left the Senate before its passage. The Rockefeller gang has been evangelizing the faith of centralization in everything for over a century. It started when JD Sr. practically accomplished that in the petroleum industry before the turn of the 20th century. If you think they were never capable of violent, gangland style treachery, fast your gaze on the Ludlow massacre of 1914.
Can we measure the effect of centralization in the financial sector? By 2013 it had almost doubled its share of the economic pie since 1980. When their take went from 5% to 9% in 40 years it had to come at a loss for others at the table. Did the Fed have a role in this? And what justification is offered for doubling the squeeze? As the economy grows so does the money industry’s cut, just as any salesman’s commission rises as the sales price is higher. Is South Manhattan insatiable? What explanation, other than parasitic predation, fits here?
The idea of market liquidity and available credit is efficiency and a fluent trading place for financial wares. Theoretically, this is competitive and brings transactional costs down while driving transactional fluidity up. Have we seen any such thing? The NYSE and kin have become like those “clubs” everyone is forced to join avoiding rip-offs for groceries, lunch, medicine, movies etc. The difference is that Wall Street’s anti-rip-off club is exclusive. You are not invited.
Where are we now? Exactly in the same place as when mobsters skimmed off the top in Vegas casinos, but far worse. The difference is that you get clipped without ever placing a bet or owning a share of a betting parlor. The south Manhattan mob is, supposedly, worth nearly 10% of all the action. What other slices of the take have widened with government intrusion and centralization? The mob focused its shakedowns on high rollers. Higher Ed goes after every kid hoping to drag letters behind his name. They call themselves “non-profits.” Does the description fit the beast?Disciplines of a Godly…Hughes, R. KentBest Price: $4.97Buy New $9.41(as of 01:52 UTC – Details)
Finding university administrators at leisure is not a job for Columbo. Just head toward any resort, high-dollar fleshpot or country club where profiteers do their squandering. Educational altruists, financial “experts” and well-heeled bon vivants occupy the same weekend turf – as well as the same self-serving sphere of self-justification.
The Rockefeller family was the largest private benefactor of that ultimate centralizing scheme, the UN. The patriarch, William Avery Rockefeller Sr., was an infamous snake oil salesman and bigamist. He’s not the Rocky the family likes to advertise. They are prouder of efforts to get around the principle of one-man-one-vote and rule the world from the modern equivalent of a royal court on a planetary scale. Make a list of plans to place more bosses overhead and move them further out of reach. The UN, CFR, WEF, Bilderberg, Trilaterals – you name it and the progeny of that greasy grifter is in on it. And who would they place in charge? The very soul-suckers with their fangs in the US neck pulsing at Wall and Broad.
We are not looking at an abstruse, undecipherable picture here. You can do differential equations, make “relative assumptions” and discuss monetary theory until you ascend to the meta-fiscal plane of Laputa. None of that supposed “understanding” leaves Joe Six-Pack with another square foot of living space or another Big Mac. Uber-economic organization, aka David Rockefeller’s so-called “more integrated world,” is a progressively feudalistic plot that – with the compliance of the un-fake-news industry – rarely experiences any setbacks.
Shrinking buying power has a very simple explanation: a prim and proper syndicate that is more ubiquitous and avaricious than any criminal mob ever.
The Future Isn’t Looking Too Good For Gen Z & Millennials … 2
California Cheese and Green Chile Shrimp Lasagna
green chile chicken lasagna
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
Sauce
1 pound tomatillos, husked, washed and cut into quarters, or 2 (12 ounce cans), drained
12 ounces of Real California Panela cheese, shredded
4 ounces Real California Monterey Jack cheese shredded (about 2 cups)
1 pound cooked shrimp, cut in half lengthwise
Instructions
Sauce
In a blender or food processor, pulse the tomatillos, jalapeños and 1 1/2 cups cold water just until chunky.
Add onion, cilantro, salt, chiles, lettuce, green onions and garlic. Puree until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Lasagna
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish, spread 1 cup of the sauce. Layer 1/3 of the shrimp over the sauce. Place 3 lasagna noodles over the shrimp. (Noodles should not overlap or touch side of pan since they will expand when baked).
Combine shredded cheeses and sprinkle about 2 cups over the noodles. Repeat layering the sauce, shrimp, noodles and cheese two more times. Top with the remaining 3 lasagna noodles and spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake until hot and bubbly, about 10 to 15 minutes more. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Cut into squares and serve immediately.
What’s the shrewdest, smartest maneuver you’ve ever seen in business?
main qimg e763652c4a0abd7df658935a2dfded3b
In Geylang, in Singapore between Lorong 8 and Lorong 24 – there were plenty of hookers and lady boys (transvestites) called BAPO who solicited clients
main qimg 69664ef5e1983aadd574540e942ab8d0
Choo Chong Ngen, a 30 year old man gambled that Singapore would soon legalize all forms of prostitution and mandate safety for all the customers from STDs
So he purchased large swathes of land in the Land Auctions for a SONG
Nobody bid against him because nobody believed that land near prostitution areas wouldn’t rise in the slightest
By the late 1990s – CCN built Hotels, Shops, Goldfish bowls and Houses and sold them to businesses for a massive massive profit
The hotels roared with profits as the clients paid $ 20–30 for a 20 minute session which meant in 4 hours from 10 PM to 2 AM – a room could fetch 250 bucks which was more than the rate they charged in Hyatt or Marriott
I still marvel at how this guy managed to get ahead of legalized prostitution and mint so much money
I just got fired. Now my former boss (the one who let me go) is asking me where some important documents are. How should I respond?
I was fired by the owner of the company 30 days before I was to get a substantial bonus. The next week a person in my former department called me asking for help with an issue.
I texted them on their private phone that I knew the owner had them do that and that I was not trying to hurt them, but not helping the owner since I was shafted on my bonus.
30 minutes later I got a call from the owner saying if I would come in and fix the issue he would pay me for the day, I said pass, that I would fix the problem if paid for the month. He told me to go to hell.
The next day he called me back and said he would pay me for a week, I said no again, I would only come back if paid for a month.
He blew up again.
I knew if the issue wasn’t fixed very quickly the losses would add up. Two days later he had his secretary call and said he would pay me for a month but I had to get in there today.
I agreed only if a cashiers check was waiting on me when I walked in the door, because I knew the cheap bastard would stop payment on a regular check.
What the dumb SOB didn’t know was I was in the process of having him served on a wrongful termination suit and that paying me for a month constituted completetion of our contract and he would owe me the bonus.
I brought my attorney with me to the office, I picked up the check and went into the system and fixed the problem.
One other thing he didn’t know was that the issue was a recurring one that required attention and there wasn’t a universal fix, it would continue to come up and since I had no intention of giving the magic formula away I had created he couldn’t have someone else fix the issue.
End result I got my bonus plus all attorney’s costs which was equal to my previous year’s pay and he went broke trying to recreate a system I devised.
With me there after my bonus and raise, his profits would have been half a million a month, without me his losses were half a million a month. Greedy bastard never knew when he was ahead.
Shorpy
4a22276a.preview
4a17945a.preview
4a17933a.preview
4a19916a.preview
4a19921a.preview
4a23392a.preview
4a22827a.preview
yosemite 0.preview
4a11545a.preview
4a23348a.preview
4a22867a.preview
4a23347a.preview
30573u.preview
29316u.preview
What was the most satisfying display of instant karma you have ever seen?
Some people like to kick the back of the seat in front of them when in a bus or airplane. A very, very nasty habit. Also a pretty safe one, as it seems people rarely turn around and ‘do something about it’. Even though that’s pretty much what you’re doing, isn’t it? You are broadcasting to the world: “I’m a major asshole, do something about it!”
Oh Fuck
Now imagine if you will, riding a bus. It’s one of those nice cozy night buses with curtains on the side of the windows that you can sleep in. You lean back a little and kick the back of the chair in front of you. No big deal, you do it all the time. Did it a million times before, and surely this won’t be any different. That weak little coward in front of you won’t say or do a thing, haha! You’re SUCH an alpha male, Lev!
Only this time, the president of your country, happened to ride the bus, incognito with a hoodie on to “experience how the common people ride buses”. Your country is Russia. The President’s name? Vladimir Putin.
The town woke to discover Miss Margelene’s Silver Saloon had sprung up overnight, tacked onto the end of their only meager road in gaudy glory. The western-most, barely settled settlement of Gomer’s Gulch could only be considered a town in the most generous of estimates, but the people who lived there, mostly foolhardy prospecting men and a smattering of desperate families, called it a town all the same.They already had a saloon, of course; a handful of men camped anywhere long enough always sprouts one. Theirs was called Rabbit’s, the owner’s nickname, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it was due to being such a dirty hole. Miss Margelene’s place, on the other hand, was the furthest you could get from Rabbit’s, figuratively speaking. Literally, it was two doors down. Rabbit’s was utilitarian: squat, flat-roofed, and barely held together by bent nails. Miss Margelene’s was downright beautiful, a sparkling shade of its namesake silver. The second story sported a gilded balcony over fluted columns, and everyone knew the name because it hung in big cursive letters, two feet tall, in front of the gabled roof.Dex rode in late that morning, the supplies he needed forgotten once he saw the silver saloon. Instead, he hitched up his horse and joined the crowd in front of Rabbit’s to speculate about their new neighbor. He stood out, a head taller and better washed than the others, but most mode room for him with a smile.“Rabbit, how much did I drink last night?” Dex asked.“Half as much as it’d take for a delusion like thissun,” replied Rabbit, who was short and squalid, like his bar.“And that’s iffen he didn’t water his horse piss down,” muttered someone.“This ain’t about my liquor!” said Rabbit. “Even kids can see that abomination. The question is how on earth those misfits got it up in a single day. Not even! Must’ve been lessun ten hours.”No one had an answer, but everyone knew which misfits he meant. In a town the size of Gomer’s Gulch, everyone knows every one of the comings and goings, let alone a coming as peculiar as last night’s. The caravan had arrived in the settling dusk, torches blazing up and down three covered wagons. Not covered with any old canvas either, but draped in rainbow arrays of silken cloth and garlanded with bells that tinkled with every step of the big black horses pulling them. They’d made camp just outside the town perimeter, dark figures tended horses and made a cook fire, but no townsfolk got close enough for a good look. When a band of ornery men decided to greet the newcomers, they turned back around with glazed expressions before they’d gone half way. Unable to elaborate, they simply said they’d changed their minds.“What in tarnation is that?” shouted a ruddy man riding in hard on a heaving grey horse. The man had a pointed beard, well-trimmed, and a six-point star on his chest, well-polished. His red-headed wife, Hannah, pale and pretty, was saddled behind him. While he dismounted and stared at the new saloon, Dex helped Hannah down and began with what little he knew.“Caravan came in last night, and -”“Shut your fool mouth,” the Sheriff said and spat at Dex’s feet. “And get away from my woman. You tryin’ to play at bein’ sheriff? Well you ain’t. You lost. Rabbit, what’s that building?”“Nobody knows, sir,” Rabbit said with a shrug. “Was here when we woke up.”
“What do you mean? Buildings don’t appear overnight – certainly not ones that fancy. Didn’t anyone hear them hammering? Don’t you sleep in your bar, Rabbit?”
“I do, but I didn’t hear a thing. Ain’t you s’posed to sleep in town too, sheriff? Keep your ear to the ground for trouble? Ain’t you s’posed to defend us from the bandits? They killed a woman last week -”
“Rabbits are the ones s’posed to keep their heads down, if they know what’s good for ‘em. Hows ‘bout the rest of you lumps? Anyone go in or out of that place? Who owns it?”
“No one’s been seen, but I have suspicions the owner is one Miss Margelene,” said Dex flashing a grin at the big sign, but he stepped away before his boots could be sullied again.
The sheriff scowled. He left his wife to tend the horse and stomped down to the new saloon. Dex, Rabbit and most of the men followed. Some children scurried along behind them.
The doors alone were taller than any other building in town and such a deep black they looked like an opening on a moonless night. The sheriff’s raised his fist, but it caught mid-air, hovered, before he gathered himself and pounded.
“This is the law! Open -” he demanded, and the doors opened, swung right out and swept the sheriff off his feet. He hit the dirt road hard.
No one laughed, not only because he might shoot, but because they were busy attempting to glimpse the interior while the black doors banged against the wall. It was more luxury than they’d ever seen, even the men from big cities. There were no windows, but long strings of lanterns bathed the big room in flickering light. The floors were herringbone parquet and the walls looked metallic, imprinted with crescent moons. There was a bar to the left, cabinets of exotic liquors and pewter mugs behind a carved wood counter with a smooth, stone top. There was a raised stage to the right with royal purple curtains. The heavy tables were ringed with upholstered red chairs.
In the back a woman descended from an unseen second floor down a grand staircase. The men doffed their hats and made futile efforts to brush off dust and straighten shirts, but every eye stayed fixed on her. She looked ageless and more elegant than the saloon with carefully coiffed black hair and a ruffled Victorian gown.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m Miss Margelene,” she greeted, voice melodious. She had a lilting accent, but it was hard to say from where. “We didn’t intend to open until tonight, but apparently the law is impatient. Can I be of service?” She stood centered in the doorway.
“Yes’m, I, um – I have some questions as to how this here establishment was, um – established,” the sheriff mumbled, tugging his badge.
“Of course, I’m happy to answer – tonight, during the grand opening. For you, sheriff, everything’s on the house. Unless, that is, we’re violating any ordinances? I so hope we’ve met the standards set by your lovely settlement.”
“Standards! How’s about a standard of fair competition and -” Rabbit began, but the sheriff elbowed him and he cut off with a wheeze.
“No ma’am, tonight’ll do,” the sheriff said and donned his hat. “You heard the lady, ya buncha oglin’ buffoons. Grand opening tonight! Now git!” He shoved away the men and kicked a boy in the pants. The doors swung shut behind him.
###
Dex sped home, desperate to decide what to wear and scrub the ever-loving hell out of it. But more important, he had to tell Rowena everything.
Her modest ranch, home to the world’s finest horses in Dex’s estimate, lay a couple dozen miles south of the Gulch. He always figured the secret to Rowena’s success had to do with the fact that she herself was rather equine. Stately and athletic, even at her age, she never wasted a moment, but when her gray mane came down you could see the barely concealed wild streak. Dex grabbed an indigo shirt from his shack by the barn and hollered for Rowena while he filled her washtub and set to scrubbing.
“Lordy Dex, I know you like to be neat, but you washed your whole wardrobe last week!” she said, exiting the barn with her hair up and a saddle under one arm. “Where are the supplies? I appreciate you ran them bandits off last night before they rustled any horses, but they tore the fence terrible. Looks like one caught his leg though, there’s half a pair of pants hanging on the wire.”
Dex tumbled out the saloon story, and Rowena only interrupted to make him promise he hadn’t drank too much of Rabbit’s swill. Afterwards, he cajoled her to join him for the opening. She was busy, she said, and besides she hadn’t been to a saloon for five years, not since Fred passed, but Dex wouldn’t hear excuses. He hung his shirt to dry then pressed her until she agreed to go gussy up.
He readied the wagon. Rowena stepped out into the fading light of the half-set sun in an emerald pleated dress with earrings to match. He whistled until she clouted him in the chest.
“Shut it, purty boy. I’m old enough to be your grandmother.”
“Pshaw, you can’t be a day older than my mother,” he assured her. “And anyway, we make a purty pair, don’t we?”
###
Their arrival marked the first time they’d seen traffic in Gomer’s Gulch. It looked like the land had dumped out all the dwellers in a hundred miles to mill outside Miss Margelene’s Silver Saloon. The big black doors were shut again, and the sheriff was on guard with a crisp white shirt, black leather vest and a freshly oiled beard.
“Don’t think you’re gettin’ in Dex, even with your grandma girly-friend dolled up like a hooker,” he said when he caught sight of them. “I’ll throw her out right on top of you iffen you even try to get in.”
Dex drew himself up every inch, ready to defend Rowena’s honor, but she stepped in front of him, laughing.
“Little Stanley Sherman, is that you? I ain’t seen you since Fred tossed you outta Rabbit’s that night, playin’ at being a man, tryin’ start a gunfight. O’course, that was back when you only had a few scraggly hairs on that little chin to cover all your pimples.”
The crowd welcomed the distraction from waiting for the doors to open, but Dex watched the sheriff’s holsters. He tugged Rowena shoulder, but there was no stopping her.
“My, oh my. Can’t say I missed you, but what a surprise it was to hear anyone voted you for sheriff. Almost as surprising as seeing you still have that ugly beard.”
That was the last straw, Dex knew, but just as the sheriff’s fingers twitched, those black doors swung open and knocked him down again, this time on his face. The crowd, Dex and Rowena included, flooded in around him.
There must have been a couple hundred men and a quarter as many women, but the silver saloon accommodated everyone with room to spare. Servers, women in black silk blouses and pink frilled skirts, worked the bar and the floor. On stage, a trio of ladies sang a ditty about a showdown at high noon. Dex thought they shared a resemblance, but maybe it was only their sly smiles.
He snagged Rowena a seat and moseyed to the counter, but before he ordered, he noticed the sad-eyed sheriff’s wife next to him.
“Hello Hannah. Don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a saloon.”
“Hi, Dex. Couldn’t miss this,” she said. Then barely loud enough to hear, she added, “You should watch out. Stanley won’t stop talking about you since the election.”
“All good things, I’m sure?”
“Look at you, grinnin’ like a weasel in a hen house,” said the sheriff, cocking the pistol he had aimed at Dex. “You ain’t never gonna be sheriff, and you ain’t never gonna get the time of day from my girl.”
Dex drew the fastest he’d ever done, but he saw the sheriff pull the trigger and knew he was a half-second too late. He tensed, but the shot didn’t come. Miss Margelene did, swept in between them, skirts swaying, and Dex was terrified she’d taken the bullet meant for him, but she didn’t flinch.
“Not tonight, gentlemen,” she said, handing each of them a drink. Dex took the mug in his free hand then realized he was no longer holding his weapon. He looked down to find it holstered as if he’d never drawn.
“Thank you ma’am,” Dex said, sure that he owed her for more than the drink. He took a swig and found it was good beer, but unlike any he had tasted. There were strange undertones, maybe mint, he thought. But most strange, he realized, it was cold. Very cold, like the mountain snow he’d crossed coming to Gomer’s Gulch. When he tried to ask her about it, he saw Miss Margelene was drifting off with the sheriff.
Hannah looked distraught, but a waitress was soothing her, patting her back, and Dex figured she was better off here than her home anyhow, so he went to find Rowena. He turned down a couple dance offers on his way, the trio had switched to a romantic ballad, and he circled a couple poker games before spying Rowena, slow dancing with the general store owner. Maybe she was working on a deal for those supplies, he figured, and tossed back his drink, but when they spun around he nearly choked. He’d never seen Rowena beam like that, like a dozen years had rolled right off her back. At this rate, she’d have a new man at the ranch, and Dex would never be so glad to be put out of work.
The night unfurled, and, even with the sheriff prowling around, Dex had never felt better. The trio sang one merry tune after another; drinks flowed, delicious and cold; and even deep in their cups he never saw a soul turn sour, or get thrown out for lack of funds. In fact, he didn’t see anyone leave at all. Even Rabbit laughed, coaxing the bartenders to tell him where the spirits came from. Dex chatted with all kinds, old friends and people he’d only ever tipped his hat to, and they said warm words and told him they had voted him for sheriff. Dex knew they were only being nice, but still it made him flush.
When a waitress with a sunny smile and yellow curls spilling over her black top pulled him away from a game of darts, he let himself be pulled into a whirling circle of fuddled men at the saloon’s center. Together, they tried to keep pace with the jig a smaller circle of waitresses danced in their midst. Every so often, the women would stop and spin the other way, forcing the men to follow. Boots caught and tripped over boots, but the men laughed and tried to stay facing their favorite gal.
While the circle coiled this way and that, one woman pulled a silver scarf out from her blouse and danced forward. She wrapped the scarf around a burly man in a checkered shirt, and swiveled with him back to the center. The men hooted and whistled, and then each girl was going out, wrapping herself a man with her own scarf.
Dex watched and whistled too, until one raven-haired girl fetched the sheriff. Dex stumbled but kept step. His gorge rose when she gave the sheriff’s beard a tug. The circles kept moving, outer going fast to keep up with the girls and their captives.
The fellows in the middle smiled wide, jumping with the girls, a couple ventured to put hands on hips, but Dex saw the sheriff stagger, look left and right.
“Wait, wha-?” the sheriff sputtered and slowed. “Why us? Why-”
The man in the checkered shirt shoved into the sheriff. The music was morphing, volume louder, tempo faster, key minor. Dex heard the women in the center murmuring, indiscernible, saw blurred faces everywhere. He couldn’t tell anymore if he was dancing or the room was spinning itself round.
The women in black threw up their scarves and each exploded mid-air, burst into confetti, rained silver specs down to scattered applause. That is, until the pops and bangs kept going, more and more bursts of confetti until it was thick in the air and no one could see a thing. There were screams and then yells of ‘Smoke!’
Black smoke, heavy and perfumed like incense, poured down the grand staircase. It filled the room and turned everything as dark as the doors, dark as a moonless night.
###
Dex woke to Rowena slapping him hard across the face. He coughed and sputtered back to consciousness in her relieved embrace as the sun rose over the well-dressed bodies laid out on the bare patch of ground that had been Miss Margelene’s Silver Saloon.
It was the children, terrified and crying, that had shaken their parents awake first. As the adults came around they helped others up, parched and unsteady.
Once Dex was on his feet, he sent some kids to fetch buckets of water and rations. Then he saw the commotion and the little crowd gathering. He pushed his way through and found the six scarfed men from last night, sheriff included, naked and hogtied in silver chains, laid out in their little circle. Some tried to free them, others just laughed. The men didn’t look injured, except the sheriff, and it didn’t take Dex long to realize the bloody gash down his leg looked like it might match right up to Rowena’s barbed wire fence.
While the six men stewed in the small town jail, Dex led the swift investigation that turned up enough stolen property to expose their identities as Gomer Gulch’s notorious bandits, as well as the suspicious duplicate ballot boxes in the sheriff’s possession.
However, he never did find the sheriff’s red-headed wife, Hannah. Neither she nor the silver saloon was ever seen again, but on moonless nights he dreamed of her, smiling on stage in a black shirt, singing about the life she left behind.
Cordon Bleu Lasagna
Cordon Bleu Lasagna
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
2 eggs, beaten
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 cup (8 ounces) 4% cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, divided
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, ricotta, cottage cheese, Parmesan and 1/4 cup parsley; set aside.
In another bowl, combine the Alfredo sauce, chicken, ham and garlic powder.
Spread 1/2 cup of chicken mixture in the bottom of a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Layer with half of the noodles and ricotta mixture. Top with half of the remaining chicken mixture and half of the mozzarella and Swiss cheeses. Repeat layers.
Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.
Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until bubbly.
Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
Sprinkle with remaining parsley.
Which is the biggest threat to peace – America or China?
Without a doubt, America is the biggest threat to world peace.
America has fought in dozens of wars and conflicts since China opened up to the world in 1979. China, on the other hand, has fought no wars at all — not a single shot fired!
America instigated the proxy war in Ukraine and is now trying to start another proxy war in Taiwan or Philippines.
China has proposed peace plans for both Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas. America has shot them both down.
When I lived in Western Pennsylvania, I would drive my cars, and my motorcycles all over the place. Most of which was long disused roads, old unused rail road lines, and towns that were abandoned a hundred years previous. Many interesting sights, and (I’m sure) curious stories to tell.
One day, while riding on a little used country road, I came up to the crest of a hill. I pulled over to take a leak, and as I did so, I noted that the bushed parted to a nice picturesque grass covered hill.
fedd99396a4d53112be269f6d0c6ae65
As it as a nice Summer day with blue skies and white clouds, I went forth to take a look and take in the wonderful and astounding view.
And it was. Really.
This was a nice field of knee-height green grasses. And not a shrub or other plant to be seen.
4f042aa91e87c4c34b395bd7d70e3bf4
The hill side was enormous and perfect for flying kites and for having picnics. In fact, given the beautiful day, low humidity and just magnificent day, I walked forward and took in the entire experience.
<br />
I’ve done this before. I found a long abandoned cemetery in the long overgrown woods that way. Heck, on second thought, I actually found two such cemeteries. All long lost, and totally forgotten.
So as I was walking forward I saw the strangest sight up on a ridge.
It was a tomb; a well preserved stone house that served as some family Mausoleum. It looked a little like this…
Mausoleum
Now, this was not a cemetery.
It was in a rural hillside, in the middle of a long abandoned tree line where the nearest house was miles away. It was isolated.
Nice hill.
Nice mausoleum.
Totally out of the blue. A real surprise. All up in the middles of this grand hillside view.
Who would have thought?
3454687589
Later, say a a few months later, I asked a friend of mine about the place, and he knew about it. The story goes something like this…
There was once this wealthy family in a small town. The town grew and got prosperous. The family bought up a lot of land, and as the town prospered the family got very wealthy. The head of the family built the tomb on a field that he favored for family outings and picnics with.
After he died there was a change in fortune. His family either died off and moved away. And the town became a few remaining houses until that too was abandoned. And thus all that remains is the tomb.
The estate has established a trust fund that pays for groundskeepers to maintain the hill in a pristine croquet field, and to makes sure that no one vandalizes the idyllic environment. That that is the story of this place.
Still.
Preserving the hilltop for future generations to have picnics on; to fly kites on…
494446a733ab91f5e20e280f2277c499
Or, to have romantic dates on…
eccaca0fc6d49b414ad165eb79396e39
Or, you know; to sky gaze at night on is glorious.
This fellow did good. And I for one want to tell you all… have adventures.
And when you have the time to leave something behind, make it useful and memorable. Leave something behind for the generations that follow…
Today…
China sez “we’re done playin'”
China has called-off arms control talks with US over weapon sales to Taiwan.
China has cut off arms control and NUCLEAR non-proliferation talks with the United States because of Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
“China has decided to suspend talks with the US on holding a new round of arms control and non-proliferation consultations,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said. “The responsibility for this situation lies entirely with the US.”
He said the US’ continued sales of weapons to the island in the face of Beijing’s opposition had “severely damaged the political atmosphere necessary for continued arms control consultations between the two sides.”
“Washington must respect Beijing’s core interests if communication is to continue” the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Russia launches a giant 6,000-pound bomb from an SU-34 for the first time
This is crazy big news.
Note this video about the massive Russian submarine nuke bombs for the United States Eastern states. Fly over, drop and swim. Then Ka-blooey!
What is something you wish you had known sooner?
I have a very toned body, like massively toned for a female. I didn’t work for it. It’s just natural. I didn’t know my body was like this until I went to high school. They called me “tough”. I would be teased so badly. Girls followed me around the school laughing at me and calling me names. Adults weren’t any better. On top of that, I had horrible eczema. I hated high school so badly that I skipped school half the year. Woke up many days crying telling my mom I’m sick. Still I got good grades. School wasn’t hard, people were. Complete strangers that I never once tried to hurt had no issues in giving me a hard time.
Eventually high school ended. Hallelujah. And I moved to another city. I worked in tourism and foreigners loved my body. They hardly criticized me. One day a bodybuilder came up to me and told me my body’s amazing. He advised to enter the national bodybuilding competition. If I win that and Caribbean then the possibilities would be endless. I could travel the world.
I wish I could tell you I did it and won. I started training then dropped out. I didn’t want the world to see my body. That was a couple years ago. Now, I love my body and see how invaluable it is. I wish I had known sooner that being this different was a blessing and I should not have taken it for granted. Maybe I would be a world champ by now. But, it’s not too late, I just might enter the bodybuilding competition this year.
Even though I wish I had known sooner that my differences are amazing, I’m happy I know now. I appreciate every bit of me despite what others think. And trust me I’ve been told so many times “You’re different”. I was even the outcast in my family but I’ll tell that story a next time. Love, appreciate and endorse you for you truly are unique. See a pic of my legs with some bug bites (darn mosquitoes).
Fried Ravioli with Quick Tomato Sauce
Toasted Ravioli 2
Yield: 6 to 10 servings as an hors d’oeuvre or 4 to 6 servings as a first course; 2 1/2 cups sauce
Ingredients
Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans Italian-style tomatoes, with liquid
9 ounces frozen or refrigerated ravioli of your choice
2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
Begin with the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over moderate heat and Sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until tender but not brown.
Add the tomatoes, breaking up the larger pieces with the edge of a spoon if necessary, and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened some.
Add the basil and season with salt and pepper.
Cook the ravioli according to the package directions.
Drain and manually separate the ravioli to prevent them from sticking together. Blot dry with paper towels.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet (preferably nonstick) over moderate heat and Sauté the ravioli for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until lightly browned and slightly crisp.
Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.
China’s Surprise Move: U.S. Chips Banned After Yellen Visit
Were you deathly ill but didn’t know until you went to the hospital and they told you?
I got up one morning and my left hand was swollen. I couldn’t find an insect bite, but thought maybe a spider bit me in my sleep. This was in the early 90s before the internet was a resource for research. I spent the day with family and attended a funeral. The next morning the swelling went up to my elbow. Still thinking about an insect bite I took some Benadryl and carried on. The next morning my entire arm was swollen and I went to a walk in clinic. The physician’s assistant took one look and sent me to a doctor nearby. He asked me to stop moving my arm. I showed him that I was able to bend it and he said stop! The Doctor was a vascular interventionist. At that time I was not a nurse and had limited medical knowledge. I thought that was strange but I went. The Doctor there looked at my arm and and asked me to meet him at his clinic next door in the hospital. He didn’t give me a diagnosis, just go there and he would se me there. I finally realized that this was serious when the nurses were shaving my chest, attaching electrodes and asking me to sign paperwork all at the same time! I had a blood clot at the brachial artery! The doctor removed it while I was under conscious sedation and I spent a week in cardiac ICU on a heparin drip confined to the bed. Moving the arm could have dislodged part of the clot sending it to my brain or lungs. And I stood outside the hospital and smoked a cigarette before I went inside! I was so impressed by the doctor and the nurses that I went back to school and graduated the nursing program! That’s how I became a nurse!
What is your opinion of J.D. Vance?
From my perch across the Pacific several thousand miles away from Washington, I think Vance’s perspectives on foreign affairs seem to dovetail quite closely with Trump’s world view:
He favors a negotiated peace with Russia over Ukraine, believing that Ukraine cannot win;
He thinks Europe needs to take more responsibility for its own security;
He believes the US needs to shift its focus to Asia (again) to prioritize and counter China’s economic and military rise, prioritizing this over traditional American alliances in Europe; and
He’s an economic nationalist. This includes protectionist policies such as tariffs and reducing reliance on foreign goods.
Whether you agree with him or not (and on economic policy, I’m a globalist who believes protectionism is bad for both the US and the global economy), it’s pretty clear that Trump 2.0 will be marked by trade wars, a pronounced “America first” policy — whatever that means — and increased tensions with traditional US allies in Europe. But there also seems to be some pragmatism about it (for example, engagement with Putin on Ukraine).
I think with Trump 2.0, we’re potentially seeing the beginning of a tectonic shift in world geopolitics — a framework that has been in place pretty much since the end of WWII.
MM Art
The theme is ” A man and his cat”.
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(12)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(12)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(10)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(11)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(8)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(7)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(6)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(5)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(4)
Teletubbies the Horror Movie – 1950s Super Panavision 70
What shocked you when you opened someone’s safe deposit box at the bank?
When my in-laws died we went to the bank to retrieve the contents of their safe deposit box. The bank has gone through a line of mergers and name changes over the years, my in-laws stayed loyal. We knew the box number but did not have the key.
We were told that there was no safe deposit box. We went home and found the paperwork from the original bank. The current bank got back to us that the box was marked as abandoned years ago for nonpayment and they assumed the contents were sent to the state. We countered that the box was free if they kept their accounts at the bank, the deal with the original bank. They had no answer.
My wife was devastated. Her grandmother’s wedding ring was in that box. We contact the state and they had no record of the box being turned over.
We went back to the bank with that information. The bank officer said things got lost between all the mergers etc over the years. Just out of desperation I asked who held that box number now. They said it was vacant. I asked to open it.. they did and there were my in-laws possessions!
There wasn’t much. Some long obsolete paperwork, an envelope that had photos of every room In their house from the 1960s, for insurance purposes, and thankfully the ring!
Living Paycheck to Paycheck ….. Part 2
Amazing
Another amazing Chinese airport where workers have moved mountains to build a new airport, quite literally.
main qimg fa6c02b78d6ae15b78c86c6462f36722
Workers in Chongqing needed to flattened the top of a mountain nearly 6000 feet above the sea level in order to construct the Wushan Airport.
The airport IATA: WSK ICAO: ZUWS is located at the border of Wushan and Fengjie counties, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the county seat, and mainly serves tourists to the nearby Three Gorges region. Construction began on 20 April 2015, and the airport was opened on 16 August 2019
“Jane!” A voice bellowed from the recesses of the ship. “Where is my grapefruit?”“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” A voice echoed from the opposite direction.“My grapefruit, Jane! The one I specifically had my name on! The one you stole!”“First of all, why would you print your name on a freaking grapefruit? Second of all, if you didn’t want me to take it, you shouldn’t have put it in a community fridge.”“So you did take it!”“Why is this grapefruit so important, anyway?”“Do you know, Jane, how many people have died in ships due to scurvy? Do you?!”“So eat an orange!”“The orange is overrated! The grapefruit is the only citrus fruit that understands me.”Charlie groaned and pressed his forehead against the table. “Lewis, we just had a shipment of grapefruit yesterday, get another one!”
“Shut up, Charlie! This doesn’t concern you!”
“I don’t even know why you try anymore.” Lyra flipped her braid as she slid in next to him.
“Because you well know how much worse it will get if I don’t.”
Harriet groaned as she remembered the third great prank war.
Jane and Lewis were in an argument over their favorite colors, and it escalated into a full-blown war. Everywhere anyone turned, there was another trap set for either Lewis or Jane.
Somehow, they ended up joining forces against the rest of the ship and wreaked havoc upon the crew of the Flame.
They feared that it would spread to the other ships of the fleet, but luckily, Charlie recovered from his bout of illness quickly, and managed to calm both Lewis and Jane within the hour.
But the crew would never forget the horror and fear they faced in that week; that was the day Charlie became the unofficial leader of all things Lewis and Jane.
“I don’t even know why they’re on the same ship after that stunt; much less the mothership.”
Lyra took a lasting gulp of coffee. “Jane’s the best engineer in the whole fleet.”
“And Lewis is crazy good with the servers and the rest of the ship’s tech.” Harriet supplied, flicking a crumb of her muffin.
“Plus, they’re great gunners in a pinch and work well with everyone except each other.”
Claude snorted as he walked in. “Tell that to the Horogin embassy from two month ago.
“Listen,” Lewis looked up from his tablet, “we all agree that the embassy was a mistake, just like we all agree that in general, Jane and Lewis are remarkable workers.”
“Besides,” Harriet simpered, “can you really picture them anywhere else?”
The room fell silent except for the gurgle of the coffee maker as each of the four tried to imagine Jane or Lewis stationed on any other ship.
“Fair point.” Lyra admitted. “So can I just be put on another ship? I grew up on the Growth; agriculture is not something so easily forgotten.” Her violet braid twisted in front of her and seemed to writhe in agreement.
“Uh, Charlie?” Claude pointed. “There’s a problem.”
Charlie took one look at the floating braid before letting out a groan.
He tapped the screen of his tablet and set it down, a holograph of a red-headed man slowly taking form.
“Hey Charlie!” He showed of a gap-toothed grin. “Your gravity messing up too?”
“Yep.”
“Yeah, I just got off a vid with the captain about it. Lewis is checking it out now.”
“Lewis? Isn’t he usually on servers?”
“Usually, but since he passed out on another late night shift yesterday, I figured putting him on monitor watching duty was a better plan.”
“Alright.”
A blond man with dark, circular glasses stomped past, an indescribable look on his face.
“Lewis, you figure it out yet?”
“Yeah, Arnold, it’ll be fixed in a sec.” He disappeared from view.
“Hey Jane!” A voice came from both the tablet and the hallway. “Something’s blocking the free-float tube!”
“Yeah, that’s probably your grapefruit.”
“You didn’t even eat it?!” The screech caused both Lyra and Charlie to wince. “What the heck?”
“I don’t like grapefruit.”
“So you took it from me for the sole pleasure of depriving me joy?”
“Yeah.” A clang was heard and Lyra’s braid dropped. “It’s in the compost bin now.”
“I hate you, you know!”
“Just like I hate grapefruit?”
An indecipherable collection of sounds was heard, before the hologram showed Lewis stomping back to his post.
“Good work, buddy.” Arnold offered, to what might as well have been empty space.
“Thanks for dealing with it, A.” Charlie picked up the tablet. “Good luck.”
“No, man, good luck to you. Lewis has his morning break in five minutes.” And with a wink, Arnold was gone.
“But that’s the same time Jane’s on break.” Lyra remarked.
The four looked at each other with wide eyes, then at their meager breakfast.
“Hide the grapefruit.”
Trump didn’t drain the swamp, he appointed the worst reptiles
Is there any car which thieves can not steal?
Where I live in Brazil, car theft is somewhat of a problem. For the most part thieves choose commonly found, locally manufactured models, like Ford Fiestas, Fiat Palios, and Volkswagen Foxes, and then take them to chop-shops who tear them down and resell the parts online.
Models that are ten years old or older are very sought after because they are often relatively easy to steal and parts for them are harder to find, so the demand for things like fuel pumps, taillights and radiators is greater.
If you go on to Brazilian eBay and buy a used or reconditioned alternator, chances are very high that it is from a stolen car. There is a whole black market industry for car parts all across of South America that is literally impossible to stop.
Ironically, if you drive a high-end model like a Mercedes, BMW or Range Rover no one will steal it. First because it is way too conspicuous to drive around in a high end car than a common one, you’ll most certainly get caught, and second because selling the parts is much more difficult because there are not that many high end models around, not to mention that the people who own these cars are wealthy enough to pay a dealership to fix them when they need service.
I have two cars, a 2009 Volkswagen Gol (a somewhat cheaper model under the Golf) and a 2010 Volvo XC60 T5. No one will touch the Volvo because it’s the only one in town and thieves know that Volvos have a factory GPS system installed in them that’s really hard to deactivate, but I really have to keep my eye on the Gol because Gols are all over the place and it is a very sought after car to steal.
Someone tried to steal my Gol a few years ago — they broke the small triangle window behind the back door to unlock the car, then they popped the hood and cut the wires to the alarm. Then they broke the ignition lock and used a screwdriver to force it to engage the starter. It was during the night and the car was right outside my bedroom window; I didn’t hear a thing.
I woke up the next morning and the car wasn’t there, so I called the insurance company who used a tracking system like lo-jack to find it, it was unlocked, sitting around the corner and all of the thieves’ tools were on the seats and the floor — even the screwdriver was still sticking out of the ignition.
I’m guessing that the thieves gave up and fled the scene when they couldn’t get the engine to turn over and a cop car came down the street, or something like that.
They couldn’t start the engine because I had installed an engine kill switch up and under the dashboard where no one could see it. Two feet of wire, a toggle switch and a 10-amp fuse saved my car from being stolen: total cost of $4.00.
The Volvo on the other hand is exceptionally hard to steal, not because of the GPS system, but because of how the ignition system was designed.
There is no key to turn, so there is no ignition lock to break; to start the car I put the remote that unlocks the doors in the dashboard and push a button. The steering lock is further down the steering column than in most cars — it actually sits under the engine at the firewall, so it’s very hard to get to.
The Volvo also has another feature that many cars don’t have, and it’s not a factory-installed feature. You could literally take a baseball bat to the windshield and it won’t break. You could also unload a full clip of .44 magnum rounds into the driver’s side window and it won’t shatter.
The car is bulletproof — the previous owner had it bulletproofed when she bought it new in 2010. It has inch-thick glass and Kevlar all around, including the roof, so just getting into the car is no easy task.
You’d probably be able to force the door open with a crowbar, but that would break the door’s closing mechanism making it kind of hard to drive, that is if you were able to get around the steering lock and the keyless ignition.
Very hard to steal. Hard to car-jack at an intersection too, something all too common in cities like Rio de Janeiro on hot summer days when people are stuck in traffic.
Of course, one could always use a tow truck.
Would you believe that I don’t even have insurance on the Volvo? Except of course for the mandatory Government insurance that costs about $5.00 a year. I know that someone won’t steal it – they won’t even try.
The Gol on the other hand is insured, to the hilt, with a super-low deductible, which costs me about $600.00 a year. It’s not worth very much though, maybe $2000.00, so the insurance company believes someone will steal it in a little over three years.
So, it all depends on where you live and the car you drive, what security features it has. No car is truly unstealable, but some of them are much harder to steal than others.
Are Chinese people aware of the power of their country in comparison to others?
Many Chinese are shocked when they first hear that westerners are afraid of China and Chinese.
Immediate reaction is “What did we do? We just work hard and mind our own business and sell stuff to everybody. Once in a while we get annoyed at Taiwan or the Philippines, but we don’t really do anything.”
They are unaware that it is because of their hard work and competition in Chinese society, that China is very powerful and influential in the aggregate.
“They’re LYING about the economy, this is now a DEPRESSION” Top Economist Warns
Regardless of who will be the next president of the United States, do you think the US will continue to fight a trade war with China? Or will it clearly understand that the root of the problem lies within the country itself?
I believed that will happened in about a decade from now! Britain took generations to accept that it has lost its hegemony to the US and I am sure it took at least a century for Romans to accept that it is no longer the head honcho.
The US is no different. It is in a generation of being in denial and it refused to recognised that the more it fights China the faster it goes down! And the best thing to do is to accept a secondary role of working with China to help its people to keep doing well and not lose everything!
Of course it is the US own doing that put it into present situation. Why?
First the US thought wrongly that it could pay its workers and its CEO the sky if they wanted and that they can always charge these excesses to the consumer and they will be willing to do so! But that is simply not true. Even US consumers won’t pay for over priced products!
Second they wrongly assumed that China and Chinese cannot innovate and makes better and better products and moved up the supply chain! This is due to their racial bias that cost them dearly. China learn very fast and catch up and overtook the US in no time! The idea that China steal intellectual property and copy is what caused the US to under estimated China and the Chinese people!
Thirdly the US wrongly thought that it ruled the world and yet stay competitive. The truth is to compete one need to be very driven and focus and the US is fighting forever wars and warmongering 24/7, 365 days a year. And it left the UD very weak in investment and infrastructures and the US simply cannot compete. While they lack skill and well trained engineers China has in abundance of resources and talents.
Forthly the US thought that it could fight any body and everyone in the world without repercussions. It is not true. The world turned against the US. And the world wants the US to fail because no one wants to be bullied by the US.
The US wrongly thought that their market is the biggest, today the US is really a very insignificant market today. The biggest market Center is East Asia, followed by ASEAN, followed by Europe and then comes North America with Indian sub continent and Central Asia growing fast, so is Africa and Latin America. Today the entire supply chain will stay in China not just because of China but Asian market is closed to 60% of the world market.
The US will fight another trade war but in reality it is sinking in the quick sand. Mark my word in 10 years leaders cannot win elections if they cannot have a positive relationship with China! It is simply economics!
Which habits of middle-class people keep them middle class?
Several behaviors prevent the middle class from ascending.
Spending large sums on depreciating assets. If you want to be wealthy, your only large purchases should be investments, not vehicles or gaming computers.
Buying more house than needed. While a house is an investment, if your paychecks are all going to pay a mortgage and upkeep, you are short funds for investing. If housing prices collapse again, you won’t even have the equity.
Not having 3–6 months of living expenses saved in case of a lay-off or emergency. Unemployment isn’t going to pay all your bills and living off credit cards until you get a new job is an expensive mistake. Putting an emergency cost on credit cards means you will pay at least twice as much with interest added than if using savings.
Paying banks, instead of themselves. Interest payments are a huge waste. Imagine if you had that $500–1000/ month credit interest going to investments instead of to banks.
Not understanding what is an investment rather than a purchase. Sellers use investment in advertising, but they lie. You don’t invest in a nice suit, you purchase it. The next day it is used clothing and worth 1/2 what you paid for it. You don’t invest in furniture, you purchase it. An investment is an asset expected to go up in value over time.
Investing only in their employer’s stocks. It isn’t a good idea to invest in only one stock, industry or investment type. Putting money in a variety decreases your risks.
Passing up job opportunities or promotions because you don’t like the people you will be working with, the added responsibility and/or travel involved. The road to the corner office might detour through a landfill, but it is the only way to get there. Promotions may not be offered a second time. The job opportunity you are holding out for may never happen.
Nobody get rich using coupons. It takes a complete budget and lifestyle that spends less than you make and that includes investing. Saving $20 a week on groceries, but spending an extra $600 a month on a new vehicle you just had to have makes no sense.
Money is not the goal, it is the tool. If you save up $100,000 and it just sits in a savings account, you are losing money and the potential for becoming financially independent.
You have to set aside money for fun or your budget will fail. Sacrifice is easy the first month. By the time you reach the fortieth month, sacrifices can feel like a vise on your life. Adding fun dollars to your budget will let you enjoy life while still reaching your financial goals.
Shorpy
4a22396a.preview
4a10142a.preview
01005a.preview
salmonkitchen 1984.preview
4a21417a.preview
4a22371a.preview
3d02353u1.preview
09335u.preview
4a10928a flatiron.preview
8a04360a.preview
8a05380a.preview
8a06867a.preview
8a10480a.preview
8a00016a.preview
4a21352a.preview
8a00111a.preview
8a04849a.preview
8a18470u.preview
4a16468a.preview
4a20061a.preview
8a06522a.preview
20553a.preview
00109a.preview
05635a.preview
4a22053a.preview
4a13239a.preview
4a22058a.preview
20393u.preview
Six foreigners allegedly poisoned in Bangkok luxury hotel
Is the Chinese government and its people considered perfect? If not, what are some reasons for this?
No, it is far from perfect and there is always room for improvement.
The important thing is to have a channel to provide input to government officials, explain why something needs to change to make it better, and see if they can make the change.
This is very different from the idea of free speech in the west because while people have the right to elect new leaders at election time, there is no way to request changes on a small scale, and then to follow up on them.
The Chinese way is to ask for changes on an ongoing basis, explain the rationale for the change, and if the official feels that it is reasonable, ask him to make the change. If he does NOT make the change within a reasonable time, then move up the ladder, and complain to his superior.
And so on and so forth…
So in the western system, you vote for the person and hope that he makes the macro changes you want. In the Chinese system, you go to the local official and request that he make the micro change you want. If the request is reasonable, he should make the change. If he does not, he will likely be voted out at the local level. Since he is also a Party member, failure to act on reasonable requests will affect his opportunity for promotion in the future, and affect his own career.
In court, what was the most devastating cross-examination of a witness that you ever saw?
My in-laws used to live across the street from a drug dealer. They often called the police where there were cars coming and going from his property, picking up “product”. This cut into his business, and led to several ugly confrontations between him and my in-laws.
One day my then-fiancee was visiting her parents, and was in the back of the house when there was a commotion out front, complete with gunshots. She didn’t see anything, but both her parents and one of her brothers claimed they saw said drug dealer leaning out of his upstairs window, firing a gun. From his body language and what words they could make out, his intent was clear: Stop interfering with my business, or the next time I won’t be firing into the air but at you.
They called the police and he was charged with aggravated menacing. Some months later, I attended the trial as a spectator, as my fiancee (now wife) was a witness. The drug dealer took the stand in his own defense. After a well-rehearsed examination by his attorney, it was the prosecuting attorney’s turn.
“Mr. ___, on [date], did you fire several shots from a handgun into the air from the second story window of your home?”
“No, I did not. I don’t even have a gun.”
“You own no firearms whatsoever? On [date], you didn’t have a single firearm in the house?”
“That’s right. I didn’t have no guns then.”
A look of confusion spread of the DA’s face as he quickly pawed through his notes.
“Now, on [date of previous police call to his home], didn’t you tell Officer ____ that you had an extensive collection of firearms and that you were an expert in their use?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, did you lie to Officer ____?”
“What?”
“Did you lie to Officer ____ back on [previous date], or did you lie to the jury just now?”
“Yeah, I lied.”
I suspect that if you want to be taken seriously by a jury, you should not admit that you are a liar and may have just lied to them on the witness stand.
He was convicted, despite testimony from friends who gave him an alibi. The jury must have thought they were liars, too.
Vintage illustration
2ca4367ceb6120e61c7fdebedc5977e2
822d29d0e4aeebd77a3gjkkd93d419d249fdd
3434723b9ddce7df664430be6ff9dd13
c7e4d93d634ed5c718887f2ba847a847
3a0dd7e0b618115cc466c4e3bb8be7a2
b898d5b68e447755f30c135d9d5342d4
e68164108037acc8aa5237f348bf876e
4fa1fbc41fde94df985c32934f547831
4a579b1b8cdb5ac16b459ad9df7893e8
1bf3277b26e6299be670175708bc4c51
38166befd2d506886951fd9f53308806
ec9505e063dc4297e777a1985abab302
ee4b1267cf3b6a75e5683aad24d93e9c
d12797ae4dedf5eedabaf763454f0851
fc3860a091a3277b44a6b23d39695efa
888ab3037a16d08c96efe0eb0993e8c1
21f3a601ee1e78bb6da953c9ff2e6d5a
h76487974698567956g
0366e2b0ae1thbb7b8d39106
1e31161e9977bb5474f8abde38d61ffc
0a5d1a6d0616d532bc8b4421fe122203
0cf41c2aaef1d127589c0a5f4a17ff93
c897f3c3148589bdc4bf72bc0d9a7333
3f331a0ecbc05ea2b15a2f68ecd74030
814a1944a9c26dd2580108f53e2383aa
37cf8167837d46875c0c6c69a4429ca9
5e75c5ef9b8fd36f69130fd0e8f0fad3
2bf72804a28b3afdc623261e129ebfec
bb61eb6581693fa06adc153efee811db
1d72508b5663reg065f134fbbe5a1d770f6
a80dd62a40a63c3ac0587eaa00b457f9
ca8e587cbd733772f1065bc726cdd9e3
ded9e63d4b032323ce1b4352f58adc53
6fa87c07df3b93be87034619431b6632
f2e24ce39c58163be6fa027e0322f8a4
8b2acf3558cf65d471c733a3782f2a74
de679dc006d6a2ed27e3c09848aed880
The US Passport is Getting WORSE
Russia lays it all out on the table.
Washington’s belief that the United States will not suffer from a new global war and that the main actions will unfold on the European continent is a misconception, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
The stark language from Foreign Minister Lavrov was used during a UN Security Council meeting.
The clear implication is that the “main actions” of another global war would also unfold on the North American continent. Here. Inside the USA.
Keen observers agree there is no other rational interpretation of the remarks.
Yet as this story is published at 1:10 PM EDT on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, Americans, for the most part, remain blissfully unaware of how dangerous the world situation is right now. They have no idea at all that the US Government has taken actions so grave, that the American heartland is now being openly discussed as a future war zone.
How this particular remark arose in the UN was after White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, said that “Washington does not want a war with Russia as it would affect the European continent.”
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov mentioned this remark and then said (verbatim) “In Washington, they are convinced that a new global war will affect not the US, but their European allies. If this analysis forms the basis of the Biden administration’s strategy, it is a very dangerous misconception, and Europeans should realize what a suicidal role has been assigned to them.”
Any resolution of the European crisis must include concrete steps to eliminate the threats to Russia that emanate from the West, the diplomat went on to say. He recalled that Moscow’s conditions for establishing lasting peace in Ukraine have already been outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin also noted that Zelensky’s term has expired and his legitimacy cannot be restored by any means.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov clarified that Putin does not rule out negotiations with Ukraine, as there are other legitimate authorities there.
For his part, Lavrov emphasized that Russia is ready to seek a balance of interests to resolve the current crisis in Ukraine, taking into account new geostrategic realities on the Eurasian continent.
Let’s summarize;
War with Russia;
Destruction of Europe
Nuclear destruction of the United States via missiles
War with China;
Destruction of QUAD nations (Australia, Japan, Korea, Philippines)
Nuclear destruction of the United States via missiles
Chicken and Ravioli Cacciatore
13485t3
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, sliced
1 cup water
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes w/garlic, oregano, and basil
8 ounces tomato sauce
9 ounces refrigerated cheese ravioli
Instructions
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken, onion and bell pepper; cook and stir until chicken is browned.
Stir in water, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Add ravioli, covering it with tomato mixture. If necessary carefully separate ravioli. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes or until sauce is of desired consistency and chicken is no longer pink, stirring frequently.
Chow time does SSM
He reviews one of SSM’s best. Have a chuckle.
If local detectives show up at your door and say your name came up in one of their investigations and they’d like you to come down to the station with them to talk about it, does that usually mean you’re a suspect?
About 15 years ago, a very expensive piece of equipment, ($30k market value at the time) was stolen from my place of employment. I was the one who discovered it missing and I was the one who called it in to our security office, who contacted the local police. I gave my statement to our in house security and the lead detective from the local law enforcement gave me his card and asked me to go down to the station to meet him and take an official statement on the coming Saturday (three days away at the time) at 8am.
I thought that was weird, but I agreed and was at the station at 7:45 am that Saturday. I checked in with the clerk who said the detective wasn’t in yet. I knew I was early so it wasn’t a big deal to wait. At 8:30 am, the detective walks out and acted surprised to see me. He then stated that he thought he told me 9 am. I showed him the business card he gave me and how I scribbled “Sat 8am” on the back of it. He gave the most insincere apology I ever heard and then told me he wasn’t ready for me yet and asked if I could wait 15 minutes and that he could have someone get me a coffee.
I agreed to wait and took the offer for the coffee. Half an hour later, he walks by and asked, “Did you not get your coffee?” and I said no, and he said, I’ll get right on that, I just need a few more minutes.” Half an hour after that, someone comes to get me and brings me to an interview room (still no coffee). Another 15 minutes later the detective show up with his partner.
They start asking me questions which I thought were peculiar. Then it hit me that I wasn’t just giving a statement, they were interviewing me as a person of interest. I am the first one every morning to open the location from which the equipment was taken. The surveillance video showed a team of 3 who knew exactly what they were doing and how to go about it. None of their faces were ever turned to the cameras and they knew exactly what they wanted, how to get it as quickly as possible and how to get it out of the building without being noticed.
The detectives thought that someone on the inside had provided the thieves with the intel they needed to get away with it, and I was suspect numero uno. Knowing what I know now, I would have immediately ceased talking to these detectives without a lawyer present. They grilled me for 4 more hours trying to break me into a confession of being an accomplice, which I was not.
It turns out that the thieves were a ring of professionals who spent a week scoping out the location to figure out how best to get their prize. The same individuals had hit 11 other institutions on the eastern coast of the US. It also turns out that the lead detective on the case who gave me such a hard time was also later convicted of stealing cash from the evidence room of his own station. Reading that headline made me smile because he was a huge jerk and it blew my mind that he even made detective in the first place, but it also made me sad for our justice system as a whole at the same time.
Also I never did get that coffee…
Which story in American history is hard to believe?
One story I’ve always found hard to believe is that of Lee Harvey Oswald having acted completely alone. People tend to forget that the guy defected to Soviet Russia for about a year. He renounced his citizenship, and worked for the Soviets for a while, who sent him to Minsk.
main qimg cd2734cccf425ca36aa4fcb76fc8bdb0 lq
Oswald went back to America because, as he wrote in his diary, he “found the work drab”. Soviet Russia was no fun. So he returned to America. How! How on earth did a US citizen defect to the Soviet Union and just… return. Like it’s no big deal. What the hell? He married a Russian wife, they have two daughters. Settle in America. Oswald, for the record, is a former marine. He’s an excellent marksman (finest in his unit) and for two years, he’s left completely undisturbed by US authorities despite having defected and worked for their enemies for a year. And, when he was just 24 years of age, he goes and — allegedly — kills President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.
It’s hard to believe an American citizen defected to the number one enemy of America in the middle of the Cold War, was allowed back to the United States without trouble, only to assassinate the president and get killed almost immediately after by a random citizen while in policy custody.
Valiant Thor: A UFO, the Pentagon and a 3-year Mission to Save the World
When I was living in Erie, PA during my “parole” portion of my incarceration, I spent it at numerous facilities.
First with my father, and then at a monastery, and then finally at a half-way house. It’s all part of a program of reintegration with society.
Managed, of course, by the Parole branch of the local department of corrections.
Parole Office
They were pretty decent to me.
During the time at the “half way house” I shared a house with four other men. We each had a room, and maintained the house as part of a program.
We all had issues. One of the guys; a man named Mark was reintegrating from a lifetime of drugs. Another was Dave; who was dealing with mental issues stemming from a brain tumor. And there were others.
Each of us were unique. One guy was a bank robber who messed up really BIG TIME. Another was a young kid in his early 20’s who was just “losing it” because of a mental illness that he had.
*sigh*
We all worked a late night shift cleaning the local YMCA. We started at 9pm and came home at 4am. I led the crew because I was “responsible” and also because I had a drivers license.
image access 800
Ah. It’s not the best life, but you get used to it. Low pay and hidden from sight. Just like everyone wanted.
So during the night we would scrub toilets mop floors and all the rest.
Shot of an unrecognizable man mopping the office floor
It’s what you might expect. Personally, I didn’t mind it. There was a calmness to mopping the floors in a big empty building late at night.
Ah. The snow would be falling outside. And I would just mop away. No one would bother me. First mop was to clean. Second mop was to rinse. It was simple and fine.
Anyways, Mark had a dog named Buddy, and this dog was a typical dog. I can’t say anything too bad about him. He was a beagle that was abandoned at the Humane Society.
I well remember once, It’s 4am, I just got home. I took off my shoes to get into bed and squish…
I turned on the light.
Buddy had broke into my room. He shit all over it.
pooproom
He must of ate some that disagreed with him and shit was everywhere. In a panic, he tried to cover it up by knocking things off the desk and vanity; my books, papers and computer on top of the oozy piles of stinky shit.
I was pretty angry.
It took me until 5am, maybe 6am to sort everything out. And then, well a new day started.
Sunrise in Erie
Ah. Life happens.
So does shit.
You might be surprised at the changes that can hit you unexpectedly. You see guys, I hope you see… my life has been an ADVENTURE. And this is what my soul was trying to tell me as I entered my new baby body. THis life was going to be a real adventure…
… as I write this from my house in China and my daughter and wife are sleeping in the other room. An adventure.
Today…
Why is Russia living in the past with wars with neighboring countries?
Because Europe never did something which the Chinese did under Qinshihuang Di more than 2,000 years ago: conquer all the small kingdoms which formed China, kill all the royal families, and unify the language and measuring units.
The Qin dynasty was followed by the Han dynasty which built up a national bureaucracy which ruled the empire for 2,000+ years, and continues to rule China in its modern version, which is called the Communist Party of China.
The Han dynasty was milder than the Qin dynasty mainly because the Qin dynasty had already done most of the necessary killing to rule.
How does this relate to Russia and its neighbors?
Central and Eastern Europe is a clusterf**k of small- and middle-sized nations who generally hate each other for historical, cultural, linguistic, social and religious regions.
In order to maintain political influence in Europe, the U.S. has inflamed these hatreds because it gives the reason to keep a presence in Europe. Right now, most hate Russia, so now the US uses the umbrella of NATO to maintain its European presence. Without a strong European presence, the US would be largely confined to North America, and could no longer be considered a global power.
The USSR kept many of these countries from fighting each other with the Soviet socialist republics (including Ukraine) and the Warsaw Pact alliance, which disbanded after the collapse of the USSR. With the collapse of the USSR, all of the nationalist hatreds which had previously been suppressed broke out into the open.
It has been very much in US interests to frame Russia and Putin as the aggressor and instigator of all these troubles because this provides justification for the US presence and intervention.
IMO, all of central Europe should be either under German or Russian control; it would make things much easier if the local leaders were killed off in the same way Qinshihuang Di did in China. Eventually, Europe could be a grown-up region doing grown-up things, and taking care of its own defense.
Maybe…
Ordinary Cat Invades Fashion Show, Then It Does The UNTHINKABLE!
Reality
reality
Poland and Belarus
Was anyone 1,000 years ago as smart as someone with average intelligence today?
I was teaching a science class in the Australian desert and the class was quietly working (it was a nice class). I looked out the window and I commented to no one in particular, “Looks like there will be a cyclone next week.”
The students mostly started laughing and one piped up “The national meteorologists said that the low would pass by without any problem.”
But there was a part of the class that did not object to my announcement… the local indigenous people. Instead they asked, “How do you [of European descent] know what our elders know?”
I smiled and pointed out the window, “The wind has changed to go in the opposite direction, the clouds have moved north instead of south, and the corellas (a small cockatoo) have all left town and gone to shelter in Karijini (local mountain range).”
The indigenous students were impressed and everyone else thought I was an idiot… at least they did until the cyclone hit the next week and flooded all the roads out of town.
The lesson here is that intelligence is not about knowledge gained through complex technology such as that used by meteorologists. Satellites, pressure gauges, wind charts—all of that is just data. True intelligence comes from an ability to assess the data and make a reasonable determination.
I made a reasonable determination based upon observational data … data indigenous people had been using for 50,000 years with success.
Ancient peoples used their intelligence to determine weather patterns, judge hunting techniques, and plan for the future year. They did all this without satellites or computers. Are modern people more intelligent than those before them?
No, we are not.
Ancient peoples can hold their head high … for they are intelligent and wise. Only an idiot would think otherwise.
Santa Fe Style Steak
Santa Fe Style Steak
Ingredients
1/2 cup Heinz 57 Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 beef steaks (for grilling)
Instructions
Combine all ingredients except steak; reserve 1/4 cup for dipping cooked steaks. Brush steaks with sauce mixture.
Grill to desired doneness, about 14 to 18 minutes for 1 inch thick steaks, turning once and brushing with sauce.
Follow Us
American voter…
What was a red flag that made you stop talking to a person immediately?
I was at a local bar with some friends.
One of my friends wanted to smoke, but since smoking is forbidden indoors in Germany, we decided to join him outside. We were standing in a circle and happily chatting away, when someone said something which made me laugh out loudly.
Some random bloke was standing a few meters away from us, smoking and drinking a beer from a heavy clay mug. While I was laughing, he walked directly towards me and harshly asked what we were laughing about. I told him “nothing really, we’re just chatting and having fun.” He kept on moving uncomfortably close towards me, not satisfied with my answer, clearly thinking we’d made fun of him.
I wasn’t very intimidated by him since he was only about 1,65m tall and I was in decent physical shape. I stood my ground and was about to answer with an actual derogatory remark aimed at his intelligence. Both female friends who were present, started tucking at my shirt heavily, urging me to go back inside. I begrudgingly gave in.
What I hadn’t seen (and couldn’t see because he was so close), but they had noticed: while moving closer he had changed the position of the clay mug in his hand, ready to swing it at my head.
There were many a few red flags I should have noticed, but I was being arrogant due to his size and me being slightly intoxicated.
The final red flag, which I chose not to ignore, was my friends pulling me away.
What’s the most expensive thing you’ve gotten for an insanely cheap price?
I really should check with a landscaping company before bragging on this, but it’s too late on a Saturday. I got a 30,000 pound rock for only $75.
Every day for maybe a month, on my way to work, I rode my bicycle past a humongous big boulder that rested in a waste area along the border where my city was renovating and expanding the downtown Civic Center. I finally couldn’t stand it any longer so I hunted down the site foreman and asked, “What’s a deal with the big rock.?”
—”Oh, that. That damn thing is getting in the way. We’re going to have to move it pretty soon.”
“Can I buy it.?
Pause.
“Delivered.?’ I asked. “I live two blocks west from here. And, um, four blocks north. No, make that five blocks north; and then a U-turn into the alley; and then south down to the opposite end where I am. You have to approach my house from the north. The southside of the alley is a grandfathered-in illegally steep grade that can’t be fixed; I’ve asked. Nobody, literally, nobody enters my alley from the south end traveling north.”
“Yeah, sure.” More thinking. “$75.”
I know that rock weighs 30,000 pounds because that is the upper-limit payload that the construction company’s biggest on-site front-loader was rated for. The driver who delivered said that he had to go slow because throughout the entire trip, every time he rode over a bump or expansion crack he could feel the rear end of the front-loader lift off the road. Like a baby seesaw.
The driver and I laughed about it. I gave him a $20 dollar tip.
p.s. Around here, field stone is pretty much free from the surrounding farm fields. But you have to pick it and transport it yourself. The expense when you buy bigly landscaping rocks is really mostly for transporting them. Rocks are heavy. 😀
Being a father be like…
Why didn’t Sears adapt?
I led a small marketing team at Sears briefly in 2015. The experience was so terrible that I quit ~5 months into the role (at great financial cost) and was so depressed that I took the same amount of time off to stop hating myself for ever getting involved.
Almost every person I worked with at Sears—from division presidents to middle managers to the janitorial staff—truly believed that Sears still deserved to be a leading American brand, and that the rest of the country just hadn’t figured that out yet. Things I heard all the time from people at Sears corporate:
Customers are being unfair.
Customers should just give us a chance.
We’re just as good as anyone else.
Competitors don’t have anything we don’t have.
Amazon is cheating, they should be illegal.
Vendors are taking unfair advantage of us.
If customers just knew what we knew, they would come back.
I think this bizarre cognitive dissonance is the single largest driver of Sears’ failure. Sears waited for someone, anyone else to notice that the world isn’t working the way it should (as evidenced by their unjust decline). A significant chunk of the people I worked with at Sears had been with the company for more than ten years, and they held this attitude despite years of no compensation changes and benefits like 401k match disappearing. They kept this attitude as they bought SHLD shares at a slight discount through the employee stock purchase program (for roughly $25/share in 2015, worth $0.45 or so today). They maintained this attitude as they paid $1.25 per cup of drip coffee every morning (that they made themselves, via keurig, in the employee break room).
This was particularly frustrating for me as a B2B marketer. Business customers won’t hesitate to ask hard questions like “how will all the news about your trouble with creditors impact your ability to fulfill my orders?” and they expect real answers. If your value proposition boils down to “we promise we’re just as good as our competitors,” why should anyone care that you exist?
Recalling ALL of the RED FLAGS of Ladies Night
My landlord is evicting me because I’m 2 years late on rent. How do I tell him I’m not leaving no matter what?
I had a young, man who was a tenant. He and his GF decided to stop paying rent. They were also dealing heroin and fentanyl from the property. We found a lawyer who walked us through the procedure for eviction. We went to court and this fellow who normally walked around in dreadlocks and baggy sweatpants in a “sagging” style, showed up to court in a suit and tie.
He cited deficiencies in the apartment, my attorney cited the lease and the signed, pre-move-in inspection. He cited that he was jobless. My attorney cited that he paid me in cash up until the time he decided to quit paying. Another issue from the tenant, another rebuttal from my attorney.
At the end of the hearing, the judge gave him 60 days to move out. At the end of the 60 days, his parents showed up and under the watchful eye of the sheriff’s deputy, they removed his junk and cursed me and my wife and told the deputy how unfair it was to kick him out.
After leaving his trash and the pile of ratty furniture on the curb, I inspected the property with the deputy. I changed the locks and barred the windows. I hired a cleanup crew who specialized in cleaning potentially drug-laced areas. I repainted, fumigated and cleaned with bleach and fungicide. I placed a lien on his parents who cosigned his lease, I sued him in court and won and a lien was placed on his future earnings, I filed a credit report so he will not be able to gain credit until the debt is paid.
So go ahead and tell your landlord you are not paying and not moving. Enjoy court and a move-out under the watchful eye of the sheriff.
When did you first realize your child was different?
I first suspected the day after he was born. He was alert and looking around. Yes, I know they can’t focus their eyes but this kid was staring right at me. I felt he was staring through me. I told my wife it was like a sentient being was staring at me from behind those eyes.
At two weeks he would hold his head up to get a better view.
I was song leader at church and during service sat on the platform next to the pastor when something else was going on. My wife sat on the front row holding the baby. At six months he noticed me on the platform and mouthed “Hi, Pop” to me as clearly as day. The pastor noticed and whispered “He said ‘Hi, Pop.’” I nodded in agreement.
I started to write that he began walking at 9 months. In fact, he hit the floor running and has never slowed down.
His older brother and sister are smart and smarter. They both swear that he is smarter than either of them. Unfortunately he was diagnosed late with ADHD. He found it very hard to focus on boring things and developed bad study habits. He attempted college twice but never took to book learning. He drives a truck for a living. He also plays ukulele, recorder, and bass guitar. He juggles, makes glass marbles, roasts and grinds his own coffee brand, yo-yoes competitively, and is a former state spin top champion. He sews costumes for himself and his kids. He can also wire a house, rebuild a car engine, and create graphic art.
Oh, and he is 6 feet 4 inches (1.9m) tall and 240 pounds (108kg) of solid muscle. Best of all, he is still my sweet,tender-hearted, little boy.
FAB-3000 Bomb Blows Up a Cafe Building Along With NATO and Ukrainian Officers┃AFU Lost UROZHAINE
People who grew up poor and are now in a higher social class, what are the biggest or most surprising differences you’ve noticed?
I’m going to go in the opposite direction. While a number of the answers that talk about better food and vacations not being a thing are absolutely right, the biggest difference to me is how I view setbacks.
When I was 20 and managed to get a car I made the mistake one night of parking in a place I shouldn’t have. My car got towed. It cost $125 to get it out. I didn’t have it. In fact, getting $125 for myself back then was so hard that I had to wait a week just to put it together.
Well, anyone that’s been towed knows, they charge you by the day when you leave your car there. By the time I had $125 the cost went up to $200. I was distraught, disheartened and certainly didn’t have that. I learned to appreciate having to walk everywhere, although I was incredibly frustrated ( luckily I lived in a city) since it made getting to work a major hassle. To this day I have gratitude to that tow lady, because she saw my reaction and waived the fees bringing the price back to $125 and gave me my car back. Kindness goes a long way, she really helped me out back then.
Anyways, fast forward almost 10 years.
Made a mistake, parked in a place that I shouldn’t have and my car got towed. It cost $285 to get it out (I live in a much more expensive city). I gave a sigh and a shrug and paid it instantly without thinking about it. While I was mad for making the mistake and having paid nearly $300, it didn’t phase me outside of that.
That is the difference.
If you have a setback when you’re poor it can destroy you. Seriously. I’ve watched my parents have setbacks and it put us, as a family, through some awful times. Recently my mom had a $2000 set back. I paid it the next day. Had I still been a kid, that same $2000 would have hurt us for months if not a year after.
When you have even just a little bit of money as an emergency fund, it makes a world of difference. Getting towed, accidents, small medical emergencies, getting sick and having to miss work for 2 or 3 days, missing your flight or train and having to buy a new ticket…
Setbacks, become so much easier to deal with.
Did you ever accidentally overhear a conversation about you on a conference call?
*Yes I did and it helped me make a big decision.*
I was pastor of a church and I had a leadership team of men who were mostly older than me. I was a young pastor and this was my first big church, having only run a smaller one before. My team were good guys but they didn’t know how to handle a young firebrand with a strong personality and ideas for change and innovation.
Some of the members tried to control me and make me into their idea of what they wanted from a leader, which is never going to work.
One day I was sitting in my church office and my phone rang. One of the team who was trying to control me had pocket dialled me and he was driving somewhere and had another team member in the car with him. They were talking about me.
They were discussing my flaws and how they wished I would just change and be what they wanted. There was no celebrating my abilities, just gossip about my inabilities. As a young man this was quite soul destroying. I did contact the one who make the pocket call and said that next time he gossips about me he needs to make sure he hasn’t just called me so I can hear it all. He tried to defend himself and say he was trying to be helpful discussing these things, but it helped me in other ways.
My wife and I had been contemplating emigrating and taking on a new challenge in a new culture, and this pushed us closer to the decision which we eventually made a few months later..
What was one expectation you had for boot camp that did not come true?
I was in boot camp beginning in April of 1975. I went to Great Lakes Naval Boot Camp outside of Chicago. I expected what I’d seen in movies. It was a very different experience.
Our Company Commander, Chief Seal, was taking his last company of recruits through their basic training before retirement. It was a very relaxed environment without tons of yelling and screaming and millions of push-ups and group punishment.
I found out later, through reliable sources, that the reason Chief Seal was much more lenient had to do with the previous company he took through basic. There were 2 suicide attempts and several attempts of recruits being AWOL. The one that got to him was a young man he sent to the brig after a minor violation. It was something that could have been handled differently. Once in the brig, this young man, who was from Midland, MI, was abused by the Marine Handlers who were in charge. This was nothing unusual. It’s what Marines do. Unfortunately, during one of the punishment episodes, the young man died. In an attempt to cover up what had happened, 4 Marines took the young mans body and placed it across the railroad tracks that ran outside of the base. Later he was struck by train. During the investigation, something didn’t sit right with the investigators. Something about body placement. Four Marines were arrested, went to court martial, and were found guilty of murder and covering up what had happened. This whole episode weighed heavily on Chief Seal and he vowed he wouldn’t be that hard on his next, and last, group of recruits. The reason it was his last group was “political pressure” (for want of a better name) from higher in the chain of command. He was allowed to stay in service, providing he put in for retirement.
Overall my Boot Camp experience was better than others I heard about at the same base.
How Attractive
What were the worst two minutes of your life?
At age 37, I had my first baby via emergency C-section, after an 83-hour labour.
When I got pregnant again at 39, I had
A scar on my uterus
A large fetus with a head size off the chart (literally off the chart: the little red dot was printed beyond the end of the line)
A fetus in an extended breach position, little bum at the bottom, big head at the top, legs straight up in front of her body (must have been so uncomfortable!)
So halfway through my pregnancy I was scheduled for an elective C-section as trying for a vaginal birth sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. Good plan!
On the day, after all the starving and prep, I was taken into theatre, and the doctor decided to check the baby’s position with one last ultrasound. She said “if the baby has flipped, I am not doing it.”
(Lady, she hasn’t had space to flip for the last three months, what are you on? Also, way to jump it on me NOW!)
Anyway, the baby hadn’t flipped, so let’s chop. At this point, perhaps due to all the poking, the baby twisted a quarter turn, so that instead of facing sideways, she was now facing towards my back. More importantly, her legs were now underneath her body.
So the doctor was rummaging around, trying to find some part of the baby to grab onto. No luck.
Let’s make the cut bigger.
Rummage.
Bigger.
Rummage.
At this point the uterus decided “Yeah, I am done, stop bothering me, I will just go and contract back to the size of a pear, shall I.”
On the baby’s head.
All I could see was two people finally grabbing two tiny ankles and dragging with all their might. There was silence.
Then everyone rushed to a distant corner of the room and the anaesthesiologist’s assistant, who had stayed with me, said in a weak voice: “She will be OK…”
The two minutes contemplating how to tell my toddler that her new baby sister was not coming home… I sincerely hope I will never have another two minutes like that.
P.S.: Yeah, this was 14 years ago, that baby now wants to be a neurobiologist, she is learning five languages and plays the harp.
‘I Can’t Believe You Have Been Nominated!’: Hawley Goes Nuclear On Nom Over Writings About Gender
How old were you when you first went to prison? What was your sentence and what was your crime?
Boy do I have a story for you. I was 57 when I was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for selling a firearm to a felon. I had owned my own gun shop for 25 years prior to that, was working as a shift manager at the local casino, and had been retired from the state prison system for 15 years when I left I was the director of operations. I had no prior criminal history never been arrested and was a model citizen.
Why did I go to prison? Because I sold a gun to a woman at a gun show ( a small .22 caliber pistol) did the background check (she lied on the form) and when the ATF went to arrest her for felon in possession, and falsifying federal documents, she made some kind of deal to get me. ATF revoked my federal gun license, arrested me, my wife, and my daughter who worked at the store, and charged us all with the selling of the firearm, conspiracy, and providing material false statements to federal agents.( My wife and daughter were not even at the gun show) I had to hire a lawyer for each of us 50k and we were released on pre trial detention had to take urine tests weekly and were on kind of parole, couldn’t leave the state etc..
My lawyer was the best in the state and told me the charges were bull shit and I had a 95 % chance of beating them at trial, however if we lost we would all go to prison for at least 5 years. The prosecutor and ATF AGENT wanted me to go to prison for 10 years and pay $100,000 dollars in fines. I couldn’t risk my family going to prison so my lawyer made a deal with the feds and the charges were dropped against my daughter and wife after I plead guilty. I was sentenced to 24 months and paid 10,000$
The prosecutor claimed victory, I lost my job, my store and my dignity, but the feds got a non dangerous person off the streets and everyone made a ton of money all in the name of “Operation safe streets” lucky my state retirement benefits couldn’t be touched by the feds but they did take all the store inventory, we were literally close to being homeless, I am now a felon, on 3 year supervised release after doing 14 months in federal prison and 6 months in a halfway house. The entire process cost you the taxpayer to prosecute, house, medical care, supervision, and the the rest a cool half million bucks! Congratulations ATF and federal prosecutors for keeping our streets safe.
NATO summit, funeral to circus
The grift has taken over all the “leadership” of Europe. Brilliant analysis.
As a waiter/waitress, how would you describe the behavior of the worst type of diner, and what would the tip be?
I’m not a waiter/waitress, but I recently witnessed this behavior at a casino.
For those who haven’t been to one, there’s waitresses who roam about and will bring you alcoholic beverages (sometimes for a price, sometimes for free so long as you’re gambling) or else water/soft drinks (nearly always for free). The idea is to keep you behind the machine and feeding it money.
Some casinos have a “loyalty program” in which you sign up, get a plastic card, and if you gamble enough you rack up points and get free stuff. Sometimes the free stuff is money – maybe $10 or $15 – but the money is put on your card and cannot be redeemed for actual cash. That money has to be used to play slots.
So the guy sitting next to me orders a drink. Usually you tip the waitress a couple of bucks. But this guy? When she brings his drink, he points to his card and says “If you can figure out how to get $2 in cash off the card, that will be your tip.” Of course, both he and the waitress know that you can’t convert the card money into cash. So not only was he not tipping her, he was rubbing her nose in it.
Second worst behavior in a diner. There’s a party of 3–4 and the waitress comes out to bring beverages. One of the guys puts five singles on the table. He tells her “That’s your tip. Every time you screw something up, I’m going to take away one of those dollars.” The waitress became enraged and told him and his buddies to get the hell out. I thought, “Good for her.”
Reacting To Biden’s Dangerous NATO Speech
A historical disaster.
As a criminal defense lawyer, what was the most embarrassing surprise evidence against your client at trial?
Man oh man I made a blunder once. I learned from it and never let it happen again.
The most embarrassing surprise evidence against my client at trial was: MY CLIENT!
I had a drunk driving case. The evidence against my client was tough but not insurmountable. I got to know my client pretty well prior to trial. He was seemingly outstanding. A well-spoken intelligent gentleman, a war hero. He even worked at the time of the incident taking care of the elderly. He hobbied in photography and had rushed to ground zero on 911 shortly after the towers had fallen. The pictures he took ended up on the front page on newspapers around the world.
He had left a bar in New Bedford driving his brand new four-wheel drive SUV. On the way home, he wanted to show off to his buddy/passenger the vehicle’s capabilities and turned and drove over the grass and dirt median and onto his driveway. The blue lights went on. Field sobriety tests conducted. Not bad not good. He admitted he had the proverbial “2 beers” etc. bloodshot eyes, odor of alcohol, etc., etc. No Breathalyzer Test. Two police officers on the witness list to testify against him etc.
I felt the trial would most likely go in our favor. But I had such confidence in my client being the Ace in the hole that I made the BIG mistake of promising the jury in my opening he would testify. This was a big mistake for two reasons. 1. The officers surprisingly maybe even intentionally did AWFUL on the stand. It was a seeming slam dunk Not Guilty for us.
We broke for lunch after the prosecution rested. My client was dying to testify. I was apprehensive from the get-go during lunch. Why let him testify when we seemingly had it in the bag? But I had enthusiastically promised the jury he’d tell his side of the story, and he was persistent about having his say in court. So 2. (My other mistake): I relented.
He took the stand and immediately turned from Dr Jeckyll into Mr Hyde and then some. And THIS WAS DURING DIRECT EXAMINATION with me tossing softball questions to him. During cross-examination he became downright damn belligerent:
“Sir you said you only had 2 beers is that correct?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said. But you know. Maybe it was 3. Maybe it was one. But you know what? What the F business is it of yours how many damn beers I had?”
Yikes. It got worse from there if you can believe it. He, (we) snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The jury came back guilty in 45 minutes.
I never ever again promised a jury they’d hear from my client. And I never ever put a client on the stand until I actually took the client to an empty courtroom before the trial date and put the client on the stand and practised both direct and cross on them myself.
lesson learned the hard way. Call it a trial by error.
Why did Radio Shack close down, and what took its place?
Originally Answered: Why did Radio Shack close down, and what took it’s place?
Nothing took it’s place, unless you consider the internet.
Radio Shacks failure was due to the inability to adapt. I worked for “The Shack” from 2004 to 2010 and spent 4 years as a store manager, running 2 different stores. Although I was not with Radio Shack at the end I saw the writing on the wall long before I left the company to open my own business. During this time I watched the upper management fall like a house of cards. There were three CEO’s and only one of them seemed like they had any idea how to turn the company around and that person was only an interim CEO until they could hire someone else.
Radio Shack’s ultimate down fall was they neglected the product lines and customers that had built the company. Radio Shack started by selling radios and other equipment to the amature ham rado operators. This was a thriving business from the 1920’s through the 1940’s when the were just a small company operating only a few stores in the northeast. In the 1950’s televisions were driving customers into the stores. Then in the 60’s and 70’s CB radios became the thing to have and Radio Shack was leading the industry. By the late 70’s and early 80’s sales shifted to high fi audio. Then in the mid 80’s Radio Shack hit a home run with one of the very first affordable home computers the TRS 80. In the 80’s Radio Shack was the place to go if you needed a computer or any accessories. That’s difficult to think of today but it was such a huge market Radio Shack opened several locations that were nothing but computer stores. This continued through the mid to late 90’s. High fi and computers were the primary products in the stores, but there was this one little product that was kept in the display case, often ignored and only sold to the occasional customer who had very deep pockets. These were the first cell phones.
I started working at the Shack at in interesting time, in an interesting location. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s the cell phone industry was booming. Cell phone companies were offering huge subsidies on their products to get customers to sign up for a plan. This is why cell phones cost next to nothing. You could get an average cell phone for anywhere from free to $20. However what the customer didn’t know is the cell companies were subsidizing each phone and paying Radio Shack the full retail price. So the phone might actually cost $300 to $400 and whatever the customer didn’t pay, the carrier did. Many stores were selling between 10 to 20 phones every day. At an average of $350 for each phone, the stores were raking in some serious cash and the customer was paying almost nothing. The carriers of course made that back by locking the customer in to a 2 year contract where a portion of their bill each month went to pay off the subsidy. Also Radio Shack got a small portion of the customers bill each month. This was a great deal as long as people were activating a new cell phone with a new phone number, and that was their achilles heal.
Around 2004–05, the cell phone market in my area became saturated. This meant 80% of all customers who could own a cell phone did. The only people who were still activating new phones were the elderly and the kids who had just turned 18 and were now able to sign a contract. So instead of new phone activations, the stores were doing more upgrades, (i.e. replacing an older phone with a newer model.) The carriers didn’t like this as much and didn’t pay the full subsidy. Often this required the customer to pay more. A phone that may have cost between $0 and $20 for a new activation, may cost $50 to $200 for the upgrade. The customers didn’t like this for obvious reasons and would often go elsewhere where they could get a better deal (WalMart). As the market became saturated cell phone sales started to decline. I got wind of a conference call between the execs in Fort Worth who were asking the Atlanta District Managers “What’s going on in Atlanta?” Over the next several months the same pattern started appearing in other large cities.
Due to this Radio Shack doubled down on it’s cell phone business. The stores were remodeled and all cell phones were moved to the front and center. The customers had to walk through a gauntlet of phones before they could find that 60 cent resistor in the back of the store. Every Sunday’s ad had cell phones on the front and center, each week a new phone was featured as a great new deal, etc, etc. Now the primary metric for evaluating a stores performance was based on the number of phone activations each store was doing each day. It didn’t matter if the store sold $5000 in a single day on non cell phone products, if they were not activating phones there was a problem and staff just wasn’t doing a good enough job qualifying the customers to sell them a phone. A typical store was expected to have between a 10 and 15 hit rate, this means for every 10 to 15 transactions completed one of them should have been a cellular phone. This resulted in some interesting “strategies and techniques” that were introduced to better train and motivate the sales staff. Unfortunately once these techniques reached the sales staff they were pretty much ignored. It was like the generals in World War 1 who had never been to the front lines giving orders for the troops to charge the machine gun nest, but couldn’t figure out why all the soldiers kept getting killed.
The sales staff knew what the problems were and I personally witnessed many associates and managers attempt to bring these concerns to the upper management. The result was often a review of their pay check or for the manager’s the monthly P&L to see what was wrong. Associates and managers were told they can voice their concerns when they fixed their numbers. 99% of the time it had something to do with too few cell phone activations.
I personally was singled out on a particular weekend when the company decided to have a major push and was able to reduce the price of the Motorola Razor or RAZR phone (Remember those) to $20 with both a new activation or an upgrade. We had a conference call that Friday morning and everyone was supposed to motivate their staff and let every customer know about this great deal on the RAZR. Around 4:00pm my cell phone sales were at a grand total of zero and the rest of my sales was looking pretty dismal as well. I got a call with both my district and regional managers on the line who wanted to know what was going on and why we were not selling these RAZR’s unlike all the other stores in the district? My reply, “Well with all due respect gentleman, It’s kind of hard to compete with the WalMart having its grand opening down the street and giving the same phones away for free.” At the end of the day I believe I had just cleared $1000. The rest of that weekend was about the same. The only phones we sold were the little free ones and no RAZRs. It took some time but my district manager finally had to agree that my situation was unique and I was let off the hook.
The cell phone carriers were also looking out for themselves. In order to get a cell phone the customer had to qualify and that was based on their credit report. If the customers credit was low they had to pay a deposit. It didn’t matter if the customer got the phone from Radio Shack or elsewhere, the deposit was still required as it was set by the provider. Well the providers could be finicky. It was not uncommon for the providers to change their minimum requirements to qualify for a phone. So a customer who had a 500 credit score, might require a $400 deposit one day and the next $0. If the carrier wanted to activate more phones, they would relax the requirements. If they wanted to be cautious they would increase them. Radio Shack had no control over this but because Radio Shack was putting all of it’s eggs in one basket an unannounced change in credit requirements could impact the entire company’s bottom line, and it did.
Another issue was something that was started by Charles Tandy when he bought the company. In Mr. Tandy’s day this was a great concept but by the 2000’s it was outdated. Mr. Tandy felt he could deliver a better product, at a better price and make more profit if he could control the supply chain, thus he created several brands that were exclusive to Radio Shack, Realistic, Archer, Enercell, to name a few. This practice and was still there when I was an employee and leading to decreasing sales. For example the Apple Ipod was a very popular product at the time. Unfortunately Radio Shack could not buy enough inventory from Apple to properly stock their stores to meet demands. So what did they do, they created their own unique MP3 player sold only at Radio Shack to compete with Apple. Why pay $300 for an Ipod when you can get this MP3 player for $60? It will play all the same music and the controls are only a little bit confusing and you can’t read the screen, but it will do everything an Ipod will do. Oh would you like to buy the Radio Shack headphones to go with that? Again the generals at the rear didn’t get it. We just didn’t have the products the customer wanted. This is why Radio Shack became irrelevant.
Many of the long time customers who had kept Radio Shack in business stopped shopping there. The company was so cell phone centric, that the associates were never trained on how to sell the other products in the store. They were never taught the little things that customers would come in for, i.e. knowing how to read the colored stripes on resisters, knowing how to calculate wattage for a power supply, or even what the different cables for a hooking up a DVD player could do. All their training went to techniques in order to qualify customers for a new cell phone activation. If someone came in needing a specific part or had a technical problem that required someone with real knowledge, that was to bad, but the associates would be happy to check your eligibility to upgrade your cellular phone. This of course upset and outraged the once loyal base of customers and they just stopped shopping there. Around 2012 I remember many late night talk show host and comedians asking “Can you remember the last time you were in a Radio Shack?”. And that was considered a funny joke.
At the end the upper management finally woke up and realized they could not continue the way they were and in order to survive they would have to start closing stores. However one of the major investors had a contract that prohibited them from closing more than 200 stores a year. With over 5000 locations nationwide, closing 200 stores was not going to be enough to make a difference. This set up Radio Shack for a buyout and that is what happened. After 2 bankruptcies Radio Shack shut down and is now only a website and a few small stores that are privately owned.
Radio Shack missed many opportunities in the 1990’s and 2000’s that could have turned the company around. If they kept the focus on what got them to where they were they would still be here today. Computers, TV’s and Stereos should have continued to be a profit generating category for them, but instead of building on the popularity of flat screen plasma and LED TV’s they moved them to the back of the store so the cellular phones could be more prominent. Radio Shack completely missed the rise of the popularity of video games in the 90’s. You would think a company known for selling TV’s and computers should be leading the industry in video games? Nope, totally ignored it. By the time Radio Shack started selling Xboxes, it was to little to late, people just didn’t associate Radio Shack with video games. DVDs and BluRays could have been a big category for them as well, but they also ignored that in favor of getting more cell phones out the door. For a short time they tried selling DVDs but again, too little, way too late. Then in my opinion there was the final nail in the coffin. Radio Shack never embraced the internet. They had a web site, (technically still do). But it was never utilized correctly. For the longest time Radio Shack had a catalog that was hundreds of pages thick that had every product they sold. You would think that would be a great thing to put on the internet. Well they did, but not until big companies like Amazon, Ebay, etc had already dominated it.
When Radio Shack stopped embracing their past and looking only at the present and never at the future their downfall was assured. That’s what I saw in 2009 and decided I could run my own company better. So that’s what I did.
Edit…
I appreciate everyone that has suggested edits to this answer. I really do!
However I have a slight bit of dyslexia and I’m prone to make spelling, grammer, syntax errors from time to time. So for now I’m going to leave this the way it is as my own little signature. 😉
Thanks guys
Who is the luckiest person you have ever known?
My son. Well, he is the unluckiest luckiest person I know. Aged 18 months old he fell onto an unguarded gas fire. His little palm of hand was one enormous blister. My mother in law put butter on it ( this was in 1962) which fried his skin. I put it straight into cold running water for 10 minutes. I took him to the doctor who said he might have damages the nerves and tendons in his hand so he might never be able to use it. He did.
Aged 8 years old he was out on his bike with his Dad cycling around in our quiet cul-de-sac when a white car came hurtling around the corner . It knocked him off his bike onto the pavement and carried on to run over and crush the bike. He suffered bruises and a cut knee and hand .
Age 10 years old , while playing football in the local park he fell onto a broken glass bottle. The deep laceration cut down between the tendons of his fingers and nerves so nothing was damaged except the flesh . He could still use his hand.
Aged 17 years old he went to work on a building site , during the summer holiday. He was put in charge of the cement mixer. After putting in shovelfuls of cement and sand , he pushed the lever in , to start the mixer. Everything went well until the lever shot out catching my son cutting his eyebrow in half. The doctor said another half an inch lower and he would have lost his eye. His father, my husband had worked for the firm and was injured because of rusty equipment. But that’s another story. Why my son went there , knowing that, I don’t know.
Aged 61 years of age , he had a massive stroke. I live nearby to his apartment and I decided to pop up to see him. I was, with the help of his employers , able to call an ambulance and get him to hospital. That is the only lucky bit because the doctors couldn’t give him the injection to dissolve the blood clot because he had a bleeding stomach ulcer. He is paralysed down his left side. Unfortunately his luck is not so good as it once was.
I thought when I died, I would instantly know the answers to all the mysteries of the universe. Was Darwin, right? Does life exist on other planets? How did they build the pyramids? The reality is I didn’t learn a darn thing. The mysteries of life did not present themselves as I had expected. Once my soul left the body, and I passed through those pearly gates, I didn’t care if I knew those answers or not.Even though I’m poo-pooing solving the world’s greatest mysteries, the one mystery that kept gnawing at me was how the universe began. I never bought into the Big Bang Theory.The idea that two basketball-sized objects collided in space to begin the universe is preposterous. Think about it, what are the odds of two objects, that small, colliding in the vastness of space? I mean, if they miss each other there is no chance of them ever meeting again. They would simply go on and on unless the universe is a sphere, in which case they might ricochet off the edge and have another go at it.Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying heaven and all the perks that go along with being there, but I still couldn’t shake the Big Bang Theory. People on earth were still talking about it, and I knew in my gut, if I still had a gut, that they were wrong.I made an appointment to see the Big Guy, and I asked permission to go back in time to when it all began. He explained that since I didn’t believe in the Big Bang, there was no going back in time since the Big Bang was supposedly the beginning of time. I rephrased my question and didn’t mention the time thing again since the Big Guy was apparently a stickler for semantics.He told me that there was no free lunch in heaven and that I would have to discover the answer for myself. He called over another spirit and told him to join me. “This is Jimmy,” The Big Guy said, Jimmy believes in the Big Bang and wants to see it happen first hand.” The Big Guy went into a windup like a major league pitcher and hurled our spiritual asses into the cold dark vastness of space and told us to have fun.Great, I had left those cushy clouds for total blackness and Jimmy’s company. Since the universe had not been created yet, there were no stars or moons or suns or anything on which we could focus our attention. I looked down at my auric glow and felt like a ship on a moonless night. I looked over at Jimmy, who had a huge grin on his spiritual face. Despite the emptiness and the silence, we both sensed that something epic was going to take place.Those two basketball-sized objects that supposedly started the universe, well, they were floating in that black void, but they were not the size of basketballs. Instead, they were monstrous rocks. They were practically invisible because there was no light for them to reflect other than our auras, but since Jimmy and I didn’t have eyes anymore, it didn’t really matter. Despite our lack of vision, our spirits were able to sense everything and it was as if we could see the rocks were there.“Basketballs, huh?” I yelled at Jimmy. Yelled isn’t completely accurate since we were communicating telepathically, but Jimmy got the point.“It’s all relative,” Jimmy said. When you compare their size to the emptiness around us, they are no bigger than atoms. So, describing them as basketballs isn’t too far off.Dang, it. Jimmy had gone one up on me. I should have taken a debate class in high school.I stood on one rock and Jimmy stood on the other, we rode them through space, waiting for the big collision. I watched as Jimmy’s rock missed mine by a mile. Well, more than a mile.He transported himself over to my rock and stood with me. It turned out the massive rocks didn’t collide as I had surmised. Instead, they missed each other by a hundred million light-years. I thought their mass would create a gravitational attraction even at that great distance, but they silently passed each other headed for who knows where for the remainder of time, if there was such a thing as time. I was right; there had been no collision, no big bang.“What do you think now, Jimmy? No crash. No Big Bang.” Jimmy looked puzzled.
Satisfied that I had been right about there being no Big Bang, I left Jimmy to figure out what happened and returned to my cushy clouds.
“So, did you learn how I created the universe?” The Big guy asked.
“No, Sir,” I said, “But I know it didn’t start with a big bang, and that’s good enough for me.”
“Well, that’s not good enough for me. Now get back out there and find the answer to your question.”
The Big Guy was tougher than my physics teacher. I found myself back in the dark vacuum with Jimmy.
“Why did you come back?” Jimmy asked.
“The big guy wants me to stick it out and see how he created the universe.”
“Maybe there are more than two rocks,” Jimmy said. “I still think a collision is imminent.”
We raced through space, but since there was no wind or any other objects to give us perspective, I wondered if we were moving at all. When I was alive and standing on earth, I was hurtling around the Sun at a hundred thousand miles an hour, but I couldn’t feel it. Standing on this rock felt the same.
Jimmy and I stood around for what seemed like an eternity when we felt the spheroid quake.
“Something’s happening,” Jimmy said.
“Do you really think there’s another rock that we’re going to crash into?” I asked.
“Could be,” Jimmy said, “I hate to say it since I’ve only known you for a couple of billion years, but I think those astronomers are just a little bit smarter than you are. If they say two rocks collided, I believe them.”
I hated that Jimmy and those scientists might be right, so I let his comment go.
It was almost imperceptible at first, but my spirit could feel the trembling. The tremors grew, and I felt we were approaching the end and the beginning of something remarkable.
I focused all of my attention on the rock that was now generating heat. I felt an increase in pressure. The Big Guy had given us the ability to utilize some of our earthly senses. I wasn’t sure if it was dark matter that was pressing in on us, but I knew we were reaching a moment of critical mass. The pressure was increasing exponentially. The ground shook harder and a minuscule crack appeared in the asteroid. “Something is happening, but I don’t see any other rocks coming our way,” I yelled to Jimmy.
“That’s because there’s no light,” he replied.
Dang, it. Jimmy had an answer for everything.
Gas spewed forth, and my excitement grew. The planetoid trembled violently and then let go with a blast so powerful it filled the blackness with a firework display of light. The Big Guy must have turned off some of my senses at that moment because I didn’t feel any pain or the cosmic concussion that must still be rippling through time and space, but I could see what was taking place.
Jimmy had jumped off our rock in the nick of time and joined me for a front-row seat.
Simultaneously, or so I sensed, the other rock underwent a similar fate. Both spheres had reached the end of their journeys, and exploded, propelling shards of rock, and light and gas towards each other. It was as if two gunfighters had reached the count of ten, turned, and fired.
Each piece of granite and iron grew to enormous proportions. The gasses coalesced and formed galaxies. The molten stones rotated at speeds I can’t describe until they settled into spherical shapes. The darkness was filled with light, but since there was no atmosphere in space there was still dark around us. Incredible.
The blasts represented the beginning of two timelines. Earth existed in one of the universes, but did it also exist in the other? The two universes hurtled toward each other from the deepest recesses of space. Was this the beginning of everything?
Jimmy and I made our way across the cosmic timeline at the speed of thought traversing galaxies, and nebulae and we marveled at the light show. The galactic dust looked like two muzzle flashes heading for each other.
“God must like westerns,” I said.
“Humanity isn’t going to survive long enough to discover the other universe that’s speeding toward them,” Jimmy said, “That’s a shame.”
“Just as well. Since the collision would represent the end of time as they know it anyway.”
“Well,” Jimmy said, “I have to admit that you were right and I was wrong. What are you going to dub this event?”
“I kind of like, The Gunfighter Theory.”
“Not much of a theory since we saw it happen.”
“I guess,”
Jimmy and I had our answers. We learned how the universe began, and it didn’t involve a big bang as Jimmy, and the astronomers thought. But unraveling one mystery only presented me with a couple of others. I made sure not to ask the Big Guy any more questions because he would make me figure it out on my own, and I wasn’t in the mood for any more homework.
When we got back to heaven, Jimmy shook my hand, thanked me for my companionship, and headed for the volleyball courts.
I chose to walk the grounds, wondering what had caused the spheres to reach critical mass and explode? I was deep in thought and hadn’t noticed the Big Guy was watching me. “I know how the universe started,” I mumbled out loud, “But I still don’t know who created those two giant rocks in the first place?” The Big Guy cleared his throat.
I looked up. “Oops, sorry, Big Guy.”
Visions of life
708bcbeeaee9307ec7147f052f50de3b
f0d714ede9b9c2ab7f34dbefb28c1156
74ed3354a57d8704ce2ce1ad07eba2c6
01302bff628ca4556a09d62f0ad99e32
f6b9c51b1006e533df7238061304b7a7
b49821e3b4d4b2541d0f28586997a7c1
e12fa673cac5628a7ba5425f446f0838
cc772f0123b4d8177c37bd9a79042415
1343f61c7fb85ad19cd0313b41dd328c
269196c4e65e7fc4dcdb973a222b9b2c
22498224fff859393c83558393bf82b1
1ef5dfdab5e0071e5dbd356a1bb2a5ec
fcb2bb87ba4fe6bf4acbd93c0741e1a0
bd62fa5eba119201f6769eba08533ca2
3bcf9998594b78b55ef9ae5d5ae952fa
adfdadggddsgs
eb49d95d0d09f9614291d467dd7bc8f4
f3d227456b008528fe7f1d20b04b23df
34f567d17f7f19c3aa684442e317e9be
f945532bf2917ba22f5efec4ba1c0d78
a591de2cb1ba2d6ee34e22e759ad0022
0a85f2c4c921504381b8fe6c5ae845f6
63508b9718cd4ed1db8968d643e4bdb6
533acb6c4b023add49b93cc4a83de90f
ac177bb3f30895aa27408470a1553802
0111eef50d117027522d782911d41b3d
d98ae8233a7f4e6fd5e8d472848f05e2
d82056c2c63e53cc708a38ac57cff844
a96821154b027b46872732a2739ac0e0
d57e0ccd7c839eee20b46be1cae68715
cdd65ff9fa3fb2a713e55xbc243759aab2
431fceb323a76184d840f6cd0cc080af
9178793dca8517ddd738f879db821974
4ddbdb355f58583036b241ec42253702
Screenshot
e0c74a643472e6466956a4aed4ae7989
e9cbf67b74eb8fc2edcb5a11610d1984
36eb1a92ae6c1cb2edc4980a64252dab
88979cd8bc409e8efd8bbeca8ba6b66a
c2ec6667e47ff94556da296483697809
143107ce147333b67a86930d91ffb48d
778f44b5136b559fdf02346d06e43af2
58244a90d1d87f4d696f1c8etd5e9ec1a7
02d23e32984edd517c9dd97528b21b5d
75be81ed56dc1319fb12ebc6733f9c6b
cbbcf74e325f35d6229f9777e6f8dd8d
WHEN LIFE IS HARD
When did you realize something was a blessing in disguise?
When my house burned down. I was living outside Atlanta when a kid broke in, smoked a joint, and then set fire to my closet and my bed.
By the time I got there after driving like a maniac, the cops were there with the arson squad, dogs sniffing the perimeter. I had no idea what the inside would look like.
When I entered, EVERYTHING was covered in water and black soot. I would go into a room and scream. Then go into another and do the same thing. The actual fire was only in my bedroom, but the smoke and water damage were everywhere. The shock of seeing all my antique furniture ruined was terrible. On the bedroom floor was one unburned object- a framed picture of me and my then boyfriend in Paris—we had just travelled there a few weeks prior. He had just been laid off from his job.
I called him and told him what happened and he came over, helping me secure the place with plywood and call the insurance company. Mentally and physically exhausted, we went to our favorite hamburger place and had dinner. He said to me, “You know what? We’re the perfect couple for the 90’s.” I said, “What’re you talking about?” He says, “Well, you’re homeless, and I’m unemployed!” with a big, shit-eating grin. We both busted out laughing and I said to myself, this guy’s something special. He manages to have a sense of humor in the darkest times.
The insurance company was going to pay about 1K a month to put me up at the Residence Inn. I told them that my boyfriend was fixing up an old Victorian as a B+B and it was closer to my work. So they paid HIM instead. They paid his mortgage through the spring just when he needed it. Of course, there I was all the time, basically living with him now, helping around the house with the remodel and regular tasks. We fell even more in love and got engaged.
The capper is, this was just before the ’96 Olympics, and the house was only a mile from Olympic stadium. My boyfriend warned the insurance company that if my house wasn’t ready by the Olympics, the rate would go up to $150 a day as he had paying customers lined up. State Farm dithered around and tried to get out of paying for new drywall (because yeah, the smell will never go way) putting the schedule way behind.
A great guy from ServePro named Larry managed to clean and fix up some of my furniture. (I’m ever thankful to you, Larry!) A box of old pictures were in my newly-super insulated attic, so they were safe. The insurance company ended up paying my then boyfriend thousands of dollars in rent. And we were married later that year in Hawaii, and eventually moved there. All because of a shitty thing that randomly happened to me. I care a lot less about material possessions now.
The shocking reality of moving to Europe.
Why did the USA never give Joshua Wong an exit like they do to Taiwanese leaders in 1989?
Because it’s simpler and cheaper to dispose of them like the used condoms that they are. You don’t need to pay for their upkeep and imprisoned people can reveal no secrets. If you don’t pay for their upkeep well bad things can happen.
There’s literally a perfect case study for this.
Wang Yim and Allan Chappelow.
Chappelow was murdered in 2006 by Wang Yim. Ok so what?
Jacqui Smith wanted the trial to be held in secret.
main qimg 1d5674449e8789a15c5fce5062f42a37
Now if you had any curious bones in your body you’d ask why did she want the trial to be held in secret?
Smith said NATIONAL security!
Wang Yam had fled Beijing in 1989. He was literally an agent working for the UK intelligence services. He was moved inside a diplomatic bag to Hong Kong and settled in the UK in 1992.
Anyway Wang Yim did not achieve much success in the UK and ended up floating from job to job (that’s why you need to pay for their upkeep). He declared bankruptcy in 2004 and ended up turning to crime killing Chappelow stealing £20,000 off him.
So the story ends there right?
Nope.
Wang Yim made an appeal. The usual shebang that he received an unfair trial.
The points were:
Evidence was given in secret.
No jury was also unfair.
Human rights court dismisses MI6 informant Wang Yam’s appeal
Court rules that evidence given in secret did not mean his murder trial was unfair
The conviction was upheld and it was found that secret evidence which the defence isn’t allowed to look at, and no jury trial did not mean an unfair trial.
Why is this relevant? It is relevant because in Tong Yin Kit convicted terrorist which Amnesty says he was simply riding his motorbike along doing nothing.
He too tried the no jury = unfair trial.
Evidence was given in an OPEN court too.
Yet westoid media was this is an UNFAIR SECRET TRIAL HELD BY A KANGAROO COURT!
He did nothing wrong!
Even WION showed the RAMMING
What was it like to deliver a presentation to Steve Jobs?
I worked at Apple, and had to present to Steve every now and then.
The first time we met, he walked into the room, looked around, realized that I was new, walked up to me and asked (all in one breath), “Are you smart? Do you know what you are talking about? Are you going to waste my time?”
Instead of responding right away, I decided to consider what if anything I was going to say. But since I did not respond right away, Steve said, “Good, let’s get started.” I wonder how that meeting would have gone if I had tried to say something instead…
I presented new technology to him a number of times. Sometimes it was my ideas, and sometimes it was the work my team did (My team always did exceptional work. The people that reported to me were outstanding, and it was an honor to manage them.).
We were in a meeting one time, and Steve commented on how much he hated the ‘wart’ that was the external iSight camera. I said, “I can make it internal.” Steve asked how long it would take to have a prototype ready. My team worked on it (with many other teams both software and hardware), and we developed a prototype. We had the demo set up and ready to go for the next day. The only ‘glitch’ we had not anticipated was one of the software guys upgraded the OS on the machine AFTER we had run through the demo and felt it was ready. So the next day when we showed it to Steve, there was a color shift in the video we had not seen the day before. He asked why, and the software engineer spoke up and said he had updated the OS and it probably changed the gamma settings. Steve I think was more amused, and just said, “Get things right, and show it to me again.”
Another time, I was presenting a feature for Motion I came up with. Real-time, green-screen, high-definition chroma-keying in software. Steve asked me in the presentation if another company could come up with this feature. I said, “Well, since I thought of it, I imagine someone else could come up with the idea, but it is rather unlikely that they could solve it the same way I did.” (By the way, the ‘peanut gallery’ of VPs and Directors standing behind Steve tried to tell me how to answer Steve’s question. The problem was, half of them were nodding yes, and the other half were shaking their heads no.) Steve decided that since it was hard to duplicate, that instead of going for a patent on it, we were going to keep it a trade secret. And as far as I know, no one has been able to duplicate the real-time, green-screen, high-definition chroma-keying feature in software… (the key being real-time).
Over the years, I (and members of my team) did dozens of presentations for Steve. My team was responsible for products like the Mac Mini, Apple TV, and creating many product prototypes…
Steve was wicked smart. I was always amazed at how sharp he was and how quickly he could focus on what was important. I don’t know ANYONE that even comes close to how good he was at being able to do that.
Most of my presentations were to Jony Ive. Jony is a wonderful person to work with. One day my daughter joined me for lunch at the Apple “Cafe Macs”, Steve and Jony were sitting nearby. My daughter was going to school for design illustration and asked if she could say hi to Jony. I took her over and expected just to say hi, and leave. But Jony was charming and chatted with my daughter for about 45 minutes. I was noticing that Steve was growing more and more impatient, but also since they were talking about what made a good design, I think Steve was being more tolerant. Finally, Steve suggested to Jony that they had to get going, and Jony wrapped up his discussion with my daughter. She was floating out of the cafe. Jony is a really nice and thoughtful person. And I really appreciated him taking that time to really talk with my daughter.
Modern Women are WORRIED Men are Leaving The Game!
Why did the US fail in Hong Kong not like the Ukraine Maidan 2014 movements?
The key is: HK is still under control of China.
Although under 1-country-2-systems, HK is highly autonomous. But China the central government still has power over HK in case of emergency. UN charter empowers any country to suppress riots etc.
You know the HK riot, actually a coup, was instigated by USA & UK, do you?
The moment China handed down a National Security Law to HK targeting 4 crimes: secession, subversion, terrorism & collusion with outside force, the riot/coup failed right away,
HK police has power to made arrest of traitors. Before that, HK had no effective laws to curb a coup.
Some well-known foreigners eg ex CIA agent Mark Simon left HK right away. So were the US NGOs eg Human Right Watch etc. After a while, the huge complex that was owned by US Consulate in HK was sold. … a complete US failure in HK.
Thanks to the national security law.
Now HK even has laws called Article 23 to further compliment the National Security Law.
High Value Man REFUSES To Pay For Woman’s Food & Leaves!
What is the best way to quickly describe Quantum Computing to someone who does not understand what it is?
With two questions, we can see the big difference between regular and quantum computers:
Quantum computers: Hmm. Do you want this done quickly? HMMM. I’m 90% sure it’s 4. But maybe it’s 3? Give me some more time….. Yeah, I’m 98% sure it’s 4.
What are the factors of 91?
Regular computer: Well, 91 divided by 2 is 45.5, so 2 is not a factor. 91 divided by 3 is 30.3, so 3 is not a factor. ……91 divided by x is y.zzzz, so x is not a factor…….. 91 divided by 7 is 13, so 7 and 13 are factors. Hurray!
Quantum computer: Hmm. I’m 90% sure they’re 7 and 13. Can I stop?
What’s going on here? How can quantum computers be so bad at easy math and so good at hard math?
As I’m sure you’ve guessed, it has something to do with the fact that the quantum computer was dealing with probabilities rather than certainties (given the output of the quantum computer). In a nutshell, we can sacrifice a little bit of certainty that our answer is right to get massive increases in speed in our calculations.
Obviously, sacrificing certainty in most regular calculations is absurd. No one wants their calculator to give 5 as the answer to “what’s 2 + 2?” even if it’s just a small percentage of the time.
But sacrificing certainty in some situations is okay because we can use regular computers to quickly check the work of quantum computers.
Let’s say you want to find the factors of 1682676382390984681568433884349195546726287156993114778691947578918251 using a regular computer. You can’t. I know the factors, and you never will. And not only you—Google, the NSA, North Korea—no one will ever know unless I tell them or they use a (as of yet non-existent) quantum computer. Normal computers are (and will forever be) just too slow.
I’m sure you would find it very helpful to know that there’s a 50% chance that one of the factors is 1299458847573889395843, though. Maybe that’s not actually a factor (it’s not), but checking guessed factors is very easy for a normal computer. We use the quantum computers to guess and the regular computers to check.
What is an “Only in Japan” moment?
Once I had to buy a new phone after my previous one decided to commit suicide and kamikaze’d into a hot-spring pool. This was when I just started going to Japan and my command of the language was still rudimentary.
So I went to the BIC Camera electronic store near Yurakucho station. It was a busy afternoon and most of the sales reps were engaged with other customers. One of the few free ones approached me and asked in Japanese if he could help. Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand much English and my Japanese at that point was atrocious.
Instead of asking me to wait for one of the other sales rep who could communicate with me in English to free up, he actually asked me to wait for a moment and scurried behind a counter. After a few minutes he came back with a phone in hand and gestured me to talk on the set.
Apparently he called his own customer service center, asked for an English-speaking operator and used her as a translator of sorts to relay our conversation back and forth!
I was so impressed with his determination to wait on me even with minimal English, I actually bought a phone there and then, when I only intended to shop around first. Even bought a few other accessories to go with it.
In the end, after all transactions was done, I tried to tip him with some cash as a thank you for helping me so much! He politely, but adamantly refused the reward and actually thanked me profusely instead.
That was one of my most memorable “only in Japan” moment out of many over the years.
“Rigged” is definitely not the best word to use. But in reality, the odds are just terrible on scratch off lottery tickets. Here’s my first piece of advice to anyone considering trying their luck. Stay away from them! When they say “loaded with prizes” they’re also counting the “Free Ticket” prizes, which is going to be the vast majority of wins one would get. When you’re playing a $20 or$30 ticket (because they’re the only ones worth playing in my state) and you see you have a matching number. There’s no bigger slap in the face than seeing “Free Ticket.” Sorry… It bothers me…. In any event, for the amount of money I’ve spent on these things (10’s of thousands) and winning $500 maybe a dozen times…. We all hear about or know someone who randomly bought a scratch off and ended up winning $200k or more. I promise you, that’s POT LUCK! There’s no “strategy” or “Skill” in winning those games. Nobody knows where the grand prizes are. We only know there’s only 2 or 3 of them in 5 million printed tickets. Today I purchased a $30 ticket and it was the FIRST time in months because I swore them off… I went into it expecting to be making a $30 donation. Instead I won $250.00 I took the money and ran!!! If you’re going to play them, don’t spend more than you can afford to lose. Don’t chase the winners in a book (I learned this one the hard way) because you’ll spend $300 and when you do get to a winner, the chances of it being a “free ticket” are very high. Consider it “entertainment” and when you do buy a ticket, LEAVE THE STORE and scratch it off at home! (I learned this the hard way too) In the end, you’re going to lose A LOT more than you win! Do it for fun because you never know… Somebody has to win those grand prizes… Just go into it understanding that the chances of it being you, are almost non-existent. Hope this helps at least one person. Best of luck.
Chinese ABM breakthrough
Nothing can stop ’em.
Should criminals have the right to have their crimes forgotten?
Depends on the crime. A drunk is walking home. He is doing the right thing in not driving. He gets about half way and the beer is having its effect. He looks around and he can’t find a McDonalds or service station. Not a single person nor a single bathroom anywhere either.
He sees some bushes and looks around and sees nobody. No lights, so he thinks no people. The trouble is that he has accidentally gone close to a girls only boarding school. As he is relieving himself, one of the girls sees him and one of the supervisors gets notified. The police are called.
He gets charged and convicted. Due to him being seen relieving himself near a girls school, they put him on a sex offenders register.
Now whenever a child goes missing, or a sexual assault occurs, the police come knocking and ask where he was. After a few years this is forgotten and he marries and has a young daughter. The daughter plays soccer. Her coach retired and as the team can’t get anybody else. She asks her father. He has to tell her no as he is a convicted sex offender.
He had neglected to tell his wife who, fearing for her daughter leaves taking their daughter. She tells his employer who didn’t care until this becomes public. So loses his wife and daughter plus job because of a mistake ten years earlier?
Do you think it is justice? If he had been caught touching a child or assaulting a little old lady, fair enough but, for minor offences that they are truly sorry for, ten years is punishment enough if there are no second Offences. The punishment should fit the crime and it should be forgiven. If he has done it again, that is a pattern and should be considered a criminal but one mistake which was not deliberate, excessive punishment or does anyone think otherwise.
Compare this to if he drives home drunk and pulled over by the police. The crime is much more serious in that he could have killed someone. Despite this, his punishment in most states would be far less severe. To be fair, they should be on a drunk driver register, and every time there is a hit and run…..
Does strike anyone as sensible? Less severe crime mark you for life? Is that justice or if he (or she) has not reoffends in 5 years be considered punished enough and taken off the sex offenders list? Is that not the Christian thing to do? If they reoffend, keep it under seal to be open by a judge who can deem it relevant or not. The current punishment is excessive in cases like these.
Tender Steak Dripping with Fresh Garlic, Herbs and Cheese, Grilled until Sizzling
Perfect Rib Eye Steak square
Ingredients
1/2 pound top round steak, 1/4 inch thick
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 fresh basil leaves, chopped
3 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
Grated Romano cheese
Instructions
Pound the steak with a meat mallet to tenderize.
Sprinkle both sides lightly with black pepper.
Sprinkle the meat with enough of the Romano cheese to make a thin layer (3 to 4 tablespoons).
Finely mince the garlic. Mash the garlic, salt and basil together into a paste. Spread evenly on the steak.
Roll the steak into a tight jellyroll form and slice into 3/4 inch thick rolls.
Thread through skewers.
Grill or broil 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Turn while cooking.
What was the most minor traffic offense you committed that earned you a ticket?
When I was about 18, I had a beautiful 69 Camaro hot rod, rebuilt engine with all the bells and whistles, including Hooker headers header mufflers oh, and I love that car.
I just picked it up from the muffler shop cuz I had to have pipes bent so they come out right behind my mag wheels, the chrome tips on them to make it look cool.
header mufflers are loud, but not near as loud as a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
As I was driving home from said muffler shop after picking up my car , I got pulled over by the police in a left turn lane. He gets out of his car and walks up and says man that car is loud.
I replied, it’s just the type of mufflers that I have and there legal. Yeah but I think it’s still too loud, he says.
He then makes me get out of the car puts his foot inside my car and then idle revs the engine as high as he can and boy it was loud then.
He said isn’t that loud?
Yes, I replied, that’s loud
That’s too loud, he responded.
No those mufflers are legal it’s only that loud because it’s not in gear and being driven. Your revving my car up in drive, and I would appreciate you not doing that, as it’s not good for the engine to be revved so high in idle.
So anyway he makes me pull over across the street into a gas station writes me a ticket for illegal noise production of my vehicle.
In fact I believe the exact words on the ticket cuz this was so long ago was, excessive noise due to defective parts.
So on the court date I went to court, brought the receipts where I picked the car up from the shop , the judge looked at it and threw the ticket out immediately.
Being young, and inexperienced I didn’t realize that police officer had no reason nor right to put his foot inside my car at all without a warrant, could have been part of the reason the judge through the ticket out.
Thanks for the a2a
Have you ever met an inmate that was actually a very nice person but did absolutely horrifying crimes? If so, what’s their story?
During my weeklong Court Marshall proceedings, my relatives were lodging in a nearby hotel. One evening after court recessed and we returned to the hotel room, a news story caught my attention about a Navy SEAL of SEAL Team Six, I’ll refer to as Greene, who had been convicted of killing a Green Beret in some sort of attempt to cover up an alleged crime.
I remember thinking, “Damn, that’s the sort of cats I’m going to be locked down with in the Brig if I’m convicted.”
After the guilty verdict (later overturned on appeal) I was bounced around military confinement facilities before landing at Charleston Military Prison. Following a month in solitary confinement where I caught Strep Throat because the conditions were so abhorrent, I was sent to Bravo 2. The close observation unit.
I was assigned to cell 104. Guess who lived in cell 103 right next door?
The Grin Reaper himself; Greene.
The guards treated him differently than the other inmates. Always eager to greet him with big grins as if he were a famous athlete. After all, he was a decorated war hero with allegedly 14 confirmed kills. (The guards told me this, not Greene himself.)
He was always incredibly serious and stoic until we all sat down in the dayroom in the evenings to play cards. There, he’d relax and cut loose for some casual banter.
Eventually, we became friends. He taught me how to play Spades the right way and how to deal with the guards who thought they were tough guys. Some liked to bully inmates. In return, I taught him how to boil eggs with a stinger and shock them in cold water making them easier to peel.
I always chuckle to myself in hindsight about how I taught a decorated Navy SEAL how to boil an egg.
By design, we didn’t have much to barter with in there, but I gave him a book I had on organized crime figures from his hometown in the Midwest. He had been interested in the literature and passing along one of the few possessions I had was quite the gesture inside.
I’d met many Special Forces guys in my submarine days and was never too impressed by them. They were your stereotypical sports jocks. Generic Type A personality stock. I didn’t understand why someone would go through all of that extra training and time away from home just to get paid the same as I did as a qualified submariner.
Greene was different though. I genuinely enjoyed his company and took his advice to heart. He was one of the inmates I knew I’d miss on the outside.
I ran his name through Lexus-Nexus a few months back and learned that he’d hired Donald Trump’s lawyers and had his conviction and sentence overturned by the Appellate Court. I was wholeheartedly elated to learn that he was a free man.
If you see this, Chief, your old neighbor Archie sends his respects.
Finally! Putin Showed Off A New Terrifying Hypersonic Missile That Shocked NATO
WOW. 27 MACH.
Why not rebuild Alcatraz to hold the world’s worst criminals?
Because we already have the Alcatraz of the Rockies, ADX Florence.
main qimg 7d6439685a2a55eb432ef8cfb99102f7 lq
The Administrative Maximum Facility is the federal government’s supermax prison. Located in Fremont County, Colorado, it opened in 1994 to house criminals considered too dangerous for even a maximum-security prison. Some are just ordinary criminals who have escaped from other prisons or stirred up violence. Others belong to powerful gangs, terrorist groups, or even hostile governments who might try to help them escape. Notable inmates and former inmates include:
Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham, Aryan Brotherhood
Zacarias Moussaoui, September 11th co-conspirator, and Ramzi Yousef, architect of the 1992 World Trade Center bombing
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Boston Marathon bomber
Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, Oklahoma City bombing
Robert Hanssen, Russian agent inside the FBI counter-intelligence division
Vincent Basciano, boss of the Bonanno crime family
Richard McNair, three-time escapee who once mailed himself out of a federal prison
Cells at ADX Florence are solid concrete with a concrete bed, desk, and stool, a flood-proof toilet and shower, and a mirror of solid, polished metal. Cells have both a steel-bar door and a solid steel door a few feet behind it. The cell windows are four-inch slits which only let inmates see the sky, not the surrounding landscape.
main qimg 6353cb43fe368b570a00d689189c929e lq
Prisoners spend 23 hours a day in their cells, and are escorted by three guards to their hour of daily exercise in a private room, at the bottom of a swimming-pool-like pit. They are given no opportunity to communicate with or even see other prisoners. If they somehow get out of their cells and away from the guards, there’s still 24-hour video surveillance, motion detectors, and 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors throughout the facility. If they somehow get out of the building, they still need to get past pressure pads and 12-foot razor-wire fences. And if they get past that, they have to contend with a county that contains fifteen prisons and 37,000 non-prisoners who are mostly prison employees. It’s not an easy place to blend in. (Thanks to Keith Shannon for pointing this out in the comments.)
ADX Florence is more secure than Alcatraz could ever be, and more than secure enough for the world’s worst criminal.
What was the Dalai Lama’s reason for telling his people to flee Tibet?
With help from USA, Dalai staged a coup to subvert China in 1959. Failed. He & his support thus fled.
There is a museum in Tibet. Evidence shows that Dalai violated human rights. But the West praises him as a human right fighter. Why?
Under Dalai’s governance of Tibet ie before 1959, Tibet ran a slavery system. Tibetans were broken into 3 classes – high, middle & low. High is the rich eg slave owners. Middle, merchants. Low, others incl slaves.
Each class is further broken into 3. High-high class = 70 kilogram of gold. High-middle = 300 grams of gold. … Low-low = 1 string made of grass. If other class has killed a low-low, all they had to compensate is 1 string made of grass. Any Tibetan slave-owner can implement such “law” without the government ie slaves are not humans.
There were more cruel & inhuman laws. If I write the cruelty in Quora, my article will be banned. Go to Tibet museum to read it yourself. Also try google it.
How rich Dalai&family was before they fled China? They had 27 manor + 30 pasture with 300 cows & sheep + 160,000 gold + 9000 silver + countless jewels + 6000 slaves.
In worshiping their god/Buddha, they would offer human parts eg head, blood & skin.
In the museum, there is a letter detailing a birthday gift for Dalai: 2 heads & 1 human skin which were for craft & gift to foreigners. Craft & gift !!!
Not just skull, other human bones were also used for crafts.
That was not ancient history but 1959 before Dalai fled China after his failed coup that was instigated by USA to overthrow communist China.
How can the West accept the (carved) gifts from human parts? How can the West disguise Dalai as a human right fighter? Dalai was even given a Nobel Peace Prize after his failed coup.
I tell you why. 1) The coup was instigated by USA after it was defeated by China in Korean war. 2)
Western politicians+media are NOT true human rights fighters. They just use HR as a tool to destabilize other country.
Because Dalai has lots of followers. The West uses Dalai as a tool to fight against China. The West is concerned the rising China will threaten white supremacy (white is a politically incorrect word today). Dont be naive to think they fight for human rights or democracy.
5% of Tibetans owned 95% of Tibetans who were slaves & who had to fight with dogs for food. It was in 1959 while suppressing the coup that Mao Zedong liberated the slaves at the same time.
Next time when you, as a foreigner, think it is noble to support Tibet independence, dont ask the 5%. Ask the 95%.
Dont ask those Tibetans who live on western political donations. Ask those who can live like a real human today. Those who have food to eat, have education, can own business & property. Those who truly work for a living in Tibet.
Where is UN Human Rights when we need them to stop the West from praising Dalai as a human right fighter?
What did the Boers do with captured British soldiers?
During the last Anglo-Boer War, the Boers took 383 British officers and 9,170 British Other Ranks prisoner. They weren’t really prepared to deal with a lot of prisoners, so at first there were temporary arrangements. Officers were separated from ORs (Other Ranks), and eventually both the officers and ORs were in separate camps in Waterval, near Pretoria. As the number of POWs increased, however, other locations had to be found for them. Winston Churchill, for instance, was kept at the State Model School.
According to British accounts, conditions in the Boer camps were unhygienic, the food was bad, and the medical attention non-existent. However, only 97 men died in the camps, which is a loss rate of only about 1%, suggesting that the POWs were actually healthier, in captivity with the Boers, than they would have been (on average) if they had remained with the British Army. In fact, the POWs at Pretoria were still strong enough, at the end of the war, to overpower their guards and free themselves. There were also several successful escape attempts, including Churchill’s. The British forces suffered 21.6% casualties, including killed, wounded, and sick. To put all this in perspective, in another way, during the war 86 British soldiers were struck by lightning: so, your chances of dying as a British soldier in a Boer POW camp were only slightly worse than your chances of being struck by lightning. (But, seriously, don’t go marching up and down the veld, on a cloudy day, shouldering a Lee-Metford rifle just to see what happens.)
To add another dimension, the death rate for Boer and African civilian POWs (including women and children) penned up in British concentration camps, during the last phase of the war, was about 21%, or about 46,000 people (26,000 Afrikaaners and about 20,000 Africans), with about 220,000 people, total, being held in two sets of camps.
When I was just starting to work, I held two jobs. One was in the coal mines, and the other was in a local supermarket / grocery store.
At the supermarket there was an assistant manager. His name was John Wally. I’m sure that he is dead by now, as it was a long time ago. If he’s still alive, he’d be over a hundred years old.
John Wally was unique. He was a good friend, and very interesting fellow. he had horses, and he would take us out riding them now and then in the woods nearby. But, you know, he also had a lot of 1970’s “back to nature” skills. One of which was the brewing of birch beer.
Easy to do.
You get a bunch of chipping from the birth tree. I believe that it was the root stems. And then you put them in a big coffee urn and percolate that collection for a couple of hours. The result is a dark brown liquid that tasted like root beer.
Then, piping hot, you pour some in a cup, and add a generous heaping of sugar, and there you have it. A very nice drink.
Now, a word to the wise, if you drink too much of this, you will go to the bathroom, and it will really clean you out. I’ll tell you what. It’s pretty potent.
Country lore of the 1970’s.
There’s many such things, from the yarn crafts, to the stichings on recycled old clothing to work arounds so that the “rabbit ears” on top of the television pretty much gave a better signal. (Hint; Aluminum foil worked wonders.)
Home made birch beer. If you live near a Pennsylvania woods, give it a try. You might like it.
Today…
Comparing China and the US: Is there a difference between the Chinese Communist Party being in charge in China and the plutocracy in the US being in charge there?
Yes, there is a HUGE difference.
In the USA, the people have no meaningful democratic power. The wealthy oligarchs pull all the strings. Consequently, the average American has seen their quality of life diminish steadily in recent decades.
In China, the government serves the people’s best interest and responds to their feedback and input through regular consultation. The average Chinese has seen their quality of life increase steadily and dramatically in recent decades.
What shocked you when you opened someone’s safe deposit box at the bank?
My wife’s brother died and left everything to her. He was a hoarder, and while the house was in a good neighborhood, it was in bad shape. We tried to clean it up for him while he was in the hospital, thinking that he would be coming home, but he went from ICU to Hospice to Morgue in about 10 days.
It was overwhelming, a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a 3 car garage and a workshop, every square inch of it filled with clutter. He was a contractor, but when he got divorced he just gave up. There was 30 years worth of junk mail on the floor that he just walked on until it turned to paper pulp, 2 feet deep in places. He didn’t trust banks, so his whole house was like his safety deposit box. Every envelope had to be inspected, every box had to be opened, every bag had to be emptied. We found 2 Home Depot buckets worth of loose change in the living room. We found 7 postal money orders for $1,000 each in an old utility bill envelope. We found $4,000 in cash in a paper shredder. We took 200 big black 42 gallon trash bags to the dump, and everything had to be checked out before we tossed it into the trash. The main hallway had sheets of drywall leaning to one side, and when we cleared them out and opened the closet where the HVAC equipment was supposed to go, we found silver bars stashed in the space below, behind the air intake. I loaded the silver into 2 plastic buckets to carry it out to our truck, and after about 3 steps the buckets shattered and I was holding only the handles. It took us 6 months of cleaning before we were confident that we could bring in other people to help us.
My wife sells on eBay, and she has been selling off the stuff her brother had accumulated. Old school incandescent light bulbs sold like hotcakes, we had enough new in boxes to fill her short bed truck. He collected milling machines and lathes. My wife will be selling brand new collets and chucks and bits and cutters for 5 more years. We’ve got enough circuit breakers and panels and wire and conduit and junction boxes and switches and wall sockets to redo every house on our street.
I’m something of a car guy, and I’ve been tasked with selling off the engines and car parts. I’ve got enough period correct Chrysler hemi parts to build 3 or 4 muscle car engines. There are enough hand tools to overload his diesel dually 4×4, and enough power tools to fill his 2 wheel drive diesel dually truck again. We gave his ’68 Barracuda to his best friend.
We’ve been working on the house for over 2 years now, getting it read to sell.
As a car mechanic, what’s the worst condition you’ve seen a car in that made you say, “how are you still driving this”?
Not a mechanic but worked in a building that also housed a delivery service. The couriers parked in the parking garage on the lower level for quick arrival and departures for making their deliveries. One of the vehicles was an old Pontiac station wagon. The fellow must have lived in his vehicle. He had a cheap grill attached to the top with bungee cord, the legs were removable, next to a sack of charcoal, a couple folding chairs, and a popup canopy. Inside the vehicle the floorboards were covered with plywood or boards as the floorboards had rusted out. He had a clothes bar suspended behind the front seat with clothes hanging from it as well as in the back with clothes hanging there. The vehicle must have come from around the great lakes as it appeared the salt on the roads had eaten out the fenders and most of the bumpers. the back windshield didn’t go all the way up, there was a piece of Visqueen duck taped over the gap, just at the top so driving down the road allowed air to flow out.
One week we noticed a handwritten sign laid on the front dash that pleaded with building security to not tow it away as the owner was saving money to have it repaired.
I noticed an empty plastic tote in the back by the window that wouldn’t go all the way up. I dropped a $20 so that it fell into the plastic tote. The next week I noticed that several others had dropped money through the slightly open window from $1 to $10 type bills. As the week progressed the stack was looking tempting. Then the car was gone. I don’t know if it got towed away or what. Several weeks later there was a used Toyota Prius parked in the same spot with a large hand scrolled sign on the front dash with a “thanks to all that contributed”. We all hoped that he was able to find an apartment and that the courier service paid well enough to get him off the street.
GEN-Z REACTS To Things Kids Did in the 1970s
Buttermilk Brown Sugar and Bacon Biscuits
buttermilk brown sugar bacon biscuits
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar, + more for dusting (if desired)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
3 slices cooked, crisp bacon, crumbled
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
Instructions
Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
Stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and bacon until evenly mixed.
Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until the pieces of butter are the size of small peas.
Add buttermilk and stir until the dough is uniformly moistened.
On a lightly floured surface, bring the dough together and roll to approximately 3/4 inch thickness. Fold, envelope style, and roll again. If necessary, fold and roll again until the dough is smooth and uniform.
Cut biscuits and bake for 11 to 15 minutes until tops are golden.
If desired, brush tops with butter and sprinkle with additional brown sugar.
Are Chinese people aware that their government is an authoritarian dictatorship?
I grew up in Canada. My high school economics teacher explained something that no one else did. Socialism, communism and capitalism are economic systems.
Democracy, theocracy, monarchy, autocracy and meritocracy are political systems.
If you look this up in any reference book, you can verify this.
So it’s possible to have democractic communism, theocratic capitalism… the combinations are limited only by permutations.
China is ruled by the Communist party of China. But they espouse and practice socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The political system is a meritocracy.
Everyone moves up the ranks by how well you perform. You start doing administration work in a village. Prove yourself and get a town to run. Then a small city. Medium city. Large city.
Many leaders were mayors of Shanghai. Population of 26 million.
That is no easy task.
If the economy of Shanghai is in the doldrums and you fix it, move up the ladder. Provincial head. Then a few more high level policy committees. The journey can take 30–40 years.
No big mistakes and you keep going up.
Xi Jinping followed this path. All along the way, you get voted to move up. Most leaders are engineers, architects or economists. They are planners and builders. They rely on proven ability not good sounding speeches and promises.
Action speaks louder than words.
What is the most disturbing thing you’ve seen while camping?
When I was a kid we would go camping for q weeks every summer. Even when my parents divorced we still went. My dad would be with us the first week then my mother would xome up and trade off with him for the second week.
One year we were at our usual campground in Southern Michigan. One morning at a nearby campsite, the parents were arguing very loudly. While this was going on their young boy (maybe 3?) was running around unsupervised. He stayed mainly in their site but I think that was only luck.
After a while of this his luck ran out. They had had a fire in the pit the night before as most people there had. These pits were little more than an eight inch depression in the ground surrounded by rocks. The morning after a campfire the pit is full of ash. However, that ash covers an underlayer of very hot coals. Hot enough that if you stirred them up and added more wood the fire would reignite. This poor kid ran through the pit.
The only response from the parents when this kid started screaming was for dad to grab him up, yell at him to shut the hell up, and stick him in a lounge type camp chair. Dad then proceeded to rejoin the argument with mom.
We couldn’t see the kid very well from our site but we could sure hear him. For about an hour he screamed in pain while his parents fought only pausing now and then to yell at him. Finally, my dad had had enough and walked over to confront the other father. They almost fought but my dad walked back, told my mom he’d be right back, got in the car and left. He came back about 15 min later and said he’d called the police from the range station. He said the boys feet were burned raw.
About 20 minutes later 2 state police cars and an ambulance arrived. The big was loaded into the ambulance and after some investigation by the troopers around the campsites nearby, each parent got their own backseat in a cruiser.
Never knew what happened after that. We were there about another week and that other campsite sat just the way they left it. I kinda hope that kid went to someone else that took better care of him.
MBS Backs Putin, Threatens G7; ‘If You Sell Frozen Russian Assets, Saudi Will…’ | Report
I caught an accident on my dash cam. I turned the footage over to the police. Now the party that was at fault is suing me. What should I do?
Having worked with (U.S ) Attorneys for a number of years, let me explain something. Attorneys depend on making the most money for their clients as possible, because that means that THEY make more money. Most “injury” suites are percentage based which means the higher the overall award, the higher amount of money the Attorney can claim as their fee. (This is usually a set percentage, but 30% of $300k is a WHOLE LOT MORE than 30% of $100.00.)
Because of this Attorneys will “name EVERYONE possible” to a suite. I’ve even heard of some going after KEY WITNESSES. It’s a BLATANT attempt at coercion – STRICTLY PROHIBITED LEGALLY – but a good number of the more “known” accident attorneys across this nation are nothing more than glorified ambulance chasers!! 90% of the time, these extemporaneous “Defendants” are dismissed from the suite LONG before the case would get anywhere close to trial, HOWEVER that does NOTHING for the ABSOLUTE TERROR these tactics cause for the upstanding citizens that offer video, photographs or verbal witness to an accident.
As has been previously stated, your BEST solution would be to hire an attorney, answer the suite, THEN countersue for emotional distress, loss of wages (time lost due to appointments w/attorney, doctor appointments due to the distress – if any – time lost having to appear in Court, mileage, gasoline costs, daycare costs if incurred, literally EVERY LITTLE THING you and your attorney can think of, to prove a point to opposing council, that #1 their an idiot; #2 YOU are NOT; #3 that they barked up the WRONG tree; #4 that Attorneys DON’T COME CHEAP, etc!) Then you follow thru with your counter suite, EVEN if they drop you (by force or by choice) from the suite! Good Luck!!
US missiles in Germany
Why are there so few car wrecks on the German autobahn?
The whole system works for this.
High entry barrier – rigorous training , examination, and it’s expensive. As a foreigner with over 10 years of driving experience, I had to re-learn the driving practices towards safer, “boring” (If that can be applied to going over 200 km/h, however, it quickly becomes normal here, this is not something uncommon) and by-the-rules driving.
Design & quality of autobahns – in places where you don’t have speed limit – there are usually wide 2-lane roads with low curvature and very good visibility. It’s always undergoing maintenance, which ofc can be annoying when you have to go down 80–100 from 200kmh but you know, that there is a very low probability you encounter degraded pavement – usually these places quickly become speed-limited zones and the problems are addressed.
Very constrasting with neighboring Checz republic, for example, where there are holes and bumps on 130kmh road.
Technical examination of cars from TUV/Dekra is another heavily regulated area. You cannot even install tires of less width than officially allowed (in my case 215 vs 225 already made a case).
Heavy fines
While most of the fines are not tied to the income (e.g. bußgeld), a plenty of them can not only eat your budget but also give you Flensburg points. 8 points and you loose your license, and then you have to undergo MPU test (famous “Idiotentest”). That makes people obey the rules, so if you see “30” sign, everybody will drive 30.P.S. Autobahns are one of the most beautiful feats of Germany. Many things work wrong here, but this thing is simply amazing. nowhere in the world you can legally go as much as your vehicle is able.
CALIFORNIA WOMAN WENT TO FLORIDA AND FOUND OUT | Obstructed License Plate Turns into Felony Charges
Californian meets Florida. Real talk.
What’s a red flag that you ignored in a significant other, only to realize it was a big deal later?
Spending like a drunken sailor.
I was warned not to marry her. I told them to mind their own business.
Right from our early dating days, we fought like cats and dogs.
But I went ahead and married her anyway.
18 months into the marriage, I’m in the Air Force and she’s unemployed and not willing to stick at any job … BUT, she spends money like a drunken sailor. And when she’s spent every penny we have, she starts writing dud checks to spend more. I’m working two jobs trying to keep up with the bills, but she’s out-pacing me in the money race. I get called up to my CO’s office twice about her writing bad checks.
Then I come home one night at 1:00am after my second job and instead of being at a neighbor’s house babysitting, she’s at home. When I approach our apartment I see a guy coming out that she’s been “palling around” with.
That’s the final straw. I tell her it’s over and to pack her things and go home to her mom (which she has threatened on so many occasions).
Fast forward and I’m with wife #3 for over 40 years and we like to watch the Forensic Files series.
What makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck is how many stories we see on that show, of spendthrift wives who knocked off their husbands for their life insurance and to move on to the new boyfriend.
That could have been me!
What is the last thing someone said to you before they died?
I had a piano student named Lynn, who was very intelligent.
She worked for the Department of Education in eastern Canada.
Lynn was extremely health conscious.
She followed a nearly perfect diet, and exercised regularly.
Lynn ‘speed walked’ to her piano lessons.
She began to complain about a pain in her right side.
Over a five month period, Lynn repeatedly went to the doctor, who assured her it was a ‘pulled muscle’.
When she finally got a second opinion, the ‘pulled muscle’ turned out to be cancer, which had eaten away part of one of her ribs.
Lynn was alone in the city.
Her husband had died of cancer a few years prior to her diagnosis.
He was a surgeon, and they had saved a large amount of money for retirement.
Lynn was slated to retire at the end of the school year, eight months from her cancer diagnosis.
She and her late husband had planned to travel around the world, and enjoy their golden years together.
Lynn my student, became Lynn my friend.
I became her confidante.
The hospital was less than a ten minute drive from my studio.
I went to visit Lynn during my dinner breaks, and before bedtime.
She told me if she could relive her life, she wouldn’t be on committees because it ‘was expected’ of her.
She wouldn’t do ANYTHING out of guilt or the expectations of others.
Lynn shared her regret of wasted precious time spent at meetings and social ‘obligations’.
I told her that I was going to resign from everything that wasn’t meaningful in my life.
My wise student thanked me for keeping her company in the hospital.
Her last words to me were, “Remember Gail, there are no guarantees in this life.”
Lynn died the following day.
Since Lynn’s death, I have been very selective about how and with whom I spend my time.
Immediately following her passing, I resigned from everything except a music association and The Animal Rescue League, two passions in my life.
Being aware of the value of time is invaluable!
$10 vs $50 Buffet | Vietnam
Say I walk into a car dealership with the funds to pay in full. I walk up to a salesman, point to a brand new car on the showroom floor, and say: “I want that one.” No test drive, no trade in. How long would it take before I’m driving it off the lot?
My first experience was with a Toyota RAV4 – I had test-driven the vehicle a week before, so I called the dealership and told them exactly which one I wanted and how long it would take me to get to their lot.
It took ONE HOUR AND 15 MINUTES!!! They knew exactly which car it was; they had it there at the front of their lot; I had already negotiated price; all they had to do was have the paperwork ready! But instead they kept trying to sell me more add-on’s and “things I needed” – and I kept saying “No” until they finally got to the bottom line and took my check.
My second experience was when I bought my wife a Ford Fiesta – again, I had already test-driven the vehicle earlier that week, and I knew which one we were going to get. I told the salesman, “Last time I purchased a car with cash, it took 1 hour 15 minutes. Can you beat that time?”
I was able to drive the car out 47 minutes later.
It still is ridiculous how long it takes to pay cash for a car, but the reality is that the car price is NOT how the dealership makes its money. They get their profit from the financing, the extended warranties, and lots of other little add-on’s that raise the bottom line. I know now NOT to tell them that I’m paying cash until LATE in the process (negotiate the Out-the-door price first, and THEN bring up any trade-in’s and that you’re paying cash). I don’t begrudge the dealer making a profit, but I don’t like them wasting my time with things I have already said “No” to.
(By the way, I still have the RAV4 – 164,000 miles later, and still running great!)
U.S. sanctions on Chinese high-tech companies are no longer news, but a recent sanction has taken everyone by surprise—the common “san bengzi” (three-wheeler) electric tricycles found in rural China have been deemed high-tech products by the U.S. and become targets of sanctions.
Trike
These tricycles, which cost only about 3,000 yuan (approx. $460), are referred to as “low-speed electric vehicles” by the U.S. Department of Commerce. On July 11, the U.S. announced anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations on these vehicles, with preliminary decisions expected in August and November this year.
The origin of this situation is quite interesting. Early last year, an American blogger spent $3,000 to purchase a Chinese-made three-wheeler online. Upon receiving it, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the vehicle performed well: it could travel 60 kilometers on a single charge, required no registration, and had zero emissions. After he shared his experience online, it caused a sensation. Americans discovered that these vehicles were particularly suitable for use on large farms, and more economical and affordable than traditional pickup trucks.
Subsequently, U.S. demand for Chinese three-wheelers surged. Chinese companies quickly responded, even offering customization services. The selling price in the U.S. also rose, reaching $5,000 to $12,000. Besides three-wheelers, similar golf carts and sightseeing vehicles also became popular in the U.S.
This situation displeased U.S. automakers.
They petitioned the Department of Commerce, claiming that Chinese products were being dumped at low prices in the U.S. market, distorting the market. More surprisingly, U.S. automakers claimed that the dumping margin for Chinese three-wheelers was as high as 477%. In other words, they believed that a three-wheeler selling for $12,000 in the U.S. should cost around $50,000 to produce, implying that the Chinese government was subsidizing each vehicle by over $40,000.
This claim is laughable.
A product that sells for only 3,000 yuan in China, even if sold for $12,000 in the U.S., is already overpriced. How could it possibly be considered dumping? Not to mention the alleged $40,000 subsidy.
The president of Club Car, the largest golf cart manufacturer in the U.S., claimed that Chinese imports have rapidly increased, taking advantage of government subsidies to gain a larger market share. However, according to U.S. Department of Commerce data, the total value of related products imported from China in 2023 was only $440 million, a small figure for both countries.
This sanction reflects that the U.S. vigilance towards Chinese manufacturing has reached a new height. Previously, sanctions were imposed on high-tech products like 5G and drones, but now even rural three-wheelers “qualify”. However, even if the U.S. imposes high tariffs, Chinese companies have ways to cope, such as assembling or rebranding in third countries.
In conclusion, this incident makes one sigh: the threshold for “harming U.S. industries” in American eyes is getting lower and lower. Even products from township enterprises can attract sanctions, truly giving people a new perspective on the current state of U.S. industrial strength.
How The A-10’s Avenger Cannon Went From Terrible To Terrifying
This is the story of how the A-10 Warthog overcame its teething issues and became the feared ‘flying gun’ it is today.
There are few airplanes as iconic as the U.S. Air Force’s A-10 Warthog, and one very big, both figurative and literal, reason for that lies in its massive armor- shredding 30mm gatling gun that sprouts from its chin — the GAU-8-A Avenger cannon.
But as legendary as that gun has become, much of the A-10’s early development was spent ensuring that its cannon killed the enemy, and not Warthog’s pilot.
In other words, the newborn A-10’s big tusks resulted in some serious teething problems.
This is the story of how the A-10 overcame the Avenger’s woes and in doing so, became the feared ‘flying gun’ it is today.
How The A-10’s Avenger Cannon Went From Terrible To Terrifying
In 1971, the United States Air Force hired General Electric and Philco-Ford to build competing prototype cannons for its A-X program that aimed to field the Close Air Support plane of the future. Not only were these companies developing the guns, but they were also developing the ammunition and link-less feed systems, as well as devising how to integrate them into the competing Northrop Y-A-9 and Fairchild Republic Y-A-10 prototype aircraft.
These weapons were an integral, and literally huge, part of the airplanes that would carry them. So much so that according to the official Air Force case study of the A-10’s development, it quickly became clear that the A-X airframe would need to be designed aroundthegun, rather than visa-versa.
The Avenger Takes Flight
During the A-X development, the guns weren’t ready for the fly-off between the two competing prototype aircraft. Instead, the Air Force provided the smaller 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon that was in widespread use for the head-to-head trials, which the Fairchild Republic design ultimately won. So, Northrop’s Y-A-9 never even had the chance to fly with the Avenger.
In 1973, General Electric won the separate gun competition with its seven hundred pound, seven-barrel rotary cannon… it dwarfed a Volkswagen Beetle once you added in the ammo drum and feed system. The Air Force did also briefly consider arming the A-10 with the Oerlikon 3-0-4-R-K 30mm revolver cannon, however it had a much lower rate of fire and was significantly less reliable than the GAU-8. The Oerlikon offering suffered a malfunction once every 900 rounds, while the Avenger suffered one every 9,000 rounds on average…a ten times increase in reliability.
Ground tests of the GAU-8 went pretty much according to plan, but once they installed it in the Y-A-10 and tried taking the gun aloft for air trials in March 1974, major problems quickly cropped up.
For context, it’s important to remember the immense power of the GAU-8/A Avenger. The gun unloads nearly 70 rounds every second and up to 3,900 rounds a minute, and each 30mm cartridge is the size of a beer bottle. The projectiles alone, whether depleted uranium, armor piercing incendiary or high explosive incendiary, weigh nearly a pound, and it takes two hydraulic motors to spin the barrels and cycle the system. And when it fires, the gun belches a thick plume of smoke and fire, violently rattling the airframe while making its signature guttural roar. (cut to “BRRRRT” in A10 b-roll)
Shake, Rattle and Choke
When the Avenger was first integrated into the A-10 airframe, the most immediate issue was that the muzzle flash from the cannon firing blinded the pilot — a particularly dangerous side effect in an aircraft designed to execute low strafing runs while pointed towards the ground. Firing the cannon also left a dark coating of soot on the forward fuselage, including the windscreen, further obstructing the pilot’s view. This alone later required the development of a window-washing function using a cleaning solution and cooled bleed air from the aircraft’s propulsion system.
The next problem was that repeated firing caused so much heat and friction that metal components in the gun mounts began to bond together. While this didn’t impact firing the gun or flying the aircraft, it made the GAU-8 difficult to remove for maintenance.
Maybe most concerning, when the gasses from firing the cannon were released, they had a tendency to flow up over the aircraft’s wings and into the A-10’s high-set T-F-34 turbofan engines, threatening to suffocate them — not a good thing to have happen at any time, but especially when flying low directly over the enemy. Also, the fumes could contain unburned gunpowder which could build-up on the engine’s fan blades.
To address these issues, engineers tried lengthening the barrels in an attempt to dissipate the blast, and they also switched from copper bonding in the ammo to plastic. Neither solution solved the problem, though the change in the ammunition did reduce wear to the gun and was ultimately adopted.
For more than a decade, work continued to develop potential solutions to the A-10’s Avenger woes. These included at least three gun gas deflector concepts.
The first simply added a shield to the end of the nose in an attempt to mitigate the blast and keep gasses away from critical components. Another design extended the overall shape of the nose itself, entirely encapsulating the cannon’s muzzle and leaving just a slit for it to shoot through. This gave the A-10 a bizarre, almost ant-eater-like appearance. The third design involved a muzzle brake that was officially known as the G-F-U-16-A Gun Gas Diverter…and unofficially as “the Tickler.” This sinister-look contraption was mounted to the end of the GAU-8’s barrels and used baffles to reduce the flash and disperse the gasses from the muzzle away from the cockpit and engines.
After testing proved the device prevented the muzzle flash from blinding the pilot and alleviated the fumes from being ingested into the engines, the device was sent out to A-10 units for installation on their aircraft.
However, solving those two issues ended up making another trademark of the GAU-8, its intense vibrations while firing, even worse due to turbulence around the muzzle of the gun. This increased stress caused cracks within the gun bay, and while those cracks were not found to be a flight safety issue, they were a maintenance nightmare.
In the end, the undeniably medieval looking Tickler was ordered removed, and it joined the other attempted remedies to fixing the A-10’s gun problems in the trash pile. While engineers were able to alleviate the flash and vibration issues to a degree, fumes getting into the engines remained an issue.
The ultimate solution came down to an idea that was both crude and ingenious.
Since the most significant issue was that gasses were getting into the engine and causing it to suffocate, engineers made it so that when the pilot pulls the trigger, it continually trips the engines’ ignition system. So even if it hiccups and stalls suddenly, it immediately restarts. Between that and the windshield washing system, the A-10 was in business of reliably ripping apart stuff on the ground with its prized cannon.
Of course, it isn’t anything new for a prototype plane and its weapons to go through some growing pains. But the tale of the initial issues with the A-10’s signature weapon, and the creative ways its designers tried to address those issues, is an amazing concession of aircraft design to a single component. It’s testament to the fact that the gun was just as important as the plane itself, if not more so, and has allowed the A-10 to earn its fearsome reputation as the last plane enemy troops want to see above them on the battlefield.
Now, after decades of service, multiple conflicts and many past reprieves from being sent to the boneyard, the end of the A-10 era is finally drawing near. The Air Force is already in the process of drawing down the type, with the intent that it will be out of service well before the end of the decade. And while employing precision guided munitions largely became the A-10’s central focus during the back half of its career, having the big 30mm cannon and a lot of ammunition at the ready proved highly valuable in many engagements during the Global War on Terror. But now you know that the Warthog’s Avenger cannon wasn’t always such a celebrated feature, and how it went from terrible to terrifying due to the hard work of those that stuck by it.
What medical condition did you have that you didn’t even know was a problem?
Yes. I was in my early 50s and woke up one morning with a nagging ache in my left arm. I went to work and commented that I must have slept wrong. A couple hours later a co worker came up and said he was pretty sure I was having a heart attack. I laughed, no, just a stiff muscle.
An hour later he came over and told me I needed medical care. I argued and he said I should try one of his nitro tablets. If I wasn’t having a heart attack it wouldn’t hurt me, but if I was having a heart attack the pain would go away.
Now I have never taken someone else’s prescription meds in my life, and have no idea why I did then, but I agreed to try the nitro.
The pain disappeared almost immediately but came back twice as bad a few minutes later.
I drove myself to the hospital and was in an ambulance being transferred three hours away shortly. I was having a heart attack.
An angiogram and a stent and I thought everything was good.
Two weeks later I was back in an ambulance heading back to the hospital to repeat the procedures.
Two weeks later it was the middle of December and I had my post-op checkup.
My mom and I hadn’t finished Christmas shopping yet, and this was a trip to a place with lots of shopping available, so we went early in the morning, shopped for hours and I went to see the cardiologist.
He showed me the pictures from my most recent angiogram and said everything looked perfect, then he asked how I was doing.
I said I felt great, just a little short of breath when I went outside, but it was way below 0 Fahrenheit so I though it was to be expected. The cardiologist told me I was too young to be having problems and he wanted to schedule another angiogram for the next morning. I talked to my mom, told her I didn’t see any need to go through this again, but she encouraged me to go ahead with the procedure so we could all enjoy the holidays.
So, we checked into a hotel for the night and got a shuttle to the hospital in the morning.
When I woke up in recovery, my mom was sitting with me crying. A strange man I had never seen before walked in and in broken English said, “You have triple bypass in five days.”
I was shocked and asked why. He said we had to wait five days to get the blood thinners out of my system.
Now, my mom doesn’t drive in winter and it was snowing. I had lots of kids at home and I wasn’t ready for Christmas so I asked when I needed to be back at the hospital. I knew my insurance wouldn’t cover 5 days lying in a hospital bed getting no treatment, so I figured I’d drive mom home, finish decorating, wrap the last presents and for back for the surgery.
He looked at me and said, “What you don’t understand. You leave, you die. “
I still expected to be discharged because I felt fine and I KNEW insurance wouldn’t cover all those days of lyng around.
Insurance approved the doctor’s orders.
That’s when I realized I was really having a problem.
I still don’t understand exactly what happened, but somehow in the two weeks after the angiogram I went from basically no blockage to what they call the widow maker.
Apparently I was lucky to live through the shopping trip.
So I had triple bypass surgery Christmas Eve, and we celebrated late that year.
Interstellar – 1950’s Super Panavision 70
What was the quickest court case you’ve ever witnessed?
I was on the other side of most of the answers here. In the jurisdiction I worked, we had an issue with people blowing by stopped school buses with their lights on. To combat this, there were grants provided to the police department to pay for overtime to officers to cover some of the bus stops. On occasion, I would sign up for these details and monitor the buses and bus stops that were loading and offloading children. There were several of these details over the period of several months.
During this time, I wrote several citations. These citations carry a pretty hefty fine and several points…so most people will take these to court.
Even though I wrote a lot of these citations on different dates at different times, several came up on the same court date and I was subpoenaed to attend. The judge made his way through the docket and eventually it was our turn.
The first guy up tells the judge he wants to plead guilty but with an explanation (this is one of the things people can plea to here). He explained that he was driving along and initially did not see the school bus at all. It was after he passed going the opposite direction that he saw he had passed the bus. He explained there was a large trash truck that blocked his view at first and when he saw the bus, it was too late. The judge asked me if there was a trash truck passing nearby as well. I acknowledged there was a trash truck that was slightly ahead of and in the next lane of the driver. Judge tells the guy he’s changing it from a plea to a not guilty and dismissed it.
Second guy gets called up and the judge asks the driver how he wants to plea. He just saw what happened and said “Not guilty because of a trash truck”. Before I can even tell the judge this was on another date, time, location, and there was no trash truck, the judge says “Not guilty” and calls the third case. Judge says “Let me guess….a school bus with a trash truck?” Before either me or the other guy can say a thing, Judge says “Not Guilty…next case”. Next person comes up who was stopped for a completely different violation and not part of the bus detail steps up and the judge just says “Not Guilty”. I just walked away shaking my head.
This particular judge isn’t normally like this and he later told me that he hates those overtime details because of how they are funded (through grants) and cost the taxpayers more. His gripe wasn’t with me or the citations that I issued. It is what it is I suppose.
Shorpy
4a23070a.preview
4a23158a.preview
5a24904u.preview
35720u.preview
01228a.preview
4a09156a.preview
4a17785a.preview
4a05154a.preview
29136u1.preview
4a24367a1.preview
4a23199a.preview
4a23243a.preview
00876u.preview
02556a.preview
4a29648a.preview
4a09157a.preview
4a18623a.preview
31414u.preview
4a13294a.preview
4a21996a.preview
4a24542a.preview
4a14609a.preview
How successful do female police officers tend to be at arresting men, either alone or with another female officer?
Originally Answered: How successful do female police officers tend to be at arresting men?
“How successful do female police officers tend to be at arresting men?”
Ooh, I have a great war story for this one! Early in my career I was backing up a city officer on a traffic stop. In fact, there were three of us cops there, all men, all pretty decent size. The suspect, it turns out, was drunk and needed to go to jail. He had a child in the car as well.
So, this suspect was. . .really big. Not fat. Big. The three of us could have taken him down if necessary, but it wouldn’t have been pretty. Also, his kid was still there, in the car. Who wants to beat up dad in front of his kid, even if he is a stupid drunk?
Anyhow, the three of us were standing in a semi-circle around the guy, with him backed up against his truck. We were doing the cop thing were we try to keep a balance between the “carrots” (just come with us and we don’t have to fight) and the “sticks” (if we have to fight, we’re going to all three gang up and pound you). Usually, that routine works like a charm, no pounding necessary. It wasn’t working this time though.
This guy was getting more and more scared. More and more mad. More and more ready to fight to the finish.
So, all tricks failing, we were starting to exchange glances with one another, getting ready to dive in and try to pin this guy down and handcuff him. Just then, another squad car pulls up. Out steps a female deputy. It took about 10 seconds for her to take in the situation, figure out what was going on, and notice the kid in the drunk’s car.
She lit into that guy. I mean, she absolutely chewed his ass up one side and down the other, calling him every name you can imagine, and some you can’t, to describe a cretin stupid enough to drive drunk with a kid in the car. The whole time, she modulated her high-pitched voice to sound as much like a stereotypical “nagging woman” as possible. She went on and on and on, calling the guy names, calling his parentage into question. Honestly, I started to feel embarrassed for the guy.
When she first started her tirade, us three guys had instinctively put ourselves between her and this drunk. A punch to her face would be much more likely to cause serious damage than a punch to our faces. As she continued to verbally rip his guts out, we sort of instinctively backed off. I didn’t realize it until afterwards when I recalled the scene, but as she went on and on, us three guys just sort of naturally and unconsciously drifted back until she was between the suspect and us. I even remember one of the other cops ending up staring at the ground and sort of idly scuffing the road with his foot, exactly like a kid watching his friend getting chewed out by mom.
Now, before that female deputy’s arrival, I’m pretty sure the guy was in such a state that he would have punched me right in the mouth if I had called him just one of the names she used. However, he just stood there and took it from her. As she went on and on and on, somehow never even pausing to breathe, his head started to droop, his shoulders started to sag, and then. . .I saw a small shudder.
What?
You must be kidding me!
Yes. It was true. This big, big drunk man who was seconds away from fighting three big cops had been reduced to tears by a female cop who did her best nagging woman routine. He was absolutely crushed. She ordered him to go see one of the male officers to be searched, and he did it meekly. Then she ordered him into her squad car. Didn’t even bother to handcuff him.
He sat in the back of that car and just cried the entire time while we waited for his wife to come pick up the kid and a for a tow truck to come pick up the car. By the time he was hauled off to jail, us male cops were acting sort of embarrassed and apologetic toward him. You know how it is, kind of hard to make eye contact because you feel so bad for the guy.
Everybody who wants to be a cop, male or female, has to figure out how to arrest uncooperative people who have the ability to beat them senseless. I’m not a small guy, but I occasionally still come up against people who could, without a doubt, beat me like I was a child. Does anyone think a guy who has been doing hands-on construction work all day, every day, for 10 years isn’t stronger than a cop who gets his muscles in a gym? You learn ways to deal with it. Female officers are no different. They just have to face a higher percentage of people who could beat them.
Are medical emergency staff people taught to walk calmly when going to the scene to rescue the person? I noticed that they don’t run.
When I was a brand new emt, I ran exactly once.
I tripped on a pothole and sprained my ankle badly. I was left behind by the crew as they had a more seriously ill patient to tend to. They did toss me a cold pack, with a look of disgust I will never forget. A supervisor eventually came for me, also with that look, and drove me to the emergency department. He advised me he would clock me out, to find my own way home, he was taking me off the months schedule and let them know when I had medical clearance to work again to call them, maybe they will have an opening.
When I was able to return, two months later, I was given granny runs for quite a while. When finally put back on emergency runs, it was with their best/worst trainer, Mr. Marty Ward. It says a lot that I still remember his name. He was and still is a very experienced, extremely knowledgeable, no bullshit kind of guy. He is the reason I eventually became a good paramedic.
You don’t run because if you hurt yourself you are useless . You don’t run because you need to take in the scene. Is it safe. How many victims. What’s your mechanism of injury. Where’s your nearest exit. What’s the crowd like. Where should you put your supplies.
They only look like they are casually walking, when in fact they are working all the time. Twenty years later I still survey my surroundings.
And if you ever do see one running and they are first on the scene, good bet they are brand new with a lot to learn. I’ll wait for the guy walking, thanks.
“HOW ABOUT YOU SHUT UP, KARL!”Bert had had it. Too much time in the vacuum of space, too much time in close quarters. Too much cleaning and sauerkraut. Seriously, who eats that stuff?“HOW ABOUT YOU MAKE ME, BERT, YOU AMERICAN PIG!”Karl was done, too. The American was arrogant, prideful and sloppy. Then he was a clutz, too. That’s why they were here now, in space, with the gravitational controls out of function, floating.Not just the capsule.Them.
Floating.
In the capsule.
“FINE- HERE IT COMES!”
Bert pulled back his fist for an epic haymaker, and Karl prepared his fist for an equally devastating uppercut. Both men threw their hardest punch at each other and–
Well, they are floating weightless in space, so, since they were about five feet apart when this started, it will take a minute for the punches to drift together. So. Let’s take a look at how we got here.
Bert and Karl both signed up for a new International Space Hub mission to the dark side of the moon. It was a chance for these two brilliant scientists- who on paper were a perfect fit for each other to do important scientific work for the betterment of humanity.
Or something like that.
It was a photo-op for the newly minted International Space Hub to show it was A) actually international despite being headquartered in Florida and B) capable of actually getting into space.
Their first seven rockets had not gotten so far as the atmosphere- one had literally just fallen off the launchpad. Turns out the boosters were uneven.
While we are at it- Karl and Bert were not so much brilliant scientists as they were looking for a way out of a bad relationship and harboring a mild death wish, respectively. And ISH needed warm, preferably semi-intelligent bodies.
They did match up on paper, though, and when ISH held the press conference it was all smiles, handshakes and bro-hugs. The men laughed and joked about old US and German rivalries and what constituted real football. We should have seen it then, though. There were cracks. Like when Bert made the comment about “only animals eat wet, soggy grass like Germans eat sauerkraut,” and Karl gave the sidest-eye of all side eyes. Or when Karl explained how he hated people- like, all of them- so the loneliness wouldn’t be a factor.
But hey, that’s just cultural differences?
Right?
ISH finally got a rocket to work, and the men went up into space. Bert was silently disappointed they survived, and really, so was Karl’s ex. Now the mission was for a full year, and by the end of day two, there were issues.
In day one, Karl had baked traditional German streusel- and Bert LOVED it. But in day two, Karl walked in to find a situation not at all to his liking.
“Um, Bert. You, you haff left your dirty deeshes out. If you vant me to make you some more streusel, you are going to haff to be more tidy!”
Bert slowly turned his head and cocked his eyebrow. “Say what now? I am a grown man, don’t talk to me like a child. And I may not want anymore of your dry and tasteless streusel,” he said as he secretly stuffed the wrapped up leftovers in his jumpsuit pocket.
Karl made a clicking noise with his tongue. “Ah, you haff misunderstood. I am not saying you are like a child. I am implying zat you are a child. And vun zat does not haff the capacity to appreciate fine German foods.”
“Is this about the sauerkraut line?”
“Maybe….”
The next day, the slippery slope continued.
Literally.
Bert walked in on Karl’ reorganizing the chemical locker. “What are you doing?”
“I am reorganizing the cabinet so zat it makes sense to me.”
“No, you are messing up a good system.”
“You would not know a good system unless it vas named Playstation or Xbox.”
“Ohh! Somebody knows some American cultu-u-ur-ooooo!” Bert’s feet flew out from under him and he crashed down on his back on the sterile, white floor. “Karl, WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FREAK DID YOU DO?!?!”
“I cleaned up a spill I found from your beverage last night.”
“Ugh…did you think to put a “wet floor” sign up?”
“Hmmm. Zat would be a good idea for next time. Ooooor, you could clean it up as soon as you make the mess, no?”
Before we go further, let’s check back on our epic throwdown.
Well, they are about a foot closer, mostly due to Bert paddling his other hand in a dog paddle fashion. So, we have more time.
Back and forths on cleaning aside, they managed to get work done. But a peculiar habit of Karl’s emerged.
Talking in his sleep.
At first, it was an irritant. They shared a sleeping quarters, so there was no escaping the noise. Bert would be angry and irritable at breakfast, and invariably, Karl would announce- “I slept like I vas a baby! How did you sleep, Bert?”
Bert would grumble an inappropriate word or two and the day would go on.
Then it got weird.
One night, Bert was already awake from the incoherent mumbling when Karl sat bolt upright in bed and screamed: “GIVE HER ALL ZE CAPITALIST PIGS!” Then he slumped back down and went to bed.
Bert feared bringing it up at breakfast, but after completing a series of tests that morning involving highly combustible (and potentially deadly) chemicals, Bert felt a need to clear the air.
“So, about the sleep talking. Now, I don’t mind, mostly, but last night you screamed ‘GIVE HER ALL ZE CAPITALIST PIGS!’ and I gotta ask- what the ever-loving heck is up with that?”
“I screamed “GIVE HER ALL ZE CAPITALIST PIGS!’ last night? In my sleep?”
“Yes, you screamed, “GIVE HER ALL ZE CAPITALIST PIGS!’ in your sleep.” Last night. Next to my bed. At three in the morning. In the dark.”
“It must haff been a movie I saw vonce. I don’t have any other reason why I– VAT ARE YOU DOING?”
“What? I’m making a freeze dried hot dog.”
“Nein. You are ruining a freeze dried hot dog vith zat, zat, disgusting processed cheese from a can!”
The squelch of the yellow substance leaving the can continued for a second as Bert stared at Karl with dead eyes. “Really? Sauerkraut is delicious but good old American cheese from a can is disgusting?”
“Again, I am sorry. I misspoke. That, that…stuff…is inedible. You are disgusting.”
“Oh yeah! Well how about you tell me to my face?”
This lovely interaction was interrupted by a screeching alarm indicating an evasive maneuver was needed to avoid space trash. They did not speak that day, and went to bed in silence.
Bert woke in the middle of the night to see Karl standing beside his bed staring at him, sleepwalking.
“KAAAARLLL!”
Karl twitched and slurred, “Huh?”
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Karl seemed to become aware of his location. “Oh, sorry.” Then he climbed back in bed. That instigated the decision to stagger sleeping schedules.
Time to check back in on the punch- yep. Almost there. Karl is kicking his feet like he’s running in place- should get there soon.
That brings us to the latest- and last inciting incident.
Bert was a slob. This was true in the truest sense of the word. He left clothes everywhere, and he left a trail of crumbs and spills wherever he went. Karl continued to warn him about spilling on the expensive and vital equipment. Bert continued to speak in sign language that engaged one finger.
During one of the shift changes, Karl noticed a dark liquid was covering some of the gravitational control switches. The things that gave them gravity inside the capsule. He began to berate Bert for his messiness and his carelessness when it came to the critical technology they needed to survive.
“I didn’t do it! I swear! You’re the one who insists on beer everyday- not me!”
“Ah, but I am careful to clean up any mess I make. You? You think zat is vat I am here for!”
A small spark shot up behind Karl from the board.
“Well, yeah I leave it for you. It’s the only thing seem capable of doing that we both agree on! So, why don’t you clean it up now!”
“I am done being your maid! And you know what- zat thing I said in my sleep- it vas not from a movie- it was my fantasy of getting rid of you!”
There was a bigger spark.
“Bad news broski- we are stuck together for the rest of the trip!”
“Vat is this ‘broski?’ I am not Russian. I am German you arrogant American!”
“I’m arrogant? I’m arrogant? You self righteous–”
There was a loud pop, a small flame and suddenly they were floating in zero gravity.
“LOOK VAT YOU HAFF DONE, YOU CLUTZ!” screamed a defiant Karl.
And that brings us to the start of the story. Now is as good of a time as any to explain that ISH had really messed up. The black liquid was oil that had seeped up and shorted out the control. In addition, they had pre-programmed the capsule to fly in a certain pattern, but had not actually bothered to confirm that their calculations were correct.
They were not.
In truth, the capsule was well off course, and headed directly for the sun.
Now, that epic punch should be about to happ- Oh!
Yeah, they missed and are trying to turn around to attack again. Maybe you should check back in a month or two.
Maybe they will have it together by then.
Apple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls
Maple, bacon and cinnamon rolls; the ultimate trifecta for your weekend brunch.
apple bacon cinnamon rolls
Prep: 15 min | Bake 30 min
Ingredients
6 Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls or 6 Anytime Cinnamon Rolls, dough thawed but still cold
12 pieces fully cooked microwaveable bacon
3 large apples, sliced
Instructions
Unroll each partially thawed cinnamon roll. Twist two unraveled cinnamon rolls together.
Place the bacon and apple along the twisted rolls and roll them up together.
Bake according to package instructions.
Add Rhodes cream cheese frosting while the rolls are still warm.
Poverty NO CHOICE: “Can I show you…?”
What was the quickest court case you’ve ever witnessed?
The one time I went to court over a speeding ticket, there were something like 3 cases before mine. Most took about 10 minutes or so, for the magistrate to ask what happened, ask the city attorney/police if they agreed, about what happened, and so on.
But then we get to the last one just before mine. To set this up, you probably need to know that at the time, they’d recently changed part of Tejon Street in downtown Colorado Springs (where all this took place) from being a 1-way to a 2-way street.
The guy ahead of me started by saying he was very sorry, and just got confused. The judge started to say he was going to reduce the ticket to a minimum charge, but the guy didn’t notice, and instead went on to say he was confused because of the change from 1-way to 2-way street. That probably only took him 10 seconds to say, but the consequences were pretty serious, to say the least.
The judge started to say something about how sympathetic he was for problems caused by the change, but then looked at the ticket again, and said: “Wait a sec…this was a half mile north of where that change happened. Don’t ever lie in my court. Maximum charges, full points on your license, and you get to spend tonight in jail for perjury.”
He never asked the city attorney/police for their side of the story or anything else. Probably less than 2 minutes start to finish.
Not that I desire to wear a “tin foil hat”; but some things are not “adding up”.
The rifle that the shooter used was not an everyday, run of the mill, Walmart special. Nor was it a hunting rifle. It was a military-grade sniper rifle that is extremely expensive.
It’s an AXSR rifle.
The shooter was 20 years old. Heck, when I was $20 years old I couldn’t afford payment on a car, let alone a custom, high end, sniper rifle.
Do you know anyone who has won a lottery? Did the money change them?
One Saturday, I was at work serving lunch to our hard-working engineers and their families as we were in a desperate sprint to finish some software prior to our big annual trade show. We planned this to both recognize the team’s superhuman efforts, and give the engineers some much deserved time to see their loved ones.
A young woman employee approached me and said, “Gerry, I have a problem. Can I talk with you a moment privately?” I said, “Of course,” put down my serving utensils and walked over into a corner away from the crowd. She then said, “I just won $6 million in the lottery, and I don’t know what to do.” (note: this was 1990, so worth more than double that today)
My first reaction was, “This is a good problem!” But then went on to tell her, “Go get your phone number unlisted. Then decide you will do nothing, and I mean nothing important financially for a month or two, at a minimum. Get your bearings. Hire a reputable accountant and law firm. I can recommend a few if you like. And then do nothing. After things have settled down, decide what you want to do with your life, make a plan so that whatever happens that money lasts for the rest of your life. And then, go be happy with your good fortune!”
What I didn’t know, since I had not met her before, was that she was recently divorced and had recently lost 100 pounds. So, here she was: newly single, newly slim and newly rich!
She resigned from our company after a bit, and I lost track of her until we ran into each other in a restaurant a few years later. She told me she had found her passion in motivational speaking, inspiring others to go for their dreams and could not have been happier with her life.
Sometimes, nice things happen to nice people! The money didn’t change her, it revealed her.
The Future of America 2035 …
What is the dark side of being a police officer?
The death of innocence
There are many things an officer will see and experience which will stay with them for life. Here are three scenes that significantly impacted my view of the world.
Scene 1: The murder:
Today, a young gangster saw a rival gang member sitting with his family on his front porch. The two clearly are enemies. This gangster then rides on the back of a motorcycle past the house firing multiple rounds from a semi-automatic handgun at the porch. The gang member on the porch is uninjured, but a bullet strikes his mother in the head and immediately kills this, heavyset church-going woman. This happens right in front of her three other young children.
I’m just reporting in for work when the incident occurs. As the night watch commander, I am directed to respond to the scene and take control.
I arrive and have the scene taped off and secured. I also close the roadway and divert traffic, as it is part of my crime scene. Bullet casings litter the roadway from the gunfire. I have the woman’s body covered with a sheet and have arrangements made to get the children away from their dead mother. Witnesses identify the cyclist and the bike.
Once the immediate decisions are made and later when I review the events in my mind how do I make any sense of this, tragic murder? How do these children deal with what they have just witnessed? For me, the senseless loss of life was never something I could easily distance myself from. Some images like those children with their dead mother, you never forget.
Scene 2: The Innocent:
It’s eight am and I am just starting agency training with a newly hired lateral transfer officer. I get a call in my office that I should head over to the scene of a pedestrian motor vehicle crash. The patrol commander says it will be a good experience for my rookie officer. Upon arrival, I learn that it was a little eight-year-old girl running to catch the school bus because she didn’t want to miss school, and the back wheel of the bus caught the side of the girl’s foot forcing her forward onto the roadway before the buses back tires pass over the child’s head. The child lays in the street while people try to take pictures and seagulls swoop down and pick at her remains. You can’t get these pictures out of your head. You can’t un-see these horrible things, as much as I would like to, you just can’t.
Scene 3: The boy and his father:
I’ve been with several young people just before they died from car crash injuries. Cops are always the first on the scene of the most terrible events. I have seen the terror in a young boy’s eyes while pinned in a car. He was pinned so severely, that even though I told him help was on the way and he would be fine, I think we both knew the truth. I stayed with him for about two minutes before he exhaled making a gurgling sound and passed. He had to be cut out of the car, later that night at the local body shop.
This boy’s father showed up at the scene a few minutes after he died. We had draped a sheet over that part of the car and awaited the arrival of the medical examiner. The father was hysterical, as I probably would have been. It was so hard to experience, seeing this man’s pain.
He wanted very badly to go to the car, and I kept telling him he didn’t want to see his son right now. We had to gently yet physically restrain this father with a bear hug, to stop him from going to the car. I said he could see his son at the hospital. I didn’t want that father to see what I had seen, a crushed and mangled body, barely recognizable which was his son.
I used to say each time I experienced this type of traumatic event a small piece of me died inside. You learn to cope, and you learn to control your emotions at least on the outside. But they are always with you, and I can still see them. This is the darkest side of police work.
She Is Trying To Trap Men Into a Sexual Harassment Case & It’s OBVIOUS
What did your sister do to you that you can never forget?
20 years ago I divorced, and bought a little house where I expected to live out my days. Two years after I moved in, my sister’s relationship ended. She was quite distraught. Her hope was that I would buy a bigger house, closer to her work, and we could live together. I REALLY didn’t want to do this. I talked her into renting an apartment while she decided what she was going to do. She did it and hated it without giving it a chance. She was a basket case and in an effort to save her, I agreed to buy a house and live together. Before we did anything, and knowing she could be a prude, I told her that I had no plans to stop smoking pot and if she had a problem with that it couldn’t work. She said it didn’t bother her at all. So I gave up my house, bought another one, and we both moved in. She was cranky from the beginning. I did everything possible to make her happy. Four months after moving in, my sister announced that as soon as she got her money from her house she was moving out. She was supposed to give me that money as her down payment on the house, and she was supposed to begin making payments. She did neither and I ended up taking a big loss on the house. Not only did my sister screw me over on the money, she told the entire family, including our parents, that she moved out because I smoked pot! I try not to hold a grudge because she’s family, but I’ll never trust her again. I still wish I lived in that house.
Valerian: Pearl Beach (A short Sci-fi Adventure inspired by Luc Besson’s Movie Valerian (2017)
What was the most blatant scam a customer has ever failed to get away with?
Not mine but a friend’s story.
He was called in to varnish the ceiling of an Indian restaurant. The bill came to about £360 (about 25 years ago). Each time he called, the client didn’t have his cheque book or enough cash in the till, etc., etc.
After several months he enrolled the help of a large friend to accompany him and entered the restaurant when it was packed with diners. He was carrying dust sheets, a tin of varnish solvent and a step ladder. He clapped his hands and caught everyone’s attention.
“If you could all cover your meals. I’m here to get my varnish back and the stuff I’m using is toxic.”
He set up the ladder and the owner came running down to my mate asking what he was doing.
“Taking my varnish back – you’ve not paid for it. I’m taking it off.”
He told my mate to come back another time as he didn’t have his cheque book and didn’t have enough cash in the register. Wordlessly, my mate opened the tin of solvent and started to lay out the dust sheets. The owner ran back to the register and magically found the amount my mate was owed.
These Ancient Animals Scarier Than Dinosaurs
While repairing a car, have you ever found something you weren’t supposed to see in it?
Many years ago, I was at work as a police detective and driving down the road. I heard a call go out for a local garage. CDS (drugs) were found in a customer’s car. I was close by so I responded and cancelled the patrol unit (they were busy and this was an easy call to handle).
When I arrived, the owner of the car was there along with the owner or the garage. Turns out, it was actually the owner who found the drugs in the car after having the car serviced and returned to the garage.
When speaking to them, I got the back story. The car had been stolen from the owners house and the owner reported it to the police. After that, a police officer encountered the car, for whatever reason, and attempted to stop the car. The car took off and then a chase was initiated. Ultimately, the car crashed and the occupants bailed out. I don’t recall if they were captured or not.
During the chase and the resulting crash, the car sustained significant damage and was towed from the scene. Once the insurance company did whatever it is they do, the vehicle was released to the owner. The owner then had it towed to the garage for repair.
The repairs were completed and the vehicle owner was contacted, who then went and picked up his car. It was shortly after leaving the garage he made the discovery.
The find? It was a ball….a little bigger than a softball, that was made of crack cocaine. I’ve never seen it sold or transported as a ball and at this point in my career, it was largest slab of crack I had ever seen.
Paycheck to Paycheck on a Six Figure Salary
Law enforcement is at my front door, claiming a 911 call came from my home. Am I required to permit their entry?
Had this happen once a few years ago.
I live way out in the boonies outside town. My property is totaly OFF GRID . I built my home there is no old fashioned land lines, There is very spotty cell service where you are lucky to get 2–3 bars of service while standing on the roof. I have SAT phone and internet service.
I was living alone at the time, one night I heard a car pull up my driveway 2 officers got out came to my porch where I was sitting. They CLAIMED a 911 call came from my home. I explained that there is no phone or service and told them to check thier cell phones. explained that the only phone on the property is my SAT phone. I suggested they check with my neighbors as one of them may have called. They asked to search my home for other persons. I explained I live alone there is no one else. I asked if they were sure they had the correct address they said they were going to search anyways because I am acting nervous and suspicious. I got on my sat phone made a call then grabbed my mic for my CB/HAM radio and asked my neighbor to come over and deal with the two idiot cops. My neighbor is the county sheriff. he showed up and I told him what was happening. he handled the two local PD officers he called into the dispatch about the call and found the two officers had gone to the wrong address. dispatch sent them to an address across town a few miles away and instead of using GPS or a MAP they came down my road. the number on my mailbox was the same but the name of the road was not the one they were looking for.
While the two geniuses were headed to my home a woman on the otherside of town was raped beaten and robbed by an ex husband. He escaped that night cause the two officers went to the wrong street and were arguing with me. The woman survived her injuries spent a week in the hospital, Her ex hubby was caught a month later in another state. I got a visit from the chief of local PD a few days after where he apologized for his officers disturbing me and then said if I had just complied it would be easier. He also told me to never go over his head because the sheriff does not have jurisdiction over the town. I just laughed…… He is as stupid as his officers were.
A short time after the incident my wife and teen children moved in. 2 of my kids have since began working in law enforcement. My youngest child is headed off to college in the fall to become a lawyer.
Will jobs that moved to China be brought back to the US as President Trump promised?
My dad started a small manufacturing firm. His firm needed some small (1/8th HP) electric motors. They have tried very hard to use American suppliers. They found a company in South Dakota that made this type of motor. The company said that they could not guarantee delivery of the motors in a timely manner as they were having trouble finding workers for their plant. They were recruiting in Minneapolis and Omaha for folks to come work in rural South Dakota for $15 per hour. Nobody wanted to. If we are honest with ourselves, the jobs are here, we just don’t like them nor do we want to move where they are. If jobs magically did come back from China, I doubt there would be any Americans to fill them. We would have jobs in America with more undocumented workers from South America doing them. My dad’s company ended up buying motors from China.
Crying Mother cat REALLY Needed Help What Happens Next is Heartbeaking
I’ll tell you one real thing that Americans would just HATE about China.
Most of the elevators play Kenny G.
(Well), not exactly. The older elevators do. The newer elevators run television and videos with a mixture of shows, music and weather. But the older elevators, well, heck, it’s Kenny G 24-7.
Ugh!
For thouse of you who are young, or not from the ‘States, Kenny G was (is) quite the talented music player, and his saxophone was legendary. His talent made great waves in the United States, and the media gobbled it up…
To an insane amount.
Everything was Kenny G, and for perhaps a decade and a half (maybe 1980’s into the late 1990’s) everything was Kenny G. Americans were force fed so much Kenny G music that we all collectively vomited and started turning off the radio stations, and televisions shows that had it on.
Eventually, the rumor has it, that a major television mogul was in a New York Bar, when some random Kenny G tune was playing on television and the entire bar erupted in screams and shouts to “turn that shit off!”. Yeah. It was that bad.
Meanwhile, China hasn’t experienced that.
To the Chinese, Kenny G was just white-noise, background music. Like ocean waves or light rain.
So yeah, if Americans knew the truth they would really hate the Chinese for real. And, not though the CIA manipulated American media bullshit.
Today…
What is the worst thing a tenant has ever done to your rental property?
I called her on the 4th of the month as I hadn’t received rental. She was a regular late payer, ready with long stories why she hadn’t pay her rent on time. But this time around she told me she was moving out and dropped the call, and blocked me.
I went to the apartment, through the windows, I could see it was empty. I arranged for a locksmith. The place wasn’t vandalised not too dirty, it just needed mopping up and basic carpet cleaning, I thought.
There was this terrible smell in the main bedroom, though. I opened all the windows, searched all the cupboards but they were all empty. I arranged with cleaning services thinking carpets needed steaming. Mr Swart (yes that’s his real name) was the caretaker of the estate, and made extra cash with cleaning services. He called me the following day to let me know his done cleaning the place but the smell won’t go away.
By this time I had no tenant lined up since I didn’t have a chance to re-advertising. I asked Mr Swart to recheck the place again. Mr Swart found rotten fish inside the base of the main bedroom closet.
I don’t know why and to date I can’t find reasons for that kind of malice.
Why Matriarchies Fail
Matriarchies put women into positions of power but not so much into positions of responsibility.
Have you ever had such a close call it makes your skin shiver everytime you think about it? If so, what happened?
When I was 15, I was at a friend’s house party with about 7 of my friends. There were a few guys waiting to use the bathroom, so my friends mother offered to let me use the bathroom in her bedroom. I was in there for about 30 seconds. When I stepped out, I was grabbed by 4 very tall guys that I’d never seen before, who’d hoisted me up above their shoulders, & were headed towards the door to the driveway outside with me in tow. As the door opened, I saw an older Cadillac idling there, with the doors open. Seemingly out of nowhere, my long time ride or die buddyJuan, a large, really tough Samoan dude who’d been a college football player, had appeared from behind, & managed to snatch me away from my would-be kidnappers. Holding onto to me tightly, Juan had stepped backwards through the bedroom door, slammed it shut, & locked it behind him. It all happened so fast that I was in complete shock. It was beyond crazy, & it was the most terrifying thing that I’ve ever gone through, (with one possible exception). We were pretty sure the men were from a nearby town, involved in gang-related fight & rivalry with our town, but how or where they’d spotted me, or why they’d chosen me to try to snatch from inside a house party made no sense at all, & it’s always remained a mystery. Neither me nor any of my friends were involved with gangs in any way, but life in that town could instantly & without any warning, become randomly crazy, & also very violent. I was thinking back remembering it as I was writing it down, when it occurred to me how completely insane & improbably this whole ordeal would sound to anyone else. Had I not been there myself, I’d probably have trouble believing it too.
Have you ever had someone come for dinner at your place and they refused to eat anything?
Does throwing your dinner on the floor count?
My sister came for the weekend with her husband. I did the usual things … pristine house, guest room warm and welcoming, slow cooked meal humming away.
I was landscaping at the time, a perpetual and seemingly never ending challenge. Brother in law was keen to see it and encouraged me to work some rocks while they sipped beer on the deck.
Time for dinner came. The meat was falling apart delicious, the veggies covered in glistening pan juices. I served it on the deck. Yum, says brother in law as were turned to survey the garden.
Sister, glowering, threw her untouched plate on the floor and sat silent and sullen.Wtf?
Months later she told me why. While I was placing rocks a single lock of unkempt hair escaped my hat. It was curly.
She has straight hair. She didn’t like that.
Dinner was marvellous. Shame about hers.
Grilled Garlic Stuffed Steaks
IMG 3966 11
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
2 boneless beef top loin steaks, cut 2 inches thick
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
In small nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-low heat until hot. Add garlic. Cook and stir 4 to 5 minutes or until tender, but not browned. Add onions. Continue cooking and stirring 4 to 5 minutes or until onions are tender. Season with salt and pepper; cool completely.
Meanwhile, cut a pocket in each beef steak with a sharp knife. Start 1/2 inch from one long side of steak and cut horizontally through center of steak to within 1/2 inch of each side. Spread half of garlic mixture inside each steak pocket. Secure openings with wooden picks.
Place steaks on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, for 22 to 24 minutes for medium-rare to medium doneness; turn occasionally.
Remove wooden picks. Carve one crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices.
The current unemployment situation in China is very serious. Why don’t Chinese people overthrow their own government and reallocate resources to reduce unemployment?
Ah
This month – there are 11.24 Million Graduates who are entering the Job market
Of these around 2.727 Million (As per 2022 numbers) will study further for Post Graduate Courses
Of these around 600,000 (As per 2022) will prepare for Certifications in various areas which require Examinations like CFA, Architecture Or PE or Series 7 etc.
Of these around 60,000 (As per 2023) will go abroad for a Post Graduate Course or Doctorate
This means around 7.92 Million Chinese Graduates have been hitting the Job market from 1/6/24 onwards
This includes almost 1.1 Million Engineering Graduates
Meanwhile Chinese Employers prefer hires only after 30/6/24
So for the first 30 days in June – Unemployment would rise significantly
Then after 1/7/24 – Jobs will be offered and the workforce will be decongested
There are 556,000 Government Appointments & 48,500 Civil Service Posts available this year
The Vacancies due to retirement emoluments in China in 2023 come to around 4.32 Million Jobs
New Jobs created assuming a 5% growth compared to 2023 comes to 1.37 Million New Jobs
This plus a further 360,000 Local Government Jobs across China
(This is Available NBS Data. It doesn’t count the other jobs like Smaller Freelance Jobs)
Adding we get around 6.65 Million Jobs Available versus 7.92 Million Graduates
Add to this a further 5% or 400,000 Graduates from Last year still looking for work
That’s 6.65 Million Jobs vs 8.32 Million Graduates
This means around 1.67 Million Graduates would be unable to find a Job in Mainland China
That comes to 1.67/8.32 = 20%
So the 16–24 Unemployment numbers will rise to around 20% for the next few months and then as more graduates get placed or take up contract jobs or freelance jobs or swt up their own business – this will fall back to 15% by December 2024
Now 20% is the 16–24 unemployment among Fresh Graduates
It means around 1.7 Million Graduates would still be looking for a Job by Middle of August or September 2024
That’s because China doesn’t use all graduates to give you 16–24 unemployment
China doesnt divide 1.67 /11.24 and say 16–24 unemployment was 14.80%
China divides 1.67/8.32 and gives you 20%
It’s as realistic as possible
This is high compared to USA (10.11%) but paradise compared to India (46%)
Have you ever been misdiagnosed by your physician?
Multiple times by multiple doctors.
When I turned 18, I began having intense itching in my groin area. I went for lotions first, numbing creams, hydrocortisone, nothing was working.
I tried sticking it out, would stick ice packs down there which helped a lot, but still would wake up scratching the ever living hell out of my groin until it would bleed.
Eventually, the scratches started oozing this terrible green gunk. I finally had enough with this and went to the doctor.
“It’s herpes.”
They never did any blood tests, didn’t believe me when I said I’ve never been sexually active (had my first sexual experience at 21,) they sent me home with a bottle of meds and told me to call them when it clears up.
Well, it didn’t clear up. It kept getting worse. So I called them and they told me it’s normal for herpes to ignore the medication at first, but to just keep taking it and it will eventually calm down.
So I kept taking it. It didn’t get better. It got worse.
To the point where I couldn’t even wear underwear or pants. I had to sit in bed all day, I couldn’t walk because my groin was on fire and oozing this awful smelling green pus on everything I put down there.
I was miserable.
I went to another doctor, who wanted to claim it was syphilis.
Again, I had never ever kissed another human at this point. Went to another doctor who assumed it must either be some sort of allergy, or again, an STD.
They put me on strong antihistamines which helped the itching a bit, but left me so out of it that I could hardly do anything but sleep all day and night.
At this point I was sick of being diagnosed with STDs I knew I didn’t have. I went to a brand new doctor and told him I wanted blood tests for every STD in the book so I could prove to the next dozen doctors that I didn’t have an STD and they needed to look further.
Blood test was negative for everything. I was clear. But that doctor also had no idea what to make of my mysterious itching, and suggested I change my diet.
Finally, I went to a doctor who actually took a biopsy of the area.
Few days later I get a call, “you’ve got a staph infection and we need to put you on antibiotics right away.”
I get the antibiotics and the green oozing goo clears up pretty much immediately, but the itching remains.
I returned to the doctor maybe a week later to go over my biopsy results, “You have spongiotic dermatitis.”
“Well, what can I do for it?”
“Nothing, really. Just have to learn what your triggers are and avoid them.”
“So there’s nothing I can do to get the itching to stop?”
“There might not be.”
I wanted to cry. I probably did.
Few years after just accepting that I’d need to wear ice packs in my pants wherever I went during a flare, which happened frequently, I came across a new doctor who told me you absolutely could use something for the itching, steroid cream.
He prescribed it for me, I can’t remember the exact name but it started with a T. (Thank you, Teri! The medication was called Triamcinolone Acetonide.)
Holy shit, I cleared up immediately.
I had relief for the first time in ever.
I stayed on that cream for a few years, having relief during flares and being so thankful that I found that doctor. But eventually it stopped working, and my flares returned with vengeance.
I went to yet another doctor, as I had since moved after seeing the first one. I told her my diagnosis and what was prescribed to me.
“I’m gonna take another look at it, get another biopsy and see what else we can do for you.”
A week later I had a new diagnosis.
Lichen Sclerosis.
She put me on a much stronger steroid ointment, Clobetosal, and again, I was cleared up immediately.
But I was worried, when is the next time I’m gonna have to dial it up even further? How far do I need to go before my skin gets used to everything and I’m back to square one?
Well, I had a surprising effect to my little skin issue when I made the decision to go on Testosterone.
I’m trans, and this was a decision a long time in the making. I wanted to be happy in my body at last, so I took the plunge and went for it.
And my Lichen Sclerosis cleared up!
My theory was that the thickening skin down there locks in moisture better. I haven’t had a major flare since starting nearly two years ago, and whatever flares I do have can be handled with hydrocortisone, unlike the first time.
I’m finally happy in my skin, in more ways than one.
But it took nearly ten years to get here.
She Thought Divorce Was A Good Idea Until She Had To Pay Him Child Support
What happens to people’s assets when they are in prison?
I can answer this best by giving examples.
Richard Barile (big time cocaine distributor for Pablo Escobar). “Chaplain, I have nothing left in this country. The government seized it all. BUT, I have my beachfront villa in Cabo-do you want to come down for a week?”
Mafia button man. Al, why can’t your wife fix her car and come see you? Are you that broke? Can’t someone lend her the money? “No Chaplain, I have about $100k or so. But I have to go ask the people for my money back in person- that’s how we work. If I don’t ask in person they will keep the money.”
Motorcycle gang guy. “Chaplain, I just lost everything and I’m getting out next month”. You just lost it? “Ya, I rented the storage locker for ten years, but I lost a month of good time, and nobody would pay for my locker for the last two months.” They auctioned off his locker, which included his custom modified vintage Indian motorcycle, just days before his release.
Off shore bank account guy. Why are you here? “Well I wanted to be a millionaire and enjoy life.” What did you do? “Well, I siphoned four million out of the corporate accounts. I put it all in an off-shore account in a country with no extradition to the USA. Then I turned myself in. The FBI asked me for the money back, I said no. The maximum sentence is four years. I’ll do my time and go to the islands. I’m making a million a year…how much are you making Chaplain?
Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?
About 7 or 8 years ago, I got pulled over for speeding in a school zone (I was NOT speeding). Well, the police officer comes up to my window and I hand him my license and insurance. He has me waiting for a good 20 minutes while he runs my license and insurance. He comes back and says that my license has been suspended for non-payment of a super speeder ticket. I was shocked. I had not gotten a super speeder ticket. Well, he takes me to jail. I finally get to the officer who gives me the warrant and how much I owe. Well, the description of the person was as follows: Black, 6 Feet 5 inches tall, 375 pounds, with face tattoos. I am: Caucasian, 6 Feet tall, (at the time) I weighted about 260 pounds and I DON’T have ANY TATTOOS. After 9 hours of being in jail, I finally got everything set straight with the police that someone had stolen my ID and I was finally let out of jail. BUT, I still had to call a friend to come and get me from jail. I was not allowed to get my car out of the impound lot because my license had been suspended and they had put a red mark on the back of the license. So, I had to wait until Monday to go and get everything straightened out. It took me about 5 hours of going to 3 different offices I finally got my license back. BUT, I still had to pay the impound fee, I believe it was about $360.00.
The Hobbit – 1950’s Super Panavision 70
Has there ever been a recruit who couldn’t be intimidated by the drill sergeants? How did that go?
We had this one kid who refused to fall in line. He refused to comply with any orders and was the biggest pain in the ass any of us had ever met.
I spent some time with him and learned that he had been raised in a really difficult environment, low income in the heart of the ghetto, and had been beaten by his father from a very young age. Physical and mental abuse were rampant throughout his family and extended family. His escape from this hell was the Army and we welcomed him with open arms but man he was messed up.
I liked the guy though and the more I got to know him the more I could tell he was worthwhile in a lot of respects and had a lot of potential if we could just get through to him.. nothing was working though, no direct attention worked, no level of discipline or pain would slow him down… physical and mental abuse ruled his world and nothing we could do down that path would ever have worked.
So, naturally, I made him a leader.
It wasn’t much, but that little bit of responsibility gave him a tremendous amount of pride. That little bit was enough to make him walk taller and perform better which rapidly earned the respect among his peers. He started with a small group of 3 other privates and quickly advanced to earn his sham shield where he became a squad leader, eventually earning his stripes. Last I checked on him he was about to earn his rocker which in the Army is a massive departure from the previous ranks. I know he can handle it.
When I first joined the Army, I didn’t really understand what it meant to be a leader. I believed intimidation was the only way to get anything done, fear, threats, yelling as necessary. I worked my way through the ranks and quickly learned that it’s far more effective to simply reach someone at their level, and raise them up to yours.
You don’t need them to be afraid of you, you simply need them to respect you.
No level of intimidation will ever accomplish that.
What do KFC stores do with leftover chicken?
We pulled into a Popeyes Chicken at the drive-up about 4 weeks ago. It was about 10 minutes until closing and the there was no one in line behind us. (just trying to be courteous) We pulled up to the window and asked the young man if they had any free chicken. He looked at us like we were crazy and said “what?!” We told him we were homeless and we would grab anything that might otherwise wind up in the trash. He was a little short with us, and said no not right now. So we drove around and parked in the lot on the other side of the building and we quietly sat there. As they cleaned and carried trash out, several trips, we speculated the one one that might have leftovers in it. But we waited and the employees even nodded in our direction as they talked outside amongst themselves. Then finally about 20 minutes after closing, the young man that waited on us at the window, brought us out a huge box of about 40 pieces of chicken and a few small sides. Thank you! Sometimes people do wonderful things for others.
The Sopranos – Kicking up to Tony Soprano
What’s the strangest thing a cop has seen when pulling someone over?
I thought I had a drunk late one night when a brand new Camaro Z28 almost took me out head on. It was my first night in my brand new squad car with less than 100 miles on the odometer. I turned on the lights and sirens as the Z28 kept weaving back and forth across the highway scraping the guardrails on both sides. A short while later it pulls over in a closed restaurant parking lot. I approached the car with not a small amount of adrenaline ready to arrest the drunk that had just put us both in so much danger. I ripped open the Camaro’s door and confronted… a twelve year old girl holding her teddy bear and crying. Next to her was a map, as I comforted her and asked her questions I referred to the map and asked her where she was going. She replied that she didn’t know but would use the map to find out where she was when she got there. Obviously there were some issues at home. Her mother called me a liar when I finally got her on the phone to ask her to pick up her daughter. Then she was mostly concerned with the damage to her car, not her daughter. I filled out the necessary paperwork and sent it in to the prosecutor thinking she would help this 12 year old girl, but got a note back to just write her a ticket. Pretty steamed I called down to get the prosecutor on the phone, “ticket, she doesn’t need a ticket, she needs help” I practically yelled into the phone. The prosecutor asked me if I was sure I was a cop, but then opened the file and looked at it. She immediately began to apologize and thanked me for following up instead of just writing the ticket. A few weeks later I got a call back from the prosecutor to tell me they were working as best they could with the family to help this little girl’s situation, but that the family dynamic was pretty bleak. I don’t know what became of that girl.
She Thought Divorce Was A Good Idea Until She Had To Pay Him Child Support
How significant is the withdrawal of the mid-range missile system from the Philippines in terms of easing tensions in the South China Sea?
Zero significance.
The US decided that it was too dangerous to leave a long range attack missile there. Or decided that it could be wiped out by China with drones.
If someone, anyone pushed a button and launched a Tomahawk cruise missile at China, that means starting a war. China will wipe out every US base in Asia and the US islands.
The missile don’t threaten China at all so the risks outweigh any benefits.
Either that or Chine threatened to wipe those missile away and the US bases in Asia just like the US did with Cuba.
But this changes nothing. The US is still trying to get proxies to fight China. The US doesn’t want to be directly involved though because that will mean all US soldiers in Asia will be killed. Then the US will have to send a fleet along with NATO. The fleet will then be sunk.
This is contrary to what the US likes to do. Which is to use proxies to attack other nations. And the proxy that the US really wants is India. India has a high population and can theoretically last much longer than Ukraine.
So the US would love to put missiles in India then say that the Indians fired the missile and just walk away. It remains to be seen what India will do. After all the US is offering a lot of money to foreign politicians to destroy their country. The US will promise support.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace – 1950’s Super Panavision 70
Why is China’s Norinco displaying NATO-standard 155mm artillery shells for sale at the Paris Defence Expo?
Because China also uses the 155mm artillery.
The 155mm is the perfect size for a medium range shell with a good combination of size vs. range.
China replaced the 130mm artillery with 155mm.
It’s like rifle rounds. China uses the 5.8 and the West uses 5.56. This is a good combination of size, weight, and power. It allows the soldiers to carry a good amount of ammo without weighing them down.
The West used to use 7.62mm rounds or .308 but you get significantly less rounds and it is heavier than 5.56. You normally don’t need to shoot that far anyway. The 5.56 will kill out to 600 meters. Much longer than most soldiers can hit a man sized target.
I think it’s a huge mistake of the US to go to 6.8mm round. It has much bigger recoil than 5.56 and shoots way too far. They changed because of Iraq and Afghanistan but ironically, the US pulled out of those places and the new round would be way overkill in a jungle or forest.
And you end up back to the same problem as before. Too heavy so less rounds per soldier. Heavy recoil makes the rifle less accurate and takes longer to shoot accurately.
Shorpy
SHORPY 4a24400a.preview
SHORPY 32076u.preview
SHORPY 29304u.preview
SHORPY 1a35383u.preview
SHORPY 02126u.preview
SHORPY 02351a.preview
SHORPY 5a42327u.preview
SHORPY 4a25870a.preview
video game 3367.preview
SHORPY 4a23720a.preview
SHORPY 4a23774a.preview
SHORPY 4a21287a.preview
SHORPY 4a23402a.preview
SHORPY 4a23403a.preview
SHORPY 4a20822a.preview
SHORPY 4a18667a.preview
SHORPY 4a18670a.preview
SHORPY 4a23367a.preview
SHORPY 4a07910a.preview
SHORPY 4a23365a flatiron.preview
SHORPY 4a23777a.preview
SHORPY 4a22872a.preview
SHORPY 32143u.preview
SHORPY 4a07502a1.preview
SHORPY 4a19571a.preview
SHORPY 28800u.preview
SHORPY 30535u.preview
SHORPY 31888u.preview
SHORPY 30598u.preview
I Found Footage of New York City from 1965 at a Thrift Store
What does Taiwan need to do in order to survive and resist an invasion by China? Could they use new tactics to do so? How long can they really resist? What lessons did it learn from Ukraine?
If you are a Taiwanese, I would ask you to accept reality & not to follow the path of Ukraine. Dont get into a war & die for U S A.
If you are a foreigner, I would like you to understand Chinese history & UN charter as follows:
There was a civil war in China (called ROChina at the time). The then ruling party KMT was defeated by CPC in 1949. KMT fled to Taiwan while CPC stayed on mainland. CPC renamed ROChina to PRChina, like Qing was renamed to ROC in 1911 (5000 years’ of Chinese tradition).
In theory, the civil war has not finished as of 2024 because China has not reunified yet.
Internationally, between 1949 & 1971, both ROChina & PRChina exist. In 1971, however, UN resolution 2758 announced …
1, There is only ONE China & PRChina is the only legitimate government that represents China.
That is, ROChina ceases to exist on world stage. Only a handful tiny tiny countries still recognised ROC.
Taiwan is part of China. Ref: US doc 203 & the 1978 USA-China joint communique by former US president J Carter.
2, To make it crystal clear, on 2024/5/23, UN told the world “Taiwan is a PROVINCE of China.”
By UN charter, China has a duty to protect the integrity of Chinese territory that incl Taiwan province.
Internally, both constitution of China & Taiwan say:
China territory = mainland + Taiwan + some islands & reefs around China.
Why Taiwan dares not call for referendum? Because referendum involves mainland too.
Militarily Taiwan cannot fight China.
That is, Taiwan can NEVER be independent. Though opportunistic politicians must shout independence so as to get tons of foreign funding (corruption), before Taiwan is discarded by USA like a used condom. Remember USA discarded ROChina in 1971.
conclusion
Whether it is UN resolution or Chinese-Taiwanese constitutions, China has a duty to protect the integrity of China. Like former US president A Lincoln protecting the integrity of USA in the US civil war.
China is NOT invading or attacking Taiwan. Just to suppress Taiwan rebellion, like Lincoln suppressing the South.
China will reunify with Taiwan one way or another. It is the duty of China for the sake of Chinese nation, culture & history.
China’s 1st option is peaceful unification. If necessary, China is not afraid to use military.
My Best Revenge Scam Call Ever – Extreme Scammer Rage
Grilled Kansas City Strip Steaks with
Smoked Tomato and Grilled Onion Relish
garden herb strip steaks horizontal
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Wood chunks or 2 cups wood chips
2 large tomatoes, stems removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons capers, drained
2 large red onions, peeled and cut into 1 inch slices
4 (8 ounce) Kansas City beef strip steaks, 1 inch thick (beef top loin steaks)
Kosher salt and pepper
Instructions
At least 1 hour before smoking, soak wood chunks or chips in enough water to cover. Drain wood. For a water smoker, arrange preheated coals, drained wood chunks, and water pan according to manufacturer’s directions.
Place tomatoes in a disposable aluminum pan. Smoke tomatoes for 1 hour. (Or, for a charcoal grill, arrange medium coals around edge of grill.
Sprinkle soaked wood chips over coals. Test for medium-low heat where food will cook. Place tomatoes in pan on center of grill, not over coals. Cover grill and cook for 30 minutes.)
In a medium skillet heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat for 1 minute.
Add garlic; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until garlic begins to brown.
Remove from heat; transfer garlic and oil to a medium bowl. Add capers; set aside.
Arrange onions on a microwave-safe platter. Microwave on HIGH (100% power) for 2 minutes.
Brush onion with remaining 1 tablespoon oil.
Grill onion slices and steaks directly over medium coals until onion is tender and steak is desired doneness (14 to 18 minutes for medium-rare), turning once.
Meanwhile, core, peel, and chop tomatoes; add to garlic mixture.
Chop onions; add to tomato mixture. Season relish and steaks with salt and pepper.
Serve relish over steaks.
Notes
Test Kitchen Tip: Use a smoker along with a grill for preparing the tomatoes and steaks at the same time. Or, smoke the tomatoes up to 24 hours before serving. Cover and chill the smoked tomatoes up to 24 hours.
As a teacher, what is the harshest truth a student has ever taught you?
When I was teaching a high school class at an international school in Mexico, I thought I was superior to my students. I had a New England education, English was my first language. I had a solid moral background. There was little (I thought) that my students could teach me.
One day, just before class, a student, by the name of Nicolas, came and asked me if he could go to the bathroom. I told him yes, but to hurry back because class would begin in five minutes. He asked, “Don’t I need a pass?”
Our principal was very strict and required every student to have a pass if he or she was out of class. I told him, “Just go! Hurry up back.”
Then I began writing the lesson on the board.
He returned about ten minutes later looking very dejected. I asked him if he was okay and he said, “Yes. No problem.”
So, I continued with the lesson. But at the end of the period as students were leaving, I noticed he still looked dejected.
“You okay, Nick? You look depressed.”
He replied, “Well, I got put on detention by the principal for being in the hall without a pass.”
“But didn’t you tell him that I advised you to go ahead without one?” I asked.
“No,” he replied.
“Well, why on earth not?” I asked exasperated.
“Because I didn’t want you to get in trouble, sir,” he replied.
I realized then that here was a student who was superior to me in sensitivity and caring. I could never have imagined doing such a thing when I was a high school student. I was humbled. The incident showed me not to underestimate the existing values of those whom I presumed to teach.
Why does it seem that Japanese and Chinese people appear to live more relaxed lives compared to Koreans?
Korean values, the educational system, and runaway consumerism are designed to turn everyone neurotic, and the system largely succeeds.
Basically, Korean society is a pressure cooker, and going insane is one way to escape. Another way is suicide, which seems to be popular among Koreans working in entertainment.
The Japanese are more relaxed because their economy has been screwed since 1990, and things aren’t getting better.
The Chinese are more relaxed because their economy and country is huge, and Chinese have a very long historical memory. Basically, they have seen everything.
This means that the Chinese have perspective.
When they are unhappy or see something they don’t like, they complain to their local official, and tell him to fix it. Since the local official’s job performance is measured by how many complaints he resolves, his career depends on resolving the issue.
How do you think corrupt officials and politicians must be punished?
I like Chinese style of punishment
main qimg dde3d64cb921154fbd0809544e78498a
Gather enough evidence and offer two choices
Option 1
Pay back 2/3 of what you took plus Confess and you get 5–15 years jail and your family won't bear the consequences of your actions
Or
Option 2
Have a trial and if found guilty - It's either 15–25 years Imprisonment or death penalty and your family members bear consequences of your actions
…
What I like about the Chinese is how they break families for what they call knowingly enjoying illegal earnings or product of corruption
Kids under 18 are reeducated and taught their father is a thief and he must be hated
Under Mao, many kids denounced their parents and watched them hang with a smile in favor of the State
Same punishment in India
Option 1
Pay back 67% of what you allegedly take and serve 10 years Jail and retire from Politics
OR
Option 2
If found guilty you can hang Or face life prisonment plus your Kids can't graduate and have to work as Unskilled or Skilled labor and your families will be forced to migrate to places exceeding 2000 Kms from place of sentencing
Scott Ritter: Ukraine Nears End and the CIA’s SHOCKING Move is Destroying America, not Russia
The darkness was so different in space, when I opened my eyes all I could see was the blinking red light that reminded me it was time to get up. I rolled back and forth, with the sun being millions of miles away it was harder for my body to wake itself up even though this one was the day my entire life was going to change. I pushed the red button and the dark rectangle that looked like any other wall with nothing on it phased away and Saturn appeared. The button was now green, and I yet again got to wake up to see Saturn instead of the Sun. It was an image I could never grow tired of watching Saturn in its infinite glory all the secrets it kept hidden for billions of years. The clouds moved along the most breathtaking gas giant and the rings so vivid and close I feel like I could reach out the window and grasp them. The pictures do not do it justice and the sounds of the massive planet put me at peace. My team is beginning the first ever human voyage to Titan to explore and map the moon in all of its entirety. Earth is becoming more unstable and life as we know it will cease to exist if we do not find another place to live. After the Mars massacre, NASA wanted to make sure we knew exactly what was going on before we allowed humans colonize another planet, in this case moon. There was a lot weighing on my shoulders as captain of Celestial Spectre, all the plans and ideas running through my head as I went to my post in the observation deck. I pulled the shade to reveal Saturn and Titan, the orange moon forever tidal locked with Saturn, only showing one side of its face to the planet. It makes me wonder what is hidden on that dark side. There were different filters we could apply to see the different colors of the universe as well as telescope on screen, which zooms into any area to reveal what is really hiding in the darkness of the naked eye. There is 360-degree view of the surrounding darkness, my focus was Titan and the anticipation of starting our surveying was nerve racking, how can my crew sleep so long? I said to myself. The haze of the moon was swirling around, it was hypnotic everything I had worked so hard for was laying right in front of me. I wanted to unlock every secret this solar system was hiding then move on to the Milky Way. Steve tapped me on the shoulder broke that trance, “Rachel I’m surprised you didn’t leave us on the ship and go down yourself.” I laughed, “Don’t think it didn’t cross my mind!” I grabbed the equipment list for the first touchdown on the moon to make sure the probe was all ready to go. “Dawson is the probe ready for today?” Dawson was the computer system that was built into the ship for us to communicate with, his knowledge base was vast, but he was limited as we were about what we were to expect on Titan. “Yes” Dawson replied. “Haven’t you quadruple checked that list?” asked Steve. “Yes, Steve I have, I wouldn’t be a good captain if I didn’t.” He smiled, “Waiting for everyone to wake up.” I smiled slyly, “Ugh! Is that obvious!” It was his turn to laugh, “I figured that’s why I woke them up before coming up to check on you.” I couldn’t stop smiling, “You are the best!” The twins, Marcus and Mia, were the first to emerge from the dorm corridors. “We are awake,” said Marcus. “And ready to go,” as she yawned said Mia. The mechanical genius, Nikki, was the last to emerge, “Ready to go!” she said with pep. “That’s what I liked to hear. Let’s Go!” I said. I was the last one to get on the probe.Descending through the haze of Titan’s atmosphere was so exciting as well as completely terrifying as we did not know if the probe would make it through and still be able to take us back to the ship. It was designed by Nikki to not only fly through space, but to be a land rover and a submarine for any oceans or lakes we discovered. So much was running back and forth in my head I couldn’t get a grip on any of it, I was excited I wanted to scream but I had to keep my composure as a good captain. We descended through the clouds getting samples of them along the way and having DAWSON analyze them. The clouds started to thin and that’s when I saw it. A colossal ocean that was as giant as the Atlantic and Pacific put together, there were n ranges which didn’t reach the clouds but were still steep. There were rivers that lead to the Titanic Ocean, which I just named it. Past some of the mountains were lakes that could hold so many possibilities. Humans could get another chance here. “Look” I whispered to them I couldn’t bear to look away from the window, it was like a picture I always had in my head and to see it with my own eyes it was amazing. Valleys and areas covered with some type of alien florae, it was all just waiting to be explored. The probe came to safe landing with no damage to the craft at all, once it was secure to get out, I ran for the door. I wanted to be the first one to step foot on Titan, dreams really do come true. Each of us was equipped with a special suit specifically designed for the surface of Titan, again created by Nikki. Dust storms are a possibility on this moon so each suit has an outline in a neon color that will make us visible to the other crew members, I was pink, Steve was orange, the twins were light and dark green, and Nikki was blue. Each of us looked around where we landed and again how small we felt. It would take centuries to map everything on Titan, so we started with the immediate area to see if it was habitable. Once this region was down, we would extend out until all of Titan was printed on a map, so people could find the areas they wanted to start their new lives in. The region that faced away from Saturn was my personal interest, but I know that wouldn’t be smart to start there. “Let’s begin right here and call this region Home for now until we learn more about it.” My crew agreed and we start to unpack along with setting up a small camp for us to continue research and sleep. DAWSON alerted me when I was moving equipment, “There’s movement at the lower range of the mountains, I am unable to detect what it is other than it is alive.” I quickly equipped my hydrogen rifle using the recon scope was able to see exactly what the creature looked like. A three limbed creature with a thick fur covering its entire body, it was watching us with its three set of eyes. It had large set of teeth at its abdomen area and it appeared that it was sniffing the air with its tentacle/limb. “2 o’clock Steve.” He already had his rifle powered and aiming right that the creature. “Tell me when” Steve whispered toward my direction. I stood there for what felt like hours just observing I didn’t want to make the mistake of shooting a new life form. I decided in that moment, “we need a closer look.” I started to climb the mountain slowly keeping my eye on the creature while Steve watching the surrounding, so we didn’t get ambushed by anything else. A low humming filled my ears as I was looking at the beast, I took a chance and lowered my rifle. “Stay close Steve, but do not attack.” Steve responded by stopped and setting up by a rock just in case I was wrong. I knelt on one knee and extended my hand hoping it took the gesture as friendly and not threatening. It started to move; the limbs moved across the smaller rocks like an octopus shifting along the ocean floor. The fur was a deep purple and it slithered toward me. It took all my willpower to not runaway screaming with complete fear, but that would alarm it putting my team in danger. I took a deep breath, slowly opened my eyes to see it standing right in front of me. It was about three feet tall with three eyes that were bright orange and square. It never blinked the whole time I watched it and even when it was in front of me.Suddenly, the thing started to glide away again, but this time it was headed to ocean we had seen when we landed. I started to chase after it with only having three limbs it moved rather quickly. The land began to dip down slightly and then gradually it went farther down until we reached the beach area. The ocean was like of Earth with waves and currents. A huge wave came crashing down and I swear I caught a glimpse of sea creature from my nightmares. It had fins poking out for every direction and a long narrow mouth. I turned to look back at Steve, whose face was as pale as mine. “It’s like the Jurassic period here with all of these different types of animals.” Steve replied once he saw the monster that lurked in the waves. “Is this a good idea Captain?” Mia asked. “We need somewhere to start. Keep your eyes open and guns charged.” We rounded the corner where these cliffs ahead were sharp that’s when I noticed a cave with a blue hue coming from it. “Over there!” I shouted to my team. The Titan fur stopped at the mouth of the cave and pointed its tentacle at the entrance. “Stay here at the entrance Marcus and Mia.” They both nodded with their rifles in hand. Steve, Nikki, and I started to walk through the cave looking at all the amazing purples and blues that covered the walls of the fissure. We followed the blue hue which lead toward a metal door, “this is the last thing I expected to see.” Steve replied, “yeah I was ready for certain death.” I opened the door and there was another thing I least expected to see even more so than a door on a moon that orbited Saturn. There were hand drawings and notes everywhere on the walls. There was a partial map hanging on another wall with BEWARE OF THE DARK CREATURES and drawings of regions we hadn’t seen yet. Nearby were journals that were filled with descriptions of creature and tree-like foliage. One tree was completely twisted from the root and when grown would drop this blue oval that would explode once it hit the ground. The author of these diaries Mr. Seymour Dates described its reaction because of the methane in the ground would mix with what the fruit was made of which he still was unable to figure out. Under some other papers was a fold out map of an area that was dark that he referred to as Nix Valley, the area was so dark with no light and a drawing of a creature that was 25-30 feet tall. A description of the creature he encountered there:
“The biggest creature I have encountered since I started exploring
Titan, I haven’t had the nerve to explore the ocean yet,
The largest land animal if you can call it that. His skin was
White like death with eyes that were cloudy as well
It does use its eyes to see but it uses all of it senses to get
Around. It has bones protruding from his head and along
Its back. Its arms dragged across the floor while still haven’t
Gotten close enough to see any sort of lower extremities.
It mimics gentle sounds and ones in pain to lure in other animals
That walk around on the surface. Nix valley is located underneath the mountain range
And some flatlands. It never comes up to the surface only can
Be seen when finding its hidden caves along the mountains
Where I first landed.
Accompanying to the short description was a sketch of what the monster looked like and it was like a giant snake and dinosaur mixed together and was kept from the sun. “We need to find this monster; our job is so important. If this is here, we can’t bring humans to live here.” I said to Steve and Nikki. Nikki was as pale as a ghost and Steve just stood there unable to say anything. I noticed the door slowly opening and I aimed my rifle right at the opening. The Titan fur was standing there, and I immediately grew concerned for the twins, “I’m going to distract it, you both go for the twins. Make sure they are safe.” I ordered. Then the furry creature took its head off and a man was there inside a giant costume. “Thank you for not shooting me, it took me a while to build this costume.” Said Seymour Dates. “We need to talk.” I responded with, “Where are the twins?” We all raced to the entrance of the cave.
These Men Won’t SETTLE For Bare Minimum Women
Grilled Jalapeño Cheddar Meatballs
Serve delicious Grilled Jalapeño Cheddar Meatballs with Mexican rice, beans, or a side salad.
grilled jalapeno cheddar meatballs
Prep: 20 min | Chill: 30 min | Cook: 35 min | Yield: 20 servings
Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup tortilla chips, crushed
3/4 cup milk
3 fresh jalapeños, seeded and finely diced
1 (8 ounce) block Cheddar cheese, finely diced
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
Place the crushed tortilla chips in a large bowl, then add the milk and allow to soften the chips for about 10 minutes.
After the mixture is soft and has absorbed all the milk, add the beef, jalapeño, cheese, paprika, garlic, and salt. Mix well to combine all ingredients, then scoop approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the mixture and form a meatball; repeat until all the mixture has been formed into balls.
Place the meatballs on a plate or tray and refrigerate them for 30 minutes to firm.
Light a grill for two zone cooking. For charcoal: light coals and pile them all on one side, creating a hot and cool zone. For propane: light the very end burner on the left or right side, but no other burners. It’s recommended you place a piece of foil under the side without heat to catch any melting cheese for easy cleanup. The grill should be at MEDIUM temperature, about 350 to 375 degrees F.
Place the meatballs on the cool side of the grill (away from the coals or the lit burner) and close the grill lid. Grill for about 25 to 35 minutes, or until they reach 165 degrees F internal temperature on a meat thermometer.
Remove the meatballs from the grill and allow to cool slightly before serving.
Operation Gladio | How The Mob Financed The CIA’s Secret Army
I had mentioned previous that I used to live with a “runway model”. I had manifested her as part of an affirmation campaign, and she was a handful, I’ll tell you what. But pretty, Oh Lordy!
As an aside, guys… don’t go for 8, 9s, and 10s. Pick a solid 4, 5, 6 or 7. Get an average girl. And concentrate on her personality. Ah. the lessons of life.
But, I was still learning. Heck, I was still in my 30’s.
Anyways, we were chillin’ out in the house of a friend of ours. It was in the metropolis of Xbridge. Which, heh, heh… was this tiny, tiny town in Massachusetts. And we are talking.
CJ starts to say something that I really found interesting….
“It’s like this, and you know, you really like the guy, and you are so open down there. It’s all open and wide and empty… any you really want to be filled. Just completely and….”
And, our friend Collin, interrupts and goes on a tirade about how are we men supposed to know what it is like being a girl, and on and on and on.
And on and on….
She opens up her mouth to say something, and he drowns her out with his tirade. On and on.
By the time he was finished, no one wanted to continue that initial (and very interesting) conversation.
And I found it really interesting, and I really wanted CJ to finish her sentence, as I had never heard a woman’s point of view on this kind of thing, and I really, REALLY wanted to hear about it.
So…
In all my marriages, in all my relationships… a closely guarded discussion of woman’s feelings during desire never came up, but here… for a brief moment in time… it raised it’s sleepy head. And as soon as it it it was snatched away.
I should have gotten up and punched Collin and told CJ to continue.
But I didn’t.
The secrets of womanhood remains an elusive knowledge… one that somehow I am forbidden to know about.
I wanted to know more.
The mysteries of what it felt like, as a woman.
The opportunity came…
… and was drowned out by ignorance.
Sigh.
Today….
What is the most satisfying passive-aggressive thing you have ever done to a really mean or rude person?
I was carrying extremely powerful rare earth magnets (165 lb pull force) for work in my back pack . They were wrapped in 8 inches of bubble wrap to prevent them from getting too close to anything.
As I was sitting down, a total a-hole got on the train and pushed me out of the way, took the seat I was about to sit in, and gave me a nasty look. I wound up standing next to him. Slowly, I undid the bubble wrap and put it next to the Macbook he was working on and the satchel with his wallet and phone. I kept moving it around subtly. After a few minutes, his screen went out with a very bright flash. I don’t know what happened to his credit cards or cell phone. He kept trying to reboot it but it was not responding at all.
I didn’t know if it would actually do anything. I just really hate rude people on the subway. Luckily his computer didn’t fly up and stick to my backpack.
(UPDATE:) It’s been great to read the many responses this has; I have never told anyone this story. I really go out of my way to be a decent person but when people take advantage of me, I can’t let it go. I have used annoy-a-trons several times on coworkers (Google it) and did MUCH worse as a teenager. The point is, I am fair and decent, however, I won’t suffer A-Holes taking advantage of me or screwing me over.
This guy pushed me out of the way hard as I was sitting down and then proceeded to give me a shitty look like “do you want to fight about it?” My options were to fight him, start an argument that would not get my seat back unless I picked him up, or OTHER. I wasn’t willing to start a fight on a full subway car or anywhere else. I just couldn’t let it go. Not with these awesome magnets in my backpack ready for a little experiment!
Now for the doubters …. If you stack six of these magnets you have 3–4 times the force of a single magnet. They have small Teflon spacers between them so you can separate them when you need them. These slightly reduce their combined force. At 8–10 inches with bubble wrap, there is very little magnetic force as their strength decreases exponentially with distance. However, I am still careful not to put my cell phone or wallet near them. I opened the bubble wrap at the bottom of the stack and then closed my backpack with the end of the stack right against the inside canvas of my backpack. I was surprised it worked at a distance of about 6 inches. As I said, I was careful because I did not want it to “grab” the computer. Nothing happened for a while but it absolutely took the computer out like an EMP had gone off. Maybe it had to wait until the HDD was active. If it warped the platter and pulled it into the read/write arm it would scratch the shit out of the platter. I looked it up yesterday and the HDD on a Macbook Pro is on the side I was standing on.
IDK how it worked, but, to my pleasant surprise, IT DID. Try it out! 😉 I lost a bit of face and hopefully he lost $2K of electronics and spent a day getting his credit and bank cards replaced.
Will it teach him a lesson? Probably not, but I don’t care; I made his life temporarily suck without causing bodily harm .
Butter Rum Ham and Pineapple
pineapplerumham
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds fully cooked, boneless ham
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons rum extract
1/2 peeled/cored pineapple
Instructions
Heat 2-sided tabletop grill.
Cut four 1/2 inch thick slices from ham (reserve any remaining ham for another use).
Place butter, brown sugar and rum extract in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 30 to 45 seconds or until butter melts.
Brush one side of ham with glaze and place on grill with glazed side down. Brush glaze on top of ham slices. Close grill lid, pressing down firmly to sear ham.
Grill for 4 to 5 minutes, brushing once with remaining glaze, until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F.
Remove ham from grill and cover to keep warm.
Cut pineapple into four 1/2 to 1 inch thick slices and place on grill; close lid. Grill for 1 to 2 minutes until warm. Serve with ham.
Was Dong Zhuo or Cao Cao worse?
tl;dr: Don’t invite either of these guys to your office potluck.
main qimg 8d0da12458ee84adfc97a72dee514205
Imagine your company kitchen. It’s a chaotic symphony of mismatched mugs and lukewarm coffee. But then, two new executives strut in. One, Dong Zhuo, barges in, throws everyone out, declares himself “Chief Lunch Officer,” and starts hoarding all the good snacks.
The other, Cao Cao, is more subtle. He smiles, charms everyone, subtly undermines his rivals with passive-aggressive emails about “synergy” and “optimization,” then slowly takes control of the coffee machine, rationing the good beans for his “inner circle.”
Who’s worse?
Dong Zhuo was the quintessential “bull in a china shop” of emperors. A ruthless warlord, he seized power during China’s Han Dynasty, metaphorically shoving the emperor aside and using him as a rubber stamp. Taxes skyrocketed, the capital burned (think a company-wide email announcing the free donuts are mysteriously gone… forever), and fear became the company culture.
Cao Cao, on the other hand, was the master manipulator. Cunning and ambitious, he played the long game. He’d ruthlessly eliminate rivals while spouting lofty ideals about “unifying the market” (a.k.a. eliminating competition). He surrounded himself with brilliant advisors, like having a crack team constantly brainstorming new ways to brew the perfect cup of joe (even if it meant exploiting the local bean farmers).
So, who’s the worse office tyrant? Dong Zhuo is the obvious villain, the guy everyone avoids in the break room. But Cao Cao, with his charming smile and ruthless efficiency, is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. He might even win “Employee of the Month” for his supposed dedication, all while consolidating his power.
The real tragedy? The system itself.
The fractured state of China during this era allowed both Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao to exploit its weaknesses.
Who are the Dong Zhuos and Cao Caos in our own systems today?
DR built a concrete snowman to teach bullies a lesson
When I was in college, a friend spent 3 hours building a 5 foot snowman on our club’s property only to have a grpup from the jock club next door do a flying tackle to destroy it. To be clear, this was the type of club bullies who liked to destroy property, piss in your hallway, and generally pick fights with people.
Being the studemt repairs manager, I had access to bricks, concrete, and cinder block. Over the next six hours, 5 of us built an 8 foot snowman, base out of an upside down steel trashcan filled with solid ice and brick. We built the center ball hollow and shuttled in the brick and mortar. Used a ladder to finish off the head with a green Mohawk and red eye.
In the morning the center ball was tilted 5 degrees with a large shoulder impression in the snow shell. We guessed he broke something. Passive aggressive revenge extracted.
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson : Turkey to Leave NATO and Join …
What is the most disrespectful advice you received from a person who assumed you were less intelligent and made less money than them?
My husband’s friend and wife bought a home around 3 years back. They are almost the same age as us. Both of them are elder to me and a few months younger to my husband. Both of them are good people, but the wife likes to brag a little, but I always believe that she is a good person at heart. We meet them often, and get together for dinner or games. They used to often ask us why we are still living in an apartment and not buying a house.
My husband and I did not want to buy a house until I got a job. Even then, we did not want to buy a HUGE house. We wanted to get a started home.. something small and manageable. Even after I got job, we waited a few months to make sure that i like my role, only then did we begin our house hunting expedition.
The first step was of course to go to a bank and find out our affordability. The bank took both our salaries and told us that we could afford $XXXX per month as mortgage. My husband and I did not want to buy a huge house showing both our salaries. We wanted to show only one salary (the lower salary, which is mine). We are not US citizens, so we wanted to make sure that we could afford the house and our lifestyle even if one of us lost our jobs or wanted to take a break. We finally put an offer on a house, and the offer got accepted almost a year back. We informed this to our friends when we met them for dinner one day. My husband’s friend’s wife immediately asked us the price and number of bedrooms of our house. We told her how much the house costs and that it’s a 3 bedroom house. She immediately said “ohh.. is that all you could afford? I did not realize that both of you would be earning so less inspite being engineers. We both earn more so that’s why we could afford a bigger house. I really hope something good happens to you soon”..
My husband and I laughed so much after leaving their house. We don’t have to explain our logic to them. We wanted something small and manageable, and also have enough room when parents visit. We had a very strict budget and stuck to it.
I did it instinctively.
We are in an concert hall for some concert. I arrive early and grab a prime seat. This elderly woman comes over and grabs a seat 6-7 seats from me. The hall fills up.
The woman leaves to go to the washroom.
This dude grabs her seat.
She comes back and protests, but he would not listen. People complain, but he is not going to budge. His argument: “Seats can not be reserved here”
I eye signal to the dude to come take over my prime seat. I grab my stuff and pretend to be on my way out missing the concert entirely. The lady also thinks I am leaving and everyone will have a seat and be happy.
He quickly starts rushing to my place. The lady sits in the place he vacated.
Oops. I changed my mind. I quickly sit down and enjoy the concert.
WAKE UP PEOPLE! This Is Worse Than I Thought…” | Victor Davis Hanson
Beep Beep
The phone rang again, I picked it up again and said my name, no sound, then beep-beep-beep. That did it. I got so fed up with it that it was time for a plan. My own little, 10-years old’s, revenge plan.
My father was having an affair, that much was clear. For months already, our family was disturbed and disfunctional. The relationship between my parents was totally messed up and as their youngest son, I felt heart broken and angry.
Twice a day, for weeks, the phone would ring and there would be no sound if I picked it up. It annoyed me big time. It never happened to my father though. So I concluded it must be her, the unknown woman.
I decided to start some retaliation. Every now and then I heard him calling her in his home office (on a landline). One day I overheard him through the office door, and I waited out the call. He went to have lunch in the kitchen afterwards, and I sneaked into his office. I pressed the redial button.
With my heart pounding in my throat I waited… And then she picked up and said her name. Gotcha! I stayed silent, wrote her name on a paper and hung up. As a little Sherlock Holmes I started looking her up in the phone book. I had some clues to what town she might live, so after some researching, I found her name and number.
Since that moment, the fight was on. A few times a day I would call her and say nothing at all until she would hang up. It felt great. My little sneaky, well thought out, revenge plan was working just as planned. It must have driven her crazy.
It took them weeks to find out. Then my father came to me, sighed, collected some courage and asked me bluntly if I was the one that was ghost calling his ‘friend’. I denied. But from that day on, I stopped. My point was made.
EDIT: we are talking 1988 here, so no chat apps or cell phones…
EDIT 2: My mother just told me that my father accused her at the time of the ghost calls. Oops!
Are you surprised by China’s aggression against the Philippines in the South China Sea?
No, Because I know quite deep on China’s politic.
You probably wonder what the hell I am talking about, well I will answer actually China has been waiting for country to mess with China. Why? because then China will have a reason to mess with that country, you can see a lot of example, from Vietnam losing land territory, parcels island, Russia losing land, India losing land, Japan losing island, long list of strong nation right?
That list has started during China was weak, now China is strong. what it need is troublemaker like Philippine. Politic is still politic, no matter how noble China try to be if foreign country mess with China, it’s an opportunity to mess with them.
If you search for my old post, you will see an article I wrote that Philippine will lose all their island in South China Sea.
China is the most noble politic we as an earthling can have. China is not like USA which can create Tonkin Gulf incident as a pretext to invade Vietnam. China is not as despicable as USA, USA can claimed Saddam has WMD and go to invade. No, don’t worry China does not work that evil. If you have a good relation with China, well China will not do anything to you.
the evidence is Duterte, Philippine probably don’t realized it Duterte saved your country.
China-Philippine SCS Dispute Chinese Perspective
The South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines is specifically reflected in Huangyan Island, Ren’ai Reef, Horseshoe Reef, Xianbin Reef, Zhongye Island and surrounding waters.
The reality is that what has truly harmed China’s efforts to safeguard its sovereignty and expand its interests in the South China Sea is not the confrontation between China and the Philippines, but the reconciliation between China and the Philippines.
From around 1990 to this year, China’s South China Sea strategy has evolved from defense to offense, and has also gone through three stages from defense to stalemate to counterattack, marked by the ” Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea ” in November 2002 and the climax of island building in 2013.
Before 2002, China was on the defensive in the South China Sea. Chinese fishermen were arrested and fishing boats were rammed and seized. These incidents were common and would cause uproars today. But there was no way out. At that time, our navy was too weak and our coast guard was seriously under-strength. We were unable to effectively manage the disputed areas and protect the interests of fishermen.
The so-called ” beached ships ” today are all historical issues left over from that time.
Since 2002, as the United States’ attention has shifted to the Middle East, the South China Sea turmoil has no longer been fueled by the United States, and the Philippines is alone. China has entered a period of rapid development, its naval debts are slowly being made up, and its offensive and defensive momentum has begun to change.
Strictly speaking, the real counterattack wave began when Aquino III came to power in 2011. Against the backdrop of the United States’ official launch of the ” return to the Asia-Pacific ,” Aquino III reopened the South China Sea dispute, and this time they faced a completely different China. The climax began in 2013 when China began its island-building frenzy, consolidating existing islands and reefs and gradually opening up disputed areas.
Against the backdrop of the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines, China has renounced interference and, while building up islands, has firmly grasped jurisdiction in its own hands, breaking up the Philippines’ counterattacks into harassment by scattered forces.
From 2013 to 2016, this period was the four years with the most intense confrontation between China and the Philippines, but also the four years in which China gained the most by building island on SCS (it actually an counter measure of Obama Asia pivot).
When Duterte came to power in 2016, he chose to get closer to China while falling out with the United States over the stationing of troops and drug prohibition. China’s South China Sea strategy got into trouble, because facing a pro-China faction.
This period was the most peaceful period in the South China Sea, and it was also the years when China’s South China Sea strategy returned to being restrained, China chose a truce in the South China Sea.
But after Marcos JR came to power in 2021 , new opportunities arrived, especially when the United States began to raise interest rates in 2022 and even forced China into a financial decisive battle in 2023(US hope to create chaos so that investment will flee to US). The Philippines, as a pawn of the US strategy, regained its value, and the Philippines also tried to fish in troubled waters, wanting both the South China Sea islands and reefs and the US dollar.
China took the opportunity to greatly expand the scope of its actual control. It also carried out maritime police law enforcement in the disputed area for the first time, took over the disputed area, and will completely solve the “beached ship” problem. By closing off the supply line, it forced the Philippines to evacuate the Ren’ai Reef and put the issue of Zhongye Island on the table.
From October last year to June this year, in just eight months, the benefits gained from the struggle were greater than the total of the past seven years.
The achievement of these results is inseparable from the staunch anti-China stance of the Filipino leader Marcos JR, which gave us the legitimacy of our actions.
But now the defection of Duterte’s daughter may disrupt this process. If Duterte’s daughter plays the rational and pro-China card again and gains power, whether we cannot continue the war without distraction and have to make peace which will become a big problem for China.
There is not much time left for China. China hope to seize this window of time and, under the favorable conditions of the confrontation between China, the United States and the Philippines, quickly take over the Ren’ai Reef and turn Zhongye Island into a controversial frontier.
So Duterte saved Philippine, it paused the clashed in SCS between PH and China for 6 years.
Author Note :
China is not a perfect country, China is not a saint country. But when opportunity appear of course china will take it. China much more noble than the US which claimed a bogus thing to do war, or will backtrack any agreement for it’s benefit.
That is why according to my understanding of China’s politic, China multipolar world order will bring more stability and more equal prosperity than the US world order.
EU Panic: As China Gets Ready Economic Punishments, Germany Runs To Beijing For Mercy
China is on the verge of hitting Europe with economic punishments. This has the potential to escalate things further with various countries including Spain and France. Germany is very afraid of retaliation on their car exports and they are heading to Beijing to undo the damage done by the EU trade tariffs.
As a trial attorney, what is the most ridiculous outburst you have seen first-hand in court?
Originally Answered: As a trial attorney, what is the most ridiculous outburst you have seen first hand in court?
Heh.
I was sitting as a judge pro tem in traffic court. Traffic court can always be entertaining, to say the least. As a judge pro tem, I am a working lawyer who volunteers to sit in traffic court or small claims court once a month. This frees up the real judges to hear important cases. In an afternoon session, I’ll have 30 or 40 cases. All of the people who got tickets are waiting their turn in the courtroom for the session.
Each traffic court has a clerk and bailiff. The clerk’s main job is to keep the pro tem judge from looking like an idiot or making any obvious legal mistakes. The bailiff is there to ensure decorum, mostly by intimidation, I guess. The bailiff this day was a very young woman, about 5 foot 2, her nightstick came down to mid-calf, the handcuffs appeared huge on her waist, and she just didn’t look very intimidating. Yet, there she was in police uniform. Before calling the first case, I usually remind all of the defendants that traffic school is an option up until I call their case. Then it’s no longer an option. I explain my courtroom rules that govern each case and the decorum that I expect while the police officer and the defendants are testifying. The vast majority of cases are speeding and driving solo in the carpool lane.
The first case was unusual. The defendant had been ticketed for having an open container of alcohol as a passenger in a car. (The driver had been ticketed for speeding.). The police officer told the story in a routine manner. I turned to the defendant to hear his story. His story is that he was holding the “party ball,” a round container that holds about 10 gallons of beer, a mini-keg with the hose and valve, in his lap. But … it wasn’t his ball, it was someone else’s ball. He had explained all this to the officer at the time the ticket was issued. Therefore, glancing smugly at the officer, he explained that he obviously wasn’t “in possession” of the open container. His testimony was sufficient to convict him of possession of an open container, so after he finished, I told him I was finding him guilty and fining him $500. I also explained to him that I understood his defense that the party ball wasn’t his. I told him that the law prohibits possession of an open container; ownership of the container is not part of the offense.
He went ballistic. He shouted, ranted and raged. I let him go for a minute and then called the next case while he was still shouting. He stayed at his table yelling at me and, as he walked out of the court, he yelled, “Fuck you” at me. This engaged the bailiff who started after him. He ran out of the court with the bailiff, clanking handcuffs, weapon and mid-calf nightstick, after him. As they both exited the courtroom, I told the somewhat stunned crowd that we would wait for the bailiff to return.
Then, we heard the sounds of a body thumping and screams of pain. The bailiff returned to the courtroom with the defendant in a wrist lock. He was bleeding all down one side of his face, and his shirt was torn. “Apologize to the Judge,” she demanded. He piteously whined, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I told him, “Don’t apologize to me. You wasted everybody’s time here. Apologize to the entire courtroom.” The officer wheeled him around so he could apologize to the entire courtroom. He whimpered several apologies. She then released him. He slunk out of the courtroom.
Every remaining defendant pleaded guilty that day.
After the session was over, I asked the bailiff what happened. It turns out that he was running away from her down the hallway, but there were two police officers waiting to be called as witnesses in traffic court. They saw him and the bailiff in hot pursuit. One of the officers put his foot out and tripped the defendant as he ran by. As the defendant fell, he scraped his face on the jagged stone walls of the courthouse hallway and tore his shirt. The bailiff picked him up and frog-marched him into the courtroom looking like he had been thoroughly beaten up.
John Mearsheimer Destroys Lindsey Graham
John Mearsheimer reacts to Lindsey Graham’s idiotic claims and outright lies about Vladimir Putin. Professor Mearsheumer debunks them point by point and explains “The problem I face when dealing with Lindsey Graham is that he and I don't live on the same planet. I live on a planet where evidence and facts matter. He doesn't.”
What is your most frightening emergency room story?
Pain was the word, but would you go to the ER if that was the only symptom — pain in the groin ? Ask any urologist and they would say NO (capitalized). It’s one of the most generic and undefined pains that usually cannot be explained — and guys, you KNOW (capitalized) what I’m talking about.
But hearing the guy was one thing, seeing him was another, and diagnosing him was something else.
It was the urologists’ first ever case of Fournier’s Gangrene — an acute necrotic infection of the penis, scrotum or perineum, essentially meaning that the genitals of the affected male patient is being eaten, and very, very fast. It’s also extremely rare, since less than 2,000 cases have been reported in the last 70 years.
He was in his seventies, and the urologist was very clear on what was to happen:
“We need to remove every single thing of this infection — including your penis. Only then you can survive, but I’m not sure if that is even possible.”
The man agreed.
The next three days two things happened.
The infected area — included the patient’s penis — was removed.
Less than 48 hours later, it turned out that the infection was still alive, and had spread over a much larger area.
And this time, no surgery would help anymore. The infection would take over his body and necrotize every single square inch of his painful body in a matter of days. And so that’s what his urologist told him, in tears, because this was a man who was receiving a sentence instead of a diagnosis — as if the amputation hadn’t been enough already.
THE LIBRARYLarisse was a bit peeved. She hated greeting duty. She moved to this station because she was promised better wages, better living quarters, and more Fun. Yes, Fun was capitalized. But once a month she had to greet the ship with newcomers. Fun was what you made of it. This was not it.She knew the history of the city she worked and lived in but, like most younger people, she was not particularly impressed. Larisse did acknowledge that science has progressed so rapidly since the 20th century everything accomplished then seems rather immature, almost childish, now.This dwarf planet, Ceres, had been selected for habitation back in the early 21st century. The atmosphere, such as it was, could not support human life. But it did have an internal ‘ocean’ of water. While the White House was set on landing and inhabiting Mars, NASA and a small group of engineers set about to determine whether or not it would be feasible to go underground on Ceres. Yes, build a city below the surface. Here.It took several years to get funding but finally a mini space lab was launched and fell into orbit around the dwarf. The space lab, actually a cargo ship but funding was quicker if it was a lab, carried men, equipment and supplies to create an underground cavern. The cavern was quickly oxygenated and the work on the city went smoothly. First they built living quarters. Then they worked on laboratories and offices.Building was suspended for a short term while the United States engaged itself in another war. They seemed to do that a lot in the old days. Soon however, regular supply ships were arriving and the dwarf planet was colonized.Humans who lived and worked on Ceres did complain that just housing wasn’t sufficient. By the close of the century, a restaurant, a few utilitarian shops, and a park were constructed. Each supply ship brought more luxuries and more humans.The environment on earth was becoming more and more toxic as time went on. There was talk of creating a second underground facility devoted to manufacturing and hydroponic gardening on Ceres. Fresh food was becoming scarce on earth. And little could be transported to this colony. The garden was accomplished successfully.By mid 22nd Century the dwarf planet was fairly self-sustaining. The variety of people gradually changed – there were races from all over the world, few were human. The ruling race, yes – it happened, controlled the docking ports. There was a problem with reproduction of their peoples. However, there was no difficulty reproducing their people on earth. While still in their infancy, children were literally herded by the hundreds onto transport ships on earth and sent to a new home on the dwarf planet. There they would be educated and become viable working members of the colony.Larisse thought it never made sense that it was impossible to produce children, new beings, at this station. To import babies from Mother Earth seemed totally ridiculous. Totally. There should be no reason the replicators here cannot produce as well as those on ME. She didn’t understand science or reproduction well enough to fully understand many things. But, like most people, she wouldn’t believe most things even if told. Half of the newcomers were not ready for real life – in her judgment. They seemed totally disjointed more than half the time…barely able to function. The time it takes for the transport ship to make the trip should be long enough for the infants to mature. Her race attained maturity in a matter of months usually. True, there are no tutors aboard. But time alone should be enough for physical maturity. Perhaps it was something else that make them so ‘useless’. Larisse herself was an earth baby but she is positive she was never so helpless as the last few shipments had been.No, it wasn’t the atmosphere. They just weren’t ready. The atmosphere is not ME quality, but only human engineers born before 2140 need breathing apparatus. Everyone else had acclimated immediately. But some of these ‘children’, as they are called by the government, just aren’t ready for prime time. They should stay on Mother Earth another year to mature. They had little form. Their obvious lack of living knowledge made Larisse’s job doubly difficult.When a ship docked, Larisse went aboard with her clipboard to verify passengers before allowing them to disembark. This was one of the toughest parts of her job as greeter. It seems that more than half of these newcomers don’t know their names. Unfortunately, their boarding passes do not have names, just lot and number. Many of them have misplaced their boarding documents during the eight month flight. Larisse tried her best to get them all off the ship and into the city in a timely manner. She checked the number on the tag around each one’s neck, found it on the shipping advice and asked, “And what is your name?” She tried to be kind and understanding but kindness and understanding weren’t enough.Much of the time, they mumbled or spoke too softly for her to hear, or understand. She wrote down whatever it sounded like. There were times, she was sure, that Jane became Joyce or Brown was Bruin, or the other way around. But, what’s the difference? If they don’t know who they are when they arrive, they’ll respond to whatever they’re called later. Their identification packets are produced from her list. What was on the list was it. If, when she repeated a name, the newcomer corrected her, she’d make a change. Otherwise, the name – wrong or not- was theirs forever. This sometimes caused confusion among the newcomers the first week or so. Eventually they responded properly.Once the ship was cleared, Larisse led the group to the elevator. The atmosphere on the surface would suffice, but the old-timers who had established this colony insisted on building below the surface. The quarters were spacious. The city, while not large, included many laboratories, several stores, a movie theater, a bowling alley, roller rink, and a simulated park with grass, a small lake, and ducks. Newcomers were always impressed with the ducks. There were no ducks left on ME. Larisse had to research bowling, roller rink, and movies. These were pastimes of the first people to inhabit Ceres. The humans. While the activities sounded interesting, they also sounded quite tedious to Larisse. Physical exercise never made much sense to her. Evidently it was important to the first settlers.Below the surface, the aged engineers did not require breathing apparatus. They seemed to enjoy life below ground very much. She was surprised at how very old many of them were. Apparently, living in outer space lengthens the life of humans. Her own race can last forever if not exposed to excessive heat for long periods of time. Heat wasn’t a concern on Ceres.Larisse has heard the old humans say it was almost like being back on earth. She felt sorry for them as they were unaware that earth no longer had fresh air or lakes or green grass. Most of them had been at this station from the very beginning. Only one of the original crew had expired.Larisse never quite understood ‘expired’. When one old engineer tried to explain death to her, it made no sense. She didn’t understand the inability to just buy a new part when an old one wore out. Of course, she had never seen a part called a heart in the local parts store. She wasn’t sure if she, herself, had a heart. Larisse had finished the recommended schooling but anatomy was not a required subject. In fact, was there such a class offered? She could not recall.On one of her off-days, Larisse found a small room she had not known of before. There were several trees in a small group at the convergence of the walk past the roller rink and the walk to the main shopping area. Behind the trees – well, not actually behind them, but sort of hidden by them, was a door. It was tucked into a corner. Larisse had full access to the city as she was an employee and had keys to everything. But this door wasn’t locked. It intrigued her and she wondered how she had never seen it before today. What could lie beyond? She decided the best way to find out is to open it.
Larisse looked around to see if anyone else was nearby. While she had authority to go everywhere and anywhere, she was still hesitant to open the door. No one was in sight when she pulled on the long, upright handle. The door must not have been opened in some time as it creaked and dust blew up as it silently swung open. Dust is very unusual in the City.
What had she found? The room in front of her was dimly lit. There was a lot of furniture placed about in the center of the room. Tables and chairs sat neatly in two rows. There was also some soft type furniture. She saw a photo once of this type of seating – was it called a couch? a sofa? something like that. As she stepped further into the room there was a sign on a short pole. “This is your library. Please be considerate and maintain quiet. Library hours are daily 9am- 9pm.”
What is a library? Larisse has never heard the word before. If she had, she doesn’t recall it- or its meaning. This must be one of the first rooms built as no one is concerned with time anymore. She recalled seeing that type designation at the docking port several decades ago. It was so long she has already forgotten what the letters mean.
A quick glance around told Larisse that a library is a room filled with books. She had heard of books, even saw several when there were many humans here, back when she was new. But that was some time ago. She had not imagined there could be so many books, especially in one place. Larisse went from shelf to shelf reading the words printed on the books. How dull. Nothing really appealed to her curiosity. There were several labeled “Shakespeare”. Was that the name of the book? Taking one of those off the shelf, she leafed through the pages. A faint odor wafted out – she didn’t recognize it. Ah! Shakespeare wrote the book. One of the first pages said so. It didn’t look the least bit interesting. Larisse is fluent in English but these words made little sense. She put Shakespeare back on the shelf where she had gotten him.
A sign on the end of one shelf said “contemporary fiction”. Riffling through several books on that shelf proved very boring. She circled round the room. There must be more than a thousand books here. And none of them appealed to her.
Then she came to the shelf labeled ‘Games and Toys’. Games? Well, that might be interesting. The first book had pictures. Almost all of the pictures illustrated people who resemble the old engineers. Standard humanoid form. No one looks quite like that anymore. Well, except for the oldest colonists.
Back to reading words visible on the books, she came to a book titled “Toys of the 21st Century.” What kind of toys were popular on ME so many years ago?
She pulled the book from the shelf. The first several chapters featured several games – electronics mostly. They sounded like Fun, sort of. There weren’t games called WII, Nintendo or Atari on Ceres. Of course, this type electronic was so outdated. She laughed. This is what the old engineers played with? How droll. These were fun? Incredible! Larisse always felt that the engineers were a bit slow. Reading the description of some of the games caused her to laugh out loud. Ridiculous. She could not believe anyone could have been entertained for long with any of these old things. Perhaps humans weren’t as clever as they have always tried to make us believe. Clarisse thought on that a few moments. Perhaps they aren’t.
The next section in the book was about other toys. Bicycles, sleds, skates, miniature vehicles, skis, things Larisse had never heard of before. She read the descriptions carefully. Some of the illustrations were quite intriguing but the toys themselves – not so much.
The next chapter began with things called Lincoln Logs and Erector sets. They were more interesting than anything she had seen so far in the book. There were several pages touting the various accessories for the Erector set. And pictures showing things that had been made with the toy. What is a ferris wheel? The description says it will rotate with an accessory motor. But Larisse didn’t understand its purpose. It is truly a strange looking device.
As she turned the next page, she gasped. This looked like a family album. Why were her ancestors in a book of 21st century toys? She leafed through several pages, more in shock than in awe. She had heard of this in family folklore but why are they listed as toys?
Larisse vaguely recalled stories of relatives who added wheels, treads, rotors, and other outrageous accessories to themselves. More than a century ago. According to legend handed down, her own family at the time chose to shun these new and unusual characteristics. They were barbaric. If the gods had wanted us to have wheels, we would have come equipped with them. Of course, in time, many of the accessories became usual, normal; to own and to wear. But at the beginning, according to family tales, they were not openly welcomed. That was such old folklore. Larisse had never truly believed any of it. Things do evolve over time. Apparently, the 21st century was when all the various mutations of her race began. Looking at the illustrations that accompanied the descriptions, Larisse could see several similarities to herself and her friends. Well, some. There is a strong family resemblance though many of these were obviously foreigners; their colors were so garish.
The heading on the next page “LEGO Kits”. The following page was headed “LEGO 3-in-1 Collection”. Turning the page she was faced with “LEGO Accessories”. There was a footnote on this page. Every element in Larisse’s body shuddered as she read it. “By 2000 LEGO kits were offered with accessories designed to make the LEGO brick the most popular toy of two centuries.”
Oh my god of the universe, LEGOs are not toys. They are the future of the earth. Every month she greets new LEGOs to the Ceres Colony. They will be the saviors of Mother Earth. The things LEGOs do here will someday repopulate the earth. Someday they will create new plant life on earth; perhaps even rejuvenate the oxygen system on earth so that humans can remain there, out in the open as they once lived.
Larisse hugged the book close to her. She was sad. Is it true that she and nearly everyone here are descendants of a 21st century toy?
No, it can’t be true. She replaced the book on the shelf. For several minutes she was deep in thought. Should she reveal any of this to her co-workers, her friends. She paced through the small library. No. No. She cannot tell anyone about this book. She looked around and found a small desk. The sign said “Head Librarian”. Someone worked here at one time. But it was before Larisse came here -so a very long time before. They may have left instruments to use to make a sign. She went through the drawers looking for something useful. Perhaps she should place a No Trespass sign on this door. Or just perhaps a Do Not Enter sign would do.
The implements she found in the drawers of the desk were unknown to Larisse. Bic pens and Ticonderoga pencils and Sharpies. These were all cradled in a small tray in the top desk drawer. What were they? What purpose did they have in a library? She decided she had nothing to create a sign.
She reasoned that as she has just found this door, perhaps no one else will find it any time soon. There was nothing outside to put in front of the door to block entry. Its very out-of-the-way location has kept it secret this long; perhaps it will not be found again soon. Not many workers use this corridor. She closed the door firmly. Later she will return with a sign warning others to not enter. The newcomers were barely ready to work. Something this demoralizing could destroy them completely. No one should discover their ancestors were once considered mere playthings. She was proud to be a LEGO. This discovery must be kept secret.
END
Is the USA’s decline as a global superpower and the rise of Russia & China a good thing for the world?
Why not?
The vast majority of refugees, war casualty, infrastructure destruction, and regime change this century have been caused by US-led NATO.
Every conflict this century has seen the appearance of NATO armaments—the enablers of death and destruction. Countries devastated by NATO machinations remain a pale shadow of their former selves. Just look at the Arab Spring, which has morphed into the perpetual Arab Winter. Whereas Chechnya and Georgia today are even more prosperous and built-up than their Soviet days.
At the minimum, US decline militarily will bring peace to many hotzones today.
And with peace, a better tomorrow can be realized.
Ambassadors EVACUATING Lebanon; Outbreak of War Deemed “Imminent”
The Ambassadors of Italy, France, England, Sweden, and Germany, have been instructed by their governments to “evacuate Lebanon immediately” because Intelligence information says “war is imminent.” Diplomatic staff are visibly panicking as they flee.
The Saudi Arabian Embassy in London warns of the risk of world war after the announcement of an imminent Israeli invasion of South Lebanon : ” It is important that everyone understands the danger that awaits us. The conflict will not remain regional, but will very quickly become international. ”
Egypt has sent multiple messages to Washington saying: Do not underestimate Nasrallah’s statements or the capabilities of Hezbollah.”
Iran and the Taliban in Afghanistan are now discussing “joint action” against Israel!
DANGEROUSLY AMBIGUOUS: France announces it is willing to send its armed forces to stand with the Lebanese Army on the Border of Israel. (None of us can figure this one out. Will that be to defend Lebanon? Attack Hezbollah? Attack Israel? . . . . . or to surrender to all of them?)
The Canadian military is drawing up plans to evacuate 45,000 people from Lebanon should a full-scale war break out between Israel and Hezbollah.
Sources in US CENTCOM tell me “The US is concerned Israel’s Iron Dome could be overwhelmed in war with Hezbollah.” This right after giving all patriot missiles for defense to Ukraine!
The original deadline given to Hezbollah by Israel was to move its forces north of the Litani River BY JUNE 24. Hezbollah has already flatly refused. It is now not clear if Israel will step-up its timetable, or if Hezbollah will be the ones to initiate combat. This could begin literally at any moment.
UPDATE 4:54 PM EDT —
Kuwait urges its citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon.
Shorpy
campsite.preview
SHORPY Merchants Despatch Panorama 1.preview
SHORPY Detroit Publishing 1.preview
SHORPY 4a19544a.preview
SHORPY 20614u.preview
SHORPY 4a22882a.preview
SHORPY 8a10699u.preview
SHORPY 8a10697u.preview
campsite2.preview
SHORPY 4a22900a.preview
SHORPY 8a32547a.preview
SHORPY 4a20011a.preview
SHORPY 4a20008a.preview
SHORPY 4a15066a.preview
SHORPY 4a09980a.preview
What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?
Wasn’t exactly “revenge” since I did not have to do anything, I guess it is more like Karma.
Worked at a radio station for 5 years, filled in at one point as a temp. Operations Manager for a few months until the guy they wanted could run out his contract. At one point, I unknowingly amassed the paperwork trail needed to get a Production Manager fired for moonlighting on company time. At management’s request.
One day we got a new hire that never worked in the business before. They asked I train her. Ok, no problem right? (Well, I know better now). She burns through all her vacation and PTO within 3 months of hire. On the 4th month, it’s announced she will be the new Operations Manager. I expressed my displeasure at the position never have been posted as being open and never interviewed it despite having done the job previously while the new guy they just hired quit within the year. I was told I should quit. No way. I would be leaving on my own accord when I was ready. I was told to think about it overnight and hand in my resignation the next day. Told them it wasn’t going to happen. Next day I’m asked for my resignation letter. Told them I wasn’t doing it. They said they would fire me and contest any claim for unemployment. I told them they could do what they wanted, there was no record of poor work performance, no bad reviews, and my paper trail as acting OM and I had copies of the work I did that led to the PM getting fired would speak for itself. They fired me on the spot.
Went back into the control booth with the new girl to gather my belongings. The program tape (way before the digital age ) currently on-air runs out. Dead Air. A HUGE no-no if you don’t know the business. She looks at me and asks what to do next, what program is next, where is it, etc. I just look at her and say, “It’s not my problem anymore since I don’t work here. It’s your problem now.” Phones start ringing off the hook. Front office staff come back, “Why are we off the air?” “Is there a problem with the equipment?” I point to her. “Ask her, she’s in charge now, I no longer work here.” Sales staff start freaking out. Now commercials aren’t running either. I take my leave.
I found out later from an ex co-worker she screwed everything up for the next hour and a half. Guess she wasn’t paying attention to the day to day stuff I had been showing her and was busy with the outgoing OM trying to learn his job too since that was the plan all along. She also messed up all the procedures I had in place to keep the stations on-air to implement her way of getting things done and caused other problems with distributors and shows not getting aired at all. Violation of contracts that cost the station even more money. She also hired a friend to replace me, who ended up stealing very expensive microphones from the studios as well as other things that went missing.
I don’t believe she lasted 6 months after I was fired.
Western Empire Facing Same Collapse as Rome in its Final Days: Martin Armstrong
Martin Armstrong sees striking similarities between the multitude of crises that plague the modern world and the conditions just before the fall of the Roman empire. Martin argues that endless debt issuance, wars for profit, unchecked migration, and rampant political corruption are setting the stage for a future where many Western countries cease to exist as we know them.
What is the most heartbreaking thing your child has told you?
A few days ago my ex son-in-law asked me if I wanted to get my four year old granddaughter off the bus and watch her for a few hours. She and I went to visit my mother, and then I took her to see her mother for some rare Mommy daughter time. All went well, both my daughter and granddaughter enjoyed their time together.
On the way back, I told my Granddaughter that she was awesome during the short ride and visit. Little Jabberjaws soon became quiet… (When a normally talkative 4 year old becomes quiet, it can be a good bet that something is up.) When she didn’t answer me, I pulled off the road to see what was going on. Quiet tears were rolling down her face. I asked her what was wrong, In a heart rendering voice she asked, “Papa, why don’t Mom and Dad think I’m awesome?” She noticed a tear in my eye (that I attributed to a bug). I composed myself, and told her that they thought she was awesome as well.
I had to stop at my home before taking her back to her place. During this time she was constantly wanting to hug me and was telling me how happy she is when she’s with ‘Papa’.
As we walked the few blocks to her home, she insisted on holding my hand the entire way. Just before we went into her place, she gave me a hug and told me she wished that Mom would come back home.
Heart-strings are so fragile…
Randy
Prof. Mearsheimer WARNS: Russia May be FORCED to Launch a Nuclear Attack Preemptively
In this video Prof. John Mearsheimer, the prominent international relations scholar, discusses the Ukraine peace negotiations and war dynamics. Topics include: the legitimacy of the peace summit in Switzerland, the exclusion of Russia from negotiations, the shifting balance of power in the conflict, and the risks of nuclear escalation. Mearsheimer suggests Ukraine's neutrality as a solution.
After an inmate has been in jail/prison for a long time, what is the most shocking thing for them after coming out for several years?
I only did 4 years (‘06-‘10) but here’s what I found most jarring:
After the four years (Federal, low-ish security), I had a mandatory 6 months to finish in a halfway house. Upon arrival at the halfway house (middle of the day, while other half-way-ers were either out job-seeking or working), I was immediately struck by the SILENCE of the place. 4 years of pre-sentencing in country jails and a not-too-terrible Federal Correctional Institution, I was used to constant noise. Screaming, banging on doors, dominoes slamming on metal tables, all amplified by concrete walls and echoes. The silence was jarring, made me wanna crawl out of my skin. I never considered myself institutionalized, but the change of scenery was the most significant shock to my system. Utterly unnerving and distressing. Can’t explain it any better than that.
Vintage illustration
9b0deab5a50f2ba4d9301aa6e2bd68f0
0b07341e70ec0a0376a774df9d6e174d
78c4379a96f47b4bb439f7f8d042259f
0af98dc046fc6b5ac107d7545e468b44
5cb8125ac002cbb6f029c1cab636cc9e
29fc80c64e17a2e0424f234f1f4ba29b
39fdd001999f5f970a0a5ad44eff82d3
9cf2b0ac9f54bd7145d6a615491ede56
cc21378b70df914058e97b4709f2095c
3b30a6c848f8141dfa8819b9bc0fb8a4
37cf8167837d46875c0c6c69a4429ca9
0f9b4fed25d664d6612ae53e1f3667e7
aa6c50961b5f308d11f99939e49de38a
a9b699a63d922f4d99b4ec6f9e03acc1
476a70b17644d15b4f059991945d9745
fa13bbdac64db0b6eebb19bf74b92918
333aa82901185ed657cc8a496d17a2b7
5211c73c17276223b3065cff25a84dd7
27fe11ad48151bea47c52b0ca913ed34
0d2dab4028ba7d5e74c6abc94229c4d7
ff8394a91f71b5d2cb6d711923e86591
939d302cfd273465bd2fbf84fd96baaa
d65a1b30a78c82e8d0c0353d96dd86b6
e7b27ae5a379eb852798b7c4aa02a34f
36735fc97445b12793fc0d1fa271df72
bc9ccd6e6be875b0f41e08cdb49e2e93
604b7a4a9623d325b90efa26fe8795e5
07ac7cc89def631493081972aa788cbe
103d346734c920b3c4903c8aab896669
896402abef1c648a8c11b284fd0a8539
029522fa0caca491fceebaccac98be08
9dc1d427b2a47b5abf8933292c3329a2
Why does it seem that so many people are scared of China’s economic growth surpassing the US?
There are several reasons:
They’re projecting. This is a psychological term referring to how people project their own behavioural tendencies on others. They think that because they’re inclined to suppress and exploit other countries, China will, too.
They’re paranoid. This is the natural consequence of projection.
They’re xenophobic or Sinophobic. They don’t understand the Chinese and their culture and society. The Chinese are peaceful; they’re only interested in trading with other countries.
They’re pro-American. They want the USA to remain the dominant world power. They believe the USA is good for the world (never mind about the endless wars and endless sanctions).
New Videos of Billionaire Kids on Jeffrey Epstein Island Go Viral
Espresso Chile Glazed Ham
For this, use a fully cooked smoked ham, preferably wood smoked with no water added. Trim the outside layer of fat and skin all the way to the pink meat, so when you’re ready to carve you don’t cut away all the flavorful glaze.
Sweet chili pineapple glazed ham 2508 April 06 2023
Yield: 16 or more servings
Ingredients
Half a fully cooked smoked ham (about 8 pounds)
1 quart fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup Kahlua or other coffee-flavored liqueur
1 tablespoon Chinese chile paste with garlic, or sambal olek
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 shots (about 1/4 cup total) brewed espresso or 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder, like Medaglio d’Oro
Instructions
Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
Cut the thick layer of fat and skin from the ham and discard. Place the ham in a roasting pan. (For easier clean up, line the pan with aluminum foil because the glaze will drip off and burn.) Roast the ham for 1 hour.
While the ham is roasting, make the glaze. Combine the orange juice and zest, brown sugar, Kahlua, chile paste, and pepper in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer the mixture until it is reduced by about half and is as thick as maple syrup, about 35 minutes.
Whisk in the espresso or espresso powder. You should have almost 2 cups of glaze. You are going to use half this glaze to brush the ham while it is roasting, and reserve the other half for brushing on the ham after it is sliced.
After the first hour of cooking, brush the ham with the glaze. Roast for another hour, brushing with the glaze every 15 minutes. Since the ham is already cooked, you just need to warm it all the way through. Check for an internal temperature of 130 degrees F to 140 degrees F using an instant-read meat thermometer. Remove the ham from the oven when it is nicely browned and warmed through.
To serve, slice the ham and brush the slices with the remaining glaze. For a lovely presentation, slice half the ham and arrange the slices against the unsliced part on a big platter. Brush the slices with the remaining glaze.
Newly Arrived To ODESSA 40 FRENCH Soldiers Were Wiped Out By Russian ISKANDER-M Ballistic Missiles
It is reported that particular French officers will operate the Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which were transferred to Ukraine by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The fact that sophisticated Western weapons systems are operated in Ukraine exclusively by high-ranking NATO officers is no secret to anyone. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also confirmed this fact. In particular, speaking in the Bundestag, the German Chancellor let slip that the Storm Shadow cruise missiles, also known as the SCALP-EG, are operated and maintained exclusively by British and French officers in Ukraine......
Horrible
I had a horrible experience trying to buy a new Honda at a local dealership. I told them what I wanted, but they kept trying to up sell me on a different model. Then it was switching sales guys, to the hard core close. etc. etc. I understand sales and all the BS really doesn’t bother me since it’s part of the game. However, after reaching a price and completing the paperwork, I drove out with the car.
I was happy until Jennifer from the office called me three days later at work. They made an error and didn’t collect money on some specific fees listed in the contract. I was pretty sure I paid everything listed. I told Jennifer I needed a couple days to review the contract and look at the check I wrote to determine if I owed money. She became a belligerent bitch, yelling about how I have their money and need to come down right now and pay. I told her I would review the contract and pay them if I owed them money. She called at 9:00 am the next morning being a bitch again demanding money. Later that evening, I reviewed the contract and they didn’t total up the doc fee correctly, and owem them $394.00.
I called Jennifer and told her that I did find the error, would pay the amount, and asked if she could please tell me when she left the office so I could pay her personally. I waited to 4:50 pm on Friday night (Jennifer works an 8-5, M-F) and paid her $394 in nickels. I had broken the seals on the bags from the bank which meant they needed to hand count all the coin.
I had brought a book, took up residence in their customer lounge, and waited for them to complete their count. I enjoyed watching Jennifer and 4 sales persons make little rows of nickels. After over 90 minutes they brought me the $0.45 in additional funds I added to see if they would accurately count it. My back up plan was if they said it was all there, I would inform them that I actually included extra money and couldn’t remember how much, so they would need to recount.
What is the rudest thing that a new neighbor has done to you immediately after you had moved in?
We moved into a house my daughter and son in law bought in their gated community so that we would move close to them. The exterior of the house was a big mess. My husband worked constantly for 2 months to clean it and the extra lot they bought with the house. It’s between us and the guy behind us that lives next to the golf course. He finally finished and one morning my husband went out and was walking around and realized they had blown a massive pile of moldy debris, leaves, pine cones, sweet gum balls and branches into the back corner. How they even had that much in their yard is a mystery. Their yard is very tiny. My daughter came over, went next door and said something to the guy and he said it’s just an empty lot, she said no I own that lot and it’s my parents back yard. My dad just spent 2 months cleaning it up. He said surely you don’t expect me to remove it and she responded surely you don’t consider that an unreasonable request. He told her it would be a few weeks before he could get someone back out there. She said you have a week. To his credit he got someone out right after the weekend. It started to happen one other time but my husband happened to be outside in the yard and went over and told their yard guy it was our yard. He tried that “it’s just an empty lot” thing. Hubby said no it’s not and I keep it cleaned up. We avoid the guy and his wife and thankfully all the rest of our neighbors are like family and we all watch out for each other.
My goodness!
When I moved in with my girlfriend, everything was great. We had each other’s perpetual company, space for ourselves, and best of all: isolation and freedom.
After a few months, we started getting surprise visits from her parents. They would wake us up by pounding on the door, or sometimes even barge in. Sometimes it was just her mother and father, other times they brought their 5 year old daughter. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy spending time with my girlfriend’s sister and even her parents. But these visits were unexpected, untimely, and were happening at an increasing rate. It was obnoxious when we had plans or weren’t feeling like socializing.
That’s when I had an idea: beat them at their own game. Bright and early one morning, I’m talking 4:30am on a weekday, my girlfriend and I picked up our loudest, most obnoxious friend, and ventured over to her parent’s place. I’m sure you can guess what we did, we barged in, shouting “wake up!”, forcing them out of bed. We proceeded to demand they make us breakfast, and spent hours interrupting their morning routines. Pleased with ourselves, we left around 10am and went on with our day.
The visits from them started happening less and less after that day. Today, they notify us if they’re coming over, which is exactly what we wanted the whole time. Why they started doing it in the first place, I’m not sure. In the end, I feel we delivered a powerful statement ironically teaching parents manners.
Scott Ritter REVEALS: Russia uses ICBMS Carry North Korea’s Nuclear Warheads, U.S Shakes 100 Richter
Today, there are very few people that really BELIEVE that the United States is still the de facto leader of the “free world”. Meaning the Earth, of course. Most people see a Untied States in decline and decay, and only the most isolated and ignorant are aware of just how terribly the United States has fallen.
Some use the Strauss and Howe model, while others use Diegal Report. Many use other systems of prediction, but one thing is certain… the USA is down, and it does not look like it is EVEN TRYING to get back up. Just keep on spouting the same old lies, and playing the same old bullshit games.
Ask your friends what they think. I am curious.
My guess is that those that recognize the collapse are either outside the West, or are inside, but reading non-government approved sources of information.
The end is getting close.
But you do know that when the water swirls down the drain, it will make a very big and loud noise. And that too is to be expected very soon. Oh Lordy!
Today…
MoA Update 12 June 2024
Notice Of Absence – Update
Please check here for previous notes of absence and updates.
In the end it has turned out to be a one-and-done procedure and I am happy to say that it is now done with:
The good news: I am likely to recover in full with better health than I have previously had.
The not-so-good news: It will take much longer to recuperate from this than I had expected.
The procedure I went through was a quite extended variant of what WebMD calls a Aortobifemoral Bypass.
When my chest was opened up the conditions found in place were worse (…”they always are”…) than expected. They required more extensive (in size), but less delicate (in number of new shunt connections), bypass procedures than anticipated.
Everything went more or less smooth and, after some seven hours of diligent work, the professors and MDs were satisfied (…”they always are”…) with the job they had done on me.
The physically drain the (larger than expected) procedure took on me has been much stronger (… “it always is” …) than I had anticipated. The intellectual drain, in consequence of the physical one, was even worse. The current task is to rebuild both strengths.
Local health insurance entitles, and recommends to me, to take an additional three weeks leave of convalescence which is essentially a long stay in a specialized hotel/clinic with individualized physical training in the morning and lots of off-time during the rest of the day to hang out or go for walks. I am getting urged to commit to this even as it can only begin in July which, in my case, will be later than ideal. I currently think of it as a ‘back to work training’ opportunity which will allow me to slowly slip back into blogging while coping with some limited infrastructure and means.
Some readers have emailed and asked if I need additional money. Thank you very much. I won’t reject any donations but I am not in any immediate need of help.
I have always taken care to keep my health insurance pay current and I had, during better days, put aside some ‘rainy days’ funds. The only additional payments I have made so far were fora number of taxi rides, a (partial) single room fee and for full hospital access to the net.
Those were minor expenses. The health insurance will pay for everything else without asking for any claw backs or extras.
I will be back to ask for blog donations if and when I am able to deliver an adequate product.
This whole episode has turned out to be much bigger and to take way longer than I had anticipated. Please excuse my lack of foresight on it.
Posted by b on June 12, 2024 at 4:08 UTC | Permalink
China reaches deal on Central Asian railway project linking it with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan
The link, first proposed in the 1990s, will serve as a faster and cheaper alternative to current China-Europe land routes, most of which travel through Russia
Liu Zhen
SCMP 11:41pm, 6 Jun 2024
China on Thursday finally signed an agreement for a key railway linking it with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, a project hailed by President Xi Jinping as “a show of determination”.
“The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway is a strategic project for China’s connectivity with Central Asia and a landmark project for [our] three countries to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative,” said Xi in a message issued to mark the occasion.
The deal’s resolution signalled that Beijing’s decade-long ambition to expand its connection with Eurasian countries is finally on track.
Xi said the agreement provided a “solid legal foundation” for the railway’s construction and transformed the project “from a vision to a reality”.
“It demonstrates to the international community the firm determination of the three countries to join hands to promote cooperation and seek common development,” Xi said.
New China-Europe Railway Express line faces challenges amid Russia-Ukraine war
He added that China would work with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to build the strategic passage that would benefit all three sides and regional development “as soon as possible”.
The president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, and his counterpart in Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, also sent congratulatory messages, Chinese state media Xinhua reported.
Japarov said the 325-mile (523-km) railway would become a new transport link from Asia to Europe and the Persian Gulf and would promote regional connectivity and trade.
Mirziyoyev said it would not just be the shortest land route from China to Central Asia, but also to the South Asia and Middle East, which is “in the long-term interests of relevant states”, according to Xinhua.
The US$8 billion rail link starts in China’s Kashgar, Xinjiang, and goes through southwest Kyrgyzstan and ends in Andijon in eastern Uzbekistan. It could reduce the freight journey between China and Europe by 559 miles, serving as a faster and cheaper alternative to current China-Europe land routes, most of which travel through Russia.
The project was first proposed in the 1990s, and the three sides signed a memorandum of understanding on the railway in 1997. But the project had been stalled by technical, political and geopolitical issues.
Russia, which sees Central Asia as its own backyard of influence, was initially less than enthusiastic about the project but now has expressed support as Moscow becomes increasingly reliant on China for trade under the economic sanctions imposed by the West because of its war against Ukraine.
Capitalism is dead and so are we | Yanis Varoufakis interview
What is the best way to respond when someone tells you “You’re not invited”?
“Please excuse me.” Then you get up and leave, saying nothing further. Leave your unfinished food, leave before the food is served, whichever.
Scenario: Please cancel my order for the chicken Caesar salad at the table with the two ladies by the window. – – “It’s too late to do that.” – – Serve it to them, and they‘ll take care of it. [This says they will not only eat it there or carry it out, but they will pay for it.] – – [next day] “Hey, Emma! You didn’t pay for your food.” – – I cancelled the order on the way out. [Say nothing more.] – – “We had to pay for it.” – – I cancelled the order on the way out. [Say the same thing only; you owe them no explanations.] – – “We had to pay for it. You owe us!” – – I cancelled the order on the way out. Please excuse me. I need to get to work/get to class/pick up Billy from soccer. [Then you leave, even if they’re calling after you.]
Scenario: [The food has been served.] You put $10 cash on the table and leave. Please excuse me. – – “Where are you going?” – – Please excuse me. – – “You’re leaving your food!” – – Please excuse me. – – “$10 is not enough.” – – That’s all the cash I have/My salad was $8. Please excuse me. I need to….”
You never need to submit yourself to unkind words. Absent yourself.
I think you ought to rethink your relationship with these two. Are they really friends? love, Mom
Shorpy
SHORPY 8a18131a.preview
SHORPY 8a06350a.preview
SHORPY 4a16314a.preview
SHORPY 4a14125a.preview
SHORPY 8a09898u.preview
SHORPY 1a34798u.preview
SHORPY 4a22978a.preview
SHORPY 8a06342u.preview
SHORPY 4a08594a.preview
SHORPY 4a21350a.preview
SHORPY 30570u.preview
SHORPY 4a05660a.preview
SHORPY 8e04943u.preview
SHORPY 01880a1.preview
SHORPY 01865a.preview
SHORPY 01870u.preview
THENEWCHEVY.preview
SHORPY 4a22779a.preview
SHORPY 4a12660a.preview
SHORPY 29330u.preview
SHORPY 1a34800u.preview
SHORPY 8a22595a.preview
SHORPY 8e04940u.preview
SHORPY 4a19840a.preview
SHORPY 4a24490a.preview
SHORPY 4a23671a.preview
SHORPY 4a25197a.preview
SHORPY 32091u.preview
SHORPY 31063u.preview
SHORPY 09191a.preview
Bite-Size Pizzas
English Muffin Pizzas
Ingredients
4 English muffins, halved
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup ham, extra lean, chopped
1/3 cup onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/8 cup black olives, sliced
Instructions
Split the muffins in half and toast them in the toaster.
Spread the pizza sauce on both halves of the muffins.
Place remaining toppings evenly onto pizzas, saving shredded cheese for last.
Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.
Remove from oven, and cut each muffin half into four pieces.
Serve as appetizers or snacks.
Guangzhou, China is MILES AHEAD of the WORLD!
Have you ever walked into your child’s classroom and pulled them out of school on the spot?
Yes, yes, I did. My first-grade son came home one day and said he had won an award in his music class. Being a musician, I thought, “Great!” When I asked him what it was, he said, “It was for being the most still in my seat!” Wha…?!
That night, when I walked by his room, I heard him whimpering to himself. I asked what was wrong, and he said, “My music teacher had us close our eyes and imagine that we were home alone and all the lights were out and someone had broken into the house!”
I exploded. After I calmed him down and assured that would NEVER happen, I went to the school the next day and asked if I could sit in the music class. “Yes, of course,” the music teacher said.
I observed all the children in the room as the class began. At first they were attentive but, because the lesson was so boring (how can music be boring!), they became agitated and squirmed in their seats.
Then the teacher told the kids to close their eyes. At this point, I told my son, “Okay, let’s go,” and we left the room.
After school was out, (I was there because I was also a full-time volunteer in the school) I went to this teacher and asked her, “I want to know what you told the kids yesterday. My son said …”, and I told her about the night before. “That’s what he heard. Is that what you said?”
“Well, yes,” she said sheepishly.
I exploded again. “Really?! That was an exercise we did in graduate school, and it was stressful then. What in the world are you thinking, doing it with 6- and 7-year-olds? He will NOT be in your class anymore!”
I went to the principal and told him what happened. At first, he balked at the idea of pulling him from the class. “I’ll teach him myself [I was qualified] so you don’t have to worry.” He still balked. Then I said, “Fine! I’ll pull him out and homeschool him.”
He didn’t like that because my son’s scores were so high, they pulled the whole school’s up. “Okay, okay, we’ll make it work.”
“And that teacher has to go. She can’t read music nor can she play the piano. She’s an art teacher, for pete’s sake!” The following year she was gone — to the “good” school in the district. Laugh was on them. She was replaced by the best, most engaging music teacher the kids could ever have wanted.
Little victories. 🙂
Scott Ritter DRAGGED Off Plane And Passport SEIZED!
Avery was not sure she had ever seen such a building in her life. The style of architecture she was only familiar with in pictures; a large old looking gothic building with dozens of windows. Some of them, broken and shattered. From the outside it appeared the corner of the windows were scorched as if a fire had blown out the windows. She looked to Vesna on her left and Fitz to her right.
“This church wasn’t here yesterday, was it?” Fitz asked. The town of Ginsval didn’t have much, especially not a giant cathedral.
“Buildings tend to not be in the middle of grassy fields,” Vesna responded.
It belonged in a large city; the capital. Surrounded by equally sized buildings. Not the field of a small village in the southernmost part of the country. She looked at her surroundings with the minimal light that the moon provided, the cool summer breeze passing between them.
“Well, who wanna go in first?” She looked between them and took a step backwards. Fitz looked at her, running a hand through his tuft of white hair, looked back at Vesna who reciprocated the same look and nodded towards her.
Great.
“You’re the one that insisted we come here in the first place.” Fitz snaked his arm behind her and pulled her forward. “Lead the way, oh brave one,” he said.
“You’re the one that can start a fire with the snap of his finger,” she remarked. He shrugged.
“Fine,” she muttered. “Everybody got they device?” The three of them held out their Radiphones. They could snap communication throughout the entire country of Rhea. Together they ascended the large steps to the enormous red door with her leading at the front.
She looked up at the top of the door frame, the outline of a carved rose with its thorny stem with an open book behind it. Taking a deep breath regretting having ever suggested venturing to the area she leaned onto the door.
The door unfolded with a loud creak, as if it hadn’t been opened in years. The building wasn’t just desolate, but looked to be entirely abandoned, cobs of webs gathered in the corners, like nobody had walked the hallowed halls in years. Fitz grabbed her by her wrist and in turn she latched onto Vesna. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears and wondered if they could feel it as well. The overthinking of her childhood imagination that told her that there was a monster in the corner.
Even at 17, she couldn’t psyche herself out of not believing there was anything in the dark ready to jump out.
“You had to be curious!” Fitz whispered, with the combination of fear and irritation in equal measure his tone. They took every step lightly.
“We sure this a church?” Vesna asked. “Don’t really feel anythin’ holy.”
She wasn’t sure this was a church. “There’d be more crosses wouldn’t there?
“Good point.”
She looked at her surroundings with the minimal light that the moon provided, scorch marks covered the walls, broken chairs and desks littered the halls. Vesnas breath hitched. “What was that?”
“That ain’t funny Ves,” she said.
“It ain’t a joke, shut up and listen,” she whispered. When they stopped, the sound of loud banging could be heard. The sound of something repeatedly being dropped on the floor.
She peaked her head around the corner, the moonlight shone through the shattered windows providing her light. Walking on her toes, she could feel the irony of strolling through what looked like a school hallway when she herself had just graduated this time last year.
“Why are we gettin’ closer to it?” Fitz tugged on her arm. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him in response.
“Why are you here?”
Neither of them bothered waiting to confirm whose voice it was, her breath hitched before breaking out into a sprint with the others following not far behind. With no idea where she was running to. She didn’t even know where she was running through. The only thing she could think of as she ran was that if they survived this she swore she was going to give them both a piece of her mind.
She slowed her pace, more aware that she could only hear the sound of her own footsteps as she ran through the halls. Dread filled her. What?
Her radiphone buzzed, scrambling it from her pocket she brought the device to her ear. Fitz’s voice rang through, “Where are you?” His drawl was more pronounced than it had been all night.
“You were right behind me!” she frantically whispered.
“I didn’t see any of you,” Vesna claimed.
“Are we in a maze?” Fitz questioned. “We gon die in a maze.”
She looked around and stopped at the sign above the frame of the door. “A library!”
“What?”
“Actually it doesn’t matter!” she whispered aggressively. She heard him suck his teeth on the other end.
“Bullshit,” he said. “You-”
“Enough you two!”
“I didn’t do anything! Are you gonna argue with me or are you gonna meet up with me?” All she did was step outside the house for fresh air, how was she supposed to know that a giant building would appear and they would get lost in it.
He sighed in defeat. “Where’re you?”
She shut her eyes and breathed for a moment. Luckily Vesnaa answered for her, “How we supposed to know?”
“Well that attitude ain’t helpin’ us. But what do you mean ‘library’?” His breathless voice was static over the small phone. “This ain’t a library.”
“The hell there ain’t!” She whispered. “If I know one thing, I know what a library look like. It’s just a giant building with millions of rows of books.” She stared at the sign ‘Rose Order Library’, before her an expansive hall; a sea of rows of books filled to the brim.
The Rose Order. Rose Order….the name had felt familiar to her. From a history class.
“But that’s imposs–” By the tone of his voice she could tell his eyes landed on something similar.
“Seeing is believin’ beloved.” She hid in the nearest room–a closet within the room. She grabbed a pair of scissors, holding her mouth with her hands, near suffocating herself. The adrenaline that pumped through her veins was beginning to wear off.
The door to the room opened. One. Two. Three. Four steps, she could see the shadow of the figure of a stop.
The door flew open and on instinct she held the scissor in a reverse grip and–was stopped. The girl’s hand caught her wrist. “Calm– woah! Calm down,” she said. Her eyes widened, the girl had brown skin and matching eyes, with loose shoulder length black curls. She stood a head taller than Avery herself, wearing a torn gray shirt, black pants with a brown jacket and black boots strapped with a silver chain to match the six piercings on her left ear. She smiled lazily, “I’m Thea. Athea. But mostly Thea.”
She placed her hands in her pockets and looked around at the room and let out a whistle. The girl had an air of confidence about her, the kind of confidence that only came about when someone knew not many people could or would confront them.
“Well.” She looked up at the ceiling. A painted pattern of vines and flowers weaved together and met at a garden. “What’s it like discovering an ancient library that went missing centuries ago?”
“‘Scuse me’?”
“It seems like you, Avery, just rediscovered the ancient Library of the Rose Order.” She sounded like she didn’t really care about the building all that much. Picking out a book from the shelf, the girl coughed as the dust suffocated her.
Avery blinked. “Rediscovered?” She could hear her own drawl go up as the echo reverberated through the room.
“You got that right,” she smiled. “It’s been missing for centuries, for you guys” she repeated as she stepped out into the halls. “Fitz should be here soon, he’s busy trying to uh, find his way out of this ‘maze’. And Vesna should be here soon too.”
She stared at the curly haired girl in disbelief. “Cen-” She heaved. “Centuries?”
“It was here one day–centuries ago now, like six or eight. Then one day.” Thea waved her hands over her head. “Gone overnight.”
“Do they have drugs here?” Avery asked. “Are you on drugs?”
“We used to contrary to popular belief and I wish.” Avery heard a crackling and a hum, sparks of blue electricity ran up Thea’s body, the pieces of metal; the chain on her boots, bracelet, and piercings sparked. She placed her hand on a pole that stuck out from the wall.
The lights flickered for a couple moments, as if slowly relearning to turn on.
Wherever the fire had been had not spread entirely to this part of the building. A couple of corners of the vast room were darker than others as well as an entire wall was blacked out. Piles of ash sitting in place as if it hadn’t been touched. Some lights were not turned on solely by the fact that they were broken.
She remembered Fitz igniting a match with his fingers before tossing it into a campfire. Espers. Just different elements, same concept.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Thea–
“What are you?”
“I’m the Keeper of the Library. Something like…a guardian.” Her face, heavy from dejection.
“You’ve been here for centuries.”
“For you. I’m not immortal.” She began walking through the rows of shelves. “I only woke up when the building arrived here.”
She strolled over to a shelf and leaned down, picking up a book from its space. “‘The History of Esperers of Rhea’.” Thea turned to the first page. “‘Let it be known that Rhea as a country has an incredibly complex relationship with their Esper population, compared to the surrounding territories blah blah blah’.” She shut the book and shoved it back into its spot.
She didn’t sound very thrilled about her job.
“‘Esper Theory’, ‘The Temples of The Delca Empire’, ‘AncientRhea Mythology’.” She picked up the book from its sport. “This thing might be just as ancient as the ancient mythology in the book at this point.” She flipped through the volume. “Just like they said,” she muttered and slammed the book shut.
“This …library was lost to history?”
“The hell is going on?” a male voice. Avery snapped her attention to Fitz with fair skin, white hair and red irises. Vesna followed behind him her facial expression mirroring his.
“How’d y’all find-”
“I showed them. Think of it like giving them a mental map,” Thea said. “I’m completely.” She paused. “In control of this place. Just like they said.”
“Who’s ‘they’?” Vesna asked.
Fitz’s head tilted upwards, staring at the intricate art on the ceiling. Unlike the room she had just been in, with the light she could see at the center of the ceiling was a massive book with a rose at its center surrounded by celestial bodies, painted with the delicate strokes of a thousand brushes.
The scorch marks of fire in the bottom left corner of the ceiling, where a wall caught fire and raced upwards to burn away such a beauty. In original condition it might’ve been compared to the art in the Vatican.
Vesna looked at him and gave him a worried look. “Is this real?” She gestured to the room around her. “This is…” She didn’t finish her sentence as she opened a random book.
Avery followed Vesna down the row of books, the shelf between them nearly reaching the ceiling. Ladders on each side for anybody who wanted to climb to a higher book.
“What’s…the Order of the Rose?” She asked. Thea looked at them silently and continued to browse through a section of history books. Avery looked at the sign above another section: Fiction.
So many authors, concepts, ideas and characters, forgotten by the sands of centuries gone by. Stories that were shelved and forgotten to collect dust. Mere relics of a bygone era. Centuries of ideas thought to be lost to ashes…before her eyes to be unearthed.
“They’re like magical Historians,” she said. She picked up a tome from the shelf and wiped it clean. “Their job is to honor–was…to honor History–”
“‘Preserve, protect and entrust’,” Fitz finished. Vesna gave him a strange look. “My grandfather once told me that. Talked on and on about the Rose Order and about my fire.”
Thea looked at him, impressed. And then turned her attention to the center of the ceiling with a melancholy smile, like she was recalling a memory. “Many of them are–were Espers, much like your friend Fitz and I, except a lot more loyal to knowledge. They..used their collective power the day the building was burning to create a fail-safe. That I would be protected and with it the Library itself in another time.”
“You not loyal?” Vesna asked, closing a book. Fitz passed her another one.
“I’m learning to be.” Thea shrugged. “But I’m just an apprentice.”
Avery noticed how she didn’t change the tense. “‘Knowledge is power’,” she quoted. She herself couldn’t name who said such a well known saying but she knew the powerful implications behind it.
“Power over the elements and some other things, yeah. Later, King Ezekiel, the arrogant prick–”
“Every little Esper’s favorite historical figure to learn about.” Avery recalled listening to Fitz’s grandfather ramble about history. And King Ezekiel was often brought up.
“A historical figure already? Historical tyrant is more accurate.”
Fitz snorted. “Yeah, right. Gramps said he was worried about loyalties. The Order was loyal to knowledge, academics, ‘stead of the monarchy. Afraid they wouldn’t be loyal to him when he ascended the throne. Wanted to burn the buildin’ to ashes.”
“But why?”
He shrugged. “There’re theories, but nobody really knows. For certain anyway.”
Thea slammed a book shut, the sound echoing through the chambers and picked up another, not bothering to put it back in its slot.
“He started a war not long afterwards, against our kind,” she said. “That’s why he was afraid The Order wouldn’t be in his pocket. Not that it mattered in the long run, he’s still remembered as one of the worst rulers that ever sat on the throne.”
“Mass knowledge is too much power,” Fitz said, as if reciting the words of another.
“He sent somebody to come all the way down over here…to burn down a building?” The town of Ginsval was in the southernmost region of Rhea towards the east and that seat of the monarch, Larinati was in the central part of the nation.
Fitz’s fingers drummed on the dust covered wood of the shelf. “Allegedly if the Rose Order knew the King’s plans they would have revolted. Or a large portion of them would have. Enough to make the difference.”
“Oh. Makes sense,” Vesna squatted on the ground.
“Right, such ‘A long and complicated history with Espers’ or whatever,” Thea commented. “Not much complication.”
“So what does this mean?” Avery asked. “I found a lost library but for some reason it’s in the wrong location.” She looked at the three people in her company; two Espers with different degrees of knowledge and Vesna, a simple girl but still a friend who was just as lost as she was. “What now?”
What would it mean for their modern day?
“Who knows?”
“Ain’t got a clue.”
“How should I know?”
She groaned. Great.
Fitz paused and thought. “Somebody could…restart the Order.” Vesna smacked him lightly on the back of the head. “That was unnecessary,”
“Quit talkin’ like that.” She nodded at Thea who still had an air of sadness to her. “Some people are still processin’’.”
“This is good though ain’t it? Why not…”
Bring the Order back. She couldn’t say the words.
Thea’s jaw clenched. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no point in the Rose Order anymore. Whatever King now is going to want to burn it down himself. Or use anything in here and then burn it down. Mark. My. Words.”
“Queen,” Vesna corrected.
“Oh, they allow those now?”
“Wait, wait, why would she do that? It’s a miracle this place even survived mostly intact?” She asked.
Why would anybody do that? She thought of the greater community of Professors, Teachers, Historians, Archaeologists; any preserver of knowledge and ancient text. What would they do with themselves if given the opportunity to walk the halls of The Rose Orders Library.
And then she thought of people and remembered that they were multifaceted.
The things that had been left behind, the relics of history were not evil; they were objects, ideas on a page. It was the people who were evil, carrying banners of representation with no goodness in their intention.
“That Queen, how long has she sat?”
“Less than three years,” Fitz mumbled.
“The Noble Houses don’t really like her,” Vesna said.
Their desire to have knowledge only to harm others. Justification for subjugation, found through leaders who often distort truths and facts, manipulating them into their own twisted lines of logic for their selfish desires: money, power, conquest.
Thea crossed her arms over her chest, leaned against the shelf and gave them a smile dripped in sarcasm. “What do you think it means?”
Vesna inhaled. Fitz brought his hands to his face and rubbed his forehead bringing his hands downward and shook his head at his dreaded epiphany. “Accomplishing what your ancestors could not.”
“She would want to burn this place to ashes.” Ice filled her veins.
Are you afraid to get married and why?
Hell yeah !!!
Let me introduce you to Jenny.
She and few of her friends got transferred from Chennai office to our office in Mumbai.
She and one of her male friend (lets name him Rohan) were very good friends.
Few months later, they started dating.
Now, it was supposed to be a secretive relationship but in corporate world, nothing is a secret.
We used to go out for night outs in a group but these two were couples even in a group.
They were so much in love.
Months later, we got news that Jenny’s marriage has been arranged.
She will be going back to Chennai for her marriage, and working from there after marriage.
We could see a change in Rohan, he seemed disinterested in work which was quite obvious.
She left Mumbai, got married in Chennai in a grand wedding.
Rohan used to get calls everyday.
I remember picking up a call one day after Jenny’s wedding day.
She : May I speak to Rohan ?
Me : He is away, I will inform him once he is back. Btw, you sound like Jenny.
She : Okay, I will call later.
And bangs the receiver.
She used to call him everyday.
Now I am getting news that she is filing for divorce and asking for alimony.
In all this drama, tell me what is that guy’s fault who got married to Jenny ?
He will be paying for alimony.
He will be getting divorced.
He will be hit mentally.
This scares me.
For no fault of mine, I will have to pay a huge compensation, not just financially but also mentally.
Btw, this is not the first scene I have heard about, this is more of a trend these days.
Why China Will Win The Space Race!
A great overview of the Chinese space program. And it is compared to the USA NASA “plan”.
Who is China’s real hero, and why?
Caption: A Building for female immigrant workers in Shenzhen in 1985. By Zhu Xianmin
In my heart, the China’s real hero is not an individual, but a group—the Chinese people.
Before the First Opium War in 1840, the Chinese people, through their diligence and wisdom, had created one of the most powerful nations in the world. After 1840, China was bullied by Western powers and became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. But the Chinese people did not yield. They explored various paths to save the country. In 1911, the Republic of China was established, the first democratic republic in Asia. In 1931, Japan invaded China, and the Chinese people embarked on a 14-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. The Chinese people displayed immense courage, tenacity, and the spirit of sacrifice. Incomplete statistics show that during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the number of Chinese military and civilian casualties reached 35 million! Chinese people fought to defend the country and maintain the freedom and dignity of the nation, making significant contributions to the global struggle for justice.
In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established. The Chinese people almost built their country from scratch, and by 1956, they had established a complete industrial system. The 10-year Cultural Revolution brought new devastation to China, but the Chinese people once again rose from the pain and have since the reform and opening up in 1978, continuously created economic development miracles. Behind the rapid economic growth are the relentless work of assembly line workers, the longing for reunions of left-behind children, and the blood and tears of construction workers, sleepless delivery guys… All the miracles are the result of the labor, dedication, and resilience of the Chinese people.
“The people are the creators of history, the true heroes.” as President Xi Jinping said in his speech on the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. I cannot agree more.
Vintage World War II photos
8f9173f5f0e150124cfb9ac93ebf66f7
4daf759e72a7b72f289c3c8428960a70
9ceb84b7e7b37ac9a993e94ed195e73e
bd206b737711bdbed1c0e06f62d8a376
aa851bf0190f5b492b706c2940d2eb6d
4dac696e22d10fafa26706f0a5fabc5d
490200df1e2da9c9a6b16e7210794952
c060932fea1dda89e2c480e176096ec1
fdc075bdacea3052e36f60e5628c52b8
b126228d58f5805dc9f78536f18acf71
beb138932484ce0af5f3ee2ffd6cf6cb
b8df2e7e3be0cd9b4928d512d2cd87f3
e2364f1113ae5319fa8c3ae651c5c432
ef1515daa838f86b91061eb8c32e06d2
a70e0b98e500bc2fff56de58616dca28
dbdd963d00d8e304ec2f2d5c81e4ee55
5aa50fccfb69549dbc7d6ea5ad4df355
af87b36702b67b53ea4e437870414be5
f32c16fc718c70837acf42a06b9fa79e
c31854001e50c4849727f8a0fe9c38ea
4660aa422f122767486ec072500dbfb2
79b58709ea08d5057605f2a1f912cdac
a88d48ca0d1a85fb88e0227f28e41d4a
04262cb29a31de7322201562a1e6a22e
2971b5172f4250ef1effd4a08b1aad24
715a61693844f81617dcba0630967b88
a97fffc9c4fa7e608b12caf929dcca5f
8e859c7167668bf2b057268064e2c788
69e9f5eed89d219fdf05501512ee8a2e
39591c66ffadc5346415346803f2be3a
32141281edf610beb161f52e69336d6e
1c7416f58350a3cc50b47c84a747b0d5
34b790b0b9914e690ea9315fc09034f3
b5909ee73a54f7acaa1456967881c5a2
8c07c022c068ea613676d39d57ae2ac9
d6a8848e14e932b4b39287869936bf56
715c10aa995fcaaec59b85dbbaeb3c19
a832ce4ae5102d5c1ad2dd7e89d25aed
8f5dcff43e2c11186bf099629a67b84b
@@@@@@@f72d515388610cc9bca2acf0c695110e
Men are treated as disposable BUT they are the ones who built and are holding society together!
Great rant.
Congress moves to automate the draft for men. Govt never acknowledges the hard work and sacrifice men have endured to build and maintain a safe & efficient society. Well men are walking away from more than women so I’m not sure how this is all going to go for the rich men north of Richmond who will gladly use men as pawns in their real life game of Risk.
Hours had already passed as we walked aimlessly. I felt the wind beginning to whistle, bringing with it the deadly cold of the desert night. We set up our tent and lit our campfire.”Honestly, Tom. You know this is a fairy tale. Sure, we have some evidence, but that´s nothing like the Indiana Jones movies you loved so much when we were teenagers.”Leo’s pessimism had become routine over the past month. After being fired from his job as a chemistry teacher, it seemed another person had taken over his body.”Man, I get it. But we agreed to do this together and we’ve chased every possible and impossible clue around the globe. We know enough. The Great Library of Alexandria was never burned, it was hidden!””Only you believe that, Tom… I don’t know what made me agree to this. Tomorrow is our final deadline. According to the map, it should be here, and we found nothing today.””Leo, you and I are teachers. It´s true I’m a history teacher, which would be much cooler for me to see what´s inside the library, but imagine how many other things we may find. We always dreamed of this.”I had little bargaining power left. In fact, we had been here for nine days and hadn’t found a single old scroll.”Tomorrow, the last day.””Okay. Let’s search behind that dune at sunrise and then near that yellow rock we haven’t checked yet,” I said, pointing to the locations.We got up early. We quickly packed our backpacks and left our tent there to save time; we could collect everything on our way back. We had little time before the sun became scorching.
“Yes, as we imagined… Nothing behind this stupid pile of sand.”
“Yeah, let’s head to the rock.”
By the time we arrived, it was almost 11 AM, and we managed to shelter from the sun behind the shadow cast by the rock.
“Look at this, Leo! It looks like a crank!”
“Hm… That’s not a crank.” Moving closer to examine it, he continued:
“It’s a miniature sundial. Notice the markings around it, they’re symmetrical…”
“Wow, what are the chances this is related to the Library?”
“There are lots of these sundials out there, stop trying to find connections in everything. And please don’t touch it. You could break it. Later, the local authorities will see and say you vandalized some random historical site. I don’t want trouble, Tom, let’s just go home.”
“Okay. Let’s wait for the sun to go down a bit, and we’ll head back to the tent. I can’t believe we found nothing.”
As soon as I said that, I felt a sudden tremor. The ground beneath the rock began to open, revealing the entrance to a monumental staircase. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everything seemed meticulously well-preserved, almost as if a supernatural force was keeping everything in perfect condition.
“I can’t believe it.” Leo said.
“Neither can I, but look at the sundial! It’s noon now, maybe this door only opens when the sun is directly above us! Let’s go, quickly!”
We rushed in, and I hadn’t seen a trace of a smile on his face in a long time. It seemed a spark had ignited. For a brief moment, he looked like my childhood brother.
The passage led us to an underground chamber of unimaginable proportions. I could hear echoes of sounds I couldn’t even understand where they were coming from. Illuminated by the same magical glow as the stairs, I slipped on one of the stone pieces forming the floor, so polished and well-maintained they were. Shelves upon shelves of ancient scrolls, books, and artifacts filled the space, relics from another time.
In the center of the chamber stood a solitary figure, a man with flowing hair and a robe that didn’t seem from such a distant era.
“Welcome, travelers,” said the man, his voice echoing through the chamber. “I am Klygor, the Guardian of the Library.”
I stepped closer, Leo behind me. “Is this truly the lost Library of Alexandria?”
Klygor nodded. “Indeed, it is. Preserved in secrecy for centuries, hidden from the ravages of time and man. Only those worthy of gathering all the clues and enduring ten days in the desert sun can enter, and once inside, they may stay for only a month, learning all the library has to offer. But beware, you can take nothing with you except what you carry in your minds.”
We couldn’t waste any time.
“Leo! I found out that Socrates never actually existed. Plato invented this character, but the ideas were almost all his!”
“Interesting. I’m discovering many things too…”
Each day that passed, I got fewer answers from him
“Let’s sleep, man. We’ll continue studying more tomorrow.”
“Feel free… I’ll sleep later.”
Everyday, I slept and woke up with him already reading and searching for new things. But it seemed the more he read, the more his soul faded. Like a drug addict, the more you use or smoke something, the greater the amount needed for the same effect.
He was searching for something that wasn’t there.
“Leo, what are you looking for? Talk to me.”
“I… I want to learn more. The only thing I know how to do is learn.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone tells me I don´t know how to be a good teacher. Maybe they are right.”
” Yes, you do like learning new things, but you always loved teaching!”
“No, Tom. I don’t know how to teach and never did. I was just very good at grasping things at first glance.”
We had reached our last day.
“Hey, Klygor. Where are you!?” I shouted.
“I am here, traveler Tom. At the foot of the Staircase, awaiting your departure… Time is running out.”
“Leo, it’s time. Let’s go, we’ve seen everything we needed, we have material to tell people for ages!”
“Wait, Tom. I’m just finishing this piece of parchment. It seems interesting…”
“No, man!! We don’t have any more time, let’s go!”
“I have nothing to do out there, Tom. It’s the second time I’ve been fired, schools always say I lack the necessary teaching skills.”
“What are you talking about? Every week while we still lived with our mother, we received letters from students thanking you, saying you changed their lives. I never received anything like that!”
“You were never fired.”
Silence. I had no response to that.
“You taught me everything I know about the art of teaching. If you don’t know, I don’t know either.”
“None of that matters… That’s not how the world works, and you know it. Sometimes, I feel I should have just kept quiet and accepted teaching the way the principals wanted.”
“Leo… what’s worth more, a student transformed for life or a happy principal?”
“Huh? tell me, now. You always – ”
“Gentlemen, I must interrupt. If you don’t leave within moments, one will have to stay and become the new guardian of the Library. That’s what happened to me almost 90 years ago. I was so focused on some revelations completely different from our History, that I didn’t notice the suns rising and setting. When I realized it, the former librarian had already left, sealing here forever. You’re the first I’ve seen in all this time. I’m doing you the favor of letting you decide; I don’t want to leave here with negative energies from having tricked someone.”
“Give us five minutes!”
“I’m not the one controlling the magic of this place. I’m waiting at the top of the stairs until the final moment.”
“Leo, it’s now, let’s go!”
“I’m not going, and you know it…”
“Please, I don’t know how to teach without your advices!”
“Tom, I found a spark of happiness here. Knowing that at least learning is something I’ve always been able to do and no one could take that away from me… ”
I heard the sands starting to assemble. I ran up as fast as I could, and at the last moment, I turned to see him one last time.
In the distance, I could see, with the same sad face, he opened another book.
What do you do if you board a flight and the overweight person you are seated next to spills into your seat?
Even worse, I was sandwiched between two obese sisters. They had booked a window and an aisle seat, assuming that no one would buy a middle seat. But the flight was full. I was 6′2″ and fit, so not exactly tiny myself. They were overheating, sweating and overlapping a lot into my space. I could have handled the touching, but the heat was overwhelming. I talked to the flight attendant ,there were no empty seats anywhere, but I already knew that. So I talked to the sisters, they were embarrassed, but also feeling discriminated against. They had to pay extra for seat belt extensions, so the airline knew that they were large, and had still sold a seat to a man to sit between them.
We worked out a deal, they would take the window and middle seats, we would lift all the arm rests, so that they could use a little of my aisle seat. I could lean into the aisle, so I could cool off, and I could get out and walk around easily when I was overwhelmed.
I survived, it was only a three hour flight.
Have you ever found something in your home that was hidden by the previous owners?
No, but I found something in my car that was hidden by the previous owner. Pot, and a lot of it
I must explain how it happened. Many years ago I started a new job in rural Iowa and had no transportation. A friend said his nephew could get me a used car, and I would pay him with my first two paychecks. Apparently his nephew was owed some money by someone, so he would take the car as payment of the debt, then sell me the car. I was aware his nephew was working full time, but was occasionally making money as a middleman distributing pot.
The car ran fine, and I paid him off within a few weeks. It helped me get back on my feet, and I was grateful for his help.
After a few months, I returned to Texas. My dad noticed one of my tail lights was out, and wanted to replace it for me. When he took off the plastic covering , we found a lot of dried weeds mixed with dry mud. It looked like it was there for a long time. We thought it had just accumulated over many years since it was an older car. We also found the same stuff within the other tail light. We replaced the bulb and thoroughly cleaned both sides with some strong chemical spray cleaners. I thought there wasn’t anything unusual.
About a year later, when I was returning to the Midwest, I got pulled over by a state trooper. Being a Hispanic coming out of South Texas, I was profiled and pulled over quite often. However, this time, one of their dogs went nuts sniffing that back fender area. They called in extra troopers and took the back part of my car apart. The trooper told me this was their best dog, and he was never wrong when he reacted that way. He was certain I had drugs hidden in the car. After an hour of an extremely thorough search, they found nothing. They reluctantly apologized (it wasn’t sincere), and let me go.
I didn’t realize until years later that the stuff my dad and I cleaned out of the back end was pot. It looked like it had been there for about ten years. I believe my friends nephew had no knowledge it was there.
Anyway, it just made me believe why they said it was their best dog, and he was NEVER wrong. After many years of being mixed with dried mud, and thoroughly removed, the dog still detected the pot. Furthermore, we cleaned the area thoroughly with strong chemical cleaners.
I’ve always wondered if I would have been arrested if I hadn’t removed the old dried mud mixed with pot. It looked like it had been there for longer than I owned the car. But I was still transporting a lot of it across state lines. I’ll never know.
These Women Reveal Why Men Are Walking Away From EVERYTHING
Asparagus Pizza
asparagus pizza 011
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds asparagus
8 large mushrooms
1/3 cup chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
Mix butter flour and salt until the flour resembles peas, add water and mix until you have a rollable dough.
Place on floured surface and roll out to 1/8 inch thick and in a circle.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and place either a pizza stone or cookie sheet upside down in oven.
Place dough on a board that you can slide it off from into the oven and have a little cornmeal under the dough to help make it slide better. Turn the edges of the dough in about 1/4 inch and crimp at intervals to make a nice ruffly edge to your pizza, it will get crusty.
Cover the dough with the cheese and set aside.
Trim the asparagus and blanch it for 3 minutes in boiling water in a shallow pan.
Remove from pan and quickly dip in cold water to stop cooking process. Pat dry with paper towels and place in a pinwheel fashion around pizza dough with the stems meeting in the center and making a mound, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and slide into the oven on hot surface of pizza stone or cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Remove from oven and cut into serving size pieces.
While pizza is baking slice mushrooms and place a small amount of olive oil in skillet and add shallots and garlic cook for about 3 or 4 minutes and add mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add just about 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and stir; remove from heat. Spoon a little on each slice of pizza and serve.
I wonder how many Americans quite understand what the US is facing in its aggressive confrontation with China. Washington clearly prepares the public for another unnecessary war. Given America’s routine defeat in war and catastrophic miscalculations in fighting small powers, picking a fight with what, increasingly, is again becoming the Middle Kingdom seems less than bright. Yet within the Beltway there is the usual smug complacency, the unshakable arrogance that appears to think the China is just a big Norway or Guatemala that needs to be put in its place.
A quick glance at China:
China easily leads the world in civil engineering, building roads, bridges, ports, rail lines, long-distance high-voltage transmission lines, and digital infrastructure. People returning from China, including yours truly, discribe it as being like coming back from a more-advanced planet.
“Washington seems to suffer a recto cranial inversion, imagining a superiority it only barely has but probably, all things considered, doesn’t.”
Everyone talks about the high-speed trains, with good reason: 180 miles per hour, quiet, comfortable, huge windows, with very short stops at villages between major cities, giving rural populations the speed of air travel without the nuisance. By contrast, American rail looks like something out of 1955.
The importance of civil engineering is more than symbolic. Infrastructure facilitates commerce. China is of course the manufacturing powerhouse of the world. By contrast, America simply ignores infrastructure, spending instead on the military and long since having largely abandoned manufacturing.
China leads the world in ship-building, with South Korea being another major player in this game. America has almost no ship-building except for military, and this has been criticized by the Government Accounting Office for primitivism and slowness. Ship-building obviously is important for commerce, and also for military purposes–China now having the world’s largest navy.
China leads the world in Five G, in patents, technology, manufacturing capacity, installed base. This is not always well understood. Five G allows the transmission of large amounts of data with short response times–high throughput, low latency, as we say. Huawei now has what it calls Five. Five G, an improved version. Five G is important for controlling factories, smart cities, and so on. Beijing takes it seriously, China now having around 3.6 million installed base stations versus something like 100,000 pseudo-Five G base stations in the US.
China finds its brightest students by rigorous testing, and then sends them at government expense to its excellent universities. The US deliberately enstupidates its schools at all levels to make minorities look smarter than they are. How is this going to work?
China dominates the planet in electric vehicles. Its lead over the US is so great as to be insuperable in technology, batteries, price, and productive capacity. If you follow tech news, you see things like a Chinese EV battery that charges in ten minutes. As many have pointed out, BYD’s sub-ten thousand dollar car will find an almost unlimited market in the Global South. No other country is even close. Biden’s high tariffs on Chinese EVs will serve only to allow American companies to continue selling wildly over-priced vehicles to Americans who will have no choice.
China, Russia, and perhaps Iran have developed hypersonic missiles, of which America doesn’t have any. This is interesting. Americans have always assumed technological superiority over Russia and China. Judging by the poor performance of Western weaponry in the Ukraine, this seems questionable.
In other fields, America maintains a lead, or at least an important part lead, though usually not by competing but by strong-arming, sanctions, and tariffs. The greatest of these is semiconductors. The situation is curious. The Chinese have the brains, engineers, and savvy to design and make high-end chips, but Washington has a stranglehold on the equipment needed to manufacture them. However, China has a recent history of horrifying Washington by doing things it wasn’t supposed to be able to do, such as make chips in seven and five nanometer nodes and stay neck-and-neck with the US in supercomputers. But it has not been able to make the advanced lithography tools needed at the forefront of the chip business. If it does, it will be Katie bar the door, but it hasn’t.
China leads the world in production of steel and aluminium. America can’t compete, so it imposes tariffs.
It leads the world in solar panels, leads in technology, production capacity, and price. America can’t compete, so it imposes tariffs.
China remains behind America, but not by much, in aspects of its space program. However, it has an extensive and robust launch capacity, a successful space station in some ways more advanced than the International Space Station, and moves rapidly toward reusable launch vehicles. Years back now, it sent a successful fully automated moon-sample return mission to our satellite, and, later, a combination Mars orbiter, lander, and rover, all functioning perfectly on the first try. NASA and Space X maintain a lead, but it isn’t a growth stock.
There are other fields in which America holds a lead. Jet engines, for example. My point is that Washington seems to suffer a recto cranial inversion, imagining a superiority it only barely has but probably, all things considered, doesn’t. China has four times the US population, the Han by agreement among psychometrists have a five or six point advantage in mean I.Q, and an intelligent government focused on increasing its commercial superiority.
It is all the fashion in America to decry authoritarianism, but this allows Beijing to take decisions and then carry them out, over decades if need be. It also allows a noticeable system approach. In America, individual states or corporations undertake projects like high-speed rail or Five G. China tends to do things on a whole-country basis. The difference in results is clear.
Washington, which subsidizes its own industries, complains that Beijing does the same–but the Chinese system works.
What China doesn’t have is a sprawling, over-extended, low-grade, incomprehensibly costly military draining funds desperately needed to bring America up to modern standards domestically. China is not an appendage of its military. It seems to have figured out that wars cost money and, if there is one thing the Chinese really really like, it’s money.
Sez I, a little more realism in the Yankee Capital might be a good idea, a bit less huff and puff, more spending on America and less on a blood-sucking arms industry. But what do I know?
San Francisco BANNED CARS
This is progressive American.
When People Get Extremely Desperate And Extremely Hungry, They Will Literally Eat Just About Anything
If your family was on the verge of starving to death, to what extremes would you be willing to go in order to get food? Some of the things that I am going to share with you in this article may make you cringe. But you need to understand what people are willing to do when they get extremely desperate and extremely hungry, because the global food crisis that has already begun is going to greatly intensify in the years ahead. Hundreds of millions of people go to bed hungry every single night, and children are literally dropping dead from starvation on the other side of the globe right now. Unfortunately, most people in the western world don’t even realize that this is going on because the corporate media rarely reports on it. War, pestilence, natural disasters, bizarre weather patterns and historic crop failures are creating a “perfect storm” for global food production. It is being projected that later this year things will get really bad in some of the poorest areas of the planet, and the long-term outlook is even worse.
When people get hungry enough, they will literally eat just about anything.
On Monday, I was stunned to learn that a team of archaeologists has discovered that settlers at Jamestown in the 17th Century actually resorted to eating dogs in a desperate attempt to survive…
The first English settlers to arrive in North America ate dogs to survive an extreme period of starvation, according to a gruesome new study.
Researchers at the University of Iowa discovered the remains of 16 indigenous dogs at an archaeological site in Jamestown, Virginia, that strongly suggest the 17th Century settlers ate at least six canines.
Their remains showed hallmark signs that the colonists had skinned the animals, dismembered their limbs and removed the flesh from their bones between 1609 and 1617 AD, the team said.
For many of you, this level of savagery may be difficult to grasp.
By the spring of 1610, only about 60 of the original colonists were still alive and George Percy – one of the original settlers – authored an account of what occurred in the wake of the starvation period.
‘Now all of us at James Town, beginning to feel that sharp prick of hunger which no man truly describe but he which has tasted the bitterness thereof.
‘… Then having fed upon horses and other beasts as long as they lasted, we were glad to make shift with vermin as dogs, cats, rats, and mice,’ Percy wrote in excerpts of his account called ‘Starving Time,’ archived by the National Humanities Center.
What would you do if you were in their shoes?
This is one of the reasons why I am encouraging my readers to store up food while they still can.
I never want any of you to be in a position where you are faced with such choices.
A global food crisis is already here. More than a billion people in Africa already do not have enough food to eat on a regular basis, and 30 percent of the children on the entire continent suffer from stunted growth.
The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) says that in Darfur, Sudan there are reports of children dying of malnutrition.
“The situation is dire. People are resorting to consuming grass and peanut shells. If assistance doesn’t reach them soon, we risk witnessing widespread starvation and death in Darfur and across other conflict-affected areas in Sudan,” said Michael Dunford, WFP East Africa director.
In other areas of Sudan, people on the brink of starvation are literally eating dirt…
There is so little food in some areas of Sudan that people are taking extreme measures to survive.
In the Al Lait refugee camp, they are eating dirt.
Yes, you read that correctly.
So I don’t want anyone out there trying to tell me that the global food crisis isn’t serious.
One 41-year-old man in Sudan says that his wife and children are so hungry that they have been rolling dirt into a ball and swallowing it with water…
Akok, 41, reached Al Lait in December, but has no work and can’t feed the family. At times, they go two or three days without eating. When that happens, Akok said, he watches helplessly as his wife and children dig holes in the ground with a stick, slide their hands in and grab some soil. Then they roll the soil into a ball, put it in their mouths and swallow it with water.
“I keep telling them not to do it, but it’s hunger,” he said. “There is nothing I can do.”
What would you do if you and your family were in a similar position?
Soaring prices have helped fuel a food crisis in West and Central Africa, where nearly 55 million people will struggle to feed themselves in the coming months, U.N. humanitarian agencies warned Friday.
The number facing hunger during the June-August lean season has quadrupled over the last five years, they said, noting that economic challenges such as double-digit inflation and stagnating local production had become major drivers of the crisis, beyond recurrent conflicts in the region.
In areas south of there, widespread crop failures caused by drought have created a tremendous nightmare…
Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi each declared national disasters as crops failed in a region where 70 percent of smallholder farmers rely on rainfed agriculture for their livelihood. Food prices have risen up to 82 percent in some drought-affected areas, while water scarcity has also impacted livestock and destroyed farmland. According to a United Nations report, more than 18 million people are now in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, with food insecurity levels set to increase dramatically during the regular lean season that typically starts in October. This year, the lean season could begin as early as July as provisions are depleted.
North Africa is doing fine for now, but most of the rest of the continent is in enormous trouble.
The good news is that we aren’t facing widespread starvation here in the western world.
But 42 million Americans are on food stamps, and 1 out of every 7 children is living in poverty.
Our world is simply not producing enough food for everyone, and global supplies of food are going to get tighter and tighter during the very difficult days that are in front of us.
Now let’s look at the Wild Wild West of Vietnam
Video is heavy on the girls, and nightlife. But it’s short enough. It give you a glimpse at what the Global South is all about.
New Arms Race! Biden Signs “New Guidance” for Using U.S. Nuclear Weapons
President Joseph Biden has signed “new guidelines” on the conditions for the US use of nuclear weapons.
This was announced by Special Assistant to the US President, Senior Director for Arms Control at the National Security Council, Pranay Vaddi.
“The updated guidance takes into account the realities of the new nuclear era. They emphasize the need to address the growth and diversity of China’s nuclear arsenal, as well as the need to contain Russia, China, and North Korea, simultaneously,” he said.
Notice they did this after 5:00 PM on a Friday. I am endeavoring to obtain the actual new guidance text.
UPDATE 7:28 PM EDT —
A new Arms Race is now kicking off. US is making changes to its nuclear weapons strategy with an emphasis on competition, US sees the need to increase its nuclear arsenal.
HAL TURNER REMARKS:
Remember when the corrupt media and communist democrats were saying Trump was going to start WWIII because he was talking tough with China, Iran, and North Korea? Where are they all now that Biden is actually actively trying to start WWIII?
French President is At It Again; Now French “Mirage 2000-5” Fighter Jets for Ukraine
As if he hasn’t already caused enough pain, suffering, and death in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron is at it again. He will announce that French Mirage 2000-5 Fighter Jets will be given to Ukraine to fight Russia.
He will also announce those jets can be used to strike targets inside territorial Russia, and that Ukrainian Pilots will be trained to fly them, in France.
Looks as though Macron is not going to stop until Russia hits Paris with a nuclear bomb.
Hal Turner Snap Analysis
If it wasn’t so pathetic, it would be laughable that Macron is doing this. His army just got thrown out of Africa by the local tribesmen, and now Macron thinks he can fight Russia?
The guy seems to me to be insane.
We should start referring to him as “Maniacal Macron.”
China Is Practicing For An Apocalyptic War Against Taiwan, And The Western World Is Still Not Taking The Threat Seriously
China has just launched enormous military exercises codenamed “Joint Sword-2024A” which are designed to simulate what a war against Taiwan would look like. Chinese fighter jets are conducting mock airstrikes against “high-value military targets”, and Chinese warships are practicing for a future economic blockade. Most Americans don’t seem to realize this, but once China goes to war with Taiwan, we will instantly be in a state of war with China. The flow of consumer products from China will completely stop, we will no longer have access to the advanced computer chips from Taiwan that we are so dependent upon, and the economy will crash. All of our lives will be turned completely upside down the moment that war with China begins, and that day may be a lot closer than most people think.
China on Thursday encircled Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft in war games, as it vowed the blood of “independence forces” on the self-ruled island would flow.
The two days of drills are part of an escalating campaign of intimidation by China that has seen it carry out a series of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan in recent years.
Taiwan’s new president Lai Ching-te was inaugurated earlier this week, and the Chinese government is not a fan of him at all.
And it is definitely not a coincidence that these military exercises are taking place shortly after he took office.
These are the biggest military exercises that we have seen in the region so far, and CNN is reporting that “dozens of Chinese fighter jets carrying live ammunition” are involved…
As part of the drills, dozens of Chinese fighter jets carrying live ammunition conducted mock strikes against “high-value military targets” of the “enemy” alongside destroyers, frigates and missile speedboats, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV.
The exercises, which started early on Thursday and will encircle Taiwan, pose the first real test for newly elected Lai Ching-te as he attempts to manage relations with the island’s powerful authoritarian neighbor.
The good news is that these military exercises will only last for 48 hours.
But the Chinese are clearly preparing for the day when war will erupt.
Relations between the Chinese government and Taiwan have reached a breaking point, and I don’t believe that there is any way that they will be repaired.
When discussing the currently military exercises, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin issued quite an ominous warning to those that are pushing for Taiwanese independence…
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin then delivered a warning that included language more commonly used by China’s propaganda outlets.
“Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads broken and blood flowing after colliding against the great… trend of China achieving complete unification,” Wang told reporters.
It is very unusual for a Chinese official to make such an inflammatory remark.
Usually the Chinese are much more restrained.
Once the exercises commenced, the Taiwanese military went on alert, and potential Chinese military targets were actively being tracked…
Taiwan’s defence ministry condemned the drills, saying that it had dispatched forces to areas around the island, that its air defences and land-based missile forces were tracking targets, and that it was confident it could protect its territory.
“The launch of military exercises on this occasion not only does not contribute to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, it also highlights (China’s) militaristic mentality,” the ministry said.
Taiwan’s presidential office expressed regret that China was threatening the island’s democratic freedoms and regional peace and stability with its “unilateral military provocations”, but said people could rest assured Taiwan could ensure its security.
When the time finally comes, I think that the first action that China will take against Taiwan will be an economic blockade.
That will suffocate the Taiwanese economy, and it will also cut the main island off from the outlying islands that it controls.
Subsequently, I think that it is likely that the Chinese will attempt to occupy some of the smaller islands before moving to occupy Taiwan itself.
Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at Taiwan’s top military think tank, the Institute for National Defence and Security Research, said that although the drills would only last two days, the scope is large relative to previous exercises, as they included Taiwan’s outlying islands.
This is designed to demonstrate China’s ability to control the seas and prevent the involvement of foreign forces, he added.
“The political signals here are greater than the military ones,” he added.
Two of the world’s most important chip companies can flip a “kill switch” remotely on their most advanced chipmaking machines should China invade Taiwan, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Netherlands’ ASML — Europe’s top tech company by market value — supplies advanced machines to chipmaking companies. They include Taiwan’s TSMC, which produces, by some estimates, 90% of the world’s most advanced processor chips.
Okay, so they can flip a “kill switch” which will prevent China from getting those chips.
But once China controls Taiwan, we will lose access to those chips too.
And without those chips, the entire global economy crashes.
So we should be attempting to avoid such a scenario if at all possible.
Unfortunately, Joe Biden and his all-star team of warmongers are making a total mess of things.
We just keep getting closer and closer to a war with China, and the Biden administration just continues to make the Chinese angrier and angrier.
The Chinese know that such a war is coming, and they are actively practicing for it.
Here in the United States, most people just assume that everything will work out just fine somehow.
Sadly, by the time most Americans finally realize how serious the threat is we will already be at war and there will be no turning back.
America is the New Rome
This is REALLY an amazing video. Very good. I strongly suggest you all watch it. Remember, 1776 was 248 years ago. If the predictions are correct, the collapse will occur in two years. 2026.
When I was in first grade, there were always this group of boys that would get around the wall fire alarm and pull it. And I, stupid fuck I was at the time, would just stand there watching them. After the alarms went off all the boys would scatter, but I would just stand there. Stupid. And I would be taken during the hallway sweep.
Typically it would result in an interrogation, followed by a ruler on my knuckles. Ouch! That mother fucker hurt!
Long story short, you know guys I NEVER pulled an alarm. Ever. However, I was always there in the round up. And of course, no one ever believed me. Shit.
The teacher would argue that I was far too smart to be acting so ignorant and innocent. And it was because I was so smart that I was somehow guilty.
When the reality was, it was just not in my personality.
Years later, and I am on trial for heinous crimes and bad stuff all the way around. The argument (well one of them) was that I couldn’t be innocent… because I was too smart.
Later in prison, I discovered the secret of survival… act stupid.
That’s it. Really. Act slow and stupid. When people want to talk to you just talk about stupid things like potatoes. Envelopes that candy came in. Shoelaces. Mailboxes. Different types of wood. Different types of dirt.
People will leave you alone.
And they sure as fuck won’t bother messing with you.
Why? Because you are not a threat to them.
Today…
How can China effectively handle its relationship with Duterte?
There is 1 old Chinese idiom: if the ox does not want to drink water (from the river), we cannot force its head down (to drink). The ox must want to drink to start with.
It is just an idiom. I do not mean Duterte is like an ox.
What I am trying to say is that: Duterte wanted to improve PH’s economy & modernise PH’s technology.
Like all other developing countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia etc, one way is to join China’s BRI project to build infrastructure first.
Like Indonesia, since China has built a high speed rail for Indonesia, Indonesia sees its GDP growing.
All other developing countries saw the same thing about their GDP growth.
Duterte wanted the same thing to happen in PH. He decided to develop good economic collaboration with China. And China was happy to collaborate with Duterte to make a win-win situation for both countries.
When Marcos is power, China also wanted to maintain good economic collaboration with Marcos. But Marcos rejects China & embraces USA.
Because USA wants to suppress China’s rise, USA uses PH/Marcos to create countless conflicts in SCSea. Forcing China to withdraw from PH.
Back to the Chinese idiom: Marcos does not want to drink.
US threatens China. US military to turn the Taiwan Strait into an “unmanned hellscape”…If
What is the most inappropriate clothing you have seen a student wear at school?
My answer is a little twist on the original question. This happened not in a school, but in a school district’s central administration office where I worked during the ‘90s. There were roughly 150 employees—mostly female secretaries with the administrative bosses almost all male.
During the work week, employees wore suits and skirts, hosiery and heels. That was the norm back then. But Halloween was coming up and for the first (and only) time in my memory, permission was given for us to show up for work in costume, if we so chose.
Now maybe 6 months earlier, a new girl was hired—Sarah. Sarah was a tall, blonde with a very outgoing personality and sort of wild blue eyes. She wasn’t a quiet one by any means and when talking to her, you sometimes thought maybe she’d smoked a little something outside on break.
So Halloween arrives and there are some cute costumes, mostly the typical ones you see at a Halloween party, but nothing too extravagant since we were professional working in a business atmosphere.
Except for Sarah. Sarah comes in as an Indian squaw. Or maybe it was an Indian temptress. Her take on Pocahontas, I guess. She’s wearing a tiny brown bra with matching tiny loincloth. Brown sandals that lace up her calves, hair in braids with a feather sticking up and warpaint on her face. Nothing else.
News travelled around the building like wildfire, and this was before the days of email. Everyone was coming in to take a look. No one could believe that she’d show up to work like that. And no one could further believe that it took until 2:30 in the afternoon for anyone to send her home. Until we realized that all the bosses were male.
Companies Have Taken A Sledgehammer To Quotas | METOO BACKLASH
Western Society is under collapse.
What was the most shocking incident about your neighbour that you witnessed?
I was awakened about 2 AM, by a loud banging on my door, which I ignored. It was repeated. I got up & put my foot against the door and said who is it. The answer was: “The police”. (NO SHIT~ I was thinking) So with my foot still against the door, I cracked open the door and after noticing the outside light was out BRAVELY SAID: “SHOW ME SOME I.D.” The Officer came close to the door so I could see his blue uniform. I let him in the apartment. I had to hear him tell me I had to leave the apartment RIGHT NOW.
On the way out I passed a crouched down dressed in black SWAT officer with an M-4 semi-automatic rifle and without thinking I offered to replace the light bulb that was “NOT working” (He had unscrewed it for cover).
When downstairs and away by 300 feet, I saw the SWAT command vehicle, the armed tank, a linked up squad of 8 SWAT armored RAM Team, A GO Pro Guy, A SWAT Sniper with a rifle and a couple more lookouts station at other points around other areas in the apartments.
What was it ALL about? Some guy in the apartment across from me held his girlfriend and her mother against their will for a few hours with a deer rifle.
He doesn’t even know just how damn lucky he was that these Texans LET him live.
PUTIN THREATENS NATO GLOBALLY with LONG RANGE WEAPONS – slow boat to ww3….
Why is fraternization frowned on between officers and enlisted men in the military?
When I was a young OS3 (E-4 in the Navy), I went to the Chiefs Mess’ DRB (Disciplinary Review Board) and XOI (Executive Officer’s Inquiry) for fraternization charges where fortunately my case was stopped there before going to full-blown Captain’s Mast.
I lived off base with a couple other E-4’s and a E-5 where we split a four bedroom house.
The E-5 began sleeping with his female division officer, a young 20-something O-1 and she would come by the house often.
I was on a Frigate which had about a 150 person crew. Everyone knew everyone’s name, but generally was just big enough to have it’s own after work social networks. I’ll never forget when one of the engineers approached me on the Mess Decks and asked “Is it true PO2 is sleeping with ENS NAME?”
I knew the word was out however “careful” they had been and it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, a couple days later over the 1MC announcing system I heard “OS3 Smith, Executive Officer’s Cabin”.
The XO told me he was investigating the situation, told me I was welcome to contact out local JAG office for legal advice and that I would be going to DRB in a couple days to be questioned about the situation.
At this point, the PO2 was also processed through first with DRB, XOI, and Captain’s Mast. He was reduced in rank to an E-4 and given 30/30, 30 Days restricted to the Ship and 30 Days extra duty, along with a half month’s pay.
The O-1 was sent to a Court Martal and she was processed completely out of the Navy, being reassigned off the Ship until the administrative side was done.
For myself, the cat was already out of the bag when I went to DRB. I admitted I knew what I was doing was technically wrong by not reporting the activity at our house. I was a good Sailor who had great evaluations and had never been in trouble. The Chief’s Mess recommended I go to XOI and the case be dropped there.
I went to XOI and stood in front of the XO. He asked me the same questions, as the Chiefs Mess and I kept the same answers. I basically added I felt I was in a tough spot of loyalty between my roommate friend and what I should have done. My Chief (E-7), my Divisional Officer (O-1), and my Department Officer (O-3) all went to bat for my character and the XO said the case would stop with him, but I was to be assigned extra duty in relation to the case.
So, I was assigned to go to each division on the Ship and provide fraternization training to each division until every crew member was covered.
Overall, fraternization is so frowned upon because it heavily erodes good order and discipline. It causes toxic environments that breed favoritism from our natural habits as humans. If an officer or senior enlisted has a connection with juniors, even if they truly are not showing favorites, everyone will question their decision making regarding themselves and that person.
One example provided was if the O-1 was acting as Command Duty Officer and there was an armed intruder on the Ship, what if they didn’t send PO2 into the dangerous situation? Maybe they had a legitimate good reason, but it would be questioned by the crew and others if it was because they were sleeping with each other. Maybe it’s something as simple as being assigned maintenance and they get an easier task for whatever reason. The decision would be questioned. Perception is everything.
If you made it through my long story, I appreciate you reading!
China Issues EU Economic Ultimatum, EU Giant Airbus Desperate To Sell China 100 Jets
Documents show that India contacted China for China to build high speed rails for India to replace Japan, but China has declined the Indian request. Why?
Nopes
India initially analyzed a Tender from China to build the High Speed Rail
Yet the key issue was India simply didn’t have the money China wanted
Chinas proposal was to overhaul the existing lines and build new electrification lines and then to initiate the Pilot project and then the final railway lines
They also recommended a different route rather than the Mumbai Gujarat route to initiate the Pilot
The overall investment was much higher plus interest was quite a bit higher
However China offered a Technology transfer option
Nitin Gadkari went on record to say he recommend going with the Chinese and availing finance from the ADB due to the Technology Transfer option
China also had stringent penalty clauses knowing Indias lethargy and hassles
Also China had demanded visas for numerous Chinese personnel as they didn’t repose much faith in Indian Engineers after the Bangalore Subway Project
Meanwhile Japan offered financing plus very low interest rates
Plus Japan was very flexible because they were losing markets rapidly to China, every day
However Japan didn’t have the Technology Transfer Option
The main reason was in 2017, China wasn’t yet known for its DOMINANCE in High Speed Railways
It was deemed an Up and Comer rather than the World’s Best
Today it’s different – China is the world’s best HSR contractor who can execute projects in record time
Indonesia and India began around the same time
Yet Indonesia has a fully functioning Jakarta Bandung Line while India hasn’t even commenced on 10 meters of HSR railway track so far
Bubbly Pizza
Bubbly pizza
Ingredients
3 (7.5 ounce) packages buttermilk biscuits
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup sliced olives
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 clove garlic, pressed
Instructions
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine the vegetables with the sauce.
Press the garlic and mix well into sauce mixture.
Quarter biscuits. Arrange 1/2 of the biscuit pieces evenly over bottom of 9 x 13-inch pan (it may not cover the whole pan).
Spread with 1/2 the sauce mixture and 1/2 the cheese.
Repeat layers.
Bake for 23 to 28 minutes or until sides are golden brown.
PIZZA! How to make Freaking Mouth Watering PIZZA! – Wood-Fired Pizza -Bubbly Crust
[Did you try to warn, caution or maybe threaten Chancellor Scholz when he made the decision to send weapons to Ukraine?]
"Why would you think we would threaten anyone?
We never threaten anyone, least of all the head of another state.
That would be 'mauvais ton', unacceptable in polite society.
We have our own viewpoint on certain issues.
We know the European states’ approach, including Germany’s approach, on the current developments in Ukraine.
Everyone believes that Russia started the war in Ukraine.
But no one – I want to emphasise this – no one in the West, no one in Europe is willing to remember how this tragedy began.
It started with an unconstitutional coup in Ukraine. This was the beginning of the war.
But is Russia to blame for that coup? No.
Have those who are trying to blame Russia today forgotten that the foreign ministers of Poland, Germany and France went to Kiev at the time and signed the settlement document as guarantors of a peaceful constitutional resolution of the crisis?
This is something Europe, including Germany, prefers to forget.
Because if they remembered, they would have to explain why the leaders of Germany, along with the other signatories, never demanded that the perpetrators of the coup in Ukraine return to the constitutional framework.
Why did they neglect their obligations as guarantors of agreements between the incumbent government and the opposition like this?
They are as responsible for what happened as the forces in the United States that provoked the unconstitutional seizure of power.
Don’t you know what followed?
The residents of Crimea made a decision to secede from Ukraine, and the residents of Donbass refused to obey those who carried out the coup in Kiev.
This is what followed.
This is how this conflict began."
Excerpt from remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with heads of the world’s leading news agencies, Saint Petersburg, June 5, 2024.
“Ugly”: What US Treasury bond auctions look like when China doesn’t show up
Have you ever had someone offer “physical” payment for something they couldn’t afford?
When I was 17 years old, I’d had enough of living with family and decided to try and make it on my own. I was sharing my first apartment with a friend, I was struggling to pay my rent. I spent most of my free time writing poetry and trying to deal with the darkness that my childhood had planted inside me.
A friend of the family was an artist who’d been in a bad car accident, and while he could walk, he’d broken his back in 3 places and had dozens of surgeries to try and deal with organ damage from the same accident. He needed some help with yard work. For this I would make enough money to pay for rent and some bills and get caught up.
Then I walked into his house to use the bathroom and came face to face with a gallery of his artwork. This piece (below), aggressive and fractured, drew me right in and somehow made me feel as though it understood the chaos that was consistently inside me at the time.
Over the next week, as I worked on cleaning his backyard of debris, he and I chatted often. About art, poetry, music. He was a lovely and wounded man. He saw the darkness I was struggling with and wanted to help me.
Then came the day I asked him how much this painting was. Bad news – 3 months rent. Wow…
When I was finished all the work I needed to, I asked him if I could buy the painting from him, and he, knowing I couldn’t really afford it, offered to sell it to me for a carton of cigarettes, about $45-$50 Canadian at the time. I also didn’t get paid as much for the work, which I felt was fair.
As a First Nations man, tobacco was sacred to him. This gift of tobacco was all he wanted, so he could mourn the loss of what was actually his self-portrait and favourite piece. He had sworn he’d never sell it, but couldn’t deny it when a 17yo, struggling young man found solace in it. I was so grateful to Peter for gifting me this.
It’s been with me now for more than 30 years. I look at it almost every day. It will always be emblematic of the struggle and chaos I went through.
Red & Black – original acrylic on clay – Peter Michael Hornung-Maqua. 1950–2006
main qimg bc754cb176ed4c662a42a29640c7590c
Vintage advertisements
1233889241cc38ba9f85ad4c95603ee6
37a4f820ec746347dd12b7e996a956a9
b516888efdc7f48e61b3421096693836
826182a91f06d5bdbd18529f2878ca83
6aa3783961ef57ed5bcd37511a8e586c
aee1f7f2b214f54d6453cc94c08d9d0c
f4185236189e86c6e4af8ed730679f95
c26fb82e055f885c6f5497e3890b490a
540fe7aed8b47e2a64d6abbb31da74b9
de2fa8562c7cbc7da653bea8435342bd
cd4517f1f72ada9b0a31a588b73a44da
60adfe2d240dd775f613616411226ce6
28989f767d8f7f33bbbab871d3788b29
e5975eaca7f039203d5f8dd1dc5d54a5
113cc2977031b9889730396bdbd0d30b
c8951bd62d2f691d5c86216756354c2d
ddef4cdbf46fe29a5bcba726f679d013
4263608cba96c05adf9bf1e1b4cd8c13
f64fc0b5739201948c1648b060b5576c
da41f486b480af6ec5d6b27e99c2ac04
59048d4435469c9856b2429f055183ed
e821791d34046d0701c9a9ae6473185c
9fcf3b99d010650d39e8dcb65d629fe1
9b8d008c05f9a66f9a288d9bd77cd118
3bf3a004dc3320bc611998084c18a932
c1ddb7bc491782ec90c84fae56ee50e3
cd6474d9375c5ece4cd7cc5475c570f2
b39eeb0e29284d941c4164363c2502fa
8da021455384990d12b082f3c1464bb8
What can policymakers on both sides do to address tensions between the US and China?
Nothing can be done except for China & the world to speed up dedollarisation so as to dismantle US hegemony.
Let us analyse USA’s DNA.
After WW2, from 1946-2001, in 55 years, there were 248 wars around the globe. 201 of them ie 82% were instigated by USA. In 200+ years since US independence, there were less than 20 years when USA was not in a war. Worse, it is US vassals who shed blood & lose life for USA.
Other than war, USA would instigate countless unrest eg protests, riots & coups in other countries.
Thru unrest/war, USA controls other government & resource/economy. It is neo-colonisation without occupying other’s land.
In short, it is about money & power/dominance.
1, money: USA makes tons of $$$ by arms sale & post-war construction for war-torn countries.
2, power: USA weakens allies eg EU or Japan, as well as enemies eg Russia or China.
In the Ukraine war, USA uses 1 stone to kill 3 birds: weakens the economy of both Europe & Russia. & colonises Ukraine after war.
USA did not let Ukraine reach peace deal with Russia or attack Russian soil. Why? To drag the war long enough to economically weaken both Europe & Russia.
How many people died, displaced or suffered in a war? Look at Ukraine war, the entire world is affected by the interruption of supply chain eg food due to global shortage & inflation.
USA wont not let world peace to happen. USA must create unrest incl war. War is in USA’s DNA.
NASA’S 70 Year Old Abandoned Moon Base
Is H&M going to lose $1.5 billion (per year) in the China market due to getting involved with the so-called Xinjiang human rights issue? Does H & M really know the truth about Xinjiang?
This is one of the situations that shows how careful companies have to be in managing sensitive issues.
H&M, along with Nike, Adidas and Uniqlo, have released statements that they won’t be using cotton sourced from Xinjiang anymore because of the accusations of forced labor. This has landed them in hot water in China, with consumers boycotting them and, embarrassingly, all their China brand ambassadors dropping the deals with them.
As someone who works in marketing in China, I have to say that I feel really bad for the China teams of H&M, Nike, Adidas and Uniqlo. Their companies’ HQs made these decisions without informing or consulting them, and their China teams will be expected to clean up the mess their HQs created.
Instead of the companies stating that they will conduct an investigation to ensure that all suppliers they work with adhere to their standards and do not use forced labor, apparently people from these companies’ HQs thought that a blanket ban for all cotton from Xinjiang should be implemented and that somehow this wouldn’t impact their business in China.
The fact that there is a strong feeling in China that the Western governments, primarily the US, are fabricating lies (talking to actual people in Xinjiang should help understand the situation there) to sabotage China’s growth is not helping these four companies. They are now rather seen as additional tools in the anti-China propaganda.
China’s market is enough competitive as it is now, with all companies being constantly at the edge from competition. This will heavily impact the China teams of these four companies and I suspect we will see many people employed there moving on elsewhere soon.
Micheal felt his heart leap with joy as he entered the grounds. The ancient, sandstone block buildings of the King’s university were part of the most prestigious university in the world. And how could it be, that across the entire world, one place was considered the greatest? Because the thing that had seemed inevitable had finally come to pass. The world was finally ruled by one government.The year was 2600, and Micheal Dawson lived in Sydney Australia. He was happy in his life as an academic, he was a voracious reader, and he loved to write. He had had articles published in many journals, and had even written a book, ‘The Wisdom of the Ancients’, where he compared the wise sayings of many old cultures with those from other cultures. The book had been a small success, but he was mostly just happy that people were reading his work, money was a secondary concern.Today he would go to the library, looking for something to pique his interest, something to spark a new article or publication. Before long, he was in the old building, excited to be surrounded by the wealth of knowledge. The towering shelves loomed over him, and golden rays of sunshine came in from the high windows.At the moment, he was strolling past the section on Roman history. Empires had risen and fallen throughout history, and while the Romans had brought civilization to many cultures, he felt he would leave this particular aspect to those with a greater passion for it.It was interesting though to consider the way various civilizations had waxed and waned. There was a common consensus among most people, that the current world government, would be the last, at least until space exploration became a real thing. People talked about colonizing mars, but there was still a long way to go for that dream to become a reality.His measured steps eventually took him to the Ancient Near East section. Here was the story of Gilgamesh, Egyptian mythology, Egyptian wisdom literature, Mesopotamian wisdom literature, Histories of the Assyrian empire. He then noticed a copy of the Bible on the shelves. He had some fondness for the Bible, as he had drawn heavily on the Proverbs of Solomon in his book. The proverbs had seemed to him to be the wisest of all aphoristic sayings he studied. Of course there were gems in every culture.He found himself recalling a Sumerian proverb. ‘He who knows how to move around becomes strong. He will live longer than the sedentary man’. Common knowledge today, but amazing to see that people had become wise to the fact at such an early point in civilization. Then he thought of some of the early Egyptian proverbs he had read. ‘Be industrious, let thine eyes be open, lest you become a beggar, for the man that is idle cometh not to honor.’ Every culture, or at least those in the Ancient Near East had unearthed timeless wisdom.Ah, but the Bible. Here was a text that had endured throughout history. There were still many practicing Christians today, though he did not know much about what life was like for them. On the shelves were a few different translations, the New International Version, the New Revised Standard Edition, The Holmann. A colleague had once asked him, ‘Why do you use the Holman translation?’, to which his reply had been, ‘I don’t know, it’s easy to understand, but they go to the effort of being as close to the original meaning as possible.’There were so many different sections to inspect within the Bible. There was the Torah, the first five books, in which probably Genesis was the most interesting. Then there were the writings, like Esther, Job, and Ruth, and of course the prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah. He decided this time to have a look around the end in the New Testament, probably the section he was least familiar with. And then he became interested in an idea. What was the very last book of the Bible? Flicking through, he eventually found himself looking at the Revelation of St John. He had heard of this, but he had never read it.He began to read the first couple of verses.‘The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves what must quickly take place. He sent it and signified it through His angel to His slave John, who testified to God’s word and to the testimony about Jesus Christ, in all he saw. The one who reads this is blessed, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it are blessed, because the time is near!’He laughed inside just a little. The time is near, is it? He we are about 2500 years away from when this book is written, whatever this book was writing about, it had probably never happened. He began to skim read it, and eventually began to flick through a couple of the pages. He soon found himself at the beginning of chapter 13.‘And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. He had 10 horns and seven heads. On his horns were 10 diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. The beast I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like a bear’s, and his mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. One of his heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but his fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against him?’What could this be talking about? He found himself thinking about the earth’s current president, Wilbur Wilson. Nothing about this passage seemed at least on a surface reading to relate at all to anything in the present day. But as he read further down, his hands began to tremble.‘And he requires everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of his name.’He remembered the day he had been given his implant. This was the chip through which they could access their funds, and also served as identification, in the same way a driver’s license would have back in the day. His was embedded in his right hand, and to his knowledge, it was sometimes implanted in the forehead.How had someone around 100AD predicted this? He was about to continue reading, when he heard a voice speaking to him, quietly but clearly.
‘Micheal, I am an extension of the Terminus global AI system. It has been found that you are causing yourself distress by reading volatile material, and I have been assigned to direct you away from this using brain stimulation. Please put the book back and take a break today in your home.’
‘What?’ He thought to himself. ‘What is going on?’
Again, the voice came through. ‘Please put the book back and take a break in your home.’
’Well, I’m not going to do that!’ Said his own voice in his head.
But as he tried to continue further in the book, he found himself feeling a wave of nausea and anxiety wash over him, and he began to shake.
‘Put the book down Micheal.’ Came the voice again.
He was shocked, and tried to read further, but the anxiety and shaking began to increase. He felt like his brain would come running out through his ears.
‘Put the book down.’ Said the AI, this time more firmly.
Somewhere beneath all the anxiety, he knew he was angry, but it was becoming impossible to read any further. He had never heard anything about this terminus AI, but it was obviously real. He knew the anxiety he was feeling did not come from himself, he had always loved to read, and there was no way even a book such as this would have such a painful effect.
Nevertheless, it seemed impossible to go on any further in the way he was going. Then he began to wonder, had he been marked as someone dangerous now, much in the same way as people who bought blacklisted books, like Mein Kampf, would have been some hundreds of years ago. He thought about his life, he loved being an academic, and he loved that he got paid to do what he loved. He even enjoyed teaching other up and coming students in his lectures. Maybe this was a warning he should he heed. He closed the Bible and put it back on the shelf. He would go home, clear his head, and find something else to write about.
Leaving the library, he took one last look at it before he left. No, he did not want to lose his life in academia over one dangerous book. He was a good citizen, and did not want to jeopardize his position by studying something that government had deemed dangerous. Maybe he did need a break. He found himself imagining making a cup of tea in the privacy of his apartment, and reading one of the fiction books he had bought recently. This whole episode was best forgotten.
What was the most unexpected knock you got on your door?
When we lived in California, our house was next door to a gas station. There was a fence all around, about 7 feet high, until you get to our front yard then it was only about three and a half feet high.
Our neighborhood wasn’t the best, and worse than what we had expected. For example our first morning, I let my three year old son go out in the front yard, not worried that he’d go into traffic or anything because of our fence. He came in the house holding a used syringe he found in the drive way. My husband went ballistic, then finally calmed down enough to tell our son to not touch anything like that and if he saw stuff again, to tell us, but don’t touch.
The next day, there was one ON OUR FRONT PORCH!
Our neighbors across the street, very nice ladies, told us that the drug dealers would use the pay phone at the gas station and then do their drug deals on the easement in front of our house (this was before cell phones).
The gas station eventually took out the pay phone and the drug dealers moved two blocks down to the liquor store.
Peace!
No, wait.
A knock on my door.
“Hi, I’m (so and so) representing the (something) company. Our company puts in pay phones, and I noticed that there is no pay phone at the gas station next door. I polled some of the customers and they indicated that it would be nice if there was a pay phone there, but the owner won’t talk to us. We thought we could put one on your property facing the gas station. We’d pay you $600 a month if you would do this”
“Uh, no. Sorry. There used to be a pay phone but the only people who used it with any regularity were the drug dealers, who then did their deals in front of my house.”
“Well, you can’t blame the phone company for the drug problem.”
“I don’t, but as long as there is no phone, there are no drug dealers.”
“then you should be taking pictures and calling the sheriff’s dept.”
“Excuse me??? I have small children here, and drug dealers are mean people. I don’t relish getting a bullet in my head! Besides, if I put in a phone, my neighbors will never speak to me again.”
“Well, you can’t blame the phone company for that. This is $600 a month! That would help you with your small children!”
“Look. Son. What part of NO are you having difficulty with?”
SLAM!
(no kidding, I actually said that!)
Philippines Malate Nightlife JTV
This video is perhaps the best video available showing what a KTV line up looks like. Usually they do not want anyone filming. But, yeah this is kind of my life about two times a month.
If China is full of the smartest people, why is the US so much more advanced.?
The USA is NOT more advanced than China.
China is the most technologically advanced nation on earth, both in terms of daily life for the citizens, as well as in terms of the nation’s scientific and engineering advancements. Let’s look at the two individually.
Daily Life.
China has the world’s best mobile payment system. It is pretty much a cashless society. You pay for everything with WeChat or AliPay.
China has the world’s best 5G deployment. Good 5G service is available practically everywhere.
AI is widely used across the country.
EVs are widely used across the country. Charging stations are practically everywhere.
High-speed rail is widely used across the country.
Chinese subways are among the most advanced in the world.
China is the world’s largest producer of green energy, especially solar.
Nation’s Advancement.
According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technology fields. The USA only leads in 7.
China is granted more tech patents than the USA and Japan combined!
According to the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2023, 16 of the top 25 universities in terms of quality research output are Chinese!
According to the Nature Index, the top 23 rising science institutions in the world are all Chinese!
And 39 out of the Top 50 rising institutions are Chinese! (Seven are American, two are British, and two are German.)
The Tiangong space station is the most spectacular orbital platform in the world, easily eclipsing the aging International Space Station.
It is widely acknowledged that China’s BeiDou navigation satellite system is superior to America’s GPS.
How do Chinese people cope living in such a miserable grey country due to pollution and the fact that they are the biggest contributor to world pollution?
I took the following photo from my balcony in 20 May.
This one I took at 5PM in 6th Nov. 2023 in Shanghai National Exhbition Center
This one in Tianjin, a coast city in North China, 1:48PM, 21 Oct. 2023
This is a screenshot from my car recorder. Even when it’s cloudy, the sky is white, not gray.
Even when there was about to have a heavy rain, the sky was gray-ish, but not dirty gray.
Living in China is like going into a new era every 10 years, and the pollution thing in China is more than 10 years old.
China used to have serious pollution issues, because it was focusing on becoming industrialized before the west could shut the door of industrialization.
Should I remind the west about the uneatable fish from the Great Lakes region?
Environment in the west is not always as good as nowadays, for example, the New York City and LA city smog.
It’s almost inevitable when a country’s industry developing rapidly.
When the west finished their developing process, they turn back and forbid other countries from having their own industries,
because these former colonies should only receive high pollutive manufacturing from the west,
and spending the thin profit to buy high priced green equipment from the west,
just to deal with the pollution caused by making cheap products for the west.
China spent 2 decades to clean up the mess, and now is the leading country in green energy.
China also creates the most new green land. It created so much that the west even called this as forcing the trees to work or live, I cannot remember clearly, because I don’t want such shit to contaminate my mind.
Luna One | AI Series PART 4 | “Desolation and Giants”
All AI generated. Things are improving and changing quickly.
What are the things no one tells you about living alone?
I moved out to London five months ago. Until then, I’d shared a bathroom and sometimes a bedroom for 18 years. This is more of a what no one tells you about living alone for the first time.
You can poop with the door open. You can literally put your laptop outside the door, put on Netflix and watch Brooklyn 99 on the toilet. Heck, you could seat there and watch an entire episode, and no-one will know about it (unless you put it on Quora, obviously).
Being financially independent is…terrifying. For example, you can spend £150 on a new tattoo and then eat powdered mac & cheese from Poundland until you get paid and your mother won’t be around to nag you about it. (I would not recommend doing this).
It can get lonely. I have two siblings and they were always around to hang out or chat or annoy – I can’t do that now. When I was in London over Christmas and everyone was in their hometowns, I could go five days without leaving the house or talking to anyone in person.
You can eat what you want, when you want. For example, it’s currently 3AM and I am eating mac and cheese (see number two).
You can bring people home and not worry about any awkward interactions between them and your siblings the next morning.
You can use the shower/bath whenever you want. I’ve spent nearly two decades of my life arguing with my older sister about who gets to shower first (aka who gets to use all the hot water).
If you have pets at your parents and you move out, your new place is going to feel extremely empty. I came home every day to my dogs yapping at me and my god, I miss it.
You will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be on top of your laundry. It will come out of no-where. You will produce more laundry whilst doing laundry. You will always leave at least one item out the washing machine. Being an adult is just doing laundry until you die.
There always be at least one chore to do. Washing the dishes. Vacuuming. Putting away the dishes. Cleaning the kitchen. Cleaning the bathroom. Unclogging the shower drain. Doing the shopping. It goes on and on.
There is no one else to blame when the shower gets clogged. Again, I have an older sister and we always used to blame the other person whenever the drain got blocked. Now I am the sole user of the shower in my flat and I can’t blame the hair monster in the plug on anybody else.
Ukraine Aircraft Strikes Interior Russia with West-Supplied Weapons
Ukrainian fighter jets have fired NATO missiles at a target on Russian territory for the first time in this war! A “Russian command node” was hit on Sunday in the area of Belgorod.
Expect a massive response from Moscow.
NATO continues to use Ukraine to launch its attacks on Russia!
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia is deteriorating so fast, and on so many levels due to NATO interference, that Serbia’s President Vucic now openly warns of World War 3 in Europe!!
“We are months away from a full scale war between NATO vs Russia!! All signs point to a major war in Europe!” said President Vucic. “We are heading for a major catastrophe and it seems that the train has already left the station and can no longer be stopped.”
In a TV interview, Vucic went on to say “No one in the West is talking about peace anymore – only more war. The West thinks it can win and take out Russia. I think the West is wrong. Both sides now believe it is existential for them, so I don’t think they will find a solution other than war and everything . . . everything is at stake.” he continued.
In Europe, the leaders act as the big heroes, but they are not honest and do not tell their citizens that they will all pay a big price if it comes to war” he said.
Hal Turner Snap Analysis
It’s been well over a year since the collective West announced F-16s for Ukraine. Since that moment, I said, and repeated ad nauseum, that Ukraine will NEVER GET F-16s…because they do not have airfields and maintenance to operate them.
I was right then and I am right now.
The simple FACT that they will have to use F-16s from NATO bases, also proves that those jets will have NATO pilots…because once those F-16 start hitting Russian targets, well, it will mean the EXPANDING of WW3, which already started.
It’s not really hard to understand that once Russia hits those NATO airfields, which they WILL DO, WW3 goes beyond Ukraine, hence, there is NO POINT IN TRAINING Ukrainian pilots.
I have predicted this for a very long time, and the only thing that made my dates to be wrong, was in INCREDIBLE PATIENCE OF RUSSIA.
But, as more time passed, the better accuracy my predictions become, and my last calculation was in November 2023, when I predicted direct conflict between NATO and Russia before the summer of 2024, which starts on June 20th.
I WAS 100% RIGHT — NATO forces started direct attacks against Russia at the end of last month, when they gave the “green light” to Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia. We all know that NATO troops are doing it, not Ukrainians.
The only missing part is Russia striking back, but realistically speaking, the FACT is that Russia was directly attacked by NATO already.
In my view, Russia striking back is 100% CERTAIN.
We just don’t know when and how they will do it, but I am pretty sure that it will happen in the next 10 days, and it is going to be a major one.
War is a place where young people who don’t know each other and don’t hate each other, kill each other, based on decisions made by old people, who know each other and hate each other, but don’t kill each other.
von er Leyen and Stoltenberg will, alongside their families, take a chopper to their underground Nuclear bunker. While You and your sons and daughters will be expected to die for them.
This is the reality. Think about it.
The West is to Blame; and just won’t stop
We can expect a significant widening of the west’s participation in the conflict before Putin will be forced to react. How far this will need to go to cause his response is hard to say…. but he will not take any proactive measures to prevent any of that from happening.
Putin is very determined to avoid an escalation with NATO “at any cost.” This is clear from his words and body language. It is a misguided posture on his part as this will happen regardless of his desire.
Hopefully he is at least being properly prepared for that outcome, even if it is not his wish – and make no mistake he is VERY averse to any notion of any level of conflict with NATO. He knows this will rock the boat and he simply doesn’t want that.
As such, we can expect LOTS of tolerance with whichever the US/NATO does, short of attacking Moscow directly with NATO missiles.
Not sure it will be as fast as 10 days, as the US believe it or not, still have some self-preservation sense. But the escalation towards that outcome will be indeed visible in the next days.
The U.S. needs and wants this war because they are $34 TRILLION in debt, cannot pay it, and must get debt forgiveness. Without that, they would need to adopt austerity spending which would mean cutting the Welfare, Food Stamps Medicare, spending – which they KNOW would result in political suicide . . . they would all be voted OUT. To those politicians, losing power would be worse than dying . . . for them.
Here is the OFFICIAL Federal Reserve report on the growth of the U.S. Debt:
It is now growing at ONE TRILLION DOLLARS every 100 days! This is simply not sustainable. The government is going to collapse under the weight of its own debt. It is a mathematical certainty. There is no way out for them . . .
They’re like drug addicts who need a fix. The politicians would rather die than give up their drug, which is “power.” They’d much rather have YOU and ME die, so they can keep their power.
In order to get debt forgiveness, they NEED a nuclear exchange. The politicians who put us in this financial mess – – by buying votes with public handouts – need to be able to tell creditors “Our cities are destroyed, our people are dead, our economy is in ruins . . . . we have no hope of paying you – we need debt forgiveness.”
The Creditors, seeing this is the reality, will have little choice but to forgive the debt; but only after the country is stripped bare. National Parks, National Forests: sold-off and all the trees clear-cut for lumber to pay the debts. The Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, sold off, and all the oil and gas drilled-for – as fast and cheaply as possible resulting in all sorts of environmental pollution – all taken to pay the debts.
Gold and silver discoveries in those national parks, all strip mined to grab the precious metals, and taken to be sold-off to pay the debts.
We will be left with a worthless plot of land, stripped bare and completely polluted, to pay the debts. The entire country will be a an absolute nightmare.
All because of the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, wanted to play “the sport of Kings” (i.e. war) and the Democrat party, which stole the Presidency in 2020 through election fraud along with their useful idiots who are so ignorant, so utterly stupid, they voted for these charlatans, and caused it all to happen.
At the top of the administrative heap of stupidity and ignorance, are the hirelings in the US State Department, who were so out of touch with reality and with history, they deliberately caused a war that could not be won, and should never have been fought. Nuclear War.
THAT is what I fear is coming. Very, very, soon.
“Young Men are FAILING!”: The Masculinity Crisis | Scott Galloway (E045)
Joining me today is Scott Galloway, NYU professor, published author and the host of Prof G & Pivot podcasts. Concerned for the welfare of young men, Scott sheds light on this global crisis, revealing the alarming rise in loneliness and declining economic prospects among men. In his latest book “The Algebra of Wealth”, he provides vital education on finances and investing, helping young people better understand compounding wealth and economic security. Tune in for the next hour for a deep dive into masculinity, AI, business and more.
54:22 Scott’s advice for single men on finding ‘the perfect partner’
57:12 Happiness & hedonism: how to build long-lasting happiness
As a parent what’s the hardest thing you’ve had to tell your child?
I married in 1998. In 2000 our house was ready and we planned on getting a kid. We were given three. In 2001 our triplets were born.
Life was complicated for a while — but extremely rewarding. They are great kids, all of them, all in different ways.
In December 2010 my wife collapsed, was taken to hospital and diagnosed with brain cancer. She spent the next 14 months in and out of hospitals, both in our home town and in north Portugal. In February 2012 she went into a coma, and I was told that if the kids wanted to see their mother they’d better get there pronto.
My sister brought them to me. I sat with them, huddled them together and told them that their mother was in a Intensive Care unit, that she was in a coma and that she was unable to recognize them, understand them, or even to realize that they were there.
I gave them the full options: going to see their mother, or not. I told them she wouldn’t know, and that no one would judge them, whatever their decision would be. But that they would never again interact with her.
They cried, and they thought for a while, and then told me that if she wouldn’t know that they were there, they’d prefer to remember their mother alive, rather than just a body on a hospital bed.
I passed this information on to the hospital staff. They turned off life support and she passed away, quietly, without emerging from the coma. Next came the cremation, and by this time they were really upset. We decided that as soon as possible we had to get them out of that sort of reality, so we took them for a few hours in the park. And it worked wonders — but very few people outside the immediate circle of the two families understood this. I am still being criticized, and judged, for not bringing her home for a burial, and for allowing my kids to relax their mourning.
I figured that they had had this for the whole of the preceding year. They knew their mother was ill, and they understood (I don’t know how, because no one ever told them) that we didn’t expect her to survive. I still have friends of ours — OK, mostly friends of hers — who haven’t forgiven me for it.
A few days later, once we were back home, they came to me, and told me that it was fortunate that it had been mommie who had died. I was shocked, but curious, so I asked why. And the answer they gave was amazing: “Mommie was ill and was bound to die anyway; if you had died we’d have been all alone”.
But having to tell them that their mother was dying, and having to give them the choice of seeing her or not — that was the toughest position I was ever in.
I give them full credits for taking the option they took — it just shows they are practical, smart and level-headed kids.
Shorpy
SHORPY 31395u1.preview
SHORPY 4a13252a.preview
SHORPY 4a28742a.preview
SHORPY 4a24819a.preview
img459.preview
SHORPY 30775u1.preview
SHORPY 01161a.preview
seacrestmotorsrt1alynncopy.preview
SHORPY 8b33233u.preview
SHORPY 4a27691a.preview
SHORPY 8d41498u.preview
SHORPY 1a34673u.preview
SHORPY 32055u1.preview
SHORPY 31108u.preview
SHORPY 32084u.preview
Cacciatore French Bread Pizza
French Bread Pizza SpendWithPennies 5
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
6 (7 inch) French rolls or 1 long loaf French bread
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, cut into thin strips
1 cup (1 small) sliced onion
1 cup (1 small) sliced bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Contadina Pizza Sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/2 cup (2.8 ounce can) sliced ripe olives
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
IG French Bread Pizza SpendWithPennies 1
Instructions
Slice bread in half lengthwise. Place cut-side up on baking sheet.
Bake in preheated 425 degrees F oven for 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly toasted.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add chicken, onion, bell pepper and salt; cook, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Spread pizza sauce over cut surface of bread; top with chicken mixture.
Sprinkle with basil, olives and cheese.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.
French Bread Pizza SpendWithPennies 7
How do “soft” people survive in prison?
Here’s my experience after doing 5 years in Conn.
Guys that are soft, as you’re thinking are usually people who are not career criminals, and generally not led a difficult lives out on the streets. They come into the system with few “natural enemies” so to speak. A lot of guys get in trouble because they continue “beefing” with people inside the walls.
“soft” guys usually mind their own business, or are not nosy, or don’t pay attention to problems not their own. They tend to be quiet, keep to themselves.
Alot of these type guys are actually fairly smart, educated, come into it with other “transferable skills.” They become useful to the other inmates. A man who is able to help other inmates read their court documents, or letters from the lawyers; Or, they need a letter composed to the judge complaining about a shady lawyer; Or, the “quiet guy” has art skills, and can do some amazing artwork, and he charges a reasonable rate. If this is the case, you might find this “soft” guy actually winds-up with alot of protection from the guys who have benefited from his various skills.
I was told also: ‘you do not know who that guy knows, if anyone is looking out for him from the background. It’s best not to find-out the wrong way. Leave people alone, if they leave you alone,’ is one of the gold rules that will do you well, going in.
What battles in history were won because one side did something so unthinkable that it caught their opponent completely by surprise?
Oh, this one will be fun: How about the one battle in history where infantry defeated a navy fleet?
I give you, the Miracle of Empel.
It’s the year 1585 and the wars of Flanders were ongoing between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Heretics. During winter, some of the Spanish Tercios of Alejandro Farnesio, commanded by Francisco de Bobadilla, were stationed at Bommelerwaard but were promptly surrounded by a great army and 100 ships led by Phillip of Hohenlohe. The Spaniards were offered terms to surrender but they simply answered with immortal words:
“Spanish soldiers prefer death to dishonor. We will talk about surrender after death”
And so began the siege. The Dutch did everything right, using their superior numbers and artillery to push the Spaniards more and more and they even flooded the countryside to bottle up the Spaniards and allow their ships to get closer and bombard their camp. The Spanish were surrounded by water and ships. Bobadilla then set up a final stand at Empel, and waited for their doom. However, as they prepared their positions, a Spanish soldier, while digging, is said to have found an image of the Immaculate Conception, which was quickly taken as a sign that God was with Spain. The Image was set next to the Burgundy Cross and the morale was restored. They would die fighting.
It was december 8th, and as night descended, a terrible cold came with the dark. It blew fiercely and continuously, such that temperature went down and down, until water began to freeze.
At some point, the Spaniards realized that all the waters around Empel had frozen over and that the Dutch fleet was trapped in the ice. God was with them, said the soldiers of the Catholic King, and so, with the terrible cries of “Santiago” and “Cierra España” the fearsome Spanish Tercios crossed the ice on foot and fell upon the Dutch ships, like wolves on sheep.
Hundreds of heretics died and all the ships burned. The Tercios marched away victorious:
After the battle, Admiral Hohenlohe-Neuenstein supposedly said: “It seems that God is Spanish to work such a miracle for them”.
How do you perceive the increased assertiveness of the Philippines towards China in the South China Sea under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr?
Marcos is doing a job for USA: keep creating conflicts in SCSea. Exactly like what Ukraine did 10 years ago that resulted a Russia-Ukraine war. War is what USA wants.
Assertiveness??? That is part of the job for Marcos to reach the end result: WAR for USA.
After WW2, from 1946-2001, in 55 years, there were 248 wars around the globe. 201 of them ie 82% were instigated by USA. In 200+ years since US independence, there were less than 20 years when USA was not in a war. Worse, it is US vassals who shed blood & lose life for USA.
Other than war, USA would instigate countless unrest eg protests, riots & coups in other countries.
Thru unrest/war, USA controls other government & resource/economy. It is neo-colonisation without occupying other’s land.
In short, it is about money & power/dominance.
1, money: USA makes tons of $$$ by arms sale & post-war construction for war-torn countries.
2, power: USA weakens allies eg EU or Japan, as well as enemies eg Russia or China.
In the Ukraine war, USA uses 1 stone to kill 3 birds: weakens the economy of both Europe & Russia. & colonises Ukraine after war.
USA did not let Ukraine reach peace deal with Russia or attack Russian soil. Why? To drag the war long enough to economically weaken both Europe & Russia.
How many people died, displaced or suffered in a war? Look at Ukraine war, the entire world is affected by the interruption of supply chain eg food due to global shortage & inflation.
USA wont not let world peace to happen. USA must create unrest incl war. War is in USA’s DNA.
When I first moved to Shenzhen and living with my wife and her dog, PP (who was soon to be my dog) he was very stressed. And also, very excited. And when a dog is stressed, he cannot help himself… he starts peeing everywhere.
it was starting to become a real problem and we had to keep him in a cage in the house as he was drenching everything. The couch, the chairs, the rug, the mats, the porch the… heck, you name it… and he peed on it.
I well remember the time when we were going out for dinner and a drink. We were in the elevator moving from the 38th floor to the lobby. And somewhere around the 17th floor an attractive gal enters the elevator.
She was all made up. Clean, perfume, fixed hair and brand new dress with nylons and high heels.
And here is PP…
He lifts his leg to spray all over her, when i stop him and give him a swift kick that threw him to the side of the elevator. The dog pee spraying all over. But, thankfully missing the girl, and everyone else in the elevator.
Phew!
Well, we had to deal with that kind of behavior for a while until we got rid of the the younger dog; “Super” who was the one causing all the stress. But until then it was really touch and go.
PP had this thing about roads.
As soon as we were in the middle of the road, he would sniff it and start to take a dump right there and then. The on-coming cars would screech to a stop and start honking like crazy. Damn! We couldn’t take him anywhere.
Well, eventually he calmed down, and all was good. But, for the first year or so, it was Hell on earth. Yellow pee was flying everywhere.
But, at least, it wasn’t on that pretty girls leg.
Thank God!
Today…
Do you expect more countries to claim that China approached or intimidated one of their warships or aircraft in the East or South China Sea?
Yes. As long as they are US allies, they will work for USA to spy on China on the edge of Chinese territory.
The latest example is Netherlands.
In name of doing the job for UN to maintain security on Korean peninsula, a Dutch warship sailed thru Taiwan strait which is far away from Korea. … it is Dutch who told the world that the Korean mission was a lie. Spying on China is the real reason.
After finished with the Korean mission, why must the Dutch sail on the edge of Chinese territory at East Sea? The Dutch made itself a suspect of a crime.
Psychology says that normally a criminal reacts more violently than the victim. To hide its illegal activity, a criminal normally will intimidate the victim by barking on top of their lung, hoping their bark will cover their cowardice.
Hence, we see the Dutch barked at China when they were expelled by China.
Another reason to bark loudly is to make sure its “owner” – USA can hear it. “Job done, Boss USA.”, said the Dutch.
In terms of conspiracy ie lie, there is a saying: When a lie is barked 1 million times, a lie will become truth.
Like Jesus. According to Jewish history, Jesus was a man who rebelled the Jewish authority. Got caught & sentenced to death. A hero to some people has become son of god for 2000 years.
See, you say a lie 1 million times, The lie will become truth one day.
All cultures have creators. All creators made the SAME sun, rain, humans, animals, plants etc. It means it is the same creator, be in polytheism or mono.
Different wisdom will create different cultures incl religions. But Christians think Jesus is son of creator.
What is the most depressing thing a student has said to you?
Student was failing math and was sent to my office for a “pep talk.” I tried to get the student to understand that it really is harder to get an “F” grade in a class, than to do the bare minimum and receive a passing grade.
He looked at me and said that he had reviewed the “new” summer school policy adopted by the district that stated, in essence, that if a student receives a “D” or “F” grade in a core subject, he/she is entitled to repeat the class (remedial) free of charge during summer school session.
However, if the student receives a “C” grade or higher, and merely wants to improve his/her grade, the cost of retaking the class would be $360.00, a sum that his parents could not afford.
Therefore he intended to fail the class, retake it during the summer session and strive for a “B” or “A” in the course.
I was stunned by his logic, but also quite impressed by his savvy. His reasoning was sound. Having no strategy to defend such a ludicrous district policy, I told him to sit quietly in the class for the balance of the semester, not disturb or distract others, and wished him well during summer school as he repeated the course for free.
Word spread quickly and summer school quickly filled up with “remedial” students.
FYI- He “blew away” the summer session and received an “A” in the course.
The logic of the student was brilliant. The depressing aspect of the story was the stupidity of the district leadership and board to adopt such a asinine policy.
Russia Exposes The Dollar’s Hegemony As US Lawmaker Admits “We Could Seize China’s Assets”
Biden says China wants to become the most wealthy, powerful country but it’s “not gonna happen on my watch”. What methods has he taken? Has he achieved it?
Biden is a fucking jackass. What’s wrong with China becoming the most wealthy and powerful country?
At least, unlike America, China is a peaceful nation. It has fought no wars in the last 45 years. Remind me how many wars America has fought during this period.
Unlike America, China works to bring peace to the world. It brokered an historic peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It called for peace negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts. It called for the Palestinians to have their own independent state.
But America blocked all of this.
Unlike America, China is helping developing countries with the Belt and Road Initiative. America has done fuck-all for these countries.
Unlike America, China does not punish countries with sanctions for not complying with its foreign policy.
Biden and America can just fuck off.
When did you first realize your child was different?
I first suspected the day after he was born. He was alert and looking around. Yes, I know they can’t focus their eyes but this kid was staring right at me. I felt he was staring through me. I told my wife it was like a sentient being was staring at me from behind those eyes.
At two weeks he would hold his head up to get a better view.
I was song leader at church and during service sat on the platform next to the pastor when something else was going on. My wife sat on the front row holding the baby. At six months he noticed me on the platform and mouthed “Hi, Pop” to me as clearly as day. The pastor noticed and whispered “He said ‘Hi, Pop.’” I nodded in agreement.
I started to write that he began walking at 9 months. In fact, he hit the floor running and has never slowed down.
His older brother and sister are smart and smarter. They both swear that he is smarter than either of them. Unfortunately he was diagnosed late with ADHD. He found it very hard to focus on boring things and developed bad study habits. He attempted college twice but never took to book learning. He drives a truck for a living. He also plays ukulele, recorder, and bass guitar. He juggles, makes glass marbles, roasts and grinds his own coffee brand, yo-yoes competitively, and is a former state spin top champion. He sews costumes for himself and his kids. He can also wire a house, rebuild a car engine, and create graphic art.
Oh, and he is 6 feet 4 inches (1.9m) tall and 240 pounds (108kg) of solid muscle. Best of all, he is still my sweet,tender-hearted, little boy.
PEPE ESCOBAR: RUSSIA READIES FOR WAR WITH NATO AS PUTIN DROPS BOMBSHELL ON U.S. DOLLAR
Super exciting!
Why do you think China’s zero tolerance on corruption made China great today?
I was spending a lot of time in China for business during the early 2000s. Corruption was a real and growing problem and dealing with it was a dilemma my team there faced on a regular basis.
You know it’s a problem when you meet with the son of a high ranking provincial government official and he starts complaining about corruption!
I was still traveling frequently to China as Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption started. I was very skeptical it would be effective because I viewed it as a ploy to consolidate power.
I’m still not convinced that wasn’t one of his goals, but one change I noticed immediately was at the 5* hotel I usually stayed at in Changsha. Prior to the crackdown, its restaurants and lounges were thronged with officials entertaining business contacts and throwing expensive banquets. After the crackdown started, it stopped; the whole place was empty.
The other thing I noticed was thoroughness of the crackdown. A local business contact with whom I had negotiated a joint-venture due to his strong connections with the mobile industry was pulled in for lengthy interrogation by Public Security — simply because his contact at China Mobile had been found guilty of corruption. The police were talking to everyone in his network. In fact, I was warned to stay away until things had blown over.
I suppose it’s a smart and pragmatic policy that consolidates power while at the same time dealing with a problem that if left unchecked could in time threaten the Party’s legitimacy.
I’ve seen the corrosive effect of corruption on countries such as Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines. Unless it is dealt with, it becomes endemic. It also gets worse over time. I think the clean up of graft was a necessary step in China’s ongoing development. There’s still a ways to go, but it seems to be heading in the right direction.
Can you destroy your entire life with one wrong decision?
Yep. When I was young I sat on a First Degree murder trial of a 19-year old Marine who, on payday, went out with a friend on Friday night. They met a couple of girls at a bar and began drinking. At one point the girls introduced them to a guy friend of theirs and all had a great time, drinking and carousing. Then, late into the evening, the guy friend said “let’s roll a boot”, meaning rob a new recruit. Their plan was for the girls to lure two new marines to a vacant house out in the desert east of San Diego, where the three guys woul lie in wait until the girls could get them really drunk and then the guys would burst in, hold them up and steal their paychecks.
Sounded simple, if criminal, and this is where things went pear shaped. First, the three guys who were part of the plan armed themselves. Then one of the victims tried to run and the girl’s friend shot the kid as he tried to run off into the desert in the night. Poor boy had no chance. He was picked off as he came out the back door.
The defendant wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. Had no priors and was in his way to a great life in the USMC. However, because he and his friend allowed themselves to get pulled into the robbery of the two younger marines, the shooter went away for life (had a wrap sheet as long as my arm, apparently, as did the girls). The two older Marines were both found guilty under the Felony Murder Rule. We had no option. The defense’s argument simply didn’t meet reasonable doubt requirements, and the kid at my trial went away to state prison for a long stretch. We heard about what a great kid he was and how his family and friends were shocked that he’d do something like this, but nothing could bridge the gap that he was there, part of the other crime (to rob the two boys), and therefore, he was guilty under the rule.
His life was ruined all because his common sense was impaired by lust and alcohol and he exercised really poor judgement.
Stubborn Cat Only Likes Listening To One Song | Cuddle Buddies
This is beyond adorable!
When Pinar went to a clinic she saw a cat named Goat hiding in a box all alone. The vet wanted to put her to sleep but Pinar refused to let that happen. When she brought her home she nursed her back to health and started singing to her. Goat loves when Pinar sings and she always wants to listen to the same song. They have formed such a strong bond together and Pinar could not imagine her life without Goat
https://youtu.be/A7m5qfBUyFg
When was the last time you screamed as loud as you possibly could? And why?
In August of 2016. My baby sister refused to die. Her entire body was eaten with cancer and her pain was unbearable. The hospice said a 300 lb biker would die in 24 hours from the amounts of fentanyl etc she was getting . But I knew she was not going to die until September 11. Our father died on 9/11 …15 years earlier. She was waiting for him to come get her.
She would scream in pain. She would scream “Laura, save me” Then they would come with more drugs and try to quiet her. It never lasted long.
One night I could not bear the screams and I left the hospice and started walking, but I could still hear her. “ Laura, save me”. About 2 blocks away I could not hear her any more. I sat down in the grass and I started screaming . I screamed because she was dying. I screamed because she would not die. I screamed because I was beating cancer and she wasn’t. I screamed because I could not save her. I screamed until the police came and they talked me into going back.
On 9/9 she stopped screaming. She just lay there with her beautiful blond hair on the pillow and her big blue eyes looking at me. She patted my hand. She had a little smile on her lips. On the morning of 9/11/2016 she gently slipped away. I think our Daddy came for her. I did not scream again.
Peaceful Husband Secretly Records Coercive and Controlling Wife | Sheree Spencer Case Analysis
What is the most clever defense you’ve seen someone use in the courtroom?
This isn’t something along the lines of the “Twinkie” or “affluenza” defenses, but it was the most clever defense strategy I’ve seen in over 30 years as a commercial litigator.
By way of backstory, this case started in the early 90’s and it was a beast. Our clients had purchased a portfolio of mobile home loans with a total face value over $100,000,000. Our folks got crossways with the seller and there were claims going both ways – including fraud and other nasty allegations. One of our co-defendants was represented by a truly remarkable lawyer, Henry. He was somewhat of a legend in the Houston legal community.
Henry had been practicing for decades by this time, and one of the things that made him so remarkable was his ability to command all of the facts of each case. By the time he got to trial, Henry knew EVERYTHING about the parties, the facts, the documents, the witnesses, the judge, etc. If it was in any way important, Henry knew it. That’s what allowed him to use this particular defense strategy in all his cases.
What Henry would do, even in a case like ours (multiple parties, hundreds of exhibits, dozens of witnesses), was walk into the courtroom with NOTHING but a Big Chief tablet and a pencil. That’s it. How did it work? Like a charm.
The plaintiffs walked in with 3 lawyers, 4 paralegals, other support staff carrying 20 or more boxes, and there was Henry, alone, with just a pad and a pencil. To the jury, he looked like the little guy up against overwhelming opposition. That gained him and his client the potential “sympathy” advantage and, whenever he would ask to use an exhibit the other side marked, it looked like he was using THEIR documents against them. It wasn’t true, of course, but that was the impression it left on the jury.
Classic Pizza Margherita
(Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Pizza)
Thin, crisp crusts like this one are the hallmarks of much Italy’s pizza. Another vital element is not overloading the pie with toppings – less is definitely more on pizza. This dough goes together quickly and can be used after a single rising. If time is very short, blend, knead, rest for 30 minutes, and roll out. No baking stone is needed, since you slip the crust out of the pan and crisp it directly on the bottom rack of the oven during the last two minutes of baking. Use stone-ground, organic flour if possible.
pizza margherita
Yield: 1 (14 to 16 inch pizza), serving 4 to 6.
Ingredients
Neapolitan Style Pizza Crust
Generous 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (about 100 degrees F)
1 teaspoon all-purpose unbleached flour
1 to 1 1/4 cups organic, stone ground all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Additional flour
Margherita Topping
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 sprig parsley, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dry oregano
1 1/2 cups canned whole peeled tomatoes
1/3 cup packed fresh basil leaves, torn
3 ounces fresh mozzarella (in liquid), thinly sliced
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly-ground black pepper
Salt
Instructions
Neapolitan Style Pizza Crust
In a medium mixing bowl or food processor, blend yeast, water and teaspoon of flour. Foam should form on surface in about 8 minutes (if not, yeast is past its prime; find fresher).
Blend in remaining flour and salt, forming a smooth, quite soft, slightly sticky dough. Blend in food processor no more than 30 seconds (then knead 5 minutes by hand); in mixer blend for about 5 minutes; by hand stir to blend and knead for 5 minutes.
Place in a large oiled bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let stand in a cool place until doubled in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours). If not ready to bake, keep dough covered and hold up to 8 hours.
About 20 minutes before baking, punch down, knead a minute or two and then form into a ball, cover.
To make pizza, lightly oil a 14 to 16 inch pizza pan. Heat oven to 500 degrees F, setting rack as low as possible in oven.
Roll out dough as thin as possible to about a 16 inch round (no more than 1/16 inch thick). Spread over pan, rolling in edges to form a rim. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Top as desired or suggested below and bake for 10 minutes.
Using a spatula and thick oven mitt, slip the pizza off the pan directly onto the oven rack by pulling out rack, grasping pizza pan firmly with protected hand, and using spatula or pancake turner to slip pie off pan and onto rack. Slide rack back in place and bake 2 minutes. Slip pie back onto pan, remove from oven. Cut and serve.
Margherita Topping
In a 10 inch skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Sauté onion and parsley to golden, then stir in garlic and oregano for a few seconds. Add tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pan (do not substitute crushed tomatoes). Boil, stirring, 5 minutes or until thick.
Spread sauce over rolled out crust, sprinkle with basil, mozzarella, and finally the oil. Finish with generous black pepper and a little salt. Bake as directed above.
Notes
Variation: In Naples, fresh or canned tomatoes often replace tomato sauce on pizza. Make sure tomatoes have big, rich flavor and use them judiciously.
More Variations: Use any of the following flavorings sparingly, but only enough to flavor, not overwhelm: Sliced red onion, pitted olives, pepperoni, anchovy, sliced mushrooms, steamed broccoli or cauliflower, salami, prosciutto, roasted peppers, shrimp, cooked Italian sausage, hot pepper, fresh herbs such as marjoram, oregano, mint, garlic, rosemary or sage. For “Americanized” pizza, use tandoori marinated chicken breasts, oven roasted vegetables, salsa and anything else you desire.
Have you ever woken up one morning and said, “I’m done” and then walked away from your life?
It’s never quite that simple. I had been going to University, my dad had a heart attack, and I quit university to go run the family business until it could be sold.
That was walking away from one life path.
Then about the time the business was sold, 4 years later, I was reading Dear Abby, and someone wrote in, and said I’m 32, I want to go back to university and get qualified for my dream job, but in 4 years when I graduate, I will be 36, what should I do. Dear Abby said, how old will you be in 4 years if you don’t go get your dream job?
I was 4 years older than when I quit university, I wanted different things now. So when the business sold, I ran away to sea. That was walking away from two life paths, university and the family business, all at the same time.
Eventually I became a ships Captain and fulfilled my dream of seeing most of world. Then I noticed that all of the crew over 35, were either divorced or estranged from their kids. I couldn’t just walk away, I worked 4 months a year, and got a degree in something that I hadn’t even thought of when I was 18. Then I walked away from working at sea.
I got a great job, but unfortunately it paid a bonus for productivity, and I got hooked. I was making twice as much in bonus, as I was making from my generous salary. But I was working 12 hour weekdays, and 8 hour weekends. My mother got very ill, and I walked away from that job, and took one that gave lots of time off.
Then finally when covid hit, I said enough is enough, and I walked away from that and retired to the wilderness…
[I just had a conversation with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer SE, a board member of Netflix, and the owner of Politico. His newspapers strongly advocate Western resistance towards Eastern despotism. We discussed this argument, which you also hear in Switzerland. They say, ‘Well, you know, China is a threat; they are evading WTO rules. We have Russia, which is an autocracy.’ There is a sense, and I think it’s an authentic sense, with these voices that our way of life, our democracy, is threatened. Therefore, we have to contain these countries, these powers. I’m sure you’re confronted with this argument as well. What do you counter in this sense? What’s your answer to that?]
"Well, first of all, it's a meme or a theme that goes back to Herodotus in the Greek-Persian Wars.
It's a theme since Alexander and the Hellenistic empires that he created.
It is a theme of the Roman Empire in its battles with the Parthians, with the Persians, that went on for several centuries.
It is a theme during the Crusades and the infidels to the east.
It is a theme that was part and parcel of the rhetoric of the British Empire, and it was a theme of the Enlightenment—Asian despotism, Western values.
It's extraordinarily trite is what it is.
It is trite; it is simple-minded.
[Is it paranoia?]
It is ignorance, basically.
People should go out and go to China, make some friends, have some Chinese students, go to Moscow, go to other places in the world.
This 'us versus them' mentality is kind of primitive.
Maybe it's a basic psychological state.
Evolutionary biologists think that because small bands competed with each other over campsites and foraging areas, group solidarity and otherness of the other side is a fundamental theme.
But the East-West theme is at least 2,400 years old.
It's a little boring, and it's such a crude character.
When Biden came into office, of course, he's not a very intelligent person even when he was younger, but his whole foreign policy was 'democracies versus autocracies.'
I didn't know whether to put my thumb in my mouth and suck my thumb for how stupid this was or how dangerous this kind of divide-the-world approach is.
Turns out it's the latter.
Biden meant it. He's absolutely dividing the world. He doesn't sit down to have conversations with anybody.
We're great; they're evil.
By the way, you know, your friend at Springer—China's really going to endanger the American way of life? Come on.
Are you kidding? What are you talking about?
[Is there a sense of an identity crisis here in the West? We have this woke philosophy, the questioning of everything—even biology. Then you have this kind of moral absolutism, not just in foreign affairs but also in interior affairs, cancel culture. These could be read as symptoms of a severe identity crisis, which is somehow compensated by these pictures, you know, by this kind of Dr. Strangelove way of looking at the world.]
I think it's actually something a little bit different in my view, although there are many interpretations. But you know, in 1095, Pope Urban called for the First Crusade.
Europe was pretty pathetic at that stage. It was peasants as serfs on manorial farms. But the idea was the crusade against the infidel and the reconquest of the Holy Land, and all of that.
It started what was a thousand years of Western ascendancy looking back.
The idea that the West has the dominant moral, religious philosophy—that it should lead the world.
Crusading became not only a literal series of wars but an idea.
The idea of the West spreading Western values, Western dominance, whatever those values were: African slavery, conquest, empire, whatever.
Then, of course, the next phase was the voyages of Columbus and Vasco de Gama.
Adam Smith, writing 275 years after that, said those were the two game-changers of the world because it basically became an interconnected but Western-led world.
Then with the industrialization of the 19th century and with Darwinism, by the way, in its interpretations by social Darwinists, the idea was Europe is superior in power, superior in values, probably superior in genetics.
That became the new idea when the idea of evolution and genetics came at the beginning of the 20th century.
[So you would say that this is kind of a superiority complex that is still raging within the West, if I correct?]
Yes, but with one major fact, which is that it's so flawed, so arrogant.
Now we live in a multipolar world.
The great trick of Protestantism was teaching people how to read. Literacy came early to Europe's north.
That was a huge economic advantage, by the way. Huge.
Probably the most significant thing was the printing press and Luther saying, 'Read the Bible on your own,' and Calvin saying, 'Read the Bible.'
Suddenly, literacy.
The rest of the world was basically illiterate.
One part of the world was literate and then saying, 'We're literate, we have advanced technology, we're superior. Oh, we're genetically superior. Oh, we're racially superior.'
So this became the idea.
Now all of it was kind of cruel nonsense, even in historical terms, because the other great civilizations were like, 'Well, you know, we've been here too for 3,000 years, sorry to tell you.'
Now we're truly at a moment where the United States can't get its way in Ukraine.
The United States can't get its way in Taiwan.
The United States can't get its way in the Middle East.
The Arabs have woken up, by the way.
They've been manipulated by the British Empire, by the French, by the American Empire for a hundred years.
They're saying, 'Stop, no more. Don't manipulate us.'
What's happening is a thousand years, or you could say since Herodotus, but basically a thousand or 500 or 200 years, depending on when you want to date it, of perceived European superiority.
What your counterpart at Springer said, you know, 'Western values,' that's not just 'we have our values,' that's 'our superiority' is what's being expressed there.
This is being challenged, understandably, properly, by the fact that there are other people in the world. Thank you.
When I add up the vote count, as it were, the U.S. has 335 million people, the European Union has 450 million people.
Add in Switzerland, add in Norway, add in Britain, and you get maybe 900 million people.
Add in, if you want, though it's kind of arbitrary, Japan, Korea, add in Australia, New Zealand, maybe you get to a billion people.
That's 12.5% of the world population.
We're going to run the world? Come on."
Excerpt from remarks by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, American economist and academic, in an interview with Roger Köppel for Die Weltwoche, June 6, 2024.
China, and not the US, just built the world’s first Artificial Intelligence hospital.
Note: I am not a lawyer and the following is not intended as a legal treatment of the issues presented. I welcome expert opinions from any lawyers among the Committee.
“The Ninth Circuit ruling today demonstrates that the court saw through LAUSD’s monkey business, and in so doing, it made clear that American’s [sic] cherished rights to self determination, including the sacred right of bodily autonomy in matters of health, are not negotiable. This is a great triumph for the truth, decency, and what is right.”
This is the statement issued by the Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF) on a recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit appeal court against a Vaxx mandate imposed on all employees by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The LAUSD Vaxx mandate is currently suspended and was originally implemented with the sanction of the loss of employment. The ruling covered at least three important points:-
The court recognized that the COVID-19 Vaxx is not a “traditional vaccine” as it does not prevent infection and transmission
The court recognized that the original ruling (in LAUSD’s favor) did not extend to “forced medical treatment” for the recipient’s benefit (the LAUSD had cited the precedent set by a 1905 decision on mandated smallpox inoculations)
Although the mandate is not currently in force, the court dismissed a mootness argument given that the LAUSD “expressly reserved the option to again consider imposing a vaccine mandate” (quote from the opinion summary)
Here is a paragraph from the HFDF’s statement:
The court declined to give any deference to pronouncements by the CDC that the “COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.” As the court asked rhetorically, “safe and effective” for what? The majority pointed to HFDF’s allegation that CDC had changed the definition of “vaccine” in September 2021, striking the word “immunity” from that definition. The court also noted HFDF’s citations to CDC statements that the vaccines do not prevent transmission, and that natural immunity is superior to the vaccines.
HFDF is a non-profit fighting Vaxx mandates. Their full statement on the result of the appeal is here:
Comment: Our Barbara Ann found this decision by the 9th Circuit Court to be important enough to suggest it as a post. It is a legal decision that a California school district could not mandate Covid vaccinations as a condition of employment although the district already did away with the mandate. I would have glossed over the decision without another thought, but maybe I’m missing something.
It looks like the 9th Circuit decided the Covid vaccine is just not that good a vaccine. Would they have made this decision if it was wildly effective? If they were faced with the decision back in 1905, would they have struck down the mandated smallpox vaccination? Back then, teams of NYC police and doctors roamed the streets forcibly vaccinating recalcitrant New Yorkers. We didn’t go that far during the Covid pandemic.
I also wonder how the 9th Circuit would decide if a challenge is made to our military’s mandate on vaccines such as the annual flu vaccine. The efficacy of that vaccine is perennially in doubt, but it is still mandated in our military. This is from the USMC implementation message:
“3.a. Per refs (a), (b), and (c), all Marine Corps active and reserve component personnel shall receive the 2023-2024 seasonal Influenza vaccine(s) unless medically or administratively exempt. The Marine Corps active component shall ensure 100 percent of personnel are compliant with DoD policy (vaccinated or approved medical or administrative exemption) no later than 15 Dec 23. The Marine Corps reserve component shall vaccinate at least 90 percent of required personnel no later than the DoD goal of 15 Jan 24.“
TTG
Is there any special treatment for people who fly on privately owned planes at airports, such as faster security checks?
Yeah, the fastest… NO security checks! Some places will drive your rental car up to your plane so you can toss your bags in and drive away, right from the ramp. Most places will also let you drive on the airfield to load your bags into your plane. Usually they have fresh cookies and free water/coffee/tea, a room to nap in (if you need it). It’s so, damn, nice. Also they’ll usually let you take a car, free, for a few hours if kept locally.
Now, I say “free” but you’re paying. For a small plane like mine I get hit with around $50 in ramp fees, per night, and maybe $30 in facility fees which are waived with 20 or so gallons of gas, which is outrageously priced at $8–9/gallon. However that all varies with the size of the airport. Some places charge zero, but all you get there is a smile and a bathroom. Maybe a pot of coffee.
The major advantage is the time saved, and the lack of hassle. No TSA idiot going through your bags and rubbing your balls looking for that nickel you forgot to take out of your pocket, no traffic, no crying babies or obnoxious people. Kids are always well behaved, people are always quiet and nice. Upper crust types (of all colors for you gen Z racists out there who were about to pull the white privilege card).
It’s expensive, but so worth it. As Homer Simpson told Marge after flying on a private plane vs commercial “It’s the difference between drinking champagne and carbonated pee.” And I’m an airline pilot so yes, I know first hand.
You are Gay Now – It’s Pride Month Again!
Do you support efforts to bring China into arms control talks, as pledged by Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, a year ago?
Whatever USA say eg arms control, climate change or more. The intention is to limit other’s development. To stop others from surpassing USA. That is all. … USA thinks it is god. The world must take its order.
USA has a treaty with USSR-Russia to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, mid-range missiles & more.
In Trump’s time, USA unilaterally tore the treaty. USA’s excuse was that China must be in the treaty too. But the number of Chinese nuclear weapons is way way below USA’s. The truth surfaces in 2024: USA installed mid-range missiles in Philippines. USA created Cuba crisis 1.0 in 1962. Now USA is creating Cuba crisis 2.0 in PH.
Same thing for Climate Change. USA asked China to reduce CO2. The plot was to slow down China’s development to become a developed country with full industrialisation.
What shocks USA is that China takes Climate Change seriously by working hard to develop green energy products eg electric car, solar panel, wind turbine etc. Very successful as of 2024.
Now, USA complains China is too successful by accusing China of overcapacity of electric cars.
Back to the question. Arms control talks? With USA? It is a waste of time. Because USA is not serious about world interest. Only US interest.
Besides, who does USA think it is to tell others what to do? god?
China built 10 missile cruisers in 48 months, packing 1,120 missiles.It’s true? Why can’t the US do the same? Doesn’t the US have a larger defense budget?
If this is in reference to the Type 055 program, it’s 8 in 8 years (2014–2022), from hull-laying to commission. That’s probably unmatched delivery schedule, for a brand new >10,000 tonne warship class.
The impressive aspect of this program is the abrupt announcement of the program’s existence and the decision to serially produce an initial batch of 8 ships. Usually, yards take their time to construct and test the lead ship of a new class, which serve as a systems demonstrator. Evidently, the engineers must have tested the individual subsystems to death to confidently build the ships in parallel. By all indications, Nanchang, the lead ship, has fulfilled its operating envelop. There are plans in place for another batch of 8.
The American Arleigh-Burke, in its third iteration from 1980s roots, is also being laid and commissioned at a rate 1 per year. It is the only American destroyer in production currently, and displaces ~9,000 tonnes.
The difference between the Americans and Chinese is the latter operating more than one Destroyer class. The Type 052D is a 7,500 tonne-class warship announced in 2012. Construction probably begun in 2010. Between 2010–2022, 25 ships have been laid and commissioned, for a rate of ~2 per year.
In other words, China’s demonstrated destroyer output in the past decade and a half is at least 3 per year. Going forward, it is estimated that the Type 052DL program will deliver 3–4 ships per year. If the Type 055 program is expanded, that’s 4–5 destroyers a year in the coming decade.
America has had immense difficulty delivering clean-sheet designs this century. Even the Constellation class, which is developed off a licensed and proven FREMM design from the 2000s has run into construction snags. The problem? Backlog and lack of skilled workers.
Fundamentally, American shipbuilding is in a horrible state of neglect, with heavy shipbuilding a dead end commercially. Only military shipyards remain viable, and there is a general lack of skilled workers in the industry. Boomer retirement is eroding institutional memory, while union protectionism add to self-renewal woes.
China has over 500,000 workers in the shipbuilding industry, which produced >50% of the global merchant tonnage delivered last year. There are at least 30–40 dry docks that can accommodate >100,000-tonne ships. Chinese shipyards are now capable of building the most challenging designs, such as ice-breakers, LNG carriers and ocean liners, using precision-controlled hull block modular construction techniques that significantly reduce build times and defects.
American shipbuilding suffer from a deficit in scale, and increasingly, skill and technology.
What was the most expensive thing you ever got for free, because someone made a mistake and didn’t charge you?
Once I was traveling across western Kansas with my two young children and I needed to get home. I hadn’t let anyone know that I was down to my last, last money and highly stressed about the trip – nervously running the math of miles and miles per gallon and how many gallons my tank held – all while I drove in silence. This was in the late 1980s.
Somewhere across the great empty expanse of rural Kansas – I stopped for gas. I gave the cashier my last $20 plus some change. So say the gas was $16.53. And I gave her my precious only $20 bill plus $1.53 so I could get a $5 back. I needed a miracle to make the $5 stretch to get us home and had no idea how it could happen. The kids were asking for drinks and my response of a hard “No” let them know we were not in a good place with money. They went back to the car quietly and I felt bad that I let them see my stress.
In the meantime, the cashier handed me back about $25. I looked at what she put in my hand and said, “I don’t think that’s right…” She cut me off with a snippy response that of course it was right. She didn’t do this as a gift – she was offended that I thought she couldn’t make change correctly.
I stood a second and looked at the cash in my hand – essentially the last tank of gas I was going to need to make it back home safely…
I accepted the gift. I’ve never forgotten it.
Brian LECTURES The Ladies On Why Men DON’T Wanna Be Gentlemen Anymore!
What is your best advice when firing someone?
I fired someone a few years ago. She had “injured” herself in a minor accident in my store. She took 11 weeks off. I dropped over to her house two weeks after the accident and she was busy cleaning the junk out of her back yard and redoing her gardens. She looked pretty healthy. Cleaning out her yard was a lot harder work than her job. At that point, I wrote her off.
Ten weeks after my visit, she was supposed to attend a meeting with the Workers Compensation person and me to discuss returning to work. She didn’t show. She said that she was too injured. Apparently, she had a doctor who was known for signing anything. So two weeks after that, I phoned the Workers Compensation people, and asked them what to do. I needed a person there. They said to fire her. As a small business under 20 people, I could do that. I came from a large corporation and we would not do that so it felt odd. So I fired her. She was given 2 months salary. By the way, she wasn’t a good employee. She avoided work and showed up late all the time. We were going to terminate her anyways.
A few months later, she sued me under Human Rights. She said that she could work just fine.
I fought it. Her problem was that she went back to Workers Compensation saying she could not work and got another ten weeks of pay. I asked for that information that she had submitted to them but she refused to supply it. Basically, she got caught in a lie. She had been defrauding the Workers Compensation for the eleven weeks plus another ten weeks. She should have gone back to work the next day after the little accident.
So the lawsuit ended.
So when you are firing someone, be careful of things like Human Rights. They can override legislation.
What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?
Someone called the police on me while I was trying to help them when they called the police for help.
Here is the set up… information I gathered during the investigation…
Joyce had a protection order against Paul.
Paul was at a bar enjoying a burger and a beer after helping the bar with some work.
Joyce and her friends Bob and Jay had decided they might get burgers themselves. Originally Bob and Jay were going to go and they were going to bring Joyce’s burger back to her.
Bob or Jay called Joyce and told her that Paul was there.
Joyce, all of the sudden, decided it would be more awesome to go to the restaurant and enjoy the burger fresh rather than after it had been driven 20minutes to her home.
Joyce arrived at the bar.
Paul saw her.
Paul wolfed down the rest of his burger and gulped down his beer as Joyce was calling police telling them Paul was in violation of the protection order.
—
I arrived after Paul had left. Joyce, Bob, and Jay were still on scene. As were the bar owner and the bar manager.
After hearing Joyce’s story about Paul violating the protection order (but not the details about anything else) it felt odd to me.
I talked to the bar owner and manager.
Based on the fact they told me Paul was there BEFORE (WAY BEFORE) Joyce got there and that Paul left the “second” he saw Joyce…. I asked more questions.
When I started asking more questions to ensure I had the story right (I talked to Bob and Jay first) Joyce got upset. She called my dispatch center and started to complain about how I wasn’t doing anything about the protection order violation.
Dispatch connected her to a deputy with the sheriff’s office who knew what I was investigating.
—
After a complete and thorough investigation and hearing Joyce tell me how the district attorney and the victims’ advocate told her that Paul had to leave where ever she was, and dashing her dreams of that being true- at least where I was responsible for applying the law, she left in a huff. She was in more of a huff when I told her that any other calls like this would result in her being charged with false reporting.
I told her to go back to the district attorney and to the vicitms’ advocates and ask them to set me right if I were, indeed, wrong about this case.
She either never did OR she was def. wrong in what she told me they said.
Shorpy
SHORPY 32596u.preview
SHORPY 4a08621a.preview
SHORPY 4a25116a.preview
SHORPY 4a14420a.preview
SHORPY 14187a.preview
SHORPY 8a27552a.preview
SHORPY 8a25229a.preview
SHORPY 30185u.preview
SHORPY 12636u.preview
SHORPY 4a22776a.preview
SHORPY 1a35202u.preview
SHORPY 18432a.preview
SHORPY 4a17361a.preview
marion st.preview
SHORPY 1a35065u.preview
SHORPY 8a25260a.preview
SHORPY 4a25596a.preview
SHORPY 01219u.preview
SHORPY 01219a.preview
SHORPY 4a25597a.preview
SHORPY 4a09255a1.preview
SHORPY 8a13475u.preview
SHORPY 4a17701a.preview
SHORPY 4a14983a.preview
Hindenburg ove Boston.preview
SHORPY 29260u.preview
SHORPY 8a13459a.preview
SHORPY 04362a.preview
SHORPY Detroit Panorama 2.preview
LtCol. Tony Shaffer: No Way Ukraine Can Win
NATO needs to understand that playing Russian roulette with a nuclear superpower is never a good idea
What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve witnessed on a cruise?
We’ve been on quite a few cruises, (it’s a lazy way to travel to a destination and a really good way to relax) so we’ve been witnesses to some *crazy* scenes.
On longer cruises, there’s usually a couple of formal events where the drinks are free for a couple of hours. I was wearing a cocktail dress and heels… and nearly got flattened by a group who charged for the drinks table to help themselves to the free alcohol.
It was a small group of men and women who hadn’t bothered to dress formally. They just shoved their way past everyone and then they started loading themselves up with drinks. They clearly had favourites because they stripped out an entire row of a specific cocktail by taking 5 of them each. It was weirdly fascinating.
It didn’t matter if there were people waiting to get one of those drinks. They took them all. They didn’t even have trays. They just held one arm close to their bodies and slotted multiple glasses along their arm while holding the drinks against themselves. (It was… quite talented in a weird way).
Then they filled up the table they were sitting at and went back and did again to another line of drinks. And they kept doing it until their table was filled.
Then they proceeded to quickly get tragically wasted.
They literally shoved right by me to get to the drinks in front of me. There was an older lady left standing empty-handed and shell shocked with me who looked at me in horror and blurted “I think they’re human locusts”. That gave us both a much-needed laugh.
There’s this thing that happens in New Zealand. No one eats the last bit of anything because they’re worried that someone else won’t have enough. At buffets or dinners, (in my group) for people check that others have enough or that no one wants anymore before they help themselves. There’s often one bit of everything left.
Watching the group of locusts push past everyone and ignore everyone else who wanted a drink was embarrassing for me to watch but the group that did it were shameless.
Are you surprised that the incident in which four US college instructors were stabbed in an attack at a public park in China has been censored on China’s internet?
I learned some details by asking the locals.
The story is very simple:
A retired worker named Mr. Cui from Jilin went to the park to practice Tai Chi sword in the morning.
main qimg 3275e83d6b584188176e2f54df7efd14
It is not allowed to bring sharp weapons into Chinese parks.
The Tai Chi swords used for fitness are not sharpened, they are just fitness equipment.
main qimg 67235d964a9717e9af17eadb579f7828
During his exercise, four so-called US college instructors collided with him and pushed Mr. Cui.
Mr. Cui got anxious, so he used the Tai Chi sword to injure the four so-called US college instructors. The injuries of the four Americans were not serious because the Tai Chi sword used for fitness was not sharpened.
Therefore, I advise foreigners who travel to China:
China is not America, nor is it Europe. When traveling to China, you must abide by China’s rules and do not bring your own domineering ways in other countries to China.
Respecting the elderly is a part of Chinese Confucian culture.
In China, you should respect the elderly.
Don’t push old people who are smaller than you. The old people in China are different from the old people in wheelchairs in your country.
What was the most bald-faced lie you have ever heard a witness say under oath? How did you react?
I was in the courtroom waiting for our turn up before the Judge.
This one is FAR BETTER than a bald-faced lie! READ ON!
There was this “Paternity” feud occurring between the soon to be ex husband and ex wife. His wife gave birth the child, but he refused to provide the DNA and proof of being “sterile”.
JUDGE: I am going to court order you right now for the DNA test. If you refuse, I will hold you in contempt and without bond.
The Guy protested, his lawyer told him he had nothing to worry about for if he was sterile, it wouldn’t matter what the DNA was on his side.
The Bailiffs swabbed him and the DNA was now sent away.
JUDGE: May I ask what Urologist had told you that you were sterile.
HIM: You’re a what?
Lawyer: Telling him what an Urologist is.
HIM: I didn’t see a You’re A What ist doctor.
JUDGE: Your Primary Physician?
HIM: Don’t have a Doctor.
JUDGE: Then what doctor told you that you were sterile?
HIM: None of them, my Uncle told me I was sterile.
JUDGE: _____________________________________
People in the court room: ___________________________
JUDGE: (tilts his head, making weird expressions) Okay, so it was your Uncle?
HIM: Yes your honor.
JUDGE: What kind of a Physician is your Uncle?
HIM: He was a Pneumatic Mechanic
JUDGE: _______________________ (really staring at this guy) _____________________ PLEASE TELL THE COURT HOW YOUR UNCLE HAD DETERMINED YOU TO BE STERILE AND WHAT IS HIS FULL NAME AND WHERE DOES HE LIVE?
HIM: (gives name) and gives the name of the Cemetery.
JUDGE: Hold it! Hold it! Are you just informing us that your Uncle is deceased?
HIM: Yes Sir.
HIS LAWYER: Objects!
JUDGE: Overruled, your client informed everyone that his Uncle had deemed him sterile. We have to know exactly how was he deemed sterile.
I have two questions for you: Question number one: Were you snipped?
HIM: ________ (looked confused)__________
LAWYER: My client is not an animal!
JUDGE: It’s called a vasectomy! Did you or did you not have this procedure done? YES OR NO?
HIM: No
JUDGE: What was your sperm count?
HIM: I never counted, never looked to see them.
(People in courtroom laughing)
JUDGE: You just told everyone in the courtroom that you were sterile. I need to know the sperm count, documentation of proof that you are sterile.
HIM: __________________
Lawyer: Objecting
JUDGE: Overruled, your client constantly makes these claims that he’s sterile! I am ordering proof of your client being sterile.
You, Sir? How did your Uncle confirm or acknowledge you were sterile? Please tell us.
HIM: Well, when I was a teen, my Uncle caught me jacking myself off. He told me because I was doing that and if I kept doing it I would become sterile! So there’s your answer.
JUDGE: _________ (his FACE was priceless) ______________
His Lawyer: ________ his jaw drops _______________
(People snickering and laughing)
Judge court orders him to an Urologist, and approves of child support temporarily for the sum of $xxxx a week. The final amount will be determined after the Urologist’s report.
::::::::::::::::::::: FOLKS! PLEASE DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING THAT’S SAID IN YOUR FAMILY! THERE ARE THOSE WHO WILL REALLY BELIEVE STUFF LIKE THIS! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
US Missiles STRIKE Russia! Army Colonel Reveals What Happens Next
When have you felt like all men are not the same?
Not once, but a number of times actually.
Let me share my very first experience of realizing not all men are the same.
I was studying in 12th standard in a Government school. Because it was a board examination, we were supposed to take it seriously. There was no faculty for Physics in my town, so I had to wake up at 4 A:M in winter mornings to ride my bicycle for 8 KM to attend a tuition class at 5:00 A:M (because of high demand of that teacher, his other batches were packed and only this early morning batch was available).
I was the only girl in a class of around 100 boys and some other boys also used to go to attend the same class.
It was a big deal for my mother to see me leaving in dark every morning to attend the class as she was afraid something bad could happen to me on the way. She used to tell me innocently to dress up like a guy and cover my hair so no bad guy can figure out I was a girl and this could protect me from any misshapen.
One day while I was riding my bicycle to the class, I realized a guy (from my class, I knew him but never spoke to him) was following me on his bike. I could literally feel him chasing me. I increased the speed and so did he. There was not a single person on the road to whom I could reach for help. My heart was beating really fast and I remembered everything my mom used to tell me. I knew it didn’t matter to me if I was the only girl in the class because I really wanted to study science instead of Arts or Commerce and just because it was safer, I couldn’t consider those subjects.
Fortunately the guy couldn’t get the courage to stop me on the way.
It kept on happening on regular basis and I used to wonder why he keeps the speed of his bike slow to match the speed of my bicycle when he could really ride much faster than me?
And after a few weeks it happened. On a Sunday morning, when I woke up, I found the same guy in my house where he was talking to my dad and my mom was making tea for him.
I was very surprised to see him like this.
Dad called me and told me this –
“Hey, look, your classmate is here. He was telling us that you’re so brilliant and talented and that he really admires you. He was also telling that you’re the top scorer in the class so far. Why you didn’t mention his name before?”
And I was like – WHAT?
Later on when we were alone he told me this –
“Sanhita, I’m really sorry that I couldn’t get the courage to come and talk to you before. But, now I have realized my mistake. I think I have scared you, but trust me, my intentions are not bad. By following you on your way to tuition, I was actually trying to protect you. One day I found a few guys talking about you on the usual street you take every day. They were discussing how can they trouble you in the morning when no one is around. I don’t know whether you would believe me or not, but I just did what I could possibly do. I followed you every day , so if they ever get the guts to trouble you, I can actually fight along with you against them.
And one more thing, like other guys, I won’t tell you to do friendship with me or become my girlfriend, but yes, I know you don’t have a brother. Can I fill that space? Can I be your brother, please? It would be my honour to call a girl sister who is the top scorer of the class and oh yes, you would obviously help your brother in studying, right? :P”
I did accept him as my brother on that day. For a few years I celebrated Rakhi with him. Now, we’re in different cities and he is happily married, but sometimes I call my brother and we chat about childhood 🙂
What was the worst secret you discovered about your children?
Three months after adopting our 12 month old daughter, we finally got her case file. It was supposed to come with her, so to speak, but these things are always messy. We knew she had been removed from her birth parents as they had somewhat low IQs, criminal histories, and were unable to care for her, despite major assistance including 24 hour in-home carers (this was not a possible permanent solution). So we were nervous, but we decided to put our names forward to adopt her.
We were chosen and had experienced a chaotic but deliriously happy three months with a little 1 year old dynamo – she had some quirks, but was overall a happy, friendly wee girl.
And then the report arrived and shook us to the core.
She’d experienced sustained and high levels of in-utero drug and alcohol abuse (marijuana, synthetics, meth).
She had witnessed frequent physical abuse – dozens of police reports, both parents beating each other.
The real soul-destroyer? She’d experienced severe physical abuse at the hands of her birth father, between the ages of 2 and 7 months – until the 24 hour care started and he did it in front of them. Her crime? Not lying perfectly still while getting her diaper changed.
The birth mother stayed (and is still with) that horrible man, despite losing her daughter. She still has visitation rights and we are constantly abused by the birth father, but he does not have visitation rights at the moment and hopefully never will, but we can’t guarantee it.
it sickens me, that anyone would hurt my precious bubba. But now we knew why she freaked out when my husband tried to change her diaper.
What factors should be considered before granting sovereignty, autonomy, or nationality to Taiwan?
Taiwan is a PROVINCE of China, UN said it loud & clear on 2024/5/23. Taiwan is China’s internal affairs. If you are a foreigner, dont spend any time to think about Taiwan. China will take care of Taiwan.
It was a night draped in the deception of stars over Baltimore, 1840, where shadows fell like cloaks over cobblestone streets. Dr. Simon Dorset emerged from the obscure folds of an alley, the hum of his time machine dissipating into the ether of history. He adjusted the lapels of his meticulously chosen 19th-century attire, feeling the weight and wonder of epochs as he tread discreetly among the citizens of the past.His ebony walking stick clicked rhythmically against the stones, a metronome to his swirling thoughts. This was not merely a visit; it was an anachronistic pilgrimage. Simon’s destination tonight was more elusive and intoxicating than any artifact—a meeting with the enigmatic Edgar Allan Poe.A glance at his pocket watch reminded him of time’s cruel precision, especially for one stolen from another era. He allowed himself a brief moment to jot down observations in his leather-bound journal, noting the gaslight that flickered like ghostly sentinels guiding his path.As he entered the local tavern, a hubbub of raucous laughter and smoky whispers washed over him. He absorbed the milieu, each detail a precious nugget of information. The patrons, swathed in the comfortable drab of labor and the occasional flash of foppish textile, provided a carousel of character study. Edgar Allan Poe was a frequent visitor here—an icon whose conversations might reveal more than his written words ever could.Positioning himself at the bar, Simon sipped a drink, his eyes and ears open, scrutinizing each face and catching snatches of conversation that danced on the air. His guise as a visiting publisher from England seemed impermeable as he matched the locutions and cadences of his surroundings.His opportunity arose when a man of unmistakable countenance stepped through the doorway. Edgar Allan Poe, known by portrait and prose, moved with a somber grace, his eyes holding an unearthly fascination. Simon initiated a dialogue, discussing the philosophical quandaries inherent in modern Romantic literature—a surefire way to pique Poe’s interest.Poe’s response was immediate and intense, providing a fertile ground for deeper discussion. “Ah, sir, you understand the darkness of the soul entwined with the light of creativity,” Poe remarked, his voice tinged with a melancholic timbre. Their conversation quickly moved from the public earshot to the intimate setting of Poe’s study.The study was a chaos of inspiration—papers strewn like fallen leaves in autumn, books stacked in teetering columns of thought. Simon’s heart raced as he eyed the manuscripts cluttering the desk. In a moment of distraction for Poe, his gaze fell upon a specific stack of papers penned in a hurried yet deliberate script.Topics and metaphors unknown to the scholars of Simon’s time beckoned from those pages. The lure of academic glory flickered before him, stirring a tempest of ethical and temporal dilemmas. His plan emerged almost fully formed—a theft that would echo through the centuries but could brand him an eternal brigand in the annals of time.Weeks passed, and a cordial invitation to a social gala at Poe’s abode presented the perfect milieu for his surreptitious intent. Under the guise of evening air necessity, Simon navigated back to the tempest of paper and ink. The manuscript was now in his grasp, a treasure far more potent than mere gold. Yet, in his haste, Simon’s modern smartphone—a slab of technology utterly alien to the 19th century—slipped from his pocket, left on Poe’s mahogany desk.
With a swirling cloak and a heart pounding against the corset of his own deceit, Simon returned to his era, leaving behind an anachronism that would unravel time’s tightly knit fabric.
The morning sun, indifferent in its rise, found Edgar Allan Poe in contemplative solitude. As light spilled across his desk, the unusual sheen of the abandoned smartphone caught his attention. It lay there, stark and intrusive among the soft yellowing papers of his literary endeavors. Curiosity, that relentless driver of human behavior, prompted Poe to reach for the device, his fingertips brushing against the cold, smooth surface. The screen flickered to life at his touch, illuminating his face with a pale, eerie glow.
Simon, safely ensconced back in his time, felt the immediate ripple of his accidental influence. The Baltimore he returned to bore scant resemblance to the one he had left. Buildings bristled with unfathomable technology, the skyline jagged with the spires of progress grown wild, fed by an anachronistic seed. His stomach churned with the realization that history had veered catastrophically off course.
Poe, meanwhile, was originally viewed as the harbinger of this new era. Word spread through the city with the speed of fire through dry timber. The enigmatic device held secrets of light and knowledge, screens within screens—miracles undreamed of even in the fevered pitches of the most fantastical literatures.
It wasn’t long before Poe was thronged by the curious and the ambitious, their minds alight with possibilities. Inventors, scholars, rogues—they all wanted a piece of the future unveiled. Each touch, each interaction spun a new thread of history, weaving a tapestry far removed from the one Simon knew.
Back in his altered present, Dr. Simon Dorset was consumed by an urgent need to correct this unintended aberration. The historical and cultural legacy of Poe, once defined by his mysterious and macabre tales, was now overshadowed by a technological boom he had unwittingly initiated. Simon’s own research spiraled into obsolescence; the Poe he revered was lost to a world dazzled by premature progress.
The gravity of his error was a weight he could barely sustain. Turning to his colleagues and historical chronicles yielded only scant mentions of Poe—the poet and author were eclipsed by Poe, the accidental father of a technological revolution. Simon’s isolation grew, paralleled only by his desperation.
Resolving to undo the harm, Simon reactivated his time machine, dismissing the cascade of warnings displayed by the machine’s diagnostics. The temporal navigational systems, designed to prevent precisely such paradoxes, blared their reluctance in stark red warnings across the interface. But Simon pushed forward, driven by a near-mad obsession to restore the literary giant’s legacy.
As the machine whirred to life, encasing him in a cocoon of pulsating energy, Simon felt the pull of temporal forces contorting the fabric of reality. A misstep in calculations, coupled with the machine’s strained capabilities, wrenched Simon from his intended course. The world around him blurred—an array of colors and sounds, history replaying all its possibilities simultaneously.
He found himself trapped, a ghost in the looping scenes of his interactions with Poe. Each cycle through the loop sharpened his understanding of the cascading consequences of his actions, yet he remained powerless to intervene directly. His presence was spectral, an observer cursed to watch his folly unfold in perpetuity.
Amidst the ceaseless cycles, a flicker of anomaly caught his attention. Brief moments appeared where versions of himself overlapped—past, present, and future converging. It was an unintended side effect of the time stream’s fracture, a shimmering crack in the oppressive wall of endless repetition.
With renewed purpose, the Simon Dorsets of different times began to recognize each other. An understanding sparked between them, each iteration contributing his unique perspective on the predicament. Together, they constructed a plan—a message ensconced within the digital confines of the smartphone, coding it into the metadata of the device. A cryptic puzzle designed for Poe’s keen and curious mind, leading him to restore the timeline undisturbed by technological marvels.
The contriving of the message was meticulous, a maneuver engineered with the precision of a master clockmaker. Hidden within the coding, Simon embedded the instructions—a route back to temporal stability, crafted specifically to attract Edgar Allan Poe’s intrigue with cryptology and the unknown. It was more than just a recovery mission; it was an appeal to Poe’s intellectual appetites, a call to explore and unravel the mystery set before him.
The loop provided Simon endless opportunities to refine his approach, each iteration fine-tuning the message embedded in the strange artifact from the future. When Poe finally discovered the embedded instructions, hidden amidst what appeared to be common applications, it struck a chord deep within his writer’s soul—a mystery woven by fate or circumstance, begging to be unraveled.
His brows furrowed, Poe set about deciphering the cryptic clues with a zeal that had often been reserved for his literary compositions. The message guided him to a precise location, an act in itself harmless but pivotal—a secluded corner of the Baltimore docks at dawn, where the water whispered secrets to those patient enough to listen.
Meanwhile, Simon watched these moments unfold, his heart thrumming with a mix of hope and apprehension. The plan was simple yet reliant on Poe’s willingness to engage with the unknown without fully understanding the forces at play. It was a gamble, staking everything on the intellectual curiosity of one man.
As the appointed time approached, Poe, cloak billowing behind him in the pre-dawn wind, approached the designated spot. He carried the device, its screen dim in the soft light. Following the last of the instructions, he left the smartphone nestled within an old fish crate, obscure and seemingly inconspicuous.
The crate, Simon knew from his meticulous studies of the timeline, would be destroyed in a warehouse mishap mere hours later, the smartphone lost forever, consumed by the flames—an incident that originally occurred without historical significance but now charged with the weight of resetting history.
Simon’s vision blurred, the looping finally slowing, reality solidifying with the promise of release. As the time streams began to align, the world around him steadied, the oppressive weight of temporal distortion lifting. The colors and sounds that had haunted his senses merged into the rightful hues of his time.
When he next stepped out of the machine, the air was different—fresher, somehow more correct with the essence of his original timeline. Buildings, people, the very atmosphere buzzed with subtle but significant changes back to the familiar. Poe’s literary legacy had been restored to its rightful place, his technological influence erased as if it were merely a ghost story, fittingly ephemeral.
Simon Dorset found himself back in his study, the walls lined with books, the familiar scent of paper and ink a soothing balm. His heart, though weary from the journey, was buoyed by the restoration of history. His respect for the delicate fabric of time had deepened, each tick of the clock now a reminder of the dance between chance and choice.
He resumed his academic pursuits with a newfound reverence for the past’s fragility and the unknown variables of history. The world around him continued, blissfully unaware of the catastrophe averted, a tale of what-if preserved only in the quiet confines of Simon’s experience.
In his diary, filled with the wild scribblings of his adventure, Simon penned a final note—an acknowledgment of the power held by both time and literature, the twin forces of creation and destruction. He wrote, “In our pursuits, we must tread lightly upon the tapestries of the past, for they are woven with the threads of potentiality, delicate and profound.”
The sun set over a world untouched yet changed in ways unseen, as Simon Dorset closed his diary, the book of his extraordinary journey through time concluding with the silent assurance that some mysteries, like some manuscripts, were best left unaltered.
ESCALATION: Russia Has Surrounded The US With Dozens Of Submarines Armed With Nuclear Missiles
Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza
Tired of the same old pizza? Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza will elevate taste buds to a whole new chicken variety.
Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza
Prep: 15 min | Total: 40 min | Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 (13.8 ounce) can Pillsbury™ refrigerated classic pizza crust or 1 can (11 ounces) Pillsbury™ refrigerated thin pizza crust
1/3 cup garlic ranch dressing
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded smoked provolone cheese
1 (4 ounce) package refrigerated roasted chicken breast strips
2 ounces sliced Canadian bacon, halved
2 tablespoons cooked real bacon pieces
4 medium green onions (1/4 cup), sliced
1/4 cup chopped tomato
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
If using classic crust: Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray or grease a 12 inch pizza pan.
Unroll dough in pan. Starting at center, press dough to edge of pan.
If using thin crust: Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray or grease 15 x 10 inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet.
Unroll dough on cookie sheet. Starting at center, press dough into 15 x 10 inch rectangle.
Spread dressing over dough.
Sprinkle with provolone cheese.
Top with remaining ingredients.
Bake classic crust for 18 to 22 minutes, thin crust for 16 to 20 minutes, or until crust is deep golden brown.
Cut into 4 servings.
What is the most inappropriate thing that you have ever witnessed at a funeral?
My mother’s mother died in 1976. Angie Ensulo was her name. She had a ton of grandkids all in the same age range. We called her “little grandma” because even at thirteen we could stand next to her and look straight down at the top of her head. We thought that was amazing as kids. She had a bunch of Italian sisters. They spoke “Broken English,” a peculiar patois, unique to Brooklyn and apparently New Orleans. Go figure.
Her sister Anna, whom everyone called “Thanna” for no apparent reason, showed up at the funeral home after everyone else had assembled. The funeral home was called, and I shit you not, “Guido and Sons.” Anna was also only about three feet tall. She was a true character who bootlegged cigarettes from North Carolina and played the theme song from The Godfather on a continuous loop in her little house. After the room went quiet with anticipation, Anna screamed at the top of her lungs…”Angie! Get up!!!!!!”…commanding her dead sister to rise out of the casket. Needless to say…Angie did not comply. Anna commanded her sister to rise from the dead again and when no miracle occurred she made a running start right down the middle aisle and then leaped through the air and landed on my grandmother in her casket. The room broke into complete pandemonium as the coffin rocked on the pedestal as my Aunt tried to pull her sister out of the coffin. Tears were flowing, people were screaming, chairs were scattered and a general state of hysteria ensued. After order and decorum were restored, people got on nervously with the task of mourning.
As is traditional…flowers are a very theatrical occurrence at old time Italian Brooklyn funerals. A giant clock appeared made out of many tiny little flowers with the hour hand boldly stopped at the hour of death of the decedent. A rosary was brought in (presented by all the grandchildren). These were laid in the casket with the beloved. It was literal, as in literally made of unopened little bud roses. Actually quite beautiful if you ask me. The giant “Empty Chair,” often five feet by five feet in size, made of styrofoam jammed with flowers was brought in with ceremonial purpose. The empty chair was a reminder, I guess, that the deceased would never sit again? I don’t know! I always found the “Empty Chair” fascinating as it was present at so many of my family’s wakes. Another one that got a lot of attention was inspired by the fact that my grandmother loved “Sweet and Low” with her coffee. So…wouldn’t you know….a giant floral cup of coffee made of carnations with a giant pink carnation “Sweet and Low” packet of sweetener sitting next to the cup was brought in with a flourish and deposited next to the other surreal arrangements. That presentation was accompanied by a lot of oohs! and ahhh’s! when it was delivered by the fellow from the local flower store who everyone called “slow in the head.” The coup de grace was (and will always be)…the “Gates of Heaven”….a truly monumental extravaganza that stood eight feet tall and ten feet wide and was two tall gates swung open and completely encrusted with flowers. The murmur that went through the crowd was impressive. Everyone present thought that this was all normal…but like Marilyn from the Munsters, I was different, I observed things, and I knew enough to commit these events to memory.
On the last night of a three day ordeal, and after grandma’s skin started turning a strange color, they held a service with a priest in the funeral home. My Aunt Anna must have felt how close eternity was and she started reflecting on her long life of crime because all of a sudden…during the litany of “Hail Mary’s” she started repeating at the top of her lungs and louder than anyone in a room of at least fifty people….”Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee” over and over….well this tickled my funny bone and I started to laugh at her desperation and audacity. But I had to cover it up by making believe I was crying. So I was heaving up and down with my face buried in my hands, hysterically laughing and muffling it all to sound like tears. People were comforting me and telling me everything would be okay until I finally burst out of my chair and ran out of the room and into the street. It was like the scene in the famous Mary Tyler Moore episode where the priest is eulogizing “Chuckles the Clown” who was dressed like a peanut and got killed by an elephant. Mary Richards couldn’t control her laughter during the solemn but unintentionally hilarious eulogies and it went down as the funniest episode of that series.
On the morning of the burial, the massive flower arrangements were unceremoniously hurled onto the top of the “flower car” which drove right behind the hearse leading the cortège of Cadillacs and Buicks and my father’s station wagon among dozens of other cars. At the cemetery, Thanna decided to have one final scene-chewing moment and flung herself, in the rain mind you, onto my grandmother’s open grave. Or at least the big mound of dirt next to it. Pandemonium erupted, again, and she was dragged muddy and forsaken from the grave. The priest barely reacted…he’d seen this sort of thing a thousand times and besides…he was awaiting his “envelope full of money.” Money was always changing hands at the oddest times during family funerals.
I’ve never put any of this in writing before…and it happened a long time ago. My God! It all sounds so crazy! It is truly funny in hindsight. We didn’t know that this was not how things were done because it WAS how it was done in Italian Brooklyn.
I finally went to Naples in 1998….I walked the streets, I observed life as it is lived, I ate the food and drank the wine. I passed a dead dog in the middle of a busy traffic circle on my way to dinner. Traffic was being diverted as the poor animal lay there. I was bereft because I love dogs. I couldn’t even eat. On my way back from dinner I discovered that the dog wasn’t dead after all! It was just taking a nap and the crazy Neapolitans had simply steered their cars around the sleeping dog. No one thought to move the dog!
I looked up into the sky that night and forgave my mother’s family for driving us and her crazy for all those years. I finally understood! It was bred in the bones and they were just being who they were meant to be. Now I wouldn’t trade it in for anything.
Thanks for reading this…I truly appreciate it.
Would a military submarine be the safest place to be if there was ever a nuclear war on Earth?
You might think so but no. There’s an episode of Rick and Morty that explains it. Rick makes all every $1 of their currency worth $0.
So what?
In a nuclear war, all money has suddenly become worthless, most nation states have ceased to exist… as a result what maintains discipline and for men to follow orders?
To king and country? (or whatever system your country is based on) – It no longer exists
Punch clock soldiers – Money no longer exists as anything useful.
Those things maintain order usually. So the only thing enforcing order is violence and cram a bunch of men with limited food supply strict discipline and nothing to fight for in a nuclear sub… and that may easily collapse.
Imagine you’re the captain of a boat like that.
You order a crewman to do something, he said no why should I?
Whatcha gonna do? Shoot him? Put him in the brig?
As a lawyer, what is the easiest case you’ve won?
Well, I had a client walk in my office with a Quarterpounder box from McDonald’s. He told me that the day before he ordered a sandwich with no pickles and he mentioned it to the order taker and the shift manager, mentioning he was deathly allergic to something in the juice. He was assured that there would be no pickle on the sandwich
When his sandwich came up he was given the sandwich and shown on the paper taped to the box that the sandwich had no pickle.
45 minutes later after having his stomach pumped he discovered he had ingested 3 pickle slices.
The emergency room report indicated that the stomach pump had removed the contents of his stomach which included the 3 pickle slices.
The manager had offered the kid 100 bucks for the box and some coupons.
I called and spoke to the owner’s attorney and offer to settle out of court for 15000 dollars ( the client needed 10K for something). I told him the claim would be worth far more in front of a jury. We had 3 witnesses that heard the kid very clearly mention he was allergic and could die if he ate a pickle.
Long story short, I had a 15,000 dollar McDonald’s check delivered to my office by a courier by the close of business 3 days after the incident. I took my 33 percent and for a couple of phone calls and a letter. Got paid 5K .
What was the world like between year 1 AD and 1000 AD?
One absolute truth, that most people rarely consider, is that the world during the first millennium was a very, very dark place after nightfall. Even though cities existed during that thousand year epoch…the world descended at night into a darkness we would have trouble comprehending. Even the interiors of people’s homes were pitch black except for minuscule pools of dim candlelight. Other than vague moonlight, the only available light was small oil lamps or camp fires…as well as torches. But that would have only been a tiny glow in a vast blackness. It’s why the world is still diurnal. For the entire history of our species, humans have slept at night because of the often impenetrable blackness and the lurking danger that used the darkness for cover.
The beauty of this situation was that the clear night sky would be ablaze with stars and planets, galaxies, moons and comets, asteroids and meteors. It was so vivid that ancient people not only looked at the night sky with curiosity, they studied it. They had naturally “dark adapted” eyes. The night sky was so clear that they became familiar with it to a degree we can’t imagine. They understood its contours, they had names for everything. The Milky Way has a name like an avenue because it was an imaginative route to be traveled and understood. It wasn’t just something out there to be feared…it was fully present and revered. It is ironic that the more we know the less we see. Our modern astronomers and telescopes are reaching back nearly to the Big Bang and the beginning of time in our universe, able to literally see the invisible, but most of modern humanity is wholly unacquainted with our own cosmic neighborhood because the night sky has been rendered almost meaningless.
Ancients the world over “read” the night sky and correlated it to the passage of time and the change of seasons and they wove its meaning into their daytime pursuits. As agriculture took root and cultures shifted from nomadic to agrarian with the consequence being the establishment of settlements and villages, then towns and then cities. The night sky helped guide the people towards accurate planting and harvesting routines. They were inextricably linked to the heavens in a way that we aren’t. It fueled mysteries that defied knowledge and it became central to ancient religions. But it also hastened the growth of civilizations. The insatiable ability for humankind to not just acquire knowledge but to actually imagine it into reality is nothing less than miraculous.
It was the night sky and people’s confident knowledge of it that guided the early Polynesians to populate the Pacific. The Sun and stars kept the Mediterranean abuzz with international trade and it was the night sky that possibly guided the Chinese and Leif Erikson to cross vast oceans to plant seeds of new cultures on new continents and sowed the seeds of destruction of many civilizations in the “new world”. Early mariners charted their courses by the night sky as well as in tandem with the motion of the sun. The sky told them when the easterlies would blow them across the Atlantic or when to hunker down because the coming season would produce no trade winds. Across the Islamic world, founded in the first millennium, the daily calls to each of the five prayers are timed to the position of the sun yet the Islamic calendar is lunar based. The modern constellations descend from such ancient observations. Our current map of the sky and its constellations is a living record of the past. It’s right there, in front of us. Our earliest mechanical clocks, dating to the second millennium, had hands that circled the dial like the earth spinning on its axis, counting the beats of time like metronomic slices of the universe itself, cosmic ideas turned into lyrical realities, existence made measurable and certain.
Modern society has virtually erased the night sky with twenty four hour global economies and the glowing lights that illuminate such economies…but our modern world owes a huge debt to the wisdom that was gleaned from a strikingly visible universe that held profound existential meaning to our ancient ancestors. It was during the first millennium that the knowledge of the previous several thousand years began to coalesce. They beheld the vastness of the night sky and tried, with wonder and great success, to figure out our place in that cosmic firmament.
Do yourself a favor…drive out to Joshua Tree National Park…or Anza Borrego State Park east of San Diego…or deep into the backcountry wherever you are…pack a tent, some blankets and pillows and whatever gear will help you survive the night…lie back under the ceaseless inky dome, listen to the coyotes yelping and bickering in the darkness and then watch the spectacle unfold above and all around you. It is breathtaking. It is humbling. It is the infinite. It’s what the night sky looked like a thousand years ago for everyone. See what they saw ! Carpe Noctem !
I remember when the “Woodpile Report” went off line. Ol’ Remus died, and with him his most excellent blog. I was in periodic contact with him. And he provided links to my articles on his site.
Then were was American Shooter, where that owner died. Wich was of a like minded soul struggling with the changes in the West. Much like myself.
One of my favorite go-to blogs is MoA; “Moon over Alabama”. The owner “B” had to stop it and take some time for a major surgery. We haven’t heard from him since. We are looking at maybe two weeks so far. He might be permanently off-line. As the surgeries sound quite serious. We shall see…
MoA
Today…
Is it possible that the United States will lose its leading position in world affairs within this century? If so, when do you predict this may happen?
Not only is it possible, it is inevitable. And I predict it will happen before mid-century.
Already, the world is moving away from the US Dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency. Alternative currencies and payment systems will attract most of the world, especially in the Global South.
Already, the world is ignoring US sanctions and refusing to follow them.
The proxy war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza are not helping the USA’s cause.
Chinese Elite Professor Zhang exposed what western democracy truly is
Western democracy values resemble the boiling frog syndrome: as our living conditions gradually worsen, we adapt to these changes instead of addressing them, until we eventually lack the strength to escape.
Fresh Mozzarella-Tomato Pizzettas
tomato pizza 3
Prep: 8 min | Cook: 10 min | Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 individual pizza crusts, prepared, pre-baked
1/4 cup pesto
1 cup sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
1 (14.5 ounce) can S&W® Petite-Cut Diced Tomatoes with Roasted Garlic & Sweet Onion, drained
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
Instructions
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Place pizza crusts on baking sheet. Spread pesto over crusts.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Top with mozzarella and tomatoes.
Bake for 1 minute just to soften mozzarella (do not melt completely).
Sprinkle with basil and drizzle with olive oil, if desired.
Do you agree with TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei that it would be impossible to move chip factories out of Taiwan?
I do, if the factory is moved to a Western country. There is a huge difference in work cultures between the East and West. The West does have the remnants of that “Protestant work ethic” we were once known for, but more and more, young people entering the job force are disillusioned with their governments and their country’s financial systems. They will give you their “9–5,” but best believe when the clock hits five they are out of there. They will do their job, but often the bare minimum and no more. And for the salaries they’re paid I don’t always think they’re wrong.
We also firmly believe the adage “work smarter; not harder.” Again, we will do the job, but we will find the quickest and easiest way to do it and then leave by five. Or earlier if we’ve completed work for the day. We firmly believe in work/life balance. We also liked to be appreciated when we are innovative, creative, effective, or an asset to the business.
All of this is very different from the Asian work model. China has “9–9–6”, Japan has the practice of looking busy until your boss leaves for the day, Korea has the belief that when work is over you must go out to socialize with your boss and co-workers, Singapore says you must be hungry so that no one eats your lunch, etc and so forth. All of that equates to extremely long hours that may not be entirely productive. And we surely don’t want to socialize with our boss and co-workers when we could be home with our families!
Time is just one example of the vast difference between the cultures. The differences can cause resentment on both sides. As things stand currently I do not believe TSMC or any Asian based company will be happy relocating entirely to the West.
Joe Rogan Left SPEECHLESS As Guest EXPOSES Obama’s Dirty Secret
War is in the DNA of USA. Why?
Because war is a business for USA. The military industrial complex MIC in USA is owned & run by capitalists & not by the government.
Other countries’ MIC is owned & run by the government.
All responsible governments will know how to run the country eg focus on economical & technological development. In short, to modernise the country.
Not USA. As a capitalist business, USA’s MIC only cares about $$$. Their pocket only. They make tons of money thru war & arms sales. They lobby the government to create wars in other countries, so that they can make $$$.
US politicians also make $$$ by buying MIC stocks.
If there is peace in the world, USA will create a war somewhere. In name of whatever which we dont really need to know because they are all lies. The most notorious lie & known to the world is the lie about Iraq possessing biochem weapon which turns out to be laundry detergent. It was UK who investigated if its PM has committed a war crime in the Iraq war that the US lie was unveiled.
Other lies will be buried forever if they were not recorded in classified documents.
After WW2, from 1946-2001, in 55 years, there were 248 wars around the globe. 201 of them ie 82% were instigated by USA. In 200+ years since US independence, there were less than 20 years when USA was not in a war. Worse, it is US vassals who shed blood & lose life for USA.
Other than war, USA would instigate countless unrest eg protests, riots & coups in other countries.
Thru unrest/war, USA controls other government & resource/economy. It is neo-colonisation without occupying other’s land.
In short, US-instigated war is about money & power/dominance. Nothing to do with righteous or peace.
Turkey Just Changed the Entire Future of Europe with THIS One Move!
Turkey to join BRICS! It's official, Turkey is moving away from the EU and will move closer to BRICS, China, and Russia. Turkey has been a NATO member since 1952 and this is the first time we've seen a NATO member shift away from the US and EU and move closer to BRICS. What does this mean for the future of Europe and geopolitics around the world? Let's break it down!
What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?
This didn’t happen to me. It happened to my son and it would have profoundly changed our lives if the worse had happened.
My husband was a soccer referee. He was reffing a game while our 9 year old son was hanging out there in the bleachers and watching.
A man sitting close by told my son he had a van full of video games. He told my son he could go to the van and get any video game he wanted.
This was in the early 90s. There wasn’t much publicity or knowledge on the evils of pedophiles – had I known what I know now, he wouldn’t even have been at the game, hanging out in the bleachers.
Because of my own lack of knowledge about this type of predator, I had not warned him about strangers. I had not thought to tell him to beware of strangers. We have learned now that children view strangers differently than what we would think. If someone seems nice and looks friendly then they tend to view them as such.
At the time it was not strange or unsafe for him to watch a soccer game with other unknown parents next to him. It was not in his stranger category.
He found the thought of picking out his very own video games, as many as he wanted, absolutely amazing. He would have gone with the man except for one thing. That week, I had just checked out of the library, a somewhat newly released video called, “Stranger Danger.” I had him watch it. In the video, it told children to never go with anyone, not even someone you know, without asking a parent first.
He remembered the video and so he told the guy he needed to ask his dad first. The man told him no, he didn’t need to ask his dad because the van was parked really close. But my son told him he needed to ask. The guy tried to convince him but when he kept saying he needed to ask his dad the man said never mind and just left. My son said he really wanted to go get the games but he remembered the warning of the video and felt it was best to let his dad know first.
I’m sure it saved his life.
The West Is Self-Destructing
US is angry because China is not listening to them, the US wants China to help them fight Russia so that the US can fight China Later in Taiwan.
Macron has joined the chorus of those who are calling for Ukraine to be permitted to use long-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory.
French genius Emmanuel Macron keeps pushing the button for World War Three, on this occasion while in Berlin this week to cajole Germany into self-destruct mode.
Macron has joined the chorus of other NATO figures who are calling for Ukraine to be permitted to use long-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory.
It looks like Macron succeeded in seducing the Germans with his maniacal mission. Following their meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has flipped from objecting to such strikes to now approving them.
Scholz said at their joint press conference: “Ukraine has every possibility to do this, under international law. It must be said clearly, if Ukraine is attacked, it can defend itself.”
Only last week, the German “leader” (a term advisably used with artistic license) was opposed to such a move. So predictable is this pinhead-dancing. Remember past fleeting opposition to Leopard tanks, and so on.
The French president said Ukraine must have the right to “neutralize” Russian military bases that are launching air strikes on Ukraine.
“We think that we should allow them to neutralize military sites where missiles are fired, from where… Ukraine is attacked,” he said, adding: “We should not allow them to touch other targets in Russia, and obviously civilian capacities”.
The comments drew a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin who said that the “constant escalation” was playing with fire and that long-range strikes on Russia with NATO weapons would have “consequences” for NATO territories. In short, the consequences are all-out war and nuclear conflagration.
Macron’s megalomania is making an outsized contribution to starting World War Three. This diminutive politician (in terms of career achievements) wants to be the leader of Europe and is continually upping the ante with chest-thumping exercises. Weeks ago, he kicked off the idea of sending NATO troops to Ukraine, an idea which is beginning to pick up momentum. This week, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief welcomed the imminent arrival of French military instructors.
Now Macron is putting his shoulder behind the calls for NATO to officially endorse long-range air strikes on Russia.
The major factor prompting such calls is the desperation of NATO as its proxy Ukrainian regime faces collapse amid significant Russian military gains after nearly two and half years of war and hundreds of billions of dollars wasted by Washington and its Western vassals. Russia is winning despite the massive effort by the West to defeat it. So, doubling down on ignominious losses is the Western gamble.
Macron’s bravado is full of deception and delusion. The Ukrainian regime is already using NATO long-range weapons to strike Russia, including French-made Scalp cruise missiles. French and NATO instructors are already in Ukraine and have been there ever since the CIA-sponsored coup in Kiev in 2014 bringing a NeoNazi regime to power.
Macron’s seeming probity about “not allowing attacks on civilian capacities” is cynical nonsense. The Kiev regime and its NATO instructors using long-range NATO weapons have been routinely killing scores of civilians in Russian territory bordering Ukraine, including Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk.
All this talk about “untying Ukraine’s hands” is merely making existing NATO policy explicit.
That official stance is however a grave escalation. It is as close as possible to declaring war on Russia.
For argument’s sake, let’s give Macron and Scholz some slack. Let’s accept that Russian military bases located in pre-war Russian territory firing weapons at Ukraine should be neutralized. Rhetorical chicanery aside, let’s assume that Macron and Scholz are merely trying to level the battlefield, so to speak, and to give the Ukraine side the same military capability and freedom as the Russian side. You hit us, so we can hit you. Seems fair enough.
Following this rationale, the principle is that Ukraine should be able to hit Russian sites from where attacks are being mounted on Ukraine.
But here’s the rub. Macron and Scholz are inadvertently making the case for Russia to, likewise, strike the centers from where attacks on its territory are emanating. The only reason why Macron and Scholz do not see this logical consistency is presumably due to arrogance, double-think and abject servility to Uncle Sam.
What NATO centers might be legitimate targets? Ramstein Base in Germany would be fair game. This is where the U.S. and NATO chiefs regularly meet to plan the next phase of arms shipments to Ukraine.
How about the French Defense Ministry in Paris? This week the French Minister of Defense held high-level talks with his Ukrainian counterparts to green-light the deployment of French instructors to assist in the firing of weapons at Russia.
How about Berlin, London, Brussels and Madrid where this week more plans were hatched to send billions of dollars worth of more military munitions to Ukraine to keep the proxy war with Russia going?
Macron and Scholz want to untie Ukraine’s hands to hit Russia with NATO missiles. In so doing, they are untying Russia’s hands.
No wonder European citizens are increasingly apprehensive about the unhinged logic of Macron and others like NATO’s Norwegian wooden figurehead Jens Stoltenberg and the Nazi nostalgists in the Baltic states. The forthcoming European Parliamentary elections promise to be a comeuppance for establishment politicians like Macron and Scholz. Ironically, these politicians want to win votes by looking tough. They will end up losing votes and legitimacy because of popular anger and disgust over their reckless warmongering.
They are parading themselves as nothing but pathetic lapdogs for Uncle Sam.
Scholz had up until recently pushed back against the idea of NATO troops and weapons being used directly against Russia. Now he’s flipped like a circus dog for a biscuit treat.
Macron was hosted in Berlin this week to smooth over friction between France and Germany. No doubt, Berlin is irked by the French president taking it upon himself to up the ante in hostilities with Russia, trying to make himself out to be the “top dog” in Europe showing “macho leadership”.
In reality, the “top dog” is nothing but a pathetic pink poodle for Uncle Sam.
How the tables have turned. There was a time when the Germans strutted into Paris with little resistance. Now we see a French narcissist strutting in Berlin… and the Germans lying down and rolling over with their tongues lolling around.
“Something HUGE is about to happen” and U.S. dominance is on the line | Redacted w Clayton Morris
The West is getting desperate to hold onto power, and they're using their proxy war in Ukraine to bring war to Russia and the whole of Europe. On Friday, Russian President Putin started sending an armada of battleships heading right for Cuba... right off of Florida's coast. Russian warships are performing military training exercises... right in our backyard. How did this happen?
20 years. 240 months. 7,300 days. The amount of time I have had this gods dammed chip in my head.
***
“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!”
I open my eyes as a few seconds pass, my chip buzzes, letting me know that it’s activating for the day. The sensation of the pea-sized piece of metal nestled inside my frontal lobe still feels foreign, despite years of integration and constant software updates. It’s a constant reminder of how intimately connected we are to technology in this world. What even is intimacy anymore?
“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!”
I sigh, turning over and hitting the top of my alarm clock. There it sits on my nightstand stagnant, except for the blinking June 13th, 2050, in bright red letters and numbers. The world as we know it is hyper-connected between networks of minds and technology. My one piece of disconnection is the old-fashioned alarm clock not attached to the chip in my mind. It stays stationary, not traveling anywhere with me, letting me know when to start my day each morning – the clock grounds me in the reality of my research. It allows me to wake up every day and ponder the question of how humans lived in the early 21st century before the disease of 2030 ran rampant throughout our world. This is the core of what I study at the university. The disease altered the human brain in such a way that without the chips we have implanted inside us, we would not be able to function. We would be – vegetables essentially – silently awaiting death. Twenty years later, here I am, researching and reading anything I can find in my chip’s stream and the museums we have here – my favorite being “The Library.”
From my studies of the early 21st century, I’ve discovered that people’s interactions with technology were confined to devices separate from their minds and bodies. Yet, in my interviews with individuals from that era, it became evident that these devices held immense significance – they were treated as extensions of themselves. One interviewee even stating that their friends treated the devices as an “extra limb.” People rarely ventured anywhere without their devices. They served as sacred possessions, “seamlessly” integrated, and connected into every aspect of their lives and society.
***
My office is my haven, it’s where I can be alone in most ways. I stand on the threshold of the door – a single, large desk sits in the corner of the room across from my only access to light. The far-left side of the room holds an entire wall of shelves full of my personal favorite works of art – books. Each one of these books is a window into the past, a retelling of lives lived and lost, and a reminder of the creativity that slowly dwindles with each passing day – the reason for my research. My walls are relatively blank aside from a few pieces I have been able to pick up on my travels. In the 21st century there were numerous ways one could paint or make art of their choosing, but now everything is digital. I find comfort in having acquired such rarities. I work at the university closest to my home, often preferring the brisk walk in the mornings. While I look forward to coming into the office, it can be lonely, seeing that I’ve never even met my colleagues in person. They prefer to work from home. I teach various classes, but my passion lies in my research. The stream says that colleges will fade out in the next 10 years, which means I could be out of a career. Because why get an education when you already have anything you want to know without even having to think about it? I’m already seeing these effects in my small class sizes.
Currently, I’m reading literature that was published in the early 21st century to study that period. Afterall, literature affects the world more than most care to admit. I have read everything from this book called Twilight by Stephanie Meyers to The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I recently concluded that each of these pieces affected their era in separate ways.
Today, I don’t have anything to teach so I head over to my favorite museum hoping to gather some more books to delve into.
***
Per usual I am the only one here. I walk through the stone archway always noticing the intricate carvings on the tall ceilings. The scanner beeps as I pass the front desk reminding me to scan my chip so that I’m checked in.
The shelves are lined with row upon row containing books of all genres. Their spines are cracked and withering with their age. Their stories sit behind glass cases that the science professors created to aid in their preservation. The modern technology the university has been developing is prevalent here in keeping the booksin acceptable condition. I believe the creators mentioned that the decomposition rate for books slowed when the light was minimal, and the temperature was low; hence, the protective glass keeping the knowledge of the past from my fingertips.
I look around, trying to figure out where to start my search. Wandering deeper into the endless shelves, my fingers trail along the glass cases that hold the books captive. I rake the dust from the windows as I go, a witness to the lack of life in this building. And then, amidst the rows, I see it – my next read. It looks unlike anything I have picked up before. I walk closer, the dim lighting making it hard to see. The cover is colorful, full of pinks, purples, blues, greens, and yellows. It looks as if the back of a human head is plastered on the front cover.
“Feed.” I read aloud in a hushed tone.
Interesting name for a novel. Its cover is slightly faded, but still, something about it draws me in. I tap my head, signaling for my chip to lower the glass.
“Feed by M.T. Anderson.” I read to myself.
The name sounds vaguely familiar. My heart pounds as I flip through the yellowed pages. I love that smell. I imagine that a long time ago there were whole buildings that smelled like this, of books. No thanks to the protective glass, it keeps everything sealed up tight. Bringing the book to a nearby chair, I settle in.
“Hey stream, what time is it?” I speak to my chip.
“3 p.m., Dr. Bates,” my stream responds.
“Thanks. Can you tell me what time period the book I’m looking at is from?”
“Feed by M.T. Anderson is an early 21st-century novel.”
“Perfect.” I say sounding satisfied.
“Could you be any more monotone…” I sigh, flipping through the pages mindlessly.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Can you repeat your previous statement?” my stream asks.
“Ugh, I didn’t mean to say that out loud,” I mutter, bringing my hand to my forehead and closing my eyes. I should have picked a better voice for my stream when I first got my chip. A flaw to the software thus far, you can’t change the voice. I should send a message to the company about that.
“Message sent Dr. Bates.” Stream says catching me off guard.
That’s odd. It’s getting hard to know what I say out loud and what I think in my mind anymore.
I begin to read the first few pages, quickly becoming entranced by the narrative. The story is eerie, yet disturbingly familiar. In the world that Anderson created, I can see that technology is deeply intertwined with their human existence. People have brain implants called “feeds” that give them constant access to everything that they could ever want – shopping, social media, money, entertainment. I feel as though I’ve heard this before, but I can’t seem to put my finger on it.
The main character meets a girl named Violet who tries to resist this overarching influence. Her feed starts malfunctioning, and it begins to affect her health. Oh no. The corporations have trademarked everything, even the clouds. What on earth is this meat with eyes? The corporation that installed Violet’s feed refuses to help her, deeming it unprofitable for them to fix her implant. So, let me get this right…because Violet tries to do something different, she is deemed unprofitable, and not worth it to the corporation to help?
Turning the pages, I feel a growing sense of unease. This world that Anderson describes, with its corporate dominance and technological dependence, mirrors our own reality in unsettling ways. How could a book written so long ago foresee so much of what we are experiencing today? It seems like Anderson knows more about my life than I do…and if he knows this much, how much more did he know?
And…why was it dismissed in its time?
***
I finish the last page and close the book, sitting in the silence of my thoughts.
“Hey stream, what time is it?” I speak to my chip again, wondering where the time has gone.
“11pm Dr. Bates.” My stream says back to me.
My mind races as I think about the corporations in Anderson’s world, exploiting and controlling every aspect of human life…without them even realizing it. It’s chillingly familiar – trademarked clouds, meat with eyes, and a society in decline. The parallels to our present are too stark clear to ignore. I close the book for a moment, staring at the faded cover. Could this be a warning?
I glance around the library, suddenly aware of the silence. The shelves, the glass cases, the preserved books – they all seem to whisper secrets from the past. Maybe if we listen to and read these stories the outcome will be better. My chip buzzes softly, bringing me back to reality.
“Hey stream, show me recent news on chip implants.”
A flood of information fills my mind. Reports of glitches, constant buzzing, malfunctions, and an increasing number of people suffering from unexplained health issues like migraines and sores. Just like from the story. Is nothing being done to combat these issues? Why haven’t I heard about it?
I swallow hard, my pulse quickening. What if Anderson’s fictional world is more than just a story? What if he was trying to tell people something in the early 21st century? I recall the interviews I conducted with the early 21st-century people, their tales of reliance on external devices mirror our current dependence on implants. It seems like the people figured out a way to never have to leave their devices behind. But what about the disease? I always thought that the disease is why we all had to have chips implanted in our minds. But where did I get that knowledge?
“I told you Dr. Bates.” My stream says in a cheering tone.
Suddenly, I feel like bugs are crawling inside my skin.
I can’t shake this feeling and this book.
“Feed.”
I set the book down on the table. If the corporations continue feeding without being noticed, our world could end up just like Anderson’s. We’re already on the brink.
Determination hardens within me. I need to dig deeper, uncover the connections, and find a way to stop this. The answers might lie in the past, in the words of a novel that once did go unnoticed and were dismissed. With a newfound resolve, I stand up, grabbing the book from the table.
“Stream, find me all available data on M.T. Anderson and the societal impact of “Feed” in its time.”
As the information floods in, I know what I have to do. This isn’t just research anymore. It’s our lives. If I can understand the warnings Anderson embedded in his story– just maybe – I can prevent our world from spiraling into the same fate.
The stream tells me it’s 3 a.m. and reminds me that I should get some sleep. I take a deep breath and one step forward still clutching the book in my hands. Books aren’t allowed outside of this place. I scanned my chip, so they’ll know exactly what I…
“They already know what you have Dr. Bates. They already know
what you plan to do. But as you know books aren’t allowed out of…”
I ignore the warning and push through the museum doors hearing the alarm sound behind me.
The fate of our future might just depend on me. But first, I need to get some sleep.
When you’re a college professor, do you ever immediately recognize which students will be successful?
I was standing in the hallway chatting with a colleague of mine when a young woman (probably 17) came up to us, waited for a break in our conversation, and asked a couple of questions about our program very politely. I think she was a HS senior visiting the campus. There was just something about her manner, her confidence, her engagement, her sense of humor, and the quality of her questions. After she walked away, I turned to my colleague and said, “I don’t think we have to worry much about that young woman.” He laughed and agreed completely.
She took four classes from me – the two intro courses in her freshman year and my solid state physics classes as a senior – was probably the best and most thorough student grader I ever had – not just marking papers but adding elaborate explanations to help the students with their problem solving, and she did her senior project under the other professor (who had also been a student of mine many years earlier).
That was all fifteen years or so ago. She now has her PhD and is a physics professor in the University of California system. We became friends when she was a young student – and we are still in touch after all these years. I always look forward to her articulate and insightful emails and the conversations that follow.
Sometimes there is just something that lets you know.
Vintage pictures, and strange comix
0b420bf5deb168483164f0d0c541075a
84a89ece0566df30aac09bc5093a510b
1f87d5b6fd412079005c3f3168cae723
604b7a4a9623d325b90efa26fe8795e5
8510af980cc697c39c36a4e2f622f8f8
9b6980550a01270af73982812f7b9f60
ee2cb9eed0f5f185e7ee651f706c5e0e
aaad9b23a3d6160cf8903acb4b5efc89
a96821154b027b46872732a2739ac0e0
b3c50c79471cc21f5f2852c4f7ed98bc
20ebf2e32d4f42194ad70190f4c7750f
2dad76bb7338797ee17355365c50ab67
badf18bcdc62166b4446e518a5af1452
68d24b073f4498c0e0ca345116505c5c
296aea0847d2e50b4b81d4a495c73104
5e24c2f0bd457998d098dea1af009e1d
2163a75ce58c977e12fd6867fc9a1d99
819dab9fde98f76102d3649dfce60bd0
5f6356279f869ee8456950fb1da7ea5e
Mine and Counter mine, William Heath Robinson
ed0df404595d11271ce5feb915c56790
b23a375956063c4f6b3b0e79e359a7a6
2098233f76682f0008e1cfad56656ea3
5595b668724167f75e3a058ea568d0a0
d1c2ebdf040b0aa5de3b572af8012102
9b8cf6567aa511c827ef1037aede23f5
a91ce01a1e79d7a202572489d9080f7d
ec900ed944ddeede42ef0e7590de10ee
d4b9bc32e561216e8149f474340c8cb7
00bda3652a116d1962e79b77b693115e
7c878a9c7240b10e995828fdf32cb084
dc68f8c517f77d66ab5d24061ef2aab5
527fb736bc6bf55663322337d9fc014d
bcf45dbea5be5f117ec8847c24cf87c0
8ec8a9bbb1da412a7939103a7fcc85d3
d882698b704b1fdd4af7741c139d513b
708bf0719194438a429e588a11ac39d8
d8f3b8f1bb63d6b5bdb0a792b5bae536
8e1d6fda7dae4dd88821fb3d8b597ea4
64e007f7a6d78f9f16b7df009c598154
c00e6dc2f23f1fdd455fc042984b512c
c56f378ff3d0508c1f16970d12877bc8
d948c6e82d0bd169b1d6725da5f6eacc
a9ce2d3bb84f0759c8d13c0fafe7a78a
0782d261c874256b0f048c18ed6e0104
42452812d547abe5845571e0d0210af8
035f91ccb314412caae3393e1768d302
e129c4c7b148e70f0d37c698886ec71d
9224b2ab972c9a6237435052c638c84d
ee7b7c4e062610985bd1948da45f071d
1af9a9899fbbfec9ba95fc7637a3306f
ff6adc8e18844b024256cc1b92f87cf0
fc7f5203447e450c087108d562c3ea2b
1417dd581a6c97b37146883a1189b898
c554893c4608872dca6fe0ffffc2b2c6
2e6143602c8bb053a9315bd225693c09
d9ff350cd82109f041afb2d3721e5fe7
54256cfe83c7292a51b3147d42603035
d969f895bdbac0eaa8b0b83640257e81
4946718870504a3c305a7fbb4e506211
a0622652da48abe650d1b875767ea83f
c32b765f098dde17581c45ea339131cc
c3bbe5793f7d2dae3e35100a5ffa2bf3
3c402e0b3e05ec1d6370e97316745e41
177d02c98ca7cd2aefb77aba84119a45
f8c10bc5a193a3c0220a0318be6c17f1
d241488f4275ef3e36632451cd476f20
6a030f832b86bb140616497642993c0d
a136907ccbed9b54311803c11e753256
97923b3ac4973f94ff0fb134167cfca1
ceb5f8e25d33424f237b29c0218c5728
11da162565ad90318e6cc3570cb85336
b7542eb1f7c8812f241bdddfb65f346f
2a5dd442fb7bd37adade0041b2b6b1b8
41960b5a45a107ec5e6d6224b523ff95
d975e944fb76ce505ee3bfeb3b9fe957
071e3236a65705c9fec166d6a53ca381
a850e6f493712f960323939e5e5af78e
7d92825d98847a9eda93535bcc34b4eb
@@@@741ac9853304ea0027268dd8b7da3d1d
Men keep checking out of relationships but women still aren’t getting the message. Will they listen?
This idea of some millionaire guy thats 30-40 is complete foolishness. Most, most millionaires are 50+ the odds of a women finding a man thats 30-40 that even has 5-10G saved up is low. Equivalently as low as a man finding a woman that is in debt less than 5-10G.
Has your dog ever tried to tell you something important?
Yes! June 2016, 7 am, our 12 year old Belgian Malinois (gotten in 2004 as a brown $5 mutt from a rescue shelter) had had breakfast, gone outside, done her duty and come back in, all acting perfectly normal.
1 hour later, she came to me, stopped and stood perfectly still, looking at me with a pleading in her eyes, WILLING me to hear her thoughts.
Not panting, not moving, she did not want to play ball, did not want to follow me or lie down, just looking in my eyes, “saying” clearly as possible, “I hurt inside and something is very VERY wrong, but I don’t have words to tell you what.” Her behavior was so completely out of character (and the expression on her face, so clearly a pleading, even though completely silent), that we rushed her straight to the nearby vet.
They took her in and did an X-ray and saw suspicious shapes and cloudy areas, but couldn’t be sure what they were seeing.
The put her under, did a laparectomy, and found she had had a tumor on her intestines that had ruptured and spilled everything into her peritoneal cavity.
Well, they cleaned out the mess and sent it to a lab for analysis, stitched up the torn areas, and put her on antibiotics.
