There’s an outlet mall outside of Plainville, Massachusetts. It’s a big sprawling site. Impressive. It’s called Wrentham Village Outlets.
It’s a nice place, and everyone knows about it.
What they don’t know is that before it was built, it was a quiet country RV campground, and it was beautiful.
Here’s what it was like.
Large boulders all over the place and these stands of ash trees everywhere. When I first moved to Massachusetts, I stayed at that RV park. And my kitty cats loved the place. They would lay sunning themselves on the rocks or the picnic tables.
Well, here’s what happened.
Sometime in the late 1990’s there was this wealthy family that owned a lot of the land in Wrentam and Plainville, MA. As they were getting older, they decided to sell their land holds to real estate developers. And then they moved to Florida.
Meanwhile, once they skedaddled, the developers had the land rezoned and a outlet mall went up, a water park went up and there were plans for poor welfare housing and other things, until the town collectively put it’s foot down and stopped the abuse. But they couldn’t stop the mall, and thus the mall came into being.
It’s all forgotten right now.
One greedy person can make life Hell for the rest of us.
Today…
Have you ever tried to fire someone and it backfired?
I have seen this one , it Includes a lot of schadenfreude.
Long story be warned.
Company I use to work for had this very senior engineer let’s call him Claudio.
Claudio had been with the company before it was the monster that it is now, he started as machine operator in the late 70’s got his degree in mechanical engineer got a ton of training. It is insane the amount of knowledge he has , as matter of fact his c.v is several pages long.
He had survived mergers, acquisitions and was instrumental in the success of the company, by the time I met him he was the old fox in the hen house.
Well with time Claudio got tired of being on the field , all that traveling and visiting clients was taking a toll on him, he wanted a desk job.
Of course the company obliged, they created a position for him.. head of instrument maintenance or something like that.
For a couple of years he assigned field service engineers all around Europe to service, repair and maintain the company’s instruments, he had no boss and everything was wonderful.
One day someone decided that his department was so big and such an instrumental part of the company that he needed a boss.. a VP of something.
Now this VP was an asshole, he wanted to leave his mark and started bumping heads with Claudio…
Claudio usually didn’t give a f…and just ignored the VP and kept on doing his job…
VP would say do this …Claudio would respond no that’s stupid , or no we can’t do that because it would be illegal , or no because it’s not in the specs…you get the drift…
After some time the VP got fed up and together with the head of HR and a couple of lackeys called Claudio to the big office and told him shape up do what we say or consider yourself fired.
Claudio just nodded and said , I guess I’m fired then.. got his stuff and left the office.
Couple of weeks later Claudio was at the employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal after X amount of years and wanted his pound of flesh, this is in the E.U so labor laws are super tight (sorry my American brothers) here you cannot just be fired..
Welp, monster company rounds the wagons around the VP and HR and send the lawyer team after Claudio.
To make the already long story short Claudio got himself a lawyer as well, his lawyer was this grumpy ,wrinkled old lady that smoked like a chimney and looked like a mix between a retired theater professor and miss Havisham.
So before going to the labor board or a trial ?(not sure its exact name) ,both parties must get together for a kind of arbitration to determine if something can be done.
Both parties gather together , the big lawyers at one side with the VP and the head of HR of monster company and Claudio with good old Miss Havisham.
The monster company presents his case ..Claudio was fired with reason for not doing his job..bla bla when pushed about examples and what prompted the firing the big lawyers claimed failing to follow procedure on the scheduled maintenance on the instruments around Europe…
Miss Havisham asks if they can provide the manuals and l instructions for the maintenance and repairs of said instruments…
Big lawyers of course have them after all they came prepared, they point to a box of sitting next to them.
Miss Havisham ask them to pick one at Random and open the second page and read the author of said manual…
One of the lawyers does and freezes when he reads the name of the author…open another one and another ..all the same …
Author on all manuals Claudio
Miss Havisham says , so let me get the straight you fired this man for not following procedure on manuals that he created in equipment that he built ?? After some shock on the big lawyers side, she said that they will step outside for a cigarette and when they come back they better have something better to say..
When they come back in , the company is very apologetic and want to come to agreement..
The company in a show of good faith offer a pretty good deal to Claudio…
Miss Havisham claims it is not enough and wants more… company says they are not going to get a better deal even if they go to the labor tribunal, they will certainly not get something better.
Miss Havisham, like the bad ass she is says: we are going out for another smoke if you can’t do better we will go to court, after win this case – because we will with ease- it becomes a public matter, all the customers know Claudio and know the quality of his work , they also know that the maintenance for the past couple of months have not been done properly, customers are reaching out, complaining about wrong readings, wrong results, and equipment shutdown, I don’t know if you are aware that most of the customers are university’s and government, they have big pockets and they love to go after breach of contracts… I’m sure you will be hearing from them as soon as the verdict on our favor comes out…
So they step out again.
When they came back in , monster company had a monster settlement for Claudio.
Now this story is beautiful right ?
It does not ended there
Skip 6 moths… Claudio gets a call, all around E.U instruments are failing and they are having a lot of trouble keeping the customers happy, FSE resigning and being replaced by young inexperienced people, it has gotten so bad that a ranking government official has personally placed a call to the CEO of monster company, they have several governmental departments not able to function properly as the instruments are giving wrong results, all from mining operations to police labs… CEO promises solutions.
So CEO places a call to Claudio, hey old chum, whats going on? Claudio tells him the whole story about VP and HR and the Arbitration…
CEO is shocked as he was not aware of the situation and tells Claudio he will hear back from him.
Couple of days later Claudio is back at old company for a meeting, CEO sent a special right person for the meeting, all pleasantry ,sorry about the mistake ,bla bla it was a misunderstanding , it will never happen again, can you please come back.
Sure… Claudio states his conditions, freedom to hire any of his old FSE and in case HR is needed it will handled by a third party, he answers only to the CEO and a prevision that states he can only be fired by the board, he keeps all the money from the settlement, he does not want to see or have any interaction with Head of HR or VP if they so much as speak to him he walks, and they have no say or interaction on how he handles his department, he wants it all written down in a very air tight contract, that of course will reviewed by Miss Havisham
Company gladly agrees on all terms, Head of HR left “for better opportunity” VP is still VP of something but has no one under him on the organization chart, he is the joke of the company, you can see him run away and hide when he sees Claudio.
Reuben Noodle Bake
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 8 ounces egg noodles, uncooked
- 5 ounces corned beef, thinly sliced
- 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can sauerkraut with caraway seeds
- 2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup Thousand Island salad dressing
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
- 2 slices pumpernickel bread
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- Red onion slices (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Drain sauerkraut and rinse under cold water. Drain well and set aside.
- Cook noodles according to package directions until al dente; drain.
- Meanwhile, cut corned beef into bite-size pieces.
- Combine noodles, corned beef, sauerkraut and cheese in large bowl. Pour into prepared dish.
- Combine dressing, milk and mustard in small bowl. Spoon dressing mixture evenly over noodle mixture.
- Tear bread into large pieces. Process in food processor or blender until crumbs are formed.
- Combine bread crumbs and butter in small bowl; sprinkle evenly over casserole.
- Bake, uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes or until heated through.
- Garnish with red onion, if desired.
With another school shooting in USA today, have they ever considered a new approach to deal with it? Amend the constitution to outlaw the possession of firearms. How difficult & what level of authority would be required to achieve that? Referendum?
I see you’re a European. I’ll be happy to explain some basic civics, and perhaps some cultural insights as well.
38/50 states would have to ratify such an amendment. It’s difficult for good reason.
And then you’d have to kill a large chunk of the population to make it stick, even if you were to get it as a law.
I’m a nurse by temperament and training. I’m generally a rule follower even when the rules are stupid.
I’m also a veteran. I learned lots of interesting things in the Army.
But i won’t comply. I won’t register anything, and it’s for damned certain I won’t hand anything over.
This is the point where you ask me if I’m willing to die over it. But that’s not really the right question. The right question is whether I’m willing to kill over it. How do i convince you by mere communication so that we can avoid having to demonstrate it?