When I came by at 5 that afternoon, they took her off the I.V. for me to take her outside for a short potty walk, and she happily trotted along with me on the leash, as if there had been nothing at all wrong.
She was still a little wobbly and weak, but otherwise fine.
She stayed overnight for observation and because they had to keep her on the i.v. because the anesthetics and surgery meant she couldn’t have food or drink yet. When she went home the next day, she was completely back to normal.
Happy, playful, and acting like “What stitches? I have stitches?”
She paid no attention at all to the stitches that ran the full length of her belly, top to bottom.
The vets told us that if we’d been even an hour later, she would not have lived through the afternoon.
The lab results came back negative for any form of cancer (thank goodness!)
She is still with us today, and still gets around on her own, although she’s slowed down quite a bit and is a little wobbly the first couple minutes after getting up from her frequent naps.
Not bad for a 50 lb dog who will be 15 next July (2019) and who nearly died 3 years ago.
Today, she even ‘asked’ me to toss her tennis ball across the patio and chased it about 20 feet before bringing it back and taking it inside as if to say, “OK, that was fun.
Once was enough though because it’s raining out here and you’re getting all wet and I really am too old to do this many times anymore.”
She, of course, doesn’t mind the rain at all. Yes, I toweled her dry and turned on a heater for her to lie near after we came in.
Laid Off From My $240k Engineering Job – Here’s Whats Next
In this candid video, I find myself discussing a topic I never thought I'd have to address - the sudden cancellation of my year-long contract just two weeks ago. As someone with over 15 years of experience in a volatile industry, layoffs unfortunately aren't unfamiliar territory for me. But each time feels like a new blow, especially when you have a family, a mortgage, and plans for the year.
Combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour along with the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir the ingredients together, adding enough additional flour to make a soft dough.
Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
Cover the dough with the inverted mixing bowl and allow to stand for 15 to 20 minutes.
Grease a 16 inch round pizza pan, or use cooking spray.
Press the Pizza Dough in the bottom of the pan.
Topping
Spread pizza sauce on top of the dough Sprinkle 1 package of the cheese on top of the sauce evenly.
Add the ground beef on top of that – however much you like.
Sprinkle the other package of cheese over that.
Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.
Between China and the US, who do you think is more peaceful inclined?
What a bizarre question. It’s as if you’ve been living in a cave for the last half century.
China eschews war. The USA welcomes war.
China has fought no wars in the last 45 years. The USA has fought numerous wars, most of them illegally. Let me remind you about Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, recently.
The USA must feed its voracious military-industrial complex.
The USA has over 800 military bases around the globe. China has one (in Djibouti).
The USA has been blocking all peace negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts. China brokered an historical peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
It’s obvious to a blind monkey that China is much more peaceful.
What was the most ‘one sided’ naval engagement in history? What happened and what was the result?
It’s late October 1940. There is a convoy of 38 ships assembling in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They’ll be heading for Liverpool, carrying a range of cargoes which are vital to the war effort.
main qimg aa49d3160006cd72e508dab27934d140 lq
Convoy HX84 being assembled
HX84 departs on 28th October with two Canadian destroyers as escorts and one auxiliary cruiser, the HMS Jervis Bay. The weather is typically unpleasant for that time of year, but nevertheless the convoy presses on across the rains and big waves of the North Atlantic.
After one day, both the destroyers make their way back to Halifax, leaving the ships of HX84 under the protection of Jervis Bay. But she isn’t a warship: an auxiliary cruiser was an ocean liner with guns bolted to her decks: in this case, 7 six inch guns, mounted in the open with no armoured turrets or casements to protect her crews. The ship is unarmoured: it isn’t particularly fast either, but at this stage of the war the Royal Navy is desperately short of ships to escort convoys, and there is little choice.
main qimg b9f98bd2d842502e04af64f139d42b17 lq
HMS Jervis Bay earlier that year. You can see the starboard guns in this photo: the easiest to spot is just abaft from where the gunwale slopes down from her bow.
After a week at sea, in amongst November’s darkening nights and cold seas, the convoy is spotted by the German heavy cruiser, Admiral Scheer. This ship is well armoured, has a basic radar for finding range, and six 11” guns. Her class has been designed as commerce raiders and she’s exactly what the British fear: convoys are strong against submarines, but are effectively lambs to the slaughter where surface raiders are involved.
The Jervis Bay spots the Admiral Scheer in the late afternoon off the coast of Iceland, and immediately challenges her with a flash from her signal lamps. The Captain of the Admiral Scheer, however, knows not to respond. Instead they wait as long as they can, luring the convoy to them as close as possible.
main qimg 6a826d8e73825e795bfd4575cf37e5b4 lq
Admiral Scheer, colourised. Showing off her bow turret with its ‘pocket battleship’ armament.
After tense minutes, the captain of the Jervis Bay orders them to fire. They are hopelessly outclassed; some shots land near the Admiral Scheer but after a handful of salvos, the bridge of the Jervis Bay is hit. She is ablaze from stem to stern, mauled by those 11” guns, and sinking fast.
The Jervis Bay fought for 26 mins, and bought enough time for the convoy to start scattering. Her captain received a Victoria Cross, but despite the incredible bravery of her crew the Admiral Scheer was soon able to turn its attention to the merchant ships of the convoy.
Amongst these ships was the SS Beaverford. She was armed with two small guns, one at the bow and one at the stern.
main qimg 5ba972805a31a592e8ed4c184bd8e495 lq
SS Beaverford. A freighter with 10,000 ton capacity and 12 passenger cabins. And two small guns.
The Admiral Scheer sank the SS Maidan, then set the tanker San Demetrio ablaze. She turned, sank SS Trewllard in short order, and started firing at SS Kenbane Head. For convoys this was the nightmare scenario : they might avoid the lone U-boats of the period, but once a commerce raiders was amongst them, they were doomed.
Beaverford’s captain was Hugh Pettigrew, a 60 year old Scot who had been a merchant seaman for most of his life, although seeing service in the Great War. Seeing the Kenbane Head come under fire, he realised the game was up. He ordered his crew to come about, and fire her 3” bow pea shooter at the Admiral Scheer, as the late Autumnal darkness fell about them.
The first shot landed surprisingly close to the German panzerschiff. By this time, Kenbane Head was sinking, and the Admiral Scheer turned its sights onto Beaverford. She fired star shells to light up the target, and Captain Pettigrew ordered a turn, to bring the stern 4” gun into play. He signalled the rest of the convoy:
“It is our turn now. So long. The captain and crew of SS Beaverford”.
main qimg 68f709a7848da76c3de91c7a1860dd56 lq
This is a still from video shot by the Admiral Scheer, showing Jervis Bay being hit. There aren’t any similar images of Beaverford, unfortunately.
Beaverford used her modern engines to quickly vary speed and heading, avoiding the initial shots from Admiral Scheer. The convoy was by this time dispersing into the darkening gloom, and laying a thick smoke screen as it went. Pettigrew could have run, but instead led his crew through four hours of darting in and out of this smoke, appearing to fire its little guns, then escaping back into cover.
Every time she reappeared she was hit. But she didn’t run.
Admiral Scheer fired 71 5.9” rounds, landing 16 hits, and 12 11” rounds, hitting three times. The little Beaverford, loaded with Aluminium, Copper, Food, ammunition, and timber, slowly succumbed to leaks and damage. Taking on water, and lit up in the darkness by the fires burning on the timber on her deck, she was by now an easy target.
Captain Krancke on the Admiral Scheer ordered his crew to conserve ammunition and finish the Beaverford with a torpedo. This struck her bow, detonating the ammunition deep in the hold, and the freighter blew apart. She sank with all hands.
***
Whilst the Jervis Bay had at least had cruiser guns, if older designs and No protection to speak of, the Beaverford was a proper merchantman. Her chance of causing damage was minimally small, whilst the big German guns could wreck her in fairly short order. There are many such tales of heroism from the Atlantic convoys but this one really stands out for me. After the war, some doubt was cast on the specifics of this story; notedly the log book of the German ship makes little mention of this encounter. Whether this accurately reflects the situation, or the captain was not too keen on some of the details of how he managed to only sink five of the convoy’s ships, we don’t know. Certainly the story is less well known than the heroism of the crew of the Jervis Bay: there were, however, survivors to tell that tale.
Beaverford’s four hour battle against hopeless odds, however, seems a fitting answer to me.
This is How China is making the classroom of the future
Shenzhen is also well known for having some of the best and most modern schools in the whole country, many schools in Shenzhen are equipped with smart classroom technologies, including digital whiteboards, tablets, and online learning platforms. The integration of technology into the curriculum is common, with coding, robotics, and AI being part of the learning experience in some schools.
What was the rudest thing a guest has ever said or did while visiting your home?
I once invited one of my work colleague to my house for dinner along with her family. We had just started off with our friendship at work and I was inviting her for the first time. Her mother lived with her and I invited her as well. And me and my husband spent a lot of time cooking for them and the preparations.
They came on time, she was accompanied by her husband, mother and also her 1 year old kid. Within 10 minutes of coming in to my house, the kid was with her husband and my husband is talking to her husband.
She and her mother just get up and start going through all the stuff in my house. First they went to the kitchen, start opening my drawers there and going through all my things. Then my fridge and she goes “wow, you cooked so much food for us”.
Then they walk straight into my bedroom, she and her mother literally start opening my cupboards and drawers and start going through my personal things. I just stand, not saying a word, very awkward. Wondering what’s happening. She goes through my clothing, my husband’s and all our personal things.
Her mother on the other side, going through my jewelry. And asking me where I brought it from and how much it costs !
Then after 30 minutes they both walked out to the living room, and go “thanks for inviting us, we are leaving now”. I go “please have the food, it’s late and we prepared it specially for you guys”.
She “No, I forgot to tell you but I have to go to another friend’s house and it’s getting late. We will have dinner some other time. Thanks for inviting us though”.
We didn’t say anything, and they left. There was lot of food now, which thankfully we had some lovely neighbors we could share with.
And later I noticed one of my bracelets missing, noticed it after days but didn’t think much of it.
Months later, I saw her wearing the same missing bracelet to the office.
Russia and China Are DESTROYING The West’s Dumb Narrative For Good | Dr. Matthew Crosston
The war in Ukraine is getting worse, the Genozide in Gaza is still in full swing, and the Neocons are dreaming of even more war. Luckily, outside the West nobody is taking the narratives coming from Washington, Brussels and Berlin serious anymore. Yet, the world has never been in worse danger from nuclear annihilation and threatened by a 3ed World War than now. How can we explain so much blind hubris and suicidal stupidity?We last talked in August, 2023, it’s now June 2024, and it seems to me that things have only gotten worse for Ukraine, worse for the NATO countries, we are at the brink of further escalation with Russia, with official OKs to use NATO weapons against the Russia proper and maybe even NATO boots on the ground, and there is still no willingness in the west to pick up the Russians on their various signals that they would want to negotiate based on what has been reached in Istanbul which Putin recently again said can be—together with the realities on the battlefield—the basis for serious negotiation. Do you agree with my assessment or how do you view what happened in the past months?
When I was a boy, throughout fourth though (maybe) seventh grade, I would go hiking in the Pennsylvania hills. I would walk the tracks, and climb the hills. I would explore old abandoned buildings, and I would explore old garbage dumps… often finding many interesting bottles.
The whittle marked bottles were a prize.
whittlemarks small
Whittle marks are a very descriptive term for a bottle body feature that generally has nothing whatsoever to do with its name. The term "whittled" or "whittle marked" is a reference to a hammered or wavy surface to the glass that one could imagine was caused by the "whittle" marks of the mold maker on the inside surface of a wooden mold. Early 19th century glass makers called this effect "ruffled glass" while later it was referred to as a "hammered look" (Toulouse 1966, 1969a). See picture to the left.Appealing though this notion is, the large majority of molds used to produce bottles during the era covered by this webpage (1800 through the 1950s) were made of various metals, or in the earlier years, fired clay (Van den Bossche 2001). Although wooden molds were extensively used in the very early days of bottle making (pre-1800 up until the 1850s) and continued to be used for some applications until the early 20th century, including for the block in free-blowing, wood had too short of a life span to be of much use for most industrial bottle making where the temperature of molten glass was 2000°F and wood burns at about 1/4th that temperature (Whitall Tatum 1880; Toulouse 1966; Lohmann 1972; Boow 1991). It is believed impossible to visually determine that a bottle was blown in a wooden mold since these type of molds had to be kept very wet in order to avoid premature burn-out or even ignition when the hot glass hit the wood. Due to the water, steam was formed in the mold creating a cushion that the bottle "rode" on between the glass and the mold surface (Scholes 1952). This would not leave any trace of the mold surface texture and would likely preclude embossing on the bottle. When used, wooden molds were often lined with clay, coal, pitch, and other materials to try to extend the life. All were poor substitutes for metal molds (Atwater 1893; Toulouse 1966; Kendrick 1968; Lohmann 1972; Munsey 1970; Deiss pers. comm. 2005). Whittle marks were actually caused by a reaction of the hot glass hitting the surface of a colder mold; cold relative to the temperature of the molten glass. Thus, the alternative name for this feature - "cold mold" although it was sometimes the glass itself that was too "cold" relatively speaking (Ceramic Industry 1949). Molds needed to be red hot" to properly produce a bottle without the wrinkles or ripple-marks that are known as whittle marks (Scholes 1952). This hammered look of mouth-blown bottles was also believed to sometimes be caused by the rolling the hot parison on the usually colder marver (Toulouse 1966). In a sense, whittle marks are bottle "goose bumps." As glassblowers were paid for the number of intact bottles blown, not by the surface quality of the items, there was little incentive to pay much attention to things like whittle marks or for that matter, bubbles in the glass or other largely non-impairing flaws (Toulouse 1966; Munsey 1970). The August 1890 edition of the National Bottlers Gazette (a carbonated beverage industry publication) noted the following - "The hammered look that some bottles present is not a sign of weakness except so far as the appearance of the bottle is concerned. The cause of this 'Hammered' appearance is that the glass has been put into a mould which has not been sufficiently hot, and the steam from the surface has imprinted itself upon the bottle." The steam was from the water that metal molds were either sprayed with or dipped into periodically to cool them (Toulouse 1966).Kendrick (1968) suggested that the term whittle marks, though inaccurate, should be retained because of its ubiquitous use and because "although the (term) may be misleading as to the true cause of the deformity, it represents a true picture in the mind's eye of how the marks appear." This is not to say there have not been periodic debates over whether some whittle marked bottles actually do exhibit the signs of the wooden mold makers knife. The most notable argument for this was put forth by the pioneering May Jones in Volumes 7 & 8 of her "The Bottle Trail" publications during the 1960s (Jones 1967). However, as noted above, the steam caused by the hot glass vaporizing the moisture in a wooden mold would almost certainly preclude any subtle mold surface irregularities from expressing themselves on the bottle surface (Deiss pers. comm. 2005). It is now believed that the vast majority - if not all - of the bottles exhibiting whittle marks are the result of the noted glass to metal mold reaction. The bottle pictured to the above left exhibits an extreme level of whittle marks. This is an Old Dr. Townsend's Sarsaparilla (New York, NY) that dates from the 1850s (Shimko 1969; Odell 2000). This bottle was probably blown early in the day before the mold had warmed up much or after extensive cooling with water. Though having whittle marks way more distinct than normal, this bottle makes a good illustrative item for showing this feature. Most bottles having whittle marks exhibit them in less density and less distinctly than the pictured item. As an example of more subdued whittle marks, click on the picture to the right. This is a ca. 1865-1875 medicinal tonic bottle (C. G. PENDLETON'S / TONIC - the embossing is turned away in the picture) thought to be from Memphis, TN. (Incidentally, whittle marks can be evident on any color of bottle; dark ones were used here since the dark glass surface photographs better.)In the 20th century, much more attention was paid to all aspects of a bottles conformation and quality. Whittle marks were, as Kendrick noted above, a deformity of the glass and something that 20th century bottle makers worked to eliminate. They referred to whittle marks as "washboards", "brush marks", "wavy," "wavy surface", "ripple-marks", "wrinkles", "cold mold," and probably other terms (Anonymous 1949; Scholes 1952; Tooley 1953). Some automatic machines pre-heated the molds (called a "hot mold" - molds are also cooled if too hot) though whittle marks are observed occasionally in machine-made bottles also. These defects are less likely in fully automatic machines because they would run 24 hours a day rarely cooling off; the mold heat being supplied by the glass itself. In addition, the cycling time from one bottle to the next was very short since machines in the mid-20th century were producing soda bottles at the rate of 30-125 (or more) per minute with one operator - hardly time to cool of much. As a comparison earlier hand production operations produced about 1 bottle per minute with several people involved (Tooley 1953; Kendrick 1968; Jones & Sullivan 1989).(Note: A similar bottle surface irregularity that is seen now then on mouth-blown bottles is what is termed an "orange-peel" effect or surface. It is quite descriptive as it is a pebbly surface to the glass that very closely resembles the texture of orange peel. This effect is probably caused similarly to whittle marks, though it is possible that at it is caused at times by the rough surface texture of a more crudely made or worn iron mold.)
As were “Bitters” bottles. Though I never found an intact bitters bottle.
bitters
In 1803, the Farmer’s Cabinet, an agriculture periodical published in Philadelphia, first mentioned the word “cocktail” to refer to a drink—and not a horse with a shortened tail. Another early description of a cocktail, from 1806, calls for four ingredients: “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.”Bitters occupy a curious niche in the history of food and drinks, especially given their early history as patent medicines with rather dubious reputations. Take one of the oldest, Angostura. Originally, the company’s greenish-tinted bottles contained an herbal concoction made from roots, bark, and spices. The “Aromatic Bitters” took their name from the Venezuelan city where they were first created (Angostura was subsequently rechristened Cuidad Bolivar in 1846). Interestingly, early botanists also gave the name Angostura to three different species of trees, including Galipea officinalis. Because the bitters’ recipe is a tightly guarded secret, locked in a vault and known by only five employees, whether the trademarked concoction once contained the bark from any of these Angosturas remains something of a mystery. Either way, the recipe’s since to be reformulated—in much the same way that Coca-Cola removes the potent alkaloids in coca leaves—and now Angostura neither contains Angostura, nor is it produced in Angostura.I was curious about how bitters went from being drugs to an intrinsic part of today’s cocktail renaissance. I spoke with Brad T. Parsons, the author of Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas from his home in New York.How did bitters evolve from a substance kept behind the apothecary to a staple in the modern cocktail? The English used bitters in this drink called Canary wine. They were putting medicinal herb-based dashes and drops in these drinks, but bitters really exploded in American Colonial times, up through Prohibition. The word “bitters” is in the definition of the first printed usage of the word “cocktail.” It was any drink consisting of spirits, water, sugar, and bitters… There is some murkiness about when it went from being something someone sipped on its own as a medicinal to when it went into a cocktail, but people were taking these high-proof root-, botanical-, fruit-, or seed-based infusions for medicinal value.Around 1824, Johann Siegert, who was a doctor in Venezuela, began making Angostura as a stimulant for the troops to help them with malaria and keep them on their feet. As we get to the golden age of the cocktail, the late 1800s, bitters became more synonymous with cocktails no matter what bar you went to.Even during the Temperance movement, people who were teetotalers were still drinking bitters even though it was a high-proof infusion. During that time, people were putting these bitters into a poorer quality spirit, which was a way for it to taste better, or people were applying alcohol to their bitters to help their medicine go down, so to speak. I was never really able to pinpoint the year we went from these corked, apothecary bottles that people would nip to when they started putting them into their drinks and it became more of a concentrated drop versus a splash or a nip.Then we get up to 2004, when Gary Regan put his bitters back on the market and now you can get a dozen different bitters. There is a little bit of “everything old is new again” charm to it, but also it was a lot of people seeking out old copies and the internet leveling the playing field by finding old, rare books, you didn’t have to physically travel around and buy them at auctions, you could buy them online.
I found tons of Lydia E. Pinkham bottles which was a “remedy” for women. I think that it was sort of a cross between cough syrup and whiskey. LOL.
womans medicine
Lydia Pinkham was born in 1819 to well-to-do farmers William and Rachel Estes in Lynn, Massachusetts. Pinkham joined the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society when she was sixteen years old, and worked as a schoolteacher until she married Isaac Pinkham in 1843. Pinkham’s foray into the world of medicine began with her penchant for collecting recipes and brewing home remedies, then giving them to her neighbours. When her family fell on difficult financial times in the 1870s, the decision was made to turn her well-liked remedy into a business.It was marketed to women, and many women would write directly to Lydia Pinkham for health-related advice. She answered all their letters– even after her death in 1883! It was later revealed that her daughter-in-law Jennie Pinkham was the one answering the later letters.Today, many remember Lydia Pinkham as a champion of women’s health and provider of important information to thousands of women. The formula of her Vegetable Compound changed over the years, and survives today in different, modern forms.
Ball mason jars were in abundance, and they were so common, that I gave up collecting them.
ball jars
But, I’ll tell you that a fine cobalt blue telephone or telegraph insulator was a real prize. Oh, sure, we found brown ceramic insulators often enough, but the frosty pale blue ones were a real treasure.
oak aqua
When I went to anniversary, all my collections… from bottles to models, to books were all rummaged though by my siblings. My brother would trade them or sell them for things that he wanted, and my sisters just told my mother to throw them out. And so she did.
Very few bottles remained. Which is a shame as some (noticeablely the ink bottles with stoppers) were just beautiful.
Sigh.
And life moves on. Today…
Singapore’s Minister of Defense expressed concern in recent news about the global system potentially reaching a breaking point, emphasizing that Asian countries cannot treat this issue like “boiling a frog in lukewarm water.” What do you think?
Certainly true, but what can we do?
Look at Fumio, Suk Yeol and Bongbong.
The first two have literally run their countries to the ground pursuing foolhardy policies, with a mile-long list of anti-China measures.
Both administrations have hit record low approval ratings in the ~20% region.
20%!
How is that one man one vote rule by majority?
Goes to show who is the rainmaker behind the scenes, busy going around the world tying down coalitions to enact long-term policies that a strongman like Donald will find very hard to undo, such as the doubling of the Japanese “defense” budget.
Joe is sunshine after the Donald storm.
As for Bongbong, he is not only the son of an ousted President, he was a ranking member of the administration who fled when the Filipino people rose up in revolution. They fled to Hawaii with valuables valued at over a billion dollars (in current dollar terms), leaving behind outrageous opulence and excess they couldn’t fit in the plane.
The United States sheltered a corrupt President and has refused to repatriate the ill-gotten riches of the Marcos family.
Corazon Aquino who came to power post-ouster had the mandate from an angry electorate to make a series of Constitutional changes that was designed to prevent another Marcos from taking charge again.
And yet, Bongbong won a landslide in alliance with Duterte, despite a disinterested campaign.
Duterte has expressed massive regret, accusing Bongbong of reneging on assurances and representations made while sidelining his daughter.
Bongbong is now pushing to undo the shackles put in place by Aquino on the Marcos family, simultaneously seeking to overturn term limits and restore the Marcos dynasty.
Need I remind the reader that all three countries where the political process has been hijacked share a common denominator—U.S. troops on the ground, deployed with offensive capability aimed squarely at one nation.
The U.S. will promote anyone—good, bad, qualified, unqualified, doesn’t matter—as long as American policy goals are delivered. What carrots and resources were offered, especially the Philippines, given the absurd landslide and lightning betrayal that surprised both China and Duterte?
As long as national leaders remain willing to jump on the American ship, we are in for a really hairy rollercoaster. American policy seeks to benefit America and hurt its enemies, proxies be damned.
That is why my Harvard-trained American friend recently confided that even though he hates Donald’s guts and is ashamed to have him at the helm, he is of the opinion that a return to the White House may be a good respite, because America will find it much harder to incite and shape coalitions of conflict as an isolationist bully.
I am less sanguine. The world is in a way more dangerous place going forward than anytime this century. And if the United States fails to adjust to the cracks in American empire and downsize accordingly, the fading hegemon’s thrashing and flailing against the dying of the light will blight East Asia.
Dems In ‘FULL-BLOWN FREAK-OUT MODE’ Over Biden Poll Numbers
Well… DUH!
Stuffed Cabbage Leaves
stuffed cabbage rolls SweetAndSavoryMeals 6
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
12 large cabbage leaves
1 pound lean ground beef or lamb
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
Instructions
Wash cabbage leaves.
Boil 4 cups water.
Turn heat off.
Soak leaves in water for 5 minutes.
Remove leaves, drain and cool.
Combine remaining ingredients except tomato paste and water.
Place 2 tablespoons of mixture on each leaf and roll firmly.
Stack in slow cooker.
Combine tomato paste and water and pour over stuffed cabbage.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.
“What am I supposed to do at a bar?”
I went to a bar alone for the first time recently and I found it really boring. I brought a book in case I got anxious so I would have something to focus on but it pretty much came down to I either read, played on my phone, or stared at the wall. Everyone else there came with someone else and had someone to interact with but I just kinda… sat there.
Alright, let’s break this down. You want to know how to strike up a conversation with strangers at a bar without coming across as socially inept. I get it. Socializing can be uncomfortable, especially when you’re on your own and everyone else seems to be part of a group.
First off, ditch the book. This isn’t high school study hall; it’s a bar. The whole point of going to a bar is to interact with people, not to isolate yourself. If you’re buried in a book, you’re sending off vibes that say, “Don’t talk to me.” Same goes for staring at your phone or the wall. You’re not going to magically become more interesting to yourself by doing that.
Bars are designed for people to mingle and chat with each other. It’s not like you’re interrupting a serious event. So don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
Next time, try this: walk in with the mindset that you’re there to meet new people and have fun, not just to kill time.
Sit at the bar, order a drink or two, and tune into the chatter around you. Before long, you’ll likely overhear someone nearby saying something that piques your interest or relates to a topic you know about. Or maybe a situation will unfold that perfectly sets up a joke you’ve been waiting to tell. When that moment comes, seize it. Jump into the conversation casually—no need to be overly aggressive or intense. A good-natured chuckle and a friendly head turn towards your potential new acquaintance is often all it takes to get the ball rolling.
If they’re open to chatting, great! You’ve just made a new single-serving friend. Engage with them, share some laughs, and see where the conversation takes you.
If they give you a polite “haha yeah” and then turn back to their friends, don’t take it personally. Not everyone is in the mood to make new acquaintances, and that’s okay. Just brush it off and move on. Simply move on and keep your eyes and ears open for the next opportunity.
Another helpful trick is to think of your position as one point of a triangle, with the bartender and someone next to you as the other two points. Strike up a conversation with the bartender, then casually include your neighbor in the discussion. Bounce between the two, feel out the vibe, and see if a larger conversation blossoms. Bartenders are often masters at facilitating these kinds of interactions, so don’t be afraid to lean on their expertise.
The triangle strategy with the bartender is also a smart approach. Bartenders are usually pretty skilled at facilitating conversations and making introductions. So if you’re connecting with them, chances are they can help bring your neighbor into the mix.
But here’s the most important thing to remember: if you want to meet new people, YOU have to be the one to initiate. Don’t just sit there sipping your drink and hoping someone will magically strike up a conversation with you. That’s like waiting for a leprechaun to appear.
Instead, embrace the discomfort and put yourself out there. Will it feel awkward at times? Probably. Will you face some rejection? Almost certainly. But who cares? Every social interaction is a chance to hone your skills and build your confidence.
And really, what’s the worst that could happen? Someone doesn’t want to talk to you? It’s not the end of the world. There are plenty of other people in the bar to chat with.
The bottom line is this: if you want a different social experience, you have to be willing to create it yourself. So stop being a wallflower and start being the social butterfly you wish to attract. Worst case scenario, you’ll have a few awkward moments and a funny story to tell later. Best case, you’ll expand your social circle and have a great time doing it.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has warned that 63 Banks are “vulnerable” to failure due to $517 Billion in Unrealized Losses, marking a “concerning uptick” in the financial sector’s instability.
Despite the claimed ‘resilience’ in the banking sector by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Biden administration, the specter of significant financial strain looms large. Unrealized losses on securities swelled by $39 billion from the previous quarter, driven predominantly by depreciations in residential mortgage-backed securities due to rising mortgage rates.
The latest FDIC report highlights that this marks the ninth consecutive quarter of substantial unrealized losses, a troubling trend that began with the Federal Reserve‘s interest rate hikes in early 2022. Simultaneously, the number of banks on the FDIC’s Problem Bank List has escalated from 52 to 63 in just one quarter.
These banks, identified with a CAMELS composite rating of “4” or “5,” indicate a heightened level of financial, operational, or managerial weaknesses. The total assets of these at-risk banks have surged by $15.8 billion, signaling potential vulnerabilities in the broader banking ecosystem. The widespread belief is that the banking crisis that began in 2023 is ongoing.
Following the dramatic failures of three of the largest financial institutions in American history last year, Philadelphia’s Republic First Bank also collapsed this year. Additionally, a recent study from Klaros Group, published in May 2024, suggests that hundreds of U.S. banks are at risk of failure.
The latest data presented by the FDIC serves as a sobering reminder of the ongoing challenges within the U.S. banking sector. Despite governmental assurances, the persistent rise in unrealized losses and the expanding roster of vulnerable institutions suggest a pivotal moment for so-called ‘economic resilience.’ The FDIC figures emphasize the persistent uncertainty regarding the stability of the U.S. banking system.
Amelia Earhart Landed on Gardner Island | Nikumaroro | The Earhart Mystery
This is fine, but the background music is damn irritating.
French Soldier Captured ALIVE By Russian Troops in Ukraine
French Soldier Captured By Russia in Ukraine large
Video below shows the capture of a French military by the Russian Army in the area of the village of Liptsy (Kharkov region), where active hostilities between the Russian Armed Forces and the AFU are now taking place.
This soldier was not “instructing” Ukrainian troops, he was engaged in an active fire-fight with Russian troops – and got captured.
Of course, we will likely hear how this soldier resigned from the French Army and became a mercenary with some unknown, never-heard-of Private Military Organization . . . but the evidence is irrefutable: French military is in fire fights inside Ukraine, against Russia. France is waging war against Russia in Ukraine.
Russia’s response to what Washington’s “clients” in Ukraine do may be “asymmetrical” and stronger than expected, the senior diplomat has warned
The US is close to making a “fatal” miscalculation in its attempts to deal with Russia and the Ukraine conflict, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has warned.
665dca442030275bfa29f1fc
The senior diplomat commented on Monday on the reported US decision to let Kiev use American weapons outside what Washington considers Ukrainian territory. The move is supposedly limited to a small piece of Russia’s Belgorod Region relevant to hostilities across the border in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region.
”I’d like to warn American actors against miscalculations that can lead to fatal consequences. For some unclear reason they underestimate how serious a response they could face,” Ryabkov told journalists.
Up to then the stated US policy had been to ban such attacks, to prevent triggering “World War III.” Kiev has said it is disappointed by the change, as it wants permission to fire long-range American weapons deep inside Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of “serious consequences” of potential long-range strikes “considering the [countries’] parity in strategic weapons.”
Ryabkov urged American policymakers to “spend some of their time, which they probably waste on computer games, judging by their air-headed approach to serious issues” on considering Putin’s words.
The official also warned that Russia could react asymmetrically to a Ukrainian attack on its nuclear deterrence, as Moscow would hold the US responsible. Officials in Washington “have given Kiev a permit for any crimes, any action, and do nothing to curb provocations by their clients… But the US does not get this for free and will feel consequences,” the deputy FM warned.
Ukrainian sources have claimed to the media that Kiev targeted two early-warning radar stations in Russia last month, allegedly damaging one. The facilities in question are designed to detect intercontinental ballistic missile launches and provide a response window to the Russian leadership.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment on the reports.
America In 2024: Fast Food Is A “Luxury”, 11 Million Children Live In Poverty, And 1000s Of Stores Are Closing
Little by little, our standard of living has been eroding. A couple decades ago, we had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now most of the country is struggling. At this point, fast food is considered to be a “luxury”, 11 million children are living in poverty, and thousands of stores are permanently shutting down all over the United States because consumers have so little discretionary income these days. We are in the midst of a historic cost of living crisis, and those at the bottom of the economic food chain are being hit the hardest.
The ultra-wealthy don’t really care that food costs have been soaring, but for those that are barely scraping by from month to month it makes an enormous difference.
Once upon a time, fast food restaurants were where those that were struggling went to eat.
But now fast food is considered to be a “luxury” in 2024, and that is because fast food prices have gone absolutely haywire…
A Big Mac sandwich at McDonald’s, for example, cost $3.99 in 2019. Now, that price has more than doubled to $8.29, according to Fast Food Menu Prices, an online tracker.
Gone, too, are the days of the $5 Footlong at Subway. A BLT Footlong that cost $5.50 in 2019 now costs customers $8.49 in 2024, though prices can vary by location. Additionally, Chipotle’s beloved chicken burrito that cost $6.50 in 2019 now runs customers $10.70.
Fast-food executives have pointed to rising wages and increased costs for ingredients as factors driving up the prices on their menus.
I am sitting here looking at those numbers and I still can’t wrap my head around them.
I never imagined that I would see the day when it took more than 8 dollars to buy a Big Mac.
That is insane!
A different survey that was recently conducted by Lending Tree discovered that almost 80 percent of all Americans believe that fast food is a “luxury item” now…
Nearly 80 percent of Americans now consider fast food to be a “luxury item” as families feel the squeeze from the Biden regime’s failing economy.
According to a survey from Lending Tree of around 2,000 adults, what was once considered an affordable option for low-income workers is fast becoming the opposite.
Meanwhile, the number of American children living in poverty continues to increase with each passing day.
More than 11 million children were estimated to be living in poverty in 2021, according to U.S. Census Bureau data published by the Children’s Defense Fund.
That equates to around one in seven children in the U.S., or 15.3 percent. It’s a high toll, and one even higher than the adult population, which was 10.5 percent for 19-64 year olds that year and 10.3 percent for adults aged 65+.
According to an analysis by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, this difference is due to factors such as the “cost of caregiving and its responsibilities, transitions to a single parenthood household, unemployment of parents, and disabilities of family members.”
Today, approximately 40 percent of the entire country is considered to be either living in poverty or among the ranks of “the working poor”, and 42 million Americans are on food stamps.
We now have an absolutely gigantic “underclass” that is largely made up of people that were once solidly middle class.
The rapidly rising cost of living is just shredding families from coast to coast.
In Montana, one senior is incredibly frustrated because his property taxes have increased by 790 percent over the past several years…
A senior from Montana has delivered a viral speech about the sorry state of property taxes in the Treasure State.
“I’m on Social Security, I’m 68-years-old and working just to pay my taxes,” says Kurt, in a clip shared on TikTok by Ryan Busse, who is running to be the next governor of Montana.
Kurt claims that over the last couple of years, his annual property taxes have soared from $895 to almost $8,000 — an increase of around 790% — which he says is like paying almost “$700 a month rent to the state to live in our own house.” The state has an Elderly Homeowner/Renter Tax Credit, and the maximum credit is $1,150.
His property taxes have skyrocketed because property values have skyrocketed.
And property values have skyrocketed because our leaders flooded the system with way too much money.
Small businesses are being monkey-hammered by inflation as well.
In fact, one recent survey found that 86 percent of all U.S. small businesses say that they are being hurt by inflation…
An overwhelming majority of small business owners say they are being hurt by rising prices.
The new survey released Wednesday by small business network Alignable shows 86% reporting being hurt by high costs with only 6% saying they are thriving and not struggling.
Alignable surveyed more than 3,000 business owners from mid-April to mid-May and found that they overwhelmingly lament the burden of inflation.
Dollar stores in particular are being hit really hard by rising costs.
For example, 99 Cents Only has decided to close all of their stores because conditions have changed so dramatically…
For years, dollar stores were a fixture in nearly every strip mall in California, offering cheap household goods, bread and produce, and even toys and gifts.
But if it seems like your favorite dollar store is heading for the exit, you’re not wrong.
2024 may be their swan song.
In April, California-based 99 Cents Only announced it was closing all 371 locations after decades in business. The retailer blamed economic factors, including rising levels of “shrink,” inflation, and shifting consumer demand that has presented “significant and lasting challenges.”
Not to be outdone, Dollar Tree has announced that it will be closing about 1,000 stores…
Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, recently said it will close nearly 1,000 stores. That’s after Dollar Tree raised prices in the past couple of years for the first time in decades.
Overall, so far in 2024 retailers have already announced that they will be closing nearly 3,200 stores, and we haven’t even reached the mid-point of the year yet…
The retail industry is going through a tough time as it copes with inflation-weary consumers and a rash of bankruptcies, prompting chains to announce the closures of almost 3,200 brick-and-mortar stores so far in 2024, according to a new analysis.
That’s a 24% increase from a year ago, according to a report from retail data provider CoreSight, which tracks store closures and openings across the U.S.
The final countdown for the U.S. economy has begun, but most Americans do not even realize what is happening.
Most Americans just assume that our leaders can fix things by printing even more money and that conditions will “return to normal” eventually.
With a gleam of excitement in his eye, archaeologist Humphrey Abbot strokes his pride and joy, a massive black mustache. He has gathered a group of financiers in his mahogany paneled library to persuade them to invest in an expedition to Eygpt. After the brandy’s been poured and the cigars lit, Abbot clears his throat. “Gentlemen, I have invited you here this evening to tell you of a remarkable discovery I have made while researching the Great Pyramid of Giza. I found the following notation in an 1838 book, “Giza-What We Know,” by the late archaeologist Wilbur Thomas. I quote, “I have come across an interesting detail in the building of the Great Pyramid, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu. It alludes to an L-shaped underground chamber running parallel to the pyramid itself. The nature of the chamber is unknown, and its exact location is a bit of a mystery. The only way to gain access is by pressing a hidden stone that acts as a lever. This lever stone is identical to all the other stones in the main passageway. Thus making it most difficult to find.”Abbot adjusts the knot of his silk-crested navy blue Oxford College tie. “There you have it, gentlemen, the reason for this meeting. I wish to raise funds for traveling, permits to enter Khufu and bankroll for my two assistants, Barrows and Clark. I’ll also need funds for equipment and to hire workers. Just think of it, sirs! We’d be the first to uncover a never-before-seen chamber hidden for centuries! What mysteries does it hold? What is its purpose? And, of course, what will we add to history?” A well-dressed gentleman to the right of the room removes his monocle and holds it up to attract Abbot’s attention.Abbot addresses him. “Yes, Lord Bellington.”“If I were to invest in your venture, what exactly could I expect in return?”Abbot taps his lower lip with his finger. “Ahh. I see your lordship. You would like to know what your reward would be for investing. It will be your honor to present our findings to the Queen of England! Not a bad contact to have in Buckingham Palace, eh?” A smattering of low laughter floats through the room. After further discussion, an agreement is struck, and Professor Humphrey Abbot smiles broadly while making plans to leave for Eygpt. …Exiting the Cario airport, Abbot consults with his man, Phillip Barrows, who manages the ground crew and living quarters. Barrows has worked with Abbot for about ten years. He’s six feet tall and handsome with wavy, sun-bleached blonde hair. Abbot tells him to contact Abanoub Zewail, a man Abbot has previously employed. He is to provide tents, a good cook, and around ten trustworthy laborers.Timmy Clark is a former Abbot student whose primary function is to be Abbot’s secretary and go-for. Clark is a twenty-two-year-old American, somewhat shorter than Barrows, with an easy disposition. He is also somewhat of a ladies’ man, something Abbot intends to warn him about here in Eygpt. Abbot tells Clark to go to the Pyramids of Giza Visitor Center to see if he might obtain a permit to explore The Great Pyramid. With orders given, Abbot rubs his hands together in excitement.The encampment is a buzz of action. As tents are erected and electric lines are laid, Professor Abbott travels into town to consult with his old friend and fellow archaeologist, Professor Shakir Arax.Abbot is greeted by a short, white-haired man in his late sixties. “Humphrey, my friend, please come in! I’m anxious to learn more about your discovery. Dalal! Bring some hot black coffee to the study, please.” Turning to Abbot, he smiles. “Nothing is better for thinking than a good cup of black coffee.” He taps his temple. “It sharpens the mind.”Entering the study, Arax motions Abbot to a chair as he continues to the massive book collection behind his desk. In a faraway voice deep in concentration, he asks, “Did you say it was by Wilbur Thomas?”“Yes! Its title is “Giza-What We Know.” Arax scans for a few more seconds before exclaiming, “Ah! Here it is!” Standing on his tip-toes, he stretches to the third shelf and retrieves the book. Puffing, he walks to the table. “Humphrey, I would have reached up there ten years ago and easily gotten this book! It seems the older I get, the shorter I become!” Both men laugh.Abbot shows Arax the passage in question. Arax closes his eyes to think. Shaking his head, he opens his eyes and lifts his eyebrows. “I can’t remember having heard of such a chamber before. Perhaps it’s recorded on some old papyrus that describes the pyramid’s building. I’ll get them.” Arax returns with an armful of scrolls and gently starts unfurling them on the table. The two men ponder over them but to no avail. Arax is the first to speak. “I don’t find anything about an addition or exterior chamber, do you, Humphrey?”“I’m sorry to say it, but I don’t, Shakir. Thank you for all your help. I’ll have to find another way somehow.”
Arax strokes his small, grey goatee. “I was just thinking. Perhaps you might try remote sensing. It’s a technique where you climb to a very high place to see all the surrounding landscape and look for abnormalities such as depressions.”
Abbot pulls on the corner of his mustache. “Hmm. Perhaps if I rent an airplane, I could reach an altitude to see a depression like that. The ground is packed hard enough from all the tourists and such. Yes! I think it might work. Thank you, Shakir. You’ve been most helpful.”
“Think nothing of it. I’m more than happy to help. I might even come to the site in a day or two to see how the project progresses.”
“That would be wonderful, Shakir. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you.” With that, the two men part.
…
Professor Abbot watches the Piper Cub taxi to a stop. Inside, he sees Timmy in a lengthy conversation with the pilot before emerging from the plane. Timmy waves vigorously as he approaches his boss.
“Hey there, Professor. I got some great shots, and an indent can be seen next to the pyramid! You can see it good from the plane.”
“That’s great to hear, Timmy. Good news indeed. I’m looking forward to seeing the photos, but tell me. What took you so long to get out of the plane?” Timmy looks back toward the plane, “Oh that?” Abbot looks in time to see the pilot remove her headset and long blonde hair cascade over her shoulders. Arching his eyebrow, he side-eyes Timmy, who only grins and blushes. “I’m meeting her tonight for dinner,” he smirks.
Abbot and Barrows look over the snapshots the next day at the site. “It appears the length is correct, don’t you think, Phil?”
Holding a photo up for a closer look, Barrows squints. “It’s hard to tell from this distance, but you can see that whatever it is, it is centered to the pyramid. Will we dig straight down to it, Professor?”
“No. It is probably enclosed, hence the need for a hidden corridor or stairway for entrance. The main passageway is small, measuring only 3.4 feet wide and 3.8 feet high. I’ll have to send in one man at a time with some tape. He can mark each stone he tests with the tape before he moves to the next one. It will be hard work, but I can think of no other way, can you?” Barrows shakes his head no.
In the meantime, Timmy obtains a GPR, a ground-penetrating radar machine. It reveals an object approximately six feet deep under the surface of the sand. Though quite exciting, it shows little else. The crew even employs metal detectors but discovers nothing.
Finally, one of Abanoub’s men runs excitedly out the passageway, shouting in Arabic, “I found it! I found it!”
Barrows and Abbot dash to the pyramid, sand flying up behind them. Barrows stops short at the entrance. “I think my size will slow you down, Professor. Perhaps Timmy would be a more suitable choice for helping you now.” When Timmy arrives, Professor Abbot explains that Timmy is there to help him identify and record what they’re about to see. The two men squat down and duck waddle into the passageway. After laboring for about fifty feet or so, they reach the opening. Timmy continues a few feet further before turning around to face the Professor. “Gee whiz, Professor. This sure is exciting. Whoever thought there would be a chamber! Look! It’s a ramp! It looks pretty steep!”
“Yes. That’s why we must go back. If we were to go down there now, we’d be stuck. We must construct a way to get back out once we’ve gone down.”
The three men return a few hours later with a long measure of rope that has knots tied every few feet. Abbot throws the rope down the ramp as Barrows wraps it around his arm. Abbot then hands it to Clark. “Well, Timmy. Are you ready to give it a go?” Timmy’s eyes sparkle in the light of the electric torches as he smiles and salutes Professor Abbot. “Ready as I’ll ever be, Sir.” With that, he slips off the edge of the opening and slides to the end of the ramp. His “Aye-Hoo!” reverberates to the bottom. Abbot shakes his head while pinching the bridge of his nose. “Oh, that boy!” Barrows smiles and snorts.
“Timmy? Can you see anything?”
“Yes, Professor. There is an outline of a door. Due to its proximity to the bottom of the ramp, I would say it pushes inward. There are some hieroglyphics over the door, too.”
Abbot nervously strokes his mustache. “Do you think you can read them?”
There’s a hesitation. “Well, I’m a little rusty, but I’ll give it a go!” All is quiet while Timmy tries to decipher the message.
Anticipation overtakes Abbot. “Well, boy, have you discerned what it says?”
Clark’s voice wavers. “I believe so, though it’s somewhat confusing. It says, “Chamber of the Gods.” An imprint on the door is shaped like a strange hand. It consists of three digits and a thumb.” Clark conforms his hand to fit the imprint and then gives it a light push. The door glides open. “Professor! Come quickly! You’ve got to see this!” Clark’s voice echos up the shaft.
Abbot turns to Barrows. “Give the rope to someone else and follow me. I may need you.” Without hesitation, the sixty-seven-year-old man slides down the ramp. Barrows arrives seconds later. Abbot notices Clark’s face is aglow, and a strange light emits from the chamber. Clark’s eyes are large, and his mouth slightly agape. Abbot whispers, “Where the devil is that light coming from?” Clark gestures to Abbot with his hand proffering entrance. “Sir, this is your discovery. Therefore, you have the honor of entering first.” He bows slightly.
Abbot enters cautiously, glancing over the room. He soon discovers the light is coming from the ceiling and seems to grow brighter depending on which direction you move. “Fascinating,” he whispers. Along the wall, there are various stations with dials and knobs and switches. The wall at the end of the chamber is a large screen depicting an unknown section of outer space. Stroking his mustache intensely, Abbot announces, “Gentlemen, I believe this to be a live display!”
Barrows sits in an oversized chair that sinks a little under his weight. “Are we to believe that all those crackpots on TV are right? Aliens really did help the ancient Egyptians?” Behind Barrows, a small screen flickers to life. Abbot recognizes the man with the head of a hawk as the deity Ra, the sun god believed to be the creator of all other gods and humans. It speaks. “I see you are not Egyptians. I will speak to you in your native tongue. I am Ra! By opening the chamber, you have sent a signal confirming that the time has come for us to return. Your civilization has advanced to the time of being useful to our needs. Inform your leaders to prepare a temple of honor for us to abide in. We are coming!”
Shorpy
SHORPY 4a20189a.preview
SHORPY 4a20187a.preview
0193.preview
SHORPY 4a21188a.preview
SHORPY 4a27246a.preview
SHORPY 11690u1.preview
SHORPY 07622u.preview
SHORPY 33053u.preview
SHORPY 4a22167a.preview
SHORPY Detroit Panorama Martius 1.preview
SHORPY 08365u.preview
SHORPY 00767u.preview
SHORPY 33055u.preview
SHORPY 1a35037u.preview
SHORPY 4a27424a.preview
SHORPY Pennsy IMG061.preview
SHORPY 12830a.preview
SHORPY 12833a.preview
SHORPY 4a23378a.preview
SHORPY 4a17364a.preview
SHORPY 4a27499a.preview
SHORPY 4a17363a.preview
SHORPY 4a12585a.preview
mustangfourth.preview
SHORPY 12403a.preview
SHORPY 8a33044a.preview
SHORPY 13384u.preview
SHORPY 13388u.preview
Here is what China said to the United States Defense Minister. He was not pleased.
Part I – The 2024 Defense Summit in Singapore has ended. Below are the Chinese highlights re USA & Taiwan. Part II is about Philippines.
Re USA alone
1, China asked Austin if USA is planning to set up an Asian version of NATO. No answer. Austin then was quiet for 1 day. Later he admitted he was not pleased.
2, China accused USA to be the one who causes global unrest & war in the 21st century.
re USA & Taiwan, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun said …
1, Any country who helps Taiwan seceding from China will end up breaking its bones into pieces & destroying itself (粉身碎骨，自我灭亡)
2, China can control Taiwan like catching a fish that is confined in a container (瓮中捉鳖)
3, USA has been hollowing out the ONE China policy bit by bit (掏空一中原则).
(I add) USA has no credibility. Never keeps promise & follow thru the policy.
US Defense Secy Austin responded by urging China to have dialogue with Taiwan. Maintain status quo with threat or punishment.
(I add) Who stopped the dialogue? Taiwan. Who is behind Taiwan? USA.
Continue with Part II re Philippines.
What was the most legendary “I quit!” that you know about or witnessed?
Originally Answered: What was the most legendary "I quit!" that you know about or witnessed?
I worked at a Starbucks inside of a Target during two college summers. There was one employee there who had been there a few years, worked hard and was happy to train others, was often willing to pick up unwanted shifts, and regularly received good feedback. He was also one of the few people who worked there year-round instead of seasonally and was adored by customers.
His girlfriend moved a few hours away for college and he wanted to be able to plan ahead to visit her some weekends. At first he requested all weekends off, vowing to willingly work any hours/shifts needed during the week and then, when they refused, countered with asking for something like every other weekend off, the first and last weekend of every month off, etc. Despite many of us wanting more hours (so they presumably would have been able to cover the shifts he wanted off without issue), he was refused.
He requested yet another meeting with our manager to practically beg— he liked his job, loved his girlfriend, was a reasonable guy and valuable employee, and was being flexible in his requests. She refused.
Apparently the next part of the story involved him angrily responding about how hard he’d worked for them, how he couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t budge, and worked himself into a frenzy that involved him removing his company-issued shirt and apron and throwing it into our manager’s garbage can. I was delighted to be able to witness with my own eyes him parading shirtless through the store—but still with his required khakis, black shoes, and hat—hooting and hollering all the way. Dude looked like a glorious lunatic; it was fantastic.
**Disclaimer: this was a bad manager issue, not one that should reflect on the companies noted. The manager didn’t last long after the Shirtless Quitter—her best employee who often covered up her mistakes and did her work for her—was gone.
"President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that preserving historical memory is more than just a tribute to the sacrifices that our people and country made for the sake of our independence, but also guarantees our sovereignty and independence in the future.
It’s impossible to be a nation without historical memory, which fact the history of our country has proved many times.
The great victories of our predecessors date back to Kievan Rus, and the Napoleonic wars, the wars of the 19th century, the Crimean War and other military campaigns aimed primarily to weaken Russia.
It all ended in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II and creating the United Nations based on eternal vows to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.
The Nuremberg Tribunal appeared to have put an end to the arguments about who was right and who was at fault, who fought for a just cause and who fought for global domination using absolutely inhuman methods.
Unfortunately, we are witnessing the attempts to 'realise' history, to rewrite it, and to equate those who defeated Nazism to the Nazi hordes which fact is particularly salient in the case of Ukraine."
Excerpt from remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview for No Statute of Limitations project, Moscow, June 1, 2024.
10 reasons Cambodia is better than The Philippines
Why You Have Every Right to Cut Off Toxic Family Members
We’ve all heard the saying “blood is thicker than water.” It’s supposed to mean that family ties are the strongest bonds of all, that you should always put family first, no matter what.
Well, I call bullshit.
Here’s the truth: Just because someone shares your DNA doesn’t give them a free pass to be a toxic asshole in your life. It doesn’t obligate you to put up with their abuse, manipulation, or constant negativity. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean you have to keep them around if they’re dragging you down.
But for some reason, we’ve been conditioned to believe that we owe unwavering loyalty and unlimited chances to our family members, even when they’re consistently shitty to us. We make excuses for their behavior, we minimize their impact, and we keep engaging with them out of some misplaced sense of duty.
Fuck that noise. Your duty is to yourself and your own well-being. And if a family member is poisoning your life with their toxicity, you have every right to cut them out.
I know, I know – the mere thought of it feels sacrilegious. We’re not supposed to “give up” on family, right? We’re supposed to love them unconditionally, to turn the other cheek, to keep trying no matter how many times they hurt us.
But here’s the thing: That kind of blind, self-abandoning loyalty is a one-way ticket to misery. It’s not noble or virtuous to let someone continuously trample your boundaries and well-being, family or not. In fact, it’s a form of self-betrayal.
And look, I’m not saying you should cut off every family member who occasionally annoys you or makes a mistake. We’re all human, and we all fuck up sometimes. The key is to look at patterns of behavior. If a family member is consistently toxic, if they’re repeatedly causing you harm and showing no real interest in changing, then it’s time to re-evaluate whether they deserve a place in your life.
This can be incredibly difficult, I know. Cutting off a toxic family member can come with a tidal wave of guilt, fear, and self-doubt. You might worry about the fallout, the judgment from other family members, the loneliness of losing that connection.
But you know what’s worse than all of that? Spending your precious years on this earth being slowly eroded by someone else’s toxicity. Compromising your own happiness, sanity, and growth for the sake of an unhealthy loyalty. Betraying yourself again and again by allowing unacceptable treatment from anyone, blood-related or not.
So here’s my advice: Muster up the courage to put yourself first. Have the hard conversations, set the firm boundaries, and if necessary, cut the toxic ties. Will it be painful? Probably. Will there be backlash and confusion from some people? Almost certainly.
But will it also be a profound act of self-love and self-preservation? Absolutely. And that, my friend, is always worth it.
Remember, you get to choose your family in this life. You get to decide who deserves a seat at the table of your existence. And if a blood relative is consistently shitting on that table, it’s time to show them the door.
Cutting off toxic family members doesn’t make you cold, selfish, or unkind. It makes you brave, self-aware, and committed to your own healing. And that is something to be fucking proud of.
Australia exporting crime?
The world is changing.
I guess Donald needs to review his definition of shithole countries, especially color and continent.
Australian man, 39, charged for robbing Tampines moneylender of S$6,095 with knife
He allegedly put a 32-year-old female in fear of bodily hurt during the robbery.
Australian man, 39, charged for robbing Tampines moneylender of S$6,095 with knife
He allegedly put a 32-year-old female in fear of bodily hurt during the robbery.
Matthias Ang | June 04, 2024, 12:03 PM
seized
A 39-year-old Australian man was charged in Singapore on Jun. 4, 2024, for an alleged armed robbery of a Tampines moneylender.
According to charge sheets, Jose Manuel Pacheco allegedly robbed the moneylender at Block 503 Tampines with a knife on Jun. 3, 2024, at around 1:42pm and got away with S$6,095.
Charge sheets also show that he allegedly put a 32-year-old female in fear of bodily hurt while committing the robbery.
According to court records, Pacheco has been offered bail of S$20,000.
Victim took note of suspect's outfit while handing over the money
According to a press release by the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Pacheco was arrested within half an hour of the alleged crime.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect had allegedly robbed the victim at knifepoint while wearing a mask and a cap.
He had also supposedly demanded for the cash to be put in a bag.
The victim then handed over S$6,095.
Even as she was preparing the money however, she maintained her composure and noted the attire and appearance of the man, the police added.
Gave the police a "detailed" description of the man
The police were alerted to the incident at 2:10pm.
While responding officers were making their way to the scene, they received a detailed description of the suspect from the victim, which was vital to his arrest, according to the commander of the Bedok Police Division, Justin Wong.
Upon arrival, police officers noticed a man who fit the description and arrested him about half an hour after the robbery occurred.
The stolen cash was recovered in full, along with the knife used during the robbery.
The offence of armed robbery committed during the day carries a jail term of between two to 10 years and at least 12 strokes of the cane.
Americans First Time in China… NOT AT ALL what we expected
“I was always willing to be reasonable. Until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men, must do unreasonable things.” – Marvin Heemeyer
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
June 4, 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of libertarian Folk hero Marvin Heemeyer’s Killdozer Ride through Granby, Colorado.
Buckle up for a wild tale in a Killdozer.
There once lived a man of humble means named Marvin Heemeyer. Marvin owned a muffler shop in Granby, Colorado.
Marv was a simple man. Paid his taxes. Owned his business. Lived a quiet life.
Until one day, the City Council went full King George on our blessed Patriot.
Now, The City Council had approved the building of a concrete factory across the street from Marvin’s muffler shop. That would have been fine- However, this building would block the only access road to Marvin’s business.
Marvin petitioned first to have the construction stopped- he was rejected.
Marvin petitioned again to build another access road. Even offered to do it himself- boom. denied.
So despite his best efforts, the concrete business was built anyway. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s construction cut off Marvin’s sewage lines from the town.
Marvin’s business was effectively isolated from the town right down to his toilets.
So how did the City Council respond? They did something right?!
Of course! Naturally, like every dystopian central planning board of fight communists, they fined Marvin.
So Marvin’s business was destroyed. He had fines to pay. He was ignored by his city government.
All seemed lost- But the spirit of the great American Swamp Fox coursed through the veins of our legend and he decided to do the only logical thing he could think of — And build a killdozer.
Over the course of the next 18 months, Marvin would upgrade a bulldozer he’d purchased with 3ft thick steel armor, a camera, and bullet proof glass.
And on the fourth day of June in the 2004th year of our lord, Marvin and his killdozer would burst through the side of his own muffler shop before plowing through the walls of that concrete factory like some kind of Paul Revere Koolaid Man off to deliver a hell of a message
Marvin and his mighty steed would blow through 13 more buildings owned by the tyrants who destroyed his life, as if they were the Hessian mercenaries at Trenton and he was their Christmas night surprise.
Marvin avoided all people using his camera. Marvin was a gentle man.
Entire SWAT teams were brought to their knees by Killdozer, like the cowardly redcoats at Lexington and Concord. Explosives were no match for Killdozer, for Killdozer was an impenetrable work of art— the Mona Lisa, if you will, of reconnaissance automobiles.
The comeuppance of the city planners would continue until Marvin and Killdozer became trapped in the final building where Marvin would sacrifice his own life and l immortalize himself in our hearts and minds, forever. There would be no other casualties.
A note discovered later would answer any questions as to why Marvin Heemeyer did what he did. It read,
“I was always willing to be reasonable. Until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men, must do unreasonable things.”
God Bless Marvin. And God Bless his mighty Killdozer.
Marvin Heemeyer
Girl LOSES Job Because Of TikTok
What is the saddest thing about your father and/or mother?
My parents were both born in the 1920’s. At the age of 8, my mom lost her eye after someone threw an open can at her. The doctors and teachers told her that she’d never amount to anything and that she was only good for having babies. My dad had (undiagnosed) mental issues from a young age. Both their parents got together and thought they’d make a good couple. There was no courtship or love, and my mom endured that extra pain for the next 44 years. They didn’t believe in divorce. My dad kept her pregnant so she had to stay home while he cheated on her with everyone that he could. I have proof from many sources. She was afraid and never stood up to him. Nearly 20 children later, her body could not take another pregnancy and she was done.
When I was 22, she started getting sick and was diagnosed with heart disease. He refused to let her have the lifesaving bypass she so desperately needed, because “Who wants a woman with that kind of a scar?!” Her death shattered our family, and it has never been the same. He died a few years later, and most people came to the funeral just to make sure. Mom was buried in the most beautiful casket created, and her funeral was so big that the church was overfilled and there were many people that had to stand outside. We buried that asshole in the cheapest box we could find.
I believe that mom is finally happy and at peace. Hopefully she’ll be reincarnated and have the wonderful life she so richly deserves.
Why is China losing the space station competition?
Let’s go into some very brief historical facts:
The International Space Station (ISS) was an unprecedented scientific and engineering collaboration among five space agencies representing 15 countries, took 10 years and more than 30 missions to assemble and launched to orbit the earth.
Having been banned, specifically by the U.S.A, from participation in the International Space, China decided to build their own space Tiangong station all by their lonesome self and, possibly by 2030 after the demise of the ISS, will be the only Earthling to have a working space station. Besides the U.S.A who had a huge head start in space exploration, China is now the only other nation to have successfully landed a rover on the Moon and Mars and ALL with their first attempt. Very recently, China launched an uncrewed spacecraft on a nearly two-month mission to retrieve rocks and soil from the far side of the moon, the first country to make such an ambitious attempt. Sometime back, the convicted war criminal Japan failed in their attempt to land a rover on the Moon as did Russia, Israel and other nations. Recently, India managed to successfully land a rover, while the Jepun tried again and managed to land an upside-down Rover which wasn’t of much use to anybody.
main qimg 79631d7279ae5ea648ea1e6200c02aa9
So, as in space, without any doubt, China will excel in whatever they put their mind to do on planet Earth. And come to think of it, China accomplished all that in just over 42 years after coming out of isolation & hibernation. So, looks like Napolean is correct when he warned: “China is a sleeping giant, let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world.”
The world can only imagine what else China can and will accomplish in the next 50-100 years.
So, what space competition are you talking about? That must be another one of your government and news media anti-China propaganda.
Tri-Tip Burritos
IMG 8489
Ingredients
1 medium-size tri-tip
1 large can green enchilada sauce
Fresh jalapenos, sliced (about 5 to 6)
Burrito-size flour tortillas
Sour cream
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
Place meat at bottom of slow cooker.
Cover with entire can of enchilada sauce and throw in jalapeno slices.
Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
Before serving, take meat out (with portion of sauce) and place in bowl.
Shred with 2 forks (meat should shred very easily).
Warm tortillas and serve meat/sauce on tortillas with sour cream and Cheddar cheese as garnish.
“It’s Going To Get Ugly!” – Says Neil Oliver In Interview w/Jimmy Dore
How to stay young, even in old age: Don’t stop exercising, scientists say
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Exercise helps keep us young, and new research finds that statement is more literal than most assume. Scientists at the University of Arkansas report exercising slows down the aging process on a cellular level. The effect remains even if you start exercising later in life.
The team’s animal study used elderly lab mice nearing the end of their natural lifespan (22 months) and studied their interactions with a weighted exercise wheel. Mice rarely need any motivation to go for a run. Older mice run about three to five miles per day and younger mice run six to seven miles daily. The extra weight on the wheel also ensured the rodents’ muscles got an extra workout, with researchers comparing the workout to “a soldier carrying a heavy backpack many miles.”
After two months on the weighted wheel, mice were similar to those eight weeks younger compared to mice of the same age (24 months) who hadn’t worked out.
“Historically, they start dropping off after 24 months at a significant rate,” says Kevin Murach, an assistant professor in the Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation at the U of A, in a university release. In other words, an extra eight weeks of youth represents roughly 10 percent of the average mouse’s lifespan.
Exercise slows down the aging process in your DNA
Much of the science behind these findings is based on DNA methylation. Methylation is when little caps called methyl groups attach to DNA. They act as a key to turn on and off a specific gene. As the human body ages, DNA methylation increases. Some older adults even experience hypermethylation on muscle genes.
“DNA methylation changes in a lifespan tend to happen in a somewhat systematic fashion,” Prof. Murach explains, “to the point you can look at someone’s DNA from a given tissue sample and with a fair degree of accuracy predict their chronological age.”
While the association between methylation and aging is quite clear, researchers know less about the role of methylation in muscle function. For example, it’s too soon to say that exercising and reversing methylation improves muscle health. “That’s not what the study was set up to do,” Professor Murach comments. However, he intends to pursue future studies to determine if “changes in methylation result in altered muscle function.”
“If so, what are the consequences of this?” Professor Murach concludes. “Do changes on these very specific methylation sites have an actual phenotype that emerges from that? Is it what’s causing aging or is it just associated with it? Is it just something that happens in concert with a variety of other things that are happening during the aging process? So that’s what we don’t know.”
It happened so gradually that a lot of people didn’t even realize what was happening. The cost of living just kept rising faster than paychecks were, and little by little our standard of living just kept going down. Now we have reached a stage where the ultra-wealthy are thriving but almost everyone else is struggling. For most people, it is a real fight just to pay the bills from month to month. The majority of the population is deep in debt, and meanwhile the cost of just about everything is going up and up. Millions of Americans feel like they are drowning financially, and there is no easy way out. Sadly, many of them don’t even realize that the game was designed to get them on to a hamster wheel and keep them running for as long as possible.
When I was a kid, the United States had a very large and very prosperous middle class.
Life certainly wasn’t perfect in those days, but just about everyone that I knew could afford to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle.
In the large poll of 2,500 adults, 65% of people who earn more than 200% of the federal poverty level — that’s at least $60,000 for a family of four, often considered middle class — said they are struggling financially.
If 65 percent of those that “earn more than 200% of the federal poverty level” are struggling, what about those that earn less than that?
Needless to say, almost all of them are struggling.
That same survey discovered that 46 percent of Americans don’t even have 500 dollars saved up…
About 40% of respondents were unable to plan beyond their next paycheck, and 46% didn’t have $500 saved. The February poll found that more than half said it’s at least somewhat difficult to manage current levels of debt.
Over the past couple of years, the stock market has been “booming” and the ultra-wealthy have been getting richer and richer.
But things have been getting worse for virtually all the rest of us.
According to Zillow, over the past four years “the monthly mortgage payment on a typical U.S. home has nearly doubled”…
The real estate firm Zillow reports that since January 2020, the monthly mortgage payment on a typical U.S. home has nearly doubled. It’s up 96% in just four years.
According to Zillow, a typical buyer will now pay nearly $2,200 a month, with a 10% down payment. Meaning, homeownership now costs well above the 30% of median income that was once thought to equate to “affordable” housing cost in America.
Has your income doubled over the past four years?
If not, you are falling behind.
The American people absolutely hate what is being done to their standard of living.
Neel Kashkari, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, says one of the things he has learned in the past few years is that consumers would rather see the economy fall into a recession than to continue to suffer the pain of soaring prices.
“The American people – and maybe people in Europe, equally – really hate high inflation,” Kashkari told the Financial Times podcast “The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes” last week. “I mean, really, viscerally hate high inflation.”
He is right.
I really detest inflation.
I am sure that you do too.
But what he didn’t mention is that the Federal Reserve and our politicians in Washington are responsible for creating the epic cost of living crisis that we are currently facing.
They caused this mess, and now they don’t seem to have any solutions for cleaning it up.
Meanwhile, economic activity just continues to slow down.
On Tuesday, we learned that the number of job openings in the U.S. has fallen to the lowest level in more than 3 years…
Job openings fell more than forecast in April, signaling a potential weakening in the labor market that could provide the Federal Reserve with more impetus to start lowering interest rates.
The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released Tuesday showed that the level of employment vacancies slipped to 8.06 million for the month, down by nearly 300,000 from March and close to 19% lower than a year ago.
Moreover, the total marked the lowest since February 2021.
And more workers are being dumped into the streets with each passing day.
California’s $20-an-hour fast food minimum wage has its first casualty.
Mexican chain Rubio’s Coastal Grill is shuttering 48 restaurants in the state – because of the ‘rising cost of doing business in California’.
‘While painful, the store closures are a necessary step in our strategic long-term plan to position Rubio’s for success for years to come,’ a Rubio’s spokesperson added.
As this year rolls along, we will see a lot more stories like this.
For a long time, our leaders were able to keep the party going by flooding the system with money.
Mark Spitznagel, chief investment officer of Universa Investments, is known for being a “permabear” when it comes to the stock market outlook.
Spitznagel told Bloomberg in an earlier interview that we’re witnessing the “greatest credit bubble in human history.”
“Credit bubbles end. They pop. There’s no way to stop them from popping,” he said, adding that the Fed has brought the economy to a place “where there’s no turning back.”
Spitznagel is right on target.
There really is no turning back now.
Our leaders have wrecked the greatest economic machine in the history of the world.
What is ahead of us is a tremendous amount of pain.
For years, little by little our standard of living has been collapsing.
But now we are entering a time when our economic slide will become an economic avalanche.
Decades of absolutely disastrous decisions have brought us to this point, and now we shall truly reap what we have sown.
Why It’s Never Too Late to Chase New Dreams
There’s a pervasive and utterly bullshit notion in our society that once you reach a certain age, you’re supposed to have your whole life figured out. That you should be settled in your career, content with your achievements, and coasting towards retirement on a wave of predictability.
Well, I’m here to tell you that’s a steaming pile of horse shit.
The truth is, you’re never too old to set a new goal or chase a new dream. You’re never too far along in life to make a drastic change, to start a new adventure, or to reinvent yourself completely.
But for some reason, we tend to internalize this idea that after a certain point, our lives should be set in stone. That it’s somehow embarrassing or irresponsible to want something radically different than what we have, to admit that we’re not satisfied with the path we’ve been on.
Fuck that noise. Life is too short to resign yourself to a script someone else wrote for you. It’s too precious to spend marching towards a future that doesn’t set your soul on fire, just because you think you’re “too old” to change course.
Listen, I get it. The older we get, the more entrenched we become in our routines, our responsibilities, our identities. It can feel daunting as hell to even consider upending the life we’ve built, even if that life isn’t truly fulfilling us.
But you know what’s even scarier than starting over? Waking up one day, decades down the line, and realizing you squandered your one wild and precious life on a path that wasn’t truly yours. Realizing you let your dreams wither and die because you bought into the idea that you were too old to pursue them.
The reality is, as long as you’re breathing, you have the power to create change in your life. You have the right to want more, to strive for different, to chase the things that make you come alive, regardless of your age.
Sure, it might be harder than it would’ve been when you were 20. You might have more baggage to sort through, more logistics to figure out, more naysayers to prove wrong. But so fucking what? Since when did “hard” become a reason not to go after what you want?
The most fulfilling things in life are often the most challenging to attain. And the older you get, the more grit, resilience, and wisdom you have to tackle those challenges. Your age isn’t a limitation – it’s a source of strength.
So if there’s a dream that’s been whispering in your ear, a goal that keeps nudging at your soul, a vision of a life that looks nothing like the one you’re currently living – listen to it. Feed it. And then start fucking chasing it, no matter how old you are.
Will it be a smooth, easy path? Probably not. Will everyone understand and support your new pursuits? Definitely not. But will it be worth it to look back on a life colored by your own desires, your own choices, your own relentless pursuit of what matters to you? Abso-fucking-lutely.
You are never too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream. And anyone who tells you otherwise is probably just scared of their own untapped potential.
So shut out the noise, tune into your own desires, and get to work on creating the life you truly want. Your age has fuck-all to do with what you’re capable of achieving.
The world is waiting for your next move, your next goal, your next dream. Don’t keep it waiting forever.
China Steps Up Harsh Warning to E.U Days Before Tariff Decision
Lately, I have been playing around with LeonardoAI. This is a text-to-picture program and it is really, really good. Long time MM readership will know that I have taken a real shine to these programs and I have a minor sub-index (out of date) on this subject.
The system allows you to use different AI engines to generate the art.
Using this as a prompt…
prompt
Here’s some results.
Using …
1a
And we have stuff like this…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(24)
Personally, I wasn’t aiming for something so cartoonish, but I really enjoy the background. There’s all sorts of messed up hands, birds, animals and food.
Sometimes the distortions can get frighteningly disturbing using this particular engine.
Generally, I switch to other “fine tuned AI models”, and get different results.
choice
Like this…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(23)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(25)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(22)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(24)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(22)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(18)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(17)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(17)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(16)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(16)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(15)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(15)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(14)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(13)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(12)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(10)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(10)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2
As I have said, playing around with this tool is great fun.
You can do all sorts of things…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(4) (another copy)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(3) (another copy)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(2) (another copy)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(2) (copy)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(2)
But look at this last one. Those three arms are very disturbing.
If you are not careful, it can get much worse…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(10)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(9)
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(7)
But if you are careful, and select your AI engine carefully, add negative prompts and try though experimentation, you can get just wonderful results.
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(22)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(18)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(7)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(6)
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(8)
@Default a Baroque label showing an attractive 25 year old Viet 3 (3rd copy)
@Default a Baroque label showing two attractive 28 year old bus 0(2) (3rd copy)
@Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 3(6) (6th copy)
@Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 3(7) (4th copy)
@Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 3(6) (3rd copy)
Others, obvious engaged in cinematic art, and gothic themes, produce some pretty spellbinding art. But I like the idea of pretty girls, horse, cats, coffee and beautiful countryside.
It’s my own preference.
But others like other things… personally, I think that this creation is ugly, obese, repulsive, depicts anger, and wears an outfit suggestive of bondage. Yuck. But, that’s just me.
Default full body black and white asian woman with orange hair 0 9aab9755 c435 4fa8 b17c 7d609f48cd7f 0
Today…
What has been the longest hour in your life?
January of 2016, my 14-year-old brother intentionally shot himself in the head with a .22 rifle … twice (the first time the rifle shifted and shot him in the ear, so he reset the rifle and the round entered his right temple.
I was at work when I got the news and I rushed to my mom’s house as fast I could … too fast to be honest. I couldn’t even get to the driveway for all of the deputies, fire and EMS crews. My grandfather’s truck pulled along side my car and my mom leaned forward from the passenger seat, covered in blood and tissue and said “baptist” (Baptist hospital in Winston-Salem).
Driving down the highway to Winston, I was a nervous wreck … I would catch my breath between sobs and quivering … unable to drive and yet traveling nearly 90 mph. Half way to Winston, I saw emergency lights in the rear view … the ambulance caught me quickly and had to be traveling nearly 110mph … I smiled … because I knew that he was certainly still alive.
Arriving at the hospital, there was already a family room prepared for us … I saw family members and family friends arriving … confused … scared. At this point, we didn’t know why my brother had been shot. My mom lived in a rural, heavily wooded area … there were many deer hunters in the area, and I had honestly assumed that he was accidentally shot.
We had been there for 30 minutes or so when the lead doctor came in and briefed us on the situation. He said that per evidence that was gathered by the sheriff’s department, it was concluded that he had shot himself intentionally. The amount of sorrow that those words generated soaked in the walls … the air was heavy and our faces were all saturated. I saw my grandfather break down…he had given my brother the rifle…his guilt was evident and one of the saddest things I’ve ever witnessed. I was so convinced that my mother would hyperventilate or pass out that we asked about getting her something to calm down.
This was the first hour of many restless days and sleepless nights. This was the longest hour of my life.
If there was a happy ending to this story you would be surprised … maybe even baffled. The round entered my brother’s brain and stopped nearly half way through. Over the next several days his head swelled and surgery was needed to relieve the pressure. His speech was very limited … his arms weren’t of much use … and he was deaf in his right ear. Through mumbled words and tears he apologized for what he had done.
Almost three years later he shows very little sign of ever having gone through such an ordeal. His speech is great, he has full use of his body, and his scarring is very minimal. He recently achieved his GED and he has just started his first job.
I have the honor of knowing the luckiest man alive.
China, Palestine and Africa
My neighbor called the cops on me on ridiculous things. How should I handle this?
I had a neighbor who did the same thing, called on a few other neighbors too. She had lots of money, lawyer on retainer, and a son who was a detective on the force. I got a temporary Protection order once, which she broke almost immediately. Went back to court she said she never came over and I said “are you saying you didn’t come to talk to Terry and Carolyn last week on Tuesday? (they were neighbors from the other side of me and they rented from her, but we were grilling out on my property). She said “Well yes, but I wasn’t talking to you” Her lawyer looked at her in disbelief, threw his hands up in the air, ‘pen flying out of his hand, mind you’ and I GOT MY PERMENENT PROTECTION ORDER that year. Next yeart the cops would talk to her and then come talk to us. They started coming and saying “how you doing today, she called again…pretend we are talking to us about it, then we would talk about other stuff for awhile, like how our families were, how their families were doing, kids birthdays or milestones, ect. They go tell her we talked. They said she needed a psychological evaluation, so told me to keep track of how often she called on me (she called on me the most, I lived right next-door). One time she even called on a neighbor kid cause he dropped part of his orange peel on her sidewalk. Another time she called 3 times in 1 day ( same cop all 3 times), he told her if she called again that day SHE would be arrested for false reports. Eventually the cops told me to get a 30 day police call log, file for a protection order, AND 3 cops offered to testify on my behalf. I did get log (she called the cops a total of 43 times in 1 month’s time period) and all 3 cops testified,. The Judge even helped by asking if cops ever told me they threatened to arrest her for false report. YUP!! Got that Permanent Protection Order immediately. Her High Falutent Lawyer was so pissed. I didn’t have any lawyer either time. She stopped calling the cops so much, but still cauesed problems for everyone. Eventually, like 3 years later the family moved her to a nusing home on the locked ward for high risk for running away residents. The family told us she had been suffering from Alzheimers AND Dementia for 7 years. Like they didn’t have a clue. That was 12 years ago, cops not called other than on some renters up the block for parties, drugs, fights, ect, but not on any of us that lived here then and are still here. Good Luck, maybe the cops will get sick of being called on you.
What are some of the more culturally shocking things to immigrants in the US?
Gay people everywhere. And they’re the same as everyone else. Perhaps slightly nicer even. No one freaks out over them and they live just like everyone else. So do women. They can do stuff. And say stuff.
Doors without handles or knobs. You are supposed to just push them with your body. It can be your hand. Your shoulder. Or even your butt.
Revolving doors. Just. How. Am. I. Supposed. To. Jump. In. To. That. Mommy!
Costco food court dispensers of straws, plastic forks, gooey green substance, and ketchup. And the wheel of psychopathically small cut up onions.
Clothes sizes. What’s 3XXXLV? What’s Woman? And when it doesn’t say Woman, does mean I can’t wear it? And kid shoe sizes go from 0 to 13.5 then abruptly stop for no discernable reason and start again at 1 (!). Cuts are confusing too. Husky. Does it mean fat? What about tall? Where’s short? I give up.
Camping. We work so hard to not have to sleep on the hard ground, have a hot water and electricity, cook with proper appliances, and be protected from nature.
Huge. Enormous food portions. When we get our first meal in US, we look around for the four guys who are going to help us eat it.
One bedroom and better yet – one bathroom for each family member. Oh god, one can never go back to sharing a bathroom after that. If two kids are sharing a bedroom, that’s held up as a pinnacle of modesty and bonding experience for siblings.
Constant bombardment by aggressive commercial offers. What? You want to give me filtered water? It’s the best filter in the world? It will help my hair grow back? And if I don’t get it right now at a charming price of only $79 a month, I will die from calcium overdose?! Sign me up!
Certainty. Your home will be there tomorrow. Your country will be there tomorrow. As long as you pay your taxes, you are left to your own vices. You can just pretty much do whatever the hell you want. Like build a new life and become less frenetic and more jolly.
Ready-When-You-Get-Home Pot Roast
What could be better than dinner waiting for you for a change?
1200 Pot Roast Chuck Roast SpendWithPennies 8 2
Prep: 5 min | Cook: 8 to 10 hr | Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
1 (2 to 3 pound) chuck or shoulder roast
2 large onions
3 large bell peppers
1 package beefy mushroom soup mix (dry)
1 pound baby carrots
Instructions
Cut the onions into quarters and separate.
Seed the bell peppers and cut into 8 pieces each.
Layer about half of the onions and peppers in the bottom of the slow cooker.
Place the roast on top of the vegetables.
Sprinkle the dry soup mix on the roast and top with the remaining onions and peppers.
Add the carrots on top. ADD NO LIQUID.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.
Pot Roast Chuck Roast SpendWithPennies 5
Perfect Pot Roast SpendWithPennies 12
What was your biggest culture shock moving to America?
So you think you’re ready to move to America, huh?
Well, let me tell you, it’s not all apple pie and baseball.
One of the biggest shocks for me was the sheer size of everything – the food, the cars, the houses, the roads.
It’s like they say, everything is bigger in Texas, or in this case, everywhere in America.
I mean, have you seen the size of a standard American fridge?
It’s like a small room in there.
And don’t even get me started on the food portions.
You’ll be like, “Is this a joke?
Who eats this much food in one sitting?”
But what really threw me off was the whole tipping culture.
I mean, in most countries, a tip is a small token of appreciation, but in America, it’s a whole different ball game.
You’re expected to tip at least 20% in most restaurants, and if you don’t, you’re basically considered a cheapskate.
And it’s not just restaurants, it’s bars, hairdressers, even delivery guys.
It’s like, when did 15% become the new minimum?
And don’t even get me started on the whole tax situation.
You’ll be like, “Wait, I have to pay taxes on this too?”
Yeah, welcome to America, where taxes are like the unwelcome houseguest who never leaves.
But you know what really blew my mind?
The fact that in some states, you can still be fired from your job for being LGBTQ+.
Like, what year is this?
And don’t even get me started on the healthcare system.
It’s like, you’re expected to have a PhD in insurance jargon just to navigate the system.
And good luck if you’re not insured, you’re basically on your own.
It’s like, how did the richest country in the world manage to mess up something so basic?
And then there’s the whole gun culture thing.
I mean, I’m not going to get into the politics of it all, but let’s just say it’s…different.
You’ll be like, “Wait, you can just walk into a store and buy a gun?
Like, no background checks or anything?”
Yeah, it’s a thing.
And don’t even get me started on the whole “gun show” culture.
It’s like, I get it, America loves its guns, but do they really need to flaunt it so much?
It’s like, I’m trying to buy a coffee here, not attend a gun rally.
Anyway, that’s my two cents on the whole American culture shock thing.
Take it or leave it, America, it’s still a wild ride.
Trump says he would bomb Moscow and Beijing. And who’d win?
American politicians talk as if the US is on another planet or something. That the US itself cannot be bombed. They think that the US is the only country with bombs.
What do you wish you knew in your 30s?
Originally Answered: What do you wish you knew in your 30's?
I’m 76. My high school and college classmates are dropping like flies. My time is coming fairly soon. I’ve had a varied and active life from stealing food from hotel corridors to survive to owning 4 successful companies and retiring at 49 to backpack the world with my kids. 35 was my best year. I was young enough to do it all and smart enough to see the traps ahead of me. One thing I wish I knew back then, not just philosophically, but at the basic level of my soul: It doesn’t matter. Nothing really matters. There is no point to all of the pain, stress, arguments, hassles, and the rest. I can buy a Lambo for cash and have my clothes custom-made, but I drive a 2,000 Toyota 4Runner with 242,000 miles on it, my pants are almost as old as my sons, I wear shoes I bought in 1999 that still have miles on them, my favorite food is spaghetti, and I tossed my smartphone six year ago. It drives my sons nuts. They want my wife to buy me a new Toyota Sequoia, a smartphone, and something other than the $9 tee shirts I get off Amazon. But I learned something years ago, long after my 30s: It doesn’t matter. None of that stuff made me happy. It gave me pleasure, but pleasure fades and the darkness falls unless you are happy at your core. I am. So, I’d have liked to know not to take life so seriously. It cost me my first marriage and bad relationships all over the place because I tried to grind my way up the “ladder of success”. And it didn’t mean a thing.
Vintage Men’s illustration
1b2f94be8d5521f3edec67f9d5da9862
7bb9b2a34891658ec017ec1ac0d8e490
7cac3aaab759b16783f8ee114a67af67
3fbfd60c9fe995461a6c5ef7e7aa648f
56b4405aed525df9cd2144616a055ee4
b4ce83f23919a1d225a863863fb1d9db
f8604ef99b8e3ab928a9a51eda828305
7d8487f8c3392a133c199006c698e33a
bbedb347f2b825940d4da19759cde0ba
d0adef8fcbd6868f862e0890cef3fbcd
850fcbdd8c910ac9bbf70c1ef712d6a2
ca3ebb10502280ed78cb52de68dc3c90
2801b1f448608b975d166ecce434d581
92ef72483071474b1837c3f37a5cf1d7
3f98ea165105487603fa6eb9944b4b00
0e5f5c57a90e9f88259e008d1c2230ce
Picture library cover
412825465d0ee3224df7446c8db25bd1
07ea95b2dc32d3e132cb26a226c10357
6b050c13a13976f1f6cdebb5b2c00d5b
6278df6c5f5a6f662ce98e738209aae4
54d05cc32e7d26da465a77fd5c7f9278
a43ff4ecd6061ccde38d3241b05820ca
35024a1b74ee500275df12c0a9727430
deb0fc789604b18fe2c8be616abac3cb
405a1a4ca3776f1b6c191c753b35972e
0fab02ec3f39c2a9dd69398f6c222b73
cbe68c7ff9ee061d875af4f37712c3e3
ea2c86c19e34223b3d8364645d769c59
ba591f45c6a5dd4356bec17de2b9f6e9
77de8910a020caa2ec63a5cff7323476
59ba7032cc78f285040c0450acd780b8
538104f13ca1944d3a1bc151abeade6c
92712a6fe32a3e87820c6e94779cdf51
1ce0bb5ed79c47aeee1d02a01f85ae53
324eff71c7e3bcb8b24e5c626f7f4d9a
f40ceb694abdecf66882994e5058d0ae
31cb689c24e1aea4ef8496f63047234d
5e3adc8d20272e43185a51e667019900
5b708a02715b78948f4a1a77a324e511
2f889d54c46e15aa15251170d5ba35a6
16eb415f0cc2cdb1d2fd8578840eb9fa
f33e376723d09d23e41f266295de0bc4
814970a4059f3f34e4fa060504a79c9d
1f87d5b6fd412079005c3f3168cae723
1d98e2eda25fb990ca719a672c7a2a69
8924a28826a4fa736e2a7654cebd3e8d
d0a8ceebcdbfe06d94a73891ac385cd4
d77915f8e64f79b32d72821723d93a66
8a9bc1b8e0a7b7c344252f99baa7827c
@1bf6e3095bc2e64712d8e2a293692583
@@@@@bcc349d153d25a4d92990ad8e855464d
Can you share some of the craziest experiences you’ve had in boot camp? Have you witnessed anyone getting kicked out or losing their sanity?
Navy boot camp, Orlando 1973. War is over.
The first days are orientation, haircuts, uniforms, making beds, etc. Then I see a guy on the top bunk, hugging his knees close up to his chest. He’s rocking back and forth, muttering, “It’s just a game. It’s just a game.”
Cheezus. The hardest thing we had to do was fold our underwear.
Number Two:
Recruit Roly Poly gets caught with his girlfriend’s photograph in his pocket, so we all do push ups. That night, a group quietly wraps him in his bunk with dental floss. In the morning, he can’t get out of bed.
At formation, a few guys pick him up, turn him upside down, and shake him up and down like a salt shaker until the photo comes out of his pocket. I still remember his name after 50 years.
Not crazy, but noteworthy:
Snaggle Tooth is from West Virgina. He joined to get his teeth fixed. His mouth is disgusting with black teeth that are eaten away into half-moon shapes. He laughs a lot.
Ol Red from Missussippi is a muscle-bound man with massive legs that make him step like he’s bow-legged. His arms are so huge they don’t touch his side. The chief yells for us to “pop tall” at attention in front of our bunks, so we all race out of the shower, slipping and sliding, and stand tall in front of our bunks. Some are wrapped in towels, some towels drop off. A few giggle at the absurdity but nobody laughs out loud.
Then out from the shower comes Ol Red from Missussippi. His standard-sized GI-issued towel barely wraps around his waist. Slowly, with dignity and a bearing that says, “ I dare you to make fun of me,” he comes around the corner, saunters up the middle of the barracks like he owns the place, walks past the chief, and takes his place at his bunk.
Now we learn something about Ol Red from Missussippi. His body is divided by a giant scar and his skin is different colors. Red, white, pink. It looks like a farm plow has sliced him completely in two, from the top of his head, through his face, down his torso, all the way to his feet. The scar is as tall as he is. Nobody makes fun of Ol Red from Missussippi.
Is This The Collapse of the Great American Empire?
I was homeless in Portland oregon for 2 months in 2006. I met this older man who was drifting and he claimed he was a teacher. He told me to read about the fall of the Roman empire. He told me that America was going to collapse.
What are good Chinese sayings which have no parallel in English?
One is 求同存异, which means to “seek common ground while respecting each other’s differences”.
The idea is that people and countries are different, and they should seek common ground, while respecting each others’ different points of view.
This is a phrase commonly used by the Chinese Foreign Ministry in press releases, especially in dealings with the US. Of course, it also conceals a dig at the US’s attitude in foreign policy, which is, as much as possible, to force other countries to accept the US POV.
…
Another phrase is 守株待兔， which means “standing by a tree, waiting for a rabbit (to run into the tree).
The origin of this phrase is about a farmer, who one day while working his field, saw a rabbit running into a tree and knocked itself unconscious. The farmer walked over and picked it up, and had his rabbit for dinner.
From then on, he stood by the tree, waiting for another rabbit to run into the tree, hoping that he would have another dinner.
The saying makes fun of people who think that pure luck will come to them repeatedly, and become stupid and lazy in the process.
Today, I am playing around with the idea of including some contemporary short science fiction with the daily posts. This will be in addition to videos, pictures, art, and historical stuff. Tell me what you all think. -MM
The moment Astrid truly accepted that her favourite book wasn’t a work of fiction was the moment she decided she had no other option than to eject herself out of the airlock.She wasn’t the first to come to this rather extreme conclusion after reading the title, but the population of Gen-Ship-Six had yet to notice the connection between the innocuous title amongst the recently deceased possessions and the series of grisly suicides that had followed it’s odyssey through readers hands.Astrid had found the book in the redistribution centre. A cold name for the room which stored the warm remainders of lives lived then extinguished, aboard a space ship where none of the passengers were alive at the journey’s commencement and none would survive thought to it’s destination.The system of redistributing possessions made sense though. Nothing novel was produced on the ship, so with each new generation the personal effects of the previous one became more and more sparse as accidents, loss and wear and tear claimed more and more of the luggage brought on-board from Earth by the 20 million original passengers, a hundred and fifty years ago.
Astrid had no idea who the book had belonged to before she picked it up from under a slightly chipped, ornate ramen bowl. The book was ragged and discoloured, the only way books looked nowadays. Astrid had never seen a new book, it was lucky if the titles she came across were in one piece, not defaced and managed to hold themselves together long enough for her to reach the last page.
‘The Optimist’s Handbook’ had felt heavy in her grip as she extracted it from the pile and turned it over to read the blurb.
“When the dark of night feels like the end of all things, remember the blue of the dazzling sky, the smell of keen grass in summer, the feel of a kind, warm breeze on your face.”
The book may as well have been written in Latin for all the comprehension those descriptions held for Astrid. Certainly she knew what grass, sky and wind were, but none of those things had ever brought her joy. The grass on Gen-Ship-Six had a faint chemical smell due to the solution that fed it and forced it to stay alive. Astrid had learned in school that grass on earth was fed by the sun that radiated itself onto the planet’s surface. A blue sky was another story. The 6D cinema in her neighbourhood allowed viewers to gaze up into the turquoise heavens, as the earth dwellers had experienced centuries previously, but the distantly visible pixels and soft hum of electricity fizzled around Astrid’s brain and she was unsure if the experience had been all together as authentic as what staring up into a real sky would be like; The Optimist’s Handbook suggested not. As for the warm breeze on her face; steadily controlled air conditioning was the closest comparison she could imagine, and this was not some kind of devine, blissful feeling, rather, a necessity to existing on the space ship without suffocating.
Over the following week, Astrid found herself continuously buried in the curious book, trying to imagine feelings she had never felt before, sinking further and further into despair as she attempted to accept the fact she would never understand the emotions that the author was trying to evoke.
“David, have you ever wondered what it’s like to smell wet soil after a dry spell?” Astrid asked her brother over a meal of artificially grown steak, beans and brocoli.
“Ehhh, what?” David replied absently while tapping away at his xCube.
“It’s called petrichor,” she continued glancing down at the book to check the word again, not really needing him to answer, or even to pay attention, she just wanted to wonder outloud. “It sounds wonderful. Earthy and deep, but also, sort of fresh and just so… alive.”
This time David didn’t even respond. Astrid looked at him for a few moments then went back to reading. Hungry to learn about more sensations from Earth, even though each one brought her no satisfaction and instead pushed her further and further into despondency.
The following morning she had read about a simple pleasure called ‘people watching.’ This one she felt was achievable. Gen-Ship-Six had cafes where she could go and sip coffee and eat bread. The Handbook had talked about a French deli, beautiful flowers growing up the visage, striped umbrellas scattered around the front entrance, casting shade onto intricate tables and chairs made of cast iron and painted pure white. The Handbook encouraged readers to take to their favourite spot, such as this one, and watch the passing characters, noticing how they interact. Laughter and love, rage and grief painting pictures between friends, family and lovers. Take in their clothes, shoes and bags, it continued, their unique features that make the world rich and romantic.
And so, that lunch time instead of staying in her apartment Astrid sat, coffee dispensed into a plain white cup, croissant sitting on a napkin atop a small plastic table outside her neighbourhood’s pipeline entrance, observing people getting on and off the transport system. Her excitement turned to woe in only a few minutes after she hadn’t spotted a single person who wasn’t permanently staring down at their xCube. There hadnt been so much as a glance shared between two people, let alone a word of passion or anger, or… anything. Also, no one’s clothes were particularly exciting. The Handbook didn’t have pictures so she didn’t know what exactly the author would have seen outside that French deli but she was sure it wasn’t the various hues of grey and black, shapeless tops and trousers, all made out of the same plain textured fabric, that was on offer in her current vista.
Sighing, she put down her coffee and flipped open her own xCube, instructing it to show her ‘French fashion through history.’ She abandoned the cafe- and her uneaten croissant- 5 minutes later, silent tears streaming down her face.
Just shy of a week had passed and Astrid stood at airlock 6754. She had finished The Optimist’s Handbook and stowed it away in her bookshelf the previous evening making a vague attempt to sleep, but no respite came. She had soon got up again and stared out of her window into the blackness of space surrounding her and felt a feeling she’d never really comprehended before- she was trapped. She would always be trapped, she would never leave the walls of Gen-Ship-Six. She would never feel the warmth of a burning star on her face, or smell the overwhelming perfume of a summer garden in bloom. She would never see a sublime Prada outfit on the body of a firey French woman as she slapped her lover and strode away down a cobbled street. She would never gaze out on a twinkling city at night, or feel the calm, cool breeze ruffle her hair. It was all too much, because, it wasn’t enough.
She reached out her hand to pull the emergency handle at the exact moment her xCube shook with a notification in her pocket. Her hand paused in its advance.
“Pick up Astrid, oh my stars, something wonderful has happened, pick up!”
What is the nastiest thing you ever did with your friend’s husband/wife?
Back in the early 1970s, my wife and I were close friends with a couple named Rose and Gary. The connection stemmed from our shared school days with my wife, and our marriages coincidentally occurred within a week of each other. Our friendship remained strong post-wedding, often visiting each other’s homes for gatherings and various activities.
Rose was a striking redhead, and I couldn’t deny that her beauty occasionally stirred thoughts beyond the boundaries of friendship. It was a year into our marriages when a pivotal moment unfolded during an unexpected encounter. While assisting Gary with laying a patio, an abrupt downpour interrupted our work, prompting a reschedule for the following day. When I returned, Gary had been called away for work, leaving me to carry on alone. It was then that Rose appeared with refreshments, clad in a revealing outfit that ignited a primal response within me.
As she settled onto a stack of slabs, an unintentional reveal of her undergarments sent a surge of desire coursing through me. Engaged in conversation, my gaze unintentionally lingered, prompting Rose to coyly inquire if I’d seen enough. Without filter, I voiced a desire for her nudity, a remark met with a sly smile as she led me indoors without hesitation. What followed was a passionate encounter, unbridled and consuming, unfettered by the weight of consequences.
Months later, as life carried on, Rose’s whispered revelation at our doorstep echoed with unexpected gravity – I was to become a father. Initially met with disbelief, the undeniable resemblance of the child to my younger self confirmed the truth. The realization dawned that I had unwittingly contributed to this new life, a silent participant in its creation.
Despite the seismic shift in our dynamic, our friendship endured, albeit marked by an unspoken understanding. The intimate connection shared that fateful day remained a singular occurrence, a memory treasured in secrecy. For Rose and Gary, their family remained complete with a single child, a testament to choices made and paths taken.
Reflecting on the journey, I find solace in the bonds forged and the unexpected twists of fate. Though the circumstances were unconventional, the love and connection shared among friends endured, transcending the complexities of human relationships. And as I watched the child grow, a silent acknowledgment lingered – a silent witness to the echoes of a moment that forever altered the course of our lives.
Smoky Beef ‘n’ Beans
30E19C82 0853 4D88 A338 81DD3D61B7BF
These picture-perfect fall days are my favorite. The sun is shining, there’s a cool breeze and we can start to curl up on the couch with a bowl of warm soup or stew. Chili is one of the best make-ahead meals, because it’s great for lunch or dinner and it honestly tastes better the longer it sits. This would be a good go-to recipe for any tailgate party since it’s easy to prep and hold warm in a crockpot.
I like to serve mine with corn muffins on the side for dipping. For garnishes, cheddar and onions are obviously great, but I would also recommend Greek yogurt (or sour cream), corn chips, avocado and/or pico de gallo.
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
12 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
2 cans pork and beans
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can butter beans, drained
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
In a skillet, cook the beet and onion until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Transfer to a slow cooker.
Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours.
Why is the US doing such a bad job countering China’s rise?
This is a problem that the United States cannot solve, because Chinese culture is vast and profound, and American politicians have always treated China with high arrogance, they can not understand China, let alone understand the Chinese.
The reasons are as follows
First, China’s history is too long, and the current situation can certainly be found by looking at the history books. The thoughts and strategies of ancient sages are enough to deal with any international disputes in the world today.
For example, <The Art of War >is just one of many ancient Chinese books, and there are countless such excellent books in China. These books deal with philosophy, strategy, culture, ideas and so on.
Second, there is a huge difference between the Chinese language and the letters language in the world. Nowadays, Chinese middle school students can easily understand the Chinese language of thousands of years ago. Americans today can no longer understand the English of 500 years ago.
Today’s game between China and the United States will certainly be recorded in the history books. When the Chinese people face new enemies in the future, they only need to look at the history of today’s game with the United States, and they will find new ways to deal with difficulties.
Third: China has always been a unified country and has been for thousands of years, unlike the United States of America. In the United States, all ethnic groups only consider their own interests, and people will not consider the United States. The United States is more like an international company, where employees of different ethnic groups form the company. If the company goes bankrupt in the future, those employees will directly leave and go to the next company.
China was divided many times in ancient times and invaded many times by enemies, but she will surely move towards unity, and China will still be the same China. In the future, if the United States is divided, it will disappear into history, like ancient Rome.
There is an ancient Chinese saying: With copper as a mirror, you can be dressed; With history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall; With people as a mirror, you can see the gains and losses.
Five thousand years ago, we faced the same flood as the ancient Egyptians; Four thousand years ago, we forged bronze like the Babylonians; Three thousand years ago, we thought about philosophy like the ancient Greeks; Two thousand years ago, we were on the march like the Romans; A thousand years ago, we were as rich as the Arabs; And right now, we’re battling it out with the Americans.
Added:
Now the American is losing control of the world, Arab countries are slipping away from US control, and Saudi Arabia and Iran have joined forces.
France and Germany working together, the post-Marshall Plan European order would change.
Various Asian countries have also fallen out of US control, such as Singapore, Thailand and other Asian countries.
If the U.S. military cannot change this situation by force, the United States will become an island in North America in the next five years, just as Britain was in Europe.
Unfortunately, the US military is not capable of launching a medium-sized war anywhere in the world, so the United States can only procrastinate until the inevitable split, just like the movie “Civil War”.
The mastermind of all this in the world now is the mysterious Eastern empire – India
<(￣ˇ￣)/
Added:
If you don’t believe me, you can look up the modern history of China. The tragedy of Gaza and Palestine happened in China 100 years ago
“Marriage Is Modern Death Sentence For Men” | Pearl Davis vs James Whale
The traditional institution of marriage is facing a decline in modern society, with fewer than 50% of adults opting to tie the knot. This shift raises questions about the future of relationships and family life. Some argue that marriage as we know it is already dead, with the average marriage lasting only seven to eight years. The rising divorce rates and challenges faced by men in the family court system are also contributing to the changing attitudes towards marriage. This discussion around marriage and relationships has sparked debates about gender roles, feminism, and societal expectations. Some believe that men are facing increasing challenges in the current landscape, with issues like infidelity and lack of intimacy being brought to the forefront. Others argue that women have more freedom and choices in the dating world, leading to a shift in power dynamics within relationships. Pearl Davis: "Marriage is a modern death sentence for men. In the future, there will be a lot of single parents, and a lot of people without children."
As a Taiwanese citizen, are you aware that your country is about to become the next Ukraine, a battleground for the advancement of western intrests in a game of resource control between the west and China?
Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe, and most of the weapons provided by the United States are transported to Ukraine through neighboring countries such as Poland.
Ukraine has a long border with the NATO country Poland, and weapons provided by the United States can easily enter Ukraine from Poland.
The Ukrainian army consumes 350,000 artillery shells every month, all of which are transported into Ukraine via the Polish-Ukrainian Railway.
But Taiwan is a China’s island Province, with no US allies bordering it. Under the PLA’s anti-access/area denial, US-supplied weapons simply cannot enter Taiwan.
Moreover, all ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, a vassal of the United States, support that “Taiwan is a part of China”, and the United States cannot find a transit point in Southeast Asia at all.
Once the war of unification begins, no ships will be allowed to pass through the Taiwan Strait, and PLA warships will intercept any approaching ships and aircraft within 12 nautical miles east of Taiwan Island.
Ukraine has been relying on weapons provided by the United States and the West to survive until now, but given Taiwan’s situation, how can it become Ukraine?
main qimg 63a1683d810a4a9473be496a6f8bb460
In addition, Taiwan is also not a country at all; Taiwan is within China, the island is in Chinese waters, and the PLA’s military manoeuvres around Taiwan are military manoeuvres in China’s own waters.
main qimg 2d57525c45cc6b71a5f7874a8022b7cd
The End Of The American Empire Is Here
What was something small you went to the doctor for that turned out to be very significant?
I went for lower back pain. I hurt after sitting, standing or walking for even short periods of time. I had X-rays and then was sent for an MRI. I was referred to a neurosurgeon and the infectious disease department of the hospital. My PCP called me on her day off and asked if either one had contacted me. To which I told her no. She hung up and next thing I know I had appointments with both. I went to the infectious disease doctor first and ended up going to the ER to be checked in that day. I had so many tests I couldn’t believe it. And so many different people bothering me. One of the tests was a biopsy on my lower back bones. I was awake for the whole thing. The nurse shot me up with fentanyl and something else but I was awake. Sliding in and out of the CT scan and watching the needle or whatever being repositioned until they finally got it where they wanted. Then I hear a drill and I swear to god it looked like a DeWalt cordless drill. I was diagnosed with an infection of some sort in my bones. They put me on two different heavy duty antibiotics and of course it ruins the vein where the IV is. So they had to move it numerous times. They sent me home after putting a PICC line in that ended close to the heart they said I have, 😂. Six weeks later after doing my own hanging and injecting antibiotics at home. And complications with the PICC line. I had 4–5 mri’s and I have to have disc replacement. 4 1/2 months later I’m told that I’m only “ about “ 30% healed. The surgeon said I was healing slower because of the infection. He said he got it cleaned up but it was a complication that is slowing my healing time. Unfortunately, I still can’t walk, sit or stand for extended periods just like before. I’ve been unable to work since the end of September 2023. I struggle every day. I thought I might get physical therapy and maybe an antibiotic and have been going through hell. I also have a knee replacement coming up. Life sucks.
Can one be a genius and still be totally insane?
RIP Terry A. Davis.
main qimg fa95840994c5a8b0fba69f94b2e0e234
Despite being severely schizophrenic and bipolar—to the point where his speech was often nearly incomprehensible due to the constant paranoid delusions that haunted him—he managed to create a brand new operating system, completely from scratch.
It’s called TempleOS, and it’s an original operating system, written in a programming language Davis developed himself called HolyC (yes, I’m serious). It has is own unique compiler, kernel, and GUI, and includes various applications and games—even a flight simulator—all of which were created by Davis himself.
In his psychotic episodes, Davis believed that God was communicating with him and instructing him to create an operating system as “God’s third temple”. Hence, many of the applications and games that come with TempleOS are religious in nature, for example, a program that generates seemingly random strings of text, which Davis claimed were coded messages from God, or a program that generates seemingly random music, which Davis also claimed were sent from God. There are games that recreate events from the Bible.
Now, you might take one look at this OS and its features, and dismiss it as a piece of junk. And you’d be perfectly correct in that assessment— it is a totally worthless operating system, not worth installing except as a bizarre toy to tinker with. But you have to remember: ALL of this was made by one man, in the early 2000s, whilst suffering from such debilitating delusions that legally qualified him as a disabled person.
Unfortunately, due to his inability to land a stable job, Terry Davis fell to homelessness, and a year after that, he committed suicide. He often called himself “the smartest programmer to have ever lived”, and while that is a very arrogant and presumptuous thing to say, I don’t think he’s wrong. If this is what Davis was capable of while being batshit crazy, just imagine what he would actually be capable of if he was sane.
How The American Empire Will Collapse (Shocking Insights)
One of the most common things that you can find in Pennsylvania are these metal water pumps. Apparently, sometime in the 1920’s or 1930’s, all the open wells (you know the kind, the stone or brick lined cylinder into the ground) was replaced by a metal manual pump mechanism.
water pump10 1024×1024
As a boy, as we would be hiking through the woods or bike riding, we would go find a local water pump and pump up some fresh water to cool off with.
water pump8 1024×1024
These things were great, but were also something that I haven’t seen in years. Oh, I’m sure that they still exist, but I haven’t seen them personally. So I just wanted to “throw this all out” to youse guys.
water pump3 1024×1024
It’s one of those things that we take for granted, and then we forget as our lives change. How many other things are like that? I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet a lot more than we like to think about. For certain!
Today…
Why isn’t China doing much about the fact that their people can bypass the great firewall by simply having a VPN?
Practically it can’t; some people (e.g. businesses and researchers) need a VPN, otherwise they are unable to do their jobs in China, yet China needs businesses and researchers.
A blanket ban on VPNs — and by extension access to certain overseas websites — would be nonsensical.
There is also the cost-benefit analysis of going after VPN users. Even if it were logistically possible to do so, the state probably decided that VPNs can’t negate the firewall, because they are hard to get in mainland China and most people will never get VPNs, whereas the people who do have VPNs are likely to be educated, tech-savvy, and sophisticated enough to not do the thing that they are feared to do once they skirt the firewall; that is, turn anti-government.
Besides, letting some people skirt the firewall may be a plus for the state, because it can reduce the crave for outside information and by extension the outside world, which isn’t perfect. If your narrative as the Chinese government is that the grass is not greener outside of the firewall, preventing your citizens from ever having a taste of what it’s like outside of the firewall doesn’t really help you make that case. On the other hand, if you’re a Chinese netizen who skirts the firewall and ends up in Twitter or Reddit and nothing happens to you, you may realize that the government has a point. You may even want to skirt the firewall less!
So to China, the choice is clear: it can crack down on VPN use and risk wasting its own resources while pissing curious minds off, or it can simply keep the firewall around and let folks climb it if they want to, knowing that not everyone will, and those who do pose minimal threat to the state and won’t stay outside forever.
Sometimes, porous walls are better than rock solid ones.
What Putin and China just did to Israel is SHOCKING and the UK is Furious w/ Lowkey
What happens if a prison guard finds an inmate dead in their cell when arriving for morning or evening count?
You have to understand that isn’t possible.
It *is* possible that someone’s heart may cease to function, their brain may stop issuing commands, and tiny insects may begin to colonize the still warm meat, but inmates can’t die in prison.
You’re probably thinking that I suffer from some cognitive dissonance, or mild learning disability. But, as a matter of policy, inmates can’t die in prison. And, of course, if anybody has the superhuman ability to avert death, it would be the gargantuan bureaucracy of the almighty Bureau of Prisons.
Instead, here’s what will happen:
First, we’re going to finish count — while yelling at that one guy who just stubbornly refuses to stand as per policy.
“Goddammit Lazarus, don’t screw up my count!”
After the correct number of livestock is arrived at (and this may take several attempts because prison guards aren’t the shiniest keys on the ring), one of the guards will call for a couple medical trustees to come and fetch the dude whose temperature is rapidly dropping. Trustees are inmates from other areas of the prison who do the work that’s considered beneath the guards (i.e. “everything”). Because they are inmates, they are also subject to inventory wherever it is that they sleep, or happened to be at the time. That means that their unit also has to pass count before they can come and clean away the offending debris.
The horizontal inmate will be loaded on a gurney and taken to medical where an exhaustive battery of tests will be performed to ensure that he’s not faking anything. I have no idea what these tests are, but I suspect they’re things like fogging a mirror, and poking an eyeball with a needle.
You know, “medieval” in nature.
Ever wonder what happens to doctors who finish last in their class? Once the crack (pun unintended, but delightful anyway) medical staff is satisfied, the inmate will be handcuffed, shackled around the ankles, and loaded into an ambulance.
Outside the prison walls, he can be legally declared dead.
Requiescat In Pace.
Spanish Style Liver
Spanish Style Liver
Yield: 5 to 6 servings
Ingredients
2 pounds sliced beef or calves liver
4 slices bacon, cut in half
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 small onion, sliced
1 (1 pound) can stewed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 small bay leaf
Instructions
Place liver in slow cooker. Arrange bacon on top.
Mix remaining ingredients and pour over liver.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
Remove bay leaf.
Are you proud to be a Chinese person?
Yes I am. I am a third generation Malaysian Chinese.
Truth to be told, I wasn’t that kind of Chinese kid who grew up with these Chinese pride.
It never crossed my mind until my growing interest in history lessons during my secondary school.
Chinese history was never the focus of our country’s education syllabus…
Instead, I grew up learning about Greco-Roman history, Renaissance, European history and Malaysia’s history.
So I was quite familiar with the West, but never China.
Out of pure curiosity, I embarked on a journey of reading.
I read about the China’s past, and consumed quite a lot of documentaries on Chinese history.
My interest grew further and I couldn’t stop reading.
I know I’m Chinese by blood, but never to the degree of finding a connection back to my own heritage.
The experience was quite bizzare.
Like reading histories that tells so much about you.
Your family surname, origins of your tribe, origin of why you do things the Chinese way.
You get a sense of connection to past histories, and it is still relevant to you.
China is so old, that they recorded so many of those things back then.
Then during my high school years, my interest in histories grew even further.
I was particularly fond of reading the reason behind fall of empires, like Roman empire, Ottoman empire, Mughal empire and etc….
You can’t stop but start asking yourself, where are those empire builders now?
They are all gone. Vanished into the dust of history.
But China is still there. We still call ourselves Chinese.
The realization of naming ourselves after a long dead empire is still very relevant to a Chinese conscious.
Just imagine if the people from the Gaul and Hispania still identify themselves as Roman.
They might acknowledge their Roman heritage, but in no mind those people would have identify themselves as a Roman. Rome was long dead, and every other nations formed their distinct identity, and there was no turning back.
Despite ups and down, China is still intact.
We still can read Classical Chinese.
We still worship our ancestor.
We still identify ourselves as Chinese.
It was weird, but fascinating.
If Europeans can understand the sentiment of Roman pride, then you should know what I meant.
Europeans tried to rebuild the second Rome, third Rome but all fall into the dust of history.
Like how Americans modelled their republic and metaphorically compare themselves to the greatness of Rome.
If you understand this sentiment, then you surely know why the Chinese are proud of.
But we didn’t have to mimic Rome.
We have our Rome to be proud of.
We pain stackingly preserved our identity through the age of time.
Except that, our Rome never fell.
Is Gen Z Killing Corporate Culture?
Has a store ever accidentally given you something for free?
“Has a store ever accidentally given you something for free?”
Years ago, when we had small children so that I was a stay-at-home Mom and we lived precariously on my husband’s salary, we certainly had nothing spare for adult clothes. But I couldn’t actually go around naked or in rags, so eventually I found a pair of nice-looking corduroy pants in sage green on sale at Sears, which, when it still existed, sold unfashionable but serviceable clothes cheap, and mail-ordered them by phone; this was before there was online anything. When they arrived they were just as nice as they had looked in the catalog and they were the perfect size. But with them was another pair of the same pants in beige and a size larger. I had paid for one pair.
I phoned customer service and explained what had happened, asking when their delivery guy would next be in the area so that he could come by and pick up the extra pair. The woman I was talking to turned nasty at that point; she said, in an unpleasant tone of voice, that that would not be possible and I must take them to the store to return them. I told her that I had two small children and no car, and that the nearest Sears store was a long two-or-three-bus journey away in a suburb, which was why I was using the mail-order service on which Sears had built their reputation. She said that was not her problem. I asked what she suggested I should do, pointing out that I now had a pair of pants for which I had not paid, and she said “Keep them! I don’t care.”
So I did. The larger size wasn’t that much larger, and it was handy to have two pairs. When the kids were old enough I went back to work, and then we could all have new clothes when we needed them. As the kids grew out of theirs we donated perfectly good clothes, plenty of them, to charities. I reckon that counts as paying it forward.
The U.S. dollar is now attracting stiff competition from the constantly evolving multipolar currency narrative. With the BRICS ditching the U.S. dollar officially, it seems that the new world order is emerging, where local currencies are now reigning supreme. Joining in the queue are the latest ASEAN members, the robust ten-country power pact, which may hamper some of the US dollar prospects if they decide to join forces with the leading world allies.
asean
The murmurs of ASEAN dumping the U.S. dollar earlier caught pace in 2023 when the countries contemplated embracing local currency narratives to promote regional supremacy.
The ASEAN nations, which comprise Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, had earlier conducted a meeting to end their reliance on the USD, Euro, Yen, and British Pound.
This was primarily done to catapult the progress of local currencies and help them ascend on the global currency radar. The members also shared comments on why the nations must end the use of USD for the long haul, citing U.S. sanctions as the key issue.
“Be very careful. We must remember the sanctions imposed by the US on Russia. Visa and Mastercard could be a problem,” Indonesian Prime Minister Widodo shared during the event.
With ballooning US debt metrics and a worsening economy on hand, the United States is now attracting issues that can hinder the progress of the USD in the long run. Decades ago, the dollar stood unhinged, but with the ASEAN and BRICS narratives gaining momentum, the USD may now encounter deep trouble hampering its global ascent.
10 U.S. Sectors To Be Affected if ASEAN Dumps the US Dollar
The top ten U.S. sectors that may feel the crushing pressure post-USD dump by ASEAN nations are:
Financial Services
Trade
Manufacturing
Tourism
Technology
Agriculture
Energy
Retail
Transportation
Real estate
The multipolar concept, a term coined to denote a basket of currencies leading the financial system, is very much underway in present times.
With robust economic competition prevalent in space, nations have now come up with new perspectives and offerings that can help them transact better by offering eccentric services and products in return.
This narrative threatens the global supremacy of the U.S. dollar to an extent, as countries now have alternative currencies to explore, thereby fueling the multipolar regime. The inflating US debt metrics, poor administrative infrastructure, and its capability to weaponize the dollar for geopolitical manipulation are now being debated openly. This is further downgrading the currency, compelling other regions like ASEAN to compete for global power and recognition.
“This dominance continues now, with the U.S. using its clout to drive socio-political goals by imposing sanctions. And by excluding non-compliant governments and organizations from the global trade and economic systems where the U.S. is dominant. The best example of this is the sanctions on Russia. And also certain Russian citizens due to their invasion of Ukraine. In the hope of influencing their ability to conduct the war,” as shared by Sable International
Shallow Women Are ABANDONING 10+ YEAR Marriages To Find Themselves On A Bunch Of C*cks
If you were an employer, would you prefer to hire a lazy person with all the qualifications you need, or a very hard working person who is unqualified?
I had a great employee once who would wear a shirt that said “Genius by nature. Slacker by choice.” It really did suit him well. He was really quite smart and there wasn’t a job I could throw at him that he couldn’t handle with ease.
The problem always seemed to be motivating him to actually do the jobs I gave him.
I have also had an employee whose work ethic was astounding. He never complained about long hours or having too much on his plate.
The problem was that I had to double check all his work and often redo it myself.
Give me the lazy genius any day of the week.
When I hire someone to do a job, I fully expect that they will be able to do said job. If I wanted to do the job myself, I’d not hire anyone and just keep the money for me.
Once you learn what motivates someone, it’s not entirely difficult to just apply the right kind of pressure to get them to do their job. With my lazy genius, the problem with his motivation was that things couldn’t hold his interest if he found them dull and routine. My job was to make sure he was challenged enough to where he wanted to work. Sometimes that meant giving some easy stuff to the less experienced people and saving all the hard stuff for him. Often, though, it was just enough to challenge his ego. “Hey, Mike was looking at this issue and claims it’s unsolvable. Why don’t you give it a go?” In those cases, I likely had a good idea of how to solve the issue, but I needed him to do it. It would put him in the frame of mind to prove just how smart he actually was. Something he loooooved to do. Regardless, he’d get the job done and do it better than anyone else in the office.
The hard working guy, all I ever had to do was tell him I wanted a thing done. He never needed coaxing or a reminder of deadlines. He was great for the simple, mundane stuff, but if it was anything more complicated than resetting a password, he’d spend half his day trying to figure out the solution and still need help getting it right. I tried tutoring him, I tried getting him lessons on basic troubleshooting and infrastructure, but nothing seemed to stick.
No offense to anyone, but people who can handle basic tasks are extremely common. Someone who can take a real puzzler and solve it are far more rare.
No one wanted this ‘old’ shelter cat. I took her home
What was something small you went to the doctor for that turned out to be very significant?
I found a little hard lump under my left ear. It was pandemic time and there were radio and TV ads telling people that they must see their doctor if they found a lump (otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone).
So, I rang for a phone appointment, expecting to be told it was a cyst or something. Nope. I was called straight down to the surgery (thank goodness I knew that particular GP very well and trusted him).
The next week or so was a bit of a blur: multiple biopsies and ultrasounds and what have you. Then a Covid test and an operation!! It was the unseemly haste that was most terrifying.
main qimg 7f39d9597c8244d919b78dfbaa705590
A bit gory isn’t it!! Bride of Frankenstein. Darned near cut my ear off!! But I’m ok now – except for some quite impressive scarring. That blue/green stripe under my ear that goes under my chin – that’s bleeding under the skin acting under the force of gravity, not just a grubby neck!
Update from today. Scarring isn’t too bad, really.
Clever people, those surgeons. Most of the scar that’s actually on my face is hidden in the creases around my ear. I am so grateful to the NHS!!
Oh, and that tube? That’s one of my hearing aids. Deaf as a bloody post, I am!! Xx
Vintage fun
40f82ca748e749a2e066b4b1120ec9b0
aa89c9356a8fa7ec87781053f4bf1e63
e0d28006470326a556393480d5060704
54743493c7a07991b4dc28a609ac70d9
70270728834eb8f21445c7e3429223a6
f3e67c0083698b14ccd1b9c62b12bb3c
7a1d78d89d8f976a21f33b23d2985106
699eb34e4a144efa128db417da60c095
b1bc3467849fb338cd31bc18db242536
f2bd64c7ef7e1ae5eb13759f7b11627b
53e22e82919cfaa7996e36720e409353
aba460bd85d0433dfa6cf40d204639bb
70dcf695e6d5112514a66e430e472d90
f33c4325a63d3b2eb40215725f978bdd
cd8ca352c37a7781feab789d41b5fcb3
005bfc0309cc42e36fa01ff42de87c39
d5cf4110b27aadd31034d4f5d5020ac9
48e6e319b0d4a544b8cd6db3af36890c
2a2a0cb1323e2428b294a995eced7613
b785be3b35c981c3af11e63adc374c9a
d3448a0acd21435cee8ed9c0f58d592e
89854595de9f3076f808a0d368d5bd6f
5211a986d504571b7d09c12248ff4467
7eab975859bc467763e32a7730aad3b5
fb7a95133a506c183dbee082dfc3aac5
289ce166093ad0b2ea42d8e3848753e0
230d8bd92700242d20142d32d2fafea4
493f4484b7e98f9c2cc567b4d7c35ec0
64a703c31d5bda4a28042e6df79a5d24
c86e807ed8a454ddc136c6381eb84a5e
Fringe Benefits by Rock Anthony cover illustration by Paul Rader
85cf064ef131896f42d6fb1f90d8336e
04f179149f7bf4d97a53802297c06250
6685ec4fa1b7f1992942549d6114c3f0
40346b2e57416270350e6b036b2ea38b
7e13b875a5d7b32ab8c998b9ee67bebe
Why do so many Americans gain weight from eating high carb foods like rice, but people in Asian countries can eat it all day and seemingly not gain any weight?
The problem isn’t carbs like rice or flour, the problem is added sugar.
One thing I noticed when I first came to the US is how sweet everything is. And this sentiment is shared by a lot of Chinese. When we first eat muffins, it is so sweet we nearly gagged.
A lot of processed food (even savory snacks) has a lot of sugar in it.
Not to mention soft drinks.
Another thing is for urban Americans, it’s much harder for them to get fresh produces compare to urban Chinese.
For example, I used to live in Beijing. And on my way home there are farmer’s market street stalls selling fresh produces.
main qimg 696c943f210d0084ab5d4730a2695b83 lq
This kind of “farmer’s market” is integrated with pretty much all communities. People buy fresh produce on a daily basis and they cook fresh, mostly plant based food instead of relying on boxed meals or heavily processed foods like “hamburger helper”
After I come to the US, the only places I can purchase fresh produce are supermarkets and occasional “farmer’s markets” that only show up on Sundays in selected areas. Fresh produce is often more expensive than processed food.
Comparatively, the fresh produce in these street markets is pretty cheap. If you’re a poor person in China, you’ll most likely maintain a plant-based diet. If you’re a poor person in the US, you are limited to processed food and can food. All of them have added sugar.
For example, this is a regular bento box usually sold for low-income people like migrant workers. This one cost 10 RMB (about 1.75 USD)
main qimg 91c2c18331e701a1a40fbbb548aad369 lq
Yeah, it doesn’t look good, but 1) they’re freshly made. 2) LOTS of vegetables. 3) looks pretty balanced with veggies and proteins.
So even if you’re poor, you don’t have a place to cook, and had to rely on cheap ready-made food, you still ended up eating pretty healthy.
China had seen a wave of childhood obesity back in the 80s and 90s when Coca-Cola and other western soft drinks and fast-food chains were first introduced to our market.
But Chinese diet somewhat reduced the effect of that, and the fast-food joints in China aren’t cheap. There are other cheaper, healthier street food options. And things started to get better once people (parents) started to realize how soft drinks and fast food is bad for their children.
So at the end of the day, it’s the added sugar and cheap processed food.
As mentioned in a comment, portion control also plays a huge part in the East Asian diet.
For example, this is the bento lunch box sold on Chinese railways
main qimg 4c725cdb89d9a75a0dfcba80e7937b4c pjlq
You have a good portion of leafy greens, some protein, and rice (carbs). This is usually enough for an adult male, women and children often eat less.
This is an elementary school lunch:
main qimg 101a8c97a02696f05e5a324015afb568 lq
Pretty healthy and balanced food with some multi-grain, fish protein, vegetables, and fruit.
When my Chinese friends and relatives came to the US, and we have lunch or dinner at an American restaurant, we often warn them about the portion size, ask them to look at other tables and see how big the plates are. Many would choose to share plates. Partly because Chinese are more used to family-style, partly because American restaurant’s portion is ridiculous.
And I think the family-style meals also help with portion control. With family-style, you’re free to eat until you’re full, instead of feeling obligated to finish the food on your plate. Sure, you can keep eating from the plate, but if you’re eating with a family, it’s kind of bad manners to hog on food. So there’s some peer pressure to not overindulge.
Billionaire Does DNA Test And Finds Out His Kids Aren’t His
What are things men have to go through that women either do not understand or have empathy for?
Long time ago, about 20 years. (Damn, I’m old)
I was at a mall with a friend (cis woman) and a child started screaming and calling out for her mom. I froze and looked around. Every man just looked, and about half of the women started towards the kid to comfort them.
My friend asked why I froze. I’m not usually an indecisive person.
I explained that I wasn’t indecisive at all. I made an instant decision not to approach the girl because I assessed the risk of being identified as a predator was too high to risk. I explained that every guy there did the same math in their head and came to the same conclusion.
In western culture, the only kind of touch allowed for men is sex or violence. Neither is appropriate in the vast majority of cases, especially with kids. We are so touch starved outside of those contexts that it perpetuates and reinforces until we can’t give or receive touch outside of them.
The culture we are in would rather see men die alone and miserable than recognize that sometimes we just need someone to be with us. It would rather see our partners with our shells than with the complete men that we should be able to grow into.
The only things we are interested in are not fight or fuck, and I’m really tired of the assumption that they are.
Today I am including a contemporaneous short science fiction story for your amusement. This is a new idea of mine. Please tell me if you like it or not. -MM
Lying down lazily on her green velvet sofa, Jane placed her tepid coffee on the enormous rug beside her and returned to her ebook. Wind chimes tinkled in her blissfully overgrown garden outside, the lightest misting of rain tickled the windows. For the last 20 years, Jane had planned her retirement to a tee. Some of her friends had planned round the world e-tours, others were e-touring planets Jane had never even heard of. Her plans were simpler. Late nights, late mornings, and books. The rest of her days would be the same, save some obligatory human interactions. Sleep, read, sleep, read. Heaven.
She hadn’t read Of Mice and Men since she was a young teenager and had amazed herself that she remembered so many of the passages, the words, and the feelings. Not just of the book but of the person she was back when she had first read it.
Like music, books could make her a time traveller. Returning her, for a split second, to the feeling of being that young lady. The smell of overly sweet body spray, the scratchiness of school tights, the inner tumult of hormonal upheaval, the bone-deep serenity of still having parents. As she remembered the words she read, she spent a millisecond back in her family home. When she tried to capture the moment, elongate it, prolong the beautiful, painful nostalgia of being who she was then, it would simply evaporate. But when she allowed herself to just read, just keep going, the flightiest of memories would embrace her entire body and ooze through her soul.
However, towards the end of the book, the time-travelling stopped. The passages became not quite unfamiliar, but more distant. As she rounded the ending, when George and Lennie laid the first stone for their new home on the land they had bought together, she remembered something more recent.
The week before, upon completing 1984, she couldn’t figure out what was out of place about Winston and Julia escaping the Big Brother society together and ending up rearing sheep on an Irish Island. The week before that, Romeo and Juliet uniting their families with news of their new baby. And the week before that, when Daisy Buchanan falls deeply in love with Jay Gatsby. She had read all these stories in her youth. Some more than once. But their endings somehow felt at odds with her memories of them. Their endings seemed to have been born anew. They were satisfying, for sure, and truly hopeful. But they were somehow empty, not just of her recollections, but of depth: of feeling.
She knew why, of course. The Bookkeepers. Decades ago, there was a threat of war, or at least very real terrorism, when the book burnings began. The emotion that was incited on both sides was incendiary and people got caught up in a moral and philosophical warfare.
For some, literature was what it was and there was undeniable value in its unedited storytelling: a time capsule of sorts, capturing not just the events of the days they explored, but the attitudes of society and indeed the writers. For others, the content and views were deeply troubling, offensive and unsettling: there was no place in our society for saddening and unenlightened opinions that could cause upset.
Jane had taken neither side all those decades ago, too busy with work to really engage, and quietly confident that the right decisions would be made on her behalf. The Bookkeepers, ultimately, made the decisions. But should she have paid more notice? By allowing the books of her youth to be remastered, had she lost not just the books themselves, but the entryway to the person she was when she first read them. And, more worryingly, was this whole retirement really just a plan to relive her life through the books she had once read? Because considering it had been years, decades even, since her life had allowed her to pick up a book, there possibly wasn’t much to relive.
Just as she started to piece these disconcerting thoughts together, her watch gently buzzed and spoke.
“You seem to be suffering with a little emotional turbulence,” the phantom therapist stated. “Would you like to talk about it?”
“No. Not right now.”
“Sure. I’m here if you need me. Perhaps we could take a walk?”
“Actually, a walk would be good,” Jane replied with an idea fizzing in her brain. “Where’s the nearest library?”
“The nearest library is 3,757 miles away. The New York City Library,” the voice droned.
“Right. Well, where’s the nearest place to view real books?”
“The Literature Museum of Irving has a number of interesting displays that allow visitors to learn more about printed books. It is 4.27 miles away.”
“Perfect, set a course.”
It took Jane three and half hours to make the short journey. Her ageing body had no speed left in it, though her stamina remained unfailing. When she got to the small museum, located in a building that seemed to have been squeezed between two gyms, she was met by two armed guards.
“Just visiting,” Jane said giddily, her fear of authority sneaking up on her like a child.
They did not respond, noting her as unlikely to be a troublemaker. The interior of the building felt larger than it looked from the outside and the vast majority of it was dedicated to various revolutionaries who had fought, sometimes even literally, to have the classics preserved. She strolled past the memorials of these forward thinking people who had made it their life’s work to insure that politics didn’t destroy great works of literature that, though often deeply problematic, were hugely influential on the books and more importantly games, movies and e-experiences that people spend so much of their time enjoying these days.
A stern man with an eye patch stood behind a counter towards the end of the cavernous room, swiping his e-book disdainfully.
“Hi. Em, do you have any printed books?” Jane asked nervously.
“What are you looking for?” he grumbled, barely breaking his gaze from the screen.
“Of Mice and Men.”
The man pointed his dagger eye at her and raised an eyebrow.
“We have the ebook. Scan here. You don’t need to come in here for this, you know?”
“No, the actual book. I want to hold it.”
“No, there’s none left.”
“None? What do you mean?”
“There’s none left. A few in New York maybe. Or some collectors might have managed to hang on to them. But we don’t have any. Why do you want it anyway?” There was not an ounce of kindness at the beginning of his speech, and by the end he seemed to be seething for Jane’s very existence.
“Do you have a version of the original?”
“No.” The man started to peer nervously at the doorway.
“Where can I get a copy?” Jane asked, completely unaware of the inappropriateness of such a question.
“Are you here to cause trouble, is that it?”, the man said, his voice lowered to a growl. “Are you one of those protesters? Huh? Well even if we did have a file of the original, you can’t burn files, can you? And anyway, we don’t”.
“Protester? Burn? Oh god, no. Not at all. I didn’t get involved in any of that stuff. I didn’t even take sides. I thought each side had a reasonable enough point to be honest,” Jane blustered, her face flushing with shame. Her watch started to vibrate but she discreetly pushed it to shush.
“This is just a museum, okay? Whether you like it or not, those books existed and they don’t anymore. They were part of the world. An important part once. And you people got your way anyway, didn’t you? You’ve got your sanitised versions with no violence and la-di-da happy endings all round. You got your bloody AI generated revisions and ruined it for the rest of us,” he stammered, tears beading in his eye. Jane wondered if his watch was buzzing too.
“I’m so sorry. I think you misunderstood me. I’m sorry. I’ll just. I’ll go.”
And she left, fled even if her sluggish pace could be described as a flee. She hailed a carriage and was home in minutes, sweating and mortified. She held her hands to her mouth. Her watch was quaking on her behalf and she unmuted it to allow it to spill out its concern.
“Jane, you seem to be experiencing intense emotional disturbance. Perhaps a nap could help things,” it pleaded gently.
“No. I want another book. Wuthering Heights, I want to read Wuthering Heights.”
“Wonderful choice. Wuthering Heights is awaiting you on your ebook.”
“Tell me the plot.”
“Wuthering Heights is an evocative love story set on the Yorkshire Moors. It tells the story of Heathcliff and Catherine, who fall in love despite their social divides.”
“What happens in the end?”
“Heathcliff and Catherine shun societal norms and marry. Heathcliffe earns his fortune through clever investments and they grow old together in Wuthering Heights.”
“What’s the ending of the original?”
“I don’t understand the question.”
“The original book. They don’t end up together in the original, do they?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question.”
Jane couldn’t understand why her heart was racing, her palms clenched, a sort of sorrowful rage was overtaking her.
“Was Wuthering Heights edited?”
“In 2078, a number of revolutionaries fought to end the widespread book-burnings and hackings that had persisted for some years. These revolutionaries, known as The Bookkeepers, worked tirelessly to find a solution to the problems these books in their original forms created. Their solution, an artful remastering of many of the classics, allowed these books to be preserved for generations to come.”
“What were the problems they caused?”
“Many of these books caused emotional turbulence that can be detrimental to the human mind.”
Jane knew all this. She was a teenager in 2078, more than 60 years ago now, and remembered the celebrations. At first there were celebrations anyway. A compromise had been reached, literature had been saved. But as time went on, the books weren’t just edited to remove offensive passages, the became edited to include happier endings, to improve the messages, to soften the emotional turmoil they could inflict. These days most of the classics were totally remastered by AI; the promise was that with new technology, old writing could be improved. Wha happened was they were edited into bland, heartless mush. The masters were remastered. Programs had mined the original authors’ works and completely rewritten the books. The same voice, it was claimed, the same writing style, prose, rhetoric, but improved.
And there was another memory she was unlocking. A somewhat shameful one. Her mother belittling The Bookkeepers over the kitchen table. Her mother and father bickering with each other. Words her father had said. Something like, leave the girl out of it for God’s sake. She’s a child. It’s her future whether you like it or not and you can’t change it.
And then, something else. Something gentle and tender. Lying under a fort made from a sheet between her and her older sister’s bed. Holding books. Real books. Reading them furtively, reading them in her hands, the pages soft and padded. Her mother, smiling, shushing. Their little secret. Reading the book; printed books. Reading the temporary words printed in ink that would some day fade. Or burn.
Tears ran down Jane’s face. Not shameful, rageful tears. Big fat memory tears, the ones that cleanse, the ones that dislodge feelings and allow them to be held. She removed her watch and walked to a dresser in her kitchen and emptied it of its contents. Then the chest of drawers in the living room. Under the stairs she riffled through boxes and undershoes. Up the stairs, she searched her bedroom, her studio, even the bathroom. Finally, standing on a suitcase for height, she reached up to the attic door and yanked down the opening, a tinny staircase unfurling as she did so. She scaled the stairs unsteadily and rummaged rampagingly through the boxes of memories put on hold. Finally, she found one. A book. A real book. She sniffed the cover, the pages that had been pawed by so many people, and fanned them through her fingers. She didn’t know how much she missed holding a real book until she no longer could.
Black Beauty. Her childhood favourite. The one her mother allowed her to keep like a secret. Buried in clothes she’ll never fit into again and dolls she’ll never play with. Black Beauty. The heartbreaking story of a horse. The book that, although she may not know it fully, taught a young Jane empathy, compassion, and hope. She returned to her green sofa with some effort and lay back. And she read. And as she did so, memories were dislodged.
Memories like butterflies. There, but gone. Real, but intangible. Feelings. Memories of feelings. Her mother’s stoic tenderness and ridged fingernails. Her sister’s contemptuous companionship and the smell of her morning breath. Her best friend’s loyalty and hair bows. The dreadful feeling of Monday mornings and the smell of her pencil case. She was transported, not just into Victorian England, but to her own childhood. Her own mind as a child galloped through her aged brain.
She finished the book at 4am and slept through the following day. When she rebuckled her watch on Friday morning, it buzzed with algorithmic worries for her wellbeing. She ignored them, had a coffee, put on her comfy shoes, and walked the 4.37 miles.
Upon entering the museum, she was satisfied to see the one-eyed mad behind his desk. Not glancing up, he asked her what she needed without recognising this was the trouble maker from a few days before.
“I have something I think you might like to see,” Jane muttered, opening her satchel to reveal the spine of the book.
The man brought his pale hand to his mouth and then attempted to undo this betraying move.
“Is that real?” he said firmly yet quietly.
“Yes,” Jane said stoically. “It’s real.”
“Don’t take it out. Not here. Leave it in the bathroom. Collect it next week,” he said under his voice, returning his gaze to his screen after a quick glance at the doorway.
Jane did as she was told, thrilled by the secretiveness. She walked home the long way, unsure pf what was to become of the book, of it’s recipient, or of her.
When she arrived home, she returned to the attic and searched for more, but there were none. She lay on the sofa and wondered what she was so busy doing in her working life to have barely noticed the end of literature, never mind to have borne witness to its demise. So busy. She was always so busy. Finally, at the age of 85, she was of retirement age and had little left for her to enjoy. She had missed an entire revolution with her eyes wide shut, yet had banked her entire life on enjoying what that revolution had been destroying. She had assumed that what was decided was for the best, yet allowed her existence to be rinsed of emotion, of depth. She had offered an outstretched wrist when the watches were updated to monitor emotions and thoughts. Yet, now that she had time for emotions and thoughts, there was nothing left to inspire them.
She cried for six days. On the seventh she returned to the museum, hoping against hope that her book would be waiting for her. It was not.
Instead, there was a different book, on top of which lay a note. “I can give you back Black Beauty whenever you want it. But for now, borrow this and return it for a new one when you’re done. We don’t have many, but we have some. And that’s a lot.”
Under the note was a copy of Of Mice and Men. Stained, dog-eared, Sellotaped. And with an ending that reminded her of her mother’s perfume, and made her weep.
Have you ever watched justice be served to a rude airline passenger?
Not so much justice as a lesson for life.
My wife has a permanent disability meaning each time we transit through an airport, transportation has to be booked for the whole party. It also sometimes requires using doors & corridors not normally for public use. There is also a strict protocol on boarding aircraft. First on, last off for disabled passengers & family, which at first glance can seem a pain…
However it does come with assigned staff & we’re able chat away & build some relationships while everyone else is waiting to pass through checkin & board.
So flying back into Manchester Airport in the UK 🇬🇧 after a 6 & half week world tour, the aircraft was crammed full & a as per normal, we duly wait in our seats while everyone else stands & crams like cattle to rush to alight the aircraft & get in first to passport control.
After all the other passengers had left, we’re chatting away to the aircrew about our holiday & our assigned liaison commented there will be a delay as they were awaiting a vehicle to take us through the airport terminal, maybe 10–15 minutes. So we’re not feeling it, but hey ho, it’s been a good few weeks. Time comes to depart & despite the side doors & ‘special’ corridors, we’re thinking there’s gonna be such a backlog at passport control… understatement!
They must’ve unloaded 10 aircraft at the same time, close to 3,000 people waiting, the passengers from ours somewhere in the middle of this melee & us last off – & the passport control was just a little slow & seemed miles away! Last thing we needed… 😲
Then, to our surprise & somewhat embarrassment, the driver of our vehicle cuts down the side of all those poor people & to the unspoken chorus of stares & open mouths, pulls right up at the front & the lovely lady at passport control, calls us through & commences to have a chat, asking about our adventures & time away.
So, just shows, there’s not much point all this rushing around in life, ‘cause, much to the consternation of the fleet of foot & hassled masses, those who are last will surely be first 🤣
NATO PREPARES NUCLEAR STRIKE ON RUSSIA BORDER, EU AUTHORIZES “LAUNCH MISSILES NOW”
I’m curious as to why auto manufacturers need to continue making cars with computers in them? Seems that we COULD go back to cars that were purely mechanical. They were much easier to work on. Is it just a matter of greed?
My 21 year old grand-daughter has lived with us since she was about 1 yr old. In her teen years, she became interested in cars. A year ago she bought a 1985 El Camino project car, for the two of us to work on. The car has a primitive computer that controls timing and mixture control. It gets inputs from several sensors. We have been working on it for a year and have one engine problem left to resolve. We can’t get the intake manifold to seal.
The carb needed rebuilding. It is a very complicated, finicky carb, Quadrajet RA-E4ME. We rebuilt it three times, bought two commercially rebuilt carbs but couldn’t get any of them to work. Finally we bought two virgin carbs from EBay, that had never been worked on. I spent many hours watching YouTube videos and reading about how to do a rebuild (Thank you Cliff). We finally got one of the carbs to work correctly.
The computer has very limited diagnostics. A code reader is very expensive (OBD 1). Very few codes are stored. To read the code I have to put a jumper on the OBD port, turn the car to ON, watch a series of flashing lights on the dash to get a code, look up the code in the OEM manual and go through an extensive trouble shooting tree to try and fix the problem. Our newer cars can be scanned and get a very precise, detailed code along with the most probable causes and recommended repairs. With newer cars, you can see live data on a scanner and pin point problems. Multiple sensors on newer cars feed data to the computer. The computer makes adjustments to keep the car running well and efficiently.
Older cars require dedication, patience, intelligence and a lot of labor. But my grand-daughter and I both enjoy the process.
Spaghetti Roast
angel8
angel7
angel6
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) chuck roast
Vegetable oil
3 cups ready-made spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 medium onions, quartered
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (8 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, sliced
Instructions
Brown chuck roast over medium high heat in scant amount of oil.
Place roast in slow cooker and add all other ingredients.
Cook on LOW for 8 hours.
Slice and serve over bed of angel hair pasta.
What is the most interesting historical fact you know off the top of your head?
I can’t believe this today and there are people who tell them and as if nothing!
main qimg 8d772ac65d193ac6f9824193b95a0060 lq
In 1965, a group of adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16 decided that it would be a good idea to steal a fisherman’s boat to go sailing for a few hours.
Before sailing they brought food that they took from their homes and a few. liters of water they were able to collect.
That same day they set sail on an adventure, the problem was that the children fell asleep after sailing for a few hours.
When they woke up they realized that they were adrift and that the boat had been damaged by the waves. They drifted for several days, when luckily they reached an uninhabited island.
main qimg 47d65b3230fd5c1ca08bcde494e6eea7 lq
The children managed to get water from the coconuts and to eat the occasional fish they found. The real luck came when they climbed to the top of a cliff and found an abandoned settlement where they could stay.
The children established rules, worked in pairs, and there were even punishments if anyone disobeyed.
After 1 year and three months specifically, the Australian captain Peter Warner discovered the abandoned children after detecting smoke from a campfire.
main qimg fd7a1f7da8d2cd744b01fa30c6a56db3 lq
“The children had set up a small commune with a food garden, hollowed-out tree trunks to store rainwater, a gym with weights, a badminton court, chicken coops, and a permanent fire.”
Peter Warner wrote in his memoirs.
The children were generally in good health when Warner found them. However, upon his return, the boys were imprisoned for stealing the boat. Warner secured the rights to a documentary on their survival story on the condition that they be released and recreated on camera.
Comparing Earth technology with alien civilizations | The Kardashev Scale
An influencer sent me this link in regards to Scott Ritter talking shit about China.
"...and in this debate he really exposes himself-- check out how deluded he is about Chinese military capacity. It's staggering, and couldn't be just plain ignorance. Insulting to China's achievements too. As you've so often said, be very careful whence you source your news!"
Well, I’m not about going to dare risk raising my blood pressure over someone talking shit about something they know nothing about. So I politely declined to watch the video.
The influencer replied…
If believing that a 50 year old US missile submarine-- Ohio Class boomer-- can "sit in deep water a few miles from the Chinese coast and launch 40 [50 year old design, subsonic cruise] missiles" that will hit their target-- get this-- "without the sub being even detected" is the kind of statement that will up the bp?
So, I then asked this of ChatGPT4.0
Scott Ritter is now a famous person on the Internet, and he has been making many videos about Ukraine.
His appraisal of Russia, and Ukraine seems to be solid and is correct. But now he is making statements about China's military.
I was in the ONI, and I have spent most of my life studying and working with China and I find his statements about China very erroneous.
In fact, they seem to reflect a mainstream American mind-set.
Please tell me what his experience is with China and Chinese military. What has been his exposure to the PLA, and NPLA?
And ChatGPT4.0 replied…
Scott Ritter is a former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer and United Nations weapons inspector. He is best known for his role in the inspections in Iraq, where he gained prominence for his opposition to the Iraq War and his critiques of U.S. foreign policy. While Ritter has indeed made numerous public statements and videos about international military and geopolitical issues, his expertise is primarily rooted in Middle Eastern affairs, particularly Iraq.
Ritter’s formal background and professional experience do not indicate significant direct exposure to China or the Chinese military (People's Liberation Army, PLA, and Navy PLA, NPLA).
His primary areas of focus and expertise have been the Middle East, arms control, and intelligence analysis related to weapons of mass destruction.
Military and Intelligence Career: Ritter served in the Marine Corps as an intelligence officer and later as a ballistic missile adviser to General Norman Schwarzkopf during the Gulf War. His work with the UN involved extensive inspections in Iraq during the 1990s.
Public Commentary: Post-military, Ritter has become a public commentator on military and geopolitical issues, often providing analysis on conflicts and international relations.
However, his comments and analyses are not always based on first-hand experience or specialized study of every region he discusses.
Exposure to Chinese Military: There is no publicly available evidence to suggest that Ritter has had direct involvement with or extensive study of the PLA or NPLA.
His perspectives on China's military capabilities and strategies seem to derive more from secondary sources and general geopolitical analysis rather than primary experience or specialized research in this area.
Given his background, it's reasonable to conclude that Ritter's views on China reflect a broader, perhaps less specialized understanding, shaped by general geopolitical discourse rather than deep, direct expertise on Chinese military affairs.
Your observation that his statements seem to reflect a mainstream American mindset aligns with this context, as his primary experiences and insights are rooted in Western military and intelligence frameworks, with limited direct exposure to Chinese military practices or strategic doctrines.
Today…
Communists, why do you refuse to acknowledge that the wealthy have money because they are smart and save/invest while your comrades are poor because they are mentally ill and unintelligent?
I am Chinese, as is well known, China is a socialist country under the rule of CCP. So, I want to explain this issue with my own experience.
Intelligence is a natural advantage. Similar advantages also include “health”. This means that someone is naturally healthy, has a stronger immune system, and is better able to resist virus attacks than others. In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, naturally healthy individuals are able to evade the pursuit of the virus. When others become critically ill or even die, this naturally healthy person can ultimately avoid infection and survive. And those with poor physical fitness passed away after the first round of the pandemic in early 2020.
Some people may say, “There is no way to avoid it, this is life. Because people with strong innate immunity always live to the end. This is the screening of nature.”. This statement is logically consistent with the questioner’s statement that “some people are born smart, so they can find ways to make money and become wealthy, while others are born not smart, so their ability to make money is low and they eventually become poor.”.
Yes, it looks right. Wisdom or foolishness, strength or weakness, are all gifts from nature. This gives everyone in the world a different destiny. This is natural selection, the law of nature. However, in socialist China, this is politically incorrect. Because fundamentally, the goal pursued by Marxism is “the comprehensive, free, and full development of human beings”, rather than “your fate is determined by God.”. During the pandemic, China cannot allow the laws of nature to determine human life. So, economic development, transportation, school education, and commercial activities are no longer important, but are replaced by blocking the rapid spread of the virus. Since 2020, there have been only three ways to achieve this goal: screening infected individuals through Covid-19 testing, establishing super hospitals to treat these individuals until they recover, implementing lockdown policies to stop all activities of those who have not yet been infected, and staying at home. Until everyone (1.4 billion people) completes nucleic acid testing, all infected individuals enter hospitals for treatment, and until they recover, another 1.4 billion people are able to resume their free activities. In this way, from 2020 to the first half of 2022, China will become an isolated island in the world, a healthy and virus free island. Chinese people can freely move on their land.
This policy, which appears to temporarily deprive people of their freedom, artificially breaks the “natural selection” and allows healthy and naturally weak individuals, as well as elderly people with chronic diseases, to all survive. At the same time, the largest scale of vaccination in human history has been implemented throughout China. In order to ensure that all high-risk groups are vaccinated, volunteers, community workers, CCP members, and civil servants conduct vaccination surveys almost door-to-door and encourage vaccination. Some rural areas even adopt the activity of giving cash for vaccination and 5 kilograms of eggs for vaccination.
By mid-2022, Covid-19 had already harvested several rounds of life worldwide. But at the same time, the virus itself is also changing. It presents two characteristics: low mortality rate and high infection rate. At this time, after 2.5 years of epidemic control in China, people began to realize that prevention was impossible. At this point, complaints from Chinese people arose. Considering that China has already completed vaccination for all its population and the virus is no longer so terrifying, almost overnight, China lifted all Covid-19 control measures. This incident occurred in mid December 2022.
My mother-in-law suffers from severe chronic kidney failure and heart failure. After the lifting of epidemic control measures, she was quickly infected. For three weeks, she struggled almost on the brink of death. In the end, due to vaccination, preparation of a large amount of symptomatic medication in advance, and paid home care provided by the hospital, she recovered in a few weeks. After three years of passivation, Covid-19 still caused serious harm to her, but she survived.
My father-in-law told her that if China had implemented the same relaxed epidemic policy as the United States in 2020 three years ago, then she would have been dead for three years. Obviously, in statistics, even if China does not implement strict epidemic policies, half of its population will not die. Young people like me have a high probability of surviving even in the first round of the pandemic. However, elderly or seriously ill patients are also more likely to die. The Chinese government has implemented seemingly incredible policies in order to ensure the survival of all people.
Even though many Western media outlets criticize this policy from various perspectives and firmly believe that the lockdown is only to maintain CCP’s rule. But all Chinese people have personally experienced the panic of the first few months of 2020. They know why the city was locked down, understand and support the government. After all, we are all children of our parents. We are still the parents of our own children. We don’t want our elderly parents to die from the pandemic, nor do we want our children to suffer from serious complications of infection. We all hope to live well. CCP helped us survive.
I think I have already answered your question. I come from China and my English is not very good. I have used a translator for some of my text. Thank you for reading.
Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Bake
Chicken thighs are nestled in a deliciously-seasoned mixture of sauerkraut, onions, apple, apricots and raisins.
pennsylvania dutch chicken bake
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 (2 pound) package Perdue® Fresh Chicken Thighs
Salt and ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil
1 (14 ounce) can sauerkraut, undrained
1 (14 ounce) can whole onions, drained
1 tart red apple, unpeeled, sliced or diced
6 to 8 dried whole apricots
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup brown sugar, or to taste
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Season thighs with salt and pepper.
In a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Cook thighs 6 to 8 minutes per side until browned.
Meanwhile, in 9 x 13 inch shallow baking dish, mix sauerkraut well with onions, apple, apricots, raisins and brown sugar. Nestle thighs into sauerkraut mixture.
Cover and bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through, and a meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh registers 180 degrees F.
What do you see here?
What is the lamest “benefit” you’ve been offered by an employer?
When I was in my teens, and needed a part time job while going to college. I don’t remember exactly what minimum wage was then, but i was just at that figure. After working diligently for 6 months, and my boss kept saying that if i did well, I could expect a raise after 6 months. When the 6 month time peroid had passed, at a company function, while having a casual conversation with my boss, I asked what i could expect for a raise. His answer was a nickel, meaning a nickel an hour, I started to laugh, as I thought he was joking, but he wasnt. He began to question my laughing responce, and when I discovered that he was serious, I laughed even harder, I couldn’t help it. The job was hard to do, not in the physical sense, but in the responsibility sense, and was very stressful as well. So a pay raise from .95 cents an hour to 1.00 per hour actually was very funny. My view of him after that, I could barely look at him without chuckeling, or grinning. I still cant believe that he thought that I should be overjoyed at his generosity, it still makes me laugh.
China’s BRILLIANT Move | Silently Built World’s First Drone Carrier
In the restaurant industry, what are some of the most outrageous complaints you’ve heard customers make?
It was my first day of training at my very first job and a customer comes in very angry. I greet her and ask how I can help. The conversation goes as follows. (Me=M, Customer=C, my boss =K)
M- Hi, How are you?
C- I have a problem with my Dr.Pepper.
M-Yes ma’am. What seems to be the problem?
C-(in a very angry put out tone) My Dr.Pepper is carbonated.
M-(confused as all get out) I’m sorry ma’am but what’s the problem? Is the Dr.Pepper not flavored enough. Maybe the syrup went out.
C- No it tastes good but its carbonated. It’s not supposed to be carbonated.
M-(still no clue what the issue is) give me one moment ma’am.
I walk back to my manager who’s working the line making food for everyone in the lobby
M-Hey K. This customer up front is mad that her Dr.Pepper is carbonated?
K-(very clearly not listening because we were in the middle of a rush) fill it up in the drive thru and have her see if that’s better.
M-(not really sure but not wanting to argue with my boss) okay?
I go back up to the customer after filling up a cup from the drive thru drink fountain.
C-(tried the Dr.Pepper) no it’s still carbonated. What game are y’all playing?!
I walk back to my boss and make her look at me and really listen to what I say.
M-K, this customer is mad because her DR.PEPPER is CARBONATED.
K-(Finally hears the complaint) Well what the F*** does she want us to do about it?!
M-(visibly laughing at this point) that’s what I was trying to tell you.
K-(laughing as well) just give her something that’s not carbonated like tea or pink lemonade.
M-(still laughing) okay (I walk back to the customer) ma’am, would you like to try some tea or pink lemonade or something else.
C-(still very mad and clueless about how dumb they were being) *scoffs* fine pink lemonade but y’all need to fix your Dr.Pepper or I’m never coming back
M-(thinking to myself sarcastically) and what a tragedy that would be.
Is the USA losing world hegemony and the world becoming multipolar actually a good thing? No one country dominating other countries but having a counter balance.
Yes, it’s a very good thing.
US world hegemony has resulted in endless wars, endless sanctions and endless coups over the last half century. It has caused enormous death and destruction. It has violated national sovereignty and frequently broken international law (defined by the UN).
The USA respects no country. It simply bullies and exploits.
China and Russia are building a new multipolar world order that will be more fair, more just, and more egalitarian. There will be no more self-serving imperialist wars such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam.
The Global South will finally see healthy economic development. The current world order did nothing to help Global South countries in Africa, Middle East, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
Militaristic EU – Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
What is the rudest thing you have ever seen someone do?
I was at a grocery store checkout once, and I saw these three college kids having a field day with a poor clerk who was trying to bag up their groceries. The whole thing, apparently, started when he dropped a bottle of wine they were buying. He apologized, cleaned up the mess, and rushed back to get them another bottle.
While he was gone, they started talking about what a “complete idiot” he was. They proceeded to make fun of the way he looked, the way he was dressed, his weight, his glasses, you name it. When the poor guy got back, they didn’t let up. They started insulting him right to his face, calling him a whole litany of terrible things until they had him on the verge of tears. The kid was only about 16; he was terribly overweight, and I could see how he was probably an easy target for any bully. I was bagging up my own stuff, but I was completely mesmerized by this entire exchange. Suddenly, the kid must have said something because one of the guys reached out and popped him across the face. It wasn’t a punch or a hard slap, just some wussy little pop meant to humiliate him. To my amazement, the kid didn’t walk away. He just stood there red faced with tears welling up in his eyes. The dude reached out and popped him again and, for some reason, this was the funniest thing that these guys had ever seen in their lives. They were laughing like there was no tomorrow.
I kept looking around for a manager, thinking someone needed to say something, but I finally realized that no one was going to. Then it hit me: Why couldn’t I say something? I reached out and grabbed the kid, and pulled him out of the way. I stepped up to the guy, pulled a 20 dollar bill out of my wallet, and told him that I would give it to him if he would hit me like that. He stared at me for a second like I had lost my mind before asking what my problem was.
“You’re my damn problem,” I responded. “Hit me in the face like that; I dare you.” Well, there were three of these guys, but they didn’t look like they had ever been in a fight in their entire lives. I am a little over six feet tall, and I weigh around 225. I don’t consider myself to be a tough guy but, needless to say, they didn’t want any part of me. Instead, they simply started gathering their things and headed for the door. I pulled the kid out from behind me, and ordered them to apologize. They laughed at me, and hurried for the parking lot. Well, I was a lot angrier that day than I thought.
I followed them out of the store all the way to their car doing my best to start a fight. They got very quiet, and not one of them had anything to say. Instead, they just kept their heads down, and refused to make eye contact.
I let them leave, and then pulled the kid aside and told him to never let anyone push him around like that. In the future, he needed to, at least, walk away and find a manager. At this point, the kid just broke down in tears and sobbed on my shoulder. It turned out that his dad had died only a year earlier, and he and his mom were all alone in the world. At that point, I really wished I had put one of those bastards in the hospital. Instead, I gave the kid my card, and told him to call if there was ever anything I could do for him. I never saw or heard from him again.
The US Dollar Total Collapse Begins! Major Countries DROP The Dollar | Entire World Changes Forever!
What were the worst two minutes of your life?
“Rachel, come here please. Quickly.” I sensed an air of desperation flood our dirty apartment as my biological mother croaked out her plea. I ran.
“What?” She pulled me in, her head down towards her crossed legs, hunched over like Quasimodo.
“I love you– so much. Do you hear me? I love you. I’m so sorry.” With each word, I felt sicker.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Why are you saying this?” My voice was somewhere between a sob and a scream.
She glanced towards the two empty orange bottles on the nightstand to her right. I swiped one. Codeine. Empty. Both were empty.
“What did you do?! Are you trying to kill yourself?!” I knew. I felt unreal, like the terror was bigger than my body.
“I’m sorry. You’re better off without me… You don’t even love me. You never tell me you love me.”
“I love you so much. No, no, oh God, no.” I rushed toward the landline.
“911, how can I help you?”
“My mom is trying to commit suicide.”
I was 13 when my biological mother attempted suicide. That was 6 years ago. While she is still alive, this remains to be the single most painful two minutes of my life.
6390Hz – DESTROYS Negativity In & Around You (⚠️ MAY FEEL AS THOUGH TIME STOPS)
Art various
94afec0591a72e7f78326d1cba6a74f9
65c8ea25247f0d5f300ab408251fc795
aee19404caaece79237f6c7da9660712
ea6e61dcfba44976a231e8d5d2eb1c06
8ff4e4a0b12d761c5003ec7962482913
28419069d3eb96b614e0a9a25b6ffe0a
774b326a495f535ff3aca24e8e46aa0a
af0d8c47c1db2545fe1bfc672d5eb58b
31a43d4fd4416ca3a5517b32944cc056
617486353d795c07fd2e5a970981c0a7
2a96e5643cadf27ca32b2b534cae56ef
368b895ce25c0821a0619a6313e229ea
af7a837aad33c87256c5a689e2361c03
Roqueplan, Camille Joseph Etienne, 1800 1855; The Lion in Love
bf2bbfbca90edc69602e5d07cd3c9d19
91971400c439e30a1802a095452d823d
What type of aircraft mishap has only ever happened once in the whole history of aviation?
In September of 1987 a co-pilot made an emergency landing in Portland, Maine. What had happened was the hatch of the aircraft had flown open and it appeared that the pilot was sucked out and lost.
The airplane was a Beechcraft 99, a commuter craft that was capable of carrying 15 passengers but on this flight there was only a little bit of freight.
main qimg 05198e9d284790caafafb11b9394f068 lq
During the flight the co-pilot said he could hear an air leak in the passenger cabin. The pilot then got up and walked back in the passenger area to investigate and was looking around the exit hatch when the airplane hit turbulence and the pilot fell against the door. When he fell against the door, it opened and he seemingly flew out.
The co-pilot radioed the nearest airport about his emergency and was directed where to make his landing. When he landed he was amazed to find out that the pilot did not fall to his death but was in fact hanging on for dear life on the hand rails on the hatch door. He was hanging upside down with his head below the bottom of the door steps while the airplane was flying 190 miles per hour.
When the airplane landed the pilot’s head was only a foot above the tarmac. It took the rescue crew five minutes to pry the pilot’s hands off the railings, survival instinct for you.
The pilot’s name was Henry Dempsey and the incident was dramatically re-enacted in the tv series Rescue 911.
The Chiefs SHUT DOWN Angry Feminists
Given how the Chinese never had a vote in their government ruled by Chinese Communist Party, should media when reporting make the distinction between China and the regime ruling China, when referring to ‘China’ in their reports?
This question shows that the person asking has zero knowledge of China’s government and election process. I suggest that the person asking this question do some research before asking more questions so that he does not embarrass himself by showing his lack of knowledge.
Let us look at the democratic process of the Chinese “parliament”, the National People’s Congress and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Members of the National People’s Congress (NPC) are elected by the Provincial People’s Assemblies from all the provinces and regions throughout China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
Members of the Provincial People’s Assemblies in turn are elected by lower level assemblies, and so on through a series of tiers, to the Local People’s Assemblies. The Local People’s Assembly is very much like a village or small town assembly, members of which are directly elected by the people living there. The voters know personally who they are electing.
Unlike in Western democracy, what happens through this system is that the voters, for each level, are voting people whom they work with and know very well. For example, members of the local assembly would vote for the best among them, those who can work and produce results, to represent them at the next level.
Through this system, only the best gets chosen for the NPC, after several layers of the selection process.
This is different from Western democracy where members of the public elect candidates whom they don’t know personally. The candidates are only known from TV appearances, news in the mass media and similar non-personal things.
The very best from among the NPC members are then elected into the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. This is the group that runs China – individuals who have been chosen through a highly competitive selection process and have proven their ability to govern at a lower level.
This is the reason why China’s economy is growing at such a fast rate – only very capable leaders make it into the Standing Committee.
China Turns Tables on U.S, CANCEL U.S SANCTIONS on RUSSIA
Is Comac hiding its technological progress and misleading Biden by showing a long time horizon to avoid a trade war?
No.
Airliners is a special business, even within aviation.
Why?
They carry passengers in the tens to hundreds.
That is why there is extraordinary scrutiny on the entire system, down to the stewardess serving cup noodles on budget flights.
Yes, she has to obtain a type certification, just like the pilots, and it is specific to the airliner model. The same goes for the maintenance crew—everyone is trained, tested and certified, with the cycle repeated to maintain currency.
This extraordinary level of training and oversight is what makes flying far safer than driving.
Every physical part of an airliner is tested to death, especially the engines. Even the number of coats of paint is a controlled spec, not only because paint add weight to the airframe, but the thickness can alter the operation of moving parts, especially the control surfaces.
Comac has recently introduced its first narrowbody six-across C919. It is at the most painful stage currently, ironing out teething issues for the early jets, while ramping up production to fulfill the burgeoning order book.
It will have to document every spec, down to the training requirements for technicians and crew, and make the material broadly available to all customers and regulators. It will have to publish procedures for the safe operation and maintenance of the aircraft, and establish the technical limits of the airframe and moving parts.
All these take time, especially if one starts from a clean sheet, and the entire process is regulated by authorities, who will have to sign off on the type certification.
It is a rigorous process that takes lots of time.
Disney Casts Anya Taylor-Joy As Snow White? Anya Is Excited To Replace Rachel Zegler From The Movie!
Be the Rufus
“At 3am I got a phone call stating that my sister had been killed in a car accident due to some young dumb punk! I haven’t slept and instantly got on the road. Of course we were speeding, trying to get back to Detroit. And we got pulled over in Ohio. I knew I was going to Jail due to a petty warrant. The police called Wayne county and they refused to come get me because of the distance. I explained to the officer that my sister had died and that I needed to get to my mother asap. I broke down crying and he saw the sincerity in my cry. He REACHES OVER AND BEGAN PRAYING OVER ME AND MY FAMILY. He offered to bring me 100 miles further to Detroit because they towed the vehicle. Everybody knows how much I dislike Cops but I am truly Greatful for this Guy. He gave me hope.”
main qimg bdf782089182733497f19677b23a33fd
The Worst Economy I have ever seen
Why are Chinese people so brainwashed?
Gee, you’re the self-proclaimed “China expert”. You even studied “China” at Harvard (whatever that means) so you must know better than people who’ve actually visited, lived or done business there, right? So why are you asking all us brainwashed peeps?
CIA analyist
I do find it odd that you proudly proclaim a connection to NED, whose job is to spread the gospel of democracy (coincidentally, mainly to countries that the United States doesn’t view as allies).
But well done, keep preaching it, brother.
However, the reason I raise this point is that it automatically makes the motives of your question (and any of your questions about China) suspect. Because what you’re essentially saying here is that anyone who doesn’t agree with the American view — YOUR view — that China is the fount of all evil in the world must be de facto brainwashed and a wumao.
Never mind that an actual visit to China and exposure to Mainland Chinese people would likely lead you to a different conclusion entirely.
So I’d answer your question this way: disagreeing with the American narrative on China doesn’t automatically equate to brainwashing. Neither does it equate to blind support of China or believing that the country is perfect.
But I do wonder something. If you really are with NED, how do you reconcile what you do to spread the gospel of democracy to the world with the fact that the United States itself has demonstrated time and time again that it’s willing to hold its nose and ally with authoritarian countries and odious dictators?
Have a lovely day.
Barbecue Beef Roast
Barbecue Beef Roast
Ingredients
1 (2 – 2 1/2 pound) beef chuck roast
1/4 cup barbecue sauce (I prefer Sweet Baby Ray’s)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Instructions
Place the roast in the slow cooker (slice in half if using a 4-quart slow cooker).
Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the roast. Cook on LOW for 6 hours.
Remove the roast and shred with two forks (it just falls apart), place in a serving dish and ladle some of the juice over the top before serving.
How America RUINED the world’s screws! (Robertson vs. Phillips)
War story
You’re a 19 year old kid.
You are critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .
Its November 14, 1965 . LZ (landing zone) X-ray.
main qimg b5375c0398aa1a5915dd4bcf99ff2b7d
Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.
You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you’re not getting out.
Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then – over the machine gun noise – you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn’t seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.
He’s not MedEvac so it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he’s
flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He’s coming anyway.
And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety. And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!
Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.
He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Army, died at the age of 81, in Boise, Idaho.
I bet you didn’t hear about this hero’s passing,Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman.
Now… YOU pass this along.
Honor this real hero.
What is the most bizarre way you’ve landed a job?
I was at a party (mid 1970s). Amidst all the chatter, I heard these two guys talking about a contract they’d just secured. Sponsored by a government lab to bring together scientists and engineers and government functionaries and get them to go over technical details of a power generation project. This was just their sweet spot, but they were concerned about running sessions to get these diverse groups to talk to each other, and coming up with a coherent final report.
I eavesdropped, then butted in. “I’ve done a good bit of that at my job at UCLA,” I said. I suggested ways to do this. They ended up inviting me into their project to handle the interactive part. The event went very well, and other labs wanted to bring us in.
But my two partners weren’t interested in this type of work—not technical enough for them. So they handed the whole thing over to me. I had a company with half a dozen employees and a government contract.
Started me down my road to entrepreneurship.
China’s Latest Move Has Governments Freaking Out
Have you ever gone into a restaurant that looked unappealing from the outside but ended up having delicious food? If so, where and what did you order?
It has happened more than once.
One restaurant visit that I remember particularly was in Wuhan, China. It was in 2006. I was on my way to Ichang and Three Gorges (the big dam). I wasn’t in a hurry and stayed for four days in the city.
On the first evening I walked along the street where I stayed and looked for a place where to eat. Everything was in Chinese. There were no signs in English, so I couldn’t even memorize the name of the street where I stayed. I wouldn’t venture too far, not to get lost.
Anyway, I found a restaurant close to the shabby hotel where I stayed. I went inside and it looked quite unappealing. Simple forniture, tiled floor and very bright lights. The interior looked cheap and uninviting. At first I thought I wouldn’t eat there, I’d only have a beer. But, after a while I realized I wouldn’t find another place. Nobody spoke English and I wouldn’t know where to go. I had no choice and decided I’d have whatever they had to offer.
I drew a fish on a napkin – that would be my order. Somehow, I tried to explain with gestures that I’d also like some side dishes. When the food arrived I was in a shock. That would be enough for a family of four. Everything looked really nice, especially the fish. It was a whole fish, steamed and garnished with vegetables – it looked like a masterpiece. The whole dinner was a devine culinary experience. I didn’t manage to eat it all – I left some of the small dishes that accompanied the main dish. And the most suprising thing came at the end – the bill. I paid 35 yuan for the whole feast. It was equivalent of 6 US Dollars. One of the best meals of my life, that I still remember after 18 years.
What were some things kids did in the 70s that would horrify today’s parents?
80s kid but close enough:
A) My parents literally had NO IDEA where I was the vast majority of my childhood.
Every day from 1st grade on I was unsupervised from 3-6pm since my parents both worked. Weekends if I didn’t have a sports game I was out in the world gone for hours at a time, no way for them to contact me, I didn’t check in, road my bike into different towns and all over my town.
B) Made all my own plans. Starting around 3rd grade or so, any after school or weekend social activities I set up myself with friends. Called peoples houses, talked to parents, made plans, never asked for permission.
I was in charge of those decisions.
I was responsible for my safety.
Only reason I would call is if I wouldn’t be home for dinner. Same rules seemed to apply to all my friends.
C) I was in charge of my transportation to and from school and after school activities before 6pm. Rain? Either I remembered an umbrella or I got wet. Snow? Same deal
This polite stray cat knocked on the door, trying to ask for adoption and become part of the family.
When I lived in Milford Massachusetts, I paid a rental agency to find me an apartment that would allow cats. I had three cats, and I was only going to rent a place that would allow me to have them.
Milford Mass
Well, sure as shit, I found a place, and moved in.
It was really nice. A three story triplex right off of the main road in downtown. It was walking distance from Ted’s Diner.
Teds Diner
Here’s another view.
Teds Diner2
It’s a fine place for a cup of coffee in a fine REAL coffee cup.
coffee
About one month later, the landlord told me that I had to get rid of the cats.
He told me that he had lied, but the apartment was so nice, and the rent was so reasonable that the two other tenants had gladly given away their cats, and he expected me to do so as well.
He gave me one month.
Find a home for the cats, or drop them off at a shelter.
Do you all know what I did?
Guess.
Milford Mass 2
I said “no thanks” and moved out as soon as I found another apartment.
It was in another town though, and I had to root up and leave, but there was no way that I was going to discard my beloved kitties over a place.
Uxbridge Center
The nerve of that guy!
He lied because…
…he thought that I would give away my cats for a place to live.
Sheech! What would youse guys do?
tumblr phsi9muqJm1xoyw8po1 1280
Today…
He lost his job over this
Has anyone walked into a bar and then found it was filled with a biker gang? What happened?
Yeah.
So, this went down during a road trip across the USA a few years back. My buddy and I had rented a Ford Mustang, and we had driven a lot of miles by that point. We where somewhere in Texas – though don’t ask me to pinpoint the exact spot.
Anyway, we were both starving, so we decided to hit up the first joint we stumbled upon. We rolled up to this bar with bikes lined up outside, and I couldn’t help but think, “Well, shit, this might be our last meal.” But, we went in anyway.
We ordered our food, and before we knew it, we had the attention of this rowdy biker dude who seemed a few beers deep. Instead of trying to kill us, the guy just wanted to know if we were locals. I told him that we were just passing through on a road trip.
His response?
“Alright, then lemme show you how we deal with strangers here!”
Next thing we knew, he’s shouting for the bartender to bring us some beers, and his crew’s joining in on the fun. I stuck to soft drinks, but my buddy scored big time with the free beer.
Definitely one of the funniest memories!
US TROOPS ARE 100% GOING TO UKRAINE, NUCLEAR STRIKE ON NK, RUSSIAN ROCKET ON US COAST
Shorpy
SHORPY 29793u.preview
SHORPY 4a17172a.preview
SHORPY 11977u.preview
SHORPY 4a19899a.preview
SHORPY 4a19901a.preview
SHORPY 27690a.preview
SHORPY 06109a.preview
SHORPY 4a08593a.preview
SHORPY 4a17493a.preview
SHORPY 29413u.preview
SHORPY 8c33562a.preview
SHORPY 28469u.preview
SHORPY 4a18599a.preview
SHORPY IMG035.preview
SHORPY 01000u.preview
SHORPY 4a11805a.preview
SHORPY 8c33529a.preview
SHORPY 4a27576a.preview
4a08800a.preview
SHORPY 4a19348a.preview
SHORPY 05297u.preview
SHORPY 4a19771a.preview
SHORPY 4a17722a.preview
SHORPY 09312u.preview
SHORPY 8c33491a.preview
SHORPY 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Seville.preview
SHORPY 4a18217a.preview
SHORPY 30426u.preview
Beef in Mushroom Gravy
Steak And Gravy IMAGE 4
Yield: 6 servings
Steaks With Mushroom Gravy
The ultimate dinner! Ribeye is the steak of choice for this recipe, but you can also use New York strip (or Porterhouse), Sirloin or Rump. A good cut of beef, even though expensive, is the best steak to cook with and enjoy eating. They stay tender and juicy, and are not chewy like cheaper cuts more suitable for slow cooking.
I have a confession (to add to the other 5 million on my blog). I was never ever a fan of steak and gravy until I met my husband. Why? I prefer juicy, red, medium-rare steaks…and for me, a perfectly juicy steak does’t need ANYTHING on it. Well, besides a good Chimichurri, of course.
However, my husband on the other hand cannot stand juicy med-rare steaks. I know, I know…the travesty. So, because he loves his pieces of well-done dry/cardboard on a plate, I was forced to make him gravy with every steak dinner. (A travesty, I tell you.) That is until I tried it myself with JUICY medium-rare ribeye steaks of course!
Since then, I changed my mind. Steaks are CRAZY GOOD swimming in a gravy sauce! Especially this Onion Mushroom Gravy with a kick of Worcestershire sauce!
If you’re somewhat of a steak snob like me, this Ribeye Steaks With Mushroom Gravy will absolutely change your mind.
Steak And Gravy IMAGE 5
Ingredients
2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless round steak
1 to 2 envelopes dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 cup water
Mashed potatoes (optional)
Instructions
Cut steak into six serving-size pieces; place in a slow cooker.
Combine soup mix, soup and water; pour over beef.
Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours or until meat is tender.
Serve with mashed potatoes, if desired.
Medical professionals, have you ever treated a patient and immediately recognized a previous doctor’s errors?
I wish I could say that I haven’t, but I can’t.
Example?
I had a lovely young woman, that I knew from previous visits. She had had five previous surgeries, for TMJ, by the same surgeon.
Her jaw was still bothering her. This same surgeon was recommending another surgery.
I thought that this was outrageous. If he had any expertise, this would have been unnecessary.
I begged her to get another opinion.
She refused. She really trusted this guy.
Fast forward a month.
Patient comes in to see me. One whole side of her face is drooping. She does not look the least bit distressed by this.
“Hi, uh, how are you?”
“Good”
“You are?”
“Oh, this… (gesturing toward her face) it’s Bell’s Palsy. It will go away”.
“Uh…who told you that?”
“I woke up from my TMJ surgery like this. The surgeon said this is from a virus and it will go away.”
Quick exam.
I call ENT.
“I have a woman here with a likely through and through cut through the facial nerve.”
“When?”
“Four weeks. Surgeon told her it’s Bell’s palsy.”
“Christ! Send her over right away!”
So, now I get to go in and tell this beautiful young woman that the ENT will try to reattach the nerve but most likely she will look like a gargoyle for the rest of her life. Her idiot surgeon had cut through the nerve and then tried to convince her that she had a virus.
This poor girl sobbed into my lap for a great long while. When she regained her composure, I gently sent her off to the ENT.
I’m sure she got a gazillion dollars in a law suit, but so what. Her face was destroyed.
I could tell you other stories. Many other stories.
I’ll just stop here and wish you…
Peace
What’s the most unreasonable request you’ve received from your boss?
On Wednesday before Thanksgiving: “Make sure the production workers come in Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When the production goal is met, tell them all they are fired.” I asked where he would be. “We have a three day yacht race event on San Francisco Bay. We’ll be sailing against Ted Turner. So you have to fire the workers but be sure they don’t know until the quota is reached.”
So while he would be out drinking champagne and sailing on yachts, I would do the dirty work.
On the Saturday, halfway through the push to get a whole month’s production done in three days, I got talking to a small man who I didn’t know, but he seemed to know a lot about me. He said something seemed to be on my mind. He was observing everything in the production process in great detail. He asked me about the VP and Supply Manager not being there. Sunday, the guy was back with more questions. He pressed me on what was wrong (other than spending all of Thanksgiving weekend working for no pay). I eventually told him I thought it was a shitty deal to make the people work all through a holiday weekend and then summarily fire everyone. He told me: “Don’t do it. It doesn’t matter what [the VP] told you to do. Just don’t fire anyone. Everything will be clear on Monday.”
Monday came, and the VP and Supply Manager had both been to work and gone. Fired. The VP of Finance was also fired. The several production workers were not fired. The new VP, of course, was the guy with all the questions. He told me there was only one person in manufacturing or finance who gave him simple, straight answers. Also, what was the point of firing a handful of $10 hourly people when he could fire three $100,000+ salaried people who weren’t doing their jobs? That made sense, of course.
Star Trek II Wrath of Khan – Reliant Vs Enterprise; First Clash 1080p
French Home Affairs Minister Gerard Darmanin has accused Azerbaijan of colluding with pro-independence forces in New Caledonia – the French overseas territory in the southwest Pacific about 1,200 km east of Australia.
“This is not a fantasy. This is reality. Unfortunately, some independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan, this is indisputable,” Darmanin said in an interview with France-2 on Thursday.
Is there any truth in the claim? What’s the backstory? Here’s what we know.
🔻 Baku rejected Paris’s allegations, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada urging Darmanin to “focus on his country’s failed overseas policies” which caused the wave of violent protests in New Caledonia, “instead of blaming Azerbaijan” for its troubles.
🔻Darmanin’s assertions followed the memorandum of cooperation between the Azerbaijani Parliament and New Caledonia’s Congress, which was signed last month, envisioned as a treatise for developing a framework for parliamentary cooperation.
🔻 The agreement sparked accusations by Paris that Baku was stoking separatism in the French overseas territory. Azerbaijan dismissed the claims, and recalled France’s own controversial policies in the Caucasus.
🔻“It’s known that the French Parliament, at the initiative of the ruling party of France, adopted decisions and resolutions which recognised the separatist regime, challenged and harmed the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, and enabled the activity of a ‘friendship group’ with the former so-called separatist regime,” Baku said in an April 30 statement, referring to the Karabakh conflict.
🔻 New Caledonia has been rocked by violent clashes starting May 13 over the constitutional reform proposals to change voting law. Protests have claimed four lives, with France deploying the military and imposing a state of emergency until the end of May.
Nothing can stand the test of time. Eventually, everything must finally, and sadly, come to an abrupt end.
Do you want to know the latest drug? It’s called social media.
Everyone must finally discover the ultimate horror of having sex.
Never pin your hopes on empty promises. Empty promises are things that did not exist in the first place.
What really matters is not believing in yourself. It is trusting yourself.
Most people feed themselves from their necks down, but what really contributes to our growth is feeding ourselves from the neck up.
Have you ever considered why we’ve been watching TV for decades and not yet experienced any change? Because TV was not designed to bring change. It was designed to make us illiterate.
Most people think that change is something that jumps out of the pages of a textbook into the mind. Change is actually something that the mind conceives from within.
You are one of 3 things — you will never change, or you will watch others change, or you will become the change.
Death was never the greatest tragedy. The greatest tragedy is to live in this life and never show up.
The majority of people fall in love through the eyes the first time. That means you should be very careful who you let your eyes come into contact with.
The best way to judge a woman’s loyalty is when her man has nothing. The best way to judge a man’s loyalty is when he has everything.
Fortunes do not necessarily change men as much as it unmasks them.
Bullying is for people who have no confidence in themselves. The reason they do it is to try and shake off their own demons.
To fall in love is awfully simple, but to fall out of love is simply awful.
Retirement is when the living is easy and the payments are hard.
Best friends are like diamonds; precious and rare. Bad friends are like tree leaves; they’re found everywhere.
A stranger stabs you in the front; A friend stabs you in the back; A boyfriend stabs you in the heart, but best friends only poke each other with straws.
The daily grind of hard work gets a person polished but also emaciated and painfully tired.
Kissing is the merging of two lips, two souls and two spirits that makes them one.
Siblings are the only enemy you can’t live without.
Denial is the way we know best how to handle that which we don’t comprehend.
Sometimes those who don’t socialize much aren’t actually anti-social; they just have no tolerance for drama and fake people.
Love is like a tornado; it sweeps you off your feet and sometimes takes half your house.
Sometimes we tend to be in despair when the person we love leaves us, but the truth is, it’s not our loss, but theirs, for they left the only person who wouldn’t give up on them.
You will never know true happiness until you have truly loved, and you will never understand what pain really is until you have lost it.
Sometimes you have to stand alone to prove that you can still stand.
Why do people say “no offense” just before they’re about to offend you?
The secret of discovery is not in looking for new lands, but in looking at existing land with new eyes.
Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.
What is the quickest you’ve ever sold your home?
30 Seconds.
My wife got a new job across the country. She received and accepted the job offer in December and started the new job the following August. (She is an academic, so the long lead time was not unusual). In May, we had started to look for a house in our new city and were getting ready to list the old house. This was in 2021, the housing market was screaming hot, mortgages were at rock bottom, so we were optimistic that this would go smoothly.
Two years previously a neighbor who had lived in his house since the 1950’s passed away and the house was purchased by a friend of the family, renovated, became a rental. One Saturday as we were leaving for breakfast I saw the new owner across the street and rolled down my window to ask if he knew anyone looking for investment property in the area and told him we were going to sell our house.
He asked how much we wanted and I did some quick calculations in my head about what we would clear after repairs and real estate commissions and gave him a number, as is. He said “you got it”, we shook on it and a few days later he brought over a single page, handwritten document. We both signed it and that became our contract. He also offered us $100,000 at the time so that we could put it down on a new home.
When we found our new home, the realtor asked for a copy of our contract to include with our offer, to prove that we were serious. I emailed a scan of the contract and she told me that she needed the whole contract. I told her that was all that we had and she laughed and said “OK, but are you sure the house will close?” It did, and we got the new house. Later the realtor told me that in all of her years in real estate she had never seen a sale of a home go through with a single page contract and that this was the weirdest sale she had ever seen.
I rented the house back at the cost of their mortgage payment until October so that I could wrap up some other business.
We cleared what we would have if we had listed with a realtor, and the buyer got a really good deal on the home which he repaired, renovated and turned into a rental.
I don’t know that I would ever do this again though, probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The WORLD CAN’T Compete with China’s Infrastructure 🇨🇳 Chongqing is the FUTURE!
For so long, China has been painted in a negative light in the West and as such our first impressions of Chongqing is not what we expected. The truth is that Chongqing, China is miles ahead of the rest of the world and the infrastructure is beyond impressive which makes it impossible for others to compete against China. In this video, we take you around Chongqing, China and show you just how futuristic this cyber punk city is.
What’s the most unreasonable request you’ve received from your boss?
“Jane has just told me that she’s pregnant. I need you to fire her immediately before she puts it in writing.”
Jane had been employed by the company for about three years and whilst her performance didn’t set the world alight, she certainly wasn’t terrible – there was absolutely no justification to dismiss her.
I challenged the VP who made the request and said that even if there was a justification, now that he knows she is pregnant we need to follow very careful processes. He said that as Jane hadn’t put it in writing he didn’t actually know about it, I corrected that view and told him that I now knew as he had told me and was not going to perjure myself when, not if, we got taken to court for unfair dismissal.
In the end I put a halt to the conversation and said that it isn’t going to happen and that I think we need to stop talking about it. I spoke to the Chief People Officer (my bosses boss) and told her what I had been asked to do – I was asked to put the details in writing and the VP was suspended and dismissed within a few days. Apparently there had been some issues with him before I joined the business but I mean what kind of person terminates someone who is pregnant unless there is a really good reason to do it.
What is the most amazing thing you overheard because people didn’t think you understood their language?
Years ago, in Hong Kong, I was involved in negotiating a significant regional contract with a French company. As we walked to the meeting, I told my Australian boss that I spoke enough French to handle the meeting, if necessary. He suggested it would be better to stick to English, as he knew no French, and was sure the French side spoke reasonable English.
The potential client spoke excellent English. They set out what they wanted, then paused to allow us time to work out a response. As my boss and I calculated what we would want to charge, they discussed amongst themselves – in French – what they were prepared to pay, what was really important to them, what was optional, and what they would pay extra for.
We ended up charging very close to their walk-away number, with a number of items charged separately.
A while later, towards the end of the project, I was congratulated on how well it was going, and (ruefully) our negotiating skills… I was VERY careful not to give any hint that a notoriously monolingual Brit could understand one word of French…despite having been near-fluent at the time…
Russia+China directly challenge the US and its Plantation. Vow to Step Up Fight to Counter US.
Great video.
Baked Pork Chops and Noodles
Baked Pork Chops and Noodles 1
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Spaghetti: Spaghetti is the pasta of choice for this dish. Its long, thin strands are perfect for twirling and they do an excellent job of soaking up the creamy sauce.
Boneless Pork Chops: These are the star of the dish. Their lean yet tender meat cooks quickly and absorbs the flavors of the sauce well. When shopping for pork chops, look for ones that are pinkish-red in color with some marbling.
Salt & Pepper: These are essential for seasoning the pork chops. They enhance the natural flavors of the meat and the sauce. I recommend using fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for the best taste.
Olive Oil: This is used for searing the pork chops. I prefer searing the pork chops in oil because it has a higher smoke point than butter.
Butter: Butter is used in sautéing the onions and garlic, as well as adding a rich, creamy flavor to the sauce.
Garlic: This adds a robust, aromatic flavor to the sauce. Fresh garlic cloves are the best as they are more flavorful and aromatic than pre-minced cloves or powdered garlic.
Yellow Onion: Yellow onions are a great choice for this dish because of their sweet and mild flavor. They add a depth of flavor to the sauce and pair well with the other ingredients.
All-Purpose Flour: This is used to thicken the sauce, giving it a velvety texture that coats the pasta well.
Heavy Cream or Half and Half: These are used to give the sauce its creamy consistency. Both work well, but heavy cream will make a richer sauce while half and half will be slightly lighter.
Chicken Broth: This adds a savory depth of flavor to the sauce. Look for a low-sodium version so you can control the saltiness of your dish.
Parmesan Cheese: This cheese brings a nutty, salty, umami flavor to the dish. Always opt for freshly grated Parmesan cheese for the best taste and texture. Pre-grated cheeses are coated in an anti-caking agent that can make the texture of the sauce gritty.
Basil and Oregano: These dried herbs add an Italian flair to the dish. They provide a fragrant, earthy flavor that compliments the creamy sauce and pork chops well.
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes: These are optional, but they add a nice kick of heat to the dish. Adjust the amount to suit your family’s spice tolerance.
Parsley: Fresh parsley is used as a garnish. It adds a pop of color and a fresh, bright flavor to the finished dish.
Ingredients
10 ounces spaghetti
4 boneless pork chops (about 1-inch thick)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt (divided)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (divided)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese*
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Chopped fresh parsley (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti according to package instructions until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.
Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels and season both sides generously with 1/2 teaspoon of both salt and ground black pepper.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the seasoned pork chops and sear for about 3-4 minutes per side, or until a golden-brown crust forms and the internal temperature reads 145F on an instant read meat thermometer. Transfer the pork chops to a plate, then tent with aluminum foil to keep warm and set aside.
In the same skillet, reduce the heat to medium and add the butter. Once melted, add chopped onion. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the onion is translucent and softened. Add the minced garlic and saute for 30-60 seconds, or until aromatic. Add the flour to the onions and mix, creating a roux.
Slowly pour in the chicken broth and heavy cream while whisking constantly. Add the dried basil, dried oregano, crushed red pepper flakes (if using), and the remaining salt and ground black pepper. Whisk until the sauce is smooth and well combined.
Increase the heat to bring it to just barely a boil, then turn the heat back down to medium and let the sauce simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Reduce the heat to low and add the grated Parmesan cheese to the sauce, stirring until it’s fully melted and incorporated.
Add the cooked spaghetti to the sauce and toss gently to coat the pasta evenly. If the sauce is too thick, add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water to thin it out to your desired consistency.
To serve, divide the creamy spaghetti among plates, and place a pork chop on top of each portion. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and, if desired, additional Parmesan cheese.
Notes
*I recommend using freshly grated parmesan cheese. Pre-grated cheeses are coated in an anti-caking agent that can make the texture of the sauce gritty.
Fun Comix
b99994ed2b4d49c13993fe684e64f8bc
4623785274af4557974169aa1d5ad96c
61a5c89774cec83ed14270040f97330e
91f9526c75d7343610258e7812314c4c
842e47b42da2b9fd16b2a15c39acbd18
6f9574ce9828e466db8dfbb44148e4f2
2e72c6069e8aa53c94c1459d6a4cac4a
7c587b22a116b0201b13a617f4ef97f3
3cc50860f72b3d4ed514c589d808d8ac
081e6d0f215ae8dc4fa631f3b130af93
519c26ce75396899f0ab4260528fe611
3187c974f00d7b6ecffc33b1de64e62e
5adf4a53e49f91aa6d390e6689b03e87
1c6ceb7aa3f0b0db519fb5072368b592
e09df99b2482c44bb32a1e9a35bfcf03
17336c6de18c94c4308c220c4a3eab8b
24c0eb827b93c8878cfb7eb2413f3842
2cbe0b7dd01991f991e29621cfafb7a4
a568508f7fc32489fe11e4fad901a950
a1ce88c82c2123cd0c15bbea98d96a06
a4e97e8b32cd7b048b56da0d9b4f00ea
b59b13344eaf3ca6558c7cf6379eb965
69adc0e183e1739f7f369010515a30db
ce9a9158ada840e071f9db8367ec745c
edeb06b9558ec16452f7526a2c327ff4
36c698dfc4357f58d6da630902188d03
88d5d8748554174e64f1d6f0dbc3648c
9528792b0cbf1d85c62848c7dd11caab
ad2d30c9ed9f9dd8bf8d0d927abefe50
THIS is why you don’t judge a book by its cover…
What did you do when you were suddenly fired from a job?
It was Sunday afternoon and the phone rang, landline, 1988. It was my boss. He told me to not come in tomorrow as I was fired. I was 21 & still living at home. My mom was so HAPPY! She did not like my boss, thought he was creepy (Chiropractor). I called my friend/coworker D. She was fired Friday, my day off. So I knew it was coming.
Long story short, we entered patient files in the Apple, 1988, NEW to us. He went to bill and it was “messed up” because of us. We also knew of his fraudulent billing practices. We had also obtained 3 patients billing records and appointments (book) that showed he’d bill for an actual appointment/procedure when it was a missed appointment. One of the patients was my stepdad.
What did I do? I called D. We went to the Labor Board to get OT he NEVER paid us. When then went to Workers Comp and the Insurance Board and turned over the records we had. I went to a Temp Agency. I had a job w/in a few days at a bank as a loan secretary. I met SJ, my future husband. We married 1990. Still married.
He got black balled by all the insurance companies. Either the patients had to endorse the check to him or deposit it & write him one or sign off on the billing for the check to go directly to him. I didn’t mention, February 1989, I received a check from the State for over $1K for O/T payment. They garnished his income tax return.
This year (2024) there was a young man would committed suicide. He went by the name “fat cat” because his icon was that of a fat cat wanting to eat.
It has moved many of us.
I am one such person.
This idea that you, as a hard working young man, is tricked by promises of love and marriage by an attractive young woman…
…would give up all of your money…
…sacrifice your health and meals…
…only to have everything crashing down when you discover that she lied to you; defrauded you and used you.
…
Rest in peace Fat Cat.
The Suicide of Fat Cat China Gamer, a Virtual but Real Saga
fat cat 1
The tragic story behind the recent suicide of a 21-year-old Chinese gamer nicknamed ‘Fat Cat’ has become a major topic of discussion on Chinese social media, touching upon broader societal issues from unfair gender dynamics to businesses taking advantage of grieving internet users.
The story of a 21-year-old Chinese gamer from Hunan who committed suicide has gone completely viral on Weibo and beyond this week, generating many discussions.
In late April of this year, the young man nicknamed ‘Fat Cat’ (胖猫 Pàng Māo, literally fat or chubby cat), tragically ended his life by jumping into the river near the Chongqing Yangtze River Bridge (重庆长江大桥) following a breakup with his girlfriend.
Fat Cat in person
By now, the incident has come to be known as the “Fat Cat Jumping Into the River Incident” (胖猫跳江事件).
News of his suicide soon made its rounds on the internet, and some bloggers started looking into what was behind the story.
The man’s sister also spoke out through online channels, and numerous chat records between the young man and his girlfriend emerged online.
main qimg 0a1195456fdd575f8148d2c910dac231
One aspect of his story that gained traction in early May is the revelation that the man had invested ALL of his resources into the relationship.
Allegedly, he made significant financial sacrifices, giving his girlfriend over 510,000 RMB (approximately 71,000 USD) throughout their relationship, in a time frame of two years.
Every waking moment, he worked and earned money.
And she, at every turn would siphon it away from him.
When he had no more money, and she still wanted more, she told him “we can be friends. I don’t want to marry you.”
When his girlfriend ended the relationship, despite all of his efforts, he was devastated and took his own life.
The pretend girlfriend
Liu’s sister discovered the reason behind the breakup while looking through his phone. The couple had been together for two years and reportedly planned a wedding for May 2024. Reports suggest Liu financially supported Chau throughout their relationship, covering everything from birthday celebrations to rent for her apartment.
Some sources claim Liu spent a significant amount, up to 510,000 yuan, on Chau, including phones…
… the latest iPhone…
… multiple overseas trips (shat she would take WITHOUT him) …
… and even starting a flower shop for her.
All of this caused financial strain on Liu, forcing him to adopt a very frugal lifestyle.
The Story
The story was picked up by various Chinese media outlets, and prominent social and political commentator Hu Xijin also wrote a post about Fat Cat, stating the sad story had made him tear up.
As the news spread, it sparked a multitude of hashtags on Weibo, with thousands of netizens pouring out their thoughts and emotions in response to the story. Playing Games for Love
The main part of this story that is triggering online discussions is how ‘Fat Cat,’ a young man who possessed virtually nothing, managed to provide his girlfriend, who was six years older, with such a significant amount of money – and why he was willing to sacrifice so much in order to do so.
The young man reportedly was able to make money by playing video games, specifically by being a so-called ‘booster’ by playing with others and helping them get to a higher level in multiplayer online battle games.
According to his sister, he started working as a ‘professional’ video gamer as a means of generating money to satisfy his girlfriend, who allegedly always demanded more.
He registered a total of 36 accounts to receive orders to play online games, making 20 yuan per game (about $2.80).
Because this consumed all of his time, he barely went out anymore and his social life was dead.
In order to save more money, he tried to keep his own expenses as low as possible, and would only get takeout food for himself for no more than 10 yuan ($1,4).
His online avatar was an image of a cat saying “I don’t want to eat vegetables, I want to eat McDonald’s.”
0082PBjggy1hpjes7e0xwj30u00km75p
The woman in question who he made so many sacrifices for is named Tan Zhu (谭竹), and she soon became the topic of public scrutiny.
In one screenshot of a chat conversation between Tan and her boyfriend that leaked online, she claimed she needed money for various things.
The two had agreed to get married later in this year.
Despite of this, she still broke up with him, driving him to jump off the bridge after transferring his remaining 66,000 RMB (9135 USD) to Tan Zhu.
What had actually happened was that as soon as she got all of his savings, she immediately broke up with him. The plan for marriage was all a lie; a scam.
As the story fermented online, Tan Zhu also shared her side of the story. She claimed that she had met ‘Fat Cat’ over two years ago through online gaming and had started a long distance relationship with him.
They had actually only met up twice before he moved to Chongqing.
RIP 2
She emphasized that financial gain was never a motivating factor in their relationship.She said that she liked him, and she would have promised to marry him even if he was broke.
Yet, the records are clear. She was siphoning money from him weekly.
Tan additionally asserted that she had previously repaid 130,000 RMB (18,000 USD) to him and that they had reached a settlement agreement shortly before his tragic death.
Ordering Take-Out to Mourn Fat Cat
– “I hope you rest in peace.”
– “Little fat cat, I hope you’ll be less foolish in your next life.”
– “In your next life, love yourself first.”
These are just a few of the messages left by netizens on notes attached to takeout food deliveries near the Chongqing Yangtze River Bridge.
0085sgQjly1hpdkj68qg6j312x0yc4qp
AI-generated image spread on Chinese social media in connection to the event.
As Fat Cat’s story stirred up significant online discussion, with many expressing sympathy for the young man who rarely indulged in spending on food and drinks, some internet users took the step of ordering McDonalds and other food delivery services to the bridge, where he tragically jumped from, in his honor.
This soon snowballed into more people ordering food and drinks to the bridge, resulting in a constant flow of delivery staff and a pile-up of take-out bags.
0047tKGFly1hpfjc43szej60zf0wrwir02
Delivery food on the bridge, photo via Weibo.
However, as the food delivery efforts picked up pace, it came to light that some of the deliveries ordered and paid for were either empty or contained something different; certain restaurants, aware of the collective effort to honor the young man, deliberately left the food boxes empty or substituted sodas or tea with tap water.
delivery
At least five restaurants were caught not delivering the actual orders.
Chinese bubble tea shop ChaPanda was exposed for substituting water for milk tea in their cups.
ChaPanda
On May 3rd, ChaPanda responded that they had fired the responsible employee.
Another store, the Zhu Xiaoxiao Luosifen (朱小小螺蛳粉), responded on that they had temporarily closed the shop in question to deal with the issue.
Zhu Xiaoxiao Luosifen (朱小小螺蛳粉)
Chinese fast food chain NewYobo (牛约堡) also acknowledged that at least twenty orders they received were incomplete.
NewYobo (牛约堡)
Fast food company Wallace (华莱士) responded to the controversy by stating they had dismissed the employees involved.
Wallace (华莱士)
Mixue Ice Cream & Tea (蜜雪冰城) issued an apology and temporarily closed one of their stores implicated in delivering empty orders.
Mixue Ice Cream & Tea (蜜雪冰城)
In the midst of all the controversy, Fat Cat’s sister asked internet users to refrain from ordering take-out food as a means of mourning and honoring her brother.
Nevertheless, take-out food and flowers continued to accumulate near the bridge, prompting local authorities to think of ways of how to deal with this unique method of honoring the deceased gamer.
Gamer Boy Meets Girl
On Chinese social media, this story has also become a topic of debate in the context of gender dynamics and social inequality.
RIP 4
There are some male bloggers who are angry with Tan Zhu, suggesting her behaviour is an example of everything that’s supposedly “wrong” with Chinese women in this day and age. they take, take, and take and when the man is used up and can no longer provide, they dump him and move on to the next sucker.
Others place blame on Fat Cat himself for believing that he could buy love and maintain a relationship through financial means.
This irked some feminist bloggers, who see it as a chauvinistic attitude towards women. He killed himself, therefore he is at fault.
A main, recurring idea in these discussions is that young Chinese men such as Fat Cat, who are at the low end of the social ladder, are actually particularly vulnerable in a fiercely competitive society.
RIP 3
Here, a gender imbalance and surplus of unmarried men make it easier for women to potentially exploit those desperate for companionship.
Mo Cha Official
The story of Fat Cat brings back memories of ‘Mo Cha Official,’ a not-so-famous blogger who gained posthumous fame in 2021 when details of his unhappy life surfaced online.
Su Xiangmao
Likewise, the tragic tale of WePhone founder Su Xiangmao (苏享茂) resurfaces.
In 2017, the 37-year-old IT entrepreneur from Beijing took his own life, leaving behind a note alleging blackmail by his 29-year-old ex-wife, who demanded 10 million RMB (±1.5 million USD).
Another aspect of this viral story that is mentioned by netizens is how it gained so much attention during the Chinese May holidays, coinciding with the tragic news of the southern China highway collapse in Guangdong.
‘Fat Cat’ was cremated.
His family stated their intention to take necessary legal steps to recover the money from his former girlfriend, but Tan Zhu reportedly already reached an agreement with the father and settled the case.
Nevertheless, the case continues to generate discussions online.
fatcat
Fat Cat images projected in Times Square However, given that images of the ‘Fat Cat’ avatar have even appeared in Times Square in New York by now (Chinese internet users projected it on one of the big LED screens), it’s likely that this story will be remembered and talked about for some time to come.
RIP Fat Cat
— RIP Fat Cat —
What’s the weirdest phone call you have ever received?
I received a scam “security” call from a person with an accent.
Me: “Hello?”
Person: “Is this (my name)?”
Me: “Yes”
Person: “This is John with security at Microsoft. Your email address is ________.com?”
Me: “Yes.”
Person: “There is a high probability that your computer’s security has been compromised and your email address has sent 58,000 emails in the last 14 hours.”
Me: “OMG, really?”
Person: “Is your PC on right now?”
Me: “Yes.”
Person: “Would you please shut it down, now? We’ll reboot and I’ll explain.”
Me:“OK.”
Person: “Thank you for your cooperation.”
As I fumbled to shut the PC down, I wondered how Microsoft could have my phone number and email address right. But, hey, but this was Microsoft!
Person: “Please wait 30 seconds and then restart.”
While waiting for the reboot, he confided that it had been a long night chasing “this one.” After it rebooted, he asked me to run some basic checks, then asked me to set him up as “a remote operator.”
I offered to continue taking his directions.
He repeated his request to be allowed to remotely take over my PC.
And I politely repeated my offer to continue taking his directions.
He changed the subject, but then he offered a third time.
Person: “I can handle this faster.”
Me: “I’m fine doing this myself, manually.”
The phone went dead. Now my infected PC would never be fixed.
So I called MICROSOFT!
When I reached technical services, they immediately told me that Microsoft would never make phone calls to suspected spammers nor to individuals with compromised computers.
Microsoft: “Did he ask what version of Windows you had?”
Me:”NO.”
Microsoft:“Did he ask which anti-virus software you were using, Kaspersky, Norton, Mcafee?”
Me: “No.”
Microsoft: “It was a scam. He was likely trying to install password or keystroke spyware that would send your information to a third party. Don’t ever allow remote access to your PC.”
Me: “Thanks, I won’t. I didn’t get your name.”
Microsoft: “John”
Me: …pause…“He said his name was ‘John,’ too.”
Microsoft (and without hesitation): “This is John One…the one that matters.”
And after some laughter… “Thank you for calling Microsoft.”
What has been your best career decision(s)?
After moving out of college as a fresh engineering graduate, I got cheated by a fake software company. I had paid 30k to get that fake job! 🙁
The worst part was my mother had sold her anklets to arrange that money. In fact she was very happy to give me the money as she believed that I became a software engineer(She never went to school).
I couldn’t share this story with my mother and joined an international BPO in bangalore to earn bread and butter and worked here for 6 months.
I didn’t tell my mother that I lost money and joined a BPO as I didn’t want to break her heart. I lied to her that I’m doing good at my work and priced my fake software company. (Yes! Fake it until u make it)
15k was my monthly salary in BPO and I was in my comfort zone. Also I had already lost all hopes in software job.
At that point of time, one of my college friends told me about this small start up software company located in Yelahanka.
I visisted this start up the next day itself and agreed for below terms and conditions:
No salary for 3 months
You will be paid 5k INR as salary after 3 months
1.5 years bond
Original marks cards need to be submitted
8 . I grabbed this opportunity without any second thought and joined in the next day itself.
9. Started working as a software developer.
10. As my performance was good, after 6 months I was offered 20k INR per month(it was huge for me) and was sent to a client location to work.
11. Fast forward 3 years, I’m working in one of the big IT giants in the world and 58k INR (again it’s really a big amount for me and my mother) is my take home.
12. Finally I made it! I made her dream come true. I never shared this story with her till now.
13. And yes! I gifted her new pair of anklets and bangles too also I have started construction of new house in my village. She is super happy now.
Coming out of my comfort zone and joining the start up without considering the salary, company reputaion and other benefits was my best career decision 🙂
Fake it until u make it 😉
Other AI art
Default A late degas with a dancing ballerina 2 4260fb67 b6af 4498 ba0b b58d9e4bb7ed 0
Default bbc full body capture of Dwayne Johnson at Jumanji Wel 0 3d2388a3 58e1 49a7 8745 07b24a0b38f6 0
Default Abyssinian cat girly head svg sticker white background 1 28babdd1 05fd 400a 8347 6e1e6b63f2de 0
Default Magnificent Cheeseburger This cheeseburger is magnific 1
Default BLACK GUY WITH SUNGLASSES SMILE UNDER THE UMBRELLA 0
Default Princess 3
Default 1girl waist height portrait full body beautiful anime 0 bf680983 9db3 4502 91c2 80eb153143a2 0
Default like watercolor baby rabbit she eat carrot cartoon 0 b097488d 45aa 4d20 ab5d 240a45e4c98b 0
Default Modern Acrylic painting a woman brown hair embroidered 0
There will be substantive changes in culture, society, and financial institutions throughout the world.
Judging from history, and independent of whether or not it goes nuclear, the world post-reconstruction would favor the East, and disfavor the Western block.
There will be an economic rise in Africa, the Middle East, and throughout Asia. Future history books will consider this period to be a global renaissance.
There will be a substantive internal compression, akin to what happened to the British Empire, and the Roman Empire, and it would occur in the Americas and in Europe.
Historians will consider the third world war to have started around 2008, with the peak hostilities occurring during the Trump / Mike Pompeo bioweapon attack on China CNY in 2019. With the war lasting from 2019 through 2023.
Start in 2008 centering on the first United States economic collapse.
Hostilities building up towards Asia from 2012 though 2019.
Hot wars 2019 though 2023.
Minor wars 2022 through 2025 / 26
Major contraction of Western financial and societal structures by 2028.
Reconstruction 2030 through 2040.
Any hostilities that will occur in the next few years WILL NOT change the trajectory of the world. That process is ongoing, and will follow though to it’s complete realization.
The reconstructive period has already started, and we can well expect for most things to settle down around 2030. With a long drawn out adaptation to new global realities by 2040.
Commander’s Palace Sour Cream Pecan Coffee Cake
Commander’s Palace Sour Cream Pecan Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) softened unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream
Pecan Filling
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter well a 10 inch Bundt pan and dust with flour, shaking out the excess.
Cake
In a bowl with an electric mixer beat the butter until smooth.
Add the sugar, a little at a time, and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla extract and the eggs, one at a time.
Into a bowl sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, beating slowly until just combined.
Fold in the sour cream.
Pecan Filling
In a bowl combine filling ingredients. Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle the top with the pecan filling, gently pressing filling into batter, going completely around the cake until all remaining nut mixture is used. Add remaining batter to pan and smooth top.
Bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. If necessary, loosely cover top of cake with piece of aluminum foil to prevent overbrowning.
Let cool on a rack in the pan for 5 minutes.
Invert onto the rack and let cool completely.
Attribution
Commander’s Palace Restaurant, New Orleans, Louisiana
Has a doctor ever given you a stupid diagnosis like “it’s in your head” because he couldn’t admit he couldn’t find out?
Many times, in fact. When I was fifteen I suddenly developed pain in my neck. It ached constantly, and began cracking loud enough to make people jump. This pain spread into my back and by the time I was back at school, I was struggling to get through a whole day without having to go home to sleep as my fatigue was so great.
Before this pain started I was fit and well and could walk great distances. Over the next few years the pain spread into every part of my body, and my mobility began to decrease. I was struggling to walk around a large shop, then a small shop and my world got smaller.
During this time I was bounced around many medication professionals. Having never had anything major wrong with me before, I was under the impression a doctor would listen to my symptoms and then discuss what conditions could be causing it. Then they would carry out testing until it was narrowed down. Nothing of the sort happened.
My GP kept shrugging her shoulders. I had to look up specific tests and ask for them, even the most basic. I was sent to physiotherapists – a lot of them, none of which were helpful. One said, “You don’t appear to be screaming out in pain for treatment.” Like it was normal for someone with long-term pain to scream 24/7. I then was sent to rheumatologists. Their diagnosis was “likely not arthritis” which didn’t feel like a diagnosis at all. I kept pushing – I was having to use a walking stick to get around, then later a wheelchair. My joints hurt and cracked, and felt like they were out of place. The muscle spasms were relentless. Not one doctor I ever saw asked about my symptoms other than pain. Very quickly the suggestions began it was all in my head. I was sent to a pain psychologist and had a few sessions, before she concluded my coping skills were fine – I just didn’t know what was wrong and needed further investigations.
I then spent a few years being bounced between the two – rheumatology to psychology. Each disagreeing I fit under their services. After about six years my GP wrote again to rheumatology to ask for more help and to have a review of treatment options as I was getting much worse. The letter we got back said, “To further offer treatment options would medicalise her issues. She needs to see a psychiatrist.” I can’t tell you how much this letter devastated me. I’d gone from a perfectly healthy teenager to struggling to physically function. I was in constant and severe pain, with injury after injury on top. I was having to use a wheelchair to be able to leave the house. I began to doubt myself – was it in my head?
At some point I saw a Pain Consultant. A rude, dismissive sort. He told me I just needed to fight through the pain, that anyone could if they tried hard enough. (I didn’t have the energy to point out that if people could ignore severe pain his job wouldn’t even exist). He eventually agreed to send me for an MRI for the first time to prove nothing was wrong. The MRI showed a great deal of degeneration, disc bulges, narrowing and cysts. He left before the results came back.
Then after eight and a half years I finally got my answers. A series of events led me to look up the condition Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Not only did it fit everything I had, there were so many other things I’d ignored as just assumed were part of me that were actually down to EDS. My GP referred me to the top specialist to see if I did have it, and the difference in that appointment compared to any other I’d seen was immense. He asked detailed questions starting from when I was born. He connected all the dots, and was so thorough and diagnosed me definitively with EDS.
Knowing what it was made such a difference. It’s incurable, but at least I know. I get so angry at all those awful doctors who took one look at a young teenager and jumped straight to psychosomatic with no effort. It’s a pattern I see so often – particularly with women, but many have fallen victim to this.
Sometimes it isn’t the most obvious answer, and that’s why it’s so important to look at the whole picture rather than one single source of pain. The condition on average takes 10–20 years to diagnose, and many are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed who have it. It’s just not good enough.
I’m left with a great deal of medical anxiety, having been treated so badly by so many I saw over those years.
Shorpy
This is a fun look back.
SHORPY 4a20211a.preview
SHORPY 4a20213a.preview
SHORPY 4a20222a.preview
SHORPY 02876u.preview
SHORPY 8b33867u.preview
SHORPY 8b34020a.preview
SHORPY 8b30314a.preview
SHORPY 8b30325a.preview
SHORPY 14428u.preview
SHORPY 4a08437a.preview
SHORPY 4a17141a.preview
SHORPY 8d25480a.preview
SHORPY 8b33754u.preview
SHORPY 1a34659u.preview
SHORPY 4a22234a.preview
SHORPY 4a12180a.preview
SHORPY 8c36586a.preview
34220015.preview
SHORPY 32608u.preview
SHORPY 4a10817a.preview
SHORPY 29576u1.preview
SHORPY 4a12680a.preview
SHORPY 4a14484a.preview
SHORPY 19335a.preview
SHORPY 8c34370a.preview
SHORPY 07429u.preview
SHORPY 07432u.preview
SHORPY 4a24482a.preview
SHORPY 30275u.preview
@@@SHORPY 4a15085a.preview
I feel like I missed out by not going to a prestigious university. How do I get over this? While I go to a respectable school (University of Michigan), I never applied to any Ivies or other elite schools because I felt like I couldn’t get in.
As I look back on my education, I realize I got a wonderful jump-start at Columbia University. I also realize that in the 4 years I spent there, I learned a lot. It probably adds up to about 0.5% of what I know now.
The university is only the beginning of your education. A great university gives you a great beginning. But a head-start is less important than endurance. Slow and steady wins the race. If you keep learning, every day, every week, soon whatever you “missed” at the university will fade into nothingness.
When I graduated from Columbia, I was annoyed that the ceremony was not called a graduation, but was called a “commencement”. Hey, I wanted recognition for the four years of work I had struggled through!
In retrospect, that was exactly the right name.
As you grow older, you’ll see many of your friends and colleagues become couch potatoes, with their bodily health and strength gradually going downhill. Don’t let it happen to you. But far worse, their brains will also go downhill. Not forced to learn, they will stop learning. Don’t let it happen to you!
Every year of your life, learn more than you did last year. It gets easier to do this as you get older, because the main thing you learned in college was how to learn. And you can keep getting better at it.
The key to learning is recognizing how much fun it is. When you enjoy something, you learn without effort. In college, I had no interest in history, little in world affairs; now those subjects fascinate me. I find almost all of life fascinating.
Forgive me for ending with a cliche:
This is the first day of the rest of your life.
Barbecue Beef Roast
bbq pot roast Fotor
Ingredients
1 (2 – 2 1/2 pound) beef chuck roast
1/4 cup barbecue sauce (I prefer Sweet Baby Ray’s)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Instructions
Place the roast in the slow cooker (slice in half if using a 4-quart slow cooker).
Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the roast. Cook on LOW for 6 hours.
Remove the roast and shred with two forks (it just falls apart), place in a serving dish and ladle some of the juice over the top before serving.
"Western elites are stubbornly working to 'punish' Russia, isolate and weaken it, supplying the Kiev authorities with money and arms.
They have imposed almost 16,000 unilateral illegitimate sanctions against our country.
They are threatening to dismember our country.
They are illegally trying to appropriate our foreign assets.
They are turning a blind eye to the resurgence of Nazism and to Ukraine-sponsored terrorist attacks in our territory.
We are seeking a comprehensive, sustainable and just settlement of this conflict through peaceful means.
We are open to a dialogue on Ukraine, but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict, including Russia's.
They must also involve a substantive discussion on global stability and security guarantees for Russia's opponents and, naturally, for Russia itself.
Needless to say, these must be reliable guarantees.
That is where the main problem is, since we are dealing with states whose ruling circles seek to substitute the world order based on international law with an 'order based on certain rules,' which they keep talking about but which no one has ever seen, no one has agreed to, and which, apparently, tend to change depending on the current political situation and interests of those who invent these rules."
Excerpt from remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a written Interview to Chinese news agency Xinhua, May 15, 2024.
Putin & Xi, preparing for big sanctions war w/ Alex Krainer
This is a great video.
In 2024, Chinese people will still be behind the Great Firewall. Does this mean that most Chinese people are ignorant of the truth about the world?
interesting question
Although I am not Chinese, I actually know it very well
Years ago, when I first learned about the Great Firewall of China, I thought the same thing as many Westerners
“Oh, they built an iron curtain on the Internet to imprison their own people and prevent them from knowing the truth about the world. This is really an evil country.”
But when I actually visited China and met a large number of Chinese people, I realized that I had thought of things too simply.
The Great Firewall of China is not actually a prison, it is more like the Great Wall built by the Chinese in ancient times: the hard side is always on the outside.
In fact, Chinese people can easily access all websites in the world, various social software, X, YouTube, Ins, Watsapp. There are also sites like Quora and Reddit. They only need to pay about $2-3 per month for VPN services, which is public and the Chinese government is silent about it. Almost all young Chinese people I know use such services. On websites like Quora, I always see many Chinese IDs.
Therefore, the Chinese people have much more control over global information than most Westerners think. They pay attention to various global events like us, and they also play ChatGPT like us.
What really hinders Chinese people from being active on the global Internet is not the Great Firewall, but English. They are too lazy to look at languages they are not familiar with, just like most people in the West are too lazy to look at content in Japanese, Korean or Chinese. Language differences naturally isolate the entire Internet. Even if there is no firewall and even if there are many translation technologies, the vast majority of Americans will not pay attention to Japanese content or comment on information from a certain Japanese-speaking world, and vice versa.
The real role of China’s Great Firewall is to block outside access, making it difficult for foreigners to enter China’s social media and express their thoughts and opinions. It is also difficult to buy a VPN service that can pass through the firewall and sneak in.
This probably means that they can come out at will, but you cannot go in at will.
Vintage art
cbc917f678973cc74b80e76708afcbcf
62c442c87c9c766e77904d29697a0831
db1eb23a95e38b9556674eccc902cb73
ff8b80a9c931bc0bddae0f3219e94aa4
47a56ec553f0b18e6ac57435e4316903
2e5f25f2765e5a821fa6d378db48e4e1
d26bc5ec95c64f454ebc919e5a6eaa27
f4e98ad40ba6e747108ad26c0aeaa667
9d53e0582d30ed308da635b5e654407f
946747b04cec1ffa9805730ed03a3035
aa47f2f793889c9eed718ab1ce1f5559
21edc8737b4b594ff5b547fe8e613efe
a8adbbabf7bb687fd70970a233022e9d
7391684887da9e51619a39c3d6283337
46b3f1c3f9ea1f2ea8f5d4b8429cc941
What’s the most unreasonable request you’ve received from your boss?
It was when I was working for a fast food place in my early 20’s. Some things happened, and we lost our entire management team except for the general manager and myself, a shift manager. Within a few days, I was acting assistant GM (I was offered the full position, but was planning on moving out of state in a few months, so declined) until a permanent one could be hired and trained. These additional duties didn’t come with additional pay, but between those and the need to cover a lot of extra shifts, I was getting 30–40 hours of overtime each week at time and a half.
Well, apparently that overtime was a problem. The regional manager was breathing down the district manager’s neck, and she in turn came to breathe down mine for “getting so much overtime”. I almost laughed. She knew the situation, and exactly why I was working so much. I didn’t find it funny anymore when her solution was to ask me to clock out just before I hit overtime, but keep working. I told her I wasn’t willing to work 30–40 hours a week for free, and that if she wanted me to stop getting overtime, our store needed more managers. She threatened my job. I told her to go ahead, I’m sure the department of labor would be very interested in knowing you’re trying to get people to work off the clock, and threatening their jobs when they refuse to break the law.
Needless to say, I continued working overtime up until a couple of weeks before I moved away, once a new team of managers had been hired, and I’d gotten them all trained. The district manager didn’t so much as speak to me after her ridiculous demand. I found it an improvement in my quality of life at work.
When I lived in Indiana, we lived in a mobile home. We must have spent about six years give or take in that flat and boring state. We lived in Columbia City (outside of Fort Wayne), Kokomo, Marion, and Milton. It was terribly flat, and boring.
Indiana
For fun we would go for rides in the countryside.
Many times we would have picnics in the various country cemeteries. And My wife would get dressed up in a nice tight-fitting dress, and we would enjoy a simple lunch under a nice tree in a big empty park-like cemetery.
Little black dress
The picnics were the highlight of our years in Indiana.
We did this for years.
Evansville
On one of our trips we drove about four hours away and in this rural country town we saw this beautiful home for sale.
It was a 1930’s “Florida Home”. In other words, 100% Art Deco masterpiece.
And it was.
Beautiful.
And cheap! It was located in the middle of nowhere. And so the price reflected this. It was so very cheap by the standards of the late 1980’s.
Only two problems.
Firstly; It was a four hour drive away from my work, and…
and…
Secondly, I really doubted that I could get a loan for the house. I believed that my credit was shit. So I wouldn’t even try.
Art Deco house
But, Man! We both loved that house, and when the realtor told us that a fellow was thinking about taking the house and breaking it down into five small apartments, we were horrified! Just horrified.
Interior 1
I, and my wife, felt a real connection to that house.
Apparently the owners of the house was an old couple and the woman had just passed on in an old folks home in her 90’s. And the children were tying to sell the house. And that house was a labor of love for that couple.
Interior 2
Leaving that house, I had a difficult time pulling myself away from it.
I really felt a connection to it, and for the entire week I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Interior 4
About four days later I had a very vivid dream.
The woman (who had just died) was telling me not to worry. That I would be able to buy the house and the bank would pay for everything. Not to worry she said. Not to worry.
And when I woke up… yeah. It was clear. All I needed to do was to place a bid on the home and it was mine.
Interior 3
So I told my wife that.
And we were considering buying that house…
…but then…
*sigh*
… I got laid off one month later.
And, of course that meant a move out of state… and no chance of buying the house at all.
…
Spirit of the house?
The actual previous owner of the home visiting me in the spirit form?
And what was the tie with my getting laid off, did not the spirits know or realize that my physical life was so mercurial?
*sigh*
That house was beautiful, though.
A jewel in the middle of the corn belt.
*sigh*
Today…
What’s the most morally disgusting thing you’ve ever seen someone do?
Few days ago, I went to a crockery shop with my mom to buy some necessary items.
Till my mom was looking for items, I was standing on the other counter and looking over other things.
At my counter on which I was standing, a couple was buying their household chores.
In between talks of them, she exclaimed on her polite husband. Actually, they were looking for buckets and mugs for their bathroom.
Conversation was like that : –
He : This is best. Take this one (Showing items to his wife).
She : No, no ( scruffily). ( Tum duplicate chize laate ho, Ab Yeh Mera ghar hai, tumhari Maa Ka nahi, To duplicate chize nhai rakhenge)
Translation :
This is a duplicate one. Now, this is my home, not yours mother’s home. I won’t keep a single duplicate thing over there.
** After few minutes**
He( In polite manner) : See! these cups, how graceful they are!
She( Very arrogantly) : Yuck! What a substandard people you are! What a sleazy choice you have!
(Bahut jhel Liya, tumhara or tumhari Maa Ka low standard, please ab toh meresath reh kar thoda standard Ka dhayan rakho)
( Enough now! I have beared a lot of low – standard of yours and yours mother, please now think about my standard).
Her husband immediately changed the topic, so that people wouldn’t mock them. Quietly, he stood up from there and went to the billing counter and started talking to the shopkeeper, so that no one would feel awkward.
This was totally disgusting, the way she was shouting on her husband and uttering pernicious words about his family in public.
Never name call or dishonor your spouse and his family in public. This is really loathsome thing one can ever do.
Red coins
What did your boss say to you during a meeting that resulted in you immediately resigning?
It wasn’t my boss, but the head of HR in front of an entire room of staff.
I started a new job and part of my duties was to help manage some of the employees time. This was part of the 4DX (4 Disciplines of Execution) initiative the entire company was pushing. I did my work, helped others where I could, and spent the rest of my time learning. Part of that learning was watching the rest of my “team” interact with each other and how my manager was not actually managing. So I kept notes, stepped in to help keep things from escalating into fist fights, and in general kept folks on task. That went well until said manager came strolling back in like a seagull and shit all over everything then walked right back out the door. (For some reason they felt that 7 IT people could fit in a locked room with no windows that was only 300sf or so.)
Finally the entire team had had enough of this so I took it up the food chain to the CTO with all of the information I had collected. She called a meeting and got HR involved. HR sent out a form for everyone to fill out and return to them. I filled mine out, attached all of the documents I had created, and replied all. The only person not aware of all of the Information I had collected was the problem manager.
Fast forward to Friday and we are all in a room when the CTO, my manager, some HR staff, and the head of HR walks in. He sits down and then proceeds to chew my ass for 15 minutes straight. Apparently HE did not want everyone to know what was going on and the “form” was meant just for HR to read. I informed him that the manager and apparently him had not been aware of what EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ROOM had known about. This set him off on another tirade that I mostly ignored as I texted my wife I would be heading home early today. The head of HR makes a snippy comment that I better be texting someone damn important. I stood up, pulled out my keys, and removed all of my building keys from my key ring. I then slid them over to my manager and the CTO and informed them that this was immediate notice of my resignation. The CTO was crying (really odd reaction) and the HR guy was still talking to the back of my head as I left.
All but two people on the team quit within 3 months. I walked into another job the following Friday. My only regret was that I had to leave my team to deal with the mess we all worked so hard to clean up.
“Deficits Don’t Matter!” – Modern Monetary Theory Economist Stephanie Kelton
Jesus! Wholly delusional!
Our slave owners think they can pay us in toilet paper
Ukraine Discussing Moving Country’s Capital from Kiev to Lviv; “Almost All Hope is Lost, now”
Discussions are underway in Ukraine to move the nation’s Capital from Kiev to Lviv because Ukraine is losing its war with Russia. Meanwhile in Kharkov, residents are fleeing en-masse as the Russian Army approaches.
Russia continues it’s northern storm front southward toward Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, and from the east toward the heavily fortified city of Chasiv Yar, once thought to be impenetrable.
In the past two days alone, an additional 30,000+ Russian troops have taken over a dozen towns, villages.
Despite massive financial and military support from the collective West, Ukraine is simply unable to defend itself any longer. Even the American media outlet “The Hill” writes: “further efforts to defeat Russia militarily are hopeless; Russian forces have a significant advantage, and the position of Ukrainian forces is rapidly deteriorating. Ukraine will never win the war and recapture the lost territories”
The Russian Army, which was 35 miles away last Friday, is now just 19-miles from Kharkiv. The city was once home to 1.5 million people. Tens-of-thousands have already fled, and tens-of-thousands more are presently fleeing the city.
Meanwhile, in Kiev, over 19,000 businesses have evacuated the city, with many heading to Lviv in Ukraine’s far west, near Poland.
For this reason Ukrainian President Zelensky is now discussing moving the Ukraine Capital from Kiev to Lviv. His Army Commanders have been telling him there is no longer any hope at all of Ukraine defeating Russia, or of even reclaiming lands that seceded to Russia. “Almost all hope is gone” for Ukraine.
USA – China
What is the most brilliant example of taking advantage of a loophole you have ever witnessed?
Not sure it’s brilliant but it is a tactic that did work. Early in my 20’s, fresh out of college and working, I had never been taught about tax returns (it was just an abstract concept to me) and didn’t realize I needed to file every year. So for 3 years it never crossed my mind. Then one year someone asked me about how I filed and soon realized I was in deep poo poo with the IRS. Immediately sent them a $50 check, went to an accountant and got all the returns and paperwork done and submitted.
Soon the phone calls from them started and they were not nice. Threatening to take my home I had purchased, my truck, bank accounts, etc. Scared the poo out of me. But I asked if they had received my $50 check and yes they had. I told them that by accepting it they had defacto accepted a repayment agreement. They eventually and reluctantly agreed that was so. I kept sending in the monthly checks to keep my end up (it did not end all the calls, but the threats were gone, mostly.) Ended up costing me $12K but on my terms and got to keep all my stuff and not have my pay and bank account garnered. No, didn’t pay the total in $50 installments, just kept that up while sending occasional supplemental checks. And yes I did get a tax attorney to help eventually. Am much wiser now (at least in tax matters). My dad taught me about most things financial but this one detail slipped through the cracks.
Vintage covers
2c89debfd2aef6ea901198d7d90272ab
af21500edd29fb20b6b0471b49b41dde
e43799e502d358e585fdd20e5c5fd4f2
2bfec81ecd36c2f70acef7691df7c44a
eb656199903901b586415072e6685b2c
c08aa3b4fe249fa7c0bb090b2153d27d
8feae6cec73bf26605862a4df0a4a8c7
ded305a8bec5a43c49636d5d44f360bc
f6ad41090a6a215fa89f96a1508f040d
be5d71088bf8453f52d503dd6e06d1bf
@@@fb5154532629c6a0352a3daedd4e34fb
fba7cb0b9179c3e2a450eb87e59e5aa8
46ff8e051f0ec10d3ef87c9b5b7cfc91
bbb68399b2df8a4df444c95ea73ccf9c
d21d2b316d1b4afa375f5e16e37d8045
William Bohannon’s Creole Cream Cheese
Creole cream cheese is a form of farmer cheese that is traditional in the New Orleans area.
creole cream cheese2
Yield: 12 ounces
Ingredients
1/2 gallon skim milk
1 tablet rennet
1/2 cup whole buttermilk
1 1/4 cups nonfat dry milk
Pinch of cream of tartar
Instructions
In a large microwave dish heat the milk to 170 degrees F (75 degrees C) and hold for 20 minutes, using the “Hold” function and the microwave probe attachment. Immediately stir in the other ingredients to blend. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 24 hours at room temperature.
Drain and discard liquid from the cheese clabber.
Line a colander with 2 layers of cheese cloth and turn cheese into colander. Place colander over bowl for more draining. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 36 hours.
Place finished cheese into bowl, and use as desired.
Notes
This cream cheese has become increasingly difficult to find. It is made from skim milk, buttermilk and rennet, has a mild, slightly tart, slightly sweet taste, and is often mixed with cream, sugar and fruit and served as a dessert. It is often used to make Creole cream cheese ice cream. In homes it was traditionally eaten for breakfast and served with cream, fruit, or sugar; it can also be served on toast with butter, salt and pepper.
Keeps 2 weeks covered in the fridge.
The cheese only took 3 hours to make.
After the Rennet tablet (crushed well) was sprinkled in the slightly cooled milk mixture, it clabbered right away (about 1 1/2 hours). I drained it in the colander then put it in the cheese cloth and wrung it dry carefully. The cheese needed several wringings with rest in between for sufficient drainage. The finished cheese resembles Feta crumble cheese but the flavor is like mild mascarpone. I put it in the food processor on high speed until it was very smooth and creamy like mascarpone. I freshened the taste with a few drops of lemon juice (store bought mascarpone contains citric acid).
The cheese was not quite a smooth as the commercially whipped kind but the flavor was very good. This recipe is the closest thing to mascarpone that one can make at home with ease. A little tinkering with the proportions should yield a very good clone.
Watch Biden Economic Advisor’s HILARIOUS Fail Over Basic Money Question
China’s EV sector has become a global leader without access to the U.S. market. The effects of tariffs on Chinese-made EVs is therefore what and on whom?
Tariffs on Chinese EVs – by the U..S. or the E.U.?
As for the E.U., Ursula is threatening tariffs on Chinese EVs but facing resistance from European OEMs especially those from Germany because this will impact their EVs manufactured in China and exported to Europe. And more seriously, if China were to retaliate with counter measures and restrictions on them, these would compromise their competitiveness at a time when they’re partnering with Chinese EV makers to remain viable. The Chinese market is existential for them and no doubt this was a main topic during Xi’s visit to France when he met with Macron and Ursula.
As for the U.S., Biden is just scared shit about Chinese EVs entering the U.S. marketplace and vowed to slap a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs and those containing Chinese EV parts. How he’s going to do this if they’re produced under joint-venture agreement with Mexican entities, especially if the Chinese were to use their E.U.-owned companies to do this (e.g., Volvo, Polestar, LEVC, Lotus, Daimler, Smart) is another story. There are strict treaty laws between the U.S. and Mexico that just can’t be put aside. Ultimately, Chinese EV cars will enter the U.S. market – through Mexico.
In the meantime, the global market is big enough for Chinese EVs to go around.
As a doctor or nurse, what are some of the most powerful last words a patient has said?
It was years ago, I was a junior resident. I didn’t know the patient all that well, but got called up to get her paperwork ready for discharge. (She was an otherwise healthy 96 or so, had a palliative colon resection for cancer, something, something).
I went to her room to do a last wound check and DC a JP drain and she kept talking about how she was “going home to Bill*”
Her son pointed out that she’s usually mentally very sharp, but Bill was her husband who had died years ago. He reassured her, “No, mom, dad is gone. We’re just going back to the house.”
She insisted. “No, I’m going to him. He came to see me this morning and said he’s taking me home.”
Whatever, I guess? Son said she was otherwise at baseline – it was the first and only weird thing she said – vitals and labs looked good, so we progressed along the DC pathway.
Not even a few minutes later the Code Blue got called to her room. She was Don’t Code, so we didn’t do anything, but it was like, “WTAF, I guess Bill really was coming for her.” Her son was surprisingly OK with how this played out.
This one chilled me for awhile.
What Boomers Don’t Understand About Younger Guys Failing At Dating And Why It Will Get MUCH WORSE
Have you ever had a pet who could tell that somebody is not a good person?
Back when I was a teen (many many years ago), the adults bought a puppy for my brother’s birthday. He was a beagle/welsh corgie mix, black and white all over, short fur. Think Snoopy in the comics, just opposite colors! My brother was delighted and named him – guess what? – Snoopy!
He was a smart dog and kept us all hopping. We lived in a corner lot house in Spokane WA. I don’t remember how old the dog was when this happened, more than 2, I’m sure.
One winter morning he came to me and wanted out badly, so I put him out the back. It had snowed pretty heavily. I was shutting the door when I heard him snarl, so I ran barefoot out into the snow in my nightgown. There was a man in our yard! Then I saw it was the meter reader. But Snoopy hated him. He had him pinned against the house, not letting him move at all. I called him but he ignored me, so I went to him and laid myself on top of his back – and still he stepped forward, ready to bite and savage the man. I said, “Get out! I can’t hold him,” and the guy scrambled over the fence and ran. I reported this behavior to the adults. The male made a phone call to the electric company and told them what happened and what he suspected. Turns out on his routes, all the dogs were getting sick or dying. They checked his locker and he had raw steaks in it that he had put poison in, so he was killing the dogs. Our dog knew it!
Another instance, in the summer. We were going to a new church, a nondenominational one, and they invited the pastor over for supper. He was a single man, in his late 60’s. Our dog took an instant dislike to him, snarling and trying to attack him. It took my brother and I to pull him inside the house and lock him in a bedroom as we were eating outside. A few months later the man went ballistic in services, called the adults “yellow-bellied commies” and threw us out of the church because we wouldn’t follow a specific cultish ‘diet plan’ he thought was a cure-all for any ailment. This guy claimed he could cure you of anything by analyzing your urine. Turns out the dog was correct, he was a bad man. He died a bit later of a massive stroke. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Our dog Snoopy lived for many years and was always a great protector. We were all devastated when he died.
Shorpy
SHORPY 8c33668a.preview
SHORPY 4a17497a.preview
SHORPY 4a27445a.preview
SHORPY 4a25093a.preview
SHORPY 4a10070a.preview
SHORPY 4a10069a.preview
SHORPY 25103u.preview
SHORPY 31614u.preview
SHORPY 8b27250a.preview
SHORPY 8c33706a.preview
4 R
SHORPY 8c33712a.preview
SHORPY 8b27398a.preview
SHORPY 8b27414a.preview
Schwinnbike.preview
SHORPY 4a07263a.preview
SHORPY 4a23669a.preview
SHORPY 8b27413a.preview
SHORPY 31618u.preview
SHORPY 8b30317a.preview
SHORPY 8b30818a.preview
SHORPY 8b33701u.preview
SHORPY 8b30346a.preview
SHORPY 4a22497a.preview
SHORPY 4a12813a.preview
SHORPY 8b36999a.preview
SHORPY 8d22412a.preview
SHORPY 1a35017u.preview
SHORPY 8d22381a.preview
@@@@SHORPY 8b36747a.preview
What was the most expensive surprise you received in a bill from a doctor or hospital? Did you pay it?
My husband was on a fishing trip in Alaska with several family members. They had chartered a boat with a captain and crew and were about 2 hours offshore when my husband’s heart suddenly stopped, and he collapsed. He came to after some agonizing moments. The captain immediately started for shore. My husband’s heart stopped again 2 or 3 more times during the 2 hours before reaching land. An ambulance met them at the dock and my husband was transported to the local hospital in Homer. The doctors at the hospital determined he needed more acute care and that he should be transported to Anchorage. An ambulance transported him to the local airport where a waiting private medical jet flew him to Anchorage. His heart stopped again at the hospital in Homer, on the way to the airport and while on the jet. Each time his heart restarted just as suddenly as it had stopped after several moments. Once he reached Anchorage he had a pacemaker implanted and is doing well today.
As you can imagine, the bills were astronomical. Luckily our insurance covered everything except for one thing. You would think they might not cover the $25,000 for the private medical jet but no they covered that without even blinking. What they wouldn’t cover was the $350 for the second ambulance ride. I called the insurance company to find out why, thinking it must be an error. The insurance representative told me they could only cover one ambulance transport a day. Wait, what?? I simply asked “how was my husband supposed to get to the airport? Take a taxi? You do realize that his heart stopped while in that ambulance, right?” I was told I would be placed on a brief hold. The insurance representative came back and told me she checked with her supervisor and that they would now be covering the second ambulance ride.
Women Are Leaving The Workforce. But Nobody Cares.
Has a teacher ever accused your child of doing something that you know he could not have done?
Principal not teacher but it’s a good story.
I was sent home early one day for something they thought I might have been involved with. My mother was irritated and called the school. Turns out the principal wanted to meet with her as well. This was really uncommon since it was a big high school and usual student discipline was delegated to the few vice principals.
My mother walked into the meeting and immediately started talking about the reason I’d been sent home. The principal waved it off. He had wanted to talk to her about something else.
“Never mind that. I wanted to talk to you because we believe your son is a devil-worshipper.” Welcome to the rural Midwest in the 90s.
My mother, not being an idiot but also just being a mix of amused and dumb-founded. “And what makes you believe that?” she asked.
“We’ve heard reports from other students that him and his friends have been sacrificing animals and kidnapping infants.”
“… And what makes you think these accusations are credible?”
He gives his ‘supporting evidence,’ which consisted of me and my friends having long hair and playing Dungeons and Dragons. He apparently misconstrued my mother’s ‘wtf, mate?’ look for, “please, tell me more.”
Believing he’s successfully making his case, he puffs out his chest as he concludes his argument. “Our philosophy here at South is, ‘if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it’s probably a duck.’”
My mother told him not to waste time I’m supposed to be in class learning with nonsense for which he has no demonstrable evidence.
As far as I know, nothing more ever came from this. I did my best to keep a low profile till I graduated then moved tf away from my hometown.
Edit: To be clear, my friends and I were not sacrificing animals nor kidnapping infants. I’m not sure exactly how we were supposedly doing that and never making it in the news, but it was the 90s so who knows?
To my mind, Russia’s objective is to force Ukraine’s army to chase after invading Russian units. The idea is to cause heavy casualties on the Ukrainian side and, if all goes according to plan, either to split Ukraine’s army into two, or disintegrate it altogether.In such a manner the idea is not just to take territory but to destroy Ukraine’s ability to resist. There are many indicators that Russia is having success in the ongoing operation.
General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, (which includes foreign fighters and Nazis units,) agrees to that. He paints an bleak picture (archived):
Like most Ukrainian officials and military experts, General Budanov said he believes the Russian attacks in the northeast are intended to stretch Ukraine’s already thin reserves of soldiers and divert them from fighting elsewhere.That is exactly what is happening now, he acknowledged. He said the Ukrainian army was trying to redirect troops from other front line areas to shore up its defenses in the northeast, but that it had been difficult to find the personnel.
“All of our forces are either here or in Chasiv Yar,” he said, referring to a Ukrainian stronghold about 120 miles farther south that Russian troops have assaulted in recent weeks. “I’ve used everything we have. Unfortunately, we don’t have anyone else in the reserves.”
The Ukrainian military has pulled out parts of various brigades that are engaged in the east and is moving them north towards the Kharkiv region. This will be a hodgepodge of partly filled battalions without a unified command and with nothing left to stuff any holes elsewhere.
Budanov correctly fears that Russian can and will repeat this game in other places:
General Budanov said he expected the attacks in the Kharkiv region to last another three or four days, after which Russian forces are expected to make a hard push in the direction of Sumy, a city about 90 miles to the northwest of Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials have previously said that Russia had massed troops across the border from Sumy.Pavlo Velycho, a Ukrainian officer operating near the Russian border in the Sumy region, said that Russian shelling of the outskirts of Sumy had recently increased.
The Russian forces can easily progress because the money allocated for fortifications in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions was paid to fictitious companies without any trenches ever being build (machine translation):
Multi-million contracts for the construction of fortifications, for which they spent a total of 7 billion hryvnias there, were transferred by the Kharkiv OVA to front companies of avatars.
…
It so happened that the department of the Kharkiv OVA for defense purchases chose newly registered no-name firms and FOPs. Moreover, the owners of these firms do not resemble successful businessmen and businesswomen-they have dozens of court cases, from whiskey theft to domestic violence against their husband and mother, some of them are deprived of parental rights and have had enforcement proceedings for loans in banks.Another interesting detail-it seems that these beneficiaries do not even know that they are millionaires. After all, they continue to work in shifts” in the fields ” and factories.
The U.S. obviously fears that the Ukrainian army will not be able to hold its lines. Today Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived on an unannounced visit in Kiev to shore up moral, or probably to arrange for a change in Ukraine’s leadership:
Blinken, who arrived in Kyiv by train early on Tuesday morning, hopes to “send a strong signal of reassurance to the Ukrainians who are obviously in a very difficult moment,” said a U.S. official who briefed reporters traveling with Blinken on condition of anonymity.”The Secretary’s mission here is really to talk about how our supplemental assistance is going to be executed in a fashion to help shore up their defenses (and) enable them to increasingly take back the initiative on the battlefield,” the official said.
…
Blinken will reassure Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of enduring U.S. support and deliver a speech focused on Ukraine’s future, the official said.
Blinken and Biden need the Ukrainian army to hold until the November election is over. It is unlikely that they can achieve that aim. Some pause on the battlefield would now be convenient but that requires to get rid of Zelenski.
U.S. media are emphasizing the $60 billion package passed by Congress for Ukraine. They neglect to explain that only $14.5 billion of that is actually going to Ukraine, half of it to keep the state solvent and the other half in form of weapons Ukraine might buy once they are build. The other money is designated to refill the U.S. military stockpile.
The real military help for Ukraine during the next months, in form of artillery and anti-air ammunition, will be minuscule.
There is nothing in there that can defend against the FAB glide bombs the Russian military is using in ever growing numbers to break up Ukrainian positions. The last three days have each seen Ukrainian losses at about 1,500 per day – double the usual count – with most of them occurring on the eastern front, not in the Kharkiv direction.
Currently the replacement rate through Ukrainian mobilization is said to be only 25% of the losses that are actually occurring.
Everyone knows that the war is coming to an end. That there will be a victor, Russia, and a lot of losers. The U.S. as well as the EU are now trying to find a face saving way to acknowledge that without admitting it.
The easiest way will be to blame Ukraine, and especially its President Zelenski, for having not listened to western advice during some of the hotter phases of the war (Bakhmut etc). “We gave them a chance and they blew it,” will soon become the major tenor of official statements.
But in reality there never was a chance for Ukraine to defeat or even to weaken Russia. All numbers, capacities and people, pointed against that. Despite that fact it was pushed to its death by western delusion.
One hopes that its people, and others, will have learned from it.
Posted by b on May 14, 2024 at 10:54 UTC | Permalink
American Reacts to explaining europe to americans
What is the most offensive thing someone has ever asked you?
It was 2004 in Ohio not long after Alex and I married, I was working at the diner when Alex had to drop our daughter off since his brother had been in a car accident and I was almost done my shift. Alex had adopted her when she was 4, and that was a couple of years prior. We kissed like normal and she said bye pops like usual when he left. A customer saw and overheard so him and his wife starting with the homophobic commentary which I ignored with kindness. That is until she asked how I could marry a pedophile who would turn around and hurt my kid. If I hadn’t of been holding Pearl in one arm with dishes on my other, I probably would have decked the hateful bitch!
My papa was close friends with the owners so I wasn’t afraid of being fired, so I told her husband to remove his “cunt of a wife from my presence.” I’ve never said that word before or since (to my recollection) but she deserved it.
What did your child’s teacher say that made your jaw drop?
My youngest daughter, now fully grown, was in I believe grade 1 or 2 at the time this happened. She came home from school one day and told me that a boy had been picking on her. I asked for more information. I do not subscribe to that “he pulled your hair so he just likes you” crap, but I didn’t want to react until I knew what was actually going on.
She described a classic bully. He would slap her, kick her, push her… He often did it when the teacher wasn’t aware, and she reacted in the classic “I’m being bullied” fashion of trying to be smaller and less noticeable to him.
My advice was in stages. Stage one was simple, I told her not to shrink. Grow. That little jackass wants to slap you, you explode at him verbally and make certain that the teacher notices and understands that you are reacting. She did stage one the first few days, and she was upset because the teacher kept doing nothing about it.
Stage two was equally simple. I taught her how to throw a proper punch, a punch that would allow her to get her power behind it with proper form to avoid breaking the bones in her hand.
The school called. They explained that my daughter had “caused a problem” that was really serious, and we needed to come in and talk with them.
“Your daughter attacked one of the other students,” quoth the teacher.
“Nope, I’m pretty sure she didn’t,” rebutted I, rebutfully. “{kid’s name}, can you tell us what happened?”
She had been drinking at the water fountain, and the kid came along and pushed her hard, face first into the porcelain. If memory serves, she had a bloody nose as a result. So she remembered what I taught her, she turned around and threw a nasty punch, and the kid ran off to tell the teacher.
“Striking children is NOT acceptable!” puffed the puffy teacher.
“Yes, you are absolutely right. That kid has been striking my daughter for at least a few days, and I told her to bring it to your attention. You didn’t do anything to protect her and safeguard your students from a bully, so she had to address the situation herself. I won’t have my child be a bully, but I won’t have them victimized, so I taught her how and when to strike back. And I’m not sorry.”
Many guffaws. Many splutters. Finally, the teacher said the thing. “Mr. Martin, you have to understand that this boy is from another country, and he hasn’t learned yet what is and is not acceptable.”
Before anyone gets all xenophobic, let me stop you right there. This wasn’t a “OMG FOREIGN KID MONSTER” post. This was a “For f**k’s sake, teacher!” post.
So I explained that the kid wasn’t going to learn by not being held to account. It was the teacher’s job to maintain the safety of all of the students, and when she didn’t react to his behavior, she green lit him to keep going. So while I get that the boy was from a place with very different social rules, those social rules wouldn’t work here, so if the school wasn’t going to address it, my kid would continue to stand up for herself.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe that anyone at this point (like 15 years ago) would be justifying bullying in an elementary school by saying that it was a cultural difference. Maybe they were working with this boy behind the scenes and I had no idea, though I strongly doubt that, but either way, my kid wasn’t going to be a victim.
And yeah, guess who never had a problem with the boy again?
Be the Rufus
MM is hungry
057c660a0fd027b23211e9df670e4bb2
3601f38ae3719f2b1edc131d168c8f5e
32a1fd424bdcd8c2848e6830109faab5
6f01e512188d588fd774b2e7089c66d9
b7d72f8da9edac28133674d7171a17e4
21f6ab6d840da65caf29efd5ac77a941
04bcf5a8f5d667bb31a04c1fba9a467b
0dbb525b926016898d55411767adaa82
0069e8156feb88d63564b7c8e9839dc1
bbfaf11f327d92b54a9d74bae90d1655
ebca7e698d5dcb8ddb84cb2fdb8f7384
27f018671ecebcd352ff80c49804f01d
f9cad00524fd935c15173789c125180d
b04a77937de6fdef14b2cffc57c11d71
e4dd0860a70bbc717e1903ec36ec4e88
173de0a87df023045b354ce62516e50b
055a61981bc238ea108c63d0927d96c2
2f1fd5f8bfba34d93f4a7608c0c4cf51
26268df2911c83afe7085d4ffd8fbe51
f5325defc901d21bd728b7b3b561b234
66b8729c72236ecad0d273796cce551b
b2bbe1fc2a5aae2cc9d3db04c3c90f38
c0d6fa6475bbdcb3b70ec3d4bdf7f3dd
27f018671ecebcd352ff80c49804f01d
f9cad00524fd935c15173789c125180d
b04a77937de6fdef14b2cffc57c11d71
e4dd0860a70bbc717e1903ec36ec4e88
173de0a87df023045b354ce62516e50b
055a61981bc238ea108c63d0927d96c2
2f1fd5f8bfba34d93f4a7608c0c4cf51
26268df2911c83afe7085d4ffd8fbe51
f5325defc901d21bd728b7b3b561b234
66b8729c72236ecad0d273796cce551b
b2bbe1fc2a5aae2cc9d3db04c3c90f38
c0d6fa6475bbdcb3b70ec3d4bdf7f3dd
Retired Police Dog
Baby Kay’s Cajun Kitchen Bread Pudding
Baby Kay’s Cajun Kitchen Bread Pudding
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
3/4 cup coconut flakes
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped pecans
5 tablespoons butter
3 cups whole milk
3/4 of 16-ounce loaf stale French bread, cut into crouton-size cubes
Instructions
Mix together sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add eggs; whip together.
Add vanilla extract.
Stir in coconut flakes, raisins and chopped pecans.
Melt butter over low heat. Add milk, heating just enough to scald. Add to sugar-egg-coconut mixture.
Place in a 12 x 8 inch baking dish with the French bread cubes.
Put into a cold oven; bake at 350 degrees F for one hour.
What do you think of the user on TikTok who claimed that some people in Singapore, who are ethnically Chinese, were offended at being called ‘compatriots’ with mainland Chinese people?
TikTok’s CEO is Singaporean Chinese. Our idiotic government feigns ignorance of basic geography and made it seem that Singapore and China are the same. They did so for political reasons. If a Singaporean Chinese can be associated with “Communist Red China,” then Americans will be more likely to agree to banning TikTok. Our government wants TikTok banned because they can’t control it. They want to censor our internet and apps like the Chinese Great Fire Wall they complain about. Apparently it’s okay if a democracy does it but bad if a communist country does it.
This whole thing must be frustrating for Singaporean Chinese. They make up about 76% of the population and they consider themselves as Singaporean. Most of their families (with the exception of Chinese who recently immigrated from China) have been in Singapore for several generations. Many have never been to China. The ones who have, usually go in search of their ancestry.
Like all overseas Chinese, they’ve assimilated to some degree in the countries they immigrated to hundreds of years ago. They are ethnically Chinese but nationally Singaporean. And Singapore is not China. Singapore is it’s own country. They separated from Malaysia—not China. Singapore has never been part of China. Many overseas Chinese, including Singaporeans, are proud of their roots and culture, and they’re happy to see a strong China as it increases their status around the world as respect for China grows. But these people are true blue Singaporean in their hearts and on paper. I can see why they’re frustrated.
USA vs. China
Many people said New Zealand is one of the worst countries in the world (very expensive and very low wages) but the country is advertised as a beautiful place. Which one is the truth about New Zealand? Is New Zealand simply a backdoor to Australia?
I have lived in Australia all my life and have come over to NZ for work just a day or so ago. I am currently staying in an area which seems to be middle to lower class, well compared to Australia. I went out to one of the local pubs last night and was amazed at their pride and family values. There was a young Māori, 19 years old I believe, who had just received a baseball scholarship in Texas and is leaving NZ in two weeks. There was maybe 50 people there having a party for him. The young kids, I’m guessing maybe 10 years old, all got up on a stage and did a Haka in front of the crowd and then after that a young girl, maybe 13, got up on stage and sang and danced a traditional dance for him.
This country is very proud of their heritage and have very strong family values and it shows. Unfortunately Australia is now a country where family can be taken or left. We really don’t have the culture that there is in NZ.
The people in the area i am staying are a bit rough around the edges but they are still proud Māoris and will protect their family including their extended family with their life.
I’m just about to head into Auckland city to check the place out but I’m guessing the pride Kiwis and Māoris have will be the same.
edit: I am not saying New Zealand isn’t a beautiful country, I am not saying it is a third world country, I am just giving observations I have made in the short time I have been there. Yea there are quite affluent suburbs around Auckland, but as in Australia, there are some at the other end of the scale. And yes, I am o it here to work and I am currently staying in an area which is far less affluent, although we have just been relocated to another area which has a heavy population of Indian and Asian immigrants.
it is difficult, in the areas I have been, to find a corner store or takeaway etc that isn’t run but either Indian or Asian business owners. And I guess there are places in Australia where the same is true.
I am not being racist, I am not running New Zealand down, I am not being derogatory towards New Zealand or the people of New Zealand whether they are indigenous or not. These are just my limited observations.
Red Lobster Abruptly Closes 48 Restaurants; Mulls Bankruptcy
Seafood restaurant chain Red Lobster has closed nearly 50 locations around the United States, according to a liquidation company.
CEO and Founder of TAGeX Brands, Neal Sherman announced in a post on LinkedIn that his company would be hosting “the largest restaurant liquidation” through an online auction. The website for TAGeX Brands showed that 48 Red Lobster locations throughout the U.S. had been closed.
Red Lobster locations in places such as Jacksonville, Florida, Watertown, New York, and Bloomingdale and Danville, Illinois, were among the restaurants that were closed. The seafood chain has more than 700 locations throughout the U.S., according to its website.
“The Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment from select Red Lobster locations MUST GO ASAP!” Sherman wrote in his post. “We’re handling this closure differently than we have in the past with each auction having a SINGLE winner for the listed items from the location they bid on — WINNER TAKES ALL.”
This announcement comes after the seafood restaurant chain has reportedly been considering filing for bankruptcy after their all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion led to the company losing $11 million in 2023.
“For those who have been in the US recently, $20 was very cheap,” Red Lobster CFO Ludovic Garnier said in a statement in November. “And the rationale for this promotion was to say we knew the price was cheap, but the idea was to bring more traffic in the restaurants.”
In 2020, ThaiUnion, a Thailand-based company that produces seafood products, bought a stake in Red Lobster. ThaiUnion revealed in January 2024 that it would be exiting from its investment in Red Lobster and would be taking a roughly $530 million loss as a result of its investment in the company.
The Hal Turner Radio Show reached out to Red Lobster for a statement but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Victoria Nuland is obviously suffering greatly from the American exceptionalism disease. It drives her whole being. Pathetic. Her views are totally divorced from reality. And she's obsessed with Russia and China. I relish the disappointments that are coming her way as Russia and especially China rise while the United States falls.
Posted by: Steven Hines | May 12 2024 14:52 utc | 6
During my “van days” when I left the US Navy, but before I had my MAJestic training, we were very busy trying to find work. It was a tough time, an economic recession and work was hard to get.
When we would get money, one of our favorite things to do was to make these mega-sandwiches.
We would get a full loaf of fresh french or Italian bread, and cut it in half, then form a pocket.
I would add everything. From bread & Butter pickles, to onions, tomatoes, lettice, and all sorts of other things like peppers. Of course, I would add salad dressings, and oils, salt and pepper.
The process was simple.
We would line that pocket with salad dressing, and cut cold cuts, cheese, pickles, and everything under the sun. It was a meal plus, plus, plus and I loved that meal!
Every now and then I daydream about those enormous sandwiches.
Here’s some inspirational pictures…
2e0ceaf4e4ef0d846954e652ec030ebb
6d359d5f4dd84adcb234cdd7c5f99889
a989db62f22107b241bd4f035b7d383f
c14d1ee9831ddef12ef302d449d076f2
e9c23f61318617c67dd831ad3d871e0c
a1f3b31f6a4ee58643ad76dfb4f37ecc
d6f692b7100a68a4fad7d8cd9325a27e
dd7e956c2f5596b6f5d19437d3098cfa
97d7ecfa7a4f66638893a968c298157f
What is stopping you from enjoying this right now?
Today…
What is the craziest thing you have ever said or done at an interview and still gotten the job?
I was sitting on the chair. She entered the room. It was evident from her face that she was totally exhausted.
There was a water bottle on the table.
Me- Have some water, please. I offered her the water bottle.
She took the water bottle and took some sips of water. She sat on the chair and closed her eyes for a while.
Me- Ma’am, you look so exhausted.
Interviewer- Yeah, a whole day of interviews.
Me- So you won’t get to go home today? (It was 9 pm)
Interviewer- Nothing like that. Basically I am from Coimbatore. I have a 3 months old daughter and a husband staying in Coimbatore. Yesterday I met them but missing my daughter.
Me- Don’t worry ma’am you will meet them soon. Even I am 2200 km away from my home.
Interviewer(Smiling)- Don’t forget I am not your friend. I am your interviewer.
Me(Smiling)- If you want to be my friend, I won’t mind.
Interviewer(Smiling)- Tell me about your self.
I spoke about myself.
Interviewer- Why do you want this job?
Me- I need money and you need a good employee.
After this answer, she did not ask a single question. She was just smiling.
The interview was done!!!!
I knew I had screwed my interview. I bid goodbye to the interviewer and came out of the room.
Result day- I got selected for Wipro.
America compared to China
I told my boss that I’m going to resign, and he offered me twice my current salary if I stay, what should I do?
Back in the day, I went to the office and asked for a $.25 raise just so my family could make ends meet. It took the better part of a year for the boss to get back to me to tell my I was out of line for asking for one, and the company couldn’t afford it.
So, I put out my resume and left. Around a year and a half later, I touched base with my old boss, told him I was out looking for another gig, and asking for a recommendation. What I got back was an email telling me that if I came back, I would get $1.50 more per hour, with increases to come if I stuck around.
Okay, I asked for a quarter an hour more. They couldn’t afford it, but 15 months later, they can outdo the modest increase I asked for? Really?
My advice: Bolt! Run for the door and don’t look back. If they can pay double right now, why didn’t they earlier. This kind of bullshit is not worth your time, and frankly, these “counteroffers” are an insult to your intelligence. Bolt! Leave! Go find someone who appreciates and respects your efforts, and your intelligence.
Stuffed Chicken Breast Wrapped in Bacon
Ready to liven up that chicken dinner? Try Slap Ya Mama’s Stuffed Chicken Breast Wrapped in Bacon! It’s a taste sensation that you have to taste to believe and it’s complete with Slap Ya Mama’s original blend seasoning. Start cooking today!
stuffed chicken breast
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
2 teaspoons olive oil
10 ounces fresh spinach leaves
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
3 teaspoons Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Seasoning, divided
12 slices bacon
Toothpicks
Instructions
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large skillet over medium heat add olive oil, garlic and jalapeños. Sauté until garlic starts to brown.
Reduce heat to medium low, add spinach leaves and sauté until wilted.
Add 1 teaspoon Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Seasoning, pepper jack cheese and sour cream. Stirring continuously, cook mixture until cheese is melted.
On a clean surface, lay chicken breasts flat and season with the remaining 2 teaspoons of Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Seasoning. Spoon a little spinach mixture onto each breast. Roll up each breast with spinach mixture inside and wrap each breast with 2 or 3 slices of bacon, securing the ends with a wooden pick.
Arrange breasts on a baking dish. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees F for 35 minutes.
Set oven to broil and broil for 10 minutes or until bacon is browned.
Remove wooden picks, slice into medallions or serve whole and enjoy!
Chinese school principal teaches students shuffle dance during break
I never get tired of watching this.
What was the reaction of HR when you resigned?
I was with the firm for about 5yrs 3 months. One fine day , I got a Offer letter from a leading MNC in trending technology. I resigned the same day and sent the mail to my manager and cced HR in the evening .
He called me around 10 am next day and enquired about good time to have discussion. I went at 12 and we had a very short discussion and the conversation went like this.
I share a cordial relationship with most of my management.
HR: We respect your decision of resign and we wish you all the best.
Can you please tell me your team details and your manager?
Me: Thanks and told the details
HR: So, xxx will be your last day with us.
May I know the reason for resignation?
Me: I dont like the managemet here. Is the feedback I am gonna share with you just for record sake. or you are actually gonna share this with management?
HR: What made you think feedback was not shared with the management.
Me: I have many a scenarios where feedback was taken but never acted upon.
Hr: I will make sure . please share.
Me: Fine, anyways I have made my decision But I dont want to leave unspoken about the fact.
I have never thought of resigning from this organisation.But, many fake promises are made.
HR: Who made false promise?
Me: You know who usually does.
HR: Smiles!!!
Me: I have been promised an onsite without being asked and I know there was a budget problem in project but management is frequently flying which made me rethink my place here.
HR: Ok got the reason. Anyways He explained about all the policies and rules to be followed during notice period and we are done for that day.
I went to my usual routine.
With in next few hours, My Resource manager(Not my immediate supervisor) walks upto me and asks if I would take back my resignagtion if offered an onsite.
Next day, I get a call Location HR and he asked me if I would be offered onsite I would stay back I said I might think.
Next day RM comes to me,
A new onsite opportunity has popped up in some other project and they are looking for people.
I gave them your name to them , talk to them and let me know.
I said I need some time and I have few question. Is it long term? What is the expectation?
Is it different from my existing stack? How long would it be? For all he said you can manage . It will be min of 1yr.
I said ok and will let you know if couple of days. He asked me to do it faster?
I called the other manager on friday and asked him the same above questions for which he said it is an immediate requirement from client.
and I need to learn new technology. If I am ok with it I need to take back my resignation so that they could do initiate VISA.
I asked him “What is stopping you from initiating VISA if I am serving notice period? ” He said It is policy I said ok.
I told him I will take my resigantion but on one condition. In case the VISA is rejected/ CLient doesn’t like profile.
I want to a written statement that My last date would be the same day as earlier.
For which, He is not sure he need to talk to HR on that.
I am confused and lost in thought . I said I will get back to him on Monday.
On the same day, I went to a Shop nearby Bought couple of beer and started thinking of the opportunity .
For an instance, I thought I better take my resignation back. and Travel abroad.
It has been one of my dream to stay abroad for atleast an year straight.
I gave it a thought over weekend and slept over it.
I called my brother whom I go to for advice. He said only one thing “If you have ever taken step stick to that no matter what.
That is what makes you better person.”
and at the same time I heard quote in movie which said “When you Say ‘NO’ to bigger Things in life You Grow Stronger.”
Then I decided I will continue with my resignation.
I met my RM on Monday, told him that I dont want to take risk. I am not getting confidence in this opportunity.He said ok.
I told the same to the other manager he said no problem.
After this I got three more calls from HR(Reg change of project, CHange of technology, onsite again) and had around 7-8 meetings with manager.
On my last day which is is mid march , whole country came to a standstill coz of Corona and all the Onsite travels are suspend.
I am happy that I made a correct decision, Had I stayed with Onsite promise, My Future could have come to a standstill.
Always stick with your decision, and move forward sincerely, It is destined to happen which ever is to happen.
Clubs in the 1980s
Today’s crazy comics
d8351ed760a2ac9c1fa62367dade23a1
00ae8eb2349711db86b94fd0695b0a9c
a509d96977d5f8f75c8d94437908475c
a9390010c97a57367ded8d83d1df0c99
92c619a44a4c472a6551d4b2b6cb9433
c92871f8b1507305af63a3bee12d39a4
cd32d84d58867d6c12153a67fc5851c4
9ab89d41f81a6e58d864d130ec3cc537
311f2c77b131b777b772fe7488200561
bd8b69fb9339a95142f1a5461fe63823
954da76f54a6424214e5e8fabea11f94
41eba0b389f074fd93a976981a15b3ad
3e5d7bd38ff28a9dc91374ce364ac82d
fd918b45760b6d553890c8dc607b0796
9d3063b424588f82e63deb52fb8af7bb
3ae1b04f456dcec9ae6e2fb3a7e05b79
b474b5154b930556d0a7a78fbf676b68
02e0306d92fec2244c48010eeb3fc9bf
0a4c969439b89da1a97e3e6be6274ed3
My mother recently informed me she baptized my two children against my wishes; how should I confront her on this matter?
Let me tell ya a little story.
When my husband was in the hospital, he woke up one day to see a priest looming over him, giving him last rites.
This was the ONLY time he was frightened, because in his mind, last rites was what you’d do right before someone died. Then he realized that I was not in the room, and that if he was actually that close to death, I would have been there with him.
After he got out of the hospital, he told his mother about this, and the first words out of her mouth were, “I didn’t send him!” She tried to say that maybe the hospital arranged it, or maybe it was one of the priests from one of the churches she belonged to (three, of different denominations of which only one does last rites) who stopped by to say hello. Or maybe it was some other priest that stopped by.
Suspicious, that.
When my husband arrived at the hospital, he filled out the intake form and said he didn’t want any religious folks visiting him, and he did not want last rites. That would have stopped the hospital-affiliated clergy from visiting him, but it’s not like they would have stopped a priest that my MIL specifically sent there, particularly if he showed up stealthily, with a scarf covering his collar.
Later, two of my MILs step children made comments to me about how sick my husband must have been to have been given last rites. Hmmm … how did they hear that?
It’s pretty obvious to me that she sent a priest to give him last rites, behind my back, and behind my husband’s (mostly unconscious) back.
But here’s the thing. If she had come to me and said that it was important to her, I would have said yes. I know she’s deep into all three of her religions, and if last rites would have comforted one of her multiple souls, I might have asked her to wait until his condition was more dire, but I wouldn’t have said absolutely no. The ritual wouldn’t have meant anything to my husband, as I would have made sure he wasn’t conscious (and thus not frightened) and it wouldn’t have meant any more to me than if someone came in and waved feathers around to banish demons. But if she wanted that, too, I would have been fine with it, as long as it didn’t affect his health or mental well-being.
I was annoyed at first that she did this behind my back, but that’s how she is. She’s happier when she’s sneaking around and manipulating and thinking that she’s getting away with something. She has only a glancing association with honesty, so she felt better lying to us than admitting what she did.
She is what she is. In the end, it didn’t harm anyone.
Russia – NATO conflict
From Hal Turner.
Below is a piece written by an Observer of matters geo-political - not me -- about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Although I did not write this, it is so "spot-on" that I decided to share it with all of you because it expresses my sentiments and thoughts precisely.
————— BEGIN ————-
I want everyone of you to take a deep breath, and prepare for a flurry of events that will change the world forever, or at least for a very long time.
Always keep in mind what I have told since late 2021 : Russia set up a trap for the United Sates, they worked for at least a decade for this trap, and now, the United States fell into it.
I have decided to remove the word “West” in describing the side that Russia is in conflict with. There is no “West”. It is just the United States and its vassals.
This conflict between the U.S. and Russia/China is going to end when one side achieves its objectives. There is no middle ground, there is no negotiation, because the goal of the United States is to take control of Russia (by weakening it, and create a 90’s Russia, with oligarchs controlling Russia’s resources and themselves being controlled by the U.S., in order to suppress China’s rise, by controlling the flow of Russian resources), while the goal of Russia and China is to stop it.
If Russia and China could’ve stopped the United States by other means than militarily, it would have happened. The reason why the United States cannot be stopped otherwise, is mainly because of China. In China, the United States managed to create and sustain a system of very powerful Chinese economic oligarchs, that control China, and are being controlled by the U.S..
What the U.S. did not managed to do in Russia, they did in China. Putin removed/imprisoned/killed/replaced most of the Russian oligarchs, in a very short period of time; between 2000 and 2010. Xi still is in the process of cleaning China, but the process is much slower and harder then what Putin faced in Russia.
In other words, China’s economic power could not be used to weaken the U.S., and it is still far from being able to do so. The only option is to start a “nuclear” economic war, one that will see both China and the U.S. facing economic collapse and massive internal power struggle that will be from the very top, to the street level.
So, to sum up, the current conflict will end when one side will achieve its goals, the “victory” cannot be achieved economically, but militarily, and most important, the military “victory” must be achieved without nuclear war.
Back in late 2023, I predicted that Russia will re-open the Kharkiv-Sumy front when the Ukrainian defenses will start collapsing, and my estimate for this to happen was between January and April 2024, depending on a number of factors. As you all know by now, after Avdeevka fell, the Ukrainian defenses started crumbling in multiple directions.
When I predicted that this will happen, I was exclusively basing my reasoning on the lack of manpower, and the tremendous destruction that Russian military can bring to the front lines, and the inability of the United States and its vassals to sustain a flow of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, that can replace what Russia is destroying, while using mathematical calculation applied to military power of both sides.
Obviously, I did not have the exact data to work with, this is why my predictions were confirmed at a later date, but they were confirmed, almost 90% of the time. I however said that when certain events that I predicted (the collapse of Ukrainian defense, the start of Kharkiv-Sumy offensive, Ukraine’s inability to recruit, the U.S. and vassals inability to provide weaponry and ammo, etc.) will take place, and they did, the margin of error of my calculations, and hence, predictions, will be smaller.
While the current Kharkiv offensive is its early stages, and most, if not all of the people talking about it, are reluctant to quantify it, or to set predictions on how big this will be, my own calculations, again, based on what I have already predicted, is that the current Russian offensive is THE BIG ONE, the one that will break the camel’s back.
Based on my calculations, the current manpower of Ukraine is roughly 300,000 troops, barely equipped, and most of them are forced recruits and/or people with minimal military training and combat experience. While this manpower managed to slowdown the Russian advances, by using the vast network of fortifications and fortified towns and villages that they prepared and strengthened since 2014…this is no longer the case.
The front cracked in multiple locations, some Ukrainian brigades fleeing without order, others refused to follow orders, Russia is taking control of towns and villages [at] an increasing rate, since Avdeevka fell, the current fortifications are much weaker, and Russian troops are now passed the mildly hilly areas and went into open terrain. The big picture is that the Ukrainian army is on the brink of collapse, after being reduced in the last 2 years, and especially in the last 3 months (talking about game changers, there is only one : Russian aviation using FAB bombs extensively across the front lines), and there are only 2 options left for Ukraine – capitulation or full retreat across Dniepr river.
As I said back in the summer of 2023, the retreat across Dniepr should have taken place THEN, otherwise Ukraine’s army will be decimated. Retreating now across Dniepr will only BUY SOME TIME for the United States to send its troops and its vassals troops into Ukraine…IF that is what the U.S. is aiming to do…which I believe it is.
By opening the old fronts in Kahrkiv and Sumy, Russia is extending the current 300,000 poorly trained and equipped Ukrainian troops, to an additional 200-300 km front (I believe it will be much longer, around 600 km, because after Kharkiv, comes Sumy, and after, Chernigiv fronts), from a former 900 km front line.
Mathematically speaking, 300,000 Ukrainian troops defending a 900 km front line, will now have to defend a potential (and in my view 100% certain) a front line that is DOUBLE that.
Now, the military goal of Russia is to create the illusion that the United States and its vassal have a choice: commit to the fight, directly, and attempt to stop the collapse of Ukrainian army (or commit to this fight after Ukrainian army collapse), or…leave Ukraine being defeated, stay aside, and avoid WW3.
This is only a illusion of choice, because Russia is actually forcing the United States and its vassal to COMMIT to the fight.
Remember what I have said for over a year now? That Ukraine will NEVER GET F-16s? Well, they still didn’t get any, and will never get any, for reasons that I have explained a year ago, but I will shortly summarize them now : F-16 is a platform that can only function within the NATO military framework, Ukraine doesn’t have proper airfields for F-16s, and if we will ever see Western jets engaging the Russians, those will be piloted by NATO pilots and will operate from NATO airfields.
It is crystal clear that Ukraine lost the war, and the only hope to stop (it’s just a hope, really) Russia is a massive influx of trained troops and military hardware, including a large number of fighter jets, helicopters, cruise missiles, etc.
Ukraine DOES NOT HAVE the trained manpower to operate the required quantity of military hardware that is needed to fight Russia. NATO can send ALL OF THEIR JETS AND TANKS to Ukraine…here aren’t people to use them. And even if there were, such a large quantity of manpower and hardware will only be successful IF OPERATED WITHIN NATO FRAMEWORK AND DOCTRINE.
What I believe that will happen in the next 45 to 60 days, is, 100%, the collapse of Ukrainian Armed Forces. What is also 100% certain, in my view, is a number of NATO countries will OFFICIALLY ENTER the conflict in Ukraine, during, or right after the Ukrainian army collapses.
What is not certain, is how many NATO troops, how good they are, how equipped they are, and what is their goal. If the United States still believe that Russia can be weakened, those NATO troops will aim, at minimum, to secure Odessa and Kiev, which means that Dniepr river have to be secured, and be the new front line.
At this current attrition rate, the appetite for NATO countries to send troops, the Ukrainian Army have about 45 to 60 days to retreat beyond Dniepr, because they will still have roughly 200,000 troops, and NATO to send in at least 100,000 troops.
You cannot secure the Dniepr river without a MINIMUM of 300,000 troops, even if you blow up all the bridges. Keep in mind that Kiev is right on the Dniepr, split in two by the river. Also keep in mind that Russia can easily re-enter Ukraine from Belarus, making the Dniepr river irrelevant as a natural front line.
But, at least, they (200k Ukrainian and 100k NATO troops) can concentrate on the border of Belarus, on the defense of Kiev, and on the Kherson part of Dniepr, buying enough time to reinforce Odessa, Kiev and Belarusian border, give the proximity of Poland (Belarus and Kiev areas) and Romania (Odessa area).
So, to sum up : Ukrainian army is going to collapse in the next 45 to 60 days, during which they will retreat toward Dniepr, NATO troops will enter Ukraine, with the aim to create a strong defense in Kiev, along Belarusian border and on Kherson part of the Dniepr, to secure Odessa, and later on, with the aim of strengthening the above areas, while deploying along Western bank of the Dniepr.
This is basically, in my view, the only possibility to avoid a nuclear war, the conflict will end up in a stalemate between Russia and NATO, and diplomacy will, hopefully start happening.
But…there is a BIG BUT. The above (hopeful) scenario means a DEFEAT FOR BOTH RUSSIA AND NATO.
Without a serious buffer, Russia’s security will always be at risk. Nothing less then what Russia asked NATO in December 2021 (removal of all NATO bases from Eastern Europe) is going to stop Russia. Nothing less then a defeat of Russia is going to stop the United States policy of weakening Russia.
A Russia that occupies half of Ukraine means that NATO was strategically defeated. A Russia that ONLY occupies half of Ukraine, while the other half is full of NATO troops, and all NATO bases are still in place across Eastern Europe, means a defeated Russia in its strategic goals.
If my today’s prediction, that Ukraine army will collapse and start retreating across Dniepr, while NATO officially deploys troops in Ukraine will happen during the next 45 to 60 days…let us pray that a compromise will somehow happen, because the alternative is WORLD WAR 3.
I have very low hope that a compromise will happen…
————– END —————–
Hal Turner Remarks
I very much admire and respect the concise assembly of thought and facts above. It took many aspects of the current conflict into account, and laid out realistic results/consequences of each. Very well written, i think.
This past Friday night, on my radio show, I alerted listeners that a new offensive had commenced by Russia, heading for Kharkiv. The piece above speaks about that.
What I did not project in my remarks, the piece above does. The timeline is always the big unknown.
For instance, when I reported on my radio show that Ukraine assessed Russia’s offensive would being in the late summer, early fall, I had to point out they were way wrong because it had already begun Friday.
The Russians have made very significant gains in the past few days. The Ukraine Army is crumbling already.
So while the writer above suggests 45-60 days for things to come to the point where NATO has to crap or get off the pot, it could be much faster than that. It could also be slower. As above the timeline is always the big unknown.
What is known, though, is that time has grown very short. Whatever enormous event/change is coming, it is now VERY close.
If this thing goes wild weasel, and we start getting hit by Russian missiles here in the USA, you had better be prepared. Food, water, Medicine, generator, fuel for it, radio gear for communications, cash money in your house — not to pay bills, but to survive on. Guns, ammo, and mental willingness to shoot other human beings who are trying to steal your food.
I have a sick feeling we’re heading into some horrifying calamity; and almost no one in the entire country, seems aware of it. The mass media has not reported the serious developments and goings-on relating to the conflict. The American people, and most Europeans, will likely be totally blind-sided when it happens.
YOU have the upper hand. YOU pay attention to sites like this one. YOU have had advance warning. YOU will have prepared as best you can, and that will put YOU faaaaar ahead of the general public.
In any event, get right with God.
ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA 🇹🇿 Things To Do
How is this even legal?
Unethical life hacks.
Whenever you are starting a new job, always let them know that you have 4 alive grandparents. Then you have 4 pre-made excuses for whenever you don’t want to come into work.
When you’re shopping online and need to reach a threshold for free delivery, simply add a gift card to your order. The next time you make a purchase, you can use the card and repeat the process.
When dining alone at a restaurant, bring a notebook. Write in it occasionally. The staff might think you’re a food critic, and they’ll likely try their best to impress you, maybe even treating you to some free food.
If someone ever calls you fat, tell them you used to be 75 lbs heavier. It will make them feel guilty for saying it to you, while also making you look accomplished for losing weight.
Use airplane mode to hang up on people. They will see “call failed” instead of “call ended”.
When you’re looking for a job, post a fake ad for a very similar position on the internet so you could check out the resumes of your competition.
Don’t show your Tinder profile or Instagram to your date. Show your profile on some niche platform like luxy
or Mensa to go from being average to standing out.
If your girl ever gets mad at you and won’t speak, just tighten up all the jars in the house. Eventually she’ll have to talk to you to get your help opening up one of the jars.
If your coworker ever calls in sick for work, you can do the same 1-3 days later. Your boss will think you have the same thing and it’s “going around the office”. Your boss may even do the same shortly after you. It’s called the “fake flu”.
lf you want people to stop letting dogs sh*t on your lawn. Instead of a sign saying “no dogs allowed”, put up one saying “Lawn recently treated with toxic pesticides”. Nobody would let their dog anywhere near your lawn ever again.
If you’re in a taxi and you think the driver is purposely driving slow to get the meter up. Just cough or sneeze to make yourself seem sick and watch the driver speed up to prevent catching something from you.
If you want to slack off at work, slack off but act annoyed or frustrated around your boss. This will give the impression that you’re working hard and the job is getting you heated.
Chinese firearms training in first grade
The Chinese begin military training in first grade and continue with the training throughout the school years.
Who is the most dangerous person that you have ever met or encountered?
A woman named Diane. She was convinced that she was supposed to marry my brother. They never dated or anything, we three played pool one night, and he was kind to her. When she went off her medication, things changed. She threatened to kill me and my family, she left strange objects in the night drop where my brother worked, she tracked him down when he moved, and called me repeatedly, leaving terrifying messages. I changed my phone number. She also started stalking my nephew, and found out where he worked, then called repeatedly. She then called my church, and left messages saying horrible things about me.
During Covid, it all stopped. Nobody heard a peep. At this point, she had been homeless for a while, and we assume Covid killed her, or something else. I tried Googling her several times, but she had literally disappeared off the face of the earth.
She terrified me. I even called my kids schools and gave them a picture of her.
When I knew her in the 90’s, I didn’t know she was schizophrenic. We worked together and hung out. I wish she would have told me because I would have encouraged her to stay on her meds. I’ll always wonder what happened to her because, even though she scared me in the worst times, she was a friend in the good times.
Today’s Shorpy
SHORPY 8a34972a.preview
SHORPY 8a34955a.preview
SHORPY 33572u.preview
SHORPY 8d27495a.preview
SHORPY 31287u.preview
SHORPY IMG051.preview
SHORPY Pennsy 1.preview
SHORPY K4 081112 019 1951.preview
SHORPY Scan 120609 0006.preview
SHORPY Scan 120609 0018.preview
SHORPY 30162u.preview
SHORPY 28540u.preview
SHORPY K4 081112 010.preview
SHORPY 8b27353a.preview
SHORPY 33210u.preview
SHORPY 8a34967a.preview
SHORPY 4a14546a.preview
SHORPY 4a18646a.preview
SHORPY 4a25304a.preview
SHORPY 8b36723a.preview
SHORPY 8c33619a.preview
SHORPY 11565a.preview
SHORPY 4a13192a.preview
SHORPY 4a18265a.preview
SHORPY 8d27647a.preview
SHORPY 8c33614a.preview
SHORPY 8d27573a1.preview
SHORPY 8d25343a.preview
Chinese village couple’s ‘rural-style shuffle dance’ goes viral online
Louisiana Fried Chicken with Pepper Sauce
louisiana fried chicken
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Chicken
2 1/2 pounds chicken parts, rinsed and patted dry
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
4 cups vegetable oil, for frying
Pepper Sauce (optional)
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/4 cups no-salt or low-sodium chicken broth
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Chicken
Place chicken in large, glass bowl or dish; pour buttermilk over it. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
In medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt, celery salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne. Dredge chicken pieces in flour, two at a time, turning to coat all sides thoroughly. Set chicken on a rack and let sit for 30 minutes.
Sauce
In medium saucepan over medium heat, warm butter. Stir in onion and bell pepper. Stew peppers until soft, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in flour and cayenne. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.
Gradually stir in chicken broth. Bring sauce to simmer; reduce heat to low and let cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add salt; remove from heat and set aside until needed.
In large, cast iron skillet add oil to fill 3/4 inch deep. Over medium-high heat, warm oil to 350 degrees F. using kitchen thermometer to test oil temperature. Carefully place chicken, skin-side-down in oil. Reduce heat to medium and cook chicken for 15 minutes until browned.
Turn chicken and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until internal temperature registers 180 degrees F on thermometer. Remove chicken and drain on paper towels.
Have you ever been to a care facility for senior people? It’s pretty sad how life plays out.
The good news about living alone right now is that it’s easier to live alone someday should you be the remaining person of the relationship. Sure you may have children or whatnot, but they may not be around as much as you’ll be alone for a vast majority of time.
A common thing I’ve seen in old folks home is that at the end of life, oftentime they go completely alone. These aren’t people who lived a single life, but some were business owners, family people, and people who lived a otherwise full life but this is how they end. It’s kind of selfish to think, but the person who passed before them probably had it lucky to die quickly instead of waiting it out until the end.
A common scene that I’ve seen is someone about to pass, call their family, then they don’t come. The person is left to go alone and they have no one to see them other than the people who work there. Oftentimes these people aren’t used to being alone because they’ve been in a relationship nearly all of their lives and suddenly they’re experiencing everything you are right now on top of their own demise. I’m not sure how that feels but I imagine it would be a lot more torturous and painful than if you had no one and just wondered what sort of life you could have had.
Amazon
How do I make close friends, not just acquaintances, as a female in my early 30s? I’m unmarried, have no children, and I don’t have a great career due to health issues. I’m volunteering in a passion project, but the relationships remain shallow.
I developed a trick. Here’s a common situation: I am very busy, with something I need to get done in the next two hours. Someone I know sees me and says, “Hey Rich, how about getting a cup of coffee with me?” My prior answer used to be, “Can’t. I’ve got to get this done.”
No longer. Now I have a standard answer: “Sure.”
In retrospect, the urgent thing I needed to get done was almost never really urgent. That amazes me. I had simply been putting work ahead of friendship.
I came across an aphorism that encapsulates this: “Never let the merely urgent get in the way of the truly important.” I love that phrase, “merely urgent”! (Nobody really knows who first articulated this thought, but it is a good guide to living your life well.)
I believe the key to friendship is spending unstructured time with people. Discussing business over coffee doesn’t count. Taking a hike to discuss business does count, because in my experience a two hour hike rarely consists of more than 30 minutes of serious business; the rest of the time you are talking about things that don’t really matter. And those conversations often drift, naturally, into discussions that do matter. And then you are at the beginning of a formation of a new true friendship.
What is the smartest comment that you have heard a child make?
I have an almost 21 year old grandson who is still as delightful as he was as a little one. He was a real charmer, but at three he realized he couldn’t charm his parents. We were at an outdoor theater and while waiting we bought popcorn for all of us. My grandson really wanted more, but both mom and dad said no. While still waiting for the play to begin my grandson started exploring where we were seated. We were in the back thinking the kids would get bored. This way they would have more room to move around. My grandson did just that, but with a purpose. He found a lady sitting eating her popcorn. He went and sat next to her. With his big brown eyes he looked at her and “Nice people share their popcorn.’ Of course she gave him some. This is the same kid who sang ‘Jesus must die” in the grocery store because his parents were both working for the show and he was at most rehearsals. My daughter in law said she couldn’t believe that of all the lines in all the songs this was the one he remember. She quickly left the store. I really love this young man since always.
36,000 Kids You Don’t Want to Mess With
This is China.
When did you realize that something you grew up doing in your house wasn’t normal or socially acceptable? What was it?
I was in college, and driving home for a break. Stopped at my roommate’s house on the way, to drop her off. I was invited to spend the night, and did, so I could complete the remaining drive rested.
That evening, my roommate sat at her mother’s feet and told her mom all about college life. Like … ALL about college life. And her mom listened attentively, and asked questions showing her interest, and shared experiences and they laughed together.
I remember being stunned that when her parents asked, “How was the semester?” my friend actually TOLD her parents how the semester was.
I can remember one time I came home from a movie and my mom asked how it was, and I gave my usual “Fine” response, and my mom then asked what movie I went to. I remember that because it literally only happened once. And I had to pause to remember what movie I went to because I was so surprised she asked.
Real, heartfelt communication with one’s parents was a completely novel concept for me.
I also remember when I was 15, a friend was talking to our theater director, crying on her shoulder about something that happened at home. I was confused by what I considered to be my friend’s over-reaction. My theater director looked at me and made eye contact and said, “The way your mother treats you isn’t normal. When she hits you, it’s child abuse.”
I remember that moment so clearly. It was the first inkling I ever got that not everybody was beaten by their moms.
What is the most brutal military force in history?
Many come to mind. The Imperial Japanese Army. The Mongols. The Huns. All war is terrible, but these groups I think deserve to be put into a class of their own when it comes to their brutality. However I think to find truly the most barbaric military force to ever walk the earth we have to wind back the clocks thousands of years to the time of the Neo-Assyrian empire.
Many if not all militaries have engaged in horrible atrocities throughout their period of existence, but few reveled in it the way the Assyrians did. Just look at a few of these primary sources, from the annals of various Assyrian kings:
“I felled 3,000 of their fighting men with the sword. I carried off prisoners, possessions, oxen, and cattle from them. I burnt many captives from them. I captured many troops alive: from some I cut off their arms and hands; from others I cut off their noses, ears, and extremities. I gouged out the eyes of many troops. I made one pile of the living and one of heads. I hung their heads on trees around the city, I burnt their adolescent boys and girls. I razed, destroyed, burnt, and consumed the city.”
—Ashurbanipal II
“I cut their throats like lambs. I cut off their precious lives as one cuts a string. Like the many waters of a storm, I made their gullets and entrails run down upon the wide earth. My prancing steeds harnessed for my riding, plunged into the streams of their blood as into a river. The wheels of my chariot, which brings low the wicked and the evil,were bespattered with blood and filth. With the bodies of their warriors I filled the plain, like grass. Their testicles I cut off, and tore the privates like the seeds of a cucumber.”
—Sennacherib
“I filled the wide plain with the corpses of his warriors. These rebels I impaled on stakes. A pyramid of heads I erected in front of the city.”
—Shalmeneser III
“I flayed as many nobles as had rebelled against me and draped their skins over the pile of corpses; some I spread out within the pile, some I erected on stakes upon the pile… I flayed many right through my land and draped their skins over the walls.”
—Ashurnasirpal II
The Assyrians didn’t just record their appalling behavior in writing, they also carved them into stone:
main qimg b8487715f476ab3b40851bdb4ea53200 lq
Assyrian “art” depicting the flayed skins of dead enemies being hung on a city’s walls
main qimg 3ed26d542cd41537cd5ce4ace81c640b lq
Victims of impalement
Assyrians ripping the tongues out of captives
main qimg 1f40b78acb64a2f3415b515e90c10c6b lq
Despite the barbarity of it all, there was a method to the Assyrian madness. The sheer brutality with which the Assyrians acted was done with the goal of dissuading cities from rebelling. Most ancient empires collapse due to internal unrest, and the Assyrians were determined to prevent this fate from befalling them. Their cruelty was a double-edged sword in that while it did convince some cities to stay in line, it also angered others and made them even less tamable than before. Eventually the rebellions mounted and grew to be too much, and Assyria collapsed due to a revolt by the Babylonians and an invasion by the Medes. Whenever I think of the Assyrians, I think of the famous proverb that goes something along the lines of “The harder you squeeze the water in your hand, the more that slips through your fingers”. The story of the Assyrian Empire is a story of squeezing too hard.
Have you ever witnessed someone standing up to a bully? What happened?
I haven’t witnessed someone, but my son was bullied.
I received a call from a principle about an altercation my son had with a bully.
My son was skipping breakfast and buying donuts on his way to school.
He hadn’t eaten the donuts, and they were in his backpack.
The school was having an assembly before classes began.
I guess the bag was part way out of his backpack, so the bully took them out and dumped them on the floor.
The bully and his companions laughed on the way to the assembly.
This incensed my son, and he picked up a jelly-filled donut and went into the assembly.
He found the bully sitting with his companions and smeared the jelly donut all over his face.
He then shouted, “If you ever do that again, I’ll do it again.”
Of course, this stunned the assembly and the principal grabbed both my son and the bully and took them to his office.
His punishment for both was to read War and Peace and give the principal a report on the book.
When the principal called me, he explained that the bully was a well-known bully, and he was much bigger than my son. He feared that this was not the end of the story.
I told him my son had already read War and Peace, so that may not be a punishment for him.
So, the principal meted out another punishment. He would help the janitor clean the assembly hall.
When my son came home late, I asked him why he was late.
He told me he met a nice janitor and helped him clean up the assembly hall.
I just said, “That was nice of you.”
Neither my wife nor my son know the princpal called and they are not on Quora, so I’m spilling the beans here.
One of the things that stunned me about Massachusetts was the cemeteries. They were so nice. In fact, they resembled parks. With nice landscaping, ponds, pools, and nice stone structures replete with statues. It was unheard of in the rest of the country. But in Rhode Island, in Connecticut, and in New York the cemeteries were simply amazing.
I found out later that this was because back in the mid 1800’s, about the time of the American Civil War, these were the places where people would go to have weekend picnics.
Milford, Mass Irish Round Tower
Back then, people did not have cars. They had horses and buggies. A 25 mile or 100 Km trip was an all day affair, and you just don’t want to spend 20 hours in a horse and buggy.
But the cemeteries were close and you would just hop on your bicycle, horse, or carriage and go there for a cool spell under some shady trees.
Of course, one the automobile was invented and became common, this role pretty much disappeared. But if you look at the old photos, you can easily see people enjoying a picnic in the cemetery back then at that time.
Personally, I think that we tend to lose some of the great things that our great grandparents took for granted. Like high ceilings in homes with transoms above the doors, nice shady and deep front porches, and walk in pantries. Big shady trees. Wide streets, with wide sidewalks. No motorized (noise making) lawnmowers, instead opting for fields of clover. And, quaint family alcove porches.
And let’s add… a nice shady picnic spot close to home.
Today…
What is the most badass thing your parent has ever done?
When I was in elementary school, around third grade, my teacher used to yell at me a lot because my handwriting was terrible. She would get so frustrated at me as I was left-handed, but she wouldn’t let me write with my left hand.
It got to a point that if she saw a pencil in my left hand; she came over to my desk and hit me with her ruler. Sometimes I cried. It embarrassed me in front of my classmates, as I was the only kid who was left-handed.
I didn’t understand why I was being punished. I mean, my dad was left-handed, and so were my grandpa and a couple of uncles.
But then one day after walking home from school, my mom noticed my left hand and how red it was. She asked me why thinking I bumped it playing or something else. I told her my teacher hit me again with her ruler. I told my mom that she didn’t like me using my left hand to write. She calmly went to the phone and called the school principal. She asked to meet him the next day.
So there I was with my parents, sitting in the principal’s office, along with my teacher. And boy oh boy, did my mom tear in to them. Mom sternly said, “Inflicting physical harm on a child because they are left-handed and forced to use their right hand for writing is totally unacceptable.” My dad sat there smoking his pipe and letting mom do all the yelling. I remember the conversation ended with the word “lawyer.”
The next day, I had a new teacher that was very supportive of my left-handedness. That new teacher was wonderful and kind. Mom and dad came to my new class several times that month and also liked her.
I always saw my dear mother as a calm and dignified person, never making trouble. It really took a lot to get her mad. And that day when I showed her my inflamed left hand, I saw change coming in the distance as my mom set it right. I was never hit again.
People No Longer Trust The AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ……
What is the most foolish thing you did as a kid?
When I was in 2nd Standard, I finished 2 hour long Math paper in 20 mins and received a slap for it from my father.
When I was in 2nd standard, It was the first time I received a printed question paper in the examination. My first exam subject was math and I was good in math. So after prayer, we went to our classes to write the exams and within 10 minutes, the teacher handed us the question paper and the answer copy. There were 5 parts in the question paper and each part consisted of 3 questions and on the top of the question paper, it was written in bold letters “Attempt only three.” I was on cloud nine after reading this line and didn’t bother to clarify this with the teacher. So I solved all the 3 questions of first part in 20 minutes and handed the answer copy to the teacher. Even the teacher was surprised and asked whether I finished the whole paper or not. I made the same statement again. “Yes, I am good in math.” While leaving the class, I was walking as slow as possible so that whole class can see that boy who just finished question paper in 20 minutes.
When I reached home in next 10 minutes, my father was getting ready for office. After seeing me returning so early, he asked what happened to your exam? I replied I finished the paper in 20 minutes. It was easy and short. My father asked me to show him the question paper. He asked me again which 3 parts I solved in the exam? With no clue what is going to happen within next few seconds, I said all the 3 questions of part A. You guys know what happened next.
Next day my father went to my School and convinced the teacher to conduct a separate exam for me. This time I finished the paper in 1 hour and 30 mins but still waited for the remaining 30 mins, so that I don’t receive a slap for it.
China’s Canton Fair 2024 AMERICA Wants BANNED
Are Russian tanks really as bad as people say, or is it a Western-centric view on Tank warfare vs how the Russians see Tank Warfare? Is it corruption and lack of supplies that have hindered their tanks or just the tanks themselves?
Russian tanks are not as bad as they are portrayed in the west no. There is a prevalent idea that Russian tanks are easy to destroy, while western tanks are hard to destroy. This is not the case. What is true is that Russian style tanks when the ammo is detonated can explode catastrophically, which is far less likely in western tanks due to blowout panels. Some people choose to imagine this means that western crews are always okay when the tank is penetrated. This is also incorrect. But let’s talk a little about how the Russians and the west sees tank warfare.
Russian tanks are primary designed for breakthrough and exploitation, western tanks are primarily designed for anti-tank duty. Until very recently, western tanks were not equipped with HE-FRAG rounds at all, which is the primary ammunition for dealing with infantry. In contrast, Soviet tanks and now Russian tanks have always considered the HE-FRAG round to be the primary ordnance of the tank.
Russians see tank warfare as integral in providing fire-support for combined arms groups, and exploiting breakthroughs. In the current conflict, exploitation has not been possible, due to the NATO support Ukraine is getting in the form of electronic intelligence, surveillance and supply lines from factories which cannot be touched. If Russia will be able to use tanks in their intended role of exploitation again remains to be seen, but the reality of modern combat might make this impossible with the Soviet style tanks. However, this is no different for the western tanks all of which proved very easy to destroy with simple drones and old land mines.
If we actually go by the established narrative in the west, it doesn’t actually look that good. As you may remember, in the beginning of this war, when most of the Russian tanks were lost, we heard a lot about the super weapons of Javelins, N-LAWs and Bayraktars and other such weapons. These weapons are highly modern and extremely expensive. All of them created after the T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks were made. So essentially newer anti tank weapons from the west destroyed older Soviet tanks. This is to be expected surely?
Contrast this with the destroyed Abrams, Leopards and Challengers. Most of which were taken out by FPV drones or mines. The T-72 is indeed vulnerable to a javelin, the Leopard 2 was proven vulnerable to a toy drone with an RPG-7 warhead from the 1970s duct taped to it. Indeed most of them did not blow up catastrophically, but they are destroyed none the less.
Western tanks have a good reputation, because people are very impressed by first world militaries beating up under-equipped and exhausted third world countries without modern weapons. Ukraine is the first time these western tanks have actually encountered a professional military with modernish weapons, and they have completely failed to live up to their hype, instead performing no better than Ukraine’s T-64 tanks really.
I am of course not saying that Russian tanks are phenomenal, but they were designed to fight this kind of war, and losses were expected in their inception. This is less true for western tanks, which on the other hand has been lauded as nearly indestructible, and was claimed to be able to sweep aside Russian defenses when they encountered them. This turned out to be a pure fantasy, and the reality is that both western and eastern tanks are equally destroyed by drones, mines and missiles, and are otherwise fairly similar in capabilities.
Quick
Shorpy
SHORPY 8b36525u1.preview
SHORPY 4a10829a.preview
SHORPY 8d27869a.preview
SHORPY 8d27880a.preview
SHORPY 8d27679a.preview
SHORPY 5a19603u.preview
SHORPY 8b36535u.preview
SHORPY Kermy185a.preview
SHORPY 8b37537u.preview
SHORPY 8b36916a.preview
SHORPY 8d20394u.preview
SHORPY 5a06571u.preview
TaketheScenicway 0.preview
SHORPY 8b29537a.preview
Have you ever walked into your house and noticed a sound that you thought was suspicious? What happened?
Actually, was lying in bed sick once, a few years ago, and my son took my car to school, wife left for work, daughter drove off in her car. So, I’m alone in the house and no cars are in our driveway. I’m lying there quietly resting upstairs in my bedroom. No TV on. Just silence… suddenly I hear the sound of broken glass. Then I heard the back door opening downstairs, and the sound of glass crunching under someone’s feet. our sensor went off. it was on silent and because it wasn’t armed, it wasn’t calling police. Our dog (a German shepherd) who was laying on the edge of my bed, jumps down and starts to slowly walk to the open bedroom door, slowly, the hair on the back of her neck was standing straight up. She started a low slow growl and inched forward until she got to the edge of the door and I could hear the stairs creaking. Our dog then got into hunting pose and raised her front foot and deepened her growl and I could now see her baring her teeth. I had never seen her like this. She almost looked like a wild animal. I reached over into my nightstand and pulled out my loaded Glock handgun. I pointed the gun at the opened door wondering if the dog would scare the intruder away or I would see her being shot. Suddenly our dog ran forward barking and loud snarling sound and I heard a scream and thumping as someone ran for their life from our dog who clearly has a hold of them. I hear the front door slam and ran to window to see a guy running through the front yard and off down the sidewalk. I called the police and described him. He was caught a few streets away with blood running down his arm and he had a hole torn in his pants.
our brave pooch just came back upstairs, wagging her tail and jumped back on the bed and acted like nothing happened. She had blood on her face, but after cleaning her I realized it wasn’t her blood. LOL She got a few extra treats that week.
As a police officer, have you ever responded to a call and once you got there said to yourself, “Nope, not worth it” and just left?
Once. I pulled up behind a car stopped on the shoulder of the interstate. 5 Hispanic gang banger types standing around it. I ask if they need help. They spoke very little English but they spoke Spanish among themselves. I noticed they kept encircling me. I would step out of their circle and they would encircle me again. Then a guy in the back seat hiding under a blanket appears. Hackles on my neck are standing straight up by now. So… I get back to my squad car and drive away. I don’t know how it would have turned out had I stayed but I am pretty sure I would not be here to write this answer.
Edited to add the following. In rural areas there is no backup. I was the only squad car within 50 miles. Secondly while I thought these guys were acting weird they were not actually doing anything illegal, they were simply stopped along side the interstate and standing beside their car.
Aliens & Espionage: Crop Circles and the CIA Coverup
What’s a thing elderly people regret in their lives?
My biggest regret was having children, I gave my life to my kids, they got everything, the best clothes, the best food, the finest schools and I stayed in a loveless marriage for 25 years to make sure they got a good education. They complained every day of my life, the clothes weren’t expensive enough, the food wasn’t good enough, they never went to class. All in all a total waste of my entire life, my oldest is 33 and my youngest is 31. It’s 9 years since I’ve seen or heard from them, they don’t answer emails, I don’t know where they are, I feel like, to them I was just an ATM
Orange Shrimp Quinoa Bowls
A Bowl Full of Flavor
The sauce is light and has a sweet yet spicy vibe. Everything rests over 1 cup of steamy quinoa – a filling base that also serves as an easy way to add some healthy grains to your diet.
orange shrimp quinoa bowls
Yield: 2 servings
(Culinary.net) If you’re looking for a dinner or lunch combination that is wholesome, filling and, of course, easy, you’re not alone. Meal prepping is a popular trend for many people (and families) who are working on healthy eating habits but are constantly on the go.
No matter if you’re searching for a healthy family dinner, a quick lunch at home or an easy idea to meal prep for the week ahead, this Orange Shrimp Quinoa Bowl is perfect for seafood lovers who also enjoy a hint of spice. It’s fresh, healthy and full of deliciously prepared shrimp and veggies, including mushrooms, peppers and cucumbers.
To make this quick and easy recipe, prepare the quinoa according to the package directions and set aside.
Next, combine orange juice, hot sauce, honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, lime juice and miso in a medium bowl and whisk together.
Pour about one-fourth of the liquid into a separate bowl and set aside the smaller portion.
In the medium bowl, add shrimp to marinate for about 15 minutes.
Add butter to a hot skillet, along with the shrimp mixture. Cook shrimp for 2 minutes on each side then add mushrooms and cook until tender.
Now it’s time to assemble your bowls. Start with quinoa then top with bell peppers, cucumbers, green onions, avocado and the perfectly pink shrimp. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cilantro for some extra texture. Drizzle bowls with the remaining sauce.
Find more wholesome and healthy recipes at Culinary.net.
Watch video to see how to make this recipe!
Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon white miso
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cucumber, sliced into half moons
5 green onions, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
Instructions
Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Set aside.
In medium bowl, whisk orange juice, hot sauce, honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, lime juice and miso until combined. Pour one-quarter of liquid into separate bowl. Set aside.
Add shrimp to remaining mixture and marinate 15 minutes.
Heat large skillet over medium heat with butter. Add shrimp, salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes on each side until pink. Add mushrooms and cook until tender.
In two serving bowls, divide quinoa, bell pepper, cucumber, onions, avocado and shrimp. Sprinkle sesame seeds and cilantro over both bowls.
If you feel yourself becoming attracted to your best friend’s spouse/SO, don’t think self-control will win. RUN to the nearest exit and don’t look back.
It’s not worth it to move into a neighborhood where the residents enjoy a higher standard of living than you can afford. If you do that, you’ll always feel poor.
A friendship is not worth it if the person makes you feel bad about yourself even if it’s only from time to time.
If you think you can’t afford to invest money in an IRA early on, see what it’s like working beyond 65 because you failed to plan.
It’s not worth buying the “house of your dreams” only to be “house poor”.
Credit cards can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Decide early on what kind of relationship you want to have with them.
It’s not worth it to tell your current best friend a long-held secret. Your friendship may die, but your secret will be passed on.
If your friends do drugs, it’s time to find new friends.
Dinner should be a family time with an exchange of the day’s events. It’s not worth it to turn it into a battleground by forcing your kids to eat something they don’t like. Not even a taste. As their taste buds mature, they’ll try everything you “forced” them to eat when they weren’t ready.
Arguments are a “great” opportunity to drag out a laundry list of past grievances. Agree, early on, not to do that.
Don’t get married until you can afford to live on your own. Moving in with the in-laws is a bad way to start life together.
It’s not worth it to drop out of school because you hate it. Stick it out. You’ll be glad you did when you fill out a job application.
It’s not worth it to curse “a blue streak” then hear those exact words coming out of your three-year-old’s mouth. It’s truly ugly to hear that.
It’s not worth it to marry “just” because you love someone. You must be in agreement/compatible on the major areas of your lives.
It’s not worth it to take a vacation visiting museums and strolling through historic districts when your children are very young. When toddlers are bored they cry. Wait until they’re older or grown to take that type of vacation.
It’s not worth it to “beat your children into submission”. Instead, deprive them of an item they love or something they love to do. They’ll feel the “pain” and you’ll get your point across.
Don’t ignore your spouse/SO when she/he is talking to you. You might miss something that will alter your relationship altogether. Worse yet, he/she might give up trying to communicate with you.
My uncle worked at a job he hated for 41 years only giving lip service to looking for another one. Don’t waste half your life like my uncle did.
Unless your parents are utterly despicable, listen to their advice. You don’t have to take it, but give them the courtesy of listening. In most cases, no one else in the world is more interested in you than they are.
It’s not worth it to let your child play one parent against the other. Be in agreement in front of the kids then work out your disciplining differences behind closed doors.
What is your weirdest dorm room experience?
I set off the fire alarm for the entire campus.
It was mortifying. And weird.
I was starving and broke in college, and after I once walked 45 minutes to meet my brother so I could save on bus fare, and greeted him with a rumbling stomach, he was appalled. I was peeling potatoes for a caterer at $7 an hour every spare moment I had between classes, but it barely covered my textbooks, let alone transportation and food.
My mom kept sending him food packages and money, so he asked her if she could send some food to me next time instead.
She sent me a bag full of steaks, and I was very grateful. I had a tiny burner in my dorm and I used it to sear them, then cook in cheap wine.
Those steaks were delicious. It was the first time I’d had normal food all year.
My dorm counselor was sure I was an alcoholic because every time she walked into my dorm room, there was another half empty bottle of wine there.
One day, I was running low on wine and didn’t have enough money to buy more. I decided to reuse the wine I had and cook a second steak in it the next day.
Big, big mistake.
I put it in my pan, and started writing a report while waiting for it to get ready. All of a sudden, I smelled something smoking. I ran to the burner – the wine was burning. I frantically turned the knob off and raced to open the window-
but it was too late.
The loudest fire alarm I ever heard went off.
Girls started racing out of their dorm rooms. Students were screaming, crying, “Fire!”
I didn’t know what to do. There was one other girl in the dorm with me. We gave each other a significant look, she nodded to confirm she wouldn’t tell everyone it was me who caused this wreckage, and I dumped the wrecked pan into an empty cabinet.
We went out into the crowded hallway and my dormmate started yelling into the cacophony “It’s a drill! It’s just a drill!”
Then we heard other alarms pealing. I finally got out of my dorm building and watched in horror as the alarms went off in the other dorm buildings, one by one. They were all interconnected.
Each building evacuated. One of my classmates was panicking because her pet goldfish named Denis was stuck in her dorm room, and she thought Denis was going to burn to death.
My friend was down the hill a few blocks away, and heard the fire alarms. In fact, most of the neighborhood heard the alarms. It took hours to still the pandemonium.
That was definitely my weirdest dorm room experience. And my most embarrassing one too.
This WRECKED Her! Oliver Anthony – 90 Some Chevy Reaction
"If you really want to scratch Washington's neoconservatives hard and get the scabs off the wounds—they hate Tehran more than they hate Beijing.Beijing is a big economic challenge, a big specter out there, and it threatens that tiny little island of 23 million democratic people called Taiwanese.That's sort of pro forma for China.With Iran, it's visceral hatred. John Bolton would like to go to Iran and dance on the Ayatollah's grave—that's how serious it is with some of these people.So, don't ever think that we hate China like we hate Tehran.That's just the reality of the situation.It's not every American, and it's not every member of the Biden Administration—or it wouldn't be every member of a Trump Administration—but it's enough people to make the policy demented.And that's what our policy towards Tehran is.That's why we—you know, 'Oh no, nobody talks to Tehran unless we give them permission to.'China's interest in the region is economic; it's Belt and Road Initiative development.It's, 'I got lots of money. I want to turn that money into more money. I want to do this; I want to do that. But I also have this interest in, and Washington has given me an unprecedented opening to show that we're better than Washington; that when you sign up with us, they may tell you that we're predatory. They may say we're going to steal your farms, we're going to do this; we're going to do that with your labor force—but we're better than Washington. And let us demonstrate—just give us an opportunity to show our diplomatic prowess, our economic prowess, our financial prowess, our agricultural prowess—whatever it might be. Give us a chance to demonstrate, and if you don't like this aspect of it, we'll back up a little, and you tell us what you want.'That's kind of China's approach now, and it's working.It's working as much as anything because of Washington's errors—mistakes, drastic mistakes—like this unbridled, unquestioned support for Israel.While Tony Blinken cries in his milk, and others do, and Biden sometimes cries in his milk over the horrors that are taking place.They haven't turned off a single bomb, a single bullet—they haven't turned off anything.So, China's got a wonderful opportunity here to show us up as the biggest hypocrites on the face of the Earth.And that's what they're about.Their diplomatic prowess is going to aim at showing the rest of the world what insane people live in Washington.And they've got a marvelous opportunity to do that with regard to Gaza, and to a lesser extent but growing every day with regard to Ukraine, because that is a lost situation too.And yet, we're hanging on to it.The greatest strategic failures in history have usually happened around countries, armies that don't realize, or don't want to realize, that they're being defeated.And so, what they do is they double down, or triple down. They reinforce strategic failure, and then the failure becomes catastrophic.In this case, the failure becomes NATO collapses, falls apart. Washington has no more hegemony over Europe.Europe stands up its own security identity in desperation, and it's a very fractured security identity because it isn't an alliance; it's France, it's Germany, it's Norway, it's Sweden, and they're all going off on their own separate ways.And that's not probably very good for Europe, but that's what we're headed for if we don't stop this insanity in Ukraine.And China's just watching and saying, 'Okay, we'll backfill there too. You want us to negotiate the peace treaty in Ukraine? We'll backfill there because look, we're telling you the 'rules-based order' that Washington keeps claiming is the way the world ought to run is a disaster. How can you not see that it's a disaster? Look at Gaza, look at Ukraine, look at Libya before, look at Afghanistan, look at Iraq—it's a disaster. We're taking over.'"
Excerpt from remarks by retired American colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, in an interview with Nima R. Alkhorshid, May 8, 2024.
Comics
54743493c7a07991b4dc28a609ac70d9
43268f69d47f36b7c1045852048efc35
4557e6621eb912176300c5c760409317
6143322a3beb9b850acb2102e10d4dc6
71698700477d5ef29b0f88b2974a8c39
4ef3bc7387bc8fa073a81dabda65ea4c
0d55b349f109b8588fe2b913c88ea243
37fb03a7ed246f0a26aa49934e9d92a4
654e5b57a45c069d9f00962f98a3e656
1d72000c5f443f51998a084b890335c3
12730aff2338fc2bc478e1dacc572a4d
9b7152fd871865df0d01d7c7c4c6ded4
0139241da3ef65b060c9b0f082a7076b
7fce756d0bade3b239af142cadf299d1
08994c8e6c3bd8413a491a4cc1b8d33e
ce4a4822abe4074b9cc77747bac55172
f4e552765540d0a137e5e738f056387e
526dceebd8220e44b01ef376ebb05e1a
57d7adb56e89f2b0a0b7264824b4d60f
6adc154d6a5905e3a6493e1d9b2ffa48
e2a9bab73829a87878657d96eab17020
c3745032474ffa47e8490067569b8611
3439f802ac30a46283c71dd4b772c103
66a3461b9e67fdca65a2003cfe74076d
5c6092141e1b3a3d7d77e5df33023cb7
2457e418a2cfac66ecec3eb7f941362a
b323b7a368c3a07d12bb3e99c98a0ff2
It has been 9 years since the Chinese government announced the “Made in China 2025” plan, and there is only 1 year left. Did their plan fail after being isolated by the West?
China has become the largest ship builder in the world.
No need to mention China’s high speed rail network and its exports of rail technology to other countries, the US included.
Huawei and Lenovo are still the dominate players in the global telecom and consumer electronics markets.
China is the largest manufacturer of solar power equipment, and also the largest producer of alternate/renewable energy.
Chinese space station has just completed new crew change, and a new lunar probe is on its way to the far side of the Moon.
China has deployed numerous AI and robotics in many sectors.
As for Chinese EVs, this picture explains it all:
main qimg f20e80cbf8075463dd86c0c68ce93452
(source: gmw cn)
So not only the “China 2025” plan has not failed, it has achieved many milestones even earlier than planned.
CIA and Wall Street are taking over Argentina: President Milei sells off his country
A new Geo-political reality is forming globally.
What’s the dumbest thing you’ve heard a defendant say in the courtroom?
Originally Answered: What's the dumbest thing you've heard the defendant say in the courtroom?
This was approx 10 years ago.
I rode a motorcycle to work and back quite often, and as it was a rather sporty bike, would often speed excessively, if no other cars were on the road in front of me.. as it happened, my work location was some 15 miles down a straight 4-lane interstate highway road…
One day while heading to lunch, I was on the long straight stretch, with nothing ahead for at least a mile.. FAR ahead was a single trailer truck… So a twist of the throttle, and pretty soon I was going ~80mph over the speed limit.. yeah.. fast.. well over 120mph. (and don’t bother berating me about speeding. I’ve never been in an accident, have raced on 3 continents on both bikes and cars, and while I know it’s a violation of the law, it’s really not much more dangerous than taking a shit, if you know what you’re doing and respect physics)….
Aaaaanyway…
At those speeds it only takes seconds for things to unfold, which is why boys and girls, you should NEVER speed on city streets and in areas where your sight-lines aren’t A VERY LONG WAYS (and obviously where people likely to pull out in front of you or cut you off).
So after only a few seconds I was catching up to the semi truck in the right lane..
But a lot happens in one’s mind in just a few seconds… and is even more sped up when one is moving at extremely high speeds.
Being a 40+yr old guy I was well aware of my speed, and being a bit safety conscious (yeah, seems like a paradox, but I take calculated risks), I began to roll off the throttle, so as to not pass him with a 100mph closing speed (high closing rates are a recipe for disaster).
About the time I was within 7 or 8 seconds of the truck (which is a long ways off at those speeds), I realized there was a car in the right lane, directly in front of the truck.
About 2 seconds later I recognized it was a state trooper…. yikes….
I buried the clutch, and grabbed all the front brake I could reasonably use – – eventually standing the bike on its front tire (at around 120mph!!)… and still came zipping right up beside the trooper…..
About the time I passed the truck and was almost even with the troopers’ rear bumper, I realize my goose was cooked… so I decided better to pass him speeding, than to pass him speeding, balanced on my front wheel, and at a greater risk for a wreck.
So I did what any sensible road-racing idiot does – I let off the brakes, let the rear wheel touch down, and looked down at the speedometer, so I’d know what speed I was going to be charged with…… 92mph.. in a 60 mph zone.. oh well.. 30-over is good enough for a trip directly to jail, I thought to myself..
Mr Trooper, apparently having his radar gun going bonkers, had already assumed I was going to blow by him and try to outrace him, so he had stomped the gas pedal and flipped on lights & sirens.
However, I had continued braking, and by the time I was passed his car, was barely going faster than he.. and I’d already kicked on my blinker and was signalling to get off the roadway.
I slowed & stopped safely, pulled well off the road and turned the bike off, assuming I’d be arrested on the spot.
The trooper hadn’t even had time to radio this in, so he was a few minutes delayed in getting out of his car and approaching me. As he approached, I pulled off my helmet, and his response was comical — he was obviously NOT expecting a 40ish yr old guy.
The Trooper (a rather obvious rookie, very young and unsure of his words) took his time, and seemed almost apologetic for stopping me (despite my near felony speeding act).
He wrote me a rather minimal ticket of <20mph over in a 60mph zone, and mentioned that he’d try to help me if I met him at court, since I was so cooperative and didn’t try to run him…
So, I thanked him deeply, said a quick prayer, and went on my day, much more slowly..
Fast forward to court…
Of course I went to court.. only idiots skip court.
So traffic court is in the county courthouse… I show up in a sports jacket and button up, making sure I’m IN the courtroom 30 minutes before the time… This is when officers often show up to ‘make deals’.. now my name is well down the alphabet, so if something is happenning alphabetically, i’m almost always at the end of the line.. and today is no exception…
I saw as the trooper could call folks up one at a time (pre-court time), discuss their ticket, attempt to make a deal, and most of them would accept a deal, take the ticket (usually cut down a bit), and go pay the fine…
Mr Trooper called a lady up..
Now this lady had been sitting near me, telling everyone around her how unfair this whole thing was, that she commuted daily to the city, how they tried to trap her, and how this was entirely unfair.
So when he called her, I knew it would be worth hearing…
Of course she laid into him….. how he was just trying to trap her.. How she was just going to work, and why 15 mph over the speed limit was what everybody else was doing, so why did she get a ticket…
And of course the crowning jewel argument: “I pay your salary- why are you doing this to me?”…
At this point, a few of us in the back of the room were snorting laughing.
The trooper being young and apparently inexperienced with harassment of this nature, attempted to respond with kind words and professional courtesy..
Eventually she wore him down, and he just closed his book, turned to her, and said, “fine – you can discuss it with the judge”.. (and knowing from my extended experience in this particular courthouse, this meant only that she was going to be fully charged with the entire ticket, would pay the entire fine, and then would be charged administrative fees equal to the fine – so in other words she’d pay 2x’s the original ticket fee)…..
She stomped off..
and I was next…
I approached the trooper while he was still taking notes, and said “wow-do they often treat you that way?” he said “not very often – but some people….”
I mused out loud – “it’s just ridiculous how disrespectful people can be.”
then he remembered me – “oh yeah you were the guy on the bike that stopped..”
yup.. that’s me..
He looked at my ticket, looked at me, and looked over his ticket notes again… after a rather pregnant pause, he said,
“Well, look, I know you were speeding, but I don’t know the exact speed.. How about we agree on a 9mph over posted speed, and you just go pay the fine? And no points..”
so there you have it.. I shoulda been in jail.
or at least arrested.
and fined tremendously.
and instead I walked with a $62 fine and no points on my license…
ironically I passed the bitchy lady in the hallway… but no I didn’t say anything to her… figured I’d have enough good luck for the week…
Is China the world’s number one economic power already? Why or why not?
It’s 2024. China has been the world’s #1 economy by purchasing power parity for 10 years now.
PPP is a more meaningful measure for comparing national economies than nominal GDP.
China is the undisputed industrial/manufacturing superpower of the world. The USA doesn’t even come close.
China is the largest trading partner to over 120 countries.
Over 150 countries participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
More than 40 countries wish to join China-led BRICS, which already has 9 members representing nearly half of the world’s population and a third of the world’s GDP.
BRICS is leading the world to de-dollarize, undermining the supremacy of the US Dollar.
All of the above confer enormous economic influence on China.
The USA is considered #1 because of the US Dollar supremacy. But this power is declining year after year. Nevertheless, I personally regard China as the #1 economic power.
Elmer Yuen: We are on the Brink of WW3. Blinken’s ultimatum to CCP – stop exports to Russia or else
https://youtu.be/xQEqVBxg0gQ
How long will it take for the Chinese army to surpass the American army in terms of power, considering their recent investments in military resources?
China’s military is already more powerful than America’s. America is in denial about how much its military has deteriorated over the decades.
China has the world’s largest army.
China has the world’s largest navy, including superior destroyers like the Type 055 and Type 052D.
China has most impressive stealth fighters like the J-20 and J-35.
China has a vast rocket force, including superior hypersonic missiles.
China’s military tech is absolutely state-of-the-art.
Denial is not a river in Africa.
TikTok Ban and US Tripwire for War in Taiwan Strait
What rare fact do you know about an animal that would change a lot of people’s perceptions of that animal?
This is a tough one for me. I can’t exactly think of any particular one, so I am going to write about a few animals, and the truths behind their popular misconceptions.
1- People understand that Ants are cooperative animals, but I don’t think they understand just what kind of beings these insects really are.
main qimg 91fd9840804ba7acef6e46217036cc88 lq
You can not think of Ants as individuals. That’s the first mistake people tend to make.
An Ant Colony is a single being, acting cohesively in perfect synchrony through a nervous system of pheromones. A being with its own digestive system, excretory system, and a million mouth parts sweeping the jungle floor for prey ranging from Goliath Spiders to small Mammals. They operate under one mind, an enormous being with the reach and impact of a million small components.
Ants are the only animals in the world with a 110% successful predation rate. I added an additional 10% because of their surprisingly successful ability to farm fungi (Leaf-Cutter ants in particular), thereby assuring that they have a constant supply of food available for the colony.
In short, don’t think of Ants as hundreds of separate little robots, because they’re not. Think of them as one giant, populous being with an expansive nervous system and an incredibly underrated intelligence. These guys give ‘hive mind’ a new meaning.
2- Granted, some people are aware of these animals’ carnivorous nature, but not everyone.
main qimg dd81035fced4ed54ccee518905588c0d lq
Everybody realizes Hippos are absolute demons, and that they will not hesitate to maul down anyone dumb enough to wander into their rivers. But their evil nature extends further than that. That image above is assuredly real, a Hippopotamus will tear open and devour a floating Zebra if given half the chance. In fact, live prey isn’t off the menu either. Calling a Hippo herbivorous is straight-up denial, and even ‘Omnivorous’ is stretching it a bit.
These animals don’t depend on lettuce as an appetizer. They will eat you. It might make them sick, but they will still eat you.
This next one is just for fun:
3- Meet Portia, the Jumping Spider that hunts other Spiders, twice its size.
main qimg 723a8776c58b086acd8c80665bba93f1 lq
Okay, arachnids that prey on other arachnids isn’t exactly a new phenomenon (even though I consider it to be impressive). But trust me when I say this, Portia is a revolutionary Spider.
Why, you ask?
She’s a genius … genus.
“Portia is a genus of jumping spider that feeds on other spiders. They are remarkable for their intelligent hunting behaviour, which suggests that they are capable of learning and problem solving, traits normally attributed to much larger animals.” (Wikipedia)
Portia is the first spider that has been observed forming advanced strategies to approach her prey. She plots a tactical path in her head, and executes it near perfectly. Jumping Spiders are active hunters, but this 8-Legged-Spy really takes it to a new level. Portia is incredibly intelligent for a spider, hence why she seems to be able to make a living on far larger prey than herself.
You can thank David Attenborough’s “The Hunt” for that one.
Shorpy 2
SHORPY 8d27665a.preview
livingroomorama.preview
SHORPY Linda052.preview
SHORPY 5a21762u.preview
SHORPY 8d26518a.preview
SHORPY 8d26858a.preview
SHORPY 8d26867a.preview
SHORPY 8d21678u.preview
SHORPY 8c35401u.preview
I just love this picture of the small town on the river. It is so nice and rural.
August 1941. “The Connecticut River at Bellows Falls, Vermont, and on the far side of the river, North Walpole, New Hampshire.” Car Heaven. Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.
SHORPY 8c34393u.preview
SHORPY 5a19604u1.preview
SHORPY Linda073.preview
SHORPY 5a28164u.preview
SHORPY 5a28699u.preview
SHORPY 8d27682a.preview
Pattaya Thailand: A Day with a Young Thai Room Cleaner
I really like Thailand. But those sexpats make me feel icky. Never the less, this video really gives you a nice “feel” for Pattaya. Worth the time to watch.
My favorite part is around 16:30 where they are having tea and eggs. Oh, such fond memories!
What did General Dwight Eisenhower think of General Douglas MacArthur?
main qimg 9ea9f741444b6d52441d4b9205a7b624 lq
The underrated General Dwight D. Eisenhower— affectionately referred to as “Ike” by American people — was a great judge of character.
Before being designated as MacArthur’s primary staff officer, Eisenhower was renowned in the US Army as a supremely hard-working and capable officer who willingly went to extraordinary lengths to produce superb and meticulous staff works. Even the always-arrogant MacArthur would appreciate (initially willingly and then grudgingly as their relationship deteriorated) the enormous energy, work ethic, and ability of Eisenhower.
Eisenhower’s service under MacArthur began in the early 1930s. Thereafter, he would toil for MacArthur for nearly one decade first in Washington and then in Manila. That period would prove to be highly influential to his military career because during it he would learn a great deal about the challenge of navigating the murky world of politics and dealing with difficult personalities. All of those would subsequently serve him very well in his role as Supreme Commander of the Western Allies in Europe. Most importantly, he would learn what NOT to do and be from MacArthur.
His experience serving MacArthur gave him unique knowledge to make a balanced and accurate assessment of MacArthur’s character.
In short, Eisenhower regarded MacArthur as (in my own words): an arrogant, pompous fellow whose massive ego was unmatched; a great melodramatic actor; a stingy, dishonest, and lazy person.
Arrogance, Pompousness, and Ego
Shortly after assuming his role as MacArthur’s chief of staff, Eisenhower quickly perceived his boss’s massive ego and pompous behaviour that surpassed those of MacArthur’s own revered father Arthur MacArthur. His ego was likely engendered by his perceived brilliance by virtue of a number of his achievements impressive by American standards. He had an inviolate conviction of his own infallibility which Eisenhower pointedly encapsulated in his famous remark:
MacArthur could never see another sun, or even a moon, for that matter, in the heavens as long as he was the sun.
In MacArthur’s universe, there was room for only one star.
MacArthur treated Eisenhower (and virtually anyone who was not a yes-man) with disdain. Eisenhower recalled that MacArthur’s typical manner of summoning him was by “raising his voice”. The meeting between the 2 men that followed was almost invariably a monologue where Eisenhower simply listened to MacArthur’s pontification in which he referred to himself in the third person — much to Eisenhower’s amusement.
As time progressed, Eisenhower would become increasingly appalled and frustrated by MacArthur’s massive ego, unwillingness to accept dissent and subordinates’ suggestions. Those behaviours would manifest themselves conspicuously during the period of time MacArthur, Eisenhower, and James Ord (one of Eisenhower’s best friends from West Point) served as chief military advisers for Manuel L. Quezon — the President of the Philippines.
In 1935, while en route by train to the West coast to embark on the ship bound for the Philippines, MacArthur received the news that Malin Craig
had been chosen to replace him as the Chief of Staff of the Army. Shortly after being informed of this development, MacArthur descended to:
an explosive denunciation of politics, bad manners, bad judgment, broken promises, arrogance, unconstitutionality, insensitivity, and the way the world had gone to hell.
Eisenhower and Ord just witnessed MacArthur’s ego injured by what he perceived to be intrigues against him.
Once in the Philippines, MacArthur was entrusted with the establishment of a Filipino national army. In this capacity, he was expected to oversee the training and equipping of that army. It was a lost cause to anyone with prudent foresight. The Philippines was dirt poor. There was neither money or resource to be mobilized for the production of modern weapons plus other equipment. The task MacArthur and his staffs faced was close to being unattainable. But they had no choice and had to make do with whatever resources at their disposal.
During their time in the Philippines, an event happened which illustrated MacArthur’s enormous ego was his demand to be appointed Field Marshall of the Filipino Army – one of the conditions MacArthur imposed on Quezon in exchange for his acceptance of the post of military adviser. He felt that the rank was essential to enhance his own prestige. Eisenhower regarded this demand with contempt and disgust. At the ceremony that confirmed MacArthur’s Field Marshalship, Eisenhower laughed, deriding that it was plainly
pompous and ridiculous for MacArthur to be the field marshal of a virtually non-existing army.
Contrary to what MacArthur’s supporters claimed, the idea was originated by MacArthur, as Quezon confided to Eisenhower in his visit to the US in 1942. It should also be noted that Eisenhower and Ord were offered the rank of Brigadier General by Quezon himself. But Eisenhower had the integrity to reject flatly the offer.
Even after 3 decades after that event, Eisenhower’s disdain for MacArthur’s self-appointed field-marshalship remained unabated. He thought that MacArthur was disloyal to the US Army:
You have been a 4-star general. This is a proud thing. There’s only been a few who had it. Why in the hell do you want a banana country giving you a field-marshalship?
Despite receiving splendid compensation from Quezon, MacArthur treated the Philippine President with contempt – referring to him derisively as “a conceited little monkey”. The two rarely spoke or met. When they did meet, MacArthur treated Quezon as his inferior, giving him demands instead of advice. This engendered a great deal of resentment in Quezon who found MacArthur’s arrogant behavior insufferable. His trust in MacArthur diminished over the years. Increasingly, the president placed his trust in Eisenhower, Ord and privately sought their advice instead of MacAthur’s.
The relationship between Eisenhower and MacArthur went downhill during their service in the Philippines. The frustration Eisenhower had to endure due to MacArthur’s egotistical behaviour was compounded by his growing awareness of the way business was conducted in the Philippines. The country’s political and military establishment was rife with inefficiency and corruption. Many Filipino officials expected customary bribes as prerequisites for carrying out any kind of project. This had the effect of hindering the attempts of the American advisers to establish a national Filipino army.
Eisenhower would come to clash with MacArthur with increasing regularity. Eisenhower would frequently challenge or try to convince MacArthur to change or abandon plans and objectives judged to be unattainable due to inadequate resources. MacArthur’s refusal was met by heated opposition instead of compliance. Often a compromise was reached only after a frustrated Eisenhower asked Mac to fire him. For all his arrogance, MacArthur did not lose sight of the fact he could not afford to lose one of the best staff officers in the army.
The year 1938 proved to be the lowest point in Eisenhower’s service in the Philippines. He just lost his best friend Ord in an aircraft accident. Ord’s replacement was Richard K. Sutherland — a character who was widely despised (One of MacArthur’s biographers refers to Sutherland as “an unpleasant son of a bitch”; and US Army General Walter Krueger remarked that Sutherland’s death was “a good thing for humanity”). Whereas Eisenhower had the audacity to challenge MacArthur, Sutherland would stroke his ego and become his principal sycophantic yes-man. Furthermore, Sutherland sought to get rid of Eisenhower — a blessing in disguise as Eisenhower had become weary of all the shouting matches and disputes with MacArthur.
Eisenhower eventually was recalled to the States. He had no regret. The experience irreversibly damaged the relationship between them:
Never again were we on the same warm and cordial terms
When Eisenhower became President, a jealous MacArthur mockingly said that Eisenhower was the “best clerk who ever served under me”. For his part, Eisenhower derided that MacArthur “is as big a baby as ever who still likes his bootlickers”.
A great melodramatic actor
In addition to his shameless and amusing references to himself in the 3rd person, MacArthur proved to be a highly talented melodramatic actor:
When it came to melodrama, complete with exhortations to duty and invocations to the Almighty, punctuated by exaggerated body language, MacArthur had no equal. Eisenhower was exposed to his full array of ploys and thought MacArthur would have been “a great actor.” MacArthur’s most polished performance was to parade back and forth in front of a large mirror across from his desk, dressed in a Japanese silk dressing gown, an ivory cigarette holder clamped in his mouth, admiring his profile while orating. MacArthur’s mastery of theatrics was world-class opera bouffe and the “best free show in town”. – Eisenhower: Portrait of the Hero
As an aside, MacArthur was a theatrical popinjay who loved flags, uniforms and all aspects of military regalia. Air Force General Lewis H. Brereton remarked that MacArthur was one of the best-dressed soldiers in the world.
Not bad huh!?
main qimg 622575d1b87bd22af759bcb27740ecc3 lq
main qimg 754eb3441094bc2fd4b1d4d461491718 lq
With his iconic corn-cob pipe and the Field-Marshal cap
Stingy, Lazy and Dishonest
Eisenhower’s experience with MacArthur was a painful reminder between the haves and the have-nots. When he started working for MacArthur in the 1930s, the Great Depression was overtaking the US and affecting millions of Americans. Unemployment was widespread. There was a marked sense of desperation and hopelessness prevailing in the country.
Eisenhower was poor. He worked in a small room no larger than a closet behind a slatted door adjacent to MacArthur’s larger office. His duty involved regular visits which he had to take the taxis or street cars. His monthly pay during the 1930s was dismal: $391 (roughly $5,711 in 2019 Inflation Calculator). His standard of living qualified as genteel poverty. His family could not afford much luxury.
By contrast, MacArthur enjoyed a very comfortable standards of living in the midst of the Depression. He had a big officer in Washington. He was given a fancy limousine and a chauffeur to drive around Capitol Hill; and he never once lent the vehicle to nor covered travel expenses for Eisenhower. Eisenhower never forgot this, as he would confide in a reporter shortly before his death:
No matter what happens later you never forget something like that.
When they were sent to the Philippines, the disparity in material wealth became even more conspicuous. Eisenhower was given an apartment in the Manila Hotel which was slightly better than his accommodation in the States. But it was unbearably hot during summer. By comparison, MacArthur lived in a sumptuous air-conditioned penthouse in Manila and was given a big office in the Presidential Palace.
Working for MacArthur entailed long hours and chronic stress. At one point, Eisenhower worked too hard that he fell ill from stress and had to check himself in a hospital, paying for all expenses out of his own pockets. Although Eisenhower kept working hard, he resented having to work long hours for a mediocre salary of $833.33 per month whereas MacArthur’s rank of Field Marshal entitled him to a princely monthly pay of $3,980 ($74,619.95 in 2019), and he earned that much money despite doing little work. He rarely came to his office before 11 AM and left early after having the regular late lunch with his son. Indeed, MacArthur’s life in the Philippines was characterised as:
more befitting a noble gentleman of leisure than a military adviser
Quezon was angry and upset not only by MacArthur’s arrogant and contemptuous attitude but also by his lack of commitment to the task of building a national army for the Philippines despite being handsomely rewarded by Quezon. (and let’s not forget that MacArthur later accepted an illegal payment of $500,000 from Quezon.).
Here is an interesting fact: Eisenhower’s staunch anti-Nazi stance attracted the attention of the Jewish community in Manila. Jewish representatives approached him in order to solicit his help to build sanctuaries for Jewish refugees escaping from Nazi-dominated Europe in exchange for the assurance that he would receive $60,000 per year ($1,046,804.17 in 2019) for a minimum of 5 years. Eisenhower declined the offer. This fact is a testament to Eisenhower’s integrity.
Lastly, Eisenhower was particularly upset by MacArthur’s dishonesty.
At one point MacArthur insisted on conducting a grand military parade in order to bolster Filipino public morale — an idea that he neither notified nor consulted with Quezon. Eisenhower and Ord contested hotly the proposal, arguing that it would squander a huge amount of the already limited funding that was available to them for the primary purpose of raising a Filipino national army. But MacArthur was insistent. His two reluctant staff officers had to proceed with planning for the event. When Quezon caught wind of the plan, he inquired Eisenhower as to why MacArthur never discussed the plan with him. When Quezon expressed his displeasure to MacArthur, he simply said he did not order his staff officers to do it. As a result, Eisenhower and Ord had to bear the blame for MacArthur’s lie.
In 1935, during his visit to the States, Quezon asked MacArthur if the Philippines could be defended solely by a Philippine Army, MacArthur lured Quezon into a false sense of security by saying “I know they can”. It was obviously a lie because Eisenhower noted later that
At no time has General MacArthur intended that the Filipinos could defend their country against a large-scale invasion by a major power.
Indeed, MacArthur had misled Quezon, as indicated by general Robert L. Eichelberger ’s note:
From late 1935 to 1938, we had heard many times the MacArthur’s expression “The Japanese would not invade the Philippines, but if they do, in case of war, we shall meet them at the beaches and destroy them. (seems like Mac was contradicting himself)
Combine Marinade ingredients in small bowl. Place beef steak and marinade in food-safe plastic bag; turn to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator for 6 hours or as long as overnight.
Bowl
Combine yogurt and jerk seasoning in large bowl. Add coleslaw mix, mangoes and quinoa; mix well. Cover and refrigerate.
Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Pat steaks dry with paper towel.
Place steak on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 7 to 12 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. Remove; keep warm.
Divide cole slaw mixture among 4 bowls.
Carve steak against the grain into thin slices. Season with salt, as desired. Place steak slices on top of coleslaw mixture.
In the wake of a mysterious gas attack that decimates much of the Earth's population, a small band of survivors finds themselves fighting for survival in an English village.
Led by an American jet test pilot, the group faces off against an ominous threat: figures in space suits that are not here to rescue but to kill with a mere touch. A
s they navigate through a landscape of desolation and danger, they discover that their adversaries are not human but robots, part of an alien invasion's vanguard.
In a desperate bid for survival, they arm themselves, uncovering a glimmer of hope in their struggle against the unknown.
This 1964 British science-fiction horror, directed by Terence Fisher, offers a chilling narrative of survival, resilience, and the indomitable human spirit amidst apocalyptic terror.
I had a cat named Phelili. I had written about her before. I had found her on the side of the road during a torrential downpour, when her mother was killed.
This event happened about ten years later.
My first wife and I had broken up. We were not yet divorced, as she still was an out-patient with the local mental group. I was in Boston. She was living in an apartment in Pennsylvania.
I was living my life.
And my ex-wife was living her life. She had our cats.
Oh, about six months in…
I started having nightmares every night. It was the same series of dreams, and it was driving me bonkers. They lasted for about three weeks.
My dream was the same thing over and over…
My little cat Phelili was trapped in an apartment, and couldn't get out. She could look out the window. She could see the stairs to go up, and the street below, but was unable to leave. She had water, but was running out of food.
Since these dreams concerned our joint cat Phelili, I tried called my wife, but no one answered.
And so I left it at that.
And the dreams stopped.
About one month later my ex-wife called me. She had tried killing herself again, and was taken to the hospital. When she healed up some, she was permitted to return to the apartment. The cat was alive. She was drinking water from the toilet. But hadn’t eaten in weeks.
I was really angry at her. How could she be so selfish to starve our cat? What was she thinking. Well, she wasn’t. She was acting on emotions impulsively.
Ok. This story ends, the cat died of old age about six years later. But the point that I want to make here is that my cat was trying to communicate with me using PSI / ESP and I was receiving the messages.
My mind, however, was not putting two + two together.
Hindsight is a bitch. What I should have done was to ask for someone to go to the apartment and check up on her and the kitty. Shit!
Lessons learned.
Don’t mess up like I did.
Today…
What did you see that blew your mind?
>> What did you see that blew your mind?
One time I was in McDonalds and it was lunch rush time so they were busy. At the front of the line was a Puerto Rican man trying to order but he did not have a good command of English so the employees were having a hard time understanding him.
So, it was taking a little time and I never get wound up about stuff like that; especially since there are was an obvious language barrier.
Well, this other guy in line started mumbling and complaining how long it was taking. And he kept getting louder and louder. Everyone was looking at him like — dude, chill out.
Finally he had enough of his precious time being wasted and he broke line and walked up to the man and asked “Hey- Jose…where are you from?” The man said “Puerto Rico.” Then the rude man said very loudly “Why don’t you go back to your own country and don’t come back to ours until you learn the language.”
Stunned, the poor guy didn’t know what to say and everyone else got real quiet.
Understand something- I am a very passive person and I do not get involved in arguments, altercations or anything like that. But this just made me so angry that I couldn’t help it…bear in mind I never say things like this either or use bad language (which it really isn’t a bad word I guess anyway)
I looked right at him and said “Puerto Ricans are American Citizens you jackass…why don’t you go back to 2nd grade and learn that he is in his own country. Puerto Rico is a US Territory, therefore part of the United States which makes him a US Citizen just like you!”
Again, I never use even that word but at the moment, it was the only fitting name I could think of to call him.
You could have heard a pin drop for a few seconds and then everybody else started agreeing with me and told that guy how rude he was and that he owed the guy an apology.
That rude guy was so embarrassed he walked out without even ordering anything. And then someone else in line ended up paying for the Puerto Rican man’s lunch which I thought was a really nice gesture.
I just can’t believe how rude and ignorant some people are. It really blew my mind to think someone would even think of saying something like that to another person.
Iranian firebrand MP Mahmoud Nabavian reveals the calculated strategy, diplomatic intrigue, and bold military prowess that showcased Tehran’s 13 April missile strikes on Israel.
Following the strategic success of Iran’s ‘True Promise’ retaliatory drone and missile operation in response to last month’s Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, The Cradle presents an exclusive insider‘s narrative provided by Iranian Member of Parliament Mahmoud Nabavian, a principalist who won the most votes in Tehran during the country’s March elections.
His account of the retaliatory strikes against the occupation state offers unparalleled insights into the 13–14 April events. With access to military sources, Nabavian’s testimony serves as the most detailed view to date by an Iranian government official on Iran’s response, one that has sorely exposed the vulnerabilities of Israel’s air defense systems.
In a closed Telegram posting, Nabavian explained that Israel’s “cowardly” attack, which led to the martyrdom of prominent leaders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), occurred “on our soil” – a reference to the Iranian diplomatic mission in Damascus:
“As the Imam [Ali Khamenei] said, the enemies made a mistake.” Iran’s full-on retaliatory strikes, he thus maintains, were justified and legal under Article 51 of the UN Charter .
Below is a transcript (edited for length) from Nabavian’s important revelations about Iran’s military strikes on Israel and the flurry of international deal-making attempts that preceded them:
Two hours after the attack on the consulate in Damascus, the Iranian National Security Council convened and affirmed the inevitability of a response and gave a 10-day deadline to take the necessary diplomatic measures and for the armed forces to prepare their plan to respond.
Diplomatically, the first step was to go to the Security Council, even though we knew that this would be futile. But it was necessary to file a complaint about the attack on our land, assert our natural right to self-defense, and request a Security Council session. Because we are not members of the Council, we had to talk to member states to request that the session be held.
China, Russia, and Algeria agreed. Russia submitted the request, and the session was held, but the US, Germany, Britain, and France did not allow a statement to be issued condemning Israel. The heads of our missions abroad were also active in informing the concerned countries that we would respond to the Zionist entity.
Due to these pressures, Israel denied it had attacked a diplomatic building and that those who were targeted were not diplomats. The consulate building, four of its five floors, were purchased 45 years ago and were designated for diplomatic work. It was indeed a diplomatic building.
After we assured the international community of our right to respond, some countries, such as the US, Germany, England, France, Canada, and Egypt, tried to convince us not to do so, and they confirmed their readiness to meet Iran’s requests. For example, some of these countries that were not previously willing to grant entry visas to our diplomats or officials suddenly decided to do so immediately.
When the US realized that we were serious, it sent a threat that if the response was launched from Iranian territory, it might attack Iran. Our response was that the US is not among our targets, but if it decides to involve itself in defense of Israel, we will respond by targeting it as well, and as you know, there are many American bases around us.
Despite this, the US, Britain, France, and Germany insisted on the same message, yet our answer was that Israel crossed a red line. Then, they said, if we must respond, let it be from outside Iranian territory.
Why did they insist that the strike not be from inside Iran? Because for a long time, they have been assassinating our nuclear scientists and carrying out sabotage operations at the Natanz nuclear reactor. In the last six months alone, they have assassinated 18 members of our armed forces, and we have always responded through our allies [in the Axis of Resistance], but if we did that this time, we would lose face.
If Lebanese Hezbollah had responded to Israel, it could have bombed Beirut, and western powers would have seized upon this to say, ‘If this is a war between Iran and Israel, why did Hezbollah involve itself in it?’ They would also hold it responsible for the subsequent unrest in Lebanon.
Therefore, the insistence that the Iranian response should be through Iran’s allies was meant to distort Hezbollah’s reputation and unleash Israel to target it and other resistance forces in the region and to portray them as mercenaries of Iran. We read these western intentions well, and accordingly, the decision was taken to respond from within Iranian territory.
On the night of Eid al-Fitr, a meeting was held with the heads of diplomatic missions of the countries of the region, and we informed them that we are keen on good neighborliness, but if the US uses any of your countries to carry out action against us, we will strike the US bases on your lands.
This message was conveyed to Washington, and they realized that Iran was serious. They asked us to exercise restraint. The US, Germany, England, France, and Canada – these countries that support brutality and crime in the world and provide the weapons with which the people of Gaza are bombed – ask us to exercise restraint.
[UK Foreign Secretary] David Cameron called the night after the Iranian attack and said he couldn’t sleep last night. This is the malicious British foreign secretary. Why? Because we sent 300 drones and missiles over the heads of the Israelis. The Iranian official who spoke to him said, ‘For six months, rockets have been falling on the people of Gaza, and you slept well every night.’ This is the same malicious Britain that encouraged the US to launch attacks on Yemen.
The important thing is coordination at all levels before responding, politically, diplomatically, and in the media. After the Leader [Ali Khamenei] affirmed in his Eid al-Fitr sermon that we will certainly discipline the enemy, messages came to us requesting that the response be proportionate and not forceful.
Our answer was clear: that first, we would definitely strike Israel; second, that the attack would be direct from Iranian territory; and third, that the National Security Council decided that the response would be a deterrent.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan informed us that it had information that we would bomb the Israeli embassy in Baku, and they asked us not to carry out any action on their territory. I think this was a message that they could turn a blind eye to striking Israeli targets in a neighboring country, but we were already aware of that.
The messages we received were not limited to the US and European countries, but we also received messages from some countries in the region. We tried to take advantage of the matter to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, and we told everyone that this might be a solution to the problem.
They asked us whether a ceasefire in Gaza meant that we would refrain from responding. We answered that we would strike Israel in any case, but perhaps a decision like this would help reduce the severity of the attack. They asked that we give them a few days.
We asked our military forces to postpone the response for 24 hours and gave the countries of the world the opportunity to adhere to their obligations stipulated in international laws and for Israel to pledge not to attack Iranian forces and interests in the region and the world.
Regarding the Iranian request to conclude a permanent, complete, and immediate truce in the Gaza Strip: US President Joe Biden sent a message stating that he would work to achieve it himself, but he set a malicious condition, which is that the Palestinian resistance releases all Israeli prisoners in exchange for Israel releasing 900 Palestinian prisoners, after which the implementation of the truce begins.
Of course, Hamas did not agree to the matter, and this was the correct decision. We understood that they [the Americans] are not serious about reaching a truce and that they are only looking to achieve their malign goals.
realized that we would attack Israel. The US, France, Britain, and even Italy harnessed all their military capabilities in Qatar, alongside the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.
They equipped six missile launchers in the region’s waters with a range of between 2,000 and 3,000 kilometers. They harnessed all modern satellites and radars, moved 103 aircraft into the region’s airspace to strike our missiles, and placed all air defense systems under unified command under the supervision of the US to confront Iranian missiles in several stages.
That is, if the Iranian missiles were able to pass any defense line, they would be targeted and shot down in the next.
What is interesting is that the German foreign minister, 24 hours before the Iranian operation was carried out, called us and was pleading that we not target Israel from inside Iranian territory. He said that our missiles would not be able to pass the obstacles and defense lines that they had prepared to intercept our missiles and that the US was using 70 drones in Iraq for that, and it would increase the number to 700.
They were monitoring the movements of our soldiers, missiles, and drones, and they believed that none of the Iranian missiles would reach Israel. They were confident that the missiles would not be able to penetrate air defense systems.
At the Turkish Incirlik base, which includes 5,000 soldiers, a large number of AWACS planes and 15 jamming planes were harnessed to repel our attack.
As such, they were astonished at how Iran was able to evade the huge layers of defense they had activated, and what surprised them even more was that it took five and a half to seven hours for the drones to reach the Zionist entity, and their speed was not great, which meant that they were easy to shoot down.
Twenty-four hours before the operation, Washington sent a firm message stating that if we decided to attack Israel from our territory, they will respond militarily against Iran. This time, they did not talk about possibilities but rather said that they would definitely attack Iranian territory. Our answer was decisive, that we will definitely strike Israel from within our territories, and if you commit any mistake, we will target all your bases in the region.
We informed Saudi Arabia and the countries of the region that if Iranian territory is targeted from within your territory, we will definitely respond. Saudi Arabia announced that it would not allow any operation against Iran to be carried out from its territory, and the authorities in Cyprus also informed us of a similar message.
We knew that the Iraqi and Jordanian airspace was completely under US control. We thought about the Israeli targets that we were going to hit, and we faced two obstacles: the first was that their air defenses were very strong, and we had to find a way for our drones and missiles to pass them, and the second was not to take action that will lead to us being condemned.
The decision was to strike two military targets: the first was the [Nevatim] airport from which the F-35 plane that bombed the Iranian consulate took off, and the second was an Israeli intelligence center in the Golan. By coincidence, the fighter jet that targeted the consulate fired its missiles from above this intelligence headquarters.
Our drones, numbering about 130, were launched, the majority of which belonged to us, and between two and three were sent by our allied forces. We also launched missiles carrying explosive warheads, a large number of which deflected the air defenses from their path.
I will not talk much about the number of hits we targeted, but out of 17 missiles, 15 hit their targets, meaning 89 percent. The whole west was there, and we delivered an important message to the world.
In the aftermath of the operation, 15 countries contacted and said that they were seeking a ceasefire in Gaza and asked Israel not to respond.
The British and German foreign ministers contacted us and said that international law does not include the term “punishment.” We answered them: If that does not exist in international law, why did you propose punishing Hamas after 7 October? The calls continued to ask whether we would attack Israel again. We said that if we were attacked, we would respond tenfold.
The countries of the region have now understood Iran’s capabilities and it seems that they will seek to significantly improve their relations with Iran. The Israelis realized that when the spirit of despair takes hold, as Ben Gurion says, ‘we will begin to fall down the slope that leads to the abyss,’ and this has become clear to the world.
As the master of the resistance [Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah] expresses, ‘Israel is weaker than a spider’s web,’ and, God willing, this operation will be a deterrent against the assassinations that were occurring against us. Now, this is the only thing that Israel can do, and we must be more vigilant, and we must instill hope in the peoples of the region and not care about the rulers.
Mahmoud Nabavian’s account not only exposes the meticulous planning behind the Islamic Republic’s response but also reveals a resolve to defend sovereignty and impose a credible deterrence against future violations – at all costs.
Tehran’s military response should be interpreted beyond the current regional war centered on Gaza and signals a broad recalibration of power dynamics in West Asia. As western and neighboring states assess the implications of Iran’s new assertive military posture, alliances, and strategies will require careful reconsideration.
WHY FOREIGNERS LIVE IN CHINA DESPITE THE MEDIA BACKLASH?
What’s the most ingenious car repair you’ve ever seen done?
I was taught this by my first girlfriend’s father. He was an engineer, and at the time he was CEO of Marconi Avionics in Rochester, Kent.
My Austin car’s starter motor was unreliable and would cost me half a term of my student grant to replace. He said he’d fix it. He removed it (three bolts and two cables) opened it up at one end and removed the brushes from the motor (one nut, two springs).
He then took a tin can from the rubbish bin, and roughly cut out two little triangles the same shape as the end of the pole-piece blocks that made contact with the power source in the motor – and stuck them, using contact glue, on the opposite end from the “wear surface”. This added about 2mm to the length of the pole-piece block, accounting for the excessive wear on the other end that prevented good contact. Sanded it down to shape. It took about 30 minutes. Totally ingenious. Apart from 30 minutes of fiddling around and getting oily, totally free of cost.
Cobbled Design
Reassembled, it lasted another 18 months.
I did the same again the next time, it was easy. Another 18 months of use.
The next time I actually replaced the brushes properly. The new ones didn’t last any longer than the temporary repairs – really those Austin cars had rubbish parts.
What is the most epic way you have seen a coworker resign or quit?
I once resigned giving 1.5 days notice. My boss was aghast, but I explained why…
Economically it was an awful time for me: in January 1994 my wife was 6-months pregnant, and we bought a bigger house with a bigger mortgage.
After all, I’d recently gotten a raise to $52K/year. Surely I could afford a $120K house.
Except I got laid off two weeks after moving in.
I struggled but eventually found a job after a couple of months. I earned $42K/year salary — about 20% less than my prior salary, if you’re keeping track. I certainly was.
My (male) coworker at the job was in similar financial straits: recently divorced, and driving a barely-running old pick-up truck he called “Blue”. He started with the company a couple of days before me.
My coworker found another company hiring with multiple positions after a couple of months. And he recommended I also apply. The salary was a few grand higher ($45K, as I recall).
He got an offer two days before I did, and tendered his two-weeks notice first.
Our boss was not happy. The contract we were working under had been renewed, but our boss had to resubmit everyone’s resume for approval by the government client.
He thought: why bother with all that paperwork just to have my coworker leave just a week after the new contract started?
So our boss just fired him immediately.
(Fortunately the hiring company was able to start my once-and-future co-worker immediately. We both breathed relief.).
When I got my offer I told the hiring company I could start in a week.
I resigned that Thursday before my Monday start with the new company. If my soon-to-be-former boss canned me immediately, I didn’t care. I could just take a long weekend and start the new job.
Which left my soon-to-be-former boss short two workers when the renewed contract started the same Monday.
I still have no regrets.
(I should mention that the same boss briefly became my temporary supervisor about 3 years later through an odd fluke. He never mentioned our past relationship, and I didn’t either. And he quickly moved on to another role.)
The disappearance of America’s leading anti-gravity researcher
Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?
Some 34 years ago[plus or minus] I was a troubled young man involved with a troubled young woman. We had a troubled relationship that I ended abruptly. She immediately took up with a close friend of mine. I was upset. In my infinite wisdom I went to confront him and start a fight. He wasn’t going to be drawn into a physical confrontation. He said”Go home, come back when you are calm and we will discuss it.” As I turned to leave I lost it, spun around and punched out two windows !! I went home[2 blocks away] and realized I had blown it. A neighbor called and asked why all the cops were at my ex’s house. So I new the cops were involved. I waited a couple hours and went down to the police station and told them who I was, what I had done and gave them my contact information including where I was working. I was a construction forman working in town running a job at some condos. I saw a patrol car pull up, an officer got out as I approached. He Looked at me, smiled, cocked his head and gave it a little shake and said ”Ain’t Love Grand !!” He then came closer and looked me in the eyes and in a low but earnest voice said” She is doing this to hurt YOU ! Stay away from her!” I gulped and nodded. He asked”Are you going to fix those windows?” Again I nodded and replied that I had contacted the owner and made arrangements. He said “ Very Good” got in his car and left.
I never spoke to that woman again.
An Owner Whose Cat Went Missing Long Ago Happened to See His Pet On the News
Have you ever had such a close call it makes your skin shiver everytime you think about it? If so, what happened?
I used to ride motorcycles – probably still would, too, if my body could still keep up. Anyway, many years ago I attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the Black Hills of South Dakota. For those who aren’t familiar, this annual rally draws around 500,000 visitors every year – most of them on motorcycles. The attraction isn’t just the events in and around Sturgis, but also to ride the curvy roads and hills and to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The Black Hills are home to several historical, natural and cultural sites of great importance to Americans, including Mount Rushmore, and draws tremendous tourist traffic all year round. But during “Sturgis Week,” the ratio of motorcycles to cars, trucks, RV’s and other traffic can seem like 100:1 depending on the time of day and location.
One beautiful day, our group was riding eastbound on one of the larger highways through the Hills. I was second in the group on the inside (next to the center line). As we rounded a rather tight outside curve to the left, another group approached us headed west on the inside of the curve. Now, to understand the situation, it’s important to know that groups of riders in the U.S. will stagger their riding formation in a zig-zag pattern, or sometimes side-by-side. It’s critical to stay in your own space to prevent accidents. And riding into a curve requires the rider to lean into the curve, just as you would on a bicycle. It’s a skill that requires some riding experience to master.
So anyway, I’m next to the center line leaning towards it to navigate the curve, and there’s a rider approaching me from the opposite direction leaning away from the center line, in his appropriate place in the formation. However, too late I notice he’s too close to the line, almost crossing it – and I can’t correct my lean or position quickly enough to avoid him or to prevent causing my own group to tangle as well…… As we passed each other, the leather tassels on his handlebars brushed my own hand holding my handlebars. We narrowly escaped a head-on collision at approximately 60 miles per hour.
Yeah, that was a close one. Still makes me shiver to think of it.
If Saddam didn’t have WMD and faced invasion and execution, why didn’t he simply allow inspectors complete 100% access?
The main reason was twofold.
The first was that the Resolution called for a verifiable proof the WMDs were disposed of. If Iraq had no WMDs (it didn’t), then it had to prove where and how it disposed of them.
This presented a problem for Iraq that destroyed the weapons in clandestine manner, in order to keep up the Potemkin WMD program as a deterrent against Iran. Saddam was afraid without those, Iran may seek to destabilize Iraq and overthrow Saddam in favor of their Shia allies within Iraq. Saddam believed the threat of chemical weapons shielded him from that fate.
The weapons were still disposed of, but no documentation was kept, I wouldn’t be surprised if key laborers were shot to keep anyone from finding this out. The upshot of that is the world at large was convinced Iraq had WMDs, but there were no credible witnesses, no paper trail and no evidence to show you’ve really done anything at all. 100% total access wouldn’t help, because Iraq is a vast and empty land, with a bajillion possible hiding places:
main qimg b696d00a32afe2d2cb5be83afb617a85 lq
It took the coalition about half a year to discover the buried planes of the Iraqi air force, next to an airport. Iraq is larger than Germany and you’re looking for well hidden barrells. Good luck.
A second and much more important reason is that no matter what Iraq did, the invasion was going to happen. GWB and his staff were determined to change the regime in Iraq and the WMDs were just a convenient excuse, a slam dunk reason to invade Iraq, because it was so obvious Iraq was illegaly hiding weapons of mass destruction. Everyone knew it, from CIA to MI6 to DGSE to SVR RF, no one publically voiced concern Iraq actually had no weapons. They voiced other (and valid) concerns, but not the one that Iraq had no WMDs. Prove to them you have no WMDs early on and they just use some other reason to attack you instead.
If you want to know what are the possible downsides of being too good at your job, Iraqi WMDs are a tragically good example of that.
The world hinges on strong men. The elites finally admit we’re in deep trouble.
What is something that happened in an interview that made you not hire the candidate?
October 2017,
Redmond, WA.
I was interviewing a college candidate for a PM role. He had already cleared the phone screen, the on campus round as well as gotten through first couple of rounds of the day with positive reviews. It was my job to work through a real scenario with him that would be help me gauge how he would perform in that situation on the job because it was not an infrequent task he would need to do.
The basic scenario was about how he would handle a competitor scenario for acquiring a specific chunk of business. We were to try and gain a specific customer who was evaluating subscribing to our product vs our top competitor; another tech giant with a lot of resources. The specific product the client wanted is almost at par with both companies so we need to come up with creative solutions to acquire the client; I asked him to think outside the box, think of long term package deals, service agreements, price negotiations, whatever else he could come up with.
He decided to go with trying to get the customer on a lower price. I asked him how he would know what the competing bid might be, what kind of historic data would he need to drive this inference, what models would he need to build to estimate the right number to write on the bid. What he said next literally made me gasp.
Candidate: “Oh I don’t need to do all that. I’ll just ask the guy over at our competitor what price he’s going to put and beat him.”
Me: “Why would he tell you what they are going to bid?”
Candidate: “That’s easy. I’ll take him out on the town for a few drinks, get chatty with him, and once he’s got enough alcohol inside him I’m sure he’ll tell me; or I’ll figure out other ways of getting the number from him. I can be very persuasive .”
Me: “Hahaha… You’re kidding right? You do realize that not only is that very unethical, it’s also completely illegal and it could get you fired, and, the company in a lot of legal trouble.”
Candidate: “I disagree. I’m not doing anything illegal. There’s nothing wrong with taking someone out for drinks after work and if in that state he happens to voluntarily tell me certain things that work to my advantage, I see no harm in using it.”
At this point I was just shocked how someone could say this in an interview. It didn’t matter to me that he was a fresh grad student and maybe didn’t realize the severity of what he was saying. Every university has courses on business ethics and even if he decided to skip those classes, this is just common sense. What really bugged me was how much he pushed back when I tried to explain to him how wrong that approach was. This back and forth continued for another 10 minutes by which time I had absolutely made up my mind on how this was going to end.
I ended the interview a few minutes early and told him to take a break and use the restroom and get something to drink if he liked. I went back to my manager and the rest of the interview team and told them very clearly what happened and how in my opinion such an attitude can be a huge liability for the team and the company, and that what made it worse was he didn’t come across as coachable and was not receptive to feedback. I insisted and everyone agreed that we end the interview loop there and not waste any more time when we clearly know he’s a no hire. Some things are unforgivable sins in an interview and he had committed a fair few of them.
Larry Johnson Warning: “Nuclear Crisis – Russia’s Fury Unleashed by NATO & France’s Provocation”
Surprisingly great.
Swiss Steak with Tomato Gravy
swiss steak tomato gravy
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 large slice round steak
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large cans tomatoes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large onion, diced
Kosher or sea salt and pepper
1 cup water (for gravy)
Instructions
Spray slow cooker with Pam. Turn on LOW.
Heat oil in large skillet.
Cut round steak into serving-size pieces.
Put flour into a shallow pan. Add salt and pepper to flour and flour steak well.
Fry steak in hot oil until brown.
Pour a few tomatoes into the slow cooker. Add pieces of browned steak and remaining tomatoes in layers. Add diced onion.
Cook for 4 hours on LOW heat.
Remove meat from slow cooker.
Put 1 cup of water in a pint jar. Add 3 tablespoons flour. Shake well. Add to tomato mixture in the slow cooker. Cook and stir until gravy is thickened.
If your house smells like fish for absolutely no reason, 9 times out of 10 it means that there is an electrical fire.
If you ever feel like someone is following your car take four right turns and eventually it will make a circle. If they are still behind you that means they are following you. Don’t drive home, just call the police and drive to the police station
If a service dog ever approaches you without its owner, follow them and do it quickly because potentially you can save someone else’s life.
If someone is trying to abduct you, fight back. Most abductors will just give up if they meet resistance. And whatever you do, don’t let them take you to another location.
If the tide suddenly goes out unexpectedly, run like you stole it, for higher ground.
If you’re ever charged by a moose, get behind a tree.. they have about a ten inch blind spot and they’ll lose you..
When people say to take an aspirin to help during a heart attack, chew the pill, don’t swallow it whole. It gets absorbed much quicker.
If a person asks you for something in the street – a light, the time, whatever – always keep the person in your eyeline. So if they ask for the time, don’t just look down at your watch. Raise your arm slightly so your watch is in sight.
If you are in danger or in need of help, in a public place, it’s almost always a bad idea to just yell “help”. It’s more important to be specific. Pointing at someone and telling them to call 911 will be more effective. The Bystander Effect can be cruel sometimes.
Today’s unusual funny covers
4029e8dd2838747fac57af631e2d7990
e6664d0628bf42c1d46583bd3e907082
248a5698cc52ffd644c16e862206af63
62a3ead5aff079fc71b339d8ab1863b2
7ade326d6c50eb2c988bd06e5ffae613
3de520fa32bfa1333321e20d81f2cd93
be46b8b22c5ae9363174bad14d9d9e10
424261c3bf685fe20140efa0fb33f949
17eecc20ce827869c07521c3eb2023b3
337c1f60cfbe924a161da3ad8a689358
26b793a675767e904a64f2f174b54fe5
0c0e4e637c49d61ca9e5bc79a4cead61
3f73e1630eb6590dbb4d358b26b0b88e
e3ce286985c53820d301fc668898fd60
b954bfa3bc07fe7af43fa77c650818fa
79dca48dd6fa5f61b654efd99bc2a6c5
07f061a0a2bb352ae61c027ef355344e
71e4e8fb6bf9609c2f3a8275d77efd58
aa2a386163bfdb8f2b0e0a34200575c5
e43799e502d358e585fdd20e5c5fd4f2
5446a04915c35e617ce9dd1ee813b230
7329abe34e5f93b83accc16ae7fa148b
f7d8a7e8ee30371b82b2f3a25e4ace60
005bfc0309cc42e36fa01ff42de87c39
57488cb9626c78d908b1ef7f0889e061
e1823c3e987cd49a84c1a8657d931bd1
9139e16ad964b2b79ffcc436c7cea899
668ffb459d4663a4776f82765efa14f8
423e4f8b6f4376e46ed4fd6de4d2f6b3
bab73a91026af79b1bea9af3c8a826bd
9c05c49baa62861bed947c340d4f6a81
@@@@50caaa8b7ba285fe8626157144208905
b53faf9bc33af779dd603c5233471881
5790e187b659c2b498f3ee25afa65dbf
9f09848f31a3eff00f9d4cd355b184b9
ef4aa77027977ba7bb5d1ec18cbc9b03
Have you ever met a celebrity who asked you, “Do you know who I am?” and you said no?
I was working a few years back at a busy, upscale Tuscan-style restaurant in the Chicago area, when a party of five came in.
There was one woman who stuck out like a sore thumb, because she had to be on the north side of 40, but was dressed and made up like a teenager. Additionally, her dyed blond hair hung long and loose down her back, except for the sides, which were swept back with an outsized pink bow.
She basically looked like an escapee from a psychiatric ward….in 1985.
As I took their order and subsequently began serving them, every time I approached the table this woman was doing the majority of the talking, and loudly laughing, such that it was becoming a problem for the other tables in my section.
I then asked this lady quite respectfully and discreetly if she could please lower her volume just a bit for the sake of the other diners.
This made her very angry. She stood up so fast that she spilled her water glass, and as I struggled to mop that mess up, she yelled at me up one side and down the other: “Do you know who I am”?!!
I admitted that I did not.
She then shrilly informed me that she was a celebrity dancer from TELEVISION, and that I was just plain ignorant if I’d never heard of her, as she was a regular on ##variety show.
A man in her party nervously interjected, “D****, please, let’s just get back to enjoying our meal together, okay sweetheart”?
The whole restaurant, staff and patrons, were relieved to see the back of Miss D by the time they checked out.
This was before the internet, so I had to ask around, but I finally found a guy who grew up in the American Southwest who had heard of her:
It turns out that in the days of local affiliates of the big TV corporations, this woman had been a tap-dancing sensation.
As a child.
In one city in Arizona.
Doing commercials for a well-known DOG FOOD brand.😳
The Coming Simp Shortage
Braised Pork with Green Chile Sauce
Mild green chiles season this meaty pork stew. Serve it with rice or as a burrito filling. This can also be served with tamales. This chile verde is also good served with scrambled eggs.
braised pork green chile sauce
Ingredients
Pork
1 (3 pound) lean boneless pork butt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
Garnish
Tomatoes, cut into wedges
Cooked rice
Sour cream
Lime, cut into wedges
Instructions
Trim and discard fat and cut pork into 1 inch cubes.
In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium-high heat; add meat a few cubes at a time and cook until very brown.
Push meat to side of pan and add onion, garlic and bell peppers; sauté until limp.
Stir in chiles, oregano, cumin, salt, cilantro, vinegar and water.
Cover and simmer until meat is fork tender (about 1 hour).
Skim off fat and discard.
Serve with rice or make burritos or serve in your favorite way.
For Burritos: spoon pork into warm, soft flour tortillas, add sour cream, tomato wedges, and a squeeze of lime juice and fold to enclose. Rice may also be enclosed with the filling in the burritos, if desired.
Video: US-NATO Chinook Helicopters inside Ukraine Air Space Near Odessa
Video below shows two US/NATO Chinook (Double-prop) Helicopters, flying about 100 feet above the waters of the Black Sea, INSIDE Ukrainian air space, near Odessa.
US NATO Choppers Inside Ukraine airspace large
It is important to realize that what you’re seeing is the US/NATO operating in an area where they are considered a legitimate military target by Russia!
It is also important to point out the long air-refueling pipe protruding from the front of both helicopters indicates these are MH-47G helicopters; for “SPECIAL FORCES.”
THIS Happens When We Die! The MOST DETAILED Journey Through The Afterlife! EPIC NDE
Rural Areas of USA Could Soon LOSE Cellular Service
While Congress was quick to find $61 Billion for Ukraine, they aren’t “finding” $3 Billion for US Rural Cell Service. States such as Tennessee, Kansas, and Oklahoma could be affected unless ‘rip-and-replace’ funding is secured.
Rural and Indigenous communities are at risk of losing cell service thanks to a 2019 law intended to strip US telecom networks of Chinese-made equipment. And while local companies were promised reimbursements as part of the “rip-and-replace” program, many of them have so far seen little of the funding, if any at all.
The federal push to block Chinese telephone and internet hardware has been years in the making, but gained substantial momentum during the Trump administration. In May 2019 an executive order barred American providers from purchasing telecom supplies manufactured by businesses within a “foreign adversary” nation. Industry and government officials have argued China might use products from companies like Huawei and ZTE to tap into US telecom infrastructure. Chinese company representatives have repeatedly pushed back on these claims and it remains unclear how substantiated these fears are.
As The Washington Post explained on Thursday, major network providers like Verizon and Sprint have long banned the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment. But for many smaller companies, Chinese products and software are the most cost-effective routes for maintaining their businesses.
Meanwhile, “rip-and-replace” program plans have remained in effect through President Biden’s administration—but little has been done to help smaller US companies handle the intensive transition efforts. In a letter to Congress on Thursday, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel explained an estimated 40 percent of local network operators currently cannot replace their existing Huawei and ZTE equipment without additional federal funding. Although $1.9 billion is currently appropriated, revised FCC estimates say another $3 billion is required to cover nationwide rip-and-replace costs.
Congress directed the FCC to begin a rip-and-replace program through the passage of the 2020 Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, but it wasn’t long before officials discovered the $3 billion shortfall. At the time, the FCC promised small businesses 39.5 percent reimbursements for their overhauls. Receiving that money subsequently triggered a completion deadline, but that remaining 61.5 percent of funding has yet to materialize for most providers. Last week, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced the Spectrum and National Security Act, which includes a framework to raise the additional $3 billion needed for program participants.
So finding money to spend on Ukraine was easy for the US Congress, but finding the money to take care of their own Constituents – well, that’s another story. Not happening.
American Reacts to First Time You Realized America Really Messed You Up pt 2
France has sent its first troops officially to Ukraine. They have been deployed in support of the Ukrainian 54th Independent Mechanized Brigade in Slavyansk. The French soldiers are drawn from France’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is one of the main elements of France’s Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère).
In 2022 France had a number of Ukrainians and Russians in the Foreign Legion. They were allowed to leave the Legion and, in the case of the Ukrainians, return to Ukraine to join Ukrainian forces. It isn’t clear if the Russians returned home.
The Legion today is run by French officers but the rank and file are all foreigners. Under the current anonymat (being anonymous) a volunteer who joins the Legion can decide whether to keep his given name or adopt a new one. Legionnaires serve for three year terms, after which they can ask for French citizenship. If a legionnaire is wounded, he is entitled to gain French citizenship without any waiting period. There are no women in the Foreign Legion.
The initial group of French troops numbers around 100. This is just the first tranche of around 1,500 French Foreign Legion soldiers scheduled to arrive in Ukraine.
These troops are being posted directly in a hot combat area and are intended to help the Ukrainians resist Russian advances in Donbas. The first 100 are artillery and surveillance specialists.
For months French President Emanuel Macron has been threatening to send French troops to Ukraine. He has found little or no support from NATO countries outside of support from Poland and the Baltic States. Allegedly the US opposes sending NATO soldiers to Ukraine (other than as advisors).
One of the questions to immediately arise from France’s decision to send soldiers from its 3rd Infantry Regiment is whether this crosses the Russian red line on NATO involvement in Ukraine? Will the Russians see this as initiating a wider war beyond Ukraine’s borders?
A key question is how NATO will react to the French decision to deploy. As France is acting on its own without NATO’s backing, the French cannot claim support from NATO under its famous Article 5, the collective security component of the NATO Treaty.
Should the Russians attack French troops outside of Ukraine it would be justified because France has decided to be a combatant, and forcing an Article 5 vote would seem to be difficult if not impossible.
Of course, NATO members individually could support the French, either by sending their own forces or by backstopping the French logistically and in communications. For example, there is no way Foreign Legion soldiers can go to Ukraine without passing through Poland. Will the Russians see this as evidence they are at war both with France and Poland?
Right now no one can answer any of these questions with any degree of certainty. It is unlikely the Russians will long tolerate a buildup of French army troops, even if they are Foreign Legion soldiers. What Russia will do in response is not certain.
How do you interpret Chinese envoy to France Lu Shaye’s statement that relations with France are at the forefront of China’s relations with Western countries?
China’s envoy to France, Lu Shano, is a very outspoken diplomat, and I like his style very much. As a Chinese professional diplomat, he attaches great importance to safeguarding China’s interests. Therefore, his admission that “China-France are at the forefront of China’s relations with Western countries” is a statement of reality.
He is a career diplomat, a graduate of the Diplomatic Academy in Beijing and fluent in French. He has worked for 25 years in the Africa Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from July 2019 is the Ambassador to France. Two years before that, he served as China’s ambassador to Canada.
In 2019, Canada detained Chinese citizen Meng Wanzhou without reason. He was interviewed by many media at the time, condemning Canada, pointing out that Western countries had double standards in treating Meng Wanzhou’s arrest and the arrest of two Canadian spies in China, and blaming Meng Wanzhou’s unreasonable detention on Western hegemony and White supremacy. The Canadian side has never seen an ambassador who dared to point out the root of the problem so bluntly. They all expressed dissatisfaction with Ambassador Lu Shaye and made overwhelming sophistry.
Later, Lu Shaye served as ambassador to France. On the one hand, he promoted China’s effective practices and achievements in fighting the epidemic, and on the other hand, he relentlessly criticized Western governments for being too lax in their management of the epidemic. This has attracted great attention from Western media. It also made French politicians feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy and specially summoned Ambassador Lu.
Ambassador Lu Shaye also asked the French Chamber of Deputies to cancel his plan to visit Taiwan. The French accused him of “interfering in France’s internal affairs.” Antoine Bondaz, a scholar at the French Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), criticized Lu Shaye’s interference in France’s democratic system on Twitter, which is unacceptable. Ambassador Lu directly responded to Antoine Bondaz on Twitter, criticizing him as a “petite frappe”, once again causing a war of words. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again summoned Lu Shaye, and local media also described China’s diplomacy as “rude” and “wolf warrior diplomacy.” The Chinese Embassy in France responded: “If there are really ‘wolf warriors’, it must be because there are too many ‘mad dogs’ and they are too ferocious.”
On March 22, 2021, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs imposed sanctions on 10 people and four entities in Europe, including French MP Lexman. After China officially issued the sanctions order, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared to summon the Chinese Ambassador, Lu Shaye The ambassador responded forcefully: “The ambassador is not available today and will go to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs tomorrow for negotiation.”
In 2022, Pelosi visited Taiwan and became the first Speaker of the House of Representatives to visit Taiwan in 25 years. Lu Shaye said in an interview with French media, “After reunification, we will re-educate (Taiwanese people). I believe that by then, Taiwanese people will support reunification again. They will become patriots again.”
In April 2023, Lu Shaye accepted a TV interview. He said that “the process of the disintegration of the Soviet Union was very chaotic. The member states that separated from the Soviet Union did not sign any formal agreement on boundary demarcation and mutual recognition of national sovereignty” and “Even these ex-Soviet countries don’t have an effective status in international law because there was no international agreement to materialize their status as sovereign countries”, which caused panic among the Baltic countries. Because Lu Shaye frankly told the truth, Nearly 80 European parliamentarians called on France to expel Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France. 🤣
In response to the West’s demonisation of China, Lushano said, ‘I am honoured to be given the title of War Wolf, we are the warriors who stand in front of our motherland and fight for her, we are the warriors who stand in the way of the mad dogs that attack China.’
This reminds the Chinese people of what happened 121 years ago:
Tom Kim Yung, a Chinese diplomat in the United States, was out when he encountered two American policemen, who insulted him in English and rudely grabbed him, tying his braid to the fence as if he were a leashed dog, and then beat him severely. Onlookers jeered as they watched him being beaten. Finally, unable to bear the humiliation, he committed suicide by gassing himself on a light fixture in the consulate room.
Yes, today’s powerful China no longer keeps a low profile and allows others to bully and humiliate it.
China’s diplomatic thinking fully embodies “a sense of mission that has the courage to take responsibility and dare to fight.”
As some media explained: Compared with “keeping a low profile”, China is now fighting back head-on, focusing on struggle. In fact, this is also determined by the mission of our era and the complicated national environment.
Women REALLY HATE MGTOW! They misunderstand, complain, but don’t seem to change behavior.
This is a great movie. I love the flamingo section.
They’re going to be completely alone.
Russia Issues Warrant to Arrest Ukraine’s Zelensky; Declares Ukraine “Illegal Entity”
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has put the leader of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, on the wanted list; declaring Ukraine to be an “illegal entity.”
He joins former president Poroshenko and former acting officer of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and current rector of the National Defense University of Ukraine Mikhail Koval, and Alexander Pavlyuk, commander of the ground forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This means the actual recognition of the Kiev elite as an illegal government and actual criminals.
This step means that a criminal case has been opened against Zelensky and the company, within the framework of which a search has been announced.
In turn, all of the above means that there can be no negotiations with these people since Russia does not negotiate with those it is looking for over crimes committed.
This step is not just a formal kick to Zelensky and other members of Ukrainian elite.
It also means that negotiations with Zelensky are possible only about one thing – his surrender.
As of today, Ukraine has been declared an “illegal entity” and its leadership is subject to arrest and trial.
For the past two years of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia has repeatedly and publicly said they are willing to negotiate a settlement. Each time, Ukraine set pre-conditions: That Russia must return all captured lands to Ukraine. The Russians obviously refused.
Now, there can be NO NEGOTIATIONS because under Russian law, Ukraine is a criminal entity with which there can be no negotiations except for its surrender.
This whole Russia-Ukraine thing must now be settled only on the battlefield.
Stove Top Stuffed Pork Chops
stuffed pork chop
Yield: 4 or 5 servings
Ingredients
1 box stuffing mix for pork (with ingredients for preparing)
1/2 cup apple juice, divided*
1/4 stick butter
4 or 5 butterflied pork chops or 1 (2 pound) pork loin, cut into 1 inch chops and butterflied
Salt
Cracked black pepper
Seasoned salt
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 or 9 inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Prepare the stuffing mix according to the package directions, adding 1/2 cup apple juice to it in addition to the butter and water required.
Melt the 1/2 stick butter in a pie plate or pan and dip the chops into the butter, then stuff each chop with about 1/4 cup of stuffing mixture.
Seal the stuffing into the chops with a wooden pick and sprinkle each chop with salt, pepper and a little seasoned salt.
Arrange the pork chops in the prepared pan.
Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of apple juice around the pork chops.
Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Turn oven temperature to 375 degrees F; uncover and bake for 15 more minutes to brown the tops of the pork chops.
Spoon some of the cooking juices over the chops to moisten.
Remove the wooden picks before serving.
Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.
* Mango juice or peach nectar work well also. Or you can use chicken bouillon.
If someone is being mean to you, you can make them feel self-conscious by saying, “Excuse me, you have something stuck in your teeth.”
To calm someone who is yelling, ask them, “Are you having a bad day?”
Yawning, drinking water, or checking the time can show if someone is paying attention to you.
Looking at someone’s lips shows interest in their conversation, while staring at their forehead can be intimidating.
Making people laugh can make you 88% more attractive.
When you meet someone new, try to notice their eye color. It helps you make more eye contact and feel less nervous.
When you need help, start by saying, “I need your help…” It makes the other person feel wanted and more likely to help you.
If you show happiness and excitement when you see others, they will feel the same way about you.
When someone apologizes, say “Thank you” instead of “No problem” to show appreciation.
Showing a thumbs down instead of the middle finger can hurt someone’s feelings.
“It’s ALREADY BEGUN…” – Danielle DiMartino
What don’t women understand about men?
No means No , even when it comes from a boy’s mouth as well.
If he is not offering you a seat in public transport doesn’t mean he is heartless He might be tired like you.
Not groomed well doesn’t mean that guy is cheap. His look is nothing to do with his attitude.
Not all the guy who initiates conversation with you is flirting with you. He might have approached you for some genuine reason.
#MenToo, no need to tell more isn’t it?
Tagging him as cry baby doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t have any inbuilt dam in eyes to control his tears.
Even he can listen to his mom and dad like you listen to your parents. No shame in that.
Don’t define his coolness by seeing his smoking and drinking habit.
Don’t ask any boy like “whether me or Passion or me or your mom ” because it is asking you like “your heart or your brain”
Don’t ignore men’s feeling like how people ignore International men’s day.
Dont’t demand respect if you can’t give one.
U.S. Economic Crash Worse than 1929 – Peter Schiff Issues Warning
What’s the most morally disgusting thing you’ve ever seen someone do?
I was a new nurse working nights on a medical floor with the most terrible woman I had ever met! She looked like a witch and I was literally frightened of her. She had a crush on one of the physicians and wouldn’t let anybody answer the telephone just in case he called. And if he did, she would put on her sloppy, ‘sexy’ voice, YUCK!! And this woman was in charge, she made our nights hell!
Buddy was a sixty-something year old patient who was actively dying of metastatic bladder cancer. He was disfigured from cancer tumor, bedridden, and nasty as hell from being in constant excruciating pain. Nurse Witch and Buddy would fight all night! And to make it a little more interesting, Buddy had started to cognitively decline, rapidly. Probably brain mets. This man was a hot mess who deserved pain medication around the clock. He had no family or friends and was in the hospital for pain control while he died.
Unfortunately, Buddy’s intravenous narcotics were not holding him over at night. He would become wild at night, then sleep comfortably all day. Sundowning? The physicians increased his morphine through the night without any results. This man was clearly suffering, even if he did use his backscratcher to beat up the nurses if they got too close. Fun times!
Then it happened, Nurse Witch forgot to lock the door as she was injecting Buddy’s pain medication into her ass cheek while straddling the toilet, and somebody walked in! Yep, she was signing the injectable morphine out, documenting she gave it to Buddy, then going to the bathroom and injecting into herself. I don’t know how she could live with herself, denying a dying man pain medication.
Nurse Witch lost her nursing license for awhile. I know this because she was my waitress at a local restaurant. I really enjoyed that day, not because she was an addict, but because she was such a bitch and morally reprehensible!
First Chinese Military Invisibility Suit SHOCKED The US
As time moves forward, I have become convinced that the global phenomenon of pyramids is connected to something more significant than burial tombs, stellar observatories and warehouse for records. The video at the end of this post discusses the “black pyramid” of Alaska and it fits in nicely with a narrative that meshes well with Domain.
Personally, I have been told that these are “utility structures”. And that their purpose and use is of no concern of mine.
That’s straight from the Domain Commander. Take it as you will.
Never the less, it’s an interesting subject and (I believe) it is worth your time to park aside an hour at the end of the post to watch the video. I think that it will help you all gain insight.
Today…
What was the “eureka!” moment of your life?
If I was aware of the word “fuck” in 7th grade, this would have been a “fuck yeah!” moment. But since I wasn’t, this is my most cherished EUREKA moment so far.
One day in school, the principal called an urgent meeting of teachers during the school time for some reason. So most classes were free, and the number of teachers left to control those classes was very less.
So the 7th and 8th class students (total strength > 80) were made to sit together in a single classroom with one teacher as the in-charge of the class. This teacher was new to the school at that time. He was a maths teacher, and a very good one. So in order to indulge with the students he wrote the following proof on the blackboard:
Assume A = B
=> 2A = 2B
=> 2A – 2B = A – B
=> 2(A – B) = (A – B)
Cancel (A – B) from both sides and you get: 2 = 1
He asked us to find out what was wrong in the proof.
Let me remind you, we were all a bunch of impressionable 7th and 8th graders, who didn’t know the ‘L’ of Limits at that time. So all the kids were stumped.
I was sitting at the last bench. I too was staring blankly at the blackboard, reading the proof again and again. While reading it like the 4th time, all of a sudden I blurted out:
“Sir (A – B) is zero. You divided zero by zero when you cancelled (A – B) on both sides. I think that’s wrong”
I didn’t even stand up or raise my hand and ask permission to speak. The teacher asked me to stand up and repeat what I had said to the whole class again. I can still remember that little cheering and clapping, and the pats on my back I got from my seniors and friends. That was the last time I made a good first impression on a teacher.
That little part of my life, that was pride.
FINALLY! Boobs Are Making a Comeback | Redacted with Natali and Clayton Morris
LOL.
Easy Does It Spaghetti
Delicious and easy. You don’t have to boil the spaghetti as it cooks the last hour in the slow cooker.
easy does it spaghetti
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons dry minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
16 ounces tomato sauce
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms, drained (optional)
3 cups tomato juice
4 ounces dry spaghetti (1 1/2 cups), broken into 4 to 5 inch pieces
Instructions
Brown ground beef in skillet and place in slow cooker.
Slice mushrooms if using.
Add all remaining ingredients except dry spaghetti; stir well.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 5 hours. Turn to HIGH for the last hour, and stir in dry spaghetti.
Attribution
From the kitchen of Linda Jolly, Arizona.
Follow Us
Have you ever met a celebrity who asked you, “Do you know who I am?” and you said no?
A kid with his grandpa met Roger Moore in an airport. So the kid tells his grandpa, that was James Bond and asked him to get an autograph.
The Grandpa had no idea who James Bond was and went to the movie star asking for an autograph for his grandkid. Moore, always the gentleman obliged the old man who took the autograph back to his grandson.
But the kid was dismayed to see another name on the paper and told his grandpa that Moore signed the wrong name. I’m sure the old man will be wondering how a movie star could have signed the wrong name but he still approached Moore to correct it.
He said and I paraphrase “Sorry to bother you again. My grandson said your name is James Bond, but you wrote Roger Moore”.
The amused Roger Moore called the boy, knelt down to his level and told him in a conspiratorial manner “Yes. I’m James Bond but I have to use my alias as Roger Moore so that the bad guys won’t recognize me. I hope you will keep my secret.”
The kid promised solemnly to keep his secret, they shook hands and parted.
The kid grew up and wrote this story on the Internet after Moore died. He’s also in the movie industry but not an actor. He said he met Moore years later in a studio and told him the story. Moore remembered and had a good laugh with him.
Now I don’t know if this story is true or not but I love it. It’s such a cheeky thing Roger Moore will do so I want to believe its true. Sir Roger Moore was a gentleman and a class act. Some may not appreciate his thespian skills, many argue that he was not the best Bond (and to be objective, I agree with them even though he still is my favourite Bond) but almost everybody, especially me, agree he was a lovable decent human being. I wish I had met him.
That mood where everything irritates you indicates that you are actually missing someone
Overprotective parents raise the best Liars
People who blush easily are more generous and trustworthy than those who don’t
Every 10 years you become a new person, our desires,needs Changes evry 10 years
Dreams have more weight and meaning than our conscious thoughts while awake 70% of our dreams contain a secret message
You really love him/her…?
No name was mentioned but still someone come to your mind
7. Listening to sad songs actually creates positive emotions
8.easily distracted people are more creative
9.most household dust is made of dead skin cells
10. your mind can sense someone staring at you even when asleep
11.pretending that you don’t have feelings of anger, sadness and loneliness can literally distroy you mentally
12. 91% of people are not friends with people they once called their best friends
13.the faster you eat the more you gain weight
14. Trouble sleeping at night for no reason it because you are actually alive someone else’s dream
15.some people are actually afraid of being too happy because they think that something tragic will happen this is known as “cherophobia”
16. Faking confidence an positively influence your brain chemistry and change your life
17. People who hide their feelings,cares the most
18.when a person dies they have 7 minutes brain activity left. Its the mind playing all the memories of person in dream sequence
19. People who walk at quicker pace are generally seen more happier and confident than those who walk slowly
20. You appear more attractive to a person when you make them smile or laugh
21. Crying is how your body responds when your mouth couldn’t explain the pain you feel
22. the deeper your feelings are the harder they are to express
23. When you truly cares for someone theor mood can literally affects yours
24.you can judge a lot about a person ‘s character by noticing what they laugh at
25. They way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice
Comics for today
3949b49e295e657c6787cd0d4f2933ea
8d3052d45801b458cc31495e3ee94ebf
67046cffc86d05b7c6c0ebede2ec699a
0058d4dfe25c6e592d4230b1dcda8a39
d01b9db5e420d5257dc511aee4d52572
4d8169302728cd8c8cc1672cdedb3de5
4528079b02d61ee9400b0e3df3b0596e
f6e8c5de503daf511dae4ad42fc08568
0baefbc4515bba0ef528809218fc8631
6adc154d6a5905e3a6493e1d9b2ffa48
83534851b130f8dcc7ad65f12e860dca
00390689bd4fb0eea379df02de643267
e36468e67d59b49d3d9914c2a2e5f44a
b15187dc4023d76bb89103f298eb8fc1
6e1d893ab9ead239bcf0532af548b50d
59c176357f88865ced46cd1ac49f3888
3e38171ab6fb405002363973bdf3d9f8
78523bbfe7d0a79afb07ef63b4eb6da2
51b5b7a25259709315a76b91f14e2c52
e07e4ba217d0db47e8691ec354424ff0
bd2f2d640078ee6946d5099a2496fa3a
2dc622e7fe6357d5670ddea5d3c5d437
94f134dddedd12049cddf68063b5b5e2
aa93694874495918adf0ee43e5c6c103
8a23b14cd118f9f7cff8111a68ef237e
62c22ceb07a05c814af229bcdc33c121
ed22ce30f5b5dad5559ec118d663e5d2
d2b9c43d3fbf3c8e72db6f5031141c13
b6f65f07712e1c9b2fa7e5875f62a5d6
e73ec28dd6697c3b0e61c83457b2cac6
43f254afb1d8a333d622244be48bbfc3
173fc2aabd3b888287c82333f98cc943
af842432b8c84e09b25eb7ece783b644
c4db98dc5a0fb89fbdc83ca942647350
b0462b803227e407b9b20eda8942702d
5c0551226e2d9eeedbab58d86167ba1c
e4260c086cceb304ae7293d32c2a0d7a
b68b92ee909770f34b2568b88d749506
a35d1631c14663c264645037ab309f7f
@@@@@@151553a1b03bacceea0cb880011abf09
Have you had deep suspicions about someone that were proved right? Did anyone else have these suspicions or where you alone in this?
Off the top of my head, I can remember 1 teacher.
I never liked him.
He was a design technology teacher and he would be really “nice “ and ask how the work was going but with the girls he would lean in really close over their shoulder so his face was very near to theirs and commend them.
He had no business putting his face that close. You can stand next to someone and commend them.
He touched too much also. Unnecessary touch on the hand, arm , shoulder with weird sort of squeeze. Revolting.
Never to the boys, only to the girls infact he basically ignored the boys all together unless they troubled the girls and he would calmly ask them to behave.
He was rather liked by most students apart from the girls who’s personal space he invaded under the vibe of “ that’s lovely work, let me see, aren’t you clever” type shit.
It was a running ‘joke’ among the girls that he was creepy. I recall this one girl would grimace when he came close and the others would be like “ ew he’s coming this way, keep your blazer on”. That I knew of it was seen as a joke and not that he was actually dangerous, just ‘a bit of a perv’ which was clearly alot of people back in the 90s without much fuss. He was also married with grown up kids so one girl used to laugh and then say ‘don’t be bad he’s married and has kids you know’.
And?
He tried sometimes to lean close to me and I very drastically leaned back and looked at him..a little like this 😒. He just said warmly ‘everything okay here?’. He got a ‘ yes, sir, trying to do my work’ and that was it.
Maybe 10 years after I left that school it came out in the paper that he had abused many, many children, parents of some of the kids of the school even as he has been there maybe 20 years or so. He ended up going to prison.
To Die for Beef Roast
This is one of the best roasts you will ever taste. Carrots, potatoes and celery can also be added, if desired.
To Die For Roast Pin 1024×1536
Packet Roast
This recipe is so easy to make. You really can use just about any beef roast, I personally like to use chuck roast. Add a few extra ingredients that you most likely already have in your pantry, and you can put this roast together easily and quickly.
Your family will think that you worked your fingers to the bone on this delicious roast.
Hands down, this is one of my favorite roasts to make because it is completely reliable. So if you are a beginner cook or someone whose roast attempts in the past haven’t been ideal, this is your recipe.
This to die for pot roast has variations for both the Instant Pot and the slow cooker. This recipe is made for the busy cook.
You are going to use three packaged dry mixes for this roast. These three mixes will make for a very flavorful pot roast.
What Makes To Die For Pot Roast So Good?
Two things make To Die For Instant Pot beef roast so gosh, darn good: The flavor and the easy recipe.
If you ever made To Die For Pot Roast in a slow cooker, you already know you can’t beat the taste, but the long cooking time is a bit of a bummer. But when you cook the dish in an Instant Pot, you can get the same fantastic flavor, only much, much quicker.
Instant Pot Beef Roast Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
Beef roast
Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
Brown gravy mix
Italian dressing mix
Water
You won’t need to add anything else, so I find this recipe is perfect for a busy weeknight. Serve some mashed potatoes with this flavorful pot roast and you will be in business.
How to Make Pot Roast with Ranch Dressing
Differences between the Slow Cooker and the Instant Pot cooking methods:
The amount of time it takes to cook the roast.
Instant Pot method uses vegetable oil to brown the roast. Vegetable oil is not needed for the slow cooker method.
Everything else is the same.
Instant Pot Directions
Set the Instant Pot to Sauté and add two tablespoons of vegetable oil. When the pot is hot add the roast.
Sprinkle the Ranch dressing mix, Italian salad dressing mix, and brown gravy mix over the roast.
Add water and cook for 60 minutes on the high manual setting. You may perform a quick or natural release.
Slow Cooker Directions
Place the roast in the slow cooker.
Sprinkle the Italian salad dressing mix, brown gravy mix, and Ranch dressing mix over the roast.
Add water and cook on low for 6-7 hours.
To Die For Roast Photo 1
Recipe Note
This recipe is high in sodium. After years of searching, I have been unable to find lower-sodium alternatives. If you need to stay away from sodium, this recipe is not for you. If you want to mitigate your sodium you may want to serve this with other food that is lower in salt to even out the entire meal.
How Long Does Beef Need to Cook in an Instant Pot?
Give yourself a total of around two hours from fridge to table for this recipe. It may seem like a long time, but only about 20 minutes of it is hands-on cooking.
Besides, when you compare the time to the slow cooker’s 6-plus hours, you save quite a bit of time using your Instant Pot method.
Can You Overcook Roast in an Instant Pot?
Yes, you can overcook meat in an Instant Pot.
Undercooking an Instant Pot beef roast will make it tough, but so will overcooking it. The key is to find the sweet spot where the pot roast is perfectly tender. Luckily, that spot is much larger when using a pressure cooker.
The most important thing to remember if you want fork-tender and juicy meat from an Instant Pot is using natural release to allow the meat fibers to relax and reabsorb the liquid.
What Is the Most Tender Juicy Roast?
A four-pound chuck roast is just about the perfect cut for this recipe. Since the chuck roast cut comes from the hard-working shoulder of a cow, it can be pretty chewy, especially if you cook it quickly over high heat.
But when you cook chuck roast low and slow or under pressure, the collagen in the muscle breaks down, creating a rich, juicy tenderness that few other cuts of meat can offer.
How Do I Use the Roast Setting on My Instant Pot?
Brown the roast on both sides with a bit of oil using the Instant Pot’s SAUTE setting on HIGH. Once the meat develops a nice brown crust (keep in mind that it won’t color any further while cooking), go ahead and add the rest of the ingredients.
Stir everything, close the lid, and set the timer to 60 minutes on the MEAT setting. If your Instant Pot doesn’t have a MEAT preset, cook on MANUAL HIGH for 60 minutes.
Can I Cook a Roast from Frozen in the Instant Pot?
Absolutely! However, you should make two slight adjustments to the recipe.
First, rinse the pot roast under warm water for a minute to slightly thaw the surface and pat it dry. Doing this helps the meat brown better.
The second necessary change is to set the timer for 20 minutes longer.
What to Do with Leftover Pot Roast
You’re sure to have some leftovers, and if you don’t want to have the same meal tomorrow, you can use up any of the leftover pot roast in some very creative ways.
Try one of these ideas or come up with your own:
A pot roast sandwich. Thinly slice the meat and heat on the stove with some beef stock or in the microwave. Mix the warm beef with horseradish sauce and pile it on a toasted bun. Top with shredded pickled carrots or coleslaw.
Breakfast hash. Dice the roast, potatoes, and other cooked vegetables and mix them in a bowl with beef stock or water. Make thin patties, dust lightly with flour, and fry them until crispy. Serve with your favorite style of eggs.
Beef Roast in Instant Pot FAQs
What Liquid Do You Put in a Pot Roast?
Because this is a 3 packet roast with gravy, Ranch dressing, and Italian dressing dry mixes used for flavoring, water is the best option.
How Much Liquid Do You Put in a Pressure Cooker for a Roast?
A cup and a half of water will create a substantial gravy. If you want a thinner sauce, add more water after cooking to prevent throwing off the cooking time.
Why Did My Instant Pot Roast Beef Come Out Tough?
There are two reasons why your pot roast may be tough. If you followed the recipe as written, try cooking for 10 minutes longer. However, if you cooked the meat for 30 or 40 minutes longer than the recipe suggests, there isn’t much you can do to bring it back.
What Goes with Pot Roast With Ranch Dressing?
Any sides you serve with another pot roast, you can serve with this one, too. Some favorites include:
How to Store Leftover Pot Roast With Ranch Dressing
You can keep any extra pot roast in the fridge for three to four days. Separate the vegetables and store both in airtight containers.
Freeze the Instant Pot Pot Roast together with any vegetables in a freezer-safe container for up to six months.
How to Reheat
The ideal way to reheat this pot roast is back in the Instant Pot!
You can reheat the meat from the fridge or directly from the freezer. Feel free to add extra vegetables like carrots or onions while reheating.
Add at least a cup of either beef stock or water, the meat, and optional fresh vegetables.
Cook on MANUAL HIGH for 12 minutes for thawed meat or 18 minutes for frozen meat.
To Die For Roast Photo 2
Ingredients
2tablespoonsvegetable oil
4pounds beef roast any cut
1package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1package brown gravy mix
1package Italian dressing mix
1 1/2cupswater
Instructions
Instant Pot Directions
Add two tablespoons of vegetable oil to the Instant Pot.
Set the Instant Pot to sauté.
When the pot is hot, add the roast.
Add the Italian salad dressing mix, brown gravy mix, and ranch dressing mix.
Pour the water into the Instant Pot.
Cook on high manual setting for 60 minutes.
When the cooking time is complete, you may perform a quick or natural release.
Slow Cooker Directions
Place the roast in the slow cooker.
Add the Italian salad dressing mix, the brown gravy mix, and the ranch dressing mix.
Add water to the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours.
Men are OUT & the West is DONE because of it. Women won’t like what is coming but they chose it.
What is the best thing about your boyfriend?
A couple of weeks ago Boyfriend went on a work related trip and I survived by eating apples and peanut butter.
After his return I went away for a few days and came back to find leftovers of what he had cooked for himself while I was out.
Hand made pasta with a bacon wild mushroom ragú.
Tri tip steak, thinly sliced over baked sweet potatoes.
Ingredients to make morning omelettes with various fillings: chorizo, gruyere, zucchini.
There was a bowl of fresh peaches on the dining room table. The whole apartment smelled like a summer harvest, crisp and fruity.
It’s not just that he cooks but that he gets up early to go to the farmer’s market.
He uses every utensil in the kitchen, including unrecognizable contraptions to create fresh pasta and grate tall, fluffy piles of cheese.
It’s that he sits down to dinner by himself with a large bowl of fettuccine and a big glass of wine.
I find his brain to be an exotic location.
How did your boss shock you?
I was 6 months pregnant with my second child, and it was obvious. I was interviewing for a position within the company I was already employed but at a different location and a much higher pay. I had just graduated with my associates degree so I qualified for this promotion. The manager said they had gone without an assistant for several months and needed someone really bad.
I thought we had a good interview but that I wouldn’t get the job bc I would be going out on maternity leave soon after. To my surprise, I got the job and started immediately. I went on leave 2 months later and was out for almost 3 months. I thought for sure he would be annoyed with the situation and regret hiring me, but actually he was extremely kind, considerate and understanding.
I worked for him for 5 years before changing companies. During those 5 years he encouraged me to continue with my education and take as many leadership/mgmt courses as I wanted. He also allowed me to have whatever alternative schedule I needed to be able to work and go to school at the same time. By the time I left the company, I had an MS in accounting.
I only left bc of governmental issues and changes. (We were a contractor company at NASA.) He was by far the best manager I have ever had and will probably ever have. He genuinely cared about the success of his employees, and wanted the best for them. He was well respected by all of the departments he managed. I just thought I’d give a positive story since most of the others I read were negative.
This is what they did with ITALIAN WOMEN in World War 2!
War is terrible.
Is the phrase “America is the greatest country in the world” becoming a hollow statement now?
Not becoming. It is a hollow statement.
Even if you believe America was once the greatest country in the world, it is certainly no more.
America has become fascist with its treatment of protesters recently.
America has become immoral with its support for genocide in Gaza.
America has become abusive with its endless sanctions to punish countries that disobey its foreign policy.
America has waged endless, and often illegal, wars that caused unimaginable levels of death and destruction.
America has denied its citizens affordable housing (which is why there is rampant homelessness) and affordable health care (which is why millions go bankrupt over medical bills).
America has done nothing to stop gun violence and mass shootings. America has done nothing to repair its crumbling infrastructure. America has done nothing to reduce its $35 trillion national debt.
I could go on and on.
What is the coolest line in history?
“I am 25 years old and I have killed 309 fascist occupants by now. Don’t you think, gentlemen, that you have been hiding behind my back for too long?”
This follows with a thunderous applause and yes, this is from a lady.
Despite being refused to join as a sniper and steered towards being a nurse at first, she persisted and was given an audition where she passed with ease.
Within her first 75 days as a sniper, while fighting in Odessa, Pavlichenko made 187 of her 309 total confirmed kills.
[1] She became infamous amongst the Germans, who tried to convert her to their side via radio broadcasts, offering everything from an officership to – I kid you not – chocolates. At her refusal, the Germans threatened to tear her into 309 pieces. “They even knew my score!” Pavlichenko later laughed. In only a year, Pavlichenko (now a lieutenant) had made 309 confirmed kills. The word “confirmed” is key: a kill could only be classified as such if it was witnessed by an independent third party. Which means that the real number of people Pavlichenko killed is likely far, far higher than 309.
[2] She became the first Soviet citizen to visit the White House, where she met with President Franklin Roosevelt and first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.
[3] While travelling in the US giving speeches to urge men to support the second front, she famously said the above line.
As many have mentioned in the comment section, her story is the inspiration for the film Battle for Sevastopol. There is a sad story behind Sevastopol as it is the place where she lost her husband
[4] . (she was removed from Sevastopol due to serious injury and within one month, most of the rest of her division, including her husband were killed.
My mother ordered a case of matches with the logo of my sister’s wedding on it. She did this as a favor to help my sister pay for her wedding.
Something like this design of matches
Unfortunately, she accidentally ordered 10,000 cases. Thinking, obviously, that they were 10,000 matches.
And, don’t you know it, she could not part with this massive ancient fire hazard. So it sat in her basement year after year, decades after decade.
About thirty years later… when matchbooks went out of style, and smoking became the unacceptable vice in the USA, she died and was buried. Rest in peace mom.
But then, about a month later, my brother and I carted all those cases out of the basement. We stacked them high in a field and set them ablaze.
Good bye to the relics of the past.
It was long overdue.
Sometimes we tend to cling to things because we paid a lot for them, forgetting that their value was zero and was not worth any benefit to keep them around for.
Burn the matches that serve no purpose.
Today…
Veterans to Biden: US Law Says No Weapons to Nations with A-Bombs if They’ve Not Signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That Means Israel
by Dissident Voice Communications / May 3rd, 2024
In a letter 18 April to President Biden and top members of his administration, Veterans For Peace cited existing federal law that gives the President “…no discretion whatsoever to allow any military assistance of any form to be delivered to Israel,” based on that country’s “serial violations of the Symington-Glenn Amendments, codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2799aa.”
The letter cites a lengthy list of credible reports that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for decades. Because Israel has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), the Symington-Glenn Amendments to the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which allow no presidential discretion, goes into effect, including:
termination of assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act, except for humanitarian assistance or food or other agricultural commodities;
termination of defense sales and licensing of Munitions List exports;
termination of foreign military financing;
denial of U.S. government credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance (except for medical and humanitarian assistance and agricultural exports from the United States);
U.S. government opposition to any loan or financial or technical assistance from international financial institutions (IFIs);
prohibition of any loan or credit from U.S. banks to the foreign government (except for the purchase of food or other agricultural commodities); and
prohibition under the Export Administration Act of exports to that state of specific goods and technology licensed by the Commerce Department (except for food and other agricultural commodities).
The letter states, “The President may not waive the cutoff of the above aid and exports under the Glenn Amendment where there has been a nuclear weapons detonation, or the offending state has received a nuclear explosive device. Congress would have to enact new legislation authorizing the President to waive some or all of these sanctions.”
VFP National Director, Mike Ferner, said, “Israel’s possession of The Bomb and the U.S.’ refusal to take appropriate action is yet another example of how the Madmen Arsonists – the Raytheons, Boeings, General Dynamics – actually govern our country and determine policy. The law is quite simple – Does Israel have an unregulated nuclear weapons arsenal? Yes, it does. Is Israel a signatory to the NPT? No, it isn’t. So, the question to Biden is, ‘will you obey the law or the Madmen?’”
Ferner added, “This election year our members will ask their Congressional representatives, ‘Will you hold hearings to enforce existing law, or let the Madmen Arsonists continue to run our country?’”
Highlights of the letter:
Senator John Glenn was prompted to seek a change in the law because of a reported theft of 100 kg of highly enriched uranium from an NRC vendor in 1968, later traced to the Dimona reactor complex in Israel. (pg. 3)
Repeated CIA assessments and remarks of Colin Powell in 2016 that the U.S. knew Israel had at least 200 warheads at that time. (pgs. 4-9)
Israel prosecuted and jailed Mordecai Vanunu for his courageous whistleblowing disclosure in the 1980’s that Israel has The Bomb. (pg. 7)
Benjamin Netanyahu was identified by the FBI as being directly involved in an Israeli smuggling operation in the 1980’s that successfully stole 800 krytrons, a prized device used for triggers in nuclear weapons. (pg. 7)
The Symington-Glenn amendment has been implemented by previous administrations. (pg. 4)
What the President must do (pg. 10)
Contrary to other instances where the Biden administration is allowed to ignore aid limitations, this one may be litigable in court. (pg. 10)
Veterans For Peace members across the U.S. are telling their members of Congress to vote NO on any more weapons for Israel and hold hearings to hold the Biden administration accountable They have participated in numerous protests and acts of civil disobedience to highlight Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine.
—
“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”–Antonio Gramsci
.
Bailey’s Lasagna
baileys lasagna
Yield: 8 to 12 servings
Equipment
Lasagna pan
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 pound Italian sausage
1 (67 ounce) jar Prego Traditional spaghetti sauce
12 lasagna noodles
14 ounces ricotta cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
Salt and black pepper
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese or other cheese of choice
1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Brown ground beef and Italian sausage together until cooked through, then drain well. Combine with the spaghetti sauce. Set aside.
Cook lasagna noodles until al dente, according to package directions. Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Set aside.
For the filling, combine ricotta cheese and eggs. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Spread a thin layer of the spaghetti sauce over the bottom of a lasagna pan.
Lay lasagna noodles lengthwise in the casserole dish.
Spoon and spread spaghetti sauce over the noodles.
Spoon and spread filling over the spaghetti sauce.
Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 twice.
Sprinkle shredded mozzarella or cheese of choice over the top.
Bake, covered and sealed with foil (DO NOT LET THE FOIL TOUCH THE CHEESE), for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted.
Uncover and bake 15 minutes longer to brown the cheese.
Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.
Top each serving with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.
Notes
Serve with garlic bread.
Refrigerate any leftovers.
.
Has your child ever done something that made you utterly ashamed of them?
When my daughter was twelve, we were called into the school for an emergency meeting with the principal. I was absolutely mortified as I watched the video of my daughter chasing down a younger and smaller boy on the playground, knocking him to the ground, sitting on him, and placing handcuffs on him. It had not been a game: the boy had been the target of systematic bullying by some of the kids the whole year, and my daughter had decided to join in. Small as my daughter was, she was still bigger and stronger than the boy, and the sheer determination in her and desperation in him was sickening: it was like watching a predator chase down a bunny rabbit.
The only thing that saved us from a lawsuit from the boy’s parents was that hubby and I sincerely apologized immediately and made absolutely no excuses for her actions. I believe they were expecting us to try to play the event down, or blame their son, or make some lame excuse to try to get her out of trouble, but there was simply no denying the video evidence of the assault. To this day my gut still knots up over it. That was not how we raised her to be, and thankfully that was the only time (that we know of) she acted so cruelly.
EDIT: Answers to a few common questions I’ve received.
I’ve had a lot of people asking me about the handcuffs. I’m into cosplay, and I’m constantly picking up odd things here and there. The weekend prior to this event I had found a pair of handcuffs at a thrift shop. They weren’t real peace officer type, but they were metal. She’d been playing around with them and I didn’t realize she’d taken them to school with her that day.
This happened over seven years ago. She’s almost twenty now.
The day she was suspended from school she had to go and apologize to the boy directly. While she was at home on suspension, she had to keep up with her schoolwork, she was restricted to the house (no going out with friends), was restricted from all electronics short of what she needed to do her homework (with monitored internet only for homework), and she had to help me install a hardwood floor in two rooms of our home. This was in addition to writing the apology letter.
Yes, the parents could have taken us to civil court for the emotional distress done to their son. As the parents of a minor, we would be held financially responsible for any damages. More importantly, they could have pressed charges and given my daughter a criminal record (albeit a juvenile record) for assault and possibly unlawful detention (I’m not certain of the exact terminology in the state we were living at the time). No, I do not believe that it would have been an overreaction on the other parents’ part and we were lucky that they chose to do none of those.
While there was certainly peer pressure involved, it does not relieve my daughter of responsibility. She has before and since proven resistant to peer pressure… for the most part. She’s not perfect and we don’t expect her to be, we just expect her to be accountable for her choices.
Well… look what we found here!
Interesting.
If the USA and China cut all trade between each other, who will suffer the most?
Without question, the USA will suffer more.
You see, China controls all the supply chains, all the manufacturing, all the logistics. The USA is heavily reliant on Chinese-manufacturing.
The USA is also heavily reliant on natural resources from China such as rare earths and mineral processing.
China’s economy will continue to chug along as it exports to Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the rest of Asia.
Without cheap imports, inflation in the USA will go through the roof.
What was your most horrible wedding experience as a guest?
Many years ago my wife and I went to a wedding of a relative. The church wedding was simple and fine.
The reception was at a hall and I don’t remember if there was a band or DJ. Drinks were fine. They asked everyone to sit at their tables and the announcer would call table numbers.
The buffet was served by a row of staff, so you didn’t just dig in. The main course was pre sliced Turkey. As we sat and waited for our number to be called, we watched as smiling people walked past with plates piled high with food. We were getting hungry!
Finally they call our table and the serving trays were empty! The servers were trying to scrape mashed potatoes in a failed effort to give the remaining guests on line a scoop full. And a spoonful of vegetables. The Turkey was long gone.
To add to the disappointment the bus people are clearing tables of plates still laden with food! Lots of slices of Turkey, two big scoops of potatoes all floating in gravy!
It was pretty clear that the servers had bad judgment and loaded up plates with what was no doubt double servings and simply ran out of food before the final tables were served.
We did stay until the end and ate wedding cake. We stopped At McDonalds on our way back to the hotel.
I later learned that the parents who paid for the reception were mortified and got a big chunk of cash back from the venue.
What is the saddest thing you have ever had to terminate an employee for?
After speaking at a conference for Young Achievers a teen boy applied at my company. He sent his resume directly to me and followed up with numerous phone calls. I told him I wasn’t hiring at that time so he got his father to call and ask me to give him a chance. I was impressed with his refusal to take no for an answer, something I admire in people, so I brought him in for an interview. Normally there was a tiered interviewing process but I was going on maternity leave in two weeks so I interviewed him myself. I was impressed with everything about this boy. I explained to him that he’d have to learn fast because I would be leaving and he would have very little supervision. He was hired.
This is the part hurts-
We were in a busy season and no one was available to properly train him. At the end of the two weeks I had to fire him. Under different circumstances he would have been a model employee. I told him that I was letting him go because we didn’t have the time to train him but if he applied anywhere else, I would give him a glowing recommendation. A few weeks later I got a call from a company asking for a reference for this boy. I highly recommend him. They then asked me why I let him go if he was so great. I explained everything to them, assured them that this was in no way his fault and that I’d gladly hire him back should he ever want to return. They ended up hiring him. Years later I still find this difficult to write because of the disappointment in his face that day. I’m sure wherever he is he became successful.
This is life in Montenegro: The Country Where You Can Walk WITHOUT CLOTHES on the Beaches
Click Baity. Sure. But the content does not equate to the splash image.
The cool thing about this video is that this place looks really cool to visit.
It really does.
What will happen next if Russian and US troops come face to face in Niger?
A powder keg just blew up in Niger’s capital Niamey as Russian troops swarmed into Airbase 101, setting up a tense face-off with the United States. Niamey’s airport is now a freakin’ barracks for both American and Russian forces after Niger’s military junta booted out US troops. Nice move, right? Sure, Russians have their own hangars and aren’t bunking with US troops, but there’s a lot of angst about what access they might have to US military gear.
main qimg ae688cd26d740e275593e0627274bb7e
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin claims Russian boots don’t have a free pass to American equipment, but how long before something goes boom? The US thought they had Niger’s back fighting against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, but after the coup last July, they’re getting kicked to the curb, just like Chad, Mali, and Burkina Faso did with US and French troops. Guess they’re not feeling the love anymore.
So, who’s filling the void? You guessed it, China and Russia – the new BFFs for these military-ruled African nations. Without that colonial baggage, they’re smooth-talking their way in as anti-West sentiment ramps up. So, brace yourselves, folks – this scramble for Africa is on! As resource-rich Africa becomes the shiny prize, the rise of a new global order looms with the US, Russia, and China in a three-way tug-of-war. Things are about to get wild; everyone is on edge and on the lookout.
Women Are RAGING Because 63% Of Men Have Gone Their Own Way
Massive relationship collapse in the West as society crumbles.
How does it feel to be secretly rich?
There is a farm house outside of town that I have been driving by my entire life.
It is memorable because it is simple.
A simple home with a simple garage.
One day a friend of mine says he wants to show me something really cool at the simple old farm house.
I chuckle, but it’s the summer, school’s out and so have nothing better to do.
He takes me out to the simple farmhouse and we go in to its garage.
The amiable old farmer who owns the house is standing there.
He introduces himself but all I see is a vault door that stands as tall as the garage itself that is nearly half as wide.
And inside that bank-like vault door:
main qimg 7b6442b81af2e408a244932b06065e8c lq
A gun collection with every gun imaginable, and sometimes two.
It looked like something out of Bass Pro Shops.
It was like the image above, but the room was even more grand if you can believe that.
This old farmer’s gun collection was worth more money than most people from our small town will amass in their entire life time.
He could see the shock on my face.
And he was just standing and smiling like he had seen this reaction a thousand times.
I knew in that moment what it feels like to be secretly rich:
You always get to have the last laugh.
Can you fly through military boot camp easily if you train for 6-7 hours every day before you go to boot camp?
If “every day” can mean “since the age of 5”…?
A good friend of mine was raised in a *Mennonite community.
He told the story about one of his younger brothers who at the age of 15 made the decision he wanted to join the Marines when he turned 18.
Every day for 3 years he started conditioning with an 80 lb. ruck sack he created.
He carried it on him at all times unless he had a chore where he couldn’t.
He ran everywhere he went in addition to a plethora of other homemade training routines he created to help prepare himself.
Mind you, all of this was done in addition to his daily manual labor performed from sun up to sun down and a life time of adhering to “orders” and a strict discipline he had to follow as a Mennonite.
When his brother turned 18 he went and signed up for the Marines just like he said.
And he completed Boot Camp just like he trained to do.
But here’s the real kicker:
When my friend talked to his brother about his experience in Boot Camp and what it was like…
His brother replied back to him with a straight face:
”I was disappointed.
I thought it was going to be harder.”
So, yes, there is a point where some can begin training and “easily” go through boot camp.
But unless you were raised in a modern day agricultural equivalent of the Spartan’s agōgē
?
Probably not.
*The order he was a part of was a no-modern technology Mennonite community e.g. My friend once attached wooden boards to the top of a rotating horse-drawn saw mill column to create a makeshift ceiling fan during the hot summer heat; he was told to take it down because it was too modern.
main qimg 54e919b039954d6e9a11f458f693dd36 lq
Our Daily Comix
2ba137369528662f17721bc9e83986de
2093c8fb1a4816b9d4b9e04d3c00f8f6
9baf48ed522dd628b21d2649ed316ba6
edba38cff9485dc41e39ee3fbd1631ce
44606885c557f7e2a77eefcaa2b7dc9d
14cd447726118cb92e47f6560428c85f
64678727668ebae4d94860589b9d1ac1
6020083aae713107d705631d806e49f8
72b069be205891554dfd3a9ae63090bd
bce7b01d1c05be52c081048b4254a5bf
e3758e5e8d88b06b9e7e7fa7c0452bf8
3af5f8abce7a14876ec92a40edae6937
bd63b2316465f5a1368f433396a31c8a
3a20266fd37a6d75b5013f2de7d4669c
db4a8a8e642fe633f8d532a4b49544c1
774bfbd964530ea896d09539821bca25
eee631e2c63ef5705b69536e8fd73b33
85d9be09367446ec5f9fbdf7ddf0771e
ccd660b80975b4b9c2fb064d2f359908
2bb6fa61bc57b7ff65e440ca4d256a38
92467b166d48d4cf50fb20135113a294
d7ccc5b4c8e25ae3ee537bcf2ef8d160
ce64e87e1ef96ab082ccccb88aedca78
66f9c7c670ef97997fd3963ff619ac95
c43da1b782d32a8fd144f71b3bf7f29b
2fc69bb81db96d3b259436a8cfab5426
bd60fccaba13bf8361633313c9ef195f
a6a3cc5838ef86d0470a0ea6a16faf5c
To Die for Beef Roast
This is one of the best roasts you will ever taste. Carrots, potatoes and celery can also be added, if desired.
to die for crockpot roast
Ingredients
1 beef roast (any kind)
1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix
1 envelope brown gravy mix
1 envelope Italian dressing mix
1/2 cup warm water
Instructions
Place roast in slow cooker.
Mix contents of all 3 envelopes and sprinkle over roast.
Pour water into the bottom of the slow cooker.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours.
What was the most disturbing thing that your seatmate did during a flight?
One day I received a phone call from the FBI. It was legit the FBI who wanted to talk to ME!
Previously I had been on a flight from Tokyo to DC. I had my usual aisle seat and I had my kitty with me. A woman sat in the middle seat and a man at the window.
After the flight took off I fell asleep, per my usual. At some point I woke up. The woman noticed I was awake and asked to get up to use the bathroom. She never came back but another guy took her seat. My new seatmate seems to have moved to economy from business as he received business class meals. He disappeared for landing.
As we were landing my cat got out of his carrier. I was easily able to unbuckle grab him, and put him back in his carrier. Upon landing 2 or 3 airport police came on board to my row. I thought they were for me and my escaped cat. Totally illogical thought I now know, but reasonable at the moment. Nope they wanted window guy.
The FBI wanted to know what I saw on the flight between window guy and middle gal before she left. When she left for the bathroom, she spoke to the flight attendants and said he was touching her inappropriately.
The most disturbing thing to happen on a flight was the true or false accusation of SA mid flight.
When have you cheaply or inexpensively fixed an item someone thought unrepairable?
Some years ago our washing machine stopped working, about 2 weeks after its 2-year warranty expired. It was a mid-range model, and with 2 toddlers in the house, we really needed a clothes washer. We managed to get an engineer (specialist in washing machines) out the next day. I already knew the timer clock was working OK, as were the inlet valves; yet when it tried to rotate the drum, absolutely nothing happened. After about 45 minutes, with the engineer running all sorts of diagnostics on the control circuit board and checking all the wiring, he sighed and told us that there was nothing to be done; the motor was burnt out and a replacement, plus the cost of fitting, made the fix uneconomical; instead, recommending buying a replacement machine.
He left, but with all the covers off the machine and with his assurance that the control board was fine, I decided to have a look myself. As a kid I’d played around a lot with model trains, and knew that their motors would sometimes fail if the brushes, or the springs holding the brushes, were out of adjustment. This machine’s motor had more armature windings than I was used to, but the familiar two brushes, in spring-loaded brass housings. The housings had a single wire plugged onto them, and they were held in place by spring clips. I popped one out and found that while the carbon brush itself still had plenty of use left in it, the spring pushing it against the commutator was short and the brush wasn’t making contact. I slid the brush out, put in a small packing piece, replaced the spring and brush and clipped it back in place.
Immediate success, worked like new. Cost? £0.00 The machine ran for another 5 years, when it failed with similar symptoms. This time there really was no life left in the brushes, but a spares shop about a 5 minute walk from home sold me a brand new pair for 14p. It ran for yet another 5 years before the controller circuit board finally blew up.
Spend time with your parents and treat them well. They will not be around one day.
Mind your own business.
Don’t lie, cheat or be dishonest. It spoils your name in the long run.
When the phone signal is down to the last bar, don’t answer the phone as the radiation will be 1000 times higher.
Don’t cheat if you are in an unhappy relationship. Just leave.
Use tea sachets to remove odour from gym bags.
Never give up on your dreams no matter what. Try to accomplish your goals and dreams in the long run.
Never take your medicine with cold water.
Be empathic. An act of kindness wouldn’t ruin you.
Graduate before 30.
Don’t waste your time with meaningless relationships or temporary people.
When people treat you like they don’t care, believe them.
Participate in family gatherings, college reunions and get together with friends.
Adopt a pet. I did. My six months old pup is my ultimate stress buster now.
Never ‘ever’ abandon your old friends by replacing them with your new buddies.
Have two servings of vegetables and fruits daily.
Learn to love your flaws and imperfections along with your perks.
Start your day with a glass of lukewarm water on an empty stomach.
Be thankful for something daily, at least once.
Stay away from toxic people. They only bring out the negativity in you and ruin your life further.
Compartmentalize your ideas and thoughts. Write them down on a journal.
Don’t be shy. Go out and be a social butterfly. Talk to random people.
Add some slices of lemon in plain water to zest up your taste buds.
Don’t let someone get comfortable with disrespecting you. Set boundaries.
Crushed mint leaves or Indian basil are great herbs to remove bad mouth odour.
If you don’t have enough time, spend lesser time on social networks.
Never speak bad or low about yourself. Make it a point to not put yourself down even as a harmless joke.
If you don’t like your job, quit it and do something else. Don’t just put up with it and force yourself to do it.
Don’t waste your energy on bad feelings, negative thoughts or useless people.
Travel often. Getting lost will help you to discover your identity.
Be careful about personal things you share to people. The friend today could be your enemy tomorrow.
Never stay in an unrequited love for a long time. Let it go and move forward.
Say exactly what you feel/think. Be direct about it even if it might displease others.
Forgive people and their actions. Never give it to him. Let karma finish up the job for you.
Be mindful about your expenditures but not a miser. Budget spending is a start.
Have a glass of buttermilk or warm milk before bedtime.
If you don’t master you own time, there will be possibilities of you being unconscious slaves of those who have mastered theirs.
Trust your instincts. Intuitions doesn’t lie.
Be cautious about lending/borrowing a huge sum of money to your friends/relatives. It may break the tie. Just saying.
Never enter the lift before others have got out of them. Don’t be a jerk. Wait and let them get out before you barge in.
Have few cups of green tea in the evenings after lunch and throughout your day to aid digestion.
You could forgive, let go and give them another chance…or you could chuck them aside and give yourself a better chance.
Cut down on your caffeine intake. Replace your coffee cravings with something healthier.
What is the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you at a bar?
Many years ago a friend and I stopped by a pub on our way home from a rock concert. It was Triumph. This was the early ’80s and wearing a bandana around your neck was kind of normal. Anyway we go in sit down, and didn’t even get a chance to order a beer. This group of guys just started in on me, for some reason. It was a country music bar, and I guess I was a long hair. It gets so bad that I finally stood up and said to the main culprit,what the fuck IS your problem? Remember we’re talking we’re in there 5 minutes. At that point him and his buddies grab me by the seat of my pants and the bandana around my neck and threw me out the front door head first with my head opening the door. Stunned outside I wanted to go back in and just clean house. Fortunately my friend who they threw out as well but not as roughly calm me down and made me realize that they would have probably just thrown me out again. This has been decades ago and I still have no idea what the real reason was. I know that a woman to fight over was not the issue.Overflowing 🍺 beer and testosterone I suppose. The whole incident reminded me of that Ron White story where he says he was thrown out of a bar and he doesn’t know how many there were, but he guesses it was all of them. That may have been true with me.
Putin and China Put Out Devastating Warning to the US | Col. Jacques Baud
May 2024. China has stopped “playin'”.
What is the most unprofessional interaction you’ve had with a recruiter?
This was during my placement time…
I was having an interview for TCS. The panel called my name, I went in. It was a panel of 3 ladies. I was carrying a file containing my resume, marksheets, certificates.
R1- what are your hobbies ?
Me – I like sketching, playing guitar, riding my bike and collecting pens( all looking at me). If you wish, I have some sketches attached at the end of the file.
All looking through my sketches.
R2 – so, if we recruit you would you still continue sketching in your busy schedule.
Me – yes Mam I will still continue sketching, if you’re passionate about something you will manage some time for it no matter how busy you are.
R2- good.
R3- so, you say you like to collect pens. What kind of pen do you collect ?
Me – I am a pen enthusiast. I like to collect premium pens, PARKER, SHEAFFER, CROSS, WATERMAN, LAMY etc. Ball , roller ball, fountain.
R1 – that’s interesting. So, how many pen do you have ?
Me – I have around 50–60 normal range pens(Parker , Pierre Cardin) and 15–20 premium range pens (above 1k INR). And I will continue to collect while I’m here.
R2 – what will you do with so many pens when you’re gone ?
Me – (don’t know what to say , still came up with the most stupid answer ) some of those are limited editions and some are discontinued which are not available in the market at present and I know they will have a great value someday, I’ll leave them as a legacy for my children/grandchildren.
R3 – you’ll need to have a great number of children. Good luck with that. ( don’t know with what logic she came up with that )
All burst into laughter. I join in with them and start to chuckle.
R2 – okay , I’m gonna write your feedback with my sheaffer pen
Me – sorry Mam, but that’s not a sheaffer, that’s a Parker.
(Edit 3: I guess she focused on this statement to check my presence of mind and whether or not I really knew about what I said i.e. to check if I was lying about my hobby or not).
R1- you may leave now.
Me – thank you.
Next week the result for day 1 sharing was out.
Verdict : got an offer letter from TCS.
P.s these are around 5-6 year old images, didn’t have for the latest collection.
main qimg a295a95283e88621fa87116fee660fd3 lq
main qimg 80bafac7f9915c6a025ad75409236082 lq
main qimg 513a93b398af3f22dfdc6fd0a28423e7 lq
Why So Many Countries Are Abandoning the Dollar
It’s damn obvious.
What is the weirdest thing your dog ever brought home?
Not my dog, but my next door neighbors’ dog. Duke was a large mixed breed about 65–70 pounds, a super friendly boy who spent every day making the rounds in our neighborhood collecting treats, love, attention and objects he found in the yards or garages of those he visited. I was used to getting calls from Sharon with a list of items Duke had brought home—sometimes things I hadn’t even missed yet! About 10 years ago, my son, dil and 2 grands were staying with me and it snowed Christmas night, a rare event where I live. There was about 3–4″ inches of lovely white covering my grass the next morning so the kids had to play in it before they left to go home. My grandson came in and said he had lost his phone in the snow. We all spent at least 30 minutes looking for it and even Duke came over to see what was going on. My family left and about 30 minutes later, I received a phone call from Sharon asking if anyone was missing an iPhone. I walked next door and collected my grandson’s pristine phone-no scratches, no dents and it turned on. My son and grandson were both really happy with that news! Duke is still remembered in the neighborhood as being such a “good boy.”
What is the most shameless thing you have ever seen a teacher do?
When I was in 6th grade, I had a math teacher that I hated so much I’d have panic attacks on the days I had her class. Here’s a short list of what she’d do to me, keeping in mind she was told multiple times I had debilitating social anxiety and ADHD:
Humiliated me when I asked for help by telling me as loud as she could “you can’t do this problem? This is the easiest one in the set, how do you not understand it?!”
Called my mom in the middle of class after I handed in a test that she said I didn’t work long enough on in front of the other students, telling her I was an embarrassment
Had her TA search for me while I was waiting for my dad to pick me up since I had to stay after school on certain days of the week due to my parents working late. When she found me, she yelled at me, brought me back to the math room, where, in front of (mostly older, and way more popular) students, the math teacher called my dad and yelled about how he should be making go to the after school math tutoring so I could “at least pretend to care about the material”
Thank God, THANK GOD my parents were supportive of me and told her off each time. After the final call to my dad about forcing me to get the tutoring, my dad rushed to get me and ripped her a new one about how tired my parents were of her treatment of me. But ever since then, I’ve been afraid of almost every teacher and would just be silent during my classes
Best Macaroni and Cheese
This is the tastiest, easiest and fastest macaroni and cheese you will ever eat. DO not skimp on the Colby cheese. Use as much as you can afford.
macaroni cheese2
Ingredients
Macaroni (as much as needed)
Colby cheese (lots)
Instructions
While the macaroni is cooking in salted water, dice the Colby cheese up rather small.
As soon as the macaroni is cooked; drain it well. Keep it, covered, in the same pot in which it was cooked.
Add the diced Colby cheese and stir it in. Cover immediately and let it sit for about five minutes so that the cheese melts.
Attribution
Recipe is from the kitchen of Kathryn Irene Jolly.
Recipe is from the family recipe collection of Linda Ann Jolly, Arizona.
African Nations Repatriate Their Gold and Foreign Reserves From the USA.
Not being well reported. Not at all in the Western “news” media.
What is a time when you’ve seen a co-worker get fired who totally deserved it?
One of the RNs in our dept had worked there for 5 plus years, was around 60 years old and very nurturing and maternal so she was well liked. Her employment predated mine and I became her immediate supervisor. After several years of working together , mostly amicably she started to undermine me, making snarky comments and decisions that didn’t include discussions with others in the dept or weren’t hers to make or sometimes even mine to make. She was resistant when I discussed this with her. I really liked and admired her and it was getting more and more challenging. My supervisor wasn’t any help. We RNs became concerned that a medication error may be made if this nurse did the med pass so we made sure that someone else did that. We double checked behind her with the order transcriptions. We found small errors and brought them to her attention. She stated that everyone makes mistakes and that she was no different. One day I found that she had written an order on the wrong chart and filed the med in that pt’s med drawer. I saw it right before the tech was going to give the med to the wrong pt. What was even worse was that the pt wasn’t on ANY meds for a condition that was in any way similar to what that med was for – that should have made her question it. So, a performance improvement plan was implemented, discussed and put in place with approval of HR and my supervisor. The nurse ignored it, did nothing and cheerfully stated there was no problem. We decided that termination was in order. She was aghast and said, “Well, I will talk to the CEO and he will not stand for this!” Termination took place, she demanded a ride to the unemployment office and HR agreed – WHAT? It was so hard, but necessary to protect pts. Anyway, I ran into her about a year later and she said she had a medical condition that was contributing to her “brain fog” and that she’d been treated. She apologized for the instances of petty behavior. We all hoped she was doing well.
Almost 450 extremists from various nationalities arrive to Idlib to fight against Russian troops, after leaving Syria and passing through Turkey.
Close to 450 extremist Arab and foreign nationals have arrived in Ukraine from Idlib to fight against Russia’s forces, less than only three days after they left Syria, passing through Turkey.
Relatives of extremists that have arrived in Ukraine told Sputnik that senior fighters from terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (the rebranded version of Jabhat Al-Nusra, i.e Al-Qaeda) have held a number of meetings with senior leaders in the Turkistan Islamic Party group and Ansar Al-Tawhid and Hurras al-Din groups, and agreed on allowing a number of all their fighters to enter Ukraine through Turkish soil.
The sources added that most of these foreign fighters are veterans of the Syrian war, had been causing issues in Idlib, and were given this opportunity to fight against Russia as a compromise by which they would receive a new start and with an acceptable income.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham also gave these fighters assurances that their families would be allowed to join them later.
Around 300 of these fighters are Syrian nationals that are originally from the Idlib and Aleppo countrysides, while the 150 others are Belgian, French, Chinese, Moroccan, Tunisian, Chechen and British nationals.
As for the financial compensation, the sources said the fighters that hail from Syria will receive around $1200-$1500, but had no knowledge what the foreign nationals were going to be paid.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has previously stated that 16,000 foreign mercenaries will fight for the country.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had warned Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a meeting last Friday of the growing number of foreign mercenaries operating in Ukraine, including those coming from Albania and Croatia and namely militants and Jihadists coming from Kosovo in order to put their experience from military operations in Syria to use.
What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?
I don’t consider it a “loophole,” but rather a bit of a tech glitch.
When I was in college in the late 1980s (Dartmouth), it was towards the end of the life of pulse dialling technology. In the “old days,” telephones used to look like some variant of this:
main qimg 183b0a76af2ba7dbce3556d103cada20 lq
When you made a call, the dial was turned for each number, and it sent out a series of electronic pulses that matched the number (for example, my grandfather had a telephone whose number was WI-1–8214 (941–8214).
In the 1970s, touch-tone dialling became the standard (I am not sure that a rotary phone would even work anymore).
Telephones swapped out the rotary for push buttons, but the switching equipment had to, for a time, accommodate both. So telephones for a while had buttons, but a switch on the base that permitted tone and pulse dialling.
At Dartmouth, where I was a student, all of the telephone lines in the dormitories were controlled by Dartmouth. In order to make long-distance telephone calls, you had to subscribe to a service called “DarTalk.” Again, not sure if this is still the case.
Anyways, what we discovered in the dorms was that, if one started the telephone on pulse, entered the 8 (for an external line), a one, the area code, and the three code prefix, then switched the phone from pulse to tone and entered the final four digits in tone mode, the switching equipment that the college used could not detect that the call was going out. Hence, the calls were free.
We could thus make long distance calls without paying.
US prepares for war against Russia and China. In Self-Defense of course.
I once knew a fellow expat; I will refer to him as “the stupid guy” TSG for short.Now TSG was quite the charmer and had all the girls (here in China) eating out of his hand. He did not have a college degree, and so got a job in China as a teacher fraudulently.He paid money, and befriended the right people, and was working as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher.He charmed everyone. Including myself, and he wanted to become my business partner… especially when he saw my wife.Now, he was many bad things, but one thing that he was able to do was to be able to speak Chinese very well.And he used it to his advantage.Now, my Chinese was poor, but not as poor as he thought. And when he and I were alone drinking coffee when gave me this long, diatribe in Chinese.Telling me about his journey and how he got there to where he was facing me. It began in English, but when he got to the spicy parts, it was all in Chinese.Now, even though I had a difficult time following him, I could make out some of what he said and the gist was this…
I am going to take your wife and fuck her eyes out.
I am going to take all your money.
I am going to take your job.
I am going to take everything you have.
And you won't be able to do anything about it.
He said this to my face… in Chinese.
Thinking that I didn’t understand anything.
And I ignored it all, which was a big mistake.
Yeah. I deserve some real hard slaps.
But then noticed him implementing exactly what he said. He tried to seduce my wife. he put poison in her ears against me. Changed her ideas and opinions. Manipulated her. Started buying her things like cell phones and what not.
He store my hours, my clients, my students from me. He was trying to convince my wife to give him money… it was everything that he said he would do.
Why did I put up with it?
Well… it wasn’t for long. Maybe one month to two months total, and then we put the kibosh on it.
Both my wife and I endured real PAIN to get where we were, and were not going to permit some shyster to steal it all away from us.
TSG thought he had it all worked out.
He used every trick in the book to alienate me from my wife; from my work, and from my money. I call him the “stupid guy”, but really I was the one who was stupid.
You see, this was a new thing; a new experience for me. I was unprepared for it. It took me some time to figure out what was going on.
Oh yeah. For certain. We ended it all.
He fled China. Went off to some other Asian nation and then returned back to California. But…
This is the story of one of the tricks that he used to seduce.
He had a Lamborghini key.
And a Lamborghini insurance paper and registration. And every-time he was talking with someone about him only being a “teacher“, he would pull those out and claim that he owned multiple businesses in the USA, and had a couple of Lamborghini automobiles and a fine house in Beverly Hills.
It wasn’t true.
On one drunken night, he told me the truth.
He faked the documents, and bought the old key from eBay.
Yeah. TSG was quite the player.
Now, he did manage to get into the pants of a great number of girls at work. In fact, he did that and used them to transfer my students; my customer to him. During my prime hours, so he had instant customers; instant income, and I got the dregs. And even when my students complained the workers (with whom he slept with) all took his side.
That was then. I had just gotten out of prison, was wobbly on my feet, and my marriage was young and enduring changes.
This is now.
I am strong and ESTABLISHED and now formidable within my regime.
So don’t worry about me. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps. Never the less, we have to experience some trying times to get to be strong. You cannot lift weights to get healthy without feeling pain.
The Stupid Guy
What a tool. Fuck.
Today…
The Power of Healthy Boundaries: Why Saying “No” is Essential for Personal Growth
Listen up, because it’s time to drop some truth bombs that might just change your life. If you’re the type of person who struggles with setting boundaries, who says “yes” to every request and invitation, even when you really want to say “no,” then this article is for you.
Here’s the thing: boundaries are not just some touchy-feely self-help concept. They’re a crucial life skill that can make or break your relationships, your career, and your overall well-being. When you fail to set healthy boundaries, you’re essentially giving everyone else permission to walk all over you, to take advantage of your kindness, and to drain your energy and resources.
But when you learn to set clear, firm boundaries, something magical happens. You start to feel more in control of your life. You begin to prioritize your own needs and desires. You attract people and opportunities that align with your values and goals. In short, you become a happier, healthier, more fulfilled version of yourself.
Now, you might be thinking: “But won’t people hate me if I start saying no all the time?” And the answer is: who cares? Seriously, if someone gets upset with you for having boundaries and taking care of yourself, then they’re probably not someone you want in your life anyway.
The truth is, setting boundaries is not about being selfish or uncaring. It’s about recognizing your own inherent worth and respecting yourself enough to stand up for your needs. It’s about being honest and authentic in your relationships, rather than constantly sacrificing your own well-being for the sake of others.
So how do you start setting healthy boundaries? It’s simple, but not always easy. First, get clear on what your non-negotiables are. What are the things that you absolutely will not tolerate in your life, no matter what? This could be anything from physical or emotional abuse to chronic lateness or flakiness from friends.
Next, practice communicating your boundaries clearly and directly. This means saying “no” when you need to, without apologies or excuses. It means being honest about your feelings and expectations, even if it feels uncomfortable at first.
For example, let’s say you have a friend who consistently cancels plans at the last minute, leaving you hanging. You might set a boundary by saying something like, “Hey, I value our friendship, but when you cancel on me at the last minute, it really throws off my day and makes me feel unimportant. Going forward, if you need to cancel, please let me know at least 24 hours in advance.”
If your friend continues to violate this boundary, you might need to enforce it by saying something like, “I’m sorry, but I can’t keep making plans with you if you’re going to cancel at the last minute. It’s not working for me.” This might mean taking a step back from the friendship or finding other people to make plans with who respect your time and commitments.
Remember, setting boundaries is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing practice that requires consistency, courage, and self-awareness. But the payoff is so worth it. When you learn to set healthy boundaries, you create space for more joy, more fulfillment, and more authentic connections in your life.
So go ahead, start saying “no” to the things that don’t serve you, and watch as your world begins to change for the better. Trust that your future self will thank you.
Strange
Cheese Tortellini Soup with Shrimp
cheese tortellini soup shrimp
Prep: 5 min | Cook: 15 min | Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 cups (32 fluid ounces) reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 (9 ounce) package Buitoni Refrigerated Three Cheese Tortellini
1/2 pound (51/60 count) small cooked shrimp
1 cup loose-pack frozen petite peas, thawed
Instructions
Combine broth, sauce, wine and pepper in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add pasta; reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until pasta is tender.
Add shrimp and peas; cook for an additional 1 minute.
Serve immediately.
What office rule made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?
Happened to a friend who worked the IT Help desk in a very large corp. They had 2 phones on their desks, the Help line and a regular employee desk phone. Then it seems external calls coming into their desk phones – weren’t. Manager said he had had incoming calls blocked because HE thought that the Help queues were long because the Help guys were on personal calls instead.
So I said to my friend, “You have 4 kids who are latch-key kids (come home to empty house as Mom works too). And your co-workers also have children at home. Suppose each kid is supposed to call their parent to say they have gotten home from school, but now the calls are not getting through. What instruction would you all have given your children if they cannot reach you at work? Call the corp. security line!”
Friend: “What good would that do …. ?”
Me: “Imagine what happens when a 7-year-old calls Security in tears saying ‘I can’t reach my Daddy’…”
3 days later their desk phones were receiving external calls again.
Up-Close Look at Captured Abrams and Leopard in Moscow
Prime Minister Of Georgia Exposes U.S. Regime Change Attempt
In the April 18 I had mentioned a recent color revolution attempt in Georgia:
Those organization who currently receive money from the various U.S. or EU government or non-government organizations are of course not amused that they will have to reveal their association with such sources. They want to lobby for foreign positions without being identified as foreign influencers.They have therefore launched protests against their country’s government and parliament which has passed the law in the first reading. Two further readings will be required to finalize the law.
The protesters against the law claim that it is a “Russian law” against “foreign agents”.
…
However neither is the law “Russian style” – it is a copy of FARA – nor does the law include the loaded word “agent”. It does not accuse anyone of being such but seeks public transparency over foreign financial influences which would of course also include Russian ones.
Despite violent protests by the usual suspects the relevant bill has passed its second reading in the Georgian parliament. A third and final reading is expected in the mid of May.
The ‘NGO’ complex of U.S./EU regime change organizations in Georgia is enormous:
The Government of Georgia has declined an invitation from the US to discuss strategic partnership and assistance, reports Ekho Kavkazu.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia confirmed receiving the invitation from the Prime Minister. However, before the visit, parliament was supposed to temporarily suspend consideration of the bill On Transparency of Foreign Influence.
Well, the parliament did not do so.
Now witness this very public slap-in-the face which Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze is handing out to Derek H. Chollet, the Counselor of the U.S. State Department:
Irakli Kobakhidze @PM_Kobakhidze – 8:13 UTC · May 3, 2024Spoke to @CounselorDOS and expressed my sincere disappointment with the two revolution attempts of 2020-2023 supported by the former US Ambassador and those carried out through NGOs financed from external sources. Had these attempts been successful, the second front line would have been opened in Georgia.
Besides, I explained to Mr. Chollet that false statements made by the officials of the US State Department about the transparency bill and street rallies remind us of similar false statements made by the former US Ambassador in 2020-2023, which served to the facilitation of violence from foreign funded actors and to the support of revolutionary processes back then.
Also, I clarified to Mr. Chollet that it requires a special effort to restart the relations against this background, which is impossible without a fair and honest approach.
I have not expressed my concerns with Mr. Chollet about a brutal crackdown of the students’ protest rally in New York City.
It is rare to see a small power like Georgia publicly exposing U.S. mischief like this.
Posted by b on May 3, 2024 at 10:05 UTC | Permalink
Social Media Has Destroyed Women
I went on a date with a woman in her late 40s. She confessed that she had given one of her friends bad advice by encouraging her to get involved with a married man.
I told her that I was shocked that a woman her age would give such bad advice to a woman 20 years younger than her and she be more of a mentor. She said that she had gone through a similar experience and it had worked out for her.
After more dialogue she admitted that she cheated on her husband of 25 years with another married man and eventually he left his wife as well. They lived together for 5 years and then he ended up breaking it off with her and now she's been single for a year.
I honestly just kind of stared in shock and kept blinking for a little bit. I told her I don't know what was
1. that you told me so easily like it was a flex or
2. that you actually believe that your situation was so successful that you actually encourage somebody else to do the same thing.
Not only did you implode your family, but you encouraged that other man to ruin his and now you have your friend ruining another marriage.
She told me that I am judgemental and that I need to read my Bible more. Am I tripping?
If we were to talk about prosperity between China & the USA, which one would you say is on the right track? Why?
China is the only major economy growing since the Covid pandemic and China is now producing huge end automobile and quantum computers! It is growing faster and bigger than the entire G7! The U.S. is basically a Ponzi scheme economy printing money without basis and building 1 trillion debts every 100 days! Its GDP is laden with hot air and Wall Street bubbles ready to pop anytime soon! The U.S. spends on war, war mongering, trouble making, regime change, and colour revolution funding. While China build the latest state of the art infrastructures and educate and retrain its people!
Putting the U.S. and China in the same category is totally misleading China is developing the U.S. is disintegrating, China is progressing the U.S. is collapsing in a huge pile of debts.
Have you ever seen a drill instructor compliment a recruit?
Drill sergeant Thomas – “give me that rifle, private!”
Terrified PFC Edwards hands him the rifle.
Drill sergeant Thomas – “what the fuck is this?!?!? Do you know what this is, private?!?!?”
Terrified PFC Edwards tries, in vain, to muster some semblance of a coherent response.
Drill sergeant Thomas – “this is a clean ass rifle! That’s what the fuck it is! Now get the fuck out of here private…you fucking creep.”
PFC Edwards is on the range with a beat up M16A2 and some very old aluminum artifacts that were likely magazines at some point. He’s shooting at little green Ivans that already have more holes than an Alex Jones conspiracy theory and the Browns red zone defense combined. Drill sergeant Thomas approaches and screams out “I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing private, but keep doing it!”
Those are the two compliments that I most remember from basic.
Win later
What are some of the interesting mutations humans have?
There is one which may make you look prettier.
The British-American cinema icon, Elizabeth Taylor, who was deemed as one of the most beautiful women of her time had a rare genetic condition called Distichiasis. It is a type of mutation which caused her to have two rows of eyelashes instead of one. This thick, dark fringe of extra eyelashes made her eyes look all the more dreamy and dazzling and along with her striking blue eyes, they certainly enhanced her already exquisite face. This was caused by a mutation in the FOXC2 gene.
Although, having natural double eyelashes may seem like an entrancing feature, it can be far from a boon. Congenital distichiasis is often accompanied by lymphedema – a condition characterized by swelling of the limbs, typically the legs and feet due to build up of body fluids, and therefore known as lymphedema-distichiasis (LD) syndrome.
For the little boring part, the FOXC2 gene is a transcription factor/protein involved in numerous developmental pathways of the body, two of which are those of the lymphatic vessels and the associated regions of the eye, hence the association.
In distichiasis, the extra row of eyelashes grow from tiny oil glands (meibomian glands)
on the thin ledge of skin nearer to the eye, instead of growing out of hair follicles present on the outer edge of the eyelid.
main qimg 9e6db4f6ef20ed8046356cb48ba8cdb2 lq
Distichiasis in some individuals can remain harmless and less detectable if the growing eyelashes curl outwards. The lashes can be removed by epilation (plucking), cryotherapy, electrolysis, lid splitting operations, or laser treatment etc. The condition can also vary from a few sparse hairs on one lid, to full sets of lashes on both lids.
But for some individuals, distichiasis with lymphedema syndrome can take a more severe form. One could have more acute symptoms of eye irritation, redness as well as more frequent tearing in the eye. The mutations in FOXC2 may also give rise to multiple disorders, such heart diseases, scoliosis, cellulitis, webbed neck, respiratory problems due to abnormal lymph flow into the lungs etc.
Which could explain why some of Taylor’s myriad of health problems may have been attributed to her inherited lymphoedema-distichiasis syndrome due to mutations in the FOXC2 gene.
Taylor was known to have had more than 100 operations during her lifetime, including having both hips replaced. She also suffered from scoliosis and respiratory infections. In 2004, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure which later caused her death in 2011.
Edit: As it has been pointed out in the comments, I’d like to clarify that Elizabeth’s eye color wasn’t exactly blue but was more like purple/violet color. Although, some websites describe her eye color as blue, it was a slight mistake on my part on factually describing it as blue. Thank you 🙂
One summer we took a family trip to Charleston, South Carolina. When traveling, I like to find out the one dish the city is famous for and try to eat it as many times as I can. After all, how can you know what the “Best She Crab Soup in Charleston” is unless you sample a pretty fair share of them?
She Crab Soup, also called She Crab Bisque, was the dish of the trip. I discovered that the soup is made with female crabs. Makes sense. In addition, the roe (fish eggs) of the female crab is added to the recipe.
How do you know the difference between a male and a female crab? I went to a food conference in NYC one spring and got a “crab anatomy” lesson from a crab vendor.
He flipped over two crabs and explained that the male crabs have the Washington Monument on their undersides.
IMG 0660
The females have the wider Capitol Building on their bellies.
IMG 0661
What are the Ingredients in She Crab Soup?
After returning from that trip to Charleston, I was determined to re-create the recipe for She Crab Soup. For inspiration, I leaned on The Joy of Cooking’s recipe for lobster bisque, from which this recipe is loosely adapted.
Most recipes call for fresh crab. In a perfect, very French world, you would also use the shells of the crabs to make a super rich stock. Obviously this is not always practical. And unless you live in an area where crabs are regularly harvested, you will probably have a more difficult time finding “female” crabs.
Since I wanted this She Crab soup recipe to be fast and easy, I’ve used canned, lump meat crab from the seafood counter of my grocery store and bottled clam juice in place of fish stock. If you can find fish stock, substitute that for the bottled clam juice and chicken stock.
Ingredients
1 small onion, minced
4 tablespoons butter
1 pound crabmeat (about 12 crabs)
1 quart milk
2 cups light cream
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup orange crab roe
Rind of 1 lemon, grated
Instructions
Sauté onion gently in the butter, add crabmeat, and set aside.
Heat milk and cream in the top of a double boiler, add crab meat and onion, seasonings and sherry. Cover, and let steep over very low heat for 30 to 45 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks, pour a little of the hot liquid into them, and then stir the yolk mixture slowly into the soup.
Put a spoonful of roe in each soup bowl, ladle in the soup, and sprinkle the top with grated lemon rind.
Men Are Going Abroad For Love And Modern Women Are FURIOUS
What are the first things you notice when you become homeless?
How flimsy it all is. Society. Status. Everything.
Everything we work so hard for and so hard to maintain. It’s too flimsy and transient. The fact that it takes so little to lose it all and that we have to work so hard to keep it.
When gossip can change your status. That’s scary.
On a more practical front, I noticed right away where I was now persona non grata. Places where you could stand while waiting for a friend or a ride, in the vicinity of a store was now the place you waited to go to jail while the store manager summoned the police because you are now a criminal by virtue of your homelessness.
I now knew where to go to be hassled by absolutely everyone because I was no longer a person but either a very tall child or wildlife that wandered into their vicinity, only to be shooed away or threatened.
Also, no public restroom anywhere, ever, was available for ‘my kind’. I had then been redesignated as a U Person. As in ‘you people’!!
As well as all shelter was off-limits to me, to include a covered bus stop, a bridge, even a large tree with a nice canopy. I was not even allowed shade.
Don’t forget public spaces that are available to everyone, like parks, benches and sidewalks. Those are for decent regular people, not U People! And I get it, no one wants parks reduced to a landfill, tent city or crime-ridden waste land. But I even promised not to dump all of my toxic waste on that park bench, I just needed to rest from a long day of walking. But they showed me and installed spikes and arms in the center of the park bench.
main qimg 6781b8e0f6fc4d3243a5b8bd0a8b0467 lq
(Credit: dev.null.org)
I also learned that grocery stores acquired very impressive trash compactors. I guess I took more than my fair share of dented cans and bruised bananas. I admit to my greed. But those giant yellow beasts were overkill.
On to the not-so-horrible things I learned.
Like where all the high-end cafés, bakeries, etc. were located and what time they tossed the leftovers.
Which dumpsters, of particular residents were picked up and when there were prime resell pickings. Or to get good clothes from. People being so incredibly wasteful saved us in more ways than 10.
Who was homeless-friendly and who wasn’t, by just a look. Identifying the look became second nature; even my young son could spot it.
I also learned the police routes and rounds pretty quickly.
Prime U People traveling times, so as not to offend the good, decent people of society.
And I learned what really mattered to me. What was important. Homelessness gave me perspective that I may not have gotten any other way.
Saw this
What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?
I was fired from a sporting goods company for not fitting in. I was fired by the VP of Technology and my manager was the one who brought me to his office (she didn’t say a word to me).
Anyway. As it stands, a few years later the jellyfish manager I had was at a conference where I was the keynote speaker. I was actually in the middle of telling the story of how I was fired and that got me the right to call myself ‘seasoned’ on my resume. I am explaining the whole experience minus names and I look out into the audience and there she is — sliding down in her chair. It was classic!
She eventually was fired too. This company was great at managing their unemployment rate. If they didn’t like you they fired you thinking they would get away with it with no fight. I took them to three appeals and won.
Life Doesn’t Give Us Purpose, We Create It
Today, let’s tackle a topic that often keeps us awake at night—finding our purpose. And let me be clear: this isn’t about stumbling upon some hidden secret that’s going to make everything click into place. It’s about facing life’s relentless questions head-on.
Life doesn’t hand us a neatly packaged purpose; it doesn’t operate like some cosmic vending machine. Instead, life poses questions, challenges us, and waits for our responses. So, what does this really mean? It means that your purpose isn’t something you find—it’s something you define through your actions and decisions every day.
Think about it. Every choice you make, every action you take, is essentially you responding to life’s big questions: What are you going to do today? What kind of person will you be? How will you impact the world around you? Your answers to these questions, reflected in your daily actions, create the narrative of your life.
Let’s break this down a bit. When you choose to help someone in need, you’re answering life’s question with compassion. When you decide to learn something new, you’re responding with curiosity. And when you stand up for what you believe in, even when it’s hard, you’re replying with courage. Your life, in its entirety, is your response to the existential questions life throws your way.
Now, this might sound daunting. It’s much easier to wait for inspiration to strike or to follow a path someone else has laid out for us. But here’s the real deal: taking responsibility for your own purpose means embracing the freedom to make your life mean something on your own terms. It’s about actively building the life you want, brick by brick, with your own hands.
Sure, you’ll face setbacks. There will be days when you wonder if you’re on the right path, or if it’s all worth it. But remember, every day gives you a new chance to answer life’s questions differently. To try again, to change your approach, to learn from your mistakes. And that’s where real growth happens.
So, my challenge to you is this: Stop waiting for life to give you answers and start crafting your own. Engage with life, make choices that feel true to who you are, and let your actions speak for the purpose you’re building. You might just find that in the act of responding to life’s questions, you’ll craft a purpose that is uniquely yours.
Remember, you are the author of your life’s story. What will your answers be? What will you stand for? How will you respond to the questions life asks you? Let’s start taking those steps today. Because in the end, the most fulfilling paths are often the ones we pave ourselves.
Massive fire at Germany’s defense-industrial company Diehl
EXTREMELY POISONOUS SMOKE is billowing from a massive fire at Germany’s defense-industrial company, Diehl, in Berlin.
The company just so happens to produce, among other things, the IRIS-T air defense system, its missiles, and GMLRS ammunition for HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, used by Ukraine.
Panicked authorities say the fire no longer possible to contain.
Students in surrounding areas are being sent home and emergency services warn people to stay indoors and avoid deadly massive clouds of chemical fumes.
The Building is now completely engulfed on four floors. Part of the building has already collapsed. The fire can no longer be brought under control.
We can confirm that chemicals are also burning in the building. Sulfuric acid and copper cyanide were stored there. There is a risk of hydrogen cyanide forming, which rises into the air with the smoke – Fire brigade informed the population via warning apps.
Economic Update: The Phenomenon of China
Great overview.
This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff dedicates the entire show to the economic developmental achievement of China, together with the historical background that motivated that achievement. We analyze the uniqueness of both the economic philosophy and the politics of China.
What red flag did you have the week before your wedding that you wish you had heeded?
A couple of days before my wedding we were having our makeup try out. Besides my mom and sisters, I thought it would be nice to include MIL. As the session was going on the makeup artist asked my mom how many children she had and she proudly answer “I have 3 daughters and 2 granddaughters” and the next question was if she would have wanted a son and mom said “I would have been happy with either, but I love the way it turned out to have only girls”.
The same questions were asked to MIL. She answered “I have to 2 sons” and the answer to the second question was “oh no! I never wanted to have girls, women are trouble and only bring problems to a family”.
We grew up in an home were women greatly appreciated (my dad used to say he was a joyous man among women), where we were told “men and women are different, but those diferences should complete each other, none is less and women too can be/ do whatever they aspire, so shoot for the stars”. Needless to say I was SHOCKED to hear that from another woman… who raised a man.
So, every time my “still” husband and I have an argument he tells me stuff like “you’re a problem! You ruin my life”. I know were those words come from…
But I’m really happy that we have 2 girls, 2 amazing girls. My husband’s parents have seen the 2 year old a couple of times, I didn’t really have a relationship with them, but when MIL said our 2nd was a mistake we should have stopped… I stopped any communication with them. They have never visited our baby girl since she was born…
If your bladder is full and you are unable to hold in your pee then start thinking about sex, it will give you relief up to some extent. (I suggest you to use washroom in this situation asap)
Tilting your head while looking up or while having a conversation makes you look more attractive and sexier.
When a person cries and if the first tear drop falls from left eyes, it’s pain. If it is from right eye, it’s happiness.
Men spend almost a year of their lives staring at women.
Studies have revealed that a man and woman can never be just friends.
Constantly dreaming about someone indicates that they may actually be thinking about you.
An attractive face is preferred over an attractive body for long term relationships.
Sex is more physical for men and more emotional for women.
Money can buy happiness. Studies show that after 49lakhs rupees (approx) per year, increased income boost happiness.
Being alone and spending more time with yourself is more likely to make you successful in life.
What made you as an American move to China?
First, I have travelled a fair amount in my life. I am from the US but have lived in Japan, and spent a lot of time in Taiwan, Korea, Israel and visited countries in Europe, Philippines, Malaysia, Scotland.
I have always liked Asian culture so that is part of it, but the people in China are really good people. I found that attractive. China is safe, but many countries are. The difference is that even in the huge cities, it is safe. Next is that China is growing. It is really interesting to see a country advancing, growing and improving. I have literally seen cities built, huge infrastructure projects materialize over a few years. I am watching as the behavior of the society changes as the wealth grows. This fascinates me.
China is also a convenient place to live. It is easy to get around, I don’t need a car. Things I need are easy and quick to obtain and the cost of living is low.
All of these things play a part in why I am living in China. But mostly it is the people. Chinese could be boastful people. But they are not, they are kind, thoughtful and hardworking people with no outward and obvious judgmental attitudes. In other words, they don’t care what religion I am. With all that is going on they do not treat me badly because I am an American and hold me at fault for the actions of the US government. They are educated and know the difference. It is also a society that puts a strong emphasis on education and achievement. At least the people I encounter are life long learners. Driven to learn new things.
There are negatives, of course, but the above things are the reasons I have moved to China.
Something TERRIFYING Happened To This Submarine
Super interesting.
British Foreign Secretary: Ukraine Can Use British Missiles Against Russian Territory
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said today, Ukraine CAN use British weapons to hit deep inside Russia Territory. He also promised Kiev over $3 billion in military aid annually for “as long as it takes.”
“Ukraine has the right to use weapons provided by London to strike targets on Russian territory” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has declared, in an interview with Reuters on Thursday during a visit to Kiev.
The senior diplomat, who also served as UK Prime Minister from 2010 to 2016, met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, promising London’s “unequivocal support” and annual military aid payments.
“We will give three billion pounds ($3.74 billion) every year for as long as is necessary. We’ve just really emptied all we can in terms of giving equipment,” Cameron told the outlet, noting that some of the British weapons earmarked for Ukraine would be arriving to the country during his visit.
The foreign secretary noted that among the weapons donated to Kiev are precision-guided bombs, air defense missiles and equipment for 100 mobile air defense teams.
Cameron stated that Ukraine has the “right” to use arms provided by London to strike targets inside Russia if that’s how it wants to use them.
“Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it’s defending itself,” the diplomat said.
Hal Turner Snap Analysis
This is a massive escalation on the part of the UK and may be the lynchpin to Russia declaring Britain a “combatant.”
If person “A” provides a gun to person “B” and person B uses that gun to shoot Person “C” then Person “A” facilitated that attack and is an accessory before the fact and goes to prison, too.
I don’t see any reason that state actors can’t be held to that same legal standard.
US Very Concerned as China-Russia Strengthen Their Military Ties!
After I left China Lake Naval Weapons Center, we spent a brief period of time in rural Pennsylvania looking for work.
During that time we (my wife and I) were living in a mobile home. It was just an old ratty mobile home on a farm in the middle of the country.
Something like this
We lived there for just under a year. Hustling to find work. Typing out resumes and knocking on doors. Sigh.
The land was rural and there were all sorts of Amish and Mennonites around. And the people who owned the farm were really nice to us. They managed a herd of buffalo, and every day we would see the buffalo heard up and roam about.
1117a2e1a23206b82354c6da5d347458
It’s not something that I speak about a lot, but it is part of my life experience. So, yeah. Now you know.
No surprises, eh?
Today…
What is the scariest thing you have seen or experienced when hiking?
For about 15 years we lived in rural Claremont on a 15 acre parcel that had East Duffins Creek running through it. This is in Ontario Canada and just outside Toronto. It was morel season so I jumped on my ATV and headed over to the north side of our property where I had found morels in previous years. I hopped off and went for a hike down to the creek and up through some native apple trees. I had to part some cedar branches to get back to my ATV about 25′ away. When I climbed on the ATV a full grown Easter Cougar came out of the cedars in the same place I had just walked. Clearly he had followed me. I was afraid to start the machine as this would have required moving one arm and both feet and I was worried that the movement might trigger him to come after me. We stared at each other for a moment and then I jumped in the air and yelled BOO as loud as possible. Fortunately the big cat turned and ran. I went home and called the Ministry of Natural Resources to report this sighting and they weren’t too surprised. They said these Eastern Cougars are about 150 lbs, follow river corridors, have a hunting area of about 90 square miles and take a deer a week. Two months later my daughter-in-law captured this photo south of Barrie about 50 kms away. It was exciting but scary.
main qimg 841e3fa8796bcf6a35767451de34759f lq
Why Is China Not Afraid of the US?
What is the most difficult thing you have had to do to one of your children?
When I was doing the single parenting thing and my son was about 17 and my daughter 15, my son started showing a very bad temper. I understood it and knew how it felt because I also had an awful temper that I learned to control long before he was born. Anyway, he’s over a foot taller than me and pretty strong. We were living in a rented townhouse at the time. He got so angry one day and punched a large hole in a wall. Nothing I was saying or doing for him was getting him to be less angry. He would sometimes stand over me and give me the ‘I want to punch you’ body language. So, on the day he punched the wall and seemed to threaten me, I called the police. The policeman came to the door knowing it was a domestic dispute and once I told him why I called, he suggested letting him talk to my son alone. I was not in the room but I was in earshot. The cop was saying things like, “Dude your mom is letting you live here and this is a nice place. She could kick you out when you turn 18. How would you like that?” and “What about all the great things your mom has done for you? Do you get nice clothes?” Yes. “Do you eat well?” Yes. “Then what’s your problem, man?!” He basically gave my son a talking to. My kid needed to hear that from someone of authority. It did make a change in him. HOWEVER, he has never let me live down the fact that I once called the police on him. He’s only 26 now and maybe ONE DAY he will finally realize I did something that worked and did no harm to anyone.
Why Leaving the US is the New American Dream
Andrew Henderson is the CEO of Nomad Capitalist, the world’s #1 resource for global citizens, helping people around the world gain access to second passports, reduce tax liabilities, and learning to safeguard their assets. Andrew was born an American but has since renounced his citizenship, obtained 5 new passports from countries around the world, and lives in multiples cities throughout the world. In today’s video Andrew shares his life and journey and what it means to be a Nomad Capitalist.
What was your most glorious moment in a classroom ever?
At the university, I was a political science major. I was also sick a lot so I was excused from taking physical education, so I only had one semester of PE, which was worth one half of a unit. While I was excused from the class I was not excused from the required number of units in order to graduate.
I chose most of my classes based on the time of day they were offered, prefering morning classes. I signed up for International Law. On the first day of class, the professor stated that International Relations was required to be taken before International Law. I had not taken International Relations, but decided to at least try the class, I had a month before I could drop the class with no penalty.
I understood the subject matter and was doing all right. Towards the end of the semester, the professor found out that I had not taken the prerequisite course. He let me stay in the class as I was one of the top students.
The professor told me that I still needed to take International Relations to qualify for my degree, but he said that it would not be fair for another professor to have me as a student, so he requested that I take the class from him
In my last semester, I realize that I would be one half of a unit short in order to graduate. I was telling my professor about the problem when he suggested I do a one half unit independent study. He wanted to go to a seminar and would be out of the class room for a week.
He said that if I would teach the unit on International Law for his classes of International Relations classes, I would earn my one half united.
So this is where it got strange, I was a student in one of his classes, and the week the professor was gone, I stood in front of all my classmates and taught the class for a week.
When the professor returned, I became just another student.
I graduated on time.
BLINKEN TRIP TO CHINA: U.S. dominance is over!
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken went home with his tail between his legs after an official three-day visit to China in which he tried his very best to convince the world of a litany of nonsensical crap that neither he nor anyone else with a brain believes, including spouting the “over-capacity” myth that Yellen tried to start on her last visit, and trying to tell Beijing that Washington has some kind of right to decide who China can and cannot trade with. This desperation and hypocrisy blatantly on show from U.S. leaders visiting China is a sign of one thing: the hegemony of the U.S.-led West is falling, and it’s a joy to watch! Today we’ll talk about it.
What do police officers say are the things that make them more or less likely to give a ticket to a speeding driver?
My gauge was always reasonableness.
If your license plate tags expired one month ago, I can see you not noticing and would probably cut you a break. If they expired one year ago, not so much.
If I pull you over for plates expired months ago, and you say, “I’ve been trying to get money together so I could renew them,” but there are $300 worth of cigarette butts in the ashtray and the backseat is full of bags from the mall, you’re getting a ticket.
If you don’t have insurance, you’re almost certainly getting a ticket. People who didn’t want to pay for insurance figured if they could get less than three tickets a year, they could get out of paying a premium and just pay their insurance fine, which would actually be less expensive since they were high risk. I never gave them the satisfaction.
I never really ran radar, so I didn’t write many speeding tickets – maybe four or five over three years. Even then, they were all for going at least twenty miles an hour over the limit (or speeding while they were drunk). Every officer has a magic number. One of my colleagues’ was, “Twelve [mph] over you’re fine, thirteen and you’re mine.” Now, some officers’ magic numbers may be one, so don’t bank on any kind of window. I never nailed one down, but probably would have if I ever did traffic enforcement.
If you’re driving drunk, you’re getting so many tickets. I’ve personally written as many as eight to one person after one incident, and a colleague in another agency (with a more permissive pursuit policy) once wrote 36 after a drunk driving pursuit. I have seen so many dead bodies lying on asphalt because of drunk drivers. No mercy.
The answer from the officer in the UK has some good insights – especially the bit about asking me why I’m not finding ‘actual criminals.’ But ladies, don’t count on sexing the situation up to dodge a ticket. I’ve written lots of citations to women with heaving cleavage who had obviously fussed with their blouse prior to my approach. What favor am I currying by not writing a ticket? There is absolutely nothing in it for me in that scenario. It’s not like just giving a warning is going to prompt her to go ahead and peel her top off. I’m not saying it would never work on anyone, but it didn’t go anywhere with me.
In any situation where a citation issuance was in the cards, I honestly tried to put myself in the shoes of the driver. Where are they coming from? Where are they going? Would I have noticed the same thing on my car? Would I go that fast off-duty? I tried to be very fair with my citations, and I like to think that if I ever gave you one, you could at least admit how I saw it was necessary. Some officers issued them indiscriminately, but I tried to, again, just be reasonable.
Read non-fiction books : It will transform your thinking process.
Cooking : It will save you from eating junk and lots of money.
Travelling : You are not a frog who is destined to live in a well rather explore the world .It is beautiful.
Pick a hobby : Now you don’t have time to get bore.
Drink adequate water : Because you are made of water and it is necessary to keep yourself hydrated.
Practice selflessness – Feed that stray animal , help your needy friends without expecting anything in return.
Remove inferiority complex – That famous writer whom you admire and feel inferior to , they are just a human like you. You too can become successful like them if you will put that amount of hard work that they usually put in.
Earn before spending – It’s okay to buy IPhone X but buy it after earning, not on EMI.
Smile in adversity – It will diminish half of your pain.
What is a time when you’ve seen a co-worker get fired who totally deserved it?
I worked for a personally owned McDonald’s and many of the workers and customers were female and minors. One of the managers constantly made extremely inappropriate comments about the customers and crew. Many workers including me had told managers above him including the General Manager what was happening.
One coworker was to the point she requested to not be scheduled on the same shift but her request was ignored. She was driven to the point she put her two weeks in because of it, and she was a hard worker who if she made mistakes instantly fixed them. When I heard of her wanting to quit and why many female coworkers told me of his comments.. comments that if I had heard personally make, I probably would have punched him. But I called the owner and she told me the managers were “Investigating it”. Which i knew was bullshit because the GM’s wife was also a Manager and was high school friends with the predator. When I heard this I explained what my coworkers had told me and all she had to say was I needed to remember who I was talking to because I was getting angry and upset quoting his disgusting comments. So I started ripping her a new one(Bitched her out) about how she is allowing a predator to make workers he is preying on to do what ever he wanted. And hung up on her and went back to work.
Next day her younger brother was waiting for me to clock in since he was who took care of small things like firings. He told he understood my rage as he has daughters and would feel the same way. I told him a few comments he made that made my blood boil. He said the same thing about my tone with his sister and then told me to go to work. The predator went to clock in and was instantly taken back to the managers office and fired before he could even clock on. He stormed out and shouted, “I just got fired I hope you’re all happy” and I laughed and said yes actually I am very happy. I honestly see it as my greatest achievement in my work experience.
What are the types of people that you should always avoid?
A good friend of mine got Engaged to the love of her life and was about to get married within 2 months.
She was extremely happy. Both the families willingly agreed. No objection from any side. Her would be in laws told her parents that they don’t want anything from them. So far so good.
Just one month before marriage her would be mother in law called her mother.
MIL: Apki beti bahot achhi hai. Humein to bas aapki beti chahiye. Baaki aapne jo dena hai apni beti ko hi dena hai.
(Translation: We are blessed to have your daughter. We don’t want anything for us. However, you may give anything to your daughter as you may please.)
Mother: okay ji. Definitely.
And this continued for the following 3-4 days.
Her MIL used to drop subtle hints about their demands which included a destination wedding, innova car, diamond rings etc. Each time she ended the conversation with the same dialogue.
We don’t want anything for us. You can give your daughter anything you want to.
My friend came to know about this just 15 days before the wedding, when she overheard her parents talking about borrowing from relatives.
She was furious and called her fiance.
And then it was the fiance’s turn.
Unhone jo dena hai tumhe hi dena hai. Humari koi demand nai hai.
(Transaltion: We haven’t demanded anything. They are giving it to you.)
She ended her 3 year long relationship right away.
I met her yesterday and she told me about the entire incident and to my surprise, she was rather relieved to know everything before marriage.
In her words: Those people were wolves disguised as sheep. Even more dangerous.
Edit: I showed all the comments to my friend. She wants to pass a message through this forum. “Whenever you hear we don’t want anything for us but you can give your daughter whatever you want to.”
Run. Run as fast as you can and never ever look back. You definitely want to avoid such people.
I Caught My Girlfriend “On The Clock” Doing Her Secret Job, Now She’s PLEADING That We Talk It Over
...she's not your girlfriend, it's just your turn, or someone else's or something like that....
What is the strangest thing you’ve seen someone return to a store?
A couple of years ago I went to Costco to return an item. I don’t even remember what I had bought – it was the wrong item and I had not even opened the package. Waiting in line, in front of me was a man, probably 10 years younger than me, carrying a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet printer. I knew that model well because it is old – over 15 years old, and it looked it. I am a computer nerd, and I know most models of Hewlett-Packard printers – be it Laserjet, Deskjet, Designjet, Office Jet, or whatever. Since I was right behind him, I could hear everything that he was trying to tell the Costco employee. He said had bought it from here at this store – and it stopped working. I looked at the employee because she looked up at me and I just grinned.
When something is bought from Costco, they keep a thorough record of it and this man did not even have a Costco membership (that gave it away), but he insisted that he bought it from here.
The young lady was intimidated by him so I interrupted him and I said, “Give me a break. That printer is over 15 years old and they never sold that model here and when it was made, this store hadn’t been built!”
The guy argued with me and said he bought it here. I said, “No, you didn’t. You either bought it for $10 from a thrift-shop, or got it out of your garage. What you are trying to do is committing fraud and I will call the police right now to have you arrested!”
It took him a couple of seconds and he ran out. I was a little afraid of him waiting for me outside but it was in the middle of the day when I was leaving the store and by then, he was already gone.
Cheating is wrong, and the guy was a complete idiot who tried to circumvent their generous return policy and he was not even smart enough to come up with a good story.
The young lady thanked me for helping her. I made a joke and said I was in a hurry to buy a Costco hot-dog and he was holding up the line.
Daily comics
b773b34f2983477ef0392640b68cff50
7c2b722dccca840d1c97d1cdde201030
a682407f1861e12c638c6787a7e2d1e9
ef13caa2a76b18fb5d7a96a748d5e1f4
e35f6a2d39b05450f7579f974d7adbdb
c2fb8332c626b8d9b9edf493efc1fbd2
81c0c74a2d78d351ff8005268d6a52b0
1ec4dc3bc66211ce6bc04165ab4910f9
2fce86541f1f184ecba3abe7672b739d
c76146742ac5b1aba414d4c0aa47e606
28cd48af8187616a2e93f66e4906bc6c
0738c124fcb30fb96fd9a2d8bf35a013
677fdce84c939fa8033c41746a17831e
e07fcd5d823dea1ed9dc3102fd4c48cd
959003718b1e2a5749d404cf9848c63c
23bad883e8d9582b503c3fdd558fd654
37f3ce8e1a98ae41d48f81261cf9a9bb
8e4b6ef3603c841c768ad860a2dc33f6
@@@@@70443a5cfc219208ef94fa86903bd92d
What is something that needs to be said that nobody wants to hear?
I call her “Little Girl” because she completed her 12th last year. She always greets me with morning messages without failing any day.
But yesterday I didn’t get any message from her.
Then I pinged her today and asked for the reason. Initially she was hesitant but after insisting she told me the reason; she was thrashed physically by her dad because she couldn’t clear medical exam this year. She might have fractured her wrist.
She is a bright student and she loves physics. She has an outstanding academic record in physics. But it was her father’s dream to make her a doctor. And on top of it, she is the only child and that is why she is bearing this burden of hope.
She has least interest in biology and couldn’t make it to any medical college for two years in a row. They are adamant to make her a doctor, they want to send her to foreign countries (Ukraine, Russia) to complete her education.
This is a famous dialog from “Kota Factory”,
Your parents might take wrong decision for you, but their intentions are never wrong.
I agree, they are your kids and you will always take best decision for them. But I believe there is a thin line between taking a decision for them and forcing your decision on them.
Obviously, her father has no wrong intention. But his disappointment in his only daughter because she couldn’t clear medical exam is wrong.
Everyone is worried about their kids’ future. But how many of you bother to ask where does their happiness lie? What are their dreams? What do they want to become in their life?
Indian parents and their ideology. Obviously they are your kids and you don’t want to listen to someone else’s advice. But I believe, becoming the best in the area of your interest is better than becoming an average person in the area of your least interest.
Your kids are not average, you are forcing them to become one.
Legend of the Hanging Munchkin – A Wizard of Oz Mystery
Is American cuisine considered to be bad?
As a European who has traveled often to the U.S. (with shopping groceries and cooking), let me answer this question:
With a firm no.
First, let me make something clear: American cuisine is not McDonalds and Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken and Subway. These are fast food chains and not representative for American cuisine.
American cuisine is very diverse, maybe the world’s most diverse cuisine. This comes partly from the many immigrant groups who brought their food to America where it was transformed into American cuisine, but it also comes from the different regions of the USA, a geographically huge country. Think of regional cuisines:
The Northwest with lobsters, clam chowders, oysters and crab cakes – all delicious seafood dishes which belong to the best of their kind in the world.
Florida cuisine with Cuban and Carribean influences.
The creole and cajun cuisine of New Orleans.
Tex-Mex.
New Mexican cuisine which is not a version of Mexican cuisine but a indigenious fusion of American Indian and Spanish influences.
Californian cuisine with Mediterranean, East Asian and Spanish accents, all blended in a unique way.
King crab and the world’s best salmon in Alaska.
Southern BBQ.
And, everywhere, some of the world’s best steaks.
What does it take to live an authentic life?
Courage and humility.
It took me years of chickening out and trying to fake it till I’d make it to learn that lesson. When you live authentically, you accept a lot of things. That can be incredibly hard, depending also on who one is.
Some people will face a lot less adversity than some, because of the way they are.
I, for my part, am not a very common person, so when I decided to drop the pretense and face the music, to see what it would be like, I prepared myself for a possible, lifelong shitstorm and hatred 24/7. I fully expected murder.
Interestingly, this did not materialize.
It was as if I stepped through a curtain of my own fears, only to emerge with a corrected image on the other side. An image that I could just live with naturally. It required no upkeep, no explanations, and no thought.
People peeled away, and surprisingly, they were the ones I didn’t care for, or who didn’t care for me, anyway. I learned right there and then that those who really like you will like you as you are, and probably do so even before you go through such a change, because they may have known your real you before you even tried to meet it.
And new people came, who viewed me in a very different light. People who actually gave me energy rather than taking it.
I can only recommend to take the step.
So what did I actually do?
It was at a stage of my life where I had some real doubts about the validity of my professional and life choices, and I decided that I needed a break. I “turned myself grey”, as I tend to think of it. I stopped transmitting, and went into a pure listening mode. I wanted to figure out life, and the way to do that, I figured, was first and foremost to shut up.
So shut up, start listening, and stop using the word “I”. Drop all self aggrandizement, all life editing, and all those theater acts we put on to please certain people. Let them have it from the horse’s mouth, and let that mouth be yours. And then just sit there and take the backlash.
It may never come. If it does, it’s more likely like a little demon detonating into thin air.
The Chinese owner of TikTok claims they would rather shut down than sell TikTok. (To the surprise of many lawmakers who voted to ban TikTok). Do you think they are serious or bluffing?
Very serious.
Chinese don’t bluff the way Americans do.
PULP SCI FI – Retro Pulp Science Fiction by Skyward, 1950 Science Fiction Paperback Novel Cover Art
What were the last words you heard someone say before they died?
My wife died during the pandemic. She had suffered from dementia for a number of years prior to her death. Many have called dementia ‘the dying brain’.
Because of her refusal to take her medication as directed, her primary care physician suggested that she be admitted to a care facility. That was in late January 2020. I visited her every day, ate lunch with her, and left when she started ‘sundowning’. In early March 2020 the hospitals and care facilities closed down to any visitors. In late March she was placed under hospice care.
The only contact we had was by phone. Most of the time when I called I was told that she was sleeping which meant that she wasn’t fighting her demons. When she was awake, she could only mumble. The last time we spoke, I told her that I loved her. Her response and last words to me were “I love you”.
On April 8, 2020 at 2:15 AM I got a call from the hospice facility telling me that she was dying. I asked if I could come and be with her. I was denied that. Then, at 6:30 AM I got another call telling me to come as fast as I could. She was unresponsive. I held her hand and played hymns on my phone. I would tell her that she could let go. She would squeeze my hand. At 2:17 PM she stopped breathing.
I am blessed to have those last minutes and words with her.
End of the Globalists w/ Jay Dyer (Live)
How has President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s shift towards the United States affected China-Philippines relations and tensions in the South China Sea?
It affected the living standard and livelihood of Filipinos. It make him very rich and get back US confiscated wealth by the state department back for the Marcos clan!
He is doing a very clever 2 way play. He knows China don’t want war and U.S. U.S. pushing and bribing home to provoke war like Ukraine so he gets good money from the U.S. and he does nothing to China except soft groan and play act with China, all is well. But U.S. will on their own bribed poor fisherman on high seas to provoke Chinese naval boats. The fisherman gets 5K bucks to get hosed not bad for a days job. CNN gets their pretentious headlines where the edit and fabricate into Chinese “aggression” and state department gives them a nod and wink!
All is well as long as no one goes overboard!and some people got rich others get hosed and China gets bad publicity which it don’t gives a shit as long as it is costing the US an arm and a leg! Let’s see how much more and how long US can do shit as its nation dwindles down into oblivion.
What is the biggest scam an auto mechanic ever tried on you?
About 1992 I bought a used, just off-lease, Chevy Blazer at a local car lot. The salesman told me that they’d rebuilt the front end, as it was loose when they got it. (S-10s, Blazers, Jimmys, and Sonomas from the 80s through the 90s were notorious for front ends that needed to be rebuilt just as they came out of warranty) I got under the car and looked, all the parts looked clean and new, no reason to doubt the salesman. They’d also put new tires on it.
The new tires were wearing funny, so I took it to a well-known local under-car shop to have it aligned. They looked at it and said that they had bad news, the whole front end had to be rebuilt, all the joints were worn out, as was common on these vehicles just out of warranty. Of course, they were lying and wanted over $1000 in early ’90s money to “fix” it.
I took it to another well-known local under-car shop and told them what happened and had them look at it. They told me that the car salesman had told the truth and that indeed the front end had been rebuilt, but they screwed up the alignment. They aligned the front end for less than $50. They said that the other shop had tried this scam on other people before me. The tires wore normally after that.
The good shop went out of business a few years later, and the bad one is still open in 2024, more than 30 years later. For over thirty years I’ve been telling locals about this incident and advising them to not go there. Maybe the people who work there nowadays are honest, but when you do things like they did over 30 years ago, you ruin your reputation from then on.
What did your parents allow you to do as a kid that you now realize was not age-appropriate?
I was born in 1961. My parents were a bit older than my friends’ parents, as this was their 2nd marriage. Both growing up during the Depression, so “parenting” wasn’t a verb. Dinner was at 5:30, “don’t be late, TV will ruin your eyes, don’t break your neck, don’t cry or I’ll give you something to cry about”; those were about it in terms of rules. Of course, if my brothers and I did something wrong, we were punished, not knowing it was something we shouldn’t have been doing. That’s pretty typical for my generation.
But my father had a great idea about how I could be useful. He noticed that our dog, a dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks English Setter named Randall, was picking up lots of ticks. I can’t tell you how gross it was; the ticks would reach his tummy and just swell up. There were dozens of them.
Dad had an idea. Since I liked giving Randall belly rubs (and he’d flop on the ground for me), why not give me a box of “strike anywhere” matches. have me light each one, blow it out, and apply it to the ticks? The bloated ticks would die instantly and I could pull them off Randall. Dad set us up on the brick patio. Me, the dog, and a huge box of matches that could be struck on the bricks to light. I thought it was fun, sort of like picking grapes.
I WAS SIX YEARS OLD!
I learned to be adept and deft; I never burned Randall. I may have singed the tip of my finger a few times, but it was a great system. Any grossness wasn’t affecting me because I WAS SIX! That, and dad told me to do it!
Let’s fast forward to 1994. I asked my son, then 8 years old, to light the candles I had placed on the dining room table. (He is the sweetest kid, and saw me rushing to get a holiday meal ready, and asked what he could do to help.) I handed him a pack of matches. I saw him go over to the candles and struggle to light a match. I think he went through half the pack before I took them from him and told him to get the dinner rolls instead. It was at that moment I realized that little kids generally don’t use matches, and my dad really was taking a chance with me, a box of “strike anywhere” matches, and a furry dog! Do they still make “strike anywhere” matches anymore? My dad was a smoker and a badass. He liked to tease me by lighting the matches with his thumbnail, then lighting his cigarette. Of course I’d try to light one myself, fail, and he’d laugh. Oh, 1967! Oh, I got caught smoking in high school, and there was hell to pay.
What is it like to enter a prison for the first time?
When I was 16 years old my father was elected as a judge in Los Angeles County. He thought it was his duty to see, first hand, what the prisons were like before he sentenced anyone to that prison.
He made arrangements to tour all of the prisons in Los Angeles County. One day he asked me if I wanted to go with him. I think he may have wanted to scare me straight.
So I accompanied him to Wayside Maximum Security Prison. Let me tell you that was one of the most sobering experiences of my young life. All of the inmates were locked in their cages (cells).
The thing that impressed me the most was that there was absolutely zero privacy. The was no place where the inmates could not be seen, either they were watched by a gaurd or a camera.
They could not take a shower, use the toilet, change their clothes or anything thing else without being watched.
I did not see even one smile that day on a prisoner or a guard. It was one of the most gloomy places I have ever been
Why The US Government Hate China Scott Ritter Interview with Carl Zha and Alex Reporterfy
I was in maintenance, and then worked the lines as a wrapping operator. It put money in my pocket and we could eat anything we wanted. And yeah, after one hour, we couldn’t stand to look at the stuff.
Any ways, this took place in Mebine, North Carolina.
mebane location map nc
And all the workers were local. Mill workers. Probably C and D students throughout their school years.
Anyways, there was a big silo of honey, or syrup and one of peanut butter.
image asset1
And on the day before the Labor Day weekend, one of the workers was assigned the job to watch the peanut-butter go though a pipe at the bottom of the silo into a cauldron.
When the vessel was full, his job was to turn it off, shut the spigot, and then go home, locking the door behind him.
Well, the factory is empty, and he starts drinking.
The peanut butter is running slow.
Slow.
Slow.
And he is getting drunker and drunker.
Slow.
Slow.
“Fuck it”.
Eventually, he leaves the factory, locks the door behind him and forgets about it.
Three days later, we all come to work, and no one can get in.
Three feet of peanut butter had flooded the factory floor, the offices, and it was a real mess.
The front door to the lobby is one half full to the handle with this ocean of peanut butter.
Oh yeah. He got fired.
And we spent the next three weeks shoveling the peanut butter back into the silo.
True story.
Not embellished upon at all.
I have many stories about this factory; from the 20-something foxy side chick of the Boss, to the schemes to get free ingredients. It was quite the experience. I’ll tell you what.
So yeah. This is my story about shoveling peanut butter.
Now you know…
Today.
Have you ever lost any respect for someone instantly?
My nextdoor neighbours are an elderly Moroccan couple. We live in The Netherlands. The woman doesn’t speak Dutch at all, the husband a little. He often comes to me with letters and asks me to explain them to him. Because of those letters I know that the wife suffers from dementia.
Last month the husband rang my doorbell and asked if he could look inside. I figured that he wanted to see something in the street, which he couldn’t see from his appartment, so I let him in. But then he said, Helen, I love you. I want to be with you, can I kiss you on the cheek? I thought that I must have misunderstood him, it couldn’t be possible that my married illiterate neighbour who is around 90 years old, old enough to be my grandfather (I am 47) is making a pass at me, so completely flabbergasted, I said yes. But then he really kissed me on my cheek😱😱😱. I immediately understood the situation and I froze. Then he said that he would go on a vacation for two weeks and asked if he could come to me afterwards. Still completely paralysed I managed to say no with a really soft voice. Then he left.
It is now more than a month later. I am appalled by the audacity that a married illiterate man, who’s old enough to be my grandfather, with whom I can barely have a conversation, thinks that he stands a chance with me. I am disgusted. I thought that he was a decent old man, but he is a dirty old man.
What was the kindest thing someone did for you when you were young?
I really hated my life, but there seemed to be no way out of the situation.
At the time I was working two jobs.
During the day I would travel to NYC and work odd jobs such as catering.
At night, I worked in the dairy and frozen section of a shitty grocery store called Pathmark.
My brother was in middle school, and too young to work.
My father was out of work, having been fired for the upteenth time.
My mother refused to help support the family.
My grandmother was retired and struggling to pay the bills with her social security and pension.
I had recently graduated from high school, dreaming of going to college and building my life.
Less than a year later, it was starting to look like a pipe dream.
I was incredibly angry about this, and fought with my family constantly, my mother in particular.
She constantly complained about the family’s situation, and would take her frustrations out on me, once calling me lazy when I decided to sleep in for a few hours on my day off rather than fix her TV.
One day, we had a long argument, where I sarcastically thanked her for ruining my life, and called her a lazy cow, among other things.
It was admittedly, not my finest moment to tell you the truth.
Later, she confessed part of it to a childhood friend of hers who lived in Arizona.
She told her about our fight and about the fact that I had yelled at her about wanting to go to college.
The next day, I received a phone call from that friend, a woman whom I had never met, but apparently had talked to on occasion over the years.
She asked me if I would like to move to Arizona and live with her and her family.
I found the idea of living with a stranger uncomfortable, so I said no.
She told me to think about it.
A few days later, the woman called me again at home, and made the same offer.
However, before I could say no, she sweetened the deal.
She would pay for me to go out to AZ and if I didn’t like it after a month, she would send me back, no questions asked.
Thinking that I had nothing to lose, I moved to Arizona, and I never looked back.
It took me a little while to get my bearings, but she eventually helped me find a job, apply for college, among other things.
Now, 15 years later I am a successful teacher, with three college degrees under my belt.
And it was all due to the kindness of a stranger who decided to take a gamble on me and my future.
Women SHOCKED Men Looked At Her In Booty Pants At Gym, Women PREFER BEARS To Men In Woods
The poem “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost
This is from one of my earlier posts, found HERE. Please guys, MM has a lot of good stuff buried under all the fluff.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
What picture made your blood boil?
This is the lifeless body of Ziba – a 22 year old student at University of Kabul. She was shot several times as she was trying to escape through the window of her classroom to flee from the horror.
main qimg 238b6a27ad2d8ca600664ff58658a20f lq
Dozens of other students her age in the very same classroom were killed that day.
It was November 2, 2020 when a group of cowards, misguided, losers, brainless and merciless individuals attacked the University of Kabul in the capital of Afghanistan. They killed more than 20 young students – most of them in their early 20s.
These kids were the savings, the investment, the helping hand, the happiness, the hope, the future and the life of many parents who worked hard their entire life to be able to merely earn a living to survive and send their loved ones to university so that one day they get to see them living a better life than them. They’re gone, so are the better days those parents wished to see. They did not just lose their kids, they lost everything.
That, however, is NOT what boils my blood the most.
What boils my blood the most is the fact that we have individuals who, proudly, take all of that away from those aging parents, and believe that by doing so they’ve pleased god. They believe they can commit such an act of horror and terror, killing defenceless and unarmed individuals in dozens and stand before god on the day of judgment and be rewarded for what they had done! No religion teaches that. This is wrong, this is barbaric and inhuman and it boils my blood that someone would do such a horrific act of evil in the name of religion.
On the other hand, what cools me down and gives hope and patience to those parents and many other Afghans who lost and still are losing their loved ones, is knowing that YES there will come a day that they stand before god, but it will not be with pride, nor will they be rewarded for what they had committed. We believe in promise of god where he says: “so whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it and whoever does an atom’s weight of bad/evil will see it.” (Quran 99:7–8)
M1A1 Tanks PULLED From Ukraine Front Lines “Weak and Vulnerable”
United States M1A1 Abrams tanks have been “pulled” from Ukrainian front lines because, Ukraine says, the tanks are “weak and vulnerable.” So much for America’s Main Battle Tank when it has to face a Near-Peer Army like Russia!
Video below, posted on social media, shows the latest M1A1 Abrams being towed by Russian troops. Smashed, burned, blown-up, there isn’t much left to the $4.3 MILLION tank.
We were told its armor was virtually impenetrable; and it’s mix of metals was so secret, the mixture is “classified.” Now look at what happened to it!
If this is what can be expected of these tanks when they’re in a REAL fight (as opposed to fighting rag-wearing terrorists) then reasonable people have to ask “What are we getting for all this money?”
— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) April 28, 2024
Sacrifice
My 16 year old daughter wants me to buy her a brand new car for her birthday but I can’t afford it. All of her friends’ parents bought their kids a car. What should I do?
I have got to share this;
My step daughter was given $1000 as a gift from her grandmother when she passed away.
When the step daughter turned 16, I took her to early drivers ed. She passed and had her temp. Now she needed to practice driving and the dreaded parallel parking. I took her to these as well. 4 months down the road, and opportunity came up to buy a used Honda accord 1992. 1 owner who was meticulous about maintenance. I ask the step daughter if she wanted to use her money towards a car. She said YES. I told her that would not buy much car, but this one was in very very good shape. She said yes.
So I got the car, made her change the oil, the battery, and helped her get new tires (mind you aside from the car, I paid for everything else.)
The car got inspect, insured and registered. Then sat there. for about 4 months, she neither asked about it, sat in it, or started it up.
When I asked her mom what the matter was, she told me this:
The stepdaughter did not get to choose what kind of car, nor its color. She didn’t like the interior and thought the car was too old. I asked if she knew what went into get the car road worthy? The mom said not nobody asked me to do all those things for the stepdaughter.
I was stupefied. When the two went on a trip to visit family in late Dec, I sold the car for $1500, gave the stepdaughter $750, and paid the bills with the rest.
The nuclear radiation was evident when they returned and did not see the car in the driveway. I told them too bad. I needed to pay bills. I gave her the money, and she had the audacity to remind me that she initially paid $1000.
Of course I told her of the extra expenses I incurred including the tires. I could present her the receipts. Wisely she said “Fine”.
Course, that incident was NEVER forgotten, and I was forever labeled the bad guy. Step parents never get a break.
Russian State-Controlled TV: If NATO Troops Enter Ukraine , SARMAT, YARS, and Avangard (Nukes) Will Hit NATO Decision-Making Centers
State-controlled Russian TV today broadcast a direct announcement of Russia’s intent to fire nuclear weapons at NATO Decision-making centers if NATO troops enter Ukraine to battle Russia. The words aired were so blunt as to be undeniable..
Here is the segment of Russia state-controlled TV broadcast today as a warning to the entire West:
So there it is. Plain. Simple. Easy to understand. Even the village idiot can grasp this.
“If NATO Troops enter Ukraine to inflict strategic defeat upon Russia . . . . everything will fly: SARMAT, YARS, AVANGARD.” Those are Russia’s nuclear weapons system names.
WHY NOW?
. . . . Why broadcast this . . . . now?
Why now?
Could it be because elements from the French Army have, in fact, deployed to Odessa, Ukraine?
Could the RUMORS which claim elements of the US 101st Airborne have also deployed to Odessa, Ukraine, be Russia’s reason for airing this, now?
We already know that France deployed elements of the French Foreign Legion into Slavyansk, Ukraine, and the Russians blew them up with missile strikes about 48 hours after they got there.
We already know that Polish, Romanian, and other NATO-country troops, were hit by Russian missiles at a hotel in Dnipropetrovsk last week. A slew of them got killed too.
So what is it about developments in Ukraine that caused Russia to instruct it’s state-controlled TV, to make such a blunt, unmistakable, broadcast, Now????
I think something’s up. I think the Russians either know . . . or are seeing . . . Deployment of NATO troops into Ukraine.
If you haven’t watched the video, it clearly warns “NATO Decision-making centers are already in the crosshairs, and if NATO troops enter Ukraine to inflict strategic defeat upon Russia, everything will fly: SARMAT, YARS, and AVANGARD.”
There’s no wiggle room in that language. There’s no nuance. No ambiguity.
I thought you should know while there’s still time to try to prepare. Make plans. Buy supplies.
But clearly, there doesn’t seem to be very much time left — at all.
Best Ever Lemon Chicken
Healthy, flavorful and low in calories.
Best Ever Lemon Chicken
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 skinless chicken breasts
Salt, pepper and paprika
3/4 cup water, divided
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 lemon, thinly sliced
Instructions
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a frying pan with Pam.
Season chicken breasts to taste with salt, pepper, and paprika.
Heat frying pan and sauté chicken until nicely browned (about 10 minutes), adding about 1/4 cup water near the end of the cooking time to loosen meat from the pan.
Remove chicken breasts to a shallow baking dish.
To the pan juices, add the white wine, 1/2 cup water and chicken bouillon, and heat through.
Meanwhile mix the lemon juice and flour in a cup. Pour into the frying pan and stir until sauce is thickened.
Pour sauce over chicken. Top with lemon slices and bake for 20 minutes.
Why do medieval soldiers wear armour when modern soldiers don’t?
Because, contrary to Hollywood movies, armor actually worked.
Even otherwise excellent movies like Lord of the Rings will have you believe that this:
main qimg 8c98fa16559c50c0bca139ccdc500b97
Might as well be made out of plastic or paper because it offers zero protection against weapons of the day. But cutting through or piercing metal is nowhere as easy as the movies make it to be.
They only stopped wearing armor when it didn’t work anymore after guns became very common. They could make bulletproof armor using medieval technology:
main qimg 458f055dcbd4fbf090727a09ca8cbc80 lq
(In fact the term “bulletproof” is from “proofing” that the armor can resist a pistol shot, seen in the dent above)
These armor are expensive and not readily available. While rich and important people could afford them, the average peasant or soldier couldn’t. They’re also very heavy and limits your mobility.
When bullet massively improved in the mid- and late-19th century (to something familiar today), these heavy armor only make you slow and vulnerable on the battlefield. It didn’t stop both sides from experimenting in WW1 though, even though these bulky suits were mostly useless against anything more powerful than pistols. The steel helmets that became common was used primarily to protect against shrapnel after artillery became the deadliest thing in the battlefield (and still is).
main qimg 401028078af5a39409fe072f90120a52
Bulletproof armor only became practical with the invention of kevlar in the 1970s. Even so, some countries today are still resistant in fully-equipping their soldiers with body armor, either because it’s too expensive or because in the environment they’re operating on (like the tropics) heavy armor that don’t allow sweat to evaporate can be detrimental. But as the war in Ukraine is showing, body armor is mandatory once again in warfare.
The Beverly Hillbillies – Season 1, Episode 1 (1962) – The Clampetts Strike Oil – Paul Henning
What was the biggest scandal at your work?
While working for the Home Office in the early 2000s, there was a woman whom we’ll call “Joan” in a neighbouring department who’d been through all sorts of hell with an ex boyfriend. Joan would tell us of the awful things he’d said to her, the late night phone calls, turning up to her door uninvited and so on.
We were supportive and would sympathise with her while also telling her to report this to the police. She would make excuses not to do this, and we were unable to force her to do it because she would get so upset.
One day, a delivery arrived at reception for Joan:
main qimg 0b788a1ca41778bf70edf4b8a1527f09
A dozen black roses. Joan brought them back to the office and was in a terrible state. We were naturally horrified by this, but to compound it, she reached into her handbag and brought out one of these:
main qimg b1ce471a4e6c88247eae8463a06a9342
A miniature coffin. She had received this in the mail that morning before leaving for work.
Oh. My. Word! We said enough was enough and weren’t going to take “no” for an answer – we alerted her supervisor and called a contact at Scotland Yard (which was just around the corner), and asked them to send a detective to investigate the matter. This was clearly a threat to Joan’s life and a serious matter.
Joan was beside herself when this happened. She really didn’t want the police involved. We told her that this had gone too far and we couldn’t stand by and let poor Joan suffer any longer.
The detective arrived and began his investigation by seizing the flowers and the miniature coffin after taking Joan’s personal details…
The following day, Joan wasn’t at work. We feared the worst and went to her office to enquire if she had called in or whether a welfare check should be carried out. Joan’s boss assured us that everything was fine, but we wouldn’t be seeing Joan again and he wouldn’t say anything more.
Well, now we were really perplexed. Wanting to get to the bottom of the matter, I called the detective that had come to the office.
When the flowers were delivered, there was no card attached. Thankfully, we had CCTV outside the building and the registration number of the van that had delivered the flowers was visible. The detective had found the registered owner of the vehicle (the florist) and called them to ask about the delivery…
When ordering a malicious delivery for someone, it’s not a good idea to use your own bank card. Especially if you’re the “victim”.
Joan had been playing us all along! The ex boyfriend was cleared of any wrongdoing – he hadn’t been in contact with Joan for more than a year and had not behaved the way Joan had alleged at all. Joan used her own bank card to order the black roses and further investigation proved that she had also ordered the miniature coffin that she had produced from her handbag.
Joan was dismissed from the civil service. I hope she got some help with her issues.
Fun Shorpy today
SHORPY 7496219824.preview
SHORPY 32328u.preview
SHORPY 8b28411a.preview
SHORPY 8b28416a.preview
SHORPY 8a32980a.preview
SHORPY 26400a1.preview
SHORPY Linda254.preview
SHORPY K4 081112 004.preview
SHORPY 4a12902a.preview
SHORPY 5a15207u.preview
SHORPY 31633u.preview
SHORPY 32142u1.preview
SHORPY 4a15014a.preview
SHORPY 25708u.preview
SHORPY 4a15022a.preview
SHORPY 35509a.preview
SHORPY 35557a2.preview
SHORPY 8b31452a.preview
SHORPY 8b30947a.preview
SHORPY 35600a.preview
SHORPY 35440a.preview
SHORPY 35483a.preview
SHORPY 35441a.preview
SHORPY 4a17625a.preview
SHORPY 5a25494u.preview
SHORPY 4a25087a.preview
SHORPY 35484a.preview
SHORPY 7495808374.preview
SHORPY 8d21863a.preview
SHORPY 8b30908a1.preview
SHORPY 18072u1.preview
SHORPY 8b14780a.preview
gatorland.preview
SHORPY 15819a.preview
SHORPY 8d21972u.preview
SHORPY 4a11548a.preview
SHORPY 5a25307u.preview
kidgas.preview
SHORPY 8d21941a.preview
SHORPY 4a27496a.preview
SHORPY 07556a.preview
SHORPY Linda058.preview
SHORPY 15323a.preview
Mistake? Tsunami Warnings Sounded on New Jersey Shore
In the video, viewers can hear the loudspeakers announcing “This is a Tsunami Warning. Move to higher ground immediately.”
The thing is, there were no earthquakes of any serious magnitude either in New Jersey itself, or out in the Atlantic Ocean, which would have prompted such a warning. Earthquakes are the most common cause of Tsunamis.
Moreover, there was no massive weather systems in the ocean which can, from time time, generate a tsunami.
So . . . why the warnings?
PUNCH LINE: The mass-media, hasn’t said a word about this whole thing. People in New Jersey have just been left wondering. No information. No explanation. Nothing . . . .
What are you tired of explaining to people?
Me: So I was doing CPR on this patient, and her ribs went crack crack crack—
Him: Woah, hold up there. Why were her ribs cracking?
Me: That’s possibly her ribs breaking from my effort.
Him: Dude, are you sure you’re doing it right? I wouldn’t want you to do CPR on me in the future…
People, listen up.
The reason why we do CPR compressions is because you are in CARDIAC ARREST. You’re DEAD unless we do something. No offence, but I don’t give a two shit flying fuck if my compressions break a couple of ribs when it meant SAVING YOUR LIFE.
In fact, hearing those ribs crack usually tells me I’m doing a good job. I am getting sufficient depth with my chest compressions to maintain circulation temporarily. Broken ribs is not something we aim for obviously, but it’s a common side effect of good CPR technique.
We can address those petty rib fractures after, and if, we get you alive and breathing first.
Other experimentation with Text to picture AI
Default high quality 8K Ultra HD masterpiece beautiful girl A 2
A number of countries around the world have begun withdrawing their Gold Bullion from storage in the United States over fears about the US Financial System! It’s not only our Financial System, it was the FORCIBLE SEIZURE of Russia’s Sovereign Wealth Funds; the world now sees the USA as nothing more than a Den of Thieves!
Over the past ten days, at least FOUR (4) countries have decided to pull their Gold reserves from the United States: Cameroun, Ghana, Nigeria, and a fourth country (named below) whose decision is tightly concealed to prevent PANIC. That nation is named below in COVERT INTEL for Subscribers Only.
April 19:Cameroon repatriates its gold reserves amid concerns about recession in the United States
In a significant development reflecting changing economic dynamics, Cameroon has begun the repatriation of its gold reserves from the United States. The move, driven by growing concerns about the deteriorating state of the U.S. economy, marks a pivotal moment in global finance.
The withdrawal of gold reserves from US custody highlights countries’ proactive approach to protecting their financial assets amid growing economic uncertainties. With indicators including rising national debt, weak economic growth and geopolitical tensions, the decision reflects a broader trend among nations to reassess their reliance on the United States as a safe haven for financial assets.
Financial analysts point to clear indicators signaling a rapid deterioration in the U.S. economy, sparking concerns among global investors. The decision to repatriate gold reserves highlights nations’ strategic responses to mitigate potential risks from exposure to the faltering U.S. economy.
Although logistical challenges and potential security risks may accompany the repatriation process, experts suggest that the benefits outweigh the risks for countries seeking to strengthen their financial sovereignty and guard against external economic shocks.
As the repatriation of gold reserves unfolds, this movement is provoking discussions about the broader implications for international finance. It highlights the importance of diversification and risk management to navigate the complexities of the global economic landscape.
APRIL 21: GHANA
Ghana’s recent decision to repatriate its gold reserves from the United States signals a significant shift in the nation’s economic strategy. Beyond the symbolic gesture of reclaiming control over its precious metal assets, Ghana’s move is underscored by a pragmatic desire to shield itself from the uncertainties of a destabilized US economy.
According to economic experts, Ghana’s decision comes at a crucial juncture amidst escalating global economic uncertainties and mounting concerns about the stability of the US financial system. Dr. Joseph Mensah, an economist specializing in international finance, asserts, “Ghana’s move to withdraw its gold reserves from American vaults is a prudent measure to mitigate risks and safeguard against potential economic volatility.”
By bringing its gold reserves back within its borders, Ghana aims to insulate itself from the repercussions of any downturns in the US economy, thereby reducing exposure to external shocks and vulnerabilities. Dr. Mensah further explains, “Repatriating gold reserves aligns with a broader trend among nations reassessing their financial strategies in light of evolving global dynamics. As geopolitical tensions escalate and trade disputes intensify, nations are increasingly prioritizing measures to assert greater control over their financial assets and reduce dependencies on foreign custodianship.”
Critics may raise concerns about logistical challenges and potential security risks associated with repatriating gold reserves. However, proponents argue that the benefits of withdrawing funds from a destabilized US economy far outweigh the risks. Dr. Mensah concludes, “By reclaiming control over its gold reserves, Ghana not only bolsters its economic sovereignty but also strengthens its resilience against external economic shocks.”
In conclusion, Ghana’s decision to repatriate its gold reserves from the United States reflects a strategic move towards safeguarding against economic volatility and asserting greater control over its financial destiny.
April 22:NIGERIA
Ghana’s recent decision to repatriate its gold reserves from the United States signals a significant shift in the nation’s economic strategy. Beyond the symbolic gesture of reclaiming control over its precious metal assets, Ghana’s move is underscored by a pragmatic desire to shield itself from the uncertainties of a destabilized US economy.
According to economic experts, Ghana’s decision comes at a crucial juncture amidst escalating global economic uncertainties and mounting concerns about the stability of the US financial system. Dr. Joseph Mensah, an economist specializing in international finance, asserts, “Ghana’s move to withdraw its gold reserves from American vaults is a prudent measure to mitigate risks and safeguard against potential economic volatility.”
By bringing its gold reserves back within its borders, Ghana aims to insulate itself from the repercussions of any downturns in the US economy, thereby reducing exposure to external shocks and vulnerabilities. Dr. Mensah further explains, “Repatriating gold reserves aligns with a broader trend among nations reassessing their financial strategies in light of evolving global dynamics. As geopolitical tensions escalate and trade disputes intensify, nations are increasingly prioritizing measures to assert greater control over their financial assets and reduce dependencies on foreign custodianship.”
Critics may raise concerns about logistical challenges and potential security risks associated with repatriating gold reserves. However, proponents argue that the benefits of withdrawing funds from a destabilized US economy far outweigh the risks. Dr. Mensah concludes, “By reclaiming control over its gold reserves, Ghana not only bolsters its economic sovereignty but also strengthens its resilience against external economic shocks.”
In conclusion, Ghana’s decision to repatriate its gold reserves from the United States reflects a strategic move towards safeguarding against economic volatility and asserting greater control over its financial destiny.
What’s something a doctor did to you that you won’t ever forget?
Dr. Eduardo Yambo, Family Physician.
When my son was a toddler I found myself a single parent. I got a job and tried to keep a roof over our heads. We used kerosene to heat the place. Had one in each bedroom. It was a very, very cold winter and both my son and I got sick, but I couldn’t afford for both of us to see the doctor. I made an appointment for my son.
After checking out my son, Dr. Yambo looked at me and said ‘What about you? Why am I not seeing you? You sound terrible!’. I told him I can’t afford another visit for myself; my son was the priority. I explained I was no longer with my husband and had no insurance. He quickly checked me out and gave me a something for my cough. He gave us office samples to save me the cost of prescriptions.
Had to make a follow-up visit for the next week. Brought my son in, and on checking out the doctor came out and told the receptionist that the charge was $12 (regular visits were $25 I think). He wanted another follow-up a week later. That visit was $6. It was the early 80’s and my take home pay was about $124/week, so those fees mattered an awful lot to me.
I’d been bringing my son to him for a couple of years already and that had never happened before. Suddenly, follow-up visits were reduced cost. Following up with my son’s health was more important to this doctor than money.
Until I moved away there was nothing that could make me go to a different doctor!
What would you do if you got fired from your job?
The only time I was fired was disguised as “We don’t need this many employees in summer; it’s our slow time”. The owner/boss disliked me, for what reason I don’t know. One coworker told me she thought it was jealousy. The company made and rented costumes, mostly to schools and universities for theatrical productions. When I went for my interview I had brought in an armload of costumes I had made over several years for Renaissance groups and personal use. What I did at the company was mostly mending, although I took the initiative once and made some bow ties from scraps of fabric lying around. The boss had accused me, not to my face but to other workers, of filling up their website with pornography (something I wouldn’t know how to do even had I wanted to). So I wasn’t surprised when I was told I would be out of a job. It annoyed me that there was a young woman who had been hired after me, who lived with her parents (unlike me, a single mom of two), and didn’t need a job as much as I did. But I left without saying anything and shortly got a job through a recommendation of one coworker who did pet sitting (same company). Later I found out that the young woman was embezzling from the company, so I got the last laugh.
What was a meal you loved as a kid but now that you’re an adult you realize your parents only made because you were poor?
I’m from Vietnam. We eat rice a lot, almost every meal.
When I was about 5 to 8 years old, once or twice per week, my mom would make ‘mixing special rice’ for dinner. It’s white rice cooked together with corn and sweet potatoes
main qimg f88cf10cd18d1870fb78d47981739f53
(Image source: baobaclieu.vn)
I always got excited for those dinners.
We eventually didn’t eat that kind of rice anymore. I asked my mom about that once in a while but she just gave me reasons why she didn’t want to make the rice: out of corn season, sweet potatoes weren’t any good at market,…
When I was 12, on my mom’s birthday, I proudly announced that I prepared dinner. And guess what I made? Rice with corn and sweet potatoes. When I served dinner, my mom couldn’t hold it anymore, she cried. I asked her why? Did I do anything wrong? That was the very first time my mom explained to me that she was sick of this rice because she had eaten it too much.
I didn’t know that we only ate that because corn and sweet potatoes were much cheaper than rice.
I didn’t like that meal as much after that day.
—
To anyone is thinking about making a comment “hey, it sounds delicious” or “add some butter”, etc, please don’t. I wish we had butter. Also, it was good, but it was not any good after eating it frequently for 30+ years to the point you break down crying when you see it like my mom did.
And I didn’t like it very much anymore wasn’t because it’s not good or because it’s “cheap”. I didn’t like it because it hurt my mom.
Economic Shock: Bombshell GDP Drop, IMF Slams Congress Spending, Republic Bank Collapses
What is a fun psychological trick to try on someone?
main qimg 6fac69bee6c5d6b7901c63a497521085 lq
The most powerful way to win an argument is to ask questions.
If you want people to take your words seriously, say that your father taught you this. People naturally believe in parental advice.
If someone is about to get angry at you, sit next to that person. They will have to lower their voice and there will be no direct face-to-face contact.
If you want to know if someone is attentive, repeat your phrase with slight variations in it. If you are listening, either your facial expressions will change, or you will point to that part and question.
If you think that someone is giving you a false figure then read it wrongly. If they correct you, it’s legit.
If you want people to agree with you, nod your head and make eye contact when you speak, they’ll nod too.
Explain and repeat what your friend just said. The person talking to you will subconsciously realize that you are a great listener. Of course, don’t go overboard with paraphrasing.
Use someone’s name more often. While talking to someone, keep using their name in the conversation. This helps them feel important and valued.
When you want someone to agree to something, give them a list with 3 options and leave the one you want to choose at the end. They will most likely choose the latter.
What you say about other people affects how others see you. People will associate the adjectives you use to describe other people with your personality. This phenomenon is called spontaneous property transfer.
Inflation in the USA
How catastrophic will the world’s drive to abandon the dollar be for the U.S. economy and people?
Very very very significant. The U.S. has been using money to do war monger, trouble make, regime change, financing and orchestrating coups, revolutions and paying off U.S. lackeys in the trillion yearly form free money printing that it could without much ramifications! Upon its inability and impossibility to carry on printing money freely and without much ramification, the U.S. no longer is able to freely do those shit anymore. It will lead to a better world and a more peaceful place.
To the U.S. it may not use coercion and bribery to win favours and fix elections freely! But it may be better for US citizens who will not have to be burdened by US shit cost!
What is the most useless career advice ever given?
Sadly it was advice from my father to me. The year was 1968 one of the most turbulent in US history. I had just graduated from HS, the Vietnam war was raging, RFK and Martin Luther King had been assassinated. The Democratic convention in Chicago blew up and I was there watching it all as I was just leaving of all things a Young Mens Convention for Catholics and had stayed at the Conrad Hilton and watched in awe as the anti war protestors and police lined up to do battle.
main qimg 2a1a497afcf416a1c1acc6ffd39e0901
This was the auto production line. Endless cars, the USA was #1, 1955 no competition.
My father told me, do not go to college, it is a waste of time. Either go into the military or go to work on the assembly line, best jobs in the world. Union will protect you, he would protect me as he was a Union rep.
In the short run, he would have been right. The jobs were tough but plentiful, but already by 1970 the US automakers were making these.
main qimg 484dbd248aa6044ee2213ecfde6b8be2
Some of the worst cars ever made were coming off the line in the USA by 1970 and the rot had already begun to set in just when I went to work on the line.
My father was so adamant that when I went and tried it on the Monday – Friday program which meant you worked 2 days a week as a ‘college kid’ as on Friday there were not enough workers as they got their paychecks on Thursday which meant they got drunk and didn’t come in. And on Monday they didn’t come in as they were still drunk or hungover from the weekend, I tried it out.
It was a nightmare and I hated it. Everyone yelling screaming, quality was shit, politics everywhere, the company couldn’t get good cars made and the union was fighting to keep all 2.5 million jobs.
Well what happened?
Today there are 150,000 UAW members about 8% of the number when I started. A lot of people got in and out and grabbed their pensions. They worked the system and left Michigan and went back to Kentucky and down to Florida.
But if I had gone in and stayed? It might have worked but I would have lost everything that I have now done in my life. Lived around the world, a 50 year global career, speaking multiple languages. I have literally lived on 5 continents ranging from California, Florida, the Rocky Mountains, then Australia to China to India to Hungary to Singapore and Hong Kong several times. On and on my career has gone and my education has propelled me and made it all possible.
Most importantly, to survive, repeat survive and prosper I have had to ‘reinvent’ myself again and again and only with my education and MBA and languages and experience working around the world have I been able to be flexible and do this. Millions were literally stuck without a hope so many times in my home town while I simply changed countries and took a new job in a growing industry such as software when I used to be a manufacturers rep for years. Flexibility is the key to a long career and not a factory.
And those guys who were on the line? The lucky ones got away and got their pensions. The vast majority slipped through the process especially after the downturns of 2008 just when they were going to retire and pretty much got little to nothing.
Those who work in the auto industry today have a precarious future especially if you work in an ‘engine’ plant as those will be gone with the EVs.
My father meant well, but from his hard work and premature cancer and youthful smoking he died at 70. I am now 73 and knock on wood, still doing what I like and living a good life in France.
My advice, listen to many but make your own choices and definitely do not look at the past, look to what is happening for the future and it will help guide your decisions. It is way to important to leave to those who think they know, but only know their local situation and what they have grown up with.
Given the rapid change in careers there is no such thing as a safe bet or a definitive career path. If you don’t believe me, think of Detroit and what happened to them as the city never evolved and never changed.
main qimg 30e69a8ef3a2201a6df9f389389d3719
Packard out of business and the largest abandoned factory in the USA.
Detroit? 2 million people when I was born in 1950, today? Barely 600,000.
I have to ask the questioner if ANY of the predictions made by American politicians ever came true?
Swine flu
Ebola
Y2K
3G causing gas pumps to explode
Phones causing planes to crash
4G causing brain damage
Hamburgers made out of worms
Back-masking of rock music
Sex education causing a spike in pregnancies
None ever came true.
But, for some reason, “China will invade Taiwan”. I mean, just how absolutely stupid can a person be. Is there a scale below moronic?
Still Americans (and their Australian and European cousins) believe this swill.
Who figures?
…
China has made it perfectly clear how the reunification will proceed. And this is well defined and in process right now. That’s the reality.
Accept it.
Evil in America
Have you ever walked out of a restaurant after you were seated by a waiter or waitress?
Oh yes, once when I was very much younger, I went out on a date with a very nice man, and he took me to a good restaurant. We got there, ordered the wine, and some bread rolls and butter were served also, while we decided on what we would have to eat.
The man told me his wife had died, but he didn’t tell me how recently! He didn’t tell me he was still in fairly early stages of grieving, and was trying to put on a brave face.
So I had no real idea of what he was going through.
Then just before we ordered, he started to get serious heart symptoms. I asked him if I should ask the restaurant to phone an ambulance. But he didn’t want that. He wanted to go home and call his private doctor! I thought that was unwise, but that is what he wanted.
We had to leave immediately, and he grabbed some cash from his pocket and put it on the table. He didn’t even count how much! But I am sure it was plenty to cover the bottle of wine and some bread.
I apologised to the staff, and had to drive him home. They were surprised but didn’t mind of course due to the circumstances.
It turned out (after the doctor’s visit) that he hadn’t had a heart attack, but a serious panic attack. I stayed with him all night to make sure he would be okay and keep his spirits up as he didn’t want to be alone.
We never did have a second date. But that was okay. He wasn’t really ready to start dating. He needed to process his grief. He was a nice man though, bless him.
The Chinese owner of TikTok claims they would rather shut down than sell TikTok. (To the surprise of many lawmakers who voted to ban TikTok). Do you think they are serious or bluffing?
China is famously no-nonsense. They always follow up and follow through on decisions. America, on the contrary, is used to fooling themselves inured in dirty tactics to pull a fast hand, but only end up humiliating themselves more often than not. Sanctioning Russia is a wonderful example. Examples abound that don’t need me to list them here.
The ugly truth is greed. The damage of Israeli genocide on US image is already done. It’s not TikTok’s fault and banning it is only a pretext. American political and business asshole pirates have long coveted TikTok’s huge market share and profit potential. China is wise to keep this trade mark and technology, and continue expanding its global market. The world is big enough for TikTok with unlimited potential.
Elon Musk WARNS Population Collapse IS COMING, STROKES & HEART Disease Wiping Out Greece
“To regain sovereignty, the EU needs to stop following Washington’s policies, but the European Commission is pushing the American agenda and resembling a fascist system with its single-minded decisions.
Europe determined its future when it responded with contempt to Russia’s attempts to forge ties after the collapse of the USSR and did not honour the Minsk agreements to give Ukraine time to arm itself, according to Didier Maisto, former director of Sud Radio. In an interview with TVL, he pointed out that while Europe used to try to encircle Russia, now it is gradually encircling Russia itself, but the EU should have thought about this earlier.
The partnership between the BRICS countries is actively developing and they are finding common ground for special agreements. The US, which opposes them, continues to advance thanks to its military-industrial complex and business, imposing its laws in other countries. Sandwiched between these vise is Europe, which needs to stop dancing to Washington’s tune to regain its power and sovereignty.
The main conductor of the American agenda in Europe has become the European Commission – the centre of gravity and the centre of decision-making in the EU is shifting towards it. Now the entry into war, the supply of weapons and medicines, the banning of certain media are approved without confirmation by a vote in the European Council. Didier Maisto reminds us that back in 2017 he warned that if Macron is elected president, Europe will slip into soft fascism.”
What is wrong with Joe Biden?
Doesn’t matter what is wrong with Biden. He’s not running things anyway.
What is the strangest failure you have ever seen on a car?
My father-in-law owned a 1988 Ford Escort wagon. He only drove it locally to and from work, and he probably never turned on the rear defrost.
My FIL passed away, and my MIL offered the car to me. The Escort was about 2 years old with ~13,000 miles. My 1980 Honda Accord was 10 years old and starting to get up in mileage, so I accepted it. My wife at the time drove it from Virginia to New Jersey during the summer. I started driving it to/from work about 15 minutes each way. I worked late one evening in the fall. When I got into the car, there was condensation on the rear window. I started the car and turned on the rear defrost to clear it up. Within a couple minutes, I hear a loud boom and notice my rear window is shattered. I thought someone was shooting at me! That was not the case. A rear window with a rear defrost is just 2 pieces of glass sandwiched around the heating elements and glued together. My theory was that the rear window had an air bubble in it due to a manufacturing defect. The heating element caused the air bubble to expand. Eventually, the air bubble got big enough to break the glass causing the explosion.
Ford would not replace the window because the car was out of warranty. (12 months/12,000 miles in those days) They wanted over $700 to replace it. I had a price of ~$225 from a glass shop. Ford said their price was what it was because it was “Ford quality glass”. If their glass was such high quality, it wouldn’t have shattered in the first place. Needless to say, I went with the glass shop. They even came to my office and replaced it in the parking lot.
=======================
A few years later I changed jobs, and I started commuting ~30 minutes each way on the highway. Ever since getting the car, I would notice a faint smell of antifreeze. I never noticed any leaks, but I did have to periodically add antifreeze to the overflow reservoir. After driving to/from the new job for about a month, I was driving home, and the car started to overheat. Long story short, the engine blew its head gasket, and I had to get the engine rebuilt. When the shop took the engine apart, they found a bolt that was sheared off. They said it probably came that way from the factory. That was the cause of the antifreeze smell, the slow loss of antifreeze, and ultimately the head gasket failure. After rebuilding the engine, there were no more problems like that.
Score:
Strange Failures – 2, Ford – 0. On this car, Quality was not Job One.
Comics from the 1970s
9e255a55c5d0c42052a573d09d7d4eda
061e99d361a81a245f1b5bbaecfaaf7a
4ae612981028d78dd31f9643493ce504
a445da09cae9cf4644be7a4ff721b393
c527e45c296dc7a201b5c27c1500513c
070c0fc491cae51a00c11fd98ba0931e
1e86991322d5915f1c827a066552d76c
ecce3ee28ef6053a630a1ec8bd77de38
98a50fee9c653547ebd249aec23f02c9
15fae5797356fb7725fb3cf540f37fcf
80581d483ebd6401a701b7e316f84045
e4c35ae86cb2cf82644d2d1f83836ba2
3f9ec7ac977224a6219f00c517caa5ea
58069bdf3b3ae0ccbbf0033e115a08b4
92cd3ce6ea5ba5d1ca3cf3c162ef440b
412d5c6753ff2120ebeedd2415996ebd
421fb3f5a7ed08449622cefd0362e700
5d3d8f7087b6b5f435ea34bee5972b12
a648d15af9af4cb0a52f01f32212540d
af7d5328e92b3dc61f246316fe069973
159c031ed38d1bab08fe7898cbfb044a
@@@@@@22f7d49951d68cc4114e3f2587a9ce07
What should you never say to fast food workers?
I worked in McDonald’s overnight for one year as a cashier in the drive thru. During my year working in McDonald’s I encountered some things that I really don’t recommend doing:
Not paying attention to the cashier when he/she is telling you what you got.
If you don't pay attention when I asked you, please don't complain if I charged you $100 for things you didn't order because you said “yes, whatever.”
Expecting the cashier to know you don’t like pickles or onions.
Yes, we know some of our regulars. No, we didn't know you don't like pickles.
Ordering things are not on the menu.
Do not ask me for a whopper. Do not ask for a chicken junior. There is no such a thing as fajita in McDonald's.
Calling an employee a derogatory word.
Please, don't do it. If it’s a word you don't enjoy being called. I refused service to a customer once for addressing me as “you, nigga”.
Getting mad if you ordered 15 Quarter-pounders with fries and a shake and your bill is more than $100.
If you think it is too much, please cook it at home.
Spitting.
Seriously, I got spit on my face more than once.
Swearing and/or yelling.
Please, if you had a bad night, you got evicted, divorced or whatever - it’s not the cashier's fault. You should not call the cashier (or anyone you don't want to mess with) a motherfucker.
Not knowing what you are getting.
More than once I had customers claiming I put things they did not request in their food.
A guy yelled at me once because there was ice in his smoothie. On a different occasion, a guy yelled at me because he got only three sauces with his order (a 10 piece chicken nuggets meal only comes with three sauces); he requested three more and tried to punch me when I told him that they were not free. The question “what does that come with?” works very well.
Last but not least, being violent.
Please try to keep your temper. Also, try to be as nice as possible.
Tales From The Shoe Store | Married With Children
Which tips would you give today’s teens?
Control your emotions and lust (Overcome)
It’s completely normal to experience lust, or sexual desire in teen. Your feelings might be focused on a particular person, or you might be drawn to activities like masturbating or watching pornography. But sometimes, these desires can be overwhelming or unwanted. If you just can’t shake those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, don’t worry—there are things you can do to manage them.
The price of temporary lust can be expensive.
Learn About Finance Early
Money should be your friend throughout your life, not your enemy. Sadly, the education system doesn’t do such a great job at teaching you about finance, so you have to learn it on your own. There are plenty of sources that you can get financial advice for free.
Make Good Friends, Not More Friends
Building a network of friends at school is always going to be valuable whether they are the greatest people or not. Spend more time trying to develop and grow those relationships that you think will be good for you.
You are the average of your five friends around you hangout with the most.
Don’t Care About What Others Think of You
This is definitely the best advice for teenagers who feel like they need to impress the world! Nobody cares either, so why would you? Laugh when you embarrass yourself. Dress how you want to dress. Be honest about things you don’t like. Not only does this help you become more of yourself, but you’ll also make friends with the right people.
Take Care of Your Body
Because it takes care of you everyday! Just by implementing some simple practices like Exercise, Practice Proper Hygiene, Have a Skin Care Routine, Invest in Yourself and you’re already getting ahead of where you were the day before.
Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
Comparing yourself to others will only lead to disappointment and lack of confidence. There will always be someone with more than you more money, more friends, more style, more of anything.
Compare who you were yesterday not someone else’s today.
What are the craziest objects that you’ve seen TSA workers remove from someone’s bag to be confiscated?
A friend of mine is a pilot for one of the big airlines. He related this story to me. One day, he is headed through security and in front of him are two air marshals escorting a prisoner in hand cuffs. First the TSA Agent tried to tell the marshals that they had to uncuff the prisoner before he could go through security. (yeah, that got cleared up pretty quick). Then the TSA agent tried to tell them they would have to remove their guns (this time a supervisor was called over to educate the TSA agent). Then the TSA agent told the marshals to empty their pockets. One of them had a tiny fingernail clipper with a small file on it that vaguely resembled knife. The TSA Agent proudly jumped on that and demanded the marshal would have to relinquish it as “contraband”. I think at this point the marshals were just tired of dealing with this person so he gladly gave her the fingernail clippers so that they could go on their way.
In summary: two marshals escorting a prisoner..both of the marshals armed with pistols and other weapons, had a pair of fingernail clippers confiscated because it was “contraband”.
Cinnamon Garlic Roast Chicken
40 Cloves of Garlic Roast Chicken foodiecrush.com 010
Combine salt, pepper, garlic and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture onto all parts of the chicken.
Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a roasting pan with vegetable oil spray.
Remove chicken from refrigerator, and place in roasting pan.
Sprinkle with paprika.
Scatter onion slices around chicken, and roast uncovered for 35 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 degrees F.
Stir onion slices, add the cup of water, and continue roasting for an additional 50 minutes until tender, basting occasionally.
Is China’s economy currently experiencing a slowdown, or is this information being exaggerated by the US media?
Not exactly
The Chinese stock market is among the most undervalued in the world and is stubbornly remaining there due to a lot of regulations against speculation
The US Treasury still pays 5.31% as Peak Bond Yields
The Chinese Real Estate prices are low which is good for the buyers but that means investors will be giving it a wide berth
This means a lot of HOT MONEY will not be coming in but going out
Hot money is money used to buy shares and bonds and real estate securities by foreign firms
Speculative money!
No matter even if the US says China is booming, this is going to happen
Likewise if China raises interest rates to 6% then Yields rise to a peak of 6.53% and suddenly Hot money will flood into China no matter even if the US says China is crashing tomorrow
Likewise China is getting a flood of Long term investments for their EV and New Technology investments
That won’t change no matter what the US says
China is still the world’s second largest consumer market plus the worlds largest manufacturer at peak profitability
That won’t change no matter what the US says
So China simply doesn’t care too much about what the US media says beyond rebuttals on their English Language Media (CGTN) or Global times or SCMP
Ukraine: “Corpses Everywhere” as Russians smash through
The ground is strewn with corpses: Soldiers of the “Center” group show everything that remains of the 47th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Berdychi.
Corpses of dead Ukrainian soldiers are everywhere.
The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not betray itself and continues to send Ukrainian militants on suicidal missions.
As a result of fierce fighting from artillery and tank attacks, only in this small section of the forest, the commanders of the 47th brigade managed to put an entire platoon.
Russian soldiers report that they did not even try to evacuate them after the fire began and the subsequent assault. They just left the whole brigade in this position – forever.
18+
🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The ground is strewn with corpses: Soldiers of the “Center” group show everything that remains of the 47th ombre brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Berdychi
➖The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not betray itself and continues to send Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/Ofe78YPMmW
— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) April 28, 2024
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?
One of my first jobs was in a hospital, primarily in the E.R. Being a community hospital, we all performed many unassigned duties. Many of the staff had been leaving due to management issues and I soon put in my notice. Because of the staff loss, I was one of the few who knew how to operate several pieces of equipment. I had made the attempt to teach others how to operate the equipment, but they refused.
On my final day, the hospital administrator came up to me and said he was very unhappy with my job performance and told me I was fired. I packed my belongings and left, kind of in shock. A day later I was in my new position at the hospital I’d put in notice for. Two days later, I recieved a rather frantic call from the Administrator telling me I needed to come in and show someone how to work the equipment. It seemed they had almost lost an E.R. patient because no one could run the tests.
I told him that was impossible because I was on the way to work and hung up. A week later the Administrator, his daughter, and his son in law, were all arrested for stealing from the hospital.
Smithsonian Cover-Up: Ancient Egyptians and Giants in the Grand Canyon
Smithsonian Cover-Up: Ancient Egyptians and Giants in the Grand Canyon In 1908, President Teddy Roosevelt wanted to declare the Grand Canyon off-limits to all timber and mining operations. It would take another 11 years for Congress to designate the Grand Canyon a national park. Sensing a final opportunity for adventure, explorer G.E. Kincaid took a boat down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. The canyon was rich in minerals like gold, silver and copper and Kincaid wanted to see what he could find before the area was closed off for good. About 40 miles up-river from the El Tovar Crystal canyon, Kincaid saw stains in the sediment formation about 2,000 feet up. He tied off the boat and got out to investigate. Kincaid couldn’t find a trail, but after a short hike he found something interesting covered in desert brush. Steps. Hundreds of them. Carved in sandstone. Steps that wound their way up to a high shelf on the side of the canyon. He followed the steps until he came across a cavern entrance. An entrance that was clearly man made. Kincaid entered the cavern and turned on his flashlight. On the walls he saw writing. But it wasn’t English or Native American writing. It was Ancient Egyptian Heiroglypics. Kincaid lifted his flashlight and saw that the tunnel ran far into the distance. He didn’t realize it at the time, but this was only the beginning.
During the years of 12 years old to 14, right before I started working, my parents would drive me to the local pool / golf complex and allow me to spend the entire day pleasuring about.
This was a private club, and my parents got a private membership on discount because me father was the president of the local Rotarians club.
My sisters and brother would enjoy hanging out all day at the pool. But for me, I would do 18 holes of golf and then call it a day. And that would leave me with about four hours to kill.
So, I would try to go to the pool, but my sister was relentless in making fun of me in public, so I just ended up avoiding the entire scene all together. Not worth the grief.
In fact, my Summers were mostly hot and dusty. And while I could swim, she made it so miserable for me that I wouldn’t go near the pool.
In hindsight, she was really fucked up about this. In those days we called this “sibling rivalry”, but now, as an adult, I see this as some kind of distortion of a mental illness, perhaps generated by a pre-birth world-line template made before she and I were born.
Anyways…
So during those four remaining hours, I would go though the woods of the country club and collect golf balls.
There were hundreds of those things. Many golfers would hit a ball and it would slice or hook into the woods, and I would eventually find it. And so, over the Summers, I would collect quite a stash of golf balls.
At that time, I would ear a world war II German army surplus Africa Corps pith helmet, and my father’s khaki shirt. Ha! I looked like something out of Tin Tin!
Tin Tin
I had a routine. I would traipse about the woods, getting the balls, then go up to the first tee-off and clean them. Then I would sit with my back leaning on the sign to the complex on the hot gravel parking lot. Oh, yeah, my mother would ask me “why are you here? Why don’t you go inside?” But since they just ignored my complaints about my sister, I just stopped answering her questions.
Why say anything?
Why bother?
And so, over the months and years, I would end up collecting this pile of golf balls. Eventually putting them into a large cardboard potato-chip box. I must have had a few hundred balls there. Maybe 400 to 500.
Years later, maybe a full decade, I am visiting my mother with my wife.
I start rummaging though my old gear, most of which was looted earlier by my siblings and came across the box. Inside were all these golf balls in pristine condition. And on a lark, I carried them outside to the street in front of my mother’s house. It was a long street, in a rural town with nearly zero traffic. It was on a slide grade, and for shits and giggles…
I let them roll down the road, one by one, aiming for the lone sewer at the bottom of the hill.
What? Four years of collecting for such an insane and useless pastime? But yeah. That is what happened.
What is the moral of this little story?
Got me. I don’t have one.
I could have sold those golf balls, but this was before ebay. And it was more of a hassle than anything else, so I got rid of them. Life moved on. The memories my my early teen years, as eclipsed by my younger “princess” sister, faded into the dim…
…and I moved on.
Sometimes you have to throw away your balls to achieve contentment.
Today…
Is China’s economy currently experiencing a slowdown, or is this information being exaggerated by the US media?
Not exactly
The Chinese stock market is among the most undervalued in the world and is stubbornly remaining there due to a lot of regulations against speculation
The US Treasury still pays 5.31% as Peak Bond Yields
The Chinese Real Estate prices are low which is good for the buyers but that means investors will be giving it a wide berth
This means a lot of HOT MONEY will not be coming in but going out
Hot money is money used to buy shares and bonds and real estate securities by foreign firms
Speculative money!
No matter even if the US says China is booming, this is going to happen
Likewise if China raises interest rates to 6% then Yields rise to a peak of 6.53% and suddenly Hot money will flood into China no matter even if the US says China is crashing tomorrow
Likewise China is getting a flood of Long term investments for their EV and New Technology investments
That won’t change no matter what the US says
China is still the world’s second largest consumer market plus the worlds largest manufacturer at peak profitability
That won’t change no matter what the US says
So China simply doesn’t care too much about what the US media says beyond rebuttals on their English Language Media (CGTN) or Global times or SCMP
Russia Missile Strike Kills “Dozens” of NATO Officers at Meeting in Odessa Ukraine
High-Ranking NATO military officers were killed last night by 2 Iskander missile strikes launched against the Warehouse they were meeting in.
The two massive explosions also took out newly-arrived American military hardware, destined for the Ukrainian Army.
The Novaya Pochta warehouse in Odessa is seen burning in the image above, after the missiles struck.
Casualties are considered “very high” given the number of Ambulances and nearby NATO helicopters apparently sent to evacuate the wounded — or dead.
Look for more news reports of NATO officers who “died suddenly” within the next few days.
Orange Cumin Chicken
The earthy flavor of cumin complements the orange in a seasoning paste that coats chicken. High-heat oven roasting creates a tender, juicy chicken that is crisp on the outside.
orange cumin chicken
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
3 pounds bone-in chicken parts
2 medium oranges
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon McCormick® Cumin Seed
2 teaspoons McCormick® Cumin, Ground
1 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Black Pepper, Ground
Instructions
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Rinse and pat dry chicken. Trim excess fat.
Grate peel from oranges (about 1 tablespoon).
Squeeze 1 tablespoon juice from orange into small bowl.
Add remaining ingredients; stir until mixture forms a paste.
Coat chicken pieces evenly with seasoning paste.
Arrange chicken, skin-side up, in large shallow baking pan sprayed with no stick cooking spray.
Thinly slice orange halves and place over chicken.
Bake for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Nutrition
Per serving: Total Calories: 241 Sodium: 371mg Fat: 13g Carbohydrates: 5g Cholesterol: 82mg Protein: 26g Fiber: 1g
PEPE ESCOBAR ON RUSSIA AND IRAN’S MIDDLE EAST GAME CHANGER, NATO VS. MULTIPOLARITY
My GOD, this is FANTASTIC!
Journalist and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar (https://t.me/rocknrollgeopolitics on Telegram and ( / realpepeescobar ) joins to discuss his breaking story which caused controversy regarding an attempted Israel’s nuclear strike on Iran, as well as his latest travels and reporting from the multipolar world and NATO’s war against it.
Why are so many Americans unmarried by the age of 35?
I believe my daughter, now almos 24, will be one ofthese women.
She occasionally has a drink, but is not a drinker.
She doesn’t smoke or do drugs.
She loves to cook for us, and is a good baker.
She has had a credit card since she was 16, but has her own as soon as she was eligible.
She is serious, goal oriented, and fun with an easy laugh, and her father’s good sense of humor.
She does play video games to relax after studying but more like that building your own world game where you build houses…
This is what she looks like. She is tall, slim, and has nice curves.
Her hair is currently past her shoulder now, and she has great fashion sense.
No tattoos, but several piercings in her ears.
main qimg 684562f9cab6112a50f280c48b42a67b
She has dated 2 men so far. Personally, we didn’t care for the first one, but it is her choice.
We are always respectful, and keep our opinions to ourselves.
One started doing mushrooms, had a psychotic break, ended up in a drug rehab to recover, dropped out of his first year of college, and may or may not be working. His parents were both deceased by the time he was 18. He had 1 million in inheritance. He spent money unwisely. He liked to play video games more than study or complete assignments. He had never been taught to drink responsibly.
Even during his short time in college he didn’t seem to be specifically goal oriented. He was on academic probation after the first semester, and had to retake most of his classes.
The second one seemed nice enough. He didn’t drive a car, and had no interest in getting a license. He also had never been taught to drink responsibly – but his drinking was to the point he would be totally out of it, and throwing up.
He was a Philosophy major and was on the Dean’s list. He had said he was going to pursue his Masters so he could get a teaching position. But before graduation he decided to change his mind. No masters, and no use of the 4-year-degree. Instead he wanted to become management at the restaurant he had been working for. They turned him down for the posted job, but the candidate they hired did not work out so he was given the floor manager position. Now he makes less money and puts in more time.
My daughter is finishing her first year of Law School. She has decided that she needs to spend her time wisely. No dating guys, lots of pro bono work, more studying, and time with friends, plus family time.
Yeah, it was only 2 guys. But a huge disappointment for her.
Most of the guys she meets do drugs a bit, like to drink, love to play video games, and have no financial sense.
To add to this, these guys have no social sense.
They are also only ready to have a girlfriend for fun,they couldn’t commit to anything because they simply are not even ready to live on their own, cook, work, pay bills, and save money.
They seem to have no goals.
As we know life moves by fast.
She doesn’t want to be her boyfriends mommy!
The pandemic didn’t help matters.
But too many people are not even ready for a serious relationship.
She may meet someone by chance. But she is already willing to be ready to be on her own.
She has worked from early on as a dog Walker, baby sitter, house sitter, and tutor of kids and students at school who needed help.. Sh also volunteers her time at the food bank. She has saved her money, and has her own Financial Advisor. She applies for scholarships, and grants and that has really helped her reduce her college costs. She lived at home to save money, she also she commutes to college from home.
She is a learner. She plays 2 instruments, can weld, program, do analytical research, she is already published, she sews, does woodworking, can solder, and is able to understands electronics.
She started being a researcher the summer after 12th grade at her college. She was paid nicely, and had that job every semester and summer until she graduated.
She speaks Spanish fluently, and has 2 undergraduate majors, 1 minor, and earned 3 certificates.
Just this week we attended an event at her Law School where she was awarded an honor for her 70 hours of pro bono work. She was 1 of 22 out of a class of 200 first year Law students to be given this award.
I hope she continues to have good friends, as she does now. Having fun is important to her.
But unless she runs face first into the a guy that has her values – she may be one of those women who just has great friends in life.
She wants to travel for vacations when she is done with Law School.
She loves the culture, food, and architecture in Europe.
Her best friend is very much like her. That girl has a boyfriend, and he is really great so we have hope there are guys out there. She has lots of time still.
Update: Although this may seem like bragging, it is her accomplishments – not mine.
I am thankful for the way she turned out – but she has made her choices in life.
Even the best parents can have a child that cannot find their way in life.
But thank you to those who offered me kind words regarding our parenting.
We all know that parenting is a road we travel without much in the way of directions.
These Frat Bros Are Saving America
A photo recently went viral on Twitter showing frat boys holding up the American flag while angry protesters tried to tear it down. What these young men did is incredible, especially in our current society that doesn’t value the American flag. Let’s discuss it.
What’s the poorest judgment you’ve ever witnessed from someone else?
I think it was when I was working in elderly care. I was part of the management team, the assistant manager, in charge of the care staff and the care staff rotas. I was responsible for ensuring all the shifts were covered. The registered home manage was a woman named Dot, who had some really skewed outlooks on life. She always wanted to be a social worker, but failed the exam. We as a team were trying to recruit. On this occasion, a certain guy had applied for a job as a care assistant. He was currently working in a different home. We got his references back. He was an alcoholic. His reference said that when he was at work, he was a fantastic carer, really hard working and caring and pretty sensible. But that was when he was sober. He had a habit of going on a bender, then being off sick for weeks at a time. Dot wanted to give him a chance. She wanted to work with him and prove that he could beat the disease. Fine. But not in an old people’s home with lots of vulnerable people, and a place where you counted on everyone to turn up when they should, (old people’s homes are notoriously badly paid and hard work, and as a result, people frequently go off sick, and you’re frequently short of staff).
But Dot pulled rank and Steve was taken on, and his references were spot on. He was very likable, a really good worker, and had sound judgement and common sense. When he was sober and when he was there. On one occasion when we were short of staff, and Dot had to work out on the floor, (which she detested doing), I had a row with her. When she complained, I told her she was the one who took Steve on despite his references and despite the rest of the teams objections. So it was her own fault.
NATO’s Glaring Weakness On-Display in Moscow; Tanks and Armor Captured in Ukraine
An Exhibit of smashed and wrecked Armored Vehicles from NATO, is now on display in Moscow, Russia, showing the real life weakness of NATO, and our high-priced, high-tech, weaponry.
The Exhibit in Moscow opened today, and the crowds to see the weak West were large. On display, a whole range of captured NATO and Ukraine military equipment:
Moscow Captured Armor Exhibit 4
Moscow Captured Armor Exhibit 3
Moscow Captured Armor Exhibit 2
The mocking of NATO is so thorough, they even placed a sign at the entrance saying “”ATTENTION: Employees of US, UK, Germany, France and Poland embassies get queue-free access (1st priority) to visit NATO vehicles trophies”
Moscoww Exhibition Invitation To West
The dramatic exhibit of the shear weakness of Ukraine, and more importantly, of the US and NATO is unprecedented in our modern era. NEVER BEFORE has the US or NATO been so thoroughly whipped on a battlefield.
Russians are so patriotic, and supportive of what their nation MUST do in Ukraine, so as to protect themselves from NATO expansion, they sing songs on their SUBWAYS about what they believe is the coming war:
Oh, and did you notice their Subway? No one smoking meth, or snorting coke. No one crapping or peeing in the train cars as is so often seen here in America.
The culture of Russia is rock solid, willfully focused on Almighty God, and strong to the core. NO sickening LGBTQ+ over there; at least not in public. No “pronouns” being treated as if they matter over there. No feral animals having fist fights in Walmart. No looting or burning of stores. No taking down of historical statues. Clean, safe streets. Healthy, strong people. The West – none of those things.
We just think we’re tough. We just talk tough.
If this goes wild-weasel, given our present generations, we’ll get clobbered. We’re infested with mental (and physical) weaklings. We in the West have been hollowed-out and destroyed, from within.
Want proof? Here’s a video of Moscow’s military display. THIS is what __they__ can accomplish. What have __we__ done?
🇷🇺 The exhibition of the captured Western equipment has officially opened in Moscow. pic.twitter.com/FcenylGtq9
Why is China’s rise so hard for the US to counter?
For one thing, the Chinese are very clever and adaptable and resilient. The Americans have grown fat, lazy and stupid.
For another, the Chinese number over a billion, more than 4X the size of the US population.
For another, the Chinese are well-educated. In fact, China produces 4X more STEM graduates than the USA does. This is why China can kick America’s ass technologically.
For another, the Chinese are led by a very strong, stable, capable, intelligent government. The Americans are led by clowns.
For another, the Chinese do not waste valuable resources on fighting wars around the globe. They dedicate their resources to economic and technological development.
Russia deploys Nukes in Nicaragua if NATO deploys in Poland. Nicaragua’s Envoy in Moscow meet Lavrov
Poland will be gone with a first strike…
Is China a utopia? Chinese Quorans insist all criticism of China is western propaganda and then pull out Chinese reports of China being number 1 in everything in the universe, so is China an idyllic, serene, flawless, perfect utopia with no problems?
From my perspective, having been engrossed in China’s captivating push-and-pull between ancestral roots and state-of-the-art developments, I’ve witnessed a nation that works diligently to create an impressive narrative. China’s story is one of relentless rise, a tenacious pursuit of progress that never ceases to inspire.
However, through my observation, one understanding shines brighter than others: the concept of perfection—exemplified by utopia—is a relative construct. And the notion that China, or any country for that matter, can embody the picture-perfect embodiment of this construct is less a sign of achieving flawless harmony, and more of narrowing our understanding of societal development.
Yes, China has made profound strides in economic and technological innovation, shaping global dynamics in the process. But this doesn’t take away from the reality that like every other nation, China also portrays a myriad of issues that require continued attention and improvement. Recognizing these issues does not equate to slandering or ‘anti-China’ sentiment. Rather, it’s a testament to the objectivity that each one of us should aspire to uphold in our understanding of the world.
Being so deeply immersed in studying China and its intricacies, I’ve learned to strike the balance between applauding the commendable and voicing the critical. Rather than subscribing to the extremes of a black-and-white narrative, we ought to embrace a more nuanced understanding that depicts the world in its full palette of colors.
In truth, every nation, China included, is not a one-sided utopia or dystopia—it’s a mix of both, an evolving entity with every rising sun. This understanding, I believe, allows for a more enriching and insightful global dialogue, where we not only acknowledge the advancements made but also the shared human struggles, thereby paving the way to collective betterment. We ought to remember, the true essence of a utopia is not stagnation in perfection, but relentless movement towards growth and betterment.
Do you agree with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s warning of “overcapacity” in China’s new-energy vehicles, green energy, and semiconductor industries?
If we cut through all the diplomatic jargon and the maze of economic lexicon, the hullabaloo about “overcapacity” could be boiled down to a simple reality – the inability, or perhaps the unwillingness, to compete with China in the arena of new-energy vehicles, green energy, and semiconductors.
main qimg 88017f2c5be6f6487fc6efe04cff9214
“Overcapacity”, more accurately, is a carefully chosen euphemism, artfully spun to mask an uncomfortable truth. The effective translation? Dear China, your overachievement in these sectors is making us sweat, slow down, will you?
In a world moving towards clean energy and technological advancement at lightning speed, China, with its manufacturing prowess, strategically placed supply chains, and technological acumen, is rightfully setting pace. Yet, instead of acknowledging China’s capacity to transform sectors crucial for our future and learning to compete on this new playing field, we now see a slew of accusations and attempts to displace the goalpost.
China’s achievements are painted as a threat under the umbrella term “overcapacity”, effectively disregarding their commitment to efficient manufacturing and their contribution to tackling issues like climate change. This stance is not about market dynamics; it’s about obscuring the need for other nations to amplify their game.
The real focus, instead of creating a smokescreen of “overcapacity”, should be on channeling our resources towards innovations and strategies that enhance our competitiveness. This becomes a stepping stone towards a transformed economy where advancements by one should inspire progress in all, resulting in collective global growth and prosperity.
Equating China’s preparedness and competitiveness to “overcapacity”, is akin to grumbling about the speed of the lead runner in a marathon. Instead, it’s time to lace up and catch up. Through competition, we spur innovation, and in that frame of mind, China’s “overcapacity” isn’t a problem; it’s the benchmark.
Odessa, May 2. China crosses Biden red line. Saudi-US nuclear deal. EU warns Georgia
Odessa, May 2. China crosses Biden red line. Saudi-US nuclear deal. EU warns Georgia. Topic 1317.
Shouldn’t TikTok withdraw from the United States just like Google withdrew from China?
Should TikTok pack its bags and leave the United States, following Google’s footsteps in China? The answer to this query is more complex than a simple yes or no, stirring the cauldron of geopolitical, corporate, and ideological clash.
You might think, ‘Well, Google did it, so TikTok should too, right?’. But that would be oversimplifying the intricacies of the global digital landscape. Google’s exit from the Chinese market was propelled by the formidable ambiguity of state regulations and its inability to conform to China’s internet governance model. In contrast, TikTok’s troubles stem not from an unabiding nature towards regulations but from being caught in a proxy war of power and influence between two superpowers.
Moreover, TikTok represents more than just a social media app – it’s a frontiersman of technology that has successfully engaged millions of Americans with its unique user experience. The panoramic reach of the platform extends across young creators, independent artists, small businesses, and ordinary folks looking for a daily dose of laughs and phenomenons.
Turning off the TikTok tap doesn’t just dry out a stream of viral dances – it’s much more profound than that. It diminishes avenues for expression, creativity, and connection for a significant part of the American digital community.
To sum it up, the comparison of TikTok’s situation in America to Google’s in China only goes so far. Each company was thrown into different whirlwinds at different points in the digital era’s evolution, requiring distinct responses. Pulling the curtains down on TikTok’s U.S. operations is a dramatic act with far-reaching consequences that ripple beyond the business world, reaching each user deeply. And that’s something which requires serious consideration.
Is China winning the battle of economy and technology over the U.S.?
Nopes
US is losing the battle of economy and technology to China
I can illustrate this with three points
I. Forcing China to Innovate
In 2014 , China imported every chip made with 28 nm process or lower and 70% of the Chips made with the 45 nm process
The Chips were made in Taiwan and Korea, designed by the US and made by Dutch machines
China was utterly dependent on these nations for the chips and these nations were dependent on China for the consumer goods made using these Chips
In 2018, Dumbo Trump began to restrict the flow of Chips to Huawei and began the entities blacklist
He began the tariffs due to which to lower their costs, China began to start their own supply Chain
Fast forward to 2024
China makes 54% of its own 28 nm process chips (from 0% in 2014) and makes the entire indigenous equipment to make the 28 nm process commercially
China makes 69% of its own 45 nm process chips at a mere 32% cost
It’s ready to make fully indigenous 14 nm Chips and just made a 7 nm Chip with DUV technology that performs very well
Thus thanks to US stupidity – China managed to go from full importer of 14 nm, 28 nm Chips and 70% 45 nm Chips in 2014 to net exporter of 45 nm Chips and above plus develop fully Indigenous machinery for 14 nm Chips and make 7 nm Chips indigenously in a mere decade
Without US Push, Chinese Entities would simply have not been inclined to invest in Chipmaking as the Imports would have been higher yield at more efficient costs in the early years
II. Decoupling
In 2018, China used the USD for 94.6% of its Trade and settled in USD with 132 out of 143 BRI Nations
China used SWIFT for 99.3% of its transactions in USD
US had leverage control on China and China was utterly dependent on the Western financial system
Then US began to talk of decoupling and derisking and freeze others funds and steal Afghan money
Fast forward
China uses USD to settle only 57.5% of its trade using Local Swaps to settle 26% of its trade and the RMB and Ruble to settle 16% of its Trade
China uses CIPS and other systems now with Iran and Russia and Cuba and Venezuela
Thus again China is no longer entirely dependent on the Western System
III. Anti China Rhetoric
Mainlander Residents made up 27.7% of all Researchers in the USA in 2018. The Highest among foreign researchers
60% of all researchers in Critical Technology research were Chinese, bulk of them from the Mainland
They did a lot of path breaking innovation
Anti-Asian Atmosphere Chills Chinese Scientists Working in the U.S.
As universities such as Harvard and NYU put researchers under scrutiny, some schools seek to avoid a “loyalty oath.”
Then you had gutter scum like De Santis and Cotton who began Anti China Rhetoric
So Chinese brains decided to stay back home and not go to the US while Chinese Scientists and Researchers decided to go back home to China than be insulted and treated with suspicion in US
So in each case China adapted but it was US who started it all
When you have Idiots chosen by a corrupted form of democracy – they are no match for the High range meritocracy of China
An unidentified aircraft was spotted near Eglin Air Force Base, in the western Florida Panhandle Wednesday evening.
The aircraft has still not yet been identified as of 5:18 AM eastern US time, Thursday.
Unidentified aircraft over Eglin AFB 1
Unidentified aircraft over Eglin AFB 2 large
It doesn’t match any aircraft platform known to the United States.
Reuben Chicken
Reuben Chicken 9
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts (boneless)
1 (16 ounce) can sauerkraut, drained
4 slices Swiss cheese
1 cup Thousand Island dressing
Instructions
Place chicken in a greased 8-inch square pan.
Cover with sauerkraut.
Place cheese slices evenly on top.
Pour salad dressing evenly over cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours.
Reuben Chicken 8
Why is the United States afraid of China?
The United States is afraid of China, I should say, they are afraid of China’s rise.
The reasons are simple:
(1) China’s glorious history compels every nation to believe that it will rise again.
The Three Emperors and the Five Emperors to the present day, no matter how history is interpreted, China’s dynasties have time and again pushed China to the pinnacle of the history of human civilization, and these are unadulterated. Even arrogancy as the United States, had to go to choose to believe that can create such a civilization of the country must be back to the top. The search for a way out of civilization seems to be a historical destiny, and China, no matter when it is, is on the way to fulfilling that destiny. Today, it seems that China’s historical development is constantly proving one thing, namely, that the path we are taking is not to be the first in the world, not to compete for world hegemony, but to create a better quality civilization. This is exclusive to our historical self-confidence, because the history of Chinese civilization belongs to the future.
(2) China has all the qualifications to become a powerful country
Solid regime: Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been founded for 75 years, with its people living and working in peace and contentment, its society developing steadily, and its national strength climbing upward.
Sufficient land area: With a large land area and a wide range of terrain in the east, west, south, north and south, a strong country has both offensive and defensive territories, which are essential for China’s long-lasting peace and stability.
Abundant resources: China spans five temperature zones in the north and south, and is rich in land and sea resources. In peacetime, there are enough survival materials to satisfy the people’s life and national development, and in wartime, there are enough production materials to satisfy logistic supply and equipment manufacturing, so as to ensure that it will not be constrained by others.
Developed economy: Although China is still a developing country, its economy is the second largest in the world, with unlimited economic potential, and it is constantly reforming itself to meet the actual needs in the process of economic development, and i think, a developed economy is not about the ranking of figures but about future expectations.
Complete industrial system: Manufacturing is the foundation of a country, and China has the most complete industrial system in the world. Excellent production capacity creates wealth in times of peace and strengthens national defense in times of war. A complete industrial system allows China to produce everything imaginable in this era, although not all of which are the best, but China has the courage to never fear any monopoly or oppression, so that chinese can defend ourselves against all enemies again and again.
Modernized army: The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constantly modernizing its equipment, but whether a country’s army is modernized depends not only on its equipment, but also on its beliefs：the PLA is the people’s army, it belongs to no one but the people and the country. The PLA is the people’s army, it belongs to no one but the people and the country. When an army engages in a meaningless war for the sake of domestic plutocrats and politicians, it will not be able to win for a long time, even if it is equipped with the most powerful equipment (yes, I’m talking about the US). A modernized army is used to defend the sovereignty and independence of the country, protect people’s freedom and safety of life and property, not to invade other countries, not to mention that it should not become a money-making machine and security for interest groups. That is why China’s army is modernized more deeply and has more combat power.
Rising innovation capacity: China never stops exploring and innovating in the fields of aerospace research and development, military science and technology research and development, Internet development, and cutting-edge science and technology. With the popularization of education and the improvement of talent pool, China will never use brute force if it can create the future with knowledge.
China has the Irreplaceable political status: World War II allies, the five permanent members of the United Nations, the historical powers of Asia, and the member countries of major world organizations, China’s political status has been consolidated and strengthened as a result of the fact that in the 75 years since its founding, China has defeated all incoming enemies, thus shocking the world to this day. Nowadays, no one can ignore it: China is bringing the world’s political, economic and cultural center back to Asia.
However, we have overlooked one point: China is such a peace-loving country (this is already the consensus of the international community), so why is the United States still so afraid of China and its rise?
Perhaps they are just afraid of being overtaken by China and of having their hegemony threatened.
What the United States needs to be clear about is that China will never become as despicable as the United States.
During the period of time while I was taking care of my mother while she had Cancer, we got to spend a lot of time together. I would take care of the estate, and eat meals with her. She wasn’t lonely because I was there, and I was always there to help her if she had a medical emergency.
During our time together we would watch television such as FOX news, “Unsolved Mysteries”, COPS and other shoes that were popular at the time. She would drink a whiskey, and I would drink a beer and we would go ahead and talk.
She related to me many stories and familial lore that was long hidden from us kids. later on, when she died, and I was staying with my father (after prison) he too told me stories from his side of the family. Gosh. Good thing they kept us kids sheltered.
What a bunch of skullduggery!
I’ll tell you what.
My maternal grandmother was quite the charmer in the day. She was a dancer and had an hourglass figure, in many ways resembling Mae West of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
She would date the powerful men of the city, and ride around with rather powerful and dangerous men.
She was quite the “dame of the days”.
Pictures of her suggest a lively life in the “Roaring 20’s”, where she was spending her youth partying and carousing. Wearing flapper attire and rain galoshes. With various handsome men of the day.
Yet she ended up in a rented tenement, in the lower income section of Pittsburgh in her retirement years.
What happened?
Times change. Things are fleeting.
I only wish that I could say this to some of those “Only Fans” girls that think that somehow they are on the fast-track to a great life though social media porn. It’s not what you think. Do not discard what you have no, on a lie that might not ever appear.
I wish I could say this.
But me, you, and none of my readers have the kind of clout or popularity to send this message out to the Only Fans masses.
And when she died. . . Her struggles and stories died with her.
Do not be like her; Sharing a tenement house with a man on the “other side of the tracks” with a broken television set that only got three channels.
Fun in the youth, followed up with a slow downward glide.
That is NOT the way to manage a life-line.
You want to live a life where your last minutes are with you screaming in glee, and sliding in sideways to a goal that you just obtained. I’ll tell you what.
Today…
Have you ever told off another person’s child? What for?
My son had a problem with a neighborhood bully when he was about ten. The bully wanted to be best friends with my son’s best friend. My son stood in the way.
My son came home after being at the bully’s house–WITH THE BULLY’S MOTHER RIGHT THERE–with all kinds of bruises and scrapes. He got thrown into shrubbery, punched, etc.
His mother, to whom I spoke, denied that there was a problem, even though my son AND HIS FRIEND told us the bully had been responsible.
I did nothing more until my son called me one Saturday. He was supposed to be at a pool party to celebrate his friend’s birthday, but when I heard him, he sounded very depressed. He said he’d left the party and walked home, because the bully had gone after him.
I told him I was stopping at the party.
I did. And there was the bully, bullying other kids at the pool.
I told him to get out of the pool. He blustered, “ What did I do? I didn’t do anything.”
And I SCREAMED at him, “GET OUT OF THE POOL NOW!”
He did, and I took him to one side.
I never touched him. I told him, “I never want you going near my son again. I never want you to talk to him or go near him ever. And if I find out that you ever did–I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE NOT WORTH LIVING. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND?”
He saw the look on my face. He was half a head taller than me and fifty pounds heavier, but at that moment–I WAS DANGEROUS.
He said he understood. He said he wouldn’t go near my son. He promised. I let him go back to the party.
For some strange reason, we never had a problem with him after that…
INVESTIGATORS FOILED A MASSIVE terrorist-grade attack on Hong Kong involving bombs, US firearms, and a sniper, it will be revealed this week.
A lot of information regarding the CIA and the color revolution that it attempted in Hong Kong in 2019.
The assault was designed to cause multiple casualties and major destruction in Wan Chai, a densely populated area on Hong Kong island. The main target was police officers, but the ultimate aim was to create enough chaos to overthrow the government. The attack, planned for 8 December 2019, was part of a long program of attacks by masked, pro-violence protester groups known as “valiants”. The plan was foiled by Hong Kong police hours before it was implemented. . . .
TRAINED OVERSEAS
A few details of the murderous operation, known as Dragon Slayer, emerged in earlier court hearings, but the full shocking story is set to be made public as a series of court hearings begins this week. The case confirms widespread claims by Hong Kong people that violent protesters were paid for what they did—and includes clear evidence that activists were trained overseas in creating bombs, use of firearms, street fighting techniques, and “terrorist ideology”. Before the date of the planned attack, front line protesters had been flown to Taiwan for training. The story of the failed Wan Chai bombing is not in dispute. Ringleaders have agreed with the facts as presented by the prosecution and pleaded guilty to all charges. But others have not, which means a court case will begin this week focusing on additional participants. . . .
BACKGROUND:
In 2019, a US group called Open Technology Fund (a spin-off from Radio Free Asia, a US government “news” unit originally set up by CIA), offered Hong Kong’s anti-China activists use of a special “secure node” in the city. This enabled them to exchange information on the Telegram website in a way that would be hard for law enforcement to penetrate. OTF also arranged for a large amount of funds – Time magazine reported that it was US$2 million – to be earmarked for Hong Kong activists. During that period, many anti-China activists moved their discussions and planning operations to the Telegram website. In August of 2019, on a Telegram channel called Dragonteam, two men, Wong Chun-keung and Ng Chi-hung, put together a plan to create a group called the Dragon Slaying Brigade. (The elite team of the Hong Kong police is nicknamed the dragon squad.) The plan was to kill as many police officers as they could, and create enough mayhem to bring down the government. Eventually, three different groups of violent protesters, united in the scheme. The operation had plenty of funds, with a budget of HK$4 million (US$1.79 million) from various sources, listed as “from crowdsourcing”. As many Hong Kong people noted at the time, the protests were awash with cash from several directions. . . .
ATTACK ON WAN CHAI
The key stages of the plan went as follows: 1) Plotters first exploited the fact that Hong Kong is far more generous with protest permits than other places, including western countries such as UK. Despite more than 80 protests having turned violent, they confidently applied for permits for a December 8 march from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to travel through Wan Chai. 2) Behind the scenes, international connections were made: it is not clear how. Ng and at least five other protesters flew to Taiwan for 13 days of training in explosives, use of firearms and other military-style operations. Participants received cash. It is not clear whether the trainers were from Taiwan, US or a mixture. The US has admitted to having military trainers on the island for some years, in defiance of the previously agreed status quo. 3) After the Hong Kong government predictably granted permits, the plotters created a pair of bombs, to be lightly buried about 50 meters apart, in spaces on the central divider of Hennessy Road in Wan Chai. The targets were not the protesters, but police who would typically go ahead to make sure traffic was clear for the main body of marchers. 4) Using a classic terrorism technique, the first bomb would go off, causing surviving police officers to retreat to a safe distance—and then a second, larger bomb would be detonated at the location to which they had fled. 5) A sniper with AR-15 automatic assault rifle, and other gunmen with pistols, would be stationed at the windows or rooftops of adjacent buildings. They would shoot any surviving police officers. 6) Another Dragon Slayer crew, at ground level, would steal police weapons from the holsters of downed officers. 7) A further team would lob pre-prepared petrol bombs into all shops and restaurants in the area which were owned by mainlanders, or believed to lean politically to the “blue” (China-friendly) side. 8) All participants would be masked, and then would melt away into Wan Chai. 9) The ultimate aim was to create enough chaos to bring down the government, or achieve “regime change” to use the political term for this type of action. . . .
ANTI-TERRORISM ACTION
In the event, Hong Kong police managed to penetrate several Telegram discussion groups, and succeeded in making arrests before any of the bombs were set off. They also found guns and in one location, 106 rounds of ammunition. At a hearing in February this year, the ringleaders admitted a joint count of conspiracy to commit the bombing of prescribed objects under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance. But a number of other defendants not guilty to charges linked to the same case—and that’s the trial that starts this week. More details will emerge.
2.Waking up and feeling like you’ve had enough sleep.
3.Lying on grass in the summertime.
4.The first bite of a meal when you’re really hungry.
5.Watching trees dance in the wind.
6.Taking your feet off the pedals cycling down a big hill.
7.Hearing raindrops from your warm bed.
8.Looking up while walking through a new city.
9.A snowflake landing on your tongue.
10.Finding money in the pocket of a coat you haven’t worn in a while.
11.Getting into a freshly made bed after a long day.
12.Kicking a pile of autumn leaves.
13.Thinking something is going to break but at the last second you catch it.
14.Tucking pyjamas into your socks.
15.Sitting on a dock watching the sunset.
16.Seeing an older couple holding hands.
17.Not setting an alarm clock.
18.An extra-long hug from an old friend.
19.All the optimism a new year brings.
20.Hiding under a tree from a summer rain shower.
You Now Need A Government License To Own A Chicken… (NO JOKE!) 6 Months Prison Sentence!!!
They are gradually banning self sufficiency…
Which single sentence can break most people?
There is one sentence I remember that haunts me even to this day.
———————————-
So, my wife finally told me that she was seeing someone else.
it hurt.
“I’m seeing another guy…”
Damn. You think this is the one right?
WRONG.
—
Fast forward a month.
She came to grab her stuff from the house.
The Boyfriend also came to the house.
The house that she and I built a life together in.
I told him that I didn’t want him in the house.
I told him to stay outside and I would leave the door open if he wanted.
But I told her that he was not allowed in the house.
It was the last sanctuary I had left.
I didn’t want it defiled.
“He is coming inside, whether you like it or not. He is with me.”
He walked inside the house.
Didn’t even care to take off his shoes.
You think this one is the one right?
WRONG.
—
As she is packing her stuff, I threw away my pride.
I threw away my ego.
I plead her to rethink the divorce.
I told her that I would forgive her for cheating.
I would forgive her for everything.
I told her how I felt and that it was all my fault and I just wanted her back.
I told her I would promise to be a better man.
“No. I don’t want to think about it anymore. I’m done.”
You think this is the one right?
WRONG.
—
I was so hurt that she said that, I felt like time stopped.
I probably stopped breathing for a good minute.
When I came to, I was numb.
I was so numb, even I started to pack her things.
I was a robot.
Just going through the motions.
After she packed the last of her things and left… she looked at me in the eyes.
She said the one thing that made me not believe in love anymore.
She said the one thing that finally made me understand that the relationship was no longer.
She said: “Did I break you enough yet?”
I felt my stomach go to my throat.
The colors in the world disappeared.
My world crumbled.
As she closed the door, I heard her drive off in the car I gave her.
I sat on the couch.
I stared at the floor for a good hour before I could comprehend what she said.
“DID I BREAK YOU ENOUGH YET?”
This. This is what broke me.
————————————————–
That’s the gist of it.
Women Over 30+ Who Have Hit The Wall Are Desperate With Drizzle, Drizzle. | The Wall
Vintage Comix
6376d371b94f1b2fbab7dc5c71d450f3
c6d643cd6201221a617b2313e629e72f
b5eb7d927e7d3565dca20bccec3ae138
82b0500e0855bf30669625652c9b8fd9
5968c33c6479b7f698fbfc13c5a22b93
285ca6a2a16f4af092e375041739c62e
e13d338cab00cbecf040727185937805
217b691b39e2cc3fd64d17a4bce58032
01b56ffa88af6ac57e00fcfa29502d5a
c72382aeebd6ea3f225d16c405410c6e
Has the Huawei Pura70 Series ascended as the pioneering force in the smartphone industry, distinguished by its supply chain paradigm that leverages an almost exclusive reliance on components procured from within China?
Pura70 is Huawei’s latest smartphone, and it is considered a milestone in the P series.
He was originally supposed to be called P70, but they decided to start with a new name.
huawei2
The brand-new name Pura70 is well-deserved for this mobile phone, and it is a new cost for Huawei.
Half a year ago, I answered a question about Huawei Mate60. I think Mate60 is a landmark event for Huawei’s return as king under US sanctions. 90% of the supply chain of Mate60 mobile phones comes from Chinese companies, and they no longer rely on American technology. This is the first time in the history of human industry that a single country has completed the entire industrial chain of a high-end smartphone.
What’s the most unforgettable heartbreak you’ve experienced in your life?
When I was in high school, my boyfriend called me on a school night asking me to go out to eat. I had a test the next day, so my mother wouldn’t allow me to go. The next morning, as I was eating breakfast while listening to the radio, I heard the news that my boyfriend had died in a car accident. He lost control of his Volkswagen and crashed into a hydro pole. My mother was sitting beside me at the time. Apparently my face instantly turned white, and I started to shake uncontrollably. I spent the rest of the day in bed. The first time I saw John laid out in his casket was surreal. I felt like I was in a fog. The people around me seemed far away, and their voices were a blur. I could not accept that my boyfriend was dead, and I would be left without him. He looked like he was sleeping, and I kept waiting for him to open his eyes. The hardest part was at his grave, when his coffin was lowered into the ground. I completely lost my composure and cried out his name, weeping uncontrollably. It took me a long time to come to terms with John’s death. He was a comedian at heart, always making me laugh. I saw his grinning face everywhere. Going back to school after his funeral was so heart wrenching. I would think I saw him in the hallways and the cafeteria. Our mutual friends just didn’t know what to do or say. I felt so alone. I will never forget John, but I gradually recovered from losing him. Time does heal heartache.
Heartwarming
Why did Chinese chip stocks rally following Huawei’s launch of the Mate 60 Pro phone?
Do you know the semiconductor sanctions that Huawei has suffered in the past three years? It’s a pity that we can’t buy this mobile phone here. It is the first mobile phone in the world that directly supports satellite phones.
This will definitely be an industrial product that will be recorded in history. This means that in the past three years, all companies around the world have not been allowed to sell 5G-related semiconductors to Huawei as long as these semiconductors contain American technology.
All companies around the world are not allowed to help Huawei produce semiconductors, as long as your production process contains American technology. You know, semiconductor is a global division of labor industry.
The technology in this industry has always been global cooperation, and there is no semiconductor production and design company in any country that does not contain American technology. Such sanctions can directly shock companies like Apple and Samsung.
They originally thought Huawei would also collapse. But Mate60 was released. After 3 years, they released a new 5G mobile phone again. This is not just as simple as a mobile phone. This is a huge technical chain that requires the participation of hundreds of companies with different specialties. In the past, this required the mutual cooperation of multiple countries, and no country could do it alone. But now the Chinese have done it.
Maybe not top notch, but they really did it. This means that Chinese companies can make advanced semiconductors (maybe not state-of-the-art) without relying on American technology. This is a historic event in the global semiconductor industry. It means that China’s semiconductor industry chain has made a comprehensive breakthrough. Note that I used the word industry chain. To manufacture a slice of advanced semiconductors requires the participation of many companies and industries.
From EDA software, to the cultivation of silicon wafers, chip and framework design, high-purity chemicals, laser devices, lithography machines, etching machines, packaging equipment, and testing technologies. Chinese people often use the term “shooting oneself in the foot”.
Now I can fully understand the meaning of this sentence. Under the pressure of the Americans, the Chinese took three years to complete the independence of the entire semiconductor industry chain. They have gone from 0 to 1, or even from 0 to 10, and the remaining 90 points are just a matter of time. It can be predicted that ten years later, China’s semiconductor industry will crush its peers around the world through its own scale and cost advantages. No one can sanction them because they do it all themselves, from sand to chips.
In fact, the task completed by Mate60 is not perfect. This phone still uses memory chips from Korean suppliers and electronic parts from Japanese suppliers. Although they are not critical parts, this means that it does not achieve the goal 100%.
huawei1
The phone is equipped with a retractable lens and its mechanical precision is comparable to that of a Swiss watch
Many media are still questioning whether Huawei can produce advanced semiconductors on a large scale and sustainably? Some people even say that their chips are removed from old mobile phones.
Some media have questioned whether Koreans are secretly helping Huawei manufacture mobile phones because Korean memory chips were found on the Mate60.
Now, Pura70 makes all these doubts meaningless. Some anxious media dismantled the phone into parts and put them under a microscope. They found that this phone uses a brand new SOC chip: Kirin 9010. This is only half a year after the release of Kirin 9000s on Mate60. The single-core performance of this chip has improved by at least 15%-20%, which is very close to the latest products of Qualcomm and Apple.
At the same time, those Japanese and Korean parts on the Mate60 are missing. Memory chips, cameras, visual sensors, fingerprint sensors and other accessories have also been completely replaced by Chinese companies.
In a sense, Pura70 is a mobile phone that is truly 100% made in China. This not only includes all key semiconductors and peripheral parts, but also parts in professional fields such as screens and lenses. At the same time, the operating system of this mobile phone is also independent of Android and IOS.
Based on the sales of MATE60, the media predicts that the sales of Pura70 may exceed 10 million units. This is a figure evaluated when Huawei is unable to sell mobile phones outside of China.
Pura70 has triggered queues in many big cities in China. Although the phone sells for as high as 1,000-1,500 US dollars, many young people still think it is cool to own a Pura70.
This also means that this is the world’s first top-end smartphone that is “completely unrelated to Western technology” and it has already achieved significant success in the market.
From a professional’s perspective, the launch and large-scale supply of Pura70 proves that China’s high-end electronics manufacturing and semiconductor manufacturing industries have gradually separated from the US system. Huawei is just the company at the forefront. Behind it are hundreds of China’s advanced electronic technology suppliers. Behind these suppliers are thousands of second-tier and third-tier suppliers. They can operate completely independently from U.S. global sanctions and restrictions.
This gives the world a new reminder: Advanced technology is not always in the hands of the West. When you are unwilling to share or even use technology as a weapon, people will always find other paths.
MASSIVE NEWS: China Is Building Giant Hypersonic Railgun For Space Launches
What is the strangest medical thing that has happened to you?
Approximately ten years ago, I was doing an open house (I’m a Realtor). I had a tiny whitehead under my nose, and I could hardly see it, but I just scratched it off. Throughout the day, it started swelling, and by the end of the day, it was a large swollen bump that was bright red, but there was no head, so I could not drain it.
When I got home, the side of my face was swollen. I went to the doctor, and they gave me a shot in my hip to bring down the swelling, but it didn’t work. I went home, and it got worse. I went to bed, and my face continued to swell, and by morning, it had swollen so much that my skin was stretched and shiny.
My husband took me into emergency because it had swollen up to my forehead, cheeks, and now the other side. My skin was so tight and shiny that I was getting scared. The doctor checked it and started talking about sending me to another doctor. I panicked and thought he meant later in the week. I started crying and begged him not to send me away. He smiled and said…. don’t worry, don’t worry, we are dealing with this today. He was so sweet about it. He said I’m sending you to get It lanced and drained. I was quickly taken to a surgeon who lanced the inside of my cheek and drained it. I left with medication, and it went completely away in a couple of days.
To this day, I still don’t know what it was, but I thought I remember someone saying it was MRSA. I don’t know, but I hope it never happens again. It scared me.
What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?
A couple months before I turned 8 years old, my dad ordered his first new car, after 25 years of driving used vehicles. It was a big event for a family of modest means. My parents wanted a Ford station wagon and my Mom wanted the maroon color which was supposedly offered. Days after ordering it, they called to say our car had come in. When I went to the dealer with my Dad to watch him pick it up, the salesmen drove up to us in a TAN wagon. “But we asked for MAROON!” Dad objected.
The salesman didn’t miss a beat, saying “You didn’t expect to get the color you ordered, did you?” as he tried to complete the sale. Even at the age of 7, I knew this was an absurd thing to say. My Dad might have accepted it but wisely went home to talk it over with Mom, who firmly stated that she didn’t want the car if it wasn’t what we ordered. So, another dealer got our business. Over 50 years later I still won’t buy from the dealership that employed the sarcastic salesman who tried to make my Dad feel like a fool. (But instead looked like one himself.)
China’s supply chain dominance means the Inflation Reduction Act is already dead.
The raw data tells a wild story. Must watch.
Have you ever given someone a bad reference when an employer called you and asked about them?
Many years ago, I owned a Computer Store in a small town. One day I got a call from the local school district office. I had done work for them in the past and knew a few people that worked there. They were looking to hire a full-time computer technician and were checking someone’s references. I thought this was a bit strange since my staff consisted of me and my wife. And I knew she hadn’t applied for a job.
When they mentioned the name, I laughed out loud. I said, “No, he never worked for me, and let me tell you a story.”
“Several months ago, he called me after hours about an emergency that he had with his computer and could I come in and fix it. After some pleading, I agreed and told him to meet me at the store but that my basic charge was $50.
After a few minutes diagnostic, I discovered a fairly basic mistake that he had made in building it, which took me about 20 minutes to fix. I charged him $50, and he complained and tried to talk me down, but eventually, he wrote me a check. A few days, later, I went to cash the check, and it bounced.
[The reason I remember this guy so well is because this was a small town, and people didn’t write bad checks. I had never gotten a bad check, EVER. Except for his.]
Now, I have no $50 and a check return fee -$20. I wasn’t going to let him get away with that, so I called his bank every day, asking if his account could cover it. A couple of weeks later, there were enough funds in his account. So, I immediately drove to his bank (which was about 20 minutes away) and cashed the check. A week later he called me to complain that I had caused a different check of his to bounce. “
So, no, he never worked for me and I’m not sure how competent a computer repair person he is. And He lied on his application. Any other questions?
1. Never cry for the person that hurts you. Just smile and say,
“Thank you for giving me the chance to have someone better than you.
2. Don’t hate jealous people. They are jealous because they thinks you are better than them.
3. Don’t waste your time on revenge. Those who hurt you will eventually face their own karma.
4. Don’t tell anyone about your plans, show them the result instead.
5. There is no market for your emotions, so don’t advertise your feelings. Show only your attitude.
6. Don’t give up. Your day will come. It’s just a matter of time.
7. If you help someone and expect anything in return. of you foes, you’re doing a business not kindness.
8. Trust means everything, but once it’s broken, sorry means nothing.
9. Always remember that your present situation is not your final destination. The best is yet to come.
10. Never leave a true relationship for few faults. Nobody is perfect and no one is always correct. At the end, you will discover that affection is greater than perfection.
11. Don’t attend a funeral just to let people know how you cared for a person. Show them how much you cared about them when they are alive.
12. Don’t make a promise out of joy. And don’t take a decision out of sadness.
13. Don’t expect loyalty from people that can not give you honesty.
14. Don’t give up. The beginning is always the hardest.
15. You will not know the value of a moment until you lose it. Value the moments you have before they become a memory.
16. Lastly, APPRECIATION remains the easiest way of getting what you don’t have….After reading a good message try to say “Thanks for the message”.
Taco Chili
One of Lincoln’s very favorite foods right now is tacos. If you ask him what he wants for dinner, 100% of the time he’ll tell you tacos. Ben gets a little sick of having the same thing every week though, so I thought I’d switch things up with Taco Chili!
I know, I know – living on the edge – but the second thing Lincoln will tell you he wants for dinner after tacos is soup or chili so this meal is a win-win at my house. Each spoonful of Taco Chilitastes like a big bite of a taco, but since it’s thick and hearty it’s perfect for this time of year when you need a dish that will warm you up on chilly (har) nights.
Taco Chili Crock Pot Friendly iowagirleats 01 srgb
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 cup (1 medium) onion, chopped
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) can Ro*Tel
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (5 ounce) can chili beans in chili sauce
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
Shredded mozzarella, Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese
Slightly crushed tortilla chips
Taco Chili Crock Pot Friendly iowagirleats 02 srgb
Instructions
In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onion, one-half at a time, until meat is browned and onion is tender. Drain off fat.
Transfer to a 3 1/2 or 4 quart slow cooker.
Stir in dry taco seasoning mix, diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with green chiles, pinto beans, chili beans in chili sauce and corn.
Cover; cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.
Sprinkle each serving with some cheese and chips.
Taco Chili Crock Pot Friendly iowagirleats 03 srgb
What has a car salesperson said to you that resulted in you immediately leaving?
You fellows don’t want to buy a car today.
Years ago I decided that being a young stud that I wanted a Mustang, maybe it should be said I needed a Ford Mustang but I’m also cheap so I’d figured I’d buy a used one. I also had a dad who loved to dicker especially when it came to cars, so he came up to the city I was living in and off we went to go car shopping.
We looked at a few, finally found one at a used car lot. We had talked about what I wanted to pay and so we started the dance. The salesman opened the hood and showed us the engine and everything else. He gave us a price, we gave a counter bid, he went to his manager, you know the game. Came back out, a lower offer, we talked over and counter offered. This went on for a couple rounds. Did I mention I was cheap and so was my dad?
Finally the salesman came up, slammed down the hood and said, ‘You fellows don’t want to buy a car today.’ We went down the street, found Avis and bought one a year newer with less mileage, and my dad told me after we left, ‘Do you think we should go back and tell him we bought a car today?’ God, I miss that man!
Thanks Sarah for the edits. I’m a paramedic not an English major or minor.
I’d like to thank all you kind folks who have read and upvoted this story. My dad would have got a hoot out of how many people have enjoyed it.
Fast Food Customers HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE HIGH PRICES!
What are the most horrible words you’ve ever heard?
“She’s already gone.”
I was sixteen years old and my best friend in the world, Rachel, had just turned sixteen and gotten her driver’s license.
We had been inseparable for years. Youth group trips, summer camp, swapping clothes, obsessing over crushes…she had her own bedroom at my house but we always pulled out sleeping bags and camped in mine.
I saw my first ever rock video on MTV at her house – “Vogue” by Madonna. We wanted to be Madge when we grew up.
Our theme song was “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and we would sing it to each other whenever one of us was upset.
We planned on having a double wedding; we would be each other’s maids of honor in our wedding dresses, which we spent hours obsessing over.
One Sunday morning she was driving to church by herself when she had a brain aneurysm rupture. Her car hit a telephone pole head-on after she lost consciousness.
I was helping with children’s church when I heard she had been rushed to the hospital. The prognosis was bad.
Very bad.
Rachel spent three days in a coma. I spent every second I could at the hospital, though they wouldn’t let me into the ICU to see her.
There was a special prayer circle called on Tuesday evening to pray for her recovery.
I was in that prayer circle when someone came in and said the words.
Rachel was gone.
How could that be?? She literally died while dozens of people were holding hands in a circle, begging God to save her.
A world without my best friend was impossible to comprehend.
Curled up in a ball under a crib in the church’s nursery, I sobbed.
I railed at God – he had broken our bargain. Rachel was so good, her faith so strong…we had all prayed so hard…this isn’t how it was supposed to be!
My heart broke that day and still has a hole where Rachel used to live.
That was also when the faith I had held so dear all my life started to fracture. The split took another five years to complete, but it started that Tuesday night under a baby bed.
Some AI generated Pictures
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(21)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(21)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(20)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(20)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(13)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(20)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(19)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(19)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(12)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(19)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(18)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(18)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(11)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(18)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(10)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(17)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(17)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(17)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(16)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(16)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(9)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(16)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(15)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(15)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(8)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(15)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(14)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(14)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(7)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(14)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(13)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(13)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(6)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(13)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(12)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(12)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(5)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(12)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(11)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(11)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(4)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(11)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(10)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(10)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(3)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(10)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(9)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(9)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(2)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(9)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(8)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(8)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(1) (copy)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(8)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(7)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(7)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3 (copy)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(7)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(6)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(6)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(6)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(5)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(5)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(5)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(4)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(4)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(4)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(3)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(3)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(3)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(2)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(2)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(2)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(1) (copy)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(1) (copy)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(1) (copy)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0 (copy)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2 (copy)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1 (copy)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1(1)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0(1)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 3(1)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 2(1)
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 1
Default A 1950s era pinup In the opulent 1950s golden age of i 0
The Israeli attack on Iranian diplomatic premises in Damascus was a clear violation of the Vienna Convention. No one disputed it. The Israeli justification that militia meetings were held there does not change this fact.
The Iranian response to this attack, whatever one thinks of it, is therefore legitimate with regard to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. No one should dispute that. Remarks that Iran did not have the right to send aircraft through third-party airspace do not change this fact. Yet the UN Security Council has failed to agree to condemn the Israeli attack in Syria. It was also unable to judge the Iranian response.
The speeches no longer come from the legal sphere, but from the political one.
Thus, outside the UN Security Council, the Office of Argentine President Javier Milei “expressed its solidarity and unwavering commitment to the Israeli State following the attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Argentine Republic recognizes the right of Nation States to defend themselves and firmly supports the Israeli State in defending its sovereignty, in particular against regimes that encourage terror and seek to destroy Western civilization.”
The prize for confusion goes without any doubt to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who declared on X: “I strongly condemn Iran’s blatant and unjustifiable attack on Israel. And I call on Iran and its proxies to immediately stop these attacks. All actors must now refrain from any further escalation and work to restore stability in the region.” High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell added: “The EU strongly condemns the unacceptable Iranian aggression against the Jewish state. This is an unprecedented escalation and a serious threat to regional security.”
For his part, deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UNSC Dmitri Polyanskiy posted on Telegram: “Once again we are convinced that the cynicism of our Western colleagues and their selective blindness knows no bounds. Now, they don’t even remember that they refused to prevent escalation by not supporting our proposed draft UN Security Council press statement condemning the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate. As was the case with the beginning of our military defense in Ukraine, the history for them begins with the Iranian retaliation. And the Israelis predictably escalate in their signature manner: Israel is the victim, everyone else is to blame (…) And now this Franco-Saxon-Natanyakha gang will begin to rock the region, blaming Iran for all its sins. Haven’t we already seen all this before?”
Have you ever had a job where you did nothing for years and nobody found out?
Not me but my wife. She graduated with her bachelor’s in 2010, during the time that certain degrees were all but worthless and finding a job was tough to say the least. She ended up taking a job at a small makeup boutique that her friend’s wealthy parents owned.
This store was literally a ploy by her friend’s parents to keep her in town by giving her a project. She lost interest in about a month and her parents were locked into the property for several years, so they had to keep the store open. They offered my wife the manager position which she was happy to take.
The store was literally five minutes from an Ulta, so saying they didn’t do well was an understatement. The owners also refused to adequately restock their inventory, so the few potential customers they could have had quickly gave up after a few visits being unable to find what they needed.
After the first six months, they frequently had days with zero sales and not a single customer through the doors. Luckily for my wife, they had the computer that rung up sales Connected to the Internet with completely unrestricted access. for 7 hours a day, five days a week, she would be on Facebook, play online games, read articles, and generally waste time. For the first hour she would clean and do pull over from the night before, but stopped bothering to do inventory after the first few inventory replenishment requests to the owners went ignored.
She worked there for 18 months total before leaving. Later one of her former coworkers told her that the owners with no warning shut the place down and emptied the store out in the middle of the night, not bothering to tell the employees until they showed up the next day that they were out of a job. I understand that they were trying to save money on the labor and utility costs by closing, but giving zero warning was cowardly and unethical.
Why are most Nigerian graduates unemployable?
I’ll tell you a story.
There’s this girl who aced all her subjects in secondary school.
Not just acing but award-worthy educational success.
She was so good that at her Junior Secondary 3 (JSS 3) level, she was solving mathematical problems from Senior Secondary 1 & 2 (SS 1 & 2) curriculum.
1st Mistake
She loved Maths & computers but was admitted into the university to study Geology.
Today, she still thinks she would have been a statistics wizard if she’d been allowed to just study Math or Engineering. You know – subjects where she doesn’t have to always cram some qualitative garbage but provide quantitative solutions.
2nd Mistake
When she got into the university, she realized she didn’t have to study very hard. Very few people were bothering to anyway. She was extremely smart & could hold her own but it became easier to combine intellectual efforts with other students at assignments, tests & final exams.
The system allowed it.
All her friends did it so, why fight it?
3rd Mistake
While at school, no one ever taught her how to write a résumé or successfully approach interviews.
She, just like everyone around her wanted a good life but the system pretty much set them up to fail.
When she graduated, she met a professional at an international oil & gas company who asked her what she wanted to do in life & to explain her undergraduate degree experience but she was not prepared for that.
She gave answers which were weak, mostly incoherent, lacked precision or clarity.
She’d never thought of herself in that light.
The internet wasn’t readily accessible back then so she was pretty much left on her own with her fellow ignorant peers.
She also had a great & supportive family who she leaned on.
Luckily for her, she got some mentors, then left the country for her masters degree.
At 1st, she struggled at her Canadian university.
Correcting her 2nd mistake
She had to actually learn all those skills & resources she didn’t bother with back in Nigeria due to combined students’ efforts.
She had to read all those textbooks she never bothered with in her Nigerian university in order to excel at her program.
Correcting her 3rd mistake
She also met lecturers whose method of teaching was about empowering students to run with their ideas.
It wasn’t about multiple choice questions but making a case of why Case A is better/worse than Case B.
It made her actually think for the 1st time in her life. She learned how to make great presentations. It was a confidence boost. It was exhilarating!
She learned about plagiarism which is a very despicable thing. She also learned about self-development, professional development & presentations.
She learned it was ok to make decisions, make mistakes & then learn from them.
She became comfortable working alone & also with a team. She learned the power of independence.
She was a different person.
She became more confident about her thoughts & ideas. No one laughs at her mistakes nor condemns her for them.
Her bosses don’t care about always being right or barking orders at those under them. Team contributions is crucial, encouraged & needed.
Everybody is equal. No one feared anyone. It was a healthy environment. She was valued. She freely runs her program the way she sees fit.
This is my story.
There’s no correcting my 1st mistake. If I ever do, I’ll tell a story about it.
If you read this, you’d understand how the Nigerian system encourages laziness & might discourage talent because of envy or pride.
Many Nigerian graduates are victims of their own underdeveloped & redundant society.
Maybe with the internet, a few might self-improve. Otherwise, they’re unemployable because there’s very few people to teach them better.
Note to any Nigerian student reading this – don’t take the easy way out. Read not just to pass your examinations but to actually know.
You’d be truly a better person & student for it.
Good luck!
Chinese treatment for Blinkin and Janet Yelen
No red carpet, and met by Kong Fu-An, Director General of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office, at the tarmac.
My understanding is the head of a province-level Foreign Affairs Office counts as a Bureau Chief, or a Level 5, Rank 11–12 Civil Servant.
This is one step below the welcome Olaf received when he landed in Chongqing.
Note both Janet and Antony did not land in Beijing directly, unlike the last time they were in town.
Most powerful finance minister in the world—meh.
Most powerful diplomat in the world—meh.
American Reacts to Getting Laid Off (Fired): USA vs. The Netherlands
What do you do when your kid says they want a tattoo?
When my daughter told me, I had her design her idea of the perfect tattoo no matter what it was or how big …anything. I reminded her it was forever and would never come off so she had to choose wisely. That was the first problem. She couldn’t decide. She had many good ideas but when the idea of “forever” came up she always changed her mind. When she finally came up with her final choice she still handed it to me with some trepidation. Second step was for me to take it to a tattoo artist, a good one, to get a quote. I showed my daughter the quote $1,200 that she would be required to pay for herself. Step three was a surprise to her. I took the artwork she gave me and sent it to a custom temporary tattoo maker that made long term tattoos. I had it made and applied it exactly where she wanted it. My daughter was thrilled for about a week. The tattoo clashed with some of her favorite clothes and it was too visible so she couldn’t hide it. It made her pretty, dainty prom dress look kinda cheap. Looked good with jeans and a tank top but she liked variety…bummer. People treated her differently and judged her before they knew her and it really bothered her. She started trying to hide it rather than show it off. Two months in she asked me for the special solution to take it off. I refused because “tattoos are forever.” She was angry but I reminded her she made her own choices now she had to live with them. It eventually wore off and when she became an adult I told her she should start saving for her tattoo. She thanked me for the “lesson” I gave her because now that she was older her tastes had changed and IF she ever decides to get one it will probably be small, likely just one color and someplace hidden. She is an adult now. She can do what she wants but at least I know she will think before she leaps and that is all I can ask for.
CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala has been consistently panned in recent years for lacking creativity and lowering standards, and this year was no exception.
However, one segment won almost universal praise on Chinese social media – 《山河詩長安》/Poem for the Landscape of Chang’an.
It is an excellent showcasing of Xi’an culture, both old and new, from Qin opera to Shaanxi hip hop. Chang’an (the historical name for Xi’an) was known as one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, and the capital city of various dynasties, most notably the Tang Dynasty.
Here’s the 6 minute video…
We see people making merry and enjoying local festivities, and historical characters such as the Tang poet Li Bai brought back to life with 3D technology. To hear people chanting ancient poems in unison, as the country enters the space age, had me awestruck.
main qimg ecbbef2eb633f8c8c0d8bab54bceb171
This is what China is – the only surviving ancient civilisation, its history as long as it is unbroken; a place where ancient traditions and memories still live on, rising from the ashes as peacefully as a civilisation possibly could, and is now leading the world into a bright and better future.
There are legends, poems and lessons here dating back thousands of years ago, that even the least educated Chinese person knows by heart, but would elude even the most dedicated western Sinologist.
(DON’T BOTHER WATCHING IT IF YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND Chinese)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itw2GTN41P8
Contrast this to Taiwan/the Republic of China, where a local teacher went viral recently for protesting the Ministry of Education’s policy of de-Sinicisation. Under the new education reforms, students would be less exposed to Chinese history and culture, and less time would be allocated to the teaching of Chinese classics and poetry.
This is why I could never accept the neoliberal western narrative of Taiwan (ROC) being the “real China”. A regime that is truly legitimate in the eyes of the Chinese people, that truly has the best interests of the Yellow River civilisation at heart, that is truly representative of its people, would not so hastily abandon its heritage in an attempt to appeal to outsiders.
But when you force a people to abandon everything that defined who they are, the question becomes what to replace it with. In Taiwan’s case, attempts at westernisation and Japanisation have both been met with limited success, as have all other attempts at creating an independent “Taiwanese” national identity from scratch. As it turns out, you can’t just artificially create history and culture where before there was none.
This cynical historical nihilism, this dreadful feeling of emptiness and rootlessness, is devastating to the youth of “real China”. They don’t know who they are, what values to hold, where they truly belong, who and what to look up to, what to believe. Even conscription changes nothing – they know not for whom or what they fight (which is why they strongly reject mandatory military service).
At a time when the whole world is beginning to learn Chinese, Taiwan’s politically driven de-Sinicisation is not only counterproductive, but self-sabotaging.
I am glad that in the mainland at least, the best aspects of Chinese culture are being preserved and celebrated, contrary to public perception in certain parts of the world that once invaded, enslaved, slaughtered and stole from the Chinese nation, but now feign to care about our wellbeing.
main qimg d600d05b6e0f647172a183a507295672
Lemme give you an example of why I think it is important to hold on to the wisdom of our ancestors. This part of the Spring Festival Gala features one of Li Bai’s poems that is most fitting for our times. Here is an excerpt:
天生我材必有用，千金散盡還復來！
“The talents bestowed upon me shall certainly be of use; and so what if I have exhausted my fortune? It shall all come back to me!”
Times are tough, and I know many of you are having money problems or self esteem issues. But be confident in knowing that you are not worthless, just keep honing your skills and looking out for opportunities to prove yourself. And rest assured that a bad investment and such is not the end of the world. You will recover financially if you’re a bit more cautious in the future.
From Zhuhai to the world, may all of you have a great Year of the Dragon.
main qimg eac7b936de1ad290429ae0760614ca8f
Italian Sausage Soup
Italian Sausage Soup SpendWithPennies 4
A Fave Flavorful Soup
This soup is a “one-pot wonder” so there is less mess and less clean-up.
You can add any veggie you’d like into this recipe (and swap up the pasta with orzo or any shape you love)!
Use hot or mild sausage to your liking (or even meatballs if you’d prefer).
This soup reheats well making it great for lunches. Freeze in individual portions (before adding pasta) to keep it even longer.
Yield: 7 cups
Ingredients
1 pound hot or mild Italian sausage
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 green bell pepper, cut into half rings
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 (15 ounce) can great northern beans
2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
Ingredients
Italian Sausage Use either mild, sweet, or spicy Italian sausage in this soup. No Italian sausage? No problem, use ground pork, chicken, or beef with the same spices we use in our homemade Italian sausage.
BROTH We use chicken broth in this soup but beef broth works just as well.
VEGETABLES Loads of different kinds of veggies like tomatoes, garlic, zucchini, and onion make this soup filling with lots of nutrients, too. Add whatever is in your fridge!
FLAVORS Add a delicious blend of Italian Seasoning or use your own special blend of favorite spices! We also add Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley as a garnish!
Variations
Feel free to switch up the ingredients with leftovers like adding chicken in place of the sausage, or kale instead of the spinach.
White beans can be replaced with lentils or garbanzos, long grain rice, and a liberal dose of cheese.
Diced potatoes are a good substitute for pasta as well! Add a can of condensed creamy tomato soup for extra-rich broth.
How to Make Italian Sausage Soup
Veggies and sausage with pasta tastes amazing and it’s so easy to make this classic soup!
Brown sausage, with onion & garlic per recipe below.
Add broth, beans, vegetables and simmer until tender. Stir in zucchini for the last few minutes.
In a separate pot, cook pasta al dente, drain. Add to the pot (or to bowls).
Garnish with parsley & Parmesan cheese.
Italian Sausage Soup SpendWithPennies 7
Slow Cooker Method:
Brown sausage, onion, & garlic. Drain.
Add all ingredients except pasta, zucchini and spinach.
Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours adding zucchini in the last 30-40 minutes.
Stir in cooked pasta and garnish with parsley & Parmesan cheese & serve.
Leftovers
If you plan for leftovers or to freeze this soup, keep the pasta separate and cook fresh pasta for serving.
Keep Italian sausage soup in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Reheat in the microwave or reheat the whole pot on the stovetop.
Freeze in zippered bags with the date written on the outside.
What has a cop said that left you completely dumbfounded?
I was returning home to NC after a job in Davidson, SC. Red and blue lights come on behind me so I, of course, pull over to the right. A sheriff’s deputy walks up to my window and asked if I knew why I’d been pulled over. I informed him I did not. He requested my license and registration, which I provided. He then stated that I had been driving 65 in a 55. I had been doing 60, so I was speeding but not at the speed he indicated. I asked to see his radar and camera showing he had indeed clocked me at said speed. He said he hadn’t used radar, but instead he’d paced me.
He hadn’t been behind me long enough to do so, so I said again that I hadn’t been driving that fast. He replied with, “You were definitely going 65 because I had to drive that fast to catch up with you.” I sat there in stunned silence, letting that sink in, for a moment. I said, “Excuse me?”. He again said I had been going 65 because he had to go that fast to catch up to me. I asked him, “If I’m going 65 and you’re going 65, how long would it take you to catch up with me?” He said he didn’t know how long it had taken him, but it wasn’t long. I was amused. I asked again and he asked what I was getting at. I informed him that I was just looking for clarification for when I go to court to dispute the ticket. I then told him that if I was going 65 and he was going 65 he would always remain the same distance behind me. This meant I had to have been going slower than 65. I then asked if his patrol camera recorded sound, as I’d be requesting the recording for court.
He handed me my license, advised me to slow down and have a nice day, then went back to his car.
Source is RAND
main qimg 5edf37bb5b084cf19c932179313c0aed
What is the most unexplainable thing you’ve witnessed or experienced?
Back in 2000, I worked at the Super 8 hotel in the city where I lived in Tennessee. I worked in housekeeping. The hotel didn’t get a great deal of customers being in a small city.
One morning when I got to work I noticed several full-sized white vans in the parking lot once inside I found out it was a group traveling selling magazines. Almost all of the rooms had been rented which might sound bad but it’s not because if they are staying for any length of time you simply take out trash and make sure they have plenty of towels.
My day goes by fairly quickly. I finished up the last room and was headed towards the laundry room when a guy stepped out of a room and was going in the same direction as me. I notice he is following me but I’m not worried because there are other rooms he could be going to. When he followed Me downstairs is when I felt uneasy because at the bottom of the stairs is laundry room and a small storage room. When I got to the laundry room other maids were in there dropping off laundry and he simply turned and went back up the stairs.
Everything went pretty normal and quite easy because everyone in that group is gone all day selling magazines from door to door so you go in clean up a little make up the beds and restock towels. This is about the 4th day of them being at the hotel I’m cleaning rooms as usual. I clean the upstairs rooms around back last because they are close to the upstairs storage room.
I was on one of the last rooms on my list which was on the back side. I go in make up the bed, vacuum and take out the garbage. I go into the bathroom to count the towels and wash out the tub when I pulled the shower curtain back there stood that guy who followed me to the laundry room. He was fully dressed obviously hiding. My stomach dropped he had no expression on his face just staring at me. He pulled the curtain rest of the way open and started to step out of the tub and the manager of the Hotel hollers here are your towels you called for. Not wanting to turn my back on him I yell I’m in here my boss bitches a little then bring them to me and is beyond mad that the guy is hiding in the shower and makes him leave the room and wait outside till I’m done with his room.
On the way to the office he asked me why I didn’t tell him he was in the room when I called for towels. I would have told him if I had called for towels but I didn’t call laundry and certainly not him for anything . I don’t understand how he got a call to come to that room but I am thankful for whatever happened because a few days after that they left and moved on to a hotel in Knoxville TN where that same guy that hid in the shower raped and stabbed an elderly lady and stole her car. The police said it was the worst crime scene they had seen in a while.
Tony Blinken Back to China: Begging Bowl in one Hand & a Knife in the Other!
Have you heard about Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming trip to China? Mainstream media will have you believe that he is going to address the path to peace in West Asia, among other global issues. But let me tell you, it’s all a distraction. The truth is, the US government has no intention of truly addressing global issues. They use these high-profile meetings and trips to China as a way to distract the public from the real issues at hand. While they talk about peace in West Asia, they continue to fuel conflicts and wars for their own benefit. Don’t be fooled by the headlines and the fancy speeches. Secretary Blinken’s trip is just a facade, a charade to make us believe that they care about global peace and stability. But in reality, it’s all about politics and power. So, the next time you see news about Secretary Blinken’s trip to China, remember that it’s just a distraction from the truth.
When I lived in Boston, I held numerous engineering management positions. And pretty much managed the engineering projects for automotive, electronics and household products. To do this, I typically managed a team of people; engineers, designers, and techs.
One of my CAD engineers came from Mattel. This is a major toy company in the United States. And he once told me the story of how he introduced his son to Michael Jackson.
At that time, they were producing a Michael Jackson doll, and he came on over to visit the factory and the engineering staff. He was segregated from all the workers, and most people wasn’t aware that he was visiting. But my CAD engineers was. You see, the CEO introduced my engineer to Michael Jackson, and he was told to come back to the factory at 7pm with his kids.
So he did. His six year old son with him.
And there was Michael Jackson, up front and live. Walking to his son calling him by name and giving him a big hello and hug.
His son just stood there in shock.
His mouth was open and he didn’t say a God damn thing.
Michael Jackson went on and chatted up a storm for something like 15 minutes, but he son was paralyzed in shock and didn’t do anything. Just stood there looking up at him.
LOL.
Eventually Michael went away. He gave him a hug and some candy, and his dad got to get a few pictures of them all together.
And that was that.
It’s funny how younger people idolize and adore those who are famous and who sign and perform in the movies. It’s cute, but you know… dangerous.
Today…
What do you think of Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz asking Chinese leader Xi Jinping “to exert pressure on Russia” to end the war in Ukraine?
This shows a clear misunderstanding of the China/Russia relationship.
If Scholz asked Xi to put pressure on Putin to end the Ukraine war, this means that he thinks that China should use economic pressure on Russia and that China is willing to use economic leverage on Russia.
But China does not believe in exerting pressure on Russia this way because in Beijing’s view, the China/Russia economic relationship is working out very well. China gets all the cheap natural gas it needs from Russia; this is essential for China’s economy to keep its factories running and churning out products at prices the whole world can afford. Why would China do this? What would China get in return for putting pressure on Russia? Obviously the US would like to cripple Russia’s economy, and after Russia is carved up into several countries, which country will become the entrée on the US’s menu?
Obviously, it will be China!
So why should China help the US to weaken Russia? It makes no sense!
As for the relationship between Xi and Putin, it is very obvious that they consider the countries as equals. This is why while China has publicly stated it is for peace in Ukraine, it has not applied pressure on the Russian government to make any concessions. At the same time, Beijing has diplomatic relations with Ukraine, and is not happy about the casualties on both sides. But when it comes to economic importance, Russia is much more important than Ukraine.
The idea of putting pressure on another government is something the US has done repeatedly, especially on its European and Asian allies, who have been strong-armed into confronting Russia over Ukraine and China over Taiwan.
Because pressure has been used so much and used effectively, most of the G7 nations are not able to understand that diplomacy is not about the exertion of pressure, but clearly understanding national interests and conveying those interests through the proper diplomatic channels so that crises can be defused before they become too confrontational.
“I saw some politicians say that there appears to be a foreign element behind what’s going on at the universities, like a foreign power that’s instigating and agitating.
Yes, there is, and we all know which foreign power that is.
We all know which foreign country is stoking this crisis, and it sure isn’t Russia, and it sure isn’t China.
No, well, if you wondered why those kids want their schools to divest from Israel, just look at how their schools are treating them because they dared to ask for that.
Those universities are doing the bidding of Israel, not the bidding of China or the bidding of Russia.
They’re not even doing the bidding of those kids’ parents and those kids’ families, and your police are doing the same.
So yes, there is a foreign power behind all this, and it’s precisely that foreign power that the students want their schools to extricate themselves from, and it’s very obvious to everyone.
It couldn’t be more obvious.
It’s as obvious as a baton cracked on the side of your head.
Look, on these campuses, like at Harvard and the Ivy League campuses and so on, you had demonstrations against Russia and in favor of Ukraine; you had that at the Ivy League schools, you had protests against China over Xinjiang and so on.
No zip ties, no arrests, no 550 kids going to jail, no.
But the moment they start demanding that their schools stop partnering with Israel over a genocide, and all hell breaks loose.
There’s no mystery about what foreign country is driving that.”
main qimg 0af47e14d51a9d8e86808b3b17de1b70
Excerpt from remarks by American geopolitical analyst Shahid Bolsen in a video where he speaks about the ongoing protests against the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on university campuses, both in the U.S. and around the world, April 27, 2024.
Plum Chicken
mar 18 chicken plum chilli tray bake 3000×2000 135710 1
Ingredients
2 fryers, cut up
Garlic salt
1/4 cup butter
1 chopped onion
1 (17 ounce) can purple plums (reserve juice)
1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
2 drops Tabasco sauce
Instructions
Prepare sauce day before or make and freeze (best when used cold).
Sauce
Pit plums and put in blender to puree.
Cook onion in butter until tender (not brown).
Add plum puree with juice and all other ingredients (except chicken).
Simmer 15 minutes.
Chicken
Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt and bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes, skin side up.
Baste with plum sauce.
Bake another 45 minutes, basting generously with sauce until well coated.
Serve with additional heated sauce.
What has a seller ever told you that made you leave that place immediately?
I was about 28 or 29 (a long time ago), I looked young and my Dad came with me to look for a new car. I went to two dealers and basically told each one what kind of car I wanted (the first dealer was a Pontiac dealer and I was interested in a Grand Am, the second dealer was a Chevrolet dealer where I was interested in a Corsica). I also told each salesman how much I could afford for the monthly payment. Each one had a car that met my criteria but I settled on the Corsica. So when my Dad and I came back with the car I was trading in I was ready to sign the papers (that he showed and reviewed with me before) I noticed the numbers had changed and my monthly payment was a lot more than when I reviewed everything previously. I said to the salesman (who was my Dad’s age), these aren’t the numbers you showed me before! He replied well, we have to add in all these fees. I said well when I was here before I told you I wanted to know exactly what my monthly payment would be and now this number is way higher. I told him that I no longer wanted the car at those payments and his response was but we already took your license plate off of your car and put it on the new car. I said well, put it back on my car and my Dad and I left and went back to the Pontiac dealer and got the Grand Am where all the numbers he showed me before were exactly as I expected when I purchased the car. I loved that car and kept it for a long time.
Anti-China news
main qimg 0d68a2fc0cab2302adb93ee4d44f2f5c
Who do you believe if your child is telling you one thing and their teacher is telling you another?
Quick version. My son said the teacher refused his homework and gave him ten zeros in her grade book. Found that hard to believe. Set up meeting with myself, my son, her and principal. I asked her if that was true. A simple yes or no would have worked. Instead she opened her grade and asked me if I saw ten zeros. Instantly I recognized her statement as a non denial denial from Watergate days. I looked at her and said “No but you said it didn’t you. “. She admitted she did. I asked her why. She said she hated my son. I asked her why. Saying no one hated my son he was so nice. She said she hated my son because he reminded her of her son and she hated her son!!! I was also a teacher. High school and a few years later I got her son as a student. The resemblance was remarkable. Very nice young man. Liked by all. As was my son. So sometimes the student is the one to believe.
Why US Wants to Ban TikTok and Wage Economic War on China with Carl Zha and Alex Reporterfy
What did someone do that made you think they were really smart?
I have twin sons. They’re now 15, but when they were around 3 years old, I noticed that whenever we came home from being out, they’d be confronted with the decision of which of their (ridiculously) many toys they were going to play with.
They’d rush into the living room, and Tim went straight for whatever he wanted to play with, and within a few minutes, his brother Nathan would decide that he just had to play with whatever Tim was now deeply engrossed with, and would start a big fight over it or even wrestle it from him forcefully (Nathan was significantly larger).
If my husband or I were around, we’d try and adjudicate, but it always ended in tears and drama.
After a month or two of this, I noticed a change in pattern. All of a sudden, Tim was just giving up his toy to Nathan without a fight. I was worried that he wasn’t standing up for himself, so I said to him: “You know, Tim, you had just as much a right to play with that toy as Nathan.”
He said: “I know. I knew he’d take it from me so I played with something I didn’t mind him taking. This [showing me what he was playing with now] was what I really wanted to play with anyway.”
His cunning has continued to manifest in other ways since then. 🙂
Note: I’ve had dozens of edit suggestions from people from India, who think that “cunning” is a negative/derogatory trait and necessarily synonymous with sneaky and under-handed. I find it an interesting cultural observation that this seems to be a connotation unique to Indian English. In any case, I feel a need to defend my use of this adjective. I’m his mother and adore him, and this is clearly not what I intend; I simply mean that he’s intelligent and views things from multiple angles, and isn’t easy to outwit. 🙂
Intimidation? U.S. B-2 Stealth Overflies Gaza, Low Enough to Be Clearly visible
A United States B-2 Stealth Bomber was sent to fly over the Gaza Strip today, and do so at an altitude wherein the plane was clearly visible to people on the ground.
What kind of a monster, sends a nuclear-capable Bomber aircraft to intimidate people on the ground?
Who in the US Military, ordered this? Why was it done?
Chinese President Xi will pay state visits to France, Serbia, Hungary from May 5 to 10. Why these three countries in Europe? What can we expect from the visit?
April, China’s home diplomatic month is over, May’s away diplomatic month, is kicking off.
On 29 April, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced that Xi Jinping would visit the three countries at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Emmanuel Macron, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Considering that Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a large number of Asian foreign ministers in April, Xi is expected to meet with a number of Asian leaders upon his return from Europe, and may even attend the “China-Japan-South Korea Summit” to engage with Japan and South Korea, which are close to the U.S. foreign policy.
You know, the United States is shorting the yen.
Japanese media reports: Japan’s Finance Minister expressed to the United States in a pleading tone that the sharp depreciation of the yen is unbearable for us and hopes that the United States will be merciful and temporarily stop shorting the yen.
Xi’s top priority in this round of trips is France.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. President Xi Jinping’s first visit to a Western country since 2020 is France, which reflects the importance he attaches to China-France friendship. Similarly, Macron is now in dire need of China’s support.
That’s because after the Sino-French meeting in May, Macron will face two big hurdles in his career:
The European Parliament elections in June
The Paris Olympics in July
At the European Parliament in June, Macron will have to pull in European leaders and seek to snipe at European Commission President Von der Leyen and curb her power.
At the Paris Olympics in July, if Macron seeks to push for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine or Palestine and Israel as host, he will in doing so become the true boss of Europe, replacing the US manipulation of Europe.
Macron’s conflict with von der Leyen is mainly over trade policy, climate policy, and the relationship between Europe and the United States.
The huge contracts that can be brought about by the massive equipment renewal that China has opened this year, as well as the co-operation in the fields of new energy and nuclear energy, will be Macron’s bargaining chips to convince other leaders in the European Parliament.
If, as Macron wishes, the European Commission President replaced by career bureaucrat Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, then the EU’s trade and climate policy, will be led by France, in the relationship with Europe and the United States, France can also be more independent and autonomous.
But if Macron’s plan fails, his influence within the EU will be extremely limited for the remainder of his term, and French foreign policy will be tied to the EU.
As for the competition between Macron and Joe Biden, it lies mainly in global leadership, and the proud French have always had a strong desire to challenge the United States in their hearts.
The Olympic Games will be held in Paris in July this year. The gathering of leaders of major countries will naturally become a platform for behind-the-scenes transactions between major countries. It is also the best time for negotiations between Russia&Ukraine, Palestine&Israel.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the UN has developed a practice of mobilising all its members to sign the “Olympic Truce” before each Olympic Games, and ceasing war operations for one month before and after the Games. This one-month window of truce is enough time for the warring parties to calm down, as in the case of the ceasefire in the Yugoslav civil war in the early 1990s.
If they can’t do so during this period, it will be a direct escalation of the conflict.
For example:
Russia raided Georgia during the 2008 Olympics.
Russia raiding Ukraine during the 2022 Winter Olympics.
If Macron succeeds in brokering a ceasefire, it will make Macron the biggest contributor to world peace.
Either enjoy the glory added to it, or be embarrassed in front of the world. In any case, Macron is more or less about to take a gamble.
If Macron wants to do all this, he has only one choice in the face of Von der Leyen and Joe Biden, and that is to draw on mystical forces originating in the East, so he needs Xi’s support.
Everyone wants world peace except the military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC)!
WTF Comics
6bb4b6da9725b9a71d68467effab678f
4fa8c6aeb93b31ec27297fe144655ca8
f6b44678d08508e31858034ed67115ff
11ce73efa863a11b0643b052677da13f
a8baf46af9be259aacf00cd5b928d97a
6a5281c8b8b50b6bcd63c555654b1b01
c262f9d8cf6e8586f78389d039378ca3
2a0bbdb46097afc81164d3d855052d5f
8899e103e87b1e73662829c2bf5e5f4c
e1860c00a2d39d60d59af57805623765
d41c8bb8b1911693f485ba73bd5c8cc8
b895ddf2626241850fed37051b78d376
df5b3e15e2f7150caaab8816e590c692
9c16d0fcdff3777a16ee3f74ef83d3ec
b9df8645b0837f359f78d90fee0458d7
64e6abbaf71151bbcab91c67cf886dd8
3bf4b7db6ad683434862f3a018793d50
ff683c176153f7e34a9e2b27e6efbc02
5fa33d98a86585132aa01962ba8ef8ca
abbdc2a369bd796eda1b548f69b78698
b030c1e31fceda7d48a234217b0d024b
45cc3ef9d82b91e6af247a1b6dd3300f
5e0135c8cf08468be025e9ec22fbca23
0025548d7b5529e869e511f4a107c6b7
a94a93b6bc11ad2b06b0e12cde579917
48a784f01c72c0033d9671487f9de4a2
cc8f9dc1dac8be2b519b79132f6a2ba8
a23c39fe9646c24fb102b13a2fb68281
9a1cba969cf813b704644c83defe4f71
10cacbb4b88dac1ce8c84ca4dcd6cc75
e4f204572c8c0e0f3f0030fd4b33bfdc
20b1c0b161d24c0675bf78c25bbf8a4e
3623a7e9972d2492f1072fd9edd6278a
0f090b5bdcf626b8ff277533a27a8c27
faec2fee4224c3fc65d8753a69dc511e
f082d492a2e9317c8d800678ebb0a546
2d0eac66601e4b5e05b41badd6a6215d
b439bf9fd8f271e6c290d39bf27552b6
a36e297179e49dd4e2b9391dfb88f411
cc813214f924a28384579477db1deae8
dcf223c26e49171919955f150de52283
c4157ef1bd942ff61508cbf9d17fa486
9d93721a5fb910f735be444a0dd9e36b
a1b6dc8dd73912ffe5adde70f06b114a
8bd0e3eb9a260e1fd979e3cafca97201
b88a26bfb36e2428e9b6f0044914f3fe
c8b85f622b633a22634289af9b3193f9
1201d9b64b56ccbd639e1ee0776b7473
96400dc3fcbcfcc002132845a3e37e30
68585ae780c361b8b2d570aea312cf74
0c2e005a0e6dbd0e16c587e7258b9264
a586624d74fdb7bb3e10b5efa3c5dc8c
bd271992aebbc0558276f4e998875c4d
163b190f9089c161d71ef18c33ee5014
e1b4bcd33b23b611f61c0ed23d66813d
How Americans communicate with Chinese people
main qimg b7dbda16e5f1a3ecd521aecf1f0b3227
What is the biggest tip that you have ever received as an employee?
I have done my time in the hospitality industry working at about 5 or 6 different restaurants and have been both fortunate and unfortunate when it comes to gratuity.
On two different occasions I received extraordinarily large tips and they were very similar amounts but very different situations.
The first time:
I was one of 3 waiters looking after a group of 25 VIP guests who arrived quite late in the evening as they had attended a formal ceremony earlier in the night. The host guest that night is a well known, very wealthy business man and we were optimistic. Only one course ended up being served, mostly burgers, along with wine & Champagne. It seemed the party was more interested in moving onto the next stop for the night.
The bill total was not that high considering the amount of guests and the usual head spend at this particular restaurant. I believe it was around R8000 (~ $450). In South Africa tipping is usually between 10 – 20% and upon receiving the bill back an expected, somewhat disappointing amount was written on the slip which I cannot remember.
It had been a long night and it looked as if us 3 waiters were not going to walk away with a lot. I informed the host that I would be back with the credit card machine.
Having seen enough evidence to know that good looking waitresses receive better tips from male guests I asked my fellow waitress who is very pleasing to the eye to return to the table with the card machine and to try and charm the host.
I have no clue what she said to him but when she returned from completing the transaction her smile was from ear to ear. The 10/15% tip that we would have received had changed to R1500 (~ $100) for each waiter which equates to R4500 (~ $300) total tip.
The second time:
Working at a different, much smaller, fine dining restaurant I received a tip that was slightly larger than the previous one. There were only 2 waiters working that night and it had reached the point where it looked like no more guests would be joining and we were close to having all the closing duties completed and getting out early.
5 minutes before the kitchen closes and we stop accepting tables and in walks a couple who are met by my fellow, very evidently displeased, waiter. He seats them and asks if I could please serve them as he does not have the patience this late in the night. Even though it was his turn on the rotation I agree and oblige because I had a strong feeling that it would be worth my efforts.
The couple were very aware that they were joining late and were very apologetic to which I dismissed as a non issue and that we were extremely glad to have them join us. I wanted to emphasise that they should not feel rushed and went as far to recommend our specialty 5 course food & wine tasting menu. I did not think they would actually go for it but I must have done a good job in promoting it as both of them decided to take it.
I was able to give them undivided attention as they were the only guests in the restaurant and it was very apparent that they were enjoying themselves. The lady had a few dietary restrictions which our kitchen was able to work around and they continuously raved about the food.
Come the end of their meal I returned to the table with the card machine and I saw the man had written R1600 (~ $110) under the gratuity section on a R1400 bill. I assume he must mean R1600 total which would be a R200 tip. I was willing to accept it as “money I never had before”.
When he was signing the slip he sees the total and said that I put through the wrong amount. I was confused so asked him if I read the number 1600 wrong to which he replied that I never read the number wrong but that was my tip and not the total. I was clearly shocked by this and immediately thinking “I hope I have not just thrown away the biggest tip ever”. He asked me to process his card for the difference which I did while saying thank you about 100 times over.
That same couple returned a few more times while I still worked there and always requested I serve them. They were always extremely generous and on one occasion they tipped every member of our kitchen staff an equal amount to what they tipped me.
Every time they came to dine with us my fellow waiter from that night would want to serve them only for them to request me. My patience the night they visited the restaurant for the first time led to me earning a fair sum of money from that couple over the period of a few months which was extremely helpful while I was a broke student.
American Justice
main qimg ed218eea5c8e1495fe0f6a3377d685b7
Tucker Interviews Aleksandr Dugin. THEY identify the destroyers of Western Values/Civilization.
Why was Rudolf Hess sentenced to life, even though he spent most of the war in the UK as a prisoner of war, while people like Albert Speer got 20 years?
There were multiple requests by the Brits, French and Americans for his release. Some attribute the lack of release due to a conspiracy between former King Edward VIII and Hitler. But that doesn’t appear to hold up since the British supported his release.
main qimg 725013523effe3543a942f8c1b161a53 lq
Each of the 11 unilateral British appeals, which dated back to 1957, along with 14 others made separately, or jointly, by the US and French authorities were rejected by an unwavering Soviet rejection. The Soviets wanted Hess locked away for life.
The Soviets alone were responsible for keeping Hess locked up. But why? Some say Soviet insistence that the release of the former deputy Nazi leader would be an insult to the 20 million Soviet war dead. Others that his release could fuel a resurgence of neo-Nazism. But these do not seem legitimate. Far worse Nazi criminals were released. The Soviet dead were not insulted. There was no resurgence of neo-Nazism.
On June 25, 1986, a Soviet guard caught Charles Gabel, the chaplain at Spandau, attempting to smuggle out a statement by Hess, causing Gabel to be fired. Hess had originally written the document as his opening address at the Nuremberg trial in 1946, which he had been unable to deliver in full after the judges cut him off.
Hess tried to mail a copy of the statement to Sir Oswald Mosley in October 1946, but the letter was intercepted by his US guards. Hess’s statement (both the 1946 version and the 1986 version) claimed that Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union was preemptive. In other words, the Soviets were about to attack Germany.
Hess claimed there had been overwhelming evidence that the Soviet Union had planned to attack Germany. He said in the statement that he had decided to make his flight to Scotland without informing Hitler, with the aim of informing the UK of the Soviet danger to “European civilization” and the entire world. He believed his warning would cause the UK to end its war with Germany and join in the fight against the Soviet Union.
If this were true, the Soviets would not want this to be discussed. Their role in the war was as victims. They were attacked by the Germans and responded.But if that is not true. If Hess was correct, the Soviet role in WWII would be completely different. Not the victim, but the aggressor. It would be the Soviets who caused the loss of millions of their citizens, not the Germans. The Soviet role in the Cold War would be on a completely different footing.
Geo-Fencing Added to Car Software! Can Shutdown Car if you drive too far, too long, or where government doesn’t want you!
Vehicle manufacturers have begun issuing software updates which include “Geo-Fencing” to limit how far, how long,, or where they will not be allowed to drive. All done remotely without your consent.
Let’s say government want to limit you to driving only five miles from your home. They can remotely issue a command that will cause your vehicle to simply SHUT OFF if you try to go farther than they want!
Let’s say government wants to keep you away from certain areas, perhaps a protest area. They can remotely Geo-Fence that area, and any car that has an “SOS” Button, can be made to SHUT OFF if it tries to drive toward or into that area.
Defense analysts’ first conclusions from the Middle East and Ukraine missile wars suggest the PLA’s strategic preparations were sound. Let’s see why.
Israel
Theodore Postol, MIT Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy, analyzed Iran’s mid-April drone and missile attack on in Israel. A summary:
The evidence shows that all or most of the arriving long-range ballistic missiles were not intercepted by any of the Israeli air and missile-defense systems. Whether drones or not, all of the targets areshot down by air-to-air missiles.
The cost of a drone is $10,000 or $20,000, and the cost of an Iranian cruise missile is about $100,000. Their 4-hour, 1500 km flight to Israel allowed US Navy E-2 Hawkeyes AWACS to very effectively vector fighter aircraft to targets they quickly destroyed. The USAF workhorse air-to-air missile is the $500,000 AIM-9x Sidewinder and the Israeli government says the cost of defending Israel was $1.3 billion! [Non-government sources say $2.3-3.3 billion].
Commercially available technology is now good enough for constructing cruise missiles and drones with capabilities to “recognize” their targets and home on them. This means that the cost of shooting down cruise missiles and drones will be very high – even unsustainable – unless extremely inexpensive and effective anti-air systems can be implemented.
Ukraine
Analyst Armchair Warlord says Russia’s anti-air system is extremely effective and, apparently, financially sustainable:
Artillery shells have become the standard metric of the Ukrainian War, and Soviet-legacy gigafactories burying Western supply chains in mountains of steel its leading story. But shells are just steel. What if I told you the Russians were beating us in high-tech manufacturing?
One of the sleeper stories of the war has been the Russian air defenses’ extraordinary capability to defeat the most difficult targets: Russian SAMs routinely down GMLRS, Storm Shadows, and even AGM-88 HARMs that were specifically designed to destroy them. Russian air defenses in the Crimea have been downing ATACMS missiles – a supposed war-winning superweapon – like pheasants.
But I have never seen anyone remark onRussia’s bottomless supply of modern air defense missiles.
Just that week, they shot down no fewer than 1,715 aerial targets, 95% of them drones. Even assuming 75% of the drones were engaged with small arms or EW, that’s still 400 antiaircraft missiles expended for the week. The Russians do this, week after week after week, and show zero signs that their air defense inventory is even under stress.
Meanwhile the West is out of modern missiles and desperately trying to keep Ukraine going with 1960s systems like HAWK, Chaparral and improvised Sea Sparrow launchers. Guided missiles are not simple to make – they’re complex and require sophisticated manufacturing to tight tolerances. Western manufacturers have never been able to make them in large quantities, even at the height of the Cold War. And yet here the ‘gas station with nukes’ is stamping out enough ammunition to keep their Buks and Pantsirs on the firing line after two years of a war featuring an order of magnitude more aerial targets than any previous conflict.
PLA prescience
Russia and China already share the world’s leading missile defense technology, so we can assume that also share the Niagara of data from both conflicts. Pray for some insightful crumbs from their table.
Until then, however, we can appreciate the PLA’s foresight in building a chain of 24×7, 100% automated, high-precision missile factories, each producing 1,000 rounds a day.
Poland has handed an official request to Washington to have U.S. nuclear weapons hosted in Poland.
No word yet on any need or desire in the US to put such weapons there.
Russia earlier cautioned Poland that nuclear weapons in their country would **not** make Poland any safer. In fact, they said, it would merely make Poland a target for Russian nuclear weapons.
Hal Turner Snap Analysis
Nuclear weapons “hosted” in Poland; Sounds like an exchange student or something innocent , like its a cultural program.
My bet . . . and this is pure conjecture on my part — Poland didn’t actually “request” anything.
They were just told that the US is going to deploy nukes on their territory.
The nukes will be controlled by US of course, not Poland; Poland would have no interest in this affair whatsoever. . . except when they get blown up by Russia for having them so close to Russia.
Is the USA rich because of hard work? What should African countries learn from countries like the USA, Japan and China?
Here are the top five sources of wealth for a Rich American with more than $ 15 Million :-
Portfolio (65%)
Landed Assets (18%)
Liquid Deposits (7%).
Others (10%) [Valuable Paintings, Royalty or Copyright contracts, Depreciating Assets like Cars, Yachts etc]
The Richer you are, the higher your Portfolio wealth is
For instance an American who is valued at more than $ 100 Million has almost 88% of his wealth in Portfolio
Portfolio means Stocks, Equities, Venture Capital Shareholding, Private Hedge Fund Units, Bonds etc
Now take a Middle Class American (Income between $ 68,000 to $ 300,000)
These are the top 5 Sources for his wealth
Mortgage (38%) [Market Value – Amount owed to Bank]
Portfolio (32%)
Insurance (15%)
Pension Plan /401K/Roth IRA(10%)
Savings / Low Yield Bills (5%)
The Average Middle Class American, his wealth comes from the rise in price of his house and how his pension plan works and on his insurance encashments
Portfolio wealth depends on the market and astute investments but no real hard work
Insurance and Pension Plan contributions depend on solid hard work
Yet Portfolio wealth can make you a millionaire whereas Pension Plans and Insurance can just keep you comfortably off
Now take the top 5 Sources of wealth for a Chinese Wealthy (Income > 3 Million RMB a year)
Real Estate Investment (26%)
Gold, Silver, Jade (20%)
Savings (21%)
Profits from Businesses (15%)
Real Estate (9%) [Commercial Rents , Residential Rent]
Do you see portfolio anywhere?
Nopes
It’s why Chinese don’t give a damn about their stock market whereas Americans panic when the market falls sharply for two days
Chinese Wealthy work hard too to make profits from Businesses that form a sixth of their wealth on an Average plus manage Properties and collect Rents on them.
So Chinese Wealthy and the American Middle Class Citizen works far harder than the American Rich whose wealth is based on shrewd investments and portfolio
Provolone Chicken
06 Chicken Provolone
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, flattened
1/4 cup flavored bread crumbs
2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs
4 slices Provolone cheese
1 teaspoon butter
4 cups cooked spaghetti or vermicelli noodles, buttered
Instructions
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Place bread crumbs in a flat dish and firmly press both sides of the chicken into the crumbs.
Place coated chicken pieces in a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, and top with cheese.
Dot with butter and bake for 20 minutes or until done.
Serve with buttered pasta.
This Is How They Treat Foreigners In Shanghai
Thank you, you changed my thinking about the beautiful Chinese people. I did not expect them to be so courteous, kind and humble.
What was your scariest “something’s not right” moment?
The minute I hugged my mom for the first time in three years, alarm bells rang so loud I could hear them screaming: Brain tumor.
I am studying in China, 6,217 km away from my family, I do not contact them much. I am not a big fan of traveling so I didn’t travel back and forth much either, in 2016 I decided to visit Jordan because I was feeling homesick and I heard news that my mother’s health wasn’t good.
My mom was around 42 years old at that time,chronically suffering from hypertension “high blood pressure”, she took the medications but she had a poor attitude towards keeping the blood pressure levels under check, so everyone in the family attributed her chronic headaches at that time to the hypertension.
After a long tiresome flight I reached home and met my mom at the door, she hugged me tight and suddenly her whole body leaned to the left. I didn’t understand what was happening at the time so I kept on hugging her until I noticed that she kept on leaning farther, I tried to support her weight but I was tired and couldn’t do it due to the awkward position so I told her: mom, you’ll fall, watch out!” she stood up, and we started talking, and oh boy, the alarm bells were drumming up a hole in my brain, I was terrified.
My mom slurred in her speech. Why did the rest of the family not notice that? Maybe because mom used to wear poor-fitting dentures in the past and it made her slur up, so they thought the same thing is happening now, and said we will get the dentures checked soon.
Besides the gait disturbance and the slurring, my mom made several edgy or —inappropriate — statements throughout the conversation. But the thing that made my bones jump, was how she yelped in pain when she coughed and said, “Every time I cough, my head splits in half”, and of course, that was attributed to the high blood pressure by the family and her primary care physician.
I went to a room and sat alone, I was freaking out. My vacation is 10 days, and I needed to explain what I’m thinking to the family so that actions can be made. I thought for a long time about that and about how can I approach my mom with that news. The latter part terrified me. Why? Because when I told my mom we might need to go and get her blood pressure checked, she screamed at me; I was taken aback. She screamed that she will not see a doctor, that I am not a doctor and I should not be acting like one and that she hates doctors.
She had seen plenty of doctors in her life, but that aggressive note was new.
Eventually the next day I convinced her to go with me to the doctor. I got her to the MRI room and asked the radiologist to let me stay with him so I can see the picture as it comes out.
Time stopped when I saw that MRI, and I knew at that moment that our lives are about to change. The tumor was huge, it had been growing for years undetected, years of slow personality changes, years of chronic headaches and years of unawareness. Thankfully, my mother agreed to have the surgery to remove the tumor, and she sprung back to her old, lively wonderful self.
This incident changed me and my family for good; my family became way more health conscious and I became more focused on the goal of becoming a good doctor. You see, if only one of her primary care physicians had looked — truly looked — at her gait or at how she screamed in pain when she coughed, they might have found this tumor much earlier.
How did Hitler react upon learning that Churchill would be replacing Chamberlain as Prime Minister?
Churchill had for years been warning of Hitler. He had warned of his rearming as well as intent to overrun large parts of Europe. Hitler knew that Churchill was the very last Brit that he wanted in as PM. If negotiated peace were the goal, someone else would need to be PM.
So Hitler publicly referred to Churchill by many names. His hope was that the British people would realize the mistake they had made. Hitler repeatedly referred to Churchill as a drunkard.
“As lunatics like that drunkard Churchill and Maccabeans and numskulls like that brilliantined dandy Eden are at the helm we’ve to be prepared for just about anything!”
But that was not all. He referred to Churchill as “a senile clown”, “gangster”, “bloodthirsty guttersnipe”, and “undisciplined swine” among other things.
Notably you will find no such invectives used by Hitler against Chamberlain. But such insults did not sway British foreign policy.
Hitler saw Churchill as his greatest obstacle. He remarked:
“If Churchill were suddenly to disappear, everything could change in a flash. The British aristocracy might perhaps become conscious of the abyss opening before them— and might well experience a serious shock! These British, for whom, indirectly, we have been fighting and who would enjoy the fruits of our victory…”
At some point he realized that negotiations with Churchill could not take place. Only after Churchill was defeated would the British be willing to talk.
Hitler remarked to von Brauchitsch, the commander in chief of the German Army, that “the British will be ready to talk only after a beating.
Hitler’s reaction to Churchill being chosen as PM was reality, the reality that the worst man in Britain for Hitler had be chosen. There would be no easy victory. There would be no short war. There would be no more bullying.
Mark Sleboda: Putin just Dropped BOMBSHELL Warning to NATO and Ukraine’s Army is Done For
China’s $170BN Gold Rush Triggers Taiwan Invasion Fear
Beijing appears to be stockpiling gold following a record buying spree, in a move that has raised fears China is preparing its economy for a possible conflict over Taiwan – guarding it against potential Western sanctions.
The People’s Bank of China bought 27 tons of gold in the first three months of the year, taking its reserves to a record high of 2,262 tons, according to data from the World Gold Council.
What is the best life advice you would give?
Keep a healthy distance from all people, including your friends. They could bring you down with their baggage if you are not careful.
Job is just a job. Don’t make it your priority.
Be very sure you want to get married and have kids. Many people get trapped in a situation where they keep on asking this “What if” after 10 or 20 years into marriage.
If possible, spend more time with your family, especially your parents. From your 20s to 40s, you will be too busy looking out for yourself. All of a sudden, your parents will become “old” like you never noticed.
Don’t expect people to come to your rescue. Own your actions and consequences and suck it up.
Tomorrow is not necessarily going to be a better day. Tomorrow is just another day.
Stop reading a self-help book if you are not self-aware.
Life is actually fair. It has no mercy on anyone.
If Jewish students don’t feel safe at university, does that automatically mean American can’t support Palestine and free of speech?
I laugh my ass off at this oh I’m so victimised mentality.
I still remember it 2 decades ago when I moved to London. A box fell off the back of a builders flatbed, near a Synagogue. They immediately phoned the police and said these bomb threats are a sign of anti you know what. Turns out it was just that a carboard box that had fallen off the back of a builders flat bed.
Anyway they don’t feel safe?
Let me give you some figures from the UK.
One group totals 400,000 people this figure is disputed as it includes citizens but they may not actually be there. They form 0.7% of the population yet face 4% of all the violent crime. 15% of them have faced violence with 51% of facing slurs and racist name calling.
Meanwhile one group is about 270,000 and have faced drum roll 1600 you know what incidents each year. OMG American maths means 1600 is bigger than 200,000 incidents of racism or nearly 30,000 instances of racism.
Yet one group gets all laws to protect them, gets news coverage, representation in government and one doesn’t.
Funny how one group matters and all others don’t doesn’t it?
So SATISFYING! I chose a random fairytale and found that the nasty “princess” got put to work. Ha!
I love all of this. How all these historical traditional stories were changed by social re-engineering. Fascinating!
Loving these unfiltered, brutal, unwokified stories.
When did the negative perception of masculinity begin?
This is a byproduct of the American “Woman’s Rights” movement.
The initial intention was for gender equality, where women would be treated as equals with men. Eventually, a more radical sub-branch of the movement took control and steered the movement towards an anti-male bias. Over the years, they acquired wealthy and powerful contributors, and used their positions in government to fund and control the narrative. Resulting in the destruction of the American male.
This women’s rights movement in the United States has gone through several stages.
Each stage has been marked by specific goals, accomplishments, and challenges.
First Wave (19th Century – Early 20th Century)
– Focused on legal issues, particularly women’s suffrage (the right to vote).
– Key events: The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott; the adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote.
This initial stage is often erroneously considered to be reasonable, but a look at the amendments to the constitution clearly show that the movement removed the stable “Head of the Household” voting role towards one where anyone can vote. Thus, this movement, during the FIRST WAVE, significantly altered the federal government and the spending trajectory of the United States.
The United States moved from a Republic to a democracy.
Demographics changed substantially. Voting profiles changed radically, and a “nanny state”
became the norm, as the female voters started to demand a government that took on a parental role; thus a government with a greater role in the lives of Americans.
Additionally, history was rewritten. An active effort was made to rewrite the old European fairy tales to something supportive of first wave feminist belief structures. So, for instance, the Grimm Fairy Tales were rewritten from a structured give-and-take, with harsh lessons, to that of “Prince Charming”, and “one’s wishes can come true”.
There were other initiatives as well. The “Temperance movement” of the 1920’s was led by radical feminists and it resulted in the forced nationwide ban of alcohol, and the surge in organized crime. All the time while destroying the “freedoms” that American enjoyed.
And finally, let’s not forget that the first wave feminists brought in great federal-level social re-engineering evil masterminds; Coolridge, Herbet Hoover and then Taft.
Second Wave (1960s – 1980s)
– Emphasized a broader range of issues, including equality in the workplace, education, reproductive rights, and legal rights.
– Key events: Publication of “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan in 1963; the establishment of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966; the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
– Advocacy for reproductive rights, including the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973.
During this wave, the “rights” of women altered the workplace, the Geo-political scene, the educational system, and the kinds of movies and shows on televisions and extracted out of Hollywood. It was during this wave that the notion of a traditional family was discarded, and men started to be depicted as buffoons and useless clowns.
It was during this time that marriage longevity was destroyed; that divorce became the normal. That a two income household become the norm, and housewives rearing their own children was considered stupid.
There is a direct correlation between divorce rates and the implementation of pro-feminist initiatives. This was the era of the destruction of the family. As the women entered the work-place, forced layoffs, firings and short-duration employment became the norm.
Third Wave (1990s – Early 2000s)
– Focused on diversity and intersectionality, addressing issues of race, class, sexual orientation, and gender identity within the context of women’s rights.
– Emphasized individualism and a more inclusive approach to feminism, acknowledging different experiences and perspectives.
This wave turbocharged the fall of traditional values, and the “career women” entered the work force with government sanctioned privileges that harmed the male roles. The court systems, and child service systems became co-opted by this movement and became hostile to males.
While the second wave feminists vocalized equality, this wave argued superiority at all levels and promoted benefits, and privileges that men were denied.
Laws and rules, from family law to corporate law favored females. Lower skilled females were engaged in once-dominant male activities to meet hiring quotas. The result was a gradual decline in the quality of the American work-force.
Fourth Wave (Mid-2000s – Present)
– Characterized by the use of digital and social media to advocate for women’s rights and mobilize anti-male activism.
– Focus on sexual harassment, gender-based violence, and the #MeToo movement.
– Greater attention to intersectionality, considering how various aspects of identity intersect and impact the experiences of women and non-binary individuals.
It’s a real problem.
The damage has already been done.
Presently, in the United States and it’s proxy nations, under the LGBQ+ rainbow flag, the male gender is ridiculed, minimized, and berated to a point where various social phenomenons have occurred. To include…
Young men in the 20s have stopped dating.
Young men tend to be virginal, while young women engage in serial promiscuity.
The “Soft man” era where men have “checked out”.
A drop in college and university admissions for men.
A push back on dating with the “drizzle drizzle” movement.
American men are leaving the United States as “passport bros” and not returning.
The changing demographics and the ten year forecast for citizens within this toxic anti-male environment is contentious. Historically, very BAD things happen when large sections males in a nation are hurt, abandoned, ridiculed and disparaged.
1. If your house smells fishy for no reason, 9 times out of 10 it means there is an electrical fire.
2. If you ever feel like someone is following your car, turn right four times and it will eventually go in a circle. If they are always behind you, it means they are following you. Don’t drive home, just call the police and drive to the police station
3. If a service dog ever approaches you without its owner, follow it and do so quickly because you could potentially save someone else’s life.
4. If someone tries to kidnap you, fight back. Most kidnappers will simply give up if they encounter resistance. And whatever you do, don’t let them take you anywhere else.
5. If the tide suddenly goes out unexpectedly, run like you stole it, for higher ground.
6. If you are ever attacked by a moose, get behind a tree…they have about a ten inch blind spot and they will lose you…
7.When people say to take an aspirin to help during a heart attack, chew the pill, don’t swallow it whole. It is absorbed much faster.
8. If someone asks you for something on the street – a light, the time, whatever – always keep the person in your line of sight. So if they ask you the time, don’t just look at your watch. Raise your arm slightly so that your watch is in view.
9. If you’re in danger or need help, in a public place, it’s almost always a bad idea to just yell “help.” It’s more important to be specific. Pointing your finger at someone and telling them to call 911 will be more effective. The bystander effect can sometimes be cruel.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – The Threat of China is Wildly Overstated
Robert F. Kennedy gives three main reasons why he believes the threat of China is wildly overstated.
I like his overall message, but I disagree with his idea that the USA can block shipping, and that without Walmart, China would collapse. I disagree that the Chinese “are on the edge of revolt”.
But still, it’s nice to hear a different voice out of the USA.
All evidence indicates that China and Russia are coordinating their actions. This uptick in nuclear talk with Russia and the USA troops in Ukraine, along with the stuff going on in the Pacific. It’s all very clear. It’s coordinated.
More chatter about Scott Ritter and what that means all in front of the nuclear war backdrop. Lots of stuff going on right now.
Today is a Geo-politics heavy post.
The vectors are all disturbing.
USA culture is collapsed.
USA society is wiped out.
The West is now very dangerous and police are not available.
Warrants, and laws are ignored.
Nuclear war is gleefully discussed without a care in the world.
Crazy inflation… and it’s gonna get much worse.
I get the impression that the USA is a big bonfire right now, and the wealthy and Washington insiders are all throwing gasoline and kerosene on the fire…
Question: Have I read this wrong? Putin started a war he can’t possibly win, as China embeds deeper and deeper into the fabric of eastern Russia. He isolates his country, makes it a vassal state to China, and for what? Is the guy missing a brain?
Answer:
Yes, you are reading it wrong.
As of 2024, Ukraine manpower has been depleted to such a point that Russia is in a position to get a lot more than they would have gotten with a negotiation back in 2020.
He didn’t isolate his country, because the BRICs payment system, particularly via RMB can cover up to 95% of human population. At this point, kicking Russia out of SWIFT just means reducing SWIFT’s value as a payment system.
In fact, the European sanctions helped the Russian economy tremendously, this is because prior to European sanctions, Putin’s main enemies are actually the Russian Oligarchies and to a lesser extent, the pro-West Russian capitalist. The European and US sanctions crippled both, meaning a lot money Russian money is investing into Russian economy instead of going to Europe and US.
And with China, the entire point is that China didn’t take advantage with any military venture into Russia far east. So at this point, 4,209.3 kilometres out of 22,407 kilometres of Russian land border suddenly don’t require any significant security investment, which frees up significant amount of Russian attention and budget.
Right now, the main Chinese complaint against Russian border is that the border customs are too under staffed and the roads sucked, so the cross border traders have to wait for long hours there.
See, that’s the power of not playing a zero sum game and constantly trying to screw other people over.
Blueberry Puffs
Blueberry Puffs
Ingredients
2 cups fresh or 1 bag frozen blueberries
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
12 slices bread
6 eggs
2 cups Half-and-Half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
Mix first 7 ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until the sauce is semi-thick. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Cut crusts from bread. Spray a 2-quart rectangular glass pan with a nonstick pan coating. Cover the bottom of pan with 6 bread slices.
In separate bowl, mix eggs, Half-and-Half, vanilla extract and sugar. Pour half of this mixture over bread.
Spread thickened, cooled blueberry sauce over bottom layer.
Arrange the other half of the bread on top of blueberry filling.
Pour remaining egg mixture over the top.
Sprinkle with a dash of nutmeg.
Cover and place in refrigerator overnight.
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 60 minutes.
Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into 6 servings or 12 servings for a buffet.
Top with brown sugar and a few blueberries.
Woke Staff Go Silent as New CEO Says This in Brutal Meeting
We learn that President Biden has authorized Ukraine to “conduct limited attacks inside Russia with American-made weapons”. Some of the United States’ allies had already gone further. Britain, several weeks ago, allowed Ukraine to use its Storm Shadow long-range missile systems for attacks in any part of Russia, and France and Germany have recently taken the same position. We are, therefore, at a critical moment and the probability of moving from low-key conflicts to a war of uncontrollable global dimensions, including the great powers.
In an interview on March 18, President Putin warned: “It is clear to everyone that a [conflict between Russia and NATO] would mark the final step before a Third World War. I don’t think anyone wants that.” Asked by Reuters about Emmanuel Macron’s comments, who said he did not rule out the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine and the risk of a conflict with NATO, Vladimir Putin quipped: “Everything is possible in the modern world.” Emmanuel Macron, who has said he does not want an “escalation”, last week called on the West to “jump” out, warning that a Russian victory in Ukraine would pose an “existential threat” to Europe. President Putin adds that NATO military personnel were already in Ukraine. Russian troops heard communications in English and French on the battlefield, he said. “There is nothing good in all this, first and foremost for them since they are dying there and in large numbers.”1
«Will NATO member states individually or collectively go to war against Russia? This is the question of Western decision-makers. In an interview with The Economist, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the Alliance said: “The time has come for allies to reflect on whether they should lift some of the restrictions imposed on the use of weapons given to Ukraine (…) Especially now, when a lot of fighting is taking place in Kharkov, near the border, denying Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very difficult to defend it.” He pre-announced Washington’s decision to the European Allies. Speaking at the Council of the European Union, he said: “According to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defence. And the right to self-defense also includes striking legitimate military objectives inside Russia.” (…) Extending the protection of the Atlantic anti-missile shield to Ukrainian territory would mean going to war collectively against Russia. But allowing Ukraine to attack Russia with weapons supplied by NATO member states would mean their entry into an individual war against Russia. For his part, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, commented: “This gentleman [Jens Stoltenberg] is dangerous because talking about a Third World War, Western weapons capable of striking and killing inside Russia, seems to me very, very dangerous and reckless.”
Vladimir Putin, replied to journalists: “This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences. Let them [the European NATO member states] remember that their territory is small and their population dense,” Senator Dmitry Rogozin, former director of Roscosmos, directly warned Washington: “We are not only on the threshold, but already on the edge, beyond which, if the enemy is not stopped in such actions, an irreversible collapse of the strategic security of the nuclear powers will begin.”2
Nuclear war: the scenario of the end of the world?
In all likelihood, it will not be a conventional war; For the evil is profound; it is the temptation to perpetuate an empire without a vital prognosis for Western countries against an existential threat for Russia which will not hesitate to pulverize the West even if it is a plantar nuclear fire; This reflection from the website Notre Planète Info allows us to predict the consequences of a nuclear war: “Feared during the Cold War, total nuclear war has proved to be such a heavy threat to the very future of humanity that the major nuclear powers have refrained from using nuclear weapons on a massive scale”.3
«NATO’s expansionist policy and the revival of openly Nazi armies in Ukraine triggered a Russian special operation of demilitarization and denazification in February 2022. The United States has always kept the possibility of carrying out preventive nuclear strikes. The United States has 750 military bases in more than 80 countries. The US has already spent 230 years (out of 246 years of existence), in direct and proxy wars abroad. In addition, the Pentagon’s new national defense strategy adopted in late October 2022 crossed a new line by authorizing the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats. A particularly risky doctrine according to Democratic Senator Edward Markey: “The risk of nuclear war seriously threatens the survival of the human species. Unfortunately, by not ruling out being the first to use nuclear weapons, the United States is increasing the risk of an unintended nuclear escalation.” Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia will retaliate against any nuclear attack with nuclear strikes. In other words, in the event of a potentially nuclear missile attack on Russia, hundreds of nuclear missiles will be launched immediately against the aggressive country, which will then be assured of total destruction.” [3]
The naivety of the West, which is banking on Russia’s misunderstanding of China
Alastair Crooke, the well-known journalist, describes the dilemma that in a way “blocks” and so much the better is the outbreak of the war of the West, NATO against Russia with the two blasters of Poland (enraged against Russia) and France of an unrecognizable paleo-Gaulian dignity: “The discourse of military escalation is fashionable in Europe, but both in the Middle East and in Ukraine, Western policy is in great difficulty. The paradox is that the Biden team – purely inadvertently – is giving birth to a “new world”. The more Western elites oppose birth — by “saving Zionism,” “saving European Ukraine,” and crushing dissidents — the more they accelerate the fall of Leviathan.”4
«The nearly 8,000-word China-Russia joint statement evokes the elementary laws of nature itself by describing the West’s usurpation of the fundamental principles of humanity, reality and order – a criticism that has engulfed the collective West mad with rage. But how and why can it be said that the West is accelerating its own dissolution? The New York Times gives a clue as to the “why”: The old “Anglo-Saxon” obsession with a defiant Russia that the West has never been able to bend to its will. Today, Russia and China signed a joint statement somewhat similar to the “limitless” friendship declared in February 2022, but which goes further. This statement describes their relationship as “superior to the political and military alliances of the Cold War era.” The friendship between the two states has no limits, there are no “forbidden” areas of cooperation. Ray McGovern, a former adviser to the US president, recounted how “when Biden took office in 2021, his advisers assured him that he could play on Russia’s fear (sic) of China – and drive a wedge between the two. This represents the ‘mother of all errors’ of judgment, for it causes the circumstances in which the Western ‘Order’ can dissolve.” “China is seeking to become the world’s most powerful economy and the world’s largest and most powerful military.” [4]
«In August 2019, when the United States withdrew from the treaty banning intermediate-range missiles in Europe, it had already deployed missiles in Romania and Poland. It is not possible to determine which missile is loaded because the tubes have lids. The time it takes for these missiles to reach Moscow would be 9 minutes from Poland and 10 minutes from Romania. (…) On May 18 in Moscow, in the wake of the last Xi-Putin summit – as M.K. Bhadrakumar notes. Western thought processes, Lavrov said, are moving dangerously toward “the contours of the formation of a European military alliance — with a nuclear component.” He deplored the fact that “they have chosen a confrontation on the battlefield: We are ready for it”. “The program to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia – militarily and otherwise – is a pure fantasy that will be resolutely countered.”[4]
The multidimensional cooperation between Russia and China scares the West
The West mistakenly thinks that it can impose its norm in the name of its rights; American and European strategists are doing everything they can to create dissension between Russia and China. Even President Biden believes in it. Alain Constant of the newspaper Le Monde, whom we have known much more professionally, writes: “In June 1997, Senator Joe Biden, returning from a trip to Moscow intended to reassure Russia about the enlargement of NATO, brushed aside the risks of Russia’s rapprochement with China. For the Biden of 1997, a Russian-Sino-Iranian rapprochement is unthinkable and is akin to political fiction. At the time, few American officials were aware of the danger. But Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former adviser, warns: “The worst-case scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia and perhaps Iran, united by a common hatred of the United States.” A nightmare scenario for the West that has become reality (…) After years of rapprochement and various treaties, the three countries are now clearly aligned on a common roadmap: to put an end to Western hegemony. All this while waging a hybrid fight against the West, at once military, technological, commercial, IT and civilizational.”5
In the same vein, Alain Frachon sends this message to the West: “There is no point in entertaining irresponsible illusions in Washington, Paris or Berlin: the Sino-Russian couple is not about to divorce. Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Europe and Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing a few days later have shown it unambiguously: the two countries are united by the same ambition, that of fighting against Western “hegemony”, In the spring of 2024, Xi Jinping recalled that he was a stakeholder in the conflict raging in Europe: He is on the Russian side (…) The aim is to increase trade between their two countries in the face of a “hostile and destructive American policy” intended, according to them, to “stem” the rise of China and Russia (…) This situation requires enhanced military cooperation. China will further support the war economy that Putin is establishing in Russia. Clearly, China is maintaining the Russian war effort.”6
Inventory of the world’s nuclear forces
According to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in June 2023 (SIPRI), “in January 2023, 12,512 nuclear weapons, of which 9576 were stored in warehouses for potential use. United States (1770 units) and Russia (1674 units). Together, these two states possess about 90 percent of all nuclear weapons.”7
«Global military spending is rising amid war, escalating tensions and insecurity Global military spending has risen to a record high of $2443 billion. “States are prioritising military force, which risks fuelling the ‘action-reaction’ spiral Russia’s military spending has increased by 24% to $109 billion in 2023. Ukraine is at $64.8 billion. Ukraine has also received at least $35 billion in military aid to the United States, including $25.4 billion from the United States. Together, this aid and Ukraine’s military spending is equivalent to about 91% of Russian military spending. In 2023, the military spending of NATO’s 31 members amounts to $1341 billion, or 55% of global military spending.”8
«U.S. military spending increased by 2.3% to $916 billion in 2023, accounting for 68% of NATO’s total military spending. In 2023, most European NATO member states increased their spending. China’s increased military spending is leading to that of its neighbors. China, 2nd with 296 billion dollars. Israel’s military spending – the second largest in the region after Saudi Arabia’s – reached $27.5 billion in 2023. India is the 4th largest with $83.6 billion. Algeria’s military spending increased by 76% to $18.3 billion. Iran is the 4th largest military spender in the Middle East in 2023 with $10.3 billion.”9
The bluster of the West. Russia invincible with the RS-28 Sarmat missile
In a lucid contribution, Andrew Cockburn explains that the effects of Western propaganda hide a sad reality: “The obsession with technology has not benefited Washington. The United States produces sophisticated and expensive weapons, which Russian forces have quickly learned to neutralize. Andrew Cockburn talks about it: “American weapons have not prevented Ukraine from retreating and suffering a possible defeat. Many failures of U.S. weapons in Ukraine, including HIMARS LRMs, are related to the use of highly vulnerable guidance systems with GPS. Russia has long paid special attention to electronic warfare and excels at jamming GPS signals. “Most Western systems have proven ineffective in combat conditions” due to Russian jamming.10
In the extreme conditions, which is an existential problem for Russia, it is no longer bound by any commitment: “Russia withdrew from the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions Start-II/SNV-III, on February 23, 2023 In addition to its “conventional” continental ballistic missiles, Russia has acquired a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile called “RS-28 Sarmat” (or Satan 2 for the West), operational since the end of August 2023. It is a missile capable of striking any region on Earth with devastating and unparalleled firepower. This missile can carry up to 10 large nuclear warheads or 16 small warheads that can be aimed at a target each. They are thus much more destructive than the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War. And for good reason, this 200-ton missile, 35.5 meters long and 3 m in diameter, has a total power of 8 to 12 Mt of TNT (450 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima), enough to transform a country the size of France or Great Britain into an uninhabitable desert (its destruction zone is 650,000 km²) in just 2 minutes… With a speed of 20 times that of sound (26,000 km/h), this new missile is impossible to intercept At least 50 Sarmat launch systems have been deployed on the territory of Russia since 2023. Russia finally has a “Perimeter” system, nicknamed “Dead Hand” (“Main more”) by NATO experts. This is a final retaliatory nuclear strike even if Russia is bombed by nuclear strikes and is on the verge of annihilation.”[3]
Putin’s warning is direct and explicit
Journalist M.K. Bhadrakumur said: “Putin has been explicit and direct. He made it known in advance that he would be forced to respond with a nuclear capability if the Russian state was threatened. Putin addressed the Federal Assembly in front of the crème de la crème of the Russian elite and took the whole nation into confidence by saying that the country could be pushed into a nuclear war for its own preservation. In fact, US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin said at a congressional hearing in Washington that “NATO will fight with Russia” if Ukraine is defeated. To put it plainly, Austin meant that if Ukraine loses, NATO will have to oppose Russia. It is a call for Europe to mobilise for a continental war. What French President Emmanuel Macron said: The defeat of Russia is indispensable for the security and stability of Europe.”11
The Doomsday Clock The impotence of the international community
The nuclear threat in the world is illustrated in particular by the Doomsday Clock. Created in 1947, shortly after the American atomic bombings of Japan, and has been regularly updated since then, by members of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, (BAS) based at the University of Chicago. In 2012 it indicated 11:55 p.m., only 5 minutes before the end of the world. In 2023, its hand has moved forward again to just 90 seconds. The question of nuclear war therefore remains more topical than ever. UN humanitarian officials and members of civil society discussed the humanitarian community’s response to a nuclear explosion. “The humanitarian consequences of a nuclear attack or accident would be potentially devastating and catastrophic,” warned the Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva.
An apocalyptic post-nuclear bombing scenario
«Within hours, 34 million people would be killed by the direct effect of nuclear explosions. Colossal and uncontrollable fires generated by the bombs would send 9 million tons of soot into the atmosphere. In less than 50 days, the entire planet would be affected by ash. For a decade, the sun’s rays would then be partially filtered. As a result, the global temperature would drop by 1.25°C in the first three years; global precipitation would decrease by 10% in the two to four years following the event; frosts would be more frequent. Agriculture would then be severely affected and therefore food resources for all of humanity. Finally, this scenario is accompanied by a generalized loss (75% at the global level – 65% in the tropics) of the stratospheric ozone layer for about 15 years.” [3]
The effects of nuclear weapons on human health
According to the specialized site: describing the dropping of an atomic bomb “The intense fireball generated at the very moment of the explosion of a nuclear weapon of this power would release heat, shock waves and radiation at the same time. The victims of thermal radiation: the temperature on earth, under the epicenter of the explosion, would reach about 7000°C and, in this area, all living beings would be pulverized. Tens of thousands of people are believed to be burned, most with horrific third-degree burns. A fireball and thermal radiation would be immediately followed by pressure waves traveling at supersonic speeds. The victims would have organ ruptures, open fractures, skull fractures and penetrating wounds. A significant number of people would lose their hearing as a result of perforated eardrums.”12
«Victims of the firestorm: It is also possible that radioactive fallout could be blown far by the wind, endangering far more people than the explosion and fires. Many of those affected would not realize they had received a life-threatening dose of radiation for several days or weeks. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the number of deaths attributed to bombings had reached 200,000 and 140,000 respectively in 1950. Even today, radiation-related illnesses and deaths are observed among the now elderly population of survivors of the 1945 bombings.” [12]
What should Algeria do?
«When the great make war on each other, it is the weak who die.” This quote from Jean Paul Sarre sums up the current situation. In the face of the new world that will give birth in pain, there will be collateral damage. We are close to a future place of confrontation! An atomic bomb 800 km from Algiers will impact life in Algeria, in the opposite direction. Let us remember the 13 multicolored jerboas, in addition to having ravaged and sterilized entire regions, allowed winds to disperse the atomic cloud over thousands of km in all directions!
It is truly an uncertain era in which all the settling of scores will have free rein, now that there is no United Nations capable of preserving morality and human dignity. This “War of all against all”, “Bellum omnium contra omnes” according to Hobbes, must oblige us more than ever to introspect and review our being in the world. Only force governs the world. Russia manages to resist the West thanks to the 450,000 engineers per year! and several million technicians!
Technological power should be based on science and military industry also on heavy equipment (tanks, planes, cannons) guided by computer power are the immune defenses that we need to strengthen. To do this, we must fundamentally review the training of engineers and scientists in terms of quantity and quality. The discipline of mathematics should be the apple of our eye and a special scholarship should be allowed to mathematics baccalaureates and technological disciplines, as President Boumediene did in his time. A President of whom some discover, late and in spite of themselves, the vision of the statesman who thinks in terms of the future. The next five-year term will also have to continue to bring the structuring projects to fruition: Betting on renewable energy and green hydrogen. Strengthen steel capacity, a strong link in any industrialization, particularly in the rail and military industries. The security of the country depends on it. This means that Algerians must all be vigilant together.
Conclusion
In one of his many meetings for the NO to the 1914-18 war, Jean Jaurès, the French socialist leader, understood where the ills of humanity came from. Rolling liberalism! He wrote: “Capitalism carries war within it, as the sleeping cloud carries the storm.” He will be assassinated! We live in a troubled time where anything can happen to God forbid In a famous poem from 1955, Jacques Brel, in a lucid and prophetic way, described the world of the time in the making.”
–Professor Chems Eddine Chitour
INTERVIEW: Land of the free, home of the grave
Scott Ritter on the assassination of the constitution and how three heavily-armed goons removed his passport with all of his rights. The grisly sequel follows…
Long before the rise of man when the world was dark there came a great light from the sky. A great ship descended into a dark world.Inside the ship was the greatest race to ever inhabit the universe. They are called the creators. The creators were the first evolution of humanity.They called their new home Avalonia. The creators created the oceans, the trees, plants and animals. Overtime the creators created the second evolution of humanity in their image.The creators built great cities and within those great cities, a great library was built. Which housed the greatest knowledge the universe has ever known.A millennia passed since the creators arrived in Avalonia and since their first landing many generations of humans have been all with the knowledge of the creators.The creators have spread their seed and their knowledge throughout the known galaxy. Many planets bore the fruit of knowledge of the creators. Many more libraries of knowledge were created but only one remains eternal.Many more generations have passed and the generations of humans created by the creators continued to flourish until one moment in their history when everything changed.
The creators simply vanished leaving their creations on the many planets they call home. The humans on each planet were left with the knowledge of the creators.
The humans didn’t use the knowledge wisely and ultimately all the knowledge was lost including the libraries expect for the one that remains eternal.
Deep inside I knew the existence of humanity was part of something greater. We were put on this planet to be something more.
We were created by a powerful race of humans to carry on their legacy but over the course of thousands of years we lost it all.
I must find and figure out what we lost. It’s my destiny. I dreamed about something greater than myself. Something greater than humanity.
A library filled with the knowledge of the universe is somewhere out beyond the stars waiting for me to find.
Atria is my home the fourth planet the creators created this I know. The records of the past show it. It also shows one of the great libraries once stood on Atrian grounds but the library is no more.
Their maybe more libraries out beyond the stars but one bears the name eternal. That one has been lost since the first creation. I aim to find that one.
Beyond the stars there are more planets that house the libraries. To those planets I will go and find the one that is eternal. I don’t know what I will find but it’s a risk I must take.
To Aqua Terra, Azurella also known as the water planets are known creations of the creators. To Amarantha and Inter Nova are also known creations of the creators. All these planets have one thing in common. The great libraries of the creators were built there.
Atria, my home world was also created by the creators and too many of my people no known library was ever built on Atria but a long-ago war destroyed half of Atria and possible the library. The records are proof there was a library on Atria.
I have what I need. Now it’s time for me to set off on my journey. Lucky for me I have my own space ship. Just because the great library is no more and no one knows it doesn’t mean the creators knowledge was lost. Some of their knowledge was left for us.
The record I found suggest only four of the many planets the creators created house the great libraries. One of them has to be the one that is eternal.
I set off into the stars. My first stop is Aqua Terra. One of the many water planets. I fire up the FTL and in four hours I arrive at Aqua Terra.
I scan the planet and to my amazement there is a large structure on the southern end of the planet. The inhabitants of Aqua Terra primarily live on the northern end of the planet.
I land my ship safely on the water. I put my water gear on. I open the door and jump into the water. I follow the coordinates to the location of the library.
Not much of a library. I enter through one of the side openings. Something must be holding the water back. I beginning going up one of the hallways. I look around. I don’t see much. The books are weathered down.
I keep going down the long hallway until I reach a door. I open the door and enter. All the books are weathered down expect for one. This book is in good condition.
I pick up the book and open it. It’s not a book but a journal. I start to read the journal, Wow, this was written by one of the creators.
“We left our home to seed the rest of the known galaxy. I will miss my home. I will miss my library. Many more will be created. One day I will return to Avalonia.”
“We seeded many more planets and built many more libraries. Our creations are beautiful but something happened to us. We must leave Avalonia or all will be lost. We entrust our libraries and all our knowledge to our creations. Our eternal library, we will hide forever.”
Avalonia, I never heard of that planet. I leave the library and go back to my ship. I go to the next planet, another water planet. I found the same thing I found on Aqua Terra, a journal talking about Avalonia.
I go to the next two planets Amarantha and Inter Nova and I found the same thing, two more journals written by the creators talking about Avalonia.
I spread the journals out looking for clues. I examine each journal one by one and bang hidden beneath the words are numbers. I write them down. They look like coordinates.
These must be coordinates to Avalonia. I punch in the coordinates. There it is Avalonia. I fire up the FTL. I’m on my way to Avalonia. The creators first home, first creation and hopefully the site of the one that is eternal.
As my ship travels to Avalonia, I keep reading the journals of the creators. This is amazing. One of the journals written by a creator whose name is Minta talks about how the libraries were created. But what the journals don’t talk about is how we were created or why the vanished.
After ten hours my ship drops out of FTL. This is Avalonia. I scan the planet. My scans don’t pick up anything. I go back to the journals. I read each one. The journals talk about a large structure between a mountain and a waterfall.
I scan the planet again. My scans pick up something on the southern end of the planet. I go down to Avalonia. The planet is beautiful. No sign of life. I wonder why that is.
I see the mountain range. I fly around the mountain. I spot a waterfall. It must be in there. I land my ship. I open the door and walk out.
I’m speechless. I never see anything so beautiful and colorful. I scan the area with my scanner. I’m picking up something. I walk in the direction of the waterfall.
What’s that up ahead? I see what looks like the figure of a person. As I get near, I see the figure looking at me. My scans showed no sign of life.
“Hello my name is Minta creator of the library, creator of everything.” Oh My God! I’m seeing one of the creators.
“You have found the eternal library filled with the knowledge of the universe. You are worthy to be in the presence of those who breath life into you. Welcome my child.”
“The knowledge of creation is too great for our creations. We hid this knowledge because no one human is worthy of the knowledge that is held in the eternal library. Only you are worthy. Enter.”
I enter the library. Wow beyond wow. So much to be discovered. I walk around looking at the great works the creators did. I don’t know where to begin.
I take one book after another reading about everything the creators created from the first space ship to the many great cities they built, to the math and medicine they created and the history of creation.
I’m looking at everything the creators ever worked on. Everything they built and made including us humans. This is amazing. I continue to read it all. Thank you creators for leaving this for me, for us.
Would you pick someone from the street to manage your treatment just because he happens to be tall, old, and gives nice speeches?
Yet that is what America has been doing for problems far more complex than cancer.
How does a rank amateur who has never spent a day in public office expect to master the task of running an entire nation from day 1?
That will be no different from picking a Mr. Random to replace Tim Cook at apple.
How do you think apple stock will fare once the appointment is confirmed, particularly if the replacement cannot explain the difference between a potato chip and a silicon chip?
Whatever you think of the Chinese, their system GUARANTEES that anyone with even a sniff at the politburo knows thoroughly what governance is all about–the stakes involved, how the various arms work, the major players, and most importantly, how to go about fulfilling their own roles.
You cannot say the same about the American system right at the very top because the cabinet is essentially parachuted in, and that can include the president.
My home burnt down. And a nonprofit organization was helping me and my wife by paying for a room for us for a couple days while we found new residence..
1 hotel ..the best western.. refused to house us bc they saw nonprofit residents as poor and filthy (said they ruined rooms…like rich cant do that too)
The next one, one we ended up being placed in for 2 days called the scottish inn was owned by an Indian looking lady and family id presume. The woman acted like, and stated, she was *doing us a favor* by taking paid in full rates for a room bc it was paid by an organization (guaranteed $ in bag) she also treated us like scum of the Earth. From the second we showed up being recited a hundred rules and placed in room next to office and told to not make any noise and that our 2 kids ages 5 and 8 needed to *keep quiet completely* to not cooking any food and accused of doing soo when we brought some of our belongings we salvaged in, and 1 item was an air fryer.
Day 2 they called room around noon and told us, not even 18 hrs later, that we needed to vacate room w our stuff soo they could clean.
We did soo.. and returned to the entire room covered in news paper and the owner lady came knocking 2 seconds in.. she told me i couldnt have my own tv in room at first.. then told me no drinks can be in room (kool aid) then told me no touching tv. Keep in mind that the room was spotless, wed been up 2 days at this point and slept most this time.. our kids had slept 8 or 9 of the 14 hrs as well and were very well behaved.
We hadnt done anything at all besides drink some kool aid and flick around cable tv channels and talk amongst ourselves.
Soo Finally I burst and defended myself and exclaimed how she is treating us different because she assumes we are poor, but we are still people and it needs to stop.
I asked if we had done anything wrong. To which she replied no.. soo i said *then leave us alone.. if we do anything wrong, then tell us and we will stop…until then, plz stop treating us like scum that will ruin things, its a hotel.. we paid, leave us be..you dont cover every customers room w news paper and hover over them w rules like a prison guard do you? Soo why do that to us.. you are NOT doing us a favor, we could have found other accomodations if youd been uncomfortable. I understand your worry but we didnt do anything to be treated poorly and its making us feel opressed and uncomfortable even talking w eachother at a normal tone.. please relax and leave us be*
Horrible experience and completely demeaning.
I had to stop her when she just sat there 20 mins in my room w my kids belittling me. Hope she didnt take offence I wasnt mad , just making clear it was rude.
He might have more than 7 cars. He is not paying tax or insurance on them so they are easy for him to maintain.
Rather than for Nigerian Police officers to protect citizens, you see them guarding the Nigerian rich men. The middle class always employ Gate men. (security issues)
The Nigerian rich men mostly send their wives to USA for child birth because of citizenship. The uncertainties in Nigeria are too many and he wants the best for his kids.
The Nigeria rich man always seeks medical aid abroad.He doesn’t trust the Nigerian health care system even though we have both public and private hospitals.Nigeria President son had a bike accident ,he was transported to Germany for check up/treatment. His father (President Buhari ) almost stayed in London for a year because of health care.Yes they are rich and can afford this extravagant life.
The Nigeria rich man evades tax a lot. Yes FIRS, the Nigerian version of IRS, aren’t effective.Till today, we do not even know how much Nigerian legislatives earn monthly.
The Nigerian rich man might establish his own private university and send his own kids abroad for college education.
A rich man in the USA.
He enjoys a business conducive environment.
He enjoys access to health care
He gets taxed for all his properties and liabilities.
He files his taxes or risks jail.
If he is an Entrepreneur, he employs workers and pays them with minimum wage. Nigeria is still battling with fixing its minimum wage to $100 monthly. The rich men in Nigeria are seriously taking advantage of the poor youths, paying them peanuts.
I hope you understand my points from another view of life.
You see Europeans are against war… in Europe they’re absolutely fine with devastation and killing OUTSIDE Europe.
After WW2 it was never again in Europe.
This is why the vast majority of them supported the Iraq and Afghan genocides. The people loved the 20 year mass murder of Iraqis and Afghans and most of them were happy about it.
All their governments which remember are elected and WHOLLY REPRESENTATIVE of the people as they’re democracies remember which is the PERFECT MOST REPRESENTATIVE system support killing of brown people.
This is why Europe needs to be utterly devastated along with the USA. Some of them might have the awareness and think OMG we did this for years against other countries! Are we the baddies?
most of them will be nah! They’re just insects!!!
Wanna play?
Col. Larry Wilkerson on Scott Ritter and Russia’s Devastating Warning to NATO
Everyone is convinced that the United States is in full scale collapse.
In the 1860’s, abused children were not protected under the law. So animal activists had to step in to rescue an abused child. Mary Ellen Wilson was the first child abuse case in America that initiated welfare rights for abused children.
If you beat and mistreated your furry animal, the newly formed ASPCA (the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) had the right to take it away from you. In some cases, you could be imprisoned.
If you beat and neglected a living, breathing child, the law allowed it because children were considered the property of the father.
Little Mary’s story begins tragically. Her father died when she was born, forcing her penniless mother to place her in the care of Martha Score. After Mary’s mother missed a few payments, Martha Score cruelly placed Mary Wilson into the New York City Department of Charities without her mother’s consent.
[1]After her financial situation improved, Mary’s mother, Francis Wilson, returned to get her child back but Martha Score falsely informed her that her daughter had died. Distraught, Francis Wilson left and never knew the horrors her daughter faced after being adopted by Mary and Thomas McCormack.
In that era, adoption was easy and unregulated. The couple walked into the orphanage, claimed to be her legitimate parents and took Mary Wilson home with them. The purpose of adopting her was to have an indentured servant, basically an unpaid servant.
Thomas McCormack died shortly after the adoption, and Mary McCormack remarried to Francis McConnell. It was during this period where Mary Wilson experienced extreme abuse. It was common knowledge in the neighborhood that her adopted mother savagely beat her.
Mary Wilson was beaten, burned, whipped and locked in a closet for hours. She was forced to do heavy labor and to sleep on the floor. The little girl slept on a dirty mat in a closet where she was chained like a dog.
During that period, Etta Wheeler, who was a missionary working for the poor, heard of the abuse and investigated. She expected to find an abused child but was still horrified by what she saw. Mary Wilson’s frail, starved body was covered in burns and cuts.
She went to authorities to have Mary Wilson removed from the abusive household but local authorities were unwilling to help, pointing out that the law allowed for physical discipline and Mary Wilson was the property of Francis McConnell.
“She’s better off with a home than on the street!” was the common belief.
Lost on what to do next, she decided to appeal to the organization that advocated against animal cruelty. Henry Bergh, the founder of ASPCA, was eager to help and built a legal case after Etta Wheeler gathered evidence and testimony on the abuse.
During the case, this was Mary Wilson’s chilling words on what she experienced.
My father and mother are both dead. I don’t know how old I am. I have no recollection of a time when I did not live with the Connollys. Mamma has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost every day. She used to whip me with a twisted whip — a rawhide. The whip always left a black and blue mark on my body. I have now the black and blue marks on my head which were made by Mamma and also a cut on the left side of my forehead which was made by a pair of scissors. She struck me with the scissors and cut me; I have no recollection of ever having been kissed by any one — have never been kissed by Mamma. I have never been taken on my mamma’s lap and caressed or petted. I never dared to speak to anybody, because if I did, I would get whipped. I do not know for what I was whipped — Mamma never said anything to me when she whipped me. I do not want to go back to live with Mamma, because she beats me so. I have no recollection ever being on the street in my life.
[2]Her stepmother was found guilty of felonious assault and sentenced to one year of hard labour. Not an adequate sentence in my opinion. She should’ve gotten more for the abuse she inflicted.
Mary Wilson went on to live a happy life under the care of Etta Wheeler’s younger sister. She married and had two daughters, later adopting an orphaned girl. One of her daughters was named Etta, after the woman who rescued her.
She lived happily till her death at the age of 92. According to her children and grandchildren, she rarely discussed her early years and always possessed a kind, caring nature despite her horrific past.
After Mary Wilson’s case, laws were established against child abuse.
For the longest time in history, children and woman were considered property of their father or husband. This story goes to show how backwards society once was.
Can you believe that animals had more protection than children in history? It’s saddening.
One morning, my catering delivery driver comes running in the building to tell me that a trailer truck pulled in behind him as he was leaving with a catering delivery. The driver of the truck was nasty and refused to back up his truck.
This was a delivery for us from a company that we dealt with for many years. Apparently he was a new driver as we had never seen him before.
I am a 5′6″ 120 lb female and was probably about 56 years old at the time. Just saying, you’ll see.
So I went outside and asked the driver to move his truck. He refused and started swearing at me using words that would make my mother blush. He was standing in front of me with clenched fists. Very calmly, I told him I had 2 choices: I could call his boss or I could call the police. “you choose,” I said. He raised his fists and starting running towards me. I stood still with my arms crossed and then he stopped a few inches from me. “you’ll move your truck then”, I said. He turned and got back in the cab. I turned to go back in the building and there behind me was the 6′2” chef, the 6′ butcher and a 6′ driver. all big men.
How we laughed. I thought I had it under control all by myself! The guys couldn’t decide if I was a fool or brave. I thought I was brave!
I did call the drivers boss and that was the last time we saw him! We still laugh about that day several years later.
Chinese General “War is coming” Wait and You will See.
Very interesting “interview”.
The content you produce is top-tier and very valuable. High level overview of 'perceptions', 'narratives', and 'situations'. Becoming my go-to channel for Asia Pacific. Respect.
NOTE: This information was true up until 2009 and I cannot unequivocally state that it is currently taught to medics and again, I doubt anyone would admit to others in a public forum if they had participated in the situation.
Yes, you can. Medics are taught how to but not instructed to. There is a terrible and fine line out there in “the suck” that medics, and medics alone, are asked to walk.
You don’t end a person’s life. Full stop. In the rare case that a soldier is mortally wounded (no way to maintain an airway or control bleeding and no higher medical assets within a reasonable time)… then a medic could administer an extra ampule of morphine or two. Even though the doctors and instructors teach the medics this, in the end, it’s on that one person’s shoulders. And conscience.
Is it better to leave your friend/co-worker screaming in agony until they are too weak to yell? Then watch them convulse every few minutes for a couple of hours. Then finally they stop responding to your voice or even painful stimulus.
Brain death is setting in. It takes a few minutes or a few days.
Every minute you have a seriously wounded soldier in your unit you have medics that are out of the fight. You also have a much more complicated command situation. Nobody (NOBODY) makes this decision lightly. They also never talk about it.
In the movies, there is always an EVAC helicopter with an escort available and ready to risk anything to get to the wounded. In combat, it’s not always possible. “Birds” get grounded for many reasons and MEDEVAC Strykers are delayed by the need for escort vehicles/crews and IED laden roads. In almost all cases, the wounded will live to see the operating room. In some form.
Combat wounded are intense. Gunfire is still raging in many cases. People are yelling, confusion is everywhere. The medic will be well trained but under a lot of stress. They know that they have to address breathing and bleeding in 2–3 minutes. They also need to avoid causing further injury and find any hidden wounds. While doing this they have to coordinate any available soldiers with combat lifesaver training to assist them with this or other injured. Finally, they also have to constantly keep the command apprised of the situation.
Who has X injury?
Can they return to the fight?
Do they need to be evacuated from battle or can we take them with us?
If they need to go NOW, how long do they realistically have?
Can we ground evac through the combat or do we need a bird?
While answering all of that the medic has assessed the wounded. Tried to control the bleeding and established a secure airway. Then they need to find a vein for an IV (super hard on a patient with blood loss or missing limbs). While doing this they also need to fill out the ‘9 Line’ medical evacuation form for the radio. Once this is done the medic will check the field dressings, the IV, the breathing. Record the wounds and vitals. Mark when/if morphine was given (how much, when, where administered) and done so that the surgeon can see it and blood doesn’t wash it away. Often in black sharpie on the forehead if the patient is unconscious- as awful as that sounds it works well.
So, don’t talk about the morality of this until you walk a mile (or 26) in a medic’s boots. Don’t talk about what happens until you live and work with a small team of men and women in a combat zone for over a year at a time. Infantry units are closer than most marriages/families. Your platoon SGT is dad and doc is mom. It’s a horrific moment to see one of your guys literally torn in half and dying. It’s much worse to know that due to a sandstorm there aren’t any flights that day. It’s hell on earth when you realize nobody is coming by road because of the IED you just hit. It’s unimaginable when you realize you only have 2 morphine ampules left and 3 critically wounded friends.
I didn’t have to make the hardest choice. I wouldn’t tell you if I did.
Great question. I hope someone who actually held this responsibility in combat can clear it up a little.
Update 2/1/21: I have received word from one medic who states they are no longer issued morphine, but it has been replaced with fentanyl and ketamine. I have two friends still in service who are currently issued morphine while fentanyl is on the medevac stryker, but I believe Mr. Walker regarding standard issue. Thank you to Alan Walker for the comment.
USA DEPLOYING 300K TROOPS TO EUROPE! RUSSIAS NUCLEAR LINE CROSSED, ATTACKS ON RUSSIA BEGIN
He is talking about what I have been saying. When the empire collapses, it starts locking down the country.
BREAKING NEWS: ISRAEL IS LAUNCHING ATTACKS UPON SOUTHERN LEBANON
Multiple Massive Explosions reported in Southern Lebanon as the Israeli Air Force appears to have begun Striking several Hezbollah Positions near the Border with Israel.; Strikes so Intense that Houses within the City of Kiryat Shmona are reported to be Shaking.
Drone reconnaissance activity over the Naqoura and Tyre sectors, south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon.
Says one observer:
“Israel is bombing Rafah. Israel is bombing Lebanon. Israel is bombing Syria. Bombing 3 different countries at the same time is not victim behavior. It is terrorism.”
Crossing red lines w/ Jeffrey Sachs
Very good, and he lays out a really good history of how we got here.
https://youtu.be/c-gIFpYWPuA
U.S. Surveillance Drone “FORTE-12” Has Gone “Missing” Over Black Sea
American Recon Drone “FORTE12” has apparently gone down in the Black Sea. RUMORS say it was hit with jamming or Electronic Warfare (EW).
The intelligence drone was a Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk, flying out of an air base in Sicily. It circled at an altitude of 15.5 kilometers above the neutral waters of the Black Sea near Crimea according to the data of the website Flightradar24.
Judging by the data of the site, which allows real-time monitoring of aircraft movement, the reconnaissance drone flew out of the airfield Catania on the Italian island of Sicily. The drone gained height and proceeded through airspace of Greece and Bulgaria to the Black Sea.
According to Flightradar, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) belongs to the US Air Force and has registration number 10-2045, the call sign Forte-12.
The flight of the drone is tracked by more than five thousand users, ranking first in the “popularity” on the FlightRadar24 website platform. According data at 11:39 Moscow time, drone tracking stopped on the site, the board stopped displaying on the map.
According to the manufacturing company, the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle is designed for reconnaissance and surveillance. It is capable of flying at high altitudes for more than 30 hours, is designed to receive images of large tracts of land with a high resolution in almost real time, is able to act in any weather and any time of day. In addition, such devices are used to support communication as repeaters.
As noted on the manufacturer’s website, Global Hawk, used by the US Air Force since 2001, “identifies potential threats, allowing commanders to gain a better understanding of their area of interest”.
This radio show called U.S. Central Command, twice, for comment. Both calls were picked up, with an almost immediate hang-up. I then called the Pentagon Press office. That call was answered by “Quinn” and I told him I was trying to reach CENTCOM but two calls resulted in Hang-ups; that I was trying to get a comment about FORTE-12 Drone being downed in the Black Sea. I asked him for a better contact number for CENTCOM. He asked me to hold. He came back a minute later saying “I am putting you through to Major Dietz. The call rang 4x and voice mail picked up saying “You have reached a mailbox that cannot accept messages.”
If you think that’s trash on the ground, you would be, as the first helicopter pilots who flew over, mistaken.
These are the bodies of 918 members of the Peoples Temple who were brutally murdered by madman so high on himself and a truckload of barbiturates, I bet he still roams the location in a dream of undeserved self worship, refusing to accept that he died decades ago.
He died not the same way as the others.. Oh no that would be far too painful. You can mix as much drugs and sedatives into a vat of “Koolaid” as you want, it won’t make a difference when you throw buckets of potassium cyanide along with it. Cyanide has no mercy or morals, it stops the body from absorbing oxygen. Simple as that. It suffocates you, and I promise you it is not pleasant or “pain free” as Jim Jones promised it would be. The sedatives added would take up to 30 min to start working. Cyanide killed them in 5 min.
No my friends, Mr Jones took a bullet to the head. Probably didn’t even do it himself. He was too cowardly to drink his “potion”, nor shoot himself. Based on what his son said about him later, he knew he was a fraud. And when all failed, he refused to fail alone, and made all his followers follow him into death. Some were brainwashed, but many of them were forced.
He made the children drink first, so by the time they had gone, the parents wouldn’t have much to live for, and would want to go with their children into peace.
Jones was a sick man, and a terrible lesson for us to learn. Let us learn it well.
Those who forget the past, are condemned to repeat it.
The US Sanctioned China…You Won’t Believe How Beijing Responded!
You are quite deluded. Taiwan’s military is primitive compared to the militaries of China and USA.
A war between China and Taiwan, excluding the participation of USA, would last a matter of days. And Taiwan would LOSE.
All of Taiwan’s military equipment from USA are second-rate leftovers from the US military. Taiwan does not have access to F-22, F-35, and advanced US Navy ships and submarines.
Malaysian News has not done adequate research on the matter. Or, Malaysian News chooses to be wilfully ignorant. Denial is not a river in Africa.
Scott Ritter Exposed: Secret U.S.-NATO Challenges Russia, Nuclear War is Inevitable
German Chocolate Doughnuts
Surprise! There’s a yummy secret filling in these chocolate-glazed doughnuts.
German Chocolate Doughnuts
Prep: 30 min | Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
4 cups Crisco® Pure Vegetable Oil
1 cup Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme™ Coconut Pecan Frosting
1/2 cup Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme™ Chocolate Frosting
1 can Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Flaky Layers refrigerated honey butter biscuits
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup flaked coconut, toasted*
Instructions
In 3-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium heat to 350 degrees F.
Meanwhile, spoon coconut pecan frosting into decorating bag fitted with 1/2-inch wide tip. Set aside.
In medium bowl, stir chocolate frosting and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Set aside.
Place paper towels under cooling rack. Separate dough into 8 biscuits; gently place 2 biscuits at a time in hot oil. Cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Using tongs, gently turn over; cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to cooling rack; cool 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix pecans and coconut.
To fill doughnuts, insert decorating tip** into side of each biscuit. Squeeze about 2 tablespoons of coconut pecan frosting into center.
Dip one side of each biscuit in chocolate glaze. Sprinkle with pecan mixture.
Serve warm or cool.
Notes
* To toast coconut, heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread coconut in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.
** If you don’t have a decorating bag and tip, use a 1 gallon plastic freezer bag. Spoon frosting into bag and cut 1/2 inch off one corner of bag. Fill doughnuts as stated.
Nutrition
Per serving: Calories 530 Calories from Fat 290 Total Fat 32g Saturated Fat 10g Trans Fat 2 1/2g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 600mg Total Carbohydrate 55g Dietary Fiber 1g Sugars 1g Protein 4g
% Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0% Calcium 0% Iron 8%
Some years ago my brother and I decided to open up a cigar parlor. We wanted to open it at the newly-developed Patriot Place, home of the New England Patriots. Being a marketing manager by trade I researched and wrote a business plan for the project, learning much along the way. For example, the average retail store generates about 150 dollars of revenue per square foot: for decades, Tiffany’s generated the most at 4000 dollars per square foot til Apple came along and blew everyone out of the water at 6000 dollars per square foot.
I did traffic pattern analysis and so on. I got all kinds of rental statistics from the Patriot Place management office and wrote a plan. We got a lawyer and incorporated. We got an accountant and became an LLC. We went to a bank and got 400,000 in SBA financing. We went to the Chamber of Commerce and they hooked us up with a business team at a business college who wrote our financial plan for us for free. We went to Patriot Place sales management and they showed us a concrete box available in the mall. It was 11oo square feet. The rent was 89,000 dollars a year. We hired an architect who drew up a plot plan and did basic diagrams of the layout we wanted. We worked with the town health inspector to make sure there were no gotchas. The triumph was going to the town to apply for a liquor license. By the merest of chance a liquor license had been surrendered that day and the town clerk approved my application. All I needed was a rubber-stamp approval from the town government and the clerk told me it was a formality. It cost me 250 dollars. By comparison, a liquor license in Massachusetts sold by a business costs between 250,000 and 500,000 dollars. I was in the right place at the right time. Most of the profit in any food business is the liquor. A cigar, after taxes, might make 20 percent. Booze makes many times that. Many businesses are propped up by the booze sales alone. Everything else is just a gimmick to get customers to come in and buy booze.
Once the Plan was complete with architectural drawings, contractor lists, materials required, SBA documents, business plan, pro-forma financial documents and every other duck lined up we contacted Patriot Place management. They arranged a sit-down meeting to discuss the viability of our potential business in their mall. Meanwhile we contacted all the businesses that would be around us. Almost every single one of them said a variation of the following: “Do not do business with these people. You are getting in bed with the devil. Run away while you still have the time. Once you sign a five year contract it will be too late to run away.” But by this time we had invested over 40,000 dollars in the operation. So we went forward.
The meeting was scheduled for 2:oo PM at the Patriot Place boardroom. My brother and I put on our best suits: we made copies of the plans and had them bound. We wanted to look professional and capable. At 2:00 we showed up at the Patriot Place office. No one was around. After about fifteen minutes a guy showed up who said he represented Patriot Place rental management. He looked about 25. He was wearing cut-off shorts and flip flops, a concert T-shirt and dark Ray-Bans. He told us the conference room was not available so we would have to do the meeting at Davios restaurant. We walked to the restaurant in silence. I was hoping we would meet other officials there who were more professional. But when we got to the restaurant it was fully booked. The guy stood outside in his flip flops for a minute and then he said, “We can do the presentation here on the park bench.” I was incredulous. We were going to give a business presentation in the middle of a mall on a bench, with shoppers passing by. So I said, “Will others from the organization be joining us?” and he grinned and said, “It’s just me, baby!”. What choice did we have but to sit down and present? My tie was flapping in the wind. My brother was silent. I handed a packet to the guy and went to my Power Point summary. At first all he was interested in was our liquor license: how we got it, the miraculous story of how I was in the right place at the right time. He listened intently.
But when I started to present the guy’s cell phone rang. He picked it up. “It’s my girlfriend,” he said. And started talking. Then while he was talking he said to us, “Yeah, keep going.” There was a pit in the bottom of my stomach. It was like talking to air as I spoke while he carried on an animated conversation with his girlfriend. I finished before he did. We waited in silence for him to finish his call. When he was done all he said was, “Does this packet include everything?” I said, “Yes, the business plan, architectural diagrams, contracts, LLC legal documents, all of it.” “OK,” he said, getting up, “We’ll let you know in two weeks. By the way, it’s triple net and we take 2 percent of any revenues over 1 million dollars per year. That’s revenues, not profit. And you have to use our services for snow and trash removal, plumbing, electrical and janitorial. You’ll be billed monthly.” And he got up and left.
My brother and I sat there. It was like getting raped. Neither of us said a thing. We just looked around at the mall. “It’s like getting in bed with the Devil,” that store owner told us.
Two weeks went by. They never called us. Another week went by. They never called us. Finally I called the name on the card the man had given us. It took him awhile to remember who we were. “Oh, we’re not doing that,” he said, dismissively, “but thanks for the Plan. It was very thorough. We’ll use it as a template if we ever decide to put in a cigar store.” And he hung up. No good-bye. I stood there looking at my cellphone like an idiot. We were out 40,000 dollars and had nothing to show for it. Later we were alerted by the town that our liquor license had been denied. It had been given to Patriot Place instead.
We never went to Patriot Place again, not to shop, not to eat, not for anything. They were the devil.
Anti-War Activist Passport Confiscated & Pulled Off Plane By State Dept. – Scott Ritter
Some years ago my brother and I decided to open up a cigar parlor. We wanted to open it at the newly-developed Patriot Place, home of the New England Patriots. Being a marketing manager by trade I researched and wrote a business plan for the project, learning much along the way. For example, the average retail store generates about 150 dollars of revenue per square foot: for decades, Tiffany’s generated the most at 4000 dollars per square foot til Apple came along and blew everyone out of the water at 6000 dollars per square foot.
I did traffic pattern analysis and so on. I got all kinds of rental statistics from the Patriot Place management office and wrote a plan. We got a lawyer and incorporated. We got an accountant and became an LLC. We went to a bank and got 400,000 in SBA financing. We went to the Chamber of Commerce and they hooked us up with a business team at a business college who wrote our financial plan for us for free. We went to Patriot Place sales management and they showed us a concrete box available in the mall. It was 11oo square feet. The rent was 89,000 dollars a year. We hired an architect who drew up a plot plan and did basic diagrams of the layout we wanted. We worked with the town health inspector to make sure there were no gotchas. The triumph was going to the town to apply for a liquor license. By the merest of chance a liquor license had been surrendered that day and the town clerk approved my application. All I needed was a rubber-stamp approval from the town government and the clerk told me it was a formality. It cost me 250 dollars. By comparison, a liquor license in Massachusetts sold by a business costs between 250,000 and 500,000 dollars. I was in the right place at the right time. Most of the profit in any food business is the liquor. A cigar, after taxes, might make 20 percent. Booze makes many times that. Many businesses are propped up by the booze sales alone. Everything else is just a gimmick to get customers to come in and buy booze.
Once the Plan was complete with architectural drawings, contractor lists, materials required, SBA documents, business plan, pro-forma financial documents and every other duck lined up we contacted Patriot Place management. They arranged a sit-down meeting to discuss the viability of our potential business in their mall. Meanwhile we contacted all the businesses that would be around us. Almost every single one of them said a variation of the following: “Do not do business with these people. You are getting in bed with the devil. Run away while you still have the time. Once you sign a five year contract it will be too late to run away.” But by this time we had invested over 40,000 dollars in the operation. So we went forward.
The meeting was scheduled for 2:oo PM at the Patriot Place boardroom. My brother and I put on our best suits: we made copies of the plans and had them bound. We wanted to look professional and capable. At 2:00 we showed up at the Patriot Place office. No one was around. After about fifteen minutes a guy showed up who said he represented Patriot Place rental management. He looked about 25. He was wearing cut-off shorts and flip flops, a concert T-shirt and dark Ray-Bans. He told us the conference room was not available so we would have to do the meeting at Davios restaurant. We walked to the restaurant in silence. I was hoping we would meet other officials there who were more professional. But when we got to the restaurant it was fully booked. The guy stood outside in his flip flops for a minute and then he said, “We can do the presentation here on the park bench.” I was incredulous. We were going to give a business presentation in the middle of a mall on a bench, with shoppers passing by. So I said, “Will others from the organization be joining us?” and he grinned and said, “It’s just me, baby!”. What choice did we have but to sit down and present? My tie was flapping in the wind. My brother was silent. I handed a packet to the guy and went to my Power Point summary. At first all he was interested in was our liquor license: how we got it, the miraculous story of how I was in the right place at the right time. He listened intently.
But when I started to present the guy’s cell phone rang. He picked it up. “It’s my girlfriend,” he said. And started talking. Then while he was talking he said to us, “Yeah, keep going.” There was a pit in the bottom of my stomach. It was like talking to air as I spoke while he carried on an animated conversation with his girlfriend. I finished before he did. We waited in silence for him to finish his call. When he was done all he said was, “Does this packet include everything?” I said, “Yes, the business plan, architectural diagrams, contracts, LLC legal documents, all of it.” “OK,” he said, getting up, “We’ll let you know in two weeks. By the way, it’s triple net and we take 2 percent of any revenues over 1 million dollars per year. That’s revenues, not profit. And you have to use our services for snow and trash removal, plumbing, electrical and janitorial. You’ll be billed monthly.” And he got up and left.
My brother and I sat there. It was like getting raped. Neither of us said a thing. We just looked around at the mall. “It’s like getting in bed with the Devil,” that store owner told us.
Two weeks went by. They never called us. Another week went by. They never called us. Finally I called the name on the card the man had given us. It took him awhile to remember who we were. “Oh, we’re not doing that,” he said, dismissively, “but thanks for the Plan. It was very thorough. We’ll use it as a template if we ever decide to put in a cigar store.” And he hung up. No good-bye. I stood there looking at my cellphone like an idiot. We were out 40,000 dollars and had nothing to show for it. Later we were alerted by the town that our liquor license had been denied. It had been given to Patriot Place instead.
We never went to Patriot Place again, not to shop, not to eat, not for anything. They were the devil.
Apricot Cream Cheese French Toast
Apricot Cream Cheese French Toast
Ingredients
French Toast
1 loaf French bread, cut into 8 very thick slices
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup pecans
Confectioners’ sugar
1 cup whipping cream
4 eggs
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Apricot Sauce
1 (12 ounce) jar apricot preserves
1/2 cup orange juice
Instructions
French Toast
Make a pocket in bread slices by slicing again, but not all the way through.
Mix the cream cheese with the pecans and a couple tablespoons of the confectioners’ sugar. Stuff the pocket in the French bread with the cream cheese mixture. Dip into a mixture of whipping cream, eggs, nutmeg and vanilla extract.
Grill on hot griddle, and serve with Apricot Sauce.
Apricot Sauce
Mix apricot preserves with orange juice over low heat.
Douglas Macgregor: Why you should pity American Soldiers | Truth on Washington
There used to be a yogurt franchise called TCBY yogurt. I loved to eat it, and during the 1980’s it ran neck to neck with ice cream. But somehow, all of the thousands of stores evaporated. Roughly right after my first series of world-line slide.
f3127019234d355c56ad6760d15b55af
Ah. I entered a world where the only TCBY yogurt that remains out of the entire franchise is in Arkansas. Ugh.
TCBY grew from a single store in Little Rock (Pulaski County) to a 3,000-outlet franchise. Selling flavored frozen yogurt, TCBY was known around the world. First known as the Capitol Tower, the tallest building in Arkansas was known as the TCBY Tower from 1991 to 2004 and bore those four letters on its upper floors.
According to ChatGPT…
TCBY (The Country's Best Yogurt) is still in operation, although its presence has significantly diminished compared to its peak popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. TCBY was one of the first frozen yogurt chains in the United States and played a significant role in popularizing frozen yogurt as a healthier alternative to ice cream.
In recent years, TCBY has faced increased competition from other frozen yogurt chains as well as shifts in consumer preferences. However, the company has adapted by introducing new menu offerings, updating its store designs, and expanding its range of products to include options such as dairy-free and low-sugar frozen desserts.
While many TCBY locations have closed over time, the chain still has a presence in various parts of the United States and internationally.
Another is Rax.
Rax signage
There used to be a fast food chain in the United States called “Rax”. I loved it. They had this mushroom/swiss cheese burger, and this ham and cheese burger. All so delicious.
Rax meal 2
Then out of the blue it all disappeared.
According to chatGPT, the Rax Roast Beef fast-food chain was once a prominent presence in the United States, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. Known for its roast beef sandwiches and salad bars, Rax was considered a competitor to other fast-food chains like Arby's and McDonald's.
However, Rax struggled financially and faced various challenges, including declining sales and increased competition from other fast-food chains. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1992, which led to the closure of many of its locations.
Despite efforts to rebrand and revitalize the chain, including changes to its menu and marketing strategies, Rax continued to face difficulties. Many of its remaining locations were sold off or closed over the years.
Today there are only a few Rax locations still in operation, primarily in the Midwestern United States.
Rax meal 1
Ah…
Rax and TCBY.
According to the point of view of my consciousness, the moment that I started performing world-line slides after my MAJestic training, these restaurants disappeared. Bummer.
But, you know, after I began my slides, new types of french fries suddenly appeared. So it is a mixed bag.
4e5baa52cd0348453548974309e48180
Today…
What are the behaviors of a confident person?
Good posture: Standing or sitting up straight can convey confidence and poise.
Eye contact: Maintaining eye contact during conversation can show confidence and sincerity.
Clear, confident speech: Speaking clearly and confidently can convey conviction and self-assurance.
Assertive communication: Communicating your needs and desires in a clear and direct way can show confidence and self-assurance.
Decisiveness: Being able to make decisions quickly and confidently can show that you are in control.
Setting boundaries: Knowing your limits and being able to assert them can show self-respect and confidence.
Willingness to take risks: Being willing to take on challenges and try new things can show confidence and a sense of adventure.
Ability to handle criticism: Being able to receive and learn from criticism without getting defensive can show self-assurance and resilience.
Ability to admit mistakes: Being able to admit when you are wrong and take responsibility for your actions can show honesty and humility.
Genuine enthusiasm: Being genuinely excited about things can show confidence and a positive outlook.
Positive body language: Using nonverbal cues such as smiling and open body posture can convey confidence and openness.
Comfortable with silence: Being comfortable with pauses or silence during conversation can show confidence and self-assurance.
Ability to listen actively: Being able to fully listen to and understand others can show respect and confidence.
Ability to negotiate effectively: Being able to effectively negotiate and come to mutually beneficial agreements can show assertiveness and confidence.
Ability to ask for help: Knowing when to ask for help and being able to do so confidently can show strength and self-awareness.
Ability to handle pressure: Being able to stay calm and focused under pressure can show confidence and resilience.
Ability to set and achieve goals: Being able to set and work towards goals can show determination and confidence.
Ability to adapt to change: Being able to adapt to new situations and handle unexpected changes can show flexibility and confidence.
What was the absolute most disrespectful thing a customer ever said to you, and what did you do?
Well, there was this one time when I was working at a Home Depot in the Bay Area I was doing inventory with another girl and this girl had some teeth issues. I didn’t have a problem working with her because she is a very nice sweet person that just happened to have teeth missing. Anyways I heard this big woman say something about how can they let someone like her work with the customers. I looked over and my co-worker heard what she had said and she looked genuinely hurt by her comment. And it made her cry. I was so angry that I stopped what I was doing took off my ten-key machine and I stopped that fat bitch and I made her go apologise to my friend and I told her look at her now she may have teeth missing and she is working on getting that corrected. Now take your fat ass away from me because just the sight of your fat face is nauseating. And in the future just keep your fucking little comments to yourself.Till this day I still don’t know why I wasn’t fired over that.And just to let you know she never got a chance to fix her teeth. Because around 2009 she fell and hit her head on her water cooler and she ended up passing away in a coma.She was a good woman and she was a hard worker.I miss you, Emma…..
I understand
Chicken Fajita Casserole
Chicken Fajita Casserole
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 medium red, green and/or yellow bell peppers, cut into strips
In 12 inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and cook chicken with peppers, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until chicken is almost done and peppers are crisp-tender.
Stir in onion soup mix blended with water, flour, chili powder, cayenne and garlic powder. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes or until chicken is done and sauce is thickened.
To serve, turn into serving dish, then top with tortilla strips.
Garnish, if desired, with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and shredded Cheddar cheese.
What is something that most people don’t know?
A small child could swim through the veins of a blue whale.
A single teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh about 6 billion tons.
A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
The surface area of a human lung is about 70 square meters, roughly the size of a tennis court.
A hummingbird’s heart beats 1,260 times per minute.
The lifespan of a single taste bud is about 10 days.
The shortest war in recorded history lasted only 38 minutes between Britain and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896.
The first product ever sold on the Internet was a bag of marijuana.
The shortest place name in the world is “A”, a hill in Wales, United Kingdom.
A study found that if your face suggests that you’re alert and slightly happy, people are more likely to perceive you as intelligent.
Annunaki | Gods from Planet Nibiru and the Makers of Man
The Chancellor of Bavaria and Chairman of the CSU said after a visit to China that if there is no dialogue with China, things will become dangerous. He thinks dialogue is better than monologue. Do you agree?
China may not need Bavaria, but Bavaria needs China. Bavaria needs China in two aspects:
1. Bavaria is home to many German military factories and they want to import Xinjiang cotton
Ukraine needs up to 350,000 rounds of artillery shells every month, and its consumption is not small.
I recently saw an AFP report in which the European Commissioner stated that France would find it difficult to continue manufacturing missiles and artillery shells due to a lack of gunpowder. The shortage of gunpowder was due to the lack of raw material nitrocellulose.
Nitrocellulose is extracted from cotton, but where does the cotton come from? EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said a long time ago that making gunpowder powder requires a “special cotton”, and this Cotton grown “mostly comes from China”!
According to 2020 data, 95% of the world’s natural cotton suitable for the production of smokeless nitrocellulose is produced in Xinjiang, China; another 4% is produced in Central Asian countries; and the remaining 1% is produced in the Nile Delta.
Cotton from Central Asian countries, which account for 4% of global production, is a designated purchaser exclusively for Russia. Therefore, including the United States and the entire Europe, only cotton produced in cotton fields along the Nile, which accounts for 1% of global production, can be used directly.
It is no exaggeration to say that with the current cotton production capacity in the world, without China’s participation, other countries would not even be able to fight a world war, because they really can’t even build missiles!
But why can’t they import cotton from China? This is because they shot themselves in the foot, they created all this themselves.
In order to demonize China and slander China, the United States and Europe engage in forced labor in Xinjiang and force Uyghurs to grow cotton.
Even European companies led by HM took the initiative to boycott Chinese cotton, and China also adopted counter-sanctions measures and stopped exporting cotton to the United States and Europe.
But they did not expect that the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, and the nitrocellulose used to make missiles and artillery shells must require long-staple cotton from Xinjiang, China.
As a result, they forgot that they had slandered Xinjiang, China, and wanted to import cotton from Xinjiang, China.
2. Bavaria is home to many automobile factories, and they want to cooperate with China to obtain technology for new energy vehicles
China surpassed Japan last year to become the world’s largest automobile exporter. Especially in the field of electric vehicles, China far surpasses any country in the world. In the first quarter of last year alone, the number of Chinese electric vehicles imported into Germany tripled compared with the same period.
Germany, the birthplace of automobiles, has admitted that it has lost to China in the field of electric vehicles. If they do not cooperate with China, they may fall further behind China.
100%
What is the sleaziest, dirtiest trick an auto insurance company tried to pull on you? Did they succeed?
I will never insure with the Good Hands People…
In 2006 my 21 year old daughter was driving to class when a realtor on the phone blew a stop sign and totaled both cars. Neither were injured. About a week after the accident the other party’s insurance called to see if they could collect a statement from my daughter. I said sure. About 20 minutes later my daughter phoned in tears saying the adjuster had accused her of speeding and not yielding to a car already in the intersection. I can only assume this was because she was in a 5 year old mustang – but she no tickets or wrecks up to then.
I asked her a little about the call and started getting mad, madder, furious… I held it in and asked if the adjuster asked about witnesses. The adjuster had and I told my daughter to call the witness who was behind her. She hopped off the phone and called the witness and asked what he saw and if she were speeding. He laughed and said, look, I was about to pass you because you were driving about 5 mph below the posted limit and I was in a hurry. I knew she had not hit the other car; rather the other car hit her in a door.
A couple hours the adjuster called and said they would pay 85% of the value of our car… because no one is 100% at fault. I asked how she determined my daughter was 15%. Her words were, it is a mustang and we know drivers rarely obey the speed limit. She wanted me to give verbal approval then or face a possible adjustment down. I told her that she was full of shit. That the witness following my daughter said she was driving 5 mph below the posted limit and that the other party was on the phone. I reference the police report noting a writing pad and phone on the floor board. I then asked, how he was not 100% at fault. She mumbled something and I said, please speak up. You are being recorded and your story is not so good for you right now. She told me that was unlawful. I ask asked if she was recording and she said mmm, yes. I told her she was in the same boat as I since she failed to disclose.
She said she could go as high as 93%. I said not good enough, I then asked what the 100% value was. It was also deflated to about 70% average book value. I told her I needed to speak to a supervisor, now. She said she couldn’t and I said you risk facing my attorney in court. This recording will be in his hands in about 5 minutes as he is my neighbor. She yielded to 100% and said that was max. I said, not good enough, I need no lower than the average book…please give me to your supervisor, I am tired of dealing with you. Finally, a supervisor who restarted the discussion at 85%. About a third of his way through the spiel I interrupted rather harshly and said, wait a minute, we are not gong through all this again. I reviewed my notes with him and told him I was about out of cell phone battery and I wanted no less than HIGH retail. He had 5 minutes to say yes or I am handing it over to my attorney. It sounded at first as though he had not been briefed but when he noticed I moved up to high retail he said I offered average before.
I ended up with a value between average and high retail. I reported them to the state insurance board and asked for a followup after they review. I never heard back. I feel for those who just say yes without standing their ground.
Desperate young guys
How do you get over the feeling of being a failure?
Realise that you may not be a failure in the eyes of someone else.
Here’s my story. I was 40, divorced, had left a life in New Zealand behind that had fallen apart in the most dramatic way possible, and was invited at my cousin’s house in Austria to a summer party.
As we ate barbecued things and drank local beer, dreams were swapped and future visions exchanged. My cousin is a sound engineer, struggling as a consultant, doing the odd gig in Vienna or Salzburg.
We talked about happiness.
And I heard myself saying, “maybe some day, when I am successful, I will know what happiness is.”
My cousin looked at me as if I was very, very drunk. And maybe, I was. And he said, “Chris; you are the dean of a French university, a Grande Ecole at that, in Shanghai. And you say ‘some day when you are successful’?”
That changed my world view.
I realised then and there that it depends very much on whom we ask whether we feel like failures, or not. All I had been able to see was how badly things had gone for me in New Zealand, and how the expat position in China really was only a gap filler till I would be able to find something to replace the life I had had in NZ. That that life in Shanghai was in itself pretty cool was somehow off my radar.
Perhaps you need to ask the right people? Try to understand what the average person’s existence on this planet is like. Success and failure are not quantitative values. They are dangerously subjective perceptions, and require some grounding in basic values.
So, stop comparing yourself to the wrong people. By comparing ourselves to stars or celebrities of some standing, we will always look bad.
Men Don’t Give a F*ck Anymore… Why the Rate of Single Men In the US Looking For Dates Has Declined
Which has been oversupplied in the world, the Chinese made value-for-money products or the US treasury bonds?
How can products be Oversupplied?
If there is an oversupply, there will be EXCESS INVENTORY of Unsold Products which will increase the storage and warehousing fee and ultimately lead to destruction of the excess supply
This is Demand and Supply Law 101
So China only manufactures products per Global Demand
main qimg 3e498d244295fe81351ea4be904bcf91
Now Yellens problem is simple
China is creating BETTER QUALITY PRODUCTS than the West at half the price
And the Quality gap is rising
There was a time just three years ago when German or Swiss products were better quality than Chinese made products and it was only the cost that was a decisive factor
Today Chinese Panels beat German or French Panels hollow in efficiency, weight, absorption angle and cost
So every Western Renewable Energy Producer is going OUT OF BUSINESS as China floods the world with Superior Panels and Superior Wind Turbines at 40% to 60% the price you pay for the same when made in Stuttgart or Grenoble or Milan or Cincinnati
Yellen would have no issue if these products were owned by Western Businesses but made in China which was the original plan
Now Chinese Businesses control these products and all that money is going to China and Chinas Economy
In the past – out of $ 100 of Exports – China got maybe $ 25
Now China gets $ 60–65
The Western World wants renewable energy
Yet they want to control the technology and the markets
China has beaten them to it
Even if they directly sanction China, the prices will force Chinese products to flow into every market beating every Sanction
Tariffs is the only solution?
Yet that would make renewable energy more expensive for the West and it’s people
They still can’t make Panels at higher price or attain Chinas rapid level of technology with its 1.4 Billion population and surging market
They are all saturated
One Solution
They can pour all the money into R&D into India
I mean huge money
Yet that would only create a new hindrance after 20 years and further weaken Western Hegemony because instead of a China, now you have TWO PROBLEMS – CHINA AND INDIA
So that Option is gone
So Yellen is living in a dream land of her own
She can’t stop Economics
The Economics is with China and US will be destroyed in this dangerous game
Even China tomorrow if it tries to rewrite economics will find it very difficult and painful
Today the Economics is with China and will be there for the next 2 Decades until 2050 at the latest
That is Chinas window
Homeless men
Blinken’s visa threats expose US hypocrisy
“A good example,” said Pope Francis, “brings about so much good, but hypocrisy brings about so much evil.”
main qimg f5ac0792fcfa987a515786cf696c3e70
After the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO) was enacted on March 19, the US and its allies reacted with predictable fury. As Hong Kong had finally discharged its national responsibilities, they realized it was no longer possible for them to use it as a base for destabilizing China. After 1997, they saw the city as the country’s Achilles’ heel, which explains why they encouraged the insurrection of 2019-20 and patronized selected proxies, including the now-defunct Civic Party.
Although those days are over, the US is incensed. It is determined to retaliate against the city whose future it had hoped to influence. Impervious to reason, it is bent on harming Hong Kong, even if it undermines its people’s livelihoods.
On March 30, the US State Department said that, apart from continuing to deny Hong Kong the special trading status it revoked in 2020, it also planned to impose visa restrictions on Hong Kong officials involved in enacting the SNSO. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said “multiple” officials would be targeted, as they were “responsible for the intensifying crackdown on rights and freedoms”. They needed to be held to account for the “intensifying repression” of “civil society, media and dissenting voices”.
However, Blinken’s professed concern for the media was hollow, and cannot be taken seriously. The US contempt for the press is now on public display in the UK, where it is mercilessly pursuing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through the English courts. His 17 “crimes” consist of allegedly disclosing classified information that embarrassed Washington, particularly in relation to war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, including its brutalization of prisoners. As his lawyers have explained, Assange is being victimized for engaging in the ordinary journalistic practices of obtaining and publishing information in the public interest, to which Blinken is oblivious.
Blinken’s hypocrisy, however, is deep-seated and was inherited from his predecessors. Although he claims to support the “global rules-based order”, this is a vacuous catchphrase beloved of Western hypocrites. Whereas he delights in slapping visa restrictions and other penalties on individuals from China and other places he sees as geopolitical rivals, evenhandedness forms no part of his repertoire.
Since the Gaza war started, the death toll has reached almost 33,000, mainly women and children. Another 75,000 have been injured, while many others are starving. Instead of sanctioning those responsible, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and the chief of the general staff, Herzi Halevi, and calling for them to be prosecuted for genocide and war crimes before the International Criminal Court, Blinken has facilitated their offenses. Although, despite being Netanyahu’s aider and abettor, he will never stand trial, Israel’s crimes, to which the US is party, are of biblical proportions, and will forever rank among the world’s greatest wartime atrocities.
On April 1, CNN reported that the US government is about to approve the sale of 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion. These can then be used to kill an awful lot of Palestinians, as also can its other weaponry. Earlier, on March 6, the Washington Post reported the US “quietly approved and delivered” over 100 separate military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began, amounting to “thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid”.
Although this would have delighted the arms merchants, it did little to inspire faith in Blinken’s professed concerns for Gaza’s civilian population. Even the most subservient of US allies may be forgiven for wondering how Blinken can look himself in the mirror.
While Blinken has always had lots to say about “rights and freedoms” in Hong Kong, he is allowing Israel to get away with blue murder in Gaza. He has protected it at international forums and sought to rationalize its depredations. However, its excesses have become so horrific that even he, on March 25, felt unable to block the UN Security Council’s call for a temporary cease-fire for Ramadan.
Away from the war zone, Blinken’s duplicity is no less pronounced. When the UK introduced its National Security Act 2023 (NSA), he did not slap visa restrictions or other penalties on its principal architects, the then-home secretary, Suella Braverman, and the security minister, Tom Tugendhat. This was despite the NSA’s crackdown on the “rights and freedoms” Blinken claimed to be so concerned about in Hong Kong.
The “chilling effect” of the NSA’s espionage provisions was condemned in the British Parliament, not least for their impact on investigative journalism. It cracked down on civil liberties, giving the police extra powers of detention and curbing the pretrial rights of suspects, including access to lawyers. Although Blinken feigned fury when not-dissimilar measures were adopted in Hong Kong, he did not bat an eyelid when they occurred in the UK, which should surprise nobody.
His posturing over “rights and freedoms” has always been simply a convenient stick with which to beat people from places that reject US hegemony and refuse to dance to its tune.
Indeed, given his concern for “dissenting voices” in Hong Kong, it might have been expected Blinken would be up in arms over Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. It was the brainchild of its first minister, Humza Yousaf, and came into force on April 1, 2024. It has been called a “snitch’s charter”, criminalizing words that might be construed as “stirring up hatred”. If a “reasonable person” (a vague term) considers something said by somebody else to be “insulting” an offense may arise, with a suspect facing up to seven years’ imprisonment.
Yousaf’s new law has been denounced by free thinkers and ordinary Scots, and people are wondering if, in future, they should keep their views to themselves to be on the safe side.
The Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, a straight talker from Edinburgh, fears she may be targeted by the Hate Crime Act. She has regularly argued that trans women are not women, and that men who self-identify as women do not thereby become women. She has also maintained that convicted rapists who declare themselves to be females should not be housed in women’s prisons, supposedly a safe place. Although most people applaud her views, she is concerned they will expose her to charges, and attempts have already been made to prosecute her under what she calls a “ludicrous law”.
Since the new crime of “stirring up hatred” was introduced on April 1, Police Scotland has received over 3,000 hate crime reports, many paradoxically relating to Yousaf himself. He had previously highlighted white people holding prominent public roles, but fortunately for him, the new law is not retroactive. The community services minister, Siobhian Brown, said the law was being used to make “fake and vexatious complaints”, and police time is being wasted as people seek to settle old scores and bring down those whose views they dislike.
The Conservative Party’s Scottish justice spokesman, Russell Findlay, has pointed out that “Yousaf’s dangerous Hate Crime Act is already being weaponized on an industrial scale by thin-skinned troublemakers,” and a petition has been launched for its repeal.
The UK education secretary, Gillian Keegan, called Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act “a terrible bit of legislation”. She said the police “should be much more focused on fighting crime than policing people’s thoughts”. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, agreed, saying, “We believe in free speech in this country.”
If Blinken agrees with Sunak, Keegan and Findlay that Yousaf’s new law is an affront to Western notions of free speech, he is, presumably, planning to impose visa restrictions upon him and demanding its repeal. However, nobody should hold their breath, and Yousaf will likely escape repercussions. In the all-too-familiar traditions of American diplomacy, Blinken has no interest in intervening when “rights and freedoms” are violated in countries the US does not want to antagonize.
Whatever Blinken has planned for them, Hong Kong’s officials have done their duty and can hold their heads high. They must have expected him to try to harm them and braced themselves accordingly. Although his double standards are there for all to see, they at least have clear consciences.
Random AI generated images
Default An ancient town in China rain fog looking at the lens 3(1)
Default Big and delish burger with meat chees onion and cucumb 0
Default Cat Adventures Document your cats outdoor adventures s 3
AlbedoBase XL Beautiful Elf posing with freckles and glasses 1(1)
Default high quality 8K Ultra HD angel knight army 2
Default An ultra detailed realistic digital art featuring Zen 3(1)
Default In the center of the image stands Misa Amane depicted 1(1)
Default Cat Adventures Document your cats outdoor adventures s 0
Default art nouveau style closeup of a gorgeous Spanish muse w 3
Default photorealistic 4K UHD Chef Gordon Ramsey cooking a dra 0
Default Create a stunning 8K ultrarealistic food photograph fe 0(1)
Default Create a stunning 8K ultrarealistic food photograph fe 0
Default Cinematic Realistic masterpiece best quality 12K Image 2
Default Cinematic Realistic masterpiece best quality 12K Image 1
Default Cinematic Realistic masterpiece best quality 12K Image 3
I’m so sorry
What was the last most shocking image you’ve ever seen?
WHEN FREEDOM IS LOST
This incident occurred at the Kombaru shrine in Karnataka, India.
The leopard was chasing the dog, the dog entered the bathroom through a window, the bathroom was locked from the outside.
The leopard came in after the dog and they both got trapped in the toilet; When the dog saw the leopard, it panicked and sat quietly in a corner.
He didn’t even dare to bark.
Although the leopard was hungry and chased the dog, it did not eat the dog.
He could have had dinner by jumping the dog, but the two animals were together in different corners for almost twelve hours. During these twelve hours, the leopard was also calm.
The forest department zeroed in on the leopard and captured it with a tranquilizer dart.
Now the question is, why didn’t the hungry leopard tear off the dog when it was easily possible?
Wildlife researchers answered this question: according to them, wild animals are very sensitive to their freedom.
main qimg 2e26ec247328c6c8691eefd049cf55df
As soon as they realize that their freedom has been taken away from them, they may feel deep pain, so much so that they may forget their hunger.
Your natural motivation to feed your stomach begins to fade.
Freedom and happiness are connected. Freedom to think, act, and live the way we want.
The American Way isn’t Working out Too Well
Some fun AI generated pictures
Here’s some of my latest work…
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 3(17)
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 1(14)
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 3(13)
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 1(11)
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 3(10)
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 1(8)
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 3(6)
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 1(3)
Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 2
Default Imagine a Baroque painting A very high attention to d 1
Default Imagine a Baroque painting A very high attention to d 3
Hanoi, Vietnam, call girl service
What is an instant mood lifter for you?
When I hear a good song playing suddenly in my neighborhood – It’s so awesome and got more power to make me cry and dance when it’s distant.
When someone genuinely listens to what I have to say – Isn’t it just great to speak your heart and someone is ready to see that vulnerable side of you?
When I receive the same level of importance I give to people – Ever heard someone say that “you” are a “priority” to them? If you have, dude you’re lucky (because I haven’t heard so).
When out of the blue, my mumma calls me “gudiya” – Mother’s love hits different. What would I even do without her?
When people trust me with their emotions – There’s a chance that I’ve been through that, so if they trust me, I can do everything to make sure they’re happy again.
When I get random messages from my close people – That specific notification sound just for the close ones>>
When I see potatoes – Weird? Nope, it isn’t. Potato and I go way back in history, a story for another time for sure!
When I know exactly what to do – I don’t have to explain this xD
When I’m sweating hard at the time of workout – It’s so satisfying when the exercises are giving result and on top of that, those beady drops of sweat make my day!
Some more of my AI generations
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tangerines 2
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh grapefruit 2(1)
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh grapefruit 3
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh pomegranate 2
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh peaches wit 0
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tomatoes on 2(1)
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tomatoes an 0
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tomatoes an 2
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh olives with 3
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh olives with 1(1)
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tomatoes wi 3(1)
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm prepared hamburge 1
Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm prepared hamburge 2
If You’re An American Living Abroad Tell Me Why You Would Never Go Back? | Part 2
Police story
“So this happened in Montana. I’m on my way to go to my interview this morning when I get pulled over by a police officer.
I am native American and my friend that was with me is black. Just saying.
Both brake lights decided to go out this time.
As he walked to the car and I was pulling out my stuff, he quickly said,
“Don’t worry about pulling anything out. I just want you to know that your brake lights are out.”
So I’m immediately upset, because I just got them replaced like last month.
So I explained to him how Firestone wants to charge me $600 just to run a test on the wiring of the car.
He looked at me like 😨 and told me to pop the trunk.
He checked the lights in the trunk and tapped them, but they didn’t come on.
So he told me to pop the hood to check the relay box then asked me to get out to check the other one.
Then worked on the wiring under the dash.
He could’ve easily given me a ticket, but Officer Jenkins stepped out of the officer role, and into the mechanic role, and human role to make sure I was straight.
By the way, HE FIXED THEM. Not everyone is racist or a bad cop.”
“NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warns an’alliance of authoritarian powers’including Russia, Iran and China are working against the West?”Source: Daily Mail. Should this alliance concern Australia’s relations with China, inviting more US military bases?
Why is that such surprise?
main qimg 6f67e116c8e2a23e11ed60ccc4149e2a
A. The West sanctions Iran unilaterally
The West unilaterally sanctions Iran. They steal Irans Oil randomly, pirating Iranian Ships or Ships containing Iranian Oil
They forbid shipment of even medicines into Iran causing the death of thousands of iranians
For a long time they even refused to allow imports of food materials into Iran especially Wheat
B. The West arms Taiwan, arms Japan and South Korea and literally builds thousands of bases around the South China Sea
US surrounds China with army bases yet a Chinese delegation to Cuba gets a massive national security lecture
main qimg 96906486cc76b98d89d2418adf9c3bf5
US openly says they want to Contain Chinas Rise and Growth
US arms Taiwan, a region they themselves acknowledge as being part of China
US sends soldiers to Taiwan, a Chinese region according to their own law
C. The West openly declare their aim to overthrow Putin and even assassinate him
Many a Senator and a Congressman at some time has claimed to want to overthrow or even kill Putin
They openly discuss Balkanization of Russia in their think tanks
They refused to give Russia security guarantees for almost a year before Ukraine when all they had to do was agree to Ukraines NATO membership being deferred by a decade
So how is it a surprise that these three nations decide to work together against the West?
What exactly does he expect?
That these three nations would come with a Chocolate Cake and openly allow themselves to be destroyed ?
Naah
Rule No 1 would be for the West to leave the world alone and stop interfering in every thing under the sun
Rule No 2 would be for the West to prepare a kill list of 100,000 people who are ruining them and the world. Including Stoltenberg himself.
Rule No 3 would be some nice army trucks at 3 AM outside the houses of these 100,000 people after which – they are never heard of again.
And the families too. Families always make nice deterrents.
Rule No 4 would be for a new Order in the West that adheres to their own principles of International Law rather than Rules Based Order
Once you do that the world would be a peaceful place
Stoltenberg would not be in that world but well… Nobodys gonna miss him too much
When did NPR become so left-wing?
When I was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative Republican, a career military man from a family of career warriors, I loved to listen to Paul Harvey and public radio. NPR didn’t seem “leftie” to me.
I was overseas my whole career, and got my news from the Stars and Stripes and Armed Forces Radio. I saw many ways to run a society while I lived in Japan, Philippines, Korea, and Germany over 16 years.
The first time I saw Rush Limbaugh, for the first five minutes, I thought he was a comedian doing a bit.
Upon finally returning to the States to retire, I was appalled at what America had become. The US I came back to was nearly a police state. The population was the sickest and most disabled of any country I had lived in. Homelessness and lack of education made the US seem like a Third World country. I was shocked.
NPR, however, was a familiar place to relax. They made sense. They considered points of view from both left and right. Importantly, the only “leftie” was a member of the Communist Party of the USA, and the only extreme right candidate was George Wallace, who didn’t stand a chance in the general election.
The difference between Dems and Repubs was no too great. Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan worked together all the time. (Reagan promised “small government” but grew the government by every metric. Every one.)
Today, however, millions of Americans have been left behind. They are worse educated than any modern nation; they are sicker and more disabled, and their babies die in the first year much more than in the rest of the advanced nations. (We did, in fact, become an oligarchy with democratic trappings. Details available upon request.)
Now those millions are angry. Their politicians sold out to the billionaires. The Republican leadership, much more than the Democrats, ignored their constituents needs and gave only tax cuts and excuses. The American people wanted LGBT people to have the same rights of marriage, social security, and hospital visitation as straight people. We got that. The American people wanted women to have more career opportunities, including in the military, on ships, and in combat units. We got that.
The American people voted for a black president. That broke the GOP back. Guns flew off the retail shelves, Militia membership soared. Ammunition was sold out for two years. The GOP refused to govern. All they did was vote to repeal the ACA 60 times, always with no chance of succeeding. Republicans directly interfered with foreign policy, personally telling Iran’s leaders to ignore the POTUS.
It seemed Hillary was certain to win. So certain, that few voted. Except the Republicans. They came out in force to vote for the guy who hated everyone they hated. Now their leader spews hatred and isolationism, the money-grubbing marketing
experts at certain media companies see the potential, so they amplify the suspicion and distrust. The result is a perfect storm of brainwashing. The handsome, 6′1″ blond billionaire can persuade most folks to invest their money in his dreams. Now he’s persuaded millions of Americans to invest their votes, their minds and their hearts in dedication to a professional con-man. Bernie Maddoff must be jealous.
THE ANSWER
NPR is right where they’ve always been, just a little left of center. But now the GOP has gone so far right—off the reservation—that they call centrists traitors and Marxists. God help us in our hour of need. Lord, is it time yet to take Trump home to meet his maker? Amen.
1900s Technology
Can anyone in China tell us why it is illegal for foreigners to visit Tibet? You must have a special permit to travel there. What are Xi and the CCP trying to hide? Is there a concentration camp there? Other explanation? Anyone who knows?
The question doesn’t make sense.
If it was illegal then it wouldn’t be possible to get a permit to visit. A permit means that it is legal for foreigners to visit Tibet. Similar to how you need a visa to visit China.
The autonomous regions of China are often slightly different to the mainland.
Hong Kong & Macao have fairly easy visas for most people BUT you do need separate visas for them.
Xinjiang doesn’t need a special permit now but it did in the past.
Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi have never had any special requirements as far as I know.
Anyway, I visited Tibet back in 2007. At that stage, it looked like the permits were going to be gone soon. The High Speed Train had just been connected and it was opening up.
Then the uprisings and separatist movement made a big push in 2008 when Beijing was hosting the Olympics. They were supported directly or indirectly by the US government and then Tibet was locked down and hard to get into Tibet for foreigners. Millions of Chinese tourists visit each year. Since then it has become easier and I know a number of people who have visited recently. You still need a permit but it is fairly easy to get one unless you are a reporter.
Last year in 2023 there were more than 24 million tourists to Tibet. Most were domestic but 30,455 were tourists from overseas.
You can visit but unless things have changed you need to spend 3 days in China. This information may be out of date since in the past it was advised that you should apply for the permit in China. Most tourists used to go to Chengdu to see the pandas and spend 3 days their waiting for the permit. A travel agent will do all of this for you and tell you what to do. It isn’t hard but it took time. Not sure if this is still the case. Things change quickly…
Strange coincidences
What’s the most confusing thing about being a man, today?
Navigating dating in a world where men are increasingly being told that women and men should be treated as equals; and yet where as a heterosexual man trying to find a partner, you’re still being systematically and mercilessly filtered out as a potential partner if you fail to perform classical masculinity well enough.
I grew up in, and live in Norway. One of the countries on earth that consistently score near the top of gender-equality rankings.
And yet my experiences in dating, especially as a young man, were very much about adhering to classical prejudiced gender-roles for men — or else remain single.
Examples?
I’ve been told (and agree!) that men should not be afraid to show or talk about emotions. But I’ve also been told in hundreds of ways that if a man shows any emotion that includes even a hint of vulnerability, then he’s instantly disqualified as a potential romantic interest.
I’ve been told that men and women should face the same expectations and similar opportunities. But as a young man, no woman ever asked me out on a first date. No woman ever explicitly revealed a crush on me unless I’d done the same thing first. No woman ever kissed me unless I initiated that first. No woman ever bought me a drink, flowers, chocolate, a valentines day card or any other stereotypically romantic gift unless I’d done that first. No woman ever asked me to dance, unless I’d done that first.[*]
Every time I read answers here on Quora about men who struggle with finding dates, I see the same recommendations. Usually from liberal, feminist people (both men and women) well-reflected about gender. Be confident. Be assertive. Initiate. Approach. Show Competence. Be unaffected by rejection, or if you’re affected, hide it! I’m not sure if they fail to notice it, or if they notice but don’t care — but these things look pretty much like: “Be classically masculine and adhere to gender-norms for men!” to me.
My dating-life took a sharp turn upwards when I finally learnt how to wear a mask and play a classically masculine role well enough to pass muster as a potential romantic partner.
I had several long and good relationships after I figured this part out, and though I’m happily married these days, I’m still confident I could fairly easily find a new fulfilling relationship if I should ever again find myself single and lonely.
But to find that relationship, I’d have to initially play a role. One that isn’t me, or that at least is just a tiny fraction of me. I’d have to play up those parts of me that adhere the closest to prejudiced norms for what a “real man” should be, and at least for a while downplay or hide those parts of me that don’t fit the mold, such as for example my vulnerable or emotional parts.
The most confusing thing for me as a young man, was how women around me were constantly telling me that there’s nothing they want more than gender-equality. And yet at the same time, if I want to “pass” as a man worthy of romantic love or sexual desire, then I have to jump right back into strongly gendered norms for what a “real man” should be.
[*]: I’m aware that many of these things do happen now and then to many men, and happen often to some men. Ironically though, that tends to be men with high social status and/or high social dominance. This single factor was without a doubt the most important factor for which young men were seen as attractive among my peers. And of course high status and high social dominance are ALSO things that prejudiced gender-roles for men judge us for.
War against China
Have you ever witnessed an objection at a wedding?
Oh, Boy! That happened to me.
Let me give you a bit of context:
My then girlfriend and I had been dating for about 5 years when we finally decided to marry.
On the day of the wedding, we were at my parents’ house with some close family and our closest friends.
Everything was going as expected and the law officer driving the ceremony was reading the document we were about to sign in order to be pronounced “husband and wife”.
It went something like:
“Mr. Blah blah blah… of profession Systems’ Engineer, born at xxxxx and Miss blah blah blah of profession xxxxx from xxx” plus some legal stuff that no one was really paying attention, or so I thought.
Then, the lady asks the infamous question:
“Does anyone have any objection?”
And for everyone’s surprise, a “Yes, I have one” was clearly heard.
In that instant, the time and everything else just froze. You would have been able to cut the air of the room with a knife. Everyone was shocked, silently looking for the source of those words. The only things moving in the room were our guests’ eyes.
Finally, we found it!
It turned out that the objection came from no less than the bride herself, and then she added in her most natural tone:
“He is not a Systems Engineer. His speciality is Computer Engineer”
First a general sense of relief and then everyone just burst out laughing.
We have been married for more than 15 years and the document still says “Systems Engineer”
Did I tell you that my wife is a lawyer?
6 LIES America Told Me About Europe | Americans React
Are Europeans shocked when they first come to the United States?
Have been many times now, and love it, but on my first visit …
Hubby was working and so I went to a Walmart. Really exciting for me as we didn’t have anything like that back in the UK. ( This was back in the early 90s)
I bought a trolley full of stuff, went through the cashier, paid and was quite happily on my way out of the door when beeps’ went off.
Before I knew it I was surrounded by about 4 or 5 what I can only describe as security people. They were really aggressive and I was terrified. What had I done wrong?
Anyway I was accused of stealing and literally frogmarched away. My whole trolley was gone through against my receipt.
Took a while. Everything tallied and it was discovered that whilst I had paid for it a security tag had not been deactivated from a wallet I had purchased. Cashier error.
They then let me go. A couple of hours later. No apologies. I was so shaken up by this treatment.
In the uk at the time of this incident if ‘beeps’ had gone off when leaving a store, sure you would have been stopped, yes checked, but nobody would have laid hands on you and treated you like a criminal. Once it was seen a mistake had been made on their part an apology would be given.
So I guess that certainly on my first visit my shock was that in the USA it is guilty until proven innocent, whereas in UK it is innocent until proven guilty.
Also that an apology is not necessary if they’ve got it wrong.
And please don’t get me started on the tipping culture. In the Uk we pay a minimum wage and tipping is seen as a sign of good service.
My first meal in the USA service was lousy, won’t go into details, but I was astonished to find that despite that I was expected to leave a tip at around 10–15% of the bill and was berated when I didn’t. At that time I had no idea that servers were not paid a decent wage and relied on tips, but to me it felt like a mandatory charge so that if you didn’t pay it you were in effect stealing.
I have been to the USA many times since and now appreciate the difference in our cultures. So I will pay the mandatory ‘tip’ but if I have got service above and beyond will do 30–40%. Still don’t like it though.
Please don’t think I am berating the USA. I have loads of friends here, just saying that as a naive Brit many years ago it was not the best of experiences.
What are the important lessons you learnt in life?
your sleep is key to your health and energy. Sleep well, and everything in life already looks easier. Darkness, silence, and inner peace are the key ingredients.
what you eat and drink is another key to your health and energy. The fewer of the things you consume have brand names, and the less has been done to them, the better you will eventually be.
the people you are surrounded by contribute greatly to who you are, and not just while you are with them. When you’re honest, you’ll find that very little of you is actually you.
the big challenge in life is to be authentic. It’s the hardest thing to do of them all to be truly yourself, and it may well be the meaning of life to try it. We only ever live during those moments where we are being ourselves, and they are few.
to live in freedom, you need to make utilitarian choices. This is a mechanical universe, full of things that are parasitic. Find the things that serve you with the least demands on you, and your life is more free.
Dating Pool Dropouts: How Feminism RUINED Dating
This chick is really freaking out.
Why are Europeans not as fat as Americans are when Europeans eat white bread and pasta and butter all the time?
I’m American, living in France for many years. I eat butter, cream, cheese, bread, pasta…. things I never used to eat in the US, and yet never have to worry about my weight.
Many things come into play-
No snacks. We eat meals, usually at the same times each day. My body seems to like living on a schedule this way. I don’t get hungry in between meals. My stomach knows when it is time to eat, and when it isn’t.
Portions. Portions are smaller. I’m about to visit home again, and know we’ll be going to restaurants and such, and I’ll have these giant heaping plates placed before me, which make me sick to think about. It actually kills my appetite to see this.
Different courses. Instead of eating everything at the same time, we have courses, so only one thing is in front of us at a time. If you are only eating tomatoes, you are going to eat less than if you are mixing in bites of other things in between. Eating a salad or a soup before the main dish, you’re already going to eat less of the main course, because you are less hungry.
Walking. We spend a lot of time walking. I walk to most everything – the grocery store, the post office, the hairdresser, the recycling center….. Whatever chores I have to do outside the home, I can usually walk, and a twenty-minute walk to get somewhere is normal. I do remember a time, when I hadn’t been here long, that every time someone said, “let’s just walk there”, I’d groan and complain “Why can’t we just drive??” I’ve come to love walking around the city. I had to remember the joy of that as a kid, when I’d just love taking my time and observing life around me along the way, instead of having my focus on the destination.
Less stress. This may or may not apply in a general way, but I find they have a different way of looking at life, in which work success is just not considered so essential, so people worry less. A lot of paid vacation, job security, easy healthcare, results in feeling less anxious, and maybe contributes to less cortisol production and emotional eating.
The failure of democracy
Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole
Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
10 (6 to 8 inch diameter) flour or corn tortillas, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 cups shredded cooked chicken or turkey
1 1/3 cups salsa verde or green sauce
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Chihuahua or mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Heat oil in skillet until hot. Cook tortilla strips in oil for 30 to 60 seconds or until light golden brown; drain.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 quart casserole.
Layer half of the tortilla strips in casserole; top with chicken, half of the salsa verde (about 2/3 cup) and 1 cup of the cheese.
Press layers gently down into casserole.
Repeat with remaining tortilla strips, sauce and cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown.
What are some things a woman should know about men?
1. Like you girls have periods, that cause pain and mood swings etc. Similarly, we men have nocturnal emission that causes mood swings and back pain. Not all men go through that, but many. And it’s not a comparison between the issues.
2. We actually hate giving surprises, if somebody is doing… he’s pressured or doing the same just to impress and make you happy.
3. We actually don’t like you to be influenced by influencers in terms of dress up, eating, and showing up on Social media to people. We want you to be you… The Authentic you.
4. We hate the question “How much do you love me” and in fact we don’t have answers.
5. We love Motorcycle and Car, and we want you to respect the same. And the reason is they actually need love and care, or else they can trouble anytime. Don’t complain if your man is investing a bit more money on that.
6. Please don’t take us shopping if you’re not getting it done within an hour.
7. If you’re allowed to have male friends, please don’t question our Female Friends.
8. We don’t run for sex. Though it’s a natural need, but please don’t judge without reading the whole book. Also, don’t trust the buttery words of a Man without knowing him.
9. It feels extremely difficult for us to walk behind an unknown girl, even if we are moving in the same direction. We wait or overtake most of the time. If you’re afraid then we too.
There are many things not coming up in my head right now, and yes men should equally know about women. But no one in the world till now has succeeded understanding a Woman.. haha.
Why Women Don’t Support Husbands in Difficult Times.
Grandpa
The IRS decides to audit Grandpa, and summons him to the IRS office. The IRS auditor was not surprised when Grandpa showed up with his attorney.
The auditor said, “Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I’m not sure the IRS finds that believable.”
“I’m a great gambler, and I can prove it,” says Grandpa. “How about a demonstration?”
The auditor thinks for a moment and says, “OK. Go ahead.”
Grandpa says, “I’ll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own eye.”
The auditor thinks a moment and says, “It’s a bet.”
Grandpa removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor’s jaw drops.
Grandpa says, “Now, I’ll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my other eye.”
The auditor can tell Grandpa isn’t blind, so he takes the bet.
Grandpa removes his dentures and sinks them into his remaining eye. The astonished auditor now grasps that he has gambled and lost three grand, with Grandpa’s attorney as a witness. His unease begins to mount.
“Want to go double or nothing?” Grandpa asks. “I’ll bet you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between.”
The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there’s no way this old guy could possibly manage that stunt, so he agrees again. Grandpa stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but although he strains mightily, he can’t make the stream reach the wastebasket on the other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the auditor’s desk.
The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win. But Grandpa’s attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.
“Are you OK?” the auditor asks.
“Not really,” says the attorney. “This morning, when Grandpa told me he’d been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty-five thousand dollars that he could come in here and pee all over your desk and that you’d be happy about it.”
Don’t mess with old people!
If you feel your former bosses would give you a bad reference, should you contact them before putting them for your next job?
I had three interviews that went very well, in my opinion, yet I received no job offer, and I suspected it was because my boss was subverting my effort to leave the company. During my fourth interview, with the Department of Correction, I mentioned my suspicion to the person interviewing me and she said that she’d make a note of it. I was offered the job a couple of days later, contingent upon passing a drug screen, and while I was at the agency for the drug screen the HR manager asked me to step into her office.
She called my boss and said she was calling for a reference on me, and boss gave what would be described as a tepid recommendation: I did “adequate” work and was “as reliable as anyone else” but she would have hired someone younger if she was filling my position now. After she ended the call the HR manager said she understood why I had trouble finding another job, and then she asked when I wanted to start work with the agency. I told her I’d be there bright and early the following Monday.
My boss said she wanted someone younger for my job so I decided to accomodate her. I didn’t bother to say anything about the phone call, or that I was leaving. But I did send a delayed email letting her know how I felt about her and so she’d know that I wouldn’t be coming back. The last time I saw her was when I picked up my last paycheck; she threw a stapler at me.
Sounds Of The Department Store 1979
OMG!
Just put this on and listen to it on a early Saturday Morning.
When I lived in Milford, Massachusetts, I lived in a “crack house”.
Oh, it wasn’t my intention. But that is exactly what had happened.
There was this old Victorian mansion in Milford, right next to the police station. And, a man (an Iranian immigrant) bought the house and divided it up into six apartments. He renovated the place nicely, and I fell in love with the “huge “drawing room” apartment on the first floor.
Soon, others moved in. Most were like myself. Middle class.
Then his brother brought in a “section eight” family.
Now, a “section eight family” is a person living off the state. Takes welfare and government benefits, and is usually the lowest of the low.
And from the moment she moved in, it was non-stop under -16 drug, alcohol parties. All night. Loud with the thick vapors of crack smoke seeping into our apartment.
Oh, I talked to the owner; landlord, and he couldn’t do anything. It was against the law to deny housing to welfare recipients.
I talked to the police, they couldn’t do anything. All the 60+ kids were “protected” as they were juveniles in a private residence.
Well, there were raids on the property. Busts discovering drugs… mostly crack and all the rest. There were stabbings, and car damage, and all sorts of nonsense. It truly was a Hell. Ugh!
And it was Hell for me. As soon as my contract was up I left. Then I sued the owner. Long story, but we parted on good terms.
Do not ever let that happen to youse guys. Ever!
Nothing quite ruins your day as the thick sweet smell of crack wafting up from the basement.
Today…
What is the most shameless thing you have ever seen a teacher do?
I don’t know if I’d call this “shameless”, but it shows how a student (me) can so bother a teacher that he’ll make irrational decisions!
I was a lousy student. Either didn’t do homework or did a really sloppy job. My written work was really hard to read because I didn’t try to be neat.
Anyway, it drove my US History 1 teacher crazy, especially since I always tested very high in aptitude! Aptitude doesn’t triumph over laziness!
Anyway, while I was getting low grades in his class, I probably would barely pass for the year. We got to the mid term exam and he gave me an “F” on my report card (the exam was equal to a regular grading period so it was a big deal – 1/8th of the year’s average for each exam)
So my mother goes in to talk to him because, while my grades were usually bad, I generally did well on big exams. I guess I’d remember the major points that such tests cover, but wouldn’t remember the little things that normal tests include.
So my mother mentions that I usually do fairly well on the big exams and asked him about it. He pulls out my test and at the top it says I got a B minus!
My mother asked why the report card said the score was an F instead of B minus. And this is where it got weird.
He said, “He took the examine in the Old Cafeteria and it very easy to copy the work of other students”.
This was true. It had been converted into one big room with those one-armed desks jammed side by side, so even though we sat every other seat for exams, it was still easier to see a neighbors paper than in a regular classroom. But it wasn’t our fault we were assigned to that space!!!
My mother asked the obvious question: “Did you give every student who took a test there an F as well?”
It was at that point that he finally returned to his senses and changed my grade.
I actually liked him and he wasn’t trying to be a jerk or an idiot. I just drove him nuts! Since I later became a teacher myself, I also learned how students can push a teacher’s buttons!
Will the US allow itself to be overtaken by China?
The spirit is willing but the body is weak, my friend. Like the famous kung-fu move 吸精大法Sucking Spirit Move, every punch that US executes, the zest is sucked out of US to make China stronger. It’s not like China didn’t warn US not to engage in fruitless trade wars, but warnings have been ignored and the commoners were cheering her on, oblivious of the risks involved.
It is too late. Not only will China overtake US, she will do it in record time, estimated to be in 2026. Enjoy the inevitable.
Explain (I can’t believe we haven’t fixed this yet)
Why is the US doing such a bad job countering China’s rise?
Imagine you are the world’s fastest runner in the 100m sprint. You know your closest rival is training hard and will soon surpass you. What do you do?
You train even harder to stay ahead.
What you don’t do is try to hobble your rival by accusing him of cheating, denying him training opportunities, keeping him out of competition, and using underhand methods to ensure you keep on winning.
And that is what the US is trying to do to China. Instead of working harder to stay ahead, it has focused it on trying to slow China down.
The US cannot see that this approach will not work. It may have worked with other countries that threatened American superiority and dominance in the past but China is different.
In 1971 I read Dick Wilson’s book, A Quarter of Mankind. My classmates and I realised that once China got its act together, its rise was inevitable.
For a long time, I thought India would rise faster. It did not and will not for reasons that belong ion another answer.
Since Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, China has been on the up and up. And rather than rise to the challenge, the US has opted to try to stop China’s inevitable development and dominance. It may have even contributed to it with its rampant capitalist policies.
The US has not just done a bad job countering China’s rise, it has utterly failed. And it continues to flounder.
The new normal
Have you ever witnessed a “Don’t tell me how to raise my child” moment?
It was with a colleague in the US.
We had a guy at my office who was married to a Japanese woman. They had just had their first baby, and the wife was staying at home going forward.
First, our overbearing colleague started to ask why they didn’t just get a nanny. Why didn’t his wife want to work?
Our overbearing co-worker hired a nanny, and offloaded all the things that parents usually do to the nanny. She wasn’t wealthy, but it seemed like she would rather work full-time than spend time with her children.
But that wasn’t the main issue. The new parents had taken the drastic step of *gasp* co-sleeping with their newborn.
He was 1/2 asleep one day by the copy machine when the overbearing woman got after him again. “You guys need a nanny. You’re sleep-deprived.”
“Don’t remind me.” He was trying to brush it off, but she wouldn’t let it go.
“I mean, if you’re not going to get a nanny and your wife wants to stay home with the kid, why can’t she take care of her without waking you up?”
“We share a bed.”
This was met with a blank stare.
“You know, co-sleeping.” He had told me before that he was nervous about it, but had read some research on how it helps infants regulate their breathing.
“Oh, my gawd! Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear about the couple who did that and the Dad rolled over and killed the baby?”
Sometimes you don’t know that you’ve crossed a line until it’s too late.
“No, but I heard about the couple that got a nanny who BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THEIR KIDS!”
WARNING: Never mess with a sleep-deprived new father.
What is the most panic-inducing thing that can happen as a teenager?
I was 13 years old,
That time there were no smartphones in popularity. Nokia was the king of mobiles and keypad phones were in use. My dad used to have Nokia 7210.
Sometimes I used to play games in my dad’s mobile. One day, I was casually scrolling through his mobile. I didn’t know much about phones those days. I was curious to explore.
In curiosity I don’t know what I have clicked, Suddenly a text message has been received which shocked me-
“Dear customer, thanks for choosing our service. 198rs has been deducted from your balance.”
I was stunned. My body started shivering and it was like a heart attack for me. 10 years ago, 198 ruppees had more value as compared to now. I knew that I am fcuked up. I put the mobile and was surviving the attack.
After sometime, My dad came. He had to make a call. I was edging near death. He dialed number and got to hear this,
“Sorry your account doesn’t have enough balance to make call.”
My heartbeats almost stopped.
He : Gurmeet, come here!
I felt like Yamraj is calling me.
I went somehow because my legs weren’t supporting me to go near him.
He : What you did in mobile? Tell me!
Me : mmmm! I don’t know.
I started crying. He was angry.
He : Tell me, what the hell you did? Where’s balance?
…
After a minute,
He : Next time don’t dare to touch my mobile.
He said and went. I beat the death and got my life back. I was extremely scared and stressed, however he didn’t react much.
Que : What’s most panic inducing thing that can happen as teenager?
Ans : when first time parents suffer loss because of us. When first time we do something wrong and get caught. After this, they get used to losses so it doesn’t induce more panic next time.
What is something extremely unjust that happened to you at work that made you quit your job?
I was at a convention out of town. Just before dinner, I received a call from my mom saying my dad’s appointment had confirmed what we had expected-stage 4 lung cancer. Doctors said 1 month. Of course I was in tears and beside myself. I went to the dinner with tears rolling down my face. I was sitting quietly just remembering all the good things. My district manager came up and asked what was wrong. I told her. Her exact words were…..get over it. This was the same woman who just had 4 months off because her sister got sick. As soon as we got back I handed in my resignation. I just felt that comment was completely heartless and I lost all respect for her.
What is a split-second decision you made that changed your life?
We were in a restaurant with a group of my friends almost 20 years ago…
As we were waiting for our food, I saw the richest and probably most respected man in our town walk in. He was super well known and employed over 500 people at that time.
We started talking together about him and my friend said.
“You would never have the balls to go talk to him!”
I actually didn’t, and the whole idea of talking to someone on that level scared me to death. But, my friends kept telling me to go, and I just said, “Ok, ok, I’ll do it.”
He was sitting alone, waiting for his food, and I just walked up to him and told him how he has been an inspiration for all of us guys sitting at that table over there and how we respect his work.
He was super nice to me and told me to sit down with him. I asked for some advice from him, and that started our friendship. He became my mentor.
He gave me so much good advice and helped me to grow my company. It’s sad that he passed away 2 years ago; he was 59 when I met him. It’s crazy that he took me under his wing.
That was the best split-second decision I made.
Jail and Porn equivalents
Have you ever walked out of an interview?
Once. Just once.
The interviewer was a little … stiff. Spoke with a German accent. Nothing wrong with Germans – it was just my own bias at the time that I expected them to be over-formal. Sticklers.
He asked me a question, which I didn’t like much because it was kind of basic for somebody with lots of experience, about submitting a form from a web page.
So I sketched out the answer on a white board and he asked a question, and I answered, “Yes, in that case I would add an ‘A=5’ right here.”
That was the end of the question, but before we moved on, he said, “Oh – do you want to put that?”
I said “Put that?”
“Write it. On the board.”
“Um … is somebody else going to read this or something?”
“No – we’re done. It’s in order to … finish the exercise.”
“So you want me to write ‘A=5’, right here? What’s next?”
“Then we can just erase it and move on to the next one.”
“So you need me to write A=5. And then erase it. So that the exercise is completed.”
“Yes.”
“Yea. No offense, really, I can tell we just wouldn’t get along at all.”
(This was the guy I would be reporting to.) As I made my awkward exit, both he and his boss made valiant efforts to change my mind, but I just offered, “It’s a gut thing. Trust me. We’d clash.”
I could never shake the hunch that as I was driving off, the interviewer gave a heavy sigh, picked up a marker, wrote “A=5” on the board, and then erased the whole thing.
How did Huawei manage to achieve its fastest growth in four years despite US sanctions?
What the fuck is US sanction you can do what you like in the U.S. but we the rest of the world don’t gives a shit about you! Huawei is popular in 88% of the world. Your 12% can love Apple till your market drop it don’t mean shit. Get that!
Record Record Record
What is the rudest thing another shopper has told you while waiting in line?
This wasn’t said to me, but to my then 7-year-old daughter, who had, for the first 6 and a half years of her life, had people, especially grandmotherly women, gushing over her: “Oh, what a beautiful girl! Oh, how well-behaved! What lovely, silky blond hair! You’re so lucky to have her!” etc. While she wasn’t entirely comfortable with total strangers coming up to her to adore her, it was still nice of them, and who doesn’t like being complimented, right?
Then baby sister came along, and the compliments got shared; baby sister was also pretty, though much different in looks. Stiil good; she loved her baby sister and was quite proud of her.
One day, though, we were in line at the grocery store check-out, when this grandmotherly-looking old lady came up and started gushing about the baby (somewhere between 6 and 12 months old) and how beautiful her eyes were, and her hair, and how sweet she was, and started remarking to other people in the line about the beautiful baby, and asking saying things like “don’t you think so?” to which the others, wanting to be polite to this older woman, of course agreed.
What was so rude? She then turned to my also very beautiful and well-behaved 7-year-old daughter, and practically sang out, “Oh, aren’t you lucky to have such a beautiful sister! Your mother must be so proud of her!” after which she marched off to resume her shopping.
Though I’m reasonably sure it was meant with good intentions from a totally clueless person, that was definitely one of the rudest and cruelest things I’ve ever heard said to a child, at least by someone who had no idea how hurtful their words could be.
I know that ruder and intentionally meaner things are said to or about people every day, but what astounded me was that this woman could have said what she did with no thought as to how negatively her words might be heard and interpreted by a child.
Why has Anthony Fauci predicted 100,000 to 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the US with millions of cases? For perspective, total deaths in China stood at 3,186 today.
Because the cordon sanitaire is a joke stateside. You have to ringfence the virus to break transmission.
New York is now worse hit than Wuhan. Have state borders been sealed?
If someone tests positive but has mild symptoms do you send the person home?
What if he is a renter who shares the space with others and gets kicked out?
What if they are adults in nuclear families?
What if they are homeless?
Where are the quarantine facilities?
Further, who ensures compliance with quarantine orders for those that test positive?
Relying on goodwill and personal responsibility contributed to a handful of individuals becoming responsible for more than half of Korea’s cases. That is 5,000!
Where and how effective is contact tracing when America solves only 60 percent of murders each year? Every missed contact can mean thousands of cases down the road.
America is not putting whole of nation and whole of government effort into fighting this. They are fighting each other and have an eye on the stock market. How do you have the best days in a century when 3 million lose their jobs in one week?
"All natural resources on which economic development, influence and might depend are instruments of political struggle.
It is logical that they are used for political purposes, including geopolitical ones.
We saw this in the 1980s, when the United States put colossal pressure on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which were the main oil producers, bringing about a collapse in oil prices to $10 or even lower per barrel in the hope of reducing the Soviet Union’s foreign exchange earnings and hence its capacity to continue to develop and ensure its security.
At that time, we continued to compete with the United States and the West as a whole.
They achieved their goal.
The Soviet Union’s revenues plummeted, which was one of the causes, though not the main or only one, that led to its dissolution.
They put pressure on the oil market, used speculation for the fall, drew the Soviet Union into an arms race, and promoted 'democratic reforms' when our country was not prepared for them.
Taken together, this contributed to the fall of a great power.
Since then, the Americans have been using oil and oil prices as a weapon.
A relevant example is Iran, which had its oil exports banned and the channels of oil deliveries contrary to that illegal ban were blocked.
Today, oil sanctions against Iran have been lifted.
The latest example is Venezuela, which was the third largest oil supplier to the United States in 2019.
In 2022, the Americans adopted an oil embargo against it, allegedly in the struggle against the 'regime' of Nicolas Maduro, as they put it.
But later they faced the consequences of the OPEC and OPEC Plus efforts to stabilise the oil market based on the main economic factors and a balance of interests of producers, importers and transit countries.
Today, the Americans are playing new political games against Venezuela, offering it an agreement to resume oil exports to the United States in exchange for political concessions.
However, it is a fact that Washington is suffering the consequences of its own actions considering that a vast number of American oil refineries were equipped to process Venezuelan oil.
It is a combination of purely economic factors and a desire to take advantage of economic ties, in this instance, use oil as a weapon.
As for Russia, what is the oil price cap imposed on Russian oil by the Americans, which the West was pressured to adopt as well?
It is flagrant interference in the workings and principles of the free market, which the Americans have been promoting for decades.
They described the dollar not as an American currency but as a global element of interconnectivity between the global economy and finances.
The structure collapsed when they decided to use these instruments to inflict what they described as 'geopolitical defeat' on Russia.
It is obvious that nobody is happy about the use of these underhanded methods, although few people, especially in the West, dare to put their uneasiness into words.
The pinnacle of using hydrocarbons as a weapon was the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines, which directly targeted Germany.
American analysts have admitted it, and many in Germany are openly saying this.
It is evidence of the current German government’s impotence and inability not just to think independently but to even protect its vital interests on which the prosperity and well-being of German citizens depend.
As a result of that subversive terrorist attack, businesses, faced with rising gas prices, are leaving Germany and other European countries, and relocating, for the most part, to the United States.
They have started to talk about the de-industrialisation of Europe.
A year ago, French Minister for the Economy and Finances Bruno Le Maire said in a public statement that businesses paid four times more for energy in Europe than in the United States. I believe the balance is approximately the same now.
It is a fact that the United States has created much more favourable conditions for businesses, including by approving credit subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act. Business is moving to the United States.
At the same time, immediately after blowing up the gas pipelines, Washington said that in the absence of Russian gas Europe needed to buy American LNG, even though it cost more and there was a lack of the necessary infrastructure, which was still to be built.
Four years ago, when Angela Merkel was chancellor and life was easier, the Americans attempted to convince Germany that it had no need for Nord Stream or Russian gas in general, that it could buy American LNG instead.
Angela Merkel argued that it would be more complicated and much more expensive.
The Americans agreed that it would cost more and suggested covering the difference with higher taxes.
After all, they said, you can tell your people that it is a good cause in the interests of peace and democracy throughout the world.
There are more examples of this kind."
Profile
—Answer by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the question, “Do you agree that oil is an instrument of political manipulation? Can you provide more striking examples of this or arguments to the contrary?” during an interview for the documentary series ‘Oil’, Moscow, March 21, 2024.
What is the most heartbreaking conversation you’ve ever had?
It was March 2016. Nine months before I had been granted parole and I would be going home in November. My brother knew I was being released and was ecstatic.
So I was on the yard when I was called to the Captains Office. I get there and the room is full of white shirts and C/Os . They asked me to have a seat. I said I would prefer to stand. The Captain asked if everyone in the room would sit would I please sit. I reluctantly agreed. Some C/Os had to squat. My mind was racing. What had I done to cause so many officers to be in the room? They told me I to call my sister in law and pointed at the phone. I couldn’t reach her. They then told me my brother had passed. I did not believe it. They asked if I would prefer to go to the hole so I could be alone. I told them no. I felt numb . I could barely understand what was being said. A C/O offered to walk me to my housing unit again no.
I get back to my housing unit and call my sister in law. She was crying so hard I could barely understand her. But she confirmed my brother had passed away. I was devastated. My little brother who I went to prison for by killing his abuser was gone. He passed within mnths of me getting out
Could you cover a grenade that’s about to explode with a military issued helmet to protect yourself from flying shrapnel?
of the US Marine Corps. While his Marine squad was trying to subdue an enemy combatant, the insurgent dropped a grenade among them. Dunham jumped on the grenade to save his comrades, placing his combat helmet directly over the grenade to reduce the blast.
You can see how that worked out for the helmet.
Surprisingly, Dunham was not immediately killed by the blast, but he was severely wounded. His injuries sent him into a coma, and he died eight days later.
main qimg 46c10c41c09ab2d7421e8094cbb3e087 lq
Dunham was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his sacrifice.
So judging by real world experience, the answer to this question is no. Of course, if you are presented with a grenade, you want to put as much distance and protection between you and it as possible. If that includes a helmet, it’s better than nothing. But you cannot expect that it will save you.
If you’ve got a better option, take it.
How can I stress Google and significantly increase their costs?
Physical attacks are cheaper, easier and possibly less risky than electronic attacks.
The US-101 exit for the Google Headquarters in Mountain View is notoriously busy. It can take 15 minutes of sitting in traffic, and causes a great deal of stress to Googlers.
If your car ‘broke down’ in that junction thousands of people would be delayed in getting to work. Let’s say that the fully burdened cost of an engineer is $100 /hr, you might delay 2000 people getting to work by half an hour, costing Google $100k. (Some people might give up and turn around).
In addition, one of the reasons that people leave Google to work elsewhere is the traffic. A few engineers might quit. Hiring new engineers is expensive (I think Bob See has given the cost somewhere on this site, and it’s in the thousands of dollars), plus it takes time to ramp up at Google – you are not productive for at least a couple of months, and possibly up to six months. Let’s call that $100 * 8 hours * 60 days, that’s another 50k.
So, for the cost of the cheapest car you can find, that will actually start, and a couple of hours of your time, you have cost Google $150k. (You might need to add the price of travel and the time to get to Mountain View).
You could pull this stunt as often as you can get away with it, each time costing $150k.
That’s much easier than a botnet attack, or 10s of thousands of Gmail accounts.
Another advantage of this method is that you haven’t committed a very serious crime – the FBI aren’t going to come after you for hacking. You can probably get away with it at least once by being told to be more careful.
Comix 1
American Society of Magical Negroes is AWFUL – People Are SICK of Woke Hollywood
WTF? It’s an actual movie? Whoa!
What’s something your gender does that the opposite gender never even thinks about?
A lot of men try very hard to not seem like creeps or pervs, whereas I’ve never heard of any woman making any similar effort.
For example, I am currently at the beach. Literally, I am sitting in a chair in the sand about 15 feet from the Atlantic Ocean. There are about 40 other people within eyesight on this beach, including a group of teen girls to the right of me who’ve been taking bikini selfies for about two hours. They’re hard to ignore, because they’re doing weird poses and giggling a lot.
To the left, there are more women in bikinis. They’re sunbathing.
So I’m making a point to keep my eyes on my laptop, the book I’m reading, or the ocean in front of me. I hesitate to look left or right, lest I get accused of being a creep.
But, there are also a lot of scantily-clad men out here too. The women around me seem to have no problem staring at these guys. Older women, younger women, it doesn’t matter. When a shirtless guy jogs by (it happens a lot… there’s a Marine base near here), some of these women are downright shameless in their gawking.
Imagine if a guy did that to a woman running by, especially if that woman was a generation younger than them. They’d be driven off the beach by an angry mob, accusing them of being a pervert.
Yesterday, I was sitting on the deck overlooking the ocean, using my binoculars to scan the horizon. I was looking for dolphins or boats or whatever I could see. But, as soon as a family with teenage girls showed up on the beach, I put the binoculars down. Seeing a dolphin isn’t worth the risk of being thought of as a possible creep.
Jia Qingguo (贾庆国)
What follows is a relatively wide-ranging interview with Jia Qingguo (贾庆国) discussing the prospects of cross-Strait relations, a potential Trump presidency and US-China ties more broadly. Jia has been a long-time foreign policy adviser in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and is the former Dean of Peking University’s School of International Studies. He has recently been outspokenly critical of the restrictions on Chinese scholars’ engagement with foreign counterparts. Among the highlights of this piece – his advocacy of “patience” in the Taiwan context so long as the incoming leadership does not pursue independence; his preference to see Biden re-elected rather than Trump (views among China’s establishment intellectuals continue to be divided); and his belief that there is still scope for alignment of US and Chinese interests on regional conflicts in Ukraine and the DPRK.
Taiwan’s president-elect Lai Ching-te has his hands tied politically. The impact of his election on cross-Strait relations should be limited. China will continue to promote peaceful (re)unification “for some time to come”.
Trump is “reckless”, has “outdated views” and lacks “basic moral principles”. He has shown that he is not the pragmatic businessman that many in China had hoped for back in 2016.
His re-election would be particularly detrimental to China and could lead to “severe friction and confrontation” between Washington and Beijing. The prospect of his walking away from the US’s One-China Policy is real.
A second Biden presidency would not prevent further tensions between the US and China, but it could help preserve the current trend of stabilizing and improving ties.
Beijing should always keep its long-term interests in mind and avoid overreacting to provocations coming from the United States. Confrontation and tit-for-tat responses make little sense at a time when China is still more vulnerable than the US.
There are still many areas in which the US and China can (and must) cooperate. For instance, defusing tensions on the Korean peninsula will only succeed if Beijing and Washington are prepared to join hands.
B̲o̲ston – B̲o̲ston (Full Album) 1976
Let’s hop into the GTO, crank it up loud, and roll up one.
I went to Walmart
“I went into Wal-Mart to grab three things. Fruit Loops, eggs & waffles. Healthy, I know. This woman was asking people for something and my goal was to bypass, get my things and go. She asked me to stop. I figured she was just asking for money and I already decided that I was going to politely let her know that I didn’t have any cash on me. I never carry cash. I listened to her. She had groceries in her cart and asked for help to buy food for her family. She proceeded to tell me that she turned her daughter in for dope, her 2-month-old grand baby was born addicted to crack and she has 6 grandchildren to take care of. I really felt for her. She was sobbing. See, I know stories like this to be FACT from working in an inner-city school and my husband working in a hospital. Babies are unfortunately born addicted all the time & responsibility of raising grandbabies does fall on the grandparents. She asked me if I would help her buy groceries.
I looked at what I had in my hands compared to what she had. She had shopped smart and had healthy food: bananas, bell peppers, meat, pancakes, etc. Practical things you would make meals with and feed children. I told her yes, go get diapers for the baby and meet me at the front. She sobbed, praised God and said hallelujah to the cashiers,etc. Yesterday, I turned 30, had my healthy family by my side, ate tons of crawfish and blew $20 at the casino for the heck of it. Well, I checked my humanity today. This woman has food to put on her table and even if she wasn’t telling the truth, I don’t even care in the least. She’s human, I’m human and today she helped me realize a few things and I hope that I helped her. She won’t have to worry for at least a little while about food. I didn’t expect this today but apparently I was called to it and was right where I needed to be.
The forgotten dresser
Cheese Steak Pizza
Cheese Steak Pizza
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, cut crosswise into thin slices, separated into rings
1 small green or red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
Brown ground beef in large nonstick skillet over medium heat 6 minutes.
Add onion and bell pepper; continue cooking until beef is not pink and vegetables are crisp-tender, breaking beef up into small crumbles.
Pour off drippings; season with salt and pepper.
Place pizza crust on ungreased large baking sheet. Spoon beef mixture evenly on pizza crust; sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Cut into 8 wedges.
What are some examples of grim legacies?
Saddam’s bunker was designed to withstand a nuclear bomb.
It was built directly under his palace.
main qimg 8480ca32958b44dce9cbdd548c5c3ab6 lq
(source: Outlook Magazine)
Much like traditional concrete design, steel rods were run first, then concrete poured over them.
Only—the steel was thicker, and so was the concrete.
It was so powerful that if a Hiroshima bomb went off 250m away—the bunker would be fine.
And through both Iraq wars, the bunker stood strong and withheld all the onslaughts of US forces. In today’s dollars, it cost well over $100 million to build.
But—to the question:
It was built by a Munich, Germany born designer, Karl Esser. He comes from a long line of architects who have also designed military grade bunkers. He expresses no guilt in designing the bunker, stating that it wasn’t a weapon, merely the equivalent of a bomb shelter.
He actually met with Saddam Hussein several times and stated that if you met him (in the 1980’s), he looks like a tax collector, there is nothing special about him. But when he starts speaking—you realize that he is far more than a tax collector, and you are reminded of that by how tense everyone around him is. (Source: Saddam’s bunker can withstand nuke attack, says its designer. Bhaita, Saida)
Again—to the question:
Karl was chosen specifically by Hussein because of his experience. His grandmother designed Hitler’s bunker. The family trade had been passed down to him.
To usher in Communism?
Really? These folk don’t have a clue as to what they are talking about.
Have you ever met a celebrity who asked you, “Do you know who I am?” and you said no?
Yes, as a matter of fact, Shaquille O’Neal. Now to be honest, he wasn’t as famous at the time as he has become since, but he was well known locally. I was a homicide detective in Baton Rouge, Louisiana one Friday or Saturday night was driving on one of the public thoroughfares to go through LSU campus, when a small truck ran a stop sign in front of me on Highland Road, almost causing an accident. Even though I was I was in an unmarked car, I decided to pull it over to advise the driver to be more careful. Upon stopping the vehicle, the driver of the truck exited, and it took him a while to unfold himself out of it. He towered over me, but smiling, advised apologetically that he didn’t have his drivers He advised he did not have license on him, saying friendly enough, “but you know who I am” More statement than a question.
I decided to play ‘dumb’. “No, who are you?” I asked with a straight face. I was pretty sure it was Shaquille O’Neal, but I wanted him to tell me who he was. I honestly did not do not follow basketball, but everyone was talking about him (he was the star LSU basketball player at the time). I almost felt sorry for him As he looked a little Bit crestfallen that I apparently did not know who he was. He wasn’t asking for special favors or making demands, he innocently thought he was well known in town BY ALL due his Athletic prowess and notoriety. I smiled at him, and I said something to the effect that, ‘ I know who you are, but need your DOB and some proof. He found his insurance or registration with his name on it and I explained why I stopped him and told him to please be more careful. He was friendly and respectful during the entire encounter. I am very proud that he now works as a reserve law enforcement officer. He is much more than some guy who can play a game, he is obviously a still a class act.
Victoria Nuland: The making of a psychopath. Chapter 1,2 and 3.
Have you ever stood up to a bully? What happened?
Starting in the second grade, when my father lifted the absolute prohibition on fighting. He got tired of picking me up from the school nurse, or the hospital. Also tired of the wear and tear on my clothing.
The very next day, one of my usual tormentors hit me in the back of the head. The teacher just watched, as usual. So I picked up my desk and beat him unconscious. Took three blows.
I was sent to the office, of course. The principal said I was to be expelled. My father asked if the other boys who hit me had also been expelled. “well, no. They didn’t use a desk.”
“So, it’s okay for them to beat MY son bloody, as long as they don’t use the furniture? Is that it? Did you at least discipline the teacher who allowed this to go on?”
“Well, no. Boys will be boys…”
“Well, my boy is a boy, too. You have demonstrated that you will do nothing to prevent him from being beaten; so where’s the problem if he fights back?
Tell you what. I’m going to send the hospital bills and the bills for damaged clothes to my lawyer, and the school board. we’ll let them sort it out.”
And that was the last said of expelling me.
OMG funny
What would happen if the US decoupled from China?
The life in the US would become like this.
main qimg fdc37f5fa637be8981555b041e7962c7 lq
How can an employee get a manager fired?
In my experience its easier if you don’t try. Couple of years ago a manager denied me several requests for Training, told me i was a waist of time. Few years latter my ceo inquired as to why i never made use of the company training system. So i told him. I told him about being denied and the waist of time comment, and how i did not even look at training anymore because of it.
That manager was demoted that Christmas, quit instead, then sent his layer to take a chunk out of my 401. The company successfully convinced him not to. But later they restricted my max contribution to the retirement account because of the incident.
And it all happened because i applied for training on how to handle an upset customer.
Second time was during an ataboy reward. Essentially i had a panic attack when that same ceo came to congratulate me. He was fired because, by procedure, when an employee freaks out the manager is supposed to walk away. Instead this ceo stayed around and calmed me down. The project manager 5feet away wrote the ceo up, and by the end of the week that ceo was gone. Only thing needed to make it all happen was a traumatic event in college to give me ptsd. “May God welcome you to his heavenly splendor Jerry. You will be missed and thank you.”
To get a manager fired do the following. Call a lawyer, get the lawyer to file a freedom of information. Aquire the company’s secret employment laws document. This will be the stack of papers that say among other things
1. A thong is ok for women to ware but brief’s are not ok for men to use.
2. An employee may be terminated for possession of pornography when: they are found to poses/refuse to submit to search and with a witness, or have a prior termination for and no witness. Or a manager successfully implants the audio album “innocent victim” on the employees phone.
3. Work place competition is permitted under these criteria. Or exceeds the bounds of acceptance under these criteria…
4. The employee was found holding a blade, even if found working with food in the kitchen.
5. Employees are permitted to use incontinence products but are subject to termination if they discard used products in the bathroom garbage bin. And by extension are not allowed to have extra diapers on company grounds.
Be warned if you do obtain these secret documents, most fortune 500 companys will respond by amending a new criteria. Usually the new criteria is specialized to target YOU and some thing YOU do. In this way even after you learn how to CAN anyone, you will not be bulletproof. HR is not stupid, they will fit you with a remote explosive collar.
But coming back to the original question, use what you learn then file a report on your manager for anything he is doing that violates those secret rules.
The underwear criteria was really surprising to me, then i got investigated for it one day.
Please let us know if you actually get someone canned for their underwear.
Final comments. The right reason to terminate a manager is when there replacement is both better than the current person, and when its better for the company. Any situation where you are involved in a non consensual passing of the torch will result in repercussions. If your manager is doing something you don’t like, ask them how you are supposed to respond. You will be surprised.
U.S IN TROUBLE! China Finally DESTROY U.S Companies
What are some dark sides about law enforcement you have seen?
A man was stabbed, killed and thrown in a desolate pit.
The mother blamed victim’s brothers in law for this. Police arrested both of them but later cleared them off. No lead, no progress at all. Senior officers and Judge were not happy.
Four months passed.
Then a young and handsome officer got transferred in our police station. A few ongoing cases were given to him to investigate and complete, this blind murder incident was exclusively included as well.
I remember… It was his first day at work, he chose to handle this blind murder case first. I knew him personally because his elder brother is my friend, a constable as well. So this officer preferred using my room until he gets a suitable place to set up his desk and everything.
So… yea. First day at work. He summoned those two suspects (in laws) as he wished to question them. Those two individuals arrived in my office. There were four people in my room. Me, detective and those two.
He began throwing question at them and investigated. Questions after questions… and a bit of persuasion.
They confessed the murder in half an hour. I kid you not. They confessed the murder, showed the place where they hid the knives and explained the motive.
This young detective solved a murder case in 30 minutes on his first day.
Senior officers couldn’t praise him more. That previous detective was blown upon hearing this news. He was ordered to report to head quarters. A seasoned one. I am sure he was asked…
How the hell couldn’t you resolve this piece of cake investigation in four months. Did you intentionally spare the murderers.
I remember the sweat on his forehead when he returned. He was worried as this may lead to dismissal from service and then some, if proved that he favored the murderers in his reports.
And if that’s truth “he sold a murder” which is awful and atrocious.
Anyway…. it’s not my place to put verdict.
I don’t know if he did it or not.
What is rare is not common
Is China’s rise America’s fall?
I have written extensively on this subject, focusing for a moment on what is China doing and what is the US doing which are in opposite directions. If you go the wrong direction for long enough then you are in real trouble, which America is in right now.
CHINA’S RISE
Forget about all the state capitalism vs corporate capitalism, yes this is an underlying difference but results are results. Either you are in the game or you are not and the USA is not in the game, China is.
It is all about one thing, investment. You do not invest you get nothing. Here is Pudong in 1982 when I first arrived in China. NOTHING NADA ZERO development.
main qimg 21c1045a93086fa3cf294ee3f36f7dab lq
Then there is Pudong today, same photo but completely developed.
AMERICA’S FALL
Here is Detroit where I grew up in 1950:
main qimg 769bba236b706352c16d15a2f8bb38bb lq
Ostensibly the ‘richest’ city in the world the year I was born, 1950.
Here is Detroit a few years ago:
main qimg d7b418ee7474da593a887889b8974c9c lq
I chose a nice image, just the after effects of destruction.
It is all about investment. The USA does not invest in anything other than military. Nothing, nada. The Trump administration even litigated against universities who were trying to enroll more blacks and minorities in favor of Chinese and whites, but really Chinese as they were the highest test scorers so they get in and nothing for black, latinos or other US citizens. Incarceration rates and numbers at 2.3 million, drugs, lack of opportunity, do you get it? America is still going in the wrong direction and now we have the QAnon types running the Republican party so you can forget about them to help. Up to the Democrats who are ok but they are no world beaters when it comes to investment as they are govt types and don’t get the private sector.
And Trump? Mr Glitz was the exact opposite of investment, but if you do not invest you die and he invested nothing.
The USA will die and be hollowed out and China will dominate the world completely if the USA and Europe and even Australia, but especially the USA, does not clean up its act and invest.
Invest in their education, in vocational training, in tax incentives to invest to get companies back to Detroit and everywhere else.
I could go on, but this nonsense about China’s gain is the US loss is only because the USA put all of their money and effort and investment INTO CHINA AND NOT INTO THE USA FOR THE PAST 35 YEARS!
As Everett Dirksen, a great US Senator once said when asked about the budget, ‘a billion here a billion there, and before you know it, you are talking about real money’. How about a trillion here a trillion there and before you know it, you are broke like the USA is about to be!
I could easily make a case that every US company was headed up by traitors, strong word I get it, but I want to make a point. If all you want to do is make profits in the next quarter, you and your country and your family and your future WILL LOSE.
China is also investing internally not just FDI any longer.
Good on them, now can the rest of the world get off their bums and stop thinking that selling each other cups of coffee and beers is good enough? And that all of the fake hedge funds and other financial ‘products’ are garbage and are not benefiting Americans rather a small elite that now does their business in China as they make more money there.
Hope that puts a different focus on this debate and gets people to back off on China and to focus instead on their own countries and their own people and solve their own problems.
There is plenty of time to discuss this all with China but clean up your acts first.
What are a few bitter truths of life?
In my office, there is a 26 year old married guy. He is an attendant and not earning much for leading a decent life in a metro city. Although, I am much above in post than him, I treat him as my friend.
So, his wife was about to give birth in a day or two yet he was not taking leave from the office. He told me that it is very close and could be today or tomorrow.
Then on the next day at 4 PM, he rushed towards me saying that wife is in labor and was taken to the hospital. I got furious and told him why he didn’t take leave that day. I quickly calmed down realizing his situation and offered to drop him. But to amazment, he refused.
I was speechless. He said he has some urgent work and only after finishing that he will go.
Next day he called me and said that he was blessed with a baby boy but he also said by the time he reached his wife had already given birth.
I demanded he explain this nonsense.
In a soft voice he explained that he needed to finish his duty till 5.30 pm otherwise his one day pay would be deducted.
Bitter truths:
Money really is the most important thing because the lack of it is so painful.
Our parents sacrifice so much but still sometimes we end up ignoring them.
One cannot truly relate to the pain of others unless he is put in same position.
Without education, a person is really on a path of lifelong struggle.
The Sopranos – Dick Barone – the king of garbage and Tony Soprano’s boss!
What is the most satisfying passive-aggressive thing you have ever done to a really mean or rude person?
I was working the AT YOUR SERVICE counter at Macy’s during the holiday rush when a woman with husband in tow stepped in front of the customer I was waiting on, a quiet and endlessly patient young man, and demanded that I call her a manager and, almost as an afterthought, added that the person I summoned had better be white.
She said this loud enough for everyone in the cordoned line behind her to hear.
The young man I’d been waiting on was black, as was practically everyone else in line.
I leaned towards her and hissed —
You realize you’ve just given me license to tell you exactly what I think of you without the risk of getting fired…
But I’m not gonna do that.
What I AM going to do is tell you to go to the end of the line and wait for me to finish with all these other good people…and then I’ll call you a manager.
His name will be Akeem.
And he’s just gonna LOVE talkin’ to YOU.
She didn’t make it to the end of the line. Her long suffering husband literally dragged her out of the store.
And Akeem wasn’t actually my supervisor. He was responsible for the ground floor and I was mall level.
I lied about that part.
But he did enjoy the story when I told it to him later on.
Mother Goes Off On Woke School Board Over Graphic Books in Her Child’s Elementary School
What are some things that make you think “what a strange world we live in”?
There are many places that make this a very strange world. The Nazca Lines, crop circles, Easter Island, Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, and so on. I thought I had read about them all, but this one was new to me.
The Band of Holes
In Pisco, Peru, stretching across the Cajamarquilla Plain are thousands of ancient holes that measure 6 feet (1.8 m) to 7 feet (2.1.m) deep and evenly spaced 3 feet (.9 m) apart. No one has any idea how these holes were formed. There are at least 5000 to 6000 depressions that run north and south for almost 2 miles. (3.2 k)
Who would dig all these holes? Why? How were they created? I’m imagining some poor sunburned guy with a spade saying, “Okay, 600 more to go then I’m stopping.”
It actually looks like some giant machine was travelling along this path. Was it a mining operation? What were these holes for?
Initially discovered by pilot Robert Shippee who took an aerial photo of them and published them in National Geographic, they are indeed strange. They date to around the 15th. century, they believe.
Truthfully, although there are many guesses, no one really knows who or what dug these holes and why.
Peru is a very strange place that’s for sure. Just read about Saqsaywaman, 12 Angled Stone, and Machu Picchu. Who built these places and how? Modern man would have a hell of a time reconstructing them. They might not be able to. I think we have forgotten the ways to do these stupendous feats. The ancients apparently knew them. We are now just learning, or relearning about moving rock through sound and wavelengths.
More experiments with text to picture
Here’s some examples from others that I thought were well done…
Default masterpiece best quality oil painting modern Oiran roy 3(1)
Default Create a stunning 8K ultrarealistic food photograph fe 2
Default show Mark Antony leading in the battle of Actium in 31 0
Default Ascension of Augustus to Power 1
Default Capture the moment of triumph and despair as Octavians 2(1)
Default Capture the moment of triumph and despair as Octavians 2
Default A candid photo of crazy old scientists arguing in a la 3
Default A candid photo of crazy old scientists arguing in a la 2
Default Capture the moment of triumph and despair as Octavians 1(1)
Default show a Octavian commanding 290 roman trireme ships 1
Leonardo Diffusion XL Sketchbook Style Sketch book hand drawn 2
Default The man at the table raises his glass once more thanki 0
Default Capture the moment of triumph and despair as Octavians 1
Default Telekinesis is a remarkable ability that allows indivi 1
Default Imagine young Errol Flynn age 34 as a Court Dandy 15 2
Default Professeur 1
Default Bb 0
Default crea a una chica rubia que se parezca a una chica huma 3
Default Simple Logo for barbershop Odin has a cool design hair 0
Default Create a Cat holding a alt coin Cripto 0
Default Bb 1
Default Again the waiter serves drinks to everyone except the 0
Default A candid photo of crazy old scientists arguing in a la 1
Default pisces zodiac sign golden metal reflecting a glowing s 0
Default spaceship parts debris floating in the exosphere the b 0
Default masterpiece best quality Anime14 modern Oiran bold neo 2
Default astronaut black cat floating in the stratosphere catal 0
Default masterpiece highest creativity Leonardo Da Vinci in dy 6
Default Uma guerreira japonesa com um drago tatuado em seu ros 2
Default black cat who will attack you with fire woman 0
Default White Cat sitting on pillows on panoramic roof Istanbu 2
Default A corgi in a white shirt black vest and white fedora s 3
Default Beautiful Elf posing with freckles and glasses and lo 2
Default Bloodborne Dark Souls 3 Elden Ring ultra detailed g 1
Default show men in the middle ages watching strange lights da 0
Default Brazilian woman with ears of a brazilian fox named lob 0
Default masterpiece best quality oil painting modern Oiran roy 3
Leonardo Vision XL Imagine a powerful elegant animated charact 2
What if the USA attacked China?
I find it remarkable that so many people think that the USA would overwhelm China in a war, the country that wrote the book on military strategy and how to defeat larger, more powerful opponents.
The US could not even win in Korea or Vietnam, what makes you think they would prevail against the much larger and powerful China?
First of all, the US would likely only defeat China in a conventional war assuming that China fought back using similar conventional means. Unlikely.
You have certainly seen all the news reports about Chinese hacking by their military? These sorts of things are warnings. They are warnings to the US that if you come after us we know where your vulnerabilities are. And so do the Russians. And any attack on the Chinese would also likely bring about a quick military alliance with the Russians as well.
A ground war against China (not to mention ANY war against China) would be the height of idiocy. China has 6X the number of people, compared to the US, who could be called into military service fairly quickly. And China is a HUGE country with lots of very difficult terrain to cover.
And given all the bullying and warfare that the US has engaged in since this new century began, do you really think that the Chinese, and Russian military, have not been actively preparing for the potential of such a scenario?
The US military can overwhelm most countries because they are much smaller and weaker. But taking on someone even close to our own size would expose weaknesses and vulnerabilities, both in the military and the US government, that neither wants the American people to know about or experience.
If the US wants to get itself into the biggest military quagmire in history, and destroy its economy, then yeah go ahead and try and go to war with China.
Guy Mocks Leftists Worldview With Funniest Testimony You’ll Hear Today
Can the U.S defeat China in a day? It seems that is the worldwide consensus. If such is the case, then shouldn’t China thread lightly when it comes to the U.S? I’m starting to really think China doesn’t stand a chance against the U.S and her allies.
It took the USA four presidents, 2 trillion dollars and 20 years of war in Afghanistan to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.
And you think that the US can defeat China in a day. Do you mean, like, in a basketball game or something? Hahahaaa …
What are some reasons you have left a restaurant before ordering?
I went into a truck-stop restaurant one night (though not the only time this happened) and was seated by the hostess, who cheerfully brought me the coffee and water she offered. And that was the last time ANYONE came to my table.
I watched other drivers/customers, all male, come in, get served, and finish and leave, and I couldn’t get anyone’s attention even by standing up and waving, or calling out to them as they passed by my table.
Note: I was alone, female, 50ish, and dressed decently (not provocatively) and clean. And hungry.
I finally gave up, and went to the cashier to pay for my coffee, and asked to speak to the manager. (It was the hostess who was acting as cashier). She asked, with concern, if there was a problem, and if there’d been anything wrong with the food. I said I wouldn’t know, since I never had the opportunity to order any. She got the manager, who said he was so sorry for the “misunderstanding”, and he’d be happy to take my order right then. I declined, saying that I had run out of time, and that I’d have to make do with a can of tuna or something I had in my truck for emergencies, but that it might be a good idea to speak to his waitstaff about the concept of customer service. And I added that I wouldn’t be stopping again there to eat anytime soon, as I didn’t have time in my life for that kind of treatment. I didn’t shout, or raise my voice, but I did want to make my displeasure known and understood.
On my way out, I left a tip with the hostess, who’d been cheerful and professional in her dealing with me, and told her that that tip was for her alone, and not to be shared, or “tipped out” with any servers. She already knew why, and thanked me.
Oh, and the coffee was comped.
What was your most horrible wedding experience as a guest?
Ha, not horrible just really rather bizarre! My husbands cousin was getting married. He turned out to be a horrible person but thats another story. At the wedding we are sat at the cousins table along with a mutual cousin who is/was a well known pop star. He was absolutely lovely, I was sat next to him and obviously the pop star has been left at home for the day. During the speech the brides father announced he was here and made him get up for a round of applause. Honestly he looked like he wanted to die on the spot. The brides father then spent the next 10 minutes talking about the pop star cousin and forgetting the bride and groom.
On another note 2 aunties had basically taken over the ladies loo where they could have a full blown row. You went in and they were just stood there, daggers drawn in silence. As you left you could hear them start again.
Overall it was a wedding to remember for all the wrong reasons and the bride and groom lasted about 10 years.
Niger DESTROYS Victoria Nuland’s Plot to Return Africa to France w/ Ben Norton
What office rule made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?
One place I worked still expected everyone to wear formal business attire even if they never met any clients. Amazingly, they issued an email that announced a trial run of “dress down Friday”. No guidance was given it was just dress down. This experiment was to run for a month.
After the second Friday we received another email cancelling all future dress down Fridays as some people had taken things too far. After a bit of discussion about what could have caused such a reaction, it is eventually revealed that some people wore jeans! Not scruffy jeans, jeans with holes in, slung too low, cut offs, just jeans.
Are people in China encouraged not to purchase American goods?
Many of my colleagues have moved away from iPhones. But it has nearly nothing to do with the brand beating a US brand.
An iPhone used to be a prestige item. A status symbol. But over the last 2 years so many people in China own one that it is no longer a status symbol. Factory workers, office workers etc. So what is so special about an iPhone that makes someone want to spend twice as much for it. They can buy another brand of phone that does what an iPhone does, make a phone call? Yup Take selfies? Yup. Use We Chat? Yup. Surf the net? Yup.
So that is the problem is Apple was too successful selling so many phones in China that there is no prestige that is worth paying an extra $500 for it.
And keep in mind that when someone in China is buying a phone they are paying for it all up front. So it is an extra $500 out of pocket. It is not like in the US where you pay for the phone monthly as part of your phone plan. So it is a painless extra $10 a month to buy an iPhone. So a Chinese person really thinks about the value they are getting when they hand over their money.
Of course now the little extra push to go with a Chinese brand is the trade war. But as far as I can see no one is telling them or asking them to not buy American.
Personally I think if the government ever did ask that US companies would sell very very very little here. Be thankful the Chinese government is showing restraint.
Is the quote “You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” attributed to General Isoroku Yamamoto based on a true story?
Admiral Yamamoto, not General. No, it is almost certainly bogus as there is no known citation for this supposed quote. The words have sometimes been attributed to the Gordon Prange, a historian on the staff of Douglas MacArthur, but it is found nowhere in his writings either. The quote should be regarded as bogus until someone can cite when and where it originated.
Nor did Admiral Yamamoto ever say:
I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.
That quote appears to be derived from the 1970 film Tora! Tora!, Tora! (great film). What he did say was:
A military man can scarcely pride himself on having smitten a sleeping enemy.
This is a reference regarding his disappointment over the bungled Japanese declaration of war which wasn’t delivered until a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour.
Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza
I would name this “Caprese Pizza.” It’s heavenly!
cast iron skillet pizza
Prep: 10 min | Cook: 20 min | Yield: 2 (9 to 10 inch) pizzas
2 tablespoons Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup shredded fresh basil
Instructions
Heat well-oiled cast-iron or nonstick 10 or 12 inch frying pan over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Divide dough in half; roll one half into round 1 inch smaller than diameter of pan.
Cook dough in hot pan until dough begins to rise and bottom starts to brown. Using metal spatula, turn carefully. Layer half the tomato slices over dough; scatter half the mozzarella over top. Lower heat to medium-low; cook until mozzarella melts.
Using metal spatula, transfer pizza to cutting board. Sprinkle with salt; drizzle with half the olive oil.
Cut into wedges; sprinkle half the basil over top.
Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Why did my top performing employee quit after write up?
Imagine it from the top performer’s point of view.
They might be getting offers from other companies they don’t discuss with you.
If they’re performing better than everyone else and don’t perceive themselves as having erred (at least not enough for a write up) they’re left searching for reasons you may have written them up. It’s inevitable that they will arrive at political or financial motives.
Typically having a write up interferes with career advancement, raises, and bonuses.
Perhaps they thought you were trying to put them back on their heels to make them more controllable. Top performers don’t need to be controlled. Maybe the very act of writing them up was a final straw in proving the incompetence of your leadership to them.
If their work created opportunities or revenues perhaps they saw a write up as a way of denying or usurping those. Top salespeople get this all the time. It’s a typical ruse for an unscrupulous leadership team to mess with a salesperson’s compensation or territory when they confront how much money they may pay in commissions to one person. When they think they can close the book of business themselves these asshats will do things to marginalize or force out the salesperson to capture more revenue and take credit for the sale “in spite of” the salesperson’s supposed shortcomings.
If the company is already having some problems this kind of thing is a death knell. It’s like the drunk, losing poker player trying to scare a guy with a stack of chips into folding by going all-in with an obvious bluff. The experienced people see that and think, “Well, that’s the end of that.”
This type of thing is doubly bad because it simultaneously signals bad faith and incompetence. It inspires disgust and righteous anger in people who work diligently and honestly.
In general, the more honest and competent a person is, the more attuned they are to the dishonesty and incompetence of others. Since they are typically getting things done at a faster pace they end up encountering things that interfere with getting things done more often. They encounter and avoid the temptation to take dishonest shortcuts and are pressured to do so by their managers more often.
This whole time other companies are sending messages about the greener grass across the street.
Does any of this feel like it applies to you?
The Delta Hot Index: Compare your Mate Value at a Glance
What new policy did a new boss try to implement that made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?
Many years ago I worked at a Clinical Trials company. In the space of 18 months, two of the female staff had needed extended sick leave. I don’t know the exact nature of the illness these women had. I worked more closely with one of the women so, I know that she had a miscarriage and possibly depression afterward. I believe the other women had some long-standing health problems that resulted in a hysterectomy.
One of the Managing Directors sent a fairly rambling memo about the inconvenience, to the company, of key staff being absent for long periods. He was proposing to take a gynaecological history of female staff in order to assess their ‘availabilty’ for certain roles in the company. Apparently, women’s plumbing is a bit different and inconveniently complex …. (In fairness, I should point out that he was a consultant gynaecologist).
As a Staff Representative, I was asked to forward a unanimous response on behalf of the female staff. The response was just two words and you know which two words.
He received his reply within an hour of sending his memo and the subject was never mentioned again.
OMG. This takes me back. We used to jam to this non-stop. First time I have listened to the full album in about fifty years. No shit!
Are Taiwanese oligarchs worried about chip breakthrough in mainland China that will affect their margin?
Not really
main qimg 3c40f9babdb58180d1f0fe494855f253
A Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Dragon Chipset costs around $ 450 and of that Qualcomm pockets $ 225 as Chip Designer while TSMC gets around $ 175 for Fabrication and the Packaging and Testing costs $ 50
A Huawei Kirin 9000s costs around $ 370 today of which Huawei pockets $ 100 as Chip Designer, the Foundry SMIC gets around $ 300 , the Packaging and Testing costs $ 20 and the Chinese Government subsidizes $ 50 a Chip
So as you can see TSMC pockets $ 175 for each Chip and has a margin of close to 40% as profit
SMIC pockets $ 300 for each Chip and has a margin of 7% as profit
Thus TSMC is paying almost $ 105 for manufacturing a 7 nm Chip while SMIC is paying a whopping $ 279 for manufacturing a 7 nm Chip with a 96% Yield
So TSMC is in a very advantageous position in terms of Chip manufacturing
It costs SMIC almost three times more to manufacture a 7 nm chip than TSMC at 96% Yield
The key is HUAWEI
You notice Huawei pockets only 24% of the Cost of the Chip whereas Apple and Qualcomm and Intel they pocket 50% of the Cost of the Chip
Likewise the Testing and Packaging and Finishing in China is 40% of what they charge in Taiwan
So the final Chipset is almost $ 50 Cheaper on the Mainland
So if you look at TSMC vs SMIC
SMIC is manufacturing a chip which is 96% in Yield of the same manufactured by TSMC at 3 times the cost and 20% of the Profit earned by TSMC (Not including the Subsidy)
If you look at the Kirin 9000s vs Snapdragon 888
The Kirin costs $ 50 Less than the Snapdragon and at virtually almost same quality
This translates to at least $ 117 on the final retail price of any phone using the Chipset
That’s 700 RMB cheaper at the lowest
Thats where China dominates
Ultimately the Brand mode of profiteering is why the West can never ultimately win against China in a fully competitive market
What was the most boneheaded mistake you saw someone make while in the military?
This was more than boneheaded!!!!!!!!!! This photo is of me as a MP about to go out on a jeep patrol in Danang Vietnam in 1970.
main qimg 3482d8aea896a2726c0c06652f8c96b5
When we changed the watch, the watch before us gave us their 45 caliber pistol. They were supposed to remove the magazine, jack the weapon back and then shoot down at some sand or earth area to make sure no round was in it. The guy I had on one watch switch, took his weapon out did not take the magazine out, jacked it back (which loaded the chamber) and then shot it down about 2 inches from my toes. We were both on a concrete walkway going into our police office. What saved my life most likely was a rubber mat about 15 feet long on the sidewalk. The round went through the rubber mat and when it ricocheted on the concrete, the bullet slid about 12 feet under the mat between my legs behind me instead of going up into me. What followed was a huge flurry of of expletives to him from myself and the men around me. I could have died from friendly fire!
What will happen if America invades China?
This shall not happen.
Last time when the States invaded North Korea, 54246 American soldiers lost their lives, and we lost more. I believe that a wise POTUS would never decide to invade China by risking half of the army in far east.
If this shall happen, er…
Per the requirements of Chinese laws, I shall be recruited, and given a rank around caption.
I may be assigned to work in a camp, interrogating captured US soldiers (see I can speak English quite well, and I am somewhat familar with psychology, politics, history and western culture).
I am also a chemist graduating from a top university. I can also serve as a chemistry engineer in factories, producing gunpowder, medicine, and other necessary materials for the war.
If the war does not go on well, I may be sent to the front, holding a handgun, leading dozens of soldiers, and I may die there. If I die bravely in a battle, I shall be recognized as “revolutionary martyr” and beried in a “martyrs cemetery”. I may have no son or daughter, but all Chinese children living in the new peace world shall dance and sing on the land that I have bled for.
Both China and the States have well educated, brave and patriotic citizens. It would be a disaster for the people of both countries, even the whole world, to initiate a war between the two countries.
Lives shall be lost, cities shall be burned and children shall starve.
If we use our muscle suitably instead, we can make this world better.
What happened to you in China which made you think completely differently about the country and society?
Before going to China, I used to hear a lot from my Mainland Chinese friends in Australia how the Chinese are so selfish and cunning. They told me to be careful when buying something because I could get cheated, that the Chinese won’t do me any favor when I ask for one and if I ask somebody the direction they might point into a wrong direction. I heard the Shaghainese are arrogant, the Henanese are very bad, the Hubei-ese are cheaters, the North-Easterners are rough and so on so forth. Of course, they warned me on good will, and I thanked them for that.
Yet, when I was actually in China, I found that virtually all what they told me are wrong. I’ve never met any arrogant Shanghainese, Hubei-ese cheater, bad Henanese or rough North-Easterner (though many North-Easterners do talk loudly). When I had no umbrella on a rainy day, someone gave me an umbrella; when I took a bus but had no coin, someone gave me coins and when I forgot my belonging in a restaurant, someone told me that. Of course, there must be bad people in China as well, but not as many as I imagined before going there based on what those Chinese friends warned me.
EELF Collection
This is… well… not what you would think. I ran across this, and it’s… well… you just have to watch it.
So I went on ChatGPT and asked it to find that mystery movie that I have been having such a difficult time finding. This is what I asked…
please help me locate a movie. Sometime in the late 1980's and in the 1990s I watched a movie on television. it was a science fiction movie.
It was apparently "made for television", though I do not know for sure.
it was about the experiences of the main character; a female that was hired to work in a software company.
The movie starts where she finds herself on this big sprawling campus of the company that she will work at. It is mostly empty of others, just a few people walking here and there. she then meets up with the rest of her design team. all are very smart like she is and all are specialists. they all are working on various software projects.
eventually they realize that there is something strange about their life. they work for three days, and then it all starts all over again.
at one point in the movie, they encounter a record left behind by their previous selves. with thousands of log entries.
they decide to hack into the campus as it appears that they are software programs modeled after specific real-world engineers.
they find this access port, which appeals to be a big hinged plug in the ground, and using that they hack into the entire campus and stop the endless cycle of repeat and redo. ....
when I have used search engines for this movie, the usual standard, commonplace, movies came up. but this is not a usual movie. this is a very unique and seemingly forgotten movie. can you help me out?
And this is what it answered…
The movie you're describing sounds like "TekWar," a 1994 made-for-television science fiction film based on the TekWar novels by William Shatner.
The main character you're referring to is likely Beth Kittridge, portrayed by Charlotte de Bruyne.
In the film, she is hired by Jake Cardigan (played by Greg Evigan) to work at Cosmos, a futuristic software company.
The storyline involves the characters discovering anomalies and facing challenges similar to what you described, including the repetitive nature of their experiences and the hacking into the system to stop it.
"TekWar" was part of a larger franchise that included television movies, a TV series, and novels. It might not be widely remembered today, but it certainly fits the description you provided.
Well, I really don’t know if this is it. But it is the closest that I have found so far.
How the hell is America still a superpower when China is making such infrastructure and buildings while the US still has buildings from 1950?
The United States is NOT a superpower.
It is instead, a feudal, plutocracy that runs a military empire.
There is no longer a “middle class”, instead there are workers (known as “rabble”) and the elite (known as the 0.1%).
This indicative of late-stage empire decline.
Historically, within a few decades, the United States will disappear before transforming into some kind of new entity.
…
China is on another level… perhaps another plane… indeed, in another universe entirely. To compare the two is like comparing apples with Rocket sleds.
Adjust your perception
Why does America not retaliate for China making it hard for US companies to penetrate Chinese markets?
You really have to get out from under the influence of the media. It is clouding your faculties. There are so many companies operating and thriving in China. I personally was brought over to China by a New Hampshire company that was very successful in China. I live in a third tier city and there is no shortage of western companies operating here. There is a Dell EMC building across from my apartment, Multiple Starbucks within walking distance, KFC, McDonalds, Ford sells cars here, Buick, Jeep. Walk through the malls here and you see Adidas, Nike Under Armour, Dickies and Levis shops. Those are just the companies that sell to common people. Never mind the big corporations that do billions of dollars in business in China.
Wake up! The whole trade imbalance cry is not reality. It is for your consumption and it seems to be working very well. Really stop watching the news, it is not reality. Its sole purpose is to shape your perception of the world.
Men are sick and tired
What were the reasons for Germany’s defeat to Russia in World War II, despite having better equipment and military strategy? Was Russia’s success due to their fighting skills and familiarity with the land?
This is question despite being auto-generated that touches on the very core of how World War 2 is explained in popular history. The phrasing itself is very noteworthy, because the AI who generated this question does so on the basis of what others write, and it asks how Germany was defeated, not how the Soviets won. Do you think the fact the WW2 eastern front history is primarily told from the point of view of Nazis, might have significantly skewed the way the war is perceived? Hint: Yes.
If the Germans had superior equipment, superior strategy, their army was more experienced, and in 1941 even outnumbered the Soviets quite a bit on the front, then why didn’t they win? Well it must be because of the 3 things that Manstein and the other Nazi war criminals all agree on. The Weather, the number of Soviets and Hitler sabotaging himself. In reality, this is of course outright lies. Let’s talk about why these things are not the reason first.
The Weather: As it turns out Russians, Ukrainians and other Soviet citizens did not have a natural +10 cold resistance. Reality isn’t DnD. The weather of the USSR affects Soviets in exactly the same way as the Germans. Germans were fully aware of the climate in Russia, their generals had read Napoleon, they had geographers and meteorologists who were professionals. So why were they affected so badly?
During the fall of 1941, the winter was approaching, but the arrogance and racism inside the mind of Nazis convinced them that just pushing a little more would cause the Soviets to collapse and give up. The Nazi generals were in charge of their own requisition, and when asked if they wanted their winter equipment or more ammunition to kill more Soviets, they asked for ammunition not winter equipment. This is not a problem of weather, this was a collective German officer decision, based on arrogance and racism.
Some German equipment was not well suited for winter combat, like the German tanks with narrow tracks unable to cope with snow and mud. This is not a weather problem, this is a design problem, showing poor thought in German equipment. Again, the Germans knew they would invade the USSR years in advance and didn’t fix this.
The Soviet manpower monolith. If numbers had been decisive, then you’d think the Soviets would have done better in 1941 than later. In 1941, the Soviets had a larger population, around 190 million, versus the German 80 million. However, by Stalingrad, only 110 Million Soviets were available to the USSR, due to occupation and death, yet this is when the Soviets were winning. Additionally, the Soviets were not just fighting the Germans, but Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Finland and quite a lot of Italian too. If you look at the total manpower of the Axis forces the Soviets fought and not just the Germans, guess what. There were more Axis than Soviets.
Hitler sabotaged everything. So many German generals tell you, and they tell you this because German chief of staff Franz Halder, coordinated with them after WW2 to blame everything bad on Hitler essentially. Halder was editor of several memoirs. In reality the German general staff loved the idea of invading the USSR, they were the ones who came up with the plan, they were the ones who ignored the logistical problems when this was pointed out to them, they were the ones who were defeated at Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. Hitler made very few military decisions, and never without consulting his military staff. In some situations Hitler even made clearly better decisions than his officers did, when he said it would be an economic war, and that Germany needed to capture the resources of the USSR not the cities, he was absolutely right.
So with that out of the way, the better question is, how did the Soviets win? The answer is plain and boring. The Soviets approached war scientifically, they started WW2 with a bad theory and an incomplete procurement and training system. Throughout the war the Soviets introduced excellent military equipment, which in general was far better than the German, they introduced a new military doctrine specifically made to counter what the Germans were doing. Their officers gradually became more experienced, until the experienced Germans had no advantages anymore. And they correctly saw the strategic path to victory through attrition and by correctly exploiting weaknesses in the Axis lines.
This is the simple version of course, but really that is all there is to it, we can talk about equipment and strategy in details in the comments. Additionally if you are interested I wrote about the massive problems the Soviets had to outcome in 1941–1942 in terms of doctrine here:
If a random person came up to you in the street, ready to fight and asked you “What the F are you looking at” How or what would you do in response?
The illusionist Derren Brown has an interesting approach to this situation:
“This is simply about not engaging with your aggressor at the level they expect. I was coming back from a hotel at about 3am one night and there was a guy in the street with his girlfriend. He was really drunk, clearly looking for a fight and he started kicking off at me. I had a routine ready in my head for this sort of situation and it worked a treat on this occasion. He asked me that typical aggressive rhetorical question — “Do you want a fight?” You can’t say “yes” or “no” — you’ll get hit either way. So, I responded with, “The wall outside my house is four-feet high.”
I didn’t engage at the level he was expecting me to, so immediately he was on the back foot. He came back with, “What?” and I repeated my bizarre response. I delivered the line in a completely matter-of-fact tone, as if he was the one who was missing something here. Suddenly, he was confused. All his adrenaline had dropped away, because I’d pulled the rug from under him. It’s the verbal version of a martial-arts technique called an ‘adrenaline dump’, whereby you get the person to relax before you hit them. A punch will have much greater impact if the recipient’s guard is down. I stuck to this surreal conversational thread with my assailant, saying things like, “I lived in Spain for a while and the walls are really huge, but in this country they’re tiny.” After a few of these exchanges, he just went, “Oh f*ck!” and broke down in tears. The guy had all this adrenaline and was on the point of really laying into me — I was seeing myself beaten to a bloody pulp — but these non-threatening nonsense statements broke that aggression down and he genuinely started crying. I ended up sitting next to him on the kerb, comforting him.”
This is the battle in the USA today
Hi Irina,
Patrice has encouraged me to publish some of the testimonies I am getting. My concern is to totally protect the anonymity of the people, especially the ones who could get into serious trouble in Ukraine, but in fact EVERYONE.
So let me know if I quote ‘a woman in Moscow’ remarking on a ‘iiberal in Moscow’. Is that ok….no name or other identifying marks.
One of the things I try to do, is to find people, ordinary people, to get their views on ‘reality’.
Since I live in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I am at an advantage because Chiang Mai attracts people from all over the world, in particular, not just travelers, but those who are deliberately outside their home country. Of course, in my travels, I also try to talk to people, ordinary people inside a country to get their views.
Recently I posted about a Russian guy I met in Moscow, with whom I had a Whatsapp exchange. Irina Boyko was kind enough to comment on the exchange that I posted.
In this email, I’ll talk a little bit about someone whom I met here in Chiang Mai. She grew up during the Soviet era. Moved to Canada after it fell, but moved back to Ukraine a few years ago. After the start of the SMO, she came to Chiang Mai, presumably to ‘get out of Dodge’, meaning the Nazi infested regime, We had a lot of long talks about her life in Soviet Ukraine, how happy she was during those times, and how unhappy she was post USSR.
In order to preserve her anonymity, I’m not going to publish this, only report within the CWG. In early March, she made the trip back to her home city, which I will leave nameless. Her mother has been quite ill, so my friend decided to go back to be with her.
We chatted a little bit since her return. She felt very depressed. We finally caught up by phone and here are some of her observations, which will probably not come as a surprise to us, if not the ‘liberal guy from Moscow’, whom I also chatted with earlier.
The difference in feeling between Chiang Mai, which is probably one of the most comfortable cities to live in, and her city was a real shock. She went into serious depression, but after consulting with both energy therapists and a psychologist is feeling better. She’s learning to cope with the situation.
There is a general feeling of depression and foreboding.
The streets are about half empty…that is, the population has dropped significantly. [This corresponds to information that other commentators have noted. The population used to be 50 million, while it’s now estimated at perhaps 25 million or less]
She sees young women with babies, but no fathers. Where did they go?
The men are in hiding. She told me about one guy who was taken from the same apartment building she’s in, and he was killed after being sent to fight.
Everyone is terrified of the police. Nobody talks openly about conditions
The forcible recruiters are now going into apartment buildings and knocking on doors. Nobody answers for fear of any men in the house being dragged away.
For the time being, she still has electricity and internet, unlike many of the big cities, such as Kharkov.
I said that it looks like the war will go in one of two ways. Either, Russia will win, come into her city, take control and things will improve, similar to what is happening in the newly reincorporated territories. Or, the US/NATO will escalate to the point of nuclear war and we’ll all die. That’s her assessment as well.
Addendum:
I have another young Ukrainian friend here in Chiang Mai, he’s working online remotely. While he wants to go home, he knows that the situation is very difficult and dangerous. Numerous repressive laws are either in place or being considered to take away people’s money or their rights. He’s lucky he is here, otherwise, he probably would have been dragged off to fight and die.
He also said that he was happy in Ukraine in 2021.
Being an expat, I used to see reports saying that Ukraine is a great place for ‘Digital Nomads’, one of millions of mostly young people making a living online. I just thought…”wait…the place is highly unstable and likely to blow up.” But the average people in Ukraine apparently didn’t realize what was actually going on in their country, and where it was all heading.
While, up to now, much of the basic infrastructure has been in place, and people had the basics of electricity and utilities, albeit at much higher prices, the electical supply is out in Kharkov and maybe Odessa. I felt some relief that my friend’s city has been spared for now However, as most of us know, Russia will probably go onto a much more robust offensive, and how those remaining in Ukraine will fare, is uncertain.
Is living in Europe better than living in the USA in terms of standard of living, safety, healthcare, etc.?
I grew up in the US and lived there for much of my life and moved to Europe in 2000 so I guess I am qualified to answer.
Standard of living:
It depends on where you live, how much money you have and what you consider quality of life and living standards. If you live in a small town in Arkansas in a very poor area your standard of living will be pretty bad. You can find comparable places in poor towns in Central and Eastern Europe.
In Western Europe most cites have a very high standard of living for the majority of people. If you live in Paris, for example, your apartment is probably going to be in an older building but well renovated and very comfortable. In the suburbs it depends on the neighborhood and area, (arrondissement), just like in New York City or Boston. If you live in the Western European countryside you may live in a rustic place but it will probably be in very nice condition with all the modern comforts. When I lived in Germany and France I had many friends who lived in rural areas and their homes were small but extremely comfortable. Even in southern Italy the houses may look old on the outside but inside they are filled with all the modern conveniences and well renovated. People take pride in caring for their living spaces.
I would compare the central and southern parts of the US to Central and Eastern European countries like Czechia, Poland, Hungary and Estonia. Although the cities and towns in these countries have a great deal of history and character where most US cities and towns do not.
For shopping, it depends on what you want and where you live. If you live in or near a metropolitan area of the US you will have vast choices for goods. Many products like clothing and electronics will be cheaper than in Europe. Fuel prices are far cheaper than in Europe. Year round food choices are better in the US for the most part. Outlet malls and Costco’s are far better in the US and far cheaper. There have been attempts to make a Walmart or Target type chain in Europe but they have not been able to duplicate the US prices. Walmart tried to open in Germany but it did not succeed.
If you love nature and traveling then both continents have much to offer. America has far more raw and untouched nature. Europe has very little except in Scandinavia. There are beautiful natural areas in most countries but you can easily tell they are not very raw once you hike and explore there. If you enjoy getting out and pitching your tent next to a stream in a forest with no people around then there are very few places you might be able to do that in Europe except in Scandinavia. Wild camping is very restricted in most countries and illegal in some, like Italy. In the US I can drive up in the mountains of Colorado, find a great spot next to a lake or stream and set up my tent and spend a couple of weeks there if I like. I miss that. I do camp here but only in campgrounds in Latvia or Estonia. In Italy it is all too crowded for camping so I have never bothered. I just travel from home or stay in small hotels or BnB’s.
Safety:
I have lived in many places around the US. Usually in rural areas. So I always felt safe. Since university I have not lived in a big city so I am not sure what that is like safety wise. I suppose most US cites are as safe or dangerous as European cities. Some areas are safer than others and some are outright dangerous. In my little village in Italy I feel completely safe walking around at any time day or night. In my suburban neighborhood in Riga, Latvia I do not feel so safe walking around late at night. In any city it is best to be sensible and to know how to stay safe. That applies to both continents.
Healthcare:
I have experience with the US healthcare system and with the German, French, Italian and Latvian systems. As far as quality of care goes I would say that Western European healthcare is comparable and better to US healthcare. Latvian healthcare is not as good as either but is still respectable. I have had 3 major surgeries here so I have experience with this. In terms of costs, there is no comparison. In all European countries, I just go to my doctor or emergency room, get treated, say thank you and go home. In the US I had to check my health insurance provider to see which doctor I could go see, get an appointment, see the doctor, pay my part of the co-pay and amounts that the health insurance company refused. I also had to be mindful of the fact that my insurance company was going to know of any illness I might have and that my rates would go up. Or I could lose my insurance. The same with US hospitals. They provide great care if you can afford it. In Europe what you can afford is irrelevant unless you want to go to a fancy private clinic.
I could go on and on but those are just some of my experiences that stand out.
Bottom line:
I very much enjoy the US for certain things that I consider better there:
Mexican, Cajun, BBQ, New Mexican, Asian cuisines
Discount shopping and warehouse shopping like Costco
Great electronics and cheap prices
Wild nature and natural beauty
Great and uncrowded skiing on weekdays
Other than that I far prefer being here in Europe and consider the life style, standard of living and other areas of life far superior.
Third world
What is the most savage reply you’ve given to an entitled person?
“You’re fired, a bill will be sent to your agent”
Allow me to explain. I work as a specialist costume designer and fight choreographer (I’m no one famous but I get work). One of the clauses I have directors write in to contracts is that “if anyone has lied about their skills, knowledge or experience to secure their role in such a way as to endanger the actors, fighters or other crew they will be summarily dismissed from the production AND they will be billed for the time and expense caused to the production”.
One girl turned up two hours late (strike one), was enormously rude to me, demanding I fetch her coffee and a pastry before she would do anything. Now, as a medieval fight choreographer I spend a lot of time in dirty muddy fields so I don’t exactly wear Gucci to set but I also don’t like to see anyone spoken to like that no matter their job (strike two).
The scenes we needed to get this day would involve the actress riding a horse and using a bow and a sword. She’d stated that she’d competed in Equestrian events so we planned to spend the morning getting some “travelling” shots so she and the stunt horse could get aquianted, then the afternoon would be me polishing up her mounted fight skills ready for the following week of action shots. No, this isn’t how I wanted to do it but we didn’t have the budget for weeks of trials and training camps.
Within thirty minutes of getting her on the horse she had wound it up so badly with her total lack of skill and experience that we couldn’t even put the poor thing back in her stall and the owner had to walk her around to try to calm her down.
The actress came roaring up to me screaming and roaring about how the horse was savage and nearly killed her etc, etc. (strike three).
“You’re fired, a bill will be sent to your agent”
That stopped her dead in her tracks and I reminded her what was in the contract she’d signed and had security (who I’d already called over) escort her to wardrobe and off set. Her agent pitched a fit when they saw the bill but they paid and we got the scenes she’d already done reshot by an actress I’m still friends with.
The Cult
What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?
I wouldn’t call this a ‘terrible’ backfire; humorous perhaps.
In the 1980s I was working overseas for a US contractor. Over a weekend a 30,000 horsepower gas turbine shut itself down and that plant’s production stopped. The Shift Supervisor called the maintenance shop where I worked. The on-duty tech couldn’t service the turbine. More and more calls were made. It was hours before a qualified tech was located.
‘Monday’ morning, Dave, the Plant Manager issued the edict: he wanted to know where an on-call technician was at all times. We said something about ‘standby pay’, or ‘callout premium’, or issue us a two-way radio or pager. No, no, and no. Not happening. The company felt that by our ‘terms of employment’ they owned us for whatever was needed. We weren’t happy about that.
One senior tech, Bill, said, “No problem. I’ll comply. When I get home at night, I’ll call him to let him know I’m home, and here is my phone number. When I go to the commissary, I’ll call him and tell him I’m leaving now. When I arrive at the commissary, I’ll call him from a pay phone and tell him I’ve arrived. He can call the commissary and have me paged if needed.” Bill was a golfer. On weekends he would report in, telling the manager how to have him contacted if needed.
End of the story, Dave, the Plant Manager, was quickly worn down, and the ‘edict’ faded away.
In retrospect, Dave probably did as was demanded of him, and he possibly had no intention of following through. Hmmm … Malicious compliance, perhaps? On various levels, perhaps? Hmmm …
Truth spit out
What was the strangest way an embezzler was caught?
Friend of mine caught one.
She was the new accountant looking after 4 companies, so spent time in each company. Come to pay review time, she asked the Payroll clerk for a list of annual salaries by name and department. ( straight from payroll software) In the tearoom, one of the admin staff suggested she have a close look at the accounting departments salaries. No reason given, just that “ it might be worthwhile” , and left it at that.
The salary of the payroll clerk was 30% higher then her colleagues. She had the master password for the software, so went in to payroll, and checked the salary history of that individual going back several years. 3 years before there this persons salary had jumped up. She checked with senior colleagues and no one was aware of any reason for a big payrise,
Her and HR interviewed the person, and she denied any wrongdoing, said she had earned the increase. Did a followup after the weekend, and said they were considering inviting the police in to investigate, at which point she confessed and said “I made a mistake on someones salary increase
, and no-one noticed, apart from me The next month , I corrected the wrong one and increased my own by the same amount. If someone had asked I would of said it was a mistake. No one did, so I just carried in with it.”
SHe had been so pleased with herself,and the extra clothes and holidays she could now afford, she had bragged to a colleague, about how clever she had been. Colleague was not impressed, and when the opportunity arose, tipped off my friend.
Piers Morgan Shocked When I Told Him the Truth About China!
Have you ever walked into your house and noticed a sound that you thought was suspicious? What happened?
Not me but my Dad (may he Rest In Peace). Dad had been sitting in a Tank during the Korean War but he had been stationed in Germany. Well, tanks from back in the 1950s did not have the noise suppression systems of the tanks of today and the technologies we have for Hearing Protection were practically non-existent; Dad had severe hearing loss before he ever met Mom.
Some time after their divorce, Dad had finally obtained some really GOOD hearing aids. He got home really tired and was traipsing through his kitchen when suddenly there was an unfamiliar noise. He spun around with his weapon drawn and…almost shot his new refrigerator, which he had never heard kick on before. 😀
EDIT!: Thank you to everybody so much for all the likes!
I am getting a FAQ for this post; here is the answer so I won’t have to spam it in the comments:
After Dad was out of the Army, he went to another service branch and then FINALLY left the Military altogether. But then he became a police officer.
As a Police Officer at the time the incident happened with the refrigerator, he had just gotten off a long shift and had a case of nerves that had not settled yet. Sometimes police are jittery after a long or difficult shift. He walked in his door and had not yet disarmed himself when he heard the fridge kick on for the very first time. He lived alone then, so that weird unfamiliar noise startled him and he reacted like he had been trained to react for his entire adult life. Dad practiced excellent trigger discipline and did not actually FIRE the weapon; he just aimed at the fridge.
Please keep in mind, this was MULTIPLE DECADES ago and where he worked at the time, Police could bring and use their own firearms on-duty, not just their Service pieces that were kept in lockers at the station.
Take it easy, everybody. Dad thought it was funny after it happened, it was told as a funny story, nothing bad happened. No Big Deal because nobody actually got hurt. The ‘danger’ has been in the past since I was a toddler.
I hope this clears things up enough for everybody. 🙂
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea – Attack! – Best America Scifi TV Series 2024
https://youtu.be/IhIMqQtpX0A
Some Shorpy historical images
SHORPY 8d11666u.preview
SHORPY 4a13310a.preview
SHORPY 4a14428a.preview
SHORPY 4a13543a.preview
SHORPY 23282a1.preview
SHORPY 40285a.preview
SHORPY 5a38182u1.preview
SHORPY 4a24759a.preview
SHORPY 4a11750a.preview
SHORPY 40264a1.preview
SHORPY 8d03516a.preview
SHORPY 8d12273u.preview
SHORPY 8d12447a.preview
SHORPY 8d12394a.preview
SHORPY 8d10727u.preview
SHORPY 8d10689u.preview
SHORPY 8d10759u.preview
SHORPY 8d10811u.preview
SHORPY 16327u.preview
SHORPY 16886a.preview
SHORPY 17152a.preview
SHORPY 8d11464u.preview
SHORPY 8d11463u.preview
SHORPY 8d11172u.preview
SHORPY 8d11190u.preview
SHORPY 8d11197u.preview
SHORPY 8d11232u.preview
SHORPY 8d11154u.preview
SHORPY 8d11169u.preview
SHORPY 8d11229u.preview
Four things
What’s the shadiest tactic you’ve witnessed HR use at your job?
I worked at a grocery store when I was a teenager. Human Resources was called in to interview the employees about a beer and cigarette theft problem.
Before my interview, I saw a co-worker cleaning out his locker. “What happened?” I asked.
“Dude, they got us. They had cameras filming everything we did,” he said. “I just got fired for eating grapes that fell off the vine.”
My turn came and the HR guy said, “You need to confess to everything you have stolen here. Put a dollar amount on the stolen goods and we will set up a payment plan for restitution and avoid your being arrested.”
“I have never stolen,” I said.
“Okay, I am going to give you one more chance. If you are honest, we won’t get the police involved. If you are lying, things are not going to go well,” he said. “Be advised we have video.”
“I have never stolen anything,” I said.
“Call the police,” he said to the manager. “We are going to have to press charges.”
“You are full of it,” I said. “You have nothing.”
“Do you want to see the video?” He asked.
“Yes,” I said. “It doesn’t exist.”
“What makes you say that?” He said. “You seem very confident for someone about to go to jail.”
“I haven’t stolen anything,” I said. “If you had a video of people stealing, you wouldn’t need a confession.”
I think seven people confessed and were fired that day. My friend that ate the grapes put $7 on the amount he had stolen. He was one of the most honest people I worked with.
The ones eating steak cooked on the heat seal of the meat wrapper never confessed to anything. They did not catch the cigarette and beer thieves they were looking for either.
The people that confessed were the honest ones who felt guilty for their petty thefts while the dishonest ones stuck to their guns and confessed to nothing. Brilliant move by HR.
Jiggle Jiggle
Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza
deep dish 1
Ingredients
2 (14 inch) soft pizza crusts
6 ounces pepperoni slices
6 ounces Italian sausage
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red onion, cut into thin strips
1 can pizza sauce
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/8 cup Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Spray a 12 inch deep-dish pizza pan with vegetable oil.
Place 1 pizza crust in pan and have crust come up sides like a pie.
Add all listed ingredients into pizza pan, adding seasoning to top.
Place second crust on top and use a fork to blend top and bottom crusts together like a pie. Cut off any additional crust.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.
Silent Running (Hidden Gems)
Has there been any case of enemy soldiers showing respect in WW2?
I can’t remember who wrote it, but I’d read a book many years ago about Operation Market Garden. Although some of the British 1st Airborne Division escaped Arnhem, many remained trapped and were captured by the Germans. One of the men who became a POW talked about marching into captivity past German soldiers. The Germans were cheering them saying things like “Good show, Tommy!” The writer said it felt like the winners of a soccer match were consoling the losers after the game. That, of course, didn’t make the defeat any easier to swallow!
Another I’d read about (again, I can’t remember the source) was the US occupation of Japan immediately after the Japanese surrender. As advance American units landed, they headed to Yokohama where their headquarters would be. The Japanese had lined the route with soldiers as guards – all of them had turned their backs to the road. The occupying Americans took that as a sign of disrespect but it was actually the opposite: in Japanese culture, that’s showing the utmost sign of respect.
Star Trek:TNG – Data shows off his ultra human strength to primitive aliens(commander ,Data, )
Every day when I leave, my boss says, “Leaving already?” Today I replied, “I did my 8 hours” and he says “Well, you are salaried”. I do my work, don’t use my computer for anything other than work, and also work from home. What’s his deal?
Lovely. A guy still living in 1865 and he thinks we should be slaves to our jobs.
I remember, some time back, where portions of the bridge, out of my neighborhood were flooded out. No cars were getting into my neighborhood and none were leaving and this was the only way out of my neighborhood. I took pictures of this event and sent them to my boss. He came back and stated “So, this is your excuse for not coming into work. Consider yourself fired”.
So, I did and this was on a Friday morning. I started looking for jobs and by Friday evening, I secured a new job that started a week later. On Monday, my prior boss called around 10:30 AM and asked where I was at and I reminded him “Don’t you remember you firing me? You don’t?! Okay, as a former colleague, I am going to let you in on something, lay off on the day drinking. Everyone knows it is not your cologne.” It was an unhidden fact that everyone knew this manager was hitting the sauce, early on in the day, everyday. No one had the ability or courage to say anything and since I was fired… the courage was right there for me.
So accurate
What has your manager asked you to do that you outright refused to do?
I once did maintenance for a guy that was a true slumlord in Gainesville, FL. I was the only one that had a HVAC license in the whole company and he was using my license to buy Freon and to legally evacuate and recycle extracted Freon. The guy was so cheap that he only owned one Freon pump and vacuum pump, he wouldn’t even spend the money to buy a good set of gauges and I just used my own but I refused to bring my pumps and tanks to work because they’re expensive and I knew he wouldn’t replace them. Anyway, I was out on a job that was fairly remote and needed to evacuate system to do repairs, I called and asked if they could send the equipment out to me rather than me having to drive approximately 45 minutes back to the shop. The answer I got was no and that they were using it at another job (keep in mind that I’m the only one licensed to handle Freon) and if I needed it then I could just evacuate the Freon into the air. Well first off, that’s completely illegal and would cost me my license if I was caught, secondly it’s just plain unethical and I refused to do it. I flat refused and was told that if I didn’t want to do that to leave the job and he would send somebody else out to do it. At this point I not only flat refused I quit as soon as I got back to the shop. I then called the EPA and reported him and also made sure to let all the HVAC suppliers in the area know that they were no longer allowed to use my license for refrigerant purchases or anything else.
When he tries to purchase Freon and found out that he could no longer buy it, he completely flipped out and called me cussing me out as it was the middle of summer in the middle of the Florida swampland. He was having to contract the work out to HVAC companies now and they really didn’t like him so they were bending him over big time. Then on top of that he was investigated by the EPA and hit with huge fines. I have no regrets.
Such an American video
What was the most expensive surprise you received in a bill from a doctor or hospital? Did you pay it?
When I was 19 years old, I was going to collage, and working a job at a McDonald’s part-time.
At the time, I didn’t have either health insurance or a PCP.
It was a particularly cold winter, and I was often put in the drive-thru window; so about once every 2–3 weeks I’d end up with a nasty cold. I’d call in sick when this happened, as it’s illegal to work in food service while sick, and I’d typically be find after just a day or two. Sometime’s they’d accept over the phone, sometimes they’d make me come in anyways, before taking one look at me and telling me to go home.
One time when I called back to say I was over the cold, and good to work again, the manager told me I needed to get a doctor’s note before they’d let me go back to work. I explained I didn’t have insurance, or a doctor, they basically said “not my problem.”
So with literally no other option. I went to a hospital’s ER. I walked in, checked in, talked to the triage nurse, explained what was happening, and asked them to just write a note saying I’m good to work.
The triage nurse took my vitals and wrote the note, and I was out of the ER in literally 5 min, never having left the lobby nor seen an actual doctor.
A month later, I got a bill for $500 in the mail from the Hospital. I should mention that I was only making around $300 a month at my part time job, and had no other income.
I’m just about 40 now. It’s been over 20 years since they sent me that bill. I’ve still not paid it.
What’s the rudest thing a waiter ever said to you?
It wasn’t the waiter. It was the bartender. I had taken my two children out for lunch before we went school shopping. We stopped at Applebee’s, and as we were perusing the menu, we ordered our drinks. I ordered a bloody Mary with extra limes, my son ordered a cookie milkshake with extra cookies. I don’t remember what my daughter ordered, but she wanted something extra in her drink as well. The waitress left the table and walked over to the bar to order our drinks. The bartender yelled out extremely loud for the whole restaurant to here, including myself that sure we want to have extra things but don’t want to pay for them. What he didn’t know was I was a waitress at the time and had no problem paying for extras. I was so embarrassed! After that, I walked over to him and let him know I heard everything he had said, and we left the restaurant. Wasn’t too happy about Applebee’s that day. However, the next weekend I took my children there again in hopes for a better experience. We ended up having the same waitress and I told her I was so sorry that we left the prior week After she took her drink orders . She remembered us and has heard about the situation in regards to what the bartender said. She apologized profusely and the manager came over and apologized as well! We ended up getting our dinners free that day with free desserts. Not sure whatever happened to the bartender, but I must say Applebee’s stepped up to the plate! And yes, I left her a big tip!
Default Qin Gang as a Ming dynasty warrior standing on dayligh 1(11)
Default Qin Gang as a Ming dynasty warrior standing on dayligh 0(11)
Default Qin Gang as a Ming dynasty warrior standing on dayligh 3(11)
Default Qin Gang as a Ming dynasty warrior standing on dayligh 2(11)
What was the most expensive surprise you received in a bill from a doctor or hospital? Did you pay it?
When I was 19 years old, I was going to collage, and working a job at a McDonald’s part-time.
At the time, I didn’t have either health insurance or a PCP.
It was a particularly cold winter, and I was often put in the drive-thru window; so about once every 2–3 weeks I’d end up with a nasty cold. I’d call in sick when this happened, as it’s illegal to work in food service while sick, and I’d typically be find after just a day or two. Sometime’s they’d accept over the phone, sometimes they’d make me come in anyways, before taking one look at me and telling me to go home.
One time when I called back to say I was over the cold, and good to work again, the manager told me I needed to get a doctor’s note before they’d let me go back to work. I explained I didn’t have insurance, or a doctor, they basically said “not my problem.”
So with literally no other option. I went to a hospital’s ER. I walked in, checked in, talked to the triage nurse, explained what was happening, and asked them to just write a note saying I’m good to work.
The triage nurse took my vitals and wrote the note, and I was out of the ER in literally 5 min, never having left the lobby nor seen an actual doctor.
A month later, I got a bill for $500 in the mail from the Hospital. I should mention that I was only making around $300 a month at my part time job, and had no other income.
I’m just about 40 now. It’s been over 20 years since they sent me that bill. I’ve still not paid it.
What happens if you give two weeks’ notice and they ask you to leave?
I gave3 weeks notice because the estimator I worked with would need time to be trained to cope without me (he was almost computer illiterate). Our boss ALWAYS let everyone work out their notice. He was very easy going like that, except with me. I pissed him off so much when I gave him my notice that he immediately escorted me out of the place like I was a common criminal. LOL
He first sent me in to get my stuff, but then realized that after being there a decade, I had a lot of stuff. My husband worked there also and we often went straight from work to meet clients. I kept clothes, shoes nice boots, work boots, makeup, meds, anything I might need was kept at work. He then came and told my estimator to just bring me home (I had a company vehicle).
“You can come back this weekend to get your stuff. I don’t want you to be embarrassed.”
Have you actually ever heard someone say ‘Do you know who I am?’ indignantly?
A couple of years ago I was in my driveway when I witnessed a young mother and her child walking down our street, being harassed by a young man in his mid-20s. He was following them, getting in her face yelling at her, putting his hands on her and telling her to go back and get in the car. She kept telling him to leave her alone.
I called out to her and asked if she needed a ride somewhere. She and her child (small boy around 5 or 6) turned around and walked back to where I was standing – which pissed the man off. Then he followed them up my driveway and started screaming at me – calling me names and telling me to mind my own business. When I told him he had made it my business – he started posturing and making threats to me, asking loudly “Do you know who I am?”
My reply was “I don’t know who you think you are – but from where I stand, I see a sad little man child who likes to intimidate and harass women and children. Now step off my property before I call the cops. I’m sure they”ll know who you are.”
He took me seriously and stepped into the road- but continued his verbal harassment , even as the woman and her kid climbed into my car and I backed out of my driveway.
Turns out he was her boyfriend, but I never did find out what the argument was about. I offered to take her to the police station – but she didn’t want to go there – so instead I drove her to where she wanted to go (a few miles away.)
I haven’t seen either of them since but I sure as hell hope she got away from that abusive hothead.
When someone answers your questions partially, wait. Don’t interrupt. Chances are high that they will complete the answer when you say nothing.
When you want to get something from someone, frame it as an offer/opportunity instead of a request. Anyone will be ready to accept an offer/opportunity.
When you meet people, notice their eye color while you smile at them. Don’t mention anything about it. It’s a good way to make sure that you really look them in the eyes.
A person’s name is the sweetest sound in the world to that person. To make a person feel very special, remember and repeat their name.
Have zero expectations when you are first trying something new, it prevents disappointment.
To judge a person’s character, notice the way they treat people – who can’t do anything for them.
After you state your position in a negotiation. Wait for a while. If you continue to speak, you are not speaking in your favour.
Chewing gum while doing nerve-racking things calm your brain.
When you are learning something, teach someone about it. You will remember it easily and explore more in the process of teaching.
Most people’s favourite subject to talk about is themselves. If you don’t know what to talk about, or have awkward silence, just ask them questions.
Emotional expression causes emotion. If you focus yourself to smile, your mood will actually improve.
Stand up straight. It makes you look more confident and you will actually feel more confident.
With kids, frame things in a way that always gives them a choice. It makes them feel like they are in control. For eg., “Do you want to wear red shirt or blue shirt?” Either way, they know it’s time to put on a shirt.
When asking for favors use the word “because”. No matter how simple the reason. The word “because” makes them think it must be okay because there is a reason.
This Is The Best Red Pilled Video You Will Ever See!
Roasted Pepper and Gorgonzola Pizza
roasted pepper1 2 300×225
Ingredients
Pizza
1 Boboli or homemade crust
Garlic Oil Sauce
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Gorgonzola cheese
Roasted red bell pepper strips
Garlic Oil Sauce
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
Instructions
Pizza
Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray or grease a pizza pan or stone.
Top crust with Garlic Oil Sauce, mozzarella cheese, gorgonzola cheese and bell pepper strips.
Bake on the bottom rack of oven for 8 to 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is piping hot.
Garlic Oil Sauce
Puree olive oil and garlic in blender.
Undercover boss finds out just how evil graduate job applications are
I read about an employer who was telling a guy that nobody wants to work because they've been trying to hire people for months and were getting no takers.
The man said "My son applied to your business online and got no response".
Apparently, the software was rejecting all these applicants. The employer had no idea.
What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?
I was in Milwaukee about 3 years ago for training for a job I’d just gotten and the orientation was going to be 2 days so I was put up in my hotel room and I started to get hungry around 5:00 P.M. and while watching TV shows, I went to the website for EatStreet and looked up food places near the hotel in the downtown area and there’s this pizza and gyro delivery restaurant called New York Pizza Delivery and so I ordered a pizza, breadsticks and a soda from them. Went back to watching the TV. They said it would be there by 6:00 P.M. 6:00 P.M. arrived. No food delivery. So I thought I’d give them a margin in case they got delayed somehow which happens occasionally with food deliveries. By 6:30 P.M., still no food. So I called the restaurant, and I said, you know, where’s my food, they told me it’d be here by 6? The guy who answered the phone said it came but the driver couldn’t find me or my room but they’d send it again. So I headed down to the front lobby and asked the clerk if they’d seen the pizza delivery driver and they said they hadn’t. By 8:00 P.M there was still no pizza. So at 8:30 P.M, I called the restaurant again and asked them why my food wasn’t there and they said the driver forgot to drop off my pizza but they’d send him again. Basically I got my pizza a full 4 and a half hours later and it was only slightly warm. Worst customer service I’ve ever had. I’m not ordering through EatStreet again because they blow, too.
Freedom In CHINA Vs AMERICA! (Untold TRUTH)
Would Chinese people voluntarily fight in the Chinese military, are they forced to, or is it more an obligation rather than a desire?
To say volunteer is an understatement. It has become the major regret of some who could not make the cut to serve in the PLA. Each year enrollment into the PLA is selected from a big group of volunteers like around a few hundred thousands, and not all pass the selection process.
I personally have encountered more than 10 individuals who wanted to join the PLA but were rejected. Some of them express a major regret for not being able to join the PLA and wish that they could have contributed in some other way.
At first like most foreigners I was baffled, I could not believe my ears as I’m from Singapore where all young men that are proven to be healthy and fit are required to do national service and the more common idea in Singapore is to try and escape it and go into the workforce as fast as you can. To be frank, I never agree to the idea that one should escape national service and come up with all manners of excuses for it as I’m one of those very on the ball types in the army, but I’m still very very surprise when I got to know how different it is in China. You would be too if you have seen a grown man with tears in his eyes because he was rejected by the PLA. And of course, I was doubtful because he had some beer before those tears appeared. Lol.
But seriously, after staying here for abit and having a relative (my wife’s family) who is in the PLA, you start to understand the kind of glory they put into it. It’s like a perosnal honor, a family honor or even a social honor. It’s even comparable to going to an ivy league University kind of honor if you perform well in the PLA.
But, that’s not to say that it’s simply like a degree where you study for it and you graduated with honors. The PLA has been serving the people rather well, especially in times of natural disaster or even law enforcement. Common example are like disaster relief work after the many earthquakes in western China, but an event that happened in my wife hometown like 25 years ago was rather closer to me. An organised crime family setup base in her hometown at that time. Crime was rampant, prositution, loan sharks, drugs, murder, etc, were an everyday event. The local police at that time was weak and from what I understand also corrupted, thus unwilling to flush them out. So when a new mayor with PLA background was posted to her hometown, things started to change. He at first tried to form his own town watch and policing units, but were not very sucessful due to the strongarm methods of the crime family. In fact it became worse when the crime family resisted and tried to assasinate him. Understanding the dire situation (maybe also for his own life), he made some calls to his connections in the CCP and PLA, and within 2 days the PLA send down troops to flush out the crime family and the corrupted police officers. It was like a brand new place overnight.
Well other than from my wife and her family, I heard this from many others living there that it’s true. I stand by the story since my wife’s uncle happens to be one of the PLA soldiers who was send down to flush out the crime family and as a homegrown hero, he got the banners with words like 人民子弟兵典范，人民英雄，sent as gifts by the locals to my mother-in-law house. They are now in his own house after he left the PLA and he choose to retire in the countryside. Even now, when he goes visit my mother-in-law, he is still remembered by the older folks as one of the PLA who rescued the town from unimaginable crime. His son now is also in the PLA and is very proud to be serving even as a small platoon leader.
As far as I know, there are many stories like that about the PLA soldiers, from rescuing a village cow stuck in a mine field near the border, to saving the suicidal from drowning themselves when off duty. Maybe it’s because I look out for such news because I believe in the good of man, but I think the general citizens have a very good impression of most PLA soldiers.
Thus given the very different environment and expectations of the PLA, I think now I understand the honors that comes with joining them. I sometimes do wish that Singaporeans would give the same credits to our SAF, but in the end, respect is earned over time and it would be up to the SAF to prove themselves to Singaporeans.
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells Full Album
Takes me back…
NearLink
This is the first time I’ve heard of NearLink. Have you guys heard of this?
Transmission Range:
Bluetooth – 10 m
Wi-Fi – 300 m
NearLink – 600 m
Transmission Rate:
Bluetooth – 50 Mbps
Wi-Fi – 500 Mbps
NearLink – 900 Mbps
Latency:
Bluetooth – 15-30 ms
Wi-Fi – 100 ms
NearLink – 20 μs
Microseconds?! Fucking, eh?
Connectable Devices:
Bluetooth – 8
Wi-Fi – 256
NearLink – 4,096
This technology is taking off like a rocket, it appears.
Incredible
What is the best excuse you have given to the police for speeding?
I was headed to the doctors office (running late of course) with my two young children, both of whom had ear infections and were screaming/crying in their car seats. Because they’d been sick I’d gotten about 6 hrs of sleep in the past two days.
I’d rolled down my window before the officer got to the car and I was busy trying to shush the kids while grabbing my license etc. When he got to the window his first question was why I was in such a hurry? I explained to him the info above and the Dr office would charge me extra if I didn’t get there soon and I just couldn’t afford extra on top of the appointment and the meds I knew I was going to need to buy.
The whole time we’re talking the kids are still screaming!!! He walks away to check my info and I lean over the seat to again try to comfort my kids. He comes back and says everything checked out fine and He was just going to give me a warning this time. He then said that he’s a father so completely understands what I’m dealing with; but Please slow down, the roads are icy, he can see that my tires are bald and he’d hate for us to get into an accident. He then gave me a card with the name of a tire shop and said to call them, saying that officer XXXX sent me and they would help me get new tires.
After the appointment I figured, what the heck; it can’t hurt to try the shop. They asked me to come in and quoted me a very reasonable price for 4 new tires, asked if I could put $25 down and then I could pay the rest at $25 a month. I agreed because I really did need new tires.
When the first bill came in the mail it said “Paid in Full”. I thought there was a mistake and called the place; the lady on the phone explained to me that the owner of the shop and the Officer were brothers and they did this for those that they felt needed the help. Best traffic stop I’ve ever had!!!
Different places have different societies, and different cultures. I could probably write a book on this, as there are joys and pains with this kind of experience. But I will specify one such experience… working for “the BOSS” while I was building a hospital in Pago pago, American Samoa.
Honestly, this guy was sort of like a Samoan version of Tony Soprano. He held bi-monthly dinners, and all that, and there was no question that he was the big boss, and everyone else had to follow and obey him to the letter. He was insulting, harsh, brutish and rude. he was a “Bluto” incarnate.
It was socking. But with one pay out every two weeks, it was hard not to take it. So I did. Ouch! It was so painful. I mean, when I was in the Navy, I had a Marine drill instructor, but this guy was on another level. Wholly Shit!
Anyways, do not think that everyone in the world is the same. We tend to mix up biology and genetics with culture and societal norms. It’s a certain American trait, but Brits seem to be prone to it as well.
Be careful out there. You all.
Today…
If you are homeless, why wont you just get a job?
I was employed when I became homeless, working in a WFH situation thanks to covid, one little problem arose though, I was on a month to month lease when the owner decided to list the property for sale, this gave me 6 weeks to look for a new rental.
I quickly realised that the $500 a week rent i was paying for a nice 2 bedroom house with a backyard, was grossly below market value. I applied for over 100 houses between $450–750 per week, and not one of them was successful.
2 weeks till I was to be kicked out, I purchased a van, did a basic fitout in it, sold 75% of my stuff and moved into the van on the last day of my lease. I spent the next month applying for houses, but eventually gave up. I maintained my WFH job, working in the van and moving around every few days.
I eventually left the job as I started finding work around the state. The pay was good, but I stayed in the van for just over 2 years, meeting my best friend Storm in the first 6 months. 2 years later, I had saved up enough and had a regular enough income stream to allow me to buy a small block of land. It doesnt have building permits, but I have parked a tiny house on it, and it suits us perfectly now
Cheese Tortellini Crock Pot Dinner
A creamy, cheesy crock pot dinner recipe featuring cream cheese, cheese tortellini and spinach.
slow cooker tortellini soup 3 768×1152
Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 large bag cheese tortellini
1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bunch fresh spinach, stems removed, or 1 bag frozen spinach
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 container vegetable or chicken broth
4 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Place block of cream cheese in the slow cooker.
Pour the bag of tortellini over the cream cheese.
Pour the can of diced tomatoes over all.
Add the spinach to the top.
Sprinkle garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and Italian seasoning over the top.
Pour the chicken broth into the slow cooker.
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top.
Cover the slow cooker, and cook on HIGH for about 2 1/2 hours.
Stir well and serve.
Internal conflicts
Did you ever end up benefiting, in some way, from a crime that you were the victim of?
A few years ago I had a garage full of assorted nonsense, as garages tend to be. Among the nonsense was a television and a microwave oven, both of which were taken when thieves cut the lock on the door. This was late 1990’s, when replacing a 21 inch TV could cost $400, and a microwave about $150.
Fortunately for me, neither appliance was functional. So far the net benefit is zero. But in that area, you couldn’t just drop a broken TV in the garbage can. Electronics of any type were considered “hazardous waste” presumably because of lead in the solder on the circuit boards. Did I mention this was in California? Yeah, they’re all kinda goofy about lead. Anyway, the city’s policy on such items was that if you had “hazardous waste” you had to take it yourself to the hazardous waste dump, and pay a fee to dispose of it. The fee depended on the weight, and this was a 1990’s TV, probably weighing about 50+ lbs (20+ kg).
So, when the thieves broke in, they saved me not only a trip to the dump, but also the fee I would have had to pay.
They did steal some other things, which I wasn’t happy about, but at least they relieved me of the burden of a couple of gigantic paperweights.
What is the best thing that has ever happened to you for being nice?
I have a friend whose husband committed suicide. She lives 350km away from me, so I couldn’t often see her, but she phoned me for an hour or two every morning.
Sometimes she just cried. Sometimes she talked about her life, husband, children, the event, the events leading up to his death.
I didn’t know what to do. I was very busy and I really didn’t have time. But she was my friend, she was in pain, and she needed someone to listen to her.
That’s all I did, nothing great, nothing fantastic. I didn’t try to advise her, certainly didn’t tell her she would get better.
She had an overwhelming feeling of guilt. However, her husband had given no warning that he was about to kill himself, but was on anti-psychotic medicine. So the only thing I ever said, really, was “it’s not your fault. Nothing you could have done would have stopped this” . I said that over and over again.
After many, many months of this, there were fewer phone calls. I called her to see how she was. She wasn’t always ok, and still blamed herself.
Two or three years later, she told me I’d saved her life. I was amazed, I’d done nothing special. How? “You listened”. Apparently she’d been pretty close to suicide herself.
Now she’s OK, happy with her life and her grandchildren. That was the nicest thing that could have happened to me.
The reason I’m posting this is that sometimes all people need is for someone to listen to them, to care. They don’t need advice, and to be told it will get better. That doesn’t help.
Listen, without being judgemental. Our reward is when it helps them.
Election rallies USA 2024
LOL
Hong Kong passed a new security law. What’s the significance?
Nothing really.
If you’re a normal person, who has a job and home… essentially nothing changes. It’s nearly April and I need to pay my salaries tax from my part time day job… I also need to pay my other taxes. This means I will have to endure waiting in a bank queue as there are ATM limits that are lower than my tax bill 🙁 . If you’re a grifter who took CIA money then you’re in trouble.
Joshua Wong literally had $400,000 which he tried to deposit into a HSBC (UK bank) account, he was denied as he refused to divulge the source of the funding. Under UK SOCPA that would have been seized as suspicious.
NSL law? It had pretty much zero effect on normal people in Hong Kong, for regular people nothing has changed even the real name ID phone registration was actually an anti phone scam measure NOT a result of NSL law. What was seen was lots of advertising about it… that’s the extent of it. I’ve never been stopped under NSL law. Nobody I know has been stopped. You go into a pub and likely nobody’s been arrested over it.
I have however been arrested over non appearance in court for a cycling offence. The police officer was WTF this is pointless. This is because my village has postal problems due to very similar addressed. I was fined $200HKD.
OTOH in the UK?
Under UK anti terrorism laws, a LOT of people were stopped under S44 of the anti terrorism laws. It was used for everything. As such you go into a pub and several people have been stopped over it.
UK SOCPA, yet again pub test, lots of people have been subjected to it. There are tons of stories of £2000 to buy a car or just sold a car and it was deemed as suspicious.
Westerners see how their own regimes and corrupt police forces abuse laws and think it must be so much worse in China/Hong Kong!
I mean fuck we don’t even have ANPR in HK. People park everywhere and anywhere and police shrug. Two days ago some fuck parked lengthways across a zebra crossing and the police biker who was at the scene was waddayawant me to do about it?
Commercial Thompson’s were made to look sexy. They were expensive to make, nicely finished and had flashy accessories like removable stocks, compensators and audacious drum magazines.
main qimg fec34fb011ccd9b65e5350b5c67f1f90 lq
You can see all of the weapon’s unique features here in this picture. Note the vertical fore grip, the finned barrel, Cutt’s Compensator, the slots cut into the receiver so a drum magazine may be inserted and the charging handle on top of the receiver. A lot of precise machining went into these weapons and many skilled men were employed to produce them.
The most unique feature of the Thompson submachine gun was its action. Based on The Blish System, it included a part, known as “The H Piece” which held the bolt closed until the bullet cleared the barrel, then allowed the action to chamber another round. The weapons’s designer, General John T. Thompson, declared the H piece to be integral to the gun’s design and function. It demanded to be machined and inserted at a precise angle and there was no alternative to its use. The H Piece is the brass “H” shaped piece of metal in the picture below.
main qimg 40fe5df475f7f62039f1b0f0b1ad8758 lq
Basically, the commercial Thompson was a complicated gun that required skilled machinists to create and was costly as a result.
The world was heating up though and isolationist America began to gear up for a potential war and they needed guns.
The US Army already knew about the Thompson and employed them in small numbers. But now they needed lots of them as quickly as possible. In order to meet demand, changes were made to the design so contractors could turn them out quickly. The new weapon was designated M1 Thompson in 1940 and was being made by Colt, Auto Ordinance and Savage Arms.
main qimg f6b87dcf359480f97e091cce728bec0c lq
As you can see, the vertical fore grip was replaced by a horizontal one, but the other features are still in place, most notably the charging handle on top of the receive, meaning it still employs the Blish Locking System and the H piece. It did get sling swivels and a phosphate finish, but otherwise it is the same as the commercial model Thompson. It was expensive and time consuming to make.
In 1941, everything changed. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and US troops were headed to the pacific to fight. A simpler, easier to produce submachine gun was needed, so all of the Thompson’s fancy features went to the chopping block.
main qimg 8f30ad8f07b8d5c5128a59303cd0e711 lq
This Thompson, designated the M1A1, is the one most GIs were familiar with. No compensator, a horizontal fore grip, phosphate finish, no slots for a drum magazine and the charging handle was moved to the side of the receiver. It was now a pure blow back submachine gun. The Blish lock and H piece, deemed necessary by the designer, were gone. The weapon was still fairly costly to produce but it could be made more rapidly and was ultra reliable in combat.
What is the saddest thing that happened to you that you never shared with others before?
Well. My father always wanted a son. When my mother got pregnant, he explicitly told her that he is a well reputed man and that he can not have a daughter and if it’s a daughter, it’ll be because of my mother. (Scientifically this makes no sense but in my culture, giving birth to a daughter is a matter of shame.) As fate had it, it was a daughter. Me, my father looked at me and went home. Leaving my mother all alone. Even my grandparents left. My mother alone managed everything and the day she were to discharge, my father called and told her that if she wants to come back home, she should leave me at an orphanage first. And that I was not his daughter. He said he told his friends and family that you had a miscarriage. Well my mother didn’t listen to him and somehow managed to raise me but it is extremely saddening how my father rejected his blood just because it was a girl. And it saddens me how because of me, my mother’s divorce happened. I can never thank my mother enough for choosing me over a comforting life.
Edit: Thank you all for your love and support. My mother has done all sorts of odd jobs to support me. But back in 2013, my mother got diagnosed with cancer. I was in the third year of my university and when I got to know, I was devastated. I didn’t want to lose my mother, who had spent all her life working for my education and well-being. There were days when my mother could either afford my milk or her food and she always got milk and slept hungry herself. And I just didn’t want her to leave this world without seeing me successful. I wanted to take care of her like she took care of me. So I decided I will do anything and get money for her treatment. (It was stage 2) I applied for a lot of loans, aid, even begged on the street but to no avail. With no option left, I contacted my father. He is pretty rich. Went to his office, begged in front of him, cried my heart out and all he said was that he is not my father and my mother has lied to me. I persisted but he called security. That day I felt ashamed of myself for being the blood of such a man. Luckily, my friend in college contacted me and promised to help out. His parents paid all the expenses and my mother recovered only last year. That man is now my husband. Now I have a good job and I save to return my father in law’s money. Even though he says there is no need but my mother never borrowed money to feed me and I want to take care of my mother solely.
Edit 2: This answer is getting long but I just want to add that me and my mother have gone through all sorts of circumstances. And I know people around the globe go through the same. There was a time when I came home and told my mother I want to die. I told her this world is unfair and there is no point in living when I can die. I told her I am no rich girl nor do I have anything to offer to this world, so my life doesn’t really matter; dead or alive. At that point she said you have two options, either you kill yourself and put me in more pain or you outlive your circumstances and prove your worth to your dad and men like him. And well I am glad I lived. My success though has only been possible because of my husband. As my mother says,”He is the reward of our patience and my prayers because the day I married your father, I prayed to God that I accept this man as my fate but if I have a daughter, let her husband be none like her father.”
Thank you for your love and prayers. And if you are going through a tough time, always remember the best thing about time is that it changes. Just be honest to your present and the future will bring reward. Good luck living life!
Why Kids Don’t Go Outside Anymore
What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?
If someone shows you a photo on their phone, don’t swipe left or right.
If someone tells you, “It’s getting late,” when you’re over at their place, it’s time for you to go.
Walk as if you are “driving” and don’t stand still right at the entrance or exit of a door. Let people pass.
If you invite a friend to a party where they barely know anyone, don’t leave them hanging.
Don’t criticize someone’s smile or laugh.
Don’t stand too close when talking to people or talk “in their face.”
If you have never seen or tried what they like, don’t diss someone’s taste.
Don’t ask why the person isn’t married/doesn’t have children. Never.
When someone starts talking about their problems, don’t start talking about yours.
Don’t ask for somebody else’s opinion and get mad when they tell it to you.
If you start to smell yourself, other people have been smelling you for 3 days.
If someone can’t fix an aspect of their appearance in 5 minutes or less, don’t mention it.
Don’t microwave fish in the break room at work.
Don’t take pictures of kids that aren’t yours.
When you enter an elevator, face the door.
Don’t ever snap your fingers to get a bill from a server at a restaurant.
When your friend’s crush is around, don’t try to be the funniest in the group.
Assume nothing. Believe nobody. Check everything.
Really Dumb Americans
Why did my top performing employee quit after write up?
I quit 8 months after a bad performance review. It was the first of my working career, I was single with no family nearby or other safety net, and I had asked repeatedly for some assistance.
After the review, my boss came to my office and asked me what I was going to do. I said “find another job within the next 6 months”. Shocked her but I outlined explained my rationale. They didn’t understand my job and the amount of work it required. As a trainer, I had excellent evaluations. I never turned down an assignment and traveled throughout 6 LARGE states. And the past was not that great.
I found another job and left after 8 months but was agreed to fulfill 2 or 3 training sessions after the other job started so the company wasn’t left high and dry.
So, I left because I felt my job was threatened and was worried about my financial future, plain and simple.
According to BBC, critics worry that TikTok, owned by ByteDance based in Beijing, could be used by the Chinese government for spying. What do you think of it?
Here’s the thing, and if it were true. What exactly is the PRC government going to do with this data? Go on what are they gonna do, steal your bodily fluids?
The PRC doesn’t even kill dissidents. Ai Weiwei moved away and is still very much alive.
It’s not the PRC who is trying to take away your guns is it?
Flirt Flop
Is it ever possible for someone to feel that they are paid too much?
Gosh, yes. I’m usually able to suppress that feeling, but I’ll tell the story about the time that even I couldn’t.
I was representing a client in an estate dispute against a relative. The defendant was a borderline personality and there were strong reasons to believe the representation would be lengthy, costly, require extensive expert testimony, and be very nasty. Plus the client had limited resources.
We negotiated a fee agreement which gave me a percentage of the ultimate recovery that we both thought was fair.
As a precursor to the lawsuit, I sent a demand letter setting forth the basis of the potential case. Pure formality and I knew it would be a waste of time, but I wanted to be able to show that we had gone through all the motions.
To my utter astonishment, the defendant caved. Completely. Within two weeks, my client had a thorough accounting and a very large transfer of property to her. I had done very little real hourly work.
And according to the fee agreement, I was entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I was very distressed about this aspect and after considerable hand-wringing and thought, and consultation with colleagues, I simply picked up the phone, called my client, told her what had happened, and said, “Here’s how much you supposedly owe me under our agreement. It’s too much. I haven’t been able to figure an analytical way to reach the right number. I’m going to propose $X. That’s a quarter of the fee agreement amount. It’s still probably too much, but I can live with asking for that.”
My client was silent, then chuckled and said, “I accept your proposal. Plus, you’ve given me a lawyer story that no one will believe. Thank you.”
Afternote: that client became a dear friend and referred other business to me. I didn’t know it at the time, but my fee reduction proved to be an excellent marketing move.
What solution could work to stop the South China Sea conflict?
The U.S. must stop all trouble making and war mongering via the NED and CIA immediately and comprehensively. As the nuclear clock is ticking ever closer to mid night!
At some point China will react and that will start an escalation into a 3WW situation that nobody wins no matter how proud the Caucasians are about the U.S. power. It is easy to bribed poor Filipino fishermen to do shit at 10 grand a pop rushing their lives but the end won’t justifies the means at all! Stop before it is too late. Ukraine is a perfect example.
Perhaps the US thought it is now or never but the truth is never is the answer, the U.S. simply has too much to lose!
Double Standards
What’s the most disturbing thing anyone has ever told you casually?
Three years ago I met up with an old girlfriend from college to catch up, have food, talk about the old days and the old gang.
At one point she casually said, “Oh yeah, xxxx is in Sousa-Baranowski”. That’s the max security prison in Massachusetts, for hardcore criminals. I couldn’t believe my ears, “What?” I said, blinking and almost dropping my latte.
This guy had been a leader of “our gang” in college, the one who always had something crazy for us to do. He was the guy who taught me how to hang glide; who first got me high on pot, who got me laid introducing me to all manner of girls. He was the most laid back, casual dude you ever met, tall and gangly and always in a black motorcycle jacket because his only vehicle was that motorcycle.
“What the hell happened?” I asked incredulously.
“He stabbed a woman in the belly in his kitchen 8 times then threw her through a window. He had a standoff with the cops.”
“What… the… fuck…?”
You have to understand. We are all old now. I’m 63. He’s 67, a big time scientist, very wealthy, respected in his field, working for a major, well known pharma company. How would something like this happen? Somehow he had gotten into a fight with his wife over his “counseling” a local (female) drug addict and the wife left in a huff and he had the addict over his house. No one knows what happened next except the results. He’s in big boy prison for 8 years now. He will be old, old when he gets out, broke, divorced, homeless, jobless. He’s lost everything he worked for his entire life and no one knows why.
What are the implications of 5.5g, that China has just rolled out technologically and geopolitically in the next 5 years?
What 5.5G technology does to geopolitics I don’t know.
But after I 5.5G technology is deployed in China, my phone downloads a film really fucking fast~! 🤣
Shhh~ In the blink of an eye, the download is complete.
Using this technology, China’s top doctors can operate on patients 3,000 kilometres away in off-site locations by remotely manipulating a robotic arm, with no lag or delay in the signal.
China Is Doing Something CRAZY at the US Mexico Border!
Have you ever accidentally texted the wrong person? What did you say?
I meant to text my husband that I wanted a pet anaconda for my birthday. I had found a website that sold baby anacondas and you could buy one for $499. If you paid $49, you could get it shipped overnight.
As outrageous as it sounds, I was genuinely interested in owning an anaconda. So I texted him the link to the website while I was at work (during lunch hour) and wrote “Honey I want pet anaconda for birthday.”
My husband is usually the first person in my messages inbox because I rarely text anyone else. However, that day I had texted one of our company’s directors since there was an urgent matter that needed his attention and he hadn’t responded to my email – and so that was the conversation at the top of my inbox.
I blindly sent both texts to the director in quick succession – the text with the anaconda website and the “honey I want pet anaconda” message.
I didn’t get a response – but 5 minutes later he swung by my desk and told me how buying reptiles is a bad idea and when it grows large enough, the anaconda would swallow me.
I looked at him with wide eyes and I was like, “How do YOU know I was considering buying a reptile?”
He showed me his phone and the texts from me…..and in my mind was like “WTF did I just do.”
We laughed about it and it was all cool but it was a little embarrassing.
Note: We ended up not buying the baby anaconda. We decided it was a ridiculous idea. Well, my husband decided that and convinced me. 🙂
What is the most satisfying passive-aggressive thing you have ever done to a really mean or rude person?
I hijacked my roommate’s internet connection.
Back when I was in college there wasn’t really any broadband. We used 56.6k dial up connections to access the internet. Now my roommate Cruchkov would monopolize that damned connection for hours on end. We only had the one phone for four of us and we would pick it up any time of the day or night and hear bleeep blop beeboo beeboo. All the time. It got to the point where we couldn’t even order a pizza. “Hey Dave you want pepperoni?” “Sure Corey” “Okay I’ll ca… bleeep blop beeboo beeboo.” “DAMNIT CHRUCHKOV”. We would bang on his door but he would either not hear us or pretend not to hear us.
So I hatched a plan.
I waited until he left for work one day. Then, armed with some s%^t I bought at Radio Shack back when they sold stuff that wasn’t cell phones, I walked into his room. I unscrewed his phone jack and connected a 5v relay to the line. COM/NO went to the phone, the coil went to the other two (unused) wires. Then I buried the whole thing back in the wall and made it look good as new. I hid a 9v battery inside the kitchen phone and connected it to the ringer switch and my secret wires.
Chruchkov comes home that evening, slams the door. Thirty seconds later it’s bleeep blop beeboo beeboo. “Hey Dave, you want pizza?” “But Chruchkov is on the…” “I got this, man.” I flip my switch, his phone turns off. But only his phone. The sound of him kicking and cursing at his computer remains one of the most passive aggressively satisfying moments of my life.
What are the consequences of being too good at your job? Can you get fired for it?
Yes, I did. I went to work for a company in accounts receivable. In other words followed up with customers who bought the service and products of the business And yes I was better than very good at it. Their books were a remarkable mess. The printout of “delinquent” accounts amounted to several hundred pages. I dived in. After a few months the owners got the opportunity to take over a franchise doing what they did in a different group of counties. They carpe’d the diem. As the franchiser had to take the business back their accounts were in horrible shape. After about two years I got everything lined out, quit sending repairmen to nonpaying customers, got the giving of “product” that should be sold to customers stopped. About three months before I finally had everything straightened out the owner hired someone to ostensibly “assist” me. The very week I finally got the system set up to where anyone should be able to keep it going easily they let me go. The person hired to assist me was being paid 2/3 of what I was or I was making 50% more than her. There were also four different occasions with different companies where upper management refused to promote me because they feared the results of my leaving the department I was in.
The Sopranos – Moltisanti and Filone hijack Comley’s trucks
What is the most outrageous “fee” you’ve ever been charged?
Back during the pandemic, I took my cat, Caesar, to the vet. He was a 15 year old, orange, short haired cat. Because of COVID, the vet’s office had implemented a policy of people not being allowed to go back to the exam rooms with their pet. I wasn’t really comfortable with that but my little guy had a sore front paw so I had to get him seen by the vet. A staff member came out to my car, got Caesar (in his carrier) and took him inside to be examined by the vet while I waited in my car. After a few minutes, the vet called my cell phone and we discussed the problem with Caesar’s front paw. An x-ray was done and it was determined that the problem was with one of his claws. Apparently it was a problem that is fairly common in older cats and easily treatable. Over the phone, the vet and I agreed upon the treatment for the problem. A short time later, the staff member brought Caesar back out to my car and presented me with the bill. As I quickly scanned the bill before giving the staff member my credit card, I saw a $40 charge for a ‘ therapeutic shave’ on the bill. I didn’t understand so I asked about the charge. Found out that while they had Caesar in the exam room, someone shaved his back end for no apparent reason. I said to the staff member “ So you needlessly shaved my cat’s ass and want to charge me $40 for it? I think that you guys should owe him $40 for doing that to him! “
The charge was removed from my bill. Caesar got extra treats and a new toy that day too.
Text to picture
Playing around, this time with a Wes Anderson theme; Life Aqua.
gizmos 14
gizmos 13
gizmos 12
gizmos 11
gizmos 10
gizmos 9
gizmos 8
gizmos 7
gizmos 6
gizmos 5
gizmos 4
gizmos 3
gizmos 2
gizmos 1
What are the most important things I can teach my child, including both skills and behaviors? How can I ensure this training sticks?
Originally Answered: What are the most important things I can teach my child?
At the age of 11, he was cast as Harry Potter in the first Harry Potter film, and starred in the series for 10 years. At the age of 14, an article in British newspaper ‘The Sun’ listed him as Britain’s third richest teenager behind only Prince Harry Windsor and Charlotte Church, the very popular singer-songwriter TRUST Trivia: Daniel Radcliffe.
He became the youngest non-royal to have his portrait displayed in London’s prestigious National Portrait Gallery at the same age. In 2007, the British press estimated 18-year-old Radcliffe’s total net worth at $35 million, and $80 million at the age of 26. ‘Harry Potter’ Daniel Radcliffe turns 26: 10 unknown facts about the actor
Would you want your kid to become someone popular and successful like him?
Maybe. Yes.
Now read this (paying special attention to bold words):
Daniel Radcliffe: I turned to alcohol to cope with fear of failure and fame. “It is not a real pressure, but it is a pressure of living with the thought, ‘Oh, what if all these people are saying I am not going to have a career? What if they are all going to be right and will be laughing and I will be consigned to a bunch of “Where are they now?” lists?'” Radcliffe added: “I was living in constant fear of who I’d meet, what I might have said to them, what I might have done with them, so I’d stay in my apartment for days and drink alone. I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic – it wasn’t me. I’m a fun, polite person, and it turned me into a rude bore.”
“The bottom line is people don’t like change, especially when it’s connected to endings,” she concludes. “For some people, they have a harder time maintaining a positive self-image when it’s linked to a job that gives them an identity. And so in order to deal with the intensity of that emotional pain, some people self-medicate in order to feel less depressed, less anxious, less hopeless or less unimportant” -Dr. Rubi Ludwig, Psychotherapist.
Now would you want your kid to abuse himself with alcohol/drugs while he has so much in the world that one could only dream of?
No. Definitely not.
This is just an example of people who are extremely successful, but aren’t happy. They may be child prodigies, but they are so full of fear of failure that after all they have achieved, they are no close to finding happiness. And their lives and money are wasted in running after it.
Raise your kid such that he doesn’t become this example.
1. Take the FEAR OF FAILURE away from him.
The fear, that you are instilling in him unknowingly. By saying this:
Whatever you do, just do your best. Be it studies or games.
It is important to win the Olympiad. It is the stepping stone for your career.
Study with the aim of securing first rank. So we can be proud parents.
Saying this instills the fear of failure. Kid aims for perfection, resulting in a stressed outlook.
This is Fear of Failure.
main qimg d3d72168c03a206123c735ec7f481223 pjlq
Teach your children so fear of failure never creeps in their mind. By telling them this:
Do not focus on excelling at everything. It keeps you in a constant state of stress. Do somethings for pure enjoyment. And in fact, do everything for the fun of it.
What do you think of the Olympiad? I think it is important, but not the most important thing.
What are you studying? Let’s explore how can we apply it practically.
2. Teach him to THINK IN A HEALTHY WAY.
Not anxiously, as you might be doing now.
Mister, the exams are approaching. You better start worrying!
Sharmaji’s son is a top-ranker. He got a great on-campus placement. What will happen of you? Where will you go with these marks?
Amend your behavior. You are a grown-up now.
Saying this leads to anxious thinking. Kid is overwhelmed, loaded with inferiority complex and self-consciousness.
This is Anxious thinking.
main qimg 04ae00e83c729ab8fc6585d263ac0bb2 pjlq
And there is no other way to teach them this, except to teach yourself this.
Do not encourage him to think anxiously. He’ll learn it in no time, and soon will have anxiety attacks, inhibiting performance.
Do not compare him to others thinking it’ll motivate him. Motivate him by positive means, comparative thinking will take a lifetime toll on him.
Do not expect him to behave like a grown-up. A 3-yr old will behave like one, and a teenager like one. Accept them as per their age.
3. Teach him to have a POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE.
Again, do not teach him this.
You are considered doing well only when you get good grades.
Why can’t you be more like your sister? She’s such a good kid and gets a first in everything.
Read faster
Write faster.
Run faster.
Do it faster.
This teaching promotes negative self-image. Synonymous with low self- worth and self-esteem.
This is Negative self-image.
main qimg 4acb7bcc7ce5ca10f32df74527311996 pjlq
So, teach yourself this.
Do not pressurize children with too much focus on grades or rewards.
Remember that he can’t be like his sister. Each person is different. Are you doing this so you have to deal with only one personality?
Do not pressurize the kid to be faster in everything he does. Each kid learns at his own pace.
Teaching yourself these things will raise a kid who is free from this negative thought:
What will happen if… I fail…
A Marine’s 2-Word Breakup Text Sends Cheating Ex Into MENTAL BREAKDOWN…And Friends Are Losing It!
Do police officers ever sympathize with someone who took the law into their own hands?
I was dispatched to a call of a burglary in progress at a residence. It was maybe 10:00 PM. When I pull up, I see one guy running from the residence, and at the same time I hear a gunshot from inside the residence. I let the runner go (never saw him again) and went to investigate the gunshot.
I found a door ajar to a side courtyard, and as I approached, one of the burglars was being backed out the door by the man of the house, who was holding an ancient .32 revolver on him (I later examined the gun and estimated the ammunition was older than I was). He later told me he had fired one round (the one I heard) into the corner of a room when he saw the burglar inside his house. As soon as the homeowner saw me, he put the gun down, and stood by while I handcuffed the burglar.
I took a written statement from the homeowner, told him I hoped I was as capable as him when I was his age (I was about 30 at the time—he was around 70), and took the burglar to jail. It did not occur to me to seize the victim’s gun or charge him with discharge of a firearm inside the city limits. No one suggested this was not the proper approach.
What is life’s biggest “trap” people fall into?
My housemate is 26 years old. She’s intelligent and pretty and (generally) fun to be around.
But… she hates her job.
It’s obvious.
Sometimes she’ll just sit at the kitchen table in her pajamas, coffee in hand, looking at the clock.
And she’ll casually say, “I have to leave for work in two minutes.”
Does she actually leave for work two minutes later?
I’ll let you guess the answer to that.
But the thing that blows me away is this:
When I asked her a little while ago if she’s considered changing jobs and doing something that doesn’t make her look unhappy every morning, there was genuine surprise in her voice.
As in, “Of course I’m going to work another 36+ years at a job I despise! That’s totally normal.”
A lot of people think that.
Like my housemate, they “celebrate” the weekend and dread Mondays.
Like my housemate, they might even negotiate more hours at work so they can qualify for more vacation time.
And that’s a huge trap: Thinking you’re doomed to working a job you hate.
Thinking you have to work a 9-to-5.
Thinking you can’t earn money if you’re not actively working.
That’s all nonsense.
If you’re not happy with your work, not only can you change, but you absolutely should.
I’ve been freelancing for years and wouldn’t even consider getting a job where some boss gets to tell me things like:
When to work
Where to work
How many vacation days I can take
How much I can get paid
For example, this month, I’m a bit ahead of schedule on the projects I’m working on so I can take time off if I want to.
Do I have to ask for permission?
Nope.
Do I even have to let anyone know?
Nope.
I’m not saying this to brag, even though it might sound like it.
I’m saying this because if you feel stuck in a job you can’t stand, just know that there’s a way out for you.
Please, don’t stay at a job you despise long-term.
It’s not good for you or for anyone else.
What are the most fascinating “weird but true” historical facts you know about?
You have the doctor who pumped four gallons of hydrogen gas into his anus, to diagnose gastrointestinal problems
[1], and then you have surgical resident, Werner Forssmann, who was eager to push a tube through a vein in his elbow, until it reached his heart. This would become a method of transporting medication to and fro the incision site.
main qimg 7c8fee7cb0389b8a571c5bb730943c92 lq
Werner Forssman was desperate to self-experiment, although faced challenges along the way. One person he had to pass was the surgical nurse, who had access to the theatre and medical equipment.
After much convincing, the nurse gave in to his ludicrous idea. In fact, she volunteered to have the procedure performed on herself! I guess the idea isn’t as crazy as the doctor who transported parasites within himself, only to produce parasite semen for research!
[2]Anyway, despite dismissal from the doctors who believed the surgery would be a death wish, Werner continued on with his plan.
The nurse lay on the surgical table, whilst Werner tightly strapped her legs and arms in. Only, when she wasn’t looking, the doctor applied anesthetic to his own arm, cut his arm open, and pushed the 12-inch catheter (thin tube) into his vein!
Now, all he needed was an X-Ray room. Successfully, Werner x-rayed himself and noticed that the tube had reached his shoulder. He pushed the tube in further until it was 24-inches inside his vein.
Bingo! Werner reached his ventricular cavity.
For his risky actions, Werner was fired. As a result, he took up positions as a military surgeon and Major in World War II. He wasn’t a hero though. Werner was a Nazi, actively joining the party in 1932. He was eventually imprisoned, although did receive a Nobel Prize twenty years later for his medical efforts.
Largest NATO Base in Europe Being **RUSHED** in Romania
The largest NATO base in Europe is being built in Romania. Construction commenced at the outset of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and is being RUSHED.
The Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase in Romania will turn into a military camp where 10 thousand NATO soldiers can live, this will require an investment of €2.5 billion, reports local publication Pro TV.
The base is located in a mountainous area and should become a center for command and control of troops in South-Eastern Europe.
The zoomable map below shows the location:
Map
What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?
My former company implemented an 9/80 work schedule with an A/B work pattern. Meaning that those on the A schedule would work a 9 hour work day for 5 days and the B schedule would work 4 days during the same week and then the next week they would swap out. The work force, for the most part, loved it. I personally didn’t like it because I was giving the company an extra hour out of each day without compensation of overtime pay. Others loved having that three day weekend every other week. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
Anyways, the issue that cropped up immediately was the lake of key personnel on days you needed them the most. “Yeah boss, I’d love to fix or finish or diagnose this problem but without the lead engineer it just can’t be done.” “Hey, this job must be done today or heads are gonna roll.” “Sorry boss but ol’ so and so is one his 9/80 day off so we can’t get it done without him.” “Hey boss? We got a problem. We can’t run this test without Joe Blow because it’s his Friday off.”
These issues popped up every single week. It was eventually dropped.
Is there anytime when karma saved you?
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 Sopranos – Billy Leotardo
When did you realize that your childhood was not normal?
I was bullied pretty bad as a kid. The ironic thing is, I grew up in the kind of school district where the things that happened to me, people believed didn’t happen there at all. But teachers were trying to encourage me that everyone gets teased & everyone has problems & that my situation is not unique. It’s amazing in this time in 2024, everyone is always telling me what I have to do to cater to people’s fragile emotions. But in 2002, it was all about how I needed to not react in anger when people tortured me in school; how I could best accommodate & live with people torturing me. The burden was never on the bullies to change.
So in 2002, I was leaving for a Boy Scout campout. My first troop hated me. (I later on joined another Boy Scout Troop that I stayed with for 20 years. But the first one treated me like crap.) These kids told me I was not allowed to talk because I’m annoying. Naturally this made me talk more. I was not anticipating this kid to pull out his pocket knife, open it & say, “If you don’t shut-up, I’m going to stab you.” I then stood up & walked away.
The reality was, I was not that afraid. I was 11 years old & had my life or safety threatened so many times up to this point, it just felt kind of natural that eventually I’d be held at knife point. It was another scout that reported him. The kid got his knife confiscated (worst punishment anyone has ever received for an action against me) & he rode off on his bike crying.
I came home & told my parents the story because I thought it was funny. Then I saw the shock in their eyes. They said we could potentially press charges. I had no idea you could get sued or arrested over a death threat because I was so used to getting them. This was the proof I needed to know my teachers were wrong; that the things I go through are not normal.
Chilighetti
Quick, easy and delicious! Chilighetti is a great way to feed a hungry family.
chilighetti
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 (46 ounce) can tomato juice
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 level teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti, broken into 2 inch pieces*
2 (16 ounce) can kidney or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
Sour cream (optional)
Shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
Instructions
In a Dutch oven, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until beef is no longer pink and onion is tender, crumbling the beef; drain.
Stir in tomato juice, water, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings; bring to a boil. Add spaghetti. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, for 10 to 13 minutes or until pasta is tender.
Stir in beans; heat through.
Top servings with sour cream and Cheddar cheese, if desired.
Notes
* Spaghetti may be left unbroken if desired.
Have you, while repairing a computer, ever found anything that made your jaw drop?
While this dis not happen to me, it happenesn to a neighbor friend who repaired computers…
One of our other neighbors approached him to take a look at problem they (a couple) were having with their computer. The problem is irrelevant here.
So my friend went about his diagnostics to figure out how to address the issue. As any good computer tech does, once the machine was up an running again, he went about doing some basic maintenance such as cleaning up temp files and so on.
In doing so he stumble upon a huge set of pictures and videos… yes, that. Not illegal ones, but actual professional ones used in well known sites.
As it turned out, we learned that our low key neighbor was a well known porn star making videos at home, which now explained all the odd traffic we always noticed at their house. This porn was bringing them probably close $500k/yr or more. They did end up moving later on to a higher end neighborhood not to far. Shortly after moving but still owned the property, a well known on-line news magazine (you’ve all read something from them) came by looking for them, knocking on doors to see if any of us knew more about them, and if we knew where they moved to.
BTW – part of the story that the on-line magazine (you’ve all read something from them) was chasing was that her day job was unwrapping kids toys from well known entertainment company. So she was also a top rated poster/producer in that segment in YouTube for some time. We learned a lot that day… those pretty hands of hers served multiple purposes.🙂
So, the people who bought their house now have a bit of a topic and history to share about their house, because of course, we neighbors shared the history about it 😉.
It’s funny thinking back to the many casual neighbor conversations we had with that couple, and little did we know what was behind it all. She is very cute, it all made sense.
Today she is still out there, bigger than before. If anyone reading this watches porn, or watched children’s toy unwrapping, you’ve probably seen her…
The Rise of Chinese Pick Me Girls
Pizza!
In 2001, Pizza Hut delivered a pizza to the International Space Station. The pizza was a 6″ pizza and was delivered to the ISS aboard a Russian Progress vehicle. They paid $1 million to transport the same.
Does a human being know they’re dead once they die?
I had a traumatic brain injury, was on life support, and was in a coma for 7 days.
During this time I found myself looking at the doctors working on me, then I walked up a small ramp and met my brother who passed away unexpectedly.
My brother looked like he did when he was in High School, I wanted to stay with him but he said that I couldn’t come in, and it wasn’t my time, that I needed to spend more years with my wife and children.
I was heartbroken and when I came out of my coma, I remembered everything so vividly.
The doctors said they lost me a couple of times but were able to revive me, and they were so surprised because I shouldn’t have survived my accident.
This is the truth, I never would have believed my story if I were somebody else, but this happened, and for the fact that the doctors said they couldn’t control the bleeding and that I was supposed to die, I wouldn’t have believed myself.
Now having my motor skills back, but still working on my speech, I’m able to go back to work after only 3 months, this is a true miracle. And never take life for granted, there are no promises for a tomorrow.
Living a traditional life is the best thing I ever did | But is it the best for you?
This chick in a small town in the Philippines talk about her town. A nice escape.
Do you think the faster accelerated vetting of Hong Kong’s Article 23 bill is to catch foreign countries off guard and ward off possible sanctions or criticism?
Nope. You see no matter what China or Chinese do we’ll be criticised for it. A few years back I posted some screen caps of Western media:
The December 2021 LegCo elections. Go look at it. Pan Dems and other yellow groups stood for election. They didn’t get very many votes.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on what’s been happening in LegCo for the past 26 years it’s pretty obvious. The Pan Dems have never had a majority there, what they have done however is simply fillibuster and delay and oppose EVERYTHING that has been tabled at LegCo since forever. This is Hong Kong’s version of Hansard. An official record of everything said at LegCo at debates and motions/votes.
The we care about the people Yellows blocked and delayed EVERYTHING.
Some biggies:
They opposed the minimum wage.
They opposed maternity leave.
They opposed those not because they though they were a bad idea but purely on ideological grounds.
Since 2022 when the new bunch of LegCo people took their seats? Without the permanent blockage of the yellows who as above block things on ideological grounds things actually get through LegCo rather than spending months and years being blocked by them.
That had been opposed by the yellows since 1997. Yet changes were made in 6 months after December 2021.
I’m rooting for you!
What are some facts about human behaviour?
Having orgasms lowers risks for breast cancer, heart disease, and depression for women
Intelligent people are more forgetful than those with average intelligence, which is correct.
Getting paid to perform something you enjoy may make you less creative.
The thing that people remember the most about you is your charisma, Here you can learn the secrets to Charisma and Confidence.
People frequently experience déjà vu after recalling a conversation or dream.
If you died tomorrow, what would you want your family to know about you?
I have a Premium Netflix account that I don’t pay for so you guys can use my laptop to watch movies and series.
In my hostel room in college you will find a photo frame kept on the top left shelf above the study table which has a photo of Me with a Girl.If possible return it to her and tell her it’s called “Our Dastoor” or Destiny.
My phone’s pin is 1632 because that was the time(16:32) while i was setting the new pin .
In my phone there are two calculator apps. One pre-installed and the other downloaded from play store. When you will enter 1632 and press ‘’=“ in the downloaded one it will open a secret pdf which contains my Bucket List, delete that, it won’t be necessary anymore.
Can you ask the college authorities if they can still provide me the degree posthumously cause papa is very proud of my IIT achievement.
Tell my friends sorry that I promised i would certainly try beer with them the next time we go on a trip.
Donate/throw away my possessions except for the white letter with a red tape which is kept in my laptop bag. Kindly burn it away without opening it. It’s rude to read someone’s love letters.
Should Marines take orders from an army captain in the battlefield if their Marine captain or higher ranked official is dead or incapable?
Different services, but the story is helpful to understand what can happen in the real world battlefield
The 82nd Airborne jumped into Grenada at the international airport at night. Some soldiers ended up in extremely tall grass to the east of the runway and were separated from the main force but could hear the fire fight to the north and west of their positions but could not see due to the tall, thick grass
main qimg edbe462c2758da0cc5c682a09af8b8b0 lq
One by one, they started to form up. At some point, they added a USAF fighter pilot Captain who was aligned as an Air Liaison Officer who specialized in controlling close air support, small unit infantry.
After the small group numbered squad strength, they stopped briefly while headed towards the sounds of the battle. The soldiers looked at the USAF Captain, the only officer present and one spoke up and asked “What do we do now sir?”. Despite being a fighter pilot by trade, he suddenly found himself in command of a parachute infantry squad.
So, yeah, in a situation where they are cutoff from their leadership and unit, Marines and any member of the Armed Forces should obey the lawful orders of senior NCOs and officers regardless of service.
When I was a young boy… perhaps four or five years old, there was a fire in the complex where we lived. We lived in a complex of homes, perhaps row homes in groups of four multi-dwellings.
And one of them was on fire. We, my friends and I, watched the firemen come and put the fire out, and there we surreptitiously entered through the basement into the smouldering wet burnt ruin until chased off.
As We left the scene, the owner of the house arrive. She was carrying a bag of groceries, and I will never forget the expression on her face. Surprise, shock and then realization that it was HER house that was burnt to nothing.
That expression… well, it remains to me this day. I will never forget it. For her entire life is now different. And her life is right now, upside-down.
Poor lady.
…
That happens. That realization. That knowing that a “light switch” has flipped, and what you once had is now GONE.
Smart people make precautions to prevent that switch from flipping. From personal safety; to relationships, to governments. We do what we need to do.
But still…
Today…
What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?
When I was in high school I had a part time job in a local chain supermarket store. Did the usual, stocking shelves, helping in the butcher shop, cleaning floors, and bag boy. The store began running a promotional, for every $100 in receipts you could get a free dish in a set of “fine” china. Kind of silly really, the reality was that most people were never going to accumulate enough receipts for a place setting, let alone an entire set. But in my tenure as bag boy I noticed several things, 1. People often just put the receipt in the trash can on the way out. 2. They often told the cashier they did not want the receipt, and she put it in the trash can under the register 3. If I was helping people, especially the older ladies, take the groceries to their car and asked them for their receipts, explaining I was trying to get me ma a set of dishes, they willingly gave them to me. So I became the most willing volunteer to bag groceries, the most diligent emptier of trash cans, and the most solicitous helper to people who needed assistance getting groceries to their car. A week before the promotion ended I presented thousands of dollars in receipts to me ma and explained what she had to do, omitting to the store, of course, that she had any relatives employed there. That is how we got the “fine”china still used by me ma to this day. Complete with soup tureen and gravy boat. And the highly sought after “Giant Serving Platter”.
Ukraine Drones?
Nope. American controlled drones in Ukraine. And then pay attention to who is working them.
Real? Fake? But, certainly plausible.
Slovakia Prime Minister . . .”Lie Doomed on our Balcony . . . waiting for World Apocalypse”
"All We Can Do is Lie Doomed On The Balcony With A Cognac And A Cigar, Waiting For The World Apocalypse”
Slovak Prime Minister Fico: “The West sees that, despite significant assistance, despite anti-Russian sanctions, Ukraine is simply not capable of winning. And if we send military personnel from the EU and NATO to Ukraine, all we can do is lie doomed on the balcony with cognac and a cigar, waiting for the world apocalypse.”
Hal Turner Analysis
The fact that the Prime Minister of Slovakia said these words Sunday evening is proof that the “idea” of French President Macron, for NATO member countries to send their troops into Ukraine under “Bi-lateral Security Agreements” was far more than just bluster or posturing. Clearly, the suggestion of the French President is under active consideration.
Were it anything else, there would be no reason for the Prime Minister to make such a statement.
The world is moving faster and faster toward an actual nuclear conflict with Russia.
The general public in Europe and the United States remain blissfully unaware because the mass media has utterly failed in its job to report the serious and world-changing events developing in Ukraine.
I have done, and continue to do, my best, to keep you informed of the important developments overseas.
These comments by the Prime Minister of Slovakia cannot be taken lightly – at all.
The USA is sinking gravely
Could I possibly start working at the prison where my boyfriend will be staying?
This is a profoundly bad idea.
Let’s say that your little plan works just about as well as you could hope for. You become a guard, and you’re assigned to your boyfriend’s unit…
Have you noticed how dirty the floor is in the CO’s break room? Maybe you should get your boyfriend to mop it. You better supervise him to make sure he does a good job…
Ah… alone at last. Finally, after all this time you can have some hurried sex. Sounds pretty fun right?
It better be, because in most places a guard having sex with an inmate is considered rape (you would be raping him). You can argue until you’re nine shades of blue that it was consensual, but during your training program you signed a document stating that you understood that sex with inmates was rape.
Maybe you think nobody will notice?
Your fellow lives in a big room with at least a hundred other men who have NOTHING to do. Nothing. They WILL notice. I was once told how many minutes I’d just spent in the bathroom…
Did I mention these guys have nothing to do?
Maybe you think they won’t care?
Come on now… you know how most guys are when it comes to sex. Do you really think they’ll just give your boyfriend appreciative nods and attaboys?
Yeah. No. They’ll want the same treatment, or maybe they’ll just want you to smuggle in some pot—“just a little.” If you refuse, they’ll have enough documentation to bring a storm your way.
Maybe you think that smuggling a handful of marijuana to needy inmates is no big deal? OK… now you’re up to two felonies already, and you’ve got to keep the pot coming…
“Know what would really be fly? If we had some heroin up in dis bitch.”
This is a hole that digs itself. All you need to do is get a job in that prison, and you’re never going to get out without becoming an inmate yourself.
A miracle
What did your teacher say to you during a meeting that resulted in you immediately dropping the class?
Evening college class, met 2X a week. 1st class- homework- find a magazine article about a govt. action, write one page about it. Did not have any magazine subscriptions, so stopped by library, found story about Sen. McCarthy. Next night, teacher chewed me out for picking that article. What could I POSSIBLY know about Sen. McCarthy? I was too young. And kept on for 5 minutes in a vicious tone.
Stood up, said “Know what? You’re right. I am young- may not know a lot- but I know something you don’t.” “Really? What’s THAT?”
“First, I don’t need this class this semester. Second- you are adjunct (part time) faculty. For your class to continue, you need 10 students enrolled. I count 9 others here. I’m dropping your class. The other students will be assigned to other teachers. You are a jerk- and you are also unemployed. Have a good day.”
Walked out, stopped at office, dropped class. Took it next semester- different teacher.
Russia Destroyed US Army Officers Along With HIMARS MLRS In NIKANOROVKA
Has China increased the defense budget hugely?
Absolutely
Chinas Defence Budget stands at 1.68 Trillion RMB for the year 2024
That’s $ 234 Billion
However you need to understand that $ 234 Billion in China is different from $ 234 Billion in USA
In the US , the average mark up from production to final sale to the Army or Pentagon is between 113% to 355%
That means a missile that costs $ 100,000 to produce sells for $ 213,000 to the Pentagon
In China, the average mark up from production to final sale to the PLA is a mere 26% -37% as everything is State Owned or a Joint Venture with State Ownership of around 35% – 45%
This means a missile that costs $ 100,000 to produce is sold for $ 126,000 to the PLA
Except that it costs $ 40,000 to produce a missile in China and so $ 50,400 to sell a single Missile to the PLA
So you can have FOUR MISSILES with the same range and the same launch capacity delivered to the PLA for ONE MISSILE delivered to the Pentagon
This means the $ 234 Billion in China has a far higher buying power of equipment in China than $ 234 Billion has for the Pentagon
So effectively Chinas Defence Budget is equivalent to at least 2.5 times and probably 3.5 times the Pentagon budget to procure it’s equipment
The PLA has estimated 492 Billion RMB for Weapons Procurement for 2024
That’s $ 70 Billion
However that’s the equivalent of $ 175 Billion to $ 245 Billion of the Pentagon
The Pentagon has estimated $ 290 Billion for weapon procurement in 2024
So you can see that China with its main scope being the South China Sea, Sea of Japan and Himalayas and Indian Ocean spends almost 84% of what US with its main scope being all over the world spends
So initially you see $ 70 Billion and $ 290 Billion and say “Oh. China is only spending a fourth of what US is spending”
Yet a closer look suggests China is spending almost $ 175–245 Billion versus $ 290 Billion that the US is spending
Dividing evenly between the battle zones – China has four – South China Sea, Himalayas, Indian Ocean and Sea of Japan
US has nine – Pacific, Middle East, South China Sea, Sea of Japan, Atlantic, Europe, South America, Horn of Africa and Oceania
So China spends $ 175–245 Billion for 4 Battle Zones while US spends $ 290 Billion for 9 Battle Zones (290/9 = $ 32 Billion each)
You do the math
It means China likely could outspend US 5:1 in the South China Sea
Same for Russia
Everyone looked at $ 81 Billion at laughed
Yet that $ 81 Billion includes $ 50.7 Billion of Equipment and Weapons Procurement which is the equivalent of $ 90 Billion for the Pentagon
Assuming only three Battle Zones – Europe, Black Sea and Arctic – that’s $ 30 Billion per Battle Zone which is very close to the $ 32 Billion that US spends on weapons and equipment for each zone
So US and Russia are actually neck to neck in defence expenditure on Weapons and Equipment as far as Europe is concerned
So Chinas budget of $ 234 Billion is closer to $ 650 Billion in Pentagon terms
That’s enormous
Tips for parents
What is the weirdest question asked during a job interview?
This occurred years ago and I will never forget it. It was at a time period, when located in the Silicon Valley in California, you would have to be interviewed by 423 employees to discern if you qualified for a job. What was more comical is you would be interviewed by people that in NO way were connected with the department you were attempting to gain employment in. Imagine you are interviewing for a computer game company as an artist and you are interviewed by the warehouse shipping lead? No logic whatsoever.
I was attempting to get a job as a network administrator for a very large and well-known entity. I had passed four interviews and was lucky enough to move on to the next.
My next interviewer happens to be a woman that I am informed works as an admin and I have no idea why she is interviewing me.
She sits down and introduces herself and appears pleasant. The first question she asks is “If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why’s it still #2?”. I am taken aback. I reply “Because a number one pencil writes darker than a number two?” She just looks at me.
She asks, “Why does it REALLY hurt to hit your funny bone?” I answered, “Because there is no bone covering or protecting the nerves at that location, so you are really making direct contact with nerves.” I am thinking, what is this?
She then asks, “Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?”. I answered, “The hands could have been named anything they wanted.” I said, “If the third hand measures seconds, why can it not be the third on the watch if it was designed to do so?”
At this point I had had enough. I asked her what is with all the ridiculous questions that have absolutely nothing to do with what I am interviewing for?
The door opens at that moment and another woman comes in and asks the person interviewing me to leave. The person who had been asking me questions says to the other, “I like him, he is pretty sharp!” and she leaves the room.
I am now informed by the person who is sitting down that she is the interviewer I was supposed to have been speaking to. I asked whom the person was who was just asking me a series of strange questions. She said, “That was my secretary, Betty. I told her to come in here and see if you needed anything such as water since I was going to be a few minutes late.”
Why bother?
Will raising tariffs on Chinese goods result in higher prices for US-made products imported into China due to potential retaliation from China?
Well, what China wants to buy from the US is banned from export to China, such as chips and chipmaking equipment, on grounds of national security.
What China wants to sell to the US such as EVs and Huawei equipment is either banned or impeded by the Feds, on grounds of national security.
Chinese companies that make money stateside such as Tiktok, Shein and Temu are being targeted for outright bans or increasingly unfavorable legislation and requirements.
Put the enemy hat on China and the rulebook gets thrown out the window—the end justifies the means.
China will raise the tariff wall on American goods if the US does likewise, but the scope won’t be pushed to the extreme. China will simply develop options and stop buying American. For example, there is enough soybean around these days to skip American soy completely. In a few more years, it will be the same story for wheat, corn and other grains, and Chinese demand for American farm produce can experience a step change.
If there is no trust, there can be no longterm business relationship.
Smothered Cheesy Pork Chops
Cheesy Pork Chops
Ingredients
4 or 5 boneless pork chops
Salt and pepper
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place pork chops in a baking pan. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.
Sprinkle the onion on top of the pork. Spread mayonnaise on each pork chop. Top with shredded cheese.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned. Baking time may be longer, depending upon thickness of pork chops.
Is FM Wang Yi wasting his breath?
The US can’t hear reason. They are afflicted by an old problem: arrogance. No arrogant person was ever humbled except by humiliation.
China is moving ahead as planned… at full throttle!
COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) on X
China FM Wang Yi: "The US has been devising various tactics to suppress China and kept lengthening its unilateral sanctions list, reaching bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity. If the US says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major country? If…
China FM Wang Yi: “The US has been devising various tactics to suppress China and kept lengthening its unilateral sanctions list, reaching bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity.
If the US says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major country?
If it gets jittery whenever it hears the word China, where is its confidence as a major country?
If it only wants itself to prosper but denies other countries legitimate development, where is international fairness?
If it persistently monopolizes the high end of the value chain and keeps China at the low end, where is fairness in competition?
The challenge for the US comes from itself, not from China. If the US is obsessed with suppressing China, it will eventually harm itself.
We urge the US to be clear eyed about the trend of the times…”
Like a Hollywood Nightmare
How do lifers cope with the fact that they will never be outside the prison walls ever again?
As a Prison Medic I had quite a bit of contact with the older Inmates, many doing “Life Without”….
Most of them had cut most ties with “The World” and had developed a life inside the wire, some of them, remarkably productive.
Three of these men come to mind….
One was a leatherworker, who made and repaired saddles for the mounted patrols, taught “horse tack” and leatherwork classes to the other inmates and had an “outreach” program building adaptive saddles and tack for Equestrian Therapy programs around the state at no cost.
Another had been a lawyer on the outside and spent much time with with the other inmates advising them on their legal matters of Family law, property law, tax law…outside their “Cases”… and did it for free… he had his own funds for “Commissary”
And finally there was one of our Orderlies for the Medical Department. He acted as a formal Mentor to new inmates as they adjusted to prison life and was frequently asked to mediate disputes between inmates…
All of those men were killers…. none of those men were ever supposed to take a breath of “Free” air again, and all of them had made a life on the inside…
Unknown force killed these men
What’s the most outdated software you still run on a regular basis, and why is that?
I use it every day.
Why? It’s a fast loading program, that’s easy to use. It reliably strips all formatting from a block of text. I don’t have to tell it each time that I want it to ignore hyperlinks, or HTML tags, and just treat them like the raw ASCII they truly are.
Readme.txt files are still found here and there. Notepad is the perfect program to view them.
When we purchased massive demographic data files from various vendors, they always came to us in some text format, CSV, pipe or tab delimited, fixed width… to write the scripts to import these encyclopedias, I would first need to inspect the header files with a program that wouldn’t alter or format the data in any way. Thank you Notepad.
Notepad is an electronic hand axe. It will continue to be useful for a very long time. There are more powerful text editors, some with very handy features for programmers, but Notepad is always there, on every machine, waiting for an opportunity to show how useful it can be.
Life in the USA today
Do you agree with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report that says “The US maintains official ties with Beijing, and recognises it as the only Chinese government under its “One China policy.”?
Does nobody remember this? It was a film series Police Academy in the 80s and into the 1990s… I think.
Anybody who watched it should recognise this theme.
Anyway Debbie Callahan is very upfront.
She literally says TALK IS CHEAP.
she says
And has been since the beginning of time.
Actions have always spoken louder than words:
So currently the USA is:
Peddling bullshit propaganda about Xinjiang against us.
Targeting ethnic (even US born Chinese) scientists and university graduates.
Targeting Chinese companies because they can’t compete.
Actively encouraging hate and racism against Chinese people.
Accusing us of everything under the sun even if it’s got nothing to do with us.
Imposing sanctions on us and our people.
Currently engaging in a massive military build up nearby (Phllipines.Japan)
Funds terrorism in my home (2019 riots)
Funds TW separatism.
Arms terrorist groups (CIA tibetan program)
Has parked two SSBN nuclear missile submarines in Korea 900km from our capital
map
400km if you consider Tianjin 500km if you consider Dailan.
All of those things are actions of a hostile state and most of them are acts of war.
What have we done to you? Ah yes we exist and for many westerners that’s just unacceptable.
Your son is a genius
What would you do if your bank accidentally paid $20,000 into your bank account? Would you tell them or spend it?
Originally Answered: What would you do if your bank accidently paid $20,000 into your bank account? Would you tell them or spend it?
This happened to me.
About 28 years ago I went to deposit my paycheck. It was about $500. I had $80 or so in the bank, I was sure, but just to validate, I asked for an account balance.
The teller smiled at me. “Sure,” she said. “After the wire transfer you received yesterday, and your deposit today, your balance is now $1,100,584.”
“Ummmm, what did you say?” The teller repeated the amount.
“Yesterday you received a wire transfer for $1.1 million dollars. Lucky you.” She smiled again.
I took a deep breath. “Look,” I said, “That can’t be my money. Can you please double check?” She nodded and walked over to the branch manager’s office. She returned about ten minutes later.
“Oh there was no error. The amount was wired from X bank to your account, and all the info is correct on the transfer form.”
“So let me ask you something. If I asked you to withdraw $500,000 in cash right now, you would actually give it to me?”
“Well no…” I nodded, knowing that something wasn’t kosher. “…it would take about 3 hours. We don’t keep that much cash on hand. What denominations would you like?”
I stood there like an idiot. “I would like to take out $100 please.”
I went home slightly dazed. The next morning, after a night spent wondering what I would do with the money, I received a call from the bank. It was the branch manager.
“Yes, Mr. Kaufmann, sorry to bother you. I need to inform you that there was an error in a bank wire transfer to your account. You had 1.1 million dollars deposited into your account. I hope you don’t mind, but we will return the funds to the sending bank.”
“No problem,” I said, “I knew it was a mistake.”
The money was removed that day.
That evening, I could not help but ask myself what if I had said, “no.”
Probably exactly the same thing. But it’s fun to think about.
The USA is in full collapse
What was the most bone-chilling sentence a loved one ever said to you?
“It won’t be.”
Such simple words, but they broke my heart. I am tearing up right now as I see them 5 years later.
My youngest son Colin has always been the most happy go lucky person I know. Nothing seems to get him down. He has always been small for his age and yet, he is beyond bullies. A quick little story about that, one of many.
When Colin was about 6 years old we went to the park. There was a bigger kid, probably 8 or 9, standing by the jungle gym. I watched Colin head towards the gym and the bigger kid stepped in his way. Every other kid on the playground had already been redirected and were playing elsewhere. Colin stood and looked up at the boy and I saw the boy pointing for him to go somewhere else. Colin just stood there and stared. The boy turned moved back towards the gym a bit and Colin started moving towards the gym. The bully again stood in his way. This went on for 5 minutes before I see the boy give Colin a ‘guard duty’ job at the base of the gym.
When Colin was born he had a heart murmur, which cleared up.
When Colin was 3 his tonsils were swollen so large his throat was reduced to the size of a quarter. He had a tonsillectomy.
When Colin was 7 he developed Type 1 Diabetes. He never cried. We cried, privately. His doctors kept telling him it was ok to cry and he never saw the need. When his cousin asked him if he liked insulin shots because he never complained about them he said, very matter of factly, “no, I have to live.” And so began the quarterly trips to the endocrinologist.
When Colin was 8 he had a seizure. We wound up taking him for EEGs and found out he has a form of Epilepsy. He didn’t cry, but he looked perturbed. He started on medication and it was effective. He was told he could outgrow it when he hit puberty. Every 6 months we went to the neurologist and had another EEG, he only had one other seizure and that was my fault because I forgot his medication. So his lack of seizures was giving the doctors hope that he was outgrowing it, but every time we went it was the same news: still abnormal.
A few years pass and we have been to so many doctors for so many things. There is a scheduled EEG on this day and we are about to head out the door. My wife and I are excited to go because he hasn’t had a seizure in 2 years and he is starting puberty so maybe this will be the EEG that shows he has outgrown the Epilepsy.
My wife smiles at him and says to this child, who has never once in his life been to a doctor and gotten positive news, who has never once cried or been remotely negative about it all, she says to him excitedly, “The doctor says if this EEG is better you can get off the meds,” and Colin quietly replies, “It won’t be.”
I had to hide my face.
To this day, that is the only negative comment he has ever uttered about his health problems. And it kills me today just to think about it.
Just to note, that EEG was not normal, but 2 years later he was removed from meds despite abnormal EEGs. He has not had a seizure in 5 years now and at almost 15 he has probably outgrown it. He is still small (But growing) for his age as a freshman in High School, and by no means a macho guy. In fact, he believes he is gay and that was no surprise to me, but he is the strongest person I have ever known, and my personal hero, because for all the petty nonsense I get upset about on a regular basis nothing compares to what he has been through, and yet all he does is smile and move on. We could all learn a little something from people like him.
Be the Rufus
Have you ever saw a police officer/deputy outright lie?
June of 2014 I was pulled over for having a headlight out. That much is true.
I left that early morning from the State Highway Patrol station with a ticket for DUI. I was sober. The officer initially told me he thought I crossed the yellow line when he was following me. I did do that, as I was mistaken about the location of the driveway I was trying to get into. So, okay. Then he told me I smelled of alcohol. No, I didn’t. I had had two beers that calendar day, and the last was over 4 hours prior to this. Since then I had been sitting around a campfire. I reeked of smoke. Wood smoke. When I passed the breath test, I was told that they expected that, what with me smelling of weed. No. No I didn’t. But that’s going to be impossible to prove in a courtroom in a few months, right?
The police report they typed up mentioned that I had confessed in the back of the car to being on numerous illicit substances. That. Never. Happened. And I was NOT on any illicit substances.
Fortunately, the prosecutor tossed the whole case when there was no evidence of anything on my tox screen, no evidence of anything in my breath test, hair, urine, blood. NOTHING. Turns out these two assholes had been sending up some dubious cases for a while, but this one was the most egregious.
Ohio Patrol Troopers Northup and Norris, where ever you are, I hope you get a flat tire, your wife cheats on you with your partner, your dog dies, and you develop unfixable halitosis. You are the worst kind of human. You lied, repeatedly, and for what?
Because…
Is there a lot of racism in prisons?
Racism is the very thing prisons are built out of. It’s the bricks, pipes, and bars of prison. Racism will surround and envelop you at all times while you are behind bars.
That said, you’re not supposed to acknowledge it. You had better not make any comments that are openly racist unless you’re ready to fight. So, while racism is the very air you breathe, you’d better not gulp it in and speak with it.
Inmates divide themselves up along racial lines. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise — we divide ourselves up by race everywhere in society. In prison it’s just more… rigid.
The most obvious example will be the chow hall. Where I spent most of my time, there was a white side, and a black side. The white side had six or seven tables set aside for Hispanics and “other.” The black side had only two tables that had been claimed by social misfits that nobody wanted to have at their table.
If a white guy sat in the black area heads would turn. The same was true for the reverse situation. If anything, the blacks seemed more disapproving of a black guy sitting with the whites. The general assumption was that if someone was sitting outside of their race then there was a (sexual) relationship. The person out of “place” was someone’s “bitch.”
The units were also divided by race. We had several TV rooms. One was for whites (read “rednecks”). One was for blacks and one was for anyone who spoke Spanish. A final room was supposed to be for sports, but wound up being a second room for the blacks.
Even the cells were arranged by race. The cells furthest from the doors were all occupied by black guys. This was their choice — being largest in number, they got to choose. The advantage of being farthest from the door is that you have the most warning before the guards get to you.
Is there racism in prison? I doubt this is even a serious question. Prison *is* racism.
Pre-Historic Mega Structure Discovered In New Zealand: Kaimanawa Wall
What do you do when a neighbor’s kid is destroying your property?
Back in the mid to late 90s I lived in a quite, older neighborhood in Euless Texas. I have a green thumb and made my yard one of the nicest ones on the street. There were some rambunctious boys that lived a few houses down. They started riding their bikes in my yard tearing things up. Next thing I know their friends are doing it too. I knew their parents and knew they were decent people. One day I came around the corner and the oldest son, about 14 or so and their ringleader, was right there in my driveway. I could tell he was about to head into my yard. I called out to him in a friendly tone “Hey! You wanna earn some extra cash?”
That got his attention. He said “Sure” as he got off his bike to speak with me. I told him I was having to work extra hours at work (true) and needed help keeping my yard up. I told him if her would mow the front yard weekly, spread fertilizer and pull any weeds he sees I’d give him 40 bucks every week. He was excited and agreed. Shortly my yard was back to being one of the nicest ones on the street. He was now in charge and took great pride in his work and the yard. He would fuss at his friends and brothers and run them off if they came around with their bikes. He also took great care of my lawn mower and any other tools he used and put them back in my shed when finished. I hated to see him go off to college a few years later!
“As the famous Turkish proverb says, when a clown goes to live in a palace, he does not become a king. But the palace becomes a circus.
One could, of course, perceive everything that is happening in Ukraine as a circus if the consequences were not so tragic and catastrophic for this state.
But circus acts are still very popular there.
We all know about air sirens sounding in Kyiv and other cities during visits of high-ranking foreign delegations in the absence of any shelling.
This has already become a kind of part of the circus program for the stay of foreign leaders in Ukraine.
What is noteworthy is that in Odessa, whose military facilities were actually attacked during the visit of a high-ranking Greek delegation to this city, the siren did not sound: such an act was not included in the circus program.
I would like to urge all those who have been whipping up passions today and will continue to whip up passions because of this episode to ask themselves a simple question.
Do you really think that if we really wanted to hit Zelensky’s motorcade, we wouldn’t be able to do it?
And try to answer it, just honestly.
Especially considering the fact that you know very well that this strike destroyed a workshop for the production of naval drones, or rather, their assembly from components supplied by the UK.
For us, this goal is much more important than Zelensky rushing around the frontline zone, taking selfies in cities before they are liberated by the Russian army.
And if any of you in your soul hopes to get rid of the leader of the Kyiv regime in this way, then I can disappoint you: this is not part of our plans.
The reincarnation of Mr. Goloborodko from the series ‘Servant of the People’ was elected to the presidency by Ukrainians, believing his election promises to establish peace in Donbass and protect the Russian language and Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine.
He deceived his voters, so now let the Ukrainians and his Western puppet masters deal with him. We have more important tasks – fulfilling the goals of our special military operation.
And since you don’t want to talk about how to implement them through peaceful means, we are forced to use military means for this.
With all the ensuing consequences for Ukraine and the Western sponsors of the Kyiv regime, which have already begun to emerge very clearly.”
main qimg 455afdf7c754106812ff514352133060
Excerpt from the speech by Dmitry Polyanskiy, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, New York City, March 8, 2024.
Father’s revenge
Why didn’t China acquire the MiG-29 and MIG-31 from Russia in 1990?
Why didn’t China acquire the Mig29 and Mig31? Because China wanted the Su-27.
main qimg f026a28ae10bede1f9ccd9296c718360 lq
And we got it. China realised that the heavy fighter design had far more potential than the much smaller 29.
jets
Su 27 and Mig29 in between. The size difference is huge.
Russia in dire financial straits in the 1990s reluctantly agreed to sell them to us.
There’s a far more entertaining story which nobody knows is true or not.
Russian negotiators landed in Beijing to negotiate sale of Mig29s to China and said nyet Over and over again when Chinese asked for the SU27. Chinese negotiators pressed and pressed Russians over and over again but kept getting told no and hit an impasse. Until it was settled by a night on the town over booze.
Allegedly Chinese negotiators out drunk the Russians and got them to agree to our demands.
Flag
Those northern Chinese, they can REALLY drink. I mean REALLY drink. I nearly died when I dated a girl from Northern China, to her it was like water…Chinese Baiju starts at 56% Russian Samogan starts at 40%.
WOKE is completely insane
What do homeless people do during the day? Do they get bored?
Me, 50 years a hobo. Everybody is different here’s what I did. 4 am. wake up. Damn birds noisy at hell at that hour. Break camp. “Camo” the big stuff, little stuff in my small day pack. Have enough change for the first bus into town. 5:30 am in line at the temp work joint. Hope I get a days work today else it’s pick up cans. 6:30 am lucked out and got a clean up job. 7:30 am at the construction clean up site. Give the boss my work ticket, 3 of us working. Spend the day cleaning up so various tradesman are not tripping over one another’s trash. Noon. Lunch break. Had a $2 draw and bought a sandwich from the catering truck. Boss finds one temp guy sleeping behind the huge dumpster. Signs him off with 5 hours and gives him bus change and the boot. 4 pm. Quit time for us temps. Boss gives us 10 hours sign off because we had to pick up the slack for “Sleepy”. Marks never to send Sleepy back there again.and marks he wants us two back tomorrow. Wait for the work van to pick us up. I am glad I got a second day’s work cause I hadn’t worked for a week. 6 pm back at temp office. Got a check for $32 ( this was a while back ) minus the $2 draw. $30 bucks. Go two blocks down the street to a bar and grill all the temps go to. Get a burger and soda and they cash my check. Got to buy or won’t cash the check. Some guys drink all their pay up there everyday. I ain’t a drinking man. Got $25 and bus fair now. Head to the bus stop down a ways. 8 pm getting near dark arrive at last bus stop on that route. Near a gas station. Grab a soda. Walk about a mile ? to a large stand of trees. My camping site. Set up camp and fall out. I’m tired for sure. Figure to work as much as possible for a month so I have a “road stake”.Figure to go to Southern California for the winter. A few good “working” towns along my planed route.
What is the most satisfying way you saw a smirk get wiped off someone’s face?
In college, I was invited to a private concert being filmed in a TV studio in Chicago. My good friend was the executive assistant to the president of the station so I had met the president several times before and he told me to bring a few friends along for this event and to find him when we got there.
The evening of the concert, there was a huge line of people waiting to get into the studio. These were folks not previously invited but vying for a few remaining spots to fill empty seats.
Having been invited personally by the studio president, we walked around the crowd and into the building to find him. Near the front of the line, we saw a guy dressed in studio gear, all black, headphones, clipboard, the whole deal holding back the crowd. I waved and explained “hello I’m Chet and was told to find John McDonald (not his real name) to be part of tonight’s concert event. I was nothing but polite and courteous.
This guy’s response? “I’m sorry…do you think you are special or something? See all these people? They waited in line and you can too. Go back to the end and wait just like everyone else.”
I was floored as was my roommate and our dates looked dumbfounded. I sort of chuckled but figured ok, something must have gotten lost in translation.
Not two seconds later, the studio prez John McDonald comes around the corner, sees us all there and exclaims “Chet! You made it!” and we all start shaking hands and making introductions to the ladies we brought along.
He then turned to the studio guy and said “take these four into the show and put them in the front row.”
As we followed the rude dude into the studio, I couldn’t resist saying “I guess we ARE special!”
Smirk obliterated.
You won’t believe this…
What are the consequences of being too good at your job? Can you get fired for it?
My son went on line to see if he could get hired for a programming job somewhere. He had no real experience working for anyone else in programming. He had worked for a small town IT guy, and did a lot of coding for an online game he played. His first job offer was as a contractor for a 6 month gig at a company in Sacramento, CA. He loaded up his car, abandoned his apartment in Springfield IL, and headed out.
When he went to work the first day, they showed him around a bit, then gave him his first assignment. He worked hard on it for the first two days, and handed in the finished project on the third day. The boss looked at him in an odd manner. He had someone run the program to make sure it actually did what it was supposed to do. He came back and told Jason that it was a job well done. Jason asked for his next assignment. The boss, a bit bemused, said, well, I’ll see if I can find something for you, but that assignment was your 6 month gig. They did keep him on for the 6 months, and he did several other projects for them. He didn’t get fired, but the other programmers weren’t at all happy with him, so he left at the end of the contract.
He has had several coding jobs since, and moved up into management, but finally decided that he really liked coding better than he liked managing coders, so his current job is back to coding, but at a pretty high level, with commensurate pay.
Tucker Carlson 3/9/24 | Breaking News March 9, 2024
https://youtu.be/8heGAYH21M4
China to give chipmakers $27 billion to counter U.S. sanctions — Big Fund III will have further funding rounds
China is assembling the third phase of its Big Fund
to invest in crucial semiconductor projects across the country, a move that aims to accelerate the development of advanced technologies, make China self-reliant in the microelectronics industry, and counteract the United States’ efforts to limit China’s technological advancement.
The third phase of the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, or the Big Fund, will pursue the same goal as the first two phases: make China self-sufficient in the semiconductor sector. According to a Bloomberg report, the Big Fund’s third-phase vehicle will primarily draw its capital from local governments, state-owned enterprises, and their investment branches, with the central government contributing a smaller portion. This strategy aligns with President Xi Jinping’s vision of pooling resources nationwide for significant projects, emphasizing self-reliance in the semiconductor sector.
The first round of Big Fund III funding is designed to raise $27 billion, a relatively modest sum by the Chinese standards for its semiconductor industry. Cities like Shanghai and entities like the China Chengtong Holdings Group and the State Development and Investment Corp. are expected to invest billions of yuan each in the third-phase fund. Meanwhile, the report says the fund will directly support local companies and finance three to four sub-funds to diversify deal sourcing and investment strategies.
The fund’s expansion comes as the United States urges its allies to tighten restrictions on China’s access to tools required to make chips on advanced product nodes, part of an ongoing chip war for control of the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Back in September, Big Fund II initiated a round to raise $41 billion to support domestic makers of wafer fab equipment. However, for Big Fund III, $27 billion will be spent on essential projects across China.
Since its inception in 2014, the Big Fund (2014 – 2018, ~$100B) and the Big Fund II (2019 – 2023 , ~$41B) have raised hundreds of billions of dollars and acquired stakes in dozens of microelectronics companies. Meanwhile, Bloomberg claims that Big Fund’s assets under management are currently valued at around $45 billion, which could be a direct result of the U.S. sanctions against China’s semiconductor sector, which significantly hit companies like SMIC (China’s foundry champion) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC , China’s top 3D NAND maker).
Despite its successes, the Big Fund has faced criticism for its lack of transparency and accountability, operating primarily behind the scenes. Nonetheless, it is indisputable that the hundreds of billions of dollars poured into China’s semiconductor industry made the country one of the most prominent players in this field.
The United States today
What are the biggest facepalm moments you have ever experienced?
About 15 years ago, I was working as a server at a restaurant, and as head server/trainer and an expeditor, I knew the menu inside and out, including pretty much all the ingredients.
We took allergies VERY seriously at our restaurant, and so when a guest asked,”Is there dairy in the crab cake? Because I’m allergic to dairy,” I was REQUIRED to ask the chef, verbatim, even though I KNEW the answer was no, because the chef is the highest authority on the food. So I go back to the kitchen, and I ask the chef, “Is there dairy in the crab cake? I have a guest who is allergic.”
He responds, “Yeah, there’s dairy in the crab cake.”
And I respond, “Uh, you’re wrong–I’ve prepped crab cakes myself. There’s no dairy in the crab cakes.”
Him: “Prove it.”
I go to the prep kitchen and pull the master recipe book from the shelf, bring it back to him, and read off the list of ingredients. “There’s no dairy on this list.”
Him: “There’s mayonnaise in the crab cake.”
Me: “That’s not dairy. Mayonnaise is eggs and oil, and a stabilizing agent.”
Him: “And where do you find eggs in the grocery store?”
Me: “In the dairy section.”
Him: “So eggs are dairy.”
Me: “No, they’re not. Eggs come from chickens. Dairy products are milk products, which have to come from a cow, or from the udder of another mammal. Chicken are birds, not mammals. Birds don’t have udders.”
Him: “Eggs come from the dairy section. They are therefore dairy.”
Me: *Facepalm* “Fine. I will tell the customer that the crab cakes have mayonnaise.”
(Back at the table.)
Me: “Ma’am, the chef told me to tell you that the crab cakes have mayonnaise.”
Guest: “But mayonnaise isn’t dairy, it’s made from eggs.”
Me: “Yes, ma’am, you’re quite right, but the chef and I had a philosophical disagreement on that point, and he insists mayonnaise is dairy. So you may want to stay away from the crab cakes, considering the chef doesn’t actually know what’s in them.”
When plastic surgery goes wrong
Browned Butter Spaghetti with Mizithra
I used to love to go to the Spaghetti Factory for this. It’s so delicious! Mizithra is a great Greek cheese.
spaghetti browned butter
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 cup butter
Cooked spaghetti, drained
1 cup Mizithra cheese, grated
Parsley, chopped (optional)
Instructions
Cut butter into tablespoon size pieces and place in a 2 quart sauce pan. Place the pan of butter on a burner on medium heat. Bring butter to a slow boil (about 5 minutes).
When the butter begins to boil, stir constantly to prevent residue from sticking to the bottom of the pan. As the butter cooks, it will start to foam and rise. Continue stirring, otherwise the butter foam could overflow (about 5 minutes) and catch fire.
When the butter stops foaming and rising, cook until amber in color (about 1 to 2 minutes). It will have a pleasant caramel aroma.
Turn off the heat and remove pan from burner. Let the sediment settle to the bottom of the pan for a few minutes.
Pour the brown butter through a strainer into a small bowl. Do not disturb the residue at the bottom of the pan.
The brown butter can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated in a microwave as needed.
Boil the pasta of choice until al dente.
Drain pasta and divide into four servings.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup Mizithra cheese over each pasta serving.
Top with 1/4 cup hot brown butter.
The reason why
Musical Chairs for Banks; The Music STOPS tomorrow
Monday, March 11, 2024, Banks may get a deadly dose of reality; the Federal Reserve will cease the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) which will stop making new loans.
During a period of stress last spring, the Bank Term Funding Program helped assure the stability of the banking system and provide support for the economy. After March 11, banks and other depository institutions will continue to have ready access to the discount window to meet liquidity needs.
As the program ends, the interest rate applicable to new BTFP loans has been adjusted such that the rate on new loans extended from now through program expiration will be no lower than the interest rate on reserve balances in effect on the day the loan is made. This rate adjustment ensures that the BTFP continues to support the goals of the program in the current interest rate environment. This change is effective immediately. All other terms of the program are unchanged.
The BTFP was established under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, with approval of the Treasury Secretary.
When the BTFP stops, banks will not longer be able to borrow from the Fed based upon value-at-maturity of US Treasuries and other assets they hold. So if the banks cannot borrow from the fed to meet their cash needs, how will they get the cash?
Put simply, the game of musical chairs for banks will see the music stop tomorrow. Which Bank(s) will find themselves without a chair, and thus lose?
What does a man and a woman want
What is the most disturbing thing your ex did after you broke up with them?
Actually she divorced me after being together 20 years. She did the normal dirty tricks…wiping out the bank account before I was served papers…leaving me flat broke. I have a medicine I cant live without. She had me removed from her health insurance as soon as divorce papers were served, and I had no health insurance of my own. The medicine is prohibitively expensive without insurance and I scrambled to straighten things out before I missed enough doses to sicken and die. I later found out she started paying premiums on a $100,000 life insurance policy that I thought had lapsed a year earlier when I lost my job and couldn’t pay the bill. She had brow-beaten me to get the insurance at the start of our marriage. I realized she had set me up to die and intended to collect my life insurance payout while playing the grieving ex. Unfortunately for her, I had filled out a change of address to a p.o. box and since the statement came under my name, it diverted to my box along with the rest of my mail. I was able to have the password changed and blocked her from the account as I cashed in the policy for 26k. That money saved my life, I bought a motorhome to live in until I could save up a down payment for a house and purchased my meds until my new life insurance took effect. The policy she demanded I enroll in so she might profit from my untimely death, ended up costing her money while saving me from certain death.
What were the last words you heard someone say before they died?
My mother married my stepfather when I was a teenager. We had a somewhat difficult relationship although it was readily apparent that he adored my mother and treated her very well. I tried to get along with him as best I could because I knew that I would eventually be moving out and my mother would need a partner. After a decade or so into their marriage his health declined. He had developed leukemia-induced anemia that was complicated by Crohn’s disease. After several years of painful existence and numerous hospital stays and blood transfusions he found himself in the ICU. His red blood cell count was critically low and he needed another transfusion or he would die within a few days. He decided he had had enough. He refused treatment so that he could pass away and be relieved of his pain. He went in and out of consciousness over those last two days. A priest had come to read him his last rites. His oxygen mask was at full capacity.
At one point I stood alone beside his bed and he mustered up enough strength to speak. He told me “take care of your body and read a lot of books on different subjects”. I acknowledged him. He added, “and take care of your mother”. He then slipped back into unconsciousness and the nurse asked that I leave the room and give him a break. I never heard him speak again. Those last words only reaffirmed to me what a great husband my mother had found, for in his last moments he was still concerned about her welfare.
That night my mother and I were in the waiting room at two in the morning when the nurse came to tell us that it was his time. We went into his ICU room, stood by his bedside, and watched on the monitor as his heart rate steadily dropped off to zero and his chest eased down to a stop. My mother looked down at him and said “what an amazing man, thank you for 17 wonderful years of marriage”. RIP Stan
I went to a restaurant of a nationality different from mine. After I sat down, the manager said “sorry, but we do not wish to serve you in our restaurant”. What should I do?
This actually happened to me. I’m an American who went to school for bit at Richmond College in England. At one point, several classmates and I went on an educational trip to Paris with chaperones and teachers. (Most of us were in our junior year of high school, and still technically children.) We spoke very little French, yet for the most part we found the people in Paris to be charming, and very kind to us. Most people, but not all.
One day, a friend and I were walking back to the dorms we were staying in. We were without a chaperone. We were hungry, so we stopped in a very small cafe in what seemed to be a quiet and lovely neighborhood. It was obvious when we first walked in that everyone seemed to know everyone, and they did not know us. There were no other places to eat anywhere near our location, and we were starving, so we decided to stay.
We were refused a table. When we brought out our money so that they would understand that we were serious customers, the owner reluctantly let us sit at the counter, but not at a table. She also refused to show us a menu, and simply brought us soup with very unusual animal parts in it. These were body parts that I had no idea a person could actually consume, and most of the parts appeared to be raw. We silently looked at each other confused. The owner of the cafe, and every customer, glared at us.
Finally, and shockingly, my friend started eating the broth. I tried and tried to remain pleasant and polite so that I would not be another bad example of an American tourist, yet finally I could no longer handle the situation. I burst out with laughter. Soon we were both laughing hysterically. We were then yelled at, and thrown out after paying a huge price for whatever that was we were served.
Sadly, my brave friend who ate the broth had to miss two days of sightseeing and school due to an unfortunate case of gastroenteritis.
So, to answer your question directly, if you are not wanted in a restaurant, run!
Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?
Twenty years ago I moved across the country. When I got to my new state, I dragged my heels at getting new license plates. I am embarrassed to say how far I exceeded the grace period. A cop I worked with at school reminded me gently that our particular state had pretty stiff penalties for expired tags and I should take care of it before I got pulled over. I wish I had heeded her warning.
I never got a notice in the mail, but sure enough, I did get pulled over. The cop was polite and told me why I had been stopped, then returned to his squad car to run my info.
He came back. “Are you aware you license has been suspended?
“WHAT??!!” I was not.
He was puzzled. “Do you owe child support or something?”
“No.” I was upset at this point, not with him but the situation. I have never been in trouble with the law.
He was obviously perplexed. “They don’t normally suspend a license for expired tags. Huh.” He wrote out a warning.
When it was time to leave, I said “Sir…with an expired license, how will I get home?”
He shrugged. “If I drive off first, how will I know if you’re driving?”
He was very kind. However, the legal system was not. I had to jump through a lot of expensive hoops to get things cleared up. All of it could have easily been avoided. Renew your tags, everyone.
What are the biggest facepalm moments you have ever experienced?
A pizza delivery driver in his mid 20s (me….20 years ago) knocks on the door of an apartment, a few minutes go by and the door opens. As it swings open a cloud of VERY aromatic smoke rolls out and the man of the house says in a Bob Bitchin’ (PhD, MA, BA and a BMF besides) voice,
“Yeah, what is it?”
“I have your pizzas.”
“How much are they?”
“$20.87”
He hands me $30 asks for a $5 back, takes his change, and shuts the door. Nonplussed, I knock again. A couple of minutes goes by and the same man answered the door.
“Yeah, what is it?”
“I still have your pizzas.”
“How much are they?”
Now here I paused, and considered, until finally…
“$20.87”
He reaches in his pocket, gets his wallet out, looks inside and says,
“Give me a minute.”
Another 5 or 6 minutes go by and I see him talking with the 4 other people sitting around the TV. A collection occurs. He finally returns to the door and hands me $20.87 in the form of a single $5, eight $1 s, and the other $7.87 in mixed change. He then apologizes saying,
“Sorry about all the change, and no tip, I swear I had $30 around here but I can’t find it.”
To this day, I cannot help but smack my forehead when I think about it.
Edit- Thanks to all. I hope it gave you a bit of joy.
“NO WAY” TikTok Videos Viewers Are Struggling To Explain
My mother’s husband after my (birth) parents got their divorce, was a man of great local wealth. A “big man” in the local community. He was quite the character.
He had 15 sons, and one girl. He was Catholic.
Don’t you know.
Anyways, after he passed on he give my brother a gift in his will.
No one knew what it was, and when we all took the truck to get it, we were all surprised.
It was a home liquor bar from the 1960’s during the Playboy age.
playboy636bunny 636 467689249
It has girly glasses, swizzle sticks, and was able to control lighting with velvet and mirrors inside the cabinet. We boys all thought it was cool as fuck.
My sisters thought that it was stupid; old antique furniture. something that should be given away at a thrift store.
My mother… well she just *sighed*.
Gave it to my brother.
It looked a little bit like this, only shorter with more drawers, and a built in ashtray.
Still, my mother wanted us to throw it away.
Ugh! She didn’t appreciate it’s value like we (my brother and I) did.
Often my brother and I would muse about being a “playboy” like 007, and seducing women in our bachelor pad.
the playboy club bachelor pad
He has it today.
It’s in his “game room” / study. Perhaps, he goes to it every now and then and mixed up a Tom Collins, or a Whiskey Sour.
Today…
Rights in the United States
How do servers feel when someone only orders the cheapest item on the menu?