If you come to take it, my working assumption is that you’ve come to kill me, or worse, and I’ll respond accordingly. By which I mean immediate and lethal force.
Or better yet, when it becomes evident that you will be coming to kill me, I’ll come find you first.
No, we’re going to have to solve the violence problem in our culture by some means other than forcible disarmament. You won’t be getting any new laws. In fact, we’re going to throw out a sizeable chunk of existing law. I’ll be keeping my firearms. Every last one of them. There’s really not a damn thing you can do about it.
Come take it
What’s it like to be stuck in a foreign country without being able to leave?
I was stuck in India for about a year without being able to leave.
When my wife was pregnant I went to the local Foreigner Regional Registration Office and was told that we should be fine overstaying our visas by a few weeks (to allow her more rest after labor) if I brought in a note from the doctor and the birth certificate.
She gave birth, and I did what they said.
“Okay. Now you must wait,” they said. Fair enough.
I called every week but every time was told that the permits we would need in order to leave were not ready.
In the meantime I cancelled our non-refundable AirAsia flight.
After a couple of months, it was clear that we were not going to get our permits to leave anytime soon.
“Your case had been forwarded to the central government in Delhi,” I was told by the office. “We can’t do anything for you.”
“Oh… Then what do I do now? Who can I talk to?”
“You can’t talk to them. You have to wait…”
Wow.
And so we lived in a state of limbo and uncertainty for many months, moving from house to house with a small baby because we didn’t know when we would leave.
Our families were worried. It was horrible. I got in touch with the US embassy but that didn’t help.
Finally, a friend introduced me to a friend of his, a man who worked for the government. He pulled some strings, and after a couple of weeks we had our exit permits.
I cannot describe the relief I felt. It’s like being in a place you love, but being trapped there. The place becomes a prison, and you don’t know when you’ll be able to leave. And there’s no sentence which tells you how long your imprisonment will last. You just have to wait. In my case, it was a year. Twelve months.
I thanked the man a gazillion times, and soon we were out of India. Phew.
China’s Diplomacy, Geopolitics, Defense
By the great Godfree Roberts
Diplomacy
“China’s overall strategy is not to collide head-on but to maintain strategic composure and, by continuously enhance its strength, exhaust the opponent’s power, thereby increasing its comprehensive control over the USA… This comprehensive control is not merely the combined use of control over land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace in traditional warfare but a competition for comprehensive dominance in areas like trade, industrial technology, finance, and cognitive warfare in an ‘unrestricted total war’ (无边界总体战)… China’s strategic thinking differs from the West, not resembling the confrontational approach of chess but the long-term game of Go—in which strategic advantage is built over time through a dynamic balance of power.”
Australian Ambassador Ross Garnaut: “America would be damaged by war with China over the status of Taiwan, but, short of a major nuclear exchange debilitating both great powers, its sovereignty would not be at risk. Australia’s would be. Indeed, I doubt that Australia could survive as a sovereign entity the isolation from most of Asia that would be likely to follow anything other than a decisive and quick US victory in a war in which our military was engaged”.
The National Endowment for Democracy: What It Is and What It Does. The Foreign Ministry says the NED acts as the U.S. government’s “white gloves,” subverting state power, meddling in other countries’ internal affairs, inciting division and confrontation, misleading public opinion, and conducting ideological infiltration—all under the guise of promoting democracy.
The Zimbabwe president visiting BYD Headquarters and realized that heads of African states are in China for the 9th FOCAC (Forum on China–Africa Cooperation). I spent a long time looking at the current state of China & Africa Cooperation. Let’s take a look at what I found.
NED has long colluded with anti-China forces, including Jimmy Lai. In 2020, the NED set up multiple projects related to Hong Kong in its funding list, totalling more than $310,000, to provide support for the Hong Kong rioters. In 2023, the NED collaborated with the British NGO “Hong Kong Watch” and Amnesty International, as well as anti-China politicians in the U.S., U.K. and Germany, to nominate Jimmy Lai for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.
America is, geopolitically, trying to punch China at one end of the bar, and getting punched 30 times before it can get there. Their military is too weak to take the field in Russia, their Navy is too weak to beat Yemen and their Air Force can only bomb innocents and misses the heroes of Hamas entirely. America is an old drunk brawler, covered in blood and piss and just embarrassing itself. Its current military strategy makes as much sense as Scarface’s home security. Scarface died so coked up that his body kept firing. That’s America right now, braindead and running on pure muscle memory.
An NHK (Japan’s national broadcaster) announcer told his audience, “The Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times. I protest NHK’s historical revisionism and unprofessional work behavior.” He continued in English:”Don’t forget the Nanjing Massacre, don’t forget the comfort women, they were sex slaves during the war. Don’t forget Unit 731.” NHK fired the Chinese employee of 22 years and threatened him with criminal charges.
Geopolitics
The largest tanker ever on Russia’s Northern Sea Route, the 164,565 dwt Prisma, carrying a million barrels of oil, departed from the Baltic port of Ust-Luga on August 10 and will reach Tianjin in 35 days–compared to 45 days for the Suez Canal and 55 days via the Cape of Africa.
Constructing the new Funan Techo Canal, Cambodia: 10 km completed by 17th. day. The Chinese contractor sent 2,500 large machines to work day and night. The US took 10yrs to build the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914, and which is 100km shorter than the Techo Canal. The Techo Canal is estimated to cost $1.7B. The Panama Canal cost $8.6B in 2024 dollars.
The recent, abortive color revolution in Thailand coincides with the stunning success of the hastily staged color revolution in Bangladesh and the fall of the Myanmar army’s Northeast Command in Lashio to the MNDAA. American and British “volunteers” have been fighting the Myanmar military though Myanmar has not experienced seen a wave of international volunteers like Ukraine or Syria.
In the past six years, 250 US scientists – most of Asian descent – have been identified as having failed to disclose overlapping funding or research in China, or having broken other rules. There were only two indictments and three convictions as legal outcomes of those investigations, yet 112 scientists lost their jobs as a result.
Türkiye has formally applied to join BRICS. Türkiye seeks to enhance its global influence and establish new alliances beyond its traditional Western partners, according to Bloomberg BRICS members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, UAE, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia.
China has party secretaries aboard oceangoing vessels. This report focuses on the ship political commissar, a Party representative assigned to oceangoing merchant ships, particularly within state-owned shipping enterprises, to carry out political and administrative work in the management of ship crews.
Serbia should pick BRICS over Brussels, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has said in an interview with Russian media. The largest republic of the former Yugoslavia applied for EU membership in 2009 and has been a candidate since 2012, but the bloc has recently demanded recognition of the breakaway province of Kosovo as a condition for membership. “BRICS does not ask anything of Serbia and offers more than we could want. The EU asks of us everything, and I’m no longer sure what it has to offer. We see BRICS as an opportunity and an alternative. Serbia is very closely investigating all the possibilities presented by BRICS and closer cooperation with its member states.” According to Vulin, Serbia is expecting an official invitation to the BRICS October summit in Kazan, Russia.
The footprints of the two global economic power blocs were roughly equal in 2020. China and its BRICS allies are increasingly the world economy’s richest bloc. Nothing prepared the populations of Western capitalism for this changed reality or its effects. Especially the sections of those populations already forced to absorb the costly burdens of Western capitalism’s decline feel betrayed, abandoned, and angry. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza testify to that denial and exemplify the costly strategic mistakes it produces.
“The battleground won’t be in the Global South, where the US has very much lost to China, especially in Africa and Latin America. It won’t be in the Indo-Pacific either, where few countries want to take sides. It will be in Europe, where the US has most of its allies and where China is the largest trading partner. Even if America’s decline is gradual, it cannot afford a global military presence.That Europe takes China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival at the same time says more about Europe’s confusion about China than what China really is.
Defense
China launches its first nuclear-powered guided missile submarine, the Type 093B, …
What is the goriest thing you have seen in real life?
I was an Office Manager for a collision repair center for a few years. We had a Mitsubishi Montero towed in from a bad accident that sat over a hot weekend.
The smell was awful. The spare tire was missing from the back. Pieces of teeth, tissue and bone were stuck on it. Lots of flies. The car had a suitcase, computer and other property in it.
We were told by the insurance agent that the car belonged to a long time customer who fell in love with a girl in the Philippines right out of school. He could not afford to bring her with him when he moved to California. He worked two jobs for a few years and saved money to bring her to the state to marry her.
He picked her up from the airport. She was excited! Never been to California before. They blew a tire on the freeway. She was pacing behind him on her cell phone talking to his sister. He removed the spare from the back of the car and was on his knees taking it off when a drunk driver going 65 mph hit them.
The drunk drivers car had struck her, pushed her into him and smashed his head near the spare tire holder on the back of the car. He died instantly. Pieces of his skull, jaw bone & teeth were pressed into the vehicle. She however was still alive and on the phone. She remained alive for a long time while rescue efforts continued. She died when the other drivers car was removed.
Her luggage was in the car. Her parents where flying out to collect her things. The receptionist and I had to remove her things and make a list for them. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
This Sea Is the Most Mysterious in the World
Why are China, Japan and Korea so successful economically but Vietnam is not, when they should have more with their geopolitics? They often blame foreign invasions, but shouldn’t the blame rationally also come from themselves and their leaders?
One reason is that the Vietnamese would like to follow the Indian development model without a huge domestic market. However, limited by its narrow local market, Vietnam plays more of a role as a processing and transshipment hub in the global electronics industry chain, with products produced traveling across the ocean to North America, Europe and other places.
Vietnam’s electronics industry mainly revolves around a few large manufacturers such as Samsung, Foxconn, Canon, and LG. Among them, Samsung has invested the most in Vietnam. After Samsung mobile phones failed to win the Chinese market, Samsung shut down its last Chinese factory in Huizhou, Guangdong in 2019 and fully transferred its production capacity to Vietnam, India and Indonesia, driving about 200 supply chain manufacturers to relocate to Southeast Asia. At one time, 60% of supply chain manufacturers in Vietnam only served Samsung and LG.
As of the end of 2021, Samsung’s total investment in Vietnam reached US$17.74 billion. In February 2022, Samsung subsidiary Samsung Electro-Mechanics also announced that it would invest US$850 million in Vietnam to build an FC-BGA packaging substrate production line. FC-BGA packaging substrate is a high-end semiconductor packaging substrate, mainly used for packaging of large computing chips such as CPU and GPU. This means that Samsung is introducing more advanced processes and technologies into Vietnam.
Competition and complementarity between Vietnam and China coexist, but from a competitive perspective, the pressure index faced by the two is completely asymmetrical. It can be said that China has an absolute advantage. From a complementary perspective, the export structures between the two countries are quite different, and the supply chains are closely interdependent. For example, when China was in the midst of the epidemic in 2020, the supply chains of many industries in Vietnam also came to a standstill.
Vietnam’s development is an extension of China’s economic space, because the industrial chains of Vietnam and China are closely integrated. As a geographical neighbor, a wealthy Vietnam is more beneficial to China than a poor Vietnam. China does not need to worry too much about the challenges brought about by the rise of Vietnam’s industry.
Vietnam’s labor cost advantage is gradually fading. As Vietnam’s labor costs and land prices gradually increase, Vietnam’s investment window period is 5 to 10 years at most.
Whether in Vietnam or India, outsiders need to abide by a set of rules. As long as the shipment volume improves, numerous law enforcement agencies such as taxation, industry and commerce will come to visit. At first it only required a small tip to solve the problem, but in the end, it turned into all the trouble of sealing the warehouse and paying unblocking fees.
Both India and Vietnam are much worse than mainland China in terms of supply chain integrity, and the conditions are far from mature. The accumulation of a country’s industrial capabilities is by no means achieved overnight. It takes time and a bit of luck. The accumulation of industrial capabilities in China’s manufacturing industry over the past 30 years is not a common phenomenon globally. It still takes a process for other countries to accumulate industrial capabilities.
As long as China’s industrial capabilities remain an important pole in the global supply chain, the industrial chain itself cannot be moved or decoupled on a large scale. China’s greatest advantage is the world’s largest consumer market. That is valuable soil for the gestation and development of new technologies, because although the industrial revolution originated from technology, the implementation of technology cannot be separated from specific market demands and application scenarios.
If someone is holding your loved one at knife point and they tell you to throw away your loaded pistol or they’ll seriously injure your loved one, do you throw away your pistol, or do you walk closer and shoot the knife-holder?
You never put down your gun.
That is Hollywood nonsense. If someone is holding a hostage, cops never surrender their weapon. Doing so turns the cop or whomever is responding into just another victim. You can read numerous answers by real cops to the effect here.
Would the police drop their weapons if someone is held at gunpoint?
Now me personally? Oh fuck no.
Him: Drop the gun or she’s dead!
Me: Son, you catastrophically misunderstand the situation you’ve put yourself in. Right now, she’s the only thing keeping you alive. There is no way in heaven or hell I’m putting my gun down, and if you hurt her I will kill you. No ifs ands or buts. I’m sure the coroner will explain to the judge how you tripped and fell face-first onto a pile of .45ACP bullets. Put the knife down, and you may just survive this.
Now, I can reliably hit a clay pigeon out to 25 yards. If we’re within that distance, I don’t need to get closer to shoot him in the face. Farther out…yeah, I’m less sure of that shot. Unless I have a rifle.
Bottom line, you never ever put your gun down. That’s just a good way to get both of you murdered. Make sure the bad guy understands he’s in a might-die/will-die situation. If he leaves her be, he might die. He might get arrested. He might escape. But if he hurts her, he will die.
Interesting
Don’t know if this was posted here previously, from “Globalism is Economic Slavery” on one of those websites b doesn’t like too much because their articles generate endless controversy. Its the life the West looks forward to.
He has never owned anything. He rents his bedroom, his furnishings, and his meager entertainments. Each month, a digital account associated with his digital ID receives a number of central bank digital currency units. How much he receives depends upon the number of hours he works at his government job, how much the government values his work, how much the government taxes him for the privilege of using public infrastructure, and how much of his income the government decides should be redistributed to other citizens in need. After taxes, rents, utilities, and other assorted municipal, state, federal, and international fees are deducted from his earnings, he has little — if any — discretionary income. If he chooses to save that income to invest in his future, the government informs him that his central bank digital currency units disappear within ninety days. If he tries to purchase something that the government has banned, he forfeits what he currently has. If he does something that the government deems contrary to his well-being, his social credit score decreases, and a fraction of his discretionary income disappears. Every few weeks, a digital doctor (running on artificial intelligence) appears on the video screen in his apartment with a detailed list of all the “unhealthy” things he has done since their last interaction. He is informed that a portion of his temporary savings will be redistributed to citizens with healthier habits. His A.I. health monitor tells him that he must immediately report to the closest pharmaceutical distribution center so that he can be injected with the latest “vaccines.” Failure to do so will result in the deactivation of all electronic entertainment devices and a permanent mark on his social credit record. He is unhappy, and because the State’s A.I. supervisor has detected his unhappiness, the display monitor in his apartment encourages him to find personal meaning by “joining the fight against global warming.” For a while, he does just that. He attends community meetings in his apartment building where government officials talk about the importance of “saving the planet” by “owning nothing.” He chats with anonymous strangers (bots?) on the State’s social media platform, and they all agree that the sacrifices they’re making to save the world are definitely worth it. He wakes up one morning to discover that his social credit score has risen and that he has been rewarded with a few extra central bank digital currency units. Still, our future man remains unhappy. Then one day sirens blare, and his apartment monitor flashes with breaking news: the country is at war. He listens intently but can’t figure out which foreign nations are attacking. The trusted news anchors tell him that peace, prosperity, and freedom are all at risk. He steps outside his tiny apartment to find other solitary renters fired up and talking excitedly about the battles to come. He walks back inside to find his A.I. supervisor informing him that he has been personally selected to protect the homeland from its enemies. For the first time in many years, our future man feels alive. He soon finds himself in boot camp, where he enjoys regular exercise, discipline, and camaraderie. Six months later, he and his new friends are shipped overseas. Strangely, in all this time, nobody has explained whom they will actually be fighting. All he knows is that they’re at war with “the authoritarians” who wish to “take our democracy.” There is anticipation in his camp and endless talk of adventure. Then, when everyone least expects it, a thunderous swarm of drones attacks from overhead. Nobody has time to react. Explosions seem to come from out of nowhere. He sees the bodies of his friends torn to pieces. Then everything goes dark. He awakes in a hospital severely injured, is called a hero, and is later sent home. When he arrives, he notices breadlines outside the government’s genetically engineered food distribution centers. He hears a beggar on the street joke that they should call them “insect-lines,” since that’s all there is to eat. He learns that someone else has moved into his old apartment, but he is offered a new one because of his military service. It is smaller and has even fewer furnishings than the one he lost. He realizes that most of his former neighbors never returned from war and that many of the newcomers now living in their apartments look and sound like those people he was told to fight overseas. Nothing makes sense. His injuries torment him. He feels even more lost and lonely than before he went to war. His A.I. supervisor informs him that he has been added to a list of people considered “potential domestic terrorists.” Remaining on this list will make it hard for him to work and live. Then, one day, his digital doctor asks if he would like some assistance in ending his life peacefully. “You can save others,” he is told, “by permanently reducing your carbon footprint.” In agony, he wonders, “How did we get here?”