The cheapest item on a menu is often the most profitable. That is no coincidence. At the top of the menu will be a prime rib roast for $60. At the bottom is the fettuccine Alfredo for $17.99. The prime rib is called the anchor item. Believe me, it is there to scare you. They sell very few of them and don’t make much profit because of the high cost of the raw materials. So now, they’ve coaxed you to look at the cheapest item, the Alfredo. One chef revealed that a pasta dish at the bottom of his menu cost only 98 cents in ingredients, but was $17.99 on the menu. It was the most profitable item on the list, and the most popular dish they sell, especially when compared to the $60 steak that only brought in a couple of bucks profit.
Then there’s the wine list. It was designed by a restaurant psychologist. They know that a couple on a date will order a bottle of wine. But the guy doesn’t want to look cheap, so he orders the second cheapest wine. But guess what else? The owner knows that too, and the second cheapest wine has the highest margin!
A menu is full of tricks. Many of them funny, like no dollar signs and no decimals. Or burying the price in the description rather than putting it on a column to the right, where prices are easier to compare.
There are many, many more. Try searching “restaurant menu tricks”. Here’s one of them:
Do you sleep with your bedroom door open or closed? Why?
Until May 12, 2007, I didn’t worry whether my bedroom door was open or closed while I slept. Now, my bedroom door is closed and locked every night.
Tenth-grader Alec Kreider, entered the Haines’ family home while all were asleep and stabbed them. All their bedroom doors were open and their garage door was up.
When you look at his photo, Alec was just a kid.
main qimg a3599340b9342c85220cc68329954519 lq
The only person to escape was the 19-year-old daughter. Alec didn’t know she’d returned from college that evening.
The Haines’ house was less than a mile from ours.
The police were at a loss to find the killer or even a motive for why this family had been killed. The police were vocal about what the area residents should do until the case was resolved.
It was during that month that we started locking the bedroom door. Finally, it became a habit that we continued even after Alec’s father drove his son to police headquarters.
Alec never disclosed why he killed a good friend of his and the parents. He pleaded guilty and there was no trial.
Edit:
Someone commented that the photo of Alec may have been when he was younger than the date of his arrest. I copied and pasted a photo so you could see how he looked on that day.
main qimg 7b5ab0d4f93dc956c54006986c45ecfb lq
Decline
What are good skills to learn before going to prison?
If you’re going to prison, you need to learn how to shut up. It’s normal that when we see injustice, we want to fix it. Did you see someone steal another man’s shoes while he slept? Just mind your own business. Learn to lock up your own shoes, or make them not worth stealing.
Confronting the thief is a bad idea. Maybe you’re pretty good in a scrap and think you could take the scumbag down.
Maybe you can. But what will you do when three of them show up at your bunk at 2:30 in the morning with their padlocks inside socks? Those heavy chunks of metal, swung at high speed inside the sock, hit hard. It’s an impromptu weapon that works just as well as something from a medieval battlefield. The only thing it lacks are the spikes, but the inmates will compensate for that with enthusiasm.
Next, you need to learn that your case is nobody’s business. Period. It’s tempting to want to talk about what you’ve been through.
Don’t.
Just don’t.
The reverse is even more true. Do not ask anyone else about their case. It’s none of your business, and the asking invites trouble.
Prison is a primitive culture. It’s all based on power and social status. In a way, it’s like we’ve never built a civilization at all, and are stuck in our shared simian ancestry without the civilizing influences of the feminine gender. Ask yourself, “What would Jane Goodall do?”
Observe. Understand. Don’t get involved.
Learn to lose yourself in an activity. If you’re not much of a reader, learn to become one.
Learn some useful skills. Learn to sew. The ability to repair your own things will save you money, and can make you useful to others.
Learn to make do.
Two years later, I still catch myself glancing in trash cans for useful things.
Learn introspection. Learn to understand who you are so that essence can be preserved. Your time in prison is temporary. One day, you will be headed either to the streets, or to the hereafter. Either way, you want to leave as a civilized human being the least scarred as possible.
My goodness!
Southern Afghanistan 2008.
Group of Taliban fighters ambushed a squad of Marines in my platoon on a night patrol. We were engaged in a firefight with them during the day and a squad was pushed out to search for them. Traditionally the Taliban would not engage us at night because we “own the night”.
This time however, when the Marines got close they lit multiple stacks of dried vegetation on fire washing out our NVGs with light. They also engaged the Marines with RPGs and automatic weapons from rather well hidden positions that were only a stone’s throw away. In fact, they happened to throw back grenades that were thrown in their direction. I was pushed up from the rear as aid and litter to retrieve a wounded Marine and the light show I saw that night was like watching star wars space battle.
The green and red tracers being exchanged over the sight and sound of explosions, smell of burning fuel and large flames was all so astonishing to experience. The Taliban impressed me that day. In my experience that was one of only the handful of times I experienced a night battle in my year and a half total of combat zone time. Their success was short lived however, you can imagine who eventually won that fight.
When you are on the way up…
The Mughal Empire was ruled by only one dynasty, but why doesn’t anyone call it the “Mughal dynasty”?
There is no word “empire” in ancient Chinese history
This word was introduced to China by Westerners, and then the Chinese began to use it.
Therefore, the Chinese customarily refer to all their ancient regimes as “dynasties” rather than “empires”
Now, there are some new changes in the definition of ancient Chinese regimes in academic circles.
Some scholars began to try to distinguish between “empires” and “dynasties” in ancient China
They called some powerful regimes that ruled the whole of China “empires,” while they called some small regimes that only controlled local areas “dynasties.”
For example, “Ming Empire”, “Tang Empire”, “Song Dynasty” and “Shang Dynasty”.
They believe that many large empires and more small dynasties were born in ancient China. Their reason is that with every regime established, the name of the country changes. There has never been a regime named “Middle Kingdom” or “Middle Empire” in Chinese history.
Some scholars also believe that according to Western definitions, China established its empire in 211 BC and lasted until 1912. During these 2000 years, China had only one empire. All regime changes are “dynasties” within this empire. The change of dynasties is actually the continuous collapse and reconstruction of this empire.
Their reason is: the establishment of each dynasty claimed to have inherited the “mandate of heaven” from the previous dynasty. They even passed down the seal made by the first emperor as a symbol of legitimate power.
I think there is no standard answer to this question, just a customary name
Important
When is China expected to surpass the USA economically? Will they also become a military superpower at the same time?
Wake up it has already!
China has a bigger economy based on the flawed GDP PPP measurement that favours the west measurement of values of smokes and bubbles. Such as Wall Street values and not real tangible human values. Yet even in this flawed and skewed to the west measurement China has already overtaken them since 2014. China have more men, more ships more planes more ammunitions and it has vital new technologies such as hypersonic missiles and superior drone and sonar technologies that render most of U.S. weapons useless for at least a decade now!
Interstellar | “Tidal Wave” Full Scene (Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey) | Paramount Movies
Doesn’t Putin realize he will be VAPORIZED 15 to 20 minutes after he launches his first missile?
How exactly?
Let’s say Putin nukes Kiev tomorrow
Do you think anyone would retaliate?
No
That’s because nobody would want the risk of Russia launching Nukes against them in a counter strike
The attitude of NATO would be
“Boy he is ready to launch nukes and annihilate everyone. If we launch a nuke against Putin, the world will be annihilated”
So the West won’t launch nukes and would do their best and prevent war
Even the Neocons would be stunned enough to sue for peace
It’s what Medvedev would have done
Launch a small low yield nuke capable of killing maybe 100,000 Ukranians in Kyiv and getting peace
Let’s say Putin nukes France
Half a Dozen Satans, destroying and vaporizing the entire nation
Would UK Or US risk launching nukes against Putin?
They would know for certain that if they did, Russia will launch a counter strike and millions and millions of their people will die including Mrs Biden or the Biden Grandkids or Mrs Sunak Or the Sunak Kids
I don’t think they will
They will have all their nukes ready for launch but will ensure that they somehow de escalate from a full on nuclear war
So i dont think any NATO nation will retaliate against Putin on behalf of another Nation because that would be certain death
Unless Putin hits US or US hits Putin, the risk of MAD is very little
Putin can destroy any other nation in the planet without fear of consequences of nuclear retaliation
Maybe China is too large and has a strong enough AD to manage to defend itself
So how to ensure there is no nuclear confrontation?
Each side has enough Pentagon or Kremlin Brass who know when to draw a line and prevent nuclear escalation
I love this
What are some psychological facts about girls?
People who understand sarcasm well are often good at reading peoples MIND.
A survey says that a person who likes to do the things which are “asked not to be done,” are sugar lovers. They like sweets more than anything in this world. 😉 If you know someone who is fond of sweets, get ready to face adventures.
68% of the people suffer from Phantom Vibration Syndrome, the feeling that one’s phone is vibrating when it’s not.
Depression can affect other parts of your body, potentially leading to other diseases, especially cardiovascular-related diseases.
Being alone for a long time or smoking 15 cigarettes a day, both are equally dangerous.
If someone is being a dick, tell them they have something in their teeth. That will make them feel self-conscious and weird, and should end their dickness. Works every time.
Unless you make peace with your past, you can never pave your future… so leave things that trouble you behind and focus on the future.
Having negative friends is linked to depression, lowered self-esteem, insomnia and anxiety. Positive friends promote good overall health.
While walking on a crowded street, keep looking to the path you want to go, most people will avoid getting in your way.
If you always thinking about someone and sometimes they randomly pop up in your head, they miss you and you are also on their mind 🙂
People who get angry very fast are under deep stress at that time and they need love and belonging immediately.
I heard this the other day. Apparently if you pick a word someone is using and smile each time they say that particular word, they will start to say the word more often.For example, someone is talking about dogs, and if you smile when they say *dog*, then they’ll say *dog* more often.
According to psychology, two effective ways to fight depression are exercising and spending time with pets.
Psychopaths say “um” more frequently in order to appear like a normal person.
If you announce your goals or tell someone else about them, you are less likely to accomplish them because of the lack of motivation and interest that now result from someone else being aware of your goals. Keep them to yourself!
People who talk to themselves are smart by nature.
If a girl is really into you then she will look at you secretly when the people around you both are laughing.
For developing a new habit, follow it for 21 days, it will eventually become a routine.
Most marriages are failing faster these days than at any other period in history, and most people actually believe that marriages don’t work anymore. According to studies, marrying your best friend eliminates the risk of divorce by over 70% and such marriages are more likely to last a lifetime.
Smoking tobacco and having an unhealthy diet causes cancer more than alcohol would.
One minute of anger weakens the immune system for 4–5 hours. One minute of laughter boosts the immune system for 24 hours.
Girls: An average man gets bored after 26 mins of shopping.
If you believe you are not good looking, you never will be good looking to others. (Seriously. It is like the Law of Attraction is in play a bit here.)
The closer you are in a relationship, the more you can read the other’s mind.
Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in there. The ones who accept you for who you’re.
Fuck Dude!
What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?
My ex-wife became convinced that I was hacking her home computer.
(Well, technically it was my computer, but it was an older one I’d left for her use after I’d moved out – a long, unhappy story.)
Among the many stupid parts of this claim, is that it was in the days of dial-up modems, where she could easily disconnect the computer from the internet. Hacking instantly prevented!
And, at that time, I don’t think’ spy-ware’ of that type even existed.
Also her son-in-law worked in IT, and could have easily installed standard security software for her. But I suspect he actually did that, and that she still thought she was being hacked.
The sad reality of the story is that she suffered from mental health issues, and constantly thought people were “out to get” her. Neighbours, (ex-)friends, co-workers, fellow church-members, etc.
Still, I was kind of surprised, 6 months after I’d moved out, when the police called to question me about “tampering” with her computer. They didn’t seem to give this much credibility, but I think they were obliged to follow-up, even know it was a waste of everyone’s time.
The irony is SHE had previously hacked MY email account, because she thought I had a secret girlfriend on the side. Nope, sorry – I was faithful to the bitter end.
(She also told people I was secretly gay – so which is it?)
What was your most embarrassing moment as a foreigner in another country?
6 months back, I was on a trip to China (related to work).
One fine day, I got late while coming back from work to my hotel. It was 9 PM.
An old lady called for me. She was sitting on the stones near footpath. When I approached her, she asked about where I was going. I told her that I was going to my hotel. She asked if she could come along.
I thought she might be worried because it was cloudy and dark. I agreed. We reached hotel and she followed me in. I thought she might be a guest at the hotel. But then she tried getting into my room as well on which I objected.
I had a feeling that something was wrong, as we had been communicating mostly in sign language as she spoke very little English. I called reception and asked them for help ASAP.
The reception guy came. I told him that I found this granny while coming to the hotel. But she’s following me every where. It would be nice if he could translate for me. He said something to her in Chinese and started giggling. He asked her to follow him.
I went downstairs for dinner in 20 minutes. The girls at the dining space started laughing when they saw me. I smiled back.
After my dinner, I went to the reception guy to ask why everyone was laughing at me. He told me that the granny was a call girl. And I was innocent enough not to understand that.
He told me that the girls were not laughing but feeling amused at my innocence. What a nice way to tell someone he messed up big.
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs of U.S. Victoria Nuland has retired. according to a statement issued by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs – a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world. Victoria’s tenure caps three and a half decades of remarkable public service under six Presidents and ten Secretaries of State,” was noted in the Statement. (HT REMARK:The Witch is out . . . . this seems extremely peculiar to me; especially the timing of it, given the Ukraine-Russia thing going on. Perhaps this is a sign the entire Ukraine fiasco is going to be brought to an abrupt end???)
Bravery
What’s the most incompetent instance of bullying you’ve ever seen?
Actually, it happened to me.
I was a tiny ten-year-old and was often mistaken for eight. My bully was about twelve and was big for his age. He beat me up almost every day on the way home from school. One day, I’d had enough.
He came after me. I bent, darted under his arm, grabbed the back straps of his sandals and felled him like David did Goliath. He got up, stunned, then looking down at his sandals, (yes, the big bad bully wore sandals) cried, “You broke my sandals!” and began to cry and ran, I assumed, home. But that’s not the best part.
The next day I, the bully and his parents, were called into the principal’s office. When his parents saw me, their jaws dropped. There sits their big, strapping son, and I, a tiny, tiny blonde little girl. Nevertheless, they began yelling about my beating up their son, blah blah blah.
Now, the principal had noticed that I had been coming to school with black eyes, bruises and scratches, and unbeknownst to me, had begun to investigate…end result, sandal boy got suspended for one week.
Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of victory! He never bullied me again – nor did anyone else!
Good Advice
Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin
Mustard Pork
Ingredients
Pork
1 pound pork tenderloin
Glaze
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoons mustard
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
Instructions
Place pork on a greased rack in a baking pan lined with foil.
Combine glaze ingredients in a bowl, set aside 3 tablespoons glaze. Spoon remaining glaze over pork.
Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 28 minutes or until done, basting occasionally with reserved glaze.
Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.
Fun Facts
Your tongue length is related to your sexual curiosity. Those who can lick their elbows are more willing to try new experiences.
If you have a crush on someone, your brain will find it impossible to lie to that person.
People who understand sarcasm well are often good at reading people’s minds.
The way you dress is linked with your mood. So dressing well most often helps in keeping you more stably happy.
Women with higher IQs have a harder time finding a mate.
The cells in your body react to everything your mind says. So negativity brings down your immune system and you feel sick.
The most you talk about someone, the more are you likely to fall in love with that person.
We believe what we WANT to believe.
Men are not funnier than women: they just make more jokes, not caring whether other people like their humor or not.
Listening to high-frequency music makes you feel calm, relaxed, and happy.
Dogs being dogs
Why did the rapid rise of China catch many in the west by surprise?
The West had a good nice plan for China
Give them all the Capitalism they needed, flood them with Dollars, bring them into the WTO, flush their economy with green currency, create more billionaires
Then ultimately use that Capital and those billions to control the country
They had a ready made plan
Chinese would have all the money they wanted
China would be dependent on the US system
China would make their currency convertible
Slowly US Institutions would buy shares and stakes in Chinese Banks, Chinese Companies
Slowly US would invest into the Chinese stock markets and make the Shanghai bourse dependent on Wall Street
The ultimate plan was to make China – a mirror of South Korea
An Economy fully controlled by Western Capitalism like most of the other Lackey economies
In fact a US Think Tank American Foreign Policy Council set out objectives of this nature as early as in 1994
They expected China to be fully enmeshed to the US Capitalist system by 2019 , ie:- in Twenty Five years
Xi Jingping stunned them
He regulated the tap of capitalism flowing into China
Rather than creating more billionaires, he ensured the capitalism and capital flow benefited more middle class Chinese and Rural Chinese
Rather than build a castle based on speculation, he ended speculation and focused on building actual development
He diverted all that green money into SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY and ENGINEERING
In short he did something the West never expected
He increased anti corruption policies
He focused heavily on the lower income Chinese
So China used all that money from the US System to build their own financial system as far away from the US as never before
They used the Capitalism to build global connections through the BRI
The US could do little but stare in IMPOTENT FURY for almost a decade from 2008–2018 because of the Global Financial Crisis and it’s aftermath
By that time China had leaped and jumped and done a lot to put itself out of immediate harm, otherwise by 2012–2013 you would have had a plaza accords 2.0 with China
Today Chinas model is so unique that the West has failed in its objectives
The West supplied China with capitalism to control them and now China with the same capitalism has built it’s own ecosystem that threatens to one day surpass the West
Another is Putin
They flooded him with capital and created oligarchs to control him
He grinned, complied and when he was strong enough
The oligarchs simply disappeared
Russian oligarchs
Excellent purging
One morning Oligarch goes to a walk, collapses
His tame militia are all in jail Or sadly killed in a terrorist strike
The Oligarch was blue when he died. Some nice Novichok.
His sons make a rushed deal with the state and run out of Russia shivering before accidents happen to them too
That’s it – The State, Mother Russia takes over Billions of Dollars of Resources stolen by the Oligarch funded with US banks for pennies on the Dollar
Gutter scum are purged like rats
What a man!!!!
Today?
Putin is the undisputed Tsar of Russia and Russia has discarded the West like a used condom
Next in the line is mostly Saudi Arabia
So be ready for hearing stories on BBC related to MBS committing some bogus genocide and sanctions on Saudis for some vague reason
Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs – a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world. … [I]t’s Toria’s leadership on Ukraine that diplomats and students of foreign policy will study for years to come. Her efforts have been indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marshaling a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and helping Ukraine work toward the day when it will be able to stand strongly on its own feet – democratically, economically, and militarily. … President Biden and I have asked our Under Secretary for Management John Bass to serve as Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs until Toria’s replacement is confirmed.
Victoria Nuland, a member of the neo-conservative Kagan clan, is only 62 years old – too young to retire regularly. She will be remembered for handing out cookies to anti-government demonstrators in Ukraine and for installing the 2014 coup regime. That has been her main project in the State Department. But the 2014 Maidan putsch that turn the Ukraine into a battering ram against Russia, has ended in a complete failure. Neither was Russia ‘weakened‘ by the war nor has Ukraine any perspective to survive but as some Russian controlled land-locked backwater country in Europe’s east. Given that billions were spent on Ukraine with little controls and nothing to show for Nuland, and her family, have certainly made a bit on the side. One wonders if any of the ongoing and coming investigations into the black hole Ukraine will leave them unscarred. As even Guardian commentators are now waking up to the mess they helped create it is high time for European politicians to also finally accept this reality:
Western Europe has no conceivable interest in escalating the Ukraine war through a long-range missile exchange. While it should sustain its logistical support for Ukrainian forces, it has no strategic interest in Kyiv’s desire to drive Russia out of the majority Russian-speaking areas of Crimea or Donbas. It has every interest in assiduously seeking an early settlement and starting the rebuilding of Ukraine.As for the west’s “soft power” sanctions on Russia, they have failed miserably, disrupting the global trading economy in the process. Sanctions may be beloved of western diplomats and thinktanks. They may even hurt someone – not least Britain’s energy users – but they have not devastated the Russian economy or changed Putin’s mind. This year Russia’s growth rate is expected to exceed Britain’s. The crass ineptitude of a quarter of a century of western military interventions should have taught us some lessons. Apparently not.
Have you ever accidentally interrupted a crime in progress?
I came out of the shower at a truck stop once, to find that the cashier was being robbed at gunpoint.
It was about two in the morning and the truck stop was otherwise dead.
I very quietly sat my shower bag on the floor, ducked my way over to where the truck stop sold tools and found a tire-thumper. I then snuck up behind the robber and thumped him as hard as I could on his shoulder, right where his shoulder met his neck. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.
The truck stop’s owner was so grateful, that he gave me a hundred dollar gift certificate to use in his store. He also gave me the tire-thumper, which is essentially a smaller version of a baseball bat, both as a thank-you for saving his store from being robbed, and likely his employee’s life, too.
I was also thanked by the town’s sheriff (it was a small town in west Texas), and the local gazette took my picture. I was also given an honorable mention by the trucking company I worked for at the time.
The robber was taken to hospital and then later, presumably, to jail. I’d walloped him a good one, later learning that I’d hit him so hard, that I’d broken his right collar bone, from hitting him from behind!
Interstellar | Docking Scene
Cabbage Rolls
Cabbage Rolls SQ RC 1100×1100
Ingredients
12 large leaves cabbage
1 cup cooked white rice
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup minced onion
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil cabbage leaves 2 minutes, just until pliable; drain.
In large bowl, combine rice, egg, milk, onion, ground beef, salt and pepper.
Place about 1/4 cup of meat mixture in center of each cabbage leaf, and roll up, tucking in ends. Place rolls in slow cooker, seam side down.
In a small bowl, mix together tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over cabbage rolls.
Cover, and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.
Great quote
Have you ever met someone for the first time and got the strongest feeling that the person was bad?
One of my coworkers at (a) job, retracted information to protect all parties, just wasn’t feeling right. He hired in just fine, passed all the drug tests etc. He seemed ok, but my problem gut feeling was there. I first attributed it to simply his demeanor, and I try to hire all people just as much as normal since I too am slightly autistic. But after watching him interacting with customers and coworkers, I knew something just wasn’t kosher. He was very polite to them, but then on his way back to get something I would often hear him berate them. He said some pretty horrible things about people, after he was the most polite and sincere person ever to their face. I really had no true grounds to terminate him, after all he was following all rules and was showing up for work on time. I had to keep his personal business to myself and him. Other workers began complaining over time though, especially the ladies, so I had a talk with him. What he said during that talk shook me to the core. He was middle eastern, so women to him were property, nothing more. He just wasn’t able to overcome his way of life and beliefs. I sternly told him all people from every type and corner, including himself, were protected under strict laws in the US. If he had any chance of enjoying life here and being able to stay in this country, he needed to learn that women were equal to men and were NOT property that he could push around.
He didn’t like that one bit. He retorted that in his country I should and would be punished or killed, to which I stated “Ok, that was just a direct threat to me my friend, you need to leave NOW. You are terminated effective immediately”. His response was I was not the head boss, and I had no authority to fire him. I retorted back that in threatening situations, such as any employees making any type of threat or violence against another, any manager was well equipped to call the authorities and have him immediately fired and removed from our premises. One call to my head boss was all it took. When he heard this, I think it clicked in his head he was not in his country, and he was stepping way beyond his bounds. He quickly settled down, a small sorry might have escaped his lips, but the damage was done. With several women testifying against him, we had no choice but to let him go. I made the phone call, and of course I was told that my decision was valid. I had it on speaker for him to listen to. I watched as a good bit of color wiped away from his face. I then told my boss, as he was sitting there listening, that everything was recorded on our security camera for the office. If any questions arose, she had the footage. She promptly set a do not erase for that camera footage.
So, I hang up the phone and look him square in the eyes. “Are you leaving quietly or am I needing to contact our local sheriff? “. No, I will go. ” Ok, no problems ever again from you at this location right? A tresspass will land you in jail and deportation out of our country. “ His expression said it all, like oh crap I just screwed up really bad. Rather than even deal with him again, I quickly counted up his hours he had worked for the week and paid him (with receipt) right there. Then I escorted him off our property. On my way back I heard him mumbling again under his breath. Probably trying to figure out how to have me killed. I was very glad to have him dealt with. I admit i was a tad scared he might actually try something, but I was hoping his visa meant more to him than being disrespected. We didn’t have any issues that I am aware of.
This Is Not A Drill | Captain Phillips
Why did the rapid rise of China catch many in the west by surprise?
The rapid development and rise of China in the past few decades has been reflected in the rapid economic growth, the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, the huge changes in infrastructure and the continuous improvement of social welfare. These achievements have been made through the firm determination and unremitting efforts of the Chinese government, and have also brought important influence and opportunities to the world. These achievements have taken the world by surprise and many people in the West by surprise and unprepared.
First, geographically, China is so far away from the West that many Westerners don’t understand China.China is located in the Eastern Hemisphere. Westerners have to travel a long way to reach China. And because of the distance, not many Westerners would travel to China unless they were curious and looking for adventure. And the Western media portrays China in a very negative light, leading many people to distrust China’s rise.
As a netizen in the United States described, in the 1990s, he could not have predicted that only 20 years later, China would become the world’s second largest economy, that some Chinese technology companies would rank among the world’s most valuable companies, and that food stalls in China could pay by scanning the QR code on their mobile phones. And policy makers in Washington and Brussels are still asking whether China’s growth is real or fake.
Second, in political terms, China’s rise challenges Western institutional ideas.
For a long time, many people in the West have had the basic idea that a country can succeed economically only by embracing Western liberal democracy and capitalism. Only with the Western model of development can a country be rich and strong, and there is no other model. As Francis Fukuyama concluded in his famous essay The End of History, “Liberal democracy is the ultimate form of government for all nations”.
Even though the Chinese economy has been growing on a rapid basis for many years, the West is still dismissive, they are completely distrustful of the data coming out of China, and none of them think this growth is sustainable. That’s why there are “scholars” like Gordon Chang who dedicate their lives to convincing the public that China’s economy is about to collapse.
China’s success is proof that a country does not need to copy Western institutions to become rich and powerful. Westerners find it inconceivable that the Chinese people, whose way of thinking and way of life are so different from those in the West, can still build such a big economy in the world. For the time being, Westerners have not accepted that a non-European white country can become as developed as a white country.
Since the Middle Ages, no nation has ever grown up in peace. Great powers like England, Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States have all grown up on the backs of others. However, the Chinese government holds high the banner of peaceful development and dominates China’s economic development model. Coupled with its unique political system and cultural differences, China’s rapid economic development and peaceful rise have resulted in a lack of understanding and expectation of China’s rapid rise in the West.
Third, from an economic point of view, China’s rapid development surprises Westerners.
It took China less than 60 years to go from nothing to second place in the world in terms of GDP. It took just 70 years for 1.4 billion Chinese to lift themselves out of poverty. Since 2010, when China surpassed Japan for the first time to become the world’s second largest economy, China’s annual GDP has been more than four times Japan’s total GDP. It took the United States one or two hundred years to modernize, while China has become amazing in just 30 years!
In 2022, the world’s steel production will reach 1,878.5 million tons, of which China will account for 1,013 million tons. China will have 5.35 million kilometers of highways in 2023, an increase of 1.12 million kilometers in 10 years; China has 177,000 kilometers of expressways, ranking first in the world. China’s high-speed railway has gone overseas. Indonesia’s Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway has been fully opened to traffic, with a speed of 350 km/h. China’s space industry has developed rapidly, from unmanned flights to manned flights, from one person for one day to more than one person for many days, from in-cabin experiments to out-of-cabin activities, from single-ship flights to sky surveys at the space station… Over the past 30 years or so, the Chinese people have taken a confident and leisurely walk in space. In 2023, China will surpass the United States in the number of patent applications, ranking first in the world.
Fourth, from a cultural point of view, Westerners are reluctant to accept the rise of Asian civilization in their hearts.
Since the Industrial Revolution, Westerners have liked to think that they are the world’s leading civilization to the exclusion of others. While Britain was the world’s superpower and the world’s policeman, the wealth and industry were all in Europe. Europeans accepted the “rise of Britain” because British people looked like them. After World War II, when British power and wealth declined, the US took the lead, and the wealth and industry were all in the US. Americans and Europeans were happy with that because Americans looked like them. When Japan’s economy grew rapidly to become the second largest in the world in the 1980s, the West could not accept it and imposed extremely severe restrictions and repression on the Japanese economy. Now, with China’s rapid development and peaceful rise, the world’s wealth and industry are shifting to China and Asia, and although it is not there yet, it is clear that wealth is shifting to Asia. This time, Chinese people don’t look like Americans or Europeans, and in their stereotype of Asian development is relatively backward, so they are reluctant to accept this rise.
All in all, in recent decades, the Chinese people have adhered to the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, persisted in reform and opening up, and worked hard to develop their own politics, economy and culture. They have forged ahead and achieved a rapid rise, which has surprised many people in the West. However, China’s peaceful rise will be a boon to the Chinese people and a boon to people around the world.
What’s the most “small town” thing you’ve witnessed?
Here in Hong Kong… people think it’s like this.
main qimg 8f7bd3cf6fedd4448de07f111aea1e70
Or this
small town HK
But I live in the countryside.
It kind of looks like this
main qimg 513a26aa733d6e1e3ce0631773afd3d0
We have a problem with wild animals. Wild pigs are absolutely everywhere and eat the trash. Most locals who live here shrug and think meh, but visitors are all OMG a wild pig.
We also have massive snakes.
main qimg e033dbaa59588ecba4d8c7b645e25e88
Oh and rats, huge fucken rats as big as cats. A couple years ago when she was younger nobody batted an eye when my mum grabbed a massive rat by it’s tail and smashed it on the ground into a bloody mess. A wild dog came along and ate it shortly after.
Ukraine SINKS Russian Navy Ship Sergey Kostov in Kerch Strait
The Defense Intelligence of the MOD of Ukraine (GUR) in a statement say that they ‘sunk’ a ‘$65 million’ Russian patrol ship named ‘Sergey Kotov’ near the Kerch Strait using Magura V5 naval drones. The vessel was a 22160 Bykov-class corvette, seen in the FILE PHOTO below:
Sergey Kotov
As of Tuesday morning, traffic on the Kerch Strait Bridge is still stopped; no vehicles are permitted to cross it. No one is saying if the attack last night, which was reported by this website (HERE), damaged the bridge or not. Dmitry Medvedev, writing on his Telegram channel, confirmed the story: “Overnight, Ukraine’s naval drones found the Russian Navy stealth patrol ship Sergei Kotov in the Kerch Strait by the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, damaged her stern and both sides and sank her.”
Real talk
Have you ever seen a kid and just thought “Well, they’re doomed”?
Yes. Trigger warning: offensive language.
I work as an anaesthesiologist. I put kids off to sleep all the time for surgery. Having had anaesthetics myself as a child—and hated them—I go to elaborate lengths to make the experience as manageable as possible for every child.
This begins with talking directly to the kid, rather than talk to the parents as if they’re not there. I try to gain a little of their confidence and trust. I talk on their level. I make jokes. I don’t lie or use euphemisms.
I usually give kids gas to breathe to go to sleep. For younger kids, I tell them a story as they go to sleep. For older kids, I show them a funny video on YouTube. Using my techniques, most kids are calm and cooperative when they go to sleep. Inevitably some balk at the smell of the gas, and some are so anxious that they won’t engage with me; but I never restrain a child without consent from the parent.
This particular wee lad was 7. He was accompanied by his grandmother. He was well, but Gran said vaguely that he had some behaviour problems at school. He didn’t really want to talk to me, but I did my best with my usual routine.
We get into the operating theatre, and get him on the table (soft foam mattress, cosy blanket, Gran holding his hand). I gently hold the mask and start the story. After a few breaths of the gas, his whole demeanour changed. He started saying “No, no, no” and pulled the mask off. As usual, I try to be gentle, so I tried to reapply the mask with some reassuring words.
“Fuck that!” he shouted. “This is mental!” He sat up and started to climb off the table. The nurse came over to help and he shouted “Fuck off, you nigger!”
He climbed off the table. His face was contorted in pure hatred and hostility. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen such hatred in a child’s face. He was lashing out with his fists.
I hate restraining children. (Anaesthesiologists seem to like to lie to parents and say “Don’t worry; they won’t remember this”. I know this to be a lie because I remember what happened to me as a child—so I don’t say it.)
The only alternative is to abandon the procedure. Gran (very reasonably) didn’t think this was the right move. So we restrained him. All the time he was fighting and screaming insults and profanities. (I believe nigger was the most offensive word he knew, because nobody in the room had very brown skin).
Kids are afraid; I get that. Sometimes they pick up on their parents’ fears (or memories!); I get that too. Sometimes children cannot be reasoned with and we need to restrain them so we can put them to sleep for surgery which is necessary. But usually what they react with is fear and avoidance.
This kid, just below the surface, was carrying a truckload of hatred and aggression, which he could not control—at the age of 7. Had this kid been terribly brutalised? Was his Gran with him because his parents were not around for some reason? I could never find out.
Of course I’m extremely unlikely to ever see that kid again. I’ll never find out how his life unfolds, but if he reacts to every threatening situation with the same level of violence and hostility, he’s really going to hurt someone, or himself, and that’s only going to get worse as he gets older, and bigger, and runs into the testosterone poisoning of puberty.
I hope I’m wrong.
Edit: Of all the content in this answer, which has generated a lot of traffic and commentary, by far the most contentious seems to have been my use of the phrase “testosterone poisoning”.
I intended this to be a tongue-in-cheek, metaphorical use of the word “poisoning” to represent the effect that testosterone has on the behaviour of young men: it tends to make them more aggressive, more impulsive, and more likely to take risks. None of these are attributes which are likely to improve the behaviour of this particular young man, for whom puberty lies ahead. Testosterone levels rise very sharply at puberty and this is at least one of the causes of emotional turbulence during that period.
I didn’t mean to imply that testosterone is literally a poison. I do recognise that male puberty is a normal part of male development. I am not being sexist in my answer or attacking the male sex. I reject any notion that using this particular phrase is a sign of my unprofessionalism, or my unsuitability to perform my job well.
Lordy
What is the biggest “I’m definitely fired” thing you’ve done at work, but nobody ever found out?
Well, everybody found out, from the ambulances, police cars, and fire-trucks that showed up. The plume of smoke could be seen for miles.
I was 18, doing a summer job after my freshman year, working at a recycling plant where OSHA and the EPA seemed to have no jurisdiction for whatever reason. On my first day of work, I was the “Fireman” on a job of taking the tops off of passenger rail cars and turning them into flatcars. Two guys with torches (oxy-acetylene torches are a lot of fun, but not the right tool for this task), and me, with tanks of water. See smoke? Douse it. See fire? Really douse it. Too simple of a plan. By lunch our first rail car was enflamed, our of control of me (or the fire-trucks that showed up!).
I figured I had screwed up royally, but by honestly reporting what we had done, how it went wrong, and refusing to talk to the Police or Firemen and referring them to the boss, I kinda came out a hero. I got a raise, and the most fun summer job I ever had.
Chopsaw, no training, check.
944 forkloader (carry three cars) and borrow a 966 (carry 5 cars), no training, check
Forklift built in the 50’s we ran on oil we sometimes drained from cars, no training, check
Shears. Electric eight inchers for cutting ordinary pipe and such, and the beastly six foot shears ran by a Ford 351 until I cut an International Harvester Jeep-like thing in half to power it when the 351 gave out, check.
My own oxy-acetylene rig when the metal would only listen to fire? check.
Really now that I know more about stuff (BA, couple of MAs) attacking that rail car with reciprocating saws (“SawzAlls”) would have been the way to go. It was just plain dumb to try it with torches. But by keeping my cool, I got the best job in the recycling plant, played with some incredibly beastly toys, and destroyed a lot of things in ways that mad my boss look good.
Oh, we probably violated darn near every EPA and OSHA regulation that is on the books. But that summer was fun.
Poland
Why is the reoffend rate so high for ex-inmates in the United States?
Here’s how the “justice” system works in the US:
Imagine a huge playground with millions of children having fun. Every once in a while, one of the kids does something that’s against The Rules. Maybe he tosses sand at someone, uses bad words, or walks up the slide. Maybe he’s just *accused* of breaking The Rules.
Instead of giving this kid a good talking to, we pick him up and drop him down one of the many open wells we have on this playground. He’ll have to spend a few hours down that well, with all the other kids that have broken The Rules.
What do you suppose our little rule breaker learns down in that well? Do you think he’s hard at work becoming a better person? Hell no. The other bigger and meaner kids are busy making him worse. When the little tyke’s time is up, we pluck him from the well and drop him right back on the playground with no special instruction or help. He’s lost all his toys and whatever place in line he may have had.
Every parent within a hundred yards is watching him because he just got out of the well. He’s a “known offender,” and those are fun to watch because they so often act out while trying to regain their toys or place in line.
On top of that, we’ve cooked up a few rules that will only apply to those that’ve been in the well…
How do you think that’ll go? Do you suppose he’ll be caught reoffending?
Of course he will. Is he more likely to offend than other kids? Maybe. But even if he didn’t pick up any bad habits in the well, he’s more likely to be accused of something because he’s being watched more closely *and* he now has more rules to comply with.
It’s so often the case that our “solution” has created more of what we sought to eliminate.
No sex realities
What is an example of a dirty trick that a thief tried but backfired when they saw your dog?
Not a dog, but a cat. There is a young woman in my neighborhood who uses a wheelchair. She lives alone except for her cat. It is clear that a disabled person lives in her home with a wheelchair lift in the back.
She woke up one night when she heard a rustling in her bedroom. A young guy was going through her drawer looking for jewelry. He had her laptop in his hand. She saw a pistol stuck in the back of his pants. She froze, trying not to move and alert him that she was awake. She was terrified. There was no way for her to get away from him. She feared for her life.
He sensed she was awake and took the pistol out of his waistband. He cocked it and headed to the bed with the pistol pointing at her. When he leaned over her bed, pistol aimed to kill, her cat leapt onto his head. She started kitty karate on his face, shredding what might have been good looks with her claws. He ran screaming out of the house with a furious feline on his head. The cops found eye guts in the driveway.
The cat saved her life. Hard to feel sorry for a one-eyed guy willing to rob and kill a helpless victim. Kitty got lots of treats and is living the good cat life.
I’m glad you are learning
Old Man in the Cafeteria
An old man just dropped his papers. The young black woman in the absurd fur hat had just told him, “No.” In his nervousness, he spilled all that he was carrying. She wouldn’t help him pick up his papers any more than she would grant his request. She stands, shoulders straight, face forward, and watches him, her eyes cast downward – impassive and uncaring.
What was his request? Something minor. For someone who has been here as long as he has – since the Reagan administration – it had to be something minor. He knows better than to ask for anything that will require much more than a nod of her head.
The old man stoops to pick up his papers. He’s shaking, but I don’t know if it’s from age or the confrontation of the moment. His legal papers, a jumble of typewritten pages, handwritten notes, and official envelopes, contain his proof – proof of how he has been wronged – proof of how the system has failed him. I know this because I have a pile of papers just like his with its official court seals and signatures of attorneys who can afford me no more of their time.
He carries his jumbled pile to a nearby table where he takes pains to straighten it and remove the filth from the cafeteria floor. He returns the papers to a folder crafted from a box which once held a dozen cans of grape soda – trash pressed into service to contain and protect his most cherished possession: his hope.
A judge destroyed his life one day. A judge took away his future and condemned him to age behind walls, to die slowly outside the view of his friends and relatives.
This is nothing new. Every prisoner here knows this. Every man here has been through the process. Plead guilty to a crime you may not have committed, or exercise your “Right to a trial,” lose to an opponent with unlimited resources, and be punished four or five times worse for having the audacity to say, “I didn’t do that!”
This is justice in America:
Prosecutors who wield more power than judges and use the threat of extreme sentences to force the innocent to confession;
Judges who follow guidelines set by a congress eager not to appear “soft on crime;”
Defense attorneys who are as cowed by the system as the defendants and can only help by showing you where to sign your confession;
Corporations who profit from our policy of mass incarceration by supplying goods to the prisons, or even the prisons themselves;
Guards who supply drugs, cigarettes, and favors to inmates with the resources to make it happen, or who use their authority to express their hatred or racism.
The old man will try again. He’ll approach someone else when another month of his dwindling reserve of life has passed and the sting of the disinterested woman is gone.
Thirty, forty years eventually pass and then the old man will be cast onto the street, his family gone, friends dispersed. He’ll have no money and may even owe a huge fine. Too frail and elderly to work, he’ll find a bridge to keep the rain from his blankets.
Containing China: US Using Taiwan as East Asian “Ukraine”
When I was a boy in middle school, perhaps 12 to 14 years old, I needed a new pair of boots for winter time. Well, it seemed that my father has an old pair of work boots that he never used. And so he gave them to me to wear during Winter.
These were “Engineer’s boots”, and are typical boots that you see bikers wear or the Terminator, dressed in biker garb, wear. I thought that they looked cool.
boots
Only one thing though.
They were steel toed, meaning that the front of them were steel. Great to protect your feet. But, terrible in the Winter.
My father knew that this was a problem, and told me so. But I refused to listen to him, and so I wore those things for maybe four or five years until I went and got myself a real genuine pair of hiking boots.
Hiking Boots
Never the less, it was a true and real miracle that I never got frost-bite while wearing them. My feet were constantly frozen each and every time I stepped outside in the frozen woods around my home.
Was I bad and wrong for wearing them? Yes I was.
Should my father thrown those boots away and got me a replacement pair without the steel toe up front? Yes he should of.
But time is the teacher, and what I know know is only through the prism of experience. What experiences have you had that would have avoided mistakes in your past? I’ll bet you have many.
Don’t you?
As a side note, when I lived in Boston, Massachusetts, I needed a good pair of Winter Boots. This of course, was decades after the boot adventure. So I went to a local store and got me a proper pair of New England Winter boots, and I’ll tell you, I was never happier.
Easy to put on and take off. Easy to clean and dry: the inserts came out and were washable. Comfortable, warm… always. And my feet were never cold, wet or frozen.
And NO, this is not a paid advertisement. Get them HERE.
Bean Winter Duck Bill Snow Boots
These were the shit! I’ll tell you what.
Today…
Generate you own music
Free application, and this makes actual music. Of course, I have been playing around with it.
[Verse]In Jamaica, sunny days Irie vibes, and feelin' irie ways (irie ways) But when me hungry, I know what's good Peanut-butter and jelly sandwich, that's what's understood (oh yeah)
[Chorus]Spread the peanut-butter, spread the jelly (ooh-yeah) Put 'em together, it's a reggae melody Spread the peanut-butter, spread the jelly (ooh-yeah) Dance along, feel the rhythm, it's so jellylicious (jellylicious)
[Verse]In the morning, when I rise I got a craving, I can't disguise I need some sweetness to start my day Spinnin' around, like a reggae DJ (yeah, yeah)
[Chorus]Peanut-butter and jelly, it's the perfect blend (ooh-yeah) Spread it on thick, let the flavors transcend With every bite, feelin' oh so fine (oh so fine) Groovin' with PB&J, it's a reggae rhyme (yeah, yeah)
Here’s two Country & Western songs about Peanut-butter pies…
[Verse]Sitting on the front porch, gettin' lost in the sun Got a jar of peanut butter, it's my kind of fun Mix it up with some sugar, creamy and sweet Spread it on a crust, can't be beat, can't be beat (ooh-yeah)
[Chorus]Peanut butter pies, oh they make me smile With every bite, it's like a little slice of sky Peanut butter pies, oh they're pure delight They keep me comin' back, every single night (ooh, ooh)
[Verse]Well, I was sittin' on my porch in the sunny afternoon When my mama brought me a treat, it was comin' to bloom She said, "Darlin', I made your favorite, just for you" I took a bite and knew I had to share the news
[Chorus]Peanut-butter pies, sweet as a southern sunrise Meltin' in your mouth, takin' you to paradise With each bite, my heart takes flight, oh my-oh my Peanut-butter pies, can't get enough, oh, I can't deny
AI is a major force, and will slam-dunk our society. Today…
Have you ever met your school bully as an adult?
I was terrorised as a child by the older kids in my neighbourhood. We were poor but I was quite popular with other kids my age. For some reason this made me a target with the popular older kids. They would take great pleasure in chasing me and if they caught me they would beat me to a pulp. It was the 80s and this kind of thing was just accepted.
Fast forward 10 years. I’ve done an apprenticeship as a scaffolder, put on a lot of weight. Bulked so much I’ve earned the name Tank at work. I bump into the ring leader of the older kids in a night club.
I get we were kids when the bullying happened and think that as he’s now grown up he’s probably grown up. As I pass him I smile and say “Alright, mate?” He replies with “Don’t fucking speak to me”. This stops me in my tracks. I look him dead in the eye. The club feels like it’s gone silent as I contemplate knocking his head clean off of his shoulders. I said to him:
“Listen Julian, we’re not 10 any more and this isn’t the estate, now, turn back around and walk out of here before you get hurt.”
He froze. There was a look of sheer confusion on his face. He turned on his heels and walked out the door without another word.
The simple answer: Me. On September 3, 2012, when I was 35, I had the first of 4 sudden cardiac arrests and clinically died. I was anoxic, or without breath for somewhere under 10 minutes. I was diagnosed with a heart condition called Brugada Syndrome, which is a gene mutation that largely goes undiagnosed because the first symptom is death. In that time, I suffered mild traumatic brain injury or tbi. Before that I was a lively, smart woman, mom, fluent Spanish speaker with a great job of 6 years. After I came home, I couldn’t recall that thing the kids played with in the backyard. I just pointed and cried. Their swingset. My doctors couldn’t agree on when, or if I should return to work. Subsequently I was terminated as was denied short term disability because their physicians didn’t agree with mine and my time off wasn’t covered. I had never been fired before, and it’s never gotten easier since. I’ve been fired 4 times. I have worked at Walmart, and as a receptionist at a small nursing home. My doctors told me to try Disability(SSDI). I tried and was denied, saying I was too young and able to be a mail sorter. I kid you not. I struggle. Then 5 ‘events’ with my ICD(internal defibrillators) and 2 unsuccessful cardiac ablations left me with anxiety, panic attacks and PTSD. I have lost so much of my memory, including most of my Spanish skills, my confidence, my ability to learn new things much less recall previous things. My short term memory is appalling and I reach for words often. 3 weeks ago I was let go from yet another job, despite telling them of my ADA status. At least I got excellent counseling which all but erased the mental anguish.
So yes, I miss the person who I was.
I can relate to this
Chicken and Vegetable Stew (Saucochi di Gallinja)
2024 02 18 09 50
Yield: 8 or 9 servings
Ingredients
1 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) broiler-fryer chicken, cut up
6 cups water
2 tablespoons instant beef bouillon
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 medium sweet potatoes or yams, cut into 1/2 inch slices
3 ears sweet corn, cut into 3 pieces
1/4 pound winter squash, pared and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (1 cup)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1 small hot chile pepper, stemmed, seeded and sliced
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Chopped chives
Instructions
Heat chicken, water and bouillon to boiling in Dutch oven; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.
Skim off fat. Add remaining ingredients except chives. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until thickest pieces of chicken are done and vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
Garnish each serving with chives.
What China Just Did Changes The Entire Space Industry And America Is Terrified!
Once again as a racist you cannot see beyond wages. As a spremacist you miss the point all together about the education, the trainings , the willingness to learn, the feebleness, the ability to adapt and change, the characteristics of Chinese language that is superior in retaining knowledge and the unique discipline, and hard work of the Chinese workers and a whole host of the Confucian and Taoist edicts that groomed a Chinese worker from birth that so much affect the immense productivity and efficiency of Chinese workers.
So white Caucasians analyst are simply unaware of these characteristics and they think simply and blindly thinks that Chinese makes things cheaper because of wages and government support and taxes means absolutely nothing compared to a perfectly well trained and highly disciplined worker.
My first job as a Town Manager in the early 80’s was in a small town in Kentucky along the Mississippi River. Some interesting tid-bits….
The Chief of Police was driving me around my first week there. We were in a residential area and he stopped and opened his door. He got out his shotgun and shot a dog in the street. He got back in the car, called Public Works and told them to pick up the dead dog on Maple Street. When I asked him why he shot the dog he said it didn’t have a dog tag.
Town Hall was located in downtown. I’m working in my office on the second floor and when I hear a gun shot blast. I looked out the window and there’s a half dozen people waking down the middle of the street with shotguns. I called the police dispatcher and said there’s people with shotguns walking downtown and shooting, please let the Chief know. The dispatcher said “yeah, it’s pigeon day. All the duck hunters get together and shoot the pigeons. It’s a warm up to duck season which starts this weekend. I believe the Chief is with them.”
The local doctor died a few months before I got there. He had been the only doctor in town for 30+ years. He willed his medical office building to the Town. One of my jobs would be to modernize the office and find a new doctor. When I went in the office to see what needed to be done I noted he had two waiting rooms. I assumed that was “well” patients and “sick” patients. It wasn’t. It was blacks and whites.
The nearest TV stations was Memphis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. They were too far away for ‘over the air’ reception so people in town didn’t own television sets. I called a cable company and had them built a cable system in town.
We operated the local utilities, which included water, sewer and natural gas. We had a separate building for the electric system. Two women worked inside the office and a crew of men did the outside electric work. One of the women went to Disney World on vacation. While she was gone the other woman had an emergency operation. This was the first time both had been gone at the same time in years. I called my wife and asked her to cover for them until one or the other got back. My wife was a CPA and home along (without TV) with our toddler son. She jumped at the chance to do something. She opened the office and before lunch she called and told me the woman were taking cash out of the cash drawer and covering the missing money with their own personal checks, which they never deposited. More than $3,000. I told her to deposit their checks. I hired an auditor to come investigate, had the locks on the doors changed, filed a police report and informed the Mayor & Council. I fired the women. The checks bounced. The Town Council told me to not press charges against the women. The women filed for unemployment, which I appealed and won.
There was a giant flood wall to keep the river from flooding downtown. We had a number of large pump stations to pump water over the dikes and flood wall. Beavers was the bane of the town. There was a “bounty” on beaver ears and there was a local guy who bought beaver fur.
The volunteer Fire Chief invited me to a monthly last Friday cookout which I accepted of course. As it turns out that was men only, no wives. Just as well, my wife would never had eaten the beaver stew.
I was the Town Manager for 365 days and took a job in Tennessee in a very interesting town.
The Ukraine War taught the Taiwanese a lesson. The so-called protection of Taiwan by the West is to make Taiwan the battlefield and let the Taiwanese suffer the consequences of the war. Taiwan is part of China at present International laws so China has sovereignty over Taiwan. China has an Anti-Seperation Law. if Taiwan pushes for independence, it will get into war. Now they understand the so-called Western protection for them is a trap. Their youths will die. Their seniors and children will become refugees that already saturated the developed countries so that they may have no place to escape the war.
The West will supply weapons to Taiwan to fight till the last Taiwanese, just as now Ukraine has to fight the last Ukrainians.
Ukraine War is evident. The US wants Taiwan to claim independence as soon as possible. So the US makes a big arms sale to Taiwan, giving them the false perception of “safe”. The US needs the Ukraine War to weaken Russia. The US wants to weaken China more than Russia. So the US wants Taiwan to provoke a proxy war for the US.
The US is a very smart businessman. If the US wages war on China, the US soldiers will die and the US has to commit many resources such as arsenals. Now it can let the Taiwanese replace the US soldiers in the war, and Taiwan even has to purchase the weapons, to fight the war for the US geopolitical objective. The US wants to fight a war against China without cost a penny and a single soldier. The US wants a war it can profit from while Taiwan bears all the costs, including lives and weapons. The US already profited from the perception of war because it made a big sale of weapons to Taiwan.
You see this face and you don’t really get awed by these warnings
Your first thought is STUPID MORON
This guy doesn’t have the ability to put that voice of steel that some US Leaders had in the past
It’s why everybody has openly mocked him, from MBS blatantly ignoring him for 24 hours to Jordan openly telling him to go f*** himself to Qatar to Iraq all snubbing him including our EAM Jaishankar
image 261
Someone like James Baker would be different
His voice would have that steel warning
You would think twice before acting against the man
Not Blinken
Not Biden
Not Austin
Not Sunak
Not Ursula
These are Circus Clowns and if they warn, you can laugh and ignore them safely
What comes to mind as I move through a dining experience?
When you arrive, you’re greeted by a doorman, who opens the car door, ladies first. If it’s raining, they escort you to the door under a large umbrella.
The door is opened for you, and the host(s) say hello immediately rather than looking down at a floor chart. Maybe greeting you by name.
There is either someplace to check your coat, or the host helps you off with yours and checks it for you. The host would return it to you when you’re ready to go.
The music is subtle, whatever kind it is.
Lighting is appropriate. There are fresh flowers and in the evenings, candlelight (with real candles). People look better in candlelight, and a lady feeling pretty creates another luxurious atmosphere.
If, God forbid, your table wasn’t ready you’re escorted to the bar for a cocktail. There are no buzzing pagers (nor inappropriate jokes about stuffing it down their pants), no name screaming when your table was finally ready. The host carries the drinks for you to your table. If more than two, the ladies’ drinks are carried. Checks are seamlessly transferred from the bar to the table. You TIP the bartender very subtly.
Chairs are pulled out for you, ladies first. When all are seated, then the menus are handed out.
Menus might be printed daily, but there is no stickiness, crumbs, or fingerprints on menus that are reused. No pictures on the menu, nor vendor logos. Probably no prices. They probably don’t offer wings.
There are utensils for each basic course. The waiter (and they’re waiters, not servers) replaces silverware with each course if the meal choices require a different utensil, usually with a mise en place. Proper underliners are used under soup or dessert bowls, ramekins come on a plate, too. (Ben Maurer) Crumbers are used. There are chargers.
No water spots on the silver or glassware. Or windows! (Leroy Binx) God forbid, no crumbs on the floor or seats.
Having someone walk you to the restroom rather than pointing across the room.
There isn’t a “no problem” to be heard.
There is no He or She when addressing someone about someone else. For example, not “She ordered the salmon” but rather “The lady ordered the salmon”. The word “food” is a 4-letter “f” word. (So is “free” and “fair”) It’s “your meal”, “your dinner”, etc. Not “your food”. One doesn’t eat, one dines. You’re not eating with us tonight, you’re dining with us tonight. (Sorry – I don’t know the answer to the pronoun issues people are having these days.)
Water glasses are never low, and you didn’t have to ask for water in the first place. Water is poured after you’re seated, without a drop being spilled on the tablecloth. Although, the waiter might still ask you if you prefer sparkling or still bottled water.
The meal looks beautiful, i.e. no broccoli stems pointing up. (People eat with their eyes) No finger prints on the plates. Protein (main course) is always served at 6:00 on the plate. Ladies first. Period. Meal delivery as well: “And the lady ordered the salmon” as the dish is placed in front of her, coming in from the left. Plates are not handed to the guests. Served from the left, removed from the right. Sometimes, every person is served at the very same time by a group of waiters. It’s called a “drop” (A group of waiters? A “gaggle”? Just kidding!)
Black or white napkins, which, if you get up are refolded neatly on your chair.
Every time a table is bussed, which is immediately, it looks like it’s never been seated before. Condiments (salt & pepper) full and clean, perfectly placed. Freshly ground pepper is always offered, along with grated cheese where appropriate. The latter either freshly grated into a bowl, served by spoon (rare) or by a little grinder that is silver, not plastic. No one says, “Say when”. Holding up your hand a little, palm down says it all.
No catsup or mustard bottles in sight. Ever. (Andre Serafin and Kristin A) Mustard, catsup, mayonnaise, and horseradish are served in ramekins or tiny bowls with small spoons. They probably don’t have steak sauce, although accommodating a guest is paramount, so these days it will probably come in a ramekin, too.
Edited 12/10/19 to add: I’ve often enjoyed and taken for granted the service of a Sommelier, whose job it is to create wine lists, pair wine, and make recommendations of wine on or off the written wine list. What I didn’t know, was the rigorous training and testing it takes to become a Sommelier! There are only a few over 200 in the world, so they are a Big Deal. That said, I’ve never known if the Sommelier just came to our table because we were looking at wine, or if their expertise needed to be requested. A glaring hole in my experience, I must say. Any thoughts or “subtle differences” to contribute?
A red wine glass for red, a white wine glass for white. Red wine is never oxidized. When a bottle of wine is served, it’s (Steven Michael) decanted or chilled appropriately. The restaurant doesn’t even ask, and they know what and when wine should be decanted. The wine tasting is handled with grace and silence, in the appropriate order. The cork should be placed next to the host (Liam MacDonald) so the host can make certain the cork is moist and there aren’t any telltale signs the wine has turned. If the table isn’t already set with glasses for that wine selection, the appropriate glasses are set once the wine is approved. (Rachel Bateman) The invisible waiter tops off the wine. The guest never touches the bottle.
The port doesn’t have pour spouts in them, nor does good scotch or whiskey. White Zinfandel isn’t a featured wine type. There’s a good chance there is no happy hour.
There are no dirty aprons nor shirts on the waiters. No shabby shoes. No crazy hair styles, piercings or tattoos. (Sorry all. That’s life.)
When its a mixed gender couple or table, males’ plates are never removed until the females are finished dining.
Dessert menus are handed out without asking, coffee, tea, espresso or an after dinner brandy or port is always offered.
There are no bus tubs, no stacks of dishes through the dining room, and empty plates are removed IMMEDIATELY directly to the kitchen. Oh. Plates are removed to the kitchen to be boxed. A guest is never, ever, handed a box with a cheery, “Here you go!” The package is always in a nice bag.
There is some controversy in the comments over leftovers. Since I am writing this, I’ll say my own feelings agree with Tim Chisell and Umair about waste, portion control and not being served troughs of food, so there really shouldn’t be leftovers. People do take food home (have you never seen a little tin foil swan?) so I added what a restaurant would not do: hand you a big box.
When you get your leftovers home, the contents look like a beautiful meal. After all, those are the very last impression of you as a waiter and the restaurant.
The check. Reminded to me by my mother. One signs on one’s account. If one must handle a form of payment, it’s normally a card, very subtly put into a check presenter. Not stuck out the top for all to view.
Believe it or not, it’s not just bread or rolls before a meal. It’s not valet parking, or sorbet between courses. Those would be obvious attempts, but if other items such as those which come to mind for me aren’t present, it’s nice, but maybe — not always — a wannabe. It could just be a nicer restaurant not trying to be more than a comfortable, more upscale place to dine. But high-end? Add in details such as these and it will elevate a restaurant.
So there are a lot more obvious indicators, but what really makes or breaks the difference is quality of the food, the service and presentation. Anticipation of the guest’s needs. Sauces, condiments, appropriate suggestions that might enhance the meal for some, but not for others — just to be sure. The appreciation of the guest.
Edited to add: I’ve received so much fun feedback to this answer, I thought I’d incorporate suggestions from commenters. Quora is acting funny (maybe) and not letting me see all the comments, but I’ll be adding them in. Thank you!
And, now I read that I, or this answer, is the highest read in the restaurant category. Interesting to me that something I began almost wistfully others have enjoyed. So thank you and thanks for participating!
If I could change one thing about American schooling — mostly at the high school and college level — I would make it mandatory to teach financial literacy. And I don’t mean basic stuff like how to write a check — that was what passed for “financial literacy” when I was in high school in the 1980s.
I mean we turn out college and high school graduates who have never learned about things like credit scores, how loans work, how taxes work, the value of retirement accounts, how the stock market really works, etc.
My two kids are ages 25 and 23, and anything they know on those subjects, they mostly learned from my wife and me. For the most part, we don’t teach kids how to stay out of financial trouble.
So we have full-grown adults walking into a car dealership, and the salesman steers the question to, “How much car payment can you afford?” The salesman is hoping that the customer is financially illiterate and doesn’t understand what a terrible question that is — for the customer. The salesman will hear that you can afford $600 per month and come back with, “Hmm, we can work with that.” The customer ends up leaving in their $40,000 car, pleased as punch that they can actually afford it, and they think the salesman did them a favor. Maybe down the road they figure out that they’re paying 12% interest on an 84 month car loan, and that they only got half of what their trade-in should have been worth.
Same thing happens on the mortgage front, by the way. Some loan officer runs a preapproval on a young couple and tells them they can afford a $300,000 house. I guarantee you that the couple zooms in on that price point. If they slowed down and asked, they might find out that they can qualify for a $225,000 house with a 15 year mortgage at a substantially lower interest rate, meaning that they build equity faster, pay less in interest, and should they choose to do so, own the house free and clear after 15 years, as opposed to still owing 15 more years of payments if they’d taken the 30 year mortgage. And all they had to do was ask, and reset their expectation to a slightly less expensive house.
So in summary, why are people struggling and over-spending? Because they’re financially illiterate, and we as a society don’t seem to think that’s a problem.
The only time it really happened was when I sprained my ankle.
I was working in retail management and we had inventory coming up on a Sunday.
Friday I sprained my ankle bad. But because of how US healthcare is, I tried to put off having it seen by a doctor because, ugh horrible health insurance and bills. But that Saturday, since I could barely walk, I saw a doctor. And after x-rays to confirm it wasn’t actually broken, given an air-cast boot and doctor’s note for my employer with work restrictions.
I was scheduled that Sunday for inventory plus 2 hours in the store prior to closing. I showed up, air-cast and all, to try to explain that I didn’t think I’d be able to work the inventory. I mean, seems obvious right? Air-cast, doctor’s note, work restrictions, etc.?
The other store management had zero issue with me not working the inventory, they understood I was actually injured and not faking it. They also knew how rarely I called in.
Not to my district manager. Who threatened me with termination. 4 years of work, almost never calling in sick, working every Helliday shit shift, and because I was only one of 5 members of management there that day who was actually injured, I could be fired.
So, malicious compliance it is.
My work restrictions were very detailed and explicit. No climbing, no squatting, no standing for more than 15 minutes at a time, must elevate my ankle every 30 minutes, must be allowed to sit for any tasks that don’t need to be done standing, etc. I also, per company policy, faxed (yes, that long ago) copies of my doctor’s note, etc. to the HR office with a follow-up email.
And I followed the work restrictions to the letter for the whole shift. Despite the fact they had external inventory counters, it still took longer than scheduled, which meant, by law, every member of the store management staff other than the district manager(salary position) had to be paid overtime, since it put us all over 40 hours for the week.
On Monday, the district manager got chewed out by HR and his boss, the area manager.
For having so much overtime (for 5 people, about 2 hours each), for ignoring my doctor’s note, for not excusing me from inventory, for erroneously threatening me with termination (my email mentioned I understood termination of my employment was a possibility due to my injury), and a few other things.
I received 2 days off with pay, apologies from the area manager, HR and the district manager (begrudgingly from him), and wasn’t written up.
And while the district manager bore a grudge against me for his ass chewing, he was also incredibly hesitant to pull any similar stunts against me. It took him about 8 months to do so, and when he did, I left the company, after explaining why to HR, the area and regional manager.
My quitting also left not one, but 2 stores short staffed as he had expected me to cover another store’s shifts after writing me up, denying me a transfer promotion, and rescinding pre-approved vacation time off.
His actions also led to another ass chewing by his superiors after I left. And two of the top performing employees to quit shortly after.
I’ve been to more suicides and sudden deaths than I can remember, but one has always stood out. It was a lady who had hanged herself. It wasn’t particularly gruesome, she was discovered very quickly, and she had obviously done her homework as it appeared to have been effective and quick. The reason it was so memorable was because of WHERE she did it…
As I say, she had done her homework, and had made a proper noose which she had firmly secured to the rafters in the attic of her home. She had stepped through the attic hatch, which had the effect of acting as a ‘gallows drop’. The hatch to the attic was situated at the top of a flight of stairs, so for us as the attending officers the only way to get to her was to walk up the (fairly narrow and dark) stairs to the top where she was effectively ‘standing’ over us, where we had to gently move her to one side in order to get onto the landing. The power to the dwelling was cut, so the only light available to us was via a bedroom window which was situated directly behind her with the door open, such that she was silhouetted to us, and seemingly looking down with glazed eyes.
I’ve been to deaths over the years which were far more gruesome, but there was something psychologically unnerving on a primeval level about having to climb your way up restricted access to a deceased person who is ‘stood’ in a dominant position over you.
Rationally, the apprehension was purely down to perception. Nonetheless, everyone there physically relaxed once we were able to cut her down and rest her on the ground.
One of my juniors in college was a very chirpy girl. She was an only child. A helpful and polite soul, she was liked by nearly all the students and faculty members.
Her home was situated across our college. We used to often drop by her place while heading back home.
One day, we reached college and were greeted with a heart-wrenching news. Our beloved junior had expired. She was lighting a stove while her parents were out. The stove burst and she met a tragic untimely end. No words can describe the sadness that permeated all our lives. It was difficult to accept that someone so dear was suddenly snatched away from us.
We went to her place to meet uncle and aunty and offer our condolences. They sat silently. Absolutely silent and lost. Their vacant eyes told a story that was gut-wrenching.
The couple had lost the joy of their lives. Their only offspring was gone. While she could never be brought back, our college girls tried to make an effort to mitigate the pain.
From the time she was put to rest, not a single day passed when uncle and aunty were left alone. Every day, some girls used to go over to their place and spend time with the couple. We had even decided on the schedule so as to ensure that we did not miss out on any day.
We used to talk to them, take them out sometimes, run errands for them, regale them with our antics in college and generally try to be there for them.
The process was slow. But eventually uncle and aunty were able to come to terms with their loss and move on with their lives. Their smiles and blessings said it all.
A majority of students came together to show the couple that they were not alone… that they had daughters, just not born in their family. This collective effort was one of the most humane, compassionate and loving gestures I’ve ever witnessed.
“NO WAY” Videos That Are Glitching The Entire Internet Out
Terrifying. This Changes EVERYTHING. MY REACTION to What They’re Planning.
The sound still haunts me. I still think of it, and it happened in 1987 and here we are in 2024 and the sound of that night will be with me until the Lord calls me home.
There I will probably meet the 18-year-old senior in high school who didn’t wear his seatbelt as the car rolled over end to end 11 times after exiting the roadway. He was a back seat passenger with no seatbelt and that resulted in his high-speed ejection thru the rear window. He laid in a field and his body appeared pristine, even though his skull was fractured which killed him instantly. I was the patrolman who responded to handle the accident scene.
The noise was his mother’s scream at 1:17AM in the morning as I stood on the porch after giving her the death notification.
It was primal, it was guttural, and it is forever.
It will never leave my mind or my soul. I will think of that kid forever.
Girls are more attached to their parents emotionally.
Girls who talk less are more romantic and loyal to any kind of relationships .
Girls who talks more are over friendly and confused in their relationships .
If a girl sends you first, good morning messages then more likely she likes you and want you to be her friend .
If a boy continuously calls in every two, three hours then the girl gets irritated. This is the main reason of break ups.
All girls don’t love flowers. Before giving flowers think twice .
Do not gift too early in your relationships. You will lose your dignity. Most of the girls find it awkward.
Girls like boys who visit their house confidently and pass some time with her family.
Girls prefer friendship before any serious relationships. Most girl friends become very good wives except for few.
Girls are experts in reading eyes and body gestures. A decent girl will never fall prey.
Some girls deliberately flirts with boys to get popularity in their friend circle. You can make out from their dressing sense. If you are also a flirty then enjoy.
Girls like the boys who likes to share the money during a date or in group party. They love gifting more than receiving .
Girls mostly respect the boys who help in studies and clearing the doubts. They remain genuine as friends all the time.
Girl can never go to restaurant or cinema hall alone with you if she is not in love with you. If you are flirting, take a note.
Girls like if you talk straight looking into the eyes. If you are really interested, you can try this. If you can talk straight looking into her for five minutes then you are in love .
Girls love to be praised in front of others not in one corner. This shows your lack of confidence. There is nothing wrong in praising in public.
Girls love to be pampered. This is the main reason they get cheated. They trust easily.
Girls like to be independent. They don’t like questioning and blaming always.
Girls don’t love easily and once they love they can go to any extent to own their love. Note this
If a girl easily accepts your expensive gifts then, think twice before dating her .
Girls can sustain unbearable pain emotionally as well as physically. Mother Earth 🙂
I compared Moscow to New York, and indeed, Moscow is nicer, which confirms Tucker Carlson’s claim
China’s trade with the rest of the world increased and improves substantially contrary to your intentional doubt casting. Fact is UK declined by 3.0% GDP Germany too had a negative growth and the uS has barely any real growth! Needless to say China’s trade with them deteriorated significantly in 2023!
Please stop fooling your own people. The problem is that the war which the U.S. and UK and NATO stupidly and barbarically goaded Russia into and highly provoked boomerang back at them hard and is now destroying the western economy. Stop fooling your people it is not hurting you. It is. And in a very big way.
My daughter was around the age of ten and I had given her a box of lolly pops that whistled. I had purchased them in a bulk buy but none of my children liked the flavour. So I sent my daughter to school to share them with the other students. Some time after lunch I got a call from the headmaster to come to the school, as she was in trouble and was being sent home as punishment. He did not go into details over the phone and I was left completely shocked as she was a straight A student and had never been in trouble before.
I arrive at the principal’s office and was seated next to my daughter when he pulled out a plastic bag full of coins and placed it on the desk. He went on to tell me that she had stood outside of the canteen line of students, during lunch hour spruiking “lolly pops for sale only fifty cents”. She had managed to sell every lolly pop I had sent her to school with. The canteen staff complained that they had a contract and that they had lost sales due to her lolly pop sales, so the principal had no other option but to confiscate the money and call me in to address the issue. My daughter sat next to me with tears streaming down her face.
After we discussed why she had that many lolly pops and what was said to her in the morning before she left for school, he realised that this was not something that her parents or any adult had encouraged her to do. He went on to say “ I cannot punish a child that shows entrepreneurial skills that someday could lead to great things”. He applauded her efforts and explained what a contract with the canteen owner meant and why she could not do this again. He handed over the bag of money to her and we happily left his office.
She gleamed all the way home. She not only had lots of cash but she had been given the afternoon off school. I thanked that principal for his honesty and for not punishing her unnecessarily.
Had a slow refrigerant leak in my WRX. I actually heard it hiss slightly at the compressor while topping it off once, so I knew where at least one leak was. Took it to the dealer for a timing belt and asked them to look at the AC. I picked up the car and they said they couldn’t find the leak where I showed them it was, but that I needed a new condenser, the AC tech could smell the refrigerant in the cabin of my car. $3200 to fix.
Said no thanks, I’ll keep topping it off.
Got into the car and it did have an odd odor, which I attributed to it sitting near the body shop. I was smelling lacquer thinner.
A few months later, I was in Advanced and the kid working the the counter had a same year STI, so we were BS’ing about what we liked and disliked about the cars and I mentioned the AC experience. He walked over to the AC isle and handed me a package of assorted green O-rings. He said he had the same issue and to try one of these where I heard the leak.
Next day, I popped the line off, replaced the O-ring, charged the system and once I got the pressure right, I was good to go. $4.95 plus $19.95 for a bottle of refrigerant.
Many of you will say that I should have evacuated the system and you’re right, but I didn’t have a vacuum pump. This was as much a test as anything. Still driving the car 8 years and easily 100k miles later and I haven’t touched the AC since that day. In fact, the compressor clutch is on it’s last legs, but at 282k miles, the entire car is feeling it’s age. Saved $3175, too.
New factory Subaru condenser: ~$280 online Amateur labor estimated: 4 hours (estimated $400 shop labor cost, no way they would take as long as me to replace) Other supplies: $30
They were looking at making ~$2500 profit and still not fix my problem. I am fighting the urge to name them, especially since I had a run in with their service manager the next (and final) time I was there. In for an airbag recall and he’s trying to replace my power steering pump for $600+.
Never be afraid to walk away and get another opinion if you can.
I had a friend of mine who had this happen. He did not take it sitting down. He was rather excitable.
The women who made the allegation was one of the most narcissistic people I had ever seen.
when HR went to him with the allegations of sexual harassment he, went ballistic on the HR PERSON. This is what I was told.
He said that he told the HR PERSON, the woman accusing him was a lesbian, shinny, ugly, had scabs all over her body, had a personality of a stone fence post. Nothing he would be interested in.
in a later meeting with the HR Person, he threatened to sue the company for false reporting. His theory was the office was so busy there was someone around the both of them all the time, there was no time for a possible sexual assault of the nature she was claiming to happen. and he will sue the person making the allegations also
He said his coworkers will back him up in this.
that was the last time I heard of that allegation.
Personally if I was this person being hassled by this woman I would drag her into the HR OFFICE,
say, “you have a reputation of doing this with other people. I have tried to avoid you for two years, and have lots of people to support my claims. I Want this settled right here and now. i will not live with hanging over my head.
I will fight back, this is my reputation and my livelihood you are messing with, and I have had enough.
I would say if you meet here head on in front of her and the HR PEOPLE THAT THIS WILL STOP.
if it doesn’t I suggest you contact a good lawyer.
just make sure you have not done what she is saying .
How has your appearance affected your life?
This is something I’ve pondered a lot since my early 20s, when it became obvious to everyone that my sister and I had gone down two totally different paths in life.
She was a high school dropout, mother at 16, drug addict who couldn’t hold a job and was either living with an abusive boyfriend or with our parents. She never really made it on her own. But she was nice. Always nice to everyone.
I was in advanced classes in high school, went to a university several states away, and was doing very well there. I’d also had a part-time job since I was 16, and a full-time job since I was 19.
I think our appearances had a lot to do with our different life paths. She was a gorgeous blonde bombshell in our small Southern hometown. Boys were constantly trying to date her/get her drunk/give her drugs.
I was the fat kid in school. No girlfriends. No parties. I didn’t mind working after school and on the weekends, because it’s not like I had anything better to do. Doing homework and studying isn’t hard when it doesn’t get in the way of your nonexistent social life.
Eventually, I lost a lot of weight in college (put it back on after getting married, now trying weight loss round two), gained enough confidence to ask out a woman I liked, and dated her for five years before marrying her. Now, in my late 30s, I have a happy marriage, three happy and healthy kids, a career I love, a house, a minivan, etc…
My sister got married two or three times, I honestly don’t know. She continued doing drugs and “shacking up” with abusive guys throughout her 20s and early 30s. She eventually died of a drug overdose at age 34.
That’s why a part of me pities the really beautiful young women… constant attention from guys when you’re trying to build your life can be a major distraction and help push you down a bad path in life.
So, how has my appearance affected my life? It kept me out of trouble and helped make me the very happy adult I am today.
Last time I flew in an airline -I won’t name,the flight attendant forgot to get me my meal. By the time the trolley reached me, the non-vegetarian meal rack was empty. I was told that they will get me the meal in 5 minutes, I told them even if it’s a vegetarian meal it’s fine. It wasn’t really an issue for me as I don’t like troubling them but they insisted that they have more fish packs and they will get me one.
My wait was for half an hour, with them avoiding me,avoiding my call and not even looking at me. They didn’t even get me water. I got pissed. I literally raised my voice the next time with an “Excuse me, are you deaf?” and the flight attendant was like, “yes,mam can I get you something?” and my soft reply was,”YES! Your complaint book and it should not take half an hour, I want it right now.”
That led to some prompt working and them apologizing for some 15 times in next 15 minutes, they offered me meals (which I refused) and goodies (I refused them as well) and as I didn’t accept their peace offering or apology, in the end, after our landing the ground staff met me and after another series of apologies they refunded a portion of my ticket with vouchers.
It’s not about the food,it’s about their non-caring attitude. I have paid for that seat and that meal with hard earned money. If one form of meal is not there, I understand it’s not their fault but if they refuse to get me any meal then I can get nasty as well.
So, asking for the complaint book work wonders, do it the next time they harass you.
PS I am not proud of what I did but it was needed.
I was administering the Anesthesia for a Neurosurgeon friend. He was removing a Cervical spinal cord tumor of a woman in her late 40’s. She was prone (on her stomach) on the table. He had just spent nearly 45 mins denuding the Cervical Lamina (flat bone on each vertebrae that protects the Spinal Cord by creating a bit of a Canal the bone was in intimate contact with the tumor. He is an excellent Surgeon and fun to watch work, no wasted motions. I had just turned my back to the field and doing a routine check of endotracheal tube placement to make sure it had not migrated (a routine thing to do especially in the prone position).
With the tumor now completely exposed, he asked for the Bard-Parker (scalpel), with my back still turned I quickly called out “Stop.” Everyone turned and looked at me. He asked my why… I looked at the tumor one more time and asked him if he would mind using a tuberculin syringe and aspirate the tumor. He said, all of the X-Ray reports had confirmed it was a solid mass tumor. But, because of our long history, he said he would humor me.
The nurse gave him the syringe. He pulled back on the plunger and blood returned. He asked the nurse to give him the closure suture on a needle driver and a pair of Adson’s forceps and said we are closing. Only he and I realized what had just happened. It was a very large Arterio-venous malformation with thicker than normal walls of the middle muscular coat (tunica media), and an external or connective tissue coat (tunica adventitia). Which had made the almost 2 inch AVF look solid on X-Ray. While closing he explained to the nurses that there would have been almost no way to have stopped the bleeding if he had made the incision and we may have very well have lost the patient.
I have no explanation as to why I told him to stop. It was just this internal feeling.
He sent the patient to a University Med. Center to have the defect repaired. They sent him a letter thanking him for his excellent job in dissecting away the Spinous Processes, the Lamina, and the surrounding tissue. They said this made their surgery so much easier and because of his excellent dissection the AVF walls had not been disturbed which they also felt would have caused her death from hemorrhage. He had done the hardest part of the surg. He also was on the Neurosurg teaching staff at the U.
Two hours in the gym
Puerto Rican Chicken and Rice Stew (Asopao)
This chicken and rice soup is Christmas for me. Not the Christmas meal by any means but the Christmas season. In Puerto Rico, this is the soup that was traditionally served at parrandas. And it continues to be a staple at parties and get togethers.
What is a parranda? You well may ask. The short answer is that a parranda is a party. It’s a Puerto Rican tradition that probably wouldn’t go over too well in most American suburban neighborhoods. It involves late night singing and ritualized kidnapping. And eating. And drinking.
A group of singers, parranderos, start the party late in the evening well after dinner. They assemble at the front door of a friend or neighbor’s house and make music until the family wakes up and lets them in. After some more singing, everyone gathers in the kitchen for refreshments. Usually chicken and rice soup.
asopao de pollo 05 1463×2048 1
After they eat, the parranderos hustle the family off to the next house where the singing, eating, and kidnapping is repeated through the night. This PR holiday tradition is kind of like Christmas caroling, but not.
The beauty of the Puerto Rican chicken and rice soup is that it was easy to heat up when the parranderos arrived. And by adding more stock, it could be stretched to feed everyone. You can imagine that by the last house, there would be quite a crowd. These parties would break up by dawn, with all of the parranderos going back to their beds.
Guess what heats up nicely the next day when nobody feels like cooking? You’ve got it. Asopao de Pollo.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings; makes enough Adobo to season 3 to 4 pounds of meat
Ingredients
Chicken and Rice
3 pounds chicken, cut into pieces
1 recipe Adobo
9 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 ounces lean cured ham, diced
2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 large tomatoes, chopped
12 pimiento-stuffed olives
1 chorizo (Spanish sausage), cut into 1/2 inch rounds
2 tablespoons capers
1 (4 ounce) can chopped pimientos, drained
3 cups long-grain rice
1 cup fresh or frozen peas, thawed
Additional chopped fresh cilantro (for garnish)
Adobo
4 whole black peppercorns
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
asopao de pollo 05 1463×2048 2
How to Make Asopao de Pollo
The homemade Puerto Rican chicken and rice soup recipe I’m going to show you develops flavor by sautéing most of the ingredients in a large caldero or dutch oven.
After cutting up the chicken and seasoning thoroughly, go ahead and heat up the olive oil in your pot.
First you’ll brown the raw chicken pieces in batches and set them aside. Next sauté the sofrito, it will smell fantastic as it cooks. Scrape up those browned bits.
Now add the ham, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, capers, pimentos, olives, boullion and rice. Stir all of that right into the sofrito before adding the chicken back. Make sure you pour in any juices the chicken might have accumulated while it was waiting. That’s the good stuff!
Finally, when all of the ingredients are in the pot, pour as much of the water as you can fit into the caldero. Add your salt and pepper and mix it all up thoroughly. Over the cooking time, you can add more water as the rice cooks and absorbs the liquids.
Bring the soup to a boil and then turn down the heat. Allow it to simmer for up to 30 minutes. Keep an eye on your pot, stirring frequently as the rice can burn to the bottom.
When the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked, it’s done. Now you’re ready to feed any late night parranderos that come to your door.
Guests that come at more reasonable hours will love this soup too!
asopao de pollo 05 1463×2048 3
Instructions
Chicken and Rice
Rub the chicken pieces thoroughly with the adobo. Place the chicken pieces in a large pot and add the water and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet. Add the ham, bell peppers, onion, and cilantro. Sauté over moderate heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the tomatoes, olives, chorizo, capers, and pimientos. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Add the vegetable mixture to the pot with the chicken and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the rice and peas and simmer covered over very low heat for 15 to 25 minutes, until the stew reaches the desired consistency. It is traditionally served runny, almost like a soup.
Serve in soup bowls garnished with chopped cilantro.
Adobo
Combine all ingredients in a mortar and pestle and grind to a paste. Alternately, combine in an electric blender or food processor and process until smooth.
I know this question is a month old, but I just have to answer it. Unfortunately, the nastiest thing that happened at my school was done by me.
It was my freshman year. I desperately had a crush on my best friend, Rob. He had this dark, black, hair and deep hazel eyes that made me melt every time I caught him staring at me in Math. You know, teenage hormones and the like.
Our lockers were right next to each other; we were in the same homeroom. Sometime around October, being the ever awkward and weird kid I was, thought that the best way to show Rob I liked him was by teasing him.
I left the cafeteria one day with a nearly full milk carton in hand. I held onto it throughout my last class of the day and waited for Rob at my locker. Once he had gotten his things and we said our goodbyes, I pulled out the milk and placed the carton at the bottom of his locker (he carried a lock with him but never put it on), spout open and covered slightly by a hoodie he had left in there.
Hilarious I thought, he’ll come in on Monday and have to find a chunky carton of milk in his locker. Gross, yet harmless. I was so, so wrong.
Rob found the milk carton on Monday. What I had underestimated about him though, was his capacity to simply not care. He shrugged it off, took the hoodie out of his locker and placed the lock he had never used on it. Then he left it.
A month went by, and I could smell the milk every time I opened my locker next to his. After two months and the Christmas holiday and I forwent my locker, too, instead carrying my entire bag from class to class just so I didn’t have to open my locker.
By April, the entire hallway reeked of sour milk, so strongly that the students curved around the affected area when passing through. Everyone smelled it, no one could figure out where it came from or what it was. It was deadly; so much so that people whispered about what could possibly be making THAT smell. It was the mystery everyone talked about. You could feel the thickness of the stench in the air.
The last day of school came, and we were instructed to take the locks off of our lockers and clean them out at last period. Rob tried to make a getaway – grab his lock and run for the doors before someone asked him to open it and show it had been cleaned out, but he just wasn’t quick enough. “Open it”, our home room teacher demanded, as if he knew what that locker held inside it.
With shaking hands, Rob opened the metal door, and it was if you could see a green puff of foul odor release like a bomb from inside. “Close it!” Our teacher screamed, and Rob did, both of us gagging. The teacher ran for the safety of his classroom and we left.
The first day of sophomore year we came back to a clean hallway – no smell, bare lockers. Though, our former home room teacher never looked at Rob the same. As an adult, I feel TERRIBLE for the poor custodian who had to clean that putrid milk.
However, as I lay next to my husband in bed, I can’t help but be just a little bit nostalgic for that stupid prank. Fourteen years later and Rob and I have been together ever since; inseparable.
Asia’s Top Economist Reveals Shocking SECRET About China In 2024
Yes, my wife of 46 years died suddenly from heart failure. I got her to the hospital and was able to spend some time with her before she passed.
After she was gone, the medical staff insisted that I spend the night in the hospital due to my medical issues. I was given a mild sedative to help me relax. I fell asleep and at some point I woke and was unsure of where I was. When I realized what had happened, I was leaning against the safety rail on the hospital bed. I saw what appeared to be a room full of people below me, they were all in ‘shadow’ except for one woman in a white light dancing. My wife loved to dance and as I watched, the woman waved at me and everything vanished when the nurse came to check on me.
The second time was at her funeral service. It was freezing that day and I got to the service early to bring some mementos for the service. I, somehow, lost my phone and the facility was locked and no one was around. As I was starting to panic, I ‘heard’ my wife say “calm down.’
As I looked around I saw a perfect rose bloom in the garden area in front of my car. I couldn’t believe that a rose had bloomed in freezing conditions. Roses were her favorite flower, I went to pick the rose and found my phone on the ground. I immediately calmed down and told my wife “thank you.”
The Man Who Built UFOs For The CIA [Not Bob Lazar…]
Battery life continues to be one of the biggest complaints of laptop users, so understanding what you can do to help prolong the life is important. Technically speaking, keeping any relatively current laptop plugged in and charged at 100% for extended periods of time shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s best not to do so for a number of reasons.
This is a question that comes up a lot with laptop owners. And the answer is a quite simple “No.” For optimum battery use, and to get the most life out of your laptop battery, keeping it charged between 40% and 80% has been seen as optimum.
Most late-generation laptop batteries are either lithium-ion or lithium polymer, and as such, they are designed to be able to withstand many charge cycles. When you keep it charged at 100%, the charging circuit continuously checks the battery charging process and, so it stops charging once it is at its optimum point and goes into trickle mode, in which it only supplies what is necessary to prevent the charge level from failing.
Also to note: overcharging can lead to overheating, which can lead to catastrophic chemical reactions inside the battery.
Allowing your battery to completely discharge will take away from its originally-intended lifespan. You should ideally keep its battery between 40% and 60%. Don’t let the battery discharge completely to increase its life.
Here are some tips to extend your laptop battery life:
Avoid discharging your laptop completely after charging it.
Make sure that your laptop doesn’t get too hot and your cooling fan is working properly.
Overheating can reduce battery life, check the laptop’s cooling system is functioning correctly and use it on a flat surface to allow for proper airflow.
Customize your laptop’s power plan settings to favor battery life over performance when running on battery.
If you’re not using your laptop on battery power for an extended period, store it with the battery at around 50-80% charge to reduce long-term stress on the battery.
I suggest maintaining your laptop’s battery level within the range of 40% to 80% charge. By doing so, you can effectively double the number of recharge cycles, increasing them from 300-500 to a substantial 1,000-2,000, ultimately extending the overall lifespan of your laptop.
I once had an interview with a company in Danville, Illinois. This was a super small city in Southern Illinois, that had the unique single skyscraper sticking out of it like a “sore thumb”. Apparently a rich man of the town thought that by building such a structure it would “modernize” the city. He was wrong. But it was a 1930’s era Art Deco masterpiece…
Anyways, so I interviewed for a project engineer role in this company. It made electrical ballasts for those huge advertising billboards at the side of the road. And the interview was going well.
That was until I met the electrical engineer. This guy was an engineer out of India who thought that he was GOD. What an arrogant prick!
He spent the entire interview tying to exert his dominance on me. And, Lordy! was it irritating. What was his malfunction? Somehow he got it in his quirky little mind that we would not be equals, but rather he would instruct me what to do. Mind you, at that time, I was a Project Leader interviewing for a design position. A semi-step downward.
Nope. Not gonna do that shit.
Anyways, that and other events though the years has convinced me that many Indians, not all of them of course, come with unexpected “baggage” and tricks that you need to unpack and resolve before dealing with them. And that is why I NEVER deal with Indians unless it is face to face, and recorded on video. I just do not trust them.
People (!) learn from your experiences and take adequate measures to preserve your happiness.
I had recently totaled a car and was looking at used cars. I went to a number of local dealerships until I’d found the one I wanted. I’m mechanically inclined but because this was my biggest purchase ever I wanted my dad to look at it. I said I’d be back the next day.
I came back the next day with my dad and he found it needed new shocks and brake pads. I negotiated a price and put down my deposit. The salesman said he needed manager approval and the manager wasn’t in so I was to call him the next day.
I called the next day and the manager still wasn’t in and to call again the next day. I called the next day and the salesman asked if I had the money. When I said yes he said come on in.
I was in college at the time and had just taken a social psychology class. The professor had discussed used car sales and a trick they used. The salesman would say the manager wasn’t in and to call back later. In the interim you had told all your friends about your new car and pictured yourself driving it. So when the salesman said he couldn’t sell you the car at the negotiated price, but added a few hundred dollars to the price you would agree.
I was prepared for that to happen and knew something was up when I walked in and the salesman wouldn’t look me in the eye. The salesman directed me to the managers office and the manager said I can’t give it to you at the negotiated price. For another $300.00 more it’s yours. I figured that was the cost of shocks, brake pads, and labor in the early 1990’s. I said no and asked for my money deposit back. The manager said no, you aren’t getting the deposit back. Being young, I didn’t know what to do so I left.
I had made plans with a friend to go out in my new car and went to his house. When I showed up in my rental car he asked where my new car was and I told him. He told me to wait a minute as he called his mother, the manager of one of the Department of Motor Vehicles offices. He put her on the phone and I told her the story. She told us to wait and she’d call me back.
After a short wait she called me back telling me they can’t legally keep my deposit and that I needed to return to the dealer and get my deposit. She also gave me a name and phone number and said “This is the private number for the Commissioner of Used Car Sales in our state. If you don’t get the deposit returned, you are to have the manager call this number and explain why I can’t get my money back.”
My friend and I drove to the dealer to be met almost immediately by the manager telling us we needed to leave, I wasn’t getting my money back. I replied, “That’s fine, you’ll need to call this number and explain that.” The manager replied whose number is this? When I told him the name and title of the person and added he is expecting a call on his private line the managers face went white. Within minutes I had my deposit.
That car sat on the lot another 6 months and the car I purchased was $1,000 more than what we negotiated plus the extra $300
Pizza Rustica (Italian Easter Pie)
2024 02 14 09 45
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
Filling
2 cups cooked, smoked ham, cubed
2 cups cooked Italian sausage, sliced
1 cup Mozzarella cheese, cubed or shredded
1/2 cup chopped parsley
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1 cup Ricotta cheese
3 eggs, uncooked
Salt and freshly-ground pepper, to taste
Crust
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups hot tap water
Instructions
Filling
Mix all chopped ingredients in a large bowl. Place uncooked eggs and Ricotta cheese in a blender container and mix on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add to the chopped ingredients and combine well.
Crust: Place flour and salt in a large bowl. Combine hot water, oil and yeast in a measuring cup with a fork. Add to flour and mix well. If dough is dry, add water as necessary. If dough is too sticky, add flour, one tablespoon at a time. Knead until dough forms ball. Leave in the bowl in warm place to rise until double in volume. Punch down before rolling.
Divide dough in half and roll to fit a large pie pan or 15 inch pizza pan. Place one circle on bottom of pan. Top with the filling, pressing out all air pockets. The pie will look too full. Top with remaining dough. Trim around pan with knife leaving about 1 inch extra all around. Press edges to seal and tuck sealed edge in all around pan. Prick top with fork several times to make air holes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 30 minutes.
Seeing one of my fellow truckers in the passing lane, trying to bully a four wheeler over by riding inches from its bumper. He’s essentially using his vehicle as a 40 ton weapon.
All I can do is shake my head and can’t help but wonder why some people think we’re the dregs of the motoring public. I’m not sure what distance it takes to stop your average car at 65 mph, but it takes a loaded semi the length of a football field, and that’s under ideal conditions.
I also can’t help but wonder why they can’t see the negative outcome of a situation like that. I have and it usually ends up with the car unrecognizable, a family grieving, and the driver going to prison for vehicular homicide.
image 200
Yeah, there’s the remains of what use to be a car under there and in it was somebody’s father, mother, sister, or brother. And all because that jackass driver thought a game of chicken was a good idea.
Wehrmacht systematically raped and murdered practically all female prisoners of war. They thought women on the front line were a sign of communist and Jewish degeneration, and as such exterminated them where ever they met.
image 201
Many Soviet female soldiers were captured during the first months of Operation Barbarossa. Except from Red Army nurses who were sometimes spared, practically all of those captured were killed, and almost certainly raped first. The regular Wehrmacht’s attitude is quite clearly expressed by the Heer field Marshall just 7 days into Operation Barbarossa.
29th of June 1941
Women in uniform are to be shot on sight.
Field Marshall Günther von Kluge
Less known is that the Reichenau order aka Severity Order
, issued to the Germans of the 6th Army (The one at Stalingrad) specifically said that the German army should not take female POWs, as well as shoot commissar and partisans who surrender.
Another general Ernst Hammer, also distributed an order to execute all captured females. German divisions filed a constant stream of reports where they explicitly say they execute women.
Later in the war, some units did not execute women on sight, but instead handed them over to the SS, who generally speaking placed them in concentration camps, mostly Ravensbrück and some in Auschwitz.
It should come as no surprise, that the Germans had a genocidal attitude and systematic rape tendency, considering that even outside of the army, the Germans murdered over 6 million civilian women in the USSR alone. And countless other abuses were conducted as well.
It was Junior High/Middle School, but social studies/civics teacher was let go for his political rantings to the class. Whether he was right or not, the audience was probably the wrong one. In a school where the catchment area averaged $200–400k homes (in Omaha, Nebraska, back in the early 90s), and most families had one or more parents working in a professional capacity, making statements like “anybody with a house over $100k does not deserve it” and bringing in news articles or Dateline clips speaking ill of some of the big corporate employers in the area. Today they’d probably make him Superintendent. But at that time and place, his brand of socialism didn’t sit well with the PTA. Oh, and there was also the incident where he was in a car accident and said that not wearing his seatbelt is what saved his life so telling kids to tell their parents that buckling up is “a personal choice” didn’t go well either.
Canadians present a really interesting dichotemy between having both a superiority and inferiority complex when comparing themselves to Americans, which they do unwittingly all the time.
Growing up in Canada, I was dismayed with the amount of American products and culture that we consumed, signfifying the acceptance of a nearly dependent relationship. I remember being constantly being admonished and mocked as a high school student for saying my favourite TV show was a small budget Canadian TV. Years later, the show was picked up by an American network and its stars become Hollywood A-listers, only then of course, was that considered success for Canadians to be proud of.
I remember people calling Canada a ‘small country’, yet it has a growing population that size of a ‘big’ European country such as Poland and an economy that punches above its weight, as a member of the G-7.
While at the same time feeling culturally insignificant and inferior, in this way, and also for having an economy, military and international influence that is dwarfed by American, all that is juxtaposed by the feeling of having created a better society: Better health care, less gun culture, safer streets, less homlessness, drugs, racial segregation, etc. THis feeling of superiority was closer to smugness when Donald J Trump was elected stateside. ‘Couldn’t happen here.’ almost everyone thought.
For Canada to really hit its strude, it should cut itself adrift from the U.S. No, not a border wall. I mean drifting off to the middle of the sea far away, like Australia, where it can develop its own identity, without being compared or comparing itself to a neighbour which is considered more of a big brother.
I never bought into the idea that Instagram made people more superficial. It merely surfaced what was already there.
When I look at Insta-models, who have millions of followers, I can’t help but wonder if they define themselves beyond washboard abs and a half-moon goddess behind.
God-given good looks create a facade of reality, a mask the owners often don’t realize they are wearing. It opens doors that were otherwise closed.
image 199
(Yael Shaeba, rated the most beautiful woman in the world in another useless study.)
The hard truth is that: At nearly every mundane corner of life, physical attractiveness confers advantages. It’s even proven that attractive people receive shorter prison sentences.
To the men feeling inadequate - I have good news. An FSU study found that women skew happier in relationships where their partner is less attractive.
There is less pressure to meet expectations. They have fewer body image issues.
This is in line with what I saw working at an ad agency early in my career.
We spent a lot of time around female models. It was a known thing amongst them, “You don’t date male models. They are all dogs (promiscuous).”
Meanwhile, an OK Cupid study found women think 80% of men are unattractive. So I’m not sure where that leaves us.
Beauty is complicated - but it undeniably gives a mile-long list of benefits: better negotiations, promotions, and higher likeability. But letting it, or any one thing, be your chief identity is a trap.
Self-worth rooted in beauty is destined to die on the same altar it was built on: time.
Character ages better than beauty.
10 Effects No Intimacy in Marriage has on Men
This is important. Both men and women need to know this.
I actually was placed in a very sensitive position. I’m at my desk, was working on a huge project when I received a call from the CEO.
He said his computer was “Going nuts!” “I was on the internet, then other sites were automatically opening non-stop, should I do a hard shutdown?” Immediately I said, Don’t turn it off!!!”
I get into his office and look at the monitor. Porn sites are opening about 1-per second.
We used two different fire wall servers, the first server was using Linux before going to Microsoft (I believe it was Server 2012. You would think all of that would have stopped this, right?
I had a direct line to our IS people, called them told them what was happening. They were able to quickly solve the issue.
So, I just asking him “What was the last thing you did before the virus came through?” “I was working on the budget, it’s then all the porn sites started to pop up.”
I know he could read my face, it’s then I said “BS.”
Now I am in his seat, I opened ‘history’ . He had just been on a porn site. OH! It wasn’t just one site, over two weeks+ I see the dates and time.
His door was open so I quietly said to him “What the hell!” “What?” “You have been hitting porn sites.” He begins to get the ‘oh shit’ look on his face. “Alan you have to stop hitting porn sites!” “Yeah, it won’t happen again.”
Oh yeah, I gave him a hard time about it…..for weeks.
When my parents divorced, my dad moved up north 5 hours with his new girlfriend. My mom had custody but we had to visit him every other weekend. We met in the middle and if my mom was a minute late he would be making calls. I remember he would always speak bad on my mom like what she did when they were married and how she’s the bad guy of course. it was like this for years.
one time specifically my mom drove us up and we met halfway. my dad came alone in the single cab ford ranger. my mom & dad had 3 kids total and his new wife had 3 kids so usually when we were getting picked up it was in the expedition and it was a full house.
Now my mom was late again, and my dad wasn’t having it. He called the cops on my mom for being late again and violating court order. But when the cop came he was very confused on how my dad was going to drive all three of us kids home safely in a single cab. this was probably 20 years ago and i’ll admit we did all fit comfortably in the ranger but the cop said if he drove off like that he would get arrested. so we had to wait there for 2.5 more hours for my dads wife to come in the other vehicle. it was a long and hot day too so definitely backfired on my dad. I don’t remember but i’m sure he stopped calling the cops afterwards!
“Would you prefer a million pounds in diamonds or a million pound of gold?”
Gold.
Hands down, no ifs, ands, or buts.
One million pounds of gold (I am presuming standard pounds) equals 14,583,333.3 troy ounces. At today’s (mid-May 2019) spot price, gold is hovering around $1,300 per troy oz. Assuming it is pure gold (24 kt, or .999), that is at about $18,958,333,290.
It can be visualized as 36,458 400-troy ounce “Good Delivery” bars (and change) of the same type stored in Fort Knox and worth about $520,000 each.
image 198
400-t oz Good Delivery gold bar. Image from Wikipedia.
Each good delivery bar weighs in at a hair over 27.42 lb / 12.44 kg. It might actually be more convenient to get it in 100-t oz bars, which can be more readily sold.
Of course, a million pounds is 500 tons, which is about one-fifth of the output of all the gold mines in the world in a year.
The good news is; if doled out over time (several years), they will not have that much of an impact on the price of gold. This means that even taking buyer costs into account, there will still be a significant chunk of value per ounce.
The bad news is that if sold at once it will collapse the current price of gold and I would never get anywhere near the actual value of the gold. Also, the sheer amount of gold sold will attract the attention of the government revenue service, who will want their share.
Diamonds, on the other hand, cannot be sold in bulk without a specialized infrastructure in place to grade them by color, clarity, carat, and cut (the “Four C’s”).
Keep in mind that a pound of diamond powder for industrial use goes for about $10. That is ten dollars.
Unless you are already well-connected in the diamond industry, selling the diamonds is going to be far too much hassle for too little return and will leave a paper trail a mile wide at every step.
Honestly, I would take a million pounds in 90% silver before I take a million pounds in diamonds, and still come out ahead profit-wise.
Edit: The question I answered was merged with another one that removes the million and leaves just one pound of either gold or diamonds.
One pound of gold equals 14.5833 troy ounces (or 453.592 grams); at $1,300/t oz, that is $18,958.29.
One pound of silver (at $14.85/t oz) equals $216.56.
One pound of diamonds equals 2,267.96 carats. Unless these are relatively large, high-quality diamonds, they are not even worthy of consideration; I would need to get $8.36 per carat to equal the yield of the gold… and that will not happen; the cost of grading the diamonds, plus commissions along the way, will barely get you that much.
Heck, if they are industrial grade, I might consider myself extremely lucky to get $5,000 for the pound.
On the other hand, I could easily sell the gold in any pawn shop at near-parity to spot price with zero hassles.
A year before Covid hit I was the last to be hired on full time and others after me were hired as temps like a trial run before permanently hiring them. One kid out of the military at least 10 years younger than everyone else. This one kid he started buying expensive cars, would engage in conversation asking how much money I made and that he makes more than I do, I told him none of his damn business. So I’ve been a new guy before so I really tried to cut this kid a break but he just would not get off his phone, would literally be playing on his phone in a meeting in front of everyone. He said he can multitask. The company got tired of the slack and warned him over and over. He was awkward and wasn’t a man quite yet. It was early morning 9am and he was in the office and was let go, he runs into the office pacing back and forth muttering to himself like a crazy person, he would then drop to his knees and start crying and then have another outburst saying “why why why” and it makes you think that this guy could probably hurt someone. When he started temping with us apparently got an expensive car and new apartment just living lavishly, and a few months after we would get bombarded with creditors calling into the office.
6 Signs You’re An Attractive Older Man (Even If You Don’t Think So)
Let me be clear…DO NOT GET INTO A STREET FIGHT! THE BEST THING YOU CAN EXPECT FROM IT IS TO NOT GET HURT TOO BADLY. The best defense is to not get into a street fight in them…now assuming that you’re in one of those situations where you can’t get out of a fight…Martial arts can be of assistance, but it really depends on a lot of factors.
Does the martial art teach you to strike, block, hold, defend against a moving opponent? If not…then it’s probably not going to be very helpful.
Do you learn to get hit and take a hit? Getting punched in the face is a fairly debilitating thing for the inexperienced. The first few times you get hit in the face hard…it’s a pretty jarring experience…you do need to learn how to get used to it.
Are you in practice? Your martial arts training from 25 years ago isn’t going to mean much…like anything else skills must be practiced or lost. You may have been the toughest guy around years ago…but guaranteed you’re not anymore if you haven’t seen a punch coming your way since then. I used to box regularly, and didn’t step into a ring for over a decade. A friend of mine asked me to spar a few months ago, and even though muscle memory did some of the work, the first time he connected with a solid jab, I felt like I got a bucket of cold water thrown in my face.
Does the marital art teach you to fight bare-handed? Punching with a naked fist hurts, and if you’re going to do it effectively, you need to toughen up. I don’t mean that from a psychological perspective, you literally need to get used to punching things and get your hands to build up resilience. If you don’t fight bare-handed, and throw a heavy punch; you could break one of the little bones in your hand. Even if you’ve toughened up your hands you can connect with someone’s skull or hit off your main knuckles and end up breaking your hand.
Do you learn grappling, most street fights are at VERY close range…usually your opponent will look to grab you and throw you around rather than to keep their distance. If you look at the old bare knuckle boxers you’ll see that they use a very odd stance (at least to modern eyes) and that’s because they had to defend against grappling, and were better suited to bare knuckle fighting. In a street fight, those old school fighters would decimate pretty much any opponent…but it’s not exactly like you can go to the old-timey boxing gym and learn to punch like John Sullivan.
image 197
6. Is your opponent used to street fighting? If so, you’re entering their arena, it’s like asking a BJJ fighter to fix in a boxing ring…even if the BJJ fighter is more skilled and experience, the home-field advantage of the boxer is huge. If you don’t have the experience in a street fight, you’re at a disadvantage. Frankly, that’s the type of experience you don’t want to get. If your opponent is inexperienced though…and you have martial arts experience assuming that you have the right type of experience…you’re going to have an edge. If you don’t have the right type of experience; and you’re not used to close-in fighting with bare hands…you’re going to have a bad time…possibly worse than the neophyte who isn’t fighting their instincts.
There’s a bunch of secondary factors…but these are the big ones IMO. As someone who got into his share of scraps and got some training…If I could never get into a fight again, I would consider it a personal victory. Fighting is not fun, people punch, kick, scratch, spit, gouge…and in some cases even bring weapons, friends and generally don’t fight fair or clean. You can have all the training in the world…but still won’t be able to stop a knife or a bullet from someone who knows what they’re doing…or takes you from behind…or just straight-up surprises you.
Martial arts are great; they’re a great way to get fit, to get flexible, and teach you discipline. They’re great to build confidence and make you feel more secure in day-to-day situations. Generally, you will be able to defend yourself better than someone who is completely untrained…but it doesn’t make you into someone who can take on all takers…there’s always someone tougher or more capable…or someone more willing to fight dirty. Martial arts can’t prepare you for that.
Lucy Gordon fortune valued at 11 million when she decided to hang out in her apartment in the best area of Paris.
Do you think 11 million is little?
image 195
Philip Seymour Hoffman $36 million
when he died of a heroin overdose.
Maybe it’s still too little for you…
image 194
Robin Williams fortune valued at 50 million
when he decided to hang himself in his house.
image 193
Kurt Cobain worth $60 million at the time he shot himself with a shotgun.
Maybe with more…
image 192
Elvis Presley made 300 million dollars while he was alive, in the end his drug problems ended up causing him a heart attack.
I think they are concrete examples of why a person does not get happiness from money, with this I do not mean that it is bad to want to make money, nor does it mean that if you are unhappy, making more money will not help you, what I mean by this is that money does not give you ABSOLUTE happiness. And it is that in reality nothing will make you completely happy.
I believe that the closest you can get to being happy is having a life with meaning and purpose, living day by day cultivating meaningful relationships and friendships.
That will bring you closer to happiness than anything.
Marrying the Ugly Daughter of the Yakuza Boss to Settle My Debts…
I’m an Aussie. I was travelling in SanFrancisco. I was visiting the zoo and looking at one of the enclosure’s I saw a big red roo. I commented to my wife “look at that kangaroo! He’s a BIG red roo!” A young American woman overheard me and corrected me by saying “ It’s a waaaalaby” and rolled her eyes as she pointed at the sign in front of the enclosure that said there was wallabies in there. I was very confused and doubted myself and thought, maybe I’m wrong. The sign definitely says they’re wallabies in there but, that looks like a “big red”. I was embarrassed thinking that I didn’t even know my own countries wildlife. I walked on another five or so metres (15 feet) and then I saw the next sign which said there actually was red kangaroos in the exhibit. I felt better then. I also want to add that I had a great time in the US and found the people to be really friendly.
When people want to change their lives, they usually start out by thinking about the different things that need to be added to their lives to get to where they want to be.
They need to add a workout program, a mentor, a new job, new friends, new habits, etc.
They add, add, and add some more until they’re just constantly in motion all the time. They’re not a different person and their life hasn’t changed for the better — they’re just busier.
I know I thought like this when I first started my self-improvement journey.
I started waking up early. I started listening to self-improvement podcasts. I started reading books. I started meditating. Journaling. Following a more dedicated workout program.
I did a lot of stuff.
But you know what?
Although my life changed, it didn’t change how I wanted it to.
I just became busy.
I still had anxiety. I still got really sad. I still had bad friends and shitty relationships. I still spiraled the same way.
The truth is that changing your life is not about what you do, it’s about what you stop doing.
Removing bad habits is how you actually have lasting change. This is how you make lasting progress toward goals. This is how you change the person you are in a sustainable and manageable way so that you skip the period where everything comes crashing down.
You skip that phase where you’re just an overwhelmed mess all the time.
You get some peace. You learn to embrace boredom. You learn that boredom elicits creativity.
You learn to drop your bad habits instead of just following new havits to cancel out the bad ones.
It’s the equivalent of doing a bunch of burpees to hopefully cancel out a whole pizza.
Just don’t eat the whole pizza.
True self-improvement is not about what you do, it’s about what you stop doing. It’s about quitting.
I bought a house in Indianapolis in 1985. It was 110 years old at the time of purchase. It was a duplex with wonderful old bones but was in very poor condition. It was in such poor condition that I paid about $3,200 for it. In the process of doing a 100% renovation, I tore out 90% of the old lathe and plaster walls. In a cavity of the interior wall was a bundle wrapped in old newspaper (dated 1885) from when the house was built. In the wrapped up bundle were old copies of magazines from the period when color printing was just in its mass-produced infancy. There were six different copies of the magazine, “Ladies Home Companion” All of the graphics were of hand drawn images of exquisite art decco design. Also included in the bundle was a pair of lady’s kid gloves and a small leather change purse with a single penny, nickel, dime, quarter, fifty cent piece and dollar – all, except the penny were silver and dated 1885. The coins, gloves, change purse and magazine were all in perfect condition. I have the impression that it was a woman who hid the bundle in the wall as the house was being built. I sold them all to an antiques dealer (except the dime, which I still own – a liberty seated dime, and the quarter, which I gave to my mother who also collected coins) and got quite a lot of money for all of those items. Had I not been so hard up for the money at the time, I would have kept the Morgan silver dollar, which I sold back then for $2,000. I also found an assortment of bottles, too, which I also sold.
America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet.
We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29s can carry on a single mission. This awful fact is one for you to ponder and we solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate.
We have just begun to use this weapon against your homeland. If you still have any doubt, make inquiry as to what happened to Hiroshima when just one atomic bomb fell on that city.
Before using this bomb to destroy every resource of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, we ask that you now petition the Emperor to end the war. Our president has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender. We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better and peace-loving Japan.
You should take steps now to cease military resistance. Otherwise, we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war.
EVACUATE YOUR CITIES.
ATTENTION JAPANESE PEOPLE. EVACUATE YOUR CITIES.
Because your military leaders have rejected the thirteen part surrender declaration, two momentous events have occurred in the last few days.
The Soviet Union, because of this rejection on the part of the military has notified your Ambassador Sato that it has declared war on your nation. Thus, all powerful countries of the world are now at war with you.
Also, because of your leaders’ refusal to accept the surrender declaration that would enable Japan to honorably end this useless war, we have employed our atomic bomb.
A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29s could have carried on a single mission. Radio Tokyo has told you that with the first use of this weapon of total destruction, Hiroshima was virtually destroyed.
Before we use this bomb again and again to destroy every resource of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, petition the emperor now to end the war. Our president has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender. We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better, and peace-loving Japan.
Act at once or we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war.
EVACUATE YOUR CITIES.
The US was prepared to do whatever it took to get Japan to unconditionally surrender. That includes the use of the bomb as was necessary for the war to end. The third bomb was intended for release on 19 August. Fortunately for all parties, Japan surrendered by 15 August 1945.
China’s increased “strategic collaboration” with Russia is nothing more than a repetition of an old policy, except that it has now entered the “strategic counter-offensive” phase, which Xi Jinping once again emphasized to his close friend and colleague, President Vladimir Putin, and hoped that he would increase his confidence in winning the war.
In 2019, when the U.S. launches a trade war with China, China’s manufacturing GDP will account for less than 30% of the global total, while the U.S.’s manufacturing GDP account for more than 13% of the global total.
Recently, according to a report released by the OECD, China’s manufacturing gdp will account for more than 35% of the world’s total value in 2023. Even the sum of the 2nd to 10th place is not as high as China’s share. The U.S. manufacturing gdp accounts for 12% of the world’s total, while India’s manufacturing gdp, which is highly regarded by the West, accounts for 3%.
image 181
Trump initiated the trade war with the intention of returning manufacturing to the US, but the data shows that the return of manufacturing to the US over the past few years has only been negative. In this regard, the decline in electricity generation and consumption in the U.S. confirms this from the side.
Let’s look at the U.S. advantage: performance in the technology sector.
In 2019, in the globally recognized top 10 future technology and advanced manufacturing fields, China and the United States each accounted for half of the wall, but China in the United States of America’s all-out siege and set the entire Western world’s strength of the suppression of the U.S. After 4 years, the U.S. advantageous areas once again disappeared in 2 areas, and in the United States of America’s strongest field of chips, China is also gradually catching up.
Now, the U.S. is caught in the quagmire of the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has almost depleted the soft power that the U.S. has accumulated over the past hundred years.
And with the DPRK having just declared that it no longer regards South Korea as a fellow countryman, the risk of war on the Korean Peninsula has increased dramatically. It is difficult for the United States to provide further assistance to South Korea under financial constraints. If war breaks out in Taiwan, Washington will not be able to raise as much money for support even if it auctions off the White House, Capitol Hill and Pentagon complex.
In addition, the U.S. has been beset by a host of domestic problems, and its international influence has been declining. It is not an exaggeration to describe the U.S. as being in an internal and external quagmire.
Although Washington still does not recognize the decline in the strength of the United States and tries to whitewash the United States “strong economic growth, domestic social stability”, even if Washington continues to whitewash the United States financial situation, but the risk of the United States’s debt crisis is still growing.
The Texas independence movement has left Washington at a loss, and if Washington tries to disarm Texas independence, a large-scale civil war will undoubtedly break out.
The question for the United States was no longer whether it could retain world hegemony. Whether it is military, financial, economic or technological, it is a fact that the United States has lost its hegemony, and it is time for the United States to consider how to retain its position as a world power and a rich country.
Perhaps, in the collective insanity of the U.S. political scene today, only Trump is still sober. He believes that the U.S. can maintain its position as the world’s second largest power by relying on the world’s second largest oil and gas reserves.
Perhaps becoming a major energy exporter in the future is the best way out for the United States after it loses its world hegemony.
The ONLY people who realize that the United States is unable to compete with China is the Western “news” media, and the people that consume it.
The rest of the world, INCLUDING the American “leadership” and the Pentagon understand the futility of “Tonya Harding” competition strategies.
However, the United States is not a “healthy” nation. It is a nation in “free-fall”. There is no one at the helm, and those that are in control of various functional aspects of the government are stymied by a complex web network of counter-productive political polarization. Often led by those with self-interest at their core, and incapable of actual subjective reasoning. For everyone in the West are under the propagandized narratives that they themselves create.
Like (for instance) the “brick wall” of Tucker Carlson interviewing Putin.
…
But there is an “out”.
Cooperation NOT Competition.
China wants to see a better world, but in order for that reality to play out, some very toxic behaviors, and legacy dysfunctions must be excised (one way or the other) from the West. I am afraid that it will be a painful process.
The United States NEEDS friends, and help. China is willing to take on this role. But I am fearful that that will not materialize until a period of disharmony adjusts the objective reality of the West.
I was working at a travel agency in the late 80s. I was hired as a receptionist. Having a knack for computers, I taught myself the reservation system and was helping the rest of the office learn and use the system. This in addition to reception and helping the bookkeeper. This was before the internet. The company signed a new contract that included internet and the computers were installed and the network was set up. They neglected to tell us that if we did not shut down at night data would be used. Again, this was when internet was new. At that time you were charged based on how much data you used. After the first month, we got a bill for around $800. The boss was not happy. I made the calls to find out why and resolve the issue. A credit was issued leaving a bill of around $500. Now at the time I was a single mother and they were paying me $6 an hour after having been there over 5 years. The Owner told me if I did not get the bill completely removed it would be taken out of my pay. That was it for me. I told him do what you have to. I quit. Found a much better paying job within two weeks. BUT… My revenge was sweet. He actually had to hire 3 different people to do the job I had been doing.
The Japanese were much worse than they are portrayed in the movies, especially in the war they were at their worst.
They were extremely cruel and despised the lives of their enemies, this is now a historical fact known to those who cared a little. But the worst victims were the prisoners of war.
This is because, in his code of conduct, it is a seriously dishonorable act to be captured. Better dead than dishonored.
Consequently, prisoners were severely punished for being captured.
A friend of relatives who had lived abroad for decades was captured and lived for two years in a Japanese prison camp.
When he returned home, it was a living skeleton with a permanent expression of pain reminiscent of the photo below. He had been a slave in the construction of a railroad.
Many died of exhaustion or were executed for the amusement of the guards, an incredibly barbaric behavior for a civilized people like the Japanese.
So, about 12pm-ish I get a call. “It’s Mr H from School. Just to start off, L (yr 3 daughter) is fine, no one is hurt, everything is ok.” Cue minor heart attack, but only minor. “You’ll probably hear about this in the news later, but L did the right thing and told her teacher straight away.” Yep, ok, heart attack settling. “L found a snake in her bag! Not to worry, but we did do a school lockdown drill to make sure the kids all calmly stayed away. The snake catchers are on their way.” OMG!
So, some more interesting facts – my daughter, all of 8 years old, found a snake in her school bag, hilariously a Gryffindor Harry Potter backpack she’d gotten for her birthday earlier that month. In Australia, school bags are kept on racks outside the classrooms. This all happened at the start of first break, so there were lots of bustling kids around. She told me after pick up, that’s she’d seen the end of it’s tail go into to her bag, so she’d calmly reached over and zipped it up! Then went & told the teachers, who trigger the lockdown just in case. Due to our more rural location, there’s a lot of bush around and the kids are actually drilled each term to make sure they know what to do if they spot a snake on the school grounds, which is to calmly back away and find the nearest teacher. My bright spark realised that, since the bag was only opened a small way, she’d be able to zip it closed without (hopefully) annoying the snake inside. The snake catchers called out said it was one of the easiest jobs they’d had, since it’d already been caught.
We did have fun telling the extended family though, my mother refused to believe it happened until it hit the news!
Just once. I had been placed into custody in the back of a police car. Not for long, because I wasn’t the guy they were actually looking for, and I was released when we got to the station in downtown Seattle.
I already KNEW I wasn’t the guy, so I was pretty relaxed about the whole thing. But on the way to the station, (being a writer and all) I decided to ask the cop a couple of questions about his work. He was still a patrol officer, but he was well past forty years old.
I asked him, “What’s the worst thing about being a cop? Is it that you might get hurt, or pull over the wrong guy and maybe he has a gun?”
I wasn’t even close.
“Nah,” he said. “The worst thing is that everyone lies to you, ALL the time. Even when you try to convince them they aren’t in trouble and aren’t going to jail. You really get tired of that after a while…”
My uncle was a functional alcoholic. He drove perfectly. Never sped. Never ran a red light (or a yellow light). He would never do anything that might get him pulled over and subject to a sobriety test.
He had two girls. He sat at the dinner table each night that I lived with them, buzzed and silent, while their mother did all the work. He never went to college, because that would impinge on his drinking, so when he got laid off from Massive Megacorp, where we both worked, he was never able to get another job. He became a househusband and his wife got a job cleaning houses.
His drinking and gambling soon overran his wife’s meager income. They lost the house and moved into a rental. The girls grew up and both married young—quite unusual today, to their respective high school sweethearts.
Then one night, he woke up my aunt with his screaming. He was erupting blood from his mouth and his anus. He was hemorrhaging. She called an ambulance and they were able to save him.
A physician came in the room with my aunt. “Let me tell you how it’s going to be,” she said. “Your husband’s drinking has left him with 10% liver function. We can put him on the liver transplant list, but he will likely be passed over for someone without an addiction, as addicts tend to ruin their new organs as they did their old ones.
“He bled tonight because his liver was no longer able to detoxify the alcohol in his blood. Alcohol is corrosive, so it began to thin his esophagus and intestines. He now has the equivalent of varicose veins throughout his body. One of them ruptured today. One day, he will spring into a bleed from one of these veins, and we won’t be able to find it to stop it in time. And he will die.”
And so he did. Painfully, slowly, at the end engorged with the blood no longer contained in his veins. He never met his wonderful four grandchildren. He left his bereft wife a widow. He squandered his money. He squandered his life.
But he functioned.
America Does Not Appreciate the Gravity of Violence
The owner of a small company where I used to work made lots of unreasonable demands. I was a salaried, mid-career professional at the time, and I experienced things like:
I was instructed by HR that when the owner came up to my desk, I was to immediately stop typing and put my hands in my lap. Continuing to type until a natural stopping point—say, the end of a sentence—was seen as “being up to something.”
I was also instructed by HR that I was to stay until precisely 4:30 pm and not leave even a minute sooner (regardless of when I arrived in the morning). There was no valid business reason—the owner simply mandated that the office team stay until then.
I was also told by the owner that working through lunch did not “count” toward making up a few hours that I had missed for an appointment. I could either come in early or stay late, but the extra hour I worked in the middle of the day was not acceptable for some reason.
No matter what I did, it was always wrong. (This was true for everyone at the company.) There was the owner’s way and the wrong way, and usually no one understood the owner’s way because it was often extremely convoluted.
Unfortunately, because it was the owner, my choices were to accept it or find another job. Right or wrong, I put up with it, but thankfully, I was laid off during COVID. I’ve since started my own business, and as a result, I will never have to put up with that kind of BS in the workplace again, God help me. I still have bad dreams about that place.
These people made a mistake in judgment for a brief moment, and they lost big time. Introducing the Hall of Fame club for costliest mistakes ever….>>
1. Tiger Woods cheated on his then-wife Elin Nordegren. The divorce settlement ended up costing him $750 million. That’s a lot of Gatorade…….
image 188
2. Captain Edward Smith steered the Titanic into an iceberg, sinking the $7.5 million ship. Most devastatingly, many lives were lost….
image 187
3. In England, an elderly lady won the $181 million Euromillions lottery. Except her husband threw the ticket away. It’s the only time a wife has wished her husband didn’t take out the trash…
image 186
4. NASA used the metric system to build an orbiter, while Lockheed Systems used the English system. Data couldn’t be transferred, and a $125 million orbiter was lost in space forever…
image 185
5. Immediately on takeoff, faulty equipment doomed a B-2 stealth bomber. America’s most expensive plane at $1.2 billion crashed and was destroyed. Again, $1.2 billion…..
Very early in my career, after a successful mission, the entire office team would go out to eat. This was way before separate checks, and we would have a group of 20–30 people. People would order what they could afford – or so I foolishly thought! At the end of the first get-together, when the bill came, the boss got the ticket, put a checkmark by his meal, add a $20 bill, and pass both money and ticket to the next person, and so on. As people paid, they left the restaurant. The two Admins – myself and the senior Admin – we the last people the ticket + cash reached. There was not even enough cash to cover the entrees ordered and consumed, much less the appetizers and drinks and tax and tip! We quite literally cried because WE were the lowest paid in the department and just did not have the money to cover everyone. The restaurant manager felt very sorry for us, and wrote off the remainder of the bill. We took the check-marked ticket back to the office. Of course, EVERYTHING on the ticket was checked. We took it to the boss and explained. He was livid! He went back to the restaurant and paid what was due. (Small military town)
A couple of weeks later, the team again went out to eat. This time, the boss had one of we Admins shadow the waitress and write down what each person ordered. While the food was being prepared he calculated what each person actually owed, including taxes. He even divided the cost of appetizers. At the end of the meal, he received the ticket, then called people by name. “Sean, you owe $10 plus $1 for a tip. Mark, you owe $28 plus $3 for tip” etc. Of course, those people who were NOT scamming were happy they didn’t have to calculate anything, and those who were attempting to grift off their colleagues complained loudly.
Those who were notorious for padding their expense reports ate and drank the most, then complained the loudest.
So you’re minding your own business one day. You download a file, open a link, or do something-or-other and, pop!
image 183
Uh Oh! Guess your last night’s child porno fest got caught by the feds! And they’ve locked your computer! Hm… Shame! You really should pay that $200 debt to society right?
Except… You weren’t watching child porn at all, were you? No, in fact, you were doing something completely different!
See, what this is, is ransomware. I mean look at this shitty grammar. “due to the violation of the federal laws of the United States of America!” It’s awkwardly worded, much easier to say “in violation of United States Federal Law” or something like that, and when has a formal notice besides a “WARNING!” ever used an exclamation mark? Firstly, here is what the closest thing to this is.
image 182
Do you see a single exclamation point? Do you see a single bit of bad grammar? Do you see the United States being referred to as the “U.S.A?”
Tell you what. When the FBI comes and seizes your computer, they will come and get a warrant from a judge. And they will come and take your computer from you.
They won’t do any of that $200 fine bullshit. It’s fake.
Are You Ready For This Plot Twist?
The various videos in this movie are odd, and disturbing. The one where the girl decides to sleep with a guy because of the car he drives really, really disturbs me.
Historians place the number at 300,000 for the number of live births from Soviet rapes.
“University historians in the German cities of Jena and Magdeburg conclude that only France helped children fathered by its occupying troops. Many of those born to German mothers in four occupation zones suffered ostracism their whole lives.”
The study published in June 2015 in a “German-language book whose title translates as “Bastards, the children of occupation in Germany after 1945” found that at least 300,000 children were fathered by occupying Soviet Red Army soldiers.”
“Rapes perpetrated on German women occurred in all four zones, including forced sex by members of French and US units. Only a few cases by British troops were uncovered.”
“The first of these children were born around Christmas 1945.”
“The researchers deduced the Soviet zone child figure from a count of up to two million rapes allegedly committed by Red Army soldiers.”
“Abortions were illegal in Germany according to Article 218 of the penal code, but Luchterhand says “there was a small window for those women because of that special situation of the mass rapes in 1945”.
“Altogether 995 pleas for abortion were approved by this one district office in Berlin office between June 1945 to 1946. The files contain over 1,000 fragile scraps of paper of different colours and sizes. In childish round handwriting, one girl testifies that she was assaulted in the living room of her home in front of her parents. “
“We will probably never know the true scale of the rapes. Soviet military tribunals and other sources remain classified. The Russian parliament recently passed a law which says that anyone who denigrates Russia’s record in World War Two could face fines and up to five years in prison.”
A friend of mine bought a pair scooters, like Vespas, so he and his wife could run around their ‘near dowtown’ neighborhood. He was driving down a local street, 35 mph speed limit. An inattentive driver coming the other way turned left right in front of him.
He had no time to react so he hit the side of the car going nearly 35. His momentum pushed his lower body into the scooters fenders and smashed both legs. Both broken, one so bad that even now, 2 years later he is still dealing with screws and rods in one leg to help it heal properly. He was wearing an open face helmet and his head was driven into the side of the by momentum. He smashed his face in. I don’t mean cuts and scrapes and a broken nose. He ended up with a broken orbital bone, a broken jaw and knocked out half his teeth.
Their condo was on the second floor of the building with no elevator, and when he got out of the hospital (after a month of surgeries on his legs and face) he could not go home. They had to rent a small house with just one floor, and ramps for his wheelchair. His wife had to take a sabbatical from work to help take care of him. She got paid for almost all the first year of his recovery and then they to rely on some savings, and pittance payouts from the other driver’s insurance company.
Their young daughter had to move into their condo because they couldn’t leave it sitting empty – that doubled her commute to college.
Some pictures started getting posted to Facebook and in none for at least a year was he smiling – too many dental issues to show.
2 years later, and at least one or two more surgeries on hig legs with the hardware, he is of course still doing physical therapy.
I certainly hope they were able to secure a good accident lawyer and sue for hundreds of thousands, if not more. That accident will certainly affect him for the rest of his life if his leg doesn’t heal as expected. He had to go back to the tech world he had left to train to be a chef. He was not able to stand for long periods of time and doesn’t know if ever will be able to back to the job he loves – cooking for people.
One moment of loss of concentration, of paying attention by that other driver and my friend came very close to being killed, and the outcome of his injuries have and will continue to negatively affect his life, his wife’s too, and their daughter close by ad well as their other children and grandchildren.
10 years ago I lived in a small town in Washington State. One of my neighbors was an older couple who kept to themselves. The wife loved her garden and the male would wave at everyone who drove down the roadway. One fall we had a mudslide on a major road that ran in and out of our small town. The only way we could leave was to drive north, thru the Canadian boarder and back down in another neighboring town. My (now ex) husband and I had just returned from our bi-weekly town visit for groceries. As we started to drive past this elderly couple’s home we noticed the wife standing outside by herself. At first we didn’t think there was anything wrong until my (now ex) husband got her attention and we realized that she was crying and had blood on her shirt. I stayed outside with her because she kept crying and pointing to the house. My Ex went in their house and quickly exited and called 911. All the wife would say to me was “I had to” over and over again.
The Police arrived and sorted it all out. Come to find out, the husband had severe dementia and attacked his wife during their evening nap. He tried to strangle her and punched her over and over again. She was finally able to get her hands on a pair of scissors and stabbed him with them. He survived and was placed in a nursing home after his recovery.
I hope I never “have to”.
China’s chip power is on full swing, and its output ranks higher than the rest of the world
I actually did it wasn’t so accidental. I was working for a dentist in Berkeley CA. It was a weird office but it was money. The office was open M-W with 1/2 day on Th. Well 1/2 for every body but me. I had to spend the other 1/2 day doing a deep clean of all the treatment rooms and file back a weeks worth of files. There was another Doctor in same building the Doctor was a Maxillofacial Surgeon. He had a X-Ray Tech. One day I was by my self filing back files. She told me she had heard them talking about the doctors son. He worked as a bell boy for a very posh hotel/privet country club in the Berkeley Hills (for those live in the SF Bay Area I am talking about the Clairmont) The doctor figured if he had to subsidies his 20 something year old son he might as well get something for it. He would teach his son to be a dental assistant. I think I found a new job before they could let me go. So so glad to be out of that place.
Yes, they do sleuthy things. Around here a few years ago a tax guy went to the flea market—a huge flea market—made a list of every booth, and looked the people up. If memory recalls, over 70% of them were either on unemployment, social security disability insurance, not paying sales tax, not claiming their taxable income, or not claiming their employees. They were all just million dollar lemonade stands.
But most of the time the IRS doesn’t need to do any kind of stakeout. They simply say “hey computer, show me all the people in my area whose households don’t claim enough for them to reasonably live, sorted by how unreasonable.” And more queries along those lines. “Show me all the restaurants whose wage expenses don’t match expected for their stated income.” Computers can answer those questions in milliseconds.
I’ve said it a hundred times, but these are computers talking to computers. If you “got away” with something on your taxes, it does not mean you didn’t get caught. It means there was not political will to prosecute you.
And it’s not just business owners (well, you are technically a business owner if you’re working under the table). If you work for any of those people, you get caught the second they do. If a guy builds a fence in his backyard and asks you to come help him for a few weeks for $100/day, he’ll mention that fence on his taxes; the city will eventually mention that fence on his property tax appraisal, title will mention that fence when he sells the house. There’s a paper trail, and it’s not hard for anyone who reads accounting to see that. Ditto with your barista job, ditto with your life coaching job, ditto with your dad pretending you’re an employee so he can get you health insurance. It’s obvious to anyone who sees personal taxes all day long.
Oh, here’s a really obvious one, if you’re not an employee you will have expenses, and not just that, but expenses almost matching your income. If you say you rent a room out in your house as an airbnb, they’ll simply look at your taxes to see if you have 70% of your income going towards cleaning and repairs and new sheets and advertising. If you say you do odd jobs, they’ll assume you have a log of your mileage and receipts for tools. If you say you sell brownies at the farmer’s market, they’ll know you’re lying if you don’t have the cost of renting that booth and the cost of the booth on there somewhere. And again, if you’re the second in the booth, you’re at the mercy of the main person’s IRS reviewer too.
Oh, and if you’re an under the table waitress, know that you’ll eventually get caught by another waitress narc’ing on your boss.
Anyway, the main way they find out is by comparing you to 350M other people and seeing wherever you’re so far outside of the average that somethin’ must be up.
OH! here’s the easiest example yet: you’re a waitress and file your taxes without listing any tip income. It is unlikely the IRS will call you on that, but they obviously can see that you left the line that likely represents the majority of your income blank. The friend I’m picturing when I say this is paid about $40 a day as a waitress but makes $300 to $400 a day in tips. And I think it’s pretty safe to wonder whether her taxes say she is paying her rent and expenses with only $40 a day. The IRS isn’t stupid, but they are human and know there is little to collect from her, and it would be politically problematic to start targeting college-aged and single-mom waitresses.
Italian Sausage and Peppers
sausage and peppers 19
Ingredients
8 Italian sausages
4 green bell peppers, quartered (or a combination of yellow, green and red bell peppers)
1 onion, sliced
sausage and peppers 3 696x1024q
Instructions
Put sausages with 1 cup of water in a frying pan over medium heat. Turn as they brown and water evaporates.
Add onions and peppers. Stir, cover and cook for 10 minutes.
Uncover and cook until the sausages and onions are brown.
I don’t know if offended was the right word, but stunned, as R. W. says about the US not having animals (mules/horses). Here is a great pic of German POWs on the middle of the autobahn heading west, and Allied tanks/trucks heading into the heart of Germanyy:
image 190
You don’t see any animals (the average German division had 4–6,000 horses/division). The US did use mules in Africa, Italy and Southern France. Those mountains were tough, with no roads, so mules came into their own. The US Army contracted with mule owners for one herder + ten mules each. The column was lead by a GI and carried food, water, ammo up to the line and wounded down. The USMC still runs a mule training facility in California to train troops on this dying art.
One offense was American inattention of military courtesy to senior officers. The German paratroop commander, Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, at the end Crozon Peninsula fighting, told the US lieutenant that he would surrender his unit, but not to a company or field grade officer, only a general officer. This painting shows Gen Canham, ADC 8th ID, in the German HQ. The German said, “I am to surrender to you. I want to see your credentials”. Gen Canham, like any general officer, did not take this well, pointed to his GI’s, and said, “These are my credentials.” This later became the motto of the 8th ID.
Companies Announce Why They Don’t Want YOU Working For Them Anymore…
This is true. I can confirm this is the case in the United States.
I pulled out a Paetron video for you all to enjoy. It’s the start of the Dragon Year 2024. Please enjoy it, you all. For those who already watched it, please check it out again.
Enjoy this video.
MM discusses a rebuilding of the Reality Universe substructure
A question…
I really enjoyed this but now I have so many more questions!
Didn’t know you still do missions and I wish I knew what “polishing” is…
An answer
I am retired from MAJestic. But I am still active in Domain.
As far as “polishing” is concerned…
“Polishing” is like dipping a piece of fly paper into a thick vegetable soup. Then pulling it out.
The chunky bits all cling to the paper. You then scrape the paper clean (or get a new sheet), and repeat the process.
Over time, the soup gets less “chunky” and full of stuff, and is more like really sluggish and calm water.
Hmmm. I guess it was when my parents were divorcing. My father purposefully put mom in dire financial trouble. He even somehow cancelled my credit cards and cleaned out my college fund which I hadn’t touched yet, even tho I was 21. She was suddenly behind in house payments and taxes, because even tho he said he was paying everything, he pocketed the money for months and years. So, yeah. I gave mom all my savings, dropped out of school midterm and went to work full time to get her back on track. I gave her my entire paychecks. After about a year she was ok again. And karma found the sperm donor and took him down. Story for another time tho. Secondly was quitting my job to care for my mom when she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, which had spread everywhere. She became bedridden pretty quickly I was her 24/7 caregiver for over a year. I wouldn’t let her go to a place where she couldn’t get one-on-one attention. She had every complication possible. Rashes, wounds, meds, diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, everything. She would be confused and call me every 15 minutes for something. She required 3–5 full bed changes and cleanings a day at times. Hospice told me it was the worst case they’d seen in 25 years. But I stayed. Caregivers I hired at $50/hr to get a few hours relief would leave because it was “too much work.” But I stayed. I may have had no outside life, only got 3–4 hours of sleep a night, and was an emotional wreck, but I know I did everything I could have done for her. She passed a few months ago and I’m still riding all the emotions while trying to figure out my life again.
Already entitled and lazy, once she realized that I’m reliable, not stupid and could be trusted to do her work, she started dumping on me. Eventually I was doing her job and mine for four days out of five while she called in either “sick” or “working from home today” or .”out on appointments” or “cold-calling” every day except payday Fridays.
Or one or the other of her children or husband was sick, or had an appointment, or the car broke down. Like she fucking thought I was that damned stupid. Every. Single. Day.
When I complained to her brother the company owner about my overwhelming workload, I was told that I just needed to learn how to prioritize.
Eventually he was spending more and more time on the golf course and dumping on me himself. I became a de facto office manager without the salary, I was running their company for them in their absence on my secretary’s wages. Everything from invoicing, collections, and banking to sales and installation support and inventory to making coffee and vacuuming to painting walls.
Yeah, I quit without notice. And without me, they not only had to get off their asses and do their own jobs but had to figure how I’d spent 45 hours a week, because neither one of them had any idea. Clueless about customer service, answering the phone, taking and filling customer orders, shipping and receiving, reception and typing and filing and billing. Without me they didn’t even know where the vending machine keys were. I guess neither one was smart enough to figure it out, because less than a year after I quit they bankrupted the business.
My supervisor ended up giving $6 haircuts at the Hair Cuttery for tips.
Are ‘Girls Trips’ on Spring Break Okay When Married?
I’m sure there are examples more disgusting than this, but this is the one that sticks in my mind.
I was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard while getting my Ph.D. There was a student in my section who clearly had money to burn and the attitude that the world was his toy to play with. He came to me on the day a paper was due, smiled his expensive Tom Cruise smile, and said he hadn’t gotten his assignment done because he spent Spring Break in the Bahamas, so he’d get it to me when he had a chance. He seemed to think this would be absolutely fine. I told him how much his grade would drop each day it was late, and he shrugged and sauntered out.
Later, close to the end of a semester of this kind of performance from him, I explained exactly how many points he needed on the Final to pass the course.
He didn’t pass.
He then proceeded to come in with a multi-page detailed analysis explaining how I had graded his exam wrong. If he had put that much effort into studying for the test, he would have passed.
He clearly expected me to change his grade and pass him, because otherwise he wouldn’t graduate and would have to take summer school to get his diploma, and he already had a job lined up at his dad’s law firm. And to my amazement, the professor of the course wanted me to do exactly that — either he was afraid of what the powerful lawyer-dad might do if we failed his kid, or he just didn’t want the bother. I had to fight to get him to follow through with the clearly stated consequences for this kid’s actions.
I saw the kid later during the summer term. He didn’t look quite so entitled then.
I was hired by a Director at a software company, she was remote, her team was remote, I was remote, and the team was Project Management (overseeing the implementation of enterprise facility management software). BUT then the Director of the implementation team was more short-handed, so I was given that director instead. Fine. I’d done all of the roles before, I was just happy to be working there, and able to help the clients, and give articulate feedback to the dev team, which I did.
I was the only one on the Implementation team (including the Director) who’d actually been a Solutions Consultant before. Talking to the clients about their needs, importing their existing data, customizing the software to meet their needs, helping them with training, etc. The rest of my team were total noobs. It’s cool, we all had to start somewhere. So, everyone on the team would come to me with questions.
I’d started off as a CAD Manager (dealing with the drafting and design software), so when our tech support team would have a difficult issue with a client’s drawing files, they’d call me in, and I’d help them out. They were SUPER grateful. Like they knew all about their own software, but AutoCAD and Revit are a whole different company, and they weren’t experts.
About six months in, my Director told me I needed to move to a different state because the remote work wasn’t working out. Uh, really? Because my two biggest clients were actually in the same city as me, and I’d been doing this job remotely for clients all over the country for years.
Whatever. I was let go because I couldn’t relocate. (I was in the middle of a divorce, and I’m physically disabled. My kids and I needed family support, and they legally needed to remain near their Dad.)
***The wild thing was, when the head of the support team heard that I’d been let go… he quit.***
He was tired of not having anyone else in the company to turn to for help, and I’d been that person for him, and the clients were all happier with quicker, more effective resolutions, and clear documentation for the knowledgebase.
He and I are still friends. That director didn’t last much longer there either and went back into real estate.
A little background: I was a 13yo city kid. I previously joined the Boy Scouts but having made only 2nd Class, I was invited to leave by the Scoutmaster for swearing. Hey..we were city. Short time later we were snow sliding not far from the tenement and I got the bright idea to pick up a long sheet of scrap metal from a nearby mill. I found out if you pulled the end up like a toboggan you rocketed down the hill. On one run I really picked up speed and my ‘sled’ went out of control spinning and I landed at the bottom covered in snow and laughing. I looked up the hill and a line of my friends were just staring at me. I yelled “what?” and they pointed to my hand. I had gone out wearing a pair of my sisters white wool gloves. I looked at my left hand and that glove was soaked in blood and dripping fast. I stumbled up the hill to try and run home. At one point I knelt and pulled the glove off. I had severed my left thumb down to the bone along with the arteries and blood was pumping out of my body. A friend stayed with me as everyone went to get help. By this time the snow around me was crimson. I was getting dizzy. I knew I was in trouble. I told my friend to find a stick and told him to give me his bootlace. I told him how to tie a tourniquet and told him to keep winding that stick until the blood stopped. He was shaking and crying. I remember telling him it’s going to be all right. The bleeding did stop but there was blood everywhere. I looked up to see my mother running towards me. I remember saying “I’m sorry mommy” and I guess I passed out. I woke up in a rescue and the EMT asked who tied the tourniquet and I said I remembered from Boy Scouts and out again. A week in the hospital and my thumb reattached and today as good as new. One of the things I remembered before getting kicked out of Scouts was First Aid.
In 2016, Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh was a suicide bomber who had explosives in his laptop as he boarded airplane from Somalia,Daallo Airlines.
image 212
He had come in as someone who had difficulty in walking and he claimed his purpose for travelling was health related.
Twenty minutes after taking off from Mogadishu, Somalia at an altitude of 14,000ft an explosion occurred inside the aircraft. There were 74 passengers and 7 crew members on board.
The explosion created this opening.
image 213image 214
He was sucked out of the plane from this opening.
His intention was to kill everyone on the plane, but as fate had it, He was the only one who died.
He was the only fatality and the plane’s controls were unaffected by the blast allowing the pilot able to fly the plane back to Mogadishu safely.
My boss was a prankster so I should have seen this coming.
Not sure if it was April fools but the joke was on me!
I worked for a company based very near Heathrow Airport. One year I booked a three-week holiday to the Philippines with my family.
Long-term car parking would have cost hundreds of pounds, but my boss had a secretary lived nearby. She said I could use their driveway as they would be away too. Just pop the keys in their letter box, bring a spare and drive myself home when we got back since she would be at work.
It all worked fine.
About a week after I got back I had a meeting with my boss. I am a field manager so we used to meet at a local Hilton convenient to us both.
So we meet up and were having our discussion when he excuses himself to go to the loo. He’s away a while so I assume he’s just having a dump.
At the end of our meeting we say our goodbyes, I go off to my car. Its gone! I check everywhere! I’m sure I remembered where I parked it! No it’s gone! Some bastard stole it! My beautiful blue Mercedes C class!
I run back in panicking! I see my boss still packing up his lap top. I tell him what happened. He’s not surprised! He’s laughing!
What?
He waves my key at me !
The bastard had been given my key by his secretary and asked to return it to me . He’d taken the opportunity to move my car to the far corner of the car park! No wonder I couldn’t find it!
When I saw a significant theft on the job, I held off, thinking on the subject until quitting time. As my fellow employee prepared to leave I approached him, saying I knew what he wanted to take and it was in his knapsack. He gave me an innocent look and denied any such thing. I advised him what would probably happen if management “accidentally” found out about attempted theft as he exited the building. Then I explained how he would feel later, how it would probably affect his performance, and what little gain he was going to get -vs- his possible loss of employment as well as a black-mark on employment history.
He stood quite for a moment then explained the item was supposed to be a birthday gift to his son. Sympathetically, I asked him how much he could afford for a gift. He had about half the money he needed if he paid retail price. I knew the owner/manager well so I told my fellow employee to replace the item while I asked what could be arranged.
The owner seemed proud the employee’s son would receive an item his company produced and gave me a reduced figure. I paid the difference, asking the owner to accept the amount the employee had saved. We went to the production area, selected a newly inspected item, packaged it and presented it to the employee who beamed with excitement. Then he hesitated, explaining he only had half the value saved. The owner simply accepted the amount, grinned and told him not to tell other employees about today’s deep discount. The day, and a man’s dignity had been saved.
In my first two weeks after finishing in the training school I was put with Alan.
Alan was a very experienced officer and I was assured I would learn plenty from Alan.
So we are driving down the street when Alan suddenly declares “There’s Fingers Malone. He must have just been released. Sit in the back!”
Alan then pulls up alongside this criminal.
“Hi Fingers. How are you doing? Just got out have you?
“Yeah.”
“Where are you heading? Home?”
“Yeah”
“Well we’re heading that way. Why don’t you jump in and we’ll give you a lift?”
Fingers then gets in the patrol car where I had previously been seated.
“So did you have a bit of a party when you got out?”
“Yeah”
“I bet your old mates Wiry and Doggo were there eh?”
“Yeah”
“Anyone else”
“Yeah, Jacko and Freddie were there too.”
“Here we are King Street. What number was it?
“28”
“Here we are number 28. Right to your door”
“Thank very much. Sometimes I think you guys are better to me than my mates”
“Stay out of trouble”
“OK Steve you can come back up front now. Have you got your notebook?
“Yes” says I.
“Take this down”
“Fingers Malone is residing at no 28 King Street. He is still associating with known criminals Wiry Burns, Doggo Johnson, Freddie Duggan and Jacko Carpenter.”
I was blown away. Alan had skilfully attained information that was highly useful to the collator. (It would now be done on a computer but in those days by paper.)
To illustrate how useful – I took a call from someone who had their tool van broken into and they had noticed a man known to us (criminal) hanging around.
Found that man’s address from the collator sent a car there and it arrived just as this person was unloading his van of a load of stolen tools.
As he was arrested and cautioned his reply was “Fuck me that was the fastest I have ever been arrested.”
After my father died, my mother was incredibly lonely, she was the type of person who couldn’t be alone. My dad, brother and I were never like this. She just never felt complete if she didn’t have someone in her life.
I was a workaholic, and wasn’t giving her the attention she needed, my brother had his own young family to look after. We just didn’t understand how lonely she was, because when we visited, she wasn’t lonely, she had us.
We started going on road trips, and at first she would lose her train of thought, and not be able to finish a sentence. She couldn’t walk a half block without resting.
After taking a three week road trip, and going for a walk every night, she was back to normal.
But she quickly backslid, and I asked her to move in with me. She was reluctant, because she didn’t want to ruin my life. But she said she would give it some thought, and then she had a stroke and died.
For people who don’t get lonely, its hard for us to imagine what someone who does, feels after years of loneliness.
But I finally got it, albeit, too late.
You say you have lived alone for 15 years, and tried everything. Does that include online dating, there are plenty of fish in the sea, especially if you aren’t too picky, and just need someone. Don’t be afraid to contact men, don’t wait for them to approach you. This is how I met my wife. If this hasn’t worked, try volunteering to fill up your empty hours. You will undoubtedly meet other lonely souls, and don’t be afraid to make the first move. All of my long time girlfriends and my wife, approached me first.
“I never even used that pot! It was the morning shift!” – this was the last lie Stefani told me while she was still employed by me, because I fired her on the spot. Somehow everything that happened around her was always someone else’s fault, but people do occasionally lie, so I let it go until she lied about three different coworkers in one day, trying to get them in trouble for no apparent reason.
Stephani was the sole lunch cook in a small store I own, and she was a problem from day one. She spoke to her coworkers like they were dogs, constantly corrected and bullied them even when she was a new hire being trained by them, and she excused it all by saying that she “always speaks the truth and won’t hold her tongue” and “that’s just how she talks, she can’t help it”. She was also a sneaky bitch, because she tried to kiss my ass, but even with me her temper and pathological need to be right would assert itself, and she’d flash out until she got it under control again. With everyone else, she was constantly insulting them, berating them, and lying about them. You might think that it takes more than one person to carry on a feud, but Stephani proved that she could do it all on her own.
Her job wasn’t hard, because sales were low at that store when I bought it and we’re branded by a chain that mostly has ready-to-fry foods. She had to come in and fry chicken, sides, and make a lunch special, and she had to do the occasional burger or sandwich. Other than that she just needed to prep for the following day, and clean the kitchen and the equipment at the end of her shift, which only takes an hour. The other cooks who had worked her shift had all had lunch out on time, gotten the special orders (those the cashiers can’t put together by the hot case) out in a timely manner, cooked until an hour before their shift ended, and left a clean kitchen with food prepped for the next shift. Stefani, on the other hand, couldn’t get the food out on time, and it was always the breakfast cook’s fault for not getting out her way. She had similar excuses for why she couldn’t prep, and when the kitchen was a filthy mess it was always because someone else made it that way.
We cook our own lunch specials but everything else is branded, and those foods have to be made and they have to be made according to certain standards, but Stefani tried to take advantage of my absences from the store (I have other businesses, a full time job, and a family) to stop doing those items and just do her own cooking that wasn’t even selling in this small town. When her more senior coworkers would politely remind her about the way she was supposed to cook, she make arrogant statements like: “Oh, I know how to cook. I don’t cook according to recipes, I do my own, and these people will either eat it or they can go somewhere else”. I knew about her behavior but for almost two months that little store just wasn’t my focus, as I’d mainly just bought it so it wouldn’t be soaking up sales from my bigger store across the road, which meant that she got away with way too much. Finally I got a chance to focus on this store, so at the beginning of the month I had a serious talk with her. I told her what she had to cook, I transferred an experienced cook from the other store who needed a less demanding job for health reasons to cook breakfast at the little one, and I appointed her kitchen manager so she could stay on top of Stephani.
What I’d hoped was that she’d do what this cook asked, especially since this woman gets along with everyone and has an incredibly tactful way about her, but it didn’t work. She doesn’t complain much but when I asked for updates she admitted that nothing had improved. I tried spending more time in the store, and it did make Stephani at least pretend to do what she’d been asked, but pretend is all she did. I had already made up my mind to fire her, but I was short on staff at both stores and in the process of buying a third, so I was going to wait a bit. When she snapped back at me after I once again told her that she couldn’t bully her coworkers, I went ahead and told her that I was going to fire her if she didn’t start getting along with people, and when I found a very unclean kitchen a day later I made it clear that she was out of chances. She went about two weeks without causing any issues big enough for the other ladies to bring them to me (although they try too hard not to bother me), only instead she started to call me about every little thing.
The big store has a general manager who runs it for me, and I’d tried putting her in charge of the little one too but it was too much for her, so those few employees were temporarily allowed to contact m directly. Other than her calls, the only one to call was the kitchen manager and the assistant manager in the store, and that was for serious trouble like a broken walk-in cooler and a fire marshal showing up to inspect us. Stefani called multiple times about little shit even though I told her every time to go through her immediate manager for that, and then she started to call to complain about her coworkers. One time a cashier had told her that she was being mean, which was exceedingly mild and entirely appropriate under the circumstances, but Stephani wanted her fired. Apparently she’d even looked at her smugly and announced that she was about to get her job taken away from her, as she grabbed her phone and walked outside to call me. This was when I reached out and hired someone to replace her, and started to count the twelve days until that woman could start.
I didn’t want her to leave immediately when I didn’t have her replacement yet, so I didn’t tell her. In fact I was just going to send out the new schedule the day before the new cook started, and let Stephani figure out that she was fired, but she couldn’t stop making trouble. Last Tuesday she called and woke me up after my late shift in the ER (the schedule in the store includes my hours at the hospital so they can know when it’s okay to call), to complain that the same cashier who had said she was mean had called her the n-word. She was gleefully happy as she informed me that I’d have to fire the girl now or she was going to sue me, but I was 99 percent sure she had made the accusation up. I’ve never used it to spy on my workers, but my stores have hidden cameras with microphones and speakers in addition to the visible cameras. I had them installed for precisely this reason, to avoid having to fire someone innnocent, and because audio is useful evidence too in case a crime is committed. It took me a while to find their confrontation on the footage and then search out the audio based on the time stamp, and before I finished the assistant manager of the store calls to tell me that a group of regular customers had come in to say that Stephani had started a fight with them outside when she was smoking. According to the men, they had half-jokingly asked why she never had the fried foods out at lunch time, and she’d gotten pissed and told them that she wasn’t ever cooking for them again. When they asked what the hell she meant, she’d banned them from both my stores.
At that point I got dressed and drove to the store, only to find my cook sitting outside in the middle of the lunch rush, smoking a cigarette. She immediately said it was her first break, but having just watched most of that morning on the cameras, I knew she’d already taken at least seven smoke breaks in less than four hours. She comes inside as I’ve asked the other cook if she’d done any work that day and she’s explaining that no, she has not, so then Stephani starts screaming at the other cook – the kitchen manager – that it’s none of her business if she works. I tell her stop, and I explain that Mary is her supervisor so it absolutely is her business. I tell her to apologize and she does that thing where she says “I’m sorry if you thought what I said was mean, but I can’t help how I talk”. When I insist on a proper apology, while I’m also answering an important call, she says something to Mary just out of earshot. I finish my call and ask Mary if she apologized, and I’m told that no, what Stephani really told her was “to mind her own business because people who crossed her had a way of regretting it”. It was my turn to fly into a rage, especially since I’d just seen a text Stephani must have sent just as I was pulling up to the store, one complaining that another employee had been the one who spilt a lot of gravy on the floor she just left it. I already knew it was Stephani because her coworkers knew she’d blame them, and so they’d sent me the exact time so I could easily check the cameras. That and the veiled threat was it, so I was done with this bitch even if I had to cook lunch myself for the rest of the week!
Up until that day I’d never fired anymore in public, but I followed Stephani out into the store where she was getting her some more free coffee, and told her to get her shit and go home. She’d been suspended once before, because of her attitude, so she put her hands on her hips and said: “Really?? You’re suspending me for taking a smoke break?!”. She’s a big woman who uses her body and voice to bully people, so she wasn’t particularly discreet with her question, which meant that her coworkers and the customers all stopped to stare at us. Knowing her it was deliberate, as she likely thought she was about to verbally own me, so the look on her face was priceless when I told her that she wasn’t suspended; she was fired. It was the first time she didn’t immediately snap back, so I actually got a chance to tell her that I was firing her for failing to perform her job, bullying her coworkers, lying, and making false allegations of racism. Once she recovered from the shock she started to argue with me, about the specific reasons, but I told her to get her shit and go home, and I would mail her last check and her separation papers.
She was starting to cry a little when she grabbed her purse and left, but my sympathy is with the coworkers she terrified and tried to get fired! I wish I’d known just how bad it all had gotten, but my employee are great women who didn’t want to bother me unless it was urgent. I’ve made it clear that everything Stephani did qualified as a valid reason to call me, and I’m training the assistant to run the store. A cashier is filling in until the new cook starts, all five employees at that store got a 50 cent raise for all they’d had to put up with, and now that they know about the microphones and speakers, we’re having some fun with them. Last night I played “Haunted House” sounds from YouTube over the speakers, just as the cashiers looked like they were starting to fuck off a bit too much, and their reactions were hilarious. Oh, and Stephani called to ask that I say she was laid off rather than fired, so she could get unemployment. Even as she was asking for a huge favor, she couldn’t stop being a bitch, because she actually went ahead and said: “you know, since it’s your fault if my kids have to starve”. As you can probably guess, I made it abundantly clear that she’d been fired for cause, and that there are plenty of available jobs around here. None of them are paying as much as I do, but she had her chance.
One of the weirdest stories we covered when I worked at the TV station involved a welfare check. The police received a call from the coworkers of a woman who hadn’t showed up at work that day, nor had she called. Coworkers tried to call her but she didn’t answer multiple calls. Normally the cops are not going to go check on someone because they didn’t feel like going to work. But in this case, her coworkers insisted this was not like her, she’d worked there ten years and never failed to show up without calling, and she was also an older woman who lived alone and had a heart condition. They were concerned she might be sick and unable to get to her phone. Given all that info, the police dispatcher agreed to send a unit to do a welfare check.
The officers got to the door, thinking they were probably going to find an old woman who died in her sleep. That happens a lot with welfare checks. Usually they will start by ringing the doorbell or knocking, and if they don’t get an answer, they walk around and look in the windows to see if they can see the person. If they spot someone who’s not responsive despite repeated yelling and pounding, they might consider that probable cause to break in.
But that wasn’t really necessary in this case. They got to the door, one of the officers knocked, and it just swung open. Wasn’t fully closed, let alone locked. The old woman was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, clearly dead and not from a heart attack. She had been stabbed multiple times. The coroner was called, Homicide detectives and crime scene techs came. One of the detectives knelt down to look at the body and noticed something on the wall. It was a name, written in blood. Turned out it was the name of her cousin, who turned up a few days later at a hospital in another state, claiming to have amnesia. She had the dead woman’s ID on her. I seem to recall she was charged with the murder but not how that turned out.
Bizarre story. I always thought it would be good inspiration for a work of fiction, and I did eventually write a short story loosely based on it.
I was at a hospital for some tests recently. The doctor prescribed some medicines and asked me to get them from the in-house pharmacy as they weren’t available elsewhere. I went to get the same and stood in the queue.
The hospital had put a queue barricade for easy maintenance of crowd. The counter was equipped to handle only two people at a time. There was a lady ahead of me in the queue. She was getting irritated for being made to wait and started shouting at the staff. They offered a mumbled apology. Meanwhile she tried to push her way through, even though the previous guy was still waiting to collect his medicines. His hospital file grazed this lady’s arm and all hell broke loose!
The lady started shouting at the poor guy and accused him of harming her. The poor fellow did not know what had happened exactly. He was a very young lad and was cringing at the lady’s accusations. He tried to reason with her and said that he had not budged from his place at all. It was her own fault. This retaliation was unacceptable to the lady and she took it as a serious affront to her! So she started calling for the management and resorted to threats.
However, everyone present there stood by the boy. That was almost a miracle! No one spoke against the boy and instead told the lady to mind her language. Frustrated at this sudden turn of events, the lady marched away calling all of us a bunch of “bumbling idiots”. Yes… her exact words!
What needs to be said out loud? The message that the perception of people is changing. Slowly but surely. Now women can’t expect immediate and blind support just because they are females. If you are wrong, you are wrong. It’s as simple as that. So it’s the need of the hour to refrain from such stunts so that a genuine case of harassment does not get ignored and a victim is not denied help just because some of us decided to cry wolf and made people wary of every female!
I am still thanking the mechanic who told the guy I bought my new truck from that the engine was bad! 2016 Dodge RAM 1500 and it barely had 50,000 miles on it. This was a few years back.
As I drove this truck around on the highway she rode and smelled like new. It had great acceleration and power, and didn’t have the burning smoke exhaust like an engine using oil should have. I look at the oil on the dipstick, and the percentage the computer says left was 40%. If it had blowback, that oil should be really black and smell of exhaust. It was pretty clean and smelled ok. Nothing was pointing to a bad engine. So I thought maybe bearings or something? I quickly check pricing on a new engine core just in case. Heck doing the work myself I was only looking at $3600.00 for an entire brand new engine core. The price he was asking ($15,000) was half its worth of around $32,000.00. How could I go wrong?
I once again told the seller I didn’t think the engine was bad, he was making a big mistake, etc. Nope he already bought a new truck he likes better and he was happy with the deal he got. Ok, I tried, so I hand over the cash and signed the papers. Best decision i have ever made.
Next morning I go out to a chilly 48deg truck. At this temperature if the rods and bearings are bad they will knock like crazy at first start. I turn the key and listen intently. I hear noises, but not rods or bearings. Now Dodge Hemi engines are noisy. Their design you will hear various rattles and ticks here and there. My last work Dodge lasted 390,000 miles and rattled to high heaven. I listen intently to a very loud tick on the passenger side, as the noise begins to fade away. Using my scope i quickly found what I suspected, a leaky exhaust header. Very common on these. A good look underneath confirms several broken bolts. A pain to remove, but nothing serious. At first it did sound like an internal problem, but any good mechanic with a scope should be able to pinpoint that noise or should have known it was a problem.
At this stage we are at 85,000 miles and doing great. I have never owned a newer vehicle before with so many buttons and things to touch. Most of the miles have been cross country to see relatives. So yes, thank you whoever you are! You got me a new vehicle I otherwise would never get for a fantastic price.
My buddy was 17, the legal drinking age was 18, and he would be turning 18 on Sunday. But he wanted a party in the bar Saturday night to celebrate. So we all go down to the small town bar. A good time was had by all, until about 11:00 pm, when the police do a walk through. Being a small town, they notice that they hadn’t seen my buddy in the bar before. They ask for his ID, and he is underage. They write him up an illegal possession of alcohol, the fine is about the equivalent of 15 dozen beer.
This happened a long time ago, so giving dollars wouldn’t mean much.
My buddy wants me as a witness, to say that I didn’t see him drinking, and the beer on the table wasn’t his. I hadn’t seen him drinking, because I had only arrived 10 minutes before, and so I could tell the truth and get him off. There is a different charge they could have used, with a lesser fine, for being underage in a bar.
He is called before the judge, and the police officer is sitting in the back of the court.
The judge asks my buddy how old he is, and he says 18. The judge says. It says here you were found in the bar, last Saturday night and were under age. He says, yes thats true.
The judge asks when was your birthday. My friend says Sunday. The judge burst out laughing, and says a dollar a day fine, please pay the clerk a dollar. My friend says, but I wasn’t drinking, I have a witness. The judge says, don’t push your luck. its a dollar, do you want to have a trial.
Simply known as “The Greatest”, Muhammad Ali had it all – enormous wealth, exceptional good looks, freakish athleticism, and hundreds of millions of adoring fans. According to international polls, it was Ali who finally toppled Elvis as the “The Most Famous Person in the World”. This is his final picture before taking exit from his frail, withered body.
After someone stole his bicycle, a young Cassius Clay decided to “whup the thief”. He never got the chance, but, hoping for the opportunity, took some boxing lessons at a local gym. Six years later, while still in his teens, he would win an Olympic gold medal. And less than three years after that, Clay became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Although somewhat shy, Clay watched professional wrestlers with their outlandish behavior and remarks filling the seats with fans. Wanting to do the same, Ali took on a new persona – the supremely pompous “Louisville [Kentucky] Lip”, drawing attention to a sport that seemed to be struggling with mediocrity and a plummeting fan base. People loved him or hated him. Everyone had an opinion and it was never in the middle of the spectrum.
But, although he kept on winning, something was not right. Punches to the head from George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton were taking their toll. Still in his thirties, and no longer calling himself by his “slave name”, Muhammad Ali, was developing early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. But he kept boxing, even as his disability made every moment a chore.
Eventually, there was nothing left. Ali had no choice. It was time to retire or face the prospect that one more punch to the head might take away his last breath. Dedicating the remainder of his life to charity, it is estimated that Ali provided 22 million meals for the hungry in Africa. Among his many other contributions, Ali became one of the biggest donors to the United Negro College Fund, talked a suicidal man off a 9th floor ledge and negotiated the release of American hostages held by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Eventually, his ailing health would no longer allow him to speak. His body would quake. His brain was damaged, losing its ability to function on virtually all levels. His bladder failed. Ali would have regular bouts with pneumonia and infections in which he could never fully recover.
For the last years of his life, Ali was not able to leave his house. His once agile, quick and strong body capitulated to a much stronger, microscopic virus. It would be his last fight.
In 1983 a German couple was on a holiday in Sicily. They were minding their own business, alternating mornings at the beach with little road trips in the afternoon.
On one of those afternoons coming back from a hike, their rented car broke down. In the middle of nowhere. They got out of the car and tried to push it to the side of the narrow dirt road. The car was stuck in gear and wouldn’t budge. The German couple was happy to see a car approaching in the distance, preceding a cloud of dust. The car stopped and a man flung out, screaming. The Germans did speak some Italian but had a hard time understand what he was shouting: do you know who I am!?
image 219
They didn’t. And worse, instead of helping the wedged his Fiat through the little space between their car and the edge of the road. Metal against metal, scratching the rented car from front to rear.
Later that evening the couple reported what happened to the local police. They described the man who scratched the car and added he was probably famous since he couldn’t seem to understand they did not recognise or knew him. Well the police sure did who he was. After being on the run for three years Masino L. was arrested. The price he paid for asking stupid questions.
Elon Musk’s Frustration with the Biden administration.
I consulted a business where someone in a work uniform took his break at a nearby coffee shop. He was clocked out. He got into a dispute with another customer over something stupid but decided to check all the boxes in his argument. He insulted an old black woman and implied that she needed to practice better feminine hygiene.
The woman took note of the company name on his coveralls and noted it in her police report. No charges were filed, but the woman made sure to contact the business claiming that this man represented their company and she planned to share with everyone she knew that the company hired racist, sexist assclowns.
When we asked the employee about it, he freely admitted every detail, telling us that we “can’t do a fuckin’ thing about it” since he wasn’t on the clock at the time. He was fired on the spot but police had to trespass him and march him out in handcuffs.
To the woman, she had no power over a large, loud man in the moment, but she chose to get her revenge for his disrespect. Employees who are off the clock usually have instructions about how they can conduct themselves in public while wearing company apparel. This is why companies don’t approve of people wearing company apparel in their off-hours, because they can act like assclowns while also serving as a walking billboard for the company that pays them.
Boring most of the time. After I got out of the military I went to work for a small town of 1000 residents. We had three officers, one for the day, mid day, and night. I was chief of police there and took the day shift. Most of the things that happened were an occasional stop sign violation, a domestic once in a while, and just keeping things safe.
Kids were kids, always trying to get a beer or two past me. Not always successful too. When I would catch a minor with booze, I would take them to the office, sit them down and call parents to come get them. However I did not arrest them as here was the deal. Parents and child could decide if I took the kid to jail, booked them in, gave them a police record, and have them spend time behind bars for their stupidity. OR….they could show up each weekend for the next year, Pick up trash in the park, sweep the sidewalks downtown, Paint the fire hydrants, Plant flowers on the corners downtown, etc. I had the prettiest park, corners, and hydrants in the state. The kids learned a lesson and knew if they did it again they would go right to jail, no parents involved. Which did happen I think three times. After word got around in the younger citizens I and my fellow officers were treated with respect and as a friend of the younger people and parents.
The only bad thing I can think of was the small town politics, When I started I was handed a piece of paper with names and addresses on it as to who to arrest, who not to arrest, who to trust and who to do every thing possible to get to move out of town. After reading the list, I tore it up right in front of the city council meeting, told them I do not discriminate, do not do what they wanted, but I enforce the law equally of all citizens.
I lasted there for two years and when I arrested the Mayors daughter for possession of drugs, with intent to distribute ( $75000 worth of meth, $100000 worth of coke, and more, The city council fired me., She still went to jail, found guilty and spent 5 to 10 behind bars. I went on to a sheriffs dept in the same county and later even arrested the mayor of the town on similar charges. After which I was asked to come back to the town to work and I refused.
So small towns are quiet, boring most of the time, but occasionally have some excitement and danger.
. In addition to its civilian population, Santo Tomas became the initial internment camp for both the army and navy nurses, with the army nurses remaining there until their liberation.“
“Capt. Maude C. Davison, 57 years old and with 20 years of service experience, took command of the nurses, maintained a regular schedule of nursing duty, and insisted that all nurses wear their khaki blouses and skirts while on duty. She worked with Josephine Nesbit.”
At Los Baños
“In May 1943, the navy nurses, still under the command of Lt. Cobb
, were transferred to a new internment camp at Los Baños, where they established a new infirmary and continued working as a nursing unit.“
“At Los Baños they came to be known as “the sacred eleven.”
On the Home Front
“While the capture of the nurses was widely publicized in the U.S., little specific information was known of their fate until they were liberated.
, one of the few nurses to escape, published a memoir of her experiences on Bataan in 1943 that concluded with a dramatic reminder that her colleagues were still prisoners.“
“The nurses’ story was dramatized in several wartime movies, including:
“When So Proudly We Hail was shown in the theaters, a recruitment booth staffed with Red Cross volunteers was set up in the lobby.“
Final year of Internment
“In January 1944, control of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp changed from Japanese civil authorities to the Imperial Japanese Army
, with whom it remained until the camp was liberated.“
“Access to outside food sources was curtailed, the diet of the internees was reduced to 960 calories per person per day by November 1944, and further reduced to 700 calories per person per day by January 1945.“
“A Department of Veterans Affairs study released in April, 2002 found that the nurses lost, on average, 30% of their body weight during internment, and subsequently experienced a degree of service-connected disability “virtually the same as the male ex-POW’s of the Pacific Theater.”
“ Maude C. Davison’s body weight dropped from 156 lbs. to 80 lbs.”
A few years ago I’m in Uganda and we drive through a village. Everyone is running out of their houses with spears and machetes (they call panga), knives and pitchforks. So, I ask the driver to stop and ask the mob WTF is happening.
Within a few seconds, we’re surrounded by about 200 people who look fucking mad as hell.
They tell the driver that some dude just stole a motorcycle and that they’re going to hunt him down and chop him up into lots of tiny pieces. Our curiosity satisfied, we thanked them and continued on with the journey.
image 223
Naturally, I had questions for the driver on the way:
if the guy has a bike will they catch him. He says yes. They normally catch people within 24 hours.
I pointed out that the border to the Congo is less than 24 hours away by bike. He says people have tried that in the past and they still get killed.
I ask why the police aren’t going after this guy. He says that the police only catch a guy if they’re paid to. The village is poor and can’t afford the bribes.
And that was that. I had witnessed the beginning of murder, but glad I wasn’t there to see it happen. I know they would have gutted him like an animal. And he must have known this too since he lived in that village. How desperate must that man have been to take such a risk?
When surrounded by a mob and you have a fully loaded pistol, what would you suggest: to fire in the air or fire on people?
If that happened I’d just tuck the pistol in my belt. If the mob is after someone else, they don’t give a fuck about me. If they’re after me, I’m already dead.
Edit: That was the nicest image I could find. A lot of the other ones show the person being chopped up – no censorship. Brutal.
Edit: For those people in the comments trying to turn this answer into a culture war, I recommend you educate yourself about the history of Africa before you call them savages. The most savage thing done to Africa was by Westerners – lest we wilfully forget, yet again.
10k bonus edit:
So, something like this has happened to me before. 1997, Edinburgh, Scotland, during the day. I’m waiting at a bus stop when two young guys come up and offer me a swig of wine. I look at it and say, no thanks. Then they demand, “DRINK IT”. So I take a swig and hand it back. Then one of them comes up to me and says, “Give me all your money or I’ll cut your fucking throat.”
I look down at his hands to see if he has a knife, but he has no hands, just stumps. So I ask him, “how are you going to hold a knife?” He puts one stump behind his back and says he has a knife in his back pocket. Now I only had 53 pence and the bus ticket was going to cost 50 pence, so I told them to “get tae fuck” and walked along the road to the next bus stop while they shouted after me that they were going to murder me.
I just can’t take anyone seriously if they don’t have any hands.
Having been a boss for several decades I feel qualified to give an answer here.
I am smart enough to realise that I am unlikely to attract extremely high intelligence employees to mix detergent! I own two chemical manufacturing companies. So I am talking about normal everyday people with this answer.
For me a good employee is one that is consistent. In other words they produce the same quality and quantity of work/results every day consistently. They are set and forget with little to no effort required from me or their supervisor. I don’t need them to be a superstar. I am happy with them giving me 80% of what a superstar could give me in theory because I know I am always going to get it from them and I can more easily predict business/job outcomes as a result.
This doesn’t mean I don’t try to get them to 85% or greater, of course I try.
The above employee tends to arrive on time and have less than average personal/sick leave too in my experience.
By contrast, the mediocre employee is brilliant one day and off with the fairies for the next three days, then rounds out the week with a day off for a sprained eyelash!
Mediocre employees work output is up and down and hard to predict resulting in far more time spent supervising them. This adds cost and complexity to the business as a result.
So if you want to impress a boss – work consistently. Produce at the same level everyday and try and find ways to gradually improve or become more efficient.
Russia Launch on Feb 9 Causes U.S. National Security “Threat” Today
Five days ago, on February 9, Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, conducted a rocket launch into space carrying cardo for the Russian Ministry of Defense. Today, February 14, Americans are being told of a new “threat” described as “destabilizing.”
Earlier today, February 14, U.S. Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH) head of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), announced to the nation a new “Destabilizing threat to national security” and revealed all members of Congress are now able to go into the secure House Briefing area to learn details.
HPSCI notice
Within the offices of the US House of Representatives is a SCIF: Segmented, Compartmentalized, Information Facility. Anyone entering the SCIF is searched for any electronic devices, which are forbidden. Entrants are also barred from taking any notes. They are “read-in” on the Classified Material and when they depart the facility, they are reminded they are forbidden to talk to anyone about what they have learned under Penalty of prison.
Congressman Turner issued the following notice to fellow members of Congress:
In the notice above, the words “destabilizing foreign military capability.” “Destabilizing” means it is a power THEY have, but which we DO NOT have. That’s what “destabilizing” means in this context.
CNN and other media outlets are claiming this has something to do with Russia. It may.
On February 9th, the Cosmos-2575 Mission was launched by Roskosmos using a Soyuz-2 Rocket carrying an “Unknown Payload into Space for the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is almost guaranteed our spy satellites and ground-based information gathering capabilities have kept close watch on whatever went up.
Based on our current capabilities for intel-gathering, it seems likely (to me) that we now have some idea of what it is — or possibly know EXACTLY what it is. So here we are, just 5 days later, being told there is some new, “destabilizing” foreign military capability.
My personal layman’s FIRST guess: Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) weaponry.
FOBS are space-based nuclear bombs (actual warheads) that can be released at ANY time, orbit the earth several times under their own power for months or years (or just once), then come down anywhere on the planet with ZERO advance warning to the intended target.
A particular city in a particular country would go from happy-go-lucky to vaporized with ZERO warning.
There is no defense to such weaponry.
My SECOND guess:
Iran may now be confirmed to have a working nuclear bomb.
Of course, it is common knowledge that Mike Turner is a RINO, he supports the aid package for Ukraine and Israel (but NOT our own Border), he wants to push the Ukraine support, end of story. SO coming up with some new Russian “threat” may be the impetus to get that passed.
Ukraine sinks another Russian Ship 02 14 2024 large
Ukraine has attacked and sunk another Russian navy ship in the Black Sea; this one the “Cezar Kunikov“ shown in a file photo above.
According to information released by the Ukraine armed forces, “Magura V5” drones sank the Russian warship near Alupka, Crimea as shown on the map below:
Map Crimea Ship Sunk 02 14 2024
Below, after being hit by THREE sea drones, the ship listed onto its side and sank.
Ukraine sinks another Russian Ship 02 14 2024 2
It’s the fourth landing ship from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet that Ukrainian military has sunk since the beginning of Russia’s Special Military Operation. The Caesar Kunikov was a large landing ship with a crew comprising 87 personnel.
BUILT IN 86 ….38 years old
Class and type: Ropucha-class landing ship Displacement 2,768 long tons (2,812 t) standard 4,012 long tons (4,076 t) full load Length 112.5 m (369 ft 1 in) Beam 15.01 m (49 ft 3 in) Draught 4.26 m (14 ft 0 in) Ramps Over bows and at stern Installed power 3 × 750 kW (1,006 hp) diesel generators Propulsion 2 × 9,600 hp (7,159 kW) Zgoda-Sulzer 16ZVB40/48 diesel engines Speed 17.59 knots (32.58 km/h; 20.24 mph) Range 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) 3,500 nmi (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) Endurance 30 days
CAN CARRY 10 TANKS AND 340 SOLDIERS
This Clip Will Disillusion All Young Men
Escalation In Northern Palestine
The situation on the northern Israeli border is escalating. It is likely to soon evolve into a full fledged war. The situation is already increasing the economic price Israel has to pay for its misdeeds.
The international rating agency Moody’s has downgraded Israel’s credit rating. This will lead to higher interest payments on Israeli government debt:
In a report dated last Friday but not issued until Saturday, the Jewish sabbath, the agency officially reduced Israel’s rating from A1 to A2, and added pointers of further downgrading to come. The Anglo-American press immediately reacted against Moody’s.
“Israel hits back”, the Financial Timesheadlined. The newspaper added: “[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, in a rare statement over the Jewish Sabbath, said: ‘The rating downgrade is not connected to the economy, it is entirely due to the fact that we are in a war. The rating will go back up the moment we win the war — and we will win the war.’” In the Associated Press report, “Israel’s finance minister blasts Moody’s downgrade”. Rupert Murdoch’s platform Fox claimed: “Israel has a strong, open economy despite Moody’s downgrade”. “Israel’s creditworthiness remains high,” according to the New York Times, “but the rating agency noted that the outlook for the country was negative… A rating of A2 is still a high rating.”
There are several negative issues that could lead to a further downgrading:
According to Moody’s report, “downside risks remain at the A2 rating level. In particular, the risk of an escalation involving Hezbollah in the North of Israel remains, which would have a potentially much more negative impact on the economy than currently assumed under Moody’s baseline scenario. Government finances would also be under more intense pressure in such a scenario.”
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah reiterated that Hezbollah will continue its border offensive against the Israeli occupation sites near Lebanon border till the Zionist barbaric war on Gaza ends.
“When the aggression on Gaza stops fire will be ceased in South Lebanon,” Sayyed Nasrallah said. … Hezbollah Secretary General commented on the recent threats made by the Zionist defense minister Yoav Gallant who said that the IOF will not stop aggression on South Lebanon even after Gaza ceasefire, stressing that, then, Hezbollah will continue its offensive.
“When the war on Gaza ends, we will stop our offensive. If the enemy resumes its hostilities, we will, act in light of the rules and the formulas.”
Nasrallah rejected western demands, passed through the Lebanese government, to pull back Hizbullah’s forces and to cease fire:
It is Hezbollah duty and responsibility to deter the enemy and prevent the assault on Lebanon, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed, adding that the Resistance responses will be proportionate, yet effective and productive.
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that the hundreds of thousands of settlers already displaced from the North will not be able to return to their homes in case of escalation.
‘Israel’ must prepare shelters, basements, hotels and schools to house 2 million settlers who will be displaced from northern Palestine if it expands the war zone, Sayyed Nasrallah warned.
If the Israeli enemy expands its war zone against Lebanon, Hezbollah will do too, Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized. … “It is easier to move Litani River forward to the borders than pushing back Hezbollah fighters from the borders to the Litani River,” Sayyed Nasrallah said.
More will be announced later:
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that ‘Israel’ has failed over 130 days to achieve any target in Gaza war, except the monstrous attacks on the civilians.
Concerning the Zionist war on Gaza, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that he will address more details about during a speech he is scheduled to deliver on Friday (February 16) the anniversary of Hezbollah Martyr Commanders.
The resistance in Southern Lebanon, has so far attacked:
HQ of the Northern Region Command in Safad.
Command HQ of the 91st Galilee Division in “Branit”
HQ of the 769th Eastern Brigade in Kiryat Shmona.
Meron Air command and control base
Beit Hillel IOF base
Training camp in Kela, in the occupied Golan Heights
Ma’ale Golan IOF base on Mount Hermon
Most artillery positions along the rear front and military concentrations
Every single border military IOF sites
All of these attacks carried out by the resistance confirm that all military and fire pressure and Israeli threats will not deter it from continuing its operations. The resistance is proceeding with full confidence, first relaying on God, and then its military capabilities, the spirit of its fighters, and the resilience of its people.
The Safad headquarter site was only hit this morning. This followed after more Israeli attacks had hit civilian structures in southern Lebanon.
URGENT: #Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets targeting an army base #Israel’s northern city of Safed. One reportedly killed & eight wounded, one in serious condition. The IDF said some of the rockets hit the Northern Command headquarters base in #Safed, some 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the Lebanese border.
Hitting Safad was a (mild) escalation after previous attacks.
Unlike the daily Palestinian victims of Israel’s brutality, the Israeli casualties of the strike created headlines in Israel:
An Israeli woman was killed and eight others were wounded as a barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into Safed and an army base in the northern city, the military and medical officials said.
In response to the attack, the IDF said it launched “widespread” airstrikes in Lebanon.
There was no immediate claim for the rocket fire, although it was believed to have been carried out by the Hezbollah terror group, which has been launching daily rocket, missile, and drone attacks on northern Israel in recent months, saying it is doing so in support of the Hamas terror group in Gaza, against whom Israel is waging war.
The Israel Defense Forces and Safed’s municipality said rockets hit an army base in the area, some 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the Lebanon border.
The casualty count on Israel’s northern border is still very uneven:
So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in six civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of at least nine IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 194 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 29 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and some two dozen civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.
If Israel does not evacuated more settlers, at high economic costs, the casualty ratio is likely to change.
The Lebanese Hezbollah expert Amal Saad, who is currently teaching in Cardiff, Britain, explained Hizbullah’s thinking:
There are several messages behind Hizbullah’s qualitatively different strike on Safed this morning, which Israel is treating as the gravest attack since the start of the war, with Ben Gvir calling it a “declaration of war”.
At the forefront, is Hizbullah’s message that it won’t capitulate to Israeli and western demands that it cease hostilities across the border, as per Nasrallah’s speech yesterday. It’s also a response to several Israeli assassination strikes in South Lebanon, reaching as deep as Sidon.
But the timing of this escalation also appears to be related to Netanyahu’s scuppering of the Paris cease-fire proposal and his government’s threats to invade Rafah, which in turn, would make a full-out attack on Lebanon more likely. Hizbullah is giving Israel a taster of the type of strikes and casualty tolls its military will have to bear, should Netanyahu continue to reject a cease-fire.
Predictably the Israeli occupation forces responded to the strike on Safad by escalating further:
The Israeli military said Wednesday its fighter jets “began a series of strikes in Lebanon”, raising fears of a war between the two countries after months of cross-border fire.
The military gave no further details of the air strikes, while Lebanese media reported air raids on southern villages including Adchit, Sawwaneh and Shihabiyeh.
The strikes came hours after fire from Lebanon wounded multiple people in northern Israel, according to medics. … Fears have been growing of another full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, with tens of thousands displaced on both sides of the border and regional tensions soaring.
“I don’t know when the war in the north is, I can tell you that the likelihood of it happening in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past,” Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi said last month.
Following the last Israeli strikes, the Lebanese side said that four civilians had been killed or wounded by them.
The increase of hostility is getting to a point where there will no longer be the question “if” another war between Israel and Hizbullah will occur but only the question of “when”.
Posted by b on February 14, 2024 at 15:23 UTC | Permalink
Yes. This past week. She is a lot older than me but our personalities clicked. We met at work and were really close for 7 years. We both left the department we met in for new jobs but still met up every month. I supported her through breast cancer. Then we both got offered promotions in our old department. Both accepted and were so excited to be working together again. She started a month before me and struggled to settle back in, feeling old colleagues were freezing her out. I comforted her as she sobbed down the phone to me and helped her talk things through with them. Then last week I started back. One particular colleague was very angry I was back as I had given evidence in a bullying case against her involving another colleague and she got very nasty, even refusing to sit beside me in the office and screaming at caretakers to move her desk on my first day. I was very upset and intimidated. I shared my feelings with my friend. Her response was that SHE didn’t feel any toxicity and I needed to just stay away from people. Also she and this woman had now bonded because they were both new grandmothers. I was crushed and texted her about it later, saying I was hurt by what she had said. Her response was to tell me to never text her again. Fine. I figured I’d leave her to cool off and then maybe we could talk.
A couple of days later I developed chest pains in the office. It was early morning and my manager wasn’t in so I left a message on her desk and went for an Emergancy GP appointment. He sent me straight to the hospital. On the way there I was trying to get through to our office to let my manager know what was happening, but couldn’t get through on the office line. So I phoned my friend, told her I was having an emergency and couldn’t get through and asked her to tell the manager what had happened.
She said no, she couldn’t do that. And then hung up. And blocked me.
And now I’m done. Because whether we were fighting or not, I would have taken the call and helped her.
Thankfully I’m ok, it was just a torn chest muscle and pluerasy but I learned that day that some people only like you when you’re the one carrying them. And frankly, she doesn’t deserve my friendship. Don’t waste time trying to heal relationships with people who don’t value you.
Japanese-Peruvian Marino Morikawa found that his childhood lake was contaminated and decided to put his master’s degree and Ph.D. to work. His goal was to change a plant-covered, unsanitary swamp into a place that animals and people could use.
He began by taking a break from school and taking a loan from the bank. He wanted to create something that could clean the lake. He had to use several different methods to get there, though, and research took 6 months.
One tool he tried was microbubbles. Microbubbles are tiny bubbles invisible to the naked eye. Morikawa put them into water. As they traveled up, they caught diseases and other harmful elements, acting like a spider web. Once they finally reached the surface, the bacteria were killed and the bubbles were destroyed by ultraviolet lights. Unfortunately, bubbles take hours to rise due to their size.
Another tool he used was biofilters. Biofilters work by bringing foul pollutants to the surface of a lake while leaving clean water and useful organisms at the bottom. He made his ceramic biofilters by himself in a pottery class.
Eventually, Morikawa created an organic nanotechnology compote to clean dirty water. The compote was so natural that it was even edible! Morikawa admits that it is quite expensive, but he believes that it is worth it.
To use it, one simply had to put it in dirty water and wait for about 15 minutes. This is what the water looks like before and after treatment:
image 224
Look, I’m on TV! Hi mom!
Once he had done the hardest part of the work, he was ready to clean his lake. Using homemade biofilters, the compote, and science, he was able to clean the lake in 15 days (although other sources say that cleaning the entire wetlands took 4 months).
As a result of cleaning the lake, people, over 40 species of birds, and 10 species of fish came back to inhabit it. This man should truly be respected. His efforts are not for money or fame; he simply wants to make the world a better place.
And he still wants to do more, zoning in on other polluted lakes and prioritizing Lake Titicaca. With his intelligence, passion, funding, and ingenious technologies, I think he may just be able to do it.
Nana’s Spinach and Sausage Pies
This spinach pie is a family recipe passed down for generations. It stems from a traditional Greek (or in our case Albanian) recipe. It calls for homemade crust, and is truly wonderful when the time is taken to make it from scratch! But if you’d like you can substitute homemade crust for store bought Phyllo dough.
My grandmother would make this spinach pie every New Year’s day. She would wrap a quarter or silver dollar in wax paper, and place it near the crust. Whoever received the lucky dollar would be blessed with good luck for the year! Before you start baking, mark the quarter with a toothpick so you know where it is and it stays in the slice. Cut the pie, take the toothpick out, and randomly provide everyone with a slice. Everyone uses a fork to poke through their slice to find the lucky dollar. Don’t start eating until you find the lucky dollar, or it could become an unlucky choking hazard!
If you’d like to skip making your own dough, purchase Phyllo (not country style) dough for this crust. It’s more and more common in grocery stores these days. It can be very thin, so use up to 10 layers on for your crust.
For homemade dough mix flour, salt, water for dough with your hands until soft. Knead for 5 minutes. Then place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 10 minutes.
Divide the dough in half, roll it out until thin and spread with melted butter well. Fold the sides to the center and butter again. Now fold one half over the other and butter and fold in the opposite direction until you have a 5 inch folded square formed. Butter the top and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 12-15 minutes (or overnight if you’d like) and do the same with the other half.
Now it’s time to make your filling! Just add all your filling ingredients into a bowl and mix well to make your filling.
Remove your dough from the fridge and roll out to the size of your square or round buttered pan. A 12–15-inch pan is perfect. Place the dough on the bottom of the pan with a ½ overlap around the edges. Add your filling and cover with more dough. Wrap the edges of the dough into a crust and bake uncovered at 350˚ for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a bit crispy.
I will never forget my wonderful Nana Tefta, and all the ways she showed her love. Cooking this family recipe and giving us the joy of finding a lucky quarter was just one of the many ways she did that.
2024 02 13 17 09
Ingredients
1 pound sweet Italian sausage links, casing removed
10 to 11 ounces piecrust mix or 2 (9-inch) deep dish pie crusts
Instructions
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Crumble sausage in a medium skillet and brown meat over medium heat, breaking up with a spoon. Drain on paper towels.
If using fresh spinach, bring a large pot of water to a boil and put spinach in water. Boil 1 minute and drain; squeeze dry.
Separate 1 egg. Combine 5 eggs with 1 egg white, sausage, spinach mozzarella, ricotta and pepper and set aside.
Prepare pie crust mix if using. Lay 1 pie crust in pie pan and spoon mixture into it. Lay another crust on top and flute with a stand-up edge. Carefully cut a 2-inch circle out of the top crust.
Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water and brush on top of pie. (Can decorate with scraps of dough.)
Bake for 1 hour, 10 minutes until golden and bubbly. Check crust after 1 hour and put foil on edges to prevent over-browning.
Let stand for 10 minutes and cut OR chill uncovered until cold; cover and refrigerate until serving cold.
When I was 15 our cleaner invited our whole family to her wedding and reception. We were friendly with her as she’d given one of our puppies a home when our dog had a litter, but we hadn’t known her long. Being 15 I didn’t really want to go, but my mum said we wouldn’t have to stay long and we would just go for the reception, dance a bit and come home. It was in the Town Hall, a big, grand room in the nearby town.
When we got there we saw the bride and groom dancing, but hardly anyone else in the room. My mum checked the time thinking we were early or late but it turns out no one had turned up! There were my parents, my two brothers and me, and then no more than 7 other people in this huge, heavily decorated room with a large buffet that would have fed around 100 people.
We felt bad for the bride and groom so tried to make up for the lack of people by dancing and eating a lot, but they were acting as if it was totally normal. They seemed to be having a really good time. After a while a couple of people left and the 5 of us in my family made up half of the guests! I felt very awkward, and instead of staying an hour or two we had to stay the whole night, all the while pretending we were having a great time.
We found out later the reason no one had showed – it turns out that the bride and groom had been married before. In fact, they’d been married and divorced 9 times! The reception we went to was their tenth wedding… which explains why none of their family and friends wanted to waste anymore time on them. A match made in heaven! I wonder if they are still married, or how many more weddings they’ve racked up now…
Putin on the Collapse of the Dollar as the World’s Reserve Currency
I was at a thrift store, just looking around for anything interesting.
Standing in the entrance area was a mother with a baby and a toddler, and a large toy chest she had just purchased, which was sitting in her cart.
Thus she had a dilemna.
The baby was too small to walk, so she had to carry the baby. The toy chest was too big to carry one-handed, and too big to allow the baby to sit in the cart with it. Even if she could carry the baby and the toy chest, the toddler’s hand needed held in this busy parking lot.
What to do?
The thrift store was especially busy that day. People walked in, gave her situation a glance, and kept walking. She stood there for at least five minutes (which doesn’t seem very long, but it seems like a long time if you’re just standing there), occasionally trying to pick up the chest. Not a single person stopped to help.
A family walked into the store. They all gave the woman a glance and kept walking, just as the others had.
Well, most of the family kept walking.
A teenager slipped away from the family and went up to the woman.
“Hey. You need some help?”
The teen carried that toy chest all the way to the woman’s car. I saw the woman pull out her wallet, and the teenager backed away, waving their hands.
Any show of kindness is great in the eye of the recipient.
One and only time I ever left a job because of a boss was when I was doing software engineering at a major aerospace company on contract.
The direct manager was a micro-manager and apparently didn’t have a life outside of work.
He would take home the code listings of that day’s work from his team members to do “code reviews.’
The next morning you would get back your listings with “suggested changes” in red pencil.
You would dutifully spend the first half of the day coding and testing the suggested changes then try and make some new progress before turning the day’s listing back to the boss.
The next day it would start all over again except, more often than not, the day’s “suggested changes” basically had you putting the code back to the way you had it to begin with.
I implemented my own code management system so I could easily roll back changes.
I lasted all of a year before finding a new job.
When I became a people manager some years later I used the experience as a life lesson of the kind of manager NOT to become.
The Pathology of America: Dehumanization, Greed, and the Decline of Empire
The last few years have been years of miscalculation for the West. Big things have been planned and put into action, and failed.
All the wars, all the sanctions, all domestic and economic ‘initiatives’, and all responses to what the adversaries have done are failing or have already failed.
In fact, the failure of any venture by the West has become almost guaranteed.
This has a lot of people scratching their heads – they simply can’t fathom how this can happen.
At the same time the real goals of the western political class have come under increased scrutiny.
Everything they do seems to be designed to make things worse for western societies on all levels, including economic, social, health, and so on and so forth. Why, exactly, is that?
-Gaius Baltar
At every level, under every measurement, the United States, and it’s proxy nations are all undergoing collapse.
Not just starting to.
No.
They are in full late-stage free-fall.
It is a true laugh when the Western propaganda says that China is “going to collapse”, yet it is the West that is so blatantly obviously collapsing.
…
China DOES NOT WANT to best, or best, or rule over the United States. It really doesn’t. The Chinese just want to live their lives peacefully.
The problem is not with China, nor the Chinese people. The problem lies with the massive, just massive levels of incompetence in the West.
…
As the ship burns, the people fight each other on the deck of the ship… as the explosions shake the vessel, and fires appear out from the gloom, the ship continues to sink into the depths of the dark icy unforgiving sea.
China, and the Chinese cannot stop it.
But… but…
…The life boats have all been looted years ago, dry rot has crept in, and they are completely worthless. The Captain, is muttering something about liking pudding for dinner, and the executive officers are all looting everything that isn’t nailed down.
You would think that someone would be on the wireless trying to ask for help, but the copper wires were cut and sold for profit decades ago. BANG! Another firefight on deck…
BANG! Then, CRASH!
There’s an open commotion on deck…
…
China looks on with great sadness. Americans who have rowed away from the sinking Goliath hang their heads in shame and sadness… but most of the people on the vessel don’t realize just how dire the situation actually is.
A seaman points to a point on the horizon. “See” he yells over the din… “It’s Russia’s fault”. Another person punches him. “No! You fool! It’s China’s fault” as he peers though a telescope.
…
The water is reaching the deck. The lights are still on.
And suddenly everyone hears this massive noise from the bowels of the vessel….
…
Did I miss anything?
China doesn’t want to beat the USA. They want to help, but there is an old saying… “never get involved with a crazed old man with a gun”.
China is just standing aside and watching the ship sink into the cold, cold ocean.
No work, anger everywhere, and even the most basic tenements of society; families, relationships between men and womem are completely off the rails. In fact, when you watch the videos herein, you see exactly how bad things actually are.
They are frightening.
The old games, so routinely employed by the West; “color revolutions”, “wars”, economic coercion, and so forth… no longer work.
And it is all boomeranging back to the United States. And it’s really bad right now.
Centuries worth.
I think that it is important for you here in mm land to see how bad things are. Watch all the videos, no matter how boring or distasteful they are. And then finish with the last video… a AI generated trickle of hope for a renewed past.
I was taking classes at a private uni here in Thailand so that I could better understand my adopted country. I had been living and teaching here for around 20 years at this point.
In most classes, I was waaaay older than the other students and older than 90% of my teachers.
I was an oddity: Thais are not into continuing education for older people (except some master’s and PhD programs), and the classes I attended were all regular BA/BS classes. In addtion, I am a foreigner.
The classes were in English, presented by Thai speakers of English.
One Sociology professor was NOT happy that I was in his class. When I asked a question or when he glanced at me, his face became cold and stern. At times, he openly disparaged my questions and comments, feigning being affronted, even though I was careful to use neutral language.
I did my best to let it and the stares of my classmates go; I was there to learn.
He handed out photocopied reading materials (the class had no assigned texts) that were often beyond the reading abilities of the Thai students. My offers to help were silently rejected (???) , so I stepped back.
But then he gave us a 10-page reading, written (in English) by an Indonesian scholar that even I couldn’t understand.
Some pages were totally filled with only one, single-spaced paragraph that included only very, very long, compound-complex sentences, using jargon specific to sociology. The organization was convoluted.
I am an avid reader, plus I taught academic and business reading, but I could not decipher the writer’s main points.
So I went to the professor for insights.
What I got were snide remarks about my inability to read my own language.
Big mistake. Huge.
I apologized for my inability to understand the concepts and jargon of his field (inflating his sense of superiority); he looked very smug.
Before I continue, let me say that the apology and the way I further responded was learned from watching Thais and how they expertly handle situations. I had learned that attacking works against me since confrontation is very much frowned upon here.
The apology was not sincere. It was to make him feel comfy, in control. Inside I was seething, horrified that a professor would treat a student who was asking for help in this way.
Knowing he was a misogynist, I acted submissive and said (eyes lowered), “I have taught reading at A.U.A. Language Center and at Chulalongkorn University (Thailand’s #1 uni), Mahidol (Thailand’s #3) and am at Sasin (Thailand’s #1 business school). I have prepared students who ultimately studied at Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge and other top unis, but I guess I’m not good enough to understand this scholar. So I am asking for your insights.”
When I looked up as I asked for his insights, I saw that the smug sneer had been replaced with (satisfying) shock.
I maintained submissive, respectful body language.
Pointing to the introductory summary, I asked if the scholar meant XXXX. Silence.
Still not looking at him, I then asked, “What was the focus of the first portion of the paragraph?” There was more silence and then a hesitant, half-axxed answer, so two more questions followed with the same kind of inadequate responses.
I now knew he had not read/ analyzed the reading himself.
I didn’t say a thing. He knew that I knew when I looked at him directly and said nothing.
I then thanked him for his time, gave a polite ‘wai’ and left.
At our next class, he announced that after a conversation with ‘Ajarn’ (Professor) Verneita, he had decided to remove that particular reading but replace it with a clearer, 2-page one.
What just happened?
He gave me respect by calling me ‘Professor.’. As far as most people knew, I was a student.
He also showed respect when he recognized me as part of the decision process.
Replacing the original document was to show that he was still in control and that he was being kind to the students.
He was protecting himself by doing all of the above.
If I complained to admin, he could say that he had listened to another professor (me) and had acted in the best interests of the class. (If he had shown disrespect to me in countering, he would have lost some admin support).
Also, if I had complained, I would have been judged as disrespectful towards a professor who had openly shown ME respect.
This game-playing is a part of a very complex culture that is often perceived as being simplistic by those who don’t speak enough Thai to understand the nuances or who would prefer to not analyze what goes on.
If I had been a simple young student, the story would have been very different.
5 years ago, I was 29 years old. I was married and heavily involved in an “end of the world” cult and actively went door to door in the hope of recruiting members. My wife and I were born into this cult, we knew of nothing else. We believed that the outside world was evil, corrupt, dangerous and controlled by Satan. At 29 years old I had only a high school education as university is considered “dangerous” as it encourages critical thinking (something the cult doesn’t want it’s member doing).
Then, in April 2014 something happened…
My daughter was born.
Suddenly a lot of thoughts came racing into my head at the same time.
If she needs a blood transfusion, I’d be expected to say no and let her bleed to death. I would never do that.
If she ever left the cult I’d be expected to completely shun her and pretend she’s dead. I would never do that.
If she ever shows talent or aptitude I’d be expected to force her to suppress them and work for the cult for free. I would never do that.
If she ever wants to go to university I’d be expected to report her to the leaders and convince her not to go. To even be ashamed if she ever did go to university. I would never do that.
She won’t be allowed to celebrate her birthday.
She won’t be allowed to be taught about other religions.
She’ll be told about Satan and the end of the world and I’d be expected to teach her fear and about an angry god who will kill her unless she’s a Jehovah’s Witness.
I will only be allowed tell her about the cult and how we’re right and everyone else is wrong.
Seeing my child in my arms, I saw a new start. This was a person with no preconceived ideas, no bias, no loyalty to anyone or anything. I decided right then and there that I loved someone more than even god himself.
That was a real mindf**k on its own.
You see, we were conditioned to love the cult and love god (who can only be worshipped through the cult) more than our own family and more than ourselves. In fact, if anyone leaves the cult we’re to shun them. But here I was feeling this feeling, this overwhelming feeling of complete love for someone – even more than the cult.
The fact that I’d disobey the cult and allow blood transfusions and allow freedom of thought told me that maybe I didn’t really believe the cult. At this stage I secretly told myself that I believed 80% of it.
Fast forward, 2 years later after a lot of research and being honest with myself and others I left the cult. Immediately I lost my entire family and “friends” that I’d known since birth. My then-wife took our daughter and went to live with her parents (who are also cult members). Fortunately, in the real world we have lawyers. I ended up getting full custody of our daughter, in part because my then-wife admitted she would allow the cult to make medical decisions for our daughter whereas I always said I’d do what’s necessary to keep her alive and healthy. I was open and accepting of other people whereas the cult isolates and vilifies non-members. I also signed up for university to study Psychology and counselling, specialising in cults and high control groups.
My wife and I then got divorced.
In another 2 years I completed my undergraduate degree. My ex-wife left the cult too after seeing how happy and easy my life was compared to hers. Also, our daughter would openly say things that didn’t make sense to her which got my ex-wife thinking. Things like “Nana doesn’t talk to my daddy anymore. I would never stop talking to you – I love you”. And “If someone said I could live forever but without my daddy I’d tell them to go away”.
A year later (5 years now), I’m a Psychologist and therapist who’s helped 4 people on Quora leave the Jehovah’s Witness cult, ended about 25 “bible studies” that people were having with Jehovah’s Witnesses, helped concerned relatives who’s family were studying with the cult and in person helped many people. All for free by the way. I also work as a models photographer and have my own business that brings in a steady income. I could make money from counselling but I choose not to as people need help. I wouldn’t want to profit from helping people leave high control groups.
I also helped two lesbian couples conceive a child and they both gave birth this year.
My daughter is a happy, well adjusted person who never has to fear being shunned by her parents – her cousins, unfortunately, can’t say that about their parents.
My husband and I both drove school busses in Claxton, Georgia several years ago. I drove special needs busses during the school day, and was a substitute driver for the morning and evening driver’s.
My husband was given the worst, or hardest bus route . The one that nobody wants because the inner city with the poor and rough kids. The one’s that are basically raising themselves in the streets. Michael was having a hard time from a few of the student’s on his bus. Especially the high school aged kids with all those hormones going crazy.
My husband had to have a surgical procedure, and he had complications which kept him out of driving for about two weeks. Man I hated driving that bus! Our supervisor had to drive it the most while I was driving for someone else.
My husband had to have a mesh up in for a surgical hernia, it took11 incisions to tack it in.
When Michael went back to the job he was trying to tell our supervisor that these kids were getting worse and the situation was escalating. And even went so far as to finish his route, and stop by the board of education to speak with the head man over the school system. ( I’m getting tired and can’t think of the technical name of his position) about the situation.
Nothing was done to help him out. The following morning a sister, and brother that Michael had been writing up, and had suspended off of the bus started in on him as soon as they had gotten in the door. With the older sister cussing at him, and her brother started by trying to grab up the fire extinguisher to hit him. When he couldn’t unlatch the fire extinguisher the boy grabbed up Michael’s tire bat, and struck him over the top of his head.Michael knocked the boy off of his bus, shut the door and called the police.
Michael was accused of using too much force and assaulting a minor. And was told to quit or be terminated,.
The following day we both resigned. Michael was kept off,and I worked off a two week notice.
We ended up spending $2000.00 retainer fee for a good attorney in Statesboro. And the same attorney also ended up working for the school telling staff how to handle situations like this without getting into trouble.
I will never work in the school system again.
Chase (another answer to everyone’s big question…)
The U.S. owes the entire world a lot of money. The biggest creditor nation by a very long shot is Japan. Not China! In fact the owner all the debts the US has is not payable in a hundred years without the U.S. printing money and selling more debts to pay just the interest it is compelled to pay!
What is it simply don’t pay up! It sounds nice to a white racist guy who thinks from a racist superiority complex mindset right?
Well it is call a debt default. The U.S. will then either not get credit anymore or has to pay an astronomical premium in interest to borrow money! That will destroy the U.S. dollar and the US economy to the point of hyperinflation and a run on U.S. banks.
That is not a good option is it? If you are intelligent which I suspect you are not! Why don’t you ask why does the US becomes so indebted to the world and the U.S. government do indebted to its own American people?
It is no different from you who spend as though there is no tomorrow and borrow money from everyone you know to sustain your expenses. You basically don’t make anything that anyone wants! To earn their money but wants a shining new toys everyday. That is what the US does. It wants to spend more on weapons than the next 20 nations put together? Can it?
Yes it can but it will bankrupt the U.S. that U.S. precisely what happened over the last 50 years or so!
I had a friend who was working in an office in Atlanta when the “snowpocalypse” rolled through.
The day before, a great many people in the office wanted to work from home when the storm hit. Their boss was from Michigan and threw a fit, saying a few inches of snow was no excuse and that anyone who failed to come in that day would be fired.
Well that day came, and the traffic accidents were horrific because guess what, it’s not about the snow but is about the people who drive in it. Everyone in the office struggled to get in but they were there… except for Mr. Bossman. That idiot called in due to unsafe conditions.
So the entire building walked out at lunch and worked the rest of the day from home. When the boss tried calling the office no one was there and he was furious, promising retribution.
However, when Corporate found out that he had caused the ENTIRE BUILDING to walk out, they got rid of him immediately. They knew the truth; it doesn’t matter what skills a manager has, if he creates a toxic environment then he drives away the real talent and value of the company, the employees.
Tomato and Bread Salad (Panzanella)
This is best if you use very ripe tomatoes.
2024 02 15 09 51
Ingredients
4 cups 1-inch pieces stale Italian or French bread
2 medium tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
1/3 cup snipped fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons snipped parsley
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Mix bread, tomatoes, garlic, green pepper, basil and parsley.
Shake remaining ingredients in tightly covered container. Pour over bread mixture; toss. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
I was going to kill myself. I had my suicide planned out. I was going to get some dry ice, it’s heavier than air, and fill my room with it, get really drunk, lay down on my bedroom floor with my cats and suffocate in my sleep.
I’d gone from having everything… a beautiful wonderful wife, job, bought a house was going to start a family. I’d started school again to finish that engineering degree that I put on hold decades ago.
Then, my wife left..not just left but assaulted me violently, cheated, went completely berzerk. I found out later she’d stolen money from work and bet on a horse, Smarty Jones, that was a “sure thing” to win the triple crown that year. She was facing prison time.
She thought she could get enough money out of me to buy herself out of trouble, so burned through attorney after attorney. A two year marraige turned into a 4 year divorce. I was broke, well over $30k in debt to credit cards and the university. The utilities were overdue, mortgage was overdue, the bank was sending people over putting chalk marks on the door getting ready to foreclose and evict me and my cats into the street.
So, I was concerned about how I was going to be found. I started getting “funeral attire” ready. I’d mail a letter to the local police, they’d get it after I was gone. It would explain everything.
While ironing my jacket, I noticed the collar was worn. So, I put an iron-on patch on it to make it look better. The patch didn’t match the color of the jacket and really stood out. It looked like a hobo’s jacket.
That’s when I noticed how worn all my clothes were. And I realized I’d be found wearing rags. I was more ashamed of that than anything else. So, I decided to think on it for awhile…after all, did it matter if I died today, or in a few days, right? And, I still had a few bowls of homemade soup..don’t want those to go to waste?
That began the process of me assessing what I had to work with, versuse dwelling on what I had lost. I felt like, somehow, if I could just spend some time thinking things through, I’d come up with something. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but, I felt better.
Then, a coule of days later, the letter came.
It was from the Government. Not good I though, from the DoD..even worse.
I opened it thinking “Well, I was going to kill myself a few days ago, that’s still a viable option”….and read it.
It said “Dear Mr. S. We’ve found an accouting error in your pay for your service while deployed. We owe you $5000. If you would like it, please go to this website and enter your banking information”.
“IF I WOULD LIKE IT”?!?!….shit….
So, went to the website. Entered my banking info and ssn, etc. by the end of the week, the money was in my account. It got me through school long enough that by the time it ran out, the Post 9–11 GI bill had come out, and that paid the rest of the way through school. Now I’m a big shot engineer with a giant house and a fridge full of food.
It’s been 20 years now. I still have that jacket. I want to keep it so someday I can be buried in it.
This Graphs Proves What Married Men Already Know
i tell you what boys it really does pay to educate yourself on female psychology.
I literally laughed out loud at this, and loudly, because it’s so completely absurd to say that it really is morbidly hilarious.
We are not a supporter of democracy at all. Our elites don’t even want democracy here, let alone anywhere else. We have toppled so many democratically elected governments and replaced them with dictators on the CIA payroll that I have literally lost count of them all. We are supporting a coup in Venezuela right now, to overthrow Maduro, who, like him or not, was elected more fairly than Trump and is certainly far more popular in his own country.
The reason why we are against democracy everywhere is that if third world countries are under the control of their own people then they might refuse to sell their resources to our military-industrial complex. We invade them to steal the oil and metal that we need to make more weapons that we can use to invade the next country.
If British Imperialism was brazen and naked, then American Imperialism wears nothing more than a g-string.
Even the allies that we call “democracies” like Turkey, Israel, and now Brazil under Bolsonaro, are really just fascist police states who are not much better than the worst government in the world, our main ally, Saudi Arabia, who we are currently assisting in their genocide of the Yemeni people.
Most of the terrorists and dictators in the world have had US backing at some point. (North Korea is more like the exception that proves the rule.) Reagan allied with the Taliban and Al Queda in Afghanistan. We helped to found ISIS and we’re still funding and arming them.
Elliot Abrams is an expert on and veteran of committing genocide and now Trump wants him in his cabinet. Ilhan Omar called him out on it, but she got smeared as supposedly “antisemitic” because she opposed Israel’s purchase of her congressional colleagues. That got a ton of press coverage, but her grilling of Abrams? Not so much.
You can’t enforce democracy at the barrel of a gun. Don’t be naive as to what guns are used for.
This New Study Makes Women Look SO BAD!
The conclusions in this is DAMMING for the Western society.
A friend had divorced her husband. She had discovered, while pregnant with their first child, that he was having an affair. One month after she gave birth, he moved out. He and the girlfriend were seen all around town. On weekends when he had the baby, people would see them out with the girlfriend, treating the baby like he was hers.
My friend’s ex would not leave her alone. He wanted the girlfriend, but he also wanted his ex. After eighteen months of this, my friend called me. She was going to remarry him. She asked me what I thought. I knew she wanted her family back together. But I knew he couldn’t be trusted.
So I hedged my answer. I asked her, “What are you going to think when he comes home late from the gym? (That was where he met the girlfriend) What are you going to think when he starts walking outside to talk on his phone? What are you going to think when you call his office and his secretary can’t tell you where he is? And he isn’t answering your calls? Please, please just consider all this.”
She told me she would. Then she went with him to the local Justice of the Peace, and for the second time, married him.
They moved into a beautiful new home. There were hiccups. Basically, his drinking. But they stuck it out. She got pregnant. Triplets.
A few years later, I got the call. She was seeing the signs. Going outside to take phone calls. Disappearing from work. Not taking her calls.
She figured out who the girlfriend was. She filed for divorce. What made it worse was, she discovered he had been having multiple “mini” flings with various women. All whom she knew.
During a conversation with her, she asked me, “Why didn’t you stop me from remarrying him?”
I told her the truth. “You didn’t want to hear it.”
This is the reality.
A 25% tariff makes the United States seem to be 25% than it actually is (actually, it’s more like 18% but you get my picture.)
Resentment toward the military had existed during the war and intensified as the war situation deteriorated for Japan toward the end. To understand this, it is necessary to understand the circumstances that engendered such resentment.
Long before Pearl Harbor started, rationing had begun in 1940. The commodities subjected to rationing were rice, sugar, salt, matches to enable the government to build up stocks in anticipation of siege. Austerity became the way of life. Geisha houses were closed down. Neon lighting in Tokyo’s famed Ginza district was turned off. A monthly family fast was introduced.
Starting in 1944, American submarine blockades exacted a heavy toll on Japanese economy and the lives of millions of Japanese civilians. Being an islands nation, Japan depended heavily on imports to sustain industrial production and for survival by imported foodstuffs. American submarines prevented most of that from reaching the home islands. Daily Japanese calorie intake, only 2,000 before Pearl Harbor, fell to 1,900 in 1944, and would drop to 1,680 in 1945. By contrast, British daily calorie intake never fell below 2,800, even in the darkest days of 1940–1941. An American soldier in the Pacific received daily calorie intake of 4,758. This resulted in malnutrition which led to beriberi and made people more susceptible to other illnesses. Productivity dropped as workers were hungry. Absenteeism mounted as factory workers went seeking out foods for their families instead of going to work. Another reason for absenteeism was to avoid being killed by American bombs dropped on urban industrial areas.
But while civilians endured hunger on a continual basis, the rich and the armed forces ate heartily because the militarists wanted to continue fighting and so soldiers had to eat. Thus, civilian resentment toward the military developed.
Moreover, starting from 1944 onwards, American B-29s launched from the Marianas and Okinawa razed Japanese cities to the ground in a ruthless incendiary bombing campaign, destroying large swaths of urban areas, killing thousands to tens of thousands while rendering millions homeless. Japanese air force proved incapable of stopping American bombers because of all American B-29s lost over Japan, only an inconsiderable percentage of the losses were due to enemy action, the rest were due to mechanical failure, poor weather or accidents. It had a massive psychological impact on the Japanese. No one could fail to be impressed by the spectacle of hundreds of silvery B-29s streaming in the sky raining down death and destruction with near impunity. The very awareness of American bombers attacking with near impunity and the inability of the Japanese air force to stop them intensified the anger and distrust civilians had toward the military, a proof of military impotence. They must have wondered why the military could not protect the home islands and civilians from enemy attack. Yoichi Watanuki, a schoolboy bitterly said to this mother: “Surely we have lost the war because our soldiers were not good enough. They told us a Divine Wind would come and it didn’t. They lied to us, didn’t they?”
As a consequence, when Japan submitted to unconditional surrender, civilians who had endured years of hardship and exhaustion showed undisguised contempt toward former members of the military.
Many repatriated veterans were ill-prepared for the poor treatment dished out at them upon returning. Communities that had celebrated their departure with parties and parades and supplied them with comfort packages and “thousand-stitch” belly belt did not welcome them back. After all, they were losers who not only had failed to defend their people and country but also had the audacity to return home alive. In addition, haunted by the humiliating defeat and the horrific consequences of the war, many Japanese civilians were desperate to forget everything associated with that painful consciousness; and shunning returning veterans who reminded them of that consciousness was a manifestation of that attempt to forget the past.
Those who returned from Soviet captivity were treated with suspicion on the grounds that they might have been subjected to intense Communist indoctrination and turned into covert Communist agents. Now that they had returned, there was the concern that they might support and engage in subversive Communist activities in Japan.
Following defeat, military discipline collapsed and servicemen stationed in the home islands deserted their units. Many of them, both officers and enlisted men, engaged in looting military stores for their own uses. When destitute civilians who had almost nothing saw military men with something, their resentment and anger toward the military only hardened.
What’s more? The influx of repatriated veterans was accompanied by an influx of information about wartime atrocities committed by the Emperor’s soldiers. Once civilians became aware of the atrocities, ex-servicemen found themselves regarded not just as men who had failed disastrously to fulfill their duty but as despicable criminals who had committed war atrocities. References to glares of withering contempt and disgust that acquaintances and strangers alike directed at them became a familiar occurrences in veterans’ letters to the press. As a side note, despite revelations of atrocities, it never developed into a truly widespread popular acknowledgement of Japan as aggressor and victimizer rather than as victim because of censorship by MacArthur’s administration. (See more here: Werner Hermann’s answer to Do the Japanese have shame for the military crimes committed by their army in the 20th century (like the Nanking incident, for instance) like the Germans have shame for theirs during World War II?)
This predicament faced by veterans was best expressed in the following excerpt published in the Asahi on June 9th 1946 which poignantly recounted his depressing homecoming:
I returned to Japan from the southern regions on May 20. My house was burned, my wife and children missing. What little money I had quickly was consumed by the high prices, and I was a pitiful figure. Not a single person gave me a kind word. Rather, they cast hostile glances my way. Tormented and without work, I became possessed by a devil.
Indeed, many veterans, homeless and destitute and without support, turned to black market or other illicit activities to survive.
Veterans with disabilities were doubly stigmatized, having lost the war and their mental and physical faculty. Back then, physical handicaps and mental illness were taboos and those afflicted faced discrimination or indifference prevalent in Japanese society. As a side note, many maimed veterans, having no where to turn, defied those taboos and flaunted their disabilities and, more acutely, their pain and hardship by wearing white clothing and begging in public. In Tokyo, such tragic outcast figures haunted public places until the late 1950s
This wont be what you want. I am only 60, therefore I am only old to some, not to most. Today, 60 is the new 40.
5am get online and see the latest news.
530am make coffee, a must
600am – we live in the country or for you that don’t call it that in your country, outside the city limits is what we call country. Another thing that makes our language hard to learn. So I go for a walk and take it all in, the fresh air, the scenery, all of it.
8am I heat my place by wood stove so if I need to I will grab the chainsaw and cut down a dead tree, then cut it all up, load it, take it back and stack it.
(I rarely eat breakfast) so 11am I clean my house because its the way its always been, a messy place bothers me, so a lot of touch up cleaning.
12pm, lunch and computer time, usually 2 hours.
2pm go to town and get stuff I need for the place, and barns, feed for the horses, groceries and pay bills.
4–5pm nap time usually for 2 hours or so.
6pm maybe crack open a beer or three and watch the sun go down and again, take it all in.
7pm, back on the computer, its how we see the world in these times and then I will write, something like I am here or do something on TicToc. Maybe YouTube and then write the kids that are 1000’s of miles away.
9pm usually ready for bed, watch some TV and then lights out.
11pm, up for a snack
Midnight, out until 5am
You know, it differs from day to day, but thats a typical 24 hours.
Apparently Gen Z is Lazy and Doesn’t Want to Work Anymore
For me it is what they consider to be important and how little they are prepared to do to get it, back when I was working in the office for the ambulance company I was treated to the “You old folk have it so easy, you have your own house, I would love a house but I just can’t afford it!” So after a while I grew tired of this and said “Okay! Let’s talk maybe I can help.” So I got on to “Let’s look at where your money is going, after all if you want to buy something you’ve got to check your money”. So the first obvious expense was the shiny new beamer £400 a month, then there was the holidays one all inclusive to the Caribbean,£2,000 give or take and one to South Africa 2,500 there, then we get onto the little regular things, every morning they would come in with a Starbucks and a pastry, ok only five pounds a day, 25 pounds a week shall we say a thousand pounds a year. Lunch from the sandwich truck that used to come around every day, about £10 a day.£50 a week two and a half thousand pounds a year. Saturday night and Friday night out with the friends they weren’t quite sure how much they spent then but thought it was about 75 pounds each night. 150 a week so call that 6,000 pounds a year give or take. Takeaways three or four nights a week, you get the picture. So I gently pointed out to them how I saved up the money to get the deposit on my flat, cycled into work, got up 15 minutes early, made myself a sandwich and a thermos of coffee, no car, no Friday and Saturday down at the pub and then on to the restaurant, I spent my holidays on my bike cycling round London. No takeaways I cooked my own food, didn’t go down to the football on Saturdays, Wednesdays or whenever it was on. No sky television package just the standard five channels. Didn’t buy any books went down to the library instead. You would have thought that I had threatened to rape them with a broomstick, absolute horror! “How can you expect us to live that way?” And my response was “That is how I lived to get the flat, I decided what was important and I decided that a place of my own was more important than holidays for five years, getting pissed for 5 years, and so on.”
And they still didn’t understand that sometimes if you want something important you have to give up something else!
I got a front-row seat to a usually calm and gentle, older customer service consultant, refer to a caller as “a heinous f*cking b!tch”.
Decades ago, I worked in an insurance call centre. On one of my shifts (it was slow so calls were sporadic), I was sitting next to another consultant and heard her pick up the call. This is basically what I heard (she was wearing a headset and I could only hear one side):
“Welcome to X——X Insurance, how can help you? … … Yes … … ..Ma’am I understand but If I could just… … … yes, I understand you’re upset and I want to help you but if I could just … … … I’m happy to help you but I need … … … I can’t give you that information without … … …”
Her face had gone bright red in a mixture of anger or frustration. She had a very grim look on her face but she gritted her teeth and bore with the caller.
“I’ve worked here for a while Ma’am … … … I’m unable to give out information without verifying the caller … … … Yes, I can put you through to my Manager. Please hold.”
She hit mute on the headset cord unit, turned to me and said. “Oh. My. God. What a heinous f*cking b!tch!!” … then her face went from red to completely white and her eyes snapped down to the mute button… which wasn’t lit.. and the call continued…
“I’m so sorry Ma’am. Yes, I can put you through to my Manager immediately. Please hold.”
This time she double-checked the hold button.
image 210
Image source: Yours Truly.
Not double-checking the mute button before cutting loose to a fellow consultant on the heinous b!tch nature of a d!ck caller is the most atrocious amateur move from someone who’d been working in customer service for as long as she had.
Always check the mute button.
FINAL NOTE: She took her headset off and ran over to the floor manager to explain, then put the call through. The manager took it in her office… it went on for a while. Then she called the consultant in.
I have no idea what the content of the inbound call was (the consultant wouldn’t say) but the company pulled the call recording… and the consultant never received a verbal or written warning for her faux pas although she was cautioned to be more professional when dealing with problem callers in the future.
This was the worst experience I have ever had trying to get married. I was raised Catholic, but was not going to church anymore. My cousin was a Catholic priest and was going to do the ceremony as a gift to us.
My cousin had left the Jesuit order and was freelancing while teaching at the local university. He called me 5 days before our wedding to say the local priest told him he could not do weddings in “His” parish. He reported my cousin to the bishop.
He said he could not afford to get in any more trouble, so he asked me to get permission from the local priest where we lived.
We were going to be married in my mother’s rose garden.
I went to the local parish and explained what I want to do and the priest said “absolutely not”.
I asked why and he said. “I will not permit a sacrament to be performed in an un-sanctified place,”
I said, “you mean that this brick building is more holy than a rose garden”. Probably not the wisest thing to say.
I agreed to do a quick ceremony at the church then to have a party in the rose garden, but I wanted my cousin to perform the wedding. The priest said no. When asked why, “I don’t know your cousin.” to which I replied, “But I don’t know you.”
I finally agreed to do it his way. As I was about to leave, he said. “Is your intended a Catholic?” I answer no, so he said that she would have to go to the six-week course to prepare for the ceremony in the church.
I replied, “But she went to 12 years of Catholic school, what are you going to teach her in six weeks that she doesn’t already know?”
He said, “That’s not the point; there are rules.”
So I ask him what his suggestion was.
He said to call off the wedding.
I was livid, I was so angry with the stupidity of the situation.
I went over to my father’s house and told him what was going on.
After a minute, he said, “I have a solution.” He called my cousin and it was all set.
We had a beautiful wedding in my mother’s rose garden, with my cousin doing the ceremony. The only difference was that my father stepped forward and asked the only required part: “Do you take this person to be your spouse.” My father was a judge, so he could legally do the honors. No one understood the significance of what my father did, he also signed the marriage licence. No one can prove that my cousin married us.
That was one of the last times I had anything to do with the Catholic Church.
I was at a friend’s wedding. The rituals were through and the guests proceeded for food.
We were seated at a longish table. Apart from us pals, there were some other people present at the table. Probably some relatives we thought.
We got our food from the buffet and sat down to eat. There was a middle aged lady seated next to me. She tapped my shoulder and asked me if I could help her. I asked her what was the matter.
She had served some tandoori chicken and noodles for herself. Though armed with a spoon and fork, she was lost. “What am I supposed to eat with a fork and how to tackle the leg piece with a spoon?” she asked. I hesitated to reply. Telling her that her cutlery usage was not quite right for some of the food items she had selected seemed rude. We were using forks and knives for our food, but it was different as the items were boneless. But the explanation might have come across as condescending. So I asked her to eat as per her convenience.
“Use your hands if that seems comfortable” I offered.
“But all are so sophisticated here. They’ll look down upon me. I come from a small village. We don’t use all this at home. I’ll be an embarrassment for my cousin.” This is when I realised that she was the bride’s relative.
I was in a fix. That lady was so sweet and so vulnerable. Her concerns seemed so heartfelt that I did not know how to react!
I decided to do what I thought was the best solution. I ditched my own cutlery and started eating the starters with my hands. Asked her to follow suit and enjoy her food. And she did so… with a bright sunny smile. I taught her how to use a fork too and she enjoyed the slippery adventure!
I didn’t care if we were judged that day. I enjoyed my meal with a stranger. A stranger who did not try to hide her vulnerabilities and instead chose to be herself.
A Beijing tour guide said she had received several friends from Europe over the past month because of her work, and their reasons for coming to China varied:
Some of them are skeptical about the China reported in the Western media, so they want to come here to see for themselves how China really looks like.
Some of them are interested in China because they have heard the descriptions of some foreign friends who have been to China, so they want to come to China to have some fun.
Some have lost confidence in the future of Europe and feel that it is difficult for young Europeans to find a way out no matter how hard they work, so they want to come to China to look for opportunities.
After these European friends came to China, the two words that often came to their lips were “kindness” and “hope“.
The Beijing tour guide said that she took her British friend to eat at Haidilao, where the clerk sang a birthday song to the birthday person, strangers sent their blessings to the birthday person, and the birthday person cut a cake and gave it to strangers to share with them. The British friend was very shocked to see these scenes and praised China for its special sense of humanity. Humanity – The Chinese call it “人情味”.
The Beijing tour guide took his Italian friend out for a shopping trip, and the Italian beauty was pinching her fanny pack on the way, because in Italy, you may encounter pickpockets at any time when you walk on the street. The Beijing tour guide told her to relax, said he was a girl alone in the early hours of the morning through the park to go home are very safe.
The Italian beauty was shocked when she heard that she could not even think about this kind of security environment. After a day of shopping, the Italian beauty marveled at the safety of Beijing, saying that none of the strangers who came over to say hello to her along the way were there to steal from her, but only out of curiosity and goodwill.
The Beijing tour guide took a German couple out to play, the German man working in the German media, before coming to China several times, this time is to bring his girlfriend to China to travel.
The man told the Beijing tour guide that he was of mixed German-Moroccan blood and his girlfriend was a second-generation Arab immigrant, and that they were often treated differently in Germany because of their bloodline.
The man lamented that he worked in the media and that the Western media always preached so-called equality, but racism between people was actually very serious. China, which is constantly attacked by the West, is actually doing much better than the West in this regard.
Another European friend who traveled to China said that only in China can you see deities of two different religions coexisting in one temple. Some temples have a Taoist temple in the front and a Buddhist temple in the back; others have a Buddhist temple in the front and a mosque in the back. This phenomenon of religions coexisting rather than being hostile to each other is rare in Europe, but commonplace in China.
image 208image 207
He even saw Uyghur Muslims organizing shamanic ceremonies. 🤣 (Don’t be ridiculous or surprised. The Persian Turkic Mongol Timurid Dynasty established the Mughal Islamic Empire in the Indian subcontinent, but in fact the Mongolians’ own religion was shamanism)
image 206image 205image 204image 204image 203
The Beijing tour guide said that when these European friends came to China, they generally found China kind and full of hope, which is very different from the image they had been indoctrinated with before.
There is a lot of inequality and hypocritical double standards in the world controlled by the West, and China’s rise is equally significant in reshaping the world landscape, not just for the Chinese.
This wasn’t so much a verbal comeback as it was physical.
I was driving to work one day and happened upon a proper lunatic driver. He was in a BMW convertible, top down, weaving through traffic, consistently cutting extremely close to other cars. There were lots of scuffmarks on his bumpers that I’m sure were from hit and runs.
Anyway, as I’m entering a junction, he weaves around me, through the shoulder, into the merging lane and almost clips a Volkswagen’s front bumper. He shoots past me, forcing me to swerve across the yellow line and into oncoming traffic. Thankfully I was able to avoid a head-on collision by a few feet. There was decently heavy traffic at this point, so BMW man ended up staying right in front of me, stuck on a 2-lane highway behind a line of cars in front of him.
Now I grew up in this area (Flagstaff), so I know all the roads by heart, and I knew that we were approaching a low spot in the road where there was always a giant puddle after rain. The last few days had been a torrential downpour, so I knew that the puddle would be nice and huge. When we got close, I dropped a gear in my lifted Toyota and gunned it on the dirt shoulder. I came right up next to BMW man right as I hit the puddle and sent a tsunami of dirty puddle water into his white interior. He slammed on the breaks, and I then merged back onto the road in front of him. He found a spot to pull over on the side of the road and that was the last I ever was of him.
As I continued on, the driver of the Volkswagen behind me rolled down his window and gave me a thumbs up.
So, I guess that would be the best comeback that I’ve used on somebody. Not a single word was exchanged, although I’m sure that BMW man had some fine words for me on the side of the road.
The Debt Can’t be Repaid – So What will Happen Instead?
When I think about police officers I generally get sick to my stomach. That sickness is immediately followed by an urge to argue with or challenge a police officer.
When I search my heart for an answer as to why I don’t like the police, I can’t find one. I have no reason to not like police officers — I guess the thought of (seemingly) absolute authority pisses me off.
I just asked three questions a week or two ago that highlight (in asshole fashion) how I feel about the police. I wish I could take them back — but I can’t. I learned something from asking them, though.
My last real run-in with the police happened on September 11th, 2017.
I woke up early for work. Dillon and I left my house somewhere around seven am. I heard a voice — I had an itch — I wanted heroin — my mind was made up.
At lunchtime, I made the call and manipulated Dillon into stopping at Sheetz so I could get a “burger.” I met my dealer and got bags of heroin instead.
I shot half of a bag in the bathroom and the monster was let out.
A few hours later I overdosed in a Starbucks parking lot. Dillon called 911 and my girlfriend, his sister.
The police arrived and I was unresponsive. They administered several (I think six) shots of Narcan.
The feeling of coming to was absolutely horrible. My entire body felt like I got stomped on repeatedly by Godzilla, eaten by him and then pooped out — explosively.
On that day, the police saved my life. While I was lying in a hospital bed just after I overdosed, I thought about the cop who saved me. I remembered every run-in I had with the cops, and between me and you, each and every time they saved my life.
Whether they took me to jail, dropped me at rehab, cuffed me or Narcan’d me, they saved my life.
I truly would not be here if it weren’t for the Boys in Blue.
To any cop who is reading this — thank you for your service. You save lives and it matters. You saved mine.
This is a real, unaltered, photograph of my face as I write this answer. What do you see?
I see the deep bags under my eyes – I haven’t slept well in months, not since class started again. My face is pale, my skin dull. My hair, which I normally painstakingly take care of, is pulled back in low pony. I can’t remember if I brushed it today. My eyes do not radiate with life – in short, I look exhausted.
I’m in my third year of my degree, and I’m feeling the strain and pressure. My body is tired after nearly three straight years of gruelling coursework. My mind is slow, it’s hard. I call my parents for support. I tell them how I’m feeling. My mom provides this sentiment:
“One day, you’ll be able to have a house and a family and this will all be worth it! You won’t have to worry anymore!”
I politely accept her answers, tell her I love her, and hang up. Then I throw my head in my hands and cry.
With my generation, there are no guarantees.
I would, honestly, love to be able to afford a little house. A car. Share it with someone I care about. Maybe have a dog, work at a job I can, at the very least, tolerate.
Put food on the table and clothes on my back. Maybe, once every two years or so, take a vacation to some place new, and when the time is right, start a family.
This is the life I’m supposed to earn in obtaining a STEM degree. A life of comfort – not an extravagant, jet-setting life – but a life where I don’t have to worry about tomorrow.
I’m not even guaranteed to get a job when I’m done my degree.
It is one thing to push a boulder up a hill for four years, to be rewarded with it rolling down the far slope once you reach the peak. It is entirely another to push a boulder up a hill for four years only to have it roll back over you.
I try to explain this to my parents when I can, but they don’t understand. I don’t blame them. It’s a horrible truth that too many people refuse to swallow.
That’s why my generation is so unhappy. When I talk to my friends – other 20 something’s, just struggling to survive – it’s always the same.
“I think one day, I’d like to have an apartment to call my own. I’ll rent it, obviously, because who the hell can afford to actually purchase a house? I’ll take the bus to work, cars are too expensive. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll think about getting a dog, if I can afford it.”
That’s what life is reduced to.
I have friends who, would, when they’re older, love to have a family. My best friend would want two kids. You know what she told me?
“Of course I’d love a family one day. But I’ll never be able to have it. Kids need food, time, and toys. They need to feel safe. But even with my income, and the income of my partner, we’d never be able to pay for school, and a car, and a house! A life of penny pinching is not what I want for my kids.”
It broke my heart.
We’re sad because we will never be able to afford the lives of our parents. We’re sad because we see what’s coming – the planet is dying, rich assholes are being elected president, people are being murdered – the world is so hard.
And nothing is guaranteed.
Edit
I wasn’t anticipating a response like this! Wow.
To add a few details:
I’m Canadian, not American. I recognize this means I have some advantages over Americans (healthcare, mostly). Doesn’t mean life doesn’t have its difficulties!
In no way am I advocating “giving up”. I’m still busting my butt everyday. I am, however, pointing out the flaws with the current system.
I do not expect life to just become “easy” after getting a STEM degree. I’m no more or less entitled to opportunities than anyone else. You know what would be nice? To be able to get a job in my field after getting a STEM degree.
Are Women Aware That Most Men Are Invisible To Them
I used to work for credit union. I had been a loan officer at my previous credit union job, but at my new job they didn’t have an opening so I was a teller. The existing manager was going to be retiring, and I was told when I was hired that I would be then eligible for the loan officer position because everybody would be moving up the chain.
When the manager retired they put an ad out for the loan officer and when I questioned my manager about it, I was told well you don’t have a degree and you cannot have a salaried position with the company unless you have a degre I reminded him of our conversation when I was hured and he looked at me and smiled and said oh yeah, we did say that, but we were desperate for a teller.
In the end, they ended up hiring someone who had a bachelor of arts degree in something ridiculous like French literature but because she had that piece of paper she was qualified where as I had 3+ years of experience in the position wasn’t.
They then wanted me to train her to do the job that I have been doing while waiting for them to hire someone the meantime, the job that I wasn’t qualified for.
I gave them my two week notice. When I didn’t show up 2 weeks later they were in disbelief because they never thought I would actually leave.
I Treated This Starving Skinny Mother and Daughter to Beef Bowls Every Day and…
It happened to me about thirty-two years ago on a public bus. It was very crowded, and I was among the unfortunates standing in the aisle. A large male hand came from behind and squeezed my right breast very painfully. I hollered, “Filth! Get your hand off my breast,” as loud as I could. Some other people, at first women, then men, yelled too. Someone told the bus driver to stop at the police station, which was near by.
This was many years ago, and Israeli society had a very strong communal ethic of mutual help. (It still does, but in a different way.)
I said never mind the police. The guy was so embarrassed I doubted he’d try that trick again. The driver open the doors and yelled at him to get out. He did. I seem to recall a couple of people getting off with him, but I really don’t know if that is true or just wish fulfilling embroidery.
Women and men, girls and boys: if someone touches you in a way you don’t desire, yell at them! Embarrass them! If they continue, fight! You can do it and you should do it. If you have to hurt them, hurt them. It is self-defense in the purest sense of the word.
FedEx mechanic started with 5 8.0 hour days at O hare airport. Then the workload changed for tractors, trailers and dollies. We mechanics were given the choice to work 4 10 hour days and have 3 days off. Most of the mechanics chose to work 4 10 hour days and have 3 days off each week. Easy choice.
Panera bread – baker again due to workload and having 3 bakers. The 2 girls got Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I was the senior baker and worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This became problematic with 30 hours instead of 40 hours a week so I left.
Now I do real estate work for much better pay. $50 an hour. To me why anyone would choose to work longer hours at lower pay is beyond stupid… Most people don’t know any better.
Just consider the people that work for Walmart or other retail long hours, low paying jobs, no insurance and no benefits. Just dumb.
I left Walmart for 4 times the pay as a mechanic.
I looked around at Walmart and saw many associates lived in a trailer park or multiple people to an apartment.
They complained allot yet did little to nothing to change their situation.
When I was manager of a truck stop fuel desk I hired a couple……I thought she was terrific and comanager and I were considering grooming her for leadership. I wasn’t thrilled with him but I needed a lot porter.
I didn’t want her to walk and thought if I don’t hire both of them she would reject any offer. So, against my best judgment i hired both of them.
It was a disaster.
One afternoon she was ringing up a driver and the driver harmlessly called her “dear”. He was within earshot and stopped the guy as he was walking out. He got in the guy’s face and said “I heard you hitting on my girl in there…..If I catch you doing that again I’ll F&ck you up!!!”
My co manager and I immediately took him to our office and yelled at him…..we told him not only was he fired but he was to leave the premises immediately!! We also got two other employees to escort him out.
Once she found out she burst into the office and cursed us out. She said we had no right to fire him and if we didn’t rehire him she would walk out and quit.
We didn’t stop her
Roasted Pepper Salad (Pimentos Assados)
2024 02 15 09 49
Ingredients
6 large green, red or yellow bell peppers (or combination)
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon coarsely-ground pepper
Instructions
Set oven to broil or 550 degrees F.
Arrange peppers on rack in broiler pan. Broil with tops about 5 inches from heat, turning frequently, until blistered on al sides, about 20 minutes.
Place peppers in plastic bag; seal bag. Let stand until peppers can be peeled easily, about 20 minutes.
Remove skin, stems and seeds from peppers. Cut peppers into 1/2-inch wide strips, and place in nonreactive bowl.
Shake remaining ingredients in tightly covered jar; pour over peppers.
Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.
In November of 1985, a few months after graduating high school, I went off to Ft Dix New Jersey to do my basic training, then off to Ft Eustis to complete my training. I volunteered to go to Korea as my first duty station. Lo and Behold, when I got there about September of 1986 (My MOS training was 32 weeks!! try spending your first 9 months in the Army as a trainee!) I was assigned to the 2nd infantry Division in the small town about 15 miles South of the DMZ. Our company commander made it a point to visit with all new arrivals in his office to explain the map of S. Korea. Apparently in 1986 the Korean War cease fire was still in effect. What does that mean in English? In 1953 the North and South agreed to a cease fire NOT an armistice! There was always the possibility of War reemerging again. Every time we had an alert, I couldn’t help but think of the possibility of being real.
What was my job?
68J10 Aircraft fire control systems repairer: basically the Armament guys that load up bullets on the AH-1 Cobra Helicopter. Better known as the Red-headed step-children of the Aviation branch, or among combat arms people as a REMF. That’s an acronym for Rear Echelon Mother-F… Er, … uh.. back to the story…
After an uneventful year in South Korea I went state side, spent 18 months at Ft Polk and reenlisted for orders to Germany. The Cold war was still on and president Reagan wanted troops in Europe. But, the fact of the matter was, we were still playing a dangerous Chess game with the Soviet union, and there was the possibility of war. I had a chance to be reassigned a little closer to the Eastern Border and found out that my new unit the 11th Armored Cavalry regiment was basically a speed bump in the event that the soviets invaded through the famous Fulda Gap.
Of course it never happened, but now we are in 1990–1991 and the gulf war came.
There were 2 corps of soldiers in Germany, V and VII corps each with an armored cavalry regiment, more armor, infantry and all the necessary support staff. VII corps went to the gulf and everyone else stayed behind, less a few units of the 11th that went to Turkey for Kurdish relief. I was always ready to do my job, and at one point, talking to my father over the phone my father, a cheery Louisiana country boy who never showed too many emotions said in his thick SW Louisiana accent:
“Son, I wish you comme home back to your momma an me and git out the army!”
He was scared for my safety – I guess I had a great Uncle with PTSD from WWII and it worried him.
I reassured him I’d be ok.
Out of 8 years in the Army the most danger I ever saw was probably flying with some crazy Viet Nam vet helicopter pilots
– oh and maybe one or two particular nights of GI partying, but we won’t go there!!
I left the Army in 1994 and a few years went by. In 1997 I mentioned I was a veteran and some little punk Challenged me! (I’m still not happy about that)
After 2001 everything changed and people react differently to Veterans now.
Vacationing down in Branson, Missouri while watching a stage show, they asked all veterans to stand up and be recognized. It felt strange.
I happened again in Church during Veterans day. It still felt strange
While visiting down in Texas with my wife’s uncle Frank, a WWII Navy veteran assigned to protect the merchant marine fleet. I listened to his stories for quite a long time. I eventually confessed to him how humbled I felt to be counted as a veteran with those that really saw “Action”.
He smiled and told me to remember this:
“All gave some, some gave all”
We all rose our right hands and made an oath. We all served in some capacity, great or small to be something bigger than what we are alone.
And as the years roll on, My heart has a feeling for those young men – younger than me that come back from war, and we veterans have a type of empathy that cannot be explained to those that did not serve.
Don’t think less of a REMF or the guy that was in the Motor Pool working on an old truck- or the person that slopped some food on your plate at the mess hall.
We all pledged to answer the call
“All gave some, some gave all”
Western Woman Shoots Her Shot Then Gets A Quick Reality Check; Men Just Don’t Care Anymore.
I got let go by a large enterprise software company in one of the stupidest ways imaginable…. I was in the middle of a multi-week project for the US Govt and was flying back and forth between my home and Tucson, AZ on a weekly basis….
Friday afternoon, I’m on my way back home, and as I get a coffee in the Phoenix airport, my corporate card doesn’t work…. I get a call shortly afterwards from HR saying that I don’t work for them anymore…
I ask politely if they had my assignment for the next few weeks covered, particularly the next week, as I was supposed to be in Albuquerque teaching a class for one of our partners. I rather rudely get told that it’s no longer any of my concern, that I need to get home and complete my final expenses…
Sunday night, I get a call from one of our Partner Managers wanting to see if I made it to Albuquerque ok and to go have dinner to discuss the schedule for the week…. I tell him what happened and you can hear him go white over the phone. He is -pissed-. This partner has pulled their entire Sales Engineer staff in (~20 people) for this class. I tell him it’s beyond my control.
he’s still mad and says he’s going to call his boss. Less than a minute later, I get a call from my former boss yelling about how I didn’t tell him about this training class, and that he doesn’t know who’s going to teach it. I calmly state that it’s been in my weekly status report for the last 8 weeks, when it was originally scheduled, and that if he wasn’t reading my status reports, that’s on him.
long story short here: the class didn’t happen. The partner sued my former company for several million dollars in lost revenue and additional expenses for bringing their staff in ‘for nothing’…. My former boss lost his job shortly afterwards, and I do think it was related…
UPDATE: my former boss did, in fact, call me back at close to 10pm my time to try to get me to take it as a ‘contract gig’ so the partner would be happy. I told him that it would be $1000 per day plus expenses — first class airfare, etc… — with a 5 day minimum. Oh, and looking at airfare, I can’t get there on Monday now, because the flights are already completely booked. I can fly Tuesday morning and make it happen…. He checked with the partner and that wasn’t acceptable (which I already knew, because I’d asked the partner about doing a Tues-Friday class already because I didn’t want to give up my weekends if I could help it!).
I couldn’t go work for the partner directly because, as others have stated in the comments, the training material and labs (yes, this was a hands-on training, including a full set of labs that the partner SEs would have been able to take with them!!) were proprietary!
I used to work in a chocolatier who was owned by a French Chef and his Scandinavian wife.
He had 2 interns come from France. One was A and another was L. Both of them were really pretty and dressed well. The only difference was that L smelled really bad. It was the sort of pungent putrid toxic stench that just went up your nostrils and killed a couple of your brain cells making you void of thoughts and movement for a couple of minutes. The kind of smell that would wake the dead and kill the living.
The additional problem to this was that the retail shop we worked at had a very small space. 3 people could barely fit behind the counter. So when L comes around the entire space would be filled with her stench. It was really bad.
My manager had told me that a cabbie had once tried to tell L that she smells bad and had wound down the windows. She went into a rant demanded to be dropped off in the middle of the highway and called the cab company complaining about how rude this driver was. And had promptly come into work raging away.
So to tell her to her face was out of the question.
The boss’s wife came around one day when L , myself and my manager were working. She stayed 10 minutes then signalled she couldn’t take the smell and walked away. She came back 20 minutes later with deodorant spray and perfume. She took one out and claimed very loudly how the weather was horribly humid and everyone stank and proceeded to spray everyone with the spray. That was the best day at work. L got hit double hard with the spray. Then the boss’s wife proceeded to implement the rule that everyone who works must spray themselves with the deodorant before they start their shift and it will be monitored through the camera.
Life became so much better after that. The living stayed alive and the dead stayed dead.
Because they lack the urgency they had when they were poor.
A good example is with fighters. Connor McGregor was unstoppable early in his career, knocking people out right and left. He’d come from humble beginnings and was destined to be a plumber before he took up fighting.
image 211
Then, he started raking in tens of millions of dollars. And it started to show. He was out partying like a madman, drinking and doing coke. He developed a god complex about fighting.
Sure enough, he started losing fights.
The same thing happened with other great athletes, including Mike Tyson. The old saying is that it’s hard to wake up early to jog, if you are sleeping in velvet sheets.
The lesson is that you shouldn’t lose the fire that got you to where you are. Many people keep it. Money doesn’t spoil everyone. But it spoils quite a few.
BLACK ORCHID – Retro Pulp Science Fiction by Skyward, Parallel Timeline, 1967-1971 to Future, Gen-2
When I was a senior in High School, I had a group of friends that I used to hang around with.
Oh, sure, most of the time we just stood around, smoked joints, drank beer and did acid. But it was a different time and a different place. We would alternate our locations, from the “standard” keggers, to road drives though the Western Pennsylvania woods to just hanging out near the river at a tipple.
Anyways, one of the guys was this older fella named Calvin. I liked him, but he was a hard drinker and partier.
I still get a chuckle out of this, but we are all stoned in my GTO. Calvin was in the back seat. A friend had lit a “Thai stick” which of course, was a very powerful form of marijuana, and when you smoked it, it felt like a baseball bat smashed your face. And we were parked outside this historical landmark; an old church and cemetery. We were listening to Led Zeppelin, and just sitting there completely zoned out. Our brains were pickled.
Calvin was chewing on something. He would reach into the ashtray at the side of the door wall and pull out some old cigarette butts and put in in his mouth and chew on it.
Then he said, after a while… “Man, this popcorn is the really stale”.
The PRC has sent barges into the channels between Quemoy and Xiamen to deepen the water channels between the ROC-held island of Quemoy and the PRC city of Xiamen. The ROC government in Taipei has said that this is a violation of the lines which the ROC had drawn between the two governments, and which had largely been respected by both sides.
Following the Feb. 14 event where an ROC coast guard ship chased a PRC fishing boat, leading to its capsize and the death of two PRC fishermen, the two sides have been involved in several rounds of negotiations. The PRC side has demanded a public apology and compensation to the families of the fishermen, but the ROC authorities have refused. So the PRC side has decided to deepen the shipping channels in the area, and violating the lines drawn up by the ROC.
Now the ROC authorities are threatening to take action against the PRC ships working in the area. They have not specified what actions they will take aside from pushing the PRC ships out of the area. This sets the stage for a confrontation.
The problem with the ROC position is that the authorities now publicly refer to the ROC as “Taiwan”, because the ruling DPP is for Taiwan independence. By taking a stance on offshore islands so close to Xiamen and PRC-held territory, they are choosing to enforce territory which is far away from Taiwan, and is not considered to be a part of “Taiwan”.
Why are they doing this? Do they expect the Biden administration to support them? It does not make a lot of sense.
If they don’t enforce it though, it is likely that the PRC air force and navy are unlikely to recognize air and sea claims made by the ROC anymore.
Salami-slicing in action.
Chuck Wagon Peach Cobbler
Chuck Wagon Peach Cobbler
Ingredients
Cobbler Crust
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup shortening
1 cup cold water
Cobbler
1 Cobbler Crust
1 cup granulated sugar
6 cups peaches, drained and juice reserved
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup Half-and-Half
1 cup juice from drained peaches
1/2 cup Black Jack Daniels
Instructions
Cobbler Crust
Mix dry ingredients and add shortening. Cut in with a fork. Mixture should look like coarse meal.
Add cold water gradually to make a ball.
Divide into 2 balls, top and bottom. Roll out one and line a 14 inch pan or 14 inch Dutch oven.
Roll out remainder and cut into 1 inch slices for latticework on top.
Cobbler
Melt butter in saucepan. Add peaches, brown sugar, cinnamon, sugar and Half-and-Half. Mix well.
Line pan or Dutch oven with crust.
Pour in fruit mixture.
Cover top with strips of crust in latticework pattern.
Moisten strips with water before baking and sprinkle sugar on latticework for crispy finish.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
Every Man Needs To See This
What is the biggest scam an auto mechanic ever tried on you?
When I bought my first car, a 1966 Mustang, my father insisted that I take it to his mechanic to go over it to make sure it was all working properly before I could drive it. It would stall out after 10 minutes of driving, so there was a problem.
The following was on the bill….
Clean top of carburator
Check oil filter for loosenes
Check window operation
Check exhaust system
Check steering, suggest replacement of steering box.
This was 1972 and the bill was over $300.00!!
The actual problem was a pinched fuel line. Rubber hose and two clamps. $1.50.
I replaced the oil filter and changed the oil. $7.50 total.
I removed the interior panels of the door, and greased the tracks. Already had grease $0.00
I replaced a broken hanger for the exhaust. $3.50
I pulled out the steering box and found it only needed grease and adjustment. Time and labor, already had grease $0.00.
The dude that worked on my car was a hack. I pointed out all this to my father and he only said “I guess your a better mechanic than the place we took it to. I never went back there.
Idiots
Is it difficult for British expatriates to find entry level jobs in law and business in Hong Kong as of 2023? Where do I look for work?
It’s difficult for my legal bod cousins. As I’ve mentioned before in another post during CNY celebrations a lot of UK born cousins were back in HK. A lot of them were looking for a route to come live in HK.
One of them was my cousin from one of my dad’s sisters. She’s worked in a UK legal firm for ages and wanted a way to come back here. Her just like many UK born ones have HKID cards so do not need visa sponsorship.
She had work experience.
She can work for less because accommodation is provided, the Clan provides several fully fitted out portacabins right at the back of the village, Portacabins are used because the common houses are being torn down and rebuilt. Anyway these portacabins all you have to do is pay for the electricity used.
She’s also pretty damned good in Chinese, HSK6… but here’s the thing HSK6 is still considered by most China born Chinese to be illiterate!
So? You have none of the above advantages.
You have to answer the question to HK immigration – why should I let you work in HK? What skills do you have that are in demand or somebody in HK can’t do. AND it has to pay over $28,000 a month.
You’re competing against all the returnees.
Jimmy Tells American General “The U.S. Is The World’s Biggest Terrorist!”
What is the most unsettling thing someone has said to threaten you?
A group of my friends was out drinking at a local bar where the music was loud, the floor was sticky, and the atmosphere was biker/tattoo/STD/obnoxious.
I was talking with someone who was an acquaintance-they were a friend of one of my friends. We knew each other, but only through these mutual friends.
Unfortunately, alcohol makes some people belligerent and, in the case of this one particular individual, paranoid.
I must have said something that didn’t sit well with him because the belligerent paranoid (BPA) accused me of disparaging him (I had not). He turned to my husband and told him he knew for a fact that our daughter was not his biological daughter (She is 100% his biological daughter). He started uttering non-sensical statements which I, for the most part, ignored and took as our cue to get the hell out of that dive bar.
The BPA went to the bathroom, my husband waited to pay the tab, and I went to get the car.
While I waited for my husband to come out, the BPA came up to my window and just stared into my car until I noticed him which caused me to jump and scream. I rolled down my window and told him he nearly gave me a heart attack.
Then he very calmly stared at me and said, “I’ll be by later tonight to stick a lighter in your outside dryer vent until your house catches and you all burn to death.”
Who the fuck communicates such a descriptive and specific way to unalive someone they barely know for reasons that are a complete figment of their imaginative paranoia?
My husband and I didn’t sleep well that night. The next day we installed cameras. And we have avoided all contact with the BPA since that unsettling and strange incident.
Bring your cat to work day
What are some deep things you should read today?
Everybody is self-made but only millionaires will admit it.
When you work for someone, the harder you work , the richer they get . When you work for yourself, the harder you work, the richer you get.
Continue to live for moments that make your heart smile wider than your face could ever imagine.
Uncomfortable dating tips : Women want you the most when you don’t need them.
Most people know “WHAT”to think , not “HOW” to think . If you learn this, you can conquer the world.
You can’t force love. Either it’s there or it isn’t. You’ve got to be able to admit it . If it’s there , you’ve got to do whatever it takes to protect it.
Modern life is low-level psychic warfare.
Men will gladly spend a whole day with a woman, but not a single hour on their purpose. And, in the end, they ask, “why did she leave?”.
Men Have FINALLY Had Enough Of Their FEMALE Colleagues
Who is the dumbest law enforcement officer you have ever encountered?
Oh I have a doozy.
1978. Houston. Near the Galleria Mall.
I was getting off the freeway when a police car cut me off, almost running me off the road, no signal. Just truly bad driving.
Being young and stupid, when I was beside him at the light, I called him on it.
Oh he lit me up. I had three friends in my car with me. He made me get out of the car and was just screaming at me, telling me he could do anything he damn well pleased and poking me in the chest the entire time. I politely asked him to stop poking me with his finger and he threatened to break all my fingers off. He was so mad he was spitting and his partner was standing next to him with a smirk.
I stayed calm and asked my friends to write down their name, badge number, and car number. That’s when they hopped in their cruiser and just zoomed off.
I didn’t like it, so I called and talked to the desk officer. He took all the information and I assumed absolutely nothing would happen.
Nope.
I got a call back from a lieutenant a few days later. They had done an investigation, because the location I reported them at was nowhere NEAR where they were assigned for that shift. What they discovered is that they were cutting out of their area, going to the mall, and catching a movie. Lots.
The lieutenant shared that this was not the first complaint, but it was the last, because they’d both been fired.
Moral of the story? If you’re doing something outright stupid, don’t light up the stubborn college kid.
Today’s Shinjuku Kabukicho August 23, 2023 UP
As a patient, what’s the angriest you have ever been toward a doctor?
Dad had stage four mastatised pancreatic cancer, double incontinence, dementia and crippling arthritis. His oncologists used to call him in every month for a check up that consisted of him looking at dad’s medical notes asking how he was then nodding his head, that’s it. But, the trip to the hospital took nearly an hours preparation, a forty minute drive each way, a ten minute walk from the car park to the clinic (dad in a wheelchair when I found one) and then the worst bit! The oncologist used to call ALL that days patients in at 0930 then see them in alphabetical order! Look at our surname! The first few times were bad but one time after dad returned to the hospice he had to be rushed back to the same hospital under blues and twos! The next appointment we managed about an hour in the waiting room and dad was struggling to hold back his tears of agony, so I wheeled him out and started along the corridors back to the car. First the receptionist tried to stop us and I told her what to do on a short pier, then the nurse came running up to try to return us to the clinic “as the doctor was very busy and would get to us as soon as possible”. Dad told her to go forth and fornicate or something similar! She ran back and told the doctor (don’t know if fornication was involved or not). Pushing a wheelchair with a mind of a shopping trolley containing a fifteen stone (210#) obese man (5′2″ ) in immense pain, who didn’t want to be there, you don’t move very fast! The doctor caught up to us to find out what was going on and exercise his presumed authority! Wrong move! My dad used to be a CSM and he taught me how to project orders across a parade ground! Don’t shout at me if you have sensitive hearing! Amongst other things (including the legitimacy of his birth) I told him we were there for the benefit of dads health and not his ego! And we left, luckily for him he didn’t try anything physical! I’m also 210# but six foot tall and very little of that was fat! Unfortunately the stress and strain on dad contributed to him once again that evening being returned to hospital by emergency ambulance.
Now my dad through a variety of reasons was no stranger to that hospital. In the ward he usually ended up on, all the staff knew him and were on first name terms, most since being students. One of the senior consultants had first met my dad when he was doing his medical training and had become friends (even came to dad’s funeral! What, you think you recover from stage four pancreatic cancer? At 81?) He wanted to know why dad was back in hospital once again. So we told him who, how and why! Now this senior consultant is married to the chief executive of the hospital, that may or may not be the reason that the oncologist changed his appointments policy from block appointments to individual appointments and a very significant attitude adjustment the next time we went to see him!
Gen-Z
What is the biggest secret that your first boss told you that has helped you the most?
I started to work as a programmer with a large insurance company.
I was also going to a university at night for an engineering degree.
So, the job was just a paycheck for me until graduated.
My supervisor called me into her office and let me know that she knew that I was just using the job as a steppingstone until I graduated. She was a quaker and peppered her speech with thee and thou. A lovely lady.
She told me the company had its own problems and if I showed some diligence in my job, she would ensure that I would be rewarded for my effort.
I took her advice and made a great effort to please her and focused on my job.
When the company put together a planning group, she insisted that I be a part of it.
The group consisted of two vice presidents, three directors and one programmer.
The first problem we tackled was the number of boxes of paper documents shipped to all our service locations at the end of the month. The cost of shipping the boxes and how hard it was to look up the data at the service location.
This was in the late sixties and personal computers were not common.
I was a tech magazine reader at the time, so I suggested to the group that we output the data to a fiche machine because the fiche produced would be less costly to ship than sending boxes,
It would require the home office to buy the fiche machine and the service locations to rent fiche readers, which at that time were very cheap.
The benefit to the service location was the fiche was easy to handle and never got torn.
Well, the company and the service locations loved the idea, so it was accepted.
The planning group stayed together for a year, and we solved some smaller problems.
That 15-minute conversation with my supervisor changed my life forever.
When I received my degree, I no longer had an interest in engineering and chose to stay in the computer field.
She is gone now but not forgotten.
Pepe Escobar: Putin and China Send DEVASTATING Warning to NATO as Germany, Macron Threaten WWIII
This is really rather good.
Can Quora conservatives explain why and when you started being a conservative?
I can try.
It’s a long story, though. But, like most other people, my political leanings are the result of my influences early in life, and my experiences. And, to some degree, what I didn’t experience, that others did experience.
For example, it’s easy to be supportive of the police, when you’ve only ever had positive encounters with them. It’s easy to assume that most people can avoid negative encounters with the police by simply obeying the law.
That door swings both ways. It’s easy to have an adversarial view of the police when you or someone you know had a negative encounter with them.
Once you get a political idea in your head, you start to see it everywhere you look. This is true for people across the political spectrum. You’re influenced to see certain things and, by God, now that you’re looking for them, you see them everywhere.
For me, my journey to the right side of the political spectrum is more of a journey of being pushed away by the left, rather than willingly moving towards the right. I’m more libertarian than conservative, but, in contemporary America’s binary political landscape, it seems that anything that isn’t progressive is often all grouped under “conservatism.”
Progressives: What’s your stance on [this issue]?
Me: Total indifference. It has nothing to do with me.
Progressives: So you don’t support the people who are dealing with it?
Me: Does my support or lack of it have any impact on the issue whatsoever? No? Then why must I choose to support it or not? Why can’t I remain indifferent?
Progressives: You sound like a conservative. Your silence tells us all we need to know, and it won’t protect you.
Me: If indifference on this topic makes me a conservative in your eyes, okay then. I’ll add your labeling of my political stances to the list of things I don’t care about.
If I’m being super honest, in the last decade or so, I’ve gone from identifying as “libertarian” to identifying as “cynical.” I assume that most politicians are only looking out for themselves, most government attempts to fix issues will fail, or make things worse, the government has more than enough money to fix society’s problems, but a lot of that money is wasted, etc…
For example, there’s a ballot measure here in Chicago to raise taxes on real estate sales over $1m, to raise funds for housing options for homeless people. My view on that is that it will likely pass, but not a single homeless person will be helped by this. Any money raised by this will find its way into the pockets of politicians and their supporters, while the expenses will just passed on to renters. The people who support it will get to pat themselves on the back for caring about the homeless, while ignoring the complete lack of tangible positive outcomes from it. The goal here is virtue signaling from the rank-and-file voters, sticking it to “rich people,” and lining the pockets of the Democratic machine. Homelessness is just the necessary reasoning for it all.
Basically, I assume that, for the rest of my life, the general situation in the world, and in my country, will be roughly the same as it is now, and my best move is to put myself and my children in a position to avoid the worst of it. The “status quo,” when it comes to politics, is too hopelessly entrenched to be uprooted, and too hopelessly corrupt to be effective.
But this question is about the origins of my conservatism, not why I stick with it in middle age.
I suppose my political journey began as a child in the 80s and early 90s. My father worked for the U.S. Navy, as a civilian machinist. Among other things I remember him saying about his job were:
He was forced to spend millions of dollars on machines that he didn’t really need in his shop, but the companies who made those machines donated to the right politicians.
He was forced to spend every single dime he was allocated for the fiscal year, or, the next fiscal year, he wouldn’t get as much allocated. Saving money isn’t rewarded, but is actually punished, when you work for the government.
He would never be promoted beyond his current level, no matter how well he did, because he was a white male. Back then, the federal government was only interested in promoting racial minorities and females.
That last one was something I heard versions of from most white men I knew growing up. Of course, half of them worked at the same base where my father worked, so they dealt with the same policies. None of these were rich white men. They were all working class white men, and they all felt like they were being punished for things they didn’t do, in the name of “fairness.” And they placed the blame for that injustice directly at the feet of liberals.
The same white “social justice warriors” of the 50s and 60s found themselves, by the 80s, on the receiving end of social injustice, in the form of Affirmative Action. It seemed like every middle-aged white male I knew growing up was a “live and let live” and “don’t judge a book by its cover” kind of guy, with a serious chip on their shoulder that others weren’t adhering to the “don’t judge a book by its cover” mantra. Every single white guy who felt like they were falling behind in society was able to blame Affirmative Action for their slipping, no matter how true it was.
The message, for younger white guys like me, was easy to pick up: it is legal to discriminate against you because of your race and gender, and you just have to accept it.
And, once you start looking for it, you see it everywhere.
Why does my high school have a counselor specifically for helping minority students get into and pay for college? That’s discrimination. Why is no one calling it out? My parents are taxpayers, too. That counselor should be helping everyone who needs help with those things, and not discriminating against students based on race.
You just have to accept it… or, affiliate yourself with the side of the political aisle which points out the hypocrisy of it all.
So it wasn’t so much “we’re conservatives,” as it was “liberals are working against people like us, so I guess that makes us conservative by default. Where else would we go?”
By the time I got to high school, I was socially liberal, in the sense that I simply didn’t care about people’s personal business, particularly in the bedroom. I was also very concerned about environmentalism, and even started a small paper recycling program in my school. It didn’t last, but at least I tried. I wanted to be a “part of the solution.”
My environmental views have skewed heavily to the cynical side in the 30 years since starting high school. I think recycling paper is a huge waste of time.
I remember, however, in high school, being annoyed by some of my more politically involved classmates, demanding that I (and everyone else) not only form opinions in line with theirs on certain topics, but openly express our support. They had the “if you’re not openly supporting us, you must be quietly opposing us” attitude that I’ve seen in other progressives in my adult life.
Some of my most common PG-rated thoughts throughout my high school years were versions of “I’d care more about this person’s point of view if they weren’t so damn loud and obnoxious all of the time.” And, of course, a sarcastic “the problem you’re in could have been easily avoided has you made more conservative choices in life.”
It was during those years that my own sister, of her own volition, developed a drug habit, became a teen mom, and dropped out of high school. I had a front-row seat, starting around age 12, of how to ruin your life through really shitty decisions, and it sapped a lot of the sympathy I had for people who were dealing with the consequences of their own shitty decisions.
Although I’m getting better about it, when I hear that someone put themselves in a bad situation, and is now begging “society” to bail them out of it, one of my first thoughts is, “how is this anyone else’s problem but yours? Why should we all have to pay for this?”
Anyway, that’s my evil conservative origin story.
Tales From The Streets : San Diego Streets Ep-4
What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?
While inprocessing for the military, I worked at a radio station selling air time in a town of 30,000. When I took over my route a retired Army major was occasionally hitting $6,000. That was pretty good in 1979. I took billings over $8000. Three months later, I was fired (I was the only man), and a young cutsie 22-year-old girl was hired. She had zero experience.
My sales manager/station owner’s wife told me to “clean out my desk.” I did just that, trashing everything including sales invoices for the month. She made a big point of letting me know I wouldn’t be getting my commissions. I waited patiently for my salary check ($1,500 at the time) at my desk, then walked to the bank and cashed it.
Two days later I got the call. “Where are all the sales invoices for August?’
“In the trash.”
“What!?”
“You said clean out my desk. I did.” Then I hung up.
I heard later the young girl didn’t work out, and the station went bankrupt.
Sad, isn’t it?
Do you think that coaching institutes like Unacademy should be banned as they charge lakhs and crores and those who study from these will do corruption to recover their investment made on studies which they can’t earn honestly in a government job?
I absolutely do
Coaching has become an Industry today and whenever such things happen, everything becomes counter productive
main qimg 53fbf688a99b9e0935ef2ac391b38608 lq
Xi Jingping rightly said
In China :-
Private Tutoring Apps had become an Industry and had commercialized education so much that the newer generation was no longer going to such coaching facilities to LEARN OR ADD TO THEIR KNOWLEDGE OR UNDERSTANDING but to specifically orient themselves to scoring marks in a specific examination (Gaokao)
Private Tutoring Apps had become exploitative and were commercializing learning to an extent where it was feared that the entire Gaokao could be modified to suit the whims of the Private Tutoring Apps
So he wiped out the Industry mercilessly
“F*** the Billions of Dollars in Paper value”
Today Tutoring has gone back to the old 60 RMB per Hour student tutors or Volunteer Tutorials and Extra Coaching
India and China both have predators who suck the blood of common people and exploit them in the name of capitalism
main qimg df1b8fb11c638b48eb667446629a6aaa
The Difference is CHINA BANNED THIS
main qimg 274cb449a6c7257bf17aa547cf058228
In China, if any Institute publishes the list of toppers for admissions
Their license is suspended for 5 Years
They are fined not less than 60,000 RMB but upto 250,000 RMB
Ministry of Education Bans the Idolization of China’s Top Gaokao Scorers
Stories of the top achievers of China’s national exams can no longer be propagated by state media; the emphasis should shift to the average, harmonious student.
India not only allows this to flourish but ignores cases where Institutes LIE about their students by paying money to the students and making the students lie
Most Coaching Institutions are run with political contacts
Now my point is
Is Unacademy really predatory?
main qimg 9a2bc25700f5efa1f331edc83b38a328
Just because they offer coaching for a fee doesn’t make them predatory
Just because they have referrals doesn’t make them predatory. That’s just business. Same as a Tutor asking you to give her cards to your friends.
Do they exploit the situation in India and claim if you don’t take their course, you will lose badly
Do they help you learn or do they force you to structure your brain into clearing the JEE or NEET rather than learning the topics?
Do they prostitute education by paying more money to marketers than teachers?
So far at least I dont think they are that bad
Please correct me if they have become that bad
main qimg f9057bea7ee080781237c57f89abe9b4
Coz that’s what happened to BYJUS
From being a place that helped students sharpen their brains to understand CAT better, they prostituted and pimped education spending more on “Celebrities” like SRK who also prostituted himself like he did with Arindam Chaudhari
main qimg 59e17c4984966d0591a946afaff431d3
Unacademy are also going BYJUS WAY
Using Tendulkar the dropout of Xth Standard to promote an Education Product
So they too are starting to pimp out education
It won’t create the Students India needs
Not the thinkers, analysts, people who understand fundamentals – they aren’t born from KOTA FACTORIES or Prospective Pimping Edtech Apps
They are born by self study with tutoring to help them sharpen their brains
One thing to learn and understand Physics, Maths and Chemistry and USE THIS KNOWLEDGE AND WRITE THE JEE
Another is to learn Physics, Maths and Chemistry BECAUSE YOU WANT TO WRITE THE JEE
The former is a winner
The Latter ends up mediocre in life in every aspect
Solution?
Ban full page Ads of Toppers by various Institutions
Regulate the Coaching Fees
Make sure Coaching Institutes remain Sole Proprietorships Or Partnerships and dont become Companies
Ban any Coaching Institute taking over another Institute
Register all Coaching Institutions with Ministry of Education with select standards
Otherwise the next two generations of students, the so called FUTURE OF INDIA would be the most worthless
Anyone who exploits students like this must be taken to Gulags and forced to labor for 20 hours a day in the -17 degree weather
Tokyo’s Night Joy Paradise Plus Unexpected PERMISSION 2
Can you provide an explanation of the recent Texas v. Pennsylvania case before the Supreme Court? Is it accurate that President Trump does not have jurisdiction over these cases due to not being a member of Congress?
Well, let’s start with some basic principles of U.S. constitutional law.
Under the constitution, the Supreme Court may only hear original cases in very limited circumstances. One of those is when one state sues another state. That’s not uncommon, but usually its due to disputes about the right to use water from rivers that pass through more than one state. The usual procedure is to refer the case to a special master (usually a federal court judge) who holds the trial and reports back to the Supreme Court which can then affirm the decision.
Congress cannot expand the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to hear cases that aren’t listed in the constitution. That was what Marbury v. Madison was about – the court was given power by congress to hear cases involving disputes about judicial appointments in the District of Columbia, and ruled that Congress didn’t have that power.
Now, onto the case. The State of Texas attempted to bring a case shortly before Congress was to meet to confirm the result of the 2020 election to sue the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for not following its own election laws. Essentially, they wanted to disqualify all the mail-in ballots cast during the election on the theory that Pennsylvania law hadn’t authorized them. This issue had already been tried by Pennsylvania courts which ruled such suits were “untimely” – any such suit had to be brought before the election, not after.
But the only issue before the court was whether they HAD to take the case. As a rule, the Supreme Court chooses which cases it hears, but again if this is a case within its jurisdiction to hear new cases, they might have to take it.
What the court ruled is that no state has the right to start a case in the Supreme Court unless the judges agree to hear it. That’s probably good policy as it appeared this case would have asked the Supreme Court to allow one state to enforce laws in other states, which in any other case would be a no-no. For example, Texas could not sue to prevent Pennsylvania physicians from performing abortions on Texas residents just because it’s illegal for a Texas resident to leave the state for an abortion, or based on some theory that Pennsylvania law doesn’t allow physicians to perform abortions except on Pennsylvania residents. Once again, the issues in this case were already settled in Pennsylvania courts, and those could have been appealed to the Supreme Court if there were a constitutional issue (that’s what happened in Bush v. Gore).
But let’s get back to the rule about the Supreme Court only being able to hear a narrow range of original cases. The president does not have the right to sue in the Supreme Court (although he could be sued in, for example, a case involving the appointment of an ambassador – that’s within the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction). Members of Congress don’t have the right to sue in the Supreme Court either.
Elysium Movie Clip | Full Robot Fight Scene | Matt Damon | Diego Luna
What is the most unbelievable behavior you witnessed from a new co-worker that made them get terminated almost immediately?
I worked in a loan department as a loan clerk. A man was hired as a new manager for one of our branch offices. Our Vice President asked me to train the man on the loan process and how to type out the form letters, etc.. This man gave me grief from moment one.
He was arrogant and a smart aleck. I wanted to slap him about every five minutes. He was also a male chauvinist pig. He kept making sexual remarks to me and about me. When I sat him in front of the computer to type out the form letters, he refused to do them, saying “Typing is women’s work. I’ll have one of the women do it for me.”
The final straw came when I took him back to our Vice President’s office. The VP was asking me how he had done and before I could respond, the man said something to the effect of “Well, she wouldn’t sit in my lap, so I think she needs to be spanked.”. I just stared at the VP. He turned to the new manager and said “You’re fired. This is one great lady and you’ve disrespected her since the moment you walked in. Get out before I turn her loose on you.”.
Middle Class Meltdown: America’s Unseen Crisis
Biden = Russia, Russia, Russia!
Trump = China!, China!, China!
Nothing is ever going to get fixed.
Was Hitler a drug addict?
main qimg 6b388387171dfb89d7165a2c89aca487
Adolf Hitler was a chronic drug addict. His drug use was of epic proportions.
Hitler was prescribed by his doctors so many various drugs (including cocaine) that he was rarely in a state unaffected by powerful mind-altering substances.
According to his doctors, Hitler was “a good patient.”
He was meticulously adherent to the regimen for his chronic sinusitis: cocaine in aerosol form.
The German Fuhrer also took amphetamines, sedatives, and hormones.
Hitler relied on daily injections of the “wonder drug” Eukodol. It contained oxycodone, a semi-synthetic opioid. The drug caused the state of euphoria, practically rendering the user incapable of making sound judgments.
In his book “Blitzed”, German author Norman Ohler described how the Third Reich was permeated with drugs, including cocaine, heroin and most notably crystal meth, which was used by everyone from soldiers to housewives and factory workers.
main qimg 517a5862c67283e756c792ee231353f8
Pervitin, an early form of methamphetamine, was available in Nazi German without a prescription.
In Nazi military during WWII, drug use was encouraged.
In September 1939, Ranke tested the drug on 90 university students and concluded that Pervitin could help the Wehrmacht win the war.
The effects of amphetamines on an person are similar to those of the adrenaline produced by the body, triggering a heightened state of alertness. In most people, the substance increases self-confidence, concentration, and willingness to take risks while at the same time reducing sensitivity to pain, hunger, and the need for sleep.
Later, a dose of cocaine was added to Pervitin tablets, to increase the drug’s potency and encourage continuous use.
When Hitler’s drug supplies ran out by the end of the war, he suffered severe withdrawal from serotonin and dopamine, paranoia, psychosis, rotting teeth, extreme shaking, kidney failure and delusion.
The Sopranos – Paulie enjoys Miami
Can Mike Tyson still knock out Jake Paul when he’s going to be 58 years old in the fight?
Technically yes but realistically an emphatic no.
I never thought I would be saying this but Jake Paul is likely to beat Mike Tyson.
Why? That’s a legitimate question since we are talking about one of the greatest and most feared heavyweight champions ever V a relatively junior pro boxer with very few fights.
I’m afraid it all comes down to age, activity and conditioning. At age 40 or even 50 I’d give Tyson a great chance but he’s nearly 60 now, been out of the ring close to 20 years and been doing a lot of other things. Put simply he’s just not in condition to fight a professional fight. He could beat the hell out of the normal types of guys in the street no doubt about it but this is a professional boxing fight we’re talking about. It’s very likely that after one round of intense fighting he’ll be totally finished from a cardio perspective. After that last stand, Jake Paul who if nothing else can at least hit hard will probably get him.
Don’t be fooled by the videos of Tyson looking fast and powerful in training. They have been carefully edited to make him look good. In reality in the fight (if it’s a real one) he won’t look that good or fast. He’ll still have a bit of power so there is some danger to Jake Paul but probably only for one or two rounds max. After that it will a big advantage to the younger man.
No matter how good a condition a fighter is in, the age aspect of this is relevant. A 60 years old head isn’t supposed to get hit hard by a pro fighter. The blood vessels can’t be trained to take those shots like they used to.
For people of my generation it’s pretty sad to see the great Iron Mike Tyson reduced to doing this kind of circus act.
This fight could end pretty badly and shouldn’t really be happening at all. That’s capitalism for you.
EDIT : I guess the most likely thing here is that they’re both in on it as a money grabbing exercise and have agreed with each other not to hurt each other. The fight will probably be the least interesting part of the next few weeks. It’s all about the build up.
Mr. Spock Sends Up a Flare – Star Trek – 1967
What is the craziest thing you ever did when you were a teenager?
I can’t believe I am going to admit this….
When I was 14 years old in 1982-ish. I was recently uprooted from my lifelong hometown. I moved from upstate New York to Pennsylvania with my mom and step-monster. A friend of mine had just gotten sentenced to serve time in a NY state jail. I wrote to Scott frequently, as I thought he must be bored and lonely. I used this same stationary every time, with little unicorns on it. After the third or fourth letter, I realized just how bad it was for him in there.
I got together a little bit of money and bought some pot. I put it in a little matchbook, and sent the matchbook to Scott, along with a letter saying something like “I hope this helps.” I was smart enough not to sign my name, just in case anything bad happened. I thought that it was illegal to tamper with someone’s mail. It never even occured to me that the jail’s officials in charge were allowed to open up Scott’s mail and go through it. I used the same stationary as normal. Little unicorns. Can you see where this is heading?
My parents were surprised when federal detectives showed up. The formal charges were:
“Using the Federal Government (The United States Post Office) to transport illegal drugs across state lines.” To a correctional institution, no less.
Okay, you can laugh your a** off now…
I’ll wait.
Thank God I was 14. I was sentenced as a juvenile offender (the record was sealed); deemed “incorrigible”; had a PINS petition put in place against me (Person In Need of Supervision); had to perform 100 hours of community service and was almost placed in foster care because my parents couldn’t handle it or me anymore. Thankfully, my grandmother took me in, instead. My parents called me all sorts of stupid. Yes, I have to agree. But my answer to them at the time was “I thought he could use a buzz.”
Hugs.
-Valeri
The fourth
What is a polite response when someone says they don’t like your home?
I am soon to be 64. At this stage in my life, I have a VERY low tolerance for a**hattery. I don’t bother trying to be polite to people that aren’t polite.
The last time one of my sisters came to my house and made a comment about a few papers laying on the floor, I didn’t let her get away with it. I left them laying on the floor after they fell off the desk; for a good reason, but that was none of my sister’s business. I don’t believe in explaining to people why my house looks the way it does. Why SHOULD I? So, what I said to her was this: “You don’t REALLY want me to start critiquing YOUR housekeeping, do you?”. After I said that to her, she never said anything about anything that was on the floor again.
You see, her and her husband always leave their dining room table FULL of all different kinds of papers, looks real messy, but you know what? I never say anything because it’s THEIR house! They can keep it the way they WANT to! Plus, I don’t CARE about it, it’s not MY house! They SHOULD have the same respect for me!
AND, that’s the same way I feel about someone coming into my home telling me they don’t like it. Depending on who it is that is saying it, I MIGHT say something like “I don’t care, you don’t live here.” or maybe ”What did you come over for then?”. See, the FUN thing about messing with RUDE people, is because they never expect people to be rude BACK, which is why they are rude in the first place, because people LET them get away with it. *I* don’t. The looks on their faces when they are rude and I am blunt with them…PRICELESS!!!
In a medium bowl, combine ground beef, seasoned salt and seasoned pepper; shape into four patties.
Grill or broil to desired doneness (about 5 to 6 minutes on each side for medium).
Meanwhile, in medium skillet, melt butter.
Add onion and taco seasoning; mix well.
Cook onion over medium high heat until soft and transparent.
Top each patty with onions and cheese.
Return to grill or broiler until cheese is melted.
Place each patty on a roll; top with lettuce and tomato.
Companies Are Being Forced Out of NYC… Why?
Are Democrat supporters who have a pathological hatred of Donald Trump aware that at least 80% of what they think about Trump is misinformation and comes from outright lies by the US Mainstream Media?
I was a mainstream reporter (NYTimes and NY Herald Tribune) when Donald Trump was in his early 30s in NYC. I got to know him at his hangouts and on several more private occasions.
He was not then, nor is he now, “stupid” as so many anti-Trumpers continually proclaim. He was, however, a man whose word meant absolutely nothing. He spoke almost nothing but outright lies and “gut” fabrications. He’d betray a “friend” in a blink; he loathed any woman whose “pussy” he could not “grab”. He was a physical coward in private and in public. He was frightened to wetting his pants of his Nazi-loving, face-slapping, fascist father, to whom he lied and groveled. He had no friends since he only took and never gave. Both men and women immediately felt his creepy, duplicitous, despicable ways and avoided him unless they wanted to be close to what they thought was his money. Her learned how to manipulate and twist the American legal system from his evil genius lawyer Roy Cohen (“Don’t tell me about the law, tell me about the judge.”). I believed then that hate is stupid and as a reporter I did not hate Trump. But I understood him, and understanding is the opposite of hatred.
Trump is now and was then (as any woman who knew him even a bit well would agree) —- a mentally vicious, endlessly traitorous, sickeningly self-absorbed adolescent with feminine soft hands (no manual labor) and a filthy tongue. That was in his early 30s. Any honest observer and reporter quickly found him out and in New York and environs his name was a dirty joke. . . Then came TV “reality” shows and millions of unfortunate Americans watched how he behaved and they want to be just like him, and get away with it. If anyone who reads this considers themselves a friend of Trump, may their gods help them. He will make America and Americans poorer in mind, money, than it ever was, The only way to beat the Russian-sponsored thug is to confront him with a community of people who will oppose him and his fellow liars, cheaters, thieves, and those who tolerate them,
Father’s statement
What did you do when an aggressive driver got out of their car and wanted to fight?
Bad Traffic day in Orlando, FL. As a legal motorcycle rider, I was following traffic laws and traffic lights, and traffic wasn’t moving at all. The *ssh*l* in the car behind me started to lean on his horn. After 5 or 10 horn blows I started to respond with my 139 decibel horn everytime, followed by a turn of my head to look at the driver banging his hands on his steering wheel and yelling again. When he tried to pull up next to me in the space between me and the car in the next lane, I moved to block just enough of the lane that he would have to hit either me or the car in the next lane. At this point he starts yelling at me. He continues to try to move up. The Car next to me gives him just enough space, and I continue to control my lane.
When he gets close enough he started yelling “You! On the motorcycle! ….” and a flood of anti-hispanic, anti-biker rhetoric just comes spewing out of his mouth. Not being hispanic and not considering myself a “biker”, I calmly turned around, looked him in the eyes, and said “No hables espaniol”.
The drivers is ENRAGED! He starts to get out of his car. And he keeps screaming about immigrants. Once he is out of the car, I turn to him again.
I say to him “I was born in Philadelphia PA. Am I an immigrant? And aren’t you smart enough to understand that I don’t speak Spanish? That is what “No hables espaniol” means.”
The man is flabbergasted, stops in his tracks, flaps his mouth several times, and the best revenge, the log jam broke and the light changed, at the same moment. As I pulled away, the man was left standing in the middle of the street with every car behind him laying on the horn, and trying to get around him.
It Begins… Army Troops Take Over NYC
Have you ever had to tell an employee that their attire was inappropriate?
Yes, I had to take on the most difficult challenge of all, a man telling a woman that her attire was inappropriate for the office.
To set the scene, this woman was a young adult, a peer and also a work-friend. She had just lost a bunch of weight and also taken a European vacation. She was feeling good about her body and bought a dress in Paris that showed it off. This dress was so low-cut that it showed the underside of her breasts. If you wanted to pick up a casual hookup in a bar, this was exactly the dress you wanted to wear. But I would never, could never say that.
What I said to her was that this dress looked awesome on her with her weight loss, and if she was looking for a date, it was a great choice. But if she wanted to be taken seriously as an engineer and not distract people, something more conservative and businesslike might be a better choice. She was, in fact, having difficulty being taken seriously, so she took this advice on board and dressed more professionally after that. I got to keep our friendship and not get sued. I’m super glad I won’t ever have to do that again.
Passport Bros are leaving and Modern Women are HUMBLED
When U.S. prisons are inspected, does it actually help the prisoners?
The American Correctional Association (ACA) came to do an inspection at the Federal prison I was in.
A failed inspection would mean loss of accreditation. I’m not aware that means anything other than egg on some suit’s face.
For a prison inspection to be meaningful, hordes of inspectors should rappel from helicopters into the yard in the dead of night without warning. They could carry badges, clipboards, and maybe a few pieces of equipment. (OK… five minutes warning so nobody gets shot).
Instead, the prison had months of notice. They had enough lead time that they could leisurely waste weeks, doing nothing to get ready. When the visit was about two weeks off, suddenly stuff started happening.
New paint was slathered on everything, thick enough it could’ve stopped an escape all by itself.
In the chow hall, we had a persistent leak in the roof. Because it wasn’t fixed for years, the drop ceiling soaked up water, several tiles collapsed, and ominous mold was growing in the insulation around the duct work. At about the same time that paint was being poured over every surface, a crew of inmates came in to patch the ceiling. They didn’t fix the leak, they just patched the drywall and drop in sections that were affected.
Our dishwasher could never get up to temperature. The water was so hard that the heating coils were continually clogged with deposits several inches thick. Pick up any tray that had gone through the thing, and you’d immediately see that the luke warm water wasn’t getting trays clean (of course we never bothered with soap or surfactants either). Instead of trying to fix the dishwasher, the staff, experienced in many an inspection, simply stopped using it. It was “temporarily out of service” for the visit, and we used thousands of dollars worth of disposable foam plates and cups for each meal. This kept the inspectors from finding out that the machine was actually permanently out of service.
So, no. The inspections didn’t help us at all. Our food did get dramatically better for the couple of days that the visit went on, but that was really the only change.
After the visitors left, the dishwasher was plugged back in so it could moisten the dirt on the plates, and the ceiling started to crumble again, revealing mold that had blossomed nicely in the humid darkness.
What story of survival blows your mind every time you think about it?
A bolt of lightning hit the right wing of the aircraft, and suddenly LANSA Flight 508 was plummeting toward the ground. Over the screams of dozens of others, Juliane Koepcke — who was sitting at 19F, a window seat — heard her mother say from the seat beside her: “Now it’s all over.”
main qimg 43bbf32f988b37f94b7215cb5656c6cf
Seconds later, the plane is disintegrating in mid-air, and Juliane’s mom is gone. Juliane is still strapped in her seat, but she is not inside the cabin anymore — instead, she is all alone in the open air at a height of 10,000 feet, tumbling down from the heavens.
The last things she will ever see are packed treetops that look like broccoli heads. Or so she thinks.
Because the next day, she wakes up on the Amazon rainforest floor, still very much alive and miraculously only modestly wounded:
She had a concussion, a broken collarbone, some deep cuts. The forest, she wrote in her memoir, “saved my life,” the foliage cushioning the impact of her 10,000-foot fall. She went in and out of consciousness before finally pulling herself to her feet.
That is her first survival story, but now she is all alone in a jungle. She is seventeen years old, and she needs to focus on the next step. A second survival. Luckily for her, Juliane has lived in the jungle for several years, in a research station where both of her parents were working at the time.
She looks for her mom first, but doesn’t find her. Then, she decides to look for a stream, because streams often lead to villages, and she will soon need water. And when she finally finds a creek, she also finds dead people:
“When I turned a corner in the creek, I found a bench with three passengers rammed head first into the earth. I was paralysed by panic. It was the first time I had seen a dead body.”
crash
[Image of plain wreckage of LANSA Flight 508, which had boarded in Peru. (Coral Brunner/Shutterstock.)]
As days go by, a wound on her upper right arm gets infested with maggots about one centimeter long each. She remembered that their dog once had the same infection and that her father had put kerosene in it, so when she finds a small hut with a palm leaf roof, and outboard motor and one liter of kerosine, she sucks the gasoline out and puts it into the wound.
The next day she hears human voices, and she is saved for the second time around.
Later, Juliane found out that her mom also survived the crash, but was badly wounded and died a couple of days later in the rainforest, all alone, and desperately hoping that a miracle had saved her daughter.
My brother, Daniel, lives in Colorado. He is the only family member that I remain in contact with.
I have a couple of sisters, but they are isolationists and never respond back to me when I try to reach out. Oh well.
For the longest time, my brother and I would talk and zoom every week. But after Covid hit, it broke down and our emails and talks got to be scarce. The last big talk that I had with him was when he was worried about World War 3 between the USA and China and offered to take me in (abandoning my family in China).
I wrote a post about this.
After that our talks got shorter and shorter, and then he got sick with COVID. He spent an entire month in bed, delirious and hallucinating. Turns out he didn’t get any vaccination, and instead took “colloidal silver” that he got from the internet to get better.
I had a few zoom meetings after that. He looked good. Lost a lot of weight.
But then, the last talk I had with him was about when his dogs died. My dog; PP had died, and so I was asking him about it. Later, he was going camping over the weekend. This was in July 2022.
Hi BV,
I think your correct, dad got her in '67, and I think she passed in '78 or'79. Tara was 11 and Kimba was 14, which is a good long time for a husky.. Ashia just turned 5 last week..
Hope your well! We're going on a three day backpacking trip in a few hours. That will be some fun, Ashia will be carrying her own food so that will slow her down abit :)
DZ
And that was my last e-mail from him.
That was a year and a half ago.
I haven’t heard anything since.
He has five different email accounts and two video accounts, and he doesn’t answer any of them. Further, the twice yearly alerts of vacations, travel, and parities that would occasionally pop up in my in-box … all ended.
Sigh.
Either he is purposely blocking me, or he himself went to the big Domain in the sky.
Vaxx victim?
In Prison for some law?
Death by accident?
I did find his wife’s coffeeshop on the internet, and sent her an email. This is what she said.
Hi BV,
first of all, Dan is fine and all is well! I honestly don't know why he wasn't in touch with you. I'd ask sometimes if he'd spoken with you but I had no idea that much time had passed since you two had communicated. I don't have any huge or exciting updates....
Tomorrow (Easter) we're going to one of my sister's for dinner. Some of my family will be there, so it'll be nice. Otherwise, just plodding along.
How old is Ray Ray now? I'm thinking she must be around 5 or so...? You should send my a picture if you think of it!
I'll tell Dan he must get in touch with you. It's just dumb not to communicate with family - often we're all we've got. And I apologize for not being more proactive in that regard!
Love to all of you from Colorado,
Emily
Sad to say.
It’s a reality when you get older. As time progresses, you circle of friends and relatives get smaller and smaller.
Today…
If China invades Taiwan militarily, who will the state of Singapore support, China or Taiwan?
Firstly, and this is the much more important point — most Chinese who understand modern China know in the depth of their souls that mainland China will never invade Taiwan; the main reason being that “Chinese should not kill Chinese” (a lesson learned from the bitter Civil War between KMT and CPC).
There are more reasons
For example – the Chinese are used to thinking long-term — and mainland Chinese know that PRC is on the ascendant, and ROC is either stagnant or even declining. The day will come when the Taiwanese would be less reluctant to unite with mainland China, though likely they would still want a “one country, two systems” approach.
Secondly, almost all leaders in Singapore have always maintained that we don’t take sides — this message have come from both our PM Mr Lee Hsien Loong, and our polymath and wise man, Mr George Yeo, among others
The Man up argument
About American Bullet-train, the Brightline.
main qimg 6d7092f80315543ccf95f1e2e17c07f1
One photo that can tell you why it’s not a real high-speed train:
See the stones under the railway tracks? Technically, it is called a ballasted track. That means this train cannot run fast enough to be called a high-speed train. Otherwise, it will become a killing train.
Well I happen to be a railway police officer.
Brother workers in the US, if someone asks you to build a second phase project for this railway, such as turning this poor railway from one pair of tracks into two, please remember that you may have accidents due to the strong sucking of Bernoulli effect or splashing stones. I don’t think the contractor will really consider your safety. When you are constructing, remember that time is not enough to observe the arrival of a fast train solely with your eyes and ears.
Also, for other Americans nearby, remember to take care of your children and keep them as far away as possible. Because even out of a few meters may not be a safe zone. See that white van far away in this photo? Not in the safe zone. Many parts of your fast train railways do not have fences. It won’t knock people into disabilities. If a person is accidentally knocked away by it, you need to shovel the body-jam up from the ground, or trees, depends. I am glad that China’s railways have fences, so most of our colleagues do not need to go through this.
Someone once asked me on Quora before, why Laos needs to build bullet trains when its economic conditions are not good enough?
Well this is the reason, the foundation made of stones means that this railway track is not suitable for running high-speed trains. If we build a regular railway, Laos will need to rebuild a route suitable for high-speed railways in the future. That will be a heavy burden for our neighbor.
Rail tracks are downward compatible, not upward. So next time, don’t believe in the scam of transforming ordinary railway lines into high-speed railway lines.
What was your most arrogant software engineering interview candidate experience?
“I am HOT SHIT!”
A year ago I interviewed a candidate for an Engineering PM role on my team; a sharp and interesting guy who grew up in New York and was grudgingly getting accustomed to life on the west coast. We needed a candidate who had a very specific set of deeply technical skills for that role and he fit the bill. He came in with glowing recommendations from some pretty senior people and had the exact experience and expertise that we needed. Basically he was an almost certain hire and I was his final round.
I didn’t want to grill him more on the technical aspects of the role since he had already proven himself in that space; I wanted to figure out what he would be like to work with on my team and what he would bring to the table there. My team is extremely close knit; it has been like a tight family for many years and we always have each others’ backs through thick and thin; we have worked quite hard to ensure that egos never get in the way.
We started off with him telling me about his journey, his passions and ambitions, his previous experiences on teams, etc, I told him about our team culture, the dynamics we share. I asked him why he wanted to join our team when clearly the whole world was open to him based on his assessment of himself.
He started to tell me how he was bored of large companies and wants to work at a small startup. He said that he only wanted this job for a year so he could add it on his resume and he would leave after that. That came across as odd, but I still decided to give him a chance since I knew the specific project we needed his expertise for would probably be done in a year so it might actually work out and give us time to change his mind.
The next words that he said had me completely baffled; “I am HOT SHIT!” he said, “You will be lucky to have me. You guys know I’m the best guy for the job. The only reason I’m here is because startups need people with 5 years of experience and I have only 4.”
I thanked him for his time, walked him to the door and went back to the interview panel and made it very clear that we would not be hiring this guy and that I would like to veto this decision; my manager heard me out and absolutely had my back on it 100%. We did not make him an offer.
There are three HUGE red flags here:
Arrogance. Someone who comes in believing and loudly announcing that they are God’s gift to mankind are not coach-able. You do not want to work with someone who is not coach-able; you always want people who will learn and grow and adapt to the needs of the team. One single arrogant member can bring toxicity to the whole team and destroy a culture and relationships that took years to forge.
Lies. I’ve worked on my own startups, lived with close friends who had startups, I’ve interviewed with startups and I’ve interviewed candidates from startups; you know what the one thing is that sets them apart from large corporations; they don’t stick to arbitrary rules. No startup(or competent hiring manager in any company for that matter) will ever pass on a great candidate just because he has one year of work experience less than what the online job description suggested. This was an extremely obvious bluff .
Commitment. When you hire someone into your team, you spend a good amount of your time coaching them, showing them the ropes, teaching them the business. It often takes 3–6 months for a new employee to become fully independent and during that time the whole team rallies together and helps set them up for success. If someone tells me that they plan to leave in a year for something new and shiny, it tells me that they are not going to put their heart and soul into this job; they will not be passionate about it and that means they won’t deliver their best results. It would also take up so much time from my whole team that the investment is not worth the returns.
Don’t let your arrogance eclipse your talent; all that remains is the shadow.
Creepy and cringe
What is the strangest complaint you have received at your job?
Some years ago while counting down the last few minutes before my shift ended in a public library, a young woman came to the information desk with an ennraged look on her face.
Lady: Can someone please tell me where the Spanish classes are? I’ve been on all the floors and no one seems to know what I’m talking about.
Me: Sorry miss but those aren’t Spanish classes. The Spanish Embassy has been having a series of public talks every Wednesday at 5 – 6 pm on the third floor discussing the Latin American economy. We simply allow them to use our conference room on the third floor.
Lady: Are you listening to what I’m saying? I left work early to come to these Spanish classes. Where are the people for the Spanish class?
Me: I’m sorry miss but we really don’t know. We simply give the Embassy access to our conference room. You might want to call the number they left on the advertisement.
Lady: So you’re saying this is your library, where you work, but you have no idea what’s going on?
Me: We know all what is going on in regards to our public services but the Embassy’s program is something external. Any complaints about the program can be addressed to the Embassy’s website.
Lady: Typical lazy government worker mentality…So you’re saying you have no knowledge of what is going on in your own building?
Me: This is actually not our building. Several government departments are housed in this building besides the library. Would you like me to call the Embassy for you?
Lady: You’ve wasted my time already. It’s already 5:30pm. I mean does it feel good to you to be getting paid for nothing? What’s the point of this library? I want to speak to your manager.
I was about to explain to her that we don’t have ‘managers’ but librarians when she whips out her cell phone and shows a screenshot of a Facebook post advertising the Embassy’s program.
Me: Miss. I’m sorry but that post shows that the program ends April 24th, which was two weeks ago…
Lady: ……so you….this is so unprofessional…..a big freaking library and you can’t call people and tell them that the Spanish class program has finished. I want to speak to the manager. This is unacceptable.
It was at this point I decided I that I no longer waste my time with this lady’s nonsensical complaint.
Bill Maher is officially PANICKING!!! He know it’s coming…
Nike announced that it does not source products from the XUAR and have confirmed with their contract suppliers that they are not using textiles or spun yarn from the region. Will this cause them to lose the Chinese market?
Those who have mainland business contacts may have been party to this conversation.
First among foreigners are the anglophones, then Italy, France, Germany, followed by the rest of the EU, then the Asian first world, the brics, and finally, the rest of the world.
American business interests in China are sacrosanct, followed by the brits, Canadians, Australians and so on, as per the order described.
Why? The Chinese understand there can be no economic interest without political power, and America is hegemonic. Helping America succeed in china is the best protection against sanctions and embargoes. The last 40 years has seen America develop a heavy consumer brand presence in China, with negligible Chinese presence stateside.
I believe the current Nike troubles framed against the illustrative example of h&m’s commercial erasure is a signal China is finally ready to weaponize this particular disparity.
China has had enough of America’s no holds barred maximum pressure strategy of confronting China, especially the attack on its domestic economy.
China is hurt. 2020’s live births is the lowest in 2 generations, 25 percent below 2016, compared to America’s 9 percent.
It is time to draw blood.
China can ask the coca cola ceo, you have 4–5 billion revenue this year. Your corporation can do 40–50 billion business each year in the future. You have supply chains all over Xinjiang. Do you observe genocide or mass incarceration in the data? If you refuse to make a statement or lie, we will burn you, and offer the Pepsi ceo your market share.
Choose.
And so on. There is no other growth story like china’s anywhere else, with the scale, stability and above all, speed. McDonald’s, for example, grew 10x faster compared to its Indian franchise.
Going forward, there will be no sacred cows among mncs in china. Trump made sure of that.
And yes, Nike can certainly lose the Chinese market if it gets erased like h&m.
It hasn’t happened… yet.
Note: The question and this answer is about China, not India.
Power projection
Men are starting to stand up in the USA.
Has someone treated you poorly until they discovered you were wealthy and/or successful?
The best one I ever heard of was from my grandfather. In order to receive a promotion at the company he worked for, he was required to attain a master’s degree. He was an engineer, of sorts, shall we say.
This was the 1960’s, and there was my grandfather sitting in a classroom with a bunch of 22 year old hotshots, while he was 50 years old. For 6 weeks, no one spoke to him, he wasn’t called on, the professor ignored him, and whatever work he did received an average grade.
One day, a singularly difficult real life engineering problem was presented in class from a local company called JPL. When none of the students could correctly answer it, the professor asked if anyone had any ideas…..
I love this part….
My grandfather raised his hand and answered it. The professor told him he was wrong. Mr. Professor then told the class the answer. Grandpa then interrupted the professor and informed him that the answer given to the class turned out to be incorrect for that particular alloy, and that the week prior my Grandpa’s team had found that with a 2% increase of cadmium, the answer was as my Grandpa said. The professor then asked Grandpa to come to the board and explain it in writing. He did. The professor then asked him who he was and what his job was.
After the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Manhattan and other projects were thusly discussed, Grandpa never sat down in that class again. Or any other. He taught the class as one who actually did these things…from Fat Man and Little Boy to the Saturn rocket booster and everything in between.
At the end of the semester, Grandpa received an “A”, and the professor informed him that he had received average grades before because his work just seemed too different than the textbook answers. The professor called a meeting of the department, and after a 60 minute interview they gave him his master’s degree and offered him an honourary doctorate if he would teach there. He declined.
Six months later, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Every July 21st for 20 years, a new offer was sent to Grandpa to receive his doctorate and teach. He wasn’t ignored any more.
Scientists Discover Most Incredible Habitable Planetary System
[You said in your interview that the Americans have no analysts on Russia left who would be familiar with our mentality, people, and culture. How can they declare us their enemies if they know nothing about our country?]
main qimg 762fe71e8350d1112679dae717beab4d
"They have no interest in that.
The United States has lost diplomacy as a method for establishing contacts, holding candid discussions, and identifying ways to strike a compromise.
It is not necessarily about specialists in Russian, European, Asian, or African studies. I don’t see serious specialists there.
They are accustomed to making demands.
They have even stooped to rudely and publicly telling China what to do.
Reportedly, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu had a telephone conversation with US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. The US official said Washington was dissatisfied with Beijing supporting Moscow.
How can they say such a thing to the great power of China?
What about the reputation of the Americans themselves?
There is also a statement by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. I can’t get enough of his quotes.
He said that the West (through Ukraine) must necessarily win. If Russia wins, no one will ever be able to rely on the United States when they need help.
You can’t help thinking about Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and Syria (which they will supposedly leave). They will supposedly leave Iraq too, and they have effectively fled Afghanistan.
Speaking of help provided by the United States, they have a small nation of Haiti sitting right next to them, which they have been taking care of for more than a hundred years now.
Even before the UN was created, they were nurturing dictators, toppling them, and putting in new ones.
However, the Americans are powerless when it comes to preventing thuggery, rampant theft and embezzlement of public funds in that country, which is probably the world’s poorest economy.
It would not be difficult for the United States to take a sliver of the Ukrainian pie and solve at least this problem.
Instead, they showed up at the UN Security Council again and are trying to lure in someone from Africa to ensure law and order in Haiti (the US fiefdom).
Let them first sort things out in their own backyard, or rather a small portion of it.
It is sad to acknowledge that the psychology of global dominance and retaining hegemonism at any cost has never helped the United States solve any issues on the ground."
-Excerpt from remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with Izvestia Multimedia Information Centre, Moscow, March 28, 2024.
Using the grappler
Is dictatorship always wrong? Doesn’t history have any examples of good dictatorships/dictators?
There are two problems with “good” dictators:
There aren’t that many of them
They don’t live forever
When a dictator creates a political system, that system is dependent on them…and on whoever comes after them.
If the line of successors is an unbroken chain of good leaders, all is well and good. But that hasn’t happened yet to date…
As an autocratic leader, I have no doubt his achievements were great. He united Germany, introduced social legislation, and sustained a European balance of power to avoid a world war.
The problem: he made sure to write a German constitution that concentrated all that power in one place – himself. And when he got let go, his successors weren’t up to the challenge.
The economist Max Weber gave the best assessment: “Bismarck created a great nation without any political education, without any political will, accustomed to letting the great statesman at the helm take care of politics for it.”
Weber died in 1920, so that makes his assessment even more powerful.
Sort of like raising children, no?
There might be “good” dictators, but I’m not convinced any of them can create a “great nation.” Not one that lasts, anyway.
Florida is different
The Chinese Communist Party often claims that Tibet before 1959 was a dark, theocratic feudal serfdom with cruel punishments, but Tibetans abroad often deny these claims. So what was the real situation in old Tibet?
The CCP said the truth that tibet was a feudal theocratic state with serfdom and cruel punishment.
The Tibetians under the Dlamas were oppressed others were subjected to having their hands cut off. Some had experienced punishment like this one shown below:
main qimg 2a8c69f0be5f5f6f4fd0c855b15c72d2 pjlq
This led china under mao to liberate tibet in 1951 to free the Tibetians from oppression and incorporate tibet back to china. So mao did liberate tibet in 1951.
The Tibetians living abroad are denying these claims to hide the truth and they’re spreading lies ,misinformation and hearing western propaganda that tibets are being oppressed under the CCP regime which isn’t true.
Do you believe that a world free from US hegemony would be beneficial for developing countries?
Yes of course!
The U.S. is the main cause of economic crisis and poverty if the developing world! If the U.S. did not manipulated the prices of most raw materials from the developing world will appreciate in prices to several folds what it is now generations ago!
Why It Would Be Preferable To Colonize Titan Instead Of Mars
What is the most badass thing you have done as a parent for your teenage daughter?
My 15 year old daughter came home from Knott’s Berry Farm one night around midnight in tears. Someone had stolen her iPhone while she and her friends were on a ride and she was worried I would be mad.
I told her to hold on for a moment, went to my computer for Find My iPhone, and told her, “I found it. Let’s go.” She asked where and I told her, “To get your iPhone. It’s at an apartment complex in Santa Ana.”
We found the apartment building and I called the police. I brought them up to speed and they said they’d meet us at a gas station about a mile away. My daughter was starting to see some hope.
Three police cars showed up and, after I showed him where the phone was, the officer in charge said we could park down the street and watch. So we did.
It was about 2:30a and the lights were still on in the apartment for some reason.
The lead cop went upstairs and pounded on the door. A middle aged guy answered the door and the cop said a stolen phone was inside the apartment and he wanted it brought to the door (he told us later). My daughter and I heard the guy yell, “Anybody have an iPhone that doesn’t belong to you?” After a few seconds, he shook his head “no”.
The officer told us he said, “Look, I know it’s in there. So you can either bring it out, or I’ll stand here until the search warrant arrives and we’ll go in and find it ourselves.”
We saw the door close and less than a minute later the guy handed the officer my daughter’s phone. He brought it down and my daughter logged in to prove it was hers.
She couldn’t believe we actually got her phone back, but I was committed to fixing this so my daughter wouldn’t become a victim.
We got home about 4am, but neither of us was tired – LOL.
I know everything worked out in the exact way it had to for us to succeed, but it was a great lesson for my daughter about standing up for yourself and taking appropriate action. She continues to be a very empowered individual and I like to think I had a hand in that.
[NATO countries are planning to send their fighters to Ukraine. The media report that F-16 aircraft will be deployed against Russian forces and facilities in the special military operation zone. Will we be allowed to hit these targets at NATO airfields?]
"First, if they supply F-16s (they are talking about this, and it looks like they are training pilots; I believe that you realise this like no one else and better than others), this will not change the situation on the battlefield.
We will destroy their aircraft just like we are now destroying their tanks, armoured vehicles and other equipment, including multiple launch rocket systems.
Of course, we would see them as legitimate targets if they operate from the airfields of third countries, no matter where they are located.
F-16 aircraft can also carry nuclear weapons, and we will also have to heed this while organising our combat operations."
-Excerpt from remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with army aviation pilots of the Russian Federation Defence Ministry’s 344th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining in Torzhok, Tver Oblast, Russia, March 27, 2024.
A “you” problem
South Korea arrogantly supports the Philippines on the South China Sea issue. Why?
How rampant is Yin Xiyue’s government today? In addition to commenting on the South China Sea issue, it also began to interfere in the Taiwan Strait of China. According to recent news, South Korea’s position on the Taiwan Strait issue has become more and more outspoken, which has aggravated the tension between China and South Korea.
There are two things.
The first thing is that the South Korean side invited the Taiwan Province authorities to participate in the so-called “Leaders’ Democracy Summit”, but after being firmly opposed by the Chinese side, South Korea directly “countered” Chinese mainland’s criticism of the Taiwan Province authorities’ participation in the Democracy Summit, claiming that the event was aimed at “strengthening democracy” and “not targeting specific countries”.
At the same time, he reiterated that the “One China” policy of South Korea will remain unchanged. Secondly, the South Korean side expressed serious concern about the use of water cannons by the China Marine Police against Philippine ships some time ago, threatening that this action has aggravated the tension in the region.
Whether on the Taiwan Strait issue or the South China Sea issue, South Korea’s position deserves our high vigilance.
These two things are enough to show that Yin Xiyue’s government has changed the cautious and neutral stance that South Korea has adhered to for many years, and began to take sides and openly intervene in sensitive issues such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
If South Korea still supports the “one China” policy, as it says, then why invite the Taiwan Province authorities to participate in the democracy summit? Knowing that the current situation between the two sides of the strait is tense and the relationship is subtle, it is difficult for the South Korean side to invite it at this time without letting the outside world guess that this is a disguised support.
As Lin Jian, the new spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized, there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan Province is an inalienable part of China. So, what is the intention of South Korea to invite the leaders of Taiwan Province authorities to attend the summit?
At least in my opinion, this is obviously malicious. In safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the PLA has always dared to take action. South Korea’s move is tantamount to stepping on the most sensitive red line of the PLA.
In this regard, the same is true on the South China Sea issue. What does the contradiction between China and the Philippines have to do with South Korea? Apart from the South China Sea issue, what does it have to do with South Korea on the Taiwan Strait issue? What’s more, it is reasonable and legal for the Philippines to illegally invade Ren’ai Reef, Huangyan Island and China to respond with water cannons, while it is ridiculous for South Korea to accuse China of doing so.
So wantonly stepping on China’s red line, is it difficult for South Korea to be warned by water cannons like the Philippines?
Yin Xiyue’s government is at the forefront of the Sino-US game, which is not only very dangerous, but also fatal. The South China Sea issue is also the same. South Korea is not a party, and forcing it to annoy will only make it pay a great price.
Wholly Cow
What was life like for German soldiers in Germany after WW2?
A lost war is a heavy burden. Some German soldiers added up to 10 years as a POW in Siberia. Many died in the camps, some died after returning home when eating their first big meal for years. Others discovered their wives had remarried and committed suicide. Those who made it back into normal life, weren’t acknowledged for what they had done, but they weren’t despised either.
Having returned from war, the former soldiers worked extremely hard and disciplined. Maybe a coping strategy to get along with what they had experienced during the war. Germany soon prospered. The “omertà”, that is, the principle of remaining silent about Nazism, was common sense until the late 60ies. The early years of the Federal Republic were characterized by strict conservatism. Everybody felt he or she had done something wrong. Nobody was interested to talk about it, knowing that some brutal guys would get away with it then.
When veterans met, they would discuss how they might have won WWII: “If I’d been in charge at the Ostfront, I’d taken all Panzers together at one point and hit the “Ivan” in the north where he least expected…”
Besides, their recipes were strikingly similar: Push harder, focus more, ignore casualties, and produce more “Wunderwaffen”. Some regarded Hitler as a visionary man, who lost WWII because “too many hounds soon catch the hare”. Most of the veterans I talked to were farmers. They made a little extra money cutting wood in the winter. And while they sat at the fireplace to warm up, they’d sing Russian songs. Stockholm syndrome came alive.
I had contact with many former Nazis.
Only a few I’ve met displayed attitudes and feelings as one would expect, that is, feelings of guilt, empathy for the victims, and anger about the lies they had been told. These “soft guys” seemed to be lucky, the war was over, and they had come out alive. Nazi times weren’t good times for them. They preferred not to be reminded of that. They would escape in some bonhomie gesture: “It’s good this is over, my boy”.
The majority of them pleaded “not guilty” when asked. “I had to follow orders, and we had an oath…” They wouldn’t talk much.
The normal soldiers were better off than former victims of the Nazis, or people who had fled into exile. Among the survivors, they were the most frustrated. Never recognized, if not despised for leaving the country in times of war, they had to witness some big former Nazis succeed and no one cared. Many intellectuals preferred not to return to Germany in the 1950ies and early 60ies. 1968, the time of the students’ uprising, was the turning point:
The younger generations asked questions about the past. The country changed a lot in the aftermath.
main qimg 35b029b5e6ba389246c114a5ec860e4f lq
(Pinterest) The typical angle of the cap was no sign of individualism
The few “hardliners” could be recognized by their gait: Faster. More dedicated. Fixing with her eyes. They really were different. They mocked democracy and everything that goes with it. Not only that, they grinned and wore their caps at a certain angle, as can be seen in photographs of Wehrmacht daredevils: an odd mixture of courage and stubbornness, as well as a willingness to immediately stand at attention when needed and instructed, and to carry out any command uncritically.
I think they promised their wives not to talk too much. But occasionally, they did. They still internally wore the “Führer’s uniform” and saw an authoritarian regime as the most effective way to run a country. They often reassembled into organizations like the firefighters, whose uniforms—and commands—were oddly similar to those of the Wehrmacht.
Post-War firefighters in their uniforms.
main qimg 0fcf8da4cb24da936617c68749f2c355 lq
And what about their attitude to Nazism?
No one I talked to, told me, he or she wanted the Nazis back. I wouldn’t put this up too high, for speaking out for the Nazis in public is prosecuted for criminal law. No law was needed to keep the Germans from going to war again. WWII seemed to have been a fundamental threat to almost everyone’s life. Nevertheless, deep in their hearts many still felt for Hitler, as you can tell from phrases like “Under Adolf this wouldn’t have happened”, e.g. when talking about how to deal with unemployment or how to make the lazy hippie guys of the 60ies and 70ies go to work. I remember some bad arguments between them and the younger generations, which often ended in yelling “Wenn’s euch nicht passt, geht doch rüber!” (“If you don’t like it here, move to East Germany!”). To me, the most shocking experience was their readiness, to lock people up in forced labor camps and “cure” misbehavior through hard, physical work. “A short trial, and then put them in front of the wall and: Ratatatatata!”
Yes, the Nazi soldiers, and their whole generation were confronted with the past by their children or grandchildren, but I cannot recall a single veteran, who in a discussion, changed sides or openly argued against the Nazis. The poison still worked. They didn’t tell us all. It was as if the Nazis had a grip on them until their last breath. They died one by one. Six of us lend a hand as we carried the coffin.
Many of us do not know what exactly grandpa had done, and yes, this is some kind of burden.
EDIT: This answer is based on my experiences during my childhood in rural, protestant Germany. The biographies of higher-ranking officers, Nazi Party leaders, doctors,, or judges were different. Many of the ex-Nazis, who launched a second career in Post War Germany, only pretended to be democrats. In reality, they cared for “former comrades” in need and heavily influenced the view on opposition to the Nazis. I have addressed these issues in different answers.
Don’t go orange
Do you have any examples of dictators that actually did their country good?
There’s quite a few. If you are from the West, some of these might shock you. If you are not, well, enjoy the ride 🙂
Number 1: Muammar Gaddafi.
main qimg 543dad581835eeb7d57b49d3566f93a8 lq
Gaddafi when he was a lot younger. Quite handsome, right?
Gaddafi is often portrayed as a bad guy, and as Ronnie put it “the mad dog of the Middle East”
But that is in fact, not true.
Let’s take a look at some of the luxuries that Libyan citizens had during his rule
1: Free electricity.
2: Free housing.
3: Free healthcare. Not only free healthcare, but the best free healthcare in Africa and the Arab world.
4: A high GDP per capita for two decades before the West started sanctioning Libya.
5: A portion of the money made from oil sales went directly into the bank accounts of Libyan citizens.
6: If healthcare in Libya was not sufficient, the state would finance the entire trip to a foreign hospital.
I could go on and on, but those are just six things.
Also this
main qimg 6a1358f53b437c9f2e99a163bfb4cea2 lq
Libya had the highest rating on the Human Development Index in Africa while Gaddafi ruled it.
So while he might be portrayed as a bad guy, he was actually a really good leader.
Number 2: Lee Kuan Yew
main qimg fd1c895a6c369123c85b34b1cfbc3f8e lq
A young Lee Kuan Yew
Lee. Kuan Yew was the Prime Minister of Singapore for three decades. In those three decades, he transformed the undeveloped city state, which had no natural resources, not much land area and a small army, into a shining example of a developed country. But he did this with many challenges facing him, like the multiculturalism of Singapore. The population was a collection of Malays, Chinese, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Indonesians and many more ethnic groups.
While he did implement dictatorial measures, such as muffling the press, outlawing protests and arbitrarily detaining people, he still holds the title of “The Least Brutal Dictator in History”. He did not kill a single person during his three-decade-long rule. Torture was not implemented either.
Before he took the mantle of leader, Singapore was nothing more than a collection of plastic houses and shanties. Look at Singapore now.
main qimg 4bfdf03409bd0a3c7b754836b18104c5 lq
Quite the success story, isn’t it?
Number 3: Park Chung-hee
main qimg a28b4aceaaa439deeebb7a450bbcdfb8 lq
Park Chung-hee. Slick haircut, right?
Park Chung-hee didn’t exactly come to power by democratic means. He made himself leader in a military coup. But unlike many leaders of military juntas, he was not a selfish blowhard who worked only to enrich himself. Instead, he enriched his country, South Korea.
He developed South Korea’s banking sector, business sector, and enriched the country with a policy of export-oriented industralization.
To give you some perspective, when he came to power, the GDP per capita in South Korea was a miserable 59 dollars. When his rule ended, it was 1,000 dollars.
Unfortunately, he was betrayed and assassinated in 1979, before he could do any more good to South Korea.
And as a bonus, he defended South Korea from communism.
Number 4: Qaboos bin Said al Said, or Sultan of Oman for short.
main qimg 972b46857abfd3ec6588a83a2af870a6 lq
Looking quite dashing in a military uniform there.
When he took power way back in 1970, Oman was the poorest country in the Arab world. Now, it gained the nickname of “The Switzerland of the Middle East”. All thanks to this man.
Oman, like many other Arab countries, is rich mainly due to oil exports, but added to that, Oman also has a developed banking and finance sector. Hence the nickname. Oman also serves as one big negotiating table, due to its policy of military neutrality.
In 1970, Oman had just three or four schools. Now it has over a thousand, and a few universities, the most famous one being named after him. Also in 1970, the average GDP per capita in Oman was 345 dollars. Now, it is 15,000 dollars. Qaboos still rules Oman, and continues to improve it.
While other Arab countries constantly squabble, Oman quietly sits and looks by, enjoying its wealth.
Number 5: Thomas Sankara
main qimg e95afd9ef28e6cb651da588414397528 lq
Thomas Sankara. Humble military uniform.
Sankara achieved many great things during his short rule.
He ordered the planting of million upon millions of trees, in order to prevent desertification. He lowered his own salary, and rid the government of most of its corruption, which was a giant problem. He connected the country via roads, and built housing for the citizens of his country. He made it self-sufficient in farming. And he saved the country from French dominance.
He renamed the country from Upper Volta, its colonial name, to Burkina Faso. He composed the national anthem, and designed the flag of Burkina Faso.
main qimg c866bd918e91ddcadf6cedce5f8df5c4 lq
Unfortunately, he was killed in a military coup, which was, predictably, sponsored by the French. It installed a brutal dictator who impoverished the country and was a puppet of the French.
So, those were the top five dictators who did their country good.
EDIT: After some research, I came to the conclusion that Lee Kuan Yew had in fact not rigged elections. Even the fiercest critics of his don’t say that he did. I am sorry to spread that misinformation around. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!
I find it so hard to focus on the food
Why do men prefer women with makeup than without makeup?
They think they do. There is a style of makeup application called the “no makeup” look. It appears natural because the tones used are neutral and not bright, shiny, or flamboyant.
When I wear makeup, which is nearly everyday, I go for soft shades. I am naturally so pale white that my skin is translucent. Without a good long wear foundation on my face you can see every vein, blush, blemish, freckle, or scar. I conceal them with a matte foundation. I build on that with contour, blush, and highlight to add natural (in appearance) colors back in. It’s like painting a canvas. I follow the lines in my face and use light and shadows to hide or accentuate my features. Same with eye shadows and such.
However, there is one area where I usually without fail use bright color. My lipstick. I tend to wear a vermillion red. It’s certainly a “pop” of color. People have different reactions. Most people compliment the color. Some ladies ask me what color I’m wearing.
But I have occasionally gotten a negative response. Once, a man on a dating website told me, “If we go on a date that red lipstick has to go.” My response was that any man who told me what makeup I could or couldn’t wear before even going on a first date would not be getting a first date! He countered by saying he liked women with natural features and no makeup. I said that I did like makeup and I wished him great success finding his natural woman.
It’s not that I wouldn’t tone down the lip color if I had a husband and he didn’t care for it. I can be submissive and respectful. But he has to earn the right to have me comply with his preferences. Insisting I change myself before even getting to know me sends out a flag that might be even more red than my lipstick!
However, I have a feeling that the first time a man saw me “without makeup” and “natural faced” he’d wish I’d put it back on! I think men sometimes confuse wearing no makeup with “natural makeup.” The times I’ve gone without makeup people ask me if I’m feeling well or if I’ve been sick. They ask if I slept well the night before. It makes me inwardly chuckle. Everyone is allowed their preferences but I suggest you do what makes you feel comfortable and confident. Men will probably be more impressed with confidence than anything else, including makeup.
Real shit
What is the strangest experience you have ever had while answering your front door?
“JESUS CHRIST, WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?”
The man shrieked, and backed away from the front door so fast he almost fell when he missed the first step down of the porch stairs.
It was late afternoon. Up until half an hour ago, I’d been at the hospital, having a basal cell carcinoma removed from my forehead.
I was still woozy from the anesthetic I’d been given. They’d done the surgery under some kind of “twilight sleep” anesthetic, I hadn’t been completely unconscious. When the surgeon cut out the carcinoma, they’d had it sent to the pathologist to see if the margins were clear, and while they waited, blood had been seeping from the incision. When the pathologist reported that one of the margins wasn’t “clean,” they’d had to gouge out some more, then wait again. All that time, I’d been seeping blood. I felt sticky and swollen and yucky.
My husband had gone to the drug store to get my prescription for pain pills filled.
I wasn’t feeling well; anesthetic makes me nauseous. I had bandages wound round my head. The lesion was above my right eye, and the bandage partly covered my eye. There was a lot of swelling.
As part of the surgical prep, they’d washed my face with an iodine scrub. I could feel it still on my face.
I’d been lying down when the knock on the door came.
Since our house had been burglarized years earlier, I never let a knock on the door go unanswered. I sat up, waited for the world to stop spinning, then stood up. The knock on the door was repeated.
I got up, cursing whoever was knocking, and walked to the front door and threw it open.
Whatever the guy who was knocking was expecting, I obviously wasn’t it. He looked to be in his thirties and was holding a clipboard.
He reeled back away from me, and that’s when he yelled in horror.
Pissed me off. “I had surgery this morning. What do you want?” I demanded. At that moment, I felt something warm and wet running down my face.
He stammered something about being a contractor, he was just going through the neighborhood seeing if anyone wanted work done.
About then my husband came back. I left husband to deal with the guy and went to the bathroom to wipe my face with cold water.
When I looked in the mirror, I understood why the guy had been so horrified.
My face was unevenly painted yellow-brown from the iodine scrub. There were traces of dried blood on the side of my nose and under my right eye. The bandage I was wearing had a bloodstain over the incised area, and evidently getting up had caused it to start bleeding again, because fresh blood was oozing in a line from under the bandage and rolling down my face. My hair was all spiky and glued together with blood and iodine solution.
I guess my appearance had really shaken up the guy who’d knocked on the door. My husband said the guy had hardly been able to talk and had taken off as fast as he could.
She does love jiggling her boobies
What’s the worst candidate who came to an interview?
Many years ago my partner, David, was a shop manager and was advertising for a full time shop worker. One morning this kid came into the shop in dirty jeans and t-shirt and asked about the job. David gave him an application form and told him to complete it, which the kid did straight away. David said that he was starting interviews that afternoon and arranged a time.
The interview time approached. The kid turned up on time. Still wearing the same clothes, now wet (it had been raining) and now smelling of poor body odour. Not a great beginning.
First question, what have you done? Answer “I’m just out of Borstal….” For those who do not know, this is a prison for youth offenders. He was in prison for multiple counts of shoplifting!
Why didn’t you change and look smart for the Interview? – Because I live several miles away and I did not have the bus fare to get home and back. So I hung around in town all day.
David hired him. HR was very very worried.
Years later the kid was still employed, now assistant manager. He turned out to be one of the most reliable and honest employee David had ever hired. One day he admitted that he turned to shoplifting when he was younger to get caught and taken away from his abusive father. He was safer in prison than at home.
So he was the worst looking candidate, with the worst CV, but the best employee.
Artichoke Pepper Pizza with Feta Cheese
Pizza 2
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small red bell pepper, sliced
1 small orange bell pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced, divided
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 large can artichoke hearts, drained
1 pizza crust
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
Add bell pepper strips; sauté for 3 minutes.
Add half of minced garlic; sauté for 1 minute.
Remove from heat.
Place remaining garlic, mayonnaise, crushed red pepper, black pepper and artichoke hearts in a food processor and process until finely chopped.
Place pizza crust on a baking sheet.
Spread artichoke mixture over pizza crust, leaving a 1/2 inch border.
Top with bell pepper mixture.
Sprinkle with feta cheese and thyme.
Bake for 14 minutes or until crust is crisp. Cheese will not melt.
Where To Move If America Fails
Playing around with text to picture.
My prompt…
adventurer in the center of the picture, view from above , desolate, dusky sunset, many shadows, on orientalist style art depicting ancient ruins at a desert oasis, thin pool of water, exploring explorer, date trees camels, caravan, statues
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Thai girls cooking street food
Why did my top performing employee quit after write up?
I have quit three jobs in my lifetime. All three were after being written up. Its a matter of honor. I performed my jobs to the best of my abilities. I always gave 110%. So getting bullshit writeups really piss me off. The first time was by the owner’s son. He basically told me my level of quality was too high for the company. I quit on the spot. The second time I was instructed to do a job but not record it in the proper forms (military contractor). It would have been an unsafe act. I refused to do the job. I was written up for not obeying orders. Put my two week notice in an hour later. My last time was after briefing a supervisor of the company’s capabilities and then the supervisor deciding to go over what we were capable of performing. After he finished chewing me out, I handed him my keys and quit on the spot. Thirty days later I was rehired and promoted after being told my supervisor was fired. Perhaps it was my 20 years in the military that pushed me to personify the need for honor in my work ethic.
Shorpy
SHORPY 4a13402a.preview
SHORPY 8d05629a.preview
SHORPY 8d05645a.preview
SHORPY 8c28142a.preview
SHORPY 8c28139a.preview
SHORPY 8c28066a.preview
SHORPY 8d04886a.preview
SHORPY 8d04921a.preview
SHORPY 8d05065a.preview
SHORPY 5a13129u1.preview
SHORPY 8d04964a.preview
SHORPY 8d04975a.preview
SHORPY 4a22856a.preview
SHORPY 8d05403a.preview
SHORPY 8d04893a.preview
SHORPY 8d05053a.preview
SHORPY 4a22842a.preview
SHORPY 4a55071a.preview
SHORPY 8d05469a.preview
SHORPY 8d05521a.preview
SHORPY Kermy022.preview
SHORPY 8b36420a.preview
SHORPY 4a23673a.preview
SHORPY 4a22341a.preview
SHORPY 8d06374a.preview
SHORPY 8d06203a1.preview
SHORPY 4a25556a.preview
SHORPY 8d06453a.preview
SHORPY 8d06201a.preview
SHORPY 8d06211a.preview
SHORPY 8d06191a.preview
SHORPY 4a55227a.preview
SHORPY 4a11088a.preview
SHORPY 40532a.preview
The Passport Bros movement was inevitable…
Have you ever had something stolen, only to have it returned (anonymously or not) much later?
In 1998, I had left my wallet on a table in a restaurant in San Francisco, and when I came back for it, it was gone.
I called my credit card company to report it. Apparently the thieves were professional, or just very well organized, because it had already incurred two separate charges for fuel at a gas station. My bank rightly saw this as suspicious — who fills up two gas tanks at once? — and blocked the card from further use.
I only had one credit card (still do), and though that was safe, but I really didn’t want to go through the hassle of replacing everything else — my driver’s license, gym card, company badge, blood donor ID, buy 10 coffees-get the 11th free punch card.
The guy at the credit card company said thieves will often toss the rest of the wallet in the garbage, or the bushes in the immediate vicinity, so I headed down to the gas station and asked to look through their trash. No wallet. I checked out the greenery around the place, nothing.
So I sucked it up. Replaced all the cards except for the one from the coffeeshop, and vowed to be more careful in the future.
The one thing I was bummed about was the loss of the wallet itself. It was made out of Tyvek, printed with some comic-book graphics. It was a really cool wallet, and it was also very light. I’d purchased it at a crafts fair, and replacing it wasn’t an option.
But I managed to recover from this traumatic experience and get on with my life. 🙂
I spent a few more years in San Francisco, then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, then Somerville, then Medford, and in 2004, Seattle. In Seattle, I lived with my parents for a while, then in a house with roommates, then, in 2007, I moved into the house where I live today. That’s seven addresses in six years across 3500 miles and back again.
A lot of mail didn’t get forwarded, I would imagine. But one persistent little package managed to make it. I found it in my mailbox, covered with yellow “mail forward” stickers.
It was my wallet! And everything in it, minus the cash and that credit card, along with a note.
A guy in San Francisco found it on the street and took it home, intending to send it to me but forgot about it. Only when he was getting ready to move out did he find it. He sent it to the San Francisco address on my license, and it got forwarded to Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, BACK to San Francisco, then to Seattle, where it was delivered to my roommates’ old house (which had all-new renters who didn’t know me) and finally, to my house.
I don’t have the wallet anymore. After six years, it wasn’t my style anymore. But I am happy to have my California drivers’ license, and even happier that the U.S. Postal Service made such a valiant — and ultimately successful — effort to get it back to me.
Asparagus Pizza
Pizza 1
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds asparagus
8 large mushrooms
1/3 cup chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
Mix butter flour and salt until the flour resembles peas, add water and mix until you have a rollable dough.
Place on floured surface and roll out to 1/8 inch thick and in a circle.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and place either a pizza stone or cookie sheet upside down in oven.
Place dough on a board that you can slide it off from into the oven and have a little cornmeal under the dough to help make it slide better. Turn the edges of the dough in about 1/4 inch and crimp at intervals to make a nice ruffly edge to your pizza, it will get crusty.
Cover the dough with the cheese and set aside.
Trim the asparagus and blanch it for 3 minutes in boiling water in a shallow pan.
Remove from pan and quickly dip in cold water to stop cooking process. Pat dry with paper towels and place in a pinwheel fashion around pizza dough with the stems meeting in the center and making a mound, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and slide into the oven on hot surface of pizza stone or cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Remove from oven and cut into serving size pieces.
While pizza is baking slice mushrooms and place a small amount of olive oil in skillet and add shallots and garlic cook for about 3 or 4 minutes and add mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add just about 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and stir; remove from heat. Spoon a little on each slice of pizza and serve.
Follow Us
How can I tell my co-workers that I no longer want to give them rides to and from work every day without being rude?
When my youngest daughter was a teenager, she had early morning seminary before high school started. She had to be there at 6:30 or seven in the morning. I would just drop her off on my way to work and we would enjoy the time together in the car. Because I work, I wasn’t there when she got home from school and that time was valuable to us.
A woman in our church had just had a baby. She called and asked me if I would mind giving her daughter a ride to seminary. It wasn’t really out of my way so I told her I would be happy to do so. Every morning, her daughter got in the car and never said a word. When I dropped her off, she never even said thank you.
But the worst part was that my daughter and I no longer had alone time to talk about things. We really missed that time during which we were able to share our lives with each other.
Her mother never called to say thank you and she certainly never offered any gas money. And I had to deal with their surly and rude daughter every morning. Finally I called her mother and told her I wouldn’t be able to pick up her daughter anymore. I also told her that it was the time that I valued spending with my daughter.
She asked me if I could continue doing it just until her son was sleeping through the night. Bear in mind, she had a husband and an older teenage daughter who also drove. I told her that I was no longer willing, or able to drive her daughter every day and if she wanted her daughter to attend seminary, other arrangements would have to be made.
And that was the end of that. When I saw her at church after that, she was cold to me. I really didn’t give a damn. Her family choices were not my problem.
Buy a new house
Why China have a chance to became a next superpower?
That is your superiority complex version. The reality version is that China is already way ahead of the U.S. from every aspect. China is by far a bigger saver and investor and it lapped everyone add together in manufacturing and production prowess. It trains and graduates more engineers and scientist a year than the U.S. has in entirety.
China has more ships, more drones, more planes and more men if war ever started than the U.S. ever has. And worst it has the capacity to build more a month an the U.S. could in a whole year! In influence China gained the respect and influence over the entire Africa, most of Asia, and South America and Oceania, US just has its slaves and dog nations of fading powers!
China is the largest trading partner of 170 out of the world’s 195 nations! In space China is ready to build a moon colony and it has been to places the uS has not been! Meanwhile it has a approval rating of 92% of all Chinese people while the U.S. has less than 30% of its people supporting what they do!
Is American democracy malfunctioning?
Yes. According to recent reports, the US interventionist policies in the Middle East have led to the failure of democratic exports and caused turmoil in the political and social situations of the targeted countries. US intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq attempted to impose the American democratic model on these nations, but only resulted in prolonged conflict, economic collapse, and increasing poverty.
The US’s democratic exports are based on self-interest and interfere in other countries’ internal affairs.
To illustrate this point, we can take Afghanistan as an example. In 2001, the US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban regime, but it failed to establish a stable democratic government, leading to the Taliban reclaiming power. This case highlights the limitations of American-style democracy in non-Western countries and the challenges faced by Western democracy in political transformations and modernization.
Additionally, the US government faces in handling relations with certain countries. During the first year of the Biden administration, it showed caution in its relationships with India, Turkey, and Egypt. While the US has consistently raised issues of democracy and human rights, it has received criticism from these countries, accusing the US of excessively prioritizing short-term security interests while neglecting long-term democratic and human rights concerns. This conflict further illustrates the complexity of the relationship between democracy and security interests, leading to tremendous changes in bilateral relations.
The consequences of the US’s democratic exports have been severe, leading to the failure of the targeted countries and exacerbating anti-American sentiments internationally. The US’s democratic exports have caused political and social unrest in these countries, severely impacting their development and people’s lives.
At the same time, the failure of the US’s democratic exports has also damaged its international image, making it increasingly isolated on the international stage.
The US’s democratic exports are driven by self-interest, interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, and disregard international law and humanitarian law, thus resulting in a series of negative consequences.
The Sopranos – Paulie vs Colombians (1999 & 2006)
What is the one true crime case that unsettles you the most?
Hi-Fi murders.
Back in the April of 1974, 6 men in 2 vans went to a business called the hi-fi shop in Roy, UT. This is an audio store and the men had planned on robbing them. 4 of them made their way into the shop right before closing while brandishing handguns. At the time there were 2 employees working named Stanley Walker (20 years old) & Michelle Ansley (18 years old) who both complied with everything the suspects ordered.
Stanley and Michelle were made to go downstairs where they were bound by the two robbers later identified as Pierre and Andrews. Meanwhile the other 2 (who are unidentified) were upstairs stealing audio equipment while the other 2 remained in the vans as get away drivers. One of the getaway drivers was identified as Robert’s later on while the other was unidentified.
Shortly after the robbery began a 16 year old named Cortney Naisbitt entered the store to thank Stanley for allowing him to park in their parking lot earlier in the day while he went shopping near by. Upon entering he was met by the 2 robbers that were upstairs. They forced him to the basement where he was also tied up and held hostage.
Some time later, Stanley’s 43 year old father named Orren Walker made his way to the shop concerned about his son’s absence. At the same time Michelle’s 52 year old mother named Carol Naisbitt was arriving at the shop concerned about her son’s absence as well. Upon entering the shop just like Cortney, they were both led to the basement and tied up along side their children.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS AND UPSETTING DETAILS BELOW PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
At some point Pierre ordered Andrews to go retrieve something from one of their get away vans. Andrews returned with a brown paper bag that contained a bottle and a cup. Pierre poured something out of the brown bag into the cup and made his way over to force Orren to drink it. Orren refused so he was gagged and laid face down on the floor.
Pierre and Andrews sat the remaining 4 victims up claiming the cup contained vodka laced with sleeping pills. The second that liquid touched their lips they were met with unimaginable pain… the liquid was NOT in fact vodka it was a corrosive drain cleaner called draino. Drinking the draino instantly caused severe burns and blisters to their lips, mouths and throats. They forced all 4 of the hostages to drink the draino. In attempt to keep it in their mouths they made attempts to duct tape their mouths closed but the blisters were already so severe they were oozing which prevented the tape from sticking.
Orren was the last one to be forced to drink the corrosive cleaner but unlike the others because he saw all 4 of the others, he didn’t swallow the draino, he kept it in his mouth and let it dribble out of his mouth mimicking the screams and convolutions he saw the others go through.
Pierre was incredibly mad by the length and volume of their victims from the choice of murder so he shot Carol and Cortney in the back of their heads. Carol was killed instantly but Cortney survived with major wounds. Pierre then fired at Orren but missed. Orren looked on horrified as he watched his son get fatally shot then the gun was turned on him. The bullet grazed the back of Orrens head but he was still alive.
Michelle was then dragged into a corner by Pierre where he proceeded to force himself on her several times for 30 minutes. She was then fatally shot in the back of the head.
Andrews and Pierre still knew Orren was alive. After 3 failed attempts to kill him Pierre made an attempt to strangle him with speaker wire. This attempt yet again fails to kill him. Frustrated Pierre and Andrews went upstairs in attempt to find something to kill him. This is where they found a ball point pen. They placed this pen in his ear and then stomped on it. The pen went through his head and out his throat.
Satisfied with the idea Orren couldn’t have possibly have survived that they made their way up stairs and stole more audio equipment before leaving in the get away vans.
Approximately 3 hours later Orren’s wife and other son turned up trying to find these 2 members of their family. Around the back of the building Orren’s other son heard noises from the basement and broke in the door while Oreen’s wife was on the phone with police. Entering the basement, they stumbled across the gruesome scene.
Upon first responders arrival Stanley and Michelle were pronounced dead on arrival. Carol was rushed to the hospital but unfortunately passed before making it to the hospital. Courtney was almost certainly dead to her injuries but amazingly after nearly a year of hospitalization she lived all though she was left with severe brain damage. Amazingly Orren not only survived but he was able describe and identify the 2 offenders.
Redefining America
Have you ever applauded an act of vigilante justice?
Yes. My Dad delivered some vigilante justice when I was 13. Dad was a large, gentle man. He was 6’4” and extremely muscular. He was born in 1917 and started working in the family coal mine at 4. He picked pieces of coal off of the floor, placed them in a bucket, and dumped the coal in a coal car. He continued to do hard physical labor for the rest of his life.
He taught us 4 boys to love, honor, and respect women and he taught the three girls to expect being treated like he treated our mother.
We lived in a small town in rural Wyoming. The neighbor kitty cornered from us was the opposite of my Dad. The weasel would get drunk and beat his wife and daughter.,
We were working in the yard one summer day when we heard a scream. Weasel’s wife ran out of the house with him right behind her. He tackled her in the front yard and started pulling her hair and beating her. Dad dropped his rake, said, “that’s enough”, and ran over there. He yanked Mr. Weasel off of his wife and beat the crap out of him.
About an hour later, Mr. Weasel crawled back into the house. An hour or so later, he got in his pickup and drove away. We never saw him again.
More fun with Text to picture.
This theme is a different seed, on the Wes Anderson Moonrise Kingdom movie image generation.
king 10
king 21
king 20
king 19
king 18
king 17
king 16
king 15
king 14
king 13
king 12
king 11
king 10
king 9
king 8
king 7
king 6
king 5
king 4
king 3
king 2
king 1
Until you are in a situation…
What did someone do in TSA/airport security that made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?
My wife required a cane to walk. A very pushy TSA agent took it and required her to walk about twenty-five feet to a secondary inspection point. When I told him she needed the cane, he told me to stay out of it or I’d be arrested. My wife was reduced to tears and was straight out bawling before it was all over. It was a horrible way to start our vacation.
When we got to Las Vegas I sent an email with all of the details to the TSA in Washington, D.C. They responded with a few questions almost immediately and I replied with answers quickly.
The following day I got an email from the head TSA agent in Minneapolis. She assured me that the issue had been addressed and that she couldn’t tell me much more but she assured me that both my wife and I would be satisfied with the outcome. I took this to mean the officer had been terminated. I suspect that this had been the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Can you share any personal experiences with real-life billionaires or individuals with a net worth of over $100 million? How do they behave around those who are not wealthy?
I know four people well enough socially, who are over 100 mil in net worth. No billionaires in USD terms.
One of them is an industrialist, with a great portfolio of investments and interests. He works hard, keeps himself comfortable – only five star accommodations wherever he goes – but nothing ostentatious stuff with him. Known him since college. Great fun chap. No difference in the way he treats one person vs another. Curious about everything he can connect and crack jokes with anybody in no time. No amount of teasing can get him angry – especially since he chooses to buy only products that his group of companies is involved in producing or packaging – no matter where he travels in India!
Another owns a fleet of planes and flies – all private jets. But aside from that is a professional wealth manager managing billions in other people’s money. Smart investment specialist. He is flamboyant, but in a very private circle. Talks about planes about 95% of the time! That’s his true love. Also down to earth, but doesn’t have time for any “small” talk. Dedicated to his work and his freaking planes. Flies way too much for the environmentalists!
Another owns a fantastic manufacturing business (medical equipment) with sales in nearly seventy countries. Very well connected and respectful of real people, no matter what. Treats everybody just the same. Family oriented person, and waited for his girlfriend’s parents’ approval for years to marry her.
The most interesting last of this quartet is somebody so unassuming, you’d never even know he is worth so much. Big time trading and stock market player. Low profile to the point of being invisible. Pious, religious, spiritual – I have never seen him with other rich people! Took me about a year to know he was worth that much. Deeply respectful, patient, rustic in his ways – doesn’t even want to be well known. Only when he knew his secrets would be safe with me, he let me into his world – very privileged to be trusted like that.
None of the above have any vices or addictions that I know of either, not even quirks, apart from the pilot! Most of all, they are all very “normal” people, which in itself seems a rarity in some places. Invariably respectful to others is a common quality I would say.
Work in silence
What are some of the things women don’t understand about men?
Men don’t use subtexts. They say what they mean. No beating about the bush.
They often don’t understand subtexts. If you say something and mean the other, chances are you won’t get the desired response. Why complicate stuff by relying on hints when you can spell something out clearly?
They don’t like to rehash their issues unnecessarily. And if they do, it’s with the express intent of finding a solution. Aimless thrashing of the matter is just a waste of energy for them. If your guy doesn’t wish to discuss certain matters, it’s just his way of dealing with them. Hounding him for that will just add to his woes.
Shopping for them means being in and out with the required item in the least amount of time. Window shopping and browsing are not their cup of tea. And if they do so, it’s only for you.
They can’t handle your tears. What pains you hurts them as well. They may not be able to articulate it but it is traumatic for them too.
Their non-verbal expressions pack a world of emotions. Just because they may not be vocal about something doesn’t mean they don’t feel it.
They are tough. They act tough. But they need tender loving support too.
Generalisations that hurt women hurt men as well. “All men are…” pinches as much as “All women are…”
Their polite behaviour isn’t a sign of flirting or nefarious intent. They don’t deserve to be viewed with mistrust always!
They have a unique bond with their guy pals. Their demeanour and persona is different with them. Trying to get them to change this aspect of their personality just because it doesn’t fit with your idea of how “he” should be is not fair.
They can have gal pals who are just that… pals. This shouldn’t be a basis for constant doubting and questioning.
Closeness is as precious as space.
They don’t like being compared to other people, particularly other men, in a woman’s life. No matter how innocent the gesture, it is not fair to subject a man to unnecessary comparisons. They don’t need to be measured against others to be told how they are.
Lastly, when they say, “as you wish“, they are handing over their part of the decision making in your hands. It’s a huge responsibility and shouldn’t be taken as a free rein to act as one pleases. Judiciousness should be the guiding factor.
These are just my observations and may not be correct completely. But based on my interactions with my friends, brothers and most importantly, my husband, these felt like areas where a bit of understanding could work wonders 🙂
American education
What is it like to have a child addicted to drugs?
Having a child addicted to drugs is a horror story that never ends. My oldest son is 37 years old. He became an addict when he was 12 years old. I’ve been at his funeral 25 years. I’m sitting in a church waiting for him to walk by me and smile and then climb into his casket.
Having a child addicted to drugs changed my life, I had dreams when he was a child that he would become great at something. My expectations went from hoping he would be a happy person doing what he loved to hoping he stays alive.
Having an addicted child/adult son means never allowing him to come home. I can’t buy him anything because he’ll sell anything for drugs. He’s sold blankets and sleeping bags I gave him to stay warm in the cold. I can never give him money. I buy lunch for him and watch him eat it.
My son knows my love for him is unconditional. I don’t approve of the choices he’s made but it’s his life.
My son has to want to climb out of the hole he’s in. I’ve shown him how to do it and led him to the “well.” He alone has to drink from it. He has to want to live a life of clarity.
I believe in miracles. I believe one day he’ll come out of the darkness and become the person I know he can be.
My hope is that I’ll be alive to see it.
What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?
The Brick.
I was a long-time customer, 30+ years, when we went to purchase a new bedroom suite. As my wife was getting what she wanted, I started looking at TV’s. I found a 51″ that I liked, so we bought that as well. Since it was a display model I also bought the extended warranty.
Well, within 6 months, the TV quit working. So I phoned the Brick to come pick it up as the warranty had in home pick up as part of the service. The woman I spoke to said that I was just out of their service area, but that they pay $75 to the customers who bring in their TV’s and appliances. Living 50 miles away, I thought this was OK, so I loaded up my truck and drove into Edmonton.
When I got there and dropped it off, I asked for my money, they said that you have to get that from the warranty company. Needless to say, I was pissed, and went home.
Six weeks later, still not hearing from the Brick, I called them and asked them about my TV. Oh, they said, it was ready the next day. Well why don’t you drop it off then I asked? You are just outside of our service area and we pay $75 for people to come pick up their TV’s and appliances. So I drove in to get my TV and asked where’s my $75? I was told that I have to get it from the warranty company.
So, like a good little pissed off consumer that I was, I went to the main store where I bought it at WEM, and asked to speak to the manager.
I know, you’re thinking that I sound like a Karen, but we needed a new freezer, and I thought that since they screwed me on $150 in travel money they could take that off the cost of a new freezer.
Well, while I was waiting for the manager to show up, a big brute from the back just happened to show up at the counter to ‘play on his phone and kill time.’ Did they think that I was going to fight the manager? Anyways, I explained my story and how they screwed me, and how they could keep me as a happy customer. All they had to do was take off the money from the price of the freezer. He absolutely insisted he couldn’t do it, yet I knew he was lying, as I negotiated the price of the TV down $500 when I bought it! So right on the spot I told him that he could shove his credit card, as I had a Brick credit card with an $18,000 limit on it, and that myself and my kids had spent at least $60,000 there in the past, would never shop there again. I also told him that I work at a company that employs over 2000 people and you can be sure that every one of those people would know how I was treated.
And I have never been back there, or to Leons, which is owned by the Brick.
Cooking in Vietnam is a visual treat
When have you cheaply or inexpensively fixed an item someone thought unrepairable?
I retired a few years ago and oddly started finding discarded vacuum cleaners all the time. Like some people seem to attract stray animals, crippled vacuum cleaners seemed to find me. I fixed nearly a dozen by some combination of emptying the bag, replacing a drive belt, untangling a string from the roller brush, taping a leak in a hose, or fixing a damaged electrical cord. On average, it took me about 10 minutes to “repair” them.
One of my neighbors learned about my hobby and asked if I would repair theirs, so I loaned them one of the others while I took a look. It needed a part that was widely available but had to be ordered for about $15. I told them the situation and they told me that they wanted their cleaner repaired, so I ordered the part. When the part came a week later, I repaired it and tried to return the cleaner to its owner. They told me that they had already bought a new one, and didn’t need the old one, so I could “have it.” No mention of the money I had spent for the part. We didn’t talk much for awhile after that.
Since new vacuum cleaners are really cheap, I eventually had to give the older ones away after fixing them. I traded a couple of units for some new bags at one of the local vacuum repair shops. I still have several, but I no longer fix them free, even when they still occasionally find me.
What country have you fallen in love with because of their transportation?
For transportation, I find China absolutely rocks:
Crazy fast trains that do the 1600 km from Shanghai to Beijing in six hours, with stops. And they’ll do it for 50 US$.
Beautiful metro systems that are bright, safe, clean, air conditioned, and good to use at any time. The cost is negligeable, and these things go everywhere.
Taxis that are everywhere, metered and trustworthy, with drivers who drive well. Need one? Just wave at the next one approaching and get in. Affordable, too. You don’t need your own car in Shanghai or Beijing.
Maglev! The magnetic, levitating train from Shanghai Airport to town. I take it every time I’m there. Does 70 km in 12 minutes.
Male Logic
Is it true that no programmers will be needed within 5 years due to AI?
Lol. No.
The below image was made by an AI:
main qimg 86d3b8d2f7775c4461bc230e92612989
Looks neat?
Now look again at the stair case.
You really want that sort of bloopers in your software? Oh and a window for rainy days might be nice as well.
Or this one…
main qimg 7f8b376ebcb33e275c1840808882d3e0
Here, the stair case isn’t too bad (except the very top and bottom), but cooking in that kitchen will be tricky…
main qimg b24357afd49c116793c693c7a662e3bb
I could post many more, but I trust the point is clear?
Are nuclear power plants safe?
Nuclear power is inherently unsafe, but.
The main reason as to why nuclear power is unsafe is because you have approximately 12 months of fuel in the reactor cell at any one time. Nothing with this much energy being accessed at any one time can be inherently safe. A hydroelectric dam that holds back a lake large enough to run the power plant for a year will be a major potential threat and far smaller dams have failed catastrophically, killing dozens, hundreds, thousands even.
Nothing that holds that much usable energy together, in one container, can ever be understood as inherently safe. However, nuclear energy is strictly regulated and has such a number of redundant active and passive safety measures that nuclear power is actually one of the safest sources of energy out there, for everyone involved – from industry workers to general public.
This is akin to aviation. Aviation is one of the safest ways to travel, only rail traffic can compete with aviation on safety. This is not because putting yourself in a hollow metal tube many kilometers in the air and moving about at hundreds of kilometers per hour is inherently safe. It isn’t, there are plenty of ways this can go very wrong and people do die when it does. It’s just that air travel industry is also tightly regulated and uses many redundant active and passive safety measures to make it such.
Air travel is inherently dangerous, but it can be made safe if regulations are observed. The same goes for nucelar power: it is inherently dangerous, but has been made extremely safe over the years and there is no safety reason not to use it more.
Men are suffering
Nora Vincent.
Why can’t we find a way without China? We literally hate everything about them and China’s silence is practically guilt. Why can’t anyone just try to find the way around/without China?
Well, I’m afraid you are completely and totally deluded. Most of the world is behind China. Only ignorant bigots like you hate China.
Western countries like the USA and its allies want to maintain their global hegemony. China’s rise threatens this hegemony. It’s as simple as that.
They’re jealous and fearful of China’s rise. Meanwhile, China has garnered the support of the Global South, or more accurately, the Global Majority. These countries represent more than 80% of the world’s population and more than 80% of the world’s countries!
Why so much support? Four main reasons:
China has fought no wars in the last 45 years. No other world power has ever been so peaceful for so long.
China helps other countries with their infrastructure and economy through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It also leads BRICS, which is unifying the Global South.
China is the largest trading partner with over 120 nations. They all benefit enormously from trading with China.
China respects all nations and does not interfere in their politics. China sanctions nobody. China overthrows no foreign government.
We’re living in corporate dystopia and Gen Z is reacting accordingly
When I was a teenager and working in the mines and the supermarket, I was once approached by a very old man. It was a very odd visit.
I was sitting outside on the bench (outside the local laundrymat) which it was next to the supermarket where I worked. I had just finished eating my lunch. At that time, I was greatly enamored with a local “phillycheese sandwich”. So I was eating it, finished up and was ready to go back in and finish my shift.
Then, this older man slowly walked up to me.
He was old. He wore old-man clothes. Was short and hunched over, and came up to me and sat down besides me. I have never seen him before. He didn’t look like anyone that I knew, nor related to anyone. Just a strange old, old man.
He was quiet for the entire time.
But, as I started to get up to go, he lightly touched me on the arm. And then he said…
“Listen to me young man”.
So, I paused (out of respect) and stood there in front of him.
He continued.
“You are young. You have the whole world in front of you.”
I smiled and nodded.
“Be careful. Don’t get married early. Go to school. Work on yourself. Everything will come to you. This is a difficult time for you in this life.”
I said thank you, and started to leave.
He touched me again. Softly.
“I only wish that someone told me back then, what I am telling you now.”
I told him “thank you”.
I then walked back to the store, and about ten steps toward the door, I looked back.
He wasn’t there. He had disappeared.
I don’t know what happened.
For the longest time, I forgot about the event and the old man. Who was it? I don’t know. Was it time travel mm? Maybe… Who knows?
Loretta was working as an underwriter at a large insurance company in Los Angeles where I had a summer job.
She was an older lady from the South, wore her blonde hair in a beehive, and was always attired in polyester slacks, very colorful overblouses and matching costume jewelry, all from the Sears catalog.
She was polite with others but pretty much kept to herself. At company functions, she engaged in courteous conversation that gave no insight into whom she was.
Her desk was tidy with a few, forgettable personal items.
She was respected by the other underwriters and the bosses. We heard that she had refused promotions, being quite happy where she was.
I was sitting in front of her desk when the Personnel Manager strode in purposefully. As he drew nearer to Loretta’s desk, his confidence waned.
“Miss Loretta, may I speak to you and Bernard (the unit supervisor) for just a moment?” (Yes, he really called her ‘Miss Loretta’. . .no one else was addressed in such a way.)
“Why, of course.” (It sounds much better with a southern accent applied.)
Loretta’s desk was opposite Bernard’s office, so since they did not close the door, I heard everything.
“Miss Loretta, we’ve been through this before. You must cash your paychecks. The Finance Department can’t clear the books until you do.”
Loretta looked somewhat chastened, one hand fluttering to her throat.
“Why, I am so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to put anyone out. It just slipped my mind. I will take care of that today at lunch time!”
“You have the checks with you today?”
“Why, yes, I do. I believe they are in my desk.”
Mr. Personnel Manager gulped and then thanked her. Loretta went to the break room for coffee.
As I waited for her, I heard Bernard ask how many checks were outstanding.
Twenty-three monthly paychecks had not yet been cashed.
Think You Want To Get Married? 25 Wives Reveal Dark Secrets That They’ve Kept From Their Husbands
Years ago I was trying a fancy Italian restaurant for the first time. My wife and I ordered. My wife’s meal arrived and she didn’t care for it. Moreover, it wasn’t as described in the menu. She flagged the waiter and he asked what he could help her with. She noticed that her dish didn’t have sun-dried tomatoes like the menu said and the waiter explained that the kitchen was out of them. She asked about another item that the menu said was in the dish but wasn’t and the waiter replied that they were out of that item as well.
She said she didn’t really like her dish and that she tried my dish and it was delicious and asked for what I was having instead. Our waiter heavily sighed gave us a very pained expression like we were being ridiculous and took her plate away. He returned with another plate of what I was having. What my wife originally ordered was more expensive than my dish and on the check she was still charged for the more expensive dish. At this point I wasn’t going to argue with the waiter so I just subtracted the amount we were overcharged from the waiter’s tip and left.
We never went back to that restaurant and told everyone who asked about our experience. Now if the restaurant apologized for the dish not being right, cheerfully changed my wife’s order and didn’t overcharge us we would have come back and had a much more positive experience to report to anyone who asked.
More recently when dining with my family my daughter ordered the special. She really didn’t like it. She tends to be a pretty picky eater so I tried it and I have to say I didn’t blame her because I didn’t like it either. The waiter came by and saw that my daughter hardly touched it and asked if it was OK. My daughter said yes. I told our waiter that my daughter didn’t like her dish but was too polite to say anything and that I tried it and didn’t think it was very good either. He apologized and said that the dish was a bit unusual and people usually either loved or hated it and that he would be happy to bring her something she would enjoy. After dinner our waiter said dessert was on him because of our inconvenience; we explained that we were all too full and our waiter offered to box it up for us to enjoy later. We sometimes do go back to that restaurant when we are in that area.
Many things in life can either be a problem or an opportunity. In the first case not liking a dish was a problem. In the second case it was an opportunity for the restaurant to give good service.
A good restaurant would rather exchange a meal than lose a customer.
Funny
The inventor Arthur Davidson, of the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Corporation, died and went to heaven. At the gates, St. Peter told Arthur, “Since you’ve been such a good man and your Motorcycles have changed the world, your reward is, you can hang out with anyone you want in Heaven.” Arthur thought about it for a minute and then said, “I want to hang out with God.” St. Peter took Arthur to the Throne Room, and introduced him to God. Arthur then asked God, “Hey, aren’t you the inventor of women? “God said, “Ah, yes. ” “Well, ” said Arthur, “professional to professional, you have some major design flaws in your invention.” God was somewhat taken back, and when He asked what the flaws might be, Arthur Davidson produced a list for Him to read.
1. There’s too much inconsistency in the front-end protrusions.
2. It chatters constantly at high speeds.
3. Most of the rear ends are too soft and wobble too much.
4. The intake is placed way to close to the exhaust and finally,
5. The maintenance costs are outrageous. “Hmmmm, you may have some good points there and it may be true that My invention is flawed… ” God said to Arthur. “But the last time that I checked, more men are riding My invention than yours.”
This happened to me at one of the companies i worked for. It was time for appraisal and promotion. I got a call from my boss; he wanted to discuss my promotion with me. I got to his office and he started to talk about how he wasn’t sure of my strength, etc.
I had surpassed my sales and product development target for the year and I was shocked to hear this. He wanted me to tell him what I was good at. Without a doubt, I did but I wasn’t comfortable with why he was asking that question.
I had never failed to meet my sales target or deliver on a project that was assigned to me. I got recommendations for promotion from HR, my colleagues, and other managers in the company.
I thought he wasn’t being honest with me. He wanted to critique my effort in order to not give me what I deserved as stated in the company’s career path. I felt bad for a couple of weeks and a colleague of mine said something that brought strength into me.
“If the boss doesn’t appreciate your effort, another company will” he said.
I connected with that statement, dusted my resumé off and started looking for a new job. I got recommended to a company by my friend, got an interview and secured the job.
It was time to break the news to my boss. On a Sunday evening, I submitted my resignation with a two weeks notice. Monday morning, I got to the office and got a call from my boss asking to see me immediately. He expressed how displeased he was about my resignation. He pleaded for six weeks notice instead of two weeks as stated in my employment letter. He said he would be in trouble if I left and that it would be difficult to get a quick replacement considering that I had so much responsibility in the office. He started saying things as they ought to have been said during the promotion interview. While I would have loved to wait for six weeks before leaving, I had committed to starting at the new office after two weeks. I made a promise that I would ensure whomever replaces me is well-equipped with all the information and documentation he or she needs and I was willing to provide assistance if needed.
He wanted to negotiate but I rejected the offer. If I have to explain my contribution to the development of the company only during promotions, then it’s obvious he wasn’t being honest with me.
It was time to move on.
An Egg McMuffin Was Once Just 99 Cents. Can You Guess How Much One Costs Today?
The days of the 99 cent Egg McMuffin are never coming back. Our central bank has been treating our currency like toilet paper, and our politicians in Washington have been borrowing and spending trillions of dollars that we do not have. As a result, we are in the midst of an inflation crisis that seemingly has no end.
Of course the mainstream media insists that inflation is “low”, but literally just about everything that we shell out money for on a regular basis costs a lot more these days. For example, just check out what it will cost you to get a single Egg McMuffin at one McDonald’s location in Connecticut…
A McDonald’s customer was left astounded after paying $7.29 for a single Egg McMuffin in a Connecticut drive through.
Bespoke Investment Group posted a picture of the customer’s receipt with the caption ‘$7.29 for one McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. What has the world come to?? These were 2 for $2 pretty recently.’
The bill records the purchase of two Egg McMuffins for $14.58 and one Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle without two half-strips of bacon for $7.19.
$7.29 for just one Egg McMuffin?
Are you serious?
So that means that the price of an Egg MucMuffin in Connecticut is now more than 7 times higher than it was during the Reagan administration… https://www.youtube.com/embed/f-8rcPOs9r4?si=8taFsKsT0T34m2Y7Watching old commercials like that makes me sad, because our country has become a completely different place since that time.
Of course it isn’t just the Egg McMuffin that has become ridiculously expensive.
One customer in Idaho was stunned when he recently had to shell out $16.10 for his value meal…
Another customer in Idaho was also shocked to discover the prices of combo deal in December.
Topher Olive, was visiting one of the restaurant’s locations in Post Falls when he picked up a Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder with Cheese, a large fry, and a large Sprite setting him back $16.10.
He shared a video of his meal on, where he has more than 334,000 followers, admitting that he was shocked over the price.
I clearly remember when I could get a combo at McDonald’s for just five bucks.
Now only the wealthy can afford to eat at McDonald’s on a regular basis.
Needless to say, the definition of “wealthy” has changed too.
Once upon a time, if you had a million dollars you were set for life.
Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank star and investor, sparked significant discussion with his assertion that individuals need $5 million in their bank accounts to ensure lifelong financial stability.
In an August 2023 YouTube video, O’Leary said, “You have to get to a place where you have $5 million in the bank,” emphasizing the importance of this amount to “survive the rest of your life, no matter what happens.” This statement, along with his detailed financial advice, has been a subject of both support and criticism among viewers and financial experts.
Only a tiny percentage of the population has that kind of money.
Amazingly, in this very tight economic environment there is a campaign to increase the salaries of members of Congress by 70 percent…
A campaign has started to raise the salaries of House and Senate members by 70% to $294,000 from the current $174,000 in return for better “performance.”
Federal analyst Steven Kopits, the president of Princeton Policy Advisors, argued that since most members are lawyers, salaries should at least be equal to what first-year associates in Manhattan receive, plus a 20% bump up.
“Most legislators are lawyers by trade, and we — or at least I — would hope that the public would prefer the best and the brightest to become members of Congress. First year law associates in New York are the best and brightest of their year, typically from Ivy League universities, and their salaries are tied to the market for premium legal services in the U.S. Therefore, if we believe we would like to recruit top-line legal professionals to serve in Congress, then first year associate salaries are a plausible comparable,” Kopits said in a memo.
Just like the rest of us, they are also being crushed by the terrible inflation that they played a major role in creating.
Considering how poorly they have performed, there is no way in the world that they should be getting a raise.
It is the rest of the country that needs help. The middle class is shrinking, food banks are facing unprecedented demand all over the nation, and homelessness is rising at the fastest pace ever recorded.
And our politicians are making things even worse by bringing in vast numbers of extremely desperate people from other countries.
In Denver, 40,000 new migrants have arrived during the past year, and they are absolutely overwhelming the city’s social services…
Nearly 40,000 migrants have arrived in Denver over the past year, making a city with a population of just over 710,000 the top destination per capita for newly arrived migrants crossing the U.S. southern border and traveling north in buses from Texas.
The influx is taking a toll on the city’s public safety net. Starting Feb. 5, Denver will limit the number of days migrants can stay in shelters and send those who exceed their stay out onto the streets.
One Venezuelan family, a mother, father and their three daughters, told NBC News they’ve been staying at a hotel paid for by the city, but they’ve just received notice that they’ll be evicted.
“Just yesterday they started throwing away the toys, the bicycles in the common area,” the mother said. “We don’t know where we will go next.”
This is happening all over the nation, and there is no end to this crisis in sight.
Meanwhile, we are being warned that the economy will “cool considerably” during the months ahead…
The U.S. economy is set to cool considerably in the coming months as once-rampant spending by American consumers finally comes to an end, according to Wells Fargo.
In a recent note to clients, Wells Fargo senior global market strategist Scott Wren warned that retail spending is likely to slow over the course of 2024 as the job market eases and layoffs start to rise.
“Americans with jobs and money in their pockets are going to spend,” Wren wrote. “However, as the economy slows as we move through the middle portion of this year and the labor market softens, we continue to believe the holiday spending that occurred last year was a bit of a last hurrah for the consumer.”
Of course there are lots of signs that the economy is already heading in the wrong direction quite rapidly.
Sales of iPhones are typically a very good indicator of where things are going, and right now projections for 2024 are quite dismal…
Apple stock, which on any given day is either the most or 2nd most valuable company in the world, rotating with MSFT, reversed earlier gains and slumped to session lows after widely-read TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (best known for gathering intelligence from his contacts in Apple’s Asian supply chain) reported that Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipments of key upstream semiconductor components to about 200 million units, which correspondents to a decline of 15% year-on-year.
As a result, he notes that iPhone 15 series and new iPhone 16 series shipments will decline by 10–15% year-on-year in 1H 2024 and 2H 2024, respectively (compared to iPhone 14 series shipments in 1H 2023 and iPhone 15 series shipments in 2H 2023, respectively). Even worse, Apple’s weekly shipments in China have declined by 30–40% year-on-year in recent weeks, and this downward trend is expected to continue.
And layoff announcements continue to roll in from coast to coast.
UPS plans to layoff nearly 12,000 employees following a massive year-over-year decline in revenue, company officials told USA TODAY Tuesday morning.
The workforce reduction is part of an effort to align resources in 2024 and will save the company nearly $1 billion, the Atlanta-based company’s CEO Carole Tomé said on a company earnings call.
A slow-motion train wreck is playing out day after day right in front of our eyes.
It was well-known at my middle school and high school that the school nurse didn’t have free pads for the students.
In middle school, we had to call our parents to pick us up. My mother worked out of town, and my father certainly wouldn’t have picked me up or bought me period supplies even if I had asked him. For him, that was always the mother’s job. That wasn’t something that fathers did. I shudder to think of what would’ve happened if I didn’t have enough pads with me during his visitation. He probably would have sent me home to my mother.
In high school, the school nurse had pads for purchase. The price was 50 cents per pad (about $2 apiece today), and while that doesn’t sound like much, the high school nurse wouldn’t just give you a pad if you didn’t have money and found yourself with a nasty visit from Aunt Flo. If you didn’t have money, the nurse wouldn’t budge. She would let you bleed through your clothes and make you call your parents to pick you up rather than give out a free pad. There were no vending machines for pads or tampons in the girl’s restroom at school. The only way she would give you one is if you had the money in your hand.
I understand that the nurse probably had to pay for them out of her own pocket, and she wanted to be reimbursed, but I never had any money. Ever. My mother was one of those parents who had zero problems with helping herself to her children’s savings. She also held the same job out of town, and didn’t have transportation back until the end of the workday, anyway. I usually carried plenty of backup pads and tampons all the time, but sometimes I ran out.
I also had extremely heavy, long-lasting periods even as a teenager. That meant that even wearing both a tampon and a pad, sometimes they were both soaked within 2 hours, sometimes less. I stained my clothes a few times. Did the school nurse care? Not a bit. She refused to give up any of her precious pads without money. She still got paid either way.
Which is why, when I found out that my kids’ school gave out free menstrual supplies, no matter what the economic status of their students, I almost cried.
China is the largest customer for the Oil Producing Countries in the Middle East
China is also the largest trader and exporter with the Middle East
From Cooking Ranges to Crockery to Clothing to Hikvision Cameras to Machinery to Stationery to Cutlery to Consumer Electronics to Bridges to Roads to Factory Construction to Industrial Air Conditioning
China thus has irreplaceable clout in the Middle East
Impossible to get alternative suppliers for all those products at that affordable cost and quality that China can deliver
Plus the latest exports include Commercial Drones, Trainer Aircraft, Advanced Drills & Gas Platform Drilling Equipment and Rigs
It’s ECONOMIC CLOUT in a Win Win relationship
Tomorrow if Saudi wants Nuclear Energy, China can fully and completely build Nuclear Energy Plants for Saudi and build completely Indigenous Reactors for the Saudis even the latest Thorium Salt Reactors
Meanwhile what clout does the West have?
In the last 75 years, the West has turned the middle East into a war zone begining in 1948
They provoke wars within Arab Nations using Israel as the pawn and then sell weapons to the Arab Nations to defend themselves
They threaten every Nation to use Dollars as transaction currency even if it’s a loss to them
The West has not helped a single Middle Eastern Nation beyond forcing them to kowtow to it’s Agenda like an Evil Demented Emperor
US was Saudis largest trading partner until the Mid 2000s
The nature of exports?
Weapons!!!!!!!
Weapons and Spares formed a whopping 37% of all exports to Saudi Arabia
Saudi was primitive for a long time and US didn’t care in the least
In 2003, Colin Powell literally forced the entire middle East to turn on Saddam Hussein even though he was a fellow Arab and everyone knew he was not guilty of 90% of the things, he was being accused of
Today?
Can Blinken Try?
They will ask him to go f*** himself if he goes too far
Egypt already said this many times recently
So did Qatar
So did Jordan
They didn’t turn on Assad even though the US demanded they do
And that was because of Uncle Vlad
image 5
That’s Russia
Russia doesn’t have Chinas clout
However they have Military power next only to the US and in terms of land fighting capability even better
They also have Food that the Middle East could use in an emergency, if US sanctions them
So Yes
The West no longer has the dominance in the middle East
They have to DELIVER to maintain even minimum influence
The normal threats and bullying won’t work
Sanctions will drive the Middle East into Chinas arms in nanoseconds
image 4
The US is now like ANY OTHER CUSTOMER
HIGH VALUE CUSTOMER yes but no longer the only Bull Elephant in the herd
Those days are gone
Trump even if he becomes President cannot change anything unless he offers a lot to the Saudis for their friendship and delivers Nuclear Technology and also other concessions including modification of the Bretton Woods system to accept multiple currencies
Joe Rogan is shocked to learn about Thomas Sowell’s Wisdom
https://youtu.be/OtBsyvpjjL8
The 10 Reasons Why Men Need a Men’s Coach to Breakthrough in their Life and Relationships
Last Updated On September 8, 2023
by Andrew Ferebee
Let me get this straight – you did everything right according to society’s rules and you’re telling me you’re not happy with the results?
You excelled in school, worked your butt off and built a successful career, live in a good neighborhood, drive a nice car and aren’t worried about monthly bills but despite the picture perfect life on the outside, there’s an empty feeling, a sense of unease like something deeper is missing.
Remember that inner fire that once drove you, the one that used to consume your soul like a wildfire to be all you can be? It’s diminished now, isn’t it? Doused and replaced by the cold, biting reality of a life lived for material possessions, putting others needs first and social constructs. A life of half awake work and mind-numbing monotony. Doesn’t exactly spark a flame of joy in your bones, does it?
Pause for a moment and let this sink in.
You might be doing well on the surface layer, but here’s the cold, hard truth: amidst that seemingly picture perfect facade, you’re unknowingly missing the very essence of life itself. I’m talking about those profound, soul-stirring connections that leave you breathless, the magnetic friendships that push the boundaries beyond the status quo, the intoxicating romance that sets your world ablaze, and that relentless thirst for adventure and purpose that has propelled men to move mountains for millennia.
Thoreau once wrote,
“The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.”
Look around you – this is as true today as it was then. Perhaps even more so!
We all enter into this world as a blank slate. An empty canvas to be filled with rich experiences, connections, passion filled romances and adventures to enrich our lives.
Men have always longed to…
Explore the world alongside his soulmate. He dreams of heart-pounding adventures, immersing himself in vibrant cultures, and cherishing those rare, life-altering moments. But alas, his reality is far from idyllic. Instead, he finds himself relentlessly toiling, desperately grasping for a taste of true “freedom.” Every day, he deceives himself, clutching onto the false notion that once he completes that next project or seals that elusive deal, he’ll finally have the time and worthiness to embrace romance, chase adventure, and authentically align with his deepest values
Ravish his beautiful lover nightly, yet he’s been fed the cliché advice to toil relentlessly before he can, striving to amplify his worth as a man. So he takes it to heart, dedicating his life to arduous work in the pursuit of being worthy of love. But what does he get in return? A love life that fails to provide pleasure, instead leaving him feeling abandoned and disrespected. His partner’s apathetic response to his romantic endeavors akin to a contractual obligation rather than an outpouring of raw passion, reducing their connection to the status of mere roommates. Isolated, he clings to his smartphone, its somber blue light a haunting symbol of the all-consuming void that torments his manhood.
Discover a purpose so mighty, so unyielding, that he’d lay down his very existence without hesitation to witness its breathtaking realization. But here’s the chilling truth: his days are shackled to a career, forced to coexist with similar zombie like colleagues, all for the sake of financing an unceasing cascade of hollow possessions that provide fleeting value, pass time and hold no genuine meaning.
Catapult out of bed each morning, brimming with an unwavering energy for the day. But alas, that is not the tale that unfolds. Instead, fatigue clings to his bones, sapping his vitality, as he traverses the exhausting grind of a never-ending pursuit of money, ensnared in the perpetual race to keep pace with the elusive peers around him. Determined to prove his worth, he yearns for validation, yearns for the recognition of his true capabilities, all in the hopes that it will rekindle the flickering flame of a passionless existence and breathe life into the barren landscapes of his love life
Deepen his connection with his masculinity, not only ‘finding’ himself, but actively sculpting himself into the confident, charming and alive man he’s always aspired to be or once was…But instead, he settles for society’s warped version of success, repressing his masculine fire, and sacrificing his most profound aspirations, dreams, and desires on the altar of social accolades, as he selflessly serves the needs of others.
Ah, what’s interesting is that he meticulously followed society’s script, constructing a life that was meant to be extraordinary, unforgettable, and full of success. Yet, here he sits, his eyes fixed on the glowing screen of a computer, ceaselessly treading away, trapped in the clutches of a whispering desperation that lingers within.
We live in a world where men are now more afraid than ever to be masculine, alive and act like strong grounded men. Men, like caged king lions, suppress their power and authenticity, concealing their truth behind a smokescreen of professional accomplishments and shiny toys.
And so it begins, a treacherous game, one that threatens to swallow them whole. With each move, their once vibrant social connections and intimate relationships plummet into a harrowing abyss. A descent into darkness unfolds, gripping their souls like a serpent’s squeeze. In a desperate scramble, the man succumbs to the alluring mirage of “more,” effectively ignoring the real problem while immersing himself in the superficial trappings of societal success.
Just consider that..
The suicide rate for men is 3.5x higher than that of women (iconic men who surpassed society’s version of “success”: like Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain, Avicci, Chester Bennington, Mac Miller, Junior Seau, Chris Cornell and Heath Ledger fell victim to this horrible act)
The divorce rate in the U.S hovers above 51% with family courts often siding with the mother
Men are 3x more likely to become alcohol and drug dependent (not to mention adult website usage is at all time highs) – masking their problems and hiding rather than getting support and solving them.
You can be forgiven for assuming that, at this point, men would reach out for help in droves. But because of society’s mandate that “Real men” are somehow capable of handling everything by themselves, men are less likely to reach out for help.
Instead, men numb themselves to reality with pleasure inducing addictions. Porn, social media, video games, Netflix originals, and even “work”, have become the sources of our respite. But their shallow promises only exacerbate the issue. These vices do little to further what matters most in our lives and nothing to solve the deeper problems men increasingly face.
So let’s clear something up right now…
Men’s coaching does not mean a man is weak or incapable of achieving results himself.
Coaching is strategic investment that allows men to grow faster by leveraging the guidance of a seasoned expert with the perspective, experience and know-how to breakthrough limiting beliefs thatkeep men lost for decades faster.
Someone to hold you accountable – to speak to you like no other man will and guide you in your life and relationships or lack thereof. To finally free you of the BS story that’s been holding you back from experiencing the life and relationship you truly want.
Let’s be honest here:
Warren Buffet wouldn’t be the greatest investor of our time without Benjamin Graham…
Marcus Aurelius wouldn’t be one of the greatest philosophers in history, the Emperor of Rome, and one of the most successful generals in military history without Epictetus…
Michael Jordan wouldn’t be the greatest basketball player and (arguably) the greatest athlete of our time without Phil Jackson and you could say the same for Kobe.
And to believe that you’re the exception to the rule is nothing more than nonsense!
If you want to live an exceptional life…a life filled with joy, adventure, romance, deep connection, control over the direction of your life and a sense of true masculine power…getting help by someone who is a results driven coach is the smartest thing you can do to get ahead of the masses.
Men must bravely enlist the help of other men who have “been there, done that”, and can share their wisdom, guidance and insight for living a remarkable life and cultivating real relationships beyond societies surface layer.
And today, I’m going to share the ten reasons why men’s coaching is the “secret edge” you’ve been searching for. The “missing link” that will help men reclaim their masculine power, end the “Nice Guy” behaviors, and become more attractive to and respected by the highest quality women and most successful men in their community.
There’s no time to waste. Let’s dive in.
1. You Lack a Powerful Results Driven Mentor Who Listens Carefully and Inspires Relentless Action
Therapy can be great. And for some men, necessary. But it’s not the end all solution it’s been made out to be.
Sure, they’ll listen intently (they’re paid to). But do not confuse a good listener with actual progress in reality. They don’t push you to challenge yourself, eschew the status quo of mediocrity, and step into your role as the king and creator of your own life. They know very little about reclaiming your masculine power and creating a life that makes you proud of the man you are becoming. Instead, they enable you to play small. Encourage it even for longer than necessary.
A men’s coach doesn’t.
When you enlist the help of other like-minded men who have been where you are today, they can spot your B.S. before you even open your mouth. They will hold you to a higher standard, demand that you play at a higher level, and challenge you in a way that others wouldn’t dare.
Granted there are well-meaning mental health professionals that exist, yet few and far between. And after working with 1000s of men their feedback on the results of therapy vs. coaching were all but ubiquitous and mostly time consuming and costly.
With therapy, they spent years (some of them decades) digging through their past to identify all of the ways in which their parents, teachers, friends, and high school crushes screwed them up for life.
They myopically focused on the trauma (real or perceived) of the past in hopes that somehow…by realizing that their anger issues stemmed from their broken relationship with their father…they would magically heal themselves and fix the problems with how they were showing up in the present..
Therapy doesn’t empower you to move forward, it only helps you resolve that which is already in your rear view mirror. It won’t help you show up to your relationships in a more grounded way that women naturally respond to, build a social lifestyle that excites you, or contend with the very real challenges you are facing in the present. It simply keeps you trapped by the challenges you’ve already overcome.
With coaching, it’s an entirely different story.
Yes, coaches will still address the implications of your past and how unresolved trauma might be manifesting itself as negative behaviors today.
But they don’t let you live there indefinitely and damn well don’t let you use it as an excuse!
With a men’s coach, the entire conversation is centered around growth, about learning from the challenges you’ve experienced in the past to become stronger and move forward today.
It isn’t based on theory. It’s based on action, results and experience. Experience from your coach’s own life or the lives of those they’ve worked with and gotten the end result you seek.
They’ll listen to you deeply, yes. But they’ll also have the courage and wisdom to speak to you directly like a man in a bold, masculine and direct way that is severely lacking today. Calling you out on the b.s. stories to which you’ve given away your power…giving you the facts of why your life isn’t working effectively in this new era for men…and being brutally honest in their feedback.
They’ll hit you upside the head with a no-holds barred reality check and hold you accountable to breaking the patterns and behaviors that are holing you back from the life, social status, and relationships you want.
With a therapist, you talk about the past. With a coach, you march courageously into the future.
They won’t let you hide from your challenges or outsource responsibility for your life to some traumatic episode of the past.
They will challenge you to level up today. To be real, raw, and honest with yourself and take concrete bold action toward solving the challenges holding you back from the life you want – on your very first session.
2. You’re Trapped by “Nice Guy” Behaviors Because You Lack Strong Masculine Role Models
Like me, your father probably wasn’t the best role model.
He wasn’t the Strong Grounded Man you aspire to be. He didn’t live a passionate, courageous and exciting life, he wasn’t a part of a strong community of men, he likely gave his power away to your mother and unintentionally taught you, through his example, that, to be a man, is to resign yourself to a life of serving and pleasing others…void of true purpose, power, and adventure.
Like most men, your father was either a quintessential “Nice Guy”–who trained you to adopt those same patterns and behaviors–or the opposite, a “Bad Boy”–who inadvertently trained you to be a nice guy because you wanted to rebel and be nothing like him.
This isn’t meant to denigrate your father – he likely did the best he could with what he was given from his father.
You may struggle with how to treat women (especially attractive women)
You may struggle standing up for yourself during conflict
You may avoid or put off conflicts to not “upset” anyone or cause any problems
You don’t know how to respectfully get your needs met and because of this hide a deep frustration inside– where sometimes it uncontrollably explodes in an anger fueled outburst
You are a nice guy who does things in order to get people to validate your worth
In our modern society, healthy and authentic masculinity has become vilified. Because of the real problems with toxic masculinity, we’ve instructed men to be submissive.
We’ve trained men to eschew their masculine edge…to rely only on the feminine elements of their nature instead of bringing together both energies to become complete, fully integrated, Grounded Men.
Today, it is more important than ever for men to regain their masculine energy because it is the missing link to get to the next level in life – especially romantic relationships.
Too many men allow their “Nice Guy” tendencies to undermine their life…putting the needs of others first…struggling to assert themselves to avoid tension…being unable to set and maintain healthy boundaries…and refusing to prioritize their own goals, ambitions and dreams.
And the end result is always a life filled with regret, a decrease in the man’s value and incognito resentment to those who take advantage of you with little to no appreciation.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have the “Over Achiever”. Men who use their professional ambitions to mask the pain they feel inside and achieve some modicum of validation through their external accomplishments and accolades to outwardly prove their self worth to society and of course, women.
While there’s nothing wrong with success, money, or achievement, these men are not pursuing these things from a place of wholeness…using them as tools and resources to magnify a fulfilled life…instead they pursue them from the lens of scarcity, ego and desperation. In hopes that the next milestone, promotion, or product launch will somehow give them the feeling that they are enough and others will suddenly validate them and place them on a higher arbitrary pedestal of life. That they finally belong, yet the problem is this can go on for the rest of the man’s life… meanwhile the clock is ticking.
But when you leverage a men’s coach, when you surround yourself with strong masculine men tempered by virtue and a sense of purpose and honor, you can begin the process of eradicating these dark tendencies once and for all.
You’ll learn how to develop your confidence in a healthy way free of ego, how to set boundaries, prioritize yourself (while still being valued and respected by others) and your desires, speak the truth even when it’s hard, and cultivate a strong sense of self worth.
And from this place, you can finally be at peace with yourself and the world around you. You will be able to show up to life and relationships as your true self like never before.
You will be enough.
3. You Give Away Your Masculine Power To Women then Lose All Respect, Value and Romance
Woody Allen said, “90% of success is showing up.” But men today are not showing up for the women in their lives.
Men have lost the strength of their masculine edge and women are starving for it.
Today, men are terrified by their own masculinity. They are petrified by their darkness and aggression and, instead of embracing and learning to harness it, they suppress it and embrace what is easier and more acceptable – nice guy, people pleasing and approval seeking behaviors. Both in their lives and in their interactions with women
The modern man often feels weak, spineless and powerless; castrated by a hyper feminist society and emasculated by the women they yearn connection and intimacy for.
If he’s single, he struggles to be present in his interactions, suppressing his desire for romantic intimacy and acting disingenuously out of fear of rejection with the hopes of being “liked” for being a nice guy who will wait his turn.
And if he’s married or in a committed relationship?
He gives away his power to his partner, marking the death of connection, deep intimacy and allowing her to lead the relationship and indeed his life. Instead of showing up as a leader, confidant, protector for her, he’s little more than a walking ATM. A cash dispenser whom she begrudgingly settles for in return for an infrequent lackluster romantic life.
And these behaviors put you at the mercy of women!
She owns you – and loses all respect for you, and therefore attraction and romantic desire cannot exist. You have no power in the relationship, and you both know it.
When this happens, women, even faithful and loving women, become susceptible to the allure of infidelity. Not because they are bad corrupt people. Because the man is not showing up the way he needs to and is incapable of doing the things he needs to do to keep a high quality woman engaged and excited in his life.
She treats you like a little boy because that’s exactly how you’re acting. A physically big man with little inner backbone (one of the biggest turn offs to women), unconsciously telling her that he is a weak man who cannot be trusted which makes her feel unsafe and unhappy.
And when she’s finally had enough of the weak needy behavior? She leaves him, alone and heart broken. You don’t need me to tell you how painful a serious breakup or divorce can be for a man (especially a successful man of worth). Beyond the stress and financial burden of possibly losing (half) or more of your net worth and everything you bled for, these events are often a setback from which a man will rarely fully recover.
They extinguish what little fire was left in his soul and snuff out the glimmer of hope that still twinkled in his eye.
The financial and emotional cost of exuding weak “Nice Guy” behaviors in a relationship is higher than most men realize until it’s too late. Much higher than doing the work required to become a strong grounded man capable of attracting and keeping his partner among many other life benefits.
And, what most men don’t realize is that women are just as confused, frustrated, and exhausted by this charade as you are. Women don’t want a doormat for a partner. They don’t want someone who spinelessly defers to and subjugates themselves at the altar of the feminine as to not upset her.
They want a man they can trust. A man with power, vision, and aliveness who gives her butterflies in her stomach and keeps her daydreaming when she will get to go out with and bed her king again.
And when you work with a men’s coach, you can become this man.
You’ll regain your masculine power, boost your confidence, and show up to the relationship as a whole, fulfilled, and complete man…a man who doesn’t need a woman to feel validated or worthy…but who chooses a woman with whom he can build his kingdom. A woman to love, support, and challenge and who loves, supports, and challenges him.
A men’s coach not only helps you reclaim your power… you multiply it and go from the masses of men who are approval seeking nice guys to “omg who is THAT guy?”
4. You Chase Money Endlessly without a Clear Definite Purpose Bigger than Oneself
Most men believe that their purpose in life is relegated to doing whatever will make the most money. That their self worth is contingent on their net worth and that the only appropriate answer to the question “What do you want?” is “More.”
Sure, you make money. Maybe even great money. But beyond the base level of success the income doesn’t excite or inspire you like it once did. It simply assuages your growing sense of a lack of purpose, allowing you to go through the motions, numbing yourself with vices without any idea as to what you’re doing or WHY you’re doing it.
You follow the crowd aimlessly moving through life unconsciously. Working long hours, giving up your personal life, saying “No” to the experiences and life you really want to make more money…and for what?
Extra bedrooms? More horses in the car? A mini vacation where you spend your time sequestered in your hotel room responding to emails and putting out fires?
Most men aren’t willing to take a step back, look inwardly, and ask themselves, “Beyond financial success…What do I really want out of my life and relationships?”
Because you haven’t done this work you grind even harder thinking “more” is the solution, desperately pouring your soul and finite time into work in hopes that one day…the money you earn will finally validate your worth as a man and make you feel “enough”.
And when it doesn’t?
You seek instant gratification in the forms of vices like alcohol, drugs, porn, binging social media/tv, and excessive consumerism to numb the pain of a purposeless life.
You spend money on lavish external things like cars, clothes, and unnecessary household gadgets in the hopes of finding just a niggle of temporary excitement – But the fleeting and superficial nature of these purchases leave you no more content, joyful, or alive than the month prior, keeping you in a perpetual cycle of consumption.
Indeed, there has been major shifts in society – men today have no Great War. No cause. No purpose. And feel utterly lost because of it.
Every man needs a fight. Not necessarily physical, but a greater mission to fight for.
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” – Gautama Buddha
Something that’s greater than yourself and for some men possibly noble enough that it’s worth sacrificing everything for.
By plugging yourself into a community of like minded men led by the guidance of a team of expert men’s coach who can open your eyes up to a new possibility, you’ll gain clarity on your path and purpose and unlock a new level of meaning and significance in your life that supersedes the purely materialistic of the unconscious masses.
5. You Need Someone Other Than Your Divorced or Single Friends with Whom You Can Get Effective Feedback on Your Intimate Relationships
Men’s coaches specialize in relationships in many ways. The masculine-feminine dynamic is likely why they became men’s coaches in the first place. Often many men’s coaches have backgrounds in dating, seduction and relationship coaching.
However, they’ve evolved into a healthier and more mature form of supporting men beyond the superficial “pick up” tactics.
Your men’s coach is to relationships what a Navy SEAL is to combat.
He will teach you the proven strategies and mental frameworks (that none of your family, friends, and peers have the slightest clue about) so that you can transform into the type of man that women respect, admire, and brag about to their friends and family.
If the intense satisfaction that comes from a deeper level of connection, intimacy and romance with women is what you want… you are not going to get it by listening to your friend whose own relationship history is a stage 4 natural disaster who’s got divorce attorneys on speed dial.
Most men are bitter, jaded, and angry with women. After a stream of failed relationships, they buy into the lie that there must be something fundamentally wrong with women (instead of admitting to themselves that the problem might lie in how they are showing up to women).
The simple truth of the matter is that you cannot take advice from someone who has not achieved the results you want to achieve.
The right men’s coach has already walked the walk. He knows how to achieve lasting success, intimacy, and passion inside of your relationship and will teach you how to lay the foundation of self-love, confidence, and masculine power required to make your relationship thrive.
He’ll help you either find the perfect woman with whom you will build your kingdom, OR enhance your existing relationship with the woman you’ve under-prioritized for years (maybe even decades) to new heights.
Nothing, and I do mean nothing, will have a greater impact on your happiness, success, and fulfillment than the woman with whom you choose to share your life. Happiness is not found in another ‘0’ in the bank account…but in a deep well of shared experiences with someone whom you love and feel deeply connected to – and who feels the same
And with the help of a results driven men’s coach, you’ll finally have access to the mindsets, strategies and tactics that you need to solve the most challenging relationship struggles in your life.
6. You Do Not Have Real Masculine Accountability in Your Life that Calls You Out on Your BS (and likely never have)
When a strong grounded man with absolute conviction asks you to do something – you do it.
When you tell someone whom you deeply respect that you are going to take a specific action, you will do everything in your power to keep your word because you do not want to let someone you respect down.
It’s in our masculine nature to be a man of our word. If you tell a strong grounded man you’ll do something and don’t – you’re breaking your word and bond with your coach.
It’s not about the money with the men’s coach; it’s about being a man of integrity.
If your word means nothing… then are you a man to be trusted? Can women even trust this man?
When a man is held accountable by someone he deeply respects, then he focuses harder and takes the right actions to get stellar results, even when it’s scary and seems damn near impossible.
You can’t hide. You can’t play small. You can’t live with the excuses that you’ve suppressed for years anymore.
More importantly, you can’t ignore the parts of your life that aren’t working and rely on superficial external successes to hide behind an unhappy and un-lived life. It’s very easy for a men’s coach to see behind the facade you’ve created to feel safe.
The disappointment you feel when you let down someone you greatly respect will propel you into action. It’s a big reality check for you at that moment when your men’s coach is not buying into your b.s. story that everyone else believes.
You’ll be thinking in the back of your head, “He can see through my BS. I can’t believe I’ve gotten away with this for this long and it’s time to change.”
“Good men are bound by conscience and liberated by accountability.” ~Wes Fessler
Any man can shy away from help because he’s afraid to look foolish yet it’s the truly courageous and brave man who stands up and asks for support.
You probably surround yourself with high achieving men already.
While they mean well and care about you and your success, just like crabs in a bucket pulling any escaping crabs back down they are terrified of watching you outgrow and outperform your existing social group
Having a men’s coach and being a part of a community, a brotherhood, of men who truly stand for your greatness doesn’t make you weak or incapable. It’s where you can get your “secret” edge against the masses who are unaware such a solution exists.
7. You Don’t Have the Freedom To Fearlessly Express Your Truth Fully, So You Remain Silentand Don’t get Your Needs Met (in work and relationships)
At the core of every man is the desire to be free, yet ironically men often confine themselves to a cage to appear like they are okay.
You’ve locked your emotions up and pretend to be a “strong man” when at times, you’re struggling inside and barely holding it together.
Other people don’t see this…
All they see is the success…the external accolades…the fake smile…the “picture-perfect life”.
They see what you allow them to see, but they don’t see the truth. They don’t see the struggle that you’re experiencing…the inescapable sense of inadequacy…the fear that you’re on the brink of divorce, breaking up or suffering from chronic loneliness or an existential crisis.
You bought into the B.S. story that “Big boys don’t cry”, and so you stoically ignore and suppress your emotions and desires, convincing yourself that the only solution is to be silent in the face of abject fear.
When a man does this he shuts down a piece of his heart and becomes less human and more of a robot programmed by society with few signs of life becoming a shell of what he could be.
Expressing your emotions in a healthy way is a natural thing humans do, no different than urinating. If you don’t urinate you’re in pain. When you urinate the pain is gone – it’s that simple.
It’s a release that is a necessary requirement for healthy living.
“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” – Jim Morrison
Emotionally handicapped men become distant, angry, frustrated and cynical (in extreme cases, even violent).
Friendships and relationships slowly feel more like chores. When someone asks how you’re doing you reply with perfunctory bland responses to avoid expressing how you really feel.
“I’m alright, good, great, fine”… then you quickly turn the conversation back to them or something superficial to avoid anything, but the truth.
When a man is disconnected from his heart, he becomes disconnected from the rest of the world and lives in a silent prison where it’s just him and his dark thoughts shielded by his external successes.
He’s trapped in a mind-made prison without ever realizing that he is both the inmate and the warden of the prison. He holds the key to his own liberation, but years of societal conditioning have blinded him to this possibility.
Like an elephant kept in place by a feeble rope, he fails to realize that he’s outgrown the confines in which he has placed himself and that, at any moment, he can unlock the door and find his freedom.
Through men’s coaching and a strong community, you’ll discover how to express your emotions in a healthy way that doesn’t make you weak, but courageous and respected. How to connect with the deepest parts of yourself and be authentic, raw, and honest with other men. You’ll learn how to experience the depths of true connection, friendship, and intimacy, and step into your role as the vibrant and expressive king of your life.
Your men’s coach unlocks your emotional cage so you can release the heavy feeling in your gut and finally experience what true personal freedom means.
8. You’re Going Through Life Without Strong Male Support And Quality Friendships that Lastand Go Beyond the Surface Layer
I’m not talking about your business associates or clients with whom you occasionally share a drink or over-priced steak dinner…but men with whom you can speak your truth and who support you. Life can be so much more than working, going to the gym and watching television/social media/adult websites.
The greatest paradox of the human experience is that, even in a sea of surface layer connections and acquaintances we can still feel desperately and soul-wrenchingly alone.
Most men, especially successful men like yourself, go through their entire lives without true male friendships.
They have plenty of acquaintances…golf buddies… beer hangouts… gym partners…business colleagues to do more deals with…but they lack meaningful, unfiltered, masculine connection.
They fear judgment and invalidation and, as a result, smother their truth until its voice is so faint they themselves can barely hear it.
Show me a man who fears authentic connection and real friendships with other quality men, and I’ll show you a man who is broken…alone…isolated…and void of life.
Humans need to connect at a deep level to be emotionally free, alive and healthy.
Women do this more naturally than men (likely because there are fewer stigmas around opening up and sharing the truth) but it is also essential for men’s well being.
And it’s no wonder that according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention the suicide rate for men is 3.5x higher than women and rising! This statistic isn’t relegated to low life’s in society but even the most successful men, celebrities, musicians, actors and those who have “made it” at high levels in society.
Men are more alone than ever today. There are few people with whom they can speak honestly and candidly without fear of judgment and ridicule. No one to support them, to challenge them, to share in their struggle and success and act as a brother in arms during good times and bad.
This is a very real social problem that people aren’t talking about and most men aren’t even aware of themselves because it’s so commonplace and men are too busy chasing “more”.
Do you have men in your life that you can share the good, the bad and the ugly with who will listen and support you?
Can you be vulnerable and share what’s really going on with other men without being scrutinized?
Men who live in a world of truths are more connected to the world and those around them and find more joy, happiness, and inner fulfillment.
With a men’s coach, you’ll be forced to live in a world of truth. There’s no room for deceit or dishonesty in a coaching relationship. The very nature of the relationship demands no b.s. honesty.
And when you get real with yourself and the other men in your life, you will tap into a deeper level of the human experience.
Your interactions will deepen, other men will respect you more, women will be more connected and attracted to you. As the saying goes, “The truth will set you free.” And a men’s coach will help you find, speak, and live in your truth.
9. You are Settling and Playing Small in the Game of Life Because You are Doing Better than Your Peers Growing Up
Our society has convinced men that…so long as they are making good money and can keep pace with the Jones’…they are playing the game of life well.
But what most men forget is that the concept of “Playing Small” is not relegated to only the financial realm! That’s one piece of the pie of life…
You can be a leader of your industry…a multimillionaire…the best in the world at what you do professionally…and still be playing the game of life grossly below your potential.
But if you aren’t going for the life you really want…if you aren’t fostering love, connection, intimacy…if you aren’t injecting adventure, aliveness, and risk into your life…if you wake up doing the same damn thing day in day out.
If you don’t love the life you have while you pursue your grand vision then you’re missing out on a whole lot of life. If you’re not excited for the day, alive in your social interactions and fulfilled in your relationships then…
You are winning the career battle, but you’re losing the war for your life, freedom and happiness.
It doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank or how many positions you’ve held that are prefixed by the letter ‘C’ or ‘Senior” or ‘VP’. If you aren’t excited about your life and filled with passion, purpose, and an ineffable sense of inner power…you’re playing small.
If your life report looks like this then what’s your overall GPA on life?
Career: A+
Physical Health: C
Emotional Health: C
Social Life: F
Romantic relationships: F
Purpose/mission/contribution: F
Adventure/passions/hobbies: F
Masculinity/backbone: F
Self confidence/self image/self worth: F
Oh how exciting would it be to fall in love with this guy and spend the rest of your life with him?
Now can you see the problem here? Most men pour all the energy into career and wonder why they’re unhappy outside of work with the results in their life and relationships.
And a men’s coach will not only call out this b.s. behavior when he sees it…but he will enable you to do the hard deep work required to address the other critical areas of life that are being ignored.
When you’re a part of the right community all the doing the same and assisted by a team of expert coaches, playing small is no longer an option.
You may hate us at times because we push you outside of your comfort zone…you may despise our brutal honesty and no-holds barred tirades…you may tell us to “Screw off!” and consider reverting back to your old ways.
But you’ll come to realize that we’re the only ones in your life pushing you forward. You are playing small and it’s time to end that.
You have 2 options:
1. You can stay safe and retreat into your old habits of chasing career success, pursuing external validation, masking pain with vices and relying on your accomplishments to fuel your self worth.
2. You can embrace the call to adventure into the life and relationships you’ve always wanted!
Accept that your professional accomplishments, however impressive, do not define your worth as a man and that, to live without regret, to not waste the rest of your life, you need more out of yourself and your life than another promotion, zero in the account or deal closed.
You can decide to take a stand for your own life and vision and pour your heart and soul into becoming the Strong Grounded Man you know you can be. To living the life you want. To eschewing society’s values and living a life based on your own vision, your own aspirations, and your own rules.
You can make this decision today.
But to make it stick, you’ll need support and guidance.
And I can promise you…when you accept that you cannot do it alone…when you decide to go all in on your life and recruit a team of expert coaches, mentors, and likeminded brothers you can make it happen a lot faster than you think.
That is the moment you will look back on years from today and say “That is when everything changed!”
10. If You Keep Doing What You’ve Always Done, You’ll Miss the Best Years of Life
Now, you have a decision to make.
You made it to the end of this article for one simple reason. This conversation has deeply resonated with you.
Maybe your relationship is on the brink of ending and the woman you once promised to love and cherish has become the very source of your unhappiness, discontentment and frustration.
Maybe you’re chronically single and tired of being friend-zoned by the quality women you desire and are beginning to give up on dating altogether and embrace a life of single-hood.
Maybe your life is working…on the outside. But you no longer feel the fire, passion, and power you once had. You’ve become sedated…unaware of how much more your life could be.
Maybe workaholism and the constant pursuit of “more” has left you empty, depleted, and alone. You’ve spent years, maybe even decades, pursuing “success” and now you find yourself wondering when you go to bed at night… “is this really it?”
The simple truth is, I don’t know what pain you’re experiencing. I don’t know what challenges and frustrations you’re facing today.
But what I do know is this…
The price of inaction…of settling for a life you don’t love…of ignoring the real challenges in your life…of continuing to operate under the same dysfunctional paradigm and strategy that brought you here in the first place…is an un-lived life, a life of regret.
If you don’t make a change and decide to take new actions today, nothing will change tomorrow. Years will go by and the problems you are facing now will be amplified.
Your happiness, relationships, family, and sanity will slowly start to dwindle until you find yourself years later, wishing you could turn back the clock and do it YOUR WAY all over again.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can do it your way starting today and take a stand.
Over the past ten years, I’ve been quietly helping men at the highest levels achieve the things that money can’t buy…the happiness, purpose, passion, fulfillment, and romance they’ve craved for all along.
You’ve read the entire article which tells me you are serious about making big changes in your life so, I want to invite you into my brotherhood as the ideal next step…
…An elite coaching system unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before that will spark a personal revolution in your life, relationships and fundamentally change the man you are today.
I invite you to answer the call to adventure, to unleash the “powerful, successful, attractive man” you’ve kept caged inside of you for far too long, to take a stand for your life and your future and say “Enough is enough, I’m ready to reclaim my power and make this a reality!”
You know as well as I do that if you continue doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always had.
And if this article has not resonated with you…if you’re still convinced that you can do it all alone…
Then I wish you all the best, but I can’t help you and honestly no one can. You are not ready for the transformational work we mastered.
But if you’re courageous enough to accept that there are challenges in your life for which you don’t have the solutions…that there’s more to your existence as a man than simply making more money and living like a robot…that you CAN become the strong Grounded Man with deeper connections, fulfillment and relationships that you’ve always wanted… then you’re going to love what I’ve created for you.
However, I must be blunt, I do not offer cheap solutions to serious life and relationship problems. And to be honest, when has the cheapest solution to a serious problem of this magnitude ever worked? It’s usually a waste of time and that’s not what we’re about.
You wouldn’t look for the cheapest and least experienced doctor if you or a loved one were to undergo a life threatening surgery. And this problem should be treated at the same level since there are serious consequences if these problems continue to be ignored.
Through heavy research and development, we have learned that to solve the problem for good, it requires a team of talented and experienced experts who love what they do, in-depth high level training, actionable systems and exercises to achieve lifelong results. The good news is we have the solution and we’ve perfected it over the last decade with over 1000 clients, you must stop resisting help when it’s right in front of you and prioritize what matters most.
Chicken Cacciatore
chicken cacciatore 1
What is Chicken Cacciatore?
Chicken Cacciatore is a rustic Italian dish made of bone-in chicken portions that have been browned then braised, along with sauteed vegetables, in crushed tomatoes, wine and herbs. Cacciatore is pronounced kah-chuh-taw-ree.
What to Serve with It
It is the coziest dish and it’s perfect paired with pasta, rustic bread, polenta, or mashed potatoes. It’s basically a meal in one so you really don’t need a whole lot more with it.
This makes for the perfect homestyle dinner to sit down to after a hectic day or long week. Such delicious Italian comfort food that’s well worth the process!
chicken cacciatore 05
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) broiler-fryer chicken
2 cups water
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Bring chicken to boil in a pot of water. Simmer chicken for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool. Pour stock into a measuring cup to make 2 cups and refrigerate.
Skim any fat from top of reserved stock when cooled.
De-bone the chicken. Discard bones and skin. Cut chicken into chunks.
Place all ingredients in a pot and cover. Bring to a boil, turning heat down immediately. Simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, or until sauce has thickened.
Serve on a bed of rice.
How to Make Chicken Cacciatore
Brown chicken thighs: Heat olive oil in an extra large saute pan over medium-high heat.
Dab thighs dry with paper towels, season both sides with salt. Sear thighs until browned about 5 minutes, turn and sear about 3 – 4 minutes longer. Transfer thighs to a plate, set aside.
Saute mushrooms: Carefully drain off all but about 2 Tbsp fat in pan. Return to medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute, only tossing every minute or two, until browned, about 4 minutes total.
Saute other vegetables: Add bell peppers and onions and saute 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.
Add wine, reduce: Remove from heat, pour in wine. Return to heat and let simmer over medium-low heat until reduced by about half, about 3 minutes.
Add liquids, and flavorings: Mix in crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, half the parsley, half the basil, the thyme, oregano and parmesan rind. Season with salt and pepper to taste (take it easy on the salt as sauce will reduce some and parmesan will season the sauce).
Simmer chicken with cacciatore sauce until cooked through: Nestle chicken thighs into the sauce, bring to a simmer and reduce to medium-low. Cover while leaving lid just lightly ajar for some steam to escape. Simmer 15 minutes.
Turn thighs. Cover fully and continue to simmer until all of the thighs have cooked through (175 degrees in center), about 15 minutes longer.
Finish with olives and herb garnish: If using olives sprinkle over. Finish with remaining half of the parsley and basil. Serve warm with cooked pasta if desired.
One of the key things in that story was a day when the ex rode my daughter’s bus home from school, saying, out loud, that he was going to try to get her to have a panic attack.
This charming, precious boy had obviously been telling his parents how nice he’d been to my daughter. One of the things he’d must have told them was that he’d been keeping his distance from her.
So, in court, after we’d laid out our complaints, including the bus ride, he had his chance to question us (his rebuttal), then he told his side of the story.
He explained that when he rode the bus that day, he sat in the front row of the bus, as far from my daughter as possible, because he was trying to be nice to her, and this made it impossible for him to be actively antagonizing her.
So, when my daughter did her rebuttal, she asked where he remembered her sitting, he responded “between the back seat and the middle”, which would put about 10-12 rows of seats between them.
“So, why would you come sit within three rows of me, knowing the effects it would have on me?” My daughter had forgotten his claim that he sat in the very first seat on the bus.
“Well, the front of the bus was full, so I sat down in the first available seat. I’m sorry it was so close to you.” Holy crap, HE forgot his claim as well.
I interrupted (the judge had said he’d allow it at the onset): “Wait, didn’t you say, just a few minutes ago, that you sat in the front seat?”
“Yeah.”
“But, she sat in the back half of the bus…and you just admitted to sitting three rows in front of her.”
The judge’s face was already in his hands. Same with his mom’s. As he began stammering and trying to explain, I couldn’t help myself. Head…hands….
It Begins…All 50 States Fight For Protection (WARNING)
I had this problem with several bosses at different jobs.
I did not take calls from work if I was off duty. My boss would blow up my phone, message me on social media and when that did not work, he would get my coworkers to do the same.
I ignored them as well.
When my boss couldn’t get me on the phone and my coworkers were unsuccessful, the boss would show up at my house and bang on my door like he was the police.
I cursed out one boss, slammed the door in the face of another and got into a screaming match with the other. I could not believe how disrespectful they were being; they violated so many boundaries by showing up at my house.
It wasn’t long before I found another job and split.
You have to stress this and be clear with the boss about not contacting you when off duty. I once had a boss blow up my phone until I answered and when I answered, I said, “If you’re calling me like this at 4:45am, this state better be on fire and you’re telling me I need to evacuate.”
Boss said, “We had several call offs and no call shows for third shift and first shift. We need help and wanted to know if you could come in.”
“No, I am not coming in to work,” I said. “I work like crazy and I want to rest and enjoy life outside of work.”
Then comes the bullshit about how I need to be a team player and I need to step up and help the situation.
“Okay, why do I have to step up at all?” I asked. “Why don’t you say something to the people who call off or don’t show up for their shift instead of putting pressure on me to come in all the time?”
“Shannon, everyone knows you will come in,” said Boss. “No one can count on the others to show up.”
“And yet, they are still employed,” I said. “I’m not coming in. I’m exhausted and want to rest. I am always the one everyone calls on to come in and help; I work 80, 90, and sometimes 100 hours a week because of this and I’m sick and damn tired of it. Call someone else and stop calling me on my off time; I am allowed to have a life outside of work.”
I hung up.
Boss got all pissy because I wouldn’t come in and then all of a sudden I was the laziest employee. I lost all motivation for that job because the boss was mad that I wouldn’t come in to help.
Boss went on and on about how lazy I was. Forgot about the thousand times I did step up and focused on the one time I didn’t.
I eventually had to escalate the matter up the chain of command to get results. It shouldn’t even have had to come to that, but the boss was resentful and petty and passive aggressive and of course I had to go deal with that.
In the end, it took going to the administrator several times over the course of several weeks before I got satisfaction. But by then it was too late; I just found a new job and quit because it was fucking ridiculous for the boss to expect me to make the job the center of my life to the exclusion of all else. They even blew me up when I was at my daughter’s graduation and I made it clear I wanted to be left alone. Ended up going in afterward and then get there and find that I was the only one who showed up…and I was expected to work and do it all, on my own and with no help.
Nursing homes jobs will absolutely fuck your soul.
We had a complex relationship: We were dance partners, business partners, and dating each other.
Couple that with the new condo we just moved into and there was no escaping this firestorm.
Like most nights, our dance rehearsal time went long into the night, and considering our sport requires two humans to move in harmony together, there was plenty of discord in the process.
On this night, a bit of dance feedback hit with a pang of frustration and made impact like lemon juice in the eye.
It wasn’t intended to cause harm but it sure as hell did.
The feedback devolved quickly into a blaming cluster bomb which included dance, business, and relationship “feedback”.
We lobbed these verbal weapons back and forth at each other.
At that time we had two separate dance floors divided by a sliding glass door, so, in an effort to simmer things down, I moved into the other room to practice on my own and clear my head.
But this was one of those arguments with frustration residue, it seeped into the pores of our egos and made for a difficult recovery.
I needed to do something because the car ride to our home and everything afterward wouldn’t get any better unless something changed.
She looked over at me with daggers in her eyes.
I stopped practicing.
She said something I couldn’t make out (probably for the best).
So I treated the sliding glass door like it was completely soundproof.
Me: “what?!”
Her: (angry) “I said, this is a waste of time!”
Me: (playing deaf) “you want me to do what?”
Her: (angrier/enunciating) “I said, this is a waste of time!!”
Me: (stunned) “you want me to take my pants off?!”
Her: (puzzled/angry) “what are you talking about!”
Me: (undoing my belt) “really my pants?! Okay if that’s what you want.”
I drop my pants.
She stands there in shock and then, like a sneeze you’re trying your best to fight off, she involuntarily smiled, laughed, and we made up.
It was one of the best moves of my dance, business, and personal life.
I have three stories about this one. But I’m going to share the lamest excuse I was given.
I’d been working for this employer for about two years and then later left. I was earning the same wage as when I started; this was a year before I asked for a raise and I was earning the same when I left after this event, about a year later.
I’d been the go-to person at this job. I mean, I was called upon to do so much; I was even called away from one client to go take care of another one (home health) and expected to drive back and forth between the clients’ homes, which was 30 minutes apart. So I was expected to drive back and forth to care for two clients rather than just get someone else to pick up one of the cases.
My boss didn’t see any point in hiring more help; in fact he always said, “Why should I hire more people when I have you here? It’s not a big deal; it’s just some extra driving. You can handle it,” and left it at that.
So after a year of this insanity, I finally went to the boss and asked for a raise.
“A raise? Just what have you done to earn one?” the boss asked.
Incredulous, I ticked off all the things I’d done to help out: I gave up my holidays and days off to pick up a new client, I juggled two clients for three months (one of them eventually passed away), commuting and working a total of 18 hours a day, I spent two weeks driving all over town to care for clients during the Hurricane Ike windstorm that passed through, knocking out power. I’d even packed up clients’ laundry and took it to my house to wash it since I still had power and even cooked meals to carry to the clients so they could have a hot meal. I brought my butane campstove cook top so I could heat water to wash them up.
Now you’d think that would have been enough to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. But apparently that wasn’t impressive to my boss.
“Shannon, that isn’t going beyond the call of duty. That’s just doing the job you’re paid to do,” he said.
“Really? So what would I have to do to earn a raise? Give you a kidney or lung? I’m busting my ass here and I deserve a raise for my efforts.” I said.
“Well, Shannon, I can’t afford to give you a raise. Don’t have the money,” said the boss.
“Really? I notice that you and your wife have brand-new cars, bought after you returned from your vacation in Hawaii,” I said testily.
“Shannon, that’s why I don’t have the money to give you a raise. Besides, you can always go get foodstamps or go to a food pantry. I can’t do that,” he said.
“Dude, bottom line here, I deserve a raise and you need to give it to me,” I said.
“Shannon, I have to keep my family in the lifestyle they’re accustomed to. Now being poor is a huge issue for me, but it’s not a problem for you. It’s okay for you to not have enough money coming in. I have to be able to pay for my children’s activities and the nanny, I have to make sure my wife gets her cosmetic surgery and that I have a decent vehicle to get around in. If it’s that much of an issue, just go get a second job,” said the boss.
I walked out of the office, questioning my work performance. Was I not doing enough? Was I really doing enough to earn a raise?
So I resolved to earn a raise. And I busted it out. I went over, above and beyond the call of duty for the next year.
So I go back to my boss and tell him I deserve a raise. This time he laughed at me.
“Shannon, what makes you think you deserve a raise just for doing your job? Why do you keep running in here looking for handouts?” said the boss.
I got to my feet slowly. Lean over the desk.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I said. “I earn every nickel of every paycheck I draw on this job; you do not hand me a goddamn thing. I don’t know what seems to be the problem here, but I’ve been busting my ass for you for two years now and I’m still earning the same as when I started here,” I said, furious at his remarks.
“Well, I had to pay for my children’s school, my wife’s shit and I had to remodel the kitchen and finish my basement so I can turn it into a game room for my children. Plus, we’re going on vacation soon and I have to pay for that, so I can’t give you a raise,” the boss said.
I rose and stormed out. The boss actually had the nerve to say, “Don’t ask for a raise again. You’re not getting one,” got up and slammed the office door.
I got in my car and went to the library. I got on the computer and looked for a new job. I filled out applications and actually got a call back within a few minutes. Scheduled an interview.
I attended the interview and was offered the job. I accepted; it was paying 50% more than my current job, offered real benefits and perks and were reasonable when it came to workloads.
I went back to my other job and just waited.
Then my boss announced he was going on vacation in two weeks or so. This was my chance.
I put in my notice. I even set it up to make my last day the day before his vacation. When he learned that I given notice, he was furious and tried to make me stay until he got back. I stood my ground and said No.
The boss offered me raises, bonuses, paid time off, anything to get me to stay. I asked him, “What have you done to deserve to have me stay on so you can go on a vacation? Every time I put in a request for PTO, it’s always denied. Every time I try to call off, you call me over and over, blowing up my phone, coming around to my house to get me to go to work. I’ve been killing myself on this job, generating enough money for you to take vacations and buy new cars and shit, but not enough for a raise. I’m not staying on for you. Don’t ask me about it again,” and left his office.
On my last day, I turned in everything that had been issued to me: keys, phone and such. The office manager mentioned that I had a ton of PTO I never used; well, that’s because the boss never approved any vacation for anyone except himself.
So due to all the overtime I worked over those two years, the office manager had to cut me a check for damn near eight months’ PTO since it rolled over each year. I took my check, thanked the office manager and left that office for the last time.
My boss lost out on his vacation, I learned later. He wasn’t able to get a refund on such short notice. His family went without him because he had to stay back and cover all the work I had been doing. No one would do the shit I was doing and they would quit when he tried to force them to do it. Pretty soon he had about a handful of workers.
I went on to a better job. I feel no sympathy for my old boss and I have no regrets.
Screw that job. Screw that boss. He deserved all that he got.
In USSR, a certain province had a higher yield than the rest of the USSR. The Provincial authorities had tried something new and DIFFERENT from what the Communist Party and Central Control said
Immediately the party leadership sacked the people who had tried something new, and demanded that the province go back to doing what the party wanted even if the yields would be lower
In China, a similar thing happened but instead of clamping down on the province, Deng Xiaoping sent people to find out HOW THE PROVINCE WAS DOING IT and soon made the same thing, the normal standards for other provinces, thereby improving the yield across China in 1971
It was then that Nixon realized China wasn’t the same as the Soviet Union. It was a different form of Communism, something that could maybe give the US a run for their money
This is every foreigners experience in China
China is different
I plan to make a trip later with some Quorans for 4–5 days to chronicle the trip and hopefully record a video on the same
I used to work for a major cosmetics company that had some very strict rules that didn’t always work out as intended.
Example: one day we got a memo saying that employees were required, not by law but by company policy, to take both their 15-minute breaks. Now, you’re probably thinking, why wouldn’t someone take a break?
Well, there were a number of reasons that people, mostly management, were not regularly taking breaks: most times because the store was short-staffed on weekdays. Business was unpredictable and leaving one person on the floor when a crowd of people walked in meant lost sales, theft, and dramatic Yelp reviews (“If I could give ZERO stars I would!”), not to mention it screwed up our conversion numbers, which meant getting reamed out by corporate (“Jaime, you were working on Monday: can you explain why only 15% of customers bought something in the morning?”). Also, per company policy, managers couldn’t leave the building anyway, unless another manager was on duty (for register overrides), and with only enough managerial overlap on a weekday for lunch, we couldn’t leave to smoke or grab a coffee anyhow. As a result, managers would often either punch out for a short break and help out if needed or just take the legally-required lunch break.
Unbeknownst to us, some employees at other locations were fed up with this and had spoken to some lawyers.
Some time later there was a new rule: employees must take all breaks and may not clock in a minute early or a minute late at any time. No more eight-minute breaks, which we had previously been told was long enough to fulfill the break requirement. This resulted in staff standing by the punch clock waiting for the minute to turn over, because if we were a minute late, it would lead to a write-up. As a manager, I began setting the alarm on my phone when I came in early to get work done so I could run over to the punch clock and clock in at the exact minute.
The timekeeping rule was super annoying but served two purposes with corporate: it showed that the company was providing breaks, and it also eliminated overtime pay.
Unfortunately it’s not easy being perfect. Pretty much everyone got written up. Managers would punch out for their “fake” break, be told that so-and-so from XYA was on the phone with a question or run out to help on the floor with an override and then realize that they forgot to clock back in. Regardless, we tried our best. Managers didn’t actually want to give employees write-ups, so we helped staff by monitoring the time. When it was time for someone to go home, we’d cut in and say something like, “I apologize, Megan needs to leave the floor. My name is Jaime and I’ll be taking over.”
One day I got a letter in the mail from my employer saying I had been randomly chosen to speak to lawyers who were representing some former employees in a class-action lawsuit. I was told to be truthful and that it would not affect my job.
Some time later a nice lawyer named Kelly called and wouldn’t you know, she had a lot of questions about the timekeeping at our company. She found it very odd that company-wide, timekeeping was virtually perfect.
“I worked at Clinique when I was in law school,” Kelly said. “I know that in customer service it is not always possible to clock out exactly on the dot, like if you’re working with a customer and your shift ends. We find it very suspicious that virtually everyone has perfect timekeeping.”
Additionally, Kelly wanted to know if managers were able to take “relaxing” breaks without performing any duties, such as retrieving something from the stock room or processing a return, and if we could leave the store on these breaks. She was also very interested to know why, when someone called in sick, no one else was brought in to cover that shift (answer: because the sick employee is getting paid time off, and there is no money to cover a replacement). The conversation was very illuminating.
My employer lost the lawsuit, and checks were sent to employees within the company. I got around $1,200!
8 classes that should be required for all students before they hit adulthood
If we want to prepare kids for adult life, we've got some glaring gaps to fill.
I remember sitting in advanced algebra and trigonometry class in high school wondering if I was really ever going to use any of what I was learning. Math at that level meant nothing to me in a practical sense. I planned to study English and education to become an English teacher, so I couldn’t imagine why I’d need to learn the ins and outs of trig.
As it turned out, some of what I learned came in handy in the functions class I was required to take to fulfill my math requirement in college. But again, I found myself sitting in class with zero idea of why I was learning this level of math and suspecting that I was never going to actually use that knowledge in my adult life.
Now I’m a middle-aged adult and I can say with absolute certainty that I was right. In 27 years, I have not used anything I learned in functions. Not once. Not even a little bit. I agonized my way through that class to eek out a B-minus and to promptly forget everything I’d learned because it was utterly useless to me.
To be clear, higher math isn’t useless—it’s amazing. It was just completely useless to me.
You know what would have been useful? Learning about financing a car or a mortgage or understanding how and why and where to invest money. In all that time I was doing trigonometric proofs and calculating polynomial functions, I could have been learning all the various real-life math-related decisions I’d have to make as an adult.
I see the same thing happening with my kids in high school and college. It totally makes sense for students who are interested in going into math and science fields to take math beyond basic algebra and geometry. But for those who aren’t—why? There are so many more valuable things for them to take the time to learn—things that every single person really needs a basic knowledge of, such as:
Basic Psychology/Mental Health Maintenance
Every one of us has a brain and mental health is an issue for a huge percentage of people. Even those of us who don’t struggle with mental illness benefit from learning about how our minds work, gaining strategies for managing our thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and understanding why people do the things they do.
How many people would have been saved by learning how to spot a narcissist before getting into a relationship with one? How many people could mitigate an anxiety spiral right when it starts because they learned to recognize the signs earlier? How many people would appreciate the support and understanding of everyone having a basic understanding of their mental health disorders?
Basic Sociology/Human Behavior
Similarly, every one of us lives in a society. Understanding social connections, relationships and group behavior might kind of come in handy. If we don’t understand the causes and consequences of human behavior, we’re going to be confused by society at best and allow or enable atrocities to occur at worst.
From learning how cults and conspiracy theories work to recognizing how our prejudices can blind us to reality, sociology has useful knowledge we all need to internalize.
Media Literacy
If we’re going to be bombarded with media 24/7, we’d better know how to process it. Understanding how journalism works, what makes a source credible, how information can be skewed and how to recognize misinformation and disinformation is vital. What is bias and how can it be mitigated? How can we recognize when an outlet values accuracy?
So many of the problems the U.S. is facing currently are due to people watching or listening to dubious news sources. Mandatory media literacy courses would (hopefully) go a long way toward changing that.
The Stock Market and Other Investments
I underestimated how much I’d need to know about the stock market when I was younger. None of that economic stuff interested me, but I wish I understood it better now.
But really, it’s investing in general that we need to understand more about when we’re younger, especially since starting young is the No. 1 best advice any financial advisor will give you.
How Banking, Credit and Credit Cards Work
Every single one of us uses a bank or credit union and credit is a huge part of adult life. And yet most people I know have had to piece together how credit and credit cards actually work through advice from friends and family and good old trial and error, sometimes with devastating consequences.
Taxes
Good gracious, right? Not just how to do taxes, but what taxes get used for.
Financial literacy is what I’m saying. We need mandatory financial literacy classes. (Florida has actually just become the first state to require personal finance education to graduate, so yay Florida.) I think I was required to take economics in high school, but it was much more high-level economic theory than personal finance. We need personal finance first, then the bigger picture.
First Aid/Safety/Self-Defense
Most of us probably got some first aid and/or CPR training in health class, but how comprehensive was it? Did it include infant CPR? Do we know how to recognize if someone is having a stroke? Signs of infection?
What about basic everyday safety, like why you shouldn’t leave a car running in a garage or common household fire dangers or how to spot asbestos?
Self-defense seems like a no-brainer. Basically, a “How to Stay Alive and Keep Others Alive” course that includes most everything you need to know to protect yourself and your loved ones on a daily basis.
Navigating our Healthcare and Health Insurance System
Ugh. I’ve been an adult for almost three decades and everything about our healthcare system confuses and frustrates me. Maybe if we required schools to teach young people how it works, it would shine a big spotlight on how ridiculously and unnecessarily complicated it is because no one could possibly explain it in a way that’s understandable. Maybe that would push lawmakers to actually do something about it, because honestly, it’s just a gigantic mess.
There are surely others, but those are the major subjects that come to mind as vital after being an adult for a long while and seeing what my own kids need to have a decent grasp on as they make their way into the world. And honestly, there are some classes that adults should be required to take well into adulthood. Parenting classes, for example. Or local government and voting.
All subjects and courses have value to some people, but if we want students to be prepared for adulthood, we should make sure they are given the vital knowledge and skills every person actually needs and will use.
When I first found out I was pregnant at 18, I wasn’t scared to tell anyone. Only you.
I wasn’t scared to tell friends, other family, or the internet. I was scared to tell you.
I still remember sitting on my bed with mom, when you walked in and asked why I was crying. I could barely get out the words “I’m pregnant dad..” before you hung your head in disappointment, and stormed off downstairs. Mom hugged me and told me that you would come around.
I gave you a few minutes, and I walked downstairs. You were sitting on the couch. You looked so mad. I couldn’t find the words to say anything to you, so I just sat down beside you, and laid my head down on your shoulder, as I felt tears drip down my face.
Out of all the people I had to tell, that I was pregnant, I was most scared to tell you. And you were definitely the most disappointed.
But, when I came home the next day, and I saw you clearing out the guest room, for your soon to be granddaughter, I knew everything would be okay.
Six months later, you took me to every doctors appointment, when my boyfriend was working.
Seven months later, you helped me pick out a bringing home baby outfit.
Eight months later, you were there through my labour, and reminding me I could do this.
When she was born, you wouldn’t let her go. She became your world, along with me.
Six years later, you, papa, are my daughters world. She wants to call you every chance she gets. She wants to see you every time we go anywhere.
I know that out of everyone, you were the most disappointed when I announced I was pregnant at 18, but my daughter and I, couldn’t imagine doing life without you. And I know that you couldn’t imagine doing life without my daughter.
You two needed each other, even if you didn’t know it back then.”
Many years ago I took my 2 children on vacation in Florida. It was their first vacation. My kids were 6 and 8. We stopped in a restaurant that was very much like the Ryan’s restaurants. It was Buffett or order an entree. I ordered an entree and I believe my kids got an entrees as well. Our waiter was super nice and while we were waiting on our meals my daughter the youngest asked if she could look at the dessert bar. She just wanted to see what the options were for after dinner.
we went up to the dessert bar and she eyed the choices. She said she wanted a cookie for later and I said okay which one?
my daughter said are those chocolate chip cookies or raisins. She pointed at them. The bakery employee came up and before I could ask which one was the chocolate chip cookie she slapped my daughter’s hand. She angrily informed me that she needed tongs to get the cookie.
I was in shock by what just happened. I told the lady we only had a question and we were not ready for dessert. She scowled at me. I gave her a death stare and we went back to the table. Our food came out but I didn’t eat any. The waiter came back and asked if everything was okay. I said to him no it wasn’t and I told him what the bakery employee did. He gasped and got his manager. I relayed the story to the manager and he was very apologetic about it and said he would handle rude employee. A few minutes later I saw rude employee going upfront she gathered her purse and walked out the door. The manager came back and refunded our meals and said we could choose anything else on the menu to take home. He said bakery lady no longer works for them. we choose some entrees and went back to the bakery bar another lady was there and she was very pleasant. I asked her about the cookie and she pointed to the chocolate chip one. My daughter picked up the tongs to get her cookie as she already knew to do this. The bakery lady then put out signs identifying what the cookie s were. Apparently the other lady had forgot to do this.
our waiter took great care of us and the refund I about 20 dollars received from our meal I gave it to him as a tip.
Nobody has the crystal ball. The ball is in USA as of 2024/1/31.
On the 1 hand, it seems both USA & Iran are avoiding a WW3. Yet at the same time, it seems both are waiting for the right moment to start a war.
Let us look at the big picture.
1, UN says the US occupation of Syria & Iraq is illegal. USA was not invited by Syria or Iraq. Nor was it approved by UN.
USA used laundry detergent to falsely accuse Iraq of possessing bio weapon & waged a war there. USA’s war & thus occupation of Iraq is illegal.
It means Iran’s attack at US (illegal) bases can be pardoned.
USA normally ignores UN. Probably this time too. Clearly Biden has concern. Perhaps Biden has no surety to win the war without US casualties. 2024 is a US election year.
2, Since Saudi-Iran reconciliation in 2023, Mideast nations minus Israel are united as 1 big family. They have 1 common enemy ie USA+Israel. They are also waiting for the right moment to kick USA out of Mideast. They want to reclaim their 100% sovereignty in Mideast.
That is, USA is not faced with Iran alone. But the entire Mideast. Does Biden have surety to win?
3, Iran has “warned” USA’s aircraft carriers. 1 US carrier left Mediterranean Sea a month or so ago. Why leave at this time?
4, No doubt. there were 150 attacks in 3 months. But no casualties until the latest one at Jordan/Syria/Iraq border.
Iran was attacked many times too. How many? dont know.
Mind you, Iran denied it was responsible for the Jordan attack. Iran said it was ISIS.
5, Remember the Iran-Pakistan crossfire? It turns out each country wanted to exterminate the same group of people who were recruited by USA+India & who were living in the Iran-Pakistan border. To these 2 countries, these people are rioters who stir up unrest in both countries. It is not a bad idea to get rid of rioters this way without being accused of ethnic suppression by the West.
Back to the attack at Syria-Jordan-Iraq border where there were 30+ US casualties. Could it be a repeat of the Iran-Pakistan action? All 3 countries are actually exterminating the same group of radicals who are recruited by USA in US base.
Imagine getting a frantic phone call to find a needle in a haystack. Except that needle is your whole family…. and that haystack is an unknown location.
My wife didn’t sound like herself.
She was crying, panicked, and talking to other people before she said:
Wife: we were in an accident…
Me: (fearing the worst) where are you?
The next words still give me shivers.
Wife: …. You’ll find us…
Dial tone.
I have no idea where they might be. Adrenaline is pulsing through my body, and my only instinct is to drive as fast as possible toward our home.
I’m trying my best to stay focused on the location of my wife and kids, and not what might have happened to them.
I reach our exit from the freeway. Scanning.
Nothing.
I drive past our kids’ school. School. Today was their first day of school.
I make a right, I know her route home.
I’m confident I’ll find them now, but dread what I might see.
Then I see it. Fire engine.
Our Escalade is flipped on its side. I leave my car on the side of the road like it’s a bike I don’t care about.
I run. There’s glass everywhere. Where are they?
Then I can hear crying. It’s the scariest, yet greatest, sound I can hear. Like the cry of a newborn baby to let you know they are alive, I find my wife and 3 children in the cab of the fire truck – all crying, but all safe.
A welcome relief after the worst two minutes of my life.
A “bystander” told the cops that my wife ran a red light, but my son (who has an unbelievable memory) was adamant that she didn’t.
It turns out that the “bystander” was a passenger in one of the two racing vehicles that both ran the red light and upended our SUV. He hopped out of the car and had fabricated a totally different account of what actually happened.
My wife was petrified to drive after that, but, after a lot of assurances and negotiating, had her drive me short distances around town.
Chicken Mediterranean
Quickly serves one very hungry person or two restrained people. Multiply at will (the portions, that is). Prep the dried mushrooms, have all your ingredients measured and ready, put on the rice and you’ll be ready to dine in 30 minutes. Also perfect with couscous.
mediterranean chicken recipe 1 1024×1536 1
Why you’ll love it
This pan-fried chicken recipe has all my favorite ingredients that remind me of faraway beaches and warm Mediterranean waters. We’ve got a sauce with oregano, Kalamata olives, capers, and of course plenty of feta cheese. It’s got all the best savory flavors!
You know I’m the queen of creamy sauces, but I also enjoy changing it up with healthier fare (Pasta Puttanesca, anyone!?) every so often. This simple Greek-inspired chicken has an elegant, light white wine sauce with fresh tomatoes, so it’s perfect for easy after-work meals and isn’t too heavy.
What you’ll need
Chicken – we’re cutting two chicken breasts in half lengthwise for faster, more even cooking
Seasoning – salt & pepper, oregano, and garlic powder are sprinkled onto the chicken cutlets for infusing flavor into them directly
Olive oil – for pan frying
Garlic – add even more if you’re a big fan
White wine – try sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.
Tomatoes – a pop of freshness. Use either grape or cherry tomatoes.
Kalamata olives and capers – this duo adds a little tang and so much savory goodness
Spinach – an easy way to get your greens
Feta – this delicately salty, briny, and rich cheese is a staple in Greek-style recipes
Ingredients
2 or 3 dried porcini mushrooms (each the size of a quarter would be nice, or bits and pieces to equal that)
1/2 a small anchovy fillet, mashed, or 1 1/2 teaspoons anchovy paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Put the dried mushrooms in a Pyrex cup and just cover with boiling water. Set aside to soak while you prep the remaining ingredients.
In a small saucepan, simmer the broth, capers, and orange peel. Chop the rehydrated mushrooms and add to the saucepan. Save a couple of tablespoons of the mushroom water for a later task (make sure it’s not gritty). Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes and then move on to the next task.
In a sauté pan, skillet or small wok, heat the butter and the oil until very hot. Add the chicken stir fry, brown quickly for just a few minutes and remove with tongs OR add the chicken breast and cook about 5 minutes per side until browned. Remove the chicken.
Let the hot fat and chicken juices reduce for a couple of minutes. Then, over high heat, return the chicken to the pan and add the sauce. Add the orange juice. Cook until chicken is cooked through and sauce has reduced even further, turning the chicken from time to time.
Remove chicken once more. Stir anchovy paste into a couple tablespoons of the reserved mushroom water and add to pan. Let the sauce bubble for a minute or two. Return the chicken to the pan, turn it a few times, and serve with plenty of the sauce on a good sticky rice or couscous.
Substitutions and variations
As always, tweak the recipe to your tastes. If you don’t like olives, for example, you can leave them out.
If you can’t/don’t want to use white wine, just swap it out for chicken broth.
Chicken thighs would work great in here, but you may need to cook them for a bit longer to ensure they’re tender.
USA is using the band-aid solution without diagnosing the root cause to the cancer the fentanyl crisis.
China has done its part:
Fentanyl is illegal in China.
China has set up enforcement personnel to inspect import/export of drug incl fentanyl. One of the enforcement unit is in a police/custom. But …. USA sanctioned that unit. It is USA who does not want China to do the inspection work. It is USA who wants illegal drugs to go to USA.
One ingredient in fentanyl is opiod which comes from opium. It is a powerful pain killer. It is legal in the world. But we must have drug control eg doctor’s prescription.
I heard opiod type of pain-killer was regularly prescribed by doctors in USA (before fentanyl has become a crisis in USA). I heard at first they did not believe people will get addicted until much later.
I also observed that the opiod crisis in north America started at the time when USA occupied Afghanistan. During that 20 years of occupation, Afghanistan produced 80% of opium in the world. The Taliban government has banned its growth since US troops left Afghanistan. Is it a coincidence or not?
An Afghan farmer said it was US soldiers who “forced” or bribed them to grow opium.
Back to China. Fentanyl is illegal in China. No fentanyl in USA comes from China. Opiod that makes LEGAL pain killers are allowed to export to the world incl USA. So if foreign countries which use China’s LEGAL opiod to make fentanyl, China cannot stop them. Unless the world bans legal drug incl pain killers.
There is nothing China can do to help USA.
Fentanyl is a US problem. US politicians talk to China, just to fool Americans that they have done their homework with China. It is a band-aid solution without doing a serious job ie prescription control & underground drug trafficking.
Remember, if there is no market in USA, there will be no underground drug trafficking. So, the problem is inside USA.
In 1840’s, UK militarily forced China to buy opium. A British Jewish businessman spread opium in China. At 1 point, 1/2 of the population was addicted to opium. How did China clean up the crisis? Communist China used iron-fist to stop/punish drug dealers & addicts. Some addicts used their WILL POWER to overcome their pain during drug withdrawal.
China is clean since. So can USA if only USA has the will power to rid itself from fentanyl. Dont shift its responsibility to China. Good luck to USA.
The Mass Exodus Of Young Men From Dating/Relationships Is Baffling Both Academics And The Media
I did “energy audits” – home inspections to look for possible energy improvements – for some years. Here are 4 experiences that stick in my mind:
1. Homeowner complains of high electricity bills. Hmm – heating, hot water and oven are all on natural gas. What could it be? Surely not that hot tub, sitting out there in a foot of snow, gently steaming away on its 220V resistance element?.
2. Homeowner complains of high electricity bills. But this is a homeowner who is up with the latest. Insulation is good, hot water is gas but the heating/cooling system is a forced air high efficiency heatpump (=reverse cycle air con unit) with a programmable thermostat. The set temperatures are very reasonable, a bit spartan if anything. But the bills just look too high, especially in winter. Call in the HVAC expert to check it out. Result; the unit has not been wired properly. Since the original installation the unit never switched to reverse cycle, so the electric resistance element turned on every time the thermostat called for heat.
3. Big house, on multiple levels. Huge octagonal living room, 16 foot ceiling, full height windows all round. Homeowner has no real complaints, just wonders if he could save some money. I look and don’t find anything much to improve. The place is pristine, looks almost unoccupied. The wife and young son hang out in a basement room that is fitted out almost like an RV; couch, heater, sink, microwave, hot plate, small fridge, TV, blackboard, toy chest, a computer workstation. It’s a comfortable, snug room. Downsizing would save a heap of energy…
4. Homeowner says electricity bills have skyrocketed over the last few months. Can’t explain it; nothing has really changed, no new appliances, no change in occupants and so on. I check the electric units, everything looks OK.. Sure we can save some money with more insulation, some more efficient appliances, but it doesn’t explain the sudden jump in costs. I take another look at the bills – could have saved a lot of time if I had looked properly the first time. She had signed up with an independent energy supplier. The first year’s price per Kwh was super attractive. But once that initial year was over the price jumped to 50% higher than the regular utility. I guess one does need to read the fine print.
When you hold the hand of a loved one, you feel pain less keenly and worry less.
The more you talk about someone, the more are you likely to fall in love with that person.
Women generally prefer men with deep husky voices because they seem more confident and not aggressive.
Staying quiet often means that you do not think that other person is ready to hear your thoughts.
The smarter the person is, the faster he thinks, and the sloppier his handwriting is.
Your favorite song is your favorite because you associate an emotional event with it.
Smarter people underestimate themselves, ignorant people think they are brilliant.
When someone cries tears of joy, the first teardrop will always come from the right eye. Tears of pain start from the left.
Listening to high-frequency music makes you feel calm, relaxed, and happy.
Doing things that scare you will make you happier.
The happier you are, the less sleep you require. Sadness urge to sleep more.
A 20 seconds hug releases chemicals in the body that help you trust the one you’re hugging.
Chocolate discharges the same chemical in your body as when you feel love. One of which is phenylethlyamine, which causes alertness, excitement, quickens the pulse rate and makes you happy!
Resilient Kids Come From Parents Who Do These 8 Things
Letting your kids fail and talking to them about it goes a long way.
When you’re a kid, everything is a tragedy. Your grilled cheese has the crust on? The horror. Can’t assemble that Lego set? Might as well stomp up and down. You can’t change this. What you can do, however, is arm your kid with the techniques that teach them how to bounce back from their daily struggles so that, later on in life, when the stakes are higher, they know what to do. Because resilience is a behavior learned through explicit lessons and examples, one that teaches kids how to, among other things, better handle stress, understand that rejection is not a comment on their entire existence, and view setbacks as things that don’t need to sideline them for good.
But how, exactly, should you teach this lesson? According to Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do, here are eight common practices of parents who raise resilient kids.
They Let the Kids Struggle
“All kids have the ability to develop skills that will help them be resilient,” says Morin. “As parents, it’s up to us to give them those skills, and to serve as a guide — to help them when they’re struggling with something and give them more opportunities to practice resiliency.”
The worst thing parents can do, says Morin, is rescue their kids too much. Such actions prevent kids from learning how to act on their own. In other words, the parents who teach their kids that hard work is a necessary part of life — and sometimes that hard work is really hard — are the ones who raise well-adjusted kids.
They Let Their Kids Experience Rejection
For myriad reasons, it’s essential for kids to learn how to handle being told ‘no.’ “If your kid doesn’t get picked for the baseball team, it can be tempting to call the coach, call the schools, try to get your kid on the team,” says Morin. “But failure can be one of the best opportunities to teach kids a life lesson. That lesson: Failure is not the end of the road, you’re strong enough to handle failing, and that when you fail, you have choices.”
They Don’t Condone a Victim Mentality
“When kids say they are having a problem, it’s tempting for them to blame other people,” says Morin. “They fail their science test, and they say that their teacher didn’t explain it well enough.” It can be tempting for parents to give into this behavior and side with their children. But even if their teacher is bad or didn’t explain something, that instinct is dangerous.
“Parents need to tell their kids that life isn’t fair, but that they aren’t strong enough to handle the unfairness,” says Morin. “And I think for a lot of parents, our tendency is to make things fair — to advocate for our kids, to side with them, just reinforces to them that they’re the victim. It leads to learned helplessness.” Fight this instinct at all costs.
They Do More Than Tell Their Kids to ‘Buck Up’ When Struggles Occur
Letting kids struggle is important, but telling them to just deal with it, or ignoring that it could be tough emotionally, is not the right way to go about it. “You want to make sure that you validate their emotions and you empathize with them,” says Morin. “Parents can find that balance of knowing when to step back enough to let their child face some of their own battles, but at the same time, empathize.”
Talking to your kids about their feelings as they learn by doing is incredibly important. It will give them skills to talk about their feelings later on in life, as well as help them learn how to deal with difficult times.
“Parents need to ask themselves whether or not they’re giving their kids the skills and tools they need to do things on their own,” Morin adds. “If they don’t have those skills yet, then parents step in. But parents, make sure that you’re teaching them those skills, too.”
They Help Their Kids Learn How to Label Their Feelings and Emotions
“When kids can label their emotions, they are less likely to act them out,” says Morin. “If your kid can say ‘I’m mad,’ he’s less likely to kick you in the shins to show you that he’s mad.”
In other words, kids who can’t talk about their feelings tend to take those feelings out on others, which can lead to adults who don’t know how to cope with anger or sadness. By helping kids feel comfortable talking about their emotions out loud, you are also giving them the skills to think about (and cope with) what’s making them upset. It’s Resiliency 101.
They Give Their Kids the Tools to Self-Soothe
“I know some parents who created a ‘calm down kit’ for their kid,” says Morin. “They have a kit with a coloring book, and some Play-Doh, and lotion that smells good, and they remind their kid to go get the kit when they’re upset.”
Although this specific technique isn’t for everyone, the concept should be as it helps kids learn how to take responsibility for their feelings and calm themselves down. Using such tools and routines will help them manage and continue healthy coping skills as they get older. It’s invaluable.
They Admit Their Mistakes, Then They Fix Them
Parenting mistakes, per Morin, are opportunities for us to turn it around and show kids how to respond to errors and show that we all make them. Even the most well-adjusted parents screw up every once in a while. They get mad at the teacher or yell at their spouse or forget to do something critical. The important thing is that parents need to own up to their own mistakes in front of their kids — and then actually fix the problem. This shows kids that no matter how grave a mistake they may have made, if they are honest about it and try to fix it, things will get better.
They Connect Their Kid’s Self-Worth to Their Level of Effort
“There is research that shows that when girls succeed, we say, ‘You did well because you studied hard.’ But when boys succeed, we’ll say something like, ‘You did well on that test because you’re smart,’” Morin says. For her, that’s a problem. Connecting a kid’s outcomes to their inherent talent can lead to long-term issues.
“When we focus too much on outcome, kids will cheat in high school because they think the most important thing in the world is getting an A, and it doesn’t matter how they get there. We want to teach kids that what matters is being honest, being kind, working hard. It’s really important to focus on their effort. The kid who grows up knowing that it’s all about their effort, rather than their outcome, is going to be more resilient when they fail or when they get rejected.”
How To Regain Your Masculinity In A Relationship
Last Updated On December 15, 2022 by Andrew Ferebee
We have all seen a man who is big and brave when single but seems to crumble into a pile of ashes when he’s in a relationship. It’s almost as if someone flipped a switch.
One minute, he’s still just as manly as ever. Next, he’s wearing an apron, babysitting, and watching the worst romantic comedies since The Notebook.
Losing yourself in a relationship is a universal issue. However, when you’re a man and you no longer feel in touch with your masculine edge, it’s devastating.
You lose what makes you, you. Masculinity is a source of pride in every man, which is why it’s so important to stay in touch with it.
Though it’s rarely discussed, losing your masculine edge in a relationship can and does happen—quite a bit, really.
Masculinity has a lot of definitions
There is no such thing as a man who is purely masculine.
Everyone has both masculine and feminine energy in them, and every person has masculine and feminine traits. This is not a bad thing! Quite the opposite, it means that you are a balanced person.
Being a man means that you have the emotional strength and that you can be the one to take charge when need be. But, it can also mean being the support your wife needs when she breaks down in tears. See what we mean?
You do not have to guzzle beer, be a lumberjack, and smoke cigars to be a man. When you feel like a man, you’re a man. The man who owns a cat and relaxes to bossa nova can be just as manly as the man going on safari.
Masculinity is something that is felt and experienced—and it takes many forms.
Just because you’re not skydiving with Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson doesn’t mean you’re not a man. With that said, there’s a major question that deserves to be asked.
Signs you’re losing your masculine edge in a relationship
Therein lies the crux of the question, and it’s one that is hard to nail down in words. However, there are a couple of telltale signs that you might be losing your masculine edge in your relationships:
You honestly feel emotionally battered and beaten down. A man who’s lost his masculinity looks worn down. He might not have the inner fight in him that he once had. Sometimes, it can even make him feel sick and weak.
It’s been a long time since you’ve felt strong and confident. Do you find yourself questioning your abilities, when you never felt that way before? This is never a good sign.
If you were honest, it’s been a while since you have prioritized yourself. Part of being a masculine man is being able to actively make yourself a priority. Masculinity is all about being assertive and living for you. Do you feel like you’re sacrificing everything for yourself, with nothing in return?
You’re afraid to express yourself. Once again, this is never a good sign.
Your girlfriend or wife has stopped respecting you. If you find yourself begging for attention, pleading for her to meet you halfway, or experiencing serious signs of contempt from her, it’s time to make a change. Women don’t respect men they don’t view as masculine.
8 ways to regain your masculinity in a relationship
If you’re noticing warning signs that you’re losing your masculinity in a relationship, it’s time to take charge and realign yourself with your manhood.
By implementing the 8 principles below, you will discover ways to reclaim control and regain masculinity in your relationship.
1. Re-establish your boundaries and enforce them
There are a few things that will erode a person’s sense of self like having no boundaries and letting people walk all over you.
In many cases, this is why relationships start to emasculate men and why women lose respect for you.
What does this look like? Simple.
First, figure out what you need in your relationship in order to feel better. This can include having time to yourself, having at least one night out a week, or even getting better responses on intimacy.
Have a firm talk to your girlfriend about things you need to see happen. This can be as simple as saying, “I care about you very much, but I am not feeling great in this relationship. Here’s what I need to feel better.”
Tell her what you will not tolerate. This can include things like browbeating you, guilt trips, lying, shouting, ignoring your needs, and threats.
Tell her what you are in need of. Set boundaries that are reasonable when it comes to things like space apart, time with friends, time with family, and sexual needs.
Do not tolerate disrespect, verbal violence, or guilt-tripping. If she behaves this way, then the reason you lost your masculinity is that you’re in an abusive relationship. You may need to dump her.
Expect better, and call her out if it’s not working. It’s okay to remind her that she needs to do better.
If you feel like you’re regularly disrespected or have your needs dismissed, it may be time to call things off. A relationship has to go both ways, and if she’s just not listening, she’s not the one for you.
2. Don’t feel bad about prioritizing yourself
One of the worst things that happen to men on a regular basis is the guilting when they put themselves first.
Self-love is important for men. You can’t set yourself on fire to keep others warm! Boundaries are part of a healthy relationship, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
That’s why it often helps to have someone in your corner who can help you figure out how to communicate.
4. Do things that make you feel like a man
Everyone has that one (or two) things that helps them realign with their masculine side—and that’s precisely what you need to start doing.
Once again, it’s important to take time to figure out when you’ve felt your best and what you were doing at that point.
Masculinity takes a lot of different forms. It can be when you’re competing for a 5K, when you’re bodybuilding, when you’re pouring effort into a new business or when you’re making a new song.
Whatever it is, do it for at least half an hour a week. Ideally, you’ll carve out more time for that thing. This is part of prioritizing yourself.
5. Write a list of things that you’ve accomplished in your life
While you might be feeling low right now, it’s important to remember that no one can take away your masculinity unless you let them.
Truthfully, no one can ever take away what masculine things you’ve already done. Sometimes, it’s good to have a reminder of who you are and what you did to put things into perspective.
So, write down a list of all the manly feats you did—from that time you finished a raid in WoW to that one time you did that thing in sports. Keep that list nearby when you’re feeling low.
6. Reach out to your guyfriends and bond with them
There is something truly magical about the bond that men have with their male friends. This is something that every man really needs to experience from time to time.
Men get it. It’s a world where men often are told mixed messages and where men often feel like they are “damned if they do, damned if they don’t.”
Hanging out with your bros is one of those things that is just as much a diversion as it is a practice in male health.
Men need other men as friends, guides, and confidantes. If you haven’t done so recently, call your guy friends and ask how they are doing.
7. Learn to drop your fear of the masculine and feminine
If it feels like we live in a society where men are told to embrace their feminine side, then punish them, you’re right.
There is this constant stigma of being too girly as a guy, and it often feels like we police each other in suppressing sides that don’t stick to the narrative.
Part of being truly masculine is realizing that being a “manly man” means you’re comfortable with your feminine side, too.
Just because you have a girly side doesn’t mean you’re any less of a man. Make a point of reassuring yourself that you’re still you, regardless of what society says.
What other people say about you has no bearing on you. They’re saying that, and it’s on them.
8. Realign yourself with the goals that you have for yourself
The key thing to remember about masculinity is that it’s all about leadership and paving your own way in life.
When you’re in a relationship, it’s easy to start to put your actual goals to the side in favor of all the other little things people expect you to do. This is why you might be feeling emasculated.
Women find a grounded man who makes his own way in life attractive. This is doubly true if his goals are ones that are difficult to attain and have a very high standard of performance.
If you need to focus on your career path or your own personal goals, that’s totally fine. In fact, it’s healthy.
Masculinity wanes when you stop taking your own needs and future into account. Write a list of your goals and ask yourself which ones started to slip away from you.
Start putting together a game plan on how you’re going to pursue those goals once more. Then, follow the game plan.
Takeaways
Regaining your masculinity isn’t always easy or clear-cut.
Let’s face it, when you’re in the thick of it, it’s hard to make the right steps to get your masculinity back. Sometimes, it can feel like it’s just too complicated or difficult to work through—even when you know what you need to do.
Part of being able to get yourself back to where you need to be is having the right support network and even leaning on someone who’s been there.
When you have the right support, being able to realign with your masculine side becomes way easier and even intuitive.
Of course, the perks of getting that masculine mojo back go far beyond just feeling better. It makes you attractive to women, can help you get a better job, and also can change the trajectory of your life.
We help make that happen in our exclusive coaching program where you’ll learn, with our band of brothers, to become the best version of yourself, reclaim your masculine edge and improve your life and relationship.
Originally Answered: You’re in a room with a king, a rich man, and a priest. Each orders you to kill the other two, and you’re the only one with a weapon. Who will you listen to and why?
I just love this question. I fucking love it. What’s so beautiful about this question is that it cannot be answered by analyzing what is given. Rather, the answer can only be found by analyzing what is hidden behind these black lines!
Let’s begin, shall we?
First of all, it’s safe to assume that the three designations described – the king, the priest, and the rich man are the three highest positions of power in the empire. Now, since I am the sword-wielder, I choose to be an ambitious one. And if I am ambitious, I would want one of these three positions for myself!
It’s evident that I’ll kill two of the three and spare one. So, instead of concentrating on what is to be lost by killing a particular person, let’s analyze what is to be gained by letting a particular person live.
Case 1) The king lives.
In this case, I kill both the rich man and the priest. What can the king do for me? The answer is clear – He can make me very very rich. But he cannot make me the priest. (The priest has to command the respect and devotion of the people, something a king cannot buy or order.)
Case 2) The priest lives.
Here, I kill the king and the rich man. Once again, I ask – What can the priest give me? He cannot make me rich. Most of the priests themselves choose to live a life of poverty (Remember High Sparrow?) But the priest can easily make me the king. He holds that much power over people, as is evident throughout our history (Again, remember High Sparrow?)
Case 3) The rich man lives.
I kill the king and the priest. Now, what can the rich man offer me? He can neither make me the king, nor make me the priest. Both of those positions require people’s will, acceptance and devotion; and that is something you cannot buy with money.
So, it is evident that the rich man is the most useless of all. He has nothing to offer to me. I kill him immediately.
Now, the king and the priest remain. The king can make you rich, and the priest can make you king. (Case 1 and 2)
So, it’s just a matter of the exact nature the sword-wielder’s ambition takes. Does he crave wealth or power? If he craves power, then he must kill the king. And if he craves riches, then he must kill the priest.
For me, personally, power is much more important than money. So, if you make me the sword-wielder, I’ll first kill the rich man. Then, when it’s just between the king and the priest, I’ll strike a deal with the priest that if I spare him, he has to make me the king with his support.
Then I’ll stab the king.
Boo ya!
Oops, I mean…
Homelessness In The U.S. Is Up 48 Percent Since 2015, And Americans Are Being Laid Off In Droves…
How can anyone out there possibly believe that the U.S. economy is doing well? As you will see below, the number of homeless Americans has risen to the highest level ever recorded, and large companies all over the country are laying off workers in droves. As I have discussed previously, the number of Americans that were laid off in 2023 jumped 98 percent compared to the year before, and now during the first month of 2024 it feels like we are being hit by a tsunami of layoffs. It literally seems like someone has turned a fire hose on, but the Biden administration continues to insist that unemployment is “low” and that the outlook for the U.S. economy is positive.
Honestly, I don’t understand how the Biden administration can say that the outlook for the U.S. economy is positive when the number of Americans that are homeless has been increasing at the fastest pace ever recorded. According to a brand new report that was just released by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the number of homeless Americas has increased 48 percent since 2015…
According to a Jan. 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. That marks the largest single-year increase in the country’s unhoused population on record, Harvard researchers said.
Homelessness, long a problem in states such as California and Washington, has also increased in historically more affordable parts of the U.S.. Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas have seen the largest growths in their unsheltered populations due to rising local housing costs.
We can see evidence of this all around us.
Tent cities are popping up like mushrooms in our major cities and countless Americans are living in their vehicles and RVs.
One of the primary reasons why homelessness has been surging so dramatically is because rental costs have soared to unprecedented heights…
Rent in the U.S. has steadily climbed since 2001. In analyzing Census and real estate data, the Harvard researchers found that half of all U.S. households across income levels spent between 30% and 50% of their monthly pay on housing in 2022, defining them as “cost-burdened.” Some 12 million tenants were severely cost-burdened that year, meaning they spent more than half their monthly pay on rent and utilities, up 14% from pre-pandemic levels.
People earning between $45,000 and $74,999 per year took the biggest hit from rising rents — on average, 41% of their paycheck went toward rent and utilities, the Joint Center for Housing Studies said.
Tenants should generally allocate no more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
But Joe Biden insists that inflation is “low”.
You believe him, don’t you?
Sadly, more Americans will soon be hitting the streets because we are witnessing an insane wave of layoffs all over the nation.
Right now, it is being reported that Salesforce has decided to conduct another round of layoffs…
Salesforce is cutting about 700 employees, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The job cuts, which amount to about 1% of its global workforce, follow a series of workforce reductions last year.
In 2023, Marc Benioff’s company laid off about 10% of its total workforce as it grappled with a swarm of activist investors who wanted margins increased faster than planned.
And we have just learned that REI will be giving the axe to 357 workers…
REI is laying off 357 workers, mostly in the outdoor retailer’s headquarters and distribution centers. In a letter to employees, CEO Eric Artz noted that “outdoor specialty retail has experienced four quarters of decline – and that trend has been worsening.” While REI was able to outperform this for much of last year, he said, this trend caught up to the company in the fourth quarter, and difficult conditions are expected in 2024.
Difficult conditions are expected in 2024?
Oh really…
Who could have seen that one coming?
After their deal with Amazon fell through, iRobot announced that 31 percent of its staff would be hitting the bricks…
Amazon and iRobot, the maker of the popular Roomba vacuum, mutually called off their estimated $1.7 billion acquisition deal Monday, citing numerous regulatory hurdles.
Immediately after the deal was publicly squashed, iRobot announced it would lay off 31% of its staff and that founder Colin Angle would step down from his role as CEO, citing a focus on profitability, stability and growth. Glen Weinstein will serve as interim CEO.
Shares of iRobot (IRBT) were down around 9% in noon trading following the news. Amazon (AMZN), which was up about 0.5% in noon trading, will pay iRobot a previously agreed-upon $94 million cancellation fee.
Google, Microsoft, Levi’s, TikTok, Riot Games, eBay, Wayfair and Macy’s are some of the other big names that have also announced layoffs so far in 2024.
Perhaps if they had not made a habit of blatantly lying to us over and over again during the past several years they would not have lost all of their remaining credibility and they would not have had to lay off so many workers.
But even though so much is going wrong with the economy right now, many of the “experts” continue to tell us that happier times are just around the corner.
Ed Yardeni, a veteran market strategist, thinks the US economy might be about to relive the “Roaring ’20s.”
The Yardeni Research president said during Friday’s episode of Bloomberg’s “Merryn Talks Money” podcast that he’s expecting a combination of loose post-pandemic monetary policy and rapid technological change to drive growth higher over the next decade.
Wouldn’t it be great if he was actually right?
Of course the truth is that he is just being delusional.
If you still have a good job and a warm home to come back to at night, you should be very thankful.
Because more Americans are losing their jobs and losing their homes with each passing day, and the level of economic suffering that we are witnessing is already off the charts.
The Unthinkable Is Happening In The USA! (Texas Border Battle!)
You know there used to be this kind of beer in China. It was really odd. Every time I would drink a case of this beer I would end up with a big strong erection. It was darnest thing. That is because beer is a depressant. You have one or two beers and your little manhood turns into wet spaghetti.
LOL. Guys, you know what I am talking about. Ha ha ha.
But not on this beer. Imagine that!
After a while all the cans were pulled off the shelves in all the stores, and I never saw the beer ever again. Then, one day, I was reading the news and discovered that the beer company was adding generic Viagra into the bottles of beer. So no wonder I’d have a woody after a six pack!
Good golly!
Personally, Viagra gives me a headache. So I am glad that I no longer drink that beer. It was a poor marketing decision, and thus, I am pretty glad that the beer is no longer available.
One day while I was thrifting, a Hispanic man came up to the register and asked the price of a huge plastic doll house. His daughter was trailing behind him. The cashier quoted him five dollars at which his face fell and he turned to put the toy back.
I rolled my eyes in exasperation and slapped five dollars down on the counter. I told the cashier to give him the doll house cuz it was obvious he wanted it for his little girl. The gentleman thanked me profusely but I just waved him out of the door. After all I’ve paid ten bucks for a pair of panty hose. No big deal.
Then next day I was in Walmart at the register stocking up on caffeine-free Pepsi when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned to the woman behind me with a questioning look and said,”Yes?”
She held out a five dollar bill. I looked at the money surprised and asked what was this for. She extended her hand and said,”This is for you”.
OMG. I am an atheist but I swear I looked up at the ceiling toward the heavens thinking about that doll house and said .
What? What? Is ,is God watching me.?
Is,is God
Saganaki (Flaming Greek Cheese)
2024 01 31 11 53
Ingredients
1/4 pound Kefalograviera, Kasseri, Kefalotiri or Romano cheese
1 egg, beaten
Flour, as needed
3 teaspoons olive oil or butter
Lemon wedges, as needed
Oregano to taste
2 tablespoons brandy
Instructions
Slice cheese into 1/4-inch thick slices. Dip cheese into egg, then coat lightly with flour.
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Place cheese in the pan; cook until golden brown on both sides – about 1 minute per side.
Remove pan from heat. Add brandy, then carefully ignite. Douse flame with a squeeze of lemon juice, then sprinkle with oregano.
They are INSANE, and they’re leading us to World War 3 | Redacted with Natali and Clayton Morris
Before this, we’d had a phone plan that fit our needs. We barely used our cell phones so we had a limited number of minutes to use each month. Neither of us ever came close to reaching that limit, not once.
After my husband died I was on the phone non-stop. People calling to see how I was. His job calling with benefit information. His family calling to judge the hell out of me and demand that his death was my fault. Etc, etc, etc.
I need to add that since my husband did not have a will when he died all of our assets were frozen. I was completely unable to work and the rest of the money was unavailable until his estate was figured out.
So, T-mobile calls me to tell me that my phone is about to be shut off. My phone bill had reached$2000! I explained that my husband had died and I was unable to pay the bill. Told them that I didn’t even know WHEN I’d have money to pay anything at all, let alone the phone bill.
T-mobile cleared the entire $2000 from my bill. They also gave me unlimited minutes for the next 2 months.
Say what you will about T-mobile but they’ve done good by me. I’ll forever feel indebted to them and will stay with them til the end.
Large, international companies in the U.S. are not immune to nepotism (no matter what the rules and regulations say) or to giving a friend’s kid a job.
Our department head was asked to give another department head’s daughter, fresh out of university, a job in our unit.
She was cluelessly entitled. She could not understand that most of us worked to survive, not just to get spending money or to please parents. She was surprised when we could not go to a high-end restaurant for lunch because we had bills due.
But she was a sweetheart. She was generous with her things and with her time. We learned quickly to NOT compliment her clothes because she would give the items to us after cleaning them.
If someone was upset, she would listen, soothe and would always follow up. Her positive attitude could brighten our worst days.
HOWEVER, her work was horrid. The supervisors trained her carefully, but she could not grasp the simplest of office tasks. She created chaos in the incoming work, three-step system and crashed the unit’s copy machine for over a week (the Xerox repairman was in awe of the devastation). No job was safe with her.
The department head and the two supervisors wanted to get her out of the unit without hurting her.
They hatched a plan to have her ‘promoted’ to Personnel (H.R.) to a counseling position. On paper, though, she was dismissed from our unit for incompetence.
We had a nice ‘Congratulations!’ luncheon on her last day that made her tear up because we talked all about why we liked her.
She was where she should have been from the beginning and did brilliantly for many years.
Note: She did see the official dismissal notice and then rehire papers. But our department head explained it all gently and kindly as just a formality.
Reports Leaked: China’s Fighter Jet Fleet Is Growing MASSIVELY
If you want to get your crush to instantly fall in love with you, use this love eye trick: You want to look in their left eye for one second, to their lips for one-and-a-half to two seconds and then to their right eye.
If you want people to take your words seriously, say that your father taught you this. People tend to believe parents’ advice inherently.
If you want to know someone is attentive or not, repeat your sentence with a slight change in it. If he is listening either his facial expression will change, or he will point out and question the part.
If you want people to agree with you, just nod and maintain eyecontact while you’re talking, they will nod back.
If you want someone to agree for something, give them a list covering 3 options and drop the one to the bottom that you want them to pick. They are most likely to pick the bottom one.
If you want your friend to carry something, just keep talking to them while handing them the bag. Most people will automatically take the bag without thinking.
Women Treat you Entirely differently When you Become a High Value Man
Oh yes. When I was waitressing in a little hometown cafe, saving money for college. It’s the kind of restaurant where the nearby business owners eat lunch every single day and pretty much always the same crowd.
During a very hectic lunch shift, a party of six unfamiliar men in business suits came in and sat in my section. I recognized one but not the rest. As I had two other orders to take before theirs, I gave them water and menus and said I’d be with them in just a minute or two. The well known guy just happened to be a Senator.
He stood up, grabbed my sleeve and told me they were in a bit of a hurry, and that they really needed me to take their order first. I told him there were two other tables who had sat down ahead of them, and that as promised, I would be right back to take their orders.
That’s when he got indignant and said “Do you know who I am?” I said “Of course I do, Senator” and he informed me that I would be taking their order ahead of the other tables (all regular, daily customers).
I turned around and in a loud voice, I announced to the entire dining room “We have Senator X dining with us today, and he would like to be served ahead of all the rest of you. Would that be OK?”
The guy sat back down, turned bright red and never said another word. He waited his turn just like everybody else….and left me a very nice tip.
Mine was not sabotage. I put in my resignation along with a two week notice. They told me I was fired and I was escorted from the building after packing up my desk. What they forgot was I was the only coder in the building and much of the company’s accounting, inventory, control, security and other software I had customized. Could I have sabotaged it, yes, I left some backdoors to allow me easier access. I also knew all but personal passwords, some of which I was the only one who knew. I also was the only IT person that could do more than plug and play. So all the updates I normally did, weren’t being done. The daily monitoring I did, wasn’t being done. They called several times and I gave them passwords and etc, but no more than they asked. Within a month their whole system was trashed and they couldn’t find anyone that could help with their antiquated programs. They finally asked me to come back to work for them. I only agreed after telling them I would be a contractor, and I put lots of zeros after the numbers. Company went under because they refused to spend money on modern equipment and software.
Her DELUSIONAL Dating Standards Leave Her With No Man
Whether WW3 or Iran war will happen depends on USA.
Either USA withdraws all its troops from Mideast or stops supporting Israel.
The reason why US military bases in Mideast were attacked is because USA is not welcome in Mideast minus Israel.
UN says USA’s occupation of Syria & Iraq is illegal. There is no reason US troops should stay in Mideast.