Posted by: gT | Sep 4 2024 6:38 utc | 4
If two Colonels are in the same room who has the highest rank. Who is in charge?
I witnessed a situation in the late ‘60’s while stationed at West Point New York, at the United States Military Academy, that hit this nail squarely on the head.
Two lowly butter bars ( recently commissioned 2nd Lts.) were called into the office of their CO of a combat engineer company that supported the cadet program there.
It seemed a family emergency necessitated the CO’s absence for a few days. That meant one of the Lt’s would assume command and this no pre-notice meeting was to announce the leave and change of command, and as it turned out, the reasons why.
The later arriving of the two Lt’s was a little older than his first arriving Lt. buddy. Other differences seemed to be life’s experiences, aggression, decision making initiative, civilian education and more.
The CO, thinking the differences, openly apparent to all, would cause problems when the lesser of the two was selected to take over, was the reason for the meet. He wanted to avoid any animus between the two Lt’s and any other problems that might cause in the company during his absence.
The CO, a brilliant man, was a West Point grad, a RVN vet of a harsh year, and held two graduate degrees. In other words, on the fast track for a career officer.
He explained, quite unnecessarily, that the later arriving Lt. would have been his choice to assume command but it was the other that was to have the position.
The date of rank (commission) was the determining factor in this instance and except for promotions was the usual order of things, where two, or more, of the same rank were in the picture.
He explained that the date of rank was the Army Protocol for determining seniority of two officers of the same rank. The two Lts. Looked at each other and broke into laughter. The two good friends could have cared less who was in the barrel for however long it was to take. Both were anxious to return to civilian life ASAP.
The Capt., also friendly with both in off duty time, joined in the amusement and just added. “I didn’t want to create any hard feelings!” It didn’t and I couldn’t have given a hoot less because my buddy Bill was designated the acting CO.
“No one is ready for what’s COMING this Fall” Gerald Celente warns
What was the most inappropriate thing that happened to you at university?
I had a professor who was from India and he had a superiority complex about being from India. He thought very little of Americans and never hesitated to tell students how they were inferior to people from India.
This professor would ask impossible three question tests. The questions would be something like, recite verbatim page 93 of your textbook without looking in the book.
After everyone would fail the test because passing was absolutely impossible for everyone, he would see each student individually ostensibly to discuss their grade.
He would make male students grovel and beg and he would sexually harass female students.
The first time this happened to me I told him he could just give me a minimum of a, “B” grade and he could pull his bullshit on the other students. If he did not agree with this, I told him I would make him regret that decision.
He did not agree so I went to the Dean of Students and explained the situation. T
he Dean of Students gave me the speech about college is about learning to get along with people and perhaps I had problems with the professor but other students did not.
I told the Dean he was wrong and I would prove it to him.
I requested the Dean to be in his office on Friday at 1:00 pm and he agreed. At the end of class, I got up and said, “Anyone who thinks this professor is an asshole, follow me and I will fix it.”
The entire class followed me to the Dean’s office.
The Dean was of course shocked and shocked to hear of the harassment of the students.
The Dean talked to the professor and assumed the matter was settled.
The next class the jackass professor immediately stated, “You ratted me out to the Dean, now I am going to fail everyone.”
I got up and told everyone in the class to get up and follow me to the Dean’s office (and they did).
That time he was threatened with immediate termination.
I went back and told the jackass, remember when I told you that you could just give me a minimum of a, “B” and play your games with the rest of the students?
Now I bet you wish you had.
Do not ever attempt to cross me. That put him in his place. He was later terminated for sexual harassment.
Shorpy
Russia Is Literally Threatening Us With World War III, But Most People In The Western World Don’t Seem To Care
The Russians just told us again that the world could soon be facing nuclear war if western powers don’t stop escalating the conflict in Ukraine, but this is yet another warning that has gone in one ear and out the other. The Russians can talk about nuclear war until they are blue in the face, but nothing that they say is going to sink in, because our leaders simply do not care. They are entirely convinced that the Russians will never use nuclear weapons, and so they are not afraid to keep pushing the Russians closer to a breaking point. When the Russians finally reach their breaking point, what will they do?
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been playing this game for decades, and he always chooses his words very carefully.
So when he publicly brings up the possibility of nuclear war, that is a really big deal. The following comes from an article that was posted on Yahoo News entitled “Russia warns the United States of the risks of World War Three”…
“We are now confirming once again that playing with fire – and they are like small children playing with matches – is a very dangerous thing for grown-up uncles and aunts who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.
“Americans unequivocally associate conversations about Third World War as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will affect Europe exclusively,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov added that Russia was “clarifying” its nuclear doctrine.
Obviously the Russians do not want a nuclear war.
But unlike the U.S., the Russians have been feverishly preparing to fight one. Today, their strategic nuclear arsenal and their anti-missile systems are far superior to our own.
Most Americans don’t realize this.
I have been writing about this for years, but most people in the western world are not interested in such warnings.
And the Russians also very clearly understand that whoever strikes first will have the best chance of surviving a nuclear conflict.
Over and over, the Russians have made it clear that they would very much prefer to avoid using nuclear weapons.
But the Russians have also told us over and over that if they are pushed too far they will use them.
Right now, the Russians are extremely angry. We saw more evidence of this when they just launched the largest air assault on Ukraine since the war started…
Russia launched a “massive” missile and drone attack aimed at energy infrastructure across Ukraine at the start of the week, marking the biggest air assault since the war began, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow has since followed that with a second wave of strikes early Tuesday morning.
Monday’s onslaught, which killed at least seven people and caused power outages in several cities, marked Russia’s “most massive air attack” in more than two-and-a-half years of conflict, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.
The reason why the Russians are so angry is due to Ukraine’s surprise invasion of Russia’s lightly populated Kursk region…
Three weeks ago, Ukraine’s military launched a stunning operation to take the war in Ukraine back onto the territory of the country that launched it. Three weeks later, the Ukrainians still occupy hundreds of miles of territory in Russia’s western Kursk region.
The incursion had a number of goals: to force Russia to divert its forces from Ukraine to defend its own towns and cities; to seize territory that might later be used for bargaining leverage in peace negotiations; and to send a political message to the Russian people and their leaders that they are not safe from the consequences of the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin nearly two-and-a-half years ago.
Unfortunately for Ukraine, the Russians did not divert assets from eastern Ukraine to defend Kursk.
Instead, the Russians have continued to move forward steadily in eastern Ukraine, and now they are closing in on the key city of Pokrovsk…
And that means Russia’s eastern offensive, which kicked off last fall and widened around the New Year, has continued unimpeded through August. The consequences for Ukraine’s defensive campaign in the east have been dire.
In essence, Russia is trading Kursk for part of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine is trading part of the east for Kursk. Whether either tradeoff is worth it is a political question—and one without an easy answer for either side.
The drumbeat of recent Russian advances east of Pokrovsk, northwest of Donetsk, should sound like an alarm in Kyiv. On Friday, Russian infantry marched into Novohrodivka, seven miles east of Pokrovsk.
Ukraine sent many of their best units (along with significant numbers of western mercenaries) into Kursk, and so much of the front in eastern Ukraine is now defended by new conscripts that are very poorly trained…
As Kiev attempts to bask in triumph over its territorial gains inside of Russia, its forces are losing territory along the Eastern front lines in Ukraine. Ukrainian military commanders say the reason for the losses is poorly trained soldiers; many are even afraid to fire their weapons.
Speaking with the Associated Press, a battalion commander in Ukraine’s 47th Brigade said, “Some people don’t want to shoot. They see the enemy in the firing position in trenches but don’t open fire. … That is why our men are dying. When they don’t use the weapon, they are ineffective.”
The decision to invade the Kursk region is turning out to be a massive strategic blunder.
The Ukrainians have lost vast numbers of men and vehicles in Kursk, but they aren’t going to be able to hold Russian territory for very long.
Meanwhile, the front in eastern Ukraine is at risk of completely collapsing.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to insist that the invasion of Kursk is part of his “victory plan” which he will soon unveil to Joe Biden…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his troops’ incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is part of a “victory plan” that he will present to US President Joe Biden next month.
Speaking at a forum on Tuesday, President Zelensky said the success of the plan would depend on President Biden and on whether the US would give Ukraine “what is in this plan or not, [and] whether we will be free to use this plan, or not”.
“It may sound too ambitious for some, but it is an important plan for us,” he added, saying that he would also show the plan to both US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The only way that the Ukrainians can possibly achieve victory is to get the U.S. and other western powers directly involved in the conflict.
So far, the Ukrainians have not been able to do that.
But if that does happen at some point, that will bring us literally to the brink of nuclear war.
Sadly, most people have no idea what a nuclear conflict would actually look like.
According to author Annie Jacobsen, the initial blast of one nuclear warhead in Washington D.C. would immediately wipe out everything in a 9 mile diameter…
So with a 1-megaton bomb on Washington, DC, what happens in the very first millisecond is that this thermonuclear flash expands into a ball of fire that is one mile of pure fire. It’s 19 football fields of fire.
Then the fireball’s edges compress into what is called a steeply fronted blast wave — as dense wall of air pushing out, mowing down everything in its path three miles out, in every direction, because it is accompanied by several-hundred-mile-an-hour winds.
It’s like Washington, DC, just got hit by an asteroid and the accompanying wave. When you think about this initial 9-mile diameter ring, imagine every single engineered structure — buildings, bridges, etc. — collapsing.
That is what one nuclear warhead would do.
The Russians have thousands of them.
Millions would die during a full-blown nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia, but billions would potentially die during the nuclear winter that follows…
A Nuclear war would plunge our planet into a deep nuclear winter. In the worst-case scenario, a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and Russia (which together possess nearly 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons) could eject up to 165 million tons (150 million metric tons) of soot into Earth’s atmosphere, reducing surface temperatures by 16 degrees Fahrenheit (9 degrees Celsius) and sending global calorie production plummeting by as much as 90%.
We should do whatever it takes to avoid such a scenario.
If leaders on both sides were sane, they would sit down and try to talk things out while it is still possible to do so.
Unfortunately, neither side is interested in talking at this point, and so we continue to steamroll toward the unthinkable.
Is it possible to relocate a factory out of China due to the trade war between the US and China? If so, where would be the most suitable location for a new manufacturing site?
Only in a politician’s dream.
Modern factories rely on a supply chain. China’s supply chainsare very sophisticated. Related industries are clustered in one city or region. Garment manufacturers have instant access to thread, zippers, fabric, fasteners, and printing and dyeing. They use on time inventory to save time and money. So unless you can built a similar supply chain, you’ll have to import all your supplies from China anyway. And pay more.
In the case of the US, it is a service based economy. 70% of employment is in the service sector. Less than 10% is in manufacturing. Do you think anyone in the service sector wants a factory job? You’d have to play a hefty salary to get anyone to change.
And greed. UAW got a raise to $45 an hour and immediately wanted a 14% raise. That’s going to put the automakers out of business. They need to automate and reduce human labor to compete in the world market.
Politicians in the US got chip companies to move back to the US. Hooray. Raise the flag. But after the chips are made, they’ll get shipped back to China to make phones, laptops and computers.
Political fodder.
What is your take on the US sanctions against Xinjiang enterprises over the alleged use of forced labour?
The United States always lists some Chinese companies on the so-called “Entity List” on the grounds of suspected “forced labor of Uyghurs” and prohibits the import of their products.
Now, the sanctions list has expanded to more than 70 Chinese companies.
This number is not a simple statistic, but reflects a trend: the United States is using economic means to exert political pressure and trying to achieve its strategic goals by attacking Chinese companies.
But whether such an approach can really achieve the desired results is worth our deep consideration.
According to the United States, any goods related to Xinjiang may be considered as products of forced labor and therefore face sanctions.
However, the question is whether there is solid evidence to support this accusation, or is it a malicious frame-up for political purposes?
Xinjiang’s development achievements are obvious to all. The so-called “forced labor” and “genocide” are completely nonsense.
They are lies of the century fabricated by a very small number of anti-China elements. Their purpose is to mess up Xinjiang, discredit China, and curb China’s development.
It is obvious that this is the United States imposing illegal sanctions on Chinese companies under the guise of human rights.
The United States’ serious interference in China’s internal affairs, serious disruption of the normal market order, and serious violation of international trade rules and basic norms of international relations are essentially attempts to create “forced unemployment” in Xinjiang and infringe on the human rights of the vast number of people in Xinjiang in the name of human rights.
The Xinjiang companies sanctioned by the United States for so-called “forced labor” involve Xinjiang’s advantageous industries such as cotton and textiles and clothing, photovoltaic silicon-based, and tomato processing.
These industries play a very important role in promoting high-quality development, solving rural labor employment, and increasing farmers’ income.
You know, if a company’s exports are restricted, many downstream industries will not be able to obtain the necessary raw materials, and the normal operation of the entire industry will be impacted.
This is like a domino effect, one link after another, and in the end, it will not only be these companies that will suffer, but also tens of thousands of employees and families who depend on them for survival.
If the United States really cares about human rights, it should take measures to effectively solve domestic problems such as racial discrimination, gun violence, and drug abuse, rather than treating internal problems externally, interfering in other countries, and imposing sanctions indiscriminately.
Incest Cult Discovered in Backwoods of Australia | The Colt Clan
In the military, have you ever forgotten to salute an officer? Do all of them say something to you or do they let it go?
As a young Marine, I was stationed at NAS Millington (TN) for school. Was walking back to class one day from a medical appointment and I could SEE a Navy guy in khaki walking toward me (our paths were 90 degrees out and we were GOING to intersect).
At the time, I didn’t think to look at the guys shoes. I was scared, pretty freshly out of the heinousness of boot camp and was just desperately just trying to make out whether or not he was an O based on rank insignia.
I could NOT tell, however much I squinted and strained to see. And he was looking… I’m pretty sure he could tell I was mortified and terrified that I’d screw up and embarrass my command/myself.
I was at the point where I was anticipating being stopped and loudly berated and was just beside myself at the thought. Everything went into slo-mo. He was, unexpectedly, SUPER kind though.
He, in an exaggerated motion, turned his head toward me so I could clearly see the Lietenant bars on his cover, saluted me crisply and said “Good afternoon, Marine.”