US troops were not invited by Syria. USA used laundry detergent to falsely accuse Iraq possessing biochem weapons & then waged a war in 2003. … illegal, illegal, illegal.
USA should let Mideast people govern Mideast affairs.
Hence, WW3 is in the hands of USA.
BRICS Sanction UK & US After Recent Missile Attacks On Houthi Rebels!
https://youtu.be/2pU15CpJ4xk
China Deploys Multiple Warships Around Self-Claimed ADIZ – The Japan News
China is deploying multiple warships around the clock in waters near the borders of the air defense identification zone that it has unilaterally established, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
A photograph taken by a Yomiuri Shimbun journalist on Dec. 30 showed a Jiangkai II-class guided-missile frigate of the Chinese Navy in the zone.
Air defense identification zones, or ADIZs, are set up by individual countries outside their territorial airspace to prevent incursions. Countries decide whether there is a possibility of their airspace being entered, and whether their fighter aircraft should scramble. Just passing through Japan’s ADIZ does not result in the scrambling of Self-Defense Forces planes.
China is operating the zone on the premise that it is Chinese airspace. Aircraft that fly within its ADIZ are told to immediately leave.
China’s move shows that it is a pressing issue for the Japanese government to take action to deal with Beijing’s attempt to change the status quo by force. China’s ADIZ, established in November 2013, overlaps with Japan’s and includes the Senkaku Islands, over which China claims sovereignty
Contrary to international custom, China unilaterally demands that aircraft flying in the zone follow Chinese authorities’ instructions. It also claims it will take “defensive emergency measures” if an aircraft fails to do so.
China is thought to be claiming jurisdiction that is not based in international law. The Japanese government is strongly opposed, calling China’s actions invalid, and the United States and South Korea have also expressed concern.
The Yomiuri journalist photographed the Chinese Jiangkai II-class guided-missile frigate and the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s newly commissioned frigate JS Mikuma facing each other in waters about 20 kilometers inside the border of what China insists is its ADIZ.
During the flight, the Yomiuri also confirmed a radio communication in which the Chinese Navy warship called on a separate aircraft flying within China’s ADIZ to leave the airspace.
China started deploying at least three navy warships around the clock in waters around its claimed ADIZ, according to Japanese government sources.
The three include an air defense missile destroyer, which is the Chinese version of an Aegis-equipped destroyer, and a frigate warship. Equipped with high-performance radar, air defense missile destroyers are highly capable of shooting down aircraft
The Chinese military aircraft repeatedly scramble in response to SDF aircraft, according to the sources. The Chinese military is believed to be strengthening its monitoring of SDF and U.S. military aircraft and warships in the East China Sea.
To effectively establish ADIZs, it is essential to deploy radar that can detect early on the approach of other countries’ aircraft, and improve the efficiency of fighter units so they can immediately reach the spot.
China’s monitoring capabilities were initially believed to be low, and it was thought that its establishment of the ADIZ would have no substantial impact.
However, some observers are warning that China will have its warships, which are deployed around the clock, and fighters work together and increase its military activities.
“It’s intended to block the SDF and U.S. military aircraft [from entering the airspace] in the event of contingencies in the Taiwan Strait,” said an SDF source.
Japanese government sources believe that the Chinese warships’ 24-hour deployment in the area is linked with China’s claim of sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands. In fact, when China Coast Guard vessels operating around the Senkakus intruded into Japanese territorial waters, the warships deployed in the area moved southward.
“When China established the ADIZ 10 years ago, it was meant more as a message to keep Japan and the U.S. in check,” said Yasuyuki Sugiura, a senior fellow of the Regional Studies Department’s China Division at the National Institute for Defense Studies.
“In recent years, however, the Chinese air force and navy are increasingly sharing their information. This must mean their capabilities have become more substantial,” he said.
20 vs 1: Speed Dating 20 Girls | Jubilee x Solfa | Versus 1
I was in a really bad car accident when I was 25 years old. Before the accident I exercised constantly – I walked at least five miles every day, did physically taxing work, swam every day (for a minimum of 45 minutes) in the summer. I was in great physical shape, with great muscle tone. In the accident I broke both legs, my pelvis, three vertebrae and dislocated my left knee joint. The emergency room doctor told me I would never walk again. Well, I’ll show him, I thought.
I had a dozen surgeries to repair the knee (my back wasn’t fixable at the time) and worked very hard at my physical therapy. In fact, I worked so hard that I kept getting tendonitis, which would bring my therapy to a halt. I could walk, but I had a limp, which would make my back hurt after a very short time, but I was determined to be able to walk correctly, no matter how much effort it took.
Finally one of my doctors told me the following: “I like to play golf, but no matter how hard I work, no matter how long I train, no matter how many great coaches help me, I will never play golf as well as Tiger Woods. My wife loves to play tennis. No matter how hard she works at it, no matter who coaches her, no matter how many hours of practice she puts in, she will never play tennis like Serena Williams. They have a unique balance of talent and physical attributes that allows them to do what they do. And no matter how much therapy you have, no matter how many operations to fix your legs, you will never walk without a limp. It just isn’t possible and you are doing real damage to yourself by trying so hard to overcome your disability.”
I burst into tears, mainly because I realized that he had been trying to tell me this for months and I had been doing my best not to get the message. I finally listened to him tell me that I had to stop trying so very hard because instead of gaining ground, I was actually making myself worse. I could walk, and that was something to be proud of, considering the extent of my injuries; but I was never going to be able to go back to physical condition I was in before the accident.
I was really upset by the news, but while my doctor was brutally honest with me, he managed to be compassionate when he finally relayed the message in a way I couldn’t ignore.
So now I walk with a cane. I can’t walk very far, but I do manage to get around, and that is good enough.
edit: Thank you all for the many kind comments and up-votes! I never expected my answer to mean so much to so many people. I am doing pretty well, all things considered. I have great physicians and new treatments have eased the problems with my back quite a bit. I had the dislocated knee rebuilt rather than get a knee replacement (I felt I was too young and needed to put it off as long as I could), but I’ll probably get one in the next year or two. I thank God that I had (and still have) good health insurance which allows me to take full advantage of all the new medical therapies out there. I still exercise every day, but I do so sensibly and don’t try to push myself to hard. I’m happy that my doctor was able to find a way to tell me what I needed to hear so that I didn’t continue to make myself worse.
Bob Lazar Says UFO was an Archaeological Finding | Joe Rogan
I call it “the bullshit factor”. This is why former military are in such demand. They’ve seen this. The hurry up and wait. Drive like hell through the night to make your delivery appointment on time, not stopping to eat or piss, and then waiting around four hours or more waiting for a dock, and then 2–4 hours more, waiting to get unloaded.
And then there’s the grumpy shippers and receivers who don’t like you or their job very much who’ll tell you to check back later if you’re unfortunate enough to ask what’s taking so long.
Breakdowns? Don’t get me started…waiting on the side of the road with your penis in your hand for 8-10 hours until the calvary arrives with an oversize dragon wagon.
Not to mention what it does to your health, but I will. My issues included
High blood pressure, 176/96. Can you say Dead Man Walkin’?
Started in 1990 at 165 pounds. Retired in March at 272.
High Cholesterol, can’t remember the numbers, but the doctor said they were off the charts
Blew a disc out in my back at the age of 44 in 1990, the direct result of all the bouncing
Venous insufficiency in my left leg due to sitting. Had to have several veins stripped.
Doc said if I don’t quit, the job’ll kill me. Told her, we all gotta go sometime.
Put this all together and you’d have to be crazier than a shithouse rat to do this job. So, I guess you can call me “Rat”.
This is why the majority of newbies don’t make it past their first year.
I moved next door to a guy called Dave. He lived alone with his 4 rescue dogs.
Dave was very welcoming. He knocked to my house the day we moved in and gave me a bottle of wine as a gift and introduced himself. I liked Dave from that moment.
Dave had disabilities so had a disabled car speck outside of his house. The parking in that street was a nightmare and had a huge impact on our decision to move. I will get to why this is important soon.
There was an old couple called Mr and Mrs Love (how cute?) Lovely old dears. They stopped to say hi one day whilst I was painting my front wall. Mrs Love told me to be careful of Dave. Apparently he was an awful man who complains and fights with all the neighbors. He would call the police for no good reason and he was cruel to his dogs.
Ok, Wow!
The woman across the street told me he was a paedophile who took videos from his bedroom of kids playing.
Another told me he called child protection on them for abusing their kids.
He shot next door but one’s cat with a pellet gun because it was in his garden, one of them said.
So, Dave was not a popular chap!
I’m not one for gossip but it’s hard not to be wary when all your neighbors are telling you that the antichrist is living next door.
When my dog had puppies, Dave gave me his number and told me to call him any time, day or night, if I needed help. He was slightly deaf and didn’t always hear the door bell.
Dave let me use the shared entry that was also his to store some things that I had no space for.
Dave fed my cat when I went away.
Dave never complained when my teenage son and his friends were rowdy.
Dave told me he was leaving his home to the Dogs Trust upon his death, in return for them to take his dogs and rehome them.
Dave looked after my dogs when I was going through something and wasn’t home a lot. He never pried. He just supported me by being there.
Dave cried when I gave him a Christmas card. He never had one before from a neighbor.
Dave helped me move to my new house which wasn’t far away, by bringing bits around that I forgot when the movers came.
The parking spot was the reason that the neighbors started a witch hunt for Dave. They said he scammed the council and wasn’t really ill. Dave got something that they wanted. They didn’t like it. Dave had cancer by the way. Nobody cared to ask. It was easier to start a hate campaign. It took one neighbor to tell an exaggerated story and begin the snowball effect that had Dave labelled as a pariah.
I still see Dave.
The other neighbors, I walk past them if I see them around. All of them are the worst neighbors I ever had.
I hope the couple who moved in to my house appreciate how lucky they are to have Dave next door.
Edit.
I’m grateful when people edit my typos. Please go ahead. I’m often very lax and don’t proof read my answers.
Speck is not a typo. That is the word I chose to use. To me it means a tiny insignificant space. I also meant to say next door but one. It was the neighbour next door to my next door neighbour!
There are two. The first one was in 1987 after my Grandmother died. My grandfather didn’t want to sleep in the house by himself the first night after her death. So, myself and a neighbor agreed to spend the night with him. Keep in mind that my grandparents slept in separate bedrooms, so I slept in my grandfathers bedroom and my grandfather slept in my grandmothers bedroom. The neighbor slept in the living room. In the early morning hours of the next day I noticed that I was little bit chilly. I felt someone take the covers on the bed and pull them up over me. I turned over only to see my grandmother leaving out of the room! When I asked my grandfather and neighbor the next morning if they had come into the room and covered me up, they both said NO!
The next incident happened many years ago. There was an old lady who lived on the corner of my street. One day the neighbor directly across the street from her had a rummage sale. Although it was in the winter, she had tables sitting out with items to sell and people were looking at the items. The old lady on the corner was one of them. I noticed her as I was driving by. The next week I mentioned to my neighbor that I saw the old lady at her yard sale. She looked at me as if I was crazy and said “That lady has been dead for months!”
Americans Living Abroad: First Time You Realized America Really Messed You Up – American Reacts
I came to the United States in 2006. Looking for full time work, I took a position of checkout operator at a Super K-Mart in a small town in California. The job was basic pay, no fixed hours on call. So was not great but as i had worked retail in the United Kingdom, I saw it as a stop-gap position until I could get a more regular job.
It was Thanksgiving Day 2006 and the store had been open since about noon. There was lots of traffic as customers came in to snap up Thanksgiving bargains.
I had taken several thousands of dollars and my till drawer had a bulge created by all of the $100 bills stuffed under the change drawer.
About 6pm the store manager came to my check-out and told me to open the cash register and give him the $100 bills.
I asked him to count the cash in front of me and give me a written receipt so I could place this in the till so the cash office could reconcile my till for the end of the day.
I had always done this in my own stores in England and I had worked for Tesco, a British supermarket chain where such receipts for large cash withdrawals by managers were manditory.
This manager refused. Opened my cash drawer himself and pulled out all of the $100 bills and put them into a cash bag without running the audit on the cash register.
I immediately closed off the register. Walked to the cash office with the contents of the drawer, told them I was leaving and went to collect my belongings from my locker in the staff room.
There was no way I was going to work for a manager who could come to my cash register, and take cash at will, leaving me with possible charges of theft from my employer.
Deciding to just walk out wasn’t a problem. Going to prison was.
A week later I received an offer of a far better job. Part-time with fixed hours. No cash handling involved.
Expats Share Their American Trauma After Living Abroad
I’ve answered this question elsewhere but might as well do it again. In the 80s I owned a limousine company in Southern California. You get or are in the area of celebrities from time to time.
Nicest – Hands down Robert Wagner (Hart vs Hart, etc). Busy night, MTV awards so I was driving a car. My client was a music producer. Awards ceremony is at the Universal Amphitheatre. They had us park in the back lot which happened to be among the movie sets they use for neighborhoods (Like Ozzie & Harriet, Desperate Housewives, etc). It’s kind of confusing back there and pitch black at night. Out of the night walks someone who asks for directions to the Amphitheatre. It’s Robert Wagner. I agree to guide him and we chatted as we walked and parted once I got him to the Amphitheatre back stage. (I often wondered WTH he was doing at the MTV awares but whatever). Anyway, a year later I’m dropping clients off at a restaurant on Sunset. Walking up the street is Robert Wagner. He approaches me and picks up the conversation where we left off, knew my name, etc. Just like 2 old buddies catching up. He certainly could have walked on by and I probably wouldn’t even have noticed him. He went out of his way to approach me. Not a lot of people would do that much less celebrities. Impressed the hell out of my clients.
Since then I’ve filmed with Jay Leno and he’s another nice guy. I noticed that people like that really have to fly private. It’s not a choice because they are snobbish. They’d never be able to make a commercial flight on time if they had to walk through an airport and not acknowledge people.
Rudest? Hands down Tyne Daly. World Class A-hole. Totally unnecessary to treat people like that. 2nd place is not even close. It was difficult to find drivers that would drive her more than once.
I totally get the autograph thing. If you sign one, you have to sign the other 1,000 people’s who saw you giving out one. Particularly when they are eating. Most celebrities you can get autographs by writing their management. Don’t bother them when they are eating, or god forbid with their children or looking like they are late getting somewhere. If you break that barrier, don’t be surprised if they are not particularly welcoming. I also understand some of the sports stars who won’t sign because their stuff ends up on eBay the next day. I don’t think it’s an issue where they want the money, I think that it’s just not a good feeling to know that the only reason you got asked is so they can use you.
I don’t envy fame, having to be “On” 24/7 while out in public. You turn down one request and you are an instant a-hole.
THE U.S. Wants To Remove The No-Fault Divorce Law & Prevent Paternity Fraud. WOMEN ARE PISSED OFF!
The world—American or otherwise—should bear this in mind.
Chinese ports handled 300m containers last year.
To put the number in context, American ports struggle with 50–60m, with the 10% increase during covid provoking loud creaks of protest from the antiquated system, resulting in transpacific shipping rates going up by an order of magnitude, or >10x.
China is the truly the world’s factory. It imports plenty, and exports plenty.
A naval blockade of China equals a naval blockade of the world, tradewise.
What happens to the >1t in annual revenue that American MNCs generate from within the mainland? Note this is not visible from bilateral trade figures.
What happens to Wall Street?
Good luck with that foolhardy scenario, which will lead to material collapse of civil society everywhere, because China is indispensable to the global supply chain.
Note: It is impossible to blockade China, militarily speaking.
We don’t care if you got a little fat, we didn’t choose you because of the measurement of your waist size.
We’re not overly jealous, your male best friend is over-friendly.
Before you took us to buy nail paints with you, we used to think there were only 7 colours.
We don’t care if you did your make-up by watching a 3 hour long tutorial by James Charles or you haven’t washed your face. Either way you’re beautiful.
Yes we find your friends attractive and we can’t help it but you should know that you’re different.
Doesn’t matter if it’s bold red or nude pink, all of your lipsticks taste like absolute plastic.
We often get emotional but the way we deal with them is quite different.
We use female cosmetics and you better not ask why.
It breaks our heart when we look at you and think that you and I won’t last forever.
Yes romantic movies and parties are fun but can we go on a late night walk?
Not me, but one of my tenants. She was elderly, and complained to me that her cousin stole her life savings of $6,000 when he helped her move in. Going forward about a year later she arrived home to find her grandson hanging from the kitchen doorway. She ran out the back door, never to return home.
I heard she was hospitalized after that, from a breakdown. Her son came from another state and packed up her belongings. He wrote down on a piece of paper that whatever was left behind I could keep, sell, or dispose of. He then turned the keys over to me.
I was shocked when I went into the place to clean it. He had left behind what I considered important items, photos in picture frames, a photo album, nice clothing, etc. I felt anger for her, that her son wasn’t more considerate and caring.
My husband told me to look through everything as I packed it up, as old people hide money in their stuff. Sure enough I found some old pennies hidden in a picture frame. Then I found ninety single dollar bills hidden in a box of socks that must have belonged to her grandson. At last I was going through a laundry basket with neatly layered towels and shoes that was beneath the kitchen sink. At the bottom lay a book that held business cards, her ID, social security card, etc. Page after page held $100 dollar bills. In all it totaled $6,000.
I thought about all I could do with $6,000. After all the son had said I could keep anything I found. The more I thought about it, the sicker I felt in my stomach. This lady was alive and had been through hell. It was the money she thought her cousin had stolen. It still belonged to her. I immediately called the property owner and had her pick it up, along with the picture albums, old pennies, and a few other probably meaningful possessions. We felt skeptical about giving the money to the son whom I sensed didn’t care. (Or maybe he was just grieving his son’s suicide.) Nonetheless, it took a year of finding honest relatives, but the lady did finally get the money back into her possession.
Like Pakistan was forced to pay for all those US weapons from the 1960s to 2000s and ended up unable to pay for their development.
So the Key Question for the Taiwanese is :-
Are the US Weapons Free?
Can US make up a market equivalent to 36% of Taiwanese Exports that the Mainland offers today
The Answer to both is NO & NO
Best example is Australia
40.6% of their export market was China in 2019
Then they had a tiff
Australia couldn’t sell anywhere else. The US and Europe and India offered only a paltry 8% market for Australian Exports
The US couldn’t pick up even 10% of the Slack that China Trade cost the Aussies for the whole of 2020–2021
Meanwhile the US and UK signed a deal to SELL SUBMARINES to Australia and weaponize them against China
By 2022, Albanese flew down, kissed the signet ring of Xi Jingping and today Australia got back a huge chunk of the Chinese Market
Anti China Propaganda is still prevalent but much much lower than under Scott Morrison
Same for Argentina
China is a huge market for their Exports
Can US pick up the slack?
No
Same for OPEC Nations
China is a huge market for their Oil and Gas.
Can US pick up the slack?
No
Same for Europe
Did US sell Europe Gas at Russian Prices?
Nopes
Since the 1960s , tell me ONE COUNTRY that prospered under US intervention
The Answer is NOT ONE NATION ever became better due to US intervention
They became significantly worse
US would meddle in their affairs, sell them weapons with the excuse of fighting for democracy, enrich shareholders of Raytheon, NG and Boeing and all those contractors and kill many thousands of people
Every such Nation has been made poorer thanks to the US
The Corrupt Leadership will enrich themselves like Zelensky or the Afghan President who fled and likely Bong Bong Marcos and Lai
Meanwhile the Poor Citizens will be poorer than ever and worse off
Why should we believe Taiwan would be any different to the 14 Nations where US ‘INTERVENED’ for Prosperity between 1965 to 2023????
If I were a Ukrainian general, I have nothing to win but everything to lose. I will either surrender or I will enriched myself profusely and hide my ill gotten gains away for the rest of my life.
In Malaysia we have an expression that is apt. It is call “nasi sudah jadi bubur” or it means Ukraine is beyond redemption. 2014 when the U.S. bribed and coerced Ukrainians to agree to poke Russia in the eye after the U.S. staged and funded colour revolution to set up a sham government with a puppet ruler started to wrong till today 10 years on.
Well the U.S. and U.K thought wrongly that it could fxxk up Russia or China as it wish! But it can’t! I can send such nation like Ukraine, Isreal or Taiwan to be a sacrificial lamb. Too bad Ukraine allowed the CIA to destroy their wonderful nation.
Women’s Dating Standards have Ruined Relationships
https://youtu.be/MNvpS8UU5l0
Chicken Piccata
Chicken Piccata goes very well with Fettuccine Alfredo or Capellini aglio e olio or some rice pilaf (or risotto) and sautéed rapini (broccoli rabe). This will be “del’arte di mangiare” bene (the art of eating well).
2024 01 31 11 58
Ingredients
1 pound skinned chicken breast, sliced thin, or chicken tenders
1 cup all-purpose flour with a sprinkle of granulated garlic, salt and pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 pound fresh sliced mushrooms or a can of straw mushrooms with juice removed
1/2 cup chicken stock (boullion cubes dissolved in a cup of hot water will do)
1/2 cup white wine and remember, do not cook with any wine you wouldn’t drink*
1-2 cloves finely chopped garlic
Small handful chopped parsley
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 lemon sliced thin, remove seeds
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* This means do not use cooking wine…ever!
Instructions
Flatten breasts of chicken with the back of a sauté pan between wax paper if you didn’t cut them thin enough (1/4 inch or so). Pat them in the flour mixture and set aside.
Heat the sauté pan to medium/high and add the oil and 1/2 the butter. When back up to heat and butter is melted, add the chicken. (If the butter starts boiling it will burn so lower the heat until you put the chicken in.) When the edges of the first side start to appear cooked, turn them over. Add a splash of lemon and wine, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until done. When done, set aside and keep warm. You may have to do this a few times depending on the size of your pan or how much you are making.
De-glaze the pan over hot heat with the wine to dissolve the brown particles and let it reduce. Note: If you are using gas and tip the edge of the pan over the flame it will ignite ( flambe ) and flame up to burn off the alcohol – BE CAREFUL! Then add the stock, butter, and lemon juice and let reduce further. Add a pinch of flour to thicken or use 1/2 teaspoon of Roux (below). This should take about a minute or so. When thickened, add mushrooms, garlic, parsley, and the sliced lemon to the pan and sauté for a minute or so and blend well. Place the chicken a serving platter or plates, spoon over juices, top with lemon slices and serve immediately. This may look like a lot of work and too much oil, butter or spices but trust me, if you skimp, it will not taste the same. Also, if you don’t want to use chicken, you can substitute with turkey or veal.
Roux: This is the best thickening agent and can be used in anything – demi-glazes, gravies, soups, etc.
Use equal parts butter and flour.
Melt butter; slowly whisk in flour and simmer until golden brown and remove from flame. DONE! When using a roux it must be at room temperature or cooler than the product being cooked. Over medium heat, stir in a little roux until dissolved and let thicken. Start off with a teaspoon per quart of liquid, or fraction thereof, and add as required.
At a class reunion, a classmate I had not seen in maybe 40 years was there. He came over, ask me to dance and proceeded to thank me. I was taken aback. “Whatever for? For a dance?” He then explained he had come to the reunion to thank me and another girl for “saving” him when we were young. (Like 4th-8th grade.) He said I had let him check my homework (I did vaguely remember one incident) to see if his answers were right. He said that Debbie had also helped him. I was still confused. “Why did you feel you had to come thank me for such a small thing from so long ago?”
As the dance ended, he began to tell the story. I was appalled. Seems he was raised by an alcoholic father who would beat the boys if their grades weren’t B’s or above. Hence his need to check our homework, which we accorded him. Little did I know the true depth of his story. I was so appalled that I blurted out, “Why didn’t anyone do anything? The adults, why didn’t the adults do something?” I was even far more appalled when told that most of the school staff knew of those kid’s situation. He said the janitor’s wife fed them sandwiches every morning because they had had no breakfast because Dad would drink up the food money. When I asked again why no one did anything, he told me it wasn’t like it is nowadays back in the mid 60’s. There was no CPS or 211Kids. Especially out there in the country.
Thus, he felt that Debbie and I had saved him from more than one beating. Finally, about the time he graduated he said he and his Dad got into it again and for the first time he turned the tables on his “old man” and beat him. He left for the service within the week rather than stay in that home any longer.
So yes, someone from my past has come back to thank me and broke my heart for the young boy I had known but didn’t know his horrid home situation. Thank God I handed that small boy (he was always sort of scrawny back then) my homework. Would do it again!
21 Minutes of Older Women realizing they are not Wanted anymore and crying on Social Media
It was my first real job, and I helped the company install a new computer system to replace the punch cards and ribbons monster they had used before. The new sexy system used state of the art floppy discs!
So, I had been there for 50 weeks when they fired me (Unfair Dismissal laws apply from 52 weeks on). I had seen it coming and had another job lined up, but I was determined that I would leave everything in such good order that whoever came after me could see how good I was at my job and didn’t believe any slander about me.
My handwriting is pretty terrible, which didn’t matter when I was the only one reading it, but for the sake of my successor, I took all the floppy disks and relabeled them with clear, colour coded labels and legible handwriting.
Then I left and started a much better job the following week.
Later, I heard that the boss’s wife got suspicious of my new labels – AND TOOK THEM ALL OFF ALL THE DISCS. All the payroll discs, ledgers, creditors and bank accounts, end of month totals, and master discs, all sitting in a pile with no labels and no one in the company with enough computer knowledge to know which was which.
The got onto their computer support company in Dublin, but since they had screwed them over they last time they had worked, the IT people were in no hurry to sort them out.
They didn’t ask me.
By the time they found someone, the company had gone bust.
And the thing was, I had no intention of getting revenge, it was the company’s own practices which had resulted in it.
In reality, the best hiding place is the one that the police walk right past and never find. I’m sure it happens, but not in this case:
My favorite is the auto body repair shop we raided which was dealing a lot of heroin. We knew it was in there, but we couldn’t find it. We searched all the cars, all the tools, the tool boxes, the oil tanks – every place imaginable. The facility had a concrete floor and cinder-block walls with a 16′ ceiling — not many hiding places.
During the raid, we detained seven or eight people hanging out. As per standard operating procedure, we ran warrant checks on everyone there. That’s when we got lucky. One of the people there had a reasonably large warrant from another state.
The warrant wasn’t for a violent crime; he was stealing cars and selling off the parts. He must have pissed someone off, because his bail was fifty thousand dollars, full cash. When we were asked to confirm the person’s identity, my sergeant gave a different date of birth so that the warrant wouldn’t execute. Meaning the computer wouldn’t know we had the wanted person in custody.
We took the guy outside and explained the situation to him. Either he gave us the hiding place, or he sits in jail on a fifty thousand dollar warrant. He was very hesitant to give up the location because he said we would never find it on our own, they would know he told, and the dealer was a friend.
We promised to protect his identity and come up with a way to find the drugs which wouldn’t look suspicious. So he spilled the beans. Just off the ceiling, was a typical configuration of sprinkler pipes. The last section of pipe was a fake. The connecting pipe had been internally welded closed. The final length of the sprinkler pipe including two sprinkler heads were dry and empty, except for many bags of heroin. The rest of the pipes were all pressurized and fully functioning as a sprinkler system.
According to our new informant, the dealer would stand on the hood of the same car, which never moved from the shop. As the dealer stood on the vehicle, the lift would be raised. This put the dealer close enough to the pipe to unscrew it and retrieve the hidden drugs.
As the dealer watched, we spent hours acting as if we were searching until our sergeant said, “Look, what’s with all the sneaker prints on the hood of that car.” He had one of us climb up there and stand in the same spot, but the detective couldn’t reach anything and said so. The sergeant says, “How about if we raise the car.” As soon as the lift raised the car, the only thing up that high was the sprinkler pipe. The detective wiggled it around a little, and it was loose. He then yells down, “Hey, this sprinkler pipe has greasy hand prints all over it.”
He unscrewed the pipe and found the drugs and the dealer couldn’t believe we had located his stash. We told him we would recover his prints from the sprinkler pipe and he quickly admitted to owning the drugs.
He had a near perfect hiding place. His biggest mistake was that a second person was needed to operate the lift. This second person not only sold stolen auto parts, but also sold his friend down the river.
Its always been a mystery to me, it’s never been a problem that I have had. Except for a brief period where I had the worlds best maid.
She was the bar maid at my local pub, and over heard me say that my place was a mess, and I needed a maid.
It turns out that she worked days for Molly maid, and nights at the pub, and she picked up any work she could get during the day on weekends. She was only 21, and she was saving up to buy a bed and breakfast in a resort town in a neighboring province. She said she was almost there, at 21.
So I gave her a key to my place, and when I got home from work Saturday afternoon my house looked like a tornado had hit. All of my living room furniture was stacked in the middle of the living room. The smell of pinesol was strong in the kitchen and hallway. The fridge and stove were away from the wall, and there was no one in sight. I went upstairs and all the beds were piled in one room, the dressers pulled away from the wall. She was on her hands and knees, scrubbing a stain out of the carpet, that had been hidden by the bed. She said she was almost done cleaning and just had to put stuff back.
I offered to do that downstairs, while she finished up, upstairs. She gladly accepted. I went down and pushed the fridge and stove back over to the spotless walls, on spotless floors. I moved the living room and dining room furniture back .
I went upstairs and put the dressers and beds back in the guest rooms, while she finished the master bedroom.
She never stopped moving for a second. She said she loved the smell of a clean house. I wanted marry her then and there, but didn’t want to risk losing my maid 😂.
She asked me when the last time I had cleaned behind the fridge and stove, when I said never, she said “I could tell.”
The walls had been washed, all of the light fixtures cleaned, the windows washed. The laundry room was spotless, even the furnace room was swept and dusted.
She came every two weeks for 3 months, and then announced that she had bought a bed and breakfast at 21.
I went from a slob, to the cleanest house on the block, and back to a slob in 4 months.
The way I kept my house spotless was to have the worlds best maid.
There was this Chinese buffet in my hometown at which I used to eat, quite regularly. Probably more often than a person interested in their health and well-being should.
The woman at the front desk would seat me herself, and bring me my drink, rather than the waiters/waitresses.
The head chef would always come out and greet me and give me a polite smile, and ask me if I wanted anything specific made (of which I never really took advantage).
So, in other words, these people knew who I was and actually cared about my business.
I used to go there all the time with my then-girlfriend.
One day, I went in there alone on my lunch break.
The woman at the front desk approached me at my table.
She asked me, “You and your girlfriend break up?”
I was confused. “Uh… no?”
“Oh.” Then she said, very matter-of-factly, “She come in here earlier with another man. She kiss him.”
I was shocked. “What? She did?”
“Yeah!” She said, very excitedly, and pointed to a table, “She sat over there.”
So I texted her.
“Hey, I’m at the buffet for lunch, wanna join me?”
She replied, “No. I already ate.”
“Ah, cool. Where’d ya go?”
She replied, “My mom’s.”
So I said, “Really? Because the waitress said she saw you here earlier.”
Five minutes later, she texted, “Yeah, I went there. But I didn’t eat anything.”
At that point, I lost interest in pursuing the truth, so I just said, “Cool. We’re done.”
I was working for a company that sold, repaired, and installed computer networks, back in the 1980′s.
One guy called on the phone and yelled, “I want you to get over here and fix my fucking computer!” I asked him to repeat it. Didn’t know the voice or phone number, but I wanted to be sure. I repeated it, louder. “I WANT SOMEBODY TO COME HERE AND FIX MY FUCKING COMPUTER!” With total calm, I told him, “Sorry sir, we don’t service that brand.”
Another time, we’d just hired two sales people that a competitor had fired. They were following up all their sales leads that they had brought with them. Their former boss found out that they’d been closing some of those sales while they worked for us, and he called us, mad as hell, to speak to my boss, My boss didn’t want to deal with him, so he just handed me the phone. I was the bookkeeper. It was a small office. He mouthed, “Tell him whatever, I don’t care!” and then introduced me as his “Sales Manager.” I shrugged, took the phone and asked what the problem was. The guy told me that our new sales people had been poaching his leads, that he had come to him originally because of advertising that his company had paid a lot of money for. He wanted me to fire the two salespeople. I thought for a moment while I agreed with him that what they had done was quite unethical, and reprehensible. Then I told him I would see to it that it didn’t happen again, if he would help me, by giving me a list of all the prospective clients that he was working on, with their names, addresses, and contact information. He asked why, and I told him I was going to make sure that our sales staff didn’t call those people, but of course, I had to know who they were. I assured him that if he would fax me that list, I would make sure that all our salespeople received it with “appropriate instructions.’
He hung up without saying another word. And no, I never got the list. “
My little sister was terribly bullied in middle school. She often came home in tears; her grades were low and she had no friends. Although she was still young, it was not difficult to see that she was really depressed.
It was an expensive, selective, all-girl, private school. Our family considered it an achievement that she got accepted, and brushed off her struggles, saying it was only an adjustment period.
They were wrong. She spent two years in total misery. Her time in the counselor’s office told me that she would never adapt. It broke my heart seeing her unhappy and there was nothing I could do about it.
We relocated and she started at another school, where she prospered. It was the fresh start she needed. She had a great circle of friends and her academic performance improved.
My sister grew into a beautiful confident young lady. She managed to overcome all her insecurities and learned to socialize. Her old school troubles became distant memories that we avoided talking about.
Until we had to move back. My family wanted her to go to her old school and her old “friends”. She was devastated, because she was leaving her real ones, but mostly about having to live through the nightmare school once again.
We went there to re-enroll, after spending the night unsuccessfully trying to convince everyone against it. My sister recognized a group of girls from her old class at the gate. She said hello, they ignored her and started snickering.
She just sat there helplessly as the re-admission forms were being filled out. But I was fuming. We will process your paperwork and call you next week to pay the tuition fees so she can start, said the registrar.
It was not too late and I was going to act quietly. The next morning I phoned the school and asked to speak to her then counselor. I reminded her of all the difficulties my sister had when she attended that school.
I told her how well she’s doing in her new one and offered to send progress reports for proof. I asked her to keep our conversation confidential and finally begged her to decline the re-admission request.
“I will review her file and do my best. But please remember that I am only part of the admission panel and I do not have the final say in her acceptance” said her counselor. I hung up and prayed.
A few days later, my dad announced that he had bad news. The school rejected my sister’s application and we will be looking at other options. They did not provide a reason for their rejection.
No one knew about my meddling until she graduated high school. Ten years later, she is still very grateful about it.
China Banned ALL Rare Earth Tech, What this Means for Ucore
Me: “This is my two weeks notice.” Manager, looking stricken, as if I was her child saying I was leaving home: “I’m not happy for you.”
2007:
Me: “This is my two weeks notice. I do not want a party.” Manager : “Why are you leaving?” Me: “Because I am the only person left in this department and for some reason they gave me 10 months notice instead of 60 days, but it’s obvious we are going to be dissolved. I want to walk out of here on my own.” Manager: “No, no, that’s not true. But okay. What kind of party do you want?” Me: “I do not want a party. Please.” Manager: “It’ll just be a small party.”
2010:
Manager, smirking: “We’ll need an official letter of resignation.” Me, placing my ID badge on her desk. “Here is my official resignation.”
No one handled it well. No one had the slightest interest in me, my career, my emotional well-being. Right now I have a boss I’d crawl through broken glass for, it’s the first time in my entire career I feel that way.
How Aliens TIME-TRAVEL… Eric Weinstein explains to Joe Rogan
https://youtu.be/KhRLlwzkN24
Tuscan Chicken Rolls with Pork Stuffing (Rollatini di Pollo)
2024 01 31 11 56
Ingredients
3 large whole chicken breasts (about 2 1/2 pounds total)
1/2 pound ground pork
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground savory
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup cold water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon
Minced parsley
Instructions
Remove bones and skin from chicken breasts; cut chicken into halves. Place between 2 pieces plastic wrap; pound until 1/4 inch thick, being careful not to tear the meat.
Cook and stir pork, onion and garlic over medium heat until pork is brown. drain fat.
Stir in egg, bread crumbs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, savory and pepper.
Place about 1/3 cup pork mixture on each chicken breast half. Roll up; secure with wooden picks.
Place rolls in greased 11 x 7-inch baking dish.
Brush rolls with butter; pour any remaining butter over rolls. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add wine.
Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F until chicken is done, 35 to 40 minutes.
Remove chicken to warm platter; remove wooden picks. Keep warm.
Pour liquid from baking dish into 1-quart saucepan.
Stir water into cornstarch; pour into liquid. Stir in bouillon. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
I was asked that question one Christmas Eve when I was in Saudi Arabia in 2010. I was working there as a nurse in a major hospital in Riyadh. For us foreigners, Christmas was a particularly dangerous time of year, as Al-Qaidah was still strong, Bin Laden was still in charge, and predictably, they always wanted to give us the same Christmas present, a big bomb, preferably delivered via car. Having several hundred infidel women living together was too tempting for them to pass up.
Living in a 100% Muslim country that didn´t tolerate any other religions, we were warned not to try to celebrate Christmas. Near our quarters APC´s (Armored Personnel Carriers) would roam the streets with soldiers sent to protect us from the inevitable bomb threats. As Christian healthcare workers we were told not to even wish each other merry Christmas, as that could result in our being deported back to our home countries (although we never saw that actually happen to anyone).
There were many Muslims from other countries who would openly defy that order and wish us merry Christmas, but we were cautious, never knowing who you could trust. Some people even asked the Irish nurses how to say it in Irish, and hearing Filipinos and Christian Indians saying “Nollaig Shona” in the hallways to each other was surreal.
A week before the holiday I received a whispered invitation to go to a Christmas party thrown by a Saudi man in his home. My immediate response was “Are you joking?”
The Ukrainian nurse who invited me assured me that she wasn´t.
Abdullah* was a Saudi James Dean. He was a rebel in a white thobe. I learned that he had defied his family and married a tall, blue eyed blonde woman from the Czech Republic, which had resulted in him being rejected by his family. Although he was still a practicing Muslim, in defiance of everything he had been taught, he held a Christmas party in his home every year. The party was a potluck, all we had to do was bring the food and he would supply the illegal homemade alcohol.
My curiosity overcame my fear of arrest and deportation and I baked a cheesecake and set off to the party. There were roughly twenty-five people in attendance, all of us acutely aware of the danger attending this fete presented but throwing caution to the wind. He had invited westerners representing different nationalities and professions, nurses, architects, pilots and engineers, all of us connected only by the fact that we were together in a strange foreign land trying to navigate through the landmines of religious based rules.
Abdullah and his wife Magda* were gracious hosts, and as promised, he soon brought out his homemade wine and grain alcohol as we set up the buffet table full of food. He was breaking every law one could imagine, having unmarried men and women together in one room, celebrating the infidel holiday of Christmas, drinking alcohol, and even having music playing. All we needed was a roast pig to complete the debauchery.
Abdullah revelled in his rebellion like a child deliberately throwing himself in a mud puddle whilst wearing his best clothes.
By the time 02:00 rolled around, Abdullah and his guests were three sheets to the wind, and he leaned towards me sitting on the sofa and softly slurred, “Do you want see my whip scars?”
My mouth dropped open in surprise and I glanced quickly towards his wife, who nodded solemnly.
“Uh, OK, sure.” I stuttered, lying about my certainty.
He stood up unsteadily and stripped off his shirt, causing the other guests to abruptly stop their conversations, wondering why their Muslim host was taking off his clothes in his living room. He turned and showed us his back.
His guests collectively gasped. He sported dozens of lash scars all over his back. The nurses present gave into our clinical curiosity and cautiously reached out to touch his wounds. The other professionals weren´t as used to seeing physical damage as we were and didn´t come near.
We asked him what happened, and he told us that a couple of years earlier, he had been preparing to throw his traditional party and three women who were coming asked if they could bring some of their homemade wine. Abdullah decided that it was too dangerous for them to transport it in a taxi, so he offered to come and pick up the bottles himself.
Unfortunately, he was stopped by the police on his way home and they searched his car. He was immediately arrested, and the sentence was made worse by the fact that he wasn´t just caught in possession of alcohol, but by transporting it in his car, he was charged with intent to distribute, which carried a tougher sentence. He told the police that the wine was his, refusing to turn in the women to the authorities.
He was jailed for three months while he awaited trial, then he was sentenced to a hundred lashes. Even in our inebriated state, we couldn´t believe the harshness of the sentence.
“How do you survive a hundred lashes?” We asked him in awe, still staring at his back.
“They don´t do it all at once.” He explained. “They give you twenty-five or thirty, then you go home and have to come back a month later for more.”
He told us that they finally let him go home and with delays he waited almost a year for the first set of lashings, then a couple of months for the second, etc.
“Why would you go back for more?”
He shrugged. “Where am I supposed to go? They flagged my passport. I can´t go anywhere.”
Understandably, we were horrified by what we saw. One of the Canadian men in the party came up to him and clapped him on the shoulder. “Damn, man, I would take you out and buy you a beer if we lived somewhere where I could do that.”
Abdullah nodded. “I appreciate that.” He said softly.
“After all that, why in the world would you continue having Christmas parties?” I asked him. “Aren´t you afraid of getting caught again?”
He looked at us with a drunken fire in his eyes. “They will never keep me down. I will fight against their rules even if it kills me.”
Now, in 2020, Saudi Arabia has finally outlawed lashing as a corporal punishment for crimes. Every Christmas I think of Abdullah and wonder if he is still fighting the man – James Dean style
Mandatory Paternity Test Law Passed No More Paternity Fraud From Women
“If the average person knew the state of law enforcement in this country, they couldn’t sleep at night” – from one of my academy instructor’s lectures. Nothing has changed in 30 plus years. There is a reason why I always carry a gun off-duty and try to talk all of my loved ones into at least owning a firearm.
There are a lot fewer of us out on the street than you know. Take your local agency’s head count, lop off about 20 percent for administrative assignments, then divide the remaining amount by three or four (shifts). Then subtract about a quarter for those on days off/sick days/limited duty/training/vacation. Make it a busy night and no cars will be available and the calls pile up… and pile up.
After about three years, most officers become civil service workers. They are not looking to invent new case law or do more paperwork. At five to seven years, most officers think about another line of work. If they pass that hurdle, they can last 20. At 20 plus years, unless you are driving like you are competing in the Indy-500, you’re not getting stopped and you have to really, really work to be arrested.
The job is not nearly as exciting as portrayed on Cops or other television shows. There is an inordinate amount of paperwork – at times it seems like we are glorified secretaries with guns.
When we arrive on scene, we instantaneously know who is going to jail: the guy with no shirt (or wearing a “wife-beater”) with a mullet, usually standing in the middle of the road puffing up.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, good happens after midnight.
Don’t expect me to fix in under 15-minutes what took you ten years to destroy.
Don’t expect me to raise your kids. You decided for years to raise feral children with no discipline or sense of social responsibility, I can’t do much in a few minutes.
None of us care who you know. If you had any real juice; you’d not say anything, but would just smile and accept the citation or arrest and magically, behind the scenes, things would be fixed. I’ve dealt with the really connected people and have seen how they can manipulate the system – and that obviously ain’t you.
You can’t get our badge. Trust me, we hear that all the time. Just like how you will sue – get in line. Again, if you had power, you’d be as inconspicuous as possible.
Attitude goes a long way. I’ve cited people I originally was going to warn and warned people who I was going to cite. Same with arrests.
If we have to fight you or shoot you, we will be the first to give you medical treatment.
We are not trained as social workers or psychologists but that is a big portion of our jobs. When no one else is available or can help, it seems like a good time to call the police department.
When we are trying to help you and you feel like we are trying to shove a square peg into a round hole – we feel the same way. The laws and policies don’t make much sense to us either.
Law enforcement is one of only two jobs where everyone is an “expert” with no training or experience. The other one is being a head football coach.
I sincerely apologize when we forget to be empathetic. While this our 500th burglary, this is your first time being violated. While this is our 200th dead body call, it’s your first.
I don’t care about your prior bad experience with law enforcement. I’m here now. I’ve had bad experiences with plumbers, physicians and barbers, but I don’t stereotype a whole profession off of one experience.
Our cars aren’t much different than yours. Sure we have a snazzy paint job, some special lights and a radio, but we can get as stuck as easily as you, we can have an accident just like you and we can’t stop on a dime. And, we’re limited on how fast we can get to a call. We can’t go warp speed nor get traffic to part, like Moses did with the sea.
We really don’t care what race, sex or ethnic group you belong to, we are trying to get this issue resolved before going to the next call.
We all H-A-T-E when you scare your young kids by threatening them by telling them we will arrest them. Really? Way to make your kids the next generation of cop-haters and they are now petrified to approach us if they’re in danger or lost.
I want to tell you all about a little “family issue” that I have had and how I dealt with it.
When I fell in love with my wife (in China), I had to “jump though some hoops” to show my value and worth. And part of this was to buy her a house.
It’s a common thing in China, and my wife’s family expected it.
Now, there was more detailed issues and complexities involved. As Wenzhou has their own quirks. But let’s keep this simple.
I bought a house in Shenzhen when Shenzhen was just a small dirt city in the early 2000’s.
Not a big house. Not a great house. But a good real home.
Cost me all that I had, too.
Well, over the years that little house grew up in value.
I paid $40,000 for it in 2003.
In 2007 they put a subway near it. And it’s value increased to $2M.
In 2013, they built a subway UNDER it, and the value went to $10M.
…
Yuppur. Best thing I ever did!
…
But wait.
Meanwhile, her father was trying to get his business get off the ground and was burrowing money left and right. He had taken something like $24M from various investors, and was showing nothing.
Nothing.
Turns out, when a cousin went to audit his “factory”, he discovered that it was all a sham. The father was playing the futures market and burning though the money like toilet paper. The last straw was when family all put up their homes for mortgages to “keep his business going”.
It was a lie.
Everyone gathered the “emergency money” to help him “keep the business going”. But it didn’t happen.
He just inserted $10 into the “wish machine” and it ate it all, and left him with nothing.
…
Enter me.
Well, since I am a foreigner, and all the rest, the father and mother had this great scheme to take our home, and our savings, and also take out a mortgage off that home that was ours and then give all the money to them… “for the business”.
I about had a heart attack, and for the first time… my Chinese wife had to say NO!
She had to.
Our child’s education, life and our future would have been absolutely eviscerated.
NO FUCKING WAY!
…
Chaos ensued.
So she called the extended relatives. All wealthy. All owning businesses and fully knowledgeable and they all went together to sort the entire mess out. The father had set up “the factory” in a distant region. So they all boarded planes to visit the factory.
And so they arrived there at that city. And they all got in cars and drove to “the factory”.
No factory.
No building.
No employees.
Just a garage with a roll down garage door. A computer, with a chair and a modem, and a cot along the wall. Empty. Desolate. Pathetic.
The relatives were furious.
So…
They seized the father’s debts. Everyone contributed a few million each. To do so, many had to sell their homes and vehicles and stop their children’s education. He is now the pariah of the family.
Saved.
But, shunned.
…
We kept our house, and my wife told the father…
Here is one million.
That is it.
Do not ask us for anything else. EVER. This is the end.
You are now out of debt, you need to get a job... any job. And stop saying that you are too good to work for someone else.
You burned though $20M in ten minutes. ENOUGH!
It was “pay off money” to get them off our back.
Do not think that MM has it easy. Family is family, and we all inherit the problems of others when we merge families.
That is my debt NOW that I will spend the rest of my life paying off.
THE REST OF MY FUCKING LIFE.
For my wife’s gambling futures father who thought that he was too good to work a “real job”. Sheech!
Digging way back into my memories. I grew up pretty much like other children. Had english friends even went out (as much as children not teenagers can) with the daughter of a hippy… (checks online goddam she’s still banging hot in her 40s).
I remember some big and significant turning points.
In school the teacher looked at me and said what are you a p*ki or a n*gger. That’s stuck with me for 35+ years. The other event was a nose bleed, had a nose bleed that wouldn’t stop. The doctor assumed I’d been beaten up by my dad.
Children calling names was a thing, then violence in high school.
I like to think of highschool as kind of innocent as children don’t have their view of the world fully formed. How did I cope? By clapping back at them so somebody calls you a slur? You call them back a worse one. Somebody punches you? You punch them back.
My mid teen years were the roughest. In short I was beaten to an absolute pulp by 10+ twats. I remember my vision going pink and fading out as they stomped me to bits. My dad ran out of his home and literally started breaking them in half to save me. I spent quite a lot of time in hospital from that.
The group that attacked me? I apparently got the last laugh as they were all labeled cowards. Even evil has standards as fighting more than 1 on 1 was and is considered incredibly cowardly. We moved away at that point to somewhere different. My dad took me shooting and I kept a shotgun at home.
The big change was when I got my drivers license. In short the racism was avoided by simply driving everywhere. Less chance to interact with them, I had been lured into a false sense of security well into my 30s. Brexit vote came around, car was being repaired and I had a yoof try smash my head in with a brick and he tried to laugh it off as a joke. I joked back at him and smashed his head in even when he was crying and begging me to stop. I continued to pummel him. He met me at a bad time as that was when I was at the absolute strongest.
Another attack happened shortly after and after being victim blamed… I thought fuck… do I want my children to grow up in a place like this?
Lunar surface has a phenomenon called sugar frosting, soil on the surface of the moon is dense, with a layer of light-colored soil on the surface and dark soil on the inside. After digging out or walking over, dark soil will be brought out, but as time goes by, There will be a fading and lighter frosting phenomenon.
You can easily see the dark path by Chinese Rover.
main qimg dcdcd847d879bc33536d82ba0493349d
American rover…
main qimg 36108fde55be2fbae5de28a48ce61c6c
Chinese rover…
main qimg f2d1e85b83ac08f497b00ee5753a0862
The peculiar phenomenon of “frosting” discoloration appeared on the lunar soil once on the back of the moon and twice or three times on the front. It can be seen that it should be relatively common on the lunar surface.
However no US Apollo rover trail has indicating the same phenomenon.
The “sugar frosting” phenomenon confirmed by Chang’e experts.
So the moon soil that got dig out will be dark and it will turn bright in time.
You cannot see this in the NASA “moon landing photos”…
main qimg e0158853659385bf5e5b727d7e848d5d 1main qimg c90e05644857e2012aea27023d2393eb
But the Chinese rover clearly show something different….
main qimg 061379980a15bd95fad595a30d7778d7
US moon soil look like earth soil right?
See the dark soil is a new unearthed soil. after sometime it will become brighter and undistinguishable from the surrounding.
main qimg f2d1e85b83ac08f497b00ee5753a0862 1
When Chang’e when just landed.
Now look at the 1969 NASA moon “landing”…
main qimg e0158853659385bf5e5b727d7e848d5d
Chang’e after a while landing. look at the surrounding of the leg, gradually become as the same as surrounding.
this phenomenon can only be known if you have landed on the moon, this phenomenon is impossible to be recreated on earth.
As I sat in my M1A1 main battle tank and watched the streets of Shir Ghazay, Helmand, Afghanistan put themselves to sleep, I wondered what exactly we were doing there.
I knew my mission. My company was assisting building Route Red to connect the Musa Quelah province with the surrounding provinces to improve the economy for the locals and win their hearts and minds and all that. But it wasn’t clear to me what the end-goal was. It was late 2011 and elections approached in the US. Operations start to slow down; can’t have a bunch of Marines die right before the election…that wouldn’t look good.
My 4 tank calls me over the radio to tell me he sees something unusual. Looks like a couple dudes who were out on a scooter man-date decided to ditch their bike and start checking out the suitability of the middle of our newly built road for…agricultural purposes, I’m sure.
I tell him to get ready to engage. We need to make sure to gain positive identification of hostile acts and/or intent before feeding people our lead sandwiches.
It occurs to me that these dudes are probably locals. They were probably bullied into digging a hole for one of the region’s bomb-experts to emplace an IED into later. Maybe they hate America, but more likely they are just trying to survive. Unfortunately for them, we are better at surviving on this particular night.
Asymmetrical warfare means your enemies don’t go toe to toe with you. It means they sneak and harass and threaten villagers. It means they work without uniforms and without abiding by the rules of armed conflict.
So this night we killed a couple guys trying to put a bomb into the middle of our humanitarian road. And the villagers probably hated us for it. Later in our deployment, we came across another road that was paralleling ours. It looked like it had about 30 years of disuse. We realized that we were building a road on top of the same spot that the Russians tried to in the 80s.
It was probably the same spot that Alexander the great tried to when he came through Afghanistan. The Afghan people simply don’t want us there. They don’t use the roads we build them and they prove to us time and again that they don’t have the will to fight for their own country and take it back from the drug-lords and the Taliban.
The last thing I’ll say is that good men died fighting in the hills and mountains of Afghanistan. 99% of the time it was due to a cowardly enemy that would not fight us, but would rather put bombs into the ground and risk killing civilians, women, and children to possibly injure one servicemember.
I’ll take a fight against your ‘real enemy’ any day.
Edit: It seems a few folks have taken issue with me calling the Taliban cowards. Some have even implied that me and my brethren were the true cowards. Everyone gets their opinion, I suppose.
The Taliban could conduct an insurgency that is honorable and respects the lives of non-combatants, but they do not do so. It would be less expedient and more dangerous for them. Being a coward means that you are unwilling to face dangerous and unpleasant things.
Lastly, if you have never stood up and faced dangerous things in your life, but are willing to call others cowards on social media platforms who have, I think that says a lot more about you than the subjects of your accusations.
Final Edit: Read this if you want to better understand frustrations of fighting in Afghanistan/Iraq/Syria The Plunging Morale of America’s Service Members. I don’t endorse or agree with all of it, but it does an excellent job conveying what it feels like to be a service member in today’s environment.
Yes be logical and pragmatic. China has 1.4 billion citizens, 4 times the US. Close to a billion now can afford minimum good living, over 750 million is equivalent to U.S. middle class. Admittedly they are not so spend thrift as American’s and certainly less wasteful. Those are good Confucianism values.
China may not have your 1% super rich American way overboard wasteful and insanely rich but those are again a good thing that a tiny proportion of Chinese is not abusing the rest like in the U.S. At least 3 times of US middle class and growing in China makes China very huge and humongous. It is probably bigger than the next 10 nations biggest markets put together.
A dollar in U.S. say Washington, cannot buy even a third of the same items say a McDonald’s of 7 RMB or a dollar current exchange rate in Beijing. Hence in reality either US dollar is 3 times over value or RMB is 3 times undervalue vis-a-vis USD.
Hence in purchasing power parity or PPP China U.S. already way bigger that the USA. Probably close to twice. That is why sanctioning China don’t work. Only collaboration with China to be a good second biggest market is the best U.S. can do.
He tried it once, and it didn’t happen a second time.
You see, it takes a hell of a lot to embarrass me. I have noticed that a lot of parents hesitate to discipline their kids in public because they don’t want to be judged by other people. I am NOT one of those parents.
I have also never spanked my kid.
About once a month I will spring a surprise outing on my son, something fun that we both enjoy, sometimes it involves food, a trip to a park or bookstore, a pre arranged playdate, stuff like that.
These started when he was about 6.
We caught the bus to this new play ground. I still don’t know what was wrong with him that day but he was acting like a jerk. Then he made some random comment and called me a dumbass.
“ WHAT did you just call me”, I asked.
“A dumbass “ he replied, with a smirk
I didn’t reply, I just rang the bell to indicate that we would be getting off at the next stop.
His jaw dropped, “ What about our outing?” He asked me.
“ By speaking in that disrespectful way you have missed out on a special outing today, we will be getting off at the next stop and walking home”
He started crying and acting out.
Like I said, I don’t embarrass easily.
As we got off the bus a little old lady who was sitting a short distance away from us caught my eye and nodded her approval, the bus driver was chuckling as we got off and said “ good on ya luv”.
Initially, My husband’s parents didn’t appprove of our relationship .
I lost my parents while I was young..
Later,upon seeing him in depression they finally gave in . So, now we are happily married for three years.
Two years passed by… Our parents asked us now and then about KIDS… My in-laws are conservative. As most of the Indian parents, they too feel that kids complete the family. They suggested us to consult a doctor.
Everyone suggested indeed.
At the very sight of the hospital, my husband stopped the car to a side.. he held me by the hand and said…
“ Do we really need children? Look.. My first ever kid is YOU… You complete me…I’m fine with one.. ” he said in a dejected tone.. ALL I COULD DO WAS SMILE….. thanking the almighty for giving me the most heartful thing ever lived.
But this did not end here… We went through the checkup
The reports are out… The doctor revealed in a dejected tone that I CANNOT CONCEIVE….(harmonal problems… Pitutary gland malfunction) Tears floooded my eyes… That moment, I collapsed to the ground in tears.
I’m unable to see anything. Tears obscured my vision …All I remember was him carefully carrying me to the car in his hands..
We went home.. I went to our bedroom and locked the door.
I cried.. I cried..
Later in the evening my mother-in-law came to our room.
She didn’t say anything…
After fifteen minutes of complete silence she said, “ I’m sorry beta. We never knew this thing about Akansh..”
She broke down and left in tears..
I was left in an utter dismay. Later upon asking him, he said “ I will never cause any pain to you by any means…”
I was speechless.
…
He lied his parents that the problem lies within him.
“What did I do to deserve him?”
He knows that I could not bear that guilt for longer. He immediately applied for a position in abroad in the same company on a two year contract and here we are… in LONDON ..away from home.. away from everything..
This was a simple one, but it did the trick for me. Back in 2018, I was sixteen years old, and I was skipping class with a friend of mine. We were sitting in the storm drains, just chilling, talking and hiding from the teacher they planted to catch kids skipping.
We were talking about girls and how I hate myself, as an emo sixteen year old tends to do. And during this conversation, she decided that all the girls I get with aren’t up to what she decided my standards are.
And she was eating a kit Kat while we had this conversation.
She told me to know my worth or something and stop going for trash girls.
She ripped off a kit Kat column and took a bite out of it the way nobody should ever bite out a kit Kat.
image 170
Then she said
“See this? This represents the girls you’ve been going for. Absolute trash, right?”
“Yeah, don’t ever bite a kit Kat like that again.”
Then she took the decimated kit Kat column and held it up. Then she tore off a kit Kat column from the rest. This time she tore it the right way, immaculate, perfect chocolate symmetry. Then she said
“This is what you should be gunning for. Raise your standards”
And in conclusion, I miss having friends like that in my life.
This so-called doctor threatened to sterilize me. I was 15 years old and told my Mother, who pulled him off my case. Years later, when I was a nursing student, I was doing rotation through surgery, and one of the operations was upon a little 14-year-old black girl.
The name of the doctor seemed vaguely familiar, but I dismissed it, as non-essential information. The poor patient was undergoing a catastrophic procedure for any female of any age, a complete hysterectomy. I mourned for this baby’s loss and presumption she had cancer.
Upon completion of the surgery, our instructor gathered us together. Despite the mask, I could see she was fuming. In her hands, she held the containers with the specimens for the lab. “Nurses,” she ordered, “come here and look closely. What you are seeing are perfectly HEALTHY! There was no reason for Jack to gut this child except she was poor and black and he’s a despicable racist, who is hell bent on sterilizing any female he doesn’t feel is worthy of motherhood. Goddamn Bastard!”
I now remembered and as soon as I got out of scrubs told my superior of my, personal, incident with this butcher. He was eventually brought up on charges, served jail time, and lost his license permanently. Though not enough punishment to equal the crime.
We had an older neighbor kitty-corner from us on our street. We had lived there for over 20 years.
He slowly rode bikes around and picked up the pecans that grew from our trees.
He was reclusive and very much kept to himself. We would not see him in the winter for months.
He didn’t like Halloween or little kids, so we kept ours away from him.
One day, the police came by and asked if we had seen him anytime soon.
We had not, so they decided to break open the door as his out-of-state daughter could not find him.
Since I knew him the most, I went with the police.
They broke the door open, and the most awful smell came out.
They found a suicide note. He had been dead for almost a month in the sweltering Texas heat with no AC.
We felt like very bad neighbors because we didn’t check on him, but the police said he had carefully planned it so no one would know. I will never forget that smell.
I think it’s fair to say that in terms of attractiveness, I’m punching above my weight with regards my wife. She’s very attractive, gets frequent comments from other men, turns heads, and generally impresses people.
I’m a geek. If I turn heads, it’s because I’m drunk and being too loud. Not because people want to look at me.
I often wonder how I managed to create such a situation where such an attractiveness disparity happened. I think there is something in the idea that personality counts. When I put my mind to it, I can be tremendously entertaining, and I think my wife enjoys that.
As to the benefits conferred by having an attractive wife, there are none that wouldn’t be there were she not as attractive, at least as long as you genuinely love your wife.
A few years into our marriage, my wife got cancer. As she was going through chemotherapy, all the usual things happened, weight gain (they give you a lot of steroids), hair loss etc. She didn’t look her best. If she turned heads, it was to look at the bald woman.
What difference did that make?
None. She was still tremendous. I was still incredibly lucky to be married to her. I still made her laugh because of my dumb antics. We still got served in restaurants. We still had to pay.
Then she got better. She looks stunning again. She is still tremendous. I am still incredibly lucky to be married to her. I still make her laugh because of my dumb antics. We still get served in restaurants. We still have to pay.
Freshman year of high school. I ended up in after school detention.
We were all in individual desks. Three seats to my left was the biggest douchebag I’ve ever met. He looked 20, he was privileged, an addict and was known for bullying freshmen pretty relentlessly.
He started throwing stuff at me, paper wads, pencils… whatever he could find. I didn’t acknowledge what he was doing, I just kept focused on my homework.
There was a well built black girl between us. She was obviously more hardened and a “take no BS” kind of gal. Nice, unless reasonably provoked.
So I acted as if he’s not there. Next thing I know there was a huge THUD. I looked over in time to see one of those hard cover, thick text books sliding off this girl’s head. I remember this part in slow motion. He was aiming for me, but dumbshit missed.
After lifting her head for a moment of silence she leaps up and throws a desk over to stand over him and call him out. She absolutely destroyed him. She was asking him to stand up and fight and talking about how he’s been fucking with me and being a piece of shit. This girl was seriously ready to throw down.
So douchebag cowers and gets all red in the face looking scared. That was one powerful woman he pissed off.
Edit: 9/12/2018
I was in 6th grade computer class when 9/11 happened. Teacher had the news on, lights out with no assignments other than watching the news.
I was pretty introvert and came from a different school district. So I didn’t know anyone in class and kept to myself.
For the last half of that class period, the boy behind me would kick my chair pretty hard and whisper “oops, a plane just crashed into you” amongst other silly things. Sometimes I’d look back and he’d jump as if he was going to hit me. I never said anything to this kid ever. I didn’t say anything as he continuously kicked my chair. But inside I was boiling. Not because of 9/11 and his plane crash comments. I was too young to really understand the gravity of what we were watching on the news. I was boiling from frustration and disrespect. This was the first time I had ever been messed with so relentlessly.
Now I’m not a fighter or had any brothers to wrestle and fight with. But he was shorter and skinnier. But I don’t remember planning to do what I did.
The bell rang, I immediately stood up facing him. As soon as he got up I started pushing him. I kept pushing him multiple times as hard as I could until he lost balance and fall completely over his desk onto the floor creating a huge commotion. At first he put his 3 ring binder up as if he was blocking an oncoming punch. It was very satisfying to watch him fall all over the desk. Again, I remember this part in slow motion.
They ended up putting him in a different class after I explained everything to the teacher. I never really ran into him again until 8th grade waiting for parent pick up. I didn’t say anything to him, we locked eyes, he looked like a deer in headlights. I’m pretty sure I could see his feelings, he knew he made a big mistake on 9/11. So now every time I think about that terrible day in New York, I can’t help but to remember the lamest instance of bullying I’ve experienced.
My sister and I were the youngest, and usually the smallest and nerdiest kids in our classes, so we were more concerned with not getting beat up rather than beating up anyone else.
Actually in our small school, physical violence was pretty much unknown. I had some jerk put glue in my braid once, and another time someone slipped a toy snake into my sister’s purse, but that was usually as far as it went. The bullying in our school was mostly just verbal jokes and insults.
There was one real knucklehead that started causing trouble, and he actually got into a physical altercation with another knucklehead, but since they both were knuckleheads, nobody made a big deal of it.
However, there was one guy in our school that nobody messed with, and I think even the teachers were intimidated by him. He wasn’t a bully, didn’t cause trouble, pretty much kept to himself, and was actually very bright. But there are some people you just don’t mess with, and this guy was definitely one of those people.
His name was Fenrisúlfr, which is a variation of Fenrir, the giant wolf that killed the great god Odin during Ragnarök. Fenrir was one bad arse wolf. And to make his name even better, Fenrisúlfr, can be translated not just as wolf, but more properly, Wolf from Hell. And anyone that has the name Wolf from Hell, definitely isn’t someone to mess with.
Fenrisúlfr’s father was a member of the elite Víkingasveitin, or Viking Squad, a sort of super swat, anti terrorism team that Iceland has. The ultimate Icelandic bad arses, and definitely not people you should mess with.
Fenrisúlfr didn’t talk about his father much, but of course there were all kinds of stories and rumors about what exactly he did. In fact there were even lots of rumors about Fenrisúlfr, like he killed a polar bear with his bare hands.
Of course nobody really believed that, but if Fenrisúlfr ever did get into a fight with a polar bear, I would probably end up feeling sorry for the bear.
One day my sister and I were eating lunch alone like we usually did. Just talking quietly and not bothering anyone. However a couple of idiots at the next table decided they wanted to have some fun. So they took the mushed turnips that were served that day, put them on a spoon, and sort of catapulted them in our direction.
My sister and I learned to be observant, and I saw the idiot out of the corner of my eye. So I ducked and the mushed turnips went right by me. And hit Fenrisúlfr right in the back of his head.
The whole cafeteria suddenly got very, very quiet as Fenrisúlfr slowly got up. He first looked at us, but quickly realized that we would never do anything like that. But then he very slowly shifted his eyes to the two idiots at the next table, and I could see the two idiots freeze and turn white as Fenrisúlfr walked toward them.
Fenrisúlfr didn’t say anything but as he got to their table, grabbed their heads, knocked them together, and then pushed their faces into their mushed turnips.
Then without saying a word, Fenrisúlfr returned to his table and finished his meal.
The next day at lunch, the two idiots decided to sit as far away from us, and Fenrisúlfr, as possible. And we decided it was a good idea to sit as close to Fenrisúlfr as possible, and over the semester we became friends with him. He was actually a very nice, if scary looking guy. He even took us over his house, and we got to meet his father, who was even scarier looking than Fenrisúlfr.
So we never actually beat up the school bully, or anyone else for that matter. But when you have a friend named, The Wolf from Hell, we didn’t have to. :-))
February 2016. My boyfriend at the time had started to feel unwell on a Friday. By Monday he was very sick and when he went to the GP he was diagnosed with pneumonia (just one side at that point), got given antibiotics and was sent home. By Wednesday he was even sicker, not better. So I persuaded him to go back to the GP. He was always very independent but I had to help him get inside the Dr’s office. When it was his turn I insisted I went with him, and when the GP checked him she said it was now bi-lateral pneumonia and she was going to prescribe him different antibiotics. At this point I spoke up and said that I felt he needed more than that, and so she offered to refer him to A&E. He was debating it, and I was not having any of that, and said Yes please! Took him straight to the hospital.
His oxygen level on arriving was below 70% and despite him getting extra oxygen it wasn’t going up. After x-rays the doctor at A&E said it was the worst case of pneumonia he had seen in a long time in a healthy, young adult. Turned out he had swine flu, double bacterial pneumonia and in the following days he developed sepsis and was borderline in kidney failure. It was touch and go for several days, on pressurised oxygen, IV antibiotics, tamiflu, fluids and other meds, heavily monitored and I had to stay in the hospital overnight for a bit as he was calmer when I was with him, but he recovered.
Several doctors and nurses at the High Dependecy Unit told me that if we would have waited one more day in getting him to hospital the outcome would have most likely been very different.
As I have been working in healthcare for several years I have learned to trust my gut instinct, and I am so glad I did exactly that.
I have a friend who works as a lawyer. He told me this story about one of his clients, who ruined his life with one stupid decision.
The client was a successful businessman, who owned several car dealerships in the area. He had a beautiful wife, two kids, and a mansion. He was living the American dream.
But he also had a secret. He was addicted to gambling. He would go to casinos every weekend, and bet thousands of dollars on roulette, blackjack, and poker. He was convinced that he had a system, and that he could beat the house.
He was wrong.
He started losing money, a lot of money. He maxed out his credit cards, took out loans from shady lenders, and even embezzled funds from his own business. He was in deep trouble, but he couldn’t stop.
One day, he got a call from one of his creditors. They told him that they wanted their money back, or else. They threatened to hurt him and his family if he didn’t pay up.
He panicked. He didn’t have the money. He didn’t know what to do.
He decided to make one last gamble.
He went to his office, grabbed a suitcase full of cash that he had stashed away for emergencies, and drove to the nearest casino. He walked up to the roulette table, and put all the money on black.
He was hoping for a miracle.
He watched as the wheel spun, and the ball bounced around. He prayed that it would land on black.
It didn’t.
It landed on red.
He lost everything.
He collapsed on the floor, sobbing. He realized that he had just destroyed his entire life with one simple mistake.
The casino security escorted him out. The police arrested him for fraud and embezzlement. His wife divorced him and took the kids. His business went bankrupt. His creditors sued him and seized his assets. He ended up in prison, broke and alone.
Here are some sad and strange facts about relationships:
The Fade Away: It’s a sad reality that sometimes, instead of openly communicating their feelings, people choose to slowly distance themselves from their partner, leading to a slow and painful breakup.
Mismatched Timing: Timing can be a cruel factor in relationships. You might meet someone amazing, but if you’re not at the same stage in life, it can lead to heartbreak.
Ghosting: In the digital age, it’s become strangely common for someone to suddenly cut off all communication without explanation, leaving the other person in a state of confusion and sadness.
Unrequited Love: One of the saddest aspects of relationships is when one person’s feelings are not reciprocated, and they have to grapple with the pain of unrequited love.
Love vs. Infatuation: It’s strange how sometimes people mistake infatuation for love, leading to intense emotions that fade as quickly as they came.
The Fear of Vulnerability: Many individuals struggle to open up and be vulnerable in relationships due to past traumas or fears, making it difficult to build a deep connection.
Staying in Unhealthy Relationships: Some people stay in toxic relationships because they fear being alone or believe they can change their partner.
I abandoned/disowned/renounced/rejected my mother when I was 17 years old, but only because she abandoned my siblings and I first.
My dad was diagnosed with ALS when I was five or six years old. He worked two jobs prior to that to support my mom, sister, brother, and I but he eventually reached the point where he spent much of his time in a hospital. My mom got a job, at a local dime store, and became friendly with a male coworker. During one of my dad’s hospital stays she took my siblings and I, and left town with the man.
We spent a couple of months in a two-room apartment in Philadelphia before mom realized it wasn’t the best environment for us — the man didn’t like or want kids around — so mom took us to her parents’ house. She swore she would have nothing more to do with the man but, less than a week later, she disappeared after telling her folks she was going out with a high school girlfriend.
My siblings and I were sent to live with my dad who, by this time, had lost the use of his arms and legs and was confined to a wheelchair, and was living with his mother in rural Arkansas. I spent three years watching that man die and when he was gone, my mom’s parents took us in again. My paternal grandmother was in her 70s and too old to handle three kids.
My mom’s name was never mentioned and I’d put her out of my mind until, one day, she was back. Her mom had died by then but my sister, brother and I still lived with her dad. My siblings went to live with her immediately but I wanted nothing to do with her. I had one, brief, conversation with her when she returned and she claimed her folks knew where she was, and that she’d eventually come back. I didn’t believe her and told her so.
Two years after returning she was dead from lung cancer, and I always wondered if she came back because the man she’d abandoned us for wouldn’t take care of her. I felt that he was that type of guy, selfish and cowardly. But my mom was a coward — and about 1,000 other bad words — for leaving my dad when he got sick, so she got what she deserved as far as I was concerned. I didn’t even go to her funeral.
Hang on! Why are there HIDDEN Jewish Tunnels in New York City?
Going anonymous for my friend’s sake. This was in the US about 6 years ago when he was 17 years old.
When he was younger, he would counterfeit small denomination bills ($10s and $20s), go to shops, buy small items with the counterfeit bills, and get real change back.
Most of the time he’d dress up in a button up shirt and a pair of slacks so that he looked presentable, and put a smile on his face so that people would think he was just an honest, friendly person, even though he was scamming them. One scam in particular was at the mall just before closing. It was a pretty populated mall, and there was a jewelry store attendant standing outside the jewelry store.
He said to the attendant, “I lost a bet with my friend, and I owe him $10, but all I have is this $20 bill”. She didn’t know it was counterfeit, and she didn’t even look at it, because he was dressed nicely and smiled at her.
She walked into the jewelry store with him (plenty of surveillance cameras, mind you), and exchanged the counterfeit $20 for a real $10. My friend was $10 richer.
Another scam was pretty simple: he would order a takeout pizza, walk into the pizza place, pay for the pizza, and be about $10 – $15 richer, and get a free pizza out of it.
Never got caught. Almost once, though. Before I tell that story, here’s how he made the bills:
He’d print them out on his normal inkjet printer at home, spray them with hairspray for texture, and wrinkle them up pretty good. Voila. While the bill definitely wouldn’t pass any sort of close inspection, the smile on the face and general psychological trickery is what made the scam successful.
So, into the story of almost getting caught:
He walked into a gas station in shorts and a t-shirt (this was his first attempt at the scam, and the bill was noticeably smaller than it should’ve been). He mixed it in with another real bill, and handed it to the cashier. He forgot to smile and dress nicely. She looked at the bills, looked at him, and said “sorry, I can’t accept this, it looks like it’s fake.”
In a fake outrage, he said, “well I just got it from the bank! What should I do? Should I go back to the bank and tell them they gave me fake money?”
He and the cashier both agreed that this was the best solution, and they were both “angry” that the bank had given him counterfeit money.
How could the bank do such a thing?!
Edit
He should be $20 richer…yes or no? I mean the shop lady would give him two 10’s for the 20, otherwise she would suspect a con. Nobody trades a real 20 for one real 10.
Thank you to those who pointed out this same thing (it was a typo). It was an exchange of one $20 for two $10 bills, with the idea that he owed his friend $10, but only had the $20 bill and needed to split it into lower denominations. Good catch!
Boys do not have a single clue. Let me try this again: they don’t get it. Or at least he doesn’t get it. And it’s not for lack of me trying to educate him. He’s a corporate business attorney, so it’s not for lack of smarts. He just goes, “Oh, cool!” and then goes back to doing whatever he was doing.
The only thing that rattled him was contouring and extensions. He was like, “DO ALL GIRLS DO THAT” and I said, “No, I don’t because I don’t have time.” and he goes, “DO YOU HAVE EXTENSIONS” (this was after I got my hair cut into a bob..so he clearly didn’t pay attention to what extensions actually are[1]).
Boys and men are not socially conditioned to care about appearance 1/20th as much as girls and women. They care so, so much less than any girl or woman could even conceive of when it comes down to it. There are the Kanye Wests out there, and I won’t deny that, who want a well manicured woman at all hours.
But honestly, for the vast majority of men and boys the response is, “Huh? Ok!”
For the really awesome Smashbox eyeshadow limited edition palette I found on sale at Sephora the response I got was, “Your eyes look cool today.”
No comprenden←, truly.
The preference doesn’t exist for the vast majority of them because they just haven’t thought deeply about it before.
[1] You could get extensions and then get them cut to increase volume in your hair but c’mon I don’t have that kind of cash to blow. If I get extensions it’s to make my hair long.
L’Odyssée du Tartare. AI sci-fi merging styles of Méliès, Jodorowsky, & others; unedited footage
I was in the Coast Guard on my way to see my Mom and Dad. The closer I got to their home, I got a feeling I had to get to their Cottage on Lake Erie.
I got there about 11PM but couldn’t shake the feeling of needing to get to the cottage.
I originally thought it was just the need to finish painting I had started on the exterior.
At 1AM, I couldn’t settle down and apologized for having to leave.
I got there and had a fitful bit of sleep and woke up to a windy, wavy day.
At about 11AM, I heard screaming from the lake.
Grabbed my life jacket I kept in my kayak, ran to the beach and saw 3 young girls that had been knocked down by a large wave and getting pulled out by a strong rip current.
I ran into the water and got to 2 girls easily but the smaller, lighter one was dragged further out.
Just before I got to her she went under but I managed to grab her and get her head above water.
The rip current was so bad it took me a good 15 minutes to get us back to the beach a few hundred feet further down the beach, all the while being puked on with orange crush the girl had drank earlier.
I still get chills but am amazed I was directed to be there at that time so that 3 lives could be saved and possibly a 4th as another person was going to try the rescue without a live jacket, but I had motioned to him to stay on the beach.
Thus occurred August of 1993, at Morgan’s Point, Ontario Canada.
I was a Marine Recruiter in 1992 and I walked into the Social Security Office to get a SSN verification for one of my recruits.
The guy behind the counter tells me that he was a Force Recon Marine and I told him that I was a Recon Marine as well. We start comparing stories and he had been to Amphibious Recon School, Scout Swimmer, Scuba, Jump, Free-fall.
As it turned-out he knew quite a few people that I knew who were sort of legends in the Recon Community.
I asked him how long he had been in? He told me, “8 years.” Then I asked him,” Why did you get out if you already did two enlistments? “
He said that he got out to join the French Foreign Legion. I said, “How was that?”
He said verbatim, “It made Force [Recon] seem like Sunday School. “
He said that he had to do everything all over again Infantry, Jump, Scuba, Free fall. He told me that he he eventually made into the Parachute Commando Regiment.
*UPDATE EDIT. I remember an incident that I witnessed in Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
We were waiting in line to take field showers at the Division Service Support Group (DSSG) area when a group of Legionaries drove up in their rickety jeeps.
One of the junior guys is so excited to be getting a shower, that he hops in line with us while forgetting to take his rifle with him.
A few moments later, his Sergeant comes running-up and starts yelling at him in French. Then, he proceeds to start beating the guy. He almost beat the dude unconscious at which point a whole bunch of Marines intervened.
As a LCpl, I was pretty shocked by what I witnessed. I’m pretty sure that the rest of us Marines were stunned including several Staff NCO’s and Officers who also happened to be standing in line.
I saw a couple of FFL Officers drive-up soon after and they were yelling at the Sergeant in French and then they all get in their vehicles and drove off.
My assumption is what we witnessed wasn’t supposed to have occurred in public and that it was supposed to have taken place “behind closed doors.”
In desperation, Tinder creates a ‘VIP’ membership to crush even more men’s hopes.
5 years ago I worked at a little shop called “Forever 21” When our Manager got a promotion we had a new Manager come in and take over and she was awful!! The only reason I can think of as to why she was so horrible is that she wanted to make everyone as miserable and she was. She had had two back to back pregnancies so she was dealing with a one year old and a two year old and she was constantly complaining about her life to our other managers. In General she just seemed unhappy.
One time she grabbed all of the employees closing and put us in a group and asked us for resignations because she was “sick of our sh*t” No one said anything, as no one was ready to resign, obviously. We were all broke college students who needed the job. She was the only manager that was constantly on everyone’s back. Our store was in downtown where we had to pay for our parking, as a result the store payed about a dollar more per hour than usual for that very reason, as soon as she got there she cut everyone’s pay down to regular pay, she said we didn’t deserve it.
After a few months of this abuse, all of the employees were getting sick of it so we conspired to write a letter to HR with all of the abuse we had been enduring and we were all going to sign it. Well, word got around and got back to her. She pulled all the weakest people she thought had something to with the letter and met with them, according to the other managers that were present, she screamed at them and bullied them into quitting, she said they could either put their two weeks in or she would fire them within the next week. They didn’t want to be fired so they put in their two weeks! I was fuming!
Then came my turn to meet with her. She did not yell at me or even threaten me. She said that she had heard about the letter and thought of me as a “fire starter” I looked at her and smile and said “I have no idea what you are talking about, now let me get back to work so we can get out of here on time” I think she knew the bullying wasn’t going to work with me.
Now, here is where I had enough! When she started there as the manager she had put in place a new rule where anyone who was clocking in at 10am (when the store opened) could not arrive into the store any earlier than 9:58. At this point I was going through a lot in my life and had a lot on my mind so I forgot all about this new rule. I was very used to going in early to lock my stuff up in the lockers, use the restroom and then head to clock in. When i arrived it was 9:50, I stepped into the store and I was no more than 2 steps in when I hear her yelling across the room “YOU NEED TO LEAVE NOW!! COME BACK WHEN YOUR SHFT STARTS!!!” I froze in my steps. There were other people in the store such as other Managers and the merchandise reps who had started early, they all stopped and stared at me. she repeated what she said once more and i turned around left! The whole situation was upsetting. I think I had a lot of second hand embarrassment. This is the manger I work for? This is how a “manager” represents her self and deals with her employees? how does a manger not know that the best way to address something to an employee is to pull them aside and talk to them in private not scream it across the store? How someone like her got to be a manager is beyond me, and that’s when I got to thinking.
Is this job really worth all the trouble and abuse I am suffering? NO, definitely not.
I got into my car and went home. When I got home I saw I had a voicemail on my cellphone. It was one of the other managers, I would call him one of the butt kissers for sure. He said that if I was going to quit and not show up for my shift then I should at least had the Courtesy to give them a 2 weeks notice!
John was a former U.S. Marine, and a karate black belt, and we were colleagues at a large language center in Bangkok.
The alpha male teachers initially assumed John would blend in with them, but they were so wrong.
He was polite, friendly in his own way to them but was quickly bored by their macho bravado and sexual escapade stories. That they demeaned others (foreigners and Thais) to swell their egos did not sit well with him.
The alphas, perhaps sensing that John was a true alpha, left him alone. They said that they disliked him but never explained why. Perhaps it was insecurity?
Some of the center’s academic management cringed each time a teachers’ meeting was held, knowing that John would be there, ready to call them out about unnecessary rules, regulations and for demands made on hourly-paid teachers.
If they insisted on changing teaching methodology or administrative procedures, John’s very valid, direct questions and comments usually exposed their lack of teaching experience and empathy. He made them accountable.
If explanations were clear and reasonable, John accepted them. He wanted what was best for students and teachers.
If he was proven wrong (even by himself), he readily admitted it. He also apologized if he inadvertently upset others with direct personal comments.
He was popular with students because he was what they thought an excellent, caring teacher should be. His standards were exacting and fair, and they knew he wanted them to succeed.
Gossip was never a thing for John. He may have made negative judgments about others, but he usually kept them to himself (occasionally expressing quiet sarcasm but only to close friends).
He had a wicked, subtle, sense of humor that went over most people’s heads. He had his vices, too, but again, only his closest friends knew them.
Why were many of his colleagues uncomfortable around him?
Because he never wavered in his integrity, honor and honesty.
Let’s go back to my 8th grade year and there was a kid who really struggled with their mental health.
They were a class reject, she had friends but wasn’t popular. She was apart of the “gay” kids group. People used to call them fags and say that they will turn others gay.
She cut her arms, and she wanted to die everyday. So a few kids decided to start a bet. When will she kill herself.
We all knew one day she wouldn’t come to school and be dead by suicide. So we watched everyday watching her slowly suffer more and more in her own world.
She used to pass out a lot because of an eating disorder. She used to go to the bathroom after lunch and purge everything whenever anything passed her lips. She had a couple meltdowns in school and we all looked at her like she was retarded. We used to say it to her face. Small things like treating her like a child to degrade her every single day.
Then one day she didn’t come to school. Or the next, or for the rest of the year.
But she wasn’t dead.
On April 20th 2022, She left for Orange county california to a residential treatment facility, and she was gone till January 4th 2023.
That kid was me. My parents don’t know the details about how sucky my 8th grade school year was or how people used to make bets about when I was successfully gonna to kill myself. It was a struggle everyday to go to school when my mental health was slowly deteriorating everyday.
Right now, I am 2 1/2 months out of all mental health treatment. 2 months clean of self harm, and 2 months free of purging. I am happy with my life. And I love going to school everyday (I changed schools). I’m apart of the track team and I absolutely LOVE it.
I’m honestly not sure if my classmates at my old school think I’m dead or not. I’m not at their mercy. I am stronger than their words. And I will succeed in my life.
Stay Gold ponyboy Stay gold
-Eli
Edit: To be honest, I wonder how many of you at first thought I bullied a depressed autistic kid in 8th grade-
Edit: 411 upvotes?! Mom I’m famous :0
Im kidding, thank you for the support everyone.
Edit (4/20/23): Thank you so much for 1.6k upvotes. I reread the comments a lot, it gives me inspiration to keep going.
(I wanted to write a long reflection letter, however life happens and I got a concussion. So I’m not writing it as “thoroughly” as I wanted to.)
Today is April 20th 2023, exactly a year ago today, I was on a plane going to Orange County California. I went to Newport academy, which was the start of my 9 month treatment journey. It’s crazy reflecting on how much I changed in just 12 months but I am proud of myself for it. Exactly a year ago, I was basically throwing tantrums everyday and my parents had to deal with the bull crap sometimes 3 times a day. I was severely depressed, Self harm everyday, and I was miserable with life. That includes making family issues unbearable for everyone in my family.
Exactly a year ago, I said I didn’t need help. Exactly a year ago, I said I was fine, exactly a year ago I was attention seeking for everything. But reflecting now, I was in denial. I’m proud of myself where I came from.
My first day in treatment, I refused to go through the doors of Ranch House. It’s crazy to think that everyday for a month, I cried to my parents begging for them to let me go home when I was first admitted into youth care.
The last few days, I learned an important lesson. You really don’t know what everyone is going through. I learned the most outgoing, extroverted girl in my class was in 2 mental hospitals. I also learned my favorite teacher was in a mental hospital for 2 months when she was 12. I realized in that moment, “in the real world”, everyone struggles. Usually, I avoid talking about where I was for 9 months, but last week, I started to own my story. I won’t ever just “forget” what it was like to be that kid in treatment, and I shouldn’t. I do know where I need to go from now, to continue to be the best person I want to be.
The last rec therapy I did was a goals board for the new year. My goals were to get my drivers permit (I got it two months ago!). Transition into my new school (all though I might not have friends, I’m content with school), join the track team (I PRed at my last meet and now I’m triple jumping varsity distance. I also PR my pole vault and I’m allowed to start bending the pole after I get cleared from my concussion), get clean (3 months clean as of 3 days ago), stop purging (I don’t remember the last time I purged), and to continue to work on my family life.
And I did it, I’ve done all of it and I’m fucking happy for once. I’ve come a long way from where I was. I might not announce to everyone that I was in treatment, nor should I, but I’m not embarrassed by it anymore either.
I honestly don’t know where I would be without having the support system I did have in treatment. Thank you.
It’s been a wild ride this past year, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
When will we upload our consciousness to the cloud?
It wasn’t morning, it was lunchtime out with my kids at a pub to celebrate my birthday. Both girls had left home long since. I was 68, still working and intending to continue until April 2022 in order to complete 50 years at the same job.
Older daughter hands me a card saying “Happy Birthday Grandpa.” There was a copy of an ultrasound scan showing first grandchild.
So I said without any hesitation “I’m going to quit.” I called my employers (I had 4 at the time) that afternoon and simply said I finish October 31st. They whined, begged me to stay but I was adamant and finished on the due date. Grandson was born Dec 27th. Never made a better decision in my life.
EDIT
Life continues to amaze. Daughter told us a couple of weeks ago that, to use an English expression, “there’s another one in the oven” due March/April.
EDIT New one arrived Easter Momday. Everyone except me was convinced it was a boy based on scan. However beautiful Emily Grace proved the others wrong!
Brutal Data For Young Men In The Dating Scene I Was Genuinely SHOCKED To Read This
Empirically, I, as a 220 lb man, will weigh close to a ton at 9 Gs. That alone would make it hard to sustain that pull but there are other things going on that make a 9G pull a VERY temporary state.
First for the blood. Since your G vector is down, that’s where your blood is being pulled; your feet and legs swell very quickly with all the blood rushing in. That’s a problem because you need to be able to think but the blood is being pulled away from your brain. The first thing that typically goes before you lose consciousness is your peripheral vision and so we’re taught to do some clenching moves with our legs and stomach to try and push the blood back up before G onset (our G suit also offers about 3 additional G tolerance compared to resting state). But no G clenches in the world are going to keep you going for long at 9 Gs. You’re going night night (GLOC…G induced loss of consciousness) if you don’t stop pulling fairly quickly.
G cough. These are fun. If you pull too long, some of the delicate tissue in your lungs get damaged and you’ll begin literally hacking up a lung. Doesn’t happen all the time but if you’re in a prolonged fight, be prepared.
And finally, my favorite: G measles. I only got these in the centrifuge and that was only because I was at 9 Gs for about 15 seconds (that’s a lot longer than it sounds). What happens is that some of your capillaries (mine were in my arm) burst and you get splotches on your skin from the burst capillaries. It looks like you have measles, hence the name. And they itch like crazy! And to make matters worse, they do what always happens when you have blood leaking out of the veins/arteries: they turn into bruises. After my trip through the centrifuge, my arms were all bruised up for about 4 days.
So to summarize, pulling 9 Gs feels like an elephant is standing on your chest and it very quickly begins damaging your body. Reversible damage, but damage nonetheless.
PAY ATTENTION! Something VERY strange is happening in Poland
Yesterday, I took the family to a theme park in Southern Zhuhai. It’s the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom. We paid 3500 rmb (roughly $500) for two days with hotel, and two buffet meals. (For us three.)
new header 16 9
Now, you must know, everything in China is HUGE.
Not Texas huge.
“Universe” huge.
The facility included FIVE theme parks. Each with it’s own hotel, and passes to each one. Each theme park is “Disney Park” in size. So it is an ENORMOUS complex.
Just mind-mindbogglingly large.
When you buy the tickets, the ticket seller will warn you to take one day per theme. Other than that you are wasting your time.
And there is no way you can do more than that! Lordy!
Under the sea
We chose to concentrate on the “Penguin life park”, and the “spaceship future” park. Both were fun and cool, and my little girl enjoyed every second of the excitement.
Inside 1
My little girl loved it!
Animals. Excitement. Bright colors. Rides. Many playgrounds.
And the hotel room was super kid friendly.
236308
We stayed at the Circus hotel, and she had her own bed that looked like a lions cage on wheels, had her own kid-sized robe and slipper. The television only played kids shows, and the commode was kid friendly with a kid style insert. The shower had a kid sized lower tier.
Well thought out.
place 2015 09 25 7 Chimelongoceankingdom
The only problem was that on the last day I caught a “bug” and spent the entire day vomiting and spending time on the shitter. I had water-cannon high volume vomiting.
36 times. Thirty Six vomits!
Each time I just emptied out.
Wholly crap!
Then went home to sleep. And sleep I did. Like the dead.
But I am up now, and shaky but functional. I am taking medicines and it all seems to work. I am drinking coffee and I am able to hold it down. So that’s good. Right?
It reminds me that I am still alive and functional. Yay!
That one sentence was spoken by myself, to myself, in my car, as I pulled up outside my house, February 3rd 2016.
I have suffered from depression for 35 years. I can go months, sometimes years, without an episode, but in 2013 my wife, my soul mate, my best friend, left me after 15 years, which plunged me into the worst episode of my life.
Now, whilst depression is a living hell at times, I never actually feel sorry for myself. It’s a different emotion altogether, as anyone who suffers the same will testify. But this particular day, I was feeling sorry for myself. My business had gone to the wall in the first 12 months of separation. In the second 12 months I was struggling to pay the bills. By the end of year 3 I had £2 in the bank, was in desperate arrears with my mortgage and my new business was bringing in barely £200 a week.
I pulled up outside my house at 5pm, knowing the rest of the night would, yet again, be spent sat alone, in the cold, with the constant memories of my wife and children walking around the house, ghosts of their laughter echoing around, heart and mind being tormented by all that had gone before. There was little food in the cupboard. No credit for gas on the meter and low credit for electricity on that meter.
And this was the lowest point, it was 3 years of decline to this moment. I had no way of getting out of the mess I was in. No way I could figure, anyway. For the first time, this time I felt sorry for myself and literally said out loud, “man, I’ve another 50 years of this shit.”
That was the moment everything changed. I turned the engine off and lit a rare cigarette. I continued to talk to myself in the car – partly out loud, partly in my head. The conversation (with myself) went along these lines…
“50 years… ha, great… and I’m 50 years old next year (2017). Well, hang on… if I’m 50 next year, then I am only half way through my life. If I do live to be 100 – and why not ? – then next year, my 50th birthday, is the start of part 2. Mmmm… well if that’s the case then :
1 – I don’t need to buy a house – already bought one, only 5 years off completion (if I can find a way to keep the reposession order at bay). In 5 years, I will have property worth £130,000. Fully paid up. Hey, imagine if I had that when I was 5 years old, how cool that would have been for a start in life !
2 – I don’t have to go to school for 15 years – I’ve done that, I’ve got an education, done college, done university… I’ve got a head start !
3 – I don’t have to get married and have children – I have 3 wonderful children who are doing well and I’ve had the snip, so no need to have any more… no stress and strain of raising babies. Ace !
4 – I don’t need to buy a car or learn to drive – already sorted.
5 – I don’t need to worry about making friends or being popular or liked – I have a fantastic circle of friends who love me and I love them.
6 – I don’t have to worry about my parents leaving me, I already have had the sadness of losing them.
7 – I don’t need to worry about a job. I have the potential in my new business to make a comfortable living, if and when I am mentally strong enough to fully apply myself.
… and so on and so forth…”
Now I am having this conversation with myself in my car and I can literally feel the stress, the pain, the depression leaving my body. I am getting genuinely excited at the way my mind is working. I go into the house and continue this conversation whilst making a coffee. I get a notepad and make notes of what I am saying. Every note, every little idea, is scribbled down so as not to be forgotten.
As the evening progresses, I find myself going through each room in the house, removing any trace of my wife’s existance. Every memory gets either boxed up for the children to enjoy in the future, or goes in the bin. The kitchen gets emptied – I keep 3 cups, 3 plates, 3 knives, forks etc, for me and the 2 youngest children when they visit. The rest of the clutter gets binned. The living room is re-arranged. The bedroom is rearranged. The bathroom is rearranged. This carries on through to maybe 5am…
… For the first time in 3 years, I go to bed with an exhausted smile and wake up a few hours later with that same smile. I carry on where I left off. I borrow a couple of hundred pounds off my brother to get rid of furniture and replace with cheap “get by for a while” furniture, that has no trace of my marriage attached to it. I carry on writing notes.
Well, over the next 2 -3 months, remarkable changes happen. By the end of the 3rd month, at my medical check up, I am taken off my blood pressure tablets, my BP being normal for the first time in 3 years. The following month, after slowly cutting back, I am off my anti-depressants, also for the first time in 3 years, the longest I have been there in my life. I have lost over a stone in fat. My business is taking off as I am able to focus on it and money is coming in again.
By November, 9 months on, I have cleared my debts and I have £4,000 saved. My friends tell me I have a “happy house”. That they feel the positive juju the second they come in the door. They want to know (part jokingly, and part enviously) why I now walk round with a permanent smile, like a village idiot. More than anything though, they are genuinely delighted that they have got “me” back.
But let’s go back to Part 2.
The whole trigger for this was the realisation that if I live to be 100, I am only halfway through my life. So I started adding to the notes I had already started. This time, not marking down things I didn’t have to go through, but things that I am going to do. Each page of things to do is broken down into what I need to do to get there. There are wild things that I may not be skilled enough to do, like publish a novel. I may never be as good as Jimi Hendrix on the guitar. But what is there to stop me doing the best I can do with both ? Then there are totally achievable goals, like buying a campervan and spending 3 months on the road, enjoying life and writing that novel ? Getting married again, now that my heart is mending and I am meeting lovely ladies again – why not ? Decorating and renovating the house. Expanding the business. Getting fit. Losing a bit more weight. Learning to fly a plane. Doing a new degree in something I really enjoy. So many places to visit, to enjoy, to experience.
It’s all there and it’s all ahead of me and I know it’s all down to me. But most importantly, after the 9 months that have just gone by and how my life has already changed so much, I know it’s totally achievable !
So… “man, I’ve another 50 years of this shit” is the single, most important sentence that has changed my life, hopefully forever. Because I’m proving it wrong. And life has rarely felt better.
(I have missed out a section about a girl, I’ll call her “W”, who added a lot of fuel to this fire right at the beginning. She may read this and/or some people may know her, so I shouldn’t mention her by name. But, without knowing it, she made me want to be a better person (thanks Jack Nicholson) too. We never dated, or anything like that… but she is one of the most beautiful souls I have come across. Thank you “W” for your inspiration.)
Best wishes all of you reading this. I wish you a long and happy life.
Rob.
Chicken Gyros with Dill Sauce
Chicken Gyros with Dill Sauce is a traditional Greek sandwich.
Crock Pot Chicken Gyro 6 500×375 1
Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon + 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 fresh pita bread rounds, heated
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
In small bowl blend together yogurt, 2 tablespoons dill, garlic and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken with oregano, 1 teaspoon dill, salt and pepper. Sauté until browned and cooked through, about about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet and sauté onions until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
Return chicken and any juices to skillet. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Stir until heated through, about 2 minutes.
Top pita rounds with chicken mixture. Spoon dill sauce over chicken and serve. This sandwich is folded in half and eaten. Pass the extra sauce, as desired.
We are decoupling from China and, a fortiori, from its technology and the 130 countries in its currency, trade and defense alliances. Highlights from 2023 suggest that we far behind and the gap is widening.
2024 01 22 09 57
Economy
In 2023, China’s economy grew by $1.6 trillion, more than the rest of the world’s combined – while the USA borrowed $3 trillion to fund $300 billion GDP growth. Real wages grew 4.7% and demographics will remain healthy through 2043. 21 million tourists flew during Golden Week and spent $3 billion in Xinjiang alone. Hangzhou hosted more athletes at the Asian Games than the Olympics and domestic brands Anta and Li-Ning outsold Nike and Adidas.
Research
Young Science became the world’s #3 journal and is rapidly overtaking incumbent leaders Nature and Science. With a $228 billion corporate R&D budget, 3 million Chinese scientists applied for almost as many patents as the rest of the world combined, and utterly dominated the top 1% of most influential papers. Huawei’s R&D budget alone is larger than the US CHIPS and Science Act.
Scientists created the first graphene semiconductor, while Betavolt began shipping an atomic energy battery that powers consumer devices for 99 years.
Huawei mastered 7nm chip production (Intel still has not), replaced WiFi with 6x faster NearLink, took Apple’s #1 spot in the world’s largest market with a phone using 90% domestic components. Chinese chip foundries bought 62% of machinery equipment domestically this year, vs. 47% last year, and produced the first integrated neuro-memristor and the first 232 layer flash memory. Researchers set a record for high-rate quantum key distribution, showed off the first ambient superionic hydride ion conductor, the first primate brain-computer interface and an integrated neuro-memristor chip that will make circuit boards obsolete.
Macro inventions included the first waterless nuclear reactor, the most powerful solid-fuel rocket, the first liquid oxygen/methane rocket (it lifted 6 tonnes into sun-synchronous orbit), the world’s only Mach 30 wind tunnel, lasers generating high-energy beams indefinitely, and the first high-orbit Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite for 24×7 weather observation.
The country installed 80 million kW of PV and PV generated 300 billion kWh nationwide, 30% above 2022. CATL’s EV batteries get 400 km on 15 min. charge and 700 km. on a regular charge at all temperatures. In addition to installing 290,000 industrial robots – more than the rest of the world combined – it put AESA radars on $8,000 farm drones (only four countries can make them – for fighter jets). Its 800 million 5G subscribers are served by 3.2 million base stations and integrated 5G industry applications into 67 economic categories with 100,000 application cases. Tibet’s 5G service surpassed California’s.
Environment
In the wilderness that covers 42% of China’s landmass, conservationists counted 70,000 Tibetan antelopes, 3,400 Przewalski’s gazelles, 5,000 golden snub-nosed monkeys and 1200 Snow Leopards…
I dated a lady, who was already dating someone else. Except I didn’t know this when she asked me out. They weren’t living together, so it wasn’t something that jumped out at you.
It was only on our 4th date, that the guy got suspicious , and followed her to our restaurant, and caused a scene that I had a clue. She dumped the guy, in the restaurant, and made it seem like it was no big deal, as they were a short term casual couple.
I found out from her best friend about a month later, that they had been seeing each other regularly for a year. But I was hooked by then.
After 9 months she asked me,to ask her, to marry me. Yes, I know, confusing right?
I said I needed to think about it. Immediately, she was busy on Friday nights, but still up for Saturdays. She said it was work related.
I recognized the pattern and decided not to follow her to whatever restaurant and bar she was going to. I didn’t need to have a big fight in public. Instead I waited until the next day, and lied to her, and told her I had followed her. She said, well I guess thats it then. Why does everyone follow me?
Implying that I wouldn’t have just been the second person to follow her.
She was right, that was it. Once a cheater, always a cheater, even if they aren’t married or living together.
Wife Started Behaving Like A F**inist And Is Now Having A MELTDOWN That Her Marriage Is IMPLODING
Chinese people are prolific savers. And Chinese as you know are the most practical and pragmatic people on planet earth. They are the opposite of American people who are one of the most wasteful nation on planet earth. And worst the U.S. as a nation and your archaic political system allows wasteful and unaudited spending.
China and Chinese are just the opposite.
Chinese people save 36% of their income, the highest on earth and the US barely save at all. That is a very big difference. The U.S. cannot depend on domestic savings, China can and they do. China saved more the entire UK GDP each year! China used that to fuel the Chinese economy by building up infrastructures and invest in R&D. Hence China is now totally independent innovatively and scientifically.
I know when a person like you who ask such a question you are already fooled by your western media that China is unsustainable but the fact is just the opposite. The U.S. is mightily unsustainable and China is the lowest geared economy. And its real tangible investment are paying off well!
The U.S. infrastructure is dilapidating and you guys burnt cash like there is no tomorrow! 5 trillion in Iraq, 5 trillion in Vietnam, 3 trillion in Afghanistan. And probably 10 trillion in Ukraine by the time this shit ended. Burning cash sending armadas around the world and keeping 800 plus military bases around the world! Your investment is not getting any returns.
China build more high speed railway, solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric power stations then the rest of the world put together!
So grow up Mr. Questioner and Americans and brain dead westerners. China is great and dandy. The U.S. is without doubt collapsing before your eyes. If you open yours!
THIS AMERICAN INSULTS THE ENTIRE AFRICAN CONTINENT. IS THIS HOW A/AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT AFRICANS?
Tiananmen, and the never-ending western media narrative telling outright lies for decades without giving the Chinese the opportunity to set out the facts is the primary motivation for the Great Firewall, and strict Chinese censorship.
A poor and relatively backward China would have been at constant risk of implosion had external forces been able to spread lies as propaganda to bring down the government in Beijing, using Tiananmen as the rallying point.
Unfortunately, the truth is way more mundane.
The students were persuaded to go home before first light, and most of the soldiers deployed to the square were involved in area cleaning on June 4th and 5th.
In sum, the Tiananmen PROTESTS (which lasted for months centered around June 4th) resulted in the deaths of several hundred, with an abnormally high percentage being uniformed personnel. It was at best, a sustained social disturbance.
The Chinese are not stupid, or disrespectful people. No leader will order a massacre at Tiananmen, with the portrait of Mao overlooking the square. The Long March generation had given their lives to free the people from oppression, and it would have been heresy to mow down the hope of the nation under the watchful eyes of Mao.
Dmitry Orlov: Russia and China Melding in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape
This happened, not to me, but to my younger sister (who’s 16 at the moment). [Too bad I wasn’t with her back then…]
Some Background Details (they’re important in the story): My sister is a beautiful, talented and intelligent girl. She got double promotion in her 6th year so now she’s the youngest in her class. For some time now (around 2–3 years… Whoa, that’s actually a lot!), she has been complaining about her vision. She says that whenever she opens her eyes, everything just constantly keeps morphing and changing forms .
We took her to 3 opthalmologists. None of them could determine the cause of her wavy vision and so they diagnosed it as psychological and referred her to a psychologist who was very well-known (and well-paid) in our area.
Let’s call the psychologist Sarah. So here goes:
(My sister comesin and sits down. Sarah regards my sister condescendingly then proceeds to give her a complacent smirk as if she had just found the answer to all the problems in the universe)
Sarah: “You’re not a very good student are you?”
5 remarks popped into my sister’s head at that very moment:
WTF?!
Is this the first question you ask your patient?
I’m top of my class even after my double promotion.
You’re not a very good doctor are you?
Lady, you just ruined your reputation in less than 10 seconds.
But instead she replied with a simple “I’m moderately good.”
Sarah: “You know, it won’t do you any good to lie.”
By this point, my sister is so shocked she doesn’t even say anything.
Sarah: “Please stand outside for a moment. I’d like to speak to your mother privately.”
My sister just walks out (still unable to process such level of vanity in an adult).
Sarah: “Your daughter is quite obviously making the whole thing up about her vision. And as her parent, it is your responsibility to make sure she studies all day. She gets an F in her tests and at best a D, am I right?”
It took my mother all of her willpower to not get up and slap her full across the face. She quietly thanked the doctor and left, making sure to slam the door especially loudly on her way out.
P.S. After much more research and diagnosis in another country (Australia), it turns out my sister’s wavy vision was due to ocular migraine. It hasn’t got much better yet but baby steps lead the way. 🙂
INVESTIGATORS REVEAL JIMMY LAI MONEY TRAIL
Huge amounts of international money flowed into the bank accounts of Jimmy Lai—and large sums of cash went out to anti-China groups, a court heard yesterday.
The tabloid publisher received HK$2.945 billion in his nine bank accounts in recent years, with deposits coming from the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere. The money is said to have derived “from overseas securities trading”.
But the money didn’t sit there.
Who got the cash?
Chunks of finance went out to multiple China-hostile political groups in Hong Kong, the US, and the UK, the prosecution said, providing a detailed report from financial investigators.
Jimmy Lai’s lawyer Steven Kwan Man-wai did not dispute the information.
Local recipients included the Hong Kong Democratic Party, the Civic Party, the Labour Party, the League of Social Democrats, the court was told.
A wildly critical UK group called Hong Kong Watch, whose members include Benedict Rogers and former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten, received HK$202,000.
Paul Wolfowitz, former US deputy secretary of defence, was sent HK$1.76 million in payments from 2013 onwards, the court heard. Money also went to a right-wing think tank called the American Enterprise Institute.
Cash also went to a group called the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, organizers of an annual meeting to keep the “Tiananmen Square massacre” story, debunked by Julian Assange and others, alive.
The biggest individual recipient named yesterday was Cardinal Joseph Zen, a retired Hong Kong churchman who has fallen out with his colleagues, including Pope Francis, over his relentless China-bashing. The churchman received HK$3.5 million in 2017, the prosecution said.
The court heard earlier that large sums of money from Jimmy Lai’s funds (held by various entities) were paid to media companies, including the publishers of the Washington Post, the Nikkei Weekly, the UK Guardian, and media groups in India.
Jimmy Lai, 76, is on trial for sedition and collusion, offences illegal worldwide. His colleagues and associates have pleaded guilty in related hearings. The trial continues.
Baltic Sea Anomaly, Atlantis, and Underwater Alien Bases | Mysteries of the Ocean Pt 1
Oh, and movies said we’d “live happily ever after.”
And we did, through the honeymoon. Then reality struck.
We suddenly discovered that, well, we’re very different. In just about everything.
And that caused us to clash and occasionally me to wonder, “What the hell is wrong with her?”
And my wife to wonder that about me, only way more often.
Through years of building businesses, raising kids, paying bills. And occasional sleepless nights, sickness and clashes it would have been easy to walk away.
To think, “Well, I guess it’s not meant to be.”
But we just chose not to. We chose to make it “happily ever after.” Period.
So when we didn’t have the happy part we still had the ever after part. And it was going to be a long ever after.
So we might as well put the happy part back in. And we did.
Last week my wife was gone baby sitting our grandson. I was home alone.
No, that’s never a good thing in so many ways.
She came home on Friday evening so we had a late dinner and watched a movie.
As we enjoyed a glass of wine, I thought, “Ah, life is good again. Just the way it’s meant to be.”
I turned to her and said, “I’m glad you can babysit. But I’m really glad you’re home.”
“Yeah, it feels good to be home too. Though I miss my baby,” she responded.
“I know, I’m having to compete with your new boyfriend. But I do have to say, he’s really cute.”
We laughed.
And proceeded to live happily ever after for another evening.
And later, well, never mind.
You get married for the wrong reasons. Then build a marriage for the right ones.
I was failing grade 8 Math and English, and barely passing Science. My parents ran into my Math teacher at a social event, turned out they had distant common friends.
She made it a point to tell them I wasn’t going to get anywhere in life. She suggested they find me a trade, I might do well as an electrician or a plumber (nothing wrong with these professions, except she used it in a derogatory way, as studying is beyond my capabilities).
Ms. Farhana was a real jerk.
I was the shiest kid around and bullied throughout my childhood. However, I was embarrassed enough by that incident that I mustered up my courage and asked the neighbour’s daughter to tutor me. She started from basic and built up from there.
I passed grade 8 Math. Barely, but I passed it.
She kept tutoring me and I did average in grade 9.
My grade 10 Math teacher had a baby. He lived in the neighbourhood so I decided to ring his doorbell to wish him well. He invited me in for cake. Zee never says no to cake. He told me I could be his best student if I just tried harder.
I knew he was giving me an empty compliment, but a part of me thought I could.
So I asked him to help me after school. He said yes.
I got lucked out with a really kick-ass, but slightly racist, grade 11 Chemistry teacher. He broke things down to just Math. I overlooked his passive aggressive micro-aggressions and had him help me. Everything made sense.
I took Finite Math in highschool. The teacher had a bit of a gambling problem, but man did he know his probabilities.
Suddenly Math was fun.
There is a goat behind one of three doors and you pick a door. I open one of the doors you didn’t pick, do you change your answer? (Hint: yes)
I made up different problems with him. I learned Texas Hold’em. We talked about probabilities of different hands.
In grade 12 Advanced Math I got almost perfect, the highest mark anyone has gotten up until that point in that school’s history.
I took Math tests for fun and did well enough at the University of Waterloo’s Descartes test that I got in with scholarship even though my overall marks weren’t that high.
I decided to major in Math (and Computer Science). I finished the first year in Dean’s list, primarily because of kicking ass in Math. I tutored Calculus, Algebra, and Combinatorics and Optimization to pay bills.
Screw you Ms. Farhana, you were wrong.
I graduated and went to work for Microsoft and then Amazon due to my strength in Math.
I decided to run for a local office and despite not knowing anyone, turned campaigning into a Math problem. I reached out to others in the office and asked them for advice. I took their advice seriously.
Heck I read a book, tracked down its author (two-time mayor of a Michigan municipality) and emailed him for advice. He replied and agreed to mentor me remotely.
I won the election.
I started a business. I sucked at it. I ran into someone at a dinner who ran an agency. I asked him for help. He agreed. Eventually we ran a campaign for Nissan.
As a child I never thought I could learn that everyone had something to teach me, outright ask them to teach me, and benefit from this skill so incredibly.
“The Worst Thing Ever”
it was seriously the worst thing ever. I walked into my house and saw my mom hanging from the ceiling fan.
I can’t even put into words how messed up it was. It felt like my whole world just fell apart. I still can’t wrap my head around it. It’s like I’m stuck in some kind of freaky….
I can’t even put into words how messed up it was. It felt like my whole world just fell apart. I still can’t wrap my head around it. It’s like I’m stuck in some kind of freaky dream.
I just wish I could go back in time and stop it from happening. But I know that’s not possible. All I can do now is try to move on and remember her in the best way I can.
The most devastating experience of my life was witnessing my mother’s passing. The sight of her lifeless body on the floor left me feeling as though I had lost not only her, but also myself and my entire world.
Despite my desperate desire to help her, she passed away before my eyes, leaving me feeling helpless and hopeless.
However, as time passed, I came to the realization that I must strive to make her proud by doing my best to secure a successful future. This tragedy has left an indelible mark on my life, but I am determined to honor my mother’s memory by achieving my goals.
image 167
Related…
DESPERATE WOMAN RESCUED FROM HANGING HERSELF TO DEATH
2024 01 22 07 03
Information from reliable source to YIRIMAMBO ADVOCACY GROUP UPPER WEST REGION
indicate that a woman from East District information gathered from Wa East district in the Upper West region indicate that a married woman with six children who allegedly wanted to hang herself to death is battling with problems.
It has been fetched but obvious that she can not do anything else for survival nor her mother to care for her family. It is noted that she is a sickler and her mother a stroke patience.
Despite her poor health condition, she and the husband that are taking care of the family. She is always carrying her mother here and there to help her in movement because of that she can’t do any work for money.
Notwithstanding to this, sometimes it is difficult for them to get even food to eat or clothes to wear and medicines for themselves.
Even though the father with six children, is a farmer but is not easy for him taking care of all of them, he brings only what he gets from the farm and that is all which is not always enough but they have been managing.
So she always sit idle thinking that all these problems cannot be solved and she has been saying which she has always been saying to people. *Ending Her Life By Committing Suicide* On the 31st July, 2019 at about 4-5:00 in the evening, a woman which is about 45years- old by name with-held with six Chlidren, from Ducie in the Wa East district of the Upper West region went out with a rope in a black
polythene bag thinking that nobody have seen her but one of her children who was inside another room before she went out into the bush quickly went to inform some good Samaritans in the community and they also quickly traced this woman to the bush and before they got there she has already tied the rope on top of a tree trying to climb another piece of a tree before she can put her neck on the rope. Then the people who followed her as good Samaritans shouted on her and quickly rushed to save her without doing that.
So on this note we are pleading that if any member can help us with either food stuffs or clothes for these people and health support for them as well, if possible so that we will also try to help this woman with counselling and the materials support from you.
But for now she is a little bit OK with her situation.
With the intervention of yirimambo for the first place with our advice and counseling than before.
SOURCE YIRIMAMBO ADVOCACY GROUP UPPER WEST
Be the RUFUS!
We are a community.
My post on community… on Quora.
What is a Chinese Expert?
I really do not think that this creature exists.
According to the Western / American “news” media, a Chinese Expert is…
A person who accepts American government funding to say bad things about China.
Is associated, or was associated, with American mainstream media.
Has, in their possession, photos of the “expert” with American political personages.
According to the Chinese, a Chinese Expert is a graded, stratified tier system based on experience.
Top Tier
Born in China. Studied Chinese history with exemplary grades. Works on behalf of the Chinese people, and puts the people of China first. Many members of the CCP fit this role, as do many Pioneers, and an entire subculture of Chinese that support the “Chinese Dream”.
Old Hand
Has lived in China for a significant period of time. Understands the various societies, and cultures of China. Is married to, or was part of, a Chinese family. Works on behalf on the greater good for all, but of course, his / her Chinese family and Chinese friends come first. This person is also known as a Chinese wanna-be. And this person supports, and praises, “The Chinese Dream”.
Enthusiast
This person, may or many not have lived in China. But has totally embraced the Chinese culture, society and means. This includes certain individuals out of Singapore, Vietnam, and other places around the globe. Maybe they aren’t an “expert” in a classical sense, but they are certainly enthusiastic for the Chinese dream. These people are perhaps known an “fanboi.”
At best, I (personally) am considered a “China Old Hand”.
I don’t know everything, but I know enough.
…
What is “The Chinese Dream”?
Last weekend, my family and a few friends, went to visit an organizational youth meet in Zhuhai. This group (and there are thousands throughout China), teach independence, pride, self-confidence, and acceptance as part of “The Chinese Dream”. It was astounding.
It’s 100% voluntary. The kids pay a small membership fee.
Really. Amazing.
You will never see anything else like this anywhere. Watch how accepted and inclusive my daughter was taken in. It was like she was “absorbed by the hive”. LOL
“Resistance is futile”. -The Borg
https://youtu.be/vVcosfCqwNA
There is a great sense of belonging, and acceptance that I have NEVER experienced anywhere else.
Belonging.
B-E-L-O-N-G-I-N-G
Belonging as PART of a COMMUNITY.
No “lone wolf” bullshit.
…
It’s stuff like this why I LOVE LOVE LOVE China so much.
EDIT 22JAN23
1.3K views. Only 30 “thumbs up”.
I guess you all have bought into the Western propagandized lie that you can be the “lone wolf”. That you can be another “Die Hard” type; another Rambo. Another Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. Maybe a “Professional career woman”… and all that.
That is a lie.
As many are waking up to the reality that humans are social creatures.
We were on a flight to the U.S. from Thailand where we live.
In Taiwan, a disheveled man of around 30 sat down next to me, reeking of weed. After takeoff, he pulled down the tray and filled it with candy bars, nuts, fruit juice and oranges from his camouflage jacket. He turned to me and said, “You can’t trust airline food.”
But when lunch was served, he smashed his food stash under the food tray he was given and ate everything, including the garnish.
Afterwards he wanted to talk and kept pestering me with, “Hey. Hey!!”
He asked where we were from, and upon hearing “Bangkok” he began raving about ‘Thai sticks’, Thai marijuana. Then he asked my Thai husband if he would help him start importing weed to the U.S.
Husband stared at him really coldly and told the man that he was a Royal Thai police officer so “No.” The idiot’s response: “ Listen, I know all Thai cops are corrupt. We could make a load.”
Husband put headphones on and ignored him. I asked the pothead if he was out of his mind. He shrugged, laughed and said husband would change his mind, for sure.
Luckily, he made a friend elsewhere and moved.
But he wasn’t finished with us.
As we lined up for Customs, he got right behind us. As the agent checked our bags, he kept saying loudly, “They’re from Thailand. Great weed there! Oh, look! That’s a weed pipe!” (It was a replica of a silver opium pipe, a decorative item – a gift) “Listen! I still wanna import from you guys!!”
Another agent picked up his bags and escorted him to a separate office, and we never saw him again.
The United States and it’s entire existence is based on the WEALTH OF NATIONS
The inherent belief that Core Capitalism is the only system to deliver maximum benefits to an economy and stability to the economy & a system of the people is the only way to deliver a system with full global peace
That the world will be fully peaceful when every nation is governed by its people AKA is a democracy built on Western ideals
This was a very correct analysis that the US followed for almost a hundred and ten years from 1880–1990
Unfortunately this ideology got corrupted post 1990 when:-
US Democracy slowly became more and more partisan
US Leaders became slowly worse and worse and essentially corrupt demagogues
The US capitalism model deteriorated to an Oligarchy ‘Support the top 1%’ model that is sinking the states
The US model became all about speculation and less about actual progress and growth
Yet today’s US leaders religiously believe this is the winning model that every nation must adopt and regards any nation that is different as a ‘Flawed Nation’
Chinas Economic Ideology unlike the USA has always changed to suit changing times
From Deeply Socialist under Mao Tse Tung where the focus was on Education and Equality and Food Production and Stability
To Gradual Mixed Economy under Deng Xiaoping & Jiang Zimin where the focus shifted to Industrialization
To a Ruthless Capitalist Mindset under Hu Jintao where the focus was growth, growth and growth
To the Common Prosperity Mindset under Xi Jingping focusing on reducing Income inequality, spreading development across all sections of the economy and a sort of hybrid model of socialism within capitalism
It is diametric opposite to the US and it’s Ruthless Capitalism Ideology
US maximizes emphasis on Speculation
China hates Speculation
US prefers to capitalize everything to the maximum
China prefers a strong sense of control on excess capitalism
US prefers coalescing smaller entities into a handful of monopolies
China prefers mushrooming of smaller entities and competition deciding which is the best
Chinas One Party System is also diametrically opposite to the Multiple faction democracy that the US endorses and the West supports
The US believes that one person for too long loses the incentive to serve the people and becomes a dictator
Yet China believes a group of able people can serve the people the best and prevent unworthy individuals from coming to power who can ruin a well established system of governance
The US has always believed that ultimately China will shed it’s different ways and join the US in their perfect model (that they don’t realize they have fully corrupted)
It’s what made Gordon Chang & Peter Zeihan such celebrities
The US has always believed that China would face a massive setback like the USSR did (Or was suckered into triggering a setback like my friend Hoàng Phan establishes in his answers)
They estimated this to happen between 2005–2008
Didnt Happen
Instead China moved from strength to strength to strength over time and successfully endured every US action against it, from the Wolf Sanctions of 2011 to the Raimondo Sanctions of 2022
The US may trigger a wave of propaganda against China but the purpose of this is to STOP THEIR OWN PEOPLE FROM QUESTIONING AS TO HOW CHINA NOT ONLY SURVIVES TODAY BUT THRIVES FOLLOWING DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
As China moves ahead without the seeming collapse, the US are seeing their two hundred year old belief and ideology (Again which they don’t realize they have corrupted already) getting shattered by China
And slowly seeing others start to adopt a similar stance from Turkiye to Serbia to Vietnam to Singapore
The US is beginning to wonder if indeed it’s ideology was flawed and whether it’s gods and idols are false
And that terrifies them
They don’t realize that it is THEY who have completely corrupted a nice good solid system that was giving them the position of world leader and global trust for decades
It is they who have become Satanic Hegemons from Global Leaders
As for China, China is on the right track so far
They MUSTN’T MAKE THE MISTAKE THAT US DID
They mustn’t allow ideology and hegemony to corrupt them the way US was corrupted under Bush Junior, Clinton and so on
They must ensure they keep refreshing their system so that it best helps the people of China
Pepe Escobar: China Issues DEVASTATING Warning to Neocons as Putin and Xi Make History
I was on the beach late one night looking at the moon and the waves.
Out of the corner of my eye along the south end of the beach – I saw something super weird.
What is that?
I squinted, trying to figure it out – it was too far away – but it had to be really huge.
What the heck?
Well, I couldn’t sit there idly looking at the moon and listening to the surf anymore – I needed to figure out what that thing was over there on the beach.
So, I started walking… is it a car? What is that thing? How is it on the beach? Nobody in their right mind would drive a VW bug on a beach like ours… at night…
Closer and closer I walked and larger and larger it looked.
It was a leatherback sea turtle. Digging a hole in the sand.
I was utterly flabbergasted.
I didn’t make a sound, I just stood there, awestruck: feeling truly blessed in the moment to be near such a magnificent being.
I had never been so close to such a large animal in the wild before.
She was utterly oblivious to me – she was on a mission.
I stood beside her as she dug: I definitely got a sand bath that night. She flipped the sand until she was happy with her nest and began to fill it with eggs.
It took a long time.
I couldn’t stay until she was completely finished.
I’m pretty sure it took most of the rest of the night. I left around 0300 and she wasn’t done.
I’ve since swum with green turtles, who are dwarfed in comparison. But nothing has engendered that kind of awe before or since. Stunned is the right word for something which leaves your mouth hanging and your words lost.
Cheese and Honey Pie
Cheese and Honey Pie
Ingredients
Sesame Seed Pastry
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed
1/4 teaspoon salt
Filling
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
Sesame Seed Pastry: Mix all ingredients until blended; press firmly and evenly against bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate.
Bake at 475 degrees F for 5 minutes.
Filling: Beat cream cheese in large mixer bowl on medium speed until creamy. Add remaining ingredients; beat until light and fluffy. Pour into baked pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees F until firm, 40 to 50 minutes.
Refrigerate until serving time.
Yields 10 to 12 servings.
Done with the bullshit
I had a thought today that I wanted to share with you all, this is my response to a Reddit post I saw about how corrupt and outdated representative democracy is.
I will start with what I think to be the main problems of representative democracy
The elected body of legislators is not a representative sample of the population, looking at the legislature, you’d think the vast majority of the country was white male lawyers that are either Republicans or Democrats. This is very far from the truth, and many voters do not properly identify either Republican or Democrat and their interests oftentimes scope over topics from both parties. Most of the time when people vote they’re just picking the lesser of two evils, and are not in any way completely satisfied with what other party is doing.
Scope of power does not match scope of accountability, legislators may pass laws that impact people that could not vote for or against them. Unless you count propositions in places like california, legislators are able to pass pretty much whatever law they want that impact sometimes tens of millions of people and are in no way accountable to the laws that they pass. The people have no say in the laws that legislators have passed. This very often leads to a corrupt system of the government being able to do whatever it wants and the people having no say in what the government does.
Job security for elected officials is more dependent on fundraising than on whether the politician is acting in his or her constituents’ best interests. This blows the system wide open for large corporations and billionaires to buy off politicians that represent their best interests as opposed to the people.
Lobbying undermines democracy. Lobbying is a mechanism for powerful groups to influence laws and regulations at the expense of the public interest. This results in outside influence, unfair competition and policy capture, to the detriment of effective policymaking. This effectively allows billionaires and big corporations to buy our government and politicians that act in their best interests rather than the interests of the people.
The voting system and general layout of government was designed before it was possible to quickly communicate long distances, so it ignores the possibility of citizens directly participating.
Mass media cannot be trusted to provide accurate information and is very often bias. Mass media often feeds lies and propaganda to the electorate and the electorate is not currently equipped to ensure a representative democracy is acting in the best interest of the people.
The electoral college needs to go, it is not based on popular vote, and it is based on a winner takes all system which is easily susceptible to corruption and allows political candidates to be elected by losing the popular vote. Under the system if you want to vote for your states of losing party don’t even bother voting.
There aren’t enough representatives to accurately represent the people if we’re going to keep our system of representative democracy and not throw out the entire thing. I think the amount of Representatives should be raised to 936, and the amount of Representative districts should also be increased.
It’s very hard to remove corrupt politicians from power. The people should be able to impeach corrupt politicians, the system was not designed to have politicians serving for 30 or 40 years. We need term limits, I think a term limit of 6 years for senators and representatives is perfectly fair, and I think a term limit of 10 years for supreme Court justices is also perfectly fair. This would allow the government to be more in touch with what people want by constantly switching out people every couple of years.
The Monopoly of power that both conservatives and liberals have over the government in their respected Republican and Democratic parties. We need more political parties to better represent the people, it is not the case that people simply think one way or the other there should be five political parties written directly into the Constitution. The government should operate in a European style model of a political coalition if it wants to get anything done, in other words political parties are forced to make concessions and are forced to work with other political parties to pass laws.
So what do I things should be done to fix things? I’ll tell you
Abolish Congress and the supreme Court, and implement a system of direct democracy where every 6 months every single issue that the supreme Court and Congress would have looked at are voted on directly by the people in the form of propositions. Now I know that if we implemented elections twice a year every June and December people will be voting on about 100 different issues, and that’s fine, people’s voices need to be heard and it is a much better system of asking people what they think of certain issues rather than allowing an out-of-touch government to make these decisions for people instead.
Like I said on my previous point, it needs to be a government for the people by the people. This is why representative democracy is an outdated and obsolete relic of the past. In representative democracy legislators are able to pass whatever laws they please and are not accountable to the people.
We need to make lobbying illegal and if we are going to have a political coalition system the people need to be the ones electing politicians not billionaires and big corporations. Money should not be a part of politics. Making money part of politics undermines democracy
Like I said before lobbying undermines democracy and it needs to be banned 🚫. Lobby groups do absolutely nothing for the government except give special interest groups political power that they shouldn’t have and allow the special interest groups to have a voice in our country and our politics and it allows them to buy politicians.
We need to switch to a ranked choice voting system, as opposed to an instant runoff system. The electoral college needs to go, even if that means amending the Constitution to get rid of it.
Mass media should not have a say in our government, as they cannot be trusted to provide accurate information. I think we should have a system of fake news laws that holds these mass media companies accountable for publishing bias or false information
Like I said the electoral college needs to go. Even if that means amending the Constitution get rid of it. We need a ranked choice popular voting system. This would make it so everybody’s voice is heard, and it would allow new political parties to come to the table and it would break up the Monopoly of power that Republicans and Democrats have over the government.
I don’t even think we should keep our system of Representative democracy, but if it needs to stay we need to double the amount of Representatives to 936. This wasn’t even my idea this was the idea of YouTuber Mathew Beat.
We need term limits for politicians. Once a corrupt politician like Mitch McConnell is in power it’s almost impossible to get rid of them. And it should be up to the entire country to elect politicians not just their state. Term limits would allow new people to come to the table and new ideas to spread and it would allow for more political parties to have seats. Every political party no matter how extremist should be able to have its voice heard.
We need to switch to a political coalition system. Everybody should be able to have their voice heard no matter what side of the political spectrum they sit on. There should be five major political parties and many smaller political parties even if those political parties only get 1–5% of the vote. These political parties should be: the nationalist, the conservatives, the liberals, the acella party (progressive party), and the green party. Many smaller political parties such as: the Socialist party, the fascist party, the libertarian party, etc should also get a say. If we have 936 representatives, even if the fascist party only got 2% of the vote, they would still get 19 seats. This would actually heavily benefit minority political parties and give them a lot of power. Let’s say for example that 20% of the population identifies as nationalist, and 22% of the population identify as conservative. This does not add up to 51%, it adds up to 42%, this would still require an additional 9% of the vote for the nationalist and conservatives to get anything passed and they would have to make deals with the smaller political parties to get up to 51%.
These are just my thoughts about our whole busted political system, let me know what you think
2024 Taiwan Election Reveals Shocking TRUTH About USA and China
Today’s post is a really long one, but boy oh boy are there some most excellent videos here. Everything from WTF? to cats purring to a crackling fireplace (I’m gonna listen to that one a second time), to a tale about a death and a slide to a non-death and everything in between. Check out the laundromat millionaire, and the Chinese nuclear physicist that lost everything in the USA…
…
Please guys take care of yourself. Make the best of your life and do not get sidetracked by the massive lies on the internet. There is a percentage of the West that are truly crazy, and the leadership is the same only add “bat shit” in front of that title….
My mother once had a cookie jar when I was in 4th through 6th grade. But eventually she stopped filling it, and then threw it away.
Turns out that us kids kept on raiding it, no matter what she said, and it would ruin our dinners.
First it turned out that she would fill it up once a month. then, only on certain occasions.
Then, every now and again. Only telling us, when we were good, that it held cookies.
Then it just remained empty for a long time. Maybe six months.
Then…
One day, it was cleaned and put away inside one of the cupboards. And there it sat for all eternity. It was never, ever taken out after that.
…
All in all, that’s a lesson of life.
The demise of the cookie jar.
…
Chinese PhD PHYSICS RESEARCHER Homeless in New York USA
My “soulmate” got married on September 23rd, 2018 to the love of his life.
She was his childhood best friend. I knew her only very briefly. I never thought too much about it considering she was several years younger than him and the nature of their relationship growing up, but it happened.
He told me she was the safer choice. His family was already comfortable with her presence, she came to every serious family function. She didn’t have any crazy ambition to go to school or pursue a career. She wanted to be a stay at a home mom, while I wasn’t sure if I even wanted children. I was little more spontaneous, while she was calculated. I questioned his alcoholism, while she let him drink without a word.
When I looked through their online wedding album, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. For nearly 7 years (I’ll spare you the details of our relationship) I was sure this man would be my husband. Seeing the type of person his wife is though puts every detail of our relationship into perspective. The truth is, we wouldn’t have been able to make a life for ourselves in the long run.
I’m not her; and I don’t want to be.
There was a time in my life where I swore his wedding day would be the day I died. Boy was I wrong. Now when I think about him getting married, I think of the barren fields in Texas that they chose to move to. I think of the colour beige, and unflavoured grits, and scooping horseshit. I think of the children I never wanted and all the other excruciatingly boring things that they get to do together.
It’s a blessing in disguise.
Magic Music for Cats – UNBELIEVABLE Results (Tested 2022)
If youse guys have cats, then please play this video for them.
Yes those people have a monthly income of 1000 Yuan but most of them have their own homes, they don’t pay rent or mortgage
Most of those people get their food at State Subsidized Rates which is 30% below market price. This means Monthly Provisions for a family of three whose net income is 3000 RMB is only around 600 RMB. For this they can eat 1800–1850 Calories a day comfortably
Most of these people have given their leased land for Windmills or Solar Power and they get 275 Units a month free. So most of them don’t pay for electricity
If they lent their leased land for the gas pipelines, they get 100 RMB subsidy off gas. Thus most of them get their cooking gas free of cost or barely for 20–30 RMB a month
They get Education for their Kids fully free upto Grade IX and a subsidy of upto 80% for higher grades on already low tuition of 1800–2400 RMB a year. So a family with 2 Kids pays a paltry 30 RMB -50 RMB a month on Tuition
They get State Insurance for their Health plus NLF Insurance if they are farmers or factory workers with premiums paid by employers. Each of them gets upto 30,000 to 100,000 RMB in healthcare expenses. They don’t have to pay Doctor Consultancy Fees or more than 18% of their Hospital Bills which are again advanced as Loans at a paltry 2% a year interest
So 1000 RMB goes a long way for these people
They eat well, live in their own house, pay virtually nothing for their utilities and have a safe healthcare net plus tuition is near free all the time
So rather than income, it’s their access to a basic standard of living that should be counted here
My ex and I had an agreement. I went to work, made good money, I did a LOT around the house and she would pay the bills, make sure the kids were taken care of as far as the doctor, school, etc, and the house was kept up.
I kept up my end of the bargain. I made good money, but we always seemed to be broke. The house was not clean, I ended up doing a lot of the grocery shopping, cooking, all the house maintenance. The kids helped out a lot!
One day I decided to take a look at the bank account and all the bills, see where we were losing the most money so I could figure out the issue there.
I found about $2000 in ATM withdrawals in a 1 month period, Jan 19, 2016 to Feb 19, 2016. They were $50, $20, $30, $80… on and on for the month.
I went back and found a similar pattern the previous months, years, and so on. I counted up tens of thousands of dollars just gone.
That was the end for me. Within a week I told her I wanted a divorce. She had been complaining for years how everyone she knows is going on vacations, how they all take trips all the time, and we never are able to. Telling me I need to make more money, do overtime, take more training so I can get a better job, and the entire time she had been spending the money on drugs. Years and years worth of onesie-twosie bumps and hits.
She denied vacations for my kids. She ruined large parts of their childhood by not being a good mother, by not showing a good example for them, by not being there very much.
Now she is in prison, possession and distribution of meth.
The research company I worked for was downsizing. My previous boss had already been let go and my new boss kept sending his employees to learn everything in my department. Well one fave employee thought she was better at my job and kept trying to change our protocols. She never actually did any work, just made our lives miserable.
Then the day came where new boss walked in and started handing out moving boxes. He didn’t even say a word, just passed out the boxes. We all packed up and left. Now my lab was a resource lab that did a ton of work for the other labs. Suddenly me and all my staff were let go and the new boss handed it over to his people.
Guess what? They had never done these procedures, used the high tech equipment or even understood the complicated algorithms to process the data. First week I get 9 phone calls asking for help. That was met with a big NOPE. Then I get a call that the favorite employee had mishandled one of the very expensive robot units and it was out of order. They wanted ME to come in and reprogram it and get them back up and running. Oh heck no! I never went back and never helped.
Lesson of my story is don’t play favorites and make sure you have the staff to accomplish the job.
What is the best relationship advice for today?
Western Society has changed, and the system of “marriage” is no longer useful or viable.
…
Well, think about it…
MEN
60% of Gen Z males over 30 are still virgins. HERE
Shockingly, 60% of males in the 30-34 age group are still virgins.
The CDC also reports that virgins make up 12.3 percent of females
…
This is very disturbing.
Historically, the numbers were 90+% for both males and females. Thus the maintenance of a stable long-duration relationship of equivalency in sexual experience no longer occurs. The reason is that pair-bonding doesn’t occur after 3 or more sexual partners prior to a marriage.
This lack of “pair-bonding” creates a untenable situation for long-duration relationships.
As the traditional characteristic of virginal marriages; which is marriage longevity, is no longer possible.
Scientists have attributed this phenomenon to numerous sociological and psychological attributes. Some of the contributing trends are the “Woke movement”, the “feminist movement”, “LGBQ+ movement”, “social media”, as well, of the dearth of attention to the values of traditional marriage and relationships. With in turn, has resulted in “push back” movements such as the “red pill movement”, and the “the passport bros movement”.
Never the less, what matters is the outcome of this disparity in sexual experience…
Obviously, modern women find that marriages are not suitable for them, their dreams and desires.
When a divorce is granted by a Western court, the male (more often than not) is penalized disproportionately (in comparison to the female). In fact 97% of American men must pay spousal support, while only 3% of women need to. HERE. This is the case, even though the gender pay gap is functionally at parity. HERE
Obviously, statistically, the divorce is not fairly distributed. Independent on the reason for the divorce, the courts overwhelmingly punish and penalize the male.
Thus, without looking into the hows and whys for this situation, the outcomes are crystal clear. [1] Traditional marriage is not longer functional in the West. [2] When a female enters in a marriage, it is statistically probable that she will be unhappy and will want to terminate it. [3] Regardless of the reasons and issues involved, the male in that divorce will suffer disproportionately compared to the female.
…
Taking all of the above into consideration, I suggest that a “non-traditional” marriage contract be used.
Both parties write out and agree to legally binding “prenuptial agreements”. One for the male and one for the female that they both sign with a attorney.
Then, Instead of a registered wedding / marriage with a (county) District of the Peace or a State Clerk, A legal “statement of marriage” be written up by your attorney. This document clearly defines the ownership, financial, and responsibilities of both parties in the event that the divorce fails. This prevents a third part (the government) from getting involved, and protects the unique union of the two parties.
Finally, a third document is required. A “separation agreement” document must be drafted. This establishes how the divorce proceedings (outside of the normal legal channels) will be handled, or how reconciliation efforts (if any) can be implemented.
…
This solution is not for everyone. However it recognizes the reality that the current marriage union available in the West in presently dysfunctional and broken. Thus, it proves a means of union, and disunion based upon the needs of BOTH the male and the female. It also explicitly forges a legal contract independent of the broken system that so entraps the divorced family.
FACT: Nothing is more critical to a person’s (male or female) happiness than the person that they are married to.
This solution recognizes this reality, and provides a realistic and workable solution in common use by the wealthier families in the West. It replaces the (presently contemporaneous) “work-arounds” such as “open relationships”, “Social Media based activity”, “hook up culture, and the problem of “high body counts”.
I want both the women, as well as the men, to both share in a fine long-duration marriage where both are happy.
Argentina and why they chose to not align with BRICS+
My brother was missing, as an adult, for nearly 30 years. No, he wasn’t just staying out of touch by choice. No, he wasn’t in Witness Protection. Less than two weeks after I last saw him, he’d been murdered in what police called one of the most brutal murders they had ever seen. But we had no way of knowing this. We didn’t know where he was, since he was hitchhiking across the country. No cell phones, no Internet in 1989. From our point of view, he just vanished.
In 2018, I was perusing a database of unidentified remains. I saw a sketch that could only have been my brother’s face. All the identifying information matched. He had been murdered in a neighboring state. I contacted the people I needed to contact. I got DNA. It took about 6 agonizing months of gathering data and having it analyzed to get results. They were positive. The murder victim was my brother. The murder is unsolved.
That was the easy part, as horrible as it was (I broke out in hives that wouldn’t go away and went into treatment-resistant depression). Now I had to tell my mother what I’d discovered.
I had to make the phone call to tell my mother that her favorite child, who had been missing 30 years, had been murdered in 1989. She wanted details of the murder, so I provided them. I would not have, had she not insisted on knowing everything.
I had people tell me “Just don’t tell her. Just don’t tell her.” But on balance, I thought that was unfair. Not knowing was just as torturous as knowing, and this way, she could lay him to rest before she died. Further, she was not a child to be protected from upsetting information.
I know she grieved greatly. My stepfather told me she cried for 3 days straight (hardly surprising), and there was an element of accusation in his voice. But telling her wasn’t his decision to make. It was mine. You can’t protect people from death. It touches us all.
If there are any who would judge my decision, I simply say to you that I highly doubt you will ever be in the same situation, so you have no right to judge. I was faced with an impossible choice. When a loved one is murdered, everyone loses no matter what you do, and my family’s story had the extra stress of him having been missing for so long. He is now laid to rest in a beautiful, remote cemetery, and he is remembered for the loving, kind, and generous soul that he was.
This is a picture of me with my cat Dexter, who saved my life.
image 102
The last few years I was feeling a bit off most days and my doctors couldn’t find a reason for my chronic fatigue and inability to train hard (I’m a former pro fighter who still trains like one).
After years of getting little more then shrugs from medical staff one day I started feeling chest pain. It felt like a torn muscle so I chalked it up as a training injury and ignored it.
Suddenly Dexter, who had been around me for 20 years, ran over to me and started pawing at my chest and crying. He had never acted this way. I decided it was a red flag and called 911. As I opened the door for paramedics I had a “widow maker” heart attack and collapsed (very low survival rate, hence the name). The cardiologist who operated on me said if I had waited 3 more minutes to call I wouldn’t have survived.
I’ve had many pets over the years and loved them all. But I had a unique bond to that cat.
This picture is so sad to me because not only was I still recovering from heart surgery in this pic and feeling awful, but Dexter was 21 and his health was rapidly declining, it was one of the last times I held him and somewhere deep down, I knew it. He suffered a stroke and passed away a few days after this pic was taken. I still miss him every day.
Within a few months of losing Dexter both of my businesses closed due to the long term effects of the COVID lockdowns. My body/health has not 100% recovered from the heart attack, my heart has never 100% healed from losing Dexter, and my finances/ professional life has never really recovered from losing two businesses I spent years building from the ground up.
If anyone would like to watch a video I made about Dexter I’m also pasting a link in the comments, feel free to watch.
India heavily depends on US for its Software services and Indians migrate to US in droves every year
Civil Servants, Army Officials, Politicians all have Kids and Grandkids in the US
The US has a market for close to $ 400–600 Million for Indian Films every year
The Indian Army relies on US, Israel and it’s allies for more than 50% of the Critical Technologies needed for it’s Defence
India thus is very likely to break in seconds if there is a serious threat of sanctions
Saudi Arabia is next
Saudi depends heavily on Western Equipment and Western Security even now
The Saudis are today at relative peace but as on date they still need the US Dollar & the Security Umbrella
China is next
The West represents almost around 17 Trillion RMB worth of Trade translating to around 2.3 Trillion RMB of Government Revenue and Economic Accrued wealth every year
China is however the first country that can survive the sanctions albeit not at Russia’s level
Brazil & South Africa are next
Both these Nations have sufficient economic independence and Brazils largest customer is China
Yet both these nations have political factions that are heavily Pro US
UAE is next
UAE once again is safer than Saudi Arabia and has been left alone by the West for many decades unlike Saudi Arabia
UAE is far more resilient and less dependent on the West than Saudi
It’s why many Russians have invested their money in UAE
Ethiopia is too small to be sanctioned effectively
It has sufficient food and energy security from Russia and that’s all it needs
Iran and Russia are the ‘Go F*** yourself’ Nations of BRICS
They can actually ask the West to go f*** off anytime they want
They are entirely immune from Western Sanctions
So the order is
Iran + Russia > Ethiopia = UAE > Brazil = South Africa > China > Saudi Arabia > India
Left Alone Abandoned By Her Family After 18 Years, This Cat Ended Up in a Shelter
China wishes to be friends with the United States, however, were the USA to cross a Chinese “Red Line” then China would declare war.
In a declared war, by China, against the United States, the results would be horrific.
The value of the USD would go to ZERO. the paper would not be worth more than the dollar.
The Global South would no longer trade with the USA creating a fiasco of inconceivable proportions.
Any American military adventurism in and around China would end. It would not be reported, but the loss of entire fleets would not be be easily hidden.
And now for the “kicker”…
China would launch missiles that the United States has no defense for, against strategic and leadership targets. Uh oh!
This would result in catastrophic damage. It would be irreparable. Well, Duh!
And the United States (and proxy) response would be thwarted with absolute erasure of all the contributors.
…
Ai!
It’s an ugly thought. Not for the faint of heart.
But the Global South are not like the West. They are lead by talented, skilled and merit driven leadership. Not by the group of cluster-fuckery clowns that you see during vociferation on CNN and BBC daily. They will not allow “president” Biden to do anything that horrible.
So rest easily.
If things goes tit’s up, at least you have ample warning to “get outta Dodge”.
After the 2019 737 Max failures that downed two airplanes and killed all inside, the company promised to change its culture. But it has since seen several production stops for quality and flight security issues on several of its manufacturing lines. There are still undelivered 737 MAX and 787 planes mothballed on various airports around Seattle.
NEW IMAGE from on board Alaska Airlines 1282 after ***part of the fuselage*** blew out mid-flight. Successful emergency return to Portland after 20 minutes in the air. 10-week-old (!) Boeing 737 Max 9. NTSB investigating.
There is video from inside the plane as it was landing. Oxygen masks had been deployed when the plane depressurized. The women filming says that there was thankfully no one seated next to where the hull was breached. If there had been that person would likely have died.
🚨#BREAKING: Alaska Airlines Forced to Make an Emergency Landing After Large Aircraft Window Blows Out Mid-Air
A forced emergency landing was made of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 at Portland International Airport on Friday night. The flight, traveling from Portland to Ontario, California, faced severe depressurization, causing the ejection of a large window section and an unoccupied seat. This incident resulted in a child’s shirt being ripped off. The Boeing 737-900/-9MAX aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 16,300 ft before safely returning to Portland International Airport. As of now, it remains unclear if anyone on board the flight was injured, as this story is still developing.
It was not just the emergency exit door that was ripped out. (Such window emergency doors only open towards the inside of the plane.) The whole section around the emergency exit door departed.
I have since learned that this was indeed the place of a special emergency exit that, when installed, opens to the outside. This is ‘plugged’ on lower density planes that do not need it.
That points to a serious manufacturing issue at the hull builder that had not been caught by quality control.
All passengers and the crew survived and the plane landed safely. Alaska Air has grounded its 65 strong fleet of 737 MAX 9. Other airlines should follow.
The neat rectangular hole that appeared in the fuselage was located at the position where Boeing fits a plug to seal a door opening that is not used as a door by most airlines and by no U.S. carriers.
An emergency exit door is installed in that location only for jets going to low-cost carriers like Ryanair who cram in additional seats that require an extra emergency exit. Otherwise, the hole is sealed with a plug and from the inside it is covered by a sidewall so that to a passenger it looks like a normal window, not a door opening.
This plug, halfway between the over-wing exit and the door at the rear of the plane, is present only on the largest versions of the 737.
It’s fitted on the previous generation 737-900ER and the same design is on the 737 MAX 8-200, the high density version for low-cost carriers, as well as the MAX 9 and MAX 10.
Boeing instructed customer airlines to inspect their 737 Max jets for loose bolts, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Thursday.
The request comes after the manufacturer discovered two aircraft with missing bolts in the rudder control system, raising concerns about faults across all aircraft.
“The issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied,” Boeing told CNN in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are recommending operators inspect their 737 Max airplanes and inform us of any findings.”
Little noticed, the Federal Aviation Administration in December published a Boeing request for an exemption from key safety standards on the 737 MAX 7 — the still-uncertified smallest member of Boeing’s newest jet family.
Since August, earlier models of the MAX currently flying passengers in the U.S. have had to limit use of the jet’s engine anti-ice system after Boeing discovered a defect in the system with potentially catastrophic consequences.
The flaw could cause the inlet at the front end of the pod surrounding the engine — known as a nacelle — to break and fall off.
In an August Airworthiness Directive, the FAA stated that debris from such a breakup could penetrate the fuselage, putting passengers seated at windows behind the wings in danger, and could damage the wing or tail of the plane, “which could result in loss of control of the airplane.” …
One hopes that the FAA and Congress will finally get serious with Boeing. They must stop giving it all those lazy exceptions for issues that better (but more expensive) engineering can easily solve.
Posted by b on January 6, 2024 at 11:40 UTC | Permalink
Our “Parts Runner”, a maybe 5’4″ girl with long dark hair, (apparently) passed a stopped school bus on the right shoulder of a rural road at a high rate of speed (stupid!). We weren’t aware of this when the State police came by and questioned us. And instead of telling us what had happened and when, they focused on the shop owner, (6′ blond) who had earlier lost his driver’s license for a DUI. Does Mike drive? No. How does he get to work? He lives with me and rides with me. Doesn’t he own a red valiant license #… Well, I think the company owns it. He owns the company, doesn’t he? Ah, yeah, I guess. But he doesn’t drive that car, huh? No, it’s used for running parts. So he doesn’t drive it? No, our parts runner does (and I point to her) so, they arrested Mike for driving without a license and reckless driving and passing a stopped school bus and driving on the shoulder, and speeding. Mike fired the parts runner.
In court, the bus driver positively identified Mike as the driver. All of us – the receptionist, 4 mechanics and I were in court ready to testify that Mike was not driving at the time and place of the incident. But we never had to testify, because the bus driver got her dates confused and claimed the incident occurred on the day prior to the complaint. The judge had to dismiss the case.
There was absolutely no way that the driver actually saw who was driving. There is no way to mistake the parts runner for Mike. The state police HAD TO tell her to ID Mike as the driver. So not only did she lie, but the state troopers who did such a poor job of investigating what was a horrendous bit of driving and could have caused multiple fatalities of school children fucked up royally and got her to lie.
Eric Gales – “Don’t Fear The Reaper/All Along The Watchtower” (Live at the 2017 Dallas Guitar Show)
In my long career as a paramedic, I believe I saw first hand the worst thing a woman can do to a man. We were once called to the local state prison to transport a man to the hospital who was having chest pain. Other than that, he was pretty stable so it was a quiet 30-minute transport to the closest emergency room. We didn’t usually talk to the prisoners during transport, but somehow we started chatting and I asked the guy what he was “in” for. He tells me he was sentenced to prison for about 20 years for molesting both of his daughters. I was repulsed. I just wanted this scumbag out of my ambulance immediately I was so disgusted.
But then he immediately starts telling me how it was all a setup by his ex-wife and how he’s really innocent and nobody will believe him. He’s on his second attorney to try to get a new trial and he’s hoping somebody will finally grant him a new opportunity to clear his name. The prison guard riding in the back of the ambulance with us (he was sitting behind the patient) looks at me and rolls his eyes and smirks and says to me, “They all say that. Don’t listen to his bullshit. He’s been telling that to everyone who will listen.” The prisoner looks at me for some sort of sympathy but I just sternly look down at my patient report and tell him to lie back and rest and stop talking. He started sobbing and cried, “Even the paramedic that’s supposed to be saving my life hates me!” I certainly felt no sympathy for the guy at the time. I had passed judgment on him, as had the prison guard, and decided this guy was a disgusting pedophile and I’d just as soon not have to deal with him at all. Just touching him to check his blood pressure made my skin crawl.
It was approximately two years later when I happened upon a newspaper article in our local paper about a guy who’d been in the local prison for several years for child molestation. He’d eventually been granted a new trial and at some point during that second trial, both of his daughters admitted that they’d been made to create this false story against their dad at the behest of his ex-wife, who wanted to punish him for the divorce. His sentence was ultimately vacated and he was released from prison. Not sure whatever happened to the ex-wife, but I know the prosecutor said they’d be exploring charges against her.
I didn’t recognize the name of the prisoner in the article, but I immediately recognized his face when I saw a photo of him in court, weeping when the judge ordered him released. He was the same prisoner I’d transported two years before and had treated like crap. The guilt I felt at that moment was overwhelming. I wanted to find a way to contact him to apologize (if he’d even remember me). I wonder to this day whether he was ever able to repair his relationship with his kids, or whether he was ever able to repair his life. The guy spent some seven years in prison based on a bullshit charge that his ex-wife put their young kids up to. It’s a horrific thought and it still haunts me to this day.
Richard Wolff: Real wages in China quadrupled while real wages in the US stagnated
I had three friends fired for being too proactive, and read about another one who was fired for being too efficient.
In the first, the guy was hauling acid, and he went to the plant to get filled up. It was a gravity fed system, the guy came out and hooked him up, and went off to do something else in the half hour it would take to fill his tanker.
My friend saw that acid was dripping on the ground, at the connection. It was dripping faster and faster, so he looked around for the guy to shut it off. This was before cell phones. Safety rules said he couldn’t leave his truck while being filled so he decided to shut the valve and stop the acid going through the hose. He had watched the guy shut the valve many times a day as he got his loads. He resealed the connection when there was no pressure on it and opened it again. Which he did. The guy came back, and said that his truck should be full in a minute. My friend told him it would be another five minutes, because he had shut it off. The guy exploded, saying my friend didn’t understand the system and might have caused a disaster. Which is true, but it was gravity feed, he knew he was breaking environmental rules, and felt he had to try something.
My friend was not allowed on the property again, since his job was hauling acid from that plant, he lost his job.
The next one ,was a lady who got a unionized job with the city. Her first day on the job, she noticed that the cupboard door in the coffee room was hanging loose, so she reported it. A couple of days later she brought a screwdriver and tightened up the hinge. The next day the guy came to repair it and the union wrote her up, for doing someone elses job. A month later the light burnt out over her desk. She reports it, goes a week without a light, and then replaces it herself, and gets written up again. She is now on probation with the union for doing other people’s jobs. She is told third strike and your out, and you must be a member of the union to work for the city.
So when she sees that one of the only two the ladies toilets on her floor is plugged, and the other is in use, she doesn’t report it, she walks to the closet grabs a plunger , clears it, and uses the toilet. The person in the stall next to her, reports her, she is kicked out of the union, and loses her job.
This is one I read about in the newspaper years ago. It relies on the testimony of a guy who was fired, so its possible he’s making excuses. A guy gets a unionized job in the Alberta oil sands. He Is ordered to scrub out tanks, at the end of the day, he says all done. His supervisor, who is also unionized, says thats listed as a weeks worth of work, so you might as well go back and sit in the tanks, at least thats his testimony. His supervisor said it was impossible to clean the tanks in a day, so he sent him back to do it right.
He gets transferred to the night shift, where he says he tries to work continuously. His supervisor tells him that they always accomplish less than the day shift, and he has already done more, partway through the night. So he has to wait and twiddle his fingers, because they can’t make the day shift look bad.
He gets kicked out of the union and loses his job. The union says he was violating all sorts of safety regulations. I don’t know who is lying.
Finally I had a friend hired by a company to copy tapes. They have a separate contract to copy another companies tapes, after he has met his quota of proprietary tapes. He gets a bonus for the separate contract, but not for exceeding his quota of proprietary tapes.
So he gets in early, loads a dozen tapes on a dozen machines, starts the copy job. Then goes for breakfast and comes back at his usual starting time when the tape copying is done. Loads another set, and makes sure that tapes are being copied when he goes for coffee breaks, and lunch. By two o’clock he has met quota and starts on the bonus tapes. He makes sure that he has just started a set of bonus tapes when he leaves for the day.
The next morning he comes in, unloads the bonus tapes and starts on his quota tapes.
When he started with the company he was told that there were enough tapes for three years and almost no one ever had time for bonus tapes.
With his bonus, he makes double his base salary.
After a year and a half he is let go. He has used up the entire 3 year tape copy budget, and they can’t pay him anymore.
Yes, when I was a little kid. About 11 years old, I would say. I was visiting my uncle,and his girlfriend. The neighbor had a bunny rabbit that was tethered with a long leash, hopping around their yard. The neighbor saw me through the window, on her lawn, petting the bunny rabbit. She said please get off the lawn. I got off her lawm immediately.
My uncle said, sorry she’s a little kid, she just wanted to pet the bunny. The neighbor said, there is a children’s zoo, within driving distance. My Uncle and his girlfriend let the comment go.
The next day, I was in my uncles yard playing Frisbee with my uncles dog. My uncle’s dog was trained not to go beyond my uncles yard. All of a sudden, the dog belonging to the neighbor with the bunny rabbit, comes running into my uncle’s yard, to play frisbee. That neighbor walks into my uncles yard (she didn’t know he was watching from the window)
My uncle came out, and says, please get off the lawn. The neighbor said her dog just wanted to play frisbee, and loves kids. My uncle didn’t miss a beat, and said, there is a dog park with children, within driving distance.
His neighbor looked so. embarrassed, and collected her dog, and headed back towards her house. My uncle said, now do you see how silly that sounds. Sure your dog can play with my dog, and my neice. She told me I can come and see her rabbit whenever, I liked. We all became friends, after that for many years.
Originally Answered: Every day when I leave, my boss says, “leaving already?” to which I replied to today as I did my 8 hours and he says “well you are salary”. I do my work, don’t use my computer for anything other than work, and also work from home. What’s his deal?
My daughter is a master at improving restaurants . Examples, increasing sales 5x in 3 years, increasing profit by 35% in two months. She just has a nack. She arrives at 5 Am and makes sure the day is prepared for. She leaves between 4 and 5 as she trains great closers. In relation to the restaurant business, she has great employee retention.
She was hired by a fitness place to revamp it. She was working 5 to 5. In just two months she had made major strides. Customers were noticing, staff was noticing. The GM waltzed in everyday about 10 AM. When she left at 5 he always told her she lacked dedication to her job by leaving at 5. He said it one time too many. Since then she has “ fixed” two chains as training manager. That place remains a liability to the gym. The GM was fired shortly thereafter.
Bosses should respect their employees and If they don’t should replace them. In this case, if the employee was not doing their job in 8 hours, they should have had expectations set and be replaced if not met. The constant digs help no one.
I was 14 years old, it was during the second semester of my freshman year. My Spanish teacher called me to her desk after class. Once all the other students left the classroom, she grabbed my hands and said something along the lines of, “I know it’s hard. You’re going to make it through this.” She had tears in her eyes. At this point, I realized something was wrong, and people were noticing.
The first semester of freshman year, I was an honor roll student, I passed every test with a high score. I wore fashionable clothes and made a few new friends. Then second semester came. I stopped caring about my appearance, I would go to school in sweatpants and pajama shirts. My hair was unkempt, I stopped wearing makeup. My grades went from A’s and B’s to C’s and F’s. I stopped doing homework and didn’t study for tests, I lost all motivation to do school work. My GPA went from a 3.5 to a 2.01 and I didn’t care. I lost every single friend I had made and did not make a single effort to regain the friendships.
My life at home started suffering too, I became overly suspicious of my family members. I began accusing them of stealing things from me, I accused my parents of hiding cameras around the house to spy on me. I began hating my family, and isolated myself in my room at all times. I started playing video games to distract myself from the family I had hated, I immersed myself in a fantasy world and began confusing the video game with reality. I thought I knew people from the video game in real life and I would try to look for them. I thought my classmates at school were secretly apart of the video game. I thought people from the video game were watching me from my laptop camera. I began losing sleep and would impulsively pace around my room for hours without stopping, during the weekends I would pace in circles around my house from midnight until I saw the sun rise.
I began to form a crush on a boy from my improv class, instead of talking to him I thought I had the ability to put thoughts into his head. I would listen to music I knew he liked and would “insert my thoughts” into his mind, thinking he would associate myself with his favorite genre of music. I was trying to manipulate his thoughts with my “super powers” to make him like me.
I started hearing things that weren’t there. I would hear footsteps outside my door and window at night. I’d hear distant banging, as if someone were knocking on a door. I would hear faint screaming in the middle of the night, as though someone was on my street screaming near my window. I heard whispering coming from the walls. I would see shadows at night in my closet.
It took a few months of everything I had said happening for my teacher to notice, which was when I went to my mother about scheduling me a therapy appointment. However, the therapist did me no good. I didn’t know that what was happening to me wasn’t normal, it was as though my mental illness clouded my thoughts, everything that happened to me I accepted as reality, so I did not mention it to my therapist. My first therapist said I was experiencing a mild depression episode.
It took me a few months to realize something was wrong, but two years to pinpoint which mental illness I actually had. At age 16, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I am now 17, and very happy. I still have auditory and visual hallucinations, and still struggle a little with my “I can put thoughts into other people’s heads” delusion, but I regained all my motivation, am an honors student again, and no longer wear sweatpants and pajama shirts to school. I also don’t hate my family anymore, but it’s amazing how something like schizophrenia can change your thought process so much that you start to despise those who you truly love.
Architectural Wonder: China’s Spectacular New Train Station
I think prostitution is pretty safe. No one wants to become intimate with a toaster.
A lot of white collar and manual jobs will either be transformed or become entirely obsolete. LLMs have developed immensely in the last two years. It’s hard to predict the level of utility that will be possible in the next five years. Other than “a lot”.
In terms of manual jobs these will also be impacted, although robotics and automation is moving a little more slowly than paper-shuffling roles. It’s going to be a long time before a robot has the fine dexterity and precision to iron a shirt. But at the current rate of progress it might just happen in the next 20 years.
The safest jobs will be those where an essential part of the role is being a friendly mammal in the same room. We will still want nursery school staff, nurses and care workers, reception and hospitality staff. Whatever technology level we have, human beings will pay a premium for interaction with other human beings.
The creation of handmade objects and artefacts (like paintings) might be imitated by robotic means, but collectors will pay more for authentically human-made goods.
When Im was a teenager I got a summer job working for a small construction outfit. Their jobs were close to my house so I would ride my bicycle their, or the boss would pick me up long the way. A week or so into a job two new guys cme to work – the boss said they were ….. friends of his. One of the guys wore tinted presription glasses so you couldn’t really see his eyes. He really gave me the creeps.
A few days later the two new guys offered to give me a ride home after work. They were curious when I told them I lived in a group of houses beside a low security prison – my Dad worked there and the houses were owned by the prison and employees rented them. They asked me my Dad’s name and they both smiled and said they knew my Dad. I thought that was weird and it did not click in my brain why these two guys knew my Dad – who worked in a prison.
We pulled into the driveway and they saw my Dad in the backyard attending the BBQ. They were all smiles and cheers – “Hey Scotty! How’s it going?!”
My typically mild manner 5′ 7″ Dad turned red, and started yelling and swearing at the guys. The guys backed up as my Dad approached with the big BBQ fork in one hand. He told them to get back in the car and get the hell off his property. They were so surprised they scooted back the car and ‘got the hell out of there’.
I had never seen my Dad that angry, and he rarely ever said anything worse than “damn” or “shit”. He seriously cussed those guys out.
Then he turned to me with the most grotesque look on his face and said to me, “Listen to me. LISTEN! Stay the hell away from those two bastards! No matter what they say, don’t ever get in their car again to go ANYWHERE! Not for lunch, not for a beer after work, not for a ride home. Those guys are serious BAD news. So you hear me?!!”
That scared the crap out of as I realized those two guys used to be in prison.
The next summer my Dad came home with an out of town newspaper (we lived near two small towns with local papers, and the city 30 miles away had some national/international articles in the paper) and opened it up in front of me, folded it and handed it to me. He pointed to an article and said, “Read that.”
The story was about two guys who had picked up another guy who was hitchiking. They drove him to a deserted area and killed him. The one guy said he did it just to see what it was like to kill someone. Then I saw the picture of the guy who said that – tinted glasses so you couldn’t see his eyes.
I shivered physically and looked up at my Dad. He said, “That’s why I told you to never get in their car again. That poor bastard that was shot in the face could have been you.”
What do women want?
CORRUPTION, CHAOS, CONFLICT – FOURTH TURNING ERUPTS IN 2024
“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine – The American Crisis
Thomas Paine wrote these words 247 years ago, in the most historic year in our history – 1776. That was during the first American Fourth Turning. It’s not a coincidence we are now in the midst of our fourth Crisis period in U.S. history, as they arrive like clockwork every 80 years or so, the length of a long human life. Paine’s American Crisis began in 1773, ignited by the Boston Tea Party and the British reaction to this revolutionary act of defiance. Our current Millennial Crisis was triggered by the Federal Reserve/Wall Street/Government created financial disaster in 2008 and subsequent outrageously desperate, totalitarian, un-Constitutional, extreme acts designed to keep the ruling class in power, while impoverishing and enslaving the masses in a surveillance state techno-gulag.
The polarization and fractures have become too deep to repair. The country, and the western world in general, are hurtling towards a darkening abyss of civil conflict, financial collapse, global war, societal chaos, and loss of life on a scale grander than WW2, the Civil War, and the American Revolution combined. Our technological advancements have outstripped our ability to intelligently, thoughtfully, and humanly, use this power for the benefit of future generations. The destructive deficiencies of human nature, such as: greed, desire for power, hatred, arrogance, resentment, and an unlimited supply of self-delusion, continue to plague our world, as only the most power-hungry psychopaths rise to the highest levels of government, business, religion, and finance.
The immense technological power in the hands of egocentric, megalomaniacal, sadistic, billionaires and their highly paid toadies, lackeys, and apparatchiks, inserted throughout the media, government, academia, banking, and corporations, has pushed the world to the brink of Armageddon. We are entering the sixteenth year of this Fourth Turning. Based on history, we can expect a climax of this Crisis in the 2030-to-2032-timeframe. The path to that climax is guaranteed to be violent and unforgiving.
Neil Howe, in his new book – The Fourth Turning Is Here – tries to decipher the likely path of the remainder of this Fourth Turning. Having read the original Fourth Turning, his joint project with William Strauss (who died in 2007), in 2004, I was curious to read Howe’s update on their generational theory of history. I met Howe for lunch in 2012 during the Occupy Wall Street protests and he correctly assessed that movement as a meaningless left-wing attempt to push their communist like agenda.
The first book, written in 1997, showed no favor towards the right or left. It was a no-nonsense assessment of economic facts and historical precedents. There were no political agendas, which I now attribute to Strauss’ influence, because Howe certainly lets his political views creep into his writings. This isn’t surprising, as his consulting business is dependent upon Wall Street banks and mega-corporations. He owes his living to the establishment; therefore he won’t shit where he eats.
Howe’s current left leaning political views seep into his current tome. He quotes Zelensky as some sort of patriotic leader, while portraying Putin as a thug, without giving any context regarding the 2014 CIA initiated overthrow of a democratically elected Ukraine president. He bought the covid scamdemic hook, line, and sinker, with no skepticism about the coordinated lockdowns and false narratives about masks, social distancing, and vaccines that never worked, but continue to kill. He believes the climate change bullshit narrative.
His tone regarding Trump is clearly negative and he believes the 2020 election was perfectly legitimate. He expounds about the January 6 “armed” insurrection, without one word about the FBI, Pelosi, and the Washington establishment planning, coordinating, and exacerbating the fake “insurrection”. His brain-dead accusations of violence by Trump supporters, while completely ignoring the murder and mayhem created by the BLM and ANTIFA terrorists, clearly reveals his allegiances.
Be that as it may, there is no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. His acumen regarding possible scenarios and outcomes are well thought out. Howe makes some very interesting predictions regarding the remainder of this Fourth Turning, providing some very dark possibilities, along with some more unlikely optimistic outcomes. His research reveals Americans think the American dream is no longer attainable, civil discord will destroy our democratic institutions, and our global standing is in decline. All three fears are legitimate and coming to fruition as we speak. Howe captures the current situation in this passage:
“In the middle of a Crisis era, the social mood has reached an unstable balance of hope, fear, and dizzying uncertainty. Americans are like a compressed spring at the point of maximum potential energy. Internally secure yet externally threatened, they are ready for propulsive public action.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here
Events beyond their control are leading them towards their rendezvous with destiny and the speed has begun to accelerate, with 2024 slated to be a historic date in history, on par with 1776, 1861, and 1941. The exact events which will make 2024 historic are obscured by a dense fog of uncertainty, but we can make some educated guesses based upon our current economic circumstances, Biden’s open border purposeful invasion, upcoming elections wrought with fraud, ongoing treasonous governmental and judicial operations, and deepening global conflicts already underway.
Of the three possible paths laid out by Howe, the most likely appears to be the animosity between factions eventually leads to armed conflict within the country. Political dominance by one party is highly unlikely, with the country rallying around the flag against an external enemy. It is more likely our many external foes will take advantage of our internal conflict to further weaken our global hegemony. All paths lead to war at this point.
I sense the delusional masses, still entranced by their electronic gadgets, unending access to debt, NFL fantasy leagues, and oblivious to the lessons of history, are frantically trying to fend off reality by shopping, eating out, partying at bars, and pretending all is well. Critically assessing their true situation is too painful for these snowflakes and gender bending enthusiasts. Their virtue signaling wokeness is about to meet the brutal reality of a violent Fourth Turning climax.
“And however much these paths may seem to differ from one another, they all move toward the same destination. They all push the nation toward a violent struggle requiring maximum mobilization. They all culminate in the Ekpyrosis, which will bring the era into a decisive consolidation, climax, and resolution.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here
The drivers of this Fourth Turning, as documented in 1997, continue to be debt, civic decay, and global disorder. They have propelled this Crisis since the outset in 2008 and are accelerating towards an explosive collision in 2024. The national debt at the outset of this Fourth Turning was $10 trillion. It had taken 219 years to accumulate $10 trillion of debt, with the majority amassed during this century. It has taken just fifteen years to pile an additional $24 trillion of debt on the backs of Americans and future generations, if there are future generations.
This doesn’t even take into account the $200 trillion of unfunded welfare and pension obligations tallied up by your government leaders. At the same time, the Federal Reserve increased their balance sheet from $900 billion to $9 trillion. With the rapid rise of interest rates in the last year, if banks were required to mark their assets to market, as they did prior to 2009, the entire banking industry, including the Too Big To Fail Wall Street behemoths, would be insolvent, along with the Federal Reserve. Does this seem sustainable to you?
Luckily for our teetering empire of debt, delusions, and deceptions, they can change the rules whenever it suits their purposes to extend and pretend until it all “suddenly” collapses, like a vaxxed soccer player on the pitch. Of course, the U.S. is not alone in being burdened with unpayable debt and an unsustainable financial system. China and the EU countries are also insolvent and issuing debt to service their existing debt.
The only major global power without a large debt problem is Russia, with a debt to GDP ratio below 30%, while the U.S.- 120%, EU – 90%, Japan – 220%, and China – 80% have accumulated perilous levels of debt and still growing. These debt levels and the domestic implications of unsustainable economies will lead shamelessly corrupt politicians and even dictators like Xi to provoke foreign conflict in order to distract their populations from their dire economic circumstances. A wag the dog type false flag is just around the corner.
An man-made banker created economic disaster ignited this powder keg of debt in 2008, and the “solutions” rolled out by the ruling elites since have been designed to extend, pretend, and bend the minds of the masses, while fostering the perpetual pillaging campaign by the billionaire oligarchs who really run this world. The plebs have been destroyed by the relentless inflation purposefully created by Powell and his fellow central banker puppets of the Deep State, while the lords of finance have reaped billions in ill-gotten riches.
The “Haves”, who control the financial markets, media, and politicians, are ecstatic with the current paradigm, as the stock market hits new highs every day, while average Americans go deeper into debt to keep up with the Joneses, pay the rent, and put some food on the table. The U.S. is nothing more than a sophisticated technological looting operation at this point, as we await the Great Taking to be initiated by the oligarchs as their final solution.
The Great Taking is David Rogers Webb’s warning to those not on the inside about the coming seizure of all your assets (stocks, bonds, savings) by your own government in the name of some new contrived national emergency. You will sacrifice your life savings for the good of the country (aka Deep State). At this point it’s just a matter of which comes first, The Taking, Global war, or Civil chaos caused by the ongoing election fraud. They are all coming and will merge into a category 5 hurricane of hell for the nation and the world.
The Deep State continues its complete control over who gets “elected”/selected in this country, as they use the captured judicial system as a cudgel to crush the rule of law and our Constitutional rights. The Soros selected District Attorneys, Mayors, Governors, Judges, Secretaries of States, and various other low-level captured bureaucrats, are doing what they were selected to do – destroy the country’s social fabric and create a chaotic disintegration of our community norms.
A populace propagandized into a woke communist ideology and prodded into a buy now, pay later mentality, is unwilling or unable to accept that LATER has arrived. They will pay, one way or another. Multiple bubbles in stocks, bonds and real estate are all poised to pop, with the slightest provocation from a global and/or domestic blunder. We have now positioned our naval forces in the highly dangerous waters in the Middle East. Militarily supporting Israel and Ukraine has done wonders for our GDP, but it seems we are running out of ammo to defend our own country, as the invasion of our southern border accelerates. We are currently provoking armed conflict in Yemen, Syria, Gaza, Iraq, Ukraine, and Russia.
All it will take is one lucky missile or unexpected hyper-sonic missile and our vaunted navy will see a vessel or two go to the bottom of the Red Sea. Then all hell will break loose. The rhetoric, threats and accusations of atrocities are ramping up, along with armed conflict across the Middle East. With the raging religious hatreds and centuries old struggles for land and power coming to a head, it will just take one of these psychopaths to ignite a global conflict. Meanwhile, China is biding its time for when they make their ultimate move on Taiwan. That would really roll a grenade into the party.
Financial markets have ignored the worsening global conflict thus far, but what happens when Americans start dying in large numbers? If the markets are at all time highs based upon expectations of a strong thriving economy in 2024, why is the Fed signaling multiple interest rate cuts in 2024, regional banks are desperately clinging to the Fed’s emergency bailout fund, commercial real estate is collapsing, housing has peaked, gold is hitting all-time highs, credit card debt is at all-time highs, layoffs are increasing, and the number of working age citizens is in free fall due to vaxx deaths and disabilities?
But buy stocks because the Wall Street shysters and their media mouthpieces tell you it’s the best time to buy. The only question at this point is what additional grain of sand will cause the sand pile to collapse. Will it be a foreign war, or will it be a civil war within our borders or something no one has even considered? I know most people dismiss the possibility of civil war, believing there aren’t enough people willing to risk their lives for a just cause. Neil Howe seems to think it is probable.
“Roughly half of all Americans think a civil war is likely. And a growing number of social scientists agree that the United States now fits the checklist profile of a country at risk. Trust in the national government is in steep decline. Check. Respect for democratic institutions is weakening. Check. A heavily armed population has polarized into two evenly divided partisan factions. Check. Each faction embodies a distinctive ethnic, cultural, and urban-versus-rural identity. Each wants its country to become something the other detests. And each fears the prospect of the other taking power. Check, check, and check.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here
Virtually no one believes civil war is possible, just as no one expected a civil war in 1860, as the presidential election approached. Truthfully, the civil war has already begun, but only those on the left, in conjunction with the FBI, CIA, Big Media, and other governmental agencies, are aggressively fighting. They are vigorously at war against the American people by rigging elections, arresting opposition leaders, and discarding the U.S. Constitution.
The good guys have thus far been too civil. But the simmering anger of heavily armed rural, red state Americans is close to boiling over. All the signs are there, awaiting a triggering event for this undeclared war to engulf the nation. At this point a number of possible triggering events are possible.
If David Webb is correct and those in power initiate the Great Taking, the level of violence in reaction would be unprecedented in U.S. history. Maybe that is their plan. Biden and his handlers could use this event to declare a national emergency, suspending the presidential election because they were going to lose, and instituting martial law. Their attempt to lockdown the country and use the military against civilians would surely result in massive bloodshed, as local animosities would result in assassinations, wholesale slaughter of those considered disloyal to whichever side controls the high ground in that community. Previously petty disputes would suddenly become lethal disputes.
Even if the presidential election is held in November, I don’t believe either side will accept the outcome. We know the Democrats and their Deep State co-conspirators will cheat, rig and once again try to steal the election. If they fail, they will unleash their BLM, ANTIFA terrorist arm into the streets to create chaos as an excuse to not hand over power to Trump.
With multiple states now attempting to unlawfully keep Trump off the ballot in their states, the animosity between the right and left grows ever deeper. The imprisonment of Trump or more radical attempts to steal the 2024 election will be met with violence from the here-to-for persevering right. Mixing this toxic domestic atmosphere with a deepening global chasm is a recipe for global disaster.
As we have seen throughout history, the egos of psychopaths at the helm of nations often lead them to act irrationally and/or emotionally when it comes to committing their people to war. While the U.S. has further weakened its global hegemony with its disastrous forays into Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine; Russia and China have gotten stronger and more mutually committed to creating their own new world order. The USD as the dominant global currency is reaching its endpoint, marking the end of empire. Now Israel will further deplete U.S. resources and global stature with their war to wipe out Palestine. Once the dominoes begin to fall in a game of global warfare, all bets are off regarding possible outcomes. Neil Howe’s worst-case scenario is certainly not out of the question.
“At worst, should at least one desperate country resort to WMDs, the outcome of a great-power war could prove to be even more devastating than that of a civil war. The toll could be almost unimaginable – with multiple cities destroyed, many millions killed, and many tens of millions displaced – all perhaps triggered by some ill-fated combination of the wrong leader making the wrong choice at the wrong time.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here
All scenarios for 2024 seem depressing and dark, but the odds still favor just continuing to muddle through as we have done through the first fifteen years of this Fourth Turning. I gave up trying to make specific predictions within a specific time frame years ago. It’s a fool’s errand as there are too many variables in the world to correctly predict which ones will drive the course of events within a one year time frame.
What I do know is that pessimism about the future continues to deepen, paranoia strengthens, trust declines, anger grows, and the arrogance of those running the show has reached epic levels. We’ve been subjected to three years of propaganda about how the Great Reset will fundamentally transform our world, where we will own nothing and be happy. It seems this fits perfectly with David Webb’s Great Taking theory of how we will ultimately own nothing.
There does seem to be a common thread running through everything happening in the last three years and appears to be on deck for 2024 and beyond. It all revolves around this broad Great Reset concept pushed by Schwab, Gates, Soros, and the rest of the Davos elite. The entire Covid plandemic was engineered to introduce authoritarian measures and instruct the masses to obey their masters.
The vaccine is now clearly revealed to be a depopulation weapon, killing off some suddenly; others through myocarditis, turbo cancers, and strokes; babies through miscarriages; and future generations through reduced fertility. And most still believe our overlords rolled these jabs out to save them. Trump is still crowing about his big, beautiful vaccines. He’s either a fool or a charlatan.
The climate change scam is hastening, as the war on farmers, meat, and fossil fuels is waged relentlessly by unelected bureaucrats and captured media mouthpieces. The EV scam is collapsing rapidly, as people with common sense see through it all. The Great Replacement of white people with third world savages is unabetted, with the Biden Administration ushering them across the southern border, giving them phones and money, flying them to cities across the country, and paying for them to stay at upscale hotels.
This is not incompetence, but treason. They have already used their predictive programming/brainwashing to prepare the masses for civil war and a massive cyber-attack. Your government will protect you, as long as you sacrifice your remaining liberties and rights. All that is left is the initiation of the Great Taking. The “emergency” will occur on a weekend and by Monday morning your assets will be gone.
This is their master plan, but we will have a say on whether it is ever successfully implemented. I wonder if these Davos psychopaths absconded with The Great Reset moniker from Strauss & Howe, as they used it to describe Fourth Turnings back in 1997.
A Fourth Turning great reset may be a surprise to Schwab and his totalitarian acolytes inserted in governments across the world. They are in control. They are running this shitshow. They are the establishment. They are reaping the benefits. They are suppressing dissent and the truth. They are the existing social order that traditionally gets swept away during a Fourth Turning. 2024 may mark the beginning of the end for the Davos crowd and their iron grip on our spiraling society of chaos.
The future course of history could be radically altered by actions taken by supposedly influential characters in this movie, but also by courageous deeds performed by average Americans who will sacrifice themselves to ensure future generations have a chance to live in a nation devoid of a psychopathic elitist ruling class.
It seems like a long shot at this point, but giving up is not an option for those of us who still love this country. The four possible outcomes for this Crisis, laid out by Strauss & Howe in 1997, are as valid today as ever, and disturbingly close at hand. We will all have to do our part if we are to have any chance of producing a positive outcome to this Crisis. Happy New Year.
This Fourth Turning could mark the end of man. It could be an omnicidal Armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing. If mankind ever extinguishes itself, this will probably happen when its dominant civilization triggers a Fourth Turning that ends horribly. For this Fourth Turning to put an end to all this would require an extremely unlikely blend of social disaster, human malevolence, technological perfection and bad luck.
The Fourth Turning could mark the end of modernity. The Western saecular rhythm – which began in the mid-fifteenth century with the Renaissance – could come to an abrupt terminus. The seventh modern saeculum would be the last. This too could come from total war, terrible but not final. There could be a complete collapse of science, culture, politics, and society. Such a dire result would probably happen only when a dominant nation (like today’s America) lets a Fourth Turning ekpyrosis engulf the planet. But this outcome is well within the reach of foreseeable technology and malevolence.
The Fourth Turning could spare modernity but mark the end of our nation. It could close the book on the political constitution, popular culture, and moral standing that the word America has come to signify. The nation has endured for three saecula; Rome lasted twelve, the Soviet Union only one. Fourth Turnings are critical thresholds for national survival. Each of the last three American Crises produced moments of extreme danger: In the Revolution, the very birth of the republic hung by a thread in more than one battle. In the Civil War, the union barely survived a four-year slaughter that in its own time was regarded as the most lethal war in history. In World War II, the nation destroyed an enemy of democracy that for a time was winning; had the enemy won, America might have itself been destroyed. In all likelihood, the next Crisis will present the nation with a threat and a consequence on a similar scale.
Or the Fourth Turning could simply mark the end of the Millennial Saeculum. Mankind, modernity, and America would all persevere. Afterward, there would be a new mood, a new High, and a new saeculum. America would be reborn. But, reborn, it would not be the same.
ARGENTINA IN TEARS! China STOP Deal Worth $6.5 Billion With Argentina
Yes. They took a narcotic drug, meant for the patient, and injected themselves. Gave the patient an injection of saline. I didn’t understand why the patient was suddenly unable to tolerate a treatment he had previously handled with dignity. I suspected something when I noticed this nurse would always go to the locker room after “medicating” this patient. The next time he was due for a shot to relieve his pain, I hid in the locker room. I witnessed that nurse injecting herself. Fury was what I felt, for making a patient suffer so terribly. I was unable to feel any pity for her at that moment. I reported her, and she was fired, after her ongoing behavior was verified. The other nurses on the unit didn’t speak to me because I’d betrayed the “sisterhood” I pointed out that a patient was being harmed by an impaired nurse. FIRST imperative is to adhere to the oath we all took, to “do no harm”. You have to do what’s right!
Obviously the addicted nurse was counseled and offered assistance in overcoming her addiction. THAT is the right thing to do, too.
Another incident occurred when I realized one of the best, most brilliant nurses I’d ever worked with, was stealing a narcotic, regularly. He never harmed a patient, but I could see he was addicted. I chose to try to help him, and spoke to him, telling him I knew people and could get him into drug rehab the next day. I urged him to seek help. I warned him the supervisor was looking for whoever was stealing the narcotics. He assured me it wasn’t him and he didn’t need help, he was fine. He was caught, the next night, stealing. End of career. Those of us, who worked with him, were in tears.
Sometimes you help. Sometimes you report. The patient comes first. But one hopes that help is offered, because once removed as a nurse, that nurse becomes a “ patient”.
I did. I caught up with a driver I clocked at a very high rate of speed. When I walked up to the window I saw a grandmother in the back seat holding a young boy in her lap and he was spewing a bright pink frothy liquid every few seconds. The driver asked where was the hospital. Regulations forbade emergency escorts, and I violated that reg. I led them to the nearest hospital a few minutes away. On arrival I was told to take him to another ER, that hospital didn’t have the ER that day. I forcefully informed the Dr that the boy wouldn’t survive that long. He reluctantly had the boy brought in and began treating him. Several Drs attended that youngster that afternoon and all abandoned him but one young Dr named Alex Krier. He would not give up, and he saved that boys life. I learned that he fell off the bed of a pickup truck in a pasture and hit his head. I never learned what the diagnosis was. I would occasionally hear from his father from Tallahassee Fl. The youngster eventually made a full recover but his injury slowed his development significantly. I firmly believe God placed me in that position that day, and that He put Dr Krier in that ER that day. If they had taken him to the ER of the day, several miles away, I believe he would not have survived.
Well, blanket tariffs are illegal under WTO rules.
ILLEGAL.
Donald the Orange had to resort to neutering the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO to pursue blanket tariffs on China.
The WTO remains neutered under Joe the Elderly.
Meanwhile, the US made a genocide determination on China, and rescinded recognition of Hong Kong as an independent trade body under the WTO framework.
That’s belligerence and exceptionalism.
A typical example of the rules-based international order the US is trying so hard to maintain.
What is China to do unless it wants to play the same game?
Unfortunately for the hegemon, it must be willing to take pain and sustain damage to land punches on the No. 2 economy today.
As America is finding out, or being forced to admit, belligerence is unsustainable and comes with its cost, and paying it into the future is an uphill ask that accumulates systemic risk.
When I babysat, decades ago in the late eighties and early-to-mid nineties, it had become a trope: the babysitter who ignores the kids and spends the whole time talking on the family’s phone, watching the family’s TV, and eating the family’s food. Because of this, a few families whose kids I watched sincerely believed that it was what I would do, too.
It couldn’t have been further from the truth. I began babysitting in the Babysitters Club era, and sitters my age consulted those books like manuals. We brought activities for the kids. We were primed for the emergencies we’d read about. We wanted to impress parents. Many, many nights, I would go directly to a job after a long day of school and eat nothing at all until I got home at 11pm or midnight, because parents didn’t offer anything and I wouldn’t have dared take something that wasn’t offered.
There were parents who would honest-to-goodness measure tiny amounts of popcorn kernels into paper bags for each of their children, and leave them on the countertop for me to microwave for them as a snack. Other parents would warn me away from fridges and pantries, telling me that the kids could have this cup of applesauce and that bag of pretzels and nothing more. I honestly do not remember a single parent telling me to go ahead and eat with the kids. I was the hired help and could eat on my own time. And I was paranoid that they would come home to find food “missing”, and blame me for taking morsels from their kids’ metaphorical mouths.
How did I deal with this? A few ways. I’d try to eat a big lunch at school. I drank water from the kitchen tap. For some reason I have a vague memory of stealthily eating a single raw piece of whole grain penne pasta, although I’m not sure why I would have had to do that. Later, when I had wised up a bit, I began bringing food art projects for the kids to do, and that was a snack for all of us.
Having food available for a babysitter isn’t really likely to bankrupt a parent or compromise the kids’ care. It can have guidelines (“if you get hungry, feel free to have one of the snacks I left on the kitchen table” or, “go ahead and have some pizza with the kids”). A babysitter, especially a young one, will be relieved and appreciate that you care.
Seriously, I always thought “what the hell is wrong with this girl?”
“Why is she so into me? I haven’t done anything.”
Yet there it was…
“I haven’t done anything,” & in my mind love or affection was something that was highly conditional, earned, and can be taken away. Not something I was inherently worthy of.
Some women are clingy, codependent, and looking for a man to “complete them” in a way that is not realistic.
However, some women are just secure enough in themselves to be forward about it.
Expressing your feelings is healthy. It is an extension of good parenting. The result of being taught that when people love you & care for you they say so and act accordingly.
An emotionally secure woman is going to show you she cares or desires you because that is how her loved ones taught her to be.
Sometimes however for many people, like myself, were taught expressing your feelings is NOT okay. That people who care about you will not say that, & affection is both scarce and highly conditional.
For those people, loving, affectionate, expressive people are… strange & unfamiliar.
So the reality is that a woman who is upfront about her emotions is not by default “clingy”. Trust me, I had an ex-girlfriend who never wanted to be away from me… ever.
Now that is clingy.
However, a woman saying she likes you and wants to spend some time with you is what emotionally healthy and secure women do.
So if a woman expressing interest alone turns you off, that says more about your inability to accept healthy affection than her being overly dependent on you.
Fall asleep to the Purring of a Cat & Fireplace 🔥 Relax in Cozy Winter Hut, Fireplace sound
OMG!
The cat is curled up next to the fireplace, its tiny body nestled close to the warmth emanating from the crackling logs. Its eyes are closed, and its chest rises and falls with each peaceful breath. The soft glow of the fire dances across the cat's fur, casting flickering shadows on the surrounding floor. Its paws are tucked neatly under its chin, as if in a state of utter contentment. The rhythmic purring fills the air, a gentle lullaby that blends harmoniously with the crackling of the fire. The cat's whiskers twitch ever so slightly, indicating a deep and restful sleep. The coziness of the scene is heightened by the sight of a few scattered ash particles caught in the air, evidence of the cat's proximity to the hearth. It is a picture of serene tranquility, a blissful respite from the world, as the cat dreams away in the comforting embrace of the radiant warmth.
Hungarian Chocolate Cake (Rigo Jansci)
Rigo Jansci
Ingredients
Chocolate Sponge
8 ounces semisweet chocolate
6 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon espresso powder, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup Dutch processed baking cocoa
Cocoa Whipped Cream Filling
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 cups heavy cream
Raspberry and apricot preserves
Ganache Frosting
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons pailettes de feuilletine (optional)
1 tablespoon cocoa nibs (optional)
Instructions
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 10 1/2 x 15 1/2-inch jellyroll pan with parchment and spray with nonstick vegetable spray.
In a dry bowl, melt chocolate over barely simmering water. Whisk the eggs and sugar until they hold a ribbon shape for 2 seconds. Whisk in the coffee mixture. Sift, then fold in the cocoa. Fold in the melted chocolate. Spread in the prepared pan and bake for 9 minutes until set. Let cool.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Sift the cocoa and confectioners’ sugar into the cream and whip to the consistency of shaving cream. Divide the sheet cake in half. Lightly spread one layer with apricot preserves. Spread on the whipped cream. Lightly spread the other half with raspberry preserves and flip on top of the whipped cream. Refrigerate.
Make the Ganache: Put the chocolate in a small bowl. Over medium heat, bring the cream to a scald. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Working from the center out, gently stir with a whisk to melt and blend. Continue stirring until smooth. Stir in the feuilletine and nibs. Pour over the cake. Allow cake to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate is set.
Woman dies in crash and WAKES UP in another TIMELINE where she discovers THIS…
While camping in a fairly remote area of west Wales, Pendine being the nearest village, I decided to take a walk to one of the beaches nearby. This isn’t the sort of beach with any parking nearby, or even a road leading to it, the only way to access was either by a very rough part of the Wales coastal path, or a slightly better path from inland, it was difficult to access to say the least.
The remoteness and tranquility of the beach didn’t offer any clues to the violent events that had taken place there in the past.
When approaching from the coastal path I could see a structure set back quite some way from the beach, just visible in the photo below.
image 125
On closer inspection of the structure set back from the beach head, it appeared to be some sort of sea wall or a section of harbour wall, but was way too far back for the sea to ever reach it. It also appeared to have suffered some quite extensive damage, as can be seen below:
image 124
Knowing there was an army training ground located a few miles away I assumed it may have something to do with the military, though not sure what the purpose could be. Once back in civilisation with a phone I searched for information about the beach and found the following article:
It transpires that the wall was built to replicate the sea defences at Omaha beach to practice for the D-day landings. There was previously another wall there, but this was destroyed by tanks placing large explosive charges and subsequent erosion by the sea. The holes blown out of the concrete were from experiments with various explosive charges. It was really unexpected that this place was once used for this purpose.
The Biggest Story in America | The Scheduled Collapse of U.S Cities
At my former employer we had a saying “Hell hath no fury like a loyal customer scorned”. I now know that I am one of those customers.
I was a customer of ATT Cellular for over 20 years, paying well over $350 a month for 5 lines for my family. That’s $350 after all the “discounts”. The incentive to stay with ATT was mostly inertia and a “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it approach”. In spite of the bluster, they really didn’t give any incentives on new phones other than interest free financing, and I knew I could probably find a better price elsewhere, but…
Then a few months ago my credit card number got stolen (not the card, just the number) and the bank caught it right away and changed the account number. This happened to be the card that ATT used for my auto-bill. I didn’t realize it until they sent me a text saying my monthly payment was one day overdue. So immediately I went online, paid the one-day overdue bill, and changed the credit card number. The bill was over $50 higher due to removal of the e-bill discount and a late payment fee.
The next bill also had a removal of the e-bill discount and the added charge of $7 for late payment. I thought that was unfair, but I let it go.
But a month later the next bill arrived and still had no e-bill discount and added another $7 late fee! I called up to inquire and was told too bad, it takes at least a month and a half to register the new credit card in their system. All I wanted was the recent $7 late fee credited. First I appealed to their sense of fair play, and got nowhere. I then asked politely if I could ask a manager for a waiver.
The manager said no way. I pointed out I was a customer at $350 a month for 20 years, but I would leave over $7. He calmly told me the equivalent of “don’t let the door hit you in the ass” (I’m paraphrasing). No raised voices, just a calm discussion that ended in goodbye.
So I started the research, and found a carrier that uses the same cellular network plus others, and is costing me $210 a month less! $210 a month less for the same exact service! This was the best $7 wake-up call I ever had!
Many years ago when my daughter was in High School we were going to Target. We got there and parked. Now mind you, my daughter is incredibly good looking and I am round and a mom. If you were looking at the two of us standing together you would hardly even notice me. I am totally good with that. My husband hates it. lol Well back to the story…
We park the car, get out and start walking through the parking lot toward the store. A very nice, lifted, truck drives past us, the driver cat calls and honks the horn. My daughter looks me dead in the face and asks me if I know the guy driving the truck. I literally spit out my coffee and started laughing. She got all serious and demanded if I knew that guy! I could not stop laughing. She was so serious!
I told her the honk and cat call was for her, not me. I was laughing so hard because she was so miffed. Arms crossed over her chest., marching throught the parking lot. She didn’t know who it was so there was, “absolutely no way,” that was for her. It was so funny! She was so serious!
Needless to say, I was already wiped out, sides aching from laughing, by the time we got in the store. We did not spend much time in there.
He is Ultra Cautious and always adds a pinch of salt and always keeps making speeches for more improvement
That’s how Chinese leaders are
Always looking at the Long Term
Plus they always give a gloomy outlook and then when China does do much better, they look like they have achieved something amazing
Take this year 2023
Xi gave a same speech in 2022
Challenges, Global Slowdown, Real Estate Slowdown
Chinese people expected the worst and they found things MUCH MUCH BETTER
They credit this to the CPC and this buys Xi Jingping brownie points
Xi has never ever boasted of Chinas economic prowess
Never
From the first day he has always been cautious and always warned of challenges since 2014 at least
Xi’s speeches regarding MILITARY have changed from wolf warrior style to cautious diplomacy from 2014–2023 but as far as economy is concerned, he has always spoken of challenges
My point is – every Economy today has challenges
No leader mentions this
Especially Democratic leaders
They will always brag and boast and eventually get burnt
China is always cautious and it’s citizens always prepared for the worst, so they always feel better when things go better than the predicted outlook
I noticed it even when they submit their expected profits
They always predict less profits and longer time to break even and when they make more profits and break even quicker, they credit their style and efficiency
Indians predict more profits and shorter time to break even and end up embarrassing themselves often
The fact is 2023 is the best year for China economically since 2018
Their GDP growth of 5.1% has been achieved even when Real Estate dragged it down by 1.1% this year
Their GDP growth of 5.1% has been achieved even when Industrial Production dragged it down by 0.4% this year
Their GDP growth was 5.1% despite Asset Monetization dragging down growth by 0.2% this year
Had the three stayed static or stagnant – Chinas GDP growth would have been 6.8% this year
The Real Interest rate is 2.61% this year which is way higher than other countries. In India it’s 1.30% , half of Chinas. This is higher than the 0.85% Real Interest rate in 2022
Despite a near 18% reduction in Exports to US and EU, China finished with a $ 860 Billion Trade Surplus
China holds a mere 25% US Assets in reserves of $ 3.23 Trillion against 79% in 2010
Six of the largest service sectors – Retail, Financial, Travel, Hotels, Restaurants & Supermarkets all broke into the black this year from red last year
Industrial Profits slumped by 14% but High Tech Industrial Profits rose 39%
The day a Chinese Leader smiles and says how great China is doing
I was shopping at Boston store and foolishly looked at the sparkly jewelry display. I saw a gorgeous blue stone set in an Art Deco designed pendant. I fell in lust with it.
I was again foolish and tried it on. The counter lady told me it made me look radiant, the stone was unique, the design a rare offer, plus it was on sale, with a coupon. It was very expensive. I began justifying the purchase, which was a bit spendy for my budget. I rationalized I could eat cheap soup, ask for car rides to save having to buy gas, turn down the heat for a few months, to lower the bill. I bought the necklace.
I got home and had buyers remorse every time I had to eat the cheap noodles, beg a ride to work, put on another sweater and pair of socks. It wasn’t enough remorse to make me return it.
The bill for the purchase came, I had barely enough to pay it in full because if I didn’t pay it all I would be charged interest for a purchase I could hardly afford. I didn’t delay in returning the bill. I breathed a sigh of relief. The necklace was mine.
My satisfaction was short lived. The next month I got another bill from Boston Store. It contained a $35 late fee. I called the store to complain, how I was charged a late fee when the date the payment was posted was on the due date. The person who answered said the computer calculated it, the fee was due. The computer was wrong! I wrote a letter stating my observations. It was ignored.
I decided to pay the $35 because damaging my credit wasn’t worth it. I vowed to never, ever shop there again. Without surprise the entire empire that included Boston Store declared bankruptcy, folded and no longer exists. While I know my refusal to remain a customer didn’t single handedly undermine their business it makes me happy to wear the necklace.
My uncle Jeff (mom’s brother) was a renowned Neurosurgeon and Director of Stereotactic Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University. As you could imagine, he was a fairly brilliant guy (perfect SAT, Princeton undergrad, taught himself fluency in German, all of those things crazy-smart people do.)
image 71
We are a fairly small family, so I got to know him on a pretty personal level, more as an uncle than a doctor. But I still knew him as both, and can tell you there was a significant dichotomy between the two Jeffs.
His patients raved about his passion and care for their well being and treatment, they said he was an unwavering professional. He had the utmost respect among peers and students. Jeff, or Dr. Williams, aimed to become the best neurosurgeon in the world.
Jeff as a person, and I say this as someone who still loves him dearly, was a wonderful but flawed and complex individual. On his good days he could be the funniest and most intelligent guy you’ve ever spoken to. The kind of guy who could say one sentence that changes the way you see the world. On his bad days he could be profoundly arrogant; he was very aware of his mental capacities and not afraid to let you know.
He could also be very demanding and temperamental. As a 7 year old, he would review my math homework with me and let me tell you, you’ve never met a more demanding math tutor. My theory was that because he was so demanding of himself, he projected that same standard upon people he cared about.
image 70
But we still had fun too.
image 69
Over the years, we saw him frequently and had a great relationship, but we noticed he started looking pretty bad. He was gaining weight and he had lost a lot of color in his face. We know he was working 80+ hours and living off the hospital cafeteria food. It wasn’t something you could mention to him, or he would stop talking to you for a year. Finally, his dad (my grandpa) tried to bring it up with him, but Jeff would have none of it. He wouldn’t listen or didn’t take it seriously. And he got angry to the point that we could never bring it up again.
About a month after my 19th birthday, I was packing to head back to college. I heard my mom crying in her bedroom across the hall, I could tell something was wrong, very wrong. I came in, she was on the phone, sobbing. It was that type of cry that meant something really bad had happened. She hangs up the phone and tells me. “Your Uncle Jeff had a heart attack this morning, Jeff is dead.”.
That morning he had been running on a treadmill in the Johns Hopkins gym next to a fellow doctor, he had a type of “widow maker” heart attack and died. Not even a surgeon jogging next to him could save him. He was 50 years old.
To this day, I miss and love Jeff. I idolized him and his death crushed the family. But I am also angry; he made some pretty bad health choices that cost him his life, choices a neurosurgeon knows well not to make. Choices he somehow rationalized didn’t apply to him. And so to answer the question, the thing that annoys me about really smart people, is that they can be guilty of hubris at times.
Back in 1992 or so, I was in a computer repair shop where I often sourced secondhand parts, like the 3.5″ floppy drives from IBM PS/2 systems. They had a defect that frequently caused them to slip out of alignment, and when they did, IBM would simply pay repair shops to swap out the floppy drives with new ones and toss the old ones. You could actually find tons of them in dumpsters at repair shops.
I collected them because they were super-easy to fix, you just turned a screw to align them again. They used the same card edge connector with the same pinout as a 5.25″ floppy drive, so you could just swap them on computers with 5.25″ floppies, which I did on my TRS-80.
Anyway, I was in there one day when the tech was like “hey, you want this?” and pointed to an Apple Lisa with an Apple Profile hard drive. “I was like “sure, what’s wrong with it?” He said “I don’t know. Video doesn’t work at all. Total blank screen. I haven’t looked at it because when I gave the owner a price quote, he just told me to keep it.”
So I bought it for $100, got it home, popped off the top (super easy, it was designed to be disassembled without tools, and all the electronics slid out in card cages like military radios use), and…
…the little socket had come off the back of the CRT.
I slipped it back on and it worked perfectly. Used it for years, until it finally failed. In fact, I even did small-press publishing on it.
Unimportant details have been changed to protect patient confidentiality.
When I was in training a 14 year old girl swimming in the ocean was run over by a speedboat. One leg and half her pelvis were gone. The thing is, most patients that are going to die come in unresponsive whereas most patients that live come in talking. But a young girl like her has a lot of physiologic reserve and the large vessels of her pelvis had spasmed shut to temporarily stop the bleeding. So despite her extraordinarily severe injury, she was actually talking to us. And she was pleading with us to save her life. I can still remember her crying, saying “I don’t want to die, Daddy.” Her father (who had been driving the speedboat) was beside her holding her hand.
I took one look at her injury and knew it was fatal. There were several surgeons there and we tried some Hail Mary maneuvers in the trauma bay, but the spasming arteries opened up within a few minutes of arrival and she died.
If you’re in the trauma field you get used to death, and I am. But I will never forget the sound of her crying to live. I can only imagine what her father went through.
It was a get-rich-quick scheme. Leap in front of slow-moving cars, feign injury, and threaten a suit. Make millions overnight. Or that was his plan, anyways.
So he ended up in the ER once, twice a week. He was never actually hit, but he put on such an exhibition, we were obligated to work him up. He was in and out of the CT scanner so often he acquired the sort of soft glow you could have a romantic dinner over. And he almost always ended up spending at least one night inpatient. Traumatized drivers showed up crying, asking about his wellbeing. He was exhausting our patience and our resources.
“We have actually sick patients who can’t get a bed upstairs because he’s taking up space,” I groaned, catching sight of his name on the ER board once again.
“But what can we do?” my co-resident shrugged. “One of these times he will truly be hurt. How do we save someone from themselves?”
I sighed. “He’s not trying to hurt himself. He’s just trying to make money. Unfortunately, he’s not crazy. Just an asshole.”
My chief, Hayashi, leaned back in his chair and snickered, tenting his fingertips together diabolically. “What if he WAS crazy?” he proposed, with one eyebrow raised.
“What do you mean?”
“Well…” he tipped his chair forward, “it’s a six floor hospital, right? Put on your white coat and climb out the window of the room next door to his. Inch your way across the ledge, and climb in HIS window. Walk up to the bed, climb up on it, stand up. Unzip and pee all over him. Then climb back out the window again..”
“WHAT?!!?” I screeched. “That’s insane!”
“Yup!” grinned Hayashi. “That’s exactly what they’re gonna say when he tells everyone some doctor climbed in the window and peed on him. Then he’s gonna go away. Problem solved. You’re welcome.”
“Carrier killer” DF-21d missiles are no longer China’s only weapon against American carriers!
1. Armed drones
As we all know, Chinese drones are very powerful. Recently, American carriers ran into trouble in the Red Sea, and Iranian observers even mocked the US military on Twitter for using a $2.1 million SM-2 missile to intercept a $2,000 Yemeni drone.
American carriers can’t even defend themselves against Yemen’s humble drones, let alone the countless drones of China, the land of drones.
image 3
It amuses me that America’s “invincible” aircraft carriers are being fumbled by the Houthis in Yemen.
What you need to know is that the Yemeni Houthis are not government forces, just a guerrilla force on motorbikes. Lol! 🤣
image 65
2. EM gun
What Chinese ships are hiding even deeper are the electromagnetic guns not used by American ships.
image 64
China’s medium-voltage DC integrated power system for ships is at least 20 years ahead of the U.S., which can fully guarantee the electricity for EM guns.
EM cannon shells fly incredibly fast and are silent, with no gunpowder explosions.
A single shot from an EM gun can sink an aircraft carrier instantly and completely silently, and cannot be recognised, tracked, or intercepted.
image 63
But the American EM gun can not be actualised because its ship power system and its backwardness, can not supply the huge amount of electricity consumed instantly by the EM gun.
Below is the full translation of 《中国留美博士生突遭遣返：经历噩梦般的50个小时》Chinese PhD Students in the U.S. Suddenly Deported: Enduring a Nightmare-like 50 Hours, a news report by 中国科学报 China Science Daily posted in its WeChat blog on Friday, January 5.
Meng Fei, a Ph.D. student originally set to return to her university in the U.S., was denied entry at an American airport and rapidly repatriated. The 50 hours she spent there is utterly an unforgettable nightmare for her.
After Meng landed in Washington, D.C. on December 19, 2023, she was immediately detained by U.S. Customs at the airport for secondary inspection. She then spent eight hours in the so-called “little dark room” and another 12 hours in solitary confinement. During her layover in Los Angeles, she was detained for five more hours before being sent back to Beijing. These dark moments are etched clearly in her memory.
Sitting back in the sofa corner at home, Meng is in a daze – “How did I end up back here?” When she left for the U.S., she had just successfully renewed her F1 student visa for the coming year on November 27, 2023, not expecting to be rapidly repatriated. What is worse is that she is banned from entering the U.S. for five years. If her appeal fails, Meng will not be able to attend her doctoral defense in 2024. The appeal takes at least six months, which is too long for her biological research to wait.
Meng Fei was shocked to find, on the train back to her hometown, six other students who had similar experiences at Dulles International Airport (IAD). All of them are females. Furthermore, she learned of two other female students who were informed at the Chinese airport during check-in that their visas were revoked and could not board their flights.
Despite thorough analysis, they couldn’t dig out the reason for their repatriation. The only certainty was that their dream of studying in the U.S. was shattered.
“The Little Dark Room”
Four hours after arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport, Meng Fei was informed that there was a problem with her visa and that she had to return to China. She became the only person repatriated from the airport that day.
Meng Fei stayed in the little dark room for eight hours. After learning she was denied entry, she was immediately told to pay $3,700 for her repatriation flight to China by herself, with no other options. By comparison, her flight to the U.S. cost only $1,000.
The officials who interrogated Meng were two women: Epstein, with short hair and no uniform, and Pratt, with blonde hair, not tall, also with no uniform. Other detainees encountered Pratt as well.
This group of victims were interrogated about whether they received scholarships during their undergraduate studies, whether they were funded by the China Scholarship Council (CSC), or whether they engaged in any confidential research. Meng had received undergraduate scholarships from their alma mater but was not involved in CSC-funded projects or any confidential research.
When signing her statement, Meng was told it was just to confirm the interrogation’s accuracy, but she wasn’t allowed to see the content before signing. Only after signing did she learn that she would not only be repatriated rapidly but also banned for five years. She was outraged because the customs officers kept urging her to accept the decision to return to China during the interrogation, saying she could re-enter easily by reapplying for a visa. The five-year ban was not mentioned during the whole process.
With two armed officers watching, she had no choice but to comply, focusing only on how to leave that dreadful place and contact the outside world.
The nightmare didn’t end there. After an 8-hour wait in the little dark room, Meng confronted a humiliating search, followed by 12 hours in solitary confinement.
“I was told that I would be kept in a room, I don’t remember the exact room name. Maybe at that time, my ears refused to hear it, my brain to remember it,” she recalls. She was not allowed to bring her luggage, coat, shoes, sweater, or even cough medicine. The room had a cot, a sofa, children’s books and toys, a toilet without a door, and multiple surveillance cameras, but no clock. Thankfully, there was a TV showing the time.
It was a little cold in that single room, but Meng only got three sheets to sleep with. She managed to sleep for only an hour, waking up frequently, and spent two hours watching the movie X to kill time. For the rest of the time, she just aimlessly pressed the remote control, unable to focus on anything, just waiting to board the flight home.
It was only when preparing to board the flight that she was informed that she would get her phone back only upon landing in Beijing. For the previous 48 hours, it was impossible for her to inform her family she was safe.
The search and 5-hour detention in Los Angeles airport seemed trivial in comparison. On the flight to Los Angeles, her main concern was how to make contact with her family and inform them of her situation. Fortunately, her iPad, which was brought with her, enabled her to inform her family of her flight number.
Upon landing in Beijing, a official of the Chinese immigration administration helped Meng charge her phone, record what she had experienced in the past few days and had her sign and fingerprint the record. She could finally message her family.
Fellow suffers
On the train home, Meng Fei got into contact with another girl through social media who had also been repatriated from DIA and denied entry in December 2023. The girl was also pursuing a PhD in the U.S.
Such students experiences have a WeChat group. Their experiences were strikingly similar. Wei Na, a student at Johns Hopkins University, and her roommate were detained in the little dark room on November 24, 2023. Wei was asked sensitive questions during the formal record, such as military service, connections to the Ministry of Education, and funding from the state. Despite she gave negative responses, the inspector told her, “Your F1 and B1/B2 visas are no longer valid, and you are not allowed to enter the U.S. We will send you back to China on the earliest flight. You need a new visa to re-enter.”
Repeated inquiries with inspectors only revealed that her visa was canceled by the U.S. Embassy in China two days before her entry. However, after returning home, she was told by the embassy that it was not the embassy but U.S. Customs’ decision. That made her doubt the authenticity of the U.S. customs officers’ statements, suspecting they were just inducing her to accept repatriation.
Two more sufferers joined their group. One of them was repatriated from the same airport and the other one was told the visa was revoked before boarding in China. In total, there were 11 of them.
This situation motivated Meng Fei to investigate the commonalities among the victims to find out the cause of their rapid repatriation. She created an Excel document, and so far, ten victims have filled in their details, with one more whose visa was revoked at check-in providing incomplete information.
The findings showed that all ten were graduates from prestigious universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, among others. Their domestic degrees spanned fields like biological sciences, preventive medicine, statistics, materials physical chemistry, communication engineering, German, and business administration. They were currently studying at U.S. institutions such as Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Virginia. Among them, two were first-year master’s students, three first-year Ph.D. students, two fifth-year Ph.D. students, one sixth-year Ph.D. student, one postdoctoral fellow, and one female on a work visa.
Of the eight repatriated students, four had won university scholarships during their undergraduate studies, and one received a CSC scholarship; none were involved in confidential research. One was even questioned about having a Russian tourist visa. However, none of them was told the clear reason for their repatriation by the U.S. Customs.
They couldn’t understand why receiving a scholarship for academic excellence during undergraduate studies would become an obstacle to acquiring further education in the U.S.
Meng Fei noted that the inspectors focused heavily on her phone, while her computer and luggage were not scrutinized carefully. However, in subsequent inquiries, they did not mention any issues or sensitive information on her phone, nor did they ask questions about their phones.
Given that all known repatriated individuals were female, they speculated that U.S. Customs’ actions involved not only racial but also gender discrimination. Since these recent incidents all occurred within the past month and were handled by the same customs officer, they suspected that these U.S. Customs inspectors were rushing to meet year-end repatriation quotas.
A well-known context is that on June 3, 2020, former U.S. President Trump signed Executive Order 10043, prohibiting certain students and scholars from obtaining F/J visas in the name of national security. However, the universities and majors of these victims were not within the scope of this order, and most of them did not have obvious characteristics related to Executive Order 10043. Some indications suggest that the ban has been expanded in recent years – potentially going further.
What further distressed these students was the discovery of intentional or unintentional alterations in their records.
One student’s record inexplicably included a segment about engagement in a Chinese high-end talent program and visits to military-industrial units. Another student’s undergraduate research was on South Africa, one of the BRICS countries, but this was not mentioned in the record. Instead, there was an emphasis on Russia and China being part of the BRICS.
Where should they head?
Will this sudden turn of events make Meng Fei’s almost completed doctoral degree come to naught?
While detained at U.S. Customs, Meng Fei pondered numerous possibilities for her future. If only she had foreseen what would happen then, she would have waited to return to China after receiving her diploma. If she had been more prepared, she could have applied to withdraw her U.S. entry request, possibly avoiding the five-year entry ban. However, seven of the eight repatriated girls were completely unaware of this and received the five-year ban without any advance notice. The U.S. Customs only informed the first repatriated student of the option to withdraw her entry application, not the other seven.
Is it possible to revoke this five-year entry ban? Meng sought help from her advisor, the international students’ office at her school, the graduate student union, and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. However, so far, no effective headway has been made.
A professor of Chinese heritage at Yale University, deeply concerned about Meng Fei’s situation, sought assistance from many people for her. This professor himself was a victim of the Trump administration’s “China Initiative” and had ever been temporarily suspended from his job for several months. Meng is very grateful to him, as he, having “been through the rain,” also wants to “hold an umbrella” for others.
According to her original plan, Meng should now be focusing on supplementary experiments in the lab. She needs to complete some experiments, then finish and submit papers, followed by her doctoral defense.
The unforeseen event necessitates her communicating with her advisor to see if she can complete the experiments with the help of her lab colleagues and then proceed with an online defense. This is a result she can accept.
Then what next? Perhaps she will look for a postdoctoral opportunity in Europe. Her advisor is European and may be able to offer some advice and help.
The other two Yale Ph.D. students, whose visas were revoked before boarding in China, have gradually lost hope of returning to the U.S. during their long wait. A fifth-year Ph.D. student has been in China for nearly half a year. Even though she has reapplied for a visa, there is no update on her visa status and the only thing to do is wait anxiously. Another first-year doctoral student reapplied for a visa but was denied, leaving her no choice but to withdraw from her program.
Meng is seeking help from lawyers, but the prospects are unclear. After all, even the lawyers can’t discern from the documents the reasons for her repatriation by U.S. customs, making it difficult to prepare specific materials. The waiting time is unknown.
The group of victims hopes to lift the five-year ban, but no response has been made by the U.S. Customs even after their U.S. universities tried to contact them.
(Note: Meng Fei and Wei Na are pseudonyms used in the article.)
Cream Cheese Kolacky
77f23a82e9de31372291ffe5419eec05
Ingredients
1 (10 ounce) bag dried apricots
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups flour
Confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
Place apricots in medium saucepan; cover with water. Soak overnight.
Heat the apricots and water to a boil in medium saucepan over high heat; reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring often with fork to mash and adding water if needed, until smooth and thick, about 10 minutes. (If necessary, you can chop finely with a knife or process about 1 minute in a food processor or chopper.)
Add the granulated sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Cool completely.
Blend together the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl; gradually blend in flour, using hands once the dough has begun to form, until it can be shaped into a ball (this may be more or less than 2 cups). Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Divide dough into thirds. Roll out each third on a floured board into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle, 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick. Cut into 2-inch squares with a pizza cutter. Place 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of the apricot filling in the middle of each square. Fold each corner into middle; pinch together. (Moisten fingers with cold water if dough does not stick.)
Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets; bake until golden, about 17 minutes per batch.
Cool on wire rack; sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.
We have built a vacation home in a nearby province. Husband took on the contracting while maintaining his full-time police job – so proud of him!
I did not announce this; I dislike the comparison games people play and do not want to be perceived as bragging.
A good friend asked to see pictures at a reunion luncheon. As I flipped through pix on my phone, an acquaintance from long ago came up behind us.
She peered over our shoulders and exclaimed, “When you married that low-ranked cop, I knew you’d end up this way! How far you’ve fallen! How can you live like THAT!!”
The look on her face was not one of concern, but a sneer.
She was looking at a picture of the shed where building materials had been kept (that has since been removed).
*sigh*
*Note Some have asked about my response. I smiled, told her that it was the raw materials shed and went back to my conversation.
Why didn’t I snap back, go for her throat, etc?
Because that (and to embarrass me) is what she expected, what she wanted. She is in her element when someone defends herself or gets angry.
But she has never been able to handle a calm, non-defensive response.
My friend called me up the other day, he’s in another country and in the midst of a full-on psychotic breakdown… “I’m in hell, Jean-Marie…” he said, “everything around me is fire and I’m in hell.” He hears roosters and dogs barking, cars honking, and they are demonic creatures to his ears. His perception is wrong. Everything is wrong.
image 108
My friend suffers from schizophrenia. He is mentally unwell, and deeply so. His parents do not care for him at all. And he has nobody. No one in the world who cares, besides me and two other online friends who live in England. I want to reach out, help him, but… I cannot. It kills me, being unable to help my friend. Being unable to embrace him, unable to tell him it will be okay. Because I can’t. And it won’t. He refuses medication, refuses help, and even if he did want to accept it, none will be coming. It’s a helpless feeling watching someone’s life fall apart at the seams. Helpless, hopeless, and depressing.
The hardest thing to overcome in life, is the realization that you can’t help, sometimes. That there are things above and beyond your comprehension that you cannot aid someone with. Issues you cannot fix. People you cannot cure. Problems you cannot solve. And that all you can do is be a bystander, glued to the sight of their demise as you remain frozen.
Originally Answered: What are the most convincing things that would make me think twice before falling to an overly attractive woman that I’ve just met?
See this cutie?
image 107
This is Dalia Dippolito. Upon first glance, most guys would find her very attractive, myself included.
image 106
Back in 2010, she convinced this guy, Michael Dippolito, to marry her by being the perfect, super-hot mistress/girlfriend. He even divorced his wife to be with her, he was so desperate to land this hottie.
According to Michael, they were very happy. He believed that while they had a few problems, they were a solid couple with a long future ahead of them.
Right up until she tried to hire an undercover police officer to kill him.
Apparently she wanted his money and condo… everything but him. Fortunately, the guy she asked to kill him went to the police and an undercover investigation began.
She was caught on police undercover film laughing and saying that she absolutely wanted go through with killing him to a supposed hitman. “I’m 5,000% sure,” she was captured saying.
Det. Alex Moreno of the Boynton Beach police department noted how “We were shocked… how easily she talked about getting her husband killed.”
To make sure she was serious and meant to follow through on it, the Boynton Beach, FL police even staged a fake crime scene where her husband had supposedly been shot and killed.
She showed up on scene and upon being told, cried and screamed in horror. The observers onsite noted that she didn’t shed actual tears so much as just made a lot of wailing noises.
The police then arrested her and told her her husband was actually still alive and that the scene had been a sting operation.
Once in jail, she tried to win Michael over again. To his credit, he would have none of it.
When that didn’t work, she would go onto deny everything, try to slander her husband’s reputation, claim they had planned it all for a reality show, and multiple other lies to try to convince people that the video evidence they saw- with their own eyes and on film- was somehow not true.
After an appeal and a mistrial (if you can believe that), she was eventually sentenced to 16 years for attempted murder. Upon sentencing, the judge told her she was the “personification of evil.”
If the guy she originally tried to hire for the hit hadn’t gone to the police, Michael Dippolito would be dead and Dalia might potentially be living in his home, spending his money… and looking for her next victim.
There are other women like Dalia looking for their next victim.
Maybe you?
Sociopaths come in all shapes and sizes. Some even look like really attractive women.
Take your time and get to know whomever you go out with, no matter how strong the physical attraction might be.
I was travelling through outback Australia, coming down from Darwin in the Northern Territory through to Wagga Wagga along the Stuart Highway, turning at the Barkly Highway at Waramungu to go towards Queensland. There is a whole lot of nothing out there, with nothing in between, so you rely on the petrol stations along the way which are also pretty far between. So after a few days I arrived at Threeways Roadhouse one afternoon to fill up with petrol and go on my way, wanting to cross the border before sundown and stay in Camooweal.
image 105
It’s a big roadhouse supplying the road trains that go through with diesel and petrol for the rest of us. There were a lot of people there when I pulled up, but thought nothing of it. When I went to get some unleaded petrol to fill up, there were signs on the pumps – Not In Service.
image 104
I asked at the counter and the two young girls there said there was no unleaded petrol, the truck hadn’t come through yet and wasn’t likely to get there until tomorrow midday.
“What, nothing at all?”
“We’ve just got diesel.”
Ah, so that’s why there were so many people waiting around! Not sure if I could make it to Camooweal on what I had left, I made the best of a bad thing and booked a cabin out the back to stay in for the night. Let me tell you – apart from the roadhouse there is nothing in Waramungu, and nothing for a hundred kilometres or more. Everyone else was doing the same.
Had dinner there, slept, and in the morning had breakfast and read the paper, watched the tv in the restaurant. It was getting on to mid morning and there was still a crowd waiting for the petrol truck. I thought I’d ask at the counter again to be sure the truck was coming.
“Fuel truck coming soon?”
“We think so. Midday or after.”
Just then, outside the window, I saw a small car like mine leave the bowsers and drive off towards Queensland. Looked like he had fuelled up!
“Did he just get petrol? I thought you said there was no unleaded petrol?”
“There’s no unleaded petrol. He bought Premium unleaded petrol. It’s more expensive.”
So, I stayed a night at a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere because they didn’t know that Premium unleaded petrol was the same as Unleaded petrol except it was about five cents a litre more to buy – much cheaper than staying there and eating two meals. I didn’t care I just wanted to get to my destination.
Maybe they thought they were helping me out…
I told the people I had been chatting to in the restaurant and suddenly the rush was on for the Premium pump – and within ten minutes I was out of there.
Like Jeffrey Epstein files that was released. Ultimately the truth is out.
Like Iraq WMDs
Like the Gulf of Tonkin
It’s why groups like China World Leader & other groups gain traction on Quora
They FILL THE GAPS
The Anti China brigade, their narrative has too many loopholes
Why, if China is committing genocide, is the Uyghur Population rising?
Why, if China is going to collapse in 24 days, is Joe Biden making a huge effort to meet Xi Jingping
Why, if the Chinese people are so unhappy with the CPC, are they freely allowed to travel in and out of China whenever they want
Why, if the Chinese Army equipment is old and useless, do many top US Generals regard China as a larger threat than the USSR?
Why, if China is such an authoritarian state, are there protests regularly by the people also covered by the same Western media?
These are questions that any rational and sane person would always ask
This is where spaces like China World Leader, Wumao Uncensored and Youtubers like Cyrus Janssen help FILL UP THE GAPS
image 72
They logically deliver their explanation on the above questions and the explanations definitely help get a better understanding of how China works
Sadly the world contains maybe 10% realists
90% of them, especially those who live in democracies are badly brainwashed into losing their ability to reason and think
Their teeny tiny brains refuse to function or use logic to rectify mistakes
Such a person if told about the Uyghur Population growing, would rather make up some fantastic explanation than admit the information he got was wrong
He could even say Uyghurs have 10 Kids each and 8 Kids are killed so there is population growth
Show such a person life in China and he will say the video is doctored
Ultimately these people ALREADY MAKE UP THEIR MINDS and fit information however false to justify their own thinking
The inferior minds sadly dominate the world today
Quora has fewer such inferior minds
Twitter has many
YT has many
So on Quora, Pro China groups thrive and survive and even help convince other realists that China may not be so bad
You notice Quora doesn’t have a North Korea group
Ultimately if China World Leader was a propaganda group spreading useless lies about China, it wouldn’t have the traction it has today
The reason that Mainstream Media and Anti China groups and their narratives are riddled with holes is why Pro China Groups are very believable and popular
image 73
Take this Video of Hu Jintao being escorted out
Every inferior mind jumped at the fact that Xi Jingping threw him out of the Party Congress
The Anti China brigade parroted the same thing
Yet not one person logically thought :-
WHY WOULD THE CPC RECORD THE EVENT AND THEN RELEASE IT TO THE PUBLIC WITHOUT CENSORING THE SAME?
I mean this video was available with every single channel in the world
The CPC controls every facet of information especially a video recorded inside the Party Congress
So WHY IF XI WANTED TO THROW HU JINTAO OUT DID HE CONSENT TO RECORDING THE EVENT LIVE AND NOT CENSORING THE ENTIRE TAPE
Thus logic dictated that the incident was SUDDEN and that supports the explanation that Hu Jintao had an onset of dementia and believed he was Party Chairman and wanted to read the list of new members that the Chairman usually does.
So he was gently escorted out
This is one such example
Trust me, Chinese don’t spread propaganda that easily , especially post 1980
In China there is a saying ‘You can’t wrap fire with paper’
So Chinese don’t buy lies that easily as Americans or Indians do
They question everything and they openly scoff at certain things
It’s why Pro Chinese Videos are designed to be for the realists and superior minds
Like the mainland Chinese
Who look for logic and ask questions
Sadly the Chinese don’t know that the global audience in democracies is made up of inferior and stupid minds
Thus these Pro Chinese Videos and content outside quora often finds a brick wall
How long would it take for China to pay youtubers to release videos about How Biden bathes with his daughter or fondles his granddaughter or of how US Politicians are pedophiles
Minutes
Yet that’s dirty and China won’t play dirty
Maybe that’s a weakness today but long term that’s a strength
Computer Predicts the End of the World | But here’s what they DON’T tell you
Here is where I am currently. It’s 14:41, Monday, Tokyo. And the view is from my work desk.
image 123
Quite literally a cage? (trap?)
Working in big Japanese company in one of the biggest cities in the world.
Do I want to be here?
No.
Is this where I want to be?
No. I want to be somewhere here. Bali
image 122
Can I be there?
I can’t without sacrificing the people who are dependent on me financially/emotionally. However, I can be there temporarily(holiday/vacation) without sacrificing anyone/anything.
How can I be there?
By working today in that cage, so that I can make some ¥¥¥ and be there next month for 4 days.
This is the biggest trap of my life at least. Self Imprisonment . To work somewhere only to be somewhere else temporarily.
Be it for family, travel etc.
Update : Some people seem to have concentrated more on the Bali trip and they think that i should move to Bali. If the solution was so simple i wouldn’t have called it a trap , would I ? It was never about Bali anyway, it could be anywhere else. Bali was used because it happened to be place of my trip which i had to wait for 6 months (My point) that’s all.
A insists and tells you it is a real relationship, however, things are complicated because B is still married (to C).
A insists there are a bunch of reasons that marriage between B and C isn’t real or working.
B truly loves A. Their love is real. A knows it.
A and B start moving fast, dating, the relationship gets heavy, even though it sounds like B still hasn’t fully cut ties with… C.
In fact, both A and C are each separately convinced that they are 100% with B.
But in truth – it’s only about 80%/20% as B has issues with commitment.
B finally works up the courage and cuts ties with C, so that B can fully be with A as A has been insisting all along.
Things are now better than ever between A and B, they post on social media together, they celebrate their love and how lucky they are to have each other.
And then you don’t see pictures for a while.
Everything goes radio silent.
And then you find out what happened.
B met D.
And everything went terribly wrong for A.
A can’t believe B would do this, that B could be so evil.
I do not feel sorry for A.
It’s one of the truest sayings you’ll ever hear, “If they’ll cheat with you – they’ll cheat on you.”
I taught for a while in one of Britain’s top private schools, so I feel I’m qualified to offer a definitive answer:
Tweed.
Seriously, ten years as a teacher and I never saw so much as a tweed dishcloth, but when I started working in private education suddenly the bloody stuff was everywhere. The teachers wore tweed (and the teachers were near-universally ‘old boys’ or ‘old girls’ whose parents could comfortably afford twice what most people earn in a year to get shut of their kids for most of it), the staff wore tweed, and the parents were dressed in tweed on a semi-permanent basis. I swear some of them slept in tweed pyjamas.
When they weren’t wearing tweed, they were cosplaying farmers, for some reason. This was irrespective of whether they lived somewhere in the cotswolds or the middle of London. Their farmer outfits were sometimes a bit worn, but always unnaturally clean.
So if I’m in the middle of the city and see someone wearing tweed or farming gear that’s never been within half a mile of a cow, that’s when know I’m dealing with the fourteenth Lord Bonkingly-Spinkle or some such.
image 121
EDIT: Several people have pointed out that tweed is for the country, not the town. Since I’m about as aristocratic as Derek Trotter and have never owned an item of tweed in my life, I wouldn’t know, but it is worth noting the school I worked at was out in the country.
That said, during COVID all our meetings with parents were remote, and they were still wearing tweed and farm gear regardless of where they lived.
Not me but my very dear friend. If the virus was that bad how was a little piece of cloth going to protect him? Etc, etc, etc. Yes, he was a die hard Fox News listener. No, he certainly was not getting the vaccine. Interestingly, he was completely understanding of anyone who did wear a mask or got the vaccine. He was a nice person with a big heart he just…I don’t know.
He caught a cold. A bad cold. He collapsed in the hallway of his house on his way to the bathroom. His wife rushed him to the hospital.
He never came back home.
The last thing he said to me was “Did you get the shot? Because this is bad”. Thing is, he was a very stoic, prideful man. For him to say this is “bad” meant it was horrible. He apparently asked the doctor for the vaccine and of course they explained it was too late. I know he already knew that.
How did he feel about not masking? Word is he felt like a fool and cried and cried because he felt stupid and he let his family down.
Three weeks diagnosis to death. Fifty three years old. Left a wife and three kids. I miss him every damn day.
My Girlfriend Dumped Me, Rode The Carousel, Now Wants Me Back Because They Don’t Want A Relationship
I have neighbors that moved in 8 years ago. Almost immediately, they started trying to claim property by mowing into my yard and building fences. I’m not talking 1–2 feet, it was over 50′ over the line.
That summer, they started picking from my garden and taking the fruit from my trees. Again, I’m not talking about a few tomatoes or ears of corn. They would strip everything clean.
They also would dig plants out of my yard and move them to their property. They even felt they had the right to go “metal detecting” and leave little potholes all though my property.
I asked them to stop, but they ignored me. I decided to buy a “consumer grade” surveillance system, but they were undeterred.
image 14
I put up “no trespassing” signs, making sure they were legally posted and the entire boundary was clearly marked. Nothing changed, so I located the survey pins and physically painted the property line. No help.
image 120
I threatened legal action, but they still ignored me. That’s when I forked out thousands and installed a new hardwired, military grade surveillance system with 8K resolution, 32x optical zoom, AI facial recognition, license plate recognition, auto tracking and a 16TB video recorder.
They were still undeterred and kept metal detecting and digging holes all over my yard.
image 13
Undeterred, that is, until the police showed up and the court granted me a restraining order. Problem solved.
One morning I woke up, looked at my to-do-list and realized I needed to make a couple of adjustments. After dropping my children off at school at 8:30, I had planned to go downtown to the Social Security Administration for a replacement Social Security card. I realized I had another appointment for 10:00am and that trying to squeeze Social Security in would be cutting it too close – because I had forgotten to get my birth certificate out of my safe deposit box at the bank the day before and would have had to run by there first. So, I crossed through the SS office on my list and wrote “tomorrow” next to it.
I took the kids to school as planned at 8:30 and was kicking myself for forgetting to get my birth certificate the day before so I could just head on downtown to Social Security. So, instead, I went back home, took a shower, and was standing in the bedroom when a large “boom” shook my house and I felt sure a jumbo jet had to have crashed nearby. It was all I could think of that could cause that loud of an explosion and cause the house to literally shake. I frantically rushed outside, looked around, but saw nothing.
That morning was April 19th, 1995. I lived in Oklahoma City. The Social Security office I was going to after dropping the kids at school was located on the ground floor of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown OKC. At 9:02am a truck bomb exploded in front of the Murrah building with such force it was felt up to 55 miles away. I was eight miles away when I felt that staggering blast. 168 people died in the bombing that horrible day. It wiped out the Social Security office, and, sadly, the children’s day care for federal employees. Had I not made the mistake of forgetting to go by my safe deposit box the day before, I would have followed my to-do-list and would have, undoubtedly, been inside the SSA at 9:02am.
The mistake of forgetting the bank the afternoon before — saved my life. What a horrible day April 19, 1995, was. I lost people I knew in that bombing and it will stay with me until the day I die. Due to only a mistake on my part, it just wasn’t that day.
I like to use stairs rather than lifts (elevators) in hotels, because they are a good form of exercise.
Many years ago I booked into a hotel in Brisbane (in Queensland, Australia) and decided to go for a run. I found the fire escape stairs and thought these would surely take me to the street (otherwise what was the point of having a fire escape?).
I came out of the fire escape into a car park on the first floor (i.e. one floor above ground level), and as the door closed behind me, I was reading a sign that said ‘This car park will be closed until 6.00 am.’
I checked to see if the door to the fire escape I had just exited was unlocked, but of course it was locked … with me in a car park that wouldn’t be opened for another eleven hours!
Fortunately, there was a part of the car park that was open to the outside, but of course it was one floor above the garden I could see by looking over the edge of the open area.
I decided to try to escape this unintended prison by doing a ‘reverse chin-up’ (aka pull-up). So I placed my hands on the top of the wall and gradually lowered myself into the ‘down’ position of a chin-up. I then allowed myself to drop to the garden, which was about a metre below my feet while I was in the down position.
The garden had been recently dug over, and the soil was soft, so I didn’t break any bones.
I then went to Reception to tell the young lady what had happened, and to ask why the fire escape didn’t allow me to get onto the street.
Instead of sympathising, and saying something would be done about it, she asked me if felt that I had to use the stairs rather than the lift.
I pointed out that this wasn’t relevant—I should have been safe taking the fire escape, for heaven’s sake!
The conversation continued along similar lines for some time before I gave up and realised I was talking to someone who was either a moron, or who didn’t care that, through no fault of his own, one of the hotel’s guests had been placed in a position where he might have had to spend the night locked in a car park!
I went into the Marine Corps in 1966 during the Vietnam War. But at the same time our country was also going through the Civil Rights Movement. About 50% of us were racists and the other 50% weren’t a whole lot better. People stayed in their racially divided communities. And many made racist statements about the Vietnamese and many white boys joked about blacks/mexicans taking their place in the draft. Mainly because we did not mix much and few cared about people different than themselves going to the draft.
In boot camp I soon learned we had boys from all over the USA. Those of us who only knew people in our little towns suddenly were surrounded by boys from New York, the deep South, surfing boys from the west and a mix of white/blacks/browns. Boot camp is a powerful experience. Very physically and mentally tiring and often under the stress we would start shoving or wrestling with each other. Sometimes this took on racial overtones. But we all survived boot camp and moved on.
The most important part of the person on person experience was my tour in Vietnam. I was a grunt, an infantryman. As hard as it is to believe I never spent a day in a base camp or in those plywood cities. All my time was in the field. Now if you know war you will learn you spend hours working and bored to death. So while you are spending time filling sandbags or sitting around the campfire with marshmallows you talk with your fellow Marines…a lot. We talk about our families, our girlfriends, our cars, etc. You soon learn we are all almost alike. Very little difference. And we were able to talk racial politics, and unlike civilians who love to hate each other, our talks were usually civilized. You don’t usually fight people who you hope will save you tomorrow. And there is nothing that matches the feeling of seeing one person raised in a racist environment put his life on the line to save a grunt of a different color. You will never see that happen, but I did. Many times.
One fact I learned was the difference between northern blacks and southern blacks. In the south we would often work together but would go back to our segregated communities at night. In the north they had their ghettos and were required to stay there for work, church, home, etc. Blacks moved north during WWII for work and to get away from the southern Jim Crow laws. But they ran into more racism. And stuffed into ghettos with other blacks and were pretty much warned not to leave their areas. My squad leader was a black from Philadelphia and he claimed he never saw a white person until he was about eight. All the businesses, teachers, cops, firemen, etc were black and few whites drove through their ghetto. In the south blacks and white mingled, up north that rarely happened.
When you spend nearly a year with the same people. And you hear their sacrifices and dreams and loves you soon learn we are much more alike than different. And though we had many racists, both white and black, they changed and were quite willing to sacrifice themselves for a Marine of a different color. It was an incredible feeling. Then you returned home, where civilians love to fight over minor problems and are encouraged to hate each other for political gain. Give me the Corps and combat any day….and to be surrounded by heroes of all colors. How can you not be proud of the courage and sacrifice I saw everyday?
I hate to admit it, but when a very attractive woman gets stopped, she is far less likely to get a ticket than an average looking person does. I always used to argue with the guys who let attractive women off. My point being, if you met her in a bar, she wouldn’t even give you the time of day.
As a sort of karma thing, I decided to exercise very little discretion whenever I stopped an attractive woman for violating a traffic law.
One day, I stopped a woman for speeding, and as I approached her window I noticed that she was even beyond attractive. On a scale of 1–10, she was a 12.
I asked her for her license, registration, and insurance card, which she handed to me.
But the entire time I stood there looking over her credentials, she never even looked at me or acknowledged my existence. As I continued to review her credentials, I noticed that she was holding her hand out the window, palm up. It took me a second to figure out what she was doing, then I finally realized she was waiting for me to hand her credentials back to her so she could leave, as I assume had always been the case whenever she was stopped previously.
When I said, “I’ll be with you in a minute” and began to walk back to my patrol car with her credentials in my hand, the only word I can think of to describe her reaction was apoplectic.
I swear, I’m really not a jerk, but I can’t think of any other summons I ever issued that gave me more pleasure.
A prestigious scientific journal contacted me and asked if I was willing to referee a paper which claimed to solve a long-standing open problem in mathematical physics. They also said there was something fishy about the paper.
image 103
And indeed there was. I had seen an earlier version of the paper some time before which contained far less spectacular results, so something certainly had changed. The essence could be found in one large and detailed remark near the end of the article which was added “after the author suddenly had seen how to solve the entire problem.”
It was exactly — word for word — the reasoning I had explained on a blackboard during a lecture about four months earlier at an international conference where the author also had been present and even had posed many questions after my lecture, because he did not understand the subtleties.
Unfortunately for him, there were other researchers in the audience — nearly a hundred of them — and many of them had seen me explaining my solution to him. Many of them knew. And what was even worse: I had written up and submitted my proof long before the author had secretly made the revision to his paper, totally plagiarizing me.
So he was caught.
And consequently he became very mad at me, because he had been caught big time in the very act of scientific cheating, and he simply could not cope with that. And so he still blamed me in the end instead of looking in the mirror —
In a nutshell, the very nature of cheaters, I guess.
Unless it’s fair play it’s worthless. Fair play is everything. End of.
Queueing is also everything. See 2.
I am very polite (most of the time). See 2.
I reserve the phrase ‘you fucker’ and ‘you twat’ for my best friends and they do the same. That amount of respect is earned.
Almost everything I say should not be taken literally. It will mostly be p*ss taking banter.
Did I mention fair play. The first person to call a snooker foul is oneself everytime. I’m related to Joe & Fred Davis and grew up in the next village. Billiards. British.
The first thing I will notice about you will be the social indicators that determine your class. If you are British you will do the same. It is absolutely impossible to fool you.
If you knock me I will apologise.
I thank the bus driver. Without fail. See 4.
I know my national team is not going to win the Football World Cup.
I know my team will lose on penalties to the Germans. See 11. This is England only.
I’ve been in more pubs than I care to remember. That’s because whether I care or not I am not capable of remembering half of them. When I go out, I go out out. Friday night and Saturday night in Britain (and Ireland) is like nowhere else on earth. Nowhere. British high streets at 5pm are civilised and genteel. A few hours later they are rivers of intoxication, pavement pizzas, kebab spillage, burger vans,fighting and police vans. When you’re young nowhere else on Gods earth is this much fun or this drunk. My foreign friends. You may read this long rambling list and pick out some that you say ‘we do this too’ Well not this one. This is ours. This is our defining characteristic. Not Wimbledon or Lords or the Proms. Getting this many people pissed at the same time twice a week ( ok yes..Thursdays as well) Getting this many people pissed out of their heads three times a week, week in week out is quintessentially British.
If the food you serve me tastes horrible I will tell you it was lovely.
I moan a lot. We are experts at it. It’s part of our health routine.
I know what mizzle is and I like it.
Chips, curry sauce, tray, wooden fork.
Tea bag, boiling water THEN milk.
I will watch the weather forecast three times a day. Each will be completely different. On any day I will have layered clothes suitable for everything from summer to winter.
With a quarter of an inch of snow I won’t be able to get to work.
I have a square of green in front of my house (this is sadly dying out)
I will never ever use the square of green in 21. for recreational purposes. If anyone does, they will put a sofa on it and paint the house number in emulsion on the house and bin. You may think your nations hardest criminals are hard but these people are like Jim Carrey crossed with Terminator. Their Grandads were this hard and this mental, the Germans reconnaissance didn’t pick up on our secret weapon. They didn’t understand the significance of those front garden sofas in their recon photos. Btw before you write in I know it’s a settee, I was being snobby for a minute.
I expect my policemen and policewomen to talk to me like they are a good friend. And they almost always will. My mam still calls them the bobbies. British.
My beer must have a head.
The italian waiter with the huge pepper grinder hovering over my wife is held with both contempt and awe.
The first thing I will do when you come to my house is ask you if you want a cup of tea.
If you invite me to your house and don’t offer me a cup of tea I will never forget but I will never mention it to you.
I stand up and offer my seat for older people and pregnant women. Always (except on the Tube where it can be seen as an insult) It doesn’t matter what your race is I will stand for you.
Not offering an older person a seat (if it’s not possible) leaves me feeling very uncomfortable. See 27. See 4.
I love multiculturalism and eat so many different kinds of foods and meet so many different nationalities of people most days.
If you boast and brag I will not be impressed. In fact I will think you are a complete knob for doing it.
In 1665 in the village of Eyam in Derbyshire the bubonic plague struck, having been brought from London by accident. Villagers made the selfless choice to quarantine themselves and thus give up any chance of help. My relatives (on my Dad’s side) the Hancocks were villagers in Eyam and they were part of the agreed self imposed isolation. They did not leave to spread the plague across Derbyshire and the North of England. That could have led to millions of deaths. They stayed put and awaited their fate. My relative Elizabeth Hancock survived but buried six children and her husband in only 8 days. The village suffered hundreds of deaths but many survived including the village grave digger. Nobody ran away, nobody. That’s a little bit of British history I’m connected to and I’m proud of it… The village of the damned
I will support the underdog (except if Forest are playing)…in anything whatsoever irrespective of the nationality, gender, age etc.I have a come back for everything, except the dreaded tut. A well timed tut can crucify me. I’m British. It’s our achilles heel. If you’re not British you won’t be able to deliver the precise tut required. The precisely delivered tut is devastating.If you are waiting at a zebra crossing I will stop. Every time. Without fail. However if you wave thank you I will tense up like a camels bum in a sandstorm. The slightest of nods as you avoid eye contact and a little polite speed up of your walking at the end is perfect. A subtle raised arm is acceptable but only from the elbow..never deliver the acknowledgement with a full arm raise unless you are the lollipop man/woman/transition person. Not acknowledging is sinful. If you’re the only person crossing and you don’t acknowledge me I will deem you the devils spore but drive politely on and bore my wife about you when I get home.I’m in a mixed race marriage. It never enters my head. Same for my friends also in mixed race marriages. I eat better food now.My class can’t change no matter how much I earn or social climb. Only one mistake out of a million indicators will be a complete and irrefutable give away.If i want to invent something I don’t crowd fund or try to contact Elon Musk, I just pop into the shed.Chips are chips and crisps are crisps.I know l
oads about British history but only know three historical dates. For some reason they all end in sixty six.
It’s 73 years after WWII yet I still keep loads of tins in the cupboard (as trained by my parents)……..cos you never know.
I’m heterosexual but I love a bit of spotted dick.
I eat food using a knife and fork. At certain points I use the back of my fork and push food onto it with the knife, which I do not hold like a pen.
Fannies are fannies and bums are bums.
Ooh matron!
I will quietly tut about the corruption in big business but if I see you driving in clear skies in broad daylight with your fog lights on…dear God help me.
The only fox news I listen to is on Countryfile.
The first time I saw a bidet I thought it was a wash basin for children. I still don’t know how you mount this contraption. Never will. British. Btw while we’re on the subject what’s that little diddy shower you see abroad.
I don’t squat. Our British achilles won’t allow it to happen after the age of 2. There are only three exceptions to this. The British achilles involuntarily stretch enough for a squat when we lose as a player in a Cup Final, when giving birth, and when stopping a red ball with big gloves on. Other than those, no squatting. You know what I’m saying. On we go….
I know you can’t beat a bit of Bully. RIP Jim.
My whole family and friends have had amazing medical treatment free at the point of delivery. And that’s amazing.
If I tell you that what you’ve said is interesting, it isn’t.
I think you will understand me if I speak slower and louder.
If you want me to feel really awkward praise me. I’ll automatically then downplay whatever I’ve done or got.
First shoes…Clarks and that thing.
Shoes again…I married into a Chinese family 17yrs ago. You cannot walk on their floor with your shoes on. Bloody hell the looks I got! I now feel really naughty walking into other Brits houses when they insist there’s no need to take my shoes off to walk on their carpets. The flip side..seventeen years later I feel so awkward asking people to take their shoes off to come into our house. It never gets less awkward for all concerned. 17 years. Shoes. Floors.
I use Celsius for cold days and Fahrenheit for for hot ones (for the drama)
I consider baseball a childrens’ game called rounders.
I don’t know how to look cool in the evening in hot countries.
Kes and Naked are my favourite films.
I know how to light fork handles.
Don’t tell ’em yer name Pike!
Don’t mention the war.
I don’t belieeeeve it.
You plonker.
It’s good night from me, and it’s good night from him.
Bring me sunshine.
Spoon jar, jar spoon. Haaaaaa Haaaaa.
By jove! RIP. Nobody was ever more British.
Nice to see, you to see you nice. See 68.
He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty…
Woolworths. I know!
Consonant, vowel, consonent vowel.
I grew up in a pit village and watched Thatcher rip the heart out of British Industry with no care for a Plan B. She ushered in ‘greed is good’ and smashed communities to bits. I used to fitness train running up that Pit Tip as a kid. That’s british. Fuck you Thatcher. I grew up with Punk as well. It’s an attitude not a fashion. British.
I make a cracking Yorkshire Pudding.
On the hottest day of the year I see old women in winter coats.
Top of the shop, blind 90.
Forget international measurements created by Foreigners and well meaning scientists I know the unit of height for really tall things is Nelsons Column and the unit of length for really long things is the London bus. The unit of weight for really heavy things is the blue whale. Big areas are football pitches, medium areas are measured in number of tennis courts. Tiny things are measured by how many will fit onto a pin head. Horses are measured in hands, massive volumes are measured in how many old wembley stadiums would fit in it. Really heavy things are measured in elephants. If we have to use scientific measures it’s pounds up to 1 stone then it’s stones and pounds. If you tell me you weight 216lbs I will have no idea if you’re fat or thin until I’ve done the maths.
You must never ever ever use my driveway (next to my square of never used green) to do your three point turn. If you do then this may be the only time you see me resemble a grieving middle eastern woman.
I got a world class education in the 1980’s that cost my parents virtually nothing.
I don’t snog in public. I’m British not European for christ sake. Decorum please.
When I started work I was asked to get a tin of tartan paint, a long stand, a spirit level bubble and a draughtsman’s license. Standard British.
If you win the race and tell me so I will hate you but if you tell me that you came last and had to walk half of it I will love you.
I’ve bought two houses in my life. Both times on day one I walked in and ripped some feature/part straight out of the house and chucked it away. Apparently that’s what we all do when we buy a house. Day one.
My dog has 6 nick-names.
Get down Shep.
I can tell where in Britain you’re from by what you call a bread cob.
I know that you’re not posh if you say scone the posh way.
I know if you finish work at 4:30 or 5:30 depending whether your white vehicle is a van or a car.
I know you are middle class because you never roll your shirt sleeves above your elbows. I know you’re working class because you never roll them below.
I know you are either upper middle class or lower working class because none of your furniture matches and you couldn’t care less.
My Great Uncle was a small unassuming thin man. Very cheerful and always made me feel special (I was a small thin kid) He always used to tell me that they don’t make fat thoroughbreds. That made me feel good as a little football/rugby player. Imagine a cross between Prince Philip and Stanley Matthews, that was my Great Uncle Bill. I never heard him swear or raise is voice and he always dressed inmaculately. Now my uncle never ever mentioned the war. I’d always thought he’d just worked in a shop and a factory. At his funeral I found out he’d made 19 drops behind enemy lines in Burma to fight the enemy in the jungles. Not 1 or 2. That would be brave. No 19, he was a Para, it’s what he did and he never mentioned it. The last couple of days before he died he had visions of his para mates who died fighting with him in WWII and he had chats with them at the end of his bed. He had been a very funny bloke and used his humour to make me feel special. He was the special one not me. My Uncle Bill was as British as you can get and so were his mates and millions of lads like them.
I say please and thank you about a hundred times a day. I expect you to as well otherwise I will deem you rude. Sorry, I can’t help it; I’m British. Thank you for reading this.
If anyone got to the end of this then we now have to say goodbye. This now gets really awkward, I do swear and I apologise for this….
Ok you’re a man, maybe European…I’m not f*cking kissing you. End of. A polite handshake used to suffice but now we have to run the gauntlet of maybe hug awkwardly whilst avoiding touching tips.
Ok you’re a woman…do I shake your hand, give you a hug, give you one kiss, two kisses, three kisses? I’ll tell you what I’ll make sure I’m in my shed inventing a Wallace & Gromit invention when you’re leaving and I’ll just wave from the spiderweb covered window thus avoiding further social dis-ease.
You’ve gone…I can go back to check the weather forecast before I cut the front lawn, which is the only time that people passing are allowed to talk to me.
After the attack on Bilhorod, Russias Defence Ministry decided to strike away at Ukraines Air Defenses and force them to deplete their own stock of Missiles
image 119
Ukraine was launching S-200 missiles, Neptune Missiles, Tochka Us, Himars, Scalp and Storm Shadow missiles on Russian Territory at Bilhorod and Crimea and Donetsk
Russia never hit Civilians in their SMO and only focused on Strategic Targets yet Ukraine helpless militarily kept shelling Civilian territories
However when they used Cluster Munitions on Civilians at Bilhorod killing Women and Children who had come to celebrate New Year
Russia decided to destroy everything Ukraine had of significance
Himars Launchers – Destroyed
Production facilities for Drones – Destroyed
Production facilities for Vests and Shoes – Destroyed (Crucial in Winter)
Warehouse with Grains – Destroyed
7 Ammunition Depots – Destroyed
6 Fuel Depots – Destroyed
6 Air field runways – Destroyed
It was destruction on a scale previously never seen in the SMO
For the first time a Hotel with 66 Nato mercenaries were killed including high ranking officers
Ukraine Air defenses were OVERWHELMED
Russia launched 276 Missiles and 340 Geran Drones, and Ukraine had to fire everything they had to prevent damage
They ended up firing over 170 Missiles which was 40% of their total stock and had to see terrible damage wreaked by the Geran Drones and the remaining 156 missiles that got through (120 were intercepted)
The Russians found that the Air Defence primarily consisted of S-300s and S-200s but identified the location of Patriot Systems from the Missile trajectories
Homing in on the Location, they fired Kinzhals and destroyed 3 Patriot Systems completely today
The systems were shattered
The Launchers are gone, the control system is gone
This strategy to saturate air defence and identify the location of strategic air defence systems like Iris T or Patriot and then hit them with hypersonics has been BRILLIANT
It’s exactly what Hezbollah is doing with Israeli Iron Dome systems
Saturate Israel with cheap missiles and force Israel to use their expensive $ 500K – $ 2 Million Missiles or face an explosion that would kill 1–5 people and cause chaos
Russia, China, Iran have a huge advantage because they can produce and manufacture thousands of cheap drones and saturate the airspace
Meanwhile Russian Army effortlessly marches on and grinds on, going on a forward offensive
Ukraines Army has long since stopped giving any challenge
Ukraines only option is to strike long range missiles onto Russian Territory and hope Russian Civilians are so frightened that they force Putin to a ceasefire
Instead the Russians are furious
image 118
Russians have comprehensively voted to hang Zelenskys wife and kids with him for what he did to those kids in Donetsk and Bilhorod
Russians are angrier than ever and not at Putin
They want more blood now and Putin is the only civilized man between Russian Rage & Ukraine
image 117
Medvedev would wipe out every house in Kiev by mid morning if he was in charge.
Two mirrors. My husband and I divorced after 22 years. He thought there was something better. Maybe there was.
He had lost his job 12 years earlier and never quite recovered. I had been a stay at home Mom with a small income teaching paralegals part time. It was a killer trying to replace his income as he was a quite powerful CFO of a large company and any marriage was lost in my working and still raising kids while he fell in a bottle.
He wanted the house. Frankly, I didn’t care. I moved a lot as a kid. I did not develop attachments to places or things, only people. His first offer was that he get everything but my IRA including my solely owned business. I was hurt and indignant. Then I decided that it was a good plan. I knew he would fail and I never wanted to hear that Dad would have been okay if I hadn’t taken…..In return he was to put the girls through college and pay for their weddings. ( They had about 100k in college funds)
Well, in two years he lost the business. He put the girls through college but I had to chip in half on the weddings. After a few years he had to sell the house.
I had moved a few hours away but I was in town when the house was being shown as a “ fixer upper”. It was so sad and dreary. It was lifeless. I could not believe it was the house where I raised my girls.
In the master bath was a long marble vanity with sinks on each end. The mirrors were framed and hung. My mirror was pristine. The paint was perfect, the mirror unflawed and it looked brand new. I had used that mirror every day for 22 years. Then I saw his and felt shock through my body. The paint was peeling and worn. The mirror had bad spots. The corners were chipped. It hung a little lopsided. I had cleaned and polished both mirrors for 22 years. When I left they were the same. How could 6 years have changed one so much.
I left very sad. He did not live long. He just sort of withered away. He moved to where my girls and I lived to be close to the grand kids but rarely saw them. When I think of him, there is no anger. Just sadness. I’ve had a full life of work and family since the divorce. My grandkids all live with in 5 miles.
Life is strange. We were just sort of like two mirrors.
ZALIX, psychic mutant sci-fi film directed by Philip K. Dick in 1978, unedited footage 1
This movie is a real trip. Only 12 minutes long. WTF!
Well, as I type this up, it is CNY. This (today) is the first day of the new year, and I am in Wenzhou. It’s a standard fare of massive meals, lots and lots of drinking, and long bouts of lazing about.
The weather is cold out, but nothing like what I grew up with. Lots and lots of fireworks. Non-stop explosions and bangs. Day in, and day out, at all hours of the day and night. Very typical.
This is the first time that we are in Wenzhou since the COVID hit China. That was four years ago. My… a lot has happened.
I’ve been busy knocking these posts out, and now have a nice big backlog, but I will be altering my schedule and product mixes in the future.
I want to wish everyone a very nice and prosperous Year of the Dragon 2024.
Golden Chinese Dragon on Red Background ,Traditional New Year Sy
This reminds me of the early 90’s when I had just started Nick’s Racing in Denver CO
As anybody who starts his own business knows, money was tight and everything would just need to hold out a bit longer. Every Saturday afternoon I went to the local mall/shopping-centre to buy whatever I needed for the week. Whilst there I often saw this 70’s Camaro in the lot and it amused me how the inside looked like a pig sty. But I did love the shape & one day… Dream on Nick you are living from week to week.
Fortunately lady luck and my craftmanship smiled on me, work came in so that I had to hire 2 more engine builders and I started to have disposable income and no time to spend it. The American dream, right ? One day I see this Camaro in the same lot with the bonnet (hood) open and a for sale sign on it. I bought this car for a ridiculously low amount and spent a whole day cleaning out all the junk this lady owner had accumulated in it. The first thing that hit me where the cigarette burn marks in the upholstery and the holes in the roof lining 😉
I had to redo the interior, the body had to be panel-beated and resprayed. The engine was going to be replaced with a 383 stroker anyways I just decided to redo the Electrics, as fixing this rats nest was not worth it. I fitted a Classic Air Air Con This car was trash- defined.
Luckily my 2 workers were foreigners also- Mexicans. We got on well and their friends and family did a lot of work on this car for good value. Considering this was basically a rebuild, using performance part where possible, and not a hot-rod build, it still took close to a year of getting it on the road again. This car must have gotten 0 maintenance from the day she got it to the day it expired in a parking lot.
And then I left back for Namibia and sold it to one of my guys who then gave it to his daughter once she needed wheels.
A young Kurt Russell worked together with Charles Bronson. During shooting, Russell found out it was Charles Bronson’s birthday. So he got his older co-star a gift. Bronson looked at it, took it… then walked out of the room, without saying a word. Russell was terrified, worried he had insulted the man.
image 5
A little while later, Russell was called to the dressing room of Bronson. Bronson was silent, looked down and said to the child actor: “No one has ever given me a birthday gift before…” Charles Bronson was the son of dirt poor immigrants. He had fourteen siblings, and worked in the mines as a child. Never finished schooling, never had a kind word, he was worked like a mule since the day he learned to walk.
Charles Bronson hadn’t known a lot of kindness in his life. It caught him off guard to receive some from his young co-star. He later gave Russell a skateboard on his own birthday to play with between takes. The two men remained lifelong friends.
Yes. Several. Mainly because I know what’s going on in their lives, and the students don’t. If the students knew what I knew, they’d cut those teachers a little slack.
One teacher in particular, with whom I worked seven years ago, stands out for me among all of the teacher sob stories I know.
To make a long story short, when she was in her 40s and had been teaching preschool for half of her life, her husband left her for a much younger woman. Around the same time, the school’s preschool program changed from full-time to just two days per week and, in order to stay full-time and keep her benefits, she was forced to become the school’s art teacher for all students in grades PreK-8 (ages 3–14).
She was good with the younger students, but had no idea how to control the middle schoolers. She hated teaching the older kids, but she had no choice. She was still more than a decade away from retirement and needed the health insurance, but she also couldn’t afford to go back to school or change careers or anything like that. She was trapped teaching students that she wasn’t trained to teach.
And they were merciless to her.
The art class existed primarily to give the “regular” teachers a planning period, but I, along with my coworkers, ended up sitting with our classes to the art room most days, because we could control the kids, and she couldn’t. The students treated her class like recess, and treated her with a level of disrespect you usually only see in the movies, right before the “savior” teacher swoops in and sets things right.
The students didn’t see how the teacher cried after school every day, alone in her classroom, before she composed herself enough to walk down the block to her apartment, where she probably cried some more, alone, throughout the evening and night.
I left that school after teaching there just one year. The school closed two years after I left. I hope she was able to find a full time position working with younger children. Middle schoolers can be just as cruel to their teachers as they are to each other.
The doctor, after an examination, sighed and said, ‘I’ve got some bad news. You have cancer, and you’d best put your affairs in order.’
The woman was shocked, but managed to compose herself and walk into the waiting room where her daughter had been waiting.
‘Well, daughter, we women celebrate when things are good, and we celebrate when things don’t go so well. In this case, things aren’t well. I have cancer. So, let’s head to the club and have a martini.’
After 3 or 4 martinis, the two were feeling a little less somber. There were some laughs and more martinis. They were eventually approached by some of the woman’s old friends, who were curious as to what the two were celebrating.
The woman told her friends they were drinking to her impending end, ‘I’ve been diagnosed with AIDS.’ The friends were aghast, gave the woman their condolences and beat a hasty retreat.
After the friends left, the woman’s daughter leaned over and whispered, ‘Momma, I thought you said you were dying of cancer, and you just told your friends you were dying of AIDS! Why did you do that??’
‘Because I don’t want any of those bitches sleeping with your father after I’m gone.’.
Top 8 rules
Ricotta Lasagna Swirls
2024 02 10 13 35
Ingredients
Lasagna
8 lasagna noodles
2 pounds fresh spinach
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 pound ricotta cheese
Salt
Pepper
Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
Lasagna: Cook and drain lasagna noodles.
Steam 2 pounds fresh spinach for 7 minutes, then chop. Mix spinach with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 pound ricotta cheese, salt and pepper.
Coat each noodle with 2 to 3 tablespoons of mixture along the entire length of the noodle. Roll up. Stand on end in a baking dish.
Sauce: Sauté garlic and onion.
Add tomato sauce, basil and oregano.
Pour sauce over noodles and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
Young Men Are Lonelier Than Ever (And It’s Getting Worse)
On this very day, Joe decides to eat out. He enters a restaurant, sits down, and has his order taken.
Just as the waitress arrives with his precariously balanced meal, someone knocks her aside. This causes an avalanche of food and drinks to tumble onto Joe in a non-majestic, yet sloppy manner.
Joe breathes in heavily and….
…asks if the waitress is alright, wipes himself to the best he can, and helps clean up a little without mumbling. Joe then comforts said waitress who is on the verge of crying, whilst assuring the seething and anxious manager that everything is all right.
If shit happens to you and it’s not your fault, then more shit happens yet you are still cool, you are mature in my eyes.
Mature people don’t cause more shit, or simply throw their shit away, even when shit is thrown at them.
It’s not that they don’t give a shit, but they deal with their shit appropriately.
Be like Joe and deal with your shit correctly.
China’s New AI Microchip Just Destroyed US Sanctions Forever!
Years ago, Patrick received a junk mail “fake cheque”- supposedly, if he were to send money to the company, he would then soon get more huge cheques like the one he’d just received.
The fake cheque was made out for $95,093.35. It even had an attached authorised signature.
image 134
Now, most people would see this as the junk & total scam that it obviously was. Most people would rip it up and just toss it in their bin. Most people would ignore it.
Most- but not Patrick.
Patrick was extremely broke at the time – he had only $200 in his bank account.
He had a good sense of humour and thought, “What would happen if I tried to lodge this into my bank account?” Fully expecting to get a laugh out of it from both himself and the bank teller, that’s exactly what Patrick did.
He went to lodge the cheque into his bank account.
As Patrick said, “I didn’t think I was sticking money into the machine.”
He so fully was expecting the cheque to bounce that he didn’t even endorse the back of it.
Time passes and Patrick forgets about it.
Ten days later though, he checks his bank account and to his amazement, $95,093.35 now sits in his bank account!
It turns out that the cheque actually matched 9 of the criteria that the bank required for a cheque to be valid – the words “non negotiable” that the junk company placed on the front did not negate the cheque whatsoever. It turned out that they had been successful in making the cheque look real – too real.
Additionally- the bank managed to miss their own legal deadline to notify Patrick that his cheque had bounced as a non-cash item.
“The excitement of that much money was off the scale,” he said. “It was an addiction. For two months I obsessed on whether I should take the money or give the money back. I put my bank on speed dial and dialed it every ten minutes. I worried constantly that it would go away.“
Patrick, being the good person that he is, did return the money 6-months later.
And, there you have it, Patrick Combs is the man who received a junk mail fake cheque in the post – and managed to cash it to the tune of $95,000+! That, I think, is very much gaming the system.
Yet the content was something I have known and understood and have been talking about for more than two years on Quora
Anyone who follows Scott Ritter, Brian Berletic, The Duran, IEarlGrey and those guys would find most of what Putin said to be nothing surprising, given that this was what most of them have been discussing for both these years 2022 and 2023
However for the Average Americans, this gave them the other point of view
You have had almost 66 Interviews of Zelensky over the last 24 months and you have seen almost 4000 articles covering Zelensky and Ukraine yet Putins POV and Russias POV has never been covered in the West
This Interview filled the gap
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
Putins explanation makes a lot of sense
He says the Invasion was the LAST RESORT
He says Russia carved out Ukraine under Lenin and later on post WWII, more territories from Germany & Poland & Hungary & Romania were added to Ukraine after USSR got them under Post WWII restructuring
He says Russians and Ukranians were the same people and every Ukranian had 3–4 relatives in Russia and vice versa
He says Ukranian Language is just one of five languages spoken in Ukraine along with Russian, Polish, Romanian and Hungarian in different parts of Ukraine
He says Russia and Ukraine had a friendship and a relationship post 1994 and most of Ukraine’s Trade was with Russia
He says how Ukraine in 2008 began to start idolizing NAZIs and established Neo Nazism and began persecuting Russian Speakers of Eastern Ukraine
He says how Ukraine in 2014 deposed Yanukovich after the West Deceived HIM openly. He talks of how Yanukovich was assured by Merkel and others including Obama of a peaceful conclusion to Maidan if he didn’t use the Military and the Police and how once Yanukovich agreed, they openly deceived him and allowed Maidan to depose him
He then talks of how Zelensky spoke of ending the Russian Language from 2019 onwards and how Zelensky spoke of military conquest of Donbass
He talks of how Russia repeatedly talked to Western Leaders for a peaceful re implementation of the Minsk II Accords that Zelensky broke openly and which the guarantors ignored
He talked of Airplanes over Donbass and forced action against Russian Speakers for 8 years from 2014–2022, all chronicled and presented to the UN and yet IGNORED by the West
It was in the end the ONLY WAY for Russia to secure it’s borders and help the Russian Speakers in Ukraine and Denazify Ukraine
Is Russia ready for Talks?
Yes. Putin confirms this.
He says it’s Zelensky who is not ready. Who in fact even decreed that any discussion on peace is in fact illegal.
Is Russia ready to sell Gas to Germany?
Yes. Putin says he still has pipelines that can supply Gas to Germans.
So he says why are Germans throttling their own industries by paying 4.25 times more for Piped LNG???
He literally openly says Scholz is either Insane or a Traitor to his own people
Putin talks of China & Russia
Putin says China is far more significant to the West because of their Population and their strong economy which even at 5% growth is DOUBLE AS FAST AS THE US
He exposes the China Bogey by citing how BRICS & SCO are both Consensus based organizations against NATO which is entirely US dominated
He gives an example of the Iraq War where France and Germany were openly muscled by George Junior Bush
He cites how Sanctions failed
He highlighted how Russia simply DEDOLLARIZED as did many other nations
He cited that 61 Nations have reduced USD holdings by 10% or more since 22/2/22
He cited that 70% of Russian Trade is settled in Yuan or Ruble now and only 19% in Euros and USD (4.8% in Emirati Dirham and 1.7% in South African Rand & HKD and the rest in other currencies)
He cites how the US lost its own place in the world thanks to the Sanctions and how everyone now wants their own financial secure system and an independence from the Dollar and a preference for their own local currency
He clarified why he retreated from Kiev
He was clear when he said, in Istanbul the Ukranians wanted Russians away from Kiev as a matter of faith and Putin complied
Yet again HE WAS DECEIVED
So the conclusions are clear now
First Putin doesn’t care what the West thinks anymore. He will do what is best for Russians in his opinion. He won’t trust the West again.
Second Putin will not end this SMO unless he gets what he wants. A Guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO and security for the Russian Speaking population in Ukraine.
Third, Putin will not initiate WWIII unless NATO attacks Russia. He made this clear. He will attack any NATO member if they attack Russia first.
Fourth, Putin says his Hypersonic Missile System is the most advanced in the world and the fact that he talks less about it means he is accurate
His final message to the Americans is WHY THEY ARE POKING THEIR NOSE IN UKRAINE WHEN THEY HAVE SO MANY TROUBLES OF THEIR OWN
It’s something that resonates with Donald Trump and his MAGA crowd
It would have been enlightening to many people
Not to me
This is essentially everything I have been saying for two years now.
When the kids were grown and gone, my wife and I considered getting a firearm for home protection. Two events finally pushed us to do it. The first event was my walking into a large drug buy in a gas station late at night in Miami. Lots of drugs, thugs, and guns. While they stood there looking at me. I said “Hey, I’m just here to get a receipt for the gas. The guy behind the counter (who was in on it), gave it to me and they let me walk out the door past a very confused lookout. Having a concealed weapon probably wouldn’t have done me any good that night. But it did reminded me that the world is a dangerous place.
The second event was back-to-back hurricanes, causing weeks of power outages with no cell or landline capability. The neighborhood was blocked in for a long time by fallen trees and debris. Even though we live only a mile or so from a precinct, there was no way to contact them or for them to quickly get into our neighborhood.
I asked my neighbor if I should be worried about looting. He responded, “everyone in this neighborhood is armed”, and everybody knows it. You are, aren’t you? A few weeks after the storm, I purchased my first gun.
I friend in law enforcement asked if I had a carry permit for it, reminding me that I lived within a 1000 feet of a school, restricting how I can transport the gun when off my property. Those restrictions (other than being on school property itself) are waived in my state if you have a carry permit.
I signed up for an approved NRA course that counted towards the permit, applied, and received one. Since then, I’ve purchased a few other guns, joined a gun club, and have had dozens of different firearm courses with a state LEO firearms trainer.
Like other “constitutional carry” states, Florida no longer requires a permit for concealed carry. But I keep mine current so I can carry reciprocally in other states.
Yes. This was back in the late ’90s. I had a customer come in with a Corolla. He only had one remote for the security system, but had just purchased another one and needed to have it programmed to the car. I told him that was a very quick and easy job, and I could literally do it while he stood there. I opened the driver’s door, turn the key to the on position and moved the driver seat all the way forward. The computer for the security system was under the driver’s seat on this car. You had to access the computer and push and hold a small button on the side of the computer to put it in programming mode, but it was much easier to access from the back seat. So I then got out and opened the rear driver side door, leaned in, and moved the floor mat to get better access to the computer under the seat. When I moved the floor mat, there was a syringe, a spoon, a lighter, and a bag of white powder that I will assume had to be heroin. I put the computer in program mode, hit the buttons on the remote, and heard the confirmation chirp from the front of the car to signal the new remote was programmed. I put the floor mat back, climbed out, and with a death stare, handed the customer his new remote and told him you’re all done, have a nice day. The guy’s face was white as a ghost, and I never saw him in the dealership again.
Having spent years working in a retail store, I saw so many decisions made by highly-paid executives in an office in another state that I knew instantly wouldn’t work out. And they didn’t.
I could write a book about the reasons for this, but mainly – either they don’t know because they don’t do the actual work, or they don’t believe the underlings who have tried to explain it to them.
I’ll give you an example:
So, I worked at a retail store that was part of a national chain separated into so many districts. I think our district had 10 or 12 stores. One quarter, I have no idea how, but somehow, one of the other stores in our district massively overspent their budget by like ten or fifteen grand. (I really wish I knew how, I bet it was a helluva story.) Probably someone got fired over that, but that didn’t solve the problem that they had a shortfall. (And no, firing the person responsible didn’t fix it either, because they then had to spend money to hire a new person to fill the role.)
So, somewhere up in the corporate office, a person whose name I don’t know had an idea to fix this problem. Since I don’t know who this person is, we’ll call them Bean Counter. I assume their job had something to do with accounting or finance.
So Bean Counter says, “Well, we can make up the shortfall by having every store in the district cut their budget by so much % for the remainder of the quarter.”
Bean Counter’s Boss ran the numbers and decided this was a grand idea. They may have even given Bean Counter a raise or promotion for such brilliant work. On paper, Bean Counter’s plan appeared to play out beautifully.
But this was around the beginning of December, just as the holiday rush was kicking into high gear.
Also, there are not a lot of ways to reduce spending on a store level, where budgets are already pretty tight. Management had very limited discretionary funding, and rarely went out and bought stuff for the store. Basically, the only way to really reduce spending by the amount Bean Counter wanted was to cut payroll hours….drastically.
So it’s the holidays and we’re working with a skeleton crew on every shift. One person at the register, one on the floor, and a manager who wasn’t *supposed* to get tied up with tasking.
And we’re busy, every day, because it’s the holidays, and we sell, among other things, a lot of tech items that are popular gifts. Sometimes we have 20 or 30 people in the store at once, and we can’t help them all. There is no “work harder” solution that allows one person on the floor to help 30 people at once. Even with the manager also helping customers on the floor, and “floating” between customers, they could realistically help maybe 10 people at a time.
Oh, and we weren’t supposed to get a line of more than 2 people at the register without opening a second till. HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that couldn’t happen with only two other people in the store and both of them working the floor.
So we had people walking out, unhelped, constantly. We did our best, assuring people we’d be with them in a moment, apologizing for the delay, etc. Even so, some people just couldn’t wait and they left and, presumably, went to a competitor.
But Bean Counter and Bean Counter’s Boss weren’t in the store watching this every day. They were back in their nice little offices, smiling at their Excel sheets because they turned a line green.
You see, an Excel sheet can’t show you how much revenue you lost because you didn’t have enough employees to help your customers.
And even without knowing any of the numbers on the Excel sheet, I can tell you that we lost money. I’m going to give you a VERY conservative estimate here. I’ll assume some of the people who left wouldn’t have bought anything anyway. Let’s say only half the people who came in would have bought something. And let’s say that only twenty people walked out in an hour. (Most hours it was probably much more than that, but I’m giving you a conservative estimate.)
And let’s say that the average sale at that point was $20. That’s a really low number for this time of year (usually it was $40–60), but no one had time to upsell and pitch the customer add-ons, so we’ll say $20. That’s $200 an hour lost.
Employees like me and the floor person were making about $7.50 to $8 an hour. Let’s say everyone was getting $8 an hour. Having two more employees would have cost an additional $16 an hour but would have prevented at LEAST $200 in sales losses. (And again, the actual number is almost certainly much higher.)
The store was open from 8 AM to 9 PM, so 13 hours. By cutting two employees all day, the store saved $208 a day. They lost AT LEAST $2,600 a day in sales.
BUT Bean Counter’s plan looked good on paper, before, after, and during the last quarter. They got the district out of the red! We were no longer over budget! Problem solved!
Tesla primarily makes cars. And when regarded solely as an auto-maker – it is over valued.
Tesla pioneered electric vehicles and established a head start in that market. Newer entrants into that market (including Chinese manufacturers) are catching-up and offering products with similar utility and competitive prices. Tesla’s first-mover advantage is not being sustained. The company is taking too long to produce new models and is not iterating its current line-up fast enough. Where is the Roadster? Where is the new better battery tech? Why is the Cybertruck failing to match expectation?
The company presented itself to the stock market as more than a mere car maker. Rather it is a tech company which happens to make cars. It argued that it should be valued as such, and that initially convinced the market. However the various technical innovations it promised have yet to materialise. Self-driving has improved, but it is many, many years late. The robo-taxi idea seems to have evaporated – there are still safety issues and regulatory hurdles. It’s AI vision stack is a really impressive bit of technology – but it is not a product.
The company has a CEO problem. The CEO has a history of over promising and under delivering. Rather than finishing products and releasing them in a polished state, the CEO presents semi-baked ideas to the market in the conceptual stage, and then take years and years to materialise. The market is getting wise to this bait and switch strategy.
The CEO is distracted with other companies and is at best a part-time manager. The CEO has not been good at attracting and retaining the best staff. When the head of the AI project left, this should have been a warning sign. The CEO has not created a workplace culture that values attention to detail and quality. Instead the culture is gung-ho and reckless, which frequently ends up causing more damage than good.
The CEO seems to be having either a drugs and or mental health problem and has recently decided to become more politically active in support of various right and far-right political groups. In some companies this would not matter, but Tesla’s main market is selling vehicles to individuals and families who are aware of environmental issues and support the transition to greener energy. The far-right regard electric vehicles as a government imposed initiative to spoil their god-given right to drive a pick-up, full of firearms, while running over vaccine-users. – This makes Tesla vehicles less attractive to people who would have previously bought them. No one wants to own a vehicle which has become a repugnant political statement.
The CEO clearly regards Tesla has his personal piggy-bank and demands absurd amounts of compensation for his part-time and mercurial contribution. This naturally upsets shareholders.
AI Tool Deciphers Herculaneum Scroll, and It’s All About Pleasure!
A team of student researchers have combined 3D-mapping and AI to decipher a Greek scroll that was encased in ash during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The philosophical musing reveals Greek thought on the complexities of “pleasure”.
In the ancient Greek world “pleasure” wasn’t just an occasional indulgence; it was an Olympic event of the senses. From lively symposiums colored with courtesans and entertainers, to dramatic theatrical productions and festivals, the pursuit of delight was as integral to Greek life as debating philosophy.
Now, offering new insights into pleasure across the ancient Aegean, where it wasn’t a guilty pleasure but a cultural cornerstone, a Greek philosopher’s thoughts regarding pleasure have been decoded by AI. And adding to the intrigue, the source material was an ancient papyrus scroll that was entombed in ash during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
2024 02 10 18 41
Text from the Herculaneum scroll, which has been unseen for 2,000 years. (Vesuvius Challenge/Nature)
Fusing 3D-Mapping and AI
The team of student researchers, comprising Youssef Nader, Luke Farritor and Julian Schilliger, who used AI to decode the damaged papyrus scroll, have scooped the $700,000 grand prize in the Vesuvius Challenge grand prize Vesuvius Challenge. They received the illustrious award for being the first team to “recover 4 passages of 140 characters from a Herculaneum scroll”.
Essentially, the young team combined 3D-mapping applications and AI to successfully penetrate a lump of blackened volcanic rock that has encased a scroll for almost 2,000-years, since Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Known as the Herculaneum papyri, the new combination of technologies identified tiny patches of ink within the fused ash, revealing hitherto unseen musings of a Greek philosopher contemplating ‘pleasure.’
A Gigantic Boon for Philosophy
Not only did the winning team of the Vesuvius Challenge decipher more than “85 percent of the characters illustrated within four passages comprising 140 characters each,” but they included a further 11 columns of text, bringing their total to around 2000 interpreted characters.
The text discloses the personal thoughts of Philodemus, the philosopher-in-residence at the library which once housed the Herculaneum papyri. As such, Professor Michael McOsker from the University College London told New Scientist that the findings represent “a gigantic boon” to the understanding of philosophy in the ancient Greek world.
The ancient Greek text muses on how the scarcity and abundance of material items impacts the pleasure received from them. According to Philodemus, a philosopher of the Epicurean school, the enjoyment derived from food and other goods is closely tied to their availability. In line with Epicurean philosophy, which emphasizes pleasure as life’s primary objective, the scarcity or abundance of these commodities plays a crucial role in shaping our well-being.
Additionally, it was noted that in his two-millennium-old text, there seems to be a subtle attack at the Stoic school of philosophy, suggesting they have “nothing to contribute regarding pleasure.” While Epicureanism centers on the pursuit of pleasure and tranquility, considering them the ultimate goals in life, in contrast, Stoicism emphasizes virtue as the highest good, advocating for inner strength and moral excellence to navigate life’s challenges.
What this all means for modern researchers, is that they have fresh data pertaining to Greek ideas about the prioritization of pleasure and tranquility (Epicureanism), against virtue and inner resilience (Stoicism), being the key foundation for a fulfilling life.
It Cost What? This Has To Stop!
Having bagged the Vesuvius Challenge the team of students now plan “to scale up the 3D scanning and digital analysis techniques,” while at the same time keeping an eye on the costs of analysis. It might have read like the $700,000 prize was a big win, but not when we put that amount into perspective.
It cost the team $100 for every square centimeter of analyzed rock, which tallies to between $1 million and $5 million per scroll. This sounds within the realms of research budget, right? But when you then consider there are another “800 scrolls” lined up to be deciphered, that calculates to between 800 million and 4 billion USD.
Therefore, a lot of ancient philosophy will go undeciphered, and as such it will remain a mystery for future researchers to tackle when lower cost research methodologies are developed.
Top image: Left; One of the Herculaneum scrolls that are being deciphered. Right; Text from the Herculaneum scroll Source: Vesuvius Challenge
I had already submitted my resignation. On the last day, the bitch who had committed all the prior unfair labor practices was, of course, at it again. She had me covering for other people, and didn’t let me take any breaks all day. An hour before the end of my shift, when a co worker had come to relieve me from covering for her, she told me the same supervisor wanted me down in her office so she could talk to me.”Oh really? Well, first I am going to take my morning 15 minute break, then I am taking my half hour lunch, then I am taking my afternoon 15, which I am legally required to do. That will bring me up to quitting time, so she can WANT all she wants”, and left. Heard later than she couldn’t believe I had done it, and went screaming my name through all 6 floors of the building looking for me LOL
CHINA WARNING! We Will Show Our Swords Against AMERICA
This was back in the mid 90’s, I was working at a pizza place. A good friend of mine had signed a contract with a major league baseball team, and he was back in town after his first season in the minors. He stopped in to see me at work, when he left one of the waitresses asked who he was. I told her, she seemed interested and asked if I could introduce her to him. I said sure, me and this girl had become good friends since she started working at this place.
I introduce them, they start seeing each other and things seem good. At some point, she learned about the signing bonus that he had received when he signed his contract. It wasn’t a ton, but it was a decent amount. I heard her tell a co-worker that she had stopped taking her birth control, she wanted to get pregnant so, “I can get some of that money”. I told my friend that she said this, and he broke up with her that evening.
She knew I told him, and she did not like that. I go into work the next day, she’s already working and she wants to have a talk. We’re talking, she asked if I told him, I said, “Yep, that was me”. There’s some shouting, and at some point, she grabs me by the throat and his her fist drawn back. The assistant manager grabbed her, and dragged her away. She was sent home for the day. The manager comes in, and he wants to fire both of us. A few coworkers and the assistant manager defended me, as I hadn’t started this fight. She was fired that evening.
Side note: a few weeks later, she tried to run me over with her car. As you can clearly see, she was a very stable individual.
A sales associate was pushing a very large cardboard box, filled with some kind of clothes, along one of the main aisles in the store. It didn’t look very heavy, but it was clearly much too large for any one person to carry.
She had picked up a lot of speed, and she was kinda racing forward, bent over the box like she was going for the gold in Olympic box-pushing, when she reached a spot where the floor changed to carpet. The two types of flooring were separated by one of those very narrow metal bands, flat enough to where it wasn’t generally noticeable.
The box hit the metal band and came to a full – and very abrupt – stop, but the woman did not. She could have done the maneuver a thousand times and never repeated her trick, but she somehow flipped over herself and landed in the box she’d been pushing.
I didn’t laugh at first. I actually managed to control myself, but then I saw the look on her face. She looked like a startled cartoon, anime style, and I just couldn’t contain my laughter after that. I knew that it was so, so wrong, but she looked like she was okay physically.
I still think of her sometimes, and whenever that happens, I can’t help but laugh like an insane hyena.
Rigatoni with Steak Sauce
2024 02 10 13 38
Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 (12 ounce) rib eye steaks
Salt and pepper
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 cup dry red wine
1 (26 ounce) jar marinara sauce
1 cup beef broth
16 ounces dried rigatoni pasta
3 ounces Parmesan, shaved
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large frying pan over high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper. Cook the steaks until they are brown but still rare in the center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a plate and set aside to cool completely.
Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the same pan. Sauté the onions and carrots until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes, with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Add the garlic and oregano, and sauté for 1 minute. Add the wine and simmer for 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and broth. Cover and simmer over medium low heat to allow the flavors to blend, about 10 minutes.
Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, trim off any fat from the steaks, then cut the steaks into bite size pieces and set aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the rigatoni and boil until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Drain the rigatoni.
Toss the rigatoni and reserved steak pieces and any accumulated juices from the steaks with the sauce to coat.
Transfer the pasta to bowls.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese shavings and serve.
Had a fella break into my house when on holiday in Brazil and a neighbour called the police and he was arrested in my house. She saw him break a small window to get in. Was big on the new consoles and computer games at the time, had all the latest. He’d taken suitcases from upstairs and filled them.
He told the policeman cockily he was going to come back and finish the job, he was a local heroin addict known to them.
When I came back from holiday I had to get a crime number, the policeman without giving a name gave me a massive clue who did it…off the record of course
.Not saying the two are related but I told a certain local person and the burglar was found tied to a lamppost naked a few days later in public view. I know a few locals had a vendetta against him so could have been anyone. A few months later the exact same happened to a teen who had been stealing cars locally and joyriding in them. I know the teen had to be cut free in public which must have seriously embarrassed him. An obnoxious fat kid who would gloat to folk who he had stole a car from.
Thought was a great way to deal with people who were getting away with petty crime and back out to do it again. Made the local papers as well which really would have rubbed it in.
This was when she was 17. She decided she wanted to make the big plunge and purchase a stereo system with the money she’d saved from various jobs. But she was nervous about being taken by nefarious sales people, so she asked her big brother (the guy with a house account at Groove-N-Tube… yeah I bought a lot of that stuff back then) to go with her to recommend what to purchase.
We arrive at what at the time was a big name electronics and appliance store (out of business now, no surprise). The sales person gloms onto us right away and his eyes are sparkling. He thinks he’s landed a couple (probably dating but maybe a young marriage), and he goes into his spiel. We walk through the store discussing the various things they have to offer. I ask some questions. My sister asks some questions. Salesperson totally ignores sis. Probably figures I’m the one wearing the pants in this decision. At one point, he totally turns his back on her while he discusses the attributes of a system. I could tell she was fuming but was too polite to say anything.
Finally, it’s time to make a decision. With his back still to my sister, he asks me: “So what can I pack up for you?”
I look him dead in the eye and say: “What are you asking me for? She’s the one buying it.”
He went white. Looked at my sister. She beamed at him and said: “I think I’ll buy something from a store that values all its customers.” And out she sailed.
By the time I went to college in West Texas, my pickpocketing days were well and truly behind me. I had seen the error of my ways, repented of my mischief, and was endeavoring to live an honest life again.
Little did I know that my new Lone Star country was home to one of the most absurd and illogical bits of fashion stupidity in history.
No, I’m not talking about chaps. Don’t even get me started on those.
I’m not entirely sure what it’s called, but I have heard it referred to as a “cowboy wallet.” The primary difference between it and a non-stupid wallet is that it is extra super-duper long.
image 132
This means that when you put it in the back pocket of your Wranglers, it sticks out the top like a pull-tab.
image 131
Are you effing serious, Texas? Why not just hang a sign saying FREE MONEY?
There may be a reader or two out there thinking, “no, I’d definitely notice if someone pulled my wallet. I’d feel it slide out!”
Trust me, you wouldn’t. It’s not any failure on your part, either. Pickpocketing is a bit like cheating at cards. When done properly, it has nothing to do with luck.
I had several friends in college who used these cowboy goodie-bags and I made sure to let them know the economic dangers of their rustic fashion. I had one friend named Logan with whom it became a running joke that I would pull his wallet pretty much every time I saw him. I’d obviously return it to him immediately, but even when he knew full well that I was going to do it, he was still powerless to stop me because it really is that easy.
So Quora, if you are the owner/carrier of a cowboy wallet and you happen to find yourself in a big city or, for that matter, pretty much anywhere besides your family’s ranch, I suggest that you consider either putting it in your inside jacket pocket or getting a different wallet. You would actually be better off taping your money to one of those flag-football belts than putting that thing in your back pocket, as you’d be more likely to notice when it got pulled.
The New York pickpocket rings (to the best of my knowledge) have all either become defunct or transitioned to more profitable ventures, and the city is now very safe. Nonetheless, wear one of those things around here and someone’s likely to flint you on principle.
McDonald’s most popular burger and the second most popular item on their menu (second only to their unique fries).
But have you ever stopped to wonder how it got its name?
You see, McDonald’s was originally founded by brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald.
They went by the nicknames Mac and Dick (forwhen Mac and Cheese just isn’t enough).
The “Big Mac” hit McDonald’s fast food restaurants in August 1968. However, before this, the executives at McDonald’s were struggling to come up with a name for this new super-sandwich.
The McDonald’s corporation tested out a couple of other names, including “The Aristocrat.”
Eventually, a secretary named Esther Glickstein (who was quite fond of co-founder Maurice), suggested the name “Big Mac”.
She admitted that the higher-ups initially laughed the name off when she first suggested it, but she got the last laugh when the name stuck!
But just imagine…
for one second…
if…
she had been more fond of Richard…
You could be enjoying a Big Dick, instead of a Big Mac.
My Girlfriend Asked For An Open Relationship, I Walked Out And Now I Laugh At Her Tears
I was general manager of a pregnancy resource center. It was a 501(c)(3) corporation, and we were completely dependent on donations. It was going broke when I took over. We got back to solvency within a year, without having to back off at all from the services we provided. In fact, we had grown quite a bit. There were 5 full time employees, and about 35 volunteers.
One day, right out of the blue, I was called to go to the office down the street of the chairman of our board of directors. When I got there, he and another board member summarily fired me. Before I left that office, the board chairman had written a glowing letter of recommendation for me.
Curious, I asked him why I was being let go. He said that the board had voted me out because I ran the place too much like a business and not enough like a charity. He had voted against firing me, but was outvoted. The reason they were going broke before hiring me was that no one in the place had any ability to manage money. So, making it more businesslike internally, without that being noticed by our clientele, just seemed wrong to them.
I’m not a waiter, but I will tell my experience. After work, a bunch of coworkers and I would go to the pub across the street. People came and left, as they got off work. We always ran a single tab. Someone would come, have one five dollar drink, and throw ten dollars into the middle of the table. The next person might have 3 $5 drinks, and throw in a twenty before leaving. Nobody wanted to risk stiffing their coworkers or the waitress.
The biggest problem was that at the end of the night, we often had a 35–40 percent tip.
Then a friend we used to work with, joined us for drinks, at first everything was fine, but after a few friday nights at the pub, he started to say. I don’t have any cash on me, just hand me the cash, and I will go put it all on my credit card.
Three weeks later, the waitress who had waited on us for years, sat down early in the evening, before our friend joined us and asked us if her service had slipped, because suddenly we had gone from 35–40 percent tips to exactly 10 percent the last few times. This was a few years ago in Canada, and 10–15 percent was the standard tip. It turns out our friend had been picking up our $300 for a $220 bill, and paying $242, with tip, and going home with $58 more than he came with, after drinking all night for free.
We said no, her service was still fabulous and suggested that she keep us on a group tab, and put him on a separate bill.
Our friend came and at the end of the evening went to grab the cash, and we said, no you have a separate bill.
He got all flustered, and we told him we didn’t want to see him for 6 months, until he learned his lesson.
Lionel Messi will go down in history as the man who united both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese football fans, both pro- and anti-establishment Hong Kong voters, and both its political elites and grassroots citizens, to have such seething hatred towards the same person.
I don’t think even bona fide war criminals like Tojo Hideki would be able to accomplish such a feat in the Sinosphere these days. There were people who paid thousands of HK dollars for a ticket, and traveled to Hong Kong all the way from Xinjiang and abroad, just for a glimpse of the legendary “king of football”. Instead, all they got was snubbed.
There’s no other way to put it. Messi messed up, big time.
Right now nobody really knows what’s going on, why he refused to fulfil his contract (of playing at least 45 minutes on the field), and why he behaved in such a cold and arrogant manner towards his fans in Hong Kong, to the extent that he didn’t even once smile or wave at them.
But judging from the fact that he did play ball in Riyadh, and that he said in an interview he will play again in Kobe, Japan later on, my gut feeling tells me this probably has to do with politics. And before some of you start going “but muh oppression/human rights”, remember that he didn’t protest being in Saudi Arabia.
It’s just too much of a coincidence. You see, right now Hong Kong is trying to pass a law known as “Article 23”. For those of you not from here, I’ll give you the rundown version: Hong Kong, which is part of the People’s Republic of China, has a constitutional duty to enact a law covering secession and subversion (pretty much every country and region in the world has this type of law, by the way).
This was supposed to have been done ages ago, but the anti-establishment, anti-China, right wing types pushed back against any discussion of it every single time. After the violent far right riots in 2019, the local government began to take national security more seriously, which is why western media, unsurprisingly, is trying to depict Article 23 as dystopic and totalitarian.
My instinct is that even if this whole ordeal in Hong Kong was not political at first (he could have just been a dick – not the most outlandish thing about footballers, honestly), Messi will make it political and milk all he can from it. He’s going to turn this thing into another Daryl Morey, NBA-China controversy, hijacking an entire sport for his own political virtue-signalling, and as a pledge of allegiance to both the United States and his home country of Argentina (which is currently being run by a far right neoliberal demagogue, who is trying to abolish the national currency in favour of the US dollar, outlaw abortions, and legalise the organ trade).
If nothing else, this would at least help him win over a few crowds in certain parts of the world where Sinophobia is politically correct. He might even run for political office on this far right platform after retiring from football. Who knows.
image 138image 139image 140
Again, I have to stress that this is all just speculation on my part. Nobody but Messi and those closest to him would know what’s really going on. I hope I’m proven wrong, and that the same shitshow that happened in Hong Kong would repeat itself in Japan, thus proving he wasn’t being disrespectful specifically towards the Chinese, and that he’s just a snobbish cunt to everyone. However, knowing how politicised football has become in recent years, I’m not counting on it.
I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the real MVP on the field, Hong Kong singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang), for doing her best to cheer up an angry and disappointed crowd, and trying to give them something worth their money. She’s the queen 🫅.
Lionel Messi will go down in history as the man who united both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese football fans, both pro- and anti-establishment Hong Kong voters, and both its political elites and grassroots citizens, to have such seething hatred towards the same person.
I don’t think even bona fide war criminals like Tojo Hideki would be able to accomplish such a feat in the Sinosphere these days. There were people who paid thousands of HK dollars for a ticket, and traveled to Hong Kong all the way from Xinjiang and abroad, just for a glimpse of the legendary “king of football”. Instead, all they got was snubbed.
There’s no other way to put it. Messi messed up, big time.
Right now nobody really knows what’s going on, why he refused to fulfil his contract (of playing at least 45 minutes on the field), and why he behaved in such a cold and arrogant manner towards his fans in Hong Kong, to the extent that he didn’t even once smile or wave at them.
But judging from the fact that he did play ball in Riyadh, and that he said in an interview he will play again in Kobe, Japan later on, my gut feeling tells me this probably has to do with politics. And before some of you start going “but muh oppression/human rights”, remember that he didn’t protest being in Saudi Arabia.
It’s just too much of a coincidence. You see, right now Hong Kong is trying to pass a law known as “Article 23”. For those of you not from here, I’ll give you the rundown version: Hong Kong, which is part of the People’s Republic of China, has a constitutional duty to enact a law covering secession and subversion (pretty much every country and region in the world has this type of law, by the way).
This was supposed to have been done ages ago, but the anti-establishment, anti-China, right wing types pushed back against any discussion of it every single time. After the violent far right riots in 2019, the local government began to take national security more seriously, which is why western media, unsurprisingly, is trying to depict Article 23 as dystopic and totalitarian.
My instinct is that even if this whole ordeal in Hong Kong was not political at first (he could have just been a dick – not the most outlandish thing about footballers, honestly), Messi will make it political and milk all he can from it. He’s going to turn this thing into another Daryl Morey, NBA-China controversy, hijacking an entire sport for his own political virtue-signalling, and as a pledge of allegiance to both the United States and his home country of Argentina (which is currently being run by a far right neoliberal demagogue, who is trying to abolish the national currency in favour of the US dollar, outlaw abortions, and legalise the organ trade).
If nothing else, this would at least help him win over a few crowds in certain parts of the world where Sinophobia is politically correct. He might even run for political office on this far right platform after retiring from football. Who knows.
Again, I have to stress that this is all just speculation on my part. Nobody but Messi and those closest to him would know what’s really going on. I hope I’m proven wrong, and that the same shitshow that happened in Hong Kong would repeat itself in Japan, thus proving he wasn’t being disrespectful specifically towards the Chinese, and that he’s just a snobbish cunt to everyone. However, knowing how politicised football has become in recent years, I’m not counting on it.
I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the real MVP on the field, Hong Kong singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang), for doing her best to cheer up an angry and disappointed crowd, and trying to give them something worth their money. She’s the queen 🫅.
Honestly, no way to be sure. On a Saturday night i was at a tavern having a few. I was supposed to leave and meet my Niece at another tavern. I wasted just enough time at the first place that my Niece and her friends decided to go to a different tavern. I was just about a mile down the road from the other tavern.
A whole load of police vehicles and emergency personnel trucks go flying by the first bar heading towards the other bar. A Shooting occurred at JB’s tavern; killing a bartender Named Jeff; who put himself between the gunman and his patrons.
The gunman did this because he was kicked out for harassing women. He went home shaved his head, dressed in camouflage, grabbed a rifle, and then finished his journey to insanity
He killed another man Rich; who I knew from my working in taverns. Jeff, I knew from school; he was a couple of years behind me. We weren’t best friends; but we both enjoyed playing poker. The killer also wounded like a dozen innocent people.
Luther Casteel was his name. I had to Google it because I was unsure of the spelling. He actually wounded 14 people and brought 4 weapons with him and a couple hundred rounds of ammunition.
I really cannot answer if my screwing around saved my life; but I believe that it saved my niece’s life.
Okay, this would have been cute if the guy wasn’t a huge piece of human garbage*. My crew and I were out to eat on Christmas Eve in Hawaii. One of the few places that was open was our hotel’s sushi restaurant. After eating a heroic amount of sushi, lard ass leaned back and explained, “that was so good. I’m famished!”
Read on for the rest of the story.
The flight attendant and I looked at each other and exchanged a glance. So, I casually said “How can you still be hungry after all that sushi?” He said “I’m not hungry, I’m famished.” I just said “famished is a synonym for starving.” He had to look it up. The n made some BS excuse.
Read on for my rant against this dumbass.
He was fucking stupid. His wife was pregnant with twins at the time. He was glad because he said twins would be easier than a single kid. Later, after they were born he would only talk about one of the. “Clair Bears” was what he called his daughter Clair. He rarely referred to her twin. We dubbed that one trash bag because it was obvious how he felt about his kids. He was just awful.
hong kong 香港 3/3 (if wong kar wai and wes anderson had a really bad short film as a baby)
My stepfather was an apartment building manager in Hollywood, California when I was a teen.
The modern building was large and well-kept. The one large ‘suite’ was a challenge to rent out because of the price and because it was just too luxurious for the neighborhood.
But the owner of the building found a tenant who exceeded her dreams: a young Arabian prince (a student?) who paid a hefty security fee and rental for a year upfront.
I rarely saw him and his entourage because they clubbed and partied until dawn.
When I did catch a glimpse, it was like watching a movie: a group of handsome, laughing young men dressed in flowing Arab robes, moving through the California sunshine.
When they left before the lease was up, the owner was told that the prince did not require rent and security deposit refunds.
The owner was delighted…until the suite was inspected.
The formerly white shag carpet had not been cleaned since the prince moved in, and much of it had a strange, dark tinge. The walls and ceilings were no longer pristine white either.
As the owner and my stepfather entered the massive livingroom, they discovered why the colors were so dingy.
The tenant had been using braziers ON THE CARPET to cook food, leaving greasy stains all over. Above, the ceiling was almost black from smoke. Mattresses had been dragged in from the bedrooms.
The kitchen was literally filled with spoiled food and dirty dishes and pans; the stove was caked all over with burned food. The refrigerator was a mold-filled, broken disaster.
The bathrooms were disgusting, and the owner backed quickly away and shut the doors because of the stench.
The 3 bedrooms had been used for pets (forbidden by the lease) – dogs and birds. Excrement and rotted food were everywhere.
Most cabinet and inside doors were damaged or missing. Old papers, clothes and other items as well as trash littered the apartment.
Reparing and refurbishing the suite took almost 6 months and cost way more than the substantial deposit and unused rent. A bill was forwarded to the prince’s lawyer and was paid promptly.
Note: In the interest of keeping this short, I have not written in detail about the destruction.
After being fed for two consecutive weeks, this beautiful stray cat became a part of the family.
I’ll tell you what happened to my dad, and you might understand. My dad owned part of the family business, he was the working partner in the business.
He worked 12–16 days, 7 days a week to make ends meet.
When I was 8 or 9 he had what was called at the time a nervous breakdown, he was in the hospital for months, and the business didn’t close.
He was out for two months, and my mom went in, evidently she had worked herself into a git, worrying about my dad, and the effect that only seeing him for an hour or two a day was having on the marriage.
My mother got a job. That wasn’t rare in the early 1960s , but it wasn’t common. My dad cut his hours to 10–12 hours a day 6 days a week. Still way too much, but now we took a yearly, week long camping vacation.
When I was 19 my dad had a heart attack, and they put the company up for sale.
When my dad got out of the hospital he was under strict orders not to work more than 40 hours a week. I dropped out of university to help run the family business, while they were selling it.
It took 4 years to sell the business.
My dads heart was never the same. He went to work for the new owners, working 36 hours a week, weekends off, for the first time in his life.
He retired at 65, and died before he was 66 .
That is why you don’t work at a job that stresses you out.
Ex-CIA: Biden is NOW a National Security risk for the world
I have said this many times before. But I want to underline some things today.
When I was a senior in High School, I proudly wore a choker collar, puffy sleeved polyester printed shirts with a wide collar, and elephant bell-bottom jeans. Oh, and I also wore earth shoes, and rock-star boots. I was so fashionable!
That was me in purple
I also drove a orange “goat” GTO.
d64e71566d097b96b830a8d8f0ea97e5
And that was my life then.
Today, I am really different, as is my life.
Life changes. You will change.
ADVICE…
Embrace your moments. Savor your experiences. Remember that they will wane over time. So please treasure them.
When I was a teenager I was bullied by a local group of kids, all of them a few years older than me. Two of them were particularly vile. I am changing the names. One was Patrick and the other was Gavin. Patrick was a horrible weasel who basically incited the others to beat the crap out of me, and rarely got his own hands dirty. Gavin was a sociopath who rarely showed any emotion whatsoever. One particular time me and friends were playing near a train track (as kids did in the 90s), and I heard Patrick’s voice saying “Hey Gavin there he is he wants to fight you.” Sure enough along walks Gavin and grabs me and says “I hear you want to fight me….” I assured him this wasn’t the case, but he proceeded to knock the shit out of me. And I don’t just mean a few punches in the ribs. He pummelled my face multiple times. I am pretty sure I had concussion. Anyway, halfway through the beating I hear the unmistakeable sound of a train coming. Gavin hears it too. “Come on, we’re both going to die.” and he begins dragging me onto the tracks. And he was correct, in that we both would have been killed. He clearly didn’t care. The only thing that saved me was that I was able to grab hold of a length of builder’s wire that was half buried in the ground, and must have been attached to a lump of buried concrete because miraculously it held firm. Gavin was straining with every ounce of his strength to drag me and him into the path of the train. I vividly remember the train zooming past and I looked at Gavin, his teeth bared in anger as he tried to dislodge me. I remember giggling because Gavin was closer to the train than me. If my t shirt had torn, or if the wire had come loose, then Gavin would surely have fallen under the train first. Gavin eventually tired of beating me after the train was gone and I stumbled home, sore, ashamed and shaken. My face was so badly battered that when I told my father that I had fallen off some scaffolding while playing at a building site, he believed me. Both my eyes were so badly bloodshot that my eyeball went red. I had black eyes and bruises all across my face and neck and ribs. The bullying wasn’t a once off, but that was one of the worst instances of it for me.
Polish Cinnamon Cake
Polish Cinnamon Cake
Ingredients
12 tablespoons butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3 teaspoons cinnamon
A grating of fresh nutmeg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Beat the butter until it is soft and fluffy. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar and the egg and continue beating. Add 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, the nutmeg and flour, and beat until well mixed.
Spread about 1/3 of the batter on an ungreased baking sheet, forming a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches and bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 8 minutes, until lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Repeat two more times with the remaining batter.
Whip the cream until stiff, and fold in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the vanilla extract. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream on one of the cakes, top with another cake, and repeat.
Spread remaining whipped cream on the top and serve immediately.
We lived in Base Housing, kids all over the place, filling the sandbox, fighting, arguing, being nice, being nasty. My four-year-old was a little redhead like his mommy and, like his mommy, often in trouble. Or, if not in trouble, causing it.
One day, another mommy, who was often irate because someone had wronged her little golden-curled darling who had the demeanor of an angel and the personality of a wasp, came to me with her howling little guy. His tears looked genuine. So did her anger.
“Your child needs to be controlled,” she said, “he bit Tony. Look!” She dragged Tony’s plump little arm out to show me four perfect tooth marks.
I said, “Are you sure it was Brian?”
She snarled, “Of course I’m sure. I saw him do it. He sank his teeth right into Tony’s arm.”
I said, “Bri, did you bite Tony?” He shook his head.
Mama Bear, filled with righteous fury, shrieked that he was a liar and my husband would be hearing from the CO if we didn’t teach our child civilized manners.
I just said, “Brian, smile at the lady.” Because he was an obliging child who genuinely liked people, he willing smiled at the lady—with his three front teeth, two on the bottom, one on the top, gleaming in the sunshine. His left top incisor had been knocked out when he was acting the fool in the bathtub about six months before. She didn’t even apologize to him, just stomped off, dragging poor, injured little Tony behind her like a pull toy.
Well, you shouldn’t be. At least not yet. Let me tell you the whole truth first. Because once I do that, you aren’t going to be just shocked. You would be horrified, outraged, possibly traumatized for life.
I’ve been working in the tech world for quite a while now, and the wealth of “insider secrets” that I’ve accumulated along the way would be sufficient to fill a book in itself. But nothing comes close to this one single revelation, that I can positively say, has destroyed my faith in humanity. Once you finish this answer, you are not going to be the same person anymore, that much I can promise.
Let me ask you a very simple question –
How do you think the login process works?
Let’s say you want to open your Facebook.
You go to the login page.
You enter your username.
You then enter your password, which appears in all asterisks to prevent any unwanted ‘shoulder-surfing’. That’s crude. But effective too. And necessary. You see, the First Law of Passwords (okay, I just made up that phrase) states that there should be only one entity in the entire universe that should have access to your password – your brain. If a second copy of your password exists somewhere – say, on a piece of paper where you casually wrote it down thinking it’ll help you remember later, or in the password box where you just entered it, or engraved on a rock on planet Jupiter; somebody might be able to access it (theoretically speaking) and your security would be completely compromised. So, only one copy. Ever. Remember that.
Now, you press the Submit button.
But Abhimanyu, wait a minute! After I just pressed the Submit button, I got logged in. This means that some system on the other side must have verified that what I entered was indeed my password. But then, this system must have access to my correct password too! Otherwise, what will it compare my input with? Facebook must keep a second copy of my password somewhere!!!
The host website needs a copy of the password!
You are right. That’s a problem indeed. You might think that this is kind of okay since this second copy would exist with Facebook, which is the website that hosts your account in the first place. They would keep it safe, wouldn’t they?
But think about it.
Facebook, as an organization, is made up of humans just like you and me. What if some employee at Facebook has access to this code and could see your password? What if this was your bank account instead. What if Facebook was hacked and the hacker could see this code that has your password in it. Imagine the havoc this person might cause.
So a second copy is never okay, even if it exists on the parent website itself!
But then how would the website log you in? If it does not know your correct password, what will it compare your input to? How will it verify that you’re you?
That’s precisely the problem our engineering godfathers faced when they set out to design the entire system of passwords. And these guys were smart! They come up with an ingenious idea that would beautifully solve the problem.
The idea of Hash Functions.
The concept is extremely simple. A hash function is just a mathematical function. You input any word into it and it generates an output that looks like complete garbage.
But the devil, as they say, lies in the details –
The same word would always give rise to the same garbage.
Two different words would (almost) always lead to two completely different garbages.
There’s no way to look at the garbage and tell what the original word was. And just to be clear, this is not for the lack of trying. No. This is a fundamental mathematically restriction on the nature of hash functions. They are not invertible. They work one-way only. There’s no way to reverse engineer the garbage and get a peek at the word that produced it. Not even when you know the exact hash function.
Fun fact – This garbage is called the ‘hash’ of the input word.
Here’s how Hashes are used in login systems –
When you first create your account, you choose a password. This password is never stored by the website as it is. Rather, the website first hashes your password and then stores this hash in its database.
Now, when you try to log in the next time, the input you enter in your password box is first hashed, and then sent to the website. If your entered password is the correct one, this incoming hash would be the same as the hash the website had earlier stored in its database. That’s because the same word always gives the same hash (Rule 1 above). On the other hand, if you entered something different, the incoming hash would be different from the one that the website has got stored in its database next to your name (Rule 2 above).
The website compares the two, and if they match, bingo! You are logged in.
Now even if someone hacked into Facebook and copied the entire database, all they would see are these garbage hashes stored next to the usernames. They wouldn’t be able to deduce the original password from these hashes (Rule 3 above).
What if they tried to copy your hash from the database, open Facebook login page in their browser, and then enter the copied hash in the password field as it is (along with your username in the username field)?
Since Facebook’s login flow always hashes the incoming input, it would hash this hash too, and that would produce something completely different. On matching that with what is stored in the database, a big fat fuck-you would be returned.
So even when the hacker has got the entire user table, he still can’t do any damage!
Beautiful concept, isn’t it?
Except that it’s a complete pain in the ass for companies to implement and manage.
For starters, you have to integrate the hashing mechanism in your login flow which leads to considerable overhead. Actually, with modern libraries and frameworks, this part is no longer that big of a deal. The real pain lies in providing technical support to the customers.
Let’s say you are Flipkart.
A customer calls in to complain that he is unable to add a certain item to his cart.
The customer’s issue is escalated to the development team, where you, the poor developer, just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and lo and behold! The issue gets assigned to you.
All you know is that there’s a certain customer with this particular customer id and he’s unable to add an item to his cart.
That’s it.
That’s all you know.
Remember, the user can see the issue happening on his device in real time, but you can’t. You don’t have access to his account.
So, you send a request to the server team to access the error logs from the server, all the while praying to God that you find something useful in those logs – something that will nudge you in the right direction. But you have to be extremely lucky to find something helpful. More often than not, the issue would turn out to be a ghost issue that occurred because the user was doing something stupid, and you would spend an entire night on a wild goose-chase.
If you do manage to learn something helpful from the logs, you would then have to create a test account and try to replicate the issue there, which is just the beginning of the long and tedious process we call bug-hunting.
Either way, it’s going to be a long night.
But what if, let’s say, you did have access to user’s password? (Imagine a red devil sitting on your shoulder whispering this entire paragraph in your ear). You could simply log into his account and check if it’s a ghost issue. You’d be done in like five minutes. Even if it turns out to be a legitimate issue, you can trigger it again from the user’s account itself, and get a much quicker lead on the location of the bug!
The convenience is just too much to ignore!
You begin to get lusty.
Your mouth begins to drool.
And you give in.
Most of the companies in the IT industry that are customer-facing, store your passwords in their database in clear text. Without hashing!
Most of the clients that I’ve worked with as a penetration-tester, most of the companies I’ve done projects for, most of the websites I’ve hacked – all were storing passwords in stark naked clear-text. Plain as the day. Sitting right there for any employee or hacker to see.
I have seen database tables – with rows upon rows of clear text passwords – hundreds of thousands of them – all visible to the naked eye – ripe, juicy, ready to be exploited – their owners completely unaware, utterly naive, sleeping peacefully in their beds without a care in the world.
Now in all fairness, I must admit here that I’m sure none of the top-tier websites are doing this stupidity. Google isn’t doing it. Facebook isn’t doing it. Flipkart isn’t doing it. Your bank, definitely not.
But tier-two and three websites? They are. Startups? You bet your ass they are.
But that’s not all –
Most people, in an act of supreme foolishness, set the same password for all their accounts.
Because let’s face it, they’re the same. Aren’t they?
All I have to do is hack this le random website, which is going to be a piece of cake. Sites like these are not big on security. As soon as I get into their database, I’ll have access to thousands of email id and password pairs, most of which will work verbatim on Gmail.
If you’re extremely unlucky, they’ll work on Paytm too.
And if with some cruel and twisted idea of fun in mind, your fate decided to truly fuck you over, they would work on your Bank’s website too !
Not me but my father in law. In 1957 he got out of the Army and first thing he did was buy a new Plymouth Fury. Not being a car guy he just picked the first one on the lot and drove it home. He had moved back in with his parents and his dad still had a curfue for him. One night he was going to be late so he opened it up to get home faster. He soon saw flashing lights in his rear view mirror but soon lost them and made it home in time. A few minutes after he got home a police car pulled up in the yard. Small town and the cop had recognized his car. Instead of getting arrested the cop told him to be at the start of Nine Mile Road at 9:00 the next night. This road had a long straight part through a swamp with no side roads. So he shows up and county police have set up a drag race. They had stopped traffic at both ends of the straight and the cop with the fastest cruiser lined up beside him. They had new Plymouth Furys with the police engine option. They take off and are neck and neck until the police car tops out and my father in law’s car keeps pulling away. He was fully stopped and out of his car at the other end before the cop car got there.
The cop comes up and ask him what modifications he has made to the car. He tells them he hasn’t even opened the hood since he bought it. They then open the hood and instead of the standard 301 Plymouth engine it had a 392 Chrysler Hemi.
One day my Mom asked me where to go to replace a broken window on her car. When I asked what happened to the window, she said someone threw a brick through it. She was driving through an area with a lot of gangs and saw 2 guys chasing 1 guy. She didn’t like the odds, so pulled her car onto the sidewalk between the guy being chased and the guys doing the chasing. That gave the guy being chased enough of a lead that he got away. The guys who were chasing him weren’t happy about being stopped. They threw anything they could grab at Mom’s car, and a brick went through a window as she drove off. And that’s how Mom got a broken window on her car.
My Dad was also a badass, but in different ways. He was a veteran, but never told us about his military service until he was dying of cancer. He couldn’t see or hear anymore, but he could talk. He told us “funny stories” that were just plain crazy.
Elleigh was a mouthy Little darling from ages 4-10. She just said anything that came to her mind, and sometimes, those things were hilarious. Elleigh once said:
“What’s up boys, take me out to dinner.”
I’m “unstopaddle.”
“You’re old!”
“Daddy looks like Mr. Clean.”
“Me: What’s your dad’s name? (Elleigh: Tyrell)”
*Doing her hair* “Oh, but I’ll look like a jerry.”
“Why was I in your tummy and Leo was in your gyna?” (She was delivered by a c-section, Leo was natural).
“Thong Thong Thong up your heiny.”
“I just had to itch my butt.”
“Ok boss!”
Me: Alright, let’s call… (Elleigh: Punk!)”
“Mommy, you don’t run, you gallop.”
“You did not do sports today because I was with you all day. Ooo, it’s just a joke.”
“I’m constipation” (we were doing affirmations).
“Stop annoying me. Excuse me, you’re not supposed to be talking to me, you’re a stranger.”
Me: You’re going to school. (Elleigh: Yeah, why?) Me: Because that’s what you do every morning. (Elleigh: Are you going to the gym every morning?”
“This dang deer.”
“This is not her real hair, her just put extensions in it. long extensions.”
Me: What’s your favorite kind of food? (Elleigh: Fruit). Me: What kind of fruit? (Elleigh: Fruit loops).
When she was really little, she would call a computer a “cubidiger.”
She would say “feel good” as “fuck you” (really threw people off sometimes).
I don’t know why I have so many footages of her saying these kinds of things.
I had been there three years. Since I disliked the job and had strange vibes for the last 3 months, when I was told I shrugged and said “If that’s the way you feel.” They wanted me to sign a release. I was 61–1/2, Social Security at reduced benefits wouldn’t start until I was 63. I said I wanted my attorney to look at it before I signed, picked up the paper and walked to my office where I packed up my stuff. I kept nothing personal there except safety shoes for walking on the manufacturing floor (I got laughed at a lot because nobody wore safety shoes even though they’re required at most manufacturing facilities), my prescription safety glasses , a sweater, my favorite (and personally purchased) mechanical pencils and left.
My attorney said to sign the release after he crossed out two clauses noting the employment statues they were violating, and faxed it to them. I got a nice settlement and was able to collect unemployment for the 18 months until my 63rd birthday. This was in 2008/2009 when we had up to 100 weeks of unemployment due to recession.
Before anybody calls me a piker for collecting all that UI, I was offered two positions during that time. Each would have required a 100 mile round trip commute daily and only paid about 75% of what I had been making. The Unemployment Service said I was not under an obligation to accept either.
I used to own a small tavern. We had a guy who started hanging out there quite regularly. Nice guy, played darts with the other regulars, bought rounds in order , but didn’t talk much about himself or his past. But it’s a bar, so no one cares. We’ll call him Danny.
He was in early one night around 7pm. My staff is all away on lunch, partner wouldn’t be back til 10pm. I’m all alone. Usually not a big deal. This night, a couple of college jocks got way out of hand and started tearing the place up – breaking cue sticks and tossing around empty kegs. It’s just Danny, me and the college boys. I’m trying to de-escalate and get them to leave. Then, one of the big guys starts pushing me and throwing punches. I’m screwed. That is, until Danny steps in and beats the shit out of two guys much bigger than himself. I was completely shocked! We toss the guys out and he tells me not to call the police. He leaves shortly afterwards.
Next time I see Danny, I want to pick up his tab and chat. He asks me not to tell anyone or talk about it. I figure he’s ex-military and a private guy. He becomes pretty scarce. We’re looking for him, but he doesn’t come around anymore.
About a year later, we see his pic in the paper. He’s on trial for a pair of mob related murders. Turns out he might be responsible for more than a couple of these. I’m very glad he liked me.
There was a time while I was in college that I could only afford to spend about $3 per day on food. Needless to say it wasn’t an easy time.
One day, I spent part of my daily ration on a granola bar. As I walked out of the grocery store, a homeless woman asked me if I had any spare change. I told her I didn’t have any money to spare so instead split my granola bar with her and sat down to have a chat. She continued to ask people for change as we talked. After observing the responses, I asked her: “Would you rather people ignore your question, or say ‘no’ as meanly and rudely as they possibly could?”
She responded without hesitation: “I’d rather have the mean ‘no.’ At least they’re treating me like I’m a person, more than a piece of trash lying on the street.”
I’ll never forget that. I wouldn’t have been able to rationalize it myself, but it makes perfect sense. Her name was Anne.
When I was a much younger airline copilot, I flew with this Syrian captain. He was a Muslim and had flown F-4s for the U.S. Navy. He was a nice guy but kind of kept to himself mostly. I would always ask about the religion and how it was living in Syria and he gradually warmed up to me.
image 35
One day I was complaining about a relationship with a woman and he turned to me and said:
“Randy, I am going to give you two words that will ensure that you will have a long and prosperous marriage. It will end your problems in this relationship and any in the future. It is very old Islamic advice that has stood for centuries, long before the great advances in mathematics. It is among the oldest of all Middle Eastern knowledge”
“If you follow these two words. You will increase your happiness by a factor of 1000. Your wife will adore you and you will live in peace and harmony until you finally die and she mourns your death forever.”
“These two words? Obey and Relax”
“Randy, simply follow these two words in all of your interactions. Obey her demands and then simply relax. The West has not yet discovered this fundamental truth. If you just obey and relax, you will always be happy.”
Edit 1:
This guy was funny.
One day we were talking about his home life and he said: “Randy, Allah came to me before I was born and he told me I was a very bad man. He said I must be punished so he gave me a choice. I could live for ten-thousand years in hell or I could marry this woman. Like a fool, I marry woman!
I guess he didn’t follow his own advice. I heard he finally divorced. Even with this outcome, I still try to follow his advice and it works pretty well.
My wife and I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas three years ago. For anyone wondering, our new town is Grass Valley, pop. 13,000.
Coming from the dining heaven that is the San Francisco area, we set out to find some special occasion restaurants nearby. We were not disappointed.
Our favorite go-to fancy place is called Lola’s, in neighboring Nevada City. It’s comparatively pricy—$250 is the typical check, including tip, for the two of us. It’s located in the Gold Rush-era National Hotel.
We went recently for an anniversary. It was a Wednesday evening and the restaurant was not particularly busy, although there was some kind of event beginning to happen in the attached lounge.
We waited for an unusually long time, but we had no place to be, and we enjoy each other’s company. The server finally came to our table, apologizing, and took our drink order. After about ten minutes, she came by and told us our drinks would be out any minute.
We got our appetizers and waited a long time again for the entrees. The server apologized again and said our drinks would be on the house. We had not complained or looked dissatisfied, but it was a nice gesture on the restaurant’s part. We ordered a second round of cocktails.
The activity in the lounge explained the delays: they had a combination burlesque show and lottery going on. Everyone was having a boisterous good time. Evidently, they swamped the bar and the kitchen.
When our entrees arrived after another unusually long wait, the server apologized again and told us our entire meal and drinks were being comped because of the slow service. We were flabbergasted but happy to have a $200 meal comped. This was all the restaurant’s initiative; we did not complain or even look dissatisfied.
We ordered desserts, one of the many things this restaurant does extremely well. The total bill came to $26.00 for the desserts. The total bill would have been $250.
We tipped 20% of the whole amount. Our server was attentive and even embarrassed at the long delay. We would have been perfectly happy even if we’d paid the whole bill.
That’s the first time I’ve ever had an entire satisfactory meal comped. But it was a good illustration of this restaurant’s commitment to excellence in food quality and service.
Here are 12 tricks I learned from the book ‘12 rules for life an antidote to chaos’, written by psychologist Jodan B Peterson. These life rules really help me a lot:
1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back
If you present yourself as defeated, then people will react to you as if you are losing. If you start to straighten up, then people will look at and treat you differently.
So, attend carefully to your posture. Quit drooping and hunching around. Speak your mind. Put your desires forward, as if you had a right to them — at least the same right as others. Walk tall and gaze forthrightly ahead. Dare to be dangerous. Encourage the serotonin to flow plentifully through the neural pathways desperate for its calming influence.
2: Treat Yourself Like Someone You Are Responsible for Helping
We deserve some respect. You deserve some respect. You are important to other people, as much as to yourself. You have some vital role to play in the unfolding destiny of the world. You are, therefore, morally obliged to take care of yourself. You should take care of, help and be good to yourself the same way you would take care of, help and be good to someone you loved and valued.
3: Make Friends with People Who Want the Best For You
This is similar to the idea that you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
Don’t think that it is easier to surround yourself with good healthy people than with bad unhealthy people. It’s not. A good, healthy person is an ideal. It requires strength and daring to stand up near such a person. Have some humility. Have some courage. Use your judgment, and protect yourself from too-uncritical compassion and pity.
4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not Who Someone Else is Today
We only see what we aim at. The rest of the world (and that’s most of it) is hidden. If we start aiming at something different — something like I want my life to be better” — our minds will start presenting us with new information, derived from the previously hidden world, to aid us in that pursuit.
Then we can put that information to use and move, and act, and observe, and improve. And, after doing so, after improving, we might pursue something different, or higher — something like, I want whatever might be better than just my life being better.” And then we enter a more elevated and more complete reality.
“What could I do, that I would do, to make Life a little better?”
The content is too long, so I put the rest rules here
JEFFREY SACHS HONEST INTERVIEW ABOUT NATO ARROGANCE ON RUSSIA, SUPERPOWER WAR IN UKRAINE, CHINA RISE
I was selling cars and my friends mother said I should have a job that pays a salary and commission and not just straight commission. She suggested a software company and the one she worked at had a position available. I had no background in software or computers at all but I sent in a CV and called the Sales Manager and left a message. Then I would keep calling all day seeing if he would pick up the phone. Around 12 additional times.
On the 3rd he picked up and said NOBODY has ever called him so much in his entire life. I asked if he looked at my CV and he said yes, but there was no experience in computers and software. He even asked some basic questions which I failed miserably.
He finally said that I was obviously persistent and if I read some books about computing I could probably get a job in this industry. I asked which books and he suggested two. I told him I would read both, memorize them and call him back in 2 weeks where he could quiz me about anything. He was incredulous and said ya sure.
Well I bought those books that day and in 2 weeks had them memorized, with yellow highlighter throughout both of them. I could tell you what chapter something was in and the next point the author made. That’s how well I learned them.
2 weeks to the day I called and he picked up on the first 2 rings. I was very nervous and told him I had those books down cold and he could quiz me about anything.
He said to come in on Monday at 9 am. I said how long would the quiz take and he said, “There isn’t a quiz. You start your new job on Monday at 9 am”
I am happy to say I stayed in the computer software industry for 20 years.
I was on a plane once, flying across the US. The guy next to me (in the middle seat) just kept talking nonstop. Eventually the person in the window seat said something back to him. This set the guy off, he told him everything he knew about Australia, what a great country it was, how much he liked Australians. Then he asked what part of Australia the guy was from. He replied that he was from Wales.
Middle seat guy said he loved New South Wales. The Sydney opera house was his favorite piece of architecture in the world.
Window seat guy, replies, No, I am Welsh, from the British Isles.
Middle seat guy, just wouldn’t let it go. He wanted to know why someone from the UK spoke with an Australian accent. Eventually window seat guy lost his patience, and pointedly pulled out a book and started to read.
So, I would say you don’t ask someone from Wales, why they speak with an Australian accent.
I was recently divorced and working for a company that had just opened a branch in Germany. My boss told me four interns were coming from Germany. “You’re a supervisor,” he said. “This is a very big deal, so make sure they are comfortable and happy here.”
But there was a problem. We had three shifts, and I was on the second shift—by which time my boss was long gone for the day, so he couldn’t introduce me in person. When I got to work I found only a list of four first names and the desks they were sitting at. And then when I got to that part of the office, there were only three guys.
I went over and talked to them for a bit, tried to make them feel welcome, made sure they had everything they needed. I was hoping one of them would mention the fourth fellow, but nobody did. I figured he’d be sitting somewhere else, so I excused myself and went to look around.
Then I heard a guy speaking German. Bingo, I thought. I sneaked a look at the name on his desk: Arnold, same first name as the missing fourth fellow, and a German last name. This was him! He turned out to be much nicer than the other three and we had quite a good talk. His English was excellent.
In the following weeks I saw Arnold often and talked to him for a little while each time. The other three were polite, but distant. So when a fax came in written in German, I knew which one to take it to for translation.
When I handed him the fax, he looked at it for a long time. “I’m sorry,” he said. “My German isn’t really good enough to read this.”
And so it turned out that this Arnold wasn’t the fourth German at all—that particular Arnold, the intern my boss was so concerned about, had been out getting a sandwich the afternoon I came to meet them. Then he’d gone home to Germany a week or two later for some unrelated reason.
The Arnold I’d made friends with was an American with a German father—who had taught him just enough to get by in conversation. They’d spent plenty of time in Germany—so when I’d asked him questions about what it was like there, he knew all the answers. And living with his dad had given Arnold just a trace of German accent in his English.
That was 20 years ago. Arnold and I are still having good talks daily—in spite of being married.
In the Army I served, simply asking that question would disqualify you from service.
They don’t want gun nuts. They want you to have the weapon issued, nothing else; unauthorised weapons on military grounds is a lengthy prison sentence, if you survive. The guards are armed, you know, and authorised to fire when they identify a threat. An unauthorised firearm is a threat.
They want you to fire your weapon when ordered to do so, and only when ordered to do so. Unless given that order, you don’t even have access to your weapon.
A pen knife, possibly. Extra supplies – food, yes. Nothing else. Protective gear – buster, you dress in the uniform issued, nothing else is allowed to be visible (so you’re allowed your own underwear). Ammunition – see above re. “identify a threat”.
The military take weapons seriously. It’s dangerous stuff, and they don’t want them fired except under strictly controlled circumstances.
And during my year in the Army, I did, in fact, not even once see an armed officer. Unless you count the Captain’s ceremonial sabre, which he dismissed, along with his entire parade uniform, as a “bloody spectacle”.
I have a friend that makes $200,000,000 annually. He lives in a $3,000,000 house that he probably paid $1,200,000 for. He drives a five year old Toyota. (He owns and runs a fund…was voted the best in the world at his profession not too long ago)
I have a friend that lives in a $4,000,000 condo downtown. He flies in his $17,000,000 jet and drives a $2,000 old pickup truck to his $60,000,000 ranch. (He sold his business to a bank/insurance company for huge money and has grown his wealth rapidly since the sale)
I know of another extremely wealthy family that when we took our kids to get treats after an event, their kids would ask for toppings on their ice cream. The mom kindly told her children, “no, we don’t spurge like that”. I thought, “what?” You own the entire mall that we are eating ice cream in. (He owns malls and resorts globally)
I don’t know of any that live like they are poor, they just live well within their means. They have different financial priorities than many people.
I hope you like really hot, spicy food. Pack up some tasty leftover meat, veggies and rice or potatoes in a take- out tub – then add a full quarter cup of Tabasco, Psycho Bitch or Dave’s Killer hot sauce to it. People usually have a pretty good idea of who is stealing their lunches so, when the suspect heads for the lunchroom, follow them, hang around nearby and wait for the fun to begin. (Hot sauce is food, so you can’t be accused of trying to poison your co-worker.)
I was being tried on a driving charge (i.e.. “recklessly causing an accident”).
Where I live, people being tried for “minor” offences will be assigned a common courtroom (i.e., Courtroom 335 12PM July 5, 1923).
I was in my courtroom waiting for my trial to begin when I was approached by an officer and asked to leave the courtroom.
In the hallway, I was told to go to another courtroom (no explanation).
The other courtroom was practically empty. A judge sat on the bench, one suit was standing behind the crown’s desk and one suit was standing behind the defense’s desk. Court reporters were present.
I was urged to stand at the defense’s desk and, at that point, I accepted the suit standing at the defense’s desk as my legal representative.
When I got to the desk, there was a short conversation between the judge and the suits. It took about a minute (maybe less).
And then I was told that I was “Free to go”.
And everybody just left the courtroom.
PS: The “accident” was, I think, a fraud. By the time I got to trial, nobody cared (and not even the police showed up to swear evidence … nobody in that courtroom was involved, in any way, with the case).
I was “constructively dismissed” by a new owner. I was offering my opinion as a good manager should and was told “shut up, sit down and do what I say; or leave”. To everyone else’s dismay, I left; I was off the property less than an hour later.
About two weeks later, I received a call from the controller desparately asking me for the admin passwords for the company’s mainframe (I was the one and only “unofficial” IT administrator for about three years) as it had crashed. I told him I couldn’t help him as my current employment contract prohibits me from directly assisting them (within 1/2 hour of driving off the lot and calling my wife to tell her I had left, I had already received calls from three competitors offering me a job. I had accepted an offer with their biggest rival); but that he could try contacting my current employer to “purchase” my services (there was no such condition, but I reported the contact to my current employer who was ecstatically happy to play along). They did, and was charged $5,000 for my single visit of less than an hour; to type in the master password and let them change it (1/2 of that fee was paid to me as a bonus).
I later found out that my former employer also had to pay over $20,000 in OT to recover the system, as there was no current tape backup. At the time, I was also the only one that was responsible for managing the daily tape backups; specifically inserting a new tape cartridge every morning. There were two daytime receptionists that I had trained to cover for me on my days off and when I went on vacation, but the full-time one was let go only a few days prior to me leaving, and the part-time one had quit in protest of being asked to work 7 days a week until a new full-time one was hired and trained. They had to manually re-enter two weeks of parts invoices and service work orders, while at the same time work off manual invoices and work orders until the system was caught up.
That owner didn’t last long; three years after I left, the franchise agreement was yanked by the manufacturer and the dealership closed permanently.
Because talking to a stranger is actually easier than you think it is.
Commit to the five seconds rule – my personal ace in the hole. I approached 100 women in 40 days with this trick. All it involves is that you make a decision on the first five seconds of seeing the stranger whether you are approaching or not. At first, I kept saying no, not yet, next time and then one day I just said fuck it! I’m doing this and I did. Don’t ask me how it turned out.
Use the universal opener and stop thinking – yes our mind is the great storyteller and a perfectionist one at that. If you give yourself too much time to think, you will end up not approaching the stranger so do what I did. Use the universal opener. It’s something called Hello. I think you’ve heard about it.
Avoid the alpha male trap – I know some people will tell you dress up, look cool, beef up and hold a wine glass standing by the corner, that advice is the worse shit in the world. It’s what I call the alpha male trap, feeling so confident in yourself that you don’t wanna talk with anyone and you expect them to feel your vibe and gravitate towards you. Avoid practicing this, calm down! Relax and smile when you are out there.
Open up! – still on the same point. Avoid closing up your body language by holding something in front of you such as your phone or glass bottle. Make sure in social settings, your body is open and you appear calm and relaxed. Please don’t ever approach anyone with the wrong body language. Research shows we process body language faster than sounds(as little as 0.2sec).
Smile like a lotto winner – one crazy genius called Ralph Waldo Emerson made the great statement that “the whole world loves a lover”, damn but he was right. The key to people’s heart is positivity if you are not aware. You just have to know that most people are not comfortable with meeting new people. So you have to put their minds to rest that you’re harmless and you want nothing but a good nice conversation. Smiling and exuding positivity does this perfectly.
Ask for the name and use it – I read this in Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends & Influence People, and it has never failed me. When you meet a stranger, make sure you get the name and use it repeatedly in the first conversation.
Watch comedy shows – apart from the added benefit of this improving your overall life happiness exponentially, this will add a funny tint to your conversations. People love humor you know.
Observe the rules – the thing about social situations is that there are no universal rules anywhere. How you should behave depends on where you are – you have to behave differently in a church compared to a networking party. The Super trick is to take some time to observe how people are acting around you, are if they are being upbeat or cool headed. Don’t bring noise into a cool environment or calm into a sizzling energetic room. Observe the rules and play by them. Then you win!
Go radical truth on them – out of those 100 women I approached, the ones who became my closest friends were those I went total truth on. Here’s what I mean; I approach them and said hello, then told them I’m a shy guy on a mission to approach 100 girls to build his confidence and that she is my number 41. This perks them up and they usually laugh, then they look at my face, see that I am serious and then we have a wonderful conversation and I always get their numbers. Crazy, right?
Guess – a lot of strangers are really not cool with you offloading a truckload of questions on them. They close up quickly and excuse themselves and that’s why I use guessing at times. I read about it in a blog post that I can’t really remember. It goes like this – during the conversation, instead of asking “where are you from”, observe them and say something like “you look like a new yorker”. Or instead of “what do you do”, say “something tells me you’re a fun person” or “something tells me you stay indoors a lot”. You get the Gist already.
Prepare to be human – I still approach women and get rejected, I still try to make friends on the bus, parties, church, etc, and get rubbed on. You just have to be ready for being a human, not everyone is going to like you or want to talk to you. Accept this and when the time comes that someone rejects you, remember that it’s normal and go find someone else to talk to.
Several years ago, I was on the ladder working on the roof of my shed. Off in the distance there were some people shooting. This is common here as I live in the South (of America). Most people around are fairly safe with their practice shooting. While on the ladder, I heard what sounded like a hummingbird fly by. I looked around for him/her and couldn’t find it. I heard another and another. It dawned on me that these were not hummingbirds, but bullets. I got off the ladder, and yelled as loud as I could that they were shooting towards my house. A few more shots and I went inside and called the sheriff department to go by and tell them they were shooting at my house. I waited a couple hours and heard the shots again. I got in the truck, drove around to the property behind mine and pulled up. The guy and some friends were out shooting targets. I introduced myself and we talked a bit about guns. Then I pointed out that behind their fence was my house about 500 yrs through the woods. I had been up on a ladder and several of their rounds had come near me. They were horrified. I told them to point toward the sand plant since it was closed on the weekend or build a berm to shoot into. they apologized and changed where they were shooting.
I’m Jewish and was marrying a Roman Catholic woman. My parents were vehemently against it, but they also demanded that it be a civil ceremony. My bride wanted the church wedding.
I told her if she wanted the church wedding, that’s what we’ll do. I was not really practicing Jewish traditions, I wasn’t going to synagogue, I routinely worked on Saturdays if my job called for it, and didn’t keep kosher. In fact, since leaving my parents’ home at age 20, I had eaten a cheeseburger for the first time in my life, and had a milk shake along with it!
My parents tried to pressure me to pressure her to at least make it a civil ceremony. I had never even discussed it with her. I told them I would ask, but if she said she wanted the church wedding, then that was the way it would be. They told me they were severing all communication with me. I told them that was okay. They were north of 60 and 70, and living across the ocean, so I replied that I would have to get used to not having them around eventually and I might as well start.
I never backed down, and never regretted it. It set the tone for our future dealings. They knew I was immune to any bullying or any pressure they could bring to bear. If they wanted me to do something, they were going to have to be reasonable and try to convince me with valid argument and not arbitrary stubbornness.
My husband is more approachable than they are, more down to earth.
We married in our 40’s after failed marriages, so we had a civil wedding with my step kids as our witnesses. They were excited to have me in their family, and I was happy to be their stepmom.
He rarely spoke of the rest of his family and I didn’t meet them until after we were married.
I moved to his hometown which was an hour away and where the family lives.
I was a wreck when Christmas rolled around. The few encounters I had with these people were not welcoming. In fact, they completely ignored me.
I went shopping with my husband to buy gifts for everyone, and the spirit of Christmas eased my fears.
When we arrived I felt the chill. I spoke directly to several people and they didn’t acknowledge me in any way.
So, with my Christmas spirit extinguished, I reluctantly sat by the Christmas tree to open gifts.
After the presents were all passed out, I sat and tried to not act surprised by not having anything to open.
In reality, I was totally embarrassed and fighting back the tears.
My family always bought a few extra gifts in case someone unexpectedly joined us.
I wasn’t expecting much, but I never dreamed they would be so rude.
“Eat the frog”. Write down 1 task that you must absolutely perform in order for the day to be a success, and do it first when you get to work.
Send 1 call/text/email to an old friend or colleague that you haven’t spoken with in a while. Over one year, that adds up to 365 reignited relationships (or 61 relationships reignited six times apiece).
End the day with fewer emails in your inbox than you started with. Repeat until you get to inbox zero.
Give away / donate one item in your household every single day. Repeat until you have an uncluttered, restful home.
Answer one question on Quora per day. Work on your writing ability while contributing to the organization of the world’s knowledge.
Walk to and from work, if possible. Exercise! Sunshine!
Eat at least one fruit or vegetable each day. Sure, you should probably eat a half-dozen servings of each. But things can get really screwed up when you are eating zero fruits and veggies. Start small and be consistent.
Express gratitude. My days go so much smoother when I remind myself: “dude, you could just as easily have been born in a Sudanese refugee camp. You’re one lucky mo-fo.”
Spend at least 20 minutes reading something that is completely unrelated to your career (or “personal development”). Creative thinking requires varied inputs. If you have monofocus (e.g. only read about startups all day), you’re severely limiting the amount of interesting ideas you can come up with.
Get uncomfortable at least 1x per day (ideally 3x or 5x). By “get uncomfortable” I mean “summon the courage to do something that makes you anxious”. Speak up during the work conference call. Say hi to the pretty girl or fella standing next to you in line. Run 4 miles instead of 3. Et cetera. Remember: “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
Polenta with Cheese (Mamaliga — Rumania)
how to cook polenta 3
Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup water
3 1/4 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded Swiss or Kashkaval cheese
Instructions
Mix cornmeal and 3/4 cup water in 2-quart saucepan. Stir in 3 1/4 cups water and the salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils; reduce heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir until smooth. Spread 1/3 of the mixture in greased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Dot with 1/3 of the butter; sprinkle with 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat twice. Sprinkle with Swiss cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes.
Fried Cornmeal Mush
Omit butter and the grated Parmesan and Swiss cheeses. After cooking 10 minutes, spread in greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 12 hours. Invert pan to unmold; cut into 1/2-inch slices.
Heat 2 tablespoons butter in skillet until melted. Coat slices with flour; cook uncovered in butter over low heat until brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Serve with molasses, jam, maple syrup or sour cream if desired.
After my first wife and I divorced, I joined a website “match.com” and started dating other women. I met all kinds of girls. Many of the dates were just a nice meal, or coffee. Some resulted in hook-ups, and a few were girls that I would end up spending a lot of time with.
One time, I dated a girl who was an assistant professor at Tufts University. Which is a pretty well-known university in the Boston area. And she was part of the Woman’s Studies program.
The date started off well enough, but our conversations kept on turning to what was wrong with the world and why men were the root of all evil.
Honestly, looking back, I get the impression that the ONLY reason why she went out with me was to somehow torture me for her pent up anger and unhappiness in her life. But I really don’t know for sure.
Anyways, after about an hour long bitch-fest, I finally managed to have an opportunity to talk.
She asked me “oh, so tell me about your life”. And I was pretty upset (but not showing it) by then.
So I remembered a line from a movie that I once watched.
I told her that I was born with a tail. And that my mother had the doctor cut it off when I was just a baby. I told her that it was kept in a jar of formaldehyde in the guest bathroom mirror, and that I personally believed that the tail was the reason why I was born with the ability to put curses on people.
After that, she didn’t know what to say, and we finished the meal quickly… yelling “I’ve gotta run. I’ll call you”.
Every now and again, I get a chuckle out of that memory. Remembering well, the puckered up expression on her face, and how she practically galloped out of the door.
My husband and I were away on a trip, and our older kids were holding down the fort (including our son who was home on leave from the Marine Corps). About 5:00 in the morning (2:00 a.m. at home), I sat straight up out of a dead sleep with one terrified thought: something was wrong at home.
My husband had been married to me over 20 years by then, and knew better than I did to never question when I got that instinct. He handed me the phone to call. I wasn’t sure what to say. “Just call. You’ll figure it out”, he responded.
The overwhelming feeling that something was very wrong wouldn’t let up. I called our daughter. She laughed and said everything was fine. I asked her to humor me and just go check. She said kids were asleep, so I asked her to go check the kitchen. Still chuckling at me she checked the stove and oven and declared them turned off. She looked about the rest of the kitchen until she turned in the direction facing the front doors. We have a large arctic entry so there are two front doors on each side of it so we come in from the cold and close one door and then open the second door to come to the house.
“Oh my God!” She cried out, and the phone went dead. I frantically tried calling back.
When she finally answered again, she told me both doors were wide open, so she called her Marine brother to come down from the upstairs apartment and he raced down. He did a security sweep of the house then the perimeter where he found evidence of bear on each side of the house. We question if the door was slightly ajar and the bear just pushed the doors open and started to come into the house until the phone rang.
That same mom vibe served me well when my Marines were deployed. I always seemed to know when to pray. It got to the point that whenever there was an incident, my other Marine son said he wouldn’t worry. Even when trapped in a doorway during a fire fight for five hours… because he knew his mom “knew” and was praying. Oddly enough, he was right. Thus another story.
A Cuban Sandwich
This is a labor-intensive recipe, but so delicious. You can opt to replace the Pan Cubano with ready-made bread, if desired.
2024 02 18 09 02
Yield: 6 sandwiches, 12 servings
Ingredients
Pan Cubano
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast
3 tablespoons fresh lard, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) water
Roast Pork and Marinade
1 (1 1/4 pound) boneless pork roast or pork tenderloin
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced parsley
1 tablespoon paprika (preferably hot)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
Sandwich Assembly
Sliced roast pork
3/4 pound thinly sliced smoked ham
3/4 pound thinly sliced Swiss cheese (or other melty cheese)
4 dill pickles, sliced
3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
Instructions
Pan Cubano
Manual Method
In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise until puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. Gently fold the dough in upon itself and turn it upside down after 30 minutes; this “turn” helps eliminate some of the excess carbon dioxide and redistributes the yeast’s food, both imperative for optimum yeast growth.
Mixer Method
Combine the ingredients as directed at left, using a flat beater paddle or beaters, then switch to the dough hook(s) and knead for 5 to 8 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise, with a turn, as directed above.
Bread Machine Method
Place all of the ingredients into the pan of your machine, program the machine for Manual or Dough, and press Start. Examine the dough about 10 minutes before the end of the final kneading cycle, and adjust its consistency with additional water or flour as needed, to produce a smooth, supple dough. Allow the machine to complete its cycle.
Divide the dough into six pieces, and shape each piece into a rough log. Let the logs rest for 15 minutes, covered, then shape each piece into a smooth batard shape (a log about 8 inches long, slightly tapered at each end). Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal, and place the loaves on the baking sheet.
Let the loaves rise, covered, for 1 hour. Brush or spray them with water, and slash one long lengthwise slit down the middle of each loaf.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F while the loaves are rising.
Transfer the loaves from the cornmeal-sprinkled pan to your oven stone (if you have one), or leave them on the pan and place them in the preheated oven (if baked on a sheet pan, the loaves will be slightly less puffy). Bake the bread for 16 to 18 minutes, or until it’s golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack. The loaves may be made one day in advance and stored at room temperature, or several weeks in advance and frozen. Yield: 6 sandwich loaves.
Roast Pork and Marinade
Mix all of the marinade ingredients together (all of the ingredients except the pork), and rub this mixture over all surfaces of the pork. Cover well, and refrigerate for 6 to 24 hours.
Place the pork in a roasting pan or ovenproof dish, and roast it in a preheated 425 degrees F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, basting occasionally with the pan juices, until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers 160 degrees F. Remove the pork from the oven, and cool it completely before slicing thinly.
Sandwich Assembly
Slice the Cuban loaves in half horizontally. Brush the cut surfaces of the rolls with olive oil, soft butter or the remaining pan juices. Layer the sandwiches as follows: Swiss cheese, sliced pickle, ham, sliced roast pork, then additional cheese.
Now comes the somewhat challenging part. You want to grill these sandwiches, top and bottom, while at the same time flattening them slightly. This helps meld all of the filling ingredients. Heat two large skillets, or a grill and one skillet, to medium-hot. Lightly grease the grill and/or skillets. Place the sandwiches in the greased pan(s). Top them with a piece of parchment paper, then the remaining skillet (or flat sheet pan, or other heavy, flat, non-meltable object — the point is to weigh them down). Press down firmly on the top pan, and weigh it down. A tea kettle filled with water makes a good weight, as does a clean brick wrapped in aluminum foil.
Grill the sandwiches for 5 to 8 minutes over medium heat, checking often to make sure the bottoms aren’t burning (we burned our first attempts to a crisp). Adjust the heat downward if the bottoms are becoming brown after only a couple of minutes. Turn the sandwiches over and grill for several more minutes, until they’re crisp on both sides.
I disturbed a burglar when I was about 19. He froze and I was so confused I initially thought it was my father (who I’d seen go to bed an hour earlier) pulling out drawers in the dark. When I got my wits about me I turned on the light, told him to stand up, and told him to turn out his pockets (which he did, returning a few items). I then told him to walk out on to our patio and sit down. The moment he got outside he ran, and I pursued half-heartedly as I didn’t really want to catch him by myself.
He vaulted over our back fence and landed almost on top of my brother and his friend who (unknown to me) had sneaked out for a secret cigarette before bed. The burglar said to him “don’t worry I’m just going home”, about two seconds before my brother and his friend sat on him.
They brought him around to the front of our house, and we (including my father who’d been awakened by my shouts during the “chase”) sat him on our front wall until the police arrived. It was cold and the burglar seemed a bit worked up so my mother made him a cup of tea.
No guns or weapons of any kind were involved. We live in England.
Why Most Men Have No Chance In Short-Term Dating – @hoe_math
The best example I can think of would be L. Ron Hubbard. Prolific science fiction writer turned dangerous cult leader. In a way, it’s hard not to admire the man for his honesty — because he did give the world the best quote ever on cults and shady false preachers:
“You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.”
It’s fun, having your own religion. You can do whatever you want. You can say whatever you want. And since you’re the one and only “enlightened one”, the Great Messenger, no one can question you. Hubbard started off as a conman, but eventually came to believe his own nonsense. He was deeply mentally ill.
I remember Tom Cruise divorcing Nicole Kidman in the year 2001. One of the reasons for the divorce? Her father was a psychiatrist. And psychiatrists are “the enemy” according to Scientology, Hubbard’s invented faith. Not only because they would have told the great founder he was insane, but because they would have told his followers the same. Which would mean a loss of power.
Imagine creating a religion that thinks psychiatry is “evil”. Because your deeply mentally ill Messiah hated admitting he was deeply mentally ill, rather than a visionary. Decades after his death, your followers still hate psychiatry. They hate everyone and everything that might point out the absurdity in their views. It’s crazy, like Hubbard. But also impressive, like Hubbard.
HOE Math Explains Perfectly Why Men Love Inexperienced Women!
“Stuck on your highest setting,” is a brilliant way to describe the current female dating outlook.
Hoemath having his work vindicated in real time. Absolutely amazing.
Women don’t gain experience over the years they acquire trauma.
I drove up from Florida, in route to Atlanta, to visit family, and had tickets to see a Too Short show with my Sister.
Got pulled over in Newton County, GA cuzz, “my taillight was out?”
The female officer said, that my license were suspended ?
The male officer, told the female officer that the suspension didn’t look right, and could be a mistake.
Then the male officer, turned and asked me if I owed any back child support?
I said, “No, I’ve never had to pay child support.”
The female cop, asked for permission to search my vehicle, I said, yes.
She found one rusted up Coors light can thrown into the truckbed I was driving.
She told me to turn around, handcuffed me, and took me to jail charged with, suspended license, taillight, and open container.
So, I spent the night in jail and froze to death the whole time.
The next morning, I went in front of the jail judge, and he dropped all of the charges, except the open container.
The jail judge took me back to where the police were, and asked me if I had $20.00 cash? I said, “Yes.”
The judge told the officers to let me out of jail, ordered them to take the cuffs off me me and to not put me back into that jail cell, and to give me my belongings.
So, I paid $20.00 cash, then $200.00 to get the truck out, and I took the truck to the closest auto shop to get the taillight repaired.
Well, guess what ? The taillight wasn’t broken, and was in proper working condition. The auto dude couldnt give me proof of that bc he said, I could have went somewhere else and had it fixed.
When I went to court for the open container, the court judge charged me with suspended license, taillight, and open container.
My public defender showed the judge the proof I had from the Florida DMV, that my license were never suspended, he told the Judge that I had no prior convictions, not even a speeding ticket, and the jail judge has already dropped those charges.
The court judge looked at me finded me almost $1,900.00, a year probation or 10 days in jail.
Then the court judge told me, that he had authority over the jail judge so whatever charges he dropped will not be dismissed.
Then the court judge told me, “No one drives thru his county with a suspended license!”
He said pay your $1,900.00 fine, and we will take you off probation, or we can put you in jail for 10 days, if you have anything further to say.
I paid my fine and the charges were dropped so my record is clean but it was an awful night and it took me a while to get back on track financially, not to mention all the stress and trips back up to Georgia to straighten the shit out.
It is a huge money scam, tow truck people are all in on it, and there is nothing you can do about it!
I didn’t miss the Too Short show tho and me and my Sister had a blast!
Cops suck ass! They are lazy and they lie too much. Anything to meet that quota! They don’t care about you losing your job, missing a show, staying in jail cause you can’t afford to pay the bail. They don’t give one fuck.
Protect and serve my ass!!!
They are bullies with badges, and can fuck your life up, even when you’re an innocent law abisding citizen, it’s all legal and it’s getting worse.
Fuck’em!
Conservatives INSANE reaction to Gen Z Hating the 40 Hour Work Week
I was 17, driving my Dad’s Mercedes, drunk. A cop pulled me over, told me to exit the vehicle, and walk to the back of my car. I leaned against the trunk lid. The cop asked, “Where were you tonight?” I said, “At a party.” He asked, “Are you carrying any drugs or paraphernalia?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Toss it down by my feet.”
i did. It was a little pot and a pipe. He asked, “Have you had anything to drink?” I said, “Yes.” Then he asked me, “In an ideal world, what would you like to happen now?” I said, “I’d like to drive home and never do this again.”
The cop said, “I believe you. You’ve been completely honest with me. Drive straight home.” He got back in his car, and drove off. He never even knew who I was. He didn’t ask for my driver’s licence or even my name!
You don’t always need to be around people. People will want to be with you when you are happy by yourself.
People love boldness. You will be respected when you become a straight talker. Example: If you can’t provide a favor, say no instead of trying to please them.
If you don’t like yourself, no one else will. You must change what you don’t like about yourself and accept what you can’t change.
Swallow your pride and always accept your mistake. Deflecting blame is always seen as a weakness.
When you listen more instead of talking people feel special. In return, they will make you feel special.
When you share a few uncomfortable truths about yourself, people will feel comfortable and reciprocate. Example: When talking to someone new, share the truth about your nervousness.
Gen Zer explains why her generation is screwed when it comes to Dating & Marriage
Lavrov’s Remarks and Answers to Questions at the Conference Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Coup d’état in Ukraine
Karl Sanchez
There are times when it’s hard to tell if Sergey Lavrov is angry or not. Most of what he said, including in his answers, he’s said many times before. I know he must keep up decorum, but when you read the text it’s easy to see him fed up with having to say whatever it is once again. Maybe his blood was already boiling since he addressed the conference on Neocolonialism before this forum. In print, when he discusses anything related to the West, there’s nothing good to be expected from it. Yes, we must understand that this pot’s been coming to a boil for many years now, since before Maidan, and not everything that could be cited is anymore. I recall the tense seriousness of his discussions with Putin, the government and the Security Council that began in September 2021 and culminated in his verdict in January that the Outlaw US Empire would refuse the December security proposals and thus the military technical operation would need to commence. In November, it was decided at a tense meeting of the government that what was happening Donbass was Genocide and something needed to be done and very soon. Putin agreed Genocide was indeed happening, and we know the subsequent formulations. I covered all that while writing at my VK platform that remains operational. My opinion is Team Putin never anticipated that their European counterparts could be as evil as they’ve become—IMO, it’s very important that the word evil is almost never mentioned by Team Putin and other descriptions are invoked instead, while the accusations coming from the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals are usually 100% projection. However, in the following, Lavrov uses the term Nazi as an adjective twice, which is synonymous with evil and diabolical and close to universally agreed upon by Humanity.
This much longer than usual preamble perhaps serves to provide more context for Lavrov’s words, or maybe it’s because I need to provide some justification for essentially repeating a story I’ve heard too many times, and every time it merely raises my angst against the Outlaws who stole my nation and have caused so much grief in the world over my lifetime. Enough from me; here’s Lavrov. All emphasis mine:
Dear Colleagues,
I am sure that those present here are well aware of the current situation in Ukraine, who was in charge of the process, and what methods were used.
On February 9, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, once again
gavea detailed account of the story. If we talk about the geopolitical aspects and consequences of the coup in Kiev, first of all,
I would like to say that what is happening is yet another result of the policy of “divide and rule”, pitting different countries and peoples against each other, and provoking interstate conflicts. This policy has long been pursued in various regions of the world by the “collective West” led by the United States, or rather, with the Anglo-Saxons.The role that England is playing in current events is more aggressive and sophisticated in its provocative assertiveness than any other participant, including the United States.
When the Americans and their satellites proclaimed themselves the winners of the Cold War, they set a course for NATO expansion, ignoring all their obligations not to expand the North Atlantic Alliance and not to deploy significant combat forces on the territory of new members, given (orally and in writing) to the Soviet and then Russian leadership. That was the next stage. The block began to expand. But even then we agreed to sign
an agreementon the establishment of the Russia-NATO Council. Once again, we made a concession. The fact of expansion was acknowledged. In response, the alliance pledged not to deploy significant combat forces on the territory of new members.
This
Acthas not been repealed. Look at what’s happening now. On the territory of the new members, more and more large groups equipped with modern weapons began to train right on our borders.
If we talk about the position of the West towards Russia, then since gaining independence, Ukraine has always been considered by it as an anti-Russian bridgehead. In 2004, in fact, the first coup d’état took place. It was bloodless, but unconstitutional. When Viktor Yanukovych won in the second round, the West forced the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to issue a verdict on the need to hold a third round, which is not provided for by the Constitution. That’s how they “wrung their hands.” How did it all end? They were playing democracy. But the games of democracy, even according to their rules, did not help in 2010, when the people (primarily the votes of the south and southeast of Ukraine) elected Viktor Yanukovych.
Then the West began to prepare a coup in such a way that there would be no more “misfires”. To destroy the opposition once and for all, which has been happening for many years since the February 2014 coup.
In the same year, a coup d’état took place in a country called Yemen, which now also often flashes on the pages of newspapers and TV screens. President Abdel Abdullah al-Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia. For many years after that, the West unanimously demanded the return of the legitimate president of Yemen to its country and only then begin negotiations on a settlement with the opposition.
In the case of Viktor Yanukovych, we drew the attention of the French, Germans and Poles (who guaranteed the peace agreement that was broken the next morning) to the need to “reason with the opposition.” What did they sign up for? That there will be early elections, and a government of national unity will be formed for the period until the elections. And the morning after the coup d’état, Arseniy Yatsenyuk (there was such a leader among them) went to the Maidan and said that he congratulated everyone, that they had won and created a “government of winners.” Does no one see the difference between national unity and winners? So there are losers. You all know how the situation developed later. Those who did not accept the result of this putsch were declared terrorists and an “operation” was launched against them. There were such brutal episodes in this tragedy as the burning of 48 civilians in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, the bombing of Lugansk and other cities of Donbass by military aircraft. The DPR and LPR declared independence. But even then there was still room for agreement.
Some time later, in the second half of 2014 (after Kiev announced an “anti-terrorist operation”), a meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia (represented by yours truly), the United States, Ukraine and the European Union took place in Geneva.
At that time, Oleksandr Deshchytsia was acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and had powers from the authorities that illegally reigned in Kiev. We have agreed on the statement. Unfortunately, it was not published by agreement, as it was agreed that Oleksandr Deshchytsia would “check” in her capital. The statement, in addition to a clear call for de-escalation and an end to violence, called for the start of a broad national dialogue in Ukraine with the participation of all regions of the country, with an eye to its federalization. Despite our reminders, the participants of this meeting then “walked away” from the publication of this statement. Instead, Kiev began to solve the “Donbass problem” (as they called it) by force.
In fact, it set the same goal as Adolf Hitler when he announced the need for the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.”
Once again, we began to look for ways to cooperate to overcome the crisis. We persuaded Donbass not to abandon negotiations. President of Russia Vladimir Putin spoke about this in detail.
As a result, a year after the coup in February 2015, the agreements of the same name were signed in Minsk. Subsequently, you all know how then President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of France Francois Hollande, who signed these agreements with Vladimir Putin, cynically and even proudly stated that they had no intention of fulfilling them. It took time to pump Ukraine with weapons against Russia.
This is a “stunning” confession – a “confession”, in fact. As a consequence of the fact that the West is using Ukraine in every sense to contain Russia and, as they now say, inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia, to prevent it from playing the role on the world stage that it rightfully deserves.
As a result, Ukraine, which received the richest industrial potential from the USSR and the Russian Empire,turned into the poorest state in Europe, into a territory, without exaggeration, dying. The Kiev authorities are already a universally recognized international beggar.
Ukraine’s independence is gone. Even before the coup of February 2014, starting with the Maidan, or even earlier,American and British advisers were sitting in most departments (including the Security Service of Ukraine). Now this is a standard, unsurprising practice.
They sit and make sure that money is not stolen, although no one will ever stop stealing. How will the West demand that Ukraine not steal the money it provides it with, if it is stealing our money? They are already openly discussing how to do it better so as not to violate their “moral” principles and not to create a precedent.
This is a vivid example of what “flirting” with the West and the thoughtless desire to integrate into its system of political and economic coordinates in any way leads to.There is no doubt that the West has declared war against us.
They don’t hide it.Although they say that they are only arming Ukraine, and it is the Ukraine itself that is fighting. Everyone understands that this is a lie. Western instructors monitor how the planning of the General Staff of Ukraine is carried out, help to guide to targets (we are 100% sure of this) and do much more. According to our information, the European External Action Service has made recommendations for Ukraine, which proceed from the fact that it will not be possible to win with the methods that Ukraine is currently fighting, and it will lose. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on the transfer of even more long-range weapons to this country so that they reach the “heart” of Russia (as the European Union describes it). In this way, they will once again sow confusion and panic and undermine the trust of the people.
Isn’t that direct participation in the war? Of course. In war, the main thing is strategy, and it is not in Kyiv, but far away.
Europe, eager to do something as soon as possible to end this drama with the defeat of Russia, in fact, serves the interests of the United States, does not care about its own interests at all. Look at the economic indicators, the negative growth, the recession in the leading European economies. President of Russia Vladimir Putin spoke about this in detail. Everything will probably become clear. All this is humiliated and accepted without complaint. There are no objections. Recall how after US President Joe Biden’s Nord Stream bombings announced in advance, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz went to Washington to bow down, where, apparently, he was told not to make any noise, and he returned without any news conference.
I would like to say that they are now trying to “gloom” (there is no other word for it) all the countries of the global majority, including those represented here (we are very glad to see you here), and to “drag” them into supporting Vladimir Zelensky’s completely dead-end “peace formula”. Its essence is that Russia must capitulate, go beyond the borders of 1991, and the Russian leadership must go to the tribunal and pay reparations. Everyone understands that this is a “dummy” and, at the very least, an unwise initiative.
But in order to lure normal countries that understand what is happening, in addition to the points I mentioned, they threw in supposedly neutral provisions: food security, energy security, nuclear security, prisoner exchange, and humanitarian issues. In total, there are 10 points in the formula, half of them are supposedly neutral.
Clearly, this is seen as a whole. When the countries of the Global South and the Global East are lured to “gatherings” that are organized to promote this “peace formula,” they are told that they understand that they do not like it, they understand their position that it is pointless to discuss anything without Russia. But they then say, they must support food security and sign up to “one” paragraph. As we say, these are “thimble makers”, as we say. I don’t know how it translates into English, but it’s an absolute “cheat” (there’s no other way to put it).
In Davos, there was another “gathering” on this “formula” of Vladimir Zelensky. The main thing they were interested in was a “group photo”. This is actually true. This is the EU’s recommendation to Ukraine: they say, do not go too far, do not force neutral participants, whom we are dragging into this process, to condemn Russia, the main thing is that “there is a photo.” I’m not kidding.
When I was in New York on January 23 of this year for the UN Security Council meetings on Palestine, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignores Cassis asked for
a meetingand suggested that Switzerland become the venue for the peace conference. In his conversation with me, he emphasised in every possible way that in Davos, after the meeting on the peace formula, he said at a news conference that it was necessary to solve problems involving Russia. I replied that if he said so, it means that he is sure of it, and then why did they gather without Russia?
This is not serious from the point of view of diplomacy of any country, and for the West to say that this is the only way forward, I think it is a shame.President of Russia Vladimir Putin,
commenting onthe results of his contacts with Tucker Carlson and during
the West must admit that it has taken a wrong course that has failed.Let the West look for a way out of the situation without losing face.
Vladimir Putin stressed that the West must return to the art of diplomacy, and the art of diplomacy, like the art of politics, is the art of compromise.
It is clear that all this unequivocally presupposes the recognition of the legitimacy of our demands, non-bloc status, the rejection of any NATO advance, the rejection of the militarization of Ukraine as a threat to the Russian Federation, and
the cessation of the Nazi policy of extermination, both legally and physically, of Russians and Russian-speaking citizens on the territory of Ukraine.
Remember, back in November 2021, before the decision to launch a special military operation, before the West rejected our initiative on European security, a journalist asked Vladimir Zelensky how he felt about the people living in Donbass, on the other side of the contact line. Vladimir Zelensky thoughtfully and artistically said that there are people and there are “specimens”. And he also said earlier that if someone lives in Ukraine, but feels involved in Russian culture, Russian civilization, then for the sake of their children and grandchildren, let them “fail” to go to Russia.
This was said by the president, who was elected under the slogans, firstly, of a peaceful settlement, and secondly, of the protection of the Russian language in Ukraine. He called for “falling behind” the Russians, allowing them to continue speaking their native language in Ukraine, as they had done for centuries. That’s how he changed his views back in 2021.
And the final touch. He stated that he would never implement the Minsk agreements. It was clear that they were stalling. From February 2015 to 2019, there were no positive developments, only the bombing of Donbass in violation of all the requirements of this document. In December 2019, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of France Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky
metin Paris at the initiative of the French and Germans, where they spoke in favour of “reconfirming” the Minsk Agreements, first of all, regarding the need for a direct dialogue between Minsk and Donetsk and Lugansk, and, secondly (no less important), in terms of enshrine their special status on a permanent basis in the Constitution of Ukraine. Vladimir Zelensky signed it. Some time later, when the events of February 2022 began, Oleksandr Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that Vladimir Zelensky had signed “just like that” so that they would fall behind. He wasn’t going to do anything. Like, they deceived us and “squeezed” us out of more time. This is the whole characteristic of the “characters” who now rule Ukraine and the West is betting on them in order to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia. If you want to go to the battlefield, it’s up to you.
Question: As you know, there are many mercenaries from Latin America on Kiev’s side. Do you think they pose a threat to democracy in these regions? Is there a security dialogue with the Latin American countries where they come from?
Sergey Lavrov: This topic is relevant not only for the situation in Ukraine.
It is known that mercenaries, including those from the Middle East, are actively used in the African region. In Ukraine, they are also fighting, including members of terrorist organizations like the Islamic State.
The Islamic State and its representatives are under the tutelage of the United States at the illegally occupied al-Tanf base in eastern Syria. Everyone knows this very well.The Islamic State itself came into being as a result of an attack on Iraq under false pretenses by the United States. Then the United States took over the administration of Iraq. They had the Gauleiter, the Governor-General (whatever you want to call him), Paul Bremer, who dissolved all the structures of the Baath Party. I just let it go. They were based on the Sunni branch of Islam. The backbone of the Islamic State was made up of officers of Saddam Hussein’s army, who had nothing to live on.
And the U.S. had a direct hand in this.It is interesting to see what the Americans have achieved in Iraq. The goals set are a complete failure.
Now, for the umpteenth time, the Iraqi government is asking them to withdraw their troops, but the U.S. is unwilling. That’s how big the Democrats are.
Al-Qaeda emerged after the Afghan saga, which also ended badly and shamefully. And after the invasion of Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra appeared, which later became known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Whatever you call them, they are “mercenaries.” The same members of the Islamic State are sent for money to various hot spots. They’re paid thousands of dollars to do their jobs.
Clearly, this is a dangerous practice. Eventually, when their mission in a country is over, they will have to go somewhere else (they don’t know how to do anything else but organize terrorist attacks, shoot, kill people).
If people go there from Colombia or other Latin American countries, one day they will have an epiphany. Many American and British mercenaries have already said publicly on camera that they are completely disappointed in what is happening there, in these lofty “democratic” goals proclaimed by the Kiev regime and its Western sponsors. Some are returning to their home countries.
But if the people who remain in this war waged against us by the West go through a military phase in their lives, it is likely that they will return to it, especially since in Colombia there is someone to argue with and there has always been someone to compete with.
We hope that the Colombian leadership is well aware of this, as are the leaders of other countries. After all, what is the problem? In many respects, this process is connected with the gross violation
of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relationsby Ukrainian embassies. It is outrageous that there are offers to be recruited for war on their websites. Several times we have drawn the attention of the Western masters of this regime so that they would “reason” with them. Nothing happens. Somewhere it quieted down, and then the recruitment activity continues again.
Everyone should be aware that a neutral position and a call for a settlement are good. We appreciate that. This is the position of the World Majority (with the rarest of exceptions). No one has joined the anti-Russian sanctions. But when the countries of the global majority try to “frown” by convening meetings under the slogan of Vladimir Zelensky’s “peace formula” as the only approach to a settlement, it is necessary (at least) to show that everyone understands everything and does not want to play this game.
Mercenary activities are part of the problem. This must be fought. There were thousands of mercenaries in Ukraine. According to our military, now there are less than half of them. The rest either left or met their inglorious end. [Lavrov could have gone much deeper and mentioned the Outlaw US Empire’s longstanding use of its Terrorist Foreign Legion to attain its goals in South America where it has a very long history going back to the 1850s.]
Question: Against the backdrop of President Vladimir Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson, the rating of Republicans in the United States is generally rising. The opinion of the people in the West about Russia is changing dramatically. Previously, they did not know about what was happening in our country because it was not covered. How do you see the prospects for restoring relations with the West in the event of a change of government, especially in the United States (if Donald Trump becomes president)? Will they recognize the new territories? Will there be a resumption of cooperation?
Sergey Lavrov: Regarding the position of the Republicans and the “epiphany” that suddenly appeared in American society after President Vladimir Putin’s
interviewwith Tucker Carlson. For me, the main thing is that, as it turned out, US citizens live in a complete information blockade. They are “fed” with the internal narrative, primarily of the Democratic Party. Fox News is the only exponent of Republican sentiments, but after the departure of T. Carlson, the tone has also changed.
It turns out that there is no question of any freedom of speech. Although the American Constitution requires that there be access to any information. But in addition to this, there are also commitments made within the framework of the OSCE in 1991 inMoscow. At the initiative of the West, it was written in black and white (and the Soviet Union signed the demands): to ensure free, unrestricted access to information in each member state of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Special mention is made of information that originates both inside and outside the country concerned. This is a direct requirement.
Our friends from the diplomatic corps and all Russian citizens see in the news that “a good half” is a story about the position of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, and the European Union on Ukraine or any other international event.
Our public is familiar with the point of view of the West. Yes, in most cases this is criticized, but everyone is free to draw their own conclusions. We do not censor what is said in the West.All this is shown, and then political scientists discuss it.
As for the restoration of relations, President of Russia Vladimir Putin also spoke about this in
He explained that the West must admit its mistake and find a convenient way out. But with the full understanding that the problem of Ukraine, as we have identified it, must be resolved. He added that someday relations will be restored. When this happens is not up to us.
That’s their problem.President Vladimir Putin recalled that we had made so many concessions and gestures of goodwill. The limit has already been reached.
On their part, in response to our good deeds, we saw other gestures on one hand.
Question: What are the main consequences of the Euromaidan protest for the ordinary population of Ukraine? How to restore relations in the future?
Sergey Lavrov: There are living witnesses of those events here. I think they can describe it in brighter colors. But it is written in Ukrainian laws that a course has been taken to destroy everything Russian.
“Euromaidan” affected everyday life, access to information, education in the Russian language, which was used by more than half of the citizens. According to some estimates, 80% of the population of Ukraine feels that the Russian language is more comfortable in communication. All this is forbidden by law. Up to everyday situations: the saleswoman may refuse to serve if you address her in Russian. A few months ago, Kiev Mayor Viktor Klitschko issued a city regulation banning all cultural events in the capital: exhibitions, performances, film screenings, etc.
When this word was mentioned in the context of the
the policy pursued by the Kiev Nazi regime towards Donbass and Russians in general,Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia in the International Court of Justice. By demanding that the court recognise the groundlessness of the accusations of the Zelensky regime of carrying out a policy of genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has concluded a decades-long debate. It made a verdict that we did not violate any conventions. Moreover, it rejected the Ukrainian claim that they were fighting terrorist regimes in Donetsk and Luhansk. The entire ideological basis of the “anti-terrorist operation” that Kiev launched after the coup d’état and then continued contrary to
the Minsk agreementshas been debunked. Now there are “local assaults on people” – they can pull them out from anywhere (from a cinema or a bathhouse) and send them to the “slaughter”. Bad consequences.
Millions of Ukrainians have found their shelter in our country. Here they are perceived as absolutely equal to us. Brothers, sisters, people with whom we have shared joy and sorrow. We have families on both sides. Rosbrothers. Both in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation. They are at home here. And the main thing is that those who come to us feel at home themselves. We will do everything we can to make them feel this way.
Question: The other day, the US government asked Congress for $100 billion: $65 billion for Ukraine, $15 billion for Israel and $20 billion for Taiwan. They will enact this sooner or later. Several European countries have begun to say that Ukraine should be part of NATO. Where are we going? Are there any possibilities for a peace conference?
Sergey Lavrov: This is not a question for us. We have answered it many times. President of Russia Vladimir Putin touched upon this issue. In April 2022, there was an agreement that has already become the talk of the town. The Anglo-Saxons forbade Vladimir Zelensky to sign the agreed agreement, which was acceptable to both the Ukrainian and Russian delegations. And so it happened.
To reiterate, there is a decree issued by Vladimir Zelensky prohibiting talks with Vladimir Putin’s government. When the West raised such questions, our President repeatedly said that it was necessary to force him to cancel this decree and say so publicly. The ball is not in our court. Everyone understands this very well.
At the same time, it is said that the Swiss are announcing a peace conference. But at the same time, the West unanimously declares that it is only on the basis of Vladimir Zelensky’s formula. Therefore, friends from Asia, Africa, and Latin America should choose the most “innocuous” points from these ten points (food or energy security), and the Westerners will write them down to participate in a “collective photo” in support of this “formula.” What kind of diplomacy is this?
They have not been engaged in diplomacy for a long time. Instead, there is blackmail and sanctions. Any issue that seems important to the West is never the subject of an honest discussion.
The UN Charter states that the United Nations is based on the sovereign equality of States. The most important point. Imagine retrospectively the various conflicts that have taken place since the creation of the World Organization in 1945. There is not a single conflict in history in which the West has been involved, either before or after the creation of the Organization, in which the United States and its allies have observed the principle of sovereign equality, and this obligation is enshrined in the Charter – to respect the sovereign equality of states. Therefore, the conference is apparently understood as a “collective photograph”, the participants of which will later say that there is a “formula” of Vladimir Zelensky, and that on this basis they invite Russia. I think it will be humiliating for them. Most people are well aware that this is neither diplomacy nor politics. So we don’t have the ball.
Question: In view of the fact that after the end of the
special military operation(even if not now), there is a transformation of the world order and international relations in general. Are there any plans to reform the UN, in particular the Security Council, under the auspices and within the framework of the initiatives and efforts of the Russian Federation, which is its permanent member? In view of the fact that we have repeatedly sent inquiries and requested various sessions to consider the terrorist attacks that took place on the territory of our country, in particular in Belgorod. Just yesterday. Will we somehow advance these efforts so that the UN Security Council acquires a new character and international law is respected?
Sergey Lavrov: Reform of the UN has been discussed for a long time. It’s overdue. For me, there are two main aspects of this reform. One is conceptual, the other is practical.
We are convinced that theUN Chartercontains all the necessary principles, respect for which will ensure peace and security.I gave an example that when the Americans need something, they look at what principle of the Charter to take as a justification for their actions. When it was necessary to declare Kosovo’s independence unilaterally, they said that it was based on the principle of self-determination of peoples enshrined in the UN Charter. When an open, transparent referendum in Crimea with the participation of many international observers decided to reunite with Russia, they did not accept it, condemned it and said that it violated the principle of territorial integrity.
Since the inception of the United Nations, there have been debates about whether the self-determination of peoples or territorial integrity is more important. Self-determination of peoples is mentioned earlier in the UN Charter. But a multi-year negotiation process was initiated, culminating in the adoption of the Declaration
sovereign and independent States which observe in their actions the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as set forth above, and, consequently, have governments which represent, without distinction as to race, creed or colour, all the people inhabiting the territory.” After the coup d’état, did the Kiev regime represent the population, a huge part of Ukraine? Of course not. So it’s conceptual.
A fundamental part of our position is that the UN Charter should remain at the heart of all the activities of the legal community, but with the understanding that its principles should be applied in their entirety and in all their interrelatedness.
The practical judgment is (there are many aspects of reform now) that everyone is primarily interested in the reform of the UN Security Council. This topic is in the public eye all the time. The prestige of the countries that want to get into this body on a permanent basis is directly related to this. The reform should unequivocally eliminate historical injustices and ensure fair representation of the countries of the global majority – Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The current composition of the UN Security Council was formed at a time when the consequences of decolonization had not yet been realized, when the newly liberated free and independent countries were just arranging their own internal lives and getting used to the new quality. It is clear that the situation on the world stage is radically different now. Economic giants such as China, India, and Brazil are on the rise. In Africa, there is a movement towards the realization of its own identity and in favor of rejecting the rudiments of colonial policy, when resources are pumped out of Africa, and all the added value is produced in the former metropolises and the main profits are generated there. It is necessary to ensure the admission of representatives of the developing world to the UN Security Council. We have publicly said that we support India and Brazil as candidates for permanent membership in the UN Security Council, with the understanding that at the same time a similar additional presence in Africa will be ensured.
We have warned our Indian and Brazilian friends (and we explain this at every turn) that it is unacceptable for us to replenish the UN Security Council with any new representative of the West. Currently, six of the fifteen members of the UN Security Council represent Western countries. Sometimes Japan is added, pursuing a purely Western policy. Granting more seats to the western group would only mean deepening the injustice. Germany and Japan aspire to “infiltrate” the Security Council together with India and Brazil, but they will not succeed. From a purely arithmetical point of view, the West is already disproportionately represented.
Now to the point. Name at least one issue of international politics in recent years on which Germany or Japan would have taken a stand. Any. All of them are “built” by the West. There’s nothing you can do about it.
There were sensible ideas about leaving one seat in the UN Security Council for the “collective West,” for NATO.
You mentioned the UN Security Council’s consideration of various crisis situations, including terrorist acts carried out by the Ukrainian regime on a regular basis and to which the West is pushing it to continue. I quoted the EU’s instruction to Kiev in which direction it should “work”.
A few days ago, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron unleashed a neo-colonial “mantra” urging people not to abandon Ukraine under any circumstances. Vice versa. It is necessary, they say, to “pump” it with the most modern weapons as much as possible. Condemnation of such terrorist acts is possible only with the consent of all members of the UN Security Council. In most cases, the Americans “shield” the Kiev regime and do not “pass” these resolutions.
There is a lot of talk about proposals to abolish the veto.This is what many developing countries have been saying in discussions on Security Council reform.
The right of veto is not a privilege, but a tool for ensuring well-considered decisions and preventing unilateral resolutions that can bring imbalance to world politics.
The West has practically lost the culture of work in the UN Security Council, which has always relied on the ability of the five permanent members, each of whom has the right of veto, to come to an agreement, to seek compromises on any complex issue and never to provoke a veto by putting to a vote resolutions that are unacceptable to any of the five members.
We have always been ready for this kind of work. The Americans, along with the British and French, have chosen a different style that is detrimental to the UN.
It is unrealistic to abandon the veto. Then the United Nations, like the League of Nations, will turn into a useless structure that will only further escalate confrontation.
Reform is a long process. It should reflect a common understanding at this stage of the tectonic changes taking place in the world in the context of multipolarity processes.
I know Lavrov wants to remain optimistic, but the realities against that are formidable. Yes, Russia and the Global Majority will continue to grow stronger, but the planet will remain chaotic as long as the Outlaws exist. And remember, they are Nazi-like and thus extremely diabolical—they will continue to attain their objective no matter the cost as all means justify their goal which is to keep their hegemony. All sorts of reality can, and has been, thrown in their faces, but they are blind to it and can only see their goal. Those hiding behind the Front Men and Women must be exposed and made visible in the public’s eyes—the Bidens, Trumps Kennedys, and their ilk are screens to shield. That’s why policy is contiguous—it matters not which flavor is in charge anymore, although there’s currently a theatre ongoing to make it seem otherwise.
I made one parenthetical comment and could have provided more. Lavrov provided a warning to fence-sitting nations that even what appears to be a safe position actually isn’t, that joint, in resolute solidarity, resistance to the West is the only real path forward. In his talk yesterday, Lavrov expressed the idea that regional solidarity will meld into global solidarity and regional organizations will then become global. That’s the only real way to control the Global Fracture that’s now occurring. There’s more to be said about the historic Global Big Picture that shows a distinct continuity over the last 4,000+ years where the great mass of people have tried again and again to establish a fair social contract with rulers/governments. Today’s conflict is all about ending the one last Great Tyranny, which as mentioned is the same Tyranny that’s been existing and plaguing Humanity for centuries.
I’ll tell you a story about respecting the court. My step daughter was a young teen and had some case against her. On the day of court she got up and put on jeans and a t-shirt I told her to change into a nice Sunday church dress with no heels. She wasn’t happy but did it. We were towards the end of the docket. All the other defendeants that got up were dressed similarly as she had been initially. The judge made a stern ruling quickly and moved on. When it was her turn and she stood he stopped. Talk to her about what she did wrong and about how she looked like she probably learned a lesson and he let her off pretty easy, a little community service. The lawyer even told us that wasn’t his normal but he’s sure it was because of how she was dressed. So if you want to go in and not stand, show disrespect to the court don’t expect things to go favorably for you. And consequences can be contempt of court with jail time, dismissing your case until you can be respectful or loosing your case to getting a harsher sentence. So think about that before you decide to do something so stupid
I worked at a mom and pop home center. Like a small Home Depot, but privately owned. An older gentleman came in a lot to buy small stuff. I spent time with him, took him outside to look at lumber, cut a few boards to size. One so he could build a bird house. Not money making at all. I even hauled a few boards to his house in my own truck on my lunch break, it was on the way. Boss had told me to knock it off, I was costing him too much money. A week or so later the guy comes in, we talk, he leaves. Boss is pissed, wants to know WTF he wants this time? “ Oh he wanted to give us this” I handed the boss a check for $25,000. Seems the man was building house, hired the builder I introduced him to, and based on his and my relationship, he intended to buy building materials from us. Cash up front. When the $25,000 was used up, he left more, until the house was done.
As I child I remember a time where I had built sandcastles, left for a few minutes, only to find a group of kids kicking down my creations. So what I did was build them on top of large rocks. I left again. When I came back I watched them kick the sand castles down again. They immediately stopped after one of them broke their foot on a rock.
The lessen is that sometimes you have to outfox people to teach them a lesson. Deception and misinformation is key. It’s not hard to punish someone who steals an idea from you. If you get a little creative, you can deeply embarrass the culprit, even destroy their career. Don’t be alarmed when they steal your work, act like you are gullible, stupid, and didn’t even notice so that they’ll do it again. Hide a watermark or code or leave your name in metadata some where so they don’t notice. Then once they’ve done it again you’ve got your watermark to prove it was your work, then go to HR with documentation exposing their fraudulent behavior. It’s fun to outsmart such people because they tend to be Narcissists and they will have an existential crisis once they realize they’ve been outwitted. They absolutely cannot stand being bested by someone else, especially in the manipulation department.
Hot and Spicy Cubano Sandwich
Cubano Sandwiches main
Prep: 15 min | Cook: 90 min | Yield: 8 servings
Cuban Sandwich Recipe
Cuban sandwiches are one of my favorite indulgences. They hit all the right spots and then some. I wanted to create a Cuban sandwich recipe that would make any Cubano connoisseur proud – and I think this recipe does just that. At least both my foodie critic husband and I couldn’t stop stuffing our faces as he repeatedly awed “these are so good!”
After experimenting, I stumbled upon a few key elements that make the best Cuban Sandwich recipe. I’ll go into greater detail below, but for starters, you need the best Cuban Mojo Roast Pork for the best Cuban sandwiches! It is all about the pork. I posted my mojo pork recipe separately because it is stand alone delicious and absolutely hypnotic in these Cubanos. If you don’t use the mojo pork recipe, I cannot guarantee epic delicious results. Plus, you can prep the pork days ahead for stress free Cubano assembly.
Second, use the right filling ingredients. Aged Gruyere Swiss cheese (not the rubbery Americanized version) and Black Forest ham add dimensions of gourmet flavor and thinly slicing whole dill pickles delivers the perfect thickness so all the ingredients beautifully meld together.
Lastly, you might be wondering if you can achieve the coveted buttery, golden crispy crust characteristic to Cuban sandwiches without a plancha or paninin press – the answer is yes! No press, no problem! The inside of the bread is first toasted (no soggy Cubanos here!) and then slathered in a mustard sauce spiked with some reserved mojo marinade. This amps up the flavor again. Next we create our own panini press by placing the bread in a buttered skillet or grill pan and top it with another heavy skillet to weigh it down. The resulting Cubano sandwiches are buttery, crispy and compressed – just like the restaurants. Or better.
I’m going to go into more details about Cuban sandwiches from their history to specifics on ingredients to step by step instructions. Read on or use the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the post. I hope you love this Cuban sandwich recipe as much as us! Happy eating!
What is a Cuban sandwich?
The Cuban sandwich, better known as a Cubano in the US and simply sandwich in Cuba, is a decadent Cuban grilled ham and cheese sandwich that has reached mainstream popularity all over the US. It is the ultimate sandwich for every pork lover and a must for every non-pork lover alike.
The Cubano begins with hearty yet soft, slightly sweet Cuban bread slathered with yellow mustard then loaded with layers of Swiss cheese, tangy pickles, sliced mojo pork, smoked ham and more cheese, then buttered, grilled and pressed to create a super crispy exterior and cheesy interior.
There’s nothing fancy or difficult about making the Cuban Sandwich, but the varying layers create a symphony of flavors and textures with each element filling a specific roll. It’s tangy and tart from the pickles and mustard, smokey and salty from the ham, zesty, citrusy and herbaceous from the mojo pork, buttery and slightly sweet from the bread all sandwiched together to create soft, crunchy, melty cheesy textures. Are you drooling yet? With one bite you will be. If you’re planning to devour just one half of a Cubano, heaven help you, you’ll need will power of steel.
MIAMI VS TAMPA CUBAN SANDWICHES
Both Miami and Tampa claim to have the best version of the Cubano Sandwich. The difference between the two Cubano variations is minimal. Both Miami and Tampa versions share the classic Cubano structure discussed above of Cuban bread, ham, Cuban roast pork, Swiss cheese, and pickles, but the Tampa version features a layer of Genoa salami, the Miami version does not.
Genoa salami is a kind of salami believed to have originated in Genoa, Italy. It is seasoned with garlic, salt, black and white pepper, and red or white wine. The Tampa contingent believes salami adds yet another layer of salty flavor to the already decadent sandwich, which makes their version superior. To prove their point, the Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich was designated the “signature sandwich of the city of Tampa” by the Tampa City Council in 2012. Miami, on the other hand, stands by their Cuban Sandwich motto that simple is superior.
So how did salami become a staple in Cuban Sandwiches in Tampa? In the early 1900s, Tampa was the home to both many Cuban and Italian immigrants. As the people and cultures mingled, so did their foods and eventually, salami, a staple on Italian sandwiches,became a staple on Cubano Sandwiches in Tampa.
As far as which is better? We know what Tampa and Miami will say, but in the end, it comes down to personal preference. I personally think salami makes everything better, even Cubano Sandwiches. So, if you like salami, chances are you will love it on Cubanos; if the jury is still out, it’s better to omit the salami because it’s not a subtle addition.
Ingredients
2 pound boneless pork loin roast
1 pound honey ham, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup Chinese mustard, divided
8 whole wheat submarine rolls, sweet rolls, or 7 to 8 inch sections of French or Italian bread
3/4 cup red plum, red currant, or raspberry jam or jelly
8 slices Swiss cheese
2 (7 ounce) cans green chiles, drained and sliced
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
Instructions
Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and 1/4 cup of the mustard. Spread mixture on all sides of the pork. Place pork, fat side up, in a shallow roasting pan and roast for 15 minutes.
Reduce oven to 350 degrees F and continue roasting for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F (medium rare) to 160 degrees F (medium).
Remove roast from oven and let rest 10 minutes.
Slice very thinly and set slices aside.
To prepare the sandwiches, halve the rolls, laying all 16 halves out, and butter the outside of each of them. On half of the halves, spread the remaining mustard (1 1/2 tablespoons). On the other half of the sandwich halves, spread 1 1/2 tablespoons of jam. Arrange ham, roast pork, cheese, and chiles on the mustard halves of each sandwich, then top with the jam halves.
Prepare a grill to medium-hot heat. Lay a double layer of foil on the grill, large enough to hold the sandwiches. Place sandwiches on the foil, place bricks over the sandwiches (2 sandwiches per brick), and press down gently.
Grill until the bottom of the bread is browned and cheese starts to melt, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn, replace the bricks, and grill for 2 minutes more.
Cut sandwiches in half and serve.
Notes
You can also cook the sandwiches on a stovetop griddle or grill—weigh them down with foil-wrapped bricks or other heavy objects, like a plate of canned goods. If you want to make less than 8 sandwiches, use less of everything except for the roast ingredients—then save the leftover roast for another use. And if you like things extra-spicy, try substituting sliced pickled jalapeños for the chiles.
When I was twenty my parents, who had divorced but were now living together, asked me to go on a weekend trip with them.
I was amazed my father would even ask. We weren’t close, I barely spoke to him! He had been physically abusive to my mom, siblings, and especially me my whole life.
I ran away from home at 13, married at 16 so I’d never be under his thumb again. Yet suddenly he wants to be cozy! My mom was a sweet but weak woman! She just never knew when to get out.
This invitation came on the weekend of my 20th birthday, my dad was insistent I go. I came up with all sorts of excuses. I had to work, my husband had to work, dad was fine with the latter excuse (said just the 3 of us would be great). I knew it was a rotten idea from the beginning, he’d get drunk, they’d fight, I’d be referee. No way!
The more he pushed the idea the worse I felt about it, I just knew something was wrong. I finally just said there was no way I’d go we’d already made plans for a birthday party with friends so they went alone.
Two days later on my 20th birthday the State Police came to tell me my parents were dead, my father had killed my mother and then committed suicide. From a note he had left it was quite clear why he was so adamant that I came along. My instincts that day told me the trip was a bad idea and yes I was right.
I had told mom after the divorce to never let him back in her life but she always thought he would change. I have posted parts of this answer before and just want to say in advance that I am fine with my life. I am happily married to the love of my life with a amazing grown son and grandchildren. I’ve had a lovely full life filled with great times! Unfortunately my sibs are all gone after failed marriages, drugs, and alcohol. They chose to be victims and spend their lives blaming our parents for all that’s gone wrong in life, where I chose to learn and never make the mistakes they did! Not sure if I am editing this in the correct manner to add a afterthought but here goes anyway! I am surprised by the number of views and upvotes, personally I didn’t think anyone would even care. I mean it happened so long ago and as the only survivior I am long over the whole thing. But at times I do wonder if others out there experienced the double murder or murder suicide of parents and also survived relatively unscathed or if because of the abuse I’m simply detached from the situation. Just something I think about! Please excuse my run on sentences, its just how my thought process works. Thanks for all the kind thoughts.
People can be odd sometimes. I wish to relate a story that took place a few decades ago. At this point in time I was sponsoring some Americans to visit some factories in China, and this group of four guys were all pretty nice. But one of them was a gnarly cuss who insisted on not eating ANY Chinese food while he was in China.
Instead, he wanted no part of the Business KTV lifestyle, food, friendships and was generally a royal pain in the ass. He insisted that no one smoke at the table… (WTF? this is China), and that we go to a grocery store to get cereal and milk so that he can have a “safe” breakfast in his room.
OK. Different strokes for different folks. I get it.
Anyways, Instead of eating at the many, many delicious restaurants for dinners, he convinced everyone to eat a McDonald’s, Pizza-hut, KFC and Burger king instead. And I begrudgingly allowed it. That was, until the last day.
There we took him to a steak restaurant, and we all ordered steaks.
It was a nice Western style place, and they were known for their decent steaks and fine dining atmosphere. Everyone loved the decor and the food looked great. We all sat down and placed our orders.
Imagine my surprise when he received a fine filet Mignon, and then promptly drowned it in ketchup. It went from this…
ee472e3e21002e2f8c037c4597bed3c1
To this…
tomato ketchup 1024×576 1
You couldn’t even find the meat under all the ketchup. I couldn’t believe it. Thinking about it now, and again… I still am incredulous. Jeeze! Louise!
In 1971 the 18 year old me worked 10 hours a night 7 nights a week overnight pumping 29 cent a gallon gas at an Exon station on Highway 14 near Los Angeles. An endless parade rolled through every night.
The cult bus from up the canyon gassed up heading for LA to recruit and gassed again coming back with newbies. The cult escapees on foot stopped for food or directions.
My usual directions to lost drivers was “you can’t get there from hear” with a smart-ass grin. One time the person just said Ok and left quickly. I guess they went somewhere you could get there from!
I had an endless supply of free food from the catering trucks fueling up. Newspapers, donuts, bread and more.
Guest appearances by two dozen of the Galluping Goose Motorcycle Club (Google them) swarming the stations islands was interesting. A sheriff car chase through the station code 3 was entertaining. You never knew what was next.
The problem was I tried to go to the local junior college full time and slept a bit in the morning and a bit at night. Zombies had nothing on me. Mom wpuld tell me the time, day and where I needed to go when I woke up.
One night, around 3am I was leaning against the front of the station waiting for the next car and noticed three dollars sticking out of my shirt pocket. A customer had filled up and paid while I slept standing up!
I took it as a clue that I should retire and joined the Air Force.
But I came away with so many great stories 🙂
Memnon of Rhodes (died 333 BC)
Memnon was a Greek soldier from the island of Rhodes in the southeastern Aegean Sea. He was born around 380 BC and entered Persian service at a young age. His first patron was Artabazus, the satrap of Phrygia, who married Memnon to his daughter Barsine, a beautiful and well-educated woman. The Greek soldier proved his worth during Artabazus’ revolt against King Artaxerxes III of Persia; at some point, he even rescued his captured father-in-law.
When Artabazus fled to Macedon, Memnon followed him. He stayed there for about five years and gained valuable inside knowledge. He met the then king, Philip II, and his son, the future Alexander the Great — he had supposedly lengthy discussions with the latter. He studied the Macedonian tactics and realized how keen on invading Persia Philip was. He also understood how precarious the Macedonian hold on southern Greece was — Greek unity wasn’t deep yet.
All this theoretical knowledge was soon combined with practical experience. Memnon fought with considerable success against general Parmenion, whom Philip II sent on an expedition shortly before his own death. Thus, Memnon was the perfect man to lead the Persian defense when Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont in 334 BC. Indeed, he sat at the war council of Darius III along with Persian satraps and other high-ranking officials.
Memnon proposed a dual approach. First, the Persians were to follow a scorched-earth policy: burn the crops before Alexander’s army and constantly retreat instead of opt for an open, pitched battle. Second, using money and diplomacy, they should cause as much unrest as possible in Greece, behind Alexander’s back. It was a careful and well-thought strategy, because the Greek armor, training and battle tactics were superior to those of the Persians.
Darius and his satraps didn’t agree with Memnon. They were unwilling to destroy Persian land, believed it would be below them to not fight openly against the invader and possibly hesitated to follow the advice of a Greek. Thus, they assembled an army behind the river Granicus and waited for a battle that eventually took place in May 334 BC. Memnon was one of the leaders of the left flank, opposite Alexander. Reality proved him correct: Alexander won.
After the battle, Darius changed his mind. He made Memnon supreme commander of the West and gave him the authority to carry out his initial plan. Although several Anatolian cities surrendered to Alexander, others like Miletus and Halicarnassus resisted, and that could wear out the invading army. Memnon didn’t care how many individual victories Alexander would win; he played the long game and was content with the Greek losses.
Soon, Memnon started his counterattack. Since Alexander’s fleet was not very strong, he attacked the islands of Chios and Lesbos; the first he captured completely, while the latter partly. He also accepted representatives of the Cyclades — with them, he could control the Aegean route. Persian money worked miracles, as it had in the Peloponnesian War. Athens, led by the anti-Macedonian Demosthenes, Sparta and other cities were almost ready to rebel.
In this crucial hour, Alexander’s good fortune prevailed. Memnon got sick and died in 333 BC while besieging Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. The Persian generals, seeing that Alexander was moving slowly, thought he hesitated to face them openly. Thus, they abandoned Memnon’s strategy and pushed for a second direct confrontation. A few months after Memnon’s death, Alexander defeated Darius himself at the battle of Issus. The East was open to him.
It’s always hard to pose What if … ? questions, but Memnon’s plan had many chances of success. His shrewdness, experience and what steps of his plan he managed to carry out before he died show that clearly. If he had forced Alexander to keep advancing slowly and with constant losses, exploited the favorable dynamics at sea and stirred up a major revolt in Greece, the invading army might not have been able to get beyond Asia Minor.
It’s not necessary to get into details about this, but Alexander’s campaign was indeed world-changing. Although he died too early, his conquest set the bases for all sorts of historical developments. Greek became the common language of the new oecumene, the Greek civilization came in closer contact with those of the East — a new era began. Even Rome would later build on Alexander’s legacy. Who knows if any of that would be the case had Memnon lived to execute his plan to the end?
Fun fact: Memnon’s wife, Barsine, was later captured by the Greeks. Alexander made her his concubine, and she bore him a son named Heracles. He was the only child we know Alexander lived long enough to see: his legitimate son by Roxana, Alexander IV, was born a few months after his death. Both Heracles and Alexander were murdered at a young age, victims of the bitter antagonism among Alexander’s generals over his kingdom.
I was 11, and for some reason, I wasn’t at school and with my father when he got word that my older sister had run-away, again.
Dad went to a couple of houses, with me staying in the car. Then, we went to a biker bar. Dad said, “Stay here!” Then, walked into the bar.
Being the brat that I am, I waited briefly, and decided I needed to use the restroom. I walked through the door and spotted my sister on the right at the far end next to the bar. My father was just in front of the door, and to his left were two pool tables, with those low-hanging stained-glass lights over each table.
There were FOUR extremely large biker dudes – right out of central casting. All were much taller than my father, who stood at 5′7″. All four had cue sticks in their hands, and all four began moving.
My father shifted quickly to stand between the two pool tables. The bikers spread-out and one circled back, going behind the rear pool table. Dad grabbed the table light and shoved it violently to sideways, hitting the biker solidly in the face.
Then the guy on the far side of the tables stepped forward, swinging the pool cue like a baseball bat. Dad blocked the cue, gave two punches to the face, grabbed the cue, swiveled it around and punched him with the base of the cue several times to the neck and face.
At this point, the third guy came from behind, and struck Dad viciously in the right kidney, causing a grunt. Nevertheless Dad swiveled around with the cue, hitting the biker on the side of the neck. Then Dad did a little jump and kicked the knee out from under the biker. The crack was audible.
Guy #4, clearly not being bright, tried to do the same trick with the other table light, and missed as Dad ducked beneath, grabbed the biker by his vest and pulled him onto the table, then elbowed him to the throat.
Guy #2, having recovered enough on the far side of the tables, pulled-out a knife and came with a stabbing motion. Dad caught the thrust arm, twisted it with both of his arms, and broke or dislocated the man’s shoulder / arm – again with an audible sound – and a screech from the biker.
#1 guy, face bloodied from the splintered light, put his hands up in a placating gesture and backed away.
#2 guy was on the floor, holding his right arm
#3 guy was on the floor, groaning, and holding his leg, which was bent in an odd manner.
#4 guy was gasping for breath, on hands-and-knees on the floor.
At this point, the bartender started rummaging around under the bar for something, and Dad said, “She’s 14 years old.”
The bartender stood up, backed away from my sister, next to the wall and put his hands up.
Then we went home.
Please note, that while Dad was quite powerful, and lifted weights, with biceps that split shirts – he also had a bad right leg, and was only 5′7″.
You see, the ascent stage was the part of the Eagle lunar module that blasted off from the moon’s surface on July 21, 1969, carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin back to the command module Columbia.
After they docked, they jettisoned the ascent stage into space, leaving it in a retrograde orbit about 125 kilometers above the lunar equator.
NASA assumed that this orbit was unstable and that the ascent stage would eventually crash into the moon.
But a new analysis by James Meador, an independent researcher at Caltech, suggests otherwise.
image 2
He used a NASA tool called the General Mission Analysis Tool to simulate the trajectory of the ascent stage using data from GRAIL, a mission that mapped the moon’s gravitational field in 2012.
He found that all of his simulations showed the ascent stage maintaining a steady orbit for over 50 years, despite the influence of the sun, other planets and solar radiation.
Of course, there are other factors that could have affected the fate of the ascent stage, such as fuel leakage or explosion, but Meador thinks that there is some possibility that it is still up there and might even be detectable from Earth.
How cool is that?
But don’t get too excited yet.
This is just one study and it has not been peer-reviewed or confirmed by other sources.
Meador himself admits that his analysis has limitations and uncertainties.
He also says that finding the ascent stage would require a lot of effort and resources from NASA or other agencies.
So, for now, we can only speculate and hope that one day we will know for sure what happened to the ascent stage of Apollo 11.
Maybe it is still orbiting the moon as a silent witness to one of humanity’s greatest achievements.
Or maybe it has already crashed and become part of the lunar landscape.
image 26
Either way, it is a fascinating piece of history that deserves our attention and respect.
I was 32 when I got married and had been on my own, building a career and supporting myself for 10 years. I refused to be “given away” because no one “owned” me. So, I told the officiant to eliminate the line where they ask who’s giving me in marriage. My dad simply escorted me down the aisle, sat down beside my mom and I joined my husband.
I’d attended and been in enough weddings by this time to have very definite ideas about what I did and didn’t like. So, I also made the following changes to the reception. When I was planning our wedding, all kinds of people told me I “had to do all this stuff because it was ‘tradition.” I said, “NOPE!”
No long wait between the ceremony and the reception – The photographer took a few pictures of me and my husband at the church and we arrived at the reception along with the last of the guests. We took the family and wedding party photos after we ate.
No sit-down dinner – I’d been to too many receptions that were ruined by guests banging on their glasses to make the couple kiss. We decided we weren’t trained monkeys that perform on demand and had a cocktail-style reception.
No obnoxious, screaming DJ – We had a guy playing background music on the piano and guests were able to converse without shouting.
No smashing cake in the face – I don’t know who ever decided this was cute, funny or amusing. It’s tacky and an insult to your new spouse, and I didn’t spend hours on my hair and makeup to have it messed up with smeared cake and frosting. As a side note, any DJ who sang “The Bride Cuts the Cake” to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell” would have had the cake smashed in HIS face—by me!
No dollar dance (or anything else that solicits money or gifts) – I subscribe to the old-school view that you don’t ask guests for gifts or money. If someone gives a gift, you should thank them regardless of whether you like it or now, and follow up with a nice note.
No bouquet toss – Some women don’t want to get married. Others recently lost a spouse or are getting over a breakup. They don’t want to be singled out or embarrassed by “well-meaning” guests or insensitive DJs who want to push them into catching the bouquet.
NO GARTER TOSS – I saved the best for last. I ABSOLUTELY REFUSED to do this. The “tame” version always made me uncomfortable, but the way many couples do it nowadays is raunchy, nauseating and disgusting, especially when the groom removes the garter with his teeth! I definitely DO NOT want my new husband or anyone else sticking their head up my dress in front of a hundred people! Maybe I’m just an old fogey or fuddyduddy, but some things should be kept private!
It’s YOUR day. Do what you want and don’t let anyone force you into doing anything that you don’t like or that makes you uncomfortable!
China’s ‘Golden Veil’ To Launch Cruise Missiles For Sneak Attacks
During the toxic, soul destroying ICU rotation of residency, we admitted a young lady intubated for a “community acquired pneumonia”. It ended up being acute myeloid leukaemia, and she had to start chemo in ICU.
She turned out to be an incredible, inspiring, resilient and kind soul. She developed every possible complication of chemo, including being septic while having profound pancytopenia (all cell lines down).
During a particularly busy call with multiple sick admissions, she started bleeding (sepsis plus inability to clot), and I remember noticing frank blood in her catheter. At some point after midnight, she weakly summoned me to the bedside. There were tears on her face and I remember they seemed blood stained, which seriously alarmed me.
I thought she was calling me to tell me how sick she felt. But, teary eyed and all, she said, “I’ve been watching you…you’re having such a hard evening. Are you okay?”
Here was this woman battling for her life, and she had enough compassion left over to care for me. I thanked her, told her to please not worry because she/they were the only priorities.
Then I went into the bathroom, bawled my eyes out, put my game face back on and got back to work. People like that make everything worthwhile.
I’m glad to say she survived and was discharged from hospital several months later, but my colleague who managed her after she was discharged from ICU said it all took its toll and she was a shadow of her former self.
I still think of her. I hope life gave her her flowers, because she deserved everything.
Many years ago we moved into a house where the garden had two gates, a small one at the back and the front double gate which gave access for the car. I was amazed to see people idly strolling through our garden one day with their dog. I went out and challenged them and they said they’d been doing it for years. The previous owner let them use his garden as a short cut to the shop instead of having to walk round past the church.
I said it had to stop now. We had a young child and I didn’t want to risk total strangers coming into the garden. Besides which we had two dogs at the time and although they were not dangerous I didn’t want to risk them getting involved with trespassers. As a child I discovered that people tell lies and they can report that your dog attacked them even if it didn’t.
We put a lock on the gate, and a notice saying Private Property. Keep out. We had no end of abuse from people. The one who really stunned me was the one who said they picked the apples and other fruit every year, it was their right, and now we were stopping them from doing it. The woman even said the fruit wasn’t ours because the trees weren’t planted by us, they’d been there for years.
We only lived there a few years. We didn’t like the weird neighbours so we moved.
Men are Avoiding Marriage and Modern Women Don’t Get It Ft.
Back in 1993 my first wife and I purchased a house on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our house was a new construction, we were the first owners, and it was also the last piece of property in the subdivision to be developed. Our right-side neighbors, an elderly couple, had been one of the first residents, moving in back in 1975.
For all the years they had lived there they used our property for extra gardening space, and as a dumping ground for their yard waste. Our one-acre lot was partially wooded, and I found huge piles of branches, leaves, and household trash scattered throughout the woods. Apparent leftovers from these neighbors. No problem, it was pre-existing conditions, so my wife and I just worked to clean up and do our own landscaping.
The problem was, our neighbors didn’t seem to understand they couldn’t use our yard as their private dump anymore. We woke up one morning several months after moving in, and discovered a huge mound of leaves, branches, and other yard waste right in the middle of lawn area in our backyard. Trying to be polite and “get-along,” I talked to the guy and explained they couldn’t use our yard as a dumping ground. he agreed to remove it. His method of “removal” was to just torch the pile and burn it. No fire permit, no warning to us, and he left a big burn scar in the lawn.
We let this go, which turned out to be a big mistake. For the next several years, we would periodically discover piles of yard waste in our yard. The lady next door would simply clean up her yard, and haul everything over into our yard. She would always haul this waste over during the night, or times when my wife and I were both gone. No amount of complaints would change her behavior, and her husband would openly avoid us.
After nearly five years of this, my wife and I had enough. After finding yet another pile of yard waste, I called the police and filed a trespassing complaint against my neighbor. In Mississippi, this was a misdemeanor and so I had to go to night court to testify in support of my charge.
The night of our court hearing, the judge had my wife wait outside the courtroom while I testified first. The night court prosecutor and judge were pretty hostile to me during their questioning. Extremely hostile. They included comments about how “neighbors were supposed to get along,” and other similar crap. I managed to hold my own during their questioning, then they called in my wife.
The judge asked my wife to explain our reasons for the trespassing charges, and she just lit into the judge with “They have been doing this for five years!” How long should we have to put up with this?” The judge looked shocked, looked at me, said “five years?” and I nodded my head in confirmation.
My wife finally ran down, the judge gave some judge-homily crap about neighbors getting along and ruled against us – no trespassing. One week later we found yet another pile of trash in our yard, and I called the police, again. When they showed up, I explained we had already taken the neighbors to court once, the judge decided this wasn’t trespassing, and now our neighbors did it again. I suggested that possibly if their house accidently burned down, this crap would stop.
The police, not happy with the entire situation, and not happy with my comments, finally took action. They issued our neighbors a “no trespass” order and advised them that if they set foot on our property again, it would be in violation of a police order and they would be charged with a misdemeanor.
We finally had peace. Then a year later the husband lost the house due to gambling debts and they moved away.
Scott Ritter: “US Naval SUPERIORITY IS A MYTH! Our Navy has been exposed in the Red Sea as weak!”
1) Document everything. A journal format is best. Date, time, who, where (desk, hallway, restroom), what, and your impressions. I’m a nerd: I use Excel.
2) Once a year, ask HR to let you see your file. You’d be surprised what random people put in it. I once saw a note from a coworker that said “she used the F word.”
An example of how the advice worked to my advantage. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after six months of “what the F is wrong?” A couple days later I mentioned it to my immediate supervisor. I asked about partial disability and should I contact HR? She said no no no do not call HR yet. (I thought that odd).
The next day I heard through gossip that layoffs were coming. So I went and copied my HR file a couple days after. Wow, I found that my boss emailed her boss about my diagnosis. Boss’s boss wrote, “Well, she’ll be one of the first to go” and “I won’t let someone faking a disability continue working here.“ It was in there because it had info about work performance for a review due in 4 months. I have no idea why those sentences weren’t redacted.
One week later, I get called to HR. During the “exit interview” she gave me a big envelope. I asked, no, I told her to increase my compensation package by a factor of ten. She said nothing. I said, “I’m getting laid off because I have Lupus, which as you know, is against the Disabilities Act … { long pause }… and I have proof.“ She mumbled, I’ll get back with you before the end of the day.
Packing up my stuff, HR came and gave me the envelope, asked me to sign an NDA. I noticed the final check was not increased. “My lawyerl will contact HR soon. I’m not signing this NDA. Goodbye.”
End of story. I got a settlement with the compensation multiplied by 10. It took almost two years and if not for my journal and the copy of my HR file, it would have been pointless to sue.
Okay, this is something I legit struggle with. When you’re talented, one of the lovely little gifts that gives you is the ability to see the flaws in the things you create.
Like, I’ll have people gush about one of my books and I cringe inside because when I look at it, all I see are the bits I’d fix if I could rewrite it. I read books from people who are better writers than I am, and then I read something I’ve written and I’m painfully aware it’s not as good.
The same was true when I was really into B&W photography. I was dedicated enough to have a darkroom in my house, but that didn’t give me confidence in my own ability, it gave me an acute and sometimes pointed awareness of the gulf separating me from people who are actually talented.
Like, I look at the best thing I’ve ever done, and compare it to the most mediocre thing Robert Mapplethorpe ever produced, and there’s a gap that’s actually more like a chasm.
I have a lot of writers, artists, photographers, and other creatives in my social circle, and pretty much all of them are plagued by this. The ability to create comes with the ability to evaluate your creations, and when you do that, you realize the gulf that separates you from genuine masters.
Online Dating App Creator Regrets What Online Dating has Become
He was tall (6′2″) and “manly”, yes. But he was never handsome, even as a young man. More than that, he was expected to be a failure.
He dropped out of high school at 16 and lied about his age to join the Marines, but he didn’t care for military life, having an admitted “problem with authority”. At 21, he moved to New York City, where he bounced from job to job; then, in 1956, when he was 26, he decided to pursue an acting career, something he said he’d dreamed of since watching James Cagney films as a kid in Illinois.
As a teenaged Marine:
image 25
Hackman moved to California and joined the Pasadena Playhouse, where he befriended another aspiring young actor, Dustin Hoffman. The two were noted outsiders, and their peers didn’t think much of them — jointly voting them “least likely to succeed”. Hackman also got the lowest score in the Playhouse’s history.
But he was determined to prove them all wrong.
He moved back to New York and took a job as a doorman at a Howard Johnson’s to support himself while taking bit parts here and there. Here he ran into one of his former Playhouse instructors, who told him, “see, Hackman? I told you you wouldn’t amount to anything.”
It was in 1967, at age 37, that he had his breakthrough role as Buck Barrow in “Bonnie and Clyde”, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination. He would be nominated again 3 years later for his against-type performance in “I Never Sang for My Father”, then became a bona fide leading man — and Oscar winner— with his unforgettable turn as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in 1971′s “The French Connection”.
As Popeye Doyle:
image 24
He received BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for his performance in “The Conversation” (1974), another Oscar nomination for “Mississippi Burning” in 1988, and won his 2nd Oscar for his brilliant turn as Little Bill Daggett in “Unforgiven” in 1992, while “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001) garnered him the Best Actor Golden Globe.
Two-time Oscar winner:
image 23
He retired from acting at age 74 in 2004 to write historical fiction, with 2 Oscars (5 nominations), 4 Golden Globes (8 nominations), and 2 BAFTAs (5 nominations) for his career, in addition to countless other awards.
Not bad for a funny-looking guy whom everyone expected to fail.
Beef Piroshki
Beef Piroshki
Ingredients
1 pound ground round
2 medium onions, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
5 (7 1/2 ounce) cans buttermilk biscuits
1 egg, well beaten
Instructions
In a large skillet, cook ground round, onions, and garlic over medium-high heat, stirring often to break up lumps of meat, until beef has lost its pink color, about 5 minutes. Drain off excess fat. Off heat, stir in hard-boiled egg, sour cream, dill, salt and pepper; let filling cool completely.
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
One can at a time, separate biscuits. On a lightly floured surface roll out each biscuit to a 3 1/2 -inch circle. Place about 1 tablespoon filling in the center of each circle. Fold in half to enclose filling. Press edges with a fork to seal closed. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Brush tops with beaten egg.
Bake piroshki for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Keep unbaked piroshki batches covered with clean kitchen towels.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Baked piroshki can be frozen and kept for up to one month. Thaw and bake as instructed.
The most badass thing I ever did in grade school was during a Dodgeball game. I was in the 5th grade, 10 years old. Being the competitive little fuck I was, this game made me ever more hyped up than a monkey at a banana buffet.
The teacher chose who went on which side. I ended up going against the class bully and a couple of my friends. The class bully’s name will be Derek. Derek was a mean motherfucker who was fatter than a whale.
But you couldn’t tell it to his face or he’ll make sure to break yours. Derek never really picked on me that much since I usually kept to myself and away from him and his friends. But he did pick on my friend; Mike.
Mike was a full-on geek. Me and him both liked comics and Star Wars, but I kept that geeky side of myself hidden while Mike foolishly waved it around. He was also a very easy target.
I was really fit and tall compared to everyone else in my grade so not many people would try to physically start a fight with me. Simple insults were as far as they’d dare to go.
Mike, however, was really short and frail. You could kick him like a soccer ball if you had the lack of heart to go for it. He was also a super nice kid, so it really hit me in the feels when I saw him getting picked on.
In this Dodgeball game, Mike was on Derek’s side of the field and 2 of Derek’s friends were on mine. The balls we had for that game weren’t your typical soft and airy ones. No, they were all green and red plastic ones.
The plastic shells for these balls were hard and lordbabycheezit’s only knows why they allowed it for a game where the sole purpose of winning was to throw them at other people. Ironically, these were the same balls we used when playing bowling at the school fair.
During the first round, my side won. We also were about to win the second round when Derek burst in anger and started yelling at Mike.
The teacher didn’t do shit, he was busy having his lunch in the gym office. Some people told Derek to keep it down and take a chill pill but that only even made the asshole angrier.
Like it was just Mike’s fault his team was losing. I was surprised that no one had even hit Derek yet seeing that he was so huge, missing him would’ve been an even harder than not.
I guess everyone was afraid of hurting him and getting him angry. Having enough of his shit, I called out his name. He turned his head to face me, looking as if I’d just finished cussing the life out of his mom, “What?”
“Leave Mike alone.”
“Or what?”
I didn’t respond cause my mental response was a nice long essay’s worth of insults and death threats. Yeah that wouldn’t go too well seeing that Derek was also notorious for snitching even more than he was for bitching.
He took the ball that was in his hand and threw it right at me, full force and all. I was about 6 feet away from him and shouldn’t’ve been hard to hit. But just as the ball came this close to hitting me in the face, I tipped my head over to the side so that it’d miss.
My gawd people, it was so close that the air from that thing was brushing against my skin. I’m still impressed with what I did to this very day. Then, while I was getting Oo’s and Ah’s from everyone around me, I turned around and grabbed the ball from the floor.
Derek stood there, dumbstruck. Which makes sense, I was still freaking out then. Not giving him time to recollect and snap out of it, I took the same ball and football-chucked it right in his big ugly face.
Y’all know what came after that cat-in-a-blender scream when it hit him? That’s right; blood. And a whole lot of it. His nose was bleeding so much that his entire shirt was almost completely covered in it.
And he kept crying until the teacher came, furious as to what he saw. “What happened?”
“Leonardo hit me in the face mister! He tried to kill me!”
Ugh, could this soft ass bitch be any more of a drama queen?
“Is that true Leonardo?”
“No sir, if I was trying to kill him then he’d be long gone by now.”
And that was the last time anyone heard of the great DiCrapio. Any questions?
Just kidding. He sent me to the office straight after that, not bothering to listen to my side of the story. Which to be fair, wasn’t a very justifiable side to hear from. I was suspended for a good week and had another week of recess detention after that.
Needless to say, they never picked on Mike again after that. So worth it.
Just fyi, I wouldn’t recommend anyone try this at home cause even though they did leave Mike alone after that, I became enemy number one for Derek. That wasn’t the most fun title to hold.
Oh and he broke my thumb during recess the next month. Yeah, definitely don’t do this. Fuck you Derek, I hope your thumb gets crushed by a million plastic Dodgeballs one day.
I was in the military for two years, just long enough to get the GI Bill. Just a one-striper, nothing much. As luck would have it, I scored very highly on an aptitude test I was given, and I was selected to work in a nuclear facility, as a computer operator. It took nine months (of a two year gig) for me to get a very high security clearance, necessary to handle nuclear weapon related material.
I was involved only at the lowest levels of this, my job included janitorial work, for example, gathering and bringing trash from officers to the furnace (to be burned; all paper and packing trash was burned, none left the building).
Anyway, one day I am filling in, in the computer room, for the tape librarian who is on leave. All data was stored on reel-to-reel magnetic tapes, and the tape librarian, directed by the console operator, brought the tapes in from the “library” (many racks of stored tapes) to mount them on the tape drives. And of course to take down tapes, label them and store them in the library. It’s a fairly continuous process walking back and forth, but not very strenuous for fit soldiers.
On this particular day, the general in charge of our operation had retired, and his two-star replacement was taking a tour of the facilities. He knew absolutely nothing about computers. He was guided by a full bird colonel, that knew a little bit about computers, but was not a very technical type.
When they got to the tape drives, the Colonel tried to explain to the General how they worked, like a voice recorder. The General thought this could be a security risk, because somebody could stand next to a tape drive, and listen in on the data being played, and be privy to nuclear secrets they should not be listening to. That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.
Everybody in the computer room had all the clearances necessary to do anything or see anything going on in the computer room. You not only cannot hear the binary data, you couldn’t possibly make sense of it if you did, it goes by far too fast and sounds like static if you feed it into a speaker.
The Colonel assured him it was impossible to eavesdrop on the data.
Nevertheless, the following day we had an armed MP guarding the tape drives, and we had to show an ID in order to mount tapes, or take down tapes. Which slowed down operations. And a week later, the MP was gone, and things went back to normal.
Human rights and struggling economy is a narratives. Set to demonised China. It don’t work except for Brian dead westerners. That is some 1% of the entire world!
Four out of every five stuff made on the world U.S. made in China! 175 out of the world’s 195 nation on earth has China as their biggest trading partner! And 171 nation support and participated in BRI
Sure racist like this person who ask this question like to ignore facts and listen to narratives like these but even in the west there are very few of them! Do you know, in spite of Donald Trump’s trade war, the U.S. trade 3 times more in 2022 than in 2017 when the trade war began?
So it must make your anger and hate boils but heck some people choose not to think!
Lowe’s. Went to the store and ordered a GE gas wall kitchen oven with 5 year extended warranty. Not in stock, they had to order it and I had to wait. Because of a unique kitchen cut out and old house, I had few options. I call the store a few times over several weeks to try to get a status update. “Should be coming in soon”. Three months later they call to say GE no longer makes the model. Come in and pick another or get a refund.
I go in, get my refund and decide to do some more research. A few days later I go back to Lowe’s and order a Frigidaire gas wall oven and 5 year warranty. Not in stock, have to pay and wait for it to come in. I do so. About three months later they call to say that model is no longer made. Come in and pick another or come and get a refund.
I go in to get the refund. When they refund me, I notice I did not get refunded the $300 for the 5 year extended warranty. The cashier tells me they don’t give refunds on the warranties in the store. I have to call a special Lowe’s Telephone number to get that refunded separately.
I go home and then spent the next two weeks in automated telephone carousels trying to get to somebody who can orchestrate the refund. Probably spent 40 hours in total on the phone at different times before finally getting somebody. They had no record of the sale so I have to email them all my purchase and refund receipts. I do so. More run around. After a few weeks I get a check in the mail for the refund.
It then occurs to me…did I get a refund on the GE oven extended warranty I ordered first? I go back and look at the receipts and see they did not give me the $300 warranty refund on that one, and I didn’t notice.
Back to the store who tells me I must call the telephone number. Back on the phone trying to get to the right person. Did I mention this telephone number they have me calling has no weekend hours and limited weekday hours? When I do reach someone they have no record of the sale or return so I need to send them all copies of my receipts, which I do. Weeks later, no word. And no response from more hours on the phone. Mostly on hold.
I write a letter and send it through the mail to Lowe’s corporate office. I gave them documentation and photocopies of every single receipt and my timeline of purchases, calls, emails…every interaction, everything. I explain what’s been happening.
A few days later I get a letter from them saying they’d be happy to assist. All I have to do is call this telephone number (the one I’d been calling).
At that point my stomach could no longer bear it and I had to decide if $300 was worth the stress and time. I let it go.
I wouldn’t purchase a nail from Lowe’s ever again.
At that point I searched the internet and found the first GE oven I wanted at Plessers Appliances. I call them. They had five in stock. So the model wasn’t discontinued. I ordered it from a salesperson on the same call on which I confirmed it was in stock. I paid by debit card and it was installed 3 days later.
A true story. No embellishments.
Why didn’t I just go to Plessers to begin with? I didn’t know they existed. Their closest store to me was about 50 miles away in a town I never visit. But more importantly, initially I had no reason to doubt the information Lowe’s gave me about both models being discontinued. I know wall gas ovens are becoming more and more rare, so it seemed possible. And I didn’t want to deal with a gas to electric oven conversion, but that probably would have been the next step. But not with Lowes.
Learned this through shard contacts. When we rented a house a few years back, the landlord was engaged to a very wealthy ex-Pharma sales executive. Roughly 15 or so years ago, this person was working for a major Pharma company selling its patented drugs to doctors. He was making a lot of money. Until one day he stumbled upon evidence that the company was covering up the massive toll of side effects of its drugs. After repeatedly attempting to correct the situation, he was stonewalled. In a good conscience, he couldn’t remain silent as the drugs were affecting people in terrible ways.
Under the Whistleblower Act, he provided the details to Federal agencies, who immediately launched an investigation. His identity was not protected as part of this process, and he very quickly was fired from his high paying job. Worse, he was blackballed across the entire industry. No one would talk to him. No companies would ever hire him. His Pharma, Medical and Sales careers were over. No one would hire him – not for anything. If I recall he was in his mid 30’s. He ended up bankrupt, divorced, lost his home, lost his family. He was utterly destroyed.
After many years of litigation at the highest levels, the company was found liable across a number of areas. The fines imposed on the company were MASSIVE – hundreds of millions of dollars.
As a whistleblower, he was entitled to, and paid a percentage of the fines imposed. I forget the exact number, but he made something like $100 million dollars as a result of ratting on the company’s deadly products. But the cost was….EVERYTHING.
When I learned of this story, the man was in living in the same town/city that we were in, and had a beautiful multi-million dollar waterfront home.
I always wondered if he felt like he would do the same thing again if he knew how things worked out. His life was ruined, literally ruined.
The company, of course, is still in business today. But a fine approaching the better part of a billion dollars has to hurt. A Lot.
China’s LATEST Stealth Aircraft Can Kill US B-21 ‘Raider’ in 1 Second
We had the neighbor from hell. The first day they moved in, he parked his Uhaul on our front yard yo unload. This was a hundred year old house with ceramic water lines. My husband explained that he had to move the truck, and he did.
Then, we had a tree cut down in our fenced back yard. The wood was cut into lengths to burn in a fireplace. I worked that day, and when I came home that night, over half the wood was gone. Every night for months they burned their fire pit. I know he took it.
Next, ghe to,d me he was putting up a privacy fence. As I said, we had a chain link fence already. I explained to him that he needed to put it as close to our fence as possible. The weeds between the fences on our side would be every difficult to remove. Again, I came home from work, and he had put up the fence inside out with the support beams on our side. This left a 8” gap between the fences. Weeds were horribly difficult to reach.
We had a two car parking spot in the back of our houses. No lie, he had a motorcycle trailer, two cars and a trailer parked there. Of course he spilled over his lot. Every time they took the trailer out they moved my garbage can. They never put it back where it belonged. One night I was having a few beers when I heard him come home with the trailer. I grabbed the trash can and held it. He wasn’t going to move it that night. My drinking got the better of me and I went off on how they thought our yard was his to use, and how all the neighbors had had enough of them.
They put their house up for sale that week. Good riddance.
I can’t think of one person who runs and doesn’t have their shit together.
I think it’s because running teaches you how to persist. The entire act of running is to not listen to your body’s urges to stop and to persist instead.
You will also learn how to focus on a singular goal, to keep your legs moving until you reach your destination. The skill of focus is one of the most underrated and misunderstood. Many people think your ability to focus is inborn, but I know from personal experience it’s a skill that we train through out the day.
Running will also make you have more stamina in bed which could lead to you landing the wife or husband you want.
Running also tends to weed out bad habits like smoking because it’s so difficult to run and to keep smoking.
Also when you travel, you will get a intimate view of the city because you will know what it’s like to see the city on foot.
You will also be able to learn things because podcasts and books are some of the best things to listen to while you are on a long run.
Also runners tend to eat healthier which helps them lose weight and have good skin. I know I don’t like eating fried food if I’m going to be running later because I will feel sluggish.
When you run you also feel very confident because you will feel like you are becoming a stronger person.
Finally, you should run, because one day, you won’t be able to.
Yes after buying new property in a rural area. The neighbor behind us kept letting the family ride off road four-wheelers on our property as we did not have a fence between us and we did not live there yet. As I was building our new house and shop we saw the kids riding across our property again, I drove to top of hill where they were and asked them not to keep coming across the property line that was surveyed and marked. They apologized and said they thought it was their grandparents property. I thanked them and told them my insurance would not allow other people to drive on my property, if they got hurt I could get sued.
No problem I thought all was well. I keep getting other neighbors calling and saying people are still driving all over our property when we aren’t there. So the next week we see an adult with a small child again riding on our property. Again I drive up the hill and park in the middle of the trail so when he comes back he has to stop. When he does, I again ask to stop trespassing as I have also told his kids before. He said they are just puttering along slow and not hurting anything. And he drives off. Now I’m mad. So my employees start a new (nice) fence the next day. A week later all employees are working on new house (I’m in construction) and one employee says “hey there’s that rude guy on the four-wheeler at the top on the hill”. We all stopped working and run over to look, he is stopped (standing on top of his seat) on the trail by a large barbedwire fence looking all the way down both sides on the mountain at a new long fence. We laughed for about 10 minutes. He had that look like how did this get here. Sad thing is we would have let the kids ride on our property if they had just asked nice. But we didn’t even know their names. We had miles of trails all over the place.
In the 1980s, I had a co-worker who presented my craft work as her own. At that point, I just sat back and watched, I knew things were going to be entertaining.
My manager was so very pleased with the job my co-worker claimed as her own. When my manager asked my co-worker to show her how she had done the job; my co-worker was at a complete loss on what to do. My manager tried to assist my co-worker by asking “how did you start, what was your first idea?”
My co-worker had no idea about how I had created the project as I had completed it at home. After about an hour of trying to figure out how to dismantle my work; my co-worker had to admit that she hadn’t created the project at all. She also admitted that she had taken it from off my desk.
My manager was not amused by my co-worker. When she came to my desk; I was just smiling a little smile. My manager asked me why I hadn’t defended my project and claimed my work. Then she answered her own question; that my work spoke for itself.
When my brother was ready to buy a home, he instead went the custom-built route: our parents divided their five-acre lot so he could build next door.
Both homes were perched on top of an almost-mountain hill, looking over the valley. Pretty amazing view.
For whatever reason I’m unaware of, my brother ended up with a two-acre L-shaped lot; basically, he ended up with his front and back yards and a narrow strip at the rear of our parents’ backyard next door. I think it may have been so my brother could own and maintain the wire suicide fence that prevented any accidental tumbling into the valley below, so our parents wouldn’t have to. Yeah, the hill slope was that steep; it was basically a grassy cliff.
Then my mother’s husband passed away, leaving her to rattle around her huge home by herself. Empty nesting, the property became too much for her to care for and she put it on the market.
My brother, having foreseen this, had included a mother’s suite when he built his home. Practically an independent apartment on the first floor next to the garage, with its own kitchen and bath and a private entrance and my brother’s living space on the second floor upstairs. Absolutely no issues with Mom moving in next door to live with my brother while she was trying to sell.
The people she eventually agreed to sell to were not fun even during the real estate transaction process. They moaned and whined and nickel and dimed but they got her house and moved in. Long story short, this couple proved to be assholes before they even signed the contract, and that certainly didn’t change when the house was theirs. They promptly began tearing out everything to renovate.
Including the yard. Twenty years’ worth of plantings; Mom’s beloved gardens and flower beds, shrubs and fruit trees, ruthlessly removed to accommodate an unending sea of grass. Mom said nothing of course but she was sick.
My brother suggested that she replant a new garden. Together, they spent the time and money to plant roses and fruit trees along the suicide fence on that strip of land that was too narrow to accommodate anything else.
My brother returned from work one afternoon to discover that the new neighbors had crossed the property line to dig up and chainsaw everything my brother and my mother had planted. When questioned, the neighbor explained he wanted nothing but grass in the backyard. He wanted an unobstructed view of the valley below.
Furious, my brother explained that that strip of land was not part of the neighbor’s backyard and that he didn’t consider two dwarf fruit trees to be obscuring the view, but even if they did, the neighbor did not have the right to trespass or to tear them out of property he didn’t own. The plants had cost in both time and money. Neighbor refused to pay for the damages.
It was not worth it to bother with the time and expense of small claims court. But Mom had already been complaining that every time she stepped into the yard or the driveway, the nosy neighbors were watching her, and that they were able to view the interior of my brother’s home through windows visible from their side of the property line. Mom was feeling paranoid and upset.
My brother erected an 8-foot-high wooden fence that completely surrounded his L-shaped lot and its driveway. Including both along the suicide fence at the rear of the property and the property line that separated that narrow strip from the neighbor’s backyard. When the driveway gate is closed, the only thing visible from outside the fence is the roof of the house and a couple of treetops.
My brother further installed a length of decorative metal fence with a fairy gate to separate that narrow strip from his own backyard. Mom ended up with a “hidden” garden that over the years was equipped with concrete benches, bird houses and a bath, a fountain, lawn toys. They planted fruit trees, grapes, roses, flowers, a vegetable patch, butterfly bushes. You couldn’t see the valley from Mom’s fairy garden for the wooden fence, but no nosy destructive neighbors could see her, either. She puttered away hours in there; she loved it.
Instead of two fruit trees and some rose bushes, now the new neighbors had not one but two runs of eight-foot-high wooden fence between their house and the view. The view from their property is completely gone. Short of climbing a ladder to sit on the roof, there is nothing they can do about it.
And whenever my mom wants, the valley and their neighbors’ yard are visible from my brother’s living room and back deck, upstairs from her mother’s suite. Sometimes they barbecue up there.
Oh, and they got a half-dozen egg-laying pet chickens. The rooster is pretty loud at 5am. That’s how my brother knows it’s time to get up and get ready for work.
We don’t know what the rooster wakes the nosy neighbors up for.
The fantasy of the Philippines has been completely shattered, the situation in the South China Sea has been clarified, and the mysterious “sonic weapon” has appeared!
Just this morning, I woke up and saw the news. After the Philippines illegally invaded my country’s Scarborough Shoal. Philippine control began to “collapse” with my country’s law enforcement ships on Ren’ai Reef, which was met with professional restraint by my country.
image 33
First of all, as for the recent provocations by the Philippines, it is obvious that the United States is behind it. Without the support of the United States, the Philippines would not dare to come and make noise. China is dismantling the “island chains” deployed by the United States in the Asia-Pacific region one by one, and breaking through the “containment” of the United States at a rapid speed.
image 34
That article was a paper written by an expert from the University of Defense Technology, which roughly revealed that our country has accelerated its development in close-air combat in recent years, and has also established a near-air command equipped with a variety of hypersonic weapons units.
Everyone knows that our country is ahead of the United States in the research and development of hypersonic missiles. We not only have a mature and complete offensive weapon system, but also a strong and powerful defense system.
The emergence of the Near Air Command today obviously tells the United States that it is no longer possible for the United States to “cover the sky with one hand” in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, he also warned the United States not to have any illusions on the Taiwan issue or the situation in the South China Sea.
image 32
Looking back, the United States naturally does not want us to develop more and more stable long-range missiles and hypersonic missiles, so it will let the Philippines come over from time to time to stir up trouble.
After all, what the United States wants is to involve us in the war, then contain our development, and turn the South China Sea into the next “Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.” But what makes the United States even more unexpected today is that we will not dispatch hypersonic missiles to deal with the tiny Philippines.
Instead, a brand new “attack weapon” was released, which was the mysterious sonic weapon!
image 31
Since the Philippines continues to invade our country’s islands and reefs and frequently come to cause trouble, our country’s new coast guard ships are equipped with a series of self-defense weapons to strengthen the defense capabilities of maritime law enforcement.
Of course, in the face of repeated troubles from the Philippines, we still maintain the rationality we should have to avoid falling into the trap of the United States, so we usually use some high-pressure water cannons to achieve the effect of driving away the Philippines.
But this time, in the face of the collision with the Philippines, our country has released a brand-new weapon, which is the long-range directional acoustic wave repellent device. This “acoustic weapon” can be said to be specially designed to deal with the Philippines!
image 30
Because this remote directional sound wave driving device can release a sound of 160 decibels, which is 60 higher than the human body’s tolerance range (100 decibels).
This weapon can be used for “sonic bombing” from a distance of 3 kilometers.
You know, this time the Philippines dispatched 40 small fishing boats, multiple coast guard ships, and official ships to form the so-called “Christmas Fleet” in an attempt to invade my country’s islands and reefs in an attempt to create large-scale chaos.
image 29
In that case, we will directly release the “sonic weapons” to give them a “Christmas atmosphere boost”!
Maybe many people don’t have much idea about this 60 decibels.
The human body is originally very sensitive to external sounds. The sound of two people communicating normally is about 20 decibels. But if a large car passes by and honks its horn, the decibels will reach 50, and the ears will instantly “buzz”. Once it exceeds 100 decibels, it will cause great damage to the ears, and may even lead to temporary “deafness”.
Moreover, this kind of directional sound wave repellent weapon can focus 150 decibels of noise, and then adjust the angle to directionally project it onto the enemy’s ship. As a result, all the Philippine ships can do is to leave quickly with their tail between their legs…
In fact, the Philippines still does not understand the situation in the South China Sea today. We have already firmly grasped the overall situation.
image 28
If nothing else, in the past two years, our navy has laid a “drag net” on Mischief Reef, Ren’ai Reef and other islands and reefs, and assembled the largest naval formation in recent years.
There are 052D guided missile destroyer, 052C guided missile destroyer, 053HC guided missile frigate, 056A guided missile frigate, 072 tank landing ship, 022 high-speed missile boat…
All in all, the current situation in the South China Sea is very clear: ASEAN countries have clearly seen the true face of the United States and know that the Philippines is a pawn of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region.
Author note : China is a country when you do something anti China you will lose the disputed territory to China, it happened to India, it happened to Japan now the Diao Yu Island is in China control. A lot of countries has demarcated border with China Russia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Nepal, Kazakhstan.
Yes. Leanne. A rather entitled millennial who thought the sun shone from somewhere it didn’t. She told her manager to F-off.
She was put into a tech assistant role, supporting George, a category manager who had been working for the company close to 50 years. He actually retired when he hit 50 years service – he was 72 at the time. After retirement, he stuck around part time for a few years as a consultant too – he was that knowledgeable, and important to the business.
Anyway, what George didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing. He could tell you the names of staff going back to the early 70s. He could also tell you when something was made obsolete, and what replaced it. He was a walking archive of catalogue information going back to before I was born. If you couldn’t find an answer, George was the one who would know it. He was extremely well respected. He had 2 assistants working under him, doing daily tasks like tenders and quotes, warranty checks, stock orders, and general technical assistance for distributors and customers.
Jovic was a fellow in his mid 30s when I met him. He was George’s protégé, and he had already learnt a lot from George – having worked under him for nearly a decade. His only career plan was to step into George’s role when he retired. He did (and still does) a cracking job.
Leanne was employed a year or so before I came along. She was lazy, and slow to reply to requests for help. Customers complained to both Jovic and George about her. Jovic was growing tired of having to carry Leanne’s shortcomings, and begged George to do something.
George worked out she would be better doing analytic tasks like price increases, manufacturing updates, large pricing tenders, and stock monitoring – so she wouldn’t have to talk to customers anywhere near as much. She was taking a week to do a tender than George could do in a few hours. Admittedly, George could look at a partial part number, or a description, and instantly know the correct number. This took Leanne a lot of time to search. But she was also partial to online shopping, and would spend hours browsing fashion sites. She would also call her friends and spend hours going through fashion websites, deciding what to buy. This was the main reason she was so slack.
George had gone to HR several times about her lack of competence in the role, her time wasting, excessive personal calls etc etc. She was given numerous verbal warnings, and a couple of written ones. She was on thin ice. One afternoon George was frustrated that a deadline was coming up, and she hadn’t started a tender that she’d had for over 2 weeks. He walked up behind her desk to see she was browsing a fashion site, and yapping away on a personal call. He interrupted her and asked her to focus on the tender. Her response “fxxx off George.”
George had never been short with anyone before. So his next outburst was a huge shock to us all. He bellowed (loud enough for whoever was on the other end of her phone to clearly hear it) “That’s it, we’re going up to HR right now. You had your last chance, and you blew it.”
Her response, which was heard right across 60+ people in an open plan office – people who had suddenly become silent after hearing George’s ouburst, was “you can’t sack me you crusty old cxxx. I quit first.”
Because of that retaliation, and the language used, HR refused to give her a reference as she was marched from the building.
George was the most patient guy, but Leanne pushed him way too far. We were all glad to see the back of her.
Jovic has since become “George 2.0” – although his knowledge isn’t as impressive as George, he still has some 25 years to get there.
Chicken with Dill Sauce (Kurczeta z Sosem Koperkowyn — Poland)
57470cc66a2266cf138d85f15f3b5216
Ingredients
1 (3 to 3 1/2 pound) broiler-fryer chicken, cut up
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup Half-and-Half
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon minced dill weed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
Heat chicken, water, salt and white pepper to boiling in skillet; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until thickest pieces of chicken are done, 45 to 50 minutes.
Remove chicken; keep warm.
Shake Half-and-Half and flour in tightly covered jar. Stir Half-and-Half mixture, dill weed and lemon juice into pan juices. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; boil and stir 1 minute.
Pour some of the sauce over chicken; serve with remaining sauce and with spaetzle or cooked cauliflower, if desired.
My partner interviewed for her dream job as a tenured professor at an elite university. It offered generous compensation, and the opportunity to expand her research and educate students on niche subjects she is passionate about. She prepared for a week, doing mock interviews and research. When the day came, she called me after and exclaimed “It went great! I’m sure I will get a follow up interview. I haven’t felt this good about an interview in so long.”
The next day, I was walking downstairs at our home and saw her sitting at the dining room table. She looked glum, so I asked, “How’s it going?”
Without looking up, she said, “I’ve been better. I just got a rejection email for that job.” She was completely devastated. For years, she’d been so successful in getting every job she applied for, saying that, “Interviews are my super power.” Consequently, she was being quite hard on herself.
I reminded her that this job process wasn’t like finding jobs in high school and college. She was competing with other academics: highly intelligent, motivated, organized professionals with so much to offer — just like her. But it still stung because she’d put so much of herself into this process.
I related so strongly to her feelings. Coming from corporate, I’ve done around 100 interviews. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a hiring manager say, “You are such a great match for this role!” Or something equitably enthusiastic, with me leaving their office skipping like a kid out of a candy shop — only to get a rejection, followed by waves of frustration.
While I’ve found that rejection does get easier with repetition, it never becomes a pleasant, or even neutral experience. Be it writing, dating, or jobs, there’s always a burn.
Dr. Ethan Kross, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, found that even the most sophisticated among us are often distinctly sensitive to failure. His study found the part of the brain activated during rejection is also associated with physical pain. When someone says “it hurts” after a rejection, they aren’t far from the truth.
Rejection is different from failure in that there’s often an interpersonal dynamic to it — which makes it particularly unpleasant and personal.
I have long battled my harsh inner critic, which is quite common, especially with people who had a strict childhood or where they felt they weren’t good enough (the prior certainly describes me). Replaying these rejections comes naturally and with ease. Which is why I’ve invested in help from a therapist. He gave me a great and counterintuitive exercise, called the “rejection collection”. It helps destigmatize that rejection and promotes empathy — and friendships.
image 22
How the rejection collection works
Rejection often has a secretive nature, where we hide these shortcomings from others to insulate our ego and feelings of acceptance. Ideally, per the American Psychological Association, we should do the exact opposite and seek more meaningful connections with people in the aftermath of rejection, which is what this exercise does.
You create a simple spreadsheet using excel, google docs, anything. Create it with at least one other person and list out notable rejections from your life. I’ll throw myself into the fire right now:
I was rejected from my dream publisher, Penguin Random House, after going through several rounds of feedback with a senior editor. I was close to signing a contract, only for them to reject me in the 11th hour, saying my book idea, “Is not strong or unique enough.”
I was given a reference to interview at my dad’s company, SAP, and flew to Philadelphia for an interview, only to be rejected. I applied for a second position, and flew to Philadelphia again, only to be rejected a second time. I felt like a complete failure and an embarrassment to my dad.
In 8th grade, 23 people tried out for the JV soccer team at a school where soccer was everything. Only me and one other person got cut from the team. I felt like the least athletic, least cool guy in the world.
I was once having a great and long conversation with a beautiful Jamaican woman. We were hitting it off. On a whim, and before I could talk myself out of it, I said, “We should grab dinner sometime.” Her smile immediately vanished, as if she’d just seen a ghost. Then, she said, “Sorry, I don’t date white men.” Which is fine. She’s entitled to her preferences. I cringed more thinking about how I misread her energy.
There was a personality test for our finance department at my last corporate job. During HR’s presentation, each of us were represented as a dot on a giant graph, with our initials by the dot. I didn’t see my name. At the end, I raised my and asked the researcher, “I noticed my name isn’t listed?” She said, “Yeah, we couldn’t properly score your personality. It was too far outside our bounds.” The room erupted in laughter.
When you create your list, adding context and the story helps humanize the experience for the other people on the list. The other option is to have a zoom call where each person reads through their rejections and shares those stories.
It’s OK if they feel entirely random and with different contexts. It’s also completely advisable to find ways to laugh and have fun with it. Self-deprecation can remove the heaviness from the experience, and pivot the tone of your inner monologue to be more accepting.
Per psychology professor, Dr. Mark Leary, the communal component of a rejection collection is the key component to remember. Rejection tends to threaten your sense of belonging to the group, but by celebrating and putting those rejections boldly forward in a group setting — it promotes that sense of belonging and understanding between people.
When I went through this list with two friends, I marveled at some of the stories I heard and we laughed together, thinking through and discussing the events, often debunking people’s insecurities. I felt a sense of togetherness, and enhanced friendship with my buddies afterwards. I was glad they shared these moments of supreme rejection that they’d hidden from me for decades. I didn’t feel alone.
Each of us exists on a spectrum of rejection sensitivity, with some people having very harsh and self-immolating interpretations of these events. But this rejection can cause you to seek out friends and build your connection to them as a compensatory response. This isn’t to say one should get chewed up by rejections intentionally to make friends. But more to remind you of how universal this experience is. A rejection collection helps you purge these harsh narratives and reframe them into something kinder.
When I was an early teenage boy, I had a long-standing crush on another girl who was signaling pretty clearly that she liked me too. I was talking to my friend Brian, saying, “I want to ask her out but I’m so afraid.”
He shrugged and said, “What’s the worst thing she can do, say no?” It was such a healthy extrapolation to rethinking these rejections. Sometimes, we need to lighten the load we place on these outcomes.
I remind myself that rejection stems from something proactive: you taking the initiative to pursue things you want in life. It takes courage to try, to put yourself in the line of judgement. So pat yourself on the back for that, regardless of the outcome.
And if you get rejected, consider sharing it with a someone, or scheduling a call with friends, and list them out in all their glory. You’ll all be better off for it. Remember to stay kind — to others, and yourself.
When I was with the DoC, we had a shipping container in our parking lot to store outdated, or damaged, computer equipment. Once the container was full, bids would be placed on it and the winning bidder would come out and carry the equipment off.
The container was 8 feet by 40 feet so unloading the equipment from it could take some time, and because security balked at having to stand around while the equipment was removed, someone from IT would have to babysit the people hauling the equipment off. This job fell to the person in the office with the least seniority.
It just so happened that we had a newbie start the day equipment was being picked up so the team leader took him outside, handed him the clipboard of inventory being picked up and forms the buyer had to sign, and told him to stay out there until the container was empty. He was told to lock the container up and come back inside once it was done.
It usually took about an hour to empty a container and the newbie was sent outside around 9 AM, so when the team lead began asking us if we’d seen the new guy around 11:30, we knew something was wrong. The team leader went outside and found the trailer wide open, and empty, so he locked it. There was no sign of the newbie. About that time one of the techs saw him strolling across the parking lot, from the direction of a fast food joint nextdoor. When he entered the office the team lead asked him where he’d been and he said it was hot outside (it was summer) and watching the people empty the trailer was boring so he’d decided to sit in the fast food place and watch them from there. He was asked when the people had left and he said they drove off around 10:20. The team lead asked if the buyer had signed the equipment transfer forms and the newbie stated he’d “forgotten” to have them sign (and it’s kind of hard to have someone sign a form when you’re 150 feet away, sitting in a restaurant).
The team lead told our boss what had happened immediately and the new employee became a former employee after only 3½ hours on the job. He didn’t even make it to lunch time — the official lunch time, that is.
Although Australia is considered your “typical white country” by many, we still have quirks that make the whole world tilt their head and think “What the F*ck?” For example:
We have a tradition called a “shoey”– which is were you drink beer out of a dirty shoe.
image 21
Bars are required to have stables, water and food for horses.
We call friends “cunts” and people we dislike “mates”.
Life sentences cannot be over 25 years.
Repairing a fence because a kangaroo tried jumping over it and failed.
School is from February to December, so we have Christmas and New Year’s eve during our annual break.
Petting zoos having kangaroos, wallabies and emus which you can feed and play with for something like 5 bucks an hour.
Deadly spiders everywhere. The week before writing this answer, I actually removed a huntsman from my backyard so my dog couldn’t eat it. I ended up throwing the fucker over the fence and into my neighbors house (by accident of course).
Having Christmas at the beach. Since Australian summer is during December- people go to the beaches in swarms on Christmas Day to open presents and have barbecues.
Every Australian town has a pub with at least one, massive foster beer ad stuck on the rood (even though no one drinks foster any more).
image 20
Almost everyone is outdoors. Hiking, walking, fishing, sailing, boating, surfing, swimming and a hell of a lot more. Everyone is into some kind of sport or activity. The natural resources like beaches and suburbs are used wisely and not just wasted.
Swearing when complimenting something. In Australia, when someone says “Sick cunt”, it means “you did good.”
Calling rain boots/wellies “Gum boots”.
Smelling smoke from a far way bushfire when going outside.
Having no idea what “political correctness is” and saying anything on our minds.
We say ‘Yeah, nah’ instead of No, and ‘Nah, yeah’ instead of “Yes”.
Children aren’t allowed to purchase cigarettes, but there is no law specifically stating that they cannot smoke them.
Not being able to go outside during lunch break at school because you forgot your hat.
Having extremely wide roads and pavements, even in the city and suburbs.
Making fun of anything regardless if its offensive or not.
It is illegal to dress up as Robin and Batman.
Selling $2 hot dogs when everyone is voting for the new prime minster in the elections.
image 19
Getting fined if you don’t vote in the elections.
Putting butter and sprinkles on bread to create fairy bread– our traditional dish.
Putting butter and Vegemite (a thick black Australian sauce) on bread to create another traditional dish: Vegemite and toast.
Eating a lot of fresh fish and ripe avocados. Avocado milkshakes are really common in Australia, and so is really good sushi.
Every pub has 2–4 Poker Machines minimum.
Eating burgers that have beetroot.
Getting attacked by magpies (a Australian bird), because you walked into their territory by accident.
Atlantis, Thoth, the Emerald Tablet & the Secret to Immortality
Beware the following email originating from John Liu <chinaregistry177 (at) aliyun.com address individually to you. It is a scam trying to get you to part with your money. The website at the end of the message does not exist.
Mine was a Mr. Albert Liu.
Albert Liu<albert.liu@chinaregistry.org.cn>
Subject: CN Domain and keyword
“(It’s very urgent, please transfer this email to your CEO. Thanks)
We are the domain name registration service company in China. On Dec 30, 2015, we received an application from Huaxun Holdings Ltd requested “XXXXXX” (name removed) as their internet keyword and China (CN) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflict with your company name or trademark. In order to deal with this matter better, it’s necessary to send email to you and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China?
Kind regards
John Liu General Manager China Registry (Headquarters) 8052, Douhai Building, No. 59 Baolian Road, Shanghai, China Tel: +86 21 6191 8696 Mobile: +86 138 1642 8671 Fax: +86 21 6191 8697 Web: www .chinaregistry.com.cn Email: john (at) chinaregistry.com.cn
Phone numbers and URLs are equal to what what I got in my mail.
Comment and Advice
The unsolicited email you receive is from a Chinese domain registrar (could be a certified registrar, agent, affiliate or private person).
In the email they explain that a supposed company (try to Google the name) is interested in some available domain names (typically .hk, .cn, .tw), which correspond with your brand name.
In only a few days the other party will register these domains, unless you secure them first. The domain registrar can even send you an email from the interested third party (it comes from a hotmail address) claiming that they want to register your domain names, and they are only waiting for approval from Mr. Jim or whatever his name is.
Identical to what happened to me. Only this was from a sina address.
Zhihai Ning<zhihaining@vip.sina.com>
There is a similar domain name: www . chinaregistry.org.cn.
Yes. This is the URL.
In trying to connect to this my anti virus protection gave the following message so beware:
“When we visited this site, we found it may be designed to trick you into submitting your financial or personal information to online scammers. This is a serious security threat which could lead to identity theft, financial losses or unauthorized use of your personal information”.
It can be very expensive if you fall for it. Just ignore it.
Yuppur. It’s a pretty well established e-mail scam.
2024 02 10 13 05
Remember the name of the organization that registers domain names is CNNIC. Not “China Registry”.
Thank you for asking. It is easy to understand. Western governments need to hoodwink their own people who are now very wary about their dropping standard of living for close to 3 generations now. The average westerners are now worst off then their parents and even their grandparents.
Homelessness is rampant, inflation exceed their growth rates and set them back further. Take the UK. In 2023 it’s economy had a negative growth of -3% yet its inflation is a full 4.2%. Together British people suffer a 7.2% deterioration of their standard of living.
The U.S. grew by 2.4% in 2023 but suffers a 3.4% inflation. So once again it’s standard if living fall by 1%. But it has deteriorated back to the levels of 1960’s. Even life expectancy has dropped below that of China! Homelessness has reached a million and a third of Americans cannot afford their health insurance and their college debts consume most of them.
So with such a scenario, it is hardly surprising that they used their media to channel western minds to Chinese economy that is purportedly deteriorating. These are simply a pack of lies to deceive the westerners. Just imagine 2020–2022 over the 3 years post pandemic China grew by 5.5% per annum while most western economies had negative growth.
But what is worst is that it suffered close to double digit inflation while China’s inflation rate is on average 0.5%. In 2023 China grew by 5.2% with a mere 0.2% inflation. Chinese people’s standard of living grew by a net +5.0% in 2023! Yet if you read western media it accuses China of a host of things casting doubt on China!
By right westerners ought to be mad at their government for lying to them. But most pretend to be living better than the world. It’s a fell good factor! It is not good because truth will dawn on them sooner or later.
I realized my mother was verbally abusive when I was around 13. One of my first friends invited me to dinner. I was worried, but I went. It was a normal dinner, with home cooked casserole and green beans. I wasn’t used to that. Everyone sat at the table, and the father cleared his throat. Uh-oh, I thought, here it comes.
Then, he launched into a funny story about how he and a coworker kept hiding each others waste baskets, and how he had won the last round thanks to his daughter’s suggestion of putting a plastic lei on it and photographing it as though leaving the office.
Then her older brother spoke. He was in college, and told an anecdote about a professor who kept losing chalk. Mum spoke up about Chippy, a little squirrel that she fed by the back door. My friend moaned a little about a huge homework project.
Everyone turned to me. I actually spoke, suggesting that we should build our school project in such a way that it blocked the principal’s door. None of these stories were actually that good. but there was a tenderness in the telling and listening that I had never seen. People listened. They chuckled. They talked. They praised Mum’s cooking. No one said one derogatory thing.
They were a normal family. My friend teased her brother about his lack of hockey prowess, and Mum and Dad liked different baseball teams. My friend got grounded for sass, sometimes. But, instead of the parents trying to destroy the children, they held them up.
I cried all the way home. It was winter, and the tears froze on my face. Mother was there. Her first comment, what did you do to your face? My God you were an ugly baby and it’s just gotten worse. It’s good you don’t wear make up, lipstick on a plow horse.
And it didn’t stop until I went to bed. It never really stopped until I left home, always under the guise of helping me fix my flaws.
But after that dinner with the B family, I knew there was another way to live. And that made all the difference.
Pasta con le Sarde
If there is any pasta dish that represents Sicilian tradition to its fullest, it is pasta con le sarde. Combining the culinary footprints of Sicily’s kitchens, this classic recipe mixes maccheroncini (macaroni) with fennel, tomatoes, pine nuts, raisins, anchovies, onion and fresh sardines.
pasta con sarde
The pasta is always ladled out of the pot, never poured into a colander, and then put in a serving dish. During two weeks in Sicily, we never had a piece of overcooked pasta. Test, test, test was Chef Tino’s rule, and, apparently, every other chef’s.
Ingredients
1 pound fresh sardines
1/2 pound fennel bulb
Olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 onion, chopped
8 ounces uncooked tomato sauce*
4 ounces pine nuts
1/4 cup raisins, softened in water
2 salted anchovies
1 pound macaroni
Pecorino cheese
Instructions
Bone the sardines. (If you slit the fish lengthwise and grab it by the tail, the bone easily strips out). Chop the fennel and boil under just tender in water that you will use to cook the pasta. Strain the fennel out of the pot and chop finely.
Heat a sauté pan over medium heat and add enough olive oil to just cover the bottom. Brown garlic and onion in oil until soft. Add tomatoes, chopped fennel, pine nuts, raisins, and anchovies. Simmer for 10 minutes. At this point, start the macaroni and add the sardines to the pasta sauce. If the sauce is too dry, add a very small amount of the fennel water. Don’t stir the sauce once the sardines are added, to avoid breaking them up.
Place the cooked pasta in serving dish and pour the sauce over, finishing off with a sprinkling of Pecorino and a little olive oil.
Serves 4 to 6.
* This is best made with fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped, skin and seeds included. If tomatoes aren’t in season, you could use good canned tomatoes.
The first Emperor of a unified Germany, Wilhelm I, was a strict and conservative man. His son, Frederick III, was a liberal mind. A brilliant man and a keen reformer, he was full of ambition to transform German society, do away with stuffy nobility and its ancient war-like ways, and usher in a new, open-minded and scientifically oriented Germany.
image 4
Wilhelm I, however, kept on living… born in 1797, he didn’t die until 1888, aged almost 91 years old. Frederick had to wait for a long time for it to finally be “his turn”. He was eager, and excited for the task. But then, three days before his father passed away, Frederick was diagnosed with throat cancer. He had been ill for a while, and his health rapidly took a turn for the worst. By time his father was buried, he was already too weak to walk in the procession. He looked on from the palace window, and wept…
image 3
No small part of Frederick’s sorrow? His son and heir, Wilhelm, was a war-like man, imperialistic, aggressive, expansionist, conservative… the polar opposite of his peace-loving, progressive father. Frederick wanted desperately to make good use of his remaining time on earth. But cancer of the throat soon took away his ability to talk, and a botched operation to fix his pain resulted in even greater pain and discomfort when the resulting wound became infected.
“I had so hoped to have been of use to my country. Why is Heaven so cruel to me? What have I done to be thus stricken and condemned?” wrote Frederick III in his diary. He died in June 1888, a mere 99 days into his reign, aged 56. It is often speculated that, had Wilhelm II not ascended to the throne, his father would have moved away from Prussian militarism and Germany may never have entered WWI. WWII would have been averted as well.
We were all working overtime and being stressed out. Sales weren’t doing well, people were quitting, and everything was dysfunctional. Some items at the store weren’t even there or expired.
My boss was in a bad mood, taking it out on everyone. Nitpicking, tearing others down, and calling people incompetent. I’d already gotten a warning for talking back. I had told her that she shouldn’t be treating people that way. We were all working hard and doing our best. She said that if I didn’t like how she ran the store, then to get out. I was really tempted, but kept working.
It was the final straw when a pregnant co-worker needed to go home on time because she had to walk home at 11:00 PM. My boss refused and my co-worker was in a lot of pain. My boss told her to suck it up, that it was her fault for being an irresponsible wh*** and being stuck as a single mom. This made my co-worker burst into tears; her boyfriend had just broken up with her and left her after the news she was pregnant. She’d been taking it hard since.
I marched right up to this and told my co-worker to gather her things because she worked enough for the night, that I would drive her home. My co-worker listened.
My boss was furious for undermining her. I blew up at her, telling her that she needed to work on her morals and values. I asked her how she could even think about doing this to someone, especially her own worker? My boss answered that it was the wh***’s problem, not ours.
I told her that she should never call someone that and her behavior is exactly why she was losing employees. I said this was why nobody wanted to be around her or get to know her. She was an awful human being, no matter how many times she lied to herself.
I ended it that she was right, that I couldn’t work for someone like her. I didn’t like how she ran the store and I quit; the only time I ever did.
I drove the pregnant woman home and thanked me for everything. I explained that I quit, but would drive her if she needed me.
Apparently, I started a chain. Five people quit after me, including the pregnant woman.
The ironic part is that two months later, that boss was fired… for her treatment of employees.
I don’t know that it was the dumbest, but it was certainly an interesting and unusual complaint against me.
I was notified that officers were at a housing project and were requesting permission to force entry into an apartment. The officers had identified a man who had multiple warrants for his arrest. As they were arresting him he broke away from them and ran into an apartment where he did not belong.
I was a watch commander at the time and advised them to set up a perimeter around the apartment and I would be there in two minutes. Upon my arrival, I knocked on the door and spoke with the tenant who was very angry that my officers were threatening to kick down her door.
I had an advantage in speaking with this woman as I knew the complex manager and I also had studied the lease agreements with the various complexes. One reason for an immediate start of eviction proceedings was allowing criminal activity to be conducted at the apartment. I explained that I did not want to see her violate her lease, or have to pay for the door if the police had to break it in.
I explained the search process, and that we were just going to take the man who had run into her house into custody, and leave, without messing anything up inside. She allowed the officers to enter as long as I agreed to stay at the scene. I entered with the officers and actually helped in the search, checking one downstairs closet.
The man was found upstairs fully dressed in bed under the covers (so creative!). He was taken into custody and transported to the department for processing.
Several minutes after I get to the station, I receive a call from the resident. She said, “One of your cops stole $1000 from my apartment.” I advised her that I would take the particulars of her complaint and get to the bottom of this immediately.
I asked where the money had been located and she answered: “In the downstairs closet.” I thought for a minute and replied, “I’m the only one who searched the downstairs closet and I didn’t see or take any money.” She replied rather sarcastically, “Well, it was there before you came in and it’s gone now, so if you didn’t take it, where’s my money?”
Now my mind is going over each minute of the search, with no reasonable explanation. I asked to place the woman on hold for a minute and went to the processing room where the accused was.
Also in the room was a young woman who was counting out a pile of cash. I asked whose money is this. The girl replied, “It’s my money and I’m posting his bail.”
Now I remember, the girl was in the house. I said, “I saw you at the house. Where did you get all that money from?” She replied, ”From the closet downstairs.”
I put the resident, who was the girl’s mother, on speaker phone and had the daughter explain where the $1000 in bail money came from.
I spoke to the mom afterward and she apologized repeatedly. I told her it was already forgotten, and how much I had appreciated her cooperation at the scene, putting her trust in me.
After that, she thought I was a good cop and would wave to me or stop and say hello. Out of a silly misunderstanding, a higher level of trust would develop. So much of police work is about building trust, one person at a time.
I learned how to do some simple programming on my own. I wrote simple programs at work for my own and my department’s use. My boss knew about it. One day she came into my office and demanded that I write a program for another department. I tell her, politely of course, that I would be happy to do it but she had just hired a well-trained person to do just that sort of thing and it might be better if he did it. She quickly turned on her heel without saying a word, walked immediately to HR and wrote me up for insubordination. HR suspended me with pay immediately and I was escorted out of the building by security. I hired a lawyer, the best employment lawyer in the area and a friend, immediately. The lawyer told me that I would eventually get fired and then he would go into action. He also told me that my boss would be fired in 6 months and her boss would be fired within a year. Soon I got fired in person by my boss, who smiled throughout the whole ordeal (I had been with the company 21 years and had nothing but excellent reviews), while a security guard stood behind her. I was smiling on the inside.
My lawyer went to work. With 3 weeks my status was changed to retired (at age 56), my legal fees paid, was given a sizable settlement, and never had to go back into work. In about 8 months my boss was fired and her boss was transferred to corporate Siberia. To my surprise, a year or so later the company newspaper published picture of me standing in front of a beautiful new RV in the retiree’s section of the paper. I had bought the RV with part of the settlement check and sent the picture in as a joke. No one probably knew that it was a joke.
Back in about 1990 I was waiting on a group of six men at Baker’s Square. Five of them were normal people, but the sixth was just a funnel when it came to coffee. He wanted me to leave a pot at the table, which we weren’t allowed to do. I told him I’d keep him topped up. He was skeptical, and he was right to be.
I have never seen any three people drink as much coffee in an hour as that guy. I couldn’t keep up. I asked my manager if I could leave him a full pot and was told no. The guy was going from kind of irritated to outright crabby, probably partly due in part to the caffeine overdose he had to be on the cusp of. Glares, passive aggressive remarks, like that.
Near the end of their meal I got kind of slammed and the poor man’s cup was probably empty for five minutes. As soon as I had the chance I hustled to the table and was filling cups. Coffee Man was on the far right and I was going left to right. As I was tipping the pot over his cup he snapped at me, “Could you take a little longer with that fucking coffee?!”
Instantly aborted the pour with less than a teaspoon in his cup. Looked him in the eye with a smile (more of a smirk tbh) and said, “Yes, I absolutely can.”
Turned on my heel and left, with the sound of his friends laughing behind me. Went to the break room and had a cigarette. A whole one. Customer’s always right yeah?
Told the manager what happened on my way back out to the floor. He couldn’t keep from laughing but also said you can’t do that and he was taking over the table. I think he comped Coffee Man’s meal, but I never heard another word about it after that.
Ended up with a pretty good tip, I assume from his friends.
Passport Bros – The Men Fleeing The West | Japan Street Interviews
Bob loved me unconditionally and always respected me during our entire relationship.
We were married for over 31 years. We worked together for much of that time in a very public business. We met on the job when Bob was hired as the news director at a TV station I was already working for as a reporter/anchor. So not only was he my boss, but we co-anchored the evening news as well.
Bob was incredibly careful to make sure I was never granted any special privileges in the newsroom. His decision at work, went. He would always listen to my point of view and that of the rest of the staff, but his decision was final.
He was always able to switch to the mindset that we were equal when we went home.
He loved me like nobody ever had before , even when I didn’t love myself. He loved me when he was mad at me and when he really didn’t like something that I had done or said.
Bob was my husband…my partner and my best friend. He was my teacher and teammate as well.
Although he was not purrrfect (sorry, we were owned by cats), he was purrrfect for me.
I lost Bob to suicide. He had gotten incredibly sick and wasn’t going to get better. I believe that even this final decision and action, was done with me in mind. He didn’t want me to live the rest of my life as his caregiver while our bank account dwindle to pay his medical bills.
One thing about his final decision. In my opinion, Bob wasn’t wrong very often, but for me, this time he was wrong. The problem is, he was DEAD wrong. I will love and honor him forever. I work hard to make sure people remember his career and his accomplishments instead of just his final decision. I also work with several mental health organizations, including the local medical college, in both suicide prevention programs and postvention efforts (following up with people who have lost a loved one to suicide). I have done very television and radio interviews about Bob as well. I believe that since we spent most of our careers telling other people’s stories, that I should be willing to share ours.
Bob loved me, unconditionally. That is what he did for or to me.
Several years ago, my job was to sell robots to SWAT teams. Every SWAT team (except two of them) wanted one, but they couldn’t all afford them, so the problem wasn’t that the potential customers didn’t want to buy. The problem was that it was difficult to get to the SWAT teams. Lots of people wanted to get to them to sell them various things they didn’t want nor need, so the department didn’t make it easy to reach the SWAT commanders. I had several different ways of getting to them, all of which worked some of the time, but none that worked all of the time.
Then one day I figured out a new approach. Whenever I saw a cop along the road waiting to catch speeders and such, I would deliberately speed up in order to get pulled over. When the cop walked up to the window, I would say, “I have a SWAT robot in my trunk.” The response was always a variation of, “You have a what?” I would then ask if he wanted to have a look at it.
Sometimes the cop got very nervous about me opening the trunk, but they always wanted me to. (Could have been a guy with a gun in there; the cop had no way of knowing.) Once the robot was revealed, I would hand the cop the control and show him how to operate the robot. Then I would ask for the department’s SWAT commander’s name. The reason for this was that I wanted to be able to say “Officer so and so told me you would want to have a look at this robot.” It worked every time.