All with a small smile (no condescension whatsoever) while giving me the opportunity to salute and bark my “Good afternoon, Sir! Thank you!” He never missed a beat.
Was I embarrassed?
Yes, of course!
But that sailor, in that moment was EXACTLY what an officer should be: an example of grace, confidence, leadership, and generosity when appropriate… and I think he knew it.
Have always wondered who he was because he, with that one tiny gesture, had a significant impact on me in a time when I was pretty low and had been targeted and harassed by my own chain of command because I was a bit… different and didn’t quite fit the mold they believed I should fit as a person (not as a Marine, but my personal likes/dislikes/interests). Amazing what tiny acts of generosity and/or kindness can do. I try to live by his example from that day. 🙂
What are common scams in India?
*’NEW HOTEL SCAM!!*
This is one of the smartest scams I have heard about.
You arrive at your hotel and check in at the front desk. Typically when checking in, you give the front desk your credit card (for any charges to your room) and they don’t retain the card.
You go to your room and settle in. All is good.
The hotel receives a call and the caller asks for (as an example) *room 620* – which happens to be your room.
The phone rings in your room. You answer and the person on the other end says the following:
*’This is the front desk. When checking in, we came across a problem with your charge card information.*
*Please re-read me your credit card numbers and verify the last 3 digits numbers at the reverse side of your charge card.’*
Not thinking anything wrong, since the call seems to come from the front desk you oblige. But actually, *it is a scam by someone calling from outside the hotel*. They have asked for a *random room number*, then *ask you for your credit card and address information.*
*They sound so professional, that you think you are talking to the front desk.*
If you ever encounter this scenario on your travels, *tell the caller that you will be down to the front desk to clear up any problems.*
Then, *go to the front desk or call directly and ask if there was a problem.*
If there was none, *inform the manager of the hotel that someone tried to scam you of your credit card information, acting like a front desk employee.*
This was sent by someone who has been duped……..
and is still cleaning up the mess.
Florida Woman Lies About Man Violating Her—Security Footage Reveals Truth!
What’s the most unusual place you’ve ever visited?
Johnston Island. You can’t go there, at least not legally.
It’s about 800 miles SSW of Honolulu, making it roughly 3,000 miles SSW of San Diego.
Good features:
Federal wildlife sanctuary. Birdshit EVERYWHERE. Great if you’re prospecting for birdshit.
No noisy neighbors. Except the birds.
Humans all gone now.
Clear-ass water 90 feet deep in the lagoon. Sharks can be seen, and guys used to catch (and sometimes eat) them.
Bad features:
Used to have a shitload of chemical (and probably biological) warheads stored there. All were incinerated in the 1990s and the incineration facility demolished.
Atomic weapons were launched from there in the early 1960s. Two test shots failed, including one that scattered PLUTONIUM all over the launchpad. They buried the waste, but it is still there. Do Not Visit ‘Mount Pluto,” which is where that stuff is buried.
No facilities. Airstrip decommissioned.
A sailboat sheltered in the atoll some years ago during a hurricane. Better than nothing, they said.
I visited there in 1991 as an Army Photojournalist. We repatriated our chemical munitions from West Germany and shipped them there for disposal. I covered the shipment and transfer story.
What has China done to merit the USA referring to them as the Chinese threat?
Short answer: exist.
Longer answer: China is rising rapidly to surpass the USA as the world’s dominant power. The USA cannot lose face.
Detailed answer: China’s rise will undermine US hegemony and thus take away its financial privileges to export away its inflation and punish other nations for not complying with its foreign policy.
The Strange DNA of the last mammoths
POLICE IN JAPAN HAVE NO WORK TO DO THESE DAYS!!!
Yes you read that right.
The Japanese police have been doing literally nothing these days.
The reason behind this is the ever decreasing crime rate in Japan.
Let me tell you some facts here:
- The crime rate in Japan has decreased to negligible amount in last 13 years.
- On an average, there is less than 1% chance of crime for every 100,000 people in Japan.
- There was only one incident of murder last year in Japan. Yes just one!
- The most important element of police power, though, is not authority to search, but authority in the community. Like school teachers, Japanese policemen rate high in public esteem, especially in the countryside.
- The police in Japan are trained in calligraphy and Haiku composition.
- Police in Japan do carry a gun but they rarely use it. Instead they use their black belts in judo or police sticks. In an average year, the entire Tokyo police force only fires six shots.
- 15,000 koban “police boxes” are located throughout the cities.
- Police koban box officers spend time teaching neighborhood youth judo or calligraphy.
- The officers even hand- write their own newspapers, with information about crime and accidents, “stories about good deeds by children, and opinions of
residents.” - Tokyo is the safest city in the entire world.
What do you know that most people don’t?
Everyone knows these facts.
- Hypertension (high blood pressure) commonly cause headache.
- Diabetes (high sugar) can be countered by taking bitter gourd.
- Avoiding fatty food can surely reduce cholesterol.
- Heart attack always cause left sided chest pain.
- Pricking type of chest pain located at one point in the left chest may be heart attack.
- An Echo test (heart scanning) can identify blocks in the heart.
- Fruits are no no for a diabetic
- Smoking just one cigarette is not very dangerous.
- It is very rare for women to die of heart attack.
Unfortunately; all of the above are wrong.
It is very rare for people to get headache because of hypertension unless the BP is very severe (accelerated hypertension, hypertensive encephalopathy or a hypertensive stroke).
Diabetes results from low levels or ineffective Insulin in the body. Taking bitter gourd actually worsens blood sugar (it is complex carbohydrate).
60 % of serum cholesterol is synthesized in the Liver. So despite strict dieting people can still have very high cholesterol.
Heart attack pain can be anywhere from above the navel to below the jaw, it can radiate to shoulders or back or feel like ‘indigestion’. Despite the classic left chest, left arm pain, many often cardiac pain is atypical.
Pricking chest pain, localized to a point is almost always non-cardiac
An Echo test shows heart valves and heart muscles and cardiac contractility, it cannot identify a coronary block. Indirect evidence of block by way of heart muscle abnormality may be shown in echo.
Citrus fruits and bananas have low glycemic index and are recommended in diabetic diet
Even one cigarette smoking can cause transient narrowing of coronary artery and precipitate a block in a susceptible person (coronary spasm).
Chance of a women dying of an heart attack is more than breast and uterine cancer added together. It is of course less common than in men in menstrual age group.
Shorpy
The China Army announced in a recent air defense exercise that “shooting at drone swarms is challenging,” with modern anti-aircraft artillery groups only shooting down 40% of the drones. What does this mean?
Who has the most drone swarms?
China!
China is currently the world’s largest drone developer and producer. They have developed most of the world’s military and civilian drones. 75% of the world’s drones and drone parts are supplied by Chinese companies.
Most of the drones used by both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield are actually assembled with Chinese parts.
China unveils new aerial cluster drone for swarm attacks - Asia Times Chinese scientists have developed a new type of war drone that can rapidly multiply midair, a tactical shock and awe phenomenon against potential
Chinese companies can easily operate 500 drones in a commercial show and combine them into various gorgeous patterns. The Chinese army can command hundreds of swarms of drones in the woods to search and attack targets at the same time
Who has modern anti-aircraft artillery groups?
China!
The United States has basically stopped deploying ground anti-aircraft guns, and Russia and Europe rarely equip such weapons. Among the major powers, only China has more such weapons.
Who organized this experiment?
China!
Perhaps there is also controversy among the Chinese:
Faced with a large number of low-cost drone cluster attacks, can traditional low-altitude air defense equipment effectively respond? So they organized this military exercise.
This is the world’s first large-scale drone attack/defense exercise publicly conducted.
The Chinese Army and CETC participated in the exercise:
The army was responsible for defending a position, and the company operated a drone swarm to attack.
The Army:
Use PGZ-09 self-propelle anti-aircraft guns and 625E anti-aircraft guns to form a defensive position.
- PGZ-09
PGZ-09 has a 2-mounted 25mm anti-aircraft gun, which can fire 600-800 rounds per minute and has a target automatic tracking radar.
- 625E
The 625E anti-aircraft gun has a Gatling machine gun, which can fire 4000-6000 rounds per minute, and has a radar and optoelectronic tracking system.
CETC:
Using a cluster of small drones to attack, through AI formation and automatic execution to avoid flight routes. The news did not disclose the number of drones involved in the attack. I personally estimate that there are more than 100.
This is also a powerful drone swarm, far exceeding the number and density of drone attacks on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.
Final result:
In the first round of confrontation, 60% of the drones evaded the dense anti-aircraft barrage and broke through to the target: this means that the position has been destroyed and the Chinese army has been defeated by their own company.
======================================
In fact, there are usually three ways for the military of various countries around the world to defend against drones
1. Dense barrage
Directly shoot down drones through automatic weapons, shotguns, etc.
2. Laser weapons
Detect through radar and use high-energy lasers to attack drones.
3. Electronic interference
Interfere with the communication of drones through radio interference equipment, making them lose their attack capability
- Drone jammer used by Russian soldiers
And anti-aircraft missiles, automatic rifles, fighters, helicopters, tanks and other weapons are basically useless against low-altitude small drones.
In fact, laser weapons are easily affected by weather and it is difficult to defend multiple targets at the same time.
Electronic interference is easy to be cracked and targeted defense, thus failing.
So the Chinese military chose the most effective way: dense barrage. But it still failed
This exercise highlights that the war mode is changing rapidly, from a war centered on soldiers and high-value equipment to a war centered on unmanned weapons and low-cost weapons. Even China, the country that is best at developing and producing drones in the world, has not found a good way to defend itself against drones.
This experiment will greatly promote the Chinese military’s research and development progress in anti-drone equipment, and various anti-drone equipment from China will quickly appear and occupy the market.
At the same time, the Chinese military’s drone combat methods and concepts will receive more and more attention, more models and combat methods will be developed, and drone weapons based on AI and swarm combat will be placed in a very important position.
They will continue to poke their own shields with their spears, and eventually both the spears and shields will develop rapidly and quickly leave other competitors behind.
Runza Casserole
A casserole version of the Russian runza (also called a bierock) which is a yeast dough bread pocket with a filling consisting of beef, cabbage or sauerkraut, onions and seasonings.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 2 cans ready to bake crescent rolls
- 1 package (about 8 slices) Swiss cheese
- 1 head cabbage, finely shredded
- 1 medium onion, diced
Instructions
- Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with 1 package of crescent rolls.
- Brown ground beef with cabbage and onions. Drain grease from ground beef.
- Combine ground beef, cabbage and onion with cream of mushroom soup.
- Pour over crescent rolls.
- Layer top of ground beef mixture with Swiss cheese.
- Open second can of crescent rolls and layer over top of Swiss cheese, trying to cover all the cheese, so the cheese does not become browned during baking.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes.
Dear Eva, Space Girlfriend
Submitted into Contest #24 in response to: Write a story set in the dark recesses of space where the two main characters are often at odds with each other in humorous and comedic ways.… view prompt
Karen Quick
She’s also my girlfriend.
My family races down corridors on the starboard side of the spaceship, my mother muttering as we go that this was supposed to be a fun, carefree, simple family vacation into the neighboring sector. My father grunts his condolences to her and she swats his arm with a hand. “When we return home, deary, I’ll be firing all of the guards and pilots. They’re incompetent, all of them.” Mother’s arms surge again in mahogany. “I never should have let you do the important decision making,” she curses.
Father grunts to tell her that she looks lovely today.
She doesn’t get a chance to respond, however, when the guards surrounding us come to a sudden halt and draw out their Atomic Meson Desecrators, each aiming them at something unseen through the haze of stocky bodies and glowing arms. There’s really only one thing–or rather, one person–it could be though.
Mother’s arms glow neon in a surge of frustration. “How did they know we’d come this way?” She stomps her feet and even tries grabbing a Desecrator from one of the guards. “Impossible!”
Some of the guards shout at the figure beyond us to surrender, and even the queen calms down enough to see what the intruder does.
And the answer is: nothing. (Because it’s a hologram, but of course they wouldn’t know that.)
I can tell, because the guards start advancing slowly and warily, warning the creature to take their advice and just surrender already. Even my parents start to creep forward, flickers of curious orange dancing on their elbows.
A sudden gust of wind from directly behind me tousles my flowing sleeves and hair and would have startled me more if I didn’t know it was coming. “Don’t forget your lines,” a voice like dewberries on the melting fruit blocks of Cavarst sounds behind me. Elation and adrenaline flood my systems, turning my colors from a calmer green to bright, bright pink. In the few quaarsects I have left, I channel my emotions by focusing on a single thought–the idea of my parents, and the whole galaxy really, to discover the truth: that I’m dating an odium, and I like it.
The embarrassing shades of pink morph into an alarming yellow reserved only for moments of panic, and I summon forth a scream that even the renowned performers of Quada’ar would envy. In unison, every amare in the corridor glides abruptly to see what caused such a sound to come from me, and the colors of the amare switch from a spike of frightful brown to yellows, like my own.
Like two actors trust the other lead to fulfill their part of the role, I don’t bother to turn around and check that my supposed captor is holding an Atomic Meson Desecrator against my side. An arm wraps swiftly around my neck, cutting off the scream from the depths of my throat. My own hands raise towards it instinctively and claw away at it but to no avail. I can see out of the corner of my right eyes that in the hand attached to this arm is an Ectoplasmic Flash-Shifter: the handheld equivalent of a full-scale transporter. I register the mounting panic in the eight collective eyes of my parents as they identify the gadget at the same moment that the guards do.
“I’ll be taking her with me,” the voice from before growls with menace, before activating the Ectoplasmic Flash-Shifter. The last thing I see before I close my eyes is the hand of my mother grabbing my father’s fearfully, as she screams at the guards to do something.
I blink, and when light filters in again I find myself on an entirely different ship. Through one of the gaping windows, I can see the faint outline of the royal fleet, though it’s hard to identify as a consistent flow of asteroids float past the hull. We must be attached to one of them, I guess, so that the fleet’s radars don’t notice us.
“Make yourself at home,” my captor jokes, tossing the Desecrator into a bin labeled props. She’s a bit on the taller side, dressed in the uniform of the amarean guards. As she morphs back into her natural skin she loses the look of one of my kind, replacing the flowing colors with pale arms and the second pair of eyes for impressively long eyelashes, which she then proceeds to bat excessively in my direction. I laugh.
“I think today’s performance was encore-worthy, no?” She smirks at my comment before inclining her head towards one of the doors. We walk side-by-side, catching up on each other’s latest endeavors, deciding what royal official she’ll go undercover as next, debating whether or not I should be returned with a ransom or escape all on my own–all perfectly normal things to discuss with your enemy-turned-girlfriend.
We spill out into a dining hall, where in floating mists of liquid nitrogen, small eddies caused the droplets to swirl about in a dance known only to them. Large fronds and flowers were doted lovingly upon by insects undoubtedly purchased from the exotic markets of Frundrum. At an oddly shaped table, morphed into such a pattern that it arguably had no definitive shape sat at all a tall, wiry looking humanoid, whose head perked up at the sound of us entering the space.
“Good morning!” he called, for in odium culture days are nonexistent and their preferred “time of day” is the morning. “It’s good to see you again, Kay,” he says to me, using my nickname, for amarean names are depressingly long and are rather a headache for any other species to say. He motioned towards the seats irregularly spaced around the table, and we sit down. After offering us a few breakfast delicacies the man relaxes back to eat what’s been placed before him.
My captor reaches with a glass into the air and catches a bit of liquid nitrogen inside. “Will Mom be able to make brunch today?”
“I’m afraid not, Eva,” my potential father-in-law responds as Eva takes a sip of liquid nitrogen.
For odiums, if a name is longer than three syllables then it’s not the name of an odium, and really if anything in their lives gets too complicated they no longer consider themselves odium. Sometimes when I’m with my girlfriend’s family, I can’t help but think that if my mother tried the detoxing approach that they did, perhaps she wouldn’t be so uptight all the time. My mother, calm? The thought is almost laughable.