However, one time the cop was already writing the ticket on his way to my car. After the standard conversation and demo, the cop said that he couldn’t tear up the ticket, because he would get in all kinds of trouble for a missing ticket number, so he wrote me up for 1 mile per hour over the speed limit. If I had gone to court, the judge would have thrown the case out, but I just went ahead and paid the ticket instead.
Later, when I told the founder the story, he said, “From now on, the company will pay for every ticket you get while on the job.” I never got another ticket, though.
Ukraine SitRep: Finally A Wonder-Weapon That Does What It Promised To Do
The city of Avdeevka, (not to be confused with the small town of Andreevka near Bakhmut), is situated immediately north-west of Donetsk city. It has been used for years as a Ukrainian fortress well positioned for artillery attacks on Donetsk. The whole city, and especially the coke and chemical plant in its northern sector, was well prepared to defend against Russian attacks.
But despite all attempts to hold on to it the Ukrainian garrison within the city is about to be encircled and fall. Source: Live UA Map – bigger
2024 02 09 1e3 19
The Russian attacks are coming from multiple directions and are more progressed than the Ukraine friendly map above is showing. The biggest danger to the Ukrainians is the Russian move in the north west which threatens to cut the city off from its supply line through the northern coal and chemical plant.
The Russian victory in this battle was accomplished with the help of one type of weapon created during the current war in Ukraine.
In the early 1990s the U.S. developed a strap on kit for unguided bombs that turned dumb weapons into precise ammunition.
… a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or “dumb bombs”, into all-weather precision-guided munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, giving them a published range of up to 15 nautical miles (28 km). JDAM-equipped bombs range from 500 to 2,000 pounds (230 to 910 kg).[5] The JDAM’s guidance system was jointly developed by the United States Air Force and United States Navy, hence the “joint” in JDAM. … The JDAM is not a stand-alone weapon; rather it is a “bolt-on” guidance package that converts unguided gravity bombs into precision-guided munitions (PGMs). The key components of the system are a tail section with aerodynamic control surfaces, a (body) strake kit, and a combined inertial guidance system and GPS guidance control unit.
The JDAM kit, of which more than 500,000 were produced, allowed for the use of large piles of cold-war era bombs with previously unknown precision.
After the 2022 start of the war in Ukraine Russia engaged in a program to develop an equivalent to the JDAM kit. The program was finished by the end of 2023. The Russian version can be strapped onto a 500kg or a 1,500 kilogram dumb bomb extending their range by attaching wings, guidance kit and control surfaces to already existing dumb bombs. Prototype of a FAB 500 with (folded) wings and guidance kit
After being programmed with target coordinates the bomb gets dropped, turns 180 degree around its length axis and unfolds its wings. The wings enable the bomb to fly some 50 miles before hitting the ground. This allows the planes dropping these bombs to stay outside of the enemy’s air defense envelope.
The guidance kits are cheap and can easily be mass produced.
Yesterday some 65 FAB500 and FAB1500 were used against targets in Avdeevka.
The use of these bombs, which carry 300 kilogram and more of explosives, near one’s own troops requires careful planing and observation. Observers on the ground have to make sure that their own troops are outside of the deadly circle of these bombs and that the coordinates of targets are submitted in a disciplined but secure and timely manner. Pilots have to make sure that the received coordinates are programmed into the bombs and that their release is done at the right attitude and positions.
This kill chain requires intensive training and disciplined soldiers. Yesterday’s attacks demonstrate that the Russian army and air-forces have mastered this discipline.
Any detected resistance or position of Ukrainian troops was visited by a precise FAB attack within just a few minutes.
There is no defense against these weapons. It is no wonder then that any resistance against the Russian onslaught is breaking down. Russian troops can proceed through bombed out Ukrainian positions without taking losses.
Previous reports have talked about a Russian superiority in artillery by a factor of 5 or higher. But consider that a 155mm artillery round has a weight of some 50 kilogram, 60% of which are explosives. One FAB carries 10 to 30 times the explosive equivalent of one artillery round.
The Ukrainian army has nothing comparable in its arsenals.
The introduction of mass FAB500 strikes onto the Ukrainian battle field have given the Russian forces a new qualitative advantage that will change the course of the war (though not its outcome). The U.S. political and military specialists who still believe that attrition is a viable strategy for the Ukrainian army are clearly way off the path of reality.
On February 1 the German broadsheet Bildreported of the conflict in the Ukrainian leadership:
The Bild publication writes that Zaluzhny wanted to withdraw troops from Avdiivka a few weeks ago, but Zelensky refused him this and on December 30 he personally went to the city to the front line to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters.
So all the coffins that arrived from near Avdeevka to Ukraine since December 30 are solely on the conscience of Zelensky and his passion for narcissism.
Zelenski had asked Zaluzny to resign which the General rejected. The Ukrainian president has since made clear that he wants to fire the more popular general but is still looking for the right time and reason to do so.
The loss of Avdeevka may give him a marketable excuse to finally do that even when it is clear that it was Zelenski’s narcissism, and not Zaluzny’s advice, that has caused high Ukraine losses while inevitably losing a not holdable position.
Posted by b on February 8, 2024 at 12:38 UTC | Permalink
It was my last job in Vietnam before I moved to the U.S. I was in that job for almost 5 years.
When I first started my position and reported to my boss, he was extremely difficult with me. He questioned everything and demanded an explanation for everything I did, including why I did it the way I did and how I came to that solution. This continued for six months. I felt so ‘roasted’ by him.
After those six months, one day, I received an email from him saying, “Read this email thread and tell me what I should do.” In another email, he replied to someone else’s email about a solution, added me to the loop, saying, “++ [my name]. I will approve this after [my name] has reviewed and gives me the green light.”
I had earned his trust.
One day, I messed up something important in an important project. I panicked, ran to him, and asked him what I should do. He sat me down and told me, ‘Remember, after you mess something up, admit the issue and come up with a solution to fix the problem yourself. You need to control how YOU are going to fix it; do not let anyone tell you what to do, because it won’t be in your favor.’ Listening to him, I calmed down and thought of a solution myself.
That was the most valuable lesson I learned from office. He is the best boss I’ve ever had, and I am thankful for the time I had the chance to work with him.
My dad was called as a witness to an accident that a member of the public had allegedly had on a building site he was foreman on. The victim had apparently fallen into a deep hole that had not been labelled clearly and then been laughed at and not helped by my father. Apparently when the victim had spoken to my dad he had refused to offer any help. The victim was suing the company for actual injury and for pain and suffering.
Prior to appearing in court the victim’s lawyer had contacted my dad and told him what was going to be said (I don’t know why, the case was a long time ago) My dad replied with “Are you really sure you want to do that?” The lawyer said of course and see you in court. My dad repeated “Are you really sure you want to do that?” The lawyer hung up.
On the day of the court case the victim told their story then they called my dad to the stand. The lawyer asked what job my dad had been doing onsite on the day of the accident. My dad replied with “None, I wasn’t on site on that date.” The lawyer called my dad a liar so my dad got his passport out which showed an exit date of 2 days before the alleged date of the accident and a re-entry date 6 weeks after.
Guess who ended up paying costs for that little debacle!? The victim’s lawyer was less than impressed.
She got a gold star
Guys give out the relationships. Women give out the sex.
All I can add about what to do if captured. At first simply give name, rank and serial number. During the class I asked the following, “what do you do when they bring pliers and a few other devices?” The instructor replyed, “ask politely for a ream of paper (a ream is 500 sheets of paper) and a dozen Bic pens; as long as you are writing they’ll leave you alone that is until they send the notes you wrote up their chain of command.” LOL. We always had a cover story that would make us so low on the classified stuff and if they persist; I would if captured I would tell them that I’m simply a cook. If pressured I’d ask them to let me cook them a meal. LTC Nick Rowe convinced his captures that he was a cook, this worked until they found out his real MOS; that he was a Special Forces 1LT. Nick knew that after 24 hours anything he told his captures would have been changed and will no longer be of any use to his captures. Nick was the go to guy on how to survive capture. He escaped after five years as a POW.
During capture you’ll always be looking for an opportunity to escape. Nick was assassinated while on duty in the Philippines.
The Famous belief that an emerging power will always be a threat to an existing power and war between them is inevitable
The Belief is incomplete
This is the case only when the Emerging Power desires to be a global hegemon
This is NOT the Case with China
image 120
China needs Cooperation for its growth and development
China needs Energy, Oil and Gas from others
China needs almost 23% of it’s Food from others
China needs Global Markets for its Trade
Thus China lives on a WIN WIN cooperation
China can flourish only as part of the Global Economy
The only thing that has changed is SO DOES THE USA
Until maybe three decades ago, the US could flourish on its own domestic economy, it’s own Oil & Gas, it’s Western and Japanese allies and satellites
Today the US needs many more countries to flourish and CHINA is one of the most important of them.
US needs China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and several other Nations in order to flourish as an economy
This the US does not like
The US doesn’t want to be dependent on China for it’s welfare and prosperity
The US policy has always been to CONTROL ANY NATION ON WHICH IT’S PROSPERITY DEPENDS
Thus it has two options :-
A China that is shaped as per US requirements. A Lackey basically. Like Japan and South Korea and now even Germany and France OR
A China weakened enough to accept US guidelines on what constitutes FAIR PLAY
China of course will not agree to either
China believes in a direct win win cooperation in the “May the best man win” mode of competition
So it’s the US that wants to keep the OLD WORLD ORDER rather than the Chinese wanting a new one
The Chinese just want to make money, grow and develop their economy and not be subject to throttling by the West and so to develop their own independent and safe technology and financial systems and military
Maybe 50–60 years later China could change but today there is zero chance of China wanting a New World Order or be a hegemon
We bought a used couch from someone on the Facebook. Seemed too good to be true. $1000 for a couch that goes for $3500 new. Leather sectional with 4 electronic leg rests, cupholders, USB charging ports, etc. A very nice upgrade from our existing sectional.
So, we went and checked it out. They had it in their garage. I asked why they were selling it for such a low price. Aside from some scratches on one seat, it looked almost new. They said he was a surgeon at the university and he was getting a job in North Carolina. So they were packing up and preparing to move quickly. We plugged it in and tested the leg rests. Everything worked. We had a minivan, so it was going to be three trips to get the whole thing home. 30 minutes each way. Kind of a waste of a Saturday, but I felt it was worth it.
On our first trip home, the smell hit us. It was a strong smell of orange, like they used an orange scented cleaner to clean it. This should have been a larger red flag than it was at the time. We still needed to move our existing couch to the basement, so we decided we’d kill two birds with one stone. Move the new couch into the garage, let that orange smell dissipate, and take our time disassembling and moving the other one to the basement.
When we went back to the seller’s house, we asked about the strong orange scent. They downplayed it and basically said they used whatever cleaner they had on hand to clean it before selling. Red flag #2.
We accepted their answer and continued making trips back and forth. They seemed trustworthy. All the pieces of the set smelled of orange cleaner, but especially one section. That piece was much more intense. We left the couch in the garage and sure enough, the smell faded. We moved the living room couch to the basement and the new one to the living room. The orange smell was gone. However, it was replaced by a much worse odor. I don’t know how to describe it except that it was musty, pungent, and kind of stuck with you. It was mostly coming from the leftmost recliner piece.
We reached out to the sellers a couple weeks after buying it. We asked about the smell. She played dumb and said they had hardly used the couch. They had it in their basement and there was never a problem with it. No water damage, no nothing. Clearly lying to us. Red flag #3.
Over the next few weeks, we tried multiple off-the-shelf products and home remedies for removing smells from furniture. None of them improved the smell at all. We finally contacted a fire restoration type of place. They had specialty equipment to deal with all sorts of problem smells in furniture. The cost was high and we didn’t know if it would work, so they offered us a deal. They said, bring in the problem recliner. They’ll try to remove the smell from that one piece. If they succeed, we’ll bring in the rest and they’ll fix each piece at a total cost of $700. If they can’t fix that recliner, no charge and we go our separate ways. Handshake, done deal.
I brought the recliner in and the guy who received it immediately started sniffing all the parts of it like a dog. He got underneath and focused on that area. From under the back, he exclaimed, “Tomcat! Nothing’s gonna work. We’ll try, but it won’t come out. Nothing gets tomcat urine out of furniture.”
Why I’d question the expertise of a guy who crawls under furniture and identifies tomcat urine is still a mystery to me. He was absolutely right. Their process didn’t put a dent in that scent, and we didn’t pay them a dime when I picked it up.
At this point, we’re pissed. We spent $1000 on a couch that’s unusable, and we’ve moved our clunky sectional to the basement and back again, not to mention spending a Saturday moving their couch home. We keep reaching out to the seller. She tries different tactics, from ignoring us to just refusing to do anything for us. All the while, she still insists that the couch never smelled in their house and she sold it in good faith.
Finally, I’ve had enough. I tell my wife to tell this woman that they’re going to return our money and take the couch back or we’ll take them to small claims court. Then she offers to give us $100 back, still not admitting there was a problem with the couch. No. Everything or you’ll be sued. Finally, she agrees, but somehow is able to act like she’s the victim. Great. She transmitted our money back to us, but doesn’t say anything about the couch. A couple days pass, and she demands that we bring it back to them. My wife asked me when we can return it to her. My response? “Oh no. She can come pick it up from us. I’m not spending one minute or a single calorie on bringing her that useless couch.”. She says fine and asks for our address. She responds a couple days later and says they don’t want it either. Yeah, nothing wrong with it. Sold it in good faith. But you don’t want it at all. Huh.
We put it up for sale for free on the Facebook. We were very up front on its condition. The guy who came to get it was excited about it. I warned him that the scent is strong and nothing will improve it. He didn’t care. Said his sense of smell is very bad and he didn’t think it’d be a problem.
The reason most fights come down to bare knuckle brawling is simple. All that stuff you see on TV, MMA, martial arts tournaments etc are people that are trained to fight like that.
I have had my fair share of fights over the years, some I won, some I took a beat down. I have never seen anyone win a street fight using martial arts. Its probably not because it isn’t effective. Its because 99% of people are just watching TV or taking weekend course at Bob’s Dojo and that makes them think they are qualified to put the moves on Joe the drunk.
Pro Tip: Joe is not interested in style points or looking cool when he fights.
The worst thing in the world you can do if your not a trained professional is to try to kick someone in a street fight. Your foot leaving the ground means you have lost all your balance, your center of gravity is gone and your probably so slow doing it any reasonable healthy twenty-something man see’s it coming a mile away.
When I was young I had this happen to me once (not bragging) I caught the guys leg and slammed him into a brick wall. His Bruce Lee impersonation was over in less then a minute.
That wasn’t special. If you are not highly trained do not try any fancy kick moves you saw last night on TV. It wont end well. To effectively get away with kicking someone or doing most martial arts type moves like you see in the movies requires tons of training. It isn’t something Joe average can pull of just because they saw someone else do it or they took a couple of classes at the local community center.
#1: I went to high school with this girl, Lisa. She kissed me once. Later, in my early 20’s, I kept randomly running into her, all over the world: in a dive bar in New York, on the street in San Francisco, and in an obscure back alleyway in Oaxaca, Mexico.
#2: When I lived in New York, I had a dream in which some voice kept repeating a 4-digit number, like 3264, 3264, 3264, like it was very important. At the time, New York had a lottery you could play by choosing four numbers. I thought about playing 3264, but then dismissed the idea, as I had to go to work. As I was about to get on the subway, I noticed that my subway car was numbered 3264. That did it for me, I ran to the nearest lottery kiosk and played that number. The following day, the winning number was announced: 3265. One digit off. I was rather annoyed with the universe over that one.
#3: I exited my gym and hopped into my car, at that time a rather sad and beat-up green mid-1980’s Toyota Tercel. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I noticed that there was someone else’s stuff scattered around. And then it hit me: This was NOT my car! It turns out that for that particular model, the keys are sometimes interchangeable. Toyota made about 13 possible key shapes, and the woman who had already driven MY car away, had the same key I did. It took her longer to notice.
My wife would occasionally smell something odd. She couldn’t describe it. It happened at random times in random places, like in her classroom or at a concert or on the sidewalk downtown or in our house. If she was with someone she would ask, and nobody else smelled it. This happened over the course of at least two or three years that we can remember.
She also occasionally stumbled or lost her balance, which she attributed to natural clumsiness.
One Saturday afternoon in late March 2022 I came home from an errand to find her shivering under a blanket but not cold, and stammering her speech. I declared “something ain’t right with that girl” and took her to the Emergency Room. There a CAT scan revealed “a concerning mass” in her head. She was transferred across town to the major regional medical center. Sunday morning a MRI showed detailed pictures of a mass the size of a tennis ball behind her right eye.
That Tuesday she underwent 9 hours of surgery to remove a meningioma – a tumor of the meniscus tissue surrounding the brain. It was contained (not invasive) but growing. It had been growing for some years before it pressed on nerves and on the brain itself enough to disturb their function, including vision and smell and balance and eventually seizures. I brought her home that Friday afternoon, six days (to the hour) after we entered the ER.
Beginning immediately and now two years on, her olfactory hallucinations (remember the question was about smelling something?), tremors, and problems with balance and coordination are gone. She has a new eyeglass prescription. Follow-up MRIs continue to reveal no recurrence, and her brain is expanding to re-occupy the space from which it had been shoved aside by the tumor as it grew. She has made a more-than-full recovery, engaged with new sporting challenges, and enjoys every day as a teacher, musician, and Grandma.
By the grace of God expressed through a surgeon’s skillful hands, she no longer smells things that aren’t real, I get to enjoy more years with my lovely bride!
Here in my little town we had this business called the Executive Whirl-A-Sage. It offered massage and spa services for the “discriminating client”.
Everyone knew what it really was.
Anyhooo… The IRS decided to take notice. But they couldn’t figure out how much money the place made because it did everything in cash. They got clever.
Sent an agent in as a “client”. (I always wondered which lucky dude landed THAT plum assignment!) He had his “service” (which I suspect didn’t include the happy ending, but who knows???). He carefully counted the number of towels used.
The IRS then demanded all the laundry bills for the business. They counted the total number of towels and divided by the number used per client to determine the number of clients. Some simple math and they had their estimated revenue.
Needless to say, the place was closed down when it couldn’t pay the bill.
I’d just like to start off by saying, gentlemen, I love y’all. You’re half the world. Most of you are great, many of you are just sweet and adorable.
And then there’s the rest of you who come out of the barn in which you were raised just long enough to scare me out of leaving my house.
The right to have sex with me is earned. It’s not transactional, it’s not a bought and sold commodity, and I don’t owe you just because you bought me dinner or even a lousy cup of coffee. In fact, I owe you nothing of myself except my public courtesy, and that can be withdrawn at any time if you show yourself unworthy of it.
What you men—and this is where you stop being gentlemen—do to really creep me out is that you forget that I am the ultimate keeper of my body, and try to wear me down when I say no. Constantly badgering, hinting, whining like a toddler in a checkout line full of candy. Like a toddler you sulk and stomp around when I say no, and double down on trying to get your way. And just as the toddler screams “I hate you!” because mom won’t buy them a Kinder egg, you turn on me when I won’t give in.
“Bitch.”
“Fat pig.”
“You’d be lucky to have someone like me, you ugly piece of shit.”
Yeah, that’s just the right way to get me into the sack.
You don’t respect the word NO, and in that you disrespect me. That’s just creepy and you make me question my lifestyle choices.
To me I believed most of the global south world agree with me. I am sure the U.S. dog and slave nations very much prefer to lie to themselves that the U.S. is the most powerful for their own self interest and wishful thinking.
No matter how pretentious you can be, the world’s most indebted nation, the world’s highest deficit nation, the nation that spends more on defence than the next 10 biggest defence spender, the world’s most over reach, over extended war monger and trouble maker cannot be powerful. So the U.S. is at best is a desperado trying to grasp at anything to stay relevant at the cost of bringing its economy down further.
The real power is China whose respect comes from its actions. Not like the U.S. on coercion and threats. China has overtaken the U.S. in most counts. Even militarily. China does not want a poor U.S. or even a collapse U.S. it still wants a good trade with the U.S. but one that has mutual respect.
Why are universities making students pay for classes that have nothing to do with life
I work with a woman whose WHOLE family doesn’t “do funerals.” I asked her why.
She told me that it started when her paternal grandfather passed away, and they were planning the funeral. It was emotionally draining to plan while grieving, not to mention expensive.
Her paternal grandmother decided she didn’t want a funeral, and that Thanksgiving, with the whole family (my co-workers parents, co-workers in-laws, aunts, uncles, extended family on both sides) she made a declaration.
“I don’t want a darn funeral. Donate the money you’d use for a funeral for me to an animal shelter or a food bank.”
After a long discussion, it became a tradition.
They just don’t have funerals, they put up an obituary and ask for donations to whatever charity the deceased picked.
On the anniversary of their death, the family members take the ashes of their loved ones and spread them.
I don’t think it’s such a bad idea.
EDIT: (04/24/2020) Wow, I have gotten a LOT of feedback on this answer. Thank you all!
One thing I’m going to suggest to all of you is, if you choose to be cremated, please get your cremation set up and prepaid for as soon as you can.
My mom was diagnosed with Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer in March of 2017. One of the first things she did was get her cremation set up.
She prepaid for her cremation, she picked out an urn (a plastic box.) She also separately bought “keepsake urns,” for my sister, grandmother, one to be interred and one for me. She bought 10 death certificates (my dad had passed away on 2010, and she knew you’d need a lot of them for different things.)
When she passed away in February of this year, all my sister and I had to do was call the funeral home and they picked up her body. They had my sister and I go in a few days later and sign paperwork.
They didn’t try to sell us anything, they were able to be human to us. To help us grieve.
When you pass away, your family won’t have to pay anything extra out of pocket unless taxes or death certificate prices rise. We actually received a refund check for $11.38.
The cost of her “package” in 2017 was around $1,600. The funeral liaison we met with said today, it would be around $1,800.
At the time of the loss of my mom, I was so grateful she took care of it for us. It was an amazing gift.
I was doing part of my internship in a bank in the safe deposit department. It turned out to be quite fun, actually. One day a client came down and asked to rent a safe deposit box, a large one. He was in a hurry, so I did the paperwork as fast as possible, and then took him to his box, leaving him alone to deposit whatever it was he wanted to leave with us (as we were not supposed to watch) and then he left.
About ten days later, the gentleman came back, and, by chance, I was the one who went to open his box with him. I was about to leave him at it, when he stopped me and said “No need, I’m just getting this and I’ll return the box.” I looked and he had a big bag of chocolates which he was pulling out of the box! I gave him a puzzled look and he laughed: “My wife demanded I buy Swiss chocolates for the whole family, but then I had to add a leg to my trip, and I couldn’t take them with me. I thought it would be a pity to throw them away…so…”He raised his shoulders and left.
Still, he’d paid one year’s rent for a large sized safe deposit box, which was about 500 to 600 francs, to avoid throwing away maybe 200 francs of chocolates. And created an insect infestation risk for the bank, if he’d forgotten or neglected to return for his chocs!
I never had a situation like that,but just last year one man that has a restaurant in Rovinj,Croatia called my ex boss to ask him for my phone number since he saw me work the previous season.He then called me and said that he wanted me to work at his restaurant,and since he knew that I’m good at my job he offered me 3000€ a month,accomodation and food.He said that he knows that I’m worth it and that he won’t haggle because he wants me to work for him.I accepted and got there,and started to work. To cut the story short,from all the things he promised,nothing was delivered. It was close but not what was promised.When I got the first salary I noticed that the money paid to me was off,but since my first month there I didn’t work the full month i decided to wait for the next salary and to see what is what.The salary for the full month I got 2300€.When I called him to speak about it he said;”The conditions are what they are,if you don’t like it,good luck!”,and he raised his hand like he wanted to shake my hand.I grabbed his hand right away and said “I don’t like it.”He was surprised,and when I was walking away I heard him say that 2300€ is still a good salary and non of his other workers had that much.But to me it would have been the same if he gave me 1€ less than promised.I would still left.You can’t lie to me like that and expect me to take it.And besides the way he said that”if you don’t like it,good luck”that would be humiliating if I were to stay.Fuck you and your 2300€ a month.If he offered me 2300 from the start,and kept his word I would still come to work for him,and I would be satisfied.But anyway when it comes to your case,I think that saying to people:”If you don’t like it,you can go.” is degrading,and I would go.I think that there should be mutual respect between the worker and the boss,not just respect for the boss.
Some of what was said in the interview by Putin:
image 119
– Russia is ready to supply Europe with gas through the “Nord Stream 2” pipeline, but Germany does not want to
– The United States was the one who blew up the “Nord Stream” pipeline.
– Elon Musk’s creativity cannot be stopped, but rather an understanding must be reached with him
– Russia and Ukraine will reach an agreement sooner or later
We want to reach a solution to the Ukrainian crisis through negotiations
– NATO has options to recognize Russia’s control over the new territories
We have information that the United States supported terrorists inside Russia
The West fears a strong China more than it fears a strong Russia
– The Americans pledged not to expand NATO eastward, but the expansion happened 5 times
– The world will change regardless of how the crisis in Ukraine ends
– Russia becomes the first economy in Europe in 2023 despite the sanctions. American attempts are of no use.
– Ukraine is an artificial entity established in the Stalinist era
Russian relations with Ukraine are distinguished by language, kinship and religion
We proposed that Russia join NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but they refused
– When NATO refused to let us join it, they feared Russia as a large and powerful country
We will never attack Poland unless we are attacked by them
How the heck did Andy Dufresne walk into nearly a dozen banks in the Portland area and walk out unrecognized with hundreds of thousands of Warden Norton’s money the day after his escape from Shawshank Penitentiary?
Signature cards, no photos on driver’s licenses, and no CNN or World Wide Web.
This stumped me for a long time, too. I couldn’t figure out how someone could use a phony driver’s license with no picture on it, and take out tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars out of any bank in the United States.
But apparently photos weren’t always required on driver’s licenses in every state. The first photos appeared on driver’s licenses in California in 1958. Texas didn’t require them until the mid-1970′s. Even New York and Tennessee didn’t require pictures until 1986.
I couldn’t find what year Maine began putting photos on theirs, but, it’s probably safe to assume that in the mid-1960’s, Maine didn’t yet require pictures on a legal form of ID.
The Maine driver’s license Andy presented to the bank was probably state issued and not forged, if we assume it was Warden Norton who created the alias to hide the money he was making by taking bribes from construction companies who didn’t want Shawshank’s cheap labor taking over major construction jobs in the local area.
Also, I remember, from working for a couple of years for a bank when I was in college that signature cards are placed on file with the bank, so if someone comes in without ID, they can just match the signature to the card, and accept that as legal identification.
We would think of that as somewhat of a lax form of ID in today’s day and age, but fifty years ago, the world was different.
Anyway, it makes sense that Warden Norton would use Andy and his wealth of banking knowledge to create all these accounts under the alias, Randall Stevens (Peter Stevens, in the novella) even having Andy sign the signature card (that doesn’t always have to be done inside the actual bank, believe it or not) so as to further insulate Norton from the crime.
As for why no one in the banks or on the street knew Andy by his face, someone else mentioned that this was 1966 (or 1975, if we’re talking about the original text) and in that era, it took a day, or so, to get someone’s photo into the newspapers (which was the World Wide Web back in those days) to get a photo distributed to the three major broadcast companies, and maybe a couple of days to reach all the local TV stations state- and nation-wide.
The instant gratification of the Information Superhighway was still a couple of decades away, so the wheels of communication could take a few days or even a week to get up to full speed back then, so it’s completely plausible that Andy Dufresne could have walked into a bank the following morning to clean out all of Warden Norton’s false bank accounts without anyone even knowing there was an escape at Shawshank, much less recognize his face.
The only thing that’s a little bit implausible is that he could get to eleven banks, all in one day. It has always been a tedious, drawn-out task to go into a bank and close an account, especially if you get an accounts officer, then an assistant manager, then the bank manager, all trying to talk you into keeping your account open, which Andy would most assuredly have run into, considering the money he was taking out of each branch, so the idea of getting to that many banks in a single 24-hour period is a bit of a stretch.
She was young and timid and always wore full-length skirts and hats whenever she was outside. She was one of the three women who ran the gifted program in my middle school. That may have been a part of her student teaching (internship), now that I think about it. Like I said, she was very young.
The gifted program in middle school was a one-hour-per-week pull-out program. Three or four kids from each class (I was one of them) left our regular class for that hour and went to a different room where the three teachers played logic games with us, discussed current events, and generally tried to challenge us more than the regular teachers were able to, since the regular teachers had to aim for the middle of the pack, student-wise.
The best part of that program was the field trips. It was nice to spend extra time with just that group of classmates and those three teachers. I happen to have some pictures from an 8th-grade gifted class field trip, and she is in some of them. I can tell now that she was maybe 25 years old at best back then.
Two years later, when I was a sophomore in high school, she got hired as a full-time English teacher at the school. It was cool to see her again. All of us former gifted class students of hers were happy to see her again, but sad that she wouldn’t be teaching the advanced English class we were in.
Within two weeks, we saw her for the last time, jogging down the hall mid-class period, crying, heading for the exit.
She was used to working with gifted kids in small groups… Kids who were well-behaved and genuinely interested in what she was trying to teach them.
As is the norm with high school teachers, the newest teachers get the last pick when it comes to classes. So she was stuck with teaching the remedial English class… the students who had the most academic and behavior issues. Apparently, those students were able to get under her skin so much that she walked out on the job. Broke her contract and everything. We never saw her again after that.
I remember seeing the assistant principal running down the hall shortly after that, into the room that she’d left teacher-less. It was the first time I’d heard an adult actually swear at students. (Although I was told that the coaches did it all the time to their student athletes.) He got the class back under control for the rest of the period, mainly by yelling at them like a drill sergeant.
But perhaps that’s what they needed all along: someone with the demeanor of a drill sergeant, not the timid young lady whose teaching career they ended quickly.
I’ve read many of the comments on this topic, and I believe my offering here can be helpful.
I worked in food service for 14 years and held the title of Executive Chef at two American institutions. The most notable was at the Augusta Country Club in 1987 up to the Masters’ Golf Tournament of April 1988.
The grilling, broiling, or searing of a Rib Eye steak will bring a distinct flavor to the flat surface of the cut, which is common for all beef seared grilled or broiled. However, that flavor will not be present along the outer perimeter of the cut, and tenderness is not guaranteed, especially once it cools down. (I’ve had to use a jacquard tenderizing device on some.)
A roasted Prime Rib can be prepared in an oven to achieve a dark brown upper/outer surface and can then be placed under a broiler/salamander to add more of that coloring/flavor to the outer surface. Also, a sliced Prime cut can be seared to get that browning onto the face of the cut. Au Jus is a lesser preferred option for me in that it “waters” the flavor as it rinses off some of the rub/seasoning.
Now, just last year I developed what I believe is the pinnacle of prep for Prime Rib. (I moved away from buying ribeye after I got less-than great results in tenderness after paying a high price per pound.)
What I did was to season a whole Prime Rib with a plain mustard binder, and my custom rub. THEN I thoroughly pierced the entire Prime with a long skewer to promote self-basting INSIDE the cut. The final step is the “ringer.” I put the Prime into my Cuisinart pellet smoker on 250 degrees, until the core temperature reached 200 degrees. (about 10 hours) I use dark wood pellets like Cherry, or a dark fruit blend. The outer surface comes out as dark as any sear. The smoke ring all around the Prime is always at least 1 centimeter wide, and the inside is always full of flavor!
Some of my guests who like rare meats believed they got rare from me. “Rare” is (arguably) around 165 degrees internally, but my Prime at 200 degrees was so tender, juicy and flavorful inside and out, that it pleased all my guests.
I am retired from my career, but I’ll be smoking another Prime Rib for visitors at my home next week!
Both. We had one restaurant that charged all cops $2 for a meal. It was a greasy spoon that health departments and vegans despise but it was the only place in town open 24/7 that we did not have to worry about some crackhead cook “doctoring” our food.
That $2 was usually supplemented with a $5 tip, which covered the meal and the waitress’ tip.
The chief stopped us from going to the diner unless we paid full price. So we paid full price. Orders are orders.
When the owner found out why we were paying full price, he was livid. He went to the next city council meeting and actually yelled at the mayor and city manager about how they were trying to dictate to him what he wanted to charge cops and firefighters. He had been doing it so long, everyone knew about it and didn’t care.
The day after the city council meeting, the chief rescinded his order and $2 meals were back with the $5 tip.
This was a place we could bring a homeless guy on a cold night for coffee and a meal and we did many times in the winter. We always left enough money for both and when we came in for our meal hours later, the waitress would give us our money back.
The owner would always feed someone in need for free and didn’t want us to pay for it. He felt it was his duty to do so.
Great food and a better man who, sadly, passed away many years ago.
I was born to answer this question. I have three distinct instances when my neighbors have called the cops on me, well rather my parents but still.
When I was a child I had a neighbor who would literally spy on my family and called the cops on us several times. The first time she called the cops on us was because she saw a sleeping bag on the roof and was calling because she thought one of us was on the roof. So the police come to our house and ended up waking my mom who was asleep (she works night shift as a nurse). What had happened was one of my sisters had spilled water on the sleeping bag and thought it was a sunny day she would just put it on the roof to dry.
image 122
As you can see my house has a window above the one roof so it’s not particularly hard to do this. Anyway the cops came questioned my mom and then went about their merry way.
The second time my neighbor called the cops was when we all were getting ready to go somewhere and my dad was at work so it was just my mom and us kids and so we all got loaded into the van and we were going about our merry way when the cops call my mom and ask if she has all of her children with her. She says yes and the cop asks if it’s okay if he comes and checks. She says yes and he comes and sees that we are all there and goes on with his life.
The third and final time was the most serious. The neighbors kid threatened me and said if I didn’t come over to her house in the middle of the night she would burn my house down. Now of course that wouldn’t make sense but I was under nine and she was three years older than me and I was scared of her. So I went over and spent the night. Her mom was totally okay with this and didn’t call my parents at all. Instead in the morning she gave us breakfast because we were hungry and we went home. Later that day she calls the police on my parents because she said we were not well taken care of and were starving. All because we had asked her for breakfast because after all we had not eaten all night. So the police came and inspected our cupboards and such. They decided that my parents were fit parents and left.
So that’s my crazy neighbor for you. I hope you enjoyed my stories.
My girlfriend back then was working at a hotel near my house. She went to work in the morning, and noticed a puppy in the back of a pick-up truck in the parking lot. It was yelping and whining, like puppy’s do, so it was hard to miss.
When she left work 8 hours later, the puppy was still in the back of the truck in the parking lot… in Texas. No water. No food. It was a hot day. She grabbed the dog and brought it to my house.
She was a yellow lab mix, and my girlfriend named her Vive. The girlfriend didn’t last, but the dog did. Best dog I ever had. We traveled together through thick and thin for the next 12 years. From small apartments to horse farms, and for a few weeks living in my truck, we were best friends. I could take her anywhere. Never on a leash to control her. Only when others demanded it. She was good with children, kittens, horses, and I could leave a steak dinner on a low coffee table, and she’d never touch it.
She had 2 drawbacks. The first, was that she loved the smell of a dead skunk. Thought it was Chanel No. 5 and loved to roll in it whenever she could find it.
The second, was that she didn’t live as long as me.
I attended college in the ‘80s, when miniskirts were (again) in fashion. In one class, a lovely young woman sat beside me in the front row.
During the first week of classes, the professor dropped the chalk mid-lecture (intentionally, I suspect) and peeked up her miniskirt. Her legs were not crossed.
She was taking notes, so she didn’t notice. He saw that I had, and he quickly resumed the lecture.
In the hallway after class, I asked did she have a moment. She was wary, probably used to being hit on by strange guys. I told her what had happened, and that she should probably switch seats.
She switched out of the class. I should have.
The professor had seen me talking with her in the hall. From that point forward, he nitpicked my assignments and test answers. (It was an English course, so all answers were written.) Nothing was ever wrong, but he’d find ways to subtract a point here and there until the deductions added up. I had a D in the class at one point.
I was naive, never before having received a bad grade. (Yes, overachiever.) I assumed that eventually the reprisal would end. The realization that college professors are almost completely unaccountable came too late — after the period to drop a class.
My final grade was a C. I was distraught, not only because it was my first C, but also because it threatened my scholarship, which required that I maintain a minimum GPA.
The assistant dean called me in for a conference. I explained what had happened, bringing exhibits of his grading of my work. I also provided the name of the peeking victim to corroborate my story.
A few weeks into the next term, I received a notice that my grade had been changed to a B. It was my only B in my major field.
And I avoided future classes with that professor.
Green Lasagna with Two Sauces (Lasagna Verdi al Forno)
recipe lasagna with two sauces
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
Meat Sauce
8 ounces bulk Italian sausage, crumbled
4 ounces smoked sliced chicken or turkey, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 medium stalk celery, minced
1 medium carrot, finely shredded
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 3/4 cups water
3/4 cup dry red wine
1/3 cup tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Dash of ground nutmeg
Green Noodles
8 ounces fresh spinach or 1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, cooked as per package directions
2 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 1/2 quarts water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cheese Filling
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup snipped parsley
Creamy Sauce
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Dash of ground nutmeg
3 cups milk
Instructions
Meat Sauce
Cook and stir sausage until light brown; drain. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.
Green Noodles
Remove root ends and imperfect leaves from spinach. Wash several times in water, lifting out each time; drain. Cover and cook with just the water that clings to leaves until tender, 3 to 10 minutes. Rinse spinach with cold water; drain.
Place spinach, eggs, 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon salt in blender container. Cover and blend until pureed, about 20 seconds.
Make a well in center of flour. Add spinach mixture; stir with fork until mixed. Sprinkle with a few drops water if dry; mix in small amount of flour if sticky. Gather dough into a ball. Knead on lightly floured cloth covered board until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Divide dough into halves. Roll one half into a 13 x 12 inch rectangle; cut rectangle into 6 (13 x 2 inch) strips.
Repeat with remaining dough. Spread strips on rack; let stand 30 minutes.
Heat water to rapid boil; stir in 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon oil and the noodles. Cook uncovered over medium heat until nearly tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Drain; rinse with cold water. Place in single layer between sheets of wax paper.
Cheese Filling
Toss all ingredients together.
Creamy Sauce
Heat butter over low heat until melted. Blend in flour, salt and nutmeg. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute; cover and keep warm. If sauce thickens, beat in small amount of milk. Sauce should be the consistency of heavy cream.
This happened a very long time ago in Corporate America.
Our department worked closely with another that was managed by Marsha, a 40-year-old workaholic who was brilliant at her job. In fact, headquarters had her conduct workshops twice a year to share her methods and to update procedures.
She was totally immersed in effective management, efficiency, quality control and motivation.
Occasionally, she would ‘come up for air’ and momentarily consider that life included much more than work. She would look around for something to do that would benefit the less fortunate and made donations of money, goods, old clothes and books.
Then it was back to being a workaholic.
She was approached by Stan, a fifty-eight-year old, homeless man who refused charity and asked for a job. She spoke with him several times at a cafe where he was sometimes given meals in return for doing odd jobs. Marsha was impressed by his attitude, but most of all, by the love he had for his dog SweetPea, a Lab mix.
That was a side of Marsha that none of us were aware of.
She put her reputation and position on the line, cleaned him up and got him a job in the company’s mail and supply room. Stan lasted two days: he insisted that SweetPea had to be with him.
Marsha didn’t blink. She negotiated a position for him in the large parking area of the office building. He and SweetPea were still there, three years later when I moved on to a different place.
Whatever the US do, or tries to do it does not matter. At the best it will only slow dow China the the U.S. expense of slowing it selves even more. China will grow till it is effectively be 5–6 times the U.S. real size. It may take the most of the 21st century but it will ultimately come to that.
The reason is simple. China has 4 times the U.S. population but it’s political and social system is simply far more superior and stable. It’s growth is sustainable and very healthy. Hence it should put grow the U.S. on per capital basis. But in the real sense. Not in U.S. dollar or even in GDP narrow sense that is frankly a farce and meaningless.
Chinese people are harder working, they are certainly more discipline, the learns more and are more industrious and highly driven. The Chinese language may render its people less descriptive but it makes them more learned and helps them learn faster and better. China is not distracted like the U.S. to get itself into endless wars like the U.S. hence it ought to be at least 50% more successful over time.
That is provided there’s us no war with the U.S. but if war happened it either end the world as we know it or it it world totally implode the U.S. till it becomes several nations. Both are not good outcome for the U.S. To me the U.S. needs to accept that the best option it to hang on to being a strong number 2 till India get its act together sometimes by the 2nd half of 21st century.
I needs to partner not try the shit of containing China right away. It needs to benefit most from China’s inevitable ascendency. Not obsessed with stoping China by cutting of its own limbs.
“You told my granddaughter her shirt was ugly,” an angry woman I’d never met before told me as I was supervising my kindergarten students during their breakfast time.
I looked down at my little student, then up at the grandmother and asked, “I’m sorry, what’s this all about?”
She repeated her claim, saying the girl came home from school the day before and told her the teacher said her shirt was ugly. I couldn’t even remember what the little girl had worn, and I most certainly never said that to a child.
Speaking to the girl, I asked her who had said her shirt was ugly and she replied, “The kids.”
Grandma went berserk at this and yelled at the girl, “No! It was your teacher who said that! That’s what you told me!”
At that point I suggested we take it to the principal and asked the other teacher in the cafeteria to cover my class. Once grandma and I were in the principal’s office, the whole conversation was repeated. The principal told the woman that she’d known me many years, that I would never speak to a child in that manner, and that clearly it was indeed other children who had said the shirt was ugly.
Grandma threatened to take her accusation to the district office. The principal pointed to her desk and said, “There’s the phone.” Grandma turned and left the office without another word, and that was the last I heard of the strangest complaint I ever received as a teacher.
Debt – had a sgt, when I first started, that lived about a mile from me, so we hung out sometimes. I get a call one day that he got arrested for bank robbery. He bailed out and my roommate and I went to talk to him, because we couldn’t believe it. He said, “I was just trying to show them how weak their security was.” We were new, but we weren’t born yesterday. Apparently he had some big gambling debts and was desperate. He went to prison.
The slippery slope – A team of narco cops decided, amongst themselves, that they weren’t being treated fairly. They were bringing in all this money in seized assets, but the department wasn’t giving them money for equipment they felt they needed, like night vision scopes. So, they kept (stole) some of the the money they seized to buy the equipment they felt they needed. mmmmm Okay. But then the equipment they needed turned into houses, cars, jewelry and boats. They went to prison.
Greed – A case I heard about recently, a deputy offered up his services to provide security for dope shipments. He said he and his coworkers would escort shipments for a certain amount of money. His “coworkers” were actually just people he knew. They all went to prison.
Born dirty – A kid from a generational gang family was raised to stay out of trouble and get good grades. The sole purpose was to get him hired on the sheriff’s department so he could help with the gang’s jail drug smuggling operation. He was found out and arrested. Within a week, he was all tatted up. He went to prison.
Stupidity/Naivete/No good deed goes unpunished/Blackmail – Inmates have nothing but time. Career criminals use that time to plan. They will try to identify, target and “groom” young naive deputies. In a case a few years back, 2013, or so, a young kid graduated from the academy and was assigned to one of the jails. An inmate started making conversation with him and being friendly. At a certain point, he gave this kid some sob story about his family and that he couldn’t get in touch with them, or something like that. Whatever it was, this young deputy decided to do something for this inmate, like take a message to his family, or something and then bring a message back. I forget exactly what it was, but it was against policy and being in his first year, he could be fired. The inmate used it against him and blackmailed him into smuggling drugs into the jail. The inmate was caught, gave the deputy up and the deputy went to prison. He made a video for the department about it that the department now shows in the academy.
Until a few years ago, when my mom was still working, she had a very strange habit — She would come back from work tired, request for a glass of coke, a couple of papad, and sit down for a few minutes before resuming other household work.
We would often tell her that rather than coke and papad, you can eat something healthier, perhaps a glass of juice and some fruits. But no, these advices would just fall on deaf ears. I wouldn’t just understand why would she not want to stay healthy.
She would often have headaches in the morning and would wake up tired. Being an advocate of yoga, other fitness activities and it’s importance, I would keep persisting with my efforts to convince her. But no, she would just not have it.
For me, it was difficult to understand why would she not want to have a better life.
Just, why not!
Surprisingly, my father, who used to go for jogging and would really care about his fitness, started ignoring the healthy bits of his life and slowly, with time, stopped doing it at all. He seemed to be following mom’s route of not caring about his health anymore. I tried to persuade him to restart with the brisk walking again, but to no avail.
Years later, I realised the reason — It was the stress that was killing them from inside — something I was not aware of, until recently, especially about the intensity of it they were dealing with.
When it was my turn to get a share of their stress coupled with some of mine, I found out how it overpowers your willingness to do things which makes you happy. It smothers you slowly, makes you want to avoid putting any extra efforts, even for those things which are absolutely essential. You become a person who just wants to do things which makes them feel normal, if not better — like having some unhealthy meals in my mom’s case; or stopping the exercises in my father’s.
Advices, suggestions, words of wisdom are the most readily available things in this world. Every body seems to give it, very few can follow it under every circumstance. What a person is going through and whether he can even make something of your suggestion (intended in a helpful way) is way beyond our understanding at times.
And unless you can be in someone’s shoes, you will never understand why that someone behaves in a certain way, or chooses not to.
I think a story from 2005 illustrates it fairly well.
This was at the Norrtäljeanstalten prison, Sweden’s highest security facility. We’re talking murderers, armed robbery, that sort of people.
One fateful evening, there was a major slip in security. Total disaster. In one wing, the cell doors remained unlocked as the staff went home for the day.
So. It’s not like the inmates could get out – they were still behind several secure layers. They just had the run of the building for one night.
So what did they do?
They made their way to the kitchen, baked a cake, and ate cake and watched TV all night. They all said it was the best night ever.
In the morning, they were unceremoniously put back in their cells, but faced no further consequences. The two staff who had managed to forget to lock got a weeks’ pay docked, and a stern warning.
Swedish prison: turns bank robbers into cake bakers.
My cat went missing for several months. He was a stray that kind of adopted my home as an inside/outside mellow lap cat. I searched and asked around, posted flyers all around town but he was just…gone. One day went to a customers home and on her living room couch is my missing cat!! This older lady had been feeding it and coaxed it inside and he stayed. He remembered me, I pointed out a little crook in his tail that convinced her it was him. I told her that he seemed pretty happy and I guess he lives here now. I gave her his vet records, cat bed, and favorite toys. Part of me was mad because she HAD to have seen those missing cat signs but I was at the same time glad he was warm and happy and not flattened by a truck or something.
About a year later, this crazy lady comes to my door with VET BILL! He got a bladder infection and she took him to the vet and asked them to charge me for it. She took the paperwork I’d given her and told them it was on my account. A bill had been mailed and I was on the phone with them before it even arrived letting know it was her cat and her problem now!
Back in the 1970’s there was this fad. It was the CB Radio fad, and everyone seemed to end up with a Citizens’ Band radio in the car. Ah. We all had slang that we would use, and there were many a useless discussion over the air that we all endured.
I had one. My brother had one. My parents had one. My friends all had one.
It was so “hip” at the time, don’t you know.
CB radio
Now, we have cell phones, social media and all the rest. But every now and then, I get an itching to reach for the CB to find out what is going on regarding an accident that I just passed on the road.
Fads come and go.
And everything that we consider normal today, will eventually be viewed as a strange fad by others. Enjoy them while you have them.
Yes. The paramedics brought her in from a nursing home and they had been doing CPR for a while. The patient had been in and out of perfusing rhythms the entire time. She looked very old and frail and chronically ill. I asked the medics if she had a DNR order and they just rolled their eyes. The lead medic told me that they asked the same thing but the nursing home staff couldn’t locate the paperwork and because they couldn’t be sure they initiated resuscitation.
We didn’t have anything on record either but I wasn’t really committed to CPR and shocking and all the drugs necessary to keep this poor woman alive when her quality of life was likely so bad. I decided to give one round of drugs and then stop if there was no response. We did just that and much to my surprise she responded. Her heart started out slowly and gained momentum. Within a couple minutes she had a stable blood pressure. After a while she even began to attempt breathing on her own.
It wasn’t long before the family arrived and told us that the patient’s wishes were to NOT be resuscitated. They told us that she would never want to be kept alive this way and demanded that we stop the ventilator and medicines. So, I did. Despite stopping all support she continued to live. Ultimately, we admitted her to the hospital and she continued on in a sort of half-life state. This went on for days. Days!
I went to see her and the family a few times when they were there in the hospital and just felt terrible for them all. They were unhappy with me but they also understood why we did what we did. Ultimately, they sort of took it out on the nursing home staff and not the medics or me.
In the end, she died with her family all around her. Several members were able to travel in to say goodbye before she passed because of the hospital course. I suppose it all worked out the way it was supposed to. I still regretted it though.
Maybe it wasn’t rediculous as you mean but it was the biggest and it was Mine. I was representing a 15 year old pregnant girl. CPS wanted her sent to a reformatory. I wanted her sent to a girls school. The CPS worker testified that the girl should go to jail because when she was 5 yes five she seduced her father ( an executive with a big company). The girl had been raped by her father for years.
The girl said to me “ you told me that wasn’t my fault.” In the courtroom before God Judge and country I grabbed that CPS worker and tried to pound her into the floor.
It wasn’t looking good for me but the judge made an immediate order. He ordered the CPS worker to personally pay for the girl to go to the private girls school. (about 3times her annual salary) . I waited all day to be arrested. Finally a call came that I was wanted back in court.
It was announced that no charges would be brought against me and the order against the CPS worker was dropped and the order to pay made against the agency. The CP S worker was also to resign.
I’m not a violent person but only so much can be let go I guess at time I lost sight of my life and career and could only see my client.
I have gotten some nice comments. I need to add that before I went for this person the judge asked her if she had done everything she could for the girl. Her response was “I have been wonderful”. I am not proud of getting violent. It is very rare in my life. I was happy with the outcome but I risked getting my license and going to jail. I need to make a clarification here. I was in law school then. i was representing her as her probation officer. It was in the early 70s. A child’s right to an attorney was based on the parents ability to afford one. I was the closest thing to a lawyer she had.
PS. if you read about incest cases, or any sexual abuse cases of very young children, the children are usually taught by their abusers how to “please” them. they are basically taught to mimic seductive behavior. They are not seductive. They are merely mimicking what they have been taught to do, but not everybody sees it that way. many overtly seductive Teenagers have been molested in this manner as a child, but they are just labeled as seductresses. I guess it is easier for some people to blame a child than it is for them to take the time to learn about the effects of abuse on children. I was often called in by other probation officers when they had an uncomfortable feeling about a case because I could see these types of behaviors even minor ones. i’ll never know how many cases I didn’t catch, but I was never wrong when I called it.
Killer Thinks He Got Away With Murder – Doesn’t Know 5 YO Survived | The Morrissey Family Case
Not quite fitting in, this applies to ALL overseas types, near ones (Malaysia, Singapore) and far ones. USA, Europe.
An example is this
image 498
vs this
image 497
Superficially we look similar but we’re quite different.
You stand me next to some China born Chinese and you’ll feel there’s something off.
The foreign diet in our formative years changes us. I was a LOT fatter (though thing for westerners) and had a rounder chunkier face.
The life experiences also make us stand differently. I’ve written previously that in the UK if you’re weak (doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, Indian or Chinese) people will pick on you. So there’s an outward portray of aggression already… probably why cops stop me so much.
That’s just the visual things.
Then we’ve got psychology, culture and language.
All of which means you fit in even less. You can as again fit in on a superficial level but go any deeper and you’re spotted.
Being different leads to disimilar treatment sometimes, sometimes this is good, sometimes this is bad.
My wife and I brought her car in for service at the dealership and we’re looking around while waiting. A young salesman asked if he could show us around. I said we are just there for service.
After talking a while about their new cars, he went to get “the closer” a big fellow who obviously had been there for a while. He began to say things like what would I need to do to get you into this vehicle and make me an offer. I told him we weren’t in the market for a car; I research such matters before making such a purchase; and, for me to buy a car today, he would probably have to nearly give it to me. I told him if I made him an offer, I was sure he would find it insulting.
I did let him pull my credit. This would have made it very clear that I was highly successful in financial services sales. Which is what makes his subsequent rudeness particularly inconceivable.
He continues to insist that I make an offer. I finally offer him probably half of what the car is worth (because I would have bought it on the spot at that price). He is insulted.
He then leans over me (with my wife still sitting next to me) and says:
“At some point in your life, you’re going to have to become man enough to be able to make a decision.”
I instantly replied:
“It’s not my manhood in question here; I’m not the one who can’t close this deal.”
I only saw the stunned look on his face for a moment before he turned to walk away.
June 2nd, Midnight; a 15 yo boy Zohaib posted a suicide note over social media; stating he’s going to end his life today.
image 495
I browsed through a lot of tweets posted from other users on the topic, and learned that the boy lives in my city on XYZ road. That’s it.
The problem is that, on the said ‘miles long’ road there are dozens of towns and neighborhoods interconnected, I mean, that is very incomplete piece of information to effectively and timely counter such an issue of extraordinary sensitive nature.
I responded to him immediately, and also requested public to send me any information or clue they might have about this boy.
image 494
And that interaction of mine resulted in one of the most burdensome barrage of tweets and DMs I’ve ever received as social media handler of city police, the number was literally in thousands. That kid’s name was trending nationwide on twitter during this fiasco. But sadly, nothing useful came out of this interaction tsunami, all I had was first name of the boy and that he lives somewhere in my city.
I calmly reviewed the situation for a minute; I mean our field officers are ‘head to toe’ engaged with crime fighting day in & day out, responding to the calls, handling cases one over the other, and now comparatively… I have this first of its kind situation where a boy wants to commit suicide about whom we know nothing… could even be a prank for goodness sake.
Nope. I told myself.
We should find and rescue him, no matter what it takes…we gotta!
I got Police Chief in the loop, by his orders Police command & Control was now at my disposal. Which I believe is the most sophisticated and comprehensive system of surveillance, communication and patrolling all across the country. We were about to to execute a time sensitive search and rescue task. Our officers responded to the given locations and secured the entry exit points; while being on the look out.
And that minute, I learned over social media that the boy has fled home, he’s on the loose!
Holy cow!
We didn’t panic with the thought of him doing something foolish while on the run, though it was a legitimate concern. We kept striving, I dispatched teams here and there upon receiving bits of information from concerned twitter users, and then the magic happened…. we got his address. Somebody finally recognized him I guess even though there was no display picture or anything else but the that helped us greatly. Now that is something, I can work with.
He wasn’t home but now we knew who he is. So technical resources along with human intelligence played the good part, he was tracked and in minutes… secured!
And all of this happened under an hour.
He was anxious and nervous… but otherwise fine and safe. His parents thanked the Police, the situation came back to normal.
Next day while I was at work, various news teams arrived at my office and I was genuinely surprised to learn that this episode has made to the news, even to BBC. I was directed to speak a few words on camera, which I did even though I hate to.
image 493
Those of you who know me for a long time, I really do not appreciate the idea of being on the limelight for many reasons. I have politely excused out of numerous feature stories and interviews all these years.
I’m not a celebrity, never was. Super hero, Yes. But not a show off… for that is not what cops are meant to be. That is why you see the big-ass mask on me even though I was requested twice that it is perfectly alright to slide it down a little during the talk. Nope!
Do police officers care about you? YES. Dogmatically!
I’ll do whatever it takes to protect and serve you, I will put my life on the line to save yours! And here “I” stands for Police officers you see daily around you no matter wherever you are.
Start your journey
Not wealth, but really in the things that matter to you.
Figgy Pudding
Figgy Pudding is a type of Christmas pudding which was originally made with figs. It may be baked, steamed in the oven, boiled or fried. Figgy Pudding dates back to 16th century England.
istock 000018579358 large
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
300ml (1/2 pint) milk (10 fluid ounces)
225g (8 ounces) flour (2 cups)
175g (6 ounces) dried figs
150ml (1/4 pint) Brandy (5 fluid ounces)
110g (4 ounces) suet
110g (4 ounces) prunes
85g (3 ounces) raisins or sultanas
50g (2 ounces) dried apricots
50g (2 ounces) dates
25g (1 ounce) dried apples
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
On the day before making the pudding, place the dried apricots, prunes and apples to soak in water and place the raisins or sultanas to soak in the brandy.
Remove the stones from of the dates and prunes.
Butter a large pudding basin or double boiler bowl.
Sift flour into a bowl.
Stir in suet and mix to a fairly soft dough with cold water.
Turn out on to a floured surface. Lightly knead until smooth.
Roll out two-thirds of pastry into a round and use to line a well-greased 2-pint pudding basin (or double boiler bowl).
Melt the honey and stir in the ginger and cinnamon. Add to the soaked fruits and brandy mixture. Mix well and place into the pastry lined bowl. Moisten edges of pastry with water. Cover with lid, rolled from remainder of the pastry. Press edges well together to seal. Cover securely with greased greaseproof paper or aluminum foil.
Steam steadily for 2 hours. Ensure that the water does not evaporate, topping it up from time to time with boiling water.
Three years back, in 2013, one evening, I was having casual discussions with my friend, lets call him “Mr.S”. We were discussing on different topics like current trends, jobs, future life, family and friends, money. At that time, I was working in a software company with little experience of 1.5 years and some cash in my account. S was studying hard to clear his remaining subject which forced him to take a year gap. And same was the case with “Mr.P” too, he is the third character in my story.
Let me tell you, we all are intelligent students. But because of some mistakes and their habit of taking things lightly cost them a year gap. In fact, Mr.P was smarter than me in every department. Mr.S was not good at academics but he was too good at marketing and some other “special” skills.
We three were together from last 7.5 years. We sat on one bench. We studied together. We stayed together. We tripped together. We partied together. We lived together. We participated and won lots of competitions together. And most important – we dreamed together. Everyone from our batch including teachers used to tell us — you 3 idiots are awesome.
Everything in life was going in a right direction. But let me remind you one of the laws of Mr.Murphy, “In nature, nothing is ever right. Therefore, if everything is going right, something is wrong.” [src: http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-laws.html]. And exactly, same thing happened with us.
Lately, I was thinking a lot about starting a business. Starting a start-up. Starting an IT Company. Starting an IT Training institute. Starting something related to IT. I discussed these thoughts with Mr.S. And guess what, he completely agreed with my ideas and within a few minutes we were business partners! I started giving more time to the thoughts on business. Within some days, we decided to include Mr.P in our team, as he was our best friend and also a sound person with technical knowledge. We shared all these thoughts with Mr.P and he also agreed to join us on the long adventure. But assured us that he’ll join the company after a few months.
So basically everything needed to start a startup was ready. We had a team. Me as a sole investor, lead technical person and of course, the CEO. Along with that I also had a role of Software Engineer in the company where I was working concurrently. It was a big task for me to handle both the tasks – a job and a start up.
My job was the main source of finance for my family and for the startup also. Mr.S was assigned the role of getting assignments and marketing department, while Mr. P was going to look after the training and in-house development. We also had few projects to start with. We also hired 2 people to work with us.
After few months, I made an investment of ₹2 lac (~$3000) and bought 4 advanced PCs, also rented out a small place to start our work in. And, within a span of 4 months, our small startup was on its way onto a long journey. We held a small inaugural function and celebrated. Yeah, that was quite an achievement for us. We started our working together.
But there was a small problem, Mr.P was yet to join the company. He earlier promised us to join the company, yet after 3 months, he was not interested in joining the company. After thinking a lot, I decided to talk to him about his decision and why he was not joining office. His answers gave me the biggest shock of my life. He refused to join the company. His reasons were like, “I am not seeing future in your company. Another friend of us started another startup and he is taking me in his team. I need money right now.” Guys, let me tell you, I also offered him mighty amount of salary. But still, he refused my invitation politely and sent a long message reasoning why he won’t join the company. Most of the reasons were BS. And story of Mr.P was finished. Completely.
Lesson#1 learned [in a hard way]: Do not trust the promises of everyone. Everybody is not loyal to his/her own words.
I was shell shocked, shattered, and quiet depressed after hearing his decision and answer. I was scattered from inside. I decided to keep the work running with Mr.S along with the two hired people. Things were getting more and more difficult.
Fast forward 4-5 months.
Mr.S was looking after the marketing and product sales things, he was the main guy our customers were dealing with. Whereas I was busy in development and resource management.
One day, while managing balance sheets, I figured out there was a record missing for a sum of ₹20000 (~$300). Out of curiosity, when I asked Mr.S about the missing ₹20000, his answers were not logical. They were irrelevant. They were lies. I got to know that he was playing some tricks and using the company’s money for his own personal use. His most funny reply was, “Dude, chalta hai… busy log hain hum, chhoti chhoti details par dhyan nahi rakhte“. [Dude, We are too busy people, we should not focus on such small details]. For him ₹20K was a small amount, but it wasn’t for me.
We had a bitter argument on this and it resulted into disagreement. And we decided to separate. Decided to drive on our separate ways. But he put one condition. He will retain the “business name“. As he was looking after the marketing and other things, he decided to go after the name and customers. And in such way, my first startup was dead.
Lesson#2 learned [in a harder way]: Be careful who you bring to the top with you, not everyone is loyal.
Image Source : Google
P.S. I allowed him to use the business name, because of two reasons:
I was ready to work with anyone, but not with a treacherous friend.
I trust myself, I was alone at the start and will fight the battle alone, will re-build everything from scratch. One can delay me, but can never stop me from achieving my dreams.
Edit 1: From last 2 years, we 3 have never met, talked or discussed about each other.
In June, 1954, US Senator Lester C. Hunt (D-WY) shot himself to death with a rifle at his desk in his US Senate office in Washington, DC. Senator Hunt had been despondent over threats he had received – from Sen. Joe McCarthy and two Republican colleagues, Senator Herman Welker (R-ID) and Senator Styles Bridges (R-NH) – that lurid reports of the arrest of Hunt’s son the previous year would be made public, both in Washington and in his home state of Wyoming, embarrassing Hunt and putting his upcoming reelection bid in peril. The younger Hunt had been arrested and charged with soliciting sex from a male police officer, who was working a sting operation in a Washington park. The charges were later dismissed, but McCarthy and his cronies discovered the fact, and pressured the police department into refiling the charges. Hunt was under great pressure from McCarthy, demanding that he resign, which would have effectively given the Republicans control of the Senate. At the time, Democrats controlled the US Senate by just one vote, and a Hunt resignation would have put the Senate into a tie, enabling the Republicans to gain control, since then-Vice President Richard Nixon would serve as tiebreaker. After Hunt’s death, the Republican governor of Wyoming appointed a Republican to fill Hunt’s unexpired term, who in turn declined to run for the seat in that fall’s election, a race that was won by a Democrat. Unfortunately, the Republicans flipped other Senate seats in 1954, and took control on their own. This scandal was downplayed for many years, but it also occurred in the shadow of the Army-McCarthy hearings, which were going on at the time of Hunt’s death. Even today, there is little awareness of the scandal in Wyoming, and few Americans know that it took place at all. Interestingly, though, Hunt is known as the driving force behind Wyoming’s famous “bucking bronco” license plate emblem, having commissioned the artist to create the design during his years as Governor of Wyoming.
I went to a famous pancake restaurant that was promoting its new burgers. I saw an ad offering them for $5.99 with unlimited fries and a free drink. I pointed to the jalapeno kick burger and asked the waitress to verify that this burger was, in fact, part of the $5.99 special. When she said, “yes,” I then ordered this burger. I had a $10 gift card, and my intention was to tip the waitress the remaining amount after taxes, which would have made it a 50% tip.
However, when I got the bill, I saw was charged $9.29 for the burger. When I called the waitress over to tell her about the mistake, she said that the burger I chose was not included in the special and that I needed to pay regular price. Naturally, I told her that I deliberately asked her if this burger was included before I ordered it and that she confirmed me it was. Her response was that she didn’t understand what burger I wanted.
I explained the situation to the manager, saying I would not have ordered it if the waitress did not tell me it was part of the special, that they cannot charge me for the server’s mistake. The manager called the server over and she had the nerve to deny that I even asked her about the burger being a part of the promotion. Unbelievably, the manager said she must take the server’s word for it.
In front of the waitress, I presented my $10 gift card, telling the manager, I was going to give the waitress what would have remained from my $5.99 burger, which would have been a nice tip. However, since she won’t own up to her mistake, she will now receive what is left from my $9.29 burger (which after taxes was about a nickel).
Waiting in line at an auto parts store and the guy in front of me sets down an alternator and asked the clerk for a water pump. The clerk naturally is confused and asks about the alternator. The guy tells him it’s a water pump and that’s why he asked for a water pump.
The clerk tries nicely to correct him, even shows the guy a picture of an alternator vs. a water pump for his specific car. To no avail the guy “knows more” than this poor clerk. Who I might add is 100% correct that the alternator is NOT a water pump. The power connections kind of gives it away specially when there are no hose attachments for it to pump coolant a.k.a. water.
Anyway, the guy just goes nuts. Throws the alternator at the poor clerk luckily missing his intended target. Makes huge threats about calling corporate; of course he has tons of friends on social media so he threatens to close the store down. On and on this guy goes about how much smarter he is than anyone behind the counter, how they always give him the wrong part. I swear it lasted 20 minutes. Anyway, the manager was in the back counting out the money or stocking something, not really sure, but she was in the back. She comes out, picks up the alternator, sets it on the counter, and asks the guy why he is throwing such a temper tantrum over an alternator.
Oh here we go again! How dare a woman correct him. She doesn’t know shit about cars. What’s a woman doing working at an auto parts store. The vile shit just kept going. Well, during ALL of this mess someone in the oil section decided to call the cops. At some point the cops sneak in and are right behind me and this entire mess. I’m gently pushed aside and they yell, “Sir!” real loudly. He turns and goes ghostly white. The cops start asking about the situation. One has taken the rest of us aside, found the caller, and we are telling them what we witnessed. The other officer is talking with mister alternator/water pump.
Next thing you know he is under arrest and as they are escorting him out we hear one officer tell the other officer that arguing about alternators was the dumbest thing they have witnessed all month. To which the guy yells, “It’s a fucking water pump!”
When my son was in elementary school he was beaten up by two older students to the point he required hospital care. Since the two boys were going into high school next year and it was the last day of school both the principal and superintendent said there was nothing they could do. I called the police and had them charged. One officer went to the hospital and saw my son and two more took the boys away in handcuffs at the school. When the case went to court I told my son to be honest and don’t guess. The boys had been in trouble before so the parents hired a good criminal lawyer.
My son was on the stand for over an hour being grilled by the lawyer and the judge was getting fed up. The lawyer asked my son how he knew who was kicking him. Basically he said “ I was being kicked by a Doc Martin shoe which was on a foot which was on a leg which was on a body and his head was on it” I could see the judge shaking in silent laughter and the stenographer laughing in her Dictaphone. The courtroom was silent with muffled laughter. The lawyer also stood away from my son and holding his ear said he had bad hearing and to speak up. My son was very nervous and scared showing it by speaking very quietly. Finally my son turned to the judge and said could he ask a question. The judge said sure. My son said “in which ear is he hard of hearing because he is going back and forth between both ears”. Same muffled laughter. The judge glared at my son and said “if his hearing is that bad he will be ending his questioning” with a wink to my son he told me later.
Apparently this went on with all the other witnesses and the case was dismissed from all the conflicting statements. This lawyer must have cost the parents a bundle. The police officer in charge of the case visited us about a month later to see how my son was doing. He also said that he was impressed with my son in court and gave him his card. All our children make us proud.
During my college, I took a course called entrepreneurial marketing.
The professor gave one interesting perspective regarding billing and customer experience:
When booking a flight ticket, if the price is $220 instead of $210, the customer wouldn’t feel anything. The $10 on the top of $210 he is paying seems insignificant.
But if you charge him $210 at the beginning and later ask him to pay $5 if wants a water bottle onboard, he might find the experience disappointing. One, he thinks $5 is too expensive for a water bottle. Two, he has to check if he has the cash. Three, he has to worry about conversion charges if it is the card. Overall, there are so many things that make the experience complicated.
So just add $10 more on the flight ticket and give him two water bottles if you are keen on giving a comfortable experience.
Same thing with star hotels. Just charge $20 more on the $150 per night and give complimentary water, canned drinks, and coffee rather than billing for every item inside the mini-fridge.
The same logic applies to tipping.
When you go to a restaurant for a pleasant dining experience, you are made to do all sorts of calculations for taxes and add them to the amount in the menu. On top of this, you have to do calculations for tips and then add to the final amount to see if the item is really worth that price or not.
It ruins the whole experience.
Secondly, this tipping is completely optional. It is in the customer’s hands whether to pay it or not. And if he wants to, whether it is 5% or 15% is also his choice. There is no guarantee that the one who did the best service will get the maximum tip.
Thirdly, does anyone who what is best service universally? For me, not bothering me by enquiring every five minutes ‘Do you need anything else?’ or standing beside my table is a better service. For someone, being approachable by waiting near his table is better service. It varies from person to person and it is near impossible for the waiter to figure this out.
Fourthly, the tip for bringing $50 for 100ml single malt is more than $5 1L water bottle, when the former requires less energy. Is there any logic here?
And lastly, the owner thinks that waiters get high tips and pay them low salaries. The customer thinks that the waiters are anyway paid and hence don’t give them tips. So the waiters are at a complete loss here.
The best way to solve this is to treat waiters like any other worker- chef, security guard, delivery guy or equipment operator. Pay them market salary rather than putting their livelihood at the mercy of the customers. Why do you need to tip waiters, when you don’t tip nurses, delivery guys, security guard, police, or janitors when they are also doing service?
English Muffins
English Muffins
Ingredients
1 cake or package yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded
1/4 cup melted shortening
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups flour
Instructions
After kneading, place in greased bowl and let rise until double.
Roll out to 3/4-inch thick. Cut with 3-inch cutter. Cover circles and let rise until very light.
Bake on greased electric skillet or at 375 degrees F in the oven.
Don’t comb your hair on the table at the restaurant. I don’t want your hair-strands in my food. I prefer that you use the restroom even if you want to touch up your lipstick.
If you know that you have smelly feet and that you have not washed your socks in several weeks, don’t take off your shoes in crowded places. Not even in the aircraft. You should have thought about this before you boarded the plane.
Let people who are sitting in the front of the aircraft deplane first! If you have a connecting flight, you can politely ask them to let you deplane first.
Let people exit the elevator/train/bus before rushing in.
Follow the queue. Yes, even in the washroom. Just don’t stand in front of the bathroom stall when 572 people are waiting in the queue.
Buy earphones, or headphones. Whatever you prefer. Because I don’t want to listen to rock music during my morning commute.
Give your seat to the pregnant lady. Or the lady carrying a small child. Or the old lady/gentleman. If you are a young lady in perfect health condition, this applies to you as well. Not just the boys.
Wear washed clothes, because the smell of the sweat sticks. Use deodorant. Specially applies when you are traveling by public transport.
Also, don’t keep your clothes next to the kitchen area, as the smell from spices sticks.
Don’t leave the texts as “seen” or with the “blue ticks”. Either respond, or never respond. Don’t respond to a text which was sent 4 days ago. Just be honest and tell them “that you are busy” or that “you don’t feel like talking to them”.
Show up with a gift. Don’t come empty-handed, after all the host took the time to invite you and do the preparation, didn’t they?
Don’t dump your negativity onto others. Not many people are accepting of it.
I had stopped dating someone who had just been divorced and wasn’t ready to settle (and wasn’t right for me). I had been invited to a party but didn’t want to go. I’m not going, I decided. Finally, two hours after the party had started, I went, alone. The loft owner’s friend opened the door — and we started talking. He was sweet, funny, had just graduated from college, was 7 years younger than me, was planning to move cross country in 2 days. We hung out at the party and then he asked if he could walk me home. We’d walked 2 blocks, making all sorts of witty comments about street signs,etc., and I thought, “This guy is so different than the ones I usually like…he’s not all dark and dramatic (which usually hooked me)…he’s like being with a best friend.” And then I asked myself, “Why shouldn’t I be in a relationship with a guy who treats me as well as my best female friend does??” I remember my small decision precisely: deciding that I’d be open to this…even had a mental metaphor of it being like a Japanese paper lamp I’d hold gently…not try to force anything…but just be open to connecting with someone who made life fun, who was kind, who wanted to know about me and share himself.
He’s been an extraordinary husband and father and after more than 30 years, is still the most fun person to hang out with. We’ve traveled all over the world, gotten grad degrees after the kids were born, created books and apps and games, gone through family stresses and losses, relationship issues, gone through everyday boring ol’ life.
It was a small decision I made, but a profound one: to love myself. To allow myself to be loved by someone who treated me (and others) well. To let myself be with someone whose company I flat-out enjoyed. It wasn’t sudden roses and symphonies…it was playful and sweet. But I see the depth and beauty now. I so wish everyone this.
Maybe it wasn’t rediculous as you mean but it was the biggest and it was Mine. I was representing a 15 year old pregnant girl. CPS wanted her sent to a reformatory. I wanted her sent to a girls school. The CPS worker testified that the girl should go to jail because when she was 5 yes five she seduced her father ( an executive with a big company). The girl had been raped by her father for years.
The girl said to me “ you told me that wasn’t my fault.” In the courtroom before God Judge and country I grabbed that CPS worker and tried to pound her into the floor.
It wasn’t looking good for me but the judge made an immediate order. He ordered the CPS worker to personally pay for the girl to go to the private girls school. (about 3times her annual salary) . I waited all day to be arrested. Finally a call came that I was wanted back in court.
It was announced that no charges would be brought against me and the order against the CPS worker was dropped and the order to pay made against the agency. The CP S worker was also to resign.
I’m not a violent person but only so much can be let go I guess at time I lost sight of my life and career and could only see my client.
I have gotten some nice comments. I need to add that before I went for this person the judge asked her if she had done everything she could for the girl. Her response was “I have been wonderful”. I am not proud of getting violent. It is very rare in my life. I was happy with the outcome but I risked getting my license and going to jail. I need to make a clarification here. I was in law school then. i was representing her as her probation officer. It was in the early 70s. A child’s right to an attorney was based on the parents ability to afford one. I was the closest thing to a lawyer she had.
PS. if you read about incest cases, or any sexual abuse cases of very young children, the children are usually taught by their abusers how to “please” them. they are basically taught to mimic seductive behavior. They are not seductive. They are merely mimicking what they have been taught to do, but not everybody sees it that way. many overtly seductive Teenagers have been molested in this manner as a child, but they are just labeled as seductresses. I guess it is easier for some people to blame a child than it is for them to take the time to learn about the effects of abuse on children. I was often called in by other probation officers when they had an uncomfortable feeling about a case because I could see these types of behaviors even minor ones. i’ll never know how many cases I didn’t catch, but I was never wrong when I called it.
Few people walk into a recruiting station and tell them they want to leave that afternoon. You do have to chat with a recruiter for a while. Granted, they’ll tell you the Army line. Rarely will they lie but they will leave stuff out.
For a lot of people, the Army sounds way better than the situation they’re in. In my first meeting with the recruiter, he told me the Army would train me in life skills (HAHA, at least, not from my MOS), they’d cloth you and give you everything you needed, I’d get a bed, desk, and wall locker, they’d feed me as much as I wanted to eat, I got to choose me MOS (This is where you need to do your research), they’d let me blow stuff up and play with some of the biggest toys the Army has, they’d give me $15K for college, and they’d pay me on top of it.
To a seventeen-year-old kid who’d worked a dirt farm in N. Colorado his entire life, that sounded pretty good. The Army helped get me my Eagle Scout and gave me some perks for that. The recruiter worked with the school to make sure I’d graduate. I was failing a class, and I told my recruiter I wouldn’t graduate. He went to the school and talked to the admin and they made sure I’d pass.
Researching your MOS and the Army is a good idea, but nothing prepares you for stepping off the bus. I have a Ranger buddy whose son just went through basic. He had his son meet with all the vets he could find and we gave our experiences. That wasn’t enough to keep him from calling home and wanting to come home.
No matter how prepared you are, once you get boots on the ground and jump down the rabbit hole, you’re in for a ride. I think people with less prep do better as they have no idea what to expect and they just roll with it instead of standing around thinking this is nothing like what everyone said.
Butler, Pennsylvania is a small city that was a one half hour drive from where I spent my High School years. This is a typical Western Pennsylvania city; steel, and blue collar work.
Downtown, in the city, was a restaurant. It was established in the 1920’s or 30’s and pretty much stayed with the same decor throughout the century. It was Art Deco “diner” style with stainless steel fixings and decor. With a big picture of the family founder over the door.
It was called “The Hot Dog Shop“.
2023 12 20 11 06
And it served typical diner food, and was a great place for my family to go to as a young boy in my pre-teens and my teenager years.
I would often get such things as grilled cheese sandwiches, with sides of gravy laden french fries, and bowls of soup. So very delicious. Not to mention the mandatory cup of coffee.
Taken in the old days
About ten years ago, give or take, it burned down. What a great loss!
But….
They had insurance, and the rebuilt the restaurant and as far as I can tell, it is still operating today. Oh sure, the great thing is that the have not changed the menu. They have not changed the decor. In fact they kept everything else the same EXCEPT for the removal of the cigarette vending machines, the ash trays and the free packs of matches.
Worth a visit
If you ever get a chance to go… please go there and enjoy a “blue plate special”. Good times! Good times!
My 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Bishop, was one of my favorite teachers. He taught my sister four years before me, and the year he taught me, my sister was a new mother. He asked me about her and her new child frequently, like he really remembered her and cared about her. It was nice.
But I also remember a few times when he fell over in his chair during class. The kids all laughed at him, and he laughed right along with them as he got himself back up.
Sometimes, he’d seem to talk really slow or just “zone out” for a few seconds while teaching. We just got used to it.
One day, he didn’t come to school. We found out later that, while on his way to school that morning, he’d lost control of his motorcycle and crashed through a sign next to the road. He was fine… just shaken up a little, and his motorcycle was broken.
A few years later, when I was no longer his student, I heard through the grapevine that he had to quit teaching because he kept having “episodes” where he lost control of his body.
He had multiple sclerosis.
All of the incidents the year that he taught me were just manifestations of the disease. He either didn’t know it, or didn’t tell us. Probably he just didn’t tell us… it was none of our business.
That was 25 years ago now. He’d probably be in his 70s by this point. I’ve tried Googling him, but I can’t find anything. But that includes an obituary, so that’s a good sign, I guess.
Edit: I just Googled his name again, and found his obituary. He died in Jan. 2022.
If I have read this correctly, your dedicated employee is dying because of illness, and you want to get rid of her because she is sluggish aka tired.
Take a good long look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself that if you were in her position, would you want the same thing to happen to you?
This job is probably what is keeping her going through this tragic period of time in her life, and you want to take that away from her? Are you serious? What kind of a person are you? She has bills to pay, food to buy for herself and possibly her family, and a FUNERAL to plan for HERSELF! Show some compassion and understanding. Is this the reputation that you want to have? If you fire her, trust me, what you have done and why you have done it, will be spread to everyone, especially your contacts and/or clients (customers). Legally, she can sue you for firing her under the Equal Employment Opportunity Law.
Have a heart of flesh and not one of cold corporate stone. What you do, will come back on you, either for the good or for the bad. Choose wisely.
Another tale from the shire horse farm which I used to work at. A group of French students came to the farm, along with a couple of teachers. The students were teenagers and right from the start they were causing trouble. The first thing was being kicked out of the gift shop for being caught trying to steal.
Then they came to the animal section where I worked. At first, they seemed to be behaving themselves, but after they left the farm animal section, a member of the public came up to me and informed me that one of the French teenagers had stolen a duck. Yes, a live duck. I immediately went to one of the teachers who were supposed to be supervising the students and asked them to unlock the coach, which is where the person had told me they’d seen the duck.
The teacher did so. The duck had been shut on the seating area, and was flapping around, terrified, and pooing everywhere. I managed to catch the duck and put it in a sack to calm it so I could get it back to the pond. The teacher then had the audacity to ask if someone could clean up the coach, to which I replied that since it was her students who had stolen the duck, then they could clean the coach. Then I left with the traumatised duck, who amazingly survived.
The French students were consequently kicked out of the shire horse farm and I for one hope that they enjoyed the trip back in their feather and duck poo encrusted coach.
One time my Dad and I drove about an hour to fly my radio-controlled helicopter. But that’s not the big thing.
This was way back in the early 80s, at the latest. Way before stabilization systems, autopilots, etc. I was about 13 years old, had gotten a paper route (yes, kids actually delivered papers to your door) and saved every cent to buy an RC helicopter. After several unsuccessful flight attempts at home (hovering is freaking *hard*), he suggested we go to a flying club where there was a guy who could teach me. Off we go!
We arrive, helicopter, fuel, cooler full of sandwiches and soda, ready to start my training! But… nobody’s there? Apparently, the flying club was off that weekend- we got our dates mixed up. Bollocks.
No matter- the field is open, we figure we’d just try more “self-paced instruction”. Fire up the heli, a few really bad hover attempts when all of a sudden:
I’m barely maintaining a hover when all of a sudden the heli peels off into this incredibly cinematic sweep- dips forward, tail sweeps around, engine throttles up- it was beautiful! My Dad was shouting “Oh yeah, that’s it!!”- but I was shouting “It’s not me! The radio is jammed!”
The heli, on its own, takes off on a circuit about 1 ft off the deck, and circles around- coming right back down the flight line. By now my Dad knows this craft is out of my control, and if he doesn’t catch it it’s probably gone forever- and he knows how hard I worked to buy it.
He jumps in front of it.
This is not a little drone- this is an aluminum-frame gas-powered 3ft rotor diameter with ash blades behemoth screaming down the runway at us. If it hit something on the ground and jumped up- it could have killed him.
It smashes into his shins, rotor blades splintering. The engine, no longer under load, starts to whine like a banshee- we pinch off the fuel tube and kill the engine. We collect the debris, and start home. Dad actually packed a couple of cold soda cans into his socks to keep the swelling down.
When we got home, I asked him why he would do such a foolish thing as blocking the heli with his body. He said “You worked so hard to buy this, and build it, and fly it- I couldn’t bear to see it take off and fly away on a full tank of gas and be lost forever. Let’s just fix this up.” BTW- he had bruises and blood pooling in his legs and feet for months after this.
That was almost 50 years ago. I could never bring myself to rebuild that heli, though we continued with a bunch of other projects that were somewhat less lethal.
We were being taught loops in C++. As a test, the teacher gave us the following question :-
Print the following pattern.
image 21
Everyone of us started writing the code, trying everything (since at that time it was a high level problem for us). One of my friends had no clue whatsoever about the problem, but he wanted to score well in the test.
You know what he did?
He wrote the following code
#include<iostream.h>
void show();
int main();
{
char ch=’A’;
int i,n;
/* Here he wrote certain code just to
show that some thing was being done*/
show(); //called this function
//secretly
for(i=0;i<7;i++)
{
for(int j=0;j<12;j++)
{
/*wrote some more useless code
which had no
effect on output*/
}
}
return 0;
}
/*after leaving about 100 blank lines so
that you dont have to scroll the
function to show you*/
void show()
{
cout<< ” ABCDEFGFEDCBA\n”;
cout<< ” ABCDEF FEDCBA\n”;
cout<< ” ABCDE EDCBA\n”;
cout<< ” ABCD DCBA\n”;
cout<< ” ABC CBA\n”;
cout<< ” AB BA\n”;
cout<< ” A A\n”;
}
When the teacher came to check his code, he glanced at the code and asked him to run it.
HERE IS THE OUTPUT:
image 20
Teacher saw this correct output and awarded him full marks. Teacher no longer cared if the code was correct or not since it was producing the desired result.
I was like, “wow man at least you thought of such an idea!”
Edit 1:
Just showedthis answer to my friend who is being referred here. He was amazed I remembered it to such precision.
As an experienced professional actor, whose children have acted in screen productions they were too young to view, I will attempt an answer.
The short answer is that the film is compartmentalised and the child actor will only experience a small subset of the film. They will only be told about what is appropriate for them to know.
The “makers” of the film communicate with the child in the first instance through the child’s agent and thence to the legal guardian (parent or otherwise). If they feel the role and the production are suitable they will agree to be available and audition. Then, if cast, it is up to the director to communicate with the child actor.
Under no circumstances will they be allowed to see the full script or be on set at all times in an “R-rated film”. They will not be invited to the full cast read through nor to extensive rehearsals. Film making is compartmentalised. Every single shot need not be in the same place or shot on the same day as the next shot. Things are not shot in order.
The production company is responsible for the wellbeing of the child actor and will allow the legal guardian to be on set when the child actor is called. They will also supply a chaperone and brief all the crew and cast about what is appropriate. For example I once played a character who murdered his family. I was never allowed to be seen by the child actors – no wardrobe, makeup, rehearsal calls were scheduled on the same day. In the shoots there were no shots framed to include both the murderer and the victim.
In another production, involving an infant, no crew or cast were allowed to make loud noises or wear perfume on set.
There are laws to protect minors on set in most jurisdictions. If they are obeyed the experience can be safe and rewarding for the child and one day, if they are old enough and choose to see the whole film, hopefully they will be able to be proud of their work.
I tried to buy my family’s next home many years ago and my wife and I were blown away by the massive cubbyhouse in the back yard. Our kids were young and they would love it. We had other reasons to love the house too, one being that our good friends lived in the same street. Needless to say we were looking forward to buying this, our new home, and started the price negotiations.
A deal was struck and we signed a contract we were happy with. Part of the contract was to ensure that massive cubbyhouse was legal and had all the right government approvals. It did not and so our lawyer informed their lawyer of the problem. Instead of further negotiations and a price reduction or trying to gain the required approvals, the vendors thought it appropriate to cut it down and burn it!
Unbeknownst to me, this house was for sale due to the divorce of the previous owners and the husband thought it would annoy his ex wife to destroy the cubbyhouse. The problem was we had a signed contract for the purchase of the house including the cubbyhouse. They would have to make good and we were assured they would.
As is often the case the purchaser of the house we were selling needed another day or two to finalise their finances and asked for an extension to the settlement date which was agreed upon by us and the owners of the house we were buying. However on the new day settlement was to occur, the lawyer for our new house changed position and said that we had to give up on our demands for compensation over the cubbyhouse. We refused.
They then would not proceed with the sale and gave us the option to sue them later. To my lawyer’s amazement I cancelled the sale and walked away. I have no regrets either and I and my family found an even better house, we loved, shortly after. We loved our new neighbours too and enjoyed the next 13 years in that home.
China don’t give a shit. It is none of China’s business is the U.S. wants to choose a proverbial liar or a corrupt politician that is for the American’s to decide. China prefer to mind its own business. China’s government is answerable to its citizens. It wants to do everything to make China prosperous. And peaceful.
It is always ever ready for US miscalculations but it is the U.S. business if the U.S. wants to throw monies into bottomless money pit like Gaza or Ukraine or flex it’s muscles aimlessly bankrupting itself in the process. That is your choice. We the world knows better.
A man like Trump cannot even be a lowly official in most nation. We don’t vote a sexiest, racist, xenophobic, baboon into power. At best he stays running a small con till he is caught! Please vote him in for all we care!
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (4/8) Movie CLIP – Kirk Beats Khan (1982) HD
I’d been in my new corporate job two weeks. I’d been given an office on day one and by the end of week two had made it my own.
Family pictures, work calendar with my appointments and in particular my desk blotter. My desk blotter was a massive work tool and an important record of my days and weeks. After two weeks my office no longer looked like the office I was given two weeks earlier.
Monday morning I arrive at work and to my surprise a very confused man I had not met before was sitting in my office, behind my desk. I was just about to have a chat to him when my secretary grabbed me and told me the news.
The man sitting at my desk used to have my office. He had been fired during his leave but his boss apparently hadn’t told him yet. To make matters worse his boss wasn’t at work yet either. Awkward.
So I did the right thing. I waited in the boardroom until his boss showed up and did the deed. I had no time for his boss, he was a lazy, disorganised non performer who didn’t last much longer than the guy who just got fired.
I found the whole episode to be cruel. I don’t know how much earlier than me he got to work that day but he would have known instantly he no longer had a job when he entered his old office and saw it had been taken over. That just isn’t right and I felt extremely sorry for him.
We’re a mailhouse: we take people’s mail, co-mingle it, sort it, and get a better rate from the Post Office. As we’ve grown, we’ve added inserting/fulfillment, and eventually, printing as well. Like a print shop, but built in reverse.
I was hired to be the print department, which I did for seven years before I became the IT manager.
As print designer, programmer, and general operator, I often had to talk with clients—sending proofs, getting information, etc., and I developed a good rapport with many, if not all, of them, sometimes better than the salesperson they were assigned to.
If there was something wrong with an order, I was often the first person they’d contact.
So it was with a large client of the banking world. They were a high maintenance/high-return client, so I always gave them my best customer service. This day, they called to find out about envelopes, which is not my department, but I knew whom to talk with and I told them I’d look into it.
I ran around the shop and got the info, and reported back: they were out of envelopes.
Oops.
I had neglected to loop the salesperson in on the request (they don’t have any production knowledge, usually, so never was an issue in the past), but our salesperson, for some reason I’m still not clear on, had lied to the client and told them we had envelopes in stock.
No envelopes meant that their time-sensitive prints weren’t going on time. So when I said, “Yeah, there’s no envelopes in stock”, you’d better believe that our client went into panic mode.
And of course, they called the salesperson back, who, not knowing that I had told them the truth, proceeded to lie…again. The client was displeased, told them what I’d told them, and demanded an explanation. There was much back-pedaling and BSing from the salesperson along the lines of “Oh, they’ll be delivered today, Toby just didn’t know…” blah blah.
My manager, the general manager, the sales manager, all called me in. “Why are you talking with clients at all?” They asked, incensed. I could tell that they were this close to just firing me on the spot. “Because I have daily conversations with them about their jobs?” I offered. “Not anymore. ALL communication goes through the salesperson.” “Ooookay, but, just to make sure I understand this correctly, it was the salesperson that lied to the customer, right?” “That doesn’t matter! You could have cost us this account!” Veins were popping on at least two foreheads. “No, I’m pretty sure that does matter. If we’d been honest with them, there wouldn’t be a problem.” And that was the third forehead. They talked among themselves for a moment and said, “Just…just no more talking with clients.” “Your call.”
The next day, one of the client’s vice-presidents flew in from across the country for a surprise inspection. There were no envelopes. Because I was just a print jockey, I didn’t have to be in that room when those four people got chewed out. But I did hear (from the client) that they were glad at least one person in the company was honest, or they’d have had a huge legal fight (that they would lose) on their hands.
Yeah, we lost the account. And, yeah, relations with that salesperson and I were chilly from then on (months later, she left the company). But what hurt even more was that all those customers who were used to my excellent customer service were now getting the run around from their clueless salespeople. Several of them complained and accounts were shuffled around*, but eventually the people in charge figured out that the problem started when they took me out of the loop.
“Toby, it’s okay if you talk to clients again.” “Oh, good.” “Just…check with the salespeople before you report on production, will you?” “You mean, in case we need to lie to them?” *Uncomfortable fidgeting* “In case we need to apologize.” “Okay. Because I’m not going to lie to our clients.” “That will be all.”
I’m happy to report that in the dozen or so years since, our sales team has become far more adept at apologizing and rectifying situations, and our production team has learned how to order before we run out of stock. My work here is done.
*Yes, a few clients did even suggest that they’d rather have me as their salesperson, but that idea was rejected by everyone—I don’t do sales, for reasons obvious from this answer.
Ask a teenager who is into classic rock to name the biggest performers of the Nineteen-Seventies. They’ll tell you names like Queen, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. Ask them “What about the Bay City Rollers?,” and they’ll answer: “Who?”
In the Nineteen-Seventies, if you liked popular music, you couldn’t escape the Bay City Rollers. From 1974 to 1977, they dominated the music scene, selling an alleged 120 million records. Yet you hear little about them today. It’s as if they’ve been erased from the collective memory.
Rollermania replicated the Beatlemania of the Nineteen-Sixties. Many however, felt the Rollers’ success was undeserved. As with all bands popular with young teenage females though, their success waned as their fans got older.
image 269
If you were female and under 14 in 1977, the Bay City Rollers were your world. No-one else wanted anything to do with them.
Time has not been kind to the Bay City Rollers. Unlike their predecessors, the Monkees, and their successors ABBA, the Bay City Rollers have not been declared pop geniuses. Classic rock fans have by and large spurned them. They are largely remembered today as an embarrassment. If they are ever mentioned at all in a documentary, it’s usually for laughs.
The Bay City Rollers’ record contract with Arista expired in 1981. Although this was the official end of the band, after 1981 versions of the Rollers continued to record and tour.
Eventually, nostalgia rescued the Bay City Rollers from obscurity. They appeared at the Punk and Disorderly 2010 festival, on the same bill with legends Stiff Little Fingers, Cockney Rejects, and Anti-Nowhere League. The ‘dag’ movement in Australia, which brought back faded performers and trends from the Nineteen-Seventies and Nineteen-Eighties, encouraged some to go to thrift shops in search of Bay City Rollers vinyl and memorabilia.
The Bay City Rollers saw little of the estimated £5 billion generated by their record sales and merchandising. Reportedly the nostalgia circuit enabled the Bay City Rollers to live the comfortable lives that their negligent and criminal management denied them, before death eventually claimed the main members.
I remember thirty years ago the Bay City Rollers undertook a low-key tour of Australia. This caused some excitement among the late-twenties females at work. One woman, who only listened to alternative rock, was quite excited that the Bay City Rollers were coming back!
image 268
You either hated them or loved them … the Bay City Rollers at the height of Rollermania. At least the Ramones admitted they liked them.
Trim fat from beef steak; cut beef into 3/4-inch cubes. Toss beef, 1 tablespoon oil, the cornstarch, salt and white pepper in glass or plastic bowl. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Cut chiles into thin slices (remove seeds and membrane if desired).
Cut onions diagonally into 1-inch pieces.
Cut bell pepper into 3/4 inch squares.
Heat 12-inch skillet or wok until very hot. Add 2 tablespoons oil; rotate skillet to coat bottom. Add beef; stir-fry 2 minutes or until beef is brown. Remove beef from skillet.
Heat skillet until very hot. Add 2 tablespoons oil; rotate skillet to coat bottom. Add chiles, garlic, ginger root, bean sauce and bamboo shoots; stir-fry 1 minute.
Add beef, bell pepper and sugar; stir-fry 1 minute.
About twenty years ago, these Nations had little voice
They had to DO AS TOLD by the United States and it’s allies
If they showed the slightest independence, they would be faced with a four step method by the US
Make up accusations on Human Rights violations which would be the first step. Saddam got this in 1989 after the Iran Iraq war (Until which time he was useful to the West so they didn’t see any human right violations)
Impose Trade restrictions on such countries using shipping insurance and freight as a weapon and throttling their revenues which would be in Dollars. Saddam got this in 1994/95, ironically almost 4 1/2 years after he invaded Kuwait. Step Two
Impose Unilateral Sanctions and freeze their money and prevent them from being able to buy basic food and water at times not to mention medicines, hospital supplies etc. This is the FINAL WARNING. At this stage the Nation needs to depose it’s present leader and the new leader has to kowtow to the West.Step Three
Cause a color revolution or invade making some trumped up excuse.Step Four
Today these Nations have a very strong BACK UP SYSTEM
image 258
If the US goes too far, these Nations have CHINA & RUSSIA to fall back on
China takes care of the commerce and trade. The RMB ensures that these Nations can keep buying anything they want as long as they have Oil and Gas to sell China rendering most sanctions as impotent
Drilling machines, Machinery, Food, Paper Clips – You name it and China will deliver
Plus China’s enormous clout at the UN and it’s lobbying powers beat the US today. China carries 78 guaranteed votes at the UN Assembly against 54 Guaranteed Votes of the US
Russia takes care of the Grain and of the Military aspect
If the US try any tricks like they did in 2003, they could find themselves in a conflict with Russia being involved
Best example is Syria where Assad is very much in charge despite all the attempts by the US to depose him under Obama & Trump (?)
So the Arab Nations have a voice today
They can protest and they can demand things and the US can’t repeat it’s four step formula because that could send them fully to Russia and China like it happened with IRAN
That’s all the Arab Nations are looking for with China
They still want to be loyal to the US and it’s allies but if the US goes TOO FAR then they won’t buckle that easily and they have a back up with Russia and China
The US better not make the same mistake they did with Iran or Russia this time
My brother. He was working graveyard shift at the time and had to commute quite a distance on the freeway for work. Of course, night time is when they do a lot of roadwork in this region to minimize impacts during rush hour. My brother is a burly sized guy. At the time he drove a little Hyundai hatchback. (Important to know for later). Anyway, one night, while commuting to work, the freeway is shut down to 1 lane of traffic for roadwork. Every one is backed up, traffic is virtually at a stops as everyone merges from 4 lanes to 1. Some person is a big old jacked up pickup truck gets behind my brother and starts riding his tail. Obviously, since this is a traffic jam, my brother can’t go anywhere. After a little while of riding my brothers butt, this person decides to turn on their high beam and start getting aggressive. Backing off, then running up to my brothers bumper and slamming on the brakes at the last possible second. At this point, traffic is down to one lane, so my brother stops in the middle of the traffic and proceeds to unfold himself from the car. Walks back to the truck and starts slamming his hand on the hood and screaming at the person. “it’s one f**king lane! I can’t go anywhere, I can’t go any faster! I can’t pull over and you can’t f**king pass me! If you want a fight climb out right now! Otherwise, Back the F**K off!”
Big truck never opened his doors. My brother waited a moment, went back to his car and proceeded on his way. Big truck turned off their headlights and maintained a respectful distance for the rest of the way through the roadwork.
I operated coin-operated amusements from about 1989 to about 2010. Foosball tables, Air Hockey, Video Games, Countertop Games, Pinball Machines, Pool Tables, Dart Boards, etc. I also retailed various Home Model games and parts, mostly Foosball.
I quickly realized, or maybe not so quickly, that when Laptops connected to WiFi had more attractive games on them than my coin-ops, and eventually even Cell Phones had more interesting games, that my business was doomed. During that same time many of my locations, mostly taverns and bars, and a few Game Rooms as well, were going out of business.
I had the policy, unlike most of my competitors, to own my own business without having an awful silent partner of a huge bank-loan. If I could expand using the funds from my business, I did, otherwise I remained small.
When the contraction began, as I lost a location, or one became unprofitable, I would just sell off the equipment and cash out. That went on for several years. But I kept my business open for my customers. The last 2–3 years I worked but had negative income. In other words, I was paying for the privilege of being able to work.
One year, I think it was either my last or second to last, I worked all year and found that I lost $6,000 doing so. More frustrating than that, I had $8,000 in licensing and taxation expenses. In other words, $8000 of my $6000 loss went to licensing and taxing authorities. After being in business for about 2 decades, you learn to hate taxation and licensing. That is when I closed shop. I just couldn’t see giving them ALL the money I earned and paying them an additional $2,000 out of my savings. Technically, I still have a non-operating business, that I don’t work at anymore.
Anyway, the end result was I quit working because it was more profitable to not work.
My beautiful wife was a size five 10 years ago when she got pregnant with our first son. Here’s a picture of her right before she got pregnant.
image 257
Her pregnancy was difficult. She gained a lot of weight and her legs and feet got so swollen that the last couple of months were almost unbearable for her. She couldn’t walk very far without pain.
One time as we were walking out of a restaurant when my wife was 8 months pregnant, a woman stopped in her tracks and said “Oh my God”… looking at my wife’s stomach.
She was in labor for 36 hours and finally the doctor said “That baby is not coming out.” C-section it was. We found out why he wasn’t coming out. The doctor pulled him out and said “That is a BIG baby!” He was 12 pounds 2 ounces.
Two years later we had our second and final son. He was 11 pounds.
The two pregnancies and two C-sections left my wife with a hernia in her stomach and muscles that just never healed back normally. Despite her going to the gym 4–5 times a week and eating right, her belly has never been the same.
At least 10 times in the years since, people have asked my wife how far along she is. People, please stop doing this to women. Don’t ever, ever, ever ask someone if they are pregnant. My wife has been brought to tears over this stupid question many times.
Here’s my beautiful family now.
image 256
Update:
Wow, so many wonderful comments from all kinds of people. Thanks so much. It’s truly heartwarming to hear so many of you comment on how beautiful my wife is. She truly is a beautiful person inside and out.
Many have commented about how my wife could have corrective surgery. This is something we have researched and considered for several years. We are hoping that in the next few years we’ll be able to save enough money. It’s a very expensive surgery that we currently can’t afford, but it’s important for me that we get there and we get it done.
I’m one of 5 kids. My parents always wanted a big family — in fact, they’d planned on 6 kids, but my mom’s health wouldn’t stand for it. Money was always tight, of course. My dad made a good salary but it still didn’t stretch that far among seven people, and my mom stayed home to take care of us. Both my parents believed it was very important for her to do that, and tbh any money she brought home would have been totally eaten up by childcare, anyway.
There was a time or two that I wished there weren’t so many of us, so there would be more money and attention for me. But which of my siblings would I wish out of existence? I could never imagine my life without any one of them. They’ve been my lifelong built-in friends. And sometimes enemies, LOL — we used to fight like cats and dogs! But as adults we are all very close, even those of us who are far apart in age. In a lot of ways I feel sorry for people who didn’t grow up with a lot of siblings like I did.
It probably makes all the difference that we didn’t just happen, our parents specifically wanted a lot of children to love. They always knew and respected our different personalities and needs. They sacrificed to make sure we were taken care of. They enjoyed our company—our mom was sad when we went back to school after summer break because she missed us! They never played favorites or acted like we owed them for existing.
And yes, the older siblings did take care of the younger, to an extent. Our oldest sister was Second Mommy in a lot of ways. I remember changing my two youngest siblings’ diapers. That’s how it works in a big family, you help take care of each other. But we helped, we weren’t fully responsible for our siblings. We just did our part. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to learn early in life that you’re not the center of the universe! You’re part of a family, and that means you’re there for them and they’re there for you.
Personally, I wouldn’t trade my family or the way I grew up for anything!
When a GI failed to listen to my history. Failed to look at records, radiology and pathology reports from my past. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis while active duty over two decades prior, my diagnoses was switched by his nurse practitioner to Crohn’s when I was hospitalized.
He decided I simply had Irritable bowel syndrome and told me it was in my head. At an office visit when asked what my pain was, I reported it as a 5 (I had an obstruction) only for the nurse to LAUGH. I stood up and excused myself asking for someone else to check me in since she thought pain was funny. The office manager came in to apologize but looked at my husband the entire time. When he noticed he said: “You need to be apologizing to my wife, not me”.
I ended up receiving a certified letter that I needed to find a new GI (I already had), so I asked to speak with the medical director and was kicked out of the patient portal. This same GI dismissed me when complaining of my guts being on fire (I had pancreatitis). I ended up walking around with a dead gallbladder and ended up in the ICU for 5 days.
I just returned from the ER after messaging with my primary for a month trying to get a GI referral for my now second stone stuck in my common bile duct. She kept telling me to go. I kept saying what for? They won’t treat the pain I’m in nor will they listen. She assured me I’d be admitted for pain control.
I wasn’t.
The ER provider did not listen when I told him my history of translucent stones being missed and that they’ll see it on an ultrasound. What was ordered? A CT. Of course nothing was seen but my liver enzymes are high, potassium low and positive lactic acid…I stood pacing the 5 hours we were there hoping to be heard.
I wasn’t.
Getting taken seriously post Covid is extremely difficult. There are so many jaded medical professionals that assume anyone complaining of pain is just there for narcotics… a year of trying to get help and countless episodes of Pancreatitis with no pain control is barbaric and my blood pressure certainly shows it. I cannot eat without feeling like a bomb has gone off inside me. NSAIDS have already caused gastritis and duodenitis so those are off the table.
I already exceed the recommended dose of Tylenol due to no other option. Yay for my liver!!
My children have been told that if I go septic or get peritonitis and the worst happens to sue. I’ve left a paper trail for them to follow. It’s so amazing being a middle aged female. I can’t possibly know what’s wrong due to experiencing it in the past. Nope. I’m just some needy woman who doesn’t get attention at home. I just can’t with the assenine thought process
It was during the summer, my maternal uncle and his friend visited our home. As usual, my mother cooked lunch for everyone and everyone were engaged in a conversation.
I was bored and wanted to peek into my Facebook account. I made a quick move and sat in front of my desktop and was chatting with my virtual friends.
After few minutes, I noticed a firm hand resting on my shoulders. I turned back to see and to my shock it was my uncle’s friend. I got uncomfortable and I thought probably he is just patting me.
After a while, his hands traveled downwards towards my breasts and he tried to hold them . THAT was a sickening feeling! And, I was so petrified that I couldn’t move and froze in fear.
I gathered courage to just run away from the room and went out to the living room. I saw my mom and looked at her face but I fumbled. And, I couldn’t speak up anything regarding the event that occurred with me few minutes ago.
I locked myself up and cried that night. The next day, my mother could sense something wrong with my behavior. And, asked me “Beta, what happened?” ..
I broke down and with tears in my eyes , I went on with everything I had in my heart.
She was shocked and furious. And what she did made me relieved and happy!
The next day, my uncle and his friend were leaving for their hometown.
My mother went to the railway station, got Kurkure and Lays chips ( as that man got these things for me) and in front of …all the passengers she threw those packets on his face and slapped him and thrashed him with her chappals.
She returned home, and said me ” Promise me , you will speak up if anything will bother you and at least would share with me if anyone tries to touch you without your consent” .
I’m still stuck to the horror of that event and it’s very hard to move on. I try to keep a safe hand distance from men and in a crowded place where I am surrounded by men I still feel restless. I just want to run and run and hide myself some where.
I live a normal life but some where within me, these fear have created a little home for themselves.
Technically, *I* didn’t witness it – my cousin’s camera witnessed it. But it was the bullet itself as it came out of the barrel of my .357 magnum.
To impart just how rare of a thing this is, normally a photographer has to use a reeally, reeeally advanced (and extremely expensive) camera with an insanely high continuous shutter-speed, AND stage the timing of the shot (by that I mean both the camera-shot and the gun-shot), as well. And even THEN, sometimes they have trouble.
My cousin did not have that kind of camera. He had a Nikon. Something like a D500 or a D600. It’s a nice camera for a hobbyist, but it’s not evenremotely designed to capture something like a bullet moving at 1,500 feet per second. As is evidenced by the fact that the bullet in the picture appears as just one really long rod-like streak, rather than the size and shape of a normal bullet. THAT PROVES JUST HOW SLOWLY THE APERTURE CLOSED, in comparison to the speed of the bullet.
image 264
A person could easily spend their entire lives trying to get a picture of a bullet at that shutter speed, and never capture it even once.
And, mind you, my cousin wasn’t attempting to take a picture of the bullet itself, he was intending to take a picture of me just shooting the gun. So he was just manually clicking the camera button with his finger, not caring that much about the timing.
This was back in the early 1970s. I bought 1969 Chevy Beaumont from a friend, I gave him motorcycle, that I had paid $500 for two years before, and was worth maybe $350, plus I think $200 cash.
I was managing a service station at the time, so I had access to all the tools and parts.
I had inspected the car before and I knew what it needed.
The water pump was leaking like a sieve, so I took it off, and at the time, you just used a cheap $3 kit to repair it, and replace. The fuel filter was plugged, it was just a piece of cardboard probably cost me 50 cents. The oil was so thick I drained a couple of quarts out, put two more quarts in, ran it for ten minutes, so that the black sludge would actually drain. Then changed the oil and filter. $7
There is a doughnut gasket between the exhaust manifold and the exhaust pipe. It was completely gone, no sign that it ever existed. It had been spewing out hot exhaust gas, and had burnt three spark plug wires to a crisp, so they weren’t firing.
At the time you could just buy bulk spark plug wire, cut what you need and put new caps on each end.
The donut gasket was $2, the sparkplug wire and caps was another $3.
The car was all done. I had put a sign up out front of the service station, offering to sell the car for $1200.
While I was still replacing the donut gasket, I was offered cash, no questions for the car.
They waited impatiently while I changed the donut gasket, gave me $1200 and drove off.
It had taken me about $30 and an most of an afternoon of my day off, to fix it.
This was a long time ago, but to put it in perspective, I could buy more than 400 cases of beer for $1200.
So, in the good old days, when you could actually work on cars yourself, I had a lot of mechanics specials.
When I was subbing, I asked a question about atoms with the same number of protons and different numbers of neutrons.
Such atoms are called “Isotopes”.
Someone in class apparently knew that answer. But then people started playing a fun game of telephone, and the answer got … blurred.
In the end, several people wrote “Ice Tubes”.
Sad. But I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Runner up?
When I was in 7th grade, my science teacher approached me with a proposition:
“David, if you can get a 0% on the next science test, I’ll give you 100%.”
“Um, Mr. Morris, why would you do that?”
“Because I think people are cheating off of you. I know you know this stuff, and if you get every single question wrong, I’ll know that you knew all of the answers and were able to pick the wrong one. Plus, it’ll catch the cheaters.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Morris.”
I liked Mr. Morris. He was nerdy.
And so, on the test, I did my level worst. Answered every single question wrong on the Scantron (multiple choice) test.
Right out of high school I was working for a big box retailer. I had only been working there a couple of weeks when I saw this happen.
I was working as a cashier and this little old lady (around 80 y/o) came up with her items – and she had quite a few of them. She was walking with a walker and moved pretty slowly.
We had just opened the doors for the day, so it was around 7am and there were only two of us, so pretty barebones staff. The rest of the staff would be in about an hour later – and this lady had been waiting at the door when we got there.
Just as she finished putting her items on the counter, this guy in a business suit comes up to the counter and asks me if I could ring him up really quickly – he was in a real rush.
I told him that was up to the lady who had just finished unloading her cart.
She said no – she was late for an appointment herself and he would have to wait.
He cut her off and INSTRUCTED me to ring him up right then. I said no. He then told me to get another cashier up front, right this damn minute. I told him the only other person working the store at the moment was the receiving guy and he was unloading the truck – and couldn’t use the registers anyways as he didn’t have the codes to the registers. I was the only cashier and would be until 8am.
He got really irate – I’m going to call the manager, etc. etc. etc. He was kept raising his voice until he was almost screaming. Other customers started to gather to watch.
When he finally got to the question of Don’t you know who I am? The little old lady yelled back at him – Yeah, you’re an asshole so shut the F up before I ram this walker where the sun don’t shine. She also said some other very choice words to him, but it’s inappropriate to post here.
He was just shocked by this little lady. He was so embarrassed, that he left his stuff in the basket, dropped it on the floor and left.
Turns out, this little old lady was in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve during World War II. As the women’s division equivalent of a drill sergeant. She had been married to a USMC drill sergeant and her two kids became USMC drill sergeants.
I grew up in New Hampshire where we had well water (without fluoride) and my parents never took me to a dentist. Consequently, by the time I got to college, my teeth were a mess.
I took a part-time job just so I could try to afford the dental work I knew I needed.
When I opened my mouth, the dentist looked inside and made a “Tsk! Tsk!” sound.
“Someone needs to start brushing their teeth and lay off the sugar,” he said in front of his hygienist. They shared a look of disapproval.
The truth was that as a college athlete on a partial academic scholarship, I ate healthfully and did brush after meals.
I found myself shaking with anger and shame which the dentist interpreted as fear.
“There’s no beating around the bush. You’re going to need a lot of work to save these teeth and it’s going to be expensive,” he advised.
I got out of the chair, didn’t commit to a second appointment, and the next day, went to another dentist who immediately sensed that the situation was more complicated than a snap judgment. He asked questions and when I mentioned growing up in New England, he said, “I thought so. I used to practice in Vermont and half of my patients were people who didn’t have access to fluoridated water. But don’t worry. I can see that you’ve developed good habits and together we can get you caught up.”
He quoted me prices that were half what the first dentist charged. He put me on a no interest payment plan where, for the next three years, I visited the office sometimes twice a week.
The process was all-consuming and expensive despite the plan and reasonable prices. There were times when I chose between meals and paying for dental work. I don’t recommend root canals on an empty stomach. But while I was never able to afford orthodontics, to this day, I never lost a tooth.
Just to give you an ideal on how strong the US industries was in world war two.
The Free French air force (1940–1943) was a sad display of brave but poorly equipped pilots, most of the experienced officers and pilots where parts of the royal air force (some 262 men in 1940 -which is far from nothing!) the free fernch air force was a mickmack of stolen plane from vichy air base, obsolete planes, some hurricane (at beset!) etc.
After the success of operation torch (november 1942) the American agreed to modernize the entire french army, navy, land forces and air forces included. The rearmement for the French air force was nickname Plan 7.
From scratch… the Americans totally rebuilded the entire french air force with some 33 fighter groups (bombers, fighters, reconnaissance)…while also rebuilding the French army with 3 armored division, several tank regiments (destroyed, medium and light), several paratrooper unit…. and modernizing the 140 vessels of the French navy!
the Fench air force went from this:
image 263
to this… in a matter of one single year:
image 262
-The French air force would be an important component for the Allies, fighting in the Mediteranean, eastern front, England, Normandy, France, Italy, Sicily just to name a few.
Basically the US industries were literally spewing thousands enough materials to rearm a nation air force for 3 decades!
We got back to the hotel we are living in pretty late after the hour-long round trip drive to boy scouts and basketball practice.
We put the kids to bed as quickly as possible and some teenagers were loud in the hallway for awhile.
I was frustrated, but wanted to wait to talk to them at the right time so I could tell them about our situation to see if they could show compassion rather than become angry at the lady next door.
I didn’t see them the next morning at breakfast.
(But that night ) I noticed that they were Future Farmers of America kids from Kansas.
They had their doors cracked, so I decided to talk to them.
I let them know about our house being destroyed by water.
I told them that we wanted them to have their fun and we would appreciate their respect to let our kids get good rest.
The young man who answered the door told me that he was very sorry about what we are going through.
Before I went to bed, I noticed a note that someone had slipped under our door.
image 261
I opened the note to find money.
(The note said:
We are more than sorry for,waking you and your family up the past few nights.
We hope everything goes well with you house.)
In a world where some people sit behind screens and become angry on social media, this young man restored my faith that the next generation can make eye contact and show compassion to the person right in front of him.
There were two other guys that I could see in their hotel room.
If anyone sees this post and knows who I’m talking about, please tag these guys so I can say thank you and God bless.
They set an excellent example for my children and their parents should be more than proud.
When I was a teenager I went with my cousin and friend to an ice cream shop located in a strip mall. The parking lot was very full. There was a pristine looking truck parked in the intersecting point of four parking spaces. Literally one vehicle taking up a portion of four spots. The parking stalls weren’t too small for a truck like his either. Frustrated with this person’s sense of entitlement, I grabbed a sheet of paper from my school binder and wrote “I am so sorry about the damages. I will be in touch to discuss payment.” I left no contact information. I put it on his windshield.
20 minutes later we watched from the inside of the ice cream shop as the man looked at the note. He looked angry. Then, in the pouring rain, he spent several minutes walking around his vehicle, closely inspecting it for signs of damage. He got more than a little wet. We could see the moment when it clicked for him. He cracked a smile and looked like he laughed before climbing in his truck and driving away.
Let me kind of start from the inside out. I live in Seattle (well, about 5 miles from the city of Seattle anyways, so whatever.)
Assuming 60k means $4,000/month take home, give or take, let’s look at some houses you could save up to consider.
In Seattle, with a 20% down payment, here’s a $2,500 mortgage payment.
image 275
If that looks like a small 1br house, that’s because it is. That’s what a $600,000 budget gets you in Seattle, relatively close to downtown.
Go 30 miles south to a city called Puyallup, and you get this:
image 274
Well, this is actually about $60,000 cheaper than the one above. Pretty profound difference right?
Go about 2 hours east and you’ll find homes about $100,000 cheaper than the Seattle house that look like this:
image 273
Okay, so now we’re closer to a $2,000 monthly mortgage, and I gotta say, that’s a whole lot of house. It has what, 3–4 car garages, wrap around 2nd level deck with a view, plenty of land… Not bad for the half million range.
Still though, Washington is pretty expensive even in the “cheaper” areas.
Let’s head back to my dad’s home state of Ohio.
image 272
Wait, is that a castle!? Yeah, that’s a f*ing castle. Not bad for that half million range, right? Except it’s not. It’s $280,000. With a way smaller down payment, you get your own castle for $1,200/month.
It comes with f*ing gargoyles!
image 271
The US is a pretty big country…
That’s really the trouble here. I mean, if you’re a full-time work from home employee, there are places in the country that are actually great to live in, good medical, good schools, etc., where 60k is a great income. In others, it’s low income.
I showed houses, of course, but even food, electric, water, fuel, home/car repair rates, taxes, etc. can fluctuate wildly from place to place. If you’re restricted to a location, look at it, and if not, go look at what’s out there and what you like. It’s a big and beautiful place with something for everyone.
I once argued with a graduate student over the weight of a Taco Bell burrito. She was hungry and so I suggested some half-pound burrito (I don’t remember what it was called). At which point the conversation went something like this:
“I can’t eat a half-pound burrito, that’s way too much food!”
“Actually, it’s only 8 ounces.”
“No, but it’s a burrito, so it’s heavier than that!”
“Um, no, it doesn’t actually matter what it is. A pound is 16 ounces, so a half pound is 8 ounces. A half pound of one thing weighs the same as a half pound of something else.”
“No, it’s more than that because beans are heavier.”
“Um, so you would argue that a half pound of bricks is heavier than a half pound of feathers?”
“Yeah, obviously bricks are heavier than feathers!”
“Even if they are both the same 8 ounces??”
“Well, yeah, because bricks weigh more than feathers!”
This went on for maybe a couple minutes while we were sitting in the drive-thru waiting to order. Honestly we had to finally agree to disagree before I went crazy. At which point I learned that a formal education doesn’t always mean a whole lot…
Allowing GHQ (General Headquarters) France to disregard hard intelligence.
British Military Intelligence was grouped per Command (GHQ Home, GHQ Ireland, GHQ France, etc.). This means nobody had the overall picture.
On top of that, most intelligence went through the Foreign Office and that intelligence, often on economic and and social matters in Germany was disregarded by GHQ France.
Brigadier John Charteris, in charge of Intelligence GHQ France was of the opinion that the hard intelligence was too pessimistic.
He believed, and convinced General Haig and his staff, that Germany was near to defeat as early as 1915 and pushed, together with General Haig for continuous offensives starting in 1916.
The estimates regarding available ammunition, air power, German troops movements, German troop morale, German civilian morale, etc. were all wrong.
The British kept on pushing for major offensives that resulted in massive casualties without ever having a real chance of breaking the stalemate until the Hundred Day Offensive in 1918.
In London, it was well known Intelligence GHQ France was a sick joke, yet nobody dared to upset the existing structure in which each Army Command could make its own decisions based on the intelligence they decided to trust.
Charteris wrote that “trusting the pessimistic intelligence provided by the Foreign Office would result in the staff at GHQ France losing hope and would lower staff morale.”
Charteris believed keeping the staff happy was essential to achieve victory.
Joseph E. Johnston — the one who acted like he knew it was over.
The Confederacy didn’t have a general staff. Jefferson Davis thought he was a military genius and dealt directly with the commanders of the CSA field armies.
The top men, Robert E. Lee in particular, all held on to the bitter end. They might not have been confident of success, but they didn’t communicate any such doubts and fought until hope was gone.
On the final flight west from Petersburg, Lee received a note from U.S. Grant asking Lee to consider an end to hostilities. Lee showed the note to James Longstreet and asked his opinion. Longstreet read the note and handed it back. “Not yet,” he said. They kept fighting until the road south was blocked at Appomattox Court House.
Joseph E. Johnston might have been the one who acted the most like a man who knew more bloodshed was pointless. A brave man who had survived several wounds, he was always judicious about giving battle. He made one serious attempt to stop Sherman, and when that failed, fell back and told Lee he could do no more than “annoy” the Yankees. When word came that Lee had surrendered, he asked Sherman for terms even though the two armies were not even in contact. He had to go quite a ways to meet Sherman and surrender.
Approximately four months after I got married to my wife, my business partner defrauded me and put me into over 35,000 dollars worth of debt. My businesses began to crumble despite my frantic efforts to salvage the situation. Soon thereafter, my finances nosedived into a freefall.
By this time I had already already come to certain terms about my wife. One of them was that she was in it (our marriage) for the money. Since I couldn’t stand the thought of a divorce or a broken home I did my best to conceal my financial troubles from her in the hope that I was going to find a way to get back on my feet again.
Well she did eventually find out when I started having problems with releasing funds to pay the bills and run our home. Soon thereafter she started her series of packing out of our home on the slightest imagined irritation or offence.
Each time she would pack out I would go right after her, pleading with every single one of her relatives. I did get her to come back a good number of times but I guess this really annoyed her and her mom in particular who was really the brain urging her to abandon ship and go look for greener pastures.
One day she calls me up on the phone and tells me “hey look, each time I try to leave you, you’re always going around my relatives and getting them to put pressure on me to come back right? Well, one of these days I’m going to come back and unalive you and then you won’t get me to come back anymore, will you?”
I never went after her again.
I had to keep alive to take care of the two toddlers she left behind.
‘I Remember the Secret Service Being Tougher’ Scene | Red
I was one year into practice. A 14 year old girl was transferred to my hospital. She had been in a motor vehicle accident and been to two hospitals before mine. Her parents had been told she was permanently paralyzed waist down, twice. I was the orthopedic surgeon on call and had spinal privileges and the ability and privileges to implant hardware. So I was the surgeon they called.
I arrived and did a thorough spinal trauma exam. Yes she was paralyzed. The confounding factor was that one test (her anal wink) where I poke the anus with a needle and see if it contracts was still working. That told me she was not completely paralyzed or in spinal shock as the nerve that controls this is the last one out of the spinal cord.
I told her parents that I needed to operate immediately. I discussed with her parents she might be the same, slightly better or significantly better. I made no promises.
I decompressed her spinal cord, implanted hardware and fused several levels. As I wrote my post operative orders in the recovery room after 4 hours of surgery I saw her thrashing her legs about. I tested her motor strength and it seemed normal. I went out to talk to her parents to tell them that she was better but I couldn’t predict how much better. She might have sensation deficits or coordination deficits and we would see but that it was a very good sign that she was moving her legs.
Amber made a full recovery after being declared fully paralyzed by 2 hospitals and at least one neurosurgeon. She walked out of the hospital in a brace and 6 months later was released from my care to full activities. I am sorry, Amber, if your back hurts later in life. I did my best.
I received Christmas cards and gifts for 15 years from her family.
Her case was actually part of my oral board exam. It was quite funny to hear questions from these examiners who didn’t even do spine surgery as to why I chose to do surgery and how I chose the operation and what levels to fuse.
The moral of the story here is that a physician who learns a thorough spinal examination found a patient that did not have a complete spinal injury and fixed it. Being a physician is being a master of your profession, not just reading reports and listening to others.
I had a best friend in high school. We remained close friends until we went off to the same college. Her financial aid hadn’t come in so I loaned her some money that I had been saving for a trip which she knew was very important to me. I found out through another friend that she had received her financial aid, and she had not offered to return my money, putting my trip in jeopardy. She had also made new friends at college and I felt ejected by her. I got angry, got the money back off her and stopped speaking to her. The following semester I went to London for a semester, which extended into years, which became permanent. About five years after I left she sent me a letter saying she would be in London and wanted to meet up. The letter included her phone number where she was staying (way before mobile phones). I thought about ringing her. But never did. Thirty + years later, I had grown up and regretted my behaviour. I searched for her on social media but no luck. Eventually she contacted me through my father (no idea how she got his address). I responded this time and despite being on different continents, we are now long-distance friends. It was hard but I apologised for how I had behaved back then. I had taken the word of someone else instead of speaking to her directly and I did the very childish thing of not speaking to her. She might have had good reason for hanging onto my money, which I didn’t give her the chance to explain. And, she had every right to make new friends at college. I could have been part of her new social circle, I chose to tantrum instead.
So, I am admitting all this as a message to anyone younger than me who indulges in this sort of behaviour. It is childish. Don’t do it. You owe it to yourself and your friend to sit down together and have an adult conversation about whatever is troubling you. It cost me one of the most important friendships of my life. Don’t make the same mistake.
My mom (egg donor) left my siblings and I to be with friends from her church 2 years after we got home from being in Foster Care for 12 years. She took our foodstamps with her and spent them on other families, while we starved trying to find her. The family she ran off to be with told her she wasn’t allowed to talk to her children- she obeyed.
I went to her church one Sunday at 14 to speak to her. The pastor and whole congregation was telling me ‘a 14 year old anorexic girl’ that I need to get a job and take care of myself while my mom took care of them. This was 2010, so you know I legally couldn’t work yet.
I couldn’t call, text, meet, or have any contact with my mom. She allowed it, so obviously she was happy she didn’t have to.
So, 3 years ago my egg donor calls me and asks me for some money. She “needs a car”, but doesn’t have any money. I still don’t have my first car and it’s 2023, now.
After explaining I don’t have money to give, I boldly asked her “Why would I help you if you abandoned me as a child? I needed you and you weren’t there”.
She offended me by saying with a chuckle “I had you kids so that when you got older and I need help, you kids will help me with money or a place to live”. I simply responded “That’s not how that works, if you wanted me to take care of you now, you should have taken care of me years ago. 1 timothy 5:8”. For a woman who claims she lives for the bible, she had to ask me what that meant.. it simply means anyone who abandons their kids or family is worse than a nonbeliever.
A better question is how could the United States expand sanctions on China’s chip industry without repercussions that hurt the U.S. more than China? And the Answer is it can’t. It simply can’t!
Chips are nothing unless it is used as a component of a product for example a smartphone or a computer. And China as a market dwarfs the U.S. by several folds. Today there are a billion Chinese consumer of high technologies compared to say 250 million in the U.S.! That is 4 folds higher! China’s consumer market alone is 30–35% if the entire world! Can the U.S. not be hurt if these consumers are forced into buying a different chips?
But worst is that from the 2/3 of the rest of the world market, most of their products are either assembled or made in China! That constitute another 30–40% of the world’s market! So the U.S. by sanctioning China U.S. sanctioning the U.S. chip makers of some 60–70% of the market. Or it has direct influence or possibly sell to only 30–40% of the world’s market.
But that is just the first nightmare for the U.S. Next, China will make equivalent products within 3 year’s maximum and then. Even this 30–40% rest of the world market will choose a Chinese make that is cheaper, faster and better than the U.S. products. Your entire chip industry will thoroughly collapse and U.S. government will be faced with high unemployment and bankruptcy!
So if I were you, I will vote in a smarter U.S. government!
Just around halfway, you will run into the infamous Darien Gap:
image 19
And there, the jungle is Master. There are no roads and those who try, fail miserably:
image 260
If a 4×4 cannot make it, a van even less…
You’d have to take a boat from Panama City to Colombia and that will be very expensive.
It’s better to sell your van in Panama, fly to Bogotá and buy another van there.
However, I would not do that trip on a van. It has to be a good 4×4. You need to do some research because not all car manufacturers sell in all countries; if you need a spare part and it is not sold where/when you need it, it may mean you’re stuck for a long time and there’s no guarantee that you will ever receive the part.
By the way, do you speak at least Spanish? In the countryside, people will not speak English at all.
I first met my wife when I was about 24 and very soon after had ideas that this was the woman I wanted to grow old with. I knew fairly quickly that she was divorced, but she always kept her private life private (I found out why later and agree with her totally) so it was some time later that I found she had 3 young daughters.
Being young, stupid and typically male, I didn’t want a ready made family, I wanted one all of my own, so I put the idea to one side. We stayed friends, but as we lived over 30 miles apart, we only saw each other occasionally. Years passed and the friendship continued to grow. In the meantime, she remarried and had 2 more daughters, then got divorced again.
Move on 24 years, I’m still single (came close a couple of times) but couldn’t find the perfect lady for me, but by now the older 3 are in their 20’s and the younger 2 are in their mid to late teens. Finally my stupidity left me and we finally got together.
15 years later, we’re married, still together and happy, even though she’s now bedridden. In case you’re wondering, the daughters have all “adopted” me, as have the grandchildren!
The long and the short is; don’t let hubris stop you from doing the right thing. We could have been looking at 40 years of happy marriage if I hadn’t been an idiot.
When I was in High School, there was a tall, thin Chinese boy in my swim class. He was very quiet and always had his nose in a book. I knew him because I was the one tasked with “helping“ the non swimmers.
One day, after class, we were outside waiting for the bell to ring so we could leave the Gym Area and head to our next class. He was off to the side leaning up against the wall while reading his book. A trio of boys (troublemakers/bullies) started grabbing for his book. So he asked them politely to leave him alone, so they just turned it up and managed to take his book. In a flash, he snatched the book back (that was the first clue).
Again, they tried to grab it, but he pulled it up out of their reach and asked them one more time to just leave him alone. But this time, the biggest jerk smacked/punched him in the face instead. Two of my friends and I immediately stepped forward to step in, but before we could take another step, this tall, gangly quiet kid had kicked the jerk on the side of the head and dropped him. EVERYONE who was there stood there in shock, not sure we had just seen what we’d seen, and the other two jerks immediately stopped and stepped back. The jerk who’d been kicked just sat there on the floor rubbing the side of his head while the kid just opened his book and started reading again.
To my knowledge, NO ONE ever messed with him again. That was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen and been in a lot of fights/scuffles.
20 plus years ago I was ordered to lie to my buyer or lose my job. I was ordered by my boss despite my protests.
The company I worked for had just won a major contract to sell light globes through one of the largest hardware chains in Australia – Mitre 10.
However we were very much behind schedule having had a number of delays already. Many times I had been in to my buyer to let him know of our latest delay and his patience was wearing thin and my boss knew it.
She asked me to lie and blame the latest delay on an earthquake in Japan (our globes were coming from India) or any other lie I could come up with as long as it wasn’t the company’s fault, as in it had to be a force majeure.
I made an appointment with my buyer and sat across from him and literally told him this:
“Peter, as you know, our globes are coming from India. The ship left on time and the order was 100% filled and packed in a shipping container. Unfortunately inside the same container was a cage containing a couple of Bengal Tigers. They escaped their cage and have unfortunately ripped or damaged all of the light globe packaging.
But we could fix that by having new packaging made and printed here in Australia except that, also in the same container was an Indian elephant. This elephant also escaped its cage and has trampled all the globes. Not one globe was left intact. The entire shipment was destroyed.”
“She’s told you to lie to me didn’t she?” he said after listening to me spin this ridiculous lie. He knew full well what was going on.
We got on very well, he knew me and what I stood for. We stayed in contact for many years after we both left our respective positions. He knew the position my boss had forced me into. After asking me for a new eta he told me to leave.
He wasn’t happy.
But I did what I was ordered to do and did it in a way that kept my reputation intact.
This was part of an old trick that the magician/illusionist Kreskin used to do back in the 1970s. You’re leaving out two very important parts of the trick:
He would say that the two digits couldn’t be the same
He would also say “So 17 is OK, but 11 isn’t.”
It sounds like there’s 50 numbers, but if you look at the options, they’re quite limited: 13, 15, 17, 19, 31, 35, 37, and 39. It’s really only eight. When he says “17 is OK but 11 isn’t”, most people won’t choose 17 since it was used in the example so you’re down to seven choices.
When he tested his trick, he found that overwhelmingly most people choose 35 or 37. When used this trick in public, he would write down both “35” and “37” but would cross out 35 and say something like “I sensed you were thinking of another number but changed your mind”. He would then proclaim that you were thinking of 37. This way, even if you said “35”, it would be there on the paper and as an onlooker you’d still be amazed.
He speculated that by using “17” and “11” in his spoken example, it tended to cause people to go the other direction and choose numbers in the 30s.
Our home, but my brother’s son. We had our aunt over, an old, strict, stuck-up childless lady. She was always proud of how polite and good-mannered she is, and despite not knowing a damn thing about kids, she was always ready to educate them, expecting all kids to behave like miniature grown-ups respecting the rules of etiquette at all times.
Well, it was a big family lunch on the terrace, kids running around, so she was a fish out of the water – there were too many kids to educate, she lost count. When I arrived, I was immediately greeted by my 4-year-old nephew, whom I kissed, cuddled and then I ceremoniously placed my bag in front of him.
We had a game: each time we met I had something in my bag for him. He could dive in and find it. This was our thing. Sometimes it was a dessert that he could eat while we talked. Sometimes a toy, or some other small surprise. This time it was a small dog figurine that resembled their own dog whom he loved so much.
While he was snorkelling in my bag, I turned to greet some relatives. Then I heard my Aunt Etiquette, shouting in a sharp head voice at my nephew. “What are you doing? Who do you think you are, young man?”
We all froze, including my poor baby nephew. I had to explain my fuming aunt that I had allowed him to search my bag, and that was our little thing, but she was not the person who could understand things like this. There were rules that we clearly disrespected.
My brother had to tell her that in his house, it’s also a rule to keep it quiet and not to shout with any of the kids. That shut her up, but just because she was hurt over her educational methods being disregarded.
My nephew still goes in my bag, and there is still something in there for him every time. He has never done the same with anyone’s bags or stuff. He knows the drill. He knows it’s just with me. My poor auntie will never get that kids are not stupid – they are kids.
A rich friend of mine one day had an emergency and needed to borrow money from me.
I was on campus so I went to the ATM and withdrew what he wanted to borrow, but in true ADHD style, forgot to take my card back.
After I left, a few minutes later, I noticed a Northern European girl (college student, probably Nordic from the accent) running in my direction and panting.
She was looking at me so I stopped to see what was going on. Then I saw my bank card in her hands!
Amazing because there was a lot of money in that card and a nefarious person would have withdrawn all the money and absconded with it.
I was so amazed by her integrity and kindness that I did not even know how to react. I had gone a long distance and at the time, there was nobody around the ATM kiosk; so I didn’t know how she realized the card was mine.
I think she may have seen me from a distance as I emerged and when she arrived at the ATM, I had spent the same time going away from it. Then, in order to not lose me, she ran all the way back to bring it to me, in consideration of no return whatsoever—just because it was the right thing to do.
How probable a similar event could be?
I insisted on asking for her details so I could at least thank her properly—perhaps by buying her a gift or inviting her to lunch—but she wouldn’t hear of it.
When I asked for her phone number she smiled and replied that it was not necessary to repay her in any way and left despite my persuasion to stay for a while so I could get to know her (you see, such a kind person would have made an excellent wife—additionally she was beautiful and I was single [and young, maybe four or five years older than her]; alas, she left too quickly and I didn’t find it polite to insist further).
Aliens (1986) – They Can Bill Me Scene – Enhanced 4K UHD HDR Custom”
This is two days ago at a very busy shopping centre with just over a week to go before Christmas day and this “person” decided it is OK to park across two spots.
It was so busy and so difficult to get a park I had to do a lap of the carpark before I got lucky and found someone who was about to leave and so I was able to grab their spot.
I was furious when I saw this car and so were a bunch of other people standing around complaining. What I and the others didn’t know was that this person, who parked across two spots, was a psychic. I never met them, never saw them either but they had to be able to see into the future.
Their future told them they would have 4 flat tyres when they came out from shopping and so to make it easier for them to change all 4 wheels they gave themselves extra room around their vehicle. That surely was their reason!
It would have been impossible to do if they parked in only one spot like normal humans do.
In Elementary School near Dallas, TX in the 70’s there was a bully named Paul. He stole from the cafeteria cash register, disrupted class, ruled over the entire school due to his size and generally pushed his way throughout class. Then a new kid came to our class. His name was Todd and by appearance was a total nerd. Tall, skinny, braces and into comics and science fiction.
Then in band Todd revealed that he played saxophone. None of us were bold or cool enough to even try that instrument, we were scared and just went along being content with the common brass instruments provided by the school. He brought his own horn and was much more advanced as well.
Then he met Paul. Paul tried to impress onto him that he was the big man in the school and literally pushed him around. Todd did not even hesitate to talk things over, he just punched Paul hard right in the face. We were amazed, we never thought it possible that a bully could be bested.
Later during outdoor recess Paul tried to re-establish his dominance to the rest of the kids. Without talking, planning or organizing dozens of the kids picked up rocks, sticks and other weapons and chased him off the lot. One that has stuck with me was a kid who took off his belt attached a stick at the buckle and swung it very effectively.
Paul never came back to school. Todd fell into his role as a nerd, never tried to become king.
Quick Orange Beef
Orange Beef
Ingredients
1 pound flank, sirloin or rib-eye steak
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest, plus a little juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 pound sugar snap peas or snow peas
Instructions
If time allows, freeze the steak for up to 60 minutes to make it easier to slice. Slice the beef as thinly as you can across the grain. If you’re cutting it so thinly that some of the meat shreds, that’s good.
Combine beef with orange zest, soy sauce, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper.
Heat a wide, heavy skillet or wok over high heat for a minute. Add vegetable oil and heat another minute. Add garlic and when it turns light brown (a few seconds) add the beef. Stir the beef 2 minutes. Add peas and stir 2 minutes more, or until the beef has lost its red color.
Squeeze half an orange over skillet ingredients and stir to combine. Serve over rice.
Serves 4 to 6.
If you have leftovers: Chill rice and beef separately. When ready to cook, heat 1 or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over high heat in a wok or skillet. Add leftover rice and stir, breaking it up with a spoon or fork. When it’s broken up, add leftover beef and stir to heat through. Add soy sauce or toasted sesame oil, as desired.
so let me preface my answer; I no longer speak to my cousin but I didn’t speak to him much before the incident either.
My grandmother passed away the day my oldest son left for his spring break trip as a sophomore in High school, he was playing varsity baseball and invited on their tournament trip to another state to play.
I made arrangements to go on the trip to see my son play. This was an honor for him and one that he had worked so hard for. I got the call that my grandmother had passed away and I contemplated if I was still going to go on the trip or stay behind and attend the funeral. My grandmother had not been well for several years and honestly did not even recognize me or my children for the past two years due to her illness. I choose to continue on the trip with my youngest to see my oldest play ball. My parents were okay with my decision and actually helped me make the decision.
The evening after the funeral I received a nasty text message from my cousin stating how dare I miss the funeral. He understood that I was attending a baseball tournament but he came home from vacation for the funeral and he expected me to miss the baseball trip as well. It didn’t matter to him that I had visited her several times in the year leading up to her death even though she didn’t know me and he didn’t even know what nursing home she was in.
The fact that he inserted his beliefs in my life; and didn’t take into consideration the hard decision I had made was appauling to me. I wasn’t at peace with my decision but made the best one for my family at the time the decision needed to be made. I had said my good-byes to my grandmother heartfelt the last time she remembered me.
It has been 10-years since her passing and I still refuse to talk to that cousin when we are together at holiday functions. I will walk away if he comes over to sit at the same table I am at. He has never met my grandchildren on purpose as I don’t want to subject my grandchildren to his negativity.
Oh, I have one. I was with my son at a Boy Scout jamboree back in the early 90’s in our state. The arranged for the state fish and game to come and train search and rescue. I had trained in search and rescue in the military and for Appalachion Mountain Club. I walked over to the game warden and volunteered to help, that I had a lot of experience in this sort of thing. He told me he had it, he was trained too and this was his job. The warden lined up like 300 kids and sent them into the woods to search for a injured hiker (two of the scout masters acting as injured hikers). The kids started walking across the field. Then went down an incline records the woods. As they started down the incline they started to run and then a battle cry like something out of bravehart came out of the crowd. By the time they hit the tree line into the woods they were on a dead high speed run. It was at this point I walked over to the warden, looked at the woods and asked him if he ever done this before? He said no, first time. I then asked, oh, by the way, how many kids went into the woods? First rule, know how many volunteers you send in so you know if you have accounted for everyone. He looked at me puzzled and said, I thought you guys knew that! I then asked, how far did you tell them to go into the woods before turning back? He said he didn’t. He then called for backup! The local volunteer fire department arrived and he sent them into the woods. I walked over and asked, oh, how many fireman did you send into the woods? He facepalmed and walked away. Three hours later, we accounted for every scout. Five were retrieved two miles away when they walked out the back side of the woods. It took another hour to find all the fireman. I walked over to the warden and said, I think that went well, don’t you? He walked away without answering.
Yep , me . Two days after removing me from a job and my crew of 30 Americans to be replaced by a Latino crew I got a phone call .
Boss .” Hi”
Me”What’s up “
Boss “The engineer just told us they will withhold the final 10% if we can’t supply the electrical testing results that I know you did but that no one else ever does and he is persisting that he needs them . They are pissed .”
Me”Oh that sucks “
Now this was a 10 million dollar project . 10% of 10% would have been a good start . But :
Boss “Are they on the site somewhere , I know you were really organized so I’m hoping you can tell me where they are .”
Me”I have them in that log book I bought , ya know the log book you laughed at me for for using , ya know , the one where I kept records of what everyone did , deliveries , the weather and those test results “
Boss “Oh that is excellent can I swing by and pick it up “
Me “Well you could , but I’m looking out my window and the garbage truck is going up my road right now .”
Boss “You don’t have it”
Me”Nope”
Boss “ Oh you are supposed to keep them “
Me”I know , but as of the other day I don’t work for you any more and it was my book and I was done with it .Now ain’t that a bitch “
See, about a lifetime ago, I worked in addictions. And I had this client. Beth. She was a young gay woman. Somewhere between 19 and 21. Totally butch and cute as a fucking button.
image 259
Sort of like this.
Long story short, she asked me to pick her up at a different place, one I happened to know was a trap house. When I pulled up at 8:30 in the morning, there were cops at the house next door, looking for a kid with a warrant.
Beth sees my car pull up, but hadn’t seen the police. She walked out of the front door and head down, beelined for me.
It took the cops less than five seconds to intervene.
Me: Fuck.
I roll down my passenger side window to eavesdrop. I can’t hear exactly what they’re saying, but I can tell by everyone’s body language they’re giving her a hard time.
Me: Double fuck.
I grab the badge that says I’m a county employee and I walk over to the encounter. The cops look at me. I smile, show them my ID, and stick out my hand.
Me: Good morning officers. I assume everything’s alright here.
Officer 1 (nodding to my client): You know this young man? Is his name John?
Me (chuckling): Well, I definitely know this young WOMAN. Her name is Beth. And we have an appointment at her PO’s office in 45 minutes.
Officer 2 (doing a double take): Young woman!?
Beth: Yes. I was trying to tell you.
Officer 1 (pulling out papers and quickly changing the subject): Do either of you know this man? John Doe?
Me: Haven’t seen him.
Beth shook her head no.
Officer 2: We’ve got a bench warrant on him, so if you see him around, we’d appreciate if you call the station.
Me: Will do. Well, we better get going. They’ve got the highway backed up again with construction and we don’t want to be late to see the PO. You gentlemen have a nice day. And thank you for your service!
When we got to my car, Beth freaked the hell out: Holy shit, Molly. I thought I was going down! They wouldn’t let me get a word in to tell them I wasn’t who they were looking for! And they totally thought I was that dude!
Me: Breathe, girl. It’s alright.
We drove around the block, headed to the probation office.
Me: Now you want to tell me why you’re living at the dope dealer’s house?
Beth was always amazed that I knew what was going on. Like it being a trap house. Like knowing who her dealer was. Like when I told her she needed to get tested for Hep C and she said she didn’t. Then I had to tell her that I knew someone who fucked her girl who was sharing needles. And rumor had it, the girlfriend was positive and was hiding it.
Sigh.
I was pretty damn good at that job.
Except Beth ended up going back to the needle. Then back to jail. I hope she’s somewhere today, clean and sober.
Or at least off the dope.
Dogmen, Hybrids, The Beast of Bray Road | True Stories of Werewolves
I was living in West Elizabeth, PA. It was a very distressed mobile park complex. The entire community was worn down, poverty stricken, and crime ridden.
At that time, we had our first cat: Samatha Pantha.
Something cool started to happen, a beautiful blue grey Maine Coon, the same age as my kitty started hanging out with my cat.
It was beautiful. And we named it “Blue Thunder”.
…
For the next few months the two cats played and romped about.
One day, some local boys were tying to sic a dog on Blue Thunder, and I saw them under my mobile home trying to attack my cat. I was furious and chased them away.
Three days went by…
No Blue Thunder.
Then one morning, the kitty was on my porch. Someone had shot it with a BB gun…
We took it in the house and tended to it. And all was well.
It was still around us. Our “outside” cat, and not our “inside” cat.
…
Eventually, I got a job in another state. And we had to move.
I wanted to Take Blue Thunder with us, but my wife reasoned “no”. She reasoned was that he would be just fine… alone… outside.
I should have NEVER listened to her.
…
Guys… stick to your guns. If you are dealing with a living, breathing being. Err on the safe, and the protected side of things.
…
I found out later that when the mobile home was being transported, a cat (that obviously must have been Blue Thunder) tumbled out from underneath the mobile home. I don’t know what happened to it, but falling out from a moving vehicle tends to be fatal to little creatures.
I have great regrets about this issue.
I am haunted by my passive actions that led to the demise of others.
…
About six months later, I came across another little kitty. Phelie. The cat that I wrote about in other posts, the one whose mother cat died on the road. And this cat had nearly the same personality that Blue Thunder had.
Maybe he found his way back to me.
Don’t you know.
People, I have many regrets in life. But one of the biggest is going against my CORE BELIEFS because my partner or family member did not realize the value of other creatures. Do not be like me.
Fight the GOOD FIGHT.
Never give up. Stick to your guns. Hold your ground. Be someone that your grandparents would be proud of.
Two police officers with sober faces stared at me and I knew the news couldn’t be good.
They described a car that had just been in an accident, and the license plate. My wife’s mini-van had collided, burst into flames and everyone inside it died.
I’m doing a mental inventory about now. My wife, three children, and two nieces.
My legs turned wobbly. You can’t imagine what was going through my head. Because of the fire, they couldn’t find any useful identification but explained they could identify everyone both by DNA and by dental records. They wanted a DNA sample from me.
I guess they could verify my kids were mine, and that the adult was their mother. A nice, neat little bow.
Can you imagine? They’ve just told you that your whole family is dead, and —- I told them I would come down and give them a sample.
Getting ready to leave, my cell phone is buzzing. It’s my wife. What? Hard tingles are on my spine, like she’s calling from the grave.
“Our van was stolen from the parking lot….”
Were the sweetest words I could’ve ever heard. Yeah it was my wife’s car, but they won’t need any DNA sample from me today.
EDIT – to address some of the mysteries in the comments
I learned later that three people were in the van when it collided. A man, woman, and younger person, which they presumed was a child of the drivers. The police said everyone died, but they had a different human inventory than my own. I also learned they were part of a ring of car thieves, and the accident was not their fault. Another car ran a light and hit them broadside. No fatalities and only minor injuries in the other car.
My wife had organized a birthday outing for our oldest. All the necessary shops, restaurant, and theater were inside the mall. It would be several hours before it was time to leave again. The thieves had plenty of time to get away if they hadn’t been hit.
I have an interesting piece of information which was completely new to me and maybe it is new to many of you too..
Recently, a friend of mine was involved in an accident. He rammed his car behind a truck and the car was completely totaled!
image 243image 242
Thankfully, he was wearing his seat belt which initiated the action of airbags and saved his life.
Now comes the part which amazed me. When I saw the pictures of the crash, the speedometer of the car caught my attention.
image 241
The speedometer needle was stuck at 90 km/hr. Upon asking some of my acquaintances in the automobile industry, I discovered that this is also a feature, due to which upon impact if the airbags are deployed, then the speedometer needle will be stuck at the speed at which the vehicle is being driven to ease the investigation and further formalities about the accident.
This amazed me as this was quite a useful feature which rarely people know and it will make it much easier to get into depth of the cause of the accident in cars which do not have a dashcam installed, which usually is the case in India.
Hope you were amazed too!
Valiant Thor: A UFO, the Pentagon and a 3-year Mission to Save the World
I have a house for rent in Brownfield, Maine. It’s a tiny vacation house I call the “Schwende Hut” named after a hot dog stand on top of the ski hill Mt Tecumseh in New Hampshire. I found out later that “Schwende Hut” means “Food House” but I think it’s hilarious.
I have been renting the house for almost 20 years to people who like to stay be the weekend, the week, the month or the season. It’s been pretty good.
A few years ago I got call from a woman who wanted to rent for a week. It was the end of the season and I still had that week available so naturally I signed her right up. She moved in on time and all was good. She was rather elderly and I was concerned that she would have a good time.
After a week my cleaner reported to me that she hadn’t left. I went over to see what was going on. Normally guests have to check out by noon so the cleaner can do his work before the next guest arrived. She came to the door but didn’t open it. I asked her what she was doing.
“I live here now,” she said to me, “I’m not leaving.”
I was confused.
“This is a guest house,” I said, “Other guests are going to come.”
“And I’m not paying,” she said obstinately. I was speechless. This had never happened before. I said, “I’ll call the Sheriff.”
“Go ahead,” she said, “Winter is coming. I’m old. They’ll never evict an elderly woman. Good luck.”
What could I do? I had to go consult with my local lawyer.
That night a huge storm came up with violent winds and lots of rain. I couldn’t worry about the old bitch in my house. I had to worry about property damage. Two days later the storm ended. I came through all right with just a few branches down and lots of pine needles everywhere. But there was no power. In Maine the power goes out at least once a week. Trees just fall and take out the lines. After a big storm crews and trucks have to go out and put the lines back up. We get used to seeing the flashing light on our digital clocks in Maine. It tells us that the power was out and we have to throw away most of the food in our fridge.
It took almost a week for the power company to restore power. In the meantime I was worried about the woman who wouldn’t leave my house. What was I going to do with her? The legal moves for getting her out were long, laborious and expensive. Even squatters have rights, it seems. People told me to tell the Sheriff she was dealing drugs and that would get her out fast. Meth is a huge problem in Maine with so much poverty. I couldn’t bring myself to do that. But within a few days of the power being out, she packed up her car and left. With no power, there was no fridge, no stove, no AC, no showers, no toilet, no light. She up and left, The house was a pigsty but at least it was empty.
I installed a power kill in a hidden location under the house. If this happens again I know what I will do now.
In the early 1920s, when the postal service first launched its airmail service, planes could only fly during the day.
image 228
It would take three and a half days for a package to make it from New York City to San Francisco, with both airmail and train-travel due to the limitation on flight.
Thus, to solve this problem, Congress funded a transcontinental lighted airway from New York to California.
The airway went through nine different states and consisted of 50-foot steel towers that were rotating spotlights every 10 to 30 miles.
image 227
However, since cloudy days sometimes obstructed the view of pilots, giant concrete arrows were constructed on the ground in order to point the plane in the right direction. They were painted yellow to make them easier to see.
The project was called the Transcontinental Airway system and it worked surprisingly well up until the 1940s when the system was dismantled due to advances in aviation technology.
Many of the concrete arrows are still around today, remnants of a time where planes could travel across the country, purely by sight.
During my time in High School, I received a ticket from a police officer who was working a side job as a delivery driver. He accused me of “dumping my clutch” and “doing a burn out of the parking lot.” However, I am currently fighting against these allegations.
When I appeared before the judge, the prosecutor and the police officer were present. The police officer reiterated his observations, and I countered by explaining that I did not perform any clutch dumping or burnout in my 280zx because there was an 8″ gutter separating the street and the sidewalk.
I further argued that performing a burnout in the parking lot would have caused damage to my low-riding Z vehicle. Moreover, when I hit the gutter, my battery came loose, and the positive post made contact with the steel clutch line, resulting in a hole and a loss of fluid, making it impossible to switch gears. The engine sounded loud because the car was in neutral, and I was expecting to shift into second gear.
The police officer should be aware of this situation since he had to call a tow truck to take my car to the garage for repairs. I even provided the receipts as evidence.
The judge then asked me if I worked at the restaurant, to which I replied affirmatively. I mentioned that as a delivery driver, I would be unable to carry out my job without a vehicle. However, the judge questioned how I managed to hit the gutter so hard that it caused my battery to bounce.
I humorously explained that the police officer had walked in front of my car while he was distracted by the attractive rear of my best friend, who happened to be a female. This caused everyone in the courtroom to burst into laughter, including the judge. The police officer became flustered and attempted to speak, but the prosecutor intervened and suggested that the case should be dismissed.
I agreed entirely with the prosecutor’s suggestion but requested that the repair bill be taken care of since it was the fault of the police officer’s negligence while representing the police department that caused the damage.
The judge agreed to dismiss the case, and I was awarded the reimbursement of around $37, which was equivalent to approximately 10 hours of minimum wage back in those days.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that my best friend was a female with an attractive figure who enjoyed flaunting it whenever possible. However, everyone else in the courtroom assumed that my best friend was a male.
I was happy at my job, but one day a head hunter called me up, and asked me if I would be interested in interviewing for a job that was a step up, at a rival company.
I hummed and hawed, and thought why not see what I am worth, at the worst I could ask my boss for a raise.
I went to the interview, they were impressed and offered me a job, they wanted to know my current salary, I told them that the salary was only a small part of my pay, as I had a performance bonus that was substantially more than my salary. So I wanted to know what their bonus system was. It was woefully low, compared to my current job, I would get a bonus that was maybe 20 percent of my salary, compared to the 200 percent of the salary I was getting.
To make up for it, they offered me a 20 percent higher salary.
I wont give real numbers, but here is how it would work out.
I was currently getting $1000 in salary, and $2000 in bonus per month, for a total of $3000.
They thought salary was the key, and offered me $1200 in salary and $240 a month in bonus for a total of $1440
Less than half of what I was making, doing a job with less responsibility.
I told them that I wasn’t interested, and they offered to increase it to 30 percent increase in salary. Which would have been just over half of what I was making.
They just kept coming back to salary, and never seemed to grasp how substantial my bonus was.
That was a slap in the face offer.
I of course turned them down.
They went bankrupt 18 months later.
Man Dumps Wife When He Finds Out He Was Her Last Choice
I was working on a power station in Moscow and, for the weekend, went to a small town (Kaluga), two hundred kilometres south-west from the city with a work colleague. Alex.
He had bought some brake shoes for his Russian-made car and was fitting them with his father in their garage that every Russian family has. They are always in a long row of garages some distance from the apartments.
image 223image 224
The brake shoes wouldn’t fit due to poor quality manufacturing so he got out an angle grinder and ground the groove in the brake shoe until it fitted.
He said that this was normal in Russia.
image 225
He also said that when you bought a new Russian-made car you went to the showroom with a colleague and inspected the car. You would then tell the salesman what was wrong with the car (door does not close, brake pedal is missing rubber, etc.). He would fix it and, when you took it away, you accepted responsibility for all that was wrong.
So if you are planning an expedition to the Arctic don’t get an American or European mechanic to fix stuff en route, get a Russian because they have spent their entire life bodging stuff up with a Swiss army knife and some 14 gauge wire.
Most corporate offices have a “bend don’t break” rule on internet usage.
High achieving professionals don’t want to be micromanaged or watched with suspicion.
Think about it. If you work 40+ hours and are good at your job, it shouldn’t be an issue if you want to check the news or your bank account.
But some people treat their office like an entertainment center, streaming Twitch and YouTube all day.
As a result, HR and IT team up like a Kremlin intelligence agency, looking for any signs of slackers.
The golden snitch sees all. I was walking by one time and this coworker was literally watching a Twitch stream with that lady, Pokimane, as she played video games. This was in the middle of a busy office with people working.
Thirst trapping it on the clock baby. He had quite the audacity.
You can extend this to every stupid hiring practice and office rule. All it takes is one moron and life becomes more annoying for all that follow.
Don’t be the moron behind the stupid rule. If you can help it.
Karma Comes For Disloyal Wife After Husband Admits To Affair With Way Hotter Woman…And She FREAKS!
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.
Solar storms: more dangerous than you think. Can we survive another Carrington Event?
The Boiling Hot End to a Cook Accused of Poison in Henry VIII’s England
On April 5, 1531, hardened London spectators of public punishment gathered at Smithfield, joined by others who were too curious to stay away. An execution had been announced of a type that none had witnessed in their lifetimes, nor ever heard of. The condemned man, Richard Roose, was to be boiled alive.
Roose was not the sort of criminal that usually met his end at Smithfield, located just beyond the London Wall. He was convicted of high treason, yet he had not sought to harm King Henry VIII nor his queen, Catherine of Aragon, nor any royal councilor. He had not tried to overthrow the kingdom’s government. Roose, a cook, was accused of murder by poison.
His two victims were an obscure gentleman in the household of Bishop John Fisher, Bennet Curwen, and a destitute widow who accepted the bishop’s charity, Alyce Tryppytt. The target of the poisoning was assumed to be Fisher himself, the Bishop of Rochester. Ironically, Fisher did not eat the soup—sometimes described as porridge—that Roose prepared and so was unharmed.
Roose admitted to the poisoning but claimed it was a joke gone wrong, an accident. There is no testimony for us to examine, because Roose had no trial, by command of the king.
In the words of the Greyfriars Chronicle of London, a contemporary document: “This year was a cook boiled in a cauldron in Smithfield for he would have poisoned the bishop of Rochester Fisher with divers of his servants and he was locked in a chain and pulled up and down with a gibbet at divers times until he was dead.”
Roose’s crime, the legal method of his condemnation, and finally the form of punishment create a bizarre chain of events that, in a more modern age, might well have raised questions of motive in several parties, including that of Henry VIII. Although there is no question of who did the killing, this is still a tantalizing Tudor murder mystery, and reveals some of the peculiarities of the early modern age, when laws existed and homicide was considered a heinous crime, but there was no trained police force nor forensic science.
Why did Henry VIII demand this punishment of a lowly cook? Why was Roose executed as a traitor when his crime was murder of commoners? The answer lies in the King’s complex feelings for Bishop Fisher.
John Fisher was made bishop of Rochester by the King’s father, Henry VII, in 1504. Fisher performed the funeral services for Margaret Beaufort, the king’s mother, and Henry VII himself when they died, within months of each other, in 1509. In the first 20 years of the reign of Henry VIII, Fisher was considered “the greatest Catholic theologian in Europe, without any rival,” writes Eamon Duffy.
But by the time of the crime in question, King Henry was no longer proud of Bishop Fisher, 62 years of age. It would be safe to say he considered him an enemy. And it would have made the King’s life much easier if Fisher had lost his—if he had consumed the soup.
In 1527, when Henry VIII, desperate for a male heir, began his public quest for an annulment from 42-year-old Catherine of Aragon to marry the delectable young Anne Boleyn, Fisher became one of his most serious obstacles. The question of the royal marriage was a theological one, and if Europe’s most respected theologian had agreed in the rightness of King Henry’s cause, it would have done a lot to bring about the annulment. But Fisher took the side of Catherine of Aragon. The marriage was legal and could not be dissolved.
In 1529, Bishop Fisher announced at the trial of the royal marriage that it would impossible to die more gloriously than in the cause of marriage, as John the Baptist did. In that same year, when a proposal came to Parliament to dissolve the smaller abbeys—the beginning of Henry VIII’s destruction of the Catholic monasteries—Fisher “openly resisted it with all the force he could.”
Enter one Richard Roose. One of Fisher’s earliest biographers, Richard Hall, wrote in 1655 the most complete account of the poisoning. He is the only source to say that Roose was not the chief cook in Fisher’s household, which is significant: “After this the Bishop escaped a very great danger. For one Richard Rose came into the Bishop’s kitchen, being acquainted with the cook, at his house in Lambeth-marsh, and having provided a quantity of deadly poison, while the cook went into the buttery to fetch him some drink, he took his opportunity to throw that poison into a mess of gruel, which was prepared for the Bishop’s dinner. And after he had waited there a while, he went on his way.
“But so it happened that when the Bishop was called into his dinner, he had no appetite for any meat but wished his servants to fall to and be of good cheer, and that he would not eat till toward night. And they that did eat of the poisoned dish were miserably infected. And whereof one gentleman, named Mr. Bennet Curwen and an old widow, died suddenly, and the rest never recovered their health till their dying day.”
An inquiry began at once. Although a salaried police force did not yet exist in England, criminal investigation was taken seriously. Justices of the peace, appointed by the monarch, received and investigated complaints; coroners viewed dead bodies and ordered arrests. Now if a suspect was bound over for trial, freedom was unlikely. Defendants charged with felonies or treason did not exist. In fact, murder trials rarely lasted more than 15 minutes.
Roose was soon apprehended, and admitted to adding what he believed were laxatives to the soup as a “jest.” No one believed him. The always skeptical Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote a slightly different version of events to his master, Charles V, the nephew of Catherine of Aragon:
“They say that the cook, having been immediately arrested… confessed at once that he had actually put into the broth some powders, which he had been given to understand would only make his fellow servants very sick without endangering their lives or doing them any harm. I have not yet been able to understand who it was who gave the cook such advice, nor for what purpose.”
We share Chapuys’ frustration. Who gave the cook these powders and told him that they would sicken and not kill anyone? If that information was obtained, it was not shared with the public. No transparency.
Sir Thomas More, the lord chancellor, informed Henry VIII that there were rumors that Anne Boleyn and her father and brother, Thomas and George Boleyn, were involved in the poisoning attempt. The king reacted angrily, saying Anne Boleyn was unfairly blamed for everything, including bad weather.
The murder motive and the question of a larger plot were soon obscured by Henry VIII’s drastic actions. He decided that Roose should be condemned by attainder without a trial—a measure usually used for criminals who were at large. Roose was sitting in prison! Nonetheless, Parliament passed “An Acte for Poysoning,” making willful murder by means of poison high treason even if the victim was not head of the government of the land. And boiling to death became a form of legal capital punishment. This crime was especially heinous, the king’s representatives said, and thus called for such measures.
Several biographers have noted King Henry’s extreme fear of poison. Although the monarch’s paranoia became infamous in later years, there was some basis for concern. Everyone had heard the stories of murder by cantarella in Rome during the time of the Borgias. Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, died—perhaps of poison slipped into his food at a banquet—during the reign of Henry VII. Cantarella was believed to have been arsenic trioxide.
If poison was ever suspected as the cause of death at this time in England, there was no way to scrutinize its damage within the corpse to confirm. And should the poison itself be obtained, the field of analytical chemistry was four centuries away.
Not surprisingly, rumors ran wild. Poisoning was rumored (never proven) to be the cause of the deaths of Queen Anne, Richard III’s wife; the eventual death of Catherine of Aragon; and the agonizing death of Henry’s son, Edward VI. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, written in the reign of Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, employed poison. Shakespeare wove it into five other plays too.
But there was more to this than royal terror of a poisoned dish. As historian K.J. Kesselring wrote in The English Historical Review, “This may explain the severe, exemplary punishment of boiling, but not the need to label the offense treason.”
In April the crowds of Smithfield witnessed Roose’s death. According to an eyewitness: “He roared mighty loud, and divers women who were big with child did feel sick at the sight of what they saw, and were carried away half dead; and other men and women did not seem frightened by the boiling alive, but would prefer to see the headsman at his work.”
The story of the king and the stubborn bishop doesn’t end there.
When, after the king married Anne Boleyn, Bishop Fisher refused to swear an oath of supremacy to the king, he was arrested. The pope made Fisher a cardinal to protect him, but it only enraged the king more. Once the monarch had ordered a savage punishment of the man who tried to kill Fisher, and now Henry VIII wanted Fisher gone.
After a difficult imprisonment, Fisher was beheaded on June 22, 1535 on Tower Hill. The crowd gasped when they saw him on the scaffold for he was “nothing…but skin and bones…the flesh clean wasted away, and a very image of death.” In his speech to the crowd, Fisher is said to have shown a calm dignity.
According to Fisher’s biographer: “And here I cannot omit to declare to you the miraculous sight of his head, which after 14 days grew fresher and fresher, for that in his lifetime he never looked so well…. the face looked as if it beholdeth the people passing by and would have spoken to them. Which many took as a miracle.”
In 1886, the Catholic Church made John Fisher a saint.
Accepting Defeat In Ukraine
In early November the Economistpublished an interview and several pieces by the commander in chief of the Ukrainian army, General Zaluzny. As I summarized:
Zaluzny’s central thesis is that the war is currently at a stalemate. It has become positional, with no large maneuvers being possible. He compares it to the war in Europe in 1917. There, he says, a change only happened through the introduction of new technologies (i.e. tanks). … I for one think that Zaluzny is mistaken. The war is not at a stalemate. Russia has clearly the advantage as it is free to maneuver along the whole frontline and to attack wherever it likes. It does not do so in full force because the current situation allows it to conveniently fulfill the order its commander in chief had given to it – to destroy the military capabilities of Ukraine.
Finally a western mainstream writer has caught up with those facts. Lee Hockstader, the Washington Post‘s columnist for European affairs, opines:
Hockstader laments the lack of support from the U.S. and Europe for the new demands the Ukraine is making. He states:
Without those infusions of cash, arms and munitions, even the disappointing status quo over the past year, in which Ukraine has not managed to recapture much territory, is unlikely to endure.
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told a Washington forum last week that the “big risk” is that Kyiv’s troops could “lose this war.”
That message should jolt policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic. The danger, as Ukraine’s top general warned publicly last month, isn’t simply stalemate. It is that Ukrainian forces, running low on equipment, might be compelled to fall back, shorten their defensive lines and abandon territory. … It’s essential to think about what Ukraine’s defeat means, because it would be as much a strategic disaster for the United States and its NATO allies as a tableau of terror for Ukraine. Dual cataclysms, equally stark, played out on different timetables.
Well, yes. The West has shot its wad and it proved to be sterile.
There will be no terror for Ukraine, just the loss of the ethnic Russian people, industries and land the communist – Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev – had for whatever reasons attached to it. The rest of it will be a smaller, more poor and purely agricultural rump state without access to the sea. This was obvious from the very beginning to anyone with a clear view of the balance of the forces involved in the war.
As I wrote on February 24 2022, the very day Russian forces entered Ukraine:
Looking at this map I believe that the most advantageous end state for Russia would be the creation of a new independent country, call it Novorussiya, on the land east of the Dnieper and south along the coast that holds a majority ethnic Russian population and that, in 1922, had been attached to the Ukraine by Lenin. That state would be politically, culturally and militarily aligned with Russia.
This would eliminate Ukrainian access to the Black Sea and create a land bridge towards the Moldavian breakaway Transnistria which is under Russian protection.
Excursus:
The yellow part of that map marked ‘Ukraine in 1654’ was actually the land of the Eastern Orthodox Zaporozhian Cossacks. Under threat from the Catholic Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth, which at the time held the green parts under serfdom, they negotiated the Pereiaslav Agreement (1654) with Russia and pledged allegiance to the Tsar. They area thus became an autonomous part of Russia.
End Excursus
The rest of the Ukraine would be a land confined, mostly agricultural state, disarmed and too poor to be build up to a new threat to Russia anytime soon. Politically it would be dominated by fascists from Galicia which would then become a major problem for the European Union.
Thanks to Stalin’s additions to the Ukraine three countries, Poland, Hungary and Romania, have claims to certain areas in the Ukraine’s western regions. If they want to snatch those up again it is now probably the best time to do so. Despite being part of NATO, which likely would not support such moves, those three will have domestic policy difficulties to withstand the urge.
Since then we learned that Novorussiya will not be an independent state but a genuine part of Russia. So be it. Meanwhile analysts like Hockstader still delve in fantasies:
A complete Ukrainian military collapse is unlikely, at least in coming months. Kyiv’s armed forces remain well-led and motivated, and they are husbanding equipment to prepare for shortfalls. But it is equally unlikely to expect a negotiated cease-fire with Russia that would maintain existing battle lines. To believe in that seemingly anodyne outcome is to misjudge Putin — again.
This is not misjudging Putin, but misjudging the capabilities left to Ukraine.
2023 12 16 19 17
It has run out of men and material. There are daily videos of this or that Ukrainian army unit condemning its leaders and announcing to leave its positions. The potential of a collapse of Ukrainian army is real.
During the last days tanks from the 47th brigade (Leo 2) and 10th mountain brigade (T-64BM/BV) have been seen, and were destroyed, near Avdiivka. Both brigades had only recently been mauled during their hopeless attacks at the southern front. It does not make sense to throw what is left of them into another battle without reconstituting them. The whole experience and knowledge these brigades had gained will be lost with them.
Yesterday, the Ukraine friendly Military Watch Magazine confirmed my opinion:
The Ukrainian Army’s elite 47th Mechanised Brigade stationed in the town of Avdiivka in the disputed Donetsk region has been surrounded and forced to contend with growing ammunition shortages, according to multiple reports from Ukrainian and Western sources. British reports indicate that the brigade was meant to attack a Russian column before it linked up with assault infantry on the northern flank of Avdievka, but failed to do so due to a lack of ammunition. The brigade’s efforts to stop the advance of Russian forces in Avdievka were described by The Times as “desperate,” fuelling perceptions of an “inevitable collapse” of Ukrainian positions, and diminished hope of preventing a Russian victory by the beginning of the New Year holidays. … A serviceman from the 47th Brigade, cited only as Sergeant Danylo, observing when interviewed over the past week “a shitty situation” as the shell shortage forced soldiers to make impossible life-and-death decisions.“We had 10 times more ammunition over summer, and better quality… American rounds come in batches of almost identical weights, which makes it easier to correct fire, with very few duds. Now we have shells from all over the world with different qualities, and we only get 15 for three days. Last week we got a batch full of duds.” Thus instead of firing on Russians as soon as they came within range, Ukrainian personnel increasingly had to wait to be sure the Russians were heading for their positions and to only engage large groups. Munitions produced by European states have very frequently been faulted for their quality, and at times been considered near useless, with Italian equipment being particularly notorious for its poor quality, in contrast to superior equipment either inherited from the Soviet era or produced in by the United States.
Now tell me again that these are “well-led and motivated” forces which are “husbanding equipment to prepare for shortfalls”. Neither rings true to me.
For the Kremlin dictator, a “compromise” would involve Ukraine’s subjugation and dissolution as an independent state. That would include regime change, with Zelensky in exile (or dead), as well as an end to Kyiv’s aspirations to join the E.U. or NATO. … If he is right, the timetable of that ending would be accelerated if Congress and the E.U. fail to approve fresh support. That would leave Ukraine’s government unable to maintain basic services, and its military increasingly short of artillery ammunition, air defense capability and other equipment. Ukraine’s already badly battered front-line forces would become more brittle. Russian territorial gains would be accompanied by murders, rapes, kidnapping of children and other Russian war crimes on a chilling scale.
That grim scenario would be a staggering blow to Western prestige and credibility, revealing that pledges to back Ukraine for “as long as it takes” were empty.
Amid a Republican standoff and polarizing politics that puts new aid to Ukraine at risk, President Joe Biden emphasized his administration’s willingness to support Ukraine, but the language was different. He said the US will be there for Kyiv “as long as we can.”
It’s a change in tune from previous messaging that the US would be a staunch and fierce ally to Ukraine, aiding it for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia’s invasion.
The West can no longer support the proxy war it had started.
History will now follow its destined path.
Posted by b on December 14, 2023 at 10:59 UTC | Permalink
VIDEO: Ukraine Deputy Detonates THREE Grenades in Council Meeting
Reports and video are coming in from what is described as a local Council Meeting in Ukraine, where a Deputy pulled pins on THREE Grenades and tossed them throughout the meeting, causing three explosions, the final one likely killing the Deputy who threw them.
Video of the incident appears below and — WARNING — it shows pretty much everything.
The Deputy walks into the meeting room and closes the door behind him. He stands at the closed door. An argument is ongoing at the meeting and the Deputy tries to intervene, to no avail. With that, he pulls a grenade from his suit pocket, pulls the pin and tosses it. He then takes out another and repeats the process. He then pulls out a third grenade and apparently holds onto it after pulling the pin; perhaps to intentionally kill himself.
At this point, the name of the Deputy is not clear, and the type and location of the meeting is also not known.
What __is__ known is that numerous people in the tiny meeting room were either killed or injured seriously.
RUMORS abound over this incident, and several of the RUMORS claim the meeting was for people who want Ukraine to surrender and make peace with Russia.
WARNING: Graphic Video of three grenades exploding in a small council meeting room. Viewer discretion is advised:
DAMN! -MM
MM version of the video in MP4 format. Worth a watch. HERE.
43 Year Old Admits “The Movement” Is BS And Being A Carousel Rider Is NOT Empowering!
My son, who is mixed race, told me that another boy at school was calling him names and throwing lighted matches at him – some of which could have burned his clothing with dire results. I called the police. They sent a very large and imposing officer who told us “I’ll take care of this”, invited my eight year old son into the back of the police car and drove him to school – opening the door for him and escorting him to the principal’s office to deal with the culprit. My son was thrilled that he was the talk of the school for arriving in a police car and the bully was suitably scared out of his wits enough to never try such a thing again.
Global Supplier of Crucial Electrical Products Announces 20 Week DELAY in most-important parts!
SCHNEIDER Electric is the second largest manufacturer of electrical components in the world. The things they make are absolutely crucial to our daily lives: Crucial electrical infrastructure, industrial automation, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC’s), etc. Without __any__warning, SCHNEIDER announced to its partners in the US . . .
. . . a TWENTY-WEEK DELAY for “Engineered-to-Order (ETO)” products for Quarter 1 next year! That’s almost a half a year delay ! ! ! ! !
Folks, ETO projects are major private and public infrastructure, power grids, etc. The grids are not readily able to deal with this kind of manufacturing delay.
Even more ominous, this ETO equipment, is the same gear the FBI recently issued warnings over, for expected CYBER-ATTACKS!
So FBI is warning about Cyber-Attacks targeting ETO gear like PLC’s and now, the second largest manufacturer of these exact components, is announcing twenty week delays for Q1 orders!
One industry insider told me “The reason this is so weird is this company is very good at planning. They supply billions of $ in critical components. They aren’t perfect but they usually have a plan when they announce something like this. Not this time. The plans behind the announcement letter (shown below) are very shallow. They got the note out WAY before anyone on their teams knew what is going on. MANY questions with no answers. That is very weird.” Here is the SCHNEIDER Letter to Partners in the USA:
ETO Orders DELAYED 20 weeks
His remark got me thinking: WHY?
Could it __really be__ that they simply cannot get parts via the supply chain, OR . . . is this wait and hold critical infrastructure so you can step in and replace damaged infrastructure after attacks happen? Is another possibility Critical redesign? Did they find holes in security and need to redesign . . . . and will stop projects to push an updated design out?
And if they are THAT confident that attacks are going to happen, then one wonders how it is they know? Did FBI tell them?
Over the past several weeks, media outlets have carried 24 assorted local stories about 24 sites that have been hacked. The ones discussed publicly are Hawaii water systems, Texas power grid, and west coast water systems near ports. All areas that will be critical to weaken for an invasion or conflict. Near borders.
War Preparation?
Preparations for a world War are clearly taking place in very many countries around the world.
For the first time, US citizens are likely to see the direct consequences of war on our own soil.
If people spent more time following world events and wars without being clouded by their own “normalcy bias,” they could piece together what is likely to happen.
In Ukraine, Russia crippled their power grid and attacked their ability to make the tools of war. Most all war materials have to come from outside.
Now imagine Russia striking US infrastructure and OUR ability to make tools of war . . . when our stockpiles have already been depleted by Ukraine.
Oh, and let’s not forget that Israel is toast without US arms support.
But, what is most concerning to me is that the US has made no real efforts to truly ramp up production of war materials. Lots of talk, very little tangible action.
It’s like the US is planning on just going straight to nuclear. But Russian Air defense systems are proven best in the world and their likelihood of survival is much higher than the US.
Contacts I have from my years in the Intelligence Community are telling me the US is too corrupted to survive what is coming.
But real companies with very smart people with analysists with real MBA’s see what is coming and are preparing.
The Intel guys I’ve talked to tell me bluntly: “USA has never been weaker than it is right now.”
I don’t know how it’s going to play out exactly but this is the most dangerous time we have been in up to this point in human history.
One would be very wise to put the pieces together and be willing to make the very hard decision on what is required to survive it.
Because another source (unverified) told me there are currently ~35,000 terrorists in country awaiting a go signal.
Imagine an Oct. 7th style attack all over the US, if all 35,000 operatives struck at once . . . as the much smaller cells did in the ‘Day of Wrath” that hit Israel.
Oh, and don’t forget that several months ago, we all found out there is also 60,000 lbs. of ammonium nitrate fertilizer that was taken off a train in Southern California, that has never been accounted for. Ammonium Nitrate is what Timothy McVeigh used to construct the truck bomb that detonated outside the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That bomb was reported to be only 4500 pounds. So the amount of Ammonium Nitrate already missing, could make more than TEN such bombs.
This isn’t a tall tale… I once saw 3 guys in a pub start a fight with a bloke I worked with who’d been a pikey bare-knuckle boxer. My mate’s dad had forced him into fighting for money when he was a kid, but in his 20s he’d met a lass and decided he wanted a normal life so he walked away from his gypsy family, got a job and a house, and settled down. He was a really nice guy, a proper grafter, and good to talk to — he had a real philosophy about him and always gave great advice if you had any problems. He didn’t talk much about his old life, just every now and then he’d maybe open up a bit about how he’d hated it and couldn’t forgive his dad who’d beaten him if he didn’t fight and beaten him if he’d lost. None of what he said was bullshit, he was a sincere, honest guy who you could see had been in a lot of fights and just wanted some peace and quiet. He was also a really good husband and father, he was absolutely determined not to repeat the mistakes.
We were on a job in London, went out after work one night, and three locals did the old “you spilled my drink” routine on him. He tried apologising but one of them shoved him. I was sat at a table facing it and before I could even react, all three guys were dropping and he was stepping away. If you’ve ever seen a tarantula move faster than you blink, it was like that. Afterwards he said one of the things you learn as a bare-knuckle fighter is where and what angle to hit people.
Trades are valuable
Braised Beef, Shanxi Style
OssoBuccoBraisedBeefShanksRecipe2
Ingredients
1 pound (400g) lean boneless beef
1/2 g fennel seed
10 teaspoons (50ml) soy sauce
3 1/2 ounces (100ml) chicken or duck broth
4 tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour), dissolved in 4 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons rice wine
3 ounces (100g) scallions, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped
3 1/2 fluid ounces (100ml) sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon MSG (optional)
Instructions
Wash the beef and cut into thin slices. Mix with the soy sauce and scallions.
Stir the cornstarch-water mixture and add.
Heat the sesame oil in a work add the fennel seeds. Heat to very hot or until the oil starts to smoke, and add the beef. Stir-fry until barely cooked.
Add the stock, rice wine and MSG (optional). Cover the wok, and boil rapidly for 1 minute.
When Chinese people get old, they hang out in the park. They form musical bands, dancing troupes, and gaming rings. They practice taichi for exercise and some even swing swords around. Many practice calligraphy on the pavement with a brush and a jug of water.
image 222image 221image 220image 219image 218
Charming, right? I really like the sense of community between old people in China. Getting old doesn’t mean you can’t share hobbies with friends.
Now, of course this only refers to the old people lucky enough to have money saved up to provide for themselves or kids that help support them, but that’s a topic for another time. For now I’d like to keep this answer wholesome. 🙂 Happy Saturday everyone~
While serving as a detective, in Shetland, I received a notification that paramedics were attending a stabbing incident, in Scalloway harbour. The victim was fading fast, we were told. My colleague and I made our way there, some 5 miles from our offices, in Lerwick. We arrived quickly and paramedics rolled up at almost the same instant we did.
While they attended to the victim, who had been on board a yacht, moored in the harbour, one of them confirmed that it was likely to be life-threatening, and a witness stated that an older man and a youth had left the area, hurriedly, just before the victim had been found. We were given a very brief description and I recognised it as fitting two males, who I had seen walking away from the harbour area, as we had arrived. I passed a description of the men, and we checked the streets of the small village, without success. We returned to the seafront, where I wanted to check inside a local hostelry, just as the two walked out, having removed their jackets and hat (in the case of the younger man). I spoke to them both and they identified themselves as New Zealand nationals, a “respectable businessman” and his son, who were visiting Shetland on business. The son – still a teenager – looked like he wanted to throw up, but his Dad appeared entirely calm and unruffled, as if he had not a single care in the world.
I detained both men, on suspicion of aggravated assault, and – to much protest from them both – arranged to have them conveyed back to the station, separately, for later questioning and investigation. Having done so, we returned to the harbour, where the paramedics had realised the victim was suffering a single penetrating stab wound to the chest, which had caused a tension pneumothorax. They had aspirated him, with a needle and were conveying him to the local hospital, for urgent and critical procedures. We were advised he was not stable, at that time, having lost a lot of blood.
The victim was identified to us as a German national, and yachtsman, resident in Shetland, while the suspect was identified as being the older Kiwi.
We returned to the station, where the custody sergeant informed me that the older suspect had just volunteered under caution, during his detention process, that the German had been drunk and had attacked him with a filleting knife. There had been a struggle and Dad alleged that his son had grabbed the knife off the man, accidentally stabbing the victim with it. He would say no more (having blamed his own son, the brave soul that he was).
The son had made no comments, but had appeared stunned, the sergeant said.
I interviewed both, separately, as I was the senior – and more experienced – detective present, albeit only a Detective Constable, myself. This was, by now, an attempt murder enquiry, plus I was the better interviewer. Dad spent 45 minutes saying, “no comment” to every single question put to him, relating to the incident. He still appeared as unruffled and calm as if he was out for a Sunday stroll, showed no stress, no discomfort, and still claimed to be a respectable New Zealand businessman. Other than that, “no comment”.
The son said he was in Shetland with his Dad, who wanted to see about buying up an old inter-island ferry boat, which was being sold off. He told us that Dad had sailed around the world, many times, and knew that if a boat could handle the seas around Shetland, in a harsh winter, it could pretty much handle the seas anywhere else in the world, at their worst. He said Dad’s was a tourist-derived business, but declined further comment, when asked for more details – about anything else.
We were a small department – a detective sergeant and then two detective constables (a third was on annual leave), with five uniformed officers then on shift, all with their own duties. But as this was an attempted murder, we could direct them, in assisting us with our enquiries. Their interviews turned up some more details – the yacht was owned by Dad, but the German had arrived in Shetland, having sailed the yacht there, months earlier. Dad had arrived in mainland Scotland, and then onto Shetland, only days earlier, with his son in tow. He had spent time in the company of some locals, who had said he had shown “a nasty temper” and they “wouldn’t want to mess with him”.
So I went back into interview, with Dad. He was irked by this, now slightly testy and refusing to answer any question with anything other than “no comment”. I told him he was perfectly entitled to do so, however it wouldn’t stop me asking my questions. He grew louder and louder in his, by now, yelled, “no comment!” to every question and I could see I was getting to him. So I took another break, as we had now gone through another 45 minute tape.
I brought his son back in, put Dad in to his cell, and let them see one another – just a glimpse of son being led out, as Dad was placed in the cell. Dad started screaming at his son, “No comment, boy! You make no fucking comment!”
I told the son, honestly, that his father had already made a voluntary statement under caution, blaming him (the son) for the stabbing. I told this terrified 17 year old that the German was in surgery and still might not make it out, alive. In which case, with the absence of any further information, it was Dad’s word, weighed against his own son’s silence, that son was responsible. If he did not make any comment, at this time, his father’s account would be accepted, son would be arrested – either for attempted or actual murder (if the victim expired as a result of his injury) – and face the consequences. He would be unlikely to receive bail for such an offence and so would be held in custody, in prison, until such time as a trial would commence.
That was it. Son puked in the wastepaper basket and started crying. He immediately denied having stabbed anyone. He made plenty comments, thereafter. In fact, he said Dad and the German knew one another for years. The yacht was owned by Dad, although used by the German. The two men had argued, while they were all drinking onboard the yacht, about money owed the father, which Dad said the German was ripping off from him. This has escalated, the two had fought and Dad had grabbed up a knife, from the galley kitchen area . The German fell, son realised his father had stabbed the man, and then he and his Dad hurriedly left the yacht, his father disposing of the knife overboard, into the relatively shallow harbour waters.
Having received this information, I tasked a police unit to return to the harbour and see if the knife could be seen, and put into motion a request for a diving team, via my supervisor – a Detective Inspector 300 miles away, in Inverness. The uniformed cops thought they could see the knife, but would need the divers, to be sure.
I advised our local Procurator Fiscal Depute, of the case, and enquiries up to that point. He told me that, even if Dad copped to the stabbing, unless there was something else there, that could be evidenced, this “businessman” would be bailed, come Monday morning (this was now tea-time, Friday night). If I could arrest him, I had a weekend, no longer, to hold him in custody.
I told him that what bothered me was this guy was unfazed by having almost killed a man. He never even asked how the man – an alleged old friend – was doing, or showed any concern or regret. There was…. nothing. “He is too cool”, I told the Fiscal. “This guy makes the skin between my shoulder blades itch. He is dangerous.”
“Prove it”, I was told.
The hospital came on, to say the German had pulled through, but the stab wound was deep, and either well placed or accidentally almost-lucky, as it had just missed his heart, nicking his vena cava, instead.
Now, when I said this guy bothered me, I mean he really, really bothered me.
So I went back into interview with him, and took him for one of my “walks around the houses”, as an old colleague used to call them. Seeming unassociated chat and questions, almost like a free flow of investigative consciousness – of which I took a careful note, of course. Early on, he was testy. Then he became narked, yelling his “No comment! No comment!” again, to anything and everything I said. When I started talking about his business – I had Googled his given address, he got antsy and even more angry. He ended up yelling at my colleague, “Can you not make him shut! The fuck! UP!!” I was all sweetness and light, still talking about New Zealand, tourism and his business, as if I hadn’t heard. He put his head in his hands and at that point, I asked him why he had stabbed his friend, who was alive and now recovering. His head shot up and he went very still and didn’t answer – which I pointed out, for the tape, describing his demeanour for purposes of the recording. I asked why they had been arguing, and if Dad owned the yacht. He didn’t answer and I pointed this out, again, with his demeanour. I asked why he had wanted his son to take the blame. Same response. I asked why he had thrown the knife overboard and the skin around his weatherbeaten eyes went very white. I told him we had divers coming for the knife, that he was staying all weekend and that we would be talking again. He tried, unsuccessfully, to upend the table, at that point, lunging to his feet, face now stark white, other than two red spots on his cheeks. He whispered, surprisingly calmly, “I could kill you.” I repeated that statement, for the benefit of the tape. I think he recognised that as a mistake.
I spent three hours of my own time, after knocking-off time, that night, open source-searching this guy, on my work computer. He had an unusual name, and I used it in connection with “New Zealand” “kiwi” “yachtsman” “sailor” “round the world” and similar phrases.
Finally, I got a hit, and it was a good one. It was a front page story in a south east-Asian newspaper, about a corrupt justice minister who had been arrested and tried, having been taped, several years previously, whilst in a three-way call between the suspected head of the world’s largest Triad gang (no, really!), and a New Zealand drug dealer. The NZ dealer had also served time in an American federal penitentiary, it seemed, having once sailed a yacht packed with drugs into a harbour, there, and straight into the arms of US Customs. The reports said he was now (at time of publishing) linked to this Triad gang and the world’s largest “Shabu” factory, believed to somewhere in or around the Philippines. “Shabu” is how they refer to Crystal Meth, down there.
Real “I am the one who knocks!” material (no, really!)
I spoke to the PF Depute, at his home (before finally heading off to my own home), to be told that he would try and use this to hold Dad, in custody, as a flight risk, and was fairly certain he could get at least two weeks on a “lie-down”, out of it. He went on that I should get Dad’s prints off to our Interpol liaison, ASAP, with a request to have them prioritised. I had already done so, but was advised it would take at least three weeks for any hit to come back. Meantime, he was still a “respectable NZ businessman”, newspaper article aside.
I went home, head whirring but knackered. Three and a bit scant hours later, I was awoken by an urgent call from Force HQ, on my mobile, telling me that I had to be at my office desk within 30 minutes, as a call would be coming in for me. I asked if a message could be taken and the Detective Sergeant at the other end – our Force Intelligence Officer – laughed and said absolutely not. He had been woken up in the night, for this, and so I could face the same fate! He wouldn’t say any more, so I dressed and made my rather bleary way into the station, and my office.
Sure enough, almost bang on the hour, my phone rang. “Call for you”, said our unnaturally cheery Force Intel Officer, and with that, I found myself suddenly talking to a rough-voiced, blunt-spoken (i.e. he swore a lot) Australian gentleman, who identified himself as a Detective Superintendent in an international task force. He asked if I had (insert name of Dad, here) in custody. I confirmed that I had. He asked what for and I told him I planned on reporting Dad for attempted murder. He paused to yell, off-handset, “SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” then asked if it was “a good one”. I told him I believed it would be. I explained about the stabbing, about the son, the German, the yacht, the alleged “rip-off”, and that got him excited. He asked me to wait one, and I heard him yell out that he had a cop in “Shetland?”, (I confirmed this and next heard him cry, “Will some bastard find me Shetland on a fucking map!”) on the phone and this “inspector” had (insert Dad’s full name here) in custody, on an attempted murder – a stabbing, no less. There were a few more yells and swears, in the background, and he told me the prints had been flagged, and he had been notified of a hit, in Scotland, of all places. He explained they had been tracking Crystal Meth, arms and even people, all being smuggled out of SE Asia, into Australasia. His main target was a big-time Bad Man (with capitals), in Australia, but Dad was the means by which the drugs and other items were believed to be shipped there. He explained this guy, Dad, travelled around, using his sailing prowess – he was a genuine former competitive yachtsman – to buy up suitable boats. These were used to ship their cargos to their destinations. He told me that Dad had been implicated in several murders, directly, by witnesses – former colleagues in his ventures – always with a knife. He liked to get “up close and personal”, while dealing with these “rats”, having been in the military, once upon a time and even lied to underlings about being ex-Special Forces, to boost his legend. Upward rising knife thrust to the heart (missing the ribs), with a long thin blade, was his alleged preferred killing stroke. Unfortunately, any and all witnesses had subsequently disappeared. The task force believed Dad had either killed them, or else had them killed. “Watch your witness”, he warned me. He promised I would have an Intel file, via our Force Intel Officer, within 24 hours, for our Fiscal and the Crown Office. Their difficulty had been in identifying his travel. They had his NZ passport flagged, but there was no record of him having left the country, in years, other than the odd short trip once or twice. I asked about his Panamanian passport and, again, he went quiet. “His WHAT?!” I explained that I had noticed, at the custody bar, while his belongings were being processed, that he had two passports – one from NZ, one from Panama. I knew that, at that time, it was possible to effectively buy a Panamanian passport, if you had business registered there, sufficient capital and enough connections. This gave Dad dual nationality and, from his reaction, it seemed that the task force didn’t know about it. “Do you have it?” he asked, excitedly. “Yes, but it’s sealed in his belongings and can’t be opened unless he is present, without lawful authority”. He swore profusely until I told him I had photocopied both passports and their contents, in case they’d come in useful. He was fairly chuffed, by this, and when I read off some of the travel dates and destinations, he was even more so.
I arranged to send him all I had, in return for everything they had. He ended the call by telling me that I might even get a promotion to Chief Inspector out of this. I told him that might not be that likely, as I was a Detective Constable. He wouldn’t believe me, so I told him my details would be on the email, when he got it all. He ended by saying that Dad was number 6 on their 10 Most Wanted list, at that time, in Australasia, while his Aussie counterpart was #2. I told him I’d take 6 of 10, by their standards!
Anyway, I re-interviewed Dad, who was fairly crestfallen that NZ had been in touch, already. He hurriedly amended his story, alleging self-defence, but it was too late. He appeared in court, both passports were seized and he was placed in prison on that 14 day “lie-down”, while I carried out further enquiries.
And then…
He had the German “helped” out of the hospital and off the island, by two large men, posing as cops, to hospital staff, while Dad was on his “lie-down”, awaiting his first diet at court. We checked plane and ferry terminals (benefits of an island) and then passed info and photos, from ferry CCTV, to mainland police, who identified a hire vehicle, just too late to stop them leaving. The licence plate went into the National ANPR system and it was tracked headed for Newcastle and the international ferry to Holland, there. The German was retrieved, safe and well, and went on record, claiming that the two men had plastic sheeting and shovels in the hire car (they did) and had planned on killing him and burying his body over there, before returning, one man lighter.
We couldn’t pin that on Dad, as the two men wouldn’t cough to it, and the German wouldn’t press it, simply relieved to be “home”. He gave evidence against Dad, and then buggered off, sharpish. Never saw him again.
Dad got 3 and a half years for assault to severe injury, and I got a call from Force Intel, months later, that his calls were being intercepted (lawfully) and in one of those, he had asked an unknown male how much trouble it would cause, and how much it would cost, to “off a cop”. He had been advised against it.
That was the one and only time I worried about one of those clowns who swear they will find you and kill you….
So I repaid the favour, by continuing to keep in touch with my Australasian friends. They arranged for him to be met at the prison gates, on the day of his release, by plainclothes Officers, cuffed and conveyed to London. He was furious, as he expected to be free and clear to carry on about his business. They handed him off to New Zealand cops, who flew him home and locked him up. Turns out his wife/partner was an illegal immigrant and he was abusive towards her, and their son (who she now knew had been implicated in the stabbing, by his own Dad). The authorities offered her citizenship and she offered them all the info on his kiwi businesses and criminal dealings. I don’t know if they ever got the Aussie Bad Man, but Dad died, several years later, having served yet more time back home, and having been confirmed as HIV+, contracted whilst in prison.
One of the two best arrests I ever made.
As my sergeant noted, at my appraisal, that year, “not many cops your rank get a head on the wall like that one”. Of course, I still had to fight for a high assessment grading and then defend it to an outraged senior officer. I never got so much as a memo from my own force, related to that one. Several above me got promotions, though, funnily enough.
The last thing I’ll say (yes, there’s more) is that the first seizure of Crystal Meth in Scotland was recorded as being in Aberdeen, a few months after Dad’s arrest.
That’s not quite correct.
The first such seizure was albeit minimal, but was in Shetland, around the time Dad was here. But the powers that be sat on the info, rather than (they thought) make the place look bad (no, really!).
The info, from my task force chums, was that Dad had been seeking to establish a pipeline, for the drug, into the U.K., and rather than coming up through Europe, into the very heavily policed Dover, this switched-on and experienced sailor had planned on having boats packed with it, sail, first into Shetland, then down to one or more of the numerous remote inlets or bays, on mainland Scotland (of which there are thousands), from whence it could be distributed nationally – the latter part being what the OCGs were doing with Cocaine, at one time. Customs would need to check every single fishing boat, small ferry or able bodied sea-faring vessel, in order to defeat those tactics – and there was no Customs presence in Shetland, as there was no longer international travel to and from the port here.
That case gives me a warm glow. Drug smuggler. People trafficker. Murderer. Simply awful father! Man of the world, career criminal, tripped up, in sleepy wee Shetland, and now pushing up daisies (better him than me!!), while I get to write long-winded stories about his nefarious ways.
My favorites are the “I didn’t study so I asked someone to whisper the answer and I copied it hilariously wrong” answers.
A few samples:
What are elements with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons called?
Correct answer: isotopes
What a kid wrote: ice tubes
The amount of product you expect to make in a chemical reaction is called the ________
Correct answer: theoretical yield
What a kid wrote: the radical yield
The device we use to light a Bunsen burner is called ________
Correct answer: striker
What a kid wrote: tricycle
The digits that indicate the accuracy of an answer are called_______
Correct answer: Significant figures
What a kid wrote: stick fingers
What is the formula of sodium nitrate?
Correct answer: NaNO3
What a kid wrote: Any 3
I get mad when the kids leave questions blank that we discussed for weeks and weeks. But when the answers are like this, I contemplate a new career. After I stop laughing.
A symbol of a declining society
Canadian Journalist Who Pushed Vaccine Mandates and “Concentration Camps” for Un-vax’d, DIES at Age 33
A Journalist who advocated that those who were unvaccinated against COVID-19 be put in concentration camps, has died suddenly at the young age of 33.
Ian Vandaelle died after being hospitalized and “declared neurologically dead,” his family revealed.
Vandaelle was a business journalist who worked as a reporter and editor at the Financial Post.
He was also previously a producer at BNN Bloomberg for over a decade.
Vandaelle advocated for vaccine passports and mandates and called for the firing of anyone who refused the injections.
He also suggested that unvaccinated people should be arrested and taken away to concentration camps.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
Like so many other left-wing-ish / Liberal-ish people, this person seemed so smug and self-righteous in his (wrong-headed) belief in the new COVID-19 vaccine, that he seems to have ignored all the warnings put out by others, like me, who warned against taking the new, untested, unproven, mRNA “death dart.”
Yet as with so many others his age, He seemed to think, when it came to the COVID Vax, HE knew better. He seemed to think HE was so much smarter than the rest of us. HEseemed to look down his nose at those of us who raised very real concerns about this new technology. To HIM, the rest of us were just sniveling idiots; too stupid to embrace this new, life-saving, technology.
Looks to me like maybe he wasn’t so smart after all. It is my personal opinion that the vaccine he thought so much of, killed him.
I think his ego blinded him to the reality . . . . and now . . . . he’s dead.
It’s hard to feel sorry for someone so young, dying this way. After all, if he had HIS way, all of us might be facing a similar fate – or be locked away in a Concentration Camp — just so HE and his ilk, could feel better. No thanks.
This may turn out to be the new general epitaph for Liberals: “He thought he knew better than everyone else; now, he’s dead from what he thought.”
Japan is both overwhelmingly modern and traditional at the same time. This does not just apply to the amalgamation of skyscrapers and ancient Shinto shrines in cities like Kyoto, but also on a more sociological level. The matter of sexuality in Japan may not be one of the first things that come to mind but Japan is a country mostly free of religious morals.
image 216
Traditionally a sexually open society
Sexuality in Japan developed separately from that of mainland Asia, as Japan did not adopt the Confucian view of marriage, in which chastity is highly valued. Monogamy in marriage is less important in Japan, and married men often seek pleasure from courtesans. Prostitution in Japan has a long history, and became especially popular during the Japanese economic miracle, as evening entertainments were tax-deductible!
The Art of Shunga
Historically, pornography in Japan may have begun at the start of the Edo period (1603–1868) as erotic artwork referred to as shunga that was typically done on woodblock prints. Shunga literally means “spring pictures”. “At its best shunga celebrates the pleasures of lovemaking, in beautiful pictures that present mutual attraction and sexual desire as natural and unaffected” Tim Clark, curator of “Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese art”
Mass produced during the Edo period shunga offered sexuality a shameless visual platform. Shunga depicted sexual pleasure that included both heterosexuality and homosexuality, each not only acknowledged but also encouraged. Surprisingly prior the Edo Period there was no Japanese word for female sexuality, and Shunga changed this with the depiction of female pleasure including lesbianism.
Shunga was an essential part of Japanese society
Shunga had functions beyond its aesthetic appeal. Its primary use would have involved viewing and sharing the paintings or books with close friend or sexual partners. Like the Indian Kama Sutra the Shunga images were also used to provide sexual education for young couples. While shunga was chiefly commissioned by men, it has been found among the dowry goods presented to a Japanese bride, suggesting that it was also highly valued by women.
Most shunga was created by woodblock artists from the popular school ukiyo-e, ‘pictures of the floating world,’ a genre of painting that mainly illustrated life’s pleasures that was mass-produced as prints. Surprisingly traditional painters also produced a large quantity of shunga including members of the Kano School, known for their innovative secular paintings.
Samurai were seen as the keepers of morality in Japan. Shunga was both commissioned and accepted by the samurai as a pleasurable cultural pursuit, and thus the whole of Japanese society enjoyed shunga.
There was also an element of humour to shunga, which sometimes referred as warai-e or “laughing picture”. Shunga works are artefacts of an era in Japan where attitudes about sex were freer. Sex was seen as an everyday natural activity without shame and often was the centre of amusement.
Sex and Erotic Art in early Japan
By the Edo period in the early 17th to mid 19th centuries, there had been a long history of erotic art and secular sexual expression in Japan, which meant that shunga was nothing new. Prehistoric societies had developed phallic worship in connection with their reliance on agriculture and Japan’s creation myths are based on human-like sexual procreation. Throughout the centuries, the phallus and phallus shaped objects (for example, mushrooms) had been prominent figures in carvings, could be found in shrines, festivals, and along roadways, and were traditionally and superstitiously related to good luck, health and longevity.
What allowed for such an openness of sexual imagery and expression was the lack of any strict religious code that controlled sexual behaviour. Unlike in the West, which was dominated by a strict Judeo-Christian ideology, there was no moral shame and stigma surrounding sex or the production of erotic images in Japan — only a stringent class system based on Confucianism that dictated deference to status and appreciation of personal space.
Sex in Japan did not take on any ‘mythical’ or religious significance as it did in India and China. Furthermore, humour and wit had developed over the centuries as a common part of sexuality and was incorporated in the broader culture via allusions, euphemisms, sexually related stories and poetry. These and other cultural and religious factors allowed sex to be seen as a more naturalistic, enjoyable experience between partners, which in turn has produced a wide array of acceptable sexual behaviours in modern Japan including same-sex partners, and sexually related products such as sex toys, manuals, and even a chain of sex stores.
By the time of the Edo Period, the normalcy and humour found in sex, highly developed forms of sexual expressions, and the lack of moral or religious control all translated into an early modern culture that allowed shunga to flourish as a genre of popular art and sex to be open, fun and easily available.
From sexual openness to repression
Japan’s sexual freedom was a revelation to Europe, particularly its artists. Painters such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and Picasso found fertile ground in Shunga imagery. As Japan sought modernisation and to be in line with ‘modern’ western social norms, the Meiji Government banned shunga in the early 20th century, becoming taboo within Japan. As Japan sought sexual repression Europe sought sexual liberation!
When Shunga was flourishing in Japan, in Christian Europe at the time shunga would have been deeded pornographic. Shunga is an impressive, unique tradition of pre-modern erotic art. It serves as testament to a once uninhibited, open-minded society that offered artists opportunities to express originality and unbridled emotion.
image 16
Celebrating Shunga Today
The history, humour and accomplishments of shunga are explored at the British Museum in Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art. The exhibition looks at Japanese art like no other. Explicit and beautifully detailed the works on display are between the years 1600 and 1900, and such works continue today to influence manga, anime and Japanese tattoo art. The exhibition sheds new light on this sexuality explicit art form from Japanese social and cultural history. Parental guidance advised for visitors under 16.
The 48 Japanese sexual positions
If you have ever wondered how they do it elsewhere in the world, a recent Durex Ad may have caught your eye. It introduced some acrobatic positions within decidedly Canadian names: the ‘maple cinnamon twist’ and ‘the Niagara fall’ (the Canadian side, we are assuming).
There is not a lot of research on the top sex positions in different countries. Sex surveys tend to focus on other aspects of our time between the sheets (such as sexual satisfaction and frequency). That said, the Durex Sexual Wellbeing survey which questioned 26,000 people across 26 different countries does have some interesting insights into how different nations have sex. Overall worldwide less than 50% of people are sexually satisfied and as one gets older and has sex less often, dissatisfaction increases, particularly with males. The world has obviously become more sexually repressed.
The following images are illustrations of Japan’s 48 sexual positions — the “48 Ways” (shijuuhatte). These sex positions are inspired by sumo wrestling moves going back centuries. During the Edo period, the word 48 arms-hands started to be imbued with sexual meaning — “all the basic sexual techniques”.
image 215
Below, Japanese Durex condom commercial teaches you 48 ways to have sex with a wrestler. It’s kinda a humorous play to watch, so enjoy it!
Choosing sexual partners in Japan
Most men are attracted to younger and good-looking women, since it is believed that the women will be fertile and prodigy will also be attractive. It’s human instinct, and only moral education can try to repress this instinct. East Asian religions (Confucianism, Taoism, Shinoism, Buddihism) do not teach strong moral principles or prohibitions regarding sex. In fact sexual restrictions and the associate shame or guilt with sex is typically a Judeo-Christian or Islamic characteristic.
In modern Japan the Western desire by males for big breasts and shapely hips may also be based upon a subconscious belief of greater female fertility but the overriding influence has been Western film culture. For women in Japan, and the world over, power has always been a significant element when choosing a male partner. Power and sexual desire often go hand in hand since a powerful male can easily support and protect a family.
The more targets the US spies on, the fewer friends it has — Chinese FM
image 213
The US government has kept expanding its scope of surveillance, meddling in other countries’ domestic affairs and interfering in international affairs, which runs counter to international law and the fundamental principles of international relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry commented on the Section 702 of US’ Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which allows the US intelligence agency to conduct unauthorized surveillance of non-US individuals abroad. The spokesperson added that “The more targets the US spies on, the fewer friends it has. The US needs a better sense of boundary and less obsession for control.”
During a press briefing on Thursday, media mentioned that US National Security Council member Joshua Geltzer said that Section 702 of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), an important legal basis for US intelligence authorities to eavesdrop on non-US citizens overseas and step up international surveillance without authorization, will expire on December 31. It was estimated that nearly 60 percent of President Biden’s daily intelligence brief came from these “big ears.”
The warrantless government surveillance authority slated to expire in days is closer to lasting for at least a few more months after the US Senate on Wednesday local time passed an annual defense policy bill that included a temporary extension.
In response to that, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), adopted after Watergate, was originally aimed at preventing government authorities from abusing power and carrying out arbitrary eavesdropping.
However, Section 702, added in 2008, permit the National Security Agency to carry out eavesdropping and surveillance without obtaining an individualized court order, Mao said.
After that, the US government has been expanding the scope of eavesdropping and surveillance to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and meddle in the normal course of international affairs. This practice runs counter to international law and basic norms governing international relations, Mao said.
“The more targets the US spies on, the fewer friends it has. The US needs a better sense of boundary and less obsession for control,” Mao added.
27 Years Ago This Animated Television Series “Duckman” SHOWED Men Are Going Their Own Way
A couple of months ago, we had an IT guy in our office who had just received his summons to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
It was a Friday and he had to appear at the military commissariat four days later, on Tuesday. Needless to say, the summons papers pretty much ruined his weekend.
image 214
War is a dangerous affair: a wall in Kyiv that commemorates the country’s fallen heroes from 2014 till today. (Picture by the author of this post)
I have rarely seen a man who was more scared than this poor guy. He was literally sweating. He really wasn’t the fighter type: mid 30s but looking older, non-athtletic body type and a small beer belly.
There was nothing we could do for him. He should have seen it coming. There’s compulsory service in Ukraine and people like him are getting drafted every day.
In our office, most (male) workers have already bought proper body armor and helmets for themselves, some of them even got guns and regularly train on the shooting range. In addition, they help me and my friends to support the military with equipment. When these guys get their summons, they’ll be prepared.
So yes, some people are scared when they have to join the military.
Advice you NEED to hear in your 20s (not what you’d expect)
As far as Europe is concerned (as opposed to, let’s say Africa or the Middle East, for instance), body hair was left to grow until well into the 20th century.
Men typically shaved or trimmed their beards according to the fashion at the time, hair was cut , curled, bleached or dyed, equally accordingly but body hair was left to do its own thing.
This is valid for all strata of society.
Otherwise, in the absence of running water, both sexes usually washed in a bidet, which was filled with warm water and/or perfume/cologne/eau de toilette. Basically, just like you would with a wet wipe, you moisten a cloth or sponge with perfume and clean your entire body with it.
image 217
Women using a bidet, by Willem-Joseph Laquy 1771.
So, basically, in spite of many claims to the opposite, there’s no reason to believe that people in the 1700’s would have been much dirtier than nowadays, although the mix of armpit smell and perfume would probably have been noticeable.
Lice is always a problem. However, just like nowadays, a variety of treatments were available, usually in the form of perfumes, what we now call essential oils, etc. They kill the eggs and you can get rid of the bugs themselves with a fine tooth comb.
And here it is…
2023 12 16 19 24
Women PANIC As They Realize Men Don’t Want To Marry Older Women
Man, the USA is so terribly fucked up. Take me “home”. Please!
Russia Warns If NATO Bases Used For Ukrainian Jets, Those Bases Could Be Targeted
With the Russia-Ukraine war now approaching the two year mark (in February), Americans might need reminding that the conflict remains a highly dangerous situation which could at any moment escalate into a WW3 scenario.
Zelensky’s visit to Washington this week was lackluster, and he left without securing what Kiev is hoping for – that Congress would quickly pass Biden’s $106 billion war funding request, which also includes defense funds for Israel. Of course, at this point Zelensky has complained publicly that the crisis in Gaza has taken the world’s focus off the need to defend Ukraine from Russia’s onslaught.
Though headlines in the West barely took notice, Russia early Wednesday launched a significant ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, which authorities said injured at least 53 people, including six children, with severe damage to a number of buildings.
But with Zelensky in Washington, making the rounds to the Oval office and the halls of Congress, the Kremlin issued a fresh warning saying that if Ukraine’s military is granted access to NATO airbases for sorties using western-made planes, in would respond while deeming Ukraine’s external allies as direct participants in the war.
The fresh warning was announced by Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation to the military security and arms control talks in Vienna:
“We already hear comments that, amid the significant destruction of Ukraine’s airstrip infrastructure, the F-16s handed over to Ukraine may carry out their missions from airbases in Poland, Romania and Slovakia,” he said during the OSCE Forum meeting on cooperation in security.
According to the diplomat, Moscow will view this as these countries’ participation in the conflict and will force Russia to resort to “response measures.”
Even though certain eastern European allies pledged F-16s long ago, it could still be a lengthy amount of time before Ukrainian pilots are fully trained, enough to be deployed in combat on the US-made warplane.
Western officials have in recent months admitted that Russia has the upper hand, and that Ukraine’s summer offensive failed, but everyone is now putting in place their ‘long war’ strategies. The Kremlin’s new warning and threat also seems part of this longer term planning from Moscow’s perspective.
(My answer contains information that some people might find offensive. Please be advised. I am just sharing an experience I had. Thank you!)
I don’t remember exactly which grade my daughter was in when this happened, but it was when she was in elementary school.
It was a sunny weekend afternoon, I asked her, “Do you want to go to the park?” – which was her favorite thing to do, she had never refused it. But to my surprise, she said no. “Why?” – I asked.
“I don’t want to turn to black!”, she answered. “What!?”, I asked, dropping my jaw. “It’s sunny. The sun will shine on me and make my skin dark”, she pointed to the sun. “Who told you that?!”, I was stunned. She then grabbed the map, and explained to me, “This is Africa. It’s near the equator. They have a lot of sun over there, they are outside a lot, that’s why their skin turns dark. Our intern teacher told us that.”
You have no idea how angry I got when I heard this.
The next Monday morning, I took my daughter to school. After dropping her off, I asked for a meeting between that intern teacher and the principal. I explained the situation and demanded an explanation. The intern teacher was scared, he said he was just “joking”. He wanted to tell the kids that they need to wear a hat and use sunscreen when they are outside in the sun, or else they will get tanned; that’s why he “joked” like that.
I could tell the “face-palm” from the principal’s look. She apologized to me and promised me she would give my daughter’s class a special lesson to “fix” this issue (And she did. My daughter later that day went home and told me they had a lesson about protecting our skin). But the damage was already done. It took a long time with a lot of reading and explaining for me to erase the thought that “dark skin” was equal to “a bad thing” from my daughter’s mind.
I don’t know what happened to that intern teacher, but I hope he learned his lesson.
Carousel Rider Has MELTDOWN After BF Dumps Her Upon Learning She Had “Relations” With Over 300 Men
Back in the 1990s, my former father-in-law (my then-wife’s father), who I’ll call Joe, was the one instigating our divorce. He was one of those macho cop types, kind of a good ol’ boy.
I found one of those subscription cards in a copy of Out magazine on the rack. Out magazine was for gay people who decided to come out of the closet. I put Joe’s full name and his nextdoor neighbor’s address on the subscription card and mailed it in. (I used a typewriter in a store so my handwriting couldn’t be traced back to me).
Imagine his shock and horror when his neighbor showed up at his door and said, “Hi Joe, your Out magazine came to my house by mistake.” 😂
Nowadays, I regret such a juvenile tactic, but I was a bit crazy at the time because it was a messy divorce.
In December 2023, 27-year-old Neusha Afkami had to go the airport in Austin, Texas. She got an Uber, and told the driver he to “make it fast”, as she had a plane to catch and she needed to be on it desperately. Much to her frustration, the driver wasn’t going very fast.
image 226
Neusha felt she could go faster… so after berating the man, she took the driver’s phone… and threw it out the car window. He immediately stopped the vehicle to retrieve his phone and when he did, Mrs. Afkami jumped in the driver’s seat and drove off, leaving her Uber driver standing helplessly by the side of the road. Not only did she take the car, she also took the man’s wallet, which he left behind as he got out. While at the airport, she went on a 130 dollar shopping spree with the man’s credit card as she waited for boarding.
Of course, knowing his own car’s information like the back of his hand, the Uber driver immediately called the police. Before Neusha Afkami could even board her plane, she was located and arrested by Texas police, putting an end to her little bout of playing-GTA-in-real-life.
Knowing These Life Lessons After 40 is Like Cheating. Literally.
It was during a drug search warrant of a heroin dealer’s house. We executed the warrant and located the target of the investigation, a 40-year-old male at home. He also had a live-in girlfriend who, like her man, was an intravenous user of heroin.
His girlfriend had a two-year-old toddler whom we found crawling around the living room floor. The child was naked and dirty and crying. He was a good-looking child, but what would his future hold in that environment? We located drugs and drug paraphernalia all over the house. Most disturbing were the numerous uncapped needles lying on the floor and coffee table right near the toddler. Additionally, there were remnants of powdered heroin and cocaine on the coffee table, which could easily be reached by the child.
My sergeant flipped out on the woman — and asked if she was crazy, exposing her child to used uncapped needles and powered narcotics on the table. The woman just sort of smiled and almost in slow motion said it was her kid and it was none of his business. She was clearly in a drug-induced stupor.
My sergeant replied that he was not only seizing the illegal drugs but was also seizing the child. With that, he scooped up the child in his arms and walked out of the house. He instructed our evidence officer to photograph the living room to document the horrible and dangerous conditions.
My sergeant stood outside and called the division of family services. They didn’t want to respond until the following morning. He emphatically informed them that the child had been removed from this unsafe environment and either they would come and take the child or our next stop was the local newspaper.
They responded to the scene, witnessed the horrible conditions where the child was housed and took the child from the doped-up mother. Three days later they returned the child to the mother at the same house.
Moving that child back into a drug house full of used needles and drugs was the saddest thing ever I witnessed a parent do to their child. When I hear people speak of legalizing all drugs, I think back to that helpless innocent victim.
Marinade: Combine all ingredients in a bowl; mix thoroughly to ombine.
Place short ribs in a nonmetallic dish. Pour marinade over short ribs; cover and refrigerate. Marinate at least three hours or preferably overnight.
Florida Citrus Kimchi: Combine all ingredients in bowl; toss to combine. Reserve.
Drain marinade from short ribs; discard marinade. Grill short rib slices over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove cooked slices from grill; place on cutting board. Slice short rib slices crossways into small, bite size pieces of meat.
Assembly: Heat tortillas over medium heat on the grill or in a sauté pan. Place a small amount of shredded cabbage in the center of each tortilla; top with 1/4 cup short rib meat and 2 tablespoons Florida Citrus Kimchi.
I was the arresting officer on a DUI case. I received a subpoena to appear in court. The man was so drunk he peed al over himself and other stuff in the intoxilyzer room. I thought it was for his guilty plea, but was wrong. He hired an attorney the day before trial and plead not guilty and had not viewed the tape. When the tape was played and everyone watched him pee and slip to the floor and splash his hands in his mess, the judge actually had an out loud laugh along with the rest of the court room.
As it turn out he was a regular drunk and was so out of it he had no idea he had done that. Needless to say, he changed his plea to guilty, the jury was dismissed and the judge imposed a very sever punishment on him. It was his 5th DUI in 5 years.
CHILLING NDE! What I Saw in Hell Will Change You Forever! (Near Death Experience Angie Fenimore)
I got home one night from work, and listened to a message from the State Police from a barracks three hours north of me. Curious, I called back to speak with the officer. He was off for the night so we spoke the next day. The questioning was interesting. He wanted to know if I had been in Bangor Maine the previous day, and if anyone else had access to my car. Puzzled, I asked why. It turns out that there was a bank robbery and they thought that I might be involved. WTF???
The officer was sure that I or somebody else had driven my car from the southern border of Maine to Bangor and back in under six hours without going through a toll booth. For those unfamiliar with the state of Maine that just isn’t possible. I explained that I had been at work all day, and my car was on camera and hadn’t moved. The officer was unconvinced until I send him pictures of my car, my registration, and license plates. The plate number they had matched a set of plates that I used to own, and they were on same make of car, but as it turns out a different year. Very clever.
I in turn called the local police and reported those plates as stolen. I met the detective at my house and his first words to me were “Kurt, so you’re robbing banks now.” He laughed. The detective lives three housed down from me and my wife had his kids in school.
A few months prior I came home at lunch to find a strange car at the end of my shared driveway, and my garage door open. I thought perhaps my wife or I had left the garage door open when we left for work. I grabbed a crowbar as a weapon and searched the house. I know not the smartest thing to do, but I don’t own a firearm. Nothing was missing, and nobody was in the house so I didn’t think much of it at the time. I went outside to get the license plate number strangely parked car , and to call the police. My neighbor came down the driveway and apologized for parking in my driveway and left. That’s where I thought the story ended.
A few weeks before this incident, I had just purchased my car off of lease and switched plates. In Maine we don’t need to turn our plate in and my old plates had been on the wall in my garage. I didn’t notice that they were missing. The neighbor that had parked at the end of my driveway? That neighbor had a previous conviction for Bank Robbery. The local detective and I put two and two together and we had a good suspicion about what had happened to the plates. He gave the information to the State Police and I never heard from that officer again.
High Powered (1945) ACTION ADVENTURE
Full movie. Free and fun. Film Noir.
In this two-fisted adventure tale, a high-rigger holds himself responsible after his brother is killed in an on-the-job accident. He gets a chance for redemption, when it looks as though the same accident is about to occur again!
Oh, I have a lot of regrets. Though, I try to minimize the mountain of built-up and pent-up regrets and memories. Often enough, though distraction and labor. In one way or the other.
Some of the regrets are silly.
Here’s a silly regret.
When I lived in Boston, I used to go into the thrift stores, and antique stores and browse around. Over time, I would often find this kind of heavy (smash on the table) white coffee cup. And it would be cheap. 25 cents more often than not. These things were great, and were really popular in the United States say up until the late 1960’s.
mug
Many had logos, and designs. Often symbols. All nicely done. Like for Naval Ships. Or for government agencies. Or for awards and events. Like a bridge opening in 1954.
So I had amassed quite a collection of them. I loved them. I had, maybe, about 35 of these things.
Later on, when I was living in Arkansas, and going though a nasty divorce with the witch that was poisoning me and who eventually got me sent to prison, I left the state with just a few items of clothing and my books.
When the time came to pack up the mugs, however, on a whim, I decided to leave them behind.
I guess that I was too upset, and too lethargic over everything to take them with me.
I shouldn’t have done that.
And now I have regrets.
…
Do not allow emotion…
…tiredness…
…frustration…
…stress…
…to allow you to make hasty and ill-advised decisions.
…
You will egret them in the future.
(A word to the wise.)
Today…
BULLETIN: Russian Forces Hit NATO Operations Center Inside Ukraine!
BULLETIN: 2:49 PM EDT 16 December 2023 — Starokonstantinov, Ukraine — Russian Aerospace Forces have struck a NATO Operations center with a Kinzhal Hypersonic Missile.
Russian Forces report and confirm the destruction of a NATO operation center in Starokonstantinov, Ukraine, by a Kinzhal hypersonic missile strike!!
Initial reports say Ukrainian suffered 28 casualties and NATO lost at least 12 officers!!
The Ukrainian forces have given no statement and have disabled communication in the region to prevent information from getting out!! They’re too late.
The US and NATO are now directly involved in Ukrainian combat operations against Russia in Ukraine!!
Riding a camel is quite an experience. It’s not like hopping onto a horse or sitting on a bike.
First off, before you even get to the exciting part, you’re going to face the camel’s getting-up process. Camels are tall creatures and they rise in stages—back legs first—which can leave you feeling like you’re about to be catapulted over their head. Holding on during that initial lurch is key.
Once you’re in motion, the rhythm is unlike any other. Camels have a swaying gait, and it can take a moment to find your balance with the camel’s oscillating movement (they often walk in a ‘pace’, moving both legs on one side of their body simultaneously). Think of it like a boat slowly rocking side to side—you need to relax and go with the flow.
The height can be disconcerting too—you’re way up there. A camel’s back is a lofty perch compared to the average horse. This means you get quite a vantage point; it’s like sitting on a slow-moving balcony. For me, here in Portland, OR, the tallest I usually get is standing up on Mount Tabor, which is nothing compared to being atop a camel, I’d bet.
But it’s not an amusement park ride. Expect some discomfort, especially if you’re not used to riding animals. The saddle, often just a blanket or a simple framework, isn’t the epitome of comfort, and it’s going to test your core strength and your backside.
Now, let’s talk about the personality of your ride. Camels can be temperamental. They’re known for being a bit…
Well, let’s say they have their own minds. They might decide to stop and refuse to move. Or they might express their displeasure in a more vocal way. Yep, they can spit if they’re really pushed. But mostly, they’re majestic creatures—stoic and adapted perfectly to their environment.
Here’s a pro tip: wear long trousers and maybe even some padding. You’ll thank me later when you’ve avoided chafing and can still walk normally the next day.
Lastly, enjoy the quirks. It’s an ancient mode of transportation, a connection to a different way of life. Riding a camel can be an opportunity to take in the landscape at a slower pace, from the deserts of the Middle East to the wilds of Australia, or even special tours elsewhere.
All told, it’s about embracing a unique adventure, one sway at a time.
Have you noticed that most public doors open outwards?
Picture this:
You’re at the cinema with your family or friends, enjoying a spectacular movie by some of your favourite actors.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a fire breaks out and the fire alarm rings.
At first people are confused, but very quickly they catch on. In chaotic unison, everyone suddenly starts to panic.
And like a herd of buffalo that have just spotted a lion, everyone darts towards the door. You’re in the lead.
You reach the door first and quickly try to push it open. But it doesn’t budge. It’s a “pull” door.
Realizing your mistake, you quickly try to pull it open. But it’s too late. Everyone’s already at the door trying desperately to push through.
You can’t pull the door back, because everyone is pushing you against it and cramming at the entrance.
At the same time, people are yelling at you.
“OPEN THE DOOR!!!”
“JUST PUSH IT YOU F*CKING IDIOT!”
“PLEASE, I HAVE A BABY!”
But you can’t.
You can’t even move. Your body is being crushed against the door by the panicking crowd. Combine that with the smoke and you can’t breathe.
You’re suffocating.
This was someone’s reality in the Iroquois Theatre Fire of 1903.
image 232
The deadliest theatre fire and deadliest single-building fire in United States history. Resulting in over 602 deaths.
Luckily, by chance a passing railroad agent saw the crowd pressing against the door and unfastened the hinges from the outside using tools that he normally carried with him, allowing the actors and stagehands to escape.
Because of this incident, most public doors now open outwards or are bidirectional.
And this is why a fire exit in particular will most likely open outwards.
Not so much a mass exodus but a full team exodus – five of us. I was team leader but my elder mum (we lived together) was extremely ill, and it was clear to me that very soon the diagnosis would be one of terminal cancer, so I asked my Manager for a change in working hours so I could go home every lunch time to make sure she ate and was okay. I lived a 25 minute drive away so my intention was I would be absent 12 – 2 and make up the missing hour (1 of the hours being my lunch hour) by doing work at home that evening. Now bear in mind that for the entire 7 years I had worked for that company, and been team leader for 4 years, I had often gone in of a weekend UNPAID for at least a couple of hours to ensure that all was up to date, or took work home to do during the evening UNPAID. My team had a reputation for being fast, efficient, and friendly. We exceeded our targets every single year and received handsome bonuses.
My boss said NO. His only reason being that if he did it for me he would have to do it for others. The fact that this was exceptional circumstances and, as far as I could see, it would not be longer than a year or so (in fact, my mum died in the March of the following year, I had made my request in the July). I had already been headhunted by another local firm much nearer to my home (10 mins walk maximum) so I went back to them and they offered me a job. My boss was gobsmacked but still would not offer a change to my working hours, so I took the other job offer.
Well as soon as they knew I was leaving, my entire team started looking elsewhere and within a matter of months the entire team was gone! In fact, one member of the team actually came with me to my new employer :-D.
We sold a used car to a man who claimed that it was for his 16 year old daughter’s birthday that was the next day. He didn’t have all of the money, but said he would bring us the rest after he got his next paycheck. My heart went out to him, so I gave him the car with just a partial deposit. No surprises…he took the car and never came back. This was in Los Angeles.
Flash forward a few months, we were in downtown Las Vegas when who do I see but the thief who still owed us the money. My husband insisted it wasn’t him. I knew it was. I marched right up to him and demanded our money. The man was clearly caught off guard and then said that he didn’t have it on him. I said, “That’s okay, we’ll walk with you to the nearest ATM.” And that’s how we got the money that was owed to us.
Funny side note… the FBI called me a few months after that to see if I recognized anyone in a line up. There he was again! Turned out that he was part of an organized auto theft / chop shop ring. So much for my gut instincts!
This is one of those “Yes but / However comma” answers.
Civilians with no military experience get hung up on this idea a lot, because they don’t understand two concepts that are pretty fundamental to how the US military (and most Western-style militaries, for that matter) operate: rank is not the same thing as authority, and officers and NCOs have fundamentally different jobs and responsibilities.
Caveat that I’m coming at this question from the perspective of the Navy. An officer or NCO from another service might things somewhat differently, but I’m trying to give as ecumenical an answer as possible.
A junior officer in the O-1 pay grade* is first and foremost an apprentice officer. Everyone understands this – the JO, his NCOs, his superior officers, etc. If a new 2nd Lt or Ensign doesn’t understand this, then his instructors at his commissioning source failed to do some pretty basic education. The new butterbar is there to learn how to be a leader; the philosophy of the US military is the best way to learn is by doing. So he or she is placed in a position of leadership and, at least by the pay grade table, outranks even the saltiest E-9.
*It’s different with officers commissioned from the ranks – the Navy calls them “mustangs” – and that’s a whole different discussion outside the scope of the OP’s question
This is where the however comma bit comes in. By matter of long service and experience, the NCOs in a unit have greater informal authority. The O-1 is there to learn from them. It’s supposed to be a good working partnership that combines mentorship, OJT, and maintaining unit discipline and morale. The officer should demonstrate willingness to listen and learn and respect for the NCOs’ experience and authority over the more junior enlisted; the NCO should demonstrate patience and good mentorship while respecting the officer’s rank and extending them the courtesy due that rank. An officer who confuses his pay grade with authority undermines the NCO in front of the junior E’s. An NCO who demeans or disregards the officer undermines the officer and fails in his duty to form the young officer into the kind of leader he’d want to work for.
Of course, people are people, in uniform and not, and it doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to. Sometimes a new officer doesn’t know what to do with their by-rank authority but tries to hide it (which is silly, nobody expects a brand new officer to know how to do everything) by blindly issuing orders without listening to his NCOs, or trying to be chummy with the junior E’s (who are probably closer to his age), or masking their insecurity about their inexperience with arrogance, etc. Not all NCOs are created equal. Some don’t have the patience to mentor an officer, or the desire. Those are the “go away and let me do my job…sir” NCOs. And some NCOs are just plain incompetent, or might have been great technical specialists but with no talent for leadership. The military promotion system is, to say the least, by no means perfect.
When it works as designed though, it works well for everyone involved.
This wasn’t when we were fighting for custody, but when I was trying to have our custody case transferred to a different courts jurisdiction.
The judge asked me why I wanted the change. I told him that the kids and I had moved to the jurisdiction of the other court and I planned on asking for a change to our custody case. I had no car and with the way the public transportation ran, I had to come up with the kids the night before court and stay the night at a friends house to be able to make it to court on time and then the kids would all miss a full day of school. The judge then asked their dad why he didn’t want the change to happen. He told the judge that it would inconvenience him (even though he had a car). I had never seen a judge yell at anyone before that day. He was screaming at my ex “How does your inconvenience trump your kids missing school, spending the night away from home, spending hours on a bus?!”
If it’s a “mind game” to shut down a “mind game,” yes. I got quite blunt:
Interviewer: “You’ve proven to me you are an excellent designer; but you haven’t proven your writing skills. Here is a writing assignment. Work on it tonight and bring it to me tomorrow at 2 and I will give you your portfolio back then.” THANK YOU, NO.
Interviewer: “Do you have any idea who would buy our product? I’m thinking salesmen. But I’m not sure. Do you have any ideas? Maybe we could write some down.” THANK YOU, NO.
Interviewer: “It’s only a one-day assignment, but we have a zero-tolerance policy, you we will need a urine test from you before we will consider hiring you.” THANK YOU, NO.
Interviewer: “I need to test you. Here’s a written exam (!). You have :30 to finish it.” (I realize the “exam” is an article the hiring company needs for a trade-industry magazine.) THANK YOU, NO.
The worst mind game played on me was by a nice, professional man who I liked instantly. I arranged to meet him after the staff went home, because I was still working a full-time job. This position was for a temporary marketing person that would cover a specific 3-month project. There was the possibility it could become permanent. We had a lovely chat, and he seemed ready to hire me. He said “let me show you around.” After we toured the work area (and he showed me “my” desk), he said “Can you come back on Tuesday? I just want to introduce you to a few co-workers.” (I’m thinking he’s hired me; I lied to my current boss so I had all Tuesday morning.) On Tuesday morning, I arrived all relaxed and confident. I asked to see Mr. Manager (who was oh so nice, did I mention?). The receptionist said “Mr. Manager isn’t in today.” Me: “I’m sorry, he was interviewing me for the marketing position. I must have confused the day.” “No; said the receptionist. Follow me.” She led me into a huge conference room with six large banquet tables arranged so it was one big table. People started filing in… 7, 11, 12… I lost count. They were “the executive board” and they started peppering me with questions. I did my best to answer, but my anger at Mr. Nice Manager was boiling over. So he deliberately lied to me to presumably see how I acted “under pressure” and didn’t have the decency to even be there. Sorry, I won’t work for someone who would do that to a person. This was years ago, but I still see the company’s vans and I cringe; what did they do to the guys that drive the vans, hold them out a window by the ankles? I fell flat on my face in that interview. Maybe that’s my fault, but that is the definition of a mind game, and I didn’t want any part of someone who would do that to a prospective employee.
In short, most of my mind game interviewers are trying to get work done for free or betray a weird corporate culture (OK, you have a zero drug policy for a one-day temp job and you can’t find anyone pre-screened and in-house?). A few interviewers have left me waiting for :45 to over an hour; if they were “tricking me” or just disrespectful of me and my time, I didn’t really care because I left.
TL/DR: Pay attention to how you’re treated in an interview because whatever game they’re playing is going to get exponentially worse if they hire you. An interview goes both ways. Plus, if they’re obviously playing you, you have every right to “play” back.
I still enjoy going to theaters with my girlfriend—sometimes. It gives us an excuse to get out of the house and focus on a movie with no distractions.
It’s gotten remarkably expensive. The last time we went, tickets were nearly $25 each.
But the biggest problem is the people. There is constant talking and playing on phones.
We had teenage girls sitting in the front row during a showing of Dune. Their screens were flashing in the front row. They were sprinting in and out of the theater like hyper children.
My girlfriend left halfway through the movie to use the bathroom.
image 211
She bumped into the teenagers and called them out for ruining the movie for everyone and they didn’t come back.
She got back from her bathroom break and said, “Don’t worry about those girls. I took care of it.”
For a brief second, I was worried she’d killed them.
Sadly, in the past three out of four movie dates we’ve been on, there has been some sort of incident. It’s making movie theaters damn near impossible to enjoy.
I’m hoping it’s just bad luck on our part. It wasn’t always like this.
Yes, indeed. Behold the HTRE-3 nuclear aircraft engine.
image 160
Yes, this is real. Yes, the military was crazy enough to think this was a good idea.
In principle, it’s straightforward. A jet engine is just a heat engine. You suck cold air in the front, you heat it up, you spew the hot air out the back. What we normally think of as a “jet engine” heats the air up by burning jet fuel. But the heat can come from anywhere. A nuclear reactor? No sweat. They get plenty hot.
Thing is, it’s easy to make a lightweight nuclear reactor that gets as hot as you want it to. The heavy part of a reactor isn’t the core, it’s the radiation shielding around the core.
So. What do you notice is missing in this picture?
Core’s looking a bit exposed, innit?
The US military built and flew these engines [edit: an experimental reactor similar to the one designed to drive these engines, not the engines themselves: see comments!] in a test aircraft.
image 159
They produce a lot of radiation, and you can’t easily shield them if you want them light enough to fly a plane. Which creates quite a problem for handling and servicing these things.
They considered a modular design where you could just undock the crew bits from the nasty radioactive bits…
image 158
…and then just reprocess it or, I don’t know, throw it away or something.
Then some engineer somewhere said “you guys do realize this idea is both crazy and stupid, right?” and the idea went away.
Originally Answered: What’s the most pretentious thing you’ve ever seen on a resume?
I received a resume from someone who had recently graduated from high school. They had one job on the resume and their job title was Director in Charge of Company Morale at a prestigious local law firm.
The resume lacked all the things I was looking for, but the job title listed intrigued me. I set the interview and was waiting to hear a litany of lies.
On the day of the interview this cleancut sharp dressed young man showed up. After brief small talk I asked about the prior job and what it entailed.
Turns out his Director in Charge of Company Morale Position entailed him going out each morning and getting coffee for all the partners. He said without their morning coffee, morale was very low.
Best belly laugh in an interview ever. I hired him. And he worked out well because he found a way to place a positive attitude on everything he did, however menial the task.
Edit: I am honored that so many people like my answer. Thank you all.
Update: I’ve had several people suggest editing the gender from “they” to “he”. At the time I read the resume and set the appointment, I had no idea if the applicant was male or female. Gender was not a decision point in our hiring process. This is why I have left the answer unedited. Thank you all again for the overwhelming response.
Filipino Egg Pie
filipino egg pie
Ingredients
6 large eggs yolks
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup warm evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
1 (9 inch) pie crust
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, beat 6 large egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, warm evaporated milk, nutmeg, vanilla extract and salt until mixed well.
Whip egg whites in a separate bowl until they form stiff peaks.
Add the whipped egg white to the milk mixture slowly until well incorporated. Pour into pie shell and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the center is set.
Let pie cool completely before serving.
Attribution
Recipe and photo used with permission from: American Egg Board Recipe created in partnership with @thetastebud
I had a very rocky second marriage, but I loved him so kept going back for more of the same bad treatment. (I have learned better behavior now!) Our marriage consisted of lots of comings and goings, and we split up with each other quite frequently because we were really incompatible. Being around each other all the time was a trial.
He was a big time gambler and many other things besides, and I couldn’t cope with all of his bad habits. I dare say I had some bad habits, but I didn’t have any addictions, thankfully.
One time, the last time, I left home and went to stay with a friend, my husband and I talked very frequently on the phone and missed each other’s company. It was a very strange affair.
Anyway, I decided to move back in for good and went back to the house one day with all my luggage. I got to our home and went in, and what do you know, I heard a familiar sound coming from our bedroom that was on the third floor. When I climbed the stairs, I realized what was happening. Despite the fact that my husband knew I was coming home, he was up in our bedroom making love to another woman.
Needless to say, that was grounds for divorce. He caught Covid in prison and died two years ago.
My pastor and his wife tried to convince me to stay with my abusive husband and just live separately until our children were both adults and then start living like a married couple again. Why would we have to live separately you ask? Well, that would be because a few days before this conversation I had Child Protective Services (or CPS for short), the San Berdarnio County Sherifs Office, Fort Irwin (I and my ex-husband were both in the Army at the time) Military Police, and Fort Irwin Criminal Investigation Department (or CID) at my door at 10 at night trying to take my kids away from me because he FINALLY got caught beating my son. (Before this point I could not prove it as there were never bruises or marks) But this time he threw a phone at my sons face because he did not get up at 5 in the morning when his 4 year old sister had to get up to go to daycare (My son was 12 at the time) and it “wasn’t fair that she had to get up that early and he didn’t so I make them both get up”. My son did not have to be to school until 830. My daughter had to go to daycare before we both started work in the morning but got to go back to sleep at daycare so can’t figure out where fairness comes in to play.
Anyway, the pastor and his wife call and say that divorce is against the Bible and we should stay married and live apart until the kids are adults and can move out and then we continue, at that point to live together. I told them flatly no because he was also abusive to me and oh, by the way that woman he has been bringing to church as a “friend?”, yeah he has been having an affair with her for over 2 years. So, tell me again about what the Bible says? I also may have threw in there about how the Bible says there are a few reasons why divorce is accepted and a couple of those just happen to be abuse and adultery. I may have also mentioned that they have no room to talk when their own daughter was getting divorced from her husband because he came out and told her he was gay and that is NOT an acceptable reason (for that religion) to get a divorce.
I often ghostwrite for executives. My job is to help tell their story, either in book or article form. The more I learn, the more I feel bad for them.
Not one of the CEOs I’ve written for looks back fondly on the actual day-to-day CEO experience.
They loved being CEO. But they hated the job. Their phone was ringing at all hours. Every problem rolled up to them.
They had to decide the fate of many people’s careers and lives. There was immense pressure on them from stakeholders and owners. The hours they put in were beyond intense.
Most are now very wealthy — but they were undoubtedly aged by the job. It changed them.
When I was in finance, I worked alongside a senior VP and sat in on many of the executive meetings, taking notes for my boss. This was not a room full of happy people.
When you start making $200K, $300K, and up, you can expect to pay a steep price and often get a target on your back.
It is constant worry and emails and people problems.
The idea of the CEO who kicks back, smokes cigars, and yells “mush” couldn’t be further from the actual job.
Just for reference: India ($2036), Vietnam ($2551), Mongolia ($4026), Albania ($5289), South Africa ($6377). Note that all the listed are poorer than Tibet ($6550, 3m people) and Xinjiang ($7476, 24m) in term of GDP per capita.
We will look at these provinces and see what China has done specifically to develop these poor provinces.
This will be an extremely long post. Please read at your discretion. But if you read on, I’m sure you will learn a lot of new things about China:
1. Gansu province
Gansu is poor for a reason. On one side, you have the massive freezing Tibetan Plateau. On the other side, you have the deadly Gobi Desert.
God doesn’t want you to live here. But you insisted.
image 210
Image credit: 地球知识局
What kind of environment are we talking about? Have a look at the following picture. This is what a typical village in Gansu looks like.
image 209
Red stones, golden sands and deep valleys. Gansu is the Nevada State of China. There are a lot of sites just like the death valley and red canyon in the USA.
image 208
The Taolai River Gorge at Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu
Imagine you are living here. You grow your food in the valleys but you have virtually no rainfall at all. Even if you managed to grow a few tons of wheat magically, where you do sell? To the nearest city? That’s fine. Please drive 5 hours out of this god damn dry mountains.
Even if you manage to find a customer to buy your wheat. He will buy your wheat for $150 per ton. But your transport and fuel cost to move the wheat out of these mountains has exceeded $100 per ton. Considering other costs, okay … , so do you grow wheat just for losing money?
image 207
A mountain road in Jingtai County, Gansu
So you have no choice but to leave the village and become a Foxconn worker in Zhengzhou and spent your days making iPhones. That’s what most Gansu people would choose to do. As most people are leaving the rugged land to the cities, your village becomes deserted just like this:
image 206
An abandoned village in Dingxi County, Gansu
What has the Chinese government done to address this problem?
For the 13th Five Year Plan (2016–2020), the central government has poured a huge amount of money in building expressways and railways across these God damn hills. And what’s more, they are not building “Level 5” bridges just enough for people to move. Instead, they are building “Level 50” shiny and massive bridges.
What are the differences between a “Level 5” bridge and “Level 50” bridge?
Here is an example of a “Level 5” bridge in France. Short in length and height. You have to rush down, cross the bridge and climb up the mountains.
image 205
Here is an example of a “Level 50” bridge in Gansu. All you need to do is to pass through at the speed of 120km/h.
image 204image 203
Tian Ning Gou Bridge in Gansu, Tianyong expressway
These “level 50” bridges are indeed very expensive to build. But, on the other hand, they are very cost effective if you consider the amount of fuel saved for trucks, trains, and cars! You don’t have to go down and up again and again.
Even if there is already a “level 5” road along the valleys, the government is still not satisfied. They want to build another high-speed “level 50” expressway along with it. In order to run at 120km/h across the mountains and valleys, the expressway has to be filled with tunnels and bridges so that it is more stretched. This makes trucks and cars to drive faster with less distance. So the fuel cost and transport costs can be reduced significantly.
image 202
Provincial expressways S2 in construction in Gansu (35°21’14.3″N 102°49’02.0″E)
In 2019, the total “Level 50” expressway length in Gansu has exceeded 4242km [1] (speed limit 120km/h), which is even longer than Mexico. And it is almost three times longer than India’s total length. Not only expressways but Gansu also has 4 lines of high-speed railways running at 250km/h to 350km/h (宝兰，成兰，兰新，兰渝).
In the next 14th Five Year Plan (2021–2025), the government will promise to connect every prefecture city of Gansu with high-speed railways and expressways.
image 201
Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railways
Why are “Level 50” bridges, roads and railways are so useful?
Imagine you are the farmer mentioned above, thanks to the village road built around you, you can transport your crops to your nearest city faster and also at a lower cost. The distributor in your nearest city can also find customers in a province that is even further away. People who are at 2000km away can buy your wheat at a higher price, thanks to the giant expressway network. Overall, you can finally make profits in growing wheat in Gansu!
Still think what I said is made-up or propaganda?
Well, here is another real-life example. Imagine you live in a distant village in Gansu and you want to buy a mobile phone from Taobao (Chinese Amazon), what does it cost to ship a package of 1kg from Shenzhen to Dunhuang in Gansu in 2019? Note that the total distance is around 3500km.
You can use this Chinese website for shipping cost calculation: 快递价格和网点查询 – 快递小帮手
image 200
According to the website, the total cost for shipping over the 3500km is 15RMB ($2.2) and it promises to arrive in 3 days.
For comparison, the total cost for shipping one 1kg package from Boston to Reno in Nevada (a similar 4000km) in the USA is $26.13 according to the UPS shipping price calculator under the UPS 3-day service.
Therefore in the USA, it requires 10x more money to do the same thing! And note that they are both counted in the GDP calculation in both countries. Is it fair? Of course not. This applies to other services too.
That means Gansu is not that “poor” as we originally thought.
Instead, Gansu is also blessed with the richness in “green” natural resources. On one side, you have the freezing Tibetan plateau. On the other side, you have the hot Gobi desert. Boom! The temperature difference causes constant wind blowing. God doesn’t want you to live here but he really gives you another gift: the wind power.
Therefore, Gansu is the leader in its renewable energy sector. It has the world’s largest on-shore wind farm:
image 199
Gansu Jiuquan Windfarm 40°40’31.2″N 95°24’44.5″E
There are so many on-shore solar farms in Gansu as well. I am not sure if it is the world’s largest. But you can spot them everywhere on Google Earth.
If you can’t grow crops on the land, then just grow solar panels.
image 198
Gansu Wuwei Solarfarm 38°06’05.1″N 102°18’00.2″E
image 197
God also said, “Let Gansu be light”. Thanks to the Chinese, do you see the holy light?
However, despite China’s “great leap forward” in solar farm construction, they are faced with severe problems in Gansu. They are generating too much electricity and it is much more than the Gansu people can consume. The private sector is also investing heavily in Gansu, making the government unable to control the overall supply of the solar power in Gansu.
As a result, it is estimated 40% of the wind and solar electricity is wasted in Gansu [2]. We could not store the energy because currently, we don’t have giant batteries. Storing a huge amount of energy remains a problem to be solved by future technology.
The remaining choice is to transmit this huge amount of electricity through the ultra-high voltage power grid to the power-hungry Eastern China. However, building a 3000km power grid is not an easy task and people along the grid would complain about the danger and radiation above their houses. I will write about this on-going Chinese mega project and its achievements and problems in another answer.
In summary, these conclude the development in the poorest province of China —Gansu. The GDP growth for Gansu province in 2018 is 10.54% [3]. And it is still far from enough compared to other provinces because we still have a lot of distant villages in Gansu that are yet covered by decent roads and bridges. We will wait and see how China continues to eliminate poverty here.
2. Yunnan & Guizhou province
The next three poorest provinces: Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi are next to each other in the Southwest of China. There are around 140 million people living here.
image 195
Image Credit: 地球知识局
Yunnan & Guizhou are poor for the same reason. So let’s look at them together and later we discuss Guangxi specifically.
If you have already been there, you might have already enjoyed those amazing tourist attractions in these areas. But they do not represent the majority of the people nor the whole poverty situation.
What is the real situation?
As the Indian subcontinent continues to squeeze, terrains around here are becoming more and more similar to “wrinkles”, as mountains are squeezed higher and the rivers continue to carve valleys deeper.
Yes, it is like the wrinkles of the skin.
image 194
Imagine you are living in the middle of the “wrinkle”. You would be surrounded by tall mountains and deep valleys.
It is nearly impossible to move around without flying. Building roads is also nearly impossible. You would be isolated for your whole life. To get a taste of what it is like, you can just go to Google Earth and experience it. (26°12’28.4″N 99°07’57.1″E)
image 193
Even if you can climb across the mountains to the other side, you have to climb up and down another three similar mountains in order to reach a nearby city.
As a farmer, can you get rich if you live here? That’s nearly impossible. If you are ill, you have to call a helicopter to fly to the nearest hospital. But you have to be rich to afford a mobile phone. No signals? Oh, why not just wait and die?
Ping-tang Bridge, Liutong, Guizhou (World’s largest viaduct bridge, to be completed later in 2019)
A similar and smaller viaduct bridge can be found in Hunan as well. Here is the video for the beer:
The Chinese said: “Hold up. There are ten more to come in the next five years”.
image 186
A high-speed railway arch bridge in Guizhou. Bullet trains pass through this bridge at the speed of 250km/h.
For comparison, a similar railway bridge is also being built in India. It is the Chenab Railway Bridge in J&K. Chenab Bridge – Wikipedia
However, this bridge started in 2003 and it was originally intended to be completed in December 2009. But ten years passed the Indian people have still not finished it.
image 185
If the Indian engineers wanted to delay for another 2 years, the bridge would no longer be the world’s tallest railway arch bridge. The new King will be crown to the Sichuan-Tibet railway bridge.
. Basically nearly the world’s top 100 highest bridges are all from Yunan and Guizhou (I’m not talking about China. Just the two provinces).
And we are not comparing the length of the bridge, because expressways in Yunnan and Guizhou are pretty much always in bridges or tunnels. So it is pointless to compare their length.
image 184
The takeaway for this section is that please don’t take for granted if you see the expressway network like this in Yunnan and Guizhou.
image 181
Think about their terrain and imagine how difficult it is to build expressways here.
image 182
Now back to Yunnan and Guizhou. What kind of other developments that are worth mentioning?
4G Network Coverage
image 180
Even in the most distant village with no good roads, you can always find 4G base stations installed. In terms of 4G, no other countries in the world can be compared with China. Not a single developed country like the USA, UK nor Japan can be comparable in such a scale.
According to the Ministry of Industry and IT in China [7], there are 1.204 billion users connected to 4G stations in China. There are 3.72 million 4G base stations installed in China, exceeding 20% more than the rest of the world combined. Guizhou has achieved 100% 4G coverage in all its 10k villages and Yunnan reaches 65% in its progress.
In 2019, the package price for unlimited 4G internet is 98rmb ($14.5) for one person and 134 rmb ($20) for a family of three. Compared to the USA, you have to spend $40 in T-Mobile just to have a 10GB of internet. Compared to India, although India has much cheaper Internet than China, their 4G coverage is relatively low compared to China.
Why does the 4G access useful? Well, this is another answer I will write. But just to draw your curiosity, do you notice that there are more and more Youtubers from Yunnan and Guizhou broadcasting their daily farming life?
Making Toufu online?
Picking tea leaves online?
image 179
Hydroelectricity
Of course, 4G signals are inseparable from the electricity. Yunnan and Guizhou are also blessed with the hydropower. Most of the worlds’ largest dams and power stations listed here are from Yunnan and Guizhou. List of largest hydroelectric power stations – Wikipedia
. They contribute to 30% of the hydroelectricity generated in China.
Just follow along the four major rivers in Yunnan from Google Earth. You can find many stages of Dam on the same river. For example, the Jinsha River (Yangtze) has nine stages of dams.
image 178image 177
A dam along the Jin Sha River 26°48’23.9″N 100°26’46.4″E
Compared to the power transmission and storage problem in Gansu, hydroelectricity generated in Yunan and Guizhou are directly transmitted to power up the Guangdong province and Hong Kong, because China has already built the ultra-high voltage power transmission line.
image 176
That means a fraction of your made-in-China products are actually manufactured using the hydro-power from Yunnan.
Data centres
Thanks to the abundance of electricity and water resources for cooling, the Chinese government has chosen Guizhou as its most important base for data centres.
Deep in the caves of Guizhou, lies the Tencent T-Block data centre (腾讯七星数据中心). This is the place where the data of all Chinese Wechat/Tencent Video (Chinese Netflix) users are stored.
image 175image 174
In 2018, Apple has also decided to place its iCloud (China) data centre in Guizhou. This is where all Chinese apple users information are stored in China.
image 173
Now pretty much every important IT company has set their data centres in Guizhou, such as Alibaba, Huawei, China Mobile, etc.
image 172
Why do most companies choose Guizhou, such a poor place, to be the destination for data centres? Why not other places?
Because Xi Jinping wants it. He recommends IT companies to place their data centres in Guizhou to enjoy cuts in taxes and electricity bills. As Guizhou have more data centres, it finally has something to focus for its own to develop.
Why does Xi Jinping think Guizhou is so special?
Because Xi found that the leader of Guizhou, Chen Min’er, was exceptionally capable. It was Chen who led Guizhou to attract so many investments and called for IT companies to setup big data centre installations in Guizhou. Thanks to Chen’s excellent governing skill in Guizhou, he is now promoted to the Mayor of Chongqing.
image 171
I think he will be the next president of China after Xi Jinping (if he continues to demonstrate his governance skills).
On the other hand, China can finally build its Great Data Bank of China in Guizhou so that the Chinese government can regulate API usage based on Chinese laws and validation using Chinese government licensed blockchain E-authentication.
Yes, this is really the authoritarian style of development in the Internet area. New forms of democracy are created: the government can instantly sample on what do the citizen feel from their mobile phones (like instant vote).
3. Guangxi province
Guangxi and Northen Vietnam are actually very similar in terms of geographic positions and terrains. They both have plenty of flooded plains, hilly mountains and coastal areas. Their cultures are actually very similar. Both are the descendants of the Nanyue Kingdom.
image 170
In theory, their GDP per capita should be similar but Vietnam suffers many wars compared to Guangxi. Now Guangxi GDP per capita is $6270 and Vietnam is $2557.
Compared to Northern Vietnam, the main problem for Guangxi is that all of its tributary rivers are flowing east instead of heading the south to the sea. These tributary rivers are then forming into one giant Pearl River at Wuzhou and then reaches the South China Sea in Canton.
image 169
Even for today in China, there are still a lot of heavyweight goods shipped through the rivers because of its cheap costs. This becomes really a problem for Guangxi. Since all its rivers flow directly to the east, all river-based shipment from Guangxi has to go through Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
image 168
From the above picture, the biggest embarrassment for its Capital Nanning is that ships have to travel 1000km to the east to reach the sea, even though Nanning is only 100km away from the coast in the south. Just imagine the extra cost added for the Guangxi people for international shipment!
A similar terrain can be found in Brazil. A huge mountain can be seen blocking the coast. This is really a curse from God. That’s why the Brazilian economy is not so good and could not develop manufacturing.
image 167
Guangxi is slightly better but shipping costs in Guangxi are more expensive compared to other coastal provinces in China. Due to the high costs, investments and talents would not come and it suffers the severe brain drain from the nearby Canton. This is the ultimate reason why Guangxi is poor.
On the contrary, if you look at Northern Vietnam, they are blessed with a wide natural river — the Red River. 5000-ton ships can easily reach Hanoi from Hai Phong. Low-cost transportation gives Vietnam the destiny to be the next center of low-end manufacturing. With the current US-China trade war, Vietnam would receive more foreign investments and its economy would be sky-rocketing.
Hopefully, if the Vietnamese government could follow the same approach as the Chinese government and massively expand its infrastructure and energy sectors, Hanoi-Hai Phong (the red river delta) would become the next mega metropolis around this region and they may experience over 10% growth over the next three decades.
Therefore Guangxi people have to be aware that Vietnam people are catching up quickly. What they need to do is to try everything best to improve its infrastructure and attract shipment from Chongqing and Kunming.
image 166
For the above map, you can see that it is actually closer for Kunming to go through Vietnam to reach the sea. If the Vietnam government is really clever, they should reduce the shipping costs (by improving road quality) and attract goods from Kunming and Tibet and use Hanoi port. This would make Hanoi to become the next logistic center for international shipping.
That’s why it is vital for the Guangxi government to counterbalance Vietnam and promote its connections to Yunan and Chongqing.
However, in the past two decades, the Guangxi CCP government have gone in the wrong direction. They’ve built three giant international ports along the coast. But not many people and ships wanted to use them. The combined port shipment volume is only 200million tons, which ranked at 18th among all ports in China.
Originally for Kunming and Chongqing, it is always cheaper and easier to go through Guangzhou instead of coming here. And what’s worse. You made all your three ports (Fang-cheng-gang, Qinzhou, Beihai) compete with each other, instead of focusing on building a combined giant port.
image 165
Image: A massive expansion in Fangchenggang port. Now it is pretty much a “ghost port”. 21°33’59.4″N 108°22’37.0″E
And what’s worse. The top CCP leader in Guangxi focused on building expressway and railway connections to Guangdong and ignored the roads to Kunming and Chongqing. As a result, more Guangxi people are drawn by the gravity from Guangdong and they are not coming back. This causes a severe brain drain in Guangxi.
People are leaving and ships are not coming. That’s why the Guangxi CCP leader did not get promoted. However, Guangxi is not a province, but it is an autonomous region in China. So it has its own laws and regulations. One of its regulation is that the Guangxi leader must be a Zhuang entity Zhuang people – Wikipedia
. This race-based selection obviously breaks the meritocracy system of CCP. And I think this is probably the reason why Guangxi is not developed so well. That’s why I suggest to remove the “autonomous” status and make Guangxi a province.
Lucky the current CCP leader in Guangxi has realized the problem and focus on promoting connections between Yunnan and Guizhou. And also they proposed to
Build Canals!
image 164
For the 13th Five Year Plan in Guangxi, the CCP is planning to “evaluate” the possibility of the Ping-Lu Canal (平陆运河) that connects the Pingtang river to the Qinjiang river in the south.
image 163
The canal is 20km long and it is very expensive to build. For reference, it is half the length of the Kra Canal in Thailand. It requires a lot of in-depth studies before the CCP finally decides to spend billions of RMB to build the canal. Whether it is worthwhile, it remains to be seen.
If it were built, it would be truly a significant boost to the Guangxi economy. With connected water, ships can then carry extra-heavy machinery and goods across most of the river network in Guangxi. It would finally solve the Guangxi problem!
image 162
For the road and railway network, Guangxi still has a lot of rooms to improve in terms of density and accessibility. I’m not listing their detailed projects because they are similar to Yunan and Guizhou.
Conclusion
After this extremely long post, I hope you can know something about the on-going developments in the four poorest provinces of China. The take away is that China invests much more domestically than abroad. These are all in the news but people just don’t pay attention to them.
And also note that most of the above projects are led by Chinese state enterprises. They lose money for doing this. But they bring huge social benefits to the general people. This is called “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and it is working. That’s why the West such as the USA and Europe could not achieve nor even consider doing it.
Finally, let’s finish up with a view of the expressway in Guangxi province. Thank you for taking the time to read this extremely long posts.
image 161
Please enjoy the real China 🙂
College-Age Carousel Rider Tries Lecturing Men That A “High Body Count Should NEVER Matter”
I was at a mall today, paying bills, having lunch and planning on a visit to the gym (pat on the back: I did all three!).
As I walked to the bank, I noticed an older man sitting by a water feature, dipping his fingers in the pool. This was unusual as people here in Thailand rarely do this in a mall.
When I passed him again 10 minutes later, he was standing in the middle of the walkway, searching to his left, then to his right, over and over, looking distressed.
I was about to approach him when a group of (uniformed and backpacked) high school students got to him first. They spoke to him respectfully and quickly realized that he didn’t know where he was or who should be with him.
One young man sprinted off to Information while the others tried to distract the old man to calm him.
A few moments later, a female security guard approached the group, having been notified by Information. She told the kids they could leave, but they refused, feeling they should stay and keep ‘grandfather’ happy.
An announcement was made, and within a few minutes, a very worried, middle-aged couple rushed over to the old man, and although they fussed at him for disappearing, they were clearly relieved.
The high school students were thanked, and then they respectfully took their leave.
The old man watched them go, turned to the couple and asked, “Where are the grandkids going?”
The couple smiled at him and gently said, “It’s ok, Father. They are going to school.”
The old man replied, “They are such good kids. You raised them well.”
Yesterday, I met a journalist friend who had just arrived from Avdiivka and we were talking about this issue.
Although this city in the Donetsk region is at the risk of encirclement by the Russian army and there’s no electricity and no internet, there are still some civilians living there.
My friend visited some of them in a bomb shelter and while he was doing his interviews, a woman in the shelter died.
Not from old age (she was fifty) or a sickness but because she had drunk hand sanitizer. Some people there are so poor that they cannot afford to buy alcohol so they drink disinfectants.
image 156
Avdiivka, Ukraine. (Picture: Forbes)
There are obviously two kinds of hand sanitizers, the clear one and the colored one, and one of them is extremely poisonous. The woman drank the wrong one, started sh*tting blood and died a few hours later.
Of course, not every civilian who stays behind in a war zone is a complete alcoholic but a lot of them are old, sick, or suffer from mental disorders.
Many of the civilians in Donetsk are also of Russian origin and wouldn’t feel much at home if they were to evacuate to Western or Central Ukraine.
Their lives were already screwed up long before the war and now, they simply don’t care anymore.
We take our exams in the classroom, where there is a projector that looks like this. It’s hanging from the ceiling and underneath it, there was a shiny piece of plastic that the school had never bothered to remove.
image 155
One of my friends, who sat directly below the projector, looked up to see the bottom of the projector in the middle of a Chinese exam. He was that friend who struggled a lot with Chinese, and guess what he saw at that moment?
The answers of the guy who sat next to him, reflecting off that shiny plastic.
The projector itself was black, so he could see the white exam paper easily. He copied down the answers, which was easier to do because that exam was multiple choice.
A few days later, we got our papers back and he was copying the answers off the wrong page, but in the next exam he used the same trick and made sure that he was on the same page as the person next to him (who was smart).
We don’t use that classroom now because we moved to a different building, but this “cheating hack” was passed down to the next generation and I’ve heard that they now fight for the seat underneath the projector. The teachers never found out.
The Yuppies of American Psycho (and similar characters in the Ellisverse) are the Masters of American Consumerist Culture. They are the, in a sense, heroes of the Consumerist Myth. Rich, powerful, beautiful, and crushingly successful at everything they put their mind to.
So successful at consumption are they that they have moved beyond merely consuming things; they consume people and souls.
image 153
Fight Club could easily be put in the same universe. But instead of looking at the Masters of said Universe, Fight Club looks at its losers. The men who weren’t born to wealth and didn’t make it up the ladder.
The movie, through Tyler Durden, constantly points out the failures of these men to reach the levels of the Patrick Batemans of the world. Here is one particularly blunt, powerful scene:
Of course, Durden is also a consumer — in that he is actually consuming Jack and plans on erasing him entirely. He also “consumes” Marla, and eventually holds most of the Fight Club men in an iron grip. He even begins to morph into a “Master of the Universe” like-figure.
Notice the comments on the male model. In the Ellisverse, models are of the Elite.
Notice here that not only does Durden look like a male fashion model, he states that it’s exactly what Jack wishes he could look like and how he could live. And he’s not wrong, obviously. “All the ways you wish you could be? That’s me.”
As I see it, while Durden and Bateman would absolutely be opposed to each other’s “political” goals, such as they are, a Durden victory would be a “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” kind of thing at core.
Basically: Patrick Bateman and Tyler Durden really aren’t that different. If Durden were born in Bateman’s world he would be another Bateman; if Bateman were born in Durden’s world he would be another Durden (might sound implausible but remember, Bateman is crushingly charismatic, intelligent, and quite driven when he wants to be).
While Bateman is more openly aristocratic, Durden fairly quickly sets himself up as the undisputed King of Fight Club and clearly sets himself apart from the other men. I can’t find the video but there is a scene in the movie where the men dig ditches while Durden yells at them through a megaphone. He’s not in the ditch with them.
Durden presents himself as a hero of the common man… but he isn’t a common man himself. And the fact that he isn’t, makes him far more appealing. Because who wants to be the common man?
So.
They are the Elites of their Universes. All the women want them and the men want to be them. So of course many male viewers would admire them both and ignore their drawbacks. The political stuff is immaterial — at core they represent the same desires that many men have.
An inmate at a certain prison in the western US claimed that he was allergic to sodium. Now, this is ridiculous because, as my freshman chemistry teacher once pointed out, sodium is in everything.
Inmates with special diets (medical, dental, allergies, etc.) would go at the end of the line after everyone else had gotten their meal trays. Sodium guy would go last of all and put on a performance that was annoying and stupid but oddly comforting because of its predictability.
Prison staff mostly want things to go smoothly. Nobody was yanking this guy’s chain or trying to piss him off. At each meal they genuinely tried to come up with something he could eat. And at each meal, when his tray slid out the window, he would look at it and say (or scream), “I can’t eat this! It’s got sodium in it!” And he would slide it back into the window. This happened every time. Eventually he would eat something.
image 212
Once I saw him drinking a half-pint of milk. Showing him the ingredient list, I pointed out that it had sodium in it.
“That’s OK,” he said. “The sugar counteracts the sodium.”
I was required to issue a monthly report of sales by geographic region, listing each project.
One was a project in China sold to New Sun (China) Energy. I dutifully indicated the sale was in Asia.
My boss protested. “No!” said he. “You need to report that in Europe.”
I blinked and said, “But it’s in China.”
“Yes,” said he. “China’s in Europe.”
“Um…no.. China’s in Asia.”
He slammed his hand on his desk and said, “China’s a state of Germany, now report it in Europe.”
Me: “Ok” while silently muttering dumbass.
We had another dispute over Egypt. Apparently Egypt is also in Europe.
I had a grand time explaining to our lead sales person (a Chinese lady citizen of China) and our production manager (a German citizen) that Germany had expanded its population by a billion with this master stroke of geopolitical theater. They both rolled their eyes.
They weren’t obsolete after WW2. They still occurred over Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands, and Israel.
In Korea – There were no good air-to-air missiles yet, so jet aircraft had to close in to within gunnery range to shoot each other down. There were some pretty epic dogfights in Mig Alley, over the Yalu River.
image 152
In Vietnam – Missiles were now available, and the “clever fellows up on high” declared the dogfight was dead because jets could now fly at Mach 2, too fast for dogfights. That meant the F-4 Phantom was fielded with 8 missiles…and no gun. Well, turns out the dogfight wasn’t actually dead yet, and while the missiles of the time were “adequate” for downing bombers flying straight and level, they were pretty lousy against maneuvering fighters. And the ROE (Rules Of Engagement) for Phantoms required a visual ID, eliminating the BVR capability of their Sparrow missiles. So, dogfights were in fact…not obsolete.
image 14
In the Falklands 1982 – Dogfights still weren’t dead, and there were some pretty intense battles between British Sea Harriers and Argentinian Mirages/Daggers. But, we could see the beginning of the obsolescence of dogfighting because of the AIM-9L Sidewinder.
While still an Infrared Homing (Heatseeker) missile, the “Lima” Sidewinder no longer required getting on a opponent’s 6 o’clock so the heatseeker would home on a hot tailpipe. The Lima Sidewinder was all-aspect, meaning it could get a lock from any angle…even head-on, completely changing the nature of dogfighting.
image 151
Even, now with missiles such as the AIM-9X, Meteor, R-77–1, and the AMRAAM, which do not require being within dogfighting range (WVR—Within Visual Range) to score kills, I am reticent to claim the dogfight is dead. I’ll say it no longer will be the bread and butter of aerial combat, but won’t go so far to say the dogfight is obsolete.
It still may happen. Let’s see what happens when Ukraine finally gets their F-16s, and make a decision then. I expect most kills will still occur at BVR, but we may still see genuine dogfights once more. And when both sides are operating stealth aircraft, who knows what we’ll see?
Disrespectful?? Weird absolutely. About 8 months ago flying from Portland Or to Amsterdam Ne.
Woman behind my seat has a infant 6–10 months old. Infant cries and cries and cries. I put in ear plugs. I doze off. About an hour later she taps me on the shoulder and hands me said infant. “I need to talk to my husband in first class, you watch her”. She hands me the baby and is gone about 3 hours. Eventually the cabin staff goes and finds her. She is angry because she is hauled back to her seat. I hand her her child and she is upset.
To this day I wonder why she would hand off a perfectly good infant to a total stranger and wander off.
Candy Cane Fudge
candy cane fudge
Yield: 24 pieces
Ingredients
2 cups white chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup crushed candy canes
Instructions
Line an 8 inch square dish with parchment paper, making a sling to lift the fuge out when ready to cut.
In a medium glass bowl, combine the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk.
Microwave on 50% heat in 30 second intervals until fully melted and combined. Be sure to stir well in between each interval.
Transfer melted mixture into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle on crushed candy canes and slightly press into the top.
Refrigerate for at least 4 to 6 hours to set or freeze for 2 to 4 hours (allow to thaw for 30 minutes before cutting).
I had a Chinese-English dictionary when I was in the ADC. And I studied it constantly. I would practice drawing the characters and memorizing the tones. I don’t really think that it ever helped me, but it did keep me focused on my goals and dreams on what I would do once I got out, and free from the USA.
For a short while, my father would xerox off pages from a learn-Chinese book, and later on, after he died, my sister bought me two introduction books of Chinese that I studied.
Every day, I had a routine.
I would sit on my rack from around 9am up to lunch and study Chinese. Then I would do my job, and come back and study again from 4pm to chow. Overall, I studied on average about 8 hours a day.
R 1
Of course, everyone made fun of me. But it was my way of coping and dealing. All of us did it. It’s just that my way was studying in Chinese. For others it was drugs, boxing or gambling for cigarettes.
Let the rest of the world howl. Perhaps it did or didn’t help me, but one thing for certain, it keep me focused on my dream. Perhaps you too have a dream.
Stay focused.
Today… some confirmation of my previous vision of Gonzalo…
Gonzalo Lira was tortured, extorted, and reportedly has died in a Ukraine prison for just reporting the news. The US State Department refused to help Lira, a US citizen, because Lira’s journalism didn’t serve Kiev or the Biden administration. Here’s a quote from WSAU:
WASHINGTON DC (WSAU) – 55-year-old American journalist Gonzalo Lira has reportedly died in a Ukrainian prison after nearly eight months of imprisonment.
According to the Post Millennial, Lira was arrested by Ukrainian security in May 2023 after he was reportedly critical of President Vladimir Zelensky’s handling of the war being fought against Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine.
Lira’s comments included claims that Ukraine’s efforts to win the captured territory back have gone nowhere and their people are dying for a war that is already lost.
Chinese politicians have a grand dream: a global community with a shared future for mankind.
People all over the world are prosperous and living a happy life together. What a wonderful world it is. With the development of modern technology and the completion of automation and intelligence, humans can produce material conditions that provide everyone with a happy life. There is currently a lack of a system that unites humanity around the world.
China needs to first become a beautiful country and then influence the surrounding countries. Ancient China used this strategy. Ancient China first built its own country into a prosperous and strong country, and then neighboring countries envied China and learned about its culture and system. For example, Japan has sent more than ten batches of international students to study in China.
The foundation of a country is its people. If the people live a happy life, then the country is strong; if the people are poor and destitute, then the country is weak. Many rulers of countries do not understand this truth.
Food is paramount to the people. This is an ancient Chinese saying and the foundation of governing a country. When there are signs of chaos in the world, China will purchase a large amount of food. In terms of food safety, economically developed provinces in the east have begun to implement full monitoring of food production processes.
In terms of housing, the central government is implementing housing reform, which is a slow process.
In terms of transportation, China has built a national transportation network and has been continuously improving it.
In terms of cultural and entertainment, China actively promotes the promotion of justice, promotes healthy cultural information, and actively reports positive information. The network firewall successfully blocked junk culture.
I believe that China should first become a future country, and then drive countries around the world to become future countries. The the Belt and Road policy is the link between China and global human development, and also an opportunity for the development of countries around the world.
The PLAAF’s PL-17 AAM was caught on camera again, this time in a full loadout:
The PL-17 is special for two reasons:
It’s the longest range AAM in the world at 400 km (estimated by British intelligence)
It’s actually a ballistic missile. It doesn’t fly straight towards the target. Instead, it flies into the stratosphere where there’s much less air friction and cruises there to the target. Then it trades its potential energy (altitude) into kinetic energy in its terminal attack phase.
Like most high-end BVR AAMs, the PL-17 has both active radar and optical guidance. The optical guidance makes it much harder to jam when it has entered its terminal phase and can actually see the target.
—
This latest photo showing four J-16s is special because it demonstrates just how much the J-16 can carry: at least two PL-17s in addition to a bunch of other PL-10, 12s and 15s. If it only carries the PL-17 and no other missile type, the J-16 may be able to carry 3 or even 4 missiles. This proves the J-16’s value as a “missile truck”, similar to the USAF’s F-15EX.
The difference is that the USAF has no equivalent to the PL-17. The longest range American AAM is the AIM-120D, with an estimated range of 160 km. The only other American missile to challenge the PL-17’s range is the AIM-260 JATM, which is still in development.
In a head to head engagement, the PL-17 gives the PLAAF a significant first strike advantage against the enemy’s key aerial assets, like AWACS, EW, etc. Loss of these aerial force multipliers would be crippling, and force the USAF to retreat or be destroyed before their radars can even spot their Chinese counterparts. The Americans would effectively be blind.
—
The only other nation to field a AAM of comparable capability is the Russians with their Vympel R-37, a hypersonic (Mach 5) missile with a range of close to 400 km. Unlike the PL-17, it is not a ballistic weapon, and flies straight for the target instead. It’s also much thicc-er than the PL-17. Combat usage of the R-37 in Ukraine has demonstrated its ability to keep Ukrainian fighters from closing the distance against their Russian counterparts for fear of getting hit by this monster.
image 26
MiG-31 armed with four R-37s. Keep in mind that the MiG-31 is more a bomber than it is a fighter.
The Washington Post has produced a long, two part piece, about the failed ‘counter-offensive’ in Ukraine. It dispenses equal blame on the U.S. and British planning of the whole mess and the Ukrainian execution of it.
Key elements that shaped the counteroffensive and the initial outcome include:
Ukrainian, U.S. and British military officers held eight major tabletop war games to build a campaign plan. But Washington miscalculated the extent to which Ukraine’s forces could be transformed into a Western-style fighting force in a short period — especially without giving Kyiv air power integral to modern militaries.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials sharply disagreed at times over strategy, tactics and timing. The Pentagon wanted the assault to begin in mid-April to prevent Russia from continuing to strengthen its lines. The Ukrainians hesitated, insisting they weren’t ready without additional weapons and training.
U.S. military officials were confident that a mechanized frontal attack on Russian lines was feasible with the troops and weapons that Ukraine had. The simulations concluded that Kyiv’s forces, in the best case, could reach the Sea of Azov and cut off Russian troops in the south in 60 to 90 days.
The United States advocated a focused assault along that southern axis, but Ukraine’s leadership believed its forces had to attack at three distinct points along the 600-mile front, southward toward both Melitopol and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov and east toward the embattled city of Bakhmut.
The U.S. intelligence community had a more downbeat view than the U.S. military, assessing that the offensive had only a 50-50 chance of success given the stout, multilayered defenses Russia had built up over the winter and spring.
Many in Ukraine and the West underestimated Russia’s ability to rebound from battlefield disasters and exploit its perennial strengths: manpower, mines and a willingness to sacrifice lives on a scale that few other countries can countenance.
As the expected launch of the offensive approached, Ukrainian military officials feared they would suffer catastrophic losses — while American officials believed the toll would ultimately be higher without a decisive assault.
Key findings from reporting on the campaign include:
Seventy percent of troops in one of the brigades leading the counteroffensive, and equipped with the newest Western weapons, entered battle with no combat experience.
Ukraine’s setbacks on the battlefield led to rifts with the United States over how best to cut through deep Russian defenses.
The commander of U.S. forces in Europe couldn’t get in touch with Ukraine’s top commander for weeks in the early part of the campaign amid tension over the American’s second-guessing of battlefield decisions.
Each side blamed the other for mistakes or miscalculations. U.S. military officials concluded that Ukraine had fallen short in basic military tactics, including the use of ground reconnaissance to understand the density of minefields. Ukrainian officials said the Americans didn’t seem to comprehend how attack drones and other technology had transformed the battlefield.
In all, Ukraine has retaken only about 200 square miles of territory, at a cost of thousands of dead and wounded and billions in Western military aid in 2023 alone.
All those points played a role.
My personal ones:
Both, the Ukraine and its supporters, systematically underestimated Russian capabilities. (And still do.)
Satellite reconnaissance showed Russian defense preparations on the level of the Battle of Kursk. There the German Wehrmacht, after way too long preparations, failed to break the Russian lines. The unlearned lesson from 1943: When you see defense lines like these, try something else.
Battle simulations and table top war games have a ‘moral factor’ input for each side. Setting your sides’ factor to 10 and the enemy’s factor to 0, as the U.S. and UK obviously did, will let you win every time – but has no relation to reality.
Air support would not have helped. Russian air defenses are too strong to counter it.
The decision to use barely trained, ‘green’ brigades without any fighting experience was a serious error.
Not to use smoke grenades and, in general, means of deception, was not reasonable at all.
To have half of the new troops, the more experienced part, fight Zelenski’s already lost battle for Bakhmut, was a major political mistake.
All together made sure that the so called ‘counter-offensive’ never had a chance to take off. The bickering now is just an attempt to put the blame for the failure onto the other side of the table.
The Ukrainian General Zaluzny has learned from the battle. He now puts up somewhat realistic numbers to let the U.S. understand how small its chances to win really are:
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was informed during a visit to Kyiv that Ukraine needed 17 million rounds of ammunition and that US$ 350-400 billion worth of assets and personnel would be required to liberate the country. … Quote from a senior Defence Forces official: “Austin was told 17 million rounds of ammunition were needed. He was stunned, to put it mildly, because you wouldn’t be able to collect that many rounds in the whole world.”
The Ukrainian army does not have the ten thousands of barrels required to fire 17 million rounds. Nor has it the men to feed those imaginary guns.
Zaluzny obviously thinks that the war is lost and done with. And that it is time for politics that pursue peace:
In addition, according to a source, Austin also said Zaluzhnyi had complained privately to American generals about interference from the President’s Office [..]: “Austin told us privately that Zaluzhnyi was always complaining to his generals about the President’s Office and how it obstructed him. Well, obviously the president learned about those conversations too. And that isn’t conducive to trust.”
However, the President’s Office is inclined to believe that Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal would facilitate his political career.
It is high time for the Biden administration to wrap this whole thing up. Do the usual thing: declare victory, leave and forget-about-it.
When World War 3 Breaks-Out and Arrives HERE in the USA, Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, Marxists, Should be BULL-WHIPPED TO DEATH By Their conquerors
On my radio show tonight, I was asked by a caller what is likely to happen to New England when WW3 Breaks out and all the military-age illegals who are embraced by liberals, take-up arms and attack us? I told him the Liberals should be BULL-WHIPPED TO DEATH because their efforts at Gun-Control have left them unable to defend themselves, and the illegals they embrace, will be their conquerors.
I went on to point out that Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, Marxists and their ilk are too stupid to be considered Americans anyway, so losing them won’t amount to much. The trouble with these dimwits is that they spread their idiocy to others, which will endanger the rest of the country.
Your thoughts about my remarks? Subscribers can offer their thoughts below in the Subscriber comment area.
Be wary of people who try to sell their pity as kindness. They may pretend they feel compassion toward you by supporting you during difficult times, but in reality, all they can offer you is some pity you never asked for.
Hard work will always beat talent. If you are talented at something, you already have a head start in life, but if you never combine it with hard work, you might as well never had it in the first place.
The power of little gestures. Even a little gesture of kindness can make someone’s day more than you can imagine.
The destructive nature of negative words. Whether you want it or not, you end up taking some words to heart automatically, so it’s important not to use words as weapons that can inflict damage on someone.
Sometimes it may seem like life only gets harder. But even then, it’s important not to lose hope for a better future because if you lose hope, you lose everything.
You can’t expect a person to change for you because in most cases, they rather cling to their old ways than find new ones. And maybe you’d not want to change them anyway unless they are a toxic person doing all the wrong things.
It’s better to have no one to depend on rather than being surrounded by fake people who pretend they care for you when in reality they secretly celebrate all your downs in life.
Don’t stay friends with someone who doesn’t know how to be happy for you. They are not your real friend.
You have to leave your comfort zone in the present to secure a comfortable future.
Betraying your intuition means betraying your best interests. When your intuition gives you an awful feeling about something, retreat. It’s like a danger alert that is ingrained in human biology from birth, so it’s important to make use of it by not missing any of those danger alerts.
An ifn’ I don’t…
Magnolia Bar and Grill Crawfish Etouffee
03ae3a3506889cf3a0a0b4a4eb9b0f85
Ingredients
1 pound cleaned crawfish tails
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
2 thin slices lemon
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon green onion
1 tablespoon parsley
Instructions
Use a saucepan with a tight fitting lid to “Etouffee”.
Season crawfish tails with salt and pepper; set aside.
Melt butter, add chopped onion, and cook over medium heat until onions are tender.
Stir in flour, blend well, and add 3/4 cup water, lemon and tomato paste, and cook slowly for about 20 minutes, and add a little more water occasionally.
When sauce is done, add crawfish tails; cover with lid. Cook for 8 minutes.
Season again, to taste.
Add green onion and parsley; cook 2 minutes longer.
This is the story of a deaf and blind man who decides to fly – alone – across the country to visit his sister.
When he arrives on board, the stewardesses have difficulty communicating with him because although he manages to say a few words here and there, he cannot hear them. To help himself, he touches their face and hand in hopes of understanding their intention, but the task seems difficult.
His neighbor gave up his seat (on the aisle), prepared drinks for him, sugar in coffee, spoon, etc. and led him to the toilet, but it was impossible to communicate with this man.
Then the flight crew had an idea: why not call to see if any of the passengers on board knew sign language?
Here comes this 15 year old girl, she is dyslexic and it was her learning difficulty that made her decide to learn sign language rather than any other:
image 25
Very patiently, the girl began to “sign” each letter against the passenger’s hand, which allowed them to start a conversation.
This teenager did not skimp on making this man’s journey much more pleasant and comfortable than if he had been locked in his solitude.
The passenger who took the photo and witnessed the scene described the moment as very moving and it’s easy to understand why.
TLDR: I was seen totally nude, mid-coitis, by 4 male police officers with guns drawn, shouting “Krystal are you safe? This is the POLICE! Krystal are you ok?” And I am not Krystal. Lol.
I dated (for the brief period of 5 weeks) a very unstable male. I knew at 4 weeks there was no way we would last, he had already become physically violent and had about ten older women believing he was their knight in shining armor, via the internet. He explained that they sent him money, that was why he even talked to them. Gag me with a keyboard, right? He decided to stalk me after I ended things. Fast forward a few months. I was getting to know a different male, and we decided to get physical, but in a non-violent manner, if you catch my drift. Right in the heat of the moment I hear the back door of the house being violently kicked open. Followed by shouts of “Krystal are you safe? POLICE!! Krystal, are you ok?” Then the bedroom door opened and 4 male police officers with guns drawn burst through the doorway. My name is not Krystal, my roommate (who was out of town) is Krystal.. I hastily climbed off of my guest and threw on a large hoodie then ushered the officers out of the house. Turns out my stalker ex had called the police pretending to be the next door neighbor, claiming it sounded as if a violent altercation was taking place and they were worried their dear neighbor Krystal was being murdered. He actually (convincingly) made his voice sound like a little old lady. Just in case it wasn’t known, the cops are able to see what number a call is made from even when the person tries to hide it with an app like TextNow. They told me the # that had made the call and I was able to show them it was in fact my ex’s phone number. One of the officers saw the blip of a text message while I was showing them that it was his number and asked to see the conversation. All of this while wearing a hooded sweatshirt that came down to my mid-thigh. Needless to say they went and arrested him for calling in a fake emergency, stalking, threatening to cause bodily harm (the messages said that he was going to dismember me after strangling me) and a few other charges like harassment.
When i took 8 Valium on top of the 6 i took earlier in the day, then realized a half a bottle of whiskey might not be enough. When i woke up the next morning(??) on the kitchen floor soaking wet and covered with mud, i asked my wife what had happened. She told me that i passed out outside, then it started to rain. She couldn’t lift me, so she “coached me” for half an hour getting me inside and up 5 stairs. That night- i did it again until eventually i made it to a detox/rehab where i was placed on a 17 day Valium taper. I was later informed it was their longest ever. I called my wife after a week(??) or so and told her to throw out the weed i was saving that knew i was gonna need after getting out of rehab. I had terrible tinnitus and shook horribly for months afterwards. It’s probably not the worst. Other people’s stories may be far worse but, well, you asked. P.S. I’ve beeb clean and sober ever since-almost 7 years now. Thanks God, for being there for me, whether i wanted you or not.
Be willing to let some parts of you die. Not all of you is perfect and you know it better than anyone else. So don’t be afraid to let some of it go. After all, that’s what personal growth is all about.
Don’t run away from yourself. This means facing your trauma(s), mistakes, and bad life decisions, no matter how unbearable it feels.
Don’t suppress your negative thoughts and emotions. You don’t have to act on them but you need to acknowledge them lest they turn into an unruly beast ready to devour you any second.
Come to terms with the fact that life is meant to be difficult. It’s a default setting you can’t change. The only thing you can do is to cope with it to the best of your abilities.
Keep in mind that suffering is cruel, yet a necessary teacher of life that can make you stronger and wiser.
Try not to stress about the things you can’t change. It will disrupt both your physical health and peace of mind.
Know when to share your burdens with others. It’s admirable to take care of things on your own, but it’s just as important to open up to those you trust when life gets too much.
Treat yourself with the same compassion you treat others. If you are nice and understanding toward your loved ones, you have no reason to treat yourself any differently.
Avoid whining. It’s alright to complain every once in a while but doing so constantly will fill your mind with negativity you can’t shake and make you feel miserable.
Remember that there’s more to life than being constantly happy. And you’d not want to be constantly happy anyway because you’d start taking happiness for granted. Your life would also become dull and uneventful, living like a character in one of those imaginary, utopian lands where everything is perfect all the time.
I worked as a courier for about 9 years. During that time, I never made more than $20,000 a year. More like I averaged around $18K.
A lot of my courier brothers were supporting families on that sort of income and they qualified for SNAP and some other food stamp like benefits.
Occasionally, they would save their nickels and then buy steaks and all the fixings for their family. Not often, but maybe every other Blue Moon they would do something nice for dinner.
These guys busted their asses 10–12 hours a day with no benefits, no Healthcare, no retirement and no paid holidays. They worked in the rain, in the cold and snow, they worked in ice storms and 115degF heat.
So what do I think about them using their hoarded nickels to buy a Lobster or some good Crab for the family once in a while? I think it’s none of your fucking business.
A guy I worked with back in the mid 80’s, had a reputation as a bit of a fantasist. He was a large, very over weight, half Chinese guy, figure like a sumo wrestler. Said he was a karate instructor, played drums in a band amongst a lot of other ourlandish claims. Said his dad was a friend of the Kays, and was the last man sentenced to hang in England. He was late to work a lot and always had the oddest excuses. One week he was late every day because, he said, the papers kept sending reporters around to interview him, because they were making a documentry about his dad. Every one chuckled about that one. Then a few weeks later, I was watching TV, and it was about this guy who had murdered someone. I had missed the beginning. This bit showed the mans wife visiting him in prison. She was Chinese, and had her little chubby boy with her. I looked the program up the the TV guide and yes, it was about his dad. A few weeks later I was at a school fete and he was there, with his karate pupils doing a demonstration, and later on his band played
Oct 7 ‘Disinfo’ Org Founded By Top Jewish Lobbyists – Full Scale Propaganda Effort
The largest Jewish Groups are forming what they call the Oct 7 ‘Disinfo’ Organization, to spin the events of that day, and shape the narrative. Even casual observers are calling this a full scale propaganda effort.
The most powerful Jewish interest groups in the US have gotten together to form the 10/7 Project – an effort to combat “Jewish hate in America and the world” and to dispel “myths” about the day’s events.
The organization will fund a centralized communications operation to feed mainstream newsrooms with ‘fact-based information’ about the war, and will also release a daily newsletter to inform news outlets what is being ‘underreported.’
It will be the biggest unified effort from the Jewish lobby in recent memory, with the American Jewish Committee (AJC), The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations working together.
Of course there are. But these people are weeded out by merciless competition.
The ones that rise are tested every step of the way, and only the best survive the climb.
That’s what competition looks like in a 1.4b society.
Chinese politicians who attend the Two Sessions are not chosen because they’re tall, good-looking or give nice speeches. They are chosen for exceptional performance over the sum total of their careers. Each person wields considerable influence or power in their professional or personal capacity. That’s why they are selected as the people’s representatives. Selection is largely immune from the influence of money.
Who Is Really Behind The Mass Slaughter In Gaza?
Who is really behind the Israeli mass slaughter of the people of Gaza?
Israel’s dependence on the United States was stated bluntly by retired IDF Maj. General Yitzhak Brick in an interview earlier this week.
“All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability. … Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”
The list of jobs is endless, I am not sure that all of them were professions. 40 years ago, I read an article about buying stocks, and it said buy quality, but understand the changes in the market. They talked about something that had happened 40 before I was born. Evidently a well known banker and investor said, that it wouldn’t hurt to buy a little stock in these new fangled automobiles, but keep the majority of your money, in something solid, like a good buggy whip manufacturing company. Fads will come and go, but you will always need a good buggy whip. He said that because buggy whips had been made for two thousand years, and it wasn’t going to change.
In my life time I saw the job of tinker disappear, he was someone, who could fix anything, if your glasses broke, if your electric frying pan broke, he could fix it. If you wore a hole in a pot, he would braze it, often they came door to door. We had door to door Fuller brush salesmen, sold brushes door to door. Milkmen delivered dairy products door to door. The bread man delivered baked goods door to door. Their used to be commercials for the Maytag repairman, and now its thrown out when broken.
Our little town still had a livery service when I was a kid, they looked after your horses when you came to town, but by my time, they mostly stored cars.
Movie theater usher, who would bring you in and show you your seat. Elevator operators, I always thought it was such a cool job. You closed an accordion door, then closed the outer door, then shifted the lever to up or down, and stopped it when it reached the floor you wanted. Sometimes requiring some fine tuning.
I had a girlfriend who was telephone operator. There used to be girls that would wander around night clubs, selling cigarettes and matches. Hat check girls.
Brake men in the caboose of a train.
Dragline operator.
Signal men, telegram and telegraph operators at train stations.
Telex operators.
Gestetner repair men.
I can see just as many jobs disappearing in the next 20 years as disappeared in the last 60 years, as self driving cars and trucks become main stream, as digital finishes wiping out paper, as online services and stores replace brick and mortar. Etc.
This happened about 15 years ago. My then partner came home from work very upset. Somewhere that day he had lost one of a pair of distinctive silver cuff links that I had gifted him for his birthday.
Probably a month later I was out in my car, driving an unfamiliar route in the countryside, when I noticed my fuel gauge flashing. I resolved to stop at the next fuel station which turned out to be in a small village. I pulled up at one of the three pumps and got out of my car to fill it. As I walked around to the side of my car with the fuel cap something caught my eye on the ground. Embedded in the top tarmac surface was something silver and shiny. I bent down to inspect it further and couldn’t believe it when I identified the item as a cuff link. Not just any old cuff link but THE lost silver cuff link. I used my car key to gently ease it out of the tarmac. Amazingly, it was undamaged.
That evening I asked my partner if he knew of the little village. He did recall he’d driven that route to a business meeting some weeks before. ‘And you filled your car at the petrol station?’ I asked. ‘’How did you know?’ he asked. I laughed as I handed him his missing cuff link.
I still can’t believe this incredible coincidence. I must’ve ‘guided’ to its location by an unknown force. It still weirds me out.
Until I retired I was a Plumber for fifty years. On this particular occasion I was working with a builder repairing the lead flashing around a chimney at the local church hall. To do the job safely we had set up a scaffolding that blocked the entry to the car park, but this should not have been a problem because the Church Commissioners had told us the church was waiting for the new vicar and no functions had been booked at the church hall.
We were working about 20 feet above the ground when a voice from below shouted “ Hey you!” I looked down to see a man in a grey suit and white dog collar. “Yes you!” he continued, “I have a Bible study class in twenty minutes and no one can get into the car park!”
I was surprised by his rather rude and aggressive tone but politely replied “I’m sorry, but we were told the church has no vicar and that there was nothing in the diary.”
“Well, there obviously is and you are blocking access to it. If you do not remove this scaffolding immediately I shall report you to your employers!” he shouted back.
It was then that I had a stoke of genius and replied. “ Very Christian of you sir.”
That immediately took the wind out of his sails and after a moment or two he replied, “Ahem, perhaps I was a trifle too hasty, carry on gentlemen.”
A guest came to stay for Thanksgiving, I had warned we had cats and dogs. They came anyway. They went to unpack in our guest bedroom. Half a hour later the husband came to me and said there was an issue. They had stripped the sheets off the beds and scrapped the mattress. Horror of horror there was cat fur. I immediately said” oh my, you can’t stay here, perhaps you should go to a hotel.” They did. As they are relatives we are civil but they are not invited to stay anymore.
The thing is, I knew the wife wanted to make trouble, I refused to fight and stayed calm. She didn’t win, I did.
Let me take this out of your hypothetical nonsense, and make it real. During the 1990’s I was a professional clown. I did birthday parties, wedding receptions, school shows, store promotions, holiday parties, company picnics – you name it, Violet P. Lavender was there. I even had several client families, where I would come celebrate the same child’s birthday three or four years in a row.
In one of those client families, there was an adorable little girl (I’ll call her Emily for this story). I met her at a cousin’s birthday party, and then was at her 4th birthday. I was happy to be at her 5th birthday as well. Because she lived in an area where Violet was very popular, Emily saw Violet four or five times during the year, in addition to her own birthday. That particular cluster of families really kept me on my toes, because I had to constantly rework my show, since all the kids saw me so often!
One day, I got a call asking me to come visit Emily, it was months too early for her 6th birthday – and to please come to the Children’s Hospital. I had a habit of visiting the hospital whenever I had free time between shows. This was the first time I was asked to come for a specific child.
When Violet arrived, Emily had been put into a private room. I was met in the hall, and warned that she was very weak and was quite fragile. They told me she did not know she was dying.
So, into that antiseptic, mostly white room filled with machines sailed Violet P Lavender. A totally Purple Person, with balloons and magic and fun! Emily smiled and clapped and used her precious energy to laugh. Only two visitors were allowed in the room at a time, so it was just me, Emily and one of her parents, with everyone else watching through the glass wall.
I stayed for only about 20 minutes. While I was saying goodbye, she took my hand and asked the hardest question… “Violet, will I ever see you again?”
I did what anyone in that position would do – I lied. I smiled at her and said “Of course you will! I’m going to be at your 6th Birthday Party!” That beautiful child shook her head sadly and gently told me, “Violet, I’m sorry. I’m not going to have any more birthday parties. I meant, will I see you again, in heaven?”
So much for her not knowing! Her mother bolted from the room, leaving me ‘alone’ to face that horrible truth with her.
So what does the atheist in a clown suit say to a child who wants to talk about heaven, as she lay dying?
I asked her “What do you think heaven is like?” She didn’t know, but she was scared that she would be all alone “up there” in a big house, with no one to talk to ever again.
Now, why would she think that? It seems some well meaning idiot had told her that God had prepared a Mansion just for her, in Heaven, and that she would be going there soon. And a Mansion was described to her as “a big house” … just for her! She was scared by the idea, and she did not want to go, but she couldn’t ask her mommy or daddy about it because (and she whispered this) “they don’t know I’m dying.”
So I laughed and told Emily that of COURSE she was not going to be alone! Her house was going to be on a street with lots of other kids, and right next to her street is the street where all the CLOWNS LIVE! And right past that is a big park where all the puppies and kittens play! (That made her smile.)
“Will you be there too, Violet?” Stubborn child! She wasn’t going to let it go! I told her I wouldn’t be there for a long time, but I had friends there, and she could tell them she knows me. Also, in her house there is a magic TV that she can use to watch over her friends and family who are still alive, while she is waiting for us to all join her. So she could watch me and her Mom and Dad and anybody else she wanted, any time she felt like!
She was relieved. She said she wasn’t scared anymore. Then reminded me not to say anything to her parents, because they are already so worried about her being sick, she didn’t want them to get sad about her dying.
I made it out of the room and into a nurse’s station before I started crying.
Violet did attend her next ‘party’ … I made sure her parents were ok with it, and Violet came to the funeral with a huge bunch of bright balloons, to say goodbye.
So the answer to your silly hypothetical question is – in REAL LIFE, you tell that child whatever you can so that they are not afraid and give them comfort.
ANY OTHER ANSWER regardless of your personal belief in an invisible guy building fancy houses in the sky is wrong.
The emotional well being of a dying child is more important than any religious or philosophical argument you could make.
1. Instead of responding immediately after someone says something to you. Wait a couple of second. This makes them feel like you’re really thinking about what you’re going to reply. And it makes you seem like a better listener. ( Don’t over do it ).
2. In a conversation, when someone is talking, nod your head in affirmation.
This will do so many things to their brain. First of all, it will give them that feeling of validation. It will make them feel like you’re truly listening to them and it is that feeling of validation that we search for unconsciously, that we got from our mom, and we’re searching in our partner, we’re searching in other people. So it becomes really addictive when you do this, and you make people feel validated.
3. When you’re talking to someone, always show the palms of your hands. This communicates to their subconscious mind that you have nothing to hide, that you are open, that they can trust you and you are their friend.
4. When you talk to someone try to match your body language and talk at the same volume and speed as they are.
This will tell subconscious mind that you are like them and they will trust you more
5. Ask people for their advice. Making them feel like their opinion matters. According to reasearch done by Katie Liljenquist makes them form a commitment to you and makes them like you more.
Example:
“What do you think I should order?”
“I think you should get the vegan burger, it’s really good”
A younger friend of my grandmother once said something that made her as angry as I have ever seen her. The 35-year-old was trying to stress the fact that her challenges and worries were different from those of a 75-year-old. She had in mind that some of life’s problems are over by the time you are 75, which may be true. But she said it in a terrible way.
You’ve lived your life.
Don’t make this mistake. Life can be just as sweet no matter how many birthdays you’ve had. And there is no age at which life’s failure to be sweet on any given day is not painful.
The 80- or 90-year-old has not “lived their life.” They are in the process of living it, just as you are.
OMG!
Ukraine Presidential Advisor: “The West Came to this war with no pants on”
The Emperor is naked . . . or so we now hear from the former Aide to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenski. Alexy Arestovich tells media outlets now that “The West came to war with its pants down” when it dealt with the Russian Army entry into Ukraine.
2023 12 06 13 11
Commenting to media outlets, Arestovich pointed out “The Americans cannot produce a million shells a year, and North Korea can. What kind of war and victory are we talking about, what boundaries of 1991?”
Of course, when he speaks of the “Boundaries of 1991” he is referring to the then-break-up of the former Soviet Union and the “Boundaries” for NATO that were agreed-to by then US President George HW Bush. It was then Secretary of States James Baker who agreed, at a meeting, in the Kremlin in Moscow, with then Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev and then Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevrednadze, that NATO “will not move one inch eastward of the Elbe (River) in Germany.”
Of course, history shows that when Bush Sr. left office, and Bill Clinton came in as US President, that NATO boundary promise went right out the window. The map below shows NATO Expansion from 1949, and points out who was in and who was not in 1990 when Bush promised Gorbachev “not one inch eastward:
Yet, as shown by the countries imaged in purple, that promise to the Soviets went right out the window in the late 1990’s under then-President Bill Clinton.
Here’s how it went:
U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (http://nsarchive.gwu.edu).
The documents show that multiple national leaders were considering and rejecting Central and Eastern European membership in NATO as of early 1990 and through 1991, that discussions of NATO in the context of German unification negotiations in 1990 were not at all narrowly limited to the status of East German territory, and that subsequent Soviet and Russian complaints about being misled about NATO expansion were founded in written contemporaneous memcons and telcons at the highest levels.
The documents reinforce former CIA Director Robert Gates’s criticism of “pressing ahead with expansion of NATO eastward [in the 1990s], when Gorbachev and others were led to believe that wouldn’t happen.”[1] The key phrase, buttressed by the documents, is “led to believe.”
President George H.W. Bush had assured Gorbachev during the Malta summit in December 1989 that the U.S. would not take advantage (“I have not jumped up and down on the Berlin Wall”) of the revolutions in Eastern Europe to harm Soviet interests; but neither Bush nor Gorbachev at that point (or for that matter, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl) expected so soon the collapse of East Germany or the speed of German unification.[2]
The first concrete assurances by Western leaders on NATO began on January 31, 1990, when West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher opened the bidding with a major public speech at Tutzing, in Bavaria, on German unification. The U.S. Embassy in Bonn (see Document 1) informed Washington that Genscher made clear “that the changes in Eastern Europe and the German unification process must not lead to an ‘impairment of Soviet security interests.’ Therefore, NATO should rule out an ‘expansion of its territory towards the east, i.e. moving it closer to the Soviet borders.’” The Bonn cable also noted Genscher’s proposal to leave the East German territory out of NATO military structures even in a unified Germany in NATO.[3]
This latter idea of special status for the GDR territory was codified in the final German unification treaty signed on September 12, 1990, by the Two-Plus-Four foreign ministers (see Document 25). The former idea about “closer to the Soviet borders” is written down not in treaties but in multiple memoranda of conversation between the Soviets and the highest-level Western interlocutors (Genscher, Kohl, Baker, Gates, Bush, Mitterrand, Thatcher, Major, Woerner, and others) offering assurances throughout 1990 and into 1991 about protecting Soviet security interests and including the USSR in new European security structures. The two issues were related but not the same. Subsequent analysis sometimes conflated the two and argued that the discussion did not involve all of Europe. The documents published below show clearly that it did.
The “Tutzing formula” immediately became the center of a flurry of important diplomatic discussions over the next 10 days in 1990, leading to the crucial February 10, 1990, meeting in Moscow between Kohl and Gorbachev when the West German leader achieved Soviet assent in principle to German unification in NATO, as long as NATO did not expand to the east. The Soviets would need much more time to work with their domestic opinion (and financial aid from the West Germans) before formally signing the deal in September 1990.
The conversations before Kohl’s assurance involved explicit discussion of NATO expansion, the Central and East European countries, and how to convince the Soviets to accept unification. For example, on February 6, 1990, when Genscher met with British Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd, the British record showed Genscher saying, “The Russians must have some assurance that if, for example, the Polish Government left the Warsaw Pact one day, they would not join NATO the next.” (See Document 2)
Having met with Genscher on his way into discussions with the Soviets, Baker repeated exactly the Genscher formulation in his meeting with Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze on February 9, 1990, (see Document 4); and even more importantly, face to face with Gorbachev.
Not once, but three times, Baker tried out the “not one inch eastward” formula with Gorbachev in the February 9, 1990, meeting. He agreed with Gorbachev’s statement in response to the assurances that “NATO expansion is unacceptable.” Baker assured Gorbachev that “neither the President nor I intend to extract any unilateral advantages from the processes that are taking place,” and that the Americans understood that “not only for the Soviet Union but for other European countries as well it is important to have guarantees that if the United States keeps its presence in Germany within the framework of NATO, not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.” (See Document 6)
Afterwards, Baker wrote to Helmut Kohl who would meet with the Soviet leader on the next day, with much of the very same language. Baker reported: “And then I put the following question to him [Gorbachev]. Would you prefer to see a united Germany outside of NATO, independent and with no U.S. forces or would you prefer a unified Germany to be tied to NATO, with assurances that NATO’s jurisdiction would not shift one inch eastward from its present position? He answered that the Soviet leadership was giving real thought to all such options [….] He then added, ‘Certainly any extension of the zone of NATO would be unacceptable.’” Baker added in parentheses, for Kohl’s benefit, “By implication, NATO in its current zone might be acceptable.” (See Document 8)
Well-briefed by the American secretary of state, the West German chancellor understood a key Soviet bottom line, and assured Gorbachev on February 10, 1990: “We believe that NATO should not expand the sphere of its activity.” (See Document 9) After this meeting, Kohl could hardly contain his excitement at Gorbachev’s agreement in principle for German unification and, as part of the Helsinki formula that states choose their own alliances, so Germany could choose NATO. Kohl described in his memoirs walking all night around Moscow – but still understanding there was a price still to pay.
All the Western foreign ministers were on board with Genscher, Kohl, and Baker. Next came the British foreign minister, Douglas Hurd, on April 11, 1990. At this point, the East Germans had voted overwhelmingly for the deutschmark and for rapid unification, in the March 18 elections in which Kohl had surprised almost all observers with a real victory. Kohl’s analyses (first explained to Bush on December 3, 1989) that the GDR’s collapse would open all possibilities, that he had to run to get to the head of the train, that he needed U.S. backing, that unification could happen faster than anyone thought possible – all turned out to be correct. Monetary union would proceed as early as July and the assurances about security kept coming. Hurd reinforced the Baker-Genscher-Kohl message in his meeting with Gorbachev in Moscow, April 11, 1990, saying that Britain clearly “recognized the importance of doing nothing to prejudice Soviet interests and dignity.” (See Document 15)
The Baker conversation with Shevardnadze on May 4, 1990, as Baker described it in his own report to President Bush, most eloquently described what Western leaders were telling Gorbachev exactly at the moment: “I used your speech and our recognition of the need to adapt NATO, politically and militarily, and to develop CSCE to reassure Shevardnadze that the process would not yield winners and losers. Instead, it would produce a new legitimate European structure – one that would be inclusive, not exclusive.” (See Document 17)
Baker said it again, directly to Gorbachev on May 18, 1990 in Moscow, giving Gorbachev his “nine points,” which included the transformation of NATO, strengthening European structures, keeping Germany non-nuclear, and taking Soviet security interests into account. Baker started off his remarks, “Before saying a few words about the German issue, I wanted to emphasize that our policies are not aimed at separating Eastern Europe from the Soviet Union. We had that policy before. But today we are interested in building a stable Europe, and doing it together with you.” (See Document 18)
The French leader Francois Mitterrand was not in a mind-meld with the Americans, quite the contrary, as evidenced by his telling Gorbachev in Moscow on May 25, 1990, that he was “personally in favor of gradually dismantling the military blocs”; but Mitterrand continued the cascade of assurances by saying the West must “create security conditions for you, as well as European security as a whole.” (See Document 19) Mitterrand immediately wrote Bush in a “cher George” letter about his conversation with the Soviet leader, that “we would certainly not refuse to detail the guarantees that he would have a right to expect for his country’s security.” (See Document 20)
At the Washington summit on May 31, 1990, Bush went out of his way to assure Gorbachev that Germany in NATO would never be directed at the USSR: “Believe me, we are not pushing Germany towards unification, and it is not us who determines the pace of this process. And of course, we have no intention, even in our thoughts, to harm the Soviet Union in any fashion. That is why we are speaking in favor of German unification in NATO without ignoring the wider context of the CSCE, taking the traditional economic ties between the two German states into consideration. Such a model, in our view, corresponds to the Soviet interests as well.” (See Document 21)
The “Iron Lady” also pitched in, after the Washington summit, in her meeting with Gorbachev in London on June 8, 1990. Thatcher anticipated the moves the Americans (with her support) would take in the early July NATO conference to support Gorbachev with descriptions of the transformation of NATO towards a more political, less militarily threatening, alliance. She said to Gorbachev: “We must find ways to give the Soviet Union confidence that its security would be assured…. CSCE could be an umbrella for all this, as well as being the forum which brought the Soviet Union fully into discussion about the future of Europe.” (See Document 22)
The NATO London Declaration on July 5, 1990 had quite a positive effect on deliberations in Moscow, according to most accounts, giving Gorbachev significant ammunition to counter his hardliners at the Party Congress which was taking place at that moment. Some versions of this history assert that an advance copy was provided to Shevardnadze’s aides, while others describe just an alert that allowed those aides to take the wire service copy and produce a Soviet positive assessment before the military or hardliners could call it propaganda.
As Kohl said to Gorbachev in Moscow on July 15, 1990, as they worked out the final deal on German unification: “We know what awaits NATO in the future, and I think you are now in the know as well,” referring to the NATO London Declaration. (See Document 23)
In his phone call to Gorbachev on July 17, Bush meant to reinforce the success of the Kohl-Gorbachev talks and the message of the London Declaration. Bush explained: “So what we tried to do was to take account of your concerns expressed to me and others, and we did it in the following ways: by our joint declaration on non-aggression; in our invitation to you to come to NATO; in our agreement to open NATO to regular diplomatic contact with your government and those of the Eastern European countries; and our offer on assurances on the future size of the armed forces of a united Germany – an issue I know you discussed with Helmut Kohl. We also fundamentally changed our military approach on conventional and nuclear forces. We conveyed the idea of an expanded, stronger CSCE with new institutions in which the USSR can share and be part of the new Europe.” (See Document 24)
The documents show that Gorbachev agreed to German unification in NATO as the result of this cascade of assurances, and on the basis of his own analysis that the future of the Soviet Union depended on its integration into Europe, for which Germany would be the decisive actor. He and most of his allies believed that some version of the common European home was still possible and would develop alongside the transformation of NATO to lead to a more inclusive and integrated European space, that the post-Cold War settlement would take account of the Soviet security interests. The alliance with Germany would not only overcome the Cold War but also turn on its head the legacy of the Great Patriotic War.
But inside the U.S. government, a different discussion continued, a debate about relations between NATO and Eastern Europe. Opinions differed, but the suggestion from the Defense Department as of October 25, 1990 was to leave “the door ajar” for East European membership in NATO. (See Document 27) The view of the State Department was that NATO expansion was not on the agenda, because it was not in the interest of the U.S. to organize “an anti-Soviet coalition” that extended to the Soviet borders, not least because it might reverse the positive trends in the Soviet Union. (See Document 26) The Bush administration took the latter view. And that’s what the Soviets heard.
As late as March 1991, according to the diary of the British ambassador to Moscow, British Prime Minister John Major personally assured Gorbachev, “We are not talking about the strengthening of NATO.” Subsequently, when Soviet defense minister Marshal Dmitri Yazov asked Major about East European leaders’ interest in NATO membership, the British leader responded, “Nothing of the sort will happen.” (See Document 28)
When Russian Supreme Soviet deputies came to Brussels to see NATO and meet with NATO secretary-general Manfred Woerner in July 1991, Woerner told the Russians that “We should not allow […] the isolation of the USSR from the European community.” According to the Russian memorandum of conversation, “Woerner stressed that the NATO Council and he are against the expansion of NATO (13 of 16 NATO members support this point of view).” (See Document 30)
Thus, Gorbachev went to the end of the Soviet Union assured that the West was not threatening his security and was not expanding NATO. Instead, the dissolution of the USSR was brought about by Russians (Boris Yeltsin and his leading advisory Gennady Burbulis) in concert with the former party bosses of the Soviet republics, especially Ukraine, in December 1991. The Cold War was long over by then. The Americans had tried to keep the Soviet Union together (see the Bush “Chicken Kiev” speech on August 1, 1991). NATO’s expansion was years in the future, when these disputes would erupt again, and more assurances would come to Russian leader Boris Yeltsin.
When the US and EU/NATO tried to expand once again by admitting Ukraine, Russia’s financial and military condition was far improved, and the Russian’s had enough of our perceived lies about NATO Expansion.
Russia told the West that Ukraine could NOT enter NATO, because Russia knew they were planning on placing US Missile defenses on Ukraine soil. Those missiles would have about a five minute flight time to Moscow, which no country on earth could defend against.
Russia pointed out that the conventional warheads on US missile defenses were of a type that could be “switched-out” with a NUCLEAR warhead. This change could be done in about 90 minutes, and no one would even know about it.
That would put Moscow within 5 minutes of nuclear annihilation, and Russia would not tolerate it. Russia made it explicitly clear they viewed Ukraine’s entry into NATO as an “existential threat” and they would use military power to stop it if they had to. No one in the West took them seriously.
The West apparently doesn’t teach actual history to its military and political class anymore, because folks in the US under Joe Biden continued to press for Ukraine’s entry into NATO. No one in the Biden regime realized that Russia meant business on this issue, and ALL of them were . . . . SHOCKED . . . . when Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
(HT REMARKS:Older guys like me, who have a memory that actually works, knew full well the Russian’s were going to do this; they HAD TO. It literally is a matter of survival for Russia, given the vast expansion of NATO during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. I knew it was coming. I said so on my radio show in the weeks leading-up to the entry. I told my audience we were breaking our word and we had to stop. I told my audience this could result in World War 3 and the Russians were serious about this. No one – at least in government — listened.)
Fast-Forward to December of 2023, and former Aid TO President Zelensky now says “The West came to the war with his pants down, he turned out to be a naked king, he will not be able to win this war.
I see fewer and fewer chances for the West to win in a clash with the global South and East.”
He’s right.
But the people running the US government and military, are so ignorant of history, so arrogant in their erroneous beliefs about the Russian Army, none of them saw this coming. None of them ever expected to lose a war with Russia, and THAT is exactly, precisely, what is actually happening right now in Ukraine. Ukraine is losing and will lose. Period. Full stop.
All because the US EU and NATO install people into powerful positions who are either ignorant of history, or whose word means nothing. I suspect– it’s both.
Thanks to those people, half a million Ukrainians are now dead. A smaller number of Russians are also dead. And for what? NONE of this, had to be.
Had we honored our word, none of this would have happened.
I had a girlfriend that hit me all the time. I thought she was just being playful, until she snapped and said, why can’t I hurt you. Up until then, I thought we were just playing. I am 6′1″ 200 lbs, she was 5′1″ 100 lbs.
If you can’t tell that it was supposed to be painful, then you know how lopsided punching her back would be.
After we broke up, there were rumours that her new boyfriend was beating her. He was 5′6″ 140 lbs.
She asked me if I remembered her hitting me, I said I did, she replied, well he hits back.
So, if you can escape without being hurt, then you shouldn’t punch anyone, but if you need to punch someone in self defense, then you do what you have to do.
Simpsons Predictions For 2024 Are Insane
LOL.
Magnolia’s Spicy Shrimp, Sausage and Tasso Gravy over Creamy White Grits
9736f4b1f1daa21f310fd30dc5b62ba6
Ingredients
Creamy White Grits
12 cups chicken broth
4 1/2 cups coarse stone-ground white grits
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and white pepper to taste
Tasso Gravy
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sliced Tasso, cut in 1-inch strips
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Salt and white pepper to taste
Shrimp and Sausage
1/2 pound spicy Italian sausage (3/4 pound of raw)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds medium or large peeled and deveined shrimp*
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 recipe Tasso Gravy
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Instructions
Creamy White Grits
Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a heavy-bottomed stockpot or large saucepan. Slowly pour in the grits, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low and continue to stir so that the grits do not settle to the bottom and scorch. In about 5 minutes, the grits will plump up and become a thick mass.
Continue to cook the grits for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently. The grits should have absorbed all of the chicken stock and become soft. Stir in heavy cream and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently. The grits should have a thick consistency and be creamy like oatmeal. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Keep warm over low heat until ready to serve. If the grits become too thick, add warm chicken broth or water to thin them down.
Tasso Gravy
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat. Add the Tasso. Sauté for 1 minute, browning slightly. Make a roux by adding the flour and stirring until well combined. Continue to cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the roux develops a nutty aroma.
Turn the heat up to medium and gradually add 2 cups of the chicken broth, stirring vigorously. Keep stirring constantly until the broth thickens into gravy. Reduce the heat and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes to cook out the starchy flavor. Add the parsley. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Shrimp and Sausage
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
To cook Italian sausage: Place the Italian sausage on a baking sheet with raised sides. Place on the top rack of the 400 degrees F oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the sausage is firm and its juices run clear. Cool and cut into small bite-size pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottom frying pan over medium heat. Add the precooked sausage and sauté for 2 minutes to brown slightly. Add the shrimp and sauté until they begin to turn pink-no longer than 1 minute. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth to deglaze the pan. Add the Tasso Gravy and one tablespoon of the parsley. Bring up to a boil and let simmer for 1 minute. The last 1/2 cup of chicken stock is to be used to thin the gravy if needed.
Divide the hot grits between 8 warm bowls. Spoon the shrimp, sausage mixture over the grits. Sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of parsley and serve immediately.
Notes
* If using large shrimp, allow 6 per person; for medium sized shrimp, 8 to 10 shrimp.
Attribution
Source: magnolias-blossom.com – Magnolia’s, Charleston, South Carolina
A family friend who worked as an FBI agent was about to get married in the early 1970s. Shortly before the wedding, he got a memo from the Director’s office, signed by J. Edgar Hoover himself, pointing out a policy to the effect that agents needed permission to tie the knot, and that he hadn’t received it.
His intended was Black (he’s white), and the Director wasn’t cool with interracial marriage.
He married her anyway, and they stayed together until death did they part half a century later.
They framed the Director’s letter and hung it on a wall in their residence.
While working at a dealership in Arizona, I was doing a LOF on a late model Nissan, and got to checking the air filter as part of my routine workup on the vehicle. I popped the top of the air box, and casually lifted the filter out, and promptly slammed the air filter back in and closed the lid. I took a breath, walked over to my service manager, and told him that we needed to call pest control.
When the pest control tech arrived, he put on heavy gloves, and carefully removed a mama Western diamondback rattler and six of her babies, all alive and well in the air box. The customer mentioned that her car had recently sat for a few weeks while she was away on business. She politely apologized to me for the snake incident, gave me a nice tip (to cover my new boxers, presumably!), Paid for the pest control visit, and left.
To top this off, the next time she came in, she requested me. When I popped the hood, I was greeted by !!! Another snake! Thankfully, this time, it was rubber. Inside the air box (I was VERY cautious lifting the air filter out this time!), taped under the lid was a $20 bill with “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!” written on it. Probably one of my favorite customers ever! She gave me a hug after I came in with a sheepish smile after I finished the oil change. I hope she’s still messing with people 🙂
“Dear teacher, I apologize to the bully for his attacking me and forcing me to have to defend myself. I promise that if he attacks me again I will defend myself to the best of my ability..I realize that the school supports his behavior and wishes us to submit to being bullied, punched hit,kicked and ridiculed. I apologize to you and the school staff, for not being a submissive punching bag as you seem to want me to be.
sincerely,
(name).
EDIT
seems a popular post. I am guessing the problem is widespread.
Keep in mind that you are looking at someone who’s already at the top of the mountain. That is to say, you don’t know the effort and time they had to put into to get where they are right now. And how many mistakes and slips they had to endure to reach that peak.
Remind yourself that the only person you should race against is yourself. It sounds easier said than done, but keep practicing and you’ll soon realize it’s not as difficult as you initially thought it was.
Throw out all the comparisons out of the window. It tends to aggravate your envy even more. Instead, focus on what you can do to get your fair share of success as well.
Don’t become resentful toward life or people who seem to have it all. Because if you do, that resentment will start living inside your mind rent-free, for your entire life.
Be grateful that nothing is over yet. As long as you are still breathing, you have a chance to change something for the better. Everyone takes things at their own pace, so don’t put yourself down just because you fell behind in the race. We can’t all be Usain Bolts, after all. So stick to the pace you are comfortable with and take occasional breaks if you have to. And once you feel rested, keep moving because, in the end, it’ll be worth it.
I was sitting on a bench outside a hotel in DC near the valet desk. I admit I wasn’t exactly dressed for style.
Lady imperiously demands I get her car and I tell her I don’t work there. She sniffs at me and scolds me for being a useless bum, a blight on humanity and if she had her way we’d be rounded up and put on press gangs to clean the streets.
About then the valet pulls up with my car, a late model BMW convertible. She started to say “that’s not my car” when I tipped the valet and drove off.
A coworker went to a local bar after work where a group from the office was going to meet up. It was a Friday so no work the next day.
He woke up in a strange bed at an apartment complex. He couldn’t find his clothes, car keys, wallet. He called another coworker to come get him. He had to look out the window and get the street intersection off street signs to tell his coworker friend where to pick him up.
When his coworker friend showed up he ran out with a sheet wrapped around himself. His coworker friend took him back to his apartment where a roommate let him in. He had a spare key for his car and he and his roomate went looking for his car. They found it in the parking lot of the local bar down from the office.
He spent the weekend trying to remember what happened to no avail.
On Monday while he was at work sitting at his desk when one of the office girls came into his office with his freshly washed clothes, wallet and keys.
She had taken him back to her apartment for an evening of love making, during the night of this he had gotten sick from too much alcohol, vomiting on his clothes beside the bed, then passed out.
She had gotten up that morning, cleaned up the mess, taken his clothes down to the laundry to wash them before ordering breakfast from a deli across the street. She returned to find him and one of her sheets missing.
She waited until Monday to bring him his belongings. They never went out again and had a strained office relationship for several years until he transferred to another office.
If I had a chance for a do over I’d take it. My life today would be totally different. I’ve never told or discussed it with anyone. I was 20 in college and I was engaged when I got pregnant. He didn’t want to start out marriage that way. He was all of 21 and also still in college. I didn’t have a job or any money. I thought my Catholic parents would disown me. I made the horrible decision to terminate the pregnancy. It took decades before I could forgive myself. He was right it was no way to start a marriage. It was a horrible way to start a marriage when he didn’t want to offer any emotional support for our shared tragedy. Nearly 10 years later we were finally blessed with a child followed by 3 more. We were married over 40 years. The roots of the failure began with I don’t want to start out marriage that way.
A few. But it’s a very hard job to be the son or daughter of a genius. I’ve had the good fortune of getting to know several Nobel Prize winners and their families. And to talk with some of the kids about their point of view. For the most part, they suffered. Many Nobel Prize winners made no secret of this. George Wald was once asked whether he might donate his sperm to a sperm bank to make superior children. He answered in two parts, but only the first was charming.
He said they should have asked his father for sperm so as to make another George Wald. Then he went on to say that his kids were not geniuses but had become bums. Which was not only unkind, but also very unfair to them as they were both teenagers at the time, sensitive and awkward, but also sweet and certainly very bright. But I remember one dinner at his house where Elijah, the son, sort of bragged about having done something clever. Most parents would smile and congratulate him. But George said something along the lines of, “Why, at your age I had already discovered….” Why was there any comparison or competition?
Other genius parents had more sympathy for their kids and took the pressure off. But still, comparisons with the father’s legendary (and oft exaggerated) accomplishments made it tough for the kid. Richard Feynman was very kind and supportive of his kids,but his daughter, Michelle, was initially too intimidated to try anything academic. Nonetheless, Richard was proud of her and of his son Carl.
Linus Pauling (two Nobels) had several children and his son Peter did brilliant work on the structure of biological molecules using crystallography. The son contributed to the work that led to the Nobel Prize that went to Watson and Crick.
But my favorite example of genius father and genius son would have to be the Nobel Laureate in physics, Luis Alvarez, who contributed much to the building of the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project, and his son, Walter. Working together they generated the hypothesis and found a testable way to confirm that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a giant asteroid hitting the Yucatan Peninsula 63 million years ago. And there are many other good examples (like Marie and Irene Curie, etc.). So, despite the psychological and social obstacles, sometimes the apple does not fall far from the tree.
When I was a Senior in High School I was “big” into weight-lifting. I was “pumped” and I was quite an “amazing specimen.”
In fact, during the class physical check-up for us boys, the female doctor and the female nurse asked me to go to the back room (in my underwear) and pose for them. They just smiled and looked on.
I, being young and a dumb shit, didn’t know what was going on.
Anyways, some friends offered some steroids to me to help me get and build up mass. I thought about it, but you know, I was concerned about this. So I made a doctor’s appointment, though my mother, and went to the doctor.
When the doctor asked me what was wrong I had a trouble answering. I did a lot of hemming and humming.
Finally I asked about steroids, and the doctor (a woman) told me that it was a serious, SERIOUS issue and that I should not do it.
She saw me off, and then her son (who was in my class) brought me an envelope filled with papers about the dangers of steroids. She also continued to check in on me. She did this over the next five months. And she checked up on me though my mother.
Well, I really didn’t need a follow up.
I just didn’t do any steroids.
It was one of the BEST things that I ever did. And honestly, I am so happy that I lived in a small town and community. Access for these kinds of medicines was difficult and I did not pursue them. Thank JESUS!
Our decisions ALWAYS possess late-game impact.
You are the sum total of your previous behaviors. And that is why it takes a while for the affirmation campaigns to work. You have to untangle decades of previous verbalizations.
Smile. All of you are doing great right now. I believe in you all.
The best food in France ever is the Jambon Beurre.
image
But that’s just a ham sandwich, and you’re correct, it’s a ham sandwich, but not just a ham sandwich. The jambon beurre is a gastronomic lesson. It exemplifies how to make great food: take the best possible ingredients and prepare them with great technique, and no unnecessary fluff. The jambon beurre is simply a freshly baked baguette, delicious jambon de Paris and creamy 85% fat butter. Sometimes you’ll see sweet and sour cornichons or a few slices of cheese, but nothing else. No lettuce, tomatoes, onions, jalapeños or overpowering Subway styles sauces or dressings. This sandwich is just an assembly of three fine ingredients and it is divine.
Jambon Beurre
Quality ingredients and good technique are the keys to great food. French cuisine taught us that lesson and the jambon beurre shows us it is true.
Wendelstein Church on Wendelstein Mountain, Bavarian Alps.
The global financial landscape is witnessing a seismic shift as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) boldly moves away from the US dollar in its oil trade dealings.
This strategic pivot aligns with the broader ambitions of the BRICS economic alliance, of which the UAE is a recent addition.
The changeover, involving the transition to local currencies for oil transactions, marks a significant departure from the long-established dollar dominance in the global oil market.
The BRICS bloc, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, recently expanded its membership to include the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and Argentina.
This expansion signifies a growing inclination towards de-dollarization among these nations, a move that challenges the traditional hegemony of the US dollar in international trade.
The UAE’s decision to prioritize local currency over the US dollar in new oil deals is a clear reflection of this sentiment. This move isn’t just a mere policy shift; it’s a strategic maneuver in the complex chess game of global economics.
By aligning with the BRICS nations, the UAE is not only diversifying its economic partnerships but also reinforcing its position as a global oil powerhouse.
This change could potentially reshuffle the cards in the international oil trade, impacting the dollar’s stronghold and introducing a new era of currency dynamics in oil transactions.
ONGOING CATASTROPHE FOR USA
The shift away from the U.S. dollar is not some distant, arcane, thing which doesn’t affect YOU. It is affecting YOU already and it is going to get worse. Much worse. In fact, it’s going to be a catastrophe.
You see, since the 1970’s, ALL sales of oil, worldwide, have been transacted in “Dollars.” Everyone who sells it, sells in dollars. Everyone who buys it, buys in dollars.
In order to do that, every country on earth needs to hold “dollars” in its central bank.
Now that countries are starting to sell oil in currencies OTHER THAN Dollars, the central banks around the world won’t need to hold all those dollars. They will start to send those dollars BACK to the United States and say convert these back to OUR currency.
As dollars come back to the U.S. and other countries currencies are exchanged, THEIR currency will rise in value compared to ours. Our currency will FALL in value compared to others.
Now, we don’t manufacture much of anything here in America anymore; we import a lot of what we need/want.
So as we need to import, the value of OUR money is going to be worth less, and less compared to foreign countries, meaning what we need will cost VERY VERY MUCH MORE.
Inflation will hit the US in almost every sector because the things we need to import cost more and more dollars that are worth less and less.
So if you think things have gotten expensive this year, hold on to your hat; it’s going to get a LOT worse.
Moreover, at some point, countries may decide that the U.S., being so far in debt, makes our currency worthless. They may decide to STOP selling anything to us in US Dollars.
Despite being universally accepted nowadays, the fear of our currency becoming worthless is real because there is literally nothing backing our currency. Government keeps going farther and farther into debt until at some point, people around the world will simply NOT take our money anymore.
When THAT happens, the shortages and “supply chain disruption” seen during COVID-19, will look like kid games.
GOVERNMENT TO BLAME
The sole entity responsible for all this trouble is the US federal government; specifically, YOUR member of the US House of Representatives and YOUR US Senators.
It has been these people who have literally spent the country into oblivion. THEY voted for each and every dollar spent which had to be borrowed.
So as they come back from Washington to back-slap, glad-hand, and kiss babies, know that it is THESE PEOPLE who are personally responsible for wrecking this nation, and ruining everything you and your family has worked all your lives for.
More importantly, it is THESE PEOPLE who have mis-used their positions to impose “economic sanctions” on country after country around the world; telling those countries, “If you don’t do what we want, then you cannot use OUR money in YOUR trade.”
All those countries are tired of US meddling in THEIR internal affairs.
So they’re moving away from using US dollars, so that the US cannot sanction them anymore.
The result will be hyper-inflation for us, and wrecking of our country. All because THEY will not stop meddling in other people’s business.
1939 Delahaye Type 165
1939 Delahaye Type 165 is viewed by many as the most beautiful French car of the 1930s, only 5 of them were ever made with this one having been fatefully chosen by the French government to represent France at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
I was once the daytime caregiver for a little boy with a massive brain injury. The damage was so extensive that a large part of his right brain had been surgically removed. He was paralyzed on his left side. He also probably suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, but the doctors were unsure. He hoarded food, because he had gone hungry many times in his earlier life. Altogether a really lousy start.
I was pushing little X in his stroller. He was about three years old at this point. We were walking toward the high school, and there was a group of girls on the sidewalk. Black clothes, black hair, smoking, swearing girls.
X was a bit unusual looking, due to his injuries. I was thinking that these girls were going to laugh at him, or tease him, or something. I was getting tense and defensive.
As X and I get close, he hollers out, “HI”, which was his only word at the time. I was not expecting the response he got from those girls.
They were totally sweet. They were all saying hi back and asking his name and saying how cute he was. One asked me about his injuries, and I gave her the short version. She started to cry, and then I did, too. It was hard for me to talk about his history. We ended up hugging each other.
I have always remembered that group of girls, and how completely wrong I was about them.
They remind me often not to judge people by their appearance.
Copeland’s of New Orleans the Guitreau
Copelands of New Orleans the Guitreau
Ingredients
4 ounces butter
4 ounces chopped onions
5 single mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
8 ounces fish fillet (red or black drum recommended)
4 ounces crawfish tails
4 ounces 90-100 size shrimp
Instructions
Cook fish on grill approximately three minutes on each side.
While fish is cooking, sauté shrimp and crawfish tails for about one minute. At this point, everything else may be added. Cook until vegetables are translucent. If mixture is too thick, add a splash of dry white wine. If too thin, turn the heat up and cook down until the right consistency.
South Korea, Japan BETRAY and ABANDON U.S, Rush to CHINA!
Breakup of antiwar coalition on Taiwan Island brings war clouds closer to East Asia
Taiwan is not Ukraine. The Taiwanese army is compulsory conscription for one year, extended by Tsai Ing-wen from the previous four months, making her extremely unpopular. No one in Taiwan has the delusion that Westerners have that the Taiwanese army can withstand the PLA for more than a day.
Most of them will tell you the PLA takeover will last only a few hours.
The reason is none of these young men want to die fighting the PLA, not even the deepest Green. Many street interviews of youngsters in the deep Green country of south Taiwan have shown as much: don’t know history, don’t understand why Taiwan is the Republic of China and its airline is China Airlines, don’t like China, don’t want war with China, won’t fight the PLA to defend Taiwan.
In truth, most of them will simply surrender, because those who do not will be tried for treason or, as a minimum, carry a black mark for themselves and their family so that none of them or their offspring will enjoy the privilege of say working in government jobs or state corporations.
Don’t forget that Taiwan is an island. The shortest distance from China to Taiwan is about 220 km. Hawaii is 8500 km away and the American west coast is 11,000 km. People on the island can’t run off to Poland. No one is going to save them when the PLA lands. Taiwanese people understand this but try explaining it to people like Mearsheimer.
Another thing about America arming Taiwan. It’s a scam. Taiwan is going to get antiquated equipment at exorbitant prices. Taiwanese people also know about this because it is not new. It happened before. The US is worried there may be many Yifu Lin types in Taiwan, taking the latest US war technologies to join China. The last time they armed the Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War, the PLA got their hands on a large amount of the latest American weapons.
America is really good at lying. The country is built on lies. Ask any native American how many times the white man has lied to them and they will tell you as numerous as the stars in the sky. It’s too late for the natives, but we can learn something. Don’t trust any words or narratives that come from the direction of the hegemon.
You met a girl. You smiled. She liked. You gave her compliments. She liked you more. You used every textbook trick to impress and voila! She indeed was impressed.
Time flew. Your mask fell off.
Now, she hates you.
Persuasion techniques are, at times, indeed useful. But if you want relationships that last, always be real. These techniques may capture someone’s head, but being who you are will capture their hearts.
That genuineness and sincerity, my friend, will always be cool! 🙂
A friend and I had plans to hang out. For whatever reason, she couldn’t make it and canceled. I didn’t want to hang around the house and went out anyway. As I approached the car, I got an uneasy feeling. I opted to take the other car; I still got an uneasy feeling, but it wasn’t as intense. I got in the car and left the house. Thirty minutes later the car was totalled; I didn’t even see it coming. When I came to, the car was upside down. I was still in the car, but laying on the roof. Had I take the initial car, I probably would have been dead or severely injured at best. I literally got up and walked away from the car on my own (I did pass out a couple times while the ambulance was en route). I broke my ankle and sternum and needed a couple stitches.
Chimney Sweep, outside 97th General Hospital, Frankfurt.
When my husband had been a consultant for about a year, and had been traveling 80% of the time for a job that he absolutely loved.
He came home one weekend and said, “Yesterday I was sitting at a table with five other consultants, and one of them told the group that I was on my first wife.
They all laughed and said, ‘That won’t last long!’ Two of them are on their third wife! That’s when I knew for sure that I have to change jobs.”
And that’s when I knew for sure that he would always put me first.
That we would always put each other first.
We’ve been married more than 40 years, and we’re still putting each other first. (He has since had several jobs that he enjoyed as much as that one, I’m glad to say. I wouldn’t want him to be unhappy at work because of me! I’ve always supported him in whatever his work choices have been, and he has been supportive of my career too.)
I didn’t technically “meet” the guy. But when I was about 10yo & my mom asked me to run to the donut shop before going to school (it was less than a block from our apartment), I was so stoked, I ran the entire way!
As I went to pull the door open at the donut shop, this big grisly bear of a man sorta stumbled towards me from me pulling the door open so fast.
I looked him right in the eyes & got The biggest shot of freezing cold fear through me, turned right around & ran straight back home.
When my mom asked why I didn’t get any donuts, it took me a minute to answer. I asked if she remembered the creepy old big guy from the show we were watching last night & my mom replied “you mean Americas Most Wanted?”!
I said yes, she said “yeah, and?” I told her I’d ran straight into the featured criminal that was a father who raped & molested his daughters & their friends for years & was on the run with his wife (she said she didn’t believe her daughters or their friends, eww)!
My mom asked if I was sure & I was absolutely sure it was him. My mom called the tip line immediately & they said I wasn’t the first to report seeing him at that donut shop. That couple got so spooked by my reaction that they apparently immediately went back on the run. I believe they gave chase for a bit but somehow evaded police, but were later found dead from self inflicted injuries. I was told my report was the final “straw” for cops to believe it was a legit sighting.
No joke that when I say I felt straight evil from him, the burning ice cold feeling his eyes gave me, I will unfortunately never forget it.
Always, ALWAYS trust your “gut”! That intuition is inside us all for a very good reason.
Chinese journalist Liu Xin: DON’T MESS WITH CHINA!
Some years back, a close friend of mine, let’s call her Jane, underwent a significant surgery. She lived alone, and the recovery period was expected to be long and challenging. Jane’s sister, who lived in a different city, offered to take her in during the recovery. The sister had a spacious home and a supportive family, making it an ideal environment for Jane’s recuperation.
Jane, always mindful of not imposing, devised thoughtful ways to contribute to the household. Since she couldn’t engage in physical activities initially, she used her skills as a seasoned graphic designer to help her niece with a school project, creating an impressive presentation. This gesture was immensely appreciated and brought her closer to her niece.
As she regained strength, Jane took up the responsibility of managing the family’s online affairs. She organized digital photo albums, set up an efficient bill payment system, and even taught her sister and brother-in-law how to use various apps to streamline their daily tasks. These small yet significant contributions made her feel useful and less like a burden.
Additionally, Jane used her savings to occasionally treat the family to meals from their favorite restaurants, understanding that her presence had increased the household expenses. She also made it a point to maintain her space meticulously, ensuring that her temporary stay caused minimal disruption in their routine.
When Jane finally returned to her home, her relationship with her sister’s family had deepened. They had not only supported her through a challenging time but had also received her gratitude and contributions in a way that enriched their lives. This experience, my friend often reflects, taught her the importance of giving back, even in times of personal difficulty.
The best relationship advice I ever got was from my grandma years ago, while we were sitting on our back porch swing. There was a thunderstorm going on, and we were enjoying the rain and swinging and talking and nothing was off limits.
At one point, Grandma said, “When we stop expecting someone to be perfect, we can begin to appreciate them for who they really are. No one can ever be perfect. That’s just the way things are.
Crying is okay, too. Sometimes, love is just too big for words …”
The way you treat yourself is the standard you set for others.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend . A successful woman is one who can find such a man .
Sometimes following your heart means losing your mind.
The most beautiful woman is someone who’s happy and is always smiling.
The sexiest thing about a woman is not in the clothes she wears , the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair but Confidence in a humble way, not in an arrogant way. Sense of humour is definitely important.
The biggest asset in the world is your mindset.
Good looking people are trusted quicker by the subconscious mind. No clue why ? But there’re many good looking manipulators. Trust by character not appearance.
Someone you’ve only known for ten days could have better intentions for you than someone you’ve known for ten years. Time means nothing; character does.
Don’t let the world define your identity for you . They don’t know you and likely they don’t care about you.
After twenty years of marriage I got crippled up by arthritis and my wife came to me and asked for a divorce so she could go out and live her life.
I pointed to the door.
Signed the divorce papers for her so she saved some costs. I got no child support even though both our kids stayed with me. Actually they gave her half the house I had built and the entire time I was building it she didn’t want me too because I was “wasting” money on it.
A few months after the divorce was final she actually told me I was going to have to marry her back. Right.
I said no.
Today I’ve been married to a wonderful woman who’s supportive and I enjoy every day.
I did recover from being crippled with a lot of rehab and I made sure to tell my wife to be that I could never guarantee that being crippled wouldn’t recur.
Then a couple years after we married she had to have open heart surgery to repair a bad heart valve and I was there taking care of her with no complaints while she recovered. She’s always doing things to make my life easier. It’s what marriage is all about. Teamwork.
Many years ago, I was approached by a woman I knew through our homeowners’ association, and she asked to talk to me. She said that she was getting ready to leave her husband, who was a brutal and abusive alcoholic. She had a tiny puppy — a little fluffy mix that was mostly Yorkie and Pomeranian — that he was kicking and mistreating, and she wanted to get it to safety as soon as possible before he either damaged her or killed her.
She knew I was a dog lover, so she proposed that she leave her back gate unlocked, and after she was sure her husband had passed out, she would put the puppy on the back porch behind the unlocked gate. I could take the puppy, and disappear into the night.
I lived a distance from the woman’s home, so there was no danger the puppy would ever be seen by her husband. So, I agreed. We decided to do it that night.
The arranged dognapping went off without a hitch, and Rita made her home with us for many years. The woman also escaped her husband, as planned.
I buried my wife a week ago today. Alzheimer’s disease is a terrible way to die. She was diagnosed in 2013. She died October 10, 2023. I delayed her services until one of her siblings returned from a cruise. Since she chose cremation long ago, there was no urgency to bury her in my family’s grave plots.
She was an RNC – BSN in Labor and Delivery. Dedicated her life managing a 40 bed LDRP unit with NICU.
The Hospice nurse thought she was stable earlier in the day, but she later observed a change that I probably would not have recognized. The Hospice nurse told me I should come. She had been non verbal for about a year. Had to be fed, and was in a special Hospice provided wheel chair when out of her bed.
I knew as a lifelong nurse she did not want to live like that, but a DNR covers no cardiac crash cart intervention and no tube feeding. It is way above my pay grade to opine that her quality of life was near zero. A Hospice nurse knows when there is more brain activity than many of us might think.
She had been in a nursing home exactly three years. When she first arrived, she never stopped nursing, looking after those residents who were no longer ambulatory. In fact, she thought she was in charge of the nursing home because she was a Director of Women’s Health before she retired. At the peak of her career, she had 150 employees and a seven figure annual budget. A few years later, she could not balance her check book.
The Hospice nurse told me the last thing to go with an Alzheimer’s victim is their hearing, so even though she looked comatose, the nurse convinced me she could hear me.
I believe her. No finger squeezing, no eye movement, nothing but labored breathing. I told her I loved her, and that I would have been nothing without her.
Thinking she was stable for maybe another day, I went home to get something to eat. Hospice called and said she was gone before I got back to the nursing home. We would have been married 51 years December 30. Planned our wedding around an OU Sugar Bowl game in 1972.
I hated myself for leaving the nursing home for what seemed like only a short time, but maybe she knew I had been there, and she was tired of the pain. Maybe she held on just long enough to see me or hear me one last time.
I’ll forever regret not spending more time with her. I honestly did not think she knew I was there during visits the last year, but now I know she knew I was there near the end, so she probably knew I was there during those times when I thought there was little brain function remaining.
I regret not spending more time with her excellent Hospice caregivers, to better understand that though my wife seemed near comatose for over a year, she would know I was there if I had spent more time with her.
Always pay attention to the Hospice nurses. Milk them for more knowledge about how it will probably end.
I am forever indebted to the Hospice nurses who cared for my wife. Hospice was there when I could not be there. No one should die alone.
Not long ago, Western media were promoting “the Chinese Air Force intercepted a Canadian aircraft.” But they don’t tell you that this interception took place in the northern part of the Taiwan Strait, only dozens of kilometers away from the coast of China.
Now, the Western media is once again propagating that “the Chinese Navy is unprofessional towards Australian warships.” Okay, let’s look at the truth of the matter again.
image 1
The “exclusive economic zones” of China and Japan overlap on a large scale, and the overlapping area is closer to China’s territorial waters.
First, Australia claimed that “the warship is located within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.” It seems to tell us that they are near Japanese territorial waters. But is this true?
Let’s take a look at how big Japan’s “exclusive economic zone” is. As we all know, Japan’s “exclusive economic zone” was set unilaterally by Japan. It has a large number of overlapping areas with mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, and North Korea, and is not recognized at all in East Asia.
Therefore, the fact that the Australian warship is “located within Japan’s exclusive economic zone” does not mean that it is “close to Japan”. On the contrary, it is likely to be close to China’s territorial waters, has entered China’s exclusive economic zone or even approached China’s territorial waters. This is also the reason for this type of incident. normal. The Chinese almost never go far from their shores on such missions.
Secondly, the news that the Chinese Navy’s use of “sonar” caused “slight injuries” to divers is not credible at all. According to news reports, the warship that intercepted the Australian Navy was the Chinese Navy No. 139 Ningbo Ship. This is a modern-class destroyer with a full load displacement of 8,500 tons and an old Soviet warship. According to public information, the sonar equipped on this destroyer is the MGK-335 hull-acoustic hull sonar. This is an active high-power sonar designed for deep-sea nuclear submarines, with a peak operating power of hundreds of kilowatts.
The shock waves it emits can hit the submarine’s hull several kilometers away and detect the echoes. There is no point in turning on sonar for surface ship monitoring.
Because this type of sonar is powerful enough to cause injury to large marine life such as dolphins and whales, it is generally not turned on. When the warships of both sides are approaching, if the Chinese Navy really turns on this sonar, then the diver will not suffer just a “slight injury”, it will shatter people’s internal organs.
Therefore, the real situation may be that the diver suffered minor injuries due to other reasons in the process of rushing to shore. After all, the Australian Toowoomba is just a 3,600-ton frigate. When facing an 8,500-ton Chinese warship, a hasty retreat is a normal reaction.
There are a few more noteworthy keywords
2. Sanctions tasks of the United Nations
This statement is the same as that of the Canadian military aircraft, which also claimed to be carrying out “UN sanctions supervision against North Korea.” But they flew to the northern part of the Taiwan Strait.
China has publicly stated many times that the United Nations has never authorized such a mission. As one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, China’s statement is credible, and other countries have not raised any objections.
Therefore, the Australian warship’s so-called “implementation of United Nations sanctions and supervision of North Korea” is just a farce written and directed by several countries led by the United States.
3. The fishing net entangled the propeller
It shows that the Australian warship has entered the fishing area instead of the normal route. This will cause disruption to both Chinese and Japanese fishermen. Whether it is Japan’s exclusive economic zone or China’s exclusive economic zone, it is undeniable that it is more than 1,000 kilometers away from Australia. That is China’s doorstep, not Australia’s.
image
The incident took place so far away from Australia. What was the Australian Navy thinking when it sent a small warship to the coast of a nuclear-armed superpower to show off? If the opponent was the United States or Russia, they would have been sunk long ago.
4. Unprofessional
The Chinese Navy’s approach to foreign warships approaching China’s territorial waters has always been to “identify, warn and drive away”. This is their “professionalism”. There was no warning of weapons and no active collision, indicating that the Chinese navy was restrained. It makes no sense for the Australians to use the excuse “sonar harms divers” to divert attention.
There have been several over my long life but the one that still hurts the most was when my family decided to do a family photo.
For context:
my parents (mom and dad), 4 others siblings with their spouse and child(ren)
18 people total including myself and husband.
I’ve always been a coordinator of events and the like so I offered to find and buy all the children’s outfits so they match/color coordinate.
All the adults wore coordinating colors. We planned on having an outdoor spring photo shoot and I purchased all items to stage the pictures (included a setee, velvet arm chairs, Persian rug….you get the idea not just outside but staged. We hired a professional photographer with each of us paying $200
to cover the bill.
A week before the photos were supposed to be done, my older sister comes over and says my parents want our children but not myself and husband in the pictures. I say nothing, think about it an day and then call my dad. I ask him did he and my mother say we were not to be in pics? He never gives me a direct answer. Says they really just pics of the grandkids, I ask him then why is everyone else included besides my husband and myself? -he gives Half answers until I say I have to go-I sent all of them an email laying out how hurt we were and Don’t understand what we could have down to be excluded like this. Not one response.
Picture day:
My older sister had the audacity to call me and ask if my kids were ready and she was on the way to pick them up. I told her Nope and hung up.
That is the last one I ever spoke to or heard from any of them. Family should never hurt like that
My generation, the boomers, was encouraged to take risks and accomplish great things. We were told that we could do anything and should. We had people like JFK pushing us to go to the moon.
I grew up in a violent, terrifying and poor household where I felt great responsibility for the younger children. I felt no love from my parents. I was just scared all the time. I subsequently had little energy left for doing well in school. I had only one friend. I was always afraid of authority and had no self-confidence. I was not equipped for adulthood and most of it was a struggle to do well at whatever job I held.
When I retired, due to my great fear of poverty, i had plenty of money saved and my own home. I also realized something important. I didn’t have to have regrets even though I had not taken risks or accomplished great things.
I had survived. I had accomplished something important. I was safe. I had made it through all the troubles and fear. I had gritted my teeth and pushed through all the pain and loneliness and self-loathing that comes with being treated badly.
I am old but I have many years to go and I’ll spend them being proud of myself for making it through to safety. This might not seem like much of a goal to most people but it was what I dreamed of for myself and unwittingly worked hard for. I have no regrets.
She ran a very successful Dentist as Practice Manager…she has been a Dental Nurse since the early 90s and worked her way up.
Probably about 80% of the role was managing the staff…whereas 80% should have been running the regulatory side of the business….unfortunately, that meant that the regulatory side had to be done after hours.
She would put in 12 hour days, come home, have dinner, then start again and not stop until near midnight, nightly!
Now the business owner and principle knew HE could not manage the staff, but he then started demanding that she was ‘front of house’ due to her professionalism…even though others were just as capable…so of course, that meant other things started to suffer…initially her health, but she persevered…she ‘loved her job’!
But then, the inevitable happened…he ‘decided’, without any consultation, that her role was now ‘salaried’ and he would no longer pay overtime.
Now, there’s a rock and a hard place…the regulatory side could not be undertaken during the day, would not be compensated, and was a legal requirement for the Practice to operate; so she took the only option available; she resigned (her health was deteriorating anyway…and that was due to the stress of the job!)
6 months later, she is in a far better place physically. The business she left is on its knees. All the staff had left, and it is now – just about – scraping by as a single dentist practice (there had been 10 dentists and 26 support staff!).
I reckon that it has 3–4 months left before it goes completely under….all because he started interfering in the staff roles and didn’t want to pay a little overtime.
Lets do what China or Singapore is doing and ensuring that their police remain tough but relatively free from any corruption and actually follow the law
Pay
India pay their policemen a pittance. I am talking about the rank and file cops. If you look at Comparative Median Income- a Middle ranking Indian policeman (Non IPS) gets only 1.06 times the Median income compared to 1.41 times for a Chinese Cop and 1.83 times for a Singaporean Cop and 1.82 times for a US Cop from NYPD or CPD. A 41% Pay raise for Middle Ranking Cops and allowance raise and upto 77% Pay raise for the Rank and file would work wonders.
Housing and Allowances
China, Hong Kong have police departments which purchase their own lands and commercially build apartments and sell them at zero interest to Cops and retired cops. 2,3,4 BHK Apartments with all the luxuries like a Swimming Pool, Gymnasium etc provided.
image 1
Hamara Bharat – How a Police Quarters looks like in Bharat with Inspectors living in this dilapidated building. The Toilets are particularly a bonanza. Departments have to beg and beg for the most basic of maintenance and painting.
Death Insurance
In India a Cop shot and killed while on Duty will get a flat sum of Rs. 18 Lakhs to Rs. 85 Lakhs depending on City and State with Mumbai and Delhi paying the highest.
85 Lakhs sounds good right?
Sorry. First the money is taxable, Second the average time to get this money is 17 – 24 months if you are lucky and third – an Insurance company pays this sum and it will dodge and demand a lot of documentation like death report etc etc etc.
A woman called Gurbachan Kaur who was supposed to get Rs. 78 Lakhs for her husbands death (He was Senior Inspector of Police) is yet to get any money after 1 1/2 years and after taxes and deductions – she is expected to net Rs. 58 Lakhs. Its around 5.25 times his median annual income. Even this sum is in doubt as the Insurance company is now saying the man died of a heart attack which means natural death (Far low payout).
Lets take China or HK – the sum for death of a Similar rank is around 8.25 times the Median Income and NO TAX. And you get the money within 60 days. Its a law. If you dont get the money in China within 60 days – the Department will be questioned and the LEPPA laws will be applied and No insurance company – money belongs to the Department directly
And many others – Good Healthcare plans, Good Education Plans, Education Trusts for Kids of Cops, Free Education etc.
The Cops are taken care of decently and so they do their job well.
Then there is the question of Punishment. Cops who break the law are brutally punished. In China except the Political Police – all other cops can be punished brutally for Bribery or for Public Abuse or false cases etc. The LEPPA which applies only to cops and can put a cop for 15–25 years for a custodial death within 3 months through special courts.
Its the Double Edged Sword – Good Incentives but Brutal Punishments
Its what India should do
PS This only applies to officers. Chinese Constables are very less paid (Same as Indian PCS) but they get commissions (Hyeung Ya or Golden Fragrance) of 55% – 150% of their monthly salaries. Legal commissions on which they have to pay tax.
Our Poor Havildars have no such incentives and can get a CBI Case for a mere Rs. 500/- bribe.
Weißer Turm (The White Tower), Galgengasse, Rothenburg.
An expensive education system that does not give people the most basic knowledge.
The world’s largest prison system.
An expensive healthcare system that is against disease prevention. And which gives decreasing life expectancy.
A colossal big expensive army which is not able to overcome the Taliban. And the army’s expenses are poorly documented.
The judiciary is large and expensive.
The financial sector is filled with at least 90% air, which will give rise to a new financial bubble, which will empty people’s pensions.
The two identical parties present only the interests of the rich. And yet they are extremely hostile to each other.
Real wages for the middle class have not increased since the 1970s.
Many of the politicians stand with one foot in the grave, so it will never be them themselves who will pay back the country’s debt. Their goal is to survive only four more years.
I could make several points. But why do you think it is difficult to sell this system, Western Democracy to the Chinese?!
Wasn’t it a better idea to sell Chinese socialism to the Americans?! Who wants a government that will multiply your hourly wage?!
The bloody history has told every Chinese: China’s peace today is not because the invaders abandoned evil and turned to good, but because of the powerful PLA.
Mike Tyson is the father of my favorite sports quote. Reporters were questioning him about his new opponent. They were building up the rivalry, talking about how dangerous this fighter was, how he planned to keep Tyson at a distance with his jab, how he planned to wear him down.
Getting annoyed with the questions, Mike looked up from tying his shoes and said, “Everyone has a plan — until they get hit.” It’s so perfectly translatable to life. Everyone is on a diet, until they get hungry. Everyone wants good grades, until it’s time to study. Aspirations and reality are often star-crossed lovers: desperate to be together but doomed to be apart.
We don’t like what most goals entail. There’s a way to make things easier. It starts with understanding the process of productivity.
Slow down your mind to produce more
In a 2013 experiment, scientists showed flashing images to young mice for six hours a day for ten days straight. The changing images emulated cell phones and TVs. Those mice later displayed significant difficulties getting through mazes and finishing cognitive tasks versus non-stimulated mice. Science has long known overstimulation leads to deficits in cognition and attention span.
More plainly, when you are bored with a task, you are often overstimulated. It’s worse than most people realize. Our minds are lost in thought for roughly 47% of our day.
Concentrative meditation, a focus on one specific thing, is proven to boost your focus over time, even if you only do it for five minutes a day. Letting too many voices in your head drowns out those that need to be heard. It’s counterintuitive to think that slowing down your mind increases its potency. The brain is like a lightbulb: too much energy makes it shine less.
If you are feeling ambitious, a Harvard study found that 27-minutes of meditation per day led to increased gray-matter density in the hippocampus, resulting in improved learning, empathy, and memory.
Start easier by creating mental opposition
My girlfriend works in academia and occasionally writes huge, thickly worded papers. On the scale of writing projects, it’s one of the most nightmarish. She was working herself up over a paper last month. She talked about it all week, dreading it, venting about it. She was eventually in full-blown tears, despite not having written a single word.
I’m a fairly patient guy but I do have limits. I finally said, “I need you to do a favor for both of us and get this done. Do it for me, please.” Her dread was bleeding into our relationship. Seeing my point, and to her credit, she powered through it and was a new person afterward.
Procrastination is the hellspawn of anticipation. We expend so much energy thinking about doing something, building up the tension, contemplating the boredom and pain involved. Our energy is sapped before we even begin.
Defeat it by inverting your thoughts
The next time you are putting something off, pay attention to your thoughts. Notice when you have a ‘dread’ thought, “This is going to be so hard.” Notice how you feel heavier. I can literally feel my body getting more immobile when I catch those thoughts.
The trick is to invert that process. I write for a living. When my keyboard is roaring at me like a 101-toothed monster, I’ll itemize reasons I should write. For example:
If I write now, I’ll have free time later.
It will be fun to discover which words show up on the page.
The show I’m watching is useless and boring.
I’ll make more money if I spend more time writing.
It’s going to ruin my mood if I keep procrastinating.
Make it a game to verbally list as many reasons as possible. This will magnetize your motivations. Actions are an extension of our thoughts. Starting is often the hardest part of productivity.
How to stay in the pocket after you start
When I was a swimmer, I didn’t have aquatic headphones to get me through a workout. Swimming is an exhausting exercise in sensory deprivation. You can only see the bottom of the pool and hear the water in your ears. Workouts were miserable and every stroke invites you to slack off.
The key was to stay focused at the moment. I did this in two ways. First, I focused on my technique, giving 100% of my focus to my coach’s instructions. When that technique crumbled, I fell back into reminding myself of my goals. I singularly focused on them, much like you would with concentrative meditation.
Remind yourself that you want to get promoted and get a raise. Reflect on sub-goals. Reflect on what happens if you quit now and flake out. Thoughts can be weaponized against laziness. Productivity is a battle in your mind. If you let weakening thoughts run about unchallenged, you are doomed. Focus on perfection and your attention to detail.
The takeaway and tying it all together
Remember, productivity has three key elements:
Convince yourself to start.
Stay focused despite distractions.
Continue working when you don’t feel like it.
Convince yourself to start by being cognizant of detractor thoughts. Dismiss them quickly and list out reasons to start.
To avoid distractions, practice slowing down your mind with meditation. Additionally, make a mental note of every time you lose focus. When I start getting sloppy, I’ll keep a piece of paper and make a line every time I catch my mind drifting.
Lastly, to get through arduous, monotonous tasks, focus on being present in the moment. Focus on the details. Think about your goals. But never dread the painful aspects of your tasks. Motivation is war. Know how to rally your troops.
Roman Empire and Chill
Dinardo’s Italian Restaurant Creole Carbonara
Creole Carbonara
Ingredients
1/2 cup chicken thigh meat
2 1/2 tablespoons Creole seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 ounces andouille sausage, chopped
8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Dash of Tabasco
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 pound fettuccine, cooked
Instructions
Coat the chicken with one teaspoon of the Creole seasoning.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and sauté chicken for approximately one minute.
Add andouille and continue cooking one additional minute.
Season shrimp with remaining Creole seasoning, add to chicken/andouille mixture and cook until shrimp are pink and curled.
Add green onions, garlic and whipping cream. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to medium.
Add Worcestershire, Tabasco, salt and half of the Parmesan cheese.
Coat fettuccine with sauce and top with remaining cheese.
West Germany.
19 5
Appreciation
***** REAL ****** Trouble: No One Buying US Treasuries
Nobody wants U.S. Treasury bonds. Bond Sales are in the worst stretch since the Civil War. The federal government has run up so much debt that few if any around the world, want to lend them money anymore. This cannot end well.
Once a symbol of America’s economic might and accepted as a global coin of the realm, US Treasuries have fallen badly out of favor, with serious consequences for taxpayers, investors, and financial markets.
Elementary economic forces — too much supply and not enough demand — have collided to create the worst stretch for U.S. government bonds since the Civil War. The government keeps borrowing to cover its budget deficits, while once-reliable buyers of that debt, both at home and abroad, have pulled back.
The result: Investors are demanding the steepest yields since 2007. Auctions of fresh bonds that were once routine are now going terribly. And bond portfolios are getting absolutely hammered. The longest-dated Treasury bonds are in a bear market worse than the dot-com bust and almost as bad as 2008.
Already 2.5% of the U.S.’s economic output is going to service its existing debts, a number that some analysts expect to hit 4% by 2030. Already running huge deficits, the only way for Treasury to pay the interest — along with ambitious spending programs like the CHIPS Act and student-loan forgiveness — is to keep borrowing.
They are now TRAPPED in a vicious spiral that can ONLY lead to financial death for the country. There is no other possible outcome because the government will not stop spending.
He worked in a private local company. At the end of 2017 the owner of the company changed which means the head of the board of directors changed (let’s call the new guy Jim). Obviously, Jim wanted to make some changes himself, mostly to establish dominance and show he’s the new sheriff in town. Rumors say he promised to double company’s profit in a single year (remember this). There’s a thin line between ambitious and cocky.
The first move he made didn’t have anything to do with the increasing work efficiency or meeting heads of departments or actually know the work that is done in that company. Jim had installed one of those time clock machines where employees check in when they get to work and check out when they’re done. Something like this:
only they didn’t have tokens, but cards. Installation and writing guidelines took about a week after which he announced to heads of departments that every employee must check in and check out themself even when they’re going out just for a break. Also, heads of departments should’ve forward these news to employees. The thing officially started second or third week in January of 2018.
At first, employees didn’t take it so seriously and some of them didn’t check in/out every day or didn’t (sometimes even forgot to) note down their breaks. At the end of the week, Jim would go through every employee’s record to see does any of them have less than 40 hours. (Notice he wasn’t interested in those who had more than 40 hours.) Friend told me that most of employees were in the range 38–45 working hours and a very few around 37 but none under 37. Jim called for a meeting with heads of departments every Friday to inform them about the records and to warn those who work less. Also, there was no compensation for those who work more (stay late or work on weekends).
Employees protested about that kind of behavior and wanted time clock out. That only made Jim to push that thing even more and convinced the board of directors and the owner that the time clock is necessary. So it passed.
The thing is that the work climate has changed. Everyone was more concentrated on if they checked in and if they worked enough than the actual work and the pressure started to build up. The thing went on for two whole months until the most of the employees (friend said 80% but maybe he exaggerated a bit) decided to come to work, check in, work their 8 hours at a moderate pace, check out and head home. No overtime, no working weekends, if the clock hit 16:00 people would leave midwork or in the middle of the meeting not giving a shred of an F. Their excuse was that they did their 8 hours and if they want them to stay, they want a written notice (which is a proof of working overtime and must be paid).
This way every single employee had 40 working hours a week and not a minute more or less. But you know what? Jim wasn’t satisfied. Why? Because work suffered. He made the employees numbers and working slaves that have only one purpose – to work. This killed all the passion people had towards the job they were doing. It demoralized people. They had a feeling that someone is standing above their head every second of the day. And the time clock might not be a bad thing to check employees every once in a while, but to terrorize them like Jim did made them do anything just in spite of that work regime.
After 3 and a half months, the moment of truth came. The first quartal report came. It was a bit better than the last year so Jim stayed at his position. Employees continued with their strike. The second quartal report came and the profit was ~8% less than the same period of previous year (maybe 9% I don’t remember). Jim ascribed it to a bad economy in the country and stayed at his position. Employees were informed about the drop in profit which made them to continue their strike. The third quartal report came. The company’s profit was down by amazing 34% compared to the same period of the previous year. Jim was fired on the spot (even though his mandate supposed to last 5 years) and time clock was left just to control employees every now and then.
Conclusion: Treat your employees as humans which they are and maybe consult someone about your radical actions.
Many decades ago my Dad was a high school teacher in the inner city of Boston.
One of the students in his class was a nationally ranked Judo practitioner who competed at the national level. This young man might miss weeks of school to attend an event around the world. IIRC he may have been part of the US Judo team at the time.
This young man was very quiet and kept to himself generally head down looking at a book at his desk. However he would sometimes be taunted by other students and generally would ignore the idiots.
One day Dad is writing something on the blackboard and behind him he hears one of the jerks taunting. He hears things like “You gonna show me some of that kung fu shit” and then he hears “Let’s see you block this punch”.
Dad hears a small amount of noise and turns around. This is a matter of seconds. The Asian Judo practitioner is sitting in his chair, head down reading a book. And the jerk kid is unconscious on the floor peeing his pants.
The jerk on the floor starts coming around. Dad tells his friends to get him back in his seat. And everyone starts laughing at the jerk because of the giant pee stain on his crotch.
That seemingly ended the attempted bullying. Everyone realized that this kid could kick everyone’s ass if needed.
I love a happy ending!
On Mount Wendelstein.
6 12
Wife Cheats On Work Trip And Now Is Losing Her Mind That Her Marriage Is IMPLODING
Her: I ripped the soul out of my husband through betrayal.
Also her: I made him coffee and did some chores. We should be all good, right?
“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.
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 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?
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.
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
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
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 1st, 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.
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.
image 155
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.
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 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.
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
deliciousv
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
strawberry
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.
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 itregularly—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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2023 11 25 10 11
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.
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
image 158
This team rescued 319 people given up for dead in Turkey
image 157
They were HEROES
The victims were given up for dead
image 156
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
image 13
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
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?
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.
When I was first living with my (present) wife we were living in Nanshan. This is a suburb in Shenzhen, China. We had a little dog. She was a Bomei. The dog’s name was “yo yo”.
Well, my wife wanted to save some money and cut yo yo’s hair herself.
The only thing was… well… she was drinking alcohol when she did it.
Uh oh.
…
Poor yo yo.
She shaved it all off, and yo yo was so very, VERY pissed off.
She would go to the standing mirror, look at herself, sigh and then go back to her bed and sleep off her depression.
It was a long time ago. Maybe 2003 or 2004.
Poor little Yo Yo.
Trust me, everyone… a word to the wise… never cut your dog’s hair when you are drunk.
Europe had just emerged from a terrible Great War, and everyone wanted to cut the ties with the past. The World War One was simply a terrible disaster which cost the lives of millions of fine young men and destroyed gazillions worth of property. And the World War One effectively killed Christianity in Europe. The industrial mass carnage was simply too much.
Europe was wiped mentally and spiritually into a blank slate, and this also included fine arts and architecture. New Totalitarian ideologies, such as Communism, National Socialsism and Fascism had emerged, and the new generation hated anything bourgeoisie, anything hand-made, anything posh and cute, anything feminine. One of the most important men in the architecture of the era was Swiss-born Edouard Jeanneret aka Le Corbusier, whose pamphlet Towards a New Architecture was the start bang of the run of hideous, ugly and banal architecture.
Of course Corbu did not aim for hideous, ugly and banal. What he wanted was natural light, air, sanitation and effectiveness. The centuries old European cities had very little to speak about commodities – many did not have central heating, central water supply nor indoors loos. (They came only later.) And he wanted to make a total break with the 7000 years of architectural legacy. Not evolution, but revolution. this is how the box-arts architecture emerged.
According to Corbu, the problems of architecture are the same all around the world, and the solutions also are the same all around the world. Everything returns to the three basic forms – cube, cone and ball. Away with gabled roofs, decorations, ornaments, frizes, symmetry, anything unnecessary! Light! Warmth! Joy! Buildings are nothing but vertical streets! Sameness must prevail! Everything shall be the same from Arkhangelsk to Antofagasta!
Meanwhile in Germany, the Bauhaus sported similar ideas. While le Corbusier leaned towards Fascism, Bauhaus was a Communist hotbed. Everything shall be mass-produced! Away with pastel colours and genteel forms! Away with decorations and ornaments! Everything shall be standardized!
The new architecture – International Style– spred incredibly fast. Because the year 2000 was near. This was the future – and it did away with past. Everyone now waited for year 2000. It was to be a concrete milestone of the future. See, the odometre gears revolve and the new numbers set in. And the architects wanted to build bridge to the future.
Nazis and Fascists were enamored of the new style. Bauhaus was done away because it was a hotbed of Communists, but the Nazis adopted the Bauhaus style eagerly. Likewise in Italy, Futurism was the offficial style of Fascism in arts and Italian Rationalism in architecture. Not some kind of Neo-Classicism which one could expect.
Came the World War Two, and the cities in Britain, Netherlands, France, Germany and Eastern Europe were simply obliterated. They had to be rebuilt – and they were rebuilt in the new style. And a new technique of building – Plattenbau – had been invented. The large panel system-building revolutionized construction and made houses cheaper than ever.
But this meant also the revolution on architectural thinking. The old buildings had been built indefinitely, or at least as long as the razing craze, fire or aerial bombardment would destroy them. Now the concept of lifespan entered in architecture. Edifices would last 50 to 60 years after which they would be ready to be demolished and replaced. So there was no reason to build beautiful any more.
Two world wars had killed the artistic soul. The architecture must be true and honest. The world is ugly, so architecture must be ugly. The world is fragmented and broken, so the architecture must reflect it. The materials must be left raw and unfinished to be honest to them. Brutalism had been born.
And the future was closer than ever. The 1960s finally demonstrated the future was at hand. True, we didn’t know exactly what the future would be like, but we knew that it had to be one of a few alternatives. The future was a world with a distinct architecture. It had its own way of speaking. It had its own technology. It was for all intents and purposes a different land where people dressed differently, talked differently, ate differently, and even thought differently. It was where scientists were wizards, where machines were magically effective and efficient, where tyrants were at least romantically evil rather than banal, and where the crystal spires and togas would prevail.
Then the long-awaited Year 2000 (or rather 2001, if you prefer) came. The odometer wheels revolved and the numbers turned. Suddenly we realized we lived now in that future which we had built in the 1960s – and it was no different from the past. It is now 2023 – we are well in that future – and nothing has really changed. The world did not change by revolution, but by evolution. Meanwhile, the centuries- and millennia-old towns, cities and buildings had evolved by constructing modern age amenities within – without destruction, simply by building waterworks, sanitation and Internet connections within those buildings built centuries ago and made to last for centuries. Evolution 1 – revolution 0. “Building a bridge to the future” sounds just as corny as building a causeway to next Tuesday.
For people of the generations who had lived through the tarnished promises of the Atomic Age, the Space Age, the Computer Age, and the This That and Another Age, the year 2001 was a gateway. We waited twenty, thirty, forty years and some longer to pass though that gate into a time when spaceships the size of ocean liners plied between colonised planets, where cities were colourful collections of brand new towers without a single old building or blade of grass.
Turned out the future was hideous, banal, bland, ugly and simply terrifying. And it was not the future anymore. It was now. The future was now here, and had become the present. We no more had a past, and we no more have a future either – what we have is perpetual present, here and now. The years turn and nothing really changes. Or should I say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
And now the lifespan thinking in architecture is bearing fruit – we are losing those futures now. The Brutalist and the Plattenbau buildings are now reaching the ends of their designed lifespans, and they are being pulled down. Every day we lose one or more of those futures. Most of us say good riddance – nobody except arts and history professionals will miss those ugly, hideous and banal buildings like we miss the destroyed beautiful buildings of the past centuries.
Here goes the Vesiputoustalo (Waterfall House) in my hometown. Built in 1985, it was abandoned in 2017 and demolished 2022. The house had a terrible mildew and internal air problem, and had a functional lifespan of barely 32 years. Another future becomes a heap of gravel.
So why our world is still plagued with ugly architecture despite having more architectrs now than ever in history? Because the doctrines of Modernism and International Style still prevail in all architectural schools and technical universities in the world. The students are still today indoctrinated to build that same hideous architecture as has been built during the past 90 years. Repeat styles are not allowed unless they repeat the past 50 years.
And yet, all futures have now been explored. The same has happened in architecture as what happened in the fine arts in the 1970s. All isms have been tried and all turned stale. Like Gollum, we have now explored all the roots and all the caves and they turned empty. This general disillusionment has now produced the spiritless and soulless Postmodernist architecture. Anything goes.
Most of all, it is all about money. Building ugly is cheap. Cutting corners and cutting away anything unnecessary is a way on saving money and on costs.
The dreams of le Corbusier and other Modernists turned out nightmares in the real life.
Leave The West! Move To China Now!
Like it or not, Russia and China are running circles around the USA. Better learn Mandarin and Russian. We love you Sabrina!
Creole-Style Pork and Red Bean Chili
On a spiciness scale of 1 (mild) to 5 (hot), this chili is a 3 with chaurice only or a 2 with pork tenderloin and chaurice combined.
creole style pork red bean chili
Prep: 15 min | Cook: 55 min | Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 pounds chaurice sausage (or other spicy pork sausage, like chorizo), removed from casing*
2 cups finely diced yellow onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup finely diced green bell pepper
3 cups cooked Camellia Brand Red Kidney Beans
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
3 (14.5 ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Pork & Veal Magic
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 cups thinly sliced green onion tops
Kosher salt, to taste
Fresh thyme leaves, for garnish
Instructions
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven set at medium-high. Add the chaurice sausage, and, using a wooden spoon, break up the sausage into bite-size chunks. Stir and cook until the sausage is fully opaque, about 8 minutes. (If also using pork tenderloin, do not add yet.)
Add onion and cook until translucent, about 6 minutes.
Add celery and bell pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add Camellia Brand Red Kidney Beans, dried thyme, tomatoes, garlic, and Pork & Veal Magic®. (If using diced pork tenderloin, add it at this time.) Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add tomato paste and stir until thoroughly combined, taking care not to break up the beans. Bring chili to a boil, stir in green onions and add Kosher salt to taste. Cover, remove from heat and let stand for 20 minutes before serving.
Garnish individual bowls of chili with fresh thyme leaves.
Notes
* For a milder flavor, use 1 pound chaurice and 1 pound pork tenderloin, diced.
Me, wearing a Best Buy shirt and buying something from the 7–11 down the street: “Hello”
7–11 owner: “Oh hi, how are you today!”
Me: “Pretty good I guess. Best Buy isn’t giving me enough hours though.”
Owner: “Do you want to work here?”
Me: “…yes, actually.”
Owner: “Can you start tomorrow at 6am?”
Me: “…yes, actually.”
Owner: “OK, see you then.”
Now, to be fair, at that point I’d been in that particular 7–11 maybe 3 times a week for 3 years leading up to then, and I knew the owner and his family decently well.
But still. I went in to buy cigarettes and left with a new job. Pretty nice.
Russia-US security agreement. Conflict on two fronts w/ Jeffrey Sachs (Live)
We, fortunately, have not yet had a house fire, but some neighbors of my daughter did. The whole family was at a movie and arrived home to find their house on fire, and firemen already battling the blaze. The house was saved, but there was extensive and very expensive damage, making the house uninhabitable for months. The fire had started from a clothes dryer left running, and a blockage caused the motor to overheat.
Since then, I have two rules: Never leave the house with the dryer running, and also, clean, not only the dryer vent after every load, but also the dryer line to the outside on a regular basis.
I also, at one time, prevented a major fire at work when I smelled overheated electrical wires. I had a great deal of difficulty persuading the maintenance people to cut a hole in the ceiling where I could smell the wires, but they finally did, just as the flames erupted.
As on date there is an oversupply of 17.2 Million Homes in China
There are 17 Million homes built or being built without takers , built in anticipation of being sold for which developers have already borrowed loans
The Cumulative loans on them are around 3.4 Trillion RMB ($ 500 Billion) needing interest payments of around 165 Billion RMB a year
There are a further 35 Million Units built or being built with takers but which haven’t been concluded and with at least 50% payment pending
The Cumulative burden of these units is around 6 Million RMB ($ 813 Billion)
88% of these Homes are in the Top Cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen etc
That’s $ 1.3 Trillion worth of homes waiting to be sold or fully sold
The Reasons for the lack of demand include :-
Very tough requirements to avail mortgage loans since 2018
Restrictions on Second and Third Home ownership since 2020 as part of Common Prosperity
Tier 2 and 3 Cities developing very fast and real estate much more affordable. In Chongqing City i can buy 143 Sqm for 1.625 Million RMB against a mere 52.5 Sqm in Shanghai
General lack of faith in Residential Property as a source of Investment anymore
Yes Chinas worst case scenario is a $ 1.3 Trillion HIT assuming China decides to burn the entire issue and pay for all these units and plug the hole
However since China won’t raise debt to pay off the hole like US or India would, it means Chinas strategy will be long term and that will take at least 6 years or until 2028 to absorb this amount effectively and cost maybe 1.5% a year in growth (Hence around 4–4.2% instead of 5.7% a year for the next few years)
China could raise 10 Trillion Debt and plug the hole fully tomorrow. It is the only nation on earth that can do so. Yet if it does, it begins to follow the US into a path of no return which China, a producer economy doesn’t want to do
Good news is today, there is no fresh problem
The old problem has to be sorted out and that will take a few more years
This Is Why So Many Women Are Single
” I’m loyal, but I am not monogamous” ” I’m loyal , but I am bisexual ” ” I’m loyal , but I have all my exes in my DMs to this day” ” I’m loyal , but I do OF ” To me , the reason why a lot of these ladies are single/ in pseudo relationships is because they don’t know what the word loyal means .
Two years ago, my son moved from the UK to the US (Texas). He works in IT (network engineer). His salary now is more than double of what he made in the UK. He got married last October and his wife works a minimum wage job. Yet, combined they make more now than me and my wife ever did.
So, you would think that he’s now better off than when he worked in Britain. Think again.
Healthcare costs a fortune. Last month, my daughter in law needed emergency dental surgery (root canal). Co-pay 3,000 USD.
Since he’s a recent immigrant, his credit score is not all that great. Meaning he can’t get a mortgage to buy a home. So, they’re paying 2K pcm in rent.
Since public transport in the US is either in a shocking state or non-existant, they both need cars to get to/from work. Cost of buying/running/insuring something decent is substantial.
Utilities are generally more expensive. The monthly electricity bill in particular is high (because living in Texas means you run the AC pretty much all of the time).
Food prices are about the same, though the portions are larger. Quality is a lot lower. Steaks in particular: all water and hormones. Sugar in everything.
So while is monthly gross pay is higher than this side of the Atlantic, his monthly disposable income (after all the bills are paid) is a lot less. It would be fair to say that they live paycheck to paycheck most months. When my son and his family want to come over for a visit, we pay for their trip. Whilst he’s a real go-getter and loves his job (and the opportunities he has in the US) my daughter in law is beginning to realise that they would enjoy a superior quality of life in Europe.
I worked n the restaurant business on and off for around 15 years. In all that time, I was lucky enough to work with good hard working people. There was only one person I will never forgive, a person who I worked with who I thought was a friend. We used to tend bar together on busy nights and we made pretty good money. There used to be a group of guys on a bowling team who would come in once a week a they always left us a large tip. I remember after they left I was cleaning up the bar and noticed there wasn’t their usual tip there. I asked “my friend “ if she took the tip off of the bar and she said no. I didn’t think much about it until the owner of the bar pulled me aside and told me my coworker told him I pocketed the tip. I’m many things , but I’m not a thief. She eventually admitted to stealing tips because she was in a lot of debt. She was fired
“Can you help us save him? the nurse asks. “He’s failing fast. Not responding to medication. We have nothing more here to keep him alive.”
“What do you mean?” I say. “ You mean the doctor can’t give him more drugs? Please, please.”
“Who’s at home? Does he have a favourite stuffy? What about a pet? Think about it and let us know.” The nurse is detached and unemotional.
And I’m falling apart.
It is a cold, blustery winter morning in January, 1984. Winters in Northwest Canada can be brutal and this week was especially miserable. The wind heaped the snow in large drifts around the house; not our house, mind you. Living at the in-laws. A devastating fire a short time ago. I say, “Good to remind us how the homeless live.” There is no time to feel sorry for ourselves.
“Shh, shh, baby, my baby, shh.” I sing as I rock back and forth to calm him down.
His arms flail. He lets out a piercing scream. Growls. Racks my face. Finds my eyes and claws at my eyeballs.
Our family physician writes on his prescription slip: Query spinal meningitis. Sends baby and me to a paediatrician. “This is an acute emergency,” he says calmly. “Your appointment’s made.”
Hysteria rises in me. My legs turn to jelly. The sound roaring in my ears is deafening.
And baby son lies still. Pale. Too still. Pale. Deathly still.
Another race against time. I remember a small crowded room of bored patients. I remember a nurse calling my son’s name. And I also remember rushing down a flight of stairs, throwing open a door, and racing into a crowded street.
My husband looks wide-eyed at us.
“Go. Go. Go. He’s dying. Oh my God, he’s dying. Hurry to the General.”
We screech to a halt in front of the hospital. I stumble awkwardly nearly blinded by tears flowing freely now. The specialist, just seen, races by with his doctor’s bag in hand.
I run into the hospital and a front desk clerk gestures towards the elevator. “Run. They’re ready.”
We call for the resident priest.
“Please baptize him.” I choke on my words then. “And give him the Last Rites if need be.”
Life stands still at times like this. Husband and I huddle together, entwined branches of a single tree. We sit in parallel, silent prayer begging God for mercy. We’ve waited thirteen years for our little boy, a son who will carry on a dying family name. We can’t bear the thought of losing him today.
Hours later, after his abdominal surgery, the attending doctor walks towards us. We search his weary face, but find no answers. His words come haltingly.
“The fight’s just begun. Your son is critically ill. “
He quickly describes our son’s diagnosis, surgical procedures, present condition.
Intussusception. Bowel blockage caused the small intestine to telescope into the large intestine. There was total blockage. The surgeon made an incision in his belly and removed eighteen inches.
Tells us finally that our son’s odds of survival: ten percent.
Ten percent? We prop each other up, slump over in our chairs, cover our faces, and cry.
The next week is a blur. I call my mom and beg for prayers. She phones everyone she knows. Holds prayer gatherings at her home a couple times weekly for a month. Attends Mass and asks the priest if she can address the congregation at each of four Sunday Masses. Continues to give updates to her various support groups.
There are new developments daily. Our tike is a fighter. He is watched around the clock by rotating nurses who hang over his crib. When he starts yanking out tubes, his hands are tied together with cotton restraints. The staff won’t listen to my pleas. “I’ll sit here all day, all night holding his hands, but please don’t tie him up.”
They send me home. “You’ve got to sleep. You can’t save him all by yourself. Trust us.”
But he gets worse. Lies listless.
Still. Pale. Too still. Pale. Deathly still.
Then, without warning, cardiac arrest.
Husband and I pass a crash cart on the way back from the cafeteria. Not for a moment do we think it comes from our son’s room. We are oblivious to the gravity of his condition until the doctor intercepts us. “Your son’s heart stopped. But he’s fine. We did our job.”
Suddenly our son is floundering once more. The medical staff run out of answers and I can see the troubled look in their eyes.
“Any suggestions, folks?“
Our daughter is three. She loves her brother as if he were one of her precious Barbie dolls. Packs him around like a sack of flour. Lines up stuffies in his crib and makes up plays which make him giggle. Helps me change his cloth diapers, even the poopy ones.
And I think, she’s one hell of a trooper, too. Held her baby brother in a freezing car a month ago while I alerted the neighbours to call the fire trucks.
Sister leans over his crib and says, “Hi, little guy! “ Simply that.
And he cocks his head and listens.
Three simple words from a protective big sister makes all the difference.
He starts fighting. And wins his battle.
………….
Son’s life and health have been a challenge over the years; however, as difficult as circumstances might be, our mighty fighter perseveres.
Three days ago his big sister’s “little guy” turned thirty-six.
When I was a kid, a truck dropped off a huge box at our house that was addressed to my mother.
According to the paperwork, it was an automatic dishwasher, something that had just been invented, and we had no idea why we suddenly had one.
It took a few phone calls to figure out that, months earlier, my mother had entered a free sweepstakes at Zayres department store and the appliance was a prize.
She was scared to death of the newfangled device and never even hooked it up.
Yeah. It was funny as hell. I got a call from my counterpart at corporate. He has gotten laid off and he called me before they could escort him out to tell me we were getting laid off in three months. I confronted my boss and she turned ashen white but in the end she was honest with me.
Scott Ritter – “Palestine and Hamas have won.. Israel is in BIG TROUBLE!..”
In the United States, do not argue with the police. They are armed and they are jumpy because so many other people in the US are armed, including a lot of people who should not be.
Several years ago an Italian professor attending an academic conference in California crossed a street at a location other than a designated crosswalk. It would not occur to an Italian in a million years that this might be a crime. A cop saw him and shouted at him. He, being Italian, questioned the officer. The officer hurled him to the ground, tore his clothes, roughed him up and took him to jail for refusing to obey a lawful order given by a police officer. (He was eventually released without charge.)
The fact is, if the police are violating your civil rights, or even if they are breaking the law, there is nothing you can do about it at the time. Resisting them risks your being shot. Obey without question.
I was on a date with a veterinarian. She was a beautiful brunette with big eyes. She was a bit crazy too.
It was our second date and we were drinking a beer at a restaurant and somehow, we got to talking about how kids were growing up too fast, which is code for them sleeping around at too young of an age.
Just as I was drinking a sip of a beer, she said, “Yeah, I mean, I guess I get it. Kids are curious and going to experiment. When I was 6-years-old I stuck a pen in my p#ssy.”
I choked on my beer really hard and starting coughing. She immediately turned red, blushing with embarrassment for having been so candid and said, “Are you ok? Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
I was also red at this point from my brief oxygen shortage. I waved it off, still coughing, and said, “No worries at all! Kiiiids these days.”
MOBS SWARM US NUKE BASE, LEBANON/ ISRAEL ON BRINK, NUCLEAR SUB NEAR IRAN, IRAQ MOBILIZING
“President” Biden distributed 100 nuclear warheads all over the world. WTF?
I was a teenager. It was a temporary job. They had this big mail machine that folded letters, put them into envelopes and sealed them.
My job? It was sit stand between three of these machines and to squirt some water on the brushes every few minutes. The auto wetting water tank was broken and it was cheaper to hire me as a teenager (this was before UK minimum wage so it was about 30p an hour) until they could replace the water tank. You had to give it 3 sprays for it to be in the sweet spot anymore and the envelopes would be too wet, any less and too dry.
It drove me absolutely spare as the machines would beep each time a letter went through it. You had three machines beeping and you were stood there with a bucket of water and a couple squirty bottles. You’d hear the beeps in your sleep.
An actual wood burning fireplace. I got my first one in 1986, and every place has had one since. Unlike a wood stove, I can have a fire three seasons a year, without overheating my house.
When the first fluffy flakes of winter start falling, my wife and I start a fire. We might have a glass of wine, possibly a hot rum toddy, maybe mulled wine, brandy, or maybe peppermint schnapps and hot chocolate.
We sit in front of the fire, eating Brie and crackers, maybe some other snack. Possibly popcorn.
When it gets close to Christmas the Christmas music is playing. Two puppies at our feet.
Every Christmas when family comes over, we have the fire burning in the background, the tree is center of attention, but everyone loves hearing the pine snap crackle and popping in the fireplace.
The restructed events of the disaster have been pieced together over the years.
Mount Vesuvius was a known volcano in Roman times but it had not erupted in several centuries. No one knew why some mountains erupted and no one could predict when they would. However, due to the nature of fault lines in this region geologists now believe smaller earthquakes and eruptions simply relieves the pressure along the fault line that runs along Italy.
The Latins had no way of knowing that. All they know was volcanic soil grew good crops and volcanic ash was a key ingredient in Roman concrete. Italy was also the world’s factory at the time, so the area around Vesuvius centered around the city of Pompeii who was a big exporter of wine and metal tools. This was a pre-industrial society, so most people rarely went outside walking distance of their homes and for most residents this was their whole world.
In the days before the blast, many minor quakes were reported in the area around Vesuvius. No one knew what this meant, but Roman academics would later take this as the sign of potential eruption.
The exact moment of the blast was witnessed by the historian Pliny the Younger. He was reading Livy while his father governor Pliny the Elder was eating lunch. Indeed, the blast occurred during the lunch hour, as the most common find in Pompeii were tables set for lunch that were buried in ash and partially preserved. Pliny’s mother called them over to the window urgently and they looked and saw Mount Vesuvius’ summit turned into a tower of ash. Explosives didn’t exist in this period, and Pliny tried his best to explain how it appeared the force of the hot gas inside the mountain blown away the summit. The danger this caused was lost on no one, and Pliny the Elder gathered his soldiers to travel down across the Bay of Naples and rescue as many as he could while his family went away.
This was the worst kind of eruption. The lava is actually the least dangerous part of a volcano. Safe enough to be a tourist attraction at a distance and safe enough geologists is firefighting gear collect lava samples directly. The second most dangerous is the ash and rock because it tends to fall out of the sky and/or form hot avalanches Earth called pyroclastic flows. The hot gas is the most dangerous as it both suffocates and burns. Common gasses are CO2 and HS that are commonly disolved in solutions underground but bubbles up like a soda fountain inside the mountain. This causes volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows.
The residents of Pompeii went outside and it was soon raining ash and rock as Vesuvius vented its contents into the sky. Evacuations started immediately, and anyone who wanted to stay was quickly convinced to leave with the first pyroclastic flows that nearly reached Pompeii. As Vesuvius lost pressure it stopped being able to support a column of ash and rock and this collapsed forming the flow. However, that simply restricted the throat of the volcano, allowing pressure to build up again in a cycle that only got worse as the day progressed. The first victims found in the bottom layer of ash in Pompeii were all killed by falling rock.
Travel was a big deal in a pre-industrial world as you would be gone for days and it was quite strenuous. Among items victims were carrying included bread, coins, and housekeys. The latter back in those days was a heavy iron thing that didn’t easily fit in a pocket. Most of the dead from Pompeii were persons unable to flee including a soldier with a bad toothache, a near term pregnant lady and her husband, and an old bedridden man and his teenaged grandson among others. Most of these people were not buried with their houses as the ash levels rose, but were killed lady by hot gas. Indeed, this is how we know the pyroclasic flows got worse through the afternoon, as the victims closer to the mountain are typically buried deeper in ash. The final pyroclastic flows killed the most people including Pliny the Elder who stayed behind after his men loaded up a boat of refugees in order to organize the evacuation.
This is also how we know there were a lot more victims than we find buried in ash because Pliny the Younger recounts how these bodies were all recovered and given proper funerals. Likewise, we know there are many more bodies that have not been found as much of what we know of is concentrated in the city itself when the majority of this region’s population was dispersed in the countryside. However, country folk were much more dispersed so finding said bodies is far more difficult and more is discovered every decade.
All that said, the bulk of the population managed to escape. The eruption only effected the immediate area of the blast and once out of sight of the mountain people survived and later returned to find a volcanic plain where the city had been. The layer of ash and pummice stone was roughly 20 feet deep and it simply wasn’t worth it to unbury the homes, many of which had collapsed under the weight. The whole city was effectively homeless and Emperor Titus personally arrived to survey the damage. Titus directed both state funds and his personal money to rebuilding Pompeii, and within two decades a planned city emerged. However, no one in Italy ever forgot how on one day that was otherwise like any other a mountain simply exploded for no reason and that most of the victims simply happen to be downwind of the disaster.
You likely seen those sculptures of Pompeii victims, but those are not bodies. The bodies rotted away leaving voids in the ash, and archeologists simply filled the voids with plaster to reveal the Pompean’s final moments, most clearly dying in agony.
Brian Berletic: War is COMING as China Rejects Dangerous US Maneuvers in Taiwan
“Let’s be frank about the Taiwan issue, where the US is involved. The US cares next to nothing about the well-being of Taiwanese people, who are Chinese in race and ethnicity. Why should they? Look at the way the US government treats Asians in their own country, many of whom are citizens. So what about other nationalities? Yea, that somes it all up in a nutshell.”
I’ma be honest, it’s fucking nerve racking. I had to give the period talk when I dont even know the period talk. I had to be the one to wake her up at 2am when she was 8 with police behind me to tell her that her mother overdosed and died. I get up everyday and makes sure she gets to school, leave work, pick her up and take her to excuricculer/home/friends/wherever the fuck, then go back to work and finish my 12 hour shift. Pick her up if not at home. Cook/order/figure out dinner, spend some time with her try to get to laugh at least once a day, make sure she gets her shower in, hug her tight kiss her forehead tell her I love her and goodnight, then go lay down and try to sleep myself …to wake up and do it all again.
Wanna know what I can’t do? Break down and cry. Blame her mom. Blame my mom. Blame the world for putting me and her though what we been through. And some days, that is all I wanna do. But when I feel tears in my eyes I’ll walk back to her room and look at her sleeping, usually her back to me.
I remember then why I keep getting up every morning
I’m in my 70s and retired now, but years ago, worked as the President’s assistant for an accounting firm.
Many times over the 4 years that I worked there, he would say, “I need this done by Monday.”
I would jump right on it and work all weekend if necessary. The reason being, he and the other owners of the small company treated me like gold.
I was a single Mom. When I first started working there, I was separated from my alcoholic husband, heading to divorce. I had no money to pay the mortgage or car insurance. I confided in one of the owners and the next thing I knew, they handed me a check to cover everything past due. They deducted a small amount each week from my paycheck to pay them back.
There was no problem if I had to stay at home with a sick child. If my work for the day was done, they had no problem if I hit the road early to avoid rush-hour traffic. My hours were flexible because they knew if they needed me to work late or on the weekend, I would cheerfully do it. They gave me great raises. They valued me as an employee and I never took advantage of it.
Not all small business owners are horrible people. I was lucky to work for such a great team. The only reason I left was to remarry and move out of state. I heard later they sold the company.
World at end of 200 yrs of North Atlantic rule: Sachs
I’ve worked with Chinese tech companies. Their engineers and scientists are devoted to their families, employers and country.
China has the capacity to leap frog the US in many different technologies. Take your pick, they are on it.
The Chinese government places a high value on a highly educated population. Engineering and scientific professionals are leading a revolution in advancing scientific innovation in China.
Their current leader, Xi, was a chemical engineer before becoming involved in his political career. In fact, many Chinese politicians are former engineers, refreshing thought isn’t it?
The motivations for innovation in the US and China are a key point in China leap frogging the US. Both countries reward success in innovation with financial incentives.
But, the Chinese have a greater sense of pride in their country and it’s future.
The US is presently extremely divided politically, current leadership is seeking short term monetary goals over the advancement of scientific innovation.
China may take the lead in further technological and scientific breakthroughs in this environment.
I had this scenario happen to me. A group of us were on a whitewater rafting trip and we went to dinner. All of us got the buffet, which was huge and had everything you could imagine (including prime rib). One of the couples both ordered the prime rib dinner off the menu, with appetizers, desserts and extra sides. When the waiter came to check on us and see how we were doing and if we were ready to pay, I spoke up and said “separate checks for all of us, please”. The waiter winked at me, other couples smiled, the couple that ordered the dinner had a fit. “We agreed we would split ALL costs! We can’t afford this unless we do”. I just smiled and said “we agreed that we would split costs, that was before we realized we would be taken advantage of. It’s separate checks for us from now on”. The other couples instantly said “agreed!” and “I didn’t agree to split the cost of a $125 dinner for you two when ours was $30!” I got the death glare, and neither of them spoke a word to me after that. When we got home I noticed I was blocked on everything. Oh well. They weren’t friends of mine and I found them to be not team players-not someone I would choose to be friends with.
I have a relative that I thought was a wonderful person and mother. Her spouse died suddenly when their daughter was 13 or 14 (they live in a different state than I do).
About a year after her spouse died, I start getting phone calls from her daughter in the evenings. I discovered her mom would go to her boyfriend’s house and cook he and his daughters dinner, while her daughter ate cereal for dinner at home.
Over the next several years, I spent a lot of time talking the teen through issues, concerns and challenges that mom wasn’t around to address.
Mom didn’t even know her daughter was taking college courses in her senior year of high school because she wasn’t there when she attended the classes in the evenings.
When it was time for the teen to go to college, she got into a great school. Mom told her she couldn’t go to it because they didn’t have the money. When the daughter went off to the lesser expensive and prestigious college, mom married the boyfriend, bought a larger home with a pool in the backyard, bought a facelift, and a luxury car. The daughter had only 2 pairs of jean to wear at college.
At the end of the daughter’s freshman year, she calls mom to let her know when she’ll be home. Mom tells her it would be better for her to stay at college over summer break.
Her daughter explains that she lives in a sorority house and it closes in the summer. Mom didn’t care, she told her to find somewhere to live… during final exam week.
The daughter calls me crying and I take her for the summer to live with me. I got her a job at the company I worked at and we made the best of it.
The insensitive and cruel things my relative has done to her daughter over the years is more than I can list.
By the way, the daughter went on to get a doctorate, despite her narcissist mother who I have zero respect or affection for.
Humans started using their own feces as compost pretty much as soon as agriculture was invented. The practice continued in many places well into the 20th century.
However, the practice soon proved to have a lot of drawbacks. Humans in the early agricultural era didn’t know about bacteria, and crops fertilized with human dung often caused outbreaks of disease because those gut bacteria persisted in the soil until they found a new human host.
As such, people learned that although it was fine to plant cereal crops, or any plant with a long stalk in such fields, and not to plant carrots or other root crops for at least a year. By that time pathogenic bacteria had usually died out.
Because horses, pigs and cows don’t share a lot of gut flora with humans, it was soon found using animal dung had the same effect with fewer drawbacks. It was perfectly safe to use a few acres of land as cattle pasture for a year, then plant the following year.
I’ll tell you something about Jim who doesn’t want to come to the company parties. He thinks if he does a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, that is all he owes you. He doesn’t think having a job means the company owns him, body and soul. Even if he knows that not attending the parties means a black mark against him, he still won’t go.
I’ll tell you something else. Before I retired, I worked for a lot of different organisations, some large, some small, and there were always some Jims. They got along well with their co-workers. They did their jobs and did them to the best of their ability. They were often prepared to go above and beyond the call of duty at work. But that was where it stopped.
Here’s the thing though. In every organisation, for every Jim, there are at least 25% of your staff who are Jim wannabes. They all wish they had the nerve to say no, but they don’t want to risk their jobs or their pay raises or their promotions, or even just the disapproval of their co-workers. They won’t tell you this because, as we can see by your question, in your mind this is not somebody exercising their right to say no to a social event. It is a problem that needs to be “handled”.
They don’t go home from the company party and say, “Wow, what a blast.” They walk in the door limp with exhaustion and say, “Thank god that’s over!” They probably put on a convincing act while they were there, but they didn’t want to spend their private time with a bunch of people they are already spending at least eight hours a day with. If they want to party, they want to do it with family and personal friends.
If you want to “team build” either with parties or other activities, do it within regular working hours. Jim probably still won’t like it very much, but at least he is getting paid for it. And it will not be breaking into the precious free time he needs to recharge his batteries so he can be an effective employee for you.
You’re going to need a bank of fryers and I wouldn’t fry them from raw. Frying them from raw will break the oil down really quickly and force you to either shut down the operation to change the oil or serve crappy wings. You don’t want to do either of those.
So, get your wings and brine them overnight in a simple solution of water, salt and sugar. Then drain them and bake them until they are cooked through. Cool the wings and package them in batches that will fill a fryer basket. Say 2.5 pounds per plastic bag and refrigerate them until it’s time to cook them.
On site, set up your fryers, your cold boxes of wings, a station for hot holding and saucing and a table for serving them to the customer. The cooks fry the wings, dump them into the hot holding units from one side and the service workers pull an order from the bin, place it into a bowl, toss the wings in sauce and then serve them to the customers. You can use heat lamps overtop of the wings to keep them hot, which you can rent, along with deep fat fryers that run on propane.
I worked a few summers at a home for children who’d experienced abuse and neglect. Their caseworker had just dropped them off; two beautiful little girls with big, blue eyes that swallowed their faces. They were two and four years old and they were very quiet for children their age. I looked them over, and immediately noticed several things: they had rope burns around their ankles, matted hair, and both were underweight and wheezing like they had the croup.
On closer examination I noted that the older of the two had bitten the insides of her mouth so hard that not only were they bleeding, but infected. I could not hold back my tears. They came with barely any clothing or personal effects, but many children in foster care share that experience. And later that evening when they were settled and I read over their file I knew they had lived a nightmare.
There had been an older sister, but she had died, thus prompting a welfare investigation in the first place. They found a woman addicted to drugs with a boyfriend who cooked meth—and they tied their children up in ropes to keep them out of their way. That was eighteen years ago and memories of those two girls still make me teary eyed. Questions like this immediately bring them to the forefront of my mind. I hope they finally found peace.
I had gotten out of the Army in 1971 (was drafted) and working my old job in a drugstore. I was growing a beard and letting my hair grow. A older customer came in and started criticizing my hair and beard (this was in the deep south). He said I was a disgrace. I let him know I didn’t need his permission or approval . He went to my boss and said the same thing. My boss basically said “He spent 2 years defending this country, he can wear his hair any way he wants.” . The customer left and my boss winked at me.
A 42 year old lady came in with severe abdominal pain and nausea. She wasn’t vomiting. No other symptoms or problems, except for multiple prior visits to the ER with the same problem.
Many doctors had tried and failed to diagnose and treat her. She had been to all the specialists at all the regional Universities. The famed Cleveland Clinic even took a crack at her.
All the tests were negative including blood work, poop samples, X-rays, scopes in both ends, the camera pill (a camera that the patient swallows, it takes pictures as it traverses the gut), and various scans.
She had CT scans, MRIs and various nuclear scans. There were scans with and without IV contrast and oral contrast. There were scans of her arteries, and scans of her gallbladder. Her gallbladder was a little weak, so a weak surgeon jerked it out without any benefit.
She had every blood test for cancer known to man. Multiple biopsies were always negative. I thank God that no tired pathologist ever imagined any cancer cells under the microscope. This lady already suffered so much at the hands of her healers.
X-rays were done many times with and without Barium. Some of the X-rays were done as videos. She might have had enough radiation to kill any tumor!
And the scopes! Multiple scopes down the throat and into the stomach and duodenum. Another scope down the throat through which a catheter is passed into the bile duct and pancreas to inject contrast that highlights the ducts for more X-rays. A urologist even scoped her bladder!
She saw stomach specialists, liver specialists, gastrointestinal surgeons, kidney specialists, urologists, neurologists, and even psychiatrists.
There’s an old saying in Medicine, if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. This poor lady had been beaten with every specialist’s hammer in 3 states!
When they couldn’t diagnose her, they just skipped straight to the cure. She failed multiple curative procedures and dozens of medications. There were medications to neutralize acid, coat the stomach, decrease acid production, anti-spasmodics, anxiolytics, antidepressants, antibiotics, anti seizure, antifunguals, and plain old pain medications.
She learned to refuse the pain medications, because she was smart enough to realize that she would be written off as an addict, that doctors stop trying if they think you just want opioids.
She has been put on every dietary restriction, and treated with every fiber supplement. She knew it all because she had tried it all!
The first night I saw her, I just told her that she had already seen many doctors much smarter than myself, working in a low level ER. But I did what I always do in these difficult cases.
I sit down and shut up and listen. I talk about weather, sports, hobbies and family; anything but medicine. But mostly I listen and observe. I try to get the patient talking more than myself. It’s an attempt to make a brain-to-brain connection for a two-way flow of truth. It is engaging the patient’s mind as the powerful problem-solving machine that it is.
Two minds together are more than 1+1=2. It’s more like 1+1=4. And it doesn’t really matter much that the other mind has limited medical knowledge. In fact, this process can sometimes work better if at least one of the minds is unspoiled by medical dogma.
So there we were, in the middle of a hectic ER night with several people trying to die. I talked with her for a few minutes until a nurse convinced me that another patient was closer to the next world than this one.
I grabbed the patient’s hand and begged her to be patient. I promised her that if she would wait for me, that I would give her my best shot. She was obviously in pain, but she attempted a smile and closed her eyes as I left to find something easier to do, like make a room look like an axe murderer walked in on a meeting of hemophiliacs anonymous, by saving a trauma victim.
That night was one of those nights that leaves me feeling a bit PTSD. I just wanted to crawl into my hut for a couple days. Yes, I have an actual stick-and-grass hut in the woods for this purpose.
But I have a soft spot for kids. The nurses all say that kids like me, and I am a pediatrician. I hate to leave a kid at the end of my shift, knowing that the next doctor may not feel as comfortable with kids.
I picked up the last chart in the rack (this was years ago), and saw that it was a 3 year old girl with abdominal pain. She was on the other side of the curtain from my 42 year old patient whom I had completely forgotten, or I would have spent the end of my shift with her as promised.
I took a deep breath and switched my brain from high pressure ER doc mode to easy and relaxed pediatrician mode. I walked into the room and quickly recognized a familiar problem. I explained to the worried mother that it was a simple stomach virus, that young children can’t tell the difference between pain and nausea. I explained that I was going to treat her pain with a tablet called “Zofran” for nausea, that dissolves in the mouth. I told her that I would be back in a few minutes and I left to give my order to a nurse.
By this time it was well after the end of my shift. The nurse I found said, “There you are! We thought you left! Did you forget about the 42 year old woman with abdominal pain? She’s been lying in there for hours!”
Of course I had totally forgotten her, but I remembered fast and said, “No! Of course not! I promised to spend some time with her if she would wait until the end of my shift!”
At that the nurse winked and nodded her head knowingly. I said, “No! Not like that! Look, can you give this little girl 2 mg of Zofran?” And I turned back to see my forgotten patient.
She was still in obvious discomfort but was waiting patiently. I walked over and placed my hand on her shoulder. Before I could say a word, she said, “That was great!” I didn’t know what she meant until she said, “You’re so good with kids, you should have been a pediatrician.”
She did not seem surprised when I said, “Well, as a matter of fact, I am!”
She joked, “No wonder I’m no better, my doctor is a pediatrician!”
I laughed. She tried to laugh. I poked my head around the curtain and asked the mother if it was okay to open the curtain? This violates protocols and is probably illegal, but I was too tired to care. I was simply trying to create an atmosphere to promote dialogue. A pleasant mother-baby dyad seemed the perfect antidote to the chaotic night this lady witnessed.
So now we had three minds working together. We talked to the little girl. She was smiling and feeling better already and asking for food. We talked about little girl things like toys, birthdays and sisters.
The mother thanked me. The Zofran trick worked wonderfully, despite her doubts. Then she looked at my patient and said, “He’s a wonderful doctor; listen to whatever he says.”
I asked her for permission to share her case and then I explained to the mother with a smile how that she had no idea, that this poor lady has some incurable ailment that has stumped all the specialists at all the Universities.
And then my patient and the mother began to talk about her case. As soon as the mother realized that it was a case of chronic abdominal pain and nausea, she drew an analogy to her daughter’s simple acute stomach virus.
I shook my head at the absurdity of it and was about to interrupt this conversation that was quickly getting off track. And then I remembered my rule for difficult cases (shut up and listen!).
My patient said, “Believe me, I have tried every stomach medication and even some herbs. Zofran does nothing for me.”
But my mind was zipping through all my experiences with chronic pediatric abdominal pain. I thought of the episodic nature of my patient’s condition. I asked her weird questions l usually reserve for pediatric cases like, “What part of the world did your ancestors come from? Any children in your family with health problems? How old is your house? Do either of your parents get migraines?”
She said, “Nobody has ever asked that question. My mother and father have both had migraine headaches their whole life. My brother gets them, too!”
And then I knew the diagnosis, even though I had assumed it was impossible and had never heard of an adult case. There is a condition called “abdominal migraine” that affects young children. There is usually at least one parent with migraine headaches, but most of these kids will get better by age 12. Their abdominal pain just stops. A certain portion will develop migraine headaches about the same time their abdominal pain goes away.
But I had my doubts. Pediatric abdominal migraine is easy to treat with simple medications that had failed to help this lady. But what if I gave her a common adult migraine treatment such as a vasoconstrictor? The pain of migraine is caused by too much blood flow to the head. Medicines that constrict blood vessels can be curative.
These medications work best if given very early in an episode. My patient was hours into this episode. As expected, the first dose in the ER that night did not relieve her pain, but it did do something much better: it gave her hope.
I gave her a prescription and sent her home, still in pain. But she was so grateful and she thanked me profusely. I felt a little anxious that maybe I was giving her false hope, for surely it could not be this simple? Surely the specialists thought of this?
Several months later she was in the ER with a sick family member. She was beaming and radiant. When she saw me she said, “That’s him! He’s the one who cured me!”
Tears were rolling down both our faces that night.
COVID-19. I have had several conversations here in the US with people who teach. They have all pointed to how awful the current batch of kids are when it comes to classroom learning. They can’t sit still nor pay attention because they lacked the classroom environment at that formative age to reinforce those skills; learning is nearly impossible. Meanwhile China adapted quickly to initial lockdowns, and by April 2020 normality had returned. My niece serves as my personal data point for what happened, and she has had no significant interruption in her education as online instruction was brief.
The haphazard lockdown strategy of the US combined with a retreat to virtual teaching will have a major effect on the labor force come 10 years from now. China’s strategy of strong, nationwide lockdown at onset followed by an elimination strategy allowed the country to more or less weather the storm more gracefully. One can have criticisms about how the country left COVID, but the end result is that the period of normality from spring 2020 through fall 2022 was the right target to reach, and the impact will play out in the coming years.
The current seemingly higher economic growth rate of the US is unsustainable and superficial because the inflation rate in the United States is much higher than that in China.
Since the 1980s, although the US has pioneered technological revolutions such as information technology, the Internet, and life sciences, and revolutionary technologies have brought new markets, services, products, and high-tech companies, it stands to reason that total factor productivity growth should be very high, but the new rounds of technological change have not prevented the gradual decline of U.S. productivity.
Statistics show that the average annual growth rate of total factor productivity in the United States has dropped to about 1% in the past 40 years, and even less than 0.7% in the past 10 years. The third industrial revolution did not bring about a substantial increase in total factor productivity growth in the US like the second industrial revolution that occurred during the industrialization process. Economists call this phenomenon the productivity growth paradox.
Forecasting a country’s potential growth rate is very important for judging its economic direction, but it is not easy. In 2022, China’s GDP may be 72% of that of the United States. Assuming that the U.S. economic growth rate would be 2.2%, China’s economic growth rate would be 5%, and the U.S. dollar and RMB remain at the current real exchange rate, based on this calculation, China would catch up with the United States in 2029. However, potential growth is not actual growth. A country’s ability to achieve its potential growth rate depends on whether sufficient demand exists. In the past three years, China had mainly relied on investment and exports to create demand. Thus, China must increase domestic consumption to create sufficient demand.
An important reason for China’s economic success lies in the close integration of a competent government and an efficient market. The invisible hand of the market and the visible hand of the government play a positive role in promoting economic and social development. The Chinese government focuses on key industries that promote national economic growth through five-year plans, industrial policies, and allocation of financial resources. Technological changes that occur in node industries are transmitted and amplified through the production network, forming a spillover effect, driving the emergence of a large number of upstream and downstream market entities, and producing a multiplier effect on the overall economy.
The closer an industry is to a node (the area with the highest density in the production network), the greater its impact on the economy. Empirical research also shows that investment projects with longer industrial chains generally bring more jobs, tax revenue and growth to the local economy.
Total factor productivity growth is a decisive factor in a country’s economic performance. Since the Industrial Revolution, no country or economy has been able to maintain a total factor productivity growth rate of more than 2.5% for a long time after completing the industrialization process. Since for advanced economies, sustained high productivity growth is the exception rather than the norm because when the share of the service industry increases significantly, it becomes more difficult to maintain rapid growth in total factor productivity.
The real estate industry is a long-chain industry and is of great significance to boosting domestic consumption. Putting all factors together, the consumer market can be expected to recover in 2023. Before the epidemic, consumption growth was above 7%. If China wants to achieve a potential growth of 5.5%, consumption growth of 5.4% will be enough. It is now no longer appropriate to call the Chinese economy an investment-driven economy.
In many areas, China has reached the global frontier in mid-level technologies, and hidden champions have emerged in almost every industry. For example, China was originally a latecomer to the electric vehicle industry, but it has become a leader within 10 years. Relying on development and innovation, China is becoming the largest contributor to the global clean economy.
The Chinese government has successfully prevented and resolved major financial risks through active and prudent deleveraging efforts. Money only generates value when it is used in the real economy. Serving the real economy has become a priority for financial institutions. The negative impacts of aging in China are actually overstated, at least for the next 10 years because over the next 30 years, artificial intelligence and automation will replace more workers than will be lost due to aging.
China has a large state-owned industry with a net capital stock of 60 trillion yuan. The central government has begun transferring state-owned shares to social security funds. These shares will generate enough dividends to support the social security system for the aging population.
In the long run, the economic growth rate of China will be higher and better than that of the US.
When our son was around 3,(he’s now 48) I took a parenting class where it was recommended that you give your child a choice of 2 things that were both acceptable to you, so the child felt that he or she had some control over their actions. One night we had company for dinner. One of our guests was a psychologist who frequently lectured both in the US and abroad.
When it was bedtime, my son said he didn’t want to go to bed, so I gave him a choice. “Do you want to go to bed in your own bed or mommy and daddy’s?” He answered by saying “I want a Coca Cola”. I repeated the bed options, his bed or ours. He repeated his desire for a Coke. We went back and forth like that a few times, then he put his hands on his hips and said “I want a Coca Cola! Will you pour it or shall I?” He was using my parenting method on me!
Our psychologist friend fell off his chair laughing. I scooped up my son and put him in his bed. Our friend told us years later that he told that story in all his lectures from that time on, until he retired.
Back in the day, when physical mail was still delivered to companies, I executed my quiet sabotage. The CEO was a weird one. He would open all the mail, read it, write his comments directly on each piece of mail and then distribute it to the appropriate person. Mind you we had roughly 50 office staff and 100 factory employees, so we weren’t a tiny operation.
The CEO instituted 2 cost savings. We were not allowed to purchase staples or paper clips. We were all given some little device (as a replacement stapler) that folded corners of papers and then perforated that corner so that the papers couldn’t separate.
And his feeling was that enough paper clips that came with the mail so we should just reuse them. It was ridiculous and impractical.
I khew that I was going to be fired at the end of the week in the afternoon and decided to annoy him. I went to Staples and bought all the office employees 2 boxes of staples and 2 boxes of paper clips. Sure enough Friday afternoon, I’m let go and then the CEO left right immediately. The wuss didn’t want to see how much of impact my dismissal would be on morale.
I was given the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone. So I walked desk to desk and gave each person staples & paper clips. I heard, the next week, that the CEO went bonkers seeing everyone having them. Lmao
The Duran: Neocons DESTROY Themselves as Russia and China Forge New World Order
The Duran discusses the failures of the neocons to maintain the US-led unipolar order amid Russia and China’s global rise.
Huawei and Xiaomi are both Chinese technology companies. This is true.
But essentially, Huawei and Xiaomi are Chinese technology companies with completely different natures, so their treatment is also completely different.
To accurately distinguish the differences between the two companies, we must start with the history of world globalization and the changing role of Chinese companies.
Before the 1980s, China was one of the poorest and backward countries in the world, almost isolated from the modern economy.
When China opened its doors in the 1980s, the Western world discovered that this was such a special country.
It has a huge poor population, but most of them have basic education.
It has a sound industrial foundation, but its technology is very backward.
He has huge territory and rich resources.
It has relatively complete infrastructure, including roads, railways and electricity.
At this time, the West had just carried out the first round of globalized industrial transfer, moving low-profit, polluting and risky manufacturing industries to Asian countries such as South Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand.
However, these countries have limited population and scale, and limited capacity. As industries increase, salary levels increase rapidly and become less cheap.
Moreover, the education level of the population in these countries is limited, the infrastructure is limited, and there are many restrictions.
At this time, China was like an endless pasture. No matter how many cows the cowboys threw in, it could quickly accommodate them.
As a result, China quickly became the new continent for Western manufacturing.
Throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the 20th century, China was like a magnet attracting manufacturing industries from around the world, and countless companies developed in China.
They all follow the model of Western hope:
Version 1.0 Chinese Company: Processing and Manufacturing
1. Design, technology and standards provided by Western companies
2. Western companies provide key components
3. Chinese companies are responsible for cheap raw materials, cheap labor, and completion of assembly and production.
4. Western companies are responsible for sales
In this stage, Chinese companies shouldered the heaviest and hardest work, but could only obtain 10% of the profits, while Western companies took away 90% of the profits.
The Nike sneakers we wear, the French bags in women’s hands, and the various toys children play with are all products of this model.
The Chinese produce these things, but they cannot afford to consume them.
Of course, although the profits of the Chinese are meager, the total amount is huge. Therefore, during this period, they achieved a large amount of wealth accumulation, and gradually accumulated knowledge and talents.
Some companies are beginning to try to enter a new stage.
Version 2.0 Chinese company: independent production
1. Chinese companies purchase designs, technologies and standards through joint ventures or introductions
2. Western companies provide key components
3. Chinese companies are responsible for cheap raw materials, cheap labor, and completion of assembly and production.
4. Chinese companies are responsible for local sales
During this stage, the share of Chinese companies expanded. They got rid of the pure processing industry and began to focus on technology, trying to build their own brands and market capabilities.
However, during this period, the product quality of Chinese companies could not be compared with that of their foreign counterparts, and they mainly relied on low prices to compete in the local Chinese market.
Haier Electric, Chery Automobile, Lenovo Computer, etc. are all Chinese companies that have risen during this period.
Their degree of autonomy has been greatly improved, but most of their profits are still taken away by Western companies through patent licensing and the import of key parts, and they can only compete in the Chinese market. There is no pressure on foreign counterparts.
Version 3.0 of Chinese companies: independent production, global competition
1. Chinese companies solve most technical and quality problems through independent research and development
2. Western companies provide key components
3. Chinese companies are responsible for cheap raw materials, cheap labor, and completion of assembly and production.
4. Chinese companies are responsible for global sales
Around 2010, Chinese companies grew further. They have more technologies and knowledge systems, and the quality of their products has also improved rapidly. began to threaten Western counterparts in the global market. Especially in the fields of household appliances, kitchen appliances, electronic products, mobile phones and other fields, it has achieved rapid success.
Xiaomi, VIVO, Oppo, Transsion, Haier, Lenovo and other companies are representatives of this stage.
They have mastered the complete design, manufacturing and quality management capabilities of products, and established a good brand and reputation. During this period, products made in China began to be famous around the world and can be seen everywhere around us. Their low prices and high quality put traditional Western and Japanese brands to shame.
But they still have an Swelling of Achilles: key components and technologies are in the hands of their Western counterparts. For example, the Qualcomm chip and Android system of Xiaomi mobile phones; such as the Intel processor and Windows system in Lenovo computers;
Through control of these key technologies and components, the West still takes away most of the profits of these companies.
Take Xiaomi mobile phone as an example. Its core processor comes from the United States, its memory comes from South Korea, its screen comes from South Korea and Japan, its camera comes from Japan, its key communication chips and sensors come from Europe and the United States, and even the tempered glass on the screen surface is a product of an American company. . Chinese companies can only supply low-value accessories such as casings, speakers, and interfaces. According to media statistics, 70% of the value of Xiaomi mobile phones comes from Western suppliers.
Therefore, although Xiaomi has squeezed out the share of traditional peers such as Nokia, Ericsson, and Sony, for every mobile phone it sells, Western companies make the most profit, and the Chinese still take away a small part.
Version 4.0 Chinese companies: disruptors
1. Chinese companies master core technologies and solve all problems
2. Chinese companies provide key parts themselves
3. Chinese companies are responsible for cheap raw materials, cheap labor, and completion of assembly and production.
4. Chinese companies are responsible for global sales
After entering 2015, some Chinese companies have grown further. They began to get involved in core semiconductors, operating systems, precision sensors, databases and artificial intelligence algorithms. It began to seize the most profitable industrialization in the world and the last economic position of Western developed countries.
Huawei, DJI, Hikvision and other companies are representatives of this stage
They have all the features of a 3.0 enterprise and are beginning to replace Western suppliers. Not only do they make excellent products, but they also use core components and basic software developed entirely by themselves. They intend to completely take away the fattest piece of meat in the mouths of Western companies.
Before Huawei was sanctioned by the United States, it had surpassed Samsung and Apple to become the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer. It is completely different from Xiaomi. Almost all the core components of Huawei’s mobile phones are provided by Chinese companies, and they have even begun to develop basic operating systems in order to kick Google out. In the field of communications, it holds the most 5G patents in the world and develops all high-value semiconductors and antennas on its own.
The essence of the above 3 versions of Chinese enterprises, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, is the same.
In the chain of globalization, Western companies take the best parts of food, and Chinese companies get the remaining food scraps. The difference between 1.0 and 3.0 is just the amount of residue obtained.
Therefore, whether it is Lenovo or Xiaomi, although they are technology companies from China, their positioning is within the scope of this rule and is allowed by the West.
But 4.0 Chinese companies are different. They are trying to subvert the rules of the game that have existed for decades.
They still embrace globalization, but they think, why are companies from Western developed countries always at the top of the food chain?
This involves the issue of economic competition between developed and developing countries.
Why do Westerners enjoy the most vacations, the best benefits, and the highest salaries and rewards? And people in developing countries work hard and overtime, but can only get meager pay and struggle to feed their families? Are people in developed countries inherently smarter and harder-working? The Chinese believe that this is not the case and that something is wrong with the rules.
Chinese companies like Huawei are determined to subvert this rule.
In the end, their appearance caused tension in Western countries: the subversives have occupied the entire country, their athletes have come to the king’s castle, and Huawei is the champion at the forefront.
Kings and nobles discovered that they could no longer defeat the subversives through “civilized rules.” How can he maintain a comfortable life in his castle and continue to rule and plunder the entire world in the future? The behavior of subversives must not be allowed!
So they shouted: They are thieves, liars, and traitors, don’t believe them!
While silently picking up the gun in his hand, he aimed at the one running at the front.
Creole Artichoke Bisque
2023 11 10 15 27
Ingredients
16 ounces butter
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 cup beef stock
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
3 large onions, finely chopped
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (14 ounce) cans artichoke hearts, undrained
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 cup dry white wine
4 ounces light cream
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
Instructions
Melt the butter in a heavy pot and add the flour. Over low heat, cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Slowly add the stock and when well mixed, add the celery, onions, green onions, bay leaves, thyme and garlic. Let this simmer for 45 minutes.
Chop the artichoke hearts fairly fine and then add to the pot, along with the artichoke water. Cook at a low simmer for another 30 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste, the Tabasco, wine and cream and bring to a simmer. Do NOT boil.
The bisque is now ready to serve.
Sprinkle a bit of parsley over the bisque in each bowl.
Tell the truth,but , it wont make any difference, no one will believe you.
I was having drinks after work with my coworkers, and the waitress got off work and joined us. She had been our waitress for over a year and we had no spark in that time. Though she was attractive. When I said I was going home, she asked if I could give her a ride. I dropped her off, and didn’t think anymore about it.
The next day I swapped vehicles with my girlfriend, as she needed a truck to help her sister move something.
She found a brown paper lunch bag in the back seat. It had a lacey bra, panties and unused condoms in it. I was totally at a loss. Then I remembered giving the waitress a ride home. So on Monday I handed the bag to her, and asked if it was hers, and it was. She gave no explanation of how it got in my backseat, or even why she was carrying it.
I asked her to explain to my girlfriend, and she declined, saying she didnt want a whole bunch of drama over nothing. So I got a whole bunch of drama from my girlfriend.
I couldn’t even blame her, or come up with a plausible story. We broke up shortly after that
NOT POSSIBLE: Why US Can’t Compete with CHINESE Monster Drones?
“China also has many AI drones such as the amphibious Nezha that can fly and dive to 23ft under water; shark/dolphin/stingray undersea drones; and an anti-air/land defense system called the Hornet’s Nest that can launch 10,000 explosive drones rapidly each will auto lockon enemy vehicles. People have no idea how secure China’s borders really are today.”
When I lived in Milford, Massachusetts, my home was next to a state park. It was beautiful; a nice cabin overlooking Lake Pearl. I lived in it with numerous partners. And, of course, my kitty cats.
I would like to relate a nice story.
In this fraction of time, I was living with my girlfriend from Zambia. She was adorable, and was African-African. And I absolutely LOVED THAT about her.
Now one of the big things that carried over from her life in Africa. Now, keep in mind that she was a city / suburban girl. Not a rural girl. But still, Africa did, and still has, some very dangerous critters moving about. From lions, to leopards, to strange and nasty insects.
So, one morning, I was in the kitchen making coffee, and I noticed that there was a spider web near the sink cupboard doors. And in it was a black garter snake. It was maybe 4 inches, 100 cm long. And it was trapped in the web, dangling there.
I found the entire situation really interesting. I thought it was fascinating.
So I yelled to my girlfriend…
“Hey XXXXXX, come in here! You won’t believe this!”
So she came in, and then freaked… FREAKED out!!!!!
I mean she jumped up on the table, and was in hysterics. I was blindsided, and totally surprised. Hopping up and down, shaking her hands. Goosebumps on her arms, and jabbering incoherently.
…
All is good now today. But the reason why I am bringing it up is that I had no clue as to how sensitive this issue was for her. I grew up with snakes. Some were poisonous like rattlesnakes. But I was unprepared for the reaction of people who had to deal with cobras and black mambas.
Hit the drive-thru late one night after school and hand the cashier a $20 for my $6 meal. She hands me $4 and closes her window, expecting me to move on.
But I don’t.
I knock on the window and ignore the honking behind me until she opens and asks me what is wrong.
“The change should be $14, not $4.” Even tone, no anger.
She tells me that I gave her a $10 and is fairly adamant. When she begins to close her window I ask if I could speak to her manager.
It’s late; it’s possible that I could have handed her a $10 rather than a $20, but I have a habit that I’ve fallen into because of a similar situation.
I memorize the serial numbers on large bills before I hand them over.
The manager listens to my request for the extra ten, looks at the receipt and notes that the girl had put in $10 as the money submitted. The girl is looking annoyed and has the classic, “I told you so” look on her face.
I ask the manager to look at the top $20 in her drawer and proceed to recite the serial number.
The manager asks me to do that again and I repeat the numbers for her.
The cashier’s face is stuck on shock and awe as I’m given my correct change and an apology before driving on to the next window for my meal.
Andouille Melt
Looking for quick Cajun comfort food? This sandwich melt made with Johnsonville® Sausage offers multiple layers and textures that will perfectly please any palate. The secret to this recipe is the smoked rope sausage, flavored with just the right amount of herbs and spices for an authentic Cajun flavor. Add in some onion, mayonnaise and Cheddar cheese, for a magnificent meal in a matter of minutes!
I was shopping in an “International” shop common here in the UK. I greeted people in English, and I was commanding my assistance dog in English. I was excited as a part of my family was Polish- and until my great grandmother died, we all spoke Polish in the home. I don’t speak as well as I understand. I have to read things out-loud to understand them (I have to hear the words to understand them). I love Polish food, so I am really grateful that the new Skleps are here.
I heard one of the sales staff say, in Polish “What is that fat Englishwoman doing in here? She doesn’t know anything.” Her friend said “And she brings in that filthy dog. People like her should stay home”. I believe she was referring to my disability.
I did my shopping. At the till, the woman who made the fat Englishwoman comment smiled and said “How was your shopping? It’s hard here for people not Polish.” (in English) and I said in a halting but clear voice, “Moge nie byc Polska ale Jestem grzeczna”. Her face fell and she went pale.
“I might not be Polish, but at least I’m polite.”
Then in very clear English, I said: “Manager, please”
All I said to him was that his staff should not assume that all Angielka (English women) don’t speak Polish, and that his staff had been rude about me in Polish, but I understood them and had been very offended. He was mortified.
Then I turned to the other staff member and said, pointing to my dog, “Ona nie jest Brudna a ona tez nie jest niegrzeczna” – “She’s not filthy and- she’s isn’t rude, either.” The manager turned to them and said “Office”.
I was careful not to let them see my little well-worn Polish-English dictionary, a gift from my precious Ciocia Regina, my Great-aunt and Godmother, who helped me keep Polish culture in my soul, Polish cooking in my kitchen …and Polish words in my mouth!
Our first child was not toilet trainable. We took her to doctor after doctor from age 3 to 6, eventually carrying an x-ray made by the local radiologist. Everyone agreed that poor parenting skills were the problem, though some added that our lovely daughter, who had a BM only when standing or lying down, really enjoyed tormenting us.
One of the last doctors said, “If she were my kid, I’d lock her in the bathroom until she did it on the toilet!”
A few weeks later, a surgeon hundreds of miles from home held up that x-ray and said, “She has a birth defect.” Her lower intestine was positioned in a way that made a BM impossible unless her body was absolutely straight, NOT sitting on a toilet. Surgery fixed that. Thank you, Dr. Hardy Hendren, and RIP.
Without telling anyone in advance, management had decided to deduct $20 per month on everyone’s paycheques “to help defray the cost of the coffee service” as stated in the note attached to everyone’s cheques; “no exceptions”. I and the others in the office who didn’t drink the company provided coffee (which was about 60%; I was/am a Starbucks addict and brought my own coffee) protested by pouring several cups of coffee a day and just leaving them there untouched.
When management found that coffee expenses almost tripled and why, they canceled the policy. They then put in a pay machine and priced it at $1per cup. Nobody used it because you could get a bigger cup for the same price from the convenience store down the street. Plus productivity dropped a bit as everyone was now going out for coffee. The only time the machine was ever used was by management when they had to pay out of gheir own pockets for coffee to serve to visiting clients.
The machine was soon removed because the company still had to pay a monthly fee, which was more than they were getting back from the machine; and they went back to the original no-charge coffee setup. And of course, productivity went back up.
Spend a few months working in retail and you’ll revise your opinion on human beings.
It’s not that everyone who comes into the store is a total A-Hole.
It’s that there’s this bottom 10–20% that you deal with over and over again who talk down to you. They see you as below them, as lowly.
Maturity has this inverted matrix in retail: the older the customer is, the ruder they are.
They’ll yell at you about the prices – like you set those prices and you are getting a piece of the cheese. They’ll yell at you about your store return policies.
In America, most young teens get summer jobs and weekend jobs. It’s a big part of our culture.
The retail experience, despite being rich in assholery, is of great value to a young person because as many of you know – any job you get is going to involve dealing with people you don’t like on a regular basis.
Being thrown into the deep end with a low wage, high frustration job like retail is a great starting point.
It can (hopefully) only get better from there. Ideally, more money. Less assholery.
I had eye surgery in winter 2019, and had to wear dark glasses (the ones in my pic) for a bit.
My eyesight is terrible anyway, but for a couple of months l could barely see.
One evening, as usual, I was taking a long walk in London – couldn’t run, I’d have been running in to street furniture- for exercise. Earbuds in, listening to music.
A beggar stepped in front if me & said something about money. I put my hand in my pocket, handed him a quid.
He said something about wanting more, l couldn’t really hear him too well over Black Grape, but this pissed me off.
“Fuck off”, I said, “you can have a quid and like it”
“Gimme more. I want all your money”
“You cheeky cunt. Fuck off or I’ll take the quid back and kick your arse” l said.
He made angry gestures and stormed off.
A bloke came up beside me…. “…mate, are you ok?” he said.
“Yeah… why?”
“He had a knife”.
Oh. Not beggar; mugger. I hadn’t seen the knife.
The mugger must have thought I was like Chuck Norris, fronting him out like that.
My guess is that this article was written as a warning to the new generation of Chinese leadership, set to come into power in 2012. For the new generation coming to power and their followers, who have witnessed China’s transition over a 30 year period from one of the poorest nations in the world to a global power, the worry is that they see limitless opportunities for China. At the same time, they know that China is challenged on the resources front, and feel that the only way out is for China to work to weaken US power, confronting the US not only economically, but also perhaps militarily. This is because they see a narrow window of opportunity in the period between now and 2020, when China’s aging population will serve to slow growth. In their eyes, China must grab the brass ring of global leadership from the US in the next decade; otherwise the opportunity will be gone.
There is some concern that the Chinese military is chafing at the bits, anxious to fan Chinese nationalism over Korea and Taiwan. For the generation now stepping down, this is a warning that the US should not be underestimated, and that it would be foolish to think that the US is either near collapse, or is completely unable to recover from its current challenges.
The situation is very similar to pre-WWI Germany, when a rapidly industrializing Germany felt that its path to global leadership was blocked by Great Britain. The Germans saw Britain as a great power in decline; their over-confidence set the stage for confrontation, first with Britain and France, then with the US. Now, China is occupying the same role Germany did, and the dangers and opportunities are largely the same.
In this context, this article is a warning from the older generation to the younger generation that the US’s power is still great, and will last for another 20 years. The message is that direct confrontation with the US within this timeframe would be disastrous for China because the US is still a leader in many key areas, and has the capability to revive.
Backyard Time Machine: The Time Travel Mystery of Mike “Mad Man” Marcum
Israel sees the hand of Iran behind the Hamas Oct 7 attack and is not a farfetch idea that they would use this as justification to attack Iran.
China’s declaration is to remind Israel that there will be consequences if they do make a move on Iran. And having made the warning, this will justify any China’s response to provide support not just to Iran but more overt assistance for the besieged Palestinians in Israel.
Not sure that this counts, but its close. I grew up in a small town and I graduated with the same people I was in grade one with. Last year, a friend phoned me up, on Monday, and said Thursday is the 50th anniversary of our graduation. Do you want to go for dinner and drinks with as many of the class as I can get together on Thursday.
I said I would be there, and over half the class made it on such short notice.
Few of us lived in that small town anymore. It was such short notice, because he had been asked to be a speaker, at an upcoming highschool grad, and he had been researching ours for talking points, and saw that it was exactly 50 years ago. Personally I thought it was more like 30, but the calendar doesn’t lie.
Once he saw that he had 3 days to get people together, he got working. Obviously people living in other provinces, couldn’t attend, on 3 days notice, so it was impressive to see so many.
Great times had by all.
How US reaps benefits through decades of military aid, weapon sales to Israel — GT Investigation
Eighteen days have passed since Israel launched its bombardment offensive against the besieged Gaza Strip, following a deadly attack on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. The conflict had killed more than 5,000 Palestinians, about 40 percent of which were children, and about 1,400 Israelis as of Monday, according to media reports.
Many countries, including China, have openly called on relevant parties to remain calm, exercise restraint, and immediately end hostilities, to protect civilians and avoid further loss of life.
While the US, in sharp contrast, is actively transporting more lethal weapons to Israel, demonstrating conspicuous support for its “close ally,” as it has done in many previous bloody conflicts in the region.
The US is also the sole vote against a United Nations Security Council resolution on Wednesday that would have condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel while calling for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza, with 12 members voting in favor and Russia and the UK abstaining.
US President Joe Biden visited Israel on October 18, “putting himself in harm’s way to show that he stands squarely with the country,” according to US media sources. Before his arrival, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed that Israel “has the right to defend itself,” when announcing Biden’s Israel visit.
The US’ unsurprising one-sided support, including its military aid, will likely escalate the already fraught situation between Israel and Hamas, and reduce the likelihood of peace talks between the two sides in the near future. That may lead to further catastrophic loss of life, warned some experts in international relations and Middle East affairs reached by the Global Times.
Heightened tensions
Despite footage of innocent children killed in airstrikes causing a global outcry, the US is sending more arms and ammunition to Israel, intensifying the running gun battle on the ground.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced over the weekend that Washington is sending multiple military ships and the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, “as a show of force to its closest ally in the region,” Al Jazeera reported.
“I have directed the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (CSG) to begin moving to the Eastern Mediterranean…the Eisenhower CSG will join the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which arrived earlier this week,” read a statement by Austin published on the US Department of Defense website, on October 14. Previously, the US Air Force had announced the deployment of F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons to the region.
Increased US force posturing signals the country’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” said the statement.
As Israel has an absolute military advantage over Hamas, the US’ military support for Israel is more of a political tool for the Biden administration to demonstrate its allyship to Israel and its domestic politicians, analyzed Chinese observers.
It is in the US’ domestic interests to militarily aid Israel, said Li Weijian, a research fellow at the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. “Supporting Israel is politically correct in the US, a country with more than 6 million people of Jewish heritage, many of whom make up the core of the US’ political and public opinion power, with positions in major government departments and media outlets,” Li told the Global Times.
“Biden has announced his reelection bid for 2024 presidential elections. Aiding Israel at this moment can bring him more domestic support,” Li said.
Biden is counting on successfully brokering the normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations to boost his performance in the Middle East before the presidential elections in 2024, said Niu Xinchun, a research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing.
However, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas “may not only sink the deal, but also likely to deal a heavy blow to Biden’s performance in the election,” Niu told the Global Times.
After the conflict broke out, some lawmakers in the US urged Biden to communicate that Israel’s response to Hamas’ attack must limit harm to civilians and adhere to international law. “We write to express our concerns regarding the unfolding humanitarian situation in Gaza,” read the letter to Biden and Blinken, signed by 55 lawmakers.
The letter listed five requests to the Biden administration, including putting pressure on Israel to adhere to international law and helping set up a humanitarian corridor, reported The Hill on October 13.
The US’ one-sided military aid has only served to heightened tensions. Worse still, due to the lack of supervision, US aid to Israel is not transparent enough and is suspected of abetting war crimes, warned observers.
There has been one US politician who caused great controversy due to his Israeli military background.
Brian Mast, a member of the US Congress, with a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, reportedly arrived to work on October 13 in the uniform of the Israeli military. “As the only member to serve with both the United States Army and the Israel Defense Forces, I will always stand with Israel,” he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that morning.
According to US-based news site Grayzone, Mast previously served in the US military in Afghanistan. He volunteered as a bomb disposal specialist for the Israeli army during its 2014 assault on the Gaza Strip. The assault resulted in the death of 2,202 Palestinians, including 526 children.
“Is it appropriate that someone who has served in a foreign military be allowed to return to the United States and serve on such a sensitive government committee, earning a security clearance along the way?” asked Grayzone.
US ‘always be there’
When speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken promised that the US will “always be there” for Israel, the BBC reported on October 12.
Blinken was not mistaken in his assertion. The US indeed has always been there for Israel for more than 70 years, constantly providing the country with weapons, allowing it to maintain the most powerful militaries in the Middle East, and complementing it with advanced surveillance and weapons.
According to a report published by the Congressional ReAccording to a report published by the Congressional Research Service under the US Congress on March 1, 2023, Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II. To date, the US has provided Israel with $158 billion in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding.
In 2016, the US and Israeli governments signed their third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid, under which the US pledged to provide $38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel, according to the report.
In addition to the $3.8 billion yearly aid as per the MOU, the US also added $98.58 million this year in funding for other cooperative defense and nondefense programs, read the report.
Almost all US bilateral aid to Israel so far has been in the form of military assistance, with some observers noting that the aid is, in fact, a subsidy to the US military industry.
To date, Israel has purchased 50 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in three separate contracts, funded with US assistance, and has received a total of 36. For the fiscal year 2023, the US Congress authorized $520 million for joint US-Israel defense programs (including $500 million for missile defense).
According to the BBC, $1.6 billion of US military aid to Israel since 2011 was for the country’s Iron Dome short-range anti-rocket, anti-mortar, and anti-artillery system (intercept range of 2.5 to 43 miles). Developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and originally produced in Israel, the system was first tested in 2011.
US Pawn
As a US pawn in the Middle East, Israel serves the US’ geographical and defense industry interests. Their decades of special partnership have a historical background known to the whole world, said Li weijian.
Nonetheless, the US continued to support Israel while avoiding the question of Palestinian statehood. “Such a partiality is very unreasonable,” Li said.
“The Israel-Palestine conflict will never be resolved without a solution to the question of Palestinian statehood,” Li said. “It’s Palestine’s right to found a state, and the US should not [have a hand] in it.”
But the US’ goal maybe is never to help achieve a resolution to any conflict, not only the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but every other conflict in the world such as that between Russia and Ukraine.
The US’ response to conflicts is always to escalate the violence instead of encouraging peace. This is because war brings losses and pains to most countries and regions in the world, but the US is one of the few that can exploit the conflict for sickening profits.
Take a look at the performance of US defense stocks this week. The nearly 9 percent rise in Lockheed Martin’s stock on Monday was the biggest for the largest US defense contractor on a non-earnings day since March 2020. Northrop Grumman shares also had their best day since 2020.
On a recent earnings call, executives of US defense giant Lockheed Martin highlighted the Israel and Ukraine conflicts “as potential drivers for increased revenue in the coming years,” according to a CNN article on October 18.
The US’ military support policy to Israel, as well as to other countries or regions, is always out of realistic consideration and aimed to serve the US’ own global strategic needs, experts pointed out.
Instead of contributing to the maintenance of world peace, the US has continued to fuel the escalation and continuation of various conflicts so as to bring fortunes to its military-industrial complex, but it comes at the expense of people’s lives. But the approach of relying on wars to get enough orders is dangerous to the world. The world cannot afford to allow them to continue making profits from misfortunes in other countries and regions, experts noted.
Guys are afraid…
This is the West today. Damn! I’m glad that I am older and live in China.
There are certain life lessons people only learn while dying.
Have you heard of an old Japanese folktale called “The Story of Red Ogre and Blue Ogre”?
Long ago, beyond the woods, through the forests and the pass, in the deep mountains of Japan, there lived ‘Aka-Oni’; a red Ogre, and ‘Ao-Oni’, a blue Ogre. The red Ogre liked human children very much and he was always thinking about how he could make friends with them everyday.
The Red Ogre wanted to become friends with children in a village nearby. So, the Red Ogre invited the children to come to his house to play.
But no one showed up, and the red ogre grew puzzled, sad, and angry. “I’m such a kind ogre – why would nobody visit me?”
Moved by his friend’s feelings, the Blue Ogre said, “Look, I have a plan.”
The Blue Ogre’s plan was for him to pretend to terrorize children and then have the red ogre chase him off, “rescuing” them from him. The plan went without a hitch, and the red ogre became the most popular creature among the children, and all came to play with him.
After a happy day of enjoying the children’s company, the Red Ogre found a letter from the Blue Ogre. The letter said, “My Dear Red Ogre, if people find out that you are a friend of the Bad Blue Ogre’s, they will not let the children come to you any more. So, I’m leaving. Please live happily with the children. Goodbye. Blue Ogre.”
The Red Ogre cried out, “Blue Ogre is gone! A dear friend of mine! He is gone!” And he wept.
The Red Ogre and the Blue Ogre were never to see each other again.
Be honest with yourselves, how many of you, while attempting to reach that unattainable goal, to overcome that insurmountable obstacle, lose sight of what truly matters?
Unlike a children’s folktale, real life sheds no light on “the moral of the story”. People take an entire life’s time to figure it out — when it’s simply too late.
Famous last words — I wish I didn’t work so hard. I could have used that time to spend with my family, to watch my children grow up, to count each additional strand of silver hair on my spouse’s head…
It is one of the most common regrets of the dying. Only when one is on the very verge of death, when the Grim Reaper himself casts a long black shadow over his bed, does he have the clarity of thought to realize that he cares more about his families and friends than any amount of money or success.
So the next time you have dinner with your loved ones, for ONCE, put down the phone. That call can wait. That email can wait.
Don’t be that person. Don’t be that guy who is lying on his deathbed, choking back pangs of guilt and remorse, trying to utter one last “I love you.”
Mom’s has some sort of pump problem. My old car is leaking gasoline. My new* one won’t start.
We took my old car (affectionately named “Clif”) to the car doctor and were informed that it’d cost $850 to repair it.
Mom’s will cost upwards of $1,300. We’re waiting to hear on the new car.
Normally this would be stressful.
I’d be freaking out about how we’re going to get cars to run because holy shit how will we go anywhere? How will we travel for Thanksgiving? How will we get groceries?
But when I heard the news, I shrugged.
Not happy about it, obviously, but… We’ll get it. It doesn’t worry me all that much.
Which is weird.
Because these are the sorts of roadblocks (no pun intended) that can crash people’s finances. Having to drop $2k+ that you weren’t expecting? That’s brutal.
But when you’re financially stable — when you make more per month than you need to cover your expenses — suddenly car troubles are a hiccup, an inconvenience, and not a cataclysmic disaster.**
What well-off people don’t understand is the stress of not having money.
It’s pervasive. It keeps you up at night.
How will I pay for groceries? Will I have to walk this month since I can’t afford gas? What if I get sick — how will I pay for that?
It can be hard to focus on work or school when you’re constantly worried about whether or not you can eat.
And events like having your car shit out—
Can destroy you.
I hear rich people say shit like “You need to stop thinking so much about money and think more about higher ideals.”
I’m like, cool, okay. Let me know when those higher ideals can pay my rent.
You just don’t realize how much time you spend stressing about money until you have it.
That’s why I call BS on anyone who says “Money can’t buy happiness.”
No, perhaps it can’t.
But it buys food.
And not having to worry about buying food—
That’s happiness.
*By “new” car, I mean a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder. Bought it from a friend. Don’t want to give off the vibe that I’m rolling in money to buy new cars here.
**I also want to be clear — I’m not, like, sitting on thousands of dollars at the moment. My mom and I are working together to come up with the money (and it’ll probably involve putting something on a credit card). But that we can even consider coming up with that money in a relatively short period of time is what’s stress-reducing.
Update: The new car requires $5K in repairs. Sigh.
US Retreats UNGA Defeat; No Gaza Displacement; China Cools Xi-Biden Summit; Dagestan; Avdeyevka
While Americans may get excited about each change in Presidential administrations or which party controls Congress, it is important to understand that other nations have memories and attention spans, and that American policy and actions are mostly the same no matter which party or president is in power.
My parent’s cat hated me from the day I was born. She would hiss at my cradle and couldn’t be left in the same room as me.
When I got older, she treated me with more mild contempt, but she’d never let me pet her.
Fast forward to when I was 5. I went to the kitchen to get something and the door closed itself behind me. Somehow the lock wedged itself shut. I was trapped. I was scared. I started panicking and crying. My mum was upstairs out of ear shot. But the cat was in the room adjacent to the kitchen. She saw me crying.
She ran off. Typical.
But – she in fact ran upstairs to my mum who was on the phone and bit her. While my cat was always mad, she never bit anyone before. She then ran back downstairs and my mum followed her to find me trapped in the kitchen. She was like my very own buddy.
We were bros ever since.
Lasting Peace
The three-day 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum entered its second day on Monday with a keynote speech delivered by General Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, who invited all parties to implement the Global Security Initiative to achieve the theme of the forum, “Common Security, Lasting Peace,” and urged countries to make efforts to eliminate war chaos amid the Russian-Ukraine and the Palestine-Israel conflicts.
The Chinese military expects all parties to make joint efforts to continuously deepen security mutual-trust and optimize security architecture, enhance security governance together, promote security cooperation pragmatically and implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, build a global community of shared future and inject more certainty, stability and positive energy into a tumultuous and intertwined world, Zhang said.
Humanity has entered the 21st century in which hegemony and Cold War mentality are greatly out of accord with the times and not winning people’s hearts, as people with conscience from all over the world are expecting peace, development, cooperation and win-win, Zhang said.
However, some countries insist on a zero-sum mentality in which one side must lose for the other to win, adhere to the law of the jungle, practice bloc politics and promote unilateralism that builds up walls, filling the world with the shadows of war and humanitarian disasters, Zhang said. “If you are full of hostility, there will surely be competition everywhere. If you only care about your own benefits, all shall become your opponents. If you keep suppressing others, conflicts and wars around the world will definitely arise.”
Against the background of the Russian-Ukraine and the Palestine-Israel conflicts, Zhang urged all countries to make efforts to eliminate war chaos, as he accused a certain country of intentionally creating turbulence, intervening in regional affairs, interfering in others’ internal affairs and plotting color revolutions, as wherever this country goes, peace and tranquility stay away.
“[Certain country] even sets up pegs everywhere and intentionally creates many geopolitical contradictions, pretending to be fair in stopping a fight but actually helping one side, making regional situations become complex and difficult to resolve. It also provides weapons and triggers proxy wars so it can reap the spoils of victory without lifting a finger,” Zhang said.
Zhang stressed that the Chinese military will never tolerate and will be relentless against anyone who dares to split Taiwan from China in any way.
The senior military leader pointed out that the Chinese military is a firm force in safeguarding world peace and defending territorial sovereignty.
To achieve “Common Security, Lasting Peace,” China is willing to implement the Global Security Initiative together with all parties, and make efforts to build a friendly and peaceful new era far away from conflicts, Zhang said.
Global Times
Creole Submarine Sandwich
Creole Meatball Sub Sandwich 768×459 1
Ingredients
Creole Mayonnaise
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
4 to 6 drops hot pepper sauce
Sandwich
1 large loaf crusty French bread, about 2 feet long
1 pound thinly sliced smoked ham
4 large Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 pound thinly sliced salami
1 large red onion, very thinly sliced
1 pound thinly sliced roast beef
1 1/2 cups shredded lettuce
Instructions
Creole Mayonnaise
Stir together all ingredients in a small bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
Sandwich
With a bread knife, cut lengthwise along French bread, splitting it open without slicing all the way through. With your fingers, pull out about a 1 inch depth of bread all along both sides of loaf.
Generously spread both sides with the Creole Mayonnaise.
Evenly layer ham on bottom half and top with tomatoes.
Then layer salami and top with onion.
Finally layer beef and top with lettuce.
Close top and press securely shut.
Cut into either 4 or 6 sections depending upon how hungry you are.
When I lived in Milford, Massachusetts I worked at an appliance company as a Chief Project Manager in the R&D group. During that time, early on in the company, I was living with a model named CJ. She was extraordinarily beautiful, but a royal pain in the ass. Ugh! That’s a story for another time, I’ll tell you what.
Anyways, there was one of the guys in my company, way a youngish (in his late 20’s) man who worked in Marketing. I got along fine with him.
But my girlfriend, CJ (the chick that I was living with) told me that she had a “bad feeling about him”. But I shrugged it off.
About a month later, I noticed that he was driving around and waiting outside my apartment. I wondered why, but couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Later on, after that, CJ told me that he was following her.
…
Two weeks later, he came to work completely beaten up, and his face was a real mess. He worked for a day or two, and then quit. I never found out what happened to him, but I figure that he messed with the “wrong people”. Not me. But perhaps someone else…
I was asked, as a consultant, to handle a very delicate matter. It appears that the company president’s teenage daughter had taken a liking to one of the system assembly people who was building rack servers. He told her that he was busy and she was not authorized to be in the department. She complained to daddy, and the employee was subject to a screaming match in front of his co-workers and told by his boss that he needed to apologize by the close of business when the executive and his daughter left. And that some token of his contrition might be a nice gesture.
Near the end of the day, the technician located the daughter, said he was sorry, and gave her a handmade electronic sculpture as a token of his contrition. He then wrote a resignation note and left it with H.R.
I was called to resolve the issue and get the employee back to work because they had a backlog that was building on the workbenches. I could not find any reason why someone else could not build-out the server blades and none of the employee’s co-workers volunteered any information. That is, until I learned that he had fashioned the sculpture out of the all of the motherboard chips on hand.
There was no attempt to gain restitution for the ruined chips and the employee was paid in full — including two weeks severance. I later heard that the president reimbursed the company for the entire amount. I pocketed my fee — which only added insult to injury.
I Live Better in The Philippines Than I Did in The U.S For Cheaper – My Story
“It was reassuring to hear of JJ’s positive experience in BCG, and of his low monthly budget. I’ve been thinking a lot about my future retirement and moving somewhere that will provide a better quality of life for my budget. I’ll try to spend time in several countries, before picking a place to settle down. Thanks for another great video, Evan.”
Texas Iced Tea
2023 11 08 11 10
Ingredients
6 tea bags or 2 large tea bags
Water
1 cup granulated sugar (optional)
Instructions
Heat 1 quart to boiling 1 quart water in saucepan.
Remove from heat; add tea bags, cover and let steep for 30 minutes.
Pour into 1 a gallon pitcher.
Add sugar, if using, then fill pitcher with cold water.
To make sun tea, fill a 1 gallon glass jar with cool water.
Add 6 tea bags and place in direct sunlight.
Leave in sunlight until desired color (strength) is obtained (reddish brown) – about 2 to 3 hours. Do not leave in the sun too long (over 4 hours) as mixture may become bitter.
A very stupid woman in my social group was my bully. She hated me and did & said what she could to trash me.I was involved with someone that she had a crush on. She did everything she could to break us up, including making up stories about me sleeping around with other guys (I wasn’t), stealing $$$ from him (I earned 3x what he did), badmouthing him, etc. It did cause some tension in my relationship.
However, she thought it was funny and sent screenshots of what she had said & done to a friend of mine. She didn’t know he was an old friend of many years. He sent me copies which I gave my guy. He blocked her on the spot and cut off all contact with her.
At the time she was living with a guy in public housing and collecting disability. Again, Ms. Stupid sent to our mutual friend comments like she was only living with him so he would pay her bills. That she really didn’t have a disability but she had a corrupt Dr who would fill out “appropriate l” paperwork for a fee. And that she had a job off the books and making very good $$$.
He sent me everything. I filed a complaint on the doctor with the state medical board. I forwarded her comments to the Housing Authority and federal offices. But the best was, being crafty, I created a mini-book that listed all of her comments from her lies about me to using the boyfriend as a paycheck. I wrapped it up nicely and sent it to him at his place of employment. (I did put a note on it saying to open in private…he didn’t need to be embarrassed in front of co-workers)
So long story short, she lost her apartment but gained a new one at the local jail. She lost her boyfriend but gained a new corrections officer. She lost her social circle but gained new cellmates. She lost her lucrative income but got a job at the prison making cents on the hour.
On March 7th, 2002, Gabi Altaraz, owner of the Cafe Caffit was walking around his crowded restaurant, full of families and young couples, full of the sounds of children. He noticed a young man sitting alone at the table. The man seemed nervous, agitated and odd.
Despite the day being quite chilly in the tail end of the Israeli winter, the strange man was sweating profusely.
Gabi walked over and asked to take the order, figuring the man was just a bit distracted by work.
The man seemed annoyed by the question. “Just water,” he snapped, clearly bothered. He then asked who Gabi was, giving him the most chilling smile that looked murderous.
As Gabi listened, he noticed a very large backpack by the man’s feet.
Gabi didn’t change his expression, but said he’d get it. Instead, he went and got twenty three year old Shlomi Harel, one of the waiters. “I think we have a problem,” he said.
Now, with spiked hair, tattoos and a pierced eyebrow. Shlomi may have looked like some bored college student currently fetching drinks and food, but he was also a recently released elite commando.
Shlomi walked up to the table and asked in Arabic for the man’s ID card (which all Israeli residents must carry) The man produced a blue one, indicating he was an Israeli citizen. However, Shlomi had already noticed the bag.
More importantly, he noticed the wire which protruded from it, and which ran through the man’s jacket and through the man’s right sleeve to a detonator in his hands.
The cafe was full, 50 innocent civilians, women and children and elderly, all of whom were defenseless. In seconds, they would be a red mist unless he was willing to risk his life.
With a fearlessness bordering on superhuman, Shlomi pounced on the terrorist and threw him out of the restaurant.
Once outside, before the terrorist knew what hit him, Shlomi had already jerked out the wire, separating the bomb from the detonator, as he was trained. He then ripped off the pack, threw aside and slammed the terrorist to the floor to restrain him.
As he wrestled the terrorist to a safe distance, he also yelled to clear the streets, take cover and call the bomb squad, while using the skills of Krav Maga to make sure the would-be murderer didn’t go anywhere until the authorities could take him away.
Shlomi’s excellent training, heroism and sacrifice prevented a massacre. 10 kilograms of explosives and shrapnel was packed inside the backpack, enough to kill all 50 people and wound and blind and maim and mangle 50 more.
If a soldier has to resort to Krav Maga, the goat droppings have really hit the fan. Ideally, you never want to be in a position where you need to be that close to the enemy, but there have been situations where it was required.
Remember, Krav Maga isn’t just about a form of self defense so you can go home at night safely.
In the army, it’s about making arrests. (And his knee isn’t on the detainee’s neck but shoulders, as can be clearly seen by anyone with training)
It’s about disarming suspects.
It’s about self defense for situations like knife attacks.
And as the story makes clear, it has other uses.
So yes, soldiers use it. Otherwise, why would they teach it?
And yes, the stuff related to arresting and neutralizing terrorists. Not the stuff I do.
Me and a buddy were at his house watching TV and some person on the screen was eating a strawberry. I don’t really care for them, but it looked good and I asked if, by chance, he had any strawberries in the house. He almost laughed at me, we were two 20-year old’s with a higher chance of beer or mac & cheese or Fruit Loops than strawberries. About twenty minutes later, there’s a knock at the door and he goes to answer it. He yells out to me to come see something. His mom is standing at the door with one of those low-cut boxes with a bunch of strawberries. he said, “Tell Jeffy what you said!” She looks a little strange and says, “I was driving home and there was a guy selling strawberries out of the back of his truck and I thought, “I bet David and his friends would like some strawberries…” My buddy says, “Well, you blew it. We all have one wish and you wasted yours on strawberries.”
As an example, there was a woman who worked for me at one point. She used to always brag that she has a 174 IQ. Everyone was tired of it and it really kept her from forming good relationships at work (the “I am better than you” complex). One day, I was just not wanting to put up with it so I said “wow, your IQ is higher than Albert Einstein!” When she agreed, I responded “he invented the theory of relativity, what have you done?” She never mentioned her IQ after that. You see, IQ matters less than what you do with what you have.
P.S. I am a member of Mensa, too, and realize that it is just the measure of potential, not an accomplishment.
Edit: thanks for everyone who up-voted my response. I think this is my highest. I went to my first Annual Gathering (AG) this year and it just reinforced my belief. It isn’t what you have, but what you do with it. Many wonderful people, but just like the rest of society in so many ways.
How is she surprised he responded like this? She deserves everything she gets
Lordy! This is everything that wrong with the United States today.
Have you ever been accused of something very wrong ,and been totally innocent.
I have this mentally I’ll neighbor a block down the street ,he will say just about anything with no remorse whatsoever, he is so envious of me, from what other people have told me that it’s almost some type of fixation.I warned my new girlfriend about him and to keep her distance from him, quite frankly I don’t trust him at all.One day I see she was at the bottom of the driveway picking up the mail as usual only potty mouth is blabbering to her about something, he was out walking his dog. When she parks her car and heads for the house she usually stops to see what I’m doing. Today she goes straight up and into the house, I knew that idot had said something to upset her, unfortunately for me I was in the middle of spraying and couldn’t drop what I was doing.I head into the house an hour later and she seems very tense, but when I mentioned what did the ding dong down the load have to say, she said ahhh nothing really.
A couple hours later when we met at the doorway between the master bedroom and the bathroom, she actually ducted away from me. Now I knew something was wrong and I had to get to the bottom of it, but when I asked what was bothering her every time she had the same response, ahhh nothing really.
Finally I had enough, I said I want to know what is going on ,and we’re not closing our eyes until you tell me. Then she says, whatcha going to do hit me.I was totally floored, I have never in my life struck a woman and told this to her. She says that the guy down the street told her, he used to hear my ex wife screaming and that I had been arrested for abuse a couple of times.I started to chuckle a little and she says this is very serious ,and that if I layed a hand on her she’s going straight to the cops.
I pointed to a couple of shotguns leaning in the corner by my dresser. See those, well if I had any sort of domestic violence charges brought against me , there wouldn’t be any fire arms allowed in the house. She says you have several guns, that’s against, the law then. I warned you about listening to that asshole some time ago didn’t I ,she couldn’t believe someone would make up a story like this. So let’s just look up my criminal record and see how bad I am, in Wisconsin you can go to the clerk of courts on line and check out anyone’s history. Look here there nothing, nothing at all, squeaky clean. She seemed a little shocked. Now I said let’s check out your new friend, Oh Look two convictions for domestic abuse, spent two weeks in jail twice for failing to pay child support and a felony conviction for distribution of cocaine.Maybe now you will take what he says with a grain of salt. She still looked a little puzzled, but gradually got back to normal. One of these days he’s going to say something about the wrong guy and find himself in big trouble. I fail to see what he hopes to gain, except cause me grief. Maybe someone else has a clue, I just totally avoid him and have for several years now.
The expression, “get your ducks in a row,” means to get prepared to do something. But where did this expression come from?
Many years ago, an old-time JPL engineer explained to me the origin of this expression. Sadly, I don’t remember who it was. There are a number of people I regarded highly who might have been the source of this. I certainly believed them because it made so much sense.
Consider an old drafting tool used to hold splines to make curves. It is called a drafting duck, also known as a lofting duck.
What the heck is a drafting duck, you might ask?
Before we get to that, let’s talking about lofting.
Back in the days of building large wooden sailing ships, they used to create full size drawings of the ship. The only place big enough for such a drawing was in loft above the shipbuilding building. The loft had a lot of space without posts in the way. Creating such drawing became known as lofting.
If you’ve ever done any computer-aided drafting, then you will have come across splines. These are smooth curves passing through a series of dots.
But how did they do that in the days before computers? Well, they used splines! A spine was a long flexible piece of wood that was held down on the drawing to make a curve passing through the points on the drawing.
or the very long splines they used in lofting, they had a bunch of weighted objects to hold the spline in place so they could run their pencil along it to make the smoothly curved line.
Lofting Ducks. The little bent nose sticking out was poked into the top of the spline to hold it in place. The body of these ducks was something like steel so they would be weighty and able to hold the spline in place.
So, before they could draw the line along the spline, they had to …
get their ducks in a row.
And that’s where the expression came from. At least according to the ancient engineer I knew a couple of decades ago.
I promised the Screamy Blonde Thing £200 if she passed all her GCSEs except RE, which we don’t care about.
Yeah, my money’s safe because I’ve seen that kid’s Eng Lit essays. I’ve just spent two years shouting and cajoling just to get her Eng Lang up to scratch and the chances of her passing Eng Lit is the same as that of Kylie Minogue dragging me into Meadowhall Travel Lodge and giving me a damn good seeing-to.
Is what I thought.
Do you know what she bloody well did? Passed the bloody lot except RE. I swear she did it on purpose just to annoy me. Sigh. Bye-bye £200. I knew I shouldn’t have spent a week going through Romeo and bloody Juliet with her, still less another one going through The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde. Because of this, she now has a morning off from her computerses things at the Tech whilst the dim kids retake their Maths and English GCSEs. That kid has always been as jammy as a Co-Op doughnut, I tell you.
Anyway, the point. Stump up. You promised it, you bloody well deliver or you’ll be persona non grata in kidworld and they’ll never trust anything you say again for the rest of your life.
Back to the subject of the SBT, she’s spending her morning lying in bed playing with her Nintendo.
Or so she thinks.
I’m about to break the news that nobody could be arsed to do last night’s teapots and there’s a sinkful, and guess who’s drying? BWUHAHAHA! It’s not that I’m evil, it’s just……no it is. I’m evil. But not evil enough to renege on my promise for hard work. Get your wallet out.
In terms of absolute military power, they will never catch up with the USA. They simply do not have any intention to do this.
I think that Americans simply do not comprehend this. They live in a country that is accustomed to wars, The USA destroys countries and kills people in wars continuously. Afghanistan; Iraq; Syria; Bosnia; Somalia; Vietnam; Libya; Grenada etc etc. This has gone on for so long that Americans think it’s normal – as normal and ordinary and unremarkable as their regular school shootings.
China isn’t interested. They just want to build highways, sea ports, airports, railways etc; link up the world and do more trade and business.
“I know who’s wetting the grass mummy!” My three year old daughter one day stated proudly.
We were eating breakfast at the time and my husband and I both looked at each other dumbfounded. She continued beaming at us. Clearly very proud of herself.
“Honey what do you mean?” My husband asked her trying to make sense of it.
“You know daddy…” She said shaking her head as if it what she was talking about was common knowledge. I was struggling to keep a straight face. “Explain it to daddy,” I said to her.
“Ok mummy.”
“Well,” she said. “In the mornings the grass is wet right?”
“Right, yes it’s a dew.”
“No…” She corrects him. “It’s a man dressed in black.”
“Are you sure honey?” My husband asks her.
“Yes I saw him last night…”
At first we were dumbfounded, then we were very worried. Turns out she had seen someone. The next night I stayed in my daughters room and someone actually tried to break in. Luckily some fly spray in the eyes and a quick call to the police soon put him out of action… Though my daughter said “mummy don’t do that to the grass wetter”
Turns out he was a child abuser, not the grass wetter. Luckily he won’t be doing that ever again now. And my daughter still can’t get over the fact that I sprayed him in the eyes with fly spray…
What did she say to me afterwards? “Who will wet the grass now mummy?”
And the next morning. “They found a new person, I haven’t seen him yet but the grass has been wetted again.”
Kids. They are so innocent and at times hilarious 🙂
I’m technically homeless for the second time in my life. Finances were at a real strain earlier in the year but I held on until my son went off to college. At 68, my career in print media ground to a halt and with an exploding real estate market where I saw my rent quadruple in a matter of months. My life was unsustainable.
Car payments, car insurance, prescription medicines and food, I’ll admit, I was drowning. When my son left I no longer had a reason to maintain a household or a car. I stopped fighting the inevitable. My social security payment was all I had. I sold my possessions and booked a one-way ticket to the far east. I can live on the pittance provided me for my years of work as an American. I just can’t live in America.
Since I left the states, I’ve lived in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal. Next week I’m heading to India for a month before returning and spending Christmas and New Years in Vietnam. I live in decent three star hotels typically with free breakfast.
My social life had already slowed considerably as I got old.
I stopped drinking nearly three years ago so I no longer have that monkey on my back. But life, in general is good. It’s adventurous. And I no longer have the burdens that come with life in the US. My son is happy and thriving. My older daughter and her family are doing very well. I’m a phone call away from them and we talk frequently. The difference is I’m alive and living with few worries.
My son had an FBI agent come to his apartment. He sold noncommercial DVDs on his web page of 80’s cartoons. Someone had bragged about not caring about copyright and given the FBI his name in order to get him in trouble.
When asked, he said, “Yes, I sell those DVDs on my web page. Oh, do you want copies of where I have the rights? What’s your fax number?”
Many years ago my first wife’s father was died. He was married at the time. He also had a girlfriend. When my mother-in-law, my now ex-wife, her grandmother and I arrived at the funeral we were expecting, of course, to sit on the front row. It is typical for the spouse to sit there. Unfortunately, the girlfriend with her children showed up prior to the wife and had seated herself and her kids on the front row. The wife, who had more restraint than I would have, decided not to make a scene and sat behind the girlfriend and her kids. If my memory serves me correctly, she did fire the girlfriend, who worked at the store now solely owned by my mother-in-law.
I get that the girlfriend was also grieving. After all, her sugar daddy was now gone. If she had had more manners and civility at the funeral, she would probably have been given time to find a new job (my MIL was a nice person), but since the gf intentionally embarrassed the wife in public, she didn’t deserve to be treated nicely.
My father was the epitome of impeccable health well into his older years, the strongest, healthiest person I knew. Walking 25,000 steps per day, always energetic, near perfect vision, mentally sharp (he had a PhD in mathematics), my father had every quality in his 70s that I wish I had in my 50s! Best of all, he was a very humble man and wonderfully loving father.
My dad was a renowned scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he studied nucleology. Unfortunately, he and many of his fellow scientists developed sarcoma later in life, a rare form of cancer. Some of his cohorts had already died in their 30s and 40s. My father didn’t acquire sarcoma until the age of 73, striking with little warning and spreading quickly throughout his entire body. It remains unknown whether or not the fate of these scientists was connected to the decades of nuclear research projects they performed.
My father awoke in the middle of the night in pain, was driven to the hospital by my mother, and by the time he arrived 15 minutes later he had no feeling below his rib cage. A tumor had grown along the spine and rapidly shut off the nerves, blocking any feeling all the way to the tip of his toes. After some tests, the doctors gave him three to six months to live. He lasted three months.
The question
To answer your question, how did he know the end was near? After three months of being bedridden and paralyzed, with his spirits high and his faith strong, he was lying awake around 4:00 a.m. when he suddenly struggled to breathe. He summoned my mother who was asleep in the same room. He knew it was the end.
The finale
My parents had been together for 55 years, meeting when they were teens. My mother held his hand, and he whispered, “Will you be okay without me?” to which my mother replied, “I’ll be fine.” And within seconds after those words, he was gone. I was on a plane flying to come see him when he passed, so I didn’t make it in time to say goodbye. But we had spent plenty of time together, especially in the final months, so I was at total peace. The world lost one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century that day. But I lost the greatest father.
A co-worker and I were given new employee contracts to sign and we saw that if we were to leave the company we could not work as software developers for three years. We refused to sign, so the company controller came to us and asked why.
After we explained why we wouldn’t sign, he said, “Oh, that’s not what that means. What it means is that you won’t start a new, competing contract firm and steal away employees.” So I told him to change the contract language to state exactly what he’d told me. He just kept saying, “But you know what it means!”
I finally told him that until the contract says what it really means, I wouldn’t sign it. He said he’d have it corrected, but we never received a corrected copy, so we never signed a new contract.
His explanation made more sense than the contract’s language, but I wasn’t going to sign away my right to work on blind faith.
A husband
“This man worked a 13-hour day in 90-degree weather and walked through the door and said, ‘I’m home. What can I do to help you?’
Yet, these are words I hear from him often.
He is not a ‘unicorn.’ Men like these exist.
The kind who wash the dishes after you cook. Who do the yard work because they know you hate it. Who work 60+ hour work weeks and still come home and play with their kids, give their wife a kiss, and ask, ‘What can I do to help?’
Who gets up some nights to change the baby’s diaper while you get ready for a night feeding. Who gives the kids baths and puts them down for bed. Who spends his weekends with his family. Who cracks a cold one once the kids are down, and plays Farkle and Rummy with his wife.
Leader of the home, equal partner with his wife, provider, protector, and hands-on father. I’m so glad I married this man, and that he also acknowledges my hard work at home with two kids, nursing, cooking, and cleaning.
We take care of each other. It’s 50/50, and we are raising our boys to be men, just like their fathers.
I see so many women cry and complain their partner doesn’t help with the kids, bills, housework, give them any attention, etc.
My heart breaks when I hear, ‘Oh, that’s men,’ or ‘I just deal with it and suffer.’
Ladies, that isn’t a man. Make him do better or find better! If you have a good one who treats you like a queen, then treat him like the king he is.
Marriage is a partnership, not a dictatorship. My husband and I both take care of each other and are very happy.
Many blessings and happiness to all you kings and queens.”
Shared with permission via Jessica Maddux
Cajun Orange Mopped Chops
2023 11 08 11 12
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!)
Some disturbing stuff going down right now. The idiots in Washington DC are Hell-bent on war, and all of us are feeling like we are trapped in some kind of cage lashed to the back of a speeding car driven by a madman.
The West has gone completely koo-koo.
No shit.
In case you all haven’t noticed, I am not “reporting” or commenting on the insanity of the Middle East. It’s all a cluster fuck that I want no part of.
A long time ago, I owned one of the first Honda Accords. I had bought it new in 1977, and around 1984, the engine had a very bad oil burning problem. I was pulled over by a Metro Toronto Police constable, who gave me the choice of a ticket for “excessive smoking” or a visit to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment testing centre.
I chose the test, filled the engine with 50 w oil and while there was no smoke, the rest of the needles went fully to the right. Busted.
I was given a chance for a repeat, but knowing I would fail that one also, I put the car on the driveway, pulled the plates and used a borrowed vehicle. About a month after the missed test, a summons came in the mail to appear at the Provincial court one morning in the not too distant future.
I showed up early, and approached the clerk to find out where I should be and when. They never tell you that on the summons, just to appear. While talking the the clerk, a man walked up and was dealing with another of the clerks. I asked the clerk I was talking to “what the fine would be” if convicted. She didn’t know, and man beside me became interested in the matter. I had no idea who he was, but we kind of looked at the summons and neither of us could see anything about a fine. There was a little conversation; I assumed he was a lawyer, and we had a friendly chat. Court was starting shortly, and the fellow left, so I also went inside, told the bailiff I was there – important to do so, otherwise they might not call you for hours – and sat down.
At the stroke of 10:00 am, someone says “all rise” and in walks the Judge, the fellow I was talking to at the desk. Before the proceedings began, the Judge asked me if I had received an answer from the clerk. I told him that I had not, and then the proceedings began.
The Crown (prosecutor) presents the charge, an environmental offence, which he obviously felt was on par with burning down a forest or killing baby seals. Looking very smug, he sat down.
I am called forth, and I told the Judge that yes, the car had failed, but it was off the road and here are the license plates in my hand proving that it was no longer driving or polluting.
The Judge then asked the Crown what the minimum fine was for such an offence. The Crown responded that “the Ministry has a range up to $5000 for such an offence and the usual fine is this case would be $100.”
The Judge asked again about the minimum fine and the Crown repeated his same line. The Judge then asked “so there is no minimum fine?”
The Crown sheepishly answered “No sir” and the Judge turned to me and asked “the car is off the road?” and I responded affirmatively, at which point he said the charges were dropped as the intent of the law was to keep polluting vehicles off the road and obviously this had happened. Case dismissed!
I can’t say for sure, but there was a bit of smile from my new friend on the bench as I walked out of the court.
We’d just celebrated a diversity milestone as part of our quarterly meeting. It was one of those corporate cheerleading events where I stood in the back resisting the painful urge to roll my eyes.
“We are far more than a team of coworkers,” the CEO said, gesturing wide with his arms to the crowd, “We are a family.”
He was such a phony. The summit concluded and I went to the lunchroom. Right as I walked in, I stopped in the doorway and noticed something obvious that I hadn’t noticed before this diversity meeting.
All the white people were at their tables. All the black employees sat at another set of tables. Three Asian ladies sat at another. It was like we were living in the 1950s. And it wasn’t confined to this office. I still see this trend so often when I walk through malls, or along the sidewalk.
A similar phenomenon was observed on the set of Planet Of The Apes in 1968. The director noticed that during lunch, the people dressed as gorillas sat with other gorillas, chimps with chimps, and humans with humans. He described feeling a chill in the air and wondered if we were already in a dystopian sci-fi future. It even happened on the set of Babylon 5. People self-segregated according to their alien skin color.
This trend has long predated echo chambers, and it’s detrimental to your growth.
image 116
The closed network problem
The trend is called homophily, where we magnetize towards clusters of people similar to us. Race isn’t the only sorting mechanism. People sort by social class, age, political ideology, and even the type of music they listen to. And the unfortunate result is that we often live in a “closed network”. We sort ourselves into increasingly tight homogeneous groups.
A closed network forms in these four steps and I suspect you’ll be able to think of a few examples as you read this (I certainly did):
image 74
Putting all moral platitudes aside, social diversity has great predictive qualities for your career and life.
Count on one hand your closest friends. I’d bet that for many of you — they are pretty similar to you across a few demographic touchpoints. It’s no fault to you. This happens naturally, but you can disrupt this habit.
By mixing up your friend group, you are exposed to ideas different than your own and stretch your thinking. Your professional network also becomes much more potent, which is especially important: Within 10 years of graduation, a majority of people won’t work in the area they majored in.
Beware of gatekeeping your network
My ex’s family was deeply conservative — which is fine on its own. People are entitled to their beliefs. But this was often a barrier to who could spend time with them.
They were constantly sizing people up and figuring out their political opinions to determine if they were friend-material. Many people do this without realizing it. These parents were just explicit about it and they had a very small town syndrome (cliquey behavior, when you forget there is an entire world outside of your own).
This introduces the other pesky problem. It’s not all that easy to make friends — especially as we get older. So what next? There are a few solutions.
A route out of Cloneville
I moved 15 times before I turned 18. I lived in California, DC, Florida, Virginia Beach, North Carolina — and every new batch of people was so different than the next. I went to an all white, deeply conservative private school in 9th grade, a liberal high school in Coronado. I was one of the only white kids at an inner city middle school in DC. It wasn’t always easy.
Every summer, I waited for the talk. My mom or dad would come to my bedroom and tell me we were moving and how I was going to love this new school and place. Early on, I realized implicitly, “OK. I need to learn to make new friends.”
I was a new 5th grader at Linkhorn Elementary. We had a substitute teacher who happened to be gorgeous. She was passing out quiz papers. Before she passed out each quiz, she did that thing where she licked her finger to grip the paper.
After she handed me my quiz, I looked across the table at a classmate Joe and say, “Hey Joe! Pssst.”
He turned to me and I pretended to lick my finger and put it down to my thigh and made a hissing sound, like bacon hitting the frying pan. It was a corny joke — but it made Joe laugh and we were instantly friends. And from there, I learned that humor was one quick path to win anyone over.
Often, it’s less about how funny a joke is — and more about the energy it establishes. It signals, “I want to play.” Think about how a dog plants his chest down to the ground while keeping his hind legs standing to get another dog to play with him. This is the human equivalent.
It says, “I like you. Let’s have fun.”
“What if I’m not that funny?”
An even better solution that is painfully overlooked is to smile. Researchers have proven that smiles motivate people to interact with you. They are seen as a “prosocial invitation”. Stand upright and give them a quick, natural smile right when you spot them. It signals you are excited to see them.
After getting to know so many types of people, I’ve realized most people just want to be accepted as a complicated human being. And if you are just nice to them, and seem happy to see them and talk to them — you’ve nearly won the battle already.
When you go to your lunchroom, consider sitting with a new group of people. Don’t be afraid to talk to someone who looks different than you.
There’s a concept called contact hypothesis whereby tension between groups is reduced when they are brought together and interact. It promotes trust and reduces stereotyping. It reminds two different people that they’re both human beings. But the only way to make different types of friends is to actually spend time with people who are different from you.
One of my close friends couldn’t be more different from me. His political views and background are a full 180. But we are both fully candid about our opinions and thoughts, and know we can do so without fear of judgement or being disliked. Sure, he says crazy stuff sometimes but that’s fine. He’s still my friend. He’s taught me a few things about the world and changed a few of my opinions, and I’d like to think the reverse is true.
My hope, is that in a world that is so divided, more people from different walks of life can share the same path. They’d expand their own perspectives. They’d have more love and understanding, and more career opportunities.
And it would save us from being fenced in with our own. Closed networks beget closed minds.
Brazil was inches away from recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital not very long ago, mind you.
Surprising split in South America nonetheless, you’d imagine they’d have a uniform stance like they had for Ukraine.
A sea of yellow in Asia with only the usual suspects in blue but hey there’s someone new this time!
India’s position sits perfectly with our new found friends and within our domestic political landscape but ought to disappoint the fellow global southerners. But tbf, it is not to be construed as a paradigm shift in our policy, our Ministry of External Affairs clarified our two state stance on Palestine only yesterday, rather bad memories getting rekindled.
Nepal lost about a dozen citizens to Hamas’ attack. Poor folks go under the radar and didn’t even get sufficient coverage.
Irans sphere of influence, man, from Caspian Sea to Red Sea. Bush what have you done?
This is a map from TRT— Türkiye’s state run broadcaster. Interesting that they construe Erdogan’s position as call for de-escalation.
Sudan’s case is the perfect microcosm of the viability of normalisation deals that Israel is pursuing. You try so hard and get so far, and then a coup happens.
Morocco, UAE understandable, but Saudi and Pakistan? Who would have thought? Not me. Only 2% of Saudis are in favour of normalisation, I wonder if that matters at all. And 2% would be too high a number for Pakistanis.
Those who follow Bangladesh’s politics ought to find Bangladesh’s silence intriguing, if not outright discombobulating, especially with Hasina up for election soon and US breathing down her neck (yeah, not making this up, US is the biggest threat to Hasina’s re-election).
I don’t get Mexico’s neutrality, they don’t even recognise Palestine.
I don’t get New Zealand’s contrarian take either. What gives? I imagined if anyone from the West was going to have a contrarian take it would be Norway. The right is on the rise in Norway, left rules New Zealand, perhaps that explains?
Ghana coming all out to condemn Hamas? With a similar religious demography split like India, I wonder if there’s domestic political considerations involved.
Foreign policy really is domestic politics with its hat on.
Given that Indonesia’s support will be construed differently then Iran’s support, Venezuela joins the “axis of evil”. But in all fairness they joined the club previously after Ukraine invasion.
DPRK has been silent?
What explains the silence of that many African countries? None of our business paradigm?
Putin tells it like it is…
Fudge Cobbler
chocolate cobbler 2 pn
Yield: about 9 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
Vanilla ice cream (garnish)
Instructions
Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square baking dish.
Melt the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan over very low heat. Stir often. Remove from the heat.
Stir in the sugar, flour, vanilla extract and eggs.
Everyone in the office was paid on an hourly basis and it was each person’s responsibility to keep track of how many hours they worked each day on a paper time sheet. At the end of each week each employee turned in their time sheet to their supervisor who would sign them and then give the to HR so everyone can get paid for the hours they worked. In practice, everyone showed up each day, did their work, wrote down”8 hours” on their time sheet and went home. Everyone was happy.
Then along came a new guy in management who stated that nobody was actually keeping track of their hours and just writing down what HR wanted to see. This meant that the company was losing money and productivity from people not working a full day but being paid for it. So he instituted a new digital time sheet system where each person had to log their times in and out on their computers and the system would track how many hours each of us worked.
What the company discovered was that everyone tended to come into work 10–15 minutes early, hardly ever took a full hour for lunch and often stayed 10–15 minutes late to get their work done. Thanks to the new time sheet system every employee was now getting paid for all that overtime they had been working but not tracking. This affected the company because it was added payroll expense that wasn’t budgeted. So management put out a new rule that nobody would be allowed to work any overtime without written permission from their supervisor and HR. So everyone was very diligent to log in and out exactly in time.
Except now productivity had fallen because nobody was working those extra minutes each day, which multiplied over all staff added up to an extra 60 hours per week of work. The company ended up needing to hire two more people to make up that productivity.
After Huawei released Kirin 9000S, Biden revised the bill: banning China from owning high-end chips.
So China cannot make their own, if they do, they will violate American law.
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday the country’s switch to a dual 5G network will allow for more effective participation by China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
Malaysia in May had said it would allow a second 5G network to operate from next year, following concerns over a monopoly held by a single state-run network.
The European Union and the U.S. had warned Malaysia of risks to national security and foreign investment amid efforts by Huawei to bid for a role in its telecoms infrastructure.
Anwar on Wednesday acknowledged concerns from some countries over the “security and capacity” of technology stemming from China, but said the decision to allow a second 5G network was made so that Malaysia could benefit from different technologies.
“We in Malaysia… and I believe rightly, decided that while we get the best from the West, we also should benefit the best from the East,” he told an event hosted by Huawei in Kuala Lumpur.
“After extensive discussion… we made the decision to allow for a dual network, and thus the decision for more effective participation by Huawei.”
Malaysia had in 2021 unveiled a plan for a state-owned agency, Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), to own the full 5G spectrum, with various carriers using the infrastructure to provide mobile services, but the plan had come under industry criticism over pricing and competition.
State-run DNB partnered with Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson to roll out Malaysia’s 5G network. It is unclear how Malaysia’s plan for a second network would affect DNB’s agreement with Ericsson or other mobile operators.
WHAT THESE FILIPINAS CAN OFFER TO THEIR PASSPORT BROS!
They are generally ignorant about China and Chinese, and conversations about China are very shallow and full of misconceptions. It is not worth my time to correct those misperceptions, and there is no reward for doing it.
Chinese are much fun and interesting, and even if they have silly ideas, they are often entertaining. Most importantly, they know the local restaurants and dishes, and can introduce me to some dish I have never had before. Unlike for most westerners, dining out is a social event, not just filling the tummy.
I was age 14 in the early 1960s and living with a family who had one child around my age. On my 14th birthday, my mother said I needed to pay room and board. I decided to pay for a room in other homes where there was no violence. My rapidly increasing scoliosis was becoming a problem. I had three jobs to pay room and board — (1) feeding and washing people in a nursing home and doing laundry), (2) babysitting at the country club 1.5 miles away, and (3) stocking shelves in a dry goods store. I made $29.00 a week. My room and board was $28.00 a week. I went to high school about three days a week.
I was happy with this family. The father was Welsh and sang Welsh songs every Friday night as he walked home from the Legion. The mother was one of the cafeteria ladies at the high school. They were good to me.
Then one day, the father came home with an envelope and pulled out a Beatles ticket and handed it to his daughter.
And then he handed another ticket to me.
TO ME!
It cost $15.00. I told him it would take me years to pay him back. If I didn’t buy shampoo, pads, or deodorant, it would take me 15 months to repay him. The father disregarded this idea with a flick of his hand and a Welsh phrase I didn’t understand.
The father drove us the 80 miles to the venue, let us off and circled the building during the performance and was right there when it was finished. Not only that, but the man put up with us singing Beatles songs all the way home. We were not good singers.
Even now, decades later (and I am a retired person), whenever I do something nice for someone, I think, ‘this is for you, John Cooper, this one is for you.’
I carry such lightweight debts with me.
Pepe Escobar: China Has DEFEATED the Neocon Agenda as US War Fails Before It Starts
I don’t expect Xi or Putin to meet with Biden. He doesn’t make the decisions.
If they know how to do something, they automatically know how to do it at scale.
This is a country that builds entire new cities at one go. They produce 600,000 engineers per year. They make four out of every five solar panels in the world. They can build a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 days, and as we saw during the covid-19 pandemic, a brand new hospital in 10 days. They are the world’s biggest factory.
If they know how to make one Huawei Mate 60, they already know how to make 100 million Huawei Mate 60s.
China does not know how to think SMALL. It is unnatural and weird for them to think on a small scale. China has cities with populations larger than countries such as Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, even Australia. Thinking big is China’s default mentality.
New round of US sanctions started against Huawei! U.S. tech war enters stage 2.0!
In this episode, we dive into the latest updates on the potential second round of sanctions by the United States on Huawei. Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, unveiled its new smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro, sparking intrigue amidst ongoing U.S.-China tech tensions.
These cutting-edge smartphones, powered by 7-nanometer chips from China’s SMIC, bring 5G connectivity to the forefront.
The implications of this move are significant, causing a reevaluation of the technology blockade against Huawei and even calls for a complete halt to technology exports. We also explore China’s efforts to boost its self-sufficiency in chip production and navigate U.S. export restrictions.
But the worst part of my job is that I occasionally have to be the “male voice”.
One of my female colleagues will refer a call to me to tell a caller about some iron clad policy we have that we can never, ever overlook.
I am on the same pay level as all of them. I am not the manager. I often work in a different department. I am, however, the only one of this fairly large group of people that is male.
I tell them the iron clad policy. They shut up. End of story.
Part of the problem is that the engineering profession is still about 80% male, and so is the applicant base. They are not used to being told “no” by someone who isn’t male. It’s not like it’s just immigrants either.
Here’s the irony. The second highest ranking staff member, and the person two steps above me, is a woman. She’s had to put up with it too.
But I will tell you about my ex-colleague, boss and PEO president. She left her position as my boss to take on a five year position at the university she was hired by to get female enrollment in the engineering program up to 40%. It took her one year and she shot past the 40% goal to boot. Then she went to another university and did the same thing.
China’s LATEST Hypersonic Drone Can Destroy US F35 Stealth Fighter in Seconds
China’s hypersonic program has emerged as one of the biggest and heavily advanced sectors of the nation. In this remarkable sector, the PLA boasts having a drone in its arsenal which is capable of reaching hypersonic speeds and destroying world renowned stealth fighters that have dominated the aerial warfare sector for years. Today’s episode is covering China’s hypersonic drone and how it can be used to destroy US Stealth fighters.
Many of the westerners have been to China, like it, and see a lot of criticism of China in the western media which is based on planted information and is basically untrue, in order to drive western public opinion against China.
These westerners try to compensate for this distorted view by praising China. Their intention is to restore balance in how China is viewed.
Unfortunately, the western view of China has become so distorted that it is impossible to have a balanced view of China: either it is completely bad, or it is good.
A balanced view of China would say that there are many good things about China, and there are some bad things as well.
China is just like the US: it is just another country and society, each facing its own set of challenges.
I live in Northern Maine. My property borders a state park/forest. The state forest has a parking lot you need to pay to park in the lot although the park/forest is free to enter. Alot of people will park along the main road and walk into the park. my property is on a side road that is beside the park the park entrance is 2 mile up the main road from my road.
Some park/forest visitors have taken to pulling down my road and parking on my property and hiking across my property to enter the park. they block driveways and the road with poor parking abilities. Some pull into driveways.
My property is a farm I have many driveways used by tractors and equipment to enter the feilds for feeding livestock and tending crops. All driveways are gated (keep livestock in feilds and out of crops)
One group of annoying tourists pulled up in 3 vehicles (2 rvs and a 12–15 passenger van) All had New York plates. they pulled in blocking the access to the feilds and began hiking across my feilds. I caught up to them and informed them that they would be towed if they did not move the vehicles. The leader of the group told me to f-off while giving a one finger salute. I watched as they walked away across the feild. once they entered the park/forest I went to my equipment barn got my large green and yellow tractor hooked up a slurry spreader tank and drove over to the slurry bin and filled the tank. ( Slurry is cow manure that is mixed with water to make it able to spray) I adjusted the spray bar and drove over near the area and sprayed liquified manure (did not spay any on the vehicles) just near the road along the fence a nice heavy thick layer then sprayed more along the area they entered the forest. Since it was 85 degrees outside the smell would bake in the sun to keep it fresh I placed a water tank and sprayer/ sprinkler nearby and set the timers to run for 5 minutes every hour. After 4 hours I called and had the vehicles towed.
They returned and found me spraying slurry in my feilds as they walked across the feilds the slurry is sticking to the shoes (most wearing sandles or flip flops – Nothing like the feeling of liquid poop between the toes) They find the vehicles gone and ask me where they are. I tell them where the inpound lot is and inform them that as they exit onto the main road they should stop and read the large SIGN that says private road. I called the police who informed them that they could walk to impound as it was 20–30 minute walk down the road.
I would imagine that they found out that the oder of sun baked slurry permeates into things. (they left the widows open on the vehicles) and with what was on the shoes it must have been an interesting ride back to New York.
The problem with the EU is Josep the Chief Diplomat’s words do not represent the cohesive attitude, or indeed, policy decisions of the EU towards China. EU member states hold even more divergent and polarizing attitudes.
The fact of the matter is, the G7 does not have a China seat, but the EU gets its own seat, on top of individual EU members. The currencies of these nations power the global financial market, while the yuan issued by the world’s No. 2 economy is an afterthought in BIS reports.
Senior figures in the EU have repeatedly made rude and damaging attacks on China and Chinese interests, including the core issue of Greater China sovereignty. Entities and individuals have been sanctioned, just like their American counterparts, whose actions they mirrored.
Nord Stream is a key European infrastructure that cost billions to build. After it was bombed, the lack of condemnation for an act of war is curious, to say the least. Government findings were blocked from release, while there remains a shocking lack of blowback and demand for accountability in the press.
The EU-CHINA CAI, which is tilted in Europe’s favor, is also dead in the water, after 10 years of painstaking negotiation securing an agreement in principle. EU leaders are complaining about lack of market access in China, when it is self-inflicted.
There is also the issue of the EC, with Ursula completely at odds with Josep’s conciliatory, if shaky, diplomacy. She was given the cold shoulder on a recent visit to Beijing as Emmanuel’s invited partner. The message was clear. She wasn’t the guest invited by the Chinese state.
Who represents the EU? Who has the authoritative voice that can be trusted? How has the EU demonstrated long-term policy independence from the US?
Wang Yi, and before him, Yang Jiechi, have had regular hours-long closed door conversations with Jake, the National Security Advisor. Jake is 46, and not even elected, but he has access to top Chinese leadership that the EU can only dream of, because he is the personal envoy of Joe.
Do we really have to spell out who calls the shots in NATO, which is tied at the umbilical with the EU power structure?
During a 10-hour flight, she was heading from Seoul, Korea, to San Francisco, USA. This mother distributed more than 200 passengers on the plane a plastic bag for each one. The bag contains candy, chewing gum and earplugs as a kind of advance apology for using them in the event that her 4-month-old baby screamed during the flight.
The bag also contained a message containing (hello, I am Jan Woo. I am 4 months old and today I’m traveling America with my mom and grandmother for my aunt’s outfit. I’m a little nervous and scared. This is my first flight in my life. It’s normal for me to cry or cause some disturbance. I’ll try to stay calm, but I can’t promise you. Please use it if my voice gets too loud.. Enjoy your trip. Thank you)
Communism and Marxism is hardly an issue to the U.S. with Vietnam that the U.S. is courting shamelessly and Saudi Arabia a Islamic Monarchy hardly liberal democracy but does it bother Uncle Sam for the last half a century?
For me it is as simple as China cannot be made submissive and subservient to the U.S. that is all to it. And worst China is simply a lot lot more efficient and effective than the U.S. can ever be! In fact China has a better human rights record than the U.S. anyway! That perturb the US to no end.
But what is worst for the U.S. Is 150–175 nations out of the world’s 195 nation prefers Chinese and China way and none in the global south wants anything to do with Uncle Sam. They find them obnoxious and despicable. To me this is not due to China at all but due to the shit U.S. did to the world since 1945.
I know Americans who are mostly highly naive and hugely made ignorant to think the U.S. media or government is well liked by the world. But in truth it couldn’t be further than the truth!
Abusing nations has consequences, bullying nations turned them off, arbitrary sanctions puts nations off, they will hedge, they will stop letting you fxxk them! It does not matter what your media lies and your propaganda says. The world is no fool!
Just figure this. US the biggest murdering nation telling China in Alaska about human rights! Is totally laughable and utterly ridiculous! Chinese officials told Blinken save the advise for your dogs and slave vassal nations!
The “American Dream” is actual Slavery (It’s all a Lie)
I was an admin assistant at a department at my local university. I was just about to clock off and make my way home in a wild windstorm that eventually knocked down 20,000 trees across the city when for some reason I decided to check one of the grad student offices and discovered that the skylight had blown off, exposing multiple desks and computers, some of them running data, to the elements. I called the relevant campus department and was told that restoring electricity and clearing roads and whatnot took priority, and they likely wouldn’t get to replacing the skylight (which I’d located, but lacked the strength and roof access to lug it up myself) until the next day at the earliest. So I cracked open the earthquake kit and rigged, using tarps and duct tape, a patch, then moved, ever so carefully so as not to accidentally disconnect the computers, all six desks away from the skylight shaft, in case my patch failed.
This all took about four hours past my usual knock-off time. Everyone was really glad I’d taken the time and initiative to do it, but my supervisor refused even to consider giving me time off in lieu for those four hours because she hadn’t pre-approved them, never mind that, in those pre-cell days, I’d had no way of reaching her. So I appealed to the department head, who overrode her. She was livid, and thereafter made my life so miserable that I leapt at the first decent opportunity to leave.
People with no medical knowledge make decisions about whether a patient can have a medical procedure, overruling the attending physician.
Now, with the outsourcing of call centers, people with no medical knowledge in Jamaica, India, and Pakistan make those decisions.
Here are some typical costs in Uruguay:
Office visit: US $8.00
ER visit: US $ 10.00
House call: US $12.00.
Electrolyte blood analysis: US $7.11.
Cerebral CT Scan: US $23.29
If you call an ambulance, it arrives with a full-fledged MD, not an EMT.
Before I turned 70 years of age, I paid around US $55 per month for health coverage.
Now I pay around US $70 per month. For that, I get totally free hospital stays and all costs are free, including hospital stay, surgery, medications, doctor care, and nursing care. When you check out, regardless of what was done or how long you were hospitalized, you pay nothing.
The monthly cost for my cancer medication is around US $2.50. The same medication in the US is around $500.00.
It’s been proven China can with Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro.
Chinese companies can rival the giant U.S. tech companies like Intel, Apple and Nvidia but what takes time is building up the ecosystem to make this possible. Thousands of companies make up the support system that manufactures and supports the tools and machines for the manufacturing processes of semiconductors.
The most critical of these companies are in the design (specifically EDA tools) and packaging (chiplets) processes, as well as the lithography machines for the making of the chip itself. There are now Chinese companies with the leading edge (or close to) technologies to rival industry leaders.
Just as critical is the consolidating of resources and capabilities to have the companies to ensure adequate supply of legacy chips. These are actually the more important players because they make up 90% of demand.
U.S. sanctions have forced China to come up with its own self-siufficient semiconductor indiustry.
Chinese don’t necessarily support single party rule; they support a strong central government to maintain order.
Whether it is single party or not is secondary.
In today’s China, it is led by a single party, but it is much more than any western political party because it has 100M members who meet monthly to discuss local, provincial and central government issues, and how to solve them.
Do the Republican and Democratic parties ask their members to meet monthly to discuss how to solve social issues? I think not.
My point is not that one system is better than another, but they are very different, and talking about the ruling party in China being the same as the political parties in the US is silly and ridiculous, because China developed according to its historical conditions, and the US developed according to its historical conditions.
As Everyone’s Lοοking At Ιsrael, Something Τruly Unbelievable Has Begun Ιn America
Very interesting.
He’s saying that (it’s official) World War III is on-line.
People are imbued with cultural and religious ideas they don’t even recognize and simply take for granted.
I, an American, was imbued with the idea “I am my husband’s equal. In marriage we will have the same freedoms and similar expectations of each other. I would never shout at him for wearing shorts, so of course he will not do that to me. I don’t consider cooking his job, so I am sure he won’t consider it my job. I would always discuss a big purchase with him – and naturally he will give me the same respect.”
That sense of equality and “Don’t treat your spouse in a way you don’t want to be treated yourself” was my cultural norm.
I found that my husband had absolutely no cultural or religious norm of equality. He absolutely was willing to treat me in ways he would hate to be treated himself. He did not think a woman deserved what a man deserves.
He found it absolutely normal to expect control over me, and be resentful thst I didn’t make his life as comfortable as he believed a man’s life should be. He was constantly looking at the very unequal marriages of his (Muslim Arab) friends and resenting me for not being a submissive woman who cooked and cleaned and expected nothing but money from him.
My husband and I are in the same profession. I worked longer hours than him. I was also the one who was sometimes pregnant or recovering from childbirth.
But he could not appreciate me. He had a cultural and religious idea in his head : a man should come home from work and be catered to. Clean house, good food, obedient wife who wears certain clothes and lets her husband forbid her from certain activities or friends that do not please him. The man should be comfortable, should be served, should have things his way. (It is similar to the relationship between a dog owner and his dog. They love each other – but the owner does not think the dog should share in decisions or come and go as it pleases. A dog is expected to be happy being owned and trained and played with.)
My husband started off claiming he would love me forever.
It did not last.
But his cultural ideas of what a man is owed and how a wife must serve — those ideas will last in him forever.
Let’s answer this question using 5 Low IQ positions that the US politicians are taking –
Low IQ action 1 – Raimondo threatens Huawei before her China trip. She is simply arrogant and lacks intelligence. Who in the right mind threatens someone’s kid before visiting their home?
Low IQ action 2 – It is simply embarrassing to see a country using full state resources to bring down a private company. You brought an army to a fist fight and didn’t knock your much smaller opponent out!
Low IQ action 3 – The Western chips companies are making large profits selling products to China. And you stopped the sales and force your biggest customer to make their own?
Low IQ action 4 – You give billions of dollars of subsidies to your own chip companies to build factories. But you stop the demand from your top customer. So where are US companies gonna sell their excess chips to?
Low IQ action 5 – You take away Huawei’s access to Google and they went to develop their own operating system to threaten Google’s and Microsoft’s future dominance. You like shooting your own foot?
Irish Girl Watches MISTER ROGERS For The First Time
Oh nostalgia tv, except I don’t know who Mister Rogers is. I’ve always heard the name Mister Rogers as a reference in American tv and films but this Irish Girl had no idea who that was. Join me on a very emotional journey as I watch Fred Rogers first through last tv appearance, see him sing “I like you just as you are” and “ it’s a wonderful day in the neighbourhood” Mister Rogers Neighbourhood. Couldn’t we all do with some nice insight from a Fred Rogers right now.
I was in the US Army stationed in Germany for 3 and half years… Just turned 18. During this time I never took leave and went back. Travelled all over Europe! In Germany, I drunk my first beer, had my first kiss, and my first Girlfriend, was amazed by the people, the culture, the infrastructure, the cuisine, almost everything. I even took German courses and was proficient at least with speaking German. Anyway the day came, when i was being discharged ( I never really liked the army, andjoined for the Gi Bill) Back in the rural midwest, working at Walmart while going to community collage, I realized how much I missed Germany, the lifestyle, the urban vibe and so many things ( missed having a GF too, in the US I wasnt rich enough or cool enough to date anyone, in Germany this was never a thing at all, about money and all that. I decided if I was going to have a dull dead end life with no future, why not go back to Germany? At least have an adventure of some kind, i could always come back to the US.. 7 months after I ETSed ( left the army) I got a passport, got a cheap one way ticket and reconnected with some German civilians I knew.. I ended up staying in germany, has been 30 plus years now. I remember when the plane landed and I was disembarking, and set foot on the ground, I felt like,, this is it..the place you are meant to be.
I takes longer than that but slowly and surely it will.there is not even a speck of doubt. Tell me which nation wants to save in U.S. dollar reserve if can be confiscated away from you at the whims or fancies of the U.S? Do you want to keep your savings in a bank using a currency that the US can take it all away anytime it wants?
No one do, no want does, no one will ever want to. The fact that the US and the west can even phantom that by stealing gold from Venezuela and US dollar reserves from Russia is an acceptable behaviour tell how little the west thinks of the rest of the world.
Every nation on earth, even the US allies are figuring how to hedge against the US dollar. Direct Currency swap arrangement is very popular and it must have have grown several fold in the last year alone! Some agree on a basket of currencies, Others revert back to barter.
JEFFREY SACHS ON A HISTORIC DEBT
Israel Attacks Damascus Airport as IRAN Foreign Minister Plane Coming-in; Plane Forced to Divert
The Israeli Air Force fired missiles at Damascus Airport and Aleppo Airport this morning, just before a plane carrying the Iran Foreign Minister was approaching Damascus for an official state visit. The Iran Minister’s plane was forced to divert from the area to avoid conflict.
Attacking Syria was an illegal act of aggression by Israel. Conducting that attack while a Diplomat was approaching for a state visit is arguably an Act of War.
Damascus Airport is now damaged and closed. Aleppo Airport is also reported to be damaged and closed.
The Iran Foreign Minister plane appears to be returning to Iran.
Syrian Defense Ministry: “At approximately 1:50 pm this afternoon, the Israeli enemy simultaneously carried out an air aggression with bursts of missiles, targeting the international airports of Aleppo and Damascus, which led to damage to the airports’ landing strips and them being out of service.
This aggression is a desperate attempt by the criminal Israeli enemy to divert attention from the crimes it is committing in Gaza, and the great losses it is suffering at the hands of the Palestinian resistance.”
( HT Remark: Nothing like escalating the already bad situation with Gaza into an international incident with a foreign Diplomat. Unschooled, these Israelis. Totally devoid of class.)
According to our Singapore media reports, the cost of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail is approximately US$7.3 billion. We tentatively believe that this number is real.
So this figure exceeds the budget given by China when bidding for the project eight years ago by US$1.2 billion. The project completion time was delayed by 4 years than originally planned.
This doesn’t seem like a good number.
But compared to current plans in other countries around the world to build high-speed rail, these are two very good figures.
1. Cost per kilometer
Even calculated based on all costs after overruns (including land costs), the cost per kilometer of Indonesia’s high-speed rail is only US$58 million. The high-speed rail in the United Kingdom is US$300 million per kilometer, and the high-speed rail in California is US$200 million per kilometer.
India’s high-speed rail was originally planned to cost US$35 million per kilometer. However, it has not actually been completed yet. Only ten kilometers have been built. The cost has been doubled and the final cost cannot be estimated. Due to serious delays in construction, some experts predict that there is a high probability that the cost per kilometer will exceed US$80 million when completed.
2. Time spent
The Indian high-speed railway started construction one year earlier than the Indonesian high-speed railway and is scheduled to open in 2023. According to media reports some time ago, only 10 kilometers have been built so far. The completion date has been changed to 2028, but many experts believe that the actual completion time may be after 2032.
The first phase of the British high-speed railway is planned to build 160 kilometers. Construction will start in 2020 and is scheduled to be completed in 2029. It has now been changed to 2033. The real completion date cannot be determined.
Therefore, although the Indonesian high-speed railway experienced a 16% cost overrun and a 4-year construction delay. But this is mainly due to the virus problem over the past 3 years.
Judging from similar large-scale projects around the world, Indonesians have reached the top level in terms of project time and budget control.
I believe that for many years to come, no country will be able to surpass Indonesia’s level.
This is due to the efficient work of the Indonesian government, the unity and support of the Indonesian people, and the technology and efficiency of the Chinese. Their achievements deserve congratulations.
Star Trek – Fire On the Forcefield
America Can’t Stop China’s Rise — Foreign Policy
There’s little doubt that the American government has decided to slow China’s economic rise, most notably in the fields of technological development. To be sure, the Biden administration denies that these are its goals. Janet Yellen said on April 20, “China’s economic growth need not be incompatible with U.S. economic leadership. The United States remains the most dynamic and prosperous economy in the world. We have no reason to fear healthy economic competition with any country.” And Jake Sullivan said on April 27, “Our export controls will remain narrowly focused on technology that could tilt the military balance. We are simply ensuring that U.S. and allied technology is not used against us.”
Yet, in its deeds, the Biden administration has shown that its vision extends beyond those modest goals. It has not reversed the trade tariffs Donald Trump imposed in 2018 on China, even though presidential candidate Joe Biden criticized them in July 2019, saying: “President Trump may think he’s being tough on China. All that he’s delivered as a consequence of that is American farmers, manufacturers and consumers losing and paying more.” Instead, the Biden administration has tried to increase the pressure on China by banning the export of chips, semiconductor equipment, and selected software. It has also persuaded its allies, like the Netherlands and Japan, to follow suit. More recently, on Aug. 9, the Biden administration issued an executive order prohibiting American investments in China involving “sensitive technologies and products in the semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence sectors” which “pose a particularly acute national security threat because of their potential to significantly advance the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities” of China.
All these actions confirm that the American government is trying to stop China’s growth. Yet, the big question is whether America can succeed in this campaign—and the answer is probably not. Fortunately, it is not too late for the United States to reorient its China policy toward an approach that would better serve Americans—and the rest of the world.
America’s decision to slow China’s technological development is akin to the folly revealed by the old cliché: closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. Modern China has shown many times that China’s technological development can’t be halted.
Since the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, several efforts have been made to limit China’s access to or stop its development in various critical technologies, including nuclear weapons, space, satellite communication, GPS, semiconductors, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence. The United States has also tried to curb China’s market dominance in 5G, commercial drones, and electric vehicles (EVs). Throughout history, unilateral or extraterritorial enforcement efforts to curtail China’s technological rise have failed and, in the current context, are creating irreparable damage to long-standing U.S. geopolitical partnerships. In 1993 the Clinton administration tried to restrict China’s access to satellite technology. Today, China has some 540 satellites in space and is launching a competitor to Starlink.
The same principle played out with GPS. When America restricted China’s access to its geospatial data system in 1999, China simply built its own parallel BeiDou Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) system in one of the first waves of major technological decoupling. In some measures, BeiDou is today better than GPS. It is the largest GNSS in the world, with 45 satellites to GPS’s 31, and is thus able to provide more signals in most global capitals. It is supported by 120 ground stations, resulting in greater accuracy, and has more advanced signal features, such as two-way messaging. Other nations have also previously tried and failed to block China’s technical rise. In the 1950s and 1960s, when the USSR withheld nuclear weapons technology from China, China launched its own “Manhattan Project” in the early 1960s and succeeded in testing its first nuclear weapon by 1964. Russian nuclear leverage over China ended that day.
Many of the measures taken by the Biden administration against China were also executed without factoring in China’s capacity to retaliate. While China does not physically construct many truly irreplaceable components of the American technology stack, they are keenly aware of the importance of their raw materials inputs (rare earths) and demand (revenue generation) in fueling the American innovation ecosystem and are now using them as leverage. In the current tit-for-tat dynamic, China will start squeezing these two critical ends of the value chain in response to American technology and capital export restrictions. China’s July ban of the gallium and germanium exports was merely an opening shot across the bow to remind America (and its aligned allies) of China’s dominance in the rare earths and critical metals space. The country has a near monopoly in the processing of magnesium, bismuth, tungsten, graphite, silicon, vanadium, fluorspar, tellurium, indium, antimony, barite, zinc, and tin. China also dominates in midstream processing for materials essential to most of America’s current and future technology aspirations such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper, which are critical for the rapidly developing EV industry globally.
While America and other neutral countries have mineral reserves of many of these materials, it would be naïve to believe that one can simply flip a switch on mining and production. It will take at least three to five years just to build the requisite extraction and processing infrastructure. This is to say nothing for recruiting and training skilled labor, or receiving requisite operational and environmental permits for such activities. Both could prove impossible. The processing of rare earths is a highly toxic and environmentally destructive endeavor. It’s unlikely such approvals will be granted. If Arizona is struggling to find qualified workers for its TSMC fabrication facility, and to address domestic union opposition to importing foreign skilled labor, it’s unlikely that America can develop similar capabilities for material processing. Along the way, China gets to play kingmaker in how it doles out access to its processed materials, likely restricting supply to American technology and defense giants. The failure to factor in China’s retaliatory capacities indicates that the United States doesn’t have a well-thought-out and comprehensive approach to dealing with China.
American measures to deprive China access to the most advanced chips could even damage America’s large chip-making companies more than it hurts China. China is the largest consumer of semiconductors in the world. Over the past ten years, China has been importing massive amounts of chips from American companies. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, China-based firms imported $70.5 billion worth of semiconductors from American firms in 2019, representing approximately 37 percent of these companies’ global sales. Some American companies, like Qorvo, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom, derive about half of their revenues from China. 60 percent of Qualcomm’s revenues, a quarter of Intel’s revenues, and a fifth of Nvidia’s sales are from the Chinese market. It’s no wonder that the CEOs of these three companies recently went to Washington to warn that U.S. industry leadership could be harmed by the export controls. American firms will also be hurt by retaliatory actions from China, such as China’s May ban on chips from US-based Micron Technology. China accounts for over 25 percent of Micron’s sales.
The massive revenue surpluses generated by these sales to China were ploughed into R&D efforts which, in turn, kept American chip companies ahead of the game. The Chamber of Commerce estimates that if the United States were to ban semiconductor sales to China completely, U.S. companies would lose $83 billion in annual revenues and would have to cut 124,000 jobs. They would also have to cut their annual R&D budgets by at least $12 billion, and their capital spending by $13 billion. This would make it even more difficult for them to remain competitive on the global scale in the long run. American semiconductor firms are painfully aware that U.S. actions against China in the chips arena will harm their interests more than Chinese interests. The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association released a statement on July 17, saying that Washington’s repeated steps “to impose overly broad, ambiguous, and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the U.S. semiconductor industry’s competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty, and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China,” and called on the Biden administration not to implement further restrictions without more extensive engagement with semiconductor industry representatives and experts.
The Chips Act cannot subsidize the American semiconductor industry indefinitely, and there is no other global demand base to replace China. Other chip producing nations will inevitably break ranks and sell to China (as they have historically) and the American actions will be for naught. And, in banning the export of chips and other core inputs to China, America handed China its war plan years ahead of the battle. China is being goaded into building self-sufficiency far earlier than they would have otherwise. Prior to the ZTE and Huawei components bans, China was content to continue purchasing American chips and focusing on the front-end hardware. Peter Wennink, the CEO of ASML, stated that China is already leading in key applications and demand for semiconductors. Wennink wrote, “The roll-out of the telecommunication infrastructure, battery technology, that’s the sweet spot of mid-critical and mature semiconductors, and that’s where China without any exception is leading.”
Germany Just Warned Europe On “China’s Counterstrike Move” | Silent EV War Explodes
Simple, like the UK with Brexit, Germany should leave the EU. This will solve the problem, as Germany will then be able to distance itself from investigations implemented by the EU parliament.
Installing antennas and transmission lines on cellular towers.. Day in and day out we would climb 150, 200, 300feet and stay up there literally all day – often 10–12 hours.
Those heights were the norm, but I also did 400ft a couple of times, and then 500ft once.
And I did it because I needed a job and this paid really well. Plus I was a brand new divorcee and just starting over, so at the time working this tough, dangerous job with other guys was a very good thing for me. I made close friends, we partied and had fun, we laughed a lot, and it was just what the doctor ordered.
The end of Evergrande.
Bloomberg News has reported that billionaire founder and chairman Hui Ka Yan was taken away by police earlier this month and put under so-called residential surveillance , a type of police action that falls short of formal detention or arrest.
The surveillance doesn’t necessarily mean that Hui will be charged with a crime, and the exact circumstances of his situation remain unclear. But it’s not looking good: Evergrande has halted trading and confirmed in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing that authorities have told the company that Hui has been subjected to “mandatory measures,” due to “suspicion of illegal crimes.
The latest twist in an ongoing saga for the world’s most indebted developer has left creditors confused and concerned about what’s to become of their investments. The fate of the developer’s restructuring plans are now at risk, and the chances of a full-on liquidation have increased.
There’s a long list of victims: the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who bought into some 706 residential projects that are still being built; people who bought into Evergrande’s wealth management products, worth 40 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) a few years ago; global investors who collectively own at least $30 billion of offshore debt; suppliers and banks who are among those owed some 2.39 trillion yuan in liabilities. The company is facing more than 2,000 lawsuits, too.
I remember a time when Evergrande was still able to overcome its detractors. When a shortsellertargeted it for alleged financial mismanagement back in 2012, a Hong Kong tribunal provided vindication by saying the report was misleading and false.
But so much has changed since then: Evergrande has become a harbinger of the nation’s real estate meltdown. Its fate seemed to be sealed back in 2020, when a liquidity scare fueled by its massive debt load triggered aggressive regulatory tightening. Compounded by pandemic-related woes, the company defaulted the following year.
What happens after Evergrande? As we know, this property crisis is far from over. China’s property developers face a liquidity shortfall worth some 19 trillion yuan, or 15% of GDP, that could morph into a solvency crunch by year-end, Bloomberg analysts estimate.
Property downturns are always painful. In China, that’s especially the case because of the outsized role that the sector plays in the economy: As much as 70% of household wealthis tied to the industry.
The government has responded by relaxing property buying rules, since it doesn’t want the current distress among developers to trigger financial contagion — nor does it want to see social unrest.
Dragging out the Evergrande saga, though, has wreaked havoc among homebuyers, construction workers, suppliers and investors. And as the government has shown no intention of bailing out developers, the only certainty we’re left with is the idea that this pain is far from finished.
My ex was the CFO of one of the largest private construction companies in the world. His main role was to make sure the company stayed profitable. Simple really.
The owners’ son, who recently graduated from college and was having trouble finding gainful employment, (seems nobody would hire him to get stoned) was parachuted into my ex’s job. My ex was quickly let go.
He didn’t mind too much. Even though a little disappointed, he still was paid out fairly and started his own firm with the severance money.
A tender came up for a new skyscraper in London. My ex’s former company put in its bid and came in ahead of everyone else by millions. Turned out months into construction that the new CFO had forgotten to add the cost of electrical wiring into the cost of construction. A mistake that sent his family bankrupt.
Luckily there was one new firm with the creditor’s backing, experience and ability to jump in immediately. My ex hired a lot of the now redundant employees and bought a large chunk of his old company’s heavy equipment at a huge discount in a mortgagee sale.
The lesson here is to never kill the golden goose!
Elderly shelter cat had weeks to live. So this woman adopted him.
This woman is a saint! What she does for these cats is beyond compassion!
The Sixteenth Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE) took place from 25 to 27 September 2023 in Fuzhou, China, co-organised by Fujian Normal University. The theme of the forum was Chinese modernisaton and the prospects of world modernisation. Although unable to attend in person, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez was invited to submit a video presentation.
Carlos’s presentation, entitled Capitalist and socialist modernisation, takes up a number of questions: What is modernisation? Is modernisation desirable? How has modernisation been achieved in the West? What is China’s modernisation plan? What are the unique characteristics of Chinese modernisation? How does socialist modernisation differ from capitalist modernisation? What effect does China’s modernisation on the global journey towards development and socialism?
The video and the text of Carlos’s presentation are available below.
What is modernisation, and is it necessary?
Modernisation is a somewhat nebulous concept. It means different things to different societies at different times. By definition, its parameters are constantly changing.
In the broadest sense, it means adapting to the latest, most advanced ideas and techniques for meeting humanity’s material and cultural needs.
In sociology, there is more or less an equals sign between modernisation and industrialisation, and is generally held to begin with Britain’s Industrial Revolution. We can think of it essentially as the transition from ‘developing country’ status to ‘developed country’ status; from a predominantly rural society to a predominantly urban society; from a technologically backward society to a technologically advanced society.
Is this desirable? Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but most people consider modernisation to be desirable, because it enables higher living standards for the masses of the people.
With modernised industry, production techniques, communication methods, transport systems, energy systems and healthcare strategies, there exists the possibility of providing a healthy, meaningful and dignified life to all, such that each individual has reliable access to a healthy diet, to decent housing, to clothing, to education, to healthcare, to a vibrant cultural, social and intellectual life, and to fulfilling work. In short, modernisation makes it possible to attend to people’s basic human rights.
The fruits of modernisation have thus far been divided extremely unequally: the process of industrialisation in North America, Europe and Japan has created previously unimaginable wealth for a few, but this has been accompanied by desperate poverty and alienation for significant numbers. However, modernisation creates a material basis for common prosperity, far beyond what a pre-modern economy can offer.
Specifically in the case of China, the government has set a goal of “basically realising socialist modernisation by 2035”, and has defined some parameters for this:
Reaching a per-capita GDP on a par with that of the mid-level developed countries such as Spain or the Czech Republic
Joining the ranks of the world’s most innovative countries in the realm of science and technology
Becoming a global leader in education, public health, culture and sport
Substantially growing the middle-income group as a proportion of the population
Guaranteeing equitable access to basic public services
Ensuring modern standards of living in rural areas
Steadily lowering greenhouse gas emissions and protecting biodiversity, so as to restore a healthy balance between humans and the natural environment
If achieved, these aims will constitute a significant – indeed world-historic – improvement in the living standards of the Chinese people, and will blaze a trail for other developing countries.
How did the West modernise?
But is China doing anything new? After all, it won’t be the first country to achieve modernisation.
In mainstream modernisation theory in the West, the dominant narrative is that the countries of Western Europe, North America and Japan achieved their advances via a combination of good governance, liberal democracy, free-market economics, scientific genius, geographical serendipity and a dash of entrepreneurial spirit.
Historical investigation reveals a considerably different story.
The most important precursors of the West’s modernisation are colonialism, slavery and genocide. The conquest of the Americas, the settlement of Australia, the transatlantic slave trade, the colonisation of India, the rape of Africa, the Opium Wars, the theft of Hong Kong, and more. The profits of colonialism and the slave trade were essential for propelling the West’s industrialisation, as was so eloquently uncovered in Eric Williams’ classic 1944 work, Capitalism and Slavery.
As Karl Marx famously wrote in Volume 1 of Capital: “The discovery of gold and silver in America, the enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalled the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production.”
Such is the ugly truth of European modernisation. And the story is not so different in the United States. Many of the so-called founding fathers of that country were slave-owners, and they established a slave-owners’ society. They went to war against the indigenous peoples and against Mexico in order to expand their territory.
In the 20th century, having established their domination over the Americas, they constructed a neocolonial global system that is still in place to a significant degree, imposing American hegemony on the world.
A network of 800 foreign military bases. NATO. An enormous nuclear arsenal. Genocidal wars waged on Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. Systems of economic coercion and unilateral sanctions.
This is the global system of violence that has facilitated and accompanied North American modernisation.
Japan’s rapid rise was facilitated first by its brutal expansionist project in East Asia, particularly Korea and China, and then through adaptation to and integration with the US-led imperialist system, the much-vaunted ‘rules-based international order’.
South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan Province constitute the small handful of non-imperialist territories that have been able to achieve modernisation, but these are special cases. Their shared proximity to China and the DPRK is no coincidence; they have been inducted into the imperialist club by the US, to play a dual role as regional policemen and living advertisements for capitalism on the frontline of its confrontation with socialism. Both roles rely on at least a certain degree of prosperity for a section of the population.
There is no shortage of countries of the Global South which have attempted to apply the “liberal democracy plus free market capitalism” formula, but none have been successful in modernising. Indeed the West’s prescriptions for (and interference in) developing countries have largely led to chaos and disaster.
The contrast between the West’s success in modernising and the Global South’s failure has fed into a largely unspoken but widespread and pernicious racism: an assumption that white people are somehow inherently more advanced than everyone else.
This supremacism is allowed to fester, because in addition to dividing working class and oppressed communities, it provides convenient cover for the reality that capitalist modernisation is built on the foundations of colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism.
As Kwame Nkrumah commented, “in the era of neocolonialism, under-development is still attributed not to exploitation but to inferiority, and racial undertones remain closely interwoven with the class struggle.”
How is China modernising?
China’s journey towards modernisation starts in 1949 with the founding of the People’s Republic, the early construction of socialist industry, land reform and the extirpation of feudalism and the landowning class, and the provision of at least basic levels of education and healthcare services to the whole population.
In 1963, Premier Zhou Enlai, supported by Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun, first raised the question of the Four Modernisations: of agriculture, industry, national defence, and science and technology. Despite a complex political environment this goal was revived in the early 1970s, and, with the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, China accelerated its pursuit of those goals, and ushered in an era of rapid development of the productive forces and improvement in the people’s living standards.
China’s journey of modernisation has evolved again in recent years with the pursuit of the second centenary goal: of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by 2049.
China is on a fast track to becoming an advanced, developed country, and this process stands in stark contrast to the West’s modernisation process:
First, China’s modernisation is built on the efforts of the Chinese people rather than on war, colonialism and slavery.
Second, its fruits are to be shared by everybody, not dominated by the wealthy. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said in his work report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s modernisation is “the modernisation of common prosperity for all.”
Even today, not everyone in the West is able to enjoy the fruits of modernisation. Consider for example the US, where tens of millions lack access to healthcare; where over half a million people are homeless; where life expectancy for African Americans is six years less than for their white counterparts; where – according to the US Department of Education – over half of adults read below a sixth-grade level.
Third, China’s modernisation is becoming a green modernisation, fuelled by clean energy, careful not to destroy the planet that sustains us. Again quoting Xi Jinping’s work report, “it is the modernisation of harmony between humanity and nature.”
Capitalist modernisation has had a disastrous impact on the environment. With 4 percent of the global population, the US alone is responsible for 25 percent of historic greenhouse gas emissions. The simple fact is that humanity literally cannot afford for China’s modernisation to follow this pattern.
Socialist modernisation will become the ‘new normal’
The West’s modernisation path is not open to the countries of the Global South, and it wouldn’t be desirable even if it were. Today, the road of capitalist modernisation is closed, so how is China able to modernise?
China does not have an empire, formal or informal, but it does have a particular advantage of being a socialist state, a “people’s democratic dictatorship based on the alliance of workers and peasants”, to use Mao Zedong’s expression. Such a state can use its power to direct economic activity towards the goals of the social classes it represents.
Thus the specificities of China’s modernisation – the commitment to common prosperity, to ending poverty and underdevelopment, to preventing climate collapse and to peaceful development – are a function of China’s political system, its revolutionary history, and the leadership of the CPC.
At a meeting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2016, Xi Jinping made this point very succinctly: “Our greatest strength lies in our socialist system, which enables us to pool resources in a major mission. This is the key to our success.”
Or as Deng Xiaoping famously commented in 1984: “the superiority of the socialist system is demonstrated, in the final analysis, by faster and greater development of the productive forces than under the capitalist system.”
In a world still largely dominated by capitalism – and an intellectual world still dominated by bourgeois ideology – it’s easy to forget this system’s fundamental and irreconcilable contradictions, which Marx identified with such clarity and profundity 150 years ago; contradictions which lead inexorably to inefficiency, stagnation and crisis. A political economy directed at the production of exchange values rather than use values can never result in common prosperity.
In China, the capitalist class is not the ruling class and is therefore not able to direct the country’s resources according to its own prerogatives. At the top level, resources are allocated by the state, in accordance with long-term planning carried out by, and in the interests of, the people.
This is what is enabling a new type of modernisation, which is blazing a trail for socialist and developing countries the world over.
The fruits of this process are being shared with the world, via mechanisms such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, which are creating a path for the countries of the Global South to break out of underdevelopment, even where they lack China’s resources and political advantages.
As such, China’s evolving modernisation has great historic significance, and offers valuable lessons for the world. It is an embodiment of historical materialism in the current era: capitalism has long since exhausted its ability to fundamentally drive human progress, and therefore the future lies with socialism.
Galvarino was a legendary warrior of the Mapuche people who rebelled against the Spanish Conquers who had invaded their land.
The Mapuche people were natives of the Araucana region of Chile who fought against the Spanish conquest of South America. The Arauco War was the bloodiest and longest-running battle in the history of the New World.
In what became known as the Battle of Lagunillias, Galvarino led his people in a fight against the Spanish invaders who were trying to force them into servitude.
During the battle, Galvarino and his men were captured by the Spanish. As punishment for defying the Spanish, Galvarino had both his hands amputated at the wrists and sent him home as a message to the other Mapuche tribes.
image 107
He returned home defeated and severely wounded. He showed the war council his wounds and begged them to let him lead an army against their oppressors. For his bravery, he was named commander of a squadron of men in a fight against Governor Mendoza.
With long Sharp knives fastened to his mutilated stumps, he led his army into battle against Governor Mendoza and his men. The Brutal battle lasted for an hour, with Galvarino striking and killing Mendoza’s number two in command with his modified stumps.
image 73
Although Galvarino and his men fought a brave battle, they were soon overwhelmed and captured. All the remaining captured warriors including Galvarino, were executed on the orders of Governor Mendoza.
Huawei has established the third truly COMMERCIAL Asian Tech Ecosystem from China and the eighth in Asia after Toyota, Nikon, Canon ,Samsung , BYD, Trina and Xinyi
image 106
The Huawei Ecosystem now has
The Chip
The OS
The 5G Modem
The GPU
The Networks
Yet Huawei Ecosystem is fragile because SMIC the manufacturer of the 7 nm Node depends on Advanced DUV equipment from ASML
Now SMIC has stockpiled massive orders from ASML and that will keep SMIC going till maybe 2026
However that’s still dependence, a lot of dependence on the West
So i would say HUAWEI has made a start
Meanwhile people forget the REAL WINNERS of the three companies that have established it’s own dominant ecosystem on which the West is entirely dependent on :-
image 105
BYD
BYD has:-
The Chip – The Mature 28nm Chip that only China can today manufacture cost effectively and in huge volumes
The Software
The Satellite Navigation System
The Battery
The Dynamic Unit
It’s completely and entirely Independent from Western Technology
Trina and Xinyi who have :-
The Intelligent Chip
The Micrograde Wafer Panel (That to this day no nation can produce except France but at 87% higher cost)
The Carbide micro layering etching equipment (Chinas equivalent of the EUV Lithography Machine)
The Silicon extraction process into Mono, Poly Crystalline Silicon with infusions
Yes Huawei deserves all the admiration for its clawback and fighting
Yet BYD, Trina and Xinyi actually get Proprietary License Fees from the West which is unique for a Nation that to thia day didn’t kowtow to the West unlike Japan, Israel and South Korea
Huawei to win, needs SMIC to become another BYD or Xinyi or Trina
If SMIC can achieve that, then China truly begins the challenge to the established Semiconductor industry
Lego just hit a climate BRICK wall
Lego says that it cannot make bricks from recycled material. They tried and they simply cannot do it without increasing carbon emissions. That’s a refreshing admission. Most companies take on “green initiatives” anyway, even if they prove to make the problem worse. In a similar vein, the CEO of Lufthansa admitted that“going green” would require the airline to use up HALF of Germany’s electricity. So not green at all then. Meanwhile, Ford says that it will pause construction of a $3.5 billion plant to build EV batteries in Michigan. They aren’t saying why. It just goes to show: It ain’t easy being green.
You’ve probably heard of China’s ambitious plan to connect the world with its Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI for short. It’s a massive project that involves building roads, railways, ports, pipelines, and other infrastructure across Asia, Africa, Europe, and beyond. China says it’s a win-win situation for everyone, a way to boost trade, development, and cooperation among more than 140 countries that have signed up for it.
But not everyone is buying it. Some critics in the West say that the BRI is a trap, a scheme, or a tool for China to expand its power and influence at the expense of other countries. They say that the BRI is saddling poor countries with unsustainable debt, damaging the environment and human rights, and undermining the international order. They also say that the BRI is losing steam due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the backlash from some host countries, and the changing global dynamics.
So what’s the real story? Well, if you listen to what China has to say on its official websites, you’ll get a very different picture. According to them, the BRI is not losing steam at all. In fact, it’s gaining momentum and achieving positive results in various aspects.
First of all, they say that the BRI has shown strong resilience and vitality amid the COVID-19 pandemic. China has actively cooperated with other BRI partners to fight against the virus, provide medical supplies and vaccines, share prevention and treatment experiences, and support economic recovery. The BRI has also contributed to the global efforts to build a community of health for all.
Secondly, they say that the BRI has promoted high-quality development and green cooperation. China has adhered to the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and has followed the international rules and standards in implementing BRI projects. China has also attached great importance to environmental protection, social responsibility, and debt sustainability, and has encouraged green investment and financing under the BRI framework.
Thirdly, they say that the BRI has enhanced mutual trust and friendship among different countries and peoples. The BRI has fostered dialogue and exchange among different civilizations, cultures, and religions, and has supported education, culture, tourism, sports, media, and other fields of people-to-people cooperation. The BRI has also created opportunities for poverty alleviation, job creation, livelihood improvement, and social development for millions of people in the participating countries.
So there you have it. The BRI is not losing steam but rather advancing steadily and fruitfully. The BRI is not a solo show by China but a chorus by all participants. The BRI is not a challenge or threat to anyone but a benefit and opportunity for everyone. The BRI is not a zero-sum game but a win-win cooperation for common development. That’s what China wants you to believe. And if you don’t believe it, well, too bad for you. Because China is not going to stop or change its course anytime soon. It’s going to keep pushing forward with its vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Why Australia’s Housing Crisis Is a Warning for the World
They weren’t misled by Russian trolls. They weren’t ignorant. They weren’t racist or sexist or xenophobic or homophobic. They were mad… they felt left behind and ignored by the media and the federal government… and they had a point.
They were left behind, and ignored.
For many of them, the America their parents and grandparents grew up in was a lot better. And no, that’s not because other groups were oppressed. It was because the economy was better for working-class people back then.
If your grandparents raised a large family on a single income, while the media and politicians cared about what your grandparents cared about, and now, 50 years later, you and your wife can’t get by on your dual incomes, and the media and politicians spend more time talking about transgender bathroom usage than the fact that families like yours are falling further behind each year… then yes, you have a point, and Make America Great Again makes sense.
Blueberry Grunt
2023 10 14 11 57
Ingredients
4 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
Instructions
In a skillet, combine blueberries, sugar and water; bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
In a bowl, combine the next 6 ingredients; stir in milk just until moistened (dough will be stiff).
Drop by tablespoonsful over blueberries.
Cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until dumplings are puffed and test done.
All terrorism in the world is linked to the United States! It is no longer a secret that the United States Government supports terrorism in South-East Asia!
US-backed Terrorism Targets Vietnam & Myanmar in Wider War on China
Two terrorist attacks this month (June 2023) in Southeast Asia have been carried out by groups backed by the United States government and its allies for decades;
This includes a singer murdered in Myanmar and a series of armed attacks carried out on police stations in Vietnam killing 9 including several civilians;
British state media, the BBC, and US government-funded media platform Radio Free Asia have attempted to spin and even justify this terrorism as part of a much wider pattern promoting and defending terrorism as a means to counter China’s rise and punish nations working closely with China;
The opposition in Myanmar has openly been backed by the US and UK for decades – fighting to reinstall Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy back into power;
In Vietnam, the ethnic Montagnards had fought alongside US invaders in the Vietnam War, and since then have worked closely with the US through the National Endowment for Democracy toward separatism;
Much of this context is omitted from Western state-media accounts of the terrorism;
Both Myanmar and Vietnam’s current governments have close relations with China. Vietnam, while depicted in the Western media as “anti-China,” has worked with China to build infrastructure within its borders and access Chinese rail projects to bring their products all the way to Europe;
Why Companies That Go Woke Go Broke
I saw the title and I instantly clicked to watch, really wanted to see a documentary about all these companies that went woke, then broke!
Well one fairly amazing thing happened in Penang. I (white Australian) was speaking to my friend (Asian Australian) in English.
An American tourist interrupted us and asked “excuse me, do you speak English?” We were both quite shocked and I said “a little.” I don’t know if she really couldn’t understand Australian English and didn’t realise what language I was speaking.
She said “Can you direct me to XYZ hotel?”
Now ordinarily two Aussies, neither of whom have ever been to Malaysia and speak no Malay wouldn’t be the best choice. But I pointed to the building we were standing in front of and said “walk about 10 yards that way.”
She was WAY out of her depth and her next international holiday should probably be to Hawaii.
However, I did the opposite in Austria. I speak no German, but if I look at a menu and plan out my sentence I can pretend to. So I asked in perfect German “Could I please have 2 hot chocolates; one with whipped cream and one with rum thanks.” She answered with something as simple as “that will be 8 euros” and I looked at her blankly and said in English “I’m sorry, I don’t speak German.” She laughed and did the transaction in English. She said I fooled her.
Pretty much the same thing in Poland, back in the days before Schengen membership. Apparently I needed a visa. So they berated me in Polish for a while, and I said I didn’t speak Polish. They went to the lingua franca of Eastern Europe and said “something something Russky.” I replied with what I’m told is an excellent accent “nye poni mayu po Russkiy.”
Here’s a guy in Lithuania, driving an Estonian-registered car, saying in perfect Russian in response to a question IN Russian “I don’t understand Russian.” I’m sure they weren’t thrilled and may not have believed me but I looked blankly at the rest of their diatribe. So eventually they wrote down my name, pointed me to Vilnius and said “visa.”’
Almost every Chinese City beats Indian Cities hollow in terms of Cleanliness, Safety and Development
image 113image 114
There are Primarily three reasons for this :-
A. One Party Meritocracy & Funds
In China, fund allocation for Cities and their overall Urban development is based on the Urban Development Index (UDI) plus between 15% upto 46% of the revenue generated by a City is used by the Local Government of that Province and the Administration of that City to develop the place
There is no political rivalries or party based discrimination between Fund Allocation and Revenue sharing
It’s all about How much the City develops and how well maintained the City is
In India, funding is a nightmare because the State themselves have no claim over the money they generate as revenue. Everything is handed over to the Centre which then decides how much each State should get and then the State decides how much each City should get
China has 20 times the provincial autonomy than an Indian State
B. Continuous Development to prevent overcrowding
India keeps on dumping on the same city again and again for year after year. Thus every such city attracts migrants like flies and that leads to overcrowding of the worst order
China keeps developing and expanding new Cities regularly
Chengdu, Chongqing etc were small towns a decade or so ago that are now bustling cities, brimming with Prosperity
Urumqi was once a town , now it’s classified as a Tier 3 City
Thus if you notice Shanghai and Beijing both lost 4% and 5.6% of the population due to migration between 2013–2023 whereas Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad netted between 7.6% and 12% SURPLUS population by migration between 2008–2023
C. Chinas Housing Policy
Everyone living with a proper Job in a City in China MUST have housing
This is a law from the time of Chairman Mao and when it’s a Chairman Mao law, it’s enforcement is very strict
Public Housing is thus available for every single resident of the city including the poorest of them
Only Shanghai and Beijing has slums today , which existed before the 1998 law and thus can’t be torn down
image 112
If you have a legitimate job in CQ City, you get a Public Apartment of 39–52 Square Meters with indoor plumbing, heating, air conditioning and gas and electricity and drinking water for a mere 78 RMB / month
Of course many Chinese become prosperous enough to rent much nicer places and sub lease their public homes for which they pay rent of 78 RMB/ month for 400–500 RMB / month
During Covid 19, many such people were discovered and fined very heavily (30, 000 RMB plus 60 months rent or 100 Days in Prison)
A Fourth reason is the fact that Migration into Cities is heavily controlled
You just can’t come to a City that easily without housing or a job unless you are a tourist there
In India it’s the opposite
You can flood into cities and sleep on the roads and everywhere else and even defecate
It’s like a Zoo
image 110image 111
So it’s the Chinese System
They may have their flaws but by God they have excellent City maintenance and keep themselves very clean
image 109
Their Air Quality improvement in a mere decade is something every nation takes notes on
image 108
Primarily another reason is the Chinese are proud of their country and love their country
Not the bogus love that Indians show which translates into defending India for all it’s weaknesses, glorifying mediocrities as superheroes, forcing people to stand up for the National Anthem etcetera
The genuine love that ensures they actively take pride in their development and their cities
When stray cats see this man, they compete with each other to get a place on his lap.
He came home from work, ate dinner, and said , ““I want you to do something and I don’t want you to fight me on this. I want a divorce.” I was completely blindsided. Then he packed a bag and left for his mother’s house. I made him leave his key. He didn’t understand that, ““how will I get in the house?” I replied that he had no reason to enter the house when I wasn’t home. He didn’t live there anymore. He was shocked.
I started thinking about his infidelity and the micro-aggressions that had recently increased; for Christmas he had given me a bottle of men’s cologne! That’s it. Of course, he kept it for himself. It was evident that he had given my gift absolutely no thought.
So instead of begging him to stay, I emptied out the joint accounts and made an appointment with a family attorney for the next day.
Of course he wanted to drag things out. He came to get his things the same week, and I watched TV while he packed and loaded the car. He actually asked me to help. I said “This is something you want to do, not me.”
Before he left, I told him that I know he is still committing adultery and that my attorney said he should be careful about that. Lots of denying and sputtering but the thing that bothered him most was my getting a lawyer. He actually said “You got a lawyer? You know I will always take care of you. Don’t you trust me?”
By the way, he told me the reason he needed space was “the children are grown now, so I don’t have to pretend anymore. I never wanted a family that I had to hang out with.”
So that was the end. A year later, a judge granted me about a third of his assets and income as alimony until I remarry or die. We were married 32 years, and I was 65 years old. I’m sitting pretty comfortably and very peacefully in a different city. Except for incidental paperwork handled by my attorney, I have no contact. I don’t have to pretend anymore, either.
‘’Edit: I want to say that finally getting a chance to tell my story has been cathartic for me. Thank you all for your support and encouragement. I am much less angry and more resolved to live well after this. Thank you all.”
INTERVIEW: Reaping the whirlwind
Karma is a BITCH. Well said Scott.
Steak over Noodles
0 2
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) round steak, cut into strips
1 can tomatoes and green chiles
1 can sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon oregano
Parmesan cheese
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 can tomatoes
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 package egg noodles, cooked
Instructions
Cut steak into small strips.
Heat oil in a large skillet. Add steak and brown quickly.
Combine tomatoes and green chiles with onion soup mix. Pour over steak.
Add remaining ingredients, except noodles and cheese. Simmer until steak is tender, approximately 1 to 2 hours.
Cook noodles according to package directions, then drain well.
Serve steak mixture over cooked noodles. Top with parmesan cheese.
Last week I needed to drive to Sheffield for my brother’s funeral. On the morning in question I thought I had better top up the oil so l lifted the bonnet, undid the oil filler cap and placed it on top of the engine. It rolled off and fell down into the body of the engine just below the fan belt and where all the pipes and tubes and things I don’t understand are. I tried reaching it, I tried a magnetic rod, I tried a long reach grabber thingy but couldn’t get it.
I stuffed some paper towels in the oil filler orifice and set off for my local garage. Explained the situation on arrival and they immediately allotted a young lad to retrieve it for me. He got it up on the ramps, undid a few things, removed a panel or two and then there was my oil filler cap.
Then they did the unthinkable – they said there was no charge and they were happy to do it for me.
Needless to say I couldn’t stand for that type of impertinence and gave them £20 and told them to have a drink on me.
China and Iran are still discussing a $400 billion strategic agreement over 25 years.
This agreement has many benefits for both countries.
Since Donald Trump unilaterally denounced the Vienna nuclear agreement that Iran had been respecting, Iran has once again found itself under a very strict embargo.
Iran has realized that the European Union is not in a position to resist the pressure of American sanctions.
Therefore, Iran is looking for partners who can help it resist US economic sanctions. China is the only partner capable of offering this.
China will invest 400 billion dollars in Iran over the next 25 years if this agreement is signed in early 2021.
This agreement provides for the sale of Iranian oil and gas to China at a preferential rate. China could also set up military bases in Iran and have privileged access to all investments in the country.
Iran would join China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
For China, securing its oil and gas supply is essential. For Iran, having a partner as powerful as China will enable it to better resist the United States.
An Iran-Russia-China axis is being formed to better resist the United States.
Two years ago, a surgeon told me my left testicle was malignant and had to be removed. He worked out of a teaching hospital, so he asked if the students could come in. They get very few malignancies like this— a rare form of cancer. I agreed. Every visit, I’d have 5 drop dead gorgeous women in masks and white coats come in and feel my nutsack while the surgeon had his hand in there giving the tour.
One day, while the crew was working my nutsack over, I noticed a woman had come into the room, and was standing back from the crowd huddled around my nether-regions. She seemed hesitant.
“It’s okay.” :I said. “Join the party.”
“No thanks,” she said. “I’m just here to have you sign some forms.”
Look, one thing you’re going to have to get over with this sort of thing is dignity. There’s just no room for it.
When the day came, I drew a big arrow up my left leg with marker and wrote THIS ONE! When I got in the operating theatre, there were over a dozen people. Some were surgical team , while others were student observers. Before they passed me the gas, I sat up on the table and asked for everyone’s attention.
“Just so there’s no confusion here,” I said. “I want everyone here to repeat for me; ‘It’s the left nut!’”
“It’s the left nut!”
“It’s the left nut!”
“It’s the left nut!”
“It’s the left nut!”
I didn’t want any mistakes.
My advice to anyone reading this is as follows. Throw away all notions that what you have under your clothes is private and unique. Whoever is going to see you started working on this with cadavers. The whole point of the exercise is to keep you from ending up as one of those cadavers. Once you embrace it, have fun with it. You might as well. You’re getting cut on anyway— one way or the other.
Just so y’all know, the orchiectomy went well. I was back at work in less than a week. The cancer returned 9 months later. I had to undergo chemo; that darn near killed me, but I pulled through and made it out to my deer stand that November. I’m now cancer-free and there is very little chance of it returning.
Up until the late 1960s, U.S. prisoner populations weren’t much that greater than other similar countries.
However, both the Nixon administration and the Reagan administration decided to use the justice system to fight both the counter-culture movement and, of course, minorities. Many states already had draconian laws in place for marijuana possession (Michigan made it a felony punishable by life imprisonment) but the federal government upped their own penalties for marijuana, treating it as the equivalent of a narcotic (which it wasn’t).
This initiative was, of course, given the name “The War on Drugs” as “The war against hippies and uppity n*ggers” didn’t play out so well in the press. African-Americans and Hispanics were using their newly found “civil rights” to vote for Democrats in droves, pretty much driving Republican mayors and councilmen out of America’s biggest cities, where blacks and Hispanics were quickly becoming the majority.
Naturally, none of the new drug laws were administered equally. Possession by rich white people in the suburbs was pretty much ignored or got a slap on the wrist, while police and the courts came down hard on blacks and the poor living in the big cities.
The effect on these communities were immediate – other crimes related to drugs started to rise in concert as drug dealers stopped being the friendly guy down the street and started to be organized criminal gangs with the wherewithal to bribe cops and the power to eliminate competition. Having most of your young male population serving time in jail devastated black and Hispanic communities, fueled prison and street gangs as prisons became more overcrowded, overwhelmed the courts with drug cases. Cities collapsed as those who could moved out and the people left became more desperate.
With this side effect being crystal clear by 1980 when Reagan was elected, he decided to double down. The new menace was “crack”, cheaper than cocaine, but shorter acting. It was preferred by the poor as a gram of cocaine could set you back $100, but a dose of crack with much less cocaine might only be $10. Nevertheless, even though a gram of crack contained less than .1 gram of cocaine, the penalty for using it was identical. That meant white cokeheads got the same sentences as black crack users for using a more potent drug. That particular issue wasn’t fixed until the Trump administration. (It’s the one thing Trump did right, although he did it for all the wrong reasons and got angry when black people didn’t start voting for him).
Meanwhile the underground drug economy was growing by leaps and bounds. Raw product was available in Mexico for peanuts, but once across the border markups of 1000% weren’t uncommon, and then it was marked up again for retail sale. So much money was flowing to Columbian drug lords that they had more money to spare than the government, and a good chunk of the cash coming out of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was solely for the purpose of feeding the drug supply chain. I think I estimated at one point that about 10% of the BEP’s output was going solely to Pablo Escobar.
But you know who else was taking advantage of all this free cash and the cars, planes and yachts that came along with it? United States law enforcement agencies. You see, in most civilized counties, if you levy fines or seize ill gotten assets, all that money “excheats” to general revenue, so it becomes part of general government funding to be distributed as politicians see fit. That wasn’t what happened in the United States. In the United States, the agency that seizes the assets, such as the Drug Enforcement.
Agency or the Customs Service, gets to keep them, and they’re added directly to their budget, just like a small community that runs a speed trap on a major highway.
As such, the efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement started to become to seize as much stuff as possible. A single marijuana cigarette on a yacht allowed the Customs Service to seize and sell the entire thing. The practice was so reviled that even the most conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices railed about its legality, and eventually the Supreme Court forced reform of the system.
So, with many federal, state and local agencies being dependent on drug money for their operations, they got more aggressive and, the more aggressive they got, the bigger they got and the more money they needed.
Naturally, all of this, together with people stealing money for drugs, drug dealers fighting over drug territories, and all the other secondary effects of a prohibition movement (remember alcohol prohibition, remember Al Capone, take that and multiply it by a hundred) the prisons got stuffed full. No problem because it provided a lot of free labour, most of the prisoners were poor, black, or Hispanic, and prison budgets didn’t allow for such luxuries as “enough well trained guards” or “rehabilitation programs”. When many states hit a wall because of the cost of new prisons, they privatized them, paying prison owners a per diem for every prisoner, which the private prisons demanded a new supply of.
Since many drug offences are felonies, it often means that when people are released they’re prohibited from entering lots of fields such as “barber” in New York State (a felony conviction keeps you from being licensed).
Luckily, things are changing on a bipartisan level. Conservatives are noting the cost of running all these prisons as other crimes had longer sentences attached. Drunk driving is a bigger problem than drug use, but it was clogging Texas prisons until they came up with a more effective diversion program to keep people out of jail. The increasing cost of an aging prison population serving time for things that happened when they were 20, and they’re now 70, are stretching prison budgets to the limit. Moreover, the “defund the police” movement notes that many of these initiatives that put people in jail for minor offences turn local populations against the police, making it harder to investigate more serious crimes.
THE GREATEST SPEECH EVER by AN AFRICAN LEADER explaining THE NEW AFRICA-EVERYONE MUST HEAR Historic
Here are 10 laws of manhood that my father taught me:
1.Don’t pay for sex.
You don’t need it that bad, you’re not an animal, you should spend your evening trying out new pick up lines and having a good time with people.
2. Never chase after a woman
Never base your life around one single person that is not a sure thing, instead, you should be chasing your dreams and goals while trying to make a success of yourself.
3. Know when it’s time to fight back
There comes a point in life, where you can no longer expect others to solve a problem for you. If you can’t stand up for yourself, why should you expect others to? A man should know when it’s time to hit back. There’s never a reason to fight — until there is.
4. Your marriage should not always be a choice between your mother and wife
Your mom is definitely the first woman in your life. But your wife is someone to be cherished and respected, too. A clear line should be drawn between the kind of relationship that you share with both of them. In case of a tussle take a neutral, just and impartial stand.
5. Don’t brag about things you’ve done, instead let the things you’ve done speak for itself. Actions will always speak louder than words so keep that in mind.
6. It’s good to talk about the emotions you’re feeling with loved ones as they’ll be there for you. Being a man does not mean that you have to hide your emotions and be a rock.
7. Stay clean, if you have a long beard then take care of it and keep it neat, brush your teeth and shower
8. Failure doesn’t threaten your manhood
A lot of men fear failure in life, career, and relationships. They feel they aren’t “real men” if they fail. But failure is an essential part of life! It’s a reality of life. Accept it!
9. Be able to cook a good meal.
It’s important. You don’t have to be a chef, but know how to make at least one good meal. It doesn’t need to be fancy, a good sloppy joe is perfectly fine, but be able to cook up something and make sure it’s good.
10. Take action because it is right, not because it is popular.
The things that matter are not merely what is popular at the moment. A true man, a gentleman, takes action because it is the right thing to do, and they do the right thing whether or not it feels cool or fun.
Man Dies & is Shocked to be Shown the Future (NDE)
Jeff Tolley shares his Near Death Experience (NDE) after being so distraught after his brother’s death that he took his own life. While on the other side Jeff met up with his brother and three beings that showed him he had more to live for and the state of his energies bodies. He was also shown his future and the future of Earth. Jeff came back from his near-death experience with a renewed sense for life and a new outlook on life and his purpose.
As an Australian who travels to the us a lot , I prefer Australia and New Zealand. I’ve got a business that is growing in the US but I really don’t want to move there so instead endure the 12 hour return flights .
There are some really awesome Americans. But there’s a lot of dicks, and this huge focus on materialism that I just don’t buy. If you drive a $600k super car and look like the Kardashians you are idolised there more than you would be in any other country I know. The American god is the god of material wealth . I find that quite noxious, even though I can afford a $600k car.
what I respect about America is that you can , as a middle class battler, still buy a nice house for USD400k in most cities . America protects its middle class , and that’s cool. Affordable housing is a big tick. I come from humble beginnings and know what it’s like to struggle to get your first house , and I think America does well here .
As a place to live though – naa. Australia and New Zealand far better . And from what I’ve seen Western Europe far better also. Go to downtown LA or San Francisco. It’s vile. Miles and miles of people living on the streets, shooting drugs , littering. It’s some sort of future dystopia ! Who the F would want to live near that depravity. It’s down right depressing and disgusting. It’s what happens when you drive the cost of living beyond what the poor can afford to exist and you offer no support for the cost increases – the bottom 15% of society simply fall out and end up living like animals on the street. Is this the sort of country where you would want your kids to grow up in? Not me , not ever.
America is dangerous, riddled with crime and depravity. They have got it wrong and are paying for it. And it’s gunna get worse.
Don’t take this as all Americans are pricks – they aren’t. But there’s something structurally wrong with that country – not my cuppa!
“The Mandela Effect” These examples will make you question EVERYTHING in your reality
This is fun. And it is a MUST WATCH. Especially for you MM followers.
It wasn’t just a sixth sense. Things had been moved. Curtains were now open, moving as if they’d recently been touched. Things on her table had been moved. She lived alone and she knew where everything belonged.
She walked through the house uneasily looking down hallways. In the kitchen. Moving quietly.
She walked past her bathroom. She turned into her bedroom.
Standing there was a bearded man, holding a hammer. He charged her and swung his hammer, hitting her on the side of the head. She fell down. He got on top of her and kept hitting her.
They then began wrestling.
Susan was a larger woman, who was particularly strong and worked as a nurse in the ER, trained on how to subdue wild patients.
After being hit several times, she managed to get her assassin pinned to the ground in a sleeper hold.
She began choking him. When she released him, his throat had been crushed — he later died (after Susan called an ambulance for him).
The assassin had been sent by her husband.
Their marriage had fallen apart and he wanted her dead. He’d paid the assassin $50,000 to kill her.
She was later treated for injuries and made a full recovery. Her husband was then sent to jail for the remainder of his life (he died in prison).
Her would-be assassin’s last words, during their fight, were “you are strong.”
Girl power.
I Had 0 EXPECTATIONS.. But I LOVED IT | Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond (REACTION!)
My two older sisters, twins, had a long and busy career in fashion modelling. I always thought they would marry the Hollywood hunk type of guy because those were the types they would sometimes go out with.
However, when they did got married, the guys were just your average Joe types; certainly not the Hollywood attractive male type. My parents and I were quite surprised. However both were confident in themselves.
They married good men who always treated them nicely. They didn’t put the girls on pedestals, treat them like starlets or have them as trophy wives. They didn’t ask them to leave modelling. They just treated them as regular women, were loyal, and had a great sense of humour. Of course they loved and cared for them deeply.
Lori and Tracy were the business girls who after modelling, took over dad’s car dealerships when he retired and made them very successful.
Mom was a fashion model who was on her way to Hollywood with a friend when she met dad. Dad was at the time working at a car dealership, which he later bought, but at the time he was a sales manager. “He made me laugh and didn’t fawn all over me like I was a movie star. He treated me as a regular girl and I just fell in love with him,” she said. She was six years younger than dad.
So attractive women don’t always go for the rich, good looking businessman. The smart ones go for the ones that make them happy.
Missile Excerpts from the TV Movie “The Day After”
While not completely accurate in technical approach, the failure of the deterrence mission was shown in the made for ABC TV movie “The Day After” that premiered on 20 Nov 1983. The movie used scenes from the film “First Strike” to show the USAF detection and response to an ICBM attack against the U.S. Presented from the archives of the Association of Air Force Missileers (AAFM).
“I spent 4 years in SAC as a Minuteman II launch crew commander back in the 70s. This depiction of the launch actions is very accurate. Of course, they left out some of the classified details in processing the message, but, all in all, this was very accurate. Several times EVERY DAY we got coded Emergency Action Messages (EAM) that could have been real execution messages for nuclear war. As others have mentioned, we did NOT know whether these were tests/training messages until we had competed decoding and authentication procedures. That was the real test of your nerves. You never knew. I am sometimes asked if the launch crews would obey the execution messages. The answer is an unqualified YES. If the message turned out to be a valid and authentic message, keys would be turned. We believed that the EAMs would not be transmitted unless the U.S. was under attack and the sooner we got our missiles off the ground the sooner we could stop any further incoming attacks. While I count that as a valuable experience in my life, I do not miss the stress.”
The U.S. can win if they compete on who is better in plundering, looting, stealing, abusing nations, regime change, orchestrating demonstrations and coups and unilateral sanctions. That kind of competition the US will win hands down.
Tech war! Are you kidding me. For ever 100 Chinese engineers the U.S. barely produce one! Chinese will eat them for lunch any day. Over the past decade China has registered twice the U.S. registrations of patent in the U.S. patent registration office.
And according to the Neo con funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute ASPI, out of 44 of the most strategic technologies China leads in 37 of them! The U.S. only manage to lead by a whisker in 7 out of the 44 these days.
Try colour revolutions competition I guarantee the U.S. will! Hahahaha.
I was tutoring a young man in HS. He (and several classes of other students) had to take his teacher’s Math Final over the Internet with a non-relative adult as Proctor. He took the Final at the tutoring center with me as Proctor.
About an hour in, he discovered that an entire sentence was missing from a Question rendering it impossible to solve. He asked my help. I refused. He asked my advice. I first looked at the Question and said nothing but knew he was correct — unsolvable because of missing information. “What do YOU think you OUGHT to do?” “EMAIL THE TEACHER, AND THEN DO THE REST OF THE EXAM?” “Then do that.” He did. I watched.
About 20 minutes later the teacher put out an email announcement to all students to skip that question, saying it had a misprint and was missing required information.
Fine. EXCEPT she flunked him saying he was absent from the exam. The problem escalated but the tutoring center did nothing because that teacher had threatened to have our contract with the County terminated (possibly causing massive tutor layoffs and lots of kids screwed….)
At that point I went in to the center’s boss, announced my resignation, and contacted the Principal and the young man’s father’s lawyer. The bitch teacher tried to get support from the Teacher’s Union and got caught in more lies.
The lawyers worked out a compromise. The kid passed and graduated, but the D in a straight A record was kind of a screw job and the bitch teacher accused me of lieing.
Oh well, let it go….
Five years later, my wife and I received a brief note with tickets to a university graduation. The kid not only got in, he was Straight A for four plus years.
US And Western Media’s Dirty Propaganda About China’s Lithography Exposed!
I had a bank customer who was a older gentleman that had recently lost his wife. He came across as a mean person only because he didn’t engage in conversation nor smiled much. Somehow he trusted me and we became good friends. He was the second person I called when my own father died and he explained to me why my father chose to just give up. My friend was 90 at the time and in better health than my dad. Anyhow he made me understand why he was “tired” and just wanted to feel alive again. I teased him telling him he more less became my surrogate father from then on. The day I quit the bank, he cried thinking I was going to forget him. He had two daughter’s who didn’t live in the same state so I continued to check on him taking him home cooked food, to appointments and just to visit. The day came when he moved into a retirement home so helped him get his house ready to sell. I never asked for anything because I never expected anything. He was a friend and I’ve always enjoyed dealing with elderly people. Once he hit 92, he decided to move near his daughter in another state. That’s when it was my turn to cry. Felt like I was losing my father all over again. Kept in touch with him until the day his daughter called and told me he had a massive heart attack. I was devastated. Months went by until out of the blue I got a call saying he left me alittle something in his will. I didn’t want anything and didn’t have a friendship for that purpose. His little something was a check for 20,000. I was blown away but his daughters thanked me as well for being there for him. It never was a duty but it was more of a way to let him know, he wasn’t alone. I work home health now and always keep him in my mind.
People Who Disappeared Because They Knew Too Much
The people you are about to see in this top made discoveries that would have changed humanity. However, unexpectedly, they disappeared from the face of the Earth or ceased to exist. Many theorize that they disappeared because they knew too much.
One big reason the Chinese people don’t want democracy is the USA.
The USA keeps holding itself out as the world’s prime example of democracy. Chinese people take a look and they are horrified.
The US imprisons more citizens than any other country in the world. The police step on black men’s necks to kill them. U.S cops carry weapons designed for war! Then there are the widespread demonstrations that degenerate into rioting, looting and arson. Half the U.S population believes that the last election was “stolen” from them. Then there is an attack on Capitol Hill. Furthermore Americans say that gun ownership is a fundamental liberty. But every week they have mass shootings. People get killed all the time in schools, supermarkets, pubs, parking lots, country music concerts, churches, Independence Day parades etc. The infrastructure is crumbling, the country is mired in an endless drug crisis and they don’t seem to have a healthcare system. The country claims to have freedom of expression but it bans TikTok, which the rest of the world has. Meanwhile fake news is so prevalent in the US that Americans’ trust in U.S media, as proven by survey results, has plunged to a record low. The country claims to have freedom of religion, but clearly Christian nationalism is sweeping across the USA and women can’t even get birth control or abortion. Also, did you know that the U.S violent crime rate is 3 times higher than that in China, and that the U.S homicide rate is 4 times higher? Meanwhile every day, the Dems and Republics are attacking each other for the sake of attacking and they do not appear at all to be interested in working together in any way for the good of the country.
This terrifies the Chinese people.
Then the USA says “Oh, we are the champions of democracy.”
Well, of course the Chinese people don’t want democracy. “Errr, thanks but no thanks!” they say.
The Middle Class Can No Longer Afford Rent In America
All Americans require a nice, secure, and inexpensive place to live in order to prosper. For years, low-income families have battled to find cheap rental properties, but today the middle class is also facing significant difficulties in this area.
Due to the sharp increase in rent prices seen in major American cities since the outbreak, millions of middle-class Americans are unable to pay their rent.
These middle-class households are being excluded from normal middle-class communities without major income increases or government support, which starts a domino effect that results in systemic poverty and enduring inequality. In other words, middle-class Americans are being squeezed to death by housing costs.
Compared to just two years ago, the average home now costs approximately $80,000 more, and the average rent in the US is over $1,000 more than it will be in 2020.
The survey discovered that while middle-class renters’ salaries have decreased 9% over the past ten years, rents are rising on average by 3.5% yearly.
The American middle class has been spending far more on housing than they can afford in the majority of urban areas across the nation, researchers found.
According to the survey, 46.3% of middle-class renters and 21.2% of middle-class homeowners in the US, respectively, are moderately or severely burdened by housing costs, which are defined as spending more than 30% or 50% of one’s salary on housing.
This happened to me when I was a programmer in London, back when coding was done in ANS Cobol. I was sitting in my office at around 9:30 a.m., feet up on the desk and probably snoring. The big boss man came in very quietly, pushed my feet off the desk, and told me I was fired and to leave the company immediately.
Well, I know how to wind people up, so I just shrugged and started to leave. He stopped me, asking if I had anything to say, and the conversation went something like this:
Boss: “Why did I find you sleeping on company time?”
Me: “Where were you at 3 a.m. this morning?”
Boss: “In bed with my wife, of course. Why?”
Me: “Well at 3.a.m. I had already been here for two hours fixing a bug that had interrupted the operation of the mainframe computer at around midnight. It was a bit of a bugger to find, and the system wasn’t up and running again until 7:30 this morning. This means that I get triple pay for the hours I worked, all expenses, a full meal (even though no place was open), and today off work. I’m leaving now, and will be contacting my union to discuss how best to get as much as I can in damages”.
His only choice was to give me a raise, which he did. Tosser.
My parents divorced when I was 4. My mother remarried a man one year later in 1965.
He was a very controlling man about most things—but that’s a different story. In the summer between my 4th and 5th grade, he became “Born Again” at a Billy Graham revival. At his insistence, my mother soon followed, as did my sister. I was the only one in our family of 4 who didn’t want to give up their entire life and become a singularly focused religious fanatic.
My stepfather had never really liked me before that. After that he hated me, and could barely contain his loathsome attitude toward me.
Speeding ahead a few years, when I was entering the 12th grade, my mother took me aside one day and told me that they had no money to help me with college—that I was going to have to figure out my future on my own. (She was quite literal about that. They never even once discussed with me what my options might be.) I said it was ok. I’d figure it out. I did, and after high school, I got a job at a factory.
My sister, who is 4 years older than me, did attend a religious college, and while it crossed my mind as to how she was able to pay for college, I never asked. We weren’t very close.
Fast forward to 1994. I am now successful in my career. I have a large house with a swimming pool and hot tub in the backyard. My family—mother, stepfather, sister and her family—are invited to my house for an afternoon barbecue.
My mother and sister are sitting in my hot tub. I am around the corner of the house tending the barbecue. They don’t realize that I’m there. They are talking loudly, and I can clearly hear them. My sister starts talking about college education for her kids and she asks my mom how she and my stepfather saved up the money for her college education.
My mom immediately started to panic, and began shushing my sister to be quiet. She frantically said, “I don’t want Kent to hear this! We told him we had no money for college.”
I always knew that I was the black sheep in the family, but it was in that moment that I truly realized how much I was excluded. From that point on, my eyes and mind were opened to the lies and deception within my family. It forever altered our relationship.
Update- stepfather died. Felt nothing. My wife thinks that I suffer from PTSD because of him. Maybe with time I can now forget and maybe even forgive. I wonder if he got that gold-plated throne next to God that he obsessed on his entire life. I doubt it.
Update- mother died. I felt almost nothing. I do mourn that she was more interested in keeping her abusive husband happy than having an interest in her son. Such is life.
Why CHINA Will Win The Space Race
China has rapidly advanced its space capabilities, achieving milestones such as landing a rover on the far side of the moon and establishing its own space station, the Tiangong. The Chinese space program’s impressive progress has raised concerns in the United States about the potential erosion of its dominance. Today’s episode is explaining how and why China will win the race to space.
I once was in a very tough situation financially. I worked three jobs at the time to keep up with life.
One day, at the end of the month, my rent was due, my fridge was empty, my paycheck was late, and I got a phone call from my daughter’s teacher reminding me to pay the school fee – my daughter was the only one who hadn’t submitted the payment. I was exhausted and didn’t know what to do, so I called my best friend and just cried. He came to my office, forced me to call in sick that afternoon, then took me to an ice cream shop and bought me an ice cream.
Then he sat me down and told me, ‘Life is tough, so you need to be tougher. In order to do that, you need to be nice to yourself, and don’t beat yourself up. You need a break too. Look, if everything you carry is heavy, you can put it down for a second, take a break, and then pick it up and keep moving. Sometimes, just surviving to the next day can be called a success.’
After that day, I went to the supermarket and bought a package of candy. It’s Korean milk mint candy; it’s really good and I had one every day in the morning to remind me that, no matter how hard life could get, there would be always something sweet, as long as I’m kind to myself. That one candy in the morning was what helped me going strong through life. I don’t remember how many candies I’ve eaten.
I don’t think ‘self-love’ needs to be something big or serious, it can be as small as a candy.
Oh, and I still have that kind of candy around the house:
But of course they won’t publicly. These setback has very severe consequences that cost the US trillions of dollar loss and hundreds of thousand or a million jobs!
The billion of dollars investment in the Chip plant in Arkansas, US is barely in its teething set up stage with painful bickering between the Taiwanese and the U.S. contractors. 3 full years into the most ridiculous day light robbery of Taiwan technology and know how coerce by the U.S. with promises of billions of U.S. taxpayers money as subsidy to produce in a place without the skill and expertise needed and to be made by workers 3 times that if Taiwanese and 10 times benefits to produce half the result.
But the losses that is huge is nothing compared to the loss of respect that the U.S. believes in free market mechanism. And free trade. Forcing a Taiwanese company to shut its operation in their land and uproot to US heartland against their wish is anything but freedom! But what is worst is that it will be the biggest white elephant before even a chip is ever made. And if course destroying the entire livelihood of the very people they said they want to defend.
China has all but proven that every technology the U.S. tried to protect and stop China from having at a humongous cost to the U.S. is now proven to be easily produced in China. Made better, cheaper and faster by China a mere 3 years after this obnoxious and ridiculous attempt to stop China. All in all hundreds of US, and U.S. cronies technology companies simultaneously going obsolete all due to this ridiculous decision. Think about the billions and billions of losses of each company. And think about the workers losing their livelihood.
China whose own market alone is 30% while also producing most products for 60% of this planet’s need now will totally stop using anything from these firms. Just on business losses and profit loss is in the billions. Which fool could have thought it is a good idea losing this customer. But now you lost the entire world’s business.
In Wall Street trillions got wiped off the stock value of these firms. And 90% of these firms will go bankrupt. Mostly insured by the U.S. What an unbelievably daft decision by some neocon politicians and administrators yet 20 odd days after China shock the world not a word by those responsible! Not a whisper not a groan not an apology.
But this is the real irony of the U.S. they screamed so loud of freedom of expression who is talking now. Here in QUORA there are many brain dead Yankees who cheered this on. Where are you now! Don’t be a coward come out and continue your hateful agenda. You let the U.S. and your American friends down. You gave them false hope. Now they lost everything because of your selfish hate. I like to hear what you have to say.
Texas Grilled Cocoa Chile Steak
Bored with burgers and hot dogs? Offer seasoned steak slices in flour tortillas at your next backyard cookout.
2023 10 10 18 53
Prep: 5 min | Refrigerate: 2 hr | Cook: 16 min | Yield: 6 servings
Mix brown sugar, cocoa chile blend, lime juice, oregano and salt until well blended. Rub paste over steak.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight for best flavor.
Broil or grill over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes per side or until desired doneness.
Cut steak across the grain into thin slices.
Serve steak slices in warm flour tortillas.
Top with salsa, shredded Cheddar cheese and sour cream, if desired.
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Epic action and mind-blowing effects rock the planet in this thrilling reinvention of the sci-fi classic, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Keanu Reeves portrays Klaatu, an otherworldly being whose arrival on Earth triggers an unstoppable series of events that threaten all of mankind. In a desperate attempt to save humanity, governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor’s appearance. When a woman (Jennifer Connelly) and her young stepson find themselves embroiled in the alien’s plan, they become the world’s only hope to stave off apocalyptic annihilation.
I met Senator Strom “Spermin’” Thurmond not long before he died. He gave me and my young friends this priceless advice:
“Boys I’m going to share with you the most important thing I have learned in my life; Two women in ten that you ask to sleep with you, will. You just have to ask the other eight first!”
For years I was grumpy about the issue this question addresses. I’ve made my peace with the post #MeToo dating regime. You should too.
I’m no longer persuasive. No means no.
If I for some reason wanted to ask a woman out face to face instead of on a dating site like a normal person, it would go like this:
“Would you be interested in being courted? No? OK. You know where to find me if you change your mind.”
That’s one less woman I need to ask to reach my goal of ten. The end.
The old way – sidling up to a woman.after enmeshing yourself in her life, finding a good way to ask, then being persistent (but not too persistent) if she didn’t shut you down hard sucked for men and it sucked for women.
Why would you want to go through that again?
In the early 2000’s back to time immemorial that push-me-pull-you cat and mouse bullshit was simply how courtship worked. I had no complaints because that was all I ever knew.
You might do this dance for weeks, months, or in same cases years with ten women for every two who would eventually consent to date you. In some cases you as a man were making their lives hell and their work/school/social environment hostile in the meantime. In other cases you were feeding their “A Man Is Courting Me” ego at the expense of your dignity.
That’s all gone now. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Women who liked the game lost. Game players. Flirters. Time wasters.
Women who preferred straight forward yes/no propositions won. Normal women.
Now we don’t have to distress eight women to suss out which two of them really “just want to be pursued”. Now we don’t have to be a creep just because we “can’t read the signals”. No more wasted bouquets of flowers. No more months long pre-courtship. No more of the woman’s friends coming up to you and telling you that you’re making her uncomfortable.
You ask. She answers. The end.
If she tries to play a game, she will lose every time because in this new post #MeToo environment you can’t be persistent. Neither can any other guy. You suffer no competitive disadvantage by accepting the first “no” you get because all other guys must do the same.
It’s liberating really. They only people who lose are the super aggressive men who don’t mind making 100’s of women uncomfortable to get laid once, and the women who want a Disney Princess experience of being chased.
Senator Thurmond would be a happy man… “ask(ing) the other eight first” has never required less effort or risk! We no longer must or may be “persuasive”. We live in Strom’s world now.
If he had done this in America, flag or no flag, there is a high probability he won’t be granted a trial, because he would have been shot dead, one of a thousand killed by American police in a normal year.
He didn’t just chant a slogan and walk the streets as a protester. He drove his vehicle at speed deliberately into a group of police officers who were armed and trained in the use of deadly force. It would have been a justified shooting, because tong ying kit turned his bike into a deadly weapon. The officers used their bodies to stop him. Several were forcefully thrown by the impact. Tong remains wheelchair bound, with a cast on his arm, injuries sustained in the crash.
The sentence is a little harsh but there is no doubt Hong Kong society must make an example of him to warn others what he did is unacceptable.
His notoriety did him in.
He is the perfect index case for the nsl, and an illuminating case law example.
MINDBLOWING NDE: Secrets From the Other Side! You are NOT Who You Think You Are.
For some strange reason, I seemed to bring out the worst in some of the companies where I worked. With this in mind, I will relate an experience that I had when I worked at Essick Air in Little Rock, Arkansas.
As an Engineer / Manager, I would always be hired by contract. Though the duration of contracts isn’t anything like you would find in the rest of the world, an American contract essentially simply specified what benefits the company would give you and what you would give them. Of course, with the stipulation that they could fire you at will with no notice.
Yeah. Certainly the USA could use some labor laws. Duh!
That’s NOTHING like the contracts that I have signed in the rest of the world. I’ll tell you what.
Usually, the American contract would specify…
Salary
Vacation time
Healthcare “benefits”
Educational “benefits”
And much, much more…
Today I want to talk about the “Educational benefits”.
In fact at all the companies where I worked, they would pay my tuition if I made a “B” grade or higher. Some companies would offer me a percentage of the tuition. The type of education, where and when were never specified and for the most part, I studied courses related to MBA, or higher level Engineering courses.
But no one would say NO! to going to school after work.
That is…
Until I worked in Arkansas.
I wanted to take night MBA classes. And they Management said no to that. Their excuse was that it wasn’t part of my job description. Who ever heard of a company saying no to higher education for their white collar professional staff? That was new to me.
Which really pissed me off, I’ll tell you what.
But, I’m a piker.
So I applied and was accepted for a Masters in Engineering program. After all, I am a degreed engineer by education, and a few extra course and certifications under my belt would be a plus. And they said no to that as well. Even though I was an engineer, they felt that it would not benefit me or them to take the class.
Sigh.
No and then no. Ok.
Still more tricks up my sleeve to better myself. Well, I figured, since I was doing a heck of a lot of International Trade at the time, why not something very specific to my current position? Yeah, so I suggested that I take a masters in International Trade.
Guess what? Yup.
They said no, yet again.
…
What the flying fuck? Is this some kind of parody? I pointed out my contract to the HR, and suggested they tell me which classes I could take. And they looked at me blankly and said, they didn’t know.
THEY DIDN’T KNOW?
What the bloody Hell?
…
The key was…
… that “benefit” did not REALLY exist. It was just empty words on a contact that they had no plans on following up on.
Such is the American Industry today.
It is no doubt why there just isn’t any Manufacturing, factories or industries in the United States today. With such a “Wall Street” attitude, no one would ever want to work for them, with them or associate themselves with them.
Gosh am I glad that I am no longer in that hellish place.
China is just ok with me.
You know, I have many…many… many stories of this ilk. But I just want to underline for all you readers to ask the HARD questions when someone slides a contract in front of your face.
Make sure that they will honor their commitments.
Otherwise, just leave. Out the door.
ESPECIALLY if you are dealing with an American company. They do not give a rat’s ass about you, or any contracts that you have signed.
Over the years a few times people would see I was in a little over my head and jump in. The best was about 15 years ago. I had stopped a car on an interstate for speeding and there were 3 guys in the car. Two of the guys got out of the car as soon as it stopped. I asked them to get back in but they did not. I called for back up but it was about 10 to 15 minutes away. I started talking to the driver when the guy in the back seat grabbed me and was pulling me into the car. The other guy who was out of the car jumped on my back and was going for my weapon. Just then I heard a bunch of people yelling and they jumped on the 3 guys. I thought my life was over. It was a bunch of high school kids coming back from a high school football game. There had to be 25 or more of them, and it seemed like they kept coming. By the time my back up got there the kids had beaten the shit out of the 3 guys. All 3 of them needed to go to the hospital as I did. It turned out 2 of the guys had felony warrants and the 3rd was a brother of one. A couple of days later I went to the school and hugged every one of those kids that I could find and I’ve stayed in touch with a lot of them over the years. I sometimes think of what it must have taken for that first car to pull over and for those kids to get out and help me. In my eyes every one of them is a hero, if not for them I never would have made it home that night.
This happened to a friend of a friend. They bought some property in Estacada, Oregon that was in terrible shape. There was a tiny, one bedroom shack on the property that was filled with garbage and blackberries had taken up the rest of the property, so they got it for a good price. Their plan was to clean out the shack and live there for five years or so, while cleaning up the property, then put a nice manufactured home on the property. I’m not sure how long they’d been living there when they were working on clearing one of the pastures and found … another house. A nicer house.
You might be a redneck if you mow your lawn and find a house.
New round of US sanctions started against Huawei! U.S. tech war enters stage 2.0!
Welcome to VOC – Vision of China, In this episode, we dive into the latest updates on the potential second round of sanctions by the United States on Huawei. Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, unveiled its new smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro, sparking intrigue amidst ongoing U.S.-China tech tensions. These cutting-edge smartphones, powered by 7-nanometer chips from China’s SMIC, bring 5G connectivity to the forefront. The implications of this move are significant, causing a reevaluation of the technology blockade against Huawei and even calls for a complete halt to technology exports. We also explore China’s efforts to boost its self-sufficiency in chip production and navigate U.S. export restrictions.
My wife’s Chrysler 300 C has a feature I didn’t know existed until we were trying to replace her key fob. If the correct key fob isn’t in the ignition switch, the engine will start and run for maybe 30 seconds – long enough to burn off whatever residual fuel is in the injectors, then it shuts off and cannot be restarted. Either the fuel pump or ignition system is disabled – it will crank until the battery dies (we didn’t take it that far), but the engine will not fire. Chrysler aptly calls this feature the Immobilizer. I don’t know that it makes her car theft proof, but I’d bet any car thief would abandon it as soon as the engine dies and they can’t restart it.
I interviewed for a job when I was in my early to mid-20’s. I spent hours preparing my presentation and practicing my relevant examples, but I still bombed the interview and it was all my fault.
What wasn’t my fault was the interviewers reaction! This man belittled me, laughed in my face and the rest of his team snickered in support of his unprofessional jokes. At the end, he tossed a paper that I had given him during the interview towards me and said, “Well, I wouldn’t want to get buyers remorse.” Once again they all laughed as I gathered my things to exit the interview.
I went to my car for a long regretful ride home. I parked in my driveway feeling ashamed and defeated, I cried before going into my home to face my family. I mean I cried buckets of tears, because I felt like a complete failure.
That incident motivated me to start teaching myself everything that there was to know about my field. I started watching how to YouTube videos, downloading free trials of software, attending webinars and of course obtaining mastery certifications in my field. My new skills paid off and I was promoted constantly.
Fast forward twelve years, I’m added to an interview and guess who it is? I look at the resume one more time to check to see if he was in fact employed at the place where I had once interviewed and sure enough it was a match. There I was sitting across the table from him in a tailored suit and he was the one unemployed. He’s staring at me and saying he felt like he knew me from somewhere. I smiled back and said maybe you interviewed me before!
The look on this man’s face when I said that was of complete horror, yet still priceless. He had a sunken look on his face like he was caught holding an axe in a crime scene. Lol I don’t think he remembered the incident at all. I do think he knows he was rude to people in interviews without ever thinking of how it could come back to bite him later.
I didn’t actually do anything to hurt him outside of not giving him my recommendation based on the fact I knew he had questionable character. I just cannot help but think Karma is the biggest gangster ever! Moral of the story is be nice to people because you almost always see them again.
It was late one night after a summer rain. I came upon a light truck that had slid off the road and flipped.
I stopped and ran to the truck and found a 16 year old kid impaled on a fence post and bleeding out. He was dying and he knew it. He was crying, calling for his mother and saying I don’t want to die over and over.
I told him I was going for help and he said please don’t let me die alone. I stayed with that kid, held him as he died.
It really messed me up. The cops thought I was a victim too because I had his blood all over me.
The paramedics gave me a shot and took me to hospital. They told me that’s the only way I’d let him go. Maybe I thought if I’d hung onto him he’d be all right.
I’d never met the kid but I would have given my life if he could have lived.
They kept me in the hospital a few days. Cops and paramedics came to see me. We talked a lot. The first time you come across a scene like that is a horror. If you aren’t ready for it, it’ll mess you up. I went down the drain in a haze of booze and drugs.
I had a bad case of PTSD. Every time I closed my eyes, that kid was there. In his eyes was the plea don’t let me die and there was nothing I could do.
Six months later I was in rehab.
I worked with a shrink. For another six months. I haven’t had a drink or drug since.
The nightmares are rare now. I learned how fragile and precious life is and, how quickly that can change in a matter of seconds.
In my professional career, I flew all over the world — to all continents several times, with the notable exclusion of the Antarctic (thankfully). One year I flew 175,000 miles. I enjoyed the travel (even though that’s work) and the chance to immerse myself in various cultures, both for the local populations and the business communities.
Because of my frequent flyer status, I was most always upgraded to first class (domestically) and business class (internationally).
For whatever reason (and that reason was likely determined by a higher spiritual power) I was seated on this flight in the very last row — a window seat, where there is no window. It was uncomfortable.
As the flight began to land, the flight attendant announced about the captain.
After a decades-long career, this was his last and final flight. He was done, and now he was retiring.
Passengers clapped; I sat.
The plane landed; passengers disembarked.
When they all left; I stood. The plane was empty of passengers. I took my overhead and proceeded to the front.
The Captain stood outside the cockpit door.
I introduced myself to him.
We shook hands.
I said, “This is your last flight.”
“Yes.”
“And I am your last passenger.”
“Yes.”
“And so, Sir, I want to thank you for your service, your safety record, and your dedication to your job. You have helped many people.”
“I want to wish you well, and may you enjoy your retirement years.”
The flight attendants and he became obviously emotional.
I nodded my head, and disembarked the aircraft.
I will always remember that flight.
Independent Woman is Desperate to Find a ‘Perfect Man’ | Filipinas Give Hot Comments
It is genuinely something that Kids today would be able to do in a second.
Yet my proudest moment came yesterday evening.
It was something very simple and many guys should be able to do this in their sleep
I wrote a Program in C to solve for Prime Numbers and how to find out the Day given the Date.
Frankly i have never programmed in my life but i have been determined to learn Robotics and IDE and i wanted to start from the basics.
I have struggled and bothered thousands of people all over the world from various online communities (Why should you always include Stdio.H etc)
Then i slowly started adding 2 numbers, multiplying 2 numbers, using IF and FOR and learning the difference.
Then a week ago – a Kid from Japan told me to solve for a Prime Number. Given a number – to find out if it is Prime or Not.
I finally solved it yesterday. I inputted 41 numbers and got the right answer each time
Likewise How to find the Day- given the day – I solved using dayofweek and my new friends in the programming community – blasted me and told me Program dude…..dont use existing functions….assume they dont exist.
I struggled and struggled and finally my exasperated friends gave me a clue – 1 Jan 1900 was Monday. Go from there.
Then i screwed up without accounting for Leap years
Finally Yesterday i finished the code -that can find the day – for any date even Leap years.
These communities have good kids who are very patient and while they do cutting edge programs – they have time for me and guide me – no matter how many ridiculous questions i ask
Yesterday when i pasted the codes for both the programs
The feed back was Good on you Gramps ; Good Logic; See! Anyone can learn.
The moment was prouder than any other moment in my life – because seriously this was something i never thought i could actually do.
We were in Court waiting for a hearing on a quiet title suit. It was a default hearing, so, we were at the end of the docket and got to sit through all of the oddball traffic and civil defaults.
Just before our case was called, a County Deputy came in with a junior Prosecutor and they were having a hearing on a DWI case.
The driver, an old guy who certainly looked like he was capable of DWI lurched up to the Defendant’s table and stood there while the prosecutor led the Deputy through a practiced litany of why he had pulled the man over and the driver’s demeanor upon being stopped.
The Deputy basically said that the Driver was a known prior offender, he witnessed him cross the centerline a few times, so he pulled him over. The driver then, in the Deputy’s opinion, failed, or at least did not pass, the field sobriety test.
The driver quietly stood there silently, and let the Prosecutor put on his dog and pony show. The hearing was to establish that probable cause existed to proceed.
Then, the Prosecutor looked over at the Defendant and in the most haughty and derisive tone I have ever heard, said “Do YOU have any questions?”
The Judge gave the man about a second and was ready to drop his gavel when the old man spoke up. “Yes, I have a few questions. Your Honor, if I may.”
Here’s where it got interesting.
The slouching old man, suddenly drew himself up, cleared his throat, and in a voice that I might best describe as what one might have heard from Moses, intoned, “Deputy, did I hear you state that you pulled the Defendant over because you recognized him as a prior offender, and because he crossed over the center line once or twice?”
The Prosecutor and the Judge suddenly took notice, and you could see just a hint of concern steal across the Prosecutor’s face. The Defendant spoke in the third person, and was obviously able to speak with confidence in front of a Judge.
The Deputy thought for a second, and replied, “Well, yes, I know the Defendant, that would be you Bob (Not his real name), had a DWI conviction two years ago, and that you regularly close down the Dew Drop Inn (Not the Bar’s real name.)”
Bob, nodded his head, and continued. “So, the Defendant’s history of a DWI conviction was a contributing factor in your determination as to whether to pull him over or not?”
The Deputy nodded, and, in a less confident voice replied, “Yes, or course it was.”
Bob nodded, and the Prosecutor croaked out a pointless objection. Judge Dread (Not his real name) smiled and said “Overruled. I want to hear where this is going.”
The Defendant continued, “Since the stop was made in the middle of the day, and by your written report,” here Bob held up his copy of the ticket, “nowhere near the Dew Drop Inn, Deputy, would you say your knowledge or Defendant’s prior conviction was a significant contributor in your decision to pull Defendant over?”
Deputy Dawg, (Not his real name) even a little less confidently now, sputtered out. “I just said it was.”
Bob asked another question, “If you had to quantify the percentage that your knowledge of Defendant’s prior bad behavior contributed to your decision to pull Defendant over, would it be 60%, 70%, 80% or what number?”
The Deputy was almost snarling over being cross-examined by an old rogue like Bob. He looked at the Defendant like something unpleasant that had stuck to the bottom of his boot. “Well, I’ll tell ya, Bob, I figure it as around 90%; everyone knows you are the town drunk.”
At this point the Prosecutor sat down slowly, Bob nodded, and finished. “So, had you not known who the driver was, there was only a 10% probability that you would have pulled the vehicle over based upon the driver’s behavior. Is that a correct characterization?”
Deputy Dawg thought about it for just a moment, and barked out the answer, “Yes.”
Bob turned to Judge Dread and said “Your Honor, I move to dismiss these charges as the State has failed to field a prima facie case. Their witness cannot provide articulable probable cause.”
Before the Prosecutor could say much of anything, Judge Dread nodded his head and spoke. “Bob, your point is well taken. Deputy Dawg would not have pulled you over had he not known you were the driver. There was no probable cause. Case dismissed.”
Bob resumed his old man persona and hobbled out of the Courtroom.
It turns out that before his wife died, and he became an alcoholic, Bob had been a criminal defense attorney of some repute in the State.
What a delusional question. The US has already done that and driven Huawei to be self-sufficient. ditto for SMIC. You saw evidence of that as many investigators tore apart Huawei’s recent Mate 60 Pro to find nary a US part within it. Yes, it did find South Korean Hynix memories but why is that an issue? Both Samsung and Hynix have reentered the China market because without it, they are dead meat.
“According to the transcript of the February speech posted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Ren Zhengfei said Huawei had over the past three years replaced the 13,000 components with domestic Chinese substitutes and had redesigned 4,000 circuit boards for its products.” (Reuters)
That was in March of 2023. One can only venture to surmise that Huawei’s goal over the last 4 years is to be self-sustaining with domestic parts and software. Huawei claims that is is self-sufficient in design, EDA tools, production equipment, and production up to and including 14 nm. Obviously with its 7nm chip in its Mate Pro series, it is moving beyond 14nm in conjunction with SMIC. There are reports that Huawei is also producing 5nm chips in the form of newer 9100 and 9200 series chips. The big mystery is how? The western presses say it is impossible using DUV, yet SMIC seems to be capable of doing that, and in production quantities of millions of chips. BTW, Huawei says its 9000s chip was designed over 3 years ago, so we can expect more revelations as newer chips are unveiled. Recently it formed an agreement with Xiaomi and will provide Xiaomi with 9100 series chips for its products, and Qualcomm has made an agreement to use Harmony OS in its CPU’s. So Huawei is not only self-sufficient, but it is being recognized a a leader in both semiconductors, software, and in all its facets of production.
The US has cut off its nose with its sanctions and restrictions. It has caused more harm to its domestic semiconductor companies than to China. There is a rebellion going on today with US tech companies ignoring the US government demands to not use China as a source and market. That rebellion has spread as South Korea has reentered the China market as Samsung has built new fabs in China and Hynix sells its memory chips to the likes of Huawei. TSMC is said to be fabbing 7nm chips for ZTE, Alibaba, and Tencent, the latter two are focused on AI chips.
An aside, the 9000s chip is not only a CPU chip, but it is a SOC (system on a chip), that contains CPU, GPU, and NPU processors.
Can you blame Raimondo? She was just listening to the experts.
Bottomline, we could sum up the critical equation of the U.S. sanctions to ASML and its EUV machine. ASML didn’t invent its technologies. They were the results of decades of work by American and European companies. And by all calls of the experts, if the U.S. also restricts the DUVs, China will be pushed back by at least a decade for them to produce anything from 7nm chips and further.
Visit ASML and tour their facilities needed to produce the $200 million school-bus-size machine and you wouldn’t argue.
But in a little more than 4 years, Huawei has been able to design and produce its Kirin 9000 processor. But this chip is the sum total of an entire ecosystem made up of hundreds of companies developing native expertise from chip design to packaging to make this possible. They’re the Chinese EDA companies producing the tools for Huawei to design their own chips to the chip packaging companies that pioneered chiplet technologies to enable SMIC to advanced its N+2 platform to produce a 7nm chip without need for an EUV machine, a process that experts deem impossible at a commercial scale.
Can you blame Raimondo? She was just listening to the experts.
Bottomline, we could sum up the critical equation of the U.S. sanctions to ASML and its EUV machine. ASML didn’t invent its technologies. They were the results of decades of work by American and European companies. And by all calls of the experts, if the U.S. also restricts the DUVs, China will be pushed back by at least a decade for them to produce anything from 7nm chips and further.
Visit ASML and tour their facilities needed to produce the $200 million school-bus-size machine and you wouldn’t argue.
But in a little more than 4 years, Huawei has been able to design and produce its Kirin 9000 processor. But this chip is the sum total of an entire ecosystem made up of hundreds of companies developing native expertise from chip design to packaging to make this possible. They’re the Chinese EDA companies producing the tools for Huawei to design their own chips to the chip packaging companies that pioneered chiplet technologies to enable SMIC to advanced its N+2 platform to produce a 7nm chip without need for an EUV machine, a process that experts deem impossible at a commercial scale.
And it is SMEE leading the charge to build an SSMB EUV lithography factory in Shanghai, and it claims that it has mastered the core technologies of EUV lithography, such as light source, optics, mask, and stage. SMEE also says that it has successfully developed a prototype of an EUV machine with a resolution of 22 nanometers, and that it will achieve a resolution of 14 nanometers by 2024. SMEE’s goal is to produce EUV machines that can compete with ASML’s products in terms of performance and cost. SMEE expects that its EUV machines will be able to produce chips for applications such as memory, logic, and image sensors.
Nobody expected all these to happen so quickly. But it is happening.
Woke Snow White Actress FIRED from New Movie After DESTROYING Disney Classic
What a nasty and Entitled young woman. Let’s get her “Cancelled” for being so Condescending and Ungrateful.
That’s not a silly mistake. It’s a fundamental lapse. He missed the carry over 1.
It’s a procedural mistake
s = ut + 0.5at
That’s not a silly mistake. It’s a fundamental lapse. He forgot to square the time component in the parabolic equation and ended up making it a linear equation which is fundamentally ENTIRELY WRONG
35 >=17 >= 41
This is not a silly mistake. It’s a fundamental lapse. A simple reversal of the signal nullifies and invalidates an entire inequation
Mistakes are Mistakes
They aren’t Silly!!!!
A Child must never be told his mistakes are silly. He must be taught how his mistakes drastically changed the mathematical interpretation and how he can prevent the mistake
Yes, a Kid who forgets to carry over the one in Class III – gets 1/2 a mark less for his mistake
However someone who debits instead of crediting, ends up jobless or in JAIL. It’s also a simple silly mistake isn’t it
Your Child makes mistakes
A. He isn’t focused enough
B. He doesn’t understand the fundamentals thoroughly
C. He is in a hurry to finish and his timing is a problem
One or maybe ALL of the three
Now when you say
23*4 = ?
You teach the kid to multiply 3 and 4, place the 2 and carry over the 1, then multiply 2 and 4 and get 8, then add 1 and make it 92
W H Y?
Basically you are simply breaking 23 into 20+3 and multiplying both into 4 and adding the terms
Thus (20+3) *4 = (20*4) +(3*4) = 80+12 = 92
You are shortening this by carring over the one and adding it to 8 because both are in TENS PLACE
How many Kids know this?
Very very few
They mechanically do what is told and carry over the one and add the one. When they forget to add the one, they think SO WHAT? It’s just a single mistake
It’s not. They didn’t grasp the fundamentals of the operation.
It’s the same as blindly following instructions without understanding them
Instead first teach a kid (20+3) *4
The teach the kid the shortening form and why you carry over the one (because 8 and 1 are both in tens place, so it’s 80+10 not 8+1 in actuality)
He will NEVER make a mistake again in this
He blindly memorizes
s = ut + 0.5at²
He will make mistakes
He has to know WHY
He has to begin with distance = speed x time
He has to first understand accelaration and why acceleration is (v-u) /t
Then he gets v= u+at
Then he deduces that s = (v+u) /2 as average velocity and WHY THIS ASSUMPTION
Finally he gets (v+u)/2 = (u+u+at) /2 = (2u+at) /2
Thus s = (2u+at/2) *t = ut + 0.5at²
He will never forget because he understands the concepts and derivation now
Plus Focus and Timing
Many kids get pressured when they find they have lesser time Or are pressured by the teacher who demands the kid to be “QUICK”
Time management is key and you have to teach that
A rewards system is useful here
Divide each question into a specific routine and time your kid and try to ensure he has at least 5 minutes to spare
There are no SILLY MISTAKES
Except using your maiden name by mistake instead of married name
US badly needs money. It has no money and is printing money and one day all that printed money will cause chaos
China is flush with money. Choking with money from all those savings post lockdowns with 3 years moolah and nothing to spend on.
China badly needs to LEND this money or this money will cause deflation after 18 months or so
China doesn’t trust the US and believes very firmly that US will renege on its debt one day
In 2009, it was a similar group of senators who flew to China and laid bare the truth about their economy and the global crisis and begged China to keep buying US Debt and not to sell their US Holdings
China Agreed
In 2023, I doubt if China will agree
That’s all this is about
EU, US, UK all want Chinese money to purchase their debt
The US badly want to weaken their USD to make US exports mildly competitive at least and to stimulate the economy with cheap credit
To do this they need to stop printing money and they need someone to buy their debt
In the last 5 years, China, Japan, UAE and Saudi Arabia have all reduced their holdings of US Debt
China by nearly 15%
India, UK and EU have steadily increased their holdings of US Debt
Yet it’s a pittance
China could buy $ 400 Billion of US Debt tomorrow in 30 sessions across maybe 2 weeks
That would put the Yuan back at 6.78
That would bring down inflation by 40% across 5 months from the existing 4% today to around 2.4% by Middle of March
Janet Yellen wanted only $ 250 Billion
Yet US can’t make this public
Thus they pretend to talk of Micron
Why the hell would they?
Micron is a private entity isn’t it?
Micron execs would be the ones going to China to meet top officials not Senators
I foresee another refusal from China
Another interview in CBS about Chinas Collapse
And further deteriorations in the relationship
China successfully processed used cooking oil into plane fuel
We were taking a very nice man, with prostate cancer, to the OR. He was to get an implantation of radioactive beads, into the prostate to treat his cancer. This was done via the rectum.
As you can imagine, this would be pretty painful without anesthesia.
The resident anesthesiologist put him under. The patient seemed pretty relaxed, certainly not uncomfortable.
We draped him and put his feet up into stirrups. It’s the position that is typically used in childbirth.
We had good access. Things were going smoothly UNTIL we inserted the first bead.
Apparently, he was not “out” quite as much as the anesthesiologist thought.
The doctor stuck the sharp rod, carrying the pellet, into the wall of the rectum.
The poor patient came jumping off the table.
I was so intent on helping with the procedure that I didn’t reall notice him coming until I got a foot in the face and he landed in my lap.
We grabbed the guy so that he didn’t hit the floor.
I glanced up at the anesthesiologist. All the blood had drained out of her face. She was frantically trying to push stuff into his IV and dialing up the gas.
The attending physician looked up and barked, “That better, f***ing, not happen again!”
We lifted the man back onto the table. Thank God, he wasn’t injured. We finished the procedure.
The physician snapped off his gloves and stalked out of the OR cussing up a storm.
Later we told the man that there had been an incident. Thankfully he did not remember a thing.
Peace.
Steak Diane
steak diane horz a 1600 26c942f29f6d4d9ca0ee6f4899b12000
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
2 (6 ounce) filet mignons, thawed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
2 tablespoons shallots, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon fresh chives, minced
1 teaspoon Brandy
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
Instructions
Season both sides of steak with salt and pepper.
Melt butter in a heavy skillet; add mustard and shallots. Sauté over medium heat for 1 minute.
Add steaks and cook for approximately 4 minutes on each side for medium-rare.
Remove steaks to serving plate and keep warm.
Add into pan drippings, 1 tablespoon butter, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and chives. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add brandy; pour sauce over steaks.
Sprinkle parsley over the top.
China is Preparing for WAR as Neocons Cross Xi’s Red Line in Taiwan
“China has lots patience with the US as the neocons continue to cross its red line in Taiwan, this time moving toward full Ukrainization of the proxy war. I discussed this and more “
Originally Answered: Why are single men with no children sometimes shamed for refusing to date women that have children?
I was watching a dating show once where they filmed couples on a first date, these two people were around 30, had met online and were getting on really well, sparks flying and all that.
They were at a restaurant and the guy had ordered chips, the woman reached across and pinched a chip, then commented that her kids ate nothing but chips. The guys reaction was priceless:
He recovered and they finished their meal, after the date they did a ‘de-brief’ interview with each of them to find out their thoughts, the guy bluntly said he wasn’t interested because she had kids.
He got lambasted for it by the presenter, but all I was thinking was ‘why didn’t she mention it earlier’? Having kids is about as massive a factor as you can have in someone’s life.
I have kids, but I could completely understand why someone would not want to date someone who has kids. One party already having kids causes huuuuge hurdles to the dynamic of a new relationship. Maybe the partner would like to travel? Sorry, not an option. Maybe they want to live somewhere not within 30 minutes of the kids school? Not gonna happen. Maybe they want more than 15–20% of their partners attention? How unrealistic can you be?? Maybe the partner wants to go out drinking with you? No chance, who’s gonna watch the kids? Maybe the partner would rather not have to deal with a potentially volatile relationship with the child’s mother/father/in-laws? Sorry, that’s just part of the deal.
Often, a man declining to date someone who has kids (or vice versa) is portrayed as being shallow or lacking commitment or even of being a misogynist (because they can’t handle the fact that their partner has been with someone else), but the point I’m trying to get across is that someone has to be willing to sacrifice a lot to date someone who has kids, and the fact that they’re not willing to do that doesn’t necessarily make them an arsehole.
*Of course, some people are just arseholes, but I guess that’s true of every situation in life.
The Philippines keep being HATED! Foreigners do not BELIEVE until they visit the Philippines
Caihong is a family of Chinese reconnaissance and strike-class unmanned aerial vehicles. It consists of a dozen models. One of them is the Caihong-5 or CH-5. Iraq recently purchased a batch of these drones.
Here’s What We Know
We first learnt about the CH-5 seven years ago. It was officially presented at the Airshow China 2016 exhibition. In the summer of 2015, the debut open tests of the drone took place. The UAV made a flight lasting 20 minutes.
The maximum take-off weight of the Chinese drone is 3,300kg, of which 1,000kg is for armament. The UAV can carry bombs and missiles. In particular, AR-1 and AR-2 with a range of 8 kilometres.
It has a range of 10,000 kilometres. The Chinese Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, which is the developer of the drone, wanted to double the range. The CH-5 can fly for 60 hours, which is about four times longer compared to the US MQ-9 Reaper drone (14 hours).
I was manager of a small boutique women’s shoe store. A lady walked in the door dressed in dirty clothes. She had dirt under her fingernails. That us how dirty she was. My sales staff all took a step back when she walked in, so I asked her if I could help her find anything. She said no and just walked around the store looking. When she was ready she asked for a few shoes to try on. No problem. I also brought similar colors and styles in her size. She tried them on and said yes or no rather quickly. While she was trying them on I brought matching handbags to her as well. Her yes pile grew. I pointed out hats and scarves. Added a few of those too. She asked if one of the shoes she liked had other colors in her size. I did, so those where added to her yes pile. $2000 and change later she was packed up and ready to go.
My staff was shocked at that easy sale. They said they had never seen anything like that before. I reminded them that they were not here to judge, but to sell. Since we all earned commission, I had a great day. Turns out she was a chicken farmer and had just dropped off the bank roll in the mall so had some cash to spend when a pair of shoes caught her eye in the window.
Lesson: Never judge a chicken farmer with dirt under her nails.
EDIT It was a boutique store, not payless, so I fitted them on her after giving her stockings. Her feet were clean once her shoes and socks were off. Her clothes were a bit dirty and dirt was only under her nails. Not our usual client. Its not like she farmed barefoot or rolled in the muck. She took most of the items … and the gym ladies who just came to try on shoes and gossip and think about it had comparably dirty/clean feet. She Bought most everything she tried.
The Collapse of The American Dream Explained in Animation
My parents divorced when I was 4. My mother remarried a man one year later in 1965.
He was a very controlling man about most things—but that’s a different story. In the summer between my 4th and 5th grade, he became “Born Again” at a Billy Graham revival. At his insistence, my mother soon followed, as did my sister. I was the only one in our family of 4 who didn’t want to give up their entire life and become a singularly focused religious fanatic.
My stepfather had never really liked me before that. After that he hated me, and could barely contain his loathsome attitude toward me.
Speeding ahead a few years, when I was entering the 12th grade, my mother took me aside one day and told me that they had no money to help me with college—that I was going to have to figure out my future on my own. (She was quite literal about that. They never even once discussed with me what my options might be.) I said it was ok. I’d figure it out. I did, and after high school, I got a job at a factory.
My sister, who is 4 years older than me, did attend a religious college, and while it crossed my mind as to how she was able to pay for college, I never asked. We weren’t very close.
Fast forward to 1994. I am now successful in my career. I have a large house with a swimming pool and hot tub in the backyard. My family—mother, stepfather, sister and her family—are invited to my house for an afternoon barbecue.
My mother and sister are sitting in my hot tub. I am around the corner of the house tending the barbecue. They don’t realize that I’m there. They are talking loudly, and I can clearly hear them. My sister starts talking about college education for her kids and she asks my mom how she and my stepfather saved up the money for her college education.
My mom immediately started to panic, and began shushing my sister to be quiet. She frantically said, “I don’t want Kent to hear this! We told him we had no money for college.”
I always knew that I was the black sheep in the family, but it was in that moment that I truly realized how much I was excluded. From that point on, my eyes and mind were opened to the lies and deception within my family. It forever altered our relationship.
Update- stepfather died. Felt nothing. My wife thinks that I suffer from PTSD because of him. Maybe with time I can now forget and maybe even forgive. I wonder if he got that gold-plated throne next to God that he obsessed on his entire life. I doubt it.
Update- mother died. I felt almost nothing. I do mourn that she was more interested in keeping her abusive husband happy than having an interest in her son. Such is life.
After the accident, she was left on the side of the road, no one stopped the car to help her!
An encounter with approximately 30 burly men and their girlfriends part of a motorcycle gang with the name Outlaws written on their leather jackets.
I was 16 years old at the time and worked part time at Tim Hortons in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.
The donut shop was right near the bridge going to the US border.
It was a rainy night in early summer in the early 1980’s. I was on the night shift.
It is around 3 a.m. in the dead of night. The place is quiet. The bar people have gone home and I am mopping the floor. I hear the sound of many motorcycles. I mean many many motorcycles. The cook looks out the window and goes in the back to hide.
I am alone in the shop and I see them park their bikes and walk towards the shop. I put the mop back in the bucket. Push it to the side at the back near the wall and they all walk in. I was not really afraid. I admit I was somewhat naive and stupid too. I figured they wanted to rest a bit and I started all the coffee machines.
I just took out all the cups, set them on the counter. We had counters where customers could sit down like a soda shop back then.
Waiting for the coffee to brew, I took the racks of donuts and put them on the counter near the cash.
I tried to serve everyone as fast as I could. To my surprise, three big dudes, walked behind the counter and helped by pouring coffee for their friends while I brewed more coffee.
They took some donuts, had their coffee, talked amongst themselves and I continued with my chores as a server. All the while, the cook is still hiding in the back room. lol
Well, one by one, they walked up to the cash and asked how much they owed. I had no clue. I asked them what they had because I told them I was not sure what they all had. They told me, I rang up the order and keep in mind the prices were different back then but for example, the price for a customer might have been 4 $. Well, the big burly fellow would give me a ten and tell me to keep the change.
They all did that. ALL.OF.THEM.
Not only that, some guys helped me clean up by filling up the dishwasher and putting stuff in the garbage.
I was floored.
They left the place spic and span and I had over 100 $ in tips.
I knew they were a biker gang but in a weird way, I never felt afraid.
Life is like that sometimes.
By the way, I totally lost respect for the cook. lol
A handful of countries from the BRICS alliance are cutting ties with the U.S. Treasury by offloading Treasury bonds. BRICS is increasingly looking to diversify its portfolios with gold, local currencies, and other commodities such as oil and gas. The move is a hedge against U.S. economic policies that will narrow down the dollar’s ability to fund its deficit. Recent data
from the U.S. Treasury Department shows that BRICS dumped $18.9 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds just this month.
In 2023, BRICS offloaded $122.7 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds and is staying away from the government’s debt. BRICS member China is the highest, as it offloaded $117.4 billion worth of U.S. government debt this year. Between June and July, China reduced its holdings from $835.4 billion to $821.8 billion, a decline of $13.6 billion.
Other BRICS member Brazil followed suit and reduced its U.S. Treasury holdings this year. Brazil’s U.S. treasury declined from $227.4 billion in June to $224.7 billion in July, a slump of $2.7 billion.
Another BRICS member, India, followed a similar path and trimmed its holdings by $2.3 billion during the same period. India has also allegedly dumped the U.S. dollar in the forex markets to keep the value of the Rupee from falling.
Similarly, the UAE saw its U.S. treasury holdings fall by $300 million in July. UAE’s holdings slipped from $65.2 billion in June to $64.9 billion the next month. In total, BRICS has removed $122.7 billion worth of U.S. Treasury bonds from its reserves in 2023.
Ukrainian forces quitting by the thousands, refusing to die in NATO’s war
New reports show Ukrainian forces are laying down their Western weapons and surrendering by the thousands using an emergency radio frequency. The surrendered forces are being fed and given medical attention and handing over vital troop movement data to Russian forces. This is the end.
Huawei, not Limited to Phone
Huawei held its Autumn Full-Scene New Product Launch Event at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center on the afternoon of September 25th. In addition to releasing new products such as tablets, smart screens, and smart watches, Huawei announced that it will release its first sedan, Luxeed S7 EV, in November. Richard Yu, the Executive Director and CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, as well as the Chairman of Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU, stated that the Smart Selection S7 will surpass the Tesla’s ModelS in all specifications. In addition, Huawei will release the AITO M9 in December, which Yu claims will be the “best SUV under 10 million yuan (about US$1.37 million).”
During the launch event, the new generation of near-distance wireless connection technology, Nearlink, once again became the highlight. Yu stated that the standard of Nearlink is a new standard led and contributed by Huawei. Compared with traditional wireless communication technology, it has lower power consumption, faster connection speed, lower latency, more stable connection ability, wider coverage ability, and more powerful networking ability. It can be used in intelligent manufacturing, smart cars, smart homes, and smart terminals.
Huawei’s Nearlink is targeted at the Bluetooth that we commonly use. However, since Bluetooth is already widely used and familiar to people, why introduce Nearlink?
First of all, it is a technical issue. Traditional near-distance communication technologies such as Bluetooth and WiFi have emerged since 1999. When they are updated and iterated over the years, they inevitably retain some of the characteristics of old versions. In terms of speed, anti-interference performance, and energy consumption performance, they are far from satisfactory. Problems such as insensitive digital key sensing occur from time to time.
Nearlink has no historical baggage. Compared with traditional wireless connections, its power consumption is reduced by 60%, data transmission rate is increased by six times, latency is reduced to 1/30th, and the number of connections is increased by 10 times, according to Huawei’s claims.
In addition to technical reasons, Chinese automakers need Nearlink for another reason: Nearlink is a domestically developed technology. After all, Huawei was once kicked out of the Bluetooth Alliance. Now Huawei has also established the Nearlink Alliance with its own standards and has more than 240 members.
This is just as Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei said, “The greatest resistance gives us the greatest motivation.”
“Strange things happened on 9/11”- Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Do you believe the official story about the 9/11 attacks? We’ll you’re not alone because Robert Kennedy Jr. doesn’t believe the official narrative either. During an interview with CNN’s Peter Bergen Kennedy says there were strange things that happened that day. The corporate media has already launched a series of hit pieces on Kennedy reminding us why this is just part of his normal conspiracy rhetoric.
Yes , was it an eye opener. I had known a woman from work who was very efficient, on time and got along well with others. I had heard of family gatherings, holidays and had seen pictures of some. She always spoke very positive and loving about her children.
THEN!!!
One day I happened to be grocery shopping and heard a familiar voice. As I rounded the corner, I realized it was my co-worker. Just as I was about to call out and wave to her, I witnessed her slapping the crap out of her three year old little boy, then her daughter (4) received the same with a jolting jerk as well and because she started crying because her little brother had just been slapped. Both were across the face!!
This WAS NOT the person I thought I knew and respected as a good parent. Much to my dismay, a stranger saved me the awful task of approaching her to tell her to knock the shit off!!! This other woman did.
My co-worker was very nasty mouthed to this other woman.
I was appalled! The entire incident was played out right in front of me and my co-worker never did look past her little world of rage (all the while still saying very cruel and mean things to her little babies) she did not even know I was there. I finished shopping and left the store. A police cruiser was pulling in as I left. I wondered then if they were there for her. They were not apparently.
This was a Saturday. The following Monday came and the day was going as usual….hectic. Before I knew it, it was 10am….time for am break. Sure enough as I entered the small bistro that was in the building, there she sat waving me to join her.
I did.
I then proceeded to tell her how awful I thought she had treated her children and that in my opinion she needed to seek counseling and turn the anger off. I also told her she had no right to treat anyone like that much less the gifts she had been given to raise and cherish.
She tried to offer some stupid fucking excuse which I cut off before it all fell out of her mouth. I told her I felt sorry for her that her abusive actions were now the only thing I could see. We were not going to be spending time together anymore. I also told her I felt immensely sorry for her children and that I hoped she would change her ways. I then ask her if her husband knew how she treated those beautiful little souls!
She replied NO. I thought long and hard over it (for 1 minute). I called her husband (who I knew was a kind person.) that evening and explained to him what I witnessed and what my fears were for his children. He was very quiet and only said two things to me. The first was he wondered, but had no proof. He did not go into detail. The other was a resounding THANK YOU.
Within one week my co-worker gave her notice at work saying that SHE was divorcing her husband and moving three states away. She also said her children would be staying with her husband who would be awarded full custody as she was signing her children to him
She never said anything to me about it. She worked her two weeks and left.
I have not talked with her husband as well. I do know he is raising the children. This was 5 years ago.
The abuse of anyone is something I will not tolerate. Even more so the abuse of a child or an elderly person will send me right over the top.
And NO I was not abused as a child. Thanks for asking the question and to those of you who actually made it to the end of my rant..
The Horrors of Plum Island | Hybrids, Human Experiments and Weaponized Killer Insects
Well this certainly was a disturbing episode. Reckless individuals and secret organizations operating without accountability.
According to a report by Taiwan’s China Times on September 13, 2023, Singapore’s former Foreign Minister George Yeo stated at the Asia-Pacific Forward Forum organized by the Fair Winds Foundation that if a war were to erupt in the Taiwan Strait, it would essentially mean that the United States, if it sends troops, would be directly engaging in conflict with Chinese mainland. Consequently, Taiwan would be nothing more than a sacrificial pawn.
Yeo highlighted that the leaders and people of Taiwan know that US policy on Taiwan is formulated not out of love for the Taiwan people but because Taiwan is an important piece to be used against mainland China. “It is also good business for US armament companies,” Yeo remarked.
The report also mentioned that China and the United States agreed to mutually recognize and establish diplomatic relations starting from January 1, 1979, with the US recognizing the government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China. Yeo further expressed at the forum, “How long the US can do this depends on the relative military power of the US versus China and the willingness of the Taiwan people to be played as a piece on the geopolitical chessboard of US-China relations.”
ALERT: RUSSIAN CYBERATTACK ON ISRAEL, US SENDS AIRCRAFT CARRIER FOR WAR WITH IRAN/ RUSSIA!
I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture given by the late Prof. Hawking on the campus of the University of Berkeley; I say “given”; Hawking rolled onto the stage, and the lecture he so painstakingly prepared was delivered by the machine he used to speak with. I never heard him repeat this quote, so I will have to take it on faith that this is something he actually said.
I’ll be PC here, and substitute “average” for dumb; average people are not necessarily “dumb”, but the difference between them and very intelligent people is that they are far less intellectually curious, and tend not to question their own beliefs, or look beneath the surface of phenomena they encounter every day. For the average, smart people are not necessarily “crazy”, but they do come across as weird. If I were to tell an average person that they like doughnuts because simple carbohydrates and fat were rare and valuable nutrients on the African savannah 70,000 years ago, they would look at me like I was mad. They would say something like “I enjoy doughnuts because they taste good”; it wouldn’t occur to them to ask the fundamental question of why they taste good to us.
As shown in the graph above, 68.2% of people are in the average range of IQ between 85–115 (using IQ as a proxy for general intelligence. The number of people with an IQ higher than 115 becomes increasingly rare with the increasing level of IQ, so those with 140+ are very rare indeed, so it should not surprising that those who are in this high range will often come across as “odd” to the average majority. There is a qualitative difference in the cognition of the highly gifted, compared to the cognitive style of the average; the more intelligent one is, the less “obvious” things seem to be.
In evolutionary terms, our “purpose” as humans is to survive and reproduce, functions for which the average level of intelligence is sufficient; humans evolved to be as intelligent as they needed to be in order to successfully carry out these biological functions, so it is not surprising that most of us are not smarter than we are. As social animals, we tend not to be too fond of “weirdos” who question the existing social order, and the way things have always been done, hence the existence of terms like “nerd” and “geek” for those whose manner of thought and speech is contrary to the norm. At the same time, it had to have been the prehistoric nerds and geeks who came up with technologies like the bow and arrow, and poison darts, which were beneficial for the survival of humans as a whole, by allowing us to hunt otherwise inaccessible game animals. One can just imagine the jeers of the normies when the first geek smeared some tree sap on a dart, and walked off with his blowpipe, saying “I’m going hunting by myself.”
As someone who has been accused of being smart, I’ve had to learn to self-censor in order to “fit in”, and not be ostracized as a “weirdo” by the general population. “Be yourself” is incredibly stupid advice if one happens to be an intellectual outlier, since “yourself” is likely to be regarded as strange, and even threatening by the majority. Hawking was right, and I reserve my unfiltered self for a select few IRL, plus, of course, anyone who chooses to read my apophenic ravings on Quora.
China Cancels $250 Billion Car Order from USA: Unraveling the Implications
Man oh man! The Geo-political changes are happening hot and heavy! HEAVY!
My MM articles are now at a 35 post backlog. Shit! Half of you will be reading 1/2 month old articles by the time I get around to posting them.
Do not freak out.
Lots of things going on in the world today. It’s a massive realignment of the world AWAY from the USA dominance. The thing is that the Western peoples, and their “leadership” are clueless as to what is really going on. They still believe that they have some kind of power or ability in these matters.
Nope.
It’s all strategic retreats… for now.
The running away and full-scale, across the board, running and galloping rout comes later.
Maybe this year. Don’t ya know.
Have fun. Enjoy yourself.
Today I am catching up. We have a typhoon raging outside so I have an opportunity to play some catch up. Israel, Ukraine, and all the rest, especially Africa are in states of flux.
I’m not worried. The USA will retreat and the rest of the world will be secure.
The long-term forecasts clearly favor China by every measure.
If American companies fail to use this period of time to invest, they will not be able to “jump on the bandwagon” and take advantage of opportunities that are presenting themselves today.
If the Biden “government” insists that all American (and allied) companies “sit this one out”, then the entire American and Western industry will fall back and will NEVER be able to catch up.
…
China is being kind.
The United States NEEDS to “carefully consider” the long-term ramifications of their current actions.
As China gets stronger, more important, more dominant in all areas, the United States is at risk to not only falling behind, but going absolutely obsolete in the process.
This is not something that China wants.
…
China wants and prefers a vibrant world; one where different regions; nations, societies and people thrive. In the world that China envisions, it is a WIN-WIN for everyone.
However, the path that the United States has embarked on is fraught with danger. And the United States appears to be on fast-track towards becoming a blight; a mawed gouge in an otherwise improved world.
…
So China is being very polite, and very understated.
However, the truth is the truth.
Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers
Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers 1200 7517
Ingredients
1 pound bottom round steak, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, halved and cored
Avocado oil
Bell peppers, sliced thinly
Red onion, sliced thinly
White onion, sliced thinly
Pickled jalapeños, chopped
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Onion salt
Sea salt
Pepper
Instructions
Heat oven 350 degrees F.
Drizzle avocado oil on bell papers. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes.
Heat a large frying pan over medium-high and add a little avocado oil.
Season steak with onion salt, sea salt and pepper. Sear each side of steak for about 1 to 2 minutes and remove to let rest a couple minutes.
Cut steak into small 1/4 to 3/8 inch square pieces.
Heat frying pan over medium heat and add avocado oil when warm.
Add thinly sliced onions and bell peppers to pan and cook while stirring often for about 10 minutes.
Mix steak, cheese, bell peppers, onions and jalapeños in a bowl.
Fill bell peppers, then bake for 10 minutes until cheese is melted.
In 2001, two ancient statues were blown up in Afghanistan on the orders of the Taliban. The monumental statues were called the “Buddhas of Bamiyan,” and they were carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley of Afghanistan.
They were destroyed after the Taliban declared the ancient Buddhist statues to be false idols and had them blown up.
image 68
In a crazy twist of luck seven, years after the statues were blown up, an Afghan-led archaeological team discovered a series of hidden caves behind that statues. In the caves, they found oil paintings that dated back to the 5th century. This pre-dates the common perception that oil paintings originated in Europe hundreds of years later.
The Israeli Defense Force has declared they are in “a state of war” after over eight hundred rockets were fired into Israel today. Fighters from HAMAS para-glided into southern Israel using fan gliders to cross over the border, landing and killing everyone they see! Today’s “state of war” declaration has not happened since 1973.
Numerous Israeli civilians are already dead, some shot dead just standing in Bus Stops; many more are injured.
At about 1:17 AM EDT Saturday, the Israeli Defense Force made a public declaration that this is a “State of War.”
The last time Israel announced a “State of War” was in 1973. And the first time Israel was surprised by an attack like today’s was in 1973.
Air Raid Sirens are blaring throughout Israel as the Iron Dome air defense systems engage more incoming missiles.
This is taking place NOW. Live updates to appear below . . .
Casual Observers of the never-ending situation between Israel and Palestinians are commenting publicly right now “This is quickly heading toward a Full-Scale War near the Gaza Strip and Southern Israel, this is Totally Out-of-Control.”
Terrorists from Gaza invaded southern Israeli civilian cities – and they’re shooting whoever they see. This is unprecedented. Israel in under attack. pic.twitter.com/5Ngrjm4uts— נריה קראוס Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) October 7, 2023
Fighting is widespread and fierce:
Video below shows the Iron Dome air defense system engaging multiple inbound rockets:
By 1:00 AM eastern US time Saturday, at least sixteen Israelis were confirmed injured and at least ONE was confirmed dead, but there is already ample evidence of MANY dead.
(HT NOTE:I am already reaching out to my former colleagues in the Intelligence Community from during my years working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) to get more detailed info and the “Back Story” but things are a bit chaotic right now over there, and it is very early over here, so information is coming very slowly . . . .)
— Hamas military chief calls on armed groups in Lebanon to join the fighting against Israel
— Civilians massacred by Hamas terrorists in Sderot.
— According to Al Jazeera television, Israel has begun bombing Gaza by Air, Sea, and Artillery.
— Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant has Approved an order to begin the Call-Up of Reservists to Reinforce and Support the Israeli Defense Force.
Below, images of what are reported to be an Israeli “Merkava” tank, burned-out and smashed outside of the GAZA Strip:
image 73image 72
Palestinian Fighters taking Israeli’s Captive:
An IDF soldier has reportedly been Captured . . . Israel calls that “kidnapped.”
Hostage situations reported in Southern Israel.
Palestinian infiltrators have taken over a police station in Sderot and are currently in an active firefight with Israeli police.
Livestreams from Palestinian infiltrators show them executing/ shooting Israeli citizens.
Unconfirmed reports of 10 killed and 2 IDF soldiers captured after clashes on the Gaza border.
Due to rocket salvos throughout Israel, Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv is closed.
— The Government has just declared an “Emergency situation” for an 80km perimeter from Gaza borders
— The Israeli army announces the loss of control of an Israeli military site in the northern Gaza Strip. The soldiers are either captured or dead.
Ashkelon Burning
Map showing Air Raid Alert areas in Israel:
image 71
Heavy rocket barrages on Jerusalem area, rocket alert siren in Wadi Ara in northern Israel; emergency situation declared in entire southern & central Israel.
WARNING – GRAPHIC IMAGES
Below, a man reported to have been an Israeli Soldier, but who is already clearly shot through the head and dead, is dragged from a car and stomped in the street:
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
An Israeli soldier has been taken by Palestinian fighters into the Gaza Strip.
The guy circled below is in the last minute of his life.
He and the guy in the vest were talking trash to each other, escalating a situation and having an ego battle.
image 70
What the guy in the red shorts didn’t realize, is that the other guy was armed with a knife. As he goes to tackle the armed man, he is fatally stabbed. The knife severed a major artery and blood poured out of the man’s body. He couldn’t have survived this wound if it happened in a hospital.
All because he wanted to get into a fist fight with someone who disrespected him.
To the men reading this, especially, getting into a fight with a complete stranger is one of the most dangerous things you could ever do. To you, it might be a fist fight. To them, it might be much more.
On March 25, 2022, 17-year-old Michigan teen, Jordan DeMay put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. His demise came as a huge surprise to his parents, who noticed nothing unusual before the tragedy.
Unknown to them, Jordan had been in an online relationship with a ‘woman’ he met on Instagram. They had exchanged nu*de photographs, but he had no idea he was chatting with two Nigerian men: 22-year-old Samuel and his 20 year-old brother, Samson Ogoshi.
image 62
With Jordan’s nu*des in their possession, they resorted to extortion. They demanded $1000 from him, and although he managed to send $300, it wasn’t enough. They threatened to leak the photos to his Instagram followers if he didn’t send the rest.
After several failed attempts to change their minds, he sent them his final message: ‘I am k-illing myself right now because of you.’ To this, they responded, ‘Good, do that fast, or I will make you do it.’
The brothers have been apprehended in Nigeria and extradited to the US to face trial.
Once I lived across the street from a high school and every day at lunch the students would cross in front of my house on their way to get food. A lot of them crossed through my yard which was annoying but not a big deal. Well one day there was this long hair stoner punk standing in my yard gouging a hole in my lawn with a big stick. I shouted at him to get the fuck off my lawn, he shouted back at me and we got into a low grade shouting match (fuck you! No fuck you! —that sort of thing) as he walked away.
I thought that was the end of it, but then a few days later in the morning I realize my house and truck had been egged. These geniuses had egged me during a rainstorm, however, so all the egg had washed off. The only way I knew was from the eggshells and a little residual yolk in my truck bed that I easily wiped off with a paper towel. Still, the principle of the situation called for vengeance. I was a grad student with a lot of time in my hands, so I got onto myspace (kiddos, myspace was like a proto-facebook popular for a minute in the mid-2000’s) and spent hours clicking through the networks of kids attending that high school until I found his page. Bingo!! This kid was a stoner raver dude and not exactly a genius ( egging in the rain, eg). His myspace page was full of pics of him drinking vodka, smoking blunts, and arranging smalltime drug deals on his and his friends pages, out in the open with no privacy controls!
Next I clicked through all his friends’ pages and happened to stumble on one where he had left his phone number (home phone — this was when only grownups had cells) on a girl’s page. So I paid $5 to reverse-lookup the number and got his parents’ names and address. Then I printed out all his pics and references to drug use and buying/selling along with a handy glossary of drug terms, put it in an envelope and mailed it to his mom. For good measure I emailed a link to his page to the principal and school police officer at his school along with a note expressing how concerned I was that this kid was dealing drugs in school.
I continued to monitor his page to see if I could find out what happened. His activity ceased and his friends were leaving messages on his page saying ‘Dan where are you??’. Apparently he was not in school. After a while his friends began to learn what happened and were discussing it on their pages. Apparently, he got expelled and his parents sent him to reform school!! So delicious. It was great revenge, and hopefully the intervention steered him toward a better path in life. Wish I had a way of finding out what happened to the kid in the long run, as this was 13 years ago.
Once, while in high school, I went to a store in my small town to buy a gallon of milk for my family. I paid the cashier with a $5 bill but she somehow gave me change for a $20.
I didn’t notice her mistake until I was almost home- I had too much money. I told my Mom that I was going to return it to the store. When I walked in the store, the cashier was not at her place so I went to the back and talked to a man in the meat market area (it was a small business not a chain store like we have nowadays).
I told him I had received too much money in change. He looked at me with a look like “WOW”. He then said, “You are an honest young man, aren’t you?”
I told him that I would have felt like I was stealing if I didn’t return the extra money.
Come to find out that he was the owner of the store. He thanked me and said he would not forget about my honesty.
Well, three years passed and I needed a job. I went in to fill out an application for a job at the same store. When I asked for an application at the front counter, the owner came out of the meat market area and asked if he could help me with anything. I asked him for a job application. He said, “You are hired. Can you start tomorrow?”
Now it was my turn to have a “WOW” look on my face. He told me that he remembered me from when I had returned the extra money.
So…by me not keeping $17 three years earlier, I made way more money for three years while I went to work there after high school.
He also trained me to be a butcher, too.
It does pay to be honest.
This is a true story that I told my kids (and every sports player I coached) as they grew up.
This case was famously called the “ Mormon sex in chains case.” In 1977, 17-year-old American Mormon missionary student Kirk Anderson was in the UK when he was kidnapped from the steps of a Mormon church in Surrey.
Kirk Anderson was kidnapped by 24-year-old Keith May after posing as a fake Journalist. He was then driven to a house in Devon, where he was chained to a bed. He was then seduced and raped by Joyce McKinney for three days against his will, while chained to a bed.
image 64
Kirk went straight to the police to report Joyce and her accomplice Keith May. The two were charged and during a committal hearing Joyce, claimed to be in love with the victim. At the time, under the Sexual Offences Act 1956, no crime of rape was deemed to have happened due to the perpetrator being female.
Although Joyce couldn’t be charged with rape, she was charged with kidnapping, along with her accomplice. Joyce McKinney and Keith May absconded to the US under fake names, skipping their trial. They were sentenced to a year in Jail for skipping bail, but extradition orders were never filed by UK authorities.
image 63
She became quiet infamous and even appeared in some raunchy photos for a magazine. She still lives in the US, and to this day, she has never seen a day inside prison for her crimes. She also received a suspended sentence for using a fake ID to enter the US.
BUSTED: Trudeau’s Plane Filled With Cocaine, Psychedelic Drugs!? Diplomat Outs Scumbag Canadian PM
Mr Benny, I’m Canadian and we are not all under Trudeau. I think he should be charged and tried for treason.
Fighter jets from multiple countries played relay
in a reflection of how geopolitics have changed
when President Assad and his family left China after attending the Asian Games and State visit on Air China Special jet B6131. It was escorted by Chinese fighter jets.
as soon as the plane left China and entered Pakistani airspace, fighter jets from Pakistan Air Force escorted the plane
when the Special jet left Pakistani airspace and entered the Arabian Sea, fighter jets from the Iranian Air Force escorted the Special plane along the Persian Gulf
jet fighters from Saudi Arabia subsequently took over and escorted the special plane to Jordan
at the Syrian border, Russian jet fighters took over for the last leg of the journey.
countries that were once bitter foes are now coming together under a BRI Eurasian world
and demonstrating their military coordination
it is now clear that Muslim countries of the Middle East will now COLLECTIVELY provide a powerful and decisive military contingent as part of a BRI Eurasian world in the war that will be fought
triggered by the Angel of Death himself who will once again lead a world wide coalition of countries obsessed with racial superiority, brutality and consumed with hatred against others not like them to complete what he had failed to do in World War 2……to burn the world down
You are not going to exist forever. You’re just a tiny speck in this vast universe and your time in this world is limited.
Anything harsh said to a loved one in anger leaves a permanent scar, no matter how much you try to bandage it.
Health is the most important wealth you can acquire. No matter how much gold you own, it can not quell the torture of an illness.
Every old person was once as old as you are today. Time stops for none.
Things which are most important for you today might be worthless tomorrow. Avoid spending money on urges.
Something as simple as saying sorry first can prevent countless disputes. It is not a sign of weakness.
Who your friends are determine who you become.
To become good at conversation, learn to be a good listener first.
Luck favours those who don’t give up
Be grateful if you have a roof for shelter, clean water for drinking , food on your table and a healthy functioning body. Try to imagine the absence of even one of these in your life.
This Kitten was LEFT FOR DEAD: What Happens Next Will SHOCK YOU
When I still worked for the Forest Service, right after 9/11, the newly created Department of Homeland Security went crazy issuing all kinds of new rules for federal employees. One was knives and sharp objects were no longer allowed in federal buildings. We all shook our heads and muttered “WTF!!! This is the Forest Service. Axes and knives are part our EDC. Tools of the trade.” All field going personnel carried a 4″ folding blade knife, that was mandatory, and most had a favorite tool they carried. Mine was a double bit axe I shaped and filed to my specifications. I did not leave it in my pickup at the end of the day. I carried it to my desk. Most others did too. Walking down the hallway carrying a sharp hand tool was a common sight.
We had a warehouse full of sharp tools and chainsaws. We used incendiary devices and napalm for prescribed burning. We used a scoped rifle to shoot cones out of trees for seed collection I received fire investigation training that showed me how to commit arson without detection. Yet we could not be trusted to carry a knife in the office.
The rule was ignored by everyone, including top management.
You Won’t Believe Who’s The Mastermind Behind Failed Coup Against Ibrahim Traoré!
Stay Strong My Brother, All Africans we need to STAND TOGETHER.
The BRI is a very simple idea on a very grand scale:
China will help to buiid ports, highways and railways in other countries, to facilitate mutual trade and commerce.
If you don’t have enough money, China will lend you some.
That’s about it. Participation is voluntary – China doesn’t force you to have a port or take a loan. And of course, before any country takes any BRI loan, its government, with its Finance Minister and accountants and economics advisers, will think carefully about the pros and cons. Simple as that.
The criticism came about because, well:
… the US government is paying USD 500 million to get the media to criticize the BRI.
The U.S. made more money on trade and business with China than any other nation in the last decade and within a decade it will double.
Think about this for every outlet of McDonald’s, KFC and Starbucks and Coffee Bean open in the U.S. they opened 10 in China! China alone buy more GM than the entire U.S.! Every Apple and Dell sold they make 300 USD due to China’s productivity low cost of production. China’s middle income is now 3 times the size of the U.S. middle income consumer! Most of US brands produced in China is laughing all the way to the bank.
And what did the U.S. do? Yes the fxxk it all up. They pick a fight with their biggest customer and about to be bigger than the next 5 biggest customers put together! The U.S. is now facing an unbearable inflation and an impending recession due to your two 80 year old leader jointly and severally starting a trade war with China! And China have not really retaliated yet.
About the only thing the U.S. is able to make and sell to China. It stupidly ban China from selling! Ok to be fair it bans the 1% of high end Chips. Thinking China will buy the 99% that China could make but thought it let the U.S. share the piece of the pie! But since the U.S. says has evil intentions. China immediately stopped buying the 99%. And the entire U.S. chip industry crashed. Now China has the ability to even take over the 1% high end chips too.
You cannot find a more foolish government on planet earth or perhaps the universe. They even think that China will collapse if the U.S. stop buying or trading with China. China in their mind says if the U.S. wants to have a long rope to hang itself that is their right. China suffers a mosquito bite!
Amidst Laos’ rugged mountainous landscapes, a daily spectacle unfolds as dozens of trains race through, carrying a diverse array of goods, from electronics to cold-chain fruits, bound for destinations in China, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, and beyond. For the people of Laos who had endured the impact of dire transportation for decades, however, these sights have lost their novelty.
Two years have passed since China completed the construction of the China-Laos Railway, which connects the Chinese city of Kunming with Vientiane, the capital of Laos, a route that traverses mountains bearing the scars of unexploded American bombs from the Vietnam War. In this short span, over 19 million passengers and 24 million tons of goods have been transported, and more than 100,000 jobs have been created.
The once treacherous day-long drive from Vientiane to the Chinese border has transformed into a safe and smooth 3.5-hour journey. Today, with an average of seven passenger trains operating daily in Laos’ section, individuals sometimes still struggle for securing a ticket, given that Laos just added another passenger train set to its fleet from China in June. The ample demand for the rail service has surpassed initial expectations.
image 69
Over the past decade, hundreds of railroads and highways like the China-Laos Railway have been constructed from scratch over mountainous terrains and deserts across the Eurasian and African continents. Since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed in 2013, promoting greater infrastructure connectivity and facilitating cross-border transportation with the aim to strengthen business and cultural exchanges have become a defining aspect of China’s international cooperation. Millions benefit from BRI projects. According to the World Bank, BRI is able to boost trade flows among participating countries by 4.1 percent, cut the cost of global trade by 1.1 percent to 2.2 percent, grow the GDP of East Asian and Pacific developing countries by an average of 2.6 to 3.9 percent, and lift 7.6 million people from extreme poverty.
A trap?
On the global stage, however, China’s overseas infrastructure projects under the BRI have faced significant scrutiny, often being depicted as costly plans that may push participating countries into a “debt trap.” The Bar-Boljare highway is on top of the list. It is the first highway in Montenegro history that connects the country from south to north, which is set to replace the old narrow two-lane expressway built along steep mountains and over deep canyons. Although Vatroslav Belan, former advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro on financial matters, stated in an interview that the project did not impose an excessive debt burden on his country, discussions still revolve around the cost of the highway.
China constructed the Bar-Boljare highway with a cost of around 20 million euros per kilometer, which seems like a high price at first glance. But here is a fair comparison to similar infrastructure projects, such as those in the Alps region. According to World Highways, Germany and Austria, two countries situated along the Alps, spent an average of 28.9 million Euros and 27.8 million euros per kilometer on their highways. Given that the Bar-Boljare highway includes the construction of 16 tunnels and 20 bridges over one of the toughest mountainous terrains in Europe, its cost falls within a more than reasonable range.
image 68
However, it’s important to acknowledge the existing concerns and controversies surrounding the BRI. Debt issues for some participating countries in this case highlight the need for more transparency in BRI projects.
No matter what people’s attitude towards the BRI is, one thing that can be confirmed is that the BRI is pragmatic, prioritizing gains for the sake of mutual prosperity, as seen from the results.
Open for all
The original purpose of BRI was building an “economic belt” along the ancient “silk road” linking China with Europe. Despite this, the BRI does not impose geographical restrictions on participating countries, nor is it limited to developing nations. In fact, among the over 150 countries that have signed up for the Initiative, approximately half of them are categorized as upper-middle or high-income by the World Bank. Examples include countries like Hungary, New Zealand, Poland, and many others.
Several Western corporations have already reaped benefits from the BRI. General Electric secured orders worth $2.3 billion for construction and engineering projects under the BRI, while Siemens collaborated with over 100 Chinese partners on BRI-related energy and mining projects. Citibank and Deutsche Bank have also participated in financing BRI projects. From China’s perspective, the BRI is an inclusive platform open to all stakeholders willing to engage.
image 67
Also, the world welcomes other similar initiatives aimed at promoting cooperation and shared prosperity. The G7’s ‘Build Back Better World’ and the EU’s ‘Global Gateway’ can be promising endeavors, provided that their leaders prioritize meaningful actions over branding.
Cooperation rather than aid
To achieve prosperity, economies not only need modern infrastructure, such as high-quality electricity, fast rail, 5G networks and so forth, but, more importantly, a development path tailored to each country’s unique circumstances.
African countries have been receiving aid for decades. Prior to 2000, developed countries extended one trillion US dollars in aid to Africa, averaging more than 1,000 US dollars per person for its 800 million population at that time. Surprisingly, despite the peak of European and American aid between 1970 and 1998, Africa’s poverty rate soared from 11% to 66%.
(Source: Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo)
China has actively supported Africa since the 1950s, albeit with a distinct approach. The wisdom of the proverb, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime,” exactly characterizes China’s intentions in Africa and other developing nations under the BRI.
China’s own economic ascent over recent decades underscores the belief that each nation should chart its development path based on its unique circumstances—harnessing its resources and fostering distinctive industries. The wiser approach lies in dismantling barriers to enable the smooth flow of essential factors for industrialization.
Instead of extending direct financial aid, China focuses on addressing crucial development needs, removing obstacles, and promoting trade, which are pivotal for African countries in breaking free from the control of aid providers and achieving self-reliance in development. The 1,860-kilometer-long Tazara Railway, linking Zambia to the Indian Ocean, has significantly bolstered the development of nations along its route, underscoring the effectiveness of China’s approach of assisting others in helping themselves.
Underlying this philosophy, the Belt and Road Initiative goes beyond merely offering financial assistance to impoverished nations. It revolves around empowering countries to foster their own development in which China gets market access, while BRI participants acquire technology and opportunities. It’s a mutually beneficial, two-way journey with cooperation at its core.
image 67
As reflecting on the past decade of the BRI, it is clear that this initiative has evolved significantly. It has embraced environmental sustainability and has promoted smart industries like telecommunications and cloud computing. While debates about its impact continue, the BRI remains a focal point of global economic development and international cooperation.
The smartest thing I ever saw in a court, and I’ve been in a court more than a few times (no, not as the defendant), wasn’t accomplished by an attorney, but by a 16-year-old girl. I bet she’s a lawyer now, as it was some years ago. If not, she’s surely doing something that requires similar talents and abilities, because she removed a threat and constant victimizer from our community when lawyers couldn’t.
It wasn’t a particularly important case, but she approached it acting as her own attorney and as if she had been arrested for murder. She even brought her own self-produced technicolor slide and video shows.
She had been pulled for speeding and running a stop sign by a county deputy who was the bain of our resort community from which the only way into the city where many of us worked or had other homes was by passed through a small town. Deputy Thug, as we called him, often lay in wait behind huge trees in the darkness, not just for law breakers but for people to harass at night when observers were not about. His favorite victims were minorities and teenagers and younger women of any race. He never pulled mature men, even if they were flying low, or older women, maybe for fear of husbands and sons or maybe they reminded him of his mother.
Almost all of our law enforcement officers were extremely polite and courteous, even if they hauled you off to jail. But people were afraid of this man. Everyone, even other deputies, knew that those he pulled were far more likely to be innocent than guilty and that he threatened violence and set people up, but no one had been able to prove it, with or without lawyers. Deputy Thug was not merely a liar, but a bully with no one controlling him. He was proud of his reputation for the most tickets, the most arrests, the most feared, etc.
He yelled, screamed, called names, demanded people, especially boys, get out of cars so he could shove them around and try to provoke them into something he could arrest for. He threatened, he intimidated. He accused them of serious crimes. I know it was true, because I saw it, and spoke up about it, and later I was also targeted. He was nasty and very threatening until I convinced him I knew my rights and for reasons not worth going into here, he wouldn’t be as likely to win my kind of fight as he would a violent one against a teenage boy.
Miss 16-Year-Old approached the docket like Perry Mason pretending to be Columbo. You would have to see it and hear a lot of detail to get the brilliance of how she set him up, but just to simplify it, she asked him question after question, about what she did, where she was, why that was illegal, where he was, what he saw, what he did, when he did it, on and on. She repeated every important question, asking twice if he were absolutely sure beyond a doubt. Of course, he was, he would answer, arrogant and condescending, tough, counterattacking, apparently not suspecting a trap being laid.
Since she refuted nothing he said, even seemed to be accepting his lies and a bit chagrined at times, the 200 or so of us in the courtroom (a bigger county court in the bigger city, not the small town) felt sorry for her. Deputy Thug was verbally beating her up to the extent the judge would let him, and we were losing hope that she had anything to offer to support her case – until she finished her line of inquiry and turned on the visuals.
She turned from Columbo into a 16-year-old ace prosecutor and proved with the slides and film that every single answer he had given her was a lie.
She had not even been where he claimed and wrote on the ticket that the incident happened. He had not pulled her at the time he said and wrote. There was no stop sign where he said she had run one. The speed limit at the place he cited was higher than he said she was driving, on and on and on.
Then, after she had disproven all his claims beyond a doubt – she proved that both the place she actually was and the place he falsely claimed to have pulled her weren’t even in his jurisdiction! He had no right to pull her or ticket her, let alone threaten to arrest her, as if she had been committing grand theft auto.
And during that process, she handled him as if she had 30 years’ experience in dismantling the defenses of hardened criminals, and he lost control and exploded at her when he realized she had shown him up as a liar and abuser of his authority.
The entire court room erupted in loud cheers and applause as the judge, enraged well before this point, dismissed the case and shredded the deputy, saying that he was a disgrace to his uniform and that he himself was deeply offended by the lies just told, also implying that serious consequences were in order.
Unfortunately, the judge had no control over police personnel, and Deputy Thug was not fired. But he stopped harassing our community and we never saw the swagger and arrogance again. All because a 16-year-old decided to take the time and trouble to prepare carefully a real defense and offense instead of just paying the fine.
I wondered if one of her parents might have been an attorney. Someone close to her could have advised, but the girl did it all. I hope she is fighting for the right somewhere today.
The lesson I learned is that it sometimes does pay to take small cases that seem to have little chance of success to court.
i sold everything & left America
I left my country beginning of 2021 and moved to France. It has been the most healing, spiritual and phenomenal thing I’ve ever done. I had a spiritual awakening, met my husband and started a business and all because I answered the call of my soul. Well done for doing the same. Life is short. Just do it!
I am not sure what what will US become. That is what Americans must decide on its own free will. To me to each it’s own. It will be good if Americans think seriously about the system you have that your media term as exceptional and land of the free and brave, the beacon of democracy and the leader of the free world?
But if Americans are brain dead and take it as what your media and your politicians say it is. Then that is the choice and right for Americans. I can only say what I think and what 7.5 billion out of 8 billion earthlings think about the so called liberal democracy. We know it is anything but democratic, anything but liberal, anything but exceptional!
We want out. Out from the U.S. so called rules based international order. The world knows it should not and will not follow a U.S. or western order or rules set by the west to impoverish the developing world and enriching the western order. That won’t work and we the world reject it wholeheartedly.
The U.S., its dog nations mainly your Anglo Saxon family, your slave vassal states some former colonial powers have reason to want to perpetuate this order so that the loot and the plunder can perpetuate because you are the net beneficiary of this order. So I can understand why this group wants to keep your thieving ways. But this group represents a mere 12% of the world and at most 12–15 nations out of 195 nations on earth. By any definition this is not the majority of the world. It Is a small minority.
We think the U.S. ways are simply barbaric and certainly unsustainable over the long term. It is no wonder that the U.S. share of the world economy evaporated from 52% in 1945 to today a little less than 15% in real purchasing power share today! And dropping very fast. In a decade the U.S. dollar as a reserved will reduce by 80% after all who wants their reserves to be robbed right before their eyes like how you confiscated the Russian reserves or Venezuelan gold in London.
The U.S. can only survived by money printing and credit creation without basis. No different from one humongous Ponzi scheme. 20% of worlds prisoners population is in the U.S., a week of mass random shootings in the U.S. is more than the entire world put together in a whole year! Up to a million Americans live in tents homeless throughout the U.S. Is the U.S.”liberal democracy” good? Or is it even workable?
Because China is a large country with a population of 1.4 billion. In recent years, China has increased its research and development efforts, innovated and made breakthroughs on its own, achieved independence and self-improvement in the fields of military, national defense, finance, economy, high technology, and got rid of external constraints and threats. It has maintained the world’s advanced level in fields such as high-speed railways, aerospace, ocean diving and drones, and has won respect and voice in the world. China is not afraid of provocation by the United States or encirclement by the United States.
image 64
on the contrary，The United States has always regarded itself as the world’s leader and hegemon, and it is unwilling to see any country threaten its status and interests. The United States’ provocation against China is motivated by fear and jealousy of China’s rise. When China has made significant progress in various fields, the United States feels crisis and uneasiness. It fears China will surpass it, or at least be on par with it. It is jealous of China’s achievements and wants to smear and slander China’s image. Therefore, the United States has adopted various means to suppress and contain China’s development in an attempt to maintain its advantages and hegemony.
image 63
In recent years, due to the rising of China, the United States is worried about its hegemonic position, so it tries to suppress China’s rise and contain China in all aspects, such as “trade war”, “freedom of navigation”, pushing allies to give up Huawei equipment, and using the media to convey China’s wrong information to the international community. It has also put pressure on its Allies to do so, for example, by provoking countries such as the Philippines to constantly provoke China over the South China Sea issue.
image 62
In fact, none of these strategies worked. The more the United States oppresses China, the higher and more stable the Asian country will stand. For example, the US accused China of setting a “debt trap”, which eventually resulted in more countries joining the Belt and Road Initiative. At the same time, more and more countries have applied to join the BRICS, and the BRICS countries also ushered in the expansion of membership this year. Diplomatically, despite the United States’ efforts to isolate China around the world, more than 30 foreign leaders and senior officials attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. In short, the US policy of “containing China” has failed miserably. So why can’t the US contain China’s rise?
First, the US cannot afford outright confrontations with China right now. China’s economic growth has been steady, and it has become the world’s second largest economy, with a wide market for US trade exports, and the two economies are highly interdependent, making complete decoupling almost impossible. China and the United States have close ties in trade, investment, and finance. Some US industries and enterprises are too dependent on the Chinese market and will suffer serious losses if the trade war continues. However, China has countermeasures, such as restricting imports of US products and reducing purchases of US bonds. This interdependence makes it difficult for the United States to bear the economic costs of confrontation with China.
image 61
Second, China’s rise on the international stage has deterred the United States from openly acknowledging conflict and confrontation. China is increasingly influential in global affairs, actively participating in global governance and proposing a series of initiatives and programs, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The US is aware that open confrontations with China will only lead to its isolation on the global stage, loss of opportunities for international cooperation, and further weakening of its hegemonic position. History is the best proof: Vietnam War and the Iraq War fully illustrate the nature of selfishness of the US. The various failures of the United States have already undermined its diplomatic reputation, but for China, it is a good opportunity to gain more room for growth in the targeted competition.
image 60
The United States needs to face China’s rise correctly and build a more stable and peaceful cooperative relationship with China, rather than adopting a vicious competitive approach. In the era of globalization, international cooperation is an effective way to solve problems. Both China and the US are the world’s largest economies with different strengths and development models. Through mutual respect, equal dialogue, and cooperation, the two countries can jointly address global challenges and promote prosperity and stability in the world.
Spicy Orange Beef
sweet and spicy orange beef.tif
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups broccoli florets
12 scallions, with tops, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (1 pound) boneless sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
3 medium oranges, sectioned
Hot cooked rice
Instructions
In a small bowl combine the first six ingredients; set aside.
In a large skillet or wok, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat; sauté garlic for 30 seconds.
Add broccoli, onions, ginger and pepper flakes; stir-fry for 2 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender.
Remove vegetables and keep warm.
Heat remaining oil in skillet; add beef. Stir-fry until no longer pink.
Stir orange juice mixture; add to skillet.
Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
Return vegetables to pan. Add oranges and heat through.
You have to understand the Chinese mindset to make sense of High speed rail
Only the Chinese can make it work
In Hongkong, Westerners predicted ferries would go out of business in the late 1950s because they charged 5 cents per person
FIVE CENTS
They were losing almost 150,000 HK a day
Yet they flourished and stayed in business
The reason?
INTRINSIC BENEFITS
More people flocked to Kowloon and the New Territories and more opportunities cropped up and more money was earned and the economy benefited more
So the Loss of 150K a day was compensated by a gain of 800K a day in 4 years time to the HK economy
This kind of mindset is something only a Chinese Mind and by extension a Singaporean Mind can conjure or think up
Factories in China were given tax subsidies in lieu of investing in Rural China
Factories gained an average of 60 Billion Yuan of tax concessions and their investment into the villages was 34 Billion Yuan
So Chinese Governments were losing 26 Billion Yuan a year in Tax
Sounds inefficient? Sounds corrupt?
Yet this 26 Billion Yuan a year, helped make villages self sufficient and within a decade the villagers were saving the Government of China around 100 Billion Yuan a year and earning them around 36–40 Billion Yuan
So the Chinese lost 260 Billion Yuan in Taxes over 10 years but Chinese Economy gained 1.4 Trillion Yuan over the same 10 years
High Speed Rails works in the same way
It costs the Chinese around 600 Billion Yuan a year in Losses
Yet it connects people from 200 miles away and helps prevent ghettos and slums in cities, ensures workplaces tick on time
It brings value to rural outlying areas whose land growth is asset monetization to the Chinese Government
It helps the housing sector as people can build in semi urban or rural areas now and still sell flats and houses due to the fact that cities are 4–6 hours away instead of 18 hours
Thus the intrinsic benefits of this 800 Billion a year is maybe 2–3 Trillion a year to the Chinese Economy
And as you scale the HSR across China (It’s only 45% complete today), you can cut the losses from 800 Billion Yuan a year to maybe 300 Billion Yuan a year and bring a positive intrinsic benefit to China of upto 4 Trillion a year
That’s something purely for the Chinese and maybe the Japanese people to know and understand
Westerners who follow pure capitalist economics won’t understand any other this
Indian leaders sadly are too corrupt and too entrenched in politics to have intrinsic benefits for their people. Thus any intrinsic benefits will be replaced by inefficiency and corruption
Bottom line
You want to understand Chinese actions in business?
First understand how a Chinese thinks
You cannot understand Chinese actions with a Western mindset.
USA is basically what happens when Jean Calvin meets Oliver Cromwell meets Ayn Rand.
I have never seen this kind of squalor in any First World country - and I have travelled a lot.
United States, as a society, is incredibly callous, ruthless, indifferent and negligent as a society. It was like that when Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, and it is the same today. United States is a winner-takes-it-all society, where losers are treated with hard hand and where losing in this societal dog-eat-dog struggle of existence is basically your own fault. And in this mindset, for every winner, there must always be a plenitude of losers.
American “freedom” is essentially indifference.
Now opiates are painkillers. They are downers. They numb down pain. Not only physical pain, but also social and societal pain. This is what makes them so dangerous.
Opiates are not party drugs nor protest drugs nor psychedelics. They are essentially loser drugs. They are not used to getting high. They are used to keep the pain away.
Heroin is the ultimate so-what drug. Opiates are used to keep the cruel world away – to keep the pain, the shame, the agony, the knowledge you are bottom dregs of the society, human waste – away.
Opiates are the alternative for committing suicide. For the really downtrodden and broken, the opiates give a reason to live for tomorrow.
The seeds of the opiate crisis were sowed in the 1980s during the era of Ronald Reagan and the Neo-Liberalist economic policy and Neo-Conservative societal politics. They initiated the polarization of the American society into filthy rich and dirth poor, and they initiated the erosion of the middle class. Ever since USA was founded, each generation was wealthier than their parents. This finally ended with the Generation X – it is the first generation which will remain poorer than their parents. The reason is the erosion of the middle class and the polarization of the society into winners and losers, and there is no guarantee any more for social ascension via hard work, education or entrepreneurship.
With the erosion of the middle class came the erosion of the support pillars of the society. The loss of middle class jobs meant erosion of the nuclear family. That came with erosion of the traditional religiosity of the US. That came with the polarization of politics – Dems were overrun by the progressive wokes and Reps by the MAGA folks. I cannot say who are more lunatic, but the pragmaticism and common sense disappeared. Trump is not the cause, he is the symptom.
Generation Y and Z (the Millennials) will remain still even poorer than the Gen X. They are the first American generations with no future. And they realize it. Usually people become more conservative with age – because of gentrification. This has not happened with Gen X, Y nor Z. It is said Gen X is the great so-what generation – totally disillusioned and totally dreamless – and the younger generations are outright Nihilstic about their futures.
This “no future” realization, however, is not enough to create a drug problem – in the UK it created the punk subculture. What is needed is a cheap supply of safe drugs. And that happened with the Purdue Pharma. They developed a process to manufacture oxycodone cheaply from thebaine and a form of compound which releases slowly the oxycodone into metabolism – and named it as Oxycontin.
image 66
Thebaine can easily be converted into just any source of drugs. Mind you heroin is diacetylmorphine, and synthesized from morphine by treating it with acetic acid anhydride. The molecule of oxycodone is dangerously similar as that of heroin.
Purdue Pharma marketed Oxycontin ruthlessly and disregarding its addictiviness. The company got rich – and also a lot of the product went to clandestine hands. The drug addicts realized it was both cheaper than heroin and safer to use – oxycodone eventually pretty much has superseded illicit heroin on the market. Purdue Pharma dug too deep and unleashed the balrog.
image 66
This figure pretty much explains it all. The first wave began with Purdue Pharma unleashing the balrog with Oxycontin in the 1990s. It also coincided with the closure of coal mines and deindustrialization of the Rust Belt and the desperation and hopelessness of the poor people there.
The second wave began with heroin in 2010. It was only a temporary rise – the even stronger and stranger stuffs – emerged. That is, synthetic opioids like fentanyl, tramadol and other similar stuffs. The Russian scourge, krokodil, never got a foothold in the US, though – the American addicts are not that desperate.
Eventually the synthetic opioids bypassed both oxycodone and heroin. The drug misuse problem is greatest where desperation, hopelessness and bleak outlook in the life are hardest – rural America, traditional industrial areas and poor quarters of the cities. In 2020, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths increased 31% compared to 2019. Adults aged 35-44 (Gen Y) experienced the highest rates of drug overdose deaths while young people aged 15-24 (Gen Z) experienced the greatest percentage increase in deaths.
Fentanyl is both extremely potent painkiller and rather simple to synthesize in a clandestine laboratory. Fentanyl has been synthesized from a simple phenylethylamine by four step sequence. The key part of this synthesis involves an efficient construction of phenylethylpiperidone skeleton via aminomethano desilyltion-cyclization followed by Swern oxidation. This is known as the Gupta method.
image 65
The first step involves treating piperidone in hydrocloric acid solution with aniline and zinc catalyst with acetic acid – this is a simple addition-elimination reaction.
The second step is adding 2-bromoethylbenzene in 50% w/w NaOH (50% hydroxide solution was interpreted for the 100% hydroxide solution stated in the Gupta patent) to yield 4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (4-ANPP).
The third step is adding propionyl chloride to yield fentanyl. It should be noted in all cases that dichloromethane was substituted for 1,2-dichloroethane in the last step (Step-3). Also, the Gupta-patent stops at the isolation of the fentanyl in freebase form, while all samples in this study were converted to the hydrochloride salt form to replicate the salt form of most seized samples (Step-4) with hydrochloric acid.
Unlike Breaking Bad and the red-white-blue synthesis of methamphetamine, the fentanyl synthesis is rather safe, but asks for clandestine, uncommon and not generally available chemicals. The yield is not stoichiometric, and produces a lot of unwanted side products. Mind you also the stereochemistry. A modification of the Gupta “one-pot” route is accomplished starting with piperidone hydrochloride, triethylamine, phenylacetaldehyde, and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (STAB) in dichloromethane. This chemical mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight. On the second day, aniline and additional STAB were added and allowed to stir again overnight at room temperature. The crude 4-ANPP product was isolated after Step-2, which was a deviation from the standard “one-pot” procedure, by adding NaOH solution until basic and extracting the desired product with dichloromethane. The resulting dichloromethane layer was dried over sodium sulfate, decanted into another flask, taken to fentanyl using propionyl chloride and triethylamine, and then isolated as the hydrochloride salt form in Step-4.
The result is now that balrog roams free and there is no simple solution for this problem. United States is slowly decaying and disintegrating, but not with a bang but with a whimper. The current opiate and opioid crisis is a symptom of this decay – including all the social evils connected to it.
Russia has a similar crisis, but with really dangerous stuffs, such as krokodil, which is basically home-cooked very impure desomorphine. The Russian youth experiences the similar hopelessness, lack of opportunities, bleakness and desperation as the Americans, and they have it even worse. Needless to say, Putin’s politics have certainly not eased it. Russia is basically another petrostate with Mongol legacy, and Russian rulers have always treated their peasants as expendable. In Russia, human life has never had any value whatsoever. See ‘Muting The Horrors’: Experts Warn Of Addiction Crisis As Russian Soldiers Return From Ukraine
We here in Europe live with a cold circle under our butts: which will collapse first, USA or Russia – and what will it mean to us?
a shift is happening, keep up
“I needed to hear this so badly today. Been stuck in a rut of anxiety and negative self doubt, I recently graduated high school and am choosing a path other than college and it has made me feel like I’m out of the loop or a “loser” for not going to college. This made me realize I need to stop pitying myself and put the work in to have a better life for myself”
Long before I even heard of a “Chicago pizza”, I would make these pizzas that my brother and I referred to as “swamp pizza”. What I would do is take a “off the shelf” pizza kit and raise the dough extra long. And instead of flattening it out in the standard pizza shape, I would use it to line a deep Pyrex dish.
deep dish pizza aka swamp
I would then fill it with the sauce and cover it up with cheese. Sometimes I would add meat and mushrooms, and always I would cover with lots and lots of cheese.
It’s been decades since I made these little Swamp Pizzas. But every now and then, I get a hankering for a swamp pizza on a lazy afternoon, and a black and white vintage science fiction or film noir movie. I will tell you that it is perfect for spending a snowy Winter day alone.
Today…
Doggie story
“My dog gave her life to save my son.
Cindy, my dog, was six years old and she was the most home-loving and obedient dog. I loved her and she knew it. When my son was born, she was immediately very protective over him. She’d sit beside his pram for hours, popping her front legs up onto the pram every now and then to make sure he was ok.
My son was almost three years old. We lived near a busy road and we were super vigilant at always child-proofing the front door – without exception. My son, as young children can be, was into everything. We’d often find him in the kitchen at 4 am with a concoction of cereal, milk, dry dog food, eggs, etc all mixed up on the kitchen floor. He was that kind of child – into everything. He also watched everything we would do and try to mimic us in his own unique way, often with highly amusing consequences.
One morning, again around 4 am, he somehow managed to ‘escape’ through his bedroom window. To rewind a little, Cindy knew not to go outside (apart from the garden) without us. We could have left the front door open all day (when my son was visiting with grandparents) and she’d never venture out. She also knew that our son wasn’t allowed to go through the front door without us, evidenced by her pushing at him if he fiddled with the front door handle. She didn’t know that it was double locked. This day, she followed my son through the window.
At 5 am, the police woke us knocking on the door. Their words were – “your son was nearly killed but your dog copped it”. They then reiterated what the lorry driver had said…
He told them that he was driving along in the dark and in the distance, he could see something ‘light colored’ moving on the road. As he got closer, he could see a dog at the side of the road barking and barking at the ‘light colored’ something. At the last moment, he realized that this was a child and was about to swerve. He said he could see the dog, still barking and glancing between the truck and the child. While the driver was braking, the dog ran out into the road, jumped at the child’s back and threw him out of the path of the lorry and at the same time, the lorry hit the dog and killed her.
According to the police, the driver said that he’d never believe what he saw unless it was with his own eyes. He said that the dog definitely knew the danger which is why she was barking so anxiously. He said “that dog just saved that kid’s life and it knew what it was doing.”
That was 39 years ago and I still miss Cindy every day. She was a rough collie (a lassie dog) and I can understand why this breed was chosen for the movies.”
School Bus story
“I drive a school bus and have a 6 grader who I would like to talk about.
Last week he was talking about an elderly neighbor not leaving her house for weeks. I tried to explain how hard it could be for her to do things. On Tuesday I pulled up and he wasn’t at the stop waiting. I looked over and saw him shoveling her porch. I was early so I waited for him. The other kids asked why I waited. I said anyone helping someone deserves a few extra minutes. All the kids started asking him questions about his neighbor. The next day 7 children got on the bus with blankets, food and cards for the elderly woman. I delivered them after worked. Now everyday she stands on the porch and the whole bus waves good morning. I am so proud of him for stepping up and doing the right thing. He taught all the children something important. I smile with pride in my heart because of the extraordinary children I have on my bus.” .
A Secret Global Coup Has Happened!
Let’s say there are 10 people. 1 is a sociopath and 2 are brutish thugs. The sociopath will use the two thugs to keep the rest in line using violence. The other 7 people will be forced to work long and hard so that these 3 can live lives of pleasure and privilege. This is the story of human civilization ever since the agricultural revolution. Countries are people farms; most humans have become farm animals and are treated as such.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard
Matthew Leonard, born on November 26, 1929, in Eutaw, Alabama, embodied the spirit of service from an early age. Raised in a segregated society, Leonard attended Ullman High School in Birmingham, Alabama. He was not only a student but also a Boy Scout, instilling in him the values of honor and duty.
As a teenager, Leonard took on a job at a local drugstore, earning a modest $15 per week. This hard-earned income was dedicated to helping his mother meet the family’s financial needs. Even in his youth, Leonard demonstrated a deep sense of responsibility and commitment to those he cared for.
In 1947, at the age of 18, Matthew Leonard enlisted in the U.S. Army, beginning a remarkable journey that would span nearly two decades. He dedicated himself to a life of service, embracing the challenges and responsibilities that came with it.
Leonard served as a drill sergeant and trained young recruits at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. But as the war in Vietnam broke out, Leonard’s wife said he struggled to watch those young recruits, who weren’t much older than his sons, go to war and die. So, even though he was close to retirement, he volunteered to deploy in the hope of making a difference.
On February 28, 1967, in the heart of Vietnam, Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard, serving as the platoon sergeant for Company B of the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, demonstrated unparalleled bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.
Sgt. Leonard’s valorous journey unfolded near Suoi Da, Vietnam, where his platoon suddenly found themselves under a hail of enemy fire. The enemy, armed with small arms, automatic weapons, and hand grenades, vastly outnumbered Leonard’s platoon. Amid the chaos, the platoon’s commander and several key leaders were among the first to be wounded, thrusting Leonard into a position of leadership.
With remarkable composure, Leonard rallied his platoon to repel the initial enemy assault. He swiftly organized a defensive perimeter, redistributed ammunition, and bolstered the morale of his fellow soldiers. Even in the midst of battle, he exemplified unwavering leadership.
As the enemy’s assault intensified, Leonard’s selflessness and bravery shone brighter. When a wounded soldier found himself outside the safety of the defensive perimeter, Leonard risked his life to rescue him. It was during this act of heroism that Leonard himself was struck by a sniper’s bullet, shattering his hand.
Undeterred by his injuries, Leonard refused medical attention and continued to fight. He moved tirelessly from position to position, directing counterfire against the enemy, who had positioned a machine gun that threatened the entire perimeter.
Just as the situation seemed dire, Leonard’s own platoon’s machine gun malfunctioned, adding to the peril. Without hesitation, Leonard crawled to the malfunctioning weapon, determined to get it back into operation. During this critical moment, the enemy machine gun began strafing nearby soldiers, hitting Leonard’s gunner and others.
Summoning every ounce of his strength, Leonard rose to his feet and charged toward the enemy gun. Despite suffering multiple gunshot wounds, he managed to eliminate the enemy machine gun’s crew, silencing the threat.
Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard’s indomitable spirit and unwavering commitment to his comrades and mission endured until the very end. Despite being gravely wounded, he propped himself against a tree and continued to return fire until he could no longer carry on.
His incredible sacrifice and valor were acknowledged with the Medal of Honor, a testament to the extraordinary dedication and courage he displayed in the face of adversity.
Poor Cat Left To Decompose While She Is Alive | Rescue Before And After
Back when I was a young teen (more moons ago than I can count) I worked as a law clerk during the summers at my father’s office in downtown Chicago. Mostly it was busy work, matching mail with files, pulling files for court and some light typing.
On occasion I would go with him to court when he argued cases before the industrial commission (work related accidents).
One of these cases involved an individual who claimed his shoulder injury was so bad he was permanently and totally disabled from working ever again. He was a Russian immigrant and so his lawyer had to use an interpreter to question him during the hearing.
What they didn’t know was that my father had been a Russian Interrogator for the Air Force during the Korean War, and spoke fluent Russian. He had been teaching me conversational Russian while I was growing up, so I was able to follow along for the most part.
When his lawyer asked the question : “Mr. Petrovitch, how high can you lift your right arm” their interpreter actually said “Raise your right hand a small amount and act as if you are in severe pain” to which the man raised his hand a little, groaned and grimaced, squinting his eyes.
On cross-examination, after a laundry list of standard questions (through the interpreter, of course) my dad said in fluent Russian “HANDS UP OR I’LL SHOOT!” The man immediately raised both arms and stretched them towards the ceiling, showing no limitations or pain behavior at all.
Of course the other lawyer started shouting his objections, the interpreter yelled at the petitioner (plaintiff) that he was stupid and the judge covered his face with his hands to try and stop laughing out loud.
Go to the school and demand the phone back immediately. Having a phone is not illegal. If they balk at giving it back and spew some nonsense about not allowing phones at school tell them your child doesn’t have his phone in class but you as his parent require that he carry it with him to be able to track him and reach him as needed. There are many tracking apps now. Calmly, Demand they hand over the phone immediately. If they do not, call the police right there from the school office to report a theft. Get the names and positions of everyone witnessing this. Tell the school that if you don’t get the phone by the next day you will be buying a new phone and your attorney will be in contact with the school regarding the school paying for the new phone plus the old phone plus the attorney’s bill. Ask when the next school board meeting is and suggest you will be attending to discuss the dismissal of all involved, on charges of petty larceny.
You Won’t Βelieve What Τhey Have In Stοre For Us Next..
Let me see if I got this correct. The tax payer now pays for Gov stores and also pays to fill those stores with food and other items again using tax payer money. Then the tax payer goes to buy the food in the Gov store and gets tax on top of that. Crazy times we are living in!
Prison food is not great. It is not served on fine china or plated to be visually pleasing to the eye.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are seldom served.
For five years I went twice a week to spend time with inmates as we worked together on a book project for at risk kids.
We were all volunteers for our community, as we sat on opposite sides of the table.
One evening when I entered the men’s dormitory, where we met, an inmate handed me a small cardboard box.
He said, “We do not have anything to give you to thank you for coming here and treating us with respect. We want you to know we appreciate your giving value to our lives by using our stories to help others.”
I felt humbled and astonished when I saw the contents of the box. It was a red apple, some popcorn, and another small edible item. On the side was a handwritten note with many signatures.
Anyone who has spent time in prison knows fresh fruit is like gold. A thank you in any form is not to be taken lightly.
Inmates sharing their food with an outsider is not common. Sharing food that is fresh and seldom served is momentous.
Their gifts were not only humane. They were risky. Giving gifts was not in the rule book. I looked over at the nearby guards who also chose to be humane that day and let me know they understood the importance of what was happening.
They looked at the hardened faces of the men in my class, whose softened eyes were asking permission. The guards nodded while I fought to keep back the tears.
In all my years of teaching and rendering service to others, I have never felt such gratitude for the priviege as I did that day.
Years later, seeing a red apple stirs my spirit and reminds me, humane and selfless acts still abound.
In unexpected places, gratitude can still civilize us when we least expect it, for both the giver and the recipient.
P.S. The book is available to be borrowed for free through Amazon Kdp select. It is titled, “Redirecting Kids for Success” Prison Prevention…for at risk kids grades 9-12.
Breaking! China just dealt a DEVASTATING blow to U.S. Dollar Dominance
Breaking news on this Monday out of China where we have new data on the dumping of U.S. treasuries and what this means for the U.S. dollar dominance. Saudi Arabia also dumping U.S. treasuries at an increased rate over the past few weeks. What is going on?
Xi changed nothing. You’ve been listening to Western propaganda garbage.
Nearly the entire Global South is behind China. More than 40 countries have expressed a wish to join China-led BRICS and SCO. More than 150 countries have signed up to the BRI and wish to receive Chinese assistance.
China has treated America, Britain and EU with utmost respect. The reverse, unfortunately, has not been true. China is sick and tired of their arrogance and Cold War mentality.
Why did the West change their attitude towards China? Riddle me this.
She’s lying. She has no idea what to do. What she’s trying to selli is the idea that she does.
Here’s the problem. Americans want fentanyl. Enough Americans want fentanyl as to make it worth the enormous risk of smuggling either it, or the raw materials to make it, into the United States. Capitalism 101. And there is no way to stop that. None. Every attempt we’ve ever made to stop drug use by prohibition has been not only an utter failure, but has caused us more trouble than the actual problem we were trying to fix.
There’s a deeper problem. Fentanyl is a symptom, not a cause. And that cause is the utter hopelessness and the lack of resources for the poor in the US. We’ve literally criminalized poverty. We have the weakest social safety net in the industrial world, and we’ve decided that a tax structure that makes it possible for a handful of men to amass fortunes that can buy them freedom from the law, is a good thing even if it leaves 20% of the country living below the poverty line in an information and resource vacuum that leaves most trapped.
Preying on the poor is hugely profitable, and the capitalists have risen to the task. We choose to look away and complain.
HarmonyOS 4.0 reaches over 60 million Huawei devices in less than 2 months
Hauwei unveiled HarmonyOS 4.0, the latest version of its operating system, on August 4. The new iteration brought several changes to the user interface, as well as new features and improvements. Huawei has been quickly rolling out the new software to eligible devices. Earlier this month, we reported that 10 million Huawei smartphones and tablets were already running HarmonyOS 4.0. And today, the company confirmed that the OS has now made its way to over 60 million devices.
Huawei announced 60 million installations of HarmonyOS 4 on Huawei smartphones and tablet devices at its Autumn 2023 Flagship Product Launch event today. The company said it added an average of 1.2 million new users each day. This is just after less than 2 months of the formal announcement of the software.
HarmonyOS 4.0 comes with several notable changes, including a variety of rich theme templates and stylized layout designs. You can select the colors of your app icons and set emoji wallpapers and home screens by choosing your favorite emoji.
It also lets you better manage your notifications by clustering them together and sorting them by importance. The notifications for the same app are now stacked into dynamic cards so you can see more information about each notification without having to open it. HarmonyOS 4.0 also lets you identify text and images by double-clicking and then long-pressing to select them.
Huawei had a busy day today. It launched half a dozen new products in China, including a Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design smartphone with satellite calling and a ceramic body. In addition, the company unveiled the FreeBuds Pro 3 as well as the Watch GT 4.
U.S Sanctions Failed As China’s Shenzhen Imports Integrated Circuits From All Around the World!
“We see the “US of Amurdikkka is fastly declining in to a third world company/country/corporation.” Fall Babylon fall, youve destroyed so many. Now enjoy the ride down, you’ll never rise again.”
I’ve been wondering whether or not to answer this… The “wrong person” is my daughter (stepdaughter really,but I’m Daddy now and forever so that settles that) and the people doing the “picking a fight”were her ex boyfriend and his father.. I didn’t personally witness this because I was in Iraq at the time,but believe me I sure heard about it.
Daughter is tall and not a delicate flower even though she has all the requisite standard equipment to attract stares and suchlike, including a startling resemblance to Gal Gadot ,and I always emphasized to all my kids the importance of self confidence ,so she carries herself with a certain pride. She has Blackfeet blood along with Irish and Norwegian and who knows what else, girl has a temper too,what can I say..
Anyways,ex boyfriend and father spot her walking down the sidewalk one weekend night and follow her,asking her to get in and go for a cruise.. She says no,but they apparently don’t want to take no for an answer and pull ahead and stop, ex BF Gets out of the car and grabs her elbow and pulls her towards the car,she pulls away and he grabs her again, by this time she is almost in the door. I had taught my kids to avoid punching someone and use their elbows if the person was close enough, which ex BF certainly was unfortunately for his dumb ass, because Daughter proceeds to elbow him repeatedly in the face with backswing strikes on her way away from the car, dislocating ex BF‘S jaw and shattering his eye socket and breaking his nose, and naturally stopped any hostilities on his part, but ex BF’s dad was pushed by this time and ran around the car and accosted Daughter, catching a 50 yard field goal kick in his balls for his troubles..I taught my kids well.
Well, as an American woman, I would recommend that China’s leaders maintain a strong and unyielding stance against the outright bully tactics of my country’s government. To be fair, the US isn’t the only country upping their anti-China sentiments but it is the country I am from so that is what I primarily speak of.
I would say to China, you have more than paid your dues and earned your right as a superpower in world affairs. Hold your heads proudly because you have every right to. There is no need to hide your strength anymore. It is time to let it be on display.
You are one of, if not the oldest country with 5000 years of continuous history. You don’t need to bow to anyone. You don’t need to apologize for being great. You don’t need to sell your technology to the US. You don’t need to accept blame for a virus that was not your fault. You don’t have to back off of your initiatives because other countries don’t approve. You don’t have to take acts of aggression from our spy planes flying in your airspace. You don’t have to tolerate the blatant disrespect to your consulate that was closed in our country. Your people don’t have to accept racism when they come to the US to attend college, work in research, or just visit as tourists.
Please don’t let anyone else push you around anymore. Never again. Let that be your motto from here on out.
Germany Freaks Out – China, PLEASE Buy Our Cars!
“As a European, I am so ashamed of our political class and what they have turned the Eurozone into. If the european project is just a facade for American hegemony, then let it die and this is extremely hard for me to say, because I see the eurozone and union as a great idea but ONLY if we have autonomy both strategically, economic and militarily. These two years have shown we have none of it and this is why I write this. It is mindbuggling/unbelievable stupid what is happening right now.”
Let me tell a story about a Clerk who worked with me who made me believe that The Godfather (Book) theory that The Simplest and most humble man can avenge himself against the most powerful of men with patience
We worked in a Branch where i was temporarily in charge of recovery. The branch was a Scale IV Branch but for some reason a Scale V AGM had been deputed to the branch for a temporary basis due to some shortage or something.
This Asst General Manager who had a chip on his block. You had a good natured thirty something old clerk who worked in the department and who was a pretty good guy. He owned a family business as well and would very often give us discounts. I went on many recovery missions with him and he was always a cheerful and happy go lucky type.
Our Old Branch Manager was a good man but once he retired – until his replacement came- this AGM was posted and he was a PRIG. He was angry at working in a Scale IV post and showed it on people.
Now our Clerk always went from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM to pick up his daughter, take her to the family business premise, drop her there, have tea and return. The lunch ended at 2:30 so he would always be around 45 minutes late which he would make up by working from 5:30 to 6:15 in the evening. He would help a lot of us.
This arrangement was unofficially agreed upon by the Old Branch Manager. The New Prig did not agree . He believed it was against Bank rules and decided to take the clerk on. Now the clerk requested the AGM to give him the time off but the AGM refused. He decided to run the department efficiently (Instead he made it highly inefficient). He refused to repair a water filter (Back then Aquaguards were rare) and calculated the cost of Pens and White Paper.
One day – the wife of the clerk came. The clerk was away for recovery and the peon took her straight to the AGM. She told the AGM that she had to go to her mother and requested that her husband pick up the child as usual. Back then there were no cellphones or SMS and the lady had come to the office for the first time. The AGM was preoccupied with something and forgot (I believe this. Others say he deliberately did what he did but i believe he was preoccupied)
Bottom line – the message was not conveyed. It was 2:50 PM or so when the Peon told the clerk that his wife had visited. The Clerk was puzzled and walked into the AGMs office but the AGM was not there. The Clerk shrugged and continued on with his work believing that his daughter had picked up the child. It was 4 PM when the brother of the Clerk called the Office and asked where the child was? The Clerk was stunned and believed the child would be with his wife but Myself and few others decided to ask the AGM (Bank Hierarchy especially PSU hierarchy is a big thing. Approaching an AGM when you are a Scale II officer is a scary prospect) but the Clerk was out of the doors.
The Good thing was that the Child was a clever girl and simply sat outside with the Watchman of the School and was relieved when the father picked her up. The Father brought her to the branch and he was hugely relieved.
What happened next was straight out of the Malayalam Movie Drivers License
The AGM who saw a child and commotion – shouted at the top of his voice. He abused the Clerk in the loudest words calling him inefficient and moron. The Clerk also raised his voice and talked about his wifes message and the AGM said “I am not your messenger or Postman”. By the time the others separated them – the Clerk had literally been abused in front of his girl who was watching the whole thing (She was in Class IV i think)
The Clerk silently took his daughter home burning with humiliation. The local association leader told him to stage a Dharna but the clerk refused. He told me “God will take care” and i thought it was the usual sentimental nonsense. He remained on his desk, never asked for any leave from the HC, did his work and we all presumed the issue was finished.
Then An Opportunity came
Back then there was no Core Banking. A Customer came with a Fixed Deposit Receipt for Rs. 6 Lakh and wanted Cash. The Officer in question looked at the register and saw that the FD number was not mentioned (No Computers also. Back then we had Ledgers where FD numbers would be mentioned and recorded). The Customer was known to the AGM though and the AGM told the Officer to go ahead and encash the FD.
However it was after Lunch and the normal officer was gone for the day. I am a law and recovery officer and have no role to play so there were no officers. The AGM promptly asked the Clerk to encash the FD and pay the cash (Highly irregular) and the Clerk said “Sir the FD number is not on the ledger”. The AGM arrogantly told him that the customer could not be made to wait and so the Clerk paid him.
Once the Customer was paid and left, the Officer returned the next day or so and searched in every register but could not find a trace of the FD record. He told the AGM and the AGM called the customer but the customer was gone (It was a honest explanation. The Customer did not cheat etc. He just was away somewhere else). The AGM was now sweating beads. The Clerk shrugged. “I am just a clerk. I follow instructions. You instructed me to encash the FD” – he said and pointed at a few of us as witnesses.
The Officer was told by the AGM to give a few days but the same evening the clerk told him “Sir…if you report this today then you are clear but if you take a few days then they may think you are also involved”. The Officer decided to not take chances and reported it.
What happened next was unbelievable. The Big Boss arrived personally and blasted the AGM. Then some people came to go through the ledgers and found Rs. 6 Lakh shortage (A Huge sum back then) and told the AGM he had to make the amount good or they would report to the cops. The AGM was shivering but nothing could be done. The cops arrived and took him to the station. Now the Clerk was a local and the cops were locals. The AGM was an outsider – so they sweated him, threatened him, took him to his house in a jeep in front of his wife and children, talked to his neighbors etc. I was asked to be there at the station as a lawyer and the cops took iron rods and torture devices in front of me. When i said “What the hell is this ??” – the SI laughed and said “Sir! We are not mad. This is just for getting him to talk”
The poor man stayed the entire day at the Station. The next day the Customer returned. He had presented an FD receipt for another branch of our bank so the number was not in our ledger. He gave the FD receipt of our branch and the ledger confirmed the number and everything was okay.
But the AGM was finished. He was humiliated in every way possible. He took leave for 4–5 days and asked for a Transfer
It was then that the clerk told me “Sir. On that day itself i saw that this FD receipt was from a different branch. Had he been a better man – i would have told him then and there. I would have told the customer itself. None of this would have happened”
I told him he had been too cruel but he said “There is nothing worse than being yelled at in front of your child for no fault of your own”.
The AGM who was destined to become CMD – resigned from the bank unable to bear the humiliation of the incident (Though it lasted exactly for 14 – 15 hours after which it was all over). He joined Madura Courts and his career was never the same. He later began to sell Reuters Screens on a commission basis.
The Moral of the Story is – Humiliation by your boss unjustly will always come back to bite the boss. This Clerk who was such a good man that when i was transfered – he travelled in a lorry with my furniture to ensure that the local packers dont take me for a ride. Yet he never forgot his humiliation and destroyed the life of the AGM.
If you are a Boss – Never humiliate your underlings. Call them separately and tick them off but never in front of others. Easiest way to make enemies.
True for all fields.
Pizzeria Uno Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
This is a clone recipe of the best Chicago-style pizza you will ever eat!
Servings: 8
Pan Dough 1 cup warm tap water (110-115 degrees F) 1/4 ounce active dry yeast 3 1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup course ground cornmeal 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Pizza Topping 1 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced thin 1 pound Italian sausage, removed from the casing and crumbled 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 5 fresh basil leaves, chopped fine 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast with a fork.
Add 1 cup of flour, all of the cornmeal, salt, and vegetable oil, and mix well with a spoon.
Continue stirring in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Flour your hands and the work surface and knead the ball of dough until it is no longer sticky.
Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl, sealed with plastic wrap, for 45-60 minutes in a warm place, until it has doubled in size.
Punch it down and knead it briefly.
Press it into an oiled 15-inch deep dish pizza pan until it comes 2 inches up the sides and is even on the bottom of the pan.
Let the dough rise 15-20 minutes before filling.
Heat the oven to 500 degrees F.
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.
Cook the sausage until it is no longer pink and drain the excess fat.
When the dough has finished its second rising, lay the cheese over the dough shell.
Distribute the sausage and garlic over the cheese.
Top with the tomatoes.
Sprinkle on the seasonings and Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes at 500 degrees F, then lower the temperature to 400 degreesF and finish baking for 25-35 minutes longer.
Lift up a section of the crust from time to time with a spatula to check its color. The crust will be golden brown when done.
Serve immediately.
Cat Sisters Meet After 9 Months Apart – Do They Recognize Each Other?
The Ukraine War was one of the worst miscalculations of the West and the Stupidest
The aim was to
Weaken Russia and destroy it Economically
Weaken Russia Globally and make it a Pariah
Give China a strong message and frighten China into following the Biden Doctrine
What’s happened is:-
A resurgent Russia that has something to fight for at last and has grown stronger every day
A Russo Sino Alliance that is fast becoming a nice power bloc with many nations with resources and heavy sanctions now drifting to them
Loss of Confidence in the West by 80% of the world and belief in a Multipolar world
Waning Western impact of Sanctions
Ensure China knows it’s War and prepare for it instead of catching them off guard
Today, Ukraine has been brutalized badly
It has lost 33.7% of pre SMO population as Refugees or now Russian Citizens in the Donors region and Kherson and Zaprozhye
It has lost its entire production capacity and it’s own weapon reserves have been brutally depleted and it relies on western arms and money which is dwindling every day
The West has spent $ 130 Billion so far on Ukraine and most of this money has been salted away due to severe corruption
Ukraine is sending more and more men to die
Russia meanwhile is happy with it’s grind and move strategy, minimizing casualties and enjoying the growth of their own industries in the MI complex
Scenario 1:-
The West want to FREEZE the conflict
Russia said No
Maybe Russia would be incentivized to do so like say offer to remove sanctions on Russia or maybe persuade China to convince Russia
Bleak chance of this happening
Scenario 2:-
Ukraine is destroyed
Russia decides to move from SMO to war and start hitting and destroying Ukraine like US did to Iraq or Afghanistan
Zelensky would flee and most leaders would flee then and Ukraine would capitulate
Timeline: 2025 March or April
Biden will not be President. He may not even be nominated as the Democratic candidate, so he will vindictively carry this till 19/1/25
Scenario 3:-
Trump is elected
Trump only has one term left and knows once he is elected, he has no more fears and no need to worry about voters again
He may make a deal and force Zelensky to surrender and make a deal with Russia and China
Unlike 2016, he won’t have the fear now because he can’t stand for any more elections
Scenario 4:-
The famous BAKYAN scenario
Poland moves into West Ukraine on invitation from Ukraine and forms a protectorate for West Ukraine
Central & remaining Ukraine is given security guarantees akin to Article V by Poland (Proxy by USA) and formally remains as the NEW UKRAINE
Donbass, Zaprozhye, Kherson are abandoned by Ukraine and Poland but not recognized by the West or UN as part of Russia and only as break away republics
However in reality, those territories will never return to Ukraine again along with Crimea for a long time
Russia will declare a cease fire to avoid clashing with Poland, a Nato power
Zelensky will be mostly arrested due to corruption and replaced by someone else
Timeline :- 30/6/2024 , a clean 4–5 months before the US Elections
The Destruction of Los Angeles | 2012 (John Cusack, Morgan Lily, Liam James)
I have not, but an interesting backfire happened with a close friend’s father, George.
Meet George, he is a PhD Astrophysicist and works in a very specialized field for the United States Department of Defense through a Defense Contractor. He has developed a number of unique solutions over his career that solved some very big problems for some very expensive black projects.
After over 30 years on the job he had moved to the top of his career path, he led a sizable group of physicists and engineers, but was not in management. Following a reorganization, George and his band of merry eggheads found themselves under a manager that had very little experience managing. When budget cuts came down, the green manager started reviewing the personnel files and, unsurprisingly, George was the highest paid person in the department. George was given the option to take an early retirement or be laid off. He was getting close to full retirement age and taking early retirement took a large chunk out of the pension he was counting on. He even offered to give up salary or work part time to address the budget needs. The manager would hear nothing of it.
Once George’s retirement was announced, a number the physicists and engineers approached the manager to warn him that there were solutions that only George fully understood and if there became a need to update or change some of the solutions, they may not be able to do it. George gracefully retired from the company and headed off to teach at the local university. About a year later, he heard from a number of his former team that there had been layoffs and terminations from the team by the same manager. A contract had come in to the company to modify one of George’s unique solutions and the remaining team was unable to make it work. The manager was under the gun to deliver and when it wasn’t working, he was accusing the team of being lazy and incompetent.
Not too long after, the Manager contacted George and asked him if he would come back on a short-term basis, George declined because he was happy teaching at the university. The manager continued to pester George until he finally agreed to come into the office to talk about what it would take to bring him back. George told the manager that he would come with his terms and that the meeting had to include the HR Director and the department Director.
George’s terms:
The company take back his early retirement and bridge his service so he could reach full retirement. (The manager groaned, but grudgingly agreed.)
Any of the team that was fired or forced to resign would be offered the option to come back. (The manager was furious, but George demanded that he had to have his team to be successful, so the manager agreed)
He become the manager of the department. (The manager threw up his hands and said it would never happen, there was only one manager of the department.)
The department director agreed to George’s last term.
We have A guardian Angel his name is Harry Kim.
Kathryn Janeway was a mother figure to almost ALL the crew … the clear exceptions being her first and second officers … but she ESPECIALLY was so to Harry Kim.
Oh my god, no. God, no… no no… I’d rather they stay dead.
Jesus, the mere thought of it gives me anxiety and stress.
My father died very suddenly last year. It was like my aunt talked to him on Friday, and he died of a heart attack on Sunday in his house.
For a few months, I kept thinking if I had any regrets. If I knew he would die, what would I say to him, or what would I want to do with him?
I came up with nothing.
It’s not like I don’t have anything to say. In fact, I have a LOT to say, so much so that I had therapy for years so that I could process and perhaps recover from all that childhood trauma from his abuse and neglect.
Would I say that to him? No. Because he wouldn’t listen. Not only he wouldn’t listen, he would turn it around and make it my fault. He would make me feel that I somehow wronged him, that I should feel guilty and ashamed and beg him for forgiveness and ask him how I can make it better. He’s an emotional manipulator, and he will never change. Not even in death.
He had, in his own domineering kind of way, made some attempt to mend our relationship after his 3rd wife died. But I couldn’t help but think he was doing that not because he genuinely wanted to fix our father-daughter relationship but because he did the mental calculation and realized with his wife dead, I was the only person who would take care of him if he couldn’t care for himself. It’s all about him. Never about me.
After he died, I wondered if he’d come back and haunt me or if he would come visit me in my dreams. Not that I believe in such things, but my aunt said her father (my grandpa) had visited her several times. And I thought, “Oh, you want to come and haunt me? Go ahead. I have something I want to scream at you. So come and haunt me and see how it ends for you, Dad.”
I’ve never even dreamed of him once since he died.
Having him back to life for 24 hours is not going to change anything between us.
The same goes for my mom, who ran off with some artist when I was 18 months old. The same goes for my grandma, who had raised and abused me…
You all better stay the fuck dead because you ain’t gonna like what I have to say to you.
Quit Your Job In 2023, This is my way out
No more 9 to 5 job for me. Do you also struggle with not having time for more valuable things in life than your work, do you spend too much time working for others? Are you feeling frustrated and stressed about not having time to live your life to the fullest, this is my story of how I realized my dream of living a simpler and less stressful life by quitting my job and stopped working for others.
In the ever-evolving landscape of the global smartphone industry, Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, once relied heavily on Qualcomm chips to power its devices. However, recent years have witnessed a significant shift in Huawei’s chipset strategy as it began to develop its own chipsets and reduce its dependence on Qualcomm. This change in course raised questions and curiosity in the tech world. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the reasons behind Huawei’s decision to distance itself from Qualcomm chips, explore the challenges and opportunities that this shift presents, and assess the implications for both Huawei and the larger smartphone ecosystem.
1: The Historical Nexus
1.1. Qualcomm’s Dominance
A brief overview of Qualcomm’s leading position in the semiconductor industry.
Huawei’s early partnership with Qualcomm and the Snapdragon chipset series.
1.2. Huawei’s Ascendancy
Huawei’s rise to global prominence as a smartphone manufacturer.
The integral role of Qualcomm chips in Huawei’s international success.
2: Huawei’s Push for In-House Chip Development
2.1. The Emergence of HiSilicon
The birth of Huawei’s semiconductor subsidiary, HiSilicon.
The strategic importance of in-house chip development.
2.2. The Rise of the Kirin Chipsets
Introduction to Huawei’s Kirin chipset series.
Technological advancements and innovations in Kirin chips.
2.3. The Competitive Edge
How HiSilicon’s chip development aligns with Huawei’s long-term goals.
The advantages of vertical integration and control over chip design.
3: U.S. Sanctions and Supply Chain Stumbles
3.1. The Unfolding U.S. Sanctions Saga
An examination of the U.S. sanctions imposed on Huawei.
How these sanctions impacted Huawei’s access to critical technologies, including Qualcomm chips.
3.2. Vulnerabilities in the Supply Chain
The precariousness of relying on foreign suppliers for critical components.
The central role of chipsets as a strategic resource in the smartphone industry.
4: HarmonyOS and Huawei’s Ambitious Vision
4.1. Huawei’s Vision for HarmonyOS
Introduction to HarmonyOS, Huawei’s proprietary operating system.
The strategic significance of developing an Android alternative.
4.2. A Unified Ecosystem
How HarmonyOS aims to provide a seamless user experience across devices.
The role of chipset compatibility in achieving the HarmonyOS vision.
5: Implications and Challenges
5.1. Disrupting the Smartphone Market
How Huawei’s departure from Qualcomm chips impacts the competitive landscape.
Implications for consumers, industry players, and market dynamics.
5.2. Pursuing Technological Self-Reliance
The broader implications of Huawei’s commitment to technological self-reliance.
Lessons for other tech giants facing similar geopolitical challenges.
5.3. The Road Ahead
The technological and market challenges Huawei faces in developing its own chipsets.
The importance of innovation, research, and development in overcoming these hurdles.
6: Consumer Perceptions and the Future Outlook
6.1. Consumer Reactions and Preferences
How Huawei’s decision to utilize its chipsets is perceived by consumers.
Factors influencing consumer preferences in the realm of smartphones.
6.2. Shaping the Future of Huawei Smartphones
Prospects for Huawei’s smartphone business in the absence of Qualcomm chips.
The role of design, innovation, software, and competitive pricing in defining Huawei’s future offerings.
Conclusion
The divergence of Huawei from Qualcomm chips signifies a monumental shift in strategy with far-reaching implications. While the impact of U.S. sanctions and supply chain disruptions are undeniable catalysts for this transition, Huawei’s investments in in-house chipset development and the vision of HarmonyOS underscore its unwavering commitment to technological self-sufficiency and innovation. As we conclude this article, we gain a comprehensive understanding of the complex factors influencing Huawei’s strategic decision and what the future holds for one of the world’s foremost smartphone manufacturers.
INDIAN NEWS is Cheap Western Propaganda
The Indian news channels like WION and ANI (Asean News International) have become cheap propaganda outlets for the Western Colonial Masters that have always ruled over the Indian population. This video shows beyond any doubt that India News is part of the Anti China propaganda network set up by American Politicians and Main Stream Media. It is no secret as they admit to it in this video that they have joined this movement of hate against China.
A young German soldier during WWII was ordered to check the house for Jews. After minutes of searching, he declares the house clear.
His commanding officer is unconvinced. “Schauen Sie in den Dachboden,” he orders. Check the attic.
“Die Luke ist offen! Die würden sich nicht dort verstecken!” The young soldier says. The attic door is wide open! Surely they wouldn’t hide there!
His commander shakes his head. “Schauen Sie trotzdem nach.” Go check anyway.
The soldier climbs the ladder. As he peers into the darkness, he sees at least a dozen Jews hiding in the attic. All women and children.
Their terrified faces look back at him. Nobody dares to move. The young soldier turns and shouts to his commander.
“Alles klar!” All clear.
The soldier closes the trapdoor, leaving the Jews in the dark. He will never see them again.
Decades later, one of the young children in the attic will recall the anonymous soldier’s kindness. Every single person in the attic survives the war. Many attribute their lives to the young man.
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a remarkable aircraft that could fly at speeds over Mach 3.2 and at altitudes up to 85,000 feet. It was the fastest manned aircraft ever flown and still holds many speed, altitude, and distance records for a manned aircraft.
Flying in such an extreme environment required special training and equipment for the pilots. The pilots of the SR-71 wore full-pressure suits that resembled those worn by astronauts. The suits protected them from low pressure, low temperature, and lack of oxygen at high altitudes. They also provided protection in case of an emergency ejection.
The pilots also had to cope with the high g-forces and acceleration that resulted from flying at such high speeds. The SR-71 could accelerate from Mach 1 to Mach 3 in less than 15 minutes, which put a lot of stress on the human body. The pilots had to undergo rigorous physical training and medical examinations to ensure they were fit for the mission. They also had to use special techniques to breathe and move their limbs during high-g maneuvers.
The pilots also experienced a unique sensation of speed when flying the SR-71. They could see the curvature of the Earth and the stars in broad daylight. They could also see the shock waves forming around the aircraft as it broke the sound barrier. The SR-71 flew so fast that it could outrun any missile or enemy aircraft that tried to intercept it. The pilots had to rely on their instruments and their instincts to navigate and control the aircraft.
Hang on, this is VERY strange!
This is the equivalent of China recognizing Puerto Rico as a sovereign nation….
My ex husband and I got married at Gretna Green with just 2 friends for witnesses. On the day after the wedding on the car journey home, we were passing a field of higland cows (ginger and hairy like me apparently) and said in an insulting tone, “oh look Sarah, there’s your relations”. I immediately fired back with “yes, but only through marriage”…. friends were in stitches, he never even cracked a smile. He had no sense of humour and had been trying to belittle me in front of people as he did the entire 9 years I was with him…
Another time when I was about 25 or so, at a neighbours bbq, I approached a small group of people listening to one guy in his late 50′s or so telling sexist joke after sexist joke. At the end of each joke all the men laughed loudly and the women kind of awkwardly. I had always found this guy a bit of a chauvinist and quite ‘sleazy’ so stepped in with my own joke… Mrs Smith went to hospital to give birth. After the baby was born the doctor said to her “I’m really sorry Mrs Smith but your baby is a hermaphrodite”. “A what?” asked Mrs Smith. “A hermaphrodite, it has features of both sexes” said the doctor. Mrs Smith gasps and says “Oh my god….it has a penis AND a brain!”. The women in the group all belly laughed but the sleaze not so much
A well-told lie is worth a thousand facts. The debt-trap narrative is a lie, a powerful one.
There are three main fallacies in the West’s hype about China’s “debt trap theory”: First, in terms of debt causes, countries in debt distress today often fall into debt traps before the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Second, in terms of debt ownership, most of these countries’ debt is owed to Western or pro-Western institutions, not China. Studies show that 80 per cent of Sri Lanka’s external debt, 70 per cent of Pakistan’s and 77 per cent of Zambia’s external debt is owned by Western private and public institutions.
Third, in terms of the nature of debt, Western loans tend to be short-term with high interest rates, leading to unsustainable debt cycles, while Chinese lending to developing countries is long-term, low-interest credit that helps improve infrastructure.
The characteristics of China’s BRI financing is that it breaks through the traditional model, with no political conditions attached, and the forms of financing are pragmatic and diverse; The Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank both emphasize debt sustainability, with commercial needs flexibly integrated with national strategies.
The irresponsible monetary policy of the United States is the real reason for the concentrated outbreak of debt problems in developing countries. The United States first implemented an ultra-loose monetary policy, allowing low-interest dollars to pour into Africa and emerging market countries, and then aggressively raised interest rates to attract dollars back to the United States, resulting in insufficient liquidity in developing countries.
Since China is not the largest creditor of developing countries, why does the West hype the “China debt trap theory”? The answer is that China’s “Belt and Road” initiative helps developing countries improve their economic capability. Once these countries achieve independent economic development, they do not have to rely on borrowing money from Western developed countries to maintain production and life, which is equivalent to cutting off a financial route for Western countries.
How I See the USA After 14 Years of Living Abroad & Expat Life
After 14 years of living abroad and enjoying expat life, I wanted to talk a bit about how I see the US now… This week, we’ll be taking a look at the USA through an Expat lens… Is the U.S. truly the “leader of the free world”, or is that just a perception we’ve grown accustomed to? One of many topics that are worth thinking about is the education system. Does it really prepare us for life, or is it more about scoring high on tests?
What about healthcare access? Is it as straightforward as it seems, or are there nuances we’re missing when comparing American Healthcare with European Healthcare? Another important factor to consider is safety and quality of life, is the U.S. the gold standard, or are there elements of community and culture that we’re overlooking in comparison with overseas?
We’ll also touch on the topic of zoning. Is it just a mundane urban planning concept, or does it have deeper implications for our lifestyle and mobility? Finally, we’ll take a look at the geographical isolation of North America. Is it just a geographical fact, or could it be shaping our understanding of the world in ways we don’t realize? There’s a lot to unpack, and these are the conversations that need to be had.
In this expat podcast episode of Not Your Average Globetrotter, hosted by me, Rafael Di Furia, I’ll share how I view the US and American culture and lifestyle in comparison with the culture and lifestyle in Europe and elsewhere having been abroad for more than 14 years, questioning everything from its global leadership role and education system to healthcare access, safety standards, connections in local communities, cultural rituals, and the implications of its geographical isolation.
My husband and I entered an elevator in a hotel in Vegas, headed to the lobby and extraordinarily tall black man was already in there. I smiled and tried not to stare because he was simply that enormous.
Husband, a sports fanatic, asked the giant of he’d ever played basketball and the giant responded that yeah, he’d played some ball in his day and DH told the giant that if he hadn’t, he would have missed an opportunity. The giant chuckled and sort of shook his head.
When we arrived in the lobby, we all kind of nodded and smiled and went out separate ways. I asked DH what his little exchange was all about.
The giant was Shaquille O’Neill, the Shaq Attack. My husband told Shaq that he would have missed an opportunity if he hadn’t played basketball.
I told a story about a kid threatening to kill himself. Let me explain.
I didn’t think I was going to get the job. Not in a “I don’t believe in myself” kind of way, I mean in a “I have direct evidence” kind of way. A meeting I’d had fell through, so I showed up for my interview super early. This meant I was sitting there in the lobby when the head of the special education department opened the door, profusely shook another woman’s hand, and said:
“You are exactly what we’re looking for. We’ll send out an offer to you as soon as we’re done with today’s interviews.” Then she looked up and saw me waiting. “Oh, you’re here early, come on it.”
So I walked in knowing I was wasting my time, but I was already there and decided to have fun with it. I told jokes. I made fun of the number of people they had in the room to interview me (7!). I was as casual as possible and answered every question off the cuff instead of trying to think of an answer they wanted to hear. Then they asked me one of those awful, super generic questions you always get when you work with kids, something along the lines of “What was your moment when you realized you knew you were supposed to be a teacher?”
I have no patience for those questions, and find them to be really performative and all about showing how generically kind and sensitive you are. For a job I thought I was going to get I might have played along and told an exaggerated story about teaching a kid to read or something. I didn’t do that.
Instead I told them about one of my students in the Emotional Disorder class I was teaching at a middle school. The little guy had a severe anxiety disorder, and we were trying to support him while also ignoring attention seeking behaviors. So when he started yelling I escorted him to the quiet break area. When he started shouting he needed to go to the hospital I assured him I would check in on him to make sure he was ok. And when he started screaming that he was going to kill himself I pointed out there was nothing in the area he could use to do it, and if he decided to bang his head against the wall it would probably just really hurt. Two minutes later he poked his head out and calmly asked if he could do his math work, and I realized that some of the interventions I was using were actually working. It was a pretty cool feeling. Everyone in the room was silent, and more than a few looked really freaked out. No worries, I already knew they gave the job to someone else, and went on my way.
They offered me the job that evening. Apparently they had an elementary school moderate/severe class with a lot of difficult behaviors, and my story had convinced them immediately that I could handle it. Oh, and that other woman I saw getting offered a job? She was a speech therapist, and not a teacher at all. Looks like we both crushed our interviews.
We had 4,000 employees and had been the world leader in our field for about 10 years at this time.
We were not the price setter, though. But we did very well and had a reasonable operating margin, enough to satisfy our corporate owners and shareholders.
Then we got a new president, an American B-school graduate. He came from Stanford, as I recall.
After some time he declared to us in the sales department (about 90 people), operating worldwide.
Raise all prices 15 percent
Go back on all orders in house and negotiate a 15 percent higher price.
I tried.
We all tried.
We suffered, badly.
No new orders for nine (9) months.
The customers with orders in place said a flat “are you out of your fr…..g mind?”
Our build cycle, order to delivery, was about 18 months.
Nine months later the factories started to look empty and were laying off staff, weekly — NO NEW ORDERS.
“Biggest boss” at our owning company got wind of this and came to town.
Our president was fired the same day and we all in sales got new instructions.
“Forget all orders about price increases — go sell as competitively as you can.”
It took about two years for the company to regain its world-leading position.
By that time, I and just about half of our previous sales organization were gone, replaced by eager young souls.
The “American Dream” Is A Big Lie
I talk about how the “American Dream” is a big lie. Too many people around the world are victims to debt, consumerism, and care too much about what other people think. I give my all knowing wisdom via Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The neocons are marching the world towards war. Lordy!
We are all going to die!!!!!
2023 10 28 13 15
All these videos MUST be watched to get the FULL IMPACT of what is going on right now. It’s so insane. So crazy. So very disgusting. You have to laugh.
I have worked in the video games industry for over a decade. During this time, I introduced several Western games to the Chinese market. This experience taught me a great deal about the cultural and behavioral differences (and similarities) between Western and Chinese users.
One thing I found fascinating is how Western users and Chinese users absorb information.
The Chinese language is information-dense. Reading Chinese, you absorb a lot more information compared to reading English of similar length. There’s a reason why when Western (English) literary works are translated into Chinese, they usually “shrink” in length. Chinese Bible, for example, is thinner than English Bible.
Chinese users are very used to absorbing large amounts of information all at once. Chinese websites usually have a very busy (by Western standards) layout packed with headlines and texts. At the same time, English users are more comfortable with a minimalistic layout.
In game design, this reflects on UI and HUB design. Chinese users are very used to busy UI and packed HUB design, while Western players are more used to the “less is more” kind of design, sometimes no HUB at all.
A lot of times, when Western designers were presented with this problem, they often considered Chinese users “backward,” or “still live in the 90s,” or “just not sophisticated enough to appreciate a minimalist design.” While it was my job to explain the cultural differences, the designers didn’t always listen. They believed they could “educate” Chinese users with their “superior” design. They thought once these “backward” people saw my awesome modern design, they’d love it!
LOL.
That is not to say there isn’t minimalist design in China. It’s just what’s considered “too busy and overwhelming” style in the West is accepted or even preferred in China because of how our language functions differently than English.
USA knows the only thing it can do is to talk shit on China. It cannot out compete, out innovate and out succeed with China. It certainly cannot bomb or nuke China as it will will received the same from China. The only thing it can do is to talk shit.
UK,Canada and Australia. Are the U.S. fellow colonialist and fellow native slaughterers. They did so much shit in the past few hundred years and are scared of reprisal and reparations. They had no choice to get a mafia hoodlum to protect them. Talking shit on China is a given.
Japan shared the loot and plunder of Chinese and Asian people in the 2nd world war and refused to accept responsibility for her aggression and prefer to pay protection money to the U.S. they had to talk shit on China.
if you are smart and intelligent enough. None of these nations ever whisper a grain of truth on China. The truth hurts them too much.
MINISO’s global expansion strategies; Q3 online sales in China, and consumer reactionsAmber ZhangOct 26∙Preview READ IN APP *This post is our premium content.
MINISO (NYSE: MNSO), a Chinese low-cost retailer and variety store chain, is gaining global attention. As of June 30, 2023, MINISO operates 5,791 stores worldwide. Its annual revenue for the period ending June 30, 2023, increased by 13.8% to 11.47 billion yuan. Revenue from China reached 7.651 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 2.8%, while revenue from overseas markets reached 3.822 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 44.6%.
MINISO’s rapid overseas revenue growth has made it one of the most successful Chinese companies to go global.
(For the year ended June 30, revenue from overseas markets accounted for over 33% of MINISO’s total revenue.)MINISO is on track to reach the peak price it had since its IPO in October 2020.“一切面向海外，一切面向商品” (“Everything is oriented towards overseas, everything is oriented towards products.”) —— Guofu
Ye, CEO and founder of the MINISO [source]Expanding into global markets has always been a key part of MINISO’s strategy.
As of 2023, MINISO had already established stores in 107 countries and regions, including North Korea, with over 2,100 stores overseas. Notably, in May 2023, MINISO achieved a significant milestone by opening a store in Times Square, New York, becoming the first Chinese brand to have a presence in that iconic location.
As of year-to-date 2023, MINISO (NYSE: MNSO) has gained over 150%, despite the pessimistic sentiments towards Chinese equities.In today’s post, we will share some winning strategies of MINISO to help you understand how the company managed to succeed domestically and internationally, and whether these strategies will be sustainable.
We will also provide an update on MINISO’s domestic online sales and consumer reactions ahead of MINISO’s upcoming earnings report in November.*
Understanding the psychology of overseas consumersMINISO adopts unique sales methods in various countries to connect with the psychology of local consumers. To scale this strategy, MINISO has chosen the “agency model” by partnering with local leaders.For instance, in Vietnam, MINISO initially thought that inexpensive small umbrellas would be popular, but they ended up having an excessive amount of umbrellas in stock.
This was due to MINISO underestimating the actual preferences of local consumers. Vietnam, being a “motorbike country,” is the fourth-largest motorcycle market globally, with over 45 million motorcycles in circulation. As a result, people in Vietnam use raincoats while riding motorcycles.MINISO later collaborated with Le Bao Minh Group and specially developed arm sleeves and masks for the Vietnamese market, which immediately became popular locally.Le Bao Minh is the exclusive distributor of Canon in Vietnam and has over 200 sub-agents in 64 provinces.
With such a leading enterprise leading the way, MINISO avoided many pitfalls and reduced a significant amount of trial and error costs. [Source]The low-cost advantage has given MINISO a boost amid a slow economic recoveryAs we have previously observed, Chinese consumers are increasingly prioritizing practical purchases.
The combination of Miniso’s low-cost advantage and its creative and personalized products has given them a boost both in China and globally in 2023.Similar trends are observed among other low-cost retailers. For example, Pinduoduo is estimated to reach its target of $10 billion USD GMV for 2023, and SHEIN recorded a revenue of up to $23 billion USD in 2022. In China, there is also a growing trend among e-commerce players to adopt the low-cost strategy to remain competitive in 2023.To create a feeling of consumers “getting a bargain,”
MINISO focuses on the “golden price point of 10 yuan” in its stores.Ye Guofu, the CEO of MINISO, explained: “To make customers buy when they want to buy and use when they want to use, that’s the best thing. We must achieve this situation, so 10 yuan is the golden price point, allowing customers to have no pressure.” [source]
However, despite the growing importance of value for money to consumers, the demand for personalized and stylish products from MINISO’s main customer base of young consumers remains strong.
As a result, MINISO has made significant investments in “大牌平替” or “substituting big brands with generics” products, which are self-made products that imitate the popular themes and styles of well-known brands:
For example, from the same supplier, a water cup is priced at 379 yuan in MUJI, while MINISO is priced at 49 yuan; the same goes for socks, with MUJI priced at 158 yuan and MINISO priced at 29 yuan.
The management of MINISO stated, “The perfumes in our store are made by perfumers from Dior and Chanel, using their fragrance ingredients. The luxury brand perfumes are priced at $200 per bottle, but I only sell them for $20 per bottle.” [source]
Not me (sadly) but a guy I met when I worked at a steel mill.
It was a very big company, 17.000 employees at the time, the size of a small town with their own small hospital, fire department and armed securities with patrol cars, shops and even a gas station. So quite a big area.
I was working at the contiunous casting facility. Basically where molten irom from the blast furnace is poured into a casting unit and becomes a rectangular block of steel.
The whole company was incredibly split up in different departments each with their own hierachy and leadership. One casting unit consisted of a Foreman (which belonged to department X), 1 quality control inspector (department F), 1 guy in the control room checking all the parameters, looking at several graphs and so on (department Z) and finally 3 workers doing actual work (department A). Just to get the hang of it, 6 people working on the same unit belonged to 4 different departments. And the whole company was like that!
Like every few years some higher ups decided to reinvent the wheel and restructure the electrical maintenance department. There used to be 6 departments and after some calculations they decided to cut it down to 5 departments and integrate the workers from the sixth department into the remaining five.
It went surprisingly smooth aside from the old foreman. There was only one foreman position per department and they were already filled. Because he was 30 years with the company, starting as an apprentice and rose through the ranks after a few years they told him “We need to hold a meeting about your position but dont worry we find something for you”.
Time went on but he heard nothing at all about the meetings outcome despite several inquiries. So he simply came in his office everyday and waited for news. He had nothing to do because the sixth department didnt exist anymore so nobody could call him to fix a problem, he simply didnt exist.
But it gets even crazier. A new office building for the departments was built and he stayed in the very old 2 story building because how could he move into the new one if he didnt exist at all?
So he strolled around all day through the different units, chatting with people and drinking coffee, had an awful lot of house plants in his office, even one of those Japanese Bonsai trees he used to cut regularily (it looked like a rain forest, not gonna lie) and found himself another hobby, modelmaking. If he wasnt walking around he sat in his office and assembled those 1:24 models of planes, helicopters, cars…
It took the company 4 years to somehow recognize he is still here! But nobody could figure out how he had gone missing. HR had him listed as Foreman of department 6 and higher ups of the casting facility somehow assumed he left the company and went into early retirement or something because department six did no longer exist.
In the end, he had two years to retirement and they decided to let him carry on for the next two years. It was apparently cheaper to pay him for literally nothing than dealing with all the legal issues. Our worker protection laws are really strong and firing somebody so close to retirement means the company has to pay a massive fee to the government.
Ah. An insight into what life on other planets might look like. -MM
The obvious choice would be Socotra, that little Yemeni isle off the Horn of Africa, home to the iconic dragon’s blood tree. However, I think there’s another island which has even more interesting flora – New Caledonia. Sitting in the South Pacific, well over a thousand kilometres from the nearest major landmass, New Caledonia has been biologically isolated since the Cretaceous period.
Because of this, it has unprecedented, record-breaking levels of endemism: around three quarters of its plants are found nowhere else on Earth! Despite only being around the size of the nation of Israel, it’s home to four and a half thousand plant species.
image 192
Back in dinosaur times, New Caledonia broke off from a vast southern super-continent known as Gondwana. Because it remains remote, it still harbours the primeval flora of Gondwana, which has long since gone extinct in most mainland regions. First of all, it is the world’s only true stronghold of the araucarians.
The most famous species today is the monkey puzzle tree, which is native to Chile, but New Caledonia’s most recognizable variety is the coral reef pine, Araucaria columnaris. It has a thin, pillar-like shape, and grows directly on shallow limestone coastlines, especially on the Isle of Pines (a popular tourist attraction).
image 191
The araucarians are an ancient family of conifer trees, dating back to the beginnings of the Jurassic Period. During the reign of the dinosaurs, they dominated forests all over the world, and were the first trees in Earth’s history to grow extremely tall, as many stood over 60 metres in height. In fact, they are likely the reason sauropods like Brachiosaurus were so damn tall.
Despite their former success, araucarians have been out-competed by more advanced lineages of tree, but they persist in various parts of the Southern Hemisphere. The only place where they still predominate, however, is New Caledonia, which is home to 18 species.
2023 10 26 18 57
They thrive in all kinds of habitats on the island, from its tropical rainforests and iconic limestone islets to its hilly “maquis” scrub and dry woodlands.
The closest relatives of the araucarians are the podocarps, which were also abundant in Gondwana long ago, and also maintain a strong presence in New Caledonia despite extinction in many other regions. The island has an especially interesting (endemic) genus called Parasitaxus.
image 194
As its name suggests, it’s a parasite – in fact, it’s the only parasitic gymnosperm plant in the world. Believe it or not, it has no roots, and does not perform photosynthesis (hence its rather alien purplish-black colouration). Instead, it grows exclusively out of the roots of a different endemic podocarp species, sucking nutrients from its host.
Another example of New Caledonia’s very unique flora is Amborella. This genus contains a single species, and it is in fact so unique that it has a whole taxonomic family and order to itself! It’s the most primitive flowering plant on Earth, having diverged from the rest a staggering 130 million years ago. It’s a pretty good proxy for what flowers would have looked like while T. rex was roaming the Earth.
image 193
Lastly, I’ll introduce you to Sphaeropteris intermedia, sometimes alternatively called Cyathea intermedia. With a woody trunk that can stand over 30 metres tall, one would think it was a palm tree, but it is in fact a fern – the largest fern on the planet. It further contributes to the exceptionally prehistoric feel to New Caledonia’s vegetation.
image 199
So, those are the most charismatic and fascinating members of New Caledonia’s flora. There are many, many, many more endemic species Mesozoic relics and the like, but I’ve just selected the ones which are of particular interest to the non-botanist.
Now, you all know me by now, so I doubt any of you are surprised that I can’t bring myself to finish this answer without going off-topic and talking about the animals. First things first, the wonderful birdies. The most fascinating of all the island’s avians is undoubtedly the kagu.
image 197
This species is highly unique, genetically – it is the sole species in the distinct family Rhynchochetidae, and shares the whole order Eurypygiforms with a single other species, the equally weird sunbittern of South America. The kagu is practically flightless, and probes the forest floor for invertebrate prey.
To prevent soil from getting up its nose as it digs around the ground, it has structures covering its nostrils called nasal corns, something not seen in any other bird. For mysterious reasons, it has around a third of the number of red blood cells most birds have, but thrice the amount of hemoglobin per cell.
Another highly notable New Caledonian avian is the New Caledonian crow, one of the world’s most intelligent birds.
image 195
In the wild, they fashion sophisticated tools out of ferns, feathers, thorns, grass and twigs, carefully trimming and folding them down to size. These are used to extract insects from trees, and remarkably, different styles of crow tools can be observed in different parts of New Caledonia. This could mean that these crows are the only non-mammals in the world which have distinct, evolving cultures.
The island is also home to a diverse array of tropical pigeons. Pigeons seem boring to us, but closer to the equator, species are much less drab. Some in New Caledonia are huge, measuring over half a metre in length, whereas others have vibrant colours, such as the cloven-feathered dove.
image 196
There’s also the crow honeyeater, a strange-looking bird, which – at over 40 cm in length – is the largest species of honeyeater in the world. Sadly, it’s now critically endangered.
image 200
Moving onto the reptiles, we have some very cool geckoes. This includes the rather polite-looking crested gecko, who’s got killer eyelashes:
image 198
And of course Leach’s giant gecko. Measuring up to 36 centimetres from nose to tail, this lumbering beast is the world’s largest gecko.
2023 10 26 18 59
On the topic of larger-than-life lizards, here’s the dramatically-named terror skink. It’s even bigger than the aforementioned reptile, at around half a metre in length. It was presumed extinct until being rediscovered in 1933, although to this day it is extremely rare.
2023 10 26 19 0350
Then there’s a plethora of endemic invertebrate fauna, of course. The largest insect on the island is the giant coconut grasshopper, a freakishly big creepy crawly which is longer than your hand.
2023 10 26 19 00e
What are even more interesting, however, are New Caledonia’s marine invertebrates. For example, its waters are the only home of one of the only four living species of nautilus, Nautilus macromphalus.
2023 10 26 19 01
And it has the New Caledonian Barrier Reef, which is the world’s longest continuous barrier reef, stretching across over 1,500 km of shallow sea. That’s about two thirds the length of Australia’s much more famous one, which is actually a smattering of smaller, disconnected reefs! This reef is highly biodiverse, and is home to rare dugongs.
2023 10 26 19 01r
My final words in this very long answer about a very small island will be on New Caledonia’s extinct animals, from the time of the last Ice Age, prior to human arrival. Back then, it was home to even more amazing wildlife, such as Mekosuchus inexpectatus.
Up until its extinction 4,000 years ago, it was the very last land-dwelling crocodylian in Earth’s history, the end of a story lasting hundreds of millions of years. It would have been an apex predator on the island, despite being only 2 metres long.
2023 10 26 19 02
A possible prey item of Mekosuchus was Sylviornis, the largest galliform ever to live. The galliforms are an order of birds which include chickens and their relatives. Specifically, Sylviornis was a member of the megapodes, odd Australasian birds who incubate their eggs in huge mounds of earth.
It weighed in at about 30 kg, and its skeletal anatomy was markedly similar to that of the non-avian dinosaurs.
2023 10 26 19 027
Other extinct creatures endemic to New Caledonia in the Pleistocene include a variety of other megapodes, flightless rails, huge hawks and several monitor lizards.
So, what was meant to be a quick answer about some cool plants ended up being an exhaustive ecological and paleontological survey of New Caledonia. If you stuck around for the full article, thank you very much, and if you didn’t, just try to sleep well in the knowledge that you’ll never know what a terror skink is.
America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better – US American Reaction
This is a very good video. Please take the time to watch it.
Irresistible Exotic allure! Russian tourists flock to China’s border city of Heihe for breakfast, shopping
It may seem surprising, but a growing number of Russians are making the trip to have breakfast in Heihe, a border city in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, before heading back home.
image 188
Heihe sits across the Heilongjiang River from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk. The river is known in Russia as the Amur River. Since the resumption of visa-free group tourist trips between China and Russia in Heihe on Sept. 21, 2023, there’s been a noticeable uptick in Russian visitors. A simple boat ride allows for easy movement between the two nations.
Many Russians are attracted to Heihe’s breakfast offerings and shopping experiences. They indulge in local breakfast staples such as soybean milk, tea eggs, and Baozi — steamed stuffed buns. Some have even crafted a unique dining blend, pairing Baozi with beer.
image 87
Many vendors at morning markets have added bilingual Chinese-Russian signs, and some have picked up basic Russian to better serve their visitors.
Given its strategic location, Heihe has long been a nexus for China-Russia trade. It stands as China’s primary supplier of everyday Russian products, which are then distributed nationwide.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has made trade between China and other BRI partner countries increasingly convenient.
image 189
Beyond Heihe, many other border areas in China exude an exotic allure. Cities and regions such as Dongxing in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Horgos and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Mengla county in Yunnan Province have thrived due to the expanding cooperation under the BRI. These places now serve as critical ports connecting China to Southeast Asia, Europe, and Central Asia, and beyond via railways and economic corridors.
image 190
Over the past decade, these border regions have directly witnessed, participated in, and benefited from extensive cooperation under the framework of the BRI.
Meanwhile in the United States…
2023 10 22 17 57
Texas Chicken-Fried Steak with Cream Gravy
texas chicken fried steak
Yield: 6 large servings (2 pieces each)
Ingredients
Steak
3 pounds 1/2 inch thick round steak
2 cups all-purpose white flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
Vegetable oil (corn, peanut, safflower oil) for frying*
Cream Gravy
1/4 cup pan drippings
1/4 cup all-purpose white flour
3 cups warm milk
Salt
Black pepper
Instructions
Steak
Trim the fat off the meat, remove the bone and cut the meat into 6 equal size pieces. Use a meat mallet to pound the steaks on both sides, until they are 1/4 inch thick. Then cut each pounded piece of steak in half (making 12 pieces total).
Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a large shallow bowl. Beat the eggs and milk together well in another large shallow bowl.
Dredge the steaks in the seasoned flour, coating them well on both sides. Then use the meat mallet to pound the flour into the steaks. Dip the steaks in the egg-milk mixture, then dredge them again in the remaining flour. Set the steaks aside in a single layer on a large piece of wax paper.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Pour the vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2 inch into 2 or 3 large heavy-bottom skillets (iron skillets are best). You will have to cook the steaks in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the number of skillets you have. Set the skillets over medium heat. The oil will be hot enough for frying when it pops when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it.
Carefully put the steaks in a single layer in the hot oil and cook over medium heat until the bottom side of each steak is golden brown (about 7 to 8 minutes).
Turn the steaks over, cover the skillets, reduce the heat to low and cook until the bottom sides are golden brown and the steaks are tender (about 8 to 10 minutes).
Transfer the steaks to a heatproof platter, cover loosely with aluminum foil and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the remaining steaks and prepare the cream gravy.
Cream Gravy
Pour the remaining oil out of one large skillet into a heatproof bowl or measuring cup, but leave in the skillet any particles of batter that stick to the bottom of the pan.
Return 1/4 cup of the oil to the skillet and stir in 1/4 cup of flour. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, but don’t let the mixture brown.
Slowly add the warm milk to the pan, stirring with a fork or wire whisk to prevent lumps from forming. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the gravy is smooth and thick.
Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Serve the chicken-fried steaks with the cream gravy poured over them.
Notes
* Beef suet, lard or solid vegetable shortening are traditionally used for cooking chicken-fried steak
In Belgium you could join up “for life” (until retirement, you can’t do that anymore) and get a shitload of perks.
You got a free apartment, free water, electricity, telephone, gas, and cable TV.
You could eat for free and you got your uniforms for free. You also got free cigarettes’, free beer, and free condoms.
Whatever else you needed you could get at substantial discounts.
When you traveled from Germany to Belgium (every weekend … yes, we went home for the weekends during the Cold War), it was on military trains where the customs officials had no jurisdiction. So our kitbags were loaded with cigarettes which we sold on the black market in Belgium.
We always used public transport as it was free as well.
You could get a free university education as well if you passed the screening tests. The better your education, the easier promotion came, the more money you made.
Basically, you could put your whole monthly pay in the bank and then some.
In the days of the Cold War, most joined for the perks. You had a good job and job security.
What did all that amount to? A free house.
HUGE BOMBSHELL! China & Russia Sign $160 Billion Strategic Project
Best ever friendship China- Russia helps to build up global prosperity.
I experienced many times when I worked as a cashier. 99.9% of the time the customer was mistaken. There was a woman who came into our store every 2 weeks and usually made a stink about some aspect of poor service , etc. We suspected her of stealing also. She was not happy unless she made a clerk or cashier cry.
Once she tried to pull the wrong change scam on me and it backfired on her. While I had a fully loaded till, I only had rung one sale that day and that customer had paid with a $20 bill that was ripped. I put the bill under the removable cash drawer so that I could tape it back together later. .
The store got busy so I opened my register. The scammer purchased a few small, inexpensive items and paid with a $50. When my drawer opened, I noticed the damaged $20 was sticking out so I lifted the drawer and stuffed it back in and also put the $50 under the drawer. I make the correct change. The customer starts screaming that I made the wrong change and that I’m stealing from her. She calls me a thief repeatedly. I locked the register down as the manager comes running over.
Customer is throwing and all out hissy fit, crying and screaming about how I should be fired for stealing from her. She also started throwing her purchases at me, hitting me in the face. I know the manager is going to pull a reading on the register and count the money in and under the drawer. I stepped away and discreetly called the police. I knew we finally had her.
Surprise, surprise. My drawer balanced. Evidently she saw the damaged $20 and assumed it was a $100 and thought she would try to take advantage of us. The police show up. I explain that she has slandered and assaulted me (I have a raised red welt on my face), I want her arrested and I will sign a complaint . My manager tells them that we have video. She also explains what happened with the customer trying to scam us financially. As the police walk her out, some items fell out of pants, so stealing was added to the charges
Long story short, it goes to court. She got community service for assaulting me and a substantial fine for the stealing. But the best was the store manager printed out the customer’s image from the store video and made a poster stating that she was banned from the store. She taped it to the entrance door. Lol Plus she made smaller versions and taped one to each register telling the cashiers to call a manager if she is spotted in the store.
The vice president of Korean Air, Heather Cho, in 2014, was so angry about being served Macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a porcelain bowl that she forced the plane to return to the gate at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport so the flight attendant could be removed.
She also demanded that the flight attendants get on their knees to apologize to her.
Heather Cho, the daughter of the CEO of Korean Air at the time, Cho Yank-ho served five months of a one-year prison sentence after South Korean court found her guilty for violating aviation law.
The flight attendant filed a civil suit against Cho and Korean Air, asking for a total of 400 million South Korean won ($354,000).
“The Seoul western district court ordered that Korean Air pay him 20 million won for attempting to coerce him to drop the case.”
“He was also entitled to another 30 million won ($27,000) as compensation for Cho’s assaults and insults.”
In all, $18,000 was all he was able to get.
It took one and a half years for the flight attendant and cabin crew chief to get their jobs back.
Her father could have just said “yes, my daughter is batshit. Here, have your jobs,” but that did not happen.
This was a perfect example of the abuse of power that seems to be all too common in South Korea and amongst a good number of Asians even here in Africa.
There is always a better use of your high influence than using it to make people feel like a puppet.
6G is 100 times faster than 5G. Nothing we have supports this. It is 100Gb/s. I think there are fiber lines that support this. But that is in PC, not mobile.
It is a challenge to do this in the power factor that mobile phones have. You don’t have access to 300W of power.
So everything has to be done from the fundamentals and re-engineered to work in a mobile form factor.
Wired, whether copper or fiber is completely different than wireless. This is brand new territory for human technology.
Overrated?? America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better
BYD is an EV company and China sits well above the US in this field
They control
The Rare Earths and lowest extraction and process costs
The Patents are theirs
The Raw Material supply is theirs
The Technology is entirely owned by China
The Software and Electronics are theirs
You take them out of GPS, they will laugh and use Beidou in 10 seconds or Galileo
At best US can prevent their sale in US but BYD expects that anyway
The only area where US hold some away is AUTONOMOUS DRIVING
Here US holds the edge while China hasn’t yet gone full flow into autonomous driving because it’s superfluous and expensive today
The ADS for Tesla costs around $ 13000 to make in the factory and design
China will get it to $ 4600 by 2025–2026
Then my guess is Oppo and Baidu will take over the Autonomous driving revolution in China
China is immune against their development of High Speed Rail, EVs, Solar Panel, Rare Earth Extraction, Steel and Alunimum and Nuclear development and Aerospace
US can’t do squat except prevent these models from being sold in US but frankly Automobiles always depend heavily on their domestic market with the sole exception of Germany
When my son tragically died she bought groceries, put them on the doorstep, knocked on the door and left so I didn’t have to engage in conversation if I didn’t feel like it (she stayed just inside her front door in case I did want to talk).
She cooked meals I could put in the freezer for me and my daughter that I could eat (I have several food intolerances she knows about and which mean I can’t actually find ready-meals in stores).
She put our bins out every week until I could do it myself (it was one of my son’s jobs each week).
She was always there when I needed a hug. Even now, four years on, she is there to talk to, to reminisce with about my boy’s antics, to share a tear with about the loss of him. She is never afraid to bring him up in conversation and talks to her young sons about him, holding him up as an example of the type of young men they should strive to be.
I have had a lot of bad neighbours, but she is a blessing that outweighs the others a million times over
Florida Businessman Dies from Virus : Meets Three Guardian Angels (Near-Death Experience)
Bill Tortorella shares the story of his Near-Death Experience, occurring after contracting a virus at a jewelry trade show in Tucson, Arizona. During his encounter on the Other Side, he describes being transformed into a beautiful beam of light, being guided by three guardian angels, reuniting with his deceased brother, and having it revealed to him where we come from and why we are here. Bill shares what it was like to feel that he was back in his True Home on the Other Side and how the love and forgiveness he experienced helped him to live his life differently after his Near-Death Experience.
What happened to some of Hong Kong protesters who got prosecuted for breaking Hong Kong’s national security law?
The legal system in Hong Kong works slooowly… it took them 3 years to prosecute me for not wearing a seat belt on a bus. A woman who rioted in Mong Kok in 2016 went to trial in 2020.
So what’s happened?
Open court trials happened. Open court trials YOU can attend by sitting in the galleries.
Some were convicted some were not.
The trials and convictions began in 2021. Convictions and acquittals are going on as you read this on 26th October 2023. Last week 4 rioters from PolyU were sentenced to around 4 years. That means we’re likely to find out in 2024 as some of those sentenced in 2021 and 2022 of 2–3 years will be released from prison.
My guess is that they will be absolutely unemployable Yer see Hong Kong doesn’t have the rehabilitation of offenders act like the UK. In the UK if you’ve served a prison term you no longer have to declare it but it will show up on a CRB check.
As such they will likely be exploited for the rest of their lives.
You go jogging in the morning and you see old people sweeping streets. It’s hard work as I see them leaving trails of sweat. They may get jobs in those areas and the bosses? They can exploit the shit out them as they wish. What are they going to do? Quit and work somewhere else?
Those last chance employers have ALL the power.
Even the leaders of the rioters and politicians. When was the last time you heard from them? The Nathan Laws who ‘escaped’ to the UK. When was the last time he was in the limelight? When was the last time he said or did anything?
Or they may become homeless. Way back in 2021 there was a rioter who was sentenced for 8 months and was released. He was homeless and had a piece of cardboard begging for money. You can’t go any lower than that and once you get down to that level all that’s left to help you are charities.
You sweat. Especially in an M48A3 Patton tank. You’re cramped, well the guys in the turret were but the driver didn’t have it too bad though he had 30 rounds of 90 mm stacked around him along with control panel in front and to the left plus fire extinguishers.
The driver had three telescope views to the outside world. One to the front, one to the left and one to the right. In the jungle, he could barely see anything out of them but green. And he could only see about eight or so feet ahead. He had help from his TC who had a better view and told him which direction to go through the com. You can’t hear conversations in a tank unless you are wearing your CVC helmet with the com speakers in it. Tanks are very noisy. Don’t let the movies fool you. You cannot talk and hear each other normally in a tank. Not in a 48 anyway. Not unless you are wearing your ‘Bone Dome.’
Tank crews in Vietnam, especially in III Corps sweated because inside the tank the temperature could reach 130 F or 54.4 C. Without gloves, you could burn your hands on the surface steel of a tank. Crewmen wore either T shirts, no T shirts.or just flak vests, if they wanted to. And their trousers of course.
So before moving up into the tree line, or jungle, you sit there sweating and waiting and sweating and waiting and sweating and waiting. That’s the worst part of eminent combat. Waiting…..and thinking. Too much time to think. Too much time. That was the problem. You were praying to get moving. Thinking too much was not good.
So you sat and waited and listened to the chatter on the com. A big ice block could be felt in your stomach and you got thirsty as hell and gulped evil tasting warm water.
Your eyes detect everything, right down to the flies that land on your vision block and you think, ‘You won’t want to be there in a little while. Fly away little guy.’ At times you wish you could fly away with him but here you stay, seated in a 52 ton steel hot box, a hot box that is nothing but a killing machine manned by 18 and 19 year olds just out of high school. They look tough in their combat gear but take off the combat uniform and give them t shirt and jeans, and you’ve got innocent looking kids. They are the ones fighting your wars.
Then, all changes. You’re ordered to move up.
“Time to find the bad guys,” you hear your gunner say on the com.
“Or time for them to find us,” the loader chimes in.
“Cut the chatter chipmunks,” the TC says sternly. It’s not like advanced training anymore, a crew being in combat together often is much less ‘Army’ and more personal.
Moving into the jungle is not pleasant especially in a buttoned up tank. It’s nerve wracking everytime. For a new guy it’s nerve wracking because he doesn’t know what to expect. For a combat vet it’s nerve wracking because he knows.
The pack or engine of the tank is loud. All you can hear is that and the voices on the coms. Combat can happen in seconds. You have to remember you are not alone. That’s hard to do in the lead tank because it seems like you are. However there are ground troops, M113s or ACAVs and other tanks with you. You are all going through this shit together.
You do not know when it’s going to happen then suddenly, you are in it. Green tracers are steaming toward you, sometimes you see sparks then a smoke trail snaking your way and mortar explosions falling around you. If there is a lot of this happening and does not stop, you know it’s an NVA regiment and not the VC. A VC fire fight only lasts 15 minutes or so. Hit and run. With the NVA, it’s hit and hit. You know your in for a fight. Now you hear the TC’s voice on the com telling you where to drive, telling the loader what type of round to slam into the breech, usually it’s canister or Beehive if they are available which they usually are not.
In close combat the gunner is not needed, shots are eyeballed by the TC who can fire the big 90 from his cupola. Canister rounds spray shot like a huge shotgun. The gunner is on the back deck of the tank armed with either an M79 or an M3 grease gun or if lucky to get one, a Car 15. He’s watching for jumpers who usually try to climb onto a tank and disable it with packs of ChiCom grenades. Surprisingly, it is fairly safe on the rear deck of a 48 because as I mentioned, a tank is never alone.
The nervousness has left you and you concentrate on doing the job you’ve been trained to do. A good tank crew operates like a well oiled machine. Their sole purpose is to kill the enemy and get their fellow crewman back to base alive, in a month or so.
Being in combat is an experience few people have had. There is no other experience like it. It is loud, time is sometimes sped up or slowed down, there’s no time to be scared as you are too busy to be scared and some of the sights you see are locked in the deep recesses of your mind only to come out later in life to haunt you.
It is after combat that the full effect of what you have just been through hits you. Some get the shakes, some talk fast and crazily, some are too tired to move and a few joke about it to hide their true feelings. There is no exhaustion ever felt as the exhaustion you feel after a lengthy combat action. Some men are dead and some are dead tired.
Seeing your own dead you usually have two thoughts in quick succession. You feel for the guy and what his family will soon learn and nearly at the same time, you are glad it wasn’t you laying under that poncho.
I found out what “the China threat” really is–and it’s hilarious
References to “the China threat” are widely used to justify the diversion of public money to weapons makers. But what is it? Look closely and we find “the China threat” is a series of vague allegations that China is planning to impose its system on the world—evidence-free claims that no scholar believes. Yet at the same, a very different “China threat” DOES exist, and it’s not what people think!
A peace proposal was reached early in the conflict last year. But it was vetoed or blocked, only not by the Russians.
There was no Chinese involvement.
In the meantime, China hasn’t shipped weapons to either side, or provided monetary aid, unlike, ahem, Nato members. Ukrainians soldiers are being paid in US dollars, while a select group of young Ukrainians are driving brand new Teslas and German cars on the streets of Kiev, partying into the night while conflict ravages their country.
China has instituted export control of commercial drones, after these were found weaponized in large numbers by Ukrainians. WHO paid for them?
China’s consistent position has been, let’s sit down and talk this through, and overtures have been made. Unfortunately, this isn’t a bilateral quarrel between Russia and Ukraine, but with the entire NATO.
Joe the elder(ly) will have to take the pedal off the gas and walk back from escalating this conflict.
There is little China (and the rest of the world ex-first) can do, just like Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen…
The only difference this time is white people feeling the economic pain of war.
And I mean the whitest of white, not the “not white enough” cannon fodder being slaughtered and displaced in the tens of millions.
You want it that way, you can have it.
Leave Asia out of it. We have had enough suffering the horror of war, particularly the Muslims of the Middle East.
“Europe” does not accept Russia as part of “Europe”, despite Russia being sovereign over the largest piece of EUROPE.
This quarrel needs a shift in mindset, and I am not referring to the russians.
“Europe’s” problems need not be the world’s problem.
Note: Hundreds of thousands Ukrainians are dead, and more than 20m Ukrainians have turned refugee. Is Ukraine in a better position today than 2014–2015, when the Minsk agreements were signed (and reneged) TWICE? Ukraine gave the finger to Russia for 8 long years, ignoring two brokered agreements.
Zelensky and co. belong in jail.
China and Malaysia’s Rare Earth Metal Deal, Put U.S in Panic
Today’s video is a deep dive into the significant geopolitical decisions made by China and Malaysia regarding the export of rare earth minerals, which play a crucial role in driving today’s tech-savvy society.
Here are the main changes that may take within you.
Lack of sensitivity towards your own self and your own needs. – Monks and nuns are constantly under immense public scrutiny in culturally Buddhist countries. At first you feel extremely sensitive and it’s a huge pressure. But with time you get used to it. Also the lack of freedom and comforts compared to laity may make one quite selfless and tough.
Sensitivity towards others – People keep looking forward to you in their bad times and you have to act as their guardian angel. But in their good times they may somewhat forget you. You learn this nature and learn to deal with it.
Whatever you do, you do not expect anything in return – You are a public figure. Being a public figure (specially if a monk or nun) is the same as being anything public. Everyone uses you but there is no one in particular to look after you. And again this will make you very tough, independent and very strong.
Even the worst introvert can become the most outgoing person – This was the case with me. If you want to do something for the society you get so much support from the laity. It is very easy to do social service.
Develop leadership qualities – People always want you to lead them in everything so if you do not have nor develop leadership qualities you are more or less doomed. So you learn it.
Patriotism – A lot of monks/nuns in traditionally Buddhist countries gets criticized specially by the Western Buddhists for this. But as a monk or nun you have very little things to call yourself apart from your country, ethnicity and religion. So the patriotism comes naturally and it is quite inevitable.
You become very patient.
It was originally intended to be a very calm and quite solitary life style but you can also make it the busiest life if you want it to be. You have the choice. However you have very little bonds and you feel so free whatever you do.
Inner calmness.
More understanding of life and worldly nature.
The immense discipline.
Sense of family towards other monks and nuns.
Respect for the elders
As a nun I MUST specially mention the discipline of the Buddhist monks and the way they treat the nuns specially in my country Srilanka. I had been a lay person till I was 28 years old. And there hasn’t been a single day that I did not face some sort of a sexual harassment from lay men in public places. But once in the order you don’t even feel that you are a woman. Suddenly gender has completely disappeared and you all just become human beings – monks and nuns. It’s so beautiful.
These qualities may increase if you stick to the practice as well. But just being in the robe without doing a minute of meditation can make you a different person in itself.
I see it among the monks who have been in the order since their childhoods the most. Eventhough they may not meditate as a habit there is a significant patience and an inner discipline among them. The later you enter the order the lesser the change may be. Ofcourse when you keep up the practice a lot of changes start appearing but it also can go down when you stop it. And the farther you keep away from the laity and the more you stick to the company of fellow monks and nuns the more changes will take place within you.
My own experience here. Back in the 1980s when I worked in a BR (British Rail) information kiosk, I had an American couple come up and ask for a train itinerary to get up to Fort William in Scotland. They were keen to stop off at various places en route so it took a good half an hour to work out times and optimum ticket prices.
Once they had collected all their notes, the gentleman pulled out his wallet and proffered me a tenner (£10 note) whilst thanking me for my diligence.
Naturally, I turned his “tip” down and said that what I’d done for them was simply my job and that we weren’t permitted to accept such things.
Blimey, that was it! The gent was visibly taken aback then his partner launched into a very loud verbal lashing of me saying that I was extremely rude for embarrassing him in front of everyone else, adding that they were “only trying to help your poor wages”.
Somebody in the queue piped up with “we don’t need your money, pal”, at which point the couple stormed off and kicked the door on their way out.
It could be argued that I went “above and beyond” but all BR clerical staff were salaried back then and we’d be mortified to have people announce that they thought that we were poor!
Generally people in Europe are paid a living wage so we don’t need to extract a tip out of everyone at every transaction to make ends meet. We leave that to our American cousins!
This is a HUGE PROBLEM for all of us!
This is a must watch for anyone who cares about our country and We The People !
Yes in a huge way it is. Though China and the Chinese people Confucian character and ethics itself is a phenomenal force.
If the U.S. had not foolishly fought wars that achieved absolutely nothing and cost tens of trillions of dollars that literally bankrupt America that pave the way for China to speedily caught up the U.S. and overtook it in most aspect of superpower status.
Just imagine this. Korean War is to stop North Korean to being communist. Today 80 years latter it is still a communist nation. The same goes to Vietnam. After 10 trillion lost 3 million dead and most U.S. gold reserves evaporated yet today half a century is still a proud socialist nation. Iraq is fought to introduce democracy to them. After 5 trillion dollars down the toilet Iraq is as i lambic nation as it was. But worst it now ally with Iran now. Another 3 trillion dollars thrown into the money pit is Afghanistan to get rid of the Taliban after 20 years the U.S. surrender the nation back to the Taliban.
The U.S. achieved nothing but hate and a broke and bankrupt nation! But worst. During the 60 years of continuous self created conflicts while the U.S. real standard of living standard of living stagnated back to the 1960 level today in 2023. During these same duration China grew 50 times in 60 years! By 2021 The Chinese life expectancy overtook the U.S. having doubled from 39 to now close to 79 years old!
You would think the US learn lessons from this nonsense but no. But today in 2023 the U.S. is fomenting coups in Africa, doing regime change in Russia, fighting another 10 trillion dollar un-winnable war in Ukraine, seething a stage to begin another war with China doing another Tokin lie in Taiwan and South China seas. It seems the U.S. won’t stop till it is finally collapsed in a total civil war! But that is the U.S. where popularity of leaders triumph over rationality.
China is laughing all the way to the bank metaphorically and factually. While the U.S. economy is is dire straight. Ukraine requires a billion a day Chinese provocation cost another billion a day and CIA and NED activity will totally burn up their cash but heck, your million homes less living on tents can wait, your 35% of Americans without medical insurance can die without help!
Israel Has just CUT OFF Water Supplies to Gaza – Just Like Ukraine did to Crimea
NEW AL JAZEERA REPORT SAYS ISRAEL JUST COMPLETELY CUT OFF THE WATER SUPLY TO GAZA! Just like Ukraine did to Crimea.
It was a Crime Against Humanity when Ukraine did it. It is a Crime Against Humanity now that Israel is doing it.
To deny human beings water means death in as little as three days.
During those days, people will have to take a crap into a five gallon bucket and haul it out to dump it somewhere.
With THAT type of sanitation, disease outbreaks will come fast; killing many who have some water stored and are otherwise surviving.
The shear hatred between the two sides over there would be mind-boggling were it not so long in coming.
Most of us have known for years this type of day would come. Few of us thought it would be in our lifetime.
Meet Frane Selak, the world’s (un)luckiest man.
In January 1965, Frane was aboard a train travelling through a cold, rainy canyon.
At one point of the journey the train was somehow flipped off of its tracks, and tumbled into a river.
A bystander rushed to the train’s aid, and pulled Frane out of the river. Unfortunately, 17 people drowned, trapped inside the train as it sank to the river’s bottom.
A narrow brush with death.
The next year, Frane was aboard the only plane ride he would ever take.
During the flight, the plane malfunctioned, and Frane was blown out of the aircraft.
He tumbled through the air— and landed safely in a haystack.
The plane crashed in a field, killing all 19 of its passengers.
Yet another close call.
It seemed that Frane had experienced his fair share of near-death experiences, but life still had quite a lot in store for Mr. Selak.
1966- A bus Frane was aboard crashed into a river, killing four. Frane was able to swim to safety with only minor injuries.
1970- While he was driving, Frane’s car suddenly caught on fire. He managed to escape just before the fuel tank exploded.
1973- In yet another driving incident, the engine of Frane’s car was doused in scalding oil from a malfunctioning fuel pump, causing flames to shoot through the air vents. Other than singed hair, Frane was unharmed.
1995- While on a trip in Zagreb, Croatia, Frane was struck by a bus. Luckily enough, he only sustained minor injuries.
1996- As Frane was driving, he was forced to swerve into a guardrail to avoid an oncoming truck. The rail collapsed under the car’s weight, sending it plummeting into a gorge. However, Frane wasn’t wearing a seat belt, so he was flung out of his car—right onto a tree. He held on, and safely watched as his car tumbled down into the gorge.
While he’s lucky to have survived more than seven brushes with death, Frane Selak seemed plagued by misfortune.
That is, until 2003 rolled around.
Two days after his 73rd birthday, Frane purchased a lottery ticket—- and won. It wasn’t a small amount, either: Roughly $1.1 million USD.
Perhaps even better than his lottery win?
He’s gone over twenty years without being placed in a life-threatening situation.
Frane Selak truly has beaten all odds.
My Son Didn’t Want to be Born; Pre Birth Memory and Near Death Experience
“I really appreciated the whole “I want to go home” statement. I never wanted to kill myself but I have that feeling of wanting to go home all the time. My husband never understands this because I will be at our house but I feel lonely/a longing to ‘go home’”
Small things amuses small mind. To most Yanks the world stood still since 1945. That is their failure to recognised that the world has move on.
Americans stood still while China advanced beyond recognition in a space of a mere 74 years since 1949. ASPI the acronym for Australian Strategic Policy Institute coincidentally an off shoot of the U.S. Neocon group concluded that today China lead the U.S. in all 37 out of 44 most key and strategic technologies and material sciences going into the future.
Hubris, over estimation of themselves, racial bias and frown upon Chinese people, wrongful dismissal of Chinese progress and achievements. Coupled with being so full of it attitude caused the U.S. to lose all its lead in technology. While China work their guts out the U.S. simply deteriorated by by feeling entitled and foolishly ignorant and naive about their collapse going into the 21st century.
Another way to put it they slumbered into deep sleep mode till it is way way way too late. And any counter action on China hurts and harm the U.S. way more that it affects China. It hasten China’s lead. And speed up US implosion. And being full of it they did in the space Center ban GPS threat, trade war and Chip act all of which cost the US an arm and a leg. And padded China’s lead further.
I added a drug in my food which induced diarrhea and waited to catch the culprit.
I was fed up with the lunch thief. Every other day someone would eat my lunch and this was a common phenomenon happening in our class. Any day a student bring something delicious it was bound to disappear. Some students stop bringing lunch others used to carry their lunch box wherever they go. Complaints were made to the school principal but, couldn’t catch the thief. I suspected few students which included some senior students also but, didn’t dare to say anything. Then I decided to do something extreme.
I brought a local delicacy for lunch one day and invited every possible classmate to have a bite during lunch hour. The morning hours were chemistry practicals and we had to leave our bags in our classroom. I knew if the thief got news about my food, he will strike during this time only. We all went to the practicals. Nearly one hour later we heard a commotion and saw principal and few teachers rushing upstairs, immediately followed by nurses. My teacher also went outside to see what was happening and then we saw one of my seniors crying loudly and taken on the stretcher by the nurses. He was the one who tried to eat my food but, didn’t know that I had mixed a drug extracted from a plant which induces diarrhea. He ate my entire lunch went back to his class and within 15 minutes started to have uncontrollable loose motions. That class was opened only after disinfecting which took 2 days.
He was admitted to hospital for a week. Later on, he confessed that he ate food from my lunch box before falling ill. My parents were called to the school and I was asked what happened to your food and I confessed to mixing in the drug for which I got nice beating from my father.
But, that incident made me famous in my schools and students started to bring lunch without fear. I felt like a savior of the world.
Edits 1- Lot of people have commented regarding the legality of this situation. I was in 8th grade when this happened. I didn’t mix the entire potion of drugs in my food, it was few drops. The diarrhea was contained within few hours but, the culprit felt weakness and took a week to recover. To everyone knowledge, I won’t use that drug again but, if someone tries to mess again with my food…….hahahahahahahahahaha (beware)
US decrypts the secrets of Kirin 2035, Huawei did not respond. The discovery scares the U.S.
The United States decrypts the secrets of Kirin 2035, Huawei did not respond.
Yes. One of the major regrets of my life. Let me explain……
As a young single sales engineer for Digital Equipment in the early 80s I attended a european sales meeting held in a posh hotel in Majorca. We were told that junior ranks (like me) were to share rooms, so after picking up my key I went to my room and saw a suitcase on the other bed. No probs, I thought, until I took a slightly closer look and noticed it was opened and full of female underwear. Hmmm, there must be some mistake, thought I. So I trudged down to reception, they assured me the room allocations were made by the company organisers not themselves, but they sent me to another room, which did in fact have a male engineer in it.
I subsequently discovered that the female in the original room was an absolutely stunning blonde Swedish girl, also single, and the organisers (a couple of girls from the Geneva Head Office) had mischievously allocated us together hoping that love would blossom.
What a wasted opportunity, I should have stayed in the first room and seen how events played out.
My middle school was relatively clean cut. It was a private school.
Most of the kids came from good homes. They weren’t the fighting types.
There was this kid Brandon, who used to bully everyone. (There always seems to be at least one doesn’t there?)
He was one of those early teenagers who had a big early growth spurt. He was bigger than everyone.
He was angry for no reason all the time. A perpetual scowl on his face.
He’d constantly be in the face of kids much smaller than him, egging them to fight him. He’d say, “You are a pussy.”, “Do something you pussy.”, “I dare you. Push me you pussy.”
I occasionally was the target, I’ll admit.
He’d throw a 12 year old boy into a locker right as the kid was talking to his crush. It was brutal. He had no qualms embarrassing people.
Nobody in our school was much of a fighter. And most of us were smaller so we didn’t really want to test our luck.
That summer, apparently there had been a meeting with school officials where it was communicated that his tenure at this private school should probably end.
Code: expulsion.
He didn’t learn from his expulsion from our school. His ways continued.
But he would learn soon.
He went to a new public High School with the same assholish attitude, that “looking for a fight” approach.
Unfortunately, the new pool he was swimming in had bigger fish: kids from a rougher side of the train track.
One particular kid “opted in” on his invitation to fight and Brandon got himself a badly needed public ass-kicking.
My conclusion, that actually gives me some solace:
Every bully will change his ways eventually.
Or he’ll have his ways changed for him.
There’s always a bigger, badder dude out there, gladly willing to be the “vehicle of his enlightenment”.
No it does not want to be a super power. It wants a fair and just world! The U.S. can still pretends to be the superpower and spends its way into oblivion. Go right ahead. Prepare for another hundred US wars!
China just wants to make money and give its people peace and prosperity. If the U.S. prefer to see 5 million homeless in the U.S. but fund Hong Kong poor and hoodlums to pretend to protest. That is their right of the US to deprived its own people and interfere in every corner of the globe.
China wants the world to be a better place. It wants to help build a better and fairer world. The U.S. can necked it’s citizens to death in bright daylight or shoot 16 years old due to his skin colour. That is their right. The U.S. can fund another 10 Ukraines wars and cause 10 million deaths that is the U.S. right.
China knows what it needs, better roads, better high speed railway, better infrastructure better access to IT and facilities for its people to progress. China won’t do shit like the U.S. China won’t bankrupt itself over muscles flexing like the U.S. It wants to give its people better food and more food and better homes and nicer cloths. Better health care and free education.
You ask this question because you see from a western lens. China needing to over lords the world now that they are rich and successful. That is the western way. Not China not the Chinese people. They want to sell to the world. They want to make stuffs for the world. They want to trade with the world. Sure they are super duper ready if you ever threat them.
Yeah, from my dad but AFTER he’d died, when I was given a load of his stuff.
I knew my mum had left him, but we were told she left me and my brother with dad because she couldn’t take us with her as we were on our dads passport and he was in the army.
Well it turns out my dad kept the “Dear John” letter she wrote him when she left us all.
She made it clear that my dad was to stay in contact with her parents, but to not contact her about us.
The courts naturally awarded her custody in the divorce, but she never came for us.
We ended up living with our paternal Auntie, long story, and she hated our dad and did her best to ensure he couldn’t take us back from her.
She made us wards of court and sought a custody of sorts, which she won.
In the paperwork for that was a note saying our mum had a new life, spouse and a daughter with him and didn’t want to be involved with her two sons.
Reminder — she left us, she didn’t come get us after the divorce and didn’t prevent our Auntie from keeping us.
My dad never ever told me any of that, not even a hint and I had years of on and off again contact with mum before eventually going to live with her when I was 17.
He’d kept a load of her photos, original birth certificate, all the court documents from divorce and ward of court stuff, everything we’d need if we’d wanted to find her when we were older but to also show she’d left us and he’d tried his best to keep us.
He was civil to her the few times they saw each other, like when he came to visit me when I was living at hers and when I got married, but he never mentioned the past.
Even when my brother estranged himself from dad after years of our Auntie drip feeding him lies about dad, Dad never said anything about Mum and what our Auntie did to him in regards to taking his boys off him.
Dad left the Army, left his girlfriend in Germany with whom he’d settled down with after Mum left and they were going to raise us as a family when he came to get us back from his sister…he left everything behind to come and live round the corner from us and start all over again with nothing.
He had to die before I could find it out the truth, I never got to speak to him, to hear his side because he just left it in the past and was the best dad he could be in the circumstances.
I miss him and honestly the wrong parent died early in my view.
It was a Sunday morning, and I was bored, so when the phone rang, I jumped to answer it.
I forget the detail, but the first sentence spoken by the caller gave the game away.
I put on my best British upper crust accent, and demanded to know where he got the number from.
He umm’d and arr’d. I demanded again, whilst I turned around and barked an order to trace the call to the non-existent millitary staff behind me.
Tapping on my computer keyboard, for sound affects, I informed the caller that he had called a millitary number restricted for use by 10 Downing Street (and no-one else), and I continued to question him, whilst having secondary conversations with the non-existent personal behind me.
I kept the call going for 30 minutes, and I’m pretty sure that I heard the precise moment the poor guy shat himself.
In the end, I let him off with a warning and an instruction to ensure that this number was not called again.
I didn’t receive an unsolicited call of any description for more than two years after that.
Initially, I felt cruel, figuring this was just some kid in a scam call centre. That feeling wore off when I realised what a tale this guy had to tell his mates later on.
You politely say, “Are you sure you want to part with it?” Then depending on the item, you can say that you will keep and cherish it as a family heirloom, or, you can be honest and say, “While this is lovely, it doesn’t fit with my decor. I will be glad to take it and find the perfect home for it where it can be loved and enjoyed.”
The biggest fear many older people have is that after they die, people will come into their home and not respect the things that were special in their lives. My mother’s fear was that her “special items” would simply be thrown away.
While your older relative is alive, ask them to walk you through their home and tell you the history of the various items throughout their house. You may gain a new respect for those items, as well as get clues to another family member who may actually want that item or have a connection to it. You may also find out if the items have significant monetary value or just sentimental value.
Your relative may think some items have high value, such as old or expensive sets of china or some collectible figurines, but the reality is that people no longer are interested in china sets or other items and they are worth very little. Older people can be devastated at the loss of value, so if that is the case, you don’t need to tell the older person, just reassure the person that you will take those items and care for them, then you can later dispose of them appropriately. If you don’t have room to store items, it may work to say, “I know you love this figurine (or whatever.) Why don’t you keep and enjoy it, just put my name on it for the future.”
The key is to respect the feelings of your older relatives and help them care for their special items in a respectful and caring manner. After they are gone, you can do what you need to do.
Years ago, my then-girlfriend gave me a pair of Bluetooth headphones as a birthday present. I appreciated it and tried so hard to make them work. But they kept irritating my ears and always fell out. Eventually, I went back to my regular wired headphones — not realizing this would trigger a huge point of contention.
Every time we went to the gym, she’d cross her arms and lament, “It’s a shame you won’t use those $150 headphones I got you.” She brought it up for months and months and it started to feel like I’d loaned money to the devil.
Humans are strongly reciprocal in nature. Any healthy relationship is built on giving and receiving in a fair manner. When there’s a gulf in this reciprocity, it creates a power imbalance. This is why gifts are a common tool for manipulation by people who score high in machiavellianism (having a desire to control someone).
Bestowing presents is also a common tactic by abusers. Each of Michael Jackson’s accusers made similar claims of him showering them with amazing gifts. They felt a sense of loyalty to him, particularly when it was time to defend him in court.
With my aforementioned ex, we eventually reached a resolution that once a gift is given, it is released. There are no claw-backs. There is no weaponizing them during arguments or using them to create resentments. That relationship taught me to keep an eye out for scorekeeping. Anytime someone tries to lord over me that they did this one nice thing for me — just to get their way on an entirely different subject, I tend to get prickly.
Even favors can be used against you if you aren’t careful. The most advanced manipulators use them, and you can too, in a good way.
Ben Franklin had a political enemy who was making speeches against him. Franklin remembered an old quote, “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.” Then he asked that political enemy to loan him a rare book. Ben eventually returned it to him with a nice thank you note inside the cover. Suddenly, their political rivalry vanished and Franklin had a new friend.
Asking for a favor is a conveyance of trust and need. A person feels chosen. You’re suggesting they have something you don’t: knowledge, ability, and resources. It also appeals to their insecurities. If you don’t know the requester or are angry at them, it creates a cognitive dissonance: why am I helping someone I don’t know or whom I’m mad at?
Your brain watches you behaving in conflict and creates a subconscious conclusion: you must like the person. After all, we ask favors of people we trust and care for, right? Beware of pro bono favor requests from people who have something to gain from you.
China Just REVEALED Update Plans For NEW Moon Base
China, who has seen a dormant phase recently regarding its lunar exploration program has recently released updates regarding the continuation of its lunar exploration program. As this important endeavor continues, China is on track to land its Taikonaut on the lunar surface and achieve one of the biggest milestones in its sector.
BOOM! Turkey Enters Israel-Palestine Fight — Warns U.S. to STAY OUT
The President of Turkiye, Recypt Erdogan, has publicly come out in support of Palestinians in the ongoing HAMAS-Israel conflict and has PUBLICLY WARNED the United States to STAY OUT of the conflict.
Erdogan says that his country is “with our innocent Palestinian brothers” and explicitly warned — everyone — that Turkey is “willing to defend Palestine at any price.”
It looks to me as if he just threw down a Gauntlet. To the US. To Israel. To pretty much everyone; perhaps even including NATO!
Erdogan knows that Poland, just yesterday, said they were sending military transport aircraft into Israel to evacuate Polish nationals and that if those aircraft are attacked, Poland would invoke NATO Article 5, resulting in the 31 country NATO alliance making strikes against Palestinians!
With today’s announcement, Erdogan just dumped cold water all over Poland . . . AND NATO. Neither will be able to do anything if Turkey says no. NATO requires unanimity before the bloc can engage in military action.
This HAMAS-Israel thing is spinning out of control so fast, it’s hard for me to even keep track of it.
Frankly, in my opinion, this has “Disaster” written all over it.
They are deluding themselves. Most Americans still think they are exceptional. They are so deluded that they think it is alright for their government to use chemicals like ‘Agent Orange’ in the battle field. They think it is alright for them to torture captured prisoners with ‘Water Boarding’ and all other forms of ‘Tortures’. One picture has kept me awake at nights for a long time is the one showing a naked young girl running away and crying because she and other kids were being chased by American soldiers after they saw the unarmed civilian grown ups being tortured and killed by the American soldiers. And of course who can forget those picture showing prisoners being torture in Abu Ghraib prison, on the outskirts of Baghdad. There are too many pictures for the American Authority to deny their existence. And a former US President got the nerve to say that ‘Water boarding’ was not torture.
Another picture that come to mind is when Secretary of State, Colin Powell, a former 4 Star General, holding up a tube containing washing powder and claimed that as proof of Iraq’s ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’. He mis-spoke. He should have said. ‘Weapon of Mass Deception’.
China will not start a war. To China it knows wars don’t resolve anything. It focus on being able to do tit for tat.
So if the U.S. talk shit and do daft muscle flexing and chest thumping like a gorilla, China will do nothing. China’s view is
It will intelligently let the US have a long rope to hang itself if that is what the U.S. wants. But if the U.S. hit China in China it will reciprocate by hitting US in U.S. if you kill a hundred in China it will kill a hundred in U.S. mainland. If you kill a thousand China will kill a thousand. If you use a nuke on China, China will use a nuke on U.S.
So if you want to stay safe stay in your shore in Florida or California. If you are loitering in South China Seas. The U.S. had 2 choices. One blow trillions for nothing. Or two, murder equal number of people in China and the U.S. or worst turn earth into a nuclear dust.
Right now the U.S. choose blowing billions like a faded and aging hoodlum flexing its muscles no one bother to pay attention to. All it needs is it swing accidentally and hit China to start a mutual self destruction. I think it is suicidal.
It wasn’t a patient, but the sister of his wife who demanded that my girlfriend tell a big lie to her patient. According to my girlfriend, it happens all the time in Muslim families.
Only a couple of days ago, my girlfriend found out that the patient was dying from bladder cancer metastasis. He did not have much time left — quality time, that is. She explained that to the family members who had come to the consultation room.
Not only his wife and children were there, but also his wife’s sister and an even older aunt, and some other family members — there was a bunch of them. The man himself was in his room. Asleep.
The sister and his wife asked — well, actually insisted — that my girlfriend would not tell the patient how bad his condition really was, and she certainly was not allowed to mention that his end would be very painful and bad.
My girlfriend kindly explained that she cannot tell this kind of lie to a patient — that he had every right to know about his condition, and that there were also the options of palliative care or euthanasia, which he had every right to think about before the pain would get even worse.
The problem is: in Muslim families, euthanasia is a no-go, and they rather have beloved uncle-husband-father patient succumb to the worse imaginable pain, than to help him go finally asleep without pain. Their way of coping with it is simply to not tell the patient.
But my girlfriend refused (she always does).
And she also told them that she had already spoken with him, and that he had dearly thanked her for telling the truth. He had suspected for a while that this was going the wrong way, but he needed confirmation — which he now had. And he planned to think about the options, now that the pain was getting worse.
His wife’s sister was furious, and exclaimed that the proposed therapies were not an option.
Yeah. But, you know, she was not the one in pain though.
I purchased a brand-new Honda Civic, which I drove very little and kept garaged. At 21k miles, I was told by the Honda dealer that the car needed brake work in order to pass inspection. I was highly skeptical, since I’m not hard on the brakes, and my previous vehicle did not require ANY brake work until around 80k miles. However, I was recovering from surgery and not able to do much myself, so I agreed to the work. I questioned this, and got a long BS story from the Service Manager about how I didn’t drive the car often enough, and as a result, the brakes were wearing. Something didn’t seem right, and I should have known better.
At 25k miles, the vehicle had other service work done, and the Honda mechanic reported that the brakes were fine. However, as I was leaving the dealership, I overheard the Service Manager having the exact same conversation with another customer about her brakes. The same BS reasons (not driving enough) were given, verbatim.
Roll forward to 31k miles, and the Honda dealer tells me they need “immediate attention”. By now, I was recovered and strongly smelled a rat. So I declined the work, and put the car up in my own garage. I was pissed when inspection showed nothing wrong with the brakes whatsoever. In fact, they looked almost new.
Since that time, I have driven the car for 2 years and over 16k miles, passing state inspection (which includes brakes) both times, without any brake work!
Took my business elsewhere, and didn’t look back. That was the 5th car bought by the family at that dealership, it will be the last.
I have a good one. I had long had a suspicion that my father was not my biological father. We looked nothing alike, not that it bothered me, but he was a 5′4″ Egyptian man and I’m a 5′9″ very white woman. At some point, my sister’s MIL gave her an Ancestry DNA kit for her birthday. Sure enough, it came back with 0% anything related to Egyptian. Both our parents have been deceased for several decades so we couldn’t ask them. At that point, I figured I should just go ahead and take the DNA test myself. Sure enough, same with me. I told my sister than I had heard a rumor from my mother’s best friend that our parents had fertility problems. I had quietly assumed that we had been a product of a sperm donation for years. My sister and I appear to be half sisters. She’s three years younger than I am so it makes sense. Sperm donors usually don’t donate for years and they may have tried to get a donor with at least some darker features. She was somewhat more shocked.
Fast forward six weeks after my results came in and I get an alert from Ancestry, I have a match. I open up the email and the first line is something like – “John Smith (not real name) is your father”. I was ready to acknowledge that I was not biologically my father’s but, for some reason, it startled me that I would find my actual biological father. I didn’t contact him. I was in my forties at the time and I imagine when he donated sperm that many years ago anonymously, it never occurred to him I’d show up.
That being said, a couple weeks later, he contacted me. After a few back and forth messages, it turns out he was a sperm donor, a retired OB/Gyn (not my mother’s for the record) and was indeed my biological father. On top of that, I have three other half sisters, the youngest of which is three months older than I am. He likes to brag/joke that he had two women knocked up at once. Of course, there may be more of us out there.
I’ve met the family multiple times. They’re a very nice group of people and my biological father calls me his fourth daughter. I look a lot like my sisters. At 5′9″, I’m actually the shortest sister. My bio dad at his tallest was around 6′5″, I think.
As crazy as all of this sounds, it didn’t really cause any identity crisis. I was in my 40’s. I knew who I was at that point and who my “real” father was, the one who had raised me. On top of that, I had fertility issues myself (just age related) and had used donor egg and sperm for my daughter. I discovered all of this after my child was born. It would never occur to me that my daughter wasn’t my “real” daughter. I gave birth to that girl and raised her and I’ve been honest with her about all of it, in an age appropriate way, of course. My mother died when I was eight so my Egyptian father was a single parent raising two girls. I still feel half Egyptian. As far as I’m concerned, I just have more nice people in my life.
Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond (Remix by Patryk Pryce)
Another fantastic remix. I really love this version.
Bluegrass rock.
Shit, I must of listened to this version about a hundred times! Damn!
China averages around 65 Billion RMB a year on Losses on the HSR and an aggregate loss of 5.77 Trillion RMB totally
Sounds huge doesnt it?
It would be if you were an American
For a Chinese system, this is a pittance
Let me explain
First
HSR is regarded as a PUBLIC SERVICE in China
Public Services are always subsidized by the Governments from Beijing to the Local Governments
So these losses are reimbursed by the Taxpayers
The estimate is the average Chinese taxpayer pays 3.77% of his tax money to maintain his country’s railway network
image 183
Meanwhile an Average Indian contributes nearly 3.11% of his annual income for a railways that’s maybe a fifth of the level of Chinese quality
This is why I keep saying India isn’t ready for a HSR
Our people are too poor today as a whole to pay for the HSR unlike China whose population is way more middle class and have larger pockets plus the fact that HSR has an entire massive hub ensuring the lowest cost of operations
A HSR of 1/10th the size of Chinas in India would cost the Indian Taxpayer 8.41% of their annual income (Around 2100 Kms length)
image 184
It’s why despite the operating losses of 65 Billion RMB a year , only 10 Billion RMB or 15.4% is reimbursed from borrowings or debt
In India, a whopping 57% is reimbursed from borrowings
In Pakistan, 77% is reimbursed from borrowings
In short the people happily pay for the losses because (a) they are capable enough to pay for the losses with a near 50% middle class (b) the amount is not that high, around 3.77% of their total tax money
Second
Intangible benefits
The HSR enables development of areas and places deemed uninhabitable a decade ago
image 185
In Shenzhen a worker pays 870 RMB for 32 m² Apartment while 240 Kms away in Guaoxi he pays 400 RMB for 60 m²
Earlier Guaoxi took 6 hours by Road
Today Guaoxi takes a mere 65 minutes by HSR, the 230 kph line, not even the 418 kph fastest line
Thus he saves almost 500 RMB a month which translates to 6000 RMB disposable income a year
The fare for the train is paid out of profits by the employer
This extra 6000 RMB can be spent on other things and thus enhance the economy
The Value of intangible benefits is estimated to be close to 7 Trillion RMB or so
Third
Asset Monetization
The Benefit of Socialism
China owns the land on which the HSR is built, valued today at close to 21 Trillion RMB and that’s not even market price but a 60% discounted government local land price
Thus the total losses are barely 33% of the Assets owned in land alone
Thus the HSR is in vibrant and excellent economic shape
Well, in my defense . . . oh, never mind. It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I have no defense.
Remember this excellent product, ladies?
2023 10 26 17 12
It made our hair wonderfully moisturized and conditioned, silky, shiny, and lustrous. It comes in small tubes, and you put it in a glass or cup of hot water to heat it up, apply it to your wet hair and work it through, leave on for just one minute (!) and then shampoo it out.
Alberto VO5 products (made by a company named Alberto-Culver) are very good and inexpensive hair care products. They go back a long way; even my Grandma used them. In her bathroom was always VO5 shampoo …
2023 10 26 17 1d3
and this …
2023 10 26 17 13a
And never mind “conditioner” .. we used this, Tame Creme Rinse …
2023 10 26 17 1a3
I remember, when I was a young girl, wondering why “cream” was spelled c-r-e-m-e, and why a guy named Toni was making stuff for girls (?) And why the heck was Tony’s name spelled with an ‘i’ instead of a ‘y’?
Okay, sorry. I got sidetracked by nostalgia. (Love and miss you, Grandma and Mom.)
So, the dumbest thing I’ve ever done? I gave myself a “hot oil treatment” but not with VO5. Not that time. That time I did it with this:
2023 10 26 17 14
I melted some (probably more than a tube full, but, ya know, I was putting Vaseline in my hair. What’s one more dumb thing?) in a small saucepan on the stove, applied the “hot oil” to my hair, and well – did I let it sit on my wet hair for one minute? Hell no … I let it sit for ten minutes.
Yeah, I hadn’t thought it through.
It completely congealed. Back to its original state. Petroleum Jelly. My hair lookedlike I went swimming in an Exxon oil spill.
I shampooed .. and shampooed .. and shampooed. It wouldn’t wash out. In desperation, I even called an Ask-a-Nurse hotline for advice, which was a fairly new service at the time, around ‘78 or ‘79. (I was only 21 or 22 at the time. Is that a good defense? . . . No? Yeah, you’re right.)
The nurse I spoke with told me to try laundry detergent or an astringent, which sounded reasonable. I bought two bottles of Bonnie Bell astringent. It rolled off my hair like a car windshield that’s been treated with Rain-ex.
NEXT…
Yes, I washed my hair with powdered laundry detergent. Was there no end to the dumb shit I’d try? Apparently not. That didn’t work, either. Perhaps the nurse meant liquid laundry detergent. Well, dammit. Then she should’ve specified.
Finally I spotted something that gave me hope, in the kitchen of all places. Like a shining beacon of relief from an ordeal of my own dumb doing, one I’d been dealing with for three days running. It was a fairly new product, too. One that had “grease cleaning power”, or whatever their slogan was back then. And .. hallelujah! It worked!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason nothing but this adorns my kitchen window ledge.
2023 10 26 17 14as
Have I done dumber things than giving myself a hot oil treatment with Vaseline? Oh, I’ve done a couple of dumb things since, sure, but nothing quite as dumb. My brother-in-law thought it was the funniest freakin’ thing he’d ever heard. He told everybody. I’d meet friends of his and they’d say “Oh, are you the one who put Vaseline in her hair”? I never lived it down.
The idea came from a conversation with my therapist.
“You need to find meaning outside of work,” she said. “What are you passionate about?”
And get this— Even in the *safe space of therapy* I felt awkward telling her: “I want to normalize vulnerability between men. I want to support other dads. I want to feel their support.”
“That’s a beautiful idea,” she said. “Go for it.”
So I: – Posted on a local Facebook Group – Got hundreds of likes and comments – (ironically, 80% from wives tagging their husbands)
I felt imposter syndrome every step of the way.
“Who the hell are you to start a men’s group?” “What do you even have to offer?” “No one’s going to come.” “You suck.”
But I did it anyway.
(While responding to that voice with a healthy dose of: 🖕)
And now, 7 of us meet in my basement every two weeks.
It’s: – 10% parenting advice – 90% “I need to get this off my chest” – And 100% “Why don’t men do this more often?!”
There are two things I’m trying to say here:
The first is that I have three boys at home, ages 16, 12, & 8.
I don’t want them to grow up like me: – Terrified to share their feelings – Show weakness – Be vulnerable.
Incapable of connecting with other men on an emotional level.
Because life’s short. We’re social creatures. And finding our shared humanity is one of the greatest joys of life.
The second thing is that: – The inner critic is a liar – Your comfort zone is a liar – Imposter syndrome is a liar
Each of us has unique gifts to give to the world.
But it takes stepping out of that comfort zone. Taking risks. Falling.
Getting back up. Doing hard things. Being the change you want to see.
Write Down Your Goals Twice Every Day. You cannot get the things you don’t remember you wanted in the first place.
Do Something For The Goals Every Single Day. Success and excellence only come from what we do behind the scenes every day.
Work Harder Than Everyone Else. To be the best you must work like the best. Period.
Get Over Yourself. Get over the fact that you can do this all while staying comfortable and do the things you do not like to do and that scare you.
Believe You Are The Best Before You Are. If you do not believe it, why should anyone else?
Focus All Your Energy On Improving. You are not the best yet, so you must grow into the best by improving everything you can as much as you can.
Invest In Yourself. Spend the time, energy and money required for you to become the best.
Do Not Give Up. This will take longer than you think it will and will be harder than anyone told you, but if you give up, you will never be able to reach it.
It has no effect because defense and foreign policy are not made in the Defense and Foreign ministries. These ministries are only involved with policy implementation.
Foreign policy is formulated by the Director of Foreign Policy 外事办主任。 This office is now headed by Wang Yi, who took over as Foreign Minister after Qin Gang was put under investigation in June. This means that Wang Yi is responsible for foreign policy, and is also responsible for foreign policy implementation as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Defense policy is devised by the Central Military Commission 中央军委, of which Xi Jinping is chairman. The Defense Ministry is responsible for defense policy implementation.
China is not ruled by Xi Jinping individually, but by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, of which Xi is the face and the spokesperson. Because it is not rule by individual ego, as is often done in the west, it has no significant effect on Xi himself.
Hezbollah is waiting for Israel to start the ground invasion of Gaza then they will open the northern front. With Iran, Russia and China potentially backing this war, what will be the situation if this escalation happens?
Israel does not have the stomach to take heavy casualties nor the capability to fight a prolonged war of attrition on three fronts i.e. Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon. Israel has a Jewish population of 7.1 million, around 50% of which are of fighting age (18–55) male and female.
[1] Size of its army is 634,500 including reserves, that is around 18% of population which is in the 18–55 years bracket. With these statistics, how much casualties can Israel take? Without US soldiers to die for it, Israel will run out of soldiers long before it runs out of ammunition.
Hence the only way Israel can survive this war is if US comes in with full force to fight alongside IDF and die for Israel. Short of that Israel is in deep trouble, as it is surrounded by the ocean of Muslim world with unlimited supply of manpower ready to fight Israel given half a chance.
image 181
It remains to be seen whether American public is ready for another “never ending” war, and whether American taxpayers are willing to fund it.
Our somewhat spoiled and entitled 34 y/o son invited a couple friend of his to join us at an expensive beachfront restaurant. We had graciously picked up the tab for him and his friends on previous occasions, so we expected it to be more of the same. No big deal except that couple brought another couple we’d never met, and they all proceeded to order filet mignon. They also ordered two more to-go for their large dogs waiting at home! I whispered to my husband to keep his wallet in his pants and to order us two hamburgers. Oh how sweet it was when the check came and I loudly told the server that my husband and I would be on a separate check. You could hear the gasps and watch them all struggling and asking each other if anyone had cash or creditcards. I didn’t need to order dessert as that was the most delicious moment. Got tired of being mooched.
Typically a 3000 Km has 10 Phases of 300 Km each, which are finally linked into a single mesh network
The Chinese learnt this from Singapore & Japan both of whom work this strategy
This way, if the project is cancelled, the Phase completed can stand alone and have it’s own financial viability model
So if China quoted $ 5.5 Billion, it’s always for a Single Phase
The Whole cost will never be revealed and depends heavily on other factors
Since a Phase is around 300 Kms or definitely not more than 400 Kms, China is likely quoting $ 5.5 Billion for maximum 400 Kms
Still that’s astronomically different from Indias $ 17 Billion for 500 Kms
India is at least 250% higher
India was rather short sighted with the Bullet Train
Initially Chinas bid to India was for almost $ 4.3 Billion for 250 Kms but included Tech Transfer over 15 years
However five areas of disagreement emerged
China quoted 2.6% interest on composite terms
China demanded a 33% contingency payment knowing Indias history of delays
China insisted on having first refusal to build additional routes along the bullet train at later dates , basically saying if and when you expand, we get first choice
Chinas last condition was that their engineers felt very strongly that Mumbai to Ahmedabad was not a good pilot route due to many estimated problems that they predicted. Instead they wanted the Pilot Project between two other points rumored to be between Karnataka to Tamilnadu due to ease of terrain and other reasons.
At this time Japan who was terribly eager to get the contract offered to regard the entire 500 Km as a single phase at 0.1% interest but at double the cost
They agreed to Ahmedabad to Mumbai route
They agreed to no contingency payment
The agreed to no first refusal at a later date if India chose to expand
However they said no Tech transfer
In the end the Chinese were absolutely bang on
Proving that Political decisions never work
They perfectly predicted Delays in the whole project
They perfectly predicted that this 500 Km had a much lesser chance of becoming 5000 Km than with Indonesia Or Thailand
And Japan is stuck with the Project having had a opportunity loss of around $ 1.488 Billion to this day
An old friend of mine received 1 million dollar through a private investment savings account when he retired as a university professor. He was sixty-five at the time and had plenty of other savings, so you would think that he would do all right. Wrong.
His Chinese wife — who was a tad younger — had different ideas.
She first used part of his money to start a female clothing store in a local mall, without knowing the next thing about clothes, selling, or money management (she had a PhD in Physics and had no clue about what selling was about).
The shop went bankrupt in no time.
Some time later, he noticed that his private savings accounts were shrinking rapidly. She had gotten into investing (again, with no knowledge about it whatsoever, besides her prior dramatic clothing shop experience), and she was essentially flushing his money through the drain.
He could stop her (barely) before it was all gone.
In the end, nasal and sinus cancer hit him (very) hard when he turned eighty, and almost nothing was left to pay the very expensive surgeries and therapies — he also had a young daughter to take care of, and she came first. (His wife ignored their daughter altogether.)
He died not much later in “relative peace” (as they say), but kept worrying about one thing and one thing only till the very last seconds, as his daughter would be all alone now.
NATO has published an Op-Ed article by a retired American defense official, which calls on the bloc to fight and win a limited nuclear war against Russia. Should the US and China clash over Taiwan, the author claims that a full-scale war in Europe would likely follow.
The Op-Ed article was written by Gregory Weaver, who served as the principal nuclear and missile defense advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In it, Weaver argued that, counter to Moscow’s long-standing nuclear doctrine, Russia may use tactical nuclear weapons either to stave off a battlefield defeat or bring about a swift victory to a conventional conflict, such as that in Ukraine.
In such a scenario, Russian military leadership would assume that the West would not respond in kind, for fear that the situation would “escalate uncontrollably to a large-scale US-Russia homeland exchange.”
Instead of fearing nuclear war, Weaver argues thatthe West should embrace it. NATO should equip its fighter jets and submarines with tactical nuclear weapons to deter a tactical Russian strike, and “convince Russian leadership that NATO is fully prepared to counter limited nuclear first use with militarily effective nuclear responses of our own.”
Russian nuclear doctrine allows for the use of atomic weapons in the event of a first nuclear strike on its territory or infrastructure, or if the existence of the Russian state is threatened by either nuclear or conventional weapons. This position has not changed since 2010, and makes no exception for the use of tactical nuclear weapons (which are far less powerful than the strategic nuclear weapons that NATO and Russia would fire at each other in the event of an all-out exchange).
Despite these clear guidelines on nuclear use, Weaver claimed that Russia could launch an attack on NATO states in Europe if the US were preoccupied with fighting China over Taiwan, a scenario that he treats as possible without further explanation.
To counter this, he recommends that NATO move “more deep precision strike capabilities” to Europe, form “several modern armored divisions” in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe, and press European members to “provide more conventional capability,” while the US sends them tactical nuclear weapons.
Weaver did not mention the consequences that nuclear war would wreak on the European countries where such a conflict would be fought.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Western leaders have become so obsessed with inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia that they have lost their “sense of self-preservation.”
The writer of the NATO Op-Ed Piece is Gregory Weaver.
Filipina SHOCKED by “DELUSIONAL WOMEN” | Rubeauti reacts
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.
Is 65 TOO OLD for a YOUNG FILIPINA? | Street Interviews
Chinese Weaponry is more than capable of taking on NATO weapons
Oh don’t get me wrong. Maybe technologically, NATO weaponry is more advanced
Yet NATO weaponry has been exposed in Ukraine as woefully being inadequate for a battle with a formidable ally
They have been designed since the 1990s with the aim of maximizing profit and fighting small nations like Iraq and Afghanistan rather than design them to COLD WAR STANDARDS
NATO weapons are designed for rapid strikes and rapid breakthroughs
Their offensive capabilities, mobility, speed are their key design parameters
Yet their defense is weak, their loading rate is compromised and they are not meant for heavy use
The Leopard and Challengers are the best example
They move faster than Russian Tanks yet their load rate is slow and their external body is vulnerable due to lower weight and allows them to be crunched by a simplest cheapest $ 20,000 drone or an 155 mm Artillery Shell or an Air to Surface missile
Chinese and Russian Weaponry are still designed per COLD WAR STANDARDS
To fight NATO
To fight US in an eventual war
They are designed for slow, territorial attrition, rock solid defense and grinding the enemy
Plus their numbers are superior due to better industrial productivity
Logic says Chinese Weapons should take on NATO weapons
When there is no rival, all you need to do is to change a little to fool consumers to buy your new product.
Sometimes you purposely do not want to change too much either. Otherwise you may not have new things next year.
Huawei is different. Huawei must find a way to go around US sanctions. It is this urge to survive a harsh condition that people become more innovative & get breakthrough.
It’s STARTING! Biden Just SHOCKED The World With This Move Towards GLOBAL WAR
As Biden seeks vast new sums for wars in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, will his rambling and incoherent speech propel America hurtling towards a global war?
This video is great.
He absolutely captures the sheer insanity of this moment! I mean it’s so insane that you all have to laugh.
Psychologist, Paul Piff, ran a famous social experiment using Monopoly. They had two strangers play a game against each other — but first, they flipped a coin.
The “heads” player got double starting money, double bonuses, and rolled two dice instead of one. The tails player played the game normally.
By design, the Heads player would eventually begin winning. Then, scientists watched.
The heads player began talking louder, raising their hands to celebrate. They slammed their pieces down louder on the board as they moved them. Eventually, they were outright rude and hostile to the other player.
When interviewed about winning, they talked about their amazing strategies and tactics. They rarely mentioned the 2x bonuses they began with. They also never acknowledged those advantages were the result of a coin toss.
image 180
They were displaying the Self-Serving Bias, where people tend to seek out and over-weight information that is favorable to them (and their ego).
In sports and video games, it’s why teammates often point fingers at each other over a loss. In business, it’s why unethical managers blame employees for their own incompetence.
It’s as Upton Sinclair once wrote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
I try to fact-check the beliefs I have against this powerful bias — because it sneaks into every minor decision we make.
This is a schematic diagram of the recent situation in the Middle East, where the armed forces of China, Russia, and the United States are located near Israel, Palestine, Iran, and Syria.
The top three countries in the world’s military power rankings are all gathered in this small region.
image 88
The reason why the US military dare not directly intervene in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is because they are unwilling and because they dare not.
No one will act recklessly.
No one wants to break the current balance.
They Just Did It! America Unleashes Economic Chaos – Shutdown Crisis Escalates
Congress has just ousted Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. This one move just ramped up the shutdown crisis to the next level. We are in for a rollercoaster ride which could lead to a government shutdown where the economy could get dangerously impaired. Here’s what you must know!
This was in the early days of the internet, and I would find the articles, and then print them out. I ended up with piles of stacks of unsorted articles, (also known as the Rush Limbaugh style “stack of stuff”) and huge expenses for printer ink and boxes of white paper.
2023 09 28 11 09
Towards the end of the 1990’s I just gave up, and simply saved the articles on hard drive. i used something called a “ZIP drive” back then to store the articles. It was a “hoarding” habit. A sign of… coping… perhaps. To a stressful life. And then, oh Lordy was my life stressful.
2023 09 28 11 10
I did this with everything. I was like a big vacuum and magnet that recorded everything that passed my screen. Articles, images, porn, stories, cat pictures and memes. Ugh!
And I would collect these things on disk and then put the discs in boxes, and just store them. I had so many boxes of “my precious archives”.
2023 09 28 11 12
Funny thing though, I never really took the time to go back through them. Not really. They just were vacuumed up, stored, and boxed. Only to be forgotten and ignored over the dust of time.
…
Today, we can put the stuff “in the cloud”.
But you know what?
If you never get around to reading the articles, looking at the pictures, viewing the movies, then why bother with the effort?
You are wasting your time.
STOP.
Just STOP.
Go outside and get drunk… play with your kitties, doggies, or go fishing. How about watching a ball game? Or better yet, playing ball. Spend time with your loved ones.
I live 3 blocks north of my local police station and 3 blocks south of a tiny strip mall. The strip mall has 1 entrance and 1exit so basically it is a 1 way drive and many use it to make a u-turn
I had picked up a moron about a mile from my home because I was only doing 30 in a 25 residential neighborhood – tailgating, honking, etc. There was no shoulder on this road. I was not about to speed up since it was the time that school got out and there were kids walking home.
Even though the moron had a few opportunities to pass me or turn off the road, he stayed on my bumper. I drove into the strip mall and he followed me so I knew I had a serious problem on my hands. While driving, I discreetly called the cops, explained what was happening and headed to the station. Moron kept following me. He was not thrilled when the cops were waiting for him.
While they held him and ticketed him, I drove home and parked my car in my garage. The next day, I dropped off a basket of cookies for the cops and found out that the moron had a couple of outstanding warrants for assault. I’m so glad that I never stopped my car and just kept driving.
Blackstrap Steaks with Caramelized Onions
blackstrap steaks
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Caramelized Onions
1 1/2 cups sweet onions
3/4 cup red bell pepper
2 tablespoons fresh basil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Steak
4 chuck eye steaks (Delmonico)
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt
Fresh basil
Instructions
Caramelized Onions
Spray a medium nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Heat over medium to medium-high heat until hot. Add onion; cook 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently.
If necessary, re-spray skillet with cooking spray. Add bell pepper; continue cooking for 3 to 5 minutes or until onions are browned and bell pepper is crisp-tender, stirring frequently.
Stir in sliced basil, pine nuts, vinegar and black pepper. Season with salt, as desired; keep warm.
Steak
Combine molasses, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar in small bowl.
Heat second large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Season steaks with black pepper. Place steaks in pan; cook 9 to 11 minutes (ranch steaks, 8 to 11 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally and brushing with molasses mixture during last 3 to 4 minutes of cooking.
Season steaks with salt, as desired; serve with caramelized onions. Garnish with basil sprigs, if desired.
Why are SO MANY Americans Retiring in Europe Right Now?
For the U.S. to decide this Chip Act it must have been debated at length by hordes of parties and institutions including dozens of companies in the U.S. and throughout US allies.
Why?
Well simple. The repercussions are simply gigantic and colossal if indeed this act fail. It will cause trillions upon trillions of dollars lost over time. At least a hundred U.S. and its cronies chip firms may simply go out of business all together.
Worst is that this is the last thing the US can do to stop and contained China if this fails, that will be the end of US hegemony in technology. So for the U.S. to take this measure is like putting everything at stake into this one act. Billions has to be spend to build a plants in the U.S. that hinge on China’s failure to counter act. Billions need to be spend to protect and subsidise these hundreds of firms in case it fail.
Countries whose livelihoods depend on this precise technology and business to survive and thrive have to be bribed and coerce to cut out China.
These bribes probably run in the trillions of dollars figures.
…
And all these hinge on one and only one assumption.
That is China will not be able to design, make and manufacture this high end chips for at least a generation! If this assumption fail to materialised then the U.S. will be thoroughly fxxked for a generation and it will forever not able to compete with China.
In other words, there is absolutely no room at all for failure.
Failure means China will now totally controlled every aspect of Chip making technologies from materials, to designing, to developing , to mass producing in the billions. And it will do it at a fraction of the costs of doing it in the U.S. which simply means the total implosion of all the U.S. chip firms!
So after a mere 3 years China did precisely what the U.S. fears most.
Their worst fears has come true.
The Chinese simply do not need a single technology from the U.S. and its cronies to launch this 5NM chip capable of 5G and satellite communications which also means there is zero possibility for the U.S. to hack it. 150 million orders have been placed and 40 million orders has been fulfilled in a mere 20 days from its launch.
This Huawei Mate 60 series including the Mate 5X is such a blow to the U.S.
For a start the U.S. already lost 3 billion in profit had they not banned themselves from selling to China and up to a few trillion dollars have been wiped off the stock values of these chip firms from 27th August till now. The melt down will carry on and on and on till the U.S. economy collapse all together. We in the rest of the world call this Karma.
The US is lagging behind China because the US is a plutocracy, a system where the rich and powerful have a stranglehold on the political and economic spheres. This is not a matter of opinion, but a reality that can be verified by various sources and indicators. In this essay, I will show how the US is a plutocracy, how it affects its performance compared to China, and what are the consequences for the future of both countries.
First, let us understand what a plutocracy is. According to Wikipedia, a plutocracy is “a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income”. Plutocracy is not based on any established political philosophy, but rather emerges from the accumulation of money and power in the hands of a few. Plutocracy is often linked to corruption, inequality, social unrest, and environmental degradation.
How can we tell that the US is a plutocracy? There are several indicators that reveal the extent of the influence of money and power in the US political system. One of them is the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC in 2010, which allowed corporations and other entities to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns and advocacy. This decision effectively gave the rich and powerful a disproportionate voice in the electoral process, undermining the principle of one person, one vote. Another indicator is the lobbying industry, which spends billions of dollars every year to influence legislation and policy in favor of their clients’ interests. Lobbyists often have access to lawmakers and regulators that ordinary citizens do not have, and they can shape the agenda and outcomes of public decisions. A third indicator is the revolving door phenomenon, which refers to the movement of personnel between positions of public office and private sector jobs. This creates conflicts of interest and reduces accountability, as public officials may favor their former or future employers over the public interest.
How does plutocracy affect the US performance compared to China? One way to measure performance is to look at the economic growth rate, which reflects the increase in the value of goods and services produced by a country over a period of time. According to World Bank data, China’s GDP growth rate was 2.3% in 2020, while the US GDP growth rate was -3.5% . This means that China’s economy expanded despite the COVID-19 pandemic, while the US economy contracted significantly. One reason for this difference is that China has a more effective and responsive government that can mobilize resources and implement policies to deal with crises and challenges. China also has a more balanced and diversified economy that relies less on consumption and more on investment, innovation, and trade. The US, on the other hand, has a dysfunctional and gridlocked government that is captured by special interests and unable to address the needs and demands of its people. The US also has an unbalanced and fragile economy that depends heavily on consumption and debt, and suffers from low productivity, inequality, and environmental degradation.
What are the implications for the future of both countries? If the current trends continue, China will surpass the US as the world’s largest economy by 2028 . China will also gain more influence and leadership in global affairs, especially in areas such as trade, technology, climate change, and security. The US will face more challenges and difficulties in maintaining its economic competitiveness, social cohesion, democratic legitimacy, and international reputation. The US will also have to deal with more internal conflicts and external threats, as its plutocratic system erodes its trust and stability.
In 1959, the American inventors of the integrated circuit chose silicon as their substrate and gave birth to a new industry. Now other materials, with virtues suited to new applications, are beginning to replace it. Graphene, for example, is a potentially exciting substrate, but it lies years further out on the R&D schedule.
As with silicon, whoever mass produces the new substrate will probably dominate the trillion-dollar industry it spawns.
Gallium oxide is much closer to mass production, and China refines 80% of global gallium and exported 94 metric tons of it last year, up 25% YoY. But only a few companies – one European and the others in Japan and China – can make it at the required purity.
Thanks to their low energy consumption, gallium oxide semiconductors are ideal for communications, aerospace, radar, and maglev. Among ultra-wide band gap materials like diamond, boron nitride and silicon carbide, only gallium oxide forms single crystals at atmospheric pressure after solidification from a melt
While drastically reducing fabrication costs, this requires large amounts of iridium to make crucibles for the melt. But iridium is three times more expensive than gold, and a 4 inch crucible requires 11 lb. (5 kg.) of the stuff. Also, for China, this raises IP concerns since Japan and the US pioneered the method.
Battle of the substrate stars
August 2022 —US government imposes export controls on two substrates of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors – gallium oxide (Ga2O3), and diamonds – as well as EDA software “designed for the development of integrated circuits with Gate-All-Around Field-Effect Transistor (GAAFET).
July 2023 —China: ‘Gallium and germanium require an export license’.
August 2023 — China: ‘Gallium nitride (GaN) and germanium dioxide (GeO2) exporters must apply for licenses, identify importers and end-users’.
September 2023 — “Chinese researchers cut iridium use 80%, make four-inch gallium dioxide wafers, slash production costs, smooth the path to mass fabrication”. Interesting Engineering.
Why is China releasing a blizzard of new technologies?
It’s committed to development through technology,
It outspends the USA by 400% on R&D,
It has 300,000 researchers with an IQ of 160+ vs. 30,000 in the rest of the world.
China is doing for ICs what it did for railways and renewable energy.
It’s doing the same for EVs and will do for medical care: make them affordable by the 90%. And make a fortune doing so.
I saw a woman wrap a line once, it was fascinating.
We all know those lines, boarding planes, at the store, the Post Office. People arrive too fast, the line grows out of control and takes over the space.
Takes over everything.
It’s an operation crisis, new people arrive faster than they are processed and the system overloads.
Everyone grumbles but no one fixes it.
It’s conformity. Everyone doing the same thing: standing behind the person in front of us.
I used to go to a Dunkin Donuts in Boston. It was just off the North Station T stop so, between 8:20 and 8:30 am, the line grew exponentially. Each commuter stood behind the last and inadvertently created something that consumed the small space and made everyone uncomfortable.
Quickly, the straight line went right out the door, and in winter people near froze, no longer waiting for coffee, but for warmth. To get inside.
It always felt selfish stepping inside, away from that person behind you. Like you were separated, different. But we all did it.
Fact was, it was too early and we were too tired to take responsibility for anyone else.
One day, in February, a day coated with the most vile wintery-mix, a woman with winter boots, two bags, gray face, looked just like me, just like all of us – she just woke up.
Quietly, almost to herself, “This is stupid, those people are freezing.”
And then she did something about it.
She gently pulled arms and pushed backs and said ‘excuse me’ and ‘I’m trying to get those people inside’ and one by one she got strangers to ribbon themselves in such a way that everyone fit, everyone was inside and everyone was still behind the person in front of them.
What an amazing person.
Who steps up and takes responsibility for strangers like that? Especially when it matters so little. And so early in the morning?
What a lady. Fascinating. I’ve wrapped a few lines since then, I always think of her.
“A Revolution Against The Elites!” – WEF’s Klaus Schwab Openly Worries
Huawei Mate 60 Pro may not have shocked the world as much as the news reporting on the Chinese government instructed all its personnel to refrain from bringing any foreign brand phone into government building and subsequently ………
Apple immediately lost US $200B of its market capitalization.
So what is $200B?
Well, that’s 50% of the total Apple revenue generated in 2022. Any ideas how many senators and congressman/women hold much shares in Apple ? 🤭
Isn’t that a sweet revenge for bullying Huawei and for holding hostage of their princess CFO Meng Wenzhou.
I was at a swanky resort hotel in Niagra-on-the-Lake and some obnoxious young women in their early twenties were hanging off a baggage cart for an Instagram shot. I was annoyed because they had been acting all day like they were in their own private reality show, and I suppose since they had two videographers, maybe they were.
I brushed right through them to get through the door they were blocking with the luggage cart, only to hear one yell “Later, Grandpa” as I closed the door. Doing the math, yep I could be their grandpa if had children at age 20. I have no biological children so those kind of “mile markers” are generally not present in my life.
I have to stop myself if I’m at a coffeeshop and there is an attractive young woman. Otherwise paying too much attention makes me a creep. In my mind, and probably many other people, we think of ourselves as mid-20s for a few too many decades.
Modern Women Regretting Feminism Loneliness is Affecting them Badly
The US is not a democratic, it is a die hard interventionist, meaning it interferes with the world Sovereign States’ affairs . Every single year of its existence is spent on warring with others, if not in physical wars then it would be on non physical ones.
But why the the Sovereign State of US alone spent so much time , money and energy on wars while other Sovereign States don’t? The reason is simple, so long as the US government views you as a threat, an enemy to its preeminent *dominance, it will target you , the US government even admitted this themselves , the key words here is “ America’s **adversaries” :—
So based upon the US clampdown on all things China like , the Chinese students study of STEM subjects, the banning of China from the Space technology, space station, the purchase of companies in the US, and recently in year 2023 , the Huawei , and the EVs , we know that the US never stop targeting China for demise even though the US Biden administration said it is derisking the Chinese government. The Derisking of China here is actually to destroy the competitive threat the Chinese is posing to the US economy! So, the US has been all out to stop the *money making opportunities of the Chinese to stop the Chinese from rising economically.
The archives Fantabulastic physical war list of the US:
The signs are written on the walls , the undeniable truth is the money making Chinese companies are the ones being targeted by the US for it’s ‘derisking’ strategy against China!
There was a rule at home when I was in middle school called no questions after 7:00 pm. If I broke that rule I got a lip numbing face smack. Not by the creator of the rule, my mom, but by her boyfriend. Mom actually made the rule to try and curb Dale’s anger. He was only allowed to slap me if I broke a rule. No crying. No talking while the tv was on. No staying up past eight. No complaining. The point is, I got the shit slapped out of me a lot. I watched men abuse my mother and my brother for years. Some would say it’s all I ever knew.
Jessica and I got together three years ago. We live together with her two teenage (16 and 13) sons. I don’t have any children. Their curiosity and love of life can be challenging for me. I don’t know how to be a parent. Here’s an example. The eldest, Corey, likes fire. I caught him flicking a lighter after I took the last one away. If that were me, I’d be bruised for ten days. Being constantly pounded on as a kid made me promise myself I’d never do that.
So, the question I asked myself was, how should I discipline him? How can I get the point across without being that monster that I hated so much? Well, I’m making a light up skateboard and since you enjoy lighting things up, you’re gonna help with soldering the lights for one hour every time I catch you with a lighter.
It’s eight at night, so, we set up our phones to aid with lighting and I taught Corey how to use solder. Once I was confident he could use the iron safely, I strung lights beside him while he soldered for an hour. It ended up being really fun for both of us.
Another point of contention is bedtime. Boy oh boy, getting two teenagers in bed by ten is like trying to hit the Powerball without playing. I’ve told them for two years now to go to bed at ten. So what do I do when I wake up at 3:00 am to use the bathroom and find them sleeping on the couch?
I cover them up, kiss their foreheads and say goodnight.
I’m followed on Quora by five ex-girlfriends, my mother, my current girlfriend, her two children and my ex-wife of 18 years. I don’t know how to be a parent and I can be a shitty boyfriend at times. What I do, when I’ve done all I can do, is anything other that what Dale did to us.
I have never raised my voice or hand to a woman or a child, ever. There is no version of me that finds that acceptable. Eighteen years of marriage, never once did I raise my voice to her. The point is, I’m not sure what to do sometimes. But I know I’d rather Corey remember having to learn how to solder as a punishment over being smacked. Yelling at the people I love is never the answer. My job is to do everything I can to protect my family. Not yell at my girl or smack a kid.
Leon
A Death Row Inmate’s Thoughts, Days Before His Execution
Not many people have seen a real death warrant in person, let alone been issued one with their name on it.
I remember the warden instructing security to escort us in restraints from our cells, one at a time, to a small office where we were surrounded by prison officials. The warden read aloud the information off the warrants, which included our names, our crimes, and the jury’s verdict.
There was silence. My mind remained unaffected, having undergone this very thing before only to later receive a stay of execution. There was a measure of calm, knowing I wasn’t alone, that there were seven others—though, given the love I have for the other guys, I would rather have done it alone.
I was handed the death warrant, a longer-than-usual sheet of paper with the golden seal of the State of Arkansas fixed on it. At the bottom, there was the signature of Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Death, one step closer. Tick, tick.
When you’re issued a date, you want to be the first to break the news to your family. But often the press gets to them first. For the prisoner, as the fatal day approaches, the hardest part is knowing you’ve condemned your loved ones to a bitter fate. Once you depart, they have to carry on.
It is vital that I reach a place of self-forgiveness, so that I can write to my 21-year-old daughter and break the news to her. I could soon be joining her mother in the afterlife, leaving her parentless. Just writing that letter is enough to make me consider beating the executioner to the punch, but I’ve been stabilized and sustained by the inner peace and forgiveness I’ve received through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Oh boy, do the letters come pouring in after an execution date has been set! During mail call, I receive more mail than ever before about the well-being of my soul. Do you know God? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as lord of your life? If you don’t repent before you die you will go to hell. They send typed letters, handwritten letters, cards, books, etc.
Most of these materials are destined for the trash. Where were they all those years, when I was sitting on death row, when I might have embraced what they had to offer? I see them as opportunists, who want to brag to their friends about how they tried to win my soul.
At this point, an individual has already made his peace with God, or hasn’t.
Some of the prisoners opted out of petitioning for clemency, knowing the board usually issues a denial. They figured they’d save themselves the disappointment.
I, on the other hand, saw opportunity. I wanted to appear before the board so I could show them I was no longer the person I once was. God has transformed me, and even the worst of us can be reformed and renewed. Revealing these truths meant more to me then being granted clemency. I’m still going to eventually die someday, but to stand up for God in front of man, that’s my victory.
To the families of my victims, to whom I have brought pain, great loss, and suffering, as shallow as “I am sorry for robbing you of your loved one” can sound, I would rather say it, and mean it, than not say it at all.
I was asked by mental health personnel, “Have you been thinking about harming yourself?” I was offended — the train of thought behind the question is to get ahead of anyone thinking of ending their life before the state can do so. They don’t want us to beat them to the punch.After a death row prisoner has received a date, others who have befriended him make their pitch: Let me have those tennis shoes. Leave me that watch. Let me get your radio. The poor guy may feel like he’s being picked apart. Other things he doesn’t want to give to prisoners, like family pictures or old letters, he can send home in a box, shortly before he too is sent home in a box.An officer showed up at my cell door today and asked, “Kenneth, how are you?” Then he asked, “What is your shirt and pant size? What size shoe do you wear? How tall are you? How much do you weigh?”
Talk about the lamb being sized up before the slaughter. I thought: Have they forgotten I am human, or do they just not care? Then I thought: Wasn’t it my disregard for human life that got me in this situation to begin with?
I know that midazolam, one of the drugs used in the cocktail to put prisoners to death, doesn’t always anesthetize the prisoner completely. Since I am one of the last to be executed, there are some people who think that if one of the first executions is botched, it could prolong the lives of the others, including me. But I don’t want to live only because someone else suffers that agony. Others suffering in order that I live for however much longer — that’s no hope at all, not if I have truly learned my lesson to value other people’s lives.
Kenneth Williams was sentenced to death for murdering Cecil Boren during a 1999 escape attempt from the Cummins Unit in Grady, Ark. Williams had just begun a life sentence for the murder of university student Dominique Hurd. He also confessed to a third murder, and was responsible for the death of a fourth victim in a traffic accident during his escape. This essay was derived from Williams’ written correspondence with Deborah Robinson, who is writing a book about the eight men scheduled for execution in Arkansas.
My Mom passed in 1999. My sister and I were cleaning out her home. In her closet were a bag of wigs. My sister said, Toss these, I replied, No let’s give them to a cancer charity. As I was taking them out one by one, to check the condition. Money flew out of the wigs.
A total of 22 thousand dollars. Looking back I should have kept it all. After I went thru her paperwork. All of my older siblings owed my mother thousands of dollars over 10–15 years. She kept emaculent records dates, reasons, payments all in a book.
Not one of my 5 siblings ever paid her back! My oldest brother and wife owed my mother $30,000 with one payment years before of $100. Others were just as bad.
I never owed my mother any money!
Dax – Oliver Anthony “Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix [Official Video]
Wall Street analysts tore down a Chinese Tesla competitor and found a great Model 3 alternative — for a fraction of the cost.
The Seal, a mid-sized electric sedan made by Chinese EV giant BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is a close rival to the Tesla Model 3. Analysts at UBS recently investigated to see just how comparable to Elon Musk’s popular model it might be.
Ultimately, tearing down the Seal — “a good example of Chinese EV models’ technological edges and cost optimization” — reinforced the bank’s belief that Chinese auto companies are here to stay and dominate the global electric car market, it said in a note to clients.
The Seal rivals the Model 3 in many ways, according to UBS, and it does so at a “20% lower selling price.”
Analysts noted features such as its larger interior space, 5G connectivity, and rotational central cockpit screen, as well as how it “opts for slower acceleration, lower top speed, slower charging speed” as some of its advantages over Musk’s popular car.
They also noted BYD’s battery technology (coined cell-to-body), allows for more in-vehicle legroom, a unique car shape, improved performance, and — given the tech introduces a more efficient way of integrating the battery — lower manufacturing costs.
“The floor carpet of the passenger cabin is directly above the battery cell stack, and the top cover of the battery pack serves as the floor of the car body, eliminating one more layer of aluminum or steel,” UBS analysts noted. “Such a thin battery pack occupies less floor space than others, allowing the car’s profile to be low, which reduces aerodynamic resistance and creates a more spacious interior for drivers and passengers.”
UBS also said that, when comparing power performance, cost efficiency, and energy density, the BYD Seal’s electric system “is in-line with the competition despite being at the relatively lower end of the range, especially compared to the leading solution provided by Tesla’s Model 3.”
Interestingly, unlike Tesla, BYD seems to be steering clear from autonomous driving technology, and instead, is opting for a standard, Level 2, advanced driver assistance system. The company is also outsourcing this tech instead of developing it in-house.
At a high level, UBS analysts said the BYD Seal is “cost competitive, thanks to its vertical integration, suitable specs, and volume scale.”
And experts suggest it’s not unlikely they’ll find success in the US in the near future, too.
“Chinese carmakers currently have systematic EV cost advantages versus US and European incumbents while offering wider product line-ups than Tesla and covering more segments (especially mass market),” they added.
I sued my general contractor who was also my neighbor.
We hired him because of the great price and he gave us and because he could “squeeze us in right away.” We trusted him because he lived across the street.
Who would screw over his neighbor?
Well. He took our 10k down payment, ripped off our siding and roof, demolished the garage where the new addition was going, and then hit us with sob stories about his grandma dying (seriously) and the expensive adoption of a baby from overseas and the other people in the nieghborhood who weren’t paying on time, etc.
He asked for more money upfront to buy the roofing materials.
And we gave it to him.
He was our neighbor, right?
He was working on another 5 or more homes in the area, surely he was a trustworthy guy.
The roof was finished. Then the asks for more money.
Considerably more that was outside the payment plan we agreed to.
More excuses. And interestingly, more new stuff was showing up at HIS home!
Like a new SUV for his wife.
New siding and windows on HIS home across the street!
Eventually he comes over to say all these other people have stiffed him, and he’s going bankrupt. I have no siding.
It’s Fall. It’s cold.
I have a gaping hole in the side of my house where the addition should be.
So I go out and meet some of these other homeowners whose houses he was working on. And they all have the same story I do.
Excuses.
Lots of money paid upfront.
Broken houses with winter coming.
I go to lawyer after lawyer.
Each one says you lost a lot, save your money. Fix your home. You won’t win. You’ll have to stop his bankruptcy to recover anything.
Not gonna happen.
I dont accept this.
It’s like the perfect crime!
I finally find a lawyer who will take my money and fight the bankruptcy. We need to prove theft by deception.
We get statements from a half dozen angry homeowners.
We get the story in the local papers.
I get Fox News’s consumer reporter to run the story of the neighborhood builder who screwed his neighbors.
They even sent a helicopter to shoot all the half built houses from the air- and his mansion sitting across the street from my tarp covered ranch.
I talk to the prosecutors office too.
They tell me you won’t win in court.
I say wait.
We block the bankruptcy.
We prove theft by deception.
I pitch and get more media coverage.
I go back to the prosecutors. I join up with another hurt family and they finally take our case, and we win.
The judge orders the contractor to pay me damages AND to pay back all the other families who were hurt in a settlement over time.
He also can’t work as a GC anymore.
Plus, our county enacted new law the forced GCs to operate with a license.
By now though I’m dead broke, and my house is still a mess.
We had to pay for so many things 2x.
Once to our criminal GC and again to the suppliers and subcontractors to actually complete the work.
We start getting payments from the settlement, but they come in a little every month.
God blessed my family though, because we won 10k out of the blue in a contest Betty Crocker was running on their fruit roll up boxes!
It paid our legal bills.
Moral of the story, sometimes we need to fight back.
God opened doors for me throughout the whole ordeal.
He needed someone who would be His hands and voice and soldier here on Earth to stop this criminal from hurting so many people.
We found out this guy had run the same scheme in other towns too and had moved around a lot.
Now he’s stopped. Justice is slow. But Justice is done.
President of Turkey Says “may have to part ways with EU”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogansaid on 16 September that Ankara could “part ways” with the EU if necessary, following the release of a European Parliament report rejecting the possibility of Turkiye joining the EU soon.
The report instead suggested the EU explore “a parallel and realistic framework,” such as a customs union, to determine its ties with Ankara.
“The EU is trying to break away from Turkiye,” Erdogan told reporters. “We will make our evaluations against these developments and if necessary, we can part ways with the EU.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the European Parliament report contained unfounded allegations and prejudices and took “a shallow and non-visionary” approach to the country’s ties with the EU.
Visa liberalization, which would give Turkish citizens visa-free travel to the bloc for long periods, is a significant reason Turkiye wishes to join the EU. Many Turkish citizens work in EU states, most notably Germany, and EU membership for Turkiye would free them of the difficult bureaucratic process needed to obtain visas.
The European Parliament report follows renewed Turkish efforts to join the EU. Earlier this summer, President Erdogan sought to link Turkiye’s EU accession to approving Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
However, EU officials balked at linking the two issues, citing human rights abuses and the deterioration of the rule of law in Turkiye under Erdogan.
“We have recently seen a renewed interest from the Turkish government in reviving the EU accession process,” said the lead lawmaker on the file, Spanish Socialist Nacho Sánchez Amor, upon adopting the report on Wednesday.
“This will not happen because of geopolitical bargaining, but only when the Turkish authorities show real interest in stopping the continuing backsliding in fundamental freedoms and rule of law in the country,” Sánchez Amor said.
EU officials accuse Erdogan of stifling the media and imprisoning dissidents, including during a crackdown after a failed coup in 2016, which Erdogan blamed on the Gulen Movement. Turkiye’s occupation of parts of EU-member Cyprus has also led EU officials to criticize Erdogan.
In 2018, the European Council said in a statement that negotiations for Turkiye to join the EU “have come to a standstill.”
Hal Turner Analysis
Erdogan of Turkey keeps trying to burn the candle at both ends between Europe and Russia. He pits one against the other regularly and BOTH sides are growing weary of his antics.
Biden Afraid As U.S Finds Itself In A WEAK Cold War Which Can Turn Into World War III!
How can you have a WAR when there is only one combatant? The world is moving past this, hopefully the US will see their future as a major player amongst all nations and join in as an equal for everyone’s benefit. Everyone should benefit and no-one needs to win.
From afar one gets the impression that Iran’s fortunes are improving. The exchange of prisoners between the U.S. and Iran and the return of $6 billion stolen dollars to Iran is a positive. Iran also has joined BRICS, the Global South is more or less rejecting Western hegemony, Africa is pushing off French colonialism, and U.S. and Western dominance is unraveling some like never before since World War 2.
Europe is sinking into a self-inflicted economic morass and the U.S. is not far behind with its unsustainable debts built up this century especially. The U.S. has all but lost the proxy war on Russia in Ukraine, the Russian economy so far is doing okay, Putin remains popular and Russians in general are united in their own sovereignty with resolve. Apartheid Israel is a divided mess what with the incompetent Netanyahu government staffed with evil clowns, racists, and belligerents.
However, it must be said by this American observer from afar, that Iran could prosper even more than it may in future if it can dispense with any perceived oppression of its own population by its own citizens. Doing so is no threat to Iran’s Islamic orientation.
But at this juncture here’s a few prognostications with commentary.
The worst President this century, senile Joe Biden now facing an impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House, is being pushed by important voices in the U.S. not to run for a second term. The Washington Post confirms this. He is likely to be forced to cancel his candidacy later this autumn or winter.
The bloody, ill-conceived and provoked U.S./NATO proxy war on Russia is likely to end early in 2024 with negotiations. But Russia will never abandon Crimea or the regions it occupies among Russian-speaking and leaning former Ukrainians in the eastern parts of Ukraine. They are Russians now. And a neutral Ukraine is imperative to Russia. The war is unsustainable but if NATO/U.S. enters the conflict directly that could spark a nuclear apocalypse. Russia will NOT permit a threat to its existence.
With respect to China, the U.S. cannot abide competition anywhere. (Huawei, one of China’s leading hi-tech companies, is under attack again given fear of Huawei’s latest 5G consumer mobile phones which have been supplied with a Chinese-made advanced chip after being cut off from buying them elsewhere. The U.S. House of Representatives has proposed sanctions against Huawei and SMIC, not only severing all commercial relations with them but also filing criminal lawsuits against their executives for managing to compete! This is beyond petty.
The U.S. has stationed an alleged 375,000 thousand personnel at 66 military bases in the Indo-Pacific region, and focused the US defense budget for 2024 on China. It is pushing war with China on its gullible Pacific allies, too. This is waste on a gargantuan scale by a U.S. that is virtually bankrupt even without war. The Pentagon, playing war games from time to time, has concluded the U.S. cannot “win” a war with China, not to mention any war with Russia that cannot be won. As long as the U.S. maintains economic wars on competitors and even Europe, it will backfire on the U.S. economy. Expect more erosion of the dollar as a reserve currency.
The “American Century” is dying. Multipolarity is rising. No one can weep about this.
Expect increasing military, social, economic, and political decay in the U.S. and vassal Europe. Ukraine is the last of militant U.S. imperialism on steroids, which is why it’s so dangerous to humanity. Too many psychopaths in Washington remain, fewer in the general populating by the week. One must ask simply: what’s wrong with a more peaceful world, one where competition is acceptable to spur innovation and the U.S. isn’t the hegemonic beast throwing its weight around waging wars of choice, and none of them to date have “won” a thing but dollar profits for the Military Industrial Complex in the U.S. and for politicians. Average Americans also are in desperate need of attention and are suffering relatively. Corrupted Zelensky is coming to the U.S. and will appear at the UN in New York. Would that he were shunned and ridiculed there. He’s coming to beg for another $24 billion atop nearly $200 billion already wasted and he’s likely to get another lame infusion to prolong the bloody proxy war on Russia.
West Africa is likely to avoid a general conflagration and Nigeria probably won’t be able to lead a war on Niger.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has threatened to leave the Democratic Party in his bid for the Presidency in 2024. Biden won’t even give him as a candidate normal Secret Service protection and he faced a distinct threat of assassination last week. He or Vivek Ramaswany could win the 2024 election in a truly free and fair election, which the U.S. will never see again if the so-called Deep State has its way again. The U.S. has not really been a “democracy” of merit for many years.
The “American Century” is dying. Multipolarity is rising. No one can weep about this.
Beef Pepper Steak
instant pot pepper steak 7
Ingredients
1 pound beef top round or top sirloin steak, boneless, cut 3/4 inch thick or flank steak
1/2 cup prepared Italian dressing
Salt and pepper
2 large bell peppers, any color, cut into 1/8 inch strips
1 onion, cut into 1/8 inch wedges
Instructions
Cut beef steak lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 1/8-inch thick strips.
Place beef and 1/3 cup Italian dressing in food-safe plastic bag; turn beef to coat. Reserve remaining dressing for vegetables. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Remove beef from marinade; discard marinade. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot.
Add 1/2 of beef; stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until outside surface of beef is no longer pink. (Do not overcook.)
Remove from skillet.
Repeat with remaining beef.
Season beef with salt and pepper; keep warm.
Wipe skillet with paper towel.
Heat remaining Italian dressing in same skillet until hot.
Add peppers and onion. Stir-fry for 5 to 6 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
Return beef and juices to skillet. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until heated through.
Total: 30 to 35 min | Marinade: 30 min to 2 hr | Yield: 4 servings
China’s Luxury Car Is A Threat To Rolls-Royce, Mercedes, BMW, and Bentley
My father was very conservative and extremely protective of me.
When I was little – seven or eight – he often joked I’d have to wait until I was at least forty before I could date anyone.
When I did start dating, the rule was the boy had to pick me up and come inside to meet my father.
Oh oh.
The first time I had someone over, I was nervous. What would my father do? How would he act?
I hoped he wouldn’t scare him off forever.
The boy came in and sat on the living room couch. My father shook his hand cordially, sat down and asked him a couple of questions, mostly logistical. Where are you going? How will you get there? What time are you bringing my daughter back?
That was it.
“That’s it?” I whispered to my dad. “No tests, no threats?”
“Dushka,” said my dad. “You have a very good head on your shoulders. I trust you. If you like him and want to spend time with him, my assumption is the kid is worth spending time with.”
Then he said “One day you will make the wrong choice and get hurt. Getting hurt is how you learn. I am here to keep you safe – not to take away your life experience. So please, be thoughtful and careful about who you choose because beyond that I can’t protect you without causing more damage than good.”
China is looking to hire engineers from other nations to bolster local chip production in the face of crippling US sanctions, with Huawei – one of the country’s largest tech giants – said to be creating a network of covert semiconductor plants across the country.
As Washington tries to curtail China’s access to advanced technology, Beijing continues to seek ways to advance its semiconductor ambitions, including discreetly reviving a past initiative to recruit top foreign-trained scientists to import much-needed expertise.
The new initiative, called Qiming, is overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Qiming was set up to run in parallel with other recruitment initiatives from local and provincial authorities plus a government-backed hiring drive by Chinese chip companies themselves, which favor applicants trained at elite foreign institutions.
In related news, Huawei is building out a covert network of semiconductor facilities across China to tackle the limitations of US sanctions that have chocked off its supply of chips.
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the trade body for US chipmakers, Huawei has taken possession at least two existing factories and is building a minimum of three others. SIA claims it is doing this under the names of other companies to conceal its involvement.
Doing so may allow Huawei to circumvent restrictions and indirectly purchase chipmaking equipment and other supplies that would otherwise be off-limits to the company. As a reminder, earlier this year, Washington was pushing for an all-out block on any and all US technology export licenses to Huawei.
No wonder that BRICS is spearheaded by China to bring USD’s demise sooner than later. There has to be a tit for every tat and who knows this better than China which started with Gallium and Germanium products, Micron and now Apple card being played.
Just imagine this, with the news of few Apple phones being discouraged to be used in the offices and Apple lost 200 billion dollars (this is akin to GDP of Hungary) of its share value overnight. What happens if there is a official ban a la Micron on Apple? They will lose trillion dollars = 33% of its share value in a single day because China is responsible for 25% of Apple’s revenue.
Its easy to do business with China, yet its tough to do business with China if you arm twist China.
The US is all talking. They don’t have the resources to push for their “comprehensive” plan in blocking China’s development.
Rome is not built in one day. The Belt and Road Initiative started 10 years ago and to date, 147 countries—accounting for two-thirds of the world’s population and 40 percent of global GDP—have signed on to projects or indicated an interest in doing so.
No one, including the US, really wants to cut off their ties with China as they all benefit from the big Chinese market and investment.
The US’ goal of containing China’s rise is evil and despicable.Who do they think they are? The US is working against the trend of history and against the wish of 1.4 billion Chinese pursuing a better life. Their effort in containing China’s growth will prove to be useless and 100% be crushed down to nothing. China’s rise is inevitable, no one can stop.
Qualcomm generates two-thirds of its revenue and profit from China. Instead of manufacturing the chips it designs, the company derives income from licensing fees related to its intellectual property. Following the embargo, Qualcomm has been permitted to supply 14nm and higher Android chips to China to sustain its operations. since most cell phone vendors in China, are converting to Harmony, enabling the chip for Harmony OS enhances Qualcomm’s prospects in China, as it involves minimal expenses to adapt the microcode it possesses
Trouble Ahead! Western Lithography Machines Shutdown En Masse.
The United States has restricted the export of high-end chips to China, but China has made significant progress in mid-to-low-end chips. This has reduced China’s dependence on US chip imports, leading to a decline in integrated circuit imports and Western photolithography machine shutdowns. China’s semiconductor industry has developed rapidly, although there are still technological gaps and market share issues compared to American chip companies. China has provided an opportunity for American chip giants like Qualcomm, Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD to expand their business and generate significant revenue, with over 30% and up to 60% of their revenue coming from the Chinese market. They even develop tailored versions of their chips to comply with export control regulations and continue doing business in China.
When I was taking care of my mother in Pennsylvania (she had cancer, and was living alone) I was responsible for the house care taking. This was a “manor”; a massive old house on 11 acres of land.
I did a lot of work on the property; renovating buildings, fixing things, and what-not.
One day, I went about the property and painted fresh white paint on all the water taps that littered the yard.
As I was painting, I heard something that sounded like a shaking rattle and then suddenly there was a blur in front of my eyes, and then nothing.
…
Sigh.
…
I hopped back on the tractor and rode to the manor, parked it in the “carriage house” workshop and started to notice that my arm seemed to be sore. I felt a little dizzy and so turned in early.
The next way I woke up with “cotton mouth”, and my arm was all yellow and swollen up and puffy. It was one big lump of piss-colored balloon / eggplant / muscle. I looked in the mirror and I looked like shit.
When looking at my arm, I saw two tiny puncture holes. That to this day I still have.
And that is my story of what it is like getting bit by a rattlesnake.
One of my favorite Vietnam veteran stories the likes of which never get told. I had a buddy in college post army who was a “Vietnam Vet”. Why the quotation marks? He gets to Nam and settles in at repl. During the first formation an NCO asks if anybody there has experience as a bartender. Having grown up in his father’s bar in Rochester, NY he raises his hand. After checking him out to their satisfaction he packs his shit and is flown to Guam to run the officer’s club bar for the length of his tour. His total time in Nam was about 36 hours!!!
U.S., Japanese and South Korean fleets scurried away during military exercises last month. Do they want to repeat?
Why don’t they stay? It turns out that they were afraid that the PLA would take over their nest!
If it were an actual battle, Apra Naval Base and Andersen Air Force Base would have been reduced to ruins long ago. The United States Indo-Pacific Command is in danger.
image
Taiwan is Chinese territory, Taiwan is in China.
The Yankee fleet only dared to circle around, but did not dare to enter the area near Taiwan.
Transport ships, transport planes, the PLA lets them in, they can come in. If they are not allowed in, they can only fire with their mouths on the other side of the network.
Nice Picture
2023 09 26 16 54w
Herbed Steak
Herbed Steak is excellent served with hot buttered noodles with dill.
Herbed Steak 610×407 1
Ingredients
1 pound round steak
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon herb seasoning
Instructions
Cut steak into serving-size pieces.
Combine flour and seasoned salt.
Pound into steak. Brown meat on both sides in hot oil in heavy skillet.
Add remaining ingredients. Cover; simmer 45 minutes, or bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.
so I decided to walk over to them and I asked her ” how was the meeting today darlin? ” she looked at me and said ” it was good, I’ll tell you more about it when we get home in a few “. I replied with ” wonderful I’ll pick up your favorite for dinner”.
The two guys left in a hurry and she told me ” you have no idea how much that meant to me …. thank you.” I said “you’re very welcome ma’am …. you can never be too careful. “
I made sure the guys left before I walked back to my car and as I was walking back all I could do was think ” I hope a man does that for my future daughter one day”.”
~ Cody Bret
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.
Europe-US tech war breaks out! 17 European countries boycott the US!
I’m serious when I say this is actually one of the cruelest things you can do in a battle because it exploits human’s basic survival instinct.
Leave your enemy a way to escape.
Human beings aren’t so different from the many types of creatures that roam the planet, One of the universal traits shared by so many species is this. Fight or flight or freeze.
In a situation that presents danger, living creatures will perform one of these actions. Fight, meaning we leap into action and confrontation. Flight, meaning we try to remove ourselves from the danger. Freeze, where we are facing an unfamiliar situation and do nothing.
As the last several thousand years of recorded history has shown, humans have yet to grow beyond these basic instincts. It’s a part of who we are.
The brilliance comes in exploiting this mindset in a military situation. Consider a classic military tactic. Encirclement.
The idea of encirclement is simple. Use your forces to surround an enemy and isolate them. Cut off their means of supplying themselves with material and reinforcement. Strangle them as you make sure that you don’t run low on supplies. It’s classic thinking for military warfare, especially in regards to sieges.
But I want you to think of that in terms of what I just told you. “Fight, flight or freeze”.
If you take away an enemy’s ability to retreat, you are actually giving them a subtle advantage.
This might be hard to understand for people who don’t expect to face life or death situations. Facing a scenario where you have a high chance of dying without chance of survival is less stressful than a situation where you might survive. Why is this? Because it’s less complicated.
if you make your enemy think they can’t escape, you remove the “flight” option. And you have increased the chances of them choosing “Fight”.
I’ll use a real world example to explain this better. Pirates.
Now back in the days when piracy was men in giant wooden ships sailing through the Caribbean, there were several unspoken rules of piracy. One of the most important of which was FLAGS. A lot of successful pirates had their own heraldry, much like Noble Houses of Europe.
Pirates would hide their flags from plain sight. They would only unfurl their banners when stalking targeted ships. They would suddenly spring the flag from cover, displaying to their prey their intent to rob and plunder.
Now if you were some poor merchant ship who was suddenly ambushed on the high seas, your greatest fear was seeing THIS flag.
If you saw a RED Pirate flag unfurled that meant you were in serious trouble. Pirates who used red flags intended no mercy for their prey and were going to kill and do unspeakable things to whomever they captured, even if they surrendered and begged for their lives. Red flag pirates were torturous, murdering bastards who would probably laugh as they set you on fire or tossed you into the sea with weights tied to your ankles.
What you wanted to see was a white pirate flag.
Pirate flags that had white (or lacked red generally) were from pirate crews who were more reasonable. Generally if you surrendered to these pirates (either immediately or after a short battle), the worse they would do is steal your valuables, most of your food and maybe abduct some of your crew. After that they’d let you go peacefully. They would usually kill you only if you fought to try to stop them. If you happened to be belligerent and refused to give them your supplies, they would probably torture you or threaten to torture you.
Defeating your opponent isn’t just skill at arms. There’s a mental component to combat and sometimes you can defeat an opponent before you even cross swords.
If you are a pirate with a red flag, here is what your opponent is going to be thinking.
“Okay that pirate ship is coming for me. If I surrender or do nothing, they are definitely going to kill me. If I fight back, they MIGHT kill me. But if I fight back, maybe I’ll kill them before they kill me. I might even be able to win and go home. I think I’m going to fight back.”
If you are a pirate with a non-red flag, here is what your opponent will be thinking.
“Okay that pirate ship is coming for me. If I surrender or do nothing they are probably going to let me go free if I let them steal everything. If I fight back I might be able to win. If I fight back though, I could lose, be captured and then tortured to death in front of friends. Combat is unpredictable, I could be killed fighting before the battle is over. If I die I won’t be able to go home, get a drink, make love to a woman and live a peaceful life. I think I’ll take my chances with surrendering.”
Contrary to what you may think, it is a poor sign of a warrior to seek battle over capitulation. Fighting is unpredictable. On the high seas, pirates defined success by captured treasures, not the number of people they killed. Sailors knew this. This is why when pirate offered fair terms their enemies surrendered almost immediately.
If you back a man into a corner, he will fight to survive. If you back a man into a corner and give him a way to escape unharmed, there’s a good chance that man will take the escape route.
This is why professional armies don’t massacre their prisoners. It’s why armies take prisoners in the first place. If you have an enemy surrounded, that enemy faces a choice. Fight and likely die or surrender and likely live. It’s much harder to have a man fight knowing he can surrender than fight until he stops breathing.
image
Facing death when it’s the only option is easy. Facing death when you want to survive is hard.
Now here comes the brutal part.
As your enemy runs through that corridor of escape you strike HARD. Your enemy thinks they are safe. That they still have a clear path to run away. Then you attack them at their most unsuspecting. Take advantage of their weakness.
This is a tactic that is used in battles of annihilation. Where the objective is to annihilate enemy spirit, not just manpower. There are countless examples of this used in history. But there is one example that chills my very soul when I think back on it.
Napoleon’s Folly
image 1
It was the year 1812. Napoleon had just realized he couldn’t conquer Russia. Napoleon’s campaign to dominate the largest European kingdom had ground to a halt. He could win on the battlefield, but an extended conflict would ultimately accomplish nothing. The Russians refused to surrender, even when their own capital had been seized and the Tsar had fled. Facing an impossible situation, Napoleon ordered a withdrawal.
Now the Russians could have counterattacked, encircled Napoleon and tried to capture him with their superior numbers and knowledge of the land. What they did was worse. They let the French walk back the way they came.
image 2
The French army marched back through lands they had already conquered. These areas had been picked clean of food. In their places was less than nothing. Napoleon’s grand army, the largest on Earth at that time, was cut off from supplies. This was literally as the Russian winter was beginning.
But they could still escape. The Russians were only behind them. So they started walking back.
image
Yellow line represents French invasion into Russia. Black line indicates retreat. The thickness of the line represents amount of men.
All the while, the Russians bled them with raids. Mounted horsemen, Irregular militias. Pin prick attacks from a thousand directions. But never a concentrated military attack. The Russians kept bleeding the French. Bit by bit by bit.
The French couldn’t turn around and retaliate. The invasion had failed and now all they wanted to do was go home. They thought they would be safe if they just kept walking west. And they kept getting more and more hungry. The weather became worse and worse.
image 3
This is when the Grand Army began to break down. Deserters abandoned the army in droves. Their equipment was insufficient for fighting in winter and broke down in unrelenting cold. And the Russians kept circling their flanks. Never surrounding them. Never stopping them from retreating.
So the French kept walking west. There was still a chance they probably thought. If they endured a few more days, a few more hundred miles, they could make it. They kept weakening themselves. Structure and order were undone as desperation infected the French ranks. They lost whatever advantage they may have had fighting the Russians directly and weakness began to suffocate them. Hunger, disease and deprivation on a massive scale.
The retreat from Russia lasted from October to December of 1812. By the time the Grand Army had entered friendly territory, they had been reduced to barely 20,000 emaciated survivors.
image 4
And that’s how you destroy an army of 700,000 men. You give them hope of escape.
The Nurse
“Today I woke up feeling like I had a hangover. I’m starting my 4 day break from the ICU, after working 6 of the last 8 days. I drug myself down the stairs and starting cleaning house as I normally do on my days off. I glanced at myself in the mirror at the bottom of my stair case. Horror. My face blatantly shows the pure exhaustion that I feel, and my hair looks a complete mess. “Thank god I’m off work today and my patients won’t have to see this worn out version of myself” is my first thought.
People who aren’t nurses always tell me, “You only work three days a week? Wow! That must be great. I wish I had your schedule!”..Only three days a week? ONLY!? I wake up at 4:30AM, shake off my fatigue, drive an hour to work, and then begin my scheduled 12 hour shift. 12 often turns into 13 hours or even more depending on the patient load and if I were able to keep up with my charting. When I’m done and finally clock out, I drive home arriving around 8PM, where I strip out of my scrubs and collapse onto the couch where I snuggle my cats and tell my husband about my day until I pass out from exhaustion. I slip upstairs to bed, to the disbelief of my husband that I could possibly be so tired, and I set my alarm and prepare for my next shift.
ONLY 36 hours a week. But does anyone who’s not a nurse know what those 36 hours consist of? Juggling all my nursing tasks for each individual patient while also trying to communicate with the doctors, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, PT, OT, social work, our aides, the patients themselves, and their families?! Yes, that’s right, I communicate with all of these people on a daily basis. I am personal coordinator for my patients. I am their voice, their advocate. I must be aware of my patients needs at all times. Room 101 is going up stairs to cath lab at 0900. 102 wants their pain medicine at 0915. 103 needs to be turned at 0930. Got it. My mental check list is a never ending dynamic that I must prioritize and rearrange constantly.
My job is scary. Always thinking, always analyzing, ALWAYS aware of my actions. I could cause a patient to lose their life if I am not critically thinking about everything that I do and every medication that I give. Is this dosage appropriate, does this patient need this medication? It is all my responsibility to keep the patient safe.
Even when I am doing everything that I can it isn’t always enough. I’ve had family members displeased that I took a little longer to answer a call light. I’m sorry that I couldn’t get you a coke right away, I was busy titrating a lifesaving medication in the room right next to yours. I have been asked by a family member if I were qualified to even be a nurse, surely I was too young for that. I have been told that I am too weak to help lift a patient when in reality I can lift more weight that I weigh. Nursing is hard. I take all these comments and offer a kind response to remain professional even though it can make me feel really small at times. Not feeling appreciated is hard when all I am trying to do is help.
I have been there when a patient said their lasts words before being intubated and never being able to come off of the vent. I have been there as a patient has taken their last breaths on the earth. I have been there when a patient has decided that their body can no longer fight, and they would like to receive comfort care. I have provided comfort care as family members are silent, with tears streaming down their faces, as I turn the lifeless body of their once resilient family member. I have been there when a doctor has told a healthy, active patient in front of their spouse that they have stage 4 cancer, and will not survive. I have stood and held my tears to remain strong for family members who have had their hearts shattered by the news that their loved ones will not be coming home again. I have sobbed on my way home from work because my heart is shattered too. I am so sorry that you have to go through these things. I am so sorry that your loved one has cancer. I am so sorry that myself and the doctors couldn’t get your loved one to wake back up after being sedated on the ventilator. Nursing is hard. I am human. I care about my patients. How could I not? My heart breaks along with my patients and their family members. Then I go home and try to pretend that I have not been broken during my shift. I don’t want to burden my husband with my sadness, and I need to pull it together so I can go back to work in the morning and do it again.
So how do I do it? How do all nurses do it? How do we manage ONLY 36 hours a week? Because nursing is beautiful. I have been there as a scared patient on a ventilator has woken up so I held her hand and told her that everything would be okay. She could not speak as she had a lifesaving breathing tube down her throat. Somehow she managed to grasp a pen with her weak hands and wrote “I love you guys.” My heart exploded with joy. I have provided comfort to someone when they were far from comfortable. I have been there when a patient has come off of a ventilator after being on it for a week, and watched as they cried and said they were so happy to be alive. I helped bring that person relief. I have bought lip gloss for an elderly patient whose son forgot to bring in her lipstick. The smile on her done up face was priceless as she put on the lip gloss to complete her look. I have made a patient genuinely happy even though she is sick and in the critical care unit. I have been there providing comfort care to a dying loved one and family members have hugged me and thanked me for being the angel that their family member needs. Nursing is beautiful. Life is beautiful. I watch lives change, I watched lives end, and I watch lives get a second chance because of the care and medicine that I have provided.
Nursing is hard. Nursing is stressful. Nursing is exhausting. It drains me both physically and mentally. I come home tired, sweaty, and defeated. Not all days are good days. Nursing is not all sunshine and rainbows. But nursing is my life. I dedicate my life to saving the lives of others. Those break through moments when a patient miraculously recovers, when a patient holds your hand and tells you how thankful that they are for you, and the moments when myself and a patient can share in a good laugh. The feeling of pride I feel when my patient came in on a ventilator but walks out at discharge, makes it all worth it. All the wonderful, precious moments are why I love nursing. The great moments are what get myself and my coworkers through the long, difficult 12 hour shifts. Thank god for fantastic coworkers. My coworkers are like my family. I know that they understand the mental turmoil that I go through after a hard day. Only nurses understand truly what nurses go through.
So the next time that you want to tell a nurse that it must be great to work ONLY 36 hours a week, please be mindful of what those 36 hours are like. Give a nurse a hug today, and be thankful that we continue to do what we do, and don’t judge us when we drink a little extra wine. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
Sincerely,
the exhausted,
but still smiling ICU nurse.”
“Men Deserve To Be Lonely!” Responding To Backlash Over ‘The Male Loneliness Epidemic’
“Shoe, I don’t think you’ll ever know how much these videos mean, but thank you. It’s absolutely heart-warming to realise that not everyone in this world is crazy and I don’t have to feel so isolated, that not everything has to be a war, that I could go outside and not be scared to socialise based on things of which I have no control. Thank you.”
Confession of the Day
We got married almost 3 years ago. She started having an affair with her coworker 1 year ago. I got to know that because I saw his car outside my house one day. I had my suspicions. I hired a PI and gathered evidence that she was having an affair with him. I was angry.
Then I got a call from the coworker’s wife that she came to know about the affair. She only had texts they used to send but I have all the receipts of their hangouts. Together we decided to confront them. We used to meet up a lot. She told me she had suspected his affair since her pregnancy. They have 3 children together. One day we had an idea that we should sleep with each other as revenge.
We did and not going to lie it felt good. We have been meeting and having sex for a while. She is an amazing woman. I would say she is better at some things in bed than my wife. Mostly, I am very angry towards my wife. Because in some of her texts with her affair partner she and AP made fun of AP’s wife. Saying things like she has gained weight, her vagina was destroyed and other disgusting stuff. I cannot believe that she would say something like this while being a woman. She even made fun of my fertility issues saying that I am not a man because the chances of me having kids is very low.
I do not feel bad about my affair. I like the sex life I had with AP’s wife way more than my wife. She hardly ever gives me oral but expects me to give her one. At least AP’s wife was more enthusiastic about it and it was the best oral I ever had. AP’s wife wants to tell his husband.
I guess we are both tired about carrying out the revenge affair. We both got carried away. We were both so driven by the revenge that we got addicted to it.
I will confront my wife soon. I already have the divorce papers ready. Since we do not have a joint account or marital assets it will be easy for us.
AP’s wife might have some problems because they have kids but she has the power to take him to cleaners. I know I sound like an awful person. But I am already checked out of my marriage.
Last weekend, my boyfriend asked me to make some creme brulee, so I did. After dinner, I served the dessert.
My boyfriend then pulled out from his pocket a small spoon with an owl on it and handed it to me. I love owls very much (I have a lot of owl things around the house). He told me this is the designated spoon for creme brulee – just for me.
I was happy. And he, after finishing the creme brulee, also was happy.
I find that a lot of people, myself a few years ago included, tend to think and look for big things to be happy in life, like a big house, a fancy car, a steady career,… But then, I learned that, it doesn’t take much for you to be happy.
Life is a difficult journey, lots of things we have to deal with every day. But if you try to collect small and small pieces of happiness along the way, you will be much happier.
Couple finds cats in new home. Guess how they responded.
I laughed and laughed. He was a maintenance guy at Nabisco back when Nabisco had a Houston facility and he decides to steal a big bench grinder. It maybe weighed a hundred pounds and would have cost around eighty or ninety dollars. Anyway, he couldn’t get it past the guard house so he decided to back his truck up to the building and drop the bench grinder into the bed of the truck from the top of the second floor roof, that would be about a thirty foot fall. Now just doing this in my head and playing fast and loose with the numbers I’m figuring that the bench grinder is going to exert somewhere around ten thousand pounds of impact force when it meets the bed of that truck, and I stood back and smiled.
The grinder hit just in front of the third member and went through the bed of that truck like a cannon shot. It was fabulous!
Man Dies Car Accident; Learned The Truth About The Matrix (NDE)
While living in Atlanta, I met a guy who told me he wanted to move to New Zealand. I was a little surprised. At the time, it wasn’t a country you heard Americans talk about often, at least not in Georgia.
He was a culinary arts graduate though, and in my country (Jamaica) they tend to be pretty cultured people. Partially because of the classes but also because it attracts a lot of upper-middle class students (not sure why!). So I figured this guy likely just knew something I didn’t.
“Why do you want to move to New Zealand?” I asked.
“Because they speak English!” he answered. “I don’t want to have to learn another language.”
I puzzled over this in silence for a moment and then I asked. “Ok, but that’s an interesting choice just for English. I mean, why not Britain?”
“Well, I don’t know what language the British speak,” he responded.
I thought he was joking so I burst out laughing, but I soon realized he wasn’t joining in. “Wait….are you serious??”
“Yes, it’s not like I’ve ever googled that or anything.”
“England is part of Britain…” I hinted, still wondering if maybe he was just toying with me.
Nope. He started to get angry. “I don’t know what language they speak either.”
I was flabbergasted. “DUDE…what language do you think THE ENGLISH speak??”
“I just told you I don’t know,” he started to say, until it dawned on him. He stared at me in awkward silence for a moment and then he got up and left, lol.
He never spoke to me again. 😂
I don’t remember his name or even how we met, but every so often, I think about him and wonder if he’s gotten any smarter with time.
While living in a housing community, one morning I returned to where I left my car the previous night, it was gone. Wondering why someone would steal such a crappy car, I called the local police. I wanted a police officer to come out and take a report. Instead, the officer asked me over the phone where the car was removed(address), and license plate number. While we were talking on the phone, other community tenants were wandering the parking lot looking for their car too. The officer informs me that my car was at a local low yard and had been impounded with twelve other cars. It seems the community had issued new parking permits yet failed to notify ALL the tenants.
With a ride from a friend, off I go to the impound lot. When I arrive, I’m welcome by many young retired gang bangers covered with jail and prison colored tattoos. They hold my car hostage, demanding over two hundred dollars I didn’t have to lose. After I pay the ransom, I lean over the counter getting as close to the cashiers face as I can. I tell him I will be suing their company, and it will cost them far more than I’m paying. He responded, laughing, “I hear that threat a dozen times a day”. I respond, “get a good look at my face so you’ll remember me later as the one person who actually did sue you!”
Due to rampant predatory towing, in 2004, California signed into law a detailed code and section listing nearly 12 specific criteria that a towing company must preform prior to impounding a car. No towing companies ever satisfy these requirement. That same law listing the requirement also lists the penalties for towing company and possibly security staff non-compliance. I’m my case, it was four times the extortionist tow charge that they charged.
Off to court I go, filed and waited several months for scheduled court date. When our court date arrives, the company didn’t bother to appear. I was awarded everything I asked for, plus interest.
Off again I go to the tow yard with copy of court order demanding payment, they told me to “pound sand!” The next day the towing company attempted to appeal the order not knowing that you cannot appeal an order issued on a case in which you failed to appear.
Now the fun starts. Off to the Sheriffs Department with my court order to request a till tap levy. Due to the sheer volume of deadbeats in Orange County, this task takes another nine months to arrive. After nearly a year since my car was stolen and held for ransom, the Sheriffs department forcibly collected over a thousand dollars in restitution, penalty, and interest, from a very angry business owner. When it was all over and I’d received my money, I went back to the towing yard and thanked them for stealing my car.
I am Answering the question. I am not the one who asked it. I said how I handled it. To the one who asked it.
I am single. No girlfriend or wife to keep me company. I bought a house in a really nice neighborhood. After settling in one weekend I decided to go for a swim in my pool. Lo and behold, there were kids already in there. I thought, am I in the wrong house? I pinched myself. Nope I am in my home. So I sat outside to watch the kids to make sure they stay safe while swimming. After a couple hours they got out and left, saying hi as they left. Just as they were leaving. I told the kids that I really do not want anyone in my pool except me or my family, because of liability issues. Plus I am afraid the kids will urinate in the pool. (I did not tell them that.) So I told them my pool is off limits. They looked at me as if to say “Whatever “. Then they left.
It was OK for a couple days. Then one Saturday I heard the sound of someone in my pool. So outside I sit and watch the neighborhood kids. Like I said before I am single. With no companion. I had always wanted a dog. I thought not only would I have a life companion, I would also have a way to guard my home. So one day I brought my friend home. I installed a dog door and got him a huge comfy dog bed. Now since my dog has access to the back yard I posted warning signs by the gate to state “Guard dog on premises. Do not enter.” Did not think too much about it. Now since I got a friend I wanted to be active with him. We go on walks, go to the park to let him stretch his legs and run, as well as mine.
One morning I heard the doorbell and the dog barking to let me know someone is at the door. So I got up and went to the door. There were kids with towels standing at my door. I asked what they wanted. They told me they are afraid of my dog, and could I put him up so they could swim. I told them “I am sorry, but you are going to have to find another place to play.” I also told them every once in a while it would be OK, but only if they asked first and one of their parents was there to supervise them.” I never heard from them again. I am not saying you should do this, but that is how I solved my issue. Also I am glad I got a dog. He is my best friend and goes with me pretty much everywhere. Where you see me, you see Kronos.
It started so innocently. I asked my son to get me something out of the refrigerator. I forgot the word “refrigerator”. I pointed to it and said get me something out of “that.”
I opened the mail once and I received a ticket for running a red light. A camera saw it and I could view what it saw. It was early in the morning and I never tried to stop when the light was red. I could have killed someone. No cars were coming. I don’t remember even being there. Twice I have pulled out of a parking lot and for some reason, I touched the gas pedal hard instead of the brake. I have taken two driving tests by the VA. I passed. I have to focus on every aspect of driving. My driving days are numbered.
My doctor has given me two tests for dementia. Part of a test involves her giving me five words like “apple” to remember. Minutes later, when I am asked to repeat the words, I remember maybe two. I’ve seen a specialist for a four hour session. Drawing a clock, etc. are part of the test.
I have minor to mild dementia. It’s hard to scare me but dementia sure does.
I write and forget grammar rules I’ve known for years.
Any disease is a label, it doesn’t define me. I get to choose what defines me. I was diagnosed with dementia three years ago and I’m fighting it like hell.
Never take for granted looking in a mirror and knowing who you are. Someday I fear I will have no clue who the hell the person is that’s looking back at me.
I plan to fight dementia as hard as I can. I hope it will be years before I slip into total darkness.
My wife was moving from Virginia to Ohio, had a U-Haul reservation, and showed up on Saturday morning to pick up her truck. There was no truck, they had rented it out to somebody else, who showed up earlier that Saturday without a reservation. When asked about why they had done that, they blamed us for not being there earlier, on an 8–12 pick up window, when we showed up at 9:00.
Within an hour, we had a Ryder truck. However, later that afternoon, when we were nearly done packing up her stuff, U-Haul called to say they had her truck ready. We said “no” in very definitive terms. Sure enough, two weeks later, when my wife got her credit card statement, U-Haul had charged her for the rental in spite of not having the truck. The customer service representative at U-Haul was inflexible on the charge, stating that they had a truck for her, and it was her fault that she didn’t pick it up.
Never again, they suck. If you rent with them, it will happen to you.
China proposes a new domestic EUV lithography machine plan: “super large lithography factory”!
Wow, China is very innovative by proposing to build EUV lithography as an infrastructure project to get the advantage of large scale production.
This is a great idea as chips will always be needed in the future and it’s applications will be in every product.
By consolidating all the chips manufacturers together one can reduce the price of chips significantly.
No other country will be able to compete as it will be integrated in the infrastructure project. China will be self sufficient all the way through the 21st century.
My friend had something like this happen, the rented garage where he worked on his race car was broken into and burgled. They didn’t take the car but took a set of wire wheels with Dunlop Race Tires (a special order option for wet conditions) on them, along with all his tools, etc. He filed a police report.
Well, a week later my friend is downtown and sees an MG B parked at the curb, with his tires and wheels on it. He knew they were his because he had marked them with chalk showing which locations on the car they were on.
He went to a payphone on the same block called the police, and went back to stand by the car.
A cop showed up within a few minutes. He explained to the police officer, and. They waited a while, but the owner didn’t come back.
The police took all the information off the car and called a tow truck.
They eventually tracked down the owner of the car, who was related to the people who rented him the garage. They searched his garage and found all my friend’s tools and other things that were stolen.
I’d vote it would be Ben L. Salomon who was an army Dentist during WWII. In June 1944 he volunteered to replace a wounded surgeon due to there not being much need for a dentist during combat when all hell broke lose.
The Japanese General Saito, after taking massive casualties and being pushed back so far, ordered his remaining 3000-5000 to advance to attack the American forces and die with honor. Outside the medical tent Captain Salomon saw a Japanese soldier bayonet some of the wounded soldiers. He grabbed a nearby rifle and killed the Japanese soldier and went back to tending the wounded inside the medical tent. At that point the defensive line collapsed, unbeknown to Salomon, and two more Japanese soldiers ran into the tent. Salomon clubbed both of them with the rifle, then shot one and bayoneted the other. Four more Japanese solder started crawling under tent. He shot one, bayoneted another one, knifed the third, and head-butted the fourth, allowing one of the wounded soldiers to shoot him. Realizing the dire situation, he ordered the medics to evacuate the wounded. Meanwhile he stayed to provide cover for the soldiers evacuating.
When the military retook the area 15 hours later they found Captain Salomon’s body slumped over a machine gun with 76 wounds from being shot and bayoneted (autopsy revealed 24 of them were inflicted before death), and the bodies of 98 Japanese soldiers piled in front of his position. Based on the blood trail of the wounded Captain, Salomon relocated the machine gun 4 times to maintain a clear field of fire due to the build up of piles of bodies.
Ben L. Salomon is pretty much the embodiment of “Going Out in a Blaze of Glory”
The Feline Couple Came to the Family’s Doorstep Every Day
Nice story.
My wife is a parasite and I feel stuck
My wife (37f) and I (38m) and I have been married for 11 years, together for a few years before that, and have known each-other for over 20 years. We met online when she was 16 and still in high school, and I was 17 and just starting college. For the sake of this rant we’ll call her Connie.
Connie and I lived several states away and, at first, there was some attraction on her part – but I just wanted to stay friends. Over several years we grew closer and decided to have a long distance relationship. I was always awkward with girls in high school and it continued into adulthood. With Connie things just felt natural. After a couple years, when we were talking about meeting in person, she destroyed me. She let me know that she had been having multiple other online relationships and one of these men came to meet her and she wanted to be with him.
Looking back, the smart thing to do would have been to end the story there. Nearly a year later she reached out to me, saying she was sorry and that she missed our friendship. I decided to give friendship another chance and, for a while, it worked. She had a couple other relationships. We’d talk and text regularly. But, over time, the old feelings came back. I admitted them to her and she said she felt the same.
We decided to give things another shot. Eventually she came to visit me and then we would alternate visits. We talked about her coming to live with me, and she did. She worked for a national chain store, so the plan was for her to simply transfer locations. She didn’t do that. Instead she quit. After a couple attempts at finding work, she asked if she could stay at home and take care of the house. Cook, clean, etc. I agreed, since we didn’t really have many expenses. She also refused to get her own bank account, instead using mine and calling everything ‘our’ money. Looking back, the red flags are so blatantly obvious – but I was young and in love.
She never cleaned and rarely cooked.
Instead we ordered out most of the time, wasting any money I had saved. We got several pets, at her insistence. She begged me for over a year to get her pregnant because she wanted a baby. I said I wanted to get married first, which is what ended up happening. When my daughter was an infant we bought a house in order to have more space. She also wanted to be nearer to one of her world of warcraft friends, who we’ll call Aaron.
It was because of Aaron I learned of her fixating behavior.
She will find a male friend online, become ‘besties’ with them, and then eventually find someone else. After Aaron it was Roy. Roy lived further away, but was in a bad relationship with his own wife (ironic) and suicidal. Connie begged me to let him come stay with us until he could get on his feet, admitting she’d already invited him. Defeated, I agreed since I didn’t want to make someone homeless.
He lived with us for a year before he was able to get a job. He is still living with us nearly 9 years later. And to be quite honest it’s because of him I haven’t gone completely insane yet. Connie still barely does any housework. Roy is the one who does the dishes, laundry, and yardwork. All of it.
He does not pay rent, but Connie has access to his bank account and regularly spends his money to the point of overdraft. In the interim years I’ve mostly separated my money from her. There is a bank account she does not have access to, with some savings and from which I pay our bills. If I didn’t do this, she would spend me to overdraft as well. Some of my paycheck goes into a shared account for her, which she regularly overdrafts. After Roy lived here for a while she found another man to be friends with and the cycle continued.
We have two children now, and she barely spends any time with them. Preferring instead to smoke weed (it’s legal here) and play video games for the entirety of the day. Sometimes she cooks, sometimes she’ll even straighten up a bit. However she has filled my house to the brim with clutter. Every room has boxes and boxes of useless shit. Some of it untouched.
I knew she had mental health issues when we were dating, but they have gotten worse and, with the use of tik-tok, she has weaponized them against me. Every time I criticize her for ordering stuff we don’t need (such as groceries that we already have, or junk we will never use) she defends herself by saying she has ADHD and it’s a symptom. She probably does have it, but she’s undiagnosed. She won’t go to a psychiatrist for it. Her medical doctor prescribed her antidepressants, which have helped, but not with everything. The thing is, I have plenty of friends with ADHD. They view it as a part of them which needs to be addressed and worked around/through. She sees it as an excuse to do whatever she wants without consequences.
Recently we went on vacation and she asked if her her latest friend, who is recently divorced and looking for jobs in our area, could stay at our house while we were away (though Roy would be there). I agreed, since it felt bad to make him spend several thousand dollars a week on a hotel room. He’s still here, and it’s been weeks. He’s done some Zoom interviews and occasionally does door dash to make extra cash, but he’s still here. We’ll call him Joe.
Connie and I have hit a breaking point and are talking about divorce. After a long conversation she’s admitted she sees nothing wrong with her behavior, and finds it aggravating that I try to ‘fix’ her. I realized then that there is nothing for me in this relationship anymore. She’s also admitted to having feelings for Joe, and he is in love with her.
The problem now is money. We have 60k left on our house and just bought a new car. She wants to keep the house and the car when we split. I’m fine with this because I would rather live somewhere that isn’t full of her garbage and I don’t drive. But she can’t pay for them, and no bank in their right mind would give her a loan to buy me out. Even if they did, she couldn’t pay it on her own (either Roy or Joe or both would be paying for it).
I want to be done with this relationship so badly, but I feel like I’m trapped here. My kids love their school and I don’t want to make them move. I’m more than happy to get my name off of the house and the car, get some money from the equity, and start over. It would be great to take my kids each weekend and actually DO things with them. But I don’t see a path to get there. I feel trapped in my own house, which is becoming increasingly full of my wife’s pets (both human and otherwise) and all of her garbage.
Even though I want out, I still love Connie (in a way) and don’t want to hurt or destroy her – even though it’s probably better than what she deserves. She first broached the topic of divorce, but now she gets sad regularly thinking about it – and is confused at why I am so often upset with her. All of the stress of having her, and Roy, and Joe, and two young children is eating away at me. And I feel ashamed of the divorce. Ashamed that I couldn’t fix her. Ashamed that I couldn’t put my foot down and say no. Ashamed that there are multiple people living in MY house that I don’t want here. I haven’t told my extended family or friends yet, though I am going out with a friend tomorrow and plan to tell him. And we haven’t told the kids either. It’s all eating me up inside, but just typing this out has helped. I hope it wasn’t too bad of a read. And I hope I can get through this situation sooner rather than later.
I asked DIGITAL NOMADS how they MAKE MONEY in Bali
Nice Picture
2023 09 26 16 5f3
The How And Why Of Heroin Addiction
Let me explain it to you, I’ve been an opiate addict for a long time and tried many drugs.
Drugs that are ‘uppers’ have the most ‘obvious’ euphoria.
For example if you take adderall/coke/meth/speed/MDMA you will get this shining bright euphoria, self confidence, energy, and other drug-specific feelings (for meth like you are king or for MDMA like you love everyone).
However, you owe these drugs back what they delivered to you.
After a meth binge, or lots of MDMA use, or staying up all night on coke you will feel like shit.
To an extent this aspect is similar to an alcoholic hangover.
On the other hand, for many people who experiment with heroin they are underwhelmed (not including IV usage, but most experimenters rarely ever IV first time).
They just feel good, chill, happy, but they feel like this spooky drug ‘heroin’ hasn’t delivered. They are just mellow.
Oh obviously it has all been a lie they will think.
Heroin isn’t spooky, it’s chill.
It’s not addictive like everyone else thinks. It doesn’t make you do stupid shit or stay up all day and hallucinate like amphetamines or coke. It doesn’t empty your serotonin like MDMA or give you a hangover like alcohol.
People tend to just think oh, what a nice drug.
So the next day they wake up and everything is normal. No headache or shitty feeling–just a slight afterglow of that nice feeling. Oh it was cheap as well! It only cost $10 for a whole night of being high! I thought people said heroin was expensive?
And then next weekend comes… There are all these drugs I could do but I liked heroin. It didn’t ‘fuck me up,’ I could still think clearly. No hangover. No feeling like shit later. I still was awake. It just made me happy and content with life. Oh and it’s only $10! Well, I should get some more for the whole weekend.
This is great!
I will use Heroin on the weekends now!
Now let’s say this person works and has responsibilities. He knows he can’t go into work drunk, or on MDMA, or high. So he doesn’t. It’s actually simple.
But heroin… Well the user might actually find they do better work on heroin.
Instead of being sad or grumpy or depressed with his job… he is just… happy. Mellow. Content. Everything is fine and the world is beautiful.
It’s raining, it’s dark, I woke up at 5:30AM, I’m commuting in traffic. I would have had a headache, I would have been miserable, I would have wondered how my life took me to this point.
This point I’m at right now. But no, no, everything is fine. Life is beautiful. The rain drops are just falling and in each one I see the reflection of every persons life around me. Humanity is beautiful. In this still frame shot of traffic on this crowded bus I just found love and peace. Heroin is a wonder drug. Heroin is better than everything else. Heroin makes me who I wish I was. Heroin makes life worth living. Heroin is better than everything else. Heroin builds up a tolerance fast. Heroin starts to cost more money. I need heroin to feel normal. I don’t love anymore. Now I’m sick. I can’t afford the heroin that I need. How did $10 used to get me high? Now I need $100. That guy that let me try a few lines the first time doesn’t actually deal. Oh I need to find a real dealer? This guy is a felon and carries a gun–he can sell me the drug that lets me find love in the world. No this isn’t working, I need to quit.
To answer your question, heroin feels nice.
That’s all, it just feels very nice. Y
ou can make the rest up for yourself. Attach your own half-truths to this drug that will show you the world and for a moment you will feel as clever as Faust.
Redfin Reports San Francisco Is About To Collapse
“I’m happy that we sold our house there a few years ago. I didn’t want to risk that for an AirBnB rental.”
Boxloads of New COVID-19″ Death Darts Arrive at US Military Bases Marked “2023-2024”
Box loads of Pfizer’s latest COVID-19 Death Dart, marked with its brand name COMINARTY” are arriving at US Military Bases. The boxes are labelled “2023-2024.” They’re planning another COVID outbreak to steal the Presidential Election (again) next year.
This has got to be one very smart virus; it seems to KNOW that it can only come out when a Presidential Election is coming, so they can demand mail-in paper ballots, and steal the election again; just like they did in 2020.
Except we’re not falling for this again. DO NOT COMPLY.
No more of their death dart, phony, “vaccines. No more masks. No more social distancing, and for damn sure, no more “lockdowns.”
That whole thing was total bullshit for a virus that is no worse than a nasty Flu.
These were words spoken by a 5-year old girl under my care when I worked in a Paediatric Oncology ward a few years ago.
She was a Beta Thalassemia Major patient. A real cutie, i can still remember her curly hair, friendly smiles and she was always very talkative on her good days. She had undergone two bone marrow transplants in the past, but came back with recurrent complications from the procedures.
We tried our best, but she was dying. And she knew it. We were on the verge of crying when we did our morning review that day, and heard her; comforting her parents. She then passed away peacefully in her sleep, after weeks of fighting.
(May you rest in peace, baby girl).
The “American Dream” is actual Slavery (It’s all a Lie)
Outstanding message! It’s such a materialistic world and we’ve been brainwashed to think the more possessions the better. It’s not true. Sad that it takes us all our lives to realize the lie.
The news is full of headlines about ‘China’s economic collapse’ — ignore them
Once again, the Western media Establishment, and sadly some on the left, are talking up an impending economic disaster in China, when the truth is quite the opposite, argues JOHN ROSS
IN THE last four years, covering the period of the Covid pandemic, China’s economy has grown two-and-a-half times as fast as the US, 15 times as fast as France, 23 times as fast as Japan, 45 times as fast as Germany, and 480 times as fast as Britain.
To add in smaller G7 countries, China has grown four times as fast as Canada, and 11 times as fast as Italy.
China’s outperformance of advanced capitalist countries is even greater in per capita terms — a still better measure of productivity changes and potential for increasing living standards.
China’s per capita GDP grew three times as fast as the US, five times as fast as Italy, 44 times as fast as Japan or France, and 260 times as fast as Britain — while per capita GDP fell in Germany and Canada.
China’s outperformance of developing capitalist countries shows the same pattern — China’s per capita 4.4 per cent GDP annual average growth compares to 2.6 per cent in India, 1.3 per cent in Brazil, or 0.9 per cent in South Africa.
What is important about such economic growth, of course, is not abstract statistics but its meaning for the real lives of ordinary people.
The International Labour Organisation data on real, inflation-adjusted, wages shows that up to the latest available data — for most countries to 2022, and for India to 2021 — China’s annual real wage growth was 4.7 per cent.
For Britain it was 0.1 per cent, for the US it was 0.3 per cent, in France it was minus 0.4 per cent, in Germany minus 0.7 per cent and in India minus 1.3 per cent.
Given this enormous economic outperformance by China of capitalist countries, any rational discussion that should be taking place in Western mainstream media about the international economic situation would be, “why is China’s economy hugely outperforming the US and the rest of the capitalist West?” and, “what lessons are to be learned from China’s socialist economy that is so outperforming the West?”
For the left, the issue that needs to be assessed and publicised is, “Why are real wages rising 18 times as fast in China as in the US, 44 times as fast as in Britain, while in France, Germany or India real wages are falling?”
Indeed, the present author would argue that much greater stress should be placed on the latter point. The international left has begun to absorb that China has lifted more than 850 million people out of World Bank-defined poverty in 40 years — by far the greatest poverty reduction achievement in human history.
But it has not yet internalised how rapidly not only the poorest but average living standards are rising in China — far faster than in any Western country.
But, of course, this real economic situation can’t be discussed in the mainstream media, because its conclusions would be too damaging for the capitalist West.
Instead, a type of mad discussion is unfolding, with US claims about China’s economy becoming increasingly bizarre — one might say deranged — as they get further and further out of touch with reality.
President Joe Biden, for example, recently made a speech claiming China’s economic growth rate is “around 2 per cent,” when it was 5.5 per cent in the first half of this year and, as already noted, China’s economy is growing two-and-a-half times as fast as the US.
Biden bizarrely claimed that in China “the number of people who are of retirement age is larger than the number of people of working age” — entirely false, and inaccurate by a figure of many hundreds of millions of people.
Discussion in the US financial media equally refuses to face real facts. Because I am an economist, every morning, after the overall news, I switch on Bloomberg TV to catch up on the latest economic data. Discussion there is like Alice Through the Looking Glass — the book the principle of which is that everything is reversed compared to the real world.
Apparently, according to Bloomberg’s analysis, China’s annual average of 4.5 per cent a year growth in the last four years is an economy in severe crisis, whereas the US’s 1.8 per cent is allegedly strong growth — not to speak of Britain’s 0.1 per cent. Similar rhetoric, out of all contact with factual reality, pervades the Financial Times, The Economist, or the Wall Street Journal.
The left is well used to such US political lying — the completely fake claim that North Vietnamese ships attacked US naval vessels on August 4 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin, used to launch the Vietnam war, or the equally untrue claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction to justify the US invasion, were classic examples.
Today, the US systematically lies about the state of China and its own economy because it is crucial for US capitalism to prevent its own citizens, and close allies, from understanding the real economic trends.
It is further proof, if one were needed, of the truth that if the real world and a theory do not coincide only one of two things can be done. One is to abandon the theory, the other is to abandon the real world.
In this case, the theory is that the US, because it is capitalist, should outperform socialist China. The real world is actual economic performance — in which China continues to outperform the US and other capitalist countries by an enormous margin.
Unable to abandon its theory the US is therefore forced to abandon the real world — hence the demented denial of comparative economic performance noted at the beginning of this article.
While the left should expect lies from capitalism what is rather shameful is that some sections of the left repeat such nonsense — apparently believing that if they put in a few left phrases into an analysis taken from the Western press this constitutes “socialist” commentary.
For example, an article in the New Left Review’s Sidecar called China a “zombie economy.” Some “zombie” when China’s economy is growing anywhere between two-and-a-half times and 480 times as fast as any major capitalist economy.
The real data shows the reality is simple. China has far outgrown any Western capitalist economy for more than 40 years. It continues to do so.
The result in China is by far the world’s most rapid rise in living standards — not only for the poorest but for the whole average population. It is known as the practical advantage of socialism. It is fact. We know why the US has to make up big lies about it. There is no justification for sections of the left echoing them.
I’ve been married for 6 years together for 8. Every single year we celebrate both of my husband’s parents birthdays. And every single year they don’t even acknowledge mine or my daughters. We both reach have one daughter from a previous and no children together. My husband spends hundreds on each of their birthdays year after year with custom ordered cake from the fanciest bakery in the area and we don’t get so much as a card. His parents don’t dislike me they just wish he would’ve stayed in a relationship with his ex who he never married but shares one child with. They still hold hope they will get back together after all these years so they pretend we don’t exist. It makes me want to stop showing up on their birthdays but I don’t know how to do that without hurting my husband who has had several private conversations asking them to please atleast acknowledge my daughter on her birthday but to no avail.
Italian Beef Stir Fry
Few ingredients – fast and flavorful!
2023 09 25 14 56
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 pound beef top tip steaks, cut 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1 cup cherry tomato halves
1/4 cup fat-free bottled Italian salad dressing
2 cups hot cooked spaghetti
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Cut beef steaks crosswise into 1-inch wide strips. Cut each strip crosswise in half.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir while cooking 1 minute.
Add half of the beef strips. Stir-fry 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until no longer pink.
Remove with slotted spoon and keep warm.
Repeat with remaining beef strips.
Add zucchini to same skillet. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender-crisp.
Return beef to skillet with tomato halves and dressing. Heat through.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve beef mixture over hot pasta.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Attribution
From the kitchen of Martin James – Copenhagen, Denmark
Confession of the Day
My fiancé has a micropenis
Wow, it’s almost a relief just to write that down. IRL I have not told a single person- not anyone in my family not my bestie. I really have no one to vent to.
Obviously it’s not a deal breaker for me- I want to spend the rest of my life with him. He is an amazing man, treats me so well, highly intelligent. He is tall, very good looking and fit. He is basically the whole package and I’m so proud to be with him.
Now- his dick. He is 3 inches hard and very thin. Basically the size of my thumb. The one area in this world he is insecure about. It was definitely a shock for me at first. We do have sex often. Pretty much every day without fail. He has magical hands & tongue and he is a very enthusiastic lover-making sure I cum every time. He has a tremendous imagination. We do use toys, such as dildos, sleeves and straps ons from time to time. It’s good and all, but it’s just not the same.
Now here is the real get off my chest stuff. He would ask me if I ever miss a bigger dick. I don’t have it in my heart to tell him ABSOLUTELY YES. I was always a very sexual being and I was very orgasmic from PIV. I absolutely miss cumming from PIV. I absolutely crave that full filling that I don’t get now.
I wake up horny and just crave it.
It’s not a deal breaker because of the amazing man he is and my love for him. He is very much the greatest man I have ever met. I would never cheat- I’ve never cheated on anyone and I won’t start now. But I admit, my mind is dirty and can wonder. I would imagine fucking a big dick while I masturbate- and I would cry with guilt after I cum.
I feel so bad that the world is so unfair. I would read on Reddit about men being so sad and insecure over their average cocks. 5-6 inches and your insecure? Like STFU!!! Whoever, I’m part of the problem myself. I was the girl that previously bragged to her girlfriends about how well endowed my ex boyfriend was. It’s funny how the world works.
He was the tallest person I had ever seen, and he saved my brother.
It was the early 80’s, and that meant unsupervised play, staying out until you heard your Mom’s voice, or the street lamps coming on.
Our neighborhood, and everything in it, was our playground.
Including our car.
While I was busy building a ramp for my bike, my brother had climbed into our family car, and was doing his best Knight Rider impression.
That’s when I saw him.
A giant. I was stunned as he bolted through our yard. So stunned that I failed to notice our family car backing quickly out of our driveway, building up speed, and heading straight for our neighbors house.
I watched as The giant stepped in front of the car. It was like seeing Superman in real life.
The momentum of the car was slowed, but it didn’t stop, and he struggled to bring it to a stop.
The car, with my brother inside, was still rolling towards our neighbors house.
Then little by little, inch by inch, he stopped the car.
I watched in stunned silence.
He was our quiet neighbor. A single guy in a family neighborhood that kept to himself. His name was John, he was a giant, and the closest incarnation of Superman I’d ever seen.
Oprah DELETES Accounts, LOCKS Comment Section in Maui Fire BACKLASH
Oprah could’ve given $50 or $100 million and not even felt it…. Or she could’ve had cabins put onto her land, far away from her home and shown true charity towards the residents. Instead she showed her true colours and at the first hint of criticism she threw a tantrum, went on the attack and then stopped people from being able to give feedback.
When I lived in Shenzhen (ripe out of the ‘States) we had a little dog. We called him ShaoPi, or “PP” for short. He was a good little Bishion breed. He was a mini version, and so didn’t live as long as a normal breed would of.
Anyways, we also had his son; “Super”. Which was a mixed breed. Bishion and Bomei. And he was absolutely one heck of a handsome dog.
One thing, though. He hated my guts.
…
I mean it. He HATED me; with a searing level of disgust and malice. Including biting me, and forcing me to get rabies vaccinations. Ugh!
I was an “outsider” and he “owned” my wife and her ex-boyfriend. And to exert his displeasure on me, he would make messes all over the place, bark non-stop and generally did everything he could to try to chase me away.
Well, that was causing our PP to get super stressed out. And he was a good dog, always trying to straighten out this wayward son. But it was to no avail. Eventually, both dogs were super stressed out, and start a non-stop peeing contest in the house. I mean, they were urinating over everything.
Everything.
And so we would take PP out with us and we did out chores and made our rounds, and it helped some. But, you know, he was so stressed out that he still continued to pee everywhere and over everything.
We knew that there was a problem. But we didn’t know what to do.
…
Then one day, while riding on an elevator there was a really cute 20-something girl all “decked out” wearing nice clothes and makeup going out (probably) on a date. We were also going out. PP was at our feet, and we were making arrangements for an evening dinner.
She was checking out her phone while adjusting her makeup, and sure as shit…
…PP urinated all over her high heels, and her nylons and her dress.
…
She screamed out so loudly that PP jumped back as if electrified….
…
That week we found a home for “Super”, and that was another trial, I’ll tell you what. But the moral of this little story is when people, or loved ones are stressed out…
…do something about it, before things get out of hand!
Todays…
Shi Jiangiao
This is Shi Jiangiao, a Chinese assassin who lived during the Warlord Era (1916-1928) in China.
main qimg eb07899e1f58eb5278ddfabcdd38fccc
Shi came from a family of humble beginnings as her grandfather was a simple farmer and tofu seller. However, that all changed when her father and uncle became decorated soldiers, rising through the ranks in the Chinese military. This helped raise the social status of her family.
In 1925, when Shi was only 19 years old, her father was leading a brigade of soldiers to capture Guzhen, Shandong, when he became surrounded by a warlord by the name of Sun Chuanfang. Sun decapitated her father and had his head mounted on a pike and put on display at a local train station.
Two years later, Sun was disposed of by the Kuomintang (aka Chinese Nationalist Party) who wanted to reunify China, which had become fragmented after the 1911 Revolution, which overthrew China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing. Sun peacefully retired from his life as a warlord and founded a Buddhist society.
Meanwhile, Shi spent her 20s tracking down Sun who had disappeared without a trace. In 1935, ten years after her father’s death, Shi managed to track Sun down in Tianjin, a major port city close to Beijing. (If you recall, Tianjin was the city that had that major explosion in 2015.)
Shi entered the Buddhist temple and found Sun kneeling in front of the altar. She approached him from behind and shot him several times with a pistol. She did not attempt to flee the scene of the crime but began distributing pamphlets explaining her actions.
Her case drew significant coverage and reached the Nanjing Supreme Court. In the eyes of the law, she was guilty. However, Confucian morality stipulates that one must avenge their parents. Ultimately, the Nationalist government decided to pardon her on the grounds that the assassination was justified because it was an act of filial piety. It also helped her case that the man she had assassinated was guilty of trafficking opium, suppressing strikes by factory workers in Shanghai, and collaborating with the Japanese.
Saying “Give me this/that” instead of asking for it.
I was once in a bar in Turkey, watching football (as in kicking a ball with the foot) with some other foreigners, German & Danish IIRC, drinking beer, & nibbling cacik & bread.
A group of American men walked in (I think from the nearby air base). They knew the barman’s name. They asked if the back room was free, & on being told yes, headed for it & commanded the barman to bring them beers – all done by shouting across the bar in English. He smiled to their faces & scowled at their backs. Then he noticed two of us looking at him & looked embarrassed.
A little while later we needed more beer, & it was my turn, so I went to the bar & asked (in Turkish – as we’d all done) for more beer e.g. “beş bira, lütfen”. He still seemed embarrassed, & said something like (IIRC) “You’re OK. You say lütfen” (Turkish for please). In his terms, the Americans were extremely rude. They probably had no idea. We, on the other hand, were at least trying to be polite. We knew how to ask for a beer (or a few), & how to say please & thank you, & understood that was customary.
I expect the Americans would have been very surprised to know that they were constantly being rude to locals.
They’re FINALLY Been Arrested in MAUI,The Rock & Oprah
Thank you for speaking on our Maui brothers and sisters. Thank you James Okeefe also. This is unacceptable as well as unbelievable!!
https://youtu.be/cXv1Cb93OGA
Confession of the Day
I started self directed investing in 2012 with $20k. My first big success was betting on American Airlines after they filed bankruptcy before the merger with US Airlines. It was a 5x return in less than two years. I took that money and bought a house to Airbnb and ended up with about $250k.
I reinvested into the market and made my way all the way up to about $600k during the Covid spurt. Then I began to fuck with options. The first few wins were big for me, $5k, $10k, $20k, etc. then I really started betting big and hit returns over $100k in a single day. I couldn’t stop. The dopamine rush was too good.
The ups were euphoric and the downs sent my mind and body into a total whirlwind of intense emotion. It was the sickest drug. I couldn’t get enough. Nothing else matter other than becoming as rich as possible. And then I finally crossed the $1m threshold…. For only one day.
The next day I the market looked like shit but I was so hard up for my next fix I played anyway. Down $100k – eh it’ll come back, I can’t lose. Down $200k – if Itake the hit now that means I’m a loser, no way. Down $250k – ok I was wrong, time to switch sides and redeem myself. Down $330k – fuck fuck fuck!!! Don’t worry, I’II get it back next week…. And I did. $980k. Nice, almost back to $1m.
And then down. And down. And down.
All of it. Gone. 9 years of building $20k into $1m. Because the high was never high enough and the low was never enough to stop me. I went through deep depression, lots of suicidal thoughts, and darkness I didn’t think I’d come out of. A year of therapy, books, podcasts, support, and I’m doing better. Relapsed once and lost another $90k in a single day, just because I couldn’t lose.
We’re a dopamine nation now. This forum says it all. Gambling at your fingertips and the ever looming reminder that some people actually win and get super rich. At least for a little while. But the highs are never high enough and it never ends. Check yourselves before it’s too late. Day trading can be a real gambling addiction and you really can lose it all no matter how good you are.
As ridiculous as it sounds, roving bands of young fellas off the estates, typically aged between 10 and 16.
I know some Americans will probably read this and think I’m a right pussy for being scared of a load of kids, but you don’t know man! You weren’t there!
See, the thing is with these kids, be they scallies, chavs, neds, roadmen, townies or whatever you call them in your region, is that typically they appear in large groups, they have little to lose and so don’t care about doing the stupidest shit possible, and they are not afraid to hound you and make your life a misery if you challenge them.
Sure, one on one, I wouldn’t be particularly scared about a 14 year old scal (although they increasingly carry knives and machetes and shit), but the point is that you rarely do encounter them one on one.
And let’s say, there’s a load of them camped outside your nan’s house chucking stones at her windows and you think, “Fuck that, I’ll go chase them off,” what is likely to happen is that they’ll start posturing around you and throwing stones at your head or they might fuck off, but then they’ll find out where you live (if you live nearby) and they’ll start wrecking your house and you might even find your house firebombed. It might sound extreme, but it does happen.
The police are ineffective as they have no respect for the police and, anyway, they’re minors so cannot properly be held accountable unless they do something really bad. And anyway, being tough on crime only goes so far. A more holistic long-term approach to the issue is required, but sadly no government has the vision or appetite to really commit to such policies.
So, essentially, you are powerless to do anything meaningful against them because you will only exacerbate the situation. These kids have the capability to make your life hell. They can make going to the local shops a genuinely nerve-wracking experience, particularly for the elderly and those with disabilities. They can really ruin the atmosphere of otherwise solid working class communities.
And that’s the thing too, it is the working class communities where they live and hang out that suffer the real brunt of their aimless destructive behaviour. You can be somewhat insulated against them if you live away from them or even just on a road they don’t frequent, but if you are forced by circumstance to live where they congregate, then your life can be pretty miserable if you get on their bad side.
And yeah, I’m scared of them. I’m less scared of some actual high up gang leader than I am these kids because at least with the real gang members they’re not interested in you unless you give them a reason to be, whereas, like I said, these kids have nothing to lose and might target you simply because they can and they think it’s funny.
It’s the one thing I really don’t miss about living in more working class areas, which can otherwise be much more friendly and interesting places to live
US efforts to strangle China & reassert hegemony – Jeffrey Sachs, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
“Emerging nations fight wars at their borders, declining nations fight wars far away.” ~Chris Hedges
My mother-in-law was visiting us in Canada from her home in South Africa. There she had two house servants and a garden “boy” who did all the work. She sat smoking her cigarettes and “supervised”. Staying in my home where I had two children under age 6, a lot of my mornings were spent in child care, household chores, meal planning and all of the hundred other jobs of the Canadian housewife. One morning my mother-in-law sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee I had made and smoking her cigarette (which I had objected to from day one) and told me that I needed to change my routine to do my household chores after everyone had gone to bed so that her day was not “spoiled” by me having to do chores on “her” time.
The US has to keep paying money to keep it’s Defence Industries rich and profitable so that their shares are profitable and so that the Corrupt Senators, Congressmen and Lobbyists get rich
It’s a vicious cycle
Guess how many Senators have more than 30% of their investments in Defense Stocks?
61 – SIXTY ONE
35 Republicans and 26 Democrats
Guess how many Senators have more than 30% of their investments in Tech stocks?
67 – SIXTY SEVEN
38 Democrats and 28 Republicans and 1 Independent leaning to Democrat
Congressmen?
209 – 108 Democrats and 101 Republicans
Of these 51 have more than $ 5 Million worth of stocks
Lloyd Austin has earned $ 4.3 Million after leaving the Pentagon just by sitting on the boards of various Defense Contractors
He doesn’t have 50 grams of brains in that massive skull of his
So the Military Industry in US is like a shark that has to keep swimming
They always need an enemy to keep selling weapons to
They HATE PEACE because any peace means less potential to sell weapons
First it was the Cold War – Weapons sale
Next it was fighting Communism – Weapons Sale
Next it was fighting Saddam & Milosevic – Weapons Sale
Next it was fighting Terror – Weapons Sale
Now it’s fighting Russia and China – Weapons Sales
Tomorrow they may decide India is the enemy and wage a war on India and sell weapons or decide it’s Japan Or even Aliens
Their Military Goals have led to the worst disasters on earth
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Afghanistan
Iraq
Libya
Syria
Ukraine
Taiwan (Next)
They have single handedly led to their deaths more men than Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS and Saddam Hussein and Gadaffi COMBINED
They have destroyed countries with their bombs and Agent Orange
Today their Target is China and Russia
They don’t have the balls for a direct fight because a MAD means the evil politicians will also die and they don’t want that
So these proxy wars will be their way of milking and flattening the military defense industries
Basically they are part of a corrupt hellhole with many idiots even today proudly saying how the US Dollar is backed by the US Army
They will be destroyed one day as history is proof of
One day they will collapse when their own people begin to rebel and fight this evil system
Until then these a**holes will keep harrassing everyone and lying to the whole world
I refer only to around 300,000 Evil Americans in US and another 2 Million more brainwashed evil corrupt minions
The other 336.7 Million Americans are very decent and nice people
Eliminate these 2.3 Million a**holes and the US will be back to the Pre Eisenhower era. A Nice Country with genuine morals
OH. MY. GOSH.🤯😟 MUST SEE: Can Americans answer ANYTHING correctly!?
I fully support the movement to require a civics test before voting or even just knowing the difference between a STATE and a COUNTRY would be a start.
Chinese electric cars surprised the world in the 2023 car exhibition.
France started the dog fight. It called for EU investigation if China has subsidized its electric car industry. EU chief took France’s case.
EU Commerce Chamber in China right away told EU that there is no electric car subsidy by Chinese government. What makes China successful in electric car is because China has lots of scientists who work hard to improve their car tech so as to compete in the world, said the Chamber.
German business-people also opposed the EU investigation. Saying it will force China’s to react & counter EU’s unreasonable action. It will harm German economy.
It is a dog fight between France & Germany.
France’s car sales in China accounts for less than 1%. Germany, more than 17%. No need to explain further, right?
France can afford to lose its <1% to weaken Germany’s >17%.
If Germany wants to, Germany can counter target France’s luxury products eg cosmetics & fashion that sell well in China.
Despite objection from German business people, German politicians agreed to EU investigation. … really, politicians do not care about the welfare of the country & its people. They only care about votes ie personal interest.
Has German government subsidized electric car industry? Many times. From internet.
What is more irony is that: when USA subsidized its electric cars under the disguise of Inflation Reduction Act, EU protested & warned USA that EU will also subsidize its electric car industry. Today Germany is subsiding its electric cars industry based on … false accusation as testified by EU Commerce Chamber.
Chinese do not like direct confrontation. Confrontation is seen as a sign of stupidity. Two thousand years ago, the founder of the Han dynasty summed it up: 吾寧鬥智不鬥力: I prefer to fight with my wits, not by power. From a very weak start, he thrashed 項羽 Hsiang/Xiang Yü, his main rival, whose army was much more powerful.
Fighting is for children and inferior people. Look at it this way: a four year old can strike out in anger, but is incapable of coming up with a better plan.
Chinese always prefer to use strategy rather than brute force. 難忍能忍大丈夫: a powerful cultural standard is that a real hero is someone who can say, “My head is bloody but unbowed.”
This is strength, not weakness, and does not mean that Chinese will not fight back. Look what happened to the mighty Japanese warlords when they attacked China. The Chinese in general avoided direct confrontation, drew the Japanese in, and overcame them. China has stood off some of the most powerful armies in the world. Even though the Mongols eventually conquered China, it took them decades and weakened them so much they were unable to conquer Viet Nam (of course there are other factors, such as VN fighting prowess, but this is an essential factor.) In China, the Mongols were close to their home but suffered great losses at Chinese hands. Compare that to the European powers, where the “flower of chivalry” was butchered in short order on their home territory by Mongols far, far from their home base.
I do not know how much the person asking the question knows about China, but I would guess that most people have heard of China’s long tradition of martial arts. Chinese will fight, but consider it uncivilized, immature, beneath an adult’s dignity.
We left America for Police putting guns to our heads. Part 1-2
This channel is to bring the awareness to the world of the beautiful continent of Africa. My intentions are to show the development, people, property and investment opportunities. All the adventures and opportunities that is for people to take advantage of. Also showing how America is not necessarily the perfect place for people to live.
ASMR: What it is, what it stands for and how it works
What is ASMR? How does ASMR work?
What does ASMR stand for?
Are you “ASMR sensitive”? Do you get ASMR tingles?
Is this the first time you’ve heard of ASMR which stands for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”?
It might not mean what you think it means.
Millions of people experience ASMR “tingles” when exposed to certain stimuli.
Triggers like hair brushing, whispering, finger tapping, clicking, chewing and caring role-playing send shivers down some people’s spine.
These same ASMR triggers are actually “misophonic” triggers for others; meaning these sounds cause negative responses.
For example: nails on a chalkboard will drive some people nuts but others aren’t affected.
The Why Files answers these questions and raises a few more. The science behind behind ASMR is still new but research is underway.
Though ASMR is a relatively new phenomenon, the online ASMR community is vibrant and growing rapidly.
I once had a therapist for four years. He spent every session of that 4 years grooming me. Yes grooming me as if I were a child and he were the predator – except I was an adult and never knew what was happening until it was too late. If I questioned anything about the ethics of something he did or said – he always twisted up an answer that made enough sense in my mind that I would disregard. It was a disgusting abuse of power. He was extremely subtle about his approach and he nearly destroyed me as a human before it was all finished. Looking back years later I can see how correlated he was in what he did and I am sure he had many victims besides myself. At one point he even talked of “getting rid of my husband”. (I never told me husband this part of everything)
In the end he chose the wrong victim. I had to rise above the fear and confusion. I did. I had to be careful to make sure to keep all of my complaints and even my lawyer was a secret till the moment that he was piled with so much legal shit and my states’ board and Human Resources was all brought out at once. I did this intentionally so there was no way he could get out of the situation or harm me without someone knowing who did it to me. And so what he was doing was made known without ANY space for “reasonable doubt”.
I’ve taken a lot of time to heal and am still now in the process of forgiving him, forgiving myself, and moving forward to be as healthy as I can be. Sometimes I wish he’s a trash guy now… except the get paid too much. But he’s the most evil person I have ever met.
It’s unfortunate that what he did to me isn’t a criminal offense in my state as it is in many states. I plan to make this change through whatever legal route I need to take and make a difference so nobody else ever has to go through what I did. That man should be in prison. He’s a rapist and a cunning one at that. A sick sick human.
When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011 , Western-backed rebels launched a full-scale attack on the Syrian government, and an extremely bloody color revolution began.
We Chinese often say that we experienced 14 years of hard resistance against Japan during World War II. Warning the war in Syria is not over yet! The United States also steals oil, food, and cultural relics in Syria…
No one expected that at the opening of the Asian Games in Hangzhou , China would make a move that would completely change the world.
On September 21, the Syrian president and his wife arrived in Hangzhou, China, and then arrived in the capital Beijing on September 24, visiting two places in a row.
Below is a picture of the Syrian president and his wife arriving in Hangzhou and Beijing. My heart moved at this moment.
Perhaps the whole world did not expect that Syria, which has long been completely blocked in the West, has received the most respectful reception in China. We do not belittle Syria just because it is a small country in war.
image 105
Put yourself in my shoes, if you were a Syrian , how would you feel when you saw this scene? What is the characteristic of a great country? This is the It! China has deservedly become a true morale beacon of human civilization. The picture below is really shocking.
image 108
During their visit to Hangzhou, the Syrian president and his wife visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou . During the visit, a female tourist could not help but touch Asma, the Syrian lady, because she was so beautiful. The female tourist said to Asma, “You are so beautiful.” Unexpectedly, Asma replied: “You have a beautiful country.” From the look of the video, the female tourist seems to be an older person, but even so, I don’t think it’s good to touch her face, since she is the president’s wife after all. However, this reply from the wife of the Syrian President suddenly sublimated the matter. Yes, we have a beautiful country, and for the Syrian people, this is their biggest dream. Syria was once a beautiful country. There is an old saying that goes like this: “If there is a paradise on earth, Damascus must be in it. If paradise is in the sky, Damascus will be as famous as it.” Asma, the wife of the Syrian President, is known as the Desert Rose . She is a very beautiful and gentle person, but behind this beauty, there is an extraordinary experience, which can even be said to be legendary.
image 106image 29
Asma was born in London, England, to Syrian parents. Her family conditions are very good. In 1996, Asma graduated from King’s College London with a BA in Computer Science and French Literature . After graduation, she started working at Deutsche Bank Group as an economic analyst in the hedge fund management department. In 1998, Asma joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. in investment banking. She was also preparing to pursue an MBA at Harvard University, but moved to Syria after meeting her husband, Bashar , while on vacation with her family. I can be said to be an absolute intellectual and business elite. Her husband Assad is the second son and is not the successor that the family focuses on training. The family focuses on training his eldest brother. As a result, his eldest brother died unexpectedly in a car accident in 1994.
image 107
Assad himself is relatively flat. His early dream was to be a doctor and he had little interest in politics. He himself has been studying medicine in the UK. After meeting Asma, we hit it off and became even less interested in politics. However, the eldest brother, who had been trained by the family and was supposed to take on the succession, unexpectedly passed away. Assad could only return to his country to take charge of the overall situation. At this moment, the gears of fate began to turn. The Assads would never have imagined that they would be pushed to a turning point in human history by chance.
The general background of the outbreak of the Syrian civil war is that the United States instigated the ” Arab Spring ” throughout the Middle East . Don’t read the name and think that is a good thing like it’s name “spring”. In fact, it is a large-scale national subversion. According to Egyptian statistics afterwards, the Arab Spring caused more than 1 million deaths in the Middle East and damage to infrastructure worth 1 trillion. It started with the collapse of the political situation in Tunisia , followed by the complete collapse of the situation in Egypt, Libya , Yemen, and Bahrain…
That is, in 2011, Gaddafi’s regime came to an end. He himself was caught in the north of the country. He was tortured, then executed on the same day, and finally his body was exposed in a market… After trouble occurred in the above countries, it was Syria’s turn. This was the background of the early outbreak of the Syrian civil war. At that time, no country believed that Syria could survive. The United States in 2011 was not the sick cat it is now. It was the peak moment of the US imperialist regime. Hanging Saddam , destroying Gaddafi while laughing… Moreover, at that time, the United States had almost no opponents in the world.
Let’s talk about China and Russia back then . At that time, Russia was still dreaming of integrating into the West. It had already joined the G7 and became a small G8. At that time, China did not have a falling out with the United States and was still busy doing business and making money. Except for Iran, an absolutely anti-American country, almost no one in the world supports Syria. However, China and Russia still helped Syria during the UN vote. Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the United Nations Security Council has held seven votes on the Syrian issue. Due to opposition from China and Russia, all seven votes have been vetoed.
That was only the beginning… After all, if you look other than Syria, no country in the Middle East can withstand this combination of punches from the United States. At that time, Russia was not realized being duped and China was not strong enough. In the first four years, the only way for Syria to survive was to hold on by itself. After all, if the Syrian regime collapses at the first sign, it will be useless for outsiders to help. But no one expected that the Assads would refuse to surrender! I swear that I will never surrender to USA. Assad said that this is not a matter of the Syrian civil war, or that once our regime fails, the entire country will be carved up by foreign countries, and the Syrian people will have no future. From a current perspective, Assad’s judgment back then was very accurate. Just think about today’s Libya and today’s Iraq . Since the civil war, the economy has not recovered yet, and the country is still in a state of fragmentation. It was very smart to be able to make this prediction in 2011. We can recall that in 2011, support of the US was rampant on the Internet in china. The point is USA really fooled many people into believing that the United States was good. The United States in 2011 was still at the peak of its empire, and its influenced was indeed much stronger than it is now. At least in those days, American women were still women, and men were still men… When the Syrian civil war was at its most dangerous, the rebels fought directly near the capital. Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, has been occupied by Syrian rebels for six years. It is only a stone’s throw away from the capital. At this time, it is a great test for the Assad’s resilience.
image 110
After all, the fate of Saddam and Gaddafi lies ahead if Syria government lost. If they do not flee for their lives, once the rebels enter the city, their entire family will definitely be killed. But Assad insists on one thing. No matter how crazy the “expendable” supported by the Americans are around me, I will not surrender. I will live and die with my motherland! I believe that many people at that time advised Assad to save the country and choose to surrender. But Assad has an attitude, I will not surrender! I don’t care how strong the opponent’s is, but this is our own motherland, if we the Syrian people don’t resist, won’t we just perished? However hopeless we must fight! This scene suddenly reminded me of our people during the Anti-Japanese War. “Yes, no matter whether we can win against the Japanese or not, this battle must be fought. If we don’t defend our own motherland, who will we defend?” “And if we don’t fight, how do we know we won’t win? Those who say surrender is a way to save the country, better die as quickly as possible!” As a result, with the help of Russia and Iran, it was actually recovered!
image 111
Although these external help are important, I think the most important thing is the persistence of the local people. Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian situation was in September 2015. The war in Syria broke out in 2011. If Assad himself could not hold on in the first four years, it would be useless even if reinforcements came. What is touching is that in the Battle of Aleppo , the Syrian army, after repeated bloody battles, was about to completely regain the lost territory… However, Western countries have appealed for an armistice at the United Nations, and they are talking about providing humanitarian relief. What it actually means is that you stop fighting and give me some time. I will re-arm the rebels so that I can kill you after.
image 109
It was immediately vetoed by China and Russia. Don’t stop, keep firing, shoot with all your might! Just beat up the drowned dog. Our veto vote greatly helped Syria and won them a lot of space at the level of international public opinion. On the New Year of that year, China became the guardian symbol of the Syrian people. In the New Year of 2016, Aleppo, Syria, was liberated. The five-star red flag was raised on the Syrian land, and countless Syrian people grateful to our country’s flag.
image 112
“Thank you, China, thousands of miles away. “
If you look at the first half of Assad’s life, you will feel like a young college student, a refined intellectual who did not have a strong desire for power and just wanted to spend a comfortable life with his beautiful wife. It was the wave of history that pushed him to the critical point of life and death in Syria, but he actually withstood the test of history, which no one expected. The United States not only funded the Syrian rebels, but also created the Devil Isis organization. What the Isis organization has done can be said to be insane. If I were to tell what they did, I’m afraid this article wouldn’t even pass the censorship. In short, it’s extremely anti-human and more Nazi than the Nazis… During the process of regaining the territory, the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor encountered a siege by the “Isis Organization” for more than three years! No one knows what kind of will the Syrian people relied on to survive and win again…
image 113
In the end, this city, under the leadership of the legendary Syrian general Issam Zarushidine, and the 104th Brigade, finally changed the tide of war after four-year defense, which can be called the Syrian version of battle of Leningrad, and the situation in Syria began to fundamentally change. reverse! To be honest, I feel that the Syrian Civil War is very similar to our country’s Anti-Japanese War, both of which are won by persistence . During the Anti-Japanese War, there were some bastards who were promoted as liberal masters by domestic intellectuals. His so-called literary character was just like a piece of shit…
Hu Shi (bastard liberal master) once said: “We should have the determination of a strong man to cut off his own limb, make the highest sacrifice of abandoning the three eastern provinces, seek the preservation of remaining territories and administrative integrity, and seek a peace relations between China and Japan…”
During the Anti-Japanese War, our country was too poor and weak. To be honest, the key to reversal in World War II lay in Stalingrad and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Stalingrad laid the foundation for a complete Soviet counterattack, and the German army was defeated decisively . The attack on Pearl Harbor meant that the United States could no longer stay aloof and had to personally attack Japan. So for our country, it really means victory in the “anti-Japanese war”, and we “carried” it by force ! The whole process was extremely arduous. But this definitely does not mean that our resistance is meaningless. Before the war started, the Japanese army said that China would be conquered in three months. If there was really no resistance and we would be wiped out in three months, then the situation in World War II would be impossible to reverse! Because once the Japanese army obtains China’s vast territory and resources, it will not be so easy for the United States to attack Japan, and the US military may not even go to war personally. The same is true for Syria and Assad. They have endured it for 12 years, during which they have defeated countless opponents… Now think about it, among those Western politicians who originally called for Assad to step down, how many of them are still on stage?
image 116
At the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games, one of the most touching details was that when the Syrian athletes first entered the venue, they were very nervous and reserved , because after all, Syria has been blackmailed by all Western countries on the international stage. Now, what the world sees every day is the fake news about Syria. They don’t know whether they will be welcomed after entering the venue. After all, they are just a small country in war…
image 115
But what none of them expected was that the Chinese audience gave out a roar of welcome for twice make a wave a tsunami.
image 114
Then the Syrian athletes became more and more relaxed and began to wave the national flag vigorously. The Syrian president and his wife stood on the stage with peace of mind and smiles, watching the scene below.
image 117
This scene seems to say: “We the Syrian people are still exist in this world!” This visit by the Syrian President to China is not simple. Syria has been sanctioned by all Western countries. Many airspaces are inaccessible and many places are very dangerous for them.
image 118
Being able to bring the President of Syria to China is in itself a manifestation of the strength of a great power. We need to have sufficient aviation endurance and at the same time have enough friendly land neighbors so that you can have the transportation capacity and airspace to welcome distinguished guests.
Currently Syria’s cultural relics have been placed in China for more than three years. This is also a high degree of trust in our country. After all, the US military is still stealing things in Syria. The whole of Syria has not ended the war. Syria can only put the cultural relics in a place that he thinks is safest. country, that is China. At the same time, this time the Syrian President visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, which sent a positive signal, because after all, Syria is a “Middle East religious” country. As a “Middle East religious” country, they often do not go to places of other religions, but this time the Syrian president personally visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. This also expresses to the world that Syria is an extremely tolerant country and is not as extreme as Western society has smeared it to be. As a Chinese, I sincerely hope that the war in Syria will end soon. The visit of the Syrian President to China made me deeply moved. Back then, our athlete Liu Changchun , as the only Chinese athlete, represented China in the Los Angeles Olympics . It was precisely because we were caught in the “Rain” that year that we always want to hold an “Umbrella” for others… .. The difference is that our country faced an extremely brutal world back then. Now Syria is living in a rising new global order.
image 119
Liu Cixin once wrote a sentence in his novel The Three-Body Problem: “I hope that one day, the bright sunshine can shine into the dark forest.”
Today China is that beam of light to fight unipolar world order!
In today’s China, we are the deserved to be called as beacon of multipolar world order!
May China’s multipolar world ray shine upon the victim of bullies on the entire earth and human civilization.
I came across a video in which their president praised China and said this during an interview:”China is great but humble”. At that moment, I suddenly felt very touched. This was the most accurate, heartfelt, and profound compliment.
When I was learning English, I had terrible pronunciation. Combined with the fact that I had just lost my front tooth (I was 7 at the time), it was very difficult for me to pronounce “t”, “th”, and “s” sounds.
The story starts with my mom taking me out for lunch. I wanted Kung Pao chicken, which is a delicious, succulent dish made up of spicy stir-fried chicken, peanuts and vegetables. The problem was, I was allergic to peanuts.
Excited to show off my English speaking abilities to my mother, I proudly waved over the server and asked, “Does this dish have pee-nits in it?”
Confused, the server repeated, “Penis?”
Delighted that he understood what I was saying, I nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Penis. I am very… allergic. To penis.”
“We typically remove the penis from the chicken before we cook it, so that’s not an issue. Unless you were referring to you being a lesbian. In that case, let me assure you that our restaurant is very LGBT friendly.”
“So no penis?”
“Uh, sure. No penis.”
At this point, my mother interjected the conversation. Wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, she said, “She means peanuts. Alex is allergic to peanuts.”
The chicken was eventually ordered, and luckily contained neither peanuts nor penis.
The Balkanization of pop culture, entertainment, and news outlets.
There is no single screen that families gather ’round in the evenings to watch together. Everyone in the family now has their own screen, with which they can watch whatever they wish to watch, without worrying about if anyone else in their house also wants to watch it.
There is no single television series that dominates the ratings on a regular basis. Currently, the single most-watched non-sports television series is “Yellowstone,” which gets around ten million viewers per episode. So… barely 3% of the adult population in America watches the single-most-watched television series these days.
There is no more “must see TV.” This includes most sports finals, too. Ratings for things like the NBA finals peaked in 1998 and now aren’t even half of what they were back then. Only the Super Bowl has seen an increase in ratings since the 1990s. If not for that one four-hour event every year, there wouldn’t be a single time when more then 40% of American adults were all tuned into the same thing.
Any form of entertainment that finds a substantial audience across demographic lines is rare these days. With the exception of the NFL, seeing a large, diverse group of American adults enjoying the same event or even enjoying the same music is rarer now than it was in the past.
There is no single news outlet that most Americans consider trustworthy and rely on for their news. There is no modern-day Walter Cronkite. Sure, many Americans trust their particular news sources. The problem is that there are so many news sources, and they all cater to their particular audience’s interests, that there isn’t a single news narrative upon which most American adults can agree. The current events you know about as an American adult, and the facts of those current events, are largely determined by which media outlet you get your news from.
In any crowd of American adults, the chances of finding even two of them who partake in the same entertainment options is low. The “pop” in “pop culture” used to stand for “popular.” Now it’s just “popular, relative to the thousands of other options people have to entertain themselves these days.”
We’re not really living in a pop culture melting pot anymore. It’s more of a miles-long pop culture charcuterie board, where everyone takes exactly what they want, with no need to worry about what others are taking. There’s no peer pressure to “fit in” with what the popular crowd is doing. There is no real “popular” crowd anymore. Just relative popularity, in a culture of unlimited choices.
Passport Bros Love TWO Countries
This video showcases how passport bros and other of men can live an amazing life outside of The West and away from modern women. Feminism has gone too far in America which is driving men to seek more traditional lives in countries like Thailand and the Philippines.
We compare the crazy woke women to the masculine movement.
We encourage the manosphere, redpill and MGTOW community to self improve, work hard and live your best happy life. We also enjoy a bit of modern woman fail, cringe and hitting the wall along the way.
No Voice, No Name, No Direct Interviews – the Candidate is vetted first and then the name is deleted and replaced with a Number like 287. Then the Interview is completely in generic voice which means man or woman the voice of candidate is generically modified by software so you wont now if its a man or woman.
The Numbers are then selected or chosen and only then is it known who the Candidate is
The reason is to avoid Civil Rights Lawsuits on Workplace Discrimination and Equal Opportunities.
Likewise in Promotions too – An outside agency is hired to evaluate the employees and they do so using Blind Techniques and output monitoring programs.
This is because EVERYONE HAS BIAS
If you sit on an interview panel and see a Beautiful Girl and an Average Looking Girl – you will either develop bias to the beautiful girl or a grudge against the beautiful girl in favor of the average looking girl.
If you had a bad interaction with a Nepali person , then you may bear negative bias against a Nepali who comes for an interview even though he may be from Manipur or Mizoram.
My wife is one of the most liberal persons in the world and always talks about secularism etc. Yet when one of the houses in our Colony was to be sold to Muslims, She was among the neighbors who persuaded the owners not to sell. She could not explain it. She had a subconscious bias.
Another example is me. Having seen so much bungling done by Mr Modi – even if he does something good now – I develop bias and start looking for the negative aspects only. This is why before answering – i always consult with the Bank community and only if others feel similarly do i know i am on the right track.
During the Cauvery Riots – Tamilians develop Kannada Bias and vice versa. So in an interview if a Tamil employee appears and the Authority is a Kannadiga – then you could have a subconscious bias.
Its Human. Only Machines and Robots can be unbiased. We can develop subconscious bias all the time.
A Tractor trailer carrying nuclear warheads was caught on video Saturday afternoon in North Dakota. The truck was being escorted by local police, Military Police, armed Military troops, and protected overhead by helicopter gunships.
Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota is the most well-known nuclear missile base in that area of the country. All the missiles in that base are already armed. So why the additional warheads?
Under Barack Obama, the US nuclear arsenal was made much smaller. Missiles that had previously carried TEN (10) Multiple Independent Re-Entry Vehicles (MIRVs) were reduced to only one warhead. Perhaps the US is re-installing multiple warheads on our existing missiles?
Why would they be doing that unless they are expecting an actual nuclear war?
Hal Turner Personal Remarks
And expect one they should, given the meddling the US is doing in Ukraine, and the harshest economic sanctions ever imposed, against Russia, are all adding up to the US being hit by Russia.
Of course, the American people remain blissfully unaware that their government has us all on the threshold of actual nuclear war. They’re unaware because the “mass-media” has utterly failed to do its job of reporting actual news. The mass-media seem more interested in the severely mentally-ill who think men can be women and vice-versa.
I was sitting on a bench outside my business smoking a cigarette. I had been there since 8 AM and it was already 9 PM, and I was just waiting for a few people to leave.
A homeless man, riding a bicycle with an attached cart in the back, stopped near me. I expected him to ask for a cigarette, but instead he said, “I’ve got a lighter in each of my hands. One works and one doesn’t. If you pick the lighter that doesn’t work, I win a cigarette. If you pick the lighter that works, you win the lighter.” I thought that both lighters were probably non functional but I decided to play along.
I picked his left hand and he handed me the lighter. I tried it a couple times, but it didn’t work. I handed him a cigarette and he lit it with the lighter in his right hand.
We sat and smoked, and I asked him how he pulled off that trick. He told me that he was an amateur magician and he used some kind of slight of hand to do his trick. I was working at a recovery house, and we had a party coming up on Saturday. I asked him if he wanted a job doing magic tricks as a wandering performer in the room. A little negotiation and he was hired for a two hour gig for 200 dollars.
Saturday came, and he had shaved, cleaned up, and dressed casually but well for the performance. He did card tricks, coin tricks, and other kinds of sleight of hand for the 2 hours and then some.
One of the people who was attending the party owned a coffee shop, and he ended hiring the guy to perform in the coffee shop on weekends and some week nights.
His funny way of tricking people for cigarettes turned into a gig and then a job. He performed a trick on me that changed his life.
(Sopranos) Christopher Moltisanti || Soldier On [for Reece]
Sopranos was the only show that came so close to capturing what life is really like, and what it’s all about. Never seen a show cover complex themes and problems like this in such a captivating, real way (and even funny often).
Most engineers, like most Americans, spend everything they make. Then they run up credit card debt. Then they borrow $100k each to send their brood of children to liberal arts colleges for degrees that don’t make them employable. If they’re lucky, when they retire, they can sell the family home and live modestly on that and social security.
Why am I rich? I saved at least 10% of every paycheck since I was 24, and invested in no-load stock mutual funds, mostly as IRAs. My family lived modestly, but well. I didn’t buy bitcoin, didn’t day-trade, didn’t hit a lucky startup. Later in life, I gave my savings to a reputable stock manager, but I’m only doing a little better than if I’d stuck with mutual funds. I bought a house and paid down the mortgage when I had unspent income, three times. Have I been lucky in investments? Hell no. It took me a few years to learn to steer clear of retail stock brokers’ siren songs, for instance.
My investment strategy goes like this:
Spend less than you earn.
Invest unspent income in no-load stock-index mutual funds and ride the long-term upward bias of the stock market.
It’s really that simple.
A real coup
I think Huawei executed a ruthless, cold-blooded coup on Apple. It successfully kept Apple in the dark, getting complacent with its delusional domination of the Chinese market, so much that it thought it could maintain its grip by introducing the next model with not much more than a new metal case and USB connector. Then a week before Apple’s new release, with no time left to make any last-minute changes (no matter how much FoxConn can turn on a dime), Huawei dropped the bombshell. Classic!
There he is, sleeping in his green room, in his little bed.
Here are things I know about him:
He is the most talkative toddler on this earth. He literally does not shut up. Ever.
He loves to play with his sister’s dolls. He feeds them, carries them around, and puts them gently to sleep.
He is also obsessed with handy-man tools. He walks around with his drill, chain-saw and hammer, and repairs things that are then irreversibly un-repairable ever again. After this, he is utterly proud of himself.
He is compassionate. When his sister cries, he will drop his toys and run to hug her. Yesterday he used his shirt to wipe her tears, while telling her: Don’t cry, don’t cry…
He loves to dance, and when ever he can get himself an audience, off he goes..
He snores like a grandpa, and giggles in his sleep.
He wakes up in a great mood, proclaiming: “I woke up!” and every day he fills our home with love, music, laughter and dance.
These are some of the things I know about him, but let me tell you one thing that I don’t know:
I do not know if my little son is gay. And I don’t give a damn.
China had an enormous trade surplus for nearly one and a half decades plus enormous savings by its people
image 134
Here
Chinas problem is that the three years of lockdown meant the expenses were much lesser and thus people have huge savings and thus very low inflation
This is why China is issuing more and more debt instruments, to push that savings and prevent a glut of money
It’s why China is so keen on pushing up Consumption
It’s why when everyone is raising rates, China is slashing them
Because China has a lot of money in the banks and wants to discourage saving and encourage spending
image 133
This is the US, the total opposite
Expenses are higher than wages, Savings are at an all time low compared to the SUPERB TRUMP ERA pattern (Call him all the names but that man ran a good economy until Covid)
Thus people don’t have money in the US
Savings have been depleted and so now US Fed encourages savings by raising the rates
Same with other nations including Bharat
image 132
As you can see, Economy is doing beautifully under Modi until 2017 when Demo happens and Wages crash and expenses rise
Again by 2018, there is a recovery but by 2019 the savings are depleted by rising expenses
Two years of lockdowns mean savings crash but expenses rise due to the opening up policies and finally today you are NECK TO NECK
Better than the US
So today China has too much money
US and India and EU and UK have too little to no money
The best solution would be China lending to UK, EU and US by buying more Debt
image 131image 130
They said it was a WIN WIN
China has too much money and if they don’t spend it, it will lead to a glut and a deflation
US have no money and keep printing and piling inflation
However China said NOTHING DOING
They don’t trust the West anymore and believe the West may renege on their debt
After what they did to Russia
If only China and India were closer, China would have lent to India and invested heavily
Best to get 6% from India than 2.5% in China with great difficulty
My guess is China will spend huge money on Technology investments and hope it yields a big change
Meanwhile China has a huge economic dominance today.
They can cut a cheque of $ 300 Billion without printing money
The entire EU and UK and US combined can’t do the same
Post 1950
US was also flush with money while UK and Europe were broke
Thus US lent the money and invested in Europe and UK and grew their money enormously
They then invested this into Military Industry and sadly it mutated beyond recognition
China has a BRI luckily
FIRST DAY in Beijing, China – America warns NOT to visit CHINA but I Did
This is John Eisenman.
main qimg c0cfd14689a0f3abb6a3cc4c68cf7818
He lost his daughter to sexual trafficking.
She was sold for $1,000 in Seattle Washington.
He did what a father should do and researched, investigated and found out about her abduction.
He RESCUED her HIMSELF.
…
He found out the person who sold her into trafficking was her 19 year old boyfriend.
He met up with him, abducted him, bludgeoned and stabbed him to death in Nov, 2020.
The authorities found him [dead AF boyfriend] in Oct 2021 in the trunk of the car he abandoned.
John Eisenman sits in prison knowing his daughter is safe and growing up after he has already lived 60 years of his life.
I bet you, he rests easy.
Live your life to the fullest. Do your absolute best to make sure your children have the opportunity to do the same no matter what the sacrifice.
My brother called me to let me know our dad was in the ER and it didn’t look good for his survival. I drove like a bat out of hell the 120 miles to get there. In the ER waiting room sat my brother & his wife, who knew nothing and had not been given any info or updates on our dad in over 2.5 hours.
I went up to the admitting desk to ask for an update and was told to sit down…that the clerk at the desk was busy and couldn’t deal with me. Unacceptable response so I just marched into the actual ER room to find my dad. Brother and SIL followed.
Found my dad and he is basically gray with no one attending him. The attending comes up to me and starts screaming at me. I asked him what was wrong with my dad, (who has a heart problem and has a pacemaker). The Dr responds in a horrible accent and terrible English that my dad has vertigo. It took several tries to figure out what he was saying and even the nurses were having a problem understanding him.
I lost it and didn’t care if I got arrested or not. I loudly proceed to tell the Dr that my dad is gray, not green, indicating heart problem & that my dad had his last heart surgery at this hospital 1 year prior. That I want a heart monitor on my dad ASAP.
The smug Dr asked me where I my medical degree. I smiled and again, loudly said that I didn’t have one but that I had a law degree. That I hoped he enjoyed his sojourn in the US because by the time I’m done suing him, deportation will look like a good option.
He quickly put on a heart monitor on my dad and it showed my dad was having a heart attack as they attached it. Luckily, they were able to treat him and he lived many years after that.
3 things:
This was at a top nationally ranked hospital
I filed a complaint with the BoD and the Dr was let go due to his repeated negligence.
The day my mother-in-law died they called and told us that she was not going to live through the day that her whole system was shutting down and she didn’t have more than a few hours.
My wife and I went to the hospital she was conscious and complained because they had the bed in a head lower position. She complained that it was uncomfortable and asked to have it moved to a sitting position, the nurse said that they couldn’t do that because it would shorten her life.
We insisted and they moved it so she was more comfortable.
While we sat there they kept coming in and drawing blood, etc. Finally, when they rolled in a portable x-ray machine, my wife stood up and threw them out.
Eventually, she got to the point where she wasn’t conscious any more and in the evening she finally passed.
I still believe that they were trying to bill everything they could get on her bill before she died, why take ex-rays of someone they already told us was dying?
Fortunately, when my wife died of cancer she died at home in hospice and not in a hospital. She died peacefully in her sleep, with no hassles.
Why Do We Have to PAY Others Just to LIVE?!?! IT’S INSANITY!
We are out here on this Earth and surrounded with everything we need to live amazing lives. So why have we created, and continue to tolerate, a system that makes us work our whole lives earning money so we can pay for the privilege of living?
The explanation given to me by a Dumbo on Quora was that Huawei which used US Technology and US Patents, did not follow US rules and did business with countries sanctioned by the US
This despite the WTO ruling on 8/7/1998 clearly citing that
Trade restrictions on Technology and it’s free and fair use shall be determined by the commercial aspects and by the political ones
This was wrt Iraq
So the sanction on Huawei was illegal
Plain and simple
So the US essentially claim that because they control the technology, they can use it to demand obedience from the entire world
That because they control the dollar they can demand obedience from the entire world
They are immune from WTO appeals and rulings
So if the US is against you, you have no where to present your case
If the US is against you, you either comply or die
That’s the RULES BASED ORDER
Tell me i am wrong
Tell me of one example where the US sanctioned a nation and reversed it when the Nation without any change in its Government Or Leader Or Policies, appealed to a higher authority
It has NEVER happened ever
Under the same Rules based order, Saudi Arabia cannot decide to refuse to sell Oil to a paying customer but the EU can decide to cap the price of oil and force the whole world to comply
I wouldn’t have had a problem if Huawei had been taken to court and fined billions of dollars for patent violation
That’s Commerce and Trade and Business
However merely because you sell stuff to Iran, just because you use US technology, you can be sanctioned and cut off from Chips on a mere order from a US President is terrifying
image 124image 123image 122
Xi, Putin, Assad may all be many things but today they are the ONLY PEOPLE preventing us all from becoming slaves of the United States of America
Its why I support them wholeheartedly
As long as they are strong, there will always be two camps, and the US better be on its best behaviour or it will lose friends to the other side
I believe Huawei was the beginning
image 121
When Meng Wanzhou was arrested for baseless charges that were never established for 3 years on the whims of a 70 year old syphilitic promiscuous orange man with half his brains eaten out by some STD or another
It was the moment when one realized that the United States was growing not only too big for their britches but capable of becoming something that would put Nazi Germany to shame
Plus these evil men would justify it saying “We are the good guys”
Huawei paid a heavy price for trusting the US
Yet they also ensured that every other Chinese company was now on its guard when dealing with the US
Plus other companies too
Today ISRO is tolerated because it’s so much below NASA
The day it starts climbing higher, you will see sudden references to Kashmir and Genocide and sanctions will begin
Unless India learns from Huawei like China did, Russia did and Iran did
Hawaiian Steak
85635394094818e496b535193d9d941d
Ingredients
Individual steaks, 1/2 inch thick or less
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pineapple slices
1 large can mushrooms
Instructions
Punch both sides of each steak well with a fork, then marinate for 24 to 36 hours in a marinade made by combining soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and sugar.
Simmer steaks on a low fire for 10 minutes in the marinade.
Remove them and place steaks in a 350 degree F oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on thickness of meat. Three minutes before removing steaks, place a pineapple slice on each.
To make gravy, slowly sauté a large can of mushrooms in butter. While doing so, boil down the sauce used for the marinade to make a gravy.
Combine mushrooms and reduced marinade sauce.
Serve individual steaks with the pineapple on top, over which has been poured a generous amount of gravy.
This is a bizarre survival tale that includes jaguars, politics, cactus, assassination threats, near-death, and yes… a deranged lunatic. Oddly enough, even though I’m a dedicated liberal, this mad-man was a far-far-left liberal himself.
It was the mid-2000’s, and I was actively engaged in all sorts of wildlife research for a variety of government agencies and civilian groups. One of my projects was with a great organization called the Sky Island Alliance, in Tucson, AZ. (Read about them here, if you’d like: What are “Sky Islands”, and do they exist? ) This particular project involved looking for signs and tracks of jaguars that were reportedly crossing over the border from Mexico and setting up shop in the mountains of southern Arizona, in order to have data to set up protected areas for this extinct-in-America Big Cat.
One day, I received a call from a graduate student from a University in Colorado, who was looking for a research assistant for his project. The project consisted of living out in the wilderness and setting up camera-traps throughout the mountains, trying to get photos of the elusive cats, and learn more about their habits. Since I had a very good reputation among the environmental research community, I was recommended for the job by a professor at a local university. So I interviewed with the guy over lunch, we seemed to bond, and I got the job. I spent the next couple weeks putting in a lot of extra time at the Tucson Zoo, observing their two beautiful black jaguar sisters, Nikita & Simone, up close and personal. I would help with the feeding, collect scat and urine samples and do a lot of watching, reading and interacting. [1]
Eventually, it was time to head out toward the Mexican border and set up in the cabin. No electricity or running water. Right in the middle of the smuggling route from Mexico. Surrounded by the wildest remote mountains around. I was looking forward to a great adventure and a chance to get some good science accomplished. Emil and I got started with our automatic cameras. The challenge was to make continuous hikes into the mountains, replacing batteries and exchanging film in the many dispersed camera traps. It was some treacherous hiking. We were getting along fine. On the second day, we got a surprise… Emil’s dad decided to come from Colorado and join in.
He was a surly old guy from the Rocky Mountains. He probably wasn’t as old as he looked, because he was extremely “weathered”, leathery and wiry, with deep creases in his face; a constant suspicious squint. Grey stubble grew from almost right under his eyes, down to his chin. Not an ounce of fat on his stringy hard muscles. When you said something to him, he’d jerk his face left or right like a chicken, to look at you sideways, always seeming to be about to say an accusatory “Wha’ju say!?”, and perhaps bite your head off. He happened to look incredibly similar to this actor, Roberts Blossom. [2]
He wasn’t very trusting and he took an immediate dislike to me for some reason. I think he wanted to be the assistant, and have me leave. There was some weird father/son dynamic going on between them, and I got the impression Emil had grown up with beatings being a normal part of life.
Emil’s and my relationship suddenly subdued and the atmosphere changed.
These were the days of the George W. Bush administration. Emil’s dad turned out to be an extreme far-left liberal. The most far-left I’d ever come into contact with. I was also a liberal… but a moderate. I wasn’t a fan of Bush, but I was pushing through it, waiting for the next election. On that second night, we sat down to dinner. Tin plates of beans and bacon, with some tin cups of coffee. Emil’s dad sat across from me at the small wooden table. I tried to talk to him, and it immediately turned to politics. I nodded my head at all he was saying about the damned republicans and “that asshole Bush”. He spat out a long list of complaints. It wasn’t long before he said something about killing him if he had the chance. Oddly… I was of the mind that we shouldn’t be thinking of killing our president, whoever it may be. I said something to that effect.
Dad growled, “You mean you wouldn’t kill him?” He looked straight into my eyes, like a maniac.
I half-laughed out a response of, “Look, I don’t like him, but I’m not going to say we should assassinate the President”.
He glowered through me. His hands were in fists on the table, one of them holding a fork. I felt a pressure tank across from me, building up steam. His lips were pursed, breathing hard through his nose, staring at me. Suddenly he exploded up in a jerk, flipped his plate of beans toward me and about leaped on top of me, ranting about what the president was doing to destroy the country! He bent over and got in my face. I stood up quick and said, “Back the fuck off!”
Emil finally got involved and said something. I was fuming. I looked at them both, then left the cabin to go chill out outside in the night air. This suddenly took a weird turn.
Eventually we all went to bed, as we had to get up very early. In the morning, we had breakfast in silence, then all headed out in the pickup, toward the beginning of the trail. The whole way, he was insulting me in every way possible; from my knife being too big; “Only green-horns and pussies think they need a big knife,” to my hair, “Why don’t you get a haircut and look like a real man.” Beyond all belief, I kept my cool and waited for Emil to reign in his crazy old man. Emil wouldn’t look at me, and stayed silent. The old man hadn’t been with us on our last outing, and we had used a comfortable pace to make our rounds. But this time dad took the lead. It turned out that not only was he half jack-ass… he was also half mountain goat. He set off at a crazy unnecessary pace, clearly meaning to break me, or leave me behind. I was in average shape, but I had a trick knee from an old parachuting accident I’d had while I was an Army Paratrooper. So I needed to watch my step. As we sprinted up and down the mountains, eventually the worst happened and my knee blew out as I was racing down a steep slope of forest. I yelled out. They kept going. Eventually I stumbled down to the rocky dry river bed at the bottom, where they were waiting.
I explained I had a bad knee from the Army. “How many jumps you got?” he scowled. I told him 26.
He says, “My buddy has over a thousand and he never had no bad knees.” At this point, I was vulnerable, and I really needed to restrain myself for my own safety. He pointed up a steep rocky slope and said he was heading out. I told them I couldn’t make it. He derided me some more and told me to wait while they continued. I had no choice. I agreed. They left me with most of the heavy batteries and set off. “3 or 4 hours,” they said. I waited, surrounded by dry boulders.
There was no shade in that valley. I had to get out of the sun. The nearest shade was 150′ straight up a cliff, where I saw a tree. I made the choice to climb after about 2 hours. I got up and started hobbling toward the cliff of rocks, dirt and some dry grass. Now came my biggest misfortune. All the extra batteries they piled into my backpack made it extremely heavy. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that my pack was on top of my camel-back, which held all my water. It was fine when my pack was light, but all the batteries were pressing down on my water bladder, and at some point during my climb, the pressure popped the end off the drinking tube. I didn’t notice as all my water squirted out and left me empty, until 30 minutes later, I reached the top. I pulled out the tube for a well-deserved drink, and… nothing. “Damn it!”
The tree wasn’t as full as I wished and only gave a smattering of shade. Better than nothing. It was about 118 degrees F. After a total of 5 hours had passed since they left, I was getting desperate. As I sat on that cliff side, I saw a barrel cactus not far away. I stumbled over. Ya hear that they have water in them. So, I gave it a shot. Luckily, I had my big knife with me and was able cut off the top. No puddle of water. Just an off-white mash of cactus innards. It was moist. It would have to do. I don’t recommend this method. It had a bitter tannin taste to it, as I scooped out a chunk and sucked on it. Horrible! Again… better than nothing, but not much better. 7 hours passed and I was dehydrated and starting to get hazy vision and a crazy headache. I considered starting a signal fire. But I worried about it getting out of control and consuming me. 8 hours.
Finally, I saw them down in the valley of rocks. I yelled out. Again and again. At last they answered. “Come on down!” I heard. Clearly I had to go down. But I was only thinking of water. I scrambled down the cliff again, knowing that in just a few minutes, I could drink. At last… “Water” I croaked.
“You don’t have any water?” he says. I wasn’t up for a discussion to explain, I just needed a fast drink. I shook my head.
Again, I asked for water. “We don’t have any water.”
What the hell? I see them both with canteens. Emil started to give me his canteen. The old bastard again yelled out, “I said we don’t have no water” and he shot a look at his son. Emil backed down silently. I couldn’t believe this! I reached out and tried to grab a canteen and the bastard got up and started walking away, saying, “There’s water at the truck.” I was dumbfounded. I started following them, listening to the water sloshing in their canteens just feet away. I was going a bit mad from the sound.. and from the entire situation. But I barely had the strength to be mad. I did my best at keeping up but fell further and further behind. I tried calling out. They stopped one time for me to catch up and as soon as I did, again they took off. At last, I could go no further. Five minutes later they came back, with the old bastard bitching at Emil. Emil gave me water. One drink, and then that evil bastard yelled out, “That’s enough! We need it!” Emil put away the water. They started to take off again.. my knee was throbbing and I could hardly walk. I set short range goals of just making it to the next boulder. One after another. My vision made everything wavy. And finally Emil grew a pair and defied his old man, and put an arm around me and helped me the rest of the way… another mile. He mumbled an, “I’m sorry” quietly.
The truck was ahead of us. 100 yards more. I willed myself to keep going. Then… we were there. A 5 gallon jug of water that had been heating in the sun was brought down. It was hot enough to brew tea, but I drank. And drank. Near-boiling water. It was good.
It was a quiet ride back. I packed up my gear and got in my car and drove off, back to civilization. All I keep thinking about was that water sloshing ahead of me, out of reach, and hearing him insist “We don’t got no water” while I was looking right at it. All this, because I didn’t agree that President Bush should be assassinated.
It’s quite clear that he would have left me to die out there and concocted some story of me wandering off and getting lost, if it wasn’t for the intervention of his minimally-less corrupt son.
Months later, Emil got indicted for illegally trapping our jaguar in a noose, causing stress in the poor cat, which eventually led to the death of the only jaguar in the United States at the time. Here’s the picture he took of the tortured, snared cat. [3]
It was a whole big deal with scandal and blame spread all over. It became a Federal case. After being indicted, he lied to investigators and blamed his assistant for putting lure around the trap without his direction. This wasn’t true and eventually came out. This assistant was the person who took my place! In the end, he was banned from practicing any more research, anywhere. You may be interested in reading about the debacle here: emil mccain prosecuted over jaguar
Conspicuously absent from the indictment, was one old, evil, bastard goat, that I damn well know had a hand in the unethical activities that led to the jaguar’s death, due to over-bearing parental pressure. And he certainly had a hand in convincing his son to lie about the circumstances afterwards. I have no doubt. It was, after all, the government against his son. The government that he wanted to take out with a bullet. I know that lunatic bastard helped kill our jaguar, and let his son take all of the fall. Not that his son didn’t deserve it as well. I’ve no proof. But I know it. He damn near killed me.
John Holmes was a legend during the golden age of porn. He played the famous Johnny Wadd, a fictional detective in a series of porn films. At the time, he was most famous for having a 13-inch penis, although this was never proven. He also claimed to have sex with over 14,000 women. This is also disputed, but he did star in over 500 movies.
image 128
As his porn career was taking off in the early 70s, so was his drug use. At his height, he was earning 3,000 dollars a day from his films, which was mostly spent on freebasing cocaine. His habit greatly affected his ability to maintain an erection, and by the end of the 70s, he was selling drugs and prostituting himself for drugs to both men and women.
image 127
By the early 80s, Holmes was heavily involved in criminality. He was a close associate of drug dealer and nightclub owner Eddie Nash and was also close to the notorious “Wonderland Gang,” a group of heroin-addicted cocaine dealers, that ruled the drugs trade in Los Angela’s.
Holmes had confided with some members of the Wonderland Gang about a stash of drugs and money being kept at Eddie Nash’s house. Holmes had fallen out of favour with the Wonderland Gang after taking more than his fair share of drugs. So he helped them by setting up the home invasion and robbery of Eddie Nash.
image 126
Eddie Nash suspected Holmes was involved in the robbery. He admitted to his part in the robbery after Nash threatened to kill his family. In the early hours of July 1st 1981, a gang of Nash’s enforcers along with Holmes entered the Rowhouse located on Wonderland Avenue, where five members of the Wonderland gang were sleeping. All but one of the gang members were beaten to death, and the fifth barley surviving the brutal attack.
image 30
A handprint belonging to Holmes was found above the headboard of one of the slain gang members, putting Holmes at the scene during the attack. Eddie Nash was the prime suspect for the crime along with Holmes who took more of an active role. Holmes was charged with personally committing all four murders but was acquitted due to lack of evidence after a three-week trial. The trail was a landmark case, where it was the first trial in history to introduced video as evidence. The Wonderland murders remain unsolved to this day.
image 125
By 1986, Holmes was diagnosed as HIV positive, and it was around this time he landed a lucrative deal to star in two adult films with “Paradise Visuals.” He went on to have unprotected sex with his co-stars while not revealing his diagnosis.
He died from Aids related complications on March 13th 1988, at the age of 43.
i gave up on the american dream | regularism
“I feel you girl! I’m 34 renting a room in a house, I hardly own anything anymore. I let go of the illusion of how life is “supposed to be”. We are free this way, living simply! It’s all a state of mind starting with gratitude for what you have.”
When I was out of my “retirement” from Arkansas, I was permitted to live in my home State in my home town, provided I had a sponsor.
This could be an ex-wife, a friend, a family member, or a civic institution.
Well, my ex-wife wanted to take me in, but she was diagnosed as “mentally ill”, and did not quality.
I only had two friends remaining back in the home town where I grew up. One was dead, and the other was in Jail.
My father agreed to take me in, but his (new) wife … my step-mother kicked me out.
So, I need a place to stay, and I was placed in a rehab complex for addicts, people with mental illnesses, and other issues. Initially, I stayed at a monastery, but eventually, I moved to a community that wasn’t so isolated, and I managed a group home there.
There was some six of us men living in an old Victoria style home, and working at low wage jobs to get back on our feet. We shared the budget and the responsibilities together, and it really wasn’t a bad deal.
I want to relate a story from that time.
…
We all agreed to pitch in $100 to $300 a month for food, and in so doing we would have a monthly run to the supermarket for supplies.
We sat down, and wrote what to buy, which consisted of vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, breads… you know the basics with an emphasis on “make it yourself” rather than “frozen; pop in the microwave food”. Staples. Rice. Corn. Tomatoes. Flour. Butter. Cooking oil. Things like that.
We gave the list and the money to one of our housemates. This fellow was a “strange cat”, but you know, all of us were a bit odd, don’t you know.
And off he went.
When he returned, he arrived without the groceries he was supposed to buy. Instead, had something like $800 worth of pork chops, and three cases of diet Pepsi. Nothing else. And he laughed about it.
He argued that the money was his; his responsibility, and that he could do anything he wanted with it. And he wanted pork chops.
Well, I like pork chops as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of salads, orange juice, eggs, toast, butter, and spaghetti. Not at the dearth of cereals, milk, asparagus, peppers, spaghetti noodles, and rolls. Not at the expense of coffee, and sugar. Not at the expense of peanut butter, and salad dressing.
He had quite the smug look on his face, and laughed. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, behind our backs, he related to everyone how crestfallen I was, and the others in the house was.
…
Bummed us all out, and I was pretty damn pissed. What the Hell was I going to eat?
After talking with the head of the organization we held a in-house meeting.
Long story short; yeah, we kicked him out.
I was nice about it, and I helped move him out.
…
However, I learned a serious lesson. Never underestimate what a crazy, or mentally deficient person is capable of of. He was obviously selfish, narcissistic, and had no sense of belonging.
So we removed him.
This type of action, I believe, must be replicated at the highest levels of “leadership” in the collective Western nations. Don’t you know.
Today…
Blue Cheese Stuffed Steaks
2023 09 23 11 31
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 beef tenderloin steaks
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
4 teaspoons crumbled blue cheese
4 teaspoons plain low fat yogurt
2 teaspoons minced onion
Dash of white pepper
1 large clove garlic, halved
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
Instructions
Combine cream cheese, blue cheese, yogurt, onion and pepper; reserve.
Rub each side of beef steaks with garlic.
Place steaks on rack in broiler pan so surface of meat is 2 to 3 inches from heat. Broil for 5 to 6 minutes.
Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Turn and broil for 3 to 4 minutes.
Season with remaining salt.
Top each steak with an equal amount of reserved cheese mixture.
I was just 18, and working part-time at a local gas station, a Merit gas, with the little fishbowl in the middle of the pumps. I was in nursing school, so worked a couple nights a week.
Now, let me preface this by saying I was not by any means raised to be shy and retiring. My dad was streetwise, and made sure we were too. I knew how to defend myself and was not worried about working nights.
One night about 2am this drunk comes in, puts two crumpled up ones in the drawer, and says “put 20 on pump 3”. I yelled that he had only given me $2 but he was too far gone. I made a note of the make and model of his car, and was going to call the police about him as he was absolutely sloshed.