Eva’s father pauses between bites of intergalactic scrambled eggs to look at me. “And dear Kay,” he journeys, in that ever-calm tone of his, “I was wondering what time your parents would like you home by?”
I share a look with Eva. “Well, if we’re doing a ransom,” she starts, “then maybe–”
“Sometime after lunch?” I finish.
The other odium at the table wipes his fingers serenely on his napkin. “That’s fine by me,” he tells us. “Have you two made any extravagant plans for today?”
“Not this time,” I say, peering out of the window at the fleet and imagining what sort of chaos is ensuing at this very moment.
“That does remind me though,” my girlfriend announces, redirecting my attention. “I heard that there’s to be a new play on Quada’ar starting shortly if you’re interested. Opening night is said to be several days from now. This Saturday, I believe.”
I smile, thinking of what sort of scenario we’ll think up next to whisk me away for several hundred quaarsects. Something crazy, I’m sure.
“This Saturday, you said? Then it’s a date
I have been meeting more and more Americans abroad who permanently left the U.S. and told me it was the best thing they did, and that they never want to go back. Why is that so? Is it due to the POTUS?
Originally Answered: I have been meeting more and more Americans abroad who permanently left the U.S. and told me it was the best thing they did, or that they never want to go back. Why is that so, is it due to POTUS?
In 1997 My 44 yo wife died of cancer.
She had the best insurance money could buy.
While she was being treated, Chemo and radiation her renewal date came up and they cancelled her policy.
I lost everything I had worked for and decided to look elsewhere.
I got on a strangers sailboat and months later wound up in New Zealand from Seattle.
I have never entertained the idea of returning.
I have lived around the world and my eyes are wide open. Something that cannot happen by no travel.
I have found a lot of what Americans long for.
Lower taxes, totally freemedical for life, a safe country, no guns, no enemies and a most beautiful place tolive.
Not lacking in anything.
My town is 50% white and 50% Maoriand others.
no racial issues.
The quality of life is unsurpassed.
A govt that listens to it’s people. My only regret is not leaving 20 yrs earlier.
Comanche Women | More BRUTAL than the Men
Do you think Malaysia should adopt a different approach to the South China Sea dispute than Vietnam or the Philippines?
Look, the SCS spat has negligible economic value for all claimants, especially in light of the annual trade and investment the peace dividend engender.
That is not a contentious point of view.
The largest natural feature in the SCS is Taiping island, and has been continuously occupied by Taiwanese military way before the current troubles began.
The United States based troops on Taiwan, and recognized and supported Taiwan’s claims in the SCS until 1978, when it began the strategic withdrawal as part of the terms agreed with Beijing.
Not surprisingly, China flying a different flag is suddenly painted as the illegitimate bully making forceful, illegal claims without merit.
Taiping island therefore becomes an embarrassing contradiction in the department of state’s narrative. According to some, President Tsai was forced to cancel her trip under American pressure this year, an important tradition for departing presidents at term end.
Malaysia gains little strategic or economic advantage with ownership of the SCS features. There is no benefit starting an unnecessary quarrel with China, not when the scope for cooperation is a mile-long list.
The Philippines is pursuing a different agenda centered around big daddy. The longer this confrontation goes on, the more trade and investment will be affected.
Vietnam’s interest is strategic. As long as they don’t overreach, it should be manageable.
What are some of the most famous regrets ever?
A photo that absolutely haunts me is the photo below of Leni Riefenstahl, a famous movie director from Germany. Riefenstahl’s stylistic movie making skills had helped the Nazis make excellent propaganda for a few years, but Riefenstahl had been largely insulated from the brutality of their reign — she just made some nice films, attended red carpet events and dined with the high and mighty at their most charming. Everything changed in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and Riefenstahl decided to be a war correspondent…
A German officer later relayed the story of the photo above. He said there was a group of Jewish Poles gathered in a square. Riefenstahl was shooting scenes and asked the soldiers to “remove the people from the square” so she could capture the square and the soldiers better… the officer to which Riefenstahl gave the command, relayed it to his men thus: “Riefenstahl says, get rid of the Jews!” And the soldiers nodded, aimed their rifles and opened fire on them. They gunned down the Jews in front of the frightened director…
The moment was captured on camera by an assistent. Leni Riefenstahl, on September 12, 1939, coming to terms with what the Nazis were really all about. She later tried to sanitize the events in her memoirs, in which she pretended she tried to intervene and was threatened with death after. Looking at the photo I don’t see brave intervention — just a woman, frozen in mortal terror as she is forced to watch the consequences of the propaganda she helped make.
Legally what will happen to a captain that abandons his ship, leaving everyone else to fend for themselves?
As with everything in this world, it depends.
Let’s take two real world examples, the Costa Concordia and the Oceanos.
In both cases the captains evacuated themselves from their ships while many passengers were still onboard.
In the famous case of the Costa Concordia, Captain Francesco Schettino famously left his ship aboard a launch and headed for shore despite being repeatedly warned to return to his ship by radio from a coast guard unit responding to the sinking.
He didn’t. He went to shore and was seen wringing out his wet socks as rescuers struggled to get passengers out of the water and safely to shore.
He was nicknamed ‘Captain Coward’ by the press for his inactions and seeming lack of concern for those under his care.
He was ultimately charged with a variety of crimes, among them ‘abandoning a ship with passengers.’ He ended up being sentenced to 16 years for all the crimes which also included multiple manslaughters, causing a maritime accident, and lack of cooperation with rescue operations.
The other sinking was the passenger ship Oceanos. This French ship got caught in extremely bad weather and some rogue waves tore off a water inlet beneath the ship. Normally watertight compartments would prevent total sinking but uncompleted work left an uncapped open 4″ water pipe to let flooding water out of the compartment and into the rest of the ship.
Captain Yiannis Avranas and his crew never announced an emergency. As something was obviously wrong, entertainers and other passengers made their way to an empty bridge. One of the entertainers, Moss Hills, got on the radio and broadcast the first Mayday calls!
Captain Avranas and most of his entire command staff left the boat with many crew following, virtually abandoning the passengers.
The entertainers aboard the ship took over crew duties and managed to get all the passengers either into life boats or lifted off the deck by helicopter to safety.
Captain Avranas even had the audacity to call the ship and ask how the evacuation was going!!!
The captain was later quoted as saying, “When I order abandon the ship, it doesn’t matter what time I leave. Abandon is for everybody. If some people like to stay, they can stay.”
A Greek board of inquiry found Avranas and four officers negligent in their handling of the disaster, but he was never incarcerated, and his company, Epirotiki, gave him command of another ferry until his retirement.
What’s the shadiest tactic you’ve witnessed HR use at your job?
A company where I worked in the ’80s and ’90s had a policy of organizing all the employees into teams. If someone wanted to change jobs within the company they had to get the approval of both the team they were leaving and the team they would be joining.
A woman who was well-known as an excellent worker wanted to move to another, better job within the company. Everyone expected that she would have no difficulty since she had such a good reputation. Her team got together to do an evaluation of her, and everyone gave her glowing recommendations. They said they would be sorry to lose her, but that she had worked hard and learned a lot and deserved to get a promotion. Her new team also was impressed with her accomplishments and her reputation, and said they’d be glad to have her working with them.
So everyone was shocked to find that HR had denied her transfer. When questioned they said that her team’s evaluations had been TOO good, that no one was perfect and the evaluations couldn’t have been honest. However, they agreed to let her team do the evaluations over. The second time around, each person tried to come up with some criticism, but all they could think of were little things like “Sometimes her perfume is a little strong” or “Once a couple of years ago she was a few minutes late when she had a flat tire.” The result? HR denied her transfer AGAIN because there were too many negative comments!
This was too much! The team leaders from both her old team and the team she wanted to join went to upper management and insisted that she be given the transfer. No one else knew the details of what happened after that, but HR reversed their decision and she got the transfer.