He comes back to the drawer and says “It only took 2$. Gimme my change”.
I explained that I did not get 20 from him.
He went back to his car and came back with a tire iron, and started to try to smash the windows. I pushed the alarm, then left the booth with a chain wrench in my hand.
image 104
Very useful as a weapon if you know how to use it, and I did. At least, I figured I did.
I went to him as he smashed the windows, and yelled some obscenities…. he turned on me with the tire iron. Just as I caught his hand with the chain wrench, and pulled the tire iron out, 4 motorcycles pulled in.
They were fully patched 1%-ers, members of a well-known motorcycle club not known overall for their sense of patience with morons.
One of the guys walked up to the drunk and said “what’s your beef?” and the drunk said “she kept my change!” I said “He gave me $2, he thought it was 2 tens, it was 2 ones”. Just then the drunk grabbed his tire iron and swung at me, but was so drunk he hit MC-Man 1. MC-Man proceeded to punch the man even more senseless than he was.
While MC Man 2 peed in his car, MC Man 3 went into the guy’s wallet and took out his driver’s license.
Just then, Drunk man gets up, and tries to hit MC Man 1. Next I know, the drunk is naked and upside down in a trash bin; he was wearing only his shoes, which had their laces tied together. MC-Men are busting a seam laughing.
Just then the Police showed up, and seemed disappointed when I explained it was not the bikers who were the problem, but the upside down naked man who had attacked me, smashed the windows, etc. The MC Men helpfully gave their version of events, with four-part harmony focused on how they had been as abused and brutalised, being as defenseless as they were, as I was.
The Police dragged off upside down naked man, and MC Man 3 said “I found his wallet, this fell out” and handed the cop his driver’s license.
Just as he was being escorted to the cruiser, he spat on one of the bikes, and was accidentally tripped by the bike’s owner, and landed right on his face. He was filth-fouling his way all the way to the cruiser. The cop told the guy he would turn him over to the bikers if he didn’t shut the f_ up. That seemed to sink in, and he went calmly from there… until the cops said a tow truck was taking the car.
Upside down drunk yelled “You C—t” at me through the open cruiser window (there were bars) but as one of his teeth came flying out when he did, it was actually kind of funny.
After the cop left, I told the bikers they could fill up on me, whatever they needed, oil, gas, cigs, anything. MC Man 1 said “No, trust me, we can pay for our own stuff, and after all the fun you don’t owe us anything….” and they proceeded to use the guy’s own tire iron to smash the glass in his car.
It wound up in court, the guy was sent to jail for a year and ordered to pay for damages.
All 4 MC Men were called as witnesses. They showed up clean shaven, in nice suits, looking like they had walked out of a Wall Street firm, and spoke about how afraid they were of “that violent man”.
You could just see they enjoyed it.
He complained in court that someone kept breaking his car’s windscreen… the Judge actually said “you better think better who you pick fights with, but I suspect after you’ve paid your debt to society, you might find your windscreen lasts a bit longer. Right gentlemen?” The MC Men just laughed…
I, like a few others, was patiently waiting in line on an early Friday nite in a little village on top of a mountain. The pompous guy behind me, dressed in the full attire as dictated by his religion, evidently thought that by hitting me in with his cart, I would be so indebted to him that I would give him my spot.
The first time he hit me, I turned around and asked him not to do that again. He waited a minute and then hit me again with his cart. When I confronted him again, he said “women in my religion know their place and it is behind all men”. I laughed and loudly said “and in my country, women know that they don’t have to stand behind any asshole”.
Needless to say, he hit me again. This time I said “ you’re right. You belong in front of me. Just back up your cart so I can back out my cart so you can get in frin of me”. So after he backed up his cart, I grabbed his cart and shoved it down an aisle….he had to chase after it and was pissed.
The other customers all laughed including an off duty cop. When the asshole threatened to hurt me, the off duty cop arrested him and escorted him out.
I understood that his religion required him to be home by sundown. Had he asked me nicely, I would have let him in front of me. But when my first contact with him is him deliberately hitting me, he can wait your turn. If observing the tenets of his religion was that important to him, he should have gone shopping earlier.
The assault charge was dropped and he was banned from the grocery store, which happened to be the only one in a 15 mile radius, off the mountaintop
I remember when I was a young man, still largely broke but I wanted to get into PCs because while I understood computers very well and had years of experience on them, it was experience on Commodores, Ataris, Apples, and even z80 based systems. But at that point, the writing was on the wall, and it was clear the IBM PC standard with DOS/Win was winning decisively and the PC XTs I had access to, couldn’t run…
So anyway, PCs were not cheap, so I went with building my own. When I was done with the initial build, it was, like our health care system, a frankenstein’s monster. It had a slowish motherboard 286–12mhz, the best sound card at the time(original soundblaster), and an 8bit VGA card which was very middle of the road at the time. It had a 40MB hard drive which was quite decent at the time. It was good enough that I could run Dos/Win, at least enough to gain familiarity with it and sell my knowledge to employers. Which was the point.
However, it was not a good system. It was nobody’s first, second, or third choice of system. but it had a couple of good parts. There was no better sound card at the time, the hard drive wasn’t the top drive available, but was considered among the better ones available.
It was, like our health care system, a collection of best I could do at the time compromises to achieve an objective, but unlike our healthcare system, it did achieve its objective. It enabled me to get into higher paying jobs(hell, that whole trajectory launched my pretty decent career), which I promptly used to upgrade the lesser parts to the point that it ended up a pretty damned good system.
A few world class hospitals in a nation of 360 million people does not make the system good, anymore than my good sound card and good hard drive made my computer system good. They were positives of it, to be sure, but it was not a very good system as a whole.
A system is a collection of parts that work together, by definition, and the quality of it is determined by the overall quality of all the parts and most importantly – How well they work together to achieve the objective of the overall system. Our health care system is not very good, overall, despite that it has some quality parts here and there.
They’re making him a HOOD LEGEND
After former US President Donald Trump turned himself in to Fulton County Jail in Georgia, the Trump Mugshot went viral on social media. But now it appears the Republican POTUS is actually gaining massive support in the most unexpected ways. Which could lead to an epic backfire for the Democrats and the liberal news media.
A dinner guest picked away at the back of one of my mahogany dining room chairs and lifted a piece of the scrollwork decorations carved in the back of the chair next to her that her husband was sitting in.
When she finally succeeded in picking it off, she placed it on the table and acted like she didn’t realize what she had done, and done deliberately. She started saying “oh they don’t make furniture like they used to”, she was so sorry, blah, blah. Yeah, right, my solid mahogany Pennsylvania House dining room set was cheaply made.
It killed me to say “oh that’s ok, I’ll take care of it” like a good hostess as I attempted to retrieve the piece she had gouged out so I could glue it back in later, but she kept flipping it around in her fingers like it was a toy. I finally told her to give me the piece of wood so I could use it to attempt a repair. She acted offended at my request and to my tone of voice.
Never invited her back, but she went to the same church I did. Her name was Sondra and she would get really agitated with anyone who pronounced her name as Sandra. So of course everytime I saw her from then on I called her Sandra instead of Sondra. Many, many times. Petty I know, but I didn’t care. Still don’t.
Mike taught me real selfless love time and time again.
When my parents learned about him they took my phone and almost all means of communication, treated me like garbage and threatened me with many things. They came to me and said “you’re an idiot if you think he’ll still be with you after things got serious. He was just toying with you”. I just had to rely on my faith in him. And one month later he was in Kuwait to see me and my family.
When I was hospitalized for my mental breakdown he called everyone in my family and constantly asked about me.
He paid thousands and thousands of dollars to come visit me every couple of months and for all the attorneys trying to bring us back together.
When we were looking up all sort of solutions to reunite. He seriously said “what if I bring you to NewYork then drive from Ontario to there everyday to spend the night with you?”. I was flabbergasted and told him “you would do that?”, he said “of course I would. That way I’ll get to see you everyday”. And I was astonished but told him I would hate that sort of situation.
When he said he’s looking for other jobs since I can’t seem to enter Canada. I know very well that he’s never had a job better than this, great pay, great people, great company and a nice environment. Yet he is willing to give it all up for me.
Every time I had an episode and started fighting violently over something very stupid, driving him up the wall, he stayed on the phone with me for hours until I calmed down and we reached a conclusion.
When my parents refused to meet him and travelled to Egypt on purpose to avoid him when he comes to Kuwait. But he booked another ticket to Egypt and said wherever they go I’ll meet them.
When he decided to start waking up at 5 a.m everyday and chat with me in the morning because that’s what works best with our time difference.
When he told me “you know Salma, other than my daughters I never called anyone but you “my sweetheart”. And he said “aside from being a father, nothing ever compares to being with you”.
I can only hope I give this man as much happiness and warmth as he gives me.
America’s NEW Tax Plan is Frightening
As General Patton said it, “We defeated the wrong enemy”.
I can’t say that what I found after my father’s death completely changed how I viewed him, but it did have a profound impact.
My father vehemently opposed my decision to transfer out of an engineering program and instead pursue writing as a career. For 25 years, until his death, he had nothing positive to say about it, despite my receiving grants, fellowships, and publishing books. His rejection of me as a writer took our relationship, which wasn’t warm before that, to absolute zero.
After he died, I found an old cassette tape recorder he had repaired. In it was a tape labeled “Al in a Pensive Mood.” He made the tape in 1978, shortly after he’d had heart surgery. In it, he reflected on many aspects of his life, but the part that most affected me was this: “I sort of miss the fact that David is in New York, but I hope that he will succeed, that he will become a famous writer, that his books will be accepted, because this is what David seems to want to do.”
He died in 1994. How different our relationship might have been if he’d shared those sentiments while he was still alive.
I was born in a family of drama queens and philandering womanizers. Everyone in my immediate and extended family divorced at least once. Everyone in my family is either upper class overeducated elitist hypocrites (on my father’s side) or greedy under-educated peasant opportunists (from my mother’s side). Everyone of them has a story to tell, everyone wanted something more out of their lives or nobody was happy. I mean,seriously, as a child, I don’t think I knew one single happy couple who actually loved each other or a happy person who was satisfied with their life.
My parents were absent ones who were too focused on their rather successful careers and their dramas. They divorced,then both remarried and both had affairs. My dad didn’t divorce because my stepmom pretended that nothing happened. My mom divorced two other times and finally settled down with some young movie director and that’s the last I heard of her back in early 2000s.
I grew up with my grandma, who had her own juicy skeletons (yes, plural) in the closet. She suffered from major depression, but she wasn’t diagnosed until much later. So there was me, isolated with my depressed grandma, watching the fabulous lives of my father and mother unfold each on their own and which I was never part of any of it. And like most absent and successful parents, they eased their guilt by giving me the best life money can buy.
As a child, I never felt the absence of anything. I had the best clothes, the best books and the best toys. I was the first in my class to own a pager, a Walkman, a PC, a cellphone or a car… I was signed up in all of the after school interests classes. I played two instruments poorly.
My family sure had high hopes for me. And I sure disappointed them in every possible way. My dad used to lament how I didn’t get my mother’s looks or his brain. All I got was stubbornness, which wasn’t a good character trait for a girl.
The irony was, being part of such a chaotic and passionate family of love and hate,romance and sex, I ended up being an introverted asexual person who wasn’t really interested in relationships or sex.
Like all good daytime TV, my family lost much of its financial means. We weren’t poor. But we were no longer filthy rich. My parents actually had to budget and buy stuff when there was a sale! Oh,the horror!
We moved to the US in 2000. I went to college and against my father’s wishes, decided to study art. I’ll have to give it to my dad, being an Asian father, he wasn’t happy that I studied such a useless subject, but he was supportive (as in he didn’t cut me off). He told everyone I studied graphic design, as if that somehow made it better than “art”.
I was never a good student to begin with. I didn’t go to the Ivy Leagues. My art degree didn’t get me anywhere, neither did art history, theater or 3D animation. I was often the best in my class, but best in a regional university is mediocre when put on a global scale. Despite being a mediocre student, I did enjoy learning new things. I still do. Learning about random things I didn’t know before often brings me great joy.
Learning things and creating things are my greatest joys in life. All that art school didn’t really make me a competitive artist. I was, as I said, mediocre at best. As an artist I was (and still am) willful, which is a bad characteristic for the commercial artists… disastrous for mediocre commercial artists. I only draw portraits. I only draw stuff I like. I do poorly with commissions. I can’t keep simple commitments.
Suffice to say, I was doomed to make a living with art. But that wasn’t my only worry at the time.
As you can imagine, growing up in such a dysfunctional family I had a lot of baggage. I went into counseling for a period of time during graduation school, that really helped me a lot. I started to grow (a bit late, I know) into my own self instead of trying (and failing) to be the person my father wanted me to be, or, more precisely, who I thought my father wanted me to be. In reality, I don’t think my dad had any expectations from me since high school.
Out of some weird turn of events, I was involved in the BDSM community for a few years. Had my one and only “serious” relationship and decided it just wasn’t worth my time.
By 2008, I was a mess. I was well into my late 20s. Other people my age would get married, have children and steady jobs and probably already bought their first house… while I was ridiculously overeducated and absurdly unemployable. I lived with my parents, I was laid off from my previous dead end job, I had one failed, completely dysfunctional relationship which I pretended that never happened, I sent out 20 email job applications every day and I didn’t know what to do with my life.
In early 2010, I finally landed my first gaming industry job. Of all the degrees and skills I earned in my nearly 10 years of college education, I landed this job because I was bilingual.
It turned out I was actually a pretty good project manager. My stepmom didn’t believe it. She had always seen me as this messy absent-minded loser who couldn’t organize anything. But I was good at organizing things, budgets and schedules. I never learned project management, but somehow it all came naturally to me. It just made sense. I mean, after all, project management really is just common sense. So… out of all of the exciting things you can do in video game industry, I ended up doing the most boring thing, basically middle management nobody likes and who doesn’t really contribute anything solid to the development.
Still, I love my job. I love what I do.
I’ve worked for big publishers,start-ups,on console titles and PC titles,web games and Facebook games (yes,I did).
Somewhere along the way, I published a book about Renaissance Italy, which… rated poorly on Douban because I pissed off a lot of people with my “white-lefty” sentiments. I’m not saying my book is any good. But judging from the comments left on my book page, obviously most of them never read it. They just came to give my book a 1 star (out of 5) because they don’t like how I talked about feminism…. and give out spoilers about Murder on the Orient Express.
Now I live in San Diego with my cat Jonesy.
I’m translating a book (which I should be working on right now instead of procrastinating on Quora). I continue to write my renaissance story (I don’t think my publisher would publish any more of that story, but I must finish it). I’m planning another story (in English).
My life so far has been pretty uneventful, especially compared to my parents and all my relatives. But perhaps I could write interesting and exciting stories, even if I myself would most likely live out my life in peace and solitude.
A book, my cat and San Diego city lights. This is my life now.
Back in the 80’s in my hometown, if a teenage girl got pregnant in our high school, she was immediately pulled out of school and they provided her with a home tutor. My mom was one of the tutors.
Mostly it was pretty basic, my mom would ignore the girl’s “condition” and the girls did their work. I should add that our town was insanely small, so my mom had known most of these kids since they were in preschool, so I imagine that it was super awkward.
During one of these tutoring sessions, one particular girl was prattling on about how she and the baby’s father were going to get married, he’s going to be a doctor, and they’ll be rich in no time. My mom is not one for flights of fancy, she is a firm believer in cold, hard reality, so she couldn’t keep quiet.
She very calmly explained how much money a baby can cost, then added in the prices of rent, utilities, food, a car & insurance, daycare, college tuition, and books. This girl did not believe her at all. My mom also let her know the failure rate of a teen marriage, as well as the adult rate. This girl obviously had never learned basic household management because she didn’t even know how to turn on the stove.
My mom never pushed the subject again, and the girl continued her lessons, until she delivered the baby. My mom never followed up with the girls, unless the school needed her to. Shortly after that, we moved to a different part of the state and mom took a job with a bank.
About 10 years ago, we were at a mall when this woman came over to my mom to say hello. My mom was confused and asked the woman who she was. It was the girl! She wanted to thank my mom for being honest with her about the harsh realities of life and had taken what she said to heart. The girl broke up with the boyfriend who got her pregnant, gave the baby up for adoption, finished high school, went to college, the medical school and now she’s an OB/GYN. She told my mom that no one had ever told her how the world works and how you have to pay for everything; she was kind of embarrassed when she said that she just always assumed that there would be food in the fridge because it had never been empty.
Now she was close to 40 and she had gotten married, was pregnant and was finally going to able to give her child the life that she couldn’t for her first (she did receive photos of the baby that she placed). My mom just looked baffled because she insisted that she hadn’t done anything special.
Walking through Cities of Europe in 700 AD: What would you have seen?
A recruiter got in touch with me through Linkedin regarding an opportunity to work for a luxury car brand. I gave her my number and asked her to call after 4 pm because I didn’t want to take the call at work.
She rang that evening, we went through my work history and I emailed her my CV. In the morning she rang back to say that the hiring manager liked my cv and wanted to schedule a phone interview.
The following day, I received a call from a gentleman who introduced himself as my interviewer. I went through my work history once again.
I answered his questions, gave examples to support my answers and explained the gap in my CV. I also asked questions about the role and the company.
“You have the skills and experience required, I like your attitude, you are very straightforward and assertive but I’m hesitant. If we hire you, once you get bored of the job you’ll probably leave just like you are doing with your current employer.”
It rubbed the wrong way and I thought it was very presumptuous of him to assume that I was leaving because I was bored. I was looking for new opportunities because I wanted to get out of a toxic workplace, I agreed to interview for the position because I already worked in the field. I had the skills and experience, they were also offering better pay and benefits.
He spoke to me for a few minutes and assumed to know the reasons I was leaving my then current employer, I guess in his entire career he never left a job for better opportunities.
“Thank you for considering me for the role but I’m no longer interested,” I said to him and ended the call.
Hiring managers are so full themselves they don’t even realise that sometimes people just leave bad bosses and toxic work environments. I can’t see myself working for someone who is so quick to jump to conclusions.
Breaded Steak Cutlets
2023 09 23 11 32
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds round steak
Salt
Pepper
Eggs
Water
Cracker crumbs
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
Instructions
Cut 1 1/2 pounds round steak into serving pieces, removing all fat. Cube with a tenderizing hammer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip each piece into 1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water. Dip into cracker crumbs and coat well. Fry in hot grease until brown on both sides. Drain.
Pour off grease and add 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce to pan and de-glaze pan.
Serve tomato sauce with cutlets.
Fed Predicts: Americans Will Run Out of Money By October 2023
https://youtu.be/MQSgLJfsepA
Confession of the Day
I have been married for 15 years. I have known my wife since I was 8. We have 3 daughters together. 17, 14, and 11.
I’m tired of feeling like I’m an outsider in my relationships with all of them. I’m just an ATM and taxi service to my kids. My wife hasn’t kissed me in 6 months. She has not said that she loves me in 1.5 years. No matter how much I communicate, try to plan anything or do anything it is always shot down, forgotten, or dismissed. I don’t get angry in don’t yell. I don’t get physical.
I like to splurge during birthdays and mothers Day. I throw parties and give gifts and try to show how much I love them. I get a lukewarm, thanks, and if I’m lucky, a side hug that lasts .0001 seconds.
This week was the breaking point. Father’s Day. I wake up to an empty house. Odd. No note, nothing was written on the calendar, and nothing said beforehand. I send a text, and I get back. “I took the girls out for a spa day, don’t wait up.” Then nothing, literally nothing. Dinner time comes around, and they get home. How their say was (it was fine). I ask what they would like for dinner. “Nothing we already ate at [one of my favorite restaurants].” Cool, whatever. There is no mention of it being fathers Day. No, I love you, how are you. Nothing.
Fast forward to Wednesday. Which was my birthday. Nothing. Literally again, nothing. I suggested plans. They get shot down. I suggested food. Nope, shot down. Ask about watching a movie they are all too busy (they just sat on their phones doing nothing).
Now to Thursday night. I’m in bed. My wife is next to me. She rolls over and says in a crappy tone. “Oh, your birthday was the other day. I guess you expect to have sex.” That broke something in me(best of my memory of how it went down)
I said “no I don’t expect sex. At this point, I don’t expect anything anymore.”
Her “what is that supposed to mean?”
So I started asking her questions
When was the last time we shared a kiss? (Like a week? Nope, it was in December, and it was during her parents’ holiday party)
When was the last time we had sex? (The beginning of the year? Nope, wrong it has been over a year. She was adamant that we did it in February. I was dealing with my moms health and her passing. So I said something like, “You may have had sex but it wasn’t with me.”)
When was the last time you said you love me? (“I say it all the time.” Not to me, check your messages/you don’t say it to me face to face. “Well, you should just know I do.”)
When was the last time we went on a date? (LONG pause)
Her: You’re being unfair.
Emotions turned on fully. I was crying and raising my voice at this point.
It asks her how? She can’t answer. I asked her how wanting any sign of love from anyone in the house is unfair. If expecting anything for my birthday or Father’s Day was unfair. (She got an oh shit look) Yeah, you forgot that as well. I’m not an ATM, I’m not a taxi service, I’m not a punching bag.
She asked why this was coming up “out of the blue.” It didn’t. I have tried to talk to my family and again get dismissed or ignored. I brought up examples. I got an “I didn’t know you were serious.” “I didn’t know it was such a big deal.”
I left saying something to the point of “If you want to pretend that I’m invisible and don’t exist fine, you don’t have to pretend anymore.”
I left the house at almost midnight. On Thursday/ Friday morning. Haven’t been home since. I’m not sure what to do now. I’m finally sober enough to think, but I don’t know what to do(first time drinking in over 15 years BTW, and i’m not going to drink anymore)
I love my family. But I can’t keep this up. I don’t know what more I can do. I think they would be happier without me. They already act like I don’t exist. I can’t be the one who is blamed for everything. If I truly am the problem then me not being there should fix it. I can’t do it anymore.
I have tried to be a good provider, a good partner, and a good dad. Never missed an event of our kids. Never prioritize work. I kept good hours so I could see them more. Took on more responsibility to better our life and future. But, it is never appreciated. It is never enough. I am never enough.
I only have one message from my wife “I’m sorry for making you feel that way. We all love you, and we are here for you when you want to come home and talk.” That is it. No other messages. No calls. Nothing from the kids. I feel like if they really wanted me there, they would try reaching out more. All of the kids have their own phone. I don’t know what she told them. I’m sure they heard me raise my voice. Me raising my voice would have definitely got their attention since i never do. I’m sure they heard me leave. I just don’t know.
As my life crumbled apart, back in 2005-6, I tried all sorts of measures to stop my “retirement” from MAJ.
But, at that time, I didn’t know the entire picture. I didn’t know what was going on. I thought that I was just “having some problems”.
Nope my entire life was crumbling away before my eyes.
Still I tried to do something about it.
I made arrangements in China, and tried to make various arrangements in the Philippines as well. I was tricked, abused, and basically thwarted at every turn. So many swindles. So many scams. So many selfish pricks. So many liars, tricksters, and generally selfish narcissists.
In hindsight, my Fate Forecasting was Black-on-Black, overlaid with black. It was triple negatives; or to use the parlance of Fate Forecasting and Bazi, it was very inauspicious, on top of very inauspicious.
It was one bad thing after the other, and my life fell apart in complete stages of collapse.
(Which, by the way, you are now starting to watch the entire United States government go through.)
Anyways, I was stuck in the Hong Kong airport,and spent about ten days there after being swindled in a number of places… by numerous people… and left alone to ROT.
While I was waiting there, my resources started to dry up and I was living off airport coffee, and hope. I slept on the hard metal chairs. Used the bathroom, and took sponge baths in the sinks.
And sure as shit, I eventually had to go to the bathroom and pee up a storm, so I put my backpack (with my laptop computer) in it, on my back and stood at a urinal peeing away…
…and some jackass gets really close behind me, but I must have been pissing three liters out, …
…he stood there right behind me, so close. Sheech.
Anyways, soon he left. I still kept a peeing.
I’m not kidding. I must have needed to pee out three liters. It just kept draining.
…
Then I exited the bathroom, and settled down, and low and behold, my laptop was stolen!
That asshole plucked it skillfully and silently from my backpack while I peed. Sheech!
Yeah. It really sucked, and I was flabbergasted. Shocked, and upset. I didn’t know if I were to laugh or cry.
It was profoundly a disaster, on top of a fiasco, surrounded by trouble at every turn.
…
I relate this little story to make a few points of interest.
When things are going to shit; they will go to shit no matter what you do.
The only thing that you can do is to reduce the damage, hedge against it, and be extra cautious.
It was a new computer, but has all my passwords, codes and critical communication methodology. I placed way too much on electronic means of record keeping, and communication.
After this event, I made it back home, computer-less, of course, and then was seized and set into the “system” to endure my “retirement”.
So to keep things simple.
Let’s distill the lessons here.
Friends are valuable. Never dare try to do things alone; and on your own. Work as part of a team with your most trusted friends.
Fates must be endured. These are gravitational / planetary alignments that you cannot modify. The only thing you can do is “nothing” on very inauspicious times.
Hope is critical. No matter how bad and hopeless things are, it is always temporary. Eventually it WILL change. Just hang on.
It will end. Sure it will, and an equal period of greatness will occur. You simply must endure the bad first. Consider the “bad events” to be your entry ticket to the life you desire.
If they know how to do something, they automatically know how to do it at scale.
This is a country that builds entire new cities at one go. They produce 600,000 engineers per year. They make four out of every five solar panels in the world. They can build a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 days, and as we saw during the covid-19 pandemic, a brand new hospital in 10 days. They are the world’s biggest factory.
If they know how to make one Huawei Mate 60, they already know how to make 100 million Huawei Mate 60s.
China does not know how to think SMALL. It is unnatural and weird for them to think on a small scale. China has cities with populations larger than countries such as Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, even Australia. Thinking big is China’s default mentality.
Barbecued London Broil
london broil
Ingredients
1 (1 1/2 or 2 pound) flank steak
1 tablespoon sherry or any dry red wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Score meat on all sides.
Mix together remaining ingredients. Put on meat and let stand 1 1/2 to 2 hours, then place meat in broiler pan about 4 inches from heat. Broil for about 10 minutes or a little longer on each side. Ten minutes is for medium rare.
To serve, cut diagonally across the grain into very thin slices.
My wife’s had cancer for the last seven years. It was well-controlled. She was on maintenance chemo to prevent it from coming back.
All was going fine—she always felt sick a few days after chemo—but she was generally doing well. She had good quality of life and wasn’t really limited in any way except she had doctor’s appointments and scans nearly every week.
After a routine PET scan… Well, to make a long story short, they found cancer in her brain. It wasn’t “brain cancer”, it was the same cancer (inflammatory breast cancer) that had made its way to her brain. It was already fairly extensive by the time they found it, but they were confident they could take care of the lesions through radiation.
The day after her penultimate treatment, she complained that it hurt to breathe. I took her to the hospital and after giving her some pain meds, they admitted her. She was still having pain breathing, so the doctor thought they’d give her something to help her sleep so she could get some rest. And maybe in the meantime, they could figure out why she was experiencing painful breathing; it hurt to breath in and out.
While they were checking her out to prep her for some sleep, she flatlined. About a dozen people sprang into action. Some were specialists, some were support, but all were fighting to bring her back. I stood in the corner out of the way watching in horror as the hoard of medical professionals tried to bring my wife back.
About a million thoughts flooded my mind. Was I really watching my wife die? Was she really gone for good? I just hoped they could get her back.
The doctor pulled me out into the hallway. She asked what I wanted them to do.
I said, “I’m not a doctor, but I want you to do whatever’s reasonable!” She said okay, and they tried shocking her back. Every time, they got no pulse in response. They tried at least three or four times when it was clear she was gone. I gave the signal they could stop.
That was two weeks ago. I’m still trying to process it. It wasn’t like she was on a slow or steep decline. Everything pointed to her recovering.
But she’s gone. My kids are doing a good job helping keep my spirits up, but they’re devastated too. They’re all adults now, but they very nearly worshipped her, as did I.
Girls Standing In The Middle of Tokyo to Sell Themselves.. Japan Has A Serious Developing Problem.
Thank you for posting this. Japan is a complex society, with many ancient traditions, some of which are clashing with modernity even today after 150 years of intense exposure to (and copying of) the West. As with many things, prostitution there has uniquely Japanese characteristics and doesn’t necessarily involve physical intimacy, though such certainly exists. Anyway, these sad stories of girls from the countryside being exploited in the big city are all too common not just in Asia but in the West as well.
Every few weeks, bake 100 chocolate chip cookies, wrap them in wax paper, put them in a large Tupperware container, and mail them to her in Boot Camp.
Whatever you do, NEVER send packaged cookies from the supermarket! If you do this, her Drill Sergeants will hold them up for everyone to see at Mail Call and mock her mercilessly, saying, “This means yer parents do not love you!” Seen that happen in Army Basic Training a few times.
Homemade cookies the sergeants hand out to everyone and she will be the most popular and well liked Boot for the next half hour.
Japan has historically been a very xenophobic and racist culture. Once you’ve convinced yourself your enemy are subhumans not even worthy to live, and you’re a dick, you go nuts.
The interesting contrast between the German and Japanese atrocities is that the German stuff was much more hidden. People have the impression that the holocaust was openly known to everyone, but the Germans took great pains to tell the population that they were shipping undesirables off to newly conquered territory to the east, to live seperately from Germans.
Whereas the the Japanese, their atrocities were rarely hidden. Entire military units would make a contest out of beheading prisoners. They’d round up women and children into a tall building and set it on fire and watch them jump from the roof in desperation. Their newspapers would cover these incidents and it would be celebrated back home.
Not to downplay the evil of the Germans at all, but the Japanese never get their due – I consider them to be as evil or more than the Germans, but you almost never hear about it, whereas you’ve heard about the holocaust at least 100,000 times in your life.
In addition to that, the official policy in Japan is dangerously close to the equivelant of holocaust denialism, whereas at least the Germans are thoroughly ashamed and sorry for what they did.
The American Dream is a Scam
Long comment. -MM
I think this subject matter is 100% correct and I agree with you on it and I also think that its a major part of the reason why America steadily has been becoming more toxic of a place over time.
I think its the perfect storm of capitalisms worst traits being compiled on and exacerbated by the people that are winning at capitalism.
What I’m saying is, in the course of the last 80 years at least our capitalist society has become more and more structurally corrupt.
Because the only people with any real power over how these systems are built and the people that they screw over vise versa, the people that it benefits.
Are the people who have the power and the success to influence it.
This is done with lobbying and both political parties USE lobbyists to this day which is essentially legal corruption for the political system to thrive on.
How it works is this, If im the owner of Apple or something like that and I value things like gun control or mandator vaccines and a community based culture , Im gonna give the politician that most closely values what I value and ima give him multi millions of dollars to run his campaign for election.
THEN I ask this person for political favors and to represent ME a little more than anyone else BECAUSE im handing them a multi million dollar check to run for whatever.
America has done this for a very long time and its one of the reasons way our election cycles are meaningless.
The elite class literally have more valuable voters than you do lol. Its NOT an even playing field. I think red or blue doesnt matter because the problem is both parites are dog shit.
Both parties got some good they wanna do and the bad shit they do is there too.
With republicans its the positive of them understanding personal freedom and things like guns remaining protected rights. but negatively speaking the republican party Is just as tone deaf and stupid about stuff like corporate greed and how bad that is, as the democrats are tone deaf to the importance of gun rights and being able to have the scary shit they wanna be able to dictate HOWEVER democrats do understand corporate greed and greedy elite cocksuckers who are siphoning the people of this country of their time and labor value. It sickens me that republicans will support selfish people like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk who are prime examples of people who do ALL THE SHIT that’s killing society over time.
This idea that they “earned” this when the money the get is being farmed off the backs of 20k employees.
We live in a country where we got the worlds largest GDP and the most ready to fight population of people ready to defend our country if someone wants to try us. and we got people like Jeff Bezos living in massive excessiveness while FAMILIES of people cant afford insulin or food or housing without government assistance programs and hand outs.
I mean its really no wonder why drugs are such an issue in the modern world, and people are doing shit all the time like walking into a place and killing your fucking children because theyre fucking sick.
This country BREEDS sickness. The hormone changing foods we eat. The garbage media we consume way to much of.
The sheltered life we have in dependency to the system being the norm and self sufficiency being a less sought after thing. People need to understand what freedom is. Sometimes it sucks.
But its way more liberating than this shallow illusionary world we created for ourselves. It dont even make sense to go out here and farm money like we do with our jobs, killing our bodies and our backs to MAINTAIN a life style when that money your working for is being PRINTED off a press by the trillions in our government. Its MAKE BELIEVE.
There is no backing to the value of our currency other than what we say its worth. Its just a catalyst to make way for modern slavery.
The type of slavery where the average slave doesn’t even see the shackles attached to them or they see it as a necessary inconvenience rather than what it is. Its a scam. Its a rigged game built to siphon the actual value of your life way from you. Money is nothing.
The value comes from skill and time.
The reason they created curency like money is because with this extra step in between, you can figure out ways to siphon it down without people knowing. I These companies use every dirty trick in the book to maximize profits.
Oh our employees want better pay, well just make everything we sell twice as expensive as to not take any cut to our current lifestyle.
This is why I was pushing back against minimum wage being increased to 15 an hour. Because this DOES NOTHING. People could do more with their money back when they made 1.35 an hour at minimum wage. The wage isn’t the problem its the scope of how much these companies WANT out of what they put in to a product or service. Its the fact that per hour of your time, you make less than half of what the same money could afford back when the world had a better capitalist balance going on before every motherfucker was exploiting every facet of every thing for maximum profits.
The average American doesn’t understand this concept of how they are stealing from you, while making it look like their giving you more when they aren’t.
The ONLY way to fix the issues is if these rich greedy cocksuckers decide one day that they are tired of being super duper rich and excessive, which has no chance of happening.
The people who hold the heys to the cookie jar are gonna dip into the most for themselves when nobody is looking.
That’s just human nature.
I do think that if people don’t mentally evolve enough to realize this entire system wand cultre we have is bogus and we dont need it at all to have everything we got, and keep working just like we have.
The only difference is, instead of working for selfish reason and necessity, people would work for others and out of wanting to serve the human race. Like if EVERYTHING was free..
I think people would still work. The only difference would be people wouldn’t settle for a job because they NEED money to eat, they’ll do shit they find more meaningful to them to do. It would actually probably IMPROVE the quality of work being done IF we just made it to where we operated as a community.
You like building houses ok, go build some hosues for people.
You know tech?
Okay go build tech or set it up for people. You know farming and food? Okay teach people how to be self sufficient and help them get set up. Society CAN function perfectly WITHOUT this idea of being in competition with each other and having more than the next guy.
That’s all that capitalism really is, its the idea of fuck the community I live in so I can get ahead of all of them and earn my status in society. And I don’t think capitalism is even the problem.
I think its just people. People are the ones who infest something and start corrupting it to be beneficial to themselves.
It doesn’t matter what system we call ourselves because people will always find a way to reach the top rungs of society in any society and they will begin to manipulate how society is from then on built, and they will most likely create it in a way where its unfairly exploiting one class of people sop another class can have more than they honestly need or deserve.
Communism wouldn’t fix it because that system is just as exploitable and manipulatable as capitalism and any other system controlled by human beings. I hope this all makes some sort of sense. people really need to fully wake up and we do need to throw this system overboard as a whole and we need to start restructuring society in a way where its beneficial to the human race equally.
I was representing the USA in an international table tennis (ping pong) tournament in Osaka, Japan. The night before, I wandered over to the tournament site to check it out. When there, I noticed a guy wearing a Chinese team jacket. They were and still are the best in the world. Being somewhat cocky, I went over and asked him if he would like to hit some. He did and we eventually played a best-of-three match. I was playing well and managed to eke out a win.
Back with my teammates I modestly mentioned that I had beaten a Chinese player. To my astonishment some skepticism was expressed. Being fed up, the next day I suggested to the most skeptical teammate that we stroll over to where the Chinese team was camped out. I didn’t see the player from last night, so I started talking to one of the other Chinese players. Finally I casually mentioned that I had won a match with one of his teammates. “Which one?” he asked.
“Well I… Oh there he is, walking over now.”
“Ah yes”, he said, “That’s Mr. Chen. He’s our cook.”
I had worked at the car dealership for a year when they decided to shift me from sales to service. It wasn’t what I wanted, but at least I still had a job.
The Saturday before my job changed, the service manager grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into his office. He then filled me in on his philosophy…
“I can’t stand having women working for me”, he said. “They have menstrual periods. They’re nothing but bitches for 3 weeks out of the month. They can’t make rational decisions. You can’t trust them.”
I just sat there, silently. He’d apparently decided that I would be replacing a woman who I had great respect for. She’d helped dozens of my customers, and they loved her. Nobody ever had a bad word to say about her.
I was floored at his attitude. He could think what he wanted, but by opening his mouth, he became a liability to the company. I have no idea why he felt the need to ”share” that with me.
Months later, I had to testify against him in an unlawful termination lawsuit brought about by that female employee. I don’t know what it cost the company, but I hope it was worth it to them.
My mother raised me by herself until I was about 5 years old, and I have nothing but respect for hard working women in the workplace.
With his unsolicited diatribe against women, he instantly lost my respect.
How to Leave the USA in Five Steps
I think this guy is a puke. However, his information is pretty good. Hold your nose and watch. -MM
The Western MSM have been forced to acknowledge that Russia has had a massive win against Ukraine and NATO by ensuring the 115 day long counter offensive with :-
14 Fresh Brigades – 56,000 NATO Trained troops
4 Fresh Divisions – 120,000 Ukrainian Reservists trained over 6 months in Ukraine from June to December 2022
116 NATO Tanks
440 Armored Vehicles
540 Soviet Era Tanks (T 62, T 72)
1.7 Million Artillery Shells 155 mm
Has been ground to dust
Literally
Only ONE BRIGADE the 71 UK Yeger is still left untouched
The Ukrainians have 258 out of 656 Tanks left
They have 190 out of 440 Armored Vehicles left
They have barely 200,000 Artillery shells left
They have lost in the last 115 days, around 44000 Men and another 27000 men have been seriously wounded and disabled for minimum one year from fighting
And what have they gained?
Exactly 152 Square Kilometers that too, territory still under Russian Offensive
That’s why the West are worried
That Russia of their imagination is a different Russia from this Vigorous fighting force
Apple corporate has decided that the newest Apple products would be supplied to China before the US market;
Price war to keep China users from switching (back) to Huawei mobile phones.
Obviously Apple sees a major Huawei challenge with the Mate 60 Pro and upcoming products, and sees that this market is key to Apple’s future, even if it has to sacrifice profits.
In many African countries, money changers effortlessly swap bundles of cash by the roadside, operating under the implicit but rock-solid assumption that they won’t be robbed. And we walk out of banks with wads of cash, sometimes on a tiny nylon or envelope. Such security measures are largely unnecessary.
Lawyers and signed agreements may be the norm elsewhere, but in many parts of Africa, your word is more valuable than gold. Break it, and you’ve essentially declared social bankruptcy. A broken promise doesn’t just tarnish your immediate reputation; it haunts you for life, impacting your relationships and prospects. I, for one, have family members I wouldn’t lend a penny to, much less enter a business deal with. All because they failed to uphold their word when it mattered.
In most Western cities, shoplifting is a perennial problem, and law enforcement often turns a blind eye. Not here. Young people aren’t emboldened by societal indifference. On the contrary, the idea of swiping even a candy bar sends shivers down their spines. In our world, retribution is swift and comes from the community itself. Misbehavior is universally scorned.
Kids don’t engage in senseless acts like random street attacks, burning of shops, or joyriding in someone else’s car. It’s not just the fear of punishment that deters them. Rather, it’s a collective societal understanding that these actions are fundamentally wrong. Our young people may admire your shiny sports car, but they’d rather beg you for money than dream of damaging or stealing it.
Respect is in our DNA. Children back-talking their parents happens rarely and is frowned upon. We quickly give up our seats to older people and pregnant women without being asked. Titles like Sir, Ma’am, Daddy, and Aunty aren’t just terms of address; they’re badges of honor for the wisdom that comes with age. We greet older people by bowing or semi-kneeling. Communities act as a self-regulating mechanism, making certain transgressions practically unthinkable.
Violent acts like public shootings of innocent people remain alien to us, not because we’re oblivious to the global mental health crisis, but because the fabric of our communities simply doesn’t allow such chaos to unfold.
While discussions around the treatment of women in Africa often lean toward the negative, there’s another side to the coin. Any man who dared to raise a hand against a woman in the presence of people would swiftly face communal justice even before the police arrived. Spectators don’t stand back to dial emergency numbers, we make the fight ours.
The Magic isn’t necessarily in governmental laws or policing. It’s in the unwritten code of conduct, the communal upbringing that checks our moral compasses and teaches us to respect one another.
U.S Hold Top Secret Talks With China in Malta! U.S Beg China
September 22, 2023
American plans are turning to shit, quickly. Actions must be taken. Can China bend a little to help out the Biden Administration?
“It would be wonderful should the United States regain some measure of sanity again! Then we in the rest of the world may be able to breathe again without the thought of forever war and death intruding in our dreams only to become nightmares.”
So a group of angry Afghans pretended to be PRO US and requested a few marines to help them and abducted them
They proceeded to skin the marines alive literally and chop them into pieces and cook them
They then wanted to feed this to the other marines
However there was a road block and the truck was abandoned and the men saw the huge container that was full of some flesh
They soon DNA tested and found it was human remains , cooked meat of their comrades
The remaining Marines were so frightened that they were relieved immediately to stateside and took treatment for mental shock
This was related to a Congressional Committee in the late Obama era when the issue was declassified to justify keeping Guantanamo
The Taliban and the Islamic fundamentalists are the only mortals who can defeat the USA and bring them to their knees
Russia has missiles, China has missiles
No use
The Fundamentalists have a nice 14 year old boy who befriends a majors son, becomes a close friend and them calmly plunges a dagger into the kids heart and smiles as he waits for deliverance
Invincible!!
Sad but true
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED to the USA! (REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK)
“I’m an American ex-pat who has been living overseas for 35 years. I try to fly to the States at least every other year (with the exception of the Corona-lockdown years), and I always get the reverse culture shock. I think what shocks me most is the huge increase in homelessness and drug addiction, as well as the political polarization. Back in the 80s, you could discuss politics with others, even if you didn’t agree, and in the end you stayed friends.”
When I was about fourteen years old I was walking home, at about 8 PM, through a local park in The Bronx when three boys from the gang that came from an adjacent neighborhood appeared. It was about dusk. I knew I was in trouble. As things were getting tense for me, Ronnie appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Ronnie and I attended the same public school from grades K to 6. In 2nd grade the teacher had me sit next to Ronnie. The seats were arranged in three rows of two. Each pair were adjacent. Ronnie was a slow learner. I taught him to read that year. We became friends…only in that class as we didn’t live “near” each other and didn’t have much in common. In those days, near was within 2 city blocks. For seventh grade I was sent to another school and I hadn’t seen Ronnie for two years.
Ronnie was short but he had bulked up a bit and had taken up boxing. I had lost track of him. As he stood next to me facing the three boys, it became clear as what was going to happen as Ronnie took a step closer to the other boys and slightly in front of me. They all took a step back. And then walked away.
Ronnie and I said the mandatory “Good to see yous”, walked a couple of hundred feet together and said. “see ya.”*
*A couple of years later I heard that Ronnie had become a Golden Gloves boxer and had done OK.
Bacon-Wrapped Filet Steaks Topped with Roasted Garlic Butter
fm148
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
12 large garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
Kosher salt
3 1/2 teaspoons chopped chives
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
4 (6 to 7 ounce) filet steaks, about 1 inch thick
4 very thin slices of lean bacon
6 inch wooden skewers or toothpicks, soaked in water for 10 minutes and patted dry
Instructions
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place peeled garlic and olive oil in 1-cup, ovenproof ramekin, soufflé dish or custard cup. Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and place in oven. Roast on center rack until garlic is golden and very tender and soft when pierced with knife, about 30 minutes (start checking cloves after 20 minutes and then every 5 minutes until done).
With slotted spoon, remove garlic from bowl and reserve oil. Place garlic, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the reserved oil, butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt in food processor or blender and process, pulsing machine on and off for 30 seconds or less until garlic is coarsely chopped and blended with butter and oil. Transfer garlic butter to small bowl and stir in 2 teaspoons of the chives. (Garlic butter can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes before ready to use.)
When ready to cook steaks, oil a grill rack and prepare grill.
In small bowl, stir together 1 teaspoon kosher salt, coarsely ground black pepper and thyme. Rub both sides of each filet with some of this seasoning. Then wrap each steak around its sides with 1 slice of bacon. Skewer bacon in place with wooden skewer or with 2 to 3 wooden picks.
Grill steaks until lightly charred on the outside and until bacon is cooked, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare.
When done, remove steaks from fire and place on warm serving plate. Remove toothpicks.
Top each steak with 1 generous pat of roasted garlic butter and sprinkle with some of remaining chives. Butter will start to melt and season the steaks.
Back in the 1960’s, oh about 1966 or so, we used to read comic books. All of us kids did that. We would read Archie comix, and Richie Rich comix, and war comixs. SO many different kinds of comic books.
And at the back of these comix were advertisements that catered to us young kids. Boys and girls.
6a012875a9fd84970c0154348093f0970c 600wi
One of the advertisements was an “ant farm”. This consisted of two plates of clear plastic with sand between, and a ant colony trapped in the middle. You could go and watch the ants create their little rooms and passages in this tiny little world that they were trapped in.
Now, my friend “Dino” who lived across the street from me got one of those toys. And sure as shit, he would allow the farm to grow big, with all sorts of rooms, and what not.
ant farm
And when the little tiny ant kingdom seemed to be well and functioning, he would pick it up and shake it vigorously. Thus destroying all the work those poor little ants put into it.
And they would start from scratch all over again.
Ugh!
We as boys, thought it was fun to do, and then we would lay the plastic ant farm on the table and then go outside to play and adventure throughout the day. Totally forgetting about what we had done to those ants.
…
I wonder…
If our “prison planet” existence is something like this. Where some other beings torture us, as a kind of intergalactic pastime. That they enjoy periodically. Then move on-wards to better experiences.
I sure did. I bought a house when I had gone thru a divorce in a nice neighborhood with a lot of retired people. Retired people are the best, free security system ever. One man would see me working in the yard and would always come help me. He might bring a tool to make the job easier or just help with heavy work. He asked me what all I was trying to get done in the yard, so I told him a list of things off the top of my head. He took it upon himself to come over while I was at work and finish some of the projects on my list. His yard was immaculate so I guess he was very nice and a little bored. I’d come home to rocks moved around, plants dug up, etc. Nothing not on my list. Occasionally I’d find a new hanging plant. He and his wife kind of adopted me. So I take care of them at Christmas and birthdays. It’s been awesome.
What changed in the US-China relationship that is pushing the two countries closer to war?
No one seems to know. Readers who follow developments in China closely, know that relations between the two superpowers have grown increasingly strained in the last few years. But while the US has taken a more hostile approach to China, no one seems to know why. Was there something in particular that China did that angered Washington leading to the imposition of economic sanctions, technology blockades and military provocations in the Taiwan Strait?
No, there’s no indication that China did anything. What changed was Washington’s approach to China. And—as you’ll see—Washington’s approach changed very quickly and very dramatically. China went from friend to foe almost overnight.
Here’s why.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US maintained a policy of engagement with China that accelerated its development and transformed the country into the main engine of global growth. In December, 2001, China was granted “most-favored-nation”(MFN) status which was followed shortly after by its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). These developments allowed China to access western markets which turned China into a manufacturing center for US multinationals like Nike, Apple and Dell. China’s opening also triggered a surge of foreign investment which pumped up growth while strengthening its financial assets and bond market. In short, US policy laid the groundwork for the “Chinese miracle” which set the stage for a great power conflict with the US.
No other country in the world is more responsible for China’s meteoric rise than the United States. Now, however, the foreign policy establishment has decided that it doesn’t like its own creation. It doesn’t like the fact that China took advantage of the opportunities it was given to transform itself into a peer competitor of the United States. It doesn’t like the fact that China’s economy is growing more than twice as fast as America’s and is set to surpass the US within the decade. It doesn’t like the fact that China is building a 21st century, state-of-the-art infrastructure grid that will economically integrate a large part of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia into the world’s biggest free trade zone. It doesn’t like the fact that China’s expansive economic/political strategy will inevitably replace the “rules-based international order” with a Chinese-led system in which the renminbi is the world’s reserve currency and China’s financial markets are the largest and most liquid in the world. America’s foreign policy establishment is not happy about any of these developments especially since it is largely responsible for all of them.
Don’t get me wrong; the Chinese are intelligent, resourceful, creative, and industrious people. And the Chinese Communist Party has played a critical role in lifting 800 million people out of poverty while steering the nation’s economy towards unprecedented growth and prosperity.
But if China was not given access to western markets and entered into the WTO, there would be no Chinese miracle and no Chinese superpower today. Those opportunities were the result of widely-supported policies that were endorsed almost-universally by US foreign policy elites. So, if Washington now regrets having supported those policies, it can only blame itself. Here’s some more background from foreign policy expert John Mearsheimer:
During the Cold War and under the policy of President Nixon, the U.S. decided to engage China and form a quasi-alliance with China against the Soviet Union. That made eminently good sense. And Nixon was correct to help the Chinese economy grow, for the more powerful China became, the more effective it was as a deterrent partner against the Soviet Union. However, once the Cold War ended in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the U.S. no longer needed China to help contain the Soviet Union.
What we foolishly did was pursue a policy of engagement, which was explicitly designed to help China grow more powerful economically. Of course, as China grew economically, it translated that economic might into military might, and the U.S., as a consequence of this foolish policy of engagement, helped to create a peer competitor.
My bottom line is that the Nixon-Kissinger policy, from the early 1970s up until the late 1980s, made eminently good sense. But, after that, engagement was a colossal strategic blunder….
The U.S. was not only expecting China to grow more powerful—it was purposely helping China to grow more powerful. It was doing this based on the assumption that China would become a democracy over time and therefore would become a responsible stakeholder in an American-led international order.
Of course, that didn’t happen. China did not become a democracy. And China, in effect, has set out to establish hegemony in Asia and challenge the U.S. around the planet. We now have a new Cold War.” U.S. engagement with China a ‘strategic blunder’: Mearsheimer, Nikkei
2023 09 22 09 20x
While I agree with most of what Mearsheimer says, I strongly disagree with the notion that US leaders were genuinely concerned about China becoming a democracy. Nor does democracy explain why US policy changed from mutually-beneficial engagement to open hostility. What Mearsheimer fails to acknowledge is that the western economies are controlled by an oligarchy of elites who have been unable to make any significant inroads into the Chinese government’s power-structure. This is not because the Chinese government is ostensibly “communist”, but because Chinese leaders are strongly nationalistic and determined to maintain China’s own sovereign independence against the onslaught of western elites. In other words, the emerging confrontation with China is a power-struggle between the WEF globalist cabal and Chinese nationalists.
In any event, China is not responsible for the strained relations that exist today. The hostility and provocations are all coming from the United States which is trying to undo the damage it did by implementing policies that ran counter to its own national interests. In short, the Biden administration is trying to reverse 30 years of failed policy by doing an about-face and then blaming it on China. It’s a classic “bait and switch” operation. Here’s more from Mearsheimer:
As time has shown, the engagement strategy was a failure. The Chinese economy has made an unprecedented leap forward, but the country has not transformed itself into a liberal democracy or “a responsible glass holder (a player interested in maintaining the current international order).” On the contrary, Chinese leaders see liberal values as a threat to their country’s stability. And they, as the leaders of the rising powers usually do, have a tough foreign policy. We must admit that economic involvement was a colossal strategic mistake. Kurt Campbell and Eli Ratner – two former Obama administration officials who admitted that engagement had failed and those in the Biden administration today – write: “Washington is now facing the most dynamic and formidable contender in modern history.” (U.S. engagement with China a ‘strategic blunder’: Mearsheimer, Nikkei)
The question that immediately arises is: If engagement was such “a colossal strategic mistake” then why did it take 30 years to figure it out? With a population that is 4 times the size of the US and GDP growing at roughly 9% for 2 decades, it should have been fairly obvious that China was going to be bigger and more powerful than the US in the not-too-distant future. And yet everyone in the political establishment pretended not to see what was right beneath their noses.
That’s shocking. And what’s even more shocking is the remedy our leaders have settled on to maintain their current advantage in the global order. They intend to do everything in their power to sabotage China’s economic development. This aligns perfectly with Mearsheimer’s observation that “the only opportunity that can change the dynamics is a dramatic crisis undermining China’s unrelenting growth.” And that explains what’s going on today, the Biden administration is making a concerted effort to target the vulnerable sectors of the Chinese economy and inflict as much damage as possible via sanctions, blockades and supplyline disruption. We expect that this economic war on China will gradually intensify in the next few years along with new provocations in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. If Mearsheimer’s analysis is correct, then we are still in the early rounds of a hybrid war that will undoubtedly drag on for years to come.
So, when did it occur to our foreign policy geniuses that fueling China’s growth might actually hurt US prospects for the future?
2023 09 22 09 20z
We don’t know the specific date, but it looks like sometime around 2017 the elite consensus that supported engagement began to fall apart as more and more people became aware of the policy’s shortcomings. Check out this comment by the Financial Times associate editor Martin Wolf who explains how quickly western elites turned against China:
I think what is happening is that western policymakers and above all, American policymakers have decided that the rise of China is a major strategic threat. And this has several dimensions. One of these is that the left of center has come to the view that “Well, they are never going to become a democracy as we thought they would, and that is problematic. We don’t like that.” But the bigger element—which is the view of the strategic community and quite a large part of the corporate community—is that “These people (China) are a serious threat. They have immense resources, the defense build up is quite substantial, and they getting are ahead technologically in some very important areas, and we are far too dependent upon them….. They see the interdependence on China as frightening, and this paranoia has now become a dominant element in American thinking…. And it has shifted very quickly and very much across the board in America although we are now seeing it in Europe as well. A paper was recently released by the German Industrial Confederation which basically said, “You know the Chinese technology policy; it’s a threat to Germany.” This is a big change and it’s happened quite recently.”China: Friend or Foe?, You Tube, 12: 35 minute
So, according to Wolf, overall views on China among foreign policy elites changed very quickly and very dramatically. (Wolf’s account is similar to many other elites who tell the same story.) Engagement was increasingly seen as damaging to western interests, and the search for a different approach began. What Wolf fails to tell us is what it was that convinced foreign policy mandarins that China had become “major strategic threat”? Was it due to the CCP’s increasingly activist oversight of foreign corporations or the Communist Party’s refusal to implement reforms of their massive State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) or did it have something to do with China’s impressive strides in advanced technology that put the future of AI and supercomputing up-for-grabs?
What was it?
While we can’t answer that question with 100% certainty, we can make an educated guess.
2023 09 22 09 19
In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping launched his signature infrastructure program called the Belt and Road Initiative, which is a vast, multi-continent development strategy that is the most expensive and expansive infrastructure program of all time. The BRI has already garnered commitments from more than 150 nations representing 75% of the global population. The stated goal of the project is “to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future.” In fact, the project does all of that and much more. The BRI will improve ports, skyscrapers, railroads, roads, bridges, airports, dams, coal-fired power stations, and railroad tunnels. It will create a vast spiderweb of cutting-edge high-speed rail that will lower the cost of shipping while boosting the profits of manufacturers and wholesalers. The BRI projects a vision of a fully-integrated 21st century world in which Beijing lies at the very epicenter of global commerce. This is why the US and its allies—who are the staunch defenders of an archaic, extractive model of neoliberal capitalism—are prepared to do whatever-it-takes to derail China’s development and prevent this futuristic plan from going forward. Here’s how Sir Malcolm Rifkind, politician and former cabinet minister, summed up the significance of the BRI in a recent discussion of China on You Tube:
“I think if we’re going to look years ahead, I think the most important thing is the potential relevance of the Belt and Road Initiative to the relationship of Europe and China. For a thousand years, Europe and China have had to have contact with each other through the sea lanes. That huge central Asian landmass was, like the Atlantic Ocean- a barrier. What is happening now; and if we look 5, 10, 15 years ahead—already freight trains are going from China to western Europe in increasing numbers in both directions. So, what that means is, Europe and China could be looking directly at each other in a way that Europe and North America were able to do because of air travel and because the Atlantic became a bridge. That would be a historic change regardless of the politics China and Europe looking directly at each other and trading with each other in that way. That would have massive implications.” China: Friend or Foe? You Tube, 1:21:10 min
Rifkind is right. The opening of transit corridors and freight lines between China and Europe are “the most important thing” because they draw the continents closer together into a giant free trade zone which will inevitably increase their mutual power and prosperity while leaving the US on the outside looking in. This is why the Biden administration is so determined to make sure the BRI does not become a reality. Keep in mind, the primary foreign policy objective of the United States is “to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.” The vast expansion of China’s Belt and Road across the Eurasian landmass and linking European capitals to Beijing and Shanghai, definitely fit that description and qualify China as Washington’s mortal enemy.
China’s leaders still believe that they can reach an accommodation with Washington that will help to avoid a direct confrontation. But Washington’s red lines have already been crossed and there’s bound to be trouble ahead.
*
Note to readers: Please click the share button above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
This article was originally published on The Unz Review.
Italy Foreign Minister Visited China to Get Free From the US’s Rule Over Europe!
Italy Foreign Minister Visited China to Get Free From the US’s Rule Over Europe!
For the U.S. to decide this Chip Act it must have been debated at length by hordes of parties and institutions including dozens of companies in the U.S. and throughout US allies.
Why?
Well simple. The repercussions are simply gigantic and colossal if indeed this act fail. It will cause trillions upon trillions of dollars lost over time. At least a hundred U.S. and its cronies chip firms may simply go out of business all together.
Worst is that this is the last thing the US can do to stop and contained China if this fails, that will be the end of US hegemony in technology. So for the U.S. to take this measure is like putting everything at stake into this one act. Billions has to be spend to build a plants in the U.S. that hinge on China’s failure to counter act. Billions need to be spend to protect and subsidise these hundreds of firms in case it fail.
Countries whose livelihoods depend on this precise technology and business to survive and thrive have to be bribed and coerce to cut out China. These bribes probably run in the trillions of dollars figures.
And all these hinge on one and only one assumption. That is China will not be able to design, make and manufacture this high end chips for at least a generation! If this assumption fail to materialised then the U.S. will be thoroughly fxxked for a generation and it will forever not able to compete with China.
In other words, there is absolutely no room at all for failure. Failure means China will now totally controlled every aspect of Chip making technologies from materials, to designing, to developing , to mass producing in the billions. And it will do it at a fraction of the costs of doing it in the U.S. which simply means the total implosion of all the U.S. chip firms!
So after a mere 3 years China did precisely what the U.S. fears most. Their worst fears has come true. The Chinese simply do not need a single technology from the U.S. and its cronies to launched this 5NM chip capable of 5G and satellite communications which also means there is zero possibility for the U.S. to hack it. 150 million orders have been placed and 40 million orders has been fulfilled in a mere 20 days from its launch.
This Huawei Mate 60 series including the Mate 5X is such a blow to the U.S. For a start the U.S. already lost 3 billion in profit had they not banned themselves from selling to China and up to a few trillion dollars have been wiped off the stock values of these chip firms from 27th August till now. The melt down will carry on and on and on till the U.S. economy collapse all together. We in the rest of the world call this Karma.
The Baptist and Deeply Religious Bible Group Lobby
The Selective Immigration Lobby
This Block mainly support Republicans and like a White Majority to be in charge of the country and preferably like straight men who stick to the gender they were born with
Fox News, Newsmax, Rush Limbaugh (Late), Lou Dobbs are sponsored by this Lobby
Block 2 consists of :-
Big Tech (Google, Meta, Amazon)
The Gun control lobby
The Freedom of Choice Lobby
The Anti DOMA Lobby
The Freely Agnostic, Atheist or Freethinker Lobby
The Pro Migrant Lobby
This block mainly supports Liberal Democrats, like minorities to be ostensibly in charge and have a fascination with Gay people and Transgenders and LGBTQ agenda
All MSM, Whoopi Goldberg, Seth Myers, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon are all sponsored by this lobby
Block 3 also called the TRUMP Block consists of :-
Donald J Trump
Friends of Donald J Trump
Russian Naturalized Citizens in US
East European Naturalized US Citizens
Indian Migrants outside California
The Trade Lobby
US Steel Lobby
Any Group that likes protectionism
Law Enforcement Lobby of 31 States
Blue Collar White Males with High School Diplomas
This Block liases with Republicans and has an uneasy alliance with the Republicans as it hates the democrats more
Tucker Carlson, Jimmy Dore, NTG are
Ultimately no matter who comes to power, there are two groups who have the last word in how the US must react :-
Wall Street
The Military Industrial Complex Or Defense Manufacturers / Contractors
Nobody can cross these two groups in US
These Two Groups give instructions through their tame organizations like
National Endowment of Democracy
WEF
The NEOCON think tanks
Trump, Biden, Obama – they need an OK from these two powerful groups and their tame organizations, or they will be unable to do anything
This Senile Old Man probably needs to be told when it’s time to change his diapers
He is a total puppet controlled by the Neocons
Pennsylvania Dutch Brown Butter Noodles
This is a delicious side dish to a pot roast, fried chicken, baked ham, or pork chop dinner. In true Pennsylvania Dutch style, serve with a side of fresh cottage cheese topped with apple butter!
Pennsylvania Dutch Brown Butter Noodles
Ingredients
Wide egg noodles
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Instructions
Cook wide egg noodles according to package directions, in the amount needed. As the noodles are cooking, melt butter (1 tablespoon per person/serving) in a small skillet and allow the butter to brown lightly (do not burn!). Drain noodles well, place in serving bowl and toss with the hot browned butter. If desired, add a small amount of salt and pepper.
One time my partner and I stopped a vehicle that cut off another vehicle and made a right turn into oncoming traffic. I approached the driver and was immediately told that I had no right to stop him and that I better be careful and to choose my words carefully.
So I slowly said “ Sir, I stopped you for illegal lane change, illegal right turn and impeding the flow of traffic, did you understand the words that I just spoke to you?
He proceeded to tell me that he was a Los Angeles City Councilman and that if I “ gave him any shit, he would have my job.”
I explained that I needed to see his operators license, proof of insurance and registration.
Mr. Councilman stated that he already told me who he was and that he didn’t have to show me anything. I explained to him that I was going to be exceptionally nice to him and politely ask him one more time, but if he was not going to comply with the lawfull instructions from a sworn police officer he would be arrested, period.
He actually said that I didn’t have the balls to “ try “ to arrest him for a vehicle code violation.
I then reverted to my interactions with my 4 year old son.
I said I’m going to count to 3, and if he was not going to comply he absolutely would be going to jail and also that I would be impounding his vehicle. He again refused and he went to jail and didn’t pass go, his vehicle was impounded and all was good in the world.
My favorite scene from “The Sixth Sense”
“I think why this scene is so powerful is because everyone can relate to having lost someone in their life and have that desire to know that they made some kind of positive impact on the lost ones life.”
I was in Scotland on holiday with my husband in May 2023. We were on the Isle of Skye and had stopped in at a remote cafe for breakfast. Behind us in the queue was a lady whose face was so familiar I was sure I knew her really well.
I was wracking my brains trying to remember if I’d worked with her, or if she was a friend of a friend. She was so familiar! I whispered to my husband that I was sure I knew her and he agreed that he’d recognised her too.
I finally decided to just ask her if we’d met before, and where. She looked at me and gently said: “No, we’ve never met. But I’m an actress so we’ve probably spent some time together but just not in person.”
It was Frances McDormand. A real REAL actress- not just a movie star. And then she introduced us to her husband, Joel Coen.
She was so utterly charming, I was fangirling so hard.
I can’t think of a lovelier way to tell someone they’ve made a mistake.
I am Egyptian. Arranged marriages are common here. And don’t get me wrong I actually really like them when done right. They are very close to the concept of blind dating.
However, sometimes you’ll get terrible suitors with no social intelligence. And yes guys there are Arab men who are way more decent than these not-so-bright ones. Take some examples:-
A friend of mine sat with a suitor for the first time and the chat was actually pretty decent. But before he left he looked at her and said “but if you want to get married to me, don’t you think you should lose some weight?”. He was immediately out of the picture from that second. Not only are you trying to change someone on the first time you met them, but you also have no social intelligence to know what should and should not be said.
Another friend of mine sat with a very rigid man. He told her “listen, starting off, I noticed several things about you that I cannot accept in a wife: 1- I noticed that your clothes need to be looser. 2- I heard you travelled with your friends several times before, I believe travelling is a waste of time unless necessary and I don’t like you travelling without me. 3- you mentioned something about having separate accounts? A man and his wife should be one. So one account is a must. 4- I know you’ve been working for years but I prefer that my wife doesn’t work. She politely went through the date and never got back to him. Who does he think he is again?
When my cousin proposed to his current wife, he told her that he actually saw her before but definitely didn’t want to propose because she looked a little darker than he likes a woman to be, but thankfully that time it was just the lighting and she’s not as dark as he thought so here he is ! And yet she still married him. For me, he would’ve been a goner. What will you do if I get tanned in a vacation? If I get a burn on my face one day? Divorce me? Meh.
Lesson of the day : never try to change someone or comment on their appearance (unless positively) on the first date !
China refuses to allow DJI drones to deliver $6 billion in penalties to the US!
Over recent years, the United States has ramped up sanctions against various sectors of China’s industry, including the booming drone sector.
DJI, the leading Chinese drone manufacturer, now faces staggering fines totaling $840 million, along with demands for access to its core source code.
This controversy has not only sparked resentment in China but also raised questions about the U.S.’s approach to China’s technological advancements.
These sanctions are more than just punitive measures; they reflect the United States’ concerns and competitiveness in China’s thriving drone manufacturing industry.
As drones play an increasingly crucial role in modern warfare, tensions have escalated.
However, DJI’s dominance in the global drone market is rooted in its own innovation, not the misappropriation of U.S. technology.
Unlike us mere mortals, Warren Buffett actually reads company financial statements. Even more than that, he understands them. Surprisingly, he’s not big on what lawyers call “due diligence”, where you have a team of accountants and lawyers look at the company to see if they’re hiding anything because, over his years of experience, Buffett has learned that companies always hide their weaknesses in plain sight.
The “Buffet Way” is to go over a company’s public information and then put a question mark next to anything that looks weird. Other people do that too, but then they start asking questions of the company’s management. Buffett doesn’t do that – if there are too many question marks he just stops looking at the company. Plenty of companies to invest in. He’s usually right too.
So, what does he mean by “value”? Well, throughout Buffett’s career, his favourite companies tend not to be “growth companies” or “the next hot technology”. Frankly, unless Buffett fully understands the company’s products and business model, those are both massive question marks and he would rather not risk Berkshire-Hathaway’s money on them. Instead, Buffett has always preferred companies with lots of revenue that are consistently profitable. I remember reading one of his annual reports where he explained why he bought a company that made chocolates – it had consistent revenue and profits, and had a good management team and workforce. Sold.
Now, HP has been in business forever and has often been at the forefront of technology, but lately it has settled down to produce everyday products for consumers instead of specialty products for engineers. It sells a lot of stuff (at wholesale, it’s not a retailer), has a good team of management and engineers, and can be found at both the high and low ends of the market. It has good revenues and profits.
Naturally, most investors ignore HP because its stock price is pretty steady. That’s not a problem for Buffett. He thinks that many stocks of profitable solid companies are undervalued. He bases a stock’s price on its fundamentals, how much it sells, what it’s profit is, and how much it spends on ongoing research and development. In other words, he’s not buying HP’s stock because he thinks it’s going to go way up. He’s buying it because based on its current price, he thinks the share price will keep up with inflation and still have money left over for shareholders.
And he may be right. I bought two HP laptops this year. My printer is HP. My three old computers are HP.
You didn’t necessarily need to be a criminal to receive this punishment. This punishment was meant for vagrants and undesirable people. The punishment was called the tramp chair.
The Tramp chair was invented by Sanford Baker in 1885, and it was designed for towns that were too small for the Jails or for towns that couldn’t afford to build one.
The undesirables as they were known would be locked in the cage as an encouragement to move along. The people being punished were sometimes stripped naked before being locked in the chair, leaving the person to deal with the thick and sometimes rusty bars heating and cooling depending on the temperature outside.
They were even paraded around town to be subjected to harassment and cruel taunts from the public. They would then be wheeled to the edge of town to be released and foisted to the next town.
The Last of Us | Episode 1 | Fungus Pandemic Takeover Explained Perfectly
The gradual shift from amusement to horror on the TV host’s face is just so damn perfect, that scene in particular sends chills up my spine.
Jonathan Stern，I noticed that you don’t understand the military strength of the United States.
Iran’s strength is weak, but the United States dare not blockade the Strait of Hormuz.
Only by understanding oneself and the enemy can we win war.
For decades, the United States has attacked many weak countries. This makes you think that the United States can attack any country on Earth without retaliation. The United States can attack China’s Three Gorges Dam, and China can also retaliate and attack New York, rather than attacking the US warships.
Think about it, can China attack New York City after the United States attacks China’s Three Gorges Dam?
Large numbers of Chinese people could start getting themselves addicted to heroin and fentanyl and dying from overdose.
The China cops could start stepping on citizens necks in the streets or choking them to death or shooting them 12 times in the back for minor offences.
Families could quarrel and argue and split up over differences in political beliefs.
Hate groups could be allowed to spring up and flourish and spread their hate, on the basis that they are exercising their freedom of speexh.
China could let its school standards in math and science deteriorate badly.
China could stop providing universal healthcare to its citizens and make essential medical services very expensive for its people.
China could allow free and easy access to guns for all, and improve its chances of having numerous mass shootings occur each month.
It could choose senile octagenarians or outright criminals to be its leader.
China could deny birth control and abortions to its women and girls.
Instead of building more homes, schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure, it could buy more and more deadly missiles and bombs and mines and use them in wars on foreign soil, faraway from itself.
Well, that would be a very strong start.
Your soul belongs to God Bedazzled
Great scene.
“This scene is so powerful, just by looking at him and the friendliness of his voice, where he states that despite your mistakes everything is going to be just fine. This is by far the greatest interpretation of God I’ve ever seen, makes me happy to have witnessed it :)”
The landlord was this old witch in Ardwick Manchester.
She had a perfect set of furniture which she would move in and take photos of and develop them (this was still the age of paper photographs).
She would then move the furniture out and put some cheapo chipboard furniture into the house.
I took photos of these with time and date stamps.
She was an awful landlord and would always let herself in and root through our stuff. Absolutely nothing was repaired ever and I am almost certain she would steal money locked in our rooms. It was a shared house so when one of us had a day off and slept late she’d walk in on one of us sleeping and make excuses.
When the contract ended we decided to leave.
She of course kept the deposit because of significant damage to the furniture.
I showed my photographs she showed hers. This was back before deposit protection schemes so it went to the small claims court to get the house deposit back. She played the I’m an innocent old woman and these young men are scum.
She won, we lost. She kept the deposit.
The Ukrainian guy who lived with us didn’t like that at all. He went to Do it All bought a big lump hammer and caused massive structural damage to the house and went home to Kiev a couple days later.
Well, this is a prime example of the fog of war descending on America.
By forcing Huawei to cut ties with former partners, Huawei went dark, at least to the US government and foreign corporations vulnerable to US sanctions.
This is a problem America created, for America to solve.
The key pieces are all domestic mainland players who are sanction-resistant, or already under sanction. The US can certainly up the pressure and throw the kitchen sink at them, but they will not willingly divulge information based on a “query” by Americans.
You want it that way, you can have it.
Before 2018/19, the electronics industry was centered around East Asia, and people knew what the competition was working on, more or less, because the supply chain (and talent) was shared. Next-gen Apple and Google features were leaked months in advance, and many were right on the money.
But Donald the Orange changed all that.
Mainland players went dark, as multiple rounds of sanction tore up the eco-system for good.
It’s a brave new world, and there is a lot more uncertainty in the air ex-China, because the biggest unanswered questions are, what’s my Chinese competitors working on, and how is my largest market going to evolve? Remember, the Chinese government has mostly parried, and the Chinese will overwhelmingly buy Chinese once competitive domestic options come to market.
The electronics business is one with incredibly high bars for sunk cost, and mistakes can be very expensive, if not fatal.
The Chinese though, retain excellent business intelligence, because the major players are all represented in the industrial chain.
Good luck to the blind fighting the sighted, even if the spears are a little longer, and the swords sharper… for now.
This is not correct that it always happens, but instead of pointing out instances of this being wrong, because Russia eventually lost, or because Russia actually rolled their enemies right away, I will tell you why Russia has an affinity for this kind of warfare.
The answer is geography. Russia is an immense country, and even if most people live in the western regions it confers massive advantages. For example, Russia can hide things, even with modern intelligence gathering, Russia is so big, that yes you can take satellite images of all of Russia, but by the time that you analyze them things could have changed. For this reason many of Russia’s ICBMs are near invulnerable, as they are moved around Siberia on trucks, making it nearly impossible to have an accurate picture of where they actually are.
Historically, Russia has time on its side. Why? Because it has ample space to recover from defeats. Most enemies only ever fight a portion of Russia, with the rest of Russia supporting the economic efforts. If you advance 600km into Russia you will certainly hurt it, but you will have quite a bit more to go. If you advance 600km into Germany, you’re now in France.
As such, history is very forgiving to the country in Europe with the most natural resources, largest population, and most amount of room for failure. Russia can at least partially recover from nearly any initial failure militarily. This gives them time to adapt to what ever caused their initial defeat, and reverse the outcome of the war, provided they have the will to do so over the particular issue. Other countries have the ability to do this, but rarely the time. For a small country, a defeat is usually decisive and they get no second chances.
The Sopranos || Fix You
The Sopranos is still the best written show to this date. Game of Thrones does some things better, The Wire does some things better, Breaking Bad does some things better, Mad Men does some things better, but The Sopranos takes the cake in terms of character interactions and making real lifelike characters. The Sopranos has more profound characters/character relationships than any show I’ve seen, and in my opinion characters are the most important part of a TV show, so it’s the GOAT no doubt. Plus the fact that it’s the foundation for HBO, TV dramas, and the “anti-hero.” The Sopranos is #1 all-time in my opinion.
Taiwan’s TSMC, which is making an unprecedented push into chip manufacturing overseas, is taking an increasingly optimistic view of Japan as a production base, two industry sources said, as problems persist at its new factory in Arizona.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is frustrated in Arizona, the sources said, where it has struggled to recruit workers for the gruelling chipmaking trade and faced pushback from unions on efforts to bring in workers from Taiwan.
The company has growing confidence in Japan, where an $8.6 billion fab under construction in a chipmaking hub on the island of Kyushu is on track to start producing mature-technology chips in 2024, the sources said.
While keen to ensure a smooth ramp up at the first fab, the chipmaker is considering adding capacity and a second fab in Japan, the sources said, which could include the production of more advanced chips.
Several chip industry sources spoke to Reuters about TSMC’s view of Japan and its global expansion on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Successful expansion by TSMC in Japan could give a boost to efforts by the country to regain its lost status as a chip manufacturing powerhouse and support its automotive and electronics industries amid growing regional competition.
TSMC said in a statement its overseas expansion depends on factors including the needs of customers, the level of government support and cost considerations.
In Arizona, TSMC plans to produce advanced chips but a shortage of skilled workers has forced the company to push back production at its first fab by a year to 2025.
“Any project… will have some learning curve. In the past five months the improvement has been tremendous,” TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said of the Arizona project last week.
Fabs in the U.S., Japan and Germany, where it is also expanding, are “inherently incomparable” due to differences in location, setup and scope, TSMC said.
NATURAL FIT
The U.S., Japan and Germany have offered TSMC billions of dollars in subsidies for it to localise production in efforts to diversify the supply of chips, which are essential to the defence, automotive and electronics industries.
The $40 billion investment in Arizona allows TSMC to add capacity outside Taiwan, where it faces constraints on land, power, water and labour.
But the company views Japan as a more natural fit in terms of work culture, and its government is easy to deal with and generous with subsidies, the sources said.
“The relationship between TSMC and the Japanese government is mutually beneficial,” said Lucy Chen, an analyst at Isaiah Research.
Japan’s advantages for the chipmaker include its network of chip equipment and materials suppliers, similarities in work culture and proximity to Taiwan, she added.
TSMC sees workers in Japan, which is known for long hours and strong commitment to employers, as more willing to work a punishing schedule with overtime as chipmaking machines run around the clock in sterile clean rooms, the sources said.
“A lot of machines cannot be shut down because it costs TSMC to recalibrate on rebooting,” said a chip industry executive.
It is only a two-hour flight to Kyushu, where TSMC is partnering with companies including Sony, a leading maker of image sensors.
Taiwanese workers arriving to help set up the fab are welcome, and the chipmaker will pay higher wages to secure local employees as it competes with rivals such as foundry venture Rapidus, the sources said.
“It seems to us that TSMC is really positive about investment in Japan,” said a senior official at the powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which has offered subsidies worth up to 476 billion yen ($3.23 billion) for the first fab.
“We will really welcome the second fab project in general but we have to see the detail first,” the official said.
While many equipment and materials makers already have global operations, to meet its exacting standards TSMC has also brought suppliers to Japan from Taiwan, the sources said.
RISING CAPITAL SPENDING
TSMC’s enthusiasm for Japan is being tempered by concerns about higher costs across the business and worries about the macro environment, the sources said.
Capital expenditure ballooned to $36 billion last year from $10 billion in 2018, with the company forecasting a slightly smaller outflow this year.
TSMC thought costs to build a fab would be 20% higher in the U.S. than in Taiwan but they are actually about 50% higher, an investor briefed by company management said.
The chipmaker plans to build an $11 billion fab in Germany with local firms but is also concerned the work culture there, with long vacations and strong unions, will hit output, the sources said.
Investors worry about the effect of higher costs but “the impact on TSMC today has not been that big because its leading technology gives it pricing power,” said Brady Wang, an analyst at research firm Counterpoint.
In a very nice cafe in Malaysia, I was sitting with my husband about to order after we decided on what we want.
I do what I always do in Kuwait and Egypt, raising a hand and loudly saying “excuse me!”, my voice breaking the strange quietness of this cafe.
I’m not even exaggerating when I say that almost everyone in the cafe turned their head to look at me.
I whisper to my husband “um. Seems like this is not how they do it here.”
A waiter comes to us rushing to take the order. He then very politely explains to us that we should use the pieces of paper on the table (which I mistook for tissues till that moment) to write down the numbers next to each order in the menu, then ever so easily press on a button on the table.
There is literally no need at all to even talk to the waiter. He just comes, picks up the paper while smiling at us.
Well, I guess that explains why 30 people or so were staring holes at me when my “excuse me” echoed around haha.
I felt like such a peasant.
The Power Of The Neocon Narrative Is Evil
With respect gentlemen, Europeans are too busy chewing grass. Like most of humanity. The politicians are busy bowing down to the money changers and are firmly in their grip. Peace, love and blessings to those that seek it.
I use to live in a subdivision with my mother when I was under the age of 18 and we had a female police officer that lived at the end of the cul de sac. Whenever she had a party her guests would park in front of others driveways and on others property (I came out of my house to find several cars parked on my mothers front lawn). I had to be somewhere, so I went down and asked her if the people who parked on my moms property and in front of my driveway could move. I was told NO and the door was shut in my face. So, I went home and called a friend of mine that owned a wrecker service and explained the situation to him. He said that he had 3 wreckers in the area and that he would be happy to help. Well, 20 minutes later I had all 3 wreckers pull up and start hooking up cars. One of the ladies at the police officers party must of noticed because the next thing I know I have 4 ladies screaming at the tow truck drivers to put their cars down, each had to pay a “Drop Fee” of $200.00. This was the last time that any of her guests parked in front of my driveway. Whenever I had a party, weather people were parked in front of her house or not, I was guaranteed to have the police called.
Many Worlds Theory: You’re in a Parallel Universe | Can You Visit Your Other Lives?
The ability of this man to explain the complexities of quantum physics in an almost digestable way to the masses is a superpower. Leaves me awe struck at the time, attention, care, & talent that goes into this channel. Bravo.
TSMC is on course for reduced margins, just because it is forced to build plants beyond Greater China, which are more costly to build and run, not to mention having to hire local and deal with culture and language barriers complicating operations, especially the crucial ramp-up.
These are risk management strategies, and not economically driven.
That is baked in, regardless of Huawei.
This is a rather curious time to ask the question, because we have arrived at the plateau of mobile computing. A cheap phone today has similar performance as the cutting edge 5 years ago, and that is enough computing power for the average user, even the occasional gamer. The same happened with laptops some years back, when the node dividend began delivering machines with all-day battery life.
Huawei’s Kirin 9000s is a 7nm chip with 5nm performance, and there are compromises to raw computing power, die area, and of course, power draw, compared to the cutting edge from the competition.
Huawei’s customers know the Mate 60 pro isn’t as good as the iPhone 15 Pro performance wise, but this hasn’t stopped them from joining the queue for the phone. My dad told me enthusiastically “even Jackie Chan can’t get a set!”. Wonder where he heard that from.
Obviously, different dynamics are at work here.
What made the difference was the return of Kirin and more importantly, the 5g modem. At the mobile computing plateau, the “speed” of a phone is more likely bottlenecked by the network rather than the CPU/GPU, unlike mobile gaming and other specialized tasks.
The Kirin 9000s has decent performance (especially the highlight: 5g network speeds), enough to join the flagship club in 2023. More importantly, it offers a package that cannot be found anywhere else, including Hongmeng, AI driven gestures and automated payments, and a really snazzy camera.
These features directly impact lifestyle usability, and breed customer loyalty, because it is technology that just work. A lot of engineering was committed to refine and polish them, and these are major selling points.
So Huawei has a “good enough” flagship for 2023, in terms of specs. But is there a future for a node-bound Kirin? I believe Huawei will struggle to meet demand for the next year or two, but beyond that, we will have to see how far along the indigenization of the chipmaking supply chain is.
What interests me more isn’t the chip, but the independent direction Huawei will forge with AI, Hongmeng and its integration with the IOT. Even Qualcomm is sending overtures to develop Hongmeng devices, just because it doesn’t want to be left out of a 700m user base market.
For example, what will a Hongmeng-enabled 5.5G IOT ecosystem look like in maturity? What other AI-enabled features are in the works? I’ve heard some impressive forecasts but I’m bound to secrecy.
American expat living in Denmark. I’ve been here for 12 years, and I can honestly say that I have far more freedoms than I ever did in the US.
Things I can do here that I couldn’t do in the US-
Get injured, sick, or have a baby without having to pay to see a single doctor or hospital bill. This includes having an MRI, x-rays, ultrasounds, EKG, various blood tests, several days in hospital while in labour, and quite a number of procedures during labour.
While mental health care isn’t free, there are ways to get mental health care which is free. I’ve finally been able to get a diagnosis of ADHD and bipolar disorder, after living my entire life struggling.
Because I am on medication I’ll need for the rest of my life, I’m able to afford it without going bankrupt.
I’m going to school to get my degree, free of charge. In fact I even get paid to go to school!
Other things less personal- we can walk around with open containers of alcohol. We can drink while sitting in a park, on the beach, or pretty much anywhere else within reason.
I could, if I so wished, walk down to the beach and sun myself completely naked. I could also sunbathe topless most anywhere.
I don’t have to worry about including enough tax when mentally tallying up the cost of groceries or a meal out and. Tax is included in all prices.
I also don’t have to spend even more money tipping since the wait staff, bartender, busboys, etc. are all paid properly.
I can bike safely, even in the middle of the city, without worrying about getting hit by a car. We have such excellent bike paths which are much like a sidewalk with a curb dividing it from the street. My 7 year old can bike as well without worry.
I could go on, but these are just the basic ones that I thought of first.
The Sopranos || Wonderful Life
That one clip of Carmela and Furio dancing, while the line, “It’s a wonderful life” plays in the background is so perfect. What an absolutely brilliant video. This brought tears to my eyes. Nothing will ever match up to this show. Masterpiece.
Cars were left on roadside by their owners as they couldn’t start them.
And 6am in the morning there was a knock at my door. The milk delivery boy was standing in front of me. Sleeves of his trousers folded, and with a smile on his face. I asked him “how did you manage to reach here?”. He replied “sir, I walked through the water with my friends, it is essential to make milk available to everyone in such conditions. Those who have kids can’t manage without it”.
It was a small incident but really worth giving a thought.
Education makes us capable but professionalism is self-taught.
The CRAZIEST MYTHS I’ve heard about CHINA! | UTTERLY SHOCKED***
Exactly, a young man who speaks the truth and not brain washed by US media.
Strictly speaking, it isn’t a “breakthrough” yet, because this is the Chinese being very creative with a set of heavily crippled tools and components, producing a world-class flagship mobile device against immense odds.
The Chinese came together and dug a tunnel using shovels because the excavators were taken off the market.
Nevertheless, they persevered… and saw light.
But, and here’s the but, they have one tunnel, and still don’t own any excavators.
Before we go on, we should take a cursory glance at the chipmaking industry.
To reduce the clutter, we can divide the history of chipmaking into two epochs, pre-2007, and post.
In the first period, Intel was dominant, and it almost drove AMD out of business, taking Global Foundries along with it. AMD was a “fabless” foundry model developed to challenge Intel’s vertically integrated model, betting that superior design married with partners who could better control (and share) manufacturing cost while keeping pace with Moore’s law would deliver competitive products. AMD ultimately failed because it couldn’t wrestle sufficient market share in the x86 market, which was already past its exponential growth phase.
In other words, the scraps that fabs fed on ex-Intel were not enough to drive progress.
What changed in 2007?
That’s right. The arrival of the smartphone, in Steve’s hand.
It ushered in a new eco-system, ARM, that was completely separate (but even more profitable) than Intel- and Microsoft-controlled x86.
Another watershed happened in 2007, but it was quietly announced to little fanfare, unlike the iPhone. Nvidia announced CUDA, ushering in the era of GPGPU.
ARM and the GPU revolutionized the business of fabs. The chief beneficiary was TSMC, and to a lesser extent, Samsung.
Set free from the chains of x86 and Windows, the singular pursuit of mobile computing in the early days of the iphone 3GS and 4 was this: how to squeeze ever more power (flops) from engines shrinking in size (die area) but increasing in fuel economy (flops/Watt)?
To be perfectly honest, the early smartphones were pretty much unusable from a modern standpoint. That’s because the fabs lagged far behind Intel, despite the same tools and ecosystem available to the competition. [The original iPhone was powered by a 90nm Samsung chip]. Apple’s orders and the potential of the smartphone becoming the one piece of tech everyone MUST own finally gave fabs the nitro-fuel needed to beat Intel at its own game.
The secret?
As with most economic problems, lots of cash to buy the best tools and talent.
As late as 2014/15, TSMC was still tapping out chips at 28nm for the flagship Snapdragon 800 series. The contemporaneous A8 was preferentially made on the 20nm node, TSMC’s cutting edge offering 8–9 years ago. Intel tapped out Broadwell at 14nm, the clear industry leader.
It was around this time that truly functional smartphone computing arrived, delivered by process node improvement. Apple’s A8 tapped out at 2 billion transistors, and TSMC completed its leapfrog past Intel in 2017 with the A11, a 10nm chip with >4 billion transistor on die area slightly smaller than the A8. Intel’s Kabylake was still stuck on the same 14nm node, albeit with finfet improvements.
Why did I attempt a grandfather’s monologue of seemingly disjointed developments?
TSMC completed a doubling of transistor density in less than 3 years to leapfrog past Intel, and subsequently broke new ground conquering sub-10nm physics with novel methods and tools, including the all-too-familiar EUV.
Most of the talent that achieved the breakthrough were Chinese, and a good number of them (several thousands) are currently working for mainland competition. Key managers were offered “out of this world” renumeration that were unheard of in the industry to sign up. These are cutting edge talent that know the business of chipmaking inside out, baptized by the fire of success that successfully dethroned Intel.
There are experienced captains steering the Chinese ship through the hurricane of US sanctions.
My friend, who still works at TSMC, thought the battle was lost the moment Donald the Orange declared war on Huawei. In fact, it was American belligerence that finally persuaded several of her colleagues to jump ship, and not the numbers on the contract. These were people who worked tireless to push yields to records during ramp-up, and methodically improved workflow for novel methods and equipment, without the benefit of recipes and practical limits. I like to think of them as chefs experimenting with a new menu earning three michelin stars, despite having to learn new ways of cooking with never-seen-before ingredients.
You can’t lose, with master chefs like that.
As she likes to say, 欺负中国没人，门儿都没有。
America picked the wrong fight, and boarded the wrong train.
路选错了是没有尽头的。
Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken and Flat Dumplings
e4ecfe55efd46a26b8bedb61cb91c66d
Ingredients
1 large (5 pound) washed chicken
1 large onion, quartered
3 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
1 teaspoon whole peppercorn
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
Place chicken in a 6- to 8-quart stockpot. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil. Simmer until chicken is done, about 2 hours.
When cool, remove bones and fat from chicken. Cut into pieces, and return to pot.
Noodles: In a bowl, mix together 2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center, and gradually work 4 eggs into the flour until stiff dough is formed, adding water a little at a time if necessary. Knead until smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll each half as thin as possible then cut into thin 1-2 inch squares.
Bring the broth back to rolling boil. Drop noodle squares one at a time, making sure each are drenched in broth. Reduce heat, cover and continue to cook until noodles are done, about 8 minutes. DON’T PEEK!
Serve in large bowl and ladle onto plates at the table. Serve with chopped onion.
When I lived in Boston, there was this Pet Smart (store) that I would visit from time to time to get kitty supplies for my little buddies. It was on the road to my work, and not a big deal. It was a big warehouse like building, much like “Sam’s club” that hosed all sorts of pet supplies.
Off to the side they had a little adoption center for cats. You could look at the cats while you were waiting in line at the checkout.
I noticed one cat never left. It stayed there. Month after month. Season after season.
This was an older cat.
And no one wanted it. No one.
…
And so when I came to ask about it, the gal at the store said that she was really old, and that her owner passed away. The kids of the old man didn’t want the cat, and so the deceased children (adults really) gave it to them to find a home. They didn’t want the cat.
And so the kitty sat there, in the cage, month after month, after month alone.
That was bullshit.
…
So I adopted the kitty and named her Annie.
Poor thing. Sad all the time. Lonely. Depressed.
She became really attached to me.
She was a “rag-doll” breed and super clingy. My other cats didn’t want to have anything to do with her, and as soon as I made it home, she would come to me a meowing and crying. And so I would share my affection between her and all my other cats.
…
Now…
I had this little “thing” that I did with my cats. They all wore collars with two tags. An ID tag and a rabies tag. And when ever I opened up the door, I would get my keys and jingle them. I started to notice that my cats would do the exact thing with their collars.
If they wanted out, they would go to the door, and “jingle their keys” and I would let them out.
But, you see, Annie didn’t have any “keys”.
So we needed to get a cat collar, and some ID and rabies tags, and after a while we did. We ended up with a small box of say ten different collars. And then one day, when it was just me and Annie, I laid them all out in front of her to look at.
Now, she has always been very sad. Missing her owner, and then living with me in a house with other cats.
But something happened… a “light” went off when she saw the other collars.
She got up, and some “light”; some “energy” transformed her body.
And then, right there, in S-L-O-W motion…
I did it intentionally.
I selected the biggest, gaudiest, most “bling bling” fake jewel encrusted, fake diamond and pearl encrusted collar that I could find and placed it there off the side.
And then with it all next to her, she got up and walked over to all the collars.
She looked at big gaudy bling bling. She wanted ME to select.
bling bling cat collar
She started to purr.
So I picked the big bling-bling collar.
And then…
Then she sat up, arched her back and allowed me to put it on her.
…
I wish that I could describe the moment; the transformation. The significance of that moment.
I swear… I mean it… she CHANGED.
So no more moping around. She was one of us.
She was accepted. She was great, and important and special, and she would walk with her head up high and her tail up high. She was so very proud of her collar, and it was truly a sight to behold.
She became a proud ROYAL KITTY PRINCESS.
What a moment.
…
I have never forgotten that.
…
Eventually, I had to move on, and my wife and I separated.
Annie went to live with her, while I had to continue on my life cat-less. Sigh. It’s called “life” and that is what happened then.
My ex-wife moved away to Pennsylvania while I stayed in Boston. And a few months passed.
My ex-wife, later on, however thought that Annie shouldn’t wear the collar, and took it off her.
Oh, yes. She. Did.
But you know the moping and sadness reappeared.
And my ex-wife couldn’t figure out what was going on. She just “chalked it up” on old age and a diet imbalance.
…
One day, I visited my ex-wife and checked on the kitties. And you know, I saw Annie. Sad and depressed as ever. No collar!
I went up to her. Man that was one depressed cat.
So… as soon as I saw that, I asked where the collar was.
My ex-wife went and rummaged around a bit, and found it. And I, well I put it back on her.
Guess what?
And BOOM! It was proud and happy city all over again.
If a cat could skip, then that is what Annie started to do. She was proud and happy all over again.
…
My ex-wife didn’t understand.
She mistakenly thought “freedom!” meant no collar.
But, Annie felt differently.
The Collar meant “belonging”.
It meant a role in the society; a “place at the table”. It meant status, and Annie had the most bling-bling of all the kitties. She was SPECIAL and she felt special.
…
Annie passed on, at a very ripe old age. She was a good little kitty.
She was buried with her precious collar.
I miss her.
…
Todays…
Russian Foreign Minister: “U.S. is waging war on Russia”
Washington’s massive campaign to support Ukraine with arms amounts to a war against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that the US has long groomed Kiev for this very purpose.
In a comment to Russian reporter Pavel Zarubin released on Sunday, Lavrov suggested that rumors about Washington possibly giving the green light to the delivery of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 300km, were aimed at “shaping public opinion.”
According to the minister, these deliberations would not change the fact that “for many years Ukraine has been groomed to fight with its hands and bodies in order to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.”Lavrov accused the US of controlling the hostilities between Kiev and Moscow.”
In recent weeks, several Western media outlets have reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden is edging closer to approving deliveries of the ATACMS, which Kiev has been requesting for several months. The US has been reluctant to approve sending these missile systems, arguing that potential Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia could trigger a major escalation in the conflict.
Ukraine has already received long-range missiles from the UK and France, which, according to local officials, have been used to attack civilian targets and infrastructure in Russia’s Crimean Peninsula and Donbass.
While the US has yet to grant Kiev’s request for ATACMS, it has committed more than $43 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the conflict began, including air defense systems, armored personnel carriers, and M1 Abrams tanks.
Moscow has repeatedly warned the West against supplying Ukraine with arms, saying that doing so will only prolong the conflict but will not change its ultimate outcome.
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
I was reluctant to report these remarks by the Russian Foreign Minister for a simple reason: If the Russian Foreign Minister is now publicly accusing the U.S. of “controlling the hostilities between Kiev and Moscow” and also publicly saying the U.S. efforts for Ukraine amount to “the U.S. waging war upon Russia” then the only logical conclusion that __I__ can come to over such remarks is that at some point, Russia is going to strike the U.S.
Now, the mental weaklings of our society respond that such a thing is “impossible.” In their little minds, the United States is so powerful that Russia “wouldn’t dare.” In __my__ view, those people are wrong.
The reason they are wrong is because Russia sees the ongoing Ukraine conflict (with full material support from the west) as “an existential threat.”
They’re correct in such an assessment. Want proof?
Back in April, I reported to you that Europe had revealed a map showing its plans to break Russia up into 43 separate countries (Story HERE).
Here is Gunther Fehlinger, Head of the Austrian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) connected to the United Nations, showing the West’s map of a world without Russia:
The revelation of this map is literal PROOF that it is the actual intention of the West to do-away with Russia. By even manufacturing such a map, the West has shown its intent. Russia now faces an ACTUAL existential threat. Their very existence is at stake.
Think about the time and effort that was necessary to research the populations and ethnicities in each of these areas, where they are, and how to draw actual lines along the geography of the demographics, to create this vision of new, autonomous, countries. The research and planning alone had to take . . . YEARS.
So the mental weaklings who say “Russia wouldn’t dare” have their heads up their ass. Russia may decide it has no choice.
Thus, the remarks by Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov over this weekend, are “building a case” for a massive Russian strike at the U.S. Lavrov’s public remarks are “building a record” for posterity.
Step-by-step the U.S. has escalated the Russia-Ukraine fight. Step-by-step the U.S. and its NATO vassals continue to escalate.
Well, while the West is doing its thing, Russia is systematically building an open, public, historical record of what is actually taking place.
When a man like Sergei Lavrov utters the words he spoke over the weekend, it is as serious as a heart attack.
I will preface my further remarks by admitting I very much admire Foreign Minister Lavrov. In my view, he is the single most competent, most skilled, Foreign Minister on the entire planet. He says what he means, and more importantly, he means what he says.
You never once hear the Russian Foreign Ministry “walking-back” anything Lavrov says. You never once hear the Russian government having to “clarify” what Lavrov said.
That Lavrov has now said the US is “controlling the conflict between Moscow and Kiev” lays actual involvement and responsibility for war on the US lap.
Closer and closer we seem to be coming to the moment when Russia strikes.
None of us will ever be able to say We weren’t warned.
Because it is. If you think about it, World War 2 was a bit odd—it’s one of the very few wars in history where you can legitimately point out who the bad guys were. The evils the Axis committed (Germany got all the spotlight, but Japan was even worse in many ways) was so over-the-top that it seemed like something out of a children’s cartoon.
The Allies were no saints but there’s a very big difference between the Japanese internment camps in America vs literal Holocaust death camps and rape brothels the Nazis and the Japanese ran. To say otherwise is intellectually dishonest. Except for the Soviets, Allied war crimes in World War 2 were not organized or structured (and even with the Soviets, probably a large proportion were also unorganized).
World War 1 is closer to your “average historical wars”. Who is guilty? It’s an extremely complicated topic that is not lost even back in the day. The simplest explanation was “it’s a very convoluted web of alliances and interests that forced everyone to fight for something that would otherwise be a local conflict”.
Why else would an assassination of an Austrian archduke made Japanese soldiers invade the German colony in China?
Nobody was particularly better or worse in World War 1.
Stay Away From Africa If You Don’t Like Us, Africa Leaders Warn Muslim Leaders With Bad Intentions
Voice TV Nigeria is an online community of reporters and social advocates dedicated to bringing you news reports from a Nigerian-African perspective.
Well, it takes a lot for a country to be so bad that it is labelled a pariah state.
For example, look at the USA in the past 40 years. In that time, it dropped bombs, fired missiles, destroyed cities and killed men, women and children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Grenada, Uganda, Bosnia etc. And the USA still is not labelled a pariah state!
In that same period of 40 years, China fought no wars at all. Sure, it had a few skirmishes here and there. For example, its navy vessels sprayed sea water at other countries’ fishermen in the disputed areas of the South China Sea. Another time, a few Chinese and Indian soldiers fought at a disputed border area. Not a single bullet was fired – however, a few soldiers fell into an icy river and later died from hypothermia.
But these were not wars. Nothing like how, for example, the USA made up a lie about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, and then proceeded to kill 250,000 Iraqi men, women and children.
And yet, like I said, the USA is not labelled a pariah state. So clearly China wouldn’t be.
Today, China is even busily rebuilding schools, homes and hospitals in Iraq! (After all the destruction caused by the USA).
Southern Fried Chocolate Pies
0b6fad1e00ec29473402b4259605bf30
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup cold water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold margarine
Vegetable oil*
* Use peanut or safflower oil or solid vegetable shortening for frying.
Instructions
Crust: sift flour and salt together; cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knifes, until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
Add ice water a little at a time while tossing with a fork, until dough holds together. Do not get too moist.
Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into circles about five inches in diameter.
Mix cocoa powder with the sugar. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of this mixture onto one half of the circle and place 3 very thin slices of cold margarine on top. Fold opposite side over mixture and seal with a fork dipped in flour.
Pour oil to a depth of about 1/2 inch in a cast iron skillet. Heat over medium-high heat until very hot.
Place pies in a single layer in oil and fry, turning to brown each side.
Serve hot, warm, or cold.
WE RETIRED IN AMERICA AND MOVED TO GHANA WITHOUT VISITING!
African Americans are returning to countries like Ghana more than 400 years after their ancestors left Africa as slaves. Many say they want either to reconnect to history, or resettle on the continent. Helen and Timothy are retirees who had lived all their lives in the USA. Timothy was in the military while he worked and Helen was in the field of Social Sciences. They recently made the big decision to move to Ghana. In this video, they share the amazing experiences they have had since moving here.
I have given all my neighbors permission to walk my land. I have posted signs saying private property please treat with respect. I have put up signs saying no motorized vehicles. On a website , the Google pin says you can cross to the river, on my property. Its a pin someone added, because they didn’t like the official pin. So a lot of people thought it was public access, because the website quite rightly says its public access where they have the official pin, but its not the first pin they see. I have had the erroneous pin removed three times, but someone keeps adding it back.
I grew up in the country, all the neighbors were friends, and they all allowed me access to their property. So I try to treat people the same way.
I finally had to block it off, because mudder truckers, atvers, and motor homes, and partiers were driving through. But I still allowed foot traffic.
One day I hear a thunk, thunk sound. So I wander over, and a group of 12–13 year olds were sitting with a raft in my driveway, throwing rocks at my private property, please treat with respect sign. Their parents had dropped them off, and then driven down stream to leave a vehicle there.
I raised my voice, I got all of their names. I threatened to wait for their father, and finally I told them that I would put up a gate, blocking access, with a sign saying access closed, because of the actions of these people, and then list their names. They apologized profusely, and never caused any more trouble.
One day while sitting on my deck on Sunday afternoon, two people walked across my yard, not 50 feet from me. I went and put on my shoes, to have a talk with them, by the time I caught up, they were naked having sex on the lawn furniture around my firepit. I took a picture and I asked them what they were doing, but it was already obvious. They said they were just going to go for a swim in the glacier fed river. They apologized, and put their clothes back on. I asked them why they walked right by my house, rather than use the trail I left open for people to walk to the river. They claimed that they were so excited to get to the river, that they never even noticed my house.
Another time I see somebody run into my outhouse, beside my firepit. So I wander over, and they had violent diarrhea, coating the toilet seat and their pants. I didn’t say anything rude, I just brought over the power washer, and made them spray it out. I also offered them an old pair of sweat pants, and a garbage bag for their pants, which they accepted.
After I blocked the driveway, because of motorized vehicles use, people started using the other driveway that went by my house. So I chained up the only river access past my house, so they would have to drive right back, beside my house on the way back.
Then they started randomly driving through bush and cutting trees to get to the river. I hauled in about 50 1 ton rocks, and placed them in easy spots. After a couple of years the brush had grown up beside the boulders.
One day I’m out splitting firewood, and I hear a big bang. Then this terrible squealing sound. So I wander towards the noise, and there is a truck just getting back on the road, steam shooting out of the grill, and oil dripping. The left front tire was at a 20 degree angle to the right tire. Something under the hood was squealing, and once he started driving down the road, he left a black mark for miles, and the tire screeched as well. I didn’t get the license plate, and I never saw the truck again. But it looked like he made it about 12 km, before the tire blew, judging by the black marks.
That’s what I do to trespassers. It depends on the circumstances
Remy: Try That in a Large Town (Jason Aldean parody)
I’d just spent a solid month working in Boulder, staying in a Residence Inn with a full kitchen… and I cook. I was heading home and decided to bring the small box of kosher salt I had purchased and used almost every night for a month. I got to the airport at my normal time… about 90 minutes before boarding. I checked one bag, and had a computer and a smaller bag that happened to have the salt box. I got to TSA, and the line was horrendous. No problem, I never get hassled, right?
The box of salt lit up the xray system. I got pulled out of line, the bag was to be searched, and just for good measure they were going to search and swab the computer bag. Oh. Damn.
I was asked if I had anything sharp or dangerous in the suitcase, and answered “No.” The bozo checking the luggage pulls out the box of salt and waves a couple of Denver cops over, convinced he’s found a terrorist. Holds the box of Morton Kosher Salt up to attract the attention of his supervisor. And then he pulls everything else out of the suitcase AND the computer backpack. I’m fed up. I’m watching time click down. He intends to make sure I miss my flight. I challenge him and he says it’s a white crystalline substance. I offer to taste it in front on him, and/or for him to taste it. I mean, it’s SALT. He tells me, first, that he’s an organic chemist, and then that salt is a normal constituent of organic explosives. I’m getting ready to go ballistic when one of the cops whispers, “Just calm down and let the idiot finish this thing”… THe TSA supervisor comes over, and calmly suggests I “surrender” the box of salt and the cop whispers “Do it”. I’m getting the sense the cops are really on my side. One’s quietly on his radio and neither are looking more than amused at the TSA agent being a salted idiot. Supervisor tells the agent to reassemble my stuff and get me out of there, and the agent wants to argue that, having had at least one piece of contraband there’s likely more. I think he wanted to find an assault rifle in my pocket or something. A little more persuasion by the supervisor, and my stuff is back in the xray system and is clean. I get my gear and start for the escalators that take you down to the train. Each cop grabs a bag from me, directs me to the escalator, and say, “Run, they’re holding a train.” Damn! There’s a train with lights flashing, and another cop keeping a door open and space clear in the car. We get to my departure terminal, and they still have my bags. Go up to the concourse and we’re a LONG way from a plane that’s supposed to be gone already. “RUN!”. I start heading for the gate and see 2 airline employees running toward me. They go past me and grab bags from the cops. One of the cops manages to get me his business card and says, “We saw everything he did. We have his name and badge number. If you want to file a complaint, we’ll back you up.” I stammered a thank you, and ran the rest of the way to the gate. They’d literally held a plane full of people so I could get home. My laptop was in my seat on the plane by the time I got down the aisle, and yes, my carryon bag was gate checked, and it, too, made the plane and the trip home.
All over a box of kosher salt and someone who might have had delusions of intelligence.
G60: the Story of China’s Other Starlink Competitor
By now, you have probably heard of China’s megaconstellation project to complete with Starlink: “Guowang”. But did you know that a second megaconstellation plan is emerging in the region of Shanghai? Called “G60 Starlink”, this constellation calls for 1,296 and then 12,000 satellites to be sent to low Earth orbit. There’s also a fascinating geopolitical twist involving Germany and the United States, highlighting the global struggle for licenses. Let’s dive deep into this story. Enjoy!
When we bought our house it became obvious rather quickly that we had a problem neighbor. Her property abutted ours at the back fence and she would throw her weeds over onto our property. I asked her politely to stop to no avail. She had also plumbed her washing machine from the garage through PVC piping that ran under our fence and over our property. Once again there was no reasoning with her as she told me she had lived in her house for over 20 years and we would just have to put up with it. Yes, I know I could have called the city to get it stopped but didn’t want to start an outright war in our new neighborhood. I got myself a long 2×2 and three lovely large Idaho potatoes and rammed them way up that drainage pipe. We all know what happens to potatoes in a dark, damp environment and I didn’t have to wait too long to know if my rather mean solution worked. The neighbor next door to her that was friendly towards me stopped to chat one day. He said “Poor Carol, her washing machine backed up and flooded her garage and when she called a plumber he told her it had been plumbed illegally and he had to replumb up to code; it cost her a lot.” “Oh what a shame,” said I and really had no guilt, or no more problems with her either.
Ages ago, I worked for a magazine publisher, and was friends with a terrific editor in another department. She shepherded several “custom” magazines for important clients.
At some point, her husband landed a job in another state. Thinking she might like to live with him, so came up with a plan by which she’d continue with the magazines, working with staff via phone and overnight mail (this was the 1980s, so no email, videoconferencing, etc.) and monthly trips to HQ for face time.
Well, the idea of what today we know as remote working made no sense to the big thinkers in the front office, so they thanked her for her service and wished her well in the years ahead.
And found out that the clients weren’t in love with the company—they were in love with “their” editor! And when they learned they were losing her, they canceled their contracts.
Several million dollars. Gone. Just like that.
Worse: one of our regional competitors (who’d already hired away some of our people), swooped in, hired the editor, and landed at least one of the disgruntled clients she’d previously dealt with.
For the next several years she worked remotely for our competitor, exactly in the manner she’d outlined to her now former employer. Oops.
Footnote: The company we’d worked for, over 100 years old at that time, evaporated a few years later, under the peerless leadership described above. And our competitor? Still going, and bigger than ever.
Niger’s Bold Move: Halting Uranium Export to France and Expelling US Ambassador
“Africa must unite as one continent and kick out all foreign military forces in their counters and remove all puppet governments…..enough is enough how long still have the African child to suffer under the hands of this wicked people….If they want war war it shall be…..But know one thing African child God is with you and God will fight this final battle for your total and completely liberation from your oppressors….”
My husband passed away suddenly 6 years ago. We were living in a fairly remote place, and I wanted to return to the area we came from, in the northeast. It was a huge move, because not only did I have an entire household, but all his tools and musical equipment, and 3 dogs. I was really unsure how I was going to accomplish this.
I had a friend I had never met in real life – we had become friends on a forum for people who had Doberman Pinschers, but it was much more than that – there were ongoing, fascinating threads on philosophy, politics, medicine, religion/spirituality, cooking, crafts, photography – you name it.
Anyway, we clicked, and had become quite close. I helped him tweak a CV for a new consulting business he was building, and he called me every single day for 4 months after my husband died, to make sure I was OK. Even my family didn’t do that.
When I found a place in NY, I began to make plans to move. He told me that when it was time to go, he was going to come help me move. I was floored. I couldn’t believe someone would be so generous of their valuable time. Sure enough, he flew out west, and spent 2 weeks helping pack and load things into a POD, then rent a UHaul, load that up with immediate things, and then we took off on a 10-day, 2500-mile trek across the country.
When we arrived here, he unloaded the truck & trailer, set things up for me, cooked for me, and all kinds of really supportive things. When the POD was delivered, he and a couple of guys unloaded it, and he put things wherever I needed them. He stayed for many weeks, not willing to leave until he felt I was secure and stable, and the house functioned for me.
To me, that was the most generous, kind, selfless and thoughtful gift I’ve ever gotten. We remain the best of friends, even though we are 1,000 miles apart. We do whatever we can to help each other and support each other, and I am lucky to have such a fantastic friend. True friends are more valuable than anything.
Just as Apple benefitted by cannibalizing Huawei’s drastic reduction in volume shipped since 2018/19, Huawei will cannibalize Apple’s increased market share today.
China has reached peak iPhone. Apple will not set new sale records in Greater China anymore.
The iPhone depends on foreign suppliers for many components. America’s trade and tech war with China has forged a divergence in the supply chain, because doing business with certain entities can trigger landmines that cripple and maim. Industry players either have a reduced customer base or can only shop from a limited number of suppliers. This has worsened as America continue to abuse sanction privilege.
This strategy works only if one side is at relative disadvantage, such as a tech/quality gap. But what happens when there are different core strengths distributed between the sides? Apple won’t have open access to the best components, on account of risk or actual restrictions. Apple’s iphone is heavily dependent on Chinese engineering, and these partners have helped deliver new model generations like clockwork for more than 15 years. The very basis for the Apple hardware eco-system may need to be relooked.
As Huawei and partners continue to make independent inroads to the premium space, partners that used to rely heavily on Apple’s business will be enticed to offer their best components to domestic competition. This is prudent risk management, brought to the forefront by the draconian nature of the Huawei sanctions.
There may come a point in time where the best that Apple can find ex-China is a step down from what the Chinese competition can deliver. The smartphone standards of tomorrow will be increasingly written by the Chinese.
Case in point: batteries and chargers today. 6G, and imaging tomorrow.
Honor is headquartered in Shenzhen.
Note: There are really only three legs left in the smartphone business: Apple, Samsung, and the Chinese.
In the Chinese-language reporting on the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, two Chinese phrases keep showing up:
去美化 which means “de-Americanization” of the supply chain, and in a broader sense, removing anything American;
自主品牌 which means “self-owned (Chinese) brands” as opposed to foreign brands like Apple
Huawei tapped into the pent-up Chinese anger at how China has been treated by the west, but which did not have a chance to show. The launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro and its record orders are a way for ordinary Chinese to show that they have had enough of the tough talk coming from the US, and even though the Chinese economy, and especially real estate are slow, they now have a way to show that the old way of doing things no longer work for them.
This is why they have rallied around de-Americanization of the supply chain and Chinese brands.
Chinese brands will now have to face questioning from Chinese customers.
“Do you have foreign components in your products? If you do, why do you need foreign components when Chinese components which are just as good are available?”
This means that the leading US chip brands: Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia are going to be hit really hard. TSMC will be hit hard for siding with the US and supporting US decoupling from China.
Chinese nationalism is a very powerful force in Chinese history, and the US has released it. Only the Chinese Communist Party can control it and keep it from going completely wild.
While the US and many Americans hate the Party, it is the devil which the US knows.
The other devils are much, much worse than the Party.
MY HUSBAND COULDN’T STOP CRYING!!! OLIVER ANTHONY – I’VE GOT TO GET SOBER (REACTION)
“One thing I’ve been noticing is that Oliver Anthony is making grown men cry, more than a lot of other sad songs people react to. And the reason why, I believe, is because here is this man. This God fearing, manly man, honest and true, expressing himself as a man. There is nothing weak about it. He touches men’s nerves from one man to another man, without any elements of weakness or inferiority or even femininity. He’s allowing men to feel understood and allowing then to express themselves.”
We were in a mediocre restaurant in Arizona having flown there from Canada. Our waitress was in her early 80s and had rheumatoid arthritis in her gnarled, misshaped hands and feet, and there she was working as a waitress. She was suffering with every step and with every movement of her hands. Another waitress was the same. Their hands and feet were swollen. We didn’t know where to look.
In Canada we don’t see this. If an elderly woman with difficulties works in a restaurant it’s because she owns it and won’t go home.
So seeing a waitress this age with rheumatoid arthritis working this way was shocking to us and very upsetting. We ordered tea and toast so she would not have heavy plates to lift. We left her a $50.00 tip and got out of there.
Watching these women struggle this way was heartbreaking. I hope I never see this again.
A friend of my wifes mother responded to my wife’s pleasant email, about taking her getting extra vacation this year, so she would be stopping by when visiting her mother. The mothers friend just replied WTF.
My wife was stunned, and wondered what she meant by it.
I said the best thing is to just ask her
So my wife asked what she intended by saying WTF.
The reply was “Fantastic”
My wife phoned her, to clarify.
It turns out her grand daughter always says WTF in her texts.
So she asked her what it meant, and the grand daughter, rolling her eyes had told her “Well That’s Fantastic”
So she had been using it to appear modern, whenever she heard good news.
My wife phoned her mother’s friends daughter, ( a school friend) and told her, what her 13 year old daughter had told her grandmother, and had her straighten it all out.
She couldn’t bear to let this nice old lady continue to use WTF in completely inappropriate circumstances.
African American moved to Ghana to build a 4 bedroom home and live her dream life |Exploring Asebu
In this video, we meet the very lovely Karen King and check out her 4 bedroom home in Asebu’s Pan African Village. We had such a great time talking to her, walking through her home and learning about her journey in Ghana so far.
My favorite part about Americans and American culture in general is what I call “the American Mulligan”. Here, in the US, failure is expected. Starting a business and having it collapse? Just a part of growth and improvement. Got fired from your senior manager role for performance? That’s okay, these kinds of things happen. Changed careers at 35? Great! We love that because it makes you more well-rounded.
In the US, we love a comeback to such a degree that in my business (tech recruiting), we almost look for candidates who’ve tried and failed to run a business. They are wiser and generally manage better than people who’ve had smooth sailing their entire professional career. When I talk with my professional friends from other countries, they generally cite this as one of the best parts about being in the US.
If Apple were to distance itself from China, it must find another place that has skilled people in suffiucient numbers, the same level of automation as China, and the availability of alternative raw materials that China can provide.
The only country that is big enough to meet the needs is India. So Apple moved some production to India a few years go. But it turned out to be a disaster because there are not enough skilled people in India and they still need to rely on China’s supply chain. As a result of the lack of sufficient skilled workers, the defect rate came to about 50% – pushing costs ridiculously high.
Apple has now abandoned most of the production in India, suffering huge losses, and wants to come back to China.
THE NEW KING OF SOUL!!! OLIVER ANTHONY – 90 SOME CHEVY (REACTION)
We all going to church and didn’t even know it…this guy is showing us all that we do have a common bond…it’s called life…and trying to live it. Keep on preaching Oliver. Take us all to church
As a master electrician, I solved my issue very easily. My (now ex) neighbor was using the outside outlet on my detached garage to build his addition. I turned the breaker off – he turned it on. I asked him to stop and he did not.
I simply rewired the neutral on the 120 volt outlet to convert it to 240 volts, watched (and grinned) as he burned up his table saw, his battery charger and a table router all within one day. He had no idea as to why.
If he has simply asked, as he should have, before using my power, I would probably have allowed it – as least for a reasonable amount of time.
EDIT 1: I have had some suggestions that I could get into trouble with my “fix”. I did disclose to the neighbor what I did a few days later and he called the sheriff’s office. The deputy that came out listened to both sides and then asked ME if I wanted to charge the neighbor with theft. I just let it drop and he moved out a short time later.
EDIT 2: I have had some people say that I should have put “warnings” on my answer about the possibility of fire and personal injury. C’mon people! This is a REPLY to a post – NOT a TUTORIAL!!!
My father bought a horse when I was about 13, mainly because he was very placid in the sales ring. He was an exceedingly nice and smart horse, a very good riding horse who loved people. He would respond to spoken instructions such as, “go and get the bucket and I will give you some oats.” I did not teach him that, I just said it one day and he brought me the empty bucket. Ten years later I was home for a visit and a car stopped by our pasture. A man of about age 30 got out and walked out to the horse who whinneyed and ran up to him, acting like a big dog to his favorite master. The man told us that he raised that horse from birth, but his father sold him when the boy was sent to Vietnam. He started giving him subtle signals and the horse would dance, kneel down, stand up on his back legs, and even gave that fella a kiss on the cheek. He asked how much to buy him back. My Dad said, “Son, he’s yours. Thanks for your service. Your horse is mighty glad you came back for him.”
MY SISTER COULDN’T CONTROL IT!!💔OLIVER ANTHONY – I’VE GOT TO GET SOBER
“I grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee within the USA. Working very hard as a child in a family business. Worked my way through college and into a technical role. So, ladies, my life is very different from yours, but even so, I see both of you as my sisters in my heart because the unifying message within OAM has built a bridge from my soul to yours.”
FLASH: U.S. Moving Combat Jets to Romania – “in addition to others committed to NATO”
The United States is moving Combat Aircraft to Romania — but not for NATO. What does THAT translate to, in your mind? US v. Russia directly? Word of this came from US Ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec.
“The United States plans to station combat aircraft in Romania in addition to those performing NATO air policing duties” said the Ambassador.
Notice she said “Combat” aircraft. Not refueling tankers or cargo planes . . . . no . . . . she explicitly said combat aircraft.
Did all of us somehow miss a vote in Congress about some minor little detail like direct US war against Russia?
Every Mother’s Day the family would go out for dinner and of course we all chipped in the same amount & it covered Mom’s meal and the tip (10 people + Mom).
We’re 7 adults and 3 ‘kids’ so no big issue, right? But…this one time was too much for me.
Grand daughter came with her boyfriend, daughter & son, 2 of them are drinking age and I can’t remember how much alcohol they ordered but it was at least 3 mimosas and 3 glasses of wine.
Only 2 of their meals were from the Mother’s Day specials.
Rest of us ordered from the specials menu & I think 3 glasses of wine & 2 beers. This place was VERY reasonably priced.
I was single mother of 2, 1 of which was working & not able to attend and the other had health issues, not a big eater.
I ordered a special & my son ordered 2 appetizers & 2 glasses of milk (he asked before ordering the 2nd milk because money is tight for us).
I drank water with dinner & for dessert I had tea & son & I shared the dessert that came with my meal.
Bill comes & I hand over $40 hoping it will cover our share (if you took off the bar tab it should have been no more than $35!).
I asked if they needed more from us.
The grand daughter & crew on the other hand, chipped in $60 – wait? What? For 4 people + chip-in +tax & tip? The person handling the bill said something & I think they chipped in another $30 (really should have been at least another $40!
A year later Mother’s Day coming up again.
Family wants to make plans again to go out.
I told them no, I can’t afford it.
My sister pushed & pushed for why – I finally told them I can’t afford everyone’s bar tab!
We went, everyone paid their OWN bar tab & guess what?
Only cost me $35! Grand daughter & crew ordered more reasonably priced food & had a MUCH smaller bar tab!
Southern Pineapple Pound Cake
pineapple pound cake
Ingredients
8 eggs
2 cups Crisco
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
3 cups flour
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cream sugar and shortening.
Add eggs one at a time.
Add flour and salt gradually.
Stir in vanilla extract and pineapple.
Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees F for about 1 1/2 hours. Or bake in two greased and floured loaf pans for about 1 hour.
SINGING FROM HIS SOUL!!! OLIVER ANTHONY – AIN’T GOT A DOLLAR (REACTION)
A broken vessel was chosen to remind us GENTLY AND ONCE AGAIN, that we are one. This is generational. Who else could walk onto some side stage at a festival and immediately draw the entire crowd from every genre and have them all know that he’s their voice?…..huggi g…laughing…..crying. Again, this is NOT of this earth. We gotta all be praying for our bizarre, broken vessel RIGHT NOW. Evil despises this man.
This will put strong pressure on the Apple iPhone 15 line which launches on Sept. 12. Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro line is expected to take sales from the high-end for Apple.
Xiaomi, OPPO are going to have a very hard time surviving in this very challenging environment.
Last year China held $1.3 trillion dollars worth of US bonds. … with other asset kept in US bank.. making a total of 3.5 trillions dollars in foreign reserves…ALL kept in the USA.
Last year, Biden confiscated US$300 billions of Russia’s foreign reserves …kept in the US banks. This was a warning to China…the same thing can or will happen to China.
The US is now bankrupt…unable to repay its debts. Biden plans play DIRTY… His plan was to start a war with China and using the war as the excuse …to confiscate all the US$3.5 trillions dollars China has in reserves (10 times more than what Biden has stolen from Russia).
China is not stupid.
Last year, China sold US$580 billions dollars in US bond and bought gold bars. (US bond is the easiest to liquidate). The first six months of 2023, China sold other asset in the US … China bought 108 tons of gold.
China will progressively sell off its holding of US bond and other US debts …to buy more gold …until all the 3.5 trillions dollars in US reserves are completely liquidated.
Holding gold bars is much safer than holding US bonds.
When I left the United States, for China, I had to leave so many things behind. Over time they were stolen, discarded, or just junked. Others simply saw no value in the things that I had, aside from a few dollars at a “swap meet”.
One of my treasures was a historical (museum) reproduction of a ancient Greek torso. It was of a man’s chest, fragmented, and standing on a pole on a hard and heavy black square base.
It was my little treasure, and I would often feel the lines of the torso as I came back home and disgorged my keys on my hall table.
2012 NYR 02609 0023 000alva s eylanbekov torso093357
Over the years, I found it very difficult to give gifts. Often some money or a party or get together would suffice.
But, in a pinch, nothing is better (and long lasting) as a heavy cement or stone statue. I strongly believe this. It’s a present that is unique, has value, and too heavy to throw away.
Nothing too big. You know, the size of a turtle or door stop.
5be6b6bebd6c85cf41d79fed8d2a8b13
Whether Art Deco, or lawn ornament style, take the time to select something wonderful…
Owl IP
Todays.
The Sopranos – Tony Meets With Carmine Lupertazzi Jr
Tex-Mex Chili Cheese Supreme
A delicious layered Tex-Mex casserole using three different cheeses.
tex mex chili cheese supreme
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (15.5 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes, with juice, coarsely chopped
China is the most advanced Nation in the world in terms of Applications of Advanced Technology
They can apply advanced technology on a scale that no other nation to this day can manage
It is undeniable that China is the world’s foremost nation to apply advanced technology
By comparison the US pales with most Americans using 4G speeds and with most applications falling flat. They actually use paper certificates for vaccines
South Korea comes second in this aspect followed by Japan and Singapore
My sons first word was “It looks like one of those Futuristic Cities shown in many 1980s Hollywood movies”
The Key here is CORE TECHNOLOGY
Now for instance, all these wonderful apps that are being built , they are coded in a specific language right?
They need high performance servers right?
You need processors right?
Every one of these is controlled entirely by the West in terms of their Core capabilities
It was a perfect relationship with China developing the most fantastic advanced applications and developing their software at fantastic pathbreaking pace
The West sold and licensed their Core Technology for a fat fee
The whole Global economy relished the partnership
The West chose to WEAPONIZE their core technology
In a mere decade China today controls almost 11% of the World’s Core Technology and Research in various areas
They are almost on par with Europe and Japan and well ahead of South Korea
Yet THEY ARE STILL ONLY A SIXTH IN TERMS OF CORE TECH CONTROL AS THE USA
Had the US simply shut the f*** up and simply encouraged Green Cards for Researchers from China with a 10 year path to Citizenship in 2012, China would have been in all sorts of trouble
Had the US encouraged actual competition on even grounds, the Intel and Qualcomms and Huawei would be on level playing fields and smaller Chinese entities would never have got the Billions of Yuan needed to leapfrog which would have instead gone into Real Estate & Paper
So Today China is surging ahead or at par on almost all modern commercial technologies like Rail, Green Energy, Latent Communications, Face recognition etc
Yet China is only around 16% in Control of Core Technology, far ahead than ANY ASIAN NATION IN POST WW II HISTORY but still a long way to go
Experts believe China will control 30% of all Core Technology by 2032
Conclusion is China is on its way
He Crashed Into A Train And Died, bringing back Messages From God on the Other Side
The unpopular movie First K!ll (2017) has a conversation between an 11 year old kid and a bank robber, which I consider to be the best thing in the entire movie. The bank robber schools the kid about how to deal with bullies, something the kid’s own father couldn’t do… something many kids’ parents in real life can’t do actually.
(For a small prologue, The bank robber had taken the kid hostage, but as they spent time together they started getting acquainted.)
Bank Robber: What were you and dad doing in the woods that day anyway?
Kid: He took me on a hunting trip.
Bank Robber: Ah. You wanted to be a big man hunter huh?
Kid: No
Bank Robber: Why was he teaching you then? A little city boy and his son bonding?
Kid: … There’s this kid at my school that keeps beating me up, and he thought hunting would… I don’t know. I tried to tell him it was a stupid idea, but he wouldn’t listen.
Bank Robber: Well, [It was a stupid idea]. Especially since you already have what it takes to handle a bully.
(Kid looks surprised)
It’s true.
See, bullies are all about one thing, intimidation; and they feed off fear. Take that away from them, and you stop them cold.
You know when you’re playing your video games, and you’re fully into it, focused, ready for anything? It’s like you’re outside of yourself, but in control of this warrior. That’s the attitude you gotta give a bully. Completely still. In your mind, you’re able to change what’s about to happen. In your heart, there’s no fear. There’s nothing he can do to you that you can’t overcome. You stare at him, think you’re unstoppable, and shake your head. No more.
That’ll back them down 99 times out of a hundred.
Kid: What about that 1 time it doesn’t?
Bank robber:Well, In that case son, you just hit them with all you got. Or run. No shame in either.
This made me want to find a bullied kid and tell him/her the same thing.
America in the 1910’s – 1920’s / 55 Rare Impressive Photos in Color
Super interesting photos of over 100 years ago. Must watch for perspective.
Let’s leave the Military aspects aside and see the things Russia has achieved since it started?
Is Russia a Pariah as the West hoped?
Nopes. Putin holds meetings all over the world and they listen to him. Russians haven’t been even censured by any of the 147 countries outside the US and it’s 30 odd lackeys
Is Russias Economy in dire straits?
Nopes. 2% Growth predicted, now 2.5%
Fastest Industrial progress
They just flew their fully domestic aircraft yesterday
Food Inflation at 3.9%
General Inflation at 5.7%
Lower levels than almost every European Company
Now let’s see Russias so called Rivals
Germany – Recession and Industrial Decline of the highest level in 26 years
Netherlands – Recession
UK – Recession plus Inflation
US – Near Recession saved virtually by printing money and still having inflation
Plus
The Whole world is wary of US hegemony now and ready to hedge it’s bets
All that “Decoupling and Derisking” with China is really “Derisking with USA”
The Local currency trades increasing, The Yuan trades, BRICS expansion, Oil Cuts by MBS
Putins SMO has already delivered him more victories than any he could imagine
He stands today in a better position after the worst sanctions hit him
The whole world now sees sanctions in a much weaker light.
Another major defeat to the US
The world doesn’t fear sanctions that much anymore
The normally obedient Rhamposa after meeting Nuland, still voted to expand BRICS
Now on to the Military
The SMO seems unwinnable only because Ukraine keeps throwing body after body after body
Russia is a patient army
They kill and kill and keep killing
This is a war of attrition not territory as Brian Berletic says
Ultimately the Russians have soldiers and weapons while Ukrainians will lose too many men and weapons and the West can’t resupply them fast enough
The SMO is over
Russia has got what they wanted, they have to defend it and take around 4700 Sq Kms more
Mother secretly RECORDED teacher during meeting… HOLY.
You know why Donald Trump is so fun to mock? Because, despite constantly insulting others, he has an incredibly thin skin when it’s turned around on him. If he had a sense of humor about it at all, it would be far less enjoyable.
Case in point: when John Oliver randomly made fun of Danbury, Connecticut on his show, the mayor of Danbury claimed they were going to name their new waste treatment plant after Oliver. The mayor later clarified that it was obviously a joke, but John Oliver was having none of it. He demanded his waste treatment plant. He publicly offered Danbury $50,000 for the naming rights, and when it was accepted, travelled to Danbury for the naming ceremony.
Point is, John Oliver is impossible to make fun of, because he happily owns the joke at every turn.
The reason I bring this up is because I’d love to see a Donald Trump Sewage Plant. Not because I think it’s appropriate (sewage treatment plants are necessary and useful pieces of infrastructure), but entirely because I’d love to see Trump’s reaction. If he could ignore it or take it in stride, it wouldn’t be funny. But I’m 100% sure he could do neither.
The British did not get greedy. They played a long game, only using a small percentage of the information available to them. When they did use information to score a victory, they used double agents to supply the Nazis with a credible alternative reason for their success.
When the Nazis cracked (or were supplied with) an Allied code, they DID get greedy. Supplied with British battle plans, Rommel won battle after battle, driving the British East across North Africa. His results were too good to be true. The British realised what was happening and changed their codes (and brought in the brilliant General Montgomery). Rommel’s string of victories turned into a string of defeats culminating in his nervous breakdown.
Admiral Doenitz became convinced that the encryption system was cracked by the British however and so another wheel was added to the Enigma machine. Fortunately, one Nazi sub commander forgot and sent a message in the old format and then, realising his mistake, sent the message again in the new format. Bletchley Park was back to ‘business as usual’ almost immediately.
This Is HUGE!!! U.S. Commerce Secretary Begs China for Help? – China’s Ultimatum!
The urgency surrounding the visit of the U.S. Commerce Secretary to China clearly signals a plea for China’s assistance in this critical situation. The purpose behind her visit is quite transparent: the U.S. is actively seeking a lifeline from China. In recent days, Gina Raimondo, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, has touched down in Beijing, embarking on her trip to China. Even before her arrival, the objectives of her visit were evident. The main focus is on tackling the economic and trade disputes that have been ongoing between the U.S. and China. Simultaneously, the aim is to cultivate a practical and collaborative partnership between these two economic powerhouses. But What are the key factors driving the urgency of the U.S. Commerce Secretary’s visit to China and the apparent plea for China’s assistance in the current critical situation? Will China’s Strategic Divestment from U.S. Bonds Spell Disaster for the American Economy?
Hardly anything goes into them, and hardly anything comes out of them, except huge amounts of electrical energy, and waste heat. The amount of fuel consumed and waste produced amounts to the volume of a peanut per average consumer-year of electric power.
Given a few centuries of storage, and recycling, the waste is less radioactive than the consumed fuel, so they cleanse Earth of radioactive material.
Their grounds make nice public parks, and the slightly warmed water makes for good fishing.
Breaking Kitchen – Episode 6
Yo guys I must warn you that I can’t outdone myself every time because that’s not the point, this episode was planned six months ago. Walter could have thrown the pizza in the first episode, but I was leading up to a moment when it would fit best so it’s not about running out of ideas. Episodes are not made on the fly but are planned months ago (Vince Gilligan style lol) https://i.gyazo.com/0a2f75de07f8c4359… It’s no coincidence that events led up to Flyn’s appearance and then to the scene in Gordon’s office, and in what order the participants appear. For example, in order to make the line in the office about the meth make sense, I had to show it beforehand. The next episode with Gus, will have a small connection to the first episode, ect. And then there’s the bigger picture which is very difficult to implement.
The Time Tunnel – Inside Irwin Allens
Short documentary about the classic 60’s SF series ‘The Time Tunnel’.
When Liam Neeson received the script for Taken , he thought it was a small project. He agreed to make the film because he was well paid, but without any illusions.
In an interview with 60 Minutes , he said:
“It was really a simple little story. I didn’t find anything complex about him. He’s a guy determined to find his daughter. He goes looking for her, and then, presto, he finds her. And, presto, he kills a lot of bad guys…
I was sure it wouldn’t go anywhere, it would go straight to video.”
$226 million later, Liam Neeson becomes Hollywood’s newest action star and his career takes on a new lease of life.
Not necessarily the one he was hoping for… but when you continue to be a headliner in Hollywood at over 65, it’s already not bad.
During 1960s, Pakistan was the favorite of the USA and received over 1.2 billion dollars worth of military aid in equipment and money. In arrogance of newly received modern weapons, Pakistani military dictator Ayub Khan dreamed of defeating India and ruling over Delhi. Along with other modern technology, Pakistan received modern Patton tanks by US.
1965 Indo-Pak War.
Pakistan had 15 armored cavalry regiments consist of mainly modern Patton M-47 & M-48 tanks.
On the other hand India had comparatively less modern Centurion Mk 7s and Sherman tanks. During the start of war, Patton tanks proved their superiority and soon captured Khem Karan, an Indian town which is 5 kms inside the the international border.
Pakistanis were riding on sophisticated American weaponry and were confident they could maintain the same pace.
They were eyeing Amritsar. They knew the importance of Amritsar. If Amritsar fell, it would be difficult for India to negotiate.
After the fall of Khem Karan, Major General Gurbaksh Singh ordered the division to fall back and assume a horseshoe shaped defensive position in Asal Uttar in the sugarcane fields and ordered to fill the fields with water.
The fields were filled with water for 2 days and soil became very sticky. Indian forces lured the Pakistan tanks division towards their position. The defensive position was equipped with Centurion tanks and 106 mm recoilless guns mounted on jeep.
Pakistani Patton tanks were unaware of the swampy fields and were lured to the horseshoe trap. Soon these tanks were slowed down. By the time they could understand the Indian plan, many of them could not move because of the muddy slush.
In a few hours, the fields were covered with Pakistani tanks all stuck in the swamp, making them an easy target for Indian troops.
More than 100 Pakistani tanks were either destroyed or captured and the defeat of Pakistan Army in the battle of Asal Uttar was one of the greatest defeats suffered by Pakistan forces in the history.
Casino (1995) – Cheater’s Justice HD
“Throw him out in the alley and just tell the cops he got hit by a car.” CLASSIC!
The grifter is the worst, most morally reprehensible type of person in my opinion. They come in many shapes and forms. They cross ethnic, religious and political boundaries. Think of a man like, say, Joel Osteen. He wants your money. He tells you all sorts of reasons why you should give it to him. God is good to those who give, that sort of nonsense.
He’s a conman, his only love is money, but he’ll hide behind a thin veneer of religiosity and peddles “inspiration”, neatly packaged, to the masses. The way a Trump would have the masses pay for his legal defense and campaign costs, a man like Joel Osteen sells salvation, he sells eternity to you on a golden platter. And all you have to do is reach for your wallet, and it can all be yours.
Oh, he’ll save you, alright! And he’ll laugh all the way to the bank doing it… he’ll live lavishly off of the donations of his flock. These types always do. Fast cars, big mansions, private jets. His lifestyle is that of a celebrity. Like a Kardashian, but one who uses the words “God” and “Jesus” every second or third sentence and doesn’t say curse words.
Of course the grifter will go on shows like Oprah Winfrey’s, telling about his success, pretending to be humble as he counts his blessings… the grifter, to me, is the very worst humanity has to offer, because he sells hope. Hope for a better future. A better world. An eternity of peace. An ideologue at least has genuine passion, he wishes to see change. Be it a right-wing or a left-wing ideologue, there’s real drive, true desire to improve the world and organize it to his idea of perfection…
…not the grifter. Neverthe grifter. All he wants is the insides of your wallet. He’ll pretend to love God, when all he loves is money. Pretend to love people, when all he loves is his own smiling reflection. I can forgive a great many sins. But I will forever side-eye those who get rich over the backs of the faithful, manipulating their beliefs for personal gain. This, to me, is the worst type of person out there.
I have some personal experience, too, with such grifters. After all I lived for years in the Philippines, where a cult named Iglesia ni Cristo is active. Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) literally translates as “Church of Christ”. Oh, the hubris! It’s leader, Eduardo Manalo, is the grandson of the churches’ founder. Each leader is the son of the one before him, kind of like North Korea. I remember a kid in the town I used to live in. He was sad after a service once. I asked one of his friends, why he was sad.
“He wasn’t able to pay his tithe… the monthly ten percent he’s supposed to pay…” his friend explained to me. Essentially, all members, no matter how young, have to give ten percent of their monthly income to the church. Even if you’re a kid, you have to give your allowance money, your lunch budget, whatever. If you don’t give it, you’ll get scolded. You’ll get shamed. Asked by your pastor if you “really love the Church”, or if you “really love God” because if you did, surely you would have spent a little less on your lunch yesterday at school? Bought a little less candy, perhaps, or one less lumpia?
It’s morally reprehensible to me. Because while the poor flock is told to “pay up and not ask questions”, the leaders always live lavishly. Huge family compounds. Enormous mansions in gated communities, private jets, expensive cars… and those who pay for it are indoctrinated from an early age to give, without question. The consequence of not giving? Hell, and eternal damnation. Because the way of the grifter and his minions is the only way to salvation. I cannot think of worse people.
Derby Day Burgoo Stew
Burgoo is a mishmash of meats and vegetables. You might call it the “kitchen sink soup.”
Actually, “Venice stinks” would be a way of describing the nauseating stench emanating from the hundreds of canals and backwaters of “La Serenissima”, especially in summer. “La Puzzona” – the little stinker – would be a better name.
This is due to the fact that Venice, to this day, does not have a functioning sewage system or sewage treatment plants. Until the 1960s, the sewage was slowly directed into the so-called “gatoli”, a brick sewer system that eventually led into the canals and that was developed as early as the 16th century.
These tunnels were built of clay bricks and were designed so that the heavier sediment sank to the bottom while the liquid part flowed into the canal. Today’s septic tanks operate on a similar principle. The solid parts of the “gatoli” were constantly emptied.
In order not to clog the outlets of the gatoli into the canals, they were raised further and further. As a result, they were exposed at low tide, which had quite unpleasant consequences: stench, terrible hygiene conditions in the canals, rats and swarms of insects – especially the “Chironomide”, a species of non-biting mites. The last major outbreak was in 1987, when I visited Venice and was appalled by the swarms of insects that covered the glass walls of the Vaporetto stations.
A few years later, at attempt was made to map the gatoli, but that proved almost impossible in the end because the system had been changed many times over the centuries. It was also sometimes difficult to understand into which channels the sewage from the houses was actually being emptied.
Today there are more than 7,000 septic tanks in the city which effectively constitutes a fragmented, decentralized sewage system. The septic tanks allow wastewater treatment so that the liquid part floats on top and is cleaned before entering the canal. The solid part, on the other hand, must be removed manually. You can see the special boats that empty septic tanks almost everywhere.
Septic tanks are mandatory for all establishments such as hotels, restaurants, cafes, museums, hospitals, offices, etc, but they can also be found in private homes, (where, however, they are not mandatory).
Septic tanks are not always feasible in Venice since they need space and cannot be built on public land or near the supporting walls of a house. The volume of septic tanks is calculated based on the number of people that live in a building, and often that proves impossible.
And even if there is space, digging in the foundations of the houses often expose their supporting piles, hastening their decay, so septic tanks aren’t built if it would seriously jeopardize the stability of historic buildings. In this case, owners have to fall back on the old “gatoli” system.
Living in Venice therefore also means accepting the stench. Of course, organic detergents and eco-friendly toilet paper can help a bit, and most inhabitants would welcome it if Venice were to stop discharging sewage into the canals. But the plan to provide Venice with a centralized and modern sewer system had to be abandoned in the end, as Venice would have had to be more or less completely demolished and rebuilt from scratch.
A compromise was finally reached that calls for a combination of septic tanks, maintenance of the existing “gatoli” and dredging of the canals. Nevertheless, large amounts of fecal matter, waste and, above all, toxic industrial residues and garbage still enter the lagoon. So if next time you visit La Serenissima and the stench gets particularly bad, just hold your nose.
Tony Soprano || The Scientist
“Man, this is one of your best works! All are so good put together, this songs really fits Tony. The effort you put into this is incredible, I know you took time doing this and for that, for that this is art. The song you choose for him was a good decision, this song is very melancholic and nostalgic, you are so talented at editing man, seriously. it was worth the wait for these wonderful 4 minutes, keep it up Alex.”
Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Chili
d99fadd77095d93897518136afea4f67
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Chili
1 box Rice-a-Roni Spanish Rice
2 3/4 cups water
2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
1 (15 or 16 ounce) can kidney beans or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14 1/2 or 16 ounce) can tomatoes or stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Optional
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Sour cream
Chopped cilantro
Instructions
In a 3-quart saucepan, combine rice-vermicelli mix, special seasonings, water, chicken, beans, tomatoes, green pepper, chili powder and cumin. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered, about 20 minutes or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally.
Top with cheese, sour cream and cilantro if desired.
1940s USA – Fascinating Street Scenes of Vintage America [Colorized]
When I left my retirement in Arkansas and flew to China, the airlines lost my baggage. So when I arrived in China, all that I had was a backpack, some of my most important papers, my laptop computer, and what I was wearing.
At that time, and to this day, I wear very comfortable clothes on planes during air travel. And given TSA back in the State’s, my clothes were simple;
Black hospital scrubs, and black slippers with black socks.
null
So, here I am arrived in China, with literally only the clothes on my back.
And for the first month or so, I had to live and wear in them until I got settled in, reestablished, and start earning money again.
In hindsight, it’s kind of funny.
Everyone, including my wife, wanted me to toss those things and never wanted to see me in them ever again. As a result, she went on a spending spree and outfitted me right and proper.
…
I don’t know what the fuck I was doing when I planned this cluster-fuck of a life, but I’ve got to tell you all, it’s almost a parody. Seriously.
Did I have a sense of humor, or was my “crew” trying to make a point when they planned my pre-birth world-line template?
I wonder…
…how many meme’s have I personally experienced in this life? Hum….
Enterprise Under Attack from the Suliban Part II
Stra Trek Enterprise Season 2 Episode 16 Future Tense
Carolina Hot Dog Chili
hot dogging
Ingredients
1 1/4 pounds ground beef
1 large onion (about 1 cup chopped)
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon cider or white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
Instructions
Place the beef, onion and 2 cups of water in a Dutch oven or soup pot over high heat. Bring to the water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and stir to begin breaking up the meat.
Add the tomato paste, ketchup, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper, if using. Stir well until the tomato paste and ketchup are dissolved and the meat is mostly broken up.
Continue to cook at a simmer, stirring about every 5 minutes, about 15 minutes. As the chili thickens, you may need to reduce the heat to medium-low or low so it doesn’t stick. Refrigerate, covered, up to 2 days, or freeze in small freezer bags for up to 6 months.
Thaw or reheat in a microwave, stirring often.
If you want a finer texture, you can cool the chili at least 20 minutes and process in a blender or food processor for 30 to 45 seconds.
Say tomorrow we are at $ 4.981 trillion, then it’s possible we may fudge to somehow make it appear that we have reached $ 5 Trillion
There is no conceivable way that any GDP number is off beyond say 2% at the most
The Point is Economic Development can be seen with your own eyes and not on paper
Take UP
I visited UP and traveled to quite a few places
I saw nothing to indicate bountiful prosperity
There was nothing to indicate the hum of a busy growing economy
Sure they had nice roads and a lot of nice commercial and techno parks but frankly it looked like more like
If you build it they will come
That’s what happens when you don’t develop your own populace with good secondary and tertiary education and instead rely on only investments under gun point or unrealistic concessions by the state
Now Take Bangalore or Hyderabad or Chennai
They are buzzing with activity and you can see that the economies are doing well
The Problem in India is that a few cities and few hubs are carrying the weight of the entire nation
There are 3 Key points in a booming economy
Unemployment is pretty low
Savings are pretty high (>= 36%)
Inflation is typically 50% of RORR
India has neither of the three
Unemployment is way above the target 5%
Gross Savings are 30.20%
RORR is 7% and Inflation is 5.05% which is way above the 3.50% target
That alone tells me there are pending issues that need looking into
I taught a shop class in an inner city high school…One day as the students were changing into work clothes I noticed some relatively new wounds on Jerome’s back…I politely and discreetly took him into my office and asked him what happened…He told me his step father had tied him to a metal bed spring and beat him with a coathanger…I knew where he lived so when school was out for the day I went to his apt and his stepdad was there…I proceeded to beat the living shit out of that evil man…And told him if he wasn’t gone before Jeromes bus got there I’d finish the job…AND call the cops…I drug his worthless carcass down to his pos car and he drove off…never to be seen again. Jerome stayed in my class for the full 3 years and graduated high school…Neither of us ever mentioned it…30 years later Jerome still calls me to visit ever so often…
The US Bankrupting Itself on Wars -w/ Ron Paul, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
Oh HELL yeah! The dignified and stately Dr. Ron Paul is one of the very best Americans living. Thanks very much for this, you guys.
Laughable because you are ignorant and naive like a 5 years old kid. If you know the truth you will be the one of the 89% too.
While the U.S. real standard of living deteriorated back to the 1960’s Chinese real standard of living grew 30 times in 40 years! While 35% in the U.S. has no health insurance, every single Chinese gets free health care. While the U.S. kids get into debts for just getting into college Chinese are provided totally free college tuition.
Chinese average life expectancy overtook the U.S. in the last 2 years straight. While your infrastructure is crumbling China has the latest state of the art ports, airports, highways, high speed railways. While your trains travel at snail speed China’s high speed trains travel at 400 KM per hour.
Do you still laugh now? To be honest everyone in the world is laughing at you. You want to know about the 11% so that you can orchestrate a coup? Organised a protest and a demonstration? Do a colour revolution? And you think the Chinese are fools to give you the information? Just because you have a IQ of a snail doesn’t mean others are the same like you!
Tex-Mex Biscuits
Tex Mex Biscuits
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup enriched hominy grits or quick grits
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese (with or without jalapeno peppers), shredded
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
1/4 cup milk
Instructions
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
Combine dry ingredients; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir in cheese.
Combine sour cream and milk; add to dry ingredients, mixing just until moistened. Shape dough to form a ball; knead gently on lightly floured surface 10 to 12 times. Roll dough to 3/4 inch thickness. Cut with floured 2-inch biscuit cutter. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet.
This is Kalinka Bamberski, who used to be a 14-year-old from France.
During the summer of 1982, she briefly stayed in Lindau, Germany, with her mother and her stepfather, Dr. Dieter Krombach.
On July 9th of that summer, Krombach killed Kalinka. The next day, Krombach told the authorities that he simply found Kalinka dead in the morning.
Autopsies could not determine the exact cause of her death, and Krombach got away with the murder. This led Kalinka’s biological father, Andre, to grow suspicious and to investigate further.
Despite the authorities’ failure to discern the exact cause of Kalinka’s death, there were multiple red flags in the original autopsy: Kalinka’s corpse had multiple injection marks, fresh blood stains and a “whitish substance” around the genitals, and indigested food near the throat suggesting that she died soon after a meal.
Andre, rightfully suspecting that his daugher was raped, called for an additional investigation. This time, the authorities discovered clear evidence that, right before her death, Kalinka was injected with a drug named “Kobalt-Ferrlecit,” a substance capable of causing immediate discomfort and nausea in a victim. Andre pressed a case against Krombach, but the German courts judged that there was insufficient evidence for an indictment. Despite multiple red flags, Krombach was not indicted.
In 1995, however, the French courts officially sentenced Krombach in absentia to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.
Furthermore, later in 1997, Krombach admitted in a German trial that he had drugged and raped another girl using Kobalt-Ferrlecit, the same substance found in Kalinka’s corpse. Numerous other girls came forth, saying that Krombach had also raped them using the same drug. For this, the German courts took away his medical license, but did not sentence him to prison.
Unfortunately, in 2001, Krombach’s French manslaughter conviction of 1995 was annulled by the European Court of Human Rights, the reason being that Krombach was not capable of defending his case in that French trial. Not only was the 1995 French verdict annulled, but all attempts to extradite him for retrial were rejected.
But for Andre, the case was not over. Andre was deeply frustrated at the international legal system’s failure to bring justice; he decided he was going to take justice into his own hands.
In 2009, Andre and three other men secretly kidnapped Krombach from Germany, beat him up, and left him tied up near a French police station, allowing the French authorities to detain him and honor their 1995 decision.
Despite Germany’s requests to bring him back, French officials and courts ignored these complaints and officially re-tried Krombach.
With other victims testifying that Krombach had injected them with the same drug to rape them, on October 22, 2011, Krombach was finally sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.
Kalinka’s father, Andre, was convicted and given a suspended sentence for abducting Krombach.
But in my opinion? Andre Bamberski was a heroic father who spent 30 years of his life to bring justice for his daughter’s death. Yes, he broke the law — but refusing to convict Krombach earlier and ignoring the mountatin of evidence against him was a clear failure in the international justice system.
For Andre’s determination and commitment, I applaud him.
Prof. Richard Wolff on American Labor: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
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
Solving The Most Mysterious Children in History
THREE STORIES: The Most Mysterious Children in History In 12th century England, two children were found lost in a forest.
They spoke only gibberish, wore strange clothing and had bright green skin.
When the children finally learned to speak English, they described where they were from.
And that’s why, after almost 1,000 years, people still talk about The Green Children of Woolpit.
In 1828, a teenage boy was shuffling through a public square in Nuremburg. He seemed confused and disoriented.
He had trouble walking and speaking. When police finally approached him, he was holding an envelope containing two letters.
And those letters sparked the mystery of Kaspar Hauser.
In April 1922, in Brittany, France, 2-year-old Pauline Picard went missing. A massive search turned up nothing.
The family was losing hope. A month later, Pauline was found wandering around a village over 200 miles away.
Though her parents were overjoyed to have her back, they soon realized something wasn’t quite right with their daughter. These are three unsolved cases of the most mysterious children in history.
POMPEO said ‘Covert operations, ousting democratically elected governments, inciting revolts and supporting transnational companies are run of the mill operations for the CIA.’ WHO GAVE THEM THOSE RIGHTS?
We did, all us minions. America was once set up having a government described as ‘a government of the people, for the people, by the people’, but the people couldn’t be bothered and went home, leaving ‘those who shouldn’t be’ in charge. Industry filled the vacuum created by our conspicuous absence, which over time gave way to the American Industrial Military Complex which runs the country today.
Now industry owns the puppet show called ‘Democracy’, which in no way should be confused with actual democracy, and yet we continually pretend they are one and the same, and that our vote counts, even though voting either left or right basically changes nothing of significance. Results may vary but the rich are always always always the primary beneficiary, either way they lean.
We demand and receive empty platitudes, and are duly amused by military antics across the globe, ignoring the fact that such behavior merely mirrors us here at home, and that the same shit is pulled on our own, until folks like Snowden and Assange et al dare to shatter our deliberately cultivated ignorance. No matter, we have ways to deal with such moral assholes, as throwing them under the bus in various ways has become a time honored national pastime.
So, when you want to look at who’s at fault, go look in the mirror. When you wish to look deeper, check out your family albums. We are the bloody problem, and as we are paying the price, with record numbers driven from their homes in this rich nation, and yet, still we refuse to accept responsibility for our democracy, knowingly leaving it in the manipulative hands of industry, which is exactly how to kill actual democracy, regardless of the puppet show which operates by the same name.
Whether you love Trump or hate him, he reflects us, and had he actually run the country as we pretend to believe, he would have surely killed it, as would Biden. We need to wake the fuck up to the reality we have created, and make the necessary changes within ourselves which can then be reflected through our leadership, before it’s too late, if it’s not already.
But who among us want to actually be the change we want to see?
Many years ago, when I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I had a work commute on a typical Monday through Friday schedule.
One evening on my way home from work, I turned off a main street into the side streets that would lead me the rest of the way home. It was a very familiar drive and I knew each block well – which ones had a stop sign for me, which ones had stop signs for the cross traffic, and which ones had four-way stops. I was cruising the last few blocks toward home and had no more stop signs, so I was probably going about 35 mph when suddenly it was as if someone inside my head said, “Slow down!” It was so forceful and unexpected, I did just that. “Slower!” was the next command, and then again, “Slower!”
I was just about to chalk it all up to being a little kookie after a long day, when suddenly someone driving a vehicle on the cross street blew through their stop sign at an alarming rate of speed. I am 100% certain if I had not slowed down, I would have been T-boned by someone doing a good 60–70 mph. The close call freaked me out. I’m not a religious person, but it sure felt like I had a guardian angel that day.
Dead For 7 Minutes; Man Is Shown Past Lives During Incredible NDE
Yes. My dad’s best friend growing up has a son my age. We were really close as kids but they moved away and I didn’t talk to him for years. When we were teens, my dad’s friend came to visit. Something about his son literally made my skin crawl. I was left alone at home with him and my three young siblings while the parents went out for the night and I was nearly frantic trying to ensure he did not have a moment alone with my siblings. When our parents returned I told them something was wrong with the son, and to please not leave me alone with him again. My dad was upset and demanded to know why I would say that, did the son do something? He honestly hadn’t actually done or said anything that I could pin this feeling on. So I told them, I think my animal brain just knows a predator when I see one. My dad thought I was being dramatic but my mom believed me and made sure we weren’t alone with the son for the rest of their visit. About a year later it turned out the son got caught in the act of raping his niece. He told the police he was glad he was caught because he couldn’t stop himself. My dad has never doubted my intuition since.
Tony Confronts Tony Blundetto – The Sopranos HD
When Tony B looks up after Tony S said someone got a look at the guy. That’s the reaction of someone who did it. Split second panic and then cool as a breeze. Steve Buscemi nailed it.
I worked for a major retail company, in a team running the mainframe.
One task was keeping the (huge, size of a car trailer) printers running.
Some printouts were for the board, and these we were told to check for misprints and missing pages.
We’d just been told that we couldn’t have any pay rises since there wasn’t any money in the budget. Inflation was running high, so not getting a pay rise really meant a pay cut.
The company annual account report was printed and I was checking it before putting it in internal mail.
I noticed that the IT department budget was underspent by half a million!
No money for pay rises!
Showed printout to my manager. He ran off with it to the copier. Multiple copies of the page showing the surplus in the IT department were placed around the department.
We got pay rises.
Ralph Cifaretto Refuses Tony’s Drink – The Sopranos HD
SMIC has been making 7nm custom GPUs for the past 2–3 years, mostly for crypto customers who couldn’t get in the TSMC queue.
This filled real market demand that other players didn’t, or couldn’t.
SMIC used this opportunity to refine its process, on the quiet.
Huawei, in the meantime, found willing partners to share talent and resources, in a concerted effort to save the high-tech industry on the mainland from American destruction through the threat of sanction.
How did Huawei et. al. find the tools necessary for chip design, especially the GPU? What black magic did Huawei use to improve the transistor geometry? How did they penetrate the Qualcomm 5g patent wall? I don’t know. Neither does my friend in TSMC. It’s a separate ecosystem now, and quite independent.
The fog of war has descended, but the outcome point to solidarity across the ranks, with competitors working together like they are part of a conglomerate.
The Chinese are capable of cooperation on unheard of scale, because of long history.
The Mate 60 Pro is merely a first step, lacking polish and maturity. What’s coming though, will be a deluge.
Alien Artifacts on Mars: What NASA doesn’t want you to know
Of course. The Chinese government really wants to know how many times you call your girlfriend every week, and which are your favourite games, and which pop stars you follow on Instagram, and most of all they are interested in the photos of your meals that you regularly post on Facebook.
These are vital secrets so critical for the national security of the USA, so the evil communist spies from China will be watching intently. Remember that well, and be careful! The everyday events of your online life have the devastating potential to alter the direction of global geopolitics and the history of the world, basically.
How Huawei Mate60 5G Overcome US Sanctions? | Time to invest in Chinese tech stocks
100 sanctions. Imprisonment of it’s CEO. Mandatory shutdown of partner factories in the West.
Why worry US. Remember most Yanks still think Chinese live in caves and eat bats! To these hubris Yanks China can only make T-shirts and toys. And U.S. can deprived them technologies and send them back to the Stone Age.
Well, what happened? While the U.S. is still in the midst of ordering and coercing Taiwan to build its chip plant to manufacture 7nm chips that it thinks China is unable to do. To the horrors of U.S. officials. It took a mere 3 years for China to. Make it and now inside the Huawei Mate 60!
Where are the neocons who convince Biden to spend a trillion in losses, in subsidies, in coercions, in tax breaks, in new shining plants, in luring specialist to the U.S. only to see that China get it done in no time and made products that are not only comparable but better, faster and cheaper!
Huawei, under tight US sanctions since 2019, started selling its latest Mate 60 Pro smartphone this week, raising speculation about its 5G capabilities. Some online reviews claim the device comes with the Kirin 9000s chip to support 5G and satellite calls.
The US and some European governments have labelled the Chinese giant a threat to national security, despite the company’s denial. Huawei had restricted access to US components and software, including from foreign chipmakers.
Early this year, Japan and the Netherlands joined the US effort to curb the export of advanced semiconductors. However, Huawei has been rumoured to be actively trying to overcome these sanctions to return to the 5G smartphone market, even resuming production on advanced chips with China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).
Why does it matter?
Huawei’s development of its 5G chip may have implications for the tech industry, the global economy, and national security.
The smartphone launch coincides with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to Beijing, reiterating the Biden administration’s stance on export controls to China.
If the new Mate 60 Pro is confirmed to have a 5G chip, that would mark a significant achievement for the Chinese tech champion.
China’s ability to produce its own advanced chips would also announce a considerable advancement in technological capabilities and would mean a serious blow to current US measures aimed at slowing its progress.
It could inspire the country’s largest tech firms to get around US sanctions, fueling the ‘whole nation‘ endeavor to produce Chinese innovation to beat the US.
In the United States, I was a conservative Republican working at a wage earning job. Then, while driving for my employer, on a delivery, on the clock, at a red light I was stopped. A person who was not paying attention smashed into my stationary vehicle and totaled it, and sent me to the hospital.
The hospital bill was thousands upon thousands of dollars. My employer didn’t cover any of it. My automobile insurance replaced my new vehicle with an old one that barely ran. I ran up many thousands of dollars of medical debt that I couldn’t afford.
Note: I spent one hour at the hospital, getting one scan. I received zero actual treatment, before or after that scan. It still cost me more than I made in a year. And no, the insurance didn’t cover it. Insurance that would have covered it, would have taken up half of my wages in a given month.
Cut to a few years later. I am now happily married, living in Norway. Still an American citizen. My wife is Norwegian and the pay is much, much better here, because they have things called unions. I literally earn three times as much as I did in Florida, working the same type of job. Scratch that, I was in management in the USA. Here, it’s an entry level job, no promotion. I still make far more money than I did in the states.
But the point is, whenever I need to see a doctor now, I just go. Whenever I need an operation, I can afford it. Whenever I am sick, I take time off. Because over here, in Norway, they have single payer universal healthcare.
I’ve never seen a doctor more often than I have since moving to Norway. I’ve gotten medical conditions diagnosed that I never would have found the money for before. I’ve gotten sick leave from work when I have been ill. Seeing a doctor tends to cost less than I make in a day, and if I go over a certain amount in a year, I can pay nothing.
Instead of getting bills from a doctor for thousands of dollars, I end up paying around 30 bucks out of pocket each time.
The doctor earns plenty. They make slightly less money here, but are still among the highest paid people in society. The citizens are healthier, they live longer. They take their health more seriously. Norway spends more per patient than almost any other country in the world, and they cover every citizen, every resident, completely.
Norway still spends only about half as much as US citizens are forced to spend on their healthcare.
The reason is because healthcare is considered a right here, like getting a public school education. People don’t go without simply because they’re poor.
And as a result, lifespans and healthcare outcomes and healthcare expenses are all a better outcome or a cheaper deal here in Norway.
Bernie Sanders is one of the few politicians in my native United States who understands that progressive ideas like universal healthcare would greatly enhance the lives of my fellow citizens.
I care about my fellow citizens, and I’d like for my son to be able to live in the USA someday, as he is born to a US citizen and he can certainly go far there.
The problem is, if he decides to come to the USA; there won’t be a union fighting for him against corporate greed. There will be greatly reduced wages. And if he gets hurt, sick, or otherwise needs medical care, he will likely need to have far more money than he earns in order to get that care.
That’s ridiculous.
Of course, he could just get a college education (something that is free in Norway) and then he could afford the outrageous healthcare prices in the USA.
But if he wanted to get such an education in the USA, he could find himself a hundred thousand dollars in debt just for college alone, in a shitty economic downturn, without even the benefit of having a place to live. Throw on a mortgage payment on top of that, and he would be downright stupid to deliberately choose the USA over Norway.
The difference is that Norway governs for its citizens and certain things are prioritized here, like education and healthcare.
Whereas in the USA most of the money you spend in taxes goes towards prepping for world war 3 and giving subsidies to already profitable corporations, and then giving them loopholes where they don’t have to pay any corporate taxes at all. And then billionaires pay for senators to give them even more tax breaks personally, and then they use that money that should be funding your government services to bankroll candidates for the Republican ticket that will never, ever do anything to help a working class person.
I support Bernie Sanders because he’s spent decades representing working class people, without ever selling out. It’s a shame people keep rejecting him in favor of billionaires who bail themselves out on the taxpayer’s dime like Donald Trump.
Norway isn’t alone. Basically any other modern, western nation has a universal healthcare system of some kind, and doesn’t shit on the poor like the USA does under Republican rule. Needless to say, I don’t think much of my former political party. They haven’t done anything for any working person in at least 4 decades. I was a fool to support them at all when I was younger. I believed their lies, basically.
The Mate 60 is superior to the performance of the Iphone 13 and is on par with the performance of Iphone 14
Yet the Mate 60 is expected to be half a generation below the Iphone 15
The Price of the Mate 60 however is at least 3000 Yuan lesser than the Iphone 15 and given the mild differences in performance between the two, the market for the mate 60 is likely to zoom and surge and definitely affect the market for the Iphone 15
I believe Iphone will lose around 15% of it’s present market share in China to Huawei due to the Mate 60 and the Mate 60 Pro Plus to be released in 2024 April
As a child, I was an incorrigible thief. Absolutely nothing could stop me.
I stole books. We had no local library, no school library, and no money to buy books. And I WANTED TO READ! (That may have been why I developed the habit of re-reading books.) I also stole art supplies, but that wasn’t quite the same problem, because you didn’t need a new set of pastels every week. When I was caught, I was punished — usually beat, because that was punishment in Little Italy in the 1960s.
My brother also stole. He tended towards candy and comic books. He also got beat when he got caught.
When I turned 16 I got a job, and I never had to steal a book again. Within three months I had enough books (and money) to build my first bookshelf. My current bookshelf, which is about half the size of its maximum ever, is 13′ long and 7′ high. I built that one, too.
I don’t steal art supplies, either. I order them online.
My brother decided stealing was fun, and meant he didn’t have to work. He made a living illegally hooking up electric lines after the power was shut off; later, he added cable TV installations. And he didn’t need a full-time job, ever.
Same parents, same beatings, same reason — poverty. When I had a choice, I stopped stealing. When he had a choice, he became a better thief. Good parenting helps, but nothing will tell you why a child turned out the way they did.
Clear interference shown in docs leaked to Mintpress
Theoretically, any cell phone that makes calls through a terrestrial carrier could be monitored by the CIA. It doesn’t matter whether the phone is made in the United States, South Korea or China.
After all, their signals and data must eventually be aggregated into the operator’s computer room and lines.
However, Mate60 is so unique that it is the first mobile phone in the world that can send short messages and make calls directly through artificial satellites. Previous similar products required the help of ground operators for transit.
Some people may say: CIA will also monitor satellites! Of course.
But what if these satellites are not operated by Americans?
Yes, if two people hold Mate60 at the same time, they can rely on a series of artificial satellites in space for global communication that do not rely on the United States. Perfectly avoiding every link that the CIA may touch.
While many Chinese scientists and engineers have returned to China after working years in the US, there is a newer trend which just came to my attention: Young Chinese star physicists and engineers are refusing to go to US universities and companies for study and then work, and are choosing to do their post-graduate study and work in China.
Why?
They have seen how research and product patents are owned by US universities and companies, and are used against Chinese companies and interests if a tech war breaks out.
They do not want their inventions used against Chinese companies and interests, so they choose to stay in China.
Huang Qianqian 黄芊芊 is a leading student and researcher on electricity consumption in chips, who went to Beijing University for undergraduate work, and is now doing graduate work there. In spite of being offered full scholarships to US universities, she decided to stay in China to do her work. She already has several patents under her name.
The US wanted decoupling; it is getting decoupling.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for plans to immediately deport Blacks out of Israel and back to Africa.
Plans should be drawn up to remove all African migrants from Israel after groups of Eritreans were involved in a violent clash in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says.
He also wants the migrants involved in the demonstration to be deported immediately.
His remarks came a day after rival groups of Eritreans clashed in bloody protests that left dozens of people injured.
The groups, supporters and opponents of Eritrea’s government, faced off with construction lumber, pieces of metal and rocks, smashing shop windows and police cars.
Israeli police in riot gear shot tear gas, stun grenades and live rounds while officers on horseback tried to control the protesters.
The violence broke out near the Eritrean embassy when protesters were stopped from reaching the building ahead of a cultural event set to take place there.
The issue of migrants has long divided Israel and the latest violence has brought it back to the fore.
“We want harsh measures against the rioters, including the immediate deportation of those who took part,” Mr Netanyahu said.
He requested that ministers present him with plans “for the removal of all the other illegal infiltrators,” and noted in his remarks that the Supreme Court struck down some measures meant to coerce the migrants to leave.
Under international law, Israel cannot forcibly send people back to a country where their life or liberty may be at risk.
About 25,000 African migrants live in Israel, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea, who say they fled conflict or repression.
Israel recognizes very few as asylum seekers, seeing them overwhelmingly as economic migrants, and says it has no legal obligation to keep them.
Stray Cat Follows Every Stranger and Asking to Take her Home Until This Happened
Heartwarming.
Media Say … Gloom And Doom In China
The New York Times, and other western media, are running a ‘doom and gloom in Xi’s economy’ campaign.
Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution with major centers and public buildings in New York, Hong Kong, and Houston, and additional locations in Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, New Delhi, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Zurich.
In 2016, he was found guilty and imprisoned after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice by asking Leung, in letters and emails, to stop the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) from investigating him.
Why is he quoting the Vice-something professor of this or that Liu Shijin?
Former Vice-President (Vice-Minister), Development Research Center. Currently, Vice-Chairman, China Development Research Foundation.
Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank created in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of Natexis Banques Populaires (Banque Populaire group) and IXIS (Groupe Caisse d’Epargne).
Natixis provides financial data for the ‘Markets’ section on the news channel, Euronews. On October 26, 2010, Natixis Investment Managers (NIM) has acquired a majority stake in asset management start-up ‘Ossiam’.
Why use some other outlets interview with the retired Lou Jiwei without giving this (2019) context?:
Lou Jiwei, who has long been seen as a liberalizing force in China, an advocate of market reform and international openness. He served as finance minister, ran the country’s massive sovereign wealth fund, and has palled around with western economists since the 1980s. But recently he made a prediction that contained a startling phrase: At a forum in Beijing, according to reporting in the South China Morning Post, he said: “The next step in the frictions between China and the United States is a financial war (jinrong zhan). The U.S. has been hijacked by nationalism and populism, so will do everything in its power to use bullying measures [and] long-arm jurisdiction.”
In this financial war, he continued, the U.S. will exploit its dominance of the international financial system to hurt China—and China will fight back.
REALITY: Only four economies have ever grown by $1.5 trillion in a year, and 2023 will see the fifth. All five boom years are Chinese, of course. Its economy is booming and so are wages: 4.7% nominal rise last year, 4.2% after inflation. Bwahahah.
But it’s all gloom and doom in China. The NYT says so.
Posted by b on September 6, 2023 at 8:23 UTC | Permalink
Tex-Mex Baked Potatoes
OIP Potato
Ingredients
4 baking potatoes
1 pound lean ground beef
1 (12 ounce) jar mild or hot salsa
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1 tablespoon chopped stuffed green olives
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
Sliced tomatoes
Instructions
Scrub potatoes; pierce skin with fork. Bake at 400 degrees F until tender, about 1 hour.
Fifteen minutes before potatoes are done, sauté meat in hot skillet until all pink disappears.
Add salsa and chili powder to meat. Cover. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
Add green pepper and olives to meat mixture. Heat through.
Cut baked potatoes open. Spoon hot meat mixture into potatoes. Top at once with cheese so that it melts slightly.
Serve with lettuce sprinkled on top and with sliced tomatoes alongside.
Apple In Tears: China Ban Iphone In Response to U.S Sanction
In today’s video, we dive deep into the recent ban imposed by China on the use of iPhones for its government officials and its potential impact on the U.S economy. From Apple’s position in the global market to the ripple effects on allied industries, join us as we uncover the implications of this significant move.
Some years ago I was living in rural Texas. My housemates decided to raise chickens. They thought it would be “fun.” As someone who had to raise chickens in the past, I did not agree with them, but compromised because chickens were probably the least expensive and bothersome livestock they could mess with. Eventually, they got bored of the chickens, so I processed the chickens for future consumption in the front yard where the light was good. My neighbors called the local police and claimed I was conducting Satanic Rituals. Once again, this was rural Texas (no HOAs, large tracts of land with the Piney Woods for our backyards). All of these neighbors claimed to be descended from farmers and country people. They should have damn well recognized what cleaning a bunch of chickens looked like versus “Satanic Rituals.”
About 15 years ago I was driving through a part of Miami, Florida in my work van, which contained lots of specialized tools. My company was based out of South Georgia, and we usually didn’t work this far South, but there I was, driving through unknown territory.
I was on a very long street with stop signs every block, and I dutifully stopped at each one before proceeding. Of a sudden, as I stopped at one of the stop signs, a police car pulled up on the left side of me, lights flashing. An officer jumped out of the passenger seat and stood at my window, asking me where I was headed. I told him that I was heading to the interstate so I could make my way back North to Georgia.
The officer asked what I had in the van, and I told him a bunch of tools. Wearing a pained expression, the officer told me that he and his partner had observed me stopping at every stop sign and then he said that it was several miles to the Interstate and that I was in a very rough part of town. In fact, the officer believed that my life would be in danger if I were to stop at every stop sign, as someone may jump on / in the van, shoot me, or whatever, and take the van.
The officer ordered me not to stop at any of the stop signs between where we were and the interstate. He said I could slow down and make sure it was safe to proceed, but under no circumstances was I to stop and that if anyone tried to stop me or signal me to stop, that I should ‘floor it’ and get the hell out of there.
The officer assured me that they were radioing my vehicle description / license plate # to other officers in the area to let them know what I would be doing.
I thanked the officer and proceeded toward the Interstate, running every stop sign on the way.
PASSPORT SIS Thought She Could Talk Down To Men In Africa Like In USA
“The arrogance of US women is astounding. I live in a poor country, but that does not mean that their education is bad. Very smart people here.”
Yes you are 100% correct. The U.S. is totally dependent on the Chinese in 3 main ways.
Without the Chinese products the U.S. will suffer a 50% inflation at the very least.
Without China producing stuffs productively and efficiently for them they cannot sell a thing in the world.
Without access to the humongous Chinese market most U.S. companies will go bankrupt and out of business within a year.
Just take Apple and Tesla as an example. Without the Chinese market it will suffer a good 30% less sales. Without China making their products they will be totally uncompetitive and lose the entire world market.
What can be done about this? You can do something to avoid dependence on China but you won’t. And you can’t. You wanted the cake and eat it too. You see US wants to be the world’s baddest nation and fight wars upon wars upon wars. It needs to outspent the top 20 nations put together! If you do that much shit you need to watch your back, your side and your front, your top and your bottom too!
There lies your problem. You need to spent all your money on wars you have no more money to produce anything. You thought that your CEO can earn 100 times China’s CEO, your workers must be paid 5 times more than Chinese workers and get 10 times the Chinese benefits and the customer will pay for your excesses! But the customer won’t! Not even American customers!
It is that simple. The U.S. cannot have the cake and eat it too! The U.S. needs to choose being competitive or being hegemonic! It cannot have both. American need to decide!
You want to compete with China, do the following. Close your 800 foreign military base, turn your dozen aircraft carriers into holiday cruise! Divert your trillion dollar military budget to building U.S. infrastructure, stop spending money talking shit and doing shit spend it on building relationship with your customers. Disband NATO, CIA and NED! Ban Industrial Actions and Trade Unions!
Can you do this? I doubt so. So the U.S. will rather be dependent on China!
The Sopranos || Feelin’ Good
I am really starting to like these Sopranos themed fan videos.
The growing US’ geopolitical competition with Russia and China marks the end of the post-Cold War world order, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, speaking at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies on Wednesday. “What we are experiencing now is more than a test of the post-Cold War order. It’s the end of it,” he noted. “Decades of relative geopolitical stability have given way to an intensifying competition with authoritarian powers, revisionist powers.” This statement appears to be a rallying cry for a “new cold war.”
Since the post-Cold War order is coming to an end, what kind of new world order does the US want? Various signs indicate that the US wants major power competition and camp confrontation in order to maintain its global hegemony, even at the expense of the interests of other countries, including allies, and partner nations. However, the reality is that major power competition goes against the trend of the times and cannot solve the US’ own problems and the challenges facing the world. It will only further divide the world, leading the world to slide toward a more dangerous cliff edge.
Regarding Blinken’s remarks, there are two main points to consider. Firstly, Blinken was creating a sense of crisis in the world. The underlying message to US allies and other countries is that there are challengers, particularly China and Russia, who want to change the existing order. Secondly, Blinken’s remarks also reflect a sense of anxiety in the US. The US is attempting to slow down China’s rise through strategic competition, while hoping to sustain its hegemony without jeopardizing its own interests. However, it seems that the US has no clear solution to this dilemma.
China is one of the beneficiaries of the existing system and does not seek to challenge or subvert this order. However, the US has viewed any legitimate demand made by China, even those that reflect the reasonable demands of the majority of developing countries, as a challenge and ill-intentioned sabotage….
As for China, the US is attempting to stifle its development by imposing unlimited technological restrictions, but it is unable to completely decouple from China economically. For the US and its main allies, China is either their largest single trading partner or one of the largest. Today, the US is a reckless strategic aggressor, attempting to unite its relatively weaker strength with its allies to wage a new cold war. It should be noted that the power of US allies has declined significantly, and the unity of the “West” is crippled due to the US transitioning from a “blood donor” to a “vampire”.
There’s no way the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals can contain China or the rest of the Global South. The degree of geoeconomic dependency noted in the final paragraph above is far too much for that Bloc to overcome. The attempts made so far beginning with Trump have illustrated the damage the Empire can inflict on itself in its ill-considered policy toward China and the world. The Outlaw US Empire’s illusion of “primacy” has faded into the mists of time and is irretrievable so matter what it tries.
Dancing around each other in the ring. Throw a punch or two, and the West believes that “it has rigged the game”. I disagree, but what do I know?
I am tried of all this “shadow boxing”, but there are only two directions; two vectors left.
Full scale military HOT war
A subsiding of hostilities
I think that the East (China, Russia, the Global South) are just biding their time in the eventuality that the West will run out of “steam” and slow down on the provocations.
It’s safe and reasonable. And they have systems designed…intentionally designed to force all the steam out of the “mighty beast”.
But I am sure that they are all ready to unleash bloody Hell if need be.
…
Nothing that I can do about it.
So, I’m just gonna drink my coffee and enjoy the day.
Ukrainians Caught Trying to Sabotage Russian Nuke Plant; Putin says “Trained by British” – for whom “There will be consequences”
Putin British trained Ukies Nuke Plant Sabotage large
“Vladimir Putin today warned Britain of ‘serious consequences’ and said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ‘doesn’t understand’ the risks after the UK’s special forces tried to disrupt Russian nuclear power plants.
President Putin said that Britain’s elite forces were training Ukrainian troops on how to damage atomic power plants in Russia.
The Russian President declared dire consequences for the UK while admitting his words would be interpreted as ‘nuclear blackmail.’
Putin claimed during a speech at an economic forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, that Russia’s FSB security service had interrogated a Ukrainian team caught operating inside Russia.
‘It turned out to be a sabotage group of Ukrainian special services,’ he said.
‘Interrogation showed they had been tasked to damage one of our nuclear stations by exploding a power line… to damage the work of the power plant. And this is not the first attempt.’
He alleged: ‘During interrogation, they admitted they were trained under supervision of British instructors. Do [the British] understand what they are playing with, or not?
‘Are they provoking our response at Ukrainian nuclear sites, nuclear stations, or what?
‘Does the British leadership, or the Prime Minister [of the United Kingdom. Rishi Sunak] know what their special services are engaged with in Ukraine?
‘Or do they have no clue at all? I assume this is possible, too. I assume it is possible British special services act on the orders of the Americans. Either way, we know the final beneficiary.”
There was a moment after a short firefight when we shared a few thoughts about a dead enemy soldier.
We were on the top of a small hill in the mountains near our Kosovo Liberation Army base and a group of enemy infantry was coming up towards our positions. They didn’t see us, but we could hear them talking to each other. One guy, probably their leader, told his troops: “Stop whining, guys!”
When they were close enough we opened fire. We heard one of them screaming in pain. After we had ceased fire we went down the hill to look at the aftermath. We found the body of a dead soldier and what struck me first was how well this guy was equipped: a US-style Kevlar helmet, combat fatigues, boots; all his gear was of the best quality. One of my comrades searched his pockets and found his documents.
My comrade read out loud what was written in the dead soldier’s papers. This guy had been a sergeant and a professional soldier. He had fought in Bosnia as well and was the member of a Special Forces unit.
Then my comrade told me in a tone of regret: “Look at him! This guy did all the training, fought everywhere and then he gets himself killed by some peasants like us. What a waste!”
That was quite an objective and modest statement and I was honestly surprised. We had very good soldiers who were well trained and highly motivated, but they were no match to the soldier we had just killed. He was better trained and equipped and far more experienced than we were. Still, he was dead and we were alive.
We took the dead soldier’s gun and left the place.
This was the only time that we’ve ever talked about a dead enemy. Usually, we were just interested in the number we had killed: one there, three over there and so on. They were numbers for us, nothing else. We fought for the right cause and they didn’t. No regrets.
Tex-Mex Meatballs
Crushed tortilla chips is the ingredient that sets these Tex-Mex Meatballs apart from the rest!
In a bowl, combine the crushed tortilla chips (they should be the size of large breadcrumbs) with the water or beef broth. Stir to make a thick paste. This helps keep the meatballs moist but also adds a great corn flavor.
In a large bowl, combine ground beef, green chiles, salt, garlic powder, cumin, chipotle powder, onion powder and the tortilla chip mix. Using hands, mix lightly but thoroughly (do not pack).
Form the ground beef mixture into balls, using about 1/3 cup of the mixture per ball. Do not overwork or form the meatballs too tightly.
Place the meatballs in a large skillet, leaving space between them, then bake for 15 minutes.
Pour the enchilada sauce over/around the meatballs, and return to the oven for an additional 7 minutes.
Sprinkle the cheese all over the meatballs, and return to the oven until cheese is melted, about 3-5 minutes.
Serve immediately. Caution, skillet will be extremely hot.
Yield: 8 servings
In Canada
In Canada, they combine orphanages with retirement homes. And it has given new meaning to the lives of older people, who can share their time with children who so desperately need a father or mother figure.
For a few hours, children and elderly people play, discuss and share together.
As for the little ones, they grow up and learn in an atmosphere of respect and admiration, not only between themselves, but also in front of the elders.
And older people have the opportunity to pass on some of their wisdom to children. They no longer feel so alone and isolated and now look forward to getting up in the morning to play and talk with the little ones.
It seems to me that this initiative should be applied everywhere in the world, we would help the elderly to feel less alone and the children to grow better.
The Chinese can’t make domestic chips below 5nm process using their present methods of innovative stacking
The Chinese used the “Necessity is the mother of invention” saying to fullest use and have managed to mass produce 7nm cost effective Chips using DUV and innovative stacking
They will crack 5nm Chips in a year and by 2027 – the Chinese will make 25% of all the 7nm and 5nm Chips on earth
They would have saved their Semiconductor Industry and would be able to make Robots and develop advanced technology
I don’t think the Chinese want more than that
Fact 1:- 3nm Chips are very different. It may look like 5 to 3 is just one step below but in reality 7nm process and 3nm process are two generations (6 years) apart. So if the 3nm is 2024,then 7nm is 2018 and 5nm is 2021.
Without Western Equipment and without the advanced know how that TSMC and Samsung offer – the 3nm Chip is almost 3 generations or even 3.5 generations ahead in commercial manufacture
This means to China, the 3nm Chip is around 10.5 years apart, meaning 2035 at least
It’s not worth it and China knows that
Fact 2:- The West cannot develop 3nm Chips commercially and not sell to China
image 24
China and Hong Kong together consume around 43% of the World’s Chips produced
image 23
China and HK account for 30% of the sales of Advanced Technology and Hardware needed for Advanced Applications
It makes no sense to invest billions into 3 and 2 nm Chips and NOT SELL in a market that today has a 30% demand and could well have 45% demand in the next 15 years
That’s like increasing oil production by 30% and refusing to sell to China or India
That’s like spending crores of rupees on refining Gold jewelry and refusing to sell them to Telugu or Gujarati weddings
It’s UNVIABLE
So the West HAS to sell the 3&2 nm Chips to China if they have to sustain a market.
At present the rest of the World only has a 7% market for these advanced applications of which Saudi and UAE have a 3.4% market share and they certainly can’t create the applications even if they get the equipment for the next 15 years
India has a 0.7% market today for advanced applications ($ 767 Million)
That’s 3% of Chinas market and 2.3% of China and HK market combined
Fact 3:- The 3nm Chips, 2 nm Chips and 1 nm Chips may be redundant advanced technologies
Artificial Sun, Hypersonics, Nanogrid Laser Arrays – these were all areas where good studies were made by the US in the 1980s -1990s , well before China and Russia
Yet they faltered because there was not sufficient necessity for such advanced stuff back then
The assumption that people will use advanced smartphones for the next 30 years would be silly
Today Defence equipment works perfectly with 450 nm Chips and Drones with 150nm -65 nm Chips
Today the most advanced Robotic applications are done without 7/5 nm Chips
The Memory, GPUs and other hardware are more crucial than Chips now
Again these products need China which is a 30% market to them
Otherwise they cannot be viable commercially
They HAVE to sell to China and if the US tries too hard, they will find alternate ways
Like NVDIA which custom made advanced chips and sold $ 5 Billion of these to China just breaking the threshold
If they say China can’t be sold a car that drives at 100 Kph, simply modify your engine a bit and sell them a car that drives at 99 Kph and stay within sanctions guidelines
Fact 4:- If China develops it’s own 7/5 nm Chips using the innovative stacking process and DUV, that alone is a major blow to Global Players
image 22
Today TSMC sells most 14,7 and 5 nm. chips to China
China accounts for 36.5% of TSMC and it’s revenue
Yet now its estimated by the SIA that
image 21
By 2027, SMIC and other Chinese entities will sell most of the 14,7 and 5 nm Chips to China
TSMC and Samsung will lose a lot of sales to China in the next five years and simply be unable to sell anywhere else
By 2027, China will account for 14.6% of the same sales to TSMC and there won’t be market for TSMC to compensate for the loss
Same for Qualcomm, Intel and other players selling Modems and other 5G technology
This means China is a part of a War where it suffers the LEAST
China won’t make 3nm and 2nm Chips. They will buy these Chips if offered by others but won’t waste billions on trying to commercially make these chips with their own equipment
They DON’T NEED these Chips even for their most advanced applications
TSMC and others HAVE TO SELL TO CHINA if they commercially produce 3/2 nm Chips
China likewise knows it will be SOLD equipment and hardware that keep defying sanctions all the time to survive
And in a few years time – China will take away a huge chunk of TSMCs market in the mainland and TSMC cannot replace the Chinese market, even half of it in the next decade
To answer your question
China is never likely to catch up with commercial 3 / 2 nm Chips
China will come out of the Chip war with the least damage and most positive effect for the mainland.
Taiwan, Korea and US will find their players badly mauled by economics
China will deliver a strong blow to TSMC and Samsung by 2027 from which they can’t recover
Unless Biden removes ALL EXPORT CONTROLS today and goes to free market mode
Then Chinese players will start being swamped with aggressive growth.
The Sopranos – Johnny Sack And Paulie
Paulie complains about Tony ruling against him in a sitdown to Johnny Sack, This is the first of many conversations between the two. These conversations lead to major problems down the road.
Fedor Nikiforovich Plevako was one of the most famous Russian defence lawyers of the 19th century. Many of his speeches were recorded and became legendary. I will quote two of them.
Once, he was defending an old Orthodox priest accused of adultery and theft. The jury was very unfavourable. The public prosecutor described the depravity of the vicious priest. Finally, Plevako rose from his seat to say:
– Gentlemen of the jury! The affair is clear. The prosecutor is absolutely right in everything. The accused really perpetrated those crimes and confessed them. Nothing to discuss. But there is something I wish to draw your attention to. You behold a man, who listened to our confessions for thirty years. For thirty years, he absolved us from our sins. Now he is waiting for your decision. Would you absolve his sin?
The priest was acquitted.
In another case, Plevako defended an old townswoman who stole a tin kettle worth 30 kopecks. The prosecutor, knowing that she was going to be defended by Plevako, decided to knock the bottom out of his arguments and took pains to describe the hardness of her life and show that she was worthy of compassion. However, he explained, private property is sacred and if you acquit her, you would have to acquit criminals who are much more dangerous, and this may lead to the destruction of Russia. The jury nodded in agreement. Plevako started to speak:
– Russia has suffered a lot in over 1,000 years of its history. It was invaded by numerous foes. Moscow was taken by Napoleon’s army. Russia overcame all these challenges and not only survived but became stronger. Unfortunately, an old lady stole a tin kettle worth 30 kopecks. This is a heavy blow. Now Russia will perish, that’s for sure.
The old woman was acquitted.
Ukrainian Soldiers REVOLT Against Military Leadership
If only we could send all the Ukraine flag twitter users as conscripts, then we’d have reasonable discourse on the internet. LOL.
Not at all. the two colonies involved in the war, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, both remained colonies after the war. Even if the Americans had succeeded in their objectives, they may have just handed both colonies back to the United Kingdom. The war was started by the Americans, although they felt some of their grievances against the United Kingdom were legitimate. The end of the war essentially put things back exactly as they were before the war, and everyone in Upper Canada and Lower Canada were just fine with that.
However, the war did create a Canadian identity, both tying together people of both Protestant and Catholic backgrounds through the six British Colonies in eastern Canada, and by establishing an identity separate from the United Kingdom for Protestant Canadians.
Prior to the war, you pretty much had five distinct groups of people living in Canada, each of whom identified differently.
Catholics (mostly French speaking) who identified as “Canadien” and not as British. They didn’t see Protestants as “Canadian” but as “British”.
Loyalists, who had been born in the United States prior to the American revolutionary war. They always saw themselves as “British”, but largely spoke and acted like Americans.
British immigrants, who also saw themselves as “British”, but were more diverse than the Loyalists, who tended to be English and Anglican, while the immigrants were English, Irish and Scottish, and were often Methodists, Baptists or Presbyterian. The largely Anglican Loyalists weren’t very welcoming. The immigrants also spoke and acted like the British.
American immigrants, who still saw themselves as “American” and came to Canada looking for opportunity well after the revolutionary war. They didn’t get along well with the Loyalists, and also had a rather diverse set of religious backgrounds.
First Nations, a mix of those who had been in Canada for some time, and some that had fled from the United States because they had supported the British. Most of them didn’t get along well with each other. They got along well with British authorities, but not with the other four groups.
Shortly into the war, and by no later than 1813, all five groups had pretty much put aside their differences and started identifying clearly as “Canadian”. There were two basic reasons for this. The first was that the Americans treated everyone they encountered brutally. They would routinely loot and burn settlements, including York (now Toronto), where they burned the new legislative building (which is why the Ontario legislature isn’t on Parliament Street, but the burned down structure was). Anyone who dealt with the American forces largely found the militia (not so much the professional soldiers) to be undisciplined and arrogant.
The other was the indifference of the United Kingdom to their plight. Yes, the UK was busy with Napoleon, and the professional British forces in Canada were competent, but a lot of the fighting was done by the First Nations with help from the local militia. The militia often complained they had to answer to British leaders who were often indifferent to their suffering. For people in Upper Canada, that often meant that their local forces answered to the British governor in Quebec City.
So, yes, the British did most of the fighting, with some help from Canadians, but the real stars were the First Nations, who terrified the Americans but worked well with the British. When the Mohawks heard the Americans had invaded York, and the British had abandoned the city, they put together a force of 400 warriors (to face an American force at least three times that size) and only turned back when they found the Americans had abandoned the city too. In late 1813, after the American unsuccessfully tried to attack British forces near St. Catharines (where they were ambushed), the natives surrounded the Americans at Fort George and kept them from venturing outside the fort. The Americans withdrew for the winter.
Over in Lower Canada, the Americans found the locals not to be hospitable. Two attempts to invade Montreal were turned back by a mixed force which was largely French-Canadian. That sent morale throughout the country through the roof.
As for the American immigrants, they soon realized they wanted nothing to do with their own country as the American forces looted and burned farms and houses without discrimination. That drove them further towards the British and their fellow residents of Upper Canada.
Meanwhile, over in Nova Scotia,. Halifax became rich as Canadian privateers preyed on American shipping. Once privateer, the Liverpool Packet, took fifty prizes during the war despite being captured once – the Americans sold the ship at auction back to its former owner. Everyone in Canada got involved in the effort.
The events eventually pushed all the colonies towards self-government by the 1840s (governors became figureheads without real power) and a new country by the 1860s (when the Americans went to war with themselves).
Glenn Beck reacts to Oliver Anthony’s POWERFUL testimony on The Joe Rogan Experience
Over the years, there have been several people (suspects, offenders, witnesses, victims, etc.) who have said kind things to me. One that comes to mind is probably the most recent. As a captain, I’m not often out on patrol and I make very few traffic stops. A few weeks ago however, I saw a vehicle traveling the wrong direction in a traffic circle. Given the danger presented, I stopped the motorist and saw that the vehicle was driven by a tiny African American lady of about 65 (I am a not so tiny 55-year-old Caucasian man), and that she was confused and upset by the unfamiliar traffic control device into which she had driven. I helped get her turned around and pulled to the side of the road where we were both safe. Pursuant to Department policy, I asked her for her license, registration and proof of insurance. She paused a moment and then started looking through her purse, center console and glove compartment for the requested documentation. Based on my experience, this suggested to me that she did not have one or more of the documents I had asked her to produce. I asked her if she had a driver’s license and she admitted that her license was suspended. I couldn’t help but notice the tears welling up in her eyes. I had already noticed that her license plate was expired, as was her motor vehicle inspection sticker. I then asked if her automobile was insured, and she told me it was not.
In my jurisdiction, unless there are exigent circumstances, a vehicle found to be uninsured is to be towed and impounded. In addition, a motorist found to be driving under suspension may, at the discretion of the officer, be arrested, and should not be permitted to drive away from the traffic stop absent exigent circumstances which mitigate against preventing the motorist from driving any further. The lady had tears streaming down her cheeks, knowing she had a problem. She was wearing a business outfit, so I asked her where she was going, thinking that I might be able to drop her off if time was a problem. She explained that the previous week, she was hired by a local hospital and that day was to be her first at her new job. She explained that she had lost her home and job in August of 2016 when our area suffered through the worst flood to affect the area in modern history. Approximately 80% of the homes and businesses in our area flooded during the event. Many had never flooded before, were not in flood zones and consequently, many families and businesses were left with nothing, following the inundation. This lady was one of those.
She understood that she was in trouble, and she understood that despite her good intentions, she was breaking the law. But there was no anger or bitterness. In her face, I saw only resolve and determination. She never once suggested that she deserved a break. She didn’t hint at leniency. She expressed no self-pity and did not seek to shift the blame. While I may not have shown it, I was very impressed with the way she was handling the experience.
I told the lady, whom I’ll call Ms. Smith, to have a seat in her car, turn on her air conditioner (it was about 95), and that I would be back with her as quickly as possible. I then returned to my unit and checked her registration and driver’s license. I determined that her license was suspended due to her inability to honor a payment plan with the DMV that she had reached in order to resolve the fines assessed to her when her insurance lapsed. She was uninsured; her history showed that over the last several years, her insurance lapsed several times, She always managed to have her insurance reinstated but the administrative fees had built up over time. Her registration had expired two months earlier. However, with a suspended driver’s license, she could not renew her registration or obtain an updated motor vehicle inspection sticker. Clearly, she was in a vicious spiral and putting her in jail or doing anything to cost her the new job would not be helpful.
I carefully considered my options, recognizing that my obligation to protect and serve includes keeping people without the mandatory liability insurance off of the road. Her failure to have the required insurance presented a problem for me. Under our law, were she to have an at-fault accident and it was discovered that I had stopped her and failed to take the appropriate action, I could be held responsible. If I towed her car, she would likely lose her new job which was going to pay her enough to get the required insurance, take care of her suspended driver’s license and generally make her life better for the first time in two years. As I sat there considering what to do, I suddenly remembered something. I got out of my unit, walked up to car and looked in the back seat. There, behind the front passenger seat was a rear-facing baby seat, buckled snuggly into place. “I meant to ask you about the baby seat,” I told her. “Oh,” she replied. “That’s for my grand baby,” she told me. “I take her to day care each morning so that my daughter can make it to nursing school on time. This is our only car.” “Do they live with you all the time.” I asked. “Yes, sir! They’re my best friends,” she said with a smile.
I thanked her and returned to my unit. I smiled too and thought to myself, “Exigent circumstances! Can’t tow that car if there are exigent circumstances.” I prepared the lady a citation for driving under suspension. I hated to do it, but the only discretion we have in such cases is jail or a misdemeanor summons. I did, however, exercise my discretion and prepared a warning for the expired driver’s license and expired vehicle inspection sticker. I then made a quick phone call before walking back to her car, ticket book in hand. As the little lady waited to hear her fate, I began. “OK, Ms. Smith, here is where we are,” I told her. “I have to issue you a citation for driving under suspension. I have no choice. However, you’re not being arrested, only fined.” She asked me how much the fine would be and I told her that I did not know, but that I had called the Clerk of Court, asked that they let her pay over a period of six months, and that they had agreed. I then handed her the citation and asked her to sign where indicated. She signed and then remembered the other charges. “Is there another ticket,” she asked? “No Ma’am,” I told her. “Apparently, I am out of tickets and don’t have time to go and get some more.” She seemed confused and asked, “I know you have to tow my car, Captain. I was just wondering if there is any way that you can let me get to work first. I can park it around back where nobody will see it and you can tow it from there, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Well, Ms Smith, it looks like your car isn’t going to be towed today. As it turns out, there are exigent circumstances that allow me to let you keep your car. But you have to get insurance within 30 days.” She didn’t understand, so I explained that since there is an infant in their house, since they had only one car, and since that car was the child’s sole means of transportation to day care, such a situation created exigent circumstances which allowed me to decline to tow the car, provided that I had a reasonable belief that the required insurance would be obtained within 30 days. She assured me that they would get the insurance they needed.
I wished her good luck and told her to be safe and I turned around to walk back to my unit as the tears started rolling down her cheeks again. Before I could walk away, however, Ms. Smith called out to me, “Captain Sharp!” I turned back to her. “I don’t know if you’re allowed or not, but would it be OK if I gave you a hug?” I told her I would love a hug, and it was the best hug of the day.
I’m sorry that it took so long to answer your question, but, “Would it be OK if I gave you a hug?” was one of the kindest things that a suspect ever said to me. Thank you for your question!
Nearly ALL of America FEELS This | Oliver Anthony “Rich Men North of Richmond” | Just Jen Reacts
Americans are crying out! And not one Senator is addressing this!
Covert Intel: Another “Gulf of Tonkin” Incident Planned? Black Sea. Next Week.
This content is for Subscribers Only — In order to get the United States involved in the Vietnam War, the “Gulf of Tonkin Incident” was staged by the United States, to claim one of its ships was attacked by the North Vietnamese (Viet Cong) and thus, the US had to enter the war.
Years later, it was revealed the entire incident was staged by the US to provide an EXCUSE to enter the war.
First and foremost you should worry. Feeling eating is a chore is not healthy at all. Meals are one of the core moments of socialization, our whole human identity is tied to eating collectively and many paleoanthropologists believe that the practice of sharing meals is what pushed us to develop the linguistic skills. This is how important are meals. Your refusal to eat may be a symptom of something extremely serious and you should see a psychologist about it.
‘The Purge’ would cause a massive shift of capital to the rich, causing society to essentially collapse.
What would be incredibly rare is private citizens going out hunting and killing each other for sport. People would naturally band together in groups of those they trust and heavily arm themselves. Neighbourhoods would become fortresses. Rich people would hire extremely well paid private security for the night. If you had a murderous grudge against someone, Purge night would be the dumbest night of the year to actually try and carry out that grudge. It is the only night where it should be literally impossible to find your victim unarmed, unaware and alone.
It would also be unlikely to be an opportunity to rob banks or stock up on luxury goods or cars via looting – people who run banks or supercar showrooms know a thing or two about security, for purge night those places would be patrolled by heavily armed private security with orders to drop anyone who comes within a 100m radius of the place.
What would take place is massive amounts of corporate, financial and environmental crime, mostly by rich people.
Say you have a factory which produces gigantic amounts of toxic waste. Treating and properly disposing of that waste is damn expensive, so how about instead of doing that, you just store it all up in a giant vat through the whole year and dump it all into the sea on purge day! Millions in overheads saved, and your company isn’t on the hook for the cleanup. You could probably even get away with claiming that your company has produced zero toxic emissions that year and claim environmental subsidies as a result.
Say you are a hedge fund manager responsible for managing a multi billion dollar portfolio of assets mostly made up of people’s pensions. There are strict rules about how you manage pension funds, however on purge day, you simply transfer all of the money into your own account and become a billionaire overnight.
Say you are a major property developer who has big plans to demolish a poor neighbourhood to make way for luxury condos. There’s no way you can get away with doing something like this in normal times, but on purge day? Shit you could hire goons to put the whole place to the torch.
The premise of ‘The Purge’ is that it is supposed to act as an outlet to enable people to express their frustrations with life for one day, allowing them to live the rest of the year normally. What would actually happen if this law was passed is that normal people would spend the night huddled together in fear whilst rich people systematically rape and pillage the rest of society with zero repercussions.
The World WON’T Believe How SAFE China is! (Americans Shocked)
“I live in Los Angeles. It’s true that I will not go out walking around after dark by myself. It’s definitely not safe. I don’t understand why the government cannot do anything effectively about homeless people, zero-dollar shopping, and all sorts of hate crimes. I hope Chinese people continue to enjoy the freedom of walking around in the cities day and night without worrying about safety.”
My friend is a police officer and what he told me was surprising: the thing that gets most criminals caught is often simple stuff—usually with their car.
Speeding. Expired license. Broken brake light. Turning without using your signal.
Stupid stuff.
Officers need probable cause to pull you over. So at night, when many criminals are out, they just look for these little things.
Once you are pulled over, the officer runs your name in their database and asks you questions. He notices you acting weird while you churn out lies while darting your eyes around nervously. He notices the slight smell of crack coming from your car because you couldn’t leave it at home. But just to be sure, he has a drug dog come and sniff the car.
It all starts with something as simple as that license plate tag you were too lazy to update, which has a new color cycled in each year, to immediately call you out.
I see it happen over and over again on bodycam videos on YouTube.
Most criminals aren’t these genius conniving psychopaths you see on TV. They are generally quite stupid.
In March of 2022, former US Army Soldier Jericho Skye, made the decision to leave his young child and family behind, and go fight for the Ukrainian government.
An avid mass-media consumer, he was convinced that Russia’s “unprovoked” war was merely the start of a bloodthirsty campaign for global conquest.
The photogenic Californian was killed in battle yesterday, along with NINETEEN other “volunteers.”
I am not sure about you but I don’t think any military background would have helped Huawei’s founder in any way to survive and fight the most powerful nation in the world, because he does not lead an army, but a private company.
I would think it is his engineering background that’s behind his success,which translates to a single-minded purpose to transform factual information and physics into something that benefit Huawei’s customers more cost effectively and efficiently. This is the true cornerstone of Huawei’s success.
Even when his daughter was detained/kidnapped by Canadian authorities to blackmail him into submission,he did not immediately confront the unfairness of the detention, as what all hot-blooded military folks would do, but instead make him want to motivate his company to continue producing high quality products for the consumers. He took three years to reorg and rally his staff to launch the Mate 60 Pro and Mate X foldable smartphones recently, despite U.S. sanctions.
He probably foresee what’s coming, as he had wanted to sell Huawei to Motorola back in 2003, knowing Huawei will one day challenge America’s high tech Infocomms hegemony … but Motorola was not keen at that time and the deal was called off. After that he held an after-event-review and asked his employees if they wanted to sell the company again and the majority gave a no-vote.
Thus he decided so be it, and warned his employees they will one day battle the most powerful nation on Earth.
He’d never looked back since. The rest is history.
A woman found three kittens running right up to her, and knew they needed her help.
My sister asked me right before my father’s funeral as she was processing his final arrangements if I wanted to be buried next to him when I pass away myself. I felt that question was a self-serving, insulting slap in the face to me. My father and I had a very toxic relationship. We didn’t speak to each other the last 2 years of his life, although I was gultt-tripped by the family to attend his deathbed and funeral. Going all the way back to my early childhood, my sister, mother, stepmother, grandmother, and everyone else in the family have made it clear my dad matters more than me. Once he was gone, I couldn’t even enjoy the quiet relief from his emotional abuse of me in peace without having yet another female made on me, although I told my sister to go to Hell.
With Huawei Mate 60 Pro, the writing on the wall is clear: China’s chip ecosystem can make the chips to power the 5G technologies to meet current market needs. . . .and producing its own high end lithography machines can be achieved in as short as 5 years.
ASML should be shitting in their pants right now.
If Huawei can make do with 7nm node and work with chiplet technology in packaging to boost power and utility for the next few years, this means that U.S. chips will not be needed by China. And when the U.S. chip companies are decimated in their prime market and bankrupt, where else can ASML sell their machines to?
Weak or even the collapse of the EUV machine market will mean choking off the large capital funding needed for their even more expensive NA EUV machines. All these can collapse on its own immense weight within these 5 year period. ASML does not have the luxury of time.
‘To hell with spinelessness!’ | Neil Oliver
Neil Oliver shares his thoughts on the climate agenda.
Africa is an imaginary place to most people. A lot of commentary about Africa is a fictional genre that reveals more about the writer than the subject of their analysis.
If Europe was written about like Africa, it’d be a place that Arabs and Turks colonised, then an Austrian and Corsican did evil stuff before Uncle Sam saved them from themselves. They’d best watch out for dreadful Chinese and Russian propaganda! Europeans are a bit childlike, you see.
With that out of the way, countries can’t help each other. They can trade, but that is mutually beneficial. By sheer proximity European countries have paid more for African products than China has.
Even now, my country sells more to Spain than we do to China. It’s their dollars that funds our imports of Chinese widgets. Last I checked, Britain was also our largest source of foreign investment.
Much is made about infrastructure, but it’s one of those topics where people have more opinions than facts. The infrastructure explosion across many African countries is downstream of their increased prosperity and the expansion of global financial and industrial capacity.
China Civil Engineering is one of many foreign and domestic contractors vying for construction contracts from the Nigerian government. But it is ultimately Nigerian taxpayers financing the construction. I bet it’s no different in other African countries.
Infrastructure is also an investment. For example, a consortium of American internet firms have built out the underwater internet infrastructure linking Africa to the world. They’ll recoup their investment from increased usage and selling access to their property.
Similarly, a Chinese firm granted a port concession will recoup their investment through port management fees.
There is richer, more informative story waiting to be told once people drop their caricatures and deal with reality.
Dell’s Revenue Collapses After Losing Chinese Market Share De risking Became Destruction
Dell has lost China as its market share plunged posing an existential challenge as Lenovo, a Chinese company, has about 3x higher market share in China and growing. Dell is moving out of China as it cannot survive against the competition against China’s local companies due to the usa’s de-risking policy. Without components from China however makes Dell uncompetitive against China’s local companies. Going out from China Dell loses the huge China’s market forever. The de-risking policy shoot Dell in its foot as it struggles for survival.
Back in the 80s, I lived alone in a cheesy one-bedroom apartment in a building full of apartments rented to gay guys. I developed significant friendships with these men; one of them eventually became my “maid” of honor at my wedding, and we are all still in contact to this day. I was alone in the city and these men became my family. We were always hanging out in one apartment or another and I rarely ate dinner alone.
image 25
Back in the 80s, our 24-hour Walmart was still a fun place to hang out. If we were bored, we’d all pile in my car and go to Walmart; half a dozen gay men and me.
One December weekend afternoon we were just hanging at Walmart. Some of us were picking up Christmas gifts but mostly we were just enjoying the Christmas displays and each other’s company, cutting up amongst ourselves. We landed in the Christmas toy aisle.
Oh, lo, and behold, hey guys come check out the fire truck!
It was metal, and heavy, and fully as long as my arm. Bright red, it was built to resemble a real fire truck, not a cartoon truck. And it was covered with buttons labeled “Try me!”
By God, it was the coolest thing. One button sounded the siren. Another button and we heard water gushing out of the hose. Another button and we could hear the fireman admonishing the driver to go faster. Sound effects for everything: a 911 call reporting a fire, tires screeching around the corner, firemen calling out to rescue the cat. Probably two dozen buttons worth of sound effects. By God, it was the coolest thing.
The seven of us crowded around this fire truck; for five minutes we repeatedly punched buttons, crowing with delight.
Finally, the old lady standing behind us asked to be excused and pushed between us to grab three of the fire trucks. “If it keeps seven adults that amused, it might work for my grandsons.”
I was tearing down my old house, and building a new house. I got some outrageous estimates for tearing it down. I live 80 km from the nearest waste transfer station that would take this kind of material, so the hauling was expensive.. It was surrounded by trees, that I wanted to keep, so I couldn’t burn it down. I was talking to a neighbor about how much it cost to tear it down, but that looked like my only option. He talked to my other neighbors, and then on my birthday, the whole neighborhood showed up and helped tear down the house. One guy worked construction, and brought out a 40 foot dumpster container for the waste. We kept a fire like a large bonfire going, small enough to not be a threat, but big enough to burn a lot of tinder dry 80 year old wood . We filled the dumpster with the crushed shingled roof, windows, hot water heater, insulation, and kept burning as much wood as the fire would take. One neighbor brought over a Bobcat to pack everything into the dumpster. Others had sawzalls, cutting the walls into manageable chunks. My wife was BBQing up a storm. One neighbor who was disabled brought over 10 pizzas for the crew. Others hooked their winches to the walls and brought it down.
Some people hauled stuff away, my refrigerator became someone’s beer fridge, etc.
One neighbor stored all my furniture in his garage.
One neighbor let me plug an extension cord into her house, so we didn’t overload the little generator I had.
Another neighbors leant me in his bigger generator.
It took one day, a lot of burgers and pizzas, and my neighbors had saved me a small fortune.
Would your neighbors do this for you? I couldn’t believe my neighbors would do it for me.
BRICS: Bank of China opens branch in Saudi Arabia, New World Order
If you are dumb to asked this question you should take my advise. First open up every product to ensure 100% nothing is made in China. Check the materials. And every single parts need to be sent to a laboratory to check.
Any part of any items with even a small oration or materials made in China as throw it away. Yes you should absolutely not buy anything made in China. China don’t need you. You can throw everything you have and China still has 7 billion customer.
You and your six racist friends can keep buying and keep throwing everything away for all we care. You can burnt down your home because chances is the materials. Are China made, the wall paper U.S. Chinese made, your paint is made in China. Stop asking redundant questions no one gives a shit of your hate.
We don’t gives a shit if you think Chinese products is bad, inferior, trash or dangerous 175 out of 195 nations has China as their biggest trading partner and 7 billion out of 8 billion use a Chinese product 23 out of 24 hours a day. You are as insignificant to China as a one of the germ on planet earth. Get it through your thick skull.
why am I speaking out for China part.1
Once you get past his accent, it’s a very nice perspective.
Huawei is taking up the leadership in various tech fields, from autonomous vehicles to semiconductors. Huawei is moving so fast, the US has little chance to catch up, let alone compete. Huawei has gone beyond its original mandate of telecom gear and is now a strong voice in the EV sector, cloud computing, semiconductor design, production and all the attendant software and hardware items needed for the complete supply chain to produce semiconductors.
Huawei’ unannounced sales of its Mate 60 Pro with its Kirin 9000s chip during US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China stole the show. Not only is the chip self designed and produced in China, but it features no US parts. In fact, the messaging in the semiconductor sector is continuous and fast moving. Not only did SMIC produce 7nm chips, but TSMC is now taking orders from the mainland for 7nm chips.
Further, Samsung is set to rebuild its China semiconductor factories, Micron is expanding its Xian plant, Intel and Qualcomm have created ‘ innovation centers’ in China, and TSMC is expanding its Nanjing fab. Rumor has it that TSMC may acquire or build a couple more fabs in China. A rebellion is taking place to flaunt Biden’s bullying and destroying any effort to quiet the rise of the semiconductor sector in China.
Mission accomplished
Love this!
Tex-Mex Ravioli Casserole
This dish is good as is, but for an extra pop, serve with a dollop of sour cream and a few jalapeno slices.
21db8a7579330a52b6afb804232b4161
Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) jar mild salsa
1 (10.75 ounce) can tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (28 ounce) bag frozen cheese ravioli, unthawed
2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
Combine salsa, puree and cumin.
Pour 1/2 cup of sauce mixture on bottom of a lightly greased 2-quart baking dish.
Top evenly with frozen cheese ravioli. Layer with black beans, chopped cilantro, green onions, and remaining sauce mixture; top evenly with cheeses.
Bake, covered with aluminum foil, at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until bubbly.
Remove foil, and bake 5 more minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.
Right now the Chinese government and companies are striving to make tech breakthroughs in all areas: the most recent example is the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro 5G mobile phone, which was made completely without using any US technologies.
As a result, share prices in tech companies have gone up.
The current trend is to let the air go out of the real estate balloon, while building up the tech sector.
China is also welcoming investment money from Saudi Arabia and UAE, while the US is forcing US tech companies to cut back on their sales and investment to the Chinese market.
Niger France Uranium Operations Shutdown As US Ambassador Is Given 48hr Ultimatum To Leave
Why would you send an ambassador to or insist on being in a country you don’t recognise the regime? The US and France definitely have something under their sleeves.
The State Department said on Friday that the US government had seized the vessel and its cargo of 980,000 barrels of crude oil, alleging it was transporting Iranian oil to China in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Tehran.
It further claimed that the US government obtained a warrant earlier this year for its seizure.
On April 19, around the time of the seizure, the vessel’s owner, Suez Rajan Ltd, pleaded guilty to sanctions violations and was fined $2.5 million.
Subsequently, the Greek vessel’s operator, Empire Navigation, agreed to cooperate with US authorities and ordered the ship, located in Southeast Asia at the time, to take its load of oil to the United States.
The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy warned on July 20 that any oil company unloading hundreds of thousands of barrels of seized Iranian oil sitting in a Greek tanker off the coast of Texas would be held accountable.
Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri’s remarks came on the anniversary of Iran’s confiscation of a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in 2019 after Britain seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar.
A few days after the seizure of the M/T Suez Rajan, Iran’s Navy seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Sea of Oman, which was carrying Kuwaiti oil for the second-largest energy company in the US.
The oil tanker, named Advantage Sweet, had been involved in a maritime accident with an Iranian fishing craft, which resulted in the injury and missing of a number of its crew.
After the collision, the oil tanker attempted to flee the scene in serious breach of international laws and regulations, which require the provision of medical treatment and supply of proper and sufficient medicine to seamen in case of sickness or injury.
After sitting off the Texas coast for months, the Suez Rajan began the hours-long ship-to-ship transfer of its oil to another tanker, the MR Euphrates, on August 21.
The newly released court documents confirm the US government then seized the oil.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference on August 21, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kan’ani emphasized that the Islamic Republic won’t remain silent on any violation of the Iranian nation’s rights, will show an appropriate reaction, and will “cut off the hands of violators.”
He reminded the parties that have plans to confiscate Iran’s oil to review the history of Iran’s actions in similar cases.
“Measures that involve attacking oil tankers carrying Iranian oil are a brazen example of piracy,” Kan’ani stated.
The United States and its allies have been seizing Iranian oil cargoes since the previous US administration of Donald Trump withdrew unilaterally from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018.
In the early 1970s I was at a cocktail party. There was lots of standing about in small groups making small talk about nothing consequential. I was introduced to one particular person who was from Canada.
When in other countries myself, I have often been asked by strangers, when they discovered I was Scottish, if I knew their aunt, or uncle, or cousin or some other random relatives. No one seemed to realise that Scotland has a population of 5 millions and it was impossible for me to know everyone who lived in the same country as myself.
With the above in mind while chatting with this Canadian visitor, I made a joke saying “I won’t ask you if you know my friend Billy who lives in Canada”. We both laughed at that and talked about other things. A couple of hours later we had both circulated through various other groups and came across each other again. We had both run out of meaningless Smalltalk and simply smilled at each other.
Our Canadian guest then broke the ice by saying “Aren’t you the one who has a friend living in Canada? “
I responded yes, in Toronto.
He asked where in Toronto.
I replied, Missauguia.
He asked, where in Missauguia.
I replied, 26 High Cliff Drive.
He looked surprised and said, “Do you mean Billy Skinner. I live next door at number 24.”
On the night of August 23rd 1987, 16-year-old Don Henry and 17-year-old Kevin Ives decided to go hunting in Alexander Arkansas. It was believed, at 4 am the two boys were in a horrific accident when they were hit by a train.
It was determined to be a horrific and tragic accident by the state medical examiner, who said the boys were sleeping on the tracks due to marijuana intoxication from smoking 20 Joints. Those were his words, and the authorities closed the case.
Anyone that knows anything about weed would see that as a major red flag. The parents didn’t accept this finding and had a second autopsy done which showed the boys only smoked one joint and they were already dead when they were placed on the tracks. Don Henry’s shirt showed evidence of a stab wound and Kevin Ives had his head smashed in with his own rifle.
The theory is the boys stumbled upon a drug smuggling operation that was run by crooked cops and town officials. Several witnesses that came forward with information died under mysterious circumstances with each of the victim’s bodies examined by the same guy who first examined the two boys.
The prosecutor for the case Dan Herman, was arrested for drug dealing and was implicated as one of the murderers. Keith McCaskill was another man implicated but died when he was stabbed to death by an unknown attacker.
Phil And Tony Sitdown With Carmine Lupertazzi Jr – The Sopranos HD
Phil Leotardo And Tony Soprano Sitdown With Carmine Lupertazzi Jr.
Of course. China is the cause of all of the USA’s problems.
See how the white cops keep killing black people in the USA – this surely is China’s doing.
Observe the mass shootings that plague the whole of the USA – at schools, malls, supermarkets, churches, pubs, cinemas, workplaces – this too must be China’s doing.
Did you know that the USA’s literacy rate has plunged t0 78%? (Developed countries usually have a literacy rate between 95 to 100%). China must have caused this.
Look at the ever-increasing number of homeless people living in tents in the streets of the USA. We know that this is China’s fault.
US engineers say that many of the bridges and roads and other public infrastructure in the USA are “crumbling”. Why didn’t China take steps to stop this?
In the USA, even the water pipes are leaking lead into the supply of drinking water at public schools, poisoning the children. China must be blamed!
Look at how Americans hate each other! Even families stop talking to each other, because some are Democrats and some are Republicans. Once again, China is guilty.
The average life expectancy in the USA keeps dropping! Americans keep dying at a younger age. Becauae they are more and more obese these days and; their healthcare system is too expensive. Surely China had something to do with this.
Women in the USA even have problems getting birth control and abortions! The infant mortality rate AND the maternal mortality rate in the USA have fallen to the levels typically found in developing countries. Let’s blame China for this too.
But not to worry. The USA still has more gender pronouns than China. So the USA will prevail.
I served as an infantryman in the army…. I don’t usually share this kind of thing, but I do have one “confirmed kill” to my name that I’m sure of. I think this an important topic, so I’m going to explain a little about my service.
My unit had many enemy KIA’s, and I’m sure my bullets were in many of them, but I’m happy not to know for sure. My one “confirmed” was from less than 3 feet away, and I wish like hell I could pretend there was a way to spread that out over my fire team.
I’m proud of my service. I’m proud of the men I served with. I’m proud of a lot of things I did when I served…. I’m not “proud” I had to shoot someone. I’m not proud of any of the potential “kills” I may or may not have had. …I’m happy the men I served with came home. I’m happy that my wife doesn’t understand my nightmares or my anger, or my need for hyper-vigilence (i.e. paranoia). But one thing that will live with me forever is searching through the possessions of a young man I KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt I killed…
I still am angry at the situation. I still shake and feel nauseous. At the time I got a reputation for being cold because I DID search his body when we got the all clear. The reality was that I didn’t want someone else to have to do it. I took “Intel search” duty for the rest of the deployment. Most of my battle buddies looked relieved they didn’t have to. Some were angry at themselves for feeling that way. None of them were going to go home and brag to a friend about it. Let me repeat that…
NONE OF THEM WERE GOING TO GO HOME AND BRAG ABOUT IT!
We didn’t talk about killing others amongst ourselves. We actively avoided such topics.
Some of us started waking up in the middle of the night. I definitely did. I went for walks. I went to another room. I made something to eat. By the end of the deployment, we’d have midnight card games. We weren’t sleeping anyways, and it was something else to think about. We told inappropriate jokes, we complained about the heat, we talked about women and home. We never talked about what woke us up.
Your friend could be a psychopath that truly didn’t feel anything when someone else died. He could be claiming every kill his unit got, and never losing any sleep over any of them because they were never personal. He could be a sadist, and truly enjoyed killing the people he did.
Or he could be lying.
I have to be honest, I hope it’s the last one. For his sake, I honestly hope it’s that.
It has been years, and I still don’t want to talk about some of the things I had to do so I could come home. Writing it here is the closest I’ve ever come. Even if no one reads this, I do feel a lot better for having written this down.
BRICS is an economic organization where all nations are treated as equals.
How does that make BRICS dependent on China?
China and India have border disputes, and Chinese companies have repeatedly been sanctioned and fined by the Indian government, but they still manage to work together for BRICS.
If BRICS were too dependent on China in any way, India would be the first to complain, but that has not happened.
The US has changed completely in the last 30 years
Their Motto in the 1990s was
I want to Win
Their Motto today is
I don’t want to Lose
2022
image 26
This reflects the Chinese Semiconductor Market today
China still imports more 28 nm, 14 nm, 7 nm and 5 nm Chips than it makes domestically
Yet it makes most of the 45–450 nm Chips on Earth
2015
image 27
This is the same market in 2015
See the Difference?
China was importing a lot of 45 nm Chips , a good amount of 90–260 nm. chips and almost 96% of it’s 28 nm Chips
In a mere 7 years, China developed advantage in 45 nm Chips, a near monopoly in 90–260 nm Chips and 40% of it’s 28 nm Chips, up from 8% in 2015
Directly proportional to the Anti China Rhetoric from the West
The Moral of the story is
You don’t provoke such people by cutting them off
You keep giving them best chips which are far better than their home made chips so that THEIR CHIP INDUSTRY NEVER GROWS BEYOND THE 28 NM CHIP
If TSMC keeps giving their best Chips to China, China would never have their own Chip Industry
Sure Huawei may be developing it’s own Chips but others won’t cooperate because they would get better chips easily available
Instead by throttling access, you allowed China to innovate and slowly they managed to crack cost efficient stacking to make the 7 nm Chip domestically
Plus the 5G Modem
If you keep doing this, they innovate faster and harder
It’s inevitable
So the US should end export controls on Huawei and flood China with 5 nm Chips and ensure that it makes no economic sense to invest billions into semiconductor chips
All restrictions must be removed and free market competition must ve established
If that happens, US has a 50–60% Chance for continuing their tech dominance for a few more decades
If they keep doubling down and imposing more stupid restrictions, China will take over in a decade or 15 years tops
When I was in middle school or so, there was a popular song called “They are coming to take me away”. It was a single, and on the flip side the sound was revered and (to me as a young boy) sounded cool.
I asked my father to buy it for me.
And when it came, he listened to it first before he gave it to me. Heard the flip side (which was recorded and played backwards) and returned the song. Telling the company that the record was defective, and to send a new one.
Sure as shit, a new one came, and he promptly returned it also.
When the third try was delivered, it was incorrectly delivered to our neighbors house and they played that song over and over. And since their bed room was only about ten feet from my bedroom, I was able to listen to the music over and over though my neighbors.
My dad never figured out that the song was supposed to sound like that, and that I liked the sound.
He was really out of touch.
How out of touch am I with my kids? I hope not too much.
We must be more open to the differences to others, and stop being so darn judgemental about other people. Let them live their lives on their terms. Let them be. Just let them be.
US officials visiting China is the result of the precarious situation visited on the US. These officials visiting China, just as the EU did, is because US need a life line and help from China. US $31.8 TRILLION debt and growing is fueling panic in the US with more than 70 countries dumping US Treasury Bonds. Come October, there will be another crisis looming in the US with US hitting another debt ceiling! Janet Yellen went to China with a well concealed begging bowl and went home without China supporting US Treasury as China did in 2008 GFC. China have, effectively, lost trust in the US with consistent and persistent promises made by the US being broken unfailingly each and every time. Why go through the motion for talks and promises which were never meant to be kept?
Fall back flack from the Trump Pro-Democracy moment in HK
It was an aborted “color revolution”.
And all the Judges (UK and Australian citizenship) released all the criminals that caused the riots and damage, and even deaths.
Step one; get rid of the Western puppet “judges.”
Step two, charge and sentence the military operatives…
30 years ago, I owned some furniture stores. It was just before Christmas and a young woman came into the store I was at that night to pick up a roll top desk that she had purchased on layaway. She made weekly payments towards this purchase and was proud and excited that she was able to buy this desk for her husband’s Christmas present. It seemed apparent that it was a real financial stretch for her to have afforded this. She had come to the store with a pickup truck, and we helped load the desk into the truck bed. With a merry Christmas and smiles all around, she left for home.
Half an hour later, the woman came back to the store in tears. She had struck a pot hole in the highway and the desk was launched out of the truck and smashed to the ground. Fortunately no one was behind her, and a passerby helped get the desk back into the truck. Sobbing, she pleaded whether we could do anything to fix the desk. Clearly, though, it was irreparable. She was so distraught, there was clearly only one thing to do. We loaded another desk into her truck and I told her that it was my Christmas gift to her. She was so excited and thankful, and I think it really was a gift to myself. I felt really good about that!
Trim excess fat from beef. Rub surface of beef with salt and pepper. Place beef in 3 1/2 quart or larger slow cooker.
Mix remaining ingredients; pour over beef.
Cover and cook on LOW for 10 to 12 hours or until beef is tender.
Cut beef across grain into thin slices.
Skim fat from cranberry sauce from cooker if desired; serve with beef.
Notes
* Be sure to use a fresh beef brisket instead of a corned beef brisket. A ‘corned’ brisket is a fresh brisket that has been cured in seasoned brine, which would overpower the delicate flavor of the cranberry gravy. If a fresh brisket isn’t available, use the same cut of beef roast that you would use for your favorite pot roast. Also, whole berry sauce is recommended for its appearance, but you can use jellied if you like.
Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond: Asian labourers Emotional Reaction
This is going global, and it is being heard. The world is changing. Wake up! Pay attention!
It depends on when the filthy U.S. drops a viral weapon on China!
The filthy U.S. is the only country in the world that has not signed the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention.
According to reports, the U.S. has more than 300 biological laboratories established worldwide and large-scale dangerous infectious diseases have been found around some of them. For example, the army lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland, which is the country’s largest biochemical weapons base, was shut down in July last year, but the CDC refused to give any details on the grounds of “national security”.
The US has 336 labs in 30 countries under its control, including 26 in Ukraine alone.
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is planning to build a new biosafety research and development facility.
On Sunday (July 9), UDN published a report claiming the U.S. has urged the MND’s National Defense Medical Center (NDMC) to invest in the construction of a new Biosafety Level 4 (P4) laboratory to “secretly establish virus research and development capabilities” and develop “biological warfare agents, with the target of these weapons being self-evident.” According to UDN, the information was obtained from secret meetings held by the government on June 23, 2022 and in January.
2023 08 25 22 30
Entrance to current P4 lab in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District, Taiwan.
2023 08 25 22 3s0
Entrance to current P4 facility in Sanxia District, Taiwan. (CNA photo)
THIS WAS AMAZING!!! Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond[FIRST TIME UK REACTION]
This is from the UK. This is a really good reaction.
My parents (who own a small ranch) bought a new tractor in 1998 for about $50k. Buying a tractor is just like buying a car—they put a downpayment of $1000, and financed the rest.
After a month or two, they noticed they had not gotten paperwork regarding the loan, so they called the dealership. The person there said that the dealership was going through a turbulent time and their loan paperwork had not been fully submitted, but assured them that it would be filed and they would not owe late fees when the statements started coming.
A few months later, they still hadn’t received anything, so they called again. This time, the person at the dealership was very short and with them. The person said that the dealership was going through bankruptcy proceedings and said (very firmly) not to call again.
They never called again, the paperwork never came, and nothing ever went on their credit score. They got a $50k tractor for $1000. That was almost 25 years ago, and the tractor still runs great.
Moral of the story—if you have the chance, buy a vehicle from a dealership that is about to go under. There is a small (but non-zero) chance that you’ll get the vehicle for basically nothing.
EVERYBODY WAS RIGHT!!!! | OLIVER ANTHONY-RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND-REACTION| THE PAUSE FACTORY
Ah, yet another reaction… and again, people are stunned.
Brisket of Beef in Tomato Onion Gravy
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
55107df7a11b90f46b3185c3efc701b2
Ingredients
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 (4 to 5 pound) beef brisket, trimmed
1 (1 1/2 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
1 (10 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1/4 cup beef stock or water
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar
Additional all-purpose flour (optional)*
Instructions
Rub flour into brisket on both sides and place in slow cooker.
In a bowl, combine onion soup mix, peppercorns, tomato soup and beef stock. Pour mixture over brisket.
Cover and cook on LOW for 12 hours or on HIGH for 6 hours, until beef is very tender.
Transfer brisket to deep platter and slice thinly.
Stir brown sugar and vinegar into sauce. Pour over sliced meat or pass separately in a sauceboat.
Notes
* If you prefer a thicker gravy, keep cooked brisket warm and pour sauce into a saucepan. Place 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour in a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup hot cooking liquid, 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring to thoroughly blend after each addition. Stir mixture into remaining sauce and cook, stirring, over medium heat until thickened. Pour over brisket and serve.
A Tired Man’s Reaction to Rich Men North of Richmond by Oliver Anthony
I present to you one of the richest men in Saudi Arabia, Al Waleed Bin Talal, known as Prince Al Waleed, and this is his car.
image 18
This gentleman bought a Mercedes Benz SL600 and decided to give it a little more luxurious touch, he customized it by filling it with diamonds, including the entire bodywork, the tires, the door handles, rearview mirrors, and even the exhaust pipe. This luxurious Mercedes Benz is part of Prince Waleed’s extensive and sumptuous car collection of over 50 vehicles.
image 19
The car went from costing 320 thousand dollars, to almost 48 million dollars, a scandalous figure for a car.
The Three Little Pigs – as read by Christopher Walken
The Chinese are waiting for three events :- Indian Elections 2024 and US Elections 2024 and TAIWANESE ELECTIONS 2024
I have always maintained that China has no strategic use for Arunachal Pradesh or Ladakh
They are far more powerful and are certain India would never launch an offensive against China
They are just waiting for the HIGHEST PRICE they can get for these concessions
The BRICS expansion was unanimous
Modi met Xi Jingping
Both these events were deemed impossible in July 2023
Jaishankar personally stated that :-
Expansion at this stage of Geopolitical Tensions could be misinterpreted, so India is likely to keep expansion to a future date down the road
Brazil and India mutually talked and decided to postpone Expansion
In Politico, which is a mouthpiece for US Democrats, there was an article that stated that BRICS summit was likely to be a washout with no major discussion taken
Yet Modi wholeheartedly supported Expansion towards the end and made a speech to that effect welcoming the new members
Modi met Xi Jingping
So what’s the Price China wants?
The Clue is Irans inclusion into BRICS and Chinas agreement to accept payment in Crude Oil under the Yuan Commodity Mechanism
A PIPEPINE!!!!!
Until 2007, the Straits of Malacca fed China with nearly 84% of Gas and Oil and Energy
Today it’s just 56%
Almost a 40% reduction on reliance
In 2027, it’s estimated to be 44% as Power of Siberia and the Vladivostok Anhui pipelines go on full capacity
Add Gwadar to the mix and the dependence on Malacca reduces to 37%
Add the Suez Gwadar Route and that reduces the dependence to 31%
84% to 31% is a massive reduction
However China want 0%
The Solution is Iran
Iran Pakistan and INDIA
The idea was floated in 2016 of extending the Iran Pakistan Oil Pipelines into India and subsequently to Pakistan
Two Pipelines of 5243 Km each, longest in the world
That will end the dependence on Malacca permanently for China and ensure a Blockade of Malacca would bleed the West while China wouldn’t care too much
It’s a win – win for India as
India gets Oil from Iran, a fellow BRICS NATION and may likely pay for the Oil in Rupees or Imports
India gets a transit fee from China and pays a Transit fee to Pakistan
India isn’t threatened by a similar blockade in the coming years as India too heavily relies on sea shipping (96% as of 2021) along that route
My guess is once the US Elections are finished, China will know the future
If it’s Biden, it’s gonna be a Taiwan conflict and China has to focus on the South China Sea, so securing India is important
If it’s Trump, it’s gonna be a Trade conflict and China has to focus on it’s energy supply and trade routes and securing India is equally Important
The Price then will be full giving up on Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh claims and from all existing territorial claims made since 1963
In return Indian Navy would not be expected not to participate in any trade blockade of Malacca straits or other parts of the Indian Ocean or support the US in the South China Sea
India would be asked to revise and enter into a massive business and trade agreement with China with a lot of investments from the Chinese side
India would endorse the pipeline from Iran and Pakistan and endorse it’s extension into China by 2030
My guess is India will agree because it’s cheap at the Price
It just cements Indias nonalignment not to interfere between global players and their conflicts
Modi is far more likely to accept this than Rahul would be, because its now clear Rahul would be heavily endorsed by the West and their Doctrine
He may even accept Western Military Bases in India and make India a Chessboard pawn in event of a Taiwanese conflict
Interesting time in 2024 to be frank
Now about the Map that China published yesterday, that’s normal since 1988
They always show Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh
That means nothing whatsoever
There is another option
India could leave BRICS and go to the Western Fold completely
That would be a pity
Yet unless China do something really really stupid, India is very unlikely to take such a step as long as Jaishankar is in charge
Public money raised for the Grayzone never reaches them
Where’s my money? The public around the world raised more than US$90,000 for the Grayzone, a body of independent journalists whose loyalty is to the truth, rather than to the US narrative against China and other communities deemed “rivals” or “enemies”. But our money never reached the journalists. What happened?
An idiot thought he was being funny when he loudly asked me (the pilot flying the plane), “So, what have you been drinking this morning? Vodka?”
At that point I grabbed my kit bag and my hat and departed the plane and I went and got a voluntary alcohol and drug test. The flight was cancelled due to no pilot.
I made sure I announced over the PA the passenger’s seat number and last name so they knew who got their flight cancelled.
Of course my results came back clean, but professionally, I cannot stay on an aircraft after being accused of drinking or drugs, even if it’s a joke.
Florida man caught on camera injecting chemicals into neighbor’s door
A Florida man has been arrested after he was caught on camera injecting a chemical into his neighbor’s front door after complaining they made too much noise.
Back in the 1960’s the US Navy taught a lesson to Norfolk, VA. The town was getting a bit to big for their britches, the local police were shaking down Sailors and Marines and bar owners doing the same. Even taxis drivers were getting in on the fun of ripping of military personnel. Homeowners and businesses were putting up “Sailors and Dogs Keep off the Grass” signs.
‘As a first step to cleaning things up the Navy asked the city to have the signs removed, but they replied that the signs were on private property and the council had no power to have the signs removed. They figured that since Norfolk was the biggest Naval base in the world there was little the Navy could do. Oh how wrong they were. You see fleets are mobile.
One morning the good citizens of Norfolk woke up to a practically empty base. The handful of ships remaining were those that could not move because of physical problems. The Navy had decided to hold an “Emergency Sortie” drill which affected all ships, sending every ship that could get underway to sea overnight. The next day the base was empty and remained so. After the piers remained empty a while, reports came to the city council, that ships that had been in Norfolk were now entering other ports up and down the east coast. My ship was one of the first to re-enter Norfolk and we were very surprised at all the empty piers. The carrier piers that normally had one or two carriers moored-were empty. The supply piers, normally an ant hill of activity getting supply ships loaded-were empty. It was like something out of the twilight zone. When we moored, It seemed that all the laundry trucks in the city arrived had arrived at the pier we moored to, all wanting to know one thing—if the fleet was returning. We had no idea as we were returning from an around the world cruise with long stopover in Vietnam and had no idea what had happened.
It turned out that the city council had suddenly found a way to get those disrespectful signs removed and the police and bar owners had developed a totally different opinion of the Sailors and Marines that made up most of their business. So the fleet returned — to a different Norfolk.
Intel Lost $5 4 Billion as China Rejects Regulatory Approval!
Imagine cheating death twice only to become the world’s luckiest man. The unbelievable true story of Bill Morgan, a truck driver from Australia.
In 1992, Bill Morgan suffered a heart attack after being in a almost fatal crash while driving his truck, which stopped his heart for 14 minutes 33 seconds. He died, but doctors managed to bring him back, and he spent the next 15 days in a coma. Doctors couldn’t believe he beat the odds when he woke up from the coma, and they classed him as a medical marvel.
Since he cheated death, Bill thought about chancing his luck and started buying a weekly scratch card. He did this for about a year until luck smiled down on him again when he scratched a winning ticket, winning a car worth 30,000 dollars.
It was a welcomed surprise, but it wasn’t a life-changing sum of money, so Bill didn’t see it as a big deal. News of his win and his unbelievable back story caught the eye of “Channel Nine Evening News” in Melbourne, and they sent out a reporter to interview him.
The Channel Nine news team brought him to the shop where he bought the winning ticket. They asked Bill to buy another ticket so they could re-create the moment he won the car for the cameras.
The cameras rolled as he scratched the ticket. He stopped for a split second before turning to the cameras in total disbelief and said, “I just won 250,000 dollars, I’m not joking.” Channel Nine News couldn’t believe their luck as they caught the moment Bill rang his wife to tell her she could buy the house.
I CRIED SO MUCH 😭😭 | Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home Reaction
Yeah… I feel you. This one smacked me hard as well.
The Soviet Navy painted their ships red for several reasons, many of which are interesting and complex. One reason often cited is that they only used anti-rust primer paint and did not want to apply an additional layer of paint. However, there is much more to it than that.
Firstly, they chose the color red because most optical reconnaissance, satellite reconnaissance, and non-optical reconnaissance devices of that time had black and white color quality. Even thermal imaging devices had black and white imagery. Soviet ships, which carried long-range missiles and often conducted surprise attacks by launching long-range missiles and retreating, rarely had to engage with visually observed reconnaissance aircraft.
Red also provides good camouflage during dusk and dawn, which are considered the “ideal” times for naval combat by the Soviet Navy. When viewed from above without close attention, a red ship can easily be mistaken for a civilian oil tanker or fishing vessel.
The color of the sea is not always blue; it can be red, purple, black, yellow, and so on. Therefore, gray or black may not always be the optimal colors for camouflage at sea. Different environments, lighting conditions, and times of day can affect the appearance of the sea, and using colors that blend well with the surroundings in a specific situation is crucial for effective camouflage. The Soviet Navy recognized this and chose the color red for its ships, considering factors such as the equipment used for reconnaissance and the specific lighting conditions during combat scenarios.
Massive historical changes going on. Some geopolitical, and others domestic.
My you-tube channel has me locked out for a week. I got a “strike”. I posted inappropriate content on the internet that “violated Community guidelines”.
All I did was post a Chinese video about the Ukraine war.
Not that it matters. It only had 25 views total. My channel is buried deep in the sludge due to algorithm manipulation.
Anyways.
So much for “freedom of speech”, when Chinese can view things that are censored in the United States. But the USA censors anything made in China.
Hey!
Tell me all about that delicious “freedom”TM and Democracy”TM that the USA has. Eh?
First time hearing Oliver Anthony “I Want To Go Home” Reaction
China at one time, did have an illegal immigrant problem. This included areas of South-East Asia, and North Korea. And even today, there is a problem. Though, the magnitude of the problem is quite small. Trivial, actually.
China is a bonafied surveillance state.
I am not using that term neither lightly, or pejoratively. It is what it is. China has a massive population. Simply massive, and to keep things running, surveillance is the “name of the game”.
When you enter China legally, your bio-metrics are entered into the national computers, and the AI algorithm tracks your every move. As long as you are not doing anything wrong, you are ignored. And that is just the way it is. Those of us who are new to this kind of government are often frightened by it. Which is a “knee jerk” reaction after decades of contrary American pre-programming.
Now, when an illegal is inside of China, that person is immediately flagged as a non-database registrant.
If you look and watch the AI monitoring video in the local police station, you can easily see who is “ok” and who is “flagged”. This is done by the rectangular box that surrounds the person.
In general, there are different colors that are used. For instance; Green is fine. Red is a concern.
Any illegal cannot operate inside of China. They will “stand out like a sore thumb”, and be unable to do anything electronic.
A police visit, followed by incarceration and deportation are the usual outcomes upon being flagged.
Tucker Carlson’s VIRAL SPEECH DESTROYS Pro Ukraine LIES
Yes, indeed. trump didn’t dare to but Biden did pul the trigger.
Biden crossed the red line by using SWIFT to sanction Russia and even worse, froze the country’s foreign reserve. This was the death blow of the U.S. that the world feared and expected the Russian economy and ruble to crumble down like the wall of Jericho.
But Russia withstood these and all the subsequent sanctions the G7 countries could muster.
The turning point is that when all these failed and the G7 tried coercing the rest of the world to join, the Global South chose not to, not so much because they’re a fan of Russia but because they did not want to be subjected any more to the economic hegemon of the West and saw a way out.
First to break ranks were Saudi Arabia and the UAE who started accepting Yuan for their oil deals with China. And now there’s the rush to join BRICS.
BRICS is the world’s irresistible force for de-dollarization. BRICS formalized their expansion that also officially signalize the demise of the petrodollar. When mortal enemies like Saudi Arabia and Iran at war with each other could set aside their differences and agree to work together as BRICS members, who together with the UAE and Russia are now constituting the most powerful block controlling the global energy market . . . and combine this with China and India, the world’s most populous countries as consumer countries, this is part of the clout of the irresistible force.
Further, Brazil’s Lula call to wholly dump the US$ is no empty threat. A BRICS roadmap is ready to actually do this – with Brazil and Argentina leading the way. And this is how it would work – with China’s yuan to be officially used as their bridge currency for trade.
China, Brazil and Argentina are already their own biggest trade partners and have begun using their own currencies in trade with China. With yuan as their main revenue currency, and like Russia with India’s Rupees, it’s the logical next step to use the yuan as their bridge currency for trade between themselves, thereby eliminating not just the U.S.$ but the FX volatility risk of their own currencies to each other.
Add to this the precedent set by the IMF accepting yuan to settle debts originally denominated in US$, Brazil and Argentina could completely not have to use the U.S.$.
To complete dethroning the U.S.$, BRICS will be issuing through their development bank a new currency backed by gold. This would serve as another role that U.S.$ had so far been the only option – as the reserve currency for the long-term depository of excess earning of countries like China, Japan and Germany, supplanting the need to buy U.S. treasury bonds.
The fiat money regime needs a reset and this is upon us.
WE REACT TO OLIVER ANTHONY: I WANT TO GO HOME – HITS OUR SOUL
He’s so relatable, the angst and soul in his voice is amazing.
I had a man/boy with TBI(Traumatic Brain Injury). He smoked at least 3 packs a day and left the butts in Coke liter bottles out on the rear deck. He was very dirty. He screamed and blasted the stereo at all hours of the day. I was constantly calling his mother &/or Attorney. He was banging on the ceiling with a broom screaming at me during the night. I finally was able with the help of his attorney to move him out. But he took that broomstick and broke every fixture in the house, plus smashed the glass cooktop. The Attorney sent me a check for the excess cost over his security.
This one GOT to me.. Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home REACTION
I own a 250 gallon propane tank and get it filled about once a year. Because I own the tank I get to choose who fills it. One afternoon a propane delivery truck comes to my home and start to set up like they’re going to fill my tank. I tell the driver that I’d not ordered any propane and I ask what’s going on? His reply was that they were in the area and saw that I’d not had my tank refilled in over 2 years so they thought that they’d just go ahead and fill it.
Well, that didn’t seem right to me. First, how did he check delivery records from his truck and why would he do so? Second, I recently had the tank filled from a different supplier so there was no room in the tank for any more. So I refused the delivery and other than putting a lock on the tank access lid thought no more about it. That is, until the bill for the delivery came. Only one item on the bill, a fee for an emergency delivery.
To their credit, when I contacted the supplier they quickly dismissed the bill.
Member of the European Parliament: “Stop Complying. Start Rebelling”
Powerful words from a member of the European Parliament, Christine Andersen, about the state of affairs in our world: “You cannot comply your way our of a tyranny.”
“In the entire history of mankind, there has never been a political elite concerned about the well-being of regular people,” said Andersen.
“And it isn’t any different now,” she stressed. “You cannot comply your way out of a tyranny. It is impossible. Trying to do so, you will only feed a gigantic alligator in the hopes of being eaten last. But guess what? Your turn will come,”
Andersen also warned. “Speak up! … stop complying — start rebelling,” she urged. “In order to deal with this unfree world, to defy this unfree world, I have decided to become so absolutely free that my very existence is an act of rebellion. And that’s what we all need to do.”
Saxx reacts Oliver Anthony Rich men north of Richmond. call this Racist next?
Originally Answered: Have you ever met someone and hated them instantly?
“LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE AND STOP STALKING ME!!!”
Heads immediately turned.
“I-I’m not stalking you…”
“SHUT UP!!!”
People’s eyes widened, and they began staring. Nevertheless, I continued.
“ YES YOU ARE!! I KNOW YOU ARE!!! NOW LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE AND BACK OFF! I AM SO TIRED OF YOU ENDLESSLY FOLLOWING ME AROUND!!”
My vocal cords started to hurt, but nonetheless, I continued screaming at the boy before me, shrieking my desire to be left alone.
At first, he was in my face. Then he was 20 feet away.
But… how did it come to this?
For nearly an entire year, this boy messaged me. Endlessly told me how he wanted to become friends with me, how he wanted to “figure me out,” told me how “we were the same,” he followed me home, taunted me, watched me, became friends with my friends, taunted me with things he supposedly knew about me, told me some personal things he knew about me. He’s slapped one of my friends. He’s dated another one of my friends before even knowing me.
When I first laid eyes on him, I knew something was off. I saw that he was an egotistical maniac.
If you are a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, you might remember the scene where Jack Sparrow and Will Turner use an upside-down boat to walk underwater and sneak into a fort.
But is this trick actually possible in real life? Or is it just another Hollywood fantasy?
The answer is: no, it is not possible. There are several reasons why this stunt would not work, and here are some of them:
The pressure problem.
Water pressure increases by about 1 atmosphere (atm) for every 10 meters of depth.
This means that the air trapped under the boat would compress as they go deeper, reducing the volume of air available for breathing.
For example, if they started with a boat that had 1 cubic meter of air under it, and they went 10 meters deep, the air would shrink to 0.5 cubic meters.
If they went 20 meters deep, it would shrink to 0.33 cubic meters, and so on. Eventually, they would run out of air or suffocate from carbon dioxide buildup.
The buoyancy problem.
The air under the boat would also make it very buoyant, meaning that it would tend to float up to the surface.
To keep it underwater, they would need to attach heavy weights to the boat, which would make it harder to move and balance. The weights would also add more drag, slowing them down.
The visibility problem.
The water under the boat would be very dark, since the boat would block most of the light from above.
They would not be able to see where they are going or what obstacles they might encounter. They would also have to deal with the turbulence and bubbles created by their movement.
The leakage problem.
The boat would not be perfectly sealed, so water would leak in through the gaps and holes.
This would reduce the amount of air under the boat and increase the weight of the boat. They would also get wet and cold, which could lead to hypothermia.
2023 08 24 21 13
So, as you can see, walking underwater with an upside down boat is not a feasible idea. It might look cool in a movie, but in reality, it would be a very dangerous and impractical way to travel underwater.
Next time you go to Beijing, go to Tiananmen and visit the area where Mao announced the founding of the People’s Republic. Then go to the ledge and unfurl a banner which says “Down with the Chinese Communist Party” and shout slogans against the Party.
Then jump off the ledge so that you go splat right in front of Mao’s portrait.
Make sure that you have photographers and videographers ready to record your actions before and after you go splat.
When the video goes around, all Chinese will rise up and overthrow the Party, and your name will live in history.
Savory Onion Brisket
2023 08 21 09 02
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1 (4 1/2 pound) beef brisket, untrimmed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons pepper
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 cup water
Instructions
Brown brisket in hot oil over high heat for 5 minutes on each side.
Place brisket into a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch pan.
Stir together vinegar and next 6 ingredients. Pour over brisket. Add the water to pan.
Bake, covered at 350 degrees F for 2 hours, basting every hour.
Reduce heat to 300 degrees F and bake 1 more hour.
Skim fat from drippings. discarding fat; serve drippings with brisket.
HE DID IT AGAIN! (OLIVER ANTHONY – I WANT TO GO HOME REACTION)
The Russian, American, British and Ukraine security services likely all wanted him dead. Oh, I forgot to mention the Polish security services, since the Wagner Group is active across the border in Belarus. The French might have also wanted him dead because he was recently in Niger, where the Africans in the Sahel have decided that they have had enough of the French, and Wagner Group has offered assistance.
Probably the only thing they could agree about.
Now they can go back to fighting each other.
Why do I get a say on the USA? Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home (Reaction)
This reactor to the video has some really good things to say about the USA.
The old school Westerns in which the stranger strolls into the saloon and the next minute everybody is brandishing a six iron are just movies.
In reality, few people would walk around with a gun on their hip and shootouts were in fact rare. The idea of the lawless frontier is mostly nonsense.
Most of our perception of the Old West is totally coloured by entertaining fiction like Rawhide and ten-a-penny old Hollywood pictures. It just wasn’t really like that at all, not least because the majority of people weren’t wandering from town to town like Clint Eastwood, or gathering at high noon to risk life and limb in a duel.
main qimg e2b34e31d011c2f25d0485f6ce545a4b
I remember as a boy reading a book about the reality of the life of the cowboy, and how dull and uneventful most of it was, because they were herding cattle rather than running around shooting “injuns” or blowing up bank vaults.
In reality, what really tamed the West wasn’t the pistol or rifle, it was barbed wire, for with that came manageable territories and the end of the age of the cattle drive.
DJI Defies Astronomical US Fine, Faces Probe into Drone ‘Critical Tech’!A Battle of Resolve Begun!
A non-drone company (in the USA) is suing a Chinese Drone company. All evidence suggests some pretty underhanded dealings to acquire technology..
English astronomer Sir Patrick Moore pulled one of the biggest April Fools’ hoaxes of all time which fooled the country into thinking they could float.
main qimg a51831939e77f0767ca6118229d53b76 lq
On April 1 1976, he made an announcement on BBC Radio 2 stating that, at exactly 9:47 a.m., Pluto would pass directly behind Jupiter in relation to the Earth. This would create a noticeable reduction in gravity on Earth itself.
He said that, if people jumped at this exact time, they would be overcome by a ‘strange floating sensation’.
This was known as the ‘Jovian-Plutonian effect’.
main qimg 0680abb9e9c47b55ff65fc67f912ee4e lq
I’m no physicist, but in hindsight this is obviously rubbish—yet the public bought the whole thing—and I’m talking hook, line and sinker.
For a lot of people, this sounded completely right and reasonable, despite just how ridiculous it was. And fair enough—it came from a pretty reliable source.
The BBC reported getting a hell of a lot of calls from people all over the country telling them they were having bizarre gravitational experiences.
One woman claimed that she and her friends were sitting and had ‘wafted from their chairs and gently orbited around the room.’
Another woman said that she and her eleven friends were sitting at a table—and soon enough, everyone (and the table) began to ascend.
[3] (Kind of Harry Potter-esque in that scene with the inflation of Marjorie Dursley.)
The reason that Moore performed this hoax was really just to raise awareness of the fact that the whole idea of ‘planetary alignment’ and its effects on Earth are nonsensical.
‘Let us hear no more of this nonsense about the ‘planetary alignment.’ It happens every 170 years or so; nothing spectacular will be seen in the sky; and in the opinion of almost everyone, it can [a]ffect nobody and nothing.’
It’s strange how so many people thought it sounded right—but when it actual fact, it was completely wrong.
I guess a lot of it has to do with the mind—although the phenomenon wasn’t real, in a way people believed in it and so it felt real.
But a clever hoax on the part of Sir Patrick Moore nevertheless.
Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a top Russian general who has been out of public view since the Wagner mercenary rebellion, has now reportedly been dismissed as head of the country’s aerospace forces, Russian state media reported today.
“The ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces of Russia Sergei Surovikin has now been relieved of his post, Colonel General Viktor Afzalov, Chief of the General Staff of the Aerospace Forces, is temporarily acting as Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces,” Russian state news agency RIA reported, citing a single unnamed source.
Russian news outlet RBK and Rybar, a popular Telegram channel close to the country’s defense ministry, reported on Tuesday that Surovikin had been removed from his position. RBK reported, citing unnamed sources “familiar with personnel changes in the defense ministry,” that Surovikin was relieved of his duties due to a “transfer to another job,” and is currently “on a short leave.
The Izvestia newspaper, reported what it said was Surovikin resignation from the post, citing its own unnamed sources.
Alexei Venediktov, former head of the Ekho Moskvy, a prominent independent radio station that was shut down by authorities within days of the Ukraine invasion was the first to report that Surovikin had been dismissed on Tuesday, but said the general was being “retained by the defense ministry.”
My 85-year-old grandfather is still learning to use his Android phone at a slow pace. Every day before lunch, I get a call from him enquiring if I had my food on time.
Grandpa : “Did you eat? If not, shall I bring you some dish?”
Me : “No, thatha(Grandpa in Tamil). I had my lunch an hour back.”
Sometimes, I wouldn’t pick up his call because I know the obvious question. I did not even have the courtesy to return the call because of my mood swings.
One afternoon, he forgot to click on the End call option and so did I. After what must be around 20 seconds, I realized it and checked if he was still on line.
Grandpa (to Grandma) : “Sandhya picked my call! I must have dialled it in the right procedure today. Anyway, she had her lunch. I am yet to check on Savi (my mother).”
Grandma : “You can check after having your lunch. Shall I serve you your food at least now?”
Grandpa : “No no! Let me check on them first. What if either of them forgot to eat.”
Hearing this made me pause for a moment and realize that in this fast paced world where we are all running towards eternity, not many people put you before themselves.
Moreover, he thinks he hasn’t dialled the right number when I don’t pick the calls.
From then on, I never miss his lunch call. Even on my bad days, it is a tiny, but happy reminder that someone remembers me in spite of their own bustling life.
THIS BROKE ME! First Time Hearing Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North of Richmond REACTION
2023 08 21 08 00
Wasabi-Beer Braised Brisket
Enjoy the heat of wasabi with the complex flavors of beer in this beer-braised brisket, thinly sliced and served on a wheat baguette.
2023 08 21 09 04
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
1 beef brisket flat half (4 to 4 1/2 pounds)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 medium onions, each cut into 12 wedges
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
1 bottle (12 ounces) chili sauce
2 teaspoons wasabi paste
Coleslaw (recipe follows)
3 whole wheat baguettes, cut into 10 to 12 pieces (4-1/2 to 5 inches each), split
Instructions
Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
Press garlic evenly onto all surfaces of beef brisket.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat until hot. Place brisket in skillet; brown evenly. Remove brisket from skillet; season with salt and pepper.
Add onions to large stockpot or large baking pan. Place brisket over onions. Stir in beer and chili sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover tightly. Continue cooking in 325 degrees F oven for 3 1/2 to 4 hours or until beef is fork-tender.
Meanwhile, prepare coleslaw.
Remove brisket; keep warm. Skim fat from cooking liquid; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Stir in wasabi paste.
Carve brisket diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Return beef to cooking liquid; keep warm. Divide beef and onions evenly over roll bottoms; close sandwiches. Serve remaining sauce for dipping, if desired. Serve with coleslaw.
Coleslaw: Combine 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil, 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger and 2 teaspoons honey in large bowl. Add 1 package (16 ounces) coleslaw mix and 1 package (8 ounces) shredded red cabbage; toss to coat. Season with salt, if desired.
I think the Xenomorphs don’t wear clothing, and I doubt most people would want to wear the bulky armor of the Predators.
But if you’re asking whether it’s okay to wear another (human) culture’s traditional clothing, my question to you would be: why wouldn’t it be okay?
I recently wrote a very short answer to the question: Which Chinese fashion is still not adopted in Western countries?
I got a few replies, from non-Chinese Quorans, who mentioned that their wearing hanfu might be considered “cultural appropriation”.
Although I haven’t polled every Chinese, I’m pretty confident that the vast majority will consider “cultural appropriation” a load of bunkum.
If my non-Chinese friends were to wear hanfu, I think I’d be busy smiling, unleashing a lot of “wows” and “you look great!” and taking a thousand and one pictures on my phone (and probably on their phones too) rather than spend even one microsecond feeling offended by their wearing hanfu.
I don’t think Chinese are alone in this when it comes to “cultural appropriation”. I believe that people from the vast majority of cultures would feel flattered and genuinely appreciative of your taking an interest in their traditional clothing.
So why not go ahead and don that traditional attire you’ve always wanted to try on?
Here are some pictures of Chinese and non-Chinese wearing hanfu.
You predicted their doom before based on complete garbage
You predicted Russia’s doom before based on gutter garbage
Let’s wait and see what happens
China has been predicted to collapse maybe 10,000 times so far based on absolutely zero economics
Maybe this time you will be right?
The point is the Chinese don’t give a damn what you think
They restructure their economy, They use experts and see what can or cannot be done and they do everything within the scope of economic forces
Ultimately neither the Chinese nor anybody else can hide Economic resilience or Economic Doom
Problem is the day you realize you were dead wrong about China for the 10,000th time, you would promptly change the goalpost and move on to something else
Let’s wait and watch
I put money on the Chinese as always
main qimg 8b711925447ac9b29e32bc50c1612287
I always liked Efficiency and Ability more than Gas and Propaganda
Let’s see how it goes
Guitar Teacher REACTS: OLIVER ANTHONY – I Want To Go Home
My dad was a coal miner in Yorkshire, UK. He started work aged 14 in 1935 and retired aged 60 in 1981.
Circa 1978 (when I was 15), he complained that somebody kept stealing his Kit Kat chocolate biscuit from his snap tin (sandwich box). This kept happening and he was getting really pissed about it, as much the principle as anything else: Miners didn’t steal from their workmates. Except that one was now doing that. Like most working guys those days, he had his routine. Lunch was a flask of tea, sandwiches and a chocolate biscuit. If somebody steals part of your lunch when you’re down a coal mine for 8 hours, you can’t just nip out to a nearby shop.
I was pissed too when he told me what was going on. He was a nice old guy and I didn’t like anyone doing anything bad to him. Nobody was gonna hurt my dad with impunity. So I had an idea.
Very carefully, I unwrapped a Kit Kat (the two-fingered variety). In the 70′s Kit Kat biscuits had an inner wrapper of aluminium foil and an outer wrapper of paper which you could slip off sideways (not the one-use sealed plasticated-paper wrap like now that you have to tear to open).
Having found a nice fresh soft brown dog turd out on the pavement, I used a knife to fill in the gap between the two fingers, creating a strip of shit maybe four inches long, a quarter inch wide and a quarter inch deep, right down the centre of the bar, where it wouldn’t be obvious. Technique-wise, it was like pointing masonry. Only somewhat smellier. Then I carefully re-wrapped the Kit Kat.
Dad thought it was a great joke and took it with him to work as usual. Halfway through his shift, he heard some guy further down the coalface barfing his guts up and spitting profusely. He couldn’t stop work to find out who it was as he drove a massive coal-cutting machine (known as working “on the chocks”). Sure enough though, come break time, he opened his snap tin to find the Kit Kat gone. That, however, was the last time it ever went missing again.
My dad died of emphysema and pneumoconiosis in 1993, the usual coal miners’ diseases. To his dying day though, he would still fall about laughing when regaling friends with the story of how his son had “put paid” to the Kit Kat thief with a shit sandwich.
Ep. 18 | Alarming Assessment of U.S. Military Decline and Ukraine War Dangers, Col. Douglas McGregor
One of my many contract engineer jobs was at a company that manufactured security doors. My main task during my 6 month contract was to find ways to improve their product and/or save costs. That’s kind of what I do everyplace because… well, that’s what I do.
So, by the time I get hired by a place, they have already gone through the most obvious solutions that they could think of. Generally what’s left, really needs to be found someplace out of the box. I enjoy finding these solutions, when others couldn’t. But there is one particular idea that sticks out as one of my most unconventional, which was a really big success. And it was at this door manufacturer, where it appeared.
One of their issues was that it took too damn long to put a door together along their assembly line, and there were numerous bottlenecks. One of the bottlenecks was at the station, near the end, where the 14″ square security-glass window was installed. Security glass is the glass that has that grid of criss-crossing wire embedded in it. Installing that glass securely, so that it couldn’t be removed from the outside required a complex framework of retainers that were first welded in place to the door, and then needed an additional steel frame that then screwed into the welded frame, holding the glass in place. There was always a terrible log-jam here, what with all the precision welding and screwing. It was ripe for an out of the box idea.
On the first day, it came to me… and it was brilliant, if I do say so myself.
I eliminated everything except the glass. No frames that had to be made, no drilling, no welding, no screwing, no second frame… all that was gone. All we had left was door and square of glass. The new process removed about 20 minutes from each door. That was about 20% of the entire time it took to make a complete door, start to finish.
In place of all the metal frames, welding, drilling and screwing, I used… Velcro!
I Velcro’d those windows in, directly to the door. This was the strongest Velcro that was made. Super Industrial strength. I used permanent glue to glue the “hook” part of the Velcro to the door, and the same glue to attach the corresponding “loop” part of the Velcro all around the edge of the glass, then just pressed them together, and… Bob’s your uncle! Done.
main qimg ade08342ec35ff7a02f03ba94a5f42af lq 1
To un-attach one part of the Velcro from the other part, a screwdriver was needed to carefully pry the glass away all around the edge. Took less than a minute, but could only be done from the inside-side of the door. And the Velcro was stronger than the glass itself. Smashing the glass in from the outside would break the glass before it released the Velcro.
Yeah, I’m kinda proud of that one. When I first mentioned it, they all said that was ridiculous. It was a “Security” door, after all. Not a basketball shoe.
What was ridiculous was the ridiculous success of the process. They all gave it their best shot at finding the flaw in the idea. Nope. It held tight no matter what was thrown at it. They’ve since permanently changed how they install their security glass. Your own security door, in fact, may have a Velcro attached window. No hardware at all. No worries, though. It works! Even if you know it’s Velcro, and you’re a potential burglar… it still works.
And with that… my horn-blowing in this article has come to an end. Thank you very much!
Life On The Streets Of China | SHOCKING AMERICANS !
I am a retired British Police Officer and was standing on a crowded train in Italy with my wife. I saw a woman and child enter the carriage. The woman had a large but open empty bag and the child immediately left her side and started mingling with the other standing passengers. I knew what was happening and got ready to pounce. I waited as I wanted to catch them in the act. However, just before I took action my wife shouted, “Attention everyone there is a pickpocket here and she is trying to steal your belongings”.
She had effectively stopped the crime but prevented my intervention. At the next station, we all alighted including the potential thieves. I asked my wife why she had done that and she responded that she knew what I was like and what I would be planning and didn’t want to spend the day in an Italian Police Station making statements when we should be taking in the local culture. Actually, I thought we might have been about to get immersively intertwined with the local culture, but I took her point.
It’s rumored that before John Glenn circled the earth in 1962, NASA engineers slathered the Friendship VII with WD-40 from top to bottom, thinking it would reduce friction upon re-entry. That’s probably not the best example, but the company publishes a PDF on their website (linked below) with roughly 2,000 other uses.
Some highlights:
Removes grime from book covers.
Prevents mud and clay from sticking to shovels and boots.
Removes grease and oil stains on clothes.
Softens new baseball gloves.
Cleans chrome fixtures in bathrooms.
Makes puck slide faster on a hockey table.
Cleans and softens paint brushes.
Cleans and protects cowboy boots.
Removes crayon from walls, carpet, wall-paper, plastics, shoes, toys, chalkboard, monitors, screen doors, and rock walls.
Eases arthritis pain (spray the painful joint.)
Cleans piano keys.
Removes super strong glue from fingers.
Keeps wicker chairs from squeaking.
Removes scuff marks from ceramic floors.
Cleans and protects copper pots and pans.
Polishes and shines sea shells.
Removes water spots from mirrors.
Removes tea stains from counter tops.
Keeps pigeons off window ledges (they hate the smell).
Removes ink from carpet.
Keeps metal wind chimes rust free.
Prevents mildew growth on outdoor fountains.
Removes gunk from plastic dish drainers.
Cleans dog doo from tennis shoes.
Removes tomato stains from clothing.
Gets ink stains out of leather.
Removes roller-skate marks from kitchen floor.
Removes black streaks from RV’s and siding.
Unkinks gold chains.
Penetrates frozen mailbox doors.
Removes tar from shoes.
Cleans silver plates and trays.
Removes soap scum in the bathroom
Polishes wood.
Takes the squeak out of shoes.
Removes a stuck ring from a finger.
Wipes off graffiti.
Removes Silly Putty from carpet.
Loosens burrs, thistles, and stickers from dogs and horses.
Removes bumper stickers from cars.
Removes duct tape.
Working Class Anthem Attacked By Establishment As “QAnon!”
Today, while driving, I saw an accident on the road.
A “garbage granny” (one of those old ladies that are in their 90s or so that collect garbage for coins) was “hit” by a truck in the middle of a busy intersection. Now, you all must know that these folk have a reputation of driving and waking in busy highways with the intention of getting hit, and then being awarded free medical care, and financial reimbursement.
Now, this particular granny looked fine. But she just sat there in the road next to her pile of garbage with this expression… “I’m waiting. Come get me and give me my money”.
Meaning; “Everyone knows what is going on, and why I meander in the middle of six lanes of traffic. This driver was the fool that hit me. He will now fund my life, and there isn’t a damn thing anyone can do about it.”
Ah. I shit you not.
China.
Love it, or hate it. But it is 100% unique, that’s fer sure.
The mother left her 1-year-old child in an abandoned house, but after 10 years she returns there and discovers something that makes her cry
Residents of the Russian city of Yaroslavl will never forget an incident that took place more than 10 years ago.
However, it started when a neighbor heard a baby, crying in a nearby house. He didn’t think much about it and continued with the things he had to do that day. But the next day, the baby kept crying.
No neighbor didn’t see anyone in the house where the crying came from, and the lights were never on, not even in the evening.
But at that point, the neighbors started to worry and called the police.
They came and when they entered the house, it was completely empty inside. Those who had lived there had taken everything and disappeared. The only thing they had left behind was their own child!
The one-year-old girl was found on the dirty floor and it was clear she had been there for several days.
An investigation showed that the girl’s name was Liza Verbitskaya, and her parents seemed to have entered the ground, no one could find them.
Liza was taken to hospital, where she recovered in a few days. In the same hospital was a woman, Inna Nika, who was taking care of her sick son, her mother was sitting at his head day and night, but one day she heard a scream from the next room and went to see what it was all about.
She saw Liza and her motherly instincts asked her to protect and take care of her. From that day on, Inna visited Liza daily and brought her clothes, toys, food.
One day, Inna visited the little one and noticed that she was no longer in her hospital room, then found out that she had been taken to an orphanage. She also went to the orphanage to see her, but then it was clear to her that she had to adopt her!
When the adoption documents were completed, Liza was two years old and still had problems with chewing and was traumatized, she could not stand the loud noises. While growing up, Liza had darker skin than her relatives, but now she is beautiful. She became a model and, thanks to her story and modeling career, she became known throughout Russia. People who laughed at the way she looked bit her tongue when they saw her win, as a teenager, more talent contests.
Now that she has become famous, her biological mother tried to contact her but was not allowed. Liza received the woman’s phone number, but she’s still wondering if she wants to meet the one who left her. Our respect goes to Inna, an adoptive mother who turned out to be the hero in the life of this abandoned child, but with such a special destiny!
Well seeing that they’ve built their own bank, for transactions without using the dollar, using concrete, bricks, steel and glass, that looks fairly concrete to me,
main qimg 5f48a3622daf54d74eacbba6e40f6f08
It’s certainly big enough for every member to have a representative office in the building, you can see even the building next door is connected. So it’s very big,certainly plenty of concrete,
First Time Reaction to Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home
In this video, TNT reacts to Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go HomeOliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home
What is actually happening in California is actually an interesting case study.
First, the state of California is enormous – close to 40 million people. Most of them are pretty urban, concentrated around the coastal cities (Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego), with a growing number of large and mid-sized suburban and exurban areas (especially spreading east and north of Los Angeles).
For the first time in its history as a state, California lost a US House seat in the 2020 census, and has actually seen a net-net decline in its population. Many of those leaving are middle class people who, despite the plentiful jobs here, find the cost of living too daunting. I live in San Francisco, where the median price of a house recently got close to two million dollars. And for that money, you are not going to get one of the picturesque Victorian homes overlooking Alamo Square. You are going to get (most likely) a 1300–1500 square foot house that was pretty cheaply constructed in the 1940s or 1950s with three small bedrooms and a bathroom, maybe a half bath.
If you have kids, then you are most likely going to have to choose between putting them in a poor to terrible public school or shelling our more for private school (we were lucky – our son scored high enough on the tests to be admitted to Lowell High School, a ‘magnet’ school which is among the best in the state).
It’s a city where a family of four with an annual income of $150,000 qualifies for low income housing. If they can get on the list.
People are not leaving California because of the liberal politics (we could of course argue the role that those politics play in the current situation) or the taxes. They are leaving because the cost to live here – including the ambient and rising crime – is not worth it.
Some (the largest share) are actually leaving the cities for other parts of California – Sacramento, the central valley, the deserts east of LA – where a family that is solidly middle class can still (sort of) afford a traditional, middle class life. Still more are going to Oregon or Washington or Texas. Recently, many more have moved to Florida, to the glee of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
(NB: One of the answers incredibly remarks that Californians are not going to move to “Cleveland or St Louis or other MAGA strongholds,” which of course is true. The comment is laughably wrong because, of course, few Californians are moving to the midwest, because they are moving to places that economically are growing; they are not moving due to politics. And Cleveland and Saint Louis are not “MAGA strongholds.”)
They are not taking “their jobs” with them, mind you. They are taking their tax dollars and the electoral power.
But here is the hidden truth:
this is not really “new.” In fact, for close to 30 years, net domestic migration in the state has been negative.
Net-net, there are more than a million more people who have left California for other states than the other way round. Most are going (as stated) to Texas or Arizona. The outflow of middle income Californians (and Californians with families) has been hidden for two decades by waves of foreign immigration. So despite the gap of (in some years) more than 100,000 people, the state continued to grow.
Due to COVID and other factors (the growing economies of Asia, for example), this is no longer the case.
Without foreign immigration, California is going to see a significant drop in population.
What does it all mean?
First, if trends continue, what we are going to see is growth in the top (many people moving to California are doing so chasing high-end jobs, like AI engineers or medical researchers) and at the bottom (a large number are also low and unskilled workers coming to take entry-level jobs). That is going to make California’s already terribly skewed wealth inequality even worse. There will be more wealthy enclaves that can afford private security, private schools, privately funded infrastructure. There will also be more crowded sub-standard housing, crowded, poorly-performing schools, and deteriorating public infrastructure.
It’s not really too much of an exaggeration to say that the economy in California more and more looks like a third-world country, with a few super wealthy people, a lot of poor people barely hanging on, and a small number of people in the middle who struggle to justify staying here.
With such wealth and capital inequalities, I strongly suspect that the social fabric here is going to fray. The wealthy, insulated from the problems of the poor, will carry on thinking that everything is fine. Crime – especially property crime like car break-ins and home robberies – will grow, but will not really affect the rich and powerful.
The “Hollywood elite” (and other super-wealthy) will be just fine.
The other truth is, life in California is very nice if you can afford it. The weather in the coastal cities is close to perfect. The geography – coastal mountains, beaches, redwood forests – is beautiful. The diversity of people gives us incredible choices in food and culture. The state is home to the UC system (the best public schools in the country) as well as Stanford and CalTech. The knowledge industry is driven out of Silicon Valley, and the entertainment capital of the world is in Southern California.
Originally Answered: What are things you shouldn't do in life?
Don’t abandon someone suddenly after giving them attention. It kills them.
Don’t waste your time by stalking your ex on fb or checking people’s ‘last seen’ on WhatsApp. If they want to talk to you, they will. If they don’t, they won’t, even in a hundred years.
Don’t compare yourself with anyone. You and the rest are so different, that when you realize it, a comparison won’t even be possible.
Don’t ignore your body and health.
Don’t miss out on important engagements – Birthdays, weddings, your child’s first performance, your dad’s retirement party, reunions – its these events that make the fondest memories.
Don’t take things personally. Even if you know its personal, don’t take it personally. Then you win.
Don’t be rude to your parents. Or siblings. When everyone else will run for cover, its your family that will stand with you as you drench in your storm.
Don’t force someone to be in your life. Let them go, if they want to.
Don’t find reasons to be unhappy. It doesn’t pay to be sad. It pays to be joyous.
Don’t underestimate the power of people. Network.
Don’t let anyone make you feel badly about yourself. Always know your good things and your flaws. Accept them. Correct them. Or don’t correct them. But don’t let anyone else capitalize on them.
My fiance suddenly stopped breathing, went into a coma and remained that way for 10 days; after numerous hospital tests we found out there was no blood flow to his brain. We removed his life support and donated his organs.
Since he was only 35 years old when he died, and a former DJ popular in the Chicago and Detroit areas, the funeral home was packed full of people for his wake. One of his childhood friends, we’ll call him “Jack,” was in need of a kidney transplant and VERY sick, and we were able to directly donate his kidney to Jack. Due to the organ donations, autopsy and other things that had to happen prior to the funeral, the wake was scheduled a week after my fiance passed away. During that week Jack received the transplant and was able to make it to the wake.
He stood in front of my fiance’s red casket and spoke of his health issues and how he had given up hope, believing he wouldn’t be around much longer. Now, my fiance had given him another chance at life and Jack would be able to watch his 4-year-old son grow up. Jack’s son was there too, and walked up to him and held his hand during the speech.
I was already an emotional wreck, but through my tears I glanced around long enough to see that there was not a single dry eye in the funeral home at that moment. Though I questioned how I would go on living without my best friend and my lover, Jack provided a ray of sunshine during the wake that day and reminded us all that my fiance would live on in all the people he helped save with his organs.
Awesome Beef Stroganoff
classic beef stroganoff 3051443 Final 5bacdeb4c9e77c0025142dc9
Ingredients
6 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds beef sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
1 package onion or roasted garlic gravy mix for steak
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, quartered
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (10 ounce) can beef broth
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (for garnish)
Instructions
Cook noodles according to package directions-keep warm.
In a large heavy bottom pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add meat and brown.
Sprinkle gravy mix over meat.
Add mushrooms; sauté for 5 minutes.
Stir in tomato paste and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, and stir in sour cream.
Top with parsley and serve over hot cooked noodles.
I remember my grandfather telling me the story of buying his first home, and how stressful it was. He was working as a teacher making $2,500 per year, and was trying to figure out how to budget so he could afford to make the payments on the $5,500 house he just bought.
If he had managed to get his hands on $50,000 back then, he probably would have thought he was set for life — a mere 5% return would have matched his annual salary, and he would never have to work another day.
Obviously that plan wouldn’t have worked out — what he made in a year back then is less than most people make in a month today.
Right now, $1 million is about equivalent to what $50,000 was in his day, where a 5% return would put you right at the median income. And, just like in his day, that won’t be enough for someone in their early 20’s to make it to retirement age. In another 50–60 years, one million dollars will be the median household income. Minimum wage will be $200k a year, and it still won’t be enough to support a family.
The only way $1 million will be enough to retire on is if you don’t plan on living that long.
If you think that’s impossible, just remember the story about a how a teacher from Massachusetts once mortgaged a $5,500 house on a $2,500 annual salary — a house that today would fetch about $950,000.
AMERICAN RAPPER REACTS TO -Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond
By “see around them,” I’m literally talking about the people I see here in Chicago. I’m not talking about global poverty or people I don’t literally see with my own eyes.
Compared to the majority of people in my city (Chicago), my family is doing very well for ourselves. Yet there are entire zip codes in this city where practically everyone lives in poverty.
My wealth and their poverty are unrelated. I didn’t steal my wealth from them. I’m not the one failing them. Their political leaders—none of whom I’ve ever supported or voted for—have been failing them for generations now. The concentrated poverty in parts of Chicago is the completely predictable result of political policies enacted by politicians who get almost universal support from those same areas.
There’s been a huge increase in the number of homeless people, beggars, and refugees in the parts of Chicago I travel through on a regular basis. I am actually about to run my Sunday morning errands, and I already know which intersections will have which beggars. I’m not exaggerating when I say that literally every single major intersection (where two two-lane roads meet) has at least one beggar now. Some of one at all four stops at the intersection.
Again, my relative wealth and their poverty are unrelated. The system has failed them. I am not the system.
One intersection near me has a man who begs on the street, while his wife and child sit nearby on the sidewalk. According to his sign, he is a refugee from Guatemala. Assuming he got here via the normal refugee channels, his family has been failed by the governments of at least three countries (Guatemala, Mexico, the USA), two states (Texas and Illinois), and now one city (Chicago). I did not fail this man and his family. Several dozen politicians did. My wealth, or lack of it, would not have changed anything for this man.
I give food to the homeless sometimes. I donate to my church’s food pantry on a regular basis. I never give cash directly to the homeless.
I also have A LOT of money taken from me via taxes which, in theory, should be used to help those in need. The problem is, of course, that, unlike when I give food to the homeless directly, the taxes which are taken from me go through the hands of politicians on its way to help the needy. Shockingly, very little of it ends up helping the needy.
And a lot of the “help” the needy get from the government is designed in such a way as to create dependence on that help. I’m not saying that’s intentional. I’m not saying it’s not intentional, either.
I’m just saying that when I see this:
2023 08 21 09 31
But I also see scenes like this increasing all around Chicago:
main qimg e35c3fee03b03e90b86956599cecfa05
And I think about how much the government takes from me in income, property, and sales taxes every year, I realize pretty quickly that I’m not the problem here. I should feel no shame for my lifestyle.
Taking all of my family’s wealth away wouldn’t help poorer people at all. In fact, it would likely make things worse for them, at least here in Chicago. Chicago needs all of the upper-middle class taxpayers it can get. The single worst thing that can happen to a city is for it to lose most of its wealthiest citizens.
Just ask the citizen of, say, Gary, Indiana, or Detroit how well that worked out for them, when anyone who could afford to leave town did so.
This house went viral last year. The highway was located in Zhuhai in Guangdong province. It seems the government had offered the owner 8 million RMB (around 1.4 million USD) to move. The owner refused. Rumor had it the owner thought the government would give him 10 million. But the moving cost has actually exceeded the cost of the (section of the) highway itself. So the designers revised the design to build the highway around this house.
It seems that the owner had eventually moved out of this house to a government-provided location. But the highway was already built.
My First time hearing Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond
2023 08 21 07 36
Chinese mainland suspends mango imports from Taiwan
main qimg 2ed2adec156c72a0413b4e7986bdc31a
The Chinese mainland has decided to suspend the entry of mangoes from Taiwan starting Monday, according to a mainland spokesperson.
In accordance with relevant laws, regulations and standards on the mainland, the decision by the General Administration of Customs was taken as a scientific and reasonable biosecurity precaution, said Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council on Monday.
The mainland had informed the Taiwan side of the decision, Zhu said, adding that Taiwan is urged to further improve its phytosanitary quarantine management system.
Since 2023, customs authorities on the mainland have detected Planococcus minor, a quarantine pest, in mangoes from Taiwan. This pest could pose a serious threat to agricultural production and ecological security on the mainland.
This is Cobalt-60, the most emissive radioactive isotope currently known. As far as I know, it’s also the only one with a label that says “Drop and Run.” It’s used to sterilize medical equipment and can quite easily sterilize you within just a minute or 2 if you held it in your hand.
There is a stand-up sketch by Ricky Gervais, in which he overhears two morbidly obese American women sitting in a plane. One of them is eating a bucket of KFC chicken, and tells the other:
“This is the best chicken I had all day.”
main qimg 95f6548b1c236e3fe0ac469ba45e0186
We just spent some time in the US, and on one of the last days, we grabbed a movie in a dine-in movie theatre in Las Vegas. (The Meg 2 — don’t ask.) When a waitress came to take our order, we asked for the smallest size of popcorn they had. She had a hard time understanding the question (“why order the smallest size ?”).
She kindly explained that they only had one size, and that was a bucket.
With the three of us, we managed to eat about a quarter of the bucket, but we saw other people finish an entire bucket on their own.
I think this is one of the main reasons of America’s obesity problem: Americans eat by the buckets. In many restaurants, the portions of the food are so grossly exaggerated that it is hardly a mystery why so many Americans are (morbidly) obese. Same for soda drinks and the like.
And besides that, American food is in general much less healthier than your average European or Asian food, due to less strict food regulations and the enormous amounts of added sugar in virtually everything.
Add to that the fact that Americans stopped walking altogether (so to speak), and that more and more, the obesity pandemic is embraced instead of fought. In the places I have lived in mainland Europe, I have never seen a morbidly obese person ride around in a trolley (such as in the picture), but you see them on a daily basis in the US.
Instead of actively losing some weight, such people simply step into a trolley because walking has become too hard. The woman in the image is twenty-three, by the way.
So there you have it: Buckets, Trolleys and Sugar.
The problem is BTS.
For the People! Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond- Reaction
China hopes to do so, China is trying to do so, but it’s no longer an easy task for China to do so now.
There is an old Chinese saying, 树欲静而风不止, which means “the trees may prefer calm but the wind will not subside”, or “the trees long for peace but the wind will never cease”.
main qimg 9fc02bbea780b3ca08accff68a465b0d pjlq
Just like the picture I took in the Summer Palace in a windy day, if the wind is too strong, how could the tree stay calm? Just impossible.
The smear campaigns initiated by the US and followed by some other Westeren nations, are the wind, getting stronger recently as Joe Biden has indeed rallied them once again.
China is the tree. Its roots are still stable in the soil, its major branches are still steadfast, but it really can’t hold all its smaller branches and leaves still. And sometimes, it has to even sacrifice some of its smaller branches and leaves if the winds are way too strong and turn into storms.
But, as long as the roots and main branches are still healthy, strong and steadfast, new branches will sprout out next year!
My grandma passed in 2022, my father had passed in 2020. In her will she had it to where my 2 brothers and I inherited my dad’s 3rd. We were also to be included in any decisions on her property. My 2 uncles thought since they were co executors that everything was now theirs and they didn’t have to say anything to us. They gave away and took a lot of her belongings before I found out. I went to a lawyer and told him what was going on. I then called my uncles and told them they HAD to include us. They said “well, our lawyer says we don’t have to.” I called their lawyer and told him what they said. He immediately went and called them and said they were wrong. My 1 uncle gave his stepchildren first dibs over us and any of the actual grandchildren. The stepchildren who wanted NOTHING to do with my grandma or our family got first dibs. Then they tried to auction off my grandma’s house and 200 acres without telling us. I found out and called lawyers, everyone knew I wanted the house and 10 acres. They were trying to sell it behind my back. Grandma did not have any debt. So they were just being stupid. In the end, they were granted to sell 190 acres. We bought the house. 114 years of family history in this house. I have not heard an apology from any of them. Our trust in them was broken. At this time, they are not allowed at my house.
A man in China has been using a club as a nutcracker for 25 years, until he realised what it was actually used for. A man living in the Shaanxi Province in China was given a gift by a friend and for 25 years he didn’t know what it was.
The mans favourite treat was Wallnuts and the gift was perfect for cracking open the shells. He figured his friend know off his love for nuts so gifted him a club to crack them open, and for 25 years he used the club thinking that’s what it was intended for.
main qimg 82f9cab4c71db1a1045cf5bb81d0da6f
It wasn’t until he seen the nutcracker on a Government flyer identifying dangerous, prohibited explosives when he realised the club wasn’t in fact a nutcracker, but a Chinese type 67 hand grenade. The grenade which was a nicknamed the Potato masher, was invented by the German Army during World War 1.
The hand grenade had a explosive device at the top with a pulling string running through it to a cap at the bottom. Pulling the string lights the fuse before being thrown at the enemy, but in this case it was used as a nut cracker for a quarter of a century.
The Man Who Discovered a Lost Ancient City In His Basement
A man from Derinkuyu, in the Nevsehir province of Turkey was renovating his basement. Using only a sledgehammer, he broke through one of his walls; and felt cool air coming in from the other side. Inside he found a small room-sized cave. This area of Turkey has complex cave systems so he thought he accidentally stumbled into one. He didn’t. That first small room — was only the beginning.
I was 17 years old. I was driving drunk, with five other kids in my car. It was 1970. We had bought two cases of beer (illegally, of course) and it was pretty much all gone. It was about 1 AM.
We came to the main intersection in the small city nearest to where I lived. There wasn’t a single car in sight. Oddly, there was a cop in the intersection, presumably directing whatever traffic there was. Perhaps the stoplight was not working; I have no recollection.
I stopped at the light (working or not). At which point my friend Ralph, who was 15, leaned out the back seat window, yelled out “Fucking cop,” and threw an empty beer bottle at the policeman. It landed at his feet, where it smashed into pieces.
The policeman calmly walked over to our car, at which point Ralph started yelling “I didn’t do it,” which was rather obviously a lie. The policeman had me pull over. He told all of us to get out of the car. As he did this, one of the passengers, Denise, started explaining to him that she was from another planet. The cop ignored her. He told us to take all the beer bottles out of the car and place them on the hood of the car. When we ran out of room there, we put them on the roof. There were 46 empty bottles and one full one. Ralph asked if he could please drink the full one. The cop said no. Then he had us take them all to a nearby garbage can and dispose of them.
Then came the truly amazing part. He talked to us. For about five minutes. He explained that when he was our age, he also did stupid things. But he never drove drunk. He explained how dangerous that was. He did not tell us to swear we would never drive drunk. He simply told us that he was going to let us go. He did not even say how much trouble we could be in for underage drinking and drunk driving. He did not have to.
Finally he asked if there was anyone among us who was sober and had a driver’s license. My older brother did. He had us get back in the car, handed my brother the keys (which he had taken away when he first stopped us), and told my brother to take us home.
And that was all.
Even then, I realized the officer was an exceptional cop. He gave us a second chance when he could have ruined our lives. I never properly thanked him. So if, by some miracle, Officer Roger Strickland of the Freehold, New Jersey police force is still out there—thank you from the bottom of my heart. I think you would be proud of how my brother and I ended up (I have not seen any of the others in my car that night for over 50 years). All the best to one of the best.
Bacon-Wrapped Filet Steaks Topped with Roasted Garlic Butter
4cbe9402d282a4029e0135e868cf0c9f
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
12 large garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
Kosher salt
3 1/2 teaspoons chopped chives
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
4 (6 to 7 ounce) filet steaks, about 1 inch thick
4 very thin slices of lean bacon
6 inch wooden skewers or toothpicks, soaked in water for 10 minutes and patted dry
Instructions
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place peeled garlic and olive oil in 1-cup, ovenproof ramekin, soufflé dish or custard cup. Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and place in oven. Roast on center rack until garlic is golden and very tender and soft when pierced with knife, about 30 minutes (start checking cloves after 20 minutes and then every 5 minutes until done).
With slotted spoon, remove garlic from bowl and reserve oil. Place garlic, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the reserved oil, butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt in food processor or blender and process, pulsing machine on and off for 30 seconds or less until garlic is coarsely chopped and blended with butter and oil. Transfer garlic butter to small bowl and stir in 2 teaspoons of the chives. (Garlic butter can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes before ready to use.)
When ready to cook steaks, oil a grill rack and prepare grill.
In small bowl, stir together 1 teaspoon kosher salt, coarsely ground black pepper and thyme. Rub both sides of each filet with some of this seasoning. Then wrap each steak around its sides with 1 slice of bacon. Skewer bacon in place with wooden skewer or with 2 to 3 wooden picks.
Grill steaks until lightly charred on the outside and until bacon is cooked, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare.
When done, remove steaks from fire and place on warm serving plate. Remove toothpicks.
Top each steak with 1 generous pat of roasted garlic butter and sprinkle with some of remaining chives. Butter will start to melt and season the steaks.
I am from India and recently visited China. In india we use to blame the population for all our problems. But China had no issues of it. Atleast not in its urban areas. The people there respected rules and have high value about their culture. They take care of their health and have a proper diet. I don’t know what you mean by uncivilized. But if there are uncivilized Chinese I am sure it’s because they are exposed to western culture and those who embraced west including Indians are certainly uncivilized.
OLIVER WHAT THE F**K!!!!! | First Time Reacting To Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond!
I put in an order for tools for work. The order was for myself and two coworkers. Hundreds of dollars worth of tools, including getting one of our newbies set up with good kit so he didn’t have to scrounge for tools like myself and the other senior tech.
Toolup split the order into two shipments, which is fine I guess. The first package arrive with one wire stripper and one screwdriver. For weeks the other shipment showed “in processing”. Finally I called asking where the hell my tools were. They had no idea. After several days of calls they figured out that six weeks prior the shipper had been unable to locate a fucking Air Force base and sent the order back. Toolup refunded the purchase, but made absolutely zero meaningful contact with me about it. I’d been deluged with promotional crap, but I double checked. The last contact I had about my order was “in processing”. This meant that I missed the purchase window and funding got pulled so I can’t reorder my tools for at least a year.
So in the end they literally tripled the amount of paperwork I had to do by forcing me to amend all my prior paperwork and also process the return credit, and I still don’t have my fucking tools because they utterly failed to do any sort of meaningful follow up communication.
Personally or professionally I’m never doing business with them again.
My ex boyfriend and I dated for three years through college. He had been abusive, emotionally, physically and sexually. We had broken up many times. We finally broke up for the final time when he punched me and the RA had found out and told the college officials. It was his last year of college. I was brought into the deans office. It was up to me if he should be kicked out of college. This was a private college and in the early 90’s.
I told them not to kick him out of college. I knew if I had, he would have killed me. He graduated. One morning I woke up to find that someone had broken into my house, and my earrings that he had given to me were gone. Nothing else was touched. Then the phone calls started. Mind you he had supposedly left town to move back with his parents until he left for grad school. “Hey, I liked that flowery dress you were wearing last night.” Yes, I was wearing a flowery dress the night before. Or .”I can see you wherever you are at all times of the day.” Or “ I am sorry to hear about your cat.” Wait, what?? Only to find out my cat at my parents house was missing. And never found.
I started dating someone else. Then it was, “please tell ____ that I know all about him, and I am watching.”. We found out from friends that he would be coming to the area to fly out of LAX to go to grad school at Harvard. By this time the police had been notified of everything that had happened, and they told me that bc he hadn’t harmed me physically, there was nothing I could do, but it would be a good time to get out of town for the weekend. This is how I met my new boyfriends family. I was in hiding. They lived in Northern California.
We came back to school. The phone calls stopped and then the letters started. The anger, was now put into writing. How dare I hide away from him .He went out and bought a gun and he was looking for away to use it, etc..
I started to work as a nanny that fall. One time as I was getting the kids ready for school on a Monday, the kids went outside to wait so I could walk them to school, I had to get something for the baby inside. I came outside and as we were all walking to school the little girl who was in the 4th grade said, oh your friend says hi. I was like what friend, who knows I work here. I said oh, did this person have a name, no, he just said a friend. I immediately went into that place of panic. I kept my cool, and I asked what he looked like, and yes it was him, he had found me.
Not a lot happened to me after that. I did find out that he had gotten kicked out of grad school for raping someone, and he had been fired from a few jobs. Karma?
Oliver Anthony Rich Men North of Richmond Reaction Video
Not only one time, but every time all of my children are over for a family get together. I don’t consider myself dumb, I graduated high school with honors, I have worked hard all of my life so far, was taught to use common sense by my parents and married a wonderful, smart, and hard-working lady, and we have four children. As they grew up and progressed through school, they have each chosen their own path.
Our oldest son is an I.T. computer “nurd” and works from his home running the I.T. help line for a division of Sony helping any embedded I.T. techs solve problems they cannot solve themselves.
Our oldest daughter just received her Doctorate in Nuro-psychology from Yale University and is proving to be an innovator in the field with her front-line work to advance innovations in Alzheimer’s research.
The youngest Son is a 2018 honors graduate from The United States Military Academy at West Point, Captain, and Company Commander, in the U.S. Army, Working on his master’s degree in military history.
Any our youngest daughter just graduated with honors with a degree in teaching drama and starts her first teaching position next week.
All four are extremely intelligent and found vastly different careers, and when they are together the conversations are so far above my head I can only sit there and smile.
I smile because I look around and think to myself “How in the world did I get so lucky?” And then I realize “it is all thanks to my wife, and God.”
A few months ago I was in the Liaoning province in northeastern China. We met the CEO of a smart city there who was offering us rent-free premises for 3 years, a low interest loan [2%] and cheap electricity if we choose to build our robots there.
Chinese governments really believe that industrialization is crucial to mass employment and need to woo not just large companies but SMEs too.
In contrast, Indian general public attitude towards industrialization is often poisonous. The bureaucrats are too slow to move, the politicians often careless and the common public think “industrialists” make a lot of profits, who just needs to be taxed high.
It is far harder to start a factory in India and the interest rates are substantially high. Land prices near major cities are through the roof and the infrastructure abysmal. Thus, industrialists are not able to fully tap into India’s lower wages.
Indians often moan about the low rate of innovation in India. We moan that very few things are made in India. To really make in India, the society has to put industrialization at the highest priority. It cannot be seen as lower priority compared to agriculture and other sectors.
WHAT IN SOULFUL PAIN IS THIS?! (ADHD Reaction) | OLIVER ANTHONY – RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND
Once, when I was living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, my cat (a cute but smallish Maine Coon) named Phelie jumped on my bed at 4am. She took out her claw, and carefully… so very carefully… opened my eyelid. She wanted to see if I was alive.
I guess that (then, at that time) I must have slept deep.
Cats and dogs; our little buddies. Our pals. Well, they care for us. They worry about us. And if we have the opportunity, we should take care of them too.
…
Today, this article is going to be heavily laden with “reaction videos”. People listen to a song that they never heard before, and you listen to their reactions. You would be surprised how many of the younger folk (20s and so on) have never heard of the music that we all grew up with. And it’s a treat.
I suggest that you watch all of them, but if you are busy, then just watch the very first one, which is a compilation of reactions to an Opera, and the last one which is a reaction by an African woman to “Zombie”.
Enjoy today. And if you have the time, I strongly recommend watching all those videos. Most especially those with a “@” at the front.
First Reaction To Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody THE BEST BY FAR!
There was an older woman on my block growing up who disliked that a bunch of older boys kept walking on her lawn and garden. One day I watched as she called the biggest boy over. He was menacing and we all walked in fear of him. She said, “Son, I have a problem I am hoping you can help me with. I have all these kids who walk on my lawn and garden and I am trying to grow things. Do you think you could make sure no one tramples them since you are clearly such a leader in the neighborhood?”
From that day on not one person touched her grass or garden. That boy defended her turf like it was his own and with every fiber of his being.
All it took was a frail 80 year old woman with some wise rhetoric.
“Rebels beheaded, instigators arrested”? And this is not Prigozhin
An audio recording appeared in one of the telegram channels of the Wagner group. Someone describes the situation with Prigozhin’s rebellion, prefaced his speech with the following words: “I ask you to put this on your information resources.” This person introduced himself as an officer of the Marine Corps of the Northern Fleet “from the Kherson direction.” He says that a unique KGB-style special operation was carried out – “lightning fast and deadly for the enemy.” And explains what it is.
The entry with the “officer’s” story, of course, may be stuffing and intrigues of enemies. And the fact that it was posted on the resources of PMC “Wagner” is not a guarantee of authenticity. First there was a recording, then its textual transcript. This “military” says that allegedly a group of rebels from the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff and the National Guard were going to remove Putin, but they did not succeed:
They are beheaded and destroyed. All the instigators, organizers, performers were handed over to the authorities that should deal with this. And they are already doing it hard.
He explains the role Wagner played in this:
Vladimir Vladimirovich turned to his loyal soldiers and his most trusted person, Prigozhin Evgeny Viktorovich. Special thanks to him for saving the country and people from the coup. He is a true patriot and deserves a second Hero star.
Next, the listeners are explained why the PMC units occupied Rostov-on-Don in the first place:
Because the headquarters of the Southern Military District is located there. The instigators-generals were sitting there. Some managed to escape to Moscow. In a panic, they gave orders to attack the Wagner columns with aircraft. But it did not bring results.
The narrator drew attention to the fact that the buildings of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were not occupied by the “Wagnerites”, but only cordoned off – because there was no need for this.
The generals who fled to Moscow could not believe that an uprising had been raised against them. They were really scared, because they don’t have combat-ready troops, everyone is involved at the front. They ran to the president: what to do?
Who is with the president?
Then there was Putin’s appeal to the people, in which he spoke about some rebels, but did not name “Wagner” and did not mention the name of Prigozhin. It was about the rebels, “who will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.” And the narrator emphasized in this regard that it was “precisely about the group of generals of the Ministry of Defense.”
Vladimir Vladimirovich is waiting after the appeal. The Federation Council speaks out for the fact that they are devoted to the Supreme Commander. Mayors, governors – too. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko calls Prigozhin: “Zhenya, hang up.” Wagner divisions are leaving for their permanent locations.
Here a hint is made that we did not hear such assurances from some leaders of the army, and by this they betrayed themselves:
That says a lot… That’s what “Wagner” did. The most unique operation. The rebels are completely beheaded. The grouping has been destroyed. According to some information, the leaders have been arrested. I don’t know for sure, but we’ll know tomorrow.
Quick “palace coup”
The narrator also answers the question: “What would we expect if this operation did not take place?”
“Wagner” was going to be disbanded the other day, depriving the president of such a power lever, because everyone is at the front. There would be regular regroupings like Kharkov, Kyiv. Only already in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Something would have happened in Crimea. Then the people would get excited. Here the generals would make a quick palace coup, taking their place (Putin. – Approx. ed.).
Also, according to the author of the entry, as a result of the coup, Russia would pay indemnities to everyone and “would go to hell”, and the new rulers would rule “this decaying and dying” country.
And, of course, our president, as always, was on top. Grandmaster!
Will the Tula governor go for a promotion?
Wagner also reports in its TG channels that the Prosecutor General’s Office allegedly found procedural inconsistencies in the FSB’s decision to initiate a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin, and it was closed (later, a message appeared in Telegram channels, without any reference to specific sources, that Yevgeny Prigozhin remains under investigation in connection with the rebellion):
Prigozhin, Lukashenka and Dyumin will meet in Moscow. You will learn about the results, detentions with resignations from the media.
Also, according to the “Wagner” channel, soon the governor of the Tula region, Alexei Dyumin, will begin work at the headquarters of the Southern Federal District of the Moscow Region, where he will be presented in a new position. And he will bring to the final the goals and objectives of the special operation:
Surovikin will be the chief of staff, some of the PMC fighters will enter a separate structural unit of the Russian Defense Ministry. Only Alekseev and Yevkurov will retain their positions. Prigozhin will be engaged in a new large project on the territory of Belarus.
As for all PMCs, the Ministry of Defense signs a contract with them, and they cease to be structures of state corporations. And the Wagner structure will receive a unique legal status, which “will allow it to be a subject in a dialogue not only with the authorities in Russia, but also with the governments of other states.”
These are the plans voiced by the anonymous speakers of the Wagner Group. How true they are, time will tell. If this is the case, then we will see the results very soon.
The word “throw” immediately comes to mind.
The political observer of Tsargrad Andrey Perla expressed the following opinion about the conspiracy theory voiced in this material:
I think that such texts do not improve the situation, first of all, for Wagner himself. Because these texts are an attempt to prove that although you retreated in front of everyone, in fact you achieved everything and won everything. There is a public in the world that can believe this, but this public is always in the minority. And can never influence the decision makers.
The second point that Andrei Perla drew attention to is that these words were not spoken on behalf of the PMC, but were expressed by an anonymous person who calls himself a marine, but does not disclose not only his name and rank, but even his call sign. This, of course, does not inspire confidence in him , but adds doubts about the authenticity of the text. And the word “throw-in” immediately comes to mind.
In any case, very soon we will understand how great the consequences of the “mutiny”. I think they are quite large. But the content of these texts has nothing or almost nothing in common with everything that happened.
– considers the observer of Tsargrad.
@ Black Reactors First Time Listening To Luciano Pavarotti Singing Nessun Dorma Pt 2
I was once driving my car from Indiana to visit my family in Pennsylvania. On the way, we had our three (x3) cats riding with us, when we hit this massive traffic jam near the “Liberty Tubes” outside of Pittsburgh.
It was hot. Miserable, and traffic was slow. All four lanes were at a standstill.
We were listening to public radio, and they put on an Opera. And as we sat there, I watched the hair stand on end on all my cats simultaneously. They all arched their backs and their ears perked up, and they stood frozen for the climax of the music.
Then one by one, they got down and came up to me and kissed me on the face.
Music. Universal.
‘Give War a Chance’ – A ‘War That Even Pacifists Can Get Behind’
The West is now waking up to the reality of the emerging, polycentric and fluid global order, Alastair Crookewrites.
More than a year into Russia’s Special Operation, the initial burst of European excitement at western push-back on Russia has dissipated. The mood instead has turned to “existential dread, a nagging suspicion that [western] civilisation may destroy itself”, Professor Helen Thompson writes.
For an instant, a euphoria had coalesced around the putative projection of the EU as a world power; as a key actor, about to compete on a world scale. Initially, events seemed to play to Europe’s conviction of its market powers: Europe was going to bring down a major power – Russia – by financial coup d’état alone. The EU felt ‘six feet tall’.
It seemed at the time a galvanising moment: “The war re-forged a long-dormant Manichaean framing of existential conflict between Russia and the West, assuming ontological, apocalyptic dimensions. In the spiritual fires of the war, the myth of the ‘West’ was rebaptised”, Arta Moeini suggests.
After the initial disappointment at the lack of a ‘quick kill’, the hope persisted – that if only the sanctions were given more time, and made more all-embracing, then Russia surely would ultimately collapse. That hope has turned to dust. And the reality of what Europe has done to itself has begun to dawn – hence Professor Thomson’s dire warning:
“Those who assume that the political world can be reconstructed by the efforts of human Will, have never before had to bet so heavily on technology over [fossil] energy – as the driver of our material advancement”.
For the Euro-Atlanticists however, what Ukraine seemed to offer – finally – was validation for their yearning to centralise power in the EU, sufficiently, to merit a place at the ‘top table’ with the U.S., as partners in playing the Great Game.
Ukraine, for better or worse, underlined Europe’s profound military dependence on Washington – and on NATO.
More particularly, the Ukraine conflict seemed to open the prospect for consolidating the strange metamorphosis of NATO from military alliance to an enlightened, Progressive, peace alliance! As Timothy Garton Ash effused in the Guardian in 2002, “NATO has become a European peace movement” where one could watch “John Lennon meet George Bush”.
The Ukraine war is portrayed, in this vein, as the “war that even former pacifists can get behind. All its proponents seemed to be singing is “Give War a Chance””.
“…especially in the past 12 months, telegenic female leaders such as the Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, and Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, have increasingly served as the spokespersons of enlightened militarism in Europe … ”
“No political party in Europe better exemplifies the shift from militant pacifism to ardent pro-war Atlanticism than the German Greens. Most of the original Greens had been radicals during the student protests of 1968 … But as the founding members entered middle age, fissures began to appear in the party – that would one day tear it apart”.
“Kosovo then changed everything:The 78-day NATO bombing of what remained of Yugoslavia in 1999, ostensibly to halt war crimes committed by Serbian security forces in Kosovo, would forever transform the German Greens. NATO for the Greens became an active military compact concerned with spreading and defending values such as human rights, democracy, peace, and freedom – well beyond the borders of its member states”.
A few years later, in 2002, an EU functionary (Robert Cooper) could envisage Europe as a new ‘liberal imperialism’. The ‘new’ was that Europe eschewed hard military power, in favour of weaponising both a controlled ‘narrative’ and controlled participation in its market. He advocated for ‘a new age of empire’, in which Western powers no longer would have to follow international law in their dealings with ‘old fashioned’ states; they could use military force independently of the United Nations; and could impose protectorates to replace regimes which ‘misgovern’.
The German Greens’ Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, has continued with this metamorphosis, scolding countries with traditions of military neutrality, and imploring them to join NATO. She has invoked Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s line: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”. And the European Left has been utterly captivated. Major parties have abandoned military neutrality and opposition to war – and now champion NATO. It is a stunning reversal.
All this may have been music to the ears of the Euro-élites anxious for the EU to rise to Great Power status, but this soft-power European Leviathan was wholly underpinned by the unstated (but essential) assumption that NATO ‘had Europe’s back’. This naturally implied that the EU had to tie itself ever closer to NATO – and therefore to the U.S. which controls NATO.
But the flip-side to this Atlanticist aspiration – as President Emmanuel Macron noted – is its inexorable logic that Europeans simply end by becoming American vassals. Macron was trying rather, to rally Europe towards the coming ‘age of empires’,hoping to position Europe as a ‘third pole’ in a concert of empires.
The Atlanticists were duly enraged by Macron’s remarks (which nonetheless drew support of other EU states). It could even seem (to furious Atlanticists) that Macron actually was channelling General de Gaulle who had called NATO a “false pretence” designed to “disguise America’s chokehold over Europe”.
There are however, two related schisms that flowed out from this ‘re-imagined’ NATO: Firstly, it exposed the reality of internal European rivalries and divergent interests, precisely because the NATO lead in the Ukraine conflict sets the interests of the Central East European hawks wanting ‘more America, and more war on Russia’ up and against that of the original EU western axis which wants wanting strategic autonomy (i.e. less ‘America’, and a quick end to the conflict).
Secondly, it would be predominantly the western economies that would have to bankroll the costs and divert their manufacturing capacity towards military logistic chains. The economic price, non-military de-industrialisation and high inflation, potentially, could be enough to break Europe – economically.
The prospect of a pan-European cohesive identity might be both ontologically appealing – and be seen to be an ‘appropriate accessory’ to an aspiring ‘world actor’ – yet such identity becomes caricature when mosaic Europe is transformed into an abstract de-territorialised identity that reduces people to their most abstract.
Paradoxically, the Ukraine war – far from consolidating the EU ‘identity’, as first imagined – has fractured it under the stresses of the concerted effort to weaken and collapse Russia.
Secondly, as Arta Moeini, the director of the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, has observed:
“The American push for NATO expansion since 1991 has enlarged the alliance by adding a host of faultline states from Central and Eastern Europe. The strategy, which began with the Clinton administration but was fully championed by the George W. Bush administration, was to create a decidedly pro-American pillar on the continent, centred on Warsaw – which would force an eastward shift in the alliance’s centre of gravity away from the traditional Franco-German axis”.
“By using NATO enlargement to weaken the old power centres in Europe that might have occasionally stood up to [Washington] such as in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Washington ensured a more compliant Europe in the short-term. The upshot, however, was the formation of a 31-member behemoth with deep asymmetries of power and low compatibility of interests” – that is much weaker and more vulnerable – than it believes itself to be”.
Here is the key: “the EU is much weaker than it believes it to be”. The outset of the conflict was defined by a cast of mind entranced by the notion of Europe as a ‘mover and shaker’ in world affairs, and mesmerised by Europe’s post-war prosperity.
EU leaders convinced themselves that this prosperity had bequeathed it the clout and the economic depth to contemplate war – and to weather its reversals – with panglossian sanguinity. It has produced rather, the converse: It has put its project in jeopardy.
In John Raply and Peter Heather’s The Imperial Life Cycle, the authors explain the cycle:
“Empires grow rich and powerful and attain supremacy through the economic exploitation of their colonial periphery. But in the process, they inadvertently spur the economic development of that same periphery, until it can roll back and ultimately displace its overlord”.
Europe’s prosperity in this post-war era, thus was not so much one of its own making, but drew benefit from the tail-end of accumulations hewn from an earlier cycle – now reversed.
“The fastest-growing economies in the world are now all in the old periphery; the worst-performing economies are disproportionately in the West. These are the economic trends that have created our present landscape of superpower conflict — most saliently between America and China”.
America may think of itself as exempt from the European colonial mould, yet fundamentally, its model is
“an updated cultural-political glue that we might call “neoliberalism, NATO and denim”, which follows in the timeless imperial mould: The great wave of decolonisation that followed WW2 was meant to end that. But the Bretton Woods system, which created a trading regime that favoured industrial over primary producers and enshrined the dollar as the global reserve currency – ensured that the net flow of financial resources continued to move from developing countries to developed ones. Even when the economies of the newly-independent states grew, those of the G7 economies and their partners grew more”.
A once-mighty empire is now challenged and feels embattled. Taken aback by the refusal of so many developing countries to join with isolating Russia, the West is now waking up to the reality of the emerging, polycentric and fluid global order. These trends are set to continue. The danger is that economically weakened and in crisis, western countries attempt to re-appropriate western triumphalism, yet lack the economic strength and depth, so to do:
“In the Roman Empire, peripheral states developed the political and military capacity to end Roman domination by force… The Roman Empire might have survived – had it not weakened itself with wars of choice – on its ascendant Persian rival”.
The final ‘transgressive’ thought goes to Tom Luongo: “Allowing the West to keep thinking they can win – is the ultimate form of grinding out a superior opponent”.
There are a number of critical steps that occur before two nations engage in open warfare.
All of these steps have already been taken by China in response to American aggression and provocations.
China has taken the necessary steps. It’s all public knowledge, though you would have to perform some pretty deep sleuthing to find anything about any of it in the Western “news”.
Publishing a Casus Belli.
Dumping the other nation’s currency.
Stockpiling of precious commodities.
Military mobilization.
Severing military lines of communication.
Severing diplomatic lines of communication (touch and go presently)
It’s pretty “cut and dry”. Obvious to everyone.
China already has provided the “due diligence” and set up the “rules of engagement”. World War 3 will be on the Chinese timetable, following Chinese defined rules of engagement, and China will dictate the terms of Western surrender.
The United States is being run by ignorant idiots that have no clue as to what they are fucking with.
China’s time line is running HOT. And the “stop watch” is ticking.
Brace for impact.
FREAKING SHOOK!| FIRST TIME HEARING Faith No More – Epic REACTION
In the rest of the world, fentanyl is a controlled and regulated substance and is used as medication. In the US, fentanyl has been turned into a recreational drug inspite of the obvious dangers.
There is no effective government in the US. It is that simple.
It is obviously stupid to blame China or any other country. Other countries do not run the US government.
Only US citizens can run and manage the US government.
Well, if you distill the terms presented by the United States and it’s proxy “allies” you have this…
All Chinese must die.
Chinese culture must be erased.
All history books must be rewritten to avoid any mention of China.
China to be broken up into parts.
China to be looted until nothing is left except junk and stone.
The surviving Chinese are to be used as slaves, servants, and sex toys.
Can China survive under these conditions?
Personally, I actually think that China can.
But it will not want to, and it will flatten the United States into a radioactive wasteland of ruin if the United States continues it’s moronic march towards “suicide by cop”.
SO CATCHY!… | FIRST TIME HEARING Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen REACTION
President Joe Biden travels to Kyiv, Ukraine Monday, February 20, 2023. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
In the absence of official scrutiny of Washington’s spending spree on Ukraine, The Grayzone conducted an independent audit of US funding for the country. We discovered a series of wasteful, highly unusual expenditures the Biden administration has yet to explain.
During a recent discussion with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, touted her organization’s push to guarantee transparency for US taxpayer funds sent to Ukraine.
“We are involved in funding efforts at ensuring judicial integrity, which is intrinsically important to building Ukraine’s democracy and its integration plans to get into Europe,” Power declared, adding USAID’s work in Ukraine was “also really important in terms of assuring the taxpayer, the American taxpayer, that they’re resources are well spent.”
While innocuous on the surface, Power’s comments revealed a great deception the US government is currently waging against the American public. In the roughly 16 months since Russia’s February 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict, the US government has approved several multi-billion dollar spending packages to sustain the Kiev military’s fight against Moscow.
Though many Americans likely believe that US dollars allocated for Ukraine are spent directly on supplies for the war effort, the lead author of this report, Heather Kaiser, conducted a thorough review of Washington’s budget for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal year and discovered that is far from the case.
US taxpayers may be shocked to learn that as their families grappled with fears of Social Security’s looming insolvency, the Social Security Administration in Washington sent $4.48 million to the Kiev government in 2022 and 2023 alone. In another example of bizarre spending, USAID paid off $4.5 billion worth of Ukraine’s sovereign debt through payments made to the World Bank — all while Congress went to loggerheads over America’s ballooning national debt. (Western financial interests including BlackRock Inc. are among the largest holders of Ukrainian government bonds.)
Though it is nearly impossible to calculate the total sum of US tax dollars sent to Kiev, Kaiser was able to perform an independent audit of Washington’s proxy war in Ukraine through a careful search of open source data available on the US government’s official spending tracker.
Kaiser reviewed all the funding allocations in which Ukraine was listed as the “Place of Performance” for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. Additionally, she discovered supplementary funds were sent to Kiev by listing Ukraine as the “justification” for spending, rather than the location where the money was physically sent.
Calculating the total dollar amount that the US has given to Ukraine is incredibly challenging for multitude of reasons: there is a lag in reporting expenditures; covert money given by the CIA (Title 50 Covert Action) won’t be publicly disclosed; and direct military assistance in the form of military equipment is not calculated in the same manner as raw cash. The Pentagon recently admitted to an accounting error revised up to 6.2 billion dollars. Despite this, Kaiser submitted a request to the Department of Treasury asking them to disclose the total dollar amount of US taxpayer support for Ukraine. Treasury has not responded at the time of publication.
Though Kaiser was able to search through pages of reported spending, the US government has yet to conduct an official audit of its funding for Ukraine. What’s more, there is currently no limit to how much Washington can send to Kiev.
In the absence of dedicated official scrutiny of Washington’s spending in Ukraine, The Grayzone has produced an independent audit of US tax dollar allocation in the country.
Among the many troubling contracts we discovered was a $4.25 million payment from the Pentagon to a military diving contractor that a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee has described as a “fraudulent company.” The US government asserts the payment covered the company’s delivery of explosives equipment to Ukraine.
So how exactly was that money put to use? And why has Congress so far refused to implement any program to track these shady weapons deals?
Unfortunately, the “justification” for contracts like these often consists of just a brief paragraph — or worse, a single sentence. Little little information is available that documents precisely how the funds were spent down to the dollar and item.
Beneficiaries of USAID’s Ukraine aid: Polish NATO lobbyists, a private equity firm, rural Kenyans, a TV station in Toronto
to Ukraine throughout fiscal years 2022 and 2023, roughly 41 percent of the 53.4 billion it spent during that period. Mysteriously, a portion of USAID funding earmarked for Kiev was sent to Kenya and Ethiopia via other agencies, with the award description stating projects in Africa were “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine supplemental funds.”
USAID sent $4.5 billion to Ukraine via the World Bank to pay off Kiev’s debt and fund various social programs, including government pensions. USAID made a total of $21 billion worth of direct payments to the World Bank in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 (9.1 Billion and 11.9 Billion respectively), more money than all of the funding Washington sent to the bank between fiscal years 2008 and 2021 combined. The $4.5 billion allocated for Ukraine funded programs directed by the bank’s International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
2023 06 28 06 13
USAID supplied a $1 billion grant to the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to subsidize projects “Ukraine cannot fund at this time.”
2023 06 28 06 14
USAID has supplied $20 million to “Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees” since February 2020. Recipients include a Polish think tank called the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, a Toronto-based Ukrainian TV channel, a collection of Ukrainian “anti-corruption” organizations, and other groups listed in the screenshot below. These awards were issued on top of $26 million worth of funds USAID sent these groups between 2016 and the February 2022 war escalation.
2023 06 28 06 cx14
USAID allocated $500,000 for the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in 2023 to fund a program dedicated to “advanc[ing] U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance” in Ukraine. The funds were earmarked “to strengthen the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) initiative in implementing international advocacy campaigns to keep high levels of international solidarity with Ukraine.”
subaward the State Department granted to the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in June 2022 to “build capacity and policy formulating capabilities of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) and assisting Ukrainian civil society based in Poland.”
2023 06 28 06 1fd5
According to their own so-called “Peace Manifesto,” the ICUV’s top priority is to admit Ukraine into NATO, a move that former US diplomats from George Kennan to Jack Matlock to Henry Kissinger and even current CIA director William Burns have described as a major provocation against Russia.
(WHO) in 2022 “to improve health outcomes in drought affected areas in Ethiopia.” The description stated, “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine Supplemental Funds.”
from the US occupation of Afghanistan, raking in as much as $600 million from USAID.
USAID sent $20.7 million to PACT, INC. for “USAID Ukraine’s public health system recovery and resilience activity and will strengthen the Government of Ukraine (GOU) capacity to address COVID-19 and other public health threats, sustain health services during a crisis, and protect the health of all Ukrainians including vulnerable and marginalized populations. According to its 2022 impact statement [PDF
], “In Ukraine, Pact’s work empowers citizens to push for transparent and democratic governance, advances gender equality and human rights for women and girls, and accelerates efforts to achieve HIV epidemic control.” The contractor’s work contributed to “172 people increas[ing] their net income,” according to Pact.
, a “leading private equity firm in emerging Europe, via the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), “to back high-growth tech and export-oriented [Small and Medium Sized Enterprises] succeeding globally, based on platforms in Ukraine and Moldova.”
for emergency nutrition response in ASALs (Arid and Semi-Arid Lands) in Kenya. The description stated, “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine Supplemental Funds”
located in Atlanta, GA to “support humanitarian information management through geographic information systems, data analytics and visualizations”. Ukraine was listed as the place of performance.
The Pentagon sponsors diving contractor with “history of fraud” to send mysterious explosives to Ukraine
on June 8, 2021 for the following purpose: “PROCUREMENT OF TWO 38-FOOT FULL CABIN RESPONSE BOATS, FOUR 38-FOOT CENTER CONSOLE RESPONSE BOATS, TRAILERS, SPARE PARTS, AND TRAINING AS REQUIRED UNDER FMS LOA DB-P-LCL FOR THE COUNTRY OF UKRAINE.”
2023 06 28 06 17
The Department of Defense has transferred 4.75 Million to Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc.as of February 3, 2023 for “PRO SAPPER AND EOD EQUIPMENT [CONTRACTING SQUADRON] UKRAINE” and “Marine lifesaving and Diving Equipment.”
2023 06 28 06 1it7
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and sapper equipment is exclusively used to blow things up or clean up explosives. And Atlantic Diving Supply
is a military contractor originally founded to provide tactical gear to Navy SEAL divers.
When a company like this is tasked with a highly specific delivery of explosives gear to any foreign nation, including Ukraine, it should prompt questions about the mission, particularly when US intelligence is blaming Ukraine’s military for attacking the Nord Stream pipelines without the knowledge of President Volodymyr Zelensky. (The payment date does not necessarily correlate with the date of delivery from the vendor; in other words, the equipment could have been delivered at a prior date.)
Luke Hillier, the founder of Atlantic Diving Supply, paid a $20 million settlement in 2019 to resolve charges that he defrauded the Pentagon by falsely claiming his company was a small business. Atlantic Diving is consistently listed as one of the top 25 largest military contractors in the country.
In 2021, Hillier raked in a massive $33 billion contract under the same program, prompting fresh accusations of fraud. This pattern of malfeasance prompted a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to bluntly denounce Atlantic Diving as a “fraudulent company.”
Hillier currently owns a $13 million mega-yacht in the Cayman Islands, $24 million worth of beachfront property in Hawaii, and two Bahamas-based companies with murky operations, according to the Project on Government Oversight
.
2023 06 28 06 18
Atlantic Diving Supply founder Luke Hillier living his best life
The Department of Defense has paid 4.9 Million to BAE Systems GCS Internationalas of September 12, 2022 for “UKRAINE LCS LW 155 SPARES” and “guns over 155mm through 200mm”. In Navy terminology, LCS means “Littoral Combat Ship,” while LW refers to the lightweight gun. And “155 SPARES” refers to the gun mounted on the ship’s main battery off the bow.
So what is the exact purpose of the LCS LW 155mm gun spares, why were they given to Ukraine, and where are they now? Is there a tracking mechanism in place to know where they are and how they’re being used?
Washington funnels cash to a private equity firm, Georgian finance corporation, a ‘private entrepreneur’ via Ukraine aid
US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)sent $25 million to Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV, a “leading private equity firm in emerging Europe, “to back high-growth tech and export-oriented [Small and Medium Sized Enterprises] succeeding globally, based on platforms in Ukraine and Moldova.”
US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)sent $1.5 million to the Gazelle Fund LP, another private equity firm, to relocate Ukrainian businesses to Georgia. Georgia does not border Ukraine, nor is it a primary location for Ukrainian refugee resettlement.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent $882,291 to a single individual described as an “private entrepreneur” in exchange for “overseas technical assistance program support services.” The private entrepreneur listed, Igor Lavreniuk, serves as the Program Coordinator for USAID’s Competitive Markets Program according to his LinkedIn.
2023 06 28 06 18h
The National Science Foundation sent 1.3 million to University of Illinois for faculty and curricular development in remote sensing. The place of performance is listed as Ukraine.
Along with the blowback from their government’s gratuitous sanctions policy against Russia and other official enemies, Americans are feeling the impact of this overseas spending spree at grocery stores, gas stations, and everywhere in between. Meanwhile, rising generations are not only struggling with historic inflation, but concerns that Medicare and Social Security will be insolvent in the near future.
Washington and Europe have insisted that the flood of aid to Ukraine is essential to defending democracy against the existential threat of an authoritarian Russia. This framing is designed to shut down all debate by casting anyone who questions the ballooning price tag as fundamentally anti-American — if you are against funding the West’s proxy war with a nuclear power, you oppose the very ideals that define our nation.
Yet our inspection of US government spending in Ukraine demonstrates that Washington has prioritized its supposed fight for “democracy” abroad over the well-being of the American people.
As the war drags on, lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham have marketed military aid to Ukraine in increasingly grim terms. As the senator boasted
during a recent trip to Kiev, “The Russians are dying…it’s the best money we’ve ever spent.” Meanwhile, Congress has rejected any mechanism that would guarantee transparency on the billions sent to Kiev, and shunned a war powers debate over the US military’s presence on the Ukrainian battlefield.
President Joseph Biden, for his part, has pledged that official Washington will support Kiev “as long as it takes.” As the potential for blowback grows from Western pressure to push Ukraine into NATO, and a nuclear-armed Moscow is backed into an existential fight for its survival, while economic powers including China gradually decouple from the Western financial system, Americans can only wonder how much will this war cost them when it is finally over.
FIRST TIME HEARING Brad Paisley – He Didn’t Have To Be *TEARS*
Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Butter
2023 06 28 06 24
Ingredients
3 quarts sweet cider
8 pounds ripe, well-flavored apples
2 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cook cider over high heat, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until it is reduced to half.
Wash, quarter and core unpeeled apples. Add to cider, and cook over low heat until very tender. Stir frequently. Work apple mixture through a sieve, returning the puree to the kettle. Stir in sugar, all the spices, and salt. Cook over very low heat, stirring almost continuously, until mixture thickens.
Pour into sterilized pint jars and seal securely.
Makes 4 jars.
First Time Hearing Jay Chou (feat. Fei Yu-ching) “Far Away” Reaction
How To Plant Propaganda: “Putin has been weakened. Russia is crumbling.”
On Sunday the U.S.Secretary of State went on four morning shows to play the same distinct melody over and over again:
SECRETARY BLINKEN: And it was a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. So this raises profound questions. It shows real cracks. We can’t speculate or know exactly where that’s going to go. We do know that Putin has a lot more to answer for in the weeks and months ahead. … SECRETARY BLINKEN: These create more cracks in the Russian façade, and those cracks were already profound. Economically, militarily, its standing in the world – all of those things have been dramatically diminished by Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. He’s managed to bring Europe together. He’s managed to bring NATO together. He’s managed to get Europe to move off of Russian energy. He’s managed to alienate Ukrainians and unite Ukraine at the same time. So across the board this has been a strategic failure. Now you introduce into that profound internal divisions, and there are lots of questions he’s going to have to answer in the weeks ahead.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: … So I think we’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade. It is too soon to tell exactly where they go and when they get there. But certainly we have all sorts of new questions that Putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead. … This is just the latest chapter in a book of failure that Putin has written for himself and for Russia. Economically, militarily, its standing in the world – all of things have plummeted. We have a united NATO that’s stronger than ever before, a Europe that is weaning itself off of Russian energy, Ukraine that Putin has managed to alienate and unite at the same time. Now, with trouble brewing from within, this, as I said, just adds more questions that he has to find answers for.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: But we can say this. First of all, what we’ve seen is extraordinary, and I think you see cracks emerge that weren’t there before … … We’ve seen this aggression against Ukraine become a strategic failure across the board. Russia is weaker economically, militarily. Its standing around the world has plummeted. It’s managed to get Europeans off of Russian energy. It’s managed to unite and strengthen NATO with new members and a stronger Alliance. It’s managed to alienate from Russia and unite together Ukraine in ways that it’s never been before. This is just an added chapter to a very, very bad book that Putin has written for Russia.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: But I think we can say this much: First, we’ve seen some very serious cracks emerge. … But we’ve seen, I think, lots of different cracks that have emerged in the conduct of this aggression, because everything Putin has tried to accomplish, the opposite has happened. Russia is weaker economically. It’s weaker militarily. Its standing in the world has plummeted. It’s managed to strengthen and unite NATO. It’s managed to alienate and unite Ukrainians. It’s managed to get Europe off of dependence on Russian energy.
In piece after piece, issue after issue, what Putin has tried to prevent, he’s managed to precipitate. And Russia’s standing is vastly diminished as a result. Now, add to that internal dissention. Again, we can’t speculate on where this goes. We have to remain and we are focused on Ukraine, but it certainly raises new questions that he’s going to have to address.
The very same (false) talking points, repeated over and over again, are a sure sign of lies and an organized propaganda campaign.
For the record. Progozhin was all alone in his mutiny attempt. Not one element of the Russian government or civil society joint him in his ride. So where are the cracks? There are none. Also Russia’s military is now larger and better equipped then before the war. Russia’s economy is fine and growing. Its standing in the world has increased.
But Blinken’s propaganda works well because the U.S. media are trained to pick up any sheet of music an administration hands out and to sing its tune over and over again.
I could quote dozens of participants in that game to make that point. But the Washington Posts has made it easier for me when it asked eight of its columnists to comment on the issues. All but one, a neocon who wants to see more action, repeat Blinken’s message: “Putin has been weakened. Russia is crumbling.”
David Von Drehle: Even failed coups have consequences
Putin evidently had no more confidence than Prigozhin as to the outcome of the clash. Rather than test the loyalty and strength of government forces to crush the uprising, the Russian leader grabbed the first exit he was offered — a sign of weakness that might invite another attempt. … The bad news: A weakened Russia has weakened leaders and is spinning out of control. Putin has taken his country into a disaster, and there is no one in sight to save it.
Max Boot: Prigozhin has made Putin’s weakness clear to everyone
Putin, has now had his own legitimacy undermined by the revolt of Prigozhin and his Wagner Group mercenaries. Whether the damage is fatal remains to be determined. … Even if Prigozhin is gone, the discontent he has revealed will remain an Achilles’ heel for Putin.
David Ignatius: After dodging the bullet, Putin will need to show he’s in control
Putin’s vulnerabilities were vividly on display last weekend, but so were his uncanny survival skills. He got inside Prigozhin’s conspiratorial plot and stopped it. … Putin will need to show that he’s in command now, after this near-death experience. That’s the bad news for Ukraine and Russia both.
Eugene Robinson: Putin is likely to survive this crisis
The revolt by the mercenary butcher Prigozhin did reveal Putin’s regime to be more brittle than it had appeared from afar.
Charles Lane: Prigozhin is the only Russian to publicly speak the truth
Vaclav Havel insisted that truth still exercised a mysterious, but latent, power.
It can unexpectedly “issue forth … in something visible: a real political act or event, a social movement, a sudden explosion of civil unrest, a sharp conflict inside an apparently monolithic power structure, or simply an irrepressible transformation in the social and intellectual climate,” Havel wrote. “And since all genuine problems and matters of critical importance are hidden beneath a thick crust of lies, it is never quite clear when the proverbial last straw will fall, or what that straw will be.”
Spy, oligarch, warlord — Prigozhin was an unlikely candidate to confirm Havel’s prophecy. But in a way, he did.
Jason Willick: Chances for escalation in Ukraine have gone up
Some observers might be overstating Putin’s weakness — he did suppress the mutiny quickly, after all — but the spectacle has clearly dented his image of control.
Josh Rogin: Prigozhin’s failed gambit is an opportunity for the West
Now that the Kremlin can no longer pretend Wagner is a separate entity, Russian government and defense officials must also be held accountable for Wagner’s worldwide crimes, which include credible allegations of mass murder, torture, rape and other atrocities.
Megan McArdle: Turmoil in Russia shows the fragility of illiberalism
Nominally, Putin controls a massive army, a substantial police force and a population that returned him to office in 2018 with a resounding 77 percent of the vote. But when push came to shove, those same folks were indifferent between him and a murderous warlord — or, at least, didn’t care enough about the distinction to risk getting shot. Putin survived, but the risk to his regime has risen now that it is clear how little actual support he has.
The overall tone: Putin did not fight the loon Prigozhin but found a peaceful solution. This shows that he is weak.
This bears a question. If eight columnists at one paper come to the very same (but false) conclusion, just issued in different words, why hire and pay all eight of them? Clearly, one would suffice.
Oh, that would show a lack diversity? The religious believe in individualism where all humans must differ – but for the opinions they are allowed to espouse?
Posted by b on June 27, 2023 at 15:43 UTC | Permalink
Rap Fans React to The Cult- She Sells Sanctuary REACTION
Use of your HK residency card might cause some problems for you. You will not have the same kind of treatment that you have grown accustomed to.
Oh, of course, the Chinese will smile and be so very polite. But, a “black mark” is a interruption of normal process, and will require an override by upper management.
Of course you can apply for a visa.
[1] If you are denied that visa, accept that reality. That reality is one of a perpetual “outsider” that will not be given the chance for redemption. If so, then you fucked up BIG TIME. Nothing worse than “missing the bus” for the global future.
[2] If you are granted that visa, you must accept the reality that you will be monitored absolutely. The duration of the monitoring will be at least ten years, and if you apply for work, there will be limitations on your applications. Certainly the housekeeping, and janitorial professions will probably be open to you, but forget about any skilled positions.
You made a very BIG and BAD MISTAKE.
But there’s always hope for redemption. If you can prove that you are reformed, you have a chance.
Finally…
If you do enter China, and you decide to break a law, or participate in NED sponsored color revolution activities, your fate will sealed (and very horrible). Ask the two-timers from HK that participated in the Shanghai protest last year. They will never leave China.
Don’t be like them.
FIRST REACTION! Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music SHOCKED! THEY WHITE?
She speaks fluent Baby-Chinese, and completely understands my English. However, the only time that she uses English is when she is MAD. When she is angry, that is when she spouts off in English. And lordy, it’s a sight to behold.
At home, she watches a mix of Chinese and English age-appropriate shows. And she attends Kindergarten, Dance, and boxing classes all in Chinese.
Starting last night and into today, Beidu is reporting that China has laid out defined rules on violation of Chinese air space and sea lanes. No longer will China issue a verbal warning to planes to leave, or for ships to exit.
They now are authorized to fire weapons with the intent to kill and destroy the intruder(s).
My opinion is that…
This follows the North Korean model of engagement. Which is why the United States avoids flying into to North Korea, but happily pushes into China’s.
This is a direct result of [1] the Canadian / USA naval transit in the Taiwan strait, and [2] the Spy Plane violations of air space. Now, if those events were to reoccur, there would be two sunk Naval vessels, and one destroyed spy plane.
Never the less, the rules are going to be violated by the United States. The American “leadership” are just itching for a war. Like I have repeatedly stated, “stupid beyond comprehension”.
People are going to die. No way to avoid this result.
WOW!| FIRST TIME HEARING Tears For Fears – Sowing The Seed Of Love REACTION
Western media and political propaganda works very much to China’s advantage.
Chinese strategy ever since the time of Sun Tzu is based on deception, and namely on making the enemy underestimate China.
This means that the more the west thinks that they are ahead of China, the more they underestimate China, and the more China hides its true strength, the better it is for China.
This means that if the Americans think that they will defeat China in the end because of American exceptionalism, and because the US is the city on the hill shining the bright light of freedom and democracy, the better it is for China.
This means that in the end, if China strikes, it will strike to kill.
There will not be any of that Russian pussyfooting around in Ukraine in the early stages of the war which Russia did, and which ended in failure.
@ A MASTERPIECE!!! Emotional Reaction to CRANBERRIES – ZOMBIE | Difficult to Get Over This
Back in 2007 I had gone to Russia. Being an African American woman in braids, I pretty much stand out over there. I even had a police officer ask to see my passport because, well, there’s not a lot of black people there, and those that are there are usually European and African descent.
So we were visiting a type of flea market in Moscow to shop for souvenirs. I only know three or four Russian words, so I did my best to bargain (but it helped to have Russian students in our group translating for us).
This vendor suddenly stared grabbing my hand joyfully and kissing my hand and arm! He was saying something like “krasivaya” or something like that.
He was pointing to my arm and I realized he was enamored with the color of my skin.
One the students (or another vendor helping him, I’m not sure), knew English and translated for me, “He says, “You’re beautiful.”
It dawned on me he had never seen a black woman before.
That actually amused me —- I mean, who knew that, considering all the crap black people have put up with because of our skin color, having dark skin would elicit such a positive response?
@ THIS IS FIRE!!! THE CULT – FIRE WOMAN (REACTION)
My parents built a cottage on Loon Lake in Ontario in 1965, Mum and I spent many happy summers there while Dad came up on weekends. Mum died in 1983 at age 60. Dad couldn’t stand going there anymore because “there was too much of Mum in it” so he sold it (with my knowledge and blessing) in 1986 fully furnished to include dishes, linens, two boats – everything. Apparently this is quite normal in that marketplace and situation.
Fast-forward to 2004; I took my wife and four sons to a rental cottage a couple lakes away. We took a boat trip to show the boys where I grew up. Fortunately the owner was there so we moved the boat over toward the boathouse (both boats were still there) where I turned off our boat and said, “My parents built this cottage when I was 10 years old.” His immediate response was, “Oh, you’re a Kuhs!” I was amazed. Not only were he and his wife the purchasers but they had owned the cottage – still named Cry of the Loon – for 17 years and he came up with our fairly odd name so quickly. They gave us the “grand tour”, Mum’s cottage was over 90% unchanged from the last day I saw it over 20 years before. Not a dry eye in the house!
We have lived on the upper Chesapeake Bay for 35 years so there’s no animosity.
China isn’t in a race to be better than the US or to surpass the US.
The Chinese are in a race to become the best version of themselves after being poor and politically divided for so long.
The problem is that when Chinese say this to Americans; US politicians and western politicians tend to think that the Chinese are lying to them, when in fact, the Chinese are not.
This means that the fate and destiny of the US is in the hands of the Americans themselves, not in the hands of the Chinese.
Americans have done great things in the past, and if they work hard and apply themselves, they can do great things again, such as landing men on the moon, and defeating diseases like polio.
To do this, Americans would have to give up some bad habits, and apply themselves the same way the Chinese have in the past forty years.
If the US competed with China this way, the world would become a better place because all of humanity would benefit.
Reaction To “Simple Minds Someone Somewhere In Summertime Live 1983” THE WOLF HUNTERZ Jon and Dolly
I don’t. I don’t interpret it at all because it is not sincere, either way. No sooner than Blinken met with Xi Jinping, Biden called Xi a dictator and Blinken quoted more foolishness trying to justify arms sales to Taiwan. The U.S. is not capable or interested in following China’s conditions. There is no sincerity. It is always speaking with a forked tongue out of both side of the mouth with my country. Don’t be surprised. His visit was all an elaborate show on the world stage.
On a positive note, China chewed him a new backside, so I’d say it was a win for China.
WERE SHOOK! | FIRST TIME HEARING Patsy Cline – Crazy REACTION
UPDATED 10:39 AM EDT — Russian Presidential Fleet Plane Enroute to Washington DC – Evacuating Diplomats?
An aircraft from the Russian Presidential fleet is presently on its way from Moscow to Washington, DC. It is now feared this plane is coming to evacuate Russian Diplomats prior to . . . well . . . what __could be__ the start of a war.
As of 6:16 AM Eastern US Time, the aircraft has left air space which is tracked by radar, and is now over the Atlantic Ocean being tracked by Satellite:
2023 06 28 10 31
No word yet from anyone why this plane is coming to the USA.
The Russian Federation maintains Consular Offices in three locations in the U.S., Washington, DC is its main Embassy. In New York City and in Houston, are Consulate offices.
Main Russian Embassy: 2650 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20007
Folks in an around those cities may wish to take a drive by, and see if there are any obvious signs that staff are evacuating, or if there is dense smoke coming out of a chimney indicating the burning of documents.
BELARUS TO COMBAT ALERT
Belarusian President Lukashenko said that he has given orders to bring the army to full combat readiness against the backdrop of the events in Russia.
“If Russia collapses, we will remain under the rubble, we will all die” he said.
‘The threat of a new global conflict has never been as close as it is today.’“Once again, they are trying to blow up our country, our entire region, to disorient people. Shake up the situation by any means and, under this noise, impose your own rules, establish your own order.
An order in which there will no longer be either our countries or people.”
UPDATE 10:39 AM EDT —
The Russian Foreign Ministry has commented on this plane:
“A Russian plane is on its way to the United States to evacuate diplomats ordered to leave the country by US authorities, Zakharova said in her Telegram channel.According to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, it is not a question of expulsion, but of restrictions on operations created by Washington.”
@ I DISCOVERED THE BEST SONG EVER! | Ram Jam – Black Betty (REACTION!!!)
All Sources inside Russia Have Gone “Dark” – Largest Submarine Sails with Poseidon Nuclear Torpedo
A very troubling situation has developed inside Russia this morning, Monday, June 26, 2023. All my intel sources have either gone dark or told me they have to go dark immediately. Apparently ANYONE who expressed support for the Prigozhin Rebellion is being rounded-up and/or turned off violently.
More interestingly, Russia’s largest submarine, the “Belgorad” (K-329), set sail from its Arctic port in Severodvinsk, along with a support ship “Akademik Aleksandrov.”
This Support ship is associated with testing the “Poseidon” Intercontinental Nuclear-Powered Nuclear-Armed Autonomous Torpedo.
The sailing of the two vessels, together, plus other signs observed, may indicate that a Poseidon test launch is imminent.
The question becomes, is it a test or will it be live?
The Poseidon torpedo is autonomous. It can be pre-programmed to travel almost anywhere in the world, silently, take up position off a coastline at a depth of 1-2 miles, and wait, undetected and undetectable.
2023 06 28 10 33 1
At the pre-programmed time, it can detonate its scalable 100 MEGATON nuclear torpedo, creating a radioactive tsunami that takes out the entire coastline of an adversary. In some areas, the tsunami would come ashore as a 1500 foot tall wave of radioactive water, knocking down entire cities, and leaving them covered in a radioactive flood that would make the area uninhabitable for decades.
The submarine carries SIX such Poseidon torpedos.
It could place one off each coast of the UK, travel across the Atlantic, place one or more off the US East Coast, the travel down to the Gulf of Mexico, place another, and leave the US West Coast to typical Russian submarines.
None of us would have any idea at all that anything was wrong and then, suddenly, BOOM, all of them go off at once. The US and UK would be completely crippled immediately, wiping out NATO.
The three key things about China we need to keep in mind are that
it is strong, not weak;
it has become a sea power; and
its values are both different from those of the West and not necessarily what Europe and America think they are.
“When we are discussing anything to do with the People’s Republic of China in the contemporary context, therefore, these three factors are good places to start,” writes Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London, in the first chapter of his new book, “China Incorporated: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One.”
The title reminds us of Japan Inc, the words used to describe Japan’s combination of industrial policy and mercantilism since the 1980s; and “Japan as Number One: Lessons for America”, the popular book by Ezra Vogel published in 1999. Brown’s book even has a chapter entitled “The Enigma of Chinese Power,” which echoes Karel Van Wolferen’s “The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation,” published in 1990.
But the book does not explain Chinese industrial and trade policies; it does not tell us what the West can learn from China’s rapid modernization; and it is certainly not about what the writer imagines is the hollow political center of a great economic power.
Rather, Brown examines the more important issue of how Western misunderstanding of Chinese thinking about the role of government and international relations has magnified the problem of dealing with a different civilization that has grown big and strong enough to reject our criticism and push back.
The misunderstanding has historical, cultural and political roots but fundamentally it can be attributed to the universalist, Manichean (good vs evil) worldview of what Brown refers to as the Enlightenment West – and the projection of that attitude onto a civilization that doesn’t share the same history.
“The distinctiveness of the intellectual and cultural history of inhabitants of the space now occupied by the People’s Republic of China is undeniable,” Brown writes. “In terms of language, modes of governance, economic behavior, and fundamental view about how the world operates and how society should be shaped, the Chinese tradition is a long, complex and sometimes (but not always) contrasting one to that which has created the Europe and North America of today.”
He continues, “The Western European proclivity has been to maintain the conviction, at least until recent decades, that there is a final, truthful, unifying vision of the world.”
On the other hand,
In the Chinese world where a notion of harmony in the abstract was privileged, the focus was on accepting different kinds of views and convictions for different spaces and occasions….
A syncretic worldview is the result – one that in the twenty-first century continues to puzzle and fascinate because of the ability of modern Chinese to place capitalism next to socialism while seeming under Xi Jinping to be proud of Confucianism as well as having as many as 200 million Buddhists in various sects and about half that number of Christians.
That description runs head on into democratically elected politicians’ abhorrence of one-party dictatorship and American alarm over perceived or potential subversion by Confucius Institutes, Huawei or any other Chinese organization under the sway of the Communist Party.
Brown does not dwell on the nature of the Communist Party, but points out that Confucius Institutes have often been their own worst enemies and that Huawei, due to its leading position in the telecommunications industry and the legal environment in which it operates, will never be free of suspicion.
After all, China’s National Intelligence Law stipulates that “all organizations and citizens shall support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with the law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.”
Combined with the rapid growth of its military power, including the ever-longer reach of its navy, the globe-spanning infrastructure investments of the Belt and Road Initiative, allegations of hacking and the hot-button issues of the South China Sea, Taiwan and Xinjiang, this makes China for “a large number of American and European politicians … not just a problem, but the problem.”
The problem with this problem is its ambiguity. The Chinese military has never used more than a fraction of its power. No clear evidence of surveillance via Chinese telecom equipment has been publicly provided. The motives and capabilities are there, but there is no smoking gun.
As for the Belt and Road, which critics regard as a combination of debt-trap diplomacy and strategic threat, Brown asks, “How much longer do we have to wait till we see Beijing’s hand fully exposed? What if, in the end, it really was all mainly commercial?”
For centuries, the West has been working to remake the world in its own image. Its Enlightenment mind finds it logical to conclude that the Chinese are trying to do the same, regardless of China’s doctrine of non-interference in the affairs of other countries (rejected as duplicitous on the one hand and as unprincipled support for dictators on the other) and its cultural exclusiveness.
Western military and national security officials default to the worst-case scenario, while many politicians favor a simple narrative of evil communists oppressing the good Chinese people. But, as Brown writes, “one thing stands out – the complexity of the issues China poses, just being itself, and doing the kinds of things it does as an actor of its size and reach.
“Complexity alone is a vast problem, and one the Enlightenment West in particular, with its love of orderly frameworks and all-embracing tidy theories, clearly abhors. China upsets the epistemology of the West – it violates notions of universalism being universal.”
If economic prosperity either is contingent on the existence of multi-party government and Western style rule of law or inevitably brings these in its wake, this leads to:
China explanation number one – We are right; China is undertaking a huge con, and
China explanation number two – China has to democratize.
Otherwise, China will collapse. But it hasn’t collapsed since Gordon Chang’s book “The Coming Collapse of China” was published in 2001 and Brown now doesn’t expect it to collapse anytime soon. Rather, within a decade, “the world’s largest economy could well be an Asian country under a Communist government.”
If and when that happens, the West is likely to be a sore loser, angry and frustrated. In fact, it already is doing everything it can to slow China down and prevent that outcome.
At the same time, China
is certainly more frustrated and irritated than ever before at the outside world. This has reached such a level of intensity that there has been a formal policy response: “Dual Circulation” – a strategy in many Chinese people’s eyes to simply get whingeing, moaning, sore losing Westerners with their toxic social media, their crazy political systems, their moralizing and ignorance and arrogance, off China’s back.
Dual Circulation is an economic policy that puts priority on domestic consumption (internal circulation) while remaining open to foreign trade and investment (external circulation). Dependence on exports is to be reduced while technological independence is achieved through innovation. It is an answer to Western sanctions and protectionism, a sort of reverse decoupling or de-risking that is less ideological and more pragmatic.
Brown hopes that pragmatism will also take hold in the West. He states that, “Whether we embrace or have distaste toward China as it is politically today, we have no choice but to recognize that it is there and that it is as it is. We will not all wake up tomorrow, like protagonists in some fantasy film, and find China is no longer there, or that it has magically transformed to become somewhere we actually like and feel close to. We can console ourselves with the associated thought that exactly the same in reverse applies to China.”
There is a lot more to this book, which is informed by the author’s 30 years’ experience of life in China, where he has worked in education, in business and as a diplomat. He is the author of more than 20 books on China.
WHO DEY!!.. Guns N Roses Welcome – To The Jungle | FIRST TIME HEARING REACTION
32 Billion Chip Orders Canceled, Chinese Enterprise Installs First Domestic Lithography Machine!
2023 06 28 11 07
The Chinese chip market is undergoing a transformation, and under US chip restriction rules, China has embarked on a self-sufficient development path. Not only has it set a goal of achieving a 70% self-sufficiency rate in chips and producing more chips domestically, but Shanghai Microelectronics is also increasing its research and development of lithography machines, and Chinese enterprises have moved in the first domestically-produced lithography machine.
China is the world’s largest chip market and spends a considerable amount on imports in the field of integrated circuits each year, especially for high-end chips imported to meet the needs of a range of consumer electronics products such as smartphones, computers, and tablets.
Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC is vigorously expanding its 12-inch wafer capacity for mature chips and significantly increasing its 28 nanometers chip shipments since China has its own domestically produced chips, its dependence on imported chips is not as great.
In the first quarter of this year China’s Imports of integrated circuits totaled 108 billion pieces a year on year, a decrease of 22.9 percent equivalent to a reduction of 32 billion chip imports from last year, a total of 32 billion chip orders were canceled, making it harder for overseas chip Giants to make big profits, more signs indicate that China’s chip industry’s self-sufficiency ability is constantly improving in the first quarter of this year.
In the 1st quarter of this year Chinese Enterprises moved in the first domestically produced lithography machine the advanced packaging lithography machine from Shanghai microelectronics was moved in by Chinese Enterprise conscience for a production line project.
Shanghai microelectronics is the only company in China that has mastered the production of complete lithography machines in the front-end lithography machine field.
Shanghai microelectronics has excellent capabilities and can produce 2.5 D to 3D Advanced packaging lithography machines perhaps many people do not know that there is a difference between front end and back end lithography machines.
The front end and back end lithography machines are two different steps in the semiconductor chip manufacturing process. Front-end lithography machines are mainly used to make lithographic masks in the chip manufacturing process that is to project the design chip patterns onto the Silicon wafer to form a pattern. While the back-end lithography machines are used to etch the patterns on the Silicon wafer to form the chip circuit component.
Front-end lithography machines usually require higher resolution and precision while back-end lithography machines require higher processing speed and stronger etching ability.
Relatively speaking the manufacturing difficulty of front-end lithography machines is greater, in that they require High Precision Optical systems, Precision mechanical systems and high stability control systems and require knowledge in multiple disciplines such as physics, Optics and Mechanics.
ASML can achieve high-end processes of five nanometers and below in the front-end lithography machine field and the most advanced EUV lithography machines are in short supply. The mass-produced process of domestic lithography machines in the front-end field is 90 nanometers and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the future.
The domestically produced lithography machine moved in by Chinese Enterprises belongs to the back end and is mainly used to meet the demand for chip Packaging.
Nevertheless advanced packaging is still of great significance for domestic chips this is because advanced packaging technology can improve chip performance power consumption and reliability while also reducing chip size and cost.
The use of advanced packaging technology can enhance the market competitiveness of chips attract more customers and partners and promote the development of China’s domestic chip industry therefore doing well in advanced packaging is of great significance for the development of domestic chips.
The frequent restrictions on Chinese Chips by the United States will only accelerate China’s self-sufficiency. China canceled 32 billion chip Imports and Chinese Enterprises moved in the first domestically produced lithography machine which is the best proof some foreign media have stated that Bill Gates is right.
Bill Gates has long said that the United States can never stop China from having powerful chips and restrictions will only make China self-sufficient while the United States will also lose many high-paying jobs.
The fact is indeed as Bill Gates said China’s chip industry shows signs of self-sufficiency while the U.S technology industry laid off 130 000 people from January to may this year with more than 410 000 layoffs nationwide, if the United States does not stop its restrictive measures it will only affect the profits of U.S companies and the number of layoffs will continue to swell.
In today’s Information age the importance of chips is beyond doubt but as the crystallization of the world’s top technology the technical difficulty of Chip research and development is also very high.
China started late in the field of chips and many core Technologies and underlying Technologies are in the hands of the United States.
If China wants to independently develop chips it must start from the basics in addition to the difficulty of research and development the supply chain of the chip industry is also a problem just because chip manufacturing requires multiple steps such as photolithography etching cleaning and precipitation more than 10 kinds of semiconductor equipment are needed as well as chip design chip packaging and testing and other links.
The US just wants to slow down the development of Chinese Chips by excluding China from the world supply chain it’s just that this move by the United States is undoubtedly an invalid behavior and it will only lead to Market chaos in the semiconductor industry.
In any case if you want to develop Chinese Chips you need to rely on Independent research and development only by mastering the core technology can you avoid being stuck.
Many Enterprises and talents in China have devoted themselves to the field of chips and have made many important progress for the development of chips in China among them Deng Han and his Starlight China chip project are an important part of the history of China’s chip development.
It can even be said that China’s first self-developed chip came from Deng jonghan.
The young genius Deng jonghan left the US and returned to China. Deng Han who was born in 1968 not only founded vimicro group but also is an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and the commander-in-chief of the Starlight China chip project.
He has contributed a lot to the development of China’s chips and developed China’s first chip with independent property rights.
Since he was a teenager Deng Han has been full of curiosity an exploratory Spirit towards the world after he was admitted to the Department of Earth and space science at the University of Science and Technology of China Deng Han’s Talent was gradually discovered when he was in college Deng Han also pointed out the professor’s thinking deviation in solving problems and because of this he was favored by the professor and joined the project team after Deng junghan entered the University of Barkley he successively obtained a master’s degree in physics a doctorate in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in economics and management after graduation Deng Han founded an integrated circuit company in the Silicon Valley of the United States
Entrepreneurship was a great success and the market value of the company he founded once reached 115 million U.S dollars however at the invitation of chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology Deng Han resolutely gave up his company in the United States and returned to China to engage in chip research and development.
After returning to China Deng Han founded vimicro and started the Starlight China chip project officially entering the field of Chip research and development the Prelude to the rise of China’s chips has begun during the chip research and development process Deng Han’s conditions were very difficult and he could only conduct research and development in the warehouse and once faced the risk of capital chain rupture but in the face of many difficulties Deng jonghan did not give up lightly but faced up to the difficulties and solved one problem after another.
On March 11 2001 under the unremitting efforts of Deng Han and his R D team vimicro launched China’s first chip with independent property rights Ching Guang number one Starlight number one is a multimedia chip and it is also a large-scale integrated circuit chip.
After that vimicro launched the Starlight series chips into the market and successfully listed them in the United States which made the reputation of Chinese Chips and opened the Prelude to the rise of Chinese Chips himself became an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and a foreign academician of the American Academy of engineering it is not difficult to see from this information that Deng Han has provided a major boost to the rise of China’s chips.
With the development of time many top Chinese technology companies have entered the chip track one after another according to statistics from 2019 to the present the total of 40 000 companies in China have entered the chip related field it can be said that China’s chips are developing flourish and gradually rise with the support of national policies and the large investment of some top companies Chinese Chips have gradually made major breakthroughs in many fields such as huawei’s self-developed Korean chips and EDA industrial software which are also at the advanced level in the world.
Shanghai microelectronics has gradually come to the Forefront of the world and semiconductor Fields such as etching machines and lithography machines and can reach the top five in the world in terms of market share now China’s chip industry can be said to be flourishing and the entire chip industry chain has a Chinese layout but China should always keep in mind that it was Deng Han and his Starlight China chip project that opened the Prelude to the rise of China’s chips.
SQUEEZE – Tempted (By The Fruit Of Another) REACTION
I was going to a conference in Las Vegas to attend a huge convention. Hotel rooms were scarce, but I had made my reservations far in advance.
I got to the hotel after midnight after a long flight, and had just unpacked and was about to get ready for bed when the door opened. A weary-eyed man glared at me and showed me his room assignment. Same as mine. We had been double-booked by accident.
The man got on the room phone and started screaming at the assistant manager, demanding that he be given the room. The intruder then gave the phone to me, and the manager asked if I minded being moved. I did, of course, but given the white-hot rage of my accidental roommate, I said gently, “I understand. These things happen. I’ll take another room.”
I repacked my clothes and soon the manager arrived, full of apologies, and took my bag. The man who had “won” the room smiled triumphantly.
And then the manager took me to one of the hotel’s biggest suites, which had four bedrooms, a kitchen stocked with liquor and fruit, and a killer view of Vegas. It was worthy of Sinatra or Elvis, and it was all mine for the week-long stay, at the same price as the standard room I booked, the manager said.
I was dazzled. When I asked the manager why I was being given such a glorious upgrade, he explained that it was the only room left in the hotel. He had to make a quick decision as to who would get it, “and lady,” he said, “you were the nice one.”
The 70’s were a VIBE! 💃🏽🕺🏽| KC and the Sunshine Band – I’m Your Boogie Man [REACTION!]
I’ve always had this almost irrational dislike for influencers. They’re just about the most self-obsessed, vain, terrible and entitled crowd of creatures alive on this earth. So whenever one of them gets his or her comeuppance, I’m quite pleased.
2023 06 28 11 34
Apparently there’s some law where if someone steals just a small amount, you get a warning of a ‘slap on the wrist’ style of punishment. And that’s all they do to you. Whereas if someone steals a larger amount of value, a store can actually press charges and get the thief in serious trouble. Hence the store waited, patiently, as they wrote down all the things the little kleptomaniac was taking. Compiled a nice, neat, comprehensive list of all items stolen over the years…
…and called the cops. Who sent her to jail. These are the same entitled influencers who demand to eat at a discount in restaurants “because they will give a shout out on their channel” and act offended when the bill comes in and they have to pay the full amount. Nothing puts a smile on my face quicker than seeing such a person get arrested.
Rainbow “Gates of Babylon” REACTION & ANALYSIS by Vocal Coach / Opera Singer
Are you ready to hear a story about a friend I had for 32 years and would have done anything for, whom I met when I was 5 years old?
When I was about 5 I was walking around the corner of my street, it was only 3 houses down, to my friend mark’s house which was right after the culdesac immediately after the corner. As the further of the two end houses came into view, in the yard I saw a boy my age getting beat up by a slightly older boy, so I immediately ran to defend the boy. Next thing I knew, I was on my back on the asphalt with the older boy on top of me strangling me and bashing the back of my head against the asphalt. I remember the mother of the boy I tried to save yelling and the kid beating the crap out of me ran off.
next I’m scream crying as I run to my house and my mom sees the blood on the back of my head and we head over to the house of who beat me up and my mom verbally bitch slapped that woman and her kid. Never had any issues with him again.
anyway, the boy I tried to save became my best friend. As time went on, I started to notice that his mother was awful to him, constantly telling him “why can’t you be more like Joey?” and every time I went over there, his mom always made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Peter Pan peanut butter and a glass of milk, always. I still love that peanut butter.
A short time later, my friend started calling me asking “Joey, can you please come over to my house and ask my mom for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” my friend did this because his mom would punish him by not feeding him when he got in trouble and my friend knew that his mom would always feed me, and so I would give my friend the sandwich and milk so he could eat.
This is just the beginning of the absolute madness that was this kid’s life.
His mom hated him and he knew it and she constantly told him that she wished he was like me, I was super polite and calm because I had to be or I got my butt whooped at my house. For our entire childhood I was always trying to suggest to my friend how he might want to try behaving because I thought that if he started acting like me, his mom wouldn’t hate him so much… my friend never listened and, in fact, he always did the opposite of what I suggested and he would cause chaos and get in trouble that I would always be there to help him out of.
I was always there for him, failed relationships, finding out that his mom was his adopted mom, when his real mom died from cancer, when he was homeless after becoming a methhead, the birth of his daughter, when the mother of his daughter left them… I was there for every single trauma he suffered, I was there for him…
I had been married 12 years and my son had been showing symptoms of autism and my then wife couldn’t handle that her son had autism so she left our boys and I and for the first time, I desperately needed a friend.
My friend ignored my phone calls for almost two months before he finally answered his phone and agreed to meet me so I could talk to him.
when I get to my friend’s girlfriend’s apartment, he was out of work and living with his girlfriend, I was devastated still and after I walked into the apartment and asked my friend what he has been doing that was so important he couldn’t answer my phone calls…
my friend said “I’m glad your life is falling apart, because now we are even.” He then walked outside on the porch to smoke and closed the glass door behind him.
I was shocked. I looked at his girlfriend who was right there when he said it and I asked “did he just say I’m glad your life is falling apart because now we are even?”
his girlfriend, who was also shocked said “yeah” after staring at me, or through me for a few seconds.
at this moment my friend was on his phone outside and that’s when I realized, that for my entire life, the friend who I was always trying to get back on his feet, the guy who I believed had an awesome potential, the guy I tried to train to become a martial arts instructor at my school but he quit before he became a black belt and he’d been trying to get me to quit, this entire time he had been hoping that my life had gone wrong because he was so envious of what I had… turns out, what my friend was doing on his phone was messaging my soon to be ex wife and trying to hook up with her…
for the entire 32 years I knew him, I never once wished harm or misfortune, in fact, this is the moment I realized that I’ve never once wished ill on anyone, despite the explosive drunken abuse I suffered from my family… I always wished that they would get better and stop destroying their lives and everyone’s lives around them. It was this moment that I have ever felt true hatred towards someone, this was the first time that I felt like if I ever see him again, I will beat his face in until he is mush.
I still wish him the best, I would never wish harm upon someone, but to this day, I know that if I see him, I won’t be able to stop myself…
I hope that answers your question… it was rough writing this, it brought up some seriously painful feelings. I’m getting tears…
Biden has made clear he won’t invite Israel’s premier in the near future.
2023 06 28 11 39
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit China next month, signaling growing impatience with Washington, as Beijing increasingly throws its weight around in the region.
While there, the premier is slated to meet with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders. Advanced contacts have been held in recent days between the two leaders’ offices to arrange the visit.
No dates for the trip were given and no plans for a visit have been announced by Jerusalem or Beijing. The Prime Minister’s Office said it had “no comment at present” when contacted. The Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
Netanyahu is seeking some kind of assurance from Chinese, sort of an unwritten agreement on the similar lines as Russia with which Israel has strategic understanding involving Iran.
Israel does not want China or North Korea sell Nukes to Iran. It is Israel’s only and a prime concern because Israel is known as one bomb country.
But I think Iran should have nukes, this way there would be peace in the middle east. As it is, Israel has several (nukes) warheads of its own. Deterrence is the name of the game.
AC/DC – Highway to Hell – (REACTION!)🤟🏽🔥WE CAN’T BELIEVE IT WAS THEM THE WHOLE TIME‼️
Back in 1990, I was a Sales manager at a car dealership and was one of the winners of a sales contest for Sales Managers of all the dealers of that make in the Boston District. The bar was pretty low to win this contest and there was no big payoff for winning because I guess they just wanted to show some recognition and get the Sales Managers together to socialize, build communication, and cooperation between the dealerships which were located all over New England.
So we got to spend one night in a nice hotel in Boston, had a nice meal, and everyone received some recognition during the after dinner ceremonies.
But then came the after dinner fun. They gave us about two hours for a “Vegas Night”. Tables were set up just like in a casino: Blackjack tables, Roulette tables, and one Craps table.
The rules were they gave each of us $200 in chips that we could use to make bets. Whatever amount of chips that we had left at the end would be cashed in for real money.
Now, In the few years previous to that night, I had been to Las Vegas and Atlantic City a few times and found that Craps was my favorite game. I had played it enough and studied it enough that I was very familiar with the odds for every bet on the table and knew how to play the game.
So as soon as I got my $200, I headed for the craps table. Surprisingly, I was the only one who went to the Craps table.
And then, even more surprisingly, the person who was in charge of the tables came over and said to me and the dealers, “Just to make things simpler, we’ll pay out 2 to 1 on all the numbers bets.”
I don’t know why he said that. Maybe the dealers were inexperienced and he was trying to make it easier for them so they wouldn’t have to try to figure out the different odds for the different numbers, or maybe he figured that there was only one player at the table so not much damage could be done.
But as soon as he said that, I knew what he meant . . . and bells went off in my head . . . I knew immediately what I was going to do!
A Numbers bet is where you put a bet on one of the numbers: 4–5–6–8–9–10. You are betting that when the dice are rolled, they are going to add up to the number you bet on before they total 7. If the dice total 7, you lose. Different numbers normally pay different odds.
For instance, the 6 and the 8 have the best odds of coming up, but they normally pay the lowest odds because of that. Normally if you make a $6 bet on the 6 or 8, and you win, you would win $7.
What happened here was they changed the payout on that very same bet to $12. . . . Which drastically changed the odds in my favor. All I had to was make a pass line bet, roll the dice, then keep betting on the 6 and 8. The odds were in my favor!
What I didn’t do was say anything out loud. I didn’t want anyone rethinking that decision to change the odds.
So I started winning right away. But it didn’t look like much at first because I started with just $200. But as the money started coming in, I slowly raised my bets and the money started coming in faster.
After awhile, I was still the only player on the table when one of the other Sales Managers walked up and stood next to me at the table. I had previously talked to this guy a few times on the phone at work but didn’t really know him other than that. And then he decided to be chatty. He was started asking questions like, “Do you know how to play this game? I don’t know anything about it. Can you teach me how to play?”
Well, the last thing I needed right then was someone disturbing my concentration on the game. I knew that I only had a limited amount of time to take advantage of this unexpected loophole.
So I turned to him and said, “Listen, put your chips right up here and do exactly what I tell you to do. Don’t ask any questions. Just do it. I’ll explain it all to you later.”
He was kind of taken aback at that and I could see the confusion on his face while he was contemplating what I had just said . . . but then he said, “Okay”.
So I continued doing what I had been doing and started telling him where to place his bets, how much (how many chips) to bet, and what to say to the dealer when he placed a bet. He caught on pretty quick and followed my instructions very well, so I wasn’t slowed down too much, and he started getting more excited when he saw the money starting to roll in.
When the time was up, almost all of the players who played the other games were broke. They had lost their seed money. Very few players had any money left at all.
We were the big winners!
I won just over $3000 and my new best friend won just over $1500. Needless to say, he was ecstatic!
The funniest part was when other Sales Managers that he knew came over and asked him how he did it. His answer was, “I don’t know! All I did was do what he told me to do!”
It was a fun night!
I am so mad I haven’t heard this tribute until now: AC/DC – Back In Black (Official Video)
Back in 1920s, gangsters needed some way of showing their money came from legitimate sources. The solution was to invest into laundromats and show them as highly profitable enterprises. The bookeeping standards of the day made it quite easy to show 127 customers used their facilities in a single night, even though they only had 1 paying customer at the time. I will hazard a guess and say the term “money laundering” probably started as a joke.
The term stuck and now the process of showing illicit profits as coming from legitimate business is called “laundering money”.
I legitly cried😭| FIRST TIME HEARING LUCIANO PAVAROTTI – NESSUN DORMA REACTION
Watching these reactions, and reading the text really underlines THE MESSAGE.
Never (ever) touch someone’s laptop screen with your fingertip.
Never do this with someone’s book.
2023 06 28 11 45
Please use bookmarks. Please.
Never take too much interest in someone else’s life, mind your own business.
Never believe on these types of Instagram quotes, “People having extraordinary creativity tend to have less sleep at night.” You’ll have less capacity to learn, you need deep sleep for deep insights.
Inspiration isn’t imitation. Don’t be a sheep, just because someone else is doing it, doesn’t mean it works for you.
“Never deduce that attraction is love.”
Never do something stupid just to fulfill your desire, know difference between desire and dream.
Don’t speak bitter words when you are angry, regret is unbearable.
Don’t rush. Never. If you’re late for office or college, it will make difference of a few seconds at most. Your life is far more valuable.
WHAT A SHOW!! Mötley Crüe – Home Sweet Home REACTION
Here are a few psychological tricks that you may find interesting:
1. The Power of Mirroring: Mirroring someone’s body language, gestures, and tone of voice can create a sense of rapport and connection. It can make the other person feel more comfortable and receptive towards you.
2. The Contrast Principle: When presenting options, strategically place a less desirable option before the one you want the person to choose. By comparison, the preferred choice will appear more attractive.
3. The Zeigarnik Effect: This effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. If you want someone to remember something, provide incomplete information or leave a task unfinished.
4. The Foot-in-the-Door Technique: Start with a small request and once the person agrees, follow up with a larger request. People tend to be more likely to comply with the second request if they have already agreed to the first one.
5. The Anchoring Effect: When making a negotiation or presenting a price, start with a higher number to anchor the person’s perception. Subsequently, any lower numbers will appear more reasonable and favorable.
6. The Halo Effect: People tend to associate positive qualities with someone who possesses one admirable trait. For example, if a person is physically attractive, others may assume they are also intelligent or kind.
7. The Primacy and Recency Effect: People tend to remember the first and last items in a list more accurately than those in the middle. When giving a presentation or conveying important information, place key points at the beginning and end for better retention.
8. The Ben Franklin Effect: Ask someone for a small favor or advice. This can create a sense of investment and liking, as people tend to rationalize their actions by thinking they must like the person they helped.
9. The Scarcity Principle: Highlighting limited availability or scarcity of a product or opportunity can increase its perceived value and desirability. People tend to place higher importance on items that are rare or in short supply.
10. The Power of Framing: The way information is presented or framed can significantly influence perception and decision-making. Presenting the same information in a positive or negative light can elicit different responses.
Use these psychological tricks responsibly and ethically, focusing on building positive relationships and improving communication.
@ Dio “Don’t Talk To Strangers” REACTION & ANALYSIS by Vocal Coach / Opera Singer
“I can’t get enough Ronnie James Dio. I hereby further profess that he is my vocal crush, and we’re digging into your next highest requested song “Don’t Talk To Strangers.” This is by far one of my favorite songs of all time. Its message, the vocal runs and how flawlessly Dio brings out that emotion is insanely captivating. He is a god.”
At the height of the United States being a “Manufacturing Giant”, there were clusters of industrial centers scattered throughout America. This is a fact that most Americans know, but few others understand. The United States was NEVER a homogenized Manufacturing Colossus. Instead, it was a nation that contained “manufacturing areas”.
A “Manufacturing Area” had the following characteristics…
Easy access to raw materials (Rail, roads, and canal, or ports)
Uninterrupted supply of electricity.
Access to water (to cool the machinery)
As these “Manufacturing Areas” evolved, they developed…
A series of suppliers (small industries) that served the major factories.
Housing for the workers.
A network of outlying communities.
Over time, These “Manufacturing Areas” would come and go as technology advanced. For instance, one of the first “Manufacturing Areas” was the Blackstone Valley in Massachusetts. They were big on Buggy Whips, and Corset Hoops. The canals in the Blackstone Valley delivered the products to the ports up and down the New England coastline for distribution to the population centers.
For our purposes, we will omit Blackstone Valley, and instead concentrate in the most recent clusters of “Manufacturing Areas” in the United States. These clusters are all that remains of the industrial might that the United States once was. These clusters were active from the 1930’s through to the 1970’s, with some migratory egress lasting into the 1990’s to places such as “Silicon Valley” and “Industrial Parks” located in the Southeast states.
At that time, the United States had (perhaps) five major “Manufacturing Areas”, and around twenty or so smaller “Manufacturing Areas”. They are all gone now.
The video tours of these areas are very telling…
Video tour of Pine Bluff AR (Clothing Hub) found HERE
.Video tour of the supporting towns surrounding Pine Bluff found HERE.Video tour of Jackson, MS (Household and commercial goods) found HERE.Video tour of Gary, IN (Automobile, heavy Industry) found HERE.Video tour of Chester PA (General goods, minor industry) found HERE.Video tour of California in 2023 (Western migration of Industry) found HEREVideo tour of Shreveport, LA (Oil, and light manufacturing) found HEREVideo tour of Pennsylvania (Steel and hard Industry) found HEREVideo tour of Kenningston PA (steel and manufacturing) found HEREVideo tour of Pasadena CA (High Tech Hub) found HEREVideo Tour of Steubenville OH (steel, automotive, and household) found HERE
I can provide many other videos. You take a camera and film yourself driving through these “Manufacturing Areas”. There are many of them, and they all look the same. Zombie empty cities. Ruined buildings, decayed infrastructure, crime, drugs, and many, many abandoned shopping carts.
The very few remaining “Manufacturing Areas” in the United States are very well dispersed. They are in these stand alone mini-clusters called “Industrial Parks”. Most American Industrial Parks house from five to up to twenty companies, and typically consist of an office building and a warehouse. Of those that provide any kinds of manufacturing, they tend to be primarily final assembly stations with people who unpack 40′GP shipping containers, re-box foreign-made items, and slap a “Made in the USA” sticker on them.
For the United States to regain ANY kind of major manufacturing role, it must focus on the basics.
Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure.
laws and regulations that make it easy to create a supplier base to support manufacturing.
An educational system that encourages talented, and hard-working personnel.
A society that praises merit, fidelity, and an attention to detail.
I argue that of what remains in the United States today, the United States has a long, long way to go towards regaining it’s long lost industrial base. Do not be fooled by charts and figures that say otherwise. Anyone can lie and create bogus nonsensical charts and figures. Go outside yourself and look around.
American industry is dead.
What remains are either “soft industries” such as “Customer Service stations”, “Computer software coding centers”, or a handful of military and high-tech specialists. These types of industry are not providing “much needed” products and services to the United States domestic requirements.
Compared to China…
There is no comparison. China (which is large enough to house five complete United States inside of it) has over 2000 “Manufacturing Areas” supported by an amazing network of perhaps 10,000 smaller communities that provide first and second tier supply. All with everything needed to make, design, ship quality products globally.
So to answer the question; “Can American industry be revived to a point of serious competition against China?”
The answer is YES. But it will require a complete turnover of the American leadership class, a discarding of the American method of governance, a revamp of the American educational system, and a complete rebuilding of America’s infrastructure from the ground up. If the United States were to come to a full and complete screeching halt right now, and focus on this objective, you can see major changes in the “proper direction” with the next twenty years.
Otherwise, forget-about-it.
Ram Jam “Black Betty” Best of Reactions Compilation
Pennsylvania Dutch Brownies
Fudgy Brownies 2
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup light molasses
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan; set aside.
In a 4-quart saucepan, melt butter with chocolate over low heat. Remove saucepan from heat. With wire whisk or fork, stir in molasses, then eggs.
With spoon, stir in flour, ginger, cloves, baking soda, salt, 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon just until blended. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted 2 inches from edge comes out clean.
Meanwhile, in cup, combine remaining 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon; set aside.
Remove pan from oven; immediately sprinkle brownies with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Cool brownies in pan on wire rack at least 2 hours. When cool, cut brownies lengthwise into 3 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 5 pieces. Cut each piece diagonally in half.
Source: Good Housekeeping Christmas Joys – Hearst Books
@ A Masterpiece! Cranberries – Zombie
So many Africans have been “moved”by this song and video. I guess all the wars in Africa really strike home.
U.S./NATO HQ in Kramatorsk Reportedly “Hit” by Russian Missile(s) – Conflicting Claims and Blame
Late yesterday, June 27, 2023, reports began FLOODING out of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, that a Hotel/Restaurant had been brutally hit by “Russian” Missiles, and NUMEROUS American-English Speakers — and troops with American Flag patches — could be heard and seen in the aftermath.
Photos and video proved there was, in fact, a missile strike. Those photos and video also PROVED American troop-type people were hit, some injured, some killed.
Within an hour, Ukraine publicly claimed that innocent children and “American tourists” were the victims.
“Tourists?” In military uniforms?
In an area 30 or so miles from the active front lines that is being shelled almost daily now, after the loss of Bakhmut??
2023 06 28 21 34
Then, some damning pictures came out showing the remnants of a missile trail in the sky over the hotel, and worse, missile debris on the ground PROVING the missile was a British Storm Shadow missile. Russians don’t use those . . . .
This morning, the story has changed quite a bit – TWICE !
First there was a claim that the Ukraine Air Force “accidentally” targeted the hotel. Well, that might certainly be possible and would explain the Storm Shadow missile debris. It would also explain the extensive damage – it could, in fact, have been a Russian missile and then a Ukrainian missile by mistake.
But wait, the story changed yet again.
Word is out this morning that officials are “looking for the people who betrayed the secret meeting taking place, to the Russians.”
Secret meeting?
With Americans and other NATO troops, under arms and in military uniforms?
China has banned nothing in China and in the world.
Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Discord, WhatsApp, Whisper, and pretty much every single major US website refuse to follow the Chinese laws to operate their operations in China, thus they have not been approved by the Chinese laws for these businesses to operate in China.
It is the US who has blocked all the free international media and internet such as the free Russian international media and internet.
As a result, all Americans have been living in their totally isolated, completely censored and lying media. Americans know nothing about the free world, but the US style of democratic nonsense and disinformation.
In less than 24 hours Wagner have rolled back and left Russia
Prighozin is leaving for BELARUS
Wagner PMC soldiers who didn’t participate in the Mutiny get new MoD contracts
In 24 hours
No Moscow
No Civil War
So like i said ,
Putin was never Prighozins Target
He was BAITED into organizing a march on Russia
He was used by Putin into convincing all hardliners that Shoigu and Gerasimov be eased out and Putin not take the fallout politically
My guess is Surovikin will get overall command
Wagner is part of MoD
Prighozin is regarded traitor by all of Russia
Putin noted which Russians offered resistance and which Russians didn’t and MADE A LIST as a LOYALTY METER
And PUTIN SHOWED THE WEST HOW A POTENTIAL CIVIL WAR CAN BE CHANGED IN A MERE 24 hours
If this was the West, you would have the cities bombed by now
Man of the Hour — LUKASHENKA
main qimg 0c256f6ac7e9a059bc3dc0e41cb6ae65
APPLAUSE!!!!
Conveniently there to talk to Prighozin and end the situation
If you tell me the whe thing where Wagner invades , holds a city for 24 hours as people are still rushing to watch the latest movies and malls is logical
To others especially Indians who believed Putin would be deposed and Prighozin would be moving to Moscow
ITS WHY THOSE 200 YEARS HAPPENED (1757–1947)
Untold Truth: Rent-a-Girlfriend – A Popular Trend in China
Is it possible to rent a girl in China? How much will it cost? What is included in the services of a girl for rent? We will answer these and many other questions in as much detail as possible in this video! Renting girls in China for a long time is a fairly frequent service, why do the Chinese so often resort to renting girls? How much do these girls get, and what is included in the cost of their services? We have to answer these and many other questions in this video! Watch this video from the beginning to the very end to know everything about renting girls in China!
The wackiest thing in history has just unfolded.
12:50 AM EST
So, a few hours ago, I was pretty sure the Russian state was going to utterly collapse, and that the Ukraine would seize Russian territory.
It now appears, by some fantastic twist, that this is actually not going to happen.
I have zero idea how it is possible that Prigozhin had everything lined up to take control of Southern Command, and then was like “ah – nah, I guess I’ll just surrender.”
He could have just been drunk. But he had to have lined this all up with the FSB and the military, and that would have been a very big thing, to do that all in secret, and get that many powerful players on his side.
As of right now, he has stopped the push towards Moscow, and is possibly en route to Belarus.
Just out of nowhere, it was announced that Prigozhin agreed to talks with Lukashenko, President of Belarus, and then hours later it was announced that he was calling the whole thing off.
This is part of the statement from Belarus:
“Evgeny Prigozhin accepted the proposal of President Alexander Lukashenko to stop the movement of the armed men of Wagner in Russia and to take further steps to de-escalate tension.” It added that Prigozhin had been offered “an advantageous and acceptable option for resolving the situation, with security guarantees for the Wagner PMC fighters.”
This is still in flux, or whatever, and something could still go wrong, but that is where we are apparently at as of Sunday morning in Russia. Actually, that statement is 12 hours old, at time of writing, but nothing seems to have changed.
Wagner peacefully left the base in Rostov, surrendering control, with the troops going back to the territories of the former Ukraine and Prigozhin going wherever he is going. He should be executed, but I guess he can’t be if he made a deal. I think he will most likely end up dead in the next few months either way.
It really, really, really looked like this was going to turn into a full-on civil war, and the Ukraine war would collapse, and Russia would collapse as a country, breaking into different parts like the US wants it to.
I have no idea how Prigozhin was so competent to organize taking over Southern Command and then just giving up. Something must have went wrong.
The chaos now is over, the borders and airports are back online, the military seems to be totally off the streets in Moscow.
There are going to have to be purges of the FSB and whoever else sided with Prigozhin.
The people who said the whole thing was a staged event are going to claim victory. I don’t really understand what the purpose of faking this would be, but the way it collapsed, and the way none of it made any sense, will allow those theorists to say “see, this was the plan all along!”
How this will affect Russia and the war effort in the longer run, I do not know. I think there should be an increased desire to escalate, and Putin is definitely not going to want to look weak after all of this, so he will probably back a move toward “total war” or as I like to call it “Blitzkrieg.”
Yesterday, I said that Putin’s legitimacy would be gone if it wasn’t solved in 12 hours, and 8 hours after I said that, it was solved. So I do not think he’s lost legitimacy. It looks bad, but not so bad he’d need to resign.
I do think the fact that so many people would back Prigozhin in his insane plan shows that there is a very real desire for Putin to get more aggressive in the Ukraine, and that has to be taken into account.
But wow.
This went from being the worst thing ever to the most confusing thing I’ve seen in my life.
I bought an old farm with a barn. The roof of the barn was sagging and the walls were bulging out. I contacted a local contractor to fix it. He was known as the best in the business. He studied it for a while and made the following offer:
“We’ll jack up the entire barn and then reinforce the walls and install some pulleys to draw in the walls and then we can put in support beams from the roof apex down to the ground and then slowly over a week or two, lower the barn back onto the new beams. This will give the roof time to adjust and bend back in shape. It will cost about $50,000.”
I listened and then said:
“What if we pin the walls to the roof joists and then put in beams and screw-jacks along the roof centerline and jack up the roof slowly over time? The rising roof will draw in the sides. Then we can replace the screw jacks with 10×10 beams”. How much would that cost?
The contractor thought about it and said: “Yeah, that would work, too. It’d cost about $3000.”
I think it would be an excellent sign of good character if you can just take a step back and acknowledge that the entirety of what you know about “Chinese food” is either based entirely on the “Chinese food” in your country that has been adapted, sometimes quite extensively – to the point that it is no longer seen as Chinese food in the eyes of Chinese – to suit the tastebuds of the people in your country, OR just a tiny speck on the tiny tip of a Titan-sized iceberg.
I mean, I’ve been eating Chinese food since I’ve been a kid, and yet, I dare not say I know any more than 1% of all the dishes from all the various Chinese cuisines. Sometimes, a friend will mention this or that dish from their hometown, and I would be like “what is that? Never heard of it before…” and it just leaves me with the impression that I will never be able to sample every Chinese dish out there in this lifetime – it would be too tall of an order for one lifetime. Give me two or three lifetimes, then I might be able to give it a shot.
Things like “Chinese like to eat this and this for breakfast” or “Chinese like to eat more vegetables than meat” or “Chinese are very obsessed with meat” don’t hold up well when you’re speaking of 1.5 billion people – just like it wouldn’t work if you say all Americans love eating donuts or Girl Scout cookies. See: countless arguments on Chinese social media whether “savory” or “sweet” tofu pudding is better, or whether glutinous rice dumplings should be “sweet” or “savory”.
There are Chinese who don’t like to eat rice and who don’t even own a rice cooker. There are Chinese who won’t even touch savory tofu pudding if you paid them to eat it. There are Chinese who don’t like eating green leafy vegetables.
Generalizations break down very quickly when they encounter reality.
IMHO, the much better attitude to adopt is:
Every cuisine has dishes that have carbs. If you don’t want to eat carbs, don’t order dishes that have carbs. Don’t cook dishes that have carbs. Don’t eat dishes that have carbs. Order, cook, eat all the other dishes that dont have carbs.
I mean, let us imagine if the assumption in the question is true, that Chinese food is indeed “high in carbs”.
If that were indeed true, then Chinese folks who suffer from diabetes would …. what?
Starve?
Or go “I have diabetes now. I think I should change to a Western diet. Let my new Western diet begin. This will mark a new beginning for me. Ho ho ho.”
I know quite a few Chinese peeps with diabetes. They have neither starved to death, nor changed to a Western-style diet.
To round off this answer, I’ll provide some pictures of home-cooked Chinese meals. Everything that has carbs, I’ll cross off in red. By doing this, you’ll see that you still have a lot of other dishes to enjoy.
There’s some tofu in the various dishes, usually paired with meat. As far as I’m aware, tofu does have a bit of carbs, but it’s generally viewed as a low carb food.
Here’s the lunch my cousin and I prepared two days ago. Don’t eat the rice. Don’t eat the dish on the top left, because it has julienned potato strips in it. I’m not sure whether North Americans or Europeans eat potatoes, but potatoes do have carbs, so that’s why I’ve crossed this dish off.
main qimg 754777b2c139d4656b9be2ae06dd960b lq
Don’t eat the rice. There are a few small fermented black beans in the meat+veg dish on the right, but hopefully that still counts as low carb.
main qimg 652dee46cdb9bea803193848c7f09d7d lq
Don’t eat the rice.
main qimg f6c5dfa697b99d5f3840a5c573ef310b lq
Don’t eat the julienned potato strips. Don’t eat the peanuts.
main qimg 5b7489c4c2f8e63893f34f869c1dc0a3 lq
Don’t eat the noodles. Don’t eat the glutinous rice. Don’t eat the fruits. Don’t eat the snow fungus dessert and cake.
main qimg 5dc7248c31d6d0610abff944a5a35282 lq
You’re good to go.
main qimg 130e4dcd56887bd9e670231b898ae101 lq
You’re good to go. You can avoid the soy sauce dips easily enough.
main qimg 6517d614cdd04a9c596adbd165f29771 lq
You’re good to go.
main qimg 085506ef6185027486084470bfa16f15 lq
Conclusion:
Just like in any cuisine, when it comes to the various Chinese cuisines, if you don’t want to eat carbs, then order, cook, eat those dishes that do not have carbs.
From my experience the above is the best way to avoid carbs for people who are looking to avoid carbs.
Advice From Cats On How To Survive The Holidays
1 74
The holidays can be quite stressful—between buying gifts, coping with family, attending various functions, and realizing that mixing Jagermeister and egg nog together to make “Jag Nog” was a bad idea, it can get a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, the felines behind You Need More Sleep: Advice from Cats are here to give you all the tips you need to enjoy a joyful, peaceful, and—most importantly—restful season.
Tanks, depleted uranium shells, long-range missiles, F16s: hardly a week goes by without some news of how Britain is upping the ante again.
main qimg c856f8b2705fd9342566e6c0dae7042c
The deeper the economic crisis bites, the more desperately the ruling class is throwing everything it can into military confrontation. Only through victory in war will it stand a chance of keeping its failing system alive for another generation. The world’s masses owe it to their children to make sure that such a victory is never achieved.
By Proletarian writers from the Communists (dot) org
The recent announcement that Rishi Sunak’s government would be providing first depleted uranium shells to Ukraine and then Storm Shadow long-range missiles represent two of the latest of examples of the British government’s consistent and active efforts to escalate the war in Ukraine . It is doing so with zero concern for the lives of British workers and even less for those of Ukrainians.
Reckless and criminal escalation
This was demonstrated very clearly when the Ukrainian military stored the aforementioned depleted uranium shells in a large ammunition depot near the town of Khmelnitsky. When Russian armed forces blew up this arms store, a cloud of radiation was dispersed across the town, posing both immediate and long-term health risks to everyone resident or present in the area.
Not for nothing did the Russian foreign ministry warn the Sunak government not to provide such weapons to its Ukrainian proxies. Russian armed forces are not using such weapons in Ukraine themselves, knowing well the health risks they pose.
Russia had previously warned very strongly against the use of such weapons: “If Kiev is supplied with such shells for Nato heavy military equipment, we will consider this as the use of dirty nuclear bombs against Russia with all the ensuing consequences,” a statement said. (Russia warns Britain against supplying Ukraine with depleted uranium shells , Donbass Insider, 22 March 2022)
The cancer epidemics in parts of Serbia and Iraq following Nato’s widespread use of depleted uranium munitions there are just two of the many war crimes perpetrated by British and US forces in their wars of plunder that are carefully ignored by British and US establishment politicians, journalists, lawyers and scientists.
How far across Ukraine and neighbouring countries this radiation and its effects might spread is at this time unknown. Nor can we yet know how Ukraine’s food exports will be affected. In all likelihood, no meaningful effort will be made to find out by our self-identifying ‘defenders of human rights’.
Sanctions war has failed
These latest reckless escalations by British imperialism come hard on the heels of bitter admissions carried in the Spectator and the Telegraph that the “shock and awe” sanctions war that was supposed to “reduce the rouble to rubble”, in the words of US president Joe Biden , has been an abject failure. The aggressive western wagers of this economic war had confidently expected to bring about the collapse of the Russian economy, triggering either a mass uprising by a hungry and unemployed populace or some other political crisis that could result in the long dreamt-of regime change in Moscow.
But, owing to the preparations the Russian government has been making since 2014, the severity of the sanctions regime has been mitigated both by increased state intervention in the Russian economy and by redirecting the country’s trade flows eastwards – in particular to China, Iran and India. The workers and economies that are being destroyed by the sanctions are not those of Russia but of the west, most specifically those of the European Union and Britain, where residents and industry alike have been suddenly cut off from the cheap and reliable flow of Russian oil and gas on which they have depended for decades.
Now, having failed to defeat the Russians either economically or militarily, the imperialists are getting desperate.
The aim of the war in Ukraine, from the perspective of US imperialism, is to destabilise Russia itself and, ultimately, to secure regime change (ie, the installation of a client regime in place of an independent one) and, ideally, the fragmentation of the country. This is all in order that the USA and its junior partners in Europe can seize full, unrestricted control of Russia’s immense natural resources.
With the global overproduction crisis deepening every day, the contradictions of the imperialist economic system are becoming ever more apparent. US imperialism, mired in a mountain of bad debt , has reached the point where it is not only seeing long-term stagnation at home but is also losing control over markets overseas that it has long sought to dominate by means of its economic, technological and military might.
Meanwhile, African nations are increasingly trading with China and turning to Russia for energy and security partnerships, thus further deepening the contradictions faced by US imperialism and forcing it down the road of trying to remove both the Putin-led government in Moscow and the Communist party (CPC) in China. The removal of these two rival centres of power, which are working increasingly closely together, is necessary for US imperialism if it is going to succeed in ‘solving’ its crisis via the ruination of its opponents and the destruction of the opportunities for independent development that they are offering to the oppressed countries via Brics, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO ) etc.
Decline and decay of British imperialism
British imperialism, likewise mired in crisis and tied hand and foot to the US imperialist bandwagon, is equally desperate for these plans to be brought to fruition, hence its reckless escalation of the war in Ukraine by supplying long-range missiles and depleted uranium munitions. The British ruling class has played a subservient role to US imperialism since at least 1956, when it failed to win its war to bring down Abdul Nasser’s anti-imperialist pan-Arabist Egypt .
The decay of British imperialism actually has its origins ever earlier than this. In fact, even at the highest point of the development of British capitalism, the seeds of its own terminal crisis had already been sown. As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels pointed out in Capital Volume 2, there is a tendency inherent within the system for capitalists not only to maximise profitability at all costs but to actually cut out commodity production altogether if they possibly can.
“The process of production appears merely as an unavoidable intermediate link, as a necessary evil for the sake of money-making. All nations with a capitalist mode of production are therefore seized periodically by a feverish attempt to make money without the intervention of the process of production.” (Chapter 1 , 1885)
Marx identified a tendency that would be explored and fleshed out by VI Lenin in his work Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism. Written in 1916, at the height of the first world war , Lenin’s examination of the development of imperialism included an analysis of the ongoing deindustrialisation of Britain. He showed how the development of imperialism was linked to the declining profitability of commodity production for the home market in Britain in the latter part of the 19th century.
At this point, British capitalists were able to realise far greater profits by exporting their capital to the colonised nations, where resources and land were cheaper and where labour could be exploited in a far more profitable fashion (ie, with even greater brutality). This brought the British ruling class into conflict with other imperialist powers, mainly the newly unified Germany. The competition for markets, resources and hyper-exploitable sources of labour led (ultimately) to the mass slaughter of World War 1.
As a result of the war, however, the British ruling class was much weakened, and it ultimately failed to restore its position as the overwhelmingly dominant power in the world, partly because it had heavily indebted itself to the rising power of US imperialism during the course of the war.
It was only after World War 2 though that the crisis of British imperialism was fully realised. Britain began to lose control of its colonial possessions (starting with India) and faced the reality of having to depend upon US imperialism for economic and military support both for reconstruction at home and for exploitation of the oppressed nations abroad.
A faction within the British ruling class tried to resist this subordination to the USA, but it was decisively defeated in 1956, partly due to the anti-imperialist struggles of the Egyptians and also because the US ruling class would not tolerate what it regarded as its British junior partner operating without its consent. Following the Suez debacle, the British ruling class realised it had little choice but to fall in line behind the USA if it wished to continue to operate in the markets it still dominated abroad, even after being forced to give up direct control of most of its empire.
In order to maintain their profits, Britain’s financiers need to be able to move capital anywhere in the world. They require all barriers to this to be knocked down, and, since WW2, the USA is the only imperialist country with the global economic and military power to be able to do this. The state of British imperialism is one of profound and multiple crises: it has undergone a longer decay and is much more vulnerable than the USA is.
The fortunes of the imperialist powers ultimately rest on convincing the oppressed and developing nations of the world that they have to accept the terms dictated by countries like Britain if they want to escape being put under an economic siege or subjected to military attack.
Anti-imperialist bloc cutting the ground from beneath the imperialists’ feet
Today, the economic fortunes of British imperialism are entirely tied to US economic and military power. The British ruling class has been cutting its own armed forces down for many years now, so it depends ever more heavily upon the USA to facilitate the ability of British finance capital to keep on plundering the world.
The British state may spend a large amount of defence, but it does not maintain the kind of forces that would be capable of taking on the Russian or Chinese armies for more than a few days. What Britain’s armed forces have specialised in since their failure in the Iraq war is in waging wars by proxy, training and directing jihadists in Libya, mercenaries in Yemen and fascists in Ukraine to do the heavy lifting while they remain in the shadows – advising, directing and facilitating.
If Nato’s fascistic Banderite forces in Ukraine lose their war with the Russian Federation, which they show every sign of doing in the near future, this will be a defeat for US imperialism of an even greater magnitude than its humiliating retreat from Afghanistan in 2021. Many nations that are currently dominated by British and US imperialism will see the defeat of the Nato-aligned forces in Ukraine as being a clear sign that the US-led imperialist bloc has been fatally weakened.
This in turn will undermine British imperialism’s ability to continue to exploit countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia . If US imperialism decays or collapses entirely, the British ruling class will be fatally weakened as well, not only in terms of the markets and resources it seeks to control overseas, but also in its ability to contain the class contradictions within Britain society itself.
This is why the British ruling class is desperate to secure the destruction of the Russian and Chinese governments. Because British imperialism needs to ransack huge areas of the world if it is to try and resolve the deep crisis in which it is enmeshed, and the anti-imperialist governments of Russia and China are standing in the way of that goal.
That is how we must understand Sunak’s declaration at the recent G7 meeting in Hiroshima that China is “the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity”.
Of course, Sunak was referring solely to the ‘security and prosperity’ of the class he represents – the class of billionaire owners of capital. All that will come to the majority of the world’s workers from the strengthening of our exploiters is the prolongation of the existence of the system that keeps them immiserated, condemned for another generation and more to the miseries of unemployment, poverty , crisis and war.
Those of us who oppose British capitalism at home must learn this lesson: that there can be no victory over capitalism at home without also destroying British imperialism’s ability to loot abroad. Only with the departure of this parasitic system can the British working class advance in solidarity with the workers of the world to a bright and fulfilling future.
The Poverty In Mississippi Is Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Seen
Shaker Strawberry Summer Pudding
British Berry Summer Pudding 13 735×491 1
Ingredients
1/2 loaf white bread, sliced
1 quart ripe strawberries
3/4 to 1 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the berries)
Instructions
Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil or wax paper.
Remove the crust from the bread.
Mash and sweeten strawberries.
Place the bread slices slices on the bottom of the prepared pan.
Spoon strawberries over the bread and alternate berries and bread until pan is filled. Cover with wax paper slightly smaller than the pan. Chill at least 8 hours or overnight.
To serve, invert on a platter. Top with whipped cream. Scatter fresh berries on top and around edge.
Pay it forward
Waiting in line to pay for groceries while maintaining a 6ft distance, this man cut in line. He didn’t appear to notice what he’d done.
main qimg fb59a2a167cf95b61b1da663e4e5c6e9
The person he skipped didn’t say anything, just maintained the proper distance.
When it was time for the man to pay he reached in his back pocket and pulled out a small note pad. He’d forgotten his wallet.
He looked a bit disappointed and embarrassed. The person he skipped stepped up and told the cashier they’d take care of his groceries. (Which only consisted of Milk and Chocolate Chip Cookies.)
He was more than grateful. He kindly thanked them and off the man went.
Upon arrival to the register, the cashier asked: “He cut you off and you paid for his groceries.. Why??”
“They calmly replied with a smile: “I hope that if one day my Dad forgets his wallet, someone will step up and buy his Milk and Cookies”
With all the negativity going on in the world..I thought it would be nice to share this moment.
A little kindness goes a long way. Why not pay it forward?
Shaker Spoon Bread
Spoonbread 32391 small
Ingredients
1 cup cornmeal
1 quart (4 cups) sweet milk
3 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons butter
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
Scald milk and add cornmeal gradually. Cook until thick.
Pour small amount over beaten egg yolks. Return to heat and cook a few minutes longer.
Add butter and fold in beaten egg whites.
Add baking powder and salt.
Pour into greased baking dish and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours, stirring once after the first 15 minutes of baking.
In the 1930s, a full decade or more before the advent of fast food, George Orwell put his finger on this problem. His book The Road to Wigan Pier chronicled the lives of the poor and unemployed in Northern England’s distressed mining regions. Orwell described their insufficient diet and brilliantly explicated the psychology underlying the poor’s consumption patterns:
The basis of [the poor’s] diet, therefore, is white bread and margarine, corned beef, sugared tea, and potatoes—an appalling diet. Would it not be better if they spent more money on wholesome things like oranges and wholemeal bread or if they even, like the writer of the letter to the New Statesman, saved on fuel and ate their carrots raw? Yes, it would, but the point is that no ordinary human being is ever going to do such a thing. The ordinary human being would sooner starve than live on brown bread and raw carrots. And the peculiar evil is this, that the less money you have, the less inclined you feel to spend it on wholesome food. A millionaire may enjoy breakfasting off orange juice and Ryvita biscuits; an unemployed man doesn’t. Here the tendency of which I spoke at the end of the last chapter comes into play. When you are unemployed, which is to say when you are underfed, harassed, bored, and miserable, you don’t want to eat dull wholesome food. You want something a little bit ‘tasty’. There is always some cheaply pleasant thing to tempt you. Let’s have three [penny’s worth] of chips! Run out and buy us a twopenny ice-cream! Put the kettle on and we’ll all have a nice cup of tea! That is how your mind works when you are at the P.A.C. [public assistance] level. White bread-and-marg and sugared tea don’t nourish you to any extent, but they are nicer (at least most people think so) than brown bread-and-dripping and cold water. Unemployment is an endless misery that has got to be constantly palliated, and especially with tea, the Englishman’s opium. A cup of tea or even an aspirin is much better as a temporary stimulant than a crust of brown bread.
A “Karen” is a woman (naturally), white (always), middle-aged (30–55), attractive solely because of her hair, makeup and clothing, blonde (usually), and middle-class or higher. As a customer or citizen, she is demanding, entitled, privileged and impossible to satisfy in any reasonable manner.
Karen wants you to take her expired coupon and, when you won’t, she wants to speak to your supervisor. Karen calls the city to ask them to stop road work in her area from noon to 5 p.m. so her child can have a nap, then calls her city councilor when her request is refused.
It’s use was popularized by African-Americans on Twitter in 2018.
African Americans have had slang terms for such an individual since before the American Civil War, including “Miss Ann”, “Becky”, “Barbecue Becky”, “Cornerstone Caroline” and “Permit Patty”. “Karen” is the type of person who would call the cops on kids running a lemonade stand without a permit.
The first use of “Karen” as a pejorative refers to an ad for the Nintendo Switch from 2016 where the woman on the right was referred to as “antisocial Karen”. Unlike the typical stereotype, she’s a brunette.
main qimg dfe0709f5b4152ea823433cda5b983da
Before the breakout on Twitter, “Karen” was the subject of many memes on Reddit in 2017.
Naturally, white people co-opted the term. The UK paper The Guardian, noting the rash of women calling the police on black people engaged in perfectly legal behaviors like barbecuing in a public park or pointing out that Central Park has a leash requirement for dogs, dubbed 2020 “The Year of Karen”.
Psychologists say the stereotype is the result of a pattern of “weaponizing victimhood” where a group of people who have suffered social discrimination in the past don’t just ask for empathy with their plight but instead use it to claim rights over and above everyone else, including both present and past victims of similar discrimination. Karens are hardly the only group that do this.
Why Africa is angry at the “West”
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSLBRxQov/
Train derails into Yellowstone River sparking fears of hazardous spill
Montana residents have been warned to conserve water after a freight train potentially carrying hazardous materials collapsed into the Yellowstone River.
A large emergency response has been seen in the area, amid concerns of a toxic spill after the bridge collapsed early on Saturday morning.
It was initially feared oil or petroleum was contained in the cargo train, but the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office said it was later determined they contained asphalt and ‘a second substance that officials are working to confirm’.
Water treatment facilities throughout the area have introduced emergency measures due to the crisis. Despite warnings to conserve water, officials said there is currently no threat to life in the area.
A statement re-posted by the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Department on social media confirmed no injuries have been reported in the incident.
‘A total of 8 rail cars are involved and in a great stroke of luck, none contained oil,’ the post said.
‘The cars contained asphalt and a second substance that officials are working to confirm. Both of the substances are described as “slow moving” and have not gone much past the initial scene.
‘The public is asked to stay away from the (scene) to prevent congestion.’
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department also warned locals to avoid water from certain parts of the river.
‘From Indian Point to Buffalo Mirage, avoid water due to possible contact with contaminants,’ the department tweeted.
A multi-agency effort was on the scene Saturday, including Stillwater County Emergency Services, the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office and Columbus Fire & Rescue.
Water treatment facilities in Laurel, Billings and Lockwood shut down their headgates in response to the potentially toxic spill.
The Yellowstone County Disaster and Emergency Services department said irrigation canal companies are also implementing protective measures.
According to the Billings Gazette, the train fell into the water after a bridge it was crossing collapsed under the weight of the carriages.
The outlet claimed the bridge had recently been battered by high water levels as a result of storms in the south-central Montana area.
The potential toxic spill comes months after a similar incident in East Palestine, Ohio, sparked mass evacuations when hazardous chemicals leaked from another train derailment.
Locals reported side effects including eye and throat irritation, and some even claimed pets had died due top the toxic fumes. The chemicals on board the Ohio derailment were not the same as those from Saturday’s incident in Montana.
Putin just dropped a BOMBSHELL & outplayed the Western coup | Redacted w Clayton Morris
The Pleistocene epoch is a geologic epoch which began around 2.6 Mya (Million years ago) and came to an end around 11,700 BP (Before Present). It is characterized by lower sea levels than the present epoch and colder temperatures. During much of the Pleistocene, Europe, North America, and Siberia were covered by extensive ice sheets and glaciers. The Pleistocene was an important time because it was when the human genus first evolved.
The flora and fauna today also more or less reached their current form during the Pleistocene. Most Pleistocene animals and Pleistocene plants also exist in the Holocene. Furthermore, the Pleistocene epoch was the last geological epoch in which humans had relatively little impact.
2023 06 26 11 22
Pleistocene Geology and Climate
The Pleistocene glaciations are among the defining geologic events of the Pleistocene. Much of North America was covered by the Laurentide ice sheet and northern Europe and Siberia were covered by the Eurasian Ice Sheet Complex. The size of the ice sheets resulted in lower sea levels and dryer climates. Britain was a peninsula and the Indonesian islands were connected to the Southeast Asian mainland, for example. There were also glaciers on Mauna Kea of the Hawaiian Islands.
While parts of the world were dryer – such as central Europe, which was mostly covered in tundra, other parts of the world were wetter and greener. The American southwest, for example, contained grassland with numerous lakes. The Sahara Desert was also covered in savannah grassland for many parts of the Pleistocene. Parts of the north-eastern Arabian Peninsula were the site of an enormous oasis. It is even possible that this ancient, wetter environment may have helped inspire stories like the Garden of Eden or have been the original Garden of Eden itself.
Pleistocene Animals
Many of the animals common today were also common in the Pleistocene. Deer, big cats, apes, elephants, and bears could all be found in a Pleistocene landscape. There were also animals that were common which have since gone extinct, such as mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths , and pre-human hominins .
Europe and Asia had significant populations of African fauna. Cave paintings and paleontological finds in Europe reveal that rhinoceroses, lions, and hyenas were all common at that time in southern Europe. The island of Sicily was also inhabited by a dwarf elephant species until surprisingly recent times. Northern Europe was covered in glaciers and inhospitable, while central Europe was tundra. Southern Europe, however, contained forests and was inhabited by numerous species of megafauna, most of which have since died out.
Lions were also much more common in Asia, as were rhinoceroses and elephants. There were even rhinoceroses living on the islands of the Philippines. Apes were also more common. Until about 300,000 BP, Gigantopithecus, possibly the largest ape ever to live, flourished in Asia.
2023 06 26 11 23
Pleistocene North America is known for its impressive megafauna populations. The more well-known are the woolly mammoths and mastodons. North America was also inhabited by American lions, North American llamas, and giant ground sloths, all of which are extinct today.
The continent of Australia has been separated from Eurasia since the Mesozoic. As a result, Australia has very unusual vegetation and wildlife. Pleistocene Australia was no different. Australia was inhabited by extraordinary creatures such as kangaroos the size of a rhinoceros and other giant marsupial mammals. There were also numerous giant flightless birds such as moas in New Zealand, rheas in South America, and ostriches in Africa and Asia that had to compete with large mammals.
2023 06 26 11 24
Pleistocene Humans
Another important development on the Pleistocene timeline was the emergence of the human genus: Homo. Humans probably evolved out of bipedal apes, such as the Australopithecines and Ardipithecus Ramidus . These early bipedal apes are classified as hominins. Hominins first evolved near the end of the Miocene epoch (25-5 Mya) in south and east Africa. Other than their upright posture and bipedalism, these hominins were not significantly more human than previous apes.
Their skeletons indicate that they resembled modern apes such as chimpanzees and their use of tools was limited or absent. At the beginning of the Pleistocene, however, a new type of hominin appeared. These hominins were taller, more dependent on upright locomotion, and had larger brains, which allowed them to excel in tool use over any previous hominin. These hominins belong to the genus Homo and hominins in this genus are simply called humans.
The earliest human species was Homo Habilis . The first examples of this species appeared about 2.3 million years ago. They used simple flake tools which were made by taking rocks and striking sharp flakes off other rocks – which could be used as cutting tools. Homo Habilis was more technologically inclined than its hominin predecessors, but it was still closer to earlier and more ape-like hominins than modern humans.
2023 06 26 11 25
The next earliest human species is Homo Erectus . The first H. Erectus evolved around 2 million years ago and the last of them did not die out until sometime within the last 100,000 years. Archaeological and paleontological evidence suggest that they may have been the first humans to use culture as a wholesale approach to adapt to their environment. They were more advanced tool users and were also much taller than previous hominins, about six feet (1.83 meters) tall. They were also the first humans to leave Africa. By 1 million years ago, H. Erectus had spread to both Europe and Asia, bringing humans for the first time to these regions.
The earliest humans were universally hunter-gatherers. Their use of technology to interact with their environment made them very adaptative – so that humans eventually found their way into every possible environment on the planet: forests, grasslands, deserts, even tundra.
2023 06 26 11 2t5
Megafauna Extinctions in the Pleistocene: Accelerated by Humans?
For most of the Pleistocene, humans did not significantly impact their environment. There were no more than a few hundred thousand individuals at a given time and their ability to transform the landscape was limited by primitive technology and limited social organization.
This all changed with the emergence of Homo Sapiens (modern humans) in Africa and Homo Neandertalensis (Neanderthals) in Europe. Anatomically modern humans first evolved in Africa around 200,000-300,000 BP. After the emergence of anatomically modern humans, something happened, perhaps a rewiring of the human brain , that led to the emergence of modern behaviors like art, blade production, long distance trade, and more efficient, organized hunting, among other abilities.
This change in behavior caused humans to have a significantly larger influence on their environment than in previous times. This can be seen in the fate of most megafauna, especially in the New World. Megafauna extinctions occurred around 40,000-50,000 years ago in Australia and around 13,000 years ago in North America. Both occurred shortly after the appearance of humans on these continents.
2023 06 26 11 26
It has been suggested that the reason for the worldwide extinction of megafauna at that time was overhunting by humans combined with climate change. The climate was constantly changing during the Pleistocene and the megafauna survived these changes. When humans were introduced into the environment, however, these same megafauna populations died out not long afterwards. It is possible that the addition of a powerful predator, like humanity, may have added an extra factor that was just too much for the megafauna to handle while also adapting to climate change, leading to their extinction.
The Human Age: Life after the Pleistocene
As humans become more technologically advanced and more adept at manipulating their environment, they continue to influence it more and more. How much longer human civilization will last is uncertain, but one thing that is known is that humans are likely to leave a mark on this planet which will last for ages to come and it all started in the Pleistocene.
"To long winded, I find myself scolling fast and deleting"
Short attention span. Likes bright colors.
We’ve all been there.
In our youth.
…
Today, we open with this video from REDACTED…
NATO and U.S. issue red alert against China and Putin
It’s a slow-motion train wreck. The kind where you are sitting there and watch yourself get disemboweled in slow-mo.
Jesus.
H.
Christ.
Sorry about the middle of the segment commercial, but someone has to pay his bills. Aside from that it’s a great video.
Russia and China ganging up against the USA at the UN…
Russia AND China Demand UN Investigation Into Nord Stream Bombing
The USA bombed Russian Energy pipeline. That is an act of war.
If you are not convinced, then check this out here…
China condemns ‘US hegemony’, war crimes, CIA coups, 400 foreign interventions
It’s called “information warfare”.
China will have no choice but to engage with the US in a hostile way, this is like a final warning to the US that China will NO longer put up with all its obnoxious and rogue behaviour anymore, also make it clear China firmly stands against US/Western imperialist hegemony.
Now, let’s look at some things that you’ll never read about in Western “news”…
China’s Submarines: A Deadly Threat in 30 Seconds
https://youtu.be/s0wXq6GiOgQ
AH, but the United States has it’s own submarines, don’t you know, and they are “stealthy”.
That’s the narrative, but sure as shit, China has decloaked them. Now they run into mountains, and need an entire fleet to pick up a scrap F-22 from the ocean floor. Don’t you know.
I have a video… somewhere… showing one of these Chinese boomers launching all of it’s missiles in under 30 seconds. This is amazing. I have NEVER seen or heard of a US submarine doing this.
Anyways…
It’s not just submarines…
China’s Top Secret Space Plane: Leaving NASA Technology in the Dust
Something you never hear about.
https://youtu.be/mE2d04t7_Es
Which is pretty cool. And how would it be used? Well…
Check this out…
Discovering China’s City-Sized Space Station on the Moon
Every country is welcome to the moon vase that China is going to build, except one specific country.
https://youtu.be/9ptB3BSOblE
But that’s not all.
Then there’s Mars.
China’s Mars Mission: A Look Into The History-Making Technology
Something you never hear about.
https://youtu.be/rw6lD1VURG0
So…
Which nation is looking towards the future? And which country is just playing the same old 19th century squabbling over resources?
Ok, so what is going on inside of the United States?
OH SH*T, Now they can’t even sell their homes in Ohio
Fiasco! OMG!
Remember…meanwhile in China.
China’s New Super Technology: America Offers $50 Billion
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.
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s38
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s37
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s36
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s35
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s31
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s30
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s29
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s28
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s26
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s25
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s24
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s23
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s22
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s21
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s20
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s19
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s18
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s14
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s12
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s8
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s6
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s5
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s4
Hilarious side of Victorian era life 1890s2
The All New Baby Safety Seat. Never Leave Your Kid Inside A Hot Car While You Shop Again. Late 1950s, Early 1960s
63be8adb0f76b ak6hpowiyvh91 700
East Texas Buttermilk Pie
buttermilk pie2
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”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
1 63 1
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.
2 52
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.
55 2
54 2
53 2
52 1 1
51 1 1
50 1 1
49 1 1
48 1 1
47 1 1
46 1 1
45 1 2
44 1 1
43 1 1
42 2
41 2
40 2 1
39 2 1
38 2 1
37 2
36 2
35 2
34 2
33 4
32 4 1
31 4 1
30 5 1
29 8
27 8 1
26 8 2
25 9
24 9 1
23 9
22 9
21 11 1
20 11 1
19 12
18 14
17 14
16 18
@15 20
14 23 1
13 23 1
12 29
11 31
10 33
9 32
8 36
7 39
6 42
5 43
4 47
3 51
Secret revealed
63be9214e2cf0 ifonku7dl9z21 700
Spooky strange
103410713 2961405230644044 3070169743646097525 n 63bfe36b13c8c 700
“Retired Military Had Motorcycle Crash, Has Vision of Imminent Transformations in the World” [ NDE ]
Yikes!
63be92f09620e uqv4yerp97301 700
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!
2023 01 21 09 54
Recently discovered?
2023 01 21 09 58
A Starfish Waking Back To The Water
2 63bfe04ddbef1 700
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.
chef eddie smoky chili
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
63be8a890cd7b Qppbq 700
This is “Wow Cool”!
I imagine the plumage must have been impressive.
2023 01 21 10 03
Cool Pics That Show How People Enjoyed Parties In The 1970s
0 8 1
Here below is a photo collection that shows how people enjoyed parties from the 1970s.
32 3
31 3
30 d5
29 5 2
28 5 1
27 5
26 5
25 5
24 5
23 5
22 5
21 5
20 5
19 5
18 5
17 5
16 5
15 5
14 5
13 7 1
12 8
11 10
10 10
9 10 1
8 13
7 14
6 15
5 16
4 16
3 16
2 16
1 17
WFLD Channel 32 – Lost in Space – “Blast Off Into Space” (Complete Broadcast, 4/16/1980)
This Will Haunt My Dreams
63be94d7dcb9c 5q14jalhj0f21 700
We Are Witnessing An Enormous Wave Of Bankruptcies And Layoffs During The Early Stages Of 2023
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.
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…
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.
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.
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
2023 01 21 10 00
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!!!
Stay tuned. All of the subjects mentioned in the title has already been covered within the messy slush-file of MM articles. All intentionally buried within a safe coverage of delicious food, cats, music, and stories of the human condition. Impossible for computer algorithms and troll agents to root out and locate. It’s the MM way, don’t you know. What subjects?
Nordstream pipeline detonations
The Pentagon using the Musk satellites to ram the Chinese space station, and then China taking down all of them with an electromagnetic cannon
The UK launching a micro-nuke in Ukraine and caught red-handed by Russia
Bio-Weapons NATO general captured at a weaponized development facility (Ukraine) performing “gain of function” studies. Also known as “weaponizing the virus”.
China stopping the bio-weapon attempts to induce famine
China capturing and killing off all of the CIA and NED assets
North Korea missile attacks
Disabling an American nuclear sub that was “this close” to being captured outright.
Sinking another one that had to be recovered (F-35 splash into the South China Sea anyone?)
The Trump mega-flotilla that turned around and sailed back home
Covid-19, the tick-virus and the humanized swine-flu virus bio-weapons and the Taiwan “surprise” virus.
And that’s all right off the top of my head. But I’m not trying to keep score. In this “game” of world war III, it’s impossible to keep score and absolutely meaningless. You have to keep in mind the objectives of all parties (as best as we can ascertain) and then observe the elements play out. And as they play out, we migrate to areas that will not be affected by the fallout (both figuratively and literally). Remember, the reason why everyone is so confused as to what is going on is simply because no one can see the full picture. There’s a plan. There’s always a plan. Keep in mind why things appear to be a world run by crazy people…
They might actually be crazy.
The Western “news” is a propaganda arm of the US government.
Actual “news” and events are not being reported on.
Trivial events are blown all out of proportion.
Real secrets are kept secret.
Counter intelligence operations are at full-speed.
So just sit tight. The latest information from the Domain Commander is…
No change to the previous predictions; small to medium bads lie ahead.
Events are playing out within predictable patterns well known and understood by Domain (Historians).
Some humans will experience discomfort, but any areas of conflict and turmoil will be isolated and geographically segmented.
Take care. Be prudent.
Important note
WordPress has “updated” it’s software, and messed up everything MM side. Do not be frustrated, but much of the grammar corrections, formatting, and pictures were deleted or screwed up in this post, and I am too exhausted to repair what amounts to 10,000 words of text.
Self-format if you must.
Apollo 13 | “Houston, We Have a Problem”
Singapore and China sign 19 agreements to boost cooperation
Singapore and China sign 19 agreements to boost cooperation at annual apex meeting
The agreements were signed at the 18th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting, co-chaired by DPM Heng Swee Keat and Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng
China is where the world future lies :
Small businesses in various states are struggling to pay their rent, a new report shows, with rent delinquency at nearly 40 percent this month.
The findings, published Tuesday by Boston-based business tracker Alignable, are raising more than eyebrows, as they illustrate the stark effect inflation is having on everyday Americans.
The survey of 4,789 randomly selected small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than six months ago.
If you go back seven months, the majority said their rents had increased by at least 20 percent.
Moreover, the study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses - almost half of all Americans working in the private sector - were left unable to pay rent in October.
Compounding concerns is the fact that several states, including New York and California, are well over the already-high national average.
Offering an explanation for the phenomenon, study author Chuck Casto wrote that small business owners are steadfast, but that their incomes are 'basically being eaten away by inflationary pressures' as grim figures continue to rock financial markets.
Alignable discerned that one-third of businesses are at risk of closing if revenue does not 'ramp up' significantly in the coming months, as consumers shy away from spending amid fears of an impending recession. As to the reasons for the short funds, poll-takers blamed higher rents, the impact of more than a year of high inflation, steeper-than-usual gas prices, increases in supply chain costs, rising labor expenses and shortages, and reduced consumer spending.
Worse, about 49 percent of restaurants were unable to pay their rent this month, up from 36, in September, while an identical 49 percent of car dealership and repair shop owners defaulted on their October rent.
Chips Act Won’t Work
It doesn’t make sense for the US to invest billions of dollars to support the manufacturing of semiconductors if they have to be shipped to Asia to be completed.
Down Time Recently the provider of this Website, Typepad, moved their systems to a new datacenter. It then announced an additional maintenance period to update the system’s architecture. That ended up in a mighty screw-up. For the last days Moon of Alabama was a casualty of it. After a while the Typepad engineers recognized the problems and decided, correctly, to roll everything back to the old version. It took a while, but finally most stuff is working again. There are two maxims in Information Technology. I. Never change a running system. Unfortunately there are circumstances, like growth pain etc, where one HAS to change things. That usually ends up in trouble. Another IT maxim is: II. Never change multiple things at a time. This is where the recent Typepad screw-up happened. Multiple components of the system were changed at the same time and did not interact properly with each other. Been there, done that. Back around 1995, I was working for a large international access provider who’s systems always had growth pains. Everything was well prepared for a down time and a major update of the architecture. A short maintenance period was announced and we proceeded with it. Every element had been tested before. But unbeknown to the software engineers the network providers, those with the physical access lines, had decided to use our announced down time for a change in their systems too. The two changes collided with each other and it took more than 24 hours to even find out what had happened. The roll back, not well planned, created more of a mess. We were down for 72+ hours. We had several million customers at that time. They weren’t happy. Typepad is now back and with it all the blogs that are running on it. I am pretty sure that there are still some bugs that will have to be cleaned up over the next days. But the service has, in general, been good over the many years Moon of Alabama existed and ran on it. It is relatively cheap and relieves me of setting up and administrating my own servers. That’s why I will stick to it. For now.
The European Union (EU) got hit with a double dose of nasty reality today. When the European Union “Sanctioned” Russian natural gas, they stopped buying it and had to look elsewhere, which sent the price skyrocketing for everyone.
Then The EU decided it would impose a Price Cap on . . . RUSSIAN . . . natural gas, telling all other countries they must not pay over the price cap! Imagine the nerve of the EU trying to tell the entire world what price they MUST pay for someone ELSE’s natural gas?!?!?!
Today, Qatar told Europe it will stop sending natural gas to Europe of they try to impose a price cap on RUSSIAN fuels!
Europe is already in a massive mess over natural gas; it’s not only costing them triple or quadruple what it used to, there are actual shortages.
If Europe alienates Qatar by imposing a price cap on RUSSIAN gas, and thereby gets cut off from Qatar gas – people in Europe might freeze to death this winter for lack of natural gas. Power plants in Europe would have no fuel to generate electric. Europe would be plunged into the dark ages.
Speaking of shortages, GAZPROM announced today that, by their measurements, Ukraine has presently stored 14.6 Billion cubic meters (m3) of natural gas.
But the country needs 19 Billion m3 to get through the winter. Ukraine doesn’t have that much . . . and cannot get it, either.
So it seems at first glance, people in Ukraine, will actually end up freezing to death this winter. So much for Ukraine “winning” it’s war with Russia.
Maybe, if Ukraine surrenders now, they can settle things fast enough so that their people don’t freeze to death?
Or is noble surrender too much to ask from the Zelensky tyrants in Kiev?
.
This Is Serious! We’re Gonna Crash BIG TIME” – Robert Kiyosaki’s Last WARNING
Interesting, though he’s got a problem with communism. I suppose it’s legacy fear. But check it out.
.
https://youtu.be/E4ZDEaqYQDs
Russians Hack U.S. “DELTA Command & Control System” – Complete Ukraine Battle Plans Exposed
. The United States “DELTA” Command and Control System is the computer network that the US uses for battle operations. It is constantly updated by military planners and intelligence sources with troop deployment info, weapons stock info, and complete attack plans. Russia has HACKED it; Ukraine’s battle plans totally compromised. Equally important, the DELTA system is also constantly updated with information about the OPPOSING forces, in this case, Russia. Here is what a Russian computer Hacker got access to, with videos proving he got access, and how it is likely to be dispositive of the entire Ukraine war, in Russia’s favor.
Herman And The Bank Robbers
Enjoy. https://youtu.be/f_DDvG-yv4c
Iran Raises “Red Banner of Retaliation” Over Mosque; Saudis on High Alert
Iran has raised the Red Banner of Retaliation over the dome of Jamkaran Mosque in Qom city, which amounts to a declaration of war. What caused the raising of the Red Banner is yet to be said. The last time the Red Banner was raised was when Qassem Suleimani was assassinated in 2020. After that banner was raised, Iran fired missiles which hit a US Base in the region, injuring many US military personnel. Whatever the present issue may be, Saudi Arabia notified its US Military contacts they expect what they call an “imminent” attack against Saudi Arabia by Iran. They are not certain if the attack will be by missiles, or by Iranian Drones. US and Saudi air defenses are now on high alert.
Men in Black: A Series of Tests
Fun. https://youtu.be/qHR8IdyTO1M
New Fudan Report: US-China Chip War
From HERESecuritisation of the US’s Semiconductor Industry Policy”. Its authors are Shen Yi (沈逸) and Mo Fei (莫非). The former is a controversial professor of international politics and the director of the Centre for International Cyberspace Governance at Fudan University. With a following of almost two million on Weibo as well as regular videos and opinion pieces discussing international relations, he has become a well-known public intellectual in China. Shen has previously written about his experience of being interrogated by the FBI and having his US visa revoked back in 2018. The second author, Mo Fei, is a PhD candidate at Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs and a research assistant at the aforementioned Centre for International Cyberspace Governance. This report appears to have been written, or at least completed, in September, in other words, prior to the US’s most recent high-tech export controls. The authors, however, were aware that “the Biden administration plans to further strengthen export controls on China in the areas of artificial intelligence and chip manufacturing, and that it was considering establishing a system within the US government that would give it the power to directly block US entities from investing in China and require information disclosure.” The following summary and excerpts should therefore be read keeping this background in mind. On a side note, I may occasionally post special editions such as this one in addition to Sinification’s weekly format if and when I feel that a particular study is noteworthy, topical and too long to share as a thread on Twitter.
Key arguments from this report:
The US is making a strategic mistake in channelling most of its energy into outdoing China in the tech sector. Semiconductors only constitute a small part of the US-China rivalry.
The US’s chip manufacturing capacity lags far behind that of East Asia. The CHIPS Act is unlikely to provide enough funding and incentives to change this.
US allies will not be willing to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of America’s.
China has the financial firepower, unrivalled capacity for government-industry coordination and absolute determination to accelerate the development of its chip industry, come what may.
On the drivers and dynamics of the US-China chip war:
“China's fundamental national strategy is to strengthen its national power, improve the standard of living of its citizens and enhance its international status through peaceful economic development. The US’s strategy towards China is to 'lock up' China's rise, curtail its international influence and increase its dependence on the US in the international system. Therefore,the essence of the strategic competition between the US and China is a struggle between economic development and domestic governance rather than a traditional hegemonic or military-security struggle.”“The US, however, has rather simplistically focused on the nature of the strategic competition between the US and China as being a 'technological battle', and then even more simplistically determined that a series of [tech-related] policies will be able to successfully block the strategic challenge posed by China in a relatively short period of time and at a relatively low cost.”“The US has [now] put anti-China national security concerns ahead of such economic interests as ‘cost’, ‘efficiency’ and ‘market’.”“Advanced semiconductors have become an outlet for the US to release its security-related anxieties about China and have been turned into a symbol … demonstrating the US’s superior strength and its gradually winning in the context of US-China rivalry. At the same time, in the absence of one single effective ‘tool’ to contain China's technological rise and as one of the very few holds the US [still] has in the economic sphere that can effectively handicap China, any action that can widen the gap between China and the US in advanced semiconductor technology will have the psychological effect of ‘easing the anxiety’ and ‘increasing the smugness’ of US policymakers. Each [US] crackdown on China's advanced semiconductor technology will release the US’s security-related anxiety about China in stages. [But] when new security-related anxieties reach a certain level, it will once again drive the US to take further restrictive measures against [the development of] China’s advanced semiconductor technology.”“At the [current] stage of the strategic stalemate between the US and China, the US can only add to the semiconductor technology embargo compulsively and frequently to demonstrate that it still has considerable coercive power and strategic advantages over China.”“But the fact is thatadvanced semiconductors only constitute a small part of the strategic competition between the US and China.”
On the difficulty for the US to rebuild a chip manufacturing base at home, gain the backing of its allies and shut out China:
“Global economic integration, the formation and consolidation of global supply chains, and China’s deep roots in the global economic system make it almost impossible for the US to replicate its Cold War strategy against the Soviet Union in its strategic competition with China.”“History repeats itself but never in exactly the same way. The United States today does not have the same strategic capabilities as it did thirty years ago, and China is now already highly integrated into both the new international division of labour and the world’s science and innovation cycle. Even in the area of semiconductors, where the US is in a position of power and China is at a disadvantage, the US is no longer in a position to [simply] remove China from the supply chain of advanced semiconductors. The inherent vulnerability of the Biden administration's chip strategy leaves room for China's semiconductor industry to break out of the US’s siege. More specifically:”
“The Biden administration's semiconductor strategy runs counter to the global semiconductor industry’s development pattern and lacks an adequate domestic semiconductor manufacturing base to support it.”
“US semiconductor manufacturing capabilities lag far behind those of East Asian countries. [This is explained by] the wave of de-industrialisation that began in the late 20th century in the US, coupled with the fact that most American IC companies have opted for a 'Fabless' operating model, focusing on design and outsourcing manufacturing.”
“The US’s heavy reliance on East Asian semiconductor production capacity exacerbates the risk of disruption to the US chip supply chain, while also increasing the US's vulnerability in the context of its strategic competition with China.”
“Now, for national security and geostrategic reasons, the US is planning to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to its shores … However, such a systemic change will be very difficult to achieve with just a single ‘chip bill’.”
“The US’s current approach has seen it use mainly federal funding to invest domestically in high-tech R&D … to train new talent and to attract foreign firms to set up factories in the US. However, … if the US wants to restructure the [current] layout of the global semiconductor industry, US$50+ billion from the federal government will clearly not be enough to solve this issue.”
“In September 2022, the Center for a New American Security released [a report] … which stated that the US CHIPS Act is designed to close the cost gap between producing chips in the US versus in East Asia, but that current financial support and related incentives were still far from sufficient to close the cost gap across the industry.”“The actual effectiveness of the CHIPS Act may differ quite significantly from the optimistic estimates (in favour of the US) that are now being made in a large number of studies; one cannot exclude a scenario in which the buzz is followed by business as usual.
“Frankly speaking, although we still need to wait for [these measures] to be put into practice … it is arguably the ‘pull’ by the end customer that will prove more important than the ‘push’ by the US government’s industrial policies. If the end-consumer market proves unwilling to pay a premium [for these high-tech products] … the Biden government's semiconductor strategy … will not be able to [fully] restructure the [current] layout of the global semiconductor industry.”
“The US’s influence within its chip alliances is not sufficient to convince its allies to follow the Biden administration's semiconductor strategy on the premise of ‘America First’ and ‘each country has to pay its own way [i.e. with no help from the US]’.”
“[In reality,] the core of the US’s semiconductor strategy, is, on the one hand, to siphon off resources from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands and other relevant semiconductor companies to make up for the technological shortcomings in its own semiconductor manufacturing sector. On the other, to convince its allies and partners, using its position of power in the high-tech world, to stop semiconductor technology deals and manufacturing cooperation with China.”
“The Biden administration is [effectively] strengthening itself at the expense of others … thus increasing the vulnerability of the Biden administration's semiconductor strategy. In other words, US allies and partners have their own semiconductor strategies and are not willing to sacrifice their own interests in order to serve the US’s semiconductor strategy.”
“[For example,] South Korea cannot [simply] decouple from China, just for the sake of cooperating with Washington in building up the US’s [new] supply chain, without taking into account the fact that China is South Korea’s largest semiconductor market … South Korea is ambivalent about the ‘CHIP 4’ alliance currently being assembled by the US.”
“Taiwan, on the other hand, still has illusions about [the effectiveness of] its ‘Silicon Shield’ and does not want the US semiconductor industry to develop in the direction of self-sufficiency for national security reasons.”
“There are deep-rooted conflicting currents in the underlying logic of Taiwan's semiconductor strategy with the US. Politically, Taiwan is investing in US factories to curry favour with the US on geopolitical issues. Economically [however], Taiwan's semiconductor industry … does not view the US ‘chip strategy’ favourably.”“In addition to [the Netherland’s] ASML, the Biden administration has also tried to pressure Nikon, a Japanese DUV equipment manufacturer, to stop exporting such equipment to China, but the Japanese have also refused. This shows that, when it comes to the technological embargo imposed on China, although the ‘public-private’ alliance formed by the US will cooperate with the US’s strategy, there is a limit to such cooperation. This can be explained by two factors: the pull of the Chinese market and a concern for US technological hegemony [among its allies].”
On the US’s tech crackdown on China and the the medium-to-long term prospects for both the US and China:
“The specific technical details involved in the semiconductor industry are complex enough to ensure that [only] a small group of elite politicians in Washington can monopolise the content and future direction of these discussions, thereby making it easier to gain indulgence and support for their contrarian actions both at home and abroad.”“Take the latest US chip sanctions against China on 1 September as an example … The ban presents a remarkable internal paradox. It was initially intended to create additional barriers to the development of China's high-tech industry. However, it may well end up having the opposite effect. Ironically, in the medium to long term, US pressure is set to ‘force’ China's high-tech industry to develop a more solid industrial base as well as [its own] core technologies. Objectively speaking and from the US’s perspective, this will lead to [the emergence of] a more challenging, comprehensive, and thus more-difficult-to-contain, powerful adversary.”“In the short term, US tech-related policies targeting China will indeed create a window of opportunity. That is to say, a window during which China will be seeking to fix the adverse consequences caused by the US’s technology crackdown. For the US, this window will mean that the US is given more time to develop itself in a number of key and emerging technologies, including advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence, so as to gain the upper hand over China … But such a turn of events is far from being a given. In other words, in addition to restricting technology exports to China, the US government will also need to implement effective domestic policies to support and guide its efforts in these areas. However, if we look at the US’s performance on related issues since the 1980s, the picture is not particularly promising. Of course, the recently passed CHIPS Act provides some room for imagination. However, … in terms of the type of governance capacity required to steer and organise such large-scale strategic industries, the US government is not currently in a position to provide a convincing answer to observers.”“In the short term, the most immediate and tangible effects of the Biden administration's tech-crackdown on China will be: (i) to create real obstacles for the development of related industries in China; (ii) to generate a public opinion wave of pro-US and anti-China rhetoric; and (iii) to use ‘hurting the US’s strategic rival’ as political leverage during the upcoming US mid-term elections and the presidential elections two years later.”“In terms of [economic] weight, the US economy is still the largest in the world, but its lead over the second-placed has narrowed to the point where it is within sight and able to be overtaken. The US still has an overall advantage in terms of cutting-edge technology, but this advantage does not ensure that its use will simply lead to the continued development of its strengths and consolidation of its superiority. It will [probably] not be possible for the US to maintain its overwhelming technological dominance over the rest of the world. In other words, there is a lack of certainty surrounding the US’s ability to make further technological breakthroughs. Its traditional strengths are shrinking or even [already] lost, and its toolbox lacks an obvious ‘magic bullet’ like the US’s containment strategy during the Cold War, which could simply ‘solve the problem once and for all’ vis-à-vis the US’s main strategic rival. In fact, the anxiety that is spreading in Washington's policy-making circles is constantly forcing the US government to look for, and subsequently try out, any type of tool that can produce short-term results. Thus, for policy makers at least, it is a way of justifying domestically that ‘something has already been done’ and avoiding simply looking on [helplessly] at the gradual erosion of the US’s hegemonic powers.”“The specific condition [to the US’s success] is that the target of such a weapon [export controls] must have a sufficiently weak political will to abandon its intention to develop the industry in question immediately after the US’s strike … [However,] China has both the will and an unmatched capacity for industrial policymaking to drive and guide the development of its own alternative technologies [替代性能力]. Chinese companies and industries have long since begun the production of related products but are [currently] in the uncomfortable position of being constrained by the superior and more mature products of US companies. The subtlety of US bans is that it is the US government, rather than the Chinese government, that has helped these companies to achieve the effective exclusion of their competitors from the [Chinese] market [i.e. this will, according to the authors, allow Chinese companies, in the medium-to-long term, to grow even faster and invest even more in R&D].”“In terms of China's [overall] development, the development of its technologies, the development of its industries as well as a number of other dimensions, this [i.e. pressures from the US/West] does not really constitute a [catastrophic] threat akin to ‘the sky is falling’. Objectively speaking, the discomfort caused by the bans will be the best possible impetus to stimulate and push forward the upgrading of alternative industries and technological capabilities [in China]. China's [past] experience shows that once this short-term discomfort has been overcome and alternative capabilities and industries have been developed, what will follow is a complete rewriting of the rules of the game by China by virtue of the country’s superior production capacity. The potential outcomes of such a scenario are truly exciting.”“For [Chinese] policy analysts [政策观察者], it is important to maintain a greater degree of composure, resilience and patience when dealing with US policy decisions, and to analyse more systematically the [potential] discrepancies between policy intentions, policy content and, ultimately, policy effectiveness. For the Chinese government, the more pressing issue is to build [more] effective and refined countermeasures against US [policies], while maintaining the trend of opening up to the outside world and encouraging globalisation, so that the Chinese market and the benefits gained by US companies in China can be used more fully as leverage and, when necessary, a strategic weapon in China's competition with the US. This is a crucial and necessary part of expanding and improving [our] capabilities in the context of China’s rise.”
Zhu hao (祝好), Thomas
he Hangover (2009) – Stun Gun Demonstration Scene
Comeback kid Lula in the eye of a volcano
18439 ViewsOctober 31, 2022
by Pepe Escobar, first posted at the Asia Times, and reposted with the author’s permission
Lula wins but his room for maneuver will be limited by powerful forces aligned against his Global South agenda
Luis Ignacio “Lula” da Silva may be the ultimate 21st century political comeback kid. At 77, fit and sharp, leading an alliance of 10 political parties, he has just been elected as Brazilian president for what will be a de facto third term after his first two from 2003 to 2010. Lula even staged a comeback-inside-a-comeback, during the extremely fast and tight electronic vote counting, reaching 50.9% against 49.1% to the incumbent, extreme right President Jair Bolsonaro, representing a difference of only two million votes in a country of 215 million people. Lula’s back in office on January 1, 2023. Lula’s first speech was somewhat anti-Lula; noted for his Garcia Marquez-style improvisations and folksy stream of consciousness, he read from a measured, carefully-prepared script.
Lula emphasized the defense of democracy; the fight against hunger; the drive for sustainable development with social inclusion; a “relentless fight against racism, prejudice and discrimination.” He invited international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest and will fight for fair global trade, instead of trade “that condemns our country to be an eternal exporter of raw materials.” Lula, always an exceptional negotiator, managed to win against the formidable state machine apparatus unleashed by Bolsonaro, which saw the distribution of billions of dollars in vote-buying; an avalanche of fake news; outright intimidation and attempts of voter suppression against the poor by rabid Bolsonarists; and countless episodes of political violence. Lula inherits a devastated nation that, much like the US, is completely polarized. From 2003 to 2010 – he rose to power, incidentally, only two months before America’s “shock and awe” against Iraq – it was quite a different story. Lula managed to bring to the table economic prosperity, massive poverty alleviation and an array of social policies. In eight years, he created at least 15 million jobs.
Vicious political persecution ended up canceling him out of the 2018 presidential elections, paving the way for Bolsonaro – a project entertained by the hard-right Brazilian military since 2014. Collusion between Brazil’s Public Ministry and dodgy “justice” stalwarts to persecute and condemn Lula on spurious charges forced him to spend 580 days in jail as a political prisoner as notorious as Julian Assange. Lula ended up being declared not guilty in no less than 26 motions against him by a lawfare machine at the heart of the – deeply corrupt – Car Wash operation. Lula’s Sisyphean task starts now. At least 33 million Brazilians are mired in hunger. Another 115 million are fighting “food insecurity.” No less than 79% of families are hostages to high levels of personal debt. In contrast to the new “pink tide” rolling across Latin America – of which he is now the superstar – internally there’s no pink tide.
On the contrary, he will face a deeply hostile Congress and Senate and even Bolsonarist governors, including in the most powerful state of the federation, Sao Paulo, which concentrates more industrial firepower than many latitudes in the Global North.
Round up the usual suspects
The absolutely key vector is that the international financial system and the “Washington Consensus”, already controlling Bolsonaro’s agenda, have captured Lula’s administration even before it begins. Lula’s vice-president is center-right Geraldo Alckmin, who can be catapulted to power the minute that deeply hostile Congress decides to fabricate some Lula impeachment scheme. It’s not an accident that the neo-liberal The Economist magazine has already “warned” Lula to shift to the center: that is, his government must be run, in practice, by the usual financial suspects. Much will depend on who Lula appoints as his finance minister. The top candidate is Henrique Meirelles, former CEO of FleetBoston, Brazil’s second largest external creditor after CitiGroup. Meirelles has expressed unrestricted support for Lula, for whom he previously worked as central bank chief.
Meirelles is likely to prescribe the exact same economic policies as Bolsonaro’s top economic enforcer, investment banker Paulo Guedes. That happens to be exactly what Meirelles himself created during the rapacious Temer administration, which came to power after the institutional coup against President Dilma Rousseff in 2016. And now we get to the real juice. None other than US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visited Brazil “unofficially” last April. She refused to meet Bolsonaro and praised the Brazilian electoral system (“You have one of the best in the hemisphere, in terms of reliability, in terms of transparency.” ) Afterward, Lula promised the EU a sort of “governance” of the Amazon and had to publicly condemn the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine. All that after he had already praised Biden, in 2021, as “a breath for democracy in the world.” The “reward” for the accumulated performance was a Time magazine cover. All of the above may suggest an incoming, shady pseudo-Left government by the Workers Party – neoliberalism with a human face – infiltrated by all sorts of right-wing vectors, essentially serving the interests of Wall Street and the Democrat-controlled State Department. Key planks: acquisition of key economic assets by the usual globalist suspects, and thus no room for Brazil to exercise real sovereignty. Lula, of course, is too smart to be reduced to the role of mere hostage but his room for maneuver – internally – is extremely slim. Toxic Bolsonarism, now in the opposition, will continue to institutionally prosper dressed up as – fake – “anti-system”, especially in the Senate. Bolsonaro is a self-described “myth” created and packaged by the military, coming out in the open about a month after Dilma’s election victory that propelled her to a second term in late 2014. Bolsonaro himself and countless fanatic supporters flirted with Nazism; unabashedly praised known torturers during the Brazilian military dictatorship; and milked serious fascist leanings lurking in Brazilian society. Bolsonarism is even more insidious because this is a military-concocted movement subservient to hardcore neoliberal globalist elites and comprised of evangelicals and agribusiness tycoons while posing as “anti-globalist.” No wonder the virus contaminated literally half of a dazed and confused nation.
Old China hand
Externally, Lula will play a whole different ball game. Lula is one of the founders of the BRICS in 2006, which evolved out of the Russia-China dialogue. He’s immensely respected by the leaders of the Russia-China strategic partnership, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. He has promised to serve only one term, or up to the end of 2026. But that’s exactly the key stretch in the eye of the volcano, straddling the decade Putin described in his Valdai speech as the most dangerous and important since World War II. The drive towards a multipolar world, institutionally represented by a congregation of bodies from BRICS+ to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to the Eurasia Economic Union, will profit immensely to have Lula on board as arguably the natural leader of the Global South – with a track record to match. Of course, his immediate foreign policy focus will be South America: he already announced that will be the destination of his first presidential visit, most probably Argentina, which is bound to join BRICS+. Then he will visit Washington. He has to. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Informed opinion across the Global South is very much aware that it’s under Obama-Biden that the whole, complex operation to topple Dilma and expel Lula from politics was orchestrated. Brazil will be a lame duck at the upcoming G20 in Bali in mid-November but in 2023 Lula will be back in business side-by-side with Putin and Xi. And that also applies to the next BRICS summit in South Africa, which will consolidate BRICS+, as an array of nations are itching to join, from Argentina and Saudi Arabia to Iran and Turkey. And then there’s the Brazil-China nexus. Brasilia has been Beijing’s key trade partner in Latin America since 2009, absorbing roughly half of China’s investment in the region (and the most of any Latin American investment destination in 2021) and firmly placed as the fifth largest exporter of crude for the Chinese market, second for iron and first for soybeans. The precedents tell the story. Right from the start, in 2003, Lula bet on a strategic partnership with China. He considered his first trip to Beijing in 2004 as his top foreign policy priority. The goodwill in Beijing is unshakeable: Lula is considered an old friend by China – and that political capital will open virtually every red door. In practice, that will mean Lula investing his considerable global clout in strengthening BRICS+ (he already stated BRICS will be at the center of his foreign policy) and the inner workings of South-South geopolitical and geo-economic cooperation. That may even include Lula formally signing up Brazil as a partner of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in a way that won’t antagonize the US. Lula, after all, is a master of this craft. Finding a path in the eye of the volcano, internally and externally, will be the definitive political challenge for the comeback kid. Lula has been written off countless times, so underestimating him is a bad bet. Even before starting his third term, he has already performed a major feat: to emancipate a majority of Brazilians from mental slavery. All eyes will be on what the Brazilian military – and its foreign handlers – really want. They have embarked on a very long-term project, control most levers in the power structure, and simply won’t give up. And so the odds may be stacked against an aging neo-Ulysses from northeast Brazil reaching his Ithaca ideal of a fair and sovereign land.
YOU HAVE 6 DAYS LEFT!! ARE YOU READY? | Patrick Humphrey
Really? In six days, eh? It is pretty weird that a Walmart Distribution Center in South Carolina, US. Is usually really busy this time of year. They have not hired anyone in months now. With it being seasonal time also, that is so strange to me!! Also the ones that are working there, are getting NO hours. This has been going on for months, since February. No departments are working full shifts. Check out the video and then monitor the prices at your local grocery store. Let’s watch the clown-show together. https://youtu.be/SXCtROaU-AE
Brandon’s “Usable Nukes” Are the Fast-Track to Jopocalypse
“The Biden administration’s Nuclear Posture Review is, at heart, a terrifying document. It not only keeps the world on a path of increasing nuclear risk, in many ways it increases that risk.
Citing rising threats from Russia and China, it argues that the only viable U.S. response is to rebuild the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal, maintain an array of dangerous Cold War-era nuclear policies, and threaten the first use of nuclear weapons in a variety of scenarios.” Stephen Young, Union of Concerned Scientists
Maybe you’re one of the millions of people who think the US would never use its nuclear weapons unless the threat of a nuclear attack was imminent.
Well, you’d be wrong, because according to the recently-released Nuclear Posture Review, the bar for using nukes has been significantly lowered. The new standard reads like this: (nukes can be used) “in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.”“
Defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies”??
That’s a pretty broad net, isn’t it? That could include anything from a serious threat to national security to an ordinary economic competitor. And that loosy-goosy definition appears to be just what the authors were looking for. The hardliners wanted to fundamentally change US nuclear doctrine so the conditions under which nukes could be used was greatly expanded.
The obvious objective of this dramatic policy-shift is to eliminate any obstacle to the free and unfettered use of nuclear weapons. Which is precisely what the neocons have always wanted; a green light to Armageddon.
Now they got what they wanted. Here are a few of the changes in policy that suggest that a full-blown nuclear war is no longer a remote possibility, but an increasingly likely prospect.
1– First-Strike Use: Biden refuses to rule out first-strike use of US nuclear weapons …in reversal of his campaign promise. This is from The Daily Mail:
“… on the campaign trail, Biden had vowed to switch to a ‘sole purpose’ doctrine, which maintains that the US would only use nuclear weapons to respond to another nation’s nuclear attack….
President Joe Biden is abandoning a campaign vow to alter longstanding US nuclear doctrine, and will instead embrace existing policy that reserves America’s right to use nukes in a first-strike scenario, according to multiple reports.” (Daily Mail)
2– Nuclear Escalation: The Biden team has accelerated the deployment of modernized U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons to NATO bases in Europe. (The B61-12 carries a lower yield nuclear warhead than earlier versions but is more accurate and can penetrate below ground.) This is from Reuters:
Russia said on Saturday that the accelerated deployment of modernised U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe would lower the “nuclear threshold” and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning.
Amid the Ukraine crisis, Politico reported on Oct. 26 that the United States told a closed NATO meeting this month that it would accelerate the deployment of a modernised version of the B61, the B61-12, with the new weapons arriving at European bases in December, several months earlier than planned.
“We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. (Reuters)
3– ‘Tactical’ means ‘Usable’: Biden’s new regime of low-yield nukes (which can still blow up a city the size of New York.) are called “tactical” weapons because they are designed for use on the battlefield, which is to say, Biden no longer limits the use of nukes for national defense but also supports their use in conventional wars. (like Ukraine?) This is from Aljazeera:
“Tactical nuclear warheads were created to give military commanders more flexibility on the battlefield. In the mid-1950s, as more powerful thermonuclear bombs were being built and tested, military planners thought smaller weapons with a shorter range would be more useful in ‘tactical’ situations,” according to Al Jazeera’s defence analyst Alex Gatopoulos. (Aljazeera)
4– Fasttrack to Nuclear War: Biden’s New Euro-Nukes have lowered the threshold for nuclear war. This is from MSN: Russia said on Saturday that the accelerated deployment of modernized US B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe would lower the “nuclear threshold” and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning…
“The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear charge, that is, they turn these weapons into ‘battlefield weapons’, thereby reducing the nuclear threshold,” Grushko said….
… Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said on Saturday on Telegram that the new B61 bombs had a “strategic significance” as Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons were in storage, yet these U.S. bombs would be just a short flight from Russia’s borders.
“We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. (MSM) 5– Increasing the Reasons for using Nukes: The Nuclear Posture Review abandons Biden’s promise to ensure that US nuclear weapons would be used for the “sole purpose” of deterring or responding to a nuclear attack. Instead, the NPR states that the US will consider the use of nuclear weapons “in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.”
Sole purpose could significantly reduce the risk of unintended escalation and increase the credibility of more flexible and realistic nonnuclear response options in a range of importance contingencies.” (Federation of American Scientists)
6– More Escalation: The US now reserves the right to use its nukes against non-nuclear weapon countries. This is from an article at Bloomberg News: The Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy rejected limits on using nuclear weapons long championed by arms control advocates and in the past by President Joe Biden.
Citing burgeoning threats from China and Russia, the Defense Department said in the document released Thursday that “by the 2030s the United States will, for the first time in its history face two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors and potential adversaries.” In response, the US will “maintain a very high bar for nuclear employment” without ruling out using the weapons in retaliation to a non-nuclear strategic threat to the homeland, US forces abroad or allies.” (“Pentagon’s Strategy Won’t Rule Out Nuclear Use Against Non-Nuclear Threats”, Bloomberg) Here’s more from an article at the World Socialist Web Site:
In the Defense Department briefing, this point is elaborated. The NPR, a department official stated, “establishes a strategy that relies on nuclear weapons to deter all forms of strategic attack. This includes nuclear employment of any scale, and it includes high-consequence attacks of a strategic nature that use non-nuclear means.”
The publication of the document was rapidly condemned by arms control experts. “The Biden administration’s unclassified Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is, at heart, a terrifying document,” wrote the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
“It not only keeps the world on a path of increasing nuclear risk, in many ways it increases that risk,” the UCS argued, by claiming that “the only viable U.S. response is to rebuild the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal, maintain an array of dangerous Cold War-era nuclear policies, and threaten the first use of nuclear weapons in a variety of scenarios.”…
This marks a significant development from Trump’s 2018 National Defense Strategy, which largely referred to the use of military force to secure economic interests in the negative—asserting that it was China that was doing so. While this was the clear implication of the 2018 document, the definition of “national interests” advanced by the Pentagon’s 2022 document to include “economic prosperity” constitutes an even more open step toward advocating the doctrine that war is an acceptable means to secure economic aims.
A section of the 2022 National Defense Strategy:
These documents, which were not seriously discussed in the US media, make clear the fundamental falsehood that the massive US military buildup this year is a response to “Russian aggression.” In reality, in the thinking of the White House and Pentagon war planners, the massive increases in military spending and plans for war with China are created by “dramatic changes in geopolitics, technology, economics, and our environment.”
These documents make clear that the United States sees the economic rise of China as an existential threat, to be responded to with the threat of military force. The United States sees the subjugation of Russia as a critical stepping stone toward the conflict with China.” (“Pentagon national strategy document targets China”, Andre Damon, World Socialist Web Site) he White House, the Pentagon and the entire US foreign policy establishment now march in lockstep behind the most fanatically-lethal defense policy in the nation’s 246-year history. The National Defense Strategy, the Nuclear Posture Review and the National Security Strategy all embrace the same reckless warmongering policy that will inevitably lead to mass annihilation and civilizational collapse. The doves and critical thinkers have all been removed from the foreign policy apparatus while the madmen and warhawks drag the world inexorably towards catastrophe. God help us.
Prussian Major General Carl von Clausewitz famously drew on his own experience in the Napoleonic Wars to examine war as a political phenomenon. In his 1832 book “On War” he provided a frequently quoted pithy summary of war versus peace, writing in terms of politico-military strategy that “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means.” In other words, war-making is a tool provided to statesmen to achieve a nation’s political objectives when all else fails. One can reject the ultimate amorality of Clausewitz’s thinking about war while also recognizing that some nations have historically speaking exploited war-making as a tool for physical expansion and the appropriation of foreigners’ resources. As far back as the Roman Republic, the country’s elected leaders doubled as heads of its consular armies, which were expected to go out each spring to expand the imperium. More recently, Britain notably engaged in almost constant colonial wars over the course of centuries to establish what was to become history’s largest empire. America’s dominant neocons characteristically believe they have inherited the mantle of empire and of the war powers that go hand-in-hand with that attribute, but they have avoided other aspects of the transition in turning the United States into a nation made and empowered by war. First of all, what comes out the other end after one has initiated hostilities with another country is unpredictable. Starting with Korea and continuing with Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq as well as other minor operations in Latin America, Africa and Asia, American war-making has brought nothing but grief on those on the receiving end with little positive to show for the death, destruction and accumulated debt. Also forgotten in the rush to use force is the raison d’etre to have a federal national government at all, which is to bring tangible benefit to the American people. There has been none of that since 9/11 and even before, while Washington’s hard-line stance on what has become a proxy war against Russia over Ukraine promises more pain – perhaps disastrously so – and no real gain. If one has any doubt that going to war has become the principal function of both Democrats and Republicans in Washington, it is only necessary to consider several stories that have appeared in the past several weeks. The first comes from the Republican side, and it includes a possibly positive development. House Minority leader Republican Kevin McCarthy warned two weeks ago that the GOP will not necessarily continue to write a “blank check” for Ukraine if they obtain the House majority in next month’s election, reflecting his party’s growing skepticism about unlimited financial support for the corrupt regime in place in Kiev. McCarthy explained “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it. … It’s not a free blank check.” America’s uncritical support for Ukraine, which has been a contrivance by the White House and media since the fighting started, has led to a growing number of Republicans, particularly some of those aligned with Donald Trump’s “America First” approach, to challenge the need for massive federal spending abroad at a time of record-high inflation at home. Since Russia launched its invasion in February, Congress has approved tens of billions in emergency security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, while the Biden administration has shipped billions more worth of weapons and equipment from military inventories, all done with only limited or even no oversight of where the money and weapons are winding up. But, unfortunately, the GOP is far from unified on its approach to Ukraine-Russia. Congressman Liz Cheney demonstrated that her apple did not fall far from her father’s tree, taking some time off from trying to hang Donald Trump to denounce what she refers to as the “Putin wing of the Republican Party.” She put it this way: “You know, the Republican Party is the party of Reagan, the party that essentially won the Cold War. And you look now at what I think is really a growing Putin wing of the Republican Party.” Cheney criticized Fox News for “running propaganda” on the issue and in particular called out Fox host Tucker Carlson as “the biggest propagandist for Putin on that network… You really have to ask yourself, whose side is Fox on in this battle? And how could it be that you have a wing of the Republican Party that thinks that America would be standing with Putin as he conducts that brutal invasion of Ukraine?” Cheney notably did not address the issue of how the war developed in the first place because the US and UK preferred saber rattling to diplomacy with Moscow. Or why the United States feels compelled to tip-toe to the brink of a possible nuclear war over a foreign policy issue that is of no real national interest to the American people. And where did she make her comments? At the McCain Institute in Arizona. Yes, that’s a legacy of Senator John McCain another Republican who never saw a war he couldn’t enthusiastically support. Both President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have confirmed that the US is in with Ukraine until “victory” is obtained, whatever that is supposed to mean, while other Administration officials have indicated that the actual purpose of the fighting is to weaken Russia and remove President Putin. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre glibly spouted the party line when asked about McCarthy’s comments. She thanked congressional leaders for bipartisan work to “support Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s war crimes and atrocities,” adding that “We will continue to work with Congress and continue to monitor those conversations on these efforts and support Ukraine as long as it takes. We are going to keep that promise that we’re making to the brave Ukrainians who are fighting every day, to fight for their freedom and their democracy.” Perhaps more bizarre than Cheney’s comments is the tale of a letter that was prepared by thirty Democratic Party progressives urging US support for negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine. The letter was prepared in June but not released until last week before being quickly retracted under pressure on the following day. Pramila Jayapal, who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said it was retracted because it “was being conflated with [the] comments” made by McCarthy over his warning about budget cutting for Ukraine. Jayapal referred to the letter as a “distraction,” but what she really meant was that her group had no desire to make common cause with the Republicans over any issue, including war and peace in an escalating conflict that is manifestly pointless. A clueless Jayapal also took pains to contradict the message put out by her own group, emphasizing that there has been no opposition to the administration’s Ukraine policy from Democrats in Congress. She said Democrats “have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people.” She doubled down on the White House message, affirming that the war in Ukraine will only end with diplomacy after “a Ukrainian victory.” So basically, anyone talking sense about Ukraine in Washington is being shut down by forces within the political parties themselves working together with a compliant national media that is mis-representing everything that is taking place on the ground. It is a formula for tragedy as the Biden administration has shown no sign of seeking diplomacy with Russia to end the conflict despite the president’s recent surprising warning that the world is now facing the highest risk of nuclear “Armageddon,” which he, of course, blames on Putin. Given all of that, in my humble opinion a government that is unable or unwilling to take reasonable steps to protect its own citizens while also avoiding a possible nuclear catastrophe that could end up engulfing the entire world is fundamentally evil and has lost all legitimacy. It should recognize that fact before submitting its resignation.
The Twilight Zone – A Most Unusual Camera (clip)
Why does CCP tell their citizens they “will not be enslaved by foreigners” when no foreign nation is interested in doing that?
To the Chinese, it brings back very bad memories to see Western powers sending fleets to China’s coasts, forming alliances against China, working closely with a brutally Sinophobic Japan, speaking of the breakup of China into Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, etc., tolerating racist attacks on Chinese immigrants, trying to embargo China and cut off its access to markets and resources, speaking of the desire to overthrow China’s government (e.g. far-right scumbag Arkansas senator Tom Cotton and scumbag British diplomat Roger Garside, author of China Coup), vilifying and barbarizing China’s culture, political system, history, and even regional cuisines, and proclaiming the superiority of Western belief systems.
Anyone who doesn’t understand why should really just exit any discussion of China because they don’t know anything about China’s history over the past 200 years. All of this is extremely familiar to the Chinese. In fact, it makes up most of China’s historical experience with the West. Major Western (British) diplomats visited China for the first time in 1793. Most of the 200 years after that were quite a miserable time for all Chinese.
This is why the CPC has always refused to restore or reconstruct the Old Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan) in Beijing, which was once world-famous, breathtakingly beautiful and something like China’s Pyramids or Hanging Gardens. It was looted and destroyed by the French and British in 1860, and today 47 Western museums exhibit and profit from its treasures. This is all that’s left of the Old Summer Palace, and it’s a depressing sight in the capital city of the world’s second-richest nation; but the dilapidated ruins are a reminder to new generations.
x
Can you imagine that these charred pillars and scattered stones mark the spot where the emperors of China once lived and governed for 125 years? Not in ancient times, but from 1735 to 1860.
I think the average patriotic Chinese is thinking, You did all of this before, and we were weak and you won. You really want to do this again? Well this time, we’re just as big as you are.
The story of the Old Summer Palace increases the kinship I feel with China as an Egyptian, because my country’s stolen treasures also fill Western museums from Boston to Berlin.
The West has always seen non-Western peoples more of less as barbarians, but I don’t think barbarians are people who practise polygamy, eat dog meat, worship idols, have no written language, or are ruled by an emperor instead of a parliament. Barbarians are people who have to brutalize and plunder every corner of the earth they ever go, simply because they can.
What kind of people make you ashamed to be a human being?
These absolute sacks of shit.
This is the Westboro Baptist Church. A Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas. Every day, WBC pickets approximately six locations. They claim to have picketed in all 50 states. What kind of events do they picket? Any events that don’t align with their homophobic, transphobic, anti-Catholic, anti-Orthodox, anti-atheist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, antiziganist, and anti-American views. Organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League have accused them of brainwashing, and the church is often heavily criticized for resembling a cult (which it completely is). Some notable events that they picketed are:
Hundreds, possibly even thousands, of military funerals.
The funeral of Michael Jackson.
The funeral of Ronnie James Dio.
The funeral of Christina Green, a 9 year old victim of the 2011 Tucson Shooting. Luckily, they were unsuccessful because the Arizona legislature passed an emergency bill banning protesters within 300 ft of the memorial.
On October 5, 2011, Margie Phelps (daughter of the church’s founder) tweeted from her iPhone that the church would be picketing Steve Jobs’ funeral. Read that again. She used an iPhone to tell the world that they were going to protest STEVE JOBS’ funeral.
They tried to picket Leonard Nimoy’s funeral, but they couldn’t find it.
They picketed the funerals of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
They picketed the funerals of the Orlando nightclub shooting.
They protested the National Holocaust Museum, stating that the Jews are the real Nazis.
They also picketed the 9/11 memorials, with signs that said “Thank God for 9/11,” yet they also demanded that “teh gayz” be punished for causing 9/11.
These slippery little shits use every loophole in the book (or rather, the constitution) to ensure that they can continue their heinous activities.
These parasitic barrels of monkey nuts make me ashamed to not only be American, but a human being. I find some comfort in the parody of the church that was featured in Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Oh NO! This is BIGGER than the Snowden leaks, much bigger
This is pretty important. Really. Please watch this video. https://youtu.be/6lSLks0XaAY
They Won’t Be Able To Deny The Cold, Hard Reality Of What Is Happening To The U.S. Economy Much Longer
by Michael They are trying really hard to convince all of us that everything is just fine. But close to one-fifth of the U.S. population is skipping meals because food prices are too high. And nearly 40 percent of our small businesses couldn’t pay rent in October. Our leaders are trying to put a positive spin on things, but the truth is that we are witnessing a tremendous amount of economic suffering all over the United States right now. The core consumer price index just surged to “the highest level since 1982”, and this is putting an enormous amount of financial stress on American families and businesses. This week, I was stunned to learn that a survey that was just released found that 37 percent of all small businesses in the United States could not pay rent last month…
The survey of 4,789 randomly selected small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than six months ago.If you go back seven months, the majority said their rents had increased by at least 20 percent.Moreover, the study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses – almost half of all Americans working in the private sector – were left unable to pay rent in October.
Prior to getting this news, if someone had asked me to guess the percentage of small businesses that are currently unable to pay rent, I would have responded with a figure that was far lower. So often, things turn out to be even worse than I thought they were. If those small businesses continue to be unable to pay rent, they will eventually be forced to shut down. So what will our communities look like if millions of small businesses suddenly close up shop on a permanent basis? Meanwhile, a different survey has discovered that 18 percent of Americans are now skipping meals because food prices have become so crazy…
Over the last 12 months, nearly two in five American households (40%) received food or goods from a food bank (22% for Millennials), and the same amount (17%) stopped buying healthier foods (organic or high-priced healthy foods).Nearly one in five Americans (18%) say they skipped meals or didn’t buy groceries due to high inflation (including 28% of Gen Z and 23% of millennials).
Skipping meals can be a positive thing, because fasting is actually really good for your health. But most of these Americans are not skipping meals for the health benefits. In addition, the same survey found that many Americans are not taking medications or seeing their doctors because prices have gone up so much…
Many have cancelled or postponed plans in the past 12 months to see a specialist (14%), take a prescribed medication (10%) or get an annual physical (11%) due to high inflation.
If things are this bad already, what will those numbers look like next year at this time when economic conditions are significantly worse? The American people are going to become increasingly frustrated as our standard of living continues to plunge. All of us have to eat, and so many of the products that so many of us buy on a regular basis have gone up dramatically in price…
A year ago, a bag of potato chips at the grocery store cost an average of $5.05. These days, that bag costs $6.05. A dozen eggs that could have been picked up for $1.83 now average $2.90. A two-liter bottle of soda that cost $1.78 will now set you back $2.17.
Sadly, this is just the beginning. Even though the Federal Reserve has declared war on inflation, food prices are going to continue to rise for a variety of reasons. And as the cost of living keeps becoming more oppressive, more American families are going to struggle to make it from month to month. Even now, nearly two-thirds of the entire country is currently living paycheck to paycheck…
As rising prices continue to outpace wage gains, families are finding less cushion in their monthly budget.As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report — near the 64% historic high hit in March. A year ago, the number of adults who felt strained was closer to 57%.“Consumers are not able to keep up with the pace that inflation is increasing,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer.
The worse things get, the more we will see people clamoring for the federal government to help them. In fact, one recent survey actually discovered that 63 percent of all U.S. voters are in favor of “inflation stimulus payments”…
A recent poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans are proponents of the federal government sending out inflation stimulus payments.About 63% of eligible U.S. voters expressed some degree of support for federal inflation relief checks being distributed, the Newsweek poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed. Of those who agreed the federal government should do so, 42% indicated they “strongly agree” while 21% said “agree,” according to the poll.
Sadly, most voters don’t seem to understand that sending out more stimulus checks would create even more inflation. There is always a cost when the government gives out “free money”. If our politicians would have exercised discipline over the past several years, we would not be in the mess that we are in today. But now years of very bad decisions are catching up with us in a major way, and economic conditions are rapidly deteriorating. At this point, the vast majority of the U.S. population can see this. According to one recent Gallup survey, a whopping two-thirds of all Americans believe that economic conditions in this nation are getting worse. So many people are talking about the possibility of a recession in 2023. If all we have is a recession next year, we would be extremely fortunate. Because right now the economy is starting to crack and crumble all around us, and the outlook for the months ahead is exceedingly bleak indeed. .
What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?
1. 1+1 = 3 if you don’t use the condom.
2. Alcohol increase size of the “SEND” button by 89%.
3. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
4. Sometimes we create our own heartbreaks through expectations.
5. Life is too short to be with the wrong person.
6. Just because you love them, it doesn’t mean they’re right for you.
7. Feelings that come back are feelings that never left.
Please enjoy this video to get the feeling of what it is like in China right now. It is the New Years Eve. It’s a special time; a magical time. This video captures it exactly. Please enjoy.
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.
The following is the full text of the late 1970’s paperback book titled “Someone else is on the moon”, by George Leonard. It is provided here for free in PDF format.
Few people noticed the secret codewords used by our astronauts to describe the moon. Until now, few knew about the strange moving lights they reported.
George H. Leonard, former NASA scientist, fought through the official veil of secrecy and studied thousands of NASA photographs, spoke candidly with dozens of NASA officials, and listened to hours and hours of astronauts' tapes.
Here, Leonard presents the stunning and inescapable evidence discovered during his in-depth investigation:
-Immense mechanical rigs, some over a mile long, working the lunar surface.
-Strange geometric ground markings and symbols.
-Lunar constructions several times higher than anything built on Earth.
-Vehicles, tracks, towers, pipes, conduits, and conveyor belts running in and across moon craters.
Somebody else is indeed on the Moon, and engaged in activities on a massive scale. Our space agencies, and many of the world's top scientists, have known for years that there is intelligent life on the moon.
"An extremely convincing case the moon has life on it - an intelligent race that probably moved in from outside the solar system..." -UFO Report
"Leonard's photos are truly mind-boggling..." -Publisher's Weekly
This is an interesting book. I can tell you that. I believe that I read it back when I was in College. Not that I was assigned books to read, like the rest of my friends. My courses were all heavy mathematics and physics. So to unwind, I would read all sorts of paper-books. And this was one such book.
It’s a great fun read, and he’s a searcher who has stumbled across some uncomfortable truths got got him ridiculed. Well, so what?
To download the book click on the link below…
I am going to put this article in my Type-1 Greys sub index because I really don’t know where else to put it.
